I was amazed when I saw these pictures and read the story of a newly discovered indigenous tribe on the Peru/Brazil border that has not been contacted by civilization.  Reports say that there are about 100 uncontacted tribes in the world and half of them are in the Brazil/Peru area. Silly me. I assume that Man has explored the entire world.

What a sight it must have been to see a low flying object zipping across the canopy of their land; the men aiming their weapons.

What should the “City Church” response be to this issue? Interested in your thoughts on this city issue.

Original Article

By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer

City commits up to $1M in urban renewal grants

The investor whose multimillion-dollar development interest in the historic Lowe Mill area will accelerate the relocation of Huntsville’s Downtown Rescue Mission also plans to convert a neighboring apartment complex to condominiums.

Gary Reynolds, owner of Mirabeau Apartments on Bob Wallace Avenue, formed Mill Village Partners Inc. last year with plans for an extensive redevelopment of Lowe Mill Village. The $4 million- to $5 million mill project will be in addition to a $35 million makeover of Mirabeau into condominiums priced in the $125,000 to $225,000 range, he said.

If you’re intimidated by the postmodern challenges to the Church, yet you don’t want to abdicate responsibility for reaching 21st century cultures, then perhaps this conference is for you … Westminster Seminary in California is hosting a missional and reformed conference in mid-Jan.

Interesting to say the least…

Japan’s monks take Buddhism to bars
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo

Monks and priests across the world often wonder how to make their religious faith relevant to the younger generation.

In societies where life is busier than ever, where cities are swelling and families dispersed, the religious rituals of yesterday do not seem so relevant.

But in Japan, a group of Buddhist monks are trying to change that. They have secured a regular spot at a jazz bar where they seek to enlighten and entertain.

Chippie Sound Music Bar is tiny and full of smoke - not incense, though, but cigarette smoke. This is a bar after all.

There is cold beer on tap and a cool crooner on the stereo.

It’s amazing. The Shomyo sounded great. I feel really relaxed
Bar visitor

This is not normally where you would expect to find a trio of monks.

But Hogen Natori and his two friends believe this is as good a place as any to spread the word about Buddhism.

Acts 29 has a recent article posted on Missional Christianity.

“There are two primary ways that every Christian can become missional. The first is by sharing a verbal witness. This is also known as the evangelical witness or more commonly called evangelism. This is when you share the gospel message with your words. The second is the second way we can fulfill the mission of God is called the social witness. The evangelical and the social are two sides of the same coin. We are called to lead people to Christ with both our words and our actions. It is universally true that people don’t care how much you know till they know how much you care.

Ed Stetzer is a leader in Acts 29 and at Lifeway Research. He has been unpacking the roots of missional verbiage. He began a new blog series on 14Aug07 called Meanings of Missional. Here is the beginning.

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2007/08/meanings_of_missional_part_1_1.html

Missional.

Depending on your perspective, it brings warmth to your soul or a shiver down your spine. Yet, there is no question the word is gaining traction. Is this the case with the church word of the day or is it here to stay? And… oh yes… what does it mean anyway?

There has been an undercurrent of discussion at Sojourn concerning vocation, career as a missional connection to the Kingdom of God and personal fulfillment. The article below covers the same topic. Check out the comments as well on the site below…

Article written by David Fitch at http://www.reclaimingthemission.com/

THE ROLE OF WORK & CAREER IN MISSION: MISSIONAL COMMUNITY AS THE MEANS TO RESIST MAKING WORK FULFILLING (wink, wink)