Shooting at New Life Church

Early this afternoon, there was a shooting at the church and the gunman was killed by an armed security staff from the church. Security was on higher-alert this afternoon due to a shooting during the night at a missionary training center in Arvada. The church also has offices for the training center. They are not sure if they are connected at this time.

From CNN: A gunman attacked worshippers at a Colorado Springs, Colorado, megachurch Sunday afternoon, killing one person and wounding four others before being killed by a security staff member, the city's police chief said. Emergency vehicles gather near New Life Church in Colorado Springs on Sunday.

Chief Richard Myers called the person "a courageous security staff member who probably saved many lives today." He said some of the shooting victims being treated at the hospital have life-threatening injuries. Several "suspicious devices" were found at the church, Myers said.

From Fox News:

The program that runs mission training in Arvada has a small office at the New Life Church's World Prayer Center.

A gunman in a black trench coat and a high-powered rifle entered the church's main foyer about 1 p.m. and began shooting, according to the church member, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the police department had asked that it release all information.

The church's 11 a.m. service had recently ended, and hundreds of people were milling about when the gunman opened fire. Nearby were parents picking up their children from the nursery.

Three people were taken to Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs, where they were listed in critical, fair and good condition, said hospital spokeswoman Amy Sufak.

The first shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center in Arvada, a Denver suburb, police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. A man and a woman were killed and two men were wounded, Medina said. All four were staff members with the center, said Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission.

From MSNBC (16 mins ago):

Gunman, victim killed in Colo. church attack
Police: Four others wounded, no link yet to earlier Colorado shooting

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My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the greater COS area and with the church and ministry. The church has gone through a great deal lately. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be led in worship with 5500 youth workers at the National Youth Workers Convention by their worship band: The Desperation Band.

Steelers ......

I wish FOX would be showing this game today ... I mean Pittsburgh vs. New England .. C'Mon. But, no .. they are on CBS and I can not watch it due to regional coverage. We get to watch the Browns vs. Jets ... *blah*

I apologize for the following:

1. First to those in our town who are reading this that are so thankful that the Browns are playing.

2. To those who are rooling their eyes at another sports post

3. To those who are going, Jeff, there are more important things to be upset about than what fb game CBS is showing.

I know and I am soory. But, I want to see if the Steelers can knock off the "perfect" NE Patriots. My plan was to tape it and watch it when I got home tonight. So, now, I am getting the 10 sec refresh from yahoo before things get going and then check in around the 4th quarter .....

Edit:

Well, may I should be glad that it was not shown; they played horribly. Get your act together Steelers or the Browns may catch you ...

Golden Compass

Well, we went to the movie tonight. I will not write much about it though. I do not want to spoil it for those who may want to go and see it. I do have to say that I am becoming a fan of good vs. evil. I thought that the action was good. However, I did think that it was a little slow and it did seem like we were in the theater longer than we were.

One of the things that Christians are worried about is that they are afraid people may now run out and buy the books and the other books are more "dangerous". I have not read the series. I have read inserts / reviews. Thus, I am not 100% where it is going. They say it gets darker and evil. I am not sure. But, they (Christians) may be right in there will be a "flood" to buy the books.

The reason: I am sure that people are wanting to know what happened. They just saw 1/3 of the story and they are going to want to know what happens to Lyra.

The controversy does crack me up. I did go see it with some teenagers. We enjoyed being together and our conversation afterwards at Starbuck's.

God Goes Out Of Business

"Just my luck," I said. "The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him."

wow. Those words are the words that are screamed out in Psalms 77:10. One of my favorite quiet/devotion tmes is reading through the Psalms. At times, it is just raw. We, as Christians, are not good at raw. We like things neat and pretty and please have a bow on it ...

Here is Psalms 77 in its entirety in the message format.



1 I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

2-6 I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord; my life was an open wound that wouldn't heal. When friends said, "Everything will turn out all right," I didn't believe a word they said. I remember God—and shake my head. I bow my head —then wring my hands. I'm awake all night—not a wink of sleep; I can't even say that's bothering me. I go over the days one by one, I ponder the years gone by. I strum my lute all through the night, wondering how to get my life together.

7-10 Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good? Will he never smile again? Is his love worn threadbare? Has his salvation promise burned out? Has God forgotten his manners? Has he angrily stalked off and left us? "Just my luck," I said. "The High God goes out of business just the moment I need him."

11-12 Once again I'll go over what God has done, lay out on the table the ancient wonders; I'll ponder all the things you've accomplished, and give a long, loving look at your acts.

13-15 O God! Your way is holy! No god is great like God! You're the God who makes things happen; you showed everyone what you can do—You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble, rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.

16-19 Ocean saw you in action, God, saw you and trembled with fear; Deep Ocean was scared to death. Clouds belched buckets of rain, Sky exploded with thunder, your arrows flashing this way and that. From Whirlwind came your thundering voice, Lightning exposed the world, Earth reeled and rocked. You strode right through Ocean, walked straight through roaring Ocean, but nobody saw you come or go.

20 Hidden in the hands of Moses and Aaron, You led your people like a flock of sheep.

When was the last time that you had a true heart-heart with God ?

It Snowed Last Night

Last night, we had our first "real" snow of the season. It started after midnight and continue through the night. I think that we got 3-4 inches. I am not sure. But since it came during the night; the kids did not have school. They enjoyed it. Anyway the pic is from our family room. You can see the back yard and the lacrosse field (which is at the bottom of our hill).

Born Again Lazy

I was reading a story from Craig that I thought "hit home". Here is the story, read it and tell me what you think.

They were out to lunch with the minister, minister wife and a few others from the church and Craig shared a story about reaching out to an "untouchable" and them (untouchable) getting their life turned around.

Craig continues: To know God has used us to help another find redemption and start a new life in Christ was a great and humbling testimony for us to share.

The nice, southern, evangelical Christian pastor's wife looked across the table with her beautiful smile and well-intentioned life and stopped the Gospel dead: "No matter what you or others do, God would have taken care of it, if he wanted it done. It doesn't matter if you gave her money or not, God would have taken care of it if he wanted."

My jaw hit the table as she finished her sentence and smiled at us like she had just dispensed the greatest Christian wisdom since Christ hung on the cross. I grabbed for my coffee cup and prayed: "Lord, don't let me kill this lady."

"So basically it's okay to look the other way when we see others in need?" I asked politely.

"If God wants something done, he will do it." She said with a smug righteousness.

J.R. (my friend and partner in ministry) buried his fork in his napkin, which was translation for "Lord, don't let me kill this lady." We think alot alike.

I leaned forward, "If we all adopted that way of thinking then the Bible becomes a moot point." She smiled. I just about vomited all over the table. Moments like those suck. The "Born Again Lazy" have no idea they are even lazy. The church grows this attitude by never confronting her crazy rhetoric. She truly thinks it is okay to let God have the bulk of responsibility. After all: he's God. Nevermind the countless opportunities He will hand you in your lifetime to help those around you. Why bother if he can do anything he wants.

Many Christians see the world as a mission field, but the sad truth is that many of us never leave the driveway of the church to do anything about it. Our pastor wife may never get it.

I liked the story.

Let us follow Jesus: Go and Do

There is a God

I was watching the MNF game and flipping channels during the timeouts. I came across CMA channel and this video was playing. Now, it may not be a "worship" song in the sense that most would define; but I would say that this is a great worship song.

Here is the video and the lyrics are below the video:



Try and put your arms around
the 100 year old tree
Climb up on a horse
and let it run full speed
Take a look out at the world from 30,000 feet
on your next flight

Watch a flock of birds
against the morning sun
Close your eyes and listen
to the river run
Catch a firefly in your hand
or a raindrop on your tongue
That's right

Chorus:
There is a God
There is a God
There is a God
How much proof do you need?

Plant a seed and see
what comes out of the ground
Find the heartbeat on your baby's ultrasound
In a few years hear it laughing,
and don't it sound like a song?

Stop and think about
what you don't understand
Things like life and love
and how the world began
Hear the doctor say he can't explain it,
but the cancer is gone

Chorus:
There is a God
There is a God
There is a God
How much proof do you need?

Bridge:
Science says it's all just circumstance
That this whole world is just an accident
But if you want to shoot that theory down,
just take a look around

Oh just look around

Now there is a God
There is a God
Oh there is a God,
How much proof do you need?

Now, There is a God.

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Ummmm, two late night post with both having to do with country music. I feel dirty; I think i need a shower :)

BTW, the game had a great finish.

Stupid Boy

I heard this song today and it reminded me of an individuals who came across my blog and sent me an email telling me a little bit about her story.

This is by Sarah Buxton. I think Keith Urban did the song originally (as well). I am not sure, I am not much of a country video person. But here is the video, the lyrics and my thoughts to the one this goes out to ...



She was precious, like a flower:
Yeah, she grew wild; wild but innocent.
Perfect prayer in a desperate hour:
She was everything beautiful an' different.
Stupid boy: you can't fence that in.
Stupid boy: it's like holding back the wind.

She laid her heart an' soul right in your hands,
An' you stole her every dream an' crushed her plans.
She never even knew she had a choice.
That's what happens when the only voice,
She hears is tellin her she can't:
Stupid boy: you stupid boy.

So what made you think you could take her life,
An' just push it, push it around?
I guess you built yourself up so high,
You had to take her an' break her down.

She laid her heart an' soul right in your hands,
An' you stole her every dream an' crushed her plans.
She never even knew she had a choice.
That's what happens when the only voice,
She hears is tellin her she can't:
Stupid boy.

Ah, you always had to be right,
An' now you lost the only thing,
That ever made you feel alive.

:. Instrumental Break .:
(Whoo, yeah.)
(Na, na, whoa.)

She laid her heart an' soul right in your hands,
An' you stole her every dream an' you crushed her plans.
She never even knew that she had a choice.
That's what happens when the only voice,
She hears is tellin her she can't:
Stupid boy.

Ah, it's the same old, same old stupid boy.
Mmm hmm.
It took her a while to work it out she could run,
But once she did, she was long gone, long gone.
Yeah.

Stupid boy, yeah.
You're just a stupid boy.
You never get it right, do you?

Rob Bell: Church & Community

I came across an interview that the WittenburgDoor done recently and it "touched" something today. Here are two questions: back-to-back that got me thinking today.

DOOR: Why do you think we have so many Jesuses? My Jesus vs. your Jesus, Conservative Jesus, Liberal Jesus, Pentecostal Jesus, Episcopalian Jesus ...

BELL: People will grab all aspects of the truth. I guess it would be hard for one person to wrap their arms around that much truth. Easier to grab small pieces, I suppose. I'll take all the good. I want the best of the Assembly of God Jesus, the Latin America Jesus; I want the best of all of them. Jesus talked about fruit, told great stories—you can say anything, but its actions that you can't argue with.

DOOR: How did this Mars Hill thing happen, anyway?

BELL: Seven years ago, a group of friends were just dreaming of something better. I guess the natural evolution of each generation is to explore what it means. How to live the way of Jesus here and now. So we started and it now feels like fifty years packed into seven. Mars Hill is an old mall. Our "architect"—I say that as a joke—says everything about the church should scream "Welcome to our church service! Now get the hell out of here." We say, "This isn't the church, this is a church service. It's just an hour where we have some teaching, some singing and you'll hear about things in the community." If there are 43 "one anothers" in the New Testament—serve one another, carry one another's burden's, confess to one another—you can only do a couple of those in a church service. Until you have a community that you are journeying with, please don't say you are a part of this church. You just come to a gathering. We are very intentional about that. The question is, "Who do you call when your brother ODs on cocaine? If your mom is in the hospital, who comes and sits in the waiting room with you? When you cannot pay your rent, who do you go to and say please help me out?" That's your church.

I really liked the answer that he gives and it has caused me to think how we can help people plug into a true community (if they so choose). Also, it fuels the desire for me to be in that type of community in "our church" and to connect others to this; so we can truly journey together.

Desserts @ Church

This past weekend, we tried a new event at the church. From a numbers standpoint, people would have not considered it "a success". However, events like these are events that I am really beginning to love.

The concept of the event was the following: everyone bring their favorite dessert to the church and meet in the fellowship hall. We would then all sit around the tables trying all the desserts (everyone would bring the recipes so we can try them out over the holiday season) and fellowshipping with one another while we had Christmas music playing. After about a half an hour, we would put Charlie Brown's Christmas on while we continued to fellowship. We would then have St. Nick do a reading on Christmas trees and their meaning (tie in with CB).

Even though there were only a few individuals that came out, we enjoyed the desserts and we enjoyed the fellowship with one another.

St. Nick & The Kids: Here is a picture of St. Nick up by the trees reading the story. Everyone brought Christmas toys for us to give to the People to People Ministry. the pass out toys to the families in the community in need. The younger kids seemed to really enjoy watching CB and listening to the story.

Pastor: He always has a great time at these events and he is a great 'sport'. He has a heart for people. We just had to have him put on the ears. Don't you think they look good on him ? Of course, you can tell by the picture that he was not was not watching CB. That is okay though. CB was "background" for the fellowship that was occurring.