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Photo from hotel room

View from hotel room

I arrived here last night after a 24-hour flight that began Friday morning in Dayton. I am speaking at a large Presbyterian church today and at two different pastors' conferences this week. The Korean people are wonderful, and as I discovered on my first trip here in 1994, they are very committed to prayer. For an American, it would be hard to believe, but they have asked me to speak for 1 hour and 45 minutes today (pray for me)!

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Posted By: Pastor Mike Slaughter on Feb 21, 2010 12:00PM Add Comment | View Comments [4]

Christians have entered the introspective season of Lent. The 46 days to Easter are days of sacrifice (giving something up) and self -examination for the purpose of right-aligning our life direction with God’s life path. Jesus talked about the path that leads to life being very hard and that very few people ever really take it. The majority of folks find themselves taking a less strenuous way that bypasses God’s intended destinations. All of us are on a path. The right question is “whose path?” I love the last line from that famous poem by Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

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Posted By: Pastor Mike Slaughter on Feb 18, 2010 02:00PM Add Comment | View Comments [5]
photo of Mike and Sudanese children

Since January 2005, Ginghamsburg and its partner churches, schools and businesses have invested nearly $5 million in Darfur, Sudan, for three humanitarian relief projects: sustainable agriculture, child protection & development and safe water. I visited Darfur in August 2005, June 2007 and November 2009 to check on the projects and bring back an eyewitness account.

I need a little help from my friends. This past week my newest book, Change the World: Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus, was released nationally. This book can help change the focus of the church from getting people on the outside in, to getting those of us on the inside out into the world serving the oppressed and marginalized. Will you help me in getting the word out by ordering one or more discounted copies through Amazon.com? If enough copies are ordered this week, it will help create national recognition and support a great cause. Please help me in spreading the word. The book is also available for two weeks as a free Kindle download.

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Posted By: Pastor Mike Slaughter on Feb 11, 2010 04:00PM Add Comment | View Comments [3]
photo of Mike and Tony Hall

Mike and Tony Hall standing in front of the Dome of the Rock

Did you watch President Obama’s State of the Union message last week?  The divided aisle and animated reactions from the Congress are painful reminders of American’s very partisan politics. I am not naďve enough to believe that it hasn’t always been this way, but it appears that the majority of our public servants are more concerned with defeating the opposition than finding ways to work together to lead the country forward in a time of global economic crisis, escalation of poverty in the U.S. and the lingering threat of terrorist attack.

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Posted By: Pastor Mike Slaughter on Feb 04, 2010 11:00AM Add Comment | View Comments [4]
Painting of the apostle Peter

Peter's Shame

We all fall down. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). To deny our propensity to sabotage Christ’s reputation is a sure prescription for failure. Peter, who demonstrated bravery in his attempt to defend Jesus with his sword, would later find himself as sermon fodder (for the next 2000 years) as the one who denied Jesus in his hour of need. As a matter of fact, the Bible is really a story about broken human beings who fail morally and spiritually in spite of their faith and best intentions. Some like Peter make great comebacks, and others like Judas run away from God’s restorative grace.

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Posted By: Pastor Mike Slaughter on Jan 28, 2010 05:00PM Add Comment | View Comments [18]