Hard Times
Over the past few days & weeks, I am blown away by the suffering around me. People are very sick (including many kids). People are going through tremendous emotional pain. People have lost loved ones. People are in financial trouble. People are struggling in their marriages.

All around us, people are going to bed in tears, in fits of anger, in depression, and in frustration.

Something is going on right now. Please pray.

A Book, A Movie, & A Hunger for Community
These ideas are borrowed from a friend . . .

Two major "things" are getting a lot of buzz in the North American church world these days:

1. The Purpose Driven Life book. I see this book at Sam's Club, at Wal-Mart, at Family Christian Stores, at Barnes & Noble, and in every church bulletin I come across. I could point out my frustrations with the book, but that isn't the point of this entry.

2. The upcoming Mel Gibson movie The Passion, which portrays Christ's crucifixion with unprecedented graphic integrity.

Some in church circles are predicted that these two major "things" will spawn a significant revival in North America.

My friend shared an opinion (with which I am in total agreement). He predicted that we will miss the boat if these two things (or anything else for that matter) spark a revival, but when people respond and "go to a church" they find an organizational / institutional expression of church. If people do not find true relational expressions of church, they will be lost with nowhere to go after they are impacted by a book or by a movie.

And many of us believe that there is a relational church movement in North America, largely hidden from the casual observer, that very likely will play a role in the next revival, whenever that may be. We are watching and praying (because in the end that is all we can really do) for that day.