Come see the amazing Jesus and win a prize!

For those of you who don't know, I have begun an internship with Refuge Community Church. Part of my job description is to help establish a presence on a few college campuses in the Denver metro area. Being that Colorado Christian University is closest, we decided to start there. On Friday, CCU had a church fair so that incoming students could check out some of the churches in the area and see if there was one they might like to attend.

On my way to the fair I called Chris (pastor of Refuge) because he was running late. I asked him what I should put on the table. He told me to just wear my Refuge shirt and put out my business cards, we should go for the minimalistic thing. When I walked in, I found glorious church info tables everywhere. Every church there had massive signs, pretty table cloths with their names on them, pamphlets, handouts, magnets, and catchy Christian phrases (my favorite). Many churches were even giving away candy or other prizes. Clearly, I had come quite unprepared. The whole thing felt very weird and dirty.

I found the lady who was coordinating the event and she lead me to our designated area. However, we were unable to set up at our table because one of the churches had brought so much stuff that they had overwhelmed our table and there was no longer any room for us! I found that situation incredibly illustrative and hilarious. I was shown to a different table. I sat down, put out my business cards and threw an extra Refuge t-shirt on the table, so people could at least read our name.

The results of the day were amazing. We were one of the most popular tables and people consistently told me that they loved that we didn't have anything out trying to woo college students over to our table. I even had a few people say that this was their favorite set up and that they were immediately drawn to it. I told people throughout the day that I didn't think Jesus would throw candy at people in order to get them to follow. Just about everybody agreed, smiling that they didn't think He would do that either.

Is the gospel not good enough? If it is, are American Churches living out the gospel? Do we need to sweeten the deal with some fun size crunch bars? (if that's your approach then get real, because snickers is where it's at). Jesus had a man come up to Him and say, "I want to follow you." The softball of church questions. Jesus said, "Then go and sell everything you have." The man left and was very sad. Perhaps if He had given Him some candy and said, "let me tell you about our mission," things might have gone a bit better.

Bin Laden

Lots of emotions right now. I don't expect to win over everybody with what I am going to write. As soon as the death of Osama Bin Laden was announced I felt very strange. As I watched people celebrate in the streets of DC (on the news) something didn't feel right.

Celebrating the fact that somebody was killed just doesn't seem like something Jesus would have us do.

I think what I found most interesting was the fact that we were so thankful that no Americans were harmed in this operation. I don't think that God looks at Americans and is happy that they survived any more than He is happy when somebody from Saudi Arabia or anywhere else lives to see another day. We are all people of God. There is no American or Pakistani. There is only those that God loves.

I stole this piece of scripture from Megan Duhon's facebook.

Do you think I take any pleasure in the death of wicked men and women? Isn't it my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right - really living? -Ezekiel 18:23

And this piece from Richard Doe's

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.” Proverbs 24:17

It sucks when somebody is killed. My heart hurts right now.

One thing I do want to add is that I am very happy to see that more people are reacting negatively to the celebration of this death than positively.