For students of culture, this history of the MP3 is very interesting

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7689-the-social-history-of-the-mp3/1/

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Seriously? Spilly hit a walk off grand slam to win the game in the 14th inning last night #rockies #mlb

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High five - first day down

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Hey all you Denver photographers - check this out! via @TheBigKlosowski

http://www.denverphotocontest.com/

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Top row!!! We can see Heaven from here

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See and download the full gallery on posterous

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The puppy is finanlly big enough to come home

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Time to buy donuts and coffee for the stony creek painters-showing our local school some love today

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Check out this chpt on YouVersion.com

------Original Message------
To: post posterous
Subject: Check out this chpt on YouVersion.com
Sent: Aug 20, 2009 10:57 PM

 I thought you might need a reminder to read Proverbs chpt 20 today. See it at YouVersion.com:

 http://www.youversion.com/reader.php?startverse=Prov.20.029&version=asv

 Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Don't forget we are painting the doors of Stony Creek Elementary School this weekend, so that its ready for school

=

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Total personal incomes of Cities in the US in 2008 (from Denver Business Journal)

The following are the 72 markets with 2008 TPI of more than $25 billion:

• New York City, $1.031 trillion
• Los Angeles, $552.5 billion
• Chicago, $433.8 billion
• Washington, $302.8 billion
• Houston, $276.4 billion
• Philadelphia, $274.1 billion
• Dallas-Fort Worth, $267.1 billion
• San Francisco-Oakland, $263.9 billion
• Boston, $248.9 billion
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale, $236.7 billion
• Atlanta, $202.4 billion
• Detroit, $176.1 billion
• Seattle, $168.8 billion
• Minneapolis-St. Paul, $154.6 billion
• Phoenix, $148.5 billion
• San Diego, $136.5 billion
• Baltimore, $126.2 billion
• Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif., $119.4 billion
• Denver, $119.1 billion
• St. Louis, $116.4 billion
• San Jose, $107.0 billion
• Tampa-St. Petersburg, $100.9 billion
• Pittsburgh, $100.7 billion
• Portland, Ore., $87.1 billion
• Cincinnati, $83.5 billion
• Cleveland, $83.2 billion
• Sacramento, $82.3 billion
• Kansas City, $80.8 billion
• Bridgeport-Stamford, Conn., $73.6 billion
• Las Vegas, $73.3 billion
• Orlando, $71.4 billion
• San Antonio, $70.8 billion
• Columbus, $67.6 billion
• Indianapolis, $67.4 billion
• Milwaukee, $66.7 billion
• Charlotte, $66.3 billion
• Providence, $64.7 billion
• Virginia Beach-Norfolk, $63.2 billion
• Austin, $62.5 billion
• Nashville, $61.0 billion
• Hartford, $58.5 billion
• Jacksonville, $51.6 billion
• Richmond, $50.3 billion
• New Orleans, $50.1 billion
• Oklahoma City, $49.4 billion
• Memphis, $48.6 billion
• Louisville, $47.4 billion
• Birmingham, $45.1 billion
• Raleigh, $42.7 billion
• Buffalo, $40.9 billion
• Salt Lake City, $40.5 billion
• Tulsa, $39.7 billion
• Rochester, N.Y., $39.5 billion
• Honolulu, $39.4 billion
• New Haven, Conn., $38.3 billion
• Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, Calif., $36.4 billion
• Omaha, $35.8 billion
• Albany, $34.9 billion
• Worcester, Mass., $33.5 billion
• Bradenton-Sarasota, Fla., $33.4 billion
• Tucson, $33.0 billion
• Allentown-Bethlehem, Pa., $30.6 billion
• Dayton, $29.0 billion
• Albuquerque, $29.0 billion
• Baton Rouge, La., $27.6 billion
• Grand Rapids, $26.9 billion
• Akron, Ohio, $26.2 billion
• Poughkeepsie, N.Y., $26.1 billion
• Fresno, Calif., $26.0 billion
• Little Rock, Ark., $25.8 billion
• Springfield, Mass., $25.5 billion
• Columbia, S.C., $25.2 billion

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/08/17/daily16.html?ana=from_rss

Mark

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We were going to put temps behind the little church we are in, until I found this website (thanks Becky Pierson)

http://weburbanist.com/2009/08/16/prefabulous-10-fantastic-prefabricated-homes/

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Monday after sunday

Church was good yesterday, so many people back - lots of conversation afterwards. Next week we hope to be over 100 people again for the first time since June. We had Soul Fuel lead our worship
time. They did well. Busy week ahead - youth group on Tuesday, worship team practice on Wed. And painting Stony Creek elementary on SAT Morning (8-12).
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There is a smell of adventure in the air

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Going to Evergreen to see my sister Kris for the evening

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Was it a grandslam or not??? Video replay booth

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Fw: Rockies vs Cubs

------Original Message------
To: post posterous
Subject: Rockies vs Cubs
Sent: Aug 10, 2009 6:59 PM

  

  
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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How will the 700,000,000,000.00 bailout affect me?

Doug Osness

www.SearchAndValueHomesColorado.com

dosness@kw.com

303-960-6784

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Monday after Sunday

Boulder County Courthouse

 "Just want everyone to know we are having computer problems. We will get you guys out of here as soon as we can" says the court reporter. I am sitting in court with a friend who was driving in Boulder without a license. His dad just said to me "Life is much easier if you stay out of trouble." ---

 I am thinking about church yesterday. Really enjoying preaching through Proverbs. Yesterday we looked at the value of wisdom, and how we must dig for it, like silver in a mine. Momentum

 Momentum is starting to build towards Fall. We have rock solid leadership. Our new small groups will start in a month. Backpack trip

 Our youth group just got back from a two day backpack trip. 15 people were on the trip. Highlight included a capture the flag game, an evening worship service and a Sunday morning communion time. Rumor has it Ryan was attacked by a wolverine (or a least a vicious rock). Prayer for the complexities and pains of life. Praying for a teen who just found out she is pregnant. Praying for a neighborhood family who just lost their 7 old son (died from wounds sustained in a fire he started. Praying for a local family - the dad killed his wife then shot himself. Praying for a friend recovering from cancer surgery. Praying for a broken marriage and for those who are single and wrestle with various relationship issues. Oh and one more thing-too sensitive to post here. Wow God - this world has a lot of complexity and pain. We trust that one day, You will bring comfort and justice. Thanks for reading this. Please add these prayer requests to your list today. ---

 I am reading my wife's book that she wrote this year. Its very good. It is teen fiction. You should ask her about it. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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CS Lewis quote "the divine mind

The order of the Divine mind, embodied in the Divine Law, is beautiful. What should man do but try to reproduce it, as far as possible, in his daily life?
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reading "Discipling Nations-the power of truth to transform nations, by Darrow Miller

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Off to the Jeffco Westernaires - Annika's horse riding club

=

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Join our Proverbs challenge - one chapter a day - today is chpt 4

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Celebrating 18 years with Heidi. Leaving chico hot springs pool.

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Norseman quartet families are gathering at the Johnstad B and B in Emigrant, MT

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Sitting in DIA, flight delayed an hour...blue skies, beautiful outside, DELAY???

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August 1st? Where has this year gone? So many great memories already. I am so thankful for the family and friends I have.

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GodSightings: The Plight of Homeless Christians, by EC Scott: 7/31/09

The following email came to my inbox today.

I really like it, and the fact that it is written by my friend Eugene Scott is an added bonus.  Wise words from a good friend.

mark

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Eugene C. Scott
To: Mark Kraakevik
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 10:41:16 AM
Subject: GodSightings: The Plight of Homeless Christians, by EC Scott: 7/31/09

The Plight of Homeless Christians

By Eugene C. Scott

 

In 1977 I was homeless.  So, disgusted with city-life, I high-tailed it for the mountains and pitched my tiny orange tent in Cottonwood Lake Campground.  I dropped out and spent my days hiking, trout fishing, and reading Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”  Waking as the tent heated from the morning sun and falling asleep with a billion stars shining as my nightlight was freedom defined.

Occasionally my camp-mate and I drove his Plymouth Belvedere to my cousin’s house on Trout Creek.  There we sat in stiff wooden chairs around her kitchen table and ate and talked and laughed with incense burning and Pink Floyd playing in the background.  Inside her walls lived a different kind of freedom: the freedom of belonging.  Her screen door slammed shut on a fearsome loneliness.  The summer wore on.  We visited my cousin’s home, our home away from homelessness, more frequently.

I was a young, immature, follower of Christ in 1977.  I knew less than nothing about God and life.  I had no idea that what we were doing around my cousin’s kitchen table was oddly church-like.  We sang no hymns, passed no offering plate, and followed no liturgy. We broke bread; we gave thanks; we encouraged one another; we loved one another.  We had a sacred fellowship.  And God was there, though not invoked, yet gentle, invisible, insistent.  God surfaced in nearly every conversation, hung around in every corner.

Everyone needs a place to belong: a community to talk, laugh, cry, and encounter God with.

In 2008 I became a homeless Christian, without a gathered Christian community to encounter God with.  At first, like in the summer of 1977, the freedom was exhilarating.  Did you know people sleep in, read the comics, and freely hang out in coffee shops on Sunday mornings?  Suddenly Sundays became Sabbath, relaxed and unpressurized.

Eventually though, reading the funnies, or even the Bible, in my boxers lost its appeal.  I missed the intellectual, social, and spiritual stimulation present in a gathered Christian community.  I yearned for encountering God in music, sermons, ancient and modern rites, and most of all, other people.  I did not miss, however, the politics, the griping, or the massive weight of trying to speak honestly for God.

While homeless, my spiritual life resembled a slowly receding tide, leaving bleached, empty shells of faith on the beach.  My faith became a distant, powerless belief system rather than a vibrant way of life.  Now months later, surrounded by a grace-filled Christian community, God is rebuilding my soul.

I am not the only one to experience spiritual homelessness.  Disgusted with the real and perceived hypocrisy, ritual, dogma, judgementalism, and general irrelevance of what we now call church, many followers of Christ have dropped out and pitched a tent in their own backyards hoping for the best.  Researchers claim only about 20% of Americans attend church.  While three quarters of American adults call themselves Christian.

A sizable majority of Christians are homeless, without a gathered community to belong to.  You may be one.

The problem is God designed life to be lived with-in a caring, serving, worshiping community called church.  Unlike bowling, Christianity is not an individualistic sport.  God most often shows up in the spaces (interactions) between people and the more distant those spaces the smaller the interaction and the easier it is to lose sight of God.  God loves us as individuals but calls us to live in community.  “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging one another, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on . . . .” Hebrews 10:24-25, The Message. 

This question is not whether one “can be a Christian while never ‘going’ to church.”  Church is a family, if often a dysfunctional one.  You may go to your family’s house, but you don’t “go to” family.  You are family.  You are the church.  In Christ we have been adopted and are a part of a family whether we are estranged—homeless—or not.  And just as being estranged from our biological families has far-reaching effects, so too, does being estranged from our spiritual families.  The plight of homeless Christians is serious and debilitating to us as individuals and to us as the church.

Often it is not laziness or apostasy that keeps us homeless.  Very real fear, pain, and past disappointments keep many of us from belonging to a faith family.  Jesus knows our pain and estrangement.  The Prodigal Son is not just a story about forgiveness, but also about coming home to God and family, pouty older brother and all.  Reconnecting is a fearful prospect, I know.  But know also that God is waiting for your return and will kill the fatted calf when you do.  We might even put on some Pink Floyd.

GodSightings are an uncommon view of God from a common point of view written by Dr. Eugene C. Scott.  Reach him at ecscott@tnc3.org.  If you wish to be discontinued from this list, please reply with Unsubscribe in the subject line.  

-- 

Dr. Eugene C. Scott

The Neighborhood Church

www.tnc3.org

Visit my blog @ eugenesgodsightings.blogspot.com/

720-320-1900

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Status?? A study in introspection - what an extrovert does when left alone

My dashboard

My Bible:  I have read it three days in a row!

My forecast here in Denver: high of 70, currently 55 and rainy

My physical condition: no substantial physical exercise is quite awhile.  Current routine is a 1/2 mile walk each morning.

My emotional condition: (see physical condition) currently a bit bumpy, just saw that the dog dish still has food in it (Bailey died 16 days ago on the highway in Montana).  I am homesick for Brasil, and I am starting to really miss my family. 

My outlook:  Postive.  This fall is going to be a great one at the EDGE.  As a whole, we are falling deeper in love with Jesus, our community is gelling, we have the right peole in leadership, and the possibility exists for significant impact on our community.

My current email count: 6686 messages in yahoo, 5642 in aol/mac/edgeco

My voice mails: 3

My kids: A and B are taking tennis lessons this week.  Shopping for a new puppy

My cell phone: blackberry is present and currently syncing with my mac computer (miracle).  Because I was in Brazil, I have enough minutes left to talk for several days straight and still not use all of July's minutes.

My filing: (the box) the pile on my kitchen table of things to file is currently ten inches high

My facebook: 2045 friends (clear indication that God created me with a desire to connect with people - my hell is a deserted Island)

My twitter: I follow 738 people, 675 people follow me, and I have posted 2,166 status updates

Edge Offerings in church last week: 2973.00 - we made budget in July!  Thank you God.

The bizarre part is God is intimately connected with all of the above details.  They all matter, and yet his love for me is not based on any of this indicators.

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The movie Watchmen

Rented it from Redbox last night.

Definitely a good superhero movie.

Like all good superhero movies it wrestles with identity, and purpose, and justice and the frailty of human live.

I didn't like the existentialism of the film.  It kept saying, "If God does exist, he must not care very much about humans."

The quote that has me thinking is a dialogue between two heroes.  One says "What happened to the American Dream?" and the other one says, "It came true!"  That is crazy.  So much of the American dream was about consumerism, and now we have it all, but are not happy. 

 

Hmmmm.....

 

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Elvis cinema - STAR TREK

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Staff meeting, 7am, The EDGE Colorado - I can't wait to see everyone

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Time to mow the yard, and do laundry...in Portuguese. Coming off a missions trip is hard

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we are back in the usa

 

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Saturday went well. Lots of great freindships now require lots of goodbyes.

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Sat. 2am: finished loading videos, going to bed. Tomorrow is the last full day of Promife

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Tonight is the last street preaching night - I am going with Alex's group

 

Mark Kraakevik

of 8776 West Geddes Place, Littleton, CO 80128
Mark can be reached at 720-308-4051
Mark's blog can be found at www.xanga.com/kraakerjack

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
  - Lucille Ball

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Morning went well, now going out for the afternoon to talk to people - praying for good conversations, and many conversions

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Untitled

Thursday morning in Brasil: Finished breakfast, first teacher is up, I am next - please pray that God would use me

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Free day in Brasil - we slept till 10, we played soccer till 1:30, and now we are having a BBQ

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Its Tuesday night - 7pm. We are really tired. God's Spirit swept through the group this morning. Many accepted Jesus this afternoon. More preaching tonight.

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Lunch on Monday in Brasil

via youtube.com

This is a ten minute video of me saying hello to a lot of people. In the middle we play the classic cup game, you may want to fast forward, and in the end we are playing dancing to someone singing a rap.

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Video from last nights street presentation - Dance Troop

via youtube.com

This was the group that performed before I got up to speak. They are from the local church.

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Video report from this afternoon's home visits.

David talks to 9 people about Jesus at a picnic table

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Sunday Morning

It is 11:20AM Sunday morning here.

Just finished preaching on Genesis Chpt. 1.  Focused on how God, the creator of the universe, created each of us with purpose.  It was well received.  I am posting on youtube.com/kraakerjack a short video from earlier this morning to show you what the worship its like.  Its very hard to capture on video what is actually happening.  God's presence was here. 

Now they are going over how to make a home visit.  This afternoon we will make our first home visits.  This is all cold call visits, unlike the rest of the week, which will be follow up visits to those who attend the Jesus film/street preaching/patomime events in the evening.

To the parents: Alex and Ian are doing great.  Both have already found friends and are injoying learning phrases in Portuguese. 

Prayer request:

1) Pray for us as we make these visits this afternoon that they are well recieved and that people decide to come to the event in the park this evening. 
2) Pray for our health, we are all tired.  People were up till 1pm last night, and up at the school moving around at 6am this morning.  We were to sleep from 11 to 7, but not many got to actually do that.
3) Pray for the new people here at Promife, the atmosphere of the week is shaped by how well the new students understand what we are doing.  There are 116 people here, and about 40 -50 of them are new this year.

Gotta run,

Mark

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We made it to Sao Paulo

Rock and Roll

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Settled in for our 9 hour flight to S.P.

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On the ground in Houston. Taxi'ed past our plane to Sao Paulo - its huge

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On the Continental flight listening to Rap music. Getting in touch with youth culture: Afroman?

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Mowing the lawn and doing laundry like a rock star

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I really feel blessed to have such great leaders at the EDGE. Monthly mtg tonight- prayer, buildings, bucks and big goals for the future and more prayer

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The Kraakevik Summer chaos continues: on a Frontier prop plane from Bozeman to Den. Said good bye to family-never easy

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Final push from Billings to Bozeman

We left Minnesota at 4am and we are now in our last two hours. Drive through North Dakota was uneventfully. Two barf bags, one spilled chocolate shake, the endless search for good coffee and a Redbox video (the only redbox we found was busted). Text message conversation with Community life pastor Grant as we drover through the middle NOWHERE. Surreal experience. Brazil Trip update: we leave on Friday. We got 500 more dollars towards the trip on Sunday. Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Playing in the sprinklers

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Half way through the vacation: Jefson Reunion was awesome

It was so great to spend the weekend with my family in Forest City, Iowa.  I did not take many pictures.  But others did and hopefully I will be able to forward some of those on to you soon.  I got the honor of preaching yesterday at our family gathering.  It was such a blast.  We met in an old Lutheran church that they have moved onto the Heritage Park. 

Sounds like church on Sunday went well.  We raised another 500 towards the trip, so we are closing in on our financial goals.  Grant preached, and I heard is was good.  I hope someone podcaste the sermon, although it does not look like it has been posted yet.

Today we begin the trek to Montana.

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5 great from last years Brazil trip

DSCF1319.JPG

cavalo

DSCF1322.JPG

 

DSCF1336.JPG

 

the end group shot

 

four on a wall promife

 

Mark Kraakevik

The EDGE Colorado - live the message

mkraakevik@mac.com

720-308-4051

We all have demons, don't face your alone***

"Faith is our relationship to and with God. And it is given life and meaning in our relationship to and with each other."

 

Mark Kraakevik

The EDGE Colorado - Live The Message

mkraakevik@aol.com

720-308-4051

www.theedgecolorado.org

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

=

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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brazil flag_country

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Brazil Trip Info

Hey friends,

Our missions team is leaving for Brazil in one week.  This time the team includes two teens, one seminary student and Pastor Mark.  They leave on July 10th for a 12 day trip.  They will travel to Sao Paulo, Bra, which is the third largest city in the world, and then go about 2 hours north of that city to the city of Ribeirao Preto.  There they will join about 100 Brazilian teens in a week long outreach event.  They will spend our mornings studying the Bible, and the teaching of Jesus, and then in the afternoon, some will make door to door visits while others will lead an afternoon kids club.  In the evening, the group will show a movie about Jesus on a portable screen in one of several local parks.  Pastor Mark will be one of several preachers that will share the good news that Jesus offers freedom from sin and death with the crowds that gather. 

If you want to support our team, they would love your prayers and donations.  We have currently raised $2,000.  We still need to raise an additional $1,000 to cover the cost of our plane tickets.  We also have $450 in visa expenses.  Checks can be made out to The EDGE Colorado.  Please send your support to PO Box 620489, Littleton CO 80162.

Thanks for helping us make a difference in the lives of familes in Brazil,

 

Mark Kraakevik

Mailing address

The EDGE Colorado

PO Box 620489, Littleton, CO 80162

or

Street Address

7870 So. Garrison, Litteton, CO 80128

www.theEDGEcolorado.org

303-972-2181

The Colorado Services

Sunday, 10:08AM

Mark Kraakevik

mkraakevik@aol.com

720-308-4051

To live is Christ, to die is gain.

=

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golf with the jefsons

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Arrived in Forest City-the cultural center of the universe.

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The Arch over I-80 in Kearney Neb - Tourist Attraction?

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And so vacation begins.

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Visas came! Brazil trip is a go, except for the 1000 bucks we still need.

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Off to St. Joe Hospital to pray for a friend going into surgery

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In and out of the DMV in less than 15 minutes. Its a miracle. I just bought 185 dollars of highway.

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Best Happy Heathens Map Ever | Happy Heathens | LibraryThing

via librarything.com

Wow - so the Obama press conference yesterday set off a 50 comment thread on my facebook, can't wait to see where this goes. Remember people: lets keep a sense of humor about us. Lets look for assumptions being made: Heaven is boring?? And finally, remember we are talking to a board spectrum of people - how would you draw the "Heaven Map?"

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Trying to anticipate everything that might happen in the month of July, and developing contigency plans.

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Summer Sunday Afternoon walk around Stony Creek

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Best parts of the day-seeing people I haven't seen in awhile at church and watching VBS kids recite verses

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B's best friend moved away today - so sad

MyPicture
 
 
Mark Kraakevik
The EDGE Colorado - Live The Message
mkraakevik@aol.com
720-308-4051
 
www.theedgecolorado.org
To live is Christ, to die is gain.

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Is Converge Worldwide a movement or a denomination?

Can someone tell me the difference between a voluntary Christian association of local churches and regional organization and a Christian denomination?  Hint: It appears as though Converge Worldwide is one and not the other.

 

A year ago this week, we had the national meeting of the Baptist General Conference.  At those meetings, the nickname of the voluntary Christian association to which the EDGE Colorado belongs became Converge Worldwide. 

 

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Good night world, don't forget to close the garage door; lock the front door. Did your daughter leave the radio on too?

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Untitled

Trying to hit R number target for tomorrow :) Wanna come to the brazil fund raiser? Tomorrow 11am at Elvis - monster vs aliens. Cost $7. Pls fwd this
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Note to self: staff mtg the day after summer kids program- not at 7am

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Vbs is over. Now its off to Transformers at West Bowles theatre.

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Creating "Come As You Are Community" is really hard work - People long for friendship, but run from transparency

1245951036789@dclient.mail.yahoo.com" height="73" align="right">

1245951036790@dclient.mail.yahoo.com" height="126" align="right">

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The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100

via coneinc.com

Aahhh, nuts, our church didn't make the top 100

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Sad news day 1) SC Gov Press Conf = He had an affair and 2) Iran violence escalates

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SCETV Video

via scetv.org

The Gov of SC is resigning. Here is the press conference

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Five Videos of Massacre at Baharestan Square (Warning: Graphic)

via trending.zachshouse.org

This is intense. Please Pray. Thanks @Zachshouse

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ConvergeUSA Blog: Who is ConvergeUSA?

Check out this website I found at garyrohrmayer.typepad.com

In light of the SBC annual mtg happening now, what is the difference between a movement and a denomination?

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The Colorado Rockies are 17-1 in their last 18 games and still 9 games behind the Dodgers

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Our flowers look great this year

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IMG00122.jpg

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List of Birthday, Anniversaries and Deaths of people I know

Born today - June 23
 
Jonelle Stevens (heidi's family)
Travis Allen (youth group)
Erin Foster (youth pastor)
James Mills (emergent denver cohort)
Tony Ruppert (facebook friend)
Jennifer Calabrese (youth group)
Phillip Sorenson (youth group)
 
Anniversaries on this day
 
Vicki and Floyd Jefson (family)
Kim and Matt Jefson (family)
 
Deaths on this day
 
JoAnn Moberg 1999 (heidi's family)
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Posted via email from Mark's posterous

Heidi and I walked around Clement Lake today for the first time in a month - summer is hard on routines

Posted via SMS from Mark's posterous

Posterous??

New thing called posterous.com that will post to my blog, twitter, facebook, etc all at once - This txt should light up my online presence

Posted via email from Mark's posterous

Piper, Carson, Keller video to watch

Tom Needham, Cubs, 11/5/13 (LOC)

Tom Needham, Cubs, 11/5/13 (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

What a cool old photo

the whole gang listens to Gary

the whole gang listens to Gary
Originally uploaded by kraakerjack

I was at the RMBC Pastors day away in Beaver Creek.

In prayer

In prayer
Originally uploaded by @tak

I want to use this prayer tomorrow

Its me, last christmas

Its me, last christmas
Originally uploaded by kraakerjack

A Warped family?

A Warped family?
Originally uploaded by kraakerjack

Oh, yeah. We got issues

Our launch is coming soon...

Our team has been dreaming about and planning The EDGE since last fall. What kind of church will God have us be? How will we reach our neighbors and impact our community and our world? How will we show Jesus in genuine and authentic ways? How many pack n plays does a nursery truly need? What exactly is a 501(c)3? At last we are finding answers to these questions.

Who will be on our launch team? Our leadership team has grown from the first four families to around twelve families who have caught our vision to reach the unchurched and dechurched with the love of Christ. Together we have prayed, eaten meals, shared communion, worshipped, laughed, cried, served and marveled at how God has blessed us all.

When will we launch? We are just eight weeks from going public. As you know, we have been meeting on Sunday evenings at The Rock of SW (a BGC church who has been extremely kind and generous to us). These past ten months have been invaluable, and now we feel that we are ready to put our plans into action.

Where will we launch? After much prayer, God has opened the door to the Gotta Dance, Gotta Sing Theatre, at the corner of Ken Caryl Ave. and Pierce. This is a very cool God thing. The theatre is right in the center of our target area of 80128. It seats about 240 and has 3 small Sunday School rooms. It is available all day on Sunday, and, incredibly, the owners have offered to rent the space to us for just $500 a month.

When will we meet? We feel confident that God is prompting us to move our gathering service to Sunday mornings at this theatre and that by doing so, we will reach more people in our community.

What will it take to make this dream a reality? We feel very blessed to have around $20,000 in the bank at this current time. As we launch, this will be spent rather quickly on mailings, sound systems, nursery equipment, and other start up costs. We would also love to hire a few strategic personnel.

Additionally, there is an available space next door to the theatre that we would very much like to rent. It was formally a Tai Kwan Do facilty, and would cost us about $2,000 a month to rent. This space would allow us to have a presence in the community, provide office and storage space, and give us a place for our adults, youth, and kids to meet during the week. Also, in order to gain a spot on the marque of the shopping center, we need to rent an additional space.

Our specific God-sized request is that we could raise $51,000 so that we can rent the theatre and the office space for the first year, and so that our reserves won't be depleted by our launch. If we can raise that amount in the next few weeks, we can enter our launch with the confidence that we can do what we have dreamed of doing.

So, we are asking you, dear and loyal EDGE prayers, to ask God to bring this amount in the next few weeks, and we are excited to see how He will bless.

Tuesday Tuesday

So its been a while since I just wrote a blog about life.

Mostly its has been a while because it has been going so fast its hard to stop long enough to be able to evaluate it.

Since I got to bed at 3am yesterday, I am going to bed now, and I will maybe write about the life of a church planter tomorrow.

BIG NEWS: One of my church attenders lead someone to Christ last week!!! WAHOOOO

Church Planters Log - 4 months into public meetings

BEWARE: very long post

Since I need to report to the BGC district annual meetings on Friday, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on our journey to this point.

I was born in Denver, Colorado....(skip ahead 37 years)

In the summer of 2006, the Reillys, Jensens, Rodvolds, Randolphs and Kraakeviks started dreaming about planting a church. At the time, we gave it the name "The Gathering." Although as time went on we considered Emmaus, Stony Creek Church, Pinnacle, Summit, Sacred Space, Jesus Freaks United, the river, the Ancient path, mosaic, Mars Hill, the revolution, the flounderers, and of course South of West Bowles Community Church.

We talked a lot about core groups vs. believer bases vs. launch teams.

Kathy J. brought a book, The Heart Reader, which is a book written anonymously, that talks about the power of seeing people for who they are, and reaching out to meet their deepest needs. We decided we wanted to be a church like that.

Kathy J. brought her CBS bible study notes on Acts 1-4. We decided we wanted to be a church like that.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer."

"If God is against it, it will die, if God is for it, you will not be able to stop it." (Rough translation of a cool verse in Acts 5)

We decided we would be a church that plants other churches (we see ourselves as part of a church planting movement).

We decided we would make a community meal central to everything we do.

We decided to affiliate with the Baptist General Conference, and had lively discussions about baptistic practices.

We read The Radical Reformission and Confessions of a Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll.

We put together our first "PowerPoint presentation." As a group, we wrestled for a long time with how to say everything. This was a difficult part. At this time, we started to call the church the 5280 Gathering (Denver is a mile high - 5,280 feet).

On September 2, 2006, we had an all day retreat at Conference Baptist Church in Evergreen. We prayed over each other at that retreat, and it was very powerful. Tears! We decided we needed open mic time at our services, times of corporate repentance, and faith promise giving. We thought it would be a good idea to keep the children in our services, so they could learn to worship next to their parents.

In Sept. Heidi and I attended the Church Planter Assessment Center in Wisconsin. We passed! We took the strength finder personality test. This was our result:
Mark-Woo, Positivity, Communication, Input, Activator
Heidi- Input, Intellection, Belief, Learner, Maximizer

We went to the Rocky Mountain Baptist Conference Board of Overseers meeting on October 17, 2006. It was the first time we rolled out our PowerPoint presentation to a group. They said we needed to clarify our vision. Are we are house/cell church or an attractional church.

On Oct. 29th we had a "Present the Vision" meeting at Einstein Bagels. We had a great crowd, and the meeting went very well.

On Nov. 7th, I attended a Freedom Service at Centennial. It was a night of reconciliation. The timing was perfect, because I was able to attend that before we began our public meetings.

On Nov. 12th we had our first public service at the Rock of the Southwest. We settled on the name, The EDGE.

We were struck with six weeks of crazy things happening on Sunday night. The Fall unfolded like this

Nov. 19th - Bronco night game
Nov. 26th - Thanksgiving weekend
Dec. 3rd - Bronco night game (NFL moved game)
Dec. 10 - Bronco night game (NFL moved game)
Dec 17 - Snow storm x
Dec. 24 - Christmas Eve

In December, our teaching focused on Advent. We sent a second wave of support/update letters. Our first wave went out in October.

In January, our teaching focused on the basics of Christianity. This is the beginning of what will be our "Christianity 101" class. We talked about the Fall, the Law, the Gospel, and the Kingdom. It snowed every week in January!!!

We had a very important core group meeting at Ernie and Jeannine's house on Jan 11th, 2007. I brought a list of 390 tasks that church plants need to do before they launch. I was nearly voted off the island by the core team for bringing the list. The list nearly killed the "DREAM." Everyone felt very overwhelmed. We made a mid-meeting shift in agenda. We talked about money, and how many people we need to have attend our congregation to make it financially viable. We talked about publicity, and children’s directors, and worship leaders, and missions, and small groups and serving the community, and our logo, and having leadership meetings every other week.

Jan. 14th, we had three couples and two young singles attend our evening gathering!!! Wow, this was a huge morale boost.

I started working at the Rock in January. 20 hours a week as a part time pastor. I have been helping with whatever they need done. Bruce Fosdick has become a church plant coach for me, although this is a very busy season for his church. This has been very helpful.

Towards the end of January, Jake Fehr decided to join us as our volunteer youth pastor. We decided to go to Brasil with the students who wanted to go. Tuesday nights would be youth night. With the meetings alternating between Brasil meetings, and youth group meetings. The group is has been meeting at Geoffery Wolfe's house.

February has been a blur. We did not meet on Super Bowl Sunday. Our teaching has focused on the parables of Jesus from Matt. 13. We began a podcast that combines weekly sermons, with daily recordings modeled after Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac, a podcast to which I subscribe.

The most interesting piece that has unfolded recently is the possibility of moving our gatherings to a small church building near our house. The congregation that was meeting there is no longer meeting, and the building is available for rent. The sanctuary holds 60-70 people, and we met there on March 4th. We had a great time, and the size was perfect for us. But looking for a place to meet is somewhat like buying jeans for a growing teenager. The fear is this: if we buy jeans that fit now, they will be at our knees in no time.

And that is our story to this point. There are other parts to the story that have been left out. Doug's dad died the last week of November. One of our brothers lost his job in Dec., and got a new job in Feb. I spoke at retreats in Sept., Oct., Jan., and Feb. I preached at three different churches First Baptist in Lakewood, Elk Creek Community Church, and Summit Church.

sermon notes from Feb. 11

What have we learned about the Kingdom from Matt 13

There are four places the seeds end up
The path, the rocky place, the thorns, and the good soil

Jesus puts the mphasis on...
understanding,
perseverance through trouble,
overcoming worry and the desire for money

Good soil hears and understands what the Kingdom is all about - and produces fruit

Does the text function on my phone work?

Captains Log 06.03.2006

The end of another crazy week
items of note:

* Britta went to the Hospital on memorial day for a stomach ache. Looked like it might be her apendix. Ended up just being a sore tummy.
* Annika finished 3rd grade on Thursday. On to 4th.
* I raced in the Boulder Bolder on Monday - 1 hour, 4 minutes
* I raced a Camero at Bandemere Drag strip on Thursday (free day for pastors) - went 98 mph in a quarter mile, 14.3 seconds.

Thats about it.

Next week:
* Dr. Blomberg speaks at our church on Sunday about the Di vinci Code. I had Dr. Blomberg at Denver Seminary.
* We have a parents meeting tomorrow afterr church to talk about the June Curriculum which is all about making wise choices when it comes to physical intimacy.
* We are going to Elitches on Wednesday
* We have a Parents night out fund raiser next Friday night to raise money for our missions trip.
* We have a houseboat trip on June 13 to June 17. We have 3 kids signed up. I am a bit scared.
* The youth group goes to Louisiana June 25 to July 2 to help with the relief efforts. 20 people total are going.

Thats all for now.

A little history lesson someone e-mailed me

The author of this e-mail writes:

One detail that is not mentioned, in DC, there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument. With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc... This is worth a moment or two of your time.

On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, are displayed two words: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there and for that matter, probably couldn't care less.

Once you know Laus Deo's history, you will want to share this with everyone you know. But these words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America.

Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.

So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say "Praise be to God!"

Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States, it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation, Laus Deo....."Praise be to God!"

From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant...a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the North. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the West.

A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.

Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message. On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore; on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians; on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!

When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy ..."One Nation, Under God."

I am awed by Washington's prayer for America. Have you never read it?
Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on!

"Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United
States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the
Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." Laus Deo!

When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look.

You may forget the width and height of "Laus Deo", it's location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget it's meaning, or these words: "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." (Psalm 127: 1)

A quote about the return of peace after war

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/quotations/quote/33043

Quote:... in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquillity will return again.
Author: Frank, Anne
Categories: peace; Holocaust; human nature
Attribution: Anne Frank (1929–1945), Dutch Jewish diarist; born in Germany. Diary of a Young Girl, entry dated July 15, 1944 (1947).