I am Grill Master

Multi-ethnic,Pastor Kurt — admin on July 9, 2009 at 5:15 pm

I love to grill.

Not just hamburgers. All kinds of stuff. I’ve grilled Korean,
Persian, Brazilian, Moroccan, Pakistani, Italian, Jamaican, you name it.

I only use charcoal. No lighter fluid. I’m a purist. It just tastes better.

Got a favorite grilling recipe? Share it!

Disclosure: I get a lot of my best recipes from The Barbeque Bible by
Steve Raichlen. Great, great book.

Renaissance Church website is coming!

Renaissance Church — admin on July 1, 2009 at 3:38 pm

Keep an eye out for Renaissance Church’s new website. It’s looking good.

I’ve been filling out the content when I have a spare moment. Hopefully, the site will go public in a couple weeks or so.

Thanks for praying for all God is doing through Renaissance Church!

Vigor Potty?

Christianity,Multi-ethnic,Outreach,Pastor Kurt — admin on June 24, 2009 at 6:40 pm

We got a good chuckle out of this yogurt we found for sale in Brazil.

It’s a good reminder that when you are working cross-culturally, things aren’t always as they seem. What makes perfect sense to a person from one culture, seems totally inappropriate to someone from another.
Renaissance Church is going to be truly multi-cultural. So I’ m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunities to work through issues like this.
And after we’ve come to a mutual understanding… then we can laugh!
Paul is the Bible’s greatest example of ministering cross-culturally. He teaches us to never change the message of the gospel, but to be willing to do just about anything else to help people know Jesus. The fewer cultural barriers someone has to jump over to meet the Jesus we are preaching, the easier it is for them to come to Christ.
What can you do to bridge the cultural divide between yourself and a friend or coworker?
Pray about that. When you get an answer, go do it.
One things I’m doing is learning Spanish. I learned French as a youth – and that has served me well. It has allowed me to minister effectively in France and Quebec (and hopefully someday in French-speaking Africa). But in Charlotte, the language I most need besides English is Spanish. There are many unchurched Spanish speakers near our future church location. Someone needs to reach them.
Sign me up for whatever it takes.

Happy Fathers Day

Children,Christianity,Pastor Kurt — admin on June 22, 2009 at 4:20 pm

I took Bryan and Steven fishing for the first time last weekend. It was my first time since childhood, as well.

Before I could even get the sunscreen on him, Bryan caught a fish! Steven caught 5 in about an hour. (With a little help from our friend, Pastor Tim.) I don’t think I’ve caught five fish in my entire life.
As a Dad, that is exactly what I want. I want my kids to surpass me in every area possible. I want my ceiling to be their floor.
Kids are capable of so much. We make a mistake when we leave them out of “spiritual” things. How else are they going to learn? They can learn to pray and worship. They can memorize Scripture. They can share the gospel effectively. They can be led by the Holy Spirit.
Why not?

Awesome Testimonies from Camp

Children,Outreach,Uncategorized — admin on June 18, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Before this camp I was feeling very distant from the Lord, but the
first day i felt this feeling that i cannot describe. I felt something
like circulating inside of me, and all the hairs on my body stood up.
I felt the Lord’s presence, and it was good. I repented and I felt
like a whole new person. The Lord put me back on the right track,
because before the camp, I was walking the wrong way. I feel revived
and ready to serve Him once again. I thank Pastor Kurt for preaching
to us, and Pastor Marla for leading us in worship, it was great and I
learned much.
-Bao

God did alot to me at camp. he raised my spirit so high that tears
shed down my face. He made me realized that if i follow his ways ill
be a better man in this life.
-Anonymous

Overcoming camp, Pastor Kurt and Pastor Stephan had help me build my
relationship with God stronger. i was able to reborn by Pastor Kurt,
and other pastor. i 4 got their name. (that means he decided to follow
Jesus and experienced spiritual rebirth.)
-Tai

I learned that your sins can be forgiven by God. Once you cry tears
for the Lord you should not take it for granted but you need to bring
yourself towards him. He is powerful and has been watching you from
the day you were born and that you need to be devoted to him. I just
wanted thank God everyday from the time I was born till now that I’m
grateful. Once you give yourself to him its like setting your spirit
free and it feels very good. I thank Pastor Kurt for his preaching and
blessings. I also thank you for the lovely time a camp and all the
worshipping and fun we had.
-Diana

I just want to thank Pastor Kurt and Pastor Marla for coming out to
preach and help us learn more about God. You guys made a difference to
those people that hasn’t experienced God well. The teen youth is very
appreciative and hopeful that you guys will visit us someday. :] God
Bless.
-Betty

Before camp, God never played an important front seat role in my life.
I was often prone to ‘do this’ or ‘do that’ because I knew I was a
Christian and that’s what Christians do. But camp has taught me that
there’s more to being Christian than just going through the same
procedure of praying, going to church and worshipping God. I learned
that being more intimate with God is what He wants and that in doing
so, I can deepen my love for Him in a way I never though possible
until now. During camp, God has taught me not to be afraid of what
might be ahead because I know that He will always be right there with
me. I’ve also learned to never be afraid to ask for God’s forgiveness
or help because that’s what he wants us to do. God has allowed me to
meet a group of incredibly amazing people that have helped me connect
and worship Him in a way I’ve never done before. And I’m extremely
thankful for this. Thank you so much Pastor Kurt and Pastor Marla for
coming and helping us become more intimate and learn more about God.
If it wasn’t for you two, I would still be the that girl who has never
experienced the true love of God and what he has in store for us. :)
- Bobbie

After the camp, i feel a revival in my relationship with GodBold. I feel like i grew closer with him again…
-Pat

Back from Youth Camp

Children,Outreach,Uncategorized — admin on June 17, 2009 at 3:05 pm


I had a great time hanging with the folks from the Vietnamese
Christian Assembly last week. While we’ve been planting Renaissance
Church, we’ve become friends with Pastor Timothy, Pastor Stephan, and
many of the great people at this church. I think the reason why we’ve
struck such a fast friendship is that they are so Kingdom-minded.

They asked me to be the speaker at their youth camp, and it was a
pleasure. God really moved, and the young people were great. I spoke
on intimacy with God. On the last day, several made first-time
commitments to Christ, and there were many more serious re-
dedications. Almost everyone was very touched by the Holy Spirit, and
many youths were weeping in the presence of the Lord.

And of course, we had a lot of fun, too. We even ate well! Who knew
you could make good Vietnamese food at a camp site?

Check out the blog above, “Awesome Testimonies from Camp” to read what the Vietnamese youth were saying about the camp.

Grits are good for you

Pastor Kurt — admin on June 8, 2009 at 8:31 pm

So says a restaurant in Charleston (SC). Marla and I celebrated our
11th wedding anniversary there over the weekend. It was really nice
to leave behind all the responsibilities of planting a church to just
enjoy each other…. and eat. Man, did we eat well. If you want any
recommendations, shoot me an email.

Post-prayer pensées

Christianity,Prayer,Renaissance Church — admin on June 4, 2009 at 5:48 pm

We had a great all-night prayer meeting last weekend. Attendance was
good, but most importantly, God showed up. Man, long prayer meetings
are like torture if God isn’t there! But this one was just the
opposite. People were worshipping and praying passionately. Those of
us who stayed to the very end (4am) finished strong, thanking God for
allowing us to partner with Him to change the world.

Eat the Beetle

Christianity — admin on May 27, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Years ago a pastor friend was recounting a story of a missions trip he took to China. He found himself hiking over mountains to reach out-of-the way villages and dodging local authorities. But the most harrowing incident occurred over lunch one day when some Chinese hosts served him a regional gourmet delicacy: a beetle.
Now, my friend is not an adventurous eater. He’s a native of Pittsburgh, and in Pittsburgh, there are only four food groups: pizza, sausage, ketchup (Heinz is there), and beer. He typically abstained from the latter, leaving him a pretty limited diet. Let’s just say large insects weren’t a part of it.
“So what did you do?” I asked him.
“I ate the beetle,” he said.
Every so often we come across those situations where we know what the right thing to do is. But there’s nothing in us that actually wants to do it. (If there is, we can’t find it. Come to think of it, moments like that seem to come up more often on cross-cultural trips. I’ve eaten my share of unappetizing cuisine in other countries – heart, tongue, kidney. And that’s just in Europe! They eat a lot of strange stuff in France.)
But eat-the-beetle moments happen all the time. For me these days, the biggest one is making one of those really difficult phone calls.
What is it for you?
Forgiving so-and-so?
Following through on that special offering God asked you to give?
So what should we do when we find one of those creepy crawly things on the plate in front of us?
Eat the beetle.

Blessed are the poor…

Christianity,Outreach — admin on May 25, 2009 at 7:08 pm

Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
–Jesus  (Luke 6:20)

What do you make of this statement?  Is Jesus talking about people who don’t have much money?  The parallel passage in Matthew’s Gospel says “blessed are the poor in spirit…”.   That makes more sense.  But why did Luke just write “poor”?  I can only assume that Jesus preached it that way at least once.

In many cases, it does seem that people without much money tend to have more of the positive quality called “poverty of spirit”.  I’m generalizing here, but let’s face it - people without much money have fewer options and tend to be more aware of their need for God, more willing to to be inconvenienced…

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? James 2:5

Yes, I think that’s it.  It’s easier for the poor to have faith.
I think of the multitudes in Mozambique who are coming to radical faith under the ministry of Rolland and Heidi Baker.  Or the tens of millions of on-fire believers in the underground Chinese churches.
They had almost nothing material to begin with – and then often lose everything through the persecution that comes from following Christ.  But they gain everything – faith in our Savior that yields lives of complete devotion, a faith that witnesses miracles on a regular basis, a faith that allows them to live joyfully in the midst of difficult circumstances.
I recently heard church planting expert Ed Stetzer comment something like this: “I find it very interesting that so many of the people who are planting churches today, feel “called” to plant their church in nice upper-middle class suburban areas.” (my paraphrase from memory)
I’ve been wrestling with this issue lately, reflecting on my ministry in various settings in the U.S.  and all over the world.
Here’s what I’ve decided.  Forget about rich vs. poor.
Give me the hungry for God.
Give me the poor in spirit.
They’re the ones that respond to God.  They’re the ones that will lay down everything to follow Jesus.
It just so happens that you tend to find more people like that among the “poor”.
Jesus was right.  They are blessed.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
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