My discipline and memory to keep this blog updated has been just terrible.  I've put it into my calendar now - I'm out of excuses.

Last weekend Wendell and I were able to share some of our trip to Ecuador and the Amazon with everyone.  Pictures are great, but hardly do justice to the experience as a whole.  Their faces and voices are still very vivid in my mind. 

As a student of cultural studies, I marvel at the influence of 'things' (or the lack of) on the church in different locations.  I think I can accurately sum it up as this: conflict in materially prosperous congregations are usually over trivial matters.  Conflict in materially poor congregations is usually matters of life and death.  Beyond a doubt, the differentiating issue is money (both in the congregation and the geographic location in which it resides).  I certainly do not buy into the notion that prosperous congregations and economic surroundings directly result in corrupt churches.  But I do see a weakness in being unaware of one's wealth and having a perspective outside of the culture one has been raised in.

Money is a tool.  That is all.  It is to be used and controlled with a Christ-like attitude.  I believe that is why God told Moses to instruct the people in the writings we call 'Leviticus', that they should give their tithes and offerings to the Levites - and then understand, it is no longer theirs, but the Levites.  In other words - let it go.  And is it any wonder He set it up this way?  How many arguments and power struggles have we seen over the decades because of 'the money'? 

In an odd way, the poverty of the people from where visited is a blessing - even a luxury.  They already see what is most important.  They are not distracted with the foolishness of petty arguments.  Their world is very real - very serious.  It's a matter of survival - not the control of finances, programs, and the color of carpets and draperies.

I am thankful for the attitude and freedom that God has blessed us with here at CCF.  May our prosperity never come between us and Him.  It all belongs to Him and no other.

jas