Abortion Update in Danville Illinois

I would like to begin this post by sharing some information. If you haven't already heard, the City of Danville voted an ordinance into place that could potentially affect an abortion clinic from relocating to Danville from Indiana. Here are a few of the news articles:

Image Via WAND TV

Ep. 60 - Open Letter to the City Council of Danville

Listen to this letter with the actual audio clips from the April 25th meeting.

 Here is the statement that I planned on reading tonight at the city council meeting: 

Ep. 56 - Abortion Clinic in Danville Illinois - City Council Meeting on April 25th

Listen Here:

I attended my first City of Danville City Council meeting last night. The reason why I attended was because of an Abortion Clinic that is attempting to come to the City of Danville. 

Here is the WAND-TV News on this council meeting.

Here is the FOX Illinois News on this council meeting.

Here is the WCIA-TV News on this council meeting.

Here is the Commercial News on this council meeting. 

Here is the Vermilion County First News on this council meeting.

image via VCF News

Thank You, ACLU...

 The ACLU has sent a letter to the City of Danville Illinois, warning them ... hmm... how do I say this? It is warning Danville that they can't stop the legal murder of babies. 

Read the Article from the Commercial News here. 

Read the Letter from the ACLU here. 

All of the unborn / unwanted of Danville would thank you... but they won't have the opportunity. 

For the record. If you are out there and you read this and you are considering an abortion: if you will carry that baby to term, my wife and I would gladly adopt that child. You can read my other thoughts on abortion here. 

Ep. 55 - Some Thoughts About Right, Wrong, Doctrine, Law, and Handing People over to Satan

This post will also serve as Episode 55 of my Podcast. You can listen to it here: 

I'm going to warn you in advance. This is going to be a long post.  It is going to be long, not because I have a lot to say, but because the little I have to say will require a thick scriptural delivery system. It will also require a few additional words, because the world we live in has no mercy for succinct statements, unless they are in agreement with the world. I will then pepper in some additional words, in an attempt of honesty and transparency, to show that my motivation is love -- love for people, love for God, love for his word, and a love for the Church. I will attempt all of these words while offering a semi-exposition of 1 Timothy 1:3–20, with a practical emphasis on an event that happened at a church in my community. 

Welcome Back

 I attempted to channel my inner David Attenborough while doing the voice-overs for this video. 

Homeroom Video Wk3 Vid1 "Episode Number 6"

Here is the first video for the third week of school. It will play in the virtual homerooms on Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd. I'm calling this "Episode Number Six" ... Not sure why.  Actually wondering when anyone will realize that there isn't an episode Number 3... hmm... 

I'm really just hoping that my students enjoy these videos. I'm hoping that they read between the lines and realize... Mr. Harmless cares about them!

Enjoy!

Homeroom Video Wk 2 Vid2 Episode Number 5

 Here is the second video for the second week of school. This homeroom video will play on Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th. 

Enjoy!

An opportunity to have a positive impact on kids in our public schools...

This year I started teaching an elective centered on AVID. If I understand it correctly, this is a program that is geared toward helping those kids who are potentially college bound, but don't necessarily have all of the help and support that they might need from home. If you would like to learn more about AVID, you can check out their website, but that is not the purpose of this particular post...

I am writing this post because I believe that connected to AVID is an amazing opportunity for youth ministry minded people to be able to get into their local public schools. The opportunity comes in the form of an AVID Tutor.

Don't worry, you don't actually have to tutor the kids, they are working with each other in the tutoring process, but the AVID program has tutors available to help guide them during these times.

The amazing thing is that this is actually a paid program. I believe that it is $9.00 an hour and it is for a few hours on Tuesday and Thursday.

I am especially thinking about youth Pastors and youth workers in Danville that could give up a few hours during the day to just be around these kids and help them ... to show them the Love of Christ.

What is even better is that they encourage the church to participate in this opportunity.

Here is a copy of the letter that they are sending out to churches in our community:




If you have any questions about the program, please contact me.

Why Cities Matter - Book Review

Why Cities Matter: To God, the Culture, and the Church by Stephen T. Um and Justin Buzzard was an excellent book. It challenged many of my preconceived notions concerning cities (specifically that cities are evil) with some very simple Biblical perspectives on cities... In other words, this book made me ask the simple questions, "How does God view cities?" and "How should I view cities?"

The authors started by doing some basic teaching on the direction that cities are taking and the roles they play in our modern world. My eyes were also opened as the authors began to discuss the future of cities, the statistics of the numbers of people who will be living in cities, and exploring the myriad of reasons why people move to cities. As the authors continued with the history of cities, including a Biblical history, I found that my heart began to long for the city that I live in.  I know that Danville is not a large city by any stretch of the definition, but it is the city that I reside in... It is the city that is home to people that I love... It is the city where people go to work and play everyday that have destinies and futures that are in jeopardy of God's imminent judgment... It is the city that I have been called to minister to.

Why do cities matter to God? At one point this book simply says, "... because people matter to God and there are people in the city."

I want to recommend this book to everyone that I know, especially to those in ministry in my city, because this book progresses toward teaching us how to know our city. Before I read (listened to) this book, I had never contemplated learning my city, and the impact that knowing the heart of my city might have on how I (or we) minister in our city.

This is a book that I am most definitely going to have to purchase a hard copy, or maybe several hard copies, for my church and for others in my community. We need to know our city, and this book is going to be a great tool in the toolbox.

Check it out now on Amazon.com or on ChristianAudio.com.