I don't want to read too much into this, but the job I interviewed for at the IMB is no longer posted on their website. Just an interesting tidbit of info I found while surfing the web waiting for my flight out of RIC.
RIC
For anyone who cares, the Richmond Airport–RIC–has free WiFi! Thanks! Why does it always seem that the smaller airports or hotels always seem to offer stuff like this while the big guys charge extra?
W. A. Criswell
Dr. Criswell
was called to be pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The legendary George Truett, after forty-seven years as pastor, had died. The young Criswell was given the daunting task of following this great preacher.
Under his leadership the church grew dramatically. In his early years as pastor he preached through the entire Bible, taking almost eighteen years to complete the task. He was known for his stand on the inerrancy of Scripture and wrote the important book “Why I Preach the Bible Is Literally True.” He became the leader against liberalism among Southern Baptists.
After a full life of ministering the Word he loved, Dr. Criswell was called home to Heaven on January 9, 2002.
–From the Sword of the Lord
If you are interested, the W. A. Criswell Foundation has put his sermons online so you can download and listen to them.
Trail of Blood
As I have mentioned before, I'm reading the book Christian Jihad by the Caner brothers. This book talks not only about "The Crusades"–the war waged by the Catholic Church to retake the Holy Land–but it also talks about other crusades that were waged against believers who were never a part of the Roman Catholic Church such as the Anabaptists.
This made me think of a pamphlet Cyndi had a copy of called the Trail of Blood. I have found a copy of it online here. This pamphlet…
…is sent forth for the purpose of making known the little-known history of those FAITHFUL WITNESSES of the Lord Jesus, who, as members of the CHURCH JESUS BUILT, "Overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony: and they loved not their lives unto death," Rev. 12:11.
It chronicles the history of this seperate group of believers who we now know today as baptists. Everyone has heard of Protestants, and we are all taught that a Protestant is a non-Catholic christian; however, this simplistic view is incorrect. Modern day Baptists were never part of the Catholic church so they could never leave the Catholic church.
Today in Richmond
Today, we spent time with Larry (the real estate agent) who showed us around town. His wife is also a real estate agent. You can access her website here. We learned alot about the town, commute times, what places he would recommend we live, the housing market, the rental market, etc…. We saw so much stuff, it is hard to digest it all (forget about even trying to write about it all!). What I should have done was brought my GPS and tracked where we went exactly; however, I didn't think about that.
Cyndi and I drank from the firehose today…now, we just need to decide what we are going to do. We want to rent a house in the country; however, we'll never find a house like the one we had in Huntington (thanks David and Betty). The way we are leaning now, we will, if given the opportunity by the IMB, stay in temporary quarters, find a place to rent, then start looking for a place to buy.
Daylight Savings Time
Don't forget that tonight is when most of the USA makes the switch to daylight savings time. If you forget, you will show up at church an hour later.
Martyrs
Have you ever read Foxe's Book of Martyrs? Do you think that people were only martyred for their faith in "the olden days?" Well, think again. Persecution of Christians is alive and well in the world today.
Voice of the Martyrs is a group that helps the persecuted church. Here is a brief summary of the group from their website FAQ:
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand founded VOM over 30 years ago. He was in prison in Romania for 14 years for his faith in Christ. In the `60s he and his family were ransomed out of Romania for $10,000 and came to the U.S. where he began traveling, educating the free world of the atrocities committed against Christians in Communist and other restricted countries. VOM's five main purposes are based on Hebrews 13:3. They are: 1. To encourage and empower Christians to fulfill the Great Commission in areas of the world where they are persecuted for their involvement in propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ. We accomplish this by providing Bibles, literature, radio broadcasts, and other forms of aid. 2. To give relief to the families of Christian martyrs in these areas of the world. 3. To equip local Christians to win to Christ those persecutors who are opposed to the gospel in countries where believers are actively persecuted for their Christian witness. 4. To undertake projects of encouragement, helping believers rebuild their lives and Christian witness in countries that have formerly suffered Communist oppression. 5. To emphasize the fellowship of all believers by informing the world of atrocities committed against Christians and by remembering their courage and faith. Read our newsletter to learn more about how VOM is helping the persecuted church worldwide.
Ever wish you knew more to help those who are bein persecuted for their faith? Well, VOM has set up a website with a list of those people. You can access it here.
Freedom of Speech?
I was surfing the Internet while waiting in the Columbus Airport to leave for my interview in Richmond with the IMB. I came across this news article today talking about "campaign finance reform."
The Federal Election Commission's announcement that it intends to extend campaign finance restrictions to Internet communications is generating plenty of hostility online, particularly among the Web diarists known as bloggers….
…Most of the FEC commissioners insist that they have no interest in regulating the political speech of individual Web users. In draft regulations approved on March 24, the agency says that the proposed rules are designed to "have an extremely limited impact, if any, on the use of the Internet by individuals…."
Most? Most?! "Most…have no interest in regulating the political speech of individual[s]…." What is that? What ever happened to an individual's freedom of speech? Last time I checked the US Constitution, it contained a thing we like to call the first amendment that said:
Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech
I don't get this. People can make smut and porn and liberal courts say "freedom of speech." So called artists can make "art" funded by our tax dollars and everyone says "freedom of speech." But the minute I stand up for what I believe on the Internet, only "most" FEC Commissioners would not want to restrict that? This is out of control. The freedom of speech is one of the basic foundational rights we need to have for democracy (well, a representative republic) to work.
IMB Round 3
My time tonight with Ted went well. We went over the benefits provided by the IMB (for a brief overview, go here). In some ways, they are comparable to what NiSource offers, some aren't as good, and some are better. I think the big advantage with the IMB is that it would allow me to work and use my skills directly in God's work. Really, this is why I looked at them in the first place. The intangable benefit of doing what you are supposed to be doing outweighs just about everything else.
Penny Construction
I was surfing this morning before I left for the airport, and came across this site. Mich started stacking pennies together, and the results are amazing! It is…
…a collection of pictures from a talk I gave while a Civil Engineer at Texas Tech University in 1980. Our senior year we practiced giving technical presentations. This was mine.
All stacks of pennies were done without any glue. Only the weight of the pennies provides the support.