My View From Tanner Creek

Who is in control?

2012-01-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

TheHoly Spirit quietly departed. He simply couldn't stand theboredom any longer. Butit really didn't matter to those left behind in the sanctuary. The things theywanted to do did not require his assistance.

Ohhe wasn't the first to leave. The only difference was that the others leftthrough the door.

Thepeople left behind were bored with each other, but did not have enough faithto believe God’s Holy Spirit was present and available to empower them andtheir congregation, so they pretended he didn’t exist until they came tobelieve their own false thinking. But without faith it is impossible to please God.

Therewas really no reason for the Spirit to remain. Many other churches make theSpirit welcome and allow him to gain victories in their lives for the Kingdomof God. Those churches are alive with ministry and throbbing with a contagiousvitality. The power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed in those congregations. Butwhy does it happen in some places and not in others?

The question is—who is in control?

Humancontrol squelches the Spirit and eventually drives him away so we are left withnothing except our own petty plans and our easily attainable goals. On theother hand, loving and eager surrender to God's will by leaders, both clergyand laity, gives the Holy Spirit freedom to do his awesome work in us and in our congregations.

Freedomto lift up Christ in the lives of his people and, through their excitingwitness, in the community.
Freedomto release the captives from sins of the flesh and sins of the spirit and microscopicvision.
Freedomto unleash the power of God to save a needy world.

Adventurous living and personal control do not go together in any area of life and certainly not in thelife of the Spirit. We either live in the adventure of Holy Spiritdirection or we languish in the boredom of the Spirit's departure.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's "My View from Tanner Creek."

Slaughter of the Innocents

2012-01-21T13:48:00.001-05:00

It is difficult toimagine a man like Herod. He was probably one of the cruelest men who everlived. Because of a pervasive fear someone would take his throne and he wouldbe killed, he was vicious toward any threat, real or imagined. When he heardwise men had come to worship a new Jewish king he called them to his palace tofind and destroy the baby Jesus. (Matthew 2:13-23) His plot was foiled whenGod directed the wise men to go home by another route, but Herod devised anotherplan so vile we can hardly imagine it. He attempted to destroy Jesus bytaking the lives of every baby boy born in that part of the world who was undertwo years of age!

As horrible as that may seem, Herod's evil scheme wasfar surpassed in horror and bloodshed when the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates made it legal for anyone who chose to do so, to destroy their own unbornchildren through the practice of legalized abortion.

Since then, literally millions of children have hadtheir lives callously snuffed out in hospitals designed to be institutions ofhealing. In hospital maternity wards and nurseries throughout the world,doctors struggle to save babies younger and smaller than those being destroyedin legalized abortions!

Abortionby choice is a self-inflicted death-blow to the home. If we can so easilydestroy our unborn children, our living ones come next. When “pro-choice”groups first advocated legalized abortion as a means of birth control onereason in its favor was that it would diminish the incidence of child abusesince unwanted children would no longer be born. We don't hear this muchanymore because we all know that since the legalization of abortion theincidences of child pornography, child abuse and child molestation have literallyskyrocketed upward. When we devalue any person or people, we devalue us all.

Anymother who has ever carried a child to term, any father who eagerly awaits thebirth of a child, or any parents who lost an eagerly awaited child bymiscarriage, will tell you that at eight months the baby is very much a person—aliving being with an already developing personality. Thus life (as anindividual human being) must begin at conception or somewhere betweenconception and eight months....or is it seven? Six? Two?

Conceptionis the only answer that makes sense.

When weclaim the unborn child is not human, it is only a small step to saying thehelpless child, senior adult, mentally handicapped, or some other less than“perfect” beings are also less than human and they, too, can be exploited. Evenas I write this, persons come to my mind in all of these categories and Iremind myself they are all perfect just as they are!

When we claim unborn children are somehow less than human andtherefore reasonable targets for abortion, we return to the mentality thatproduced slavery, the persecution and near destruction of the Native Americanpeoples, and the holocaust of Jewish and Gypsy peoples by the Nazis. When wewant to do a really evil thing to another human being we always seem to rationalizeit by pretending they are not human, or, are somehow sub-human.

Someday history will look back on the abortion massacre of thetwentieth and twenty-first centuries with the same revulsion with which weremember these other self-inflicted plagues of humanity.

On this January while we recognize the sanctityof human life, I know some of you who read this may have been deluded by theabortionists and agreed to a procedure for yourself, a loved one, or perhapsfor unknown persons in an abortion mill. That agreement now leaves an ache inyour heart that seemingly cannot be healed. I assure you Jesus Christ can healyour aching heart. He loves you and will bring grace and peace if you will surrenderthe pain to him. The Bible tells us there is “no condemnation for those who arein Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) so I urge you to trust him for complete healing.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

When it is God’s Will for us to Suffer

2012-01-19T09:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimesit is God’s will for us to suffer. I know we don’t like to hear that, but itis true.

Peterwrote (I Peter 4:19) "So then, those who suffer according to God's willshould commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to dogood." I believe this makes it clear that it is sometimesGod's will for us to suffer. Does this mean God is a sadistic God who enjoysseeing his creation suffer? Not at all, but in the same way that we sometimesneed to suffer in order to accomplish something in life there are times whenGod knows his will cannot be done except through suffering. The question is whowill do the suffering?

Ithink Peter was saying if that is what God wants from us, then we should bewilling to do it. It doesn't mean, however, that God asks us to suffergratuitously, or for no reason, just for some sadistic satisfaction. When Godasks us to suffer, be sure he has a reason and his grace is sufficient for usto be victorious. The gift of grace is a small price for the suffering and whoknows, the accomplishments of our sufferings may eventually become the greatestjoy of our lives.

Sometime ago I met a gentleman who was a recent convert to Christ. He said thething that brought him to Christ was observing a co-worker who was goingthrough a very difficult time in life. She had such a beautiful attitude andshowed such amazing grace in the midst of such a horrendous time that hefinally had to ask, “How do you do it?”

Shetold him it was Jesus—that his grace gave her the strength she needed, not onlyto go through the suffering, but to do her best to be like Jesus in her attitude.It took a while for him to believe on his own, but he said there was no doubtthat the way she dealt with her suffering was what brought him to Christ.

IfGod had something he needed you to do in order to accomplish something good forhis kingdom would you be willing to do it? If so, then you are sufferingaccording to God’s will.

Ifan unbeliever causes persons to suffer because they are Christians, that isprobably not God’s will, but it is God’s will for us to suffer in a Christ-likeway. Such suffering will provide evidence the Holy Spirit can use to touch theheart of the unbeliever and perhaps bring him or her to a personal relationshipwith Christ.

Rememberalso that Jesus said, “I have told you these things so that you may have peace.In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome theworld.” (John 16:33^(NIV)) I believe Jesus was saying we willsometimes have to suffer. However, he was assuring us we will never sufferalone as long as we trust in him. He is with us. And we will overcome throughthe marvelous power of the indwelling Christ.

Jesusis a perfect example—if he had not been willing to suffer for us we would nothave salvation. It was God's will for Jesus to suffer in order that the worldmight be saved. Jesus was willing to suffer—leaving the wonders of heaven andthe glorious presence of God, the Father, and coming to a primitive, povertystricken earth in order to bring us salvation and the awesome privilege ofliving every moment of our lives with the living Christ indwelling us so thatwherever we go and whatever we do, his wonderful presence can be revealed by hisHoly Spirit living in us.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

When God says “No”

2012-01-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

We can get some real junk on the internet and we do have towatch what we watch and read, but we can also find great wisdom. It’s just amedium, a network, and its value to each person is in how we and our friendsuse it. Recently I saw a post shared first by Nirmal Patrick, then by RobertFry. It said God’s “no” is not a rejection, but a redirection. Since I’m alwayslooking for something to write about, I decided to follow up on this bit of wisdomwith some thoughts of my own.

We all know God sometimes says “no” to our fervent prayers.People are not healed, and sometimes die. We don’t get the job. We don’t sellthe home (or buy the one we wanted). There are all sorts of prayers that areanswered by God with a firm and definite “no”. Why would a loving God dosomething like that?

Really, you already know the answer—because Heloves us. God, like any other loving parent, knows that sometimes hemust say “no” to our prayers. Our difficulty is that we often don’t recognizethis as love. We think if God loved us he would do what we want. But deep downin our hearts we know that isn’t true—especially if we’re parents—sometimeslove demands a negative response.

If God says “no” it is only because he knows something wedon’t know. If we knew as much about the situation as God knows, or had thewisdom of God, we wouldn’t have asked for it in the first place. If we couldsee into the future the way God sees we wouldn’t want the kind of future ourmisinformed prayers would bring.

It all boils down to faith. Do we trust Godenough to accept his “no” with as much praise and thanksgiving as we do when Hesays “yes”? Sometimes faith is not about believing there is a God, as much as it is about trusting in the kind of God he is. He knows everything about you andme—including our futures and he knows what is really best for us. He not onlyknows us, he cares about our future state. He loves us unconditionally andunderstanding that we don’t have the foresight and wisdom he has, means he sometimesmust forego the joy he would find in always doing what we want—because he knowsif we knew all that he knows, we wouldn’t want it either. Faith in God keeps usstrong when the trials of life come upon us, as they surely will. The shortterm answers

we would choose are not always best for life and/oreternity and God always thinks with that kind of view.

So when God says “no” remember his “no” is just as good ashis ”yes” and just as much a sign of His unconditional love.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Legacy of a Praying Saint

2012-01-07T16:37:00.000-05:00

First Church of God in St Joseph, Michigan, just lost a great saint in our prayer ministry with the recent death of Catherine Mommany. Her funeral was today. I know she is happy to be with her beloved husband and a daughter, both who preceded her, but her children who remain, the rest of her family, and all her many friends will miss her and her extensive ministry of fervent prayer.

Andrea wrote on Facebook, “She was one of the people who prayed for me that i come to Christ. I will be forever thankful to and for her. She was a pillar of the Church. We will dearly dearly miss her!!! I loved her calm sweet smile. She was always the first one at prayer before service on Sundays. O man what am i gonna do without her??”

Actually Catherine prayed for all of us—even you who didn’t know her. She prayed for all the saints, as the Bible teaches we should (Ephesians 6:18) and she prayed for all the lost people on earth, as Jesus taught us to do in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:10). That may seem like too great a scope for one person to pray, but Catherine knew it wasn’t too big for God.

And the effects of Catherine’s prayers will continue. Her work isn’t done until all of time is done because the influence of her godly life will continue to grow in the lives of those she has prayed with and for until the end of time.

Goodnight Catherine. We’ll see you in the morning. Today in the service Pastor Confer gave us your message about heaven—“Be there!” Even though you’ve been promoted to glory, your prayers are still working to accomplish God’s will here on earth. And more people will be there because of your influence.

Catherine didn’t have a computer on which to read my blog, but she always read it and encouraged me because another reader, our good friend Shirley Zick, would read it online and then print it off for Catherine to read. What a wonderful friend! Thank you Shirley! Catherine so appreciated your kindness and I treasure you as a friend and reader.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Passion for Paraguay: The Kiss from Heaven

2012-01-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

Norberto and Julie Kurrle are on mission in Paraguay where they lead a ministry to train pastors and churches for growth and outreach. This blog post tells about one of their prayer supporters who recently died of caner and the loss they felt. It is a perfect example of my last blog about laypeople who serve the Lord faithfully at home and work--we are all ministers and missionaries when we fully surrender, then follow God's leading. Click on the link below if you want to meet some really neat people.

Passion for Paraguay: The Kiss from Heaven

Serving God in the Marketplace

2012-01-03T22:45:00.001-05:00

When we talk aboutmissionaries we usually think in terms of people who are sent out by a church, churchgroup, or other type of mission-sending agency. But since the early days of thechurch God has always worked most powerfully through people in their normalwork-a-day world. Understand, I believe very much in the concept of missions aswe normally think of it. Our family spent a year and a half in East Africa asmissionaries for the Church of God (Anderson, IN). We were assigned to Tanzaniaand that was our primary field of emphasis, but we also lived in Kenya whilestudying Swahili at the Church of the Province of Kenya guesthouse. I believein organized, planned, missionary sending ministries. We give our tithes andofferings to make that possible and I hope you do too. The spread of the Gospelthroughout the earth depends on our doing this and doing it well and it is thedirective of Christ that we do so.

However, I am alsoconvinced that the greatest missionary impact is in the lives of lay people whoserve God consistently, day after day in the marketplace of life—the schools,the factories, the retail stores, and every other place you can imagine whereGod’s people go to earn a living for themselves and their families. There isnothing as life-changing for a non-believer as to see a godly person live aChrist-like life in all the various experiences of the work-a-day world. They seethem face tragedy and loss with a grace that is incomprehensible. They see themhave fun with no need to get drunk or take recreational drugs. They see Christiansget angry without sin. In all these normal life situations, theywonder how they do it. Sometimes they ask. When the Christian identifies God—Father, Son,and/or Holy Spirit—as the source of their strength it is the most powerfulwitness anyone can ever see. As I said before, it is life-changing!

It is sort of likeprayer. Prayer meetings at church are good and we should have them, but evenmore powerful is for people to “pray without ceasing” by living our lives inthe presence of God so that every moment of life is a prayer. Much of the time theyare just fleeting prayers “Lord help me!” Or “God give me wisdom.” “Lord whatshould I say?” “How should I answer?” or, “How do I solve this work or lifeproblem?” or “Thank you Lord for this beautiful day!” And there needs to bethose longer personal times alone with God when we spend time in privateprayer. But really every moment of every day is a prayer for people who arefully surrendered to God.

In the same way, when welive as Christ-like persons in our work places we are the real missionaries. Ifyou are a salesman, or a janitor, or a stay-at-home mom—a business executive, apolice officer or retail clerk—any work that benefits people and somehow makesthe world a better place, it can also be a ministry and a mission if it isdedicated to God. A pastor, missionary, or any other ministry professional isno more holy to God than lay persons who serve God as best they can in all theareas of their lives. Any work we do is a ministry or a mission when it helpspeople and is dedicated to God.

So I praise God for yourministry and your mission! I hope you also give God praise and thankfulness forusing you as a … whatever your place of mission happens to be. Being amissionary to a school as a teacher or principle or janitor is just asimportant to God as being a missionary to Tanzania or Kenya or anywhere else.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Time to make new friends

2011-12-28T12:25:00.004-05:00

Tuesday was my last dayas Associate Pastors at First Church of God in St Joseph, Michigan. It was astrange sort of day. Very few people were in the offices and those who were,were surprised to see me.

We got word that thedaughter of one of our members was in the hospital and she would like to have apastoral visit, so I went. When I got to the hospital, I found the lady’s room,but she had never heard of the lady who we thought was her mother. She hadnever been to our church, but she had been to Crystal Springs Church of God onetime for a funeral. I asked her if could pray for her since I was there anyway.She said, “No, just say a prayer when you get home.”

“Anything special youwant me to pray about?”

“No. Just generalprayers.”

“O-o-o-o-o-o-kay!”

A little later NancyBarker stopped by my office to say goodbye. That was difficult. She is a veryspecial lady. But we made it through that. The nice thing about being a childof God is the assurance that you never have to say a final goodbye to any ofGod’s people—we’ll see each other again on the other side.

Next I turned in mychurch keys to Pastor Greg, our church administrative pastor, shook his handand told him how much I have enjoyed being on the staff at First Church. I thensaid goodbye to those who were there, and gave a hug to Debbie (my next doorneighbor for the last six years, and one of the nicest and most Christ-likepersons I’ve ever met) and finally I headed home to retirement. On the way homeI found a left-over fortune cookie from our latest Chinese restaurant visit andwhen I opened it, I read, “This is a good time to make new friends.” I got agood laugh out of that—it seemed so fitting it was almost uncanny.

Actually it is always agood time to make new friends, so that is always true. I guess that’s thesecret of a good Chinese cookie fortune—maybe that should be my next career,writing Chinese fortune cookie fortunes that are always true for everyone allthe time in every situation. I’m tempted, but I think not. But I will spendmore time on my blog where I hope to share something worthwhile that you willenjoy reading.

I also have two bookmanuscripts that need polishing and a publisher (or two) to find. I am tooyoung to retire, so now I am a free-lance writer! It would be nice if I couldearn some money at this (not so new) occupation, but thanks to social securityand a small IRA from the 101(k) that was left over from my original 401(k), andsome rental properties, extra income is not absolutely necessary (althoughCarol may think so).

Well, as the fortunecookie said, “This is a good time to make new friends.” I hope you’ll be myfriend, as Mister Rogers would say, and that you’ll follow me on my blog.

Seriously, this day doesbring a lot of thoughts and memories. I accepted my first congregation inHoopeston, Illinois, while I was still in college, in 1965. During that timewe have made so many friends and have had the privilege of mentoring, teachingand encouraging so many people I can’t possibly count them. Preaching the Wordof God, knowing it will live on in the hearts and lives of people longafter I am gone…what an incredible privilege! Singing hymns and spiritualsongs, many given to me by the Lord, has also been a special privilege.

Today reminds me of thewords of the poet Robert Frost…”I took the road less traveled by and that hasmade all the difference.”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Lion kill in Tarangire

2011-12-25T23:30:00.000-05:00

We were missionaries for the Missionary Boardof the Church of God (now Global Missions) in East Africa. We lived at KaitiMission on the Great North Road, about two hours Southwest of Arusha, Tanzania.We took a day off from the mission and headed for Tarangire National Park, awildlife refuge, where large numbers of wild animals lived and no hunting wasallowed. From people we met on the road we had heard a pride of Lions hadkilled a Zebra and if we went quickly, we would be able to see them.

Sure enough, we went the direction indicatedand saw a huge flock of buzzards circling overhead—a sure sign of a lion kill. Buzzardscircle hoping to get a free meal but they can't land until the lions arefinished and gone—otherwise, they become a free meal for the lions.

We arrived to see several beautiful lions.One large male was in charge of several female lions, and a few half-grown lioncubs. The scene included the half-eaten remains of a zebra. We drove to within a few feet of the prideand began taking pictures. They had seen enough cars to not be afraid, howeverwhen I drove a little too close to get a better angle for a picture, thegrand-daddy lion grunted and stood up. He walked to the zebra, took it by theneck with his teeth and pulled it farther away from the Land Rover and stoodwith front feet planted on each side of the zebra, watching as I took hispicture—daring me to get out of the car and try to get his zebra.

The lions appeared to be perfectly tame, butI knew the peaceful scene was misleading. If I had tried to get out of the car,it would have been my carcass he was dragging around by the neck and I wouldbe their next meal. After the Lions finished with me, they would leave my skeletonfor the birds to pick clean, then the Hyenas would come, break my bones andsuck the marrow out. Within about a day there would scarcely be enough evidenceto know I had ever existed.

The peaceful scene we witnessed was totallydeceptive because those lions were extremely dangerous. (Just ask the zebra.) TheApostle Peter knew what he was talking about when he said Satan is like aroaring lion seeking someone to devour. Satan wants us to think he is as tameas those lions appeared to be—that we can mess around with sin and not beaffected. He tries to make us think we can live in his world and not be hurt,but you can be certain, he will devour us if we give him half a chance. Theonly protection we have is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can eitherdepend on him as Savior or be eternally devoured by Satan. That’s the worstkind of lion kill.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Focus 40—a time of prayer and fasting

2011-12-24T06:54:00.000-05:00

Congregations across theChurch of God will spend forty days of prayer leading up to Easter. Will you joinus for those forty days, as we pray for various concerns such as the vitalityof our movement, and for our Church of God congregations, missionaries andpastors all over the world? If you do not attend a Church of God congregation,pray for your congregation and denomination. As we do so, we join withChristians around the world who fast and pray during the Lenten season.

It is my custom in myprayer time, to pray for all the saints, as directed by God through the apostlePaul in Ephesians (6:18) (“always keep on praying for all the saints.”) I urgeyou to also pray for the entire family of God, which includes all the saints ofGod in and out of every communion throughout the world. Pray we will love eachother and will each love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Praywe will be witnesses for our Lord Jesus Christ in all our thoughts, words andbehavior, and finally pray we will all be filled with the Holy Spirit of God,living our lives in the awesome power of the Spirit rather then limitingourselves to our own inadequate human power.

But the primary purposeof this year’s Focus 40 is to pray for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. So pray for peopleyou know who do not have a personal relationship with Christ, to experience hissalvation for themselves. The goal is for 25,000 people to be saved in Churchof God congregations around the world. In whatever church group you worship, Iencourage you to pray for similar results

As we do this, I alsourge you to also pray for all people onearth who do not know Christ—about 4,666,666,667 (4.6 billion) persons! If youare like me, you can’t even conceive of that many people, much less comprehendhow to pray for them. The immensity of those numbers is overwhelming to us butthey are not overwhelming to God. When we pray for them all to be saved, theyare to us, an incomprehensible mass of humanity, but to God they areindividuals whom he loves with a passion, and persons he knows by name. Thisministry of prayer is a tool God gave to humanity so we can work together withhim to accomplish his marvelous Will—especially the salvation of all humanity.

At this Christmas timelet us not forget the reason for Christ’s coming—to proclaim God’s love for allmankind—to bring “peace on earth, good will toward men”. In other words Christcame not only for your salvation and mine, but so the entire world mightpersonally experience the love and peace of God.

As we do so, westrengthen God’s Kingdom locally and world-wide. We draw near to God,individually, congregationally, and altogether as a movement, and we jointogether in this wonderful work of prayer with all the marvelous family of Godthroughout the earth.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Giving, and How to Encourage it

2011-12-14T11:37:00.003-05:00

A year or so ago in board meeting a member asked, “Why we don’t do as well in our regular giving as we do with Faith Promise?” I didn’t answer very well due to a lack of preparation, but I’ve thought about it a great deal since then and in a recent staff meeting, when asked a similar question, I shared very candidly. I thought it might be helpful to share here, what I have learned through the years about teaching people to give.
I recently read a book that helped me find words to describe what I have been doing through years of teaching stewardship. The title is Primal Leadership, learning to lead with Emotional Intelligence, by Boyatzis and McKee. They explain the difference between resonance (harmony) and dissonance (discord) in leadership. The first inspires followers, but the second discourages them and may even create deserters.

People respond better to encouragement, praise, and other positive stimuli than they do to need, emergency, guilt, criticism, or other negative stimuli.

Negative stimuli actually discourage giving even when used to ask people to give. In an old familiar joke the preacher says ‘The good news is we have enough money to meet our budget! The bad news is it’s still in your pockets.’ When I first heard it, I laughed, but it is the worst possible joke if you want good results. Such put-down humor hurts and it especially hurts giving. It doesn’t make people feel like giving. It makes us hold on tight to our money because we know dissonant means are being used. We may not know the word, but we know the feeling and none of us like it.

The best way to get people to give is first, teach biblical concept of tithes and offerings, or biblical stewardship. Secondly, let the Holy Spirit convict their hearts. Do not, under any circumstances, try to do the work of the Spirit to create that conviction. When we try to do his work we always do it badly and it often comes across as condemnation, which is not a godly work. Finally, when people give, leaders should give the congregation encouragement and praise for a job well done. Even if they are not doing as good as they should, if they give anything that should be openly appreciated by those in leadership. With consistence, in different ways and with positive words, and if done with tact and love over time, this will build a strong, financially healthy congregation of generous, happy people.

Here are some other important points:

1. Offerings are an important part of worship. The way offerings are received at many churches announces they are not important. Some offering statements even imply we’re ashamed to ask, but we need the money, etc. Offerings should be acts of worship, adoration and praise, to God. Whoever came up with the idea of saying “This offering is just for the home folks and if you’re a visitor you don’t need to give” has wasted time and insulted God by saying something they have no right to say. What if God is telling one of those visitors to give? How do we know he isn’t?

2. Teach about giving before every offering. A short comment or prayer such as, “When we give generously we are most like God.” Or, “Giving our tithe to the church is our way to recognize every good thing comes from God.” These and other such positive reinforcements week after week builds resonance (harmony) within the church and with biblical living, and produces people who give tithes and offerings, generously, and happily.

3. Pray for God to anoint the offering. Just as we pray for salvation, sermons and worship, we can also pray God will bless church giving. God wants to bless. The prayer of faith is his method.

4. Offerings should be well received. Worship Leaders have other things to think about and almost never give offerings the time they deserve. Pastors, or whoever receives the offerings should be trained in how to give a warm and positive encouragement to give as God directs. Time should be given to do the offertory well—with the dignity required for an act of worship and devotion to the most High God. People will never give enough to the church, but they will give to God. They just need to be inspired so they give from a heart bursting with the joy of the Lord.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

I’m a Facebook Freak

2011-12-11T17:58:00.001-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I’m aFacebook freak. I love it.

Since I joined Facebook I’m more in touch with ourdaughters and with our grandchildren. I’m better in touch with my siblings whoare on Facebook and I’ve learned to know nieces and nephews better and evenknow what’s happening in their lives. I have somewhere around 95 first cousins,although way too many have gone on to heaven already. (My mom had elevensiblings and dad had six and all except one of Dad’s (a brother) lived to raisetheir own families). In addition to all these first cousins, all of whom I knowand love, I now know my cousins in the second and third generations that Inever knew before, but have become their friends on Facebook.

Of course, one reason isthat Carol and I have such wonderful families! We are so blessed to have twowonderful daughters, their spouses, and four wonderful grandchildren. We keepin touch so much better through Facebook and added to that, I love being ableto email back and forth. This is an amazing time that we live in. I love theinformation age. I think it’s the best “age” yet!

But we also enjoy ourextended families—the Blumenbergs and Aringtons, (my family) and the VanScoiksand Hiatts (Carol’s family). Many of them are on Facebook—and probably manymore are on, but we haven’t learned about them, haven't found them andhaven’t yet become their “friends”.

I also love families. The family is a creationof God and he liked what he did there so much that he modeled the church after it and made the churchjust a great big extended family that includes all the “saints” in every state,nation, culture, continent, and every era of time.

I also like that factthat Facebook is a good place for a prayer meeting. I don’t know if MarkZuckerburg is a praying man, but his Facebook invention now makes it possiblefor prayer requests, praises, prayers and answers to prayer to skim across theinternet almost at the speed of light. I once placed a prayer request onFacebook and had a commitment to pray within two seconds from a niece who livesover a hundred miles away. Thank God for Mark Zuckerberg!

Just yesterday I had aFacebook conversation back and forth with Tammie Tregellas, our Missionary inMalawi. Several months ago, once again through Facebook, I became friends with EmmanuelMasamba, one of our pastors in Malawi, Africa. What an incredible time to bealive!

There are some things Idon’t like about Facebook. I don’t like farms, factories and games and if anyof you asks me to be involved I just klick on “Hide”. Sorry, but I’m just beinghonest. If it was up to me all theFacebook farms, etc. would just disappear. But not the people who farm thosefarms or run those factories—I still love all of you! I just don’t want to visityour farms, factories, etc., unless they’re real and you’re there to greet me.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
:)

Everybody Has a Story!

2011-12-08T07:37:00.004-05:00

When winter comes people tend to spend moretime indoors. Even for those of us who enjoy the snow and the outdoors inwinter, there are still times when the weather or darkness forces us inside andthat is a great time to work on the family genealogy. Every time one of our oldfolks die they take with them a multitude of family stories that will be lostforever. The only way to prevent this is to get those stories recorded. Thebest way is to write or record them yourself as a genealogical gift, both toyour forebears and to your descendants.

If you're a senior citizen don't wait untilsomeone asks, take the time to write your memories and save them for yourdescendants. Don't worry about how well you do it. Just get the informationrecorded before it is lost. Some of my most important family information waswritten in the trembling hand of an aged ancestor and those documents are nowtreasures.

Iremember with great fondness both sets of my grandparents. They lived in thesame town, went to the same church, and called each other “Brother and SisterBlumenberg” or “Brother and Sister Arington”. They first became acquainted whenboth their families attended Pulltight Church of God in Southeast Missouri.During the 1937 flood on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers which destroyed somuch farmland and disrupted so many people’s lives, my Blumenberg grandparentslived on the dry side of the levee, but my Arington grandparents lived on theflooded side. When the Missouri State Police warned residents they had to get out,Grandpa Arington took his family, as many possessions as he could carry with availablewagons and teams, along with cows hogs, chickens and kids, and furnitureincluding stoves, then headed for the dry side of the levee. Grandpa Blumenberginvited grandpa Arington to put his livestock in his barns and pastures untilhe could get settled. Grandma Arington and the girls spent the night at theBlumenbergs, while Grandpa Arington and the boys went to a house they hadrented, to put up stoves and get it ready to live in.

Twoof Grandpa Blumenbergs sons, our Dad Roy, and our Uncle Elmer, married two ofGrandpa Arington’s daughters, our mother Mollie and our Aunt Dalvia. What anamazing amount of happiness those two marriages conceived, along with nine kidsand a multitude of grandchildren and great-grandchildren!

Thisis one of my favorite grandparent stories and it is the sort of story thatmakes family history fun to read. Your family has similar stories if you willseek them out and write them down. If you don’t, those stories will soon be lostforever, so get it done before it is too late!

Myfriend Bob Confer, one of the pastors at First Church of God in St Joseph,Michigan, has written a workbook to help with this important and joy-filledprocess. If you would like to know more about the Living Legacy Journal, by Bob Confer,email Pastor Bob at the church (bob.c@myfirstchurch.com)to order a copy for yourself. You can use it to teach a Sunday School class,share with a small group, or just use it for your own family to get your historyrecorded before you grow old and lose it. I know you think you’ll never growold, but if you’re lucky, you will. Someday you’ll be the older generation andthe stories of your parents and grandparents will only be recorded in yourmind. Don’t let those stories die when they would mean so much to yourdescendants.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The god Atheists don’t believe in…

2011-12-04T21:41:00.001-05:00

During the recent Spring floods on the Mississippi River, when they blew the levy at Bird’s Point in Southeast Missouri, I read the comments about the event. One person, who claimed to be an atheist, wrote “What good does it do to pray to god? He is the one who sent the flood?” His point was that Christians are obviously confused about their science and theology.

That’s really bad science and, if possible, even worse theology. Anyone who understands weather knows God did not send the flood. It was a major weather event and many of us think it was made worse by human intervention—but why would we blame God for that? On the other hand and contrary to our atheist or agnostic commentor, praying for the people affected by the flood makes perfect sense for those of us who believe in the Creator God who showed his love to us in Christ Jesus and continues to show it with his loving care and companionship.

It seems to me that atheists reject the same false gods that we Christians don’t believe in either. If they knew the God we know, the One who created the heavens and the earth, and who came to earth as the Creator among his creation, in order to redeem us from the sin into which we have fallen, they would find it much easier to believe in Him. If God were like how most atheist and agnostics describe him, I wouldn’t believe in him either and I certainly wouldn’t love him.

The reason Jesus came was to help us know what God is really like. Many times the Old Testament concepts people had about God were a sort of mixture of paganism and primitive thought made firm and unyielding because those same people made them into laws, and tried to force their ideas on the people around them. It didn’t work then and it doesn’t work now—at least it doesn’t work to make the world a better place. But when Jesus came, we got an entirely different view of God.

Looking at Old Testament Israelites through the eyes of Jesus we can see that God’s original plan was for his people to save the world rather than conquer it, but they never seemed to understand. Jesus introduced radical new ideas like turning the other cheek and walking the second mile—ideas that were totally beyond human comprehension. If Jesus hadn’t come to demonstrate how they worked, we never would have understood them. Doing them is so much more difficult than talking about them. We needed someone, not just a teaching, but a person—Jesus, to show us how to live out such a new and different concept.

Our task as the people of God is to be Jesus to the people we meet who have never met him. We need to turn the other cheek and walk the second mile and find all sorts of ways to show people that we value them. When they grasp the fact that we really do care, we have opened the doorway of their hearts to know God, the source of all such unconditional love. We know from the Word of God that God is love. It is the nature of his being. He loves everyone, everywhere and he loves this beautiful world and universe he created. His goal is not to cast us into a devil’s hell, but to redeem us from Satan’s entrapment. He is on our side! He wants to help! That’s what Jesus came to teach us, but even the teachings of Jesus are not enough for many people—they need someone to show them how such ideas work in the everyday stress of life.

Our job is to surrender our bodies to the Spirit of God so he can reveal his unconditional love in as many ways as possible to a world of people who cannot even comprehend a God like that. However, if they can see Jesus in us, they will see God in him and by thus working together with God we can help him transform the world into a place where the unconditional love of God is shared openly across cultures and beyond human barriers, breaking down walls that divide us and helping all people on earth to live together as loving and beloved siblings in the marvelous family of God!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Squabbles in the Family of God

2011-11-26T19:04:00.001-05:00

Christians are a lot like oil companies—we all think ourbrand is the best, even though any one of them will get us where we want to go,whether we’re talking about fuel to get our cars to the grocery store, or faithto get our souls to heaven. But once in a while we get all in a dither aboutthe specifics of our beliefs and when that happens, the greatest argumentsusually come, not from those who are farthest apart, but from those who areclosest. A recent example is the book Love Wins, by Rob Bell, former pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church near Grand Rapids,Michigan.

The media, who love Rob Bell, jumped on his latest bookand the fact that he is a bit wishy-washy about whether or not anyone will goto hell. His rationale for questioning this is that the Bible makes it clearGod does not want anyone to go to hell, so Rob’s thinking is that sinceGod is God, he can always get whatever he wants and since he wants all peopleto be saved, maybe they will be. His conclusion is that since the Bible talks alot more about grace than eternal damnation, maybe we should preach more aboutgrace and eternal damnation, not so much. Themedia then acted as if Pastor Bell didn’t believe in hell and as if he were a Universalist,who believes that everyone can be saved in any religion. (Sort of like how itwould be if our cars would run on any liquid instead of just any gasoline.)

The biggest criticisms seemed to comefrom Rob’s Reformed “friends”, such as Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. who has beenquoted as saying Bell’s “Love Wins” book was “theologically disastrous”. Whilehis Reformed and Calvinist friends seem to think Bell is a heretic, weArminians have always thought God was more about salvation than condemnation(even though our preaching has not always made that clear) but when Rob saysGod wants all people to be saved, we say, “Welcome to the Wesleyan-Arminianworld of Christian theology.”

The problem, of course, is that if you accept the conceptthat God wants all people to be saved (as is clearlystated in 2 Peter 3:9 which tells us God doesn’t want anyone to perish, butinstead, wants everyone to come to repentance. Or, I Timothy 2:1-4 where we areurged to pray for everyone because God wants everyone to be saved. Then youbegin to have serious reservations about “unconditional election”, the conceptthat before the world was created God chose some people to be saved and othersto be eternally lost with no hope of salvation. I don’t know if Rob Bellconsiders himself to be among those with this Calvinist-Reformedtheology, but I think they have always claimed him and now this revelation in“Love Wins” stirs up a plethora of squabbles among our Calvinist brethren. It will be interesting to seewhere it leads, if it goes anywhere at all, or if it just flutters out anddisappears.

Rob’s writing also suggests we need to be open to thepossibility that an opportunity for salvation may exist after death. He seesthis as a possibility that can be found in scripture rather than ananti-biblical heresy. On the Mars Hill website they have FAQs about the book“Love Wins” and it is written “Love Wins helps ushave a biblical imagination that leaves room for the hope of the redemption ofall while recognizing humanities free will to continue to reject God.” Thatdefinitely requires imagination, but I’m not convinced it is biblical.

What I do know is that our faith should bebig enough for us to love each other even when we don’t fully agree on thedetails. I thank God for all those in the family and out because I believe weare all created in the image of God and all valid subjects of His amazing graceand love. I thank God for Rob Bell even when I’m not sure I fully agree withhim. I even thank God for those Christians with whom I greatly disagree. AsBill Gaither wrote, “There’s plenty of room in the family” and I do greatlylove the family of God even in the midst of and in spite of our familysquabbles.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The woods are sparkling tonight!

2011-11-25T23:23:00.001-05:00

“Thewoods are sparkling tonight!” said Carol as we drove into our front yard and Iparked the car beneath the over-hanging trees.

I lovedthat phrase and wanted to be sure I remembered it so I could use it later insome sort of written communication. She was talking about the abundance offireflies that seemed to fill the woods on the tree-covered dunes that encircleour home. They seemed to be everywhere. This year they seem to be much morenumerous than in recent years. They were so thick they reminded each of us ofnights of our separate childhoods, mine in Southeast Missouri and hers inNorthern Indiana.

In both places we grew up with the amazing experience ofseeing lightning bugs sparkling all around us any evening we were outside at dusk. They were not only beautiful,but harmless and probably beneficial, although I have always thought of them asbeing there mostly for my personal enjoyment. They were easy to catch and wouldcontinue to blink their phosphorescent lights on my fingers as they crawled outof my hand—closed, but not so tight as to harm them.

SoCarol’s phrase, which so beautifully described what we saw, transported each ofus to the private places of our separate childhoods. With memories that wereremarkably similar even though almost 500 miles apart, we sat for a moment inthe car and watched this beauty created by God that has blessed human life withjoy over eons of time and throughout the Midwest.

Why did God create fireflies?Why here but not everywhere? What makes them glow and why do they blink? Idon’t have a clue as to the answer to any of these questions. I’m sure someonewho studies bugs could tell me where they fit into the environment. But I’llstill feel like they were made just for our enjoyment.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Remembering Dr. Fred Schmidt

2011-11-13T21:39:00.004-05:00

As I write this I just received news of the death of a saint—Dr. Fred Schmidt, beloved former Superintendent of Lakeshore Schools, retiree, Realtor, retiree, and all the while, churchman extraordinaire. When Carol and I first came to this area, Dr. Fred was one of the first people we met. Many newcomers to First Church of God say the same thing. He looked for new people and made us all feel welcome with his friendly smile, warm handshake and cheerful voice. He had the gift of hospitality and used it for years in our congregation and throughout our community. Even people in our community who never knew Dr. Fred benefited greatly from his life through his positive influence on students, co-workers, and employees.

While Superintendent, Dr. Fred helped start Lakeshore Rotary Club. Their website reads, “In 1973, Bill Galbreath and Fred Schmidt both worked in the Superintendent’s Office at Lakeshore Schools. Bill commented to Fred, ‘We should have a Rotary Club in the Lakeshore Area’….Fred was convinced. Despite invitations to join the St Joseph/Benton Harbor Club, Bill and Fred persisted in forming a new club.”

I’m not surprised Dr. Fred helped start a “service” club. That fits.

Many people knew Fred and Norma as the friendly couple who drove the beautiful old car in the Blossomtime Parade and area events. This year, they were Honorary Grand Marshalls—once again riding in their 1930 Model A Sport Coupe.

Fred and Norma came to the area in 1973 to be Superintendent at Lakeshore School System. They quickly become a special part of our community.

Often when our church missionaries gathered to go on a mission trip to some far-off place like Mexico, Paraguay, Atlanta, or West Virginia, Fred would be there early to see them off and join in prayer for their safety, the success of their venture and for them to have a wonderful time doing good mission work. Most youth and even some adults probably knew little or nothing about Fred’s great contribution to our community and to our congregation—he was just the friendly man who exuded love and joy—and made them feel loved by the entire congregation.

Fred represented his Lord and Savior well in everything he did.

For years he’s been one of our best teachers—along with his beloved wife Norma. They were a marvelous team in the adult Sunday School class, and led one of our most successful, enduring and largest Life Groups.

When I visited him in the hospital just hours before his death, I asked how I should pray. He said, “Pray I can accept God’s will.” That was the story of his life. He always wanted to be centered in God’s will, serving him not only whole-heartedly, but with joyful exuberance. I’m just sorry I didn’t stay longer and be there for his promotion to Glory. I’m sure the Lord Jesus came personally to welcome him home and see him safely to the other side. It would have been good to be present for such a meeting, even if I couldn’t see all that was happening, I know it would have been a special moment—perhaps shared by his recently departed friend Don Goetz.

What Paul wrote to Timothy (II Timothy 4:7&8) could have been written for Dr. Fred: “⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Dr. Fred was a great example of practical sainthood. One of many I've known and a great example for all of us in this community he quickly learned to love. Goodbye Brother. We'll miss you, but we'll see you in the morning.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Jeremiah's Prophecy

2011-09-13T11:12:00.001-04:00

In Jeremiah we read a prophecy of the Christ and of the times in which we now live. The key verse is 34, which reads “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

This is a prophecy of our time—a prophecy of Christ and of the times in which we live—the time from his resurrection to his return in glory. The prophecy has not been fully fulfilled but it is our task (the task of the people of God and our privilege) to help usher in the fullness of the Kingdom of God by the prayers of the saints, the witness of the risen Christ in our lives and in our testimonies, and, by the power of his Spirit fully revealed in the life and witness of the people of God!

Sometimes our hellfire and brimstone preaching sounds as if God is rubbing his hands in glee, thinking about the time when he can cast all those lost sinners into the lake of fire. But God’s word clearly states that his desire is for our salvation and for the salvation of the whole world. The Bible clearly states that hell was prepared, not for people, but for the devil and his demons. It is no place for people and God doesn’t want anyone to go there. Only Satan desires such and sin is the only thing that will put us there—not God.

Jesus asked us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now we know that in heaven everyone loves God and lives to praise him, so if the Lord ’s Prayer is answered, that means the time should come when everyone on earth loves God and serves him with all our hearts. I’m not talking about a future millennial age—I believe this is a prophecy for this present age.

The Jeremiah prophecy in chapter 31 verses 31-34 and especially verse 34, speaks of a time when everyone will know the Lord, when God will forgive our wickedness and no longer remember our sins. This can be nothing else but a prophecy of the Christ and his present kingdom.

It would appear that God’s heart is blessed more by vibrant faith than anything else and I think the reason is that it is God’s plan, through the faith, prayers, and witness of his people, to fulfill the kingdom as he saves lost souls through Christ and in so doing, transforms society, one life at a time. He is doing that now, all over the world! What a marvelous and exciting time we live in!

Just as God has poured out his Spirit into the lives of his people who have been saved through faith in Christ, he wants this same blessing for every human being on the face of the earth. God prophesied it long ago through Jeremiah and it is our glorious privilege to live in the time when the prophecy is being fulfilled. But it is not happening as fast as it ought to be!

It is not only our privilege, but our task, and our calling, to pray, as Jesus taught us, for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is our privilege to be Christ’s witnesses as we live transformed by his Spirit to do good works and thus glorify our Father in heaven.

I am told approximately one-third of the people on our planet are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is marvelous when you think that Jesus began with twelve not very competent disciples only about 2,000 years ago! But it’s not good enough! God loves everyone on earth! May the prophecy of Jeremiah be fulfilled in our day and may we each be privileged to join God in what he is doing and hopefully, see this prophecy fulfilled in our lifetimes!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Attitude is the Issue

2011-09-06T16:45:00.002-04:00

Following are words of a poem written by Daniel Sydney Warner sometime before 1895.

Some murmur when the sky is clear
And wholly bright to view,
If some small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue.
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light—
One ray of God’s good mercy guild
The darkness of their night.

Notice, Warner is really saying attitude is the issue. What situation we are in is important, but an even more important question is “How do we look at the situation in which we find ourselves?” Do we look only at the cloud or do we see the silver lining? Are we the type to complain about the one tiny cloud in a beautiful sky of blue? Or, the type to thank God for that one beautiful streak of moonlight shining through on a dark and lonely night?

The question we each need to ask is, What attitude do I have? When the sky is a beautiful blue with few, if any clouds, do I ignore the beauty and look instead at the small and insignificant clouds? What do I look for and expect? Do I notice the good or the not so good? When it rains is it a shower of blessing or do I let it ruin my day?

There are two kinds of people in the world (talk about a clique). But it really is true, as with most cliques! One kind always seems to look on the bright side, see the beauty, or the good, in every situation. Another kind always sees the bad, no matter how much good there is around.

The real questions is which kind of person do you want to be? What kind of person I am now is not as important as what I want to become. If I tell my brain what I want to be, this marvelous part of the human anatomy will work hard to help me become that. But we do have to tell our brains what we want. Our brains don’t make decisions for us. They merely obey what we tell them and work hard to help us achieve what we want. If I try to eat less in order to lose weight, but I continue to tell my brain, I am a fat person. My brain may help me continue to be what I tell it I am. Rather than cooperate with the diet, it will try to sabotage it.

That’s why attitude matters so much. Our attitudes communicate to our brains at a feeling level what is important to us and basically tells our brains what to work on. But the brain doesn’t just work on it, that marvelous brain of ours gets all of the other organs of our bodies working together to accomplish what it believes is important to us. If our attitudes say one thing, but our words say another, the brain trusts the attitude unless you tell your brain “My attitude stinks and I want to change it.”

Another thing that helps in this process of change is prayer. With prayer we can ask God’s help in the change process. However, God won’t always help. He only helps when the thing we desire is good for us. He is not like a brain to be bossed around. He is God. He loves us and wants what is best for us. It is better if we first ask God what is best for us and then seek his help to accomplish it.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

What it means to worship

2011-08-29T22:52:00.004-04:00

When we worship God, and we can only rightly use the word “worship” in regards to God, because nothing and no one else deserves our worship. But when we do worship God, all we do is

appreciate God at the level he deserves!

All of us like to be appreciated. And I mean genuine appreciation, not flattery. There is a huge difference. An example would be if someone says to me “Rick, you are absolutely the handsomest man on the face of the earth.” It does not make me feel good because I know it isn’t true. And I know they know it isn’t true. Flattery does not make us feel good, it makes us feel lied to. But when someone says something that is both good and true about you, you feel validated, affirmed and blessed, because this person cares enough to notice something good about you.

So when we worship God, or

appreciate him at the level he deserves

we cannot flatter him, because all superlatives of good are true about God. He is not only the best God there is, he is the only true and living God. He not only Created the best world we have ever seen, he is the only Creator of the entire universe, and all that is good and beautiful and true, including that which is too far away for us to see, even with the Hubble telescope, or too small for us to see, even with the most powerful microscope!

He loved us so much he sent Jesus, the Christ, to be our Savior—the savior of the entire world! “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the whole world through him might be saved.

Jesus loves us so much he sent us his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, to be with us and live in us.

Paul also helps us to understand that true worship is not only when we come together in holy places, but true worship is a life rightly lived in the purpose and power of God. In Romans 12:1(NIV) Paul writes, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

So we gather in holy places to worship God and in so doing, we worship him more effectively in every other hour of our lives and in every place we go because we now understand it is all holy ground.

Eternal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—we have come to praise you! You, who are light and life and truth and beauty and so many other superlatives beyond our comprehension. All we can offer you is genuine love, enduring faith, hearts bursting with praise and thanksgiving for your goodness to us, and a life well lived in the power of your Spirit. We lift our hearts in genuine offerings of praise and thanksgiving to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's "My View from Tanner Creek."

Missions on the Edge

2011-06-21T22:41:00.005-04:00

This is a guest article By C Stagner about one of the conferences at the North American Convention of the Church of God, beginning this Friday in Anderson, Indiana.

One World, One Mission: Missions on the Edge
by C. Stagner

What would it look like to be a Church of God congregation fully engaged in missions? How can a Church of God congregation be more fully involved in the global mandate of world evangelism and discipleship? Can Global Missions provide a platform to help you and your church live missions on the edge, entering the flow of what God is doing in the world? Yes, Global Missions can!

Global Missions will host One World, One Mission: Missions on the Edge on Saturday, June 25, in the Newberry Room at Park Place Church of God from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The $25 registration fee includes registration, a book, all materials, and lunch.

At the conference you will meet missionaries, international guests, missions pastors, and lead pastors with a heart that beats passionately for the world that God loves. Pastors and missions leaders from Church of God congregations will tell stories of how their involvement in Living Link (supporting missionaries), Project Link (supporting projects), and Eye on the World (global ministry trips) has influenced their church and given them a vibrant connection to global evangelism and discipleship.

When you attend this conference you will hear from people like yourself who have a global impact. You will get ideas as to how you and your church can enlarge your mission vision and participation. You will hear about cutting-edge ideas that are changing the way we do missions. You will receive a book and other materials to assist you in your mission involvement. You will enjoy lunch in the company of folks who are passionate about missions that fulfill our calling to global evangelism and discipleship.

Dr. Bob Edwards, director of the Global Ministries Group at Church of God Ministries, will introduce the guests and presenters at the conference and give an introduction to the day’s events. He will also give the latest information on the Global Gathering, a coming together of Church of God people from around the world that will take place in Anderson, Indiana, in June 2013. Guests from three churches will give presentations and share how their involvement in missions and partnership with Global Missions has given their churches energy, vision, and mission opportunities. There will be an opportunity for the audience to interact with the presenters.

Nathan Tatman, of County Line Church of God, in Auburn, Indiana, will present what his church is learning through the cohort his church and several other churches have developed to support and be involved in the ministry of Dave and Kathy Simpson, missionaries to Bulgaria. He will guide the audience to explore the concept and possibilities of cohorts and how they might affect involvement in missions.

You are invited to come, experience, participate, think, and learn in ways that will touch your heart and open doors of opportunity. To register, contact Candy Power at Global Missions: CPower@chog.org or 765 648-2129. You can also register online at www.chog.org; click on Events/North American Convention.

Rick's Note: I will be one of the presenters at this conference! I hope you can come!
I'm Rick Blumenberg,...and That's My View from Tanner Creek.

Yeast in the Bread of Society

2011-06-08T12:13:00.007-04:00

My parents grew up as a part of the Church of God reformation movement, also known as the Church of God, Anderson, Indiana, which identifies us according to where our national offices are located, and as opposed to other groups that use the name Church of God, with denominational offices in Ohio or Tennessee and elsewhere. When Mom married Dad, a divorced man, they apparently felt they didn't fit any more and in the early years of my life our family didn’t go to church on a regular basis.

My first church memory and experience came at a Baptist Church in the Southern California town of Ontario. At that time it was a small, sleepy town rather than the bustling metropolis it has become. There, a neighbor took me to church and I was saved as a kindergartner at an altar of prayer. Although it was genuine, and had a permanent effect on my life, when we moved back to Southeast Missouri and the family didn't attend church, I didn't either, except occasionally. Dad started attending the Dogwood Methodist Church, near our Bertrand, Missouri home and my siblings and I attended with him. He even taught a Sunday School class for young boys. He wasn't really a born again Christian yet, but everyone assumed he was, because he was such a good man.

Later, my parents got serious about church attendance when we moved to Pinhook, a rural community near Pulltight, in Mississippi County, Missouri. We then began to attend church regularly at the little Pulltight Church of God where Mom and Dad had attended as young people when their families lived on nearby farms in the community. Before long, my Dad was saved at a revival service when my mom's brother Linvel Arington was the evangelist. My Mom also renewed her relationship with the Lord and they were both baptized in one of the local ditches at an outdoor service.

I gave my heart permanently to the Lord at the age of fifteen in a revival service at Mounds Church of God, where my cousin, Alan Hendrix was pastor. Our Uncle, Linvel Arington, brother to both our mothers, was the evangelist. All these events changed our lives in marvelous ways. I thank God that His Spirit continues to work in our lives even when we think we've turned our backs on him. My parents got away from the church for a while, but they could never get totally away from the influence of godly parents and church family and friends. When the time was right, God's Spirit, in His always perfect timing, drew them back to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his salvation. Their lives were blessed and they blessed the lives of countless others.

You can see from the family involved in our conversions, that our family was a religious one. Preachers are so common that family gatherings are one place where preachers, although respected, are just treated like one of the family—because they are. Our families can be our greatest spiritual heritage. If, as you read this, you are a new Christian who didn’t grow up in a Christian home, don’t despair. Just realize that something special has begun in you that will transform for good the lives of your descendants, neighbors, friends and family. You will be the yeast in the bread of society and because of what God has done in you, the whole loaf of society around you will rise and be better because of what God has done in your life.

If you aren’t yet a Christian, didn’t grow up in a Christian home and feel totally left out of the word picture I have drawn, you need to realize that you too, have a godly heritage. God, our heavenly Father, who is Creator of the heavens and the earth, is also your heavenly Father. He loves you and even though you are now a prodigal, he wants you to come home to him and to the rest of the family. When you accept Christ as Savior and Lord, you also accept his family, which includes people of every nation and tribe, denomination, race, and society. With all its flaws and failures, yes, but also with all its glory and good. And, you can be the beginning of a heritage of godliness that will last for generations to come and be a blessing both here and in eternity.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Be All that You Can Be!

2011-05-07T21:18:00.002-04:00

That great Methodist missionary to India and all Christendom, Dr. E. Stanley Jones once said,

“If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives. Then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be.”

I think Dr. Jones was saying we need total surrender to the Holy Spirit at the deepest level of the human psyche in order to get the most out of life. He (the Holy Spirit) will only do this (take control) with our permission and will leave if we (horror of horrors!) decide to send him away. God has given us complete freedom to be what we want to be and no matter how much it breaks his heart when we turn away from him, He allows it.

But to get back to Jones’ quote, when we have the courage to surrender fully and completely to God’s Holy Spirit and give Him total freedom to lead, guide and direct us in every area of life, then we open ourselves to the unlimited power of God. This is very different than serving God with all our power. This is serving God with all His power! “…according to his power that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20(NIV)) Serving God in His perfect Will! Going wherever God wants us to Go! Doing whatever God wants us to do! Being whatever God wants us to be!

“But that’s impossible!” some say. “We are mere humans!” Not so fast there. Didn’t Jesus say (John 16:7(NIV)) “…It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Sometimes we think Jesus was mistaken about this. Wouldn’t it be better if he had stayed with us? No. It is better that God live in us through his Spirit. Then we become like Jesus—the perfect combination of humanity and divinity. Once we are filled with God’s Spirit we are no longer mere humans. We are the “Laos” (from whence comes the word Laity) the Divinely empower, Spirit-filled, people of God.

Notice how Dr. Jones says “Then we can…do…go…be anything we ought to be.” Full surrender to God’s Holy Spirit releases us from our own limitations and empowers us to live in the unlimited power of God.

But how do we do this? We do it when we give unlimited permission. I come from a faith tradition that teaches Christians to give total surrender to God through “sanctification”. This means a total surrender of the new creation we have become through faith in Christ, so the Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son indwells us to help us be our very best, accomplish the very most, go where He wants us to go and in all the being, doing and going, enjoy the warm, loving Presence of the eternal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s an incredible way to do life! Many other Christian groups use different terminology, but share much the same concept.

Does that mean we will never have issues, problems, difficulties, trials, etc.? No, unfortunately, it does not mean that. But it does mean we will never need to face our life issues in our own limited power or personal resources. Whatever we encounter in life, we do so with the unlimited resources of God’s Holy Spirit working in and through us for God’s (and our) good pleasure.

If we depend on the power of the flesh we will be limited to the power of the flesh. But if we depend on the power of the Spirit, we never find a limit!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Mama Still Sings

2011-04-16T21:43:00.004-04:00

Thinking about mom, Mollie Callie [Arington] Blumenberg

“Does your mother always sing?”

The question was asked by a schoolmate who had come home with me for the night.

“Well no,” I answered, “but I guess she does sing a lot.”

As I thought about my friend’s question I realized he was right. Mom almost always sang as she worked around the house. It was so much a part of my life I really didn’t think about it until he mentioned it, although I knew I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was just one of the good things in life I had always taken for granted.

That conversation took place many years ago, but I still remember because it helped me realize another thing for which I was thankful. Throughout my life I enjoyed Mom’s singing more because my classmate’s question made me realize it was something very special.

Later, as an adult I became interested in genealogy and began to do family research. I had faint memories of my great-grandparents, but until I began to trace our family tree I knew nothing beyond that. As I searched, researched, and talked with the old folks, I began to see patterns emerging that made me realize Mom’s singing went back for several generations.

One of Mom’s favorite Aunts, was Grandpa’s sister, Ethel Elliot. She lived into her nineties and a couple of times I visited with her and listened to and recorded her family stories. Born in the latter part of the nineteenth century (1899), she grew up on various farms in Western Kentucky where her father was a tenant farmer and her grandfather, my great-great grandfather, was a Baptist Preacher, church-planter and farmer. Great-great grandpa Wiley Jackson Arington moved his family to Ballard County, Kentucky from Obion County Tennessee in the late 1860s, shortly after the Civil War. He was a farmer by occupation and a church-planting minister by call of God—founding pastor of First Baptist Church in Wickliffe, Kentucky.

His Granddaughter (Aunt Ethel) recalled growing up in a time when life was primitive and you had to make your own fun. One way they did it, that brought back such good memories for her, was when her Dad, my Great “Grandpa Jack” Arington would get out his pitch pipe and the family would sing together. They sang gospel songs and fun songs and Tennessee mountain songs—in the summer on the front porch and in the winter around the stove, in the fields as they worked, and in church when they worshipped.

So Mom’s singing was in her genes. Her brothers and sisters sang naturally and beautifully at the slightest opportunity, or as they would say “At the drop of a hat”. Many played instruments, not so much to entertain others, although they sometimes do that, but just to entertain themselves, for the sheer joy of singing, and to worship the Lord.

At an Arington family reunion there is always a lot of “pickin’ and singin’”— and the songs continue now into at least the sixth generation. The Arington Family Reunion is held every year on the Sunday of Labor Day in Cunningham, Kentucky. The first one was held at least some time before 1869, somewhere in Tennessee.

Mom died about six and a half years ago on July 31, 2004, after living for years with Alzheimer’s disease. In those last years she usually didn’t know who we were when we came to visit until we would tell her. But she still remembered the old songs and until the very last, if you told her it was your birthday she could still sing “Happy Birthday” to you in a voice that was sweet and perfectly on key.

Now she’s in heaven, and I have no doubt the angels often stop to listen as she sings. But she won’t notice, or be aware of their attention, because, as she sings, she’ll be putting something in the oven or maybe hanging out the white robe laundry.

Mom, we were so blessed to grow up in your home. Your beautiful songs were typical of how beautiful you were.

I’m Rick Blumenberg, and that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

The Idolatry of Creationary Evolution

2011-03-12T21:24:00.002-05:00

The most widespread, vicious and prolonged attack on the concept of the Divine origins of our universe comes, not from atheists, but from those who claim to be atheists while espousing and worshiping the god of creationary evolution. Of course one hallmark of religion is the presence of faith—there are some things that cannot be proven and must be accepted by faith because there may never be objective proof or scientific evidence. Faith, however, to be worthy, must be rooted in something that is provable beyond reasonable doubt by evidence that is authentic and in enough abundance to not be an aberration. Creationary evolution fails miserably to meet such criteria. Creationary evolution scientists want us to accept by faith that the world came into being by purely natural phenomena. They insist that Darwinism is genuine science and Christianity, or any faith that teaches Creation by Divine fiat, is foolishness and fiction. They deride faith while actually being people of blind faith, if they really believe what they claim.

Now you may question why I call creationary evolutionists people of faith, but I ask you, where is the proof of their creator? Where is the evidence of their creation story? It doesn’t exist and only those who have blind faith in an unproven theory with no supporting evidence could possibly believe such nonsense.

Where is the fossil evidence of even one species that has mutated to a totally new species? Such evidence is a requirement for their claims to be taken seriously. Even Darwin, himself, I am told, said for his theory to be accepted as fact, it would need to be proven by evidence in the fossil record. Now, on the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s theory, that evidence is still missing, but the blind faith of creationary evolutionists is so vocal and determined to obliterate any concept of Divine creation, that they ridicule scientists who believe in intelligent design. The resistance is sometimes so strong I’ve heard they seek to trash believing scientists’ careers and drive them from scientific professions. People of blind faith cannot allow critical analysis of their faith or it will be proven inadequate at best and at worst, totally false. If you are a creationary evolutionist, clinging to a fallacy on blind faith there is nothing more frightening than critical analysis of your unsupportable theology.

On the other hand, where is the evidence of Divine creation? Does the universe indicate the presence of a creator? How likely is a mixture of chemical soup to grow into such an amazing thing as a human body in all its magnificence, or a human brain that can contemplate such possibilities? And the galaxies of the universe—how could they just happen, with no intelligence behind them? There is much evidence there must be intelligence behind the creation of our universe.

The difficulty, of course, is that evolution is a proven fact, so the preachers and priests of creationary evolution try to parlay this into proof that creation came about through evolution and that is where their argument fails.

The concept of the separation of church and state was created by thoughtful people who wanted to protect genuine religion from the rule of politicians. Now the religion of creationary evolution is being taught in our schools under the guise of scientific truth but the primary purpose is not scientific truth, but the destruction of genuine faith in the Creator God. We need to recognize this religion and reveal it in the public square for what it is—a false religion and pseudo science. It is a false religion that seeks to usurp the rightful place of truth and reason—and replace it with the absurdity of creationary evolution.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Ultimate Question

2011-02-23T11:43:00.004-05:00

It was a typical Wednesday in the church office—the normal hustle and bustle, but basically pretty quiet. The fire alarm went off and I thought “I don’t remember being told we would have a drill today.”

Moments later our executive pastor Greg came running down the stairs and I thought, “I don’t believe this is a drill. Maybe I should check this out.”

No one seemed to know the source of the alarm, so we all proceeded to empty the building as quickly as possible. The normal relaxed, friendly manner that is normal for the office, pre-school and the various activities of the day gave way to tense, hurry-up and get outside, anxiety prone, behaviors. The building was almost empty, except for the Women’s Ministries group, who went right on talking and visiting because they, like me, assumed this was just another drill for the pre-school. That is all except WM Director Sandy Mason. She came upstairs to check it out just in time to hear that it was a false alarm brought on when a child thought the pretty red box on the wall was something that looked like fun to play with. Sandy was still a bit perturbed that the ladies didn’t take it seriously so I gave her permission to give them a good scolding (which I had no authority to do).

Soon an email was sent out by Jennifer to let us all know “Today’s Fire Alarm was brought to you by a 2 year old who thought the lever on the wall looked cool.“

We all agreed it was a better fire drill than the normal drills because no one knew for sure what was happening. Now they’re trying to decide the ultimate question—should they discipline the two-year-old or give him an award for staging a successful fire drill?

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Cussing the Cow and Changing a Life—Thinking about our Dad—Roy Blumenberg

2011-01-26T21:16:00.004-05:00

It was sometime in the mid to late fifties—that idyllic time between the Korean War and the turbulent sixties. I was in the barn on our farm home in Southeast Missouri with my father. He was trying to milk a cow whose calf was stillborn and whose udder was swelling painfully from the abundant milk that was not being used. She was a young, fearful heifer who had never been milked and was no doubt painfully aware in some way that animals understand but cannot communicate, that her calf was gone. She was afraid of us, and was, no doubt, in intense pain, but the last thing she wanted was for somebody to milk her. She didn’t understand Dad was trying to help, or what he was trying to do and she did everything she could to prevent him from doing it, including kicking wickedly with her hind feet.

Dad was suffering from some of the licks she had gotten in and was about as angry as he could be. Some of the words I heard him say that day were not appropriate for a Christian to say and I was surprised to hear them. Dad had become a Christian just a few years before and I didn’t think he talked like that any more. I was, to say the least, a little bit shocked.

After more than an hour or so he got her milked enough that she was out of danger and finally got her to accept another calf he had purchased at the sale barn to replace the calf that had died. It was a tense, action packed morning, but it was finally over and came to what appeared to be (and later proved to be) a satisfactory conclusion. And then the most amazing thing happened.

My father, who was never a particularly articulate man, apologized to me for the language he had used. Rather awkwardly and stumbling a little with his words, he said something like this. “Rick, I know I said some things this morning that a Christian shouldn’t say. I lost my temper and used words I’m ashamed of. I’m sorry you had to hear it. I hope you know its not right for a Christian to talk like that. I’m trying to live a Christian life and I’m doing the best I can, but sometimes I fail pretty bad.”

I don’t remember if I answered Dad or responded in any way to his apology. I think I was too dumbfounded to speak. I also don’t remember any of the bad words he used. I know he didn’t use God’s name in vain, but they were words that were not appropriate for a Christian. What I do remember vividly was the humility of my father and the honor he showed me by his apology. There were times when that memory helped me ask my children to forgive my shortcomings. It was much easier for me because I had his example. Dad saw himself as a failure that day, but I’m convinced his heavenly Father was justifiably proud, as was I, that this fledgling Christian was growing into a genuine man of God and helping me along in the process.

I don’t remember ever again hearing my Dad use inappropriate language—other than an occasional "Son of a Buck!". (Those who knew him remember that very well.)

But there is something about confessing our sins in genuine humility to God, and when it has affected another human being, confessing to them as well, that cleanses us of that sin and gives us victory over it. God doesn’t ask us to confess our sins to embarrass or shame us, but to give us victory.

Quite often, “the things my heavenly Father teaches me” have come through my earthly father. Thanks, Dad. We were blessed to have you as our father.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Gift

2011-01-09T16:10:00.003-05:00

My great-niece Molly Beth wrote on Facebook about her boyfriend giving her books and she said how much she loves reading. It reminded me of the incredible gift we received from our parents...a love of reading. We passed this love of reading on to our girls and I know Barry (Molly Beth's grandfather) and all my siblings did the same.

Years ago I contemplated what a marvelous gift Mom and Dad gave us, what a blessing it has been and what a privilege it was to pass that gift on to our daughters Kathy and Twyla. As I thought about it years ago, the Lord gave me an idea for a poem, I entitled it "The Gift". Here it is. I hope you enjoy it.

The Gift
By Rick Blumenberg

I received it from my parents
a lifetime ago.
The family read together—
It was part of being home.

One reading, others listening,
Or each with a book alone....
In summer ’neath the shade tree
In winter by the stove.

We gave it to our children—
this gift of love received,
before they could know or understand
the words that we would read.

Dr. Zeus and Eggemeir,
The Train that Tried and the Little Red Hen—
We watched their bright eyes sparkle
When reading would begin.

And now our children's children
Are readers once again.
I don't know when it started.
I hope it never ends.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Thank God for Protection on the Highway!

2010-12-30T21:10:00.004-05:00

Tuesday afternoon of this week I was driving home to Bridgman on the westbound lane of I-94. There were actually three lanes in each direction and I was in the center. I had just gone under the Cleveland Avenue overpass and was approaching the one for Glenlord Road when I noticed a large, white, late-model car sideways across the inside eastbound lane. My first impression was that he was parked in the inside lane with his rear bumper in the middle lane and front bumper on the berm. In that split second I wondered, why would he park there on a busy highway? Then I realized he wasn’t parked, but was sliding sideways down the highway.

He had apparently just lost control. The car then went down into the median, hitting the bottom hard and bouncing up, then coming up out of the median onto the westbound lane. Fortunately, I was the only car in that part of the highway, but I quickly realized the scared-looking elderly couple was headed directly toward me. I was doing about 65 miles an hour (I was approaching a road repair area with a 60 mile speed limit) and I hit the brakes hard and quickly steered into the right lane planning to head for the ditch. However, the white car spun around in the center lane and slid backwards past me and into the inside westbound lane first, then across the berm and onto the dirt in the median, where it scattered dust and dirt clods before coming to an abrupt stop.

I looked into my rearview mirror to see the couple sitting there, apparently stunned and unbelieving they could have experienced all that and come out of it unscathed. I was almost as shook up as they seemed to be. I also noticed in my rearview mirror that about an eighth of a mile behind me all three lanes were full of traffic and two of them were at least two cars deep. If the driver had lost control a split second later he would have spun into a seven or more car pile-up and no doubt people would have died. I realized too, if we had collided in a head-on crash it could also have been very bad. As I drove on down the road, safe and with no damage at all, I thanked God fervently for his wonderful protection.

It could have been a very bad day, but instead it was a very good day and I give God all the glory. Praise God! From whom all blessings flow!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Confessions of a Christmas Lover

2010-12-27T21:09:00.007-05:00

Guest Essay by Kathy Gray

I confess. I love Christmas—all of Christmas. I love decorating trees and fireplaces; I love twinkly lights and baking Christmas cookies. I love silly Christmas movies with silly stories. And yes, I love gifts. I LOVE gifts—unapologetically.

I love finding the perfect gifts and the excitement of giving them. I love the thrill of a gift-heaped tree and the anticipation of all the surprises. I love opening presents all morning and enjoying them all afternoon. And...

I think God enjoys it too. I think he's a Father in heaven that finds pleasure in joyful, excited kids, just like we do. And I believe we glorify him more in our overflowing joy, than our dour admonitions to "have the right focus."

What exactly is "the right focus" anyway? I'm curious. If someone went to a remote part of the world today and discovered a pagan holiday, imbibed it with religious significance, then declared that March 14th was the day we were all to observe this—would we be obligated? Would God expect us to focus extra hard on that specific truth because some Christian somewhere decided this was a good idea? God gave numerous celebrations in Scripture, loaded with spiritual significance, which we routinely ignore. But the revised pagan celebration from ancient England, which is nowhere to be found in the Bible—we endlessly admonish ourselves for neglecting. How ironic.

I love thinking about the incarnation. It is an awesome and stunning reality that deserves to be renewed regularly in our hearts. But I feel no more obligation to do so in December than I do in July. There is nothing Biblically binding about our Christmas celebration beyond the principles that apply to every day of our lives such as goodness, faithfulness, generosity, gratitude, contentment, peace, joy, patience, and kindness.

I'm not sure what it says about us when the pagans exhibit more joy in their holiday celebrations than we do. I think we should be the merriest people on earth, exhibiting such contagious joy that everyone around us is asking why we enjoy life so much. If I were an unbeliever, I would certainly NOT want to be a Christian during Christmas...with the incessant guilt-laden admonitions, dour expressions, and weary sighs. Nothing about this is attractive.

So no, I don't feel guilty in the least during the holiday season for not focusing enough on Jesus' birth. I feel the same freedom I feel every day of the week to focus on Christ in a whole array of ways. And yes, I love Christmas. I choose to focus on Christ by observing that he gave the most amazing gift to those he loved when he came to earth. Consequently, I want to have a generous heart towards those I love as well. I want to reflect his goodness by rejoicing in the fact that every good and perfect gift is from the Father above, and he gives these good gifts for our enjoyment. I want to honor him with exceeding joy and gratitude in the midst of all these good gifts. And if any unbelievers are watching, I want my joy and celebration to be irresistible.

Meet Kathy Gray. . .

Kathy Gray is our daughter, a home-school mom, a teacher par excellance, and, as you can see, an excellent writer—and a lover of Christmas. She, and our daughter Twyla, get their writing ability from me (and my mother) and their love of Christmas from their mother, my wife, Carol. (I actually enjoy it almost as much, but only because of how well Carol and the girls pull it off. They all three love to give gifts that fit and bring happiness to the people they love, and like Kathy, I think that’s a virtue to praise God for, not a behavior to be ashamed of.

Thanks Kathy, for a beautiful essay and a wonderful statement of faith. I love you!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

A Good Book to Read

2010-12-27T11:18:00.005-05:00

I recently came across a book I really enjoyed and recommend to everyone who uses statistics about the church in your preaching or teaching. The book is “Christians Are Hate-filled Hypocrites…and Other Lies You’ve Been Told”, by Bradley R. E. Wright, PhD.

According to the information on the back cover, Dr. Wright is “Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Connecticut, where he researches American Christianity.” His book de-bunks many of the negative things we’ve heard about the church through the years.

For years I have grouched and complained about how George Barna throws around what I consider to be bogus negative statistics about the church. If we believed him (I don’t but many preachers do) we would think God’s church was a total failure and was headed for extinction within a very short time.

I don’t believe him at all. I think, in spite of the fact there are failures among the congregations in our own movement and in every denomination, that for the most part God’s church is a marvelous success.

One example in which Dr. Wright challenges Barna’s writing is in the off repeated statistic that Christians get divorced as often as non-Christians. I’ve bored my friends and colleagues for years telling them this is simply not true! When I ask, “Is this true among the Christians you know?” they admit it isn’t, but they assume the statistic is true because someone wrote it down. As you can imagine, that does not make it true.

The interesting thing about the above book is that he challenges many of the negative statistics about Christians in general as well as the church and does it very intelligently, with a smattering of humor that makes it a little easier to read.

I’m a preacher myself, but I refuse to use statistics unless they both make sense and can be validated—otherwise I make it clear to my hearers that I am aware statistics are only as valid as the research on which they are based.

According to Dr. Wright, there is one area where the church is not very successful and that is in the area of bigotry. We have a problem loving people who are different than we are, that isn’t really a problem unless you consider the fact that loving people is the most important thing we are supposed to do. Unfortunately, I believe this statistic because I have seen it lived out in many churches.

In spite of this one weakness, the church is a highly successful organization, institution, movement, or whatever we want to call it. There is no doubt it is getting better all the time, it is growing rapidly throughout the world, and it helps people to be better people. I think we should praise God for that, and also thank God for Dr. Bradley Wright’s book. You should read it too. And he has a most enlightening blog you can read at www.brewright.blogspot.com. I also encourage you to check that out.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

A Nod to Heroes We’ve Met

2010-12-07T10:20:00.004-05:00

Recently the nation of Chile became the focus of world-wide attention when it was discovered that thirty-three miners who had been trapped a half mile underground by an explosion, were alive. This event and the success of the effort to rescue them caused the word “hero” to be tossed around indiscriminately and I would like to consider the various heroes and heroines involved in this amazing rescue.

Heroes to consider:

-the miners, who stayed strong emotionally, physically and mentally and who helped with their own rescue.

-the world mining community who joined with their cohorts in Brazil to bring together all the knowledge, skill and equipment possible and who worked as an international team to pull it off.

-perhaps even the newsmen and women, who left homes and families to go to Brazil to show and tell the world what was happening.

-certainly the families of the men who never gave up hope and who prayed for their safety.

-But also, the prayer warriors around the world who did not know any of the men or their families, but who, nevertheless, prayed consistently through the many weeks of the rescue effort. They were the unsung heroes and heroines—faithful persons of great faith, from a multitude of church groups and even different religions, who prayed for the miners, their families, the rescuers and all those involved.

But mostly, praise be to God, the greatest Hero of all. Who is present wherever we find ourselves and who is always available when we open our hearts to Him.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

God's Comfort

2010-08-24T13:26:00.004-04:00

Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”

Many times we try to spiritualize this beatitude and make it mean something spiritual in nature but I believe Jesus was dealing with a very important part of the human psyche that is often damaged by not knowing how to properly deal with loss. Grief is a normal part of life on earth. We’re in a temporary situation. People die. Things get lost. Favorite clothes wear out. Friends move away. Loss will always be a part of our lives as long as we live. None of us live forever in this life, so all of us will die and when someone dies, it is not only normal, but helpful, to grieve.

When Jesus told us to mourn, it was so we could experience comfort. He wanted us to know loss is important and should be dealt with constructively. For example, we can know a deceased loved one is with the Lord and doing well in eternal bliss, but we still miss them terribly and we need to grieve our loss in order to receive God’s comfort.

Jesus included mourning in his list of beatitudes so we could understand that grief is God’s gift to deal with the temporary nature of all things earthly. Since loss is a normal part of the human condition and it can sometimes be devastating, we need to learn how to deal with it.

Sometimes the loss will be minimal and fleeting—such as the loss of a beautiful flower that fades. You are sorry the beauty is gone and it must be discarded, but the mourning is minimal because it was expected and can be replaced by another flower or a work of art that pictures the flower.

But sometimes the losses are huge as we mentioned earlier, such as the death of a family member or friend. Or, the loss of a job we depended on for income and life purpose. In such tragic or difficult situations the pain can be excruciating and extended. If we ignore the pain or try to stuff it down somewhere into the inner parts of our psyche, the pain will not go away, it will just fester and boil until it finally breaks out in some physical or emotionally unhealthy way.

So, as Jesus said, we need to grieve our loses. The grief should be appropriate—we should not grieve to the point of being inconsolable for an insignificant loss, nor should we try to move on too quickly when the loss is considerable. But whatever the situation, be sure to grieve your losses so you can experience God’s comfort.

Notice Jesus didn’t just say “Blessed are they that mourn”. He continued with the encouraging words “for they shall be comforted.” Notice particularly that he said “be” comforted. This implies someone else is involved in the comfort and I think we can assume he meant God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we grieve our losses, we experience God’s comfort. When we help someone to grieve appropriately, we work together with God in his comforting work.

At the loss of a loved one, grief is God’s way of helping you through this difficult time to victory in the days ahead, so just let him love you and share your grief. Take the time you need to find healing. Grief is God’s process to bring you complete healing, but it takes time. Time is part of the healing, so don’t rush anything so significant.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Earth, The Cradle of Life

2010-08-10T16:36:00.003-04:00

John tells us in his first letter to the church that "...God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (I John 5:11-12)

In other words, life does not exist without Jesus Christ.

Physical life is dependent upon Jesus because He is both Creator and Sustainer of all life. Every living creature, all minerals and plant life exist through the life of Jesus. Apparently, if He would cease to live, all other life would instantly cease as well.

Does this mean the cycles of life—spring, summer, fall and winter might lose their consistency? Atoms, which make up everything physical, would dissolve? Planets and other heavenly bodies might fly out of orbit and explode into nothingness? I’m not sure, but I know without Jesus, creation would return to the void from which it came.

Jesus, of course, who is himself God, will always live as Creator and Source of all of life (both physical and eternal) because as God He cannot die. He created physical life as a cradle for eternal life. The cradle is temporary, as all cradles are, but it is God’s plan that during physical life, in Christ we discover a oneness with our Creator and begin to live in the fullness and abundance of His Life, which is not temporary at all, but everlasting, or eternal.

Paul wrote about it in Acts 17:24-28(NIV).
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.'…”

In this life we all live in the Presence of God through Jesus Christ and enjoy the benefits of his Life even though many don't know him, or, if they know him, they reject him for some trivial thing they think is more valuable. However, as long as we live this earthly life, whether or not we recognize it, we experience God through Jesus Christ because He is the Lord of all creation.

Tragically some people leave the cradle of life without ever discovering its purpose—eternal life in heaven, the maturity of human life. Or, having discovered it, they reject it and go into eternity totally unprepared—living and dying without ever knowing the eternal life for which they were created, wastefully discarding the enormous efforts of God in our behalf.

On the other hand, those who find the true meaning of life discover in this cradle experience a freshness and vitality that flows freely from the Life of Jesus. And when we leave this infancy of the temporal it is not really death (although we call it that) but a casting away of the shackles of our dependence on temporary physical life and a joyful acceptance of our promotion into the fullness of the abundant, eternal life for which we were created.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

(This article was first published as a column in "Insights" in the Herald-Palladium newspaper, St Joseph, Michigan)

Church of God "Identity"

2010-05-31T23:31:00.003-04:00

My Comment on Church of God “Identity”
written by Lloyd Moritz for CHOG Blog

Brother Lloyd,

I enjoyed your “Identity” commentary on the “identity problem” in the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana). I think you’re getting really close to the issue. The real problem, as I see it, is that we aren’t supposed to have an identity except to be the people of God. Our identity as the church of God is to be the people of God along with every other believer in the world, regardless of what name they have over the door of their church, and to work together with all other believers to make every person on earth a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we try to have an identity other than that, we cease to be the true church of God.

D. S. Warner’s view of the church may not have been perfect, but he “saw the church” as the body of Christ, whose main purpose is to be the body of Christ by being his witnesses and making disciples in every culture, in every era—disciples that will continue to do the same as long as the world stands. We sometimes do other things, but everything we do, publishing, education, etc., should tie in with that central purpose.

Our identity is tied to the Lord Jesus Christ and his purpose. If we have an identity other than that we have lost our true identity.
Monday, May 31, 2010 7:42:00 PM

Additionally, here are some thoughts I have written in the past about the Church of God. . .

“Tell Me about the Church of God
By Rick Blumenberg

The Biblical word for church is Eklesia (Ek-lay-see’-uh). What it really means is a gathering of God’s people. So any time you find a gathering of people who love God and are doing their best to serve them you find the church of God. It doesn’t matter what name they use, or even if they have a name. All that matters is in whose name they gather.

So when we call ourselves the Church of God we don’t mean God belongs to us, we mean it is our earnest desire that we belong to God. We do not see ourselves as being God’s exclusive people, but as a people who want to belong exclusively to God. We don’t see other churches as being our competitors, but as brothers and sisters in the family of God who just happen to worship God in another place, and, maybe with a different name.

We are a church that believes God’s Word, the Bible, is the foundation of truth for all we do, teach and live. It is the first source of wisdom and the final authority in all of life. It is a book we love because it teaches us to know, love and serve God— Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with all our hearts.

We believe God wants everyone to come to know him as Savior and Lord of their lives and our reason for existence is threefold— to lead people to a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, his Son and our Savior; to help them grow into fully devoted and Spirit-filled disciples of Christ; and to worship God with all of our being.

We believe a person is born into the church when they repent of sin and accept Christ as Savior by faith. We also believe every Christian should find a local church home in which they can grow in their understanding of God and serve him faithfully, in the church, in their homes and in the community.

We consider every believer to be a minister of the Gospel with spiritual gifts given by God to help us be fruitful in ministry and joyfully productive in God’s service.”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Intimacy With God

2010-05-16T22:23:00.003-04:00

When Jesus met with his disciples for his final Passover feast he fully understood what was soon to transpire. The disciples, however, did not. They had no idea Jesus’ time as a human being would soon be over and he was preparing them to take over in his absence. His plan was to leave the work of the kingdom in their very incapable hands. He was also preparing them for a new intimacy with God that would make them fully capable.

They had no idea Pentecost was coming and what a tremendous difference it would make in the life of every believer and the world. Jesus knew, but they didn’t have a clue. Jesus told them later (John 16:7) “It is better for you that I go away....” No longer would the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—need to be the God “out there”. He would be Emmanuel—God with us! God within us! A new intimacy with God that the world had never before experienced, except in the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He, Jesus, knew what it was like and he wanted us all to experience it.

No longer would Jesus, the son of the only true and living God, be limited to one time and one place. Instead of walking with these few disciples on the dusty roads of Galilee, he would soon be able to live in them through the indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit, and not only these first century disciples, but every other disciple on earth who would accept him as Savior and welcome his Spirit into their hearts and lives. Instead of one Christ living in one place, at one time on earth, we would have a race of “Christs”— living, loving, working, and serving everywhere his people would be. Paul later described this new “body of Christ” that was no longer limited to one human body, when, in Romans 12:5 he wrote “…in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” So wherever we go, Christ goes. Instead of being limited to one body, Christ knew he would eventually be present in millions of physical bodies in every culture, in every geographical area and in every era of world history!

We live in the best of times! The time of the indwelling Presence of the most High God, when everyone who accepts him becomes part of his spiritual body—one with every other believer in heaven and on earth! Every believer is in the family—a family made up of brothers and sisters of every race and culture.

The sad thing is that God’s plan is not yet accomplished. He desires all his children (every human being) to have the intimate relationship of his indwelling Spirit. Jesus asked all believers to pray for that to happen. He taught us to pray to our heavenly Father “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10(NIV) Jesus further clarifies God’s will in his teaching to Nicodemus recorded in John 3:16-17(NIV): “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Later Paul wrote that God “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4(ESV)) and in II Peter 3:9 it is written the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

God created us to be eternal and wants everyone on earth to have this intimate relationship with him and begin the experience of everlasting life.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Second Step

2010-05-03T15:04:00.003-04:00

"...We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." —II Corinthians 5:20b, 21(NIV)

The Righteousness of God means God's type of righteousness (based on love not legalism); a God-provided righteousness (rather than human self-righteousness); a self-chosen righteousness (God doesn't force it); and a self-imposed righteousness (no one can impose it on anyone else). And, when God's righteousness is in human flesh, except with Jesus, it is always a righteousness in process.

The work Christ did on the cross was an act of God we benefit from when we accept it by faith. However, the work Christ continually does through His Spirit brings us in line with the character of God so that "in him we might become the righteousness of God."

The Holy Spirit helps us attain the Christ-like life in a two-step process some of us call sanctification. We say "I must sanctify myself" (alluding to consecration). Or, we say "I must be sanctified" (alluding to purification). Both are correct uses of the word and statements of what happens in sanctification.

To sanctify is to "consecrate" or set aside for a holy purpose (as in Leviticus 11:44a). In consecration we surrender completely to God for His Holy purposes—living all of life under the Lordship of Christ and under the leadership of His Holy Spirit. To sanctify also means to "purify" or make pure or holy, as in John 17:17 when Jesus prayed for his disciples, saying, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
In this purifying part of Sanctification we depend totally on God to work in our lives and restore us to His image because it is a work we cannot do ourselves. We merely surrender ourselves to him and ask him to do it in us and for us. So the first part of sanctification—consecration, is a work, or surrender, we must do before God's Spirit can fill us, because the power of God's Spirit cannot be released into a life not surrendered to God. The second part of sanctification—purification, is a work God does through his Spirit when he is allowed to fully enter our lives.

This purifying work is also both an action and a process. The action takes place when we crucify our selfish unholy spirit (a work only we can do) and ask God to fill us with His Holy Spirit and give us a new nature (a work only He can do). Most failures in Christian living come when we try to do the Spirit's work—we surrender to God then proceed to reclaim the life we gave Him and try to make it good by our own methods, causing severe discouragement in Christian living. However much we try, we always fail because we can never become good enough by our own efforts. Salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit begins the process so God’s Spirit has freedom to do what will require a lifetime to fully accomplish.

The Holy Spirit's work of leading us "into all truth" is part of the sanctifying process. Jesus also said, "Your word is truth" so we can see by this that the Holy Spirit uses Scripture in the sanctifying process, not only teaching us what we should do but helping us do it. You can rest assured God's Spirit never does anything in us or to us without our willing permission, however, those who learn to trust God, know the best way to live is to give Him absolute freedom in all of life.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The "Jesus Way" to Salvation

2010-04-21T15:51:00.004-04:00

Jesus outlined the way to salvation when he explained to Nicodemus why his faith was not satisfactory. It was obvious Nicodemus had never experienced a spiritual birth, and Jesus seemed to find that astonishing, that a Jew who was a significant spiritual leader had never been born of the Spirit. You may be like Nicodemus or you may know someone like him, who is an earnest seeker after salvation and genuinely wants to know God in a personal way, but they are seeking it through their natural birth rather than a spiritual one. Let me explain what I see as the “Jesus way” to salvation.

Two Births are Required—
When Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be re-born Nicodemus assumed he meant a second physical birth, and he found that to be beyond comprehension, so Jesus had to explain. “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:5) I emphasize the “and” because I believe that is how Jesus spoke this sentence. I am convinced “born of water” was Jesus’ way of defining physical birth. I don’t believe Jesus meant baptism, although some Christians interpret it this way and they could be right. I think Jesus was saying, that being human is not enough. You are a child of God by “creation” a relationship that begins at conception, if not before. But he wanted Nicodemus (and us) to understand we must also be born “spiritually” or of the Spirit. He makes this even more clear when he went on to say, in verse six, “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”

You must be born again….of the Spirit”
The Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus. Everyone who believes in Jesus (Verse 15) will have eternal life. This is not a general or half-hearted faith, but a confidence that Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection are all a part of God’s plan for our salvation through Christ. “The Son of Man must be lifted up.” (Verse 14) shows us the essential nature of Christ’s death for our salvation. Without it we could not have the personal relationship with God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) that God makes possible through Christ. To be born of the Spirit is to allow the Holy Spirit of God to lead us into a personal relationship with the most high God. Verses 16-18 make it clear that until we experience that personal relationship with God, we exist in a state of condemnation through unbelief. Verse 21 shows us “whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, our problem is that we sometimes let the “method” get in the way. Practically every different branch of the Christian church tends to have a different method to lead people into the light of Christ. Our methods also change with the times. Some use Christian Education, or catechism, some beginning almost from birth. Others use an altar of prayer or “mourner’s bench” and there are a multitude of other ways Christians use to profess our faith in Christ. The important thing, however, is the genuineness of faith and the relationship we have with God through faith.

The methods may vary and some may be better than others and each of us may prefer our method over others, but it is not the method, but the person that is most important. We must not place our faith in the method, but in the person—Jesus Christ. That’s why I call it the “Jesus Way” to salvation. And why I believe it is the only way there is.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

New Beginnings—First Church at Benton Heights!

2010-03-31T12:12:00.007-04:00

You can’t say that without an exclamation point! These two weeks have been days of excitement and glory as God powerfully touched lives. Many so touched are totally new to our congregation, First Church of God, St Joseph/Benton Harbor, Michigan. God is blessing big time and as Pastor Mary said for all of us, “I am so blessed and privileged to be part of what God is doing here.”

Hundreds have given uncountable hours cleaning, repairing, re-building and beautifying this wonderful old temple under the leadership of Pastor Greg Gordon and his marvelous voluntary crew. Dozens more joined Outreach Ministry Director Jenny Fry in creative and joyful ways to tell the community God loves them and so do we.

It all started when Benton Heights lay leader Brother Jim Benson called me, an associate pastor at First Church to ask if I could help Benton Heights by preaching for them until they got a pastor. As we talked I agreed to meet with them and see what we could do to help. I knew State Pastor and Overseer for the Church of God in Michigan, Reverend Bill Jones had been working with them and knew they were struggling to survive.

I also knew that for the past two years or so, First Church had been praying, dreaming and planning to begin a satellite ministry to Benton Harbor and all Berrien County. The question was where to begin. As soon as Lead Pastor David Colp heard about the Benton Heights request, a light came on in his eyes and he said excitedly, “Maybe this will be our first satellite site!” With Pastor Colp’s encouragement and blessing I met with Brother and Sister Jim (Lisette) Benson. They were very positive about the possibility of becoming a satellite ministry of First Church and assured me the congregation would whole-heartedly accept it. A subsequent meeting with the congregation’s leaders, Pastor Colp and other First Church staff, as well as Advisory Council Chair Jim Schueneman, affirmed that assumption and the process began in earnest.

Pastor Colp shared first with the Advisory Council, then with their enthusiastic blessing, with the entire congregation, and our new phase of outreach ministry began to take shape. The decision was made that regardless of what Benton Heights decided, this was the direction God was leading First Church. The First Church congregation enthusiastically supported the concept with their words of encouragement, prayers, financial support, time and talents. It was a small beginning that quickly became a total church effort.

The first day I talked with Brother Jim Benson was a Wednesday and that night I shared with my Wednesday night prayer group and asked them to pray for Benton Heights Church of God and for God to lead in what He wanted to happen there. That prayer mandate was enthusiastically accepted and it soon spread to the congregation as Pastor Colp began to share the vision, asking the church to pray for God’s direction.

For the first few weeks in November, 2009, I preached at Benton Heights and Lead Pastor David Colp arranged meetings between the leadership at First Church and Benton Heights. The fellowship was good and it seemed good to all to seriously consider joining our ministries to more effectively reach our communities. Instead of doing all the praching, I arranged for Pastors Bob Confer, Mary Shawl-Ranke, Bill Shepard, and Ryan Carrell to preach at Benton Heights, share the vision for their ministries, and tell how each of them and all our pastoral staff would cooperate to help the Benton Heights congregation move ahead. State Pastor and Overseer Bill Jones joined some of those meetings and encouraged Benton Heights to join forces with St Joseph First Church. He also explained how to handle the merger so we didn’t break any laws (or hearts) and so God would be glorified. His leadership, encouragement and expertise were invaluable.

On Sunday, February 7th, we held the last service as Benton Heights Church of God. It was a strange mixture of sadness and excitement. We knew something beautiful was ending, but something wonderful was also being born. Southwest Michigan State Pastor James Sparks came from Battle Creek, Micihgan to preach and encourage the congregation—thanking them for their sixty years of ministry, but also for their willingness to make drastic changes so they could continue to serve God effectively. Then for three weeks the congregation at Benton Heights joined First Church in St Joseph to, as Pastor Colp expressed it, “Experience the DNA of First Church at St Joseph”. That’s when Pastor Gordon’s voluntary crew of hundreds descended on Benton Heights to get it ready for the new normal. It was an amazing transformation and joyful prayer-filled labors as the two congregations worked together to renew the building for a new era of ministry.

Then Sunday, March 7, 2010, Rev. Mary Shawl-Ranke preached her first sermon as Campus Pastor to eighty persons (the Benton Heights Congregation and the “Core 50” from First Church). The next Sunday Pastor Colp preached on video (which will be the norm) with live preaching every six to eight weeks by Pastor Mary, sometimes Pastor myself, and ever so occasionally Pastor Colp. These first two services were a “soft opening” so we could learn to do church together as a congregation, before inviting the community to join us for worship.

And join us they did! A house full—158 people gathered for the “Grand Re-Opening” Sunday, March 21st! About ninety were new to the Church of God. Most were seeking a church home, but unsure they were welcome. Like a united nations of Berrien County many white families, a significant number of African-American families and several Hispanic families joined our warm fellowship. It was beautiful!

Brother Art Gift and the worship team led us in joyful, praise-filled worship of God, then Pastor Mary introduced Lead Pastor Colp (live no less) to preach his first sermon at the new First Church at Benton Heights. The congregation gave him a warm and welcome applause. The message was powerful and many responded to his encouragement to let God help them be the people He created them to be.

Thirty three children had their first experience at the new Benton Heights that day, led by First Church Children’s Pastor Bill Shepard (or Mr. Bill!), FCBH Ministry Director Ellen Russell, and their loving staff of children’s workers.

For our second Sunday, and the new normal First Church at Benton Heights, more than ninety people gathered. God has answered the prayers of his people—from both congregations, now one congregation meeting in five (count them) five different venues—Saturday night worship at 6, Sunday Sanctuary worship at 9:30, two 11:00 worships, one in the Family Life Center and one at Benton Heights, with the Young Adults, who gather at the Old Box Factory on a monthly basis to worship God and find warm fellowship. How good it is when God’s people worship together in unity, even when it is in several different locations!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Steps to Salvation

2010-03-06T23:04:00.002-05:00

I believe a personal relationship with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. When you see a person who is happy and contented, lives a fulfilled and productive life, handles difficulties and tragedies with grace that seems extraordinary or totally unbelievable, rest assured, what you see is not human strength, but the grace that comes from God. It is available to everyone who will accept it by faith. In the next few paragraphs I would like to share how you can experience this for yourself.

The first step is confession of sin. The Bible tells us “If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) So confession to God—admitting the sin in our lives—is the first step.

The second step to a personal relationship with God is repentance. The Bible says “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. (Acts 3:19a) In other words, we tell God we are sorry for our rebellion against him, our neglect of a relationship with him and our tendency to do our own thing with no regard for what He knows is best for us. There may also be specific sin that should be confessed. God already knows all about us, but for our own sake, we confess sin so we can be rid of it. Sin destroys people and it is something we all have to deal with until we surrender our lives to God. Even after we make a full surrender to God, our enemy Satan will try to interfere and it is important that we depend on God’s Spirit to be our friend and companion and give strength and guidance for whatever we face.

The third step to salvation is to “Believe on the Lord Jesus,…” (Acts16:31a). Belief, however, is more than mental agreement. This belief is a firm acknowledgement that Christ is the only means of salvation. But, and this is important, he is also all that is needed. Jesus Christ, God’s son, came to earth with the express purpose of making salvation available to all.

The remainder of this verse (Acts 16:31b) continues “and you will be saved—both you and your household.” We are saved from a life of sin, not by our own good works, but through faith in Christ, and a commitment to serve him to the best of our ability for the rest of our lives. That is not a life sentence, but a promise of an abundant life that is also eternal. Heaven really begins when we accept Christ as Savior and as long as we trust in him we live, even when we die. When we accept Christ as Savior, death becomes a mere doorway through which we walk into an even greater life.

I encourage you to pray through these three steps. Just talk, personally and from your heart, with God as if he were sitting right there with you. He is.

The final step in the abundant life with God is to continue to live your life surrendered to him. He loves you and wants what is best for you. You can trust him to guide you and give you the strength you need to serve him and be the best spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, worker, boss, etc. that you can be. God’s power will flow into and out through you, to help you be all he wants you to be, and do all he wants you to do. Trust him that what he wants for you is what you would want if you knew as much about life and the future as He knows.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Most Important Job in the World

2010-02-16T22:28:00.003-05:00

Many good things are happening in the church and in the world. More living people know Christ as Savior now than at any time in the history of the world! The gospel is being published more broadly than at any time in the past. But that doesn’t change the urgency of the evangelistic task because there are also more people who are lost today than ever in the history of the world, simply because world population is growing faster than we are evangelizing.

Even though much good is being accomplished in the kingdom, I am convinced that the most important task for Christians, is to pray. To pray for the good of the saints, for the salvation of the lost and for the success of every godly effort. But even more than all that, we pray just for the sheer joy of talking to God! What an awesome privilege we have, to talk personally at any time with the Creator of the universe, who is also our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Again, what an awesome privilege.

By praying for them, we can bless all those we love. Praying, as scripture teaches, that they will prosper and be in health even as their souls prosper. We can help to accomplish God’s will on earth and for those we love, simply by praying.

Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I think that means God wants everyone to be saved, so we need to pray for that on a regular basis. Paul wrote to Timothy that God “desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4^(ESV)) and in II Peter 3:9 he wrote that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” So a relationship with God through Christ is the first priority of God, and should be of every Christian. That won't happen unless people pray.

I say prayer is the most important work of God’s kingdom because every other good work depends on prayer for its greatest effectiveness. Without prayer no other work for God will have any great success. Preachers who don’t pray can’t preach anything worth listening too. Singers who don’t pray can’t sing with the power of the Spirit. Everything we do for God must be bathed in prayer if it is to be effective. Prayer is the most important work of the kingdom.

The wonderful thing is that prayer is also a work every Christian can do! Isn’t it marvelous that God makes the most important work the work of all Christians? He didn’t reserve the best and most important work for a few elite people, instead he allowed it to be a work we all can do.

Imagine if every Christian, every day, would 1) Pray for all the saints, 2) Pray for all the lost people on earth to be saved, and 3) Pray for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven! There is absolutely nothing we can do that would have a greater effect for good and for God!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Full Surrender

2009-12-09T15:28:00.003-05:00

Surrender is vital to Christian maturity. Even after accepting Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the work of the Spirit is limited unless we remain fully surrendered to His work in and through us. God cannot bring us to Christ-like maturity unless we give His Spirit freedom to work.
Surrender is not a ritual where God arbitrarily blesses the obedient—nor a form of Holy magic where God waves a wand and we suddenly become super-saints. Neither do we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, then give God the glory just to be nice. Christian maturity is a blend of human and Divine surrender. We surrender our weakness. God surrenders His strength. We surrender our sin. God surrenders His holiness. We surrender our resistance. God surrenders his assistance. If we live in full surrender, God will continue to work in our lives.
The work of the Holy Spirit is similar to the power steering unit in an automobile. The driver decides when and where to turn and the power steering unit supplies power to accomplish it. However, when we go outside the will of God, God must withdraw His Spirit to avoid helping us do what is not His will and not for our good. When God withdraws the power of his Spirit from our lives it is like an automobile engine that dies while the car is still moving—the car becomes extremely difficult to steer. If life is not going right we need to carefully consider what the reason may be. Could it be we are outside the will of God in action, activity or attitude?
Life in Christ means becoming more like Jesus—our main task and the primary work of the Holy Spirit working in us. He constantly seeks to restore in us the image of God lost first by Adam through disobedience, and secondly by us when we personally choose sin. Our every disobedience distorts God's image in our lives, and the farther we go outside God’s will, the more work God's Spirit must do to restore us to what God created us to be.
The surrendered life helps us become more Spirit-directed in daily living. Learning to live under the Spirit's constant direction saves us from many heartaches as well as much wasted time and effort. After all, God knows everything—even the future. He knows the ramifications of all our possible decisions before we even make them. He knows what we should do to achieve the best for our lives. If our desires agree with His Will, we can count on God to help us accomplish them. When we live in disobedience to God we must live without God’s help. (Although not entirely, we could not survive at all if God totally withdrew his support for life. The Bible makes it clear that: “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28(NIV)).
But when we try to live the Christian life without the infilling of Christ’s Spirit we ignore our greatest help, because the most significant help for spiritual growth is the active power of God’s Spirit working in believers’ lives. Is it surprising Jesus told his disciples to wait until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit to begin their witness?
The surrendered life also helps us become more useful in God’s Kingdom. If our desire is to be more useful for God we can depend on Him to be constantly refining us to make our lives pure spiritual gold.
Remember, we are created in His Image to the Glory of God; distorted by sin to the disappointment of God, redeemed from sin by the sacrifice of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and restored to His Image by the Spirit of God.
I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

How can a loving God send someone to hell?

2009-10-13T15:58:00.006-04:00

God doesn't send anyone to hell. Hell is real, but it is a result of humanity rejecting God. Scripture shows us how to escape hell and spend eternity with God. God's perfect plan is that we, though conceived on earth, are eternal souls who live eternally with him.

Sin separates us from God and that is hell—to be eternally separated from God—whereas in heaven we live in the eternal presence of God. God wants to save us from hell so he sent Jesus to redeem us from sin and bring us back into His glorious Presence. In a sense, our physical bodies and earthly existence separate us from God because he is Spirit and we are flesh. We have a taste of hell when we cannot see God face to face because our earthly eyes cannot see spirit, whether the Spirit of God or the spirit of a brother or sister in Christ. In heaven we will see the glorified bodies of our brothers and sisters, as well as God and His holy angels, as easily as we see earthly bodies here.

Satan’s desires oppose God. Satan wants to separate humanity from God eternally and have them with him (not because he loves us) because he wants to destroy God’s creation. The human heart is good and beautiful and true only when totally surrendered to God. Without God we, like Satan, can be vile and capable of every kind of evil. The prophet Jeremiah warns (17:9) "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." Without God, the heart’s deceitfulness runs rampant, so Satan succeeds when he separates us from God.

When God created humanity, we were designed for God. We cannot live without him. While on earth, we can survive physically without God but only because of his loving kindness and generosity. He continues to give life and breath even when we reject him. However, when our physical bodies die (and they do because our bodies were not created for eternity) we are homeless and separated from God. Satan has accomplished his desire—to separate us eternally from our Creator and his unconditional love.

Hell is a "place" for Satan and his demons. They want no part of God and probably prefer where they are, to heaven. We, on the other hand, were not created to be separated from God and we perish without him. Because our souls are eternal, the death of the soul is not like the death of a physical body, which will eventually be complete so our earthly bodies find rest in death. Without the redeeming power of God, once sin enters our lives we are condemned to eternal death—prolonged and eternal—absent from a loving God and in the presence of Satan and his demons.

If such a thing sounds horrible to us with our limited understanding, imagine how it grieves God that those he created to live eternally as his children instead experience eternity without him and his goodness. The Bible is clear God doesn't want that to happen to anyone—"not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9NIV). “God wants everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4NIV). “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the whole world, through him, might be saved.” (John 3:17).

You are God’s child. He loves you and wants you to experience the full blessing of His unconditional love. I urge you to open your heart to him now and invite him in. If you need help, call a pastor or Christian friend. Help is available.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Power of the Sign

2009-10-13T15:47:00.003-04:00

Around our church staff we often hear comments about “the power of the sign”. Often coming from Jennifer, our church receptionist. She often gets calls about the sign in front of our church on Niles Avenue, sometimes from our own congregants and often from persons in the community. Niles Avenue is a busy street and many people read the sign, especially if they’re caught by the traffic light at Botham Avenue as they travel toward downtown.

The risen Christ said, in Acts 1:8 that we would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us and, as a result, we would be his witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Probably, to those disciples, Berrien County Michigan, would be the “ends of the earth”. North America was totally unknown to the world at that time, but his witness has come to our community and we are blessed with thousands of Christ-followers who try to live out the love of Christ in an amazing variety of ways. We are the “signs” for Jesus! We are his witnesses!

We often think of witnesses as being when we tell someone about what God has done for us through Christ Jesus, and that is a wonderful thing. We should do it at every opportunity and with increasing skill the longer we serve him. However, “the power of the sign” is in just being there where people can see it and read it at their leisure or in the midst of their busy days. That is also true of the power of a transformed life. If God has touched your life—if you are living out your faith to the best of your ability, then God has transformed you into a powerful sign of his divine presence.

An unbeliever might sometimes view the sign with suspicion—why is she being so nice? What does he expect to get out of this? What is their real motive? But the power of the sign, if it is just there, day after day, being Christ-like, loving others through normal courtesies, casual friendliness, genuine compassion when they’re hurting, or honest appreciation for a kindness shown, is the very best witness to the power of Christ to change a life.

Not everyone has the gift of evangelism. Not everyone can put their faith into words in a way that will influence someone else to become a follower of Christ. But each of us can be witnesses for Christ as we allow his Spirit to live in us and transform us day by day into his image—not making us all alike, but giving each of us the attributes of godliness that bless the world around us on a day to day basis, each of us in our own unique way.

I am the beneficiary of those blessings on so many days, in so many ways, from so many people, who quietly go about their lives being Christ to everyone they meet. May God help each of us to always be a sign of Jesus Christ to everyone we meet. God will do his part if we will each do ours, and the result will be the gradual, but dramatic transformation of society, by his divine Presence in our very human lives.

Never underestimate the power of the sign!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Rising to the Next Level

2009-05-20T17:18:00.001-04:00

Recently I have had a number of experiences of talking with people who are Christians, and have been so for many years, but they have not yet had the personal experience with God that they see in others in our congregation—and they hunger for it.

Many of them have grown up in, or been a part of solid Christian denominations, but those who do not encourage or teach a personal relationship with God. So they live their lives praying to God, but he is always the God who is “out there”—as if they’re standing at the door talking to him through the screen door, or through a window—with God on the outside and they on the inside of this house called life.

But now they want more. They know people who seem to have an inside track with God. These other persons have a close personal relationship that they themselves have never experienced—and they want to experience it too.

Too often in the past we have told these persons they need to “get saved”, which is really an insult because they have been serving God to the best of their ability for many years. After much thought and prayer I now approach this situation in a different way. In a situation like this I talk to them about moving up to a whole new level in their relationship with God. I try to never denigrate the relationship they already have. I recognize them as Christians and I truly believe if they died, they would go to heaven. We are saved through faith in Christ, not by some particular method of believing or ritual (such as kneeling at an altar) no matter how meaningful that ritual is to us. The secret of salvation is in our faith in Jesus Christ, not in a particular method or denominational polity.

If you don’t know Christ in a personal way, you’re missing something very special. He wants to be your best friend and when he becomes so, it won’t hurt your relationship with your current best friend. (At least not usually—there are exceptions when the current best friend resents the change in you and tries to turn you away from Christ.) When that happens you have to make a choice and I hope you choose Jesus. He will make all of your good relationships better, he can sometimes redeem relationships that are bad, and He will help you move up to an entirely new level of your Christian walk.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Visiting Alzheimer Patients

2009-04-08T16:41:00.004-04:00

I recently visited with a parishioner who has Alzheimer’s Disease. It was a pleasant experience and the parishioner seemed to appreciate and enjoy the visit and my prayer before I left. It occurred to me that perhaps my experience with my mother, who had Alzheimer’s for years before she died, probably gave me some experience that would be helpful to others.

Often when we visit friends or family members with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia, we feel ill at ease because the patient is often anxious and uncomfortable. Then, we often think it would be better if we hadn’t come at all. Let me assure you, that is not true. It is good that you went to visit, and it was probably helpful to the patient to have some diversion to their life, even if they don’t remember it moments after you leave.

Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you:

Just love them. How long they remember you isn’t as important as bringing a bright spot to their day.
Treasure the moments. Learn to treasure the moments, the smiles, the conversation—even if it is sometimes disjointed and doesn’t always make sense. It is good for them to chat with you. Your presence is important to them.
Don’t ask questions. Never ask them to clarify or explain. They can’t, and the anxiety will come quickly.

I noticed early on in Mom’s Alzheimer time of life that if I asked her questions that she couldn’t answer, even the least thing, she would become anxious and ill at ease—perhaps embarrassed because she didn’t know the answer. (Although, I’m not sure if she was embarrassed, because she couldn’t tell me.)

I soon learned to never ask questions, but to always tell her things. First, I would tell her who I was: “I’m your son, Rick. I wanted to stop by and see you today. How are you?” (That’s one question I could always ask Mom. It may not be true of all Alzheimer patients.) Tell them about the weather. Tell them about your children, grandchildren, friends, the news, anything that may be of interest. But always tell it as if you wouldn’t expect the patient to know any of it, so he/she doesn’t have to do mental calculations, which might make them feel anxious.

The main thing is to visit. Even though they won’t remember, the moments are precious “in the moment.”

In the latter days of his life, former president Ronald Reagan was afflicted with Alzheimer’s Disease. His son was faithful to visit him, and Reagan greeted his visits eagerly, even though he then only knew him as, “the man who hugs me.”

Just be the one who hugs them.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

(This article was first published in First Touch, online newsletter for First Church of God, St Joseph, Michigan.)

The Slaughter of the Innocents

2009-04-08T16:32:00.005-04:00

President Obama didn’t waste any time overturning President Bush’s limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. In my opinion it was a very sad day in our nation’s history. He who talked so much about bringing people together not only “dissed” millions of people who sincerely believe such research is wrong because it destroys people, he also endorsed as "good" science something that has not proven to be good science. Embryonic stem cell research has not been nearly as effective as adult stem research, which does not have any bad ethical implications. Why then, do people continue to insist on something as being “good science” when the preponderance of scientific evidence supports something else entirely? It may be politically correct, but it is definitely not good science.

There is a God and he is fully involved in the human experience. When we do what is right he helps us to accomplish it. When we do what is wrong he not only doesn’t help, he may even hinder our efforts. Do you think maybe he is trying to tell us something about embryonic stem cell research? Could it be when he created us he built into our DNA the possibilities of adult stem cells being used in such powerful ways and now that human understanding has developed to the point we can use such research effectively he is ready to open up to us great new areas of scientific knowledge in the area of human health?

On the other hand, because he who even sees the sparrow fall, agonizes over the death of even an infinitely small and unborn human being, perhaps even before creation he looked into the future and saw that “the heart is deceitful and exceedingly wicked” perhaps therefore, he created us so that it would be impossible for us to effectively used embryonic stem cells that require the destruction of his beloved children? Perhaps it will never be successful and therefore we will spend billions on worthless, pseudo science that is totally out of touch with reality.

President Obama also over-turned President Bush’s executive order that ended taxpayer support of abortions in the world outside our nation. I pray for President Obama and I hope you do as well. One of the things I pray for is that God will impress on him the fact that he has been elected to be president of all the people, even those who are not yet born. And, I pray God will help him make godly decision that will bless our nation.

Our home and congregation are just a few miles from the famed Catholic University of Notre Dame. The president and leaders of the university have asked President Obama to be a speaker at this year’s Spring graduation exercises. They also plan to give him an honorary degree. However, many students, faculty and staff of the university, as well as laity, cardinals and priests throughout the church are speaking up with the conviction that his strong pro-abortion stance is totally out of sync with the theology and ethics of the Catholic Church. (Notice I said “pro-abortion”, not “pro-choice”—the babies have no choice at all.)

You’ve probably heard about this on the news, although we probably hear more because we’re so close. Please pray for the university to make the right decision and reject the concept of ignoring sin just because it is politically correct.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Holy Week Musings

2009-04-07T14:47:00.003-04:00

As we move through what we call Holy Week, we may ask ourselves, why would we call this “Holy Week”? It was the week during which the holy Son of God was crucified by unspeakable evil on a cruel cross in the most horrific crime ever committed in the life of our planet. Shouldn’t we call it “Evil Week”?

No we shouldn’t. Because this is the week that goodness, or holiness triumphed over evil. It was a week of cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil—and righteousness prevailed totally and completely. Evil has forever been condemned to second place in the power forces of world domination.

One purpose of Holy Week is to help us remember that good did triumph over evil in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and because of that we do two things. First, those of us who have accepted Christ’s death on the cross by faith experience the joy of new life personally and communally, as we worship and work individually, and together with our fellow Christians, locally and around the world, to help Him make the world better.

That’s actually the second thing we do—we make the world better. This is found in John 10:10(NIV) where Jesus said, “The thief came only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” As people of God we cooperate with Jesus in what he came to do. His work on the cross was a complete work, but the results are seen incrementally as lives are transformed by the power of the Gospel of Christ working in individual hearts. This personal transformation, multiplied over and over again brings an amazing transformation to society that is the Divine plan.

So during Holy Week we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, proof of the greatest victory the world has ever known—a victory that makes possible ever more victories on top of victories. This wonderful victorious life of triumph over evil will continue and increase as long as this world exists and then will continue in heaven for eternity.

So this Holy Week and every resurrection Sunday of our lives we celebrate the victory of good over evil in the person Jesus Christ and in every person who lives a life redeemed by him and surrendered to the power of his Spirit living in us.

“Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!”

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Letter to a Prisoner. .

2009-03-11T15:30:00.007-04:00

Previously published Saturday, March 7, 2009, in the
Herald-Palladium newspaper column: Insights, at:
http://www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/03/07/features/295090.txt

Dear Friend,

I compliment you on the interesting letter you wrote and your honesty about your life situation. All of us make mistakes, so you are not alone. I can’t imagine how difficult prison must be, but I rejoice in your desire to improve.

The fact you made mistakes and have sin in your life doesn’t mean you are not acceptable to God. It means you need God’s help. And God wants so much to help that he sent his son Jesus, to die for us. You said you’re trying to improve your life. I believe the best way to improve our situation is to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then experience God’s love as His beloved children!

Two Bible versed in John’s Gospel (3:16-17) make this clear. These verses show God loves us and Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. We all have things in our lives that deserve condemnation, but that is not what Jesus is about. He is about forgiveness. He came to save the world, but he also came to save you. Every one of us could read these verses like this:
16"For God so loved me that he gave his one and only Son, that if I believe in him I will not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn me, but to save me through him.”

You wrote you feel “almost lost”. Really, all of us are lost when we don’t know Christ as Savior. The only solution is this spiritual birth, in which every other Christian on earth becomes your brother or sister in Christ. You find both yourself and a new family.

This spiritual birth comes when we admit our sin to God, are sorry for that sin and ask God to forgive us. In Romans (3:22-24), the Bible says:
"22God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. 23All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 24But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins." (Contemporary English Version)

You asked about joining a church. I believe there is only one church—God’s church. Local churches and church groups have many different names, but if they teach salvation by faith in Christ, they are part of God’s one true church. We all become members in this universal church by that spiritual birth called faith in Jesus Christ. Then you find a local church in which to worship and serve.

Jesus tells us in John 3:3 “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Here is a prayer you can pray to be sure you have experienced this spiritual birth. God is with you and he understands the language of the heart, so when you pray in sincere faith, He will hear. If you are ready to make this decision, pray this prayer (either silently or aloud):

Heavenly Father, I am a sinner. I have done much wrong, and am truly sorry. I want to reject sin and be saved by faith in your son Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, I believe it is only by faith in you I can be saved. You are God’s Son and Savior of the world. Please come into my heart and cleanse me of all sin. I accept you as my Savior and with your help I’ll do my best to serve you all my remaining life. Amen.

If you prayed sincerely and believe Christ is not only Savior of the world, but your personal Savior, you are born spiritually as a child of God and are a member of his universal church. Welcome! Find another Christian and tell them you’re in the family too.

Or, find someone who is not yet a Christian and invite them into the family!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

From Where Do Church Groups Come?

2009-02-04T16:22:00.005-05:00

Well, somebody starts them. Often not intentionally. They may begin because of doctrinal differences with a person’s current church. John Winebrenner was a Dutch Reformed minister who began having evangelistic revivals to get people saved. When he wouldn’t stop, he was removed from the Dutch Reformed Church and started the Churches of God of North America. About a hundred years later, Daniel Warner, one of their ministers, began to preach about sanctification and the work of the Holy Spirit and he was removed from that church and thus began our group who call themselves the Church of God, or the Church of God Reformation Movement. Also know as the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) to differentiate us from dozens of other groups who also use this biblical name.

Or they may be cultural in nature. A particular church group may have doctrines that are very similar to other groups, but the people don’t fit in with those other groups because their culture is so different they just can’t connect.

And there is the possibility that God starts them because he wants to reveal himself through them in a particular way. Sometimes the doctrinal differences aren’t great enough to justify two different groups being separate, but their emphasis in ministry is very different. Could it be that God wants both so he can express himself fully in both those ways? Could it be different church groups are gifted by God in different ways—anointed by God to lead the whole body of Christ in particular ministries? Let me give some examples.

The Mennonite, Amish and Brethren Churches tend to be greatly gifted at “helps” and “service” ministries. They’re good at a lot of things. Strong Bible teachers, great worshippers, etc., but they are known for their ability to help people when they are in need. They have also taught other church groups how to do those things better. Maybe they have the gift of helps.

The Pentecostal movement has not taken hold in all of our churches because many of us just do not accept the concept of a “heavenly language” or “unknown tongue”, but the charismatic worship of the Pentecostals has blessed almost all of Christianity because they have taught us how to worship God more fervently and passionately. Perhaps they are particularly anointed for worship and for teaching us all how to worship God with all our hearts.

The Baptists, such as Rick Warren and many others in many different Baptist groups are greatly gifted at evangelism and have taught the entire body of Christ how to be more effective evangelists. Perhaps they have the gift of evangelism.

There are many more examples, but the point is, just because church groups differ in some ways, doesn’t mean they aren’t our brothers and sisters in the Lord. There is really only one Christian Church and whether we call it the Church of God, Christian Church, Church of Christ, Assembly of God, etc., etc., etc., doesn’t matter. What matters is our relationship with Christ and our correct teaching on those basic Christian doctrines on which we all agree.

I’m Rick Blumenberg,
And that’s My View from Tanner Creek.

Celebrating the "Most-Christian" Era . . .

2009-01-30T17:23:00.009-05:00

I don’t know if he was quoting someone else or if it was his own creation, but the speaker said “There are only two ministry experiences in this post-Christendom era: 1. slow death 2. deep change.”

From my experience, I’m convinced the two ministry experiences have always been slow death or deep change. It was true when Jesus walked the earth in human flesh as a God-man and it is still true today as he walks the earth in human flesh as the eternal transformer of mankind. The worst thing that can happen to any Christian at any stage of development is to think we have finished with change. When we stop changing we lose the vitality of our relationship with Christ because he never stops changing us as long as the relationship is real and growing. When we stop being changed by our relationship with him we can be sure he has ceased to be Lord and Master, otherwise he always transforms us into his likeness. When we are totally surrendered to Christ and living in the power of his Spirit, we are “complete in him” (Colossians 2:10) but Christ will continue to transform us more and more into his image as long as we live in this world if we live in a state of full surrender.

What troubled me most, was the implication that we live in a post-Christian era. Now, notice he did not say “post-Christian” but “post-Christendom”. There is a huge difference and I’m sure the phrase was intentional. Perhaps he used that phrase because he, like myself, believes the best of the Christian era is not past but future, even though, as we all know, it will continue to be different in the future than it has been in the past.

I just “Googled” “Post-Christian” at fifty hits per page and got twelve pages or 600 hits. As you can imagine, I didn’t read them all, but skimming through the info I saw some heralding the demise of Christianity—some with glee and some with sorrow. Some dealt with how to witness for Christ in a Post-Christian world. I’m sure all have good thoughts, but I won’t accept the idea of a Post-Christian world until Christ returns. Until then, he will continue to work in the hearts and lives of those who allow him to work, he will continue to be victorious, and not only the individual people, but the world will continue to become more Christ-like.

Jesus taught us to pray to the Father “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) Surely we don’t believe that was a prayer he doesn’t expect to answer in the affirmative? Surely it is not that he wants God’s kingdom to come in this world, but isn’t able to accomplish it?

As for me, I believe we are in the “Most Christian” era the world has ever seen. Perhaps this time is what Christ saw in his mind when said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” —John 14:12 (NLT)

I'm Rick Blumenberg,
And that's My View from Tanner Creek.

Praying from Besieged Cities

2008-12-23T16:41:00.007-05:00

The Psalmist wrote these words thousands of years ago but they are just as fitting today when we go through difficult times.

He wrote “Praise be to the Lord for he showed his wonderful love to me when I was in a besieged city. In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’ yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.” (Psalm 31:21-22)

Most of us have found ourselves in besieged cities (virtually if not literally) at times, and often we felt like we were cut off from God’s sight. We didn’t feel His Presence and were sure at the time that He was not listening. But when we pray about it (specifically talk to God about our situation and ask for His help rather than just worrying and pretending that was prayer) God is always there and he always answers. Every one of us can say with the psalmist, “…you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.” We’ve all had those times when God intervened in our times of need, or when we looked back and saw God had been there all the time when we felt so alone.

It is really important, if we want answers to prayer, to pray specifically to God for what we see as our need, then trust God to do what is best for us, whether it is what we ask for or not. The “besieged cities” we find ourselves in may be psychological, emotional, financial, occupational, or dozens of other types of struggles, but in all of them, God is our helper if we can just learn to trust him to do what is best.

I tend to believe our faith grows more in the besieged cities of our lives than anywhere else. Those times when we don’t feel God’s Presence, but go on doing the best we can, or when we fail, but instead of quitting we pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and try again, refusing to quit the faith, I believe God is hugely blessed, just as you and I are when we see our children struggle through to success from a difficult place.

I know it is hard to do, but I think we need to learn to thank God for the times in our lives when we’ve had to pray from inside those “besieged cities”.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's my view, from Tanner Creek.

Rejecting Racism with Ordinary Living

2006-09-22T12:24:00.001-04:00

A tribute from our daughter, Twyla

This is a note I received from our daughter Twyla, on Father’s Day, 2006. It was so well written and expressed such a valuable concept I wanted to include it in the blog, but hesitated because I didn’t want to seem to boast about something where I know I’m still far from perfect. On the other hand, I also know that the values of which she spoke were at least partly given to me by parents who lived out their values on a daily basis so their children could absorb them into their lives. So following is Twyla’s tribute to the lessons Carol and I taught in our home and then my memories of lessons I learned in my father’s house.

Happy Father’s Day!

Dad, you gave me an amazing gift that I’ve always appreciated, but its true value was recently realized. My Multi-cultural class required an in-depth evaluation of our attitudes on race and ethnicity. As we dug into our true feelings, most classmates brought out that they have to reconcile within themselves what they know is wrong. I could not relate to this in any way. To the core of my being, conscious or subconscious, I do no believe that my ethnicity makes me better than another; I cannot relate to racist attitudes.

What I realized is that no one but me had grown up in a home that actively rejected racist attitudes. Active because of the actions you did in our home; like the recording of Dr King’s speech, having people of all ethnicities in our home, treating all ethnic slurs as obscene words, treating every person respectfully.

Permanently stamped in my memory is the time in Elkhart when you made everyone remove the word “’black’ as sin” from the song. [I stopped the singing and asked the people in church to change the word in the hymnal from “black” to “bad”, which is what the author really meant.] This is one of many examples. It stands out because it taught me that publicly rejecting racism is as important as personal practices. In every encounter publicly and privately, you treat all people with dignity and respect; more significantly, you value their insight and knowledge. Whether your actions were in rejection of what you observed growing up or management of your own inner fight, you modeled equality. These beliefs permeated every part of how we lived; you walk the life of rejecting racism. What a profound impact this had on your children.

I recently realized this gift has contributed significantly to my success in life. In every environment I enter, I am immediately accepted. What I understand is that it’s not just that I’m accepted, it’s that I meet people without pre-judgment. By accepting others without hesitation, a feeling of acceptance occurs for everyone. I attribute this directly to you and the values instilled in our family and all your circles of influence. Your gift allows me consciously and subconsciously to value all people.

I don’t believe there are many better gifts a parent can give their child. It is invaluable. Thank you.

I love you, Twyla.

Thinking of my own heritage of rejecting racism.

Twyla’s beautiful note reminds me of an incident in our family life when I was growing up. We lived in Southeast Missouri in a rural community known as Penhook, just south of the “Ten Mile Pond”. Probably a majority of our neighbors were black people and during the fifties, racism was really the norm. It was not an overt racism usually, but black people and white people just did not interact very much. We pretty much lived separate lives even though in the same community.

Mom and Dad had grown up in this area of the world, and no doubt had some racist attitudes, but they both had a basic respect for people of all colors and required that their children treat all people with respect, even as they did. We also had friends among the African Americans in our community, even though we seldom interacted socially.

One cool rainy day our family was at home in the house because we were unable to work on the farm, when there came a knock on the door. I can’t remember who answered the door, but they saw a black couple, some of our neighbors, who were walking by and were caught in the rain storm and they ran up on our porch for shelter, knocking to ask if it would be ok if they stayed there until the rain stopped.

Mom and Dad both said they were welcome, but insisted they come into the living room where it would be more comfortable. They resisted at first, but soon realized they were really welcome, so they came in. We spent a delightful hour and a half visiting with neighbors of a different color and culture and we all got to know each other much better. But it was more than just a friendly visit. It was a witness to an entire community that we wanted to be their friends and valued them as neighbors.

It was also a witness to my brothers and sisters and I, that people were people, and all were of value and worth. Mom and Dad could have spent years telling us racism was bad, but that time spent on a rainy day in Southeast Missouri was ingrained in our souls for eternity. I was a young teenager at the time and didn’t realize the full impact that day would have on my life, but now I’m reminded of it more than fifty years later by a note from my daughter.

That one visit didn’t make us perfect. I know I (and probably all of us) continued to battle the racist ideas we lived with every day, but it was a living illustration of common neighborliness that made us all better people because it broadened our understanding of each other. It also helped us to see that racism was not the norm in everyone’s lives. We knew many other people, black and white, in our community who appreciated people of all cultures and colors and wanted all to be friends. I’m sure Southeast Missouri isn’t perfect yet either, but since that time the races have begun to learn together in school and work together much more than we did then.

So the experiences Twyla had growing up in our home had begun at least one generation earlier when her grandparents lived out their values and passed them on to their children. Thanks Mom and Dad. You taught us well and the lessons continue into the following generations.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's my view, from Tanner Creek.

The Law of Love Commodities

2006-09-14T06:27:00.001-04:00

The normal law of commodities is called supply and demand. Most supplies are limited, which doesn’t really matter if there is no demand. In such case, because there is little or no demand, the value of a particular commodity will be very low. However, if the supply is limited and the demand is high, then the value of the commodity under consideration goes up and can even become so expensive as to be unavailable to the average person.

However the law of love commodities is vastly different, because love is a commodity of unlimited value regardless of the size of the supply. Let me give an imaginary example.

Suppose a man is walking down the street with a gallon of unconditional love. As he walks he happens upon two other gentlemen who are carrying empty jugs. Because he loves them unconditionally and he knows the value of unconditional love, the first man shares his love with the other two, giving each half of the love in his jug. The two men who had been carrying empty jugs go on their way rejoicing because they each have a jug that is half full of love.

Now, according to the normal law of supply and demand, the first man should be going on his way with an empty jug. However, the law of love commodities is different. When you give love away, the love you have is not diminished, but multiplied and the man with the jug full of love goes on his way with a jug that is still full and overflowing.

Now of the two men who were blessed by the half jug of love, one had an eternal blessing but the other’s blessing was only temporary because he did not know or practice the law of love commodities.

One of the men, when he happened upon a person with an empty jug, shared happily what he had, and discovered, to his amazement, that when he gave love away, his own was multiplied and he went on his way with a jug overflowing with love and because he was a quick learner, the love in his jug never ran out even though he gave it away over and over and over again.

Sadly, the other man was not so generous with others and was not wise enough to know that his lack of generosity was actually penalizing his own soul. When he met a man who was downcast from carrying an empty jug that had no love in it at all, he merely hugged his own jug to him the more tightly to be sure the man did not try to steal that which was so valuable to him. The sad thing was that each time this happened both persons left their meeting more impoverished than when they met— the man with a half jug of love was the most impoverished of all because the love he had hoarded soon evaporated and he was left, once again, with an empty jug.

Love is one commodity that never diminishes when you give it away, but evaporates quickly when hoarded.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . .
and that's my view, from Tanner Creek.