MD|classifieds

Help Wanted! We're working on a super exciting (and secret -for now-) project and we need a volunteer! This person needs to have a desire to help and meet the following criteria:

-Able to use technology- Must have a laptop or tablet available for testing
-Able to communicate- Must be available to communicate readily throughout the day (respond within an hour)
-Must be committed to MD- Preferrably someone who is in for the long haul, and is active in Covenant Community

What do you think? Can you help? Let Jesse know if this is something you're willing to hop on board with! Talk to you soon!
-Jesse
contact me on facebook, twitter, g+ or at jesse@missiodeinj.com

GCM Equip- Recap

I have seen and felt a burden on some of us recently to be more willing and more capable to share the Gospel to the people around us.  Personally , I feel we talk about it fairly often and the conversation sort of trails off to silence where we’re all  wondering why it isn’t easier to talk about Jesus to our friends, co-workers, neighbors, even our family. We are a mission minded church! We are out there in the community! But are we able to talk about our relationship with our Savior as easily as we are about the game over the weekend or the movie we saw  Honestly, I know I’m not where I need to be.

A couple weekends ago,  I had the privilege of attending the GCM Collective Equip seminar where the topic was: Gospel Fluency: Sharing the Gospel in Everyday Language. Pastor Phil Henry from Mercy Hill Presbyterian Church  shared some great biblical and practical truths that are applicable not only to me, but to all of us as we strive to be on mission.

I’ve outlined below some of the main point from the talk:  

• Normal Speech -  Speak what comes easy to you, your ‘mother tongue.’ Don’t try to fumble over big fancy words.  Ephesians talks about having the balance of speaking the truth IN LOVE. Pastor Phil Henry also spoke about how the Gospel can bring people up from low points in their lives
• Takes Time – Just as learning to talk takes time, so does learning how to speak the Gospel into people’s lives. We start out being consciously competent, paying attention to what we’re saying and speaking very carefully. However our goal is to be unconsciously competent in our Gospel speech, so that our Gospel talk just comes naturally. (Oh how nice that would be! )
• Learned in Community and Family-  Our language we speak is learned by the people we’re around, mainly our family. The same goes for how we speak the Gospel The more we surround ourselves in community and encourage each other in the Gospel, the easier it will be to have it come naturally in our own language.  John 17 was referenced here.
• Bilingual -   We are to be “in the world, but not of it” . We are to be in the culture, to know the language of the people around us.  (John 17:14) Just as if we were in another country and fluent in two languages,  we are in this world and need to be fluent in language of the Gospel so as to reach the unsaved in an effective way.

I've also added some practical ways you can learn to become more fluent in speaking the Gospel:

• Practice Group Exercises -  While in your community groups and family,  practice Gospel speech. For example –
  • Can you write out the Gospel in one sentence?
  • Can you find the Gospel story in the Bible? Can you find the Gospel laid out in different stories in the Bible?
  • Think of a time in the past, in the present, and in the future. How does the Gospel fit into those stories in your own life, where does it overlap?
• Love and Know the Bible- Don’t take the Gospel for granted and assume all Christians know the Bible.  Do you know the ABCs of the Gospel?
• Believe the Truth- Do you depend on the Bible and God to get you only through difficult times? Or is the Gospel active and apart of every part of your life.
• Repent- It’s important to think the same thing of yourself that God thinks of you.  Don’t focus on past sins that God has forgiven you of.
• Suffer- God has called his children to suffer. It is in those moments of suffering that we are able to let the Gospel to shine through.

Some of my own thoughts/take-aways from the equip seminar –

As I seek to teach and speak carefully with my children, my speech should be the same with everyone I come into contact with. I understand that I am discipling my children to be raised up into the admonition of the Lord, I should be just as careful and intentional with my speech with my other relationships

In my interactions, do I give good advice or do I give Jesus? For example, if someone is diagnosed with a illness do I tell them all the great doctors in the area that they could go to? Or do I attempt to reach their heart and encourage them with the Gospel.

When people share struggles, try not to focus on the negative, but on the work that the Holy Spirit has done in their life?

What is in your life that makes you want to read the Bible? Jesus loves you whether you read the Bible or not.

The Gospel is past, present, and future, Where do see the Gospel active in your life?

When we are able to see the Gospel in our lives, and then able to talk about it and become more fluent in it. It is then that we are able to have the Gospel be “normal speech”  in our interactions with others.

- Becca Gruber

Missing Missional Opportunities

[photo via http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/4457294321/ ]

We just had a huge snowstorm last night. There's a ton that goes through my mind when we get snow in our area. Will my Jeep start so I can get home from work? Does my wife have to travel in this? How's my Grandmom in all this?

Fortunately, my car did start, my wife stayed home, safe and sound, and my Grandmom is just fine.
This morning, I was fiddling on the computer completing some tasks for my up and coming design business. I noticed my neighbor snowblowing his yard. I watched for a few moments (to see if he was doing it right), then went back to work. It wasn't til about an hour later as I was talking with Hannah that it hit me: Why wasn't I out there helping him, showing him Jesus? Did I really just completely miss a missional opportunity?

The more I invest in Missio Dei, the more I encounter situations where I can be missional. What will I do with them? Will I take the chance and be Jesus to my neighbors? Or will I sit tight in my comfort zone and be selfish? The more opportunities I encounter, the more opportunities I turn down. What do I do about missing a missional opportunity? I think there can be three steps to rectifying a missed missional opportunity:

1. Get up and do something- I don't mean this is a harsh way, but in such a way as to provoke us to action. Rather than wallow in our failure, we can often still redeem our missed opportunity before it's completely gone. If you realize in enough time, get in the ring!
2. Apologize- This might seem like a weird step. After all, it's not like we "sinned" necessarily by missing an opportunity. This step is to create a new missional opportunity to rectify the one you missed. For instance, as soon as I'm done composing this post, I plan on Facebook messaging my neighbor to let him know I saw him out there in the snow, as well as to apologize for not helping out. This could open up good Gospel dialogue with him.
3. Repent- This looks like remembering this missed opportunity, and taking steps to not miss it again. Next time it snows, I'll make sure I'm up early to help my neighbor shovel his yard.

Have you missed any missional opportunities recently? What's your plan to get back in the game?

New Year, New Goals

 I don't have dreams. I have goals. And when I meet one, it's on to the next. -Harvey Specter in Suits

Wow! What a year! Before we push hard into 2014, I just wanted to take a few moments to remind us of what's been accomplished in 2013, as well as communicate what's up ahead for 2014. There are two main focuses here at MD: serving outside the body of Christ, and serving inside the body of Christ. We've got a lot accomplished and a lot planned in both of these aspects, so let's take a look!

Outside the Body

Glassboro Family Success Center and Boys & Girls Club- These two programs were among the first community resources  we plugged ourselves into. Justin had a job at the GFSC for a few months, and built some key relationships there. We now have Nathan and Amy on the board of the GFSC. They are helping to strategically care for those hurting in our community. Emily Senski is championing our presence in the Boys and Girls club by helping them communicate more efficiently, organize events, and care for hurting, broken children in the community.

Glassboro's Memorial Day Parade- This was our "debut," meaning, our first real exposure to the community at large. We marched along with our banners and t-shirts, handing out invitations, candy, and pens to the thousands of Glassboro-ers lining the streets. We learned a TON from this event, namely always have enough freebies on hand. We quickly ran out of everything! At the tail end of the parade, several MDers had the honor of helping to fold the community's 50ft American flag. What a day!

Glassboro Market Place Events- We were able to get 3 tents at many of the town's Marketplace events. We offered free resources, kid's activities, and a changing station to provide some privacy for moms with little ones. Over the course of the summer we handed out dozens of counseling resources, hundreds of flyers, and thousands of ballon animals to attendees. That was only half of the opportunity! We also go there early and left late to help other vendors set up and tear down for the day. This gave us a lot of inroads and opportunities to minister to the vendors on a personal level rather than some of the hit-and-run tactics we had to employ throughout the day. We received several letters from event coordinators thanking us for our love for the community and willingness to serve. Lord willing, we'll be seeing some of them in church soon!

Adopted Families for Christmas- Last year MD helped one family in need have a great Christmas. This year, we sent each Covenant Community Group into the stores to provide thousands of dollars worth of gifts to 4 different families in need. Through our connection with the Glassboro Family Success Center, we had needy families hand selected from throughout our local community to be ministered to by our covenant community this Christmas season.

Within the Body

The Membership Process and Church Leadership Training- At launch, we had 1 elder and no members. To date, we have had 1 discipleship training, 2 leadership training events with a third on the way, and about 15 people accepted as members. Praise God! We look for exciting things happening in these regards in 2014, but more on that in a section to come ;-)

Covenant Community Group Expansion- At the start of the year, we only had one CCG that met on Wednesdays. We now have pushed out to four total community groups, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays! As we continue to grow and shape our CCGs, we'll be able to connect with the teaching and each other personally on deeper levels, as well as with our community in missional and incarnation ways. None of that face value stuff!                            

Generous Giving- We don't have all the financial info gathered from 2013 yet, but we're not in the negative. Not close. Praise God for that! As we grow this year, we will spend more money than last. We rely on generous gifts every week to meet our financial needs. With no paid staff, 100% of what was given in 2013 went straight to the streets! Thanks!

Wrapping It Up

We had a blast of a year! I remember those crazy few weeks of nonstop marketplace events, and thank God we have a little break! But breaks don't mean we stop being productive. As we are still adjusting to 2014, here are some few things to be thinking/praying/doing:

• Give generously and consistently- One thing we learned in 2013 is that when there's an emergency need, we're quick to meet it, but our week to week giving fluctuates greatly. This makes it difficult project how much we'll have at any given time, and hinders event planning and purchasing. If you could be praying on how you can give generously and consistently in 2014, it would be such a blessing.

• Consider membership- As EJ recently mentioned, we're wrapping up round 1 of MD members! Over the next few weeks, we'll welcome around 15 people into a purposeful covenant with MD as their home base! If you don't have a home church or bounce between 2 or 3 churches on a Sunday, consider membership. If you end up committing somewhere other than MD, we ask you pour your heart into your home church and invest in them heavily. If not, ask us for membership papers and read what a covenant with MD looks like for  you.

• Consider leadership roles- We've gone through 3 leadership training sessions that outline the church offices and their role in the church. As we wrap up some of the membership process, consider taking on a leadership role. Can you serve as a deacon or deaconness? Are you willing? Men, do you desire the office of elder? How is God shaping your place at Missio Dei?

• Consider branching out- MD is a part of many different community organizations currently. If you arent' involved in any of them, why not? Talk to Nathan or Amy about serving that the Family Success Center. Chat with Emily Senski about the Boys and Girls Club. Let John or Pat know you want to get involved with Choices of the Heart. Branch out a little.

Now what? What plate will you step up to in 2014? Let's go!

[image "new year" by Sally Mahoney]

Read with us during Advent

Hey guys! Advent is here! Yay!

I've created a super easy way for us to dive into some Advent Scriptures that I wanted to share with all of you.

Getting started

What you'll need:

• Faithlife Study Bible App
• Free Faithlife Account
• Computer access
• 10 minutes

Download the Faithlife Study Bible app (here for Android; here for iOS) and sign up for a free account. Then, log on to faithlife.com and sign in. Then, head to faithlife.com/missio-dei to join our community.

Head back to the app, and you should see a section called "Today's Readings" and a Genesis passage for Advent. Click and you're ready to start!

Faithlife as a resource

Faithlife is put out by Logos (same guys who make our church presentation software, Proclaim). I highly recommend diving into their Bible app. Not only can you follow along with us as we read through Advent, but it will also connect with our presentations on Sunday, allowing you quick access to references and content. 

Drop a comment, or contact us on facebook, twitter, g+, wherever if you need help signing up or downloading anything!

**If you currently use the Logos Bible app, there's no need to download the Faithlife Bible app. Just sign into Faithlife with your Logos username and password and join our group. Your reading plan will appear in the Logos app automagically. 

Note from a member- Kayla

 

"I've been reflecting this week about the past 7 months at Missio Dei church. I would like to publicly say how grateful I am to God for leading me to Missio Dei. My concept of church has totally been redefined; for years "church" meant a building. Now "church" is this intimate family of believers who constantly loves, encourages, and challenges me. I am so blessed to be a part of this family. If you're looking for a church, check us out!!" -Kayla Hill

Pitman Tragedy

This past Tuesday tragic news hit my block in Pitman: one of our neighbors strangled his 6 year old son to death and beat his wife in the head until she too died. Needless to say my community is shaken. The kids on our street have lost a playmate, their lives forever scarred by the decision of one man. I felt it necessary to make a few comments on the events of this past week 

All have sinned

I think one of the most important things to remember is that we all stand before God guilty. This is not to make the impact of this tragedy less, but I've found my own tendency to forget my need for Jesus to save me when I focus on the wrong of others. While this behavior isn't normative, humanity's sin is ubiquitous: we can't escape it. Have you burst out in anger at your children this week? Have you treated your wife's sin as more grievous than your own? Have you indulged yourself in selfish sin in your singleness? 

Jesus is the hero

For all the sin that we commit, Jesus' death killed it, burial buried it, and resurrection left it forgiven in the grave. As we've been reminded of our own sin, we should also remember the great sacrifice Jesus has made for humanity's sin. He doesn't want us to wrong our brothers, sisters, spouses, or children, but rather run to him, accept forgiveness, and live life differently for him. To live on mission for Jesus gives us intense purpose in our otherwise mundane lives.  

If you have any questions about your sin or Jesus forgiveness, feel free to email me personally at jesse@missiodeinj.com or the church directly at info@missiodeinj.com. As always, feel free to share this article and pass it around. 

Legacy and Ladies

Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all."-Proverbs 31:28-29

Legacy is not just for dudes, it's also for the ladies. We are predominantly a young church. That brings with it a lot of opportunity and a lot of work too, sometimes Legacy feels like a masculine topic and we don't translate into the world of femininity well. But we are just starting out and I realize that we can get it right, right out of the gate...but again it's gonna take work. Most forms that we fill out give us some simple questions to fill out like Gender: Female, Marital status: Single, Married, Married with children...and sometimes I personally don't connect all those possibilities for the ladies. Guys I get. I yell at the guys, because I know how I need to get yelled at. I understand the need for Men to rise up and lead their culture, community, church, workplace, home, wife, and family well. To walk them towards their relationship with Jesus and see their lives poured out like Jesus' on the cross, and the ladies sit back and say uh-huh, thats right, get em...But since God's Word is an equal opportunity offender when it comes to our selfish desires, Ladies I wanted to take some very specific steps so you can understand that you need to get Legacy, your Legacy depends on it.

Look ladies, it's going to come up, so lets get this submission thing out of the way early. Ladies, Jesus submitted. He submitted to His Father, and He willingly went the way of humanity and the Cross. Jesus knew that His Father knew what was best for Him and His glory, so he willingly followed, submitted to Him. The Scripture asks ladies to follow in the same way to be submissive to their husbands. Not blindly or blanketly, but in faith wisely helping, questioning, communicating, and submitting. Now I know some of you are thinking "I have no faith in men, my husband, my boyfriend, my father, etc... they are certainly not Jesus." The Bible does not leave opportunity for such a simple cop out, it's true intention is to question whether or not you have faith in the God who asks you to submit, not in the messed up man standing before you. One very clear caveat, please do not see this as a place to allow abuse and neglect to be swept under the rug of "submission", God is not ok with His daughters being abused and mis-treated by a dominant, smug, and foolish man. He has put Godly men in His church to help you in such cases, He has also given you the police and other agencies to help step in where there is help needed to ensure the safety of you and the community as well as the correction of the man foolish enough to pursue such cowardice. I hope this is sufficient enough for us to move forward in the submission conversation.

All that ground work, now lets crack a Bible. 1 Peter 3:1-6 is my favorite place to see how this should play out...It starts out with this very awesome statment which says that a wife should be subject to their husbands even if their husbands don't know the Word, so that with out a word their wives would win them over by their Godly conduct. I love the call to women here, Peter actually assumes that a wife may be called first to Jesus, and need to live and love a man that does not know God or His love. Peter does not assume that ladies will meet a Jesus loving dude that will redeem them, nor does he assume that they will be called to salvation while single. In fact he assumes the most difficult of the 3 scenarios, mainly that a wife would be called first to the Lord and after need to live with a non-believing husband. This is incredibly hopeful because rather than starting with simple issues the passsage dives right into life; real, hard, messy life.

Godly conduct, or mode of life (I like the mode of life definition, it really captures the idea of an all encompassing modus operandum) is the living out of the Gospel in the absolutely enormous, yet very minute, hum, drum of everyday life. Paul Tripp rightly asserts that the giant moments of life are actually the everyday choices we make, rather than those seemingly big "life decisions". For example, my wife Becka moving all the stuff that I unwittingly just leave by the front door, and putting them away, choosing a later, more restful and peaceful moment (a rare moment in our house indeed) to communicate and ask me to help her by putting my stuff away instead of blocking the main entrance to our home, is a way that the gospel flows through her conduct and calls me towards Jesus. In the same way the wife of an unbelieving husband will point towards her Saviour as she lives out this lifestyle, and worships God through prayer, teaching in the home, time spent with her Family of New Birth, and Bible study. Oh and coincidentally ladies that are married to believers should conduct themselves the same way, it sanctifies their husband towards Christ. Oh, and single ladies should conduct themselves in the same way, it redeems the world around you back to the cross and will help you to be content in Christ (and will have the side affect of showing the dudes around you that you are God's daughter and need to be treated as such cause you aint gonna just roll over to some dumb boy that doesn't got his stuff together...but I digress).

How bout modesty? vs. 2-4 says that God's ladies should be known by their gentle and quiet spirit and not by their flaunting of their appareal. BUT is that all? I have a slight observation...Ladies that don't care that much about modesty also don't care that much about how much, or how loudly, or how harshly they act or treat others including their husband. God's word is not subscribing to some shut up and sit down mentality here, instead it is simply continuing it's counter cultural push and highlighting what God desires His daughters do, as opposed to what the cultural norm might suggest. 

Our culture has empowered women to take hold of their equality, yes, you can be like men...you can get trashed at the bar and snag some dude for a one night stand and then wake up and take the morning after pill with a gallon of water, and give half the day away to last night just to do it all again.

It will be really easy especially if you wear that certain V-neck that is so low it reaches your belly button and your skirt couldn't get any shorter if it was made for a smurf. Tight/Short clothes tend to indicate loose woman...if you are God's daughter don't let someone mistake the former for the later, dress in a way that the most visible attribute about yourself is your spirit, or more specifically The Spirit.

Our last (I promise really our last) thing to talk about is the reference to Sarah in verses 5-6. The short of it is that even in a seeming moment of extreme emotion (this quote in 1 Peter refers back to Genesis 18:12) she still refers to Abraham with respect. The long of it is a bit more interesting. Verse 6 tells us that the major thing here is not calling your husband by a particular respect term, but rather not letting fear control you. No seriously that is the big communication. See, if you have faith in God you move towards Him in love and life, and you make your decisions based more and more upon His leading. And He desires good for you, He will bring about His glory in your actions. So by putting your faith in God, there is little to fear from a mere mortal man or temporal situation, because God is Lord over them. AGAIN, don't however let this concept of fear push you to allowing sin go unchecked and unaccounted for. There is no room in God's kingdom for his daughters being abused by foolish men, do not let some sense of blind and foolish faith allow you kingdom ladies to trust God and let a man be abusive and sinful thinking that that must be what God wants for you...it's not. He desires you to live boldly and fearlessly for Him. For additional reading check out 1 Tim 2:9-15 and Prov. 31:10-31, write down questions and grab a good commentary, especially for 1 Tim...and discuss it :-)

 -Justin Gruber

Why MD is Social

MD is virtually everywhere. Facebook. Twitter. Google+. Even Pinterest. Isn't that overkill? Why would we have so much stuff going on online? Couldn't we be spending our time and efforts elsewhere?

"The truth is, we have a reason for pretty much everything we do." Click to tweet.

The answer is: It depends. It goes back to living intentionally. The truth is, we have a reason for pretty much everything we do. We do our best to weigh each decision we make with Scripture and how to further advance God's kingdom.

That's why we're on social media: it's where people are. There are 2 types of evangelism that can both accomplish the mission of the church: attractional and incarnational approaches. Depending on what church you're coming from, just hearing the work attractional might make you cringe, but it doesn't have to be that way. To be "attractional" would be to invite a friend to church for them to hear the gospel. To be "incarnational" would be to dive into relationship with someone and persuade them to give Jesus a try. Both are necessary to the advancement of the kingdom! Now, back on topic. We're on social media as a form of attractional ministry. Every time we post a YouTube video, create a blog post, upload a photo, or post a status our intention is to increase our reach, and in turn, increase the amount of people receiving our gospel-centered material and interacting with it.

"These systems are in place to get people living for Jesus (both by attractional and incarnational methods) and growing for Jesus so the pattern can be repeated and our community changed!" Click to tweet.

 Now, we would be amiss if this were all we were doing to win people for Jesus. That's why we enable everyone at almost every service to become active in their relationships and communities to change them for Christ. That's also why we're teaching through discipleship Wednesday Tuesday and Wednesday nights. That's why we encourage small group meeting to discuss Scripture and pray. These systems are in place to get people living for Jesus (both by attractional and incarnational methods) and growing for Jesus so the pattern can be repeated and our community changed!

 So, now that you know why we are social, we ask for your participation! If your mindlessly browsing your Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ feeds and you see a status or photo by MD, please share, retweet, and repost! Join us in our efforts to reach as many as we can with gospel rich content.

Intentional Living- The Short Version

God has gifted me with wonderful parents. My mom and dad are still loving Jesus and each other after almost 30 years! As I look at the patterns in my life today, many good ones (and only a few bad) can be traced back to specific teaching opportunities they took with  me when I was younger. I think, next to Jesus, the concept of intentional living has stuck with me the most, and is something I will not easily forsake. 

"In high school stuff was simple: don't do it." Click to Tweet

High school was a bummer. I was wrapped up in legalism. If music had more than one beat, your hair touched your eyebrow (guys), had ink on your arm, or a hole in your body that wasn't supposed to be there, it was hell for you in my book. In high school stuff was simple: don't do it. There's no such thing as a yellow light or grey area in legalism. But what of all the Scriptures that spoke of freedom? Wasn't Jesus the one that sets free, breaks chains? Yeah. That's what my mom and dad started to realize. 

As my parent's faith and Scriptural understanding grew, so did mine. We started learning about things like grace and freedom from religion. When they told me about living life intentionally, now that's when things started to change. They made me dive into movie reviews, video game reviews, and music reviews so I would learn why I would interact with what I was entertaining myself with. 

"If God does things with a purpose, so should we." Click to Tweet

 God made humanity in His own image and likeness, and the entertainment we bring into our eyes, ears and hearts is not just some mindless nothingness. These forms of art were designed for a reason and  placed in a context. If a musician produces music for a purpose, certainly Christians would understand this concept right? After all, if God does things with a purpose, so should we. This is not the case...

This morning I was reading in Acts, and I was astonished at the number of conversions in a matter of chapters!

• And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved -2:47
• But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand -4:4
• And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. -5:14-15

It seemed like every time I blinked, countless people were responding to Jesus being God. Chapter 5 closes out with the apostles being beaten for their proclamation of the gospel. As soon as they are released, Luke records this: "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus," (Acts 5:42). 

These men lived with a purpose. Lived intentionally. They didn't have to talk about Jesus, like it was some kind of chore, or an awkward conversation piece. They lived their lives intentionally (and even died intentionally) by preaching and living out the gospel. 

Living intentionally has changed the way I interact with the world. Consider the apostles, and lets change Glassboro for Jesus!

Study Session

As I was studying for nursing school at the Barnes and Noble for Rowan University in Glassboro, I was secretly studying the people around me as well. I went to B&N on a mission: to familiarize myself with the culture Misiso Dei is trying to reach. I watched two younger guys make spreadsheets and discuss finance two tables down. To my left was a girl  sitting "coffee shop-style" in an oversized lounge chair reading a book. As my study session progressed, I realized that this is doable. 

Church planting has been a huge (exciting, but huge) task in my head for the past few weeks. Glassboro looks a lot bigger when I look at it as a mission field, a warzone. But watching the people in B&N, I realized these people were just like me. That fact alone gave me peace. Jesus came to save people like me, so there should be absolutely no reason why I need to be intimidated about the seemingly daunting task of planting in Glassboro. But I still wondered, What does it take?

"Glassboro looks a lot bigger when I look at is as a mission field." Post to Twitter

Then a man with a limp started tripping down the escalator. 
I shot up and got to him (the only one who tried, which astounded me). The poor man's cane had fallen the 30ft down the escalator, and I accompanied him the rest of the way down, making sure he didn't' follow all his belongings down as well. After he was situated, I rode back up the escalator and continued studying.

That's what Glassboro needs to see! They need to see Missio Dei in the community, helping to make it better, and sharing Jesus as we go!

We're currently forming a mission statement, but it's only for legalities. We know what mission we have! As we look forward to our soft launch November 4th, lets not forget it! See you Sunday.

Change- by John Gruber

This post was written by John Gruber back in 2008. The truths still apply today, so we'd like to share them with you. Enjoy!

I used to think there were only two certainties in life- death and taxes. While the one is inescapable the other is a constant drain on all the oppressed who are blessed with an income. There is however another definite constant that is unavoidable. It is undeniable and blatantly obvious. It goes on in us and around us everyday. It even happens while we are sleeping. It is change. I write this as a person who is changing and I am writing to you, a person who is different today than you were yesterday, last week, last month, last year.

To say we do not change is to deny a fundamental truth of human existence. However, of all the ways that change happens to you and me, the spiritual changes are often the hardest to recognize. It’s not hard to see the change that marriage makes, or the change in income between the old job, the new job, or no job at all. It’s not hard to see your child change from crawling to walking to running. Yet if you evaluate how you are better suited to live this thing called the Christian life, you may find it a little more difficult to see those areas of needed change.

"To say we do not change is to deny a fundamental truth of human existence." Post to Twitter

One Bible professor said it this way, “Only one word describes the life of a believer, and that word is “change”.” Now I would have said “saved”, “redeemed”. “born again” and so on. The word change truly captures the essence of our spiritual journey and resting place in the Savior, Jesus Christ. I was changed from lost to found, from dead in my sin to alive in Christ, from sinner to saint. As grand and glorious as salvation is, change does not stop upon our acceptance of the free Gift. No, change defines the actual life of true believers. Change from self and the old man to Christ-likeness and towards living out of our new nature. This change is testimony of a God who is alive, active, and pursuing all those who are his children.
 
Often times His desire to change us goes unnoticed, and then there are those ordained moments when He desires to change us in ways so deep and to the core that we wince, cry, and even kick against it. After all, although we can’t deny that we need to change sometimes we just feel safe that things are the way they are. So infinite and deep is our God’s knowledge of what is good for us that change takes on dimensions that are unfamiliar and down right scary to us. 

"So critical is our need to be changed into the image of Christ that God has a no-holds-barred approach in our sanctification process." Post to Twitter

I think of the changes over the past several years in my own life. It seems that the most dark and troublesome times brought about the most deep and lasting change. Those things I feared greatly were used to strip me of the nuts and bolts that I thought life in Christ was all about. My journey began as my wife, Pat, regressed into depression- a depression so deep that our lives were turned inside out. What used to be safe and secure was stripped away. Confidences in finances, job security, physical health, family, friends, church, home, and worst of all, faith evaporated in a few horrific months. Feet that found safety on the firm ground of “normal” found a slippery slope that slid down to a dark, foreboding pit.  Hope in God met squarely with hope in medicine. Faith in God looked face to face with reliance on self. There was no comfort, there was no relief, there was no joy, there was no light. Looking back, I still shutter at the shear horror of that time. I don’t wish it on anyone, in fact I would rather trade places with someone in the pit of depression. I can say this because I know that lasting change has at its very core in a God who changes what we call bad and arduous into something good and holy. So here I am, changed. Seeing in retrospect what was the only solution possible to mold and make Pat and me into children of the King that look more like Him and function in ways that bring Him glory. Those of you reading who know me, know that this child of the King isn’t perfect yet. I need more change, don’t I? Perhaps it will come slow and comfortably, perhaps it will come swiftly and painfully. There are no guarantees as to how God will grow us, but this one fact shows His great and abiding grace and power- He will change us and He will change us for our good and His eternal purposes. Isn’t that worth rejoicing over!

welcome to missio Dei.