[KenWittlief]

Dylan and Mike,

Its been very interesting reading this thread. As I said before, no group of people need permission or approvial to associate or assemble together for any given reason.

Reading through this thread I see many people saying they would be offended if groups of people got together on the sidelines of events to pray, or if Christians went off by themselves to socalize and fellowship.

There is somewhat of an engineering principle in effect here: feedback. People are giving you feedback and telling you how they will feel. So the question is up to you, how you will process that information, what you will do with it?

Are the benefits of Christian fellowship at FIRST events worth the cost of some team members feeling offended or alienated? Only you can answer that, no one can answer it for you.

From my personal experience, I can tell you when people pray in public in mixed company I feel very uncomfortable. We can talk to God any time we want, but I cannot resolve, when people feel the need to talk to God in the presence of others who do not share their beliefs, what are they really trying to accomplish?

Jesus had much to say about praying in public. Paul had much to say about what happens to your witness as a Christian if you do things that offend others. And here's the thing, it doesnt matter if your intentions are good, or if you dont mean to offend others - Feelings are like the laws of physics: if some one feels offended or alienated, then they are offended or alienated - it doesnt matter why you dropped a hammer, if it falls on someones head they will be hurt. You cant expect it to not hurt, because you did not intend to hurt them.

Its really up to you, what you decide to do. I have found that no matter where I go, and no matter how busy I am (at FIRST events) I somehow always manage to find one or two people that I connect with, people who share a common interest, people I can spend meaningful time with. I have never been compelled to have an annoucment made, or a prearranged meeting for all the Hobie Cat sailors to meet by the front entrance at 10AM, or all the ham radio operators...

The web site idea sounds like an interesting project, it would not be taking people away from their teams, or separating people at events (which several people in this thread have objected to), and it would allow Christians who are a part of FIRST to get to know each other on a year round basis.