But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. ~James 1:14-15 The sin you hate is the sin you love. Seems a little confusing right? Sin is always enticing, otherwise why do it? Each of us struggles with different things and while one thing may stumble you, it may not weaken me. Those things which stumble us most often are those that we can easily pick out in others. They drive us crazy. It’s impossible to save someone from themselves when you haven’t looked into yourself first. Matthew 7: 3-5 tells us this plainly. Yet for me, I’m constantly in the mode to critique others without first coming before God on my knees for my own struggles and inadeqacy. If you’ve ever played any… [Read More]
Wielding your Knife
November 10th, 2010 
Dana Fisher Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ~Genesis 22:10 As I made my way through customs on U.S. soil I knew the attacks would be coming swiftly. No sooner do we come down off the mountain with Jesus then the wave of doubt and destruction and hardships come crashing against us like the ocean hitting the sea wall. Sure enough, I set my bags in the car, sat down in the passenger seat and it began. I would be headed to Denver soon, uprooting my entire life, leaving my friends, family, and church behind. Most of my possessions would be gone and I would be traveling with only what would fit in two cars. It was not an easy decision by any means and one with which I wrestled for a very long time(and even still struggle with even after the fact). It… [Read More]
The Lausanne Movement
November 1st, 2010 Dana Fisher From May 2010 – November of 2010 we helped The Lausanne Movement with conversation.lausanne.org. The Lausanne Movement was started by Billy Graham to unite evangelicals in the pursuit of evangelizing the world. In October of 2010 they held the 3rd Lausanne Congress in Cape Town, South Africa with over 4,000 participants from nearly 200 countries represented. Leading up to the Congress I loaded content on the site, helped with support requests from participants, tested the site, and helped launch the site in 8 languages. In October, I headed down to South Africa to work with the Congress on site. Along with all the things mentioned above I did whatever I could to lend a hand, even handing out shirts to volunteers on the first day. I made some great friends and met amazing people from all over the world yearning for the Lord. Towards the end I even got to… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Fresh Perspective
October 29th, 2010 Dana Fisher As the Cape Town 2010 Congress wrapped up I got to spend my last full day there doing some site seeing with the group that came down from Elmbrook church in Brookfield, WI. One of them, Dave, was my roommate and invited me along for the day. They rented a tour bus, complete with a guide and decided to go to the Cape of Good Hope. Our tour guide was amazing and recommended a loop which consisted of Simon’s Town to visit the African Penguins, Cape Point, Hout Bay, and the Twelve Apostles. For 13 days we had basically lived in the conference center, working tirelessly from roughly 8am to 12am every day. Everyone had expressed how beautiful Cape Town was but from our perspective we had only seen the inside of a building and it didn’t seem all that impressive. Our day off completely changed that as we wound… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Worship
October 28th, 2010 Dana Fisher Back in 2003 I was at Fenway Park for game 4 of the divisional series against the Oakland A’s. The Red Sox had lost the first two games and would need to win the next 3 in order to advance. They won game 3 to stay alive and as game 4 was winding down it appeared their season was over. Down in the bottom of the eighth their bats came alive and with two outs Big Papi strode to the plate. Back then he was menacing. A giant superman logo was etched in his chest and fire came from his nostrils. Okay I made that up. But back then when he came to the plate you always felt like you were watching something special. With two out it would take a miracle for them to win. Ortiz slapped a double down the right field line, scoring the go ahead run… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Faith
October 27th, 2010 Dana Fisher The idea of faith is so astounding to me. Belief in things unseen, so dear to ones heart that they would sacrifice for it, give to it, and even be martyred for it. It became increasingly evident as I was here that as an American I lack faith and a sense of urgency. I was talking to my new friend Peter, walking around the city of Cape Town when he said that his church was having a conference too, in December. In American fashion the next question out of my mouth was “What’s it about?”. His answer really put my question in perspective: “We don’t know yet.” As westernized Christianity goes we tend to strip God of the ability to blow our minds and direct our path. We hold committee meetings, decide on topics and discussions, invite specific speakers, and at the end pray “Lord bless this”. We’re so privileged… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Conversation
October 26th, 2010 Dana Fisher Yesterday I received a message from my pastor back home on my facebook page. He wanted to let me know Wednesday night Bible studies hadn’t been the same and that they would be praying for me that night during the study. Such a small gesture goes such a long way when you are so far from home. To know that you are loved, missed, and being prayed for is very uplifting. There is a marketplace not far from my hotel which I have walked to a couple times to purchase some trinkets and handmade art for friends and family back home. Yesterday I made my way down to Greenmarket Square to purchase some things and get some fresh air in the middle of the day. On my way there I spoke to my roommates who told me there was an attempted armed robbery there and they had left quickly. I… [Read More]
religion and evil: a random rant
October 25th, 2010 dave is religion the cause of evil and suffering in this world? this is a question i have heard answered in the affirmative by many an atheist. while i can’t say that i blame them for feeling this way in our day, historically speaking, nothing could be further from the truth. in fact, just the opposite seems to be true. throughout history, it has been the powerful and educated in society who have manipulated the misinformed and undereducated in order to co-opt their faith with the ideological and/or political pursuits of the elite (see adolf hitler). even a cursory view of the history of the christian faith will prove that what drove the violence in the first 4 centuries a.d. was that of a pursuit of political power to be attained and/or maintained. early christian history proves that those who did not render full allegiance to the powers that be were… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Community
October 22nd, 2010 Dana Fisher My roommate Dave is one of the videographers here and was able to turn an idea he had into a great short video. I feel it is one of the more powerful pieces to come from the Lausanne Congress, at least for me personally. Take a minute to watch it: When signing up for the Cape Town 2010 Congress I had an option of where to stay and how many people to stay with. There were single, double, and quadruple rooms. For anyone who knows me well I don’t do well staying with people, especially people I don’t know. I knew I was doing this for a reason and so I chose to room in a quadruple room in order to interact with as many people as possible here in Cape Town. I was extremely hesitant about doing this but the Lord is faithful to those who do what He… [Read More]
Lausanne Movement – Unique Stories
October 19th, 2010 Dana Fisher Everyone has a unique story, something awe inspiring in some way. Today I met a fellow volunteer from Israel who survived a terrorist attack. Steve works on the web team with me and has helped me at times with the Arabic I am putting up on the site. While at a restaurant with a friend he got what he described as a deep feeling to go home. He told his friend who tried to persuade him to stay. After a short while they decided to leave and as they left the restaurant it exploded, killing their waitress as well as several of the band members who were playing that night. He handed me a pen from Israel today with a small scroll that rolls out of it with a traveler’s prayer on one side and some photos of Israel on the other. It’s one of the small things I’ll take… [Read More]
