dennislaing.com

Please see my comments at the Mayberry Drive Church site.

Festivus Origins

Festivus Traditions

I feel sorry for you if you don’t get it….. go here >>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festivus<<<<< for Enlightenment

I had the girls bundle up with heavy coats to protect their body and face from being sandblasted… Later on that evening there were 100MPH Gusts…

Hi Friends and Family: If you haven’t been to my website www.mayberrychurch.com in a while, that’s where I spend the bulk of my blogging and energies. So head on over and give it a try!

Podcast #15 — PKs In Mayberry: Raising Kids in a Small Town Church
***OUR LATEST PODCAST***
Raising kids in a small town / church provides amazing opportunities and challenges. This podcast isn’t about the 3 steps to raising perfect kids. Dennis and Randy, in this show, discuss the “big picture” stuff relating to pastors kids and small town life. Please feel free to leave your comments and get involved in discussing this important topic.

I love mondaymorninginsight.com. There is always something thought provoking and different on this website. Like him or not (and I don’t really think he cares too much how we feel one way or the other), Tony Campolo will make you think, stretch and rethink your assumptions and positions. Tony writes:

The word liberal has become a political label of ill-repute among many Evangelicals. But if by social liberal, you mean someone who believes America should guarantee medical coverage for all of its citizens; fund the public schools in poor urban and rural communities at the same level as those in rich suburban neighborhoods; be committed to progressive environmental policies; give more than four-tenths of one percent of its federal budget to help the poor of other countries; and give up its militaristic adventurism–then I embrace the label with enthusiasm.

The older I get and the harder I struggle to provide just the essentials for my family, I am starting to wonder if Campolo isn’t right. If the political climate continues to devolve in the U.S., as it has for the past 20 years, there will be and amazing outcry of injustice. Unfortunately, it’s already starting to become clear. In the last 5 years, the middle class is getting poorer and more in debt. Medical insurance has gotten so expensive that the average 2 worker family can barely afford it. God forbid you get sick. The deductables and co-pays will bankrupt you. My wife works for a large medical provider in Oregon. Last year alone we paid over $350 a month for insurance and another $3000 in copays and deductables — and every year its getting worse. All that and we have when people say is “Good Insurance”. With over 50 million people in the U.S. without medical benefits, the crisis is here, we just have our heads buried in the sand. The day is coming when those who pay insurance, can no longer afford it. The next step, a political reformation such as this country has never seen. Healthcare is merely one obvious example.

This week Randy and I and The Mayberry Driven Church podcast will be in So. Cal. teaching a homiletics class and doing a live podcast at Hope International University. The podcast will be called, “Sarah, Get Me The Diner: Communicating to a New Generation.” The podcast should be online Wednesday night. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Update: Here’s the podcast