Mar 19, 2010 Friday Random Linkness Leave a comment | Print This Post
What up my homies? It’s Friday Random Linkness!
Internet stats.
Oh man, this is cool. Tag Galaxy.
I think when I go bald, I’m going to do this.
The only immortal animal on earth?
Interesting thoughts on the iPad: Less is More.
The best use of Chat Roulette so far.
Anyone want to design a Friday Random Linkness logo for me? If so, let me know.
Mar 18, 2010 The Team 1 Comment | Print This Post
This week, I am blogging about different people who have mentored me in one way or another this past year or so. Today, I want to talk about The Thinkers. Now, in many ways all of the people I have blogged about this week are thinkers or they wouldn’t have made the list. But these people are the ones that kept make me say “aha” this year. None of them are pastors, and some are not affiliated with Christianity but I read and learn from them constantly.
Seth Godin
Seriously one of the best blogs out there, period. His posts are short so my comments on him will be too.
Brad Vermurlen
Brad is a grad student working toward his PhD in Sociology at Notre Dame. In his spare time, he works as a Research Team Captain at Docent Research Group and he volunteers as my Research Assistant. The dude is wicked smart and has a great heart for the Gospel and for the church. He is so valuable to me, not just in the research help but by what he posts for all the world to see on his blog. Brad is a great thinker and even when he just slaps a link up there, it’s worth checking out.
Todd Rhoades
Todd runs a great blog with too much pink in the design (just saying). Every day, I give it a quick look because he spends time surfing the web so I don’t have to. He links to a lot of stuff related to the church and it’s always worth the time to see what he has found.
Gary Vaynerchuk
A few years ago someone turned me onto Gary because of his energy, passion, and drive. Since then I have been reading and watching his stuff continually. This guy has a wicked work ethic and most pastors could learn a lot from him. Oh, and he is a wine guy so that’s a bonus.
Brett McKay
Speaking of wicked work ethic, check out ArtofManliness.com, run by Brett McKay. This guy is a serious workhorse and has a brilliant website encouraging men to be men. His thoughts are constantly challenging me to walk a different road than most men in our culture. Sweet mustache, too.
Mar 17, 2010 The Team 1 Comment | Print This Post
This week, I am dedicating my blog posts to people who have mentored me in one way or another over the last year or so. Today, I’ll chat about The Pastors. These are pastors across the country who have influenced me a ton and some of them have no idea who I even am.
Larry Osborne, North Coast Church
I really can’t talk about mentors without talking about Larry. He pastors the pioneer church when it comes to the video multi-site model. For two years, I was part of a group of youngish pastors put together by Leadership Network. Larry served as one of our mentor pastors. Every six months, we would get together and learn from him for a few days. Ever since I met him, Larry has always been available when I need help. He has advised me on operational issues, marriage issues, staff issues, book-writing issues, and on and on and on. He has helped Riv in more ways than anyone can possibly know.
Francis Chan, Cornerstone Church
I subscribe to a lot of teaching podcasts…I often have them on in my car or when I am working out. Many of the podcasts I download, I never listen to. Some, I listen to on a semi-regular basis. But I listen to nearly all of Francis Chan’s. His humility, his humor, his honesty…they are all super refreshing. He challenges me greatly as a pastor more than anything.
John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church
Oddly, I don’t listen to many of John Piper’s messages. Not sure why that is, really. However, I have probably read more of John Piper’s stuff this last year than anyone else. Many of his books are available for free online and he blogs continually over at Desiring God.
Dave Gibbons, New Song Church
Dave Gibbons pastors a worldwide multi-site church. Yes, you read that right. My first reaction to this was, “what?” But I have grown to love his vision. While we definitely come from different theological camps, I have learned a ton from him about the world around us. This past year, I have been reading and listening to Dave a lot when it comes to the idea of “Third Culture.” I don’t have time to get into that here, but it’s significant stuff for the church to be paying attention to.
Bob Deffinbaugh, Community Bible Chapel
Bob pastors a small church in the Dallas Texas area. I stumbled onto his writings on Bible.org while doing message prep quite awhile ago and I love the way he handles Scripture. Often, when someone asks me a question about some theological point or another I just send them a link to one of Bob’s papers. I learned a ton from him as I worked on my recent series on the Psalms. Do yourself a favor and check out his writings.
Mar 16, 2010 The Team Leave a comment | Print This Post
This week, I am dedicating my blog posts to people who have mentored me in one way or another over the last year or so. Today, I start with The Locals.
Dan Price and Steve Sommerlot
At Riv, we have a team of pastors leading together instead of a Lead Pastor. Currently there are six of us and we don’t all spend a ton of time together because we are all out there doing our thing. However, I work very closely with two of the guys and they have been great mentors for me this year. Steve is the oldest pastor at Riv and Dan is the youngest. Maybe that’s part of what makes them significant for me.
Steve brings years (decades) of pastoral experience and doctrinal study to our conversations. He is quick to point out theological inconsistencies and to pull out “we tried that once and it bombed” anecdotes. In many ways, Steve is the kind of guy I want to be when I am really really old. I want to pour my life into younger leaders and get out of their way so they can do much more than I am able to even dream of doing.
I used to be “the young guy” at Riv, but not anymore. For the time being, that title belongs to Dan. He is an intuitive leader and discipler of not just individuals, but groups of people. He has lots of fresh ideas and is never afraid to tell me when one of my ideas is dumb. He also loves bacon and has helped me to grow in that area of my life.
Grace Heikkinen
Here’s the thing about my amazing wife: she knows me better than anyone else…she sees me for who I am and she doesn’t believe the hype. She is not impressed by me, my role at Riv, my speaking, my writing, or any of that sort of thing. She is my most honest advisor and critic (in a very good way). We talk every day about everything I’m dealing with and she gives me advice from a perspective that is so different than my own. She is a pessimist and I am an optimist. Because of this, her insight is very valuable.
The bottom line is if you tell me something, I am going to tell her and get her thoughts. If you don’t want her to know something, don’t tell me.
Shelley Hrapkiewicz
Shelley is our Operations Director at Riv and she starts most of our conversations with the words, “Couldn’t we…” She has got a great global view of the church and lots of great ideas about how to make things run more smoothly. Now granted, I shoot down most of her ideas but she doesn’t get bugged by that. Instead, she keeps coming at me with more ideas.
Oh, and she is trying to make my teeth fall out from decay because she keeps stocking up on Atomic Fire Balls.
Mar 15, 2010 The Team Leave a comment | Print This Post
A few years ago, I blogged about people who had mentored me that year (with or without realizing it). It was a good exercise for me for two reasons.
1. It helped me be thankful for people God has placed in my life each season.
People come in and out of our lives. When we meet someone new, we are often excited about the new friendship, influence, etc. It’s a cool season. But then sometimes they leave our lives. We tend to think of this as a bad thing, but it really can be a good thing. We all have a limited amount of bandwidth. Time to invest in relationships, time to read and study, time to interact with others is limited. When a person (for whatever reason…be it intentional or not) leaves our lives, it creates space.
That space can be filled with others.
Often that void can be filled with new voices that are significant for the new season of life we are in. In that sense, our mentors change constantly and that is a good thing.
2. It reminded me to pour my life into others.
Sometimes I delude myself into thinking I’m too busy to invest my life in other people.
When I think about the people who have poured into my life, it reminds me of the importance of doing the same thing. And when I think of those who have influenced me, it reminds me that each type of mentorship is different. I can mentor tons of people simply by blogging and offering resources online. I can invest in a fair amount of people with quick phone calls / email conversations and I can invest in a select few with regular personal time.
I need to make sure mentoring stays a part of my life.
So I’ve decided to do it again and this time, I’m going to dedicate a week worth of posts to these mentors.
Before I get started, quick question for you: who are your mentors?
Mar 12, 2010 Friday Random Linkness Leave a comment | Print This Post
금요일 무작위 링크
Fake but cool: Guy makes art with nail gun
Not fake, but cool: Guy makes art with coffee cups
Best Batman Engrish Ever.
Awesome read: Get over your glory days.
Wow. Check out this story of a Hamas spy who converted to Christianity.
Water consumption in Edmonton during the Olympic Gold Medal hockey game.
AHHHHHHHHH!!!!! ALIEN FISH!
Mar 11, 2010 Book Reviews 4 Comments | Print This Post
One thing that has widely been touted in recent years is that Americans (as a whole) and Christians (in particular) are not very well versed in basic Christian doctrine. The longer I am a pastor, the more I believe this to be true. It’s almost like the exponential increase of information available to us (because of the internet) has made us less knowledgeable because it’s hard to wade through the sea of information. Add to that the fact that less and less people are “churched” in our culture and you see why people are not familiar with the tenets of the Christian faith.
That’s why I like the book Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know by Wayne Grudem. While I do not agree with everything he writes (most notably the timing of “regeneration” for those of you who care), I like the simplicity of this book and I generally agree with most of it. In a mere 137 short pages (if you skip the appendices), Grudem lays out the basics of the Christian faith:
Now this may seem like boring stuff to many, but these are foundational concepts to understand. Here are a few quotes I really dug:
“…it is in Scripture alone that we search for God’s words to us. And we should, eventually, arrive at contentment with what we find there. The sufficiency of Scripture should encourage us to search through the Bible to try to find what God would have us think about a certain issue or do in a certain situation. Everything that God wants to tell all his people for all time about that kind of issue or situation will be found on the pages of the Bible. While the Bible might not directly answer every question we can think up – for “the secret things belong to the Lord our God” (Deut. 29:29) – it will provide us with the guidance we need “for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17).
“Therefore, wrath is an attribute for which we should thank and praise God. If God delighted in or as not troubled by sin, he wouldn’t be a God worthy of our worship and praise. Sin is worthy of our hatred. In fact, we are encouraged by Christ’s example to hate sin and wickedness (Heb. 1:9).
“Sanctification is a lifelong process. If you are a believer in Jesus, at times it will seem as if the process is going at a faster rate than you ever thought possible. It’s at these times that you will need to guard against pride and self-righteousness (thinking yourself better than you are and taking credit for your goodness that is really a gift of grace.)
At other times, you will wonder if there is any life inside you at all. It’s at these times that you may wonder if you are even truly a Christian. When the doubts begin to fill your thoughts, pray the prayer found in Mark 9:24: “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mar 10, 2010 Uncategorized 5 Comments | Print This Post
Is our race “American”?
My “nationality” is (in order) Finnish, English, Irish, French, German, and Scottish (I have been told I can date relatives on one side back to the Mayflower).
My wife’s “nationality” is Korean (her parents are from South Korea).
What does that make our kids? It seems like this comes up from time to time as we fill out various sets of paperwork. For years, we were forced to pick just one race which kinda ticked me off. Now with the new census form, you can pick one or more boxes.
Hopefully this isn’t an offensive question, but does this really matter a whole lot?
A few weeks ago, I heard Dave Gibbons speak on the idea of Third Culture (you can find the message here). He made an interesting observation that older generations tend to care a lot about multi-culturalism. The younger generations don’t, at least not in the same way. They celebrate different cultures quite a bit (which may be a result of multi-culturalism) but someone’s ethnic makeup is not a big deal anymore.
I wonder why it is that we, as a country, think it’s important to track this particular thing. Hopefully this doesn’t sound trite, but I wonder when (if ever) the day will come that we can get past it.
Here’s an interesting quote from Teddy Roosevelt (via Michelle Malkin):
There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all… The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic… There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.
Not trying to make some big point here, it’s just something I’ve been chewing on and I felt like writing it out.
Mar 8, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment | Print This Post
You Rivites may remember Eric Asp, a friend of ours who spoke at our church a couple years ago. Eric pastors a church in Amsterdam that I have had the good fortune to visit several times. We’ve also had teams go over there to help out from time to time.
He just sent me a cool video that talks about what his Wednesdays are like:
If you want to find out more about how you can help Eric’s ministry, check out EricAsp.com.
Mar 5, 2010 Friday Random Linkness Leave a comment | Print This Post
Well, woopdidoo it’s Friday Random Linkness.
And it appears the Snuggie has been outdone again.
Is my shirt a sin?
This is nearly sacrilegious, but awesome.
This is nearly insane, but awesome.
This is nerdy, but awesome.
American Idol: Where are they now?
Well…it looks like the days are technically getting shorter.
Hi, I'm Noel and I'm a recovering hypocrite. I spend the majority of my time pastoring and teaching at Riverview, surfing the internet on my iPhone, being obsessed with Jack Bauer, and hanging out with my smoking hot wife and four wildly talented children. I plan on spending the rest of my life figuring out how to vicariously plant hundreds of churches without ever leaving my church. Oh, and even though I work for Riverview, everything here is my personal opinion and nothing more.
You are welcome to leave comments on my blog posts here, but I interact a lot more over on Facebook and Twitter. If you want to dialog about something with me, you are more likely to get a response over there.
