New Orleans Video

Here's the video we presented to the church highlighting our team in new orleans.

Jr. high

I haven't blogged nearly any enough lately - I am having a little case of the burn-outs and trying to work through that. Here's some preliminary reports on my summer though:

I got to be the speaker at our conference junior high camp this year and it was such a great time. I really enjoyed seeing God work in the lives othe tweens and being able to lead them through some great scriptures. I think many people don't give them as much credit as they deserve - in some moments they are astoundingly mature and focused people - the problem is many people can't get over the moments that they are wild, crazy and not thinking consequentially.

I loved it though - I was probably most nervous just speaking in front of my peer youth pastors - that's a little more intimidating, but they were really encouraging and it was great to experience this all.

Cody's New Orleans

Just got back from helping rebuild New Orleans. This is a video that Cody, one of our sophmore boys made. I know Cody made it because of all the flying scenes - Cody loves airplanes.

Monday in New Orleans

here's what a group did today - can't write much since it's after lights out - but the kids are doing so great - it's hotter and humid than imaginalbe, but everyone is really sticking to it - later

Welcome to New Orleans

here's our first shots in new orleans

Friendwheel

So I saw this link for a friend wheel on Marko's blog and did mine and I love it. Facebook is way better than myspace for fun and really cool networking - everyone around here still uses myspace, but facebook is better. At the very least, there's less porn, which always a bonus!

Here's my friend-wheel.It's a list of all my peeps on facebook and their connections to each other. It kinda groups my life into free-flowing groups with which I interact.

They're hee-ere!

It's not like we didn't tell you.

Happy Canada Day.

Sweet 23

Where is your favorite third place? It doesn't have to be a coffee shop, of course. It can be any place that is not home and not the workplace. Is your church a meaningful thrid place? If so, what does it do to fill that need? If your church fails as a sacred place for connecion, what is missing?

I like to have many options as third places so that I can third place in the environment that best fits me at any particular time. i really like out-of-the way places though - they seem to have more character, regulars and less traffic. I like going to places that aren't on the main road, that are two doors down from the busy Starbizzle.

I don't think our church is a meaningful third place. The only couches we have are in the prayer room, which isn't wildly connective or the ones in the worship center, but those all face the same way (yes, I'm talking about pews, silly). I don't think that churches need to be third places though. Why do we need to build a third place when we can rent it for the price of a coffee? I don't think any church needs to fill the need of a third place, instead they need to teach infiltration and missionality as a way of life. God lives at Starbucks just as much as He lives in the church (along that line, perhaps the first thing that needs to be taught is that people need to stop saying, "you can't do _________ in church!" like as if church is a magical place and not a elect people).

Sweet 22

How often do you seek community and connection on the internet? Are you involved in file sharing, social networking, group-edited Web sties and so forth? What does the virtual community on the Internet add to your life?

I am blogging righ tthis very second! I myspace and facebook pretty much everyday. I don't file share, but that's not because of any ethics, it's just because I don't so far - maybe when I get desperate enough for some Coldplay I will. I think the virtual community adds a couple distinct things to my life. First, it gives me on-demand connectedness with all sorts of people I have now throughout my life. I myspace with people who live all around me mostly, but I facebook with people from Canada and Georgia mostly. The other thing I get from user-driven social sites is the opportunity to hang out and discuss things that I am interested in. I can survey the conversations on many differentblogs and jump in where I feel like it. I can find people who want to tlak about the things that I want to talk about, in the language that I want to use, and discuss it!

Sweet 21

Who acts as an icon in yourlife, inviting you to look through him or her to God? As a result of this relationship, do you notice yourself becoming more dependent on God?

Ii think there are three kinds of people who act as icons in my life. First, the poor. At my best I am able to see Christ in their eyes. At my worst I cannot look into their eyes. I become dependent on God to love through me when my love runs dry. It's embarrassing to not be as loving as Jesus, but that's my truth so far. The second group are teens who love Jesus very much - to the point of risk. On the other hand, I see teens all the time who give up on themselves and choose reckless lives that are going nowhere because it is easier for them. They smile and laugh and then post myspace bulletins lamenting their lonliness - they haven't felt the presence of God much lately. But the teen who follows God to the point of it being genuinely hard - where they make concious decisions to give their lives away - in those teens, I think, Jesus lives very well. Thirdly has gotta be my kids. Fathering teaches me more aobut my relationship with God than anything else has in all my life. And God must really, really, really be patient to Father someone like me.

Sweet 20

Think about some of the churches you have recently worshipped in. Has the rich, provocative image of Christianity been replaced by sterile, neutered spaces that seem more like physicians' waiting rooms than temples?

This is the thing about modernly built churches - they are built cheaply and they have huge white walls. Institutional white - there are no restaurants that try to create atmosphere with huge institutional white walls. i understand that building stone cathedrals is hunormously expensive, but it seems that the whole world of designers were not invited to participate in the creation of modern-post-1940 churches.

Some churches are also putting the worship into multi-purpose rooms, since the worship center is only used for one morning a week. but, perhaps it is only used fo rone morning a week because it is such an uncomfortable place! There are other options than putting basketball nets on the walls to justify keeping a large space - but it requires creative thinking, which seems to be as costly as a stone cathedral.

Sweet 19

What are you doing to reveal the spiritual through the natural and the material of your life? Are you doing your own thing or the diving thing?

I love the way that Rob Bell eliminates the disconnect between spiritual and physical. They aren't separtate, they are expressions of the each other. So when I recycle, it is a physical expression of a spiritual belief I have. So, for the Christian who lives this way there is no possibility of doing your own thing - everything is a spiritual thing, and everything belongs to Him.

Sweet 18

Picture yourself in a future time when every person on earth has a personal mantra - three words or less that captures the essence of his or her mission. What would your mantra be?

break the numb.

Sweet 17

Think about the metaphors that guide your life. Are they Jesus metaphors, such as the overjoyed father who runs to welcome a lost child back home? Or are they manmade metaphors that point you in a direction other than Godward?

I can't imagine that any of my major metaphors point anywhere but Godward. At this point in my life I have completely given my life over to God and have no interest in taking it back. He's doing a much better job of running my life and I think that's a great place to be in.

Sweet 16

As a point of note, I skipped one of the questions in Sweet's The Gospel According to Starbucks because it involved an experiment with the TV and I don't think I can apply it to my life without a household mutiny.

Think about the images that make God immediate in your life, that bring God close. What are those images and why do they enliven your spirit? Now think about the biblical images that stir your passion for life. Do any of the same images appear on both lists?

This is a weird one for me, I guess. I mean images for me would be nature, worship and prayer actions. And those would be the same as the biblical images. Except the Old Testament ones. For those I would think of power and miracles, which I don't normally think of these days around here...

Great Prank

Apparently an entire lake has disappeared! Now that is a killer prank!

Sweet 15

"Our 'God is a consuming fire,' " reads Hebrews 12:29. but our experience of fire can either be the warmth of hearth and home, or a raging inferno of destruction and death. The "consuming fire" of God can either be our heaven or our hell. When did God last consume you in comfort and warmth? When did God last consume you in destruction?

I can attest to loads of times that God has brought a warming fire into my life - it is a part of the relationship that I have with Him. On the other hand, I don't think that God destroys people - I think God as a consuming fire destroys sin, but not the person. So I wouldn't say that God has destroyed me, because I wouldn't ever allow sin to define who I am. It most certainly tries, but I will fight back against it, praying that God would destroy it.

Sweet 14

Do you spend more time dreamin gor planning? Think about your life in light of carefully made plans. How much confidence do you place in your plans? Do you find security and comfort in carefully thought-out plans? And even when you have set forth elaborate plans in advance, how many times have you accomplished exactly what you planned?

Healthy James spends more time dreaming. Stressed out James spends more time planning. I like it when I am healthy. I don't put wholla lotta confidence in my plans - I just like make a decision and making progress - chances are you're right and you're moving in the right direction or else you aren't and then you just stop and turn around. I don't spend a loada time trying to nail stuff down and make sure that certain things happen or get accomplished. I'd rather prepare myself for a variety of possible outcomes and ride the roller coaster and see where it ends up...

Sweet 13

How many Christians do you know whose lives demonstrate holy boldness? What does that quality look like?

This is a tough question because many times the boldness looks like holiness but can come from carnal or romantic places. I think holy boldness looks like mercy, that's what I think. Bold forgiveness, bold love, bold self-sacrifice...that works for my response.

Sweet12

As a way of update, I am blogging through Leonard Sweet's The Gospel According to Starbucks by responding to all of the interspersed Brewed for Thought boxes. Hopefully you'll be inspired to read the book by the questions you read. Feel free to intereact with them, too.

Read this sentence again: the essence of a human being is in participation in the essence of the divine being. Think about what Thomas Aquinas's teaching means to you and for you. In what ways to you particpate in the life of God? In what ways does this participation define your existence as a person?

This is such an interesting quote to me because I believe that life exists in Jesus Christ alone. Those outside of his redemption are not really living - they look like it in a physical sense, but I have a hard time believing that the physical is really the foundation to what life really is. So, to 'be' is really to be a participant in the divine being; those who do not particpate, never really are.

However this has consequnces towards the future (infinity, eternity). It would seem to support the resurgence of the doctrine of limited time in hell, where being burned and and destroyed is equated with a ceasation of existence. I still have a hard time with that, because I am not satisfied with their dealing with scriptures that stand in opposition...which leaves me out there wondering what it really means to 'be'.

Alas...khobi is crying and I will cease to think through this post...

Leron

Since I am currently disappointed in the fate of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James, I am posting a link to a blog that I love, because Leron Shults is really dang smart. Just check this post !!

I first, and only, heard Leron when he spoke at the National Pastor's Convention I went to a couple years ago. I am going to buy myself a couple of his books as a graduation present to myself when I graduate from PESM in two years. Till then....I have a blog!

Sweet 11

Feel free to try this at home: ask any fifteen-year-old whether sports video games or sports TV will be more popular in the future. When teenagers want reality, they don’t go to a game and watch, they play the real game. There is a fortune waiting to be made by someone who will invent an EPIC sport: a sport where the boundary between athlete and spectator are broken down, and the interaction of the crowd can actually shape the outcome of the game. Why couldn’t a leaping catch by Steve Bartman in the stands put out the batter? (Sadly the Romans got it right the wrong way – they had such a game. It involved Christians and lions.)

OK, so teenagers, feel free to comment on this one. I can tell you I’d rather play NBA LIVE than watch this year’s championship between the Spurs and the Lebron James. As for the question, I think that the catch can’t put out the batter because the purists of the game refuse to let it change. This would revolutionize baseball; and revolution for such a huge institution seems to be impossible. This is what we have learned from Major League Baseball and the steroid scandals. This is where the church must pay careful attention. To recreate church into something where the people on the stage and the people in the seats both have contribution into the outcome of the gathering is a much bigger challenge than tweaking and flipping worship tricks. It may be even beyond the imagination of those trained in modern institutional churches.

Sweet 10

What is your favorite combination when it comes to coffee-related beverages? Have you ever gone into a specialty coffee shop and ordered a simple cup of coffee? What happened? Can you make up your own slang for a coffee drink (for example: “heaven on the lips but nothing on the hips”)?

My favorite drink is the macchiato. Preferably the marble, but the caramel is also very good. The caramel also wins out in the ice-blended form of a macchiato. I have ordered simple coffee before, and they just gave me a cup and I went and got it out of the urn myself (baccharino’s). I can make up my own slang for a coffee drink.

It's hard out there for a monster...

Hero

Many young people choose to slack and suck through their teen years. One of my biggest joys, being in youth ministry, is to be able to see the MANY teens who are just the opposite - the are driven and contribute to a better world. This week Cassie, who is a rising senior is in Africa hugging babies who have AIDS because they were born with it. All the babies are in an orphanage because, for many, they parents have died with AIDS. If you are a praying person, it'd be awesome for you to pray for Cassie for continuing perserverance and strength. She is a very strong young person, but she also has a really compassionate heart (and a creatvie lingo - lol), so she'll need the Lord's help in contributing in positive change.

She's also using this trip as a bit of a tester for her life-calling; she's considering missions as a vocational calling.

You can read about her trip on a blog by her teacher, Mike Salley

There are no words

You can no longer ever say that what I say from the pulpit is the craziest stuff you've ever heard. I cannot believe that this lady is serious - is she inebriated?

A holy ghost enema!!!

Sweet 9

What aspects and manifestations of the beauty of God drew you to God? What is it about God’s beauty that keeps you coming back for more of God’s presence?

I think what first drew me was the ‘not going to hell’ deal. I guess that’s God’s mercy…the better response here is what keeps brining me back is the complete selflessness that I see over and over in Jesus. The way that He completely valued (values) people who were genuine in their pursuit of Truth/God was so remarkable. Also, I live in Oregon, God’s favorite state. I know that’s true because I live there. You can look at the pictures and just believe me and believe in God.

Sweet 8

Most of us spent our growing-up years in the bell-curve world, where the bulk of the human population resided in the middle. But think about your personal aspirations when you were young. Did you dream about getting average grades, playing on an average team, and getting lost in the crowd? Even when the bell curve was said to be the norm, few people set a goal to carve out a niche in the middle.

Nope, I never wanted to be average. But this is a leading question…and I think many people would love to live in the middle. They grow tired and give up their dreams and settle. And then they are even willing to drink lousy gas station coffee.

Sweet 7

What factors made your most enjoyable experience of the week authentic? What kept it from seeming fabricated, forced or synthetic?

Each of my experiences had no known outcome – there was no agenda to be taken care of. They each included people with whom I have authentic relationships, especially my family, with whom I am more me than ever. And none of the experiences were based on someone else’s experiences. I didn’t copy some other idea from somewhere else – each was in the moment with the only expectation being that of loving relationships.

Sweet 6

Think about the most enjoyable experience you’ve had in the past week. What was it about that experience that made it “feel right”? Who else was involved? What were the circumstances that contributed to everything coming together just right?

I have an awesome life. I know this is true because, as a pastor, I get to see the worst of people (self-centeredness, greed, abusive power, sin…) and I get to see the best of people (self-giving, discovery, redemption, love…). So I can easily identify 4 amazing experiences this week that I would collect if I could; memories of experiences that God has given me to live. These are: late Sunday night at the invert retreat as I watched the students help an individual student work to the core of some very hard realities, buying a pool with my son and sneaking around to fill it, spending Thursday afternoon watching a move with my wife and laughing together, waking up to the feeling of Khobi’s head on my neck. These experiences “felt right” because I was able to experience little joys that remind me of the joy that is in the kingdom of God. In every case, people I love very much are involved and the experiences all have struggle to get there. From working a whole year at invert, to working through things with my kids to blocking out the demands of the world to focus on my lovely – each experience costs and each was worth more that the cost.

Sweet 5

Think about you. What is least about you? Identify the dregs of your life. Now trust the EPIC gospel, which demonstrates that God wants to turn you upside down. God wants to take what is worst in you and turn it into a source of healing, wholeness and redemption. That is how your ordinary, seemingly insignificant life can become an EPIC life.

I had to look up the word ‘dregs’ in order to figure this one out. It has to do with waste, sediment, scum and trash. So…what is the crap at the bottom of my barrel? (I write this hesitantly, because I don’t desire to turn my blog into a techno-confessional) What’s least about me is probably my disability to remember things – it’s funny to me, but it makes other people feel like I don’t care about them, which isn’t true.
This is kind of a hard question because I’ve got a lot of self-confidence. I don’t go around wishing I wasn’t me. I really like who I am and I love my life. So maybe my least is my inability to answer this question with any sort of ill feelings. I think I’m me and I’m screwed up and so are you (evidenced by your voyeurism in reading this entry – lol), so let’s just be a bunch of crack(ed) pots that are filled with the wine of Jesus…

Scandrette, Soul Graffiti

I wanted to post this by June 1, but other things got prioritized. I finished the book a week or more ago and loved it a lot. I have to admit that Mark Scandrette (an emerging missioner who lives in San Francisco - which is the city my heart lives in...) sent me per-release copy for free and asked me to blog on it before June 1. So, I'm a let down there, but this book is mosdef not.

If this book is like anything, it's like a dirtier (that's good) version of velvet elvis. Mark's emerging is taking place in a grittier, urban setting, which gives this book such a great flavour and a richness that is absent in the suburban tales of velvet elvis. Sure, the theology and praxis is challenging and progressive in each, but velvet elvis is cute and soul graffiti has character.

Anyways - I love that I got to read this book and had a tough time putting down - it has great stories and great movements that create a longing for more - just the way that life in Jesus is supposed to. Here's some quotes I loved (the pages may be off, the store edition is a hard cover book and mine is a pre-release paper back, sorry):

p.2 "I even hear ministers and leaders lamenting, 'I don't know if I can be the kind of pastor or priest I am expected to be and an authentic follower of Jesus at the same time."

p.8 "Jesus came offering the propaganda of hope."

p.21 "...the ghost of Christ-conciousness."

p.27 "They were, it seems, haunted by God and by 'the church' and wished to do whatever it took to simply be left alone."

p.32 "Crowds are easliy impressed but can auickly become disgruntled. His real purpose, it seems, was to identify people from the crowd who might have the courage to play in the ways of the kingdom, to walk with him."

p.40 "Sometimes we learn to do things well by first having the courage to do them badly."

p.67 "What exactly is your role in the neighborhood?"

p.97 "Phenonemenological approaches to spirituality often deny or minimize the goodness revealed in the natural world, relying instead on estatic experiences and emotional peaks as confirmation of God's love. While heightened reliious experiences need not be opposed, they are often sought when we fail to embrace all of life as sacred."

p.144 "Some of us want a king without a kingdom - a God who is far away but ready to swoop in at the last moment to save us out of this place. And some of us want a kingdom without a king - and Earth home where justice, order and beauty reign without divine sovereignty or moral responsibility."

Sweet 4

Why do you think the business world plugged into the power of evangelism just as the church seems to have lost the vision?

I think, at it’s heart, the Christian message of the good news of hope, is a revolutionary, inspiring and joyous message. In some places and in some people that motivates them to evangelize in a way that is not a sales pitch or manipulative argument. I think that many people (including many who take up pew space on the weekend) find their revolution, inspiration and joy in their work/company/career because the Christianity that they have been presented with is none-of-the-above. Why wouldn’t the concepts of evangelism move with the passions of the masses?

Sweet 3

Is nothing sacred?

Really…ok...nope – but everything is sacred. The question comes by looking at the Nike symbol as half of the fish symbol, which I figure is pretty fine with me. I think we haven’t even taken good care of our symbols. The fish was a subversive symbol when it began and now we slap it on anything that doesn’t move – and cars, trucks and planes! This is a major difference between Starbucks and the USAmerican churches – one thinks and acts with some semblance of brand management and the other does not. If we want some things to be more sacred (like marriage, the family, symbols, etc.) then we’ve got to stop giving them away to any organization or movement who asks for them.

Sweet 2

this might be a little too much, too many questions that i can''t hardley read anything...and its taking a long time writing this with my Q.
2. think about the historical figure you met for coffee. what did you talk about?

I would probably ask Yaconelli how he learned grace. i know about his stories from speaking gigs and such...but how did it play out in day-to-day life. and than i would ask him about Ys' role in the emergent conventions and what they were hoping for there...

1980

In 1980 my brother was born. I think he was born in Deep River. But maybe that was my sister. This is all very blurry. Once again, this "30" series will likely end better than it is beginning.

Sweet 1

I am reading The Gospel According to Starbucks and it has questions throughout it called, "Brewed for Thought" and I am going to make it a habit to stop reading the book and blog my answers to the questions. This will be frustrating, but I think it will make the whole book better for me.

I am trying not to be hyper-manic in my reading habits and I think this will slow me down and bit which is really good for me.

1. If you could get together with just one person from history fro coffee
and conversation (other than Jesus) whom would that person be? Why that
person?

I have some obvious answers to this question, but I am hesitant to meet some people because I am afraid that I will be disappointed (Guevara, Alex the Great, Apostle Thomas/Peter, C.S. Lewis). Like I am afraid that my image of them is actually a lot better than who they really were. So, if there was only one non-Jesus person, I'd have to choose Mike Yaconelli, because I know exactly what I would get when meeting with him and I would really love that.

1979

In 1979 I was two. It was another year of the same although I think we moved to Toronto this year. My dad was in the recording industry (as an electrician for a factory that made records) and i did the basic things that two year olds do. My parents definitely hit their "dress your kids 70's style" kick and it was pretty rad. The pictures from 79 pretty much rule.

1979 was the UN international year of the child, and I was one, so that was pretty awesome. i really appreciated all the things the UN did for me that year. Stuff like...um....ohhh....BEATS ME!! Gay rights really took off this year. So didChina, hitting the 1 billion mark in population. There was also a lot of global terrorism. Tons of little squirmishes. LT21 was born and Mother Teresa was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Good Stuff 1979!!

1978

In 1978 I turned one. I probably moved and I probably did a lot of the same stuff as when I was zero in 1977. It was a good year.

Roman Polankshi left, Ted Bundy was arrested and Charlie Chaplin's remains were stolen. Pete Rose got his 3000th hit and the world cup was hosted in Argentina. Interestingly Pope John Paul I was pope for 33 days this year.

1977

I was born in 1977, just a few months before Elvis died. In 1977 the death penalty was reintroduced in the US, the draft dodgers from the Vietnam war were pardoned, the Toccoa Falls dam burst and Pele retired. Three's Company premiered and the Toronto Blue Jays began to play baseball and Star Wars come out.

I was born up in northern Ontario, moved around a few times, ate and filled diapers. It was a good year.

note: these 30 years in 30 days posts will get better as my memories come back. i don't really have any memories before 1980, though.

30 days to 30

As a bit of a reflective exercise I am going to post 30 posts on the 30 days leading up to birthday number 30. It won't be every day because I am leading a retreat in the middle of this, but I will do all the years - 1977-2007! It might be 31 days or something because all that is very confusing and not the point at all. So - happy reading about my life!

Kimball, They like Jesus byt not the Church

Now I know what you are thinking, and, no, this is not a book about pastors. It is actually a book about Kimball's findings from people who are outside of the church and how they feel about Jesus and how they feel about the church.

Kimball is really on the ball and this should encourage pastors to get out and be about the people and among them. Forming relationships through patterns and building trust in people's lives. I really enjoyed this book, there wasn't any awe-inspiring quotes as I think this book was written more for people who probably have never thought of these things.

In his last bbok, emerging worship, Kimball earnestly suggested that pastor's know their communities before launching emerging church initiatives, which we took to heart in preparation fro Kainos. We interviewed, built relationships and researched demographics. That is what makes Kainos exciting and not manufactured, rather discerned through a divine calling.

Anyways - good book, easy read and lots of helpful information in it.

Coupland, All Families are Psychotic

This book is yet another Coupland that made me laugh and feel good about myself. It's about a family that is absolutely nutso meeting for a reunion to celebrate the first trip into space by the families' one productive member. As I like to say, Hilarity ensues. In 2009, the book is being made into a movie. I am going to it.

If you're feeling awkward about your own family (hello!) then read this book and you will feel better about it all.

I also got this book at my locoal library, one of the few social programs that lives on.

McLaren, The Secret Message of Jesus

I finished this book up after picking it up for less that 5 bucks at a christian booksstore. It is supposed to have been uncovering the truth that could change everything.

Most of this book I kinda had already thought of/read of before. I understand that for many people this would be introductory and brand new and all, but I'm finding as time progresses I am less interested in reading about radical emerging stuff and more interested in doing it and being it. Maybe that's waht Kainos is doing to me - and I'm glad for it. i don't doubt that this book is great and all, it just wasn't me at this time.

However, as always, McLaren manages to sometimes put words to my thoughts and here's some things that stuck out to me and made me glad to be a follower of Jesus.


p.47, "What happens then to those who say, 'I don't have time for childish stories about seeds and yeast and sheep. I'm an important person. I have advanced degrees! I'm very knowledgeable!' Simply put, the parable excludes them. In fact, the parable exposes them."

p.53 "It was a complex, organic community with both limits and freedom, accountability and responsibility."

Chapter 10: Secret Agents of the Secret Kingdom - my favorite chapter because it speaks of empowering all Christians as change agents of the kingdom.

p.91 "The kingdom of God is at hand. That was Jesus' message. Don't you think we should let Jesus tell us what the gospel is?"

Batterson, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day

At the very least you should notice this book because the title is about as long as your arm. Mark Batterson is a pastor of a multi-site church meeting in movie theaters, an author and a blogger. Everytime you turn around it seems we are seeing him right now and he's not even published by zondervan!! That is until Zondervan buys Multnomah...

Anyways - this book is good. Not my kinda gig, but inspirational in a get off your but kinda way. He wants us to go out there and tackle the lions that are affecting us. Kinda like the time me and my friends attacked a bear with sticks. Or like the time my wife and I loaded up the van and moved to another country. Or the time we moved 3 time zones away to follow God's call...yeah - I could write this book.

There are a couple nagging questions for me in this book though - like how age affects lion chasing and how careers develop, even the main character's in this book, Benaiah. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Facebook

So I have started a facebook. You can check it out. I started it because a lot of my family and friends from growing up in Canada are on there. A lot of them still live in snowy Canada, which makes me question their sanity. I also got on because it's like my myspace without the porn and the girl who wants to be my girlfriend from the 'true' ads. Nick MAC told me that if I change my profile to 'gay' then those will switch to alluring men. But then all sorts of people will think I am gay?

Making us think...

Barth says…


I am not now saying anything new to you in reference to this question. It was indeed one of your most renowned and ablest men, General Superintendent Gunther Jacob in Cottbus, who not long ago announced the “end of the Constantinian era”. Because I have certain wariness about all theoretical formulation of a philosophy of history, I hesitate to make this expression my own. However, it is certain that something resembling this approaching end begins to show itself simply everywhere, but very sharply in your part of the world. It is certain that we all have reason to ask ourselves each of these questions and in every case quickly and clearly to give the answer:

No, the church’s existence does not always have to possess the same form in the future that it possessed in the past as though this were the only possible pattern.

No, the continuance and victory of the cause of God which the Christian Church is to serve with her witness, is not unconditionally linked with the forms of existence which it has had until now.

Yes, the hour may strike, and perhaps has already struck when God, to our discomfiture, but to his glory and for the salvation of mankind, will put an end to this mode of existence because it lacks integrity.

Yes, it could be our duty to free ourselves inwardly from our dependency on that mode of existence even while it still lasts. Indeed, on the assumption that it may one day entirely disappear, we definitely should look about us for new ventures in new directions.

Yes, as the Church of God we may depend on it that if only we are attentive, God will show us such new ways as we can hardly anticipate now. And as the people who are bound to God, we may even now claim unconquerably security for ourselves through him. For his name is above all names…

(Source: Karl Barth, “Letter to a Pastor in the German Democratic Republic” in How to Serve God in a Marxist Land (New York: Association Press, 1959) 45-80)

ht: alan hirsch

three things: Zero and Five and encouragment

This morning I took a challenge from Pastor Hacks dot com and decided my production goal for today would be to get my email inbox down to zero. I am not the most organized person in the world, and so my skills are not exactly compatable with responding to emails in a timely manner. Unfortuanately, if I want to not suck as a leader I need to get back to peeps and deal with details. So I sucked it up and went through an inbox that was up to 192 emails last week.

Also - I did a strength finder 2.0 thing that our whole staff is doing - it's a cool and fastidious way for our staff to interact and be mutually encouraging and complimentary. My five strengths are:

Ideation - People who are especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. Input - People who are especially talented in the Input theme have a craving to know more. Often they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
Learner - People who are especially talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. In particular, the process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
Self-Assurance - People who are especially talented in the Self-Assurance theme feel confident in their ability to manage their own lives. They possess an inner compass that gives them confidence that their decisions are right.
Strategic - People who are especially talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Thidly, I was really encouraged today by a random email from someone in our church today and twice more over the past week. Unsolicited people letting me know that they think I am on the ball and they are praying for me and my family. It was plain stinking awesome. So, go open your email program and send your pastor (not me, 'cuz i just told you to and it wouldn't be as cool) an email listing all the things you appreciate about him/her and that you are praying for him/her. If you do that then you are awesome and you may comment on this post.

Kainos

This past Saturday night our church started Saturday evening services. The group is not intended to be another option if you are busy on Sunday morning, but is a new ministry with a solid core group who are dedicated to exploring what Christianity looks like in a new postmodern world. It is also the baby steps of our church exploring what it would mean to become a multi-site church. We expereimented with it for Easter and had a lot of positive things happen - it seems good to us and to the Spirit...

It was really great to be there. We've been talking for a few years in this direction and we have been gathering and meeting with the core group since January. I am really hoping and praying that we are able to be where God is working and follow His lead in this new congregation.

Anyway - I wanted to post my notes from the teaching here. We don't have a sound person at all yet, so there's no recording. If you want to hear Kainos you'll have to be there, or pray that God leads someone to become a sound person!!

*************************************************************

EPISODE 1

Too much thinking today begins in Genesis 3 – “we are fallen”

Misses the real beginning – WE ARE CREATION

Genesis 1:26 (MESSAGE)

WE are creation and so we are made GOOD – male and female – unique because we are images of God – moral, ethical, capabilities, different

We are the developers of CREATION – ‘rule over’

We are made to BE WITH HIM.

But God gives us a choice – to live as we are created to - or to make our own way

ADAM and EVE choose their own way, sin

This happens all the time

WE CHOOSE, WE HIDE, GOD PURSUES

People choose, yet God pursues

Genesis 3:9 -

1. SELF – first question – Where are you?
2. MOTIVATIONS - who told you that?
3. ACTIOS – what did you do?

We live as God asks these questions and creation groans in anticipation of God’s answer – the questions beg us to turn to God in worship because he is the only one who can respond to our choice to live away from HIM



EPISODE 2 – Old TESTAMENT

Sin decays the culture quickly

And people get the questions backwards –

GENESIS 11:3ff

Let’s do something!!
Let’s figure out who we are!!
Let’s maintain where we are!!

And the OT becomes a place where harmony must be regulated, produced and continually restarted.

They begin to need to produce places and ways to see where God is – yet, they continually have the choice – with God or not

Noah, Babel, the formation of Israel, the exile, the return to Israel – these are all stories of regulations, production, failure and restarting.

In this cycle – LEADERS arose – prophets and judges who called out the questions of God to the people –

We can see this in Daniel – THE MESSAGE

Chapter 1 – Daniel’s story tells : WHERE IS HE?
WHAT IS HIS MOTIVATION?
WHAT WILL HE DO?

And Daniel experiences blessing and a long career as he chooses to live with GOD instead of apart from Him.

And the voice of the prophets call out from a holy God –

WHERE ARE YOU?

WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION?

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

GIVE TIME FOR REFLECTION HERE


EPISODE 3

Hebrews 12 calls Jesus the Author and Perfector of the faith

CHRIST IS THE ultimate response to the QUESTIONS…

1. WHERE ARE YOU?
a. Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God

JOHN 8 – if you know me you know the Father

JOHN 1:14 – the glory of God exists in his identifying with our limitations. NO OTHER GOD does this.

2. WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION?
a. John 10:10 – LIFE TO THE FULLEST

Jesus was driven by the hope that you can have the best possible life – not just someday out there – but now and today

3. WHAT DO WE DO?
a. MATTHEW 5-7: the kingdom manifesto

Peculiar long teaching given by Jesus – no discussion – almost like a rant!

Summarize: (from McLaren, Secret Message of Jesus)

Be poor in spirit, mourn, be meek, hunger and thirst for true righteousness, be merciful, be pure in heart, be a peacemaker, be willing to joyfully suffer persecution and insult for doing what is right.

Be salt and light in the world – by doing good works.

Do not hate or indulge in anger, but instead seek to reconcile.

Do not lust or be sexually unfaithful in your heart.

Do not presume to make vows, but have simple speech, where yes means yeas and no, no.

Do not get revenge, but find creative and nonviolent ways to overcome evil done to you.

Love your enemies, as God does, and be generous to everyone, as God is.

Give to the poor, pray and fast secretly.
Don’t let greed cloud your outlook, but store up treasure in heaven through generosity.

Don’t worry about your own daily needs, but instead trust yourself to God’s care, and seek God’s kingdom first and foremost.

Don’t judge others, but instead first work on your own blindness.

God to God with all your needs, knowing that God is a caring Father.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Don’t be misled by religious talk, what counts is actually living by Jesus’ teaching.

SO WE live in this way of Jesus – sure we fail, but God is chasing us asking us questions, and providing Christ as a response to our choice to sin.

WE must know, though, that if you follow these ways, the only natural place to end up is the cross…

CENTRALITY OF COMMUNION

Center of our space, even as we are sitting open to one another in community, it is the sacrifice of Jesus which is at our center.

Kainos is new – but it is really just a very old way of people following these ways and participating in communion to show our unity with God and with each other.

Our desire to be the kingdom of God – to be Eden again.

INVITE


EPISODE 4

SO WE HAVE the beginning and the very ending of the story and our task is to

LIVE OUT the middle so that it aligns with the rest of the story.

The church is this act – universally and locally, SACC

There have been times when we have strayed from that story – both universally and locally…yet we continue to seek to get our questions in order and return to the gospel and be messengers of it.

Kainos is the new effort of SACC to bring the gospel to an emerging, postmodern culture.

We are asking who we are as Christians living in a new world?
How is the message of Jesus GOOD NEWS in this world?
What will we do to live the kingdom manifesto here?

LOSS OF CHAPLIN ROLE

Characteristics of the new world – authority based on trust, loss of a metanarrative, many truths can be held in opposition, deconstruction of hierarchy, communication revolution, terrorism – new kinds of military action, etc.

BARTH – “The gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question mark against all truths.”

So it is my hope that Kainos holds a question mark to the emerging culture – not with words, but with LIFE!

So we will eat, play, sing, serve, explore, give and BE together as EPHESIANS 2:22

IN WORSHIP OUR Dominate metaphor will be a living room – as we sit totally comfortable with Christ in our midst.

By doing so, we hope to expand the mission to new places and reach new people with hope and light and love – 2 CORINTHIANS 10:15

But this is not our program or our mission –

Romans 12 (The MESSAGE) – we will all live it – we are all contributors – we are all co-creators as we partner with God


Blessing

Acts 4:33 –

Much Grace be on us all.

Nice Christmas!

I was looking at another blog and have come across and offer of a whole free library that I want to be a part of (because of my love of the books) and want to get you in on if you blog at all.

Kevin Stilley is offering to give away up to $1000 of books! You can be a part of this give away by going to his site and getting in on the whole load of excitement.

I don't know who Kevin is, but he seems to be an avid reader - which makes him someone with something to say, so check it out and get involved!

Amen, Healing the Hardware of the Soul

Dr. Dan Amen heads up a new organizational clinic that scans brain activity and attempts to medicate in order to stimulate and de-stinulate according to activity patterns. It makes a lot of sense to me - and I think I can make a scanner with a microwave, undeveloped photo film and tinfoil.

He gets into some theological questions which is where people in my class got all humanistically antsy. He questions whether people should be held accountable for their actions when their brain is sick and malfunctioning. He even asks if St. Paul had a brain siezure that caused his Damascus road vision instead of the traditional explanation.

These are good questions that should be considered. I like this book, even if a SPECT scan costs thousands upon thousands of dollars in a country with no public health care program for the masses. But, I don't want to rant twice in a row.

Adams, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage in the Bible

This book was assigned to me for PESM Counselling class. It is written by Jay E. Adams, a nouthetic counsellor, which basically means he believes the Bible has all we need to help people in counselling situations. I disagree with this.

Nevertheless, I read it and many people liek to declare it, "All they need is the WORD OF GOD!" which sounds very noble, but doesn't always work out. I think God put creating ability within us and we are to develop sciences and theories and learn and grow and help each other as we have learned how.

In any case, Adams gives a pretty thorough examination of the relvant Scripture concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage. It is firey stuff because of the current high divorce rate within the church and the laxity with which we deal with the institution of marriage. It's ironic to see some churches so vehemently confronting gay marriage, all the while watching families fall apart within them. We shouldn't need to argue with policy and politics. Our message should come in our lives - the true description of Christianity.

Weir, When Your Doctor has Bad News

Yet another book that has been assigned to me for my master's program at PESM. This one is for the paper I wrote on life, death, pain and suffering.

Dr. Al Weir writes this book to give steps to strength, healing and hope to people who are suffering and trying to get through a period of time when the doctor has given them a bad news answer to what ails them. I like this book because of it's emphasis on community and the role of one's small group of Christian peers and family when facing difficult times. He also focuses on the ability to choose life and positivity in the face of death and negativiity. His focus is on helping people make healthy, life-giving choices in their attitudes and actions in order to bear suffering and death.

Instead of quotes, here's a Scripture from Habakkuk 3 that will rock you to the core:

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Zurheide, When Faith is Tested

Jeffry Zurheide is a pastor in Connecticut and he wrote this really, really awesome book on the interaction of faith, suffering, evil and God's omnipotence. He offers insight from a Barthian perspective, which I have not ever read, but am falling deeply in love with Karl Barth and his viewpoints.

p.36 "Barth places before humanity a God who is by nature removed, but is in practice pursuing, intimate and close."

p.37 "It is rather unthinkable that the eternal God would choose to succomb to the power of brokenness to the point of tasting the same death that we taste."

Lutzer, One Minute After You Die

I was assigned this book to read as a part of creating a theology of life, death, pain and suffering. It was a cool excercise with three books read and compared and contrasted, which I will all blog here.

Lutzer gives a very basic overview of eschatology and throws in some creative writing from his own imagination in order to spice things up a little. Like, he suggests mental powered instant teleportation will be available in heaven. Funny, but not in the Bible.

One of the best things he got me to think about is the concept of satisfaction and life and how life is satisfied, and death is not. Interesting implications, don't you think?

Sproul, The Holiness of God

R.C. Sproul is a flaming Calvinist so I thought I'd read his book on The Holiness of God as a part of my collateral reading required for my holiness class. It didn't disappoint. It seems like Sproul had a great idea for a 100 page book and decided to make it 200. There's a chapter dedicated to the apparent insanity of Martin Luther and a chapter dedicated to ripping on Pelagius. Sproul is probably a great guy and loves his family and all, but I am not going to put anything more here about this book. I had to write a review for my class and I said it was interesting to read about holiness from a different vantage point.

But that's where the neatness ends.

Holiness and Emergence

I don't have a category for holiness on this blog, which is rather surprising to you for two reasons: 1. I talk/write about it a lot and 2. I told you it was surprising for you, and that's how spreaching works.

I really, honestly think that holiness movements and the Emergent movement are so intertwined that there need not be a distinction.

I really, honestly think that holiness denominations have fantastic positioning to reaching into a postmodern age, because of their holistic understanding of faith and life experience.

I really, honestly believe that holiness denominations have crippled themselves by moving their focus from freedom in life through methods to limiting everything out of a fear of losing their holiness.

I'd rather have a dirty holiness any day than a clean legalism.

Here's what Scot McKnight points out in his post on holiness and emergence:

Here are the traits of the emerging movement according to Gibbs and Bolger: it is a list of holiness.

1. Identifying with Jesus.
2. Transforming secular space.
3. Living as community.
4. Welcoming the stranger.
5. Serving with generosity.
6. Participating as producers.
7. Creating as created beings.
8. Leading as a body.
9. Merging ancient and contemporary spiritualities.

Do you think this is a list of holiness attributes?

Rose, Vital Holiness

Delbert Rose gave this book to all the students in my holiness class. I didn't read the whole thing because there is a long section on a particularly important man (who had the misfortune of having a name that matches the name of a founder of something else entirely) and I didn't care for that part. In addition, I didn't have to read any more than I did to meet the extra collateral reading requirement for my class. Iread the parts on the beginnings of the holiness movement (the holiness club, camp meetings, methodism, etc.) and on the theology of man, sin, grace, and a short bit on sanctification.

It's a sweet book by a sweet man. Anyways, here's some fodder:

p.24 "Wesley's sole objective was to save his own soul and the souls of others who might receive help from him."

p.145 "According to His own divine estimate, God's created world, including both nature and man, was good (HOLY) as it came from His creative hand. Its goodness (HOLINESS) was soon marred through the manifestation of evil..." (brackets mine)

Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection

John Weley's Plain Account was assigned for my master's class on Holiness Theology. Because I think that the core of Emergent is similar to the core of holiness theology, I resonate with Wesley's work, methods, and thinking. He is also a great process guy, who changed his mind on several things later in life. Many people call that flip-floping, like when a politician supports something and later doesn't. I think it could be growing in wisdom.

My version was purchased from Relevant books. relevant is trying really hard to be just that for young adult christians - sometimes they are bang on, other times they betray their efforts. They put out several'christian classics' with cooler covers and they are, hopefully, putting good stuff into the hands of those young adult christians.

Wesley, a modern version of Brian Mclaren, mangaged to say a lot without letting people pin him down on things that he didn't want to be pinned down on. He also made much of his theology appear through his journals and his songs (with his brother), never authroing a systematic theology. He wasn't trying to start something, he was just trying to be as faithful as possible to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in his heart.

Deal, The Smart Step-Family

The number of kids in my youth ministry who are in step-family situations is surprisng, and perhaps alarming. I get nervous because many of these second (third, fourth, fith) marriages are wildly unprepared and end up failing, which hurts the children even more.

Ron Deal wrote this book, which was assigned to me for PESM, as an attempt to mobilize the church to be aware and able to minister to people in these situations. Our church has been pro-active in the area of ministry to step-families and I love the way that we are helping to make families and marriages stronger. Of course we are morally against homosexual union, but we are focusing on what we are for: strong, God-honoring marriages and families.

Here's some thoughts:

p.21 "avoiding divorce by tolerating a miserable marriage, I suggested, does no honor God." But neither does divorce, so where are we left?

p.91 "If the biological parent doesn't help the outsider stepparent into a leadership position, the stepparent is likely to try to force his or her way in. This almost always results in resentment and resistance from the insiders. Again, jealousy, rejection, and anger are common resulting emotions."

p.105 "it's worth noting that boys are more affected by divorce, but girls seem to be more affected by remarriage." This is where the rubber hits the road for youth ministry - where are the kids hurting...

Howe, A Pastor in Every Pew

Leroy Howe wrote this book and it was assigned as reading for my master's counselling class. I was not assigned chapter 9, or the last 40 pages of the book, so I read about half of it.

This book is a presentation of the idea that the more people in a church that are equipped for pastoral care or counselling the more health and life that church will expereience. There is also a training program in the last half of the book which would make it useful for pastors who want to equip their people. A short read that could help pastors who want to mobilize their church to effectively care for each other.

Myers and Jeeves, Psychology Through the Eyes of Faith

David G. Myers and Malcom A. Jeeves wrote this book on the interaction of psychology and faith, which I was required to read for my master's counselling class. I didn't read every page, only the assigned 100 pages, so about half this book, but it was really a neat look at this delicate interaction.

Here's some intersting thoughts...

p.65 quoting Simon Weil, "If I light an electric torch at night, I don't judge its power by looking at the bulb, but by seeing how many objects it lights up...The brightness of a source of light is appreciated by the illumination it projects upon non-luminous objects...The value of a religious or, more generally, a spiritual way of life is appreciated by the amount of illumination throuwn upon the things of this world."

p.68, Here there is an interesting consideration of a seemingly transcultural rest and wandering rite of passage and its paralellism to Sabbath

p.85 Chapter 15 talks about Thinking and Language and how the development of modern psychology is impacting (and vice-versa) modern theology. Then chapter 16 becomes very provocative in regards to prayer. This is a chapter that demands some real reflection and working through and gives lots of benefit to the person who is willing to do so.

p.172 quoting Pascal, "The present is never our end. the past and the present are our means - the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we hope to live - and as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we should never be so." Ahh the perils of positive thinking...

p. 177, on early followers of Jesus, "They willingly experienced humiliation, even death, as the price for not adjusting to their culture. For the heroes of the Bible, good adjustment - thinking well of oneself and feeling positive about the world - was not the aim of life.

Sanders, Spiritual Leadership

I've read and reviewed this book before, but I had to read it again for my PESM program this year. This book is good, but has a lot of old school feel. It's a collection of sermons also, which makes it a little bit of an awkward read sometimes.

Anyways - I read it again and didn't have any great epiphanies excpt wondering how the old guys feel knowing that those crazy young guys are going to outlive them and do whatever seems right to them after the old guys are dead. I think the only way to feel good about this is to develop wise, godly and good-thinking young leaders so that all your work doesn't go to crap. So, perhaps, the most telling indicator of extended-future effectiveness of an organization is the measurement of their developing of great young leaders.

Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership

I have read a ton of books recently for finishing up this year's worth of my master's program at PESM. So I am going to blog a bunch of them to get a record for myself - and to catch up to Nick or at least look respectable next to him...some of these I read in 2006, but haven't blogged yet, so they didn't count for my count in 2006. This is kinda like rolling over my 401k...

So Spiritual Leadership by Henry and Richard Blackaby is a book I tried to read fast but it was so good I was constantly being slowed down. It is a really stellar book on spiritual leadership without the big ugly old school references. It doesn't make allusions to 'pastors used to work harder' that another book I will blog does.

The book does seem to contradict itself sometimes, but I think that catches the tension that spiritual leadership presents in Amercian culture. Pastors need to be really hard workers who are really good at their family and really good at slowing down to rest and pray. Inevitably, the juggler drops a ball every now and then. There's also ample references to President Truman, which makes me want to research that guy and his career path a bit.

I borrowed, my copy and am returning it today, but this is one that needs to go on the wish list (when I finish my book buying fast after I read the 38 books on my 'next to read' shelf).

back

S i 've been a way for quite a while and am now going to try to get back into the saddle of the blog. I've been super busy as I am helping to adjust the hcildren's ministry, develop jr. high leadership, 'plant' a new saturday night congregation (which seems to be going well), and do high school ministry while I finish up my master's program for the year. To make things even better, I just got back from the doctor where he got me eye drops to use every 4 hours for the next 7-10 days to heal my pink-eye disease.

BUT!!

David Crowder Band is working on their new album, Remedy is Coming, and have Ted Nugent doing some guitar work on it. It's amazing and glorious!!

More time wasters

Is wasting time a sin? When does recreation become obsession?

Ponder those questions while you enjoy these links:

Spear Toss
Death Clock
Playing with time
The Door
Spider Man with Legos
Wicked Fly Illusions
Fireworks
Fun for Meetings
Ship of Fools

More to come, class is getting interesting...

Tricks or Treats for College Kids

Here's a group of stuff around the internet for you young folks who are following Jesus:

Boundless Webzine

Leadership U

PassageWay

Churches

I am cleaning out my favorites and here is a list of really cool churches that I have checked out and liked something about them. Maybe their ideas, maybe their outreach, maybe just their website. Whatever, they're just cool.

Warehouse 242

Ecclesia

Kairos

Rock Harbor

Solomons Porch

and another 47 seconds

This will help you waste a day as well. Click on the title link - see how good you are at turbo racer.

White Board

This is fun - click on the title link and waste 47 seconds.

Ed Stetzer and New Churches

Ed Stetzer is popular right now for his work on breaking the missional code. It's a putting together of two of the biggest buzzwords in church leadership today - missional and (davinci) code. It's probably a good book, but you can just listen to his teaching if you get the podcast from Resurgence. He also has a website that is dedicated to people who are starting new churches, particularly in the emergng culture.

12 mistakes and Disney

Breakthrough Media has published 12 Mistakes of Christmas Outreach. I know many pastors have no interest in marketing. I do - I am interested in effective marketing that is true to the gospel. With lists like this one, more pastors can be more effective in marketing. Another great tool may be the book Be Our Guest put together by the Disney Corporation. The church really should be the happiest place on earth, so, in our culture, the church has much to learn from the number one vacation destination for adults!

Busy - Deadly Sin number 8

Very busy lately, but only 1 month till everything for school is due, so there is a light at the end of this tunnel...getting a new laptop, so I am going to go through my favorites and blog a ton of things - for a ton of reasons.

The reorient is going to turn into a circus!

new Driven campaing

The end of the Reformation?

Here's a link to an article about the Anglican chruch considering reuniting under the pope. This, contrary to what many may initially think, is a wonderful progression. The potential in all of this is overwhelming. Click the title link to see -

Len Sweet's Advice

I am regularly listening to Len Sweet's podcast now - and hope to do doctorate work at George Fox before he is too old to be working...

Here's some of what he has recently said, as reported in the Associated Baptist Press...

Deal with it, get over it or get help. That's Leonard Sweet's mantra when it comes to understanding Christianity's fluid role in the postmodern world.

The Christian church is in the midst of a "perfect storm," Sweet told a crowd of 150 at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary Feb. 5. Such stormy weather is manifested in, among other things, postmodernism -- the worldview that questions modern assumptions about certainty and progress. Modernism gave Christians a preferred status as "chaplain" to the culture. But Christians in the West can no longer expect to have that "home-court advantage," he said.

What's more, he said, the church can't change the fact that culture has rejected traditional institutions. So it must change from the inside out.

And, he added, it does no good to complain about it.

"I think God is defragging and rebooting the church," Sweet said, alluding to computer terminology for reconfiguring and restarting a system. "I think what he is doing is he is getting us back to the original operating system of Christianity."

Sweet's address came as part of the Waco, Texas, seminary's fifth annual conference for pastors and laymen. He is a professor of evangelism in the theological school at Drew University in Madison, N.J., and is a visiting professor at George Fox University in Portland, Ore. His latest book, The Gospel According to Starbucks, uses the coffee giant to illustrate postmodern people's shift toward an experiential, image-laden and communal way of viewing the world.

The old model of church is "killing the West," Sweet said at the conference. The out-dated model is "attractional, propositional and colonial." It must become missional, relational and incarnational, he said.

"This culture understands that everybody knows they've been created for a mission," Sweet said. "It's not a mission project. Do you hear the difference? [Throughout] your whole life, you're in it. It's a pilgrimage. It's a journey."

According to Sweet, the Roman governor Pilate was the first postmodernist because he asked Jesus a "fundamental postmodernist" question: "What is truth?"

All of Christianity hinges on the answer, he suggested.

"Truth is Jesus," Sweet said. "This is the uniqueness of Christianity in all of the religions of the world. Every other religion defines truth in propositional terms."

All other prophets and spiritual leaders told adherents to follow their teachings to find the way to enlightenment, Sweet said, but Jesus was the "only one who had the chutzpah to announce to the whole world 'I am the way.' Truth is a relationship."

The ability to help people recognize the difference between propositional teachings and relational truth will come from a different mindset for teaching, preaching and living, Sweet said.

When he attended seminary, he said he learned that "preaching is making the Scriptures come alive." Now, Sweet said, he has come to believe the complete opposite -- Christians must come alive to the Scriptures.

"I'm not 360 degrees from there [his time at seminary], I'm at 180 degrees. The complete opposite," he said. "The problem is not with the Word; the problem is with us."

Oswalt, Called to be Holy

I had to read this book for my holiness class. It is pretty thourough and has a stellar beginning and ending. Sadly, it also has a middle that doesn't move too fast as it repeatedly brings forth the same points using different viewpoints of Scripture. He lives a lot in the Old Testament, that is where his primary studies have been - and it has a lot of material that is of much value because of the historical context he puts it in.

Our denominational superintendent told us that this is his favorite book on holiness so I am going to have to go back to it and read it again someday a little slower - maybe as a devotional kind of thing like Scot McKnight does.

I find myself wondering if the calvinists have books that are this tedious...

Here's some fodder in the early a.m.:

>p.27 "If the giving of the covenant is primarily an expression of the grace of God, its content demonstrates the ethical character of God. That is, he treats persons in ways that are first of all consistent with their needs, and only secondarily with his."



Now, looking over the book , there are chunks that I like, not really quotes; there is no chance that I am going to put whole pages of this book up on this blog. You can visit my office and take it if you are that needy for holiness theology.

books are difficult

I am going to be reading a book every 2.5 days for the next two weeks and writing 22 pages of amazing papers. Thus, you likely won't see the regular posts here. The benedictine one for sure, but the rest, not too likely. I'll post on the books too...when I can. So - as a good-bye for now present, laugh your head off at this:

Riddle's List

Sorry for the lack of posting - it's going to be like this for three weeks because of sickness, other pastors leaving and papers due for my masters.

I do think everyone who has anything to do with youth ministry should read this list from Mark Riddle and spend some time with it. If you think these through without crying, well....

you're not me...

pour vous...

To put it simply, it's no longer acceptable that these things happen in most churches in North America. Things We Have Come to Accept in Youth Ministry:

1. Youth pastor turnover- That a youth pastor will only stay for a short time.

2. That the success or failure of the spiritual nurture of our kids is based primarily on the giftedness or lack thereof, of a person filling the youth position.

3. That the assumption by church leadership is that best youth pastors are young.

4. That a youth pastor can/will/should disciple themselves without the guidance of a senior pastor.

5. That a healthy gauge to tell when youth ministry is going well is when there are no complaints.

6. That Senior Pastors should not be involved in youth ministry.

7. That parents should not be involved in youth ministry.

8. That we give lip service to parents being the primary spiritual nurturers of their children, but do absolutely nothing to actually support parents in our church.

9. That so many youth pastors who feel called to ministry, leave vocational ministry before they turn 30.

10. That youth ministry is church for teens.

11. That youth have different basic needs than adults.

12. That youth have been systematically abandoned by adults within the culture and the church has done the same.

13. That having a youth pastor means the youth ministry is taken care of.

14. That the best youth ministries keep kids busy.

15. That it's a sin to bore a kid.

16. That kids don't think about theology or they aren't ready for it.

17. That we do very little theological reflection when it comes to why we have a youth ministry.

18. The assumption that kids just want fun and games rather than relationships and theological engagement.

19. That Christian Education is an answer to all our problems.

20. That parental involvement in the spiritual development of their children is optional.

21. That the systematic estrangement of adolescents in our church is best for the kids and their “age level appropriate” activities and living out the gospel.

22. That kids only receive the benefits of a youth ministry/youth pastor and do not need to contribute to make this ministry happen.

23. That youth ministry is something only some of us in the church do.

24. That youth ministry is something that happens in a program at the church.

25. That all problems can be fixed with a program.

26. The perception that once I’ve grown my kids into college that I no longer need to work with youth.

27. That the youth pastor is actually just a director of activities.

28. That we no longer remember what a pastor is in many local churches.

29. That youth pastors have forgotten the reason they got into youth ministry in the first place because they are burdened with responsibilities they are miserable at accomplishing.

30. That the Jesus himself could not live up to the wildly inappropriate expectations a church has for a youth pastor.

31. That there is no healthy way to manage the expectations of the church.

Surrat, Ligon, Bird, The Multi-site Church Revolution

I'm not so sure that'd I'd call it a revolution. The idea in this book is to help churches consider, assess and develop a church that can operate as a multi-site operation. this model makes the most out of developed leadership and creates many new avenues for young leadership to develop. Of course, the book is evangelical in its use of statistices (inflated and skewed), but the material is real and raw which makes the experiences of others help to encourage the concept of multi-site.

This book was put in all our staff's hands by our senior - we are starting a new congregation the week after easter and doing a multi-site for oru easter sunday services. Building a new and bigger building doesn't seem to be the way that God is blessing us, so we are trying to see if this is a direction God can lead us.

I'm not going to put a bunch of quotes, instead you can check out the book's blog and get all the info you want!

Holy Rule Chapter 4 - the instruments of good works

The fourth chapter of the holy rule is entirely different from the previous three. This one is a list of 73 instruments that make the monks do good works. They are 73 rules that each monk follows, which produces good works within the "workshop" of the monastary.

A couple surprising rules are:

#47 - to keep death before one's eyes daily - I wonder why they thought of this, and how they would have hoped it would have helped...

#54 - not to speak useless words and such as provoke laughter & #55 - not to love much or boisterous laughter - Doesn't laughter help people? Maybe they just didn't want the monks to be too happy...

#62 - not to desire to be called holy before one is; but to be holy first, that one may be truly so called - this one is really special to me right now because of my studies in holiness theology. Holiness is not the desire - Christ is!

James needs...

Instead of a youtube this week, I am doing a fun thing - you go onto google and search for what you need. It's kinda like prayer, but this one took 0.19 seconds to get 39,200 answers. Here's what google thinks I need:

James Needs...

1. ...your help
2. ...playoff winds to be a star
3. ...to be a counselor
4. ...to explicitly be given DNS servers
5. ...to get out more!
6. ...some love
7. ...a Hat
8. ...posters, filmography, news, and forum
9. ...to learn to follow instructions consistently
10. ...to be introduced to the concept of time

ohhh how true...

The Failure of Youth Ministry part two

alas, all is not lost. As much as people want to talk about the failure of youth ministry as a prolonged experiemnt - there are ample success stories. There are many students who can attribute their current spiritual condition to a quality youth ministry - or even a crappy one.

Marko has put up a top ten list about youth ministries and consumerism that I am going to interact with here - as a means of considering the DrIVEN group only. In no way would I say DrIVEN has been anywhere near a failure; we have had failings...but who wants to be perfect anyways? Here's his stuff with my responses in italics...

Top 10 signs your youth ministry might be built on consumeristic assumptions:

(Warning: some of these are intentionally overstated, and reveal why a friend in Northern Ireland called me “a sarky git”.)

10. You talk about “my group” (that’s ownership language – the language of consumers). Unfortunately I catch myself doing this more than I'd like and every time it makes me correct myself. I don't own the youth ministry - I want God to own it. And that's nto a cop-out either. I sincerely hope that any success that we have is simply seen as God working. I just happen to be blessed enough to serve amazing students who are straight nuts for the gospel. I wonder how I can teach students not to call it 'their' youth group either...

9. Your mission statement: More teenagers, more often. This is simply not true for us. We totally believe that God increases our numbers as a sign of health of the group - but this is not the only sign. Love, prayer, caring, openness are also used as measuring sticks of growth in DrIVEN. At the same time, I'd be lying if I didn't say that the devil constantly (CONSTANTLY) tempts me in this area...I have to consciously not compare us to others - it just makes no sense.

8. You constantly pressure your teenagers to bring friends. Those teenagers whose natural outgoing personality makes this easy are considered the most spiritual. I actually think the opposite has been true in our group. The kids who bring the most friends have been the kids that aren't "good church kids" - this has been really interesting to observe. But in reality - I don't care if they don't bring friends - I hope we are teaching them to GO to their friends - then when their friends see there is a difference - unbelivers will want the peace that our students seem to have. I have posted about a great testimony by a teacher concerning this in the past - you can google my site.

7. Guilt and manipulation are seen as necessary evils, and reframed as “speaking the truth” or as “the gospel”. Sometimes I get cranked up and speak frankly of heaven and hell and speak in absolutes for things that I become passionate about (cranked is DrIVEN for passionate). We don't guilt though - and it's funny because some of the kids actually expect it. I find myself telling them they don't have to apologize for not being at an event - when I contact them it's because I genuinely missed having them around for them - not for the stupid statistical report. (So, if you are a Driven-er, plese feel loved no matter what your attendance looks like - this isn't school).

6. The biggest buzz you ever had in ministry was the time you were able to report ten “decisions for Christ” – whether those teenagers were ever seen again or not. I hate this. I really do. Conversion is so easy compared to holy living - and sometimes we leave them hanging out there - I am guilty of this for sure...but I believe much improvement has been made.

5. You’ve pondered how to make Christianity as simple as possible for teenagers. I find this really interesting... because we make Christianity harder by making it simpler. This means we tell them that a Christian simply loves everyone that God does. That's easy to learn - and soooo hard to practice. So we reduce Christianity (the life) down to being driven by love and by Christ - thereby making everything harder...

4. The result of your youth work is nice teenagers who are willing to attend church. The vast, vast majority of DrIVEN teens do not attend church. Some have never, ever attended the sunday morning worship gathering. I think this means something, but thta's a big, big topic. So, DrIVEN teens are not nice teenagers who are willing to attend church.

3. The ministry “tools” you’re sure will really get things moving: a great sound system, a hip youth room, and truly awe-inspiring PowerPoint slides. We do have a hip-youth room - but if you compared it to yours, you may laugh at it and call it a cave. And we have powerpoint on TV's and a powerful sound system. Dang. Thisi s one area where we may have a problem. It's good to not be perfect. but what are we to do - the reason that we have and do what we do is that we have students who love to do it and are glorifying God through all that....so does that make it ok?

2. You daydream about the things you’ll never have: laser lights and a fog machine. We actually have laser lights - we inherited them all from a DJ in our church. Unfortunately we keep forgetting to put the dang things on during the worship - they end up just sitting there - it's kinda funny I guess. And we can't get a fog machine - we wouldn't be able to breath - any one remember the burning incense incident where no one could breathe in the youth room? lol...

And the #1 sign your youth ministry might be built on consumeristic assumptions…

1. When you talk about “growth”, you’re only referring to numbers. One of the hardest insults I ever got was that all I cared about was the numbers. It sucked. Especially because it wasn't true. May God grow us - however the heck He wants!

your thoughts?

Theology of Failure

I am trying to develop a project for myself for summer. Right now I think it's going to be on developing a theology of failure. I'll right a book about how if you never fail then you are either Jesus or a liar. And since you don't have a blue sash and a glowing halo...!

Topics will have to include the fall, tower of babel, noah's drunkeness, exile, the disciples and the demon who wouldn't leave, the cross, Peter's hypocrasy...

any other ideas?

Taylor, Exploring Christian Holiness: The Theological Formulation

Taylor passed away last year on the 19th of June, and heaven's gain is surely our loss. This book is so outstanding. It carries the wieght of this series and brings much of the doctrine of holiness into a choerent and understandable whole. The major frustration I am currently experiencing is the way that holiness theologians talk a lot and then say that you just can't understand holiness, you have to experience it. As a system of thought, that is parallel to shooting yourself in the head. So, Taylor's book is the better of the two - at least for reading. The other is better at it what it does...

I also think that Taylor's logic falls apart in many places. Whatever though.

Holy Rule Chapter 3 - of calling the brethren for counsel

This week's chapter of rules deals with the making of decisions for the monastary. The concept is that little decisions are to be made with just the counsel of the Seniors and larger decisions should be made with the counsel of all the monks. The reason given for this is "because the Lord often reveals to the younger what is best."

I think this is true - from experience. Most of the best ideas come from those in the trenches. To quote Mike Yaconelli,

"...does it bother anyone else that Christian music has an army full of pubescent, immature, dysfunctional little kids giving concerts and telling this generation of young people what Christianity is about? Isn't it a bit weird to have a fourteen-year-old spiked-hair misfit telling other fourteen-year-olds how to live life when they live it in a tour bus?"

This chapter, more than any other so far, implicates church leadership structures in the church. Are young people being listened to in the biggest decisions? Some churches say this is the case and then run meetings that are only attractive to fossils. How can we reach the coming culture, when we don't listen to those who live in it?

Male Restroom Etiquette

This educational video helped me teach LJ some basic rules of using a public restroom. Not only does youtube entertain me - it helps me raise my children!

The Failure of Youth Ministry

Many youth ministry observers and practicioners have agreed that past models of youth ministry have, by and large, been a failed experiment. Youth ministry as a separate entity of the church is reletively young, in fact the concept of a teenager is reletively young...and western. Recently, Marko has even mea culpa'd for YS on this very subject. The main reason for this admission has been the mass exodus form the church, even Christianity, that comes shortly after graduation. The main goal of youth ministry has, seemingly, been promoting youth ministry instead of...gospel, kingdom, discipleship, sanctification, the church, etc. I really believe in youth ministry - but I don't believe in youth ministry that ends up being a stupid waste of time. Honestly, what kind of a theology helps people be Christians for 6-7 years and then drops them into the abyss (you can be creative with what you think I mean by the abyss...).

While in the car the other day, I wondered if there may be some other very important as well. Here's what I thought of, please add your own thoughts...

1. Perhaps sin is more terrible than many of us think. Maybe is hardens hearts to such a calloused pussbag that it just cannot be broken any longer. If there's one thing I enjoy most about serving teenagers is there incredible capacity to love - whether it's a member of the opposite sex, their family, a sport, or God - they love with total abandon.

2. Perhaps the devil's temptations are harder to resist after high school, when a student losses the support of community. Maybe this is part of the reason that small groups are so important for spiritual development throughout life.

3. Perhaps youth ministry has grown up with sucky theology; we've been so conversion focused that we've forgotten that many teenagers still have a long way to live after salvation. Moreover, perhaps western theology of sucess (as opposed to faithfulness) is absolutely killing our kids. At what point are we going to stop and consider the eternal implications of over-scheduling a generation of teenagers? At what point are we going to start teaching parents of 8 year olds how to raise a teenager that follows Jesus all the way./

4. Perhaps the larger church abandoned teenagers. The best youth ministries I have ever seen have students who know that their church loves them - more than the carpet, more than orderliness, more than sterilized worship, more than themselves.

5. ?what do you think?