Parallax View 2009 PROMO

Parallax View - 2009 Promo Video from Seth Durbin on Vimeo.

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Compassion Sunday

This past week at The Bridge we participated in Compassion Sunday. I wanted to go ahead and blog tonight about a few ideas to help your child sponsorship experience.

• Pray for your sponsored child at mealtime. Also encourage your own children to do so.
  
• Post your child's photo on your refrigerator door. This will act as a visual reminder that most children living in our world today do not have easy access to the delicious food and drinks inside our refrigerator doors.
  
• Encourage your children to start a piggy bank to go towards your sponsored child.
  
• Write a meaningful letter to your sponsored child. Encourage each family member to write a paragraph in each letter. Be sure to write atleast three times per year.
  
• Teach your own children through your letters.
  
  
  If you missed last week's celebration you can watch it at http://www.mogulus.com/bridgelife360
  
  More resources:
  
  Compassion International
  

Note: The Compassion International booth will remain up next week.

Watch last Sunday's Celebration

Every week you can now watch The Bridge live at http://www.mogulus.com/bridgelife360 .. You can also watch past celebrations including last week's on The Gospel in Disciple 101. Use the menu button to re-start the celebration.

Video Preview for Disciple 101

Watch this video intro for our new series "Disciple 101." If you are viewing via facebook you may need to go to www.benjamindurbin.com

Disciple 101 starts April 19th

From sitting in prison for preaching the Gospel...the Apostle Paul wrote a plea to the church in Colosse to help them understand TRUTH.

Why? The early church was JACKED up*.

There were teachings being presented in the city of Colosse that were opposing the true Gospel, and confusion was flourishing.

In the book of Colossians, we see that the early church was facing and even participating in: false teaching, false gospel, mysticism, legalism, self-salvation projects, inactivity, and even exclusion.

Certain members of the church were teaching observance of rules that could help earn salvation, or an elevated level of the spiritual realm. Other gentile members were promoting a form of mysticism that claimed that Jesus was a higher being but not God.

This early church was being challenged to its very core. They were being asked, "What makes someone's life whole? What makes it complete? What should our faith be centered upon?"

They were being challenged on what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus.

Now, fast forward to present time.

Our church doesn't face issues such as these today, do we?

We don't face teachings in our city that oppose the gospel, do we?
There isn't confusion about what makes one's life complete, is there?
We don't have questions about how to live the life of a disciple, do we?

Well, yes we do. The truth is that the time we live in today is just as jacked up as this early church.

Join us for a new series at The Bridge called Disciple 101. Over the next five weeks we will explore the basic tenets of a disciple's life.

April 19 - The Gospel
April 26 - Gospel Mission
May 3 - Baptism
May 10 - Bring to Life, Put to Death (How we live)
May 17 - Prayer

*Jacked up: 1. Not working properly or as intended; in a state of disarray; 2. Having consumed large quantities of harmful substances; 3. In generally poor or injured condition; 4. Something that is not quite right.

Update: family, schedules, and learning how to Sabbath

Hey all, it has been a while since I last updated. I have been very active in ministry over the past few weeks. I wanted to take a minute today and give an update on what's been going on with me and the family.

Family:
Everyone needs to head over to my wife's blog today and watch the two videos she has uploaded of Brylee and Halle. They are getting so big! Halle turns 1 on May 6th, and Brylee turns 4 on May 10th. Becky is doing really good and heading up a group of 20 to Project Chacocente this July.

Now on to my Schedule:
The past two weeks had me away from family 8 out of 14 days with music. I led worship at a Men's retreat for four days, and then Parallax View opened up for FEE and headed to Windemere for a Missouri District LCMS Jr. High Retreat.




We recorded the concerts from the FEE opening and the LCMS event and plan to release a "live" album soon. St. Paul Lutheran School selected our band for a school project and the 8th grade class has put up a website about us including interviews, videos, and mp3s. Check out their work here! THEY DID AN AWESOME job!

Tonight, I am speaking at a YouthFest in Farmington, MO on the Gospel and what it means to have relationship with God. I can't wait. It is awesome being able to speak at events and then leave. :-) This is a really unique event as tomorrow youth groups from all over the surrounding areas will be involved in "re-building" efforts around the community. Sunday morning, we are continuing the "Final Four" series at The Bridge and I'll be in Luke 23 as we take a peak at various characters from the events surrounding the cross.

Learning How to Sabbath:
Finally, I am learning how to sabbath. Probably the greatest way that I have sinned against God since planting The Bridge is in violating the Sabbath. I am in the process of repentance. It is clear to me that there needs to be some kind of practice of the Sabbath as New Testament believers. Darrin Patrick says, "We need, and are commanded to have, sanctified time, set apart time, consecrated time - Sabbath"

I am learning to cultivate not just a Sabbath day, but a Sabbath heart that is at rest and is experiencing peace with the God who rested on the 7th day. God put rest in the Top 10 list of commandments. This week, I shall rest and reflect on Holy Week.