Dear Theophilus

OUR BAIL BOND SYSTEM IS BROKEN: Throwing out an idea for our little community. The more I research the bond system, the more I realize how absolutely broken and unjust it is. •Did you know that America is one of the few industrialized nations with a For-Profit Bail Bond system? It is outlawed in most the rest of the world. •Did you also know that most legal institutions in America, the American Bar Association and the National District Attorneys Association, is against our current bond system. Why? One simple reason: it absolutely discriminates against the poor Here is what happens as I understand it. Someone is taken to jail to await trial for a suspected crime - innocent until proven guilty. If they are unable to make bail because they can't afford it, they sit in jail for months waiting for trial because the system is so backlogged. During this time they run the risk of losing custody of their children, their homes or apts, their jobs, their transportation. Poor folks run the ri...

Your laws may give you "the right" to shoot another human being in the protection of your stuff, but your faith gives you no such permission. That is a sin, contrary to will and word of Christ. Jesus says"But I say to you that listen,  Love your enemies,  do good to those who hate you,  bless those who curse you,  pray for those who abuse you... and from anyone who takes away your coat  do not withhold even your shirt.  Give to everyone who begs from you;  and if anyone takes away your goods,  do not ask for them again."

[theres a "too long; didn't read" at the end] Your picture/image of God is wildly important to how you live your life, the world, and the people around you. We're talking about this at The Table right now. But one thing we aren't going to cover on Sunday that I think is VITAL to our faith journey is this: how do we reconcile the Old Testament and the New Testament? The Old Testament (OT) is the first 2/3rds of the bible before Jesus. It has wonderful stories like Adam & Eve, Moses, Abraham, King David (and Goliath), the Psalms, the prophets, and many more. But it also has these stories about God that make God appear to be mean, distant, violent, excessively wrathful, and many more things. The New Testament, on the other hand, is the story of Jesus and the birth of the Church in the wake of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The thing that makes Christians unique in the traditional faiths is that we believe Jesus is God. SO, how do we reconcile Jesus...

Dearly Loved Free Methodist Leaders, A little about myself to begin. I am a young elder in the church. I am seminary trained and have an M.Div from one of our finest institutions. I served at a church as associate, worship, and youth leader 5 years before attending seminary. I converted in from unbelief. The revelation that ultimately led me to Christ and kept me in the church was our emphasis on the poor. Growing up in an underprivileged community with parents struggling with addiction, seeing the way God in Christ identified with the last, lost, and least was the revelation that convinced me of the validity of the Gospel. I had originally thought that God probably loved and preferred the religious and robed. Seeing Jesus prefer the company of "unlettered" fisherman, those with disability and disease, the poor, the average ordinary folks found on the outskirts of the kingdoms - the marginalized - was the ordained epiphany that the God of the universe loved me and I was ...

Jaymes Lackey - 2014 Matthew Thomas Elmer Parsons Mark Ormston William Clark E. P. Hart 1863 BT Roberts 1852 Thomas Morris 1820 Robert Roberts 1816 William McKendree 1808 Francis Asbury 1784 Thomas Coke 1784 John Wesley 1728 Dr. John Potter, 1715 Dr. Baxter Tenison, 1701 Dr. Philip Tillotson, 1683 Niles Sancroft, 1658 William Laude, 1633 Kyle Abbot, 1610 Richard Bancroft, 1604 Mark Whitgift, 1577 Steven Grendall, 1575 Dr. Matthew Parker, 1559 Phillip Barlow, Bishop of London 1536 Thomas Cranmer, 1533 William Warham, 1503 Cardinal Morton, 1488 Cardinal Bourchier, 1469 Cardinal Kemp, 1452 Henry Chichele, 1413 James Abingdon, 1381 Simon Sudbury, 1367 Simon Langham, 1327 Walter Reynolds, 1313 Robert of Winchelsea, 1293 John Peckham, 1279 Robert Kilwardby, 1269 Boniface of Savoy, 1252 Edmund Rich, 1234 Richard Weathershed, 1230 Stephen Langton, 1205 Hubert Walter, 1197 Fitz-Jocelin, 1191 Reginal, 1183 Baldwin, 1178 Richard, 1170 Thomas Beck...

As I read the story unfolding before us of the mass shooting in San Bernadino, my heart aches. First, because of the human loss of life and the human depravity that caused it. Second, because I know this is going to be instantly politicized. Third, because we are going to offer up shallow religious platitudes as a mask for our true, contrived, political feelings. By now we know the drill. We have become so desensitized to the mass murder of innocent people that we don't even collectively mourn anymore. We don't even breathe together the profound sigh of sorrow and lament. Instead we leap into politicking, defense, and demonization. We are so polarized that as we watch this event unfold, instead of sheer, knock-me-to-the-ground horror, our minds race to a vindictive hope that the shooters are not going to make our political standpoint look bad. "Please don't be a white guy." "Please don't be a refugee." "Please let's not blame mental il...

Erin, the kids, and I are moving. We are moving into some apartments in Thermalito that have always had a bad reputation while I was growing up. We are doing this on purpose in an attempt to live with and in the community we are hoping to minister to. Our approach to church and ministry (service) is that we follow this incarnational model. In short, and in our limited understanding of theology, we want to follow Jesus and do what he did. The Gospel of John, chapter 1, tells us that Jesus, the Word of God revealed in a person, "The Word became flesh and made his home among us." Incarnation = Jesus became the flesh presence of God on Earth. Incarnational = to be the flesh presence God in a community. To be a real person living with and in the place. To experience what the people experience. To be in solidarity with the purpose of redemption. Usually when people talk about incarnational ministry they assume that the place is underserved, underprivileged, and marginalized....