cup a joe

On the side...

2011-12-01T13:38:00.006-06:00

Some interesting stuff....

Skye Jethani over at Out of Ur asks the question "Did youth ministry create the emerging church?" He quotes Tony Jones telling a group of evangelical professors: "You all have strong feelings about the emerging church movement, most of them negative. Well, you are directly responsible for the emerging church movement." Zing! Jethani goes on saying:

The problem is a result, at least in part, of what Kara Powell calls the “Kitchen Table Syndrome” that marks many evangelical churches. This is how she describes the isolation and separation of youth from the adults in the community--much like the way kids get their own table at Thanksgiving. It’s a “separate but equal” vision of ministry. The intent is to provide age-appropriate teaching, which is certainly good. But the unintended result is the formation of youth ministries that do not carry the values and traditions of the wider church.In addition, by isolating students they are less likely to form meaningful relationships with older adults in the congregation–relationships that would provide continuity within the church from one generation to the next. Without this continuity we shouldn’t be surprised when 25-year-olds emerge who want nothing more than to deconstruct the way the church operates, slash the authority hierarchy, or just leave the church altogether. To use Jones’ logic, it was the youth groups of the 80s that created the Emerging Church of the late 90s, which sought to deconstruct the church systems of the 80s.

Link

Tim Stafford tells a story of a conversation that he had with the sister of a well-known Christian leader who had left the church and how it has negativity affected her relationship with him.

As the sister said, “He has always been totally enamored with miracles, and with the gifts of the spirit, as though that was the proof of the faith. I’m not impressed with gifts of the spirit, but I would be with fruit of the spirit. Just listen to me. That would be love. That would be the presence of God. That would show me that God is at work in your life.”

Link

What makes a church?

2011-11-30T22:53:00.001-06:00

Last winter our landlord came to us and informed us that he had someone interested in our building that could actually pay the rent. For as much as I would love to vilify him for putting out a church, we really couldn't afford the building. We hadn't been able to pay our rent in quite sometime and the cost of our utilities was killing us. Our landlord had showed us grace for a long time, but business is business and I couldn't fault him for asking us to leave. So we began to pack and I searched for a new "temporary" location.

Thirty days later we found ourselves in a park district gymnasium. The rent was cheap and we could store our stuff there. It was a perfect solution until summer when we discovered that there was no air conditioning! I remember someone asking me what I needed to focus on once we moved. They were expecting me to talk about outreach or growing the church or something like that. But instead I responded that I needed to figure out how to do church in our new surroundings. They gave me a funny look and asked what's the big deal, nothing changed. But in reality, everything had changed.

You see, we had a way of doing church. We used our building for everything. There were things that we did on Sunday Morning that we were not able to do in the new facility. We used the internet a lot in our old building. We wouldn't have it here. We set up permanent stuff for the kids. Not an option here. We served refreshments. Not easy here. We did potlucks. No can do here. Then the issues with the rest of the week. Where would the food pantry go? Where would we put on the classes and programs that we did? Where could the youth meet? Where would my office be? You see, our facility was integral to all that we did. And all that we did was what was expected by all the people who came to the church and those who would be visiting. There is a video that North Park Church in Atlanta put out last year that made fun of what their Sunday Morning service had become. It showed (in a very funny way) that everything was programmed for effect. The sad part about it was how true it was, not just for them but for us. The terrifying discovery that I made was that everything that we did was someway dependent on the building that we no longer had. So how would we do church in the future?

The key word in that question was "would". We would do church, there was no doubt in my mind. But it needed to look different. It needed to be simpler, more organic and fluid, and use less resources. But how? That is what kept me up at night. What exactly makes a church? What does it look like? What is important and what is fluff? These questions as not as simple as one might think. And the answers to these questions took me on a journey that stretched my understanding of church and brought me back to where I was when I first said "yes" to church planting. So while I would have loved to focus on outreach I knew that outreach wouldn't happen unless the church changed. I needed to figure out how to do church again.

Bethlehemain Rhapsody

2011-11-30T16:08:00.000-06:00

From whyismarko

Mike Breen on the corporate church

2011-11-29T21:39:00.001-06:00

Interesting thoughts from Mike Breen.....

You see, I am absolutely convinced that 100 years from now, many books will be written on the phenomenon that is the late 20^th Century/early 21^st Century American church. And I am fairly certain that it will be with large degree of amazement/laughter that people, in reading about it, will say to each other: “You must be joking! Seriously???! People actually thought it was a good idea to structure the Church as if it were a business? Honestly?!”

It's time....

2011-11-29T21:02:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I wrote here with any consistency. I have excuses and some are quite good. But if truth be told, I had nothing to say. It felt like the spigot got turned off a few years back. On one hand, I really missed writing here. But on the other, I didn't have the energy (or the ambition) to actually write. Well, the times, they seem to be a changing. The spigot may be starting to open back up.

God has been up to a lot in my life over the past twelve months. He has got me thinking about my relationship with Him, my relationship with the church, and my church's relationship with Him. Quite frankly, it seems like it is time for things to be shook up a bit.

I started this blog back in 2003 to document my journey into church planting. Almost nine years later I think it is time to start documenting this new journey that God has me on. You might want to hold on tight, things could get bumpy around here.

Acts 9:31-42

2011-07-21T12:05:00.000-05:00

I'm finding myself really wrestling with this week's passage. This is a transitional passage between two major stories. Last week we looked at Saul's conversion, next week we will be looking at Peter and Cornelius. The stories here about Peter performing miracles with Aeneas and Dorcas are acting as a bridge between those two major events. Because of that at first glance there does not seem to be much here. The temptation is to go over this section briefly and then jump right into Acts 10.

But as I was reading through this I noticed something. It seems like Peter is the focus here but in reality it is the Holy Spirit. Verse 31 tells us that the church was "encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in fear of the Lord." The remaining verses of the chapter then show us how the Holy Spirit did it - in the lives of Aeneas and Dorcas - and then how those around them responded.

I think we are looking at a picture of what a Spirit Filled church looks like and what is interesting here is how the Holy Spirit is at work. We don't see a large event. We don't see miracles preformed before crowds or even in the church (Peter put everyone out of the room when Dorcas was raised from the dead). Instead we see the Holy Spirit working in the lives of two people by transforming them. Word spread, people got saved. No big event. No show. Just two people getting affected.

So what is here for us, today? That is what I'm wrestling with....

Acts 9:1-31

2011-07-14T14:17:00.001-05:00

I'm contemplating Acts 9 for this weeks sermon (Saul's conversion) and I have two interesting thoughts.

First, it's interesting what happens when someone encounters Jesus. Saul thinks he is honoring God but in reality is persecuting Him (Acts 9:5). After he encounters Jesus he does an immediate turn around. The same passion that he had originally now gets refocused by Jesus and is used the way that God intended it. What happens to us when we meet Jesus? I don't think we are surprised when the rough edges are sanded off of us or we loose our bad habits but are we willing to allow Jesus to completely transform our lives. For Paul, Jesus wasn't just an upgrade, it was a complete revision (from Saul 1.0 to Paul 2.0). His entire identity got changed. Who he was, what he did - everything. Shouldn't we expect the same when we encounter Jesus - the idea that everything that we thought we were Jesus might just revise.

Another observation is how the church responded to Saul. Ananias is not overly happy about it (Acts 9:13-14). The apostles are hesitant (Acts 9:26). It is so easy for us to preach about changed lives but sometimes we have a hard time accepting them. I don't believe that Saul was on anyone's "target list" for potential converts. He was the enemy who not only hated the church, but he did everything in his power to destroy it - even to the point murder. Yet Jesus had plans for him (isn't that just like Jesus!).

Sometimes I think we look at people and predetermine who is "saveable" and who is not. We are selective on who actually hears the gospel. And when they come to the church some people are given a pass and others are put under higher scrutiny. This has been a stumbling block for the church for centuries. Recently, a good friend of mine was explaining to me where the terms "soul food" and "soul music" came from. It seems that at one time, the church believed that those of African decent did not have souls (thus the justification for slavery). The use of the word "soul" in the African American culture was to counter the belief that they were soulless.

How many people do we believe are soulless? Who is beyond Jesus? We all know the answer is no one but how do our actions answer this question? Who are the Sauls, Samaritans, Barbarians or Slaves of our day? Who can't you ever imagine coming to Jesus?

I'm pretty sure Jesus can imagine them coming to Him. Perhaps we should ask Him how we can help.

Happy Birthday

2011-07-02T09:34:00.000-05:00

Emily turned eighteen yesterday. Like every birthday since the kids were little, I took her out for breakfast. It has become a tradition with all the kids (and Cindy) that dad takes them to breakfast on their birthday morning. They plan, sometime weeks in advance, for where we are going to go. When they were little we went to McDonald's. Then one of the local dinners. Now Emily is growing up - she wanted a good breakfast so we went to Egg Haven - a classy (and expensive) joint.

The realization of having an eighteen year old is starting to hit home. Breakfast conversations when they were little were always tricky. Talking sports, or friends, or plans for the day. The silly smirks from the kids because there were with dad without their siblings being there with them. But this time it was different. We talked about school, friends and relationships. By early next year, she will probably be moving away from home and heading to school. The plans she made last winter / spring now have to be reconsidered (dance and soccer.) She is learning to juggle much and beginning to figure out what she wants in life. In some ways, she seems ahead of her friends in her thinking. And that really doesn't surprise me.

Cindy was eighteen (and a half!) when I met her (I just turned nineteen). In truth, that reality is what it hitting me the hardest. I felt so old and mature when I met Cindy. I knew what I wanted, I knew where I wanted to go, and I knew that I wanted Cindy to come with me. I was in a relationship with someone else when I met this red-headed girl on the steps of the Scalabrini Retreat Center in Stone Park, IL in the fall of 1987. There was a group of us waiting to get in. We were going to be leaders in an upcoming TEC retreat and we were waiting of the guy with the keys to show up so that we could have our first meeting. My friends Dave and Gabe were there - and we were trying to be cool in an uncool, nonconformist kinda way. But there was something about this girl...I could not get my eyes off of her. She was wearing a dark jacket, kinda surplus looking. And she had short red hair, kinda new wave-ish. And her eyes, I kept looking at her eyes. There was something about her - I thought I knew her from somewhere, but where? I just couldn't get my eyes off of her...

That's the bit that is hitting me the hardest with Emily. She is at that age now.

We went to Six Flags yesterday for her birthday. As we were leaving for the park, we passed a house in our neighborhood where a man who appeared to be in his mid twenty's was sitting on the front porch. He was sitting very compactly, hands in in his lap, legs pressed together, stooped down, looking intensely at an object he was holding in the palms of his hands. Over the top of his hands I could see a tiny head. There seemed to be a sense of joy and wonder in the man's face as he starred into this little ones face. I'm pretty sure he did not notice us drive by, but I noticed him. Eighteen years ago that was me. Emily was so tiny that she could fit in the palm of my hand. I remember the first time that I held her, sitting in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Rockford Memorial Hospital, staring at the tiny life. I was twenty-four. It had been five and a half years since that night on the steps of the retreat center. And here was this tiny life. I thought I had it all planed out. I thought I knew what I wanted and where I wanted to go. And now there was this tiny life in the palm of my hands. And at that point I realized how little I actually knew.

Emily came too early and had to stay at the hospital so the Doctors showed compassion to Cindy and extended her stay so that she could be with the baby. They didn't show me the same compassion - I had to go home. Because Emily came so early, she had to go to a specialized hospital about forty minutes from our home. The drive home was excruciating. I remember feeling joyful and terrified at the same time. Joyful that everyone was fine. Terrified that Emily was so tiny and sick. Joyful at being a new dad. Terrified at being a new father. I wasn't a block away from the hospital when I broke down in the car and cried. I remember pleading with God - asking for Him to give Emily health. I remember pleading with Him for help because I didn't know what I was doing. I felt so grown up at nineteen, but now I felt so young at twenty-four. Life is funny that way.

We were leaving the water park portion of Six Flags yesterday when I was joking with Emily about what Cindy and I were going to do once we got old. I told her that we were going to move away and that she could take the church over and pastor it. She looked at me and said no way! She knew what she wanted to do and what she felt God was calling her to and it wasn't that! We laughed but deep down inside I realized that my little girl was growing up. She knows what she wants and she knows where she wants to go. She is like her dad in that way. The reality of that is still hitting home...

It's Saturday!

2011-05-28T08:54:00.000-05:00

Looking to be a crazy day today. My sermon is done but I haven't started my Grow Questions yet. One of these days I'm going to figure out how do to these quicker! We still need to get the bulletin done and it looks like I may be leading worship tomorrow - Cindy's voice has not healed fully yet and James is out of town tomorrow (have mercy one me!) so I need to put a set together. After that, Cindy needs to get prepared for a wedding that she is doing tomorrow (printing out her book, preparing the certificate). We also want to get hair-cuts sometime today, run up to Rockford for the wedding rehearsal (I may need to be her backup if her voice fails), drop off the sound equipment with someone for setup tonight, stop by Cody's graduation party and, oh yeah, we have a Fire game tonight. Just another nice quiet Saturday!

For all you Cubs fans out there, here is an interesting article from John Armstrong regarding Wrigley Field. I know that you will read this and just say it's another Cubbie Hater (and then you will say I am one too for posting the article) but I can't really disagree with him. I know that there is some kind of nostalgia about the place, but it let's be real - the parking stinks, the sight lines stink (especially if you are behind a post), the bathrooms still stink, and the place feels cramped. Oh, and as a neutral (and I really do believe that I am a neutral), I have never gone to a game at Wrigley and have had a good conversation with someone there about baseball. I've done this at other parks across the nation (Milwaukee, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and US. Cellular - plus numerous other Minor League parks) but never in Wrigley (I've been there more times then I can count). Instead it always seems hostile if you are not a Cubs fan (even to neutrals). I just don't get it.

My wife and oldest son are Cub's fans, so I go for them (and I keep my mouth shut for them). I actually ignore the cross town classic to keep peace in the house. But if you were to ask me where I would love to see a baseball game - it would not be Wrigley (to be honest, out of all the ball parks I have been to, I really liked Turner Field).

Now back to our previously scheduled Saturday already in progress......

2011-05-27T19:48:00.000-05:00

Spent last night messing around with my LinkedIn account. I think I was an early adapter for this . I opened my account in January of 2007 and quickly forgot about it (I tend to sign up for a bunch of new stuff and then forget about them. I had a twitter account for years before I actually used it). Back then there were only a handful of people who I knew that used it (I think I was turned on to it by Jordon Cooper). Recently, I have been getting a lot of connection requests (which I were simply ignoring). Last night I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Amazingly, I now have a bunch of friends on LinkedIn - I was shocked. I actually think I'm beginning to like it - although I'm still trying to figure it out. If your reading this and are on LinkedIn, look me up.

Acts 3

2011-05-26T09:22:00.000-05:00

I've been studding Acts 3 for this Sunday's sermon and some interesting thoughts keep coming up. This is the story of the blind beggar at the temple gate and it's interesting how this story progresses. Peter and John are going to the temple like they usually do - there was nothing special on this day. This is what they always did (this is what many in their society did as well.) Day in, day out - same ole same ole. Yet God seems to have different plans and takes them on a wild ride. First the beggar gets healed, then Peter preaches, then they get arrested and another 2000 come to the church.

Here is the interesting part for me: this is completely unplanned by Peter and John. I wonder what their plans were for the day. Perhaps temple, then some dinner. Just a quiet evening....but God seemed to have other plans. This really got me thinking. Would we be willing to do something like this? Would we be willing to allow God to disturb our quiet evening?

I think we find a comfort in planning (I know I do). There is safety there. We like to make sure that all of our t's are crossed and out i's are dotted. And while there is nothing wrong in planning, do we unintentionally plan God out of the equation?

Thoughts?

It's time...

2011-05-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

...to re-engage.
...to re-activate.
...to do.
...to stop procrastinating.
...to wake up.
...to turn this thing back on.

I think it's time to start writing again.

St. Arbucks

2011-01-05T09:28:00.000-06:00

Interesting article by Bob Hyatt at Out of Ur this morning. But truth be told - I like the graphic the best.

Morning Reading...

2011-01-04T09:26:00.001-06:00

Woke up this morning to a pair of great articles on different topics.

First, Dan Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum asks the question: "Does anyone still care about the Great Commission". In the midst of his article he says this:

How is it that we can get whipped into a frenzy about aiding the poor, stopping same sex marriage, putting more conservatives into the halls of American power, and a million other causes, but the simple act of helping lead a lost soul to Christ is something we have neither time nor energy for?
Let’s be honest here. The Great Commission no longer compels us. The proof is right before our eyes, but we don’t want to see it.

Link

I've been thinking about this stuff for the past couple of years. We seem to have more passion for doing what Pat Robinson tells us to do then what Jesus tells us to do.

The other comes from Tim Challies at Challies Dot Com and is a review of Leonard Sax's book "Boys Adrift".

He narrows in on five factors: changes in educational models; video games; medications for ADHD; endocrine disruptors; and a lack of good role models. Schools, he says, have begun to focus on academics at too early an age, leaving boys hating education from their earliest days. Programs that focus more on fun and less on academics up to age seven or eight would reap educational dividends. Important also is the distinction between learning as merely collecting facts and learning as experience. Regarding video games he believes that boys today are dedicating far too much time to this form of entertainment. As boys play these games they gain false perceptions of power and inadvertently remove themselves from reality until eventually they prefer the world of video games over the real world. ADHD is vastly over-diagnosed and huge numbers of boys are given medications they simply do not need. These medications have been proven to change the way boys develop and do far more than simply calm down hyperactive children. Endocrine disruptors, and especially artificial estrogens found in plastic bottles and other similar products, are delaying boys’ development (while accelerating girls’ development) and contributing to many associated problems. And finally, boys are suffering from a distinct lack of good and manly role models, both in their homes and in their communities. Each of these five areas receives a chapter-length treatment and in each case the arguments are convincing. Yet the book does not end with only this list of problems, but with the author’s attempts to suggest solutions.

Link
Interesting stuff

The elephant in the room.

2011-01-01T19:10:00.001-06:00

I saw this last week on another blog (sorry, I don't remember who) and I figured now would be a good time to post it here (since my readership should be at an all time low.) Disclaimer - this is supposed to be satire. There is a real gem if you can make it to the end. Colbert leaves us with a difficult truth - perhaps a truth that we have been wanting to ignore for too long.

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

March to Keep Fear Alive

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! May God bless you in this upcoming year!

Happy New Years Eve!

2010-12-31T10:58:00.000-06:00

It's New Year's Eve again - time to look balk over this blog as see what a poor job of posting I did this year. Including this post - 13 in one year. That is pathetic.

On January 1, 2010, I posted my goals for the New Year. Let's see how I did:

1) Get healthier. Grade: C. I really didn't do much here. I've dropped some weight in the past year but I didn't do anything purposeful to do it. Perhaps I need to rethink this one for next year.

2) Read more. Grade B+. I think I did a good job on this. I started the year strong, but then slowed down during the summer. The Kindle that I received for my birthday kicked it back into gear (I've read about eight books in the past two months).

3) Write more. Grade: D. Thirteen posts and a lost Moleskine. Do I need to say more?

4) Work on my marriage. Grade:? Not sure how I would grade this one (perhaps my wife can let me know). I think I've been a better husband this year - although I probably still have some work to do.

2010 has been an interesting year for me. Better than 2009, but still a lot of challenges. There is a part of me that is happy to see this year go by because 2011 is looking very promising. Perhaps I need to put a new list of Goal up for 2011. You'll have to stay tuned to see if I do....

Have a wonderful New Years!

Sunday's Coming...

2010-10-06T22:58:00.002-05:00

It's Wednesday night. That means that tomorrow is Thursday. Which means that Sunday is just around the corner and I haven't started to prepare for it. This week has been so crazy - and it feels like it's getting away from me. I really need to take some time tomorrow and study. I just don't know if I will have the time.

Oh well - until then, here's some Mr Bean before bed....

Dear John....

2010-10-05T21:47:00.000-05:00

Cindy posted something on her facebook status earlier this week that started some interesting conversations. It went something like this:

God's greatest command to us is to love Him first and love others as we love ourselves. At what point are we allowed not to love others because of the sin in their lives? As followers of Jesus, at what point can we plaster a scarlet letter on someone and write them off?

This wasn't just a hypothetical question. Instead, this is the reality that we find ourselves living in. Let me tell you a story about a guy named John. John is a homeless guy who lives here in DeKalb. He has been coming around the church for the past few years and God has done some amazing things in his life.

When I first met John he was the town drunk. He would wander around downtown most of the day and sleep either on a park bench, bus stop or in a porta-pottie at night. Every now and then I would find him behind the church reading an old bible. He always had questions about scripture and he always wanted to better understand it. I usually struggled to figure out if he was being genuine or if he was trying to play me (I would also be trying to guess if he was drunk or not). Either way, I figured it didn't matter - John would keep showing up - and I would keep praying the God would do something with him.

Late in 2009, John got drunk and passed out in front of the Subway restaurant here in DeKalb. The police showed up and tried to wake him. Being drunk, he took a swing at one of them and ended up in the county jail for a few months. Part of his probation was that he needed to be a enrolled in a treatment program. He went up to Freeport for about four months and got into a program called Sojourn House. During that time he got cleaned up and sober. He also got plugged into a church and got baptized. He found an apartment and a job. His life seemed to be getting cleaned up.

He came back to DeKalb about three weeks ago to check in with the court on his probation. He mentioned to his Probation Officer that he wasn't feeling well and she suggested he go to the hospital and get check out. The hospital found cancer. Lots of cancer. In his lungs, in his liver, in his skull, in his jaw, in his ribs and up and down his spine. It was in stage four - and it was in the fourth stage of stage four. It was bad and there was nothing that they could do about it. Realistically, he was looking at weeks. The job went away, the apartment went away. Most people would hear this story and their hearts would go out to John. Something must be done. The problem is that there is one more part to this story. John is a registered sex offender.

The story goes something like this. Ten years ago, John was at a party and his was drunk. There was some kind of deal going on that went bad. The people whose house he was at demanded money from him that he refused to pay. They threatened to call the cops on him and he left. Somewhere in the midst of all this, he hit a little girl who was running around at the party. The cops came, picked him up, and threw him in the county jail. The public defended told him the charges were weak and he should fight them in court. In typical DeKalb County fashion, it was going to take 120 before it would go to trial. The prosecutor told him time served and four year probation. He took the deal.

Since then the laws have changed and the sex offenders registry was created. Four years has turned into life. The laws keep changing, prohibiting where he can live, where he can be and where he can not be. If an agency gets money from the state, he is disqualified. It has gotten so bad that there is not even a nursing home will take him. He has no place to go and die.

What has been most interesting is the reaction of those around us. First of all I must say this - I am so proud of my church. They know the truth and yet they still want to help him. But the reaction of those around us is mind boggling. John wears a scarlet letter - and for some reason it makes him less human to people - almost disposable. I've been yelled at by people, told he had it coming to him, told that we need to wipe our hands of him because he is a danger to society and to us. I've actually had someone question me as a pastor because I am "putting my congregation in so much risk by letting him come to church." People actually questioned if he could legally come to church.

Jesus spent his time with the lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors. The Pharisees would continually question him: "Why do you spend time with sinners?" It was almost like there were afraid that they would catch something from them. But wasn't that the point? I think that Jesus was hoping that he would rub off on them. "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." My gut is that Jesus would be hanging out with John, but what about us?

I have had a song running through my head all night tonight. Bob Dylan once said: "How many roads must a man walk down before they can call him a man?" How many roads must a man walk down before he is no longer a man? "How many years can some people exist before they are allowed to be free?" In John's case, freedom won't come in this life. "Yes, how many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn't see?" Do you see? It is for the least of these.

The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.

Old Friends

2010-10-04T22:14:00.002-05:00

Just wrote an e-mail to an old friend who I haven't spoken with in years. I'm not sure he is going to respond - the last time we talked things were tense. I'm getting to a place in my life where I'm realizing time is too short for stuff like that. I used to think that there would come a day when he and I would be doing ministry together. I still think about that - although now it seems more like a dream. I pray he responds.

Old friends, old friends sat on their parkbench like bookends
A newspaper blowin' through the grass
Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men
Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
The sounds of the city sifting through trees
Settles like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today, sharing a parkbench quietly
How terribly strange to be seventy

Old friends, memory brushes the same years, silently sharing the same fears

Sunday, Sunday...

2010-10-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

Interesting day today - good feedback on my sermon, but the attendance was low. This has really been a difficult season. It seems like we are being pulled in multiple directions. At first glance, it looks like things are dieing. But then you look a little deeper and God is doing odd things. I'm lead to the same question that I have been asking for the past two months: "What in the world is God up to with us?" At this point I don't have an answer. I'll let you know when I do.

Until then, in the words of Bob Dylan:

Well I'm pressing on
Yes, I'm pressing on
Well I'm pressing on
To the higher calling of my lord.

Many try to stop me, shake me up in my mind
Say, "Prove to me that He is Lord, show me a sign"
What kind of sign they need when
it all come from within
When what's lost has been found, what's
to come has already been ?

Well I'm pressing on
Yes, I'm pressing on
Well I'm pressing on
To the higher calling of my lord.

Shake the dust off of your feet, don't look back
Nothing can hold you down, nothing that you lack
Temptation's not an easy thing,
Adam given the devil reign
Because he sinned I got no
choice, it run in my vein.

Well I'm pressing on
Yes, I'm pressing on
Well I'm pressing on
To the higher calling of my lord.

Coming soon to a blog near you....

2010-09-21T19:36:00.000-05:00

A new post.....what a concept!

By the numbers

2010-05-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

So I've been playing with some numbers about my community. I was curious to see what the population of people attending church was in our county - and more importantly, who wasn't attending church. If you hang out in church enough, listen to the local CCM radio station and hang out at the local Christian bookstore, you might start believing that a majority of the population went to church. Unfortunately, I'm not too sure that is the case.

Now I know, there are places that I can go and for a small (and sometimes not so small) fee find this information...but truth be told, I'm cheep. So, after looking at the Census data and several other sites, here are my numbers:

As of 2000 - the population of DeKalb county was 88,969. At that time, 55% of the population claimed that they attended church (I wonder about this number. The data suggested that our church was at 129 - a number that seems to be slightly inflated to me!) Assuming that number is true - they survey claimed that 39,705 people did not attend any church (by church, they meant a faith community - not necessarily Christian). I then looked at the faith communities that were only Evangelical (pulling out non-Christian, mainline protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox). Only 16,074 attended an Evangelical church - or to put it another way, 72,895 (82%) did not attend an Evangelical church.

Ok - quick disclaimer: I pulled out those other churches for a reason. First - non-Christian churches are what they say - non-Christian - theses are people who definitely have not heard and responded to the gospel - a basic definition of the lost. I removed the other traditional "Christian" denominations because only a minority of the attenders tend to have had a "born again" experience. When it all comes down to it, I tend to lean Evangelical - I believe that you must be born again (John 3:3) I know that some have in those traditions, but many have not - so I pulled them out.

Even with the churches that I have pulled out, the numbers are staggering. The problem is that the numbers are dated. 2000 was ten years ago and a lot can happen in 10 years (remember y2k?) So what do things look like today? Most of the Census numbers for 2010 won't be available for at least a year, so we will have to take an educated guess. According to Google, the estimated population of DeKalb county in 2008 was 106,321. According to most research, the average church size in the US is 186 (link). So it would make sense that a reasonable estimate would be to take the number of churches in DeKalb county and multiply it by 186 to figure out the amount of people who attend church. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to figure out how many churches there are in DeKalb county (all areas that I checked were incomplete - fyi to any local churches reading this - how easy is it for people to find information about you? Have you googled yourself lately?) So I did the next best thing, I pulled out the Daily Chronicle's religious section and counted the churches on their "Church" page using the previous 2000 matrix. There were 24 - and some major churches missing (I'm looking at you Christ Community, Glad Tidings, First Baptist Sycamore, Sycamore Baptist, Crossroads! This is free advertising guys!) So lets double it to 50. Some of those 50 are large, but some are very small - so I think 186 is a fair number. That would put an estimate of 9300 people county wide attending an Evangelical type church - or about 97,000 people who are not in church (91%). Could it be true that the churches in DeKalb are decreasing?

Even if my math is off, even if the average church size is larger in our county (personally, I would bet it is smaller), and even if we should double the number of churches, one thing is clear. We have a lot of work to do.

There must be more...

2010-05-03T10:51:00.000-05:00

Lord I groan, Lord I kneel
I'm cryin' out for something real
'Cause I know, deep in my soul
There must be more.

Lord I'm tired, yes I'm weak
I need your power to work in me
But I can't let go, I keep hanging on
There must be more

Time to start posting again....

2010-01-23T22:55:00.003-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I got distracted...stuff was going on...so yeah...

A lot has been happening over the past several days...it seems like the Lord is up to something. More on that later.

I said that I wanted to read more and write more this year. The writing has fallen off a bit, but I have been keeping up with the reading. Here are two books that I have recently finished.

Fathered By God: Learning what your father could never teach you - John Eldredge
Typical John Eldredge book in the vein of Wild at Heart. John writes about the six stages a man goes through to become what God has created him to be. This book seems like it would make an excellent follow up to Wild at Heart (and I think our men's group may do that later this spring.) The only issue that I have with it is that it gets somewhat stereotypical. Here's the problem - I really get the six stages and I fully agree with him that most men need to go through them (and deal with the issues that they present). However, do we all need to almost die climbing a mountain to fully be a man. John seems to live a life that most guys only dream about. I live in the prairies. The biggest mountain near us is the land fill....it's just not the same (although I could see possibly dying if I were to climb it, but for totally different reasons!) All in all, a decent book.

Sacred Sex: A Spiritual Celebration of Oneness in Marriage - Tim Gardner
Tim Gardner taught one of the CECL sessions that I was a part of last fall. Both Cindy and I were very impressed with him, so much so that we bought his book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the only trouble that I had is figuring out who to recommend it to. The book is written to married couples, and it would be a valuable resource to them. As I started to read this it hit me that engaged couples would benefit from it. Then I started to think of some single people...

Tim approaches sex (and marriage) through the concept of oneness ("and the two shall become one"). Sex (and marriage) is designed to be just that - where a man and women come together and become one - thereby demonstrating the image of God. This is a deep concept that is difficult at times to get your head around. However, it is very biblical concept - and one that I fully believe would lead to healthier marriages, as well as healthier relationship between men and women - perhaps we would begin to understand each other better and embrace the differences between us instead of allowing them to be points of conflicts. Excellent book - and I highly recommend it.

There are two other books that I have finished since the first of the year, but it is getting late - more later.

Who do we serve?

2010-01-05T16:25:00.000-06:00

Mark Riddle re-posts something that he wrote 10 years ago on his blog today. Here is a snippet:

My friends suggest we are all in deeper than we think. We perpetuate all this self-indulgence consumer crap in most of what we do. We ask "what makes our church unique to this city?" as our Ikea-congregations are trying to figure out which local "building-based group of people who call themselves Christians" best represents me as a person, we are well on our way to helping folks categorize themselves away into superficial oblivion. ...I drive a $50,000 Range Rover because I like the idea of being perceived as an outdoorsman, heaven forbid, I drive a mini-van... I own a $375 North Face Gortex though I only ski once or twice a year, it promotes the idea that I'm an outdoorsman... though I never camp... that's what I think of myself.... I go to ________ Church because it will make me a better businessman, and my kids the homecoming queen and football captain. Jesus is a great enhancement into my almost complete life.

You can read the rest of it here. He asks the question: "Are we pastors or prostitutes?" I realize that this is a touche subject for some, but I can tell you that his article is something that has been resonating within me for the last few years. Pastoring has lost its glamor for me. Years ago, Todd Hunter wrote an article challenging pastors to stop being purveyors of religious goods and services. Quite frankly, that is what the church feels like it has become. I know that we have lost people because we do not offer the newest and coolest programs. I know that we have lost people because the beautiful people of DeKalb don't come to our church. I know we have lost people because there are better networking opportunities at other churches. This is not speculation on my part - this is actually what people have told me. And the challenge is what to do about it.

The temptation is to change things. Get bigger and better programs. Get rid of (or hide) the difficult people. Create a marketing campaign that focuses on certain social classes. But at what point are we sacrificing the Gospel for the crowd? At what point are we pushing aside the "least of these" for an image of success? I think the problem comes with the idea that we believe God is made in our image instead of the other way around. We look at God like He is OnStar. You call him and he gives you what you need. Be it directions, gas, dinner reservations, or to help you when you wreak you life. God serves us. The concept of us serving God is foreign to most of the people in my culture. And if God serves us, then the church's main role must be to serve me as well. Keeping in line with that, if the church doesn't serve me well, then I need to get another one (the church has failed me). Think I'm being cynical? Then why is the divorce rate the same for the church as it is for the rest of the world? I think there might be a correlation there.

This is what makes the job so tiring - and this is also where my greatest temptation lies. You see, Mark is right in what he said. The easy way is to be purveyors of religious goods and services. As Marshal Field once said, "give the lady what she wants." If I do that I will be successful - I will have a big church - I will be important. That is the temptation. But my boss is not my board or my congregation. They are not the one that I need to make happy. Last I checked, my calling came from Jesus, not my church. He is the one that I need to make happy. He is the one that I am serving. And sometimes what he wants me to do makes my church happy, and sometimes it does not. The challenge for me is remembering that he is in charge.

Years ago, I used to watch the show The West Wing. One of the episodes ended like this. "I serve at the pleasure of the President." It choked me up then and it chokes me up now. Not because I'm a political junkie or have have visions of grandeur, but because it is what my job is about today. I serve at the pleasure of the King. I serve at the pleasure of Jesus. It's not my job to please people or the make them happy. It is to do what Jesus says to do. Sometimes that will make me popular and sometimes it won't. When I remember who it is that I'm serving the job gets easier and much more enjoyable. When I remember who it is that I'm serving I'm not longer just a purveyor of religious goods and services. I'm doing what I was called to do.

Day Off

2010-01-04T16:38:00.000-06:00

I had yesterday off. We went to Cindy's Grandmother's 86th birthday party yesterday and needed to be in Gurnee by noon which meant there was no chance of me preaching. Jeff preached - and from what I can tell, the church is still standing. It's always feels odd when I get a Sunday off. I never know what to do with myself and my timing for the next week always feels off.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of what became one of the worst seasons of my life. There were moments during it all of it that I did not think that we would survive. It caused me to completely shutdown. I stopped reading. I stopped writing. I stopped leading. I simply lived on cruise control.

It has been a year. That season is over. It is time to begin anew.

Book - Muslims, Magic and the Kingdom of God

2010-01-02T10:28:00.000-06:00

I said that I wanted to read more, so yesterday I finally finished my first book of the year. Pity I started it about two months ago! I saw Rick speak back in October at the National Vineyard Missions Conference in Colorado Springs. He was involved with Frontiers, but is now tied in with the Vineyard Missions Task Force. Rick is dealing with a peoples group that he calls "folk Muslims" - those that are doctrinally Muslim but practically animist. As Rick writes: "Folk Muslims confess Allah but worship spirits and are more concerned with magic than with Muhammad". According the the book, more than three quarters of the world's Muslim population are folk Muslims.

The book was interesting, although slow in some parts. What got me thinking was how many people in the west would be considered "folk Christians"? Throughout the book, Rick points out the disconnect between what people say, and what their actions are. For example, there seems to be no contradiction for this people group to claim that there are no other god's than Allah and at the same time be a part of a "spirit feast" where they attempt to appease the spirits - or other gods of the world. I wonder if we deal with the same thing within our own culture. There was one quote in the book that really got me thinking:

Effective church planters must understand these broad social functions of religious ritual. However, their primary concern should be to understand ritual as it relates to folk Muslims' perspective of the spirit realm. In this sense, ritual is "the heart of religious behavior...'the meat which goes on the bones of...beliefs'". To understand a people's religious ritual is to comprehend what they really believe. (page 178 - italics mine)

I got thinking about these religious rituals. We may not have the same types of "religious ritual" in our culture as with folk Muslims (although, I have seen and heard of some of this in several contexts here in the states), but we do have ritual's. It got me thinking about the things that I do, the rituals in my life and how they correspond to my stated Christian beliefs. Where are the disconnects in my life? Where am I hypocritical? I think that last sentence is the litmus test for us. It's not what we say we believe, it is actions - the rituals of our lives, that truly show our faith..

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:14:00.003-06:00

It’s New Years which means that once again, I am “resolving” to blog more. But this year it is going to be different. No more “resolutions”. Who actually does “resolutions” anyways? Cindy says that “resolutions” are the things that you stop doing by February. So, I “resolve” not to “resolve” this year. Instead, I’m going to set some goals.

I once heard Dee Dukes say (ok – I heard him three times say this – I’m a little slow at times) that if you want to achieve a goal, you need to write it down and share it with others. I spent some time this morning writing these down in my fancy new Moleskine. But no one other than me sees my Moleskine (and sometimes I can’t even read my own writing!), so I want to put it in ink (electrons?) here and share it with whomever still reads this thing.

1) I want to get healthier this year. Not just go on a diet, but actually start getting healthier. A couple of years ago, Cindy and I did this Dr Oz thing. We cut out High Fructose Corn Syrup, all soda and all white enriched grains (white flour, white rice) and started to eat more whole grains and organic stuff. Amazingly, we lost a lot of weight and started to actually feel better. We fell off that wagon after about nine months and we both feel like it is time to get back on. I also want to start working out again, but I’m not sure how. I’m having some feet and knee problems, so running is out and I’m too poor (ok- cheep) to join a gym or the “Y”. I think I’m going to start waking – although I’m not sure how or when (yes, I still know how to walk – but as the song goes, “baby its cold outside.”) I’m thinking about waling around the worship center – although I need to figure out the distance on that (x laps = 1 mile) – perhaps that is a future math / science project for the kids (isn’t Home Schooling grand?) But it’s not just eating and weight, I want to start taking better care of myself. I’ve been feeling things more now that I’m in my 40’s and it’s starting to get me nervous. I want to be around for a bit longer and I would like to actually enjoy it. I’m not sure what that looks like or what I need to do differently, but I want to spend some time this year and figure it out.

2) I want to read more. I used to be an avid reader. I still have my moments, but I have noticed over the past couple of years that I am reading less and less. I really believe that this has had an adverse effect on me. I am not getting into the word as much as I used to. I am not engaging my brain in theological thought as much as I used to. And I am not exposing myself to good writing as much as I used to. All this could help to explain why I have felt like I’m having vision issues. So, I want to read more – a few books a week. Of course, to do this I will need to restructure a good chunk of my life (hey, this is where that healthy thing comes in!). I’m going to try to keep track of what I am reading here, as well as give some thoughts about each book (somewhat of an accountability thing).

3) I want to write more. I love to write - although looking at this blog, you would never believe it. I do my best thinking while I am writing. I actually feel better after I write! I have a dream of one day actually writing a book. Of course, to do this I need to write something (interesting how that works – being a writer means that I have to write something). So, I want to commit to increased journaling and blogging. Once again, this blog should be a good barometer of that.

4) My fourth goal is all about Cindy and my marriage and relationship with her. I really don’t want to go into detail here other then to say I want to be a better husband and have a better marriage (not that it is currently bad, I just want it to be better – I’m selfish that way.) I written about it in my journal and shared it with my wife. That should be enough.

Those are my personal goals for 2010. I will have some church goals later, but for now this seems like a good start.

Here’s hoping for a good 2010!

What it means to be a follower of Christ...

2009-11-14T09:15:00.003-06:00

Interesting post over at Cerulean Sanctum that has got me thinking. Dan Edelen makes this provocative quote:

If you and I truly stepped out in faith to live the Gospel we say we believe, it may well be that we would have to drop out of the corporate treadmill, suffer a freefall in the company hierarchy, watch our income plummet, and suffer the American indignity of no longer being able to keep up with the Joneses. It may mean we cannot get our children into the fancy private school, the top division sports team, and subsequently fail to send them to Harvard to mint their perfect future. It may mean that we reject consumerism and globalism, returning to a local economy that celebrates community and works to see that no one suffers at the expense of the richer among us, no matter how difficult it will be and what it will cost us. It may mean that we have to let go of long-time friends who suddenly hate our “class descent” and no longer want to be around us. It may mean that we live among the rejected people of the world (as we have become rejected ourselves). It may mean that we rediscover what the Lord meant by “give us this day our daily bread.” It may mean thousands of profound changes to the way we think and live that put us out of the mainstream and make life more challenging, though in the end we realize the challenge is where Christ Himself dwells.

Wow...the article is asking the question: "What would we look like if we really believed the Gospel?" The church has been so enamored with the American Dream that somehow we have blended that dream with the Gospel. It's an interesting point and it has got me thinking.

Have we re-defined our understanding of the Bible to fit our cultural biases? Concepts such as greed and coveting? I'm not suggesting that I am exempt from this question or that I'm not guilty of doing it. But, is our understanding of following Christ more influenced by western culture (and it's definition of success) then by the Gospel?

Hmmm....

Tap, tap, tap.

2009-11-11T21:58:00.003-06:00

Is this thing on? Hello out there.

I have been thinking (once again) of starting this blog back up. I seem to make these grandiose statements about taking this thing seriously again and then disappear for several months. It was running through my mind, and then a friend of mine started to write again. That seems like the final push.

So, here goes, once again...

Counting the cost.

2009-06-27T22:18:00.002-05:00

I'm preaching on Luke 14 tomorrow. This chapter has been haunting me for the past several weeks. What does it mean to be a follower of Christ? When Jesus says hate my father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sister, even my own life, what exactly is he saying? When he says I need to give up everything does he really mean everything? More on this after I preach.

I've called a members meeting tomorrow to discuss our building. The economy is killing us and things have to change. We need to get our expenses in order soon or else bad things will happen (church by candle light anyone? A cappella or unplugged worship anyone? Anyone?). I wonder if this what is meant by counting the cost? I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little frightened about what might happen tomorrow. It could go well and good things could come out of it, or it could go bad - real bad. If you get a chance, please pray for us tomorrow.

Distance...

2009-06-26T22:28:00.002-05:00

I have so many friends right now struggling with huge decisions. It's really odd. Most of them would not notice that they are dealing with the same thing, but from a distance....from the place where I stand it all seems very similar.

What do we do when we think we are not hearing from God? That seems to be the million dollar question right now. What if I want to follow God, but I'm not sure that I am? We all seem to be looking for concrete answers - solid, unquestionable words. But I'm not sure that God works that way. Think about it. When Jesus told Peter to get out of the boat and come to Him, He didn't really tell him how to do it, He just said come. Consider this: there is the storm going on all around the disciples and they are freaking out, so they look into the distance and they think they see Jesus. They are not overly positive about it(they really think they are seeing a ghost or something.) Jesus calls out to Peter and says come here. Remember, there is this big storm going on. Wind, waves, lots of noise. I wonder what Peter thought when he heard this. Is that really Jesus, or is that my imagination? What did he say? Was that the wind?

It really doesn't matter what Peter thought, because we know what he did. He got out of the boat. Now, here is the part for us. Peter got out, so we too need to get out. No matter where we are there are always storms going on around us. Problems, stress, disagreements, injustice...you name it, they are always there. Those storms make it difficult for us to see and hear Jesus. But you know what, He is out there and he is calling us. All we need to do is respond. To get out of the boat and trust Him...trust that he knows what He is doing and that He will always be there next to us. Even when we mess up, even when we take our eyes off of Him, He is there to grab our hand and pull us out.

So this is to all my friends out there trying to figure out what to do. Trust that Jesus is speaking to you. Follow the passions that He has placed in your heart. Go where He leads you and know that He will always be there, even when friends and family are not.

Thomas Merton once wrote a prayer that has always affected me. I think there is a lot of truth in it and at times I have found a lot of peace in it:

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
And you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thought's before I preach.

2009-06-07T10:41:00.003-05:00

Worship is going on right now. I'm in the sound booth...some thoughts....

It was never about the temple....if it was Jesus would have spent more time there. He would have brought reform instead of tearing it down.

It was never about the tabernacle....if it was Jesus would have taught us how to reconstruct it.

It was never about the service....if it was Jesus would have given us a liturgy.

It was never about the songs....if it was Jesus would have given us a book of Psalms.

It was about LOVE....that is what Jesus gave us. And that is what we are supposed to do. It is not about the ceremony, it is not about what we do, how we act, if we dance, clap, raise our hands or even sing...all that is more about us and less about God...instead, it's about how we relate...to God and to each other. Isn't that what Jesus did. Isn't that true worship? True worship is not what we do in the church, it is what we do outside of the church.

Just some thoughts...

Gettin' going

2009-05-15T08:25:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine from the "other side of the pond" has been prodding me to start writing again. I guess my last post about resurrecting this blog was a little premature. I meant well and I really want to start writing again...I just never seem to have the time to do it. I think it has a lot to do with self discipline, meaning that I need to be more disciplined in writing. (duh!)

I really enjoy writing and it is something that I would love to do. I have had several "words" spoken over me about writing books. I have tried to write books, stories, blogs, journals, etc, but keep running into the same problem...I run out of ideas to write about. I am always amazed and awed by those people who can keep up with their blogs on a daily basis. I currently subscribe to a lot of different blogs (about 130). About half deal with soccer and half deal with theology or church stuff. I also subscribe to a handful of "friends" blogs....blogs by people I know or go to the church that deal with their lives. Of those church and football blogs, about 15 are what I would consider news feeds - almost like a wire service. The other 115 are actually written by people and about a third of them are updated at least once a day (some numerous times a day). A handful of these blogs actually make money...their blogs have become so successful that they can sell ad space on them and actually make some money off of it. (Unlike like the rest of us who have had Google ads on our sites for years but have yet to make a dime off of them!)

I don't have any grand vision of making a living off my blog, but I always thought it would be nice to be able to develop my writing through this medium. There was a time where I was doing it more regularly, a time when I had a small following, a time when publishing houses would ask me to review books. But that time is long gone and I doubt it will return. The age of the blog has come and gone...replaced by facebook, which is now being replaced by twitter. I have accounts on both services but I still don't find the enjoyment of them like I had when this blog was really up and running. I go on facebook to keep track of my congregation. I still have no clue on why I would want to twitter. But there was always something more about blogging.

A friend of mine asked me the other day why in the world would someone want to blog. Why would you want to be that transparent...why would you want to share all of your life on the internet? He gave the impression that those of us who blog are exhibitionists. I can see that (and I have seen that in the blogsphere). I think that is what myspace, facebook and twitter have become. But for me, blogging is different. I was somewhat of a geek in high school. I was not very athletic and I was in the computer club. I dressed exactly like Matthew Broderick in “War Games”. My room at home looked a lot like his (computer stuff everywhere). I was somewhat shy. I never went to dances, missed my prom and never went on my first date until I was a senior in High School (it was a disaster, I was too polite and she went home with a different guy). I was a geek and I hung out with geeks (picture John Cusack in “Sixteen Candles”. Once, for fun, we took a T.V. remote control and snuck up to people’s houses and changed the stations that they were watching to freak them out. If that is not the ultimate in geekness, then I don’t know what is!). But there was one thing that I did do in High School that got me out of my shell. I wrote for the school newspaper. I did stories my freshman year, had a column my sophomore and junior year and was Editor in Chief my senior year. It was what I loved and what I wanted to do with my life. I was going to be a journalist.

My dad talked me out of it when I went to college. “Journalists are a dime a dozen” he would say. “You should study business so that you can get a job out of college and make some money.” So that is what I did. I have a BS in Finance from DePaul University and I almost have my MBA (we got transferred to Georgia before I could finish it.) I had a job in the business world and I hated it. I now pastor. Pastors are a dime a dozen and we really don’t make much money…somewhat ironic, isn’t it?

I always looked at my blog the same what that I looked at my columns or editorials in High School. Yes, some of me would come out…there is a bit of exhibition there. But that was done so that I could get the reader to think. To get them to consider something and possibly change an attitude or opinion. It doesn’t always work, but sometimes….

That is why I started this, and that is why I always talk about continuing it. The question is not can I do it? The true question is will I?

Only time will tell….

Resurection

2009-04-12T06:41:00.003-05:00

I think it's time to resurrect this blog. I'm taking it back to it's original purpose...general thoughts on theology and life. For my thoughts on things soccer, check out my new blog.

Happy Easter!

Thoughts on the election

2008-11-05T07:36:00.002-06:00

I did not vote for Obama yesterday. My main reason may surprise some of you. It was not because of his position on abortion, gay marriage or his liberal economic policies. I don't agree with any of those, but my primary reason was that he is from Illinois, specifically Chicago. Chicago politicians are corrupt. Period. Kick backs, bribes, nepotism...you name it, we do it. It's the "Chicago Way." Vote early and often (even if you are dead) is not just a funny line, it is a way of life around here. Don't believe me? Our last Governor is in jail, our current Governor is about to follow him, and Da Mayor has federal prosecutors on his tail. The old saying is that the people of Chicago ask three things from their mayor: that the pot holes are fixed, the garbage is picked up and the snow is plowed. If he does those three things we are willing to look the other way on corruption. That works great for the leader of the "greatest city on earth", but not so great for the leader of the free world. I'm not saying that Obama is corrupt, I'm just saying that all of his friends and mentors are. I don't trust that.

With that said, I'm not surprised that Obama won. He represents a change in direction and the people of our country want that (isn't that why Nixon and Carter won?) The question is do we want change for change sake or do we want things to get better? Our economy is in shambles. We have a small window of time to make this better or else things can get really bad. The way I look at it, there are more ways to mess this up then there are ways to make it better. My concern right now is that there is an unbalance of power in our country. All in the desire of change we now have a strongly left leaning President, House and Senate. There is no longer room for debate. Tradition tells us that when one of the two parties takes full control, ideology over-rides common sense. It is like putting a bowl of Halloween Candy on your step with a sign "Please take one". If you are lucky, the first kid will leave one!

Normally, these times of unbalance don't last long. Our country gets fed up pretty quickly and the pendulum swings back to equilibrium. It happened in 1994, it happened in 2006, it will probably happen again in 2010. During those times in the past the economy was stable and we could survive radical ideas (both from the right and the left). Unfortunately, we are not in the same position today. Our economy is unstable. Five-hundred point moves of the stock market are common place. There are talks of bail outs and major lay offs. Imagine what the drag on our economy would be if GM went out of business - it would have a domino effect across the nation. We would see other companies going out of business across GM supply chain and unemployment would skyrocket. This is not a doom scenario, this is a real possibility over the next nine months. How should we react?

I fear that the spirit of "finally getting our turn" will override common sense. That in the mad dash to make history we will not take the time to see what is best for our country and instead focus on what is the best for my party. When I was in college, I read John F Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage." There was one part of the book that really affected me. Kennedy describes true courage as voting for what will be best for your country, even if it goes against the people who sent you into office. Being willing to vote your conscious, even if it costs you your job. For example: voting against segregation in the south during the 1960's.

As I look across the political spectrum today, I do not see a lot of courage. Instead I see politicians tied into special interest groups, donors and parties. No one thinks for him or herself. Instead they are more concerned with what will it take to keep the money coming in to get me re-elected. A true lack of courage.

It is my prayer that our new President and Congress will stop and take some time to see what is best for our country, not just what everyone wants to hear. Big business is not the enemy. The rich are not the enemy. There are not two classes of citizens in this county, those who agree with us and those who are evil. We are all in this together. What happens to the rich will effect the poor and vice-versa...for both good and bad. We are Americans...all of us. It is time to remember that. It is time for courage.

Motivation

2008-10-17T16:47:00.002-05:00

I'm supposed to be working on my sermon right now....but I'm blogging instead. I just can't seem to get motivated. I've checked my e-mails, read my blogs, talked to people, power washed the house, fixed a drain...everything but write a sermon. And it's not like I don't know what I'm going to be preaching on! I have my text and I have a rough idea of what I want to say. I just can't get it on paper. It's just one of those days.

Just sick....

2008-10-13T12:17:00.002-05:00

That's what I said when I saw this live...and we were on the opposite side of the field with the sun in our eyes! It's even more incredible from this Tribune picture. Can you imagine what the two crew players are saying? "Hey, this is the MLS, we're not supposed to have that kind of skill!"

Luis seems to have some concerns in his blog if Blanco is going to return. He does seem to be slowing down a bit, but he was a big part of the first goal...."goal by McBride, assisted by Blanco." Although he is slowing down, he probably is the only one who can effectively serve McBride (Mapp certainly can't...unless McBride is sitting with Section 8!) From what I understand, we may be in a salary crunch next year when McBride starts to get fully paid. I figure we are going to loose Marmel and Frankowski. I really would love to see them resign Conde (doubtful though - Conde wants to be in Europe). The question really is can we afford to have McBride,Blanco and Conde without turing into the Galaxy?

Pastor's Appreciation Month

2008-10-12T00:17:00.003-05:00

It's 12:20 on Sunday morning. Like many nights, I am awake. Lately I find that I do not sleep very well. My mind tends to race. There are so many things that have my concern; that cause me anxiety. Personal issues, family issues, church issues, money issues...the list never seems to end. I went to bed early tonight and starred at my clock for close to an hour. During that time I tried to play the games that cause you to fall asleep. I counted up; I counted down; I thought of peaceful scenes; I thought of theology. None of it worked. I prayed for a bit. Perhaps the Lord wanted me to pray for something, for someone...no one came to mind. I prayed for my family, I prayed for the church, I prayed for my sick wife. Still, no sleep. So I got up and went downstairs.

I poured myself a glass of water. I checked my e-mails. I changed a burnt out light bulb in the living room. I contemplated reading N.T. Wright but the thought of reading some soccer stuff on the internet seemed more interesting. I looked for food but found nothing appetizing so I drank my water instead. I finally gave up and headed back for bed. But first, a stop in the bathroom.

I was looking through a Christian Bookstore flier that was sent to us this week. I am not a fan of most Christian Bookstores. First, they hardly sell books anymore and secondly, what they do sell tends to be junk (in my humble opinion). But it's late and it is either this or a scrapbooking magazine. It is here that I had an epiphany. All my anxieties are found right here in this flier.

Pastoring is one of the most difficult jobs that anyone could ever do. There are pressures coming at you from every direction. Everyone has some expectations of you. The problem is that those expectations are rarely ever defined and they tend to be constantly changing. You pour your life into people only to discover that whatever you've done for them in the past counts for nothing. Friends turn their backs on you. At times it feels like your completely isolated. You share with someone how you feel only to have your words used against you. After awhile you start talking to no one. It is not surprising that many pastors suffer from depression.

The funny part is that the majority of the pastors I know really care about their people. They want to see them grow in their relationship with Jesus. They want to see them walk in all of the things that God has for them. They want to see them set free of their junk. But it feels at times that some of their congregations don't trust their pastors. They are certain that their pastors are holding them back, are judgemental, legalistic, and abusive. I have heard these accusations spoken to me of many of the pastors in this town and I am certain that they have been spoken of me as well. What keeps me going is that fact that I am not here for the congregation...it is not their approval that I am looking for. I am here because of a calling from God. I work for Jesus first and foremost. It is his approval that I am striving for. I realise that I am called to love people, especially the people that Jesus has brought me. But loving them does not mean giving in to their every whim. Do we not rebuke parents for spoiling their children? The same is true for the pastor / congregation relationship.

This is where the flier comes into play. In the past, people were taught by their pastors. They had their bibles and some additional books, but for the most part the local church was their primary source for direction. Today it is a different story. We can download sermons from preachers from around the world. We can watch them on T.V. or on YouTube. We can buy books, go to conferences, or listen to the radio. You name it, we can get direction from a million different sources. I am not against people trying to grow and I don't want to hinder anyone...I'm not looking for a monopoly on teaching. However it seems like the more voices that are speaking out there, the less people have discernment...the less people actually know what they believe.

Here is what I mean. I open the flier, and there are books by a group of teachers that I admire. Most of these individuals are better preachers then I am, they have more degrees than I do, they have been doing this longer then I and they are probably smarter than I am. On the same page are a group of teacher that are better speakers than I am. They are more charismatic, they can gather a large crowd. They speak into what people want to hear. At times I wonder if they are actually teaching the faith. My own charisma, speaking abilities or personality can not compete with either of these two groups. Yet at times that is what I am doing, competing for the hearts of the people in my church. I turn the page.

Now there are a group of books explaining everything that is wrong with the church. How we have sold out and have overly adapted to the culture around us. Or how we are not misional enough and have closed ourselves to the culture around us. How we need additional programs or facilities or a better Sunday experience or whatever. Or how we have completely blown it because we have added the additional programs, facilities or better Sunday experience. Or how we have sold out to the world and become pagans because we meet in a building (instead of a house).

The modern pastor is attempting to balance these conflicting and competing forces that are all around him and are affecting his people. Unfortunately, he has no control over them. There is absolutely nothing that he can do to insulate himself or his church from them. So a typical Sunday looks like this: The pastor comes to church. Someone comes to him and demands that we do something about these unruly children, how he needs to speak to their parents and get things changed. Then someone else comes to him and complains that Children's Church is just to structured, it is constricting the children's ability to grow and truly discover their gifting. Next, someone comes and states that we need to change something in the building because it does not look like a real church, people must think we are a cult (this is a true comment that someone once had. They did not like the stage...real churches don't have stages!). Then another person comes and tells you that we are in sin by the way we do church. We need to sell everything, live with a common purse and meet in our homes. We need to do something about the homeless people, we should open a shelter. We need to keep the homeless people away from here, they smell and I am afraid for my children. Worship is too short....worship is too long. We need to dim the lights, we need more light. Your sermon really touched me but I really hated this part. And, oh yeah, are you pre, mid or post.

Balance on that the stresses of trying to balance the church's finances without appearing greedy. The sense of guilt for taking a salary, for taking a day off, for taking a Sabbath day, for having a life outside of the church. Now add your family to the equation. How do you minister to your wife and your children when you know that if your not careful, the church can become your mistress. The try to remember that your kids need a life outside of the church and ministry or else you risk saving the world and losing your kids.

This is where most pastors live. I am not writing this to vent, but the Lord really put this on my heart. The local pastor is one of the most highly regarded persons in the church but at the same time, the most forgotten. As this being pastors appreciation month, I felt like I need to write something.

Hebrews 13 tells us to remember our leaders, to look at their lives as an example. Most pastors that I know willingly pour out their lives for the church. We don't do it for the pay or the power. We do it because we love Jesus and feel that he called us to do this. Likewise, as we see the local pastors pour their lives out for the church we should pour our lives out for one another. When we begin to do this we tend to take our eyes off ourselves and begin to look at others. We loose the "What's in it for me?" mentality and take on the "What can I do for you?" mentality. Hebrews 13 goes on and says that we should obey our leaders so that things go well for us. This is not about a power trip. This is about the well being of the entire church. James 3 tells us that not many of us should want to be teachers because teachers are held to a higher accountability before the Lord. It is in that spirit that the author of Hebrews is speaking to us. The Lord has called some to lead, and it is not blind obedience that we should give our leaders, but perhaps the benefit of the doubt. We should pray for our leaders. We should bring our concerns directly to them in private. Sometimes it is difficult to see the big picture of what is going on and sometimes we need to realise that there is more to a story then even the pastor can tell us about. But most of the pastors I know would rather talk to you in private, answering your questions to the best of their abilities instead of trying to put out gossip.

Give your pastor a break. He may not preach like the guy on T.V. and the worship band may not be a tight as the group on the record but they are giving all they have for God's glory. You want your pastor to be a better preacher, your worship leader to sing better? Pray for them that God gives them the ability to do it. You will see more fruit from that then by complaining or changing churches. Love the place that God has planted you in. Pray for it. Become a healthy member of it. Bear fruit in itand for it. Do that, and you will find the fulfillment that you have been searching the bookstores for.

This month is pastor's appreciation month. Last week I received a check from a group within my church. It was an answer to prayer for Cindy and I. But it wasn't just the check that made us feel appreciated. It was the attitude of the people who gave it. Remember you pastor this month. Pray for him. Come along side of him. Bless him. Give him a day off. And as Hebrews says: "Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow." And the Lord will bless you for it.

Well, it's after 2:00 in the morning. I guess it's time to get some sleep.

Disinterest....

2008-10-02T23:23:00.003-05:00

I was driving with Emily late last night and we were talking about the baseball playoffs. Both the Cubs and the Sox won their divisions this year. Both are in the playoffs at the same time for the first time in over 100 years. Chicagoland is buzzing about this. Emily and I came to the conclusion that neither of us really cared what happened. Yes, it would be cool if either team won, but it wasn't an important thing. Baseball was no longer a focus for us. We got home and told Cindy and she agreed with us. Wow, it's amazing what the beautiful game can do to you.

If I were king of the forest... (Part 2)

2008-10-01T20:22:00.003-05:00

In a previous post I mentioned that I had thoughts on how to improve soccer here in America. As I was thinking about this I came to the conclusion that this is an extremely complicated proposal. Why do you ask? Because soccer in the US looks nothing like it's counter part around the world. When I say this, I am not talking about rules, or talent, or scheduling (perhaps I'll write about this later), or even interest. Instead, I'm talking about organization.

Soccer is a different kind sport. Most sports in this country live in a bubble. What I mean is that the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL rarely have similar competition around the world. With the exception of the Olympics for Hockey and Basketball, there are no national competitions, competing leagues, or even club events (I know there was a Baseball World Cup a couple of years ago, but that was somewhat of a flop.) The NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL are the top of the proverbial heap. This is not so for soccer.

Soccer is played in leagues around the world. Many of these leagues are at a similar talent level. Soccer also has a huge National Team segment to it. What is the largest sporting event in the world? The World Cup, a competition consisting of nation verses nation. With that in mind, internationally soccer around the world is managed by different national organizations all coming together under the banner of FIFA. No other major US sport has anything like this. Around the world, these national organizations are responsible for their countries national team, as well as some oversight into their club teams (be they professional or amateur). For example, the English FA (Football Association) is responsible for the England National Team as well as some oversight on the different leagues within England. The interesting thing is that they are responsible for teams in England, not the UK. There is a Scottish FA and a Welsh FA that are responsible for their territories. No Scottish or Welsh team plays in any of the English leagues. They play in their own leagues. The United States is slightly different, and this is where the first issue I want to discuss arises.

The United Sates FA is called the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). They are responsible for soccer in the US and therefore have oversight of the US National team and some oversight over our leagues (probably less than their counterparts around the world). Professionally, there are three leagues in the US. Major League Soccer (MLS) is our premier league. There are also other two league under the banner of the United Soccer League (USL-1 & USL-2). Technically, USL-1 is our second division and USL-2 is our third division. This seems pretty simple until you realize that the three leagues consist of teams from a total of four FA's. The majority of the teams are located in the US and are therefore tied into the USSF. There are a total of three Canadian teams in these leagues (one in the MLS and two in the USL-1) that are under the Canadian FA. There is one team from Puerto Rico (USL-1) under the Putero Rico FA and one in Bermuda (USL-2) under the (yes, you guessed it) the Bermuda FA.

Here is where the problem begins. One of the USSF goals is the development of soccer here in the United States. This is done through a network of clubs and development programs scattered throughout the country. The most visible elements of this goal are the US National Team and the professional leagues in this country. Unfortunately, the USSF and the professional leagues tend not to see eye to eye and definitely do not have the same goals. The professional leagues are looking to make money, and they seem to be willing to do it any way possible.

Now I'm not against the MLS making money. One of the ways that they make money is by expansion. Currently, three of the teams that are under consideration for expansion are in Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa.) Nothing against Canada, but by aggressively expanding into Canada, they are weakening the growth of soccer elsewhere in the US. It also minimizes international club competitions that US clubs are a part of. In a recent interview, Don Garber made it clear that growth of soccer in the US takes a back seat to making money. He really doesn't see a need to follow the international schedule, to have all of the MLS teams partake in the US Open cup, to even take the Champions League seriously. Of course, they love the Superliga because it makes a lot of money for the MLS (just not the players!).

We seems to not want to learn the lessons of the past. I fear that the MLS will grow under a similar model of the NASL. The NASL never saw a dollar it didn't like and was more then willing the modify the game to make a quick buck. What it didn't do was invest in the game and crowds began to fall. At this point the USSF needs to step up. I don't think that they need to take the leagues over, but they need to begin to lead. First question, what is the relationship between the USSF and the other FA's that have teams in our leagues? Secondly, how do the different leagues relate to one another? Finally, how does this develop the game within the US?

In the past, the USSF has spent it's time trying to figure out how to win the World Cup. While I would love to see that, under the current structure I can't see that happening. There are way too many individual concerns that seem to supersede long term goals. The USSF needs to begin to lead...they need to determine what is best for the health of the game, for the good of the game, not just what is most profitable.

Next time...how should the leagues relate to one another.

On the brink....

2008-09-30T22:55:00.002-05:00

...that is what things feel like. We are on the brink of something good, yet also on the brink of total destruction. It is this way in all aspects of my life right now. In regards to the church, it feels like we are on the brink of a big breakthrough. Things are starting to come together. Yet at the same time it feels like everything is falling apart. The tithe is down and the economy is not helping. We are not bringing in enough to cover our basic expenses. Some people who told us that they would be there for us are leaving us (When someone leaves the church it always feels like I'm back in High School. "It's not you, it's me. We can still be friends." Ughhhhh!) I'm even thinking about shutting down the food pantry because we don't have the money to fund it.

Personally, it is the same thing. In one sense, things are looking good. Some issues have become smaller then we first thought, while others seem to be getting worse. It feels like for every step we take forward, we are taking at least one step back somewhere else. Net/net, it is just frustrating.

Heck, it is even happening with the sport teams I follow. The White Sox have given all of us South Sider's sleepless nights since the Minnesota series last week. Who knows what team is going to show up in the playoffs. The Fire are not sure what team they want to be. The team that destroyed New England three time, DC one time and LA twice, or the team that gets blown out by Dallas and Colorado. And lets not even talk about Newcastle United. They are the poster children for dysfunction! Things were so promising when we tied Manchester United back in August. Now I'm just praying that we are still in the Premier League next season.

I know that there are some Kingdom principles here. We live in the almost but not yet. And Cindy and I are experiencing that first hand. I just keep on believing that God is in all of this. That I can trust him....that I must trust him. That somehow, he will always provide and he will always bring us through all of this.

He has in the past, why should he stop now.

Baptism Sunday

2008-09-28T15:24:00.004-05:00

We did baptisms today. I like to do baptisms, it feels like the church is actually accomplishing something. It also makes me aware that we are a part of something bigger than us...that the Church has been baptizing new followers of Jesus for close to 2000 years. That an interesting thought to ponder.

Congratulations to Hannah, Candice, Elaina and Kimberly.

Random Links

2008-09-27T20:47:00.004-05:00

Scot McKnight and Dan Kimball are starting a new network. Scott really addresses some of the same struggles that I have been having with Emergent lately.

John Paul Jackson has a word about the future....and it ain't pretty. Problem is that it resonates with me as well.

ESPN Soccernet has a great article about life at the McBride house. Pity they couldn't spell Arlington Heights right.

Jose has the inside scoop on the Newcastle sale. Who knew Ameobi had that much power? "He's Denis Wiseing me!"...Classic!!!

If I were king of the forest...part 1

2008-09-26T21:24:00.005-05:00

We took a group to see the Fire v. David Beckham game yesterday and everyone had a great time. The place was packed, Section 8 was rocking and we won. It has been interesting having tickets this past year. We sit in Section 125...some what decent seats on the East side near the North end. One of the things that has surprised me is the lack of season ticket holders around us. Every game it seems that we have a different group of people sitting either next to us or in front or behind us. Earlier on in the season, the people around us seemed to be knowledgeable about the game. Recently, it has been the complete opposite. We have been surrounded by the infamous "Soccer mom" (SM).

One thing that I noticed is that the "SM" is not necessarily a mom, sometimes it is a dad. The normal "SM" is someone who thinks that the Beautiful Game is simply a safe sport for her (his) child to play. One where everyone is nice to one another and there is little competition (thank you AYSO). Traditionally, these parents have spent very little time actually learning the game, instead simply going to cheer on there little one to "kick the ball", then giving everyone orange wedges and Capri Suns at the half. ("You know, your father and I love you and we're proud of you. Did you learn anything new today?" - taken from the official AYSO pamphlet explaining what say to your child after their game.)

After their child plays for a bit, the child decides that they want to go to a real soccer game. So the "SM" goes out and buys a ticket....usually right next to us. The stadium was filled with them last night. We had one sitting behind us that just drove me crazy. Mom was there...board to death. And her son was sitting there...in his official David Beckham kit (oops, Jersey for all you "SM's" out there.)

So it's somewhere early on in the 1st half and LA get a corner. David comes up to our corner of the pitch (oops again...field) and sets up. Now remember...we are in the North East corner....you know, the Harlem End....right by Section 8. Now, if we were in Columbus or Toronto, Mr Beckham would be covered in streamers (or bottle caps, or beer, or whatever else the fans could throw). But this is Chicago. We don't throw stuff....we let you know how we feel with our voices. The entire section began to boo him. It was loud. David Jr. behind me was appalled...and his mom was upset. "That just is not nice what they are doing to him. They shouldn't boo like that." EXCUSE ME....YOU ARE IN CHICAGO, NOT LA. If this was any other team in Chicago, it would be accepted. But this is soccer...you know, the passive sport (excuse me for a moment, I think I'm feeling sick.......................OK, back again)

About the 35 minute, "SM1" talks to her friend "SM2" and asks when the half is over. SM2 says that she thinks there are four 45 minute quarters while SM1 disagrees with her and says that she thinks that there is something about 60 minutes. This goes on for a few minutes until I turn around and tell them there are two 45 minute halves. (As much as it appears that I am I soccer snob and that I hate all those who are beneath me, I actually enjoy telling people all about the beautiful game and educating them.) SM1 looks at me and tells me that I am wrong, that there is something important about 60 minutes in this game. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that I am dressed to the hilt like a supporter. I have my Blanco Fire kit on, I am wearing my "Season Ticket Holder" scarf, I am singing all the songs, I am doing all the hand motions, I am screaming at the ref that he doesn't know what the off sides rule is. One would assume just by looking at me that I might know how long the stinking game is! (but I digress...)

So, it is now the 70th minute. SM decides that she has had enough and announces to David Jr that they are leaving. "Look at this crowd, they are all going to leave at the same time and you don't want to be a part of that, do you?" David Jr starts to cry, SM starts to yell. They stand up and leave. Sitting next to me is my friend Niels. He explains to me that we show the players disrespect by leaving early. They are giving it their all for 90 minutes, we should do the same (spoken like a true Football (oops, Soccer) supporter (fan)). I look at him and comment how I have seen Newcastle blow a two goal lead in less time then is left on the clock (Niels breaks into laughter, I break into tears). Any thing could still happen!

I tell this story, not to make fun of the SM out there, but instead to show the state of the game here in the US. The MLS is a side show to many people in this country (no comments from the true Euro-Snobs...I agree, the MLS is not the EPL). A large percentage of the crowd in the stadium do not take the games very seriously. They do not know about tradition. They do not understand what makes this game beautiful. They do not see why it can become so addicting. I put the blame for this not on the MLS, but on the USSF. The game in this country has been in their hands for over a century now and they seem to have done everything in their power to muck it up (see the book "Soccer in a Football World" for more information).

I am a realist. I know that soccer in the US will never be like it is in the rest of the world. It will never the the dominate sport. I am OK with that. Hoverer, there is a lot that we can learn from the world that might make soccer here in the States more compelling and more intriguing. All the elements are here. All that is needed is some decent leadership, and the only one who could do it is the USSF.

Over the next few posts I want to discuss some ideas that might make soccer more intriguing in this country, for the true supports, the casual fans, and the curious. Let me start with this: It is not the game that we have to change, it is the way we organize it. The rules work, the organization is broken. With the right organization, perhaps SM1 & SM2 know how long the game is. Perhaps David Jr. is wearing a Fire shirt, instead of an LA shirt. Perhaps they stay for the entire game. And most importantly, perhaps they come back to another game when David is not playing.

I'm not sure who is still out there, but I would love to hear others ideas. Feel free to comment. Let me know if you think I'm on to something, if I lost my mind, or if I need to keep to theology.

More to follow...

Duch Sheets on Lakeland

2008-08-25T09:09:00.004-05:00

Interesting comment's from a Dutch Sheets article on Lakeland:

These things were frightening, very frightening, to others and me.
When something has the potential of setting precedent, birthing a
movement and being reproduced as a prototype, we are no longer
simply endorsing good brothers, good intentions and miracles.
Doctrine and foundations will be built on these events. Teachings
and paradigms for future ministries will be formed-in short, the
next generation of the church and the move of God in the earth
could be greatly impacted. This is why I stopped short of endorsing
everything at Lakeland. Just as importantly, I could not ignore the
"check", the uneasiness, the sickening feeling deep in my spirit
telling me something else was wrong-terribly wrong-in this
situation. Like other leaders I tried to push past my uneasiness
with the showmanship, the "bams," the head butts and kneeing,
along with certain experiences and doctrines, all in order to
embrace the good. Like many of my friends I tried to be-and
believe I was-gracious, accepting, ready to think "out of the box",
etc.. But try as I may, the uneasiness in my spirit just wouldn't leave.

I haven't really followed Dutch much in the past several years other then knowing he is involved in putting on The Call and writting a book on intercession.

There is some really good insight in this article, things that as leaders we need to take heed of. I am curious to see how this all shakes out over the next few months. My prayer is that people step up and take responsibility, that they would repent for knowing things were wrong and not doing anything about it. That is my prayer, but I am not optimistic. I have seen way too much spin in the past 20 years. I pray that this time is different.

Cornfest '08

2008-08-24T18:49:00.002-05:00

Well, I tried to put it off most of the weekend, but I finally took the kids to Cornfest. We missed the big corn give away yesterday and by the time we got there after church, it was almost over. This year they moved it to the airport since there is some construction downtown.

We got there in time to watch a B-17 bomber take off. It had been flying over our house all weekend (you can't miss the noise...made me wonder what it would have been like to have a squadron of them fly over your town in WW II. I would be pretty terrified!) and it was pretty impressive up close. We walked over to the midway and walked through most of the booths. All the same vendors were there as last year. When it is downtown it feel like you are a part of something. At the airport it felt pretty lame (Emily agreed with this observation!).

The main stage was much larger then usual and Travis Tritt was preforming when we were there (I would have never know if it wasn't for the fact I needed to go the the Cornfest website to steal the above graphic!) We then went to the midway and dropped $20 for the four of them to ride one ride. They were upset that I didn't have more money but got over it fast when they found that the bouncy things were free.

One hour later, we were on our way home. They are supposed to do it again next year at the airport again because of construction. I hope they bring it back downtown after that. Community festivals are supposed to be in the community.

Hope spring eternal.

2008-08-23T21:08:00.002-05:00

Here are highlights from today's Newcastle v Bolton game. Check out Given's save at the 1:20 point. Incredible! Last year that would have gone in and the lad's would have fallen apart (especially since they were not playing that well up to that point). But not this year! First a tie at Old Trafford, then a fantastic save on a penalty shot, then Owen back to form. I realize that we are only two games into the season but could it be??? I'm just saying....might this just be....

A 1 to 0 kind a week

2008-08-23T20:54:00.002-05:00

I have watched a lot of football this week. Both the women's and men's Olympic gold medal rounds, the Guatemala v. US World Cup qualifier, L.A. v. Fire game and the Newcastle v. Bolton game. Amazingly, all the games ended 1 - 0 for the team I was rooting for. All the games were in question till the end when a goal was miraculously scored. The teams that I was rooting for seemed to be stuck in the mud for most of the game. Either they were being outplayed for the majority of the game (all three national games), or they just didn't seem to have what it took to break the deadlock (both club games). But the old saying turned out to be true....it ain't over till it's over.

Perhaps that is something that I need to remember. This has been a difficult year. At times I have felt like I was being "outplayed" but the events around me. At other times I just didn't feel like I had what it takes to break out of the deadlock. But there is still time on the clock...

It ain't over till it's over...

I'm back

2008-08-23T20:40:00.002-05:00

I feel like it is time to start writing again. I've been thinking about revamping this blog a bit for the past year now. I have two passions in life and I want to write about them. First, I am passionate about Jesus. For the past five plus years I have been writing on this blog (on and off) about him, the church, and my own spiritual journey. I really don't want to stop that. The other thing that I am passionate about is football (soccer for most of my friends). I thought about creating a second blog to discuss football, but life is a holistic kinda thing. I preach about living your faith 24/7. So why can't I write about things of faith and things of football at the same time.

I really don't know how this is all going to work out, or even if it will ever make any sense. One thing that I am pretty certain about...I don't think anyone else out there is do this.

So, grab a cup of coffee and hold on tight....it might actually get interesting around here.

Welcome Back

2008-05-28T17:44:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time.

I'm starting to feel the pull to blog again. No promises on how long I will do this or how often I will post...only time will tell.

A lot has happened since I posted regularly. My father pass away right after Easter. It has been a tough time since then trying to keep everything straight (truthfully, it was a tough time prior to that). I praying that starting to write again will help me get my head on straight.

A few years ago I posted about my love for soccer. Well it has since grown to a full blown obsession. We are now season ticket holders for the Chicago Fire and I am an avid Newcastle United fan. With that said, I will probably have some comments a bout soccer (or is it football?)

Well, this is a good start for now. I'm planing on cleaning this place up a bit over the next few weeks. I am curious about one thing, is anyone still out there???

Tap, Tap, Tap.....

2008-05-24T18:45:00.000-05:00

is this thing on????

Six Months

2007-09-17T14:09:00.000-05:00

Wow - time flies when your having fun! It's been six months since I posted...six difficult months. I've been dealing with some stuff and not handling it as well as I should. I pray that that season is now over.

I have been told for several years now that I am supposed to write and I have been given many prophetic words to that effect. I've never really written much, so if I am supposed to be this great author I guess I need to start somewhere.

I'm going to try to write more. I think I'm going to move away from posting other's thoughts and start writing some of my own. At this point, I really don't know what that means. I do know that if I'm supposed to write, I need to get into the habit of actually writing. Perhaps if I do that my writing might improve!

Friday, 9:28pm

2007-03-02T21:27:00.000-06:00

It's Friday night and it's snowing....again. This has been one crazy winter. Yesterday it was 50, today we have 50mph winds and snow. Have I ever mentioned how much I love the Midwest.

Cindy is in Puerto Rico. Emily is with her as well. They has been there since Tuesday, and won't be back till next Tuesday. I hate it when she is gone. I miss her a lot. I tend not to sleep well when she is gone and this week is no exception. Last night I stayed up watching bad TV (Die Hard part XXVII)....what a waste. I've talked to her everyday that she has been gone and she is doing well. They have done a lot of servant evangelism and had some chances to do some personal ministry. She said that they had a healing last night....pretty cool. They are supposed to be spending tomorrow in prophetic ministry teams...should be fun. I can't wait to get the report.

The city this week bought a lot of properties in the downtown area. They are going to demolish the buildings on them and hope someone buys them for redevelopment. Our building is slated to be redeveloped in the grand scheme of things. It was my hope to buy it one day, but now I wonder if that will ever happen. We are late on rent....and my gut now says that the property value of the area is about to increase. I'm not sure what the future holds for us as a church. I know for certain that we will ride this out, that the church will survive even if it means that we need to be in a different location or form. I'm OK with that. I just wish I had a better leadership structure within the church to survive this.

We've started the membership classes. I met with the small group leaders and will be going to the small groups starting next Wednesday. I'm sensing that the leadership structure of the church is going to be driven by the small group leaders. I've always thought that we would do some kind of hybrid of the Vineyard Central model....perhaps we are going to look more like them then I first anticipated.

Cindy and I are talking about starting Alpha up again. Some of our videos are missing at the church. I know that they have new versions of the videos (a shorter version) but I wonder if they are truly new versions or if they are just the old version re-edited (if there is anyone out there who knows, please let me know). I really don't want to teach this live....but perhaps that is what I need to do. We wanted to do it in a small group format....I'm not sure how live teaching will work....especially with the discussions afterwards.....perhaps I'll have to tweak it a bit.

I've spent most of this week doing school with the kids and loading songs on my iPod. Almost have 18 gigs loaded and I know I have more stuff somewhere. Ryan gave me a hard time about getting the 80 gig version. He said that I would never fill it. Almost to 18 gigs so far and no video on the thing. Gee, I hope 80 gig was enough....I am such a geek.

One final thought, Kathy O is going in for surgery on Wednesday. They found cancer in her thyroid. The doctors think they got to it early enough, but cancer is still cancer. Pray for her. This is the second thyroid issue we have had at the church since Christmas. Kinda odd considering that there are only 100 of us. Please remember her. If you are around the building on Wednesday morning at 7:00am, show up for prayer. Kathy will be there and we will pray for her before she goes to the hospital.

Enough for tonight....there's got to be a bad movie on TV somewhere...

Autumn - in search of a desktop

2007-02-21T08:26:00.000-06:00

Ever wonder where your desktop picture came from? This is a great article on where the "Autumn" desk top came from. via

Ash Wednesday Labyrinth

2007-02-20T23:12:00.000-06:00

Not sure who actually reads this thing but if you are out there and you actually live somewhere around DeKalb, we are doing an Ash Wednesday Labyrinth tomorrow at the church. It's going to be from about 5:00 till 9:00, or whenever the last person leaves. I think we are going to keep it open on Thursday as well. We've never done anything like this before (heck, I've never been to one before) but we thought we'd give it a go and see what happens. I just spent the past several hours laying this thing out with Steve K and it looks pretty cool (can you say that about prayer and worship?). Oh well, if you are around the church, stop by.

Last few days

2007-02-10T21:04:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy last couple of days. I thought I had it all figured out when I woke up on Friday morning. I was going to spend the morning reading (preparing for this weekends VLI class) then work on my sermon in the afternoon then attended Classic Movie Night. Well, all that fell apart with a call from Oak Crest. My dad took a fall late Thursday night. He seems to forget that he can't walk. The nurse called and said that he was complaining of pain in his hip. So it was off to the hospital. After x-rays, CAT scans, and several hours it was determined that he had indeed broke his hip and that he needed surgery (nothing major, just a few screws). The surgery would be at 9:00am Saturday morning and that it wouldn't take much longer then an hour or two.

Well, I got most of my reading done in the ER, so I figured that I would listen to my VLI intensive during the surgery, then get to the church in the afternoon, watch the rest of the intensive with everyone else and then work on my sermon tonight. Well, 9:00 turned to 11:00, which then turned to noon. They finally came to take him around 1:00....off to the waiting room. They were supposed to call me once he went into surgery. Having issues with the epidural, he did not start surgery till close to 3:00, out at 4:00, in recovery, and finally to his room for 5:00.

I ended up listening to all of the intensive and starting some of my sermon in the waiting room. It's 9:15 at night and I have finally finished it (here in my office). I'm not sure how good it will be, I don't feel like I gave it the time I wanted to. It's nights like this when I know it is all about Jesus and not about me. My prayer tonight will be "Holy Spirit HELP!". The beautiful thing is that He always does.

I'm starting to learn about trusting God. Today's intensive really spoke to that, but I've been hearing it from God a lot. When I first started thinking about ministry so many years ago I was always worried that I wouldn't be a good enough speaker or charismatic enough (both spiritually and socially). When I was doing my internship I quickly learned that when ever I depended on me I tended to fail. I've discovered that in reality I am not a good enough speaker, I am not charismatic enough, I'm not a very good leader, and my gathering skills aren't all that great. I've learned that I can not trust in me. And amazingly once I stop depending on myself, God comes and consistently provides. For the past two months the sermons that I have spoken are completely different then the sermons that I wrote. God has been able to overcome my weakness, ignorance and poor oratory skills to say what he wants to say. I have learned that for me, it can't just be lip service....I have no other option then to trust God.

I say this simply because that is where I am with my parents. I am at a loss on why things have happened as they have. I sat with my dad today and he looked terrible. Arthritis has caused him to look deformed. His heart has issues. His mind is lost. He looked at me this morning and said (in a dementia induced babble) that he knows I am not his son. He said it repeatedly. He said that he wanted to call the FBI to have them take me away. I know it's babble, but still...

I looked at him and wondered why? Why is this happening to both of my parents. I feel so weak and unprepared. But yet I know that I am not in control. That God is. That there is a reason for this, even though I may never know it. I also know that because he is in control, and because he loves me, he will take care on me. I am his son. I am not a bastard. I am not an orphan. I am my Father's son. That is all I really need.

What's the mission?

2007-02-08T15:18:00.000-06:00

I've been playing with the mission statement of the church.....

To be a Community of Hope that passionately pursues the Kingdom of God in our neighborhood, our cities, our country and the world.

Community of Hope:

We are a Missional Community. Not just a place where we “go to church”, but a community that acts as the Church to the society around us, acting as Christ’s ambassador to our neighbors. Not just doing evangelism, but acting as missionaries – living in the world but not being of the world, seeking to incarnate the values of Jesus in all we say and do so that we can demonstrate in love a counter-culture (life in the Kingdom of God) to the society we are apart of.

We are a Faith Community. Not just a place we go to for religious services or events, but a community - a family - with whom we share a journey, with all its struggles, joys, difficulties and encouragements. Our community is not based on social, economic, racial or political similarities, but instead on faith, faith in walking with Christ by walking with one another.

We are a Community of Hope. The foundation of our community is in the hope we have in the Reign and Rule of God, our hope in the Kingdom. As such, we are a community that is to be a witness to the gospel and the in-breaking reign of God, striving to be an instrument, agent and sign of that reign. We point to the Kingdom, knowing that it will bring shalom to the world – wholeness, peace, justice and joy – once it comes in its fullness.

We demonstrate this Hope through the principles that focus us as a community:

H.O.P.E.

H - Honoring God through Worship: Worship is our priority. We worship God out of our alliance to him. The Hebrew word for “worship” denotes the physical act of falling on one’s face on the ground in homage to one’s ruler. As members of the Kingdom of God, we worship God not because it is spiritual or because we are attempting to “bring in the kingdom” or because it is fun. We worship God because it is all that we can do to show our gratitude as citizens of the Kingdom.

O – Opening the Gates and Setting the Captives Free: As a witness to the Kingdom, we are called to be an instrument of the in-breaking reign of the Kingdom of God. So it is our call to release those that are being held captive throughout all of God’s creation. Because of this, we pray for wholeness and healing of those physically, emotionally and spiritually sick. We bring the Gospel to disenfranchised and the forgotten in both words and deeds. But our responsibility not only lies in ushering in the Kingdom to our fellow man, but also in being stewards to all of creation around us and allowing God to use us to bring redemption and wholeness to all of creation.

P – Being a People of Prayer: Being a community that walks with Christ implies that of a community hungry for intimacy with Christ. Our sole existence is dependent upon Christ. Because of that, the rhythms and lifestyle of the community, both corporately and individually, are intricately dependent on prayer. We pray by ourselves. We pray as a community. We pray together even when we are apart. We pray using modern techniques. We pray following ancient traditions. We are a community that prays.

E – Equipping and Empowering the Saints: We reject the concept of separation of clergy and laity and instead embrace the concept of the “priesthood of all believers”. We are a community of ministers. All believers are called to be ministers to the world around them. Because of this we believe that the church is a place not to receive ministry, but instead a place to be equipped to do ministry. Pastoral staff is there not to minister to the members, but instead to equip them so that all can minister. So when we gather corporately, we do not ask “Who will minister to my needs?” Instead we ask “Whose needs can I minister to?”

Cindy wanted to know how many books, blogs, and other place I got some of this from (yes, I know what the word "incarnate" means!) Needless to say, my answer was a lot! Any thoughts???

The Missional Journey

2007-02-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

Last Monday after class, Cindy, Jeff, Pete, Theresa and myself went out for coffee and to talk. I have been thinking a lot lately about what we are about to do here at the church. Back in December I felt that we were supposed to get back to what the original vision of this place was. We were going to plant a missional church. We were going to have an emergent flair to what we looked like. I even took some heat from some of the local leaders here about doing it (comments about how a friend of a friend of a friend knew someone who once met a person who went to Todd Hunter's church and how we REALLY didn't want to do that now, do we?) Well, we did want to do that, and we were going to do that, but we ended up taking over a church instead. One thing led to another and we didn't do it. Well, now is the time to do it.

It always seems like when this group gets together, I get in trouble. Not from them and not because they cause trouble (it has been a long time since we got kicked out of Bakers Square for throwing pie, but I digress). No, I take heat from other people within the church because I talk to them more then I talk to the people who are complaining (hmmmm, I wonder if there is something to that, but once again, I digress) So, back to my story....

We got together and I told a story. I started to think about the times in my life when I felt like I walking totally in the will of God. Then it hit me. I was in collage. I was working with the TEC retreat program within the Catholic Youth Office in Chicago. Now it had nothing to do with TEC, it had nothing to do with the CYO, what it had to do was with the people I was working with. For about a seven year period a group of us did ministry with a passion. We were working with the kids through TEC, but it went beyond that. We were working together, whatever one of us needed, we all did. We played music at each others churches, we prayed together, we ate together, some of us even married each other. Amazingly, very few of us lived near each other. We were scattered all over Chicagoland. We all had different jobs or went to different Universities. But somehow, our lives were always intertwined. And it was more then a friendship. It was all about God. Our lives were intertwined around each other and around Christ. When we got together we joked and laughed, but we always were ready for whatever God was wanting to do. And we usually did it. It was a powerful time of my life. We preached the gospel (even in a Catholic setting) and we saw lives changed.

That memory affected me this week. Cindy and I received a prophetic word from John Paul Jackson back in 2001. It went something like this: "Leadership, leadership, leadership, stop being reluctant and follow me. Leadership, leadership, leadership. The giftings and callings of the Lord are irrevocable. I will restore the ministry of your youth so that the mockers and the scoffers will be quieted. I will give you gifts so that you will know and that they will know that I am God. Leadership, leadership, leadership." (Or something like that.) We always looked at that word as a "go" word, that we were being restored and we were about to get sent. Looking back, both were the case. The one part of the word that has always confused Cindy and I was the part about the ministry of our youth. I was not saved in my youth....she was a punk rocker in her youth. And then on Monday afternoon it hit me. TEC. Not that we would be doing the retreat again, but that we would be active in a community again like that one. It caused me to shutter and almost cry. It has been a long time since we did that. I did not realize how much I missed that community.

So I pulled together the people that I am closest with here. Jeff, Theresa, Pete and of course my wife. I would have loved Alice to be there, but it was late, and Josiah needed to be in bed. I told them a very brief version of the above story and then asked them what kind of church did they want to be a part of. We went on for about two hours. I really don't know what this will look like when we get there, but for the first time since we moved back to Illinois, I know we are on the road. I am really excited.

I have been blogging for four years now. I'm hoping to document the journey right here. It is my prayer that there are more then five of us on this journey. It is my prayer that most of the church joins us, leaving the idea of belonging to a church and instead becoming the church. It is time to become missional.

Oh yeah, it has been a long time since I was in contact with any of those people from my youth. Dave, Gabe, Keith, Dan, Sue, Anita, Cathlene and Andrea. If any of you are out there and happen to come across this, shoot me an e-mail. We should get together sometime over at "Jim and Pete's" for pizza and some good memories! :)

Small Groups Revisited

2007-02-03T18:48:00.000-06:00

I was sitting in a restaurant here in DeKalb a week or so ago talking with Pete about our small groups. One thing led to another and we came up with this interesting concept. Traditionally, the way that you start new small groups is that you find a "small group leader" and have them begin to recruit members for their small group. This leader can (in a perfect world) come from a successful small group and take a few of the members of the old small group with them to jump start the new group. If your lucky, the pastor will say something on Sunday morning to "plug" the new group and hopefully stir some interest.

In this model small groups have a tremendous importance within the church. It is the place where you take the people who are coming on Sunday morning and plug them in. Getting them in the small group is fruitful in two ways. First, they get discipled better in a small group environment, and second, you see a greater buy in to the church. You move people from just casual attenders to tithe giving, children church volunteering members. That's the theory, and that is just what every pastor in the world wants. People who in love with and are plugged into their church. Most of us have been told over and over again about how important this model is and how we NEED it in our church. All successful churches have strong small group ministries. We must also have a strong small group ministry to be a successful church.

Needless to say, if I judge our church by that model we would be considered a failure. Now it's not that I don't want small groups. It's not that I have not encouraged the church to join them. It's not that I'm not willing to invest in them. It just seems that most of the people that we have are not interested in them. They come to church, they do their thing and an additional night is a hassle. What's a pastor to do. I've read the books, I've taken the classes, I've listened to the tapes and yet we only have three small groups. It can get really depressing. That is until I came to this conclusion: this is a great model, assuming that you have people who want to be plugged in and that you have a Sunday service that regularly generates new people who are hungry for relationships and discipleship. Unfortunately, that is not us.

So Pete and I started talking about the small groups and about how we should take the three that we have now and make them more missional. Remember, missional community...that was the thing that I wanted to be a part of when I came here four years ago...that is the thing that we have not done. So if we could only get our small groups to think missionally, all of our problems would be solved, right?

Well, not really. The model that we are so used to doing is not a missional model. It is a Sunday School model. It's just an over glorified bible study. No, what we need to do is not just get our small group leaders to think misionally, we need to make our small groups missional. So, here's the thought...

What if we planted small groups the way we planted churches. So we look at our community - Northern DeKalb County - and we mapped it out. We asked the question, where would a good place to have a small group. Let's say for example, we focus on Genoa. So, we find someone who is willing to lead that group. They do not have to live in the area (although it would help), they would just have to commit to lead the group. The leader could start praying about the area, perhaps going up there and connecting with some people there (you know, got to some restaurants, stores, whatever....talk to people). Then we go up there as a church. Perhaps we do some servant evangelism up there, try to stir something up. Tell the people we are planing on starting a group up there and see what happens. We only need three or four people to be interested to start a group (and if one of them would be willing to host, all the better.) So the group starts first, and then the people start coming to Sunday morning. The group becomes the focus (since that is where they were introduced to the church.) And since a small group can be less intimidating, they invite their friends to the group....and so on , and so on. Kinda far fetched? How do you think we are going to plant the new church in San Juan?

I'm not sure if this will work or not, but I'm going to give it a shot. What's the worse that can happen? No one responds? Oh well, at least we tried to stir something up. Who knows, maybe the small group becomes a church one day. Or is the small group supposed to be the church today?

That's a thought for another day...

Da Bears

2007-02-02T23:07:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm a big Bears fan, and yes, I'm rooting for them this weekend, and yes, I think that they can win. But it seems like the only people who are picking the Bears are those of us who live around here. I really thought that way until I read this:

It's not just the city of Chicago that loves the Bears.The Super Bowl Formula wholeheartedly embraces them, too.The formula I unveiled in January 1990 uses a variety of regular-season statistics to predict Super Bowl winners. At the time it was created, those numbers would produce the right answer for 20 of the 23 Super Bowls that had been played.

Thank you Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News. Some one outside of Chicago believes in these guys. I finally feel vindicated!

100th Post

2007-02-02T18:16:00.000-06:00

Hey - this is my 100th post! It is had to believe that I have been doing this since 2003 (See first post here.) There have been HUGE gaps in posts, and I should have gotten to 100 a little faster then 3 1/2 years, but wow...100 posts. I've never kept a paper journal this long! While I'm posting this, I've got some Worship Circle running in the background. Kinda gets me sentimental....remembering why I'm doing all this. Here are the lyrics of my favorite song from them.....kinda says it all:

If I lift your name up high
Will you draw me to your side
I just can't make it one more night
Without your kiss

I wait still, Lord come and fill
This emptiness is more then I can stand
I lift my eyes, my voice to the skies
Return me to my first love once again

Lord, I fall down on my knees
Only you can rescue me
I find that I am so in need
Wrap me in your Presence

I wait still, Lord come and fill
This emptiness is more then I can stand
I lift my eyes, my voice to the skies
Return me to my first love once again

mp3 link

Links Updates

2007-01-25T12:47:00.000-06:00

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!

Five Streams of the Emerging Church

2007-01-25T12:23:00.000-06:00

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

What if we do nothing....

2007-01-20T19:49:00.000-06:00

"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."

Church Growth

2007-01-19T16:45:00.000-06:00

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...

Out of Africa

2007-01-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

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

Worldometers

2007-01-17T15:43:00.000-06:00

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.

Links

2007-01-09T09:09:00.000-06:00

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.

BCS

2007-01-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

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!

The telephone is ringing.....

2007-01-08T17:26:00.000-06:00

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.

Christian vs. Christ Follower

2007-01-04T19:24:00.000-06:00

Links

2007-01-04T18:56:00.000-06:00

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

New Year

2007-01-04T18:23:00.000-06:00

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.

How 'bout them Dogs!

2006-12-30T22:35:00.000-06:00

Georgia 31 Virgnia Tech 24

Go DOGS!!

Heretic's Guide to Eternity

2006-12-20T11:25:00.000-06:00

I promised several months ago to do a review for Spencer Bruce's book "Heretic's Guide to Eternity". Although I read the book back in the fall, I never got around to posting the review (I never really got to posting anything! Sorry for the delay on this Spencer). Spencer is the creator of The Ooze and I was honored to get a copy of the book to review as well as looking forward to reading it.

I really did not like the book. I thought it was written somewhat sloppily and dropped statements more for effect and reaction then for true scholarly debate. I was frustrated that is seemed to be written to criticize some of the more traditional / popular branches of Christianity then to say something fresh and relevant.

I agree that following Christ is supposed to be radical, and that at times the Church gets too caught up in keeping tradition then in keeping up with Jesus. But I disagree with what appeared to be Spencer's desire to make the path to Christ so wide that belief does not matter. I thought his original proposition of "Opting-Out" instead of the Church's traditional approach of "Opting-In" was interesting, I just thought his development of that thought was sloppy, unconvincing, and disappointing.

I feel that Scot McKnight had the best review of the book. You can see his reviews here, here, here and here.

Fufilling the dream...

2006-12-15T16:32:00.000-06:00

of the person you love who always wanted to be a monorail driver....priceless.

Third Space

2006-12-07T08:29:00.000-06:00

I know, long time no post. I will post some updates later....but for now, a thought. Cindy and I have been talking about "third spaces" for years (although we never really called it). Take a look at Jordon's post as well as the link on his post.

Here is the question. We spent some time this fall looking at the building next door to open as a coffee shop, but we had no money. What if we just opened the church up during the week. What if we made it a third space, serve good coffee, open it up during the day or in the evening. We have wi-fi running through the building already. What if we pumped in some music, brought in some couches an tables, and opened the church up through-out the week. I know we would need to change some stuff and secure some stuff, and have more people "working" at the church, but we could be a place for people to come, hang out, and look into things that are more "spiritual". I think that we would see some fruit from this...plus we could begin to be salt to our community, a safe place to go and hang out.

Dropping off the face of the earth.....

2006-08-24T18:05:00.000-05:00

So, I haven't posted in awhile. I have really been sick. For two weeks now I have been hacking up a lung....at times with a fever.....although I seem to be feeling somewhat better now (I'm only coughing ever 2-3 minutes instead of every 2-3 seconds.) Traditionally, it takes me a long time to get rid of one of these things.

I have a lot of things that I want to be posting on, but I haven't felt up to it. Coming soon, a book review, and some other interesting stuff (perhaps some pictures from the upcoming golf outing!)

More later...

Deja vu

2006-08-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

There seems to be a new discussion in the blogsphere about pastors plagiarizing other pastors sermons. See Scot McKnight here and Out of Ur here.

The main gist of this is the idea of pastors using other pastors sermons verbatim. I have never done this, but I know those who do. I heard the comments from other pastors about how crazy their lives are. How demanding their jobs are and their congregations are and how they do not have enough time to come up with an original sermon every week. I know the resources are out there...and sermons are easy to get (they are sold on the internet...the complete sermon from your favorite mega-church pastor - all power points included.)

I think one of the reasons that pastors do this is that the idea of buying someone else's sermons in marketed to them. I get catalogs in the mail a few times a month offering subscription services. I get e-mails offering me sermons. It has been so well marketed that it just seem natural...everyone must be doing it. (I speculate that is why there seems to be an increase in pornography today...it is marketed as normal.)

All this brings me back to a story from when I was interning to church plant. Rocky and I went to a Church Planting conference once. There was this well respected pastor / church planter speaking at the conferees, giving all of us future church planters some advice on how to survive the first year. One of the suggestions that he gave was to subscribe to a sermon service. With all the stress of the first year of planting, your life would be made easier if someone else was preparing your sermon. I had never heard of something like this, and it excited me (since I had never preached in my life and was terrified of what it would be like). Rocky and I left the session and climbed into his truck. He then turned to me and said "If I ever catch you using someone else sermon, I will go to where you are and kick your...." (the last word, although not very "pastoral", got his meaning across well.)

Like I said earlier, I have never preached someone else's message. The closest I have gotten to that was repreaching one of my own (to a different audience). That message fell flat and I swore I would never do that again. Now, I have borrowed other people's thoughts from stuff I have heard and read, but I tend to give credit when I do that. I try to be original, but I read a lot, and I am influenced by the scholarship that I read. With that said, the sermon that I present I crafted (with the help of the Holy Spirit).

I think that the excuses that pastors make are valid....this job is odd. To do it well means that you are working almost 24/7 (more on that concept later). Everything is pulling at you and at your time. And a good sermon takes time to write (for me 8 to 16 hours to write one sermon...including study time). What is a pastor to do? My first thought is that we need to prioritize our life better...and our church needs to understand that. I have writing / study time. I have to put it into my schedule or else it won't happen. My wife knows I need it, my secretary knows I need it, my board knows I need it. If I don't get it, they won't get any teaching on Sunday (that might be a good thing every now and then)

Enough of this rant. It is 11:27pm on Saturday night. I finished my sermon for tomorrow about 90 minutes ago. Time to get some sleep.

Really tired

2006-08-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

I'm really tired these days. I should be working on a sermon for Sunday, but I just don't have the energy....I'm feeling run down. It's been awhile since I wrote anything original on this blog. I just have not had the energy to do it. I had to put my mom in the same wing of the nursing home as my dad eariler this week. Over the last few weeks she has developed dementia as well. There are a lot of reasons why this happened, none of which really matter. The nurse told me today that it is incredibly rare for a person to develop dementia as quickly as my parents did, so rare that she could not even imagine the odds that both would develop it at the same time. That would be my parents...always going after the long shot.

Some one last week told me that the Lord never gives us more then we can handle...it just seems at times he trusts us more then we want to be trusted. I'm assuming this is one of those times. I feel like the stress of this all should be getting to me. That I should be more emotional or upset or freaking out or something. But I'm not. I'm just trying to get everything done. I'm guessing it will all hit me later. Right now, I'm just really tired...

George Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday"

2006-07-21T11:10:00.000-05:00


Just too funny...

Sour Deluxe

2006-06-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

Got this e-mail from my sister-in-law:

Hi everyone....

Sorry for the mass email format... I'm calling in a favor ;) My awesome boyfriend Greg's band Sour Deluxe is participating in a contest to be a part of Lollapalooza this August in Chicago. The first round consists of a voting process by the fans, and the top 100 bands from around the world move on to the next round. It would be totally awesome and truly outrageous if you could help them out! You can vote once every 24 hours, and voting ends on June 30. They are currently in 25th place, and really need our help to stay there and move even higher on the list. This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the band, and if you could devote 10 seconds of every day from now to the end of the month it would be a HUGE help. Do you have multiple email accounts? Even better!!

Follow this link to: http://www.freshtracksmusic.com/lolla2006/showartist.aspx?aid=50069&sgn=Indie+Rock

and click on "vote", then check your email to confirm your vote. If you know anyone who would be willing to support local Chicago rock, then pass this on to them as well.

So...click on the link and help Jenny and Greg out.

nuff said......word.

Exercise and me

2006-06-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

I started cycling today as a form of exercise. I have tried running, walking, and the "Y" at one time or another over the past year, none of which have stuck. As I was pondering this last week, I remembered that back in college, I used to cycle a lot. So much so that for a few years there, I was in fairly good shape. So today, I pulled out the old bike, and started to ride. It was not as hard to start off as some of my previous exercise attempts, and it felt like my heart rate started to rise. Hopefully this will stick and I will start to see some change in my life.

Coming out

2006-06-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. I really get into the World Cup. This is something that I have kept in the closet ever since the World Cup was here in 1994. Like most American's of my age, the only background I had in soccer was P.E. class. I'm not even sure that my High School has a Soccer team! But that all changed in 1994. I found the entire World Cup thing to be totally fascinating. And ever since then, I have somewhat followed it. Now, I am no where near as fanatic as most fans are around the world, but at least I'm paying attention (that is better then most Americans!) For what it's worth, I also follow the Chicago Fire and I have been to a few non-AYSO soccer games in my life (mostly college).

I remember a few years ago when I was in Atlanta, there was this guy who went to our church (his name escapes me) who was from South Africa. The rugby World Cup was going on at the time and he was really into it. So much so, that he would drive into Atlanta every morning that the South African team was playing to watch the games at a rugby friendly pub (they were usually on at 4:00am). He really got into this and helped me to see how global this thing was....how it was like the entire world coming together....in a way that was bigger and more meaningful then the Olympics. That was rugby....I have come to find that soccer is even more so. When this thing is going on it feels like the entire world is coming together....not out of peace and love, but to try to beat the snot out of one another on the field. I really get into that...and I enjoy watching the game as well.

So, for the next month, I will be rooting on team US (by the way, you know, we really have a shot this year, although Brazil, England or Germany probably have a better shots) and watching a lot of soccer (or is it football) with the rest of the world. Perhaps later this year, I might even go to a Chicago Fire game.

There, that feels so.....so....liberating.

Monday, Monday.....

2006-06-05T07:12:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here this morning waiting on the heating and air guy to show up and tune up our HVAC units. He is (was) supposed to be here at 7:00 am (it's 7:10 now).

Yesterday was interesting. I was planning on preaching on the last part of our vision statement, the geographical area of our focus (neighborhoods, cities, nations an the world) and the Lord just interrupted me. I preached on it, but without notes, using a totally different scripture then I was initially supposed to. During morning prayer, I really felt like we were supposed to do something different....I was given a different scripture to preach from (Joel 2), but did a similar sermon. Not sure how it went (did get some positive feedback from Cindy, Jeff & Theresa), but all in all, I felt pretty good about it.

Got to go, the heating and air guy is here....

Church Shopping

2006-06-03T08:08:00.000-05:00

This is just too funny, and too true....

Ten Bucks.......

2006-06-02T08:46:00.000-05:00

......if you walk up to Cindy and say "Shave my poodle."

Macbook

2006-05-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

I need a new toy. I think I'm in lust!

I'm Back!

2006-05-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

Once again, I'm back....perhaps I'll post more this summer (don't I always promise that??)

Recap from past two months....there were good days and bad days....I was happy and mad.....I was in a good mood and depressed....That about recaps the whole thing.

This has been an interesting weekend. We have been busy, with getting thing put together in the house and with having people over. So here is a list of what I have learned this weekend:

1) Large gazebo's that appear to be made well and entirely out of steel are REALLY heavy and REALLY not made as well as would appear.

We bought this gazebo a few weeks ago from Target to replace the rusted out one that the previous homeowners had. We got a really good deal on it because it was a floor sample. So some guy from Target took it apart, and they gave it to use as a pile of meal, some cloth and screws, and no instructions. When I mentioned to the kid who loaded it in my car that I was a little nervous about putting it together without any instructions he told me not to worry, the guy who puts the stuff together for Target is "not too bright", so I shouldn't have any problems. Well, I guess he is slightly brighter then I (he used the instructions) because I ended up breaking it by trying to stand it up after assembling it on its side. The welds that held in the screws quickly failed on one corner. Let me just say, thank you for J.B. Weld...the duct tape of glues. I don't know if it will last through the winter....but did I mention that we got a good deal on it?

2) Above ground swimming pool maintenance is an extremely heartbreaking and expensive hobby.

So, when we bought the house, we inherited a swimming pool from the previous owners. We thought that t would be a lot of fun to get it open for this weekend. We took the cover off on Friday and shocked the pool. My friend Steve came over to help me (because he has had pool before.) So we get the pool filter set up and shocked on Friday....things are looking good. Saturday morning I get up and discover that the ladder they left behind needs a deck to work. The previous owners took out the deck and were planning to replace it (I think) but never did. So, off to the pool store and $150 later, I have a pool ladder. Steve comes over to check on things and mentions that I should consider getting a new filter system perhaps next year. The one have is really not that good. So Sunday morning comes and the filter blows the fuses in the house. Guess what...my filter pump blows up. So, $200 later, I now own a new filter pump with a fairly new filter (thanks Steve). We get the pool up and running only to discover that my out-take nozzle and some clamps are bad...so it will be off to the pool store later today for more stuff. So far I have spent over $350 on this thing, with more to come later today. The funny thing (keeping in line with the previous post) is that I put the ladder together wrong, requiring me to saw off part of the legs (I had the instructions this time, but missed the picture on how it was supposed to go into the pool. Perhaps I'm really not that bright.) We discovered my error last night. More J.B. Weld later today. By the way, I have yet to get in the pool.

3) Preaching the entirety and practicality of Kingdom Theology in one Sunday is a huge mistake.

Sunday was by far the longest sermon I have done in a while (over 1:15 in length.) I think I lost the entire church. Ugh.

4) No matter how long I do this pastor thing, or this life thing, I'll never be prepared for the emotional after effects of people.

We had people here all weekend. Friday and Saturday people were here helping us set up our pool. Sunday was church and "Ed-fest" (more on that later), Monday was the Memorial Day open-house. I really do not do well with large crowds. We had a lot of people here on Monday, and I felt like I need to make sure everyone was doing OK. I found myself going from person to person, never really sitting down. It was exhausting. Time to speak in code...We have people who are having marital and life issues, and it is had to deal with some of those...I really don't have anything that I can add to it. We have people who are having job and health issues...once again I really don't know what to say. All I can do is point them to God and pray....and I'm not sure if that is what they really want. Stacey decided to move to N.J. this week and left yesterday....it was rather abrupt and really affected a lot of people (me being one of them). Emotions were all over the place...and she could not understand why people acted the way they did....abrupt decisions cause reactions like that. We also have a growing group of people who are having issues relating to one another. Not that they hate each other, more to the fact that they really like one another, but do not know what do about it or how to act around one another. It is like they are trying to dance the Tango without actually touching one another (For those of you trying to guess, it is more then one couple). This is extremely exhausting to watch from the outside.

5) One of these days I need to figure out that there is not much I can do about the people I really care for who just don't get "it".

Perhaps this ties into the above category, but there are some people who I really care for...some family, some friends, who just don't get "it". It can be several different things, God, Jesus, life, relationships, whatever. They just don't get it. They keep on repeating the same stuff over and over again. The problem is that I really care for these people....love these people, and I really want them to get it and start seeing fruit in their lives. It frustrates me, it depresses me, and it really puts me in a funk. They tend to be the main focus (after my wife and kids) of what my prayers are. I see little things happen, and I get hopeful, I get excited, but then they fall back into the same routines. None of the "it's" are major things, thing's that the world would notice. They are the things that good friends notice. And they probably don’t even know that I get affected.

Perhaps this is where God is with us. Wondering when we are going to get "it." Perhaps this is how he feels, knowing what would be good for us, knowing what would bring us fulfillment, but us never getting it, never trusting him, never truly being fulfilled. Perhaps this is just a lesson for me, to learn how he feels abut me, about my failures, about where I really put my trust. Perhaps it is truly I who doesn’t get "it".

More later....

Wow...I've posted

2006-03-20T14:00:00.000-06:00

IMG_0080
Originally uploaded by jhholda.

For all those who have been bugging me (and you know who you are)...I have finally posted.

By the way, I have opened up a flickr account. Check out our trip to the flower show.

Re-Thinking Church

2006-03-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

I want to start a discussion on re-thinking what church is....what is should look like. Before we start, read this:

(Don't worry, I'll wait........I'll just sit here and play solitaire.......)

Link

(black nine on red ten....Oh good, your back.)

So, this really got me thinking. We have a very interesting fellowship when it comes to schedules. Although we have some 9-5er's in our group, we also have a bunch of people with conflicting schedules. We have firemen, nurses, students (with families (eg. parents) in other towns), food service and retail employees, as well as a whole bunch of people whose job's make evenings and weekends a challenge. So, how do these people become apart of the fellowship? We have some people who only show up on Sunday's once a month or so (due to work).

Traditionally, they might be considered back sliders, yet I know they are dedicated Christians, and they are dedicated to this fellowship. So, how do we minister to this group and what do we do to allow them to feel (as well as be) active members of the community.

The knee jerk response is podcasts, but I think that is more of a tool then a solution. There is more to church then just my sermon. Church is supposed to be about relationship...relationship to Jesus, and relationship to each other (remember the creed, Love God, Love People). So what do we do?

This is where the conversation needs to begin. I know that there are a bunch of you out there (I can see you on the map to the right). Some of you who read this have jobs or lives that make Sunday morning or some weeknight difficult. What could make a community.

I think Jordon's idea's are a good start. Perhaps we should start Podcasting everything. Perhaps the website needs to be more of a forum and less of a brochure. Perhaps we need to figure out how to make the church more accessible for people to come to for quiet time with God, or to meet others. But how should it look? What would you use? What would you want?

Jack Bauer School of Ministry

2006-03-07T21:50:00.000-06:00

Found this on Brian Eberly's blog while surfing....just too funny (and somewhat true)....

Because of my love for youth ministry, and my appreciation for Jack Bauer saving America from all the terrorist out to get us, I post the following from Mark Helsel's blog.

Top 10 things that I have learned about ministry from the show 24!

10. Thoroughly background check the people that you hire especially the executive pastor. How many moles can one place hire, tighten up CTU!

9. Have the latest smart phone. You never know when you will have to send skematics of the new sanctuary to the local zoning board or a teens picture to the police.

8. Computer geeks are essential. Every church needs an Edgar (R.I.P) to stop the meltdown of nuclear reactors or make sure the church newsletter gets e-mailed to the congregation.

7. If you ever need to get teenagers to listen to you at youth group just scream "Federal Agent, let me see your hands!"

6. Breaking protocol is a good thing. It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

5. Bad things happen when the main guys daughter is around. See Kim Bauer!

4. Every ministry needs a socially awkward employee or volunteer like Chloe. This person will typically be in the financial department or nursery.

3. Head pastors are like Presidents you either get a great one like President Palmer or a toal weiner like President Logan.

2. If you need information there is no better way than torture. Can I get an amen! Don't you wish you had a Jack Bauer around when someone comes up to you and says "Some people are saying...but I can't tell you who they are!"

1. How can things go so wrong in just 24 hours? Is Jack on a perpetual middle school overnighter?

Updated Blogroll

2006-02-28T13:37:00.000-06:00

I've added some names to my blogroll for the first time in quite a while. This is a very interesting list of writers. One thing that you may notice as you go through it is that not all of these writers agree with one another. Many of them do not necessarily agree with me either. So why do I read these? Because it helps me to better understand what I believe. I enjoy reading other perspectives because they force me to rethink what I believe, to better define and sometimes to study why I feel the way I do. Sometimes, they even force me to change my mind.

One the issues that I have with many pastors today is that they do not read anything from outside of their circle of influence. They seem to be afraid that if they read something that is theologically different from where they are, they might get contaminated or something (God forbid, they may start babbling in tongues or something like that). The more you limit your reading, the more limiting your views are and the more you tend to think you have all the answers. Conversations tend to begin with an "us vs. them" mentality....that is never healthy in the body of Christ.

So go ahead, click on some of these links. Some of them are scholarly, some of them are babble, and some of them are just plain silly. Some are colleagues, some are family, some are friends and some I wish were friends. So read along with me and try to keep an open mind. Know that you may get offended every now and then and know what you believe. You may end up being better for it.

Global Warming

2006-02-20T16:06:00.000-06:00

Finally, a view on Global Warming that makes sense to me. It's from NPR....it has to be true...

In the beginning...

2006-02-11T09:24:00.000-06:00

For all the controversy regarding the first chapter of Genesis, there is one thing that all of the Christian traditions can agree with. All creation began with God. We have a God who is a creator. Surprisingly, we as Christians seem to forget that. We forget that God is in creation. Oh yes, we remember that when it comes time to fight the local school board regarding evolution. But we forget that when it comes to any type of the arts. We are either against it or we are trying to find way's to "Christianize" it. Usually when that happens, we create a cheap imitation. Funny part is that when you dig into the bible, you see that creation comes from God, and imitation comes from Satan. What's up with that?

I bring that you because of two interesting articles that are out there. First, it seems that Christianity has finally found "American Idol". I guess it has become big enough that we need to make a copy of it. That copy will be called Gifted. Our friends at TBN have created a talent search that is looking for the best in Christian talent.

"It is our goal to wrap God's message -His love- in acceptance, and in a way that blends seamlessly into "pop" culture while still upholding the values we, as Christians, value most. When presented with this gift, wrapped up tightly in respect, we hope that today's youth will open the trendy packaging to release God's love - and realize in doing so that we are all truly "Gifted.""

Imitation all wrapped up in the honorable goal of evangelism. What kind of God are we showing the world? Is it the God that created the universe or it a god that was created by the universe? There is no originality there. Do you ever wonder why most of the world makes fun of us, especially in the evangelical church? We seem to remember that God redeems, but we forgot that God creates. So we go around redeeming things (aka...making them "safe for the whole family") but never truly create anything.

That has not always been the case. One day, take a trip to the Art Institute in Chicago. It is one of my favorite places in all of Chicago. Take a walk up the stairs to the second floor of the main building. On that floor you will see what Christians can truly create. Granted, most of it was created centuries ago. But amazingly, they last through all of time. I doubt Gifted (or most of CCM) will.

Or at Christmas time, walk up the street and go to Symphony Hall. Every year, they perform Handel's Messiah. God working through man to create something great. Or go to some of the neighborhoods of Chicago (or better yet, Europe) and walk through the great old churches. Most of them are works of art...in their architecture, as well as what is in their windows or on their walls. Compare that to one of the Mega-Churches today. There is a church in the near Southwest Side of Chicago called St Paul. You can see it in the background of the movie "The Untouchables". It is a landmark because they built the entire building without nails. Inside and out. Think about what the architects had to do to figure that one out. In contrast, today I get mail every few months for "Church's in a box". Get some land, send the company some money, and they will build you one of several pre-fab church's to fit your every need. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that?

This all came up because of an article written by Erik Lokkesome. In it he describes ten things that we can do to truly redeem the arts. It's an interesting article that challenges us to move away from protesting the arts, to engaging the arts, with our time, money, support, and creativity. It will really get you thinking.

What if, as the church we supported the arts? What if we trusted God to work through us to create something great? In art, in music, in dance, in drama. What if, we used his creative power for evangelism, instead of trying to re-wrap something of the world? What if it was different? What would happen? How would the world respond? How would the church respond? Art was always used by the church to help the world understand the Gospel. Instead of pre-packaging to spread the gospel, why don't we just create? What if, in everything that we do, we remember that it is a form of worship to God? Would we be satisfied with what we were producing?

Worship and Bono

2006-02-09T21:47:00.000-06:00

With spontaneous eloquence, he said being a worship leader must be "the highest of all art forms, to worship and call people into the presence of God."

Nuff said....

General sense of yuck

2006-02-09T17:53:00.000-06:00

My nose is stuffed, my head is sore, my joints hurt. I hate being sick. Ugh.......

To blog or not to blog

2006-02-03T09:22:00.000-06:00

So last night, Chris came over to talk about our new web design for the church. The conversation took many twists and turns. Over the course of the conversation, we talked about the church hosting blogs and about the church linking to blogs that members of the community write. Chris originally brought up concerns on how some blogs (just like how some people) may get a little out of control and perhaps be offensive. This is a natural question that I know many churches are dealing with. I have heard stories of young pastors (usually in an associate role) getting rebuked or fired for stating things on their blog that might be offensive to others (especially if they question some of the prevailing thoughts of the church.) Personally I'm a person who loves the discussion...and I would love to see more people entering into the discussion on how to form this community of faith within DeKalb County. Being the senior pastor of this place, I really am not worrying about getting fired for speaking my thoughts, so I was hoping that we could create an atmosphere where open discussion could flourish. Then Cindy brought up a point...

Cindy and I both started blogging about three years ago. We both started personal blogs and a blog for the Chruch Plant that never happened (Northern Illinois Vineyard). For me, I looked at this as a chance to communicate...the blogs were going to be a central part of the church plant...a place for discussion to occur. I envisioned them to become a place where questions could be asked and answered, where the teachings of the church did not end on Sunday afternoon, but they continued through the blogs....and that the blogs would not be a one way conversation, but a true sounding post for the entire community. Didn't get what I preached on Sunday? Have additional questions or concerns? Bring it up on the blog. Let's wrestle with them as a community.

Unfortunately, that vision never truly came to be. Instead, our blogs became a place where we would put our thoughts. Perhaps this was foolish, but we really thought no one was savvy enough to really find them. Well, we were wrong.

For both Cindy and I, the transition in taking over the church was difficult. We were trained on how to plant a church, not how to turn one around. The first year was extremely difficult for us. The church was divided....there was the old church, then there was the new church. The two really did not like to talk. Cindy and I were caught in the middle. Many people would be surprised at what people will say to their pastor. To do this job is difficult. We lay our lives out for this church day in and day out (not just Sunday.) We have gone without so that the church can have. Both Cindy and I at one time or another have neglected our family and each other for the church. Even to this day, I fight with feelings of guilt when I attempt to take care of my family over the church (our vacation was difficult for me....it took me time to get to the place where I did not feel guilty for taking time off.) Most pastors feel similar to the way I do. So when criticism comes, we tend to take it personally. When people come to us and tell us how much they hate worship, the message, the coffee, kids church, youth, the way we do ministry, the lack of the Holy Spirit, the excess of the Holy Spirit, the way we take an offering, the way the small groups look, the color of the walls, the design of the stage, the sound of the speakers, the lack of landscaping around the church, the break, the cookies in the welcome packet, the color of my shirt, our weight, the taste of the communion bread, the games at the Christmas party, the food at the Easter meal, the design of the bulletin, the type of car that I drive, or the shoes that I wear, I tend to take it personally....really personally. Especially if it is given to us in a flippant manor. It is one thing to come to me in love and as a friend and bring me an idea (eg. Perhaps we should get some new urinal deodorizers...let me go get them to improve the smell) That I can take. It is another thing to just come and criticize (I don't know what the problem is, but the Holy Spirit was not in worship at all....I was grieving the entire time.) Throw my kids into the middle of the entire thing, and I will really get pissed (you know sweetie, if you don't start to exercising, you will get fat like your parents). All of these comments have been spoken over the past three years. Some of them really hurt.

So early on, we ranted on our blogs. We never used names, and tended to speak in generalities...but we ranted. Most of these rants came back to bite us in the butt. People got offended at us for being real. Some complained, some left. For a time, Cindy shut her blog down. Most of her old posts were erased.

So that leads me back to last night....we talked about the church blog, and Cindy had some concerns. How real can we be? How real can others be? If we can't be real with one another on how we feel, is the community blog worth while, or are we just "playing church".

I know there are a group of you out there that read this. Some of you may be upset at what I wrote in this post. But here are the questions that I have for you: We say we want to be real with each other, but do you mean it? Can you deal with someone being real in a blog? Can you deal with raw emotions? With frustrations, anger, disappointment, and people just trying to get something off their chest? Do we really want a place for this in our community, or not? I challenge you to think about it....and then comment publicly on it.