LESSONS FROM TIGER • A SPECIAL GATHERING FOR A SPECIAL MAN

RETHINKING GOD IN TODAY’S CULTURE.

FREE • JAN/FEB 2010

ROB BELL DISCUSSES THE COORELATION

BETWEEN SUFFERING AND CREATIVITY

+RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST DECADE

OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM
FOR TOUR INFORMATION, And so we plot and plan and exert all kinds of energy making sure our lives
PLEASE VISIT: go just how we want them to, and then we’re endlessly disappointed when things
don’t turn out how they’re “supposed” to…and so in the midst of the suffering or the
unexpected trauma or the tragedy we say “I never would have imagined this….”

THE WORK OF The key word here is, of course, the word “imagine.” When things fall apart we have to
create a new tomorrow, because the one we were counting on is gone. And so it’s hard
ROB BELL and shocking and bloody and we would never have chosen this turn of events, and yet
http://www.robbell.com it’s forcing us to create a future we never would have cooked up on our own.

In the soil of suffering you’ll often find seeds of creativity.

This is why cancer survivors often talk about how they’re living now more than ever. They
went through something that changed everything.

And so there are lots of books and wisdom and perspectives on

why we suffer, but what about the “what” of suffering? The “now what?” question –
the unexpected ways in which there’s art in the ache.

That’s what drops like stars is about. That question. That perspective. That surprise.

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 oh to save
a wretch
like me.
It was the summer of 2004 and Melissa and I
had only recently moved to the small town of
Keokuk, Iowa, to take a youth and worship
pastor position at a church there.
It was the summer of 2004 and Melissa and
I had only recently moved to the small town
of Keokuk, Iowa, to take a youth and worship
pastor position at a church there.
There was one particular day I remember viv-
idly. It was a good day. And I was feeling posi-
tive about the headway we were making in the
youth department amongst the young people.
I spent the majority of the day remodeling the
youth room to make it more, well, “youthy.”
In addition, Melissa and I were starting to feel
a great connection with those involved in the
music and worship department. We felt like,
though things were still somewhat new for ev-
eryone, we were making progress and things
were starting to flow together nicely.
All throughout this specific day I had been
thinking on these things and I was starting to
feel good about our new role and the progress
we were making. But just as I was leaving the
church parking lot for the day, I felt an urge
to go a different route home. At first I wasn’t
exactly sure why I did this, especially since it
was completely the wrong direction in which
I was supposed to be heading. Regardless, I
just started driving, turning left instead of right.
And as I turned left, I immediately knew the
reason for this illogical prompting.
He was a large man in a powered wheelchair
cruising down the sidewalk on Main Street.
I’d seen him before and, though he didn’t
look poor or in immediate need, my heart still
went out to him. I felt bad but never really did
anything about it or asked him if I could help
in any way. You know, never being Jesus in the
flesh. I wanted to but didn’t. And knowing all
this, I felt another urge - an urge to stop and
ask him how I could help.
4_RETHINK MONTHLY
So I did.
Well, first I pulled my car into a parking lot on
the other side of the road and told myself, “If
he crosses the street right here, then I’ll get
out of my car and talk with him.” He crossed
the street but I stayed in my car.
I pulled back onto the street and into a differ-
ent, more secluded parking lot down the road
and told myself, “If he passes by here, then
I’ll get out and ask him if he needs anything.”
He did. So I did what felt natural. I stayed in
my car and pulled back onto the road - such a
risk-taker, I know.
Then I pulled into the Burger King parking lot.
When I say “the” Burger King parking lot, I
mean the “only” Burger King parking lot - vali-
dating my earlier point that Keokuk is, in fact,
a really small town. I’m sure you can guess
what I did next. I told myself “If he goes into
Burger King, then I’m definitely getting out
and talking to him about Jesus.”
He wheeled past my car, up onto the ramp,
and drove his wheelchair into the front en-
trance of Burger King. I watched him the whole
way, praying that he would go somewhere
else – anywhere besides Burger King. But he
did not. And so I got out of my car and walked
in.
If you’re hoping for a nice ending, well, this
story doesn’t have one. I was as nervous as
could be as I walked through the door. God
had called me to this point, the opportunity
was there, but I was petrified. I was so nervous
to present Jesus, if even by actions only, to
this man.
by Bo and Melissa Lane
He was short a quarter for his meal. I reached
into my pocket, found a quarter and handed it
to him. The door opened. He thanked me. I ac-
knowledged politely, “Of course, no problem.”
I ordered a burger and stood fairly close to the
man as we both waited for our orders - the
door still wide open. He turned and thanked
me again. It would’ve been so easy for me to
simply say, “I’ve seen you around town a few
times. My name is Bo.” or “Man, I’ve had a
pretty decent day. What about you?” Some-
thing, anything could’ve been my first step
through the open door. But I let it slip away.
He grabbed his order. I grabbed mine. He
cruised away in his wheelchair while I got in
my car and drove home. That “great day” I had
was robbed right from under me and I was the
one who stole it.
It’s unfortunate, and ironic, that I had a hard
time reaching out to one person when now I
have been given the opportunity to reach out
to thousands of people each month with our
magazine, Rethink Monthly. Who’d of thought,
as the hymnist penned, that a wretch like me,
a guy who couldn’t even follow the simplest
urge, would be given a task such as this.
Bo & Melissa remain awestuck
by their Creator and His undying
love for them. They’re thankful
that God entrusted them with the
world’s most beautiful children.
They are also captivated by the
TV show LOST. Just sayin’.
Take a minute and holla at us:
boandmel@rethinkmonthly.com
rethink monthly
MAGAZINE
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2010 - ISSUE 10

EDITORS/PUBLISHERS >
Bo Lane >
C nTENTS
bo@rethinkmonthly.com

Melissa Lane >

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ART DIRECTOR >

Vin Thomas >
vin@rethinkmonthly.com

CREDITS >
All images are property of their perspective owners and
have been used by permission. All rights reserved.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS >

Michael Olsen, Freddie Teague, Tim Challies, Danny
Gette, Anthony Trask, Josh Mann, Craig Oviatt.

RETHINK MONTHLY >

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editorial .............................. pg 04
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www.rethinkpodcast.com a special gathering for a special man .............................. pg 06
top movies of 2009 .............................. pg 08
lessons from tiger .............................. pg 10
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RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_5
 a special
gathering for
a special man.
“He that loves his brother abides in the light
and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.”
1 John 2:10
The Salem community recently lost a very
humble man. Ron Elliott. His name is neither
a household name nor what he did nor will
how he died become a water cooler topic. He
was homeless for many years, living in several
shelters and most recently, a deplorable rental
unit on 14th Street in Salem. A man who had
nothing, asked for nothing, but gave all he
had. He was remembered on September 24,
approximately two weeks after his death at
the Blue Pepper, downtown Salem. Many
homeless people gathered upstairs at the
Blue Pepper to share with Ron Elliott’s children
their life and experiences with this special
man. The people who gathered at this “wake”
were mostly homeless. I had not seen some
of them in a few months, and in some cases,
a few years. Some had worn a shirt and tie,
others the best they had to wear. But they
wore what I had always remembered them
by; they all wore a smile. It was good to see
them again. We embraced, shared a tear and
a story or two. Some, not many, have moved
out of staying in shelters, others are still stay
in shelters. Some are camping, and others are
somewhere between nowhere and goodbye.
Ron was homeless and was residing at the
Salem Union Gospel Mission when I first met
him many years ago. While he was staying at
the mission, he worked doing laundry, clean-
ing bathrooms, and most importantly, helping
people one on one. He was not in need of a
recovery program or a support group. Ron
never asked for a handout or special favors.
All he asked from this world was shelter and a
meal during his cancer treatment; he was will-
ing and ready to work for that. And work he
did. He loved helping people. It was ironic he
was remembered a block away from a place
he made the most impact with people.
6_RETHINK MONTHLY
“If You Help, You Care” was one of Ron El-
liott’s creeds. He was stricken with terminal
cancer a few years ago. When you saw him,
you could see he was not well, but when he
spoke, his appearance no longer became a
concern. You would never know that this man
was dying. He was alive with the hope of life
ever after with Christ and shared that hope
with all he met. On occasion Ron and I would
walk around downtown Salem. He told me of
the mistakes he made during his life. Yet he
was amazed of the love that God had for him
during his life. Although suffering, he was
enthusiastic with the opportunity to help and
assist others during their time in “the pit” as
he called it. He really believed we were to help
one another every day, not just on Holidays.
I found out recently that his final days were
very painful. He was bandaging his own open
sores. His diet was anything he could find to
eat. He told another homeless friend a few
days before his passing that “it will be ok, the
Lord is in charge.” He was cleaning the com-
munity bathroom where he ended up living his
last days. It was so very sad he ended up in
such a dreadful place after giving so much of
himself to other people and organizations.
Most people I know who are homeless are
surviving with what cards are dealt to them by
the courts and the extremely bad choices they
made during this journey of life. They are not
lepers; they need a hand or two along the way.
Take a lesson from Ron, whatever your heart
directs you to do when you see someone
hurting, please follow your heart. CS Lewis
wrote in his book The Four Loves that “friend-
ship is not a reward for our discrimination and
good taste in finding one another out. It is the
instrument by which God reveals to each the
beauties of each of all the others.”
by Michael Olsen
Ron never feared being alone. He feared he
may have to leave someone alone and not
able to help them. For people, homeless or
not, a life of loneliness without Christ can be
endless.
In a world of “me first,” it was refreshing and
such a blessing to know a person like Ron
who cared for others first; not by the directions
of man, but by the Spirit of God. I am aware
that there are many ‘Ron’s’ out there; I wish
it were not so. I hope someday to start a fund
in memory of and honoring Ron Elliot. This
fund would insure that a homeless person‘s
last days would be comfortable and dignified.
Sadly, this may be a very active fund. Ron died
on September 10, 2009. He was proud of his
faith in the Lord and he wanted to share it with
anyone who resided at UGM and other areas
of town.
Michael was the Director of
Ministries for the Salem Union
Gospel Mission for 10 years.
Prior to his work at UGM, he
retired from the U.S.Army after
21 years and worked for Trans
World Airlines in New York after
his military retirement. He and
his wife Wendy live in Salem.
Michael can be reached at mjeccl4@gmail.com.
 N
• SERVICE AND INSTALLATIO IAL
RC
• RESIDENTIAL AND COMME CTRIC
ELE
• HEAT PUMPS, AC, GAS AND
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM READER’S
TOP 5 MOVIES OF 2009

1. THE BLIND SIDE

“The Blind Side. I picked it for a different reason. Yes, the acting was great, but the
plot was wonderful. It had all the ingredients of reaching out to people that think
they can’t fulfill their dreams. It has Christian overtones, and gives a message that
you can come out of the muck and mire, and be a successful person.” - Doug

2. STAR TREK
“Star Trek – totally reinvented the franchise. I usually hate remakes and loved this
one! Zachary Quinto WAS Spock - that was some excellent casting.” - Amy

3. UP
“UP was so cute, we laughed, cried & laughed again. Very colorful.” - Jurita

4. AVATAR
“Avatar was probably being the best movie experience of all time.” - Anthony

5. TRANSFORMERS 2
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen may have been a bit over the top, but I think
that’s why I liked it. You have to suspend your fact checking, rational side for a few
hours, then the movie becomes really fun. The humor they put into the script kept
us laughing throughout.” - Shaun

8_RETHINK MONTHLY
A BOOK REVIEW

From the New York Times Bestseller of Blue Like Jazz comes a new book
of a man as he explores his life while aiding in writing a screenplay with two
movie producers. This man, in fact, is Donald Miller himself.

After his bestseller, Donald had written a few books which, in his words, has
not sold well. With his recent publications failing, he was back in a place of
complacency and stagnation. Receiving a phone call one morning, as he
was barely awake, he discovers that there were two movie producers who
sought to create a film of Don’s life. Well, the Don in Blue Like Jazz anyway.
As they progressed through the screenplay, Don comes to find that his life
is boring, that he was not living a good Story.

Upon taking a seminar by Story Guru, Robert McKee, and understanding

the principles of Story, Don begins to see the relation of how these
principles are applicable to real life. Donald begins to explore each principle
and how each one connects to life as if God has a pen and is writing our
Story, if we choose to follow it.

An analogy used in the opening of this book sets the stage as Don takes
us scene-by-scene through his journey. Don paints us a picture of a movie
where a young man’s desire is to own a Volvo. There will be scenes of the
boy overcoming conflict as he interacts in his workplace at the local grocery
store and at the end of the movie when he drives off the lot trying out the
windshield wipers, we will not be in tears or offering a standing ovation. This
does not make for a good Story. But, as Don displays in the book, we live
this Story. We want this car in our driveway, or this house, or that job, or a
membership at the local golf club and we live as if that is our goal in life...our
Story.

Don has, once again, captivated the world as he explored the vulnerable
and the face-front realities of his life. Don engages with us to seek and
begin to live a better Story. From losing weight to hiking a very difficult
trail to biking across American to watching a friend pass away, I highly
recommend going on this journey with Donald Miller in his new book A
Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Let us begin to live a better Story.

Freddie Teague is an author and speaker, as well as a book reviewer for

Thomas Nelson Publishing. Freddie resides with his wife in Springfield, Mo.
 Lessons
From Tiger BY TIM CHALLIES
“Tiger’s sin teaches me that the Bible does not
lie when it describes the cause of sin, the effect
of sin and the inevitability of its exposure.”

10_RETHINK MONTHLY
 Shortly after Aileen and I were married we
moved to the small town of Dundas, Ontario.
A historic and picturesque town, Dundas has
made its way into a few movies. When we
lived there, a movie called Haven (starring
Natasha Richardson) was shot in its streets.
We lived just half a block from the action so
would sometimes wander on over in the
evenings to watch what was happening.
One thing that fascinated and impressed me was how the filmmakers
transformed the town to fit the setting of the film. The movie was set in the
Second World War so for the sake of historical accuracy the town had to
look like it had during the 1940’s. All the parking meters had to be pulled up
and all the traffic lights had to be pulled down. The streets were suddenly
filled with beautiful old antique cars. Many of the storefronts were little
changed since the 40’s but of course there were some that had been built
since and could not possibly pass the historic test. It was amazing to see
what happened to these ones. In a matter of a couple of days the props
people constructed false fronts for all of these stores. An ugly stucco build-
ing that was clearly a product of the 70’s or 80’s was transformed into a
brick-built small-town general store from the 40’s. Nothing had changed
inside, but the outside was given a fresh and entirely deceptive new face.
One of the climactic scenes of the movie has the lead character marching
a large number of Jewish refugees through the town. They shot this scene
and a few others and then, nearly overnight, the town was restored. The
parking meters were put back into place, the traffic lights were strung back
up, the old cars were hauled away and all those false fronts were torn down.
The ugly buildings were exposed again, as ugly as ever. The movie, anti-
American propaganda as it turns out, was awful. But that’s beside the point.
I was thinking about Tiger Woods this weekend and thought about the town
of Dundas and all of those false fronts. I’ve hesitated to write about Tiger.
First of all, his travails are reaching the point of media saturation, I think.
His story has been glamorized and made into a sick form of entertainment.
Of course it’s exactly the kind of entertainment our culture loves. We love
reality shows which, by and large, are only pseudo-reality. We get to watch
families fall apart on television and consider it entertaining. But even then
the situations are only half real at best. But here we get to see a real family
crumble. Their pain is our delight as we watch things turn from bad to worse.
Yet here we are all seeing the ugly effects of sin and maybe it is a good op-
portunity to reflect for just a few moments on the nature of sin and the cost
it demands from us. It proved an opportunity for me to think about Tiger’s
situation and draw lessons from it.
Here are three lessons I have learned from Tiger Woods.
False Fronts Will Crumble
There is always this temptation to construct false fronts, to add a layer of re-
spectability between yourself and the way you want others to perceive you.
Tiger Woods wanted to be known as the all-American family man, a loving
husband and doting father. His sponsors, the companies for whom he was
a spokesman, needed him to be this kind of figure. And so he said all the
right words and put on this veneer of respectability. In front of the cameras
he played the role that was demanded and expected of him. And yet behind
it all he was the opposite of so much that he claimed to be. Eventually and
inevitably the false front collapsed and the truth was laid bare.
Imagine what would have happened in Dundas if the filmmakers had disap-
peared without tearing down those false fronts. Sure they would have stood
for a month or two; maybe even a year or two. But before long they would
have crumbled and fallen down. They were not build of sound materials and
were not built on a solid foundation. They were made only to look the part,
only to disguise the ugly and unfitting reality. All false fronts will eventually
crumble and fall.
The lesson is, do not mask your sin behind a false front. Do not construct
elaborate falsehoods to mask your sin and your shame. These false fronts
cannot stand forever. And the shame and pain of the ruin of a life lived out
behind false pretenses will be far worse than the shame and pain of just
dealing with sin immediately and properly. The temptation to mask your sin
is nearly as strong as the temptation to sin in the first place. But to mask it is
just to compound sin upon sin. It is merely to delay the inevitable.
You Cannot Hide Your Sin Indefinitely
Sooner or later your sin will find you out. Just weeks before all of his sins
were revealed and his life was laid bear, Tiger conducted an interview in
which he insisted that family comes first in his life. “Family first and golf sec-
ond. Always be like that?” asked the interviewer. “Always,” replied Woods.
Yet even then he was in the midst of affairs. Even then he was telling bare-
faced lies, thinking that he could get away with them.
The lesson is, you cannot hide your sin forever. Your sin is going to find you
out. Your sin wants to find you out. I love how J.R.R. Tolkien displays this in
The Lord of the Rings, how the ring puts the ringbearer under its spell but
at the same time it wants nothing more than to captivate and expose and
destroy him. Its beauty and desire is really a means to enslave and expose.
And all sin is like this. It promises what it can never truly deliver. It offers the
desires of the heart but delivers the most tragic and unexpected results.
Do not give yourself over to sin. Sin is a cruel, cruel master. Like that ring it
will draw you in and like that ring it will chew you up and spit you out. And
isn’t this what Satan loves? Wouldn’t he love to draw you into sin and then
enjoy watching you suffer the downfall of that sin? Do not give yourself over
to sin; inevitably you will find that it is impossible to hide it forever.
The Stage Will Be Bigger
Tiger Woods committed sins against God and sins against his wife and did
so in a closed and private setting. Very few people knew about his sin and
very few were there to witness it. The actual sins were committed in private
on a small, intimate stage. But the stage for his fall is international. Where
only the smallest handful of people knew about his sin while it was hap-
pening, today countless millions know about it. The other day in the grocery
store I spotted his face on eight of the ten magazines by the checkout.
People are calling this the sports story of the decade. It will follow him for the
rest of his life. His family will never be the same. Surely he did not anticipate
all of this when he indulged his sin.
The lesson here is that the stage for the fall is usually infinitely larger than
the stage that was used to act out the sin. Private sins are so often publicly
exposed. Think of people you know, perhaps in a church context, who
have sinned against their families. So often they sinned in private but were
exposed in public. So often their disgrace was so much wider than their
initial pleasure. And again, this is exactly what we should expect of sin and
of Satan. Sin’s pleasure is fleeting, its pain eternal.
Tiger’s sin teaches me that the Bible does not lie when it describes the
cause of sin, the effect of sin and the inevitability of its exposure. Had Tiger
just read the first nine chapters of Proverbs and applied those ancient but
timeless lessons to his life, he would have known all he needed to know to
understand where his sin would lead him. How much better would it have
been for Tiger to be mastered by God instead of being mastered by sin.
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_11
 ROB BELL DISCUSSES THE COORELATION
BETWEEN SUFFERING AND CREATIVITY
BY JOSH MANN AND ANTHONY TRASK

12_RETHINK MONTHLY
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_13
 RETHINK MONTHLY: You recently wrote a book, Drops Like Stars,
and in just a few short weeks, you’ll be on the West Coast giving a
presentation of the same name. Can you tell us what led you to write
a book about connecting the dots between creativity and suffering?
ROB BELL: Two things: First, I cut my teeth as a pastor. What
happens when you’re a pastor and have an actual congregation
full of people is you end up getting invited in to some of the most
intimate moments of people’s suffering. I can think of an endless
number of times when there’s some couple that I’ve only met twice,
and then I end up in the I.C. unit with them in the last hours of their
kids’ life. Or a family, who I’ve probably had five conversations with,
whose sixteen year old son hangs himself, and I end up sitting
in the hospital room all alone - just me and the family. Or I go to a
funeral home to plan a service and it’s just me, the family, the body,
and the casket, and I have to put together a service in the midst of
all this grief and pain. Or the endless couples that I’ve met who are
struggling with miscarriages. Then I see those same couples two
years later and they’re still suffering. So part of it as a pastor is just
watching people go through agonizing suffering and then seeing
them a year later, two years later, three years later, and seeing the
kinds of things that came out of their suffering. And secondly, I
make things for a living. Whether its books, films, even sermons,
there’s a certain sort of art to creating things - a certain agony to the
art process. You have an idea about something and then you just
work and work at it. It’s frustrating and you feel like you’re missing it.
Then eventually it starts to exist. So I started to see all these parallels
between the creative process and what I had seen with people
who had gone through brutal suffering and all of the creativity and
imagination that their suffering actually unleashed.
RM: In the book, you say, “And so we’re polite and we play by the
rules and when asked how we are, we answer, ‘I’m fine, thank you,’
just like we’re supposed to. And then we suffer. There’s a disruption
14_RETHINK MONTHLY
and our boxes get smashed.” Did you write this book out of your own
experiences with suffering, or were they more out of observations of
other people’s sufferings?
ROB: In the end, the book is kind of absent of my own experiences,
but it’s deeply shaped, and a lot of people who’ve read the book
have had the same sort of idea and say, “Hey wait, there is a
bunch of you that’s missing in this book, but it’s got to be there
somewhere.” My next book is essentially going to be all of the
agonizing, brutal sorts of things that led to up to this book. But,
yeah, my own experiences have deeply shaped the book, and my
experiences will probably have
its own book; just not as many
pictures.
RM: Speaking of the visual element
of the book, how did you connect
with the designers to develop such
an engaging, creative piece?
ROB: Mark Baas headed up the
design, and he’s been a friend of
mine for ten years, and we’ve been
through all sorts of things together. Right away I knew that the
content had to have a strong visual element, and when I finished
the first draft I read it to him as my friend, but knowing that he
might have some opinions about it. He immediately said, “Let me
art direct, please?” There are several photographers and designers,
all here in Grand Rapids, and Mark put together a whole team of
people. When I had originally hand-written the first draft, I had a lot
of notes in the margins - picture of this here, picture of that there -
he took it and ran with it. We had the concept together, but he really
oversaw the details of getting it all shot.
 RM: There was a phrase in the book, “You can’t create without pain.”
You also mention, with the cross, that God says, “I know what you’re
feeling.” But what about God’s creation prior to pain, prior to the fall,
and prior to the cross? Some of the best things we witness in this
life were created in a world and at a time without pain. So, does that
conflict with your message that creativity has to come out of pain?
ROB: When I first talked about creativity and suffering, several
people said “You mean the tormented artist?” or “Only people who
were abused can write great music.” There’s sort of an illusion in
culture where the tortured artist is the only person who’s able to
“I THINK IN OUR CULTURE WHAT PEOPLE NEED
ARE SPACES WHERE YOU CAN GRIEVE AND BE
ANGRY AND VENT AND RANT AND YOU CAN
BE FULLY HUMAN WITHOUT HAVING TO, IN
THE END, PUT ON A POLISHED SMILE. THAT’S
ACTUALLY, I THINK, WHERE WE BEGIN TO HEAL.”
access their feelings. Central to the Christian story is a Trinitarian
God who creates out of joy. The universe is the overflow of love and
harmony. God doesn’t need pain to create. The cross, however, and
the new creation does come about through pain. That’s the story of
the cross. Out of all this mess, something beautiful emerges.
RM: Concerning the response of the book, do you feel it has
connected with people who are still asking questions about life, still
searching for faith?
ROB: There was a man and his wife whose 22-year old son was
killed in March, and the wife got the book and read it out loud to her
husband, five months after their son was killed. They talked about
that being the beginning of the healing process for them. In one
city, a man’s mother died of cancer twenty-nine years ago, and he
said he felt that at the Drops Like Stars live event, for the first time
he was able to go places he hadn’t gone. He was able to heal in a
way he hadn’t in the previous twenty-nine years. One woman from
Tampa, Florida bought tickets for her and her husband, and from
the time she had bought the tickets until the night of the event, her
husband died. So there have been some very visceral, powerful
encounters I’ve had personally.
Our culture is a culture of denial. We don’t have good culture modes
for grief and mourning, let alone just asking questions. And I think
a lot of people with faith backgrounds feel guilty for being angry
or venting or putting God on trial. Being honest about how they’re
really feeling is not something they’ve been encouraged to do.
My experience has been that when people are given a medium,
whether it’s a book or a live experience where they don’t have to
have everything resolved - they don’t have to end everything with
a nice Bible verse about how it’s all going to work out - there’s a
certain freedom in that to be healing. Some people think that half
the Psalms are laments. And some of the psalms don’t end with
“it’s all going to be alright.” They end just hanging there. And I think
in our culture what people need are spaces where you can grieve
and be angry and vent and rant and you can be fully human without
having to, in the end, put on a polished smile. That’s actually, I think,
where we begin to heal. So, the feedback has been that this has
given people that certain space, and that’s a beautiful thing to be a
part of.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16.
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_15
 RM: What do you think has happened in modern evangelical
Christianity where for so long it hasn’t been alright to lament or be
in mourning? Where did we take a left turn to get to this place where
everything has to be neat and in order?
ROB: The consumer mentality - the altar of consumerism - is
almost like water that we are swimming in. It’s almost like you
have to drag the fish up onto the beach and just beat it senseless.
Think about the ways people evaluate your average sermon. The
number one way a lot of people evaluate a sermon comes in the
form of a question: “Did you like it or not?” Imagine after Jesus tells
the parable of the wheat and the sower or he curses the fig tree.
Imagine people saying, “Did you like it?” You know, those aren’t
categories you generally find people throughout history using. Or
secondly, people evaluate and say “Did she do a good job? Did he
do a good job?” These are all the ways in which spiritual practice
has been co-opted by consumer culture.
So, the questions aren’t: “What’s going on inside of you? What is
the Spirit doing to you? In what ways are you stretching, evolving,
growing, or being transformed?” Instead it’s “Did they do a good
job?” which is essentially a subject, object, relationship, in which
14_RETHINK MONTHLY
we stand at a distance and observe and then evaluate and decide
whether or not go to that church. A guy the other day said to me,
“I’m church shopping.” Can you imagine saying that to the mystics
or the apostles? People use phrases that are absolutely insane with
a straight face.
RM: Well, we just hope he finds a good deal somewhere.
ROB: Exactly. In a way, a spiritual path has become a commodity
like everything else. You have to begin to see that this is the water
that the fish are swimming in. It’s so pervasive that it takes profound
awakening for people to go: “Oh my word, this
is absolutely screwed up.” For a lot of people,
the way they were taught about God is that
this is an answer to your problems. But the
truth is if you decide to follow Jesus, this may
be the beginning of some of your problems.
There is massive suffering on a global scale
and Jesus invites us to see the world as God
sees it. Then we begin to steal and see things
that we didn’t see before. On many levels, the
spiritual path has always, for thousands of
years, involved suffering. That’s been a stated,
obvious consequence of directing your life in purposeful ways.
These are traditions and paths that have been lost to many people,
especially when they are given a bright, shiny, happy god, who will
fix all their problems. Part of it is introducing people to their own
history. When you do, all sorts of beautiful things happen then.
To find out more about Rob Bell’s Drops Like Stars tour, visit the
website at www.dropslikestars.com for times and locations.
You can also read or listen to this interview in its entirety on the
Rethink Monthly website at www.rethinkmonthly.com.
 OM TH OUG HT S N T HE FIRST
R ND
E OF TH E NEW M ILL ENNIUM
DECAD
The 2000’s were a definitive decade.
The decade was birthed in the fear that
omnipotent computers somehow failed to
realize that their internal clocks would be unable
to switch over to a new millennium and would
cause complete and utter destruction to our
technologically based society because of this
lack of foresight. After months of stocking up
on canned foods and bottled water, the world
awoke on January 1st, 2000 to see that their
fears were unfounded; and breathed a collective
sigh of relief that society would not be thrown
into the dark ages. And life returned to normal-
for a while.
There did, however, seem to be global
disappointment as people began to realize that
the new Millennium did not bring with it ‘flying
cars’, ‘moon cities’, and ‘robot housekeepers’.
But that doesn’t mean that the previous decade
didn’t bring with it many new and interesting
challenges, discoveries, technological
advancements, and cultural breakthroughs:
September 11th
THE definitive event of the 2000’s was, without
question, the terrorist attacks of September 11th
2001. This horrific event will forever be seared
into the consciousness of the American people
who woke up that fateful morning to see the
world changing in front of their eyes.
That day has caused a roller coaster of
emotional, political, and societal ups and downs
ever since: the nation was united in mourning
and resolve; the nation became divided as it
began to look within its own borders for sources
of terrorism seeded from overseas; wars began
and many of our young men were sent abroad
who would never again come home, our nation
agreed and disagreed on the validity of these
wars, and security was tightened up in ways
never seen before in everything from sporting
events to air travel.
Communication
One of the most notable technological and
social changes that took place during the past
decade was the ways in which we communicate.
TEXTING
The decade started with almost every adult in
the nation owning a mobile phone, and people
18_RETHINK MONTHLY
talked on them proudly- some even sporting
new high tech ‘secret service’ish’ headsets to
gloat in their new self-found importance.
But almost overnight text messaging became
THE way for young people (specifically) to
communicate. No longer would you have to
have obligatory small talk with someone when
you wanted to tell them what time you would be
home for dinner. Now you could simply type a
short response and have it sent in no time and
get back to playing that critically important video
game without ever having to hear the sound of a
human voice.
Texting has fundamentally changed the way we
talk and type. Abbreviation has become the new
grammatical norm; as we regularly use phrases
such as, “LOL, WTH?, TTYL, BFF, and OMG” in
order to spend even less valuable time actually
communicating with someone.
SOCIAL NETWORKING
About midway through the decade a new
behemoth of communication broke onto the
global scene: Social Networking!
Almost immediately, two websites emerged as
THE way to connect with friends old and new
on the worldwide web: MySpace and Facebook.
You no longer needed to actually communicate
with your friends, now all you have to do is
check their status updates to see what they’ve
been up to. Wanting to meet your best friend’s
new girlfriend, but don’t have the time? No
worries, all you have to do is send them a friend
request and check out a few pics and your good.
Facebook and MySpace make things like
keeping up with long-lost high school friends,
and annoying relatives, seamless and
instantaneous.
Throw in Twitter to the mix, with its on-the-fly
microblogging that simultaneously updates your
Facebook status, and you have a system that in
less than five years has revolutionized the way
we connect and communicate with others. And
there’s only room for this new medium to grow
and evolve.
With all seriousness though, Texting and Social
Networking can be used to keep in contact with
more people, more often, in less time. My only
fear is that, if we are not careful, real face to face
intimate relationships will suffer and turn into
mere virtual connections.
Money
As the decade and the millennium began,
the economy was soaring high off of the last
remnants of the dot-com boom. And as people
were freely spending money, banks were freely
lending it without doing their homework to make
sure that it could actually be paid back.
Because people were borrowing so much money
so freely, they were investing in real estate like
never before- buying big houses that only a
decade earlier they would not have been able to
buy. And the prices of homes sky-rocketed.
And as the decade drew to a close, people’s
interest rates on their loans rose along with the
prices of the homes. People, who were barely
scraping by with lower interest rates, could no
longer afford their mortgages. House were in
foreclosure like never before, property values
began to take a nose dive, the stock market
plummeted, employers laid off record numbers
of employees, and before we knew it we were in
a full-on recession.
Environmentalism
One thing became apparent quickly in the new
Millennium: Green was the new Black.
Saving the environment, once reserved for
liberal hemp-wearing hippies in towns like
Eugene and Berkley, was hip.
Words like ‘Carbon Footprint’, ‘Global Warming’,
Eco-Friendly’, ‘Clean-Energy’, ‘Bio Diesel’, and
‘Hybrid Car’ became as common as reruns
of the Fresh Prince of Bell Air on Nick at Nite.
And Al Gore, who once was seen as the boring
robotic Vice President for Bill Clinton, was now
the global superstar for environmentalism.
Entertainment
TELEVISION
During the 2000’s, Survivor started a Reality
TV revolution. It spurred on countless other
Reality Shows with topics ranging from ‘Home
Remodeling’ to’ Talent Shows’, from ‘Normal
People Living in a Big House’ to ‘Dating Shows’,
and from ‘Plastic Surgery’ to ‘Dumb Celebrities
Living in Small Town America’.
The 2000’s saw the complete and total
destruction of MTV as it transitioned from being
a cool channel that showed music videos all the
time, into being a channel that showed trashy
Reality TV about teens living very abnormally
wealthy lives and grown men hitting each other
in the crotch with hockey sticks- on purpose.
But there were some amazing things that
happened to television in the 2000’s: flat screen
TVs and the DVR.
Big screens became affordable, packed
amazing high definition pictures, and could
now easily be hung on the wall as their weight
radically decreased.
And no longer would you be forced to watch
commercials or be a slave to the time slot your
show was on. All you now have to do is tell your
cable box to record the shows of your choice,
watch them on your schedule, and fast forward
through all the Snuggie commercials.
CELEBRITY
The 2000’s were a decade of celebrity
obsession. The masses waited with baited
breath to find out the status of Brad and Jennifer,
Brad and Angelina, Nick and Jessica, and John
and Kate. It was big news when a young starlet
thought that ‘Chicken of the Sea’ was chicken,
not tuna. And everyone stood in awe whenever
a celebrity came out of the closet. But probably
the most tragic example of America’s celebrity
worship over the past decade was the rise and
fall, and rise again of Brittany Spears.
MUSIC
This past decade saw the total evolution of the
music industry as people stopped buying CDs
and starting listening to music on the mega
successful iPod. The iPod hands-down was THE
gadget of the decade. This meant complete
acceptance of illegally downloading music
instead of paying for it at all. And now instead
of relying on millions of dollars in revenue from
record sales, artists have to be creative in their
money making, heavily relying on concert ticket
and merchandise sales in order to make a buck.
And sadly, an overall snapshot of the world
of music during the 2000’s cannot be given
without mentioning the death of music’s biggest
superstar, Michael Jackson.
FILM
Batman movies are cool again. Enough said.
Christianity
Christianity has evolved in various ways since
it began two-thousand years ago- sometimes
for the good and sometimes for the bad. In
its purest form, the message of Christianity
never changes, only the method in which the
message is transferred. The first decade of
this new millennium was no exception as the
Church witnessed many monumental shifts in
its culture.
THE EMERGING CHURCH
As the decade began, many young Christians
in the post-modern world started to feel
disenfranchised by the Modern American
Evangelical Church Culture and its penchant for
consumerism.
So in response, there was a strong push to get
back to the roots of New Testament Christianity.
This was done somewhat successfully as
these young progressive Christians turned
their attention towards authentic community,
responsible stewardship of resources,
compassion and justice for the poor and
oppressed, and the importance of the words of
Jesus.
But the ‘hard to define’ movement became more
known for their candles, prayer labyrinths, and
doctrinally vague leaders prone to relativism
than their desire to grow closer to Christ; and
has now been confusingly divided into two
classifications: The Emerging Church, and
the Emergent Church. It will be interesting to
see what the new decade has in store for this
mysterious trend in Christianity.
MULTISITE CHURCH
One surprisingly successful and pleasant trend
of the 2000’s in the church world was the
emergence of Multisite Churches.
As churches began to grow and were hungry
to reach others for Christ, instead of launching
large giving campaigns and erecting enormous
fortune-costing buildings that could seat
thousands of people only to find out that they
would have to add more services or build larger
buildings as they continued to grow, they began
to open up medium sized campuses all over the
metro areas where their ministries were based.
This has enabled churches to reach more people
in more areas of their cities for less money. They
reach more people because it’s easier for people
to invite their friends to church if the church is
in their own neighborhood, and the church can
do that in multiple neighborhoods at the same
time. It’s cheaper because they can rent a facility
on Sundays to hold their worship gatherings
in various neighborhoods or can erect many
smaller buildings on smaller pieces of property
versus a giant building on a humongous piece
of property; and can centralize their leadership
and administration in one location.
Technology has allowed this to be possible
in recent years. One pastor can deliver one
message to multiple campuses and tens of
thousands of people at one time through
relatively cheap satellite or internet broadcasting.
Or the pastor’s message during the church’s
first Saturday evening service can be recorded
and then shown to the following services
during the same weekend at several locations.
Throw in a local campus pastor to shepherd the
people and a live campus worship band and
you have yourself an authentic church service.
And the strange thing is, studies show that the
congregations prefer to watch their pastor via
video versus in person.
HIPSTER PASTORS
Another interesting trend in Christianity during
the past decade was the emergence of Hipster
Pastors. In the past pastors were expected
to dress formally wherever they went so that
they would be distinguished from the rest of
the world. Inevitably this caused people to see
pastors as individuals who were elevated above
the rest of society and, subsequently, they
became totally unrelatable and irrelevant to the
very people they were trying to reach out to.
So a few progressive leaders across the
Evangelical world starting dressing down,
and starting dressing hip so that they would
be seen as culturally progressive within their
unchristian communities in order to be relatable
and relevant to the new world they now found
themselves in.
Pastors like Rob Bell, Mark Driscoll, Ed Young,
and Steven Furtick have become almost as well
known for their urban-progressive-yet-casual-
fashion-sense as they have their theology.
And now on Sunday mornings all across
America you are more likely to see your pastors
wearing jeans, untucked shirts, bulky glasses,
tight t-shirts, fashion-forward boots, and even
flip flops than polyester suits, ties, sweater
vests, and nicely polished oxfords.
A Look Ahead
While this has been merely a brief snapshot
of the past decade, it will be fascinating to see
what the teenage years of the New Millennium
will have in store.
Here’s to hoping for less plastic ‘spinner’
hubcaps, Facebook Farmville requests, and
guys wearing pink shirts with popped collars;
and more awesome ‘As Seen On TV’ products
like the Snuggie and the ShamWow, Fail Blog,
YouTube Videos, and of course- world peace.
“Peace Out!” is another expression I hope we
can leave in the past.
Anthony Trask is blessed with an
incredible wife and two awesome
kids. He currently copastors
Fellowship Church in NE Salem. You
can listen to his weekly messages
at www.fellowshipsalem.com, or read
his daily blog at www.anthonytrask.
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_19
 seeing
miracles.
It’s hard to believe in miracles isn’t it? Do you
think perhaps it’s because we have become
jaded by charlatans, or because we have
become desensitized by all the special effects
we se on TV and movies. But make no mistake;
miracles still happen. They happen at the edge
of a mean and sinful world where light pushes
back the darkness.
Many miracles happen in distant remote
places where God is able to show His awe-
some power. I’ve talked to missionaries who
have witnessed awe inspiring miracles. But,
I’ve seen them too, and I saw them when I
went to the edge.
It all started that first day when I walked into
the Edgewater District as a volunteer of the
Salem Dream Center (a ministry that reaches
people through volunteer service and works
projects). I stepped on to the edge that day;
looked over and jumped. My life has not been
the same.
On my first day in Edgewater, my team and
I knocked on the door of a woman who
wouldn’t tell us her name. Week after week
she would talk to us, but never tell us her
name. Our conversations were always cen-
tered on everything that she did, kind of her
way of telling us, look I’m OK; I don’t need
your help.
I was resolute to learn her name. Every
Saturday we would knock on her door and try
some new clever way to learn her name, only
to be thwarted by her determination to remain
anonymous, and I guess impersonal.
This battle went on for some time, then on
the Saturday before Thanksgiving, when we
knocked on the door, it swung open and a
hand thrust out. In a stern and harsh voice she
proclaimed, “I’ve had enough of your friendli-
ness, leave me alone,” and the door slammed
in our faces.
20_RETHINK MONTHLY
That was a first. We weren’t sure what to do.
After walking away in disbelieve we talked
about what just happened, and what we
should do. We came up with a plan to write her
a note that said we were sorry for bothering
her, that bothering her wasn’t our intent. We
only wanted to be friends. We acknowledged
all that she did: working full time, going to
school, and helping to raise her grand kids.
We closed our note saying; “We won’t bother
you, but we will always be out here on the
street on Saturday mornings if you need us.”
We placed that note on her door on a Satur-
day, the week after Thanksgiving. We snuck
up, quietly put the note on her door and ran.
That same day our anonymous woman called
West Salem Foursquare Church, and asked if
we were part of the church?
You know the feeling you get when you are
driving and you see those blue lights flash-
ing in your rear view mirror? Well that’s what
I felt when on Sunday I was asked if I had left
a note on a door in Edgewater, because a
woman had called about it. But relief flooded
over me just like when the police car passes
and pulls over the car in front of you.
The woman called to tell us she was sorry, and
to tell us that we could come back. Melanie,
the pastor who answered the call, could
have taken the message as it was given, but
instead she asked, “Are you OK?” The woman
broke down crying and told Melanie that two
days before she slammed the door on us, her
7 year old grandson died a tragic death.
Melanie went on to talk with her about God,
about death, and about a world that is cruel:
one that doesn’t make sense. At the end of
that conversation Melanie could have said
goodbye, but instead she asked if she could
pray for her. The woman broke down crying
again, and said yes please pray for me.
The next Saturday, we went back to that same
door that had been slammed in our faces, and
as we knocked. It swung opened, only this
time two arms were thrust out of the door and
the woman grabbed me in a tight hug. Then all
of the sudden she pushed me back and said,
“My name is Linda. My name is Linda.” I re-
plied, “That was my mom’s name, she passed
away a few months ago.”
Linda slammed the door, but God opened a
heart.
As time passed Linda and I became very good
friends and we are great friends to this day.
On Saturdays Linda and I always talk about
what I read in my devotionals, about what she
has read in the Bible, and about her family and
mine.
A little more than a year later after Linda
opened her door and welcomed me with a
hug, she received Christ. A short time later
her daughter and son-in-law received Christ.
I was amazed at how God worked in her life,
and then through her life to reach her children.
I never took a Bible, or even tried to get her to
accept Christ, I just listened, talked and told
stories, and God did the rest.
Linda and I talked a lot and I honestly thought
I knew everything about Linda. She had told
me about her daughter who led a life of regret,
about her son-in-law who was drug addict. We
talked about some very deep and painful stuff.
Then one day she asked me, “Did you know
I have a son?” I said, “nope.” She replied,
“That’s because I’m embarrassed of him.”
She continued, “My son is in prison for mur-
der. He’s in there for life without parole.”
She went on to tell me about his life and how
terrible he was to her. She said all he ever did
was take, and never cared about anyone, nev-
er said he was sorry for the pain he caused.

Then she told me that her son had received
Christ. My first thought was jail house conver-
sion. She must have read my mind because
she said, “Yes that is what I thought, but then
he told me something that made me know it
was true. He told me, ‘Mom, I did it. I killed that
man, I deserve to be here. I know God didn’t
have me kill that man, but I think God wants
me here so I can help people come to know
Him.’”
Linda looked me in the eye and said, “He
always said he didn’t do it, he said he was
framed. Now he said he did it, that’s how
I know he really has turned his life over to
Christ.”
Then she told me, “You know my boy always
took from everyone, now he wants to give
back. He wants to be a pastor.”
She went on to tell me that he called her every
Sunday and for the past year and a half she
shared our talks, shared our devotionals and
what she heard in church or on TBN. She said
God just took those words and made them
grow in him. He told her that over the phone
he could hear the difference in her, and his
sister. He wanted what they had, they were
happy, they had moved beyond their past and
were alive. He wanted that.
One Saturday a few months ago Linda told
me she knows she will never see her boy on
the streets of this world, but she knows she
will see him walking down streets of gold,
and he will be holding the hand of Mike’ her
grandson.
by Craig Oviatt
More than a year has passed since that day
her son accepted Christ and her son is still
studying to be a pastor. He is also helping in
the chapel. He has moved beyond his past
and he is alive. He said the change in his life
is so dramatic, that other inmates will come
up to him and ask him, “What happened to
you?” It’s then that he tells his story and offers
them what his mom offered to him: life with a
Father who loves them exactly as they are and
forgives all their sins.
Miracles still happen. Some are simple, some
are amazing, but they happen in far off distant
and remote places, and yes they happen right
down the hill from the church I call home.
I walked into Edgewater in 2003 knowing that
I had nothing to give, you know what? I was
right I didn’t and I don’t, but God does. All I
have to do is step to the edge every Saturday
and push back at the darkness of a cold and
harsh world with His love. Then He shines
with a light that goes beyond the blocks I walk,
and shines into a prison thousands of miles
away.
You know I was terrified that first day I stepped
into Edgewater, It wasn’t easy but all I had to
do was step out of the boat just like Peter did.
All I had to do was exactly what the Bible says
I should, go out into the world and use the
gifts God has given me, and use the passion
that He put in my heart. That’s when I get to
see miracles right there at the edge.
Craig Oviatt is the Director of the Salem Dream Center
and is on the pastoral staff at West Salem Foursquare
Church. Craig is married to Renee`, the love of his life,
and has four wonderful children, a son-in-law, and one
beautiful granddaughter. He loves to write, read, cook,
and be at the Salem Dream Center.
Inventive. Daring. Artistic.
These are not words
typically used to describe
a new album by a praise
and worship band.
Modern worship has
fallen into a familiar rut
as of late and while that’s certainly not a bad
thing, there has been a successful formula
that many worship artists have followed. Hats
off to David Crowder Band, one of the most
successful praise and worship groups, for
crumpling up the manual and drop kicking it
out the sanctuary doors.
Lyrically, Church Music is a worship album
through and through. The songs are filled
with “hallelujahs,” “praises” and “holies.”
Musically, Church Music is made for the
dance floor. Think Nitro Praise meets
Passion. The result on paper almost certainly
sounds disastrous, full of cheesy clichés and
wannabe production aspirations. Neither
is the case with this incredible collection of
music. Songs like “Eastern Hymn,” “The
Nearness” and “The Veil” are some of the
best electronic songs you’ll hear all year. “All
Around Me” takes a hit Flyleaf song and
transforms it into an incredible worshipful
experience. “How He Loves” is by far the best
take on this modern worship song that has
been recorded by many other artists this year
as well. They hit it out of the park.
I give huge props to David Crowder Band by
taking a giant leap forward in their music,
forgetting about how many churches can pull
off their songs on a Sunday morning or how
their fans would react to what is an obvious
progression, but still a bit shocking at first.
They have produced an entertaining album
full of vertical lyrics that never point anywhere
else but up and created a subgenre that they
can own all by themselves. Well done.
RETHINKMONTHLY.COM_21

I sat alone in the chapel Saturday morning,
waiting for the prison worship team to join me
for practice. A voice over the loudspeaker let
me know I would be in for a long morning. An
emergency count was called for, confining each
inmate to their cell, regardless of any classes,
visits or programs. I decided to wait it out and
see if a resolution would quickly follow. For the
next hour, I reflected on the missing piece to
my sermon the following Sunday: what does
it mean to “seek the Lord” as Uzziah did in 2
Chronicles 26 (before his pride shot it all to, well,
you know).
This has been my great prayer in the past year,
to truly be able to seek Him. I put this up there
with “praying for patience” as I tend to seek
Him in the midst of affliction. Is God answer-
ing those prayers through conditions in my life
- conditions designed to bring about the very
thing I seek?
One could ask “If God is sovereign and good,
why do His interactions seem like games,
why does His love, as you call it, come with
pain?” As a father to my son, I so want him to
learn responsibility and resourcefulness - to
the point that I want him to “earn” the objects
he desires, or to learn to go without. I know
this is all from love and for his best, but I get
a glimpse of my son’s perspective when my
Father deals with me in the same loving, ef-
ficacious manner. I can complain and worry
like an eight year old if my prospects seem
less than bountiful. It helps if I begin with the
premise that “God is love” then take the riddle
and solve back to the premise. “That’s cheat-
ing!” you say. No, like any problem, we must
work with the information we know to be true,
and there is nothing truer than the fact that my
God is love (space does not permit a defense
of this argument, but I welcome a debate
anytime).
22_RETHINK MONTHLY
I suppose there are more pro-active ways to
seek God such as regular time in devotion,
listening to (usually by reading) His words,
talking to Him, thinking about Him, obeying
Him (usually by loving and serving others).
These are great methods for the professional
“searchers” like me, but all too often, they are
just “methods.” Much like my wonderful son,
once I know the rules, I seek to find ways to
manipulate the “system” to my advantage.
Last Friday evening, at Mill Creek Correctional
Facility (Movie Ministry Outreach), a visitor
asked me why I come into the prisons. I gave
him very good practical answers: my past
criminal behavior, the clear call I received from
God, Matthew 25, etc. I was very dissatisfied
with that answer but unable to discern the
reason. Alone in the chapel, with nothing but
sunbeams on the wood paneling for company,
I was given the answer. Our call to worship
that day was to be Psalm 84, from where we
get “Better is one day in your house than a
thousand elsewhere.” I have always known
that when I join brothers in the prison, it is a
special event - light in a very dark place. These
are men who love the fellowship, the worship,
the opportunity to serve, and they are always
sad to see our time come to an end. I realized
the difference between this church and many
on the “outside” is one of watches; in prison
church we look at our watches in hopes that
the time goes by more slowly - as if God would
hold the sun steady for a while; in many out-
side churches we look at our watches wishing
the hands would run faster to get us to our
next event of the day. In prison, I get to live
out Psalm 84.
by Danny Gette
Perhaps one of the sunbeams illuminated my
rather slothful intellect at that moment and
told me that I have one of the finest ways of
seeking God known to man, I get to regularly
fellowship with men who love Christ with
repentant humility and love each other sacri-
ficially. The real answer for why I go into the
prisons is - I get to see Jesus there. I shared
this with the men on Sunday, and more than
one tearfully agreed. I so much love to see
them each week, and yet long for the day their
faces are missing from the congregation; the
day when they worship in their own churches
with their families. I pray that in His house
they look at their watches and ask the hands
to go slow - Jesus is among us!
Danny Gette is a prison minister
in Salem OR. He passionately be-
lieves in and teaches the complete
transformation provided through
the redemptive power of the Cross.
When not in the prison, he loves
spending time with his family and church. Find out
more at www.psalm119ministry.blogspot.com.
COMMUNITY
HOMELESS
CONNECT March 23rd 2010
9am-4pm at Salem First Baptist Church

“Homeless Connect is a one day resource fair

focused on connecting homeless individuals and
those at risk of becoming homeless in Marion/Polk
counties with services to help improve their lives.”

For more information, contact Linda Macrae at 503-585-6232 or macrael@mwvcaa.org

To volunteer, contact HandsOn Mid-Willamette Valley at 503-363-1651 or ksinger-adams@unitedwaymwv.org

WWW.COMMUNITYHOMELESSCONNECT.ORG