A lot is currently being said about marriage these days due to the recent publication of two books on marriage by two famous (and/or infamous) pastors. I won’t link to one of them because I just don’t think it would be helpful, but I will link to the other one because (while I haven’t read it) I imagine it’s probably helpful in some ways because I really respect the author. But, over the years I have developed a some thoughts that I (and others it seems) have found helpful when it comes to the vocation of marriage. Now, I don’t fancy myself an complete expert when it comes to being married, just ask my wife. But, in the midst of our struggles the following thoughts...Read More →
Category: Missional
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January 5, 2012
The (Missional) Vocation of Marriage
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August 26, 2011
Why I’m Running The Chicago Marathon
(I’m raising awareness/money for Lemonade International by running the 2011 Chicago Marathon. You can help education and feed the children of La Limonada by donating here). About a year and a half ago a friend of mine, Katie Nolan, was lost on Mt. Hood. She and her two friends who were hiking with her died on the mountain as they were caught in a storm. While I had not talked with Katie for about a year or so (last I saw her was at a wedding) she had been a good friend of ours. She and my wife played volleyball together and she was an integral part of the formation of our church community just as we were getting our feet wet with what it...Read More →
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July 27, 2011
Normalizing Individualism and Isolation
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the importance (i.e. necessity) of community to our formation and mission. I just finished up spending a week in Guatemala with Lemonade International. In the evenings we would naturally debrief all the things that happened that day and all the thoughts that were passing through our heads as we struggled with wrapping our minds around the poverty that we were experiencing. At one point our conversation turned to our individualized, isolated society here in North America and how we struggle to really connect with people well. In the midst of this conversation, something interesting happened. Instead of talking about all that we had that the people in the ghetto didn’t, it was flipped. All the sudden we were...Read More →
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April 12, 2011
Two Super-Easy Steps to Preaching a Holistic Gospel
We all think we are preaching a holistic gospel. In all my years of interacting with pastors, teachers and leaders I have never met anyone who got into a pulpit on a regular basis and said “I think I am going to preach a one-sided gospel.” In reality, none of us are preaching a fully holistic gospel, are we? Obviously I don’t think so, or I wouldn’t have asked the question. I believe this is one of the reasons we need to continually be in dialogue with the entire body of Christ, Christians from all walks of life. We must know and learn from Christians from different racial, ethic and socio-economic backgrounds and even Christians from urban, suburban and rural contexts. It is in these conversations and friendships...Read More →
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January 3, 2011
I am Joining the Lemonade International Board
It was with a deep sense of humility that I can announce that I have officially joined the board of Lemonade International. Lemonade International exists to “educate and empower the people of the largest urban slum in Central America, La Limonada.” La Limonada is known to have the 4th highest murder rate in the world. There is a saying in Guatemala City that “even Santa Claus doesn’t visit La Limonada.” I have shared with a few Guatemalan friends from here in the States that we visited there last summer and their response was “and you are not dead?!” By all accounts La Limonada is a hopeless place. But, by God’s account, it is a place where He is making beauty out of ashes. A Guatemalan...Read More →
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December 13, 2010
Missional In Suburbia: Moving On, But Not Moving Out.
For the last few years, my blog has proudly displayed the subtitle “Living Missionally in Suburban America.” I’ve been a big proponent of the fact that we must be thinking intentionally about living missionally in our suburban context. Far too often suburbia has been seen as antithetical to being missional. The assumption seemed to be that if you wanted to be a legit missional voice or person you had to be talking about and living in the city. Now, I get the importance of the city, especially from a cultural standpoint. But the suburbs are home to millions and millions of Christians. We can’t afford to ignore the challenges that they face when it comes to responding to the call of the gospel. A few...Read More →
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December 11, 2010
H.E.L.P and Haiti
My friend Chris Marlow, who spoke at The Well earlier this year, just posted a video of a collection of photos that he and his team have taken in Haiti on their last two trips. He and I are talking about the possibility of using these photos in an art show at The Well in 2011. The music to the video is Mumford & Sons so that makes it even better! Help End Local Poverty Haiti Trips, 2010 from Help End Local Poverty on Vimeo.
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December 11, 2010
Advent Week 3: Bono on True Religion
I’m preaching from Matthew 11:2-11 this week. It’s one of the lectionary texts for Advent. I remembered this quote from Bono who was preaching speaking at the NAACP Awards in 2008. I generally love U2 and I think Bono is amazing. His theology is far from perfect (but so is yours and mine) but I think Bono generally understands God’s concern for the poor. You can watch the speech on YouTube, the quote I’m using below starts at 2:49 and goes till the end. True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice it’s a command. And that means in the global village that we’re going to have to start loving...Read More →
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December 9, 2010
Being Well Rounded? Overrated.
I’ve become convinced that those who struggle with a deep sense of pain for the world can’t truly be well-rounded individuals. Why? Because they don’t close our eyes to the screwed up world they see around them everyday. They see news about the situation in Haiti and they don’t change the channel. They hear that human slavery is at an all-time high and they don’t pretend that it isn’t true. They see children in deep poverty, dying, everyday and they don’t close their eyes. All this is too much for them to take. And it screws them up, for the better. Well-rounded individuals are over rated. They are well rounded because they have found a way to ignore all the pain, injustice and crap that...Read More →
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August 16, 2010
The Cost of Family Time?
I just wrote a post on our Missional in Suburbia website about how we spend money as family when we are going out in the evenings. Would love to hear your feedback there. Do We Have to Spend Money to Have Fun?
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August 4, 2010
Is Evangelism a Dirty Word?
Tonight I hung out with a bunch of people from The Well and we sat around and talked about the scary, evil topic of evangelism. It’s funny, for some Christians “evangelism” is a dirty word and for others its like the greatest thing of all time. If you are a Christian or have ever been friends with one, you probably have some strong opinions about the topic. We started out the discussion by sharing our favorite (or not-so-favorite) evangelism stories. So we didn’t get too cynical, I asked that we tell some bad ones about ourselves too. I figure now is a good time to let my own embarassing personal evangelism story out of the bag. You might know about See You At the Pole....Read More →
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July 31, 2010
La Limonada – Tattooed On Our Hearts
I always love it when you meet someone and from that point on your life takes a difference course than you could have ever expected. About a year ago, at an IdeaCamp conference I was introduced to a young looking, old man named Bill Cummings (I seriously had no clue he was in his 40′s, I thought he was 33 at most!). I had heard that the director of Lemonade International was at the conference and I really was looking forward to meeting him. Lemonade International focuses on educating and empowering people in the largest urban slum in Central America – La Limonada in Guatemala City. Since one of our soon to be four children is adopted from Guatemala, we instantly connected. La Limonada, a...Read More →
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June 23, 2010
La Limonada – Day 2
Today was our second full day in La Limonada with Lemonade International. We continue to talk about how we don’t have categories in our brain for what we are experiencing. I feel completely in the middle of a fog and I don’t know what’s on the other side. It’s a good fog though. You might call it a God-fog. I’m into making up words so that works for me. I have no clue where this trip will lead and I’m not really trying to figure it out. I think I’ll let God do his thing… There is one practical way you can help with a very specific need: Today I learned that the teachers are in danger of not being paid this month. Of course,...Read More →
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June 22, 2010
La Limonada – Day 1
Today was our first day in La Limonada. The picture above is from the top of the ravine where we visited with a family who had lost their home in the recent storms. They are now living in a communal shelter where they share a 9ft. by 4ft. space with three other families. I’ve seen poverty in my day. I’ve been to Africa twice and have seen desperate conditions there. But, this is different for some reason. I’ve never seen anything like this and I don’t have a category to place today’s experience. We talked tonight about what we “offer” and came to realize we can’t offer much more than our presence and maybe a hug. We can’t fix this. But we can be present...Read More →
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June 21, 2010
Lemonade International
Last fall I was at The Idea Camp conference in Washington D.C. While I was there I learned that there was some guy representing an organization from Guatemala called Lemonade International. Since our second son is adopted from there, and we had a desire to serve that country, I sought him out as quickly as possible. Little did I know that Bill Cummings and I would hit it off so well. Fast forward 8 months later and here I am sitting in the Lemonade House in Guatemala City. Tomorrow we will meet the people who live in the community of La Limonada. We have a long week ahead of us and we’re not totally sure what God is going to do with us and those...Read More →
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June 3, 2010
Short Survey on Missional in Suburbia
I’ve stated another blog, resource catalog website that will be focusing on the challenges and opportunities about being missional in suburbia. It’s a joint venture with a friend of mine and I’m excited about. This isn’t going to be a your typical blog but really it will be a place we categorize and collect thoughts, quotes and resources. We’d love to have you participate in the dialog. But even more importantly we’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Could you take 5 minutes to fill out our short survey on being missional in suburbia? If so, you can do so here: http://missionalinsuburbia.com/survey
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May 24, 2010
What’s for Breakfast?? (Thoughts on Selfishness)
It seems to me that the world trains us to be pretty selfish, individualized people. Thomas Merton writes about this as he describes the problem of pride, “The self must be treated as if, not merely in feeling but in actual fact, the whole universe revolved around it…If I am the center of the universe, than everything belongs to me. I can claim, as my due, all the good things of the earth. I can rob and cheat and bully other people. I can help myself to anything I like, no one can resist me.” Now, this is a rather harsh assessment of our demeanor. I personally do not like to think of my perspective on my self as thinking that I am the center...Read More →
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May 11, 2010
White Flight? (and the call of the suburban church)
A few friends sent me the link to this article that points out that white, young males are fleeing the suburbs and that, while the burbs still “tilt white…for the first time, a majority of all racial and ethnic groups in large metro areas live outside the city. Suburban Asians and Hispanics already had topped 50 percent in 2000, and blacks joined them by 2008, rising from 43 percent in those eight years.” I believe this has major ramifications for how the church in suburbia sees its calling. A year ago as I was taking part in a prayer walk in my local town (Hatboro, PA). In this small suburban town with a main street. On the outskirts of this suburb there is a growing...Read More →
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April 27, 2010
Hola! Send Us to Guatemala!
This summer we (both Melanie and I) will be heading to Guatemala City with ten other people from our church. From June 20-26 we will be serving some of the poorest people in the world in Central America’s largest slum called La Limonada. We need to raise approximately $600 total for this trip and we would be honored if you helped make this trip a reality through a financial gift. As you may know, our middle son Mason Carlos is adopted from Guatemala. When we visited his birth country to bring him home two years ago, we left part of our hearts there. We have been longing to go back and serve there since we left two years ago. We are excited about this trip...Read More →
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March 6, 2010
The Missional Church Made Simple
This has been going around and I forget where I first saw it, but its a really well done introduction to the missional church. Too bad they didn’t use flannel graph.
