The Lord’s Supper, New Testament Style!

The meal is potluck, or as we like to say, "pot-providence." Everyone brings something to share with everyone else. When the weather is nice, all the food is placed on a long folding table out in the carport. A smaller card table at one end of the long table contains drinks, cups, forks, napkins, etc. A chest full of ice sits on the floor beside the card table. Kids run wildly around having so much fun that they must be collared by parents and forced to eat something. After a prayer of thanksgiving is offered, people line up, talking and laughing, to serve their plates. In the middle of all the food sits a single loaf of bread next to a large plastic jug containing the fruit of the vine. Each believer partakes of the bread and juice while going through the serving line. The smaller kids are encouraged to occupy one of the few places at a table to eat. (They sure can be messy!) Chairs for adults (there are not enough for everyone) are clustered in circles, mainly occupied by the womenfolk, who eat while discussing home schooling, child training, sewing, an upcoming church social, the new church we hope to start, etc. Most of the men stand to eat, balancing their plates on top of their cups, grouped into small clusters and solving the world’s problems or pondering some hot topic of theology. The atmosphere is not unlike that of a wedding banquet. It is a great time of fellowship, encouragement, edification, friendship, caring, catching-up, getting to know, praying with, exhorting, and maturing. The reason for the event? In case you did not recognize it, this is the Lord’s Supper, New Testament style!

Foreign though it may seem to the contemporary church, the first century church enjoyed the Lord’s Supper as a banquet that foreshadowed the marriage supper of the Lamb. It was not until after the close of the New Testament era that the early church fathers altered the Lord’s Supper from its pristine form into a memorial service. We advocate a return to the way of Christ and His apostles.

Source: New Testament Restoration Foundation

Yes, Interracial Marriage is Ordained by God

Believe it or not, there are quite a few professing Christians who think that interracial marriage is a sin. Exactly why is anyone's guess since no condemnation of it can be found in scripture. To the contrary, the only biblical position is that interracial marriage is ordained by God.

Source: the PaleoBlog

Unleashing the Church

Apparently the early church shared the bread and cup as part of a weekly communal meal that included the Lord's Supper. Do we?

It seems churches were led by a plurality of co-equal elders (also called pastors and overseers) in an arrangement that was completely non-hierarchical. Do our current church structures match that?

New Testament baptism was done immediately upon conversion (with no time lapse or "membership classes"). How faithful are we to this pattern?

The New Testament teaches that all giving except that required to run the government (Matt 22:15-22; Rom 13:1-7) is to be purely voluntary (2 Cor 9:6-7). Should we, then, insist that believers tithe?

For the first three hundred years of the church's existence, it met almost exclusively in private homes as opposed to large buildings designed especially for Drawing of a First Century Church Meetingreligious services. To speak of a church "building" is deceptive since, according to the New Testament, God's "building" is not a pile of bricks but the people of God. Why, then, do many of our churches have larger budgets for buildings and grounds (that are used only once or twice a week) than for missions and people-oriented ministries? Somehow the church of the first two centuries managed not only to survive but to thrive without the benefit of a church sanctuary. Just think—no mortgages, utility bills, grounds upkeep, or property taxes! Isn’t it obvious that our traditions have distorted this clear pattern of Scripture?

Source: Unleashing the Church

The Battle of Townsend's Plantation

My family spent the day at the Renninger's Antique Center in Mt. Dora, Florida. We went for "The Battle of Townsend's Plantation", a live Civil War Re-enactment, living history with authentic camps and sutlers exhibits, period music, weaponry demonstration, cavalry, and more! I have posted 100 photos from our "Family Field Trip" on our Mountian Cove Family Web site. You can click here to view the photos.

Happy New Year!!

My family left for vacation on December 23, 2004 and had a great time in Northern Virginia and North Carolina with our family and friends, we will be posting some photos from our vacation on our new web site: http://www.mountaincovefamily.com/. While we really enjoyed our vacation away from work, computers, the Internet, etc., it is good to be back home!

Snow Cream In Florida

I remember getting big bowls of snow and pouring milk, sugar and vanilla on it to make snow cream when I was growing up in Virginia and North Carolina. I never though I would ever have snow cream here in Florida. Mayfield Dairy has solved the problem, I found that they are now selling Mayfield Snow Cream at Wal-Mart. I bought some last night, and took it home, and while it may not be exactly like grandma used to make, it does bring back some good memories, and it taste great too!

If you are fortunate enough to live where there is snow this Winter, here is my old snow cream recipe, if you live where it never snows like I do, I can now recommend Mayfield Snow Cream.

Snow Cream Recipe

1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
large bowl of snow

mix milk, sugar and vanilla. Stir in enough snow to make snow cream to an ice cream like consistency.

Do families today really understand their core values?

Bringing families together builds values that are really important to the family and makes it strong. Family Table Time creates family "unity" by setting time aside each week for sharing, discussion, debate, laughter and best of all, communication. Creating a personal mission statement helps families focus on what's important to them.

The Traditional Church vs. The NT Church

There are some major differences between the traditional church of today and the New Testament church in the Bible. Brian Anderson has compiled a list of those differences on the Milpitas Bible Fellowship Web site. I encourage every Christian to read this list, and do a in depth Bible study using the verses included in the list. Maybe you should do as I have and re-evaluate what, or who, the "Church" is.

Does Your Child Have The Edison Trait?

by Lucy Jo Palladino

He was a boy who learned only by doing. At age six, he had to see how fire worked and accidentally burned his father's barn to the ground. The next fall he began school, where he alternated between letting his mind travel to distant places and keeping his body in perpetual motion in his seat. Because he was distractible and restless, he did not last long in a formal classroom. His teacher called him "addled." Eventually, his mother had to home-school him. As an adult he would recall: "My father thought I was stupid and I almost decided I must be a dunce."

The core of his learning was his passion for experiments. As his new teacher, his mother gave his talent free rein. At the same time she infused him with the disciplines of study. With time and determination, he mastered his runaway mind. He grew up to become a prolific inventor, bringing the magic of electricity and sound recording into the world. He either invented or improved hundreds of practical conveniences. It is said that Thomas Alva Edison succeeded where others failed or never tried, because it was his nature to dare.

There was once a man who drove a truck on a road through a town and got stuck under a bridge that had a low clearance. The men of the town gathered around the wedged truck to think of ways to dismantle the truck or the bridge. Finally, a young boy came up and asked, “Why don't you let some air out of the tires?" That is what they did, and the truck went on its way.

This was a child who had the Edison trait. He saw an element of the scene that no one else saw, because they were busily and systematically focused on what to them was relevant to the solution.

Today, a growing number of children have that nature to dare. Like young Edison, they are easily distracted and disorganized, but also wildly imaginative and inventive.

They have minds that are at home with meanderings and leaps of vast proportions. They make unexpected, sometimes startling, connections.

All children are imaginative and enjoy make-believe, but children who have the Edison trait live even closer to their imaginations. It is their lifeblood.

Children manifest the Edison trait in various ways. Some are quiet and reserved and live in their own worlds. Others are loud, interruptive, and bold.

Your child may be a Dreamer, a Discoverer, or a Dynamo. Or he may combine features of any or all of these patterns.

• Dreamers drift from place to place, on a schedule of eternal time.


• Discoverers have to find things out for themselves and do things their own way.


• Dynamos are always in motion, with a flair forsurprises, power, and speed.

Source: The Elijah Company

Daily Family Worship Service

The Elements of Family Worship Service

A. Bible Reading

The head of the household takes a portion of scripture and reads it to the family and make comments on what was read.

B. Prayer Time

Take some time to pray about matters

C. Hymn singing

Sing some of your favorite hymns.

D. Close in Prayer

Source: The Christian Life