General

Change It Comes Eventually

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Well, my 26th birthday has come and gone. No jokes, no frills, no hastles. It was a good day. Now, as promised, the big news.

After living “abroad” for the past three years, my wife and I are returning to the Lone Star State. The three years that I have spent in campus ministry have been exciting and frustrating, wonderful and challenging. I have learned great deal about myself (strengths and weaknesses) and I have learned a little more about where I see myself in God’s plan.

This June, I will beging working full-time as the Youth and Family Minister for a congregation in the D/FW area. We are so excited to be back in my hometown and are very much looking forward to starting this brand, spanking new chapter.

We are in Dallas this weekend checking on job stuff for my wife and we made an offer on a beautiful house (not everyone gets a house for their birthday!) roughly 6 minutes away from the church building. We have been able to see God’s hand at every junction of this change. It has been awesome and humbling.

So, that’s where we are at right now. I am trying to finish strong in May so I can begin strong in June. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us. Please continue to do so.

Peace,
Micheal

BTW, please continue praying for Ellen Martindale. Please, use the prayer pager below at least 2-3 times this week. Let her know that you are praying for her.

Faith in Action, Ministry

Prayers Needed

We need your prayers.

Please pray for my friend’s mother, Ellen Martindale. She started Chemo Therapy on Monday and we’ll will just have to wait and see how that goes. The phone number below is the number for her prayer pager. This pager is so that people can let her know she has been prayed for. If you get the chance please use it. You need to call and let it ring 3 times and then hang up. This will let Ellen know that you have said a prayer for her. Needless to say she has ups and downs with her emotions and I really think this will be great at lifting her up. The love and support shown for this family so far has been overwhelming. Please keep praying for her family, for Ellen, and that the Lord will heal her.

Ellen Martindale’s Prayer Pager
903.624.6440
Call. Let it ring 3 times. Hang up. Repeat as needed.

Ministry, Technology

Teaching the Parents of the MySpace Generation

On Sunday I had the opportunity to teach the adult class at church. The class was full of caring adults who are seeking to raise their children in safe, loving, and God-honoring homes.

Over the course of this quarter the main topic is holiness. The idea is for us to begin to create families that live holy lives set apart for God. To that end we are teaching on different topics that families struggle with. I was asked to teach on Teen Culture. I spoke about how adolescence begins at puberty and ends….. whenever the culture says it does. In fact, I read one article last week that said that adolescence ends at 26 (So, on Saturday I’ll become an adult?). I also spoke about MySpace.com. I didn’t treat the online community like the devil but I was honest with the parents about it. Teens have this need for community and without caring, involved adults there can only be a shadow community of the blind leading the blind. Wired.com had a couple of good (not great) articles for parents about MySpace. You can check them out below.

Wired News
Link

Ministry, News, Technology

Thank You Steve Gutenburg

Ooops, wrong Gutenburg.

Five hundred and forty nine years ago today (maybe) the printing press printed the first book otherwise known as the Gutenburg Bible. On this note, the ESV Bible Blog has posted a history of the printing technology and the editions of scripture that have helped shape our world. The post is titled, Celebrating the Printed Bible and there are some great links and pictures for those of you who might be interested.

News

Anniversary

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Today marks the first anniversary of MichealFelker.com and the second anniversary of my initial foray into the blogosphere. The theme that I have been running over the last few weeks is what the blog looked like one year ago. Over the last two years I have enjoyed this curious habit. It is fun, challeging, and theraputic. During this brief time I have reconnected with old friends (awesome), made some new friends (cool), made some people angry (D’oh!), and learned alot about myself and writing for a mass audience (all 4 of you). Thank you for journeying with me thus far. Over the next week or so I will be making some announcements and changes that are currently affecting my life and my ministry. These exciting changes are right around the corner and I want to keep you all in the loop.

If you are a regular reader, Thank you. Thank you for putting up with my spelling and poor grammar. Thank you for enduring every single post on U2 or Bono. Thank you for your encouragement and your support. Thank you.

Theology

Whoa…

Excuse me… Um. We ordered the large Jesus statue for our building.

The Beatles can step aside thanks to the 62-foot, $250,000 Jesus statue erected by the Solid Rock Church of Monroe, Ohio. The sculpture towers over the church and nearby interstate 75, serving as a “beacon of hope and salvation.”

“We’re living in a day when a lot of people feel hopeless, but we believe that when people see him, they will understand he is the hope for the world,” said Darlene Bishop, wife of pastor Lawrence Bishop and originator of the idea.

There is also some debate as to the biggest Jesus ever status as Eureka Springs, Ark. claims to have a 67-foot Jesus.

For $250,000 I wonder how much “hope and salvation” could have been offered to people in the form of food and shelter? Our evangelism tactics are messed up.

Link

Shameless Self Promotion

Out Of All The Days, I Got That One

My 26th birthday is right around the corner. The first of April or April Fool’s Day if you will. I’m really not very big on my birthday. It is just another day. No reason to get too excited. Maybe that’s because I have endured year after year after year of practical jokes at the expense of this day. One year my friends made up a roll of toilet paper to look like a cake. They sang “Happy Birthday” to me as I tried to cut into it. Hardy-Har-Har! (That was actually a pretty good prank! Joke was on them though cause I don’t like cake.) Also every year somebody always says, “Today’s your birthday? I bet your mom thought you were a joke!” Yeah, good one the first 13 years I heard it. And of course, I can always count on the obligatory, “Hey, I got you a gift! Ha-ha! April Fool’s Day!” I laugh on the outside but cry a little on the inside.

You know, you can make my birthday wishes come true if you’d like. Micheal’s Wish List is open 24/7 for you to pick out something to make up for all those year’s of ridicule. Go ahead, check it out. Go nuts!

Need some help?

To Own a Dragon by Don Miller
iTunes Gift Card
The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis by Jim Hancock
The Legend Box Set Johnny Cash
Creative Bible Lessons (CD-ROM) by Youth Specialties
Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement ed. by Douglas Foster
The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios
Shalimar the Clown : A Novel by Salman Rushdie
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UMD)
Apple iWork ’06

More…

Thanks for allowing me to shamefully self-promote my birthday!

Faith in Action, Popular Culture, Theology

School Choice and the 1st Century

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Very interesting article over at Out of Ur, the blog for Leadership Journal. I am a product of Christian education. I went to a private k-12 school as a kid, I graduated from a private 4 year college, and, for now, I work for a private k-12 school. It a real “circle of life” I guess. There are pros and cons of this kind of environment and I know that where I choose to send my kids has a lot to say about my theology and perspective on the world around me. I don’t have any children yet but the reality of where to send them when they reach school age is always on my mind.

The article Really Old School: What 1st Century Judaism Says About the Public/Private/Home School Dilemma looks at the four Jewish beleif systems that were vying for dominance in the first century: the Essenes, the Sadducees, the Zealots, and the Pharisees. The author compares these faith communities with modern day school choices: Homeschool, Public, and Private education.

Very good thoughts but sadly little follow through. It is worth the read though.

Link

The Goal Is Soul