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Monday Morning Brief – 8/10/09

August 10, 2009 by Leave a Comment

What I Enjoyed this Week – 1. The Yankees sweeping the Red Sox!  It was nice to see that but you can’t count those blood thirsty Bostonians out.  They’re like the monster in a horror movie, just when you think it’s dead, it gets up for one last kill.  Hopefully the victim will be Detroit or Anaheim.   2. Got out of jury duty.  I showed up, read some Barth, blogged a little then I shouted, “THE EMERGENT APOCALYPSE IS COMING!!! TURN AWAY FROM YOUR FUNDAMENTALISM AND GET AN IPHONE SO YOU CAN FOLLOW OUR TWEETS!  Turns out, they had enough people to serve for that case so I got to go home.  3. Some of my seminary cohort friends are blogging.  Check out Joe-Love Livingston’s Defenstrates (to throw out of a window) and El Presdident Jay Dusold – Time to Plant.  I hope they last longer than KJ and Jeremy.  I guess they can’t all turn out consistent and interesting like Evan Curry. 4. I enjoyed attending Jeff’s 40th Surprise Party.  Though he still acts like he’s 30 (and that’s not all complimentary, brother ;-), he’s my fantasy baseball consultant, my environmentalist mentor (we call it creation care in my world), and a great friend who always has a good story to tell.

What I’m Reading – FInally finished Enough by Will Samson (I started this book in Aruba, then I lost it, found it, read some more on our mission trip, then I lost it and for whatever reason, it keeps getting misplaced.  Can’t find it or any of the other books I’ve been recently reading like Rob Bell’s Drops Like Stars. It leaves me to conclude that it’s some kind of Neo-Calvinist poltergeist).  Also reading Samir Selmanovic’s   new book It’s Really All About God.  Half way through and I am in love with it.  It’s not what I thought it would be, it’s very moving.

What I Thought Was the Most Interesting Article I’ve Read Recently – “Congenital Human Baculum Deficiency”. You may be able to figure out a little of what it’s talking about from the title but I’m not kidding, it’s extremely interesting.  That spare rib of Adam and the creation of Eve, hmm, maybe “rib” isn’t the right word there.  Thanks Dan Kirk (author of UnLocking Romans and the funniest guy in any room. Admittedly, I usually see him in academic settings as opposed to a room full of Seth Rogans but still …).  Dr. Kirk, please fix your blog so people like me can click and read your brilliant posts and see how unintelligent we are ;-)

What I’m Listening to – Wilco, Wilco, Wilco.  and the same podcasts as usual, Homebrewed Christianity, Relevant, Mars Hill.

What I’m Spending my Money on Next – a subscription to Generate Magazine.  Paritally because the pile of magazines I am suppose to read isn’t actually high enough.  But I’ll move Generate to the top.

Student Ministry Update – 1. We had well attended and a very fun Swim N’ Study this past week.  2. I am in planning mode and looking to some things this fall.

Other Church Ministry Stuff – 1. We are in conversation about adding a Saturday Night Service.  It would be more of an alternative more youthful expression to our Sunday Blended Service.  2. Also working on an adult mission trip to New Orleans.  Our Sr. Pastor and our elders have been very supportive of these ideas so we’ll see what happens.

What I am Looking Forward To –1. Catching a few baseball games before the school year starts. 2. NFL!!! 3. Going to a wedding this  weekend.  It’s going to be pretty laid back, children are very welcome and it’s going to be on the beach which is absolutely fantastic.   I do not know the bride very well and I can’t say I’m extremely close with the groom but indeed we have become friends these past few years and we are so happy for them.  It’s a second wedding for both and people like to assume what that means. It’s absolutely amazing – they’re both wonderful people with incredible stories of how they got to this Saturday.  It seems to me that God has heard their prayers.

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Filed Under: Reflective

Reflecting on CT's The Case for Early Marriage

August 4, 2009 by Leave a Comment

I just read The Case for Early Marriage by Mark Regnerus and thought it was a decent article, especially for many CT readers.  Most near my age will laugh at the first few paragraphs and I think you should click just to check out the first three paragraphs.  In any case, I liked the article and here are some thoughts.

I got married young (23) and am grateful for it.  It all kind of worked out for me (Susan still isn’t sure but I’m ok with that ;-)  Every so often I think to myself, “Wow, so maybe I wasn’t a complete idiot in college.”  But we married young because we were convinced that we found the person we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with, not necessarily because we wanted to be married young.  In fact, I’m confident that had neither of us thought we were right for each other, we would have broken up and waited for the right person and the right time.

Just a few weeks ago as we were driving to Poets, Prophets and Preachers, Susan and I were talking about this.  It usually arises from the context of I’m not sure I would have gone to Liberty had I to do it all over again.  Some days I am certain that I wouldn’t, some days I am certain that I would (because I do think it has shaped me and my present perspectives).  Most days I say, if I hadn’t, I would have regretted not meeting Susan.  And that’s probably true because I don’t believe in this “God only has one person out there for you and you need to follow His treasure map plan so you two will meet.  This is why you should always rush to get into the elevator and speed through yellow lights so you won’t miss destiny at the grocery store.”  Or is that you should wait for the next elevator and brake hard at yellow lights so you don’t miss God’s will at the light?  This is why God didn’t foreordain me to  be a Calvinist (I’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of that joke lately).

So should Christians marry young?  My answer is yes and no.  I’ve met too many people who regretted marrying young. That’s not to say that they may have regretted marrying at another point in time but their sentiment is worth heavily considering.  On the other hand, I’ve listened to those who regretted marrying later on or not at all.  Both comments have been found in counseling sessions, some have been dear friends, and some of have been those that you meet along the journey of life.

Indeed it’s difficult to meet people later on in life.  This is clearly evidenced by my single friends.  Frankly, many of them are amazing people that have not found their “one.”  If I was single and looking I’d probably have duplicate facebook accounts, a membership on every dating site including Jdate, a blog dedicated to my singleness called “The Desperate Disciple” and would be trying to produce my own reality show called, “The Bachelor Pastor that was Left Behind”. I’d cast Christian girls from various circles like the wholesome northern girl, the southern ex-smoker, a Bob Jones grad and for the sake of good television, a non-Christian.  She would probably be a pastor’s daughter and would be easily identified by the tattoos, the leather biker-chick attire and constant use of profanity.  If I couldn’t convince FOX maybe I could get TBN or that Angel Network that I see advertised every so often.  I’d write a book called I Kicked Courtship Good-bye and would man a table at the Women of Faith rallies (do they still have those?).  In all likelihood, all this would be a disaster and be used as further evidence to Regnerus’ point.

I would really like to encourage young people (like my youth group students) to be open to marrying young (defined as soon after college) and not be set on waiting until after grad school or after they have made their first million or something.  I would also like to encourage those determined on meeting someone in college to be open to waiting for the right person and/or until they became the right person. Perhaps being open to this tension would allow us to be more selfless and more open to finding a significant other.

Filed Under: Christianity, Reflective

Monday Morning Brief 8.3.09

August 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment

What I’ve Been Enjoying –1. I’ve loved being home.  All is well with Susan, Nathan, and all is well in the womb with Baby G. Just went to another appointment and all is pretty good.  To the right is a fairly recent 4-D sonogram pic.  I’ve never been so happy to see my nose.  Not worried, he’ll still get enough of his mom’s genes to be cute.  2. Still enjoying the afterglow of our mission trip and trying to apply what I’ve gained from our Nassau experience.

What I Was Disappointed By – I know I shouldn’t be surprised but every time I hear about steroids or performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), I get frustrated.  I think part of it is that people like myself have sought refuge in sports pretending it’s the last place of purity but we’ve always been kidding ourselves, nothing is pure.  Speaking as a Yankee fan, I can’t help but think of Game 4 in the 2003 ALCS.  I know a lot of baseball was on something but Mariano wasn’t and if you know baseball, you know that’s true.

What I’m Reading – Still reading the last half of 1.2 of Barth’s Dogamtics that should have been completed almost 2 weeks ago for our independent study.  Just found Enough last night and plan on finishing that soon. About to start Rob Bell’s Drops Like Stars.

What I’m Listening to – new Derek Webb, new Wilco, Homebrewed Christianity Podcast with Robert Wright and catching up on Relevant podcasts.

Student Ministry Update – It’s been great to hear all the wonderful things said about our mission trip.  A lot of time, work, prayer, support went into that and I am not taking these good things for granted.  A lot of positive things were expressed by our students, one I hope to share about one day, and while I still have concerns for short term missions (they are not an end), I’ve been really moved by our last couple especially. Now on to planning the new year, cleaning out files, catching up on all the stuff before the mayhem begins again!

Filed Under: Baseball, Christianity, Reflective, Student Ministry

Poets, Prophets, & Preachers Conference – “The Original Guerilla Theater” – Rob Bell #ppp09 – Post 1

July 6, 2009 by 3 Comments

The Original Guerilla Theater – from the brochure – “Throwing ourselves into this ancient sacred art form with the absurd, naïve, antiquated belief that the world needs inspiring, proactive, comforting, dangerous healing, great sermons now more than ever.”

Here are some of the notes I took and my interpretation of what I think I was said. They made subtle point that they didn’t want open laptops or phones on during the sessions.  So no twittering.  Similar to the Q Conference, I understand that they want you to be here and be conscious of those who are gathered with you.   I’ll respect it but when I put on my own conference, “Posers, Players, and Punks”, I’ll let whoever do whatever they want.  Anyway, they say that they will release video of this one day but in the meantime you’ll have to deal with my subjectivity until you’re able to have your own:

Rob came out and gave one of the best introductions that I think could be given when talking about preaching sermons to today’s culture. He first started by telling a hilarious story of one of his first sermons. I can’t take the time to retell it but it made me feel better.

“Why do we do this to ourselves?”

As the world gets more “tweeterized” and we continue to go to virtual church, etc. The idea of actual people going to an actual place with the other actual people to hear an actual person in actual real time … the sermon will be more important. It will matter that we were there.

If you were to ask the average person on the average street and you asked them what do you think of when you hear the word “sermon”, what would they say? Would they say stimulating, intelligent, provocative, life-changing, …?

The average person sees the sermon today as something to be endured. It raises the question, “When is lunch?”

For some it is to be evaluated, “Did you like it?”, “Did they do a good job?” As the preacher, you want to interrupt one of these conversations and say, “How did you do?”

Imagine Marin Luther King giving his “I Have a Dream” speech and afterwards people saying, “Did you like it?” “Yeah but he went a little long and I heard some of those stories before.”

To some it’s pure propaganda. It serves to tell people what they already know, and assure them that their way is the only way. It has no exploration, no discovery, no movement. Sometimes it exists for a building project. The sermon isn’t about that directly but everybody in the entire place knows what it’s about. Some non-Christians are particularly sensitive to this while many long time Christians cannot detect it.

Sometimes after a sermon you feel:

“Have you heard anything I said?” The scary thing is when you understand that a family/person who has been in your church for years has not understood some basic re-occurring themes you’ve been stressed over and over.

“Crickets” vs. “That was the most amazing thing I have ever heard”
There are some days you can’t wait to give this message, it’s your best stuff, it will blow people away. It’s like a grenade and you’re going to pull the pin and drop it in there and watch …. But no one responds or if they do, the response is a bored negativity (not even offended by the boldness of it). Then there are days when you don’t got it. It’s been one of those weeks, and you crawl into the pulpit with this pathetic sermon that you duct-taped wings to and people come back and say, “That was amazing!!!” and now you feel even worse.

“That sermon sounded like the old _____” “Can’t we go back to _______”
If you listen to the Mars Hill podcasts this is something that Rob has tried to subtly and at at times not so subtly correct. For years, he’s heard this, “That sounded like the old Rob” Can’t we do Leviticus again (and feel that way again)?” You can’t go back to the person you were because we are all becoming something different.

The picture to the right is a quote of collected words of advice to every pastor. It was something like – “The preacher should be honest and transparent.  He should use the Bible but not too much but it should be practical and it should be funny too but not too funny because you’re a pastor not a comedian but you should tell lots of stories but not too many because that gets old too.  You should use personal illustrations like about your family but try to be creepy about it, and you should admit your faults but not too many because that’s depressing but you really should be open and honest …”

He used some biblical illustrations like Ezekiel 4

The preacher and his sermon have a bit of:
Performance Art – We can’t deny that this is an element of our preaching.
Guerilla Theater – you come on the platform, give your message, then you’re gone, and people are like, “Wow, what just happened? Where did he go?”
Actions that Evoke – Sometimes unintended actions are evoked.
Just like Ezekiel

Acts 4 – “They were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus”

We are witnesses

We sometimes give the reminder that this isn’t what God has in mind

Mark 1:15

Is 52
Sometimes the sermon is a sub-story – there’s another story.

Luke 4 – they try to kill Jesus. At least most of our congregations have tried that.

Sermons have:
Provocation
Loaded Language
Warning

Acts 17 – a missed response comes your way. Some people are skeptical, some are moved.

“And God said …”
“Words create new worlds”
Words need to be given flesh …
Rob believes that they have a power – “Talks start talks”
Many are conditioned in thinking that the preacher has the last word, maybe it’s just the first word.

Thoughts – Rob Bell comes out in his standard uniform, black on black, cool glasses and shoes that say, “Why do people only talk about my glasses; my shoes are cool too.” He’s sorta like a Johnny Cash meets an older Michael Cera, except Rob is actually funny. He’s brilliant too. I actually think Rob understands the way I feel. His assistants that do all this research for him are amazing.  Like am I really expected to believe that he understands the preacher hang-over?  He quotes my inner monologues like, “Have you heard anything I said?” and quotes listeners, “Did you like it? Yeah, he’s getting better. He’s kinda funny but he talks too fast some times so let’s go to Panera Bread and cut off every driver from here to there.”

Seriously, I think why so many connect with him is because he is a great communicator and he is in touch with how people feel.  And I suspect part of the reason is that he is in touch with how he actually feels.  it seemed to me that everyone in the room was feeling very similar things.  It was a solid first session and I am looking forward to more.

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Poets Prophets Preachers '09, Reflective Tagged With: , ,

Monday Morning Brief – July 6, 2009

July 6, 2009 by Leave a Comment

(sorry my links seem to not be working).

What’s going on – Susan and I drove out to Grand Rapids (“the epicenter of progressive culture”) to attend the Poets, Prophets, & Preachers Conference. It’s about reclaiming the art of the sermon. We decided this was a great chance for us to get away as a couple. Susan’s parents were wonderful enough to fly up from FL to watch Nathan. We stopped for the night in Cleveland, visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which is very cool if you are ever nearby). Hit the road, arrived in time to watch the fireworks in Grand Rapids, worshipped at Mars Hill, Shane Hipps preached the first part of a two week series on fasting. He began by talking about “feasting”. You can stream the audio here or subscribe to their sermon podcast via iTunes.

What I Enjoyed this Week – 1. Aside from the aforementioned, our VBS went really well. Grateful for all of our volunteers, grateful for all the kids who came, loved that we raised over $1000 for the “Shoe Me” Project (every $10 gets a pair of shoes to children in the Congo). We have a lot of follow up and and other children’s ministry needs but this was a good week. 2. Liked that our church allows us to get away. 3. While I am critical of those that confuse patriotism and Christianity, I am grateful to be an American. Hoping to do my share in being a part of a better world and a better nation while pledging my allegiance to the kingdom of Christ. 4. I enjoyed Transformers 2. Much better than what people said. Hey, it’s a movie about shape changing alien robots, it’s not supposed to be Shakespeare. If you liked the first one, I think you’ll like the second. Indeed such a movie does not need profanity, crude humor, or sexual gratuity, but if you’ve been a movie-goer for the last 20 years, you shouldn’t be surprised. 5. Grateful that one of our youth leaders arrived home safely from Honduras.  Hope she doesn’t bring the same “luck” on our mission trip. All I know is that she entered the country when it was peaceful and left it in shambles.  ;-)

What I Didn’t Enjoy – 1. The Iranian government (or Ayatollah or the “Guardian Council”) saying, “Yeah we re-checked the votes, we were right the first time, Ahmadinejad won by 62%.”  I am admiring, praying and rooting for Moussavi and his plan for a new party.  He’s among the bravest in the world right now.  2. The Iranian govt, arresting British embassy workers. 3. While I am moved by the death of Michael Jackson, I can’t handle the 24-7 coverage and the constant biopic.

What I Couldn’t Care Less About – Bruno and those that are offended by it. Forget the boycotts, forget creating controversy for it, just ignore it. It’s about as appealing to me as the next Left Behind again and again book.

What’s Going on in our Student Ministry – We will be headed out for our mission trip this week.  First, we will be attending the YS DC/LA Conference in Washington (Friday) then headed out to Nassau Bahamas to help rebuild cabins at the All Saints AIDS Camp. Please pray for those that we will be serving, serving with, our safety, etc. May our hearts be humble and committed to the extra mile.

Filed Under: Reflective

What if Michael Jackson Was an Iranian?

July 2, 2009 by Leave a Comment

It’s the second week of the “aftermath” of the death of Michael Jackson. Similar to the Anna Nicole saga, you get more and more disturbed of the details that are uncovered. Of course, part of this is the job of television, to take something, twist it enough to make you say, “Wow, that’s unbelievable! That’s crazy!” In fact, every time we get into one of these around the clock coverage breaking news obsession times, I think of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. He argues that the news does not serve to inform us but to entertain us long enough to pay attention to their sponsors. He says a bit more but that’s the one sentence executive summary (*wink* at Biblical Seminary people).

Some of my friends and I have lamented that since Jackson died, Iran has gone missing.  Maybe it has all been resolved or perhaps they were so moved by the King of Pop’s untimely death that their hearts were so broken that they mutually decided to set aside their differences and mourn with the rest of the world and continue discussion at a later time. In a united statement both “president” Ahmadinejad and the protesters said “In light of recent events in the entertainment world, we would like to take the focus off of ourselves and allow all of our attention to be focused on Michael Jackson.”

God only knows what is actually happening there. May He be near.

This leads me to wondering a few things.

What if Michael Jackson was an Iranian? My tongue-in-cheek argument is that regardless of nationality or language, Jackson would have been a super-star regardless where he was born. Just as the moon is universal so is the “moonwalk”. Second, what if an Iranian-born Michael had been killed as part of the Iranian conflict? The world would be in shock! I really wonder what would have happened next. Third, this crisis is prompting me to consider paying more attention to international artists. I know it’s cool to like international music, I’m just not into it. Aside from U2, Radiohead and Coldplay, and the euro-trash bands that emulate them, I never had the motivation. I have enough trouble keeping up with genres that I already like. But here’s my real point, if we are frustrated by our news outlets, perhaps we should consider artists. I know language would be an initial problem but the world is getting flatter, we could probably find out and get whatever we wanted.

If Jackson was Iranian, not only might we as Americans have liked him more, we might also care more about the injustices surrounding him. I wonder what else would be different today.

Filed Under: Culture, Reflective, Uncategorized

Are you 30ish and remember the first time you saw the video “Thriller”?

July 2, 2009 by Leave a Comment

My earliest Michael Jackson memories include the Thriller video, him being on the cover “Weekly Reader” when I was in second grade and answering my friend’s question, “Why does he only wear one white glove”. (I think the answer I gave was, “Because that’s what he wears in the “video” which were pretty new back then). If you can imagine, in the early 80’s not everyone had cable television and access to MTV (nor were there things like remote controls). Anyway, Jackson was the first super-star that I came to know. He would be followed by Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Sylvester Stallone, & Optimus Prime.

Yeah, the pet tigers were weird and so was that glass oxygen chamber he supposedly slept in but that didn’t stop me from putting quarters into the “Smooth Criminal” arcade game (still my favorite Jackson song). It wasn’t until he released the Black or White album, that I started getting bored with him. It wasn’t that Black or White was that bad, but there was Pearl Jam and Nirvana (in that order) that were much cooler and more interesting. But even grunge and flannel couldn’t compare to the eye-candy video of “Black or White”. (It was one the one with everybody morphing into each other and it was the same technology used in Terminator 2). Besides, whose against racial reconciliation?

There were two other (admittedly minor) things that annoyed me about Michael Jackson. One was that I was a bigger Michael Jordan fan and I acknowledged him as the true “Michael” or “MJ”. Second was the extremely long video of “Remember the Time”. It was a video of him and his love running around ancient Egypt. Being Egyptian, I got annoyed by the cheesiness of the video (but I do like that Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”).

Jackson grew weirder and while I had grown up (a little), it seemed he never did. I know growing up with Joe Jackson as your father probably didn’t help nor did being a child super star help your adolescence. As he grew older, there were the weird marriages, the continued skin lightening, the nose jobs, the scandals, and there wasn’t any amazing music to justify the weird and perverse behavior. In the world of Rock’n Roll, that means you’re finished.

But finished only to people like me because a significant part of the rest of the world was still in love with him. During our mission trip to Estonia in 2004, we were asked over and over how Michael could be accused of such terrible crimes. I remember speaking to a young adult there and she was absolutely crushed when I told her that many of us in the West see him as deranged. 40 year old men don’t share beds with 12 year olds. It was a losing argument for me.

Fast forward to last week. I read the twitter updates that said he was being rushed to the hospital due to a cardiac arrest, I went to the gym, came home and Susan told me that he died.

All week all the FM stations played his music. You could start “Billy Jean” on one station and finish it on another. On my way to school last week, I was rudely cut off by a BMW 750 owner. Normally I would have pulled out my bazooka and sent him into oblivion but I was listening to “Man in the Mirror” and thought, “If I want to make the world a better place, take a look at myself and make a … change.”

I’m really trying to say something redemptive here but it fails. Though I literally own zero Jackson cd’s (I did own all his cassettes from Thriller to Black & White however), I admit, I was a bit saddened. There was a part of me that always justified the extremely odd behavior brought upon my numerous reasons like being a world-famous celebrity and being called, “The King of Pop”. But there was also a part of me that always wanted him to redeem himself. A lot can be said right here but it’s already been a long post. Still, it seems fair to say that this is yet another story that does not end the way we thought it would.

Filed Under: Culture, Reflective

Reflecting on Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, the Iranian Crisis and …

June 29, 2009 by 2 Comments

There was a part of me that did not want to mention Michael Jackson in a blog post because, to be honest, so many already were and I didn’t want to be trendy. But as I sit in my vintage GI-Joe shirt, wearing a Phillies hat, listening to the pre-release of Sugar Ray’s comeback album with my bright orange hybrid Hummer outside my window, I think why stop now? There’s no way to truly avoid being a cliché (because you’re a cliché to someone).

As predicted, sales of Michael Jackson’s music is sky-rocketing. If you eavesdrop in any conversation at any restaurant, you’ll hear, “It’s easier to listen to him now that he’s gone.” With the news that he was preparing for a 50 shows in London, years from now, people will say, “He was in the middle of a comeback when it happened”.

A few days ago, I saw a tweet from Emergent Village which appropriately asked, “Did you hear who died? Neda. #iranelection #neverforget #whatreallymatters.“ It was re-tweeted a couple times and it served as a needed reminder.  I can never forget this video.

Like many, I’m one who tries to avoid the hype (or at least certain types of hype). I’ll admit, I’m inconsistent, most of us are. I didn’t want to get carried away with all the Jackson hysteria and was tired of expressing that I felt bad for Farrah Fawcett because she was forever linked with Michael Jackson. Farrah bears the honor of being the most recent display dying with class and dignity. At the same time, I’ve been praying, watching and talking about the crisis in Iran, but I’ve been reluctant to add my green overlay because many suffer by going without basic needs like where we are going for our mission trip. I have been very consumed by the preparation of our trip to Nassau, Bahamas to help rebuild an AIDS camp. I wondered when I was I going to remove this green overlay, when Iran became free? Would I add another one for AIDS? Is this what happens when we take things like Twitter too seriously or are these good problems to consider? It reminded me of the same problem I had when wearing the LiveStong bracelet. Fortunately, they were in such demand, I was able to give mine away. But lately, I’ve been changing my mind on these types of things.

I mourn the death of Michael Jackson because I am human. Admittedly it’s easier, I also mourn Farrah Fawcett. This ought to go for all suffering in Iran and all parts of the world and all parts of my neighborhood. This is how we’re wired, may I be consistent.

While I may not join every new group that bears a cause on Facebook, nor add every button/badge/etc. created, I think some things are good … for me.  As subjective as it sounds, they remind me to remember the hurting, to pray for the hope of Christ and to be informed, to care, to give, and to think what can I do. I find myself wondering maybe it’s time to change things like overlays and find more ways to express sympathy and comradery. A similar thing can be said by the constant playing of Jackson’s music across FM stations. In fact, if I’m being consistent, I may even consider putting up that infamous Life Magazine Fawcett poster in my church office right now. I know this sounds subjective, maybe that’s why I like it but may we as Christians seek the will of God, follow Jesus and be led by the Spirit.  May those who do not share my Christian convictions do their part to seek a less-selfish and better world.

In honesty, I believe it is healthy to avoid sensationalizing and exaggerating our feelings, but I believe it’s Christ-like to mourn with the mourners.

Filed Under: Christianity, Missional, Reflective

"Thoughts from the Turnpike" on Everyday Liturgy

June 25, 2009 by Leave a Comment

This week our friend Thomas Turner invited Evan Curry and I to blog on his widely read site, Everyday Liturgy. Check out our posts:

Answering the Wrong Questions by Evan Curry –  “I’ve had my fair share of encounters with Christians over the years. I have found that Christians are in the business of asking the wrong questions and giving poor answers to wrong questions …”

and mine, Thoughts from the Turnpike Part 1

“… Flashback to the last time I drove through.  The previous billboard was about Islam and how you could learn the truth about it.  It was warm, friendly and implied that you, the driver, have probably been misinformed…”

& Thoughts from the Turnpike Part 2

“If you read Tuesday’s post, you’ll remember that I was listening to Radiohead as I drove past that billboard that got me thinking. Shortly after that thought, I remembered the criticism of a well-intentioned friend who was concerned for my appreciation of Radiohead. I remember the conversation well. He thought it was a bad example for a youth pastor to be listening to them and then he almost fell out of his chair when I told him that I burned OK Computer for one of my students. “Do you want to get fired? If you want to relate to the kids, give him Third Day.”

Then I fell off my chair…”

Happy reading.

Filed Under: Reflective

Week in Review – 6/14-6/21

June 24, 2009 by 2 Comments

This past week was one of the best ones I have had in a while.

What I Enjoyed – 1. As mentioned last Monday, we’re having a boy and we’ve been enjoying that realization (and that made Father’s Day even sweeter).  I was disappointed that I didn’t get a tie that I will never wear. Instead I got this cool iHome clock/phone/player/charger thing.  2. Grateful that Tim Nye got a job. 3. Grateful that Evan Curry found God’s leading and his next church (which is his current church that is planting another one. Get it?) 4. indie artist and good friend, Andy Zipf gave us a good show for our last youth gathering of the year. 5. I enjoyed my evening at the Templeton Foundation with Robert Wright, author of The Evolution of God. (I hope to blog about this but you know how that goes ;-) 6. Later that night caught up with some friends and discussed evangelicals and politics.  Good conversation with great people.  7. Girl’s Senior Sneak was fantastic. I mean it should have been, after all, I planned it: MOMA, Koren BBQ, fondue, the new Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame Annex, and the Fray in concert. Am I the coolest sr. high youth pastor at MEFC named Tim? They thought so and today, I think so too. 7. Oh and my fantasy baseball team is in first place (that’s right Frosty).

What I’ve Been Listening to – Radiohead (like it was new again), Andy Zipf (because he just may be the most talented musician that I know personally), The Fray (because I wanted to sing the words in my head during the concert.  I’m not afraid to admit that I like them).

What I’ve Been Reading – though I had to scan over a lot of books for my last project like Simple Church, Church for the Unchurched, the book I’m reading is still Barth’s Dogmatics 1.1

Seminary Update – Second year is complete. Now it’s an independent study about Karl Barth’s theology John Franke and some friends.

Youth Ministry Update – We’re done. But I keep talking about next year. Maybe I do love what I’m doing. In the meantime, I have a mission trip to keep me busy.

Looking forward to – Thank you dinner for our youth leaders tonight, VBS next week (While I have concerns over the mentality of VBS, I always like being around those kids once we’re there), going with Susan to Rob Bell’s Poets, Prophets and Priests Conference and my sisters’ baby shower. I’m not kidding, seeing my wife and my sister pregnant together has been one of the joys of my life.

Filed Under: Reflective