No, not for you. For hungry people.
Leslie Barr made my day at session last night when she told me I'd gotten her hooked on the "Free Rice" game.
If you haven't seen the free rice game, check it out
here
For every definition you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to feed the hungry through the UN World Food Program.
Leslie beat my high score: She got up to 43.
What's your best?
(No cheating by looking up words on the internet while you play!!! That would be envy, and probably gluttony somehow).
Friday, March 14, 2008
Drew MacGregor has a new job title
In case you don't know, Drew is our Communications Coach. That means he is faithfully volunteers to put together a weekly email update and to write other pieces of mass communication. Drew also knows a little bit about just about everything, which sort of prompted his new title (thanks Richard!)
Drew is now "The Encyclopedia of Awesome!"
Drew is now "The Encyclopedia of Awesome!"
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Had enough sin?
We're done with the 7 deadly sins. Which is sad because, let's be honest, sin is fun. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be hard to avoid it now would it.
What I mean is that the video's (starring Richard, but artfully designed by the very creative ) are over with. And that's really sad. By far the best part of the last month and a half.
If you missed any of the videos, or just want to fondly recollect the good times, go check out Richard's Blog
This week is Palm Sunday.
Next week, we have a Good Friday service at our DT location (I hear the preacher is pretty good - it's Melissa Keeble!)
Then comes Easter.
It's probably worth remembering that alot of folks are thinking about church at Easter, who otherwise aren't often thinking about church. It's probably a great time to invite someone to come check out what we've got going on. We'll have invitation cards available at church this week. Just so you know, recent studies have indicated that 90% of first time visitors to church come because someone they know personally invited them to come WITH them.
Check back soon for an update on the Economy of God!
What I mean is that the video's (starring Richard, but artfully designed by the very creative ) are over with. And that's really sad. By far the best part of the last month and a half.
If you missed any of the videos, or just want to fondly recollect the good times, go check out Richard's Blog
This week is Palm Sunday.
Next week, we have a Good Friday service at our DT location (I hear the preacher is pretty good - it's Melissa Keeble!)
Then comes Easter.
It's probably worth remembering that alot of folks are thinking about church at Easter, who otherwise aren't often thinking about church. It's probably a great time to invite someone to come check out what we've got going on. We'll have invitation cards available at church this week. Just so you know, recent studies have indicated that 90% of first time visitors to church come because someone they know personally invited them to come WITH them.
Check back soon for an update on the Economy of God!
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
80 degrees in Miami
Melissa and I just got back from 4 days in Miami at the President's Forum for Opportunity International. I can't say enough good things about this group and their commitment to eliminating poverty in developing countries through micro-finance. We were both absolutely blown away by their mission and their model for achieving it.
Learn more about Opportunity here:
Opportunity
And yeah, it was 80 degrees. We sat by the pool and drank Malibu Rum.....It's snowing today. Did I mention it was 80 degrees?
By the way, if you missed Richard's sermon this past week, it was great. You can see it on his blog which is listed under the links on the right side of this page! Also here: Richard
You can also see the videos for each week of the 7 deadly sins series we are working through. Greed was my favorite.
Learn more about Opportunity here:
Opportunity
And yeah, it was 80 degrees. We sat by the pool and drank Malibu Rum.....It's snowing today. Did I mention it was 80 degrees?
By the way, if you missed Richard's sermon this past week, it was great. You can see it on his blog which is listed under the links on the right side of this page! Also here: Richard
You can also see the videos for each week of the 7 deadly sins series we are working through. Greed was my favorite.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Reflecting on "Our Story"
Drew MacGregor offered these thoughts on one of the lines our story.
Be....In Community
One of the phrases that came out of the branding/messaging work we did last year was "Be.....in community."
At the time I heard that I really liked the message it conveys. Come to FirstChurch, be yourself, be part of a community.
Over the last few months, and in thinking about the covenant we signed, I have developed a new appreciation for what the phrase means.
We are called to Be in our Community. We are called to serve outside our walls. We are called to be beacons of light in a hurting world. We are called to go out into the Community and Be ourselves. I am beginning to better understand that Be...in Community isn't about the unchurched coming to us, but it's about us going to them in how we carry ourselves daily.
How are you called to Be....in our Community?
Be....In Community
One of the phrases that came out of the branding/messaging work we did last year was "Be.....in community."
At the time I heard that I really liked the message it conveys. Come to FirstChurch, be yourself, be part of a community.
Over the last few months, and in thinking about the covenant we signed, I have developed a new appreciation for what the phrase means.
We are called to Be in our Community. We are called to serve outside our walls. We are called to be beacons of light in a hurting world. We are called to go out into the Community and Be ourselves. I am beginning to better understand that Be...in Community isn't about the unchurched coming to us, but it's about us going to them in how we carry ourselves daily.
How are you called to Be....in our Community?
Monday, February 11, 2008
Big Fat Losers
A recent Today show interview featured the Dean family - who together lost 500 pounds in a year.
500 pounds. My family doesn't weight that much total. So this family really lost alot of fat. In the interview, the dad of the family admitted to going 30 years without exercising and never passing up a snack along the way. I was frankly really impressed by what they did. It took alot of hard work.
Here's the thing: it's really pretty easy to gain weight. You don't even have to think about it. Do nothing and it happens.
When we in the church think about gluttony, we tend to think about intentionally taking more than we really need. But I don't think that's the heart of the problem. I think gluttony is really about not doing something. Do nothing and it just sort of happens.
Because naturally, we just take more than we need. We focus on ourselves. We hoard. We're selfish. We just want more. All the time. A member of the Rockefeller family was once asked how much money was enough. His answer: "Just a little more."
It takes a commitment; It takes a decision; It takes effort to not be a glutton. You have to intentionally say no to some things and yes to other things (which usually means saying yes to others instead of saying yes to things).
On Sunday, we'll be talking about what it means to be a glutton. Until then, I'd love to know what are some of the things you have a hard time saying no to. Or conversely, what are the things (or people) you have a hard time saying yes to.
500 pounds. My family doesn't weight that much total. So this family really lost alot of fat. In the interview, the dad of the family admitted to going 30 years without exercising and never passing up a snack along the way. I was frankly really impressed by what they did. It took alot of hard work.
Here's the thing: it's really pretty easy to gain weight. You don't even have to think about it. Do nothing and it happens.
When we in the church think about gluttony, we tend to think about intentionally taking more than we really need. But I don't think that's the heart of the problem. I think gluttony is really about not doing something. Do nothing and it just sort of happens.
Because naturally, we just take more than we need. We focus on ourselves. We hoard. We're selfish. We just want more. All the time. A member of the Rockefeller family was once asked how much money was enough. His answer: "Just a little more."
It takes a commitment; It takes a decision; It takes effort to not be a glutton. You have to intentionally say no to some things and yes to other things (which usually means saying yes to others instead of saying yes to things).
On Sunday, we'll be talking about what it means to be a glutton. Until then, I'd love to know what are some of the things you have a hard time saying no to. Or conversely, what are the things (or people) you have a hard time saying yes to.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
I'm too sexy for my shirt...
WARNING: The sermon this Sunday will use words like "sex", "lust", and "passion." There will be frequent quotations from the Song of Solomon. Such as:
"The curves of your hips are like jewels, the work of the hands of an artist. Your navel is like a round goblet which never lacks mixed wine."
And just wait till we get to the part about climbing palm trees and the twin fawns...
In all seriousness, this is guaranteed to not be rated any worse than PG. We're looking at the difference between love and lust. We won't actually talk about the "twin fawns". But if you aren't quite ready for your children to be asking you about things like sex, sexuality, lust, etc, you may want to just take your kids into the artroom during the sermon. (The artroom is right across the hall from the classroom we use as a nursery and each week there are activities for you and your kids to do in there during the worship service.)
see you Sunday.
"The curves of your hips are like jewels, the work of the hands of an artist. Your navel is like a round goblet which never lacks mixed wine."
And just wait till we get to the part about climbing palm trees and the twin fawns...
In all seriousness, this is guaranteed to not be rated any worse than PG. We're looking at the difference between love and lust. We won't actually talk about the "twin fawns". But if you aren't quite ready for your children to be asking you about things like sex, sexuality, lust, etc, you may want to just take your kids into the artroom during the sermon. (The artroom is right across the hall from the classroom we use as a nursery and each week there are activities for you and your kids to do in there during the worship service.)
see you Sunday.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
One Word: SENT
That word defines the church.
At the core of our identity is our having been SENT into the world to give the world a glimpse, a taste, a hint of the love of God and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
That word also defines the new paradigm we at FirstChurch have committed to stepping into.
It is our present future.
Last week, our session voted to reduce our funding for mission from 17% of the general budget, down to 10%. That decision was based on the hard realities of a budget deficit we face over the next few years. At first glimpse, it definitely appears that this decision flies in the face of what I wrote above. How can we spend less on missions and yet profess to be defined by our having been sent into the world? How can we act like we care about the poor and then turn our backs on those who are feeding them, sheltering them, serving them?
Good question. Hard question.
Interestingly, for me, this decision is full of hope. In fact, I believe it will propel us into the new reality we are seeking to embrace. I believe this decision will help move us towards our emerging vision of being a "sent" church.
Here's how: During the month of May, we will be having a month long focus on our "sent-ness". We'll spend a full month living in the values of our sending God. For 4 weeks, we'll come face to face with a world in need; with real people who have real longings for community, for purpose, for hope, for mercy, for love. Ultimately, we'll be forced to decide: are we here for ourselves? Or are we here for them?
I think the answer will be clear. And I am confident our response will be strong. We will live as a people SENT.
Are you ready?
At the core of our identity is our having been SENT into the world to give the world a glimpse, a taste, a hint of the love of God and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
That word also defines the new paradigm we at FirstChurch have committed to stepping into.
It is our present future.
Last week, our session voted to reduce our funding for mission from 17% of the general budget, down to 10%. That decision was based on the hard realities of a budget deficit we face over the next few years. At first glimpse, it definitely appears that this decision flies in the face of what I wrote above. How can we spend less on missions and yet profess to be defined by our having been sent into the world? How can we act like we care about the poor and then turn our backs on those who are feeding them, sheltering them, serving them?
Good question. Hard question.
Interestingly, for me, this decision is full of hope. In fact, I believe it will propel us into the new reality we are seeking to embrace. I believe this decision will help move us towards our emerging vision of being a "sent" church.
Here's how: During the month of May, we will be having a month long focus on our "sent-ness". We'll spend a full month living in the values of our sending God. For 4 weeks, we'll come face to face with a world in need; with real people who have real longings for community, for purpose, for hope, for mercy, for love. Ultimately, we'll be forced to decide: are we here for ourselves? Or are we here for them?
I think the answer will be clear. And I am confident our response will be strong. We will live as a people SENT.
Are you ready?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A finger slammed in the door
Over the holidays, our little girl got her finger shut in a door. It was an inside door in our house. The shocking part to me was that her finger got slammed in the hinge side of the door and the door shut completely. How does that happen and your finger not just come off?
So she has a pretty good gash on her finger and we run her to the ER and she actually falls asleep in the waiting room. I guess crying furiously for 45 minutes is kind of exhausting. Eventually we get in to see the doctor. The really funny part was that while the doc is stitching up the gash, I all of a sudden realize that I'M getting sick and about to pass out. The doc sits me down and puts a cold cloth on my head. My brave little girl handled her gash far better than her old man.
So i got to thinking about this later and found myself thinking of ways to try to keep this kind of thing from happening again. I found myself wanting to control her life situations so as to keep her from having this kind of accident.
But then I had that "duh" kind of realization: that was probably the best possible thing to help her learn.
Then came the really profound "AHA" moment: I realized that so much of our church life is structured to try to prevent us from having accidents. We are so careful to avoid making mistakes. We set up so many committees and task forces and teams to try to control situations and minimize "accidents."
But the result of all our good intentioned "parenting" is that we keep ourselves from stepping into the new world that is emerging around us. By trying to insulate ourselves from danger, we actually keep ourselves from experimenting with new ways of thinking, new ways of reaching out, new ways of doing church.
I wonder if we are actually preventing ourselves from growing into the full maturity of our faith. I wonder if we are keeping ourselves from growing into the future God is calling us to.
As we grow and mature, the world that we see and interact with changes. And our ability to interact with it changes. For us to grow and mature, we have to experiment with this new world. Without world, there is an ever changing world "out there" and it is a world for which the church is increasingly irrelevent. I think that may very well be because we are stuck in 1950, trying to control our every step so as to not make mistakes.
Maybe the time has come for us to step out into the world and shut our fingers in a few doors. There may not be any other way for us to learn how to interact with the world around us.
So she has a pretty good gash on her finger and we run her to the ER and she actually falls asleep in the waiting room. I guess crying furiously for 45 minutes is kind of exhausting. Eventually we get in to see the doctor. The really funny part was that while the doc is stitching up the gash, I all of a sudden realize that I'M getting sick and about to pass out. The doc sits me down and puts a cold cloth on my head. My brave little girl handled her gash far better than her old man.
So i got to thinking about this later and found myself thinking of ways to try to keep this kind of thing from happening again. I found myself wanting to control her life situations so as to keep her from having this kind of accident.
But then I had that "duh" kind of realization: that was probably the best possible thing to help her learn.
Then came the really profound "AHA" moment: I realized that so much of our church life is structured to try to prevent us from having accidents. We are so careful to avoid making mistakes. We set up so many committees and task forces and teams to try to control situations and minimize "accidents."
But the result of all our good intentioned "parenting" is that we keep ourselves from stepping into the new world that is emerging around us. By trying to insulate ourselves from danger, we actually keep ourselves from experimenting with new ways of thinking, new ways of reaching out, new ways of doing church.
I wonder if we are actually preventing ourselves from growing into the full maturity of our faith. I wonder if we are keeping ourselves from growing into the future God is calling us to.
As we grow and mature, the world that we see and interact with changes. And our ability to interact with it changes. For us to grow and mature, we have to experiment with this new world. Without world, there is an ever changing world "out there" and it is a world for which the church is increasingly irrelevent. I think that may very well be because we are stuck in 1950, trying to control our every step so as to not make mistakes.
Maybe the time has come for us to step out into the world and shut our fingers in a few doors. There may not be any other way for us to learn how to interact with the world around us.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
A vision for church 2008
Our conversation on Sundays at the Launch is asking a single question right now:
"Who are we called to be?"
Maybe a better way to phrase it is, "what is the Launch all about?"
In a sentence it is this: "We are a mission minded community of Christ followers who worship, serve, and live life together."
Each of those words is packed with meaning. And we'll be talking about that sentence for the next 4 weeks.
For now - the starting point: Mission minded. This does not refer to our mission program (though it includes that). This does not refer to missionaries who go to other countries (though that is a part of it). When we say that we are mission minded, this is what we mean. We recognize that the fundamental reality of our identity as a church is that we are sent into the world. We believe that God has raised up our church (and every church) with one primary purpose - to give the world a little foretaste of what God intends for the whole world. In other words, God has called us together as a church in order to send us out to the world to show them God's extravagant love.
So in everything we do, we have our eye on those who are not with us. We exist not for ourselves, but for our neighbor. So as we craft our worship services, we are thinking about those who don't really understand why we have liturgy and an order of worship. When we form small groups, we are thinking about those whom we might invite into our small groups who probably wouldn't come to church just yet. When we think about building a church in the SW cornfield, our thoughts are not on how the building will meet our needs. Our thoughts are on our SW neighbors whom we can serve through our building. When we think about how God is calling us to use our resources, our thoughts turn first to those who need God's wholeness, those who hurt, those who suffer, those who are without. Our thoughts are on a world full (and our own neighborhoods full) of people who could really use a little taste of God's love right here and now. That is our mission. Our lives are mission. Everything is mission.
We are mission minded...
"Who are we called to be?"
Maybe a better way to phrase it is, "what is the Launch all about?"
In a sentence it is this: "We are a mission minded community of Christ followers who worship, serve, and live life together."
Each of those words is packed with meaning. And we'll be talking about that sentence for the next 4 weeks.
For now - the starting point: Mission minded. This does not refer to our mission program (though it includes that). This does not refer to missionaries who go to other countries (though that is a part of it). When we say that we are mission minded, this is what we mean. We recognize that the fundamental reality of our identity as a church is that we are sent into the world. We believe that God has raised up our church (and every church) with one primary purpose - to give the world a little foretaste of what God intends for the whole world. In other words, God has called us together as a church in order to send us out to the world to show them God's extravagant love.
So in everything we do, we have our eye on those who are not with us. We exist not for ourselves, but for our neighbor. So as we craft our worship services, we are thinking about those who don't really understand why we have liturgy and an order of worship. When we form small groups, we are thinking about those whom we might invite into our small groups who probably wouldn't come to church just yet. When we think about building a church in the SW cornfield, our thoughts are not on how the building will meet our needs. Our thoughts are on our SW neighbors whom we can serve through our building. When we think about how God is calling us to use our resources, our thoughts turn first to those who need God's wholeness, those who hurt, those who suffer, those who are without. Our thoughts are on a world full (and our own neighborhoods full) of people who could really use a little taste of God's love right here and now. That is our mission. Our lives are mission. Everything is mission.
We are mission minded...
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