Christian Faculty and Staff Network gathering on 9/29 - Next discussion: Chapter 4 - Profile of the lukewarm

Join us on Wednesday, September 29, at 11:45 AM (done by 12:45 PM). We meet at the Baptist Campus Ministries building (University Boulevard and 4th Avenue), and (drum roll!) lunch will be served! At $1 per meal, it's the best meal deal in town. 

Meeting logistics 

Meet space change 

Weather permitting, we'll gather at the picnic tables by the front door of the building. That should give us an opportunity to enjoy some early fall weather. 

When we meet indoors or when weather precludes using the picnic tables, we'll meet in the Baptist Campus Ministries library to take advantage of a little more square footage. 

Chapter 4 preview 

We'll discuss Chapter 4 of Francis Chan's Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. Things get more difficult starting with this chapter. Here's a taste of what's coming up:

  • "He [Jesus Christ] just wasn't interested in those who fake it."
  • "…the American church is a difficult place to fit in if you want to live out New Testament Christianity."
  • "Jesus didn't say that if you wanted to follow him you could do it in a lukewarm manner." 

Items of interest 

Think about it 

Matthew Colvin, a writer with the Theopolis Institute in Birmingham, AL wrote on the significance of the Eucharist:

  • "…the Last Supper is a self-disclosure of Jesus’ true messianic identity and his sacrificial vocation at the same time."
  • "…subsequent Eucharists make those who partake to be 'sharers' (συγκοινωνοί) in Jesus and in His 'affliction and kingdom and perseverance, even as baptism makes us to be 'baptized into His death.'"
  • "Let us not lift the elements up or worship them, but duly use them, so that we may share in Jesus, in His death and resurrection, by eating the meal that He commanded us to eat." 

In a 5-minute video, Father Robert Spitzer explains Pascal's Wager, a popular tool for illustrating the rationality for believing and following God. 

These happened on the day of our meeting

  • 1802. Catholics dedicated the first Roman Catholic Church in Boston after the Massachusetts Constitution guaranteed religious freedom.
  • 1830. Richard Oastler, a Wesleyan Methodist educated by Moravians, wrote against harsh working conditions for women and children, calling it the Yorkshire Slavery. He campaigned to improve conditions in the workplace. Later, a factory owner said to Oastler, ""I have had no sleep tonight. I have been reading the Bible and in every page I have read my own condemnation. I cannot allow you to leave me without a pledge that you will use all your influence in trying to remove from our factory system the cruelties which are practiced in our mills." Oastler's efforts resulted in laws limiting the length of workday.

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