Comments for Michael Raburn

Comment on Get out of the boat by My Story Part 1: Before Vineyard Leadership Institute | wwwChurch.org

My Story Part 1: Before Vineyard Leadership Institute | wwwChurch.org — Fri, 25 May 2012 00:58:33 +0000

[...] Get out of the boat [...]

Comment on Everybody Gets to Play by How Pupose and Gifts Keep Us On Track | Social Behavioral Patterns–How to Understand Culture and Behaviors

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:27:21 +0000

[...] Everybody Gets to Play (mikeraburn.wordpress.com) [...]

Comment on why Pentecostal theology is necessary by Brian Griffen

Brian Griffen — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 01:22:58 +0000

“Concepts create idols, only wonder grasps anything.” Gregory of Nyssa “Our communities have suffered because of our lack of theological imagination and resourcefulness.” As you know I spent about twelve years as a Pentecostal. The day I decided to change directions in my walk was when I woke up one day and realized that Pentecostalism was too small for me.

Comment on Christian worldview vs. the Gospel of Jesus Christ by Brian Griffen

Brian Griffen — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 16:42:16 +0000

This one caught my eye; it’s something I teach on often. Christians also forget to see the Epistles through the lens that these writers believed that Jesus was coming back in their lifetimes. IMO Christians spend too much time trying to shape the culture instead of the kingdom, this has only led to a “mean spirited” type of Christianity that takes our focus off our primary mission to love our neighbors. As you point out, we lose our focus on one person, Jesus, and when we do this we miss the point for why we are placed in our particular culture; we don’t “wage war” with the people in the culture, we love them because Christ loves them.

Comment on Monday meditations Gal. 5.22-23: fruit of the Spirit by Rosemary Anne Waldie

Rosemary Anne Waldie — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:03:58 +0000

Thank you! a RIGHT ON exercise for me!♥
Blessings,
Rosemary

Comment on Monday meditations John 10.11: good and bad shepherds by Rachel O'Funky (@rachelforgets)

Rachel O'Funky (@rachelforgets) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:01:03 +0000

Great blog post, Michael. Thanks so much for sharing.

Me and my boy were discussing Saul just yesterday. We were talking about the “beginning of the end” of Saul’s reign with the disobedient/arrogant/manipulating sacrifice he made in 1Sam. 13. He used the things of God (the sacrifice) to try to save face and maintain his show of power with the people. Sounds like we’ve been discussing similar topics — just on different ends of Saul’s reign.

Comment on Monday meditations Gal. 2.18: choose freedom by only the Spirit can set us free « theology for real life

only the Spirit can set us free « theology for real life — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 03:14:16 +0000

[...] theology for real life God speaks to you. Learn to listen. Learn to do. HomeAboutBooks to read You Tube Twitter Facebook RSS Feed ← Monday meditations Gal. 2.18: choose freedom [...]

Comment on Rock the piano recital grace by Jennifer Coons Hamilton

Jennifer Coons Hamilton — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:59:10 +0000

So glad that this was re-posted. It has such a wonderful and uplifting message, Mike.

Comment on Hurt by church by mikeraburn

mikeraburn — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:16:34 +0000

It amazes me how the most vile attitudes and actions get wrapped up in religious motives and thus made to seem okay. It’s like church becomes a zone where the normal logic, reason, and morals don’t hold anymore. If what you’ve described happened anywhere else in society there would be major trouble: lawsuits, people losing their jobs, etc. Churches shouldn’t be behind the wider culture in terms of its understanding and application of ethics, but sadly this is often the case.
Thanks for sharing this. I know all too well the strain this sort of thing puts on relationships. I hope/pray that you have been/are/will be able to heal from this completely.

Comment on Hurt by church by Tracy Hall East

Tracy Hall East — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:28:53 +0000

I honestly struggled with writing this because it’s so much easier to keep hurts that run deep like this out of the light where they aren’t so “exposed”. BUT, I think you are right in that it’s SO common and has such far reaching impact.

I know there are others, but the one that hurts the most probably happened 6ish years ago. My husband was on staff at a large church as the Worship Pastor. As long as we have been married we had always done worship and other church music together so I joined him as part of the worship team on many occasions. After a few years of noticing that most of the other team members were asked to do “special music” for the services on a regular basis but I never had been asked (and he did the scheduling) I went to him curious about it. After a lot of digging, he finally admitted to me that he had been asked by those above him to not schedule me for those kind of things. Why? Because I didn’t fit the mold/look that they wanted to highlight. I wasn’t young/thin/pretty enough and they wanted to highlight people that wouldn’t be “distracting”. He was told that I could sing “back-up vocals” but nothing else. None of it was related to my ability or gifting, but purely based on my appearance.

To say that it emotionally devastated me would be putting it lightly. I felt hurt, betrayed, ashamed, angry….you name it. Knowing that my husband had been put in this position was hurtful, but then knowing that he didn’t tell me (because he didn’t want to hurt me) and let me continue to be part of the team was more hurtful.

I have not been able to help him lead worship without fear or shame since that time – and I HATE that. I haven’t really figured out how to move past it. I’ve only done worship a handful of times since then and each one has been a struggle.