DCC Update - June 2009

The usual winter weather has caused a significant reduction in the beach profile (sand levels) on the Ocean Beach.

There is no cause for concern, but the area is now being monitored more frequently. The Council's applications for retrospective consent for emergency works on the beach (carried out in 2007 and 2008) have now been heard by the Otago Regional Council, and their decision is expected shortly. Much of the background data and studies needed for the Long Term Management Plan have been collated, and a Project Team been appointed to review this.

Further information is still coming to hand, and the Project Team's review should be completed before the end of the year. The draft Management Plan will then be submitted to the Council and released to the public for consultation.

CHURCH PLANTING BY DESIGN

It is our vision in this church to promote and develop God-given talents and spiritual gifts for ministry. How are we going to do that? Let me present over the next three days the three steps.

First, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR UNIQUE DESIGN

Long before we’re born, God decided what our unique make up will be. He is the author of our lives and personality. Job 10:8 says of God “Your hands shaped and formed me” (see also Ps. 139:15-16; Isa. 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5; Luke 1:15; 1 Cor. 12:18; Gal. 1:15).

Our design includes our temperaments, our natural talents, and spiritual gifts.

In writing to the church in Corinth, Paul said: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given . . .” (1 Cor. 12:7 INV).

Every Christian according to this verse is given a gift by the Spirit. You and I, once we became a Christian are given a spiritual gift! In v. 11, it says that the Spirit “gives to each one, just as He determines.” Not according to our choosing or that we deserve it. God determines our gifts. Hence, it is Him who designed us.

What is your divine design?

Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about how different our two kids were. One is quiet, and one is loud. One is focused and one is scattered. One is passionate and the other one is passive. One is a hugger and one is standoffish (perhaps that comes with age). One is artistic and the other is realistic.

Yet with their differences, I believe that one is not necessarily better than the other. Rather, I believe that each one has a particular purpose in this world for their personalities. God has a special calling for each one of them that matches with their unique design.

It is with this theology (i.e., the understanding of God, his purpose and ways) that we in our church must recognize and pursue. We were designed by God individually different but at the same time corporately the same for a specific reason and mission.

Bridge Canyon

We reached the high water mark of Lake Mead around Gneiss Rapid in Bridge Canyon. But we didn't reach the actual lake until the middle of the next day - more than 60 miles downstream. Its been a bad few years for the reservoir (see my posts from our January trip to Vegas) and it just keeps dropping. During its better years, and particularly in the decades between 1937 and 1963 before Glen Canyon Dam was built, the Colorado dumped its load in this section of the canyon. The tributaries built their alluvial fans to match the reservoir level. So the river now flows between banks eroded into these mid-20th century river deposits. And flows tens or even hundreds of feet above the rapids that used to be found on this stretch of river, which are now buried in silt.

Time to wrap up the Grand Canyon stuff. Between this blog and the other two, I've posted way too much material, much of it redundant, and its time to go back to the shorelines this blog was originally meant to address!

National Canyon

More beach details. A small sandy berm, and not too far away, a small eroding scarp.

The river rises and falls about once a day in the canyon -- a remarkably regular diurnal tide. But it's tied to the sun, not to the moon. When the sun shines on Phoenix and other southwestern cities, the air conditioners turn on and the power grid demands electricity. More water is allowed though the penstocks at Glen Canyon Dam and the flow in the Colorado downstream goes up. When it cools in the late evening, power demand falls, and so does the river. The resulting tide is generated at Glen Canyon, but it takes a day and half for the wave to travel down the river to Lake Mead.

Blacktail Canyon

Blacktail Canyon is on river right at Mile 120. Unlike so many other side canyons, it does not end in a spectacular pool or a waterfall. What it does have is a sand and gravel beach, although not one most folks would recognize right away.

It is the base of the Tapeats Sandstone, lying on top of the schist at head level as we head up the canyon. This is the Great Unconformity - a boundary in the rock layers that represents a gap between incredibly old rocks and rocks that are merely ancient. The top of the underlying schist, perhaps 1.8 billion years old, is the eroded surface of a rocky coastal landscape caught in time half a billion years ago. As the ocean gradually rose, the waves planed off this surface, breaking off chunks of the metamorphic rock and spreading it in layers on the advancing beach. What we see now on the wall of Blacktail Canyon are multiple layers of sand separated by bands of coarse, angular gravel derived from the schist (there are quartz veins in the underlying rock and quartz clasts in the overlying beach deposits).

I suppose for each of the layers we see preserved, many more were formed and then erased. I wonder if each of these layers records a storm or a series of spring tides? Maybe on closer examination we would find thinner layers that represented the sediment moved by individual waves?

Imagine a rocky shoreline on the New England coast. The rocks are Paleozoic schists and phyllites, intruded by slightly less ancient granites. The Atlantic is at your feet, but the coast is gradually subsiding and the beaches advancing farther onto the land. With time, these rocks are buried by more layers of beach sand and then later, as the water deepens, with silt and mud and eventually limestone. Half a billion years later, the land has been uplifted, a river has carved a deep canyon, and some strange creature in a rubber raft discovers your fossilized cellphone (the size and basic skeletal structure of a 3" trilobite) on the unconformity that separates the schist from the beach.

The Tapeats was my favorite rock formation in the Canyon - partly because it told this wonderful story of ancient shorelines and partly because it was a distinctive and beautiful feature of the canyon. Downstream from Blacktail we float through Conquistador Aisle, with beautiful ledges of Tapeast Sandstone lining the river.

Walthenberg Rapid

Some of my favorite beaches on the river were small ones adjacent to rapids. I wish I had had more time to explore and observe, but one of the downsides of an organized trip is that there isn't much unscheduled time, and when there is, it's either not in quite the right place or it rapidly fills with other things.

Here are two contrasting beaches just above Walthenberg Rapid, where a slot canyon on river right spews boulders and gravel into the Colorado. One is a pretty typical sand bar; the other a neat little arcuate gravel berm. Whereas the former is purely a fluvial feature, the latter required waves.

Waves are an interesting question on the river. On open stretches of river, wind waves can form, but something else is going on right around the rapids. Maybe this is obvious to river geologists, but it was new to me. Rapids are not just a bunch of big static standing waves. Sometimes these big rollers grown in size and then collapse, just like surf, except they do it over and over in one place. This pulsing generates waves that travel out from the rapids and seem more than capable of building small beaches in the vicinity. One evening at a camp farther down the river, I watched 5-6 inch waves break on the beach with a fairly regular 4 second period.

YOUR SPACE IN GOD'S PLACE

There was a boy who accidentally swallowed a quarter. The mom yells

“HELP!!! My son swallowed a quarter!”

An older man calmly walks over. He picks the boy up. Grabs him by the ankles. And he shakes him until five quarters come out of his mouth. The mom says

“Wow! That was amazing! How did you get all that money out of him?”

The older man says

“Maam, I’ve been the treasurer of First Baptist Church for 32 years!”

That must be a very good treasurer!

An important part of God’s plan to bless us with fruitfulness is in the context of our church.

In 1 Peter chapter 4:10-11 (NIV) it says:

10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

This passage is all about serving God when times are tough. With the persecution from Rome, Peter was saying to the Christians then, “We might not be here much longer. We’re living in the last days. So while we’re waiting for Jesus to come back, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all else, love one another deeply. Show hospitality! Be there for each other!”

Then, he tells this in verse ten, “As long as we’re still here on this earth, keep on using your gifts.”

I appreciate this text because it gives us at least four principles about how to develop our talents and gifts in the church. I will chop the four principles and spread it over the next four days for easy reading.

First, The Principle of Personal Involvement.

When asked "Who are the real ministers in the church?" Peter’s response is: “EVERYONE! EACH ONE should use whatever gift he has to minister to others.” Everyone who believes in Christ has something they can do to make people’s lives a little bit better.

But sometimes we get discouraged because other people have gifts that we wish we had. We might say,

"Oh, I wish I knew the Bible as well as Tommy. He can rattle off Bible verses like it’s no one’s business, and I can barely find the table of contents! Oh God, help me in this area!"

Or we might say, "I wish I could be handy like Jim. He can fix cars. He can build houses. He can fix leaky pipes. The only thing I know how to fix is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh God, help me to be more like Jim!"

Or we say, "I wish I could be a people person like Gaye. She’s always sings well. She’s always the life of the party. When I get around people, I get so frazzled I barely remember how to say ’Hello." Oh God, help me to be more like Gaye."

Too many of us think "I’m not special. I’m not smart. I can’t serve the Lord.” But the Bible says “Yes you can!” Romans 12:6 says that "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us."
God blesses each of us differently so that each one of us can play a special role in His kingdom.

Susan Boyle was one such person God has gifted. She was a recent contestant on the TV show “Britain’s Got Talent.” Her dream was to sing a song on TV. The people in the audience were laughing at her, probably because she’s older, heavyset, ugly and doesn’t look like a potential pop singer. But when the music started, she sang with such a powerful angelic-like voice,

“I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.”

And the crowd that was against her at first went wild! One of judges said,

“I gotta say that I was expecting you to fall on your face. But listening to you sing was a privilege! That was awesome!”

What I loved about the whole event is that even though people were at first very discouraging and looking at her with mocking faces, she still got out there and used her talent and gift! She didn’t let them get in the way of doing what she was destined to do!

In tomorrow's blog, we'll hear about a very enlightening second principle for development of gifts and talents.

Inner Gorge

Grand Canyon is really a canyon within a canyon. The upper portion is cut through the thick stack of relatively flat-lying Paleozoic sedimentary rocks - from the Kaibab at the rim down through 300 million years. The Tapeats Sandstone is at the base of this sequence and also forms the rim of the lower, inner portion of the Canyon.


The inner gorge is cut through not just the Tapeats but also the underlying Proterozoic (Precambrian) metamorphic rocks, in particular the dark Vishnu Schist and the pink Zoroaster Granite that threads through it. This reach of the inner gorge in the eastern portion of the Grand Canyon is the Upper Granite Gorge -- the Middle and Lower Granite Gorges are much farther downstream. From the river, we usually could only see up to the Tapeats (a mere 1000' above us), but in a few places the upper cliffs can be seen rising (many more thousands of feet) up to the South Rim. Beaches are scarce in this steep, rocky portion of the canyon. And where they are found, they are often small and narrow. The dark rocks bake in the sun and hold the heat into the evening.


Grand Canyon 2009: June 21st

Chuar

We stopped for lunch on a sand bar on river left, just downstream of Chuar Rapid at the mouth of Lava Canyon (not to be confused with Lava Falls later on). We passed beneath the Paleozoic about half an hour ago and are now in the ancient, tilted sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Grand Canyon Supergroup.

In a place this big, sometimes the most interesting stuff is the small stuff. Here's an oversteepened shoreline bluff and a small barrier beach within 20 meters of each other.

Grand Canyon 2009

Nankoweap

The big alluvial fan (delta?) at Nankoweap Creek forces the main river into a big swift arc along the left bank. The canyon downstream from Nankoweap is straight, but the river meanders a weaving path through the piles of rock washed from the cliffs on both sides.

Grand Canyon 2009: June 19th

House Rock Rapid

It is no coincidence that many of the rapids in the Grand Canyon are named after tributary streams. Soap Creek, House Rock, Hermit, Crystal. Virtually all of the Canyon's 160 or so rapids are products of flash floods and debris flows - even very small drainages can deliver more than enough boulders to partially block the Colorado. The result is a long series of riffles and intervening pools where the debris has dammed the river. Although many of the rapids are hairy, few are very long.

None of the rapids in the Canyon result from nick points (where a river flows over a particularly resistant geologic unit) and even deep in the metamorphic gorges the river runs smoothly except where blocked by debris. I guess the river has had more than enough time and power to smooth out those bumps and now just puts its effort into redistributing the stuff the tributaries pump out. This has become much more difficult with the Glen Canyon Dam upstream preventing large floods from periodically flushing out the debris, so over time the rapids are expected to get bigger. Someday a big flash flood will create a rapid so nasty it throws a real monkey wrench into the rafting scene. This almost happened at Crystal in 1966.

The House Rock Valley drains a large area northwest of Marble Canyon and forms a nice rapid at its mouth - pushing the Colorado sharply against the left bank. As always, click on the title of the post to see the bird's eye view.

Grand Canyon 2009: June 17th

Badger

A trip down the Grand Canyon will force me to rethink how I use the term "beach." Here, they refer to sand bars along the river bank, deposited when the river is running higher and thicker with sediment. And then gradually eroded by currents and small waves until a sufficient flow comes along to rebuild them. Or at least that's how I understand them to work. Beaches are an important element in river travel, as they are almost always where folks pull over to lunch or to camp. Where the winds are right and there is enough sand, dunes can form, so some of these features get pretty high.

The beaches in the canyon are also a big problem. Their maintenance requires sand and big flows. Since Glen Canyon dam was built, sediment from the upper Colorado has been preoccupied filling up the upper end of Lake Powell. And with the exception of 1983, when spring floods overwhelmed the storage capacity of the reservoir and huge volumes were released, flows in the now-tamed river aren't enough to rebuild the beaches. So for the last decade, managers and scientists have experimented with designer floods, specifically intended to restore beaches. The flows aren't of the scale of larger historic floods and the lack of sediment is still a big problem, but apparently the effort is having some positive results. The last big release was in early March, 2008.

Lee's Ferry

The last time I was on the Colorado River, or anywhere near it, was on the receding shorelines of Lake Mead back in January. Now D & I have come back to the river, at Lee's Ferry, in order to check out the free-flowing reach that links Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Glen Canyon Dam is 15 miles upstream. Lake Mead - or at least South Cove, where we will take out in two weeks - is almost 300 river miles downstream.

I've posted a full account of the trip at Grand Canyon 2009. I've also posted comments at hshipman. But I've been struggling with what to post here. Not that there aren't dozens of stories about geology and beaches and shorelines -- it's just that it's been hard to sort through it all. Too much material; too few summer evenings since we got back (four weeks tonight).

At Lee's Ferry, the Colorado emerges from the Mesozoic rocks of Glen Canyon. The river briefly runs across the Permian Kaibab Limestone, loading up on rubber rafts and maybe a little sediment from the Paria River, and then quickly begins to carve downward into the Paleozoic rocks that form Marble and Grand Canyons. By the time we float under Navajo Bridge a few miles downstream, we have already dropped down through the Kaibab and the Toroweap formations and are beginning to see the cross-bedded dunes at the top of the Coconino sandstone. Right now these rock cliffs (470' at the bridge) are impressive, but in a few days, they will be only thin bands many thousands of feet above us at the canyons edge. The Kaibab forms the rim of the Grand Canyon.

The river runs clear at Lee's Ferry, since the load of sediment it carried from the Rocky Mountains has settled out at the upper end of Lake Powell. It runs cold, since the flow through the dam taps the deeper waters of the reservoir. And it runs regularly, since the dam allows no more and no less water to flow than dictated by the Colorado River Compact and the air conditioning needs of Phoenix.

Grand Canyon 2009: June 17th

Children Are People

Forty years ago a Philadelphia congregation watched as three 9-year-old boys were baptized and joined the church. Not long after, unable to continue with its dwindling membership, the church sold the building and disbanded.

One of those boys was Dr. Tony Campolo, author of several books and Christian sociologist at Eastern College, Pennsylvania. Dr. Campolo remembers,

Years later when I was doing research in the archives of our denominations, I decided to look up the church report for the year of my baptism. There was my name, and Dick White's. He's now a missionary. Bert Newman, now a professor of theology at an African seminary, was also there. Then I read the church report for 'my' year: "It has not been a good year for our church. We have lost 27 members. Three joined, and they were only children (Marlene LeFever).

When you look at children in our church today, what do you see? Are they “Only Children”?

There are four common views of children today, according to Larry Fowler (Rock Solid Kids: Gospel Light).

1. The problematic view is that children are “A bother.” Such flawed and erroneous view leads people to consider aborting babies, putting them up for adoption, neglect, abandonment and child abuse. Sadly, this view has crept into churches as well, leading ministers to make activities that are designed mainly just to keep the children away from “major ministries” of the church such as the worship service. To eliminate distractions, ministers make programs done in a haphazard ways. For the best efforts and ministries of the church are given towards the adults ministries. The children, sadly, get the leftovers of our energy, time, and resources.

2. The practical view of children is that they are “A tool,” a means to an end. This view is pretty common around us. Some perverts have used children in child pornography for money. Sadly, parents also often use children as tools. A father may push his child to activities such as in sports or arts to satisfy his own frustrations and personal need for achievement. A mom may manipulate the thoughts and actions of her child to get even with her husband. Again, there are also churches who also know of the potential of children to reach adults to build the church. Though it works, yet such a view is inadequate.

3. The perpetual view is that children are “Our future.” This view is still insufficient because it sees children as a means to an end. However, it is essential for the survival of the family, organization, and definitely of the church. Vladimir Belous was a pastor in Ukraine when the Soviet Union as still existing. He learned of the essential nature of children’s ministry from the communist propaganda. One day, he got hold of a flyer that states: “The real danger from America is not their missiles, but that they are teaching their children about God.” Pastor Belous realized at once that children’s ministry was essential to his church if his church was to survive into the future. Thereon, he established a ministry to children called Awana Club ministry, which was founded in the U.S.

4. The present-perfect view is that children are “People.” This is our Lord Jesus’ view. When the little children were brought to Christ by their parents one day, Jesus stopped from teaching the disciples, picked the children up, placed His hands on them and blessed them (see Mark 10:13-16 NKJV). He gave the children with the same care and importance as He gave the adults. Not only that, He also got very “displeased” with the disciples. He got mad at His disciples for not seeing that the children are also an important and integral part of the Kingdom of God. They’re not future people, not little people, but they are persons in the present that needs respect and attention. This is the perfect view. The Psalmist said this of God:

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
Your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me were written in your book

before one of them came to be.
(Psalm 139:13-16 NIV)

God created each child. He knew each child even before the start of conception. Each child has the same importance and value as an adult. He sees all children as people.

The Right Way to Worship God

Worship is either the beginning or the end of our walk with the Lord.

I pray that it is always a beginning for each of you. A beginning of a new way of life which every sermon and teachings of our Lord called for.

After getting into a violent storm on his escape boat, Jonah worshiped the Lord in such a way that he made the necessary changes in his life. He said in repentance, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. But I with a song of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you” (Jonah 2:8-9).

Following after the Sunday morning service, the pastor stood at the back of the church, shaking hands with the worshipers as they left. As one man shook hands, he looked intently at the pastor and said, "Powerful sermons, Pastor. Thoughtful and well researched. I can always see myself in them . . . and I want you to knock it off" (From a cartoon by Lee Johnson, The Best Cartoons from Leadership Journal, Volume 1: Broadman & Holman, 1999).

The popular writer Richard Foster once said, "If worship does not change us, it has not been worship."

As God’s children, the call to worship Christ must not be subjected to deliberation. Through which, the eventual result must be a change of behavior towards His will. It must become our way of life, a habit that we cannot do without.

Nisqually Reach

We took the class back to Tolmie this year. It's a good beach walk - especially on a nice June day. Bluffs, bulkheads, and a nice little barrier estuary. And some weird geology.

Two years ago (Butterball Cove), I was intrigued by the presence of a resistant geologic unit right below the surface of the beach. This year, the beach is lower, and this band of rock was much better exposed. I'm not sure what is most intriguing, the ledge, or the fact that the beach has fallen several inches. Between the geology of the site and the amount of bulkheading in the vicinity, its not like there's very much new sediment available to replace what gets lost.

Sobering Statistics

Do you have a plan for passing on your faith to your children?

God always has had a wonderful plan for passing on faith down through the generations. Believe it or not, God has the plan for our SUCCESS as a husbands, as wives, children, but most of all, as parents.

A national survey of 1,200 adults with children under 18 at home was conducted by LifeWay Research. And what they found out is that most parents hope their children grow up to live good lives. But for many of these, successful parenting does not include faith in God – even among parents who are evangelical Christians" (Mark Kelly, LifeWay Research Looks at Role of Faith in Parenting).

The study found the most common definitions of successful parenting include:

• Children having good values (25 percent),
• Children being happy adults (25 percent),
• Children finding success in life (22 percent),
• Child being a good person (19 percent),
• Children graduating from college (17 percent), and
• Children living independently (15 percent).

Being godly or having faith in God is mentioned by only 9 percent of respondents. When asked if they have a plan or goal for what they want to accomplish as parents, a full 33 percent say they have no plan or goal at all.

Only 14 percent of all parents (that's only 168 parents out of 1,200) say they feel they are very familiar with what the Bible has to say about parenting, even though 77 percent identify themselves as Christians.

This study may point to why many young adults are spiritually underdeveloped today and are mostly missing from churches today. It’s because their parents have given little focus to matters of faith.

God's Plan

God’s foremost plan for every Christian and every parent is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 saying:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates(NIV).


Tomorrow: God's Plan for Discipling Children

Disciple Your Child

A speaker conducted a successful seminar he entitled “Rules for Raising Children.” Then he got some kids of his own, and he changed the title to “Suggestions for Raising Children.” When his kids reached their teen years, he discontinued the seminar” ((Michael Hodgin, 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking, 344).

• It always has been God’s plan for parents to serve as the primary spiritual influence on their children.
• It always has been God’s plan for parents to teach and model Truth to their own children.
• It always has been God’s plan for parents to turn their hearts toward their children so that warm relationships would provide the pipeline for spiritual impact.

On the other hand, I believe every church leader in the nation knows most church families are not following God’s plan. The stakes are so high that slow change seems unacceptable.

• Parenting by many church members is done so poorly that very slow change seems unacceptable.
• Spiritual teaching and influence in many church homes is so weak that very slow improvement seems unacceptable.
• So few teenagers and collegians are leaving homes with a lifetime, kingdom focus that very slow change seems unacceptable.

Families don’t need incremental change – they need revival! We need to realize that families today are bankrupt spiritually and needs a big bail out, not from the government, but from God. We need a change by getting back to the basics of God’s design for each member of the household. By the power of God, families need dramatic, visible change in a short time. The stakes are too high to remain on the status quo. We can’t remain on business as usual.

Thus we in the church should all bond together to commit to relearn and apply the basic design for families which God gave to us in His Word. This is the reason why an important aspect of our church vision is:

To plant a church in Brandon that equip parents to disciple their children

Tomorrow: Sobering Statistics

Do You Bear or Are You Bare?

People judge one another by their looks, but Jesus looks at their fruits. The fruits He seeks are not the kind of fruits we pick from trees and vines but those which people show through their actions. The Lord made it very clear that the proof of a person’s faith is not in what he knows or the religious activities he engages in but in the way he applies his knowledge of the Word of God to his daily activities.

TRUE CHRISTIANS MUST BEAR FRUIT

Bearing Fruit Requires Training
Day 1

One wintry night on February 12, 2009, Flight 3407, a twin-engine turboprop belonging to Colgan Air was descending from 6000 feet to 4000 feet on approach to Bufallo Niagara International Airport. On board were 49 people passengers and crew. In the cockpit were Captain Marvin Renslow and First Officer Rebecca Shaw.

Before landing, the pilots noticed that ice formed on the wings. Then in less than 7 minutes to touchdown, the plane experienced an aerodynamic stall. It then repeatedly rolled left, and then right and then plunged from the sky, landing on a house about five miles short of the airport killing all 49 people on board including one on the ground.

The NTSB investigation report revealed a pilot error caused the crash. Colgan Air acknowledged that captain Renslow's training was not sufficient for the type of plane he was flying that night.
The need for training cannot be more emphasized, especially in areas that pertain to the preservation of life. In the same manner, all Christians need training for the salvation of man’s soul, and in the larger realm of spiritual fruit-bearing.

Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:18-20 that we are to teach all disciples everything that He has taught us. Proclaiming the gospel must always be followed by training in discipleship. Our task is not finished if we do not train the new Christians in having fruitful lives as disciples of the Lord. Training is meant to save lives, but without it thousands and countless of lives are in danger of an eternal death.

Fruits Prove You’re A Christian

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:1-8 ,NIV).

The Proof of Your Faith
Day 2

The unmistakable proof of maturity is the presence of fruits. Not just once or twice, but bearing fruits in an increasing regularity. Paul’s undeniable fruit of faith are the churches planted all across the Roman Empire, and Timothy whom he called his “true son” in the faith (1 Tim. 1:2).

This is a hard question but one that must be asked: if you would evaluate yourself today, can you point to a person who has believed on the Lord because of your faith? Is there anyone who is faithfully discipling others because of what they have learned from you as a faithful discipler?
Can you point to a single soul who accepted Christ as Lord because of your testimony?
Statistics found out that in churches today 90 per cent of the work is performed by 10 per cent of the members. Christians have come to the conclusion that it is alright to be a Christian and not bear fruit. A secular study projected by the year 2050 that Christianity will be so obscure that it will have absolutely no effect on the moral and ethical condition of our country (Tom Rainer, Effective Evangelistic Churches).

If you have not seen fruits in your life, then you’ve come to the right place in AACC. Our vision is to be a church that train and encourage members in soul-winning and fruitful Christian living. We want you to bear fruits in your character, your conduct, and converts to faith.

Who Is Your Discipler?
Day 3

Oswald Chambers once said, “When you meet a man or woman who puts Jesus Christ first, knit that one to your soul” (So I Send You/Workmen of God; Discovery House, 1993, p. 35). Finding a mentor in discipleship is a crucial matter for serious Christians. I still remember my discipler how he faithfully met with me and our group of four young Christians in an old, wooden and unimpressive corner of a church building for our weekly sessions. To tell you honestly, more than that uncomfortable place, I didn’t like him having us to memorize Scripture verses then. But as I look back, I can see how these verses and lessons had shaped and molded my life for the good where I can now say with full certainty that: I am at peace with God.

When the Lord started his public ministry in Galilee, he called disciples he could train. He first called on Peter and his brother Andrew saying “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:18ff.), and He also called ten more and then the seventy-two others whom He trained and sent out two by two (see Luke 10).

True and serious Christians need to go under a discipler how to become a soul-winner for Christ. You can’t self-teach yourself in discipleship because it is essentially an apprenticeship training where you follow and observe a discipler do the ministry. It was only when the disciples have seen and heard how Jesus did ministry were they able to do the same with boldness. If you would study the Scriptures, God always have someone whom he called to train the church. Ephesians 4:11-12 states, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (italics mine). These are called Spiritual leadership gifts that God gave to certain members of the church for two reasons, one is for the “equipping” or training of others, and second for the “edifying” or the building up of the church.

So if you ask, “How can I be an effective soul-winner and bear fruit just as Christ called me to do?” The answer is in training in discipleship.

Are you involved in some kind of discipleship or biblical training yet?

Where To Get Your Discipleship Training
Day 4

If you would look at the overall design of our church, our ministries are all geared towards evangelism and discipleship training. Let me tell you of at least 3 ministries we have:

1. Sunday School –Sunday School is the key place where their members can establish meaningful relationships and connections. Someone has said that once a person finds a meaningful connection in Church, he usually stays in it. If Worship Services is the front door to our church, one way to close the back door to stop people from leaving is through Sunday School where individuals can make meaningful connections. For members, the Sunday School is a fertile ground where you can grow in faith and become a fruitful discipler. Secondly, Sunday School is the place where strong biblical teachings are taking place. I developed in my knowledge of the Bible as a young person in Sunday Schools. It was in Sunday School where I learned as a young person the great characters of the Bible and the lessons in faith. It is where as an adult I have learned of spiritual leadership and fruit-bearing in my involvement as an active member and later as Sunday School teacher.

Now, if you really want be more fruitful in your knowledge of God’s Word, let me give you a secret: “It is always the teachers who get to learn the awesome Truth first.” I remember as a kid whenever we have a can of beans for breakfast, how I always wanted to be first to open the can. You see in the Philippines, we have this favorite canned beans called “Libby’s Pork and Beans.” True to its label, it’s full of beans but only has one tiny bitty piece of pork that’s about half a size of my pinky. Sometimes you get lucky with another piece. I love the taste of that pork. And so I’ve always wanted to be the one to open the can and have the pork for myself first. My point is, as teachers, you get to be the first one to get the meat of God’s word. So if you’re not involved in our Sunday School, I would greatly encourage you to do get enrolled and be active in it, either as a contributing member, organizer, and more importantly as a teacher.

2. Discipleship class – We have Discipleship classes every Thursday night. In this class you will know of the secret of fruit-bearing (John 15:5). My students do not only know it in the head, but they actually were given guidance in doing it on a daily basis. Because discipleship is not a Sunday thing only. Jesus said in Luke 9:23 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (emphasis mine). This week we’re learning about how to witness for Christ. My goal in Discipleship class is to help them respond to their individual calling in Christ to abide with Christ in personal discipleship and then to eventually become a discipler themselves. You cannot bear fruit in discipleship without abiding in Christ. If you want to become serious in your fruit-bearing, you will need to go through this Discipleship class.

3. Small Groups such as in Women’s Fellowship and Men’s Fellowship – Another very effective ministry for evangelism and fruit-bearing is in the small groups such as these. I know of a few that have become an active part of this worshipping community because of the small group fellowship. And through these fellowships, you get to address specific gender-sensitive issues that you wouldn’t want to discuss anywhere else. Participating in these ministries helps you get connected with others who want to learn how the Bible responds to our daily issues.

So, as you can see friends. These are great avenues for training in the practice of soul-winning and fruit-bearing. I hope you would take advantage of these opportunities so you can fulfill your calling as a disciple of Christ.

What happens if I don’t bear fruit?

Day 5

If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers;
such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (John 15:6, NIV).

A branch can only bear fruit when it receives the nutrients from the vine. In the same way, Christians bear fruit when they receive the power of the Spirit through our fellowship with Christ.

What happens if you see no fruit in your life?

There’s only one reason for this condition which the Lord explains to us: We’re not abiding in Him. That is, we do not have fellowship with Christ. We’re may look like we’re Christians, we worship with the Christians, we attend the Christian activities, but we’re not really Christians in the true sense of the word. It’s a deceptive condition which James addressed when he said “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Those who don’t abide in Christ the Bible says will suffer the consequences of being cut off from the presence of the Lord and “cast into the lake of fire.”

Before you ask, “Well pastor doesn’t it say that once saved always saved.” How then can God cut me off and burn me? If you are not being fruitful, you might be entertaining this idea that is why you need to understand the next explanations.

First, yes there is a burning in hell of the souls of individuals who did not live according to the will of God. You can read about their end in the “Lake of fire” in Revelation 20:11-15. But understand that this is reserved for those whose names are not found in the book of life, those who did not abide in Christ, those who are Christians only in what they say and not what they do. In other words, these are not real Christians.

When the Lord mentioned of this punishment in John 15:6, he had just cut off his disciple Judas from His presence for betraying Him for a few silver coins (see John 13:18-30). It was a chilling and embarrassing moment being cut off from the presence of the Lord and sent away. What we need to realize is that there are those who are coming in and out of the Lord’s presence in church, yes even like Judas who played an important role in the group and was designated as the treasurer. Yet their end is in hell. So don’t deceive yourselves. If you are not abiding in Christ you are deceiving yourself and are in danger of being cut off and of hell.

How can you know if you are abiding in Christ? Through your fruits! It’s the only way you can check if are with Christ. I would therefore encourage you to personally assess your life right now and look for fruits of faith in your life. Are you giving time to worship the Lord each Sunday? Are you fellowshipping with your brothers and sisters in the faith regularly? Are you increasing in your service and ministry, giving as God blesses you with more each time? Are you giving your strength and abilities, your voice, your expertise in the service of the Lord?

Second, there is second picture of burning in the Bible. This one is addressed to the genuine Christians. In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 Paul wrote, “But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

Pictures of those who lost their homes in the fires that ravaged forests in California and elsewhere were gloomy. Their faces and gait shows the weight and magnitude of their lose. They rummage through the ashes as they hold with their little hands the few remaining things they have, mementos of their prized belongings which the best of their money have bought.

That will be the picture in heaven of those Christians who gave more attention to the things of this world on the day of reckoning.

Friends, I want you to arrive in heaven one day happy and assured that you have invested the best of your time, talent and treasure for the best unburnable materials you can get in heaven.

Kopachuck State Park

Parks are a far more appropriate use of big deep-seated landslides than subdivisions. Kopachuck, west of Gig Harbor, is a great example, and offers a nice counterpoint to the many big homes in this area built on gravity-prone hillslopes.

The beach at Kopachuck weaves in and out, the result of the uneven geology of the toe of the landslide (which is at or below beach level) and a series of gravel bars and proto-spits formed as the northward drift runs out of steam rounding the corner.

When we last visited with this class - four years ago - we used the failing, creosoted timber bulkhead as a discussion point about the effects of such structures and the opportunities for removing them. Since then it has been pulled out, allowing erosion to reclaim some of the old fill and re-exposing an even older concrete boat ramp. Some high school students (with some sledgehammers, wheelbarrows, and supervision) might be useful here. A couple small drain pipes need to be rethought - maybe combined with some plantings and some solidly built wooden steps.

A south-west facing beach on a summer afternoon with temperatures in the high 80s. The class clustered under the overhanging trees, evidence of both our skeptical attitude towards sunshine in this part of the world and the importance of riparian vegetation in influencing habitat choices.

Frye Cove

I walked in from the gate, since the park was still a couple of hours from opening. An early morning walk on the beach was partial compensation for the third all-day meeting in Olympia in as many days.

The beaches at the park are pretty silty - reflecting an abundance of fine sediment from unstable bluffs to the north and the lack of sufficient wave action to efficiently remove the fines from the coarser beach material.

The bluffs are heavily forested right down to the water, and though most of the big trees were probably taken out 130 years ago, there were still several large firs along the shore. The head of Frye Cove is a small estuary - with a muddy spit sheltering it from the rest of Eld Inlet.

The park recently installed a "soft" structure of cobble and anchored logs to deal with erosion at the park's primary beach access. I'm still a bit puzzled by these efforts - the intentions are good, but they seem a bit like a solution in search of a problem. What if you just excavated the bank back a little farther, planted the heck out of it, and built a simple low-impact wooden stairway. And left out all the cobble and the big stainless chains - which are neither native to this setting nor particularly "soft."