Since I am heading to Zambia in June this year I’ve been trying to do some reading and education about the challenge of westerners living and working in Africa. This challenge was made clear to my by my dad who spend about 10 years serving in sub-Saharan Africa as a representative of larger worldwide missions agency. We didn’t live there or anything but he did travel there a lot when I was a kid. He basically spent those 10 years trying to work out relationship between the Church in the West and the Church in Africa. When I told him that I would be going to Zambia with this very purpose in mind, I was surprised by his lack of enthusiasm. It wasn’t because he...Read More →
Archive for May, 2008
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May 6, 2008
Westerners in Africa, The Challenge
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May 6, 2008
Personal Financial Accountability In the Church, A Way Forward
For the first three years of our marriage my wife and I didn’t have any outstanding credit card debt. Then the crap hit the fan. Between some unnecessary purchases, not making enough money, hospital bills, and a string of car repairs, we amassed ourselves some significant credit card debt. Over the last two years we’ve been trying to be more conscious of how we spend and how we save. We’re finally starting to show some signs of progress. Of course, our adoption set us back this past year and we’re in the midst of paying that down. But the good news is that this week we finally paid off my outstanding seminary bill and due to the kindness of some friend we made some significant...Read More →
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May 5, 2008
The Consuming Christian and the Consuming Church
I was thinking Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church. I do that sometimes… think, that is. Anyways, we’ve had a number of new people visiting our community recently. There is a general theme going on with their story. Many of these folk have come from either not being in church for a long period of time or suffering (their words) through being part of a church that is not very life-giving. At The Well, we typically do a great job of scaring off chronic church hoppers because we’re a little, uh… different. If our ugly warehouse doesn’t care them off, something else is bound to. But, when people who are Christians come into our community, we want to be sure to let...Read More →
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May 4, 2008
Sunday Blog Roundup: April 26 – May 3
Well, I blogged as much last week as I ever have. I’ve started to use my blogs to share my experiences and thoughts on leadership (in addition to my normal musings on the church, life, my kids, webdesign, etc). But, there are a number of new readers in the last week and if you are new here i wanted to highlight a few posts from last week that you may have missed: Open Handed MInistry – here is wrote about how as pastors, we should view the members of our congregations On being a part-time pastor - this is my first refection on what it looks like for me to work and live this way. Am I a webdesigner or pastor? Keeping on Task -...Read More →
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May 4, 2008
Sunday Quote – 5/4/08
“Disciple says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing-learning relationship, always. A disciple is a learner, but not in the academic setting of a schoolroom, rather at the work site of a craftsman. We do not acquire information about God but skills in faith.” Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction
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May 3, 2008
Recommended Reading for Leadership, Church, Missional Theology, etc.
I love reading. I wish I did it more. I wish I would put my computer down more. I usually go through phases where I read a lot. I’ve been in one of those phases recently so it inspired me to share some books. Last December I did a series on my top books of 2007 and since then I have received a number of e-mails on books that I would recommend. So, what I have done is I have started to go through my favorite books over the years and put them all in one place. I am trying to categorize them in a way that is helpful. My first “different” category that I have (other than the general ones) is that of “Paradigm...Read More →
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May 2, 2008
Leading and Speaking with Confidence
I was driving my car today through town and saw this sign on a gas station / car wash. This is one of those higher end car washes that does the whole car, inside and out. The marquee says, “We really know how to clean your car right.” Now, on some level this is a little simplistic and cheesy. But honestly, I am really drawn to this. If I were to decide to go get my car washed (which, if you’ve seen my car you know that I wouldn’t) I would go to this place. Why? I love their confidence. I love the fact that they are convinced that they know what they are doing. I really feel like if I were to give them...Read More →
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May 1, 2008
The Role of the “Pastor”
A couple days ago I was writing how being bi-occupational allowed me to naturally pastor in a way that calls the community to live their gifting and calling for the sake for the kingdom… In case I wasn’t clear, let me quote from one of my heros, Lesslie Newbigin. He’s talking about the role of the pastor and says this, “The task of ministry is to lead the congregation as a whole in a mission to the community as a whole, to claim its whole public life, as well as the personal lives of all its people, for God’s rule. It means equipping all the members of the congregation to understand and fulfill their several roles in this mission through their faithfulness in their daily...Read More →
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May 1, 2008
Why and How I Use Twitter
I’ve been using Twitter for quite a while now. I, like most people, signed up and then didn’t use it for a few months but a while back I started using it more and more. For those of you who don’t know what Twitter is, its essentially a micro blog. Essentially write short 140 character updates which people can then view. The best part about Twitter is its social networking feature. You can have friends that you follow their updates and they follow yours. For someone like me who spends a lot of time along in my office on the computer, this is a helpful because it keeps me in some kind of community with others. Here are some of my thoughts about Twitter: Twitterrific...Read More →
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May 1, 2008
Don’t Call Me Mr. Mom
I just got done pulling Strawberry Chex out of my son’s hair. It was awesome. For the last two months Melanie (my wife) has been working on Thursdays so that means I have been home with the boys. It’s funny, a number of people have made the predictable “Mr. Mom” comment. I’ll be honest, I hate that comment. I really do. Last time I checked, I’m their dad. So, if you want to call me Mr. Dad, thats okay with me. Because that’s what I am… Also, when I am home watching my kids, fulfilling my role as a parent…don’t call me the babysitter. I’m “dad.” Its not like these kids are my wife’s responsibility and I just happen to watch them for her everyonce...Read More →
