Simultaneity

July 1, 2007

Some of the 'fuge songs

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November 1, 2006

Do you believe what you believe?

In the West Wing episode "Guns not Butter" Josh continually quotes a poll that said "68% think we give too much in foreign aid, and 59% think it should be cut."

Later in the episode, we learn that his real issue is that the poll means that "9% think it's too high and shouldn't be cut."

Statistics and polls can point you to some odd things. Back in April, I posted about what self-identified Christians believe and how some didn't fit with what the Bible teaches.

A new Harris Poll, reveals some interesting numbers about the What US Adults believe:

The survey conducted by Harris Poll found that 42 percent of US adults are not "absolutely certain" there is a God compared to 34 percent who felt that way when asked the same question three years ago.

What's interesting is the numbers later in that article:

Among the various religious groups, 76 percent of Protestants, 64 percent of Catholics and 30 percent of Jews said they are "absolutely certain" there is a God while 93 percent of Christians who describe themselves as "Born Again" feel certain God exists.

I expected that there would be a sizable number of catholic and Jewish people who were religious for cultural sake (although the number of Jewish believers surprised me). But what surprised me was that there were people in the group that described themselves as "born again" but wasn't sure that God existed.

Another Harris poll that I came across even more accurately reflects Josh's sentiments:

• almost two-thirds of U.S. adults (64%) agree with the basic tenet of creationism, that "human beings were created directly by God"


• Adults are evenly divided about whether or not apes and man have a common ancestry (46 percent believe we do and 47 percent believe we do not)

That means that 18% of the people that responded think that we were created directly by God and that we descended from apes.

I understand that there are some people that feel that God created the ape and then we descended from them, but that's not what the poll asks - it talks about being created directly from God.

Indecently, that poll also shows that 49% of adults believe that animals evolved from some other species...so that leaves 3% believing that we evolved from another species (not apes).

Posted by Jesse at 1:59 PM | Comments (2)

October 6, 2006

Catalyst 2006:Day 2

Today started early as well, but there really wasn't anything to be here early for. Doors opened without much fanfare, and ditto for the doors to the seating area.
After a time of worship, Lanny and Reggie gave us the run down on this years Guiness Book attempt - the World's largest pillow fight. Not everyone turned in their signatures, so I don't know if we made it, but it was neat to see about 9,000 people having a pillow fight.

Following that was a failed attempt at a cell phone game, which was pretty amusing. Then Rick McManus and Donald Miller spoke on the need for the church to be accepting and loving, without compromising the message, in order to reach more.

We then say one of Lanny's Clearly videos and then followed up with a time of worship, followed by Louie Giglio. I was a little disappointed in Louie's talk since I've heard much of it before.

The fanfare to day has been much, much lower - not very Catalyst like. Speaking of which, I thought of something that Buckingham said yesterday that they really need to apply to the conference…but I can't remember it at the moment. Maybe I'll think of it on the way home, as for now, time for lunch.

Edited 10/19/06: Added link to pillow fight video.

Posted by Jesse at 12:05 PM | Comments (1)

October 5, 2006

Catalyst 2006: Day One

Simply put, there's way to much information to even begin to cover what the speakers at this years Catalyst conference are talking about. I'm sure there are people that are live blogging and they'll give you a good idea of what's being talked about, check technorati.

Instead, I'm just going to talk about the experience in general.

The day began with a VERY early wake up call. I se a 5:30 wake up call when I checked in because I knew I wouldn't do it once I was in the room….it's still dark at 5:30! By the time I got out of the room, it was still dark, but a more reasonable hour - about 6:15. I drove over to Atlanta Bread Company for breakfast and they were CLOSED! Gah...So I hit Chick-Fil-A instead.

I arrived just at the arena just a tad before 7. The sessions start at 8:30, but they advised that there will be special things happening beginning at 7.
First thing I notices was they had limos to ferry people from the parking lot to the door. I parked real close and didn't need to use it. In one of the parking lots, there was a hot air balloon set up so I wandered over to see what has happening there. Good move, they were giving out rides...you only went about 75feet up, but still, very nifty. Click on the balloon to see other photos.

After that, I headed for the door. They had a red carpet greeting, complete with people cheering your arrival. Also available were fresh omelets. Nice touch!

They opened the conference with a group of break dancers, then a really good drumline. After that, the worship session started and included a choir (complete with robes).
That led into Lanny and Reggie doing their co-host thing and revealing that there were 10,208 people in attendance!

The first speaker was Andy Stanley (I'm disappointed that he'll only be speaking once this year). Mark Batterson has a good summary of his talk, which was focused on a phrase from Daniel: "The most high God is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and he gives them to who he wishes."

The key notes are that leadership is stewardship, and it is temporary. So leaders must be diligent, fearless, and humble.

After the break there was some giveaways, which lead into some Beetles songs, and then knights and horses to introduce Marcus Buckingham.
Marcus works(ed?) for Gallup, and lead their research into the worlds best managers. He talked about the need to focus on people strengths, and the differences in managers who do so.
He also revealed two common myths: "Your personality changes as you grow" and "You will grow most in your areas of weakness."

After lunch, there was an interview with George Barna, a back and forth with Lanny and Reggie involving a monkey, and then Andy Stanley interviewed John Maxwell. Lots of good points in both Barna and Maxwell's talks.

Following Maxwell, which ran over a little, Lanny introduced a friend of his and an unscheduled guest, Jeff Foxworthy. Hopefully, he'll sign the speaker consent form and they'll be able to add his stuff to the DVDs and maybe CD. His talk was different and comedic. He talked about rednecks, of course.
Defiantly look for someone who blogged about his act!

Before the final speaker, we got to see some of the different talents that Catalyst attendees have.
First up was Dave the horn guy. He wears horns and plays them...go see the video on his site (under press), it's a better explanation.
Next was a beatboxer. He started with noises similar to teh guy on Police Academy, then did a beat...really good, at times it sounded like 2 or 3 people.
Last up was a lady who could take what you say - and say it backwards. The human brain is amazing, she was even able to sing (they did U2's with or with out you.)

The evening closed with Gary Haugen from International Justice Mission.

Posted by Jesse at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2006

Your belief

I've been focused on a topic lately that I'll likely cover very soon, but I'd like to toss out one thought and see what kind of feedback is out there:

"Your theology is based on the questions you ask"

In other words, your thoughts on the Bible and God is based, basically, on the things that you think about, the things that you are open to, and the things that you allow yourself to question.

Posted by Jesse at 4:03 PM | Comments (0)

May 4, 2006

Jump: Reggie's story

During tonight's general session, Reggie told the following story (I know I've not captured everything), after which he warned that it was a fictional story.

After his warning, he said we could apply it as we wished, but that he did not intended to say anything other than at times, we all are subject to turkey thoughts.

Posted by Jesse at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)

May 3, 2006

Jump

Today...well, yesterday as I write this...was the first day of the Grow Up conference. The changed things up just a little bit this year by starting the conference on Wednesday night rather than Thursday morning. Looking at the schedule it doesn't seem like they've added anything extra, but there is some more breathing room between the end of the sessions and the breakouts which is good since the general sessions never get out as scheduled.

The conference opened with the stomp group performing a song with grinders (not the subs, the tool) then performing a skit. The skit used plastic tubes which, of course, were used to make music. During the course of the skit they played "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "Old McDonald" and a copule of other songs.

After stomp, the band opened by singing Areosmith's "Livin' on the Edge" flawlessly. During the chorus they showed statistics on the screen:

• 1 in 3 children are in single parent homes
• 1 in 25 children live with neither parent
• 50% of marriages end in divorce
• 906,000 children suffer from abuse and neglect each year
• 44% of children say they watch something different when their parents aren't around
• Children average 4 hours of TV each day
• 54% of children have a TV in their room
• 66% of children say their peers are affected by what they watch
• By the time a child is 18, they will have seen over 15,000 simulated murders and 200,000 simulated acts of violence
• 16 million children suffer from hunger
• Nearly 2 out of 5 children do not live with a father
• 63% of child suicides come from fatherless homes
• 1 million children are affected by divorce (not sure if this said each year)

Sobering...even more so with the music.

After the opening, they shared who was represented at the conference:

• 500 churches
• 40 states
• 9 countries
• 54 denominations
• leaders that represented over 200,000 students and 500,000 adults

Reggie Joiner's talk tonight was fantastic. He opened with a story that I'll share later. His focus was "the clearer the Church is in its mission, the clearer you can be in yours." He talked about the purpose of the church being to shine for God, that we are not called simply to exist, but we are wired to experience what God has designed us to be. We're not designed to do church, but to BE the church.

One point I enjoyed - "Just because you're moving doesn't mean that you're alive."

The entire message focused on our purpose being to illuminate God - to share who God is and what he has done. He ended the message with communion. I'm not sure that all were able to participate since some denominations have differing thoughts on communion, but it was neat to be part of a communion service where 54 different denominations were represented.

We closed the evening with great worship music and, of course, ran over time.

Posted by Jesse at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 25, 2006

Disconnected Numbers

I was reading an article today that contained some numbers about what people, who self-identified as Christians believe.

96% believe in the resurrection of Christ

Huh? That means that 4% don't believe that Christ rose from the dead, so they believe they are worshiping a God who is dead. Paul address this in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

50% believe in ghost

This one I can see as there are passages in the Bible that talk about demons and familiar spirits.

27% believe in astrology as a means to make decisions

This is another one that puzzles me. The Bible expressly forbids divination and placing faith in something other than God.

21% believe in reincarnation (that they were someone else in a past life)

Several Bible passages seem to indicate a single life - specifically, Hebrews 9:27 says that man is destined to die once.

I guess I'm not really surprised by these numbers since most polls indicate that Christians don't read their Bible regularly. I think things like this go a long way to showing why many Christians are ineffective at sharing their faith - if you don't know what you believe how can you share it.

In that same vain, at times, I wonder why some people claim to be Christian. If you don't read the Bible, if you don't believe Christ rose from the dead, and if you believe in other non-Christian beliefs, why claim to be Christian? Mind you, I am talking about Christian essentials, like Christ being God's Son, the Bible being the word of God. There are, of course, non-essentials to the Christian belief where we can disagree, but still be in the same ball park (i.e. When the rapture takes place in relation to the tribulation, if tithing should be taught in the church, structure of church government, method of baptism).

I guess this is the same for other religions - Are there Buddhist that don't meditate? Are there Hindu's that don't believe in reincarnation or Muslims that do?

I suppose that there are since I know there are Muslims that don't follow the 5 pillars of the Islam faith, mainly prayer and fasting. But my point is the same, what's the point in claiming a particular faith if you don't believe its essentials?

Posted by Jesse at 11:14 AM | Comments (1)

April 22, 2006

The Word became Flesh

Inspired By media group has undertaken a huge project. The Bible Experience began when Kyle Bowser bought an audio Bible on CD and found it uninspiring. He wanted to increase the quality of the sound and production to make it something that would be appealing to more people, without changing the content.

They enlisted some of the best voices in the business blended with original music and background sounds to create a fully dramatized audio recording of all 66 Books of Scripture. Some of the people involved in reading and production include: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Cuba Gooding Jr., Blair Underwood, Levar Burton, Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin, Terry Crews, Tatyana Ali, Eriq Lasalle, Mary Mary, Judge Matthis, Loretta Devine, Hill Harper, Robert Guillaume, to name just a few.

When I first read about it, I wasn't that impressed, there's been a lot of readings of the Bible - but after seeing the behind the scene video (media player) (quicktime) I can't wait for the release this fall. (I've already got the New Testament on my Amazon wishlist.

Posted by Jesse at 4:24 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2006

When we die....

During our evening service we are working through a small group video series and in his message last night, Andy Stanley, talked about the question "What happens when we die?" It wasn't the focus of the message - in fact, it was a small part - but it made me realize what a stupid, yet revealing question it is.

As he said, we all know what happens when we die...we've been to funerals, we've been to cemeteries, and we've seen shows where dead people are unearthed. When we die, "they put make up on you, but you in a box, and bury you in the ground" and then we decay. Everyone knows that this is what happens when you die.

However, knowing that isn't enough. There is something inside of us that is not satisfied by that answer. Something that tells us that there is more to this life then what we see, hear, and taste. There is something that causes us to ask - What's next.

That's where belief comes in. We can never really know (through experience) what's next without being there. But, belief can be strong enough that you do know what comes next. It's also where religion comes in.

Religion can tell you what other people think comes next and you can put your trust in that - but in the end, it's what other people think, not what you believe and you are left doubting. On the other hand, you can have belief and place your trust in something - and KNOW what's coming next.

The question is, are you sure about what's next and if not, why? Is it because your following someone else's belief? Is it because you've placed your faith in a god that has not proven or shown himself to you? Or is it because you believe in God, but you don't trust what He says?

Posted by Jesse at 3:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2006

Guerrilla Ecclesiology

Guerillahost
When the British and French came to colonize the New World, they practiced a very direct style of warfare [everyone lined up in big rows and shot their guns at their enemies…ish]. This simple tactic led to many brutal losses at the hands of the Native American Indians who were fighting for their freedom and protecting their homes using guerilla tactics. They fought in forests, set up ambushes, and used clever military devices to cause great harm to their oppressors.

As christ-followers, we live with the reality of spiritual contests. These battles are not only fought in church or in "Christian" environments, however, and our inattention to this little fact is tantamount to making the same mistake the British and French did in colonization. We take heavy losses because we think the enemy fights like us. But the truth is that real spiritual contests happen everywhere. Every bar and movie theater, every restaurant and dinner table, grocery store and bus depot is a battlefield.

Thought I would share this, it gave me alot of thoughts on what we are to be about...and at the same time it sums up all those thoughts.

They go on to say that there are certain things that make you cool. If you follow all of these things, you'd think you would be cool, but you won't - you'll look like a dork. In the same way, you can not meet any of the "cool things list" and still be cool.
That's alot like Christianity. Being a follower of Christ changes you - likewise there is certain things that people see and read about what a Christian is. If you try to follow this list on your own, you're religious - not Christian - and, just like being cool, you wind up looking like a dork. On the other hand, once you've accepted Christ you're a Christian and that looks a little different for everyone.

It's important to be in God's word and to learn his will - what a Christian looks like - but without Him, it's worthless and looks silly.

Posted by Jesse at 1:12 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2006

iPods and church

Our accompanist at church is expecting and isn't playing at the evening service. Instead, our worship leader plays guitar. This morning, he was having a pain in his side and it got bad enough that he went to the emergency room following the service. He thought he would be back in time for the evening service but he was just being seen at 5:30 and they wanted to do tests.

Short version, he wasn't able to be at the evening service. I was a little puzzled about how we would handle music with no worship leader and no accompanist.

iPod to the rescue. While I use my iPod mostly for podcasts and assorted sermons, I do have a decent collection of praise music as well. I got to church a short time before service, found a handful of songs that would go together and most people would know, then set up the presentations. Thankfully, MediaShout is much easier to adjust than PowerPoint and within a matter of minutes had the lyrics available on the screen. I hooked the iPod up to the sound system and instant praise music.

We started with an iWorship DVD song, then sang along with the iPod (mostly Michael W. Smith and Phillips, Craig and Dean). All in all a good time of praise and worship.

Posted by Jesse at 9:09 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2006

Where was Jesus born?

It's a little late for a Christmas entry, but the story of Christmas and the assumptions that people make is one that I enjoy exploring. For example, the story of the wise men has several assumptions: You tend see the picture of the manger scene with the three wise men bringing gifts to the Christ child. The problem is that the wise men visited Jesus after they had moved into a house. Further, the Bible mentions the three types of gifts, but doesn't specify the number of wise men that visited. Three tends to be the assumed number, I suppose because of the number of gifts and a prophecy in Psalms that mentions kings from three areas paying tribute. (Art from the first century church actually depict anywhere from 2-8 magi.)

The magi, however are not the topic of today's posting. Instead, let's take a look at where Jesus was actually born (Bethlehem was a BIG area). Keep in mind that these are only thoughts and conjecture. The actual birthplace isn't extra holy or anything like that, but knowing history and Jewish customs helps us to better understand the Bible; that's my reasoning for delving into the birthplace.

The Bible tells us that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and while there, gave birth to Jesus. This keeps in line with the prophecy from Micah. Turning back just a few verses in Micah, he addresses the return of the King again in 4:8

As for you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.

In the Hebrew text, the phrase O watchtower of the flock, was translated from Migdal Eder. This was a military tower used to look into the valley just outside Bethlehem. (You'll also find this same watchtower mentioned in Genesis as the place where Rachel was buried.)

Jerusalem was about 4 miles away. Bethlehem was in essence a faming area that suppled Jerusalem with many items that a large city would need. According to the Mishnah, we can conclude that the flocks kept at Migdal Eder were destined for Temple sacrifices (Shekelim 7:4) The sheep used at the temple were not just any sheep. The shepherds were specifically trained for the royal task of inspecting the sheep and ensuring that they were perfect and appropriate for sacrifice. They were educated in what an animal that was to be sacrificed had to be and it was their job to make sure none of the animals were hurt, damaged, or blemished.

At Migdal Eder there was a stable where the sheep were brought to be birthed. The stable was kept in accordance with the rabbinic rules for the birthing of the sacrificial sheep, as such it was fairly clean for a stable. Hypothermia is one of the leading complications with newborn lambs. The most effective treatment would have been to dry and wrap the lamb, so it stands to reason that the stable would also have strips of cloth available for this purpose.

While it is not clear the Jesus was born at the stables of Migdal Eder, it is a logical conclusion and creates a beautiful picture.

• The shepherds keeping watch in a nearby field would be the very ones that were trained to inspect sacrifices.
• The Lamb would be born in the same place that sacrificial lambs were born
• The shepherds would not need a sign to guide them as the Magi did, they knew the prophecy and the sign of the manger was that he was the Messiah, not a location device
• Jesus would, one day, die to atone for our sins, just as the lambs born there would.

The Bible is alive with word-pictures that tie together and is a font of knowledge just waiting to be discovered. Christ humbling himself, being born in a stable, yet, like Migdal Eder is a strong tower (Proverbs 18:10)

Lastly, it ties in well with the story in Genesis 35:16-26, which maybe I'll explore deeper at another time. In essence, Jacob, who is morning the loss of Rachel and whose trouble will increase will be comforted by the one who is incarnated there. While it doesn't seem like much of a fit, the jewish story holds deeper meanings that speak toward the birth of the Messiah.

Posted by Jesse at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2006

The Watered Down Gospel

I've heard it said before; "The Church isn't here to entertain people."

Really?
I think that's exactly what the church is here to do, just not in the way that we normally think about entertainment. Usually we think about entertainment as a diversion from reality and the church certainly shouldn't do that. In fact, it should help you cope with reality.

Looking simply at the first meaning of the words:

Entertain
v. To hold the attention of with something amusing or diverting

Amusing
adj. Entertaining or pleasing

Diverting
v. To turn aside from a course or direction

So, should the church "Hold the attention of with something that turns aside from a course or direction"? I should say so, that's exactly what the gospel of Christ is all about. We're here to lead people to turn from their sin and follow Christ.

I'm not saying that we should look to buffoonery or hedonistic methods to garner peoples attention, in fact the Bible warns against this. But too often the Church has turned to a speaker that sounds like he's an expert witness at a legal trial full of technical jargon that almost no one can understand. We hear about the concerns of false teachers who "water down" the gospel, but what of our own who reduce the effectiveness (water down) of the message of Christ by not taking steps to ensure that people will listen and learn from what God is having them say? Aren't we watering down the message when we have an environment where people won't return to hear more of God's message?

Sure, the Israelites were commanded to shout (well, sing) from the mountain tops, but Christ commanded all Christains to "Go and make disciples." Shouting isn't what makes a disciple, teaching is. And to teach without anyone learning, isn't really teaching at all.

So, the next time your church entertains (to extend hospitaliy towards), think about what you can do to make it more entertaining (holding the attention of with the life changing message) without making it a joke.

Posted by Jesse at 1:58 PM | Comments (1)

December 5, 2005

No Miracles? Maybe it's no repsect

The Cracked Door has been running a series of posts about why we don't see major miracles in the western church. Today's deals with a lack of respect for God appointed leaders...

...accompanying the freedom of democracy is a relative disregard for authority and a general lack of respect for the positions held by leadership in society. People look at leaders like they look at themselves and find it difficult to hold their “equals” in high esteem.

Therefore, it is widely accepted for citizens to publicly ridicule democratically elected Government officials including Prime Ministers and Presidents. Unfortunately, this same critical attitude has entered the Body of Christ.

Why are we surprised that people don’t see results when these men of God pray for them? We don’t even respect them! We talk about them behind their backs and rip their names to shreds because of jealousy but we expect to see them perform miracles? We’re quick to gossip if the pastor gets a new car or buys a new house.

Definaty worth reading the whole post.

Posted by Jesse at 1:47 PM | Comments (1)

November 21, 2005

Managing a Major Airline

The pastor of New Song recently posted an entry called "Creating A Healthy Leadership Environment" in which he made the following illustration:

Running an airline like a church
Follow me with this illustration...let's say that there was a major airline that was operated like many churches. They take off and the flight is going well until something unexpected happens, [an] emergency if you will. The pilot and the crew see the problem and know how to fix it--and if you are on that plane that is what you would prefer.

However, if the plane was flown like the church was managed then before the pilot could repair the problem he would have to come out and meet with five or six people in first class...none of whom had ever flown a plane (except for one who had a cousin who flew airplanes)...and ask their opinion on how to fix the problem.

A motion would be made, then a second...and then the "flight committee" would take the recommendation to the coach section for a vote. After the vote then pilot would then be instructed on what he could and could not do. AND if the plane crashed and lives were lost--the pilot would receive the blame--even though he had nothing to do with the decision; in fact, I am sure in this imaginary scenario he was probably told, "Hey pilot--we don't pay you make decisions--just fly the plane like we tell you to!"

How many want to fly on that airline? No one in their right mind--but it seems that many people want to go to that church.

In Scripture there never was a business meeting--the leaders met, prayed, discussed...and led--and the church grew. That's the way we do it here at NewSpring.

Posted by Jesse at 2:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 1, 2005

Something to Ponder

"According to Newbigin, the greatest heresy in monotheism is a misunderstanding of the doctrine of election. Election is not about who gets to go to heaven; election is about who God chooses to be part of his crisis-response team to bring healing to the world."
- Brian McLaren

I was reading through an article in Christianity Today and was struck by this comment. Freewill vs. predestination gets a lot of attention in some circles and this is coming from an entirely different angle. In the article McLaren mentions how the current - you get saved, then you serve the church, then with what's left, the church serves the world - model is off. He points to John 3:16 to say that it's not about YOU, but about the world. And through the church, you, as God's elect, can bring comfort to a hurting world.

Perhaps I'll share my thoughts in a later post, but this is something to chew on for a bit.

Posted by Jesse at 3:36 PM | Comments (0)

Losing Young Pastors

Monday Morning Insight
There is an epidemic occurring right under the nose of church middle judicatories and no one seems to notice. Young pastors (less than five years in the ministry) are leaving in droves.

This is a pretty interesting post listing the top 10 reasons (a few in fun) about why young pastors leave the ministry. More interesting than the post is the comments. In many ways, becoming a pastor when I was in my 30s rather than my 20s has been helpful and given me a few insights that I think some younger pastors may miss by not working in a job outside the church. I can certainly understand the different problems listed and even have felt many of them but they are all something that Pastors should realize going into it.

The one that I am surprised that is missing is any mention of the toll that it takes on family and the resulting additional stress. Nor is there any mention of the isolation that can happen to staff members. But, both of these are mentioned in the comments.

Posted by Jesse at 11:03 AM | Comments (1)

October 14, 2005

Heretics R Us

The Bible warns that as the time of Christ's return draws closer there will be more people who teach false doctrine. There's no denying that there are televangalist who have made mistakes and may even have teachings that are contrary to the Bible. While this is and should be a concern of the church, I think there is even a greater ill that is being done.

Look into just about any successful ministry and you will find a web site or a book that labels the leader of that ministry a false teacher. Some are, some are not. But the ministries that have dedicated themselves to pointing our false teachers are doing a disservice to the Church that they believe they are helping. We have been so inundated by claims that this person or that ministry is of false teaching that it's distraction to what Christ is trying to accomplish. It's caused an attitude of distrust in the Church which is very easily triggered since we live in a society that teaches us not to trust.

The Bible does indeed warn of false teachers and says that they are to be avoided. However, the Bible teaches us to compare what they teach to the Bible, not compare what they teach to what someone else thinks. Unfortunately, we've allowed the waters to become polluted because of our laziness; our failure to discern on our own. We live in a society that caters to our every whim and at a time where we don't have to work very hard to get the things that we want. We're catered to and we're used to having things given to us - especially information. Why read the Bible when someone can tell me what it says; why search the scriptures when I can google? This is not a healthy attitude.

There is no New Testament ministries whose primary focus was to expose others. Paul and others did speak about it, even named others, however it was not his entire ministry, it wasn't even a principle part (although it was and is needed). Therefore any ministry whose entire focus is exposing the heresy and extra-biblical nature of other ministries, is in itself heresy. They are like Job's friends, condemning, but have no answers from heaven.

The road is indeed narrow and all churches and ministries must walk this narrow path when it comes to false teaching. To become all about discerning false teaching breeds mistrust and leads to a spirit of hate and blinds you as you become the very thing you fight against. On the other hand to deny or act like false teaching doesn't exist is just as unhealthy and leaves open the door of false doctrine.

As Christians, the judgments that we make must be done while seeking to shed God's light. Without keeping His purposes at the forefront, the Church gets caught up in the same effects that have ensnared politics and journalism. Every fine point must be examined when spoken, each word chosen carefully, lest someone twist it against you. While this spirit causes ineffectual politics and journalism it is even more dangerous in the church.

All in all, and judgments that are made must be done in maturity, without condemnation, and with a heart that seeks righteousness. The truth that we speak should be enough to expose any darkness. There is no need to be the discerner for others, we must teach others how to learn the truth themselves.

Choosing any other path leads to a breakdown of the body. As we progress towards maturity we will be tempted to point other the error in others, to others. In most circles, this is known as being a busybody or a gossip. A critical spirit, not compassion, is what drives a busybody. A busybody has difficulty considering others more important. Gossip is not healthy for the Church or the individual and as we mature, we must guard against being a participant in any type of gossip otherwise we will be incapable of helping others to mature in Christ.

Posted by Jesse at 10:58 AM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2005

Catalyst: The Voyage Home

Atlanta traffic is much worse than I thought. The first time I was here I had no problem leaving the conference and heading to the airport. Last time, we almost missed the plane. This time, I buffered a bit - the conference was closer to the airport and I chose a later flight. Never the less, I was once again running up to the edge, getting to the Budget counter at 7:00 for an 8:00 flight.

I made it to the airport proper at 7:20 and wasn't looking forward to the run for the airplane. At check-in, I was told that the plane was delayed to 8:45....after security, getting a sandwich for dinner, I got to the gate around 7:50 to find that the time was now 9:45. Our plane was still on the tarmac in D.C. because of weather.

No problem, this will give me a little decompression before getting home. I may even have time to enter some thoughts from the actual conference. Plus I got to hang out with some members of a church in Culpepper who were waiting for the same plane.

We finally took off a little after 10 and landed at 11:50. We then had to wait 10 min for them to get the stairs for us. Add in the shuttle from the terminal and it was 12:30 by the time I got to luggage claim to find Teri and Kevin waiting for me....an exhausting trip to say the least.

(I'll be blogging more about the conference, but from here it'll be out of sequence)

Posted by Jesse at 5:27 PM | Comments (1)

October 6, 2005

Catalyst Day 1.2

Louis Giglio spoke during the second session, and as is his passion, he spoke on worship. Not leading worship, not on leadership at all really, but on the question of "How are you going to live?"

He talked about the fact that Paul, who wrote the majority of books in the New Testament, is seen as a leader, not because of what he did, but that he lived every portion of his life for Christ., no matter what happened or was happening.

Worship is revelation and response. God reveals and we respond, it's that simply, yet that complex. Louie addressed that we have mangled worship by becoming consumers rather than 'consumees', someone to be consumed.

We get a great song, and we get stuck on i, sing it until we're sick of it, then look for the next great song. We're infatuated with the experience, not really worshiping at all, our services have become consumer worship. Paul said, "I am being poured out like a drink offering.” Here’s me. Use me up."

Cosumers ask, what's in it for me, consumees say I'm in it for you.
Consumers look for style, enjoy-ability, my preference, experience, segments, now. Consuming worship seeks sacrifice, cost, what God requires, action, life, eternity.

Posted by Jesse at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

Catalyst 1.15

After Andy finish speaking, the band played "Kyrie" by MR Mister and did a really good job with it. The song seemed to tie in, but I didn't really get it...not that I ever really got the song...so I decided to find out who or what kyrie eleison was. Turns out it's Greek for "Lord have mercy."

Kyrie eleison down the road that I must travel.
Kyrie eleison through the darkness of the night....

Before each segment and after some, Reggie and Lanny did introductions and announcements. Things always tied back to what was said or was going to be talked about. I won't be able to remember all the things that were done, but we did get in the Guiness Book or world's records (I'll address that later).

One of the things being talked about during the weekend was influence. I can't remember how it tied in, but in our "goodie bag" was a piece of gum. Before the break, we were all to chew the gum and they tried to get everyone to blow a bubble at the same time....it didn't work.

Posted by Jesse at 10:35 PM | Comments (0)

Catalyst Day 1.1

I missed most of the pre-speaking portion of the fiorst session looking for a way to get more dry. But I did get a seat in time to enjoy a little of the music and to see the first speaker, Andy Stanley.

He began the conference by talking about integrity and how it ties to your leadership ability. There's a lot to take in from the talk - he used a story from 1 Samuel, and while he angled the talk toward making decisions as a leader, there's more than enough there to talk about integrity. My be the next sermon I work on.

Highlights:

1. Your leadership ability has the potential to take you further than your character can sustain you. - This can get leaders into trouble.
2. Our commitment to integrity can be easily eroded by our love of progress.
3. The excuses we use when tempted: (1) God promised it. (2) I deserve it.

This is why we must surround ourselves with others that will hold us accountable. When we start to make decisions in a vacuum and the decisions are emotional, there's a fog that can interfere with out judgment.

The main point is that in order to know that the opportunity is of God, it should be weighed against:

• The Law of God
• The Principles of God
• The Wisdom of God

The temptation will not necessarily be to divert from your goal, but to take a shorter route. The temptations of Christ we not to gain something other than what he was sent for, but to get there faster.

Posted by Jesse at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

Are we normal?

He's always happy....NO, wait, he's always mad [crazy].
- Homer Simpson on God.

In AA Meetings, normal people are the ones that are out in the world. Most "normies" have problems and addictions of some sort, but the normal ones are not those that are seeking to overcome. Likewise, those in the Church, the followers of Christ, are by no means called to be normal. Normal in the world is get, in Christ, it's give. You've likely heard the scriptures, "the first shall be last", "in order to lead, serve", and so on.

The problem in the Church is that we try to make the church a normal part of life. Religion is normal, just about everyone has religion of some sort - even Atheist have a belief. But all religion does is make you judgmental. Religion leads to war, not to love. Followers of Christ are not called to be religious (normal), we called to be followers of Christ (different).

When God pronounced the judgment against Israel through Ezekiel, it was because they "profaned my holy things." Ezekiel 22:26. The Hebrew word "profane" means to "make ordinary" or normalize. The church has normalized God. We judge what is a successful church on the worlds standards - how much was the offering, how many people attended certain programs, or the number of baptisms or converts. Although stewardship, attendance, and new believers are signs, they are by no means accurate depictions of what a successful church should be, nor are they anywhere near the goal.

The church must stop playing by the rules of the world and Robert's Rules and begin paying attention to the rules of the Spirit. God didn't call us to be normal, he called us as His chosen people - to be the light of the world. God called us to a standard, not just a standard of personal holiness so that we can commune with him, but a standard of community where we live in the world around us - just not like "normies".

Posted by Jesse at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2005

Politics in the Church

An old episode of Faith Under Fire (think Hardball meets God) argued the case of churches being able to promote politicians. Currently IRS regulations for non-profits don't allow this and on the surface, it seems reasonable, kinda. The debaters on both sides had good points.

The final volley came after the talk about spies sitting in the church and reporting back to the IRS. The guy that though they should be able to politic asked if the church could encourage pray for a candidate based a set standard for the church, such as being pro-life. Could the leaders ask the parishioners to pray that that the pro-life candidate would be elected. The opponent responded that this could, and should be seen as endorsing a particular candidate and is considered illegal.

That, however, is what decided it for me, and the debate finished with just what I was thinking..."...the government is now engaged in the business [of] really telling the church how they can and cannot pray. And that's a real problem."

Indeed it is, church and state separation is indeed a slippery slope.

Posted by Jesse at 9:47 PM | Comments (1)

March 28, 2005

Easter Services

Sunday was an interesting day and much less stressful than usual. The service was different than usual, and that's a good thing. The service was opened with a solo, and the rest of the praise team joined in, then for the next song, the worship leader joined, then invited the congregation to join for the next. We sang 3 songs, without pause, then prayed, sang an iWorship song and a praise song to slow things down.

One of the neat things about the singing was that all of the songs, except the one that was used to move into a slower beat were hymns. The service seemed quite contemporary, yet the songs we not - and where a traditional song could have been used to slow, we used a contemporary song.

The pastor then spoke. His sermon had 3 main points and each was emphasized by a video or song. The message time, including the songs & testimony was about 45 minutes, but zoomed by because of the transitions.

It was a lot of work to make the service as seamless as it was, but it was much more effective that way, and much more efficient time wise.

Posted by Jesse at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)

March 23, 2005

The reality of things

It's funny how we can remember minor things or things that are just not that important, but when it comes to the big stuff, we tend to forget. I read some Easter facts and it's likely that I'll remember them for a long time.

Did you know that there are more than 90 million chocolate bunnies made each year? Or that peeps are 54 years old? Or that 80% of parents give Easter baskets? Those things seem to be what Ester becomes because they are things that we can see, things that don't require thinking, things that don't require any beliefs. But when it comes to Christ dying on the cross, we tend to forget.

We don't forget that He died or that He did it for us, but we gloss it over. "Of course He did, that's what He was supposed to do." But the thing is, he was a real person - even scholars that don't believe He was the messiah say that He existed. It's likely that He was scared to die on the cross - I believe that's what the prayer in the garden the night before was about, at least to some extent. He was asking God if there could be another way. The important part though, was that He wanted to do God's will, even if it conflicted with how he felt.

The other aspect of his being real is that the crucifixion was painful, as was all that occurred before hand. Crucifixion is not like the electric chair where death is quick and relatively painless - on the cross it takes hours to die, Christ hung on the cross for six hours.

He endured pain beyond belief - some say he drowned, some say it was asphyxiation, some believe that his heart exploded from the inability to breath, or maybe he bleed to death. None of those are pain free.

Lately I've found that helping people realize what Christ did for them reminds them how much He loves us. How much He was willing to do for us, how far He will go so we can spend eternity with Him.

Of course, the glory of Easter is that Christ rose again and that we serve a living God. However, remembering how much that living God loves us is something that should not be so easily forgotten.

Posted by Jesse at 1:52 PM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2004

Big Church

Mega-Churches have been around for some time but the number of churches with over 2000 members has exploded in the last 10 years. There are now over 800 protestant churches of this size, with 30 now exceeding 10,000 attendees. I bring this up, not to pat these churches on the back, but because it's become popular in some circles is to criticize these churches and typically critics only think of a few select churches when they fire their barbs.

One of the top complaints that I hear of mega-churches is that they are too large to minister to their congregation. I'll admit I often wondered how one could be ministered to, even with a staff of pastors when the church numbered in the thousands - there's no possible way for the pastor to know who you are, much less know your problems. However, there's a problem with this line of reasoning - it's not the pastor's job to be the only minister. People, even pastors, are limited in the number of people that they can have a close relationship with - it's their job to teach these people to care and shepherd other people and so on - in other words multiply their ministry.

The other big issue is that the style of worship in mega churches allow people to attend worship services without actually participating. That really has nothing to do with the worship style, people attend services without actually worshiping in all sizes and styles of worship.

I've been to two different mega churches and they were as different as any two churches I've been to. In one, I felt welcome, I felt like people were growing (based on seeing and hearing about people serving), and the worship experience was incredible - beyond anything I've experienced. At the other I felt like just another one of the masses, saw little in the way of people serving, and the level of worship was nominal. In other words, mega-churches can't be balled into a group and called bad simply because they have a large number of people.

Finally, the Church would be much better off if we focused on our ministries and what God called us to do and stopped taking shots at other ministries and churches. In fact, Luke 9:49-50 advice us to avoid this practice. Taking shots at pastors and churches doesn't strengthen the Church, in fact, it divides and makes Christians look silly to those outside the Church. In John 7:24, Jesus told us not to judge on the basis of appearance.

By no means am I saying that we are to accept what we believe is wrong when it comes to Biblical teaching, however, Jesus gave us a model for addressing problems within the Church in Matthew 18, one that ensures that we are working to bring the Church together and build disciples. My point is that mega-churches are not wrong simply because of their size and that we should never judge any church or ministry from afar - remember to look for the beam in your own eye before clearing someone else's speck.

Posted by Jesse at 9:31 PM | Comments (1)

November 6, 2004

A Morning of Service

This morning started a little early for a Saturday. Our youth group spent the morning doing some community service at the SHARE Warehouse. SHARE buys food in bulk, packages it and sells it to people in the community at a significantly low price. This also allows churches and other places to buy packages and give them to the less fortunate.

We packaged part of the Turkey Special, which contains a Turkey, Mac & Cheese, Frozen Green Beans, Cornbread, Gravy, and a Dutch Apple Pie. Working from 10-1 our group put together between 1400 and 1500 packages, I was quite impressed. Not only did they put together that many packages, no one complained, they cleaned as they went, and we worked fast enough that we ran out of one of the elements (mac & cheese) before it was time to leave.

Afterwards we headed back to the church for lunch. A great way to spend the morning.

Posted by Jesse at 8:25 PM

October 26, 2004

Mean People Suck

It's a popular bumper sticker and it's really not that far from the truth. People are mean for all sorts of reasons and most feel their actions are justifiable, but it's never right to be mean, especially just for the sake of being mean.

No one likes to live in a glass house, but by nature of the job, my family has been put into a fishbowl that everyone thinks they can, and should, take a look into - and some feel that because they can see, they can judge. In a way, that's okay by me since Jesus made it clear in Matthew 7:1-5 that people will be judged in the same way that they judge, with the same measure. However, just because I know that they will have to eventually deal with what they do doesn't mean that it's not upsetting.

It's also annoying because people that do these things call themselves Christians and other people see what they are doing and turn away from God because of it. I'm sure they feel justified and think that the blame will be one someone else, but they are deceiving themselves.

Pastors deal with these issues all the time, and frankly, it stinks. For some reason people feel it's open season on people in ministry as a profession and that it is alright to hurt their families as a way to get at them. However, it's not always hurtful - it make us angry and worst of all, it distracts us from what we're called to do and it distracts of family from relating to God how they should.

If you can't tell, our family was attacked today. We think we know who it was, but rather than follow the principles that they claim to believe and coming to us (Matthew 18:15) they chose to be deceitful and send a letter without signing it. It makes it hard for us to follow the same principles laid out there since we can not go to them and be assured that we are confronting the right person. This person used to call us friend, in fact, he used to call many friend, but the hate in his heart causes him to be spiteful, to lie, and to turn friends away. It's unfortunate that he has so isolated himself and that he continues his destructive behavior and continues to lose friends. It is my prayer that one day, he will understand that he needs help and will turn back to God.

So, the bumper sticker is right, "Mean People Suck." But even better than the bumper sticker is God's Word:

Proverbs 26:24-26
People with hate in their hearts may sound pleasant enough, but don't believe them. Though they pretend to be kind, their hearts are full of all kinds of evil. While their hatred may be concealed by trickery, it will finally come to light for all to see.

Posted by Jesse at 9:32 PM | Comments (1)

October 10, 2004

Yawn!

Who would have thought that a 45 minute production would be some much work. KidsQuest is exhausting for everyone involved - but it's a good kind of exhausting, the kind where when we're done, people go "That was great, what's next?"

The Children in attendance dropped just a bit this month, but the odd thing is, we still had about the same number of adults. The good part is that more people are getting involved. Last month there was 4 singers (youth & adults), this month there were 7 and Teri was acting rather than singing. I also had someone ask me about getting involved with the singing, so I now have a pool of 7 adults and 3 youth each month for singing. Our actors grew just a but this month with Teri playing the role of Cammie so we have 5 actors. This month or A/V squad grew as well, I now have 3 youth that are willing to work in the back.

On the down side, I need to learn how to get some set up and tear down people. Practice was at 5 today, so I arrived at 3 to begin setting up. Teri came in a little after 4, and we finished right at 5. Even if I had more (some?) people to help with set up, I'd probably still arrive way early - it helps me get into the "game." Putting stuff away went pretty well, though I should have gone through the church to make sure everything was put back in the right place.

If each month continues to grow like this and the good thoughts among the adults (even those without children) continues, this could become pretty major in just a short amount of time. God can do some pretty amazing stuff - and it's neat to see people getting behind it.

My next goal is to get ahead enough that I can give the actors and singers their parts for the next month as soon as we're finished with a production. Wish me luck on this one.

Posted by Jesse at 11:22 PM

September 16, 2004

With all your heart, mind, strength

One of the books that helped me to reach my goal was "The Air I Breath" by Louie Giglio, who is very passionate about worship, the topic of this book.

In his writing, he put into words several things that I have thought, but never been able to put into words:

The primary purpose of the church is worship. At its core, the church exists to glorify God...But even [as we gather together], worship doesn't begin with a group activity. It begins with our individual responses to what God has revealed to us about Himself.

We aren't designed to operate on a weekly worship cycle, but a moment-by-moment connection of personal worship that's as much a part of our lives as the air we breath.

Trust me, church is a lot better when our meetings are filled with people who have been pursuing God for six days before they get there. Church as a "refil" or a "tank-up" is a disaster. Corporate worship works best when we arrive with something to offer God, as opposed to coming only to get something for us.

Most of the book is an inspiration to live a life of worship continually, and why that's more effective then occasionally. Of course, it is difficult, but to be truly set apart the life of a Christian should be a continual act of worship, no matter what we are doing. Of course, this means that we need to better understand that worship is not just singing, praying, and listening to a sermon.

He did a great job of expanding my thoughts about God and His magnitude, and he was at time convicting:

So often in the Psalms we find expressions similar to this on: "Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised." When you boil it all down, true worship is simply catching sight of the greatness...of an infinite God.

When God is not greatly praised, it's only because we don't think He's that great of a God. When our worship is small, it's because our concept of God is small. When we offer God little-bitty sacrifices, it's because we've somehow reduced Him in our hearts to a little-bitty God...

As a result, our lives shrivel into insignificance and meaninglessness. We bump along in this mass of humanity, having no real clue what life's all about. We fret. We get depressed. We worry and get bent out of shape. We go down all kinds of dead-end paths as we try to accomplish everything ourselves.

Posted by Jesse at 9:37 AM

August 25, 2004

How Do You Know?

As a Christian, I believe in both heaven and hell, both God and Satan. God is supreme, Satan is not, and none of us is perfect.

So, my question is, if none of us are perfect, how do we know God's leading? We can think that we are making the right choice, we can pray about it, and we can feel that God is leading us to make the right choice, but can we be sure? Is it our leading or our desire?

Sometimes you can look at what you think will be the best for those involved but even then you are relying on your feelings, which could be manipulated. So you think you are making the right choice but can you really know?

Some say that if there is agreement among believers, then there's a good chance that the matter is God's leading, but can you know? They too are biased and flawed, are they following a leading or their own desire?

And if you can't know - then how can you choose? If a choice of two is balanced, which do you choose? Why?

Posted by Jesse at 9:17 PM | Comments (3)

July 22, 2004

Buster Goes to Church

This week we've been having Vacation Bible School at church. Dennis and I have split the messages for the week, with me doing Monday, Tuesday, and tonight. Each night so far, we've used something to illustrate our point. Tonight, I brought Buster to help me share.

Buster has been part of our family for 11 years and is a very dear friend. He was born in upstate New York and was part of a litter of 8 or so puppies. I love dogs, so when we went to pick out a puppy I knew that I would have a hard time choosing one. Buster solved this problem for us. Even though I loved them all, Buster broke away from the puppy pack and chose us.

In the same way, God loves all of us. He made us to love us, but we have to choose for Him to be part of our life. Just like Buster chose to come and live with us, we have a choice as to wither we want God in our lives.

Buster's not a perfect dog. He's made messes, had accidents in the house, and chewed up things he shouldn't. He is a smart dog though. He can catch a Frisbee, bring his dish and he brings in the paper everyday. I love Buster so much and make sure that he has a safe place to live, food to eat and that he stays healthy. However, I don't love Buster so much that I would let something happen to Kevin so that Buster would be safe.

However, God loves us so much that He sent his only son to erase the sins in our lives. Because God is perfect, we can only approach him if we to are spotless - and no one is perfect. However, because His Son died for us, we are covered - we can live with God and have Him as part of our lives each day.

There's many other illustrations that I could use with Buster, but the above is what I used tonight and I think it was pretty effective. Several people commented on the illustration and I know that having Buster there in the beginning kept the kids attention.

I must say that I was worried about what some of the people would say about bringing Buster into the sanctuary and there were several times where I thought I should do something else. I spent most of the day in prayer about this story. It's one of the few times that I've spoken without notes and one of the fewer times that I have not gotten the illustration from a book or from hearing or seeing something similar elsewhere. It was a tad stressful since I didn't know how it would go over or how Buster would react. (He has epilepsy and stress can trigger a seizure). I'm thankful that all went well and appreciate the positive feedback that I received.

Posted by Jesse at 10:42 PM

July 9, 2004

Protection or Castigation

This Sunday has been designated as Protect Marriage Sunday and across America many churches, including mine, will focus their message and worship time focusing on the covenant between God and the couple that is being married.

Unfortunately, many churches will be missing the entire point of the gospel. As followers of Christ, our lives should be committed to the Great Commandments - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength AND to love your neighbor as yourself. Not love your neighbor if they are like you or love your neighbor if they are straight - we are to love our neighbors, period.

The same book that tells Christians that homosexuality is wrong tells us that love is patient and kind. In many circles homosexuality has become the "high sin" that can not be forgiven and people with that feeling have deemed it acceptable to yell, spit, condemn, and turn their backs on people who are gay - missing the point entirely.

Yes, I agree that homosexuality is a sin, but so is downloading music illegally, or asking for a cup for water and getting soda, or many of the minor things that are completely overlooked by the Christian community. There is no major sin and minor sin, there is just sin. We're all sinners. Until we can show compassion and understanding, there is no opportunity to share beliefs - any argument will fall on deaf ears.

People don't care how much, or what you know until they know how much you care.

So, is this Sunday about protecting marriage or is it about berating gay marriage. Can it be one without the other?

Posted by Jesse at 6:31 PM

June 4, 2004

The Next 100 days

Since returning from San Diego I've been feeling the weight of the summer crunch. I have three big programs that I need to plan, recruit and implement over the summer (the next 100 days). Those are just the major items. I also have the weekly youth studies, stuff for Sundays, and other things that pop up. On top of that comes the most important thing, which is responding to people in crisis.

All of this has been leading up to a feeling of being overloaded. Some of the things that I need to do are slowly getting taken care of, but I hate not having things ready to go in advance. For instance, I have a preschool team meeting Monday. At this point I have 60 minutes left in my schedule to finish planning my talk. I've just finished collecting my material, now I have to plan the talk. (And I realize that I am wasting time writing this, but I need a break between the collecting and writing). My plan was to have this week to write the agenda and plan the talk, instead, I had today to do those things.

My other big stresser is the need to find other leadership and the ability to delegate. I'm getting good at delegating the small things, but I really need to start letting go of the big things. That means taking the time to teach someone else, but I need to make that time and get it done or my plate will always be too full.

Posted by Jesse at 3:42 PM

May 30, 2004

Learning vs Teaching

Reading thorugh some blogs I found an interesting take on the ministry of Jesus and it gave me a few thoughts. They're still kinda jumbled but here ya go.

So often when we set out to teach, whether it is christian education or another type of teaching what we really seek to do is impart knowledge. That's one of the problems of today's church.

When setting out to teach a lesson, Bible study teachers often decide what they believe the scripture says and means, then impart that to their students; the easy way of teaching.

The method that was used by Jesus is one that helps people to think through problems or question and come to an understanding on their own. Information that is learned through this type of revelation is retained longer and put to use more often.

Jesus' teaching
"Jesus is one of the hardest people in history to get a straight answer out of. Someone comes along and asks him something as important as how to have eternal life - and he asks you a question right back. You ask him who your neighbor is and you get a long story in which the good guys turn out to be bad and the bad guy turns out to be the good guy. If you give him a choice between a clear answer and a story, he'll tell the story everytime. But unlike most preachers he won't tell you ahead of time what it is going to mean and remind you afterwards what it meant!

Anyway you look at it, Jesus exercised a significant ministry of confusion - which is no more valued now than it was then. Most of us go to our religious leaders for clarity not confusion. And yet confusion is so often the gateway to transformation. When old formulas fail. When familiar landmarks vanish. When time-honored handholds on the truth suddenly give way under the weight of fresh revelation - time and time again that is how God clears space for something new to happen

Posted by Jesse at 1:58 PM

May 22, 2004

Going to Church

Sundays are usually spent in church so instead we decided to go on Saturday night. We planned on going to Saddleback since it was between San Diego and LA. They have a 4:30 & 6:30 and we decided to spend some extra time in LA and go to the 6:30 service. The traffic kept us from being on time, but we got to the church at 6:40. We checked Kevin into All-Stars and headed to the worship center.

The pastor had just started speaking and the message was pretty good. We filled out a Information card and in return received a free tape of the service. They have a pretty big campus but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.

They were having a program a little after the service called "Laugh on Purpose" where they have Christian comedians perform. The cost was only $4 so we stayed. The first comedian was pretty good and had a few jokes about some of the things that we noticed about the area. He took about an hour and after that Kevin was ready to go so we didn't stay for the other ones.

Posted by Jesse at 1:45 PM

April 30, 2004

Grow Up 2004

Wow, what an awesome conference. Very on target, very relevant, and an unbelievable presentation. If I didn't know where I was during the main sessions, I could have believed that I was at a concert. Not a stereotypical church concert, but an actual rock concert.

The concert is put on by North Point Community Church. They're a church of about 12,000 members and they haven't been doing these conferences long (about 3 years) but they really have their act together. When I arrived, I was guided to a parking spot, then shown the way in. The check in was swift, no line, no wait. I was given the materials (including a huge conference book; if you're ever at my office ask to see it).

After a light breakfast, they opened the auditorium. I got a decent seat (an aisle way, with no chairs in front of me) and waited for it to begin. They showed some pre-function slides and had a song track of Kokomo, Surfing Safari, and other beach themed songs. Neat. Then it went dark and the stage lights the piano began playing. Hmm, didn't sound like any of the praise songs I knew. As I tried to place the song (I recognized the music), the light display began and the singer started...."I'm sailing way, set a course for the open sea....." Wow, they did the song and presentation better than Styx probably did.

That set the tempo for the rest of the conference. I was up, I was broken, alert and tired, and pumped full of information to sift through when I get home. The biggest thing I'm taking away is that I need to do "Less for More." I'll go into it in another post, maybe, but basically, it's just a better thing for my ministry, my family, and my community if we do ministry with that concept.

In a nutshell, the conference was about learning how to do what we do in the best way possible. Not by looking at other churches, but by looking at the people who do it best. On of the people I got to meet was the Sr. Marketing director of Chick-Fil-A. Again, on target, relevant, and great presentation.

Posted by Jesse at 9:19 PM

April 22, 2004

What's wrong with the church?

95% of Americans say that they believe in God and 82% desire spiritual growth.

So, if so many believe and want to grow, why don't they go to church? It's not them, it's the church.
Two-thirds of polled Americans say that most churches are "not effective in helping people find meaning in life."

I don't expect any church to be perfect since none of the members are, but the way that many of the churches are run is just plain wrong. I'm not sure why that is, Acts gives us a perfect example, in detail, of what the church community is supposed to be like. Throughout the Bible were shown how the church should be run and who our lives should be, but too few read the book that they base their beliefs on.

Today's churches are run like political action committees, museums, libraries, seminaries, and the one that bugs me the most - club houses. None of these types of churches are what people want. People who are looking to grow spiritually are looking for a place to belong that frees them, not a place that gives them more rules, more hopes to jump through and something else to tie up their time. In other words, they want a relationship with God, not a God fan club.

That's where we are, but how does the church get to a point where it's more attractive? First, we have to realize that it's not going to happen overnight. There is no program, book, or idea that is going to change the church. People have been burned by the "God fan clubs", it will take a church community that actually cares about the people attending and about the people not attending to cleans the image of church for many people.

Moreover, it's the Christian that needs to change. We'll always have people that say they believe but don't show it through their works. Rather than exposing them, which only shows an ill-regard toward others, Christians need to work on their own commitment to God. We need to understand the power of our influence and what it could be if we were truly committed. We need to have a walk the faith, not talk about it.

If you are a Christian, maybe you've never thought of yourself as hypocrites, but how many of us can pass this test: How many people can you name that have reexamined their lives because there was something in your life that they saw and craved but did not possess?

That something is more than a simple prayer that you made at some point. It should be a continual awareness of, and response to the presence of God in all aspects of your life.

Posted by Jesse at 2:58 PM

April 11, 2004

A Lego Easter

As the Passover festival drew near, the chief priests plotted against Jesus.

Jesus made his way to the Mount of Olives where He is betrayed with a kiss.

He was then tried, crucified, and on the third day rose again.

See the whole Bible done in legos.

Posted by Jesse at 10:11 PM

The Wired Church

Not many people know that we have wireless access at our church, but we do.

There are two wireless routers that cover about 70% of the building, including the sanctuary. The reasons are many, but the current uses are few. First, I use my laptop at work and wireless allows me to come and go, or work in other offices, without wires. Second, the building is mostly concrete, adding to the network can be complicated and it's really not worth it in some cases.

For instance, the Sunday School office should be connected to the network so they can enter attendance data, but there's no sense drilling for a network drop in there since the computer would only be used once a week - the cost of the computer couldn't be justified. However, the director has a laptop, so wireless makes sense.

However, it's not a free hotspot, you need the WEP key. We don't have very many controls on the network so this is as much for security as for keeping people from going to sites they shouldn't.

I say all this because I wanted to comment on a church that I found that does have a free hotspot. I don't know the size of the church, but even if it is a mega-church, I think what they are doing is a bit much as are the reasons that they are doing it.

Coming Hotspot: My Church
Speaking of WiFi, in an incredible show of progressive thinking, my church will be adding free, building-wide 802.11g access with a dedicated T-1 within the next month.

While I enjoyed working for an employer that had a T3, I can't see a church using the bandwidth provided by a T1, why not begin small and increase as needed. Of course, I don't know the deals, maybe they got a fantastic price.

His posts mentions some of the arguments, but it also says

To [his pastor], WiFi a matter of increasing, in one more small way, the convenience of attendance. If someone is able to catch up on some work while dovetailing their attention to his sermon, they've received more benefit than if they stayed at home.

On this point, I very much disagree. This blog pretty much sums up my feelings - God deserves our undivided attention in a worship service. The sermon is part of worship, it's God speaking though someone, and surfing while God is talking to you just doesn't seem to work in my mind.

However, I agree with the Randomize rebuttal that it was the pastors call to make and if he felt that God was leading him that way, that's the way the church should go. I can defiantly see the usefulness in note taking and the like.

In the end, he's my question: If the sermon is so deep that people need to use on-line commentary and the like to get more out of it, will those who are "dovetailing the sermon in with their work" even get anything out of it?

Posted by Jesse at 7:04 PM | Comments (4)