Praise for the Pijin Bible!

I was thrilled to get the report from my cousin, Bob Carter, concerning the ceremonies around the publication of the entire Bible in the Pijin language of the Solomon Islands.

We were honored to be able to partner with Bob and his family and the translation team during the past 10 years and reading the stories and seeing the pictures was a wonderful thing to behold.

God is at work, friends, and it has been awesome to watch. Take a few minutes to rejoice with those who rejoice!

Hope is alive and well in the South Pacific!

Shalom

The Seven Facts Meme

This is from a meme of my friend Diane from Jesus Creed, who has a new blog called EmergingQuaker. I warned her that I have already tagged most of my friends way too many times, but I will respond to this meme just for her. ;^)

Here are the rules of the meme:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Present an image of martial discord (as in "war," not marital as in "marriage") from whatever period or situation you’d like.

1. Since we're talking about martial discord (I'm still not sure why?), let me share this random fact: when I was a senior in high school, I was a finalist for the state ROTC college scholarship. I had dreams about being the first woman general and straightening out the army's organizational mess. LOL! Fortunately, I didn't make it. :^) (Although I have a friend who said I could have made a difference, I probably would have run into trouble for insubordination in my much sassier youth.)

2. My three boys had head circumference measurements that were all above the top of the curve (the top being 36 cm, the bottom being 32 cm): #1 was 37 cm; #2 was 38 cm; and #3 was 36.5 (he came a week early, or who knows how much bigger he would have grown.) With my second son, my OB said something along the lines of "it was like delivering a bowling ball." And that was just from her perspective. :^)

3. I am what my friend Brad calls an Interpolator -- which is a fancy way of saying that there are a number of good reasons why I'm a bit, well, AbiNormal! :^)

4. As the newsletter chair for my local PTSA, I design and publish a newsletter called the Howlings ... where, as our school mascot is a wolf, I spend a lot of time using vocabulary like tracking and sniffing and howling and packs and dens. Fortunately, it's a middle school PTSA, so I can get away with it.

5. Growing up in Western Michigan, I spent time every summer on the dunes of Lake Michigan at Grand Haven. So when we moved to California just before my junior year of high school, none of my new friends in Long Beach could believe that I thought Lake Michigan had better beaches and looked just about the same. They all exclaimed: but it's just a lake ... yeah, right. Just a lake....

6. During the time I was a missionary in Thailand, I was still allergic to onions and peppers. Ever tried to eat spicy Thai food without running afoul of the onions and peppers (and we're talking every variety of pepper)? Fortunately, I have since been able to resolve those allergies -- and church potlucks and dinner invitations are so much more pleasant.

7. Just about every serious injury in my younger days was associated with playing softball. At 11, I was hit in the mouth with a baseball bat in front of my house while we were waiting to start a game (please remember to check around you before you swing a bat carelessly). One broken tooth and 21 stitches later were the makings for lots of stories. At 18, while pitching in a co-ed dorm game, I was hit in the inner thigh by a line drive right to the mound. It was weeks before that bruise healed up...the stitches from the ball were imprinted on the skin! Very bad! The guy who did it was so embarrassed he couldn't look me in the eyes the rest of the year. And when I was 34, while screaming into home base so as not to be run into by a guy who hit a home run that was not out of the park, I decided to run full steam across the plate and catch myself on the back-up fence...only the cross bars were on the INSIDE and were not attached to the fence. So, my hands just kept going as the fence sagged and my glasses caught the horizontal bar and exploded in the upper right corner. That one was six stitches right along the bone of my upper eyelid. I don't play ball anymore -- for obvious reasons!

So, there's my list of random tidbits. And here's my image of martial conflict: "The Gods Descending Into Battle" is from this site, just in case it doesn't show up here... the Abbess is sometimes very technically challenged!



I'm not quite sure why we're looking for images in martial discord...especially coming from my pacifist friend???

So, in an act of peace toward my blog-friends...I will let them choose to be tagged or not! If you feel inspired--consider yourself tagged :^)

Shalom

Some links about The Shack....

Updated update ... you must watch this video of Paul speaking at a church last week. You must.

* * * * * * *

There have been lots of things popping up about The Shack lately. Here's a couple of links:

This one is from The Columbian. Some new insights come out -- especially that the "Missy" character is also a representation of the author, in addition to Mack. Read this article, please!

And Bob Hyatt has a whole bunch of posts on his blog about talking with Paul. Don't miss any of them.

Update: just finished listening to the OPB interview. Please take the time to listen!

Abi's Dance with the Diving Porpoises....

Wow ... it's out, and it's not even August yet!

I haven't had time to read all the rest of the articles in the August Edition of The Porpoise Diving Life e-zine, "Shall We Dance", but I will soon--and I hope you will, too. There are nine submissions; my article, Freedom Dances, is number eight ... right before the lone poem. This poem, titled Perichoresis, follows my article perfectly ... hmmm, perhaps Sonja and Patrick planned it that way? ;^)

* * * * * * *

I'm up to my eyeballs in PTSA stuff, with just four weeks until school begins again ... but I will work to get my series on perichoresis going here real soon. In the meantime, enjoy reading "Shall We Dance"--and don't forget to let The Abbess know what you think in the comments!

Oh ... and I noticed that:

The September 1, 2008 edition of The Porpoise Diving Life is dedicated to
6 word stories - About God

Send your 6 word stories - about God by August 28th 2008 to:

wsdahl(at)bendbroadband(dot)com

...which made me think of my entry in the "What is Missional" Synchroblog. I will look forward to reading them--they'll all be quick! :^)

Enjoying the dance....

Scot McKnight and The Shack

Friends, Scot McKnight just posted a link to an important review of The Shack. Derek Keefe (in Christianity Today on July 10th) titled his review: Reading in Good Faith. IMHO, this should be required reading for anyone who has ever commented on any book--critics and supporters.

Abi suggests that you read the review first and then follow the comments over at Jesus Creed. It should be interesting to see how the conversation goes over there ... my comment was #2.

And Brother Keefe...you'd fit in just fine over at Scot McK's One T Saloon, partner. Well done!

Coming Soon: Abi's Series on Perichoresis!

Well, friends ... the time is approaching when The Abbess will finally begin to process her thoughts about perichoresis!

My friends Sonja Andrews and Patrick Oden asked me to contribute an article to the August edition of The Porpoise Diving Life, which is dedicated to Patrick's book: It's A Dance: Moving with the Spirit. (You'll notice I have added it to my list of recommended books!)

The theme they have chosen is "Perichoresis versus Hierarchy or Power" ... and it was just the thing Abi needed to get focused. My article is titled: Freedom Dances. What a surprise--NOT!

So, stay tuned--because I'll be blogging in August about my article and using it as the introduction to a series on perichoresis. I'll probably include some thoughts I had from reading Patrick's book, too. And may even get into some stuff from The Shack.

In the meantime I would recommend you subscribe to the monthly PDF e-zine NOW, so you'll get your copy delivered to you when it comes out!

Dance on....

Abi's take on small group ministries .... it's here!

You may remember my post on small groups, where I was unable to get to my comment until it was rescued from comment purgatory after the 15th of July? Well, I went back there today and here it is:

Hello, Brian.

Came over from Bro. Maynard's because I was struck by the title....

Just two weeks ago it occurred to me why my six-year experience in leading a large small group ministry (had 100 groups at the most successful time) was thwarted.

I resonate with those who say that the definition of small group is not standard, and I would wholeheartedly agree. For some is it another Bible Study. For others it is prayer group. For yet others it is food and fellowship. We tried to embrace whatever definition each individual group wanted.

It didn't make any difference because the end was the same: there was rarely any multiplication of groups. Rarely any growth of disciples who made disciples. Rarely any leaders apprenticing new leaders who would then birth a new group.... all too familiar to all of you, I'm sure.

I was convinced that my problem was not enough small group leaders. Isn't that were we all get stuck? Not enough people willing to step up to the plate and lead....

But I have come to believe, instead, that it really comes down to life transformation ... I read one comment above that talked about it ... and it was the rare group where lives were truly transformed. I would go so far as to say that MANY are touched and encouraged in small groups, as testified above, but not many are transformed into disciples who make disciples on a natural, ongoing basis.

And then I read three books by Neil Cole. His "Organic Church" in November of 2006, "Cultivating a Life for God" in February of 2007, and I just finished his latest, "Search and Rescue", last week. Have you read these books?

It is the concept Cole calls "life transformation groups" that get the job done, in my opinion. These are groups of two or three (men and women in separate groups) who meet for 1 hour a week for three things: 1) to see what God is doing in their lives through the reading of the significant passages of scripture (20-30 chapters per week) they have agreed to read, 2) to be accountable to each other for their actions and weaknesses and confess their sins when they fail, and 3) to pray for two or three people to be responsive to the wooing activity of the Holy Spirit.

Cole's second book is small and solely dedicated to these LTGs, as he calls them, and they are described in context in the other two books.

There is a place for the small group of 8-15, just as there is a place the the larger groups for fellowship and the largest groups for teaching ... but if people are not engaged at the LTG level, there just will not be the same level of transformation -- in themselves and in others.

Wesley and others have done similar things with classes and groups, but I think Cole is really onto something here.

Thanks for letting me share.

CovenantClusters will be built on a form of LTG called WordClusters. I am more convinced than ever that this foundation will make a huge difference in everything else that happens.

Blessings, all.