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Name: Jeff C.  Hometown: Miami Vocation: Marine, U.S. Military  Current Status: Deployed in Afghanistan Q. What is your job, as a Marine?  My job as a marine is a military working dog handler, basically the K9 unit. There are two sides to it, the Law Enforcement side and the Deployed side of things; sniffing out explosives and drugs on streets and villages in Afghanistan.  Q. Have you been able to minister in that role? If so, how? I have been able to minister to others, but not as much as I'd like to. My best friend and I, who I met while in Japan, started to hold each other accountable. But that didn't last long since I've left there. Here in Afghanistan a few of us guys started reading our bibles together, and talking about certain verses and how we interpret them.   Q. In your opinion, what is one lesson the American church needs to learn about the War in Afghanistan? I don't really know any kind of lesson that would need to be taught, except tha

FAITH "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  -Exodus 14:13a,14 National polls show fewer people in the United States believe in the biblical God than ever before. Agnosticism and atheism are on the rise throughout the West, whereas the East is experiencing growing numbers of the faithful like never before. Even most of the people I know only use Christianity as an adjective. Worry, anxiety, stress, doubt, hopelessness and despair reign sovereign in the American psyche. Where has our faith gone? Are the days of trust and joyful anticipation behind us?  I've found I can have great faith, in retrospect. I'm good at looking back on my life and acknowledging where God was at work. It's trust in the midst that trips me up.  The general understanding of faith seems to be that it's natural response to trials, some people have it, some do

On Easter morning I had to work. There's something sinister about that... working on the perfect day of rest, joy and victory! But I was covering for someone else so they could go to church. It felt like the right thing to do.  Instead of whining, I got up extra early and went to the sunrise service at Christ Church. It was  fun singing hymns in the open air, watching people sit on picnic blankets and pet their dogs. It was as if all of creation was coming together to be a part of our resurrection celebration!  I felt, somehow, God was going to speak to me that day. I didn't know how or what He would say, but I promised to listen for it.  On the way from the service I was listening to a weekly podcast from Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton's church (Church of the Resurrection) in Kansas City, Kansas. Resurrection is the largest Methodist church in the US, and most of its members are unchurched people: meaning, people who didn't grow up going to church. Pastor