Karl & Liesl Kranich

We have a new section on the sidebar of our site for information that Liesl has gathered about umbilical cord blood donation.? This is a little-known source of stem cells that have been used to cure many diseases without the ethical issues surrounding embryonic stem cells.

Please check out the links and read Liesl’s piece called Saving Lives without Taking Others—Why I Chose to Donate My Baby’s Cord Blood.

I’m reading Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology with a group of guys, and I was really encouraged by this paragraph about metaphors for the church.? The ideas are explained more in the rest of the chapter.? It’s definitely worth reading!

Each of the metaphors used for the church can help us to appreciate more of the richness of privilege that God has given us by incorporating us into the church.? The fact that the church is like a family should increase our love and fellowship with one another.? The thought that the church is like the bride of Christ should stimulate us to strive for greater purity and holiness, and also greater love for Christ and submission to him.? The image of the church as branches in a vine should cause us to rest in him more fully.? The idea of an agricultural crop should encourage us to continue growing in the Christian life and obtaining for ourselves and others the proper spiritual nutrients to grow.? The picture of the church as God’s new temple should increase our awareness of God’s very presence dwelling in our midst as we meet.? The concept of the church as a priesthood should help us to see more clearly the delight God has in the sacrifices of praise and good deeds that we offer to him (see Heb. 13:15 – 16).? The metaphor of the church as the body of Christ should increase our interdependence on one another and our appreciation of the diversity of gifts within the body.? Many other applications could be drawn from these and other metaphors for the church listed in Scripture.

The latest God’s Art took me back to my many backpacking trips with Pasquale. By (and used with the permission of) Pasquale R Mingarelli of wildheartphotography.com:

The top of Longs Peak.

The peak is flat. What kind of mountain is that? Well, okay, it does look a bit impressive. It’s snow covered, rugged looking and the smooth face to left looks like it would make some great rocking climbing challenge. But there is more that draws thousands of hikers to come to Rocky Mountain National Park to climb it every summer along with the other 100,000 people that stop and hop out of their cars to just grab a photo of it. What really makes this mountain impressive is what the second photo shows. It has a massive base and is 14,259 feet high.

I heard my Sunday school teacher, Pastor Ray Mahew, say, “It’s not the top of a mountain that makes it impressive.” He was making the point that it’s not the top that makes a mountain, but what the top is built on. Without all that is below it, a mountain peak would be nothing but a big rock.”

Pastor Ray went on to say that in the Bible the New Testament is the peak of the mountain and the Old Testament is the base of the mountain. We cannot fully appreciate the New Testament without first having a good understanding of the Old Testament.

Too many Christians are illiterate when it comes to understanding the scriptures and it is even worse when it comes to the Old Testament. I believe this may be from the whole “feel good movement” that has hit the church today. People do not want to study God’s Word. They just want to know how the Word makes them feel good. Many of the hottest Christian books, typical messages from many pulpits and the lack of time the average Christian studies God’s Word reflect this. As a result, many Christians have a very weak faith, worldly lifestyle and a poor witness.

The Old Testament is the rock foundation for the New Testament. If you have never read the complete stories of Nehemiah, Mordecai, Jeremiah, the Rechabites, Hanani, Hannah, Elijah, Manasseh or Josiah, you may want to! Understanding their lives will give you a better understanding of the mountain of God’s Word, what God is like and how He may work in our lives today.

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See more of God’s Art and Pasquale’s work here.

Steve Brown (of Key Life Network) gave the sermon on March 2nd at University Presbyterian Church.? The Death of Evangelism is a great message about ideas that defeat or empower evangelism.

We love listening to Steve.? He preaches challenging messages and helps us see things from a different perspective.? We wouldn’t discount the value of evangelism training as much as he did, but it was still a great message.

You can listen to the message online or download it from www.upc-orlando.com/programs/podcast/

(this is also available as a pdf here)

Wow!? I got to write you all on Leap Day!? Karl and I were glad for the extra day this year, since our house goes on the market on Monday and we needed every extra day we could get to fix up the place.? We’re tired and sore, but it’s almost ready.? Yay!

We’ve been getting Keynote band prayer updates and we’ve gotten so many good ones, I couldn’t decide at first what to share with you in our limited space.? The first one was from a couple we met from the office, who had this to share:

? Lindsay and I are here in Dallas recruiting for Keynote at the Dallas Winter Conference.? Last night a guy named Steven walked up to me while I was standing at our booth and asked if Blue Sky Nine was a part of our ministry.? I affirmed him that BSN is our acoustic rock band and asked if he had seen them sometime.? His response was, “Yeah – that’s actually why I’m a Christian now.”

He said a friend who was a part of Campus Crusade on his campus invited him to a concert.? ? He wasn’t into anything on the spiritual level, but loved music and decided to attend with his friend.? He enjoyed the show and afterwards ended up talking to Michael Shumann – one of our intern vocalists from last year.? Michael shared the 4 Spiritual Laws with him and Steven gave his life to Christ.

Now Steven is at the Dallas Winter Conference, growing and being challenged in his faith, and even considering missions opportunities for the future.? God is changing lives all around us!

Please take this opportunity to praise God for Steven, and to pray for God to prepare the way for our bands’ spring touring season.? There are a lot of students just like Steven out there, lost and waiting to hear Great News of hope at our upcoming concerts.? ? ? -Benton

This same group is touring from now until mid March through Egypt!? And the most recent prayer request was for a guitar lost by the airline.? So please pray for them.? We also have mentioned the Boyds, a family band who have toured internationally with great response.? They are taking some time off as a band for the boys to be at home for a while and for the parents to be able to do talks at our FamilyLife marriage conferences.? ? ? Bruce sent some incredible updates:

A few highlights from the conference . . . with the new format, my favorite part of the weekend is an audience sharing time in the last session where couples grab a mic and talk briefly about the impact of our time together.? Several got up to share publicly how they came into the weekend planning divorce, but were leaving recommitted to one another.? Another husband realized that his anger was tearing their marriage apart and he purposed to his wife that he never wanted to do that to her again.? A wife shared that her marriage had gotten so desperate that she began considering a handgun to take her own life – but that this weekend had restored their relationship . . . and on the stories went.? I think God answered your prayers!? ? It was such a thrill to be a part of seeing the Lord work so powerfully, and knowing you were playing a big part in these changed lives.? Awesome.

I am so excited that we will be able to contribute to these people’s ministries and be a part of God’s work in this way!? Please be praying for Keynote staff to be open to God’s leading in each new circumstance and pray that many would come to know Him and have their lives changed.? God bless you!