The Impact of Missional Service on President Obama
White House Press Photo by Pete Souza
Brad Ruggles had a good post today talking about the impact of missional service. He shared the following quote that President Obama gave at a National Prayer breakfast this week.
I was not raised in a particularly religious household. I had a father who was born a Muslim but became an atheist, grandparents who were non-practicing Methodists and Baptists, and a mother who was skeptical of organized religion, even as she was the kindest, most spiritual person I’ve ever known. She was the one who taught me as a child to love, and to understand, and to do unto others as I would want done.
I didn’t become a Christian until many years later, when I moved to the South Side of Chicago after college. It happened not because of indoctrination or a sudden revelation, but because I spent month after month working with church folks who simply wanted to help neighbors who were down on their luck – no matter what they looked like, or where they came from, or who they prayed to. It was on those streets, in those neighborhoods, that I first heard God’s spirit beckon me. It was there that I felt called to a higher purpose – His purpose.
Brad noted: “How are you and your church making a difference in your neighborhood? I really believe that our greatest strength as a church isn’t in our buildings, music, books or sermons but in our mandate to serve the ‘least of these.’ I believe there are some people we will never reach with our sermons but will win over instead with our service. Could it be that the church is most like the church that Jesus imagined, not when they meet on Sunday mornings, but when they’re serving soup on Tuesday afternoon?”
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Chris shared their voice on 02.08.2009:
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What Are Thin Places?
"Thin Places" are rich in Celtic tradition. They are the places in our lives where the divine and the natural worlds come so close together that we can catch a glimpse of God. For the Celtics these places were very real - places within creation where we could physically go. The Thin Places in our own lives are those moments where the space between us & the Kingdom is thin, when we are introduced to a greater glimpse of Who He is through our experiences and through the stories of others.
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Mark Davis shared their voice on 02.08.2009:
“Dear brothers and sisters, what’s the use of saying you have faith if you don’t prove it with your actions?. That kind of faith can’t save anyone. ... So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is not faith at all - it is dead and useless.” James 2:14, 17
I couldn’t help but gather from the post on Obama that the assumption was made that Obama came to a point of salvation sometime after college. He never says that. He says that he became a Christian but never specifically clarifies a point of salvation. How many people do we know who claim to be “Christians” but live a life completely devoid of faith. As we read in James faith must be accompanied by good works. It’s true Obama worked with an organization in Chicago that helped down and out families, in fact he was one of the main leaders. That organization is A.C.O.R.N., which is heavily involved in rampant voter fraud. Do you remember hearing about several members of the Dallas Cowboys football team being registered to vote in a certain community in a state other than where they reside? That was a result of that organization of whom many members were trained by Barack Obama and his staff. This is just a small sample of their voter violations that spread across the country. Obama is also accused of dealing with a very underhanded group of people from the state of Illinois. We have also heard from his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who spouts profanity from the pultpit and denegrates white people. I could add that Obama’s political asperations are socialist in nature. Let’s see, where have we seen that before in recent history? Oh yeah, the Soviet Union! If you’re excited about socialized health care simply look to Canada. They’re health care is very messed up. As a matter of fact, if you live in Canada and need specialized health care you have to drive into the United States. That is unless you can afford to wait months to receive said care.
As a youth minister one thing I try to hammer home to my students is I don’t simply take their word that they are a Christian. I tell them they need to show their faith by how they live. I do this because of what is written in James chapter 2. Even the rich young ruler was able to “say” the right things but when it came to actually “living” it out he went away sad because he couldn’t back up his words with actions.
One thing I need you to understand, I am not an Obama basher. He is the President of these United States and I need to pray for him. But, I don’t have to agree with his motivations or actions. And by all means, let’s not jump to assumptions based on the words of a politician. Once he begins to show his faith by his actions I will begin to believe in his statement that he is a Christian.