The Return
Jul 31, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Tired | NOISE: Kids playing with toys they had forgotten about }
Upon returning home we discovered a few things:
1) Grace’s passport request was put on hold because of her name change when we got married. Now we have to come up with all kinds of paperwork to prove who she is and we have to do it today. Because we leave in 14 days for Europe, we have to overnight the stuff today. Yuck.
2) Apparently, I forgot to explain to my neighbor kid the difference between lawn and garden. So he went ahead and mowed both. So much for my kids pumpkin patch.
High Speed
Jul 29, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Multi-Layered | NOISE: Cole crying and waking up everyone in the hotel }
We are stopping in Charleston for the night on our way home and our hotel has high speed wireless. Yay. I have missed the high speed. Yes I have.
I have finally uploaded pics from HSLT and our vacation, as well as from a cool place we visited called Atalaya in our pics section (click the link on the toolbar above). And, yes, I posted all 200 odd pictures. I know most of you won’t care, but for people with nothing better to do, enjoy perusing them all.
Here are my favs, and yes, I know that 10 out of 11 are of my kids. Sue me.
The Present Future & An Unstoppable Force
Jul 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Decent | ITUNES: “Rebecca” - PJ Harvey }
I must be in a “church” mood lately because everything I am reading and listening to is on this topic. I am also thinking about teaching on the church this fall.
Most recently, I have read this book by Reggie McNeal:
While I don’t agree with all of his theology, it is a great book. My friend Scott recommended it to me and told me it was a book that was ruining his church in a good way. Basically, the author (a Southern Baptist…ironically I read this down here in the heart of SB country), proposes 6 tough questions for the church. If you have been around the “PostModern” church discussions for awhile, nothing here will suprise you, but he does a great job articulating the points. I discovered in this book a lot of criticism of the church (much of it rightly deserved), and (in a breath of fresh air, really) some solutions. I really enjoyed the book, once I decided to ignore my doctrinal hesitations.
This book reminded me of Steve’s assertion that much of what is being written now has this air of cynicism. (As well as the fact that many young people who grew up in the church are the same way…this is a topic for another day). I think that is true. Yet, there seems to be this transition. And quite frankly, I think I need to make this transition in my own brain. Yes, it is good to have healthy levels of discontent. And where there is reason to be cynical, cynicism. But, let’s not stop there. Let’s look at the church Jesus started. Let’s look at the church the early church fathers died for (I mean the apostles, not guys in the 1300s). Let’s find ways to make that church come alive in the cultural context that God, by his grace has chosen to drop us in!
Anyhoo, I am now diving into another book (Ironically, by another Southern Baptist):
I have come across a passage that may sound cynical, but is meant (I hope) by McManus to be a springboard to this type of forward excitement and thinking. If he doesn’t intend it that way, I do in offering it to you (and it is a long passage, but it deserves a reading):
Do you remember all the voices warning us that America was becoming a secular nation? Do you remember believing it? We were convinced that the great enemy of our time was Secular Humanism. Too many of us still believe this. While our nation systematically eliminates overt Christian influences from the public arena, America’s new grass-roots religion is not atheism but pantheism. Even with the public schools advocating evolution and removing creation science, belief in God is nearly at 100 percent. Even with the bombardment of modernity’s materialism, rationalism, existentialism, and empiricism, our society continues its spiritual quest. America is an extraordinarily spiritual society.
Today we are not moving towards a godless land but to a land with many gods. We are more mystical than ever. We are more open than ever. We are more searching than ever. We are more inquisitive than ever. The reality is that America is not becoming a secular nation but more spiritual than it has been in perhaps one hundred years. From Deepak Chopra to Oprah Winfrey, we live in the era of the techno-spiritual guru. From New Age literature to pop psychology, our bookstores are full of spirit-based self-help books. The Psychic Network is as readily available as TBN. God talk is everywhere…The biting truth is that this country is not rejecting spirituality but Christianity.
The indictment that we must receive is that the Christian faith as we express it is no longer seen as a viable spiritual option. Masses gave the church a try and left wanting. We accuse them of not being willing to surrender to God; they accuse us of not knowing him. People are rejecting Christ because of the church!…Is it possible that it wasn’t the nation that was becoming dangerously secular but the church? Wewere neither relevant nor transcendent. We have become, in the worst of ways, religious. We are the founders of the secular nation.
Now can we take that as an exciting challenge? Can we use that to point the fingers at ourselves and not “those other churches?”
Waves
Jul 28, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MEDICAL CONDITION: Sunburned | ITUNES: “Mexico” - Incubus }
We hit the beach for one last time today and it was amazing. The waves were friggin huge! I was standing in water that was between my stomach and nipples and the waves were higher up than I could reach my hands. I body boarded out there with the surfers. I wonder what they were thinking of me.
Anyhow, I would often pass up waves that I would have killed to have last week. But you could always see the really big one coming. There were times when I was so tired I could barely paddle back out and the waves would just keep coming and they would literally kick the crap out of me. It reminded me of when Job challenged God and God’s response was, “Oh, yeah? You think you are the big man? Check out what I created.”
I was totally humbled today by the ocean and the power it holds and to think that is a mere hint of God’s awesome power. It’s like when Job says back to God, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You ask, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me.”
Spam Attack
Jul 27, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Insane in the Membrane | NOISE: Kids }
I have been hit with a major spam attack. I periodically get spammed on my comment section of the site, but this week it has gone through the roof. An average of 100 spams per day and today over 1000! Kyle hooked me up with MT Blacklist. So, I am running the despamming program tonight. In the meantime, two things for you to know.
1) Don’t click on any bizarre links referring to, oh, say porn or viagra or gambling or the like in any of my comments sections.
2) Hopefully I don’t lose any of your comments, but it is may happen. Sorry about that.
HSLT
Jul 23, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Reflective | NOISE: Dan Leading Worship }
Steve complained that not enough of us at HSLT were blogging about the week, so I am going to hit you with a few bullet points. Right now, Dan is leading the final worship set of the week and I just got done with the last message.
*It was a privilege for me to get a chance to teach with Tom Short this week. He and I are so different, and yet we seemed to have this great synergistic relationship. Often, I found myself quoting him on the stage and he did the same with me. I can’t remember if that has happened at a conference before. Very cool stuff.
*I mentioned in a previous post how I was excited about the evangelism training this week and I want to reiterate that. It was really grounded in the student’s personal relationships.
*One of our focuses this week was prayer. That has been an awesome thing. I was struck by the verse in James 5 that says, in part: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” I always hear the last part of the verse quoted, but it is very significant in context. Our prayers have great power and wonderful results as we pray for our friends who have confessed their sins to us. Note this does not say “forgiveness,” it says “heal[ing].” We have a great role in praying for each other and I have seen that this week. Teens who have never prayed have prayed for each other and God has begun healing in a lot of areas. Cool stuff.
*8 people from our church got baptized. Cool.
*In a non-spiritual area, my van got fixed and immediately broke down again. Then the mechanic rebuilt my distributer for free because he didn’t catch it the first time. Amazing.
*Vacation. Mine starts in an hour. Very exciting. I am going to swim and play with my kids and kiss my wife and read. Not necessarily in that order, but maybe in that order.
That’s all for now. Love and Kisses.
Hip Hop Spirituality
Jul 20, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Good, Thanks for Asking | ITUNES: “Jesus Walks” - Kanye West }
Here’s an excerpt from P Diddy on MTV’s site. It’s from a two-part article on spirituality in the Hip Hop community and it is about Kanye West’s album (which Dan turned me on to, thank you very much).
“I think that a lot of times when you’re talking about God or Jesus, people get intimidated,” opines P. Diddy, who released the single “Best Friend” about his relationship with God in 1999. “The way Kanye did it, he made the record so hot that they can’t front on it. It wasn’t about the lyrical content; it was undeniable. Then, because [the record] was blessed to be a hit, you’re forced to deal with the power of God and the record is going to touch you. You can’t escape it. ‘Best Friend’ was definitely one of the first records, but to be honest, ‘Jesus Walks’ is just a hotter record. It’s a rap record about Jesus [that] young men and women can understand, instead of you pushing it down their throats. You hit them with that heat and they understood it.”
Time Warp
Jul 19, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Ecstatic | NOISE: Washer }
For the last few days my site has had a bit of a time warp because my ISP was shifting to new servers. So I was afraid that I had lost the last few days of posts. But I did a little craziness and got everything back (no help from Kyle, of course). Yay.
And, yes, for those of you playing at home, the van is still broken.
The Miracle of Life
Jul 18, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: OK | NOISE: Jed doing Evangelism Training }
It was beautiful, really. We were standing on the edge of the ocean, the waves rolling in over our ankles. The kids were playing in the surf. Just then Eric began to find little crabs in the sand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…he kept tossing them into the bucket. All of the kids ran over to witness these cool little lives.
As I stood there, looking over the ocean, I was thinking how cool it was that my kids could learn about the miracle of life here and how precious it is. I glanced over to see Ethan (my three year old) pouring sand on top of the crabs and crushing their helpless bodies down with all of his might. Yes, the miracle of life…smooshed into a pool of death by a three year old.
HSLT
Jul 18, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Decent | NOISE: HSLT Evangelism Training }
HSLT started last night, whether we were ready or not. We had tech problems, I was sick, it was interesting, to say the least. It was one of those times that you have to acknowledge God in. If anything good came out of it, it was not because of us.
Right now Chris Old and Jonathan Kimball are leading Evangelism Training. They are doing great. I am sick of evangelism being seen as a skill set to be mastered. They are leading us through a worship time centered on The Romans Road. Then, they will share a few different methods of sharing about Christ with others. It’s pretty cool.
Anyhoo…back to work.
(And in case you were wondering, Henry set up a wireless network so we can surf…very nice).
Trip Woes
Jul 15, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Tired, Very Tired…Oh, and Hungry | NOISE: Almost None, Finally }
How to even begin explaining our trip to Myrtle…I guess I’ll just dive right in…
Before we leave, Grace says, “If the van gives us any trouble you are buying me a new one.”
We hit the road late because, well, we always hit the road late. That put us a few hours behind schedule. That would normally not be an issue, but this time we reserved (and pre-paid) for rooms on Travelocity. So, we have a schedule to keep.
While driving through Ypsilanti, we have a tire blow out. Not just any tire, but the one we replaced after in blew out on our last trip to a conference in February. (See this video for a refresher.) I discover when trying to take off the bad tire that a) I do not have the right size jack (I bought a new one after the last one broke in Feb) and b) I don’t have the right tool to get the spare off the van. Luckily, Aaron and Eric were 15 minutes behind us with another Ford van that happened to have the same tool. Nice.
So, I call Discount Tire to see if they have one. The gentlemen gives me directions to their store. 20 minutes later, I call him back and he gives me the same wrong directions. So I call another Discount Tire and ask them for directions and they give me the right ones. I get to Discount Tire and they don’t have the right tire. They call around and noone does. So they give me the wrong tire and leave my spare on the car. They bag up the tire and put it in the van (just in case) and tell me to swap it out for the right one when I get home. Groovy. 3 hours wasted, but we are back on the road and flyin’.
We are about 15 minutes North of Charleston when Grace announces, “Something’s wrong with the van.” She was right. The tensioner (that holds on the serpentine belt) has disintegrated. Now we are dead. Luckily, our personal guardian angel arrived in a ‘66 Corvette convertable. His name was Larry. Weird name for an angel, but I digress.
Larry the Angel says to come with him. I do. This seems like a scene from “Deliverance,” driving through the back roads with Larry the Angel in West Virginia. We come to his house and he presents me with his conversion van which he is going to loan us. In fact we “can take it to Myrtle Beach for all I care.” Meanwhile, we call for a tow and at midnight, the towtruck arrives. The kids think this is fun, my wife is enjoying her favorite new phrase (”I told you so.”) and I am watching my van get towed….again.
We spend the night in a hotel and get up the next morning to find it is not a big deal to fix. 12:30pm, we return Larry the Angel’s van. He reminds us that we “can take it to Myrtle Beach for all I care.” No, thanks, we gotta go.
Late in the evening, we arrive in Myrtle to discover the condos goofed up and they have not left us a key to our condo. We call the 24-hour line and they hook us up with a temporary room for the night.
So much for arriving early and settling in.
This morning, we got our new room and guess what? The van is not working. Apparently, our air conditioner (which is brand new) is mad at the van and when we turn it on, it turns the van off. Then, at lights and stop signs it dies again. Lovely.
Back to the mechanics tomorrow.
Needless to say, Grace still wants a new van.
HSLT
Jul 12, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Tired | TIVO: The Assistant }
We take off tomorrow morning for HSLT in Myrtle Beach, SC. It has taken awhile for me to get excited about it, but I really am at this point. Please pray for it. These conferences always have tremendous potential to be a “mountaintop” type experiences for the teens. Pray that a lot of kids would not only have this kind of experience, but would also make lifelong decisions.
I will continue to post as I have time because I will be colaborating with the evil AOL empire for a free month of dial-up while I am there.
This starts a crazy travel schedule for us. Here is our insane schedule:
Tomorrow - July 23 | HSLT in Myrtle Beach, SC
July 24 - July 31 | Vacation (we are staying in MB for a family vacation)
August 13 - August 17 | Prague, Czech Republic (with Grace for vacation)
August 18 - August 23 | Wisla, Poland (with Grace for the first ever Euro-HSLT conference)
September 24 - September 26 | Atlanta, GA (with Grace for a conference with Northpoint Church)
Crazy. Anyhoo, off to finishing my packing.
Xanga
Jul 12, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: OK | ITUNES: Kids Fighting Over Toys }
This might be one of the most interesting Xangas out there. It’s a one post Xanga about how all Xangas are pointless and pathetic. Then, there are tons of comments (31 as of right now) fighting a pointless and pathetic argument about this particular pointless and pathetic point.
For the record, the guys who thinks Xangas are pointless and pathetic liked Jason’s entry that reference me. Yeah buddy.
Politics
Jul 10, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Sweaty | NOISE: Kids coloring }
Going along with the political conversation, I just read this quote on Sojo.net:
“Religion should not be the exclusive possession of the Republican or Democratic Party, the right or the left, but must be able to critique and challenge both. And clearly, in this election, Christians will be voting both ways, because of their faith.”
Dads
Jul 10, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Caffeinated | NOISE: Ethan sword fighting himself }
I just read a stat in Men’s Health Magazine that 90% of men wish their dad was around more when they were growing up.
Spiderman
Jul 10, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Spidery | NOISE: Kids Playing }
Camera Phones
Jul 10, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Gurgy | NOISE: Cole Talking }
This is really cool. It’s an online camera phone picture gallery. Very cool.
Government and Worship, Respectively
Jul 9, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Thoughtful | TIVO: Monk }
I just read two really interesting articles that make you say “hmmmm” on two topics I have been chewing on a lot lately. I’ll give you excerpts and links to the entire articles (which I seriously recommend you read if you get a chance).
God and Country or Christ’s Kingdom
Excerpt One
In recent years, a very vocal element within mainstream Christianity has been promoting a “nationalized gospel” — a gospel wrapped in an American flag. Unbiblical notions about patriotism and America’s “special” place in God’s plan abound in books, magazines, radio and TV programs produced by these religio-political zealots, as well as from their pulpits.
To equate nationalism, American or any other, with faithfulness to the gospel is a misguided perspective that can only serve to weaken our witness to the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. When such nationalistic battle cries dominate our agenda, the true message of the gospel will be inevitably compromised, if not forgotten altogether. It is time for us to “test the spirits” urging us to “turn America back to God and traditional ‘Judeo-Christian’ values.”
This is not what Jude meant when he urged us to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (vs. 3). We must not permit our minds to be “led astray from our sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3) by this biblically unwarranted call to promote a “God and Country” civil religion.
Christ did not call us to reform our country but to spread the only message that has the power to change lives. If we truly believe in the power of the gospel, we must not let it be weighed down by such unbiblical baggage.
Excerpt Two
As we have contemplated these issues, we have become increasingly convinced that it is a serious mistake for believers to identify with any political party or “ism” in this world. Rather than to show a commitment to certain causes, identification with. a particular political party has the effect of compromising the effectiveness of a believer’s witness. By aligning ourselves with a particular political party, we often unwittingly alienate those who may identify with an opposing party, thus unnecessarily erecting a stumbling block that can only hinder the credibility of our witness to Jesus Christ. We are certainly free to evaluate the relative merits of the various political systems in our culture and to hold whatever convictions about such matters as seem appropriate in light of the teaching of God’s word. But we also know that political affiliations are a source of much strife and contention all over the world. Should we not, therefore, avoid unnecessary alienation from those we hope to evangelize by not wearing such political convictions on our sleeves?
Are you a BC Christian or an AD Christian?
You may say that the answer is obvious, since we live after Christ we must all be Anno Domini ‘in the Year of our Lord’ Christians; what else could we be? Chronologically that may well be true, but theologically, it is only too possible for people to be BC Christians to the extent that what they do when they meet together as church is more closely patterned on Old Testament practices than those of the New Testament. They act as if the coming of Jesus hardly makes any difference at all. And whether a church is functioning as a BC church or an AD church is shown by their view of what constitutes ‘worship’.
Spiritual Warfare
Jul 8, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Indecisive (Trying to decide whether or not to go biking today) | ITUNES: “Just Like Heaven” - The Cure }
My friend Matt has recommended very strongly an article entitled “The Principles of War: A Strategy For Group and Individual Evangelism”. Because of his strong recommendation, I gave it a little read. I feel like this article addresses some things that bear serious thought. Some, I totally agree with. Some, leave a horrible taste in my mouth.
Some of you will really care to read this, some won’t, so I will put my long post in an extended entry. If you care, just follow this link to the extended entry: Read the rest of this entry »
The Church
Jul 8, 2004 Uncategorized
{ MOOD: Decent | ITUNES: “The Remedy” Jason Mraz }
From my friend Pavi’s blog:
I’m here at TCS with Graham Tomlin, and he’s speaking on what the community of Jesus focused on. Simple things, yet so rich and exciting for me to reflect upon: living life together around Jesus, hospitality, eating together, wasting time together, practicing servanthood together, going on retreat together, interactive teaching and discussion, questions, scripture reflection, observing life together and reflecting together upon those observations, a commitment to the poor, to those on the edge, and a simplicity of life.
This is church, isn’t it?
