Thursday, January 31, 2008

Holy Rule 9 - How Many Psalms are to be said at the Night Office

This rule is a detailed list of how the night office is to happen. It is wildly detailed and gives a structured routine to the monks' lives before they go to sleep. It's kind of like how we give our kids a routine before bed. Except for our kids it's a lot of cuddling, for monks it's psalms, hymns and lessons.

And in case your wondering...the answer is 14.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

jonny depp

LJ saw the commercial for the Pirates of the Caribean online game and so we downloaded it, created our own pirate and played it.

IT IS THE WORST GAME EVER. totally stupid.

This confirms my previous evaluation of the POTC franchise.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Conversations

I love youth ministry simply for the conversations. On any given week I get to have a whole bunch of conversations with all sorts of young people where the topics range from families to christianity to calling to sports to music to friends to youtube to whatever. In college our definition of youth ministry happens when an adult enters the world of a teen an applies the gospel to their young life. It is an awesome priviledge to be allowed to apply some gospel to today's generation of youth who are so open to whatever Jesus has for them. They are stunningly remarkable.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Judgmentalism Rehab

My name is james and i am a recovering judgmentalist. It is interesting to me to see myself recovering from being judgemental. I hug more. I lke old people more. I am more patient of things. Yet at the same time I am more sure of myself and have grown significntly through this. A couple observations follow. First, it is interesting when God lets u suffer and how we react to it. If u can manage to get past the hurt and grow healthily then ur in the good. If u alow the initial hurt to continue and let it ruin u it will. U have to remember that the devil hates u but that doesnt mean u have to hate urself. Secondly, when recoverng from judgmentalism one must be careful not to become judgmental of others who are judgmental. One must remember that I was once them and just because I am no longer, does not mean I have the right to judge. In the past tis was called secondary separationism - if u gogle that u will see how ugly that is. Finally, growing totally sucks. It is dirty, messy, difficult and hard. Anyone who wants an easy no-hurt version of Christianity is going to have a boring life. If you want examples of this go to any church - its pandemic. Thats truth.
with apologies for the syntax because i wrote this on my Q.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Old but Sweet

Back in October I attended a long lecture with Leonard Sweet up at George Fox Seminary. He covered a few topics and it was, at least in part, in promotion of his book, the Gospel According to Starbucks. His book does not mention the gospel being overpriced, but does make some other comparisons. I have blogged through this book, you can read about it by clicking on the link in the topics section. Meanwhile, I'm gonna file away my notes and I wanted to put them here for organizationality sake. Reminder: Theres are my notes on what Len Sweet discussed, not necessairly what he said!

>> Power is moving from center to sides (margins) (well curve) (Jesus ->)
>> Wireless - boundaryless - electricity - wireless video projection
>> Genetic Engineering
>> Robotic Engineering - 50 million robots by 2025. Current leader in applications of new technologies is the posrn industry. Implications...
>> Information Techology Egineering
>> Nano Engineering
>> Future - 1. size does matter. do little large. 2. Well cure replaces the bell curve. 3. Epic Rules = Missional/Incarnational/RElational vs. Attractional/Propositional/Colonial. These can be metaphored at operating systems.
>>1st communal, here's the progression - eat freely [sin] kosher [jesus] freedom
>> Church service name: feedback
>> Masters of media have the hardest time changing. The church is the master of print publications. Implications...
>> eternatech - invent a chip to give memories after death.
>> organizing learning and our checkpoints
>>for my book, Dirty Holiness = wesley and women; with X I can do all things, with X I can do no thing. I wrote to myself that I should email this to Len Sweet
>> "daniel Pink" on well curves and bell curves; "general" motors is over
>> Opposite things are not contradictory
>> Slow Life with "lee Gyu" - no desire to speed so no brakes are needed.
>> Well curve fits a phenomenal explanation of the trinity
>> weak is the new strong; we should have spiritual weakness inventories; moses
>> "balance" in life is stupid
>> Challenge of Islam - new communism in the sense of the attraction element to the disenfranchised
>> Size does matter. Laws of simplicity; minimalism and reductionism; tall building in Dubai
>> Why hasn't Wal-Mart built churches? They do everything else.
>> "wild wild east" - globalization - tribalism (except not with domination in mind)
>> Languages of the future = english, spanish, mandarin
>> life goal: developing a walkable lifestyle in an urban context
>> the 2 car family has become the 2 home family.
>> Asthetics is replacing apologetics.
>> Question: Where did shepherds go/stand/walk in relation to the herd?
>> Ugly America - a lament for a dying culture
>> 3 most hated nations = Iran, Israel, U.S.
>> APPETITE
>> So the county's dying...who cares? The gospel will continue just fine. Why can't the USA see their effective improvement fo the whole world. This is a capatalistic/boomer effect. Communists would see this better.
>> beauty, truth, goodness (a holiness that permeates everything) - 3 transidentals fo being
>> grey goo

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Widget

I've added a new widget down on the side column. It's kinda like an airport terminal except it reports who comes here and where they go. It's fun for everybody!!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Bennett, Intentional Disciplemaking


So, I was required to read Bennett's Intentioal Disciplemaking for this year's mentoring course at PESM. It was okay, kind of a holiness adaptation of Coleman's Master Plan, which I suggest you memorize.

I'm not going to give any quotes except this one:

"Spiritual generations are God's strategy for reaching the world. Any plan that ignores the natural process of parenting through successive generations is doomed to fail because it cirumvents God's design for maturity. Furthermore, failure to pass on the truths of the faith to another generation is a mark of immaturity in the church." (29)


As a pastor to young people I could not agree more. If the church is not willing to pass the faith on to younger generations it anathematizes itself. This, I believe, will be the mark of the boomer generation on the western church. Boomers are the first generation of Christians who have thought it was their right to have the kind of church that they desired. For me, this isn't a blame issue as much as it is a heart issue. The boomers, who usually don't listen to those younger than themselves, need to hear the prophetic calling of the young. The young people in America today are desperately searching for God - and can't find enough Christian adults to help them find Him.

Mike King has also blogged on this, after a recent research study showed
"that most Christian adults strongly agree that their own faith development was shaped by adults in their lives during their youth. And yet, less than half of this same group believes that they have a responsibility to nurture the emerging generation of Christian young people."
How can this be? How can the current adult generation allow themselves to fade into history letting themselves be known as the generation who thought passing on the faith was important - BUT DIDN'T DO IT!

Right next to my door I have a two-page article called "That Sucking Sound you Hear" by Tim Elmore. I frequently use materials from Tim's organization, Growing Leaders, to train young people. I reccommend you read it in order to understand why we are in the hole that we are in, and Tim's suggested ways out. I keep the article next to my door so that every time I leave my office I remember the current task of church leaders and I remember to fight to stop the sucking.

The emerging generation is rocking about 4% adhereance to evangelical Christianity. I don't blame them for even a second. Instead I get them excited about the opportunity to ignite a revival among their generation - the generation that isn't getting this whole faith just handed to them. God loves to use generations to fulfill his mission; thankfully, He doesn't depend on them.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Organic Leadership

Over the last two weeks there has been no music at Kainos. A couple that is involved with our band were away as one of them was "enjoying" some surgery - so we thought it would be a good time to not sing. An organic congregation, I believe, behaves in this way. Instead of going out and getting some other people to fill holes, we decided the holes can stay empty if no one wants to fill them. We also went a few weeks with no childcare. It's seriously great.

Also, last week I was away for schooling and Jason preached. I'm really thankful for that. And the kids particpated in sharing and one of the 1st (2nd?) graders lead a prayer time.

To me, this is what orgainc is. I love the Kainos folks for their willingness to explore. I can't wait to see what's around the corner.

Adequacy Delusion

I'm thinking of using this name for the youth missions team to San Francisco this year.

Adequacy Delusion

What do you think?