cup a joe

Well, I finally got around to updating some of my links there on the right. I had to drop four links due to inactivity (Todd Hunter - please start blogging again....PLEASE!) as well as updating one link. Not too bad considering that I have been meaning to do it for over a year now!

Scot McKnight has a great article in this month Christianity Today about the different streams within the Emerging Church. Good read.

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"So, what happens if we do nothing? If we simply sit in the knowledge that we are in Christ with some thought that whatever God wants to happen will somehow mysteriously happen just because HE wants it to? My answer is, very little. Very little will happen in us that will lead to any kind of real transformation into the Image of Christ. Whatever faith or strength we had would relatively soon fade, become washed-out and colorless. There are more analogies than I know that you could lay over this thing - the muscles would "grow" weaker, smaller and eventually would be useless. The fire would burn for a while but then would "grow" smaller, colder and eventually all the fuel would burn up or all the oxygen would disappear and the fire would go out. However you want to look at it, it's not good."

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I've been giving a lot of thought to church growth lately. There always seems to be a big push from our regional leadership regarding church growth. It seems like the size of a church determines if it is successful or not. Truly a corporate view of what church should be. This view infuriates me. I struggle with the concept that the only thing that counts is the size that you are. I always thought that it was obedience that got you the "good and faithful servant" complement, not the size of your church. I am now, and always will be against the concept of church grow as a measure of success or failure as well as for growth by any means.

With that said, I have been thinking a lot lately about growth. Even though it may seem like I'm contradicting myself, we need to grow as a church. We are struggling. And I know that growth is not the end all solution, but we really need some more leaders in this place. The pool of people that we have that has either the ability, potential or willingness to lead is small. We have been focusing over the past month or so on community, but I'm getting convicted that we might spend so much time on loving each other that we will forget about loving everyone else!

I think that one of the callings of this church was that we are to be a Missional Community. Over the past four years I'm not sure that we have been either missional or a community. I have also felt that we are supposed to be different somehow. Yesterday, at the Vineyard area meeting, one of the pastors who had been on a sabbatical for the past six months made an interesting observation. He had visited several different churches in his area and around the country during his time off. He said that it did not matter what the denomination or tradition he was visiting, they all fell into one of three categories. They were either liturgical (like a Lutheran church he visited), they followed the Willow Creek model (a song lead by a group of singers, a skit, then a topical message) or they did 30 minutes of worship followed by a message (the only difference being where the announcements were placed). He said there was nothing original, it had all become homogeneous.

That is the issue that I am dealing with today. For as cool and hip as we think we are, we are just like tradition three, with the addition of a coffee break (ooooh....doesn't that just scream "hip"). All the models, all the programs, all the books speak about the same thing. How to evangelize is how to grow the church. But if the product is all the same, are we not just developing a consumer base that is just shopping for what makes them feel better, or what sounds better. Where is the faith in that? Are we not just spending more time "evangelizing" the church hopper instead of actually going after the lost? How do we become the church that Jesus has envisioned for us to be without selling out to the 10 easy steps to become big and successful? How do we become a Missional Church not just in word, but in action?

More later...

Anita Frederick from the Oak Park Vineyard has kept a blog of her trip in Africa...quite fascinating.

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Found this link on accident (I was looking for information on our Electric Meter). It is a real time counter for different statistics world wide. Stuff like population, births, deaths. Take a look at the health section....the abortion numbers were mind-boggling.

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What happens when Newfoundland smashes into Africa? You need a new name...."In looking for a name, "I tried Bagelea or Donutea but figured that would trivialize the whole experience. A friend suggested Pangea Ultima — classy, like a fancy car. It implies that it's the last Pangea, which certainly isn't true, but it's the last one I'm going to come up with."" link


I always liked Scooby Do as a kid. The creator of the show passed away yesterday. Somewhat odd that it happened so soon after the death of Joseph Barbera.

Florida beat Ohio State....who would have thought. This is the last time I root for a Big 10 team over a SEC team, I should know better! I think this game just intensifies the need for a play-off in NCAA Div I football. I wonder how USC is feeling this morning! I know that the schools make a lot of money with the bowl games, but it seems like every year there is more and more controversy. If Ohio State would have won they would have deserved to be the National Champion, but I'm not so sure about Florida (forget USC...how do you think Auburn feels, they beat Florida. If only they would have beaten Arkansans!) Florida only got to the game because no one wanted to see a Michigan Ohio State rematch. I realize that Florida proved everyone wrong....but there are still way too many questions out there and there are still a lot of one loss teams. Perhaps the real National Champs should be Boise State (the only undefeated team in the rankings). It doesn't seem fair that they won every game on their schedule but didn't get a shot at the big prize. Bring on a play off!

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I think I'm starting to spiral. I had to deal with something that I was dreading. Our landlord called looking for the rent. I know that this is God's church, I know that it is his bills, I know that it is his electric and his utilities....but this is starting to get tiring. November's offering was pathetic. December was better, but it did not make up for November. Sunday was good (almost 65% of what we collected the entire month of November), but we are still playing catch up. I know that these are God's bills, not mine, that it is his responsibility, not mine, but I still wonder if there is something that I did wrong that is causing us to have these issues. Now I'm thinking too much; now I'm starting to get self critical (doesn't help that today we get a Christmas letter from a family who left the church in November telling us how much they love their new church, how they are all plugged in and there kids are doing great in the new youth group, etc). It seems like the enemy has me figured out and is just pushing all the right buttons to get to me. God Help! There have been so many things that I have been praying for, for the church, for our friends, for my family. It just seems like none of it is happening right now. Like everything is so close but at the last minute the rug gets pulled out, or we are a day late, or a dollar short, or something. Everything is just right out of grasp. It is getting to me. I think I'm starting to spiral. I need to stop that. I need something good to happen.

I guess I'm just tired.

Values from the Church of the Exiles. Interesting...not just ideas, but what they look like if they were to be walked out.

It is 2007, and it's time to start talking about want I want to do differently this year. Like usual, I'm hoping to blog more this year then in the past. I seem to get a good start going but then things happen, I get busy, I forget what I want to say, then six months go by...ugh. I also want to journal more this year. I went out yesterday and got a new Moleskine with the hope that it would motivate me to fill it up...time will tell. I also want to spend more time in my office. This may seem silly, but I've been hiding from it over the past few months. All the junk gong on at the church, all the financial issues, all the everything, I just did not want to go in. I tended to do all my work and study from my house.

This is going to be a good year, there is so much going on right now, and I am feeling very optimistic. Things are changing at the church, we are tweaking things, we are moving things, we are changing out methodology. Finally, it feels like we are going to do the things that we were called to do three years ago. I'm hoping to talk about some of this in future posts, because I really need to work out some of these ideas...stuff on community and what it means, stuff on alt.worship and prayer, stuff on church....you know, stuff.

Enough of my babbling....Happy New Year.....here's to the end of 2006 and a better 2007.