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Shift, I really don't expect you to catch up on all the questions that came your way. I guess we can get a little excited when the dialog starts with someone who is still in the way ministry. I can speculate (probably accurately) from your posts that you are a sincere person who is doing the best with what you know. For a variety of reasons (and many are listed here on Grease Spot) I am irreconcilably departed from the way ministry. I don't expect you to take my word for it anymore than I believed other's accounts when I was still "in" and lurking on Grease Spot. Lurked here since 2005 or so. From reading your posts I can see the same judgmental methods I used to support and employ myself. I used to expect people to qualify themselves as wanting the word by how quickly they became excited and obedient to what I told them. Shift, that's just plain wrong. The Bible directs the Christian Church to hold forth the Word of Life, to work the Ministry of Reconciliation, to walk in love towards them that are without. God is love and that (agape) love is simple in it's intricate beauty - give. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. We are to judge nothing before the time, we are to let Jesus Christ the righteous judge have his day in the future. Obviously, these judgments are specific in their reservations since we have to make judgments between right and wrong to live day to day. We see in the gospels that Jesus definitely spent more time with those who wanted to learn all they could, he also handled his adversaries with candor. However, there are so many examples where he extended himself to vile people (vile according to Old Testament law and their societies standards) and really helped them. I could name situation after situation. Then we get into the church epistles where Christ is the active head of the body, directing the affairs of the Church. I challenge you to check your understanding of the book of Romans. Specifically the concept of two natures. Sin nature and new nature, old versus new. If you read Romans and think that the old is obliterated now I would re-read it. For example note the contrast in Romans 7 vs Romans 8. Yet the two chapters should likely be one. My point? As Christians we are not to judge. We are to remember that we are saved by grace, that we were the lowest of the low - dead in trespasses and sins. If you understand the structure of Romans - that there is an outer section that deals with sins we commit, and an inner section that deals with the root cause, the sin nature, then you will come to understand that there is no difference between you, a homosexual, me, or anyone else. From that perspective of humility, to understand that all of us are worthy of judgment, then hopefully you would find it in yourself to love the un-lovable. To reach out with all the love in your heart and give others the chance to know Christ without placing the way ministry's stipulations on how it should be done. I will refrain from going any further. You are welcome to private message me and I would be happy to talk in more detail. BTW - I have no interest in you leaving the ministry you love no more that I have an interest in keeping my Catholic neighbors from attending mass.

i'm sorry about your daughter and i'm praying for her and all of you and yours. i haven't read all the replies here yet but i will but right now i have to run but i wanted to say something but if it's been said already i'm saying it again. here's the thing, whatever is going on with your daughter was going to go on regardless of being in the way international or not, but if you were still in the way international you'd be trying to believe your way out of the situation instead of taking her for decent medical care and loving her up, or if you were taking her for decent medical care and loving her up, you'd be getting the same bs you're getting now anyway, so in or out of the way international, nothing would have changed concerning their treatment of you and your daughter in this situation. so their bs is their bs is their bs is their bs whether in or out of their stinkin' household of bs. however, now you have the freedom to care for and help and love your daughter without any stinkin' bs except some stupid email that is nothing but stinkin' bs because that's all a household of stinkin' bs can produce. :)

I get the message Roy, I'll butt out. Sorry I bothered you.

Composer, how long were you in TWI for?