K-3 - PEOPLE FILES
- Ashley Morgan Kirk - Thomas Knapp - Joseph Kohm - Rocky Komatsu -
==ashley morgan kirk======
Ashley Morgan Kirk
Every week, [Resurrection Senior] Pastor Adam [Hamilton] meets somebody who has never walked into our physical doors before but has been worshiping online with us........We hear from people who aren’t ready to come back in person yet, who are faithfully attending online. … I talk with people each week who aren’t geographically close to us but who are identifying as Resurrection people.............online church has been a method” for some who regularly attended before the pandemic to keep up, her congregation has “also seen new people join us. ....For some in Kansas City who are new to us, online worship is their screen door to our physical front doors at our locations." ....She drew a parallel to Methodism founder John Wesley’s practice of itinerant preaching outside of church buildings........."I think this is the moment in history that’s allowing us one of the biggest opportunities to make the Gospel more available to the general public, just like the work that Wesley did.”
-Ashley Morgan Kirk, Online care and connection pastor; Church of the Resurrection; Kansas City, Kansas 2.2.22
-Ashley Morgan Kirk, Online care and connection pastor; Church of the Resurrection; Kansas City, Kansas 2.2.22
==thomas knaPP====================
Thomas Knapp
I’m a fan of keeping the state separate from pretty much everything, especially religion. There’s pretty strong historical grounding for believing that’s what the people who created the system we live in intended. In addition to Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, in which he posited a “wall of separation,” the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli is clear: “[T]the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
On the other hand, if we’re going to allow the federal government to exist at all, I’m with those guys, who also ordered that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
I’m not concerned with Johnson’s beliefs. In fact, since he’s a politician, I consider it foolish to assume that they bear any resemblance to his claims. For all I know he’s a closet Muslim, a secret atheist, or, most likely, a narcissist who sees God in the mirror when he shaves each morning.
His actions, however, are a different story.
When Johnson came to Congress, he swore an oath (in defiance of biblical command, by the way — Matthew 5:33-37) to “support and defend the Constitution.” That oath obligates him to certain things even if the Constitution contradicts his interpretation of scripture.
If it’s impossible to be true to both, he needs to pick one.
If he can’t bring himself to do the job as he swore to do it, he should resign rather than betray his oath, and certainly rather than seek and accept the position of Speaker.
Unfortunately, he seems to have missed 1st Corinthians 10:21: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.”
--Thomas Knapp; Richmond Observer; OPINION: Religion and politics and Mike Johnson 11/8/23
On the other hand, if we’re going to allow the federal government to exist at all, I’m with those guys, who also ordered that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
I’m not concerned with Johnson’s beliefs. In fact, since he’s a politician, I consider it foolish to assume that they bear any resemblance to his claims. For all I know he’s a closet Muslim, a secret atheist, or, most likely, a narcissist who sees God in the mirror when he shaves each morning.
His actions, however, are a different story.
When Johnson came to Congress, he swore an oath (in defiance of biblical command, by the way — Matthew 5:33-37) to “support and defend the Constitution.” That oath obligates him to certain things even if the Constitution contradicts his interpretation of scripture.
If it’s impossible to be true to both, he needs to pick one.
If he can’t bring himself to do the job as he swore to do it, he should resign rather than betray his oath, and certainly rather than seek and accept the position of Speaker.
Unfortunately, he seems to have missed 1st Corinthians 10:21: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils.”
--Thomas Knapp; Richmond Observer; OPINION: Religion and politics and Mike Johnson 11/8/23
==joseph kohm==================
Jospeh Kohm
"The last two years have shown that our public discourse has taken a nose dive in terms of incivility, rage, mania [and] just craziness. This is a golden opportunity for Christians because this is what we are commanded to do. It's the standard set [for] us by all the prophets, all the New Testament writers and advocates and by Jesus, especially. It's a huge opportunity to live our faith and to show that we are the sane ones. It's one of the best messaging lines we have."
-Joseph Kohm, director of public policy at Family Policy Alliance 8.26.23
-Joseph Kohm, director of public policy at Family Policy Alliance 8.26.23
==rocky komatsu======
Rocky Komatsu
“There is so much that is unknown. We don’t even know all the challenges right now. Things move slower here, and we are isolated, so we do know there are going to be lots of needs for a long time. It feels very overwhelming.”“I was shocked................It showed walls of flame that had engulfed the entire community behind Front Street.......We couldn’t connect with friends on that side, because the power was out so there was no reaching them. The only thing we could do was pray............I went into Lahaina on a plane Thursday morning with supplies, then later that afternoon Jay and I went in a convoy of trucks loaded with more supplies. It looked like what you see on the news when a country goes to war. It looked like a bomb had gone off and destroyed the entire town. It was heartbreaking. There wasn’t a ton of smoke because the fire was slowly dying. It was very somber. It didn’t feel real. It felt like a nightmare. We brought in things like food, water, diapers, baby wipes, adult wipes. Later we switched to propane and generators.My friend preached an excellent sermon on suffering from Romans 5 the Sunday after the fire. The following Sunday I preached on lament from Psalm 13. We are just trying to equip our people to grieve in a biblical way—to be honest and transparent with others and the Lord about the pain and questions and confusion. Then, like David in Psalm 13, we want to move from pain and sorrow to trusting the steadfast love of the Lord.............We really do think lament will be a key help for us in this time—and not just for ourselves. We also want to help our community understand how to lament. We don’t want to minimize suffering or escape it or fall into despair. Instead, we go to God and we trust in the gospel. A lady started coming to our church the week before the fire. Her husband is a firefighter, and he was on a crew that got trapped in the fires and almost lost their lives............Gathering supplies to fly to Lahaina. He lived, and he came to church on Sunday with his whole family. He said, “It’s been a very long time but it’s good to be back.” His wife said something like “I cannot believe that after I turned my back on God all these years, he would save my husband’s life.” That’s a little seed of gospel hope........We were also able to help a family who lost their home. Their family is hosting three other families in their parents’ house. We were able to give them some supplies. The daughter ended up coming this past Sunday with her family. They were able to hear the gospel presented to them, to hear they can find hope in Christ. Another family was holding 28 people in their home. We have been able to drop off supplies to them, and several of our church members able to pray with them...........I’ve been able to pray with a lot more people right now.What the community is going to lean on is “Maui Strong,” which is the collective efforts and love of our community together and their resolve to build back Lahaina. We support it 100 percent, but we also know it’s not enough. A community without the gospel is not going to be any better off. We are hoping to pass out copies of Mark Vroegop’s Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy. I read his book three years ago and then led our church through a series on some of the psalms of lament. I think it has given us categories for processing what’s happened here and is helping our people to minister to our community.
We are really praying the Lord would use this to bring a revival of the gospel back to this community—that they would realize their hope cannot be ultimately in building back Lahaina but in coming to see Christ as the King who can bring true, lasting healing and peace. --Pastor Rocky Kamotsu on Hawaii after the fires.
We are really praying the Lord would use this to bring a revival of the gospel back to this community—that they would realize their hope cannot be ultimately in building back Lahaina but in coming to see Christ as the King who can bring true, lasting healing and peace. --Pastor Rocky Kamotsu on Hawaii after the fires.
