Vignettes

Consumerism, Individualism, Materialism

2007-12-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am currently running a 3 part series on my home page www.thescheids.org on these 3 "isms" that plague our american culture. Please go there and click on the blog to read the articles and post a comment. Hope to talk there!!!

What about US?

2007-03-29T09:20:00.000-06:00

Christianity began in Palestine as a relationship,
moved to Greece and became an idea,
went to Rome and became an institution,
then came to America and became and enterprise."

Richard Halverson

What will History say WE did with Christianity???

Greatest Threat to our Faith???

2007-03-26T17:09:00.000-06:00

New Age??

Buddhism??

Islam??

Terrorism??

I believe the greatest threat to our faith is none of these things. I am begining to think it is the subversive influence of consumerism. This disease has infected every one of us and tends to be extremely heinous and insidious. It is a real challenge to the Gospel.

The question or quest is to determine how we combat such a pervasive and persuasive influence in our culture with out totally abandoning that culture and secluding ourselves in a monastery or convent some where or becoming a recluse?

How do we incarnate in culture and not become infected with culture to the point we can no longer influence it with Christ?

Gathering Rhythms - Part 4

2007-03-24T11:41:00.000-06:00

Our Natural F. L. O. W. of Life –
The rhythms (habits/practices) that make us:

“A people to belong to” and embody who we are.

THIS IS THE "W" IN OUR FLOW

Whole-istic Community - growing as a supportive and loving family: (John 13:34-35)

Being Missional doesn’t happen without community.

Real friendships- It has to be real. Conversations should move in the direction of openness and transparency as we share our lives together. This community aspect of church is the building block for the previous two values.

Non-Churchy relationships- Merge new people in through authentic development friendships and shared experiences. So that they don’t just say “we go to this gathering or we go to this church” rather we want them to say “these are my friends and we hang together on Saturday nights at this thing called a gathering or I meet my friends there” We call ourselves “a people to belong to”.

Inclusive community – This is to say that we value an open community where God’s grace and Love are modeled. There is not a feeling of needing to conform to be accepted and we are free to share the good and bad of life. The problem is not the sin in our lives (we all have that) but the not dealing with the sin in our lives. It is also ok not to believe and to even disagree. We want people at every place in their spiritual journey to feel accepted and loved with out compromising the truth.

Simplicity – We want to de-busy our lives pursue simplicity. We want to simplify and have time to interact in depth of relationship rather that jumping in and out of so many spheres of relationships that we have no time to really know anyone. We will integrate our lives and relationships being whole-istic in our approach to life as a community. This is a commitment to proximity, living out, and honesty.

Food- Jesus did his best stuff while breaking bread with others. Communities don’t seem to work without this element being an important part. There’s something about slowing down to eat together that binds people together.

Church vs Discipleship

2007-03-18T10:20:00.000-06:00

"We want to lower the bar of how church is done and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple." Neil Cole of Church Multiplication Associates

This is my desire as well. I want to stop worring about what form the church takes and concentrate on what form my life, and the lives of those around me, takes as we devote them to our Lord!

The newest Mac Specialist

2007-03-14T19:13:00.000-06:00

I just received word that I am a new Mac Specialist at theNew Apple Store set to open in about a month in our area. I am excited to not only get payed to play with cool Apple stuff and help people find what they need but to be in the community and reach out to those I meet!

Comments

2007-03-14T09:18:00.000-06:00

I changed the settings so anyone can comment. I hope more of you comment now!!!

Mike

Gathering Rhythms - Part 3

2007-03-13T10:19:00.000-06:00

Our Natural F. L. O. W. of Life –
The rhythms (habits/practices) that make us:

“A people to belong to” and embody who we are.

THIS IS THE "O" IN OUR FLOW

Outward Blessing - A priority of serving and loving one another (Gen. 12:1-3, Matt 25:34-40)

Experiencing Jesus- Faith without action is dead (James 2: 17). In a postmodern world words mean less and less. Unless faith is tangible and experiential it will have very little impact or relevance. Also we learn Jesus holistically—you can’t just read your Bible if you want to be like Jesus—you have to go try to do what he did.

Enriching our own community- Our friendships grow deeper when we serve together. God seems to deepen our lives and relationships when we serve others together.

Loving as Jesus loved – We are, in some ways, deprogramming our evangelical experiences and re-learning the authentic ways of Jesus. We have been steeped in the practice of “stringy love”. This is not how Jesus loved. He did not show kindness to others, expecting some outcome or responsive action. An example of this may be offering to feed a group of homeless folks only after they sit through a gospel presentation. Thousands of people could easily recount the gospel tenants. They have heard it so many times; yet rarely understand the gospel message. Is not feeding the hungry, the Gospel! The Gospel is being God’s blessing in our world and only through a relationship will we be able to truly share Jesus. We tell them about Jesus and his love for them when they ask, not forcing it down their throats. We are striving to live out Jesus’ commandment of loving each other as a community of his followers, so that others may see we are his disciples. Our only agenda in that is to leave people wanting more, more of Jesus by blessing them.

Gathering Rhythms - Part 2

2007-03-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

Our Natural F. L. O. W. of Life – The rhythms (habits/practices) that make us:

“A people to belong to” and embody who we are.

THIS IS THE "L" IN OUR FLOW

Living Missional - Being sent into the world to be a blessing. (“Sentness”)Matt 28:18-20

Proximity- We will place ourselves in a position to develop new relationships… 3rd places, asking God to lead us to concentrate on a particular neighborhood/people/person. This is being obedient to Jesus’ last command to us…to “go”. We value Proximity as Time, Frequency, and the Capacity for spontaneity.

Posture- In Jesus’ life he teaches that the way Truth is communicated is as important as the Truth itself. We can say Jesus is the way all we want but unless it’s received well its useless.

Advocate- …one who supports and speaks in favor of…one who pleads for another. We show people we are genuinely on their side by stepping across from religiosity to authenticity. Being a good advocate means being available and willing to engage process (formation) not expecting conformity to belong.

Belonging- engaging culture in a natural and deliberate way.
We do this by developing 4 Rhythms (habits):
"Living Out"

1. Leaving – Replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with sojourners.

2. Living amongst – Participating in the natural activities of culture. “In but not of”

3. Listening – Sensitively responding to conversation in a way that demonstrates sincere interest. (eyes and ears)

4. Loving – Blessing with NO strings attached.

Gathering Rhythms - Part 1

2007-02-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

Our Natural F. L. O. W. of Life – The rhythms (habits/practices) that make us –
“A people to belong to” and embody who we are.

WE START WITH FAMILY OF GOD - L. O. W. OF OUR FLOW COMMING SOON...

Family of God - Being God’s People: The Church (Heb. 10:24-25)

Looking to Jesus to lead us – We will continually and to the best of our ability look to Jesus for his guidance and wisdom in all situations both small and large.

Learning Together - At some level we’ll remain just a social club if we are not learning together. We must be growing as disciples of Jesus. Some of this learning occurs while serving, but if we follow Jesus then we need to seek to know him better through scripture and through reading the scriptures that shaped and formed him. Large group and small group discussion is important.

Engaging the basic tenants: We will incorporate into our gatherings and community life Communion, Baptism, the study of God’s word, and worship as a life style.

Imagination: We will do our best to seek a new, yet ancient, expression of what it means to be God’s people in our ever changing world and cultural context.

What is Church?

2007-02-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

“The natural rhythm of gathering and sending those who are responding to the enfleshed good news of God’s life now available”
Huge Halter

I have heard alot about what the church is not or what people don't like about the current state of the church. In contrast I really like thinking more positive, instead of just deconstructive all the time.

I also really love trying to live life like that, Natural, and in rhythm with what God is doing all around us!

Defining Missional

2007-02-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been challenged to define missional in my own mind. It is a word that is thrown around so much and means something different in almost every context.

In one setting I was in, missional meant nothing more than outreach oriented. I was saddened quite a bit by this.

So here is where I have landed after thinking about this for a while. Some of this is from my training with Missio.

Missional: To be sent to be a blessing in the world.

Thats it!

Not a model not a strategy or even a focus!

Thought Provoking Quote!

2007-02-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

"Christianity began in Palestine as a relationship,
moved to Greece and became an idea,
went to Rome and became an institution,
then came to America and became and enterprise."

Richard Halverson

What will History say WE did with Christianity???

Should Christians raise support? Should Pastors be paid?

2007-02-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

This is a question posed by John on Hungry and Thirsty that I thought was very timely in my thought process. Here are my thoughts:

To me this is a question of posture.
How do we best posture ourself to reach those around us? Is that as a full time pastor or is there a better way? Is that better way support? or bi-vocational? I am currently raising support and looking for a job, along with my wife building her business. All of this is to posture ourselves the best we can in our community. I am raising support to allow me to have time for proximity (time, frequency, & spontaneity) so I am not totally trading my time for dollars to pay the bills. I am looking for a job to give me an in to the community. It also gives me a good answer to the question, "what do you do?" To say Pastor or Missionary can be a turn off but to say construction or I work at ... levels the relationship landscape instead of always going up hill. I have been thinking a lot about this lately... can you tell.

Our new Web page

2007-02-01T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our ministry site

Enjoy:

www.thescheids.org

Missional Church DNA

2006-08-13T19:55:00.000-06:00

What does it look like to create church where it does not exist? What makes a missional church?

In the post "Shaping of Things to Come" - 3 from John we see the three aspects of what Forst and Hirsch are saying makes the missional church different from traditional church. SOOOOO the question comes to my mind:

How do we live those things out in a practical on the ground kind of way?

In dialoging with some incredible guys in my area from the missio ministry (www.missio.us) I have heard some awesome ideas. There are three priorities that I want to be the foundational DNA of any missional community I am a part of. They are:

1. Engaging Culture
2. Living life together
3. Growing Spiritually

I think if we actively engage in those priorities we will be incarnational, Holistic, and Missional. So lets take a moment and look at each of these in a bit more detail:

1. Engaging Culture-
This is where incarnational really takes on it's meat. We will engage those around us in loving relationship and love them as Christ loves, with out strings. This should flow naturally from each of our lives as we live out our passion for Christ allowing God to use our likes, passions, and personalities to develop relationships with the non-followers around us.

2. Living life together-
This is true community. A "Do you have any eggs?" life friend. These people have refrigerator rights... they know were the food, plates, forks etc. are and help themselves. This can't happen overnight and demands proximity. To live 30 - 40 minutes away and try to spend the time together needed to "Live life together" is nearly impossible. Just for logistical reasons.

3. Growing Spiritually-
I like how Forst and Hirsch have said that if no faith community comes from our engaging culture can we really say we are building the church? Growing spiritually is always a needed priority of a church. Otherwise there really is no church. Notice what I did not say. I didn't say bible study, or discussion series. To often I think we program the spirit out of our Spiritual development. On the other end of the spectrum, who are we kidding if we think their could be spiritual growth with out God's word. ? It will always be the ultimate authority in faith and in life!

Whisper

2006-07-09T21:31:00.000-06:00

Matt 28:19 "Go therefore"

The one verb in the great commission that is a Greek imperative (command) is matheteusate--make disciples. This is preceded by one participle--having gone--and followed by two participles--baptizing and teaching.

Did you catch that "Having gone"

Our World is gong to Hell in a hand basket but the way to counteract this tragedy is not to shout loudly at the world and point out it's faults. Nor is it to live a life that is so similar no one can really tell the difference. In both cases we become irrelevant and out of touch totally negating our witness to the amazing truth of the gospel.

We must instead engage real people in real life and earn the right to whisper into their lives. This is hard work and means we need to leave behind our unreal, fake, facade of a life and begin to engage those around us in authentic relationships. Get out of our safe Christian la la land.

Many of us have become so appalled by sin that we can't even stand the sinner! That's a problem not a virtue. We are so shocked by sin and work so hard to cover it up that we can't be real with our self much less others, Christian or not. The world looks at that and sees nothing different. In fact they pity us. How is that, "they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another." Love not congenial potlucks where fun is not allowed because it looks an awful lot like it might be sin.

So as you are going (having gone) be real, live real life along with all your faults. Share life with your friends and neighbors, Christian or not and whisper all the time about the amazing, true beauty that is all around. Be a people whisperer!

Posture

2006-07-07T20:31:00.000-06:00

What is our posture toward the world?

Holier than thou?

Just do it, right along with the rest?

Or is there a way that would better shine Jesus to the world. I have been challenged to posture myself with those around me who are not followers of Jesus differently. I want to love them unconditionally as Jesus would and not make them conform to my way of life just to be around me. I want to become a part of their life and have the right to show them the sacred that is a part of their life, the God that has been there all along. To insist that they must act a certain way, look a certain way, or talk a certain way just to be around me is no way to share the all loving God with them. The act, look, talk comes later and is called discipleship. But even then I think I have gone overboard because if we become so different from those around us they will not want to be around us at all. Totally quelling our attempts to love them and reach out to them in true community. This is a huge challenge because I also want to stand for what IS right and what IS true. But love seems to be impossible with out grace AND truth.

As I remember it is commanded we be "in" the world but not "of" the world.

What a layered and complicated command!

Stringy Love

2006-07-01T21:27:00.000-06:00

As the church we tend to give love, but only love with strings attached. We don't normally just LOVE. We will feed the homeless if they sit through a gospel message. Why can't feeding them BE the gospel and then when THEY ask share the rest of the story. We will reach out to our neighbors, but with an ulterior motive. I don't think that is love at all. At least not Christ like love! He loved because he IS love and nothing more. I often wonder if I am even capable of love like that. Can I truly love my neighbor without wanting something in return? Only through the Spirit working in me. I am, at my core, selfish in my flesh. Only as I become more and more the new creature God created can I come close to loving as He loves. At the very least I am a bit closer to that kind of love now because I am aware of my inadequacy. I want desperately to love those around me without strings. With out treating people as projects to be won for Christ. Just loving them becaus I am filled with God's love and find them lovely.

Just Love.

Love

De-construction or De-struction

2006-05-27T10:32:00.000-06:00

What is your attitude when it comes to the traditional church vs the missional church? I found another article called Demolition or Renovation by Andrew Hamilton. (Click on the title to view) It has really challenged me to check my attitude more often when I think about my current setting. I will not complain and only say something when it might help rather than hurt! NO matter the context those in any church if they are true believers are my brothers and sisters and most I know are very Godly people trying the best they know how. Most are also very wise and loving people who, even if they don't see what I do, are people I can learn from.

Missional Church in suburbia???

2006-05-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

What would a missional church look like in suburbia?

Phil Parshall is well known for his C1-C6 contextualisation spectrum and its application to an Islamic context. However what would it mean for us to think in those terms for western communities?

Click on the title to be re-directed to a great articl titled C1-C6 in Suburbia by Andrew Hamilton.

Andrew Hamilton is the FORGE Director in Western Australia . He is involved in the planting and developing of a new missional community in Brighton ( Perth ). He was formerly senior pastor at Lesmurdie Baptist Church in Perth.

Let me know what you think!!

The Will of God

2006-05-15T22:04:00.000-06:00

Is there one person who is the only person who is right for you?

Is there only one job or path in life that is right and if we some how miss it we are not in God's will?

I think no to these questions and many more like them. I believe that there are may choices with in God's sovereign will. Above you see a good illustration about the will of God and making decisions from Stand to Reason. In the bible we fine that God has a clear Moral will, a Sovereign will but never a specific personal will for each of us. Thus, factors like wisdom and our own personal likes, dislikes and desires interplay to help us make good decisions. I need to use these ideas more when I make decisions. How about you?

Stop and Reflect

2006-04-22T22:31:00.000-06:00

I just finished teaching a lesson to a # of 8th grade students on a retreat about stopping long enough to reflect on the past and plan for the future. To NOT repeat the mistakes of the past and be all that God has intended us to be in the future. To work our salvation with fear and trembling, to build on the foundation of Christ with Gold, Silver, and Precious Stones. I need to stop more and be silent and reflect.

One Dimensional Salvation

2006-04-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

I have recently been challenged with how one-dimensional I tend to see and therefore share Salvation. I have been taught to see salvations mainly in terms of a legal transaction. It is about me and the debt I have owed and what God has done to pardon freely that debt through Jesus. All of this is true and good, not just good but amazing.

But, that is not the whole story. Salvation in Jesus is so much more! It is God ransoming back the entire universe. God saving me to make me into what He originally intended at the creation of me. Redeeming me and making me whole in all of life, NOW! Not just after this life. God is working in and on me now, right now, even as I type and this is salvation. It is not about me and my eternal state, as much as it is about joining God and His ransoming back of the entire universe. Joining the empire of God and His amazing work in this world.

Lord, forgive me for missing this so often in the past and continuing these thoughts of shallowness as I have taught many others. Please, continue to grow my so limited view or YOU!

Those Darn Canadians!!

2006-04-12T16:38:00.001-06:00

I did the Ski Mag Reader Resort Survey this year and entered in the Sweepstakes for the ski trip for two. On the "Official Rules" letter they sent with the entry form there is something REALLY FUNNY!

In the paragraph explaining how the drawing will be conducted is this sentence:

"Canadian winner will be required to correctly answer, unaided, a time-limited mathematical skill-testing question in order to receive the prize."

"If a train was heading from Boston to Denver at ...
And another Heades from Denver to Boston at...
OK 30 Seconds, GO!"

Man I am glad I'm not Canadian! I stink at math!

I sent it to Leno for his Headlines bit!

I felt old for a minute

2006-04-10T21:08:00.000-06:00

For the first time I can remember I really felt old the other day. Even though I'm NOT! I was at a carnival for our oldest at the Elementary school she will be attending next year. I was looking around at all the people there with their kids playing the games and such. As I people watched (one of the greatest sports ever) I was noticing how old everyone seemed. Then the though accrued to me that I belonged here with all these old people! Freakey!

Just a small taste of what happens at the dreaded mid life crisis. O' it's coming! But not YETTTTT!

Be Careful what you Blog, I am pretty sure God Reads it!

2006-03-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

So the day after I post "Freedom in Christ" God shows me how un-free I still am even thought I have come a long way.

ARE YOU BOTHERD BY "IT"?

By it I mean sin, any sin. The answer is most likely yes. But, how are we "bothered"? Yesterday I went to the Denver campus of CU to talk to a professor about some schooling I am looking into. I needed to go to the student union and purchase a catalog from the bookstore. As I walked through the union I was excited to be there and looking forward to engaging culture. Then I happened to walk by the Gay, Lesbian, and alternative life style office in the union. It bothered me! But not the bothered me like “there is a bunch of people who really need love”. It was the bothered that “I can't believe an office like that is allowed in a student union”, condemning bothered. Definitely the WRONG kind of bothered! God new I would be walking there that day and knew what I just wrote (freedom in Christ) and I am sure He thinks it is funny! And it is funny! He really knows how to reopen our eyes to our shortcomings and I am sure He is amused as He does it. I like a God like that and I am happy to admit that He is still working hard on me to be like Him each and every day. I want to be bothered by "IT” what ever it is. But bothered as God is, not as I can be in my self-righteous little world!!

Freedom in Christ

2006-03-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

My faith has changed a lot in the past couple of years. With my very conservative background the world and the people immersed in it used to almost scare me. Today God has given me a newfound desire to love and interact with all those not-yet-Christians in my life. I also want desperately to get out of my naive Christian bubble and get to love many more of them. I am not content simply ministering to those in the church and in my ministry. In fact I tend to grow tired of the monotony of it all. I feel free to love and care for those around me who once just bothered me. And many who now bother me do so because they are just sitting on their duffs and content with their safe, Christian, Suburban bubbles. God has really been changing me to be more like Him. The God who ate with tax collectors and sinners and truly loved them. To me this is a new understanding of freedom in Christ. I can be free to dance with the Spirit, to be “in tune” with the God song going on all around me and not be hindered by my naive Christian surroundings.

By clicking on Freedom in Christ you will be directed to a Nooma video called "Rythem" I would highly sugest purchasing and watching.

Revival, from an easy chair???

2006-03-11T21:16:00.000-07:00

Can there be true revival if there is not a willingness to really change? Can revival happen when we plan for it?

I think NO, to both!

I don't see a real attitude of surrender to God's leading. We all want to see God work but it feels like there is an attitude that if God were to radically change our directions we would not be willing to go there. Our mission never changes but how that mission is accomplished constantly changes. It seems our bigger, Suburban churches are just not willing to go there. We spend time in prayer asking God for wisdom but already have a plan. We are so concerned with us and are so comfortable that we can't even think radically. I am sick of it! In myself! In those around me!

Lord help us all change and be ok with change because everything changes even when we don't see it over the edge of the easy chair!

Jump! ...?

2006-02-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had that feeling when you are standing on the edge of a cliff or the edge of a tall building that you just wanted to jump? I think there is some sociological term for it and that it is a common feeling.

How about with your faith? Have you ever been prompted by the Lord to do something and you just needed to jump? I feel that way now! God is doing something but I really am unsure as to what. There are signs, little things really, all around me that seem to be saying "JUMP"! But, I seem to respond more often that not with, "jump"??? I would like to jump but I am just not sure how!! I have that feeling like God has me on the top of some crazy high cliff and I want to jump. I would like to jump! but I just am not sure where or how. I don't think it is my faith, or lack their of, that is holding me back because I am excited as to what God is doing. I just don't know what it even looks like right now to jump. I am having a hard time even coming up with options. So for now I keep praying, mostly for direction but also for patience, and wait!

A challenge from Ecclesiastes

2006-01-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Eccl. 7: 16-18 says: "Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise - why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool - why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes."

To me this has been fairly challenging in the way I view and judge myself and often feel judge by others. The key is, do I fear God, not am I living up to the status of those around me. I find myself being overrighteous and thinking to highly of myself. I am often overwicked as well. It is a challenge to not live in the extremes and to simply fear and follow God. O, to just live this life for the audience of one and to not get all caught up in myself and to not worry about what others think.

Why do we expect Christian behavior from the world?

2005-12-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

It amazes me how we expect non-Christian companies to act like they are run by Christians. Why would we expect Walmart to instruct it's employees to say merry CHRISTmas if they are run by people who don't believe in Christ. Would our time be better spent building relationships with not yet Christians than fighting with them over "Merry Christmas"? Showing love not disdain. I seem to think so!

Waiting on the Lord

2005-12-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

God is on the move! Not Aslan at least in my movie, at least in my life. I am just not sure how. Please pray for me and Kim as we are desperately and with great excitement waiting on the Lord. He is working in us but we have no clue as to exactly how. It has been years since I have felt Him moving so strongly, like a mighty wind pushing us into the unknown. But as Ty likes to quote, "bring me the horizon" I will go and do what ever God wants! Pray that is what happens!

The Airline Industry and the Church

2005-11-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I was intrigued as I listened to talk radio the other day as to the striking similarities between the Airline Industry and the current state of the church. The talk radio hosts were talking about a recent poll done in some magazine about which airlines ranked the best when it came to effectiveness and customer loyalty. They explained that it was no surprise that airlines like Jet Blue and frontier (fairly new and young) were at the top of the list and airlines like United and American (old "legacy") were at the bottom. An airline expert commented that the "legacy" airlines "grew up" in the regulated airline industry when the gov. subsidised a large portion of their cost and that the newer airlines have "grown up" in a competitive market. Being as such the new airlines are much better and aware as to what must be done to reach potencial passengers.

It struck me at this point as to how similar this is to the church of today. The older model of "Christiandom" as a way of going about church "grew up" in a society where it was the center and it was just expected you would go to church. Some of the more "emergent" modes of church have "grown up" in a very different cultural context and thus has had to understand a new paradime. The church of today must understand how to be in culture and be salt and light with in it and not just expect everyone to come to it for salvation. The old model is not wrong just outdated and ineffective. Maybe there is more that just good TV on Frontier!

Hebrew Day Planner

2005-10-21T11:05:00.000-06:00

This is a challenging concept that came to Kim and I through the book "Making Room For Life" by Randy Frazee. Here it is: "There are essentially three major activities in each day that should be governed by night and day: productivity, relationships, and sleep. Because the work of the Hebrews was agrarian, productivity was accomplished during the hours of sunlight - 6am to 6pm... So the basic structure of a normal day for the Hebrews went like this: twelve hours available for productivity and work (6am-6pm); four hours available for relationships (6pm-10pm); and eight hours available for sleep (10pm - 6am)." On Friday night at 6pm they would begin their 7th day of rest as God designed. All governed by Day and Night. I think the question we all should ponder is this: Should we live by the same divine clock? and if so HOW? in a non-agricultural society! I believe we have got to slow down, get connected to others and our Lord or we will continue our slow death! Our crowded loneliness.

Grace = Fear???

2005-10-08T22:11:00.000-06:00

Ever sang the song "Amazing Grace"? I have many times but this last week something struck me as I sang again. In one of the verses there are two line that stood out and I just can't let it go. They go something like this: "twas grace that taught me heart to fear, and grace my fears released." The second line makes perfect sense but grace teaching fear seems a bit odd and hard to comprehend. How does getting what we don't deserve cause us to fear? Is it that we are given so much and it is hard to handle? I wonder what the writer really meant when they coined those words. It is good to think about. The better I can understand Grace, God's Grace, the better I will be at living it out.

Guilt vs Guard

2005-09-20T17:06:00.000-06:00

In this life filled with the flesh Satin has used Guilt a number of times to keep me down about myself and my sin. All the while keeping me from having any victory over that sin. Yet my guilt also serves to remind me of my faults and to help me keep my guard up against what gave me reason to guilt. It seems to be a hard balance between having my guard up to keep from sinning but to not be lost in guilt. Shame is not of the lord, He has forgiven and forgotten and He want to see victory in my life and a continual progression to Christ likeness. Satin though wants me lost in my self pity and guilt. Is 6: "See this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for!" (emph. added) O lord Jesus thank you for being the coal that has touched my lips, may I have joy for my guilt is taken away and my sin is atoned for.

Absolute truth?

2005-09-10T22:19:00.000-06:00

I have recently been challenged to rethink all the things I have been thinking are Absolute truth. I think I have spent a lot of my life living as if there are many more absolutes that there really are simply becaue someone told me they were. From God's word there are some fairly clear ones but there are may others that I think are from us(man) that really are not in there. May be you would take a minust and add your thoughts. What do you think is Absolute truth????

Who's your daddy?

2005-08-28T20:02:00.000-06:00

Have you ever been challenged by someone in a sermon or just talking where they asked you, "What are you doing that would fail if God didn't show up?"? I was thinking about that recently with a few situations in ministry right now and taking comfort in the fact that there is no way this could happen with out God showing up. GOD really must show up but I have been challenged all the more that the answer to the question is nothing less that Life itself. My life is a completed failure aside from God and would be if He were left out. So in a sense I think that is a silly question and one I don't think I will be asking anymore. Who are we that we could think there is anything that would not fail if God didn't show up! So Who's your Daddy?

A powerful Community Question!

2005-08-24T09:15:00.000-06:00

At a camp Kim and I went to a week ago our friends there that run the camp asked a powerful question that is designed to help us think through if we really are involved in TRUE community or if what we have is just scratching the surface. Here is the question: "If you or your family were falling apart do you have someone or another family that would step in and do something?" NOT that could or that might but WOULD. The answer for Kim and I is sadly no. We have friends and families that are close(relationally) to us but are fare(geographically) enough away that they may not know what is happening. Those that are physically close to us we are not quite as close to in relationship. HOW ABOUT YOU?!!! You and I had better change and change that fast before we really need it!

The Connecting Church

2005-08-19T20:13:00.000-06:00

I have recently been really challenged to help my chruch see the need for true community. I am wondering if anyone has seen a great example of a chruch that "Get's it" a place that is biger than a few hunderd and yet has broken themself down enough to truly have families and individuals living life together? I am trying to think through what this might look like in my local context. I am not sure if it is even possible here but I pray it is and I pray God might use me to iniciate that change. It is a huge task to try and help a very "Modern" chruch see the need and to let go of all the sacrid cows to move forward in a way that will truly be powerful. Any help would be great!

My first post

2005-08-11T23:15:00.000-06:00

How do we stop doing chruch and start being church?