"Not all man's language is language about God. Perhaps
it really might and ought to be. In principle we can
give no reason for it being otherwise." - Barth
-eric
The Attack Posted by russ on Sun May 4 14:29:07 EDT 2008
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So what has been up with the website? The short story is that we were the victim of an email DDoS attack. Basically, this means that somebody who controlled a botnet told all of those computers to send email traffic to villagersonline.com at the same time. This made the webserver (even though it is a large, professional server) unable to do all of the normal, useful stuff that it was supposed to do. So the hosting service shut of villagersonline.com until the storm abated.
I took that opportunity to move us to a new piece of hardware (hosted by the same company) that will give us practically unlimited space and bandwidth. But the cost of that move is that now I'm finding errors in my PHP code that I had gotten away with in the past. The new server is running a newer version of PHP which does better error checking, and it chokes on my code sometimes.
I have fixed all of the problems that I have seen so far, but there are bound to be holes that I miss from time to time. If you have any trouble with the website - anything at all - cut-n-paste what you see into an email, and send it to me at webmaster@villagersonline.com.
Anyhow, feel free to use the website for now. You are welcome to upload stuff if you want.
This will always be the 2nd news item Posted by eric on Wed Jan 30 14:42:05 EST 2008
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April 24 2008 Posted by eric on Thu Apr 24 14:57:35 EDT 2008
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To The Village:
If you haven’t read last week’s postcard, you can find it on the front of the Village website. The main gist of the e-mail was the introduction of the 2 main subjects of this coming Drumming Circle. The first is that we are putting together the “Found Money Fund” which will operate like a typical “Benevolence Fund” but beyond that will empower each person of the Village to act as a minister of the money to aid people in the larger Tucson community. The second subject of the Drumming Circle will be fundraising. At this point in the process, we have raised $45,000 toward the $100,000 that we need in order to receive our additional $300,000. At the Drumming Circle, much like the ones held in preparation for the banquet, we will break up into small groups to brainstorm regarding these two topics. Some people will focus on how the Found Money Fund can be structured to function most effectively, and others will consider what is required for the Village as a whole to take responsibility for raising the remainder of the money for the building rather than expecting the pastors to be the primary fundraisers. As you can see, this coming meeting will have a lot to do with money, something that the Village doesn’t talk about much. I ask that you come prepared to brainstorm and take ownership of the finances and financial issues of your church as God calls you to do.
I have already received feedback from some of you about the Found Money Fund. The leaders have been discussing this idea for the past month or so. I’m open to hearing your thoughts before the Drumming Circle. I want to be very clear that the Village is not at all communicating that we have to give up the money we receive from the government because other people have been generous to us. Nor are we stating that anyone should feel guilty in any way if they do not sense God calling them to give money to this new ministry at the Village. Rather, the communities around us have offered us an example of how to operate by giving money to people they barely know (us) which doesn’t benefit them in any direct way. This has benefited the work of the kingdom and gives us as a community a model of discipleship and an example to follow.
I’m looking forward to the rest of our teaching series on the Triune God. This coming Sunday, I will be discussing the birth of Jesus. Next week, Rod will teach on the death of Jesus. Then Pastor James will talk on the resurrection of Jesus, and Ron Layman will speak on the ascension of Jesus. We will then move into 2nd Corinthians as our summer series.
Postcard 4.15.2008 Posted by eric on Tue Apr 15 13:49:31 EDT 2008
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To the Village:
Yay! Steve & Hannah are married!
Daniel is the last Wevodau left standing in Tucson.
Last week’s postcard mentioned the conversation about financial things that would be unfolding during the next few weeks. So here goes: Over the last 6 years, many people of various churches have given our community approximately $125,000. This averages out to $20,800 per year. This is a very generous outpouring from people who love us and want our community & ministry to be effective and to continue. With this generosity in mind, the leaders of the Village would like to offer something similar to the world around us. As many of you know, the government will be sending out an economic stimulus package to all of us this May. This means that you will receive somewhere between $300 and $1800. The amount will vary depending on marital & family status, but each person will receive some money. The leaders would like to start a fund called the “Found Money Fund”. This fund would be used to offer assistance to people outside of the Village community. Recipients of this fund would include homeless people, missionaries, people in crisis situations, new families who need a little extra money, missional activities of other ministries, etc. What we would like you to do is take some time to pray & consider how much of the economic stimulus money you would like to put into this fund. During the May 9 Drumming Circle, we will divide the community into teams to oversee and brainstorm the different areas of use for this fund. At this point, I wouldn’t worry about how the money will be given or who’s going to be in charge of it. As your pastor, I’d like you to think about how much money God would like you to contribute to this fund. Our intention with it is to empower the different members of our community to identify needs within the larger community and to offer spiritual and financial help to people in the broader Tucson area. There will definitely be more details at the Drumming Circle, and you will have opportunity to ask questions, make suggestions, and shape the process.
Pastor Eric
The Basics: God . . . a new Series at the Village Posted by eric on Wed Apr 2 17:46:10 EDT 2008
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Nahum Study Guide Posted by eric on Mon Mar 10 15:54:32 EDT 2008
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Here is a Link to the Nahum Study Guide.
Nahum Booklet
Nahum: the Fall of Nineveh Posted by eric on Tue Feb 26 19:13:33 EST 2008
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