pensees

Justin, Kim, Kristin and Mike Summers put together this little spoof video from Bing Crosby's movie "White Christmas" for the Xmas Eve service at Antioch last night.

Absolutely hilarious!!

Here's a fun little video of some of the K-3rd grade kids at Antioch singing this past Sunday.

Tons of fun and almost as much rythym :)

Just finished reading the classic book by Joseph Conrad called Heart of Darkness.

It was published in 1902 and is set in colonial Congo. It was one of the first books to expose the atrocities that took place under the Belgian rule in that part of Africa (then referred to by Europeans as "The Dark Continent.")

For you movie buffs... it was also Francis Ford Coppala's inspiration for the last third of the movie Apocolypse Now, which came out in the late seventies as one of the first major Vietnam war films.

It's a quick read and I highly recommend it... if for nothing more than the historical value!!

The focal country for World Relief NEXT is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The DRC is the biggest tragedy in the world... and practicly nobody is talking about it.

In January 2008, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) survey found that “5,400,000 people have died from war-related causes in Congo since 1998—the world’s deadliest documented conflict since WWII."

The following is a video put together by Beth Fischer for the launch of World Relief NEXT this past weekend to show a slice of the tragedy taking place in the Congo and to help the community at Antioch to begin learning about the DRC.

Check out the overview video for World Relief NEXT. We showed this along with a presentation by Ann Mara at the "Official Launch" of NEXT this past weekend.

Pretty cool stuff!!

Here are some pictures that Tamara took of the girls the other day.

Bend is getting hit with the first snow of the year (not to mention super chilly weather!!)

Here are some pictures and videos from our Antioch Staff Christmas Party.

Karie Reynolds took the prize on the "Ugly Sweater" contest, but not without controversy (Emi had a doozy of an outfit too!)

Some strange games... Kim stealing Nicole's gift at the end of the White Elephant exchange... and mountains of food (that Justin had no problem tackling) made it one to remember!

With the help of Lauren Yoho (who recently graduated from Moody with a jounalism degree) and Tony Querio (who is married to the office administrator Caitlin) we have begun putting out a quarterly in-house news magazine called "FOUR."

Lauren named the magazine after the four words that appear on our logo and represent who we are: truth. beauty. meaning. adventure.

It's all part of an increased desire to communicate as effectively as we possibly can.

People can hear preaching or announcements on Sundays and they can get a little information blurb from our e-newsletter, but there hasn't been a real easy way till now to get out the whole story, little bio's of people and the background or context to things happening at Antioch.

Again, the mantra with communication is: "People are down on what they're not up on!"

So here's the finished product... not a bad looking tree (or family)!! :)

Here are some pictures and videos from the Ochoco Mountains where we cut down the family Christmas Tree along with the rest of the extended family.

The kids loved it!

My friend Emmanuel Ndikumanu from Burundi spoke this morning at Antioch as part of a missions series and shared the following as his closing prayer and challenge:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world; so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

The prayer time was incredibly convicting for me.

It has been amazing for me and the family to spend some time with Emmanuel and be both blessed and challenged by his wisdom and perspective on our life in America.

(Here is a picture of Emmanuel with the family from dinner the other night.)

So here's a quote from a Congolese gang rape victim being interviewed by Ted Koppel of Dateline in response to the question, "Why can you be so candid with me in sharing your very personal story" - after she talked about the diseases she received and losing her family and kids as a result of the experience.

"You can have secrets if you haven't had hardship."

Makes me think about my own personal hardships (and secrets) a little differently.

We're kicking off a two week missions series this Sunday as part of the upcoming launch of World Relief NEXT.

I know this might be a boring subject for some, but I love this quote I just read from Karl Barth (a theologian in Germany during the first half of the 20th century.)

“No matter what may be said in detail, this is the point from which every single line of preaching must be drawn: not the mere word Christ, not the mere description of Christ, but solely what God has done with us in Christ. Emmanuel—God with us—this is the central point in all preaching. Only when this is the message for delivery, does the preacher speak with the full authority of the one who sends the herald.”