10 Unbelievable Years!!!

My gorgeous and incredible wife, Carol, and I have been married for 10 years! What a great friend, lover and wife! We are blessed for sure. Carol, we've come a long way since the first time we met and I picked a fight with you. Here's to 10+ more years!!

Pilgrimage

It's a journey to a sacred place. We did it this last weekend with our church Jacob's Well. It was a great time! We stayed in cabins, laughed together, played with the kids (ours and other people's), rested and worshipped together. It was very cool. We journeyed to YouthFront south camp where they have over 600 acres and 60+ sacred spaces. It's a great place.

One of the highlights of our time was Sunday morning. Carol was baptized! It was great. I love the way Jacob's Well really tries to journey together and find a rhythm of life together. It is so refreshing and generative!

I wonder what kinds of pilgrimage's some of you others go on?

Telling Stories: Missouri friends

This past weekend I spent at the Missouri NYI Convention. I was the "speaker" and had a great time with them. Mona Downs is the District President and is doing a great job and the people there were so kind (special thanks to Charlie for carting me around a bit and taking me to dinner!). I love making new friends!

I told two stories, one on Friday and one on Saturday. Friday night I shared the story of Ephesus and talked about how the Greeks valued beauty, performance, competition and achievement (which thankfully is nothing like our culture today). I went on to talk about that as the context of Paul's letter and shared some from there.

Saturday I told the story of Zaccheus. I pulled out the back story of who tax collectors were and how they were treated, etc.

Okay, so now here's my point, I told these stories and after each service people came up to me and started talking about how they found themselves IN the story. They related to someone in the story. They felt at home, sometimes even uncomfortable home. There wasn't 3 points and a power truth. Just the story from Scripture and our story, which as I think about it, is THE STORY.

Gutsy Faith

I just finished "Gutsy Faith" this weekend. I'm a bit behind on my reading, but am getting close to being caught up.

Here what I loved in my friend Jeff's book:
1) Stories - lots of stories. I love stories. I also loved that Jeff used lots of real life examples that we all can connect with. Nicely done.
2) Lots of Scripture - it seems to be a no brainer in a book about Christian faith, but a cursory look at what's on the shelves of most Christian book stores will prove otherwise. Jeff's use of Scripture every step of the way show his passion for connecting people with THE STORY as well as his passion for that Story in his own life.
3) Readability - it's an easy read, but not in a simple way. Gutsy Faith goes to some deep places, questioning some things that are core to our faith, but does it in a way that anyone can read.

Some things I thought could be better:
1) Overall layout - I just found myself wishing that the section headings were more helpful. The chapter titles were good, but in going back to reference something, the subheadings just didn't really reveal anything as to what was actually in that part of the text. Maybe just my opinion and maybe just being picky.
2) I wish Jeff would have brought the community piece in more. He seems to hint around at it quite a bit, but he never comes out and talks about the importance of the role of community in knowing God's will for your life. Maybe he doesn't value it, but I don't really think that fits with all that he calls us to.
3) A stronger connection between every chapter. As I mentioned above, I love that he used lots of stories, but perhaps there could have been one story that he continued to refer to which would pull everything together. Again, probably me being picky.

Overall, I really enjoyed the read and would recommend it to anyone. I especially think it would be helpful for people in transitions.

Good job Jeff!

Is Preaching really about story?

This question was offered up to me like a slow pitch softball in a lunch conversation last week. The question is not really that easy, per say, its just that the person who asked it had no idea what they were in for when they asked ME :-)

I'd love to hear some people thoughts on the role of story and narrative and preaching. I have some thoughts, which I will share as we continue, but I'm curious as to what you all might think. To get things started there are two quotes I'd like to throw out there:

"Truth naked and cold had been turned away from every door in the village. Her nakedness frightened the people. When Parable found her, she was huddled in a corner, shivering and hungry. Taking pity on her, Parable gathered her up and took her home. There, she dressed Truth in story, warmed her and sent her out again. Clothed in story, Truth knocked again at the villagers’ doors and was readily welcomed into the people’s houses. They invited her to eat at their table and warm herself by the fire."

- Jewish teaching story


And this offering which comes from an interview from the infamous "Wittenburg Door" magazine with one of the greatest story tellers of our generation, Garrison Keillor.

Door: Any suggestions on making sermons better?
K: Yes. First, I think that people want to hear the gospel in the form of a story. There’s a story at the heart of every sermon. I think sermons fail when they take that story, stick it in a corner, and make it into a lecture. That won’t work for people.
Door: Why not?
K: A story allows people to come into it. You can somehow envision yourself as a participant in a story. It engages the imagination in a way that a lecture does not. In order for a lecture to draw people in, it really has to be a sustained experience. Twenty minutes is definitely not enough time.
But a story has a magical power to draw people into it. If you simply describe specific details of a landscape, if you crate a street in a small town in Midwest in January on a Sunday afternoon in North Dakota with the drifts plowed up high along the sides of the road and steam coming out of the chimneys of a few homes on the edge of town, and beyond that a great sea of snow on fields perfectly flat and broken by tree lines around farms – you’ve just created a landscape that someone will be imagine himself in. And then something else can happen.
Door: What?
K: You can draw him out of himself and into this place in the imagination. The story of Job draws us into it. The parable of the prodigal son is easy for me to imagine anyway. Most of the other stories in the New Testament draw people in, as well.

Water Fire Wind... and Earth?

In a stunning twist of God's comedic humor, I have returned from vacation only to find that Tim Keel, our pastor from Jacob's Well, is doing a series that includes the elements of creation - earth, air, fire and water. Hmmmm... Could it be a mass consipiracy? Doubtful. But one never knows... Either way I highly recommed listening in on the series. He has done an intro week, earth and air and will be doing water this week. I feel like I could do this series - not in the same way or as well, but because I've spent the last year in these three elements and Scripture. God must be up to something here.

We're Back...

We are back from a great vacation and I'm digging through 3 weeks worth of mail, email and voice messages. We had a great time on our vacation in Maryland, Michigan and Indiana (and places along the way). We got to hang out with the Snows (including the newest edition Ryan) in the inner harbor of Baltimore, we ate crabs and ice cream with Josh and Aubrey (where I also learned to attract bats with my sandal), hung with the Youngs a bit at their home, stayed a night with Jim and Sue and James Dougherty, saw and visited with lots of other friends and got to visit and preach in Bel Air! We also visited my parents and my brother Kevin and his family in Michigan, saw my brother Steve and family, and stopped by Carol's sister's to hang with the cousins. We all had a great time!

It was a great reminder of the extensiveness of God's Kingdom and our friendships. Believe it or not, we also got some rest! Now we're back to Kansas and 100+ degree heat. Since home, I've changed out a toilet kit and we've gotten a new hot water heater. I hope that's all the home improvements for a while.

Swingin' in OKC

This stop on my journey is in Oklahoma City at Southern Nazarene University. Good to make some new friends and connect with some old! Great to see some of my Bel Air (Mike, Katelynn, Weston, Austin, Andrew, Bambi, Denise, the Moots [Hannah is huge!!] and a few others) and Mid-Atlantic friends (Renee thanks for not throwing anything at me!). Also great to see my brother Kevin who is here with a team. As soon as I finish this post I'm headed to meet with him for a late lunch.

One quick thing that struck me - I was in this restaurant that stands as a place keeper for the 60's. It had all 60's (and a few 70's) stuff on the wall and as decorations. While it was a little entertaining to see, I wondered how much this is like a lot of our churches. Do we put things up on the wall that tell us the story of yesterday? Do we play only music from a by-gone era? And if we do is that so bad?

A highlight for sure was the chance to walk in the sanctuary at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. You probably have never heard of it - I hadn't - but it has the most beautiful glass windows I have ever seen. They are not stained glass but have that look. The artwork is actually printed within the glass and it is spectacular. We met with Jason Johnston who was kind enough to share with us all his knowledge on the glass and the sanctuary. There are no pics on their website yet of the glass, but he said that they are redoing their site and will have some up soon. I hope so. I could have spent weeks looking at them.

How does this compare to the 60's diner? Well there is a whole beauty and art issue here, but I guess my heartburn is that if we only tell that story and don't reimagine and tell our story of God at work today, then perhaps we've missed the point all together.

Next week I have vacation and I'm so looking forward to it. I'm tired and trying not to let it show.

DCLA was awesome and a huge help to me and the NYC team. I learned so much from some of the event coordinators as they did their trouble shooting, dealt with convention center staff, oversaw medical issues, etc. It was just plain great. I met some new friends there too which is always awesome! I also walked a LOT. Meanwhile... Carol and the kids PLAYED! They are having a great time with Maryland friends and being back in the east!

I've been invited to preach on Sunday at Bel Air and am excited and slightly nervous to do so. I haven't preached since my last sermon there and I have this mixed feeling of pressure and joy to be with them again. Anyway it should be fun!

Free Book!

My friend Jeff is just releasing his new book, Gutsy Faith. If you're interested visit his blog to find out how to recieve a free copy and join in the reading and blogging. I'm reading it now.

Kenyon College visit

Recently while visiting one of our Nazarene Universities, we stopped by another small private school that has been around forever - Kenyon College. I took these pictures there.
The cross is from 1904 graduating class. The others are from the chapel on campus.

Father's Day

Yeah, I'm the richest man in the world with the family I have! This was part of my Father's Day presents. Not shown were tickets to a T-Bones game (Kansas City minor league baseball) and some Art's Coffee. Art roasts it one day, delivers it to your door the next. Quite good! In the pic you'll notice the Super Soaker from Jahred, the awesome picture and frame from the kids, a card and my favorite kind of tie... it is personal, means a lot and it will never have to go around my neck!

Tripping...

Headed out for a three week galavant around the country... St. Louis, Indy, DC, Oklahoma City, Maryland, Michigan (?), St. Louis and home. Good thing is my family will be with me for most of the time. Other good thing is that a week of it is vacation. I need some sleep.

Look for...
- working on a chapter for a book and think I might post a rough first draft here for some added feedback. But then you all might be the only ones who read it if it gets published and that's sucky marketing. Actually it would be extra long for here, so we'll see.

- worked up a some theological vision thoughts on NYC that I'd like to share

- pictures. I've got some great ones, just have to get them to this blog.

If you are near, in or around any of the above locales in the next few weeks, give me a shout out through this blog, through email or through cell and we'll get together. I'd love to have at least one significant emerging church conversation at every stop.

Got it... don't got it

I don't know about you and your life of faith. I don't know how your journey has gone, but for me it's just sometimes the most bizarre thing. There are some things that you realize, believe and change you. You think you've got it figured out, you've experienced it and you've got it covered. You've "been there, done that". But then it hits you again and something you thought you had mastered, you quickly realize you have so much to learn, understand, experience.

For example, last Sunday Tim was talking about how everything we need as people we can get from God. But when we don't go to God to get it - love, affirmation, space, purpose, peace, etc. - then we begin to want to get it from other people and impose that on them, instead of just accepting them as they are in love. I know this. I've taught and preached this. But when I heard it on Sunday it was like God let me have ears to hear for the first time again.

It's a wonderful thing to be surprised by God and the things of God. It's great that we can't master them. But man it's goofy sometimes. Maybe no one else has experienced this, and in all likelihood I haven't communicated this very well, but I'd love to know if you're tracking on this at all.

There is No One Like You

So goes the lyrics to David Crowder Band’s song about God. It really is true. As we were worshipping with 1500 high school students at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University and we were singing those words, I realized how true that really is.

One hour before I had been having an in-depth theological conversation about the emerging church and post-modernity with some people who have been pretty modern and known as such for quite some time. God opened doors for the conversation and while nothing was “settled” it ended cordially with some potential for continued conversations.

Earlier that afternoon I met up with my roommate from my freshman year at Olivet, Chris Riggs. The stories he has on me (with the evidence to back it up) could probably put me in jail! It was so good to talk with him and hear how God is working in his life and ministry. Who’d a thought 14 years ago that either of us would be here, in ministry?

One hour after the service I found myself in a room full of youth workers leading a question and discussion time over the limits we put on ourselves, our ministries and God because we often stop hoping. It was a great discussion. Afterwards Dave and I met up with some folks and began a long discussion on the failure of youth ministry in our churches (50-88% of kids who graduate from our youth groups never return to church). What a great time to re-imagine where we might be heading. Great people, great conversation.

God, there truly is no one like you!

Something's a little fishy

This morning Meg and Jahred and I went to a kids fishing derby. It was a good time. There were a lot of people and some free stuff. It was our first time fishing this year. After many minutes of intense struggle and some fantastic coaching by her dad, Meg realed in three fish (all about 4 inches long), actually small mouth bass to be precise. Jahred went oh-for, but he did manage to lose two hooks and a bobber... and have an overall good time.

In other news, many of you know of my ties to the emerging church. Some MAJOR controversy, even garnering an ABC news report, came up recently over an article. You can read the article here and the see the news report here. It's really worth looking into!

Summer Institute

Well I wish I was in Minneapolis this week at the Summer Institute. Here are some pics. Doug is blogging a tiny bit on it and has some pics as well. I'll be anxious to hear more from folks as it unfolds. I'm just wishing I were there.

Tim my man...

Got an email from my good friend Tim today. I haven't talked to him in a while. It was good to "hear" from him. In his closing he signed it - Tim "Peter". I used to say that Tim was my Peter. He would drive me crazy some days (can you say broken van window - while moving - it was winter) and then he would make me think he was a great missionary. He brought people and cared about people. Nathan and Jacob for instance. Sean for another. So I'm giving this post as a shout out to Tim.

A little catch-up

I'm in St. Louis and have a few minutes tonight so I thought I'd do a grand catch up post... I planned on doing this yesterday, but wasn't able to so here it is today.

As promised here's a picture of our dog Foster, the Catahula...

Here is Jahred's Hummer that we made together for his "Drive to First Grade" at the end of the year... (Hey, if you gotta drive it might as well be in style!) Despite his multiple efforts and plans we managed to keep the guns off.


Here is a friend of our family, Nick DeVoss. You can read about him and his family. all amazing folks, at Carol's blog here.

Slowly out of hiding...

Some phrases that have stuck in my hiding. I'll be sharing them this week...

"Be kind. For everyone is undergoing a great battle." - Philo of Alexandria

Hiding Out?!?

Two weeks ago, Tim (our pastor) started talking about what it means to "hide" in Christ. He talked about how there are times and rhythms in our lives where God may be very well "hiding" us for a time. He used the examples of Christ - 30 years before any ministry that we know of - and Paul - around 14 years between his conversion and appearance before apostles in Jerusalem and his first missionary journey. It also appears that this season right after Easter is indeed a time, a rhythm of hiding in Christ, but we often want to "get going" this time in ministry. Tim's words have challenged me to hide out a bit - hence the rare posts on this blog and rare outputs other places as well.

I share this now, only as an invitation for others to join in this rhythm of hiding out for a while. Maybe this is not where God has you right now, so don't misunderstand me as trying to "hi-jack" what God is already doing in your life. However, you may be in that place where God is hiding you for a time and have struggled with the purpose behind it. I can give you no purpose, except to trust in the One who really knows.

AARRRGGHHH

I wrote this comment in a book margin a couple days ago, in a comment on a blog about that book and now here. Why?

I'm having some troubles retrieving and sending the photos from my phone. They are there and they are terrific, but can't seem to get them here. I'll continue to work on it... in the meantime in the long-standing spirit of evangelicals I'll share in words some things you can look forward to seeing.

- Spam truck - that's right - spam truck

- new dog - Foster

- Isaiah riding his bike with the handlebars backwards

Some day this confounded technology will be so easy to use, even I will figure it out... and I've done it too if it weren't for you medling kids!

Sunday morning

I'm making waffles with Isaiah this morning and have a little bit in between batches. Also standing next to me is our new dog, Foster. He's a catahoula, a kind of cattle dog. So far he's working out okay as we get used to each other. He's seems to be pretty smart.

We have some extra time to sleep in and play on Sunday mornings as Jacob's Well has gone to three servies. This is first week and we're heading to the 11am service! I know they'd appreciate any and all prayers as they navigate this change and what it means for future.

I finished the Da Vinci Code last night. Overall its an interesting book of drama and mystery, but not so intrigued by its religious and historical assumptions. Perhaps I'm just jaded towards such revelations in a novel. If its intrigued you in some ways, I wouldn't mind hearing about it because I'm trying to figure out the imagination capture on some of this.

A quick cruise through some blogs this morning tells me that:
- Josh and our crew are still working through Donovan's book. There are some great places we're going there and would love to have some others weigh in so feel free.
- If you want some great reading my friend Mark has an exerpt from his soon to be published book up. It's great. Check it out and give some feedback. Also on his blog are some more specifics on the "order" they are trying to live. I think there are some wonderful things here that some of us could mine as we engage all types of peoples in this journey.
- I'm digging on Tom's post still, although its a little old (hint, hint). But I'm always pro-Jesus!

power blog

Idaho - great - loved seeing and talking with Kipp and Sandy.
Ohio - great - loved seeing James, Tevis and my home-boy Jim.
Home - nothing like it. Brought gifts. Love my family.
Christianity Re-discovered - great conversation. Heating up with comments on twinkies, spam and child discipline!
Emerging - Tim Keel - good conversation. more later. Have in my hands McLaren's new book, "The Secret Message of Jesus" PRE-RELEASE!!! I'll be reading and commenting shortly. Also, have an extra copy to share with a friend - any creative bids?? :-)

Happy Trails

Lots of things happening so I'll report quickly...

1) Our book discussion on Christianity Redicovered is continuing and I think is starting to get interesting and should sharpen up. You can join us or be a squatter here.

2) My tour of the Northwest (okay only Boise and Nampa, Idaho) is coming to a close as I type this. It has been a good visit. I have never been to this part of the country and so I enjoyed being here, being with the people and seeing some friends - like Mike and Sandy Kipp and family - that I hadn't seen in quite a while.

3) Which means I'm off to Ohio. I hope to hook up with Jim, James and Tevis at the least. If I'm lucky, I'll wear my Michigan hat, talk emerging church stuff, start a bunch of fights and leave! Actually I just hope to join a party, give a few gifts, tell a bunch of stories and make some friends. So if you're out there, give me shout and we'll hook up later Monday night.

4) Confessions of the day...
- I just picked up the Da Vinci Code and hope to knock it out on these lovely long flights.
- Idaho is beautiful, but doubt I could live there.
- I miss my family.
- Quote of the day that I also own, "At this point I had to make the humiliating admission that I did not know what the gospel was." (Vincent Donovan, "Christianity Rediscovered" pg. 24)

Idaho and Ohio

I'm heading to Idaho on Thursday. I'll be in Nampa (near Boise). I've never been. I know I'll be meeting a few folks for some great conversations. I also know that there are some cool emergent bubblings coming from Idaho these days.

Then it's to Ohio and Mount Vernon. That's a short trip but probably will have some time Monday night to turkish leg wrestle or just enjoy a hot beverage and conversation (Tevis if you're out there...).

Control is an issue

God is really working on me lately about how much I like to be in "control". It's all an illusion I know and I know that I should turn things over to him and let go, but knowing it in my head and doing it in my heart are two different things. I'm learning that he is preparing the way if I can just let go enough to enjoy it and allow it. I don't know where this comes from, but it is quite obvious to me right now and I'm not sure how to wade through it.

God has been working as only he can - through conversations, light and heavy, with friends, close and far, and with his leanings, clear and murky.

One of the passages read today at midday is from Exodus 14. It tells the story of Moses stretching out his hand, the sea parting, the Israelites fleeing the Egyptians on dry land and the water crashing down on the Egyptian army. God the God of faithfulness and freedom.

God help me to trust you as the deliverer and the one who brings freedom.

Christianity re-discovered ch 2.

If you haven't jumped into our discussion yet, but are even slightly interested, let me encourage you to go for it. Even though we are in chapter 2 and heading to chapter 3 by Friday, the chapters are small and it is an easy catch-up. We're running it through Josh's blog... at the very least, link over and check it out.

Making Friends

Spent some time in St. Louis with some new friends, Xavier and Diane DeHoyos from the Texas Oklahoma Latin District. They were in STL to see the convention center and hotels and stuff for NYC. They are great people with huge hearts for kids and for the kingdom. It was great hanging out with them!

Also made some friends at the Mid-America Nazarene University - MAX event. It is another of the regional events for High School students and it was great to meet new friends, see old friends and share with people about the huge party I'm throwing next summer!

I'm also making some new friends through our book discussion group on Vincent Donovan's "Christianity Rediscovered" at Josh's blog. And there is a really interesting discussion at Jeff's blog about alliteration, preaching and how we are "saved". It's all pretty light stuff really:)

Beautiful day here so i'm heading out to play with the kids!!

Christianity Re-discovered - Intro

We're beginning our discussion today of Vincent Donovan's book "Christianity Rediscovered". You can join our comments here! It should be fun...

Trying to get fired...

Yesterday I went to a meeting. I went in trying to get fired. I was just going to say exactly what I thought was best and not really pay much mind to the fall out. So I did. I wasn't unkind or mean, but I was honest and wasn't afraid to tell the emperor that he had no clothes. And...

It was really well received. I told Carol when I got home, "God must really want us here, because today I tried to get fired and instead people loved it." Which means either I'm (a) going where God has gone before, or (b) getting really soft and am not controversial at all. I'm really hoping for option a, because if its b then "bummer". All this to say, where's my courage? I should have been saying these things all along with no fear. Not that I've been tip-toeing around trying not to get noticed. I just haven't been going to meetings and places where I could say those things.

God give me light to see where I should step and courage to open my mouth and the words to say when it opens.

Stations of the Cross

I grew up Protestant and all that goes with that. I don't begrudge that history of mine, but there I had to "discover" some of the great things of Christian church history and tradition as I've grown into my own faith. One of those practices is the "Stations of the Cross".

There are a couple that are particularly super on-line that I've stumbled upon. My friend Josh and his youth group put it up in the church for their church (great to see the youth leading the church to the cross, yes?!?). You can join them here. Be sure to scroll down and see them all.

Also of great value to me is Spencer Burke's "Stations" from the ooze. You can journey through them here.

Our church commissioned an adult and a youth/child to do a painting on each of the stations. They put them up around the church and had a guide to walk you through them. We did it as a family and it was great. To use a term Tim uses often, "the time was pregnant with God's presence". Here is a pic from one of the stations.

No matter if you do it online or at your church or somewhere else, I'd just recommend taking the time to do it, to pause and reflect at each one, to listen to what is being said to you, to stumble upon where you might be in the story and to find the question that is being asked of you and your life at this time.

I think the question coming to me again and again is, "who is your neighbor?" Interestingly there is a great post on Mark's blog that tells a story and in its own way, begs this question.

Spring time is here

Thunderstorms are rolling through the Kansas plains, baseball has started (anybody been to a game yet?), the weather is warming, I worked in my yard... and Easter is coming up.

I love Easter. I haven't always. I used to wonder why it was really that special. I knew about Easter. I knew the story. But I didn't really get it. Then I started reading about Jesus, his culture, his ways. I was blown away by all that was really going on at Easter, grasped by the Jewish festivals and their meaning and the ways they told the bigger story. Easter became more than just chocolate, dress-up clothes and church services. Easter became a movement to me. I hope Easter is moving you too these days.

If you don't know much about Easter, or if it bores you, or if you think its only about big breakfasts (Yeah Steelmans from Bel Air... you do a really good big breakfast!), then let me encourage you to research a little bit on the Passover, the Festival of Wheat, the Festival of First Fruits. Let me encourage you to connect one story to your story to the bigger story.

If this has intrigued you a bit and you'd like to hear more... let me know. Maybe I'll do a week long Easter week post blogoseries.

The Life of a Nazarene youth pastor

This article is just awesome! The only thing better is the whole site. If you are a youth worker, were a youth worker, or have thought about it... this is for you!

It all comes back to me...

In a bit of an odd turn of events, I have been recently been united with some great friends!

First, Tiz got in touch with me through this blog of all places. Weird, I know. Mike and I have spent many a night trying to fish amidst thunder, lightning, hail and tornados and many a day on the golf course chasing my shots all over God's green earth (and sandy earth and watery earth, etc). Oh, and we also worked together for years.

Next, I got to meet up with Josh and Andy B. We went to college together and sometimes maybe went to class. We often were found in fine hang-outs like Bray's, Donut Land, and "the moon". (our favorite Bray's waiter = Billie - she was great!)

Its been truly wonderful to visit with them, catch up a bit, and tell stories. How great!

God is good!

What is Gospel... continued

To add a bit to some of the conversation yesterday on "What is the Gospel?" I heard this question first formally proposed through some people with the Gospel and Our Culture Network. These are really great people up to really great things. The root of the question comes from the missiologist, Lesslie Newbigin.

All of this to ask again (and perhaps again, until I get some response) what is the gospel?

I'm in Nashvegas this weekend and had a great conversation with a new friend, Levi. God is great about bringing people my way to talk about these kinds of things and how it might be possible to ask these kinds of questions and still be a Nazarene.

Some hard questions

I picked this up on Andrew Jones blog... this is a blog with some questions about youth ministry that are right where a lot of us are. We should weigh in with good and well articulated thoughts.

He also links to another discussion near and dear to my heart and really the beginning question on my journey to make me the "way I am", for those who have been wondering where it all started: "what is the gospel?" I'd be interested in some beginning discussions and first wave responses to this question here as well.

Let's Read!

One of Balitmore City's mottos was: "Baltimore: the city that reads!" Perhaps my blog and its readers should be "the bloggers that read"... or not.

I'm inviting you all to join me and few others in reading a book called, "Christianity Rediscovered", by Vincent Donovan. You can pick it up here.

In other totally unrelated news, I am in Nashville for a few days and if anyone would like to get together, give a holla!

Your results:

You are Superman
My friend Jeff got me onto this... quite entertaining. I always thought of myself as more Batman. But hey, Superman is way more popular and gets way more pub. When I started this I was excited to see what I'd be, but the question "do you wear a push-up bra" got me worried that I'd come out as Wonder Woman or Bat-girl. This would not have been good for the self-esteem. So try it out and good luck at your super hero future.

Superman 75% Spider-Man 65% The Flash 65% Iron Man 60% Hulk 55% Green Lantern 55% Robin 53% Supergirl 43% Catwoman 40% Batman 30% Wonder Woman 28%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Hoops, hoops and more hoops

I felt some obligation to blog on the event that many of us are spending time on (and plus I didn't want my last post of the day to be the big whine [see last post for details]).

The always present "they" say that companies have lost $3.8 billion of work from people to the NCAA tournament. I myself would never stoop so low as to proudly predict Villanova as the champion or state to my colleagues that the "cream always rises to the top" for the "Fighting Amish". I'm much too ethical for that.

By the way if you picked Bradley beyond round 2 and can prove it, let me know with proof and I'll give you mad props here. If you are one of the few who don't know or don't care about this at all I'd love to hear from you and your perspective on this oddity in our country for three weeks.

Speaking of tournament choices, I couldn't help but think of my friend Tiz who I talked to today as I was filling out my bracket. Tiz and Chris and I would always do this together in High School. Chris and I always ditched school on the tournament days and would roll back to his house and watch about 10 straight hours of hoops for 4 straight days and eat his dad's dynamite chilli that was just constantly simmering on the stove. Those were great days. I'm pretty sure that's a small piece of heaven right there.

What's wrong with me?

I know, I know, you all have answers to that question...

The doctor (you know the people with lots of education who regularly diagnose what's wrong with people and get paid lots of money for it) has figured out that I have an infection. To put it in technical medical terms, the antibiotic that I took when my wisdom tooth was pulled, cleaned out all the bacteria in my system except one... who was left to run wild, throw parties and do whatever he pleased. This apparently is not good for the body. (I know that might be a bit technical, but I hope you understand).

So worry no more, world. I am now on more drugs that should fix me right up... I hope.

Out of the mouths of babes

We were doing our weekly family lent time together and sharing things to pray for. Meg pipes up, "we should pray for kids who are slaves and aren't treated well." Her class at church had a visitor a month ago who had just returned from India where she had been a part of a relief effort there. The visitor shared with Meg's class about the children who are in prison, who are left behind, who are slaves. It has really stuck with Meg.

Meg says, "Dad, when I get money for my birthday, I'm going to use some of it to buy a kid or two and set them free." Jahred jumped in, "maybe my seven dollars could buy a slave to set free."

In that moment I saw and heard the heartbeat of Jesus in such a beautiful, faithful, and simple way.

God make our hearts, your heart.

We're going to do something. And our children shall lead us.

Check this out... a catch-up post

A short attempt at a lot of information:
1) Still sick - really tired of it. Believe me, those are all the details you could want.

2) Meg and Jahred spent some time pre-St. Patrick's Day talking about leprecaun's in school. Jahred made a sweet leprecaun trap and here is Meg's sign (remember that leprecauns only do the opposite of what they're told.

3) Last week the family were on spring break. They went to Carol's sister's and to my parents. Here are a couple of my favorite pics from the trip they brought home:

4) Carol is posting again! Check it out here.

5) I was in Boston for Eastern Nazarene College's Festival of Life. It was great to see people (Kevin Snow, Josh Kleinfeld, Brian Hancock and all my Bel Air peoples, and so many more friends). I only wished we had longer. Also met some new friends (Adam) and had some great conversations with Doug Moister. Here are a few pics from my trip.

A Wilderness all my own

I've been sick. very sick. Since Wednesday night. Just now getting some good food in me. Just in time for my family to leave this morning to spend time for the kids spring break with family. They're hitting Carol's sisters and family in Indiana, dropping by my brother Steve and his family in Indy, and also spending a few days in Michigan with my folks.

The reason I'm not with them (other than my illness of death that I wouldn't wish on anyone living or dead) is that I'm heading to ENC this week for their regional Festival of Life event. [if anyone cares, that was probably a cool name for it when it started, then it was lame, but now its oddly really quite appropriate and cool again].

So I'm the wilderness of sorts. I found something great in the midst of it too. Check it out here. It's always good to share what you're given, so I hope it helps someone else out there too in some way!

Welcome to youth ministry...

Had our good friend Jonathan Tullis over for dinner tonight. Great guy! He was in our youth group when we worked at KC 1st. It was great to laugh a bit over old stories, watch him interact with my kids and just catch up on life. It was just good to be together.

In other unrelated news - Nate from H-town, MD reports that fried twinkes are D-liscious. Can anyone else back that up?

I've not tried them, but as a general rule believe that frying things makes them better. But frying a twinkie is like taking something that has absolutely no nutritional value and putting it through a process that sucks out all the nutritional value... so that's like a double negative and I think the universe might implode on itself or something if this happens too often. Or worse, twinkies would cease to exist.

I'm hoping for quick responses because I might not be able to sleep tonight with worry.

Lenten Worship in the Hull house

As a family we aspire to live what we call a "prophetic life". A life that is truly seeking the best kind of life for us and for the world around us. For us that means a Christian, missional and sustainable way of life. We believe that there are some rhythms to a year, a week and even a day that are really helpful in living this kind of life. Now, I could go on and on about more of this, but let me pause here to talk about only one of those rhythms: the season of Lent.

Many know of Lent because "you give something up", as a friend of mine recently shrugged. But for us and for other Christians for thousands of years, its about preparing your heart for Christ, opening up to what he might have for you, spending extra time listening to what he might be saying. The rhythm of fasting is one where you let go of something (preferrably something that you do often or has some control in your life) and in lent for us it is also a time of picking something up (like a new discipline of prayer). This is all in efforts to draw our hearts closer to the heart of Christ.

For our family we decided together that we would give up TV one day a week specifically and replace it that day with a time of family worship with songs, readings and a Scripture story. Today was our first day (every Monday from now till Easter). We put down TV and picked up family worship for a time. We loved it! We did our little service complete with dad strumming the ol' Gibson, Meg helping to lead singing, mom praying, Jahred doing the powerpoint, and Kate and Isaiah playing special roles in the reading and then we topped it all off with some coloring! Dynamite!

I don't share this to make you like us more, to dislike us more or to "show you how its done" (that's why we have Pat Roberston on tv so often!), but just to tell you something about our lives.

Mmmmm... Twinkies

Happy Birthday Isaiah and Meg!

We just celebrated Isaiah's 3rd birthday this month and Meg's 8th. Great fun! For Meg's we went to St. Louis and to the City Museum (highly recommended for anyone in the city). For Isaiah's we went to his favorite place in the whole world... Chuck E. Cheese (which we also call "Kiddie Vegas"). You'll pick up on his birthday theme by the pic below!

Cuz friends are friends forever...

No I'm not on drugs. No I will not ever use those words on purpose again.

A good friend stopped by my office today, Wes Buchanan. Wes's dad and I were on staff together in Bel Air when I first started there. Great family. Great guy. He seems to be doing well. We seem to share some kind of connection for not a ton of time spent together. This should make many of you worry for Wes.

Then my good friends from the Mid-Atlantic district are kickin' their Festival of Life this weekend. I'm missing them and the event. B-heezy Hancock is taking it to new levels this year. I think our friend Josh should be blogging it (hopefully with pics). [this is one of those times where you say something and hope it comes true]. Its at his church and all.

Thought Stuck

I have this concept stuck in my head that is either of Jesus or something else, because it won't go away. In walking and talking with my friend Mark a couple weeks ago, he brought up his efforts in discipling those around him. He is taking a couple guys with him wherever he goes whenever he can. Mark speaks a lot, so this means that he takes them with him on his trips. For one it is a commitment to not being alone. It is also a commitment to share experiences and life in the way of Jesus. This is life in the mold of Jesus and Paul. Find a disciple (or two or twelve) and take them with you into life. On your dime. What would this look like for more of us?

Fantastic Reading

I stumbled upon a great book that I had read a while ago. It is Doug Paggit's book, "re-imagining preaching". In it he argues for less "speaching" and more progressional dialogue. I really love this concept from beginning to end. One reason is that I know Doug practices this every week. Another is that I think we've got to find ways to re-think (re-imagine?) how we share the story.

The easy part is agreeing with the model. The hard part is making this happen on a regular basis where we live. The harder part is transitioning a community to understanding the heart of this kind of progressional dialogue (not to ruin the book, but you do have to assume that everyone has something to offer). The hardest part may be figuring out how to do this with 10,000 teenagers in week long event.

This kind of thinking leads us to a place where we must confront the question: what is community really? It is obviously more than just being in the same place. It is also more than being in the same room as some other good things are going on. It definitely requires time and energy in listening to one another. It definitely isn't easy. It challenges the notion that we should listen to someone just because they have a title. It challenges the notion that a leader can be someone that we do not know personally.

I wonder if any of you have read the book? I also wonder in what ways some of us have tried some of this progressional dialogue.

I'm not good at...

- being on drugs
- sitting for two days straight
- being alone
- singing or dancing
- all of the above after wisdom teeth removal

My wife has some good "Brian-on-drugs" stories but I can't really remember any of them. Most of them involve my apparent lack of memory while on drugs.

Taking the mouth to the Garage

Wisdom teeth out tomorrow. If this is my last post ever because I die or they accidentally to a frontal labotomy, I want to thank you all for hanging here from time to time.

If it's not the end for me... there could be some really interesting drugged up posts coming tomorrow. Stay tuned

Last week...

Some good times last week. I was in San Jose and spent a lot of evenings in San Francisco making friends, telling stories, trying to throw parties and trying to give gifts. I think perhaps eating well should be added to this list. I definitely ate well.

Highlights:
- Learning to juggle
- New friends like Tic and Holli
- Spending time with friends like Dave, Danilo, Sandrine, Katy and Mark and his family
- walking San Fran with Mark just talking a lot and seeing the city, hanging out, getting great coffee, etc.
- winning some cool stuff like a portable DVD player, dig camera and a digiradoo

Lowlights:
- 8th grade magic show
- Ben Vereen live (to his credit or mine I only saw about half a song)
- being away from my awesome family

Just wanted to share a little of my week.

Steelers are the World Champions!

In case you've been hiding underground for fear of nuclear fallout because you live in California and think that the West Wing is really the news... The Pittsburgh Steelers have won the Super Bowl and are the World Champions! They soundly defeated the Seattle Seahawks (did anyone really think a team with teal as an official team color could win the Super Bowl?). I will give extra praise to my main man, Hines Ward, who has oftentimes been underrated, under paid and undervalued by the press and others. Hines Ward plays like a football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers should play, with toughness, grit, hard work, no whining, and lots of smiles.

But off in the distance is the sound that kills me. If you've ever seen the Lord of the Rings and watched the flying Ringwaiths, you know how people react to their screams. They fall down, cover their ears and act as though someone has pushed an ice pick in their temple. The results are the same for me when I get around whining. So I've pulled myself up off the floor, uncovered my ears so that I could type this and have decided to share with you Seahawks fans a very well written article. Seahawk fans in case you didn't see it. Behind you is your chance to win the Super Bowl this century. Ahead of you the opportunity to quit whining and join a true football team worth rooting for, the Steelers.

USA Today Story

Okay so the last post was a little over the top. Yesterday there was a really interesting article, not having to do with football at all. You should read this article for an interesting perspective on film and Evangelical Christians. It raises the question of the heart of Christianity. Is it spirituality or redemption?

A GREAT story!!!

In the course of a lifetime few things are truly world changing and worthy of global attention. This article highlights one such event! I am happy to share this with you today and to gloat in my self-rightness.

Another post to check out...

This is a great post from Mark Scandrette, done in a very helpful way that relates largely to what we have been discussing. Check it out!

Let's Push this conversation further...

We've been talking and commenting quite a bit on the homosexuality issue here of late. It all started with an article from Brian McLaren, a hilarious response from Mark Driscoll and then the following explosion of people's responses to all of that (including ours here).

Allow me to push our conversation along even more. It's been brought out that homosexuality is a huge issue in our culture and especially in our church. What's a God honoring and loving response to homosexuality? Is homosexuality part of the best way of life? These and other questions are all valid and are part of what drives the conversation we're in here.

But I would push this issue to an even larger scale. Our culture has questions not just about homosexuality, but about sexuality as a whole. What is a healthy view of humanity and sexuality? What is a biblical view? A Christian view? How do we live this out? How do we teach/share this life (with focus in particular on language)?

I believe our answers to these questions help us formulate better our responses to anyone who has questions in regards to sexuality and homosexuality. Let's start by grabbing one or two of the questions above and working through them. I'd love to hear others thoughts.

Pulled out of Silence!

It took an old friend who knows me well, or maybe just an opportunity to boast, but here is my short rant on football Americano!!!

My team, my favorite team, the team I've been cheering on since elementary school, is in the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh Steelers, the greatest team ever, is going to win their 5th Super Bowl on Sunday. I think it will be a pretty good game, but I just love their chances in this game. 10 years ago I thought they had an outside chance to win the Super Bowl against the Cowboys, but a lot had to go right. This time, I'm far more confident. I cannot possibly express how excited and nervous I am about the game. I've kinda put it in the back of my mind for the last week because of the OVER coverage of the game, but it's just building up and building up and I'm getting giddy!

I'm including a post of the great and underrated wide receiver for the Steelers Hines Ward! Tizz you rock. (Comment on this and tell me how to get to your blog or shoot you an email.)

Blog Drama

A lot of blog drama centered on Mark Driscoll's response to Brian McLaren. The latest updates are here. All in all, most people taking the issue and themselves too seriously. If you check the latest from McLaren make sure to scroll down and sort through the comments to find Driscoll's apology and question.

I have a friend who is on a drama fast. If there is any drama in it, then its gone. Tv shows. People. Music. Whatever. If it has drama its gone. That's how I'm feeling about this issue that's developed on the blog. I like the midrash on issues (which Driscoll is the king of - he just takes one side and loves to argue it). But I don't like the name calling, rash generalizations, assupmtions and unkind words. Good thing people who actually read this blog aren't like that (thanks both of you!).

Driscoll is hilarious!

Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle has entered the blogosphere and its hilarious!

Check out his comments to Brian McLaren here. I'd be interested in thougths on the homosexuality issue from my amigos!

Ruth and Boaz: 2

Here is another installment of the Ruth and Boaz thoughts I've been having. Mostly questions that this story has raised for me. I'm loving the dialogue that is coming out of this story from some of you. Let's keep it going. If you're new to the story check it out in the Bible. It's a short book from the tanakh (Old Testament), entitled Ruth.

Question:
- I find myself wondering how much of Boaz's compassion and ultimately his risk for Ruth comes from his own family. His own mother was Rahab (for more on her story check out Joshua 2 and 6).

- Do I remember my own story and what I've been "saved" from? What about my family's (using family loosely here) story?

- It's interesting that throughout Scriptures when God's people seem to go astray from his will and way it is tied closely to the loss of one generation telling the next generation the stories of God's faithfulness, holiness and love. A friend of mine contends that no one within the "established church" could be a true follower of Christ trying to live in his ways and bring his light. I wonder if it's even possible to keep the story alive and real and close to our hearts when we are part of an established system/organization? I also wonder if we've lost the story altogether - or at least the true meaining of the story, not a corrupted one?

- To drive that further - does my community/family ever really tell the story? Do we bother to "connect the dots" of the story throughout Scripture and history?

E2

Well, here she is... the new van! We are very excited to have it! For now the name remains Elizabeth 2. I'm calling it E2 and am trying hard to change it to something that reflects its true color: red. (as we are fond of saying, "they didn't leave any of the red out") However I am in the extreme minority and ultimately I can call it what I want and the kids just look at me like, "Oh, you poor old man. Isn't it nice that he's still trying to change the name of the van when we all really know the true name. I hope he comes around or his memory gets better."

One of my favorites...

Just weeding out some of my favorites folder and re-stumbled upon a great site www.howstuffworks.com. If you haven't checked it out you should. There is tons of fun to be had for info geeks like me. Want to know how a machine gun works, how about a two-stroke engine, or maybe the cell phone in your hand? It's all there.

I think this is one of the things about us emerging types. We have this constant quest and thirst for knowledge. NPR is a favorite among many. I wonder though how often we miss the humility of the quest of wisdom in search of knowledge and mastery. I know that the quest to master is a modern thought and passion, but I often think that the questions that drive us to true wisdom are easily corrupted by laziness and pride. At least I've found that to be a trap for me. Perhaps that's just my modern heritage bubbling up as it does from time to time.

Ruth and Boaz- pt. 1

I'm sure I've written bits and pieces on this before, but I'm going to start some more specific thoughts on this story that has grabbed my by the lapels and pulled me close over the last 4-5 months. I'd love for people to offer questions, doubts, struggles, fears and "Brian that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard"'s. It would be great for conversational purposes if you wanted to read the book of Ruth found in the Bible.

Observation #1: Ruth chooses to stay with Naomi and go with Naomi back to here people. She even goes on to say, "Your people will be my people and your God will be my God."

Questions: What in Naomi's people made Ruth WANT to say, "your people will be my people" (Ruth was a different nationality)? What was in their story that made her want to be a part of it? What about Naomi's God made Ruth WANT to say, "your God my God"?

What in my life and my people would make people want to be a part of us?

What have I and do I reveal about my God that would make people want to know him? Claim him?

I believe that most of people's questions of spirituality and faith are questions of trust. "Can I trust him? Can I trust what he's saying? That he has my best interest at heart and not his own?" Am I trustworthy enough for anyone to want to follow me, listen to me, trust me?

Name that Van!

Now's your chance for a little input into what we name our new van. I'll add a pic tomorrow of the fine new wheels. A few notes on it... it's a Volkswagen Eurovan... it's Tornado Red (yes just as red as it sounds... although not too sure about the redness of tornados). I think our kids are leaning towards "Elizabeth 2" (Elizabeth of course being the name of our old van). Other suggestions have been: fireball; General Grievous; coo-coo-cooky-pants; pinnoccio; and some others that I don't know how to spell.

Pathetic!!!

How pathetic have I become? How middle aged? How middle America? Well let me tell you my friend. Today I'm excited about buying new luggage. That's right, I'm actually excited to purchase things that hold my clothes while I travel amongst strangers in a small cylinded that is rocket propelled into the sky for periods of time before gravity wins and we all return to earth and then go our merry ways.

How do people not love me?

Friends...

After being home and seeing some friends and not seeing others, it just made me realize how much I miss some of my friends. Not trying to be overly mopey or throw any pity parties, just trying to be real and transparent. I miss my friends a lot. Feeling a bit lonely. Not trying to guilt anyone into commenting or calling either, just being real here. But if you're feeling guilty... just kidding.

In all seriousness, I'm glad that the people are in our lives are in our lives. You all make us the best of who we are. Happy New Year!

Now I know why...

I'm in San Diego right now. Never been to San Diego before. It's January and it's 75 and sunny. It's beautiful here. For those of you who may be reading this from some location other than San Diego... well, I'm sorry you are not here, but I'm not sorry that I'm not there.

Enough bragging. I'll post more later about my long break [parent's house - no internet:-(]. A few quick highlights and lowlights:
Highlights:
1. Kids at Christmas. Enough said.
2. San Diego.
3. Seeing family.
4. Rest.

Lowlights:
1. Not seeing or speaking to my good friend and fellow Jedi Knight - David Rebello while he was in the states. So sorry I missed you Dave. Twice. Totally my bad.
2. Much travel.
3. Leaving San Diego (which I haven't actually done yet, but imagine will have to at some time).
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Hope all of you are starting the new year in other excellent and noteworthy ways!

Peace and Hope

A couple posts ago I talked a bit about the story within the story of Christmas (political and revolutionary!) and that sparked quite a few comments... so while I may regret this later I wanted to do another post on this to continue the conversation and invite others to join who haven't been reading those comments (see "story within a story").

The way I understand peace and hope in this world is this... sure people are going to screw it up. We are people and selfish after all. I'll even admit that I'm oftentimes the one who screws it up (the sooner we all realize that the world centers around me, the better off we'd all be!). But the fact that people will screw it up, that they will take advantage of peace, that they will at times violently try to supress and contain those who are after peace, should not control me or my hopes that a day will come when shalom, peace can exist. Jesus himself lived this way, hoping and living for peace and love... and yes it got him killed. But the promise beyond that death of a kingdom and a "life to the full" are built on peace and the hope of peace (see the tanakh, that's the Old Testament you Protestants).

I'm not saying that we should run around playing the matyr, but I wonder if we too often sacrifice our hope for our pride, our vision and dreams for control? Is it too much to ask really that we live as people of peace, trusting others and committing to the long-term of relationships? Assuming the best of others instead of dreading for the day when the worst will come? Perhaps I'm naive. Perhaps I'm an ingoramous. (okay not such a stretch) But why not live this way and not allow others to take it away from us?

I have much work to do to make this happen starting at home with my own family and on out into the world in which I live. I'm gonna try though. I'm gonna keep on trying. You've got to hope in something, why not peace? Shalom to you all!

Christmas Music

Those who know me, know that I'm not a huge Christmas music fan. I don't hate it. I just think it has a place.

I used to work at a radio station that played Christmas music ONLY from Thanksgiving through New Year's. This kind of exposure is bad for you. It makes you want to stab yourself in the ears.

My other thing with Christmas music is, why is there so little new Christmas music? Is the best we can do really just those 15 or so songs? Do we really need another version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"? Do we ever need to say "ye" again? And don't get me started about the time I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus...

Well to make my Christmas music naseau complete, we were at a very nice luncheon this week sponsored by Nazarene Publishing House. Many thanks and props to them for a nice dinner, for getting people together and for trying to show they care. After dinner though they "treated" us with their newest and top selling Christmas cantata. Did I mention it was a Southern Gospel musical? Thankfully the wait staff had cleared the forks and knives off the table so I couldn't hurt myself. Urgh! Many people thought it was wonderful. I simply did not find it to be my element or in anyway really redeemable.

It came complete with a choir that looked cultishly locked on their leader - scripted smiles, tears of blessing and handraising abounded. Then the two soloist ladies had on dresses that were... well let me describe. One was so shiny and sequened I found myself being mesmerized and drawn to it like a Mosquito to a bug light. The other looked like a cocktail dress from the 80's complete with shiny teel fabric.

And just when I texted my friend sitting next to me "I feel an altar call coming on", the leader stood up and proclaimed, "this would be the spot where we would normally do an altar call..." he hesitated as though thinking of doing one there and then and then I felt many gazes shift to the underdressed publishing house warehouse workers at the table next to mine. I almost cried. Thankfully he moved on into another kind of speech about understanding us and our problems and our "tiredness".

That was truly a classic nightmare come to life.

The story in the story

We've been talking at church about the "Christmas songs" in Luke. Last week we talked about the angels song to the shepherds. There is this part before the song at the beginning of the passage that reads simply "in the time of Caesar Augustus..."

This is the same Augustus whose quotes include that he was "god in flesh on earth". He also referred to himself as "son of god". He was also referred to as the "turning point of salvation" because he was going to save the world by bringing peace to everyone (except he was going to bring peace by his army and killing anyone in his way). They even coined (literally put it on their coins) the phrase, "Salvation is found in none other than Caesar" and "Caesar is Lord".

In the midst of this time the angels say to the shepherds, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." The glory goes to God not Caesar. Peace comes from God, not Caesar. Hmmmm... It's quite a political statement.

This also begs the question - what do we turn to now for peace? hope? Who or what do we hear claiming to be our salvation? Who or what do we turn to for peace?

Bitter-Sweet

A few updates from the silence...
- REALLY tough day yesterday... enough said

- recently decided that I'm Sweet enough and we'll be moving on to another book or something soon. I'd love any suggestions for a focused reading and/or discussion from time to time.

- An incredibly great conversation recently involving Dave, myself and several leaders from our seminary faculty and a few others about the emergent church and how they as a seminary/denomination might be ideally placed in time to be a Boaz to many people who are in the church but can't keep on doing church the same way. It was truly a God thing that brought the convesation together so quickly and truly God was in the conversation. Good people. Perhaps this is all "for such a time as this". I thank God for the chance to be a part of the conversation and for the opportunities he's given me.

You Might Be Emergent If...

This blog post is awesome and you have to check it out. I know nothing of who this is... but awesome none the less.

Sweet Ch. 5 - Big Ears

Big ears huh? I wonder if the amount of wax you have is dependent on the size of your ear? And if so, who or what represents the wax? But I digress already...

There seems to be quite a bit of repition in this book and it seems to be pretty herky-jerky - probably not unlike my blog - but no one pays to see my blog.

GREAT THOUGHTS
1. Is actually point 3 in his list of learning a living - "When I was learned, knowledge was everything. Now that I'm a learner, kindness is everything." This just echoes that relationships and valuing people are the key compenents to life period. People aren't going to share with you or listen to what you have to share if you don't value them or care for them.

2. The components of a hearing aid - decompression chamber, selective hearing, self cleaning, hearing partners and play. I appreciated these and thought that they pretty much tell the story of the book in a much shorter and more concise way.

QUESTIONS I HAVE
1. If change is our only constant in an organic world, then how do we train ourselves and others to be ready and adapatble to change? How do we train ourselves to have effective filters to sift through all the information, sounds, noises, images and stories to find where God is moving and where its just hocus pocus?

2. Does anyone else have the feeling that Shackleton would have just been a complete jerk in any setting other than survival?

3. How do I find my voice in the midst of all the voices? How do I find God's? (and no I don't think those are the same)

4. If leadership is primarily about listenting, then why does it seem that a leader must speak to begin transformation?

5. How come I can't see Matthew Broderick as anything but Ferris Bueller after all these years?

Fish and chips

Grilling Salmon tonight. Going well. Salmon done. Moving from grill to plate, and then... OH! Salmon down! Salmon down!

One piece fell into our box of wood we keep on the back porch for our fireplace. bummer. I reach into the box to get the piece of fish out and - did I mention that the fish just came off the grill? - ouch!! Fish falls into pieces, I begin to Christian cuss, burning my hand, finally getting fish back onto grill. That piece of fish was covered with bark and wood chips. A real fish and chips.

Then Carol sticks her head out the door and says... "I saw that." How do you not love being married?

Sweet Ch. 4 - Surround Sound

Things I liked:
1. A leaders job is to involve people in a mission that will change their life and the world. - That's just good.
2. and to go with it - Everyone has a mission and can make a difference.
3. Mission needs to be related in narrative form. - praise God for those who get this. We need to go somewhere, not just hear three thoughts from you that float in space forever.

Questions I have:
1. Why can we not get away from the business world in our stories and dreams of vision? Are we that similar? Is the church and the Fortune 500 company really going the same places, needing the same leaders?

2. If we were to use metaphors as part of our narrative, and the leader is a gardener cultivating growth and health, letting each plant grow in its time and way, bringing what it was created to bring to the garden, then could we also say that the best leaders are those who let others lead the group to places that they themselves would not have gone and in ways that they themselves would not have gotten there? What if a leader spent more time releasing others than controlling them? If this is the case, then how do I as a leader spend more time painting the picture of what I believe in people and where we could go, instead of logistics and direction?

3. The title of the chapter is surround sound... how do we surround ourselves with people who we can trust, who can trust us and who can survive in community?

4. Does every great leader have to suck at home? I understand that many people who don't have a mission seem to falter, because what makes them great is their mission, but what about just being a person. Why can't that bring us infinite value? Is it too much to ask a leader to be a whole person?

5. Why can't I perfect the breakdancing move "the head spin"?

Europe 2006 looks good

I'll never be able to go... but if you can check this out. "Calling All Nations" is in Berlin in July next year. Andrew Jones posts on it and it looks good. If my name were David Rebello I'd be there!

Darth Pilgrim?

I'm not saying anything conclusively and I don't want to alarm any Star Wars fanatics... but I'm finding a striking resemblence here. I'm not trying to wreck anybody's dreams, so no hate mail please... just a brief observation. You form your own opinions.

What I do know is that the one on the left is for sure my son Jahred who is 6 and did a great job with his line in the kindergarten pow-wow last week! I have the best family.

Sweet ch. 3 - I Hear You

I liked this chapter much better than the last. Not just because I agreed with more, but because it was easier to read as well.

Here's the 3 main things for me:
1. Hiring the right person - let's not pretend that what we hire someone to do they actually end up doing. In fact the same can be said for anything you journey with someone on. You may have some ideas about the road ahead, but it's incredibly arrogant to believe you've forseen all the missteps, dangers and adjustments that need to be made. Finding the right person who can adapt and be a part of the whole group of you and be adaptable to the things that come up has to be far more important.

2. Taking risks - This is huge to me because I'm largely a coward in my own eyes. One of the things that the Lord of the Rings (I know a tad overused story) taught me is that nothing is as bad as it may at first seem. As bad as things seemed like they were going to get, there is always a way through somehow. But you're not going to see it until you get there. The risks we take in doing what is right are enormous. Most of the risks are ones we dont' want to face, like relational conflict. But doing what's right is far more important than feeling good about a falseness for a while. I also believe that we've taught an entire generation or more of people that failure is worse than not trying at all. So many of us operate mostly out of fear and not out of dreams. We make choices based not on what we really believe in and want to see happen, but on what if it doesn't work and I fail and look foolish? How can we teach ourselves and others that being faithful to what we're called to is the greatest success, even if it means falling down?

3. Relationships - this is by far the most important piece in all of this to me. No matter who you are and no matter what you've done, if you don't have relationship with people, then you aren't really going anywhere. This is my mantra for life and ministry. Relationships, relationships, relationships. (All my Bel Air youth workers are groaning somewhere because they heard it so much! Right now as I write this they probably have a little twitch starting up and they don't even know why.)

Jesus modeled this for us in the incarnation. If we are following Jesus, living life in his way, then this has to be the vital piece of the puzzle.

Oops!

Have not been able to post the last couple days due to some internet issues (I'm on the road again ... should be a song!).

In other "oops!" news I guess I didn't add a link to the Scrandrette post. So here it is...

Summoned to Lead Ch. 2

Yes. I'm a tad late on this post. Two days to be exact. My bad.

Annoyed a bit

I get the point of his metaphor - hearing is what leadership is about, not vision. Got it. All the examples he uses are all well and good, but not only do they beat the point to death, I also feel like they are examples that quickly could fall apart. For example, submarines may not have windows and so "hear" their way through, but they would have windows if they could see well enough or wouldn't compromise the structure of a ship, not just cause its better. Vision is important too. Let's not throw it all away.

Liked it
I really enjoy his emphasis on not just doing lots of stuff, but stopping, listening and responding to what we see. He uses this example of da Vinci and that he probably only did 30 paintings (of which we have maybe half). There is much to be said for that. Sometimes I think I get so caught up in hearing that others are doing things, thinking about things, writing things, preaching things, etc, that I feel like I should be too. Let's focus on catching the wave that God has sent our way and riding that out and then going back out and finding another one. I wonder if there is a rhythm to following God and living in the way of Jesus?

Missed it
I saw the heading "hearing heart" and thought for sure he'd bring up Solomon and his request not for wisdom, but for a hearing heart. But he swung and missed mightily on that one. I can only hope that he'll hit it later and that he's saving it. Or that he's reading this blog now and making the adjustments to the second edition. [If you are, Mr. Sweet, I've actually met you and enjoyed a "black eye" with you at Starbucks in Indianapolis.]

I Think I'm b-flat too
Cool point that everything makes sound. Black hole is B-flat 57 octaves below middle C.

Love It!
I really love the "and God sang" instead of "and God said". What an awesome picture to me! How great to think of the God of the universe YHVH, actually singing us into existence, creating in a new way!!! That so connects with the way music as a whole can take us places we've never been, can cross time and space, can go to levels of the spirit and heart that nothing else can seem to touch or name. And it explains why music is so important to the spirit of life.

Shawshank Redemption has a great part that brings this out. When they find a record of these two Italian women singin opera and they lock themselves in and play it over the loudspeakers for only a few minutes, one of the prisoners (Morgan Freeman) remarks, "We didn't really know what they were singing, but then it didn't really matter."

Encouraged
I'm encouraged by this book to stop and step back more. To listen more and not just do because I feel inadequate or unworthy or like everyone is watching. My ears hear a different song and I need to dance to that one. Even the rests.

Perhaps its the stuff we've been going through, or perhaps something I ate, but I think taking a step back and gaining perspective is SO IMPORTANT. Sorry God for all the times I rush on into foolish behavior and decisions, when I should just listen.

Darth Vader Lives in my House

Jahred got some money for his birthday that he socked away for a big purchase. Here is part of the purchase...

It has a voice changer - when you talk into the mask you sound like Darth Vader. Awesome! My head won't fit in it unfortunately. I'm not sure why Darth Vader is cool though. I wonder if I should be worried??? When I was a kid I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Jahred also has started liking the song "Mr. Roboto" quite a bit. Hmmmm.

Jahred was so excited. When he got home from the store he put it on right away and walked around showing the family, saying, "Hey! It's really just me, Jahred!," so he wouldn't scare anyone. Kids are awesome.

Teacher? Teaching?

Mark Scandrette has a great post on what it means to be a teacher and also what it means to be a follower of Jesus here. You really should check it out. I love his picture too it is classic.

I've posted before on some of this, but I really do feel that following life (not just words coming out of the mouth) is the best and real teaching. Look at kids and their parents. "Do what I say, not what I do, never works." Anyway, check our Mark's thoughts, cuz I think they are right on.

Tomorrow we're going to try to resume our sweet book study/conversation/chat. It's not too late to join!

Some Details on the Accident

Warning: these pictures are a bit tough for some to take.

We are recovering from the accident. Physically the family is getting better, but otherwise, we still have our days and times that are tough. We're not sure how the kids are going to do in the long run. We've had a rough few days. Appreciate the prayers and support.

The story as I understand it to this point is as follows:
Carol and kids were in the Eurovan driving in the left lane going north on I-35. In the middle lane was a semi and in the right lane was another car. The semi changed lanes into the right lane hitting the rear end of the car that was there. That car was then spun by the semi perpindicular to traffic and towards the left lane where the Eurovan was driving.

The car then went in front of the Euro towards the median wall. The Euro hit the car at that point spinning it back into traffic and sending the Euro flipping in the air. The Euro wound up on its side, hit the median wall, then flipped onto its roof. Where it skidded and finally came to a stop upside down. Gas and fluid were leaking out all over. Carol unbuckled herself and the kids, kicked out a window and got them out to safety.

Amazingly Kate had only some cuts on her head and a little glass in it. She had some staples put in and they are now removed. The other kids had some buises and that's all. Carol has some nasty bruises on her leg and head.

I was in Chicago while this happened. Carol called me from the ambulance with the kids. I quickly got a flight back to KC - which was the longest flight ever - and made it to the hospital as the kids were being released.

We are so thankful and praise God for the safey of our family.

Below are some photos of the van after. We are HUGE Eurovan fans now for sure. After all that it held up pretty well.

Accident

On Wednesday evening around 6:30pm Carol and the kids were in a terrible car accident. They were hit in the front by a car that had been hit by a semi. They flipped, hit the median wall and wound up skidding to a stop on the roof upside down. Carol unbuckled, kicked the window out and got the kids out. They went to the hospital.

Thankfully they are all home and pretty much okay. To say it is a miracle is an understatement. Kate has a couple staples in her head from a cut and some glass in it. Carol is of course, banged, bruised and sore. The other kids are pretty much okay.

I'll share more later, but we'd appreciate all prayers as we pull ourselves back together and try to sort through all of this.

Chapter 1

I began this chapter a bit discouraged, because for his "anti-leadership" book stuff, it is ultimately about leadership as we often define it. You have Sweet starting off here talking about leaders "turning possibilities into realities", which to me is a statement about DOING more and not BEING.

But he quickly rallies in the fight for anti-leadership and says that the way we are positioned to do that "turning" (still weird language a bit - perhaps not matching up) is to be who we are - except embracing it.

A few questions out of this:
1) What if I don't like who I am (or think I am)? Why would I want to be more of that? Or why would anybody else?
2) How do I really discover who I am? What's the difference here between reality and my own perceptions? Is there any? Of course there is the point to be made that while I may be good at basketball at the end of the day I'm still only 5'7" and so good isn't good enough. But what if I thought I was? Is my not playing in the NBA a denial of my true heart or an acceptance of reality? How do I know the difference?
3) At what point is being me just about me and not really about anything bigger?


A comments on this:
1) I love that the focus here is being and not doing.
2) I love the emphasis on truth telling and being. Let's face it, if we all just did what we know is right and said what we know is true, then a lot of problems would be diverted and the problems created would be worth it. But it's just plain hard.
3) Originality is big for me as well. The population as a whole is trying way too hard to be only 3 or 4 people.

I again am loving the Shackleton quotes and stories. A few things need to be clarified to me however. Perserverance is important, but it only really matters in the context of commitment to relationship. I can make a difference and work through things with others if there is a commitment to the relationship. If I stick around and just continue to make my point for the sole purpose of getting MY way and making Brian clones, well the world may get better looking, but it's not going to get better.

Time for bed.