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Mar 17th, 2010Musings: St. Patrick's Day

Christian Johnson
SANDALS CHURCH BLOGGER

Blessings,

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, which happens to be my favorite day of the year (barring Christmas). I love green. I love corny Irish music. In fact, I love this day so much I’ll even eat cooked cabbage. But especially I love the story of St. Patrick, a British boy kidnapped by Irish raiders and forced to work as a slave; escaping he later returned to bring Christ to his enslavers. I can’t even imagine the love and strength it would take to do that.

I’ve been thinking about blessings and curses lately, and about the power we have especially as Christians in speaking words over each other. Even my slim concordance shows bless, blessed, or blesses being used almost 100 times: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Romans12:14), “I will bless the Lord at all times” (Psalm 34:1) and my favorite “Bless the Lord O my soul” (Psalm 104:1). Blessings and curses are both strong. We know that the enemy is like a roaring lion waiting for any excuse he can get to harm another. More importantly, we also know that we are children of the Giving God, who is always ready to give good gifts to His children, waiting eagerly for any excuse to rain blessings on our heads. And so on my favorite day of the year I wanted to pray a special blessing over all of you, my church family. I ask, in the words of St. Patrick:

God's might to uphold you,

God's wisdom to guide you,

God's eye to look before you,

God's ear to hear you,

God's word to speak for you,

God's hand to guard you,

God's way to lie before you,

God's shield to protect you,

God's host to save you.

Christ with you, Christ before you, Christ behind you,

Christ in you, Christ beneath you, Christ above you,

Christ on your right, Christ on your left,

Christ when you lie down, Christ when you sit down, Christ when you arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of you,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of you,

Christ in every eye that sees you,

Christ in every ear that hears you.

Amen.

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Mar 16th, 2010Blog Team Roundtable

We are the blog team. We are a group of people who love God and who love Sandals. We strive to make the Sandals community more connected by documenting the events and people who make up Sandals Church.

We are always looking for more writers who have a passion for God’s people and want to use their spiritual gifts to serve. If you are interested in writing for the church contact Tawny Burgess at tawnyburgess@gmail.com.

The following is a roundtable interview of your blog team. If you are a regular visitor of this blog, here’s your chance to learn more about your writers, and if you're new to the blog - welcome, we're glad you are here.

Warning: You may be hearing from us soon. Don’t worry, we’re nice. :)

Bloggers:

Tawny Burgess

Jenna Dodson

Rose Granbacka

Christian Johnson

Kelli McNeilly

Who has been going to the Sandals the longest?

Christian - November of 1998. So, 12 years.

Rose - 6 years

Kelli - 3 1/2 years

Jenna- 2 1/2 years

Tawny - 3 years

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what blogger would you take and why?

Christian - Tawny, she knows half of my secrets anyways.

Kelli - I would take Christian because I love her voice. It would be like a therapy session. She is really cool and has a lot of intellectual things to say and I would learn a lot.

Jenna - I would also take Christian because she likes book and she can find the leaves to make tea.

Rose - Christian because she loves “Lord of the Rings” as much as I do.

Tawny - Christian because she would be the best survivor! She would know how to make everything! Oh, and she knows how to fight.

What is the funniest moment you have had in this group during the Wednesday meetings?

Christian - I am liking this right here. We are camped out with a flashlight and a blanket. [We were outside the Flip Flops building, on a blanket with a flashlight having this interview.]

Rose - Yeah, this is pretty good. I am going with this.

Jenna - I can’t choose one time. Just the bonding and laughing.

Kelli - Yeah, what she said.

Tawny - I would agree.

Rose - Oh! And the Mennonite thing! “Monday night?” “Yes, Mennonite!” “Monday night?” “Yes, Mennonite.”

What is the most moving event you have covered?

Rose - I would say the Purity ceremony.

Christian - Going to the leaders meeting after Gateway to Service. As a volunteer, I have been shuffled around a lot - I have worked in over five or six ministries. When I got to listen to to the leaders and see the heart they have for the people who were volunteering it was not about, “Like, oh my gosh now we can get things done” - it was about Lee, bless his heart, crying his eyes out because he was looking at the faces of these people who have been through so much and seeing everything that had led up to them wanting to serve God. The leaders want people to know that they care about the journey each individual Christian is going through and that nobody gets left out. It was beautiful the way they were talking about it.

Kelli - The Real Love series. I said it before, but it’s just how real they are and how different they are from what I had growing up. They said everything so honestly and it’s exactly what kids at the age need to hear.

Tawny - Is that why you now work in that ministry?

Kelli - I wanted to work there beforehand, but definitely working on this story really showed me it’s where I want to serve.

Jenna - I would say my first event. It was at Vanguard for the Sandals Abolitionist Ministry. It was very powerful. It was powerful to listen to everyone speaking and it was very educational. It was really cool.

Tawny - I would also say my first event. It was the Thanksgiving dinner at Norton Younglove. The blog team wasn’t even in existence yet. I just went there to serve pie, but I felt like someone needed to be there to document it. So, I had my camera and I just started interviewing people. It was the beginning of this blog, and I didn’t even know it then.

Why should people join this team?

Kelli - Sandals has been done some amazing things and it’s great for others to know that. It’s a a great opportunity to get out of your comfort zone, go to events that you would not normally go. Oh, and you can put this on your resume.

Jenna - It’s using the talent that God gave you to serve the church and help others.

Where do you see the blog in the future?

Rose -Channel 7 news.

Christian - We need someone to be our spokesperson.

Tawny - I nominate Christian!

Christian - No, I am going to be on the island!

Tawny - Well, in all honestly, I want people to know that they can go to this blog and learn more about what the body of the church is doing. I have lots of plans and it’s exciting to see where it was two months ago and where it is today.

Christian - This is a home for the introverts. These are people who love God, who love what the church is doing but aren’t going out and preaching - not all gifts of the Spirit is teaching and evangelism. This ministry highlights writing. So, if you’re an introvert e-mail Tawny.

Rose -And if you’re an extrovert, you’ll be our spokesperson!

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Mar 16th, 2010Uganda Update #1

We made it!

After 59 hours of door to door travel time, we have finally arrived at the Favour of God complex in Gulu, Northern Uganda. Our airplane flights were long and uneventful: Los Angeles to London-Heathrow, an overnight layover in London, then south to Entebbe, Uganda. After a nights stay in nearby Kampala, we spent another day traveling by bus through African towns and countryside (and crossing the Nile River) to our final destination of Gulu. Thank you all for your prayers for safe travel – they definitely have been answered!

God is doing amazing things here in Northern Uganda. The church is thriving, which is a total blessing for this war-torn country. Our team has been on our feet constantly, from playing soccer in the streets with local children, to sharing testimonies with the inmates at the Gulu prison chapel and worshiping with kids at the House of Hope orphanage. The amazing men and women that run Favour of God are keeping us on a busy schedule, and are getting us well acquainted will the local church, customs, people and opportunities for outreach. We are 10 hours ahead of California here, and after a few a days we have gotten use to the time change, the humidity, and mosquitoes!

Everyone is doing well and we are all growing closer to each other as a team, as well as closer to God. We are learning much from our African brothers and sisters in Christ, and the culture exchange has been totally fruitful and a life learning experience. We all want to thank you for helping making this trip possible, and for your continued prayers as we serve in the many different ministries of Favour of God here in Uganda. I know that we are all super excited to see how God will use our team in the coming days.

We have taken tons of pictures, and are working on getting them uploaded. More soon!

Blessings,
Brandon Reed

Please continue to pray for our Sandals Church team and our Favor of God partners.

Please also watch this Favor of God video which may be of interest to you.

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Mar 15th, 2010THE BOOK OF JOHN 03.14.2010

WATCH OR LISTEN TO THE SERMON
FOLLOW PASTOR NATHAN ON TWITTER
FOLLOW SANDALS CHURCH ON TWITTER

THE JEWS CONTINUE IN THEIR UNBELIEF

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Viewing 10 Most Recent Blogs

Mar 17th, 2010Musings: St. Patrick's Day
Mar 16th, 2010Blog Team Roundtable
Mar 16th, 2010Uganda Update #1
Mar 15th, 2010THE BOOK OF JOHN 03.14.2010
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Mar 12th, 2010TEAM UGANDA SENDOFF
Mar 9th, 2010Purity Commitments at Frontside
Mar 8th, 2010BROOM BALL!!!
Mar 8th, 2010THE BOOK OF JOHN 03.07.2010
Mar 8th, 2010Running the Race; Sandals Church Member Runs Marathon with the help of Sandals

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