I thought this was a cool testimony...
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CNN.com

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ... also expressed his admiration for Barack Obama, saying he told the new U.S. president at a recent White House meeting that he prays more for the American leader than for himself "because although I face many problems, he has much more delicate problems than I."

[I really liked the email Rich sent out to our home group, so I'm reposting it here (with his permission) for us to discuss. - Ernie P.]

The "Invitation" is the night of the first Sunday after New Year's. I know not much has been said about this in church so far, so I want to explain it a little from my own perspective. For many years (decades?) I have heard people talk about revival, and God's plan for California, or the Bay Area, and I know that many people have been praying for revival for a long time. At the same time, John Isaacs and a few other pastors in the Bay Area have been working together for several years to promote unity among the churches of the South Bay. This lead to the "Transformation Alliance of Santa Clara County" (TASCC), which is made up of pastors and intercessors from quite a number and variety of South Bay churches seeking to work together to bless (and transform!) our communities.

Hi,

I wanted to discuss Barney's message in light of the book The Shack. I especially would love to hear from Anne as I know she is a fan of the book.

To me what was offensive about The Shack was not so much that God was represented by a woman, but that they called her Papa. I REALLY didn't like that mixing of genders. Also, the name of the main character - Mackenzie - is usually a female name - that bothered me too. It made me think that in the author's view - gender didn't matter. To me, gender matters very much.

I couldn't figure out how to put an image into this post, so I attached it as a file and here's a link to my blog to see it:

http://jorbratko.blogspot.com/

I'm curious to hear some responses to this short article by Brian McLaren: Why I'm Voting For Obama, and Why I Hope You Will Too: Reason 1.