When I was a young teenager my uncle came out and told us he was gay. I remember some shock from family, but I don’t remember too much overall. There were no mass hysterics(at least not visibly amongst us kids) and he certainly wasn’t ostracized. In essence, nothing really changed inside the family dynamic. The foundation of love still existed. Years later at 19 years old I took a job as an intern at Bayer Diagnostics working with my dad. Not long before that my uncle had been diagnosed with lung cancer after smoking most of his life. He lived fairly close, and having worked there himself at one point, would come down often to visit former friends and co-workers. I spent quite a few lunch breaks walking to the local pizza shop with him and my dad, hanging out and just chatting. That summer means a lot to me. … [Read More]
Posts Tagged ‘Mark’
Superman a Christian?
April 28th, 2011 
Dana Fisher When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. ~Luke 9:1-2, 6 I read a neat article today about the latest superman comic book. In short, superman goes to support protests in the Middle East. The U.S.A. is pissed that he did it, and Iran views his actions as that of the U.S.(and president) and an act of war. Realizing that he wants to go beyond helping one specific subset of people and that the only way to avoid the political red tape/mess he renounces his citizenship so he can become more global and less national. One of the interesting quotes from the… [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]
Lausanne Movement – Ramping up
October 18th, 2010 Dana Fisher The challenges of pulling off something of such a large stature have been apparent on day 3 here at Lausanne Cape Town 2010. We’ve had issues with our pipeline for internet access as our network fluctuates drastically. While they try to get some of us up on internet it has bottlenecked other teams from accessing and uploading information. I’m running off chocolate bars and 5hr energy that I happened to sneak in to my carry on bag during these 12 hour days as we ramp up for the opening of the congress. There is enough energy in the conference center to sustain me for this week, although I know I’ll be feeling it come the 27th when I am back on American soil. Today I met Mark, a father, professor, and missionary working in the context of Orality. It is an interesting topic, one that I had never heard of… [Read More]
Posted in Social Justice 
Tags: America, bible, Cape Town, Cape Town 2010, Father, gospel, Jesus, Lausanne, Lausanne Movement, Mark, Mark Overstreet, missionary, pray, relationship, sin 
Comments OffSpit on what Defines You
July 14th, 2010 Dana Fisher When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” ~Mark 8:23 One of the defining things about me is the amount of times I’ve been burned. Whether it be a friendship, relationship, co-worker, job. Whatever the situation, I believe it’s safe to say most of us have been hurt by some thing or some one at some point. You can’t help but be shaped by the things with which you’ve come face to face. And so as I was younger, lacking faith and a strong foundation in Jesus, I allowed these events to consume me. I have plenty of people who have seen the transformation in my life from then to now who could expound on some tales you may have a hard time believing. I was angry, very angry. It fueled my addiction to adrenaline, to danger, and… [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Christian Living, Radical Christianity Tags: bible, Christ, faith, heart, Jesus, love, lust, Mark, peace, sin, truth, war No Comments »fuzzy lines
June 18th, 2010 dave hola friends, i had a brief, but great, conversation with my friend jeremy yesterday when he visited my workplace. we were talking about the bible and some of its apparent contradictions. since jeremy is the pastor of his own community in hingham i will not speak to anything he said, but as you might assume, i am not too shy to let the world wide web know my current thoughts on the matter. a little background to start…i have, for a few years now, come to embrace the teachings, life, death and resurrection of jesus as the benchmark for which my life should be patterned (of course i fail. of course i cannot do it on my own). this is certainly not anything groundbreaking, but when it first occurred to me that jesus actually meant for us to take his word seriously my whole life changed. as one who grew up… [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Mercy, Radical Christianity Tags: America, angel, bible, change, Christ, Christian, christians, Community, Corinthians, death, disciples, evangelicalism, fear, God, grace, Jesus, kingdom, life, light, Lord, love, Mark, Matthew, mercy, old testament, patience, peace, pray, resurrection, revelation, romans, Savior, scripture, sermon on the mount, sin, sins No Comments »god hates us
May 28th, 2010 dave a small group of guys that i am a part of has been discussing the atonement as a result of watching this video featuring mark driscoll, pastor of mars hill church in seattle, washington. i want to share some quotes with you all from this video: “god hates all who do evil.” “we sin, God hates us!” ”we do what we are!” interesting. how do we reconcile this with john 3:16, never mind a whole score of passages in scripture that speak of God’s intense love for humanity, despite their wickedness? interesting that it doesn’t say that god so hated the evildoers of the world that he sent his only son to redeem them. this is not to say that it doesn’t in fact say that God hates evildoers in psalm 5:5, but we must not take one verse and apply an emotion or characteristic to God that seems entirely inconsistent when… [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Non-Violent Resistance Tags: Christ, Christianity, church, creation, evil, God, gospel, Jesus, Jesus Christ, John, justice, kingdom, kingdom of God, love, Mark, mark driscoll, mars hill, mercy, peace, Psalm, revelation, scripture, sin, war No Comments »Keep your sword, I’ll keep my Jesus
May 10th, 2010 Dana Fisher I am stunned by the lack of compassion and the brutal use of force by Christians. My Jesus never did any of that. I’m at a loss. The below conversation is real. I’ve only removed the names for anonymity. Below it you will find my thoughts about the whole thing. This conversation started as a result of a comment about the immigration law that was recently passed in Arizona PERSON 1 “is planning a trip out to Az. I will support them regardless of what the uninformed Boston city council says.” Now, these are the comments that followed: Dana Fisher: Maybe we should reread James 2. Maybe their motives aren’t pure and maybe they are trying to take advantage but who are we to judge? Hasn’t Christ called us to something higher than persecuting someone because they are from another country? Since when was this land “ours” and not the… [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Social Justice Tags: America, bible, change, Christ, Christian, Christianity, christians, compassion, cross, death, Ephesians, eternal, fear, God, gospel, hell, James, Jesus, justice, kingdom, life, Lord, love, Luke, Mark, Matthew, money, murder, old testament, peace, Peter, romans, satan, sin, sinner, sins, Spirit, spiritual, struggle, temple, truth, uncategorized, violence, war No Comments »Paycheck to Paycheck
March 29th, 2010 Dana Fisher Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. ~Mark 10:21 “I’m living paycheck to paycheck.” You’ve probably heard this phrase used before. But is it such a bad thing, when done for the right reason? I’ve been wrestling lately with the idea of tithes and giving gifts to the Lord. Whether or not to actually do it, isn’t the question, but the faith behind it is what has been stirring up inside of me. The world tells us to store up and prepare. That’s why we have saving accounts and 401k’s so that we can “retire happy”. Maybe my argument here is radical and over the top but I suggest that the less money you have the happier you will be. There are some conditions to this but here me out: 1. Know Christ. 2. Trust Christ…. [Read More]
Posted in American Christianity, Radical Christianity, Social Justice Tags: authority, Christ, faith, faithful, God, heaven, Jesus, joy, Lord, Mark, Matthew, money, Savior, trust No Comments »
