Sometimes you just don't ask.  Well, we did anyway.  The world "kill" is a dutch word that means "stream" or "river".  So about an hour north of New York City, where many Dutch historically settled, there is a cluster of towns with names like Fishkill, Peekskill, Plattekill, Catskill, ect... Just a useless fact that I found interesting.

We were at Fishkill Baptist Church two weekends ago, down with three other individuals, for a Quebec emphasis. It was a phenomenal weekend in every way. We love Fishkill Baptist Church and the massive investment they have made in Quebec over the past 3+ decades. Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Martine, Caleb, Constance, Rob-in front of the church

Robert & Jackie Charpentier, Terry Cuthbert, Martine & Rob -We did a Quebec sketch (all being from Quebec) for the first half of the service.

Rob Preaching (the second half of the service)

You can see more photos by clicking here

I ran across this video on the Desiring God blog. It shook me up.

“I was afraid of you » she (our neighbour) confessed, a little sheepishly.  “when I heard that you were a pastor, honestly, is scared me. I didn’t know what kind of neighbors you would be, whether you belonged to some strange cult or something. But now it seems that you guys are pretty normal.”

Before leaving for Oregon we had several great conversations with our neighbors, but Martine felt a definite coldness set in while I was gone. Now we know why… they thought we were potentially part of some crazy cult that would one day build a commune in the woods outside town or something.

However normal they perceive us now though, they still think that we are very different. “Don’t you feel different than everyone else, like you don’t fit in?” she asked one day, making reference to the fact that it is strange for someone as young as I living for Jesus Christ.

“Of course” I responded. “But that’s not really a big deal considering what Jesus did for us.

Over the course of several dozen conversations (within just the past week!) the gospel is slowly seeping out. Jesus almost always comes up… simply because of who we are. And that’s great, they accept who we are, being different and all… and are watching and asking. He even once brought up the idea of eternal life being a gift from God (He being an honest non-practicing Catholic). The wheels are turning.

You, yes YOU, reading this right now… you must have been praying.

Here's an eye-opening article recently on Al Mohler's blog:

The Economist [London], one of the world's great news organizations, publishes several major survey reports each year -- and each is priority reading for the world's leaders. This is certainly true of the most recent survey, "The World Goes to Town," a report that should remind Christians of the challenge represented by the modern city.

Consider this paragraph:

Within ten years the world will have nearly 500 cities of more than 1m people. Most of the newcomers will be absorbed in a metropolis of up to 5m people. But some will live in a megacity, defined as home to 10m or more inhabitants. In 1950 only New York and Tokyo could claim to be as big, but by 2020, says the UN, nine cities--Delhi, Dhaka, Jakarta, Lagos, Mexico City, Mumbai, New York, São Paulo and Tokyo--will have more than 20m inhabitants. Greater Tokyo already has 35m, more than the entire population of Canada.

To keep reading click here

Over at Joe Thorn's blog, a video gives us a world-view shaking perspective on some of these changes: