We just started a study of the book of Mark at The Well. Been reading George Ladd’s A Theology of the New Testament and thought I would share this gem with you, “Mark campaigns against balcony-type Christians who are too high for mission and discipleship that in Mark’s terms necessarily involves cross-bearing and self-sacrifice.” One of the things I am getting as I read Mark so far is that the disciples themselves didn’t understand what they were getting themselves into. Sure, they showed great faith by dropping their nets and leaving their lives and family behind to follow Jesus. But, they didn’t count the cost as we see them constantly misunderstanding what they were getting themselves into throughout the rest of the book. Ladd continues,...Read More →
Category: Faith & Theology
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January 21, 2011
Balcony-Type Christianity?
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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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January 1, 2011
Top 5 Books of 2010
This has not been my best reading year in terms of number of books. However, I was able to read a few great books that are worth mentioning. So, I proudly present to you my top five books of 2010. Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ Eugene Peterson I love Eugene Peterson’s writing. I consider him one of my “author mentors”. I rarely have anything bad to say about anything he has written and this is no exception. In fact, I think that this is his best book yet. Yes, that is saying a lot. This book is essentially an exposition of Ephesians and he offers an stunningly realistic look at the reality of the thing we call “church.” I read this...Read More →
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December 18, 2010
God is With Us.
Immanuel. God is with us. Wait. Stop. Listen again… Immanuel. God is with us. God. Is. With. Us. Wait. God is with you. Sure. But God is with me? Yes. Really? Yes. You don’t need to come to Jesus. He’s has come to you. He has pursued you. Loves you. Yes, you. The wait is over.
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December 15, 2010
Six Themes of Change in the Church
Scot McKnight points to some new research by Barna. Kinda depressing really.
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December 13, 2010
My heart is completely about to explode…
We’ve been intentionally pursuing friendship with the folks in La Limonada, Guatemala over the past year. This community has become dear to our hearts. Some great news! The “Mi Casita” Safe Home has become a reality for the first eleven children who have just moved into the place they will now call “home” – where they will be provided with unconditional love, healthy nutrition, one-on-one attention from a psychologist and a support structure from house parents. A letter from Tita, the Guatemalan Directory in La Limonada is included in the news post on the Lemonade International blog. I love the way she writes.. My heart is completely about to explode. I feel lke Jesus is very pleased with this. I can see him smile because he...Read More →
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December 7, 2010
Do Youth Groups Destroy Children’s Lives?
Needless to say this post has gotten a lot of action. 65 comments and 55 tweets. David lays out some provocative and interesting thoughts on youth ministry. I personally thing he’s making some excellent points.
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December 7, 2010
Give the Gift of Hope For Christmas
I was part of an awesome book project called ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and Everything in Between). It was edited by my good friend JR Woodward and was published on Ecclesia Press. This book is a collection of a lot (I forget the number!) of short essays on the good news. The great part is that each author wrote their chapter as if it were being submitted to their local paper. I wrote mine to the people in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I focused it on global nature of the gospel because I am convinced that suburban folks tend to get lost in their own world and so dang focused on ourselves. I wanted to show us suburbanites that while...Read More →
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December 7, 2010
Are People Generally Screw Ups?
As you can tell I’ve been reading the book by Margaret J Wheatley called, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. I can’t say enough good things about this book. That’s probably why I keep on quoting from it. I think she has some important things to say to us, especially those of us who are leading church communities and other non-profits. Read this whole quote, it’s worth it… If you look around at most organizations and communities, people are still being kept in boxes. They are not invited to contribute, to create, or to care about each other. Instead, it’s assumed that people must be policed into good behavior. Endless policies and laws attempt to make us behave properly. Yet very few people tolerate...Read More →
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December 6, 2010
ReWork: Creating Leadership Culture
Earlier this year I wrote a series of posts called “Cultivating a Leadership Culture.” You can read this series in it’s entirety here. That series developed out of the nine years that I have been learning along the way as Pastor at The Well. I love the challenge and opportunity of creating community and culture, especially in the area of leadership. I’ve become somewhat of a leadership junkie and nerd and I have grown to love the sociology of the leadership task. That’s why the book ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemier Hansson, founders of 37signals, was such a refreshing book. This book is essentially a series of short reflections and essays on creating a healthy leadership culture. It seems to me that in...Read More →
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December 6, 2010
Should Church Bore the Hell Out of You?
David Fitch offers this provacative question with this post… For many, I fear, church has become a Christian necessity we perform on Sunday. Sometimes we pastors try to make it more appealing by selling it as a goods and services of the religious kind that might help each person better sustain what has become the rushed existence of our suburban lives. As a side note, sometimes, even more “stupidly,” we try to make church a place to take care of our kids, attract them to Christianity. We actually choose a church because of its appeal to our kids in the midst of this hectic American life because we do not have the time to patiently connect with and present with our kids. Church becomes an...Read More →
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December 6, 2010
Leadership and Control
Some great quotes from a great book by Margaret J Wheatley called, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. Trying to be an effective leader in this machine story is especially exhausting. He or she is leading a group of lifeless, empty automatons who are just waiting to be filled with vision and direction and intelligence. The leader is responsible for providing everything: the organizational mission and values, the organizational structure, the plans, the supervision. The leader must also figure out, through clever use of incentives or coercives, how to pump energy into this lifeless mass. Once the pump is primed, he must then rush hither and yon to make sure that everyone is clanking along in the same direction, at the established speed, with...Read More →
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December 3, 2010
Outsourcing Parenting?
Doesn’t seem like this is rocket science.. For decades, parents have relied on youth group meetings, mission trips, and other church programming to instill a solid sense of faith in their children… …When researchers consider which factors account for strong faith commitments in teenagers and young adults, one element is consistently more pivotal than all others: parental involvement. Parents who practice faith intentionally at home and guide their children to do likewise are most likely to raise children with clear understandings and robust commitments. but how many of our churches are effectively doing something about this?
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December 3, 2010
Finding Out Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time
I’ve been reading a great book by Margaret J Wheatley called, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time. I love learning as much as I can about leadership and healthy organizational development. The best way to describe this book is with the word “rich.” It’s really, really helpful and she’s putting words to some things I’ve been feeling for a long time. Here is one of my favorite quotes so far: “We act as if humans are motivated by selfishness, greed, and fear. That we exist as individuals, free of the obligation of interdependence. That hierarchy and bureaucracy are the best forms of organizing. That efficiency is the premier measure of value. That people work best under controls and regulations. That diversity is a...Read More →
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December 3, 2010
Design Can’t Rise Above Content
This is a great article on how good design, in the long term, can’t make up for bad content. This transfers to many different areas of life and business. For example, a great worship service can’t hide a bad community life. A nice house can’t hide a bad marriage. Good marketing can’t help a screwed up organization.
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December 2, 2010
Diversity, Unity and Submission
I can’t believe it’s been almost nine years since I met Laurence Tom. LT, as we call him, in a Chinese-American pastor in Chinatown Center City. I met him while we were in seminary. I should actually say I met him while he was in seminary as I am still in the process finishing my degree 10 years later. The wonderful thing about our friendship is that while we have very similar beliefs on leadership, mission and theology we come from very different backgrounds and we lead in very different contexts. I come from a semi-fundamentalist upbringing where I am a 5th generation pastor. I grew up in white-suburbia where my pastor was a proud dispensationalist graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. LT was raised in...Read More →
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October 12, 2010
God Names You: A Benediction
This Sunday, Ariana Newton, a member of our community gave the following benediction in response to Scott & I’s sermon. I loved it so much that I thought I would share: So may we realize that in this huge cosmos, not just around the globe but throughout time, that God names us. May we take our place in the lineage of those that love God, as opposed to being a city that loves ourselves. May that love translate into how we treat those on our right and left, not here at the church, but at our jobs, schools, communities, and those we come across in our daily grind. May we be the kind of people that love, are generous, show grace, and forgive seventy times...Read More →
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August 4, 2010
And: The Gathered and Scattered Church
A few weeks ago the book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church showed up on my front step (that’s because I bought it of course). This book was written by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay of Adullam Church in Denver, CO. I was interested in this book for a few reasons. First of all, we use the phrase “shaping and sending” in our congregation as a short description of what we are doing. I respect (from afar) what these guys are doing so I was hoping this book would be a bit of the struggles and successes they’ve had in trying to work this out in the context of their community. I wasn’t disappointed. I really, really appreciated hearing their story. They didn’t approach the...Read More →
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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 21, 2010
ViralHope Video
This year I was part of a book project called ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs. You can get it off the Ecclesia Press Website or Amazon. This is the description of the book: “In ViralHope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs, fifty authors take on the task of sharing the good news for their city, together weaving a beautiful tapestry of the gospel in all its depth and complexity. These essays reveal how the gospel lives and breathes in neighborhoods around the world.” EcclesiaPress just published a video about the book which includes some of the centent from the book as the content of the video. Here it is…
