tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85834805606929185802012-01-24T12:31:02.064-08:00building up the Body of ChristMnoreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-10684956168490978362008-09-05T07:29:00.000-07:002008-09-05T07:54:06.884-07:00

We have allowed this site to lay idle for many months but still have hopes that it can be a useful tool for conversation. This summer brought hard challenges for those connected to The Forge. We are thankful that deep, loving and real relationships in the Lord Jesus grew out of our time together. The report of this summer's Forge is posted below.For those of you who do not know what The Forge is,

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-43907922014870834582008-09-05T07:27:00.000-07:002008-09-05T07:28:39.336-07:00

Christ is Faithful in the Midst of TragedyDear Friends, It is with sadness yet with hope in the resurrection Life of Christ that this summer’s report comes to you. We knew from the outset that this year’s Forge would be very different from last year’s but had no idea what awaited us and the family of one of the Forge participants. The first two weeks were full of the Lord’s presence, fellowship,

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-87384344531013231682007-10-31T10:47:00.000-07:002007-10-31T10:50:00.450-07:00

Thanks for inviting me to join in the conversation. I'm new to blogging, but here goes...I used to read the words "They in Us that the world might believe that you sent me" and hang my head in shame over the mess we've made of the church. While I'm not completely over those feelings, I have found some real hope and joy in those words lately. Isn't it encouraging to believe that the Lord honestly

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-7521858142254530982007-10-29T13:28:00.000-07:002007-10-29T14:00:48.702-07:00

I love Matt's comment "where is that exactly, because I'd sure like to go there more often." Honestly said. And how does "going there more often" into the presence of the Father and the Son, help the temple that Paul speaks of get built? I think we know the starting place for meeting God is in our Spirit where the Lord has come to dwell if we have invited him in. But our culture, our enemy and

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-19539773762411517782007-10-12T11:43:00.000-07:002007-10-12T12:46:36.614-07:00

I appreciate very much the eternal context in which Jonathan wrote about these passages, that our vision expands and deepens as we see the bigger picture of what God is doing. Reading these passages slowly is a great exercise for me—‘like a listening post’. I’m still surprised by the directness that Christ and Paul talk about our relation to God. I’m surprised when Christ says: “Father, I desire

Mnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-83011415210459859422007-10-04T14:53:00.000-07:002007-10-15T07:47:08.380-07:00

A common thread which runs through both passages is man’s access to an increased sense of belonging that enables new possibilities. The passage from John conveys this idea through Jesus repeatedly mentioning oneness. An evolving union exists between his followers and he prays that this union will become more intimate moving towards the kind of relationship that exists between the Father and

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-25437789741515365292007-10-03T08:56:00.001-07:002007-10-04T11:24:09.238-07:00

Thinking about Jonathan's words on the language of "church attendance" I'm reminded that German believers like Bonhoeffer had two words to talk about the church. The word "kirche" meant the building where believers gathered, while "gemeinde" meant the community of God's people. So you could go to the "kirche" but likely found your life in the fellowship of the "gemeinde." It would be helpful for

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-50038848315999463622007-09-28T15:53:00.000-07:002007-09-28T15:54:49.950-07:00

Bonhoeffer’s quote points out a frightful reality. We are disconnected with what we are called to be. I’m more accustomed to the language of “church attendance” than I am to the truth of being it.We are God’s active presence in the world. The church is an extension of Him; His very body. Under his headship we are called to be a force for His ends. Even as Jesus did, we must incarnate His

Jonathannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-38836687383990461782007-09-28T06:54:00.000-07:002007-09-28T08:52:10.727-07:00

Are these two passages related? If so, how? If so, what are the implications? John 17: 20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-79769747701456988762007-09-24T11:01:00.000-07:002007-09-24T12:29:44.207-07:00

It would be an understatement to say that there are cultural influences affecting my life that I rarely take time to notice. I recognized some of these influences when I recently spoke with a friend of mine living on the west coast. He said he was moving to a new city, taking a new job and perhaps going back to school. His reason for these big changes was essentially a shrug accompanied by a

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-72592433737965743012007-08-29T08:48:00.000-07:002007-09-04T09:28:56.767-07:00

What's happenin' everyone,By now we have settled back into a daily routine. The Forge is for me a memory of great fellowship with amazing people. And it is also much more than that: not just an isolated personal experience, but a firmly set foundation on which I can ask God to continue building. It is my firm belief that my American peers need to be exposed to the kind of people I was fortunate

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-63993252977853676092007-08-25T18:22:00.000-07:002007-09-04T09:21:41.440-07:00

Take an acorn in your hand, and you hold a source of life; a container for a completely designed yet hidden purpose. Once planted, the life within the seed is slowly revealed, and it becomes a great tree bearing many acorns of its own. This tree--simply grown according to the acorn's design--provides us a hint of our purpose as Christians. At the Forge, we seek to render our lives as nothing more

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-34950014614927852652007-08-25T13:46:00.000-07:002007-09-04T08:58:44.066-07:00

During a recent discussion, a close friend of mine cited a compelling observation from the German Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer:…there is a word that to Protestants has the sound of something infinitely commonplace, more or less indifferent and superfluous, that does not make their heart beat faster; something with which a sense of boredom is so often associated. . . . And yet our fate is

Mnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-88273027737599600232007-07-05T06:43:00.000-07:002008-12-09T17:23:46.067-08:00

Our primary purpose is twofold; to help Forge participants develop a more intimate relationship with the Lord; and to build in them a desire to see the headship of Christ expressed in new ways in his church. Like the New Testament followers of Christ, they will be part of an army of ordinary people sent out to impact their world.What will students take with them from The Forge?1. Centrality of

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-24177997219622047782007-07-05T06:36:00.001-07:002007-07-05T06:36:59.918-07:00

The call to follow Christ is a call to a loving relationship with him. It is also an invitation to the spiritual battle of establishing Christ’s kingdom in a world made hostile by sin. With these truths in mind, life at The Forge will incorporate the following six objectives:1. Guiding students into developing and maintaining an intimate experience with Christ in their daily lives.2. Leading

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-80806631155155510512007-07-05T06:33:00.001-07:002007-07-05T06:33:57.292-07:00

1. A 13 acre property in Afton, Virginia where 25-30 people can live together, meet and study2. Daily sessions for teaching and fellowship.3. Foreign and American students4. Evening meetings for worship, outreach and a variety of other activities.5. Individual small and large group prayer6. Students working together on household responsibilities and community service projects.

Mnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8583480560692918580.post-78496770867923627022007-06-26T12:33:00.000-07:002007-06-26T12:34:37.379-07:00

“Dad, what’s it all about? Why are we here?” my 16-year-old son suddenly asked as we drove down a Sacramento street a number of years ago.I caught my breath. How do you come up with an instant answer to the eternal question of the universe, especially one that relates to a teenager? The answer to that simple, yet profound, question is tied directly to a simple, yet profound, word…: life. God’s

Lance Thollandernoreply@blogger.com0