Bold Evangelism

Wana be a missionary? Free training!

2012-02-25T11:16:00.002-08:00

A brand new comprehensive online mission and evangelism class is being offered and it is absolutely free! Here's your chance to learn more about how to share the core doctrines of your faith as well as get some practical insight on how to approach people with varying backgrounds!

To register, please visit:

http://evangelismcopticorthodox.org/onlineevangelismclass.html
and fill out the Registration Form

class will start on March 2, 2012

Cultural Heresies

2012-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:00

Heresy= from Greek αἵρεσις, which originally meant "choice". opinion or doctrine at variance with the orthodox oraccepted doctrine, especially of a church or religious system.

Egyptian Heresy= A false teaching, contrary to that of the Coptic Orthodox Church, that is believed by an Egyptian as a result of it being passed down to him or her through family or Sunday school teachers. This is sadly prevalent in a number of cultures. I just happen to be Egyptian, so that's what i know about.

A reverend Father of the Coptic Church once expressed his concern for his own children in the Sunday school system. "I don't know what my kids are learning from these teachers. Even if the teachers taught the quran, they'd probably do that poorly enough that my kids won't get it." Inspired by a conversation with some youth of a local church, it seemed possible useful to share some thoughts on common heresies that are currently believed.

here's a short list of some of the favorite heresies that i've heard. Again, this is not what the Coptic Orthodox church believes. It's what confused people believe. This list isn't comprehensive and neither are the responses, but its might help.

1) Salvation in a moment

2) conditional love

3) Trinity confusion

4) no resurrection

5) incarnation-ish

6) reading with eyes closed

7) service elite

8) limited holiness

1) Salvation in a moment:

This belief is that salvation happens the moment you die, never before. You spend your whole life waiting for the moment you die and hope to pass the test in judgement day to make it to heaven. So you live your life in fear of hell, never really thinking of heaven and it's promises. There is no confidence in the salvation through the grace of baptism, repentance and confession or the Eucharist.

Truth:

The Orthodox church teaches that we were saved, are being saved and will be saved. St. Paul uses all three terms for a reason and this reason impacts our daily life. We believe that we participate in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ through the life of the church. We are confident in the power, grace, mercy and love of that we receive in the sacraments. So we rejoice in the salvation we have been given. We rejoice in God saving us daily and we look for the salvation in the last day. We don't live this life to just avoid hell but to bring the kingdom of heaven here to earth while being reconciled to God, fellow man and nature in Christ.

2) Conditional love

If you behave well, God will love you. If you do the right things, say the right prayers, fast when you're supposed to, go to church when you should...God will really love you. If you don't, He won't love you as much.

Truth:

There is nothing you can do to make God love you more, or less. There is no sin that will make him love you less and there is no good deed that you can do that would make God love you more. His love towards you currently is personal, infinite, and unconditional. It does no waver. Everything we do is to try to unite more with Him and know Him better, not to earn His love.

3) Trinity confusion:

"they" are all the same person. The Father died on the cross, the Son is Jesus and the Holy Spirit is a thing.

Truth:

The Holy Trinity is one in essence and three hypostasis (or Persons). Meaning, One God in three Persons. The Father is not the Son and is not the Holy Spirit, though the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One God. Each Person of the Trinity is distinct. The Son took flesh. The Holy Spirit is God and is referred to as He, not it. (On the Trinity, St. Augustine)

4) No Ressurection

After we die, our souls go to heaven or hell. Our bodies remain in the ground.

Truth:

In the last day, our physical bodies will resurrect and be judged. They will then be transformed from physical to glorified bodies. (1 Corinthias 15)

5) Incarnation-ish

Whenever Jesus was hungry, thirsty, tired, ignorant, sad, or had any other human emotion- it was only symbolic or He was just faking it.

Truth:

Jesus is truly God and truly Human. He resembled us in everything except for sin. He took our hunger, thirst, fatigue, ignorance, sadness etc. in order to heal it. "The unassumed is the unhealed" St. Gregory He wasn't acting. He went through the reality of being a true human without ever loosing His divine nature. ("He took what was ours and gave us what was His" Midnight praises) His divinity never took over his humanity nor was there ever a time when He was not fully divine, even from His very birth. He hungered to feed us, thirsted to fill us and ascened to the cross naked to cloth us.(from the Fraction to the Son)

(On the Incarnation, Against the Heathen)

6) Reading with your eyes closed

When reading the bible, you're not really supposed to understand any of it. It will just magically cleanse you.

Truth:

The Holy Scriptures are alive and active and certainly purify their reader. However, the scriptures are the revelation of God to His people and He invites us to know Him and understand the things that He has revealed about Himself. Though We will not be able to fully grasp Him in His entirety, we are not to just throw our hands up and not aim to understand.

7) Service Elite

Serving in the church is for an elite 5% number of people in the church with special gifts and abilities. To be humble, I will not serve or be involved in anything and will believe that I am the worst.

Truth:

Every Christian is a servant. We are all given unique gifts and talents that God invites us to use. Not all of us should be teaching, but we can all use our gifts for the edification of the body of Christ and for the community we live in. If we say we do not have gifts, we insult God. Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less. It is not humble to say that I am the worst, it is dishonest.

8) Limited Holiness

There is a basic cap on how close to God you can get here on earth and in heaven. It's likened to a church. the priest is in the front and I am in the back. I can get closer but there is a natural limit on how close I can get.

Truth:

"Humans are the only creatures that can become greater than the angels" St. Basil

the Theology boogieman

2012-02-20T06:18:00.000-08:00

How do you define this big scary word, "theology?" Chances are you think of a nerdy old man with glasses that is absorbed in academic study of trivial things that will never relate to daily life. You may think that a theologian is someone with alphabet soup of degrees after his name and has attended more classes and read more books than you can pronounce or count.

To many of us, the word turns us off or even scares us because we think it's way above our pay grade or way out of our league. But that simply isn't true.

The truth is spelled out by one of the desert fathers named Evarigus of Pontus who said that the "theologian is the one who prays, and the one who prays is the theologian." There is no question of whether or not you, mr or mrs reader, are a theologian. The only question is if you're a good one. If you've ever approached God with a prayer, you had to answer the simple question of who is this 'God' you're talking to.

Theology isn't cognition...it's vision and revelation. The goal of theology isn't to become a professor but to become a saint. Theology is seeing the world in light of the mount of Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus and allowing the Holy Spirit to make the work of Christ, the second and last Adam, become real in your life. Theology is to be a real human, in the truest sense of the word that was revealed to us in the Person of Jesus. Theology is love. It's a way to live and move and have our very being. (Acts 17:28) Some people say things like, "I just want to know Jesus. I keep it simple." Great! Jesus, who though? Jesus is the pinnacle of all that we call theology. He unlocks to us the mysteries of the universe! From who the Father is to who the church is to who we are to what the world around us is...it's all in HIM! Just ask St. Irenaeus. Wouldn't it be great if we got to know the things about Jesus that the prophets prophesied, Jesus proclaimed, the apostles preached and the fathers preserved? Wouldn't it be awesome to really know everything about Jesus that He revealed to us about Himself?

Don't let anyone rob you of your God-given gift to know Him...because that's eternal life. (Jn 17:3). Take a listen to any sermon topic you may be interested in at http://ancientfaith.com/ or read the church fathers from http://www.ccel.org/fathers.html grouped by time period or on http://newadvent.org/fathers/ grouped by authors.

If you're just starting out and want something relevant to lent, consider what was suggested to us by Fr. Athanasius Farag. http://newadvent.org/fathers/2806.htm These are the pascal letters of St. Athansius. They're short and very deep. There's a big buffet to choose from. Feast on :)

Is sin genetic?

2012-02-16T13:41:00.000-08:00

We ran into a very interesting man who stood in the middle of a crowded subway stop in New York City. He had a sign in his hand and a long line of books that were spread out. He didn't say anything to those passing by but simply stood there holding his sign about opsin. He said that he was actually being paid to do this and was doing it as a way to raise public awareness regarding issues of health as well as sharing the good news of the coming kingdom. So we approached him to ask what this was all about.

His perspective on things as well as his background caught our attention. One of his parents were Jewish while the other was Catholic. This caused him to attend both temple and church. This might have caused a little bit of confusion for him, but nonetheless, he believed in the divinity of Christ and that He is the way to heaven.

Despite his confusion, his dedication was inspiring. He didn't care what people thought of him or what sly remarks were made in passing. He believed in a truth and found it worth declaring. We don't really agree with his perpective that the origin of sin is this molecule but he inspired us to carefully keep the truth. Having a clear understanding of truth is key to be able to share it. When it's properly digested and understood, it can really benefit the hearer. Clarity is rare these days, especially in matters that can be easily complicated. The Lord Jesus always gave us the depth of God in simplicity and clarity. Let's do the same.

"God is not the author of confusion." 1 Cor 14:33

Orthodox Mission Conference lectures!

2012-02-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

We really thank God for an amazing mission conference this past weekend! It was the first ever of it's kind in the northeast and God blessed it tremendously with a great turnout and wonderful talks from His Grace Bishop David, Father Anthony Messeh, and Pradeep Hatcher. Check out the YouTube channel for more videos.

It was amazing to see a church full of young people who are eager to spend their entire Saturday learning about Orthodox Mission work in North America. We were blessed with some very encouraging testimonials recounting personal journeys to Orthodox Christianity as well. Another special part of the day was when we were able to encourage and inspire each other with ideas that were taking place all around the country.

God is doing a great work and is bringing His love, healing and redemption to many! Let's join Him in loving our neighbors.

Lin Leadership

2012-02-15T16:34:00.001-08:00

ESPN analysts are asking "Where did he learn to lead like that?!"

The world is talking about a great althlete and a great man by the name of Jeremt Lin. New York's point guard has been Linsational, Linsane, Linning, and just about every other awesome hashtag there is. He's impressing everyone with his play, and really impressing us all with his character.

In the few days in the national spotlight, he's taught us a lot. He's led his team to a winning streal and is leading us by example of his Godly character. How?

Audience of One: Jeremy isn't playing for the approval of the fans, the coaches or other players. He's not trying to impress you or me. He's being faithful to the God He loves every possession of the basketball. He knows that the world can crown you King James one day, and crucify you or burn your Jersey the next. He sites this example is his video. By knowning that his identity is in Christ, he's free to do his best and know that his audience is God Himself; and He's got unwavering support.

Not the Lin show: while all of us make it about him, he replies and says "It's not because of me." He really believes that. (i dont know how.) He doesn't parade himself even though we ask expect him to at every post game and every press conference. we have come to expect that superstars are arrogant, but Lin continues to shock us in that regard too. he credit to steam in every single chance he gets and attributes every victory to a team effort, despite the fact it is personal performance stands out. that's genuine humility.

Owns faults: after struggling defensivelyagainst toronto, many players would just pushed out of sight but not jeremy. He admitted that he didn't do a good defensive job and that his teammates bailed him out. and honest attitude like that is what allows the people around him to do the same. during the halftime interview against the utah jazz, he said you had to do a better job getting the ball to his team and will review the film right now. He doesn't just own up to any possible short coming, but determines to work on it right away.

He just loves: Not in the mushy useless way, but truly. (though the kiss from Fields showed that he's a lovable guy.). He's kind, doesn't seek his own, isn't envying, never gives up, believes in his team and hopes the best for all of them. (1 Corinthians 13) He's following Christ.

Best of all, he's having fun doing it all. :)

Keep up the Linsanity!

The Love Revolution!

2012-02-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

Can't help but feel like this was the coolest Valentin's day ever. The only thing cooler than being a part of a great group showing the love of Christ, is knowing that God was doing the same thing in various other places around the country and around the world!!

In London, a beautiful group of Coptic Orthodox Christians spent the day showing love to seniors at a day care facility. They spent Valentine's day giving out these beautiful care packages wrapped with a message of love from Christ and His Church. What a selfless way to spend the day!

A group of Coptic Orthodox Christians from Florida, U.S.A spent the day showing young women that they're loved and valued by God. They gave roses with notes to perfect strangers who needed to know the love of Jesus on this very day. They placed some of the notes on cars and got the chance to give the roses to some people in person!

Lastly, the group from the Orthodox Christian Club in the New York Institute of Technology and New York College of Osteopathic medicine did something special for Valentine's day as well. To kick off the day, they sponsored a lecture about the Love of Jesus right on the campus. They brought loads of pizza, rented out the school's large lecture hall and went around inviting people in for free pizza and a talk. Among those that came in are members of the school's Greek life (fraternities and sororities) as well as people from other religions! The group freely shared some great pizza with the visitors and then got to share the message of love and redemption with those who stayed!

Then they got tons of chocolate and dozens of red roses to give out to the campus of LIU Post in Old Westbury, New York. We figured that people might appreciate it but the reactions kind of stunned us. Some people said "Wow, this just made my day!" Some people were just shocked and said "this is awesome. why are you guys doing this?" Other people were so moved, they cried right on the spot without us saying a word! For most people, we shared a simple message of saying "Hey, we're from the Christian group on campus and just wanted to say that we love you." Simple, isn't it? But it just blew people away! They couldn't believe this was happening. From the custodial staff, to the jocks on campus to the cool kids...everyone was warmed by the presence of Jesus.

The love of God is simple and moving like that. The message that you are special, valued, forgiven and loved is never out of season. Props to all the inspiration people who used the opportunity of Valentine's day to share the eternal, ineffable love of God with those around them.

Join the love revolution, baby! :)

If you were a part of something awesome this Valentine's day, please share it so we can be encouraged and inspired!

Why no Ninevah?

2012-02-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

I've often felt like the character in this little meme. I read and heard sermons on the biblical book of Jonah for years and never really could wrap my mind around this story. I understand the principles here of God's providence. I see that you just can't run from the call of God. I can relate to the problems of disobedience...but I was still wondering, Mr. Jonah, Y U NO GO TO NINEVAH? Was it too far? Were you busy? Were you just stubborn?

Then it him me this year. It's not a pretty truth but it can't be denied. Almost every prophet was called by God to call Israel to repentance and to warn them of the dangers of life away from Him. But wait...that wasn't Jonah's calling. I'm sure as an aspiring young prophet, he wanted to be the next Isaiah or Elijah- to turn the hearts of God's people back to Him and maybe even stick it to the enemy every now and then.

But in steps God, with a call to Jonah to bring His truth to a people...who are not Israel. The Ninevites (name by the way comes from "house or place of fish" talk about irony), weren't Jews. They were an entirely different culture and background from what Jonah knew and was used to. That may not sound like a big deal to you now, but it was a big deal to him. "You want me to go spend my energy speaking to people that aren't my own. But what about my family, God? What about MY PEOPLE? They need me! Not Them! Who cares about them?! You're probably going to forgive them, aren't you?"

Maybe there's a Jonah in me that's almost literally running from an opportunity to bring salvation to a great city of one hundred and twenty thousand? Maybe there's a part of me that detests the idea of devoting myself to the salvation of another nation or ethnicity. But what God explained to me this year during the fast of Ninevah is that not only should I repent like that great city, but I should be praying for a great city- like New York or LA for a spirit of repentance to sweep it. And maybe I should be asking to join God in His work.

The beautiful truth that God revealed in the end of the book is that He has a deep love for every nation, no matter how bitter his people can be sometimes. He doesn't play favorites. (Rom 2:11) and He desires and even longs for every man and woman to be saved. (1 Tim 2:4). As a product of pagan Egyptians who embraced the truth of Christ, I'm extra glad for that to be the case. :)

The Choices that heal a campus

2012-02-06T11:41:00.000-08:00

Healing choices

Lecture given at Rutgers Coptic Orthodox Fellowship on the 4 choices a fellowship can make to heal their campus.

a Campus Commits

2012-02-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months, we've seen various reactions of college students to the novel ideal of reaching out to their campuses. Some have been entirely against the idea and are still waiting to be convinced that their resistance to sharing the love of God is part of the Christian identity. As St. John Chrysostom puts it," Don't say, It's impossible for me to lead others to the faith. If you are a Christian, it's impossible for it not to be so"

Some campuses figured, hey this doesn't sound too bad. We'll add another activity onto the schedule, right along with the bowling trip. Which is a good start...

Others...took an entirely different approach. The Rutgers University COF group is one that i'd like to highlight here. They decided to do something beautiful and worth imitating. They were inspired in the summer by the Evangelism Conference led by Fr. Peter Gillquest and H.G. Bishop Antonious Morcos, and hosted by H.G. Bishop Youssef. They've decided that this semester does not belong to them. They're giving it away to bring the love and truth of Christ to their campus. After years of very successful campus ministry, they've built a strong foundation for natural overflow into the campus in New Brunswick. For this semester, the entire theme is how to reach out and love the campus. They're driven and are now learning how to fearlessly show love to their fellow students. From their lectures that will be focused on reaching out, to their attitude as a community and their scheduled events- they're gearing up to change Rutgers. :)

We shared some concepts and ideas with them recently to encourage them:

Choose: not my own. (1 Corinthians 13:5)
a) commit that it's not about me. My fear. My inadequacy. My reputation. My comfort. even MY SPIRITUAL BENEFIT. not my my my my
-here's a secret. Lose your life, you'll gain it. (Mt. 16:25)
Choose to be Incarnational John. 1 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt amog us.
a) Commit to be there.
Everywhere. At the game, outside the frat houses, the school paper, the student center.
outside the clubs on cig breaks. As Christ descended into Hades through the cross (St. Basil's liturgy) we must descend to the places of need and brokenness.
choose to ask and invite not sell (Luke 14:23)
a) commit to invite
-not there selling Jesus. He doesn't need us to do that. He promised that if he be lifted up he will draw all people to himself.
-ask; rabinical teachig tool Jesus used, get to know the person you're speaking with. What do they believe? Encourage and affirm. survey
-no pressure invitations.
Choose to build a real koinonia (fellowship or family) around Christ, not our ethnicity or culture
people will become orthodox if you let them.
a) build a family
-invite people to your "house". Put yourself I their shoes. What boundaries are there to them coming over? Do they have directions? Do they know where your door is? Are they sure they're invited?

Jesus for Buddhists and Hindu's

2012-02-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

This is Nick. He's a junior Buddhist monk in Montreal Canada. We met him a few weeks ago while we were visiting the mission churches of the area. He was professor at a university and simply found that that the way he was living life was not working and began to look for answers. While walking around a mall, he came across a Buddhist monk who introduced him to Yoga and the Bhagavad Gita. A few years later, he wound up standing in the shoes of the man who first told him about that spiritual path.

Nick wasn't alone in that mall. As we walked towards the food court, we saw a number of other caucasian men in white or orange robes that were distributing written material. This was our first experience with an "evangelistic" Buddhist group. You don't really see that everyday. There were also young people, who looked like they were beaten down by life, with cardboard signs saying that they are homeless. So we decided to get together to pray and split up the team to try reach out to those that we saw that day.

I can't help but highlight the conversation with Nick. He is an eloquent, humble and loving man who respectfully invited us to the spiritual path that had impacted him greatly. We got to share with him about who Christ is and that seemed to be going surprisingly well when he said "Jesus is the incarnate son of God." At that point we figured, ok, our job here is done. isn't it? It wasn't commonplace to hear that kind of description of Jesus from a non-Christian. But he later explained to us that he believed Jesus to be one of many. The conversation was pleasant and never turned argumentative. We shared with him why we believe that the physical resurrection of Jesus gave us a more substantial backing to His claims as the one and only. Though he wasn't convinced fully, he did say "you know, you guys are the most open minded Christians i've ever come across." That was refreshing because he was telling us that he didn't really have the opportunity to have a sound exchange of ideas with Christians before. Most of them just walked passed him or told him a random verse.

We saw the impact that God had on him through this conversation when we were on our way out. We had already said by to him and walked by. He caught up to us and said "wait! I want to give you a gift" We said "Wow, thank you nick but you really don't have to." He said "No, i feel like i need to. I don't know why." So he gave us a spiritual book that he had and we took a picture together.

God showed this man His love through a short conversation. There's a lot of commonality that we were able to discuss regarding meditation and such and the idea of transcending this current body and life we live in. The crux of if it all hung on the identity of the person of Jesus and the examining of His life. To every seeker, that's the beginning of the answer and to every believer that the motive, model and manor of living love to our world.

"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!"
1 John 3:3

Saved, if you're the right color

2012-02-02T10:03:00.000-08:00

This was our second encounter now with an ethnic supremacy cult. But, before we mention the name and discuss the encounter...i'd like you to pause for a second and consider if you have anything in common with these folks.

They're of the same ethnicity so they spend most of their time together and believe that other races are inherently no good.

when it comes to salvation, they're only interested in the salvation of their own race. Even at the times when they would be public proclaiming the words of the bible, they are really only targeting their own ethnicity because that is their priority.

They use the same bible as main stream Christians, New King James Version, but use the stories they like to justify their actions or lack of action.

They memorize references of the bible primarily to debate other Christian denominations.

Most of us would not admit, out loud anyway, that we share anything in common with a cult like the Black Hebrew Israelites. But our actions might say otherwise.

So, after meeting to pray and ask God for wisdom and strength we approached the crowd formed on 43rd street and 7th avenue in New York City. The message of hate and doom was well on it's way and we employed a similar strategy as we did last time. Some members of the team began to speak to the crowd individually to see what they think about all of this. One young man we spoke with was a Muslim who was very upset that these "Jews" had no concern about what was happening to the Palestinians in the middle east. Because we're middle eastern like him and near his age, he was really comfortable speaking with us. We even spoke some Arabic with him which gave him more of a glimpse of home :) Though we didn't exactly baptize him on the spot, but we got to share with him who Jesus really was. The crucifixion was difficult for him to swallow at that time but it was a start.

Another young man we spoke with really inspired us. He was an African-American Christian who was upset at the way these "Israelites" were deceiving the unlearned. He saw how they twisted scripture and was telling us that he's really thankful that God gave him the chance to read the bible for himself and to know that they were not telling the truth. He also told us that he didn't have a church at this time and he was searching for a church. We invited him to our church and even told him about a near by Ethiopian Orthodox church that is close to his house. He was really eager to take the church information and said that we would be seeing him and his wife there soon!

There were two other gentlemen that we spoke with who were both seekers. One man was a Mormon and one was of Jewish background. Because they were a little older, we took the role of younger kids asking questions to really learn. The natural opener to the conversation is to talk about the wild preaching taking place in front of us. From there, more questions came out and we got to share truth with them in love.

While this was going on, we sent one of our guys to the front to talk to the "preachers" directly. This was partly to distract them and partly so that those in the crowd that we were not speaking with, could hear the counter-arguments of truth. The scary thing was how well these men knew the bible. Scarier than that was how badly they distorted it. It's very similar to the way Arius or Nestorius would distort key passages of scripture. Every verse in the bible where God promises deliverance to Israel, they interpret as it pertaining only to Israel. Every new testament account of Gentiles (non-Jews) or Greeks becoming Christians, they interpret as people who were actually Jews living among Greeks. Even passages that clearly say salvation to all people people (1 Tim 2:4), they simply insert the word Jews in there to make it read, all Jewish men not simply all men are desired by God to be saved. Because we shared the truth with love and respect, we gave them no reason to dislike us. They had no problem cursing at people who did not approve of their message.

We couldn't help but be inspired to have a greater commitment to memorizing the Holy scriptures and become even more convinced that we must be sharing the truth of Orthodoxy with people in light of all of this deception that is filling the world we live in. These guys are out there every single week speaking to New York City crowds. One quote we wish to learn from them is "We don't care what you think, we only care what God thinks." They read this verse to the crowd to back that up:

Isaiah 55:8,9
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
⁹“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Let's pray that gives us the boldness to care more about His thoughts and ways, than about own own.

Does life suck?

2012-01-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

Well, this one isn't necessarily a bold evangelistic post but something that God has been teaching me. There are key times when it seems like things just stink. Pretty plainly. You know those times, when bible verses from people don't seem to help, they just further piss you off? When the comforting attempts of "oh dude, its all good it will all work out in the end." just doesn't seem to cut it either?

Another classic way to make yourself feel better is to say, "at least my situation doesn't suck as badly as that other guy." Fail...again.

The one thing i found that works for me is to totally overshadow the situation with a truth that i choose to dwell on. That truth is the reality of Jesus on a cross. Doesn't solve my current problem. Doesn't even give me hope that my current problem will be fixed (if i can be honest with myself) but it makes me begin to understand St. Paul when he says that "our light affliction which is for a moment are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all." It made me wonder how big a shadow the cross creates in my life. If the cross is big enough, that shadow should be substantially bigger than my (very real and very annoying) situations. That's probably the reason that Jesus had the disciples focus hard on salvation, even after their huge victories...so they can know where to look after defeat.

And I can ask Him to restore to me the unfailing joy of His salvation...because that right there, is the real deal. :)

To my Muslim brother

2012-01-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

a simple response to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNGqrzkFp_4

lyrics with Quran and Bible references:

My dear brother, I heard what you have to tell me

and it looks like a love for Jesus is something we both have in common

we love him enough to want to know if he's prophet, philosopher, true God or just a con man

and if the subject is real and carries some real weight,

lets approach it in prayer and love- not a spirit argument, strife or debate

God, reveal yourself to us, no matter what our background!

From youtube to facebook and twitter millions want to see you clearly,

we need freedom, God. We've spent too much time being bound

now let's carefully examine the subject, like our lives depended on it, since even more than this life is hanging in the balance

we need to 'worship' or give worth to God by choice not by just by birth or chance

If we love Jesus as a prophet have we taken time to study his message?

If Allah commanded that we hear and obey him, (S.43:63)

what truth was revealed about Jesus and how much of it did people trim?

The quran says that Jesus was born of a virgin, ((3: 42-45; 19: 12-22; 21: 90* ) which is of course miraculous

then lived a sinless rightheous life (3: 46; 6: 86; 19: 19*)-unlike any other prophet or man among us

Then Allah even took him up to heaven himself, (4: 157,158; 3: 55*)

but why? theres something special here that can't just put in on the shelf

not only that but he'll be back at judgment day (S.43:61)

just who is this man that allah treated so differently and will bring back to repay?

Well since Allah gave Jesus a message of the bible[S.5:46,47], lets take time to examine

was Jesus dependent or just united with God?

When He said “I and Father are ONE.” (John 10:30, John 10:38; 14:10 ), on the nature of God He expanded

One God in three persons, doesn't need an advanced math degree

since we know that 1*1*1=1 even though 1+1+1= three

understanding this helps us see why and how He prayed,

he wasn't speaking to himself and not to a different God

but a distinct person, bc father Son and Spirit are ONE really, not an analogy or facade

He spoke to his Father to teach me to do the same,

and show us God's unity in the Trinity- that's what he came to proclaim

and because God is one and just can't be seperated,

for the Father, Son or Spirit to say I do “nothing of myself” shows more of that unity that can't be desecrated

Jesus was worshiped from His birth, even before his first word (Matt. 2:2,11 )

then from lepers (Matt. 8:2 ) and blind John 9:38 and even the demon possessed Mark 5:6

to his own disciples Matt. 14:33, and he never disagreed but blessed

worship was given freely and He never rebuked them,

unless they threw the term around without knowing from where it stems from (mark 10:18)

you see, bc He's God in the flesh as hard as that can be to accept,

but this same God of Love who existed before all the ages

would for our forgivness stop at nothing to pay our wages

he wept at our state, slept in the street, and tasted the shame of the torture and sting of death, he counted bitter-sweet.

The cross was never a source of joy for anyone, it's like the electric chair!

But what if I belonged on there and his love wouldn't bare, it?

What if that cross completed my salvation and by His weakness He showed what's greater than strength?

and then He rose again from the dead and gave my messed up nature real divine health?

Oh, i'd wear a cross on my neck. On my forehead if I have to!

Just to celebrate the one I love and who loves me and longs for you!

He got up after crucifiction and left an empty tomb,

if allah had really switched him with another

why wouldn't people show the dead body to end the 'resurrection' myth before it's bloom?

Only He was fully man and also fully divine,

not created but “only-begotten” it's something we probably need to define

you see it comes from the greek "monogenes" which means unique, and only member of a kind

so as man he got hungry but as God He fed thousands,

as man he got thirsty, but as God he sent living water,

as man he wept a friend died,

but as God He raised him from the grave and would't let him hide.

so the bible speaks of His divinity from cover to cover,

but can it be trusted? Wasn't written and compiled by men and so many many say that it's been altered?

For a book under under the heaviest scrutiny, it's never falterd.

We trust aristotle's tho we have oly 5 of his early manuscripts,

or 10 copies from ceaser's

when you compare that with 5,664 for the bible. It looks like we have a credibility eclipse

so let's review the evidence and pray together for God's revelation,

God is seeking us more than we are chasing Him

His love has always been pursuing us and wants to unite with us to make us a pure and holy generation

What's a mission church?

2012-01-17T21:55:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a chance to learn from and serve with St. Peter and St. Paul's Mission church in Montreal. The church is only a year old but is vibrant and growing under the care of Fr. Peter Saad. The video above is of the church group as well as the group of visitors singing praises in English and French while having a table set up with free bibles and pamphlets. This was done, by the way, in -23 degree weather!

The beauty of this church is it's heart and commitment to the community. From it's monthly bold preaching where the church proclaims the truth to the heart of the city, to the weekly sandwich run and to being present as much as possible in events that matter to the community. It was clear that the church is growing. Seeing a variety of cultures on a communion line just brings a fresh sense of joy and thanksgiving.

Of all nations and all tribes :)

"How I love the Church, because I Love Jesus" Response to the Response

2012-01-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

Opening disclaimer: I love the post below and agree with every piece of dogma in it (though if I may be honest with all due respect to the father, the tone is defensive and a bit aggressive. It would be so great if we can disagree with people in love and win them over to truth with kindness.) and I love the Orthodox Church with my whole heart. I believe part of our love for our church moves us to seek to serve her and her children in any way that we can.

You know that in a day or two, we will forget about this video and it's controversy. How will we, as a church, benefit though? What if we took a moment to evaluate ourselves and see how we can be more faithful to the beautiful Truth that Christ has revealed to us through His church? With each of these points, I will try to suggest practical solutions. I invite you to do the same. The problems are obvious to us all. We need to talk about them so we can try to solve them. What if we let God stir us and each of us says “NO! It is unacceptable that these wounds go un-bandaged in the body of Christ!”

The Jeff Bethke text is below in italics, and the responses of Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick are in standard typeface and my comments are in bold.

Why does it build huge churches but fails to feed the poor?

Did you know that the largest charity in the US is Lutheran? Did you know that Americans are the most charitable country on earth? Did you know that people who attend religious services regularly are the most likely to be charitable givers?

Did you know that “religion” essentially invented the ideas of feeding the poor, building free hospitals, and has spent untold amounts of money sending people to the ends of the earth precisely to care for the suffering?

Ever hear of Mother Teresa? Rumor has it she belonged to a big ol’ religion.

Of course. For anyone to deny or discredit the contribution of Christianity to mankind would be silly. But if every Christian parish in America held the poor in high regard, as we are commanded to by scripture and by the church fathers, wouldn't our cities look radically different? Can we be honest and say that our local parishes need to make a stronger commitment to the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned in their backyards? This is, of course, of course largely to a call to the congregation. We must step up and act! The opportunities are all around us but we just need to make it a priority.

If we'll be honest with ourselves again. The Lord said that where our treasure is, there is our heart. What is the annual budget of average local parish that goes to the poor of the neighborhood (not just abroad) and how much do we spend on extravagant church buildings? The house of of the Lord must be honored but how do we justify million dollar churches and often times a tiny or non-existent budget to the poor? (this isn't the case everywhere.)

Tells single moms God doesn’t love them if they’d ever had a divorce, but in the Old Testament, God actually calls religious people whores.

Again, which “religion” is this? Divorce is a sin, yes, but God loves all sinners. As for your claim about the Old Testament, I’ll have to see a citation. (Was this the “religion” that God Himself instituted via Abraham and Moses?)

How is a divorced woman treated in a local parish? (again, no fault of the church institution) but how can we remedy those whispers? Is divorce always a sin? Even if a spouse commits adultery? (Unless the reverend Father is making a distinction between annulment and divorce. Annulment being the accepted times when a marriage that was performed is no longer valid?) Can we, as the congregation look onto divorced people with love and acceptance? Maybe even have a ministry for those who have gone through that experience and how to cope with it?

They can’t fix their problems and so they just mask it, not realizing religion is like spraying perfume on a casket.
See the problem with religion is that it never gets to the core. It’s just behavior modification like a long list of chores.
Like let’s dress up the outside make it look nice and neat, but it’s funny – that’s what they used to do to mummies, while the corpse rots underneath.

Okay, I get what you’re referring to here, and of course it’s the whitewashed tombs that Christ uses to characterize the scribes and Pharisees of His day. But even while He has such strong words for them, He doesn’t “abolish” their position. Instead, He actually says “whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do.” His problem with them is their hypocrisy, not their “religion.”

Your basic error here is that you’ve identified hypocrisy with “religion,” but Jesus Himself actually criticized the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees while explicitly endorsing their religion, which is kind of a problem for your whole thesis.

But how are we helping mistaken youth that are finding their self-worth in the rituals they observe? How can we effectively teach that everything we do in church is aimed at unity with God and that God “desires mercy not sacrifice.”

It’s like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a jersey.

Again, I agree. Hypocrisy is bad.

So what are we doing about it? Especially since we, the apostolic churches, are the most prone to it. The devil fights us to lose our focus and miss meeting Christ in our rites. (Again, church rites were given to us to get more and more grace from God and is a great thing.)

But I guess you like the Lakers.

I mean what other team would have a guy named Meta World Peace? :)

See this was me too, but no one seemed to be on to me.
Acting like a church kid while addicted to pornography.
You see on Sunday I’d go to church but Saturday getting faded, acting if I was simply created to just have sex and get wasted.
See I’ve spent my whole life building this façade of neatness.

You know what? This is the predicament of almost every Christian I’ve ever known. Perhaps their sins aren’t pornography (though that is unfortunately becoming frighteningly common)

frighteningly common indeed. Thank you for pointing that out publically, Father. The subject isn't even addressed most of the time because of it's shameful. But if we are too afraid to speak about it, how will we bring healing to those struggling with that epidemic in the church? How are we helping the masses of Christians addicted to pornography? When a struggling teens confesses this, what resources exist for him/her within our church to help them be freed from this?

drugs (which is what I assume “getting faded” means) and sex and getting wasted (wait… that’s drugs twice!),

we need to tackle these head on as well.

But now that I know Jesus, I boast in my weakness.
Because if grace is water, then the church should be an ocean.
It’s not a museum for good people; it’s a hospital for the broken.

I absolutely agree. And that’s what the true Christian religion actually is. The fact that you’ve apparently been a hypocrite and that you probably have been burned or offended by hypocrites doesn’t mean that there really is actually no true religion.

Agree too. Can we also agree that many of our current church parishes do not function as a hospital for the broken. (though all the churches believe doctrinally that they should be.) If we can admit this, can we begin to actively remedy it?

Don’t you see so much better than just following some rules?

Who actually claims that religion is about “just following some rules”? Yes, there are “rules” in the sense that there are moral standards and traditional ways of doing things, but that’s because, if you’re going to have a functioning hospital for the broken, there will need to be ways of keeping the peaceful atmosphere, passing on the wisdom of the Great Physician, and also in informing the patients what kinds of behavior will help in their healing and what kinds are going to make them sicker.

Agree again. Can we be honest again and see that although we know the true teaching of how rules function to facilitate healing, there are many in the church who are much more concerned for a rule than the spirit and goal of the rule? Rules like which meticulous ingredient to pick out in fasting (though we all know that fasting is a God-given gift that helps us connect with Him), how often we pray our ordered prayers like the Agpeya (though we know the importance of a spiritual rule and a church book of prayer is another gift that teaches us to pray) etc. Can we once again emphasize the goal of the rules that were made to help us?

But if Jesus came to your church, would they actually let Him in?

Well, since you asked about my church… He comes to my church every day, and He actually is present on my altar at least once a week, and we not only let Him into the church, but we let Him into our actual bodies.

What if He came in His “clever disguises” as Mother Theresa used to say? If He came as a homeless man, how would He be treated? If we believe the holy scriptures that what we do to this man, we do to Christ Himself, shouldn't we find a way to care about the men and women who live on the streets of our cities?

Now back to the point, one thing is vital to mention, how Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums.
See one’s the work of God, but one’s a man made invention, see one is the cure, but the other’s the infection.

Actually, I thought sin was the infection. When Adam and Eve infected the whole human race with what they did, was their error the founding of “religion”? I seem to have missed that part.

But is legalism a dangerous sin that is infectious as well?

See because, religion says do, Jesus says done, religion says slave, Jesus says son.

There’s a whole lot of “do” from the mouths of Jesus and His chosen Apostles in the New Testament. As for the “done,” yes, His work is done, but even the Apostle Paul had the impression that he needed to keep working on “laying hold” of what Jesus had done for him.

But isn't there a difference when the do's from the mouth of Jesus are done by us as sons and daughters, and not as slaves. Contrary to the sound teaching of Orthodoxy, there are still youth that believe that God will love them less if they make a mistake or love them more if they do a good deed. This isn't a fault of the church as an institution, but somewhere along the line, people began to obey the Lord as slaves and not as children who know that their Dad loves them and are thus always enjoying His love and trying to care for the things that are on His heart.

Religion is man searching for God. Christianity is God searching for man, which is why salvation is freely mine, and forgiveness is my own, not based on my merits, but Jesus’s obedience alone.

“Religion” is a lot of different things. I agree that it is God Who has come to reconnect (religio) with man, but He also created man to have a longing for God. What you’re revealing here actually has a technical theological name, and it’s the heresy of monergism, the idea that the whole of salvation is exclusively the act of God. You’re right that salvation isn’t based on your merits, but you’re wrong that Christianity isn’t about man searching for God. It’s both about God Who has come to be with man (“searching” seems to suggest that He doesn’t know where man is) and about man’s response to his desire for the divine.

Agree as well. Another mistaken perception by some young people though is that God is indifferent and simply waiting for us to get on our knees and beg for forgivness. Many do not see the love of the father of the prodigal son running to him. (this is of course in addition to the son deciding to repent and leave sin). God is always coming to us in our situations. Like we pray in St. Basil's liturgy that in the last days He even descended into Hades through the cross, because men and women He loved were there. He's gone to great lengths to chase after us, in His unfailing love.

So, if you were one of the many people who were really moved by something in the video, we want to invite you to get to know more about Jesus and to get a fresh start. There's a core group of people who were always on the outside of things at church so they know what life is like away from God and the church, then began to get to know Him. They'd love to try to help you with things you're struggling with, have a random or just hear you out. Or if you just want to chill. Starbucks mocha latte is on us. :)

There's no gimmick here...just real people like you who know what it's like to struggle with things and find hope and healing in Christ Jesus.

StartWithJesus@gmail.com

Orthodox Mission Conference!

2012-01-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

join us at the first annual Orthodox Missions Conference. There will be speakers from the Ethiopian, Coptic, and Indian Orthodox churches! We will spend the day exploring what God is doing on the local mission field in North America and how we can join Him! The lectures and workshops will focus on "Doin' Work: Liturgical Evangelism". You will have an opportunity to get involved in a number of Orthodox Mission and Evangelism opportunities right where you are! Fr. Anthony Messeh will be speaking!

Date: Saturday February 11th from 9 am to 5 pm
location: Archangel Michael and St. Mena Coptic Orthodox Church. 4095 amboy road, Staten island ny.

Cost: $20 in advance $25 on site

Registration will be available at Nihov.org soon!

questions? info@ftftmission.org

Message from Lecrae

2012-01-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

This is a brief message that Lecrae recorded when i asked him to encourage young Christians. He's got tons of great stuff including songs don't waste your life

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DC's Silent Night

2012-01-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

NYC isn't the only place that could use the Christmas spirit :) a new group of faithful servants got together to share songs and hyms with the DC community. The group was made up of people from NY, DC, South Carolia as well as Australia!

As we met up to pray, we wondered if there would be a place that would be appropriate for us to share these praises. God delivered something we didn't expect, as usual. He seemed to have prepared a special place that was perfect for us. There's a beautiful tourist-filled area that has a nice Christmas tree in the center and fifty smaller Christmas trees around it (one for each state.) Even better, is the presence of a gorgeous life-sized manger! So, the Coptic angels (since that's one of the symbols of the Tunic) stood by the Child Jesus to sing praises to Him.

The amazing thing was that those who passed by and looked at the manger, took an extra minute to really adore the scene due to the sounds in the background, especially during the serene singing of "Silent Night." We also had the opportunity to share the message of love and salvation with the passers by. One guy asked us "Ok, which one of you guys brought the gold?" :)

We spoke with the crowd about the birth of Love. We explained that the Lord Jesus came to bring the presence of love into the world and that we can know and experience love in a personal and tangible way. For the first time in human history, deep intimacy with God was possible through Christ. His birth gave us something that even Adam and Eve couldn't ever dream of! We also shared about the timelessness of the Birth of Christ. It isn't a one day or one time deal but it's something that's entirely outside the realm of human time. When Jesus entered into our history, He gave us an opportunity to transcend it.

The greatest mark of the night was the sheer joy on the face of the servants that was totally contagious to those around. Even after the "official" portion of the night ended and the Tunics were off, the singing just continued. We couldn't get enough of singing praises to Jesus the newborn King. It was a glorious night and it seems like this is becoming somewhat addictive. I guess the need to constantly praise the One we love is really something we're created with. :)

Christmas? again?

2012-01-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

For most of the country, Christmas has come and gone but for Orthodox Christians, it's almost here. That was one of the reasons that had us out in Time Square singing Christmas songs and hymns. It's also because we don't believe that Christmas was a one day deal but rather an incredible, time-less and life-saving act. As Fr. Athanasius Farag puts it, "the incarnation (Christmas) is salvation." The fact that Jesus united, in Himself, God and man in such a way that we could never have dreamed of- is salvation. It isn't just a precursor to His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. His birth itself saves us, as does His life, His temptation, His hunger, His transfiguration, His resurrection, ascension into heaven etc. Every moment of the life of Christ saves and heals us.

It seemed that a few people might have heard about the last Time Square caroling, so this time the group was much larger and God had prepared us much more-which was great because on January 2nd, the city was far more filled with people than usual. After last time, we were really encouraged by great feedback from clergy as well as lay people. So we met up to prepare ourselves by spending time in God's presence through the study of His word and through prayer. In the Coptic tradition, this day happened to be the feast of King David, the prophet and the king. So, we studied together one of the chapters of the bible, 1 Chronicles 11 that speak a bit about the character of this great man. We discovered that besides being a psalmist and a great king, he was quite a fearless warrior. That whole Goliath incident wasn't a fluke. From his first moments as king, he decided to boldly go to the "stronghold" or the place where no one thought he can/should go. In a way, we felt we were following his example. That stronghold city later became known as the "City of David" and we dreamed of New York City being known as the "City of Christ."

After praying some of the Agpeya prayers together, we headed out and suited up in the liturgical vestments. Having more servants to praise and to engage the audience was crucial. The servants spoke with so many people that we actually ran out of the Orthodox Christian pamphlets that we were handing out! We had printed over 100 and thought that would be enough. We shared with athiests, Muslims, soldiers, and nominal Christians. At one point actually, since not all the servants knew each other, we started sharing with Coptic people! :) We spoke with people from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Russia, Greece, Egypt and more.

There's an interesting thing happened that I hesitate to share so i don't scare you...but it's real. Two of our guys were hit in the back with rocks. Don't worry, they're fine thank God! But we couldn't help but wonder, where the heck did people find rocks in New York City?! It was clear that although many people were overjoyed at our presence, there were some who were far from encouraged. Our guys took it really well though. We joked with them that Jesus wanted to make them join the ranks of Confessors :)

The whole night though was an amazing success. At various instances, there were people of the crowd who would join us in praises, both the Coptic hymns and the usual Christmas songs. At one point, a group of about 10 young people came along and sang Hosanna with us. (the video is above.) At another point, a group of two young ladies came and stood next to us and sang "the Nativity Doxology" with us! Every 5-10 minutes, a new crowd formed of people who were taking pictures and videos and just wondering what the heck we were doing. We were glad to share that with them.

Overall, it was truly an amazing night. From seeing people pass by and smile to seeing the servants have heart to heart conversations about the Lord Jesus and His Church with total strangers...it was just amazing. We're praying that God can keep leading us into the places where He is at work so we can joyfully join Him and continue to be amazed by His miraculous presence.

Celebrate kindness: Guest Post

2012-01-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

Random for a Birthday or….. should this be Everyday?

So what would you do on your 24th birthday?

By: Chris Estafanous

Society says go out enjoy yourself, party it up. I recently have been getting this feeling that people no longer believe that there is any goodness left in the world. People often say that when someone does something kind for you there is always a catch, something that person wants in return.

But what if a group of Christians set out to actually want to do random acts of love in order to prove that idea all-wrong.

What if for a whole day to celebrate a birthday a group wouldn’t focus on the person whose birth it is but rather, focus on doing something to please their God so all glory would point to Him. That is what a group of friends decided to do on Dec 26th, 2011; they set out to radically proclaim that love does exist and there is a God who loves the world with such a consuming love that man cannot even comprehend it.So what exactly did we decide to do? We set out to do 25 random acts of kindness in celebration of the 24 years that God had blessed me with an opportunity to serve Him and one for the future year that He has given me.

The mission had 3 purposes; Firstly to remind us as a group that acts of love/kindness is something that we often reserve to a day or two a week when we have service prepared or set out to do something as a group. However, as Christian’s acts of love shouldn’t be set for certain times but done always to reflect and shine Christ when the opportunity presents itself. Secondly, the purpose was to open our eyes as a group to persons that we often don’t notice on a day-to-day period. Thirdly, just to shock people in NYC with so much love that they ask why is this done and then present us with an opportunity to share with them the love of Christ.

Honestly to set up 25 Random acts of Kindness was rather difficult because we wanted to target every people group possible that often go unnoticed and unappreciated. I wish we could say that we completed the whole 25 but it probably would have took a full day and we didn’t get the day started until about 4 pm so we completed about 14 of 25. However, we are planning to repeat this event not just for a birthday but to raise people awareness to the above mentioned purpose. Below are the 25 acts of kindness that we were able to set up. We were a group of about 10 who set out to do the following:

1) The Po Po- So often times police officers and members of law enforcement have a negative image for many of us. In NYC many of them stand out in the cold and have to direct traffic.

Objective: Go to your local Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks and buy a 5 dollar gift card for a police officer who is standing outside in the cold. Approach them with the gift card and tell them thank you for the service and here is a gift card to buy yourself a cup of coffee.

2) Say I Love You- Our parents often don’t hear how much we love them often enough so we figure we would let them know how we feel.
Objective:Call your parent randomly today and tell them you love them.

3) Can I Get You a Bite?: You know that person who we often walk by that asks for change and we just go on with our days ignoring them? Objective: Find a person in need that is on the streets or laying around somewhere and offer to take them to get something to eat. While with them be sure to tell them that Christ has sent you today to bring him/her food and this food is a gift from Him.

4) Our Local Clerics
Objective: Our priests are often heavily worked and under appreciated, go now and buy your local priest a small gift for Christmas to show your appreciation.
5) You are Fearfully and Wonderfully made.
Objective: Go to restrooms and stick post-its all over the mirrors and
fill them with messages saying for Girls: Don’t worry about how you look, you are wonderfully and fearfully made. For Guys: Smile Jesus loves you.

6) The Forgotten Old Friend:
Objective: Call up an old friend that you haven’t talked to in a long period of time, and who might be in need of some love during this holiday season. You’d be surprised at how much they would appreciate the call.
7) Always in a Rush?
Objective: Take a breather and throughout the day let someone cut in front of you at a check-out line somewhere or maybe if you feel really kind, let someone cut you off on the road without you having road rage
8) Let me snap a shot!
Objective: Ever wanted someone to take a picture of your group and been too embarrassed to ask? Well, set out to find people who would appreciate the group photo and offer to take their picture. DON’T BE CREEPY.
9) Missing a quarter?
Objective: Have you ever went to a soda machine and not had the right amount? Go to random soda machines and leave enough change for a free drink for someone. Leave a message saying please accept this random act of kindness. Leave a small message from Jesus for them.

10) The Greatest Act of Kindness: The Gospel!
Objective: Interview people about their New Years Resolutions and share the Gospel with them. Help them realize that with Christ is the best way to start the year.
11) Hold the Door:
Objective: Gentleman are considered rare sights in NYC (unicorns almost!) but we wanted to change that. With a smile, hold the door for someone coming into a building.
12) I’ll Say a Little Prayer for Youu..(..foreva and eva..) :
Objective: Take some time out today to stop everything you are doing and say a prayer for someone you haven’t prayed for in quite some time. Option: Set up a Prayer stand with the message “Come on over and say a prayer with us”!
13) Sibling Love:
Objective: Take the time out of your day to call your brother or sister. Have none? Refer to act 6 or 2.
14)The Guy Right Behind You:
Objective: Go to a drivethru at a coffee shop or anywhere, and pay for the guy behind you! Leave a message with the cashier saying that “This was a random act of kindness and that Jesus Loves you!”
15)You are Truly Loved!:
Objective: Buy some roses and guys give them out to grandma’s saying you are truly loved by Jesus and here is a rose from Him. For girls, you can hand them out to younger women telling them you are truly loved by a great God and here is a reminder from Him.
16) A Hug Makes a World of a Difference
Objective: Give a hug to a co-worker, friend, or family member, anyone who is in need of a hug. Nothing beats a good hug.

17) Not a Fine but Jesus thinks you Fine:
Objective: Go to random parked cars and leave a message saying, “ Don’t worry this isn’t parking violation, but just a message to let you know that Jesus loves you and that you are always on His mind.”
18) Birthday Cards for Elderly people in Nursing Homes:
Objective: Write birthday cards using Isaiah 46:4, Even to your old age, I am He, And even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; Even I will carry, and will deliver you
19) You Decide!
Objective: Open your eyes to a need somewhere in front of you. One of us saw a woman who was carrying a stroller down the steps of a subway and offered to help. We often don’t see the need in front of us.
20) Joy to the World!
Objective: Sing Christmas Carols or hymn to bring joy to the world.
21) Can I say something touching to you?
Objective: At dinner, turn to the person next to you and tell them how they have touched your life, or something that you admire about them.

22) You have influenced me!
Objective: Write a letter to someone who has made a large impact on your life in a positive way. Mail it to them or give it to them!

23) Thank you!
Objective: At dinner, write little notes thanking your waitress or waiter for their service. We planned ahead and bought them a thank you card and each wrote a little message on it. Our waitress was so touched by it.

24) Repeat your Fav!
Objective: Repeat your favorite act!
25) 25 today, a Lifetime tomorrow:
Objective: This doesn’t just end with 25 random acts of kindness today for a birthday, but is the start of a life time of acts of kindness…to the point that they are no longer random to you, but just part of your daily walk with Christ.

I truly pray that we can have random moments throughout our days where we look to put a smile on someone’s face with a random act of Love.

Dealing with homosexuality

2012-01-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

Sexual Healing

2012-01-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

The above poem is one that someone shared about the distorted view of sex in our generation. There's also a brief video that i felt God pushing me to share.

God wants freedom for us from these things. An important principle here is that lust isn't the disease or the problem itself but it's a symptom or a sign of the problem. The real problem is that we aren't finding the real joy of God. Psalm 51, where King David asks God for forgiveness of sexual sin, he asks God to restore to him the "joy of Your salvation." The sincere joy in the Person of God and His presence is the medicine for the root of the problem that many of us battle. He's inviting us to be really be satisfied in Him and to know that He's real.

here you can find some great resources to help:
http://www.xxxchurch.com/men/resources.html

BOOKS

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» LIFE Ministries - Downsides to Masturbation

» Troublewith.com - I Still Have Not Found What I am Looking For

» Guardian.co.uk - Men and Porn

» Beliefnet - Pamela Paul “How Porn Destroys Lives”

» Christianpost.com - Porn Addiction Flooding Culture, Church

» Pornfree.org - Lies about sex sin, addiction and freedom

» Pornfree.org - So what's so bad about pornography?

» Pure Life Ministries - Change takes time

» Pure Life Ministries - Giving Men Hope

» Pure Life Ministries - The Serpent of Porn

» Pure Life Ministries - The Weight of Unconfessed Sin

Shaped by what you believe

2011-12-30T12:49:00.001-08:00

God gave us the gift of being able to celebrate Christmas with His brothers and sisters who do not have a place to stay. We had a Christmas party in St. Mark's Orthodox Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was a beautiful night where we had dinner together and shared with them a little about the Lord Jesus and His Orthodox Church. We wanted to invite our brothers and sisters who are homeless into our church family. We have been serving them on a weekly basis for over two and a half years now and every once in a while we are granted an opportunity to spend a special evening together.

We began the evening by praying parts of the Agpeya together. This was a great opportunity to share with them one of the tools that really help us in prayer. We explained that the church has given us the Book of the Hours or Agpeya, to teach us to pray by praying the words of the bible. From the Psalms, to gospel passages, the Agpeya often puts our emotions into words when our own words fall short. After this we also took personal prayer requests and spoke with God openly.

After dinner, we shared a bit about who the Coptic Church is and what she believes. We believe that people's behavior is shaped by what they believe. When we believe the right things about our God, we can believe the right things about who we are and about the people around us.

Some of those who attended the dinner were not homeless, but very poor and they are growing their relationship with God. After the night concluded, they expressed serious interest in the Coptic Orthodox Church. This was a critical step to be able to invite our friends to baptism into the Orthodox Church. We are praying and working for that day to come...soon. :)

Sacramental Evangelism

2011-12-27T20:03:00.000-08:00

This is a talk on the liturgical and sacramental nature of sharing Christ with people.

Occupy Orthodoxy!

2011-12-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago, God brought us to the Occupy D.C. camp. The scene was a crazy one, especially because the protestors had built some king of illegal structure that stirred up a lot of police presence. One thing we hoped for when we showed up was to have a more continuous presence instead of just stopping by. We were glad to see that there was someone will thought of this before we did. The "occupy church" movement is a group of Christians who lived among the protestors and would serve them to bring the love of Christ to the camp in a real way.

The first person we met from the occupied church movement was actually an Orthodox Christian. (He's in the video above). He's an ER physician who spoke to us about his work healing the sick in the midst of the protest and sharing Christ with every single patient. He was an older gentleman who was incredibly bold. And he was really happy to see there were other Orthodox Christians who cared about the community. He inspired us to be a presence for God in the midst of a broken world and inspired us also to show that Christians call for justice and live love.

Another young man that we got to meet with someone what a different background entirely. He explained to us that he had an experience with God where he almost physically felt forgiveness. he felt the weight of guilt and shame actually lifted from him after he prayed! and he was overjoyed at that experience. he just hasn't gone to the point of seeing that Jesus Christ is God. he had no real barrier but he just never met or experienced the reality of the Divinity of Christ and he just wanted some guidance. So we shared with him what we had experienced and invited him to do the same. We encouraged him to ask Jesus to reveal himself to knowing that that He will.

Another young man we met was an African-American Muslim, who had only heard of god presented to him through the eyes of Islam. So we respectfully shared with him a little bit more about the person of Christ from the Qur'an. we patiently spoke with him for about 30 min. sharing with him things from both the Qur'an as well as from the Bible. He was open and curious but not yet convinced so we prayed with him in the end for God to reveal himself to all of us. He loved that part because he believed that, ultimately, the work of God revealing himself to us is supernatural. It won't be done through debate or discussion; it's a revelation of God.

We also met an ex-Christian. He's one of the many people we have seen. He used to go to church but something happened for this young man. It was a sense of corruption in the church that even affects the Bible itself. he didn't feel that he could trust the Bible and didn't feel he can trust church. so we spent the majority of the time going over that canonization process of the Bible. a how it can be seen as a historically reliable document it. it was clear that he had never heard this before. He always thought the book was changed over time to suit the needs of the people and the agenda of a church. We were happy to show him otherwise. A clear indication of his interest was that after he walked away, he came back to ask more questions. He asked specifically about the Coptic Orthodox Church and if the bible we use was unchanged. We spoke with him about the early biblical manuscripts that added to the authenticity of the bible. That simple conversation really went a long way for this young man who had gone for so many years having no trust at all in the word of God...that is no longer the case.

Christmas Caroling...with a twist ;)

2011-12-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

As we met up to pray in Time Square for ways that God can use us to reach His children, we began to feel a little bit nervous. Are we making fools of ourselves? Right around the time that we thought that, a dashing 300 pound hairy, middle aged dude, walked by us in a wonder woman costume! Though this wasn't that abnormal for New York City, we felt that God had sent us that guy to give us a specific message. There are people out there who are not ashamed of making fools of themselves, for no real goal or purpose at all. Are we willing to look a little weird so we can give glory to the God we love? As the U2 line goes "The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear."

With that in mind, we finished up praying and stood right in the heart of Time Square, in front of the huge TKTS stairs, and put on our Tunics. People around us were already figuring that something is up. What are these 6 idiots doing? They look pretty young and normal, but why are they putting on those weird outfits?

We had song books printed out for people to sing along if they wished. The books had a nice compilation of Christmas carols and Christmas Hymns. As we began to sing (though we are not the most musically gifted bunch) we saw that many who were passing by were smiling and encouraging us. Many began to take pictures and videos and a number of people stood by to hear the hymns. After every two songs or so, we would share the message of love and salvation with the crowd. We'd explain to them the symbolism of our vestments and how we can all put on a new, white, spotless robe no matter what we've done in the past! The surprising thing again was that people were listening and really were receptive!

Some of the people were seekers and some were believers. Some just had some pointers for our singing :) "Man, you guys need some practice!" said one young guy who approached us on the side. "You're singing some alto and some soprano." (blank stare from half of us who had no clue what either of those meant). One man approached us after a short sermon we gave and said "We love Jesus too. We spent 7 years in Bulgaria living as missionaries and what you guys are doing is amazing. Keep being bold for Christ!"

Other Orthodox Christians saw us and were excited to know that our Orthodox Church has a deep love for mission and evangelism! "You guys are Orthodox?! Me too! I thought those tunics looked familiar!" One bright young man came by looking pretty curious. "you guys Orthodox?" we said, "Yup." Still curious "Coptic?" "Yup." No he was really interested. With a serious face he asked in Arabic "Ok, is there a liturgy here?" He wanted to make sure he wasn't missing anything.

We spent half of our night at Time Square and the other half at Rockefeller. God spoke to many people that night and when we got to Rockefeller center, we stood by two guys who were ringing a little bell and collecting money for the homeless of NYC. "God sent you guys to us tonight man. We were getting discouraged and thinking that we weren't going to raise any money tonight. Can you come again tomorrow?"

He's doing great work every night. Jesus said "My Father is always working" and we're here to be about our Father's business.

Public confession

2011-12-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

In the early church, confession of sin was done in front of the church as a whole. I imagine the logic there was that the sin was directly against God and His Body, the church.

I keep most of my sins between God and my father of confession, but there's one that needs to be put on blast.

Today, around 1:04 am, God pointed out to me that I've been blaspheming. I've been believing that the God I worship is tiny, pathetic and only capable of meeting predictable needs and fulfilling logical dreams. I've been insulting Him. My life has been, anyway. I try to join friends in small evangelism projects hoping to reach a person or two- never really seeing if the living God I supposedly worship is able to reach thousands or millions? I hear a clear call from Him to give my life to preaching His truth, and second guess it every 5 minutes- fearing that He doesn't have what it takes to provide for me. I'm satisfied comparing myself to the next guy and settled in the encouragement of friends who say that what I'm doing is plenty, maybe even too much.

The words that I know from study is that there's a God who can transform an entire planet, without really straining. Billions of people, real people not just numbers, that can and must know of the great work of God...Facts I've studied say that this God owns it all and provides food, clothing and shelter to it all.

That's not what my life is saying. It's saying I don't buy any of this. That's the confession. I'll be bringing this to my confession father for absolution and I hope you forgive me too for making Jesus look poor, weak, and short-sighted. That isn't true.

Wait...Did Jesus really resurrect?

2011-12-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

Someone emailed today asking for proof of the resurrection. Figured it'd be cool to share the reply with you along with a little video from Lee Strobel. The method of proof we'll look into is the same that would be taken in a court investigation. We'll examine the evidence and make a determination based on that. I will leave the citations for the book.

What historians can all agree on, both the secular and those with a faith background, is the following: a man named Jesus lived in that region of Jerusalem and was killed publically. We know that after this death, it was widely reported by his followers that he actually resurrected from the dead and was seen by them. This was contrary to what was believed by the Roman authorities and the religious leaders of the time.

the first question here is the following: 1) Why was the body not immediately produced or brought forth by the Roman authorities and the religious leaders? This would be the simplest and quickest way to simply nip this whole ordeal in the bud. "What resurrection? The body is right here." Since this was not done, it is necessary to conclude one thing- the tomb was empty. This does not mean that a resurrection took place. It simply means that the body was not there. The polemic of the Jews at the time followed this as well with the immediate accusation that the disciples stole the body.

Both Jewish and Roman sources and traditions admit an empty tomb. Those resources range from Josephus to a compilation of fifth-century Jewish writings called the "Toledoth Jeshu." Dr. Paul Maier calls this "positive evidence from a hostile source, which is the strongest kind of historical evidence. In essence, this means that if a source admits a fact decidedly not in its favor, then that fact is genuine. Gamaliel, who was a member of the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin, put forth the suggestion that the rise of the Christian movement was God's doing; he could not have done that if the tomb were still occupied, or if the Sanhedrin knew the whereabouts of Christ's body. Paul Maier observes that " . . . if all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea, in which Jesus was buried, was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources, epigraphy, or archaeology that would disprove this statement."

THE WRONG TOMB?
A theory propounded by Kirsopp Lake assumes that the women who reported that the body was missing had mistakenly gone to the wrong tomb. If so, then the disciples who went to check up on the women's statement must have also gone to the wrong tomb. We may be certain, however, that Jewish authorities, who asked for a Roman guard to be stationed at the tomb to prevent Jesus' body from being stolen, would not have been mistaken about the location. Nor would the Roman guards, for they were there!
If the resurrection-claim was merely because of a geographical mistake, the Jewish authorities would have lost no time in producing the body from the proper tomb, thus effectively quenching for all time any rumor resurrection.
HALLUCINATIONS?
Another attempted explanation claims that the appearances of Jesus after the resurrection were either illusions or hallucinations. Unsupported by the psychological principles governing the appearances of hallucinations, this theory also does not coincide with the historical situation. Again, where was the actual body, and why wasn't it produced?

DID JESUS SWOON?
Another theory, popularized by Venturini several centuries ago, is often quoted today. This is the swoon theory, which says that Jesus didn't die; he merely fainted from exhaustion and loss of blood. Everyone thought Him dead, but later He resuscitated and the disciples thought it to be a resurrection. Skeptic David Friedrich Strauss--certainly no believer in the resurrection--gave the deathblow to any thought that Jesus revived from a swoon: "It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the sepulchre, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence, and who still at last yielded to His sufferings, could have given to the disciples the impression that He was a Conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life,

For the New Testament of Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Any attempt to reject its basic historicity, even in matters of detail, must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.

A. N. Sherwin-White
Classical Roman Historian

an impression which lay at the bottom of their future ministry. Such a resuscitation could only have weakened the impression which He had made upon them in life and in death, at the most could only have given it an elegiac voice, but could by no possibility have changed their sorrow into enthusiasm, have elevated their reverence into worship."

THE BODY STOLEN?
Then consider the theory that the body was stolen by the disciples while the guards slept. The depression and cowardice of the disciples provide a hard-hitting argument against their suddenly becoming so brave and daring as to face a detachment of soldiers at the tomb and steal the body. They were in no mood to attempt anything like that.
The theory that the Jewish or Roman authorities moved Christ's body is no more reasonable an explanation for the empty tomb than theft by the disciples. If the authorities had the body in their possession or knew where it was, why, when the disciples were preaching the resurrection in Jerusalem, didn't they explain: "Wait! We moved the body, see, He didn't rise from the grave"?
And if such a rebuttal failed, why didn't they explain exactly where Jesus' body lay? If this failed, why didn't they recover the corpse, put it on a cart, and wheel it through the center of Jerusalem? Such an action would have destroyed Christianity--not in the cradle, but in the womb!

THE RESURRECTION IS A FACT
Professor Thomas Arnold, for 14 years a headmaster of Rugby, author of the famous, History of Rome, and appointed to the chair of modern history at Oxford, was well acquainted with the value of evidence in determining historical facts. This great scholar said: "I have been used for many years to study the histories of other times, and to examine and weigh the evidence of those who have written about them, and I know of no one fact in the history of mankind which is proved by better and fuller evidence of every sort, to the understanding of a fair inquirer, than the great sign which God hath given us that Christ died and rose again from the dead." Brooke Foss Westcott, an English scholar, said: "raking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ. Nothing but the antecedent assumption that it must be false could have suggested the idea of deficiency in the proof of it."

REAL PROOF: THE DISCIPLES' LIVES
But the most telling testimony of all must be the lives of those early Christians. We must ask ourselves: What caused them to go everywhere telling the message of the risen Christ?
Had there been any visible benefits accrued to them from their efforts--prestige, wealth, increased social status or material benefits--we might logically attempt to account for their actions, for their whole-hearted and total allegiance to this "risen Christ ."

As a reward for their efforts, however, those early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the lions, tortured and crucified. Every conceivable method was used to stop them from talking.
Yet, they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?
How do you evaluate this overwhelming historical evidence? What is your decision about the fact of Christ's empty tomb? What do you think of Christ?

When I was confronted with the overwhelming evidence for Christ's resurrection, I had to ask the logical question: "What difference does all this evidence make to me? What difference does it make whether or not I believe Christ rose again and died on the cross for my sins!' The answer is put best by something Jesus said to a man who doubted--Thomas. Jesus told him: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (John 14:6).

On the basis of all the evidence for Christ's resurrection, and considering the fact that Jesus offers forgiveness of sin and an eternal relationship with God, who would be so foolhardy as to reject Him? Christ is alive! He is living today.

Half of this article was taken from: http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/josh2.html

Oops, is that heaven?

2011-12-13T10:45:00.000-08:00

Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ looks pretty similar to other colleges around finals time. Students are hanging out at the student center (pictured above) while half-studying and half facebook-ing. We prayed and asked God to show us who He prepared for us to speak with this evening and started approaching people to offer the survey.

One group of about 8 gentlemen were just hanging out talking about life and seemed pretty open to talking. When we asked about their belief in a higher power, there was a clear split in the group. Two guys gave an answer that gave us the most yearning hope "You know I don't really know if there is a higher power, but i really want there to be." That blew us away and confirmed to us that we needed to speak with these guys. Another guy couldn't be any less interested and was strangely uncomfortable by our presence there. Before we even got to the second question, he said he'd leave if we don't. We apologized and said we'd be quick then, because the other guys really wanted to talk. We closed it with a simple question. "If you want to know for sure, just email us with these words 'Prove it to me!' and we will prove to you without reasonable doubt that Jesus resurrected from the dead." We asked them who would be interested in taking our card which has our emails as well as links to many Orthodox Christian sites. All of them took, except for one. :)

Another group we spoke with was a group of Orthodox Jewish young ladies. They explained to us that their ties to Judaism were primarily cultural. When we asked them to describe Jesus, however, we got a nice curve ball. "Oh, he's the son of God who died for our sins, right?" After awkward pause and mass confusion, one of the other girls looks at her and yells "NO! That's what the Christians believe!" The first girl replies "Oh, oops. Never mind then." This girl nearly got to heaven by accident! We continued sharing with them about who Jesus is and what the messiah is supposed to look like according to Jewish text. They were a close knit group that had never heard the gospel because all they really knew was each other. But on this night, they got to hear the fullness of the truth over a 30 minute casual conversation in the cafeteria.

The last group we spoke to was amazing. They were two young ladies that were eating some wendy's. We interrupted them to ask them our little survey. We found out that they were of a Catholic background but no longer attend. When we asked them how they can go to heaven, their answers sounded pretty familiar. They said the typical idea of be good and try to go to church. We began to explain to them the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. How He needed to come to unite humanity and God again and how His cross took on our mistakes and His resurrection gave us resurrection. We thought they'd start yawning at some point. But they didn't. They had never heard this full story before. Can you believe it? It blew them away. We went through it all in detail in a similar fashion as we learned from St. Athanasius. The way we were created, how we were distorted and why we needed God to restore us. It was refreshing to see them embrace the truth right there!

We talked with them for abot 45 minutes about many topics from the reliability of the bible to daily Christian living. One key question we asked was if they feel guilt? They gave us a look of confusion and said "Obviously! A whole lot of it." They were weighed down by the fact that they wanted to go to God but kept making mistakes and that they didn't go to church because they felt so disconnected. Though we were sad to hear that they lived in guilt, we were glad to offer them the freedom and forgiveness of God. They jumped on it! We explained that God doesn't want us living in guilt. He's not there to just give us a set of moral standards. He's the loving Dad that wants us to be living a beautiful life filled with His love and presence and free from poor hurtful decisions.

It was a beautiful night where God allowed us to share His truth with hungry hearts. We left each person we spoke to with our information and links to online Orthodox Christian resources where they can get to know Him better.

get your marijuana card here!

2011-12-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago while we were on a training trip to Los Angelos, we decided to go to an area of particular need that is unique to California. In Venice beach, you won't just be able to buy pizza and sunscreen on the beach but you can also get some medical marijuana. All you need is a 20 minute visit to the "doctor" who will verify that you have one of the top 10 generic complaints such as joint pain or stomach ache.

So we went from clinic to clinic interviewing the staff. Most of them didn't want to be on camera for fear of saying something wrong that would blow up on youtube. Many of the "front desk" workers were younger girls that are promoting "getting the party started" by seeing the doctor and getting your card. The first young lady we interviewed had a simple concern. Why can't I live with my boyfriend and still be a Christian? She didn't want to make any real lifestyle changes to follow Jesus. The faith had always been presented to her as a set of rules instead of a lifestyle of knowing and uniting with the Living God. We prayerfully spoke with her about the love of Jesus. This love that doesn't want us to hurt ourselves with poor decisions. He isn't the fun police. He's a Father that can't bare seeing a child of His "freely" run in the middle of the street because it's enjoyable. We tried to explain that the freedom in Christ is the freedom to be who we really are. It was something she hadn't heard before and received gladly.

As we walked out of that clinic, a young man came up to us and asked if we needed help getting our weed card. "I just got mine! Check it out!" We took a look at his card and saw that the prescribing doctor was a COPTIC ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN! We were a little surprised here. We gave the young man our survey and engaged him in conversation about who Jesus was. The video is attached in this post.

We moved on to the next clinic and found an older doctor with a familiar Egyptian last name. It turned out to be the very same doctor that had prescribed the card to the kid we met. We met with the doctor to ask her why she was doing this. The sad thing she said is that a family member of hers had died of a drug over dose and she didn't want to be doing this but was doing it for the money. We talked for about a half hour with her and tried to encourage her to pursue other options for money. We didn't want her to feel condemned or guilty but at the same time that God can help her out of her financial trouble.

One lasting encounter was when we approached a young lady at a weed clinic, she asked what our questions were about. We told her the usual, lifestyle choices and religious backgrounds. She heard the word religious and literally flipped out. "Religion? F@#$ religion!" We said, whoa we're not going to sell you anything we just wanted to ask you your opinion on some things. "I understand. F@#$% religion. F@#$% you. Leave." We didn't want to upset her further so we left. It was clear that someone had wounded her in the past. We apologized, thanked her for her time and walked away quietly. It was sad to see that someone had that impact on her and we were somewhat glad to be able to absorb some of her anger and show her some kindness of Christ. Let's pray that God visits her with His personal love and salvation so He can heal the broken heart that she is suffering from.

Mohammad speaks about Jesus

2011-12-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

(The video above is in Arabic. It is of a man we interviewed in Brooklyn, NY)

Realizing the deep care of Jesus to the middle eastern brothers and sisters of Muslim background prompted us to go and share that love in the heart of Brooklyn's 5th avenue. Just to set the stage a bit, this is a part of town where English is rarely spoken. Store signs are all in Arabic. The Quran is in the background when you enter a local deli and so on. Essentially, this is a part of the middle east. Here there is a mosque, Islamic school, veil clothing store within a two block span.

And here is where Jesus decided to bring us to share His love with His precious children. We were 3 guys and 3 girls so we decided to split up so the guys can speak to men and the girls could speak with veiled women. After spending time with Jesus in prayer, we went out.

The approach we took was to try to show our brothers and sisters the divinity of Christ, from the teachings of the Quran .We even memorized references :) We would ask them what was special about the prophet (as they believed) Issa (the arabic equivalant of Jesus)? Why was He the only one born of a virgin? the only one without sin? The only one who never died? The one who would come back to judge the world? We also handed out pamphlets in arabic that spoke of Jesus being the door to heaven .

The feedback was amazing! One veiled woman who eagerly read the pamphlet later called us over when we bumped into her and asked us to explain it more to her because she was interested but didn't fully understand. We were more than happy to. There we were, openly explaining the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a veiled sister. Her face light up! She thanked us earnestly for sharing that with her.

Other people we spoke with were different. One man was a Palestinian who had converted to Buddhism in his college years. We spent about 30 minutes discussing Christ with him. We spoke about the resurrection of Jesus and how that can be proven as a fact in a court of law. We spoke about the validity of the bible and other thoughts that he had. It was really interesting to hear his thoughts because he was a man that's open enough to actually convert! He was open to reading the literature we gave him about the Jesus and the Orthodox church too.

The amazing thing is that no one turned us down when we offered to interview people and have a conversation about faith. You'd think that three guys with Christian names would be reacted to differently. Though we put some people on edge (even made them sweat a bit) but nobody beat us up like we thought would happen :).

We discovered once again that sharing the love of Jesus is the best way to go. Sharing Truth is always better than bashing lies.

Birthday blog :)

2011-12-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

So, a birthday is a natural time to reflect on your year and your life, it's impact and direction. That's especially true for me. A song i remember from years ago asked "What if my birth was a miscarriage and i never existed? Have i given you something that if it wasn't around, you would have missed it?"

I hope so. It makes me evaluate the direction of my life. What kind of impact is God having on the world through me? Am I settling for less than the life He has in store? Am I challenged enough?

Over the past 5 months or so many people have shown a great deal of love and support. That's been an amazing encouragement. Some people also said things like "what you're doing is so needed." and even "I wish I could do what you do." maybe there's a way.

Years ago when a friend of mine was going to preach Jesus to a third world country, I felt like I wanted to be there with him but couldn't. But I was able to partner with him financially and I felt like I helped him reach the souls he spoke with.

Though i hate the "f" word (finances), I'm forced to work through them. But I know that my God is rich and I'm a son of His :) If you'd like to partner with God in the evangelism work He's doing, here's your chance to keep it going. There are 2 reasons really to want to support that work. 1) as investment in reaching souls with the truth of Christ and His Orthodox Church (how much other Orthodox evangelism do you know of out there?) 2) as investment in the youth and the future of our Orthodox Church. As people in our church develop a healthier sense of practicing and sharing their Orthodox Christian faith, they will be able to grow deeper into it.

So, that's the pitch. If you can to join the work with $100 a month pledge, just shoot me an email. (menamirhom@ftftmission.org) It all goes through the church so it's, of course, tax-deductible. This is basically a way that I will see if this is sustainable or not in this life direction :).
Without some provision, that work may not be able to continue. It's all in the Hands of Jesus though :)

thank you for all of your encouragement :)

Black Hebrew Israelites

2011-11-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

(The above picture was taken by us of the second group we interacted with. The above video was shot a year ago and has the same exact people that we spoke with.)

"Of course God does not love 'ALL' people! How could you think that?!" Those are the words we overheard on a beautiful New York City night. We saw a huge crowd gathered around a group of African-American men standing on a city corner as they preached their message. Our group was in that city that night to be available to God for Him to declare His truth. We didn't have a defined plan, but God does. As we overheard the lies that they were so blatantly screaming at people, our hearts were provoked to do something.

We decided to split up. A few of us began to speak to the people in the crowd who were clearly offended at the inflammatory things being said by the 'preachers.' We proceeded to ask people how they felt about the message being preached and that gave us the 'in' to discuss the truth of Christ with people including Muslim youth from Saudi Arabia, agnostics, and atheists.

But with that, the front message of heresy and lies was still being preached. So we went head on against this black-supremacy cult. One young white girl was trying to show their error but was just overpowered by their screaming. We walked through the crowd and asked them with a loud voice "does anyone here believe these people or are we all here trying to disprove them?!" The crowd responded gestured to us that that its the latter. With that behind us, we began to speak the truth in love to the gentlemen. Verse by verse that they perverted and twisted, and lie by lie..we broke things down and showed the truth behind the word of God. They claimed that salvation isn't given to all so we showed them that the bible says different and that "God desires for ALL men to be saved." (1 Tim 2:4) We discussed that the "all" includes all colors and nationalities in the world.They claimed that Jesus wasn't God so we showed that He is the "Image of the Invisible God" (Col 1:15) and that "In Him dwells ALL the FULLNESS of the Godhead bodily." (Col 2:9) just to name a few.

The result was remarkable. By God's grace, we drove them out of their position and replaced them! They saw that they were not able to withstand the truth of God so they packed up and left in front of the whole crowd! And we were happy to step right into the spot they had been spewing heresy and lies, so we can proclaim the truth. We proceeded to give the interested crowd the true message of love and salvation regarding the Holy Trinity! It was truly an amazing display of God's truth prevailing over lies.

May God give us the boldness and faith to do for the truth, what the cults do for a lie.

Wicca interview

2011-11-27T22:40:00.000-08:00

In this video is a young man we met a few days ago at the Staten Island ferry. This young man named Natalie caught our attention because of the way he was dressed, his nail polish and tattoos on his face. After having this five minute discussion with him, we got to spend 15 more minutes hearing him out and sharing some of God's truth with Him. The sad part of that conversation was seeing that the hold of the devil in his life is strong. he's getting things he likes from the life of witchcraft so he feels satisfied with it. The glimpse of hope we held on to though was his willingness to to explore more about other spiritual paths- namely Christianity. He had no hostility toward Jesus or towards Christians so it's possible that with some follow up, God can use us to help him see God clearer. That's our prayer.

Let's review

2011-11-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

After a 3 month span of service throughout the country, it seems like a good idea to reflect on what God has done and to give thanks to Him for it!

About 183 people young Coptic Christians from 14 different cities took part in local evangelism. For many of them, it was their very first time! Through the grace of God and the faithfulness of these servants hundreds of people heard the truth of Christ in a loving, relevant and personal way! That's incredible! It's difficult to pinpoint an exact number of people reached but it's approximately 504! I personally wouldn't have believed these numbers if I wasn't there for them all. This number includes drug dealers, drug addicts, murderers, ex-cons, homosexuals, drunkards, homeless people, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Bahais, athiests, and nominal Christians.

Of the people we spoke with, the surprising overwhelming majority were receptive to at least having a conversation. We only got cursed out by 2 people- which is a less than 0.5%! no one ever got physical with us in anyway.

Close to 100% of the people we spoke with gladly took any material we left them with (which included our pamphlet, orthodox websites, our contact info etc.) a number of people gave us their contact information and requested follow up. In some instances that was via email, while other times it was in person.

The Christians who participated in the local evangelism grew a ton from their experience with God. Once we overcame our fears and plunged into the work God prepared for us, there was no turning back. Many people were amazed at how greatly God worked in the lives of those seeking Him. Some people were particularly shocked that such a need exists in America. They didn't think that someone could grow up in this Christian nation but never properly hear about Jesus. Sad, but true.

Overall the most common questions people had were 1) can the bible be trusted/was it changed?
2) how can I be sure Jesus resurrected?

Among the answers to the question of describing Jesus were:

Super awesome (my favorite)
A good guy
A prophet
Fake
Mythical
Powerful
Savior
Christian God
Nothing

DC- 55 people from 8 different cities and split them into 3 teams on a day of mission. They spoke with hundreds of people about Christ (including Muslims, Jews, homosexuals and athiests). The group was fiery and grew in Jesus.

North Carolina- a group of 25 people and took them to feed the homeless and preach Jesus to them (first time for all of them) we then took them to a huge university where we had them share Jesus with the students. We shared with about 35 people. Some of them used to be in a church but hated God now and were happy we showed then the real Jesus.

LA- a group of 30 people from 4 different churches (most of them were the group that went to Africa) and preached Jesus one on one in the busy street of 3rd street promenade. We prayed with Muslims on the street who were repenting!

La- at the university of Cal Poly, a group of 6 people out. They went out 2 by 2 and preached to about 20 people total. Afterwards, they all said they're lives were completely changed by what they did. They were terrified but once they started preaching Jesus, and seeing people receive Him- they were amazed!

Texas- a group of 35 had a retreat on the love and compassion of Jesus in the gospel and how to do likewise. Then went to downtown Austin to share the gospel to individuals then did the same in the university the next day.

Philadelphia- a group of about 10 students in temple university set up a "Jesus awareness day" for 7 hours of the day, we were preaching Jesus on campus as people came to get free cookies and coffee. We preached the personal gospel of salvation to at least 250 people this day.

Buffalo- shared with the youth how to do local mission and shared Christ with students on the UB campus( including fraternity guys, Jews, Muslims, Hindus)

Orlando- a group of 7 hit the downtown Orlando area after a wonderful evangelism conference and shared Christ with people on they way to clubs and bars. God did a miracles.

Miami- group of 3 shared the truth of Christ in the church neighborhood, south beach as well as the homosexual part of the beach.

New Jersey (NJIT/Rutgers) two groups of 5 went out to the campus to speak to students about the Lord Jesus.

Long Island NY (OCC)-a group of students did bold outreach on campus for the first time after being trained to do so.

message to you: Coptic Orthodox Christian

2011-11-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

Long live the incarnation...in Memphis?

2011-11-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

I've loved St. Athanatius for a long time. Not just because hes a brilliant writer and that he had a massive impact on Christianity but also because he made theology practical. We can sometimes be tempted to philosophize away the practical implications of the doctrine we believe. One group of Christians in America, did no such thing.

“Incarnational living” is what drove this group of Caucasian Christians (or they whiteys as they sometimes joke about themselves) to move into the heart of the Memphis, Tennessee inner city aka “hood” and seek to bring restoration from the inside out. They weren't satisfied living in the suburbs and commuting daily to the “rough part of town.” They needed to live there, send their kids to the same schools, walk the same streets. They needed to live out the doctrine described by St. Athanatius- live incarnationally.

They established quality health care for the community and have been serving it for 16 years. They now see about 45,000 patients a year! I spent a few days with the doctors and the staff there and was just amazed at the faithfulness they showed and their willingness to take risks for God. They live near drug dealers, prostitutes and other 'sinnners' Strange. They have a striking resemblance to their Boss. He always seemed to have a thing for that kind of crowd.

There's an amazing thing that happened as I was leaving that I have to share with you. My two Coptic friends were dropping me off at the bus station and one of them said a strange prayer for me. “I hope someone notices your shirt and that is used to spark a conversation about God.” I often wear Christian T-shirts and I rarely use that to start conversations about God. This shirt said the “ROCK” on the front, in reference to the verse the Lord spoke to St. Peter “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” I had just bought that shirt the day before and wasn't really intending on wearing it but felt some strange need to change into it right before I was leaving to the bus.

Oddly or naturally enough, a lady came up to us as were were sitting and asked. “Are you Christians?” We nodded yes without saying anything (a little confused). “I can tell. Can you pray with me?” Even more confused but really delighted, we said of course! We invited her to sit down with us and tell us what was going on. She said that she was struggling with some things including addiction and that the last program that helped her was called...you guessed it, the rock! We prayed with her and shared verses of truth and encouragement from the bible. “I've just been running from God. I keep messing up- I don't want to anymore but I just keep messing up!” With tears in her eyes she was sharing her struggles with us. We spoke to her about the infinite forgiveness of the Lord Jesus and of His mercy and how He graciously forgets the sins He forgives us of.

She explained to us that she had some some tough things happen to her recently including some mix-up with her ticket. She needed to try to change it so that she doesn't go back home to the same temptations that she always had. We went with her to the counter to ask about the change and it was going to cost $137.50. She said to the lady, I only have $8. (I don't think $8 can get you a soda in this bus station.) She asked her about one alternate city and it was $7.25!

Even when we spend our whole time running, he spends His running right after us...as Bono would say.

Hook 'em!

2011-11-08T19:15:00.000-08:00

Those "long horns" were at it again. This time in the heart of the 50,000 people at the University of Texas. We couldn't help but have the 5 loaves and 2 fish question "Lord, what are these among so many?" Jesus answered us with a clear "Do you believe that I can do this? If you do, let's get to work." Nothing feels better than being God's "fellow workers" as St. Paul says.

The work that we did that day was so blessed that our brothers the Protestant Christians were wowed! "whoa, you guys evangelize?!" Christianity's best kept secret, baby. We're comin' out! :)

As we were giving the survey to two students, a guy named Keith overheard us. "Hey, are you guys talking about Jesus?" we said yup, you know it. "What church are you from?" Here it is. Do we say the usual "oh we're kinda like the Greek church" and keep it moving? or do we give the full blown presentation? "We're Coptic Orthodox Christians" He wrote that down and was really interested insetting more (primarily because he saw us preach Jesus). God led us to present the Orthodox church to him in a way that is simple and appealing.

"We're a first century church and really try to live that 'Acts' Christianity, you know? We try to always check and see if what we do now is in line with what was done then, regardless of how we may 'feel' about it. If it's true, we want to follow it." He liked what he heard and wanted to know more of was unique. "Well, we love the Grace of God because we know how weak and needy we are. So we have something called "means of Grace" (Sacrements) where we get a chance to receive more and more of Grace as much as we can. We receive it in baptism, in confession and communion especially". He liked the way we put it but had a reservation "oh so are you kind of like the catholic church?" usually we'd say yes, but luckily, we didn't that time "well, not exactly. We believe that St. Mary was born with sin and needed a savior. And we believe that it's heaven or hell, no purgatory. And we don't 'pray' to saints. We believe that the body of Christ here and in heaven is united. So I ask my friend mark to pray for me at times because St. James asked us to pray for each other, and at times on the mission field, I'll ask St. Paul to pray for me because he knew mission and it's struggles more than anyone." He was pretty blown away. We just presented the basics of Orthodox Christianity in a way that wasn't too weird and he was loving it. He insisted on finding a way to visit our church youth group despite his busy schedule of leading bible studies and serving the Lord.

We were out for about 3 hours continuously printing Jesus to students on campus. The Coptic students of UT had great business cards that included the date and time of their meetings so we were able to invite people to that! The follow up was also amazing! Friendships were formed with the strangers on campus and just yesterday, one of our female students had lunch with a girl she met during the event!

Now there's a Coptic evangelism committee within the Coptic students group that will be looking into how to reach the campus for Jesus!

In west Philadelphia... :)

2011-11-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

7 hours of preaching Jesus on the campus of Temple university and over 200 people reached personally with the Truth of Christ two weeks ago! The snapshot in this post is just that. The same image was replicated every 10 minutes or so with brand new students who are seeking and being asked deep questions to make them think about the presence of God in the world around them.

The L.O.G.O.S. (Living Only to Glorify Our Savior) students did a great job of getting tons of free stuff to give away for free. For some reason free cookies, brownies, coffee and hot chocolate draws a crowd. Who knew? :) Gotta admit that a really fun part was just offering to all the passers-by "Free cookies and coffee!!" and seeing the perplexed responses. "Why? What's the catch? What do I have to do? Who are you guys with and why are you doing this" This is was a great opportunity to just smile and give an illustration of Grace :) "No strings attached. It's totally free. We're a Christian group on campus and we love you :)" It was refreshing to see people just smile and say "Oh wow! That's so nice!" It was kind of that cool parable that Jesus gave, where He gave a big free supper and asked His servants to go out and invite all sorts of strangers to enter into His joy.

After the refreshments, students were offered a little optional survey. We made sure that they knew they didn't have to take it but a surprising majority of people were open to it because they saw that we didn't force it on them. That's where the amazing encounters began. My favorite compliment to the group came from a guy we spoke with for over 45 minutes! "Man, it's so cool that you guys aren't f!@#$ weird!" It was kind of funny but it was genuine. This guy grew up in the catholic church and started to actually love God enough to seriously consider seminary education! but, he was turned off eventually by bizarre beliefs and behaviors of some Christians. We just listened to what he had to say and he appreciated that so much. Even though the conversation began with him being wary of our presence and asking "Are you going to preach to me??" We smiled and asked "Nope. Are you going to preach to us?" :) we weren't there with sermons to preach, but life to share. We were there to listen first and share when possible. There were so many lives that were touched, that it'd be really difficult to try to cover them here but we'll just stick to some.

There were others that we met that were Christians and were so inspired by the work that we were doing that they joined us for bible study that very night. The two lovely young ladies were from a different denomination but were truly eager to study the word of God with us from an Orthodox perspective!

There were two unique encounters that we hadn't really come across before. One young man began to answer questions of the survey but once we asked him to describe Jesus...he just stormed away! We couldn't explain it but something in the mention of the name made him bolt out of there. Another young man looked like he had been waiting to unload his frustrations with God onto somebody. "Do you know what it's like to be sitting there in church as kids have their heads down and feeling like you're the only one who isn't praying?" He felt like an outcast his whole life in church and in catholic school. He told us that he was forced to believe things that were never real to him and he struggled honestly with them. "How could God have become a man?! Why is there so much evil in this world? I don'd understand this!! Please tell me!" As we sat down reasoned through his concerns for about 20 minutes, he was finding peace in some of our words but finding more discomfort in others because no matter how hard he was trying...it just wasn't making sense to him.

The last straw was his question about the devil, "Why hasn't God defeated the devil?!" We began to explain to him that "He has!" This was inexusable for him. We wanted to elabborate on what that means and explain the spiritual victory in Christ who defeated the power of death itself and that hell has no victory any more- but he ran off. We actually tried to chase him but he would not stop. We weren't discouraged though. He spoke to us about things that he, by his own admission, had never told anyone. He vented his frustration and we left him with truth that will bother him. I know he walked away thinking "How could they say that?!" And i know that God will show him exactly what that means.

Truth-ish

2011-11-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

“We live our lives in half truths.” This was one the many golden statements in tonight's Patristics bible study by Fr. Athanatius Farag. There's no action in this coming post, only the relevance of full truth in our lives.

“Don't read St. Athanatius simply for information that he is relaying but he is also teaching us principles of biblical interpretation.”

We sometimes get tricked into thinking that deep doctrine was thought of by people who had nothing better to do than to contemplate theoretical, impractical and abstract theology- WRONG. During the bible study, Fr. Athanatius described the origin of one of the most critical passages concerning the nature of Christ (Phillipians 2), was a very practical problem within the church. Phil 2:2 "fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." The Lack of like-mindedness, love and unity needed a real practical remedy. That remedy was to understand the real nature and mind of the Lord Jesus Christ. He freely "emptied Himself" and became Man in perfect humility. That sincere humility what enables you and I to esteem others greater than our ourselves.

This led us to dig deeper into the meaning of a verse in Phil 2:9 so we can understand who we really are.("Therefore God has also greatly exalted Him.") To better understand it we went through Romans 5:6-20. This verse was said about Jesus after being incarnate. He exalted human nature itself by becoming true Man and exalting our nature! “14 Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” Fr. Athanatius pointed out to us that the first Adam that we all identify as our ancestor was only a 'type' or a shadow of the reality. The real Human that we can now identify as our genuine ancestor is the Man, Jesus Christ.

A key question was asked: Can we ever say we are sure we are going to heaven? "If you can not, you are depending on your own merit. It is essential to know that we have it but not yet, that we are fallen-redeemed, weak and strong, sinner and saint- all at the same time. Some of our Coptic brothers can get to the point of despair and have no real hope in heaven. While others, We are quick to admit that to sin is a part of our nature. Good. But this is only half of the story. It is the half-truth. The second half is the far greater gift and nature that belongs to us." The passage of Romans 5:6-20 emphasizes that these two aren't equal. Far from it. 15 But the free gift is not like the offense... 17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." The free gift who works in us is far more powerful and far more superior. 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" Fr. Athanatius explained, “we don't want to believe that the second is much stronger than the first but we need to.”

I just had to share some of the things we discussed in this bible study with you. It reminded me that real doctrine isn't for us to philosophize about but for us to know how to become who we were created and empowered to be!

Guest post! Bahai blues

2011-11-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

By: Monica Attia

While strolling through the Trailer Park on Sunday afternoon, Andy and I came across a woman who was selling artwork and jewelry. We approached her, asking if she was willing to participate in our sociological survey, and she agreed right away! When we asked her if she associated herself with any particular religion, she told us that she practiced the religion of Bahai. Ever heard of it? I definitely hadn't. Our conversation then turned into her explanation what Bahais believe, which is that Abraham, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed are all divine messengers of God. We didn’t really know where to take the conversation from there seeing as how this was the second person we had talked to that afternoon, but we still tried to inquire how Bahais communicate with God and whether a personal relationship can exist. The conversation was so challenging because she believed in Jesus but reduced Him to any other man with a message. We ended by telling her that we would do some research on the Bahai faith and she said she’d do the same for Coptic Orthodoxy :).

After getting pretty discouraged at the Trailer Park, we hoped for a more approachable audience on the UT (University of Texas) campus. The first student we talked to was Allie, who opened up to us about her spiritual struggle after only a couple questions about thirst in our society. She grew up Protestant and went to church often, but left the church while in high school because she felt the church was full of hypocrites--this complaint was one I heard frequently while talking to students on campus. Allie had recently rekindled a relationship with Christ and sincerely expressed her appreciation for our informal conversation about God. After giving personal accounts of what Jesus has done in our lives, we left her with encouragement to keep striving to get closer to Christ, and that He would be there for her at all times. It was heartbreaking to hear that members of a church can be the ones to push people away, but this experience definitely opened my eyes to how much the UT campus, the Austin community, and the society as a whole are in dire need of Jesus and His love.

Guest post! Paralyzed?

2011-11-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

By Heba Dafashy

Paralyzed by fear or comfort?

First, let me set the stage. On one side of the street you have a store called “Lucy in Disguise”, which is a year round costume store, on the other side you have a little market where venders sell hand-made goods, some for interesting purposes. So this is South Congress, a little street in Austin that is known for its hippieness, its weirdness, and its liberalness. This is where we decided to share Christ and do mission.

This was the first time our group had ever gone out to do anything like this before. At first many of us seemed very reluctant to go out and actually speak with strangers about Jesus. Despite going through all the reservations and eliminating them, many of us still had this spirit of fear about going out to talk to others. Often times, we are paralyzed of doing God’s work by two reasons; paralyzed by fear or by comfort. Here in the States, being paralyzed by fear is less of an issue because we have a country that supports freedom of religion and freedom of speech. So here in America, what paralyzes us the most is comfort. We are just too comfortable and prefer to remain in this comfort. We hate the idea of awkward situations, and we flee from “uncomfortable” topics. But on this day we broke that notion of comfort at South Congress.

The first woman my group spoke to was a sweet lady who was selling her handmade jewelry. When we asked her what she thought about Jesus, she simply smiled and said, “Sure, I can believe in Him” then she continued to say, “…I can believe in Buddha and Muhammad and in Shiva and goddesses too...I believe in them all”. She lacked this notion of an absolute truth; to her she was cool with accepting every faith. Then when we asked her about life after death she again replied very coolly, “eh, that doesn’t phase me much, I don’t really care about what happens to me”. My partner and I sorta looked at each other and were like…”what in the world do we say from here…?”. It was quite an interesting conversation and it definitely revealed to me the desperate need to spread the truth. Its so easy to fall into believing whatever, that people lose sight of the Truth. We left a little heartbroken from this conversation, but had a greater burning to share the Truth.

Our next experience took a different turn. A couple was sitting at a picnic table and started talking to us about how great this food truck was and that we should try it… we took this as the perfect chance to sit with them and do the survey. The start of the conversation was cool and we just chatted about the existence of a higher power and different religions. As soon as we brought up the name Jesus, the conversation took a turn. The man quickly asked, “So do only Christians go to Heaven?”, and I was like, “Yeah, that’s what I believe.” And he immediately retorted that Christians are so intolerant and that it’s not right to believe that they only go to heaven and this and that (Between you and me, I don’t think this guy understood what the word intolerant meant but I guess that’s another story). The conversation then felt like they were attacking us for “attacking” them; which was definitely not where we had intended the conversation to go. This experience was interesting because it seemed like this couple already had presupposed ideas of Christianity that they were turned off when they heard the name Jesus and got into defense mode. It was really sad because they didn’t give us a chance to talk or to even try to help resolve their questions or thoughts. But its moments like this when you know that God is going to use the little seed that was dropped and perhaps this couple will revisit these thoughts at some other moment in their lives.

The next day we did campus mission! I love campus mission! This is where it’s at. Colleges need Christ. Plus, it is so much easier to talk to college kids than adults. I feel like many of the students I came across were at a stage in their lives when they were still trying to figure out their beliefs and their faith. We met a guy who literally said, “I’m just waiting for the right religion to come to me…” (yes, it was definitely his lucky day J ).

One girl I met started opening up to me about her past experiences with church. She came with that southern idea that a church is full of old ladies who sit, gossip, and judge people. I tried to eliminate that idea of church from Jesus and shared about His love. It was so cool just sharing with her. I didn’t feel like we were going in trying to baptize UT, but we went in with the mentality that we are all just links for Him and that Jesus was gonna do His thing with the seeds that were planted.

One guy we were talking earlier in the afternoon came back an hour later with a burning question on his heart about why God allows people to be born into unfortunate circumstances. It was really cool seeing this guy come back; I felt like God had touched something in his heart and had really got it churning and yearning for answers-soo cool.

Later, I met a girl who was so inspired by what we were doing that she contacted me later that week to do lunch! At lunch we talked about Christ’s love and all the amazing things He’s done in our lives. She even asked me so much more about the Coptic church…it was really cool!

God was truly working in everyone we met!

Satan can't take away the joy we all felt that day from spreading His love and take us captive by fear or comfort. The Lord has big plans, and Satan’s paralyzing nature has no room in it!

Jew-Bu?

2011-11-03T18:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard if this unique faith, join the club. A cheery young lady named Debbie on the campus of the University campus shared her faith with us. "Culturally Jewish and sort of leaning towards Buddhism" So we scratched our heads for a second in confusion and just thought "here we go" so as she explained more about her journey, it was clear that she was a genuine seeker. She was raised in a Jewish household and Buddhism appealed to her because she could really find her own way. She really knew nothing about Jesus but she thought He must have been "upstanding guy" and we agreed :) She was happy to let us share with her a bit more about this 'upstanding guy' and we invited her to learn more of Him in her quest for more knowledge. She was happy to do so and we left her with some resources. Can't help but think, that's not a conversation she ever had before.

We also ran into a few Christians. All three of them shared with us that back home, their walk with God was much stronger. One of them, Esther, told us that at home her commitment to faith was about a 9 while at school it was a 6. She wasn't able to go a church locally so were happy to introduce her to share with her some Orthodox online resources. We didn't think much of it but she she got excited, smiled and said "oh thank you!" :)

Fraternities have been on our minds lately so were hoping that God would give us a chance to interact with some. 'Coincidentally' a local frat happened to be doing a fundraiser in the cafeteria for UNICEF. so we approached one of them who was wearing a cool t-shirt and we made conversation. After he explained his shirt to us (a Dominican folk dance reference), he asked us what we were up to. So we said we're doing a little survey and invited him to participate. He was all for it and began to explain to us that he was half catholic and half voodoo. The day of interesting religions continues. Confused again, we asked him how he became a voo-thilic (we made that up). He said that in his house, his family would go to church and all but when things got really bad- they'd turn to voodoo. No wonder this guy wound up being agnostic! That'd confuse the heck out of anybody! His description of Jesus was really beautiful though. "I think He'd be like me. He'd look the way I do and be someone I can relate to. I dont want to think He's perfect because that would make Him distant. I'm not perfect, you know?" We shared with him that Jesus actually went through every single kind of temptation that we go through so that he can relate to us and He never fell into any so He can help us with them all. We got to know him more and saw that he had an interest in knowing more facts about Jesus. We recommended the case for Christ ,as we often do, and he made sure to write down the author (Lee strobel) and full title so he can get the book.

Two guys we approached were less confused/confusing. A Hindu guy and a Muslim guy who recognize the value of faith but don't know a whole lot about their own faith. They were born into it and never really looked elsewhere. We happily brought that Elsewhere to them. A critical part of the conversation came when we discussed forgiveness and the love of God. Neither of them saw God's love as unconditional or His forgiveness being limitless. It was then that we shared our own experiences with them and how the power of God's love and forgiveness brought us out of deep dark pits. They listened carefully to us present the role of Christ in our lives. Again, simple things we take for granted but they'd simply never heard before. We left then with Orthodox pamphlets and invited them to learn more.

There was young lady that we met by the name of Katy. Our job with her was obvious; show her who Jesus is NOT! "He just fags and Jews, huh?" her chief exposure to Christianity was through the church that tastelessly protests at soldiers funerals and recently protested at Steve Jobs' funeral (and of course tweeted about it via iPhone/iPad) Mainly through having a normal, rational and relatable conversation, we were able to show her that Christians aren't all offensive, judgmental, inflammatory and down right foolish. We were totally fulfilled in that progress. She labelled herself as an agnostic and wasn't ready at this point to change that, which is totally cool. We were happy to discuss her choice and she explained that she follows the scientific method and the testability of things. She was open minded enough to admit that many true things may be beyond the realm of science. This was a great step for the time being. We know that God put us in her life to make her laugh and show her that He loves her and that He's been misrepresented. We know that God will keep sending her messengers and will personally manifest himself.

What Harvest?

2011-11-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is a spiritual article featured in the Southern Diocese youth magazine, Mighty Arrows.

Jesus exposes us, as He often does, with a simple statement about the harvest…”The laborers are few” (Lk 10:2) You can talk about how many activities happen in your church, how many servants there are or how big and beautiful your iconostasis is. You still can't get around that one simple sentence the Lord uttered. They're few. The laborers were few 2000 years ago, and are few now. Are the Coptic Christians few? With over 300 churches, and hundreds of thousands of congregants in U.S., we certainly aren’t few. But when do we raise our voice and band together besides when protesting injustice in Egypt? Apart from that, the world doesn’t even know we exist! Maybe we need to better understand the teaching of Jesus that “the harvest is plentiful." To our parents, whose hands were tied by Islam in Egypt, this verse meant nothing outside the four walls of the church. The harvest was Sunday school, Alhan, and kids camp. End of harvest. To our Fathers, the leaders of the early church, the harvest never stopped there. A Christian was meant to influence his surrounding by much more than his/her radiant smile. He was meant to creatively shift the culture around Him. Each one of us has been called to a school or a profession where we can bring the Kingdom of God through seeking the peace of that very location. (Jer 29:7) The norm was and must become once again, that when a church exists in a neighborhood, the poor and sick are cared for, the prisoners are visited and the gospel of peace is proclaimed!¹ We must reclaim our true identity as healers and restorers of our cities!

Please be honest with yourself. Do you agree with Jesus’ claim about the field that is ready for harvest? Is the harvest in your city, plentiful? Is the pressing need for Jesus abundant? Precious souls are converting to Islam, the cult of Mormonism and the cult of Jehovah’s witnesses every day in your city! What are you doing to change that? To you, does this harvest exist at all? At best, most of us may like "the harvest" on Facebook. We need to commit to diligently labor in it.

Sometimes, you and I just want dying souls around us to find Jesus on Google + or satellite TV. No wonder we aren't laboring in a harvest. We so badly wish that the one in front of us isn't a harvest at all. Let’s face it, people. Jesus is talking to you and me! He's not just talking to the Protestants...God isn't a fan of sitting back and watching people drown in eternally-poor choices. If He was, He would have never seen you as a valuable part of the harvest. He would have let you Google Him and "grope for Him" (Acts 17:27) but He didn't, did He? Like we pray in the liturgy², He sent you so many to call your attention; prophets or servants or friends or family...but at last He came to you Himself. Then, why are you unwilling to go, yourself? Why are you sending and watching and clapping while others go? (Num 32:6) It's only when you see that you are that harvest He labored for, that you will ever even consider laboring in the harvest that is your brother and sister.

Is your harvest always months away though? In 50 years when we have perfect churches with no lost youth, THEN we will begin to care about people around us. Until then, our world is only made up of Egyptians. But, there lies the irony. Our Church will never regain her identity until we decide to “lose our life” so we can gain it. (Lk 17:33). We won’t come any closer to that perfection we’re chasing or that stability we’re hoping for until we realize that it isn’t all about us. Our lost youth want to be used by God, not just lectured. We need to be challenged to make a difference. By ignoring the rest of the world and living in our own little Coptic bubble, we rob ourselves of becoming who we actually are!

Jesus once said, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?” (Lk 7:24) What did you hope to see by reading this magazine, honestly? I pray that by now, you’ve stopped reading these words and that you ran to the harvest. Are you seeking something impressive, witty or something new about God? My friend, I can promise you that what we need most is not to learn more truth. Over our many years in the Coptic Church, we have been exposed to way more truth than we can begin to live out. Our real issue is how will we respond to truth that stares us in the face? The biblical response to an invitation by God was often what do I do now?! (Acts 9, Acts 3, Acts 16) If you want to finally see the harvest, "lift up your eyes." Physically, for you to look up, you use eye muscles that lift up your eyeball against resistance. Your eyes will naturally resist exposure to pain, suffering, need in other people. They’d much rather see “eye candy.” Expose them to the reality of the world. Let them see a poor addict living on the street. Let them see a sick child or a prisoner. And train them to see a harvest where others see judgment. Train them to desire to meet spiritual needs of people around you! We were called to America for just that, not simply to get a degree and live the "American dream." We must see the harvest in the Muslims, Hindu, and Jews that we know. We must see it in the promiscuous girl, the angry guy, and the addict. See their soul screaming for Jesus, not their flesh running away from Him…Because that is what He saw, in you.

The details of the “how” are rarely the problem for us, but if they are, those are covered too. Though the point isn’t for us to just get into a ministry, there are plenty of ministries in the Southern Diocese, like S.A.L.T., that help us become *laborers* and not FANS of the harvest. May God make us leaders and laborers in His beautiful harvest.

Grand Central!

2011-11-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

NYC is such a rich place for mission. Here you will find every ethnicity, faith and world view. Overwhelmed by the scene, we started the way we always do, by running to Jesus and begging Him to do "exceedingly, abundantly above all we ask or think." He's never disappointed.

We were ready with multi-lingual pamphlets. We approached some Chinese tourists and took a scenic picture for them. luckily, there was one of them who spoke English that we interacted with. We welcomed them to NYC and gave them Chinese pamphlets about the love of Christ. :)

Next up was a young man named Ean. Once he told us that he was a Christian, I was almost ready to move on. But when we dug deeper, he opened up and said that he always had a terrible idea about Christians. His father was cruel and judgmental. That was the way he thought all Christians were and for that reason, he decided to leave that on the shelf. "You know...you guys are doing a great job showing me otherwise" How cool is that?! :) The most important bit of that conversation was for Ean to know that Christians are loving not judgmental.

We also met a lady named Feona. She was a blank slate. She didn't have any negative impressions about Jesus but nothing good either. As the conversation progressed we laughed a bit together and she saw that we were relatively normal. When it came to describing Jesus she said "He's just not real." that was a cue for personal experience. As we talked about experiencing heaven now, she looked a little puzzled and curious. "Whoa, what do you mean?!" The next part of the conversation was something that couldn't be taught or faked. We poured out our hearts to her and described the personal loving Jesus that we experience and what it's like to be in His heavenly presence. she could simply see the genuineness in our faces. It made her want to know more but something still held her back. She asked to end the conversation at that point as she seemed to be overwhelmed. We were happy to do so and thanked her for her time. As we stepped away to pray for her, we saw her share the details of the conversation with a friend of hers.

Even though the site was intense in Grand central, we were overjoyed to touch the lives of the people that we met. God prepared their hearts and we know that He prepared ours and brought us there specifically to share with them because He loves and values individuals with a personal love. :)

making Austin even weirder

2011-11-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

"Keep Austin weird" is a popular slogan of this unique town and hey, we ain't judgin'. Our heart's desire though, was that the city is weird for Christ :) (If that makes sense?)

The group that had just spent a great camping weekend retreating, was ready to go on the offensive. We got to a popular stop of outdoor sales and food. Here's where you'd find the famous "Hey, Cupcake" (which is amazing by the way!) along with a wide variety of stuff from necklaces to interesting "pipes" (not for marijuana or anything, of course).

For some reason, maybe because we always look for trouble, we went over to the nice gentlemen selling the eccentric pipes for recreational marijuana use. He was a light skinned caucasian man with colored eyes and full head of bob Marley hair :) We asked him if he'd be interested in taking our little survey. He said "sure! As long as it's not about religion"...awkward pause. "Umm...well it sort of is. Haha. but we won't say anything to you, we're only asking you questions." He wasn't buying it and was still a bit skeptical. "You won't preach to me right?" "no dude, none of that." wink wink? :) He reluctantly agreed, "ok, as long as it's quick." We always figure, sure- survey ends whenever you want it to.

About a half hour later, after Chris shared the roots of his skepticism with us, we started casually discussing those things with him. He kind of liked talking to us, it seemed. Even when he had customers, he'd attend to them but still speak to us. He told us that he was a history major in college so we related to him on that. "I always loved studying history too, and one of the things that drew me to Jesus was the historical accuracy of His account." Chris then replied "well, you know that the bible was written hundreds of years later, right? And that Jesus never actually said that He was the Son of God." We were glad to hear that common misconception. "You know, I used to think that too, until I looked into it myself and I saw historical proof that it was actually written in the very first century! And that there are manuscripts( or early copies) that we can use to compare with the bible we now have to be sure that it hasn't been changed." He looked half-surprised and half-impressed. "I never really knew that." We approached him in a very gentle and non-judgmental way that he clearly appreciated. By the end of the conversation, though we weren't exactly ready to bring out the baptismal, it was clear that we had given him some food for thought and presented Christ in a reasonable way that he had never thought about before.

Another great interaction came with a group of gentlemen who looked like the jock-type. All well over 6 feet tall and just diesel. We realized that we might have been a little stereotypical when the first question out of their mouth was about Immanual Kant :) the rest of the conversation was a sophisticated exchange of ideas that started with out survey questions but quickly transitioned into the rapid fire questions from them about typical concerns or objections to a belief in Christ. Since the questions weren't asked in a combative sense, we were happy to answer them. We addresses evil, pain, will, choice and the like. One of the gentlemen was actually a sociologist so he was extra comfortable with our "sociology survey" The main guy we were speaking with was so into the conversation that even when his friends were telling him that they needed to go, he kept saying "hold on one more question"

There were some not-so-hot interactions too. One group of people were so wary of Christians (probably due to some annoying previous experience) that they became almost combative. "Are you here to preach to us?! Are going to give us tracts?!" They were so afraid of us forcing a belief on them, that they kind of forced a belief on us, ironically. They labelled us as the extremist bible-bashing type. For this group, it was especially helpful to just show them love and take their criticism with grace. We didn't get offended or upset. We just dealt with it with as much kindness as we can and though we may not get to see the result of that, I can't help but figure that this was exactly what they needed. They heard the message by obnoxious messengers, here they just saw that His real ambassadors look more like Him :) (Lowly and gentle)

In a short time, we got to see the gambit of reactions that people had to Jesus. Some were interested but just weren't ready to believe today, which is cool. Some weren't interested and some were just clueless. In all situations, we obeyed Jesus. He said "if I be lifted up, I will draw all people to myself." So, we did just that. We lifted Him up through reason and love. We are confident that His part is being done and that He is drawing those beautiful people in Austin to Himself.

Special shout out to the wonderful group in Austin who spent their whole afternoon after a sleepless camping trip doing the work of King Jesus! They were brave, filled with the joy and love of God and filled with the Holy Spirit! May God reward them and always use them to bring healing and restoration to His beloved children.

Ps
You know they weren't done there! Check out what they did in UT!

Howdy y'all!

2011-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

The land of slogans- "hook 'em horns" (UT)Texas "Aggies" (Texas A&M) and "keep Austin weird!

We kicked off the weekend with a wonderful camping trip with a great group of young people from The University of Texas in Austin and Texas A&M in college station. Mixed in with some great fun and fellowship, was some time of sharing in the beauty of Christ Jesus. In the first talk, Chris discussed our calling to care and the compassion the compels to action. Splag-nizo-mehi (or some version of that) is the Greek word for compassion that we focused on. The kind of compassion that "burns from the bowels." This isn't your ordinary passing burst of concern for a new project. This is from our very core and more importantly, it runs through our hands and feet- moving us into action!

We then discussed the beauty of our savior Jesus, as the One who calls us to all this. He's the one who called Nathaniel in his private time of crisis or struggle at the fig tree (Jn 1:43-50). He's ever present in our temptations, draws us into conversion, and invites us to new life! A new life signified by a deep, secret encounter with Him alone. As hard as it may be to explain, the result of it is undeniable! He's also the one that's worthy of it all. As we cry out in the liturgy, "Axios!" "Worthy and just." There isn't a sacrifice too big, there's no offering too large...it's just impossible to give Him too much, because He's given us the most precious eternal gift- Himself. And He continues to "crown us with mercies and compassion" as we say in the divine liturgy.

Finally we hit the practical steps, we talked about the how to's, our reservations and who we will meet on the mission field. Once we finished, we were ready to hit the streets of Austin and bring a fresh message of love and salvation to a dying world! As usual, the results were just all too wild ;) (see the next post for details)

My knees are shaking!!

2011-10-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

"I'm terrified of this. Let's please not do this." that was the initial reaction of the group at Cal Poly Pomona in California. "You don't understand. I CAN'T do this!"

30 minutes later, those fears melted as the courage and boldness of the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts. They lovingly shared Christ with the people they usually pass right by on their way to chemistry. They shocked themselves! They never thought they were capable of doing something like this but God knew they had it in them. He gave them the ability even when some of them needed a slight literal nudge forward :).

The 3 groups of 2 were able to touch about 10 souls in a half hour with the truth of Christ. Many of whom were "former Christians" or people who "used to go to church, but..." They haven't seen normal, young college peers take their faith in Christ seriously enough to approve perfect strangers and offer them a chance to get to know Christ. One pair of girls stopped to talk to us on their way to eat. When we asked them to describe Jesus, they paused...and said "I don't really know. I never really thought about that before." It's easy to take that response for granted. Here's someone that lived in the states their whole lives in the states, but never thought about Jesus. We were happy to help her think about this. They were both willing to learn more about God so we were happy to invite them to the campus local fellowship!

The other teams each had an amazing experience. One team even spoke with one of the workers at the school and shared the truth of Christ with them!

Here are some statements from the team that they posted on Facebook:

"everyone that missed the meeting tonight, THE best meeting we all have attended in our lives...I'm not saying this to make anyone feel bad...but it was truly one of those meetings that made you appreciate the time you just spent and can not believe it was over so quick. I'm so at a loss for words...all I can say was thank God for that meeting and I know for sure that the 6 of us that went really felt the presence of God"

"yes the best meeting i have ever attended....a meeting to remember...i hope every coming week we can do like what we did todayyy"

"I expect that all our meetings to be as inspiring as this one!! I think you have set a standard!!!!! .....congrats! lol :)"

"one word........A M A Z I N G!!!!!! ....that was to describe the meeting we had tonight!! Everything does happen for a reason!! I am so glad I went tonight. :D ....best meeting ever!! ....wonderful? blessed?incredible?life changing? I think so!! :)"

"Life changing meeting! I wish I could tell you how amazing it was!"

Occupy D.C.

2011-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

We've had the pleasure of getting some guest experiences from from the mission work that took place on 10/1/11 but this post is to look at the big picture of the day. An army of over 50 people from 7 different states (NY,NJ,DC,VA,TN, and WS) got together to take DC by storm for Christ. A team hit the campus of George Washington University, another hit a known homeless spot named Franklin square while another hit a large mass transit center named union station. What an incredible sight to see a group of young people who want to spend their Saturday preaching Jesus!

In the course of the day, the teams did everything from praying publicly with Muslims, shared the entirety of the Gospel with people who never really thought about it before, encouraged fellow Christians looking for a church home, and recruited other missionaries! The afternoon had the fingerprints of divine blessing all over it. It's hard to count how many people heard the truth of Christ that day but it's safe to say over 100. When the teams came all together to share their experiences, sincere joy was tattooed on every face! There were some difficulties in the day, of course, but overall everyone felt that our King was alive and active! We felt Him show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are loyal to Him! (2 Chron 16:9)

The best thing was that Abuna Paul of St. Mark's, who joined a team on the field, was so moved that he requested a similar mission day be done at least quarterly! Maybe even monthly ;)

If you want to do something similar city, go for it! If you steal the idea, we promise not to sue ;) we'd love to help too!

Some Africa some Santa Monica

2011-10-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

A team of 24 young missionaries from 4 different churches met at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul...to walk in the steps of St. Peter and St. Paul.

12 teams of 2 approached perfect strangers on the busy tourist area of the "3rd street promenade", which was walking distance from the church. The experiences spanned from encouraging Christians, to preaching non-believers, to engaging people of a different faith or lifestyle. God seemed to have a very specific calling for each group. One group, happened to wind up speaking with primarily Jews. Another, primarily Muslims. Another, homosexuals. And another nominal Christians.

One of the most beautiful things was that a number of people, whether or not they agreed with our faith, commended our approach. It was genuine, friendly and relatable. No bible bashing or cruel arrogant condemnation. We simply spoke the truth in love.

One group spoke with a young man, about 17, who was a homosexual. The young had already been through many things in his life that left him angry and bitter. He took the opportunity to take that frustration out on one of the servants named Tony. His wounds manifested themselves in anger and cursing. Somehow, God gave Tony the grace to love this boy in the face of insults. He never insulted him back, never raised his voice, never even took a bitter tone with the boy. Some good old difficult biblical things coming to life. Being reviled, he blessed. The conversation ended without a baptism of the boy, but we know that he will not easily forget the grace and compassion shown to him by a Christian. We believe that was a critical link in the chain of his salvation.

The group that God appointed for Muslims ended up praying in the street with one man named Mehmat. we prayed that God would reveal Himself to him and to us. This man was a genuine seeker. He tried as best as he could to live a life for others and to get to know God. When we asked him to describe Jesus, he said "Healer; inside and out." That's more than what we usually get from a Muslim when we ask that question. He was interested in learning more about Jesus so we happily invited him into the church and gave him more information. We trust God's promise that He will be found by those who diligently seek Him.

Is God in control?

2011-10-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry to take a break from the usual postings of what God is doing in North America but it seems necessary to speak of the obvious question in light of the events happening to Coptic Christians in Egypt. With the slaughter of Christians, we sometimes wonder if God is in control and if His promises are true. There's a great talk that addresses this.

The reason I wanted to share this post is share something I learned this weekend in a prayer meeting that we had for peace in Egypt. This isn't a time to try to invent excuses for our God, He doesn't need that from us. It is a time to put our money when hold fast to the truth we know about God; that He is good and that He is sovereign. But what do we do? After the protests are done and we send away the petitions to our local government officials...will this get us to run to God in prayer for the souls of the persecuted and the persecutors? Will it get us to leap for joy over our freedom to share the news of Christ in the States? And will we finally use that freedom to heal dying souls? The Lord Jesus said not to be afraid of those who kill the body, even in a brutal fashion...but to fear a place of eternal separation from His love. We must do everything in our power to bring justice to Egypt and we must do everything in our power to bring justice and salvation where we are.

Guest post: less crazy?

2011-10-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

By Christina Maxemous

Going into Union Station I felt a little nervous. “Is this really where You wanted me to be? Can’t You make me do something less crazy??”. I figured the only way I’m going to get comforted is if I take some time out and pray. Thankfully Mary felt the same way, and so we began to pray in a corner while the guys went to outreach. As me and Mary prayed I began to be comforted in the idea that if I do not make a difference today it was still amazing to be used by Him in this way. At the start of the outreach people were not interested in taking our survey, and bluntly refused. To this I thought, “well this is pretty weird, I do not blame them”. But then we met a wonderful young woman who told us how she was looking for a church to attend, and we shared with her the DC church information. Continuing on with that new spirit of encouragement we met a young adult male who told us how he had just moved to DC and that he does not have a job or a home. But yet in such difficult circumstances he was satisfied and content in his situation and kept a strong relationship with God. To this I thought, “wow Lord, how many times have I complained about miniscule things like the location of my home, or complained about my job. When was I going to learn to be this content in a situation? When will I be satisfied in a strong relationship with You and only You?” This young man inspired me and helped me to get a glimpse of simple and yet perfect faith.

The next person was probably one of the most incredible. She was a young woman from Oklahoma, Jenny (who's picture is on the side) who took a one year job opportunity in DC. She later told us that she was planning to take a train to Jersey to visit a friend that day, but the train did not end up leaving on the Saturday, and so she had sat down and asked God “What do You want me to do with my day?”. And at the same time God had placed it in our hearts to go chat with her. We quickly realized that she was one of us, a missionary, with a heart to serve. Sure enough, she joined us and I thought “Lord you are truly amazing. Your timing is absolutely perfect and your plans are incredible. We had planned to go to Dupont Circle, but you kept us from going there and decided that Union Station is where you wanted us to serve that day. Do I really dare to question your timing and plans after that one?”.

We continued on to an older woman, when we asked her about what the name Jesus meant to her she started reciting verses to us. She seemed very well versed in the Bible and told us she reads her bible everyday and enjoys her relationship with God. She began to also share how she was diagnosed with lung cancer recently but that she knew that Jesus is her healer and she enjoyed every moment she spent with him. To that I thought “Do I know my faith like this woman, if this situation was reversed would I be able to recite verses to prove who God is to me? And I also wondered how often do I lack in giving you time, but even more than that, how often I forget how much you have taken care of me, how You truly are taking care of every problem big or small.” It was thanks to this woman that I was reminded of your healing love that triumphs over any illness or problem.

And then we met our older man who too was very well learned. He not only read his bible but enjoyed reading about what happened to the disciples after the time of Christ and wondered where they travelled and who they preached to. He was filled with biblical and historical facts. And so I thought “When I read the scriptures do I really get that? Do I desire to learn more about You outside of what’s in the Bible?”

This DC mission reminded me of how great and awesome God is. God gives to each of us what He knows we need at that particular time, and it was great to be reminded that God’s love is more clearly shown with every crazy step we take outside of our comfort zone for Him.

Guest post! Mission in D.C.!

2011-10-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

By Mary Andrawis

Shoulder to shoulder, our group of four strode in to the doors of Union Station, our heads held high in confidence in Christ and our hearts full of faith and purpose in His mission that He had given us that day. We had just finished the Liturgy in the City that morning and then spent time in fervent prayers, asking God to soften hearts as we scattered throughout the District of Columbia to spread His name. We were His army. Soldiers among His ranks of disciples, continuing in the way of the apostles that lived lives based upon the knowledge of Christ. Within a few steps in to the station, I quickly found the confidence that I had been so full of lost; my small self overwhelmed by the scene around me. I became terrified. I was like a balloon
deflated. There I was, standing in the center of Union Station, the hub of Washington, full of much action that Saturday afternoon despite the miserable cold and rain. Taxis were lined up outside and trains and buses busily unloaded and received passengers, continuing off on their journeys. The metro whistled by under the jostling station. Travelers whisked by with suitcases in hand. Some sat eating at cafes and restaurants; others browsed small gift shops and stores. Some were sitting on benches throughout the station, listening to music, chatting on the phone, or reading books, but mostly they just seemed to just sit there blankly, as if waiting for something to happen. This was my world. This is the world that I live in - normal, every day
people, living normal, every day lives. Everyone keeping to themselves. Everyone in his own cocoon. Everyone in his own little world. What I was there to do, just didn't fit the picture. At all.

Overwhelmed, I offered to start off our group's prayer warrior section. We found a marble bench near the door, sat, and began to pray. We prayed that God would do something great and awesome. We prayed for God to make us worthy of being a vessel to make that something-great-and-awesome, happen. We prayed He would put people in our path, that He would choose by Hand exactly those that He wanted to reach that day. We quietly sang a few songs, and then again prayed -this time asking that God would give us eyes of faith, to see things in light of His eternal kingdom, so much bigger than our own small view of the world. We prayed for that faith to be strong and deep and rooted ("Let your light so shine before men"!! Matthew 5:16)

Soon my reprieve as prayer warrior was done. We got up and began walking around, and I was feeling quite useless. The first several people we approached, asking if they would participate in a survey, quickly shook their heads as they looked suspiciously at the three of us, probably wondering what we were trying to sell. Soon though, God sent a very consistent and clear message.

A young lady finally agreed to take our survey. "In just a couple of sentences, how would you describe your thoughts about Jesus Christ?" She quickly answered that He is a Savior, adding with a smile, "I am actually Christian." We engaged in a quick dialogue about her faith, and it turned out that she was new to the area and was looking for a church community. She seemed quite intrigued when we talked about the Orthodox church. Bingo - Mena busts out the tracts he had prepared with the address for St. Mark's, and I add my email address to it in case she decides to visit. As we were leaving we asked if there was anything we could pray for her for, and she asks us to pray for her as she looks for a place to live.

Encouraged, we wander again. Another interesting encounter: I was drawn by a young man in a purple hoodie, finishing some lunch on a bench, hunched over with his hood up. We step up and I am expecting a rough start - but we are greeted with such surprise and joy. Travis smiles the biggest smile as we chat about his faith and relationship with Christ. Interestingly, he is also new to the area, still searching for a job and a church, and even for home. He tells us he
sleeps at local shelters. Not what we expected at all. Travis' joy was just so infectious - he kept telling us how he felt the Spirit move as we spoke with him, and how he felt that God had really given this to him as a sign and for encouragement. That was incredible. He, too,expresses interest in coming to attend Liturgy in the City sometime.
Coincidence?

Now, we're really on fire. I just can not WAIT to find another person to talk to. We hop over to the next bench and find another young lady willing to take our 'survey.' She is also a strong Christian with a wonderful story of how she is using her life for Christ's glory, and I found so much joy in talking with her. Jenny, too, moved to DC a month ago and was still searching for a community - for friends, a church, support. Are you seeing a pattern here? We have an awesome
conversation about what she happened to be doing, chilling at Union Station on such a blustery day. She had planned to take a train up to Jersey to visit a friend, and found the train to that city wasn't running today. She told us that she sat on the bench in disappointment, wondering, well, what will we do today, God? And of course, cue us. Seeing her zeal, we asked if she'd be interested in joining us, and I couldn't believe it when she smiled and said, yes!! She jumped up and we spent the rest of the afternoon roaming the station together, and she actually lead some conversations with others. She was so encouraged by what we were doing and kept telling
us so.

We encountered so many people that afternoon that shared that they believed in Christ: some recited verse, after verse; some shared personal stories of His work in their life; some talked about the history of the work of the disciples in spreading the gospel. It was kind of ridiculous how once God opened the floodgate, it just didn't stop. Some of it was weird (african preacher that prayed on us one-by-one by holding our hands in his hands and saying....well,
something, in a non-existent language) that he said God gave him) and some of it was hard to follow (an older gentleman, Thomas, who walked us through a detailed explanation for how the gospel of Mark was actually an intelligence gathering file on Jesus. uhmm. cool?) but it
was altogether, awesome. Some people we just could not get them to stop talking (about the Bible, and their faith, about God, and His work). God loves him, and him, and her, and all of us.

God's message was loud, and it was clear: there are many who already believe in Him in this country, or want to or have the capacity to, but we to light the fire. We need to stir things up so that we can strengthen the faith that is already in our society, so that we can be stronger together, in preparation for the testing of our faith that is sure to come. It feels like a preparation for the end of times: we need to encourage one another, and be real about faith, and not just tuck that into the back as we carry on our normal cocoon lives.

I really, truly, witnessed God's power today. Thank You for being so big, God, that you call all sorts of people to Yourself. thank you for being the King of turning darkness to light; fear and intimidation, to overwhelming joy. Amen.

Thirsty?

2011-09-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

After spending some time with the UCLA Coptic group, we were hoping to get some time to share Christ with some non-believers but we weren't sure how. So we figured we'd check with the Boss and He'll plan something.

When we arrived at the campus the next morning, we spent some time praying and asking God to direct our day. Sure enough, He did. We asked a random person where a good place would be to find people hanging out. When we got there, we saw a group of people in black shirts with a big red cup on it with a simple question underneath it, "Thirsty?" They offered us a drink and offered to survey us. (the tables turned a bit :)...so we participated in the survey about the human thirst for purpose, success and so on. The idea was so clever that we decided to steal it :)...we bought the Tshirts and joined the cause of interacting with different students and offering them a chance to obey their thirst.

One girl we spoke to was just the type of person you'd hope to reach. She was sitting with her friend at a booth promoting a sorority and we approached them and asked if we could get them a drink. They said sure and we began a conversation from there. She said that grew up in a church and came from a religious family. She never rebelled against the faith but she always knew there was something more that she was missing out on. When we asked her if that thing she was missing could be an intimate knowledge of Christ, she replied "Yeah, I really think so." We shared with her a little about the difference that a living relationship with Christ makes in our lives and she eagerly listened with a longing smile. We invited her to learn more about Jesus and the deep healing and love that He offers to is daily by attending a Christian fellowship on campus and she was excited to come!

One after the other people would reply with a "sure, why not" when we asked them if they'd like to get a free drink and if they'd like to participate in a little survey. All kinds of people. "Of all nations and all tribes" remember that song? :) They came and interacted with us as we shared a nice cold soda together, John 4 style. We shared our heart with them and told our story of how Christ brought us back to life and how He's been nourishing us and quenching our thirst ever since, while creating in those fountains of water that He promised to provide.

It was also a great time to share with the local sororities and fraternities and invite them to hang out with us to get to meet some cool people. It was great to see see that a number of them are rooted in community service and a focus on academics. It's good common ground to use and relay that even the Christian group and the fraternity can have some things in common.

Almost Christian

2011-09-25T21:28:00.000-07:00

Survey says...

"Almost Christian."

This is a scary thought and the title of a great book recommended to me by Fr. Athantius Farag. The author is a professor at Princeton's theological seminary and the book reviews a great study done over multiple years regarding the spiritual life of youth in America and what findings say about the church in America.

Inspired by the book, we decided to conduct a little sample study of our own. We thought of this halfway through a game of Mafia during a student potluck on UCLA's campus. Sounds a little weird, I know. I'm not sure which was more surprising, the eagerness of the group to participate or the honesty of their answers. The reason we thought it was important to share these results is because we believe that they are somewhat representative of Copts in the US and the needs of people ought to direct the way we serve them.

Here's what we asked: 1) what would most accurately describe your relationship with Christ? 12 said "Discovering Christ", 12 said "Growing in Christ", 0 said "close to Christ" and 1 said "Christ-centered." When asked how they effectively (not ideally) deal with God view Him, which of the following words describe your relationship? 9 said "Therapist" (someone to go to in order to feel better) 2 said "Lifeguard" (someone to go to at times of extreme trouble, when drowning. 9 said "Intimate friend" (someone to go to always) 6 said "Master/Boss" (someone who dictates the rules I live by).

we asked a question in an anonymous fashion by having the voting done with eyes closed and heads down (we then proceeded to play duck duck goose. Just kidding). The question here dealt with the relationship with scripture. Simply, how often do you read your bible? 5 said Daily. 14 occasionally or when in some kind of trouble. 2 said only when in youth meetings. and 0 said never.

My personal favorite question was, when it comes do sharing Christ with your campus, which of the following do you believe? 1 said "it's not my problem/not what God expects of me." 13 said "it's my duty but I don't know how." 5 said "its my duty but I'm just scared." and 3 said, "it's my duty and I'm doing it!" The reason that this was my favorite is because it opened the door to say, well if you'd like to learn how or if you'd like to be encouraged out of your fear- we'd love to show you how :) It also showed that people are hungry for more. People want to share the truth of Christ with their classmates. We all just need a little encouragement! So, we'll be back on the UCLA campus next week, God willing.

Walk the walk

2011-09-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

After spending some time sharing about campus evangelism with students of NJIT (New Jersey Institute of Technology) and Rurgers University, it was time to put our money where our mouth was hoping to be. Funny how the devil can so easily combat us with thoughts of "do people really need to hear about Christ right now? Just sit comfortably with your coffee man. No one cares" Thank God we didn't heed the deceiving voice and weren’t content hearing nice things in a lecture. People do care! A lot!

For some reason, talking or hearing about evangelism can be a little annoying. It's like talking about prayer; sometimes it’s just better to spend the time actually doing it. After some time in prayer and in the bible together, we made ourselves available to the Holy Spirit and we asked Him to lead us to souls that need to hear the message of love and salvation. In a span of about two hours, God led us to personally share Christ with 9 individuals. One young man was just finishing his reading of a passage in the Quran, when we politely interrupted and asked if he'd like to participate in our survey. We initially were reluctant "Dude, he's reading the Quran." But then we we figured"So?"...Because of his light skin and colored eyes, we didn't expect him to be such a devout muslim (since he didn’t appear middle eastern). After asking him a number of questions, we discovered that he is a genuine seeker for God's truth. "I'm just trying to learn more and more. My quest hasn't ended. This is an important decision for me and I need to keep an open mind about it. There comes a point when you need to make up your own mind about these things, not blindly accept whatever your parents taught you" (I wish more of us Christians felt that way too) we asked him more questions about Jesus and about his conclusions about other religions. Once again, he answered with golden sincerity and an open mind and heart. "I know some things about Jesus from the Quran, but not everything and I'm really willing to learn more." what more could we ask for?! So we gave him our information along with a personal invite to come continue his quest. We were all sure that God would surely be found by someone who "diligently sought Him." As St. Paul says.

Next up, God brought us two two really cool looking guys just chillin' on the bench. Though you couldn't tell by their swag, they had a Christian background that they cherished and were really hungry for more. "I pray every single day, man. I got to!" Their commitment to prayer was so refreshing. They then shared some of their struggles with us, though we didn't ask them to "You know, I haven't been to church in like 8 months. And I haven't been reading the bible at all...even though there's an app for that :). I mean I want to do the right thing and even want to share that good word, you know?" We shared with them that maybe God brought us to them to encourage them to really get back into the bible. They couldn't agree more! So we invited them to fellowship with us on campus to walk in the Word together.

One last highlight was a young man that we recognized from the school website. There was a story on him for a great mission trip he went on to Haiti. He told us that he tries to share the truth of Christ with his fraternity brothers and how cool it is that some of them are really curious. We remembered that Fr. Peter Gillquest, who is a giant in the Orthodox church, was drawn to God by a bible study in his frat house. What if one of these current wild frat guys is the next missionary pioneer in America? Only one way to find out, right? So we're planning a bible study for the frat :).

God's creativity and sovereign planning never ceases to amaze me. He does a great job being God :)