My Job Description: Web Developer

I found this video recently and thought it did a really great job of explaining some of the technical aspect of my work.  AND it’s entertaining!  The video is designed for new developers, but the first 3-4 minutes do an excellent job explaining a bit of what I do on a day-to-day basis.  I think you’ll enjoy it.  http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/so-you-want-to-be-a-developer-part-1

Don’t forget, you can always read up on our latest updates by checking out our facebook page at: facebook.com/jcptc

Just a quick update to let you know we have created a brand new FaceBook page for our personal ministry updates.  If you would like to be informed when we post new items, you simply need to LIKE the page and our updates should start appearing in your FaceBook news feeds.  We’ll try to keep things fairly up-to-date with current projects and exciting stories from the field.  We will still be sending out the email newsletters as well, but will be more along the lines of monthly updates (what they’ve currently been) instead of short, more frequent, blurbs.  You can find the page on FaceBook here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/James-and-Carolannes-Ministry/368749249826808

The past few weeks/months have seen our team incredibly busy with a new initiative called the 35 Day Challenge.  Designed as an evangelism training solution for Christians, the 35 day challenge can help you walk through the steps needed to learn how to share your faith effectively with other people.

My part of this work has been in building the website and programming the technology that allows the website to function properly.  (yes, if you find bugs, you can mention them to me.  )  It has been quite a major process but it’s been really rewarding to see all the people who have already joined from many different parts of the world including some very “closed” countries.

The general idea of the site is to encourage believers to take new steps in their faith and to teach them very practical ways that they can begin to share their faith effectively with others.  Now that most of the technology has been created, we have started to challenge churches to consider taking their members through it. One such church that has started this process is Centre Street Church in Calgary, AB.

The 35 Day Challenge was also featured this week on CanadianChristianity.com! Read the article here: http://www.canadianchristianity.com/faith/ministry/thirtyfive-days-life/.

Would you join us in praying that we would reach our goal of having 2000 Christians take the 35 Day Challenge? If you are interested in learning more or if you would like to take the challenge yourself, please visit http://35daychallenge.ca.

Question: How will you celebrate Easter and how do you share the message of Easter with the people where you are?

Answer: We are very blessed to have both of our families are local to this area so Easter usually involves a dinner on each side, usually with large gatherings of extended family. On Carolanne’s side, an Easter egg hunt usually precedes the dinner, while on James’ side fewer young kids means more adults sitting around the living room swapping stories of busy lives.

The websites often change to reflect the season as well, featuring more articles related to the nature of Easter and what the celebration is really all about. There may be a special video featured on the site for the visitors with a message of hope in Christ and forgiveness for those who seek it. The daily devotionals will feature content related to the season as well, with a message of encouragement and a reminder to live in remembrance of the grace we have received.

Often, at seasons where tradition involves family gatherings (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving), those who do not have family or loved ones nearby turn to venues like the Internet to find hope and encouragement (or just distraction). This is most clearly seen in our mentoring community. A large portion of our ministry happens behind the scenes in the interactions between the mentors and the visitors and in the times leading up to and following celebrations like these, we see a marked increase in lonely and hurting people coming to us for help.

Please pray for our mentors during this time as they may be fielding some very tough questions and situations. Pray also for us as we are continuing to work through some of the bugs related to building and launching thelife.com. Finally, please pray for our support, that God would continue to provide, and bring more people to our support team. Thank you!

9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10 “Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Now, I know from Sunday school that I don’t want to be like the pharisee. Jesus had a fair bit to say to them, reminding them that they really weren’t any more spiritual or righteous than the tax collectors.

In the Bible Study I attend, we’ve been going through the book “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Phillip Yancy. Recently, we’ve been talking about the sermon on the mount where Jesus gives us a whole bunch of rules about how to live a righteous life. The pharisees at that time had the law of Moses and in order not to break any of the laws, they had implemented a whole collection of additional laws. The idea was to to set the standard higher than necessary in order to avoid breaking the really bad stuff. For example, in the ten commandments, it talks about honoring the Sabbath and keeping it holy. In order to make sure they did that, the Pharisee’s put in rules about what you could and couldn’t do, even to the extent of how far someone was allowed to walk on that day.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus takes these rules and raises the standard even higher saying that hatred is just as bad as murder, and lust is the same as adultery. In doing this I believe he made the gap between God and man even more unattainable. He showed the Pharisees that they still weren’t anywhere near “sinless” and more importantly, he showed each of us how much we need God’s forgiveness and grace.

Phil Callaway shares a funny story about being asked how he’s doing at church. The truth, he says, is that when he hasn’t been gossiping or lusting, he’s been coveting, and frankly he enjoys all three… BUT in response to the question he simply says “Well, I’ve been struggling to memorize the gospel of John, brother.

Now, according to Jesus standards, I’m no better than a murderer or a pimp. I’m pretty sure Power to Change doesn’t hire murderers or pimps. Yet, God, in His mercy and grace, has given me the privilege of serving Him in spite of my failures. Because of Jesus, God considers me to be forgiven, pure and holy in His sight.

My point today is that we remember, no matter how good we might think we are, we’re really not any better than the drug dealer on the street. I don’t hear it preached as much any more, but I still believe that all sin is equal in God’s sight, whether you’re jealous of someone’s new iPad, or murdering prostitutes. The only difference is that as a result of Jesus death in our place and our trust in Him, we’ve been shown grace and mercy in spite of ourselves.

So, live in the grace God has given you, and remember to forgive as you have been forgiven.

I often miss this verse in my hurry to get to the next one, but there’s some profound truth here.  Medical professionals tell us over and over again that stress is bad for your health.  For me, stress is usually the result of worry over some trivial thing or another.  When I worry, it usually means I’m not doing a very good job of trusting the Lord.  But Jesus himself said:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? [Matt. 6]

The old hymn also comes to mind to remind us that we can hand all our worries, stresses and fears over to Him who made us.

Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.

So, this week as you walk the road God has given you, remember to trust Him, even with the small things.  Remember that He loves you very much, and longs for you to live in fellowship with Him.

One of these prophecies is found in Isaiah 22.  Now at the outset, this chapter does ring of the “doom and gloom” variety.  It discusses the impending destruction of Jerusalem and how God is even more angered by the people because instead of mourning and repenting in the face of death, they are a) preparing for battle simply in their own strength and then b) leaving the result up to fate instead of asking God for His forgiveness and help.

You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” (v. 13b)

The passage that really struck me though was a little further on.  Isaiah makes reference to a man named Shebna who supervises the palace.  Apparently this Shebna had a very high opinion of himself and yet God says that he will throw Shebna away and replace him with another.  This is where it gets interesting because in verse 22 God says this about the man who will replace Shebna, the palace administrator:

I will give him the key to the house of David—the highest position in the royal court. When he opens doors, no one will be able to close them; when he closes doors, no one will be able to open them.

THAT sounds familiar, doesn’t it!  This is exactly what Jesus said of Peter in Matthew 19.

Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven. (Matt. 19: 18-19)

There is also a warning here though.  In the Isaiah passage, God talks about how the man who replaces Shebna will be fastened like a peg in a solid place and will gain honor and respect.  In the analogy, all sorts of smaller containers will be hung off of this peg and “His father’s family will gain increasing prominence because of him, including the offspring and the offshoots.”  The warning comes at the very end though where God says that “the peg fastened into a solid place will come loose.  It will be cut off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off.”

Now, in my mind, if we carry this analogy back over to the situation in the New Testament, we see Peter being set as the cornerstone on whom Jesus is going to build His church.  He is the peg on whom the offspring and offshoots (the bowls and containers) are being hung.  The question that comes immediately to my mind is whether the warning at the end has any connection to Peter and the church, or whether that part of the prophecy was simply for the Isaiah situation.

If it was for the church, what does it mean?  Is the church going to be “cut off” in some way in the future?  There are a lot of possible situations and outcomes which can come to mind, but I’ll leave the speculation alone for now.  Suffice to say that we the church should be very careful in our actions and decisions in order that we NOT come loose and be cut off.  Pauls seems to allude to this in Romans 11 where he says:

¹⁷ But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. ¹⁸But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.

¹⁹ “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” ²⁰ Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen. ²¹ For if God did not spare the original branches, he won’t^[f] spare you either.

If you have thoughts on this or any other insight, I’d love to hear it.  I hope you have been challenged and blessed by this.

As a symbol of their commitment we challenge followers of Christ to sign TheLife card as a physical reminder of that commitment.  We also encourage them to be held accountable to their decision by signing up on thelife.com and having one or more of their friends hold them accountable to the steps they are taking.

Many years ago in high-school I wrote a mission statement for my life and it read something like this:

I intend to do God’s will for my life when ever, where ever, and what ever, for His glory, in regards to my calling, those I date, my future wife, my future family, and my job. I intend to put His will first in every aspect of my existence and want to honour Him with all my life.

In helping to develop thelife.com I have felt honoured and blessed to have been given the opportunity to do exactly that, and to help design something which would allow others to make similar commitments.

Developing the website for this challenge has taken the vast majority of my time for the past few months meaning I’ve had little time to focus on much of anything else.  It has been a difficult project, but very rewarding as now there are already over 500 people who have joined.

My prayer requests for this site would be for God to use it powerfully in the lives of believers around the world and that it would not only result in Christians getting serious about their faith,  but also in many others being told about God’s good news of great joy that is for all people.

Question: Tell us something from your childhood or early adult years which God has used to specially prepare you for who you are and what you’re doing now.

I (James) have often wondered at how God has led me through life thus far. I was born a missionary kid in Indonesia and I believe God has often used that to shape who and where I am today. Growing up as an M.K. I always assumed I would work in missions some day. I knew that God had given me a passion for using technology, but I didn’t know of many opportunities that combined technology with missions in the way I was hoping.

My work with Power to Change and TruthMedia has brought much of that confusion into focus. I love that I have the opportunity to do something I really enjoy (working with new technology) while at the same time using my skills to make a difference for eternity. I feel like I have my dream job! I thank God that He has given me the privilege of serving Him in this way!

That’s not to say there aren’t difficulties every day. Some days it’s personal, family or health related. Other days it’s technology not cooperating. Furthermore, for some yet unknown reason God has not yet seen fit to provide all our support, but we continue to trust that He will provide. In spite of everything though I feel very blessed to be able to do what I do. Our God is gracious and compassionate, rich in mercy and abounding in love.

Prayer requests:
Pray for the new initiative we’re developing called “TheLife”. Pray that God would give us wisdom as we work through the details of how it should work. Pray also that it would be effective in helping to encourage, build and stretch believers in their faith. Learn more about it at http://thelife.com/

Pray for our financial support. We still have a long way to go.