Tag Archive - Church

Egypt Reflections Pt.3

April 1, 2010 in Church with 3 Comments

One of the coolest experiences of our visit to Egypt was seeing the Cave Church in Cairo. It is the largest Christian church in the Middle East. To get to it, we went through what is known as Garbage City. In Cairo, there is a lot of trash all around the streets. One of the reasons is that Muslims don’t usually touch trash as it makes them unclean. As a result, it is the Egyptian Christians that take care of most of the trash. That trash ends up in one central area… Garbage City. So you have a Christian area in Cairo centered around trash, and right after it you come up to the side of a cliff. From afar, you’d think nothing of it. But then it suddenly emerges out of the side of the rock and you see one of the most immense structures you’ve ever seen. There are stone pews for seating more than twenty thousand people…and they fill it regularly! It was incredible to see this church in the middle of a Muslim country and at such an unpredictable location. They also have artistic depictions of the Jesus narrative carved into the sides of the mountain. It serves as a great example of the diversity of the Church and that it isn’t dependent on any one thing to thrive.



According to their website:

“This church was erected on two stages: The first stage before its enlargement was a cave made of limestone embraced in the mountain. The height of the ceiling was only one meter high. This cave was used for prayer by a number of brethren for the salvation of people in the area. During the first stage, the ground was deepened and leveled in front of the altar. It was used as a church in 1986, to be the first church in the monastery. People attending sat on mats and rugs which were spread before the altar and on some side chairs. Due to the increasing number of attendants, it was decided to enlarge the church. At a later stage, the ground was deepened and the church building was completed on 27 Nov, 1993. In 1994, it was equipped with fixed stone chairs in the shape of gradual curved benches to hold 20,000 (Twenty Thousand) people. It is considered the biggest church in the monastery. The church is also equipped with an audio-visual system and a large T.V screen to transfer both sound and sight clearly to the public.”


Northeast Africa in March

January 11, 2010 in Church, Culture with 0 Comments

I am excited to announce that I will be co-leading a Global Connection trip with Central Christian Church to Northeast Africa this March 15-26! I have committed to this trip for a couple of reasons: first, we have recruited an all guys group with many people who have never experienced a trip like this (some of them are from our Third Format services that I teach at). Second, I want to make a habit of expanding my worldview every few years to keep my perspective relevant. Many of you may remember my trip to Nepal in 2005 that was very eye opening for me. I’m expecting this trip to challenge me just as much.


We are heading to a country with a population of 10,300,000 souls; 98% are Muslim and only 1% Christian. We will meet workers, pray for the people, learn about the culture, and let God mold and shape us into His likeness. This is an Islamic country with amazing people that we will have an opportunity to build relationships with. As a church, we are trying to effect holistic and transformational change in North Africa. During this trip I hope to accomplish some of my personal goals as well. These include: seeing what God is doing and how He is working in other parts of the world, having my worldview expanded, and gaining a perspective of what it is like to live in a country with no/minimal Christian influence.


In order to make this trip possible I need a team of people to commit to supporting this ministry financially and through prayer. If you are reading this it means that you and I are connected in one way or another. For that I am truly grateful.  Please consider supporting me in this new opportunity. This trip will cost about $2200. That includes the airfare and travel over there, food, and other ministry needs while we are there. Our deadline for money is March 13.


Click here to donate online. You will need to fill out your personal information and on the blanks about Global Connections trip put: “NE Africa #23 – Jeremy Jernigan”


I would sincerely appreciate your prayerful consideration of giving financially to meet this need. Also, please mark your calendar to pray for God’s working through us on this trip. Thank you again for your continued support and encouragement and I look forward to continually seeing how God is at work!

24/7 Prayer at Central

November 13, 2009 in Church, Family, Spirituality with 3 Comments

I spent some time praying at the Gilbert campus tonight for this year’s 24/7 prayer event at Central. It was a great time and very spiritually refreshing. In one station, people could write thoughts onto a white board. I took a picture of one comment that stood out to me.


IMG00006-20091113-2122


As I sat and stared at these three sentences, I suddenly remembered two years ago when I was doing the same exact thing. I was at a 24/7 prayer station, this time it was a station setup with a punching bag. In that station, we were encouraged to write something down that we were frustrated with God about. At that point in our life, Michelle and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year. I couldn’t understand why we couldn’t start a family, especially when I felt that God was the one who had given us such a desire to have one. I wrote my complaint on a piece of paper and left it there and walked away from that night unresolved.


Flash forward to tonight. I sat there and remembered the frustration I had then when I felt that God was silent, and how different that seems to me now as we are currently pregnant with our second child. God is still listening, and prayer really does matter. So wherever your journey with God is right now, don’t give up on Him. He may have an answer for you that you can’t see coming.

Email from Catherine Rohr

November 11, 2009 in Church with 7 Comments

Recently I wrote a post about offering grace to Catherine Rohr and inviting you guys to do the same. It created a great dialogue as you guys jumped on board with the idea. Yesterday, I received an email from Catherine in response to that post and I thought I’d share it with you guys as well as a follow up. This is turning out to be an incredible story and I’m proud to be a part of this type of Church.

Dear Jeremy,


I’m starting to dig out of all of this. I have been scared to look at the internet because of all the things that have been said about me, but I happened to click on your blog and was moved to tears. Thank you for the support and encouragement. It means a lot to me.


I’ve tried to not pay too much attention to the bloggers.


The good news is that the church really is being the church to me. I never expected it. I thought I would be written off by the world. I haven’t. I have felt more loved than ever through this. It has still been the hardest time, but I feel so supported. I am going through a healthy process, and will take time off to rest and continue in my healing. At some point, I hope to start something new. I still have all my passion for this work—and it has been tested.


I have wonderful people around me, coaching me every step of the way.


Thank you for your kind words. Really!


Catherine

I Stand by Catherine Rohr

October 22, 2009 in Church with 17 Comments

The news hit recently that Catherine Rohr, the founder and CEO of Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP), had stepped down as CEO due to mistakes in her personal life. You may remember that I had the chance to do an Off the Record Interview with Catherine back in May of this year. Catherine is one of the most respected female leaders of our day, and this news was devastating to myself and to others who heard it.


Sadly, she isn’t the only high profile Christian leader that we’ve seen make mistakes like this. My friend Richard wrote a great blog addressing that. But as I’ve thought about this I keep coming back to a simple comparison with Catherine and the example of Ted Haggard.


Ted was a Christian leader who taught those around him to hate others (whether he would acknowledge that or not). He taught them to hold onto truth only and at the cost of grace. He spent much of his time spent on things that he was against, only later to find out that those were his very own personal struggles. After the news broke of his mistakes, people turned on him viciously. While that was also sad, it really isn’t surprising to see how he was treated. He shaped those very people to treat people like him the way that they ultimately did. In the end he directly suffered from his own poor leadership.


Now contrast Catherine. She spent her time and energy spent on offering people grace. She believed in people that nobody else did. She led in ways that others shook their heads at in surprise (a woman leading convicts in prison?). Now comes the moment where we see how she will be treated. I pray that she has shaped people to extend her as much grace as she has extended to countless others.


It is time for the Church to stand up and offer Catherine grace and forgiveness as she goes back to the basics and allows God to heal her brokenness and restore her. No, I don’t condone what she did or think that there shouldn’t be consequences. But I think this is a crucial time for the Church to treat people like Jesus did.


So I officially stand by Catherine Rohr and extend grace to her and pray that she finds the healing that she needs during this extremely different time. I don’t know if she’ll ever read this, but if she does, I hope she knows that there are those of us in the Church that are ready to show how God brings restoration as we stand united together, even in moments of brokenness. So if you choose to offer grace and forgiveness, please leave a comment stating that you stand by Catherine as well. It is time to show the world a different side of the Church than they often see.

Page 3 of 9«12345»...Last »