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Archive for November, 2008
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November 27, 2008
It’s Thanksgiving
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November 26, 2008
Mental Illness & The Church
For the last five years I have had a friend named Michael who has been part of my life. We’ve lost touch recently touch due to some circumstances but his friendship has been one of the more challenging experiences of my life. See, Michael is a paranoid schizophrenic. He hears voices. He called my phone one day cause his therapist told him he should try out our church. The therapist thought it was a “wellness” church. I thought that was kinda funny but I obviously reached out to him. However, I’ll admit that this is one of the hardest friendships I have ever had. Why? Because frankly he doesn’t have much to offer back. He’s very needy and very high maintenance. He can’t drive. And...Read More →
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November 25, 2008
Giving out of Extreme Poverty? (2 Corinthians 8)
Yesterday I started a series of posts on our church looking at 2 Corinthians 8 together during our times of offering. Since I started a week later, you get two posts this week on the topic. To recap: The first verse reminds us of the great grace that we have been given in our lives. Next comes verse 2: “In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” Now, I am not a mathematician. In fact, its a little known fact that I actually got an “F” in 8th grade math and somehow still graduated Jr. High. But let’s think about about the equation that is presented here: Severe trial + Overflowing joy +...Read More →
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November 24, 2008
The Miracles of Technology
I don’t share YouTube videos on this blog very often (though, i did design it so they would embed really nicely into the left column here). But, this guy has totally shared my feelings about technology exactly. And, if I’m being humble, he is almost as funny as me. I saw this via Matt Heerema via some guy named Larry.
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November 24, 2008
Talking About Money in the Church Part 2 (II Cor. 8)
At The Well we have been focusing on 2 Corinthians 8:1-13 during our offering time (which i talked about at greater length here). If you haven’t read/studied this chapter, I encourage you to do so. For us, this has been a really helpful narrative to filter our understanding of stewardship, generosity and giving through. Here is the section of Chapter 8 that we have been looking at: 8:1 And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond...Read More →
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November 21, 2008
The Pastor’s Responsibility
A friday rebuke/correction/encouragement from our friend Eugene Peterson, “It is the pastor’s responsibility to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.” From Working the Angles
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November 20, 2008
Talking about Money in the Church (Part 1)
This is the first in a series of posts about giving, money and the church. You can follow this series of posts here. For the last couple years, a little passion of mine has been this topic of talking about money in the church. You see, for most churches this is one of those things that we just don’t talk about publicly. We don’t want to offend anyone. In fact, we’re often slightly embarassed by the idea of “taking an offering” or taking a “collection.” Many churches, including mine early on, respond to this feeling in a few well intentioned, yet unhelpful ways: We ignore the topic all together and “trust God that he will provide.” What we’re really doing when we do this is we’re saying...Read More →
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November 19, 2008
What Do We become Christians for?
From David Bosch’s brilliant little book, Believing in the Future, As we call people (back) to faith in God through Jesus Christ, we must help them to articulate an answer to the question “what do we ahve to become Christians for?” As least part of the answer to this question will have to be: “In order to be enlisted into God’s ministry of reconciliation, peace, and justice on earth.”
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November 19, 2008
Working Through the Pain
Still reading the book Failure of Nerve. He’s writing about how leadership is affected by the way people and people groups in our society want the quickest relief possible even if it isn’t the best way forward. Friedman writes, For there is no way out of a chronic condition unless one is willing to go through an acute, temporarily more painful, phase….we will naturally choose or revert to chronic conditions of bearable pain rather than face the temporarily more intense anguish of acute conditions that are the gateway to becoming free. But what is also universally true is that over time, chronic conditions, precisely because they are more bearable, also tend to be more withering. This is very, very true for most of us....Read More →
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November 17, 2008
Moving from Man to Man to Zone Defense…
So, in May/June Melanie and I will be switching defenses. We’re going from man on man to zone. That’s right. Two kids to three. Needless to say we’re pretty excited about the transition. It’s going to bring about some major changes. Cole is excited. He wants a little sister. Mason on the other hand, has no clue what’s coming. Mainly, we need to find a three bedroom apt/house to rent and we need to get a car that will fit three car seats. This should all be pretty easy. :)
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November 14, 2008
Leader: It’s Your Fault / Responsibility
Last week I wrote a little bit about how leaders need to take reponsibiltiy when things go wrong in their communities or organizations. Far too often we are quick to blame it on those we are trying to lead. Seth Godin says it in his book Tribes better than I did and clearer than Edwin Friedman did. He writes, If you hear my idea but don’t believe it, that’s not your fault; its mine. If you see my new product but don’t buy it, that’s my fault, not yours. If you attend my presentation and you’re bored, that’s my fault too. If I fail to persuade you to implement a policy that supports my tribe, that’s due to my lack of passion or skill, not...Read More →
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November 13, 2008
Focus on Your Strengths
One of the things that has effected my leadership in a really positive way as been the idea of “focusing on your strengths.” So often leaders are quick to focus all their energy on what they aren’t good at and all they end up doing is neglecting the things that make them strongest. It’s not necessarily that we ignore our weaknesses all together. Sure, we try to address them and in fact, the most helpful thing we can do is admit they are weaknesses and find people in our systems who will address them better than we ever could. Then, we can spend our time focusing on what we’re best at. That said, how do you react to this statement from Edwin Friedman in his...Read More →
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November 12, 2008
Amazing People
Been loving Seth Godin’s little book called Tribes. It’s full of some amazing one liners and is the kind of book that makes you want to get up off the couch and change the world. Here’s a good one: “When you have amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff.” Seth Godin, Tribes If you are a leader, this begs the question: Do you trust the people you work with?
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November 11, 2008
A Primer on the Missional Church
For those of you who are wondering what in the world the missional church, missional theology or missional living is all about, you might bookmark this massive post by my good friend JR Woodward. Here he links to a wide range of sites, articles and blogs that talk about the subject. I say book mark it because you could click on links and read for days on end. But, its a great resource. Of course, I am happy that JR linked to a couple things I’ve written.
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November 11, 2008
What is Mission?
“Mission is more than and different from recruiting to our brand of religion; it is alerting people to the universal reign of God.” David Bosch in Believing the Future
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November 10, 2008
Prayer: Help Me Open My Clenched Fists
A good friend sent me this prayer this morning: Dear God, I am so afraid to open my clench fists! Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to? Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands? Please help me to gradually open my hands and to discover that I am not what I own, but what you want to give me. And what you want to give me is love – unconditional, everlasting love. Amen. - Henri Nouwen
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November 8, 2008
Live Blogging: Financial Freedom / Budgeting Seminar with David Briggs
Notes…. The average households under 35 are saving -16% of their income. Financial freedom has nothing to do with our income. The law of guaranteed wealth: Spend less than you make for a long period of time. Man, these powerpoint slides are from around 1980 or something. Someone needs to read Presentation Zen! :) Comparison to others destroys your contentment. You will always be able to find somebody else that has something better than you. In the comparison game we will never be content. “Most people are motivated to success by the envy of our neighbors” – Ecclesiastes What happens if we buy into the philosophy of the culture? Distorted view of what brings happiness As “stuff” increases… Happiness decreases Money and possessions quickly take control of...Read More →
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November 7, 2008
The Church: Shaped by Prayer?
This month (Nov. 16th) we are meeting as a community at The Well for our quarterly discussion on issues that are important to our mission together. We call these meetings Midrash meetings. This month we’ll be addressing the issue of prayer in our community life. Our mission statement reads “…a community shaped my scripture and by prayer…” We’ve got some big time room to improve in being a community that is actually shaped by prayer. In preparation for this gathering, I’ve been doing some reading on the subject and picked up the late Stanley Grenz’s book on prayer called “Prayer: A Cry for the Kingdom.” It’s really a great book and here is a collection of short excerpts from the introduction. The greatest challenge facing the...Read More →
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November 5, 2008
Reflections on the 2008 Election
I don’t delve into polictics on my blog alot. Heck, I don’t delve into politics in my life a lot. But, whether you voted for Obama or McCain, tonight was historic. I had a stream of thoughts as I wanted the events unfold tonight. Here are a few of them: I don’t believe that the significance of an black man being elected as the president of the United States can be overstated. John McCain’s concession speech was moving and inspiring. I appreciated his humility and it’s clear that he loves America more than he loves himself. This speaks volumes of about this man’s character. I appreciated the way that Obama’s victory speech was reverent and a tad subdued. He could have easily whipped that huge crowd into a...Read More →
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November 4, 2008
Books in the Works
I’ve been blessed with a number of Amazon Gift cards and a few books as gifts recently. This means I have a pile of books on my shelf that I am currently reading or getting ready to read. I am always looking for new books and really value the recommendations of my friends highly. Some of these books I’ve read a couple chapters or just the book jacket. I’ll be posting more complete reviews of these books as I get into them. Here’s a rundown of what’s there. The Four Hour Work-Week – Timothy Ferriss // I was given this book by a friend who highly recommended it. I am skeptical but at least going to give it a chance. I’ll let you know how it turns out. When...Read More →
