Christian Ministry to Skydivers

[loughery 0]

I do not think it is a good idea.

I know where to go if I want religion.
I goto to the DZ for other reasons.

TOT

TOT
www.SkydiveMoncton.com

To my wife: 'If you ask me to stop skydiving, you are asking me to move out!'

[mikeat10500 9]

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Picture this -- someone handing out skydiving literature at a church! >>

Happens at my church all the time.

I bet it does...lol!
Steve first I need to confess...I got an really foul
mouth when I take up first jump students.
( It does not seem to bother them and sometime
they start it! especially the girls) I just try to pump them up to get them out the door and add to all the
excitement. Now I have dispatched, strippers, gays,
, people of all color, and age. I don't care what they
do in their life...when it comes down to it ,gravity does not care either. So last year a Baptist minister
and his two kids ( of age of course) take the FJ course. I'm sure that the DZO mentioned that Wade
was a minister but I become a machine up there and operate the same way every time. So after I
dispatch them on their first jumps, the pilot takes me aside and says" man...I can't believe you were
screaming the f-word in a ministers ear!"
Wade must be a tolerant man cause he brings kids
right back out the next weekend for jumps 2 and 3.
I hope to see them again this year cause they seem
to be having a blast! I told him on one jump run he
may want to work the skydiving thing into his sermon....he said..." I already did last week".
He is a nice guy...no mater how you slice it.

-----------------------------------
Mike Wheadon B-3715,HEMP#1
Higher Expectations for Modern Parachutists.

[wiregoat 0]

Here in the midwest, I think it would be worth a try. My dropzone accepts all kinds of folks as long as they are SAFE. I am sure it depends on the DZ. Possibly the Dz's that it would do the most good would be the ones where it would cause the most problems. I can't help but think christain skydivers would be more effective than skydive ministries, but, any excuse to go to the dropzone is a good one.

but, but, he's a giant chicken!

[RevJim 0]

<-------Read the name.

Don't do it. Trust me. Be known, sure. They will find you if they want/need you. Setting up a presence is a very bad idea.

Many skydiver (like me) are very spiritual people, but are fed up with organized religion. No matter what you try to set up, it ends up being a ministry, and will be based on some type of organized religion. For every follower you find, 10 more will attempt to make your life miserable.

Like I said, if you are needed/wanted, they will let you know. Weddings, Funerals, Ash dives, prayers for those fallen (yes, it happens), they'l find you. Anything more is inviting problems.

It's your life, live it!
Karma
RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1

[f1freak 0]

I think it's a great idea, it's been a part of the racing culture for a LONG time...
I remember going to the drag races with my dad as a little kid and they would announce the service that would take place every sunday morning.....
now, they NEVER came around passing out bibles like the freaks sometimes do, they were just there for the people that wanted them.....
I think it will be more than welcome at any boogie as long as it stays at the tent, do not try to force but just be there to accommodate the people that regard religion or spiritually important in life.....

Another thing i want to know is why so many of you seem to feel SO threatend by this?????
it makes no sence to me, i mean if i dont like what i hear on the radio i change the channel....
if you dont feel like listening to this than keep walking no prob....
it's just so funny to me that people feel the need to BAN something that may bennifit someone else just because they dont believe the same.....
I thought we were better than that
man, LIVE AND LET LIVE.......

HAVE FUN...
...JUST DONT DIE

[Iflyme 0]

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Ain't this a great country!

Well, I'm in Canada -- and it IS a great country! Anyway, I'm glad to see the range of opinions vocied in a respectful manner here ... that shows that while we may not all share the same ideas, we respect each other.

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no chasing people down preaching at them.

That is a dignified approach if you do follow thru on your idea.

[Iflyme 0]

Ya .. I'll take full responsibility for saying that!

[PhillyKev 0]

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I think of the Christian Science reading rooms as the ideal model for prosletyzing. You know where they are, you know what they are. They have resources besides just Christian Science, and you're welcome to use them for that.

To me, a tent on the DZ with a couple of chairs to sit on in the shade, maybe a table to do your logbook on, and some bibles or tracts on a table where you don't have to wade through them to get in would be good. Again, you know they're there, and if you're sitting in the shade, they're available for those who have to read something when they're sitting around.

Water out front for everyone to drink is good too. It's a way of showing what Christianity is by example. That's the best way anyway. It's not intrusive, it provides service. You can have happy people there to help when they're not jumping, but for pete's sake, have them jumping too!

Wendy W.

I don't know about the Christian Science thing, but I think Wendy's got a good handle on what I wouldn't mind. I've encountered a lot of different groups that would do just that when following the Dead. Be there, offer some shade, shelter, food, water, etc. And if you wanted to talk they would be glad to. If you didn't, that was fine too, have a drink, take a load off, and have a nice day. Don't see anything wrong with that. And I've known a few people who were in the midst of personal crisis that they were able to help.

Not my thing but IMO, you're welcome.

The one pitfall may be that you could have someone who is offended by it for whatever reason, or just likes to argue coming in to debate theology with you.

[happythoughts 0]

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Possibly the Dz's that it would do the most good would be the ones where it would cause the most problems.

Do the most good? What would that be? Get all those unmarried couples to stop fornicating? Stop all that evil drinking beer?

I read the 10 commandments as a child. From what I hear, no new information in the last 2000 years. After I became an adult, I lost the need for another adult to sit in judgement on my life. I'm just not that worried about someone elses definition of sin. When I go to the dz, I see happy people enjoying life, no need to change that.

[Antithesis 0]

Steve- You sound like a really cool guy with a good heart and positive intentions. What you're interested in doing takes a lot of conviction (to say the least) and I commend you for your ambition. But, let me say this too, Skydiving boogies are for skydiving activities.. If we condone a ministry (which I definately do not) then why wouldn't we also have voter registration at boogies, Maybe life insurance salesman, How about a booth advertising low, low long distance rates. What else do I have in my spam folder? Do you see what I'm getting at? I'd like to see the skydiving community continue to be all about skydiving and hopefully never a advertising marketplace for lost souls.

There is no difference between preaching and ministering

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[billvon 2,400]

>Skydiving boogies are for skydiving activities.. If we condone a
> ministry (which I definately do not) then why wouldn't we also have
> voter registration at boogies, Maybe life insurance salesman, How
> about a booth advertising low, low long distance rates.

Uh, we got most of that at Rantoul. Discount long distance cards, places selling Rantoul T-shirts, hot dog stands. Nothing wrong with any of it, as long as they're not trying to chase you down to sell you stuff. There are any number of "group" tents, from the Muff Brothers to the Rodriguez Brothers to the Texans to Scotty Carbone's Tent of Sin and Ribs; why would a Christian Brothers tent be any different?

[Antithesis 0]

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>
Uh, we got most of that at Rantoul. Discount long distance cards, places selling Rantoul T-shirts, hot dog stands. Nothing wrong with any of it, as long as they're not trying to chase you down to sell you stuff. There are any number of "group" tents, from the Muff Brothers to the Rodriguez Brothers to the Texans to Scotty Carbone's Tent of Sin and Ribs; why would a Christian Brothers tent be any different?

Is there no line that one can draw on matters like this? I see your point Bill.. And before you say it.. Who says there should be.

To answer your question though, I do see a huge difference between getting a hotdog or jumping with my muff brothers and getting spiritual information on how I should live.

A christian brothers tent would be cool if it had anything that it could add to the skydiving community. What could it add to the skydiving community though? Doesn't it seem like enough people would be upset by its presence? Why cause a rift. Why even go there?

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[PhillyKev 0]

Some people don't like others drinking. Should that be banned? I would think drunk people are more of a nuisance to a recovering alcoholic than a benign tent that you don't need to go into would be to you.

I'm an atheist and have no use for it. But why stifle someone else?

[billvon 2,400]

>To answer your question though, I do see a huge difference between
> getting a hotdog or jumping with my muff brothers and getting
> spiritual information on how I should live.

I guess I just don't see the difference. No one forces you to eat the hotdogs (although Scotty has been known to push his sausage) and no one forces you to get spiritual information.

>Doesn't it seem like enough people would be upset by its presence?
> Why cause a rift. Why even go there?

Why would it cause a rift? Do the burger places offend vegetarians? Do the sunset 60-ways offend freeflyers who hate RW? Do the nude jumps offend the more prudish jumpers? If anything, I could see a much stronger argument against nude jumps than against a christian skydivers tent. They are technically illegal.

[mikeat10500 9]

Christians,Atheists,Heathens,Pagans,Skydivers,
Non-skydivers and General weird-Os are always welcome at...


http://www.geocities.com/mikeat10500/index.html

-----------------------------------
Mike Wheadon B-3715,HEMP#1
Higher Expectations for Modern Parachutists.

[Antithesis 0]

Ok, my basic point here is.. And I want to make this clear that I'm not against Steve(He sounds like a really cool guy to know) that I don't think that a religious presence would be readily accepted by a majority of skydivers. To explore this with an open mind I started a poll in the "Talk back" forum to see what kind of input is received there.

Click here for the poll

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[Jimbo 0]

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that I don't think that a religious presence would be readily accepted by a majority of skydivers.

Would you really be uncomfortable walking by a tent with a cross on it? Would it make you uncomfortable knowing that people inside might be talking about, or even worshipping their God in a way that makes them happy?

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To explore this with an open mind I started a poll in the "Talk back" forum to see what kind of input is received there.

Oh yeah, you'll get the serious discussion over there.

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[billvon 2,400]

>And I want to make this clear that I'm not against Steve(He sounds
> like a really cool guy to know) that I don't think that a religious
> presence would be readily accepted by a majority of skydivers.

How would it be rejected? Do you think people would wander into the tent, read stuff or talk to someone, and then get offended? Or are you more worried that there will be some overly evangelical people in the tent who go around a la Jehova's Witnesses and try to 'spread the word' to people who don't want to hear it? Or would the very presence of a tent at the WFFC (for example) offend people even if they never went inside it?

I guess I'm trying to understand if the issue is that it's a religion, and religious organizations of any type are not welcome at boogies, or if it's the things that people often associate with religions (i.e. the evangelists) that's the problem.

[skybytch 259]

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Uh, we got most of that at Rantoul.

Yup. And a non-denominational worship service happens on Sunday morning. While religion isn't my thing I thought that the fact that the service was available for those who wanted to attend was pretty cool.

I know quite a few religious to very religious jumpers. Not one of them has ever preached to me, or even given me any grief about my "potty mouth."

[Deuce 1]

Oh, "Potty Mouth", Duh, I thought it was "Wassabe Mouth"

Hey Lisa, what day are we going to that place again? God that guys wife was a knockout! Between the two of you it was absolutely rackadelic.

Made me beleive in God!

Hooty-hoo!

[sducoach 0]

Define atheist please.

James 4:8

[sducoach 0]

That is the difference. I can see the sign, "Christians Not Welcome!! Step in Steve's tent and It will say "Welcome All Who Want To Be Here"

What is the threat???

James 4:8

[mikeat10500 9]

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Define atheist please.

atheism = disbelief in existence of God.

-----------------------------------
Mike Wheadon B-3715,HEMP#1
Higher Expectations for Modern Parachutists.

[bobsled92 0]

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Uh, we got most of that at Rantoul.

Yup. And a non-denominational worship service happens on Sunday morning. While religion isn't my thing I thought that the fact that the service was available for those who wanted to attend was pretty cool.

I know quite a few religious to very religious jumpers. Not one of them has ever preached to me, or even given me any grief about my "potty mouth."

The preacher that morning was:
VERY unique, preached at prisons mainly, and had a more checkered past than any of us.(not sure if he was an inmate 1st)
A Father/Daugther duo, did some nice music.
Those that were not interested, probably had no idea that it happened at the party tent, too!.
What can I say, I was born with a Libido AND a soul.
I like being human

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[robskydiv 0]

I think that a prayer for everyone's safety would be a good thing. I'd probably stop into your tent to check it out. I usually pray on the ride to altitude and on the way to the drop zone.