Time to play...

OK, the holidays are here. Time for a little playful competition.
Click on the link below to go to the Desktop Defense Game.
http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/game.asp

Click the "Medium" option when you get to skill level.

At the end of the game (assuming you make it through), you'll see your final score.
First, enter your name in the box as prompted. Then press send.
Next, type "scottblog" into the group name box.
Then it will post your score on our own personal high score board.
We'll see who's the best at this totally pointless game!

Good luck and happy holidays.

Latest Advent Conspiracy sermon is up

It's on the right side of this page, scroll down to the sermon mp3 links.
Sorry about the delay.
We had a technical issue on the the 14th so we lost that one.

Good googalie moogalie, that's cold

If you look close, just below the needle, you can see the temperature.

It says: "1F"

As in ONE degree. This pic was taken AFTER the church set-up crew finished unloading the trailer. The wind chill at 7:30am when we started unloading the trailer was -24. As in 24 degrees BELOW zero (according to weather.com).

Mucho thanks to Tim Born, Drew MacGregor, and Bruce Holloway who bore the brunt of the the wind and the cold to get the cafeteria all set up for worship this morning. It was actually kind of fun. A bonding experience of sorts. That was quite literally the coldest I've ever been in my life, but I couldn't pick a better group of guys to be that cold with.

Let Tim know if you'd like to get a taste of how awesome Set-Up crew can be!!! I'm sure he can get you on the schedule.

The Advent Conspiracy Offering

Just a reminder that this Sunday at both campuses of FirstChurch, we'll be taking up a special offering for the Advent Conspiracy Fund.

100% of the funds collected will go to support 2 causes. We will be providing support to some of the local agencies that feed the hungry right here in Champaign and we will be digging wells to provide clean drinking water in the village of Lisinjala in Malawi. You may designate your giving if you wish it to go specifically to either hunger or thirst. Otherwise we will split that offering in half in support of those 2 causes.

Thanks to everyone who has taken simple steps this Christmas to Worship Fully by rethinking the way we use our resources this Christmas so that we can make a life changing impact on the world.

Another Advent Conspiracy Hero

Today's hero: Nate and Kendall Biehl.
I'm gonna let them tell it in their own words:

Hi Scott,Nate and Kendall here...The video of the dirty water in Malawi made us want to help. We don't want people to get sick and die because that is sad. We have a bank that we get coins for from our dad and from our grandpa and stuff and then we put it in our savings accounts. But this time we took a little out for Malawi and for people that might die. We took out $25 and mom and dad added 25 more. So that equals $50 so far. Our grandpa gave us $30 and our grandma gave us $20. We told them we needed the money for kids in Malawi to have clean water. They said that was a great idea. We collected $100 all together. Woo hoo!

And from their mom, Kim:

"Nathan wanted to make sure you knew that the "I" in the message you sent should be capitalized. Also the "S" in your name and the first letter of the 4th sentence. He says you would get that wrong if you were at school. I assured him you knew."

Thanks Nate and Kendall. You guys are awesome. I'm really proud of the way you are thinking about others over yourselves. That's the spirit of Christmas in full bloom! I am quite sure that Jesus LOVES the way you are celebrating his birthday.

My Advent Conspiracy Hero of the day

I want to give some serious advent conspiracy props to Evan Scott.

Evan's class was having a party and was making plans for everyone to buy a gift for one other person in his class. Evan thought it would be a better idea for them to all buy one present and give it, not to each other, but to someone who was really in need. Evan stood up in front of his entire class and made a speech asking them to not think about themselves but to think about others. The class voted and they didn't vote in favor of Evan's idea.

But what a wonderful act of selflessness and humility on Evan's part! What a great act of spiritual leadership!

I'm awfully proud of Evan. Way to go buddy!

How are you doing the Advent Conspiracy?

We've heard lots of great stories about how some of our church families are rethinking the way they celebrate Christmas.

We'd love to start sharing those ideas with one another. Let's encourage one another by sharing the ways God is moving us to deeper worship and a more Christ-centered expression of Christmas.

If you want to leave a comment or an idea, just click on the word "Comments" just below this post. If you don't have a google account, just choose the anonymous option.

I look forward to hearing your stories...

Alternative Christmas Listening

We're spending alot of time rethinking the way we celebrate Christmas. I stumbled across this quote from a musician, Sufjan Stephens, who is rethinking the way we sing at Christmas. You can hear some samples of his music below. Here's what he has to say about it:

"It's a sacred form and yet it's also incredibly annoying and profane because it's the soundtrack in shopping malls across the country. I'm interested in reconciling this phenomenal event -- the incarnation of God -- with Santa Claus and blue-light specials at Kmart and the weird preoccupation we have with buying a lot of junk and giving it to each other."

-- Recording Artist Sufjan Stevens in the magazine, Rolling Stone, on his new album, "Hark! Songs for Christmas"

The blog got a face lift...

The Advent Conspiracy sermons are now posted here. Scroll down to the bottom of the right column on this page. Click on the date / title you want to listen to. It takes a little while to load.

Remember to check out our Advent Conspiracy Champaign blog. Lots of resources, articles, and also the daily Advent Devotion gets posted there! There is a link on the top right of this page or you can click here: clicky clicky

Lastly, hope you enjoy the modifications to the blog. Especially the music. Just some tunes to groove to.

One mom's blog on Christmas giving - AWESOME

Click on Calling for Justice to read about one mom's journey to faithfully follow Jesus in caring for the world at Christmas.

Scroll down her blog for some great gift ideas.

Not kidding: this is really inspiring stuff.

What are you doing?

Its Not Easy Being Santa

An article by Rick Reilly, from Sports Illustrated; December 27, 2004
(Props to Drew M for the find)

It's that time of year again, when our thoughts turn to that lovable plus-sized elf with the ruddy red cheeks, the white hair and the belly of jelly, the one who never needs an airplane.

John Madden.

No, actually, Santa Claus.

This holiday season the morals of a lot of athletes are lower than flounder droppings. The other day I heard a worried announcer say, "What must kids think of the way we adults are behaving?" But you really can't ask kids because when a kid is asked a question by an adult, the only thing the kid thinks is, How huge are this man's nostrils?

Kids trust Santa, though. They'll tell Santa anything. So I set out to conduct the Santa Sports Survey. Disguised as Saint Nick, I would spend 90 minutes at each of three Boys & Girls Clubs in metro Denver. I loaded the trunk with toys and trinkets, borrowed a Santa suit from the Cherry Creek Mall and called Susen Mesco of Amerevents.com, which runs one of the best Santa Schools in the country.

"Don't play Santa," she advised. "Be Santa."

She also said something odd. "Never ask what the children want for Christmas." Huh? "Ask, What would you like to tell Santa? Because a lot of times, what they want has nothing to do with toys. For instance, what will you do if a child says, 'Santa, I want you to bring my mommy back to life'?"

(Silence)

"You say, 'Sorry, Santa can't do that. But you know what? Sometimes our sleigh flies so high, we pass right by heaven. What do you want to tell your mom, and I'll give her a message.'"

I wasn't sure I was ready for this.

The clubs were all in poor sections of the city. At each club I was given a room and about 70 squirmy kids, ages six to 10. And right away I learned something -- I make a lousy Santa.

"Who are you?" one girl asked.

"Since when does Santa drive a sedan?" a boy said, suspiciously.

"Uh, that hurts," another girl said as I tried to tickle her.

One kid wanted to know how old I was. "Just turned 1,310," I said. He went Frisbee-eyed. I said, "I know, I don't look that old."

"No, you do," he said.

One little girl wanted to know where Rudolph was. "Rudolph pulled a hammy,"
I said. "This year the sleigh is going to be guided by Sylvester, from the temp agency."

(Blank stare)

I kept trying to ask my state-of-sports questions, but I might as well have been asking about pork-belly futures. Not one of them knew about Barry Bonds's BALCO connection. In fact, if I were running baseball, I'd be worried. Not one kid had a favorite ballplayer. Not one of them wanted a bat or glove. Few of them even had favorite pros in any sport: Local hero Carmelo Anthony of the Nuggets was mentioned the most, followed by two Philadelphia stars, Terrell Owens of the Eagles and Allen Iverson of the Sixers. The athletes the kids most wanted to spend time with were their dads.

"Could you bring me a fishing pole so my daddy will take me fishing with him?" one little girl asked. Another wanted a soccer ball, "'cause I think my dad would play soccer with me then."
I kept trying to hit them with survey questions like, "Do you view athletes as role models in this age of ...," and they kept hitting me with real life.

"Santa, for Christmas could you make the bill collectors stop coming?" one boy said. "It makes my mom cry."

A little girl said, "Santa, could you bring us a new house? The one we have now leaks all the time."

Lots of kids wanted hats and shoes and coats. "I want clothes," said one boy. What kind? "The warm kind," he said.

Another kid wanted to be an NBA star and make "a million dollars."
"What would you spend it on?" I asked.
"Doctors," she said, "for my cousin. She's four. She has cancer."

I told one seven-year-old boy, "Last year I came by and you were still awake, so I had to go do Dallas first until you fell asleep. So this year I want you to go right to sleep."
And he said, "That's not true, Santa. Last year you forgot my house."

I learned nothing new about sports, but plenty about how spoiled my life was, how Scroogish my spirit, how narrow my vision.

One somber eight-year-old girl was making her first visit to the club.
She'd been sent from another state to live with her uncles because there were "issues" at home. She looked as if somebody had just sat on her birthday cake.
"What can Santa make you this Christmas?" I asked her.
She turned and looked at me with huge, hopeful eyes.
"Happy?" she asked.

Be Santa.

Daily Advent Devotions

If you aren't getting them via email, the daily devotions are also accessible on the FirstChurch Advent Conspiracy Blog: Click Here to go there
There is also a link to the blog on the right side of this page.

The Advent Conspiracy blog also has numerous links to resources that will help you and your family re-think Christmas.

We'd love to hear your ideas and experiences for how you are "conspiring" this Christmas.

The Advent Conspiracy

Does Christmas ever make you feel like this sign? Do you think about Christmas and get depressed just thinking about a mountain of Christmas presents, gifts to return, toys that get played with for a week, months of bills, traffic jams, stress, and a big empty feeling at the end of it all.



Imagine if Christmas could be a world changing event...
It (still) can.

This Advent Season, what if you could:
Worship Fully
Spend Less
Give More
and Love All.

Welcome to the Advent Conspiracy. We are joining together with thousands of other churches all over the world in this journey of entering the story of Christ's birth and of celebrating Christ's birth in a way that the King of Heaven deserves. Last year, the churches that participated in the Advent Conspiracy raised over 3 million dollars (just by re-thinking the way they celebrate Christmas) and that money made life changing differences in countries all over the globe. The Advent Conspiracy funded clean water wells in villages in Africa, Asia, and South America. The Advent Conspiracy also funded countless local initiatives in communities across our country as churches redistributed their own Christmas spending in order to meet the real needs of their neighbors.

This year, at FirstChurch Champaign, the Advent Conspiracy funds we raise will meet 2 significant needs: We will provide clean drinking water in Malawi by digging life saving shallow wells. We will also meet the very real needs of our local neighbors who don't have enough to eat.

Food and Water for the hungry and the thirsty.

That's a gift worthy of the Christ child!!!

Check out our local Advent Conspiracy blog. Advent Conspiracy Champaign . You can share stories and ideas about what you are doing. We'll also be posting a daily Advent Devotional on that page. If you'd like to receive that via email, just let us know at the church office.

Lastly, there are tons of ideas and resources at the official Advent Conspiracy website: www.adventconspiracy.org

Not to totally change the subject, but...

Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think.

by Tim Keller in The Prodigal God, 14-15.

Who do you think we attract?
Who maybe SHOULD we be attracting?
Why don't we?

Let's just chalk that one up to "a learning moment"...

Yesterday's blog post was a first for me.
It was the first time I received more email responses about the blog than comments on the blog. Thanks to everyone who emailed. Some great responses. Some really funny responses. And all very thoughtful responses. You all challenged my thought processes and expanded my perspective.

Some of those emails helped me realize that I may have said some things in a way that really clouded the points I was trying to make. If yesterday's post sounded like a partisan shot, please forgive me. That was not my intent at all.

Allow me to try again...

A common sentiment I heard in response to my post was that we’re just better off separating faith and politics altogether. Maybe I’m just young and naïve, but I want to believe that that isn’t true. I want to believe that we are capable of having loving, thoughtful, respectful, and humble conversation about political issues. I want to believe that we can have those conversations among ourselves, and that we can engage our neighbors in conversation as well. And that we can do it in a way that demonstrates the love and compassion of Jesus.

What you all helped me realize is that words on a computer screen on an anonymous blog is really a poor place to initiate those kinds of conversations. Like I said…a learning moment. Sorry about that.

I also want to be sure and say that I don’t believe either political party does a very good job of representing the values that I hold as a follower of Christ. To be a Christian does not mean being a (insert favorite party here).

I did not write yesterday as a Democrat. I'm not one. I don't agree with a number of the stances our president-elect holds. I don't think that the Democratic party embodies the values I hold any better than the republican party does. I did not mean to imply that a vote in either direction was somehow more faithful to God than a vote in any other direction. My feelings about the election have nothing whatsoever to do with party affiliation.

It would have been quite fair of me to point out that just as some Christians have jumped to some unfair and really unloving conclusions and opinions of President-elect Obama, so too have many done to our current President Bush. Both reactions are worthy of critique. It is entirely appropriate for us as followers of Christ to spur one another on to a higher standard of love and respect than what is too often accepted in the political sphere. And neither party is above reproach in that regard.

Yesterday I said I was excited and I am. I hope I managed to communicate that, for me, that has more to do with my kids than anything else. I don’t think I can explain that adequately in this space. Maybe this isn’t the right place. Or perhaps another day.

Well, I hope you all (I like to pretend I have lots of blog readers) will forgive some of my idiosyncrasies, such as typing faster than my brain can actually think.

Thanks again for your great emails. You taught me. Feel free to stick comments like that right here on the blog. That’s what it’s here for.
Humbly growing.

Faith and Politics...(gasp)...part one

So, I thought I'd wait a week before jumping in to comment on the recent election. One of my favorite blogs Stuff Christians Like recently joked about the obligatory post-election pastor response. If you were happy about the result, you praised God for his provision. If not so happy, you praised God for his sovereignty. Well, I didn't want this to seem obligatory. So a week later, it feels right.

Today, my general reaction.
Tomorrow, (faith and politics, part 2) I think I'm gonna tackle abortion.

So, a week after the election of a new president, I have to admit, I'm thrilled.
As a father of biracial kids, I still get tears in my eyes at the thought of being able to tell my kids "you can be ANYTHING you want" and for it to be true. I honestly did not dream of that being true in the near future. I'm gonna be honest with you, my perspectives on race have totally changed in the years since we adopted our kids. If you have a hard time believing that racism is an oppressive and daily reality for people of color, I'd love to tell you some stories about our personal experiences of that reality. So for me, I see this as a profound moment of opportunity for ALL people in our country. I am ecstatic.

I'm also deeply sad.
I'm sad because of the strong reactions I've seen people have to the result of the election. I have an especially hard time getting my hands around the volatile reactions of Christians. Jesus stood in front of Pilate (who would clearly be an objectionable choice for a national leader) and Jesus basically says, you wouldn't be in your position of power if my Father hadn't given you that position. But there Pilate was. The implications are significant.

I'm saddened at the cheap and ridiculous statements I see on people's Facebook status.

I'm sad at the willingness of people to make outrageous claims (and believe outrageous claims) about Obama's personal faith. Those who know our president-elect most deeply have consistently testified to the depth of his Christian faith and his devotion to the daily disciplines of prayer and study of Scripture. I'm humbled and challenged to know that our new president is far more consistent in seeking God in prayer than I am as a pastor.

And ultimately I know that, as a follower of Christ, it is my duty to pray for and support the president of my country. We can, and will, continue to disagree over the policies that will best promote the well-being of our neighbors. But as Christians, our first calling is to be about love, grace, and generosity. Can't help but remember the Corinthians passage that says (roughly) if we make alot of noise about a particular issue, but we don't have love, then we're just a banging gong. If you are a gong, please stop. You cannot understand love and fail to understand that it means you communicate in a different way. And you ACT in a different way.

I'm sad. But I'm also hopeful. And excited. And I'm more interested in politics than I've been in a dozen years.

Bottom line, I don't ask you to share my enthusiasm.
But I do challenge you to share my commitment to looking at our involvement in the political sphere, not through rigid political ideology, but through the love and mercy of Jesus.

PS. Feel free to totally disagree. That's what blogs are for!!! What do you think? Click on the "comments" link below to share your thoughts.

Fear...

I am increasingly compelled by the feeling that Jesus wants to challenge some of our comfortableness. I have this growing feeling that Jesus wants us to become something so much more than what we are. And that's never easy.

In fact it's scary.

Then I ran across this quote on the blog of Donald Miller. It challenged me this morning:

Last year I vowed I wouldn’t make decisions out of fear. And because of that I’ve had one of the greatest years of my life. I went to Uganda and got to meet with the man who helped write their constitution. I wrapped up an evangelism project I believe will introduce more than a million people to the gospel. I rode my bike across America. All of this stuff took some degree of risk. But when calculating those risks, I realized the only reason not to try was fear. What if I was wrong, what if I couldn’t make it, what if the project didn’t work? But none of my heroes are controlled by fear.

The commandment most often repeated in scripture, in fact, is “do not fear.” Fear is often something unrighteous trying to keep you from doing something good.

They will never write stories about people controlled by fear. Fear is always a sign that a great story is about to be written (or not, depending on how you respond.) People live the most boring lives because they stand down when they encounter fear. And so I said yes.

What would you do if you had the courage to say yes?

My 100th Post

In honor of my 100th post on this blog, we are unveiling our new sign out at the Launch.

splishing and splashing...

A man goes to visit a pastor and tells the pastor that he'd like to change his ways and join the church. He tells the pastor that his wife is trying to get him to join her Presbyterian church where they baptize by sprinkling. He asks the pastor how they do it. The pastor says without the slightest pause, "We walk out into the river and we dunk em." The man says, "well what if we just walk out waist deep - is that good enough?" The pastor says no. The man asks, "well, what if we walk out till I'm up to my shoulders - does that count?" Absolutely not says the pastor. "Well, what if we walk out there until its just the top if my head sticking out?" No way, says the pastor.

The man stands up and says, "I knew it was just the top of the head that counted anyway. I'm going Presbyterian!"

So, baptism seems to be the theme this month.
Ironically, (at least in response to the joke above), we Presbyterians believe that any mode of baptism is equally legitimate. It doesn't matter who does it, or where it is done, or how it is done. We believe that any baptism done in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is fully effective. Baptism is all about the faithfulness of God and God is fully faithful in baptism whether we're sprinkling a little water on the top of your head, or wading into the river!

What a great day last week when we baptized Will Shaffer into the family of God. I loved that moment, standing there holding Will, looking out at all of you and saying, "Will, we are your family. We are with you in this journey. We are yours."

And we've got another great event coming up this Sunday when Celeste Twombly will be baptized. This special event might be a little different than most baptisms you've observed (at least if you're Presbyterian). I don't want to spoil the surprise, so join us if you can.

Lots of people are telling me that...

So, as a good Presbyterian, I find myself sitting in an awful lot of committee meetings. I see some amazing moments of insight and wisdom and cooperation. And I also see some amazing moments of bad behavior and shocking statements and hurtful actions.

In the past, I've made lists of some of the bad communication strategies I've seen happen in meetings. Haven't thought about it much until I read a blog post today that brought to mind one of my favorites.

The comment goes like this:
"Lots of people have been coming to me lately and they are really concerned about..."

According to Scott Hodge, what this comment usually means is actually this:
"I basically only have three friends…and all of them think exactly like me. The other night we were enjoying a time of self righteousness because, after all, we are right about everything…and were also slandering you (in the form of prayer requests) and thought it would be wise to approach you with our pet peeve. We’ve actually talked to no one else about this but said “lots” because we wanted to validate our dysfunction.”

Thus: Rule #1 for effective communication
"NO ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK"

If "lots of people" feel it, then all those people need to come say it themselves. At the risk of sounding extreme, anything short of that is GOSSIP.

What do you think?

Family Values

We kind of got away from the Family Values series a little.
Life sort of intervened.

But here's a little video that says more than 1,000 words could.

Take a look at the video.


Is the person you are at home, totally different from the person you are on Sunday?
Worship doesn't happen on Sunday mornings. It happens all day every day.
If worship only happens for you on Sunday morning, then its probably not really happening on Sunday morning either.

The guy in this video reminds me of Amos 5:21-24. Look it up.

My official endorsement for President...

In the heat of the campaign season, on the eve of the 3rd official presidential debate, I've finally decided who I want to vote for.

My candidate has PROVEN to reduce crime, teen pregnancy, teen drop out rates, abortion and divorce.

No other candidate is willing to promise that.
No other candidate could ever actually accomplish that.

Without further ado, I am endorsing...

MENTORING for PRESIDENT


Here's why:
Children who have role models are:

46 % less likely to use drugs or alcohol
53% less likely to skip school
33% less likely to resort to violence
59% more likely to get better grades

My local hero in the campaign for mentoring is Scott Anderson. Scott has been a mentor for a young man for many years. What amazes me is that Scott didn't wait until his own kids left for college. Scott did this while raising his own kids. In fact, his mentee is just about the same age as Scott's youngest kids. Scott carved out the time and the energy to be a positive role model in a young man's life.

People like Scott are changing the world.

I'm voting for MENTORING.
Want to know more about mentoring?
Click here to read about The Belmont Foundation
Or Click here to read author Donald Miller talk about his Campaign for Mentoring.

truth in advertising...

just click the pic...


Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And the computer programmer.

Our youth group here at church is working through a month long series on identity: how do we see ourselves?
How do we think others see us?
How do we wish that others saw us?
And most importantly, how does God see us?

How in the world can teenagers develop healthy answers to those kinds of questions when all the images they see in media basically lie to them about what beauty is?

Another great quote...

Erwin McManus said,
"When are we going to realize that the church does not exist to serve us. We ARE the church and WE exist to serve others.

Two Tragic True Stories

Number One:
Craig Groeschel tells a story about being a guest preacher at a small church while he was in seminary. He is talking to the secretary a few days before he is scheduled to come preach. She tells him, "You better be good. We've got a visitor coming this week and we desperately need a few new tithers to be able to pay the bills."

So Craig shows up on Sunday morning and he's standing outside a few minutes before church starts. Then he sees "the visitor." She staggers out of her car. Looks like she slept in what she is wearing at that moment. She looks scared. But she makes herself head for the door.

Craig says that his first thought is that he wonders what's going on in this woman's life to make her seek out church. And this church.

But as Craig sympathetically watches her make her way towards the door, suddenly a greeter steps towards her. And the greeter says, "Young lady, we dress up for God at this church."

The woman breaks into sobs and runs for her car.

Number Two
Julia Druin tells a story about Matt. He islegally blind and unable to drive, but he used public transportation to live a very productive life. Matt is a deep thinker and loves Reformed theology. He has a massive library and loves to have heady conversations about God.

Matt has struggled to find a church. There aren't many churches in which Matt fits theologically that are within walking distance of the bus route.

Matt finally found a church he liked. And the church leadership agreed to try to find a family to give him a ride. They did for awhile. Then the family began to forget on occasion. Matt would get dressed and go wait outside. They'd never show. When Matt called the church staff, they told him he was on his own.

Matt hasn't been back to church since.

Question: Who are we here for?

Great Quote from Dr. Cornell West

"JUSTICE is what LOVE looks like in PUBLIC."

Back in the days of slavery...

What time frame do you think of when you hear that phrase in the title?

It think of the antebellum South.

Did you know that today, October 2nd, 2008, there are more people held in slavery than at any other time in the history of the world.

Today.

When you think about that fact, where do you imagine those slaves are?
Cambodia? Darfur? Chicago?

I met one once. In Los Angeles. She had escaped. But prior to that, she was held by a guy who made her work in the sex trade. She was forced to dance at night. He took most of what she made. Then he locked her up every night inside the barber shop he owned. She slept on the floor. Her life wasn't her own. Actually she didn't own anything. She was owned.

In America.



There are 27 million people held in slavery right now.

Just thought you might want to know.

Click here to learn more about it:
Call and Response

Melissa in Malawi, part 2

Just heard from Melissa again.
Her suitcase finally turned up today (3 days after she arrived).

She said that she and her dad are having a phenomenal trip. One suprising thing they've discovered: there are virtually no NGO's (non profits, aid groups, etc) in that particular part of Malawi. On the one hand that is tragic because the folks there just aren't getting much help. On the other hand, though, that's great. It feels like we are definitely heading in the right place.

She was able to arrange a partnership with a local hospital that will provide the leadership for digging wells in the region. That is another win/win. It guarantees local knowledge of the need. It ensures adequate local support for upkeep of the wells. And it means that local contractors will be the ones hired to do the actual digging.

Melissa also had a great day of visiting with the Opportunity International representatives in Mulanje. She was asked to share with one of the Trust Groups (a partnership of loan recipients) about her hopes for this Meet Malawi project. Melissa told me she broke into tears sharing about the amazing hospitality and welcome she had received and about how her heart for others was expanded by the heart of the group she was sitting with.

Those folks in Mulanje are incredibly excited about the group of us coming back there next year!!!

Melissa is spending the next 3 days building relationships with local churches in the region. She has stumbled across a fantastic friendship with a young couple who are being incredibly helpful. The wife is a health worker (trained in the U.K. thanks to a church partnership). She is going to drive Melissa into several small villages a bit further away from the population center. Some places that don't get alot of attention. But some places where the church in Malawi is active. Melissa is awfully excited about the possibilities.

One funny story. Most of the people they meet just naturally assume her dad is in charge and they talk to him. Her dad has started answering them all by saying, "I'm just here to carry her luggage. She's the boss."

Keep her and her dad in your prayers.

"See through" faith

Been wrestling with the idea of grace alot lately. We spent a month this summer talking about GRACE at the Launch. At first, I was a bit bothered with having to come up with 5 different sermons about grace. But on the back side of that series, I feel like we barely scratched the surface.

My latest thought on grace: We simply cannot experience grace in the parts of our lives that we hide from others.

The more I think about the culture of church, the more I see how we all too often create an atmosphere where TRANSPARENCY is not really allowed. Joy is allowed (at least at the Launch). Emotion shows up on occasion. Thoughtfulness is encouraged. But if we're honest, TRANSPARENCY is discouraged.

Transparency means we let people see us as we really are. It means we're honest with ourselves, and with God, and with those around us.

The scriptures talk about being in the light; walking in the light. In the light, you can see. In the darkness, you can't see.

Have you ever seen someone try to hug a kid who doesn't really want to be hugged? That's what I think it's like to try to live in the embrace of Jesus when there are these parts of our life that we are trying to hide.

Grace is such a better way to live. It is the heart of God. It is embrace, full and unrestrained embrace, regardless of what we've done. And you can't really enjoy that embrace while your arms are crossed on your chest because you don't really want to be honest about what's going on deep down.


How do we carve out safe places in our family of faith where we can lay it all on the table and even still be reminded of the great big hug of God, garbage and all?

Melissa in Malawi

Just talked to Melissa. She called from Lilongwe, Malawi. Her and her dad are having a great trip so far. The trip there was long but fairly smooth. Until they arrived. Melissa's luggage is nowhere to be found. Pray that turns up. But its really just clothes. She'll be in phone contact for another day or so until they drive over to Mulanje where they'll be for 3 days before starting the long trip back. Keep her in your prayers.

My new favorite song EVER!!!!

Sorry about the long delay between postings. But we're back with a doozy.
Jaron's been working on some new tunes for worship. What do ya'll think of this one?

What's really revealing about this song is that it reminds us: Jesus is like a "Mountie".

That's quality.

A time for eveything - especially for partying

Write it down:
September 7th: One Year Anniversary Celebration
and Fall Kick-off for
THE LAUNCH!!!

During worship - we're gonna celebrate what God has done this past year. It will be a nostalgic look back at the year that was. And an awe inspiring challenge for the year ahead. We'll laugh; we'll cry; we'll eat donuts.

And after worship - we're gonna party. Hope you can join us for catered BBQ. Tons of games and activities for the kiddos. And, rumor has it, a dunk tank where you can show your pastors how much you love us!!!

Remember - we're back to our normal schedule starting this Sunday!
9am - classes for all ages
10:30am - worship in "sanctuteria / cafetorium."
11:45am - BBQ / Party under the big tent in front of Barkstall.

Hope to see you there!

Speaking of faith...literally

Here is an interesting blog with some strategies for how to talk about faith with your "neighbor" who doesn't share your faith.

click here to read it

Any thoughts?

Chickens...now I believe it

See it for yourself:
click for the chicken

Don't be a chicken.

Mesmerizing chickens

I'm not sure if I believe this, but I'm dying to try it.

So first, you take a piece of chalk and draw a line in your drive way. Easy enough.
Next you go out back to the hen house and grab a chicken. A bit harder.
Then you grab the chicken's head and hold him so that its beak is touching the line. Supposedly if you hold really tightly with its beak touching the ground staring at the line, then after a few minutes, if you let go, the chicken won't move. It just stands there, mesmerized, staring at the line.

Alan Hirsch uses that analogy to describe the effect that organizations can have on us. When we've spent so much time looking at things in a very particular way, it can leave us rather mesmerized. It becomes quite difficult to lift our head up and look around and realize that what we're doing is a bit silly and there's a world full of other possibilities out there.

May we take our eyes of the line and see what's possible.

A different look at "Monuments"

What was this ship made to do?

Mark and his family signed up for a one day cruise on an old sailing ship in the Mediterranean. They had read every book they could find on what it was like on these old ships. They had looked at countless websites and Internet images of the ship. They could hardly wait for their adventure.

Now in their reading, they had learned that the ship normally traveled through the sea on its gas powered motors. There simply was not enough wind. But the adventure company did what they could to give you a feel for what it was like on the giant ship. Once you were well out to sea, the captain would give the orders and they would unfurl all the sails. Then the crew would load all the passengers into the little dinghy and put around so that the passengers could see the ship in all its glory. Everyone would take dozens of pictures of the ship. I'm sure it would be beautiful to behold.

Mark and his family found themselves on board the mighty ship and they launched from the harbor. About an hour out to sea, right about the time that they were expecting the captain to tell them to head for the dinghy, they noticed that the wind was picking up. The captain started shouting orders to his crew. The deck hands started scrambling around untying lines, unfurling the sails, tying things down.

The wind continued to pick up and as Mark looked up, the sails sprang full and almost catapulted the giant ship forward. The waves raced by as the ship was set free to sail like it hadn't in years. This mighty vessel was finally doing what it was made to do.

Mark looked back and was amazed to see the change that had come over the captain. There was a look of intensity matched only by a sense of deep joy on his face.

This captain, and his crew, didn't train for the mundane task of tourist travel. Their gifting and their passion surely was never tapped by the repetitive work of putting on a good show for the paying customers. But suddenly the captain and crew found themselves doing the thing they were trained for. The ship and its crew, charging full speed ahead and loving every minute of it.

I fear that those magnificent cathedrals of Europe (and perhaps in the not so distant future - the expansive, and expensive church buildings of America) have become mighty ships that people put around and take pictures of. They have long since ceased to do what they were made to do.

What would it look like for the church to do what it was made to do?
What would it look like if the crew (note - that's YOU, not the staff) found themselves doing the work they were made to do?
What would it be like if participating in the life of the church gave us an intensity that was matched only by the deepest joy?

We were made to sail.

"May they see your good works and glorify the Father in heaven."

Monumental...

I came across a great quote today:

"We shape our church buildings. Then our church buildings shape us."

Believe it or not, I'm not going to say anything about that (just yet), but I'd love to hear what you think of that quote!

like growing vegetables in the dessert

Chuck talked at the Launch today about personal brokenness. We all have those moments of failure; those times when we do what we don't want to do and don't do the things we know we really ought to do. We all stand together in the same place: desperately needing Jesus to deal with our brokenness.

I think the average Christian spends a great deal of time pretending that the above isn't true.

I don't know. Maybe that's because of the reaction the average Christian gets if they ever show any sign of weakness within the walls of the average church.

Did you know that it's written in the book of James that we should confess our sins TO ONE ANOTHER, that we might be healed. I read that and I find it kind of funny that one of the core elements of our liturgy is the Confession of Sin (with the corresponding assurance of pardon). But James doesn't say to confess silently to God. He says, "to one another". Truthfully, James doesn't even say to confess your sins to a pastor.

Confess your sins to one another.

But why? I mean it's just so awkward. So uncomfortable. So painful. I went on a mission trip to Jamaica when I was in college. And I realized that I kept noticing how attractive all the college girls on the trip were. I mean I really kept noticing. So I did what any young and immature college Christian on a mission trip would do: I did what the Bible says. I confessed my sins to another. But not just to ANY other. Nope. I confessed to the whole group. And I named names. It went like this:

"Amy, I'm just so sorry. I've been looking at you like an object and not a person. And that's just so wrong. Please forgive me. And Sarah, I just haven't been able to take my eyes off you. That's just so wrong of me. God is really opening my eyes to see you as you really are. Lynn, I'm sorry I haven't really shown any attention to you at all, have I?"

Strangely, even after that remarkable demonstration of spiritual maturity and taking the Bible seriously, none of those girls would ever go out with me.

OK so back to the present.

My meandering point: James was right.

I have actually had several other experiences of being in an authentic confessing community (a small group of people who got together regularly for prayer and fellowship and who gave each other permission to be honest about our brokenness). And just as James promises, those really were places of healing and wholeness for me.

There really is something to this idea. Something remarkable happens when you look another person in the eye and admit your brokenness. I think it takes that kind of confession to actually admit it to yourself. And to God.

More than that, it's almost as if God's grace actually comes out of our mouths when we look someone in the eye who has confessed to us and we say, "you are forgiven." I love saying those words to the whole congregation. But every time I do it, I'm aware deep down that it would be so much more meaningful to each one of them, if that confession and prayer and that giving of forgiveness happened in an authentic and confessing small group.

Do you have a place like that?

Do you want one?

Let me know and I'll help you find one.

Top 10 "Take Homes" from the Leadership Summit

1. Have a Laser Sharp Focus.
Stop doing what others are doing and do what God has uniquely equipped you to do. Don’t try to do everything well. You won’t. Know, with precision clarity and focus, what it is you are called to do and to be. Then chase after that with all you have. Do less in order to do more! What are the things we need to STOP doing?

2. Pursue Excellence.
Love people thoughtfully, carefully, excellently, and rigorously. Say “no” to the Christian-adjusted scale of mediocrity. We are loving, working, and speaking on behalf of the king of kings. Love, work, and speak with all your heart and strength. Do it well. God deserves it.

3. Don’t get stuck in the visitor’s center.
Don’t go on the trip, but miss the adventure. That’s like going to a national park and spending 4 hours looking through the gift shop instead of hiking in and having the adventure. If my following doesn’t feel risky, I might want to check and see if I’m actually following. Jesus liberates us from the emptiness of safe faith. Don’t be content with comfortable cul-de-sac kind of faith.

4. Faith and Joy are inseperable.
Joy is a core value! The first thing to disappear when spiritual health declines is laughter and joy. The word “Joy” shows up in 241 different verses in the Bible (about the same as “Worship”). The joy of the lord is our strength. The harder it gets the more important that we have joy – for that is our strength. And when you stop and think about it, it’s pretty darn hilarious that God has put his stock in us goofy, bumbling, sell-outs. His plan is us. That’s funny stuff. How can we not laugh? A good many of us need to remind our faces about the joy we are supposed to have in our hearts.

5. Failure is not an option. It is a requirement.
It’s often the only way to find your way into God’s will. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying. Take a risk once in a while. “Take a flyer.”

6. Remove Barriers.
If we want people who are far from God to come to know God, we’ve got to remove the barriers that stand in the way. (And we’ve constructed an AWFUL lot of barriers). Note: We are not talking about the Gospel as a barrier. But we absolutely are talking about anything that people might experience that keeps them from feeling fully welcomed and accepted.

7. The #1 thing people say they want their church to do more of? CHALLENGE THEM.
Why are we afraid to ask people to sacrifice? Why are we afraid to set the bar high? Why are we afraid to challenge them? This contributes to the “Christian adjusted scale of mediocrity.”

8. Create motion for motion’s sake.
People will jump on board for a new thing in a way they won’t for a tweaked old thing. Doing something can create and sustain energy and momentum. Doing something helps keep people motivated and moving forward. Even if you only do it for a little while, even if it turns out not to be the right thing (see #5 above), doing something is often better than doing nothing.

9. Get the right people asking the right questions and you’ll get the right answers.
A primary task of leadership is to get the right people gathered at the table and to get them asking the right questions. A related point (from Colin Powell): “Reward top performers, remove non-performers.” This may seem like the opposite of grace. But it is actually about getting people in the right place. If I’m serving in a place that isn’t a good fit for me, I’m going to do poor work and I’m not going to enjoy it. Nobody benefits from that. (See #2 above).

10. Obstacles usually make great opportunities. The things that seem to create the most difficulty or tension might just point you to the great opportunities that God is presenting you.



Bonus: God has a plan to overthrow the problems of evil, injustice, and oppression. We are that plan. There is no other plan. (If justice is not your thing, then God is not your thing).

Do less to do more

Heard a great challenge this morning.
One of the most important decisions a church makes is deciding what it needs to STOP doing. What are we pouring our resources of time, money, and energy into that prevent us from being able to do the outrageous things God might be asking us to do?

To ask it another way, what are our sacred cows? What are the things that we hold sacred (because we've always done them, because they help in some way, because we can't imagine NOT doing them) that really aren't sacred? Because those sacred cows VERY often keep us from being able to reshift our focus and our effort towards the new things that God might be inviting us to attempt.

There is a growing body of research indicating that succesful churches have a LASER SHARP FOCUS. Let me define successful: It means successfully connecting people who are far from God with the embrace of Jesus. It means successfully growing people in maturity in their faith. It means successfully moving people along the journey of discipleship. It means equipping and releasing people to ministry in the world in the way God has called them.

Churches that are successfully doing those things are churches that have a laser sharp focus.

Here's the point. You don't have a laser sharp focus by trying to do everything.

So what do we need to stop doing in order to be able to live the BIG things God has in mind?

Timeless wisdom from one of the church fathers...

St. Augustine wrote: "The Church is a whore, but she is my mother."

Chew on that one for awhile.

Here's my take. The church falls way short of what it is called to be. Always. We can pretty much take a cold hard look at our selves in the mirror at any given moment and see some pretty rotten stuff.

But to quote a peaceable zealot: "the Church is an outpost of God's Kingdom, a continuation of the incarnation. If you don't love the Church, then you don't love the very body of the crucified and risen Lord."

So do you think Augustine is hinting at a love/hate relationship?

And what do you do with the whore? How do you treat her? What do you ask of her?

And if the church is a whore, does that make me a pimp?

Maybe I should explain the whole TWITTER thing...

So, I've had hundreds, maybe thousands of people ask for more regular blog updates. It's like they just can't get enough of me. And frankly, it's just tough to always find time for a good quality post.

It's a whole different story though if all you want is a quick one sentence update.

That's the point of TWITTER.

My Twitter account is a way for me to send out quick and short updates on what's going on.

As sort of a practice run at TWITTERING, I'll be sending in regular updates from the Willow Creek Leadership Summit this week. Starting on Thursday, you can find out what we're hearing and learning. Just click on the "follow me" link under Twitter on the right side of this page.

Let me know what you think.

Have you heard Jaron and Katherine's music?

Click here for a little foretaste of heaven. Or at least some really good music.

Jaron, when can we buy the album????

It's kind of like the opposite of the lottery...

So we talked about grace at the Launch yesterday. If you missed it, here it is in one simple sentence:

When you do a bunch of stuff thinking it will earn you favor in God's eyes, your good actions are really nothing more than a big pile of garbage, so why not quit trying to do that and just sit still in the knowledge that God loves you in spite of yourself, which means you are actually completely free to do good things, not because you "OUGHT TO", but because you want to, just as a way of saying thanks to God.

Simple as that.

One interesting point came up: it's possible to hear this conversation about GRACE and to think, "if even my best deeds are just worthless garbage to God, then why try?"

Fair enough. Interestingly, the entire 6th chapter of Romans is written to answer that very question. I'll just let you read that yourself.

But I ran across this great quote as I prepared for the sermon yesterday. The truest test of whether or not you are preaching the truth about grace is if some people misunderstand it and think they should can just keep on sinning.

Which reminds me of another great quote. I think this one was Martin Luther. He (or somebody like him) said, "if you're going to sin, sin boldly". I think his point was, don't minimize the depth of God's grace by pretending that your petty little sins won't need as much grace. Your little white lie is as bad as the grossest sin you can imagine. They both require nails in the hand of Jesus. So if you are going to sin, sin boldly so that you'll know how much it cost God to reconcile you to himself.

What do you think of that?

Scott Keeble is a Twit

I've jumped on the Twitter bandwagon.
There is a link on the right side. click on follow me if you want the inside scoop on what I'm doing or thinking about at any given moment.

Sometimes God kind of ticks me off...

So I'm driving my son to school this morning and I have this amazing idea. Hey why don't we pray together for your day? He says OK. I pray for a few things. I ask him if there's anything he wants me to pray for. He says that he would remember that we love him. Mostly I'm praying that God helps him have a good day and gives him peace and helps him adjust a little better than he has been.

Then we get to the drop off point, and he totally melts down. Won't get out of the car. It was our worst drop off yet.

I hate it when that happens. When you pray for something and not only does it not happen, but it's almost like the exact opposite happens. It's the ANTI-answer. It's not just that God doesn't respond. It's that you end up with something about as far as possible from what you asked for. The Anti-Answer.

You pray for a good night's sleep and you lay awake all night. You pray for patience with your kids and you end up yelling at them all day long. You pray to win the lottery and a big fat tax bill shows up in the mail. (Ok, I don't actually pray to win the lottery.)

So after I drop him off, I'm driving to work and am just in a really bad mood.
And I have this really odd thought. I guess the Anti-Answer at least shows that God is there. I don't think it's just God's sick sense of humor to give that kind of answer. It probably has alot more to do with the fact that God is trying to remind me that prayer needs to be about alot more than just "God give me..."

The Anti-answer sucks but at least its an answer.

Inked For Jesus

I've become a regular reader of Stuff Christians Like (a very cool blog for Christians who are willing to laugh at the dumb stuff Christians sometimes do).

They recently held a contest for "christian tattoos."

This is awesome to me for alot of reasons:
1. I've always wanted a tattoo but always been a big chicken.
2. You have to admire someone who believes something strongly enough to put it on their skin permanently.
3. Those little moisten and press tattoos always start to fade when you take a bath.
4. Most church goers would probably be shocked to see how many other church goers have little tattoos on parts of their bodies that they don't tend to let other church goers see.

But probably most significantly because of a friend of mine that God used to shatter some of my old boxes, paradigms, and prejudices. The first time I met this guy, let's call him KJ (wink, wink), I was working for YouthWorks and I had about 40 college students that I supervised as they led high school youth on summer mission trips. The very first thing I noticed about KJ was that his forearms and calves were pretty much completely covered with tattoos. Then I looked up and realized that KJ had at least a dozen piercings...just on his face. To be perfectly honest, my immediate gut reaction was, "Clearly this guy was a phone interview hire."

Long story short, KJ turned out to be one of the most insightful, compassionate, full of integrity, faithful and committed Christ followers I've ever met in my entire life. I learned so much from KJ. I still do. He is an amazing youth pastor and God is using him in deep ways. The guy flat out rocks my face off.

But what I love about KJ's tattoos is that they are all very intentional. They say something and that something is purposeful.

I think of that and then I ask, what am I doing on purpose to say something to the world in which I live? What am I doing that purposefully says something about what I think, what I am, what I believe?

If I'm honest, I'm usually more concerned with trying to hide the fact that I work for Jesus because I want people to get to know me before they write me off.

My friend KJ is quite content to just be who he is. And that impresses me.

Maybe one day, my own personal evolution will take me to the point of being willing to be purposeful about letting people know who I am and what I am about.

Ear hair

Makes it hard for me to pretend I'm not getting older.

Top 10 ways to make talking bad sound good

So, it turns out this list sort of struck a chord with folks on Sunday. Probably because of how impressive I came off in Jaron's descriptions! In case you missed it, here is our list of ways that we try to convince ourselves that it's OK to talk bad about other people.

10. Blame Someone Else. “I can’t believe this is true, but Mark Allender told me that Scott left his zipper open this morning.”

9. Blame Everyone Else. “I’m not saying I agree, but I’ve had like a whole bunch of people tell me that Scott is lactose intolerant.”

8. Self Deprecation: “Maybe it’s just me, I mean maybe I’m crazy, but have you noticed how much Scott talks about people outside the church? I’m pretty sure he wants to close the church completely.”

7. Righteous Indignation: “Somebody ought to do something. I mean, seriously, somebody really needs to say something to him about the way he whoops when he walks up on stage.”

6. The “bless his heart”: “ Bless his heart… he’s just so young he doesn’t know any better. Surely one of those older, wiser pastors can explain to him why we have to take up the offering every week.”

5. The Denial: “I don’t mean to gossip, but did you hear the rumor about Scott? They say he’s gained 15 pounds this year. Split 3 pair of pants right up the back side. Can you say Jenny Craig?”

4. Closely related to the Denial, it’s the “I’m just saying”: “I’m not judging him. I’m just saying, when you drink Chai Lattes with Caramel every day, you belt size is gonna grow faster than your age.”

3. The Confidential: “Listen, just between you and me, I think Scott has more relatives reading his blog than people in our church.”

2. The Backhand: “I guess it’s great what Scott is doing with the offering, you know, if you don’t care about having a church for our children to go to.”

1. The Prayer Request: “Friend, we really need to pray for Scott. I heard that he is addicted to Chai Lattes and he misses work just about every other week. Yeah right, Hawaii. If we don’t get as many people praying for him as possible, he might just fall off the gas wagon and become a full fledged hyper-miler.”



What other ways have you heard folks try to hide the fact that they just needed to spread a little gossip?


It's always a good idea to laugh at yourself (or believe me, others will do it for you!) Sometimes laughing at ourselves helps us to be able to deal with the ugly stuff we are laughing at. And gossip is pretty dern ugly. Negative and critical speech can be such a destructive force in churches. It is so hurtful because it is completely and utterly different from the way of Jesus. We are children of the light and we are called to walk in the light. In the light, everything is clear. There is no deceipt. There is nothing hidden. In the light we are honest and we are stripped of our masks and we are who we are. And in that light we find genuine acceptance and pure love.

Gossip is the opposite of walking in the light. Backroom complaining is the opposite of walking in the light. Slandering someone's reputation is the opposite of walking in the light. Sitting in a small group and badmouthing other people is the opposite of walking in the light. Getting together with others to complain about someone (when you haven't sat down with that someone to try to work through your differences) is the OPPOSITE of walking in the light.

I can't get over this quote from the book of James. "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not control his tongue...this man's religion is WORTHLESS."

Good Lord, let's not prove ourselves worthless.

Sticking out like a broken ankle

I started out by typing sore thumb in the title. But I've never actually seen a sore thumb that stuck out. But I have seen a broken ankle (mine) and it did really stick out (like sideways). So I went with that.

If you are anything like me (and I know I am), then you'd admit that "sticking out like a broken ankle" is how you might feel about the idea of sharing your faith with someone. We try to live well, we hope they notice, and every once in a while, we get the chance to actually talk about WHY we live the way we do. Then the tongue just sort of gets stuck in our throat.

So I was thinking about that this weekend as I was reading my new favorite blog:
Stuff Christians Like. And I was inspired.

There is a great model for how we think about sharing our faith. And its found in an unusual place: The story of the Prodigal Son. It's an amazing story about grace, forgiveness, embrace, limitless love. And though I hadn't seen it before: evangelism. Here's what I read:

Remember when the son comes home? The dad basically throws a big party. But the father doesn't invite the older brother to the party at first when the prodigal comes home. Have you ever noticed that? He doesn't come right out and say, "Go get the older brother, it's party time."

Why doesn't he? If the party is the ultimate expression of grace and forgiveness and love, why doesn't the God character in the story invite him there? Better yet, why doesn't he just force him?

The answer is a little further down the page in Luke 15:

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

Did you see that? Not only wasn't the brother invited, he didn't even know it was going on. But when he heard music and dancing he asked a question. He asked a question because both those activities were out of context. They should not have been happening, they made not sense. And when he asked a question, the father came running out and begged him to come inside.

I like that picture of evangelism. I don't have to force the people in my life to come to my God party. I just have to dance and live in such a way that they ask questions. And when they do, I will trust that God can answer them. All too often we do it the other way around. We tell people we have a party they would love instead of showing them. And there is a world of difference between those two ideas.

Here’s what I'm thinking: God can use all different, pathetic, half hearted, and poorly thought out means of us sharing our faith to draw people to himself. But I am increasingly sure that the very best thing we can do is “dance and sing” in such a way that people ask questions. If we don’t stick out (like a broken ankle), chances are slim that they will even know we are here. Let's live in a such a way that they want to know what's going on. Let's serve in such a way that they want to know how to get involved. Lets love in such a way that they want to know how to be find that kind of love. When they see us doing something that doesn't make sense, they'll ask questions. And then we'll answer there questions by telling them about Jesus.

So what do you think about “sticking out?”

My Awesome Gas Mileage (update)

Well, not as good as I'd hoped, but I'm still learning the techniques. Scroll down a bit to read about my new found hobby - "Hypermiling."

On my first tank of gas in the Civic as a "hypermiler", I got a little over 35 miles a gallon. That's right about what it's rated at for highway miles, but most of those miles were on city streets. I estimate that I raised my gas mileage by about 5 miles a gallon on that first tank. Not too bad.

Now, I'm shooting for 40 MPG.

Be warned, this is addictive. Melissa laughs at me as I put it in neutral to coast down every hill and up to every stop sign. It's become this obsessive game to see how many miles I can squeeze out of every tank.

living it up with the Kauai celebs

Had a wonderful dinner at Postcards restaurant in Hanalei. Seated at the table behind us was Craig T Nelson. You youngsters probably know him as the voice of Mr. Incredible but to me, he will always be "Coach".

He was very friendly and we chatted briefly. He recognized my accent as southern though sadly guessed Texas.

Thought you might enjoy a candid photo of our evening together (courtesy Marcus Stenzel).

Do you HYPERMILE???

OK, have you ever even heard of hyper-miling?
I stumbled on an article about this not long ago and I'm absolutely hooked.

The basic idea is this: by using some specific driving methods, you can add significantly to the gas mileage your car gets. And as gas hovers well over $4 a gallon, I'll take every extra mile I can find.

There are literally dozens of little things you can do to increase your mileage. Some of them I don't even understand yet. But even if you drive a gas guzzling SUV, you can still significantly increase your MPG.

If you want to read more, click on this: what is hypermiling?
Be sure to click on the link inside that introductory article.

So here's our progress: I'm on my first tank of gas since I started trying this. I've driven over 200 miles and I still have over a half a tank of gas left. Once I refill, I'll be able to tell you what my actual MPG was over that time. But I'm thinking its definitely going to be higher than normal.

BUT HERE'S THE AMAZING THING: Hypermiling has made me a better person!!!!

I'm not kidding.

Now, the drive to work has become very calm and restful. I'm just taking my time. I'm infinitely more relaxed. I'm not getting mad at other cars that are going slow. I'm in a better mood when I get to work (and when I get back home). I’m just happier. And it’s addictive. I’m constantly trying to figure out how to get a little bit better at getting more miles out of my car.

You guys had no idea what you were getting into when you hired someone from California, did you?

Stories of being non-missional

Melissa and I have some friends who are missionaries in South Africa. We had lunch with them today and they told us a story of some of their experiences at one of the churches (in America) they served previously.

A homeless man had been living out of his van and had been parking his van in or around the church parking lot for a few days. One day, the man comes into the church while some folks are there. He goes over to the kitchen with a piece of bread and simply asks if he can use their toaster. He just happens to ask the woman who is the Hospitality Director. Oh the irony. So this woman tells him no he cannot use the toaster. She then unplugs the toaster (which had been sitting on the counter in full view), puts in the cabinet, and locks the cabinet.

Shortly after that, the youth group at this same church begins to collect canned goods for their annual Souper Bowl of Caring. The youth group would keep bags set up around the church and folks would just drop in their canned good donations. Someone happened to notice that the same homeless fellow mentioned earlier happened to wander by and reach into one of the bags and grab a can of green beans. The next day, the bags were all moved and placed in locked closets. When my friend asked why, he was told that they couldn't leave those out. The food was being collected for homeless people.

Now I certainly don't offer this story as an indictment of that particular church. Though I am proud of my friend who did tell them what he thought in a sermon the following Sunday.

I offer this story to encourage all of us to consider a pretty simple point. It's great to go out and do good things. But I think Jesus is pretty clear about WHY we go out and do good things. If it isn't coming out of a heart that truly loves, then it's pretty much useless. Empty gestures, really. Read the book of Amos for more on that.

But if our heart is truly filled with compassion, if our heart breaks for the outcast, the widow, the orphan, the poor, etc, then we won't be able to help but respond when the need knocks on our own door.

May your heart be filled with the love of Christ for all people.

A reminder

You can find mp3's of most of our sermons at bottom right of this page. If you click on the sermon title, a player will open and automatically start playing after a moment or so.

Don't drop your BUTT

So, I'm driving into work today and the guy in front of me drops his cigarette butt out the window of his car. I see this all the time in Champaign (which really stands out because I rarely saw it in L.A.) and as I'm driving into work, I'm thinking about a blog entry about how often people litter here.

Then I get to work and there is this email from Rebecca with a link to a really cool article that totally convicted me.

Here is the article:

From W.David Phillips:

“At my last doctoral class with Len Sweet last week, he posed a question to us that went something like this: Provide for me the metaphors that will describe how we measure success in the church in the future. We are prone to measure success by how many and how much. And we determine who is a great leader by how many and how much.

So today, I want to share with you some of the metaphors we listed (and some I came up with afterwards), of things we can count as a measure of success. But I need to issue a warning. You will have to think about these and you may push back unless you realize the metaphor. So don’t react…Ponder…

1. The number of cigarette butts in the church parking lot.
2. The number of adoptions people in the church have made from local foster care.
3. The number of pictures on the church wall of unwed mothers holding their newborn babies in their arms for the first time.
4. The number of classes for special needs children and adults
5. The number of former convicted felons serving in the church
6. The number of phone calls from community leaders asking the church’s advice
7. The number of meetings that take place somewhere besides the church building
8. The number of organizations using the church building
9. The number of days the pastor doesn’t spend time in the church office but in the community
10. The number of emergency finance meetings that take place to reroute money to community ministry
11. The amount of dollars saved by the local schools because the church has painted the walls
12. The number of people serving in the community during the church’s normal worship hours
13. The number of non-religious-school professors worshiping with you
14. The number of people wearing good, free clothes that used to belong to members of the church
15. The number of times the church band has played family-friendly music in the local coffee shop
16. The number of people who have gotten better because of free health clinic you operate
17. The number of people in new jobs thanks to the free job training center you opened
18. The number of micro-loans given by members in your church
19. The number of churches your church planted in a 10 mile radius of your own church

Got any more?”

Wow. How about that? Any thoughts?
What are our measures of success right now? What should they be?

Messed up beautiful people

Do you have folks in your life that are so messed up, so odd, so annoying that you just can't hardly stand to be around them? People that you see coming and you want to just go the other way? People that make you act (or at least feel) in a way that you know Jesus wouldn't act? But you just can't hardly help it.

My friend Joy had an amazing insight about people like that. She made one of those statements that made me feel like Jesus was poking me in the ribs, saying, "Hey, did you hear that???"

Joy used the word "BEAUTIFUL" to describe what happens when one of those tough to love people finds a place to be a part of a community.

Beautiful.

Which is not the word that would describe my attitude towards that tough to love person. So, who is the one that's really messed up?

Joy is right. It is beautiful. And as I thought about that, I realized that you almost never see this kind of beauty when you are around people that are like you. It's not something that happens (very often) behind the safe walls of our homes or our churches. It's not something that happens unless we're willing to get a little messy ourselves. Or until we're willing to just admit that we ARE pretty messed up ourselves. Or until we start looking for beauty in people that are NOT like us.

So it occurs to me that our tendency to flock together with people that are like us makes it alot less likely that we can actually be like we really are with other people. In other words our uniqueness gets lost behind our desire to fit in.

Let me say it another way: I've got my own messed up junk. In my own way, I can be really hard to love myself. I can definitely be a big friggin idiot. If I let people see that stuff, will they find anything beautiful there, or will they just want to walk in the other direction? If I am honest about who I am, will there be room for me or will I find myself on the outside looking in? Can you make room for my uniqueness? My differing perspectives? My nuances and oddities? Can you let me be me? I mean, REALLY be me?

That's a deep and very real fear that I think haunts every person on some level. So we hide in our "likeness."

Maybe, just maybe, the only way to start to see beauty in ourselves is to start looking for it in others - ESPECIALLY those in whom it is hard to see much beauty.

But when we see it, when we feel it, when we are a part of it....yeah, it is beautiful.

You don't have to go to the dentist to get Happy Gas

We are in Southern California in the midst of a little vacation time combined with some study leave for me. Yesterday, we drove into the parking lot of the church I used to work at. They were setting up the patio for VBS. When some of the folks saw us pull in, they came running out to the car to say hi. Maya saw those old friends running out to the car, and she says:

"I'm so happy, I just tooted."

By the way, 2 nights ago, it was 105 degrees here.....at midnight.

How did you worship???

Missed ya'll on Sunday. But I hope you took us up on the challenge to find a way to worship in public outside the church walls. It was great to see many of you at the Downtown Campus, where I had the chance to preach. But I'm really excited to hear whatelse some of you did.

So, click on the little "comments" word below and tell us what you were up to this weekend!

The most religious show on TV....

The Simpsons
No doubt about it. I'll happily loan you my copy of "The Gospel According to the Simpsons." For all the shortcomings the show may have, it nevertheless makes more references to God, Jesus, faith, and the church than any other show. Yep, even more than 7th Heaven. To be sure, the Simpsons are laughably irreverent and make fun of Christianity - but let's be honest, we've earned it. I always enjoy a good chuckle at my own expense (as you know if you've heard me preach).

If you want to read more about the Simpsons' favorite Christian (and a character we probably resemble more than we want to admit), take a peak at this story about Ned Flanders

"tasting" God

I read this full article during my sermon on Sunday. Here are some excerpts. Great thoughts. I think this concept of "tasting" God through being with others is so important. Hmmm, sounds a bit like small groups.

From "All Things Considered" aired on NPR on May 5, 2008 •

Until recently, I thought being a Christian was all about belief. I didn't know any Christians, but I considered them people who believed in the virgin birth, for example, the way I believed in photosynthesis or germs.

But then, in an experience I still can't logically explain, I walked into a church and a stranger handed me a chunk of bread. Suddenly, I knew that it was made out of real flour and water and yeast — yet I also knew that God, named Jesus, was alive and in my mouth.

That first communion knocked me upside-down. Faith turned out not to be abstract at all, but material and physical. I'd thought Christianity meant angels and trinities and being good. Instead, I discovered a religion rooted in the most ordinary yet subversive practice: a dinner table where everyone is welcome, where the despised and outcasts are honored.

I came to believe that God is revealed not only in bread and wine during church services, but whenever we share food with others — particularly strangers. I came to believe that the fruits of creation are for everyone, without exception — not something to be doled out to insiders or the "deserving."

But I learned that hunger can lead to more life — that by sharing real food, I'd find communion with the most unlikely people; that by eating a piece of bread, I'd experience myself as part of one body. This I believe: that by opening ourselves to strangers, we will taste God.

I'm just passing through

Somebody put this sign up on the church grounds yesterday. The secretary walks in and asks if we're moving out. It's funny on alot of different levels, not the least of which is because of the recent rumor that has surfaced about the pastoral staff secretly trying to sell the church.

I started thinking about this sign and I realized that there is some profound truth to it. We don't own this church. It's not actually our church. We don't have any claim to it really. This is God's church.

I should probably stop at this point and remind us all that nowhere in the New Testament have I been able to find a verse that refers to a building as a "church". The word is used almost exclusively to refer to a body of believers. WE are the church. This building is not the church. In fact, if the building were suddenly leased out from under us tomorrow, we (the people) would STILL be the church.

But the bigger point for me is this great reminder from one of our neighbors with some space to rent is that we are just passing through. God asks us to hold all things lightly, including our space. It's not for us really. It's for the glory of God. And if God would be glorified by this space being used in radically different ways, then radically different programs would be entirely appropriate. Because its not OURS. It's Gods. It's not for US. It's for the LEAST OF THESE. In a very real sense, we're just leasing it ourselves. And as we remembered quite clearly in a sermon from AMOS last month, if we don't use this "leased" space appropriately, it's entirely likely that God will find a different leasee!

So, who's gonna call the number on the sign and find out what they're asking?

dearly beloved...

I've got the incredible privilege of performing the wedding for my dear friend Sarah this weekend. Here's what I love about weddings. In Genesis it talks about the two becoming one. In Jewish tradition, the most sacred and important prayer has a line that says, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." That word "ONE" is the same word used in Genesis to describe what a man and a woman become. ONE. Then in the gospels, its written that Jesus is praying to his Father, praying for his followers, for us, and he prays, "May they be ONE as you (God) and I (Jesus) are one."

Think about that. We believe that God exists as a single diety, in three persons. The trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three in one. But the key word is ONE. God is one. The relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is so close, so connected, so intimate, so completely united, that really the only word to describe it is ONE.

That's what happens in a wedding. The two become one. In theory they become so completely connected, so united, so intimate, so close, that the best word to describe them is ONE.

Rob Bell talks about this and says that God designed marriage to be a picture, a window, a reflection of something deeper. God intended marriage to show us how God desires to be connected to us.

I can't wait to watch Tim and Sarah look at each other as they say their vows. Because I know what I'll be seeing is the way God looks at me. And you.

Instant Access

Today was really fun. There wasn't really a planned sermon. I just invited folks to send text messages to me with questions or comments and I tried to answer as many as I could. I had 10 before I even started the sermon.

Some were really funny: "Rank your top 3 biggest sins" (thanks Jeff). In case you missed it, my answer was "1, 2, and 3". I was laughing hard before i even got up for the sermon.

Some were serious: "how would you say that you know God exists to a college student who doesn't believe God exists."

Some were hard: "what does missional mean and are we (as a church) defining it correctly." Of course I referred people to this blog for more information.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. Sorry to everyone we couldn't get to. Please feel free to email me, or post them here. We'll do that again some time this summer.

what the heck does "missional" mean, part 3...

The last entry talked about having a “missionary stance.” What does that mean?

Think for a bit about what you might do if you suddenly found yourself a missionary in a foreign culture. What would be the things you would focus on first?

First, you’d probably have to learn the language of the locals. It wouldn’t really be enough to learn it in a textbook. You would have to get out on the streets and learn how people really talk. You would have to learn their idioms and the figures of speech. You would have to get a feel for their sense of humor. Bottom line, you would have to be able to talk their talk.

Then you would have to learn to walk their walk. In other words, you would have to go hang out where they hang out. Learn what they like to do. You would want to know about their music, their art, their expressions of creativity. You would want to have a firm grasp on the ways they express spirituality, fear, hope, despair, longing, and meaning. You would have to learn about the ways they approach birth and death, and what happens after death. You would have to discover the ways they think about right and wrong. You would have to figure out the way they approach truth (for example, in many cultures, there is nothing contradictory about believing several different things that might seem to be in tension with each other).

After doing all that, then you would have to prove yourself really. I mean, if you don’t demonstrate a way of living that seems to be a genuinely better alternative, how could you ever hope to convince them of the validity of your message. So you would have to show them love, sacrifice, and presence. You would have to prove that you care about them more than you care about yourself. You would have to pour your life into their lives.

Finally after doing all that, you could begin to explain Jesus in a way they might understand – which of course means you would have to explain Jesus in their language, using their metaphors, and working within the framework of their culture.

So hopefully the metaphor is clear.

We live in an increasingly foreign culture. It’s not a Christian culture anymore. It’s a secular culture and we are the aliens here. And we are sent by God into this culture to be missionaries.

That’s our purpose. So every one of us, as individuals, are called to be missionaries in the immediate contexts in which God has planted us. You are called to live a missional lifestyle. And the church is called to be a missionary community in the foreign culture in which we live.
(note: if you doubt the whole foreign culture idea, go sit at Kopi Café for a few hours and just watch and listen; go to the Canopy Club one evening for a show – watch and listen)

So, as missionaries, we have to first learn the language of the culture around us. Obviously, I’m not talking about English. But what I am talking about is the way that those outside of the church talk about spirituality, morality, values, meaning, God, hope, death, after-life, whatever.

The flip side of this coin is that we have to start understanding that the words we have used inside the church are virtually meaningless to the generations of people that have grown up in a non-churched culture. Words like sin, grace, salvation, redemption, hell, forgiveness, - they don’t convey much of anything to the foreign culture in which we live. That doesn't mean the concept cease to be true. It means we have to find new ways of expressing our brokenness and God's way of dealing with it.

So we have to learn a new language. We have to discover new metaphors, new stories, new illustrations.

We also have to learn how to BE Christ followers IN the world. We have to learn to go onto their turf and engage them in their terms. We have to hang out where they hang out and love them and serve them right where they are. We have to prove our love for them by showing up for them consistently. To quote McNeil: “They won’t hear our truth until they see our love.”

And finally, we have to learn how to be PREPARED to invite people into grace and love whenever the opportunity arises. This is the heart of being a missionary. We love people because they are worth loving. We love them because God loves them. And as our demonstration of love builds a bridge of trust, we then can speak the truth of God’s saving grace into their lives.

So what do you think of this idea of living like missionaries?