The Ukrainians are taking back their language and with it their culture. Watch this short video blog recorded in Kiev.

Language carries, defines and creates culture.  When the Ukraine was taken over by Russia, in an attempt to control their culture, they were forced to abandon their mother tongue and speak Russian.  Now that they are free they are aggressively restructuring to bring back their Ukrainian language and with it their culture.  In this short video message recorded in the beautiful city of Kiev, I explain the power of language in its ability to carry, define and create culture.  Please enjoy and pass it on.  Please join me on twitter.com/pjhburns, facebook and youtube.com/johnhburns

this year’s addition to my Santorini video blogs – How Beautiful is this?

Join me on twitter.com/pjhburns   Facebook  or  youtube.com/johnhburns

Another gorgeous city on Santorini

I used this magnificent backdrop to teach a short clip about rebuilding… you life, marriage, family, business…

Helen and I are here again for a few days this year celebrating 35 years of marriage.  It just gets better!

Enjoy,

john

A picturesque 35th anniversary honeymoon

Helen and I are celebrating 35 years of marriage back at one of our favorite spots in all the world – Santorini, Greece.  It is so spectacular that I couldn’t resist using the backdrop for a powerful short video message on building our life on the Rock.  Enjoy!

Why use facebook, twitter and blogs

I think the apostle Paul would have been the facebook/twitter king.  His purpose in life was to connect people to God and each other through communication.  He had to write letters to be hand delivered to individuals that hopefully would copy and spread them.  Today our tools of communication are so amazing… we can write a note and in seconds it can individually be delivered to multitudes instantly!  

Much of the church has been guilty of pessimism.  We initially object to everything and later we finally catch on decades after the rest of the world.  I’m hoping we can change that.  Facebook, twitter and this blog are all communications tools.  The power in them is to connect us.  Don’t try to tell people what to do or sell them something… just connect.  The result is the way we think affects the way they think and all cultural change starts in our thinking.

That new way of thinking then needs to be attractive so that it will become the way we WANT to think… this is the 18 inch drop from our head to our heart.  We must embrace it.  We don’t change just from what we hear… we change according to what we embrace.  The proof that this new way of thinking has been embraced will be heard in our language.  Jesus said that out of the overflow of our heart, our mouth will speak.

And last, James teaches us in chapter 3 that the way we talk will steer our behavior which continued over time will become our culture.  So Facebook, twitter and blogs are a great way of connecting with the potential of changing culture and thus changing the world!  Powerful eh?

blessings,

john

Our New Name

Last weekend we made the big announcement that we have changed the name of our church from Victory Christian Centre to Relate Church. Everyone  that I talked with agreed that it was a perfect fit.

A name is very important and should be very purposeful… it should describe who you are.  When I announced the changed, I told our congregation that it was the result of years of discovery.  Just as we don’t choose our destiny but rather we discover it, in the same way we have discovered that our purpose and identity as a church has been to teach and lead people to relate with God, His House, our community and our world.  Over the years as we have endeavored to follow God’s leading we have found our influence to be more and more in the areas of building healthy relationships. Our TV show is entitled, “Relate with John and Helen” and it is a mission’s work of our church trying to help our broken world build healthy lives through relating to God and each other.

Congratulations Relate Church!

John

p.s. you can follow Relate Church on twitter.com/relate_church

Happy Easter!

In a world where multitudes struggle under the curse of Constantly Negative News, smashed financial dreams and the drowning tide of unemployment, the promise of Newness ahead – the promise of Easter soars higher than ever!  Easter is the Joy that comes in the morning following the darkest of nights.  

Picture the women coming to the grave that first Easter morning.  Their heads were hung low void of strength and hope.  Their eyes had witnessed the darkest of nights that Friday past.  They wondered in despair, “Who would roll away the stone?”  Their dreams had been crucified, their strength paralyzed and their future impossible.  That was the setting for God’s New Beginning!  Easter!

In the simple indisputable fact that Jesus rose from the grave, everything changes!  Death is no longer final.  In Jesus, our past is forgiven and our future is secure… heaven for all eternity!  Easter is the lifter of our head, the wind beneath our wings and the joy that comes in the morning. 

My prayer is for multitudes to experience the resurrection power of God this Easter… salvation forever and for whatever your need is today and everyday.

Happy Easter,

John and Helen

Our generosity is the measure of our capacity, leadership and significance

This week’s message is about generosity… one of my life long goals. I have been thinking a lot about generosity over the last few months. Watching the effect of the very generous lives of my brother Joe, my mother and my father-in-law has forever affected me. The legacy that they left was in direct proportion to the generosity they lived. I want to learn from them and live more generously.

john

Helen has now become an official ‘twit’

She has now joined the twitter world. I think it is a great way to stay in touch… it’s known as the male form of facebook because all it does is update you and you only read those of whom you are following. It allows me to stay connected with friends all over the world… it is not a replacement for picking up the phone and calling but it is better than ‘out of sight out of mind’ not knowing where they are or what they’re doing. I think staying twitter connected has acted as a catalyst for me to stay connected better to the friends I’m committed to. To join, just go to twitter.com and open an account. its free. If you’d like to follow Helen or myself just search us (our usernames are helenburns and pjhburns) and click on follow… we’ll try to keep it fairly interesting and updated.

Stay connected – to Him and others,

john

Helen and I are getting 4 days in Santorini to celebrate 35 years of marriage

We spent a few days last year in Santorini and loved it!  We will celebrate 35 years of marriage this May and will celebrate it in one of our favorite spots in all the world.  This video clip was taken there and will give you a bit of the view.  Enjoy