Hippolite Musings
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Gentlemen
As promised, this epistle I’ll let you all know how the Align Church launch event went on March 28th.
For Team Taita, the launch started at 1pm with the setup of the Community Hall. By 1:45, guests started arriving, and because it was a blowy day, we had to let them in to get out of the weather. But at 2pm, I kicked them out again, so that we could have a powhiri (formal welcome)!
- Haka was performed, courtesy of Soulway Church, Masterton (Senior Pastors Rik & Raewyn Edmonds in attendance).
- Praise and Worship was led, courtesy of Jordan, an intern from Praise Centre, Wainuiomata (Senior Pastor Boon Tan in attendance).
- Introduction of the Team:
- Lai Ling and Tuks Tukua, Senior Pastors
- Clare & Deon January, Youth Pastors
- Fiona & James Hippolite, Elim Missionaries and Children’s Ministry
Video taped message of love, welcome and greeting by umbrella church leaders, Senior Pastors Martin & Roslyn Steel of Harbourside Church.
Commissioning by Sue MacDonald, Leadership Training and Personal Development Pastor, Harbourside Church.
Offering by Deon
Sermon by Tuks
Ministry time by the Team
Pastor Rik asked me “Would you die for this man?” meaning Tuks. Completely caught me by surprise. Typical Pentecostal question. For me, my pastor is not my God. However, insofar as Christ asks us to lay down my life for our fellow man (“greater love hath no man than this: that he would lay down his life for a friend”) then, after some hesitancy, I was able to truthfully answer “yes.”
Some gratuitous photos of entire Team with children and MP Chris Hipkins.
Service ended 4:30pm.
Followed by breakdown of equipment and seating then moved next door to RSA for shared dinner (courtesy of Lai Leng and Tuks). Speeches. Great time had by all.
Blessings,
James
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World Outreach
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– PLEASE PRAY! –
- STH AFRICA. World Outreach is conducting its 3rd and final WO2010 Consultation from March 28-31 in Sth Africa for our personnel serving on the continents of Africa & Europe. There is high expectation and excitement among those registered to attend. This is a very important gathering for WO which includes making ministry plans and agreeing on new initiatives for 2010 and beyond. Some wives with school age children unfortunately are not able to attend. Please cover everyone in prayer. Africa is not an easy place to travel so pray for divine protection, good health, great fellowship and that there is a conscious awareness of an awesome presence of God throughout our time together. Please cover in prayer also the family members who can’t attend. Thank you.
- INDONESIA. Sam & Carol Soukotta, directors of the World Outreach (WO) sponsored Tawangmangu Bible College in central Java, write: “This year we are faced with the biggest financial need in the history of the bible college! The lease which Carol’s parents took out on the land over 40 yrs ago, expires early 2011. The government has told us that they will take over the property which includes the buildings, if we don’t purchase it for approx. US$372,000, which means we would all have to move out!! Of course we have surrendered this problem to the Lord, believing He will work things out according to His Will. We ourselves have no way of obtaining that much money but do believe if we trust in God, He can move upon the hearts of individuals to donate.” Let us unite our hearts & prayers with the Soukotta’s regarding this financial challenge.
- TRAVELS. Mary & I are half way into our 6 week travel schedule and would appreciate your ongoing prayers for good health, strength, safety, and wisdom for the many appointments / meetings with people along the way. The next 3 weeks see us in Sth Africa mostly in the Natal and Gauteng provinces.
– PRAISE! –
- THAILAND. Lorraine Dierck, WO Thailand field leader wrote: “The church-planting training our Thai teams have been involved in has been continuing, and in the past two months, 60 Thai Buddhists have been baptised and 40 new churches have started. Churches that plant churches – one stream of churches is three generations deep already. The trainers and church-planters are very excited – and are now praying and believing for rapid multiplication!” Hallelujah!
- STH AFRICA. The 6-week WO Nations cross-cultural training course has been intensive and challenging but very worthwhile for the 34 students who studied it. One missionary said, “this is definitely the kind of teaching I wish was around when I went into missions many years ago.” The discussion times have been lively. As participants shared some highlights this week, several with missionary experience said the course had given them helpful insights on why some of their past strategies hadn’t worked as they had hoped. Before they graduate this Friday the students will be stating how they plan to apply all the insights gained when they go back to their respective fields of ministry.
- INTERESTING RESEARCH. A friend sent through a exert of a report that appeared in the Readers Digest back in Sept 2002 stating that scientific studies correlating faith with good health are starting to convert a sceptical medical community. Research accumulated in the article demonstrated how scientists have made 5 important discoveries about the relationship between religious faith (of whatever kind) and good health:
- Those who attend church live longer
- Believers have a better post-op recovery rate
- Prayer reduces the chances of heart disease
- Religion protects against high blood pressure
- More prayer means less stress & depression
John Elliott
International Director
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Koinonia House News
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IMPORTANT NEWS HEADLINES
- Hobby Lobby To Support Bible Museum Creation
April 07, 2010
Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, said Wednesday his family has been helping to develop the National Bible Museum. Green said the idea of a museum housing Bible collections and items of historical biblical significance captured his family’s interest about four years ago. He said his family became involved in acquiring artefacts in the past year. "We have had passed down to us, from my parents and my grandparents, a love for God’s word and have been passionate about that," he said. "We believe in the Bible and believe it’s the most incredible book that’s ever been written."
– Scripps Howard News Service
- Mining Accident Draws Prayer
April 07, 2010
"Pray." One word, posted prominently in so many places, is a powerful testament to the faith of this tragedy-stricken West Virginia community. With roadside signs, billboards and posters taped in windowsills and on church doors, families and neighbors are reminding each other from where it is that they’ve drawn strength in times of adversity since their ancestors first settled here more than 200 years ago. "This is a strong area in Christ," said Pastor Jeffrey Perdue, a Raleigh County, W.Va. native, whose small Stepping Stone Community Church in Surveyor sits 17 miles south of the Upper Big Branch mine. "We just trust in the Lord, we’re praying all the time," he said.
– ABC News
- Electric Cars Nifty But With Problems
April 04, 2010
Electric cars are riding high, as incentives and new models make them a realistic option, but the fresh attention may highlight flaws compared with gasoline and alternatives such as biofuels. Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan Motor Co last week announced prices for their i-MiEV and Leaf battery-only electric cars, in production already or about to debut, at 3.98 million yen ($42,520) and 3.76 million yen respectively before state subsidies, several times the cost of equivalent cars. Reality bites with driving ranges of about 100 miles, far less than for a gas-powered car which US customers expect to exceed 300 miles.
– Reuters
- Alleged Child Missing Link To Be Unveiled This Week
April 03, 2010
A supposedly new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the skeleton of a child is unveiled this week. Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis.
– Telegraph.co.uk
- Norwegian Leftists, Islamists Foment Anti-Semitism
April 02, 2010
In the past few weeks in Norway, there has been no shortage of activity from what the Tel Aviv-based Reut Institute terms the "Red-Green Alliance" – a fusion of Islamists (the Greens) and Leftists (the Reds), seeking to undercut Israel’s right to exist and to severely punish Diaspora Jews. Norwegian television aired a broadcast showing Jewish parents and teachers – who did not reveal their identities – blowing the whistle on Norwegian school authorities who are ignoring Muslim students boycotting Holocaust education, a death threat issued to a Jewish student, and statements that the "Jews are to blame for 9/11."
– The Jerusalem Post
- Beheadings Grow More Common in Mexico
April 01, 2010
The preferred form of cruelty by drug cartel henchmen is to capture enemies and behead them, a once-shocking act that has now become numbingly routine. Since March 22, authorities have come across four separate grisly scenes of beheaded bodies, in one case with several heads placed neatly in a row.
– McClatchy Newspapers
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Why I Am A Climate Realist
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Artic Sea Ice
This from Randall Hoven:
Well how about that? The very months where we found the most apparent shrinkage were the months that are the most "difficult to interpret trends and anomalies" and where the error would tend to underestimate ice.
"This little Northern Hemisphere sea ice example captures so much of the climate change tempest in microcosm.
When presenting data, the "scientists" include an unexplained adjustment to the measured data. In this case, the adjustments explain the entire evidence for Arctic ice cap shrinkage in winter months.
Measurement processes depend on computer algorithms with scant validation — "few papers were published that compare algorithms or compare results with validation data."
Using only measured data, and all the data, there are no alarming trends. Winter months show no ice cap shrinkage at all. While there is shrinkage in summer months, that shrinkage is only evident in the last eight years, a time span too short to make a long-term conclusion, and in the months of least confidence in measurement techniques.
The data allow cherry-picking. A Katie Couric, if she were cleverer, could say the Arctic ice cap shrank almost in half in the last three decades. On the other hand, I could say it grew 6% in that time period. We would both be telling the truth, by comparing cherry-picked months and years.
"And all this was only for the north polar ice cap. The south one was more obviously growing over the last three decades. The Katie Courics of the world completely ignore that one."
Read the complete article at:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/04/was_the_arctic_ice_cap_adjuste_1.html
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Why I Am A Creationist
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Henry M. Morris, Ph.D.
The two greatest events in the history of the cosmos were, first of all, its supernatural creation and, secondly, the resurrection of its Creator from the dead. The evidence for each, to one whose mind and heart are open to evidence, is overwhelming. All true science points to creation, and the best-proved fact of history is the resurrection.
The Bible, of course, teaches that both are vitally true, vitally important and vitally related, but even to one who does not believe the Bible, the evidence is still unanswerable. He may reject it, but he cannot refute it. More…
In This Issue…
- From the Editor | No Ordinary Day
by Lawrence E. Ford
- New Chromosome Research Undermines Human-Chimp Similarity Claims
by Jeffrey Tomkins, Ph.D., and Brian Thomas, M.S.
- Research | New Initiatives in Creation Research
by Nathaniel Jeanson, Ph.D.
- Understanding Effective Biblical Apologetics
by James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D.
- Natural Selection Is Not "Nature’s Design Process"
by Randy J. Guliuzza, P.E., M.D.
- Back to Genesis | A Barrier to Evolution
by John D. Morris, Ph.D.
- Back to Genesis | Understanding Evidence for the Biblical Timescale
by Frank Sherwin, M.A., and Brian Thomas, M.S.
- Education | Acquiring the Skill of Discernment
by Christine Dao
- Stewardship | Maximize Your Impact through Matching Gifts
by Henry M. Morris IV
- Biblical Worldview | Presuppositional Assumptions
by Henry M. Morris III, D.Min.
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Great Scientists…
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…Who Believed the Bible
James Joule discovered the mechanical equivalent of heat, laying the foundation for the field of thermodynamics. Joule also had a strong Christian faith.
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Friday Fax
(UN Watch)
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By Samantha Singson
(NEW YORK – C-FAM) Last month, the Australian government made international headlines for being the first to officially recognize a third gender on a state-issued document. Just days after conferring the new "sex not specified" status, the government rescinded the certificate, leaving a raging controversy over the definition of "gender" in its wake.
The "sex not specified" status legally recognized Norrie May-Welby as neither male nor female. May-Welby was born in Scotland and registered as male at birth, but underwent sex change surgery 20 years ago. The government of Australia then issued May-Welby a female recognition certificate. May-Welby subsequently ceased lifelong hormone treatment and adopted a "neuter identity" which is neither male nor female. According to news reports, doctors recently said because Norrie had stopped taking female hormones several years ago, they were unable to determine gender.
By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D.
(NEW YORK – C-FAM) A just-released United Nations (UN) report backed by the world’s top population organizations argues that nations should double their investment in family planning and abortion in poor countries for a total of $24 billion a year, claiming this would dramatically reduce maternal and child deaths and solve a host of social ills.
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Train a Child
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In March,
- Tane went away to Easter camp;
- Hamish turned 11 last month. The movie he chose for us to attend was Avatar. He purchased the Star Trek DVD with his Christmas money. Do you think I’ve negatively influenced my Hamish (Scottish for James) Kirk?
- Aimee wants to spend a day with Daddy at work. We’re trying to get her to demonstrate improved behaviours (tidy bedroom, go to sleep earlier, wake up not grumpy) first.
- We now have one rabbit and three guinea pigs living in our back yard. I’ve fenced it so the guinea pigs can’t escape. The rabbit comes and goes at will, but always returns. And can’t get to our front garden!
- Next, Fiona wants chickens!
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Why I Am Pro-Israel
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Dear Friend of Jerusalem,
Here are the latest headlines from the One Jerusalem Blog:
- Exclusive :: Why Netanyahu Cancelled His Trip To Washington: Israel’s decision to replace Prime Minister Netanyahu as the head of the Israeli delegation to President Obama’s nuclear summit in Washington came after United States National Security Adviser Jim Jones called his Israeli counterpart to tell him that the agenda…
- AUDIO :: William Stroock – Exclusive Interview: MP3 File Omri interviews William Stroock, counterinsurgency expert at the Alexandrian Defense Group and author of the new book, "A Line Through The Desert." They discuss Stroock’s book – a pitch-perfect journey through Operation Desert Storm as seen through…
- Action Alert: Tell President Obama to Condemn PA Glorification of Terror: One Jerusalem is joining the Wiesenthal Centre in urging President Obama to condemn the Palestinian Authority for glorifying terror. For the second time in less than a month the Palestinian Authority is honouring a terrorist and mass murderer of innocent…
- Seven ways to defend Jerusalem: We cannot and must not sit back and passively watch events unfold. Each of us has a role to play to ensure that Jerusalem is never divided again On Saturday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad threw down the gauntlet. Speaking…
Sincerely, The One Jerusalem Team
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Humour
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They Grow Up So Fast
It wasn’t until my 14-year-old son, Leon, answered the telephone one afternoon that I realized how quickly he had grown.
"Hello?" he said, in his ever-deepening voice. Then he handed the receiver to me.
"Who is it?"
"Someone …" Leon replied matter-of-factly, "… who wants to talk to my wife."
—Kimberly D. Malkogainnis, Copperton, Utah. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."
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Events Schedule
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In this section, I highlight dates, times and venues of events either I am presenting at, or of interest to METTLE. I’m available for bookings.
| Date |
Event |
Venue |
Speaker |
| 26-28 Mar 2010 |
Creation Ministries |
Waikato |
Adrian Bates |
| 28-Mar-2010 |
Align Church launch |
Taita Community Hall |
Tuks Tukua |
| 23-24 Apr 2010 |
2010 International Society of Christian Apologetics Annual Meeting |
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas |
Dr. Henry Morris III, CEO of the Institute for Creation Research |
| 14-16 May 2010 |
Creation Ministries |
Porirua |
Adrian Bates |
| 25-27 Jun 2010 |
Creation Ministries |
Bay of Plenty |
Adrian Bates |
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Book Review
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Easy Solutions – Simple Strategies – Helpful Advice
By Sandra Felton
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Revell (August 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800787285
ISBN-13: 978-0800787288
Description
Mountains of clutter dominate the floor space, half-finished projects gather dust, bill collectors start to call because someone lost the bills! Will the madness and mayhem ever stop? Organizational guru Sandra Felton offers good news for the spouse, parents, children, or roommates-MessieMates-of hard-core Messies. Writing with the warmth and wit that have made her books best-sellers, Felton shows beleaguered loved ones how to influence the most reluctant Messie to change, and how to promote the best atmosphere to help that change occur.
Review
Written for the MessieMate ©, it often assumes the Messie to be the male, which was slightly annoying. Apart from that, it was humorous and hopeful.
8/10
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Bible Reading
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End Notes
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- METTLE is an acronym for Men’s Evangelical Team Together for Learning Experiences. We are primarily Christian businessmen from Wellington, who meet occasionally in the CBD to encourage each other in our daily walk with Jesus. This Monthly Collaborative Blog (MCB) is our primary means of communication. If you know of anyone who may benefit from this MCB, you are welcome to forward them along. Similarly, if your circumstances are such that membership in this distribution list is no longer relevant, then hit reply and type UNSUBSCRIBE to have it removed.
- If you choose to respond to any item raised in this MCB, please indicate clearly which items you wish to remain Private, as any correspondence may be considered Public and could be published.
- If this newsletter has been of benefit to you, why not drop a line and say so. Or better yet, visit the TVORNZ website to read past issues and add a comment!
- Published by The Voice of Reason, New Zealand, copyright © 2010
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