Gettin' back to my roots

The South Georgia Yard Swing

Can we get one of these at the Launch?
How awesome would it be to preach from the hanging couch?

In case you missed this cool idea...

So a member of our congregation had an idea following the generosity series.
The idea is described on this new blog. This is not connected to the church in any way. It's just one person's idea.

Take a peek. You might be able to help. Or to be helped.

Click here: Generosity In C.U.

Jesus walks into a tattoo parlor...

So, don't ask me why, but I found myself in a tattoo parlor recently. And it was a little bit of an eye opening experience. I just don't get to hear that kind of language very often in the church office. I mean, did you realize that you can use the F-bomb as a noun, an adjective, and adverb, and a verb, all in the SAME SENTENCE???? I'm sitting there listening to these rather graphic conversations about casual sex, and heavy drug use and I'm just praying that nobody asks me what I do for a living.

Then I have this picture pop in my head of Jesus hanging out in that tattoo parlor. And I realize that it's exactly the kind of place Jesus would want to be. Those are Jesus' kind of people.

That's exactly what made the religious folks so mad about Jesus. He actually ate meals with "those kind of people". He went to their homes. That's what the whole God-in-the-flesh thing was all about: God becoming one of us, God moving into the neighborhood, God living right smack dab in the middle of our ugly, broken, warped lives.

So I'm watching this guy get a tattoo - its a huge cross that covers most of his forearm. And the thought occurs to me: what would these guys think if they came and watched ME at MY work? What would they think of my world? What would they think of my life? What would they think of my faith? What would they think of MY Jesus? (And I'm intentionally saying MY Jesus because my life and work and faith and words and choices all play a part in the way I communicate Jesus).

Here's a quote that I've used before that says what I'm trying to say much better than I can say it:

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.

That's from Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God".

All of this got me re-thinking some things.

I found myself hoping that one of those guys might actually ask me what I do for a living. Maybe they will next time.

Check out Jaron's sermon...

In case you missed it, Jaron spoke the truth on Sunday at the Launch.
Good stuff about our new mission statement!

You can hear it by clicking on the top link on the right side (under Sermon mp3's)

Parents on Facebook

So, I've found it fascinating to watch the Facebook phenomenon spread into older generations of adults. When I first got on Facebook (and before that MySpace), the only adults I saw on there were youth pastors who were using those sites to connect with kids. And most of the time, that just resulted in this slightly scary stalker feeling.

Recently, I had a conversation with a parent who told me that their son doesn't really use Facebook anymore because all of his friend's parents are on it. And if we're doing it, it can't really be cool, right?

This reminds me of a quote I heard once, I seem to recall it being the lead singer of the Ramone's but I could be totally wrong about that. Anyway, this singer was asked to define Rock n Roll and said something to the effect of: "Rock and Roll is whatever music makes the parents mad". (He actually used much more colorful language than that.)

So...that got me thinking that maybe the very best way to reinforce cultural behaviors among our youth is to get mad about it.

Or, vice versa, maybe the very best way to change cultural patterns of behavior that bother us is for us adults to embrace those behaviors and start acting that way too.

For example, all of us adults could start wearing extremely baggy pants that sag way down revealing most of our underwear. (come to think of it, that might be a nice corrective for the tendency of our belt lines creeping upwards as we get older.

So, now I'm going to try to focus on a sermon with images of Chuck Carlson in sagging pants stuck in my head!!!

Hey. It's Monday. I'll have something better tomorrow.

Prayer in public schools...

OK, so the blog title was just trying to get your attention.
But, in truth, there are some really interesting moments where "worlds collide" when you have a church that meets in a school.

Last night was a great example.

There were a dozen or so of us who gathered at Barkstall last night simply to serve the school. They asked for our help and it was really an honor to be able to meet that need. Towards the end of our work, we all circled up and we prayed together. We prayed for the families of the teachers who died last year. We prayed for the safety and nurture of the children at Barkstall. We prayed for encouragement and hope and joy for current teachers. And we prayed that our partnership and our presence, as a church that meets IN barkstall, would point towards the love and care of Jesus.

The work we were doing was mostly gardening. We were helping clean out the inner courtyard at Barkstall which will be reworked as a memorial to those teachers (both of whom were members of our church). I had a very strong sense that, through our prayers and our labor, this memorial garden will be a place where the Spirit of God will speak peace and nurture and care to the students at Barkstall.

Worlds colliding.

God actively working in all kinds of place.

Barkstall needs our help!!!

Please give this prayerful consideration.

Barkstall school, our Sunday morning home, is need of some help.
You probably remember that 2 teachers at Barkstall passed away last year and the school is redoing the inner courtyard in their honor. As a part of that, they need a bit of manual labor to prepare the ground.

The tasks are fairly simple:
1. Weeding
2. Moving rocks (fist sized rocks).

That's it. Anyone could help. I hope lots of you WILL help.

I'd like to organize a work party this Wednesday evening (yes, that's 2 days from now). If I hear from a few of you, I'll go ahead with the plans. I'll be there either way.

Please email me if you can make it! Wednesday at 6pm at Barkstall. We'll work for an hour or two (or until we finish).

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and if you come, you can be one of the first to see my new hair cut. Its a doozy.

Peace
Scott

A really cool Generosity Idea

So I was forwarded a link today from someone in our church. This person got an idea based on the generosity series and ran with it. I think its a great idea.

So I want to encourage you to click on the link below and check out one person's suggestion for how we can give ourselves away to one another!

Take a look:
Generosity in C-U (psst. click that <)

I've also put a permanent link to the Generosity blog over on the right side bar. Hope you'll check it out!

Meet some real live missionaries...

Come join us for refreshments and fellowship! Bob & Carol Kuiken are in town!
They have been with Wycliffe Bible Translators for 25+ years. Their work at Faith Academy in the Philippines has helped change the lives of hundreds of kids who have come through.

Where:
Marty and Melody Kane's House
805 Breen Dr.
Champaign, IL, 61820

When:
Thursday, May 14, 2009 7:30PM

Questions:
Email Melody Kane: melkane@gmail.com
Phone: 217- 722-6810

Hey Dads...Mother's Day is one week away.

OK Dad's, you're gonna have to trust me on this one.
I've got a great idea for mother's day.

Next Sunday (which would be exactly one week from today), you could amaze your wife with your Generosity by volunteering to teach children's Sunday School. It's a beautiful idea really. Your wife gets to sit and enjoy worship. Your kids get to see you volunteering in church. You get the pleasure of knowing that you are making a difference. The sheer creativity of this simple idea is going to be hard to match.

If the idea sounds great, but totally freaks you out, Barb Buttlar has arranged a very simple video based curriculum that requires minimal prep while producing maximum results! So there really is no reason to not take advantage of this great opportunity. I had several moms come up to today after church and agree that this is really a fantastic idea.

NOTE: This idea is sure to make your wife smile, but should NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE be interpreted as an ALTERNATIVE to your responsibility to also honor the moms in your life through a somewhat more tangible gift!!!

So MAN UP and get it done!
Email me to sign up for this amazing opportunity: scott.keeble@firstchurchchampaign.org

Mom's feel free to forward a link to this article to as many men in the church as you can think of!!!