http://benmessner.myadventures.org Ben Messner - Adventures In Missions - en-us Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:50:56 GMT 30 http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=leaving-california http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=leaving-california Over the last 3 years airports have become a second home to meI know I am well over 50 different airportsboth international and domesticand I could write a blog about opinions on each of them.   The funny thing is that some days I get confused about where I am.   I will be walking through San Francisco Airport and a smell will remind me of Port Elizabeth Airport in South Africa and then I will get a flash back and suddenly I am confused.   Its not that I forget where I am as much as it is that I want to stay with the flashback and remember all there is to remember about the other place.   This could also be because I think SFO is one of the worst airports in the world   Today I miss AfricaI miss our friends there and the kidsI miss the 3 weeks of Fall they have during this time of the year Sat, 19 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=family-redefined http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=family-redefined Please don't be to quick to label me a hypocrit when I, a man with no children of my own, make the following statement, "Families are too small these days."  I am a proud member of a family of 7, two parents and 4 siblings, and an active member of energetic extended family!  I grew up next to a family with 13 children.  I hug out with the youngest ones, so when the older ones would come to visit they would bring their massive families along as well.  Their family reunions were larger than some mid-west towns I have travelled through.  So it may seem strange that I say that families are too small these days, but I mean it.  Why? Because I was deeply challenged tonight as I listened to an incredible man from India share how he was the father to 300 children! He began inviting orphans into his home about four years ago, and now his family has grown to over 300.  This man is not just a leader Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=community-reflection http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=community-reflection I turned 27 yesterday.  Janeen spent half the day plucking grey hairs out of my head and applying joint medication to my arthritic knees, ankles, and hands.  I truly am old now!  I was blessed with great gifts and many phone calls and messages.  I felt remembered and that meant alot to me.  Janeen spent alot of time to make me feel special because she knows how important my birthday is to me.  I am so blessed by her. It was also a bonus to be able to see my family on my b-day, as that does not often happen. I spent time reflecting on community again.  Bottom line: I am a better person in community or at least because of community.  I find that I am growing more these days, and I relate this to the presence of community in my life.  Community is providing 3 important needs in my life: inspiration for excellence; passion for growth, and accountibility for attitude and character.  When I am around talented people who are set Sat, 13 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-4-me-vs-god http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-4-me-vs-god Day two of the Divine Healing class is complete and my mind and heart are a bit full at this point.   I have not been in such an intense learning environment for several years.   8 hours of sitting, listening, and processing each day is slightly overwhelming.   So far we have examined a model for praying for people (including healing prayer); the affects of our worldview on our healing theology; the theological overview of the Kingdom of God, spiritual gifts, and healing; Jesus use of the gifts and the commissioning of his disciples and us; healing in the Old and New Testaments; the C&MA history of healing (actually pretty interesting since the founder, A.B. Simpson, was a major pioneer in the current healing movement back around 1900); and finally, Spiritual Healing (next to come are Inner Healing & Emotional healing, demonic healing, and physical healing).   Here are a couple of things that I am now sure ab Thu, 4 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=2006-in-review http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=2006-in-review Ok, this is not a long review...I will only share a few topics: Heroes: My Parents- My mom survived Cancer and my dad supported her every day through the battle Scariest Moment: Thinking J was preg in September Favorite Books from 06: Power Healing by Wimber; The Natashas; Tipping Point Favorite Gift: The Pipe my wife gave me Most Fulfilling event: Helping make two of Janeen's life long dreams come true (seeing humpback whales and visiting India) Countries Visited: India; South Africa; DR; Mexico; Swaziland Favorite Picture: Me in my Boy Scout days... Enough said Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-3-experiential-misconceptions http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-3-experiential-misconceptions I am trying to come to a place where I can both verbalize what I believe about healing and where I am implementing my healing theology.  As I stated previously, I believe in healing both from a biblical perspective and from an experiential perspective.  I would not have had to read the Bible to know that healing is something that happens in this world.  Due to my Christian faith and my belief in the Bible, I believe that the majority of healing comes from the God I believe- Jesus Christ. The reason I am trying to improve my biblical perspective and Christian teaching perspective on healing is that I think relying only on experiential healing theology can lead to some misconceptions about authentic healing.  First, if people see a person get healed when the elders are called up front to anoint and pray for a sick person, then they may believe that only elders can pray for healing or that God only hears the prayers of elders. Second Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-2-the-issue-of-faith http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-part-2-the-issue-of-faith I grew up in a culture of faith but I cannot remember much about healing.  The church I attended for several years, along with my family, was a very legalistic and conservative church but at the same time it was charasmatic.  As the Spirit moved people would get express themselves in certain ways; they would run the aisles praising God and when it was time to really pray, everyone would get on their knees and cry out!  We sang hymns but there was a bass guitar and trombone in the band... It was during my college years that I entered into a "healing culture."  I started learning about inner healing and spiritual gifts.  I was blown away by Henry Blackaby's book, "Experiencing God."  God was still active in the world and he was asking me to join him in what he was already doing...that idea changed my life. So several of my formative spiritual years occured at college as I was learning and experiencing healing, yet I did not really study healing Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-is-the-word-for-the-day http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=healing-is-the-word-for-the-day Since I am taking the class with some friends, there has been a fair amount of discussion surrounding the topic of Healing.   I am going to blog some of my thoughts about this topic over the next few weeks.   For starters I want to lay out my own personal encounters with healing. I prayed for a few people that were healed of headaches.   I prayed several times for a particular person and seen healing or a lifting of the sickness or pain the majority of the time.   It was as if I had authority related to that persons sickness. I prayed for a lady with a spinal and back condition caused by a severe motorcycle accident.   She also was experiencing an inability to write new material for her books since the accident.   I, along with a group of people, prayed for the lady and the next day she danced in front of the church. I, along with Janeen, prayed for a lady in South Africa who had a he Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=do-we-really-have-to-care-about-the-world http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=do-we-really-have-to-care-about-the-world I gave out this sheet of statistics in a church service I recently talked in... Global Awareness Orphans---sex trade---poverty---hunger---tb     Sex Trade- The numbers are staggering, but all to easy to ignoreunless one of the women or children in that number was related to you!   More than 27,000,000 people in the world are held in slavery around the world, millions of these are used for sex.                                                         Orphans- By 2010, the number of orphans will reach 42 million. Twenty million of these children - or almost 6 percent of all childr Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=another-ramble-on-community http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=another-ramble-on-community As I was journaling this morning, I started writing about some differences in the idea of community that people have (or at least in what I think). I can see how the local church can be a community. I think God knew that we would need fellow believers to help us live (work out) our faith. Solitude is a discipline that we should all incorporate into our lives on occasion, but the discipline of community is something we should earnestly seek to live out daily. Life is hard! I don't believe that we will ever discover a cure for PAIN or loss in life. A church community that has strong vision, a healthy balance of inward and outward focus, and desire to see ALL of the spiritual gifts active within their midst will be a community that will grow and naturally attract pre-Christians and Christians alike. Problem: once these church communities grow they lose intimacy and may stray from what caused the growth. Answer: sub-communities (more than cell groups that meet for fellowship, more Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=community-continued1 http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=community-continued1 A few weeks ago I was in Boulder, Colorado, standing in a shop on Pearl St. with Janeen staring at some beautiful photographs taken by Tim Brown.  I realized that I was not able to enjoy Brown's artwork, not because of style or topic, but because I felt like enjoying the photographs would mean aquiring them.  To aquire the photographs would mean a few thing: having a place to put the photographs; having a job to afford not only the photographs but also the place to put them; being committed to living in a place so I can could the job that was paying for these things; and being committed to the people and events of that place in order for it to be life giving!  Thankfully, my amazing wife Janeen, was able to give me a quick lesson in enjoying things for what they are and what they represent in the moment.  Yet, as I left the store and walked down to the nearest Starbucks (sometimes coffee and the right environme Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=a-new-thought http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=a-new-thought I hope no one takes this as me thinking too much of myself...if you really know me, then you will know that I spend about 4.2 seconds a day on my physical appearance.  I just thought it would be fun to take a survey of my "best" look...so here are the options: The Hippy Look                                      Hippy Look Part 2                                          Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=the-blog-is-back-maybe http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=the-blog-is-back-maybe   So, what happened to the blog? is a question I was forced to answer 692 times over the last 4 months.   The simple answer: I am a victim of my own issues!   I did not want to be bound to the blog, but at the end I was putting pressure on myself to produce something good for all of the fans.   I was done on church stuff (though I did attend an institutional church today with several friends), and I when I dove back in I wanted to have a theme rather than just a single thought for each day.   That is just not my style I think I may have a themeCommunity!   Oh, that joyous tag word that so many people throw around but rarely experience or even understand (which is why they may not experience it if they dont understand it).   I definitely dont understand everything about community, but I am at the point where I am ready to sacrifice a lot to be an active member of a community.   I would quit my Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=insight-gained-due-to-separation-from-my-bride http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=insight-gained-due-to-separation-from-my-bride Tonight I am writing from a rural community just south of Manzini, Swaziland. I left for Africa on Thursday morning, and finally today I was able to connect to the internet and download my email. My mission has lasted barely four days at this point, but I feel like there is so much welling up within me that I want to share with you. I commit to returning to the issues brought up in the last few blogs in the near future. There are several questions posed by readers that I am trying to process. Please continue to search for yourself, and feel free to comment on those blogs at any time. Has anyone gained any insight from the question about the New Testament search for church? Please post your findings on the blog. I hate being away from Janeen (that is my wife in case you dont know). I especially am struggling with this separation since I am in a place that means so much to both of us. Every place I go and every person I encounter is something/one we share in common, and th Mon, 15 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=what-someone-else-wrote http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=what-someone-else-wrote Someone referred this blog to me today, and I really liked the content and writing style of several entries. I stumbled across this and wanted to share it with you. I hope you do not feel like this cheating on my part! The link to the blog is below and I understand if you choose to read this blog rather than mine from now. Remember, my first entry ever was spent trying to convince everyone to read Seth Barnes blog and not mine Four Things That I Believe Will Change Church If We Don't Like What It Is: 1. A Soft Heart and Attitude* 2. Prayer** 3. Staying Involved*** 4. Understanding how God has grown and changed the Church throughout history**** * Understanding our identity in Christ. Nothing is more important for us than our own relationship with Jesus. It is what we, personally, are responsible for. Without this we can't do anything. Do we really believe this? Does it show in the priority and time we give it? Out of that time with Him will come an understanding Tue, 9 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=the-issues-with-managing-a-blogit-could-just-be-me http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=the-issues-with-managing-a-blogit-could-just-be-me I am sad tonight. I leave for Africa in 36 hours (yet another 18 hour flight and with the six hour time change I lose an entire day of my life on a plane), and though I believe in my mission and cannot wait to be reunited with friends and the Swazi people I still am sad. Maybe a better way to say it is that I have a heavy heart. Why? My leaving for Africa means leaving my lovely wife for 19 days. I hate being apart from her. Janeen and I understand times of separation like this to be an aspect of the calling on our lives to love broken people. We committed on our wedding day to be the change we long to see happen in the world. We knew that commitment would take sacrifice. My mind wondered to this blog throughout the day. Even as I was running tonight I found myself thinking about the blog (actually I had to slow to a fast walk so that I could actually hear myself think because my labored breathing was so loud). I realized that I was trying to figure out what this whole b Tue, 9 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel Disclaimer: Please feel free to comment on these blogs as you feel led to do so. Your personal experience and insight is welcomed and valuable. You can share personal things, comment on something I write, or comment on what others have written. Please be gracious when addressing others that have chosen to comment on this blog, but do feel free to ask questions, probe, or encourage. Also, do not feel as if you have to have new insight about church or that your thoughts will be critiqued by a group of intellectuals sitting in a dark corner of a coffee shop somewhere. You can join in the debates or mark you comments as Not for Further Comment, in which case it means your comments are off limits from what others may want to say. All are welcome! Hindsight: As the saying goes, When the cat is away the mice will play. My most recent blog was posted to simply inform everyone that I was busy; therefore, I did not anticipate much comment. Yet, there are twenty-five Mon, 8 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=personal-update http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=personal-update Just in case anyone was wondering I am still alive.  This week of work is killing me, and at the same time I am processing so much stuff in regards to church.  I will post again by the end of the weekend, but until then please continue to check out the comment section, and feel free to respond to others there. Until then, feast your eyes on the picture here and lust after the amazing food on that plate.  I will soon return with some word food for your consumption...ahhhhhhhh that is so cheesy (did I just bring up food again........ahhhhhhh stop the madness.) Peace Thu, 4 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=first-presb-and-other-thoughts http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=first-presb-and-other-thoughts Disclaimer: Please feel free to comment on these blogs as you feel led to do so. Your personal experience and insight is welcomed and valuable. You can share personal things, comment on something I write, or comment on what others have written. Please be gracious when addressing others that have chosen to comment on this blog, but do feel free to ask questions, probe, or encourage. Also, do not feel as if you have to have new insight about church or that your thoughts will be critiqued by a group of intellectuals sitting in a dark corner of a coffee shop somewhere. You can join in the debates or mark you comments as Not for Further Comment, in which case it means your comments are off limits from what others may want to say. All are welcome! Hindsight: There is alot of discussion going on in response to the last entry "am i destined to be a perpetual pilgrim".  Please feel free to continue commenting there, and also check out the responses of others to people's Mon, 1 May 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=am-i-destined-to-be-a-perpetual-pilgram http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=am-i-destined-to-be-a-perpetual-pilgram Disclaimer: Please feel free to comment on these blogs as you feel led to do so. Your personal experience and insight is welcomed and valuable. You can share personal things, comment on something I write, or comment on what others have written. Please be gracious when addressing others that have chosen to comment on this blog, but do feel free to ask questions, probe, or encourage. Also, do not feel as if you have to have new insight about church or that your thoughts will be critiqued by a group of intellectuals sitting in a dark corner of a coffee shop somewhere. You can join in the debates or mark you comments as Not for Further Comment, in which case it means your comments are off limits from what others may want to say. All are welcome! In Hindsight I encourage everyone to check into the comments posted in all blogs. The comments posted over the last few days in regards to the "Is this really coming from Ben Messner?" blog are really interesting. Ther Sat, 29 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=is-this-really-coming-from-ben-messner http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=is-this-really-coming-from-ben-messner The body is one but made of many parts. The majority of believers buy into this scriptural truth, and yet we forget that bodies only function well when all the parts are connected and function together. I believe this is the best argument for why I should choose into a church. I need to join my body part with the other parts so that we can unite the body under the headship of Christ. As I connect with body I am able to see more clearly a picture of Christ. I see the amazing things he is doing through the hands, and how amazing the hand is even when it is not producing or creating something. I see the feet and their purpose in the body and their rugged toughness that keeps the church moving. If the hands and feet of the body refuse to connect with the rest of the body then the body can become stale and non-productive. I am part of the crowd that longs to experience God, and by experience I mean truly encounter Him. I believe that a church gathering allows for a believe Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=baby-steps-toward-a-unified-bodyis-it-really-possible http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=baby-steps-toward-a-unified-bodyis-it-really-possible I realize that my desire to share my personal journey of my church experiences and views has really turned into something quite other. I figured that I would lament, moan, weep, knash some teeth (very old testament), make a few funny jokes (I used up all my material--Seth Barnes--in my first blog) criticize, and cause some controversy (in the conservative right that has not allowed a new thought in 50 years). The reaction and incredible comments of those who have taken the time to share has turned this blog journey in a completely different direction. A quick overview of those who comment: a few devout Roman Catholics, a mission agency president, a standout college student, a few people just working and doing life, a Vineyard pastor, a non-denominational pastor, a wife of church planter, a pastors kid, a Messianic Jew, a clerk for a federal judge, a missionary in the DR, and more. You have quickly made this blog the most interesting and diverse blog in all of the myadve Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=when-you-attack-the-instituation-you-attack-history http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=when-you-attack-the-instituation-you-attack-history As I sat within the 4 walls of St. Michaels Roman Catholic Church this morning a rather penetrating thought occurred to me--when I say things that attack the institution of church there are millions of people around the world the world that take that as a direct attack on their faith and God.  It dawned on me today that this catholic church sees itself as part of the historical catholic church which I see myself as part of, but they stayed connected to all their history after the break of Martin Luther.  There have been dozens of battles fought and lives sacrificied to protect what I so easily attack and slander.  I never really saw myself as disconnected from this history until today.  As I studied key people and events in the development of the church (granted from a non-Catholic but still Christian perspective) I believed this history to be my history--for better or for worse (my teachers and text books were faithful to point out the "for worse" more ofte Sun, 23 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=its-sunday-againtell-me-about-it http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=its-sunday-againtell-me-about-it Its that time of the week again where we all put on our best and go of to church. All of my messianic friends are already finished with their weekly ritual as Saturday remains their Sabbath. Some of the postmodern crowd and others have taken in a Saturday service already and that leaves the rest of us with 8:00-12:00 as our options for tomorrow. Here is my question for you all to interact with tonight and tomorrow? In 1 sentence describe your church service and what happened on this specific visit. Then in another sentence or two answer this question: did you get what you were looking for? If not, why not? If so, how did this happen? Tomorrow I am visiting St. Michaels Catholic Church. I look will blog later and I hope to have you comment on your experience as well. I will also fill you in on the next piece of my search and what I am currently thinking about my dance with the church. For tonight I will fill you in on my favorite memory of church (which for me is the gat Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=i-heard-voices-in-my-head-while-i-prayed http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=i-heard-voices-in-my-head-while-i-prayed In his book, The Soul of Politics, Jim Wallis says, The things we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch each day determine our view of the world. More than things weve read or the ideas weve heard, it is our vantage point that most affects our social and political perspectives. I believe that Wallis could also add spiritual or religious perspective to this sentence as well. It is our experience with church that forms our perspectives and opinions of the Bride. The reality for many is that church has been downright abusive. To make my point here are some examples: One friend had rumors flying around her church that she was a lesbian. One friend was raped by the worship pastor of the church. One friends dad was fired from a church because the church started monitoring his tithing on a weekly basis and they believed he should put more money in the church rather than into the support of missionary friends. The flipside is that the Bride has also performed Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=learning-to-dance-with-church http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=learning-to-dance-with-church The search to find authentic church for me is now 5 years old, and I am learning the best way to describe this journey is to compare it to a dance (I will exlpain at the end so stay tuned). It was during my senior at Nyack College that I realized that my poor attendance at church was caused not so much by the normal affliction of college life (overdoing it on Saturday nights) as much it was this nagging feeling that something about church was not right and not working for me. I think that is the feeling that many of us get when we walk into an institutional churchsomething is off here. Regretfully, the thing that is usually off is that Jesus is no where to be found. The reasons that Christians and non-Christians hate church are often the same: authority issues, legalism, disdain for Christians, embarrassment by how churches are unwilling to advance beyond 1950 (in case you are unfamiliar with church, you can test this last point out by attending a large majority of mid-west Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=symbolism-became-alive-at-church-today http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=symbolism-became-alive-at-church-today For those that know me intimately or have been privileged to hear one of my discourses on church and my participation in this modern attempt to find Jesus in a group of broken people you may be shocked by what I am about to share. In fact, some of you may keel over in shock from what I am about to say.  I attended church today.    I mean, come on, today is Easter , otherwise known as Resurrection Sunday, and I did something today that I have not done in months--I went to the institution occasionally known as church. The institutional church that my wife and I attended today is called Free Chapel, which is a large church located in Gainesville.  As the digital clock on the massive screens counted down the remaining seconds until the service began (a necessary procedure if you are trying to get 5,000 plus to quiet down), I tried to prepare my heart and attitude for what was too com Sun, 16 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=top-5-reasons-you-should-read-seth-barnes-blog-and-not-mine http://benmessner.myadventures.org/?filename=top-5-reasons-you-should-read-seth-barnes-blog-and-not-mine Hello my dearly beloved Fan Club!  I once wrote a serious amount of material for this blog, but somehow it never posted and that ticked me off so I have not written again until now.  My first blog is pretty deep...5 reasons you should read Seth Barnes blog before reading mine...Have fun! 1. I have not blogged daily since I was born. 2. Seth spend 54 minutes a day thinking while running.  I spend 54 minutes a day thinking about not running. 3. I do not have a cool front porch and a view of 50 acres to inspire new vision. 4. At Sethbarnes.com you can be part of a massive fan club but here at benmessner.myadventures you will be a bit lonely. 5. I may not write again until April 07. But if you want to continue reading my blog, please do so.  At times I do say some funny things or come up with a whisper of wisdom. Cheers. Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT