John Fischer The Catch

From Creation to Restoration

Posted on September 4, 2019 by jwfisch

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We’re going to spend some more time this week on “The rest of the gospel” that I spoke to last week because it is critical to what differentiates the true gospel from this phenomenon we have come to know at least in America as a cultural/political faction masked as Christian. Being committed to the whole gospel is different than that, and it connects us with the concerns of the millennials. We’re talking about the whole gospel that begins with Creation and continues on through to Restoration. It’s the whole gospel about the whole person and when we care about the whole gospel for the whole person, we can connect with people on so many different levels.

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Posted in kingdom of God, Millennials, new frontier | Tagged Creation, Restoration | 7 Comments

Pop quiz

Posted on September 3, 2019 by jwfisch

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Last week I met a former prof at a Christian University who taught courses in Biblical Studies and he shared with me one of his favorite things to do in his classes to help teach his students about grace. He liked to give unannounced pop quizzes throughout the course to help keep them on track, and he would start them all out the same. He would pass out the written quiz himself and lay it face down on their desks. Then he would give them a few instructions, tell them to turn the paper over and sign their name and he would give them a certain amount of time to complete the quiz.

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Posted in God's love, grace, grace turned outward | Tagged grace, grace turned outward | Leave a comment

Numbering our days

Posted on August 30, 2019 by jwfisch

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Boy, that went fast. Was that summer that I just saw fly by? Just a minute while I wave. “Bye-bye summer.”

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Posted in discipleship | Tagged responsibility, time, work | 1 Comment

Football, forgiveness and a fallacy

Posted on August 29, 2019 by jwfisch

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As Christians and evangelical Christianity get more and more mention in the press, we need to be smarter about testing what is properly represented, misrepresented, or what might have been compromised in the process.

For instance, I read a newspaper article recently about a certain Christian University that is eager to up their football program to a higher level. They want to be to evangelicals what Notre Dame is to Catholics and Brigham Young is to Mormons. They want to be a major national football power.

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Posted in grace, sports | Tagged forgiveness, grace, the gospel | 4 Comments

One more day, only

Posted on August 27, 2019 by jwfisch

So here is the good news: we’ve gotten a one-day extension from Wells Fargo bank on our deadline.

And here’s the bad news: well, actually, there isn’t any bad news, not as long as you are with us. And you are indeed the most gosh darn faithful group of supporters anybody could wish for. I’m up late tonight, but I know you’ll be there in the morning to pick up right where we left off. And we are more than halfway to goal.

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Bridge to the next generation

Posted on August 26, 2019 by jwfisch

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Following is a letter we sent out over the weekend to all our MemberPartners and major donors. It’s a letter that explains why we need to raise $5,000 by the end of the day today. We are sending it out this morning to everyone because 1) we realize some might have missed it, and 2) we’re going to need everyone’s participation to make this happen. But that’s as it should be, since the future belongs to all of us.

Are we as Boomers going to be content to just coast into the station at the end of our lives oblivious to the changing world we live in and content to float on home watching some movie about the way we were? Or are we going to wake up, turn around and head back out on the morning train into the world as it is, looking to build bridges — bridges into the culture, and bridges to the next generation as they seek to figure out what faith means in their world. Let’s face it: It’s not our world anymore; it’s theirs. Wait long enough and we’ll all be gone anyway, so who cares about us? It’s not about us.

So I invite you to read the letter and do what you can to help us reach our goal today.

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Posted in discipleship, Transformation Generation | Tagged discipleship | Leave a comment

Our lives tell the story

Posted on August 23, 2019 by jwfisch

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We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also. 2 Corinthians 6:11-13

Ministry – including evangelism and discipleship — is people touching people; life on life. It is not just disseminating information. You can do that with a piece of paper or a book or an app. It is faith working itself out through our lives as we learn from the Word and receive encouragement from each other. It is all our lives lived as an open book. This is really all of it; not just our ministry among other believers but our ministry in the world: life on life, each life as an open book.

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Posted in Friendship, relationships | Tagged honesty, ministry | 1 Comment

Alone or together?

Posted on August 22, 2019 by jwfisch

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“Yours for the Journey” means we are not alone. It means we belong to each other for the duration. It means that if you choose to mess up, you take me with you; and if I mess up, I take you with me. That’s the kind of thing that might make us think twice before we do something stupid. We have big words for this like “accountability” and “responsibility,” but in the end, it means that we are on a journey together. We are walking side by side.

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