A Blast from the Past
May 29, 2008
For over 13 years, I pastored Fellowship Community Church of Mercer (now, of Grove City), Pennsylvania. During that time I worked in Allegheny District projects, serving for five years on the District Board, and for some time in trying to head up church planting.
As to the latter role, I was clueless.
And yet, God is faithful. Below is a video of Jim Culbertson, currently serving full-time as the Church Planting Director for the Awesome Allegheny. For so many years, we prayed and asked God to get the Awesome Allegheny off ground zero when it came to planting new churches. Now, the AA has won a national award for church planting, as Jim talks about in this video. Some of the things he talked about here happened while I was there, such as the two churches closing, which enabled new life to come to many other churches through the funds that were made available (“except a seed fall into the ground and die, it abides alone…”).
I love my new district, EFCA Southeast, but I am so thrilled at what I see God doing in the Awesome Allegheny.
“Cinderella”: An Ironic Song
May 27, 2008
Most of my readers will by now be aware of the tragic death of Maria Sue Chapman last week, the 5-year-old adopted daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman. Little did Steven know, when he was writing this song for his 21-year-old daughter Emily, that the truth of these words would apply to precious little Maria. I won’t write any more, just let you listen and consider your response.
Angela Story’s…Story
May 23, 2008
OK, so I post some Atlanta Braves baseball cards on Craigslist Atlanta, hoping that somebody here will want them. Not three hours later, “Jacob Alex”, who writes like he’s from Bangladesh or somewhere, says he’d like to have them, will send me a payment, and have his “agent” pick up the cards. “Hmmmm”, methinks, but OK, I’ll play along. A couple days later, I get another email from “Jacob”, who says that a tragic mistake has taken place: the person who disburses his funds (a serious baseball card buyer, Jacob!) has written a money order for, instead of $50, $2800! Oh, no!!!! A mistake I make all the time, and I’m sure you do as well, you know? I mean, when I mean to write a check for a two-digit amount, I regularly write it for four digits! Doesn’t everybody?
I send “Jacob” back an email saying that no, I’m not going to do business this way. I get no email back from him, but two days later, at a little after 7:00 in the AM, the doorbell rings, and it’s the friendly UPS man with a delivery. What, oh what, could it be? Well, would you look at that! It’s a money order for, get this, $2800.75! The all-important 75 cents, of course…anyway, also inside are some instructions on how to cash the money order, take $100 extra for my trouble, and then Western Union the difference back to “Angela Story” in Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Oh, did I mention who sent the money order? Ruben Morales, from Chicago! And did I mention who signed the money order? John Richards! Wow, it’s a conglomerate of Atlanta Braves baseball card fans!!! How lucky can I be?
Wait…you don’t think…no, couldn’t be…and yet…any of you think that there’s like, a teensy bit of a chance that this is some sort of scam? Nah….
Dear Jacob Alex/Angela Story/Ruben Morales/John Richards,
I was not born yesterday nor, for that matter, the day before. I did not fall off the banana boat. I have not purchased any “land in Florida” recently. I’m not a delusional nincompoop. And if you want your “money order” for $2800.75 back, you may kindly send a self-addressed stamped envelope to the address you sent the UPS overnight package to (ha, hope you enjoyed paying UPS for nothing!).
Thank you,
Byron Harvey
P.S. Angela Story, since I believe, having found your name on a website named “Ripoff Report”, that you may be the “brains” behind this operation, I thought I’d do a service to anyone else you’re trying to rip off, by posting this account, as well as including your name prominently in the post. That’s you, Angela Story. Angela Story. Angela Story.
Have a nice day, Angela Story!
Defeating the California “Gay Marriage” Decision
May 23, 2008
Maggie Gallagher is optimistic that the voters of California will defeat this nonsensical ruling via public referendum this November. In some ways, this could be a more critical vote than the vote to select our next president…well, in some ways. Maggie’s column further speaks chilling words about what is going on in supposedly “free” countries like Canada and Great Britain with regard to the freedom of religious organizations and citizens to hold and propagate their views. Can it happen in America?
We’re fools if we think it cannot…
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
