A Great Weekend And Pending News

This past weekend was a great time for our family as we got to hang out with friends we hadn't seen in a long while. They live about 500 miles away and one of the things that I like about long car rides is the opportunity that it affords me to listen to sermons, really rap about stuff with my wife, catch up with old friends on the phone, play silly games with my boys in the backseat, and of course - observe church signs along the way.

Now, I'm not a big fan of church signs in general. I kinda share these guys philosophy. I think most of the time, they make Christians look stupid and retarded, as opposed to real and authentic. However, I saw one yesterday that I had to share the photo of.

I love it. And I would love to meet Pastor Greg.

It is so dis-heartening to see how many times we just don't think Jesus will get it done to reach a lost world. We think we have to come up with clever tricks. We think we have to "market" the church or worse, we feel we have to "market" Jesus. And in reality, I just find this sign a good reminder to always remember that the tomb is empty. That Jesus did win the victory. And that in the end, He'll build his church, not me.

It was a great weekend and one that jacked me up about being being a church planter. I am so excited about what I'm doing right now.

Along those lines, some big news coming up later today. Some major changes and steps forward being taken.

Stay tuned…

Now You Can Be Part Of The Fun

The audio from the Text and Context conference in Seattle is now online. I want to take a little bit to say here that this was an absolutely life changing conference for me and these are the messages that God used to do that. In them, you will find extremely challenging statements and probably more than once find yourself with your head swimming.

They are not light. They are not easy. And as a general rule, they are directed at men who will are or will be leading a church. If you are on a church staff, wanting to be on a church staff, or looking at planting a church, you need to listen to these. I'll link to them in the order they were preached. Right click on the link to download the Mp3.

Putting Preachers In Their Place - Mark Driscoll
Pastoral Character And Loving People - CJ Mahaney (GOD ROCKED MY WORLD THROUGH THIS ONE)
Why I Trust The Scriptures - John Piper
Fear And Trembling In The Experience Economy - Jim Gilmore (THIS GUY IS BRILLIANT)
Preaching The Gospel From The Center Of the Evangelical World - Matt Chandler
How My Pastoral Ministry Shapes My Pulpit Ministry - John Piper
Vision Of A Church Planter - Matt Chandler
How Do I Distinguish Between the Gospel and false gospels - John Piper
Decoding The Future - The Phoniness - And The Shifting Sands - Jim Gilmore

Driscoll ended with a Q & A time that I don't see online anywhere. Hopefully that will be available sometime in the future. Take a listen, you won't be sorry you did!

In God’s Name

Okay, not sure how many folks actually caught this Sunday night on CBS, but if you didn't, I hope you can go online and watch it. I DVR'd it and I have to say that I think it was absolutely fascinating to me.

I think sometimes we get locked into our world of western Christianity and get really myopic about the universal nature of man's search for God. No matter who this show focused on last night, one thing came shining through (whether they would express it this way or not): God created man in His image, in His image He created man. And because we were created in God's image and lost paradise due to sin, we are left with an "insatiable thirst for God" as one of the spiritual leaders put it.

And that is universal, no matter where you go on Earth. Man knows (even if he doesn't recognize it consciously) that he is incomplete without God. The Book of Romans came to life for me as I watched. I don't see how it couldn't.

Here are some miscellaneous thoughts as I sit here:

• There seems to be a vast difference in the "reverence for God" category between the Eastern and Western world. We always talk about how "commercialized" Christianity has become in America, but last night you could really see it on display. We have lost the mystical "aura" if you will of worshipping God.
  
• There should be no doubt in the difference of living standards or how blessed we are in America after watching last night.
  
• I was glad that they didn't paint Frank Page (President of the SBC) as a narrow minded bigot or hate-monger. They did a good job of conveying who he truly is I believe.
  
• The more I see the interaction between the Catholic faithful and the Pope, the more concerned and convinced I am that true "idolatry" is taking place. One thing you couldn't miss from this piece is the "rock star" status of the Pope.
  
• The "hugging goddess" Amma was probably the most intriguing for me. This woman has hundreds of people line up every day jus to get an embrace from her. I think the thing I took away from her was just the simple power of listening and empathy.
  
• It's amazing to me how the communal nature of faith is readily evident to everyone but us in the United States. I mean truly. I watched this last night and was amazed at how communal all of the other faiths were by nature, not by programming. And this, I believe, is one of the most significant challenges we face in America because Christianity is by nature lived out in community. And yet, I think the thing we struggle with most in our churches is seeing authentic community develop. And from watching last night, I can see where we as people in America are simply not by nature communal anymore. At least not in the sense that other religions or cultures are.
  

More to come as I re-watch it.

Don’t Call Me Eric Clapton

But I did buy this guitar yesterday. It's a Taylor 100 series that I purchased from Springfield Music Company. My good friend and strikingly good looking worship leader Dennis Smith assisted me with the purchase. Truth be told, he actually picked out the guitar and I just purchased it. I have no idea what I was looking for so I trusted his very good judgment.

I've started playing and I took my first lesson from Mr. Smith yesterday. And I have to say this: If you ever want to feel your left hand fingers, don't ever pick up a guitar. My hand hurts bad and I've only been playing for a day. I've also read that guitar players have a hard time picking their nose accurately so I'm not looking forward to that. I'm a frequent nose picker (like my schnaz to be clean) and the thought of not being able to feel the dirty elements that might collect inside my nostril is not appealing to me. I'll make due. I might have to find a nose squeegee or something. Not sure if there are actually things called nose squeegees but I've now given you a good idea for an invention.

So why did I spend $650 on a musical instrument. Well, two reasons really. And both are good and valid in my opinion.

1. Because if I going to plant a church, I want to be able to lead small groups, big groups, the church, youth, kids, anyone in a time of musical worship. I've seen too many people resort to playing CD's or alike and I just think that it's important to be able play the guitar. It's a good sounding instrument, easy to learn comparatively, and just a Godly instrument in my estimation. Some of my fondest memories are sitting around a bonfire with someone playing the guitar and leading us in singing. I want to be able to do that.
2. More importantly, I want to be able to lead my family in worship. I have to confess I haven't been the best in the world at leading a regular worship time for my wife and boys, but I wanted that to change. I'm not interested in the piano, but I'm fascinated with the guitar. Been playing an air version of it most of my adult life. I think it's important to teach and lead our families as men into worship. That's the responsibility God's given me. And I hope I can be faithful in fulfilling that responsibility.

And if I had my doubts as to whether I was on the right track, you should have seen my boy's faces when I strummed just a simple G chord for them. I think we're in for a dandy of a time. I want to leave a strong spiritual legacy for my family.

Pray for me if you think about it. Pray that God would teach me the guitar in record time. Pray that my fingers would feel numb faster. Pray that God use my time with the guitar as glorifying to Him. And thank you Dennis for going with me.

The Jonah Syndrome Turns A Year Old

It was one year ago today that I did my first post from a hotel after attending The Supremacy Of Christ In A Postmodern World. I can still remember those days in Minneapolis very clearly. We all experience spiritual mountaintops and valleys in our lives, and at that time of my life, I was definitely on top of the mountain.

I've learned a lot about blogging in the past year. I've also discovered that I've got so much more to learn. Some of my posts have been of value, some of them I admit didn't add much to any discussion at all. But prayerfully, I hope to continue adding to discussions in lives and encouraging people to flesh out their Christian life in the interesting questions and situations of life. As I look back, I would say that my better posts from the last year have been:

• Affliction And Hope – Emulating Jesus In A Dark, Dying, And Decaying World
  
• Things A Father Can Teach You
  
• A Virginia Tech Tribute
  
• What Did You Take For Granted This Morning
  
• A Tribute To Two Moms And One Wife
  
• 54 Years And Still At It
  
• A Rough Vision For A Church I Will Plant
  
• Dads – Be Your Kids Heroes
  

I had 250 posts this past year – far less than 1 a day but right on track with my current schedule of posting Monday – Friday. It's been a good experience for me and one that has certainly forced me to keep thinking.

I've also had the privilege of coming across EXTREMELY helpful blogs in the last year since I started this endeavor. When I posted the first time, I had no idea what RSS was or what the blogosphere was about. Today I read 100 blogs a day and know a lot more about the different angles that the sphere presents. Here are the blogs I would say are the MOST helpful to me:

• Al Mohler's Blog
  
• Justin Taylor
  
• Tim Challies
  
• Desiring God
  
• Ed Stetzer
  
• Faith By Hearing
  
• Devon Hudson
  
• Said At Southern (Tony Kummer And Mr. Brister Rock)
  
• Seth Godin
  
• Penelope Trunk (A Guilty Pleasure – But She Has Good Things To Say Sometimes)
  
• Unashamed Workman
  

And there are hundreds more. But starting off with these certainly wouldn't put you on a bad path. Thabiti, the Pyros, Steve Camp, Milton Stanley, Brian Thornton, the Reformissionary, the Resurgence, Denny Burk, Andy Naselli, Adrian Warnock, et all are also names and blogs you should visit and track down. Build your list for yourself but make sure you tune into the right bloggers and not the wrong ones.

I look forward to another year if God would allow it. I'm learning and hopefully the next year will be better than the last in terms of blog content and effectiveness. Thank you for being on the journey with me…

Back Where It All Began

And this is where it all began. 12 years ago I met someone like no other. A good friend, and a good man. Today we went back on the campus of Missouri State University and hung out for a while. We checked out all the places that we use to rule over a decade ago.

And while so much has changed on campus, things absolutely stay the same. A few things hit me today:

- I am old, and I am not cool
- I am ugly and college people are not
- I am smarter now than I used to be, but these people think they're brilliant (how much they have to learn)
- Churches have no idea what it's going to take to reach college campuses like this. They are hurting, and desperately in need of Jesus, but they will not come to programs at your church. They are a community all unto themselves and you will HAVE to go to them. There's just no other alternative
- College was fun. And in some moments, I wish I could go back. I loved those times, not so much for the craziness I was engaged in but because of the community of people I was a part of. Which got me to thinking:

Why can't churches build community like college campuses do? Why are churches so isolationist while college is so communal? Is it just because they live together in tight quarters? I don't think that's the whole reason. I think more and more it's because they are there to experience a new phase of life and they are looking for folks to experience it with.

Which differs from the church because A) We don't believe we enter new phases of life, we just think we have life and B) We DO NOT seek folks to experience it with. Parents and older folks just become more isolationist in the way they live. College kids gravitate towards community. Older folks don't. I think that's why I feel at home at college campuses or around young folks because community is something I thrive on.

12 years ago, in the room two windows above my head in this picture, the guy on my right walked in and sat down. He didn't come to win a theological argument. He didn't come to convince me of my sin. He cam in the power of the Holy Spirit and out of love for a friend, and he shared what was on his heart. In that room, God changed my heart, made me a new creation, and set me on a path of being a disciple of Jesus. George did what the majority of new Christians are not willing to do today and he just invested in the life of another human being.

He listened. He didn't judge. He held firm to what he believed. He shared what was appropriate. He spoke the truth. He hung out. He guided. He listened (so important I listed it twice). I'm eternally grateful that he did. But I'm more grateful that Jesus died the death I should have died and lived the life I should have lived.

I'm glad George is here this week. It's been a good time of looking back, enjoying today, and dreaming about tomorrow.

2:45 P.M (Central Daylight Time)

August 12th. When we arrived home in Nixa, MO. We made it. And God truly was amazing during the trip and answered so many prayers we had. Jenni was able to stay awake - which almost never happens. The boys were awesome during the trip. No automobile troubles. All valuable electronics and other assorted items made it to the rental house in tact. Now we wait for the rest of our stuff to arrive this coming Saturday.

Last night was awesome. And I'll be blogging more about it over the coming days, but I had the privelege of attending an event called "Celebrate Lifepoint". It was a Sunday night service at LifePoint Church in Ozark, MO. LifePoint is an Acts 29 church and is pastored by a good looking bald gentleman named Lane Harrison.

Lane, I, and several others are leaving today to go to St. Louis for a couple days to attend an Acts29 quarterly meeting at The Journey. It should be a great time to get to know a lot of the pastors in the network here in the Midwest and also to talk with folks about church planting and just getting to know them in general. Be looking for the updates and highlights from this.

For those who prayed for our trip home - Thank You. For those who didn't - we love you too.

Freedom Isn't Free - Politically Or Religiously!

This is cool, I don't care who you are: Link to the story here!

Caution - The Jonah Syndrome Is Rated R

Why did I receive this rating?

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
death (6x)
hell (4x)
hurt (3x)
kill (2x)
crap (1x)

Now I have to tell you, that's just bogus. How am I going to be a pastor if my blog is rated "R". I mean...I haven't killed anyone or done anything to intentionally hurt anyone's feelings. Is it my fault hell is real? I mean, crap, can't we just face death with some preparedness and readiness?

(HT: Reformissionary)

I Don't Know Why - But This Intrigues Me

The International Bible Society is coming out with a "Bible" that will have NO chapter, verse, section, title, or footnote designations. What you will be reading is essentially what the document would look like had you gotten a letter in the mail I suppose.

I've always wondered what the orginal scrolls looked like. And what it would be like to read the "fresh" letter without it being "arranged" as it were for us today. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go chuck my ESV Bible into the river or anything, but this might be kinda cool to take a look at.

(HT: Transforming Sermons)

Ever Wonder What God's View Looks Like?

Then check out this picture of a sunset over the Pacific Ocean!