One Trip to Kenya 2019 Book Tour raises almost $10,000 for ECPK

Seventh-day Adventists in Victoria, Australia blessed Education Care Projects Kenya with $9770.83 in 2019! Dave Edgren shared stories from his book with 19 Victorian churches.  Years ago, Carole Platt asked me if I'd be interested in going to Kenya to tell Bible stories to orphans. I said I would love to! Because I couldn't afford the trip, I offered to write a book in exchange for the trip. After taking copious notes during our travels, I spent a few months fashioning a manuscript. Two and a half years after the trip, the book is in print. When I received our copies of the book, I wrote an email to Victoria's pastors offering a sermon about the trip and book. 19 pastors responded, requesting me to visit their churches. This is unheard of! I expected maybe 3 or 4 invites. Victoria Ministerial Secretary Darren Croft told me, "This is truly a God thing, Dave." Over the past six months, as I visited churches, I told stories of the people I met in Kenya. I also made a strong point about the character of God. God is Love. And, above all, God loves children! At the end of each service I gave people an opportunity to give a donation to Education Care Projects Kenya. I promised, "If you make a donation, I'll give you a book!" Nearly 200 copies of "One Trip to Kenya" are now in the personal and church libraries of many Victorian Adventists and donations continue to come in as the total approaches $10,000!                                                - Dave Edgren Help the Children Today Education Care Projects Kenya needs your help! If you are not one already, please choose to become a monthly donor. Donations can be made at educationcareprojects.com/help-us/ Author Dave Edgren with the Maasai children in Kapune.  Copies of "One Trip to Kenya" for $20 All money raised from the sale of the books goes directly to the care of ECPK's children in Kenya. Let Carole know how many copies you'd like and she will organise delivery. Postage is $5 a book.  Contact Carole Platt for Books

Advent Calendar

A joyful little girl ran into my office yesterday. "We're making Advent Calendars!" She said as she clapped with excitement.

“Wow! That sounds like fun!” I smiled. “Do you know what Advent means?”

“No.” she said, “Maybe ‘surprise’ or ‘count down’?”

“Because of all the little surprises in each window counting down to Christmas!” I laughed, “Good guesses. But it means something even better. Got another guess?”

Baffled she shrugged her shoulders.

“Advent means,” I said, “someone very special is coming.”

She clapped her hands again. “SANTA!” She shouted as she ran out of my office to get back to work on an Advent Calendar filled with 24 surprises counting down the nights until the day humanity pauses to remember the birth of a baby.

Advent. God arrives on Earth. A baby born to a teenage mum. Jesus.

You know the story.

At hundreds of Carols by Candlelight programs right around Australia, Aussies will sing of the ‘Holy Night’ when ‘Hark! The Herald Angels Sing’ in the ‘Little Town of Bethlehem’ that ‘Joy to the World’ arrived ‘Away in a Manger’ answering the call of humanity to ‘Come, O come Emmanuel.” That first Advent of God on Earth was something to sing about. So much so that we are still singing about it two thousand years later!

Emmanuel means ‘God with us.’ And He is. You have a friend closer than a brother. A Father who loves you more than you can imagine. Jesus arrived as a helpless baby to show that God was willing to be vulnerable for us. He loves us enough to become one of us. We needed Him. So, He came. Emmanuel.

Please, don’t let Christmas be hijacked by the story of an old guy in a red hoodie who delivers Kmart kitsch. Tell the story of Jesus to your children. It’s part of your story. You’re already singing about it. That first Christmas is a surprise worth remembering with a month-long count down. It’s the joyful chapter in the story of a God who loves His children. It’s the Advent that rebooted humanity’s Calendar.

Anthropocentricity...

We see ourselves as the centre of the universe because we are the ones with the questions and we are selfish. It's all about us. The Bible is about us. Salvation is about us. Eternal life is about us. Sadly, we need it to be about us to value the discussion.

God, however, is love. He is the embodiment of love and He embues the universe with His love. When creation steps away from God's love disunity ensues.

Humanity is a prodigal son, rocky soil, Israel, Cain, Eve. We need God's love. Jesus is God's love incarnate. He became like us so we could see what God was up to. So we could see His love with our disbelieving eyes and touch his wounded side.

God became man so that man could see God. God knew (knows) sinful humanity can only see Him if He dresses like us, walks like us and dies like us - because we are so self focused. He became one of us so that we could become one with Him.

We are selfish. God is love.

Jesus showed we can live unselfish lives only when we know God is Love.  Knowing yourself is not the key to a full human life. Knowing God is. The self-centred life leads us to psychosis. The God-centred life leads us to love others.

God's "Plan A" is love. It always has been and always will be. It was our choice that made His love look like death. Not His. It's our inability to comprehend His love that makes us think he had any other choice.

The Suffering Sabbath

God's love is, of course, beyond comparison. But we humans require comparison for understanding; the combining of things we understand to comprehend something new. There are few truly new ideas. When they crop up, they are shot down until they are comparable or combinable with something we already understand. God used the feeble and faulty love we have for our children to set up the paradigm of his Love for us. Both the Father and Son are merely metaphors we can understand through comparison. Abraham and Isaac is one such manifestation of this metaphor of comparison.

Understanding the Love of God is the end goal of the Great Controversy. Lucifer sought this understanding and lacked it. We, likewise but with lesser ability - sin-bound as we are - wished to understand God in all His glory. So, the Father begat a Son and sent Him to live among us as one of us and to die for us as One beyond us. 

“Father make them one as we are one,” Jesus prayed. It is a revelation of Divine love in dusty sandals. He walked our roads as one of us and calls us to walk His road as one with Him. Since that life, that death and that re-life, God calls us to the life liveable only when we enter His love, although we barely understand it.

I do not think we dwell often enough in the darkness between death and resurrection. And yet, this is where we live. We want the forgiveness He offered by taking our place. We want the life He promised by returning to life. But, what of the dark day? The Sabbath of fearful trial living between the call to death and the gift of life? How long did Abraham walk alongside his son believing he was about to lose him? For the disciples, it was a Sabbath. What a dark Sabbath indeed. A Sabbath without a Saviour. A day without understanding.

Then the Son arose. A new day dawns. Oneness reveals. The story deepens. Love lives. The metaphor thickens. Death dies. Father and Son is One. Revelation in resurrection.

The great cosmic conflict - life and death - is explained on the Road to Emmaus (See Luke 24:13-35). That must have been the most invigorating conversation humans have ever had with God. Does not your heart burn within you just considering that day, that walk, that conversation? Until the breaking of bread reveals, again, oneness. More inclusive. More reaching. More embracing. “Take eat, this is my body broken for you.”

Forever, the cry of God on Abraham's mountain: "It is enough" is completed by the Cry of God on our mountain: "It is finished."

Kanye West - JESUS IS KING

I preached at a youth church in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago. Before the sermon, one of the fit blokes interviewing me said, "Last question, what do you think of Kanye West's new album JESUS IS KING?"

I spent the next few minutes telling them a few of the best things about Kanye's new album and his new found faith in Jesus.

1. People are talking about Jesus - Get on that ride!

2. Kanye reaches millions - pray for him.

3. Kanye is a baby Christian - be gentle with him. The lyrics in the album are simple, direct and passionate - just like a new Christian. It's not advanced theology but new faith. He's talking in his language about his experience. Just like we did when we first met Jesus.

4. Kanye has plans - Just like we did when we were new Christians. We know what we did with them. Some successes. Some failures. In the future, however his plans pan out, treat Kanye as you want to be treated.

5. We should not be among the naysayers - Christians should be 100 percent possitively engaged in the lives and ministry of other Christians. We are the body of Christ. Kanye is a huge set of hands for Jesus right now. He is a supersized mouth for Jesus (as are most new Christians!) and also like other baby Christians, Kanye is a sensitive body part that needs extra care.

6. Jesus is King - Follow Him.

7. Jesus is Judge - He just asks us to love people.

Reading the Book of the Law

Read Nehemiah 8:1-12

Was this a new idea when the people asked Ezra to read the Book of the Law? (Deut 31:12)
No, it was part of their culture, faith and national identity. The people wanted to be who their ancestors were. They wanted the old Jerusalem back, the Old Israel, The Old God who went before them.

What was in the Book of the Law that was read? What was it?
Their story of God’s interaction with the nation of Israel. Identity and Faith.

Do you think they read the 5 books of Moses and explained it before lunch?
No, they would have had featured texts and teachings each day.
Continue reading (Nehemiah 8:13-19) to see this in action (and to see a great reason for yearly campmeeting!)

Who was invited to this 7th month reading ritual? Deut 31:12
Men, women, kids, visitors, neighbours.
“Those who could understand.”

Who is missing in Neh 8:2? Where is the alien?
Driven out during the building phase. What does this suggest about their seperation from their neighbours? (It was likely a tribal response rather than a God commissioned act)

What was the result of this day of reading the Book of the Law? (Neh 8:8)
They heard their own story and what it meant to be the people of God. True Israel’s identity.

The origional purpose of the 7th month reading was to bring the story of God to people. It would tell the visitor who these people were. Jewish children would hear the source material for how their parents lived and lead. The parents would receive reinforcement and renewal in their purpose and identity. Israel’s identity would be clarified and recommissioned.

Done regularly, this Reading of the Law would create and maintain a people of God ready to serve Him and trained up to parent the next generation. What had the century without Jerusalem and a temple done to the Israelite community?
Left them without understanding, identity or purpose.

In Neh 8, what was the reason the people wanted the Book of the Law read to them?
They want to know their own story. The people want to know who they were meant to be. There are no ‘informed parents’ in this scenario. They are asking for guidance.

What type of reading are we needing today?
Have we forgotten our story?
Are we parenting with purpose?
Are there people among us who are new to the faith?
Do we need to tell our story more intentionally?

When we hear the Book of the Law read and explained into our lives, what is a proper/expected/reasonable response to hearing the old story and realising your place and identity in God’s Kingdom? (Neh 8:9-12)
Hearing the Law brings conviction
Weeping brings change
Rejoicing brings community

The Spiritual leaders (Nehemiah, Ezra, Levites) instructed the people in three areas. What were they?
Head – Understanding the Law (leads to conviction and weeping. Clear reading and intentional interpretation is foundational in the Kingdom of God.)
Heart – Joy as a response to Conviction (many people will not do this on their own. They will look for the next area that needs change and continue weeping as they see their own endless sinfulness. A spirutal leader commands celebration of the wins - both small and large.)
Home – Celebrate at Home (Making our homes centres of celebration, sharing, eating and joyfulness will strengthen the core of God’s kingdom – our families)

Do our spiritual leaders do this? Where are we strong? Where are we weak?

Hands - After Head/Heart (hearing and being convicted by God's word being expounded to us) experiences we take them Home where we celebrate in our comfort zone. This creates conversation about the convictions of the Head and Heart which we experienced. These conversations among friends and family generate choices which are applied in our daily lives. 

A regular cycle of communial Head/Heart teaching and Home/Hand application creates a growing group of Kingdom dwellers who are becoming more like their King each day. This is why it is so important to participate regularly in a Bible reading/teaching church and ensure your home celebrates the joy of the Lord by eating together and applying your Biblical convictions. 

Adventist Thought Question:

How does this Bible study impact your understanding of Sabbath and Campmeeting? 

Resilience Resources

This post is intended to be found and used by the chaplains attending the Korus Connect resource sharing days. Anyone else who finds it – More POWER to ya!

I’ve created these two resources to provide opportunities for students to share their own story. Every time we restory our lives, we build resilience!

I use these every day.


20 Resilience Questions and Workbook

This resource set targets stories from home. Our primary resilience givers are the significant adults in our lives. The more stories we know from their lives, the more options we have available to us when we face tough times. Resilience researches say these 20 questions predict resilience. What could be more useful than encouraging kids to learn these stories. Lots of parents have commented how much they enjoyed going through the workbook as a family.

The “Do You Know” Resilience Scale

Resilience “All About Me” Workbook


Getting to Know You Jenga

These questions are targeting stories from the lives of the students. Grab yourself a Jenga game from a 2nd hand store or spend a bit more ($8 at Big W) and stick these questions on the blocks. This is every kids favourite game in my office because it’s all about them! And it’s safe danger. Knocking the tower over is stressful and then hilarious! A good game of high-stress Jenga can lead to a fantastic conversation about how we handle stress in our lives.

“Towering Resilience” DIY Jenga Questions

Disciples are Mentors

The Christian life is about being a disciple making disciples. That means you are following someone and leading someone at the same time.

The apostle Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Jesus." He had enough grip on his faith that he could 'see' Jesus even though Jesus was no longer walking the earth. Paul never saw Jesus in the flesh. He met him on the road to Damascus and, after a bit of straightening out, followed Jesus from that day forward.

If you want to be great disciplemaker, it helps to think of yourself as a mentor. A good mentor has someone in front of him, alongside him and behind him. Three people to hold you accountable for your direction and momentum.

If you would like to be a mentor and are looking for a free and useful guide, I recommend Max7's Mentoring Booklet free to anyone and everyone. In the booklet you will find steps to take to become a great mentor and strategies to apply to ensure your mentoring is godly.

Jesus said, "Go therefore making disciples." That's a call to mentoring!

So, get to it. Find someone to mentor you and someone you can mentor in the principles of the Kingdom of God.

Sabbath Giftedness

In response to my post "Sabbath: The Day and Way" a friend on Facebook said:

I love how you said Sabbath was not given to establish WHEN we worship. That's so true and I've been thinking about that a lot lately, because ever since I've taken on roles at Church as a teenager up until about a year ago, Sabbath has always been THE LEAST restful day of the week for me. After a stressful/hectic Sabbath morning, I'd spend all afternoon recovering from a migraine - there was never anything nice about Sabbath for me except for Mum's home-cooked Sabbath lunch! A year ago I got sick (am still recovering) and had to back off from all my commitments and all of a sudden, Sabbath became an amazing day and I saw it in a completely different way. I'm now trying to figure out how to be involved without losing the true meaning of Sabbath... One of the thoughts I had was, is it OK to keep Sabbath on Saturday, but attend Church on Sunday instead, since Sabbath wasn't given to establish WHEN we worship as a Church?

My Reply:
Over the past 5 years of not being a pastor, I have thought the same thing! I've come to two conclusions:

1. Sabbath is about rebuilding relationships. With God (worship/reimaging) and with mankind (talking/eating). This takes different forms for different people. Some people find no stress in leading worship, preaching, teaching, etc. Other people are drained by it. Whatever rebuilds relationships on Sabbath is what you should be doing. Religion has nothing to do with Sabbath. No church, denomination or faith owns the Sabbath. Sabbath was made for all mankind. To heal us. To reconnect us.

2. Spiritual Gifts are given by the same God who gave us the Sabbath. If using your spiritual gifts destroys your sabbath bliss (rest/blessed) one of the two is being wrongly applied. Try using your gifts on another day and let Sabbath serve God's original purpose. There are gifted organists, singers, preachers, teachers and others who participate in Sunday churches and rest on Sabbath. Imagine the joy it must bring Jesus when He sees us fulfilling His prayer for us in John 17:20-23.

Another thing I have learned is that God alone knows the heart. God alone judges rightly. Whenever we judge the actions of others (especially in spiritual matters!) we risk being judged ourselves because we do no know the heart. Trust God's leading. Go. Serve. Love. Live for Christ as one who willingly sacrifices self to serve others - in whatever way the Spirit leads you.

Sabbath: The Day and the Way

Biblically, in both OT and NT, it is quite clear that "Sabbath" refers to the 7th day of the week. Saturday. Most of us can count. :) But, Sabbath was not given to establish 'when' we worship but 'who' we worship and 'who' we are. To crown creation week, God shows up and visits with His image bearers. In Gen 1 and 2 there are two reasons presented for creation. 1: To remind us we are God's image bearers and Sabbath is the day of reimaging. 2: To remind us we are one as God is one - bonded in flesh and spirit with our spouse and God. Creation is about Identity and community. Sabbath is about 'who' God is. He's the Creator of all that is. Created in His image, we Sabbath to remember His creative power and be recreated by Him each week. Sabbath is also about 'who' God's people are. We are not human doings. We are human beings. Sabbath is a day for being in the presence of God. Resting in Him so He can set up shop once again within us. The ultimate definition of Sabbath was seen in the Sabbath 'keeping' of Jesus. God in the flesh dedicated the 7th day to worship and justice. He made a Sabbath habit of going to synagogue. He also made a Sabbath habit of healing the broken. Worship and Justice. He lived what He preached. The two greatest commandments, according to Jesus, were "Love God. Love each other." These ultimate commandments were most evident in His life on the Sabbath. So, when is the Sabbath? Day 7. What is the Sabbath? A day of worship and justice. Why Sabbath? Because you bear His image and it needs buffing up regularly!

Dear Dragonhordling,

I have been into the dragon's lair and dined with him. I believed for a time that his loot and his fire were my own. He's generous like that.

But then I saw the Knight in shining armour. He fought the dragon to claim rights to me. He won that battle, long ago. Now He rides in every day and checks to see who is peering out from under the dragon's wing - who might glimpse Him today. Daily, at sunrise, He calls to every dragonhordling, "Follow me." 

One day, I did. 

One day, I pray you will as well. 

Life with God is an epic tale but truer than any truth we may claim and name. We mere mortals barely glimpse His reality. But that glimpse is enough. 

"Follow me." He promises, "Life will never be the same." 

Follow Him and reality will be more than quirks and quarks. It will be imbued with meaning, purpose and freedom from the dragon's cave we once believed to be all that. 

Continue your quest. See you at Sonrise!

Sincerely, 

Dave