Two more things exciting at OCBC, an Update on Support Raising, and Gender Roles

a)
Bob Montgomery gave a good sermon at OCBC this week. He’s started a series on John 17. I’ll paraphrase (heavily) part of Bob’s message. It is something that I have put a good deal of thought into lately:


Christ’s goal and prayer was to Glorify the Father. The Father answered this in His death and resurrection. One way this Glorifies God is that it shows the Justice and Holiness of God. An ambassador once said to me during a Bible study: "I think God is far more wrathful in the Old Testament". I replied "It is exactly the opposite. God is far more wrathful in the New Testament". The ambassador was shocked! I explained that the Cross is where God’s wrath and God’s hatred of Sin is most fully displayed. God shows His commitment to Justice in the fact that He will not overlook sin even to spare His own Son. Most of the Old Testament takes place over a 2000 year period (Abraham to the prophets). It is not surprising that we find the occasional display of God’s wrath. However, in the 40 year period that most of the New Testament events occur in, God displays the most powerful judgment on sin. The wrath of the Old Testament is like the sun’s rays on a hot July day while God’s wrath on the Cross is like a ten million gigawatt laser. – Bob Montgomery (paraphrased)


If you remove God’s wrath from the Cross, the Cross is drained of almost all of its value. God would not be nearly as loving, because God’s Love is most powerfully displayed in the transfer of our penalty onto Christ. But God would also not be nearly as love-able (Glorious), because He would be a King who simply let murderers and adulterers go free without a great penalty being paid.


b)
The vote is in – the membership has approved of the pastoral candidate (one person voted against him :P). And….. he’s accepted (from what I’ve heard). He begins in June. So, OCBC has an English Pastor.


c)
Ministry Partner Development (support raising) has been interesting. I think I’m okay at it. Here are some good moments:


One individual told me VERY sincerely – "Thank you for giving ME the opportunity to invest in your ministry!"
Another person told me – "You are the only missionary that has ever approached me" and "I’m not rich, but I am comfortable. I need to not be."– It is encouraging to remember that there are many who WANT to give, but haven’t been given the opportunity.
Another person has sent my support letter to a bunch of different people, and yet another person mentioned my trip in an announcement at their Church!


Well, those are the good things, there are less good things, lots of waiting involved and my schedule is screwed up, but God has been good in this process.


d) (Potentially controversial)
I don’t know if anyone watched that Driscoll video I posted. In it, he says of the Church –
"Highest Priority: Men… The men are the issue. If you get the men, you win the War, if you lose the men, you lose the war. Most of your ministry is spent trying to make up for the lack, the deficiency, and the ineffectiveness of men. You say – "We need a big women’s ministry". We need husbands! You say – "We need a big children’s ministry". We need fathers!"


Jesus Christ undeniably and un-apologetically targeted MEN. He did not set up a women’s discipleship program or a Sunday School. He apparently felt it more important to take the 3 years of ministry he had to raise up a team of male leaders. From my experience, even those who hold to Biblical (complementarian) gender roles have largely failed to articulate this aspect of Christ’s model. I have lately realized that if a Church desires to follow a Biblical model of ministry, it must make preaching to, discipling, and developing men a high priority (yes, as in more important than women’s ministry or children’s ministry).

A Humbling Experience, Fresh Thoughts on Gender Roles, and Cyndi Wang

a) I passed…
So, the other day I went and submitted myself to humiliation - I took (for the second time) my G1 test. I passed, but was very anxious lest I fail it at the age of 21. What was remarkable was that there were many other guys my age taking it over again. Anyways… God uses things like that to humble us, heh.

b) Masculinity and Femininity
I think that when I keep hearing the same kind of teaching or start getting into the same conversation topics unintentionally, its sometimes cause God wants me to think intentionally about that topic. So, I think God’s leading me to think and read a lot more about the difference between men and women.

I don’t like recommending him, cause he’s "hip" in a lot of the cru circles I’m in, but here’s a good talk by Mark Driscoll when he was in Canada, that I think may have shifted my perspective on gender a lot:

http://www.willingdon.org/refocus/default.asp?id=760

btw, check out all the talks. They are good.

And here’s another thing that I’ve recently heard that’s gotten some fresh thoughts coming:

"I've been in a Church where a woman was wearing an outfit.. I couldn't even look in her direction because she was dressed so immodestly. And the pastor is talking about modesty and she yells, 'Amen!'.

"And I realized: she's not being an intentional hypocrite; she thinks immodesty is whoever is wearing less clothing than she was wearing right then. I think the same thing comes down to male headship.

"Every man, who is a Christian in a Church that affirms male headship thinks he's head over his home. Most of them are not! And they don't understand what that means and what it looks like - that kind of self-sacrificial headship."

- Russell Moore (in a conversation, explaining the mediocre grammar and vocabulary)

OUCH!!

Expect more thoughts in the near future.

c) Cyndi Wang
Well, it has been almost a year since Cyndi Wang released new material (the Wei Xiao Pasta OST came out in July), so you can imagine her fans have been patiently waiting for more pop gold. So, last week she released her new full-length album, Magic Cyndi! (exclamation mark not a part of the title)

The first single is Ai De Tian Ling Ling (or, as someone very helpfully translated it online, Love’s Tian Ling Ling :P). Its great bright and bubbly pop, but unfortunately I think the video has a less than modest wardrobe and lacks the juxtaposition of Pop Star Cyndi (dancing in costume) with Fun, Down-to-earth Cyndi (singing into the vacuum cleaner or hanging out with her bf) that gave thematic unity and just pure fun to her previous videos.

But the real controversy on Youtube is her hair. It is shorter. Here’s a taste of people’s opinions on youtube:

kristy888 - ok ive always liked her especially in smiling pastabut NO NO NOthis is a horrid hairstyle n the mv is ...erm..weird..im sure u cant get a weirder dance!

beautifulsoulkeeper - wot is up wiv her hair?

momocrush - NOOOOOOOOO cyndi what have you done to your beautiful hair??!!

sheeohpaow - I miss her old haristyle, but the song's wonderful. ^^

lOrniej - i'm a fan of cyndi, n i think ds song is just cute enuff for her. BUT THE F*** DID LAN BO EVEN CREATED TT DANCE?! IT'S HORRID!!! n her hair! my god. she's totally ruined.

Well, I usually have a length limit on my blog, but I’ve broken it just to report on the latest Cyndi news. Hope you’ve enjoyed.

Exciting Things at OCBC + The Greatest Sin

a) Exciting Things at OCBC
Today’s worship service was a train wreck. Despite this, there were good things happening:
1. We might be getting a new building near Chinatown and its huge (exactly what I think is an ideal size for a Church)!
Note: this contributed to the train-wreck nature of today. Someone presented a fifteen minute talk on the new building, which included (I AM NOT JOKING) pictures of the washrooms and the boiler room, an explanation of every requirement we were looking for (including 9 classrooms and it being "closed to the bus routes"*), and a viewing of the floor plan of the building and a road map of the area (I guess to assure us that it was by the highway).

2. We may be getting a new English pastor, who will be focusing mostly on the youth and young adults!
Note: I gave him a tour of campus with Jeremy and Peter, followed by a theology quiz by Peddy. He passed. And he’s a good preacher (I saw the tape when I got back from Toronto). Just got two issues: a) He lets his kid run around everywhere during Bible study (it made me ponder the question – "at what age can you start spanking kids?") and, b) he regularly reads the nlt (the Ottawa Sun of Bible "translations"). But those aren’t big things. Anyways, please pray for these things.**

*I probably shouldn’t pick on Chinese people who make spelling mistakes.
**Hmm, after reading this over, I realized that I’m going to have to trust that if he does become our pastor, he’ll have a sense of humour and won’t take these things too seriously.

Shifting gears…

b) The Greatest Sin
12Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13for my people have committed two evils:they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. – Jeremiah 2:12-13

Last year, I was sharing the Gospel with a Baha’i friend of mine. I explained that we all deserve God’s punishment, because we are all sinful, but that Christ’s blood has paid for our sins such that if ANYONE repent and have faith, they will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. He asked me the following question:

"So, if a murderer becomes a Christian, he gets into heaven. But if I don’t accept Jesus, I go to Hell?"

I said "Yes"

He was shocked and saw this as total foolishness*.

How is this God just? Today it has been confirmed (a lot) in my mind and (a little less) in my heart that God is just in this because everyone has committed a way worse sin then murder.

They have rejected God. This is the greatest of sins – God loves us and has given us everything. There is literally nothing worse in the universe than rejecting God. And we do it everyday.

This is a VERY radical thing to say. It means the following statements are true:

The Holocaust was an atrocity BUT the rejection of God in a three-year old child is WORSE than the Holocaust.
I have done something worse than the Holocaust.
Mother Teresa committed a worse sin than initiating a genocide, committing rape, and engaging in incest combined.

I think it’s a very difficult thing to believe, but if God is the God He says He is –whose love reaches to the heavens and whose faithfulness stretches to the sky, then to deny Him the Honour He deserves is the greatest crime in the Universe.

*don’t worry, it was still very civilized and I tried my best to say all these things in as non-confrontational a way as possible.

a thought on relationships (you will most probably have an opinion on this) and an encouraging thought about support

a)
A friend of mine (Friend A) has major girlfriend issues on a regular basis. This is publicly known, because he announces it through his facebook profile (ie. in a span of 48 hours, the following can occur: In a relationship -> It’s complicated -> Single -> It’s complicated -> In a relationship).

I was talking to another friend of ours (Friend B) and asked why Friend A doesn’t just take his relationship status off his profile. Friend B attributed this lack of discretion to Friend A’s desire that everyone know that he is in a relationship. With a girl. And she’s hot.

Friend B was quick to note that this isn’t an unusual phenomenon. Many people think it necessary to announce their relationship or, in extreme instances, to bring it up repeatedly in everyday conversation – "Oh, you’re drinking coffee. You know who loves coffee? My girlfriend. I wish she was here – we’d laugh and go do couple stuff. Oops, sorry, forgot, you wouldn’t understand, because you’re single and lonely".

To be fair, I don’t really believe that this is actually a major part of my friend’s intentions. And, to defend some of those people, I could imagine if you were in a good relationship, you’d want to announce it to the world; or shout it from on top of a mountain like Ron Burgandy. But I would agree that there are some individuals who rub it in a little too much.

What say you? Are these "Oh, it’s four o’clock. That’s six hours before I usually call my girlfriend!"-type people really that common? Or are they like the fat, hairy, shirtless guy in your neighbourhood – everyone knows one, and one’s enough, and you really really wish that they’d stop? Or are they the figment of unhappy, single people’s imaginations?

b)
Day three of support went well! Two people officially committed to supporting me and I’ve got two more appointments and two phone appointments for next week. And I’ve just been really enjoying the opportunities its given me to catch up with friends. Its my job to find out how people are doing! Isn’t that sweet? But I realize I’m in the honeymoon phase, where the process is really fun, so I’m trying to have an attitude that will work in the long run.

Support, My Current Problems, and Toronto

a) Well, just for Monica’s sake, why don’t I begin with a book recommendation:
I’m support-raising, and it's hard. But Funding Your Ministry by Scott Morton is very encouraging and helps me to at least feel like I’m not alone and that what I’m doing is important. Plus, it has pictures – very helpful given my reading level. Its very readable, perhaps if you’re thinking about staff or just wanna know what its like for missionaries or cru staff, check it out.

b) Like I said, support has been hard. Its cause I’m really low on motivation. And, to be honest, with a lot of people away, its left a big social gap. I should probably start spending time with other friends, but I’m not so good at that. Keep in mind that its been two days. I will probably have less issues in a week from now (or way more).

c) Well, that’s my "sharing my deepest feelings" part of this entry. Now I will share my top three moments from my trip to Tdot: (in chronological order) (actually, they are more like 3 inappropriate moments, and they aren’t even really my favourite ones, but whatever)

1. Peddy, using all the smoothness he could muster, asks Pri: "Do you touch me?"
Note: He actually said "meat". But it was hilarious that the first topic of conversation brought up in front of Pri was her vegetarianism. I think Peddy has made it his goal in life to ridicule vegetarianism as much as possible.

2. As we approached Tim Hortons, we saw these cadet kids holding the door open and asking for donations. A friend of mine remarked, "I HATE those kids. They always make me feel bad."
Note: It is true. I don’t even know what they were collecting money for. But it couldn’t have been that important if they must stoop to similar business tactics as squeegee kids rather than, in a professional manner, presenting their cause to potential donors.

3. There were many racist (as in Travis was offended. !!!!) comments made at Tim Hortons.
Note: the majority of us were minorities, if that makes a difference.

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Expect more frequent updates from now on.