The Threads Blog

If you haven’t heard of singer/songwriter Lanae’ Hale, you’re missing out. She’s got a fresh, sweet sound that keeps replaying in the Collegiate team’s heads. Lanae’ is on tour this summer with Building 429, 33Miles, and Kimber Rising. She’s doing a mini tour called Moments of Worship with Jaime Jamgochian and Daniel Kirkley in August, and is confirmed for a Christmas-themed Bethlehem Skyline Tour in December. But if you aren’t able to catch a concert, read more about Lanae’s story in the Fall 2009 issue of Collegiate, available now for purchase.

We were thinking about running a promotional campaign similar to the one Willy Wonka did, but instead of inserting Golden Tickets, our printer decided to insert the July 12 lesson twice. While this was a thoughtful gesture on their part, a problem was created when they decided to leave out portions of the June 28 lesson. So, if you are one of the lucky ones to have received a “golden” book, then your prize is this wonderful free pdf replacement lesson. Seriously though, I do apologize for the inconvenience and if you have any other thoughts or problems, feel free to email me or post your thoughts on my blog. Enjoy your free download!

In order to justify the long hours I spent watching the U.S. Open this weekend, and Monday morning, I want to share a few things I learned. Please note this is not a theology paper but more of a story.

Do you know that you know that you know? Do you remember the day and the time you got saved? If you died tonight, do you know where you would go? Are you 100% sure?

What do all of these questions have in common? They used to scare me to death and they have been used at the end of youth services and camps to manipulate students into “making decisions” for years it seems. Growing up in the church, there was so much importance on this thing that happened at one point in time and if you couldn’t remember the details of that moment when you accepted Jesus—what the preacher was wearing, what the weather was like, what time it was—then maybe it wasn’t genuine. So flocks of youth would race down the aisle of salvation again and again, pray another prayer, and go forward every chance they got.

One of the buzz words finding its way through many Christian circles right now is “community.” Buzz words come and go like fads, disappearing as soon as other ones catch on. But community, in relation to our faith, is nothing new. It’s been around for quite a while. In fact, community is supposed to be a huge part of our faith journey. We all know we’re supposed to walk with other believers and help each other through life’s stuff. Hanging out with other believers is easy. The church is really good at this as well.