the planter

Easter Message from my friend Gil

2009-04-11T21:16:00.001-05:00

Dear Bob,
Easter is a time when we remember the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. He paid for our sins on the cross and was resurrected to prove that He was our Savior and Lord. I personally cannot go through this season without taking time to picture myself laying in the dirt at the base of the cross with Jesus hanging on it. I am weeping for my sins and self-focus. His drops of blood are landing all around me and on me as I hear Him offer forgiveness. To receive grace from God when I should receive wrath is amazing.

May I never recover from the realization that I do not deserve what God has freely given me in Christ.

In His Service,

Dr. Gil Stieglitz
1900 Balboa Drive
Roseville, CA 95661
916.344.3322
www.westerndistrict.org
www.ptlb.com

Thank you Gil! But more importantly thank you JESUS!

It's Easter Everyday..

2009-04-07T19:57:00.002-05:00

For a recovering American Church pastor, Easter is everyday. Everyday is Resurrection Sunday.

Would you be surprised if I am not all excited about Resurrection Sunday? Why? I'm excited about Resurrection day & everyday in the lives of those I meet.

I'm not excited about Easter Sunday spectaculars because every day is another Easter Spectacular. What we create on Easter Sunday is not match for what Jesus creates everyday.

If you don't see me Sunday, look for me on Monday with the people Jesus came to redeem.

Out of ministry to be in ministry...

2009-03-24T21:00:00.002-05:00

I'm out of professional ministry in search of being in ministry.

Professing believers do not pay me, I work as a tent maker. Jesus is the ONE who owns me, not man.

After 28 years of bondage to the church in America I can finally say I am FREE!

How free? You tell me this time.

Moving on and out one step at a time...

2009-01-30T23:52:00.002-06:00

Tonight on the eve of my 51st birthday Michelle & I are taking next steps in our disciple making/multiplying journey. Not sure where we will end up but very sure our disciple multiplying efforts will remain the goal of our lives.

Saying goodbye to Disciple Driven Church and her safety net is exciting and full of the possibility of initiating the launch of many more disciple multiplying movements.

God refuses to let us settle in for very long. With excitement following our first step into the Red Sea or River Jordan we have no clue what that second step will look like. We move forward with the promise that God always honors faith and total dependency upon Him.

These are truly exciting days as we walk in His steps. Keep praying for the disciple multipliers who remain with Disciple Driven Church. And, praise God for His work in their lives.

What's wrong with this picture?

2009-01-18T13:18:00.004-06:00

For some time I have been speaking out on the issue of a "Flawed Discipleship Process" in our churches and in the thinking of many parents. We have been taught and taught others to fully entrust our children into the hands of "professional/trained/teachers" for their spiritual development. In the end a perceived good thing like Sunday School and youth groups has brought terrible results. Instead of parents being taught how to disciple their own kids,others took that role for them. Really, handing our children over to the experts and into great programs seemed like the right thing to do. Parental failure to disciple their own children has resulted in consequences too painful to admit or even carry.

No,I am not church bashing/Sunday school bashing/youth group bashing or parent bashing, this article is presented to raise awareness.

The Following article comes from Disciple Like Jesus a ministry that focuses on parental disciple making and the tools to accomplish the task.

Disciple Like Jesus Article:

"What's at Stake?

Your children and your friends' eternal destinies are at stake. According to Barna Research and other organizations, the church is losing between 75 and 88 percent of its children (never to return) by their second year of college. Only 9 percent of all born-again Christians have a biblical worldview; that means that your child and friends have less than a 10 percent chance of having a biblical worldview in the future!

Assuming that only 75 percent of all youth are leaving, this translates into more than 2 million children in America each year who are permanently leaving the church and over 40 million lost in the last two decades. If we do nothing to address this situation, by the year 2050 we will lose another 113 million children!

Regarding adult converts, there has been discussion for decades about the "revolving door" in the church. Many churches have reached a plateau of membership, and many are actually declining.

What’s the Root Cause?

We believe that the root cause is a faulty discipleship process that has been used by most Christian parents for decades. In summary, the process is identical to the training system used in secular society, except for the presence of faith-related activities such as church attendance, prayer, etc. The total time spent on biblical training is less than five hours a week. With less than five hours of biblical training a week and more than eighty hours of nonbiblical training/influence a week, the nonbiblical influence easily wins out shortly after our children leave home. As a result, our children and future generations are lost to the world.

This faulty process is based on information transfer (secular education) rather than the development of deep, lifetime relationships with God and man. Consequently, there is no lasting fruit for individuals or for God's kingdom."

The Planter: The faulty process is not only just "information transfer over deepened relationships with God and man but also one of spiritual authority transfer from the parent to other teachers/leaders. We have given up our most important role of discipling our own children without even realizing it. When we do not disciple our own children they do not look to us as having any spiritual authority over them.

Declaring God's Glory over Satan's Devastation

2009-01-08T13:01:00.004-06:00

Through Disciple Driven Church and Sun Ministries we have accepted the call to plant missionaries in devastated neighborhoods in order to reclaim lives and land destroyed by Satan's evil. We are not planting churches - we are planting trained missionaries to live in these areas and make the Christ difference in them.

I believe Satan mocks God by showing Him the large American cities ravaged by his evil. I can almost hear Satan mocking God, "Look at what I have done to your cities. Where is your power and where is your churches influence? I am destroying everything important to you."

So we are committed to taking the next step to reclaim the hearts and land devastated by Satan in order to Declare God's Glory once again. Satan is mocking us and our God.

Through our Disciples making Disciples efforts we are raising up Holy Spirit empowered missionaries with a commitment to move into these broken down neighborhoods to bring God's redeeming power to the city. In St. Louis just 9 blocks from the arch we have entire neighborhoods of destruction. While many have left those areas many are trapped. As we rebuild many will come back to the inner city.

As these neighborhoods come back -The Glory of God will be restored and disciples who make disciples will also bring glory back to the land. We envision new "God life" rising up from among the ruin.

We are calling missionaries to St. Louis! If you are up to a God sized opportunity -we are recruiting, training, and releasing for this cause.

We are targeting mostly young college grads who long to experience the God they read about in Scriptures but have never experiences and those who long to rebuild people and land from ruin to God's Glory.

Kary Oberbrunner writes...

2009-01-05T11:00:00.001-06:00

The excerpt below is taken from his new book "CALLED:Becoming What You Were Meant To Be"

In my experience, the extent of Christianity that I’ve been presented with goes something like this:

1. Accept Jesus and ask Him into your heart.
2. Don’t do bad things now.
3. Withdraw from culture.
4. Hang out with Christians.
5. Go to church.
6. Read your Bible and pray.
7. Be happy that you are saved and not going to Hell.
8. Tell other people about how happy they can be if they follow
these seven steps.

Is it just me, or is this a lame life! Where is the passion? Where is the adventure? Where is the abundant life that Jesus promised us? No wonder we’re bored. The Jesus we’ve been presented with asks for way too little. No one wants to devote their lives to something that requires nothing of them. Like the saying goes, “people figure, if it don’t ask much then it ain’t worth much.”

THE PLANTER: It's time we get stirred up!

Anony just posted this way down the line...I respond!

2009-01-02T11:43:00.003-06:00

Anonymous has left a new comment on a post down the line, somewhere, who knows where? Here they are:

"Come and see the Love of Jesus Alive in our Church! That banner is an invitation to those who are lost.

Mr. Carder, I believe that you have lost the Joy of Jesus and gained a genuine dislike of the Church. And if that is so, how can you be a member of the Holy Church, the body of Christ.

Try as you might, the church will never be perfect because it is made up of sinners, saved by the Grace of Jesus!!"

THE PLANTER RESPONDS:

Since these comments were just received and far down the blogpost line, I'm bringing it up to the top for discussion.

1. First, I love the Church, always have and always will. I have given my life to Jesus so I am part of the Church - the bride of Christ. His holy bride!

2. Anony is right, I am not very happy with what I have seen in the church and I dislike her when she refuses to become the Church that declares the glory of God! I dislike our lack of freedom as in living a victorious life, our unwillingness to personally engage the lost - a mandate for all believers, our consumerism focus, our lack of holiness, our ineffectiveness in reaching younger generations, our departmentalized spiritual lives, our lack of a sacrificial do or die commitment. This is enough to start the discussion. If you are not guilty of the claims above - don't go down the defensive road, I don't have time for that anymore. If you can't see that the church in America is fast losing her influence and power to transform whole communities for Christ - I'm not going to be able to convince you -you are already fully blind. Go ahead and bask in your glory at the expense of displaying God's glory.

3. Inviting unsaved people to church has for too long become our excuse for not leading them to Jesus ourselves. We have missed our true calling. Why not teach and lead the church (every believer) to lead people to Jesus and then enfold them into the church family in baptism, into total freedom, and in the power of a Holy Spirit baptized relationship.

4. I love being a part of the Body of Christ. I grieve, deeply at what we have done to water down the power of the "setting captives truly free" message. If anony senses a lack of joy on my part regarding the church it is not as one who hates the church - it is because I love the church and I have a "weeping prophet" awareness of the state of the church. The ship (Church) has leakage, if we can admit it, there is hope/time to turn course and take back what has been ravaged by Satan so that God's glory can once again be declared to the physical and spiritual realms.

5. I strongly dislike what is represented here in anony's post to me. First it is done anonymously. That's not Biblical. What spiritual brother or sister would do that under cover? I should be used to such anonymous attacks -I've had them all my life (usually just minutes before I got up to preach). Secondly it is judgmental. I doubt that anony even knows me. Even if she/he claims to -they do not know me the way I and others close to me, know me. Thirdly, this is a perfect example of the self-righteousness of the church (sadly) toward others. In my case anony has presumed me to be or made me to be lost. Fourthly, everyone knows the Church is not perfect, none of us are perfect, we all know that, don't we? Is that any excuse for not being the thriving, beating heart of Jesus?

6. Finally, if the church is not teaching/leading all believers to make disciples who make disciples why do we not change that and regain the New Testament thrust of becoming a Holy Spirit fueled and transformational Church that declares God's glory?

I see the Church declaring the glory of God. It's like this - Even the demons know that God is God and that He alone is God when they see the Holy Spirit power of God unleashed through us. Are the demons convinced (because of you) that the God you serve is God and that He alone is God because of the Gory of God displayed in your life? After God does a work in others through you - do the demons run scared? Are they convinced that God is God in your life because of the fruit in your life?

Please no senseless - defensive - babbling allowed. Let's talk about making the difference.

So far so good on the Summer Internship 2009!

2008-12-29T12:35:00.005-06:00

With our desire to see a reformation of New Testament Christianity spread across America we are focusing on raising up Next Generation Leaders to reach their own generation - one that is largely exiting the modern American Church. This generation longs to experience the Jesus and the miraculous power of God they have only read about in Scriptures.

One such young college student recently stated that she has read about freedom in the Bible but that she just cannot experience it for herself. The truth is that there is freedom from everything for everyone who desires it. We have done a great job talking about who Jesus is and what He offers but we have not done such a great job showing people how to experience all that Jesus offers. Our young adults have watched us - their parents and leaders talk about freedom but then not have it in our own lives. We have a settled in for a less than what God offers all of us. They (younger generations) want to experience the Jesus they have read about - the Jesus of the New Testament, the Jesus of resurrection power.

So far so good on our attempts to enroll a group of young college age students to attend our internship in Jackson Hole this coming summer 2009. We are more than halfway of our goal. Both Anthony Marks and Mark Goodman our team leaders will take the group through a process of intentional discipleship that will enable every young leader to go back home and make the difference in their own generation. If Jesus and freedom is what they are seeking then it is Jesus and His freedom that we will give them to give to others. To say the least it will be a transformational summer for the group. And, they get housing, food and employment in one of the most beautiful places in America. So each intern can leave broke for the internship and come home with some savings.

Please pray for this internship program and for all the young leaders who attend. From my experience, nothing has profoundly changed my life like this training. After more than 25 years as a Pastor of growing churches, my eyes have been opened and it is so New Testament and so simple. Why do we have to complicate the simplicities of God's redemptive plan?

God is already and will continue to use the Next Generation Leaders to bring a reformation of New Testament Christianity to America. I am truly seeing this happen in my lifetime. See sunministries for more info.

What does Christmas mean to you?

2008-12-18T13:01:00.004-06:00

Our son Matthew and his wife Liz and baby Silas have a Vizla - a Hungarian dog and here's a picture of the breed at top. I'm not sure if the Christmas dog is a Vizla or not -sure looks like it could be.

Help me reach them....

2008-12-15T12:13:00.003-06:00

Many in our younger generations have left or are leaving the modern American Church. While some appreciate their church roots, many more are scarred by them. A few years ago I was called out of the modern American Church in order to be an instrument of reformation in America. Even though it angers my pastor/leader friends when I bring up the fact that the church in America is in trouble- I still refuse to refrain from speaking truth.

God has given me a heart/burden for younger generations as well as a deepened understanding of what they are facing. God has helped me see that younger generations have a deep love for God as well as a passion to make a difference in this world for Him. The problem is that they are not interested in serving through the modern American Church. The modern American Church has turned them off for a variety of reasons. For one, they are tired of not seeing (the Jesus they have read about) show up in power and victory. They have watched their parents profess Christ without power and victory in their own lives. They long for something more than what the church offers them. They want to experience the God they have read about in Scriptures. The powerless modern American church has left them filled with hopelessness.

My Facebook friends list is growing mostly from younger generations. As I read their notes many of them love Jesus but cannot see the church in their lives. I don't need to post statistics here. You know I am correct when I say they have left or are leaving. Believe me when I say they want God without the church in her present form.

Through Disciple Driven Church and Sun Ministries we are launching New Testament movements by raising up young leaders who are being set free from the baggage and hopelessness of their lives. When these younger generations experience the God of power and freedom - they become totally committed to reaching others in their own generation with the same message of power and freedom.

THE SAD NEWS IS: I cannot turn to the modern American Church for prayer and for resources because they are busy doing their old thing. They have their own churches to run, resources are used up for their own mission. So I am appealing to you, my peers, friends and younger generations to pray and to give. We already know God is in this - the question is, do you want to be in this?

Please partner with us by praying for our young leaders and our efforts to show them a God of power and Glory like they have never seen before.

Also if God is speaking to you about supporting our efforts tax deductible gifts may be sent to: Disciple Driven Church - P.O. Box 876 - O'Fallon, MO 63366

The younger generations will be the generations that bring Holy Spirit empowered New Testament like Christianity back to America and around the world. God has a plan to use you (younger generations and my age group with resources) to bring reformation and transformation to America.

THANKS FOR WHATEVER YOU CAN DO AT THIS TIME. GOD IS DOING SOMETHING HUGE IN THE SPIRIT REALM.

Thots about Funerals...

2008-12-05T20:39:00.003-06:00

Funerals are not evangelistic moments, they are God moments!

For far too long I have felt the burden to use funerals for evangelistic purposes. I now know I was wrong! Funerals are times when Jesus wants to reveal Himself and His message of Hope! When funerals are used for evangelistic purposes people leave feeling guilt ridden and judged. That is not my job! My job in a funeral is to reintroduce the congregation and family to Jesus, a messenger of Good News. Jesus is the answer and He is the one who enters into our suffering. In the story we see that Jesus even wept with the family upon the death of a loved one! He weeps with us in our suffering.

I used to think that I was supposed to explain this or that passage when really I should have just told the stories of Jesus and applied them to where people were living. That's what my son, Matthew did in a recent family funeral. He simply told the stories of how Jesus enters into our lives and into our suffering and how He understands what we are going through. He held the audience captive with a relevant Jesus who is there (here) for everyone. He spoke of resentment and what it does to us and how we must trust God to do what is best.

I saw another side of Jesus and how to communicate. In the end, one after another was touched with truth about Jesus in such a way that they were drawn into His presence and into His work in all of our lives. I have learned that Jesus is not at His best in Church, a service of worship! He is at His best in the settings among the hurting and grieving. Jesus just showed up. His message was proclaimed and was natural and not forced evangelism! Jesus did what He Himself needed to do through the Holy Spirit.

I now see that most people already feel guilty for their sin. They don't need me to seize the moment of conviction/condemnation. The Holy Spirit has already revealed our need to seek Him in forgiveness. We all need to see Jesus in all of His splendor and glory as the One who cares for each of us in our stations in life. God is present - ever present with everyone!

I must bear the message of Jesus and His life and it is not my job to bring conviction, that's the job of the Holy Spirit. Because of this lesson, those in a recent family funeral - some who may be far from Jesus are the ones who saw Jesus up close and personal!

Funerals are God moments NOT our moments! We must show the world who Jesus is and how He enters into our lowest moments! He does have the answer - He is the answer! We need to rediscover the role of the Holy Spirit and how it greatly differs from ours.

If you will see this principle - those who are seeking and/or hurting will flock to your Jesus and mine! I recently witnessed this miracle of God's Holy Spirit and His power. I long for you to see it as well. If you will, others will see Jesus because of it.

Funerals are God opportunities - Not ours! Let's do our job while making room for God to do His!

From kingdomgrace...

2008-12-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

Disciples or Converts
December 3, 2008 ·

I have lots of thoughts swirling in my head about sterility, reproduction, and organic versus artificial life and growth. Let’s see if I can pull them together into anything coherent. I will start with a story…

When our kids were little, we raised butcher chickens so that they (the kids) would have daily chores. In the spring, we would get a box of cute little chicks in the mail. We kept them warm under lights and fed them high-octane feed. In a matter of months, the chickens that survived were fully grown and plump. Then we brought the chickens in crates to “visit” Fred.

These chickens were genetically engineered for fast growth. I am not sure if they would be classified as hybrid or mutant. My husband, Farmboy, says that in crops and grains, fast-growing hybrids also lack reproductive ability.
How this relates to discipleship

It is vitally important that we understand the genetic reality of spiritual life, the organic nature of spiritual growth, and the inherent reproductivity of the life of Christ, beginning with the reality that we are born of the Spirit and that all growth and reproduction is a function of the Spirit.

The gospel of the kingdom has been distorted in many ways. There is the evangelical gospel of personal salvation which reduces the gospel message to a guarantee of heaven and insurance from hell. The seeker gospel promises answers for our personal problems and felt needs. The prosperity gospel assures us that God only wants the best for us.

Church membership numbers are not necessarily an accurate reflection of growth in the kingdom. Megachurch member rosters are filled with transfer members. Counting decisions for Christ usually leads to exaggerated claims and coerced conversions. Not only that, it treats conversion as a single transaction and diminishes the ongoing nature and process of salvation, dismissing the reality that the journey to knowing God is a lifelong endeavor with many moments of decision and commitment.

So yeah, the missional church might not have large congregations of converts. Instead we are attempting to make disciples in a manner in which conversion is viewed in the context of establishing a long-term relationship with Jesus and with other believers which may never be reflected in the roster of a particular church organization.

This from David Watson:

Making disciples is about a relationship with Christ that results in a lifestyle of obedience to the commands of Christ which requires disciples to make more disciples. Making converts is about adhering to the doctrine of a particular faction, church, denomination, sect or religion. One can convert without becoming a disciple of Christ.

Artificial additives

I think that we often circumvent the real life of the Spirit in conversion methods, discipleship methods, and in the way that we function together as groups of believers. What are the ways that we tamper with natural growth and unintentionally cause lack of reproduction and other genetic deformities?

Sometimes, in a rush to notch our evangelism belt or perhaps our genuine fear of car and truck accidents, we rush people to a decision statement prematurely rather than trusting the work of the Spirit that is already occurring.

Then in a rush to transform our new converts into shiny, happy christians we train them into every aspect of cultural christianity rather than trusting the process of transformation by the Spirit that begins within before it becomes evident to others. The goal is to get them looking and acting like good christians as soon as possible.

So we feed them high-octane food in order to grow quickly.

Oops! Wrong story. Back to talking about church.

We give them high-octane teaching in order to grow quickly. Many formats for discipleship revolve around teaching which is evidence that we see growth as transfer of information and knowledge.

One of the things we have to ask ourselves is if our practices are effective in making disciples. Do our programs and services produce “fully devoted followers of Christ?” At what point did we begin interpreting that phrase to mean people who are committed to the needs of the church organization? When we disciple them into serving the programs of the church we are producing members, not necessarily disciples.
Organic growth - It isn’t pretty

(Cindy’s carrot)

Organic growth can be messy. It usually isn’t straightforward and doesn’t necessarily produce uniform results.

Are we willing to patiently allow the real work of transformation by the Spirit in a person’s life instead of expecting them to conform their behavior before it is an internal reality?

Will we ever trust that the Holy Spirit could catalyze and orchestrate community and gathering?

How insistent are we that individual and corporate lives look a certain way - uniform, ideal, polished?

How enamored are we with our methods?

If we were to admit the real lack of reproduction within the church, perhaps we would discover that the reason for our sterility is that we have abandoned our true genetic nature and failed to rely on the life of the Spirit for growth and reproduction.

You can read more at kingdomgrace.

All I can say is, Hmmmmmm!

2008-12-05T19:25:00.004-06:00

From the Christian Network, Ron Teed. Sorry for the format problems as seen below!

Full-Page Citizenship Challenge To Run Twice,
December 1st and 3rd
D.C. National Press Club Event: Dec 8th

An Open Letter
to Barack Obama:

Are you a Natural Born
Citizen of the U.S.?

Are you legally eligible to
hold the Office of President?

We The People Foundation
For Constitutional Education, Inc.
www.WeThePeopleFoundation.org
2458 Ridge Road Queensbury, NY 12804
info@GiveMeLiberty.org

December 1, 2008
Mr. Barack Obama
Barack Obama Transition Office
Kluczynski Federal Building
230 So. Dearborn St.
Chicago, Illinois 60604

Dear Mr. Obama:
Representing thousands of responsible American citizens who have also
taken an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America,
I am duty bound to call on you to remedy an apparent violation of the
Constitution.
Compelling evidence supports the claim that you are barred from holding
the Office of President by the “natural born citizen” clause of the U.S.
Constitution.

For instance:
• You have posted on the Internet an unsigned, forged and thoroughly
discredited, computer-generated birth form created in 2007, a form
that lacks vital information found on any original, hand signed
Certificate of Live Birth, such as hospital address, signature of
attending physician and age of mother.
• Hawaii Dept of Health will not confirm your assertion that you were born
in Hawaii.
• Legal affidavits state you were born in Kenya.
• Your grandmother is recorded on tape saying she attended your birth
in Kenya.
• U.S. Law in effect in 1961 denied U.S. citizenship to any child born
in Kenya if the father was Kenyan and the mother was not yet 19
years of age.
• In 1965, your mother legally relinquished whatever Kenyan or U.S.
citizenship she and you had by marrying an Indonesian and becoming
a naturalized Indonesian citizen.

You have repeatedly refused to provide evidence of your eligibility when
challenged to do so in a number of recent lawsuits. Instead, you have
been successful in having judges declare that they are powerless to order
you to prove your eligibility to assume the Office of President.
Incredibly, the judge in Hawaii actually said it would be an invasion of
your privacy for him to order access to your original birth certificate in
order to prove your eligibility to hold the Office of President.
Before you can legitimately exercise any of the powers of the President
you must meet all the criteria for eligibility established by the Constitution.
You are under a moral, legal, and fiduciary duty to proffer such evidence.
Should you assume the office as anyone but a bona fide natural born
citizen of the United States who has not relinquished that citizenship, you
would be inviting a national crisis that would undermine the domestic
peace and stability of the Nation.

For example:
• You would always be viewed by many Americans as a
poseur - a usurper .
• As a usurper , you would be unable to take the required “Oath or
Affirmation” on January 20 without committing the crime of perjury or
false swearing, for being ineligible you cannot faithfully execute the
Office of the President of the United States.
• You would be entitled to no allegiance, obedience or support from
the People.
• The Armed Forces would be under no legal obligation to remain
obedient to you.
• No civilian in the Executive Branch would be required to obey any of
your proclamations, Executive Orders or directives, as such orders
would be legally void.
• Your appointments of Judges to the Supreme Court would be void.
• Congress would not be able to pass any needed legislation because
it would not be able to acquire the signature of a bona fide President.
• Congress would be unable to remove you, a usurper , from the Office
of the President on Impeachment, inviting certain political chaos
including a potential for armed conflicts within the General
Government or among the States and the People to effect the
removal of such a usurper .

In consideration of the escalating constitutional crisis brought on by the
total lack of evidence needed to conclusively establish your eligibility,
I am compelled to serve you with this First Amendment Petition for a
Redress of this violation of the Constitution.

With all due respect, I ask that you immediately direct the appropriate
Hawaiian officials to allow access to the vault copy of your birth
certificate by our forensic scientists on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
December 5, 6 and 7, 2008.

In addition, I ask that you deliver the following documentary evidence to
the National Press Club in Washington DC by 10 am on December 8, 2008,
marked for my attention:
• A certified copy of your original, signed “vault” birth certificate.
• Certified copies of your reissued and sealed birth certificates in the
names Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Soetoro, Barry Obama, Barack
Dunham and Barry Dunham.
• A certified copy of your Certification of Citizenship.
• A certified copy of your Oath of Allegiance taken upon age of maturity.
• Certified copies of your admission forms for Occidental College,
Columbia University and Harvard Law School.
• Certified copies of any legal documents changing your name.
Each member of the Electoral College, who is committed to casting a vote
on December 15, 2008, has a constitutional duty to make certain you are
a natural-born citizen. As of today, there is no evidence in the public
record (nor have you provided any) that defeats the claim that you are
barred by law from assuming the Office of President because you fail the
Constitution’s eligibility requirements.

All state Electors are now on Notice that unless you provide documentary
evidence before December 15, that conclusively establishes your eligibility,
they cannot cast a vote for you without committing treason to the Constitution.
“In a government of laws, the existence of the government will be imperiled
if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent,
the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people
by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a
lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become
a law unto himself; it invites anarchy .” Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this urgent matter.

Sincerely,
Robert L. Schulz
Chairman

This Open Letter to Mr. Obama will be published in the Chicago Tribune on both Monday, December 1, 2008 and Wednesday, December 3, 2008.

A Huge opportunity!

2008-12-05T19:03:00.005-06:00

I have been out of touch for the past week. I went to see my parents and family over the Thanksgiving weekend. While there, my older brother's daughter died from an 18 month fight with cancer. We prayed for God to heal her and that is what God did -eternally. Dorie Lynn Carder, age 32, went to be with Jesus. She leaves behind a 14 year old daughter, Alexys and a 10 year old son, Barek! Please pray for them.

I had the privilege of doing the funeral along with my son Matthew Carder who brought the message of hope and healing. God truly showed up and all present entered into God's presence and glory.

I saw the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to speak into the lives of those searching for answers. Thanks for being a vessel of the Good News, Matthew! And most of all, praise God for His presence and healing!

I've been out of touch with you while being in touch with those open to Jesus for such a time as this.

Random thoughts by Bill Hull

2008-11-21T11:45:00.003-06:00

Random thoughts on Evangelical Seminaries:

1. Seminaries do not provide students with a scriptural based philosophy of the Church on which to build a ministry.

2. The student will learn what Church is - but not what the Church does."

3. They do not teach pastors to lead Churches to make disciples who make disciples without polarizing the congregation.

4. Pastors are ill equipped to lead existing church into becoming disciple making churches.

The Planter's random thoughts on the thoughts above. Yes Bob has to comment! You must not be surprised here.

1. We need to see the Church as Jesus does... I like to look to China or Africa for a glimpse into what Jesus sees and desires for His Church worldwide.

2. I'm not convinced the students are ever given a correct understanding of who the Church is and if they did understood that - the doing part would become a natural outflow in our lives. We are taught how to become a great American Church with all the bells and whistles. But, we are powerless and our members are not truly "the captives who are set free".

3. You cannot lead existing Churches into total obedience and personal ownership of the Great Commission (with results and accountability) without polarization. We have called our members into something else when they joined our Churches. For the most part they didn't sign on for personal disciple making and total consecration to God with full freedom in Christ. Because of this, I am unemployable in the modern American Church arena. I insist on total consecration that leads to full freedom in Christ and personal ownership of the Great Commission. (Don't get me wrong, I am not looking for another modern American Church to pastor.)

4. If Pastors were equipped to lead modern American Churches in becoming disciple making Churches where the Great Commission is the main thing with Holy Spirit power to lead people into consecrated freedom in Christ - they can't! The membership demands on them, the maintenance of programs, the demands to attract more and more people along with the business demands on them to lead the organization leaves them overwhelmed with no time left to do the main thing.

Finally, I'm looking for leaders (young and old) who long to see the power of God unleashed and to learn how to lead disciples through a consecration process that leads to "captives being totally set free" who are also leading others into the same victory.

This deserves discussion...

2008-11-18T13:58:00.004-06:00

Deadly Detours?
Excerpt from a blog post by Hank Lamb

In 1993 Dr. Os Guinness, of the Trinity Forum Christian think tank in Washington, ...said that the Church needs to get back to "the first things of the Gospel."

Before I mention what these "first things" are, let me share what they are not. Bob Briner catalogued them quite succinctly in his compelling book, Deadly Detours: Seven Noble Causes that Keep Christians from Changing the World. He proclaimed seven deadly detours the church had taken during the 1980s and early 1990s. Here they are:
1. Squabbling over prayer in public school
2. Making Jesus a right-winger
3. Thwarting the homosexual agenda
4. Fighting other Christians over doctrinal purity
5. Shutting down the abortion clinic
6. Cleaning up Christian television
7. Fighting for family values
The first things of the Gospel are (1) that Jesus came and (2) that his kingdom is not of this world. Bob Briner says, "When we forget either of these, when we fail to build our lives and our ministries around them, we cease to be truly evangelical, and we inevitably take deadly detours and miss heavenly highways."

The Planter: Do you think Bob Briner is correct in his conclusion that the two things above (in bold) are the right first things first?

What do you think about Dr. Os Guinness and his comments above?

Humor me

2008-11-18T11:51:00.002-06:00

I had Jury selection duty yesterday. I arrived at 8:30 a.m. with 200 others. They were selecting jurors for three trials. My group had over 60 people in it. We were released from the selection process at 7:30 p.m. Of course it was a total waste of my time and others as well. Since I'm still an ordained pastor and having served as Law Enforcement Chaplain for two departments I'm not getting picked, especially in a child molestation case.

It was a circus and the defense attorney was a real piece of work. If it wasn't so painful it would have been hilarious. I did get to meet allot of people and I guess that makes up for it.

But what about this story...A Rooster get's arrested...in Illinois

Rooster arrested in Benton, Ill.
Becky Malkovich
THE SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN
11/04/2008

BENTON, Ill. -- A rooster played chicken in the wrong town.

That's the word from the downstate community of Benton, where police took a rooster into custody after it allegedly confronted a woman and her child.

Police Chief Mike O'Neill says the rooster has been bothering people lately, trying to keep them from getting where they want to go.

O'Neill says officers had enough on Monday and took the rooster into custody after what he described as a brief scuffle.

Nobody was injured and the rooster was thrown in an enclosed area near the police department. There, it lived on chicken feed and water until police located the owner. Chickens aren't allowed to live in Benton and the rooster was turned over to the owner only after he promised to find it a new home in the country.

Would you like to help raise Next Generation Leaders?

2008-11-14T15:35:00.001-06:00

Dear friends,

I have some staggering news for you. Of all the teens who grow up in the Church only 4% stay in the Church. We are losing the younger generations and something must be done. Don’t you agree?

In Disciple Driven Church and Sun Ministries we have a solution that will engage the hearts of young adults and release a small army to reach their own generation. This coming summer we are taking Next Generation college age students to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to do an extensive Disciple Making Internship. While focusing on their personal consecration to God (spiritual development) we will also train each of them how to multiply disciples & launch movements among their own generation.

I’m helping to raise funds for this project through our Spiritual P.O.W. Dog Tag Program. You can learn more about Spiritual Prisoners Of War dog tags at the link below. We also have a fundraiser partnership if you want to raise funds for other Christian organizations as well.

We plan to take 30 students this year and even more next year.

Here’s how you can help us.
1. Pray for the Internship and those attending
2. Purchase & promote the sale of our P.O.W. dog tags.
3. Please visit Sun Ministries, INC and place your own online order today.

Thanks for you support, everyone makes a difference!

Bob Carder

YouTube - What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.

2008-11-13T14:06:00.000-06:00

YouTube - What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church? A Parable.

Sojourner writes

2008-11-13T13:40:00.000-06:00

When Church Services Leave People Still Needing Church

During a recent conversation, friends were telling me about their journey back into the life of the Church, and of their experiences visiting various congregations. One of these experiences easily stood out from the others:

It was a Sunday morning, and after loading their kids into the car they drove out to one of the larger, and fairly well known churches in their town. Once inside they felt overwhelmed by the performance-oriented "praise band", the constant use of the "big screen", and rally-like "feel" of the entire service. As my friend put it, "I got out of there feeling like I needed to go to church!"

The point, of course, is that much of what is marketed and portrayed as "church" ends up being something less than that. And today's postmodern population is figuring that out.

Yes, my friend was raised in the church, and was exposed to worship styles both liturgical and contemporary. But like so many -- young adults in particular -- he finds solace and comfort and strength from participating in liturgical worship and especially appreciates the ancient-future blend that characterizes the worship gatherings where I serve.

We evangelicals in particular have done violence to many of the ancient traditions of our faith, handed down to us through the centuries. In their place, we have appealed to business and marketing models for doing church, and have used pop-psychology and political correctness as a measuring stick. And although many of us are probably sick and tired of hearing how the Church's effectiveness and witness has been compromised by consumerism, materialism, and radical individualism -- the story of my friend's experience is a painful reminder that we certainly have done violence to the Church, and to her reputation. How sad, that people would come desiring to worship God along with His people, only to leave feeling like what they just experienced wasn't even worship!

Have we slipped THAT far? Are we THAT blind? Are church leaders even open to the idea that we've got it wrong, or is it just easier to blame everything on consumer-oriented congregants? See sojourner for more.

Tell me, please...we need to address this!

2008-11-11T13:47:00.004-06:00

Tell me what you think about the following statement I made in a previous comment section.

"If you fail to lead believers into full consecration to God you will also fail to lead them into being totally set free."

Set free from what? Examples: Sins we repented from, bondage, Satanic strong holds, generational sins, possession/oppression, open doors that need to be shut, replacing the lies of the enemy with the truth of God, anything that keeps us from being fully consecrated to God.

Jesus came to set the captives free, why then are so many believers still living in bondage from the past and not victorious in the present? Why then are so many professing believers not really free?

I recommend this excellent book and it's free

2008-11-07T10:05:00.003-06:00

From "The Simple/House Church Revolution" Book by Roger Thoman . The entire book can still be downloaded here.
I appreciate Rogers attempts to redefine the Church and her mission and doing it for free. Who does that these days? Thanks to Roger and Simple House Church for doing this for us. Also, at the end of this excerpt from the book I offer some thoughts on disciple-making. I am overall very impressed with this work.

"Church according to Miriam-Webster’s online dictionary:
1: a building for public and especially Christian worship
2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body
3: a body or organization of religious believers: as a: the whole body of Christians b: denomination c: congregation
4: a public divine worship

Webster defines church according to the way this word is used today. I was taught this same definition as a little boy when I would put my hands together and recite the rhyme: “Here is the church, and here is the steeple; open the door and here are all the people.”

Jesus, however, introduced the term “church” with a very different meaning in mind. He used a word “ekklesia” that simply described a group or assembly of people. This is the original definition of the word. He described “church” as those people who were following Him—people walking in allegiance to him. People. His followers. Nothing more than that.

Jesus did not spend much time describing how to organize his people together or how to do meetings. Rather, his focus was on a lifestyle of loving others and obeying Him: “Go into all the world…” “Let your light shine…” “Do what you see the Father doing…” “Love one another…” Church, as defined by Jesus, was simply his followers living life for and with him.

Over the years, however, the word “church” began to include the many structures and forms that we added to the original meaning:
• Public meeting places (buildings or storefronts)
• Organizations of believers who get together to be led by a worship team and preached to by a pastor
• Denominations that we join

But, as John Eldredge reminds us:
Church is not a building. Church is not an event that takes place on Sundays. I know, it's how we've come to think of it. ‘I go to First Baptist.’ ‘We are members of St. Luke's.’ ‘Is it time to go to church?’ Much to our surprise, that is not how the Bible uses the term. Not at all. No. Not at all. Church is God’s people—those who are choosing to live life with Jesus… 24/7. That is it. Nothing more.

But don’t God’s people gather together? Yes. We do see gatherings take place in Scripture. Many gatherings. Most often informal and simple. Normally in homes (Romans 16:5). Everyone participated (1 Corinthians 14:26). They functioned as spiritual families that cared deeply for one another (Romans 12:10). Yet the focus of the church (God’s people) was a lifestyle of Jesus-following, rather than organizing events, attending programs, or joining organizations.

Perhaps the best way to describe the church of the New Testament is as small, vibrant, caring families of believers who are loving others and reproducing themselves into every corner of the world."

The Planter: This is a refreshing book, full of Truth! The author places far too much emphasis on House Churches, in my opinion. How we meet is not the important thing, we can meet as the Body anywhere. The heart of Jesus and His mission is the important thing. I appreciate the fact that he makes claim that all believers should make disciples, but he leaves out bringing new believers through a deliberate consecration/deliverance from sin process. Let me explain, Jesus came to set the captives free and in our disciple making movement here in St. Louis we insist that every believer be taken through a consecration process that leads to deliverance from sin, bondage, strongholds, open doors, demonic activity and the lies of the enemy are replaced with the Truth of God's Word. We have discovered (it took me long enough to see, too long) that without a consecration/deliverance emphasis the new follower isn't totally free to be victorious and nor is he/she Holy Spirit empowered. For us, this is the main thing in disciple making. Now that we have done this our new disciple makers having gone through a consecration/deliverance process are now leading their new disciples through the same. It is part of our disciple making culture.

In the end, we don't just have disciples who profess Christ, we have consecrated disciples who have victory over sin, strong accountability and Holy Spirit power in their lives. This is the really cool part. With the consecration element of our discipleship process we have solid Christ followers who obey Jesus regardless of the cost. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is not reduced to saying a sinners prayer but more about being totally consecrated to Him.

After praying I must post this...STINGING COLUMN!

2008-11-06T18:53:00.005-06:00

First let me say that Obama is a God placed leader for our future. I support him and so should all of us. He will be our next President if God wills it.

I have come to believe that the ineffectiveness of the Republican Party to be the direct result of the ineffectiveness of the modern American Church. When the church decided to move out of the larger cities of America - the needs of the people we are supposed to meet; the poor,the widows and orphans went largely unmet. The very people God warned us to take care of- are the people the church has largely forsaken. I didn't even mention that the church is not changing society! What happened to our light and salt and ability to lead people into consecration and freedom in Christ? That's another column.

Then came Obama, and he gave the homeless,widows, orphans and the poor a tremendous hope and he spoke to their needs and in return they (and others of course) rose up and elected him the next President of the United States. It was the people the church ignored who made a difference in this election. They spoke! We should listen. God is speaking, are we listening?

The thing that saddens me is that I have contributed to the ignorance of real needs in real places. I repent of that, but I also promise to never again ignore the people God told us to pay attention to. He cares about the poor, the needy, the homeless, the orphans and widows. I'm glad they will have an advocate in the White House. I know they have an advocate in heaven! Obama spoke to their needs and they heard him. They are not hearing the Church in America this way. Where is the voice and compassion of Jesus?

I just pray that the Church in America will wake up and take our rightful place in declaring the Glory of God by meeting the needs of people, the physical and spiritual, of those who all matter to God.

The Conservative Republican Party is where she is today because the modern American Church is where she is today, both are ineffective to meet the real needs of society. There is a correlation. We believers bear responsibility for not making a difference in the darkest and hardest places in America. We know the need is present - we have just come to ignore it. God, please forgive me, please!

To see what we are doing in Disciple Driven Church and Sun Ministries check us out.

You can help us make a difference. We need your help! Will you help us?

Chuck Coleson, "The Day After: Pray for our President and Nation"

2008-11-06T18:46:00.002-06:00

The Day After
Pray for Our President and Our Nation
November 5, 2008
Whether you voted for Barack Obama or John McCain, whether you’re recovering from your all-night celebration or drying the tears from your pillow, today’s a good day to remember the words of the apostle Paul: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

And the new President will surely need our prayers because he and his administration face huge, serious challenges to the health of our nation and to peace in the world—challenges that, in my opinion, neither he nor any government on earth will have the power to overcome without divine aid.

How has America come to this point? Why is our economy on the brink of disaster? Why is our culture so utterly depraved?

I can only think of what Alexandr Solzhenitsyn said about the catastrophic consequences of the Russian revolution. “I recall,” he said, “hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.”
Solzhenitsyn was right. Indeed, I can’t find any better explanation for why we Americans find ourselves in the state we are in. We have forgotten God.
We have also forgotten that American democracy—indeed Western Civilization itself—is the product of the Judeo-Christian understanding of God and humanity. Without that revelation that man is created in the image of God, our founders never would have recognized the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, as I and others like Rodney Stark have argued, modern science and education, liberal democracy, capitalism flourished in Western civilization precisely because of the Judeo-Christian worldview.

The attacks on Christianity these days are only going to intensify in the months ahead. But we must press on all the more to make a winsome witness. Those who would banish Christianity from American life are risking the very survival of American society.

Friends have asked me whether this economic crisis is God’s judgment upon us. I don’t know.
As I’ve re-read the Old Testament prophets recently, I couldn’t help but notice the recurring theme: The people of God turned away from Him and worshipped false idols. The result was always disaster.
Is God responsible for credit markets collapsing around the world? No. We’re responsible. Because instead of worshiping God, we’ve worshipped false idols of the marketplace, credit card companies and cheap mortgages. We’ve put our own appetites over our duties to God and neighbor.

So this is no time for Christians to go into the bunkers. No time to wail or moan over our retirement plans. This is a time to repent, to pray more, to give more. It’s a time for Christians to lead, encourage, and minister to a faltering country in a faltering economy.

This is a time for the Church to get serious about Christian discipleship. Enough cheap grace.

So pray for the new President and his administration. But most of all, my brothers and sisters, this is a time to love our neighbors and to hunger for God and His righteousness.

The Planter: Pointing out the ineffectiveness of the modern American Church is not the same as attacking Christianity. Christ followers must speak out against anything that undermines the cause and mission of Christ. If we are ineffective as the modern American Church, and we are, let's admit it and roll up our sleeves and get back in business for Jesus.