hanging out at Grounds for Thought waiting for Joel
I love the vibe here. I look around and see just about every generation represented. What is it about this place that attracts all peoples. I came here today b/c Cosmo's (my coffee house) is bitter b/c of the new establishments in town. Grounds doesn't seem to be hurting much. give me a product i can't get anywhere else and i'm there. Grounds is real community oriented. The owners are long time bgers and have a real heart for community. Great used books in the back! wow, why didn't I spend more time here. I'll miss Grounds.

Accepted an offer on our house today! another confirmation.

The evangelical question the church has been probing the world with: "if you died tomorrow, where would you go?"

The reviving question the church needs probed with: "if you knew for sure you would make it one more day on this earth, how would you live?"

Our theology is a theology based on death. Jesus came that we might live.

great interview by a great mag about a great author
[RM:] I want to know about the "wussification" of the church, as you call it ...
[LS:] I'll give you one example of it: Street evangelism. You think about a typical street evangelist on a soapbox, with some kind of megaphone and he's handing out tracts. I mean, Wesley and some early Methodists in the late 18th, early 19th century invented street evangelism and they would attract these huge crowds; people were getting converted and there were these huge revivals! We do it today and it drives people away! It's not turning people to Christ, it's driving them away from Christ. Why? It's the wussification of the church, and the wussification of the church's mind and mission.
In the 1790's, a book was equivalent to one month's salary, so people didn't have books. And they didn't have literature in their homes. So pamphlets and tracts were the cutting edge hardware of the 18th century. Literally, a book is one month's salary, and you're on a street evangelism team giving out books and tracts and pamphlets. Well, hello! In the 1990's the computer was equivalent to one month's salary! And here we are still giving out tracts, which our ancestor's did, but if we were doing what they did, we'd be standing on street corners passing out Palm Pilots, PCs. You want to talk about crowds that would wait in line and listen to what we have to say? Now, of course, that hardware would have to come with spiritual software. The early street evangelists just didn't have pamphlets, they had chapters from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, or Fox's Book of Martyrs, or Thomas A Kempis' Imitation of Christ. So you just don't pass out Palm Pilots, you put Bible software on them, if you're passing out PCs, you put the whole Scriptures in there! We're such wusses! We're still passing out tracts. I mean, in the men's room they put tracts on the urinals. And this is evangelism?! Who's gonna pick it up? It's the wussification of the church's mind and mission, and it's embarrassing. Let's do for our day what our ancestors did for their day — is that too much to ask?

Nov. 17th is Church signs are stupid day.

spread the word

More from Catalyst:
>still working through what Erwin brought to the table on Thurs. night. He focused on the "ethos" of the church and that the primary role of the leader is to create ethos. To fight for the heart of the church. That burden burns in my heart. ... but what should the heart of the church be. the entire time he spoke, I related what he was saying to the simple equation of [-=+] or <=>. Two events that scream this are the sacraments of baptism and the eucarist. Central expression of the heart of the church. Central Metaphores. The Cross, the eucharist, and Baptism all speak to the paradox of life through suffering ... through death! EM::"God wants to launch us on a journey that can only take place when we die." Phil 3:7-11.

wOw! mind blowing material today. my brian is cramping up with every rememberance of what what discussed in todays sessions.

Various topics to explore in more depth at a later date:

>what i was grappling with last night. The very basis of what we understand to be levels of calling in the full-time ministry and why they are created -McManus

>Integrity and Character in the life of Christian leaders. McManus suggest that in our neat structure of college, seminary, pastorate...that we are not following the biblical standard of mentoring and modeling within the body of Christ. We have immaturity in leadership ... not ready to face the spiritual warfare and attacks that come with the position in the Church.

>10 Commandments::Humanity 101
we have lowered the bar. Moses::Ruth::Jeremiah::Paul::Peter::Stephen men and women like us who understood what it means to be a Christ follower. Radical Obedience to the call of Christ!!

>"run as fast as your character is deepening not as fast as your talent goes high or wide." McManus

>"no level of accountability will make you the person you don't want to be" McManus
I'll have to find the referrence: "I run in the path of your commands b/c you set my heart free" this is obedience spurred by love not ensured by erecting boundaries. a boundless love goes into all the world unhindered by environment. The love of Christ that burns in my heart controls my surroundings ... not vice versa

this is too much for 3 1/2 lbs of brain to sort through in one sitting... i'll be back

Having some good conversations with Julie G.
She is asking me the hard questions about what I'm doing with my life. She is currently a bi-vocational minister. She claims that here loyaties are divided, and she longs to be in the full time ministry. She wonders how I am going to be able to have anything left to give to ministry after my job and family. I wonder this myself. I probably won't be able to give that much to the ministry at first. Should I seek support from others? I see this work with my friends in the para-church ministry. My response to her is that I have many friends who are "full-time" in ministry and their families are suffering b/c of 80 hr. work weeks and they are not doing God things but the things that those who pay them expect out of them. Could the "full-time" ministry be glorified and glamorized? Definately the latter. At first in my journey i had thought that i would have to get out of church work to get back into the ministry. but i don't think that is the answer... i think the bi-voc situation is a good alternative to that extreme. I may find myself disoriented with this idea in the future, but as for now it's what I percieve to be God's will...it seems to be the right thing. and i'm ok with that ambiguity...i think.

We leave this morning for Catylist in Atlanta.

Can't wait to see Erwin McManus, Louie G., and Andy Stanly

I will be logging what I'm learning throughout the rest of the week.

I am the Lord, that is my name!
I am beginning to realize that most of life has nothing to do with me. I am not. I am small.
Stepping out of the comfort of privelage and opportunity has brought me to new levels of awareness. The narrow road is a road of consciousness. I am becomming more aware of the people around me. I never realized how much my christian culture had brainwashed me to think of myself as better than others. I am not! I respect the hardworking, I have compassion for those with no opportunities. I am almost angry that up to this point in my life, I have not had to be humbled in way that would wake me from my ignorance. Chuck Flick and I just finished breakfast together. I love that guy. Trully a man of God. He gave me a flask that has one single grain of sand in it. He made it himself to signify how God still sees Chuck Flick as his beloved in spite of his insignificance. I will keep this gift as a reminder of my condition. In moments of insanity, I think highly of myself. I puff my things up and work to glorify myself. Sounds rather sick when writing it out ... but it's true. But when reality slaps me in the face and wakes me from my slumber, I realize how foolish I have been and how long i've lived there. I am not...but I know "I AM"

Met with Greg Rosser today. that guy always buys me java! I love meeting with Rosser. I don't know how he has time for me ... one of the most 'networked' guys I know and wears a ton of hats at shep naz. I went to him for ... well .... answers and he gave me ... ministry. i needed his words. i needed God's word.

Jeremiah 6:17
"this is what the Lord says::
'stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, an walk in it.

stand::look::ask::walk

more on duty and serventhood::LK 17:10
reading eddie gibbs' ChurchNext
in the chapter From Market Driven to Mission Oriented, Gibbs suggests two issues that arise from our modern approaches to church growth::
1.>marketing church to the consumer turns the gospel into a means to an end.... and the end is me. i agree...because i sense this in my own life. the gospel has become to the church a means for personal fulfillment. hard issue to address b/c it shifts the whole paradigm off of the topic of us. Not To Us (thank you Chris Tomlin) as McManus so beautifully relates, "unfortunatly, for too many people, when the conversation is no longer about them, there's not much left to be said." - unstoppable force
- so we go to church get our fill and dispose of the gospel M-F. what type of church takes us to a point of brokeness that we must search through our entire week just to find the answers to our deepest longings. it will no longer be a church with a message that assumes the consumers sovereignty. McManus also relates that "if we are not willing to die to ourselves, we will die by ourselves."
2.>this approach or marketing the church to the consumer has made discipleship cheap. I too sense this in my own life. if the equation of spirituality doesn't come up in the red in the worlds eyes, we missed it somewhere. it's gotta look like this [ - = + ]
less = more. Luke 9:57-62 clearly messes with the american dream. Is there any other option than to be sucked into the dominant culture... to fit into our world without even thinking-[rom12:1-2message]...Gordon Cosby from the church of the savior in dc says that it will take the average american a good 2 years of re-centering his life to begin to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Christianity is a "going down" kind of religion before it is a "going up" kind of religion. In communicating this message we do not attract people as though they were customers, but we address them as fellow sinners, confessing together that we have only one answer to our common need. Unless and until we are prepared to die to self, we will never be in a position to live for Christ."p.45

on duty
The dutiful servant. to many times in my journey i have viewed the phrase 'here i am lord, send me' as the end all to my faith. maybe this is because i so often live my days for me.
Luke 17:10 "We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty"
...only done. these two words help me see that a servant never pats himself on the back at the end of the day expecting something in return. It was his mere duty. his basic responsibility. within the scope of discipleship lies the expected role of servanthood. Assuming this identity is not an option. it is who i now am. ...i am not, but i know I AM

today i attended a job fair here in c-town.
it became very clear to me as i stood there with thousands of other applicants that opportunity had always been quite cheap for me. I have been spoon fed opportunity my whole life. I have never done a job search before. I have a family, a house, a job, a college degree, and 3yrs experience in Christian ministry, yet never felt as if i had to pay any price to get it all.
...hard day...
???what's the deal with feeling naked at that fair???
::today i truly am a pilgrim of sorts...a sojourner... an alien... a stranger.
>>it's almost as if i told God that I wanted to experience the 'realworld' and He's layin it on thick

Sweet writes of being an "out-of-control disciple" called to sharpen the cutting edge of obedience.

John Wesley writes of being crazy for God::
"I am no longer my own, but Yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whoever You will.
Put me to doing...put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You.
Exalted for You , or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing!
And now, O Father, You are mine and I am Yours.
So be it.
And the covenant I am making on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen

on being...simple

this morning was so ordinary. i wake up to ordinary situations and circumstances most every day.

or do i?

why not choose to see the simplicity of the moment as supernatural. where do i live the majority of my days? is it in the heavenly realms? paul contunually refers to the "heavenly relms" in ephesians. As a child of God, I have access to this supernatural dimension. In fact, as a child of God, this is where reality is found. if i live outside of that realm, i am easily decieved, stressed, tripped up... I enter into moments of temporary insanity.

the simplicity of this moment is extra-ordinary for me as a child of God. Abba, I belong to you. In your embrace, i know of nothing better. To leave this realm would be insaine - deliver me from moments of temporary insanity.

Lord, deliver me from the small loyalties of habit or tradition that would keep me from larger loyalties of the Spirit

when i choose to pay the high price of discipleship, at first it seems to throw my life into chaos. The centrifuge of my life for so long has been the scattered loyalties this world offers. Then Jesus came along and challenged the very ground of the common assumptions upon which I lived day after day ...
important as they may be they are secondary to the will of God...
vocation|family|business|anxiety|money|position|class|race
he called me to choose an alternative conscienceness...
a move away from the dominant thought pattern of my culture
Howard Thurman gives me a headache::
"if we are satified with our civilization, our culture, our intitutions, it would not be unreasonable to say that Jesus in our great enemy. He is the alien, the fleeting ghost moving in and out among the shadows of the private mind, and of the collective mind. A wanderer. Where can he find a place in which he can be at home?"

Jesus, be the centre...be the sourse... be my light...
let my heart be your home. find your dwelling place in me. renew my mind to see with new eyes of faith that which is so hard to conceptualize in my daily routine!

i dare to yeild...yeild to the will of God as my 'basic principle of integration'

1Tim.6:8- "But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that"

i am daily faced with the decision to choose contentment.
downward mobility is so countercultural that I must continually pull myself back into the light of Christ.

Paul charges Timothy to "fight the good fight of the faith"

This doesn't sound easy or comfortable.

I recieved a couple of offers to lead worship this week and i don't know why. Should i spiritualize everything? "is this from God or satan?" "what is God trying to teach me?"

the latter is a valid Q: with a loose grip and a heart of gratitude, seek the forming work that lies beneath the situation.
one offer is from Scott Chevelier - serious lead pastor with a liquid gospel to the seeker culture of Nashville TN.
maybe it was for joel.

got an email from mike p that sums it up for me in the last couple of days. his devotional for today read::::Stand Still and See His Deliverance
I appreciate reminders that the enemy can't take anything I won't let him have.
"Oh, look how everyone your age is making much more money than you," fear whispers. "They'll be retired, and you'll be working a McDonalds!" "Have you noticed how the house is falling apart? How's it ever going to get fixed?"
"Have you noticed that compared to other people, you're not that smart?"
Next thing you know I'm questioning our decision to give up our well-paying jobs to move here, noticing every crack and peel on the walls, and feeling inferior to everyone else. If I'm really off guard, I start running around, saying my fears out loud as if I really believed them. GOTCHA!
But then I remember that I don't need to run. God has given me a full suit of armor. I'm supposed to stand firm and fight the good fight of faith.
When Paul encouraged Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith," Paul was under attack and perhaps under arrest by the Roman authorities. Yet the embattled apostle wasn't fearfully questioning the decisions that left him opposing a pagan empire. Paul wasn't defeated! Instead he was encouraging a young pastor to stay focused on the life, eternal life, to which he was called.
Lord, help me to focus on Your calling to me so I can face my fears, stand still, and watch Your deliverance!

Can't wait to see what He has planned for all of us!!!

experienced one of those supercharged days with super administrative strength
>it seems as though the more coffee i drink, the better i work
productivity rating on a scale of 1(i'm mentally ill) to 10(just call me Colin Powell) i was about a 6
not bad for a simple guy like me

i got stereotyped today...
i was going to sambi's for lunch with jimmy o. and parked in the designated parking spots for sambi's.
a lady came running out and asked us "where we were going!"
i quickly assured her that i was heading to sambi's for lunch
i did have to drop some software off at the computer store 2 doors down so they could finish my rebuild
so the lady came out and flagged us down as if she caught us going somewhere other than we had agreed upon.
WoW - Chick was hot. not hot/fine but hot/pissed
I told her of my plans and then proceeded. she shook her head and went back inside. (as if to call a tow)
i went back in the store after my stop at computerdirect and made sure things were cool.
she apologized for being well..."bitchy"
she admitted that since i was carring "that bag" and was the young postmodern prototype that i was heading to the coffee shop/computer store!

then in sambi's i got called out for cell phone use. i picked it up to get rid of the message indicator (loud beep noise) and was instructed that there were designated cellular areas (until then i had never heard of a DCA)

i better watch my speed on the way home today.