An Interesting Quote From Detective Tony

I've been rereading the book by Tony Campolo called Speaking My Mind - I read it a year or two ago or so, and I remembered that I thought that some of his views on theology and the church were pretty out there. But then I remembered that I have changed a lot of my thinking during that time, so I started reading it again and found out that a lot of what I've been thinking about is talked about in his book (at least so far) - namely women leadership in the church, racism, and more.

I labeled Campolo as Detective Tony, because although the subtitle of his book calls him a prophet, he resists that name and calls himself more of a detective - someone who "works hard trying to ferret out the truth about what God is doing in the church and in the world, and the part we are to have in that work." Hence the name.

Anyway, I thought this was an interesting quote as I'm always struggling with the idea of marketing within the church. Here it is:

"It has been said that Christianity started in Israel; was exported to Greece, where it was made into a philosophy; taken to Rome, where it was made into an organization; sent to Europe, where it was made into a culture; and sent finally to America, where it was made into a business enterprise."

I am just now getting into Campolo's chapter on Evangelicalism and Science - should be interesting, especially considering that he brings up a book that Roger, the senior minister of the church I am worship minister at, has talked about in a message. The book is called "Flatland" and it's written by a mathematician who talks about the dimensions of the universe. In the book (according to Roger and Campolo), he brings up an illustration of what it would be like if a three-dimensional person arrived on a two-dimensional planet. He could do "miracles", at least in the eyes of the two-dimensional people, because he could "disappear", i.e. because he's three dimensional, by jumping up, he would be on a different dimension than the two-dimensional people see. I will probably post again on this illustration and apply it to our increasing understanding of the universe, and how the Bible was written in a time when people thought the earth was flat, and how slowly Christianity accepts new ideas that come out in the science realm - but that's way too much thinking for this early in the morning!

Just when I thought the apocalypse was happening right now...

with all of the hurricanes and the earthquake in los angeles yesterday, as well as the fact that our neighbor finally parked one of their cars in their driveway for the first time since they've moved in, I mean they don't live right next door, but since the only thing next to us right now is the construction trailer and the nearest house is three lots away I guess you could say that they are our neighbors, anyway they have something like nine cars that they park along the street and it is really annoying but today one car was actually in the driveway like I said a minute ago, anyway back on the topic, just went I thought the apocalypse was happening and that I should go on ebay and find an old copy of "88 reasons why the rapture will happen in 1988", or at least find an old Hal Lindsey book or even rent A Thief In The Night which was a lot better than some of the other cruddy movies that came out in the '70's and '80's with the Christian moniker on them, like SuperChristian and An Ordinary Guy, just when I thought I needed to check for the mark of the beast on people's heads at Kroger or was the mark of the beast supposed to be on our wrists, I don't remember, just when I thought the apocalypse was happening and the Russians took over America like in Red Dawn or Amerika or at least they nuked us like in The Day After, just when I thought the apocalypse was happening, one of my favorite shows found its way back on the air.

For Napoleon Dynamite Fans

I loved the movie Napoleon Dynamite.

For those of you who also love that movie and need another Napoleon fix, here are some commercials, video and audio, that ran for the Utah State fair and featured Napoleon and Pedro. Enjoy!

Video Commercials:

The Horse

The Duel

The Box - never could get this one to work right

Audio Commercials:

Ninjas

Cakes

Sesquicentennial

Diary

Pedro's Song

Nothing Without You

Take these hands and lift them up
For I have not the strength
to praise You near enough
See, I have nothing
I have nothing without You

Take my voice and pour it out
Let it sing the songs of mercy
I have found
For I have nothing
I have nothing without You

And all my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing without You

Take my body and build it up
May it be broken as an offering of love
For I have nothing
I have nothing without You

And all my soul needs
Is all Your love to cover me
So all the world will see
That I have nothing

That I love You
With all my heart
With all my soul
With all my mind
And all the strength I can find

Take my time here on this earth
And let it glorify all that You are worth
For I am nothing
I am nothing without You

- Nothing Without You by Bebo Norman

A Chest Full Of Treasure

I have been trying to remember a certain website ever since I moved from Arizona to Ohio - I knew that it was a website that had a bunch of Christian classic books online to look at, but I couldn't remember the web address. Then, I was in the middle of reading The Holy Wild by Mark Buchanan tonight, and in his footnotes, he tells what website it is. Thank God! I thought I would never find it again.

Go to this treasure chest to find classics such as Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross, Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Augustine's Confessions and City of God, Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, and more. I prefer having the written copy to read, but online reading isn't too bad, especially since it's free!

Simon Weisenthal Dies

Simon Weisenthal died today. He was a Jewish man who survived five different stints in concentration camps during World War II, and was instrumental after the war in finding and capturing Nazi criminals, including one of the masterminds behind the attempted extermination of the Jewish people, Adolf Eichmann.

I wonder if his life has been made into a movie or not - it would be an interesting one to watch, I would think.

What An Opportunity...

One of the things that really impressed me about Velvet Elvis (the book by Rob Bell) is the "behind the scenes" background to some of what Jesus did and taught. For example, when Rob talks about "the yoke", as well as "the dust from the rabbi's feet", it really opened up to me how significant it was for Jesus to call these ordinary men, men who had already "flunked out" of rabbinical training - to be his disciples.

Anyway, if you read the notes in the back of the book, you find out that Rob Bell gets some of his background information from the teachings of Dwight Pryor, who teaches the Bible from a Jewish perspective (He's a Christian). I looked at the website that Rob Bell gives in his notes, and sent an e-mail to see what I could do to be a part of what is called The Haverim - a group of people who study the Bible from, again, a Jewish perspective. In the mail today, I received a CD, as well as several other pieces of literature and advertisements for upcoming events - in the same area where I live. I thought that was odd, until I looked at where Dwight Pryor's ministry is based out of - Dayton, OH. Right up the street from me. That's exciting news. There is a seminar that's coming up, but unfortunately it's a little out of my price range. However, I am contemplating joining The Haverim at 10 bucks a month to receive the teachings.

What a "coincidence" that this ministry is located so close to me. It's exciting news.

Forget Home Schooling, The Christian Thing To Do Now Is Home Churching!

Although I know that this article isn't true (it does come from The Onion, after all), I can definitely see some people from the church I worked at in Dallas actually jumping on board with this idea. After all, they were all about controlling everything about their kids anyway, why not control what they learn at church by churching them by themselves?

The Beauty of Simplicity

We sang the song "Beauty of Simplicity" at church today, and it reminded me of something I recently read in a book:

- The problem we face today needs very little time for its statement. Our lives in a modern city grow too complex and overcrowded...we are too busy to be good wives to our husbands, good homemakers, good companions of our children, good friends to our friends, and with no time at all to be friends to the friendless. But if we withdraw from public engagements and interests, in order to spend quiet hours with the family, the guilty calls of citizenship whisper disquieting claims in our ears...but we're weary and breathless. And we know and regret that our life is slipping away, with our having tasted so little of the peace and joy and serenity we are persuaded it should yield to a soul of wide caliber. The times for the deeps of the silences of the heart seem so few. And in guilty regret we must postpone till next week that deeper life of unshaken composure in the holy Presence, where we sincerely know our true home is, for this week is much too full.


True words for today's time. Except this was written by Thomas Kelly, in the book A Testament of Devotion, back in 1941. Before the internet (Al Gore may have been alive, but he hadn't invented it yet, ha), before interstate highways, before two income families (mostly, at least). And yet, even back then the pull to a busy life was a temptation.

I live in a community where everyone is entirely too busy. Between keeping up with their kids' schedules with seventeen different sports and activities, work and a little church on the side, people are too busy. I yearn for a life that is simpler, a life that isn't so busy, yet it's hard to say no, isn't it?

Chris Simpson

The guy above - his name is Chris Simpson. The first thing you might notice about him is that he looks (at least in this picture) like that guy named Charlie on the T.V. show "Lost". (The actor's name is Dominic Monaghan) Chris is pretty well known in music circles, at least in independent music circles. He was in a band named Mineral, who along with Sunny Day Real Estate are credited as a couple of the pioneers of the "emo" music style. Later, after Mineral disbanded, he and the bassist founded the popular independent band The Gloria Record. Now he's doing some solo stuff, from what I've heard.

Chris and I were in a band together in the early 90's, called Mortal Enemy. That band, alas, did not survive (we were real close to signing with R.E.X. records, well, I should say they because by that time I was out of the band due to being in California in college), but obviously Chris went on to bigger and better things. I bring Chris up because not only was he a friend of mine (every once in a long while I'll hear from him, most likely I'll hear about him from another friend), but because he really taught me how to pray. I had learned in my home church to pray, eyes closed, face towards the ground, with as many KJV sounding words as I possibly could. Chris didn't pray that way. He had his eyes open, face towards the sky, and he simply prayed like he was talking to a friend. And he was.

Why did I start thinking about this today? I have no idea. Maybe it's because as a minister, I feel like I need to impress people with my prayers on Sunday mornings during the worship service. Or even because I want to make a good impression on my fellow staff members by praying powerful, wordy prayers - focusing my whole attention on the crafting on the prayer than the relationship behind the prayer. I want to become more like Chris. I guess I'm going to have to start doing some worship songs with an emo sound, though.

Velvet Elvis Discussion Group With Rob Bell

Thanks to the heads-up from my buddy John, I have enrolled in an online discussion group class for Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis. Rob Bell will be a part of the group, and I'm very excited to be a part of this, since his book has really caused me to rethink several things about the Christian life. Class starts October 3rd.

Grow Your Crowder

I'm really excited about the release of David Crowder's new CD "A Collision" - I preordered it today, not only to receive the CD when it comes out, but because of all the goodies that is sent with the CD (at least according to my friend Darrin). The CD comes out September 27, and to help us all celebrate this new release (it has been two years since Illumination), I am encouraging everyone to grow your very own "crowder". I know this is a little more difficult for the womenfolk to do, but that's no excuse. Maybe women can rise up in celebration and grow an armpit crowder.

Of course, because I'm the one to think of this celebration idea, I am exempt from growing a crowder. Plus my wife would kill me.

"The poor you will always have with you" - at least that's one of our many excuses...

I happened across this great article written after the devastation that took place this month in New Orleans. I'm not going to say much about what took place, better writers than me have done a great job analyzing both the tragedy, and the poor response by our government to give aid.

As I was looking online at some of these discussions, as well as horrific pictures in Time Magazine about the aftermath of the hurricane, I was also reminded about a book I just recently finished, called "The Last Word and The Word After That" by Brian McLaren. It's the conclusion to his wonderful "A New Kind Of Christian" trilogy. I think that people have been so focused on the fact that McLaren doesn't really come right out and explain really what his view on hell is - is he a universalist, does he not believe in a literal hell, etc. The great thing for us about focusing on that part of this book is that it continues to keep us away from the real questions we should be asking ourselves after reading this book: Do I really believe that eternal life begins now and not only in the future (after all, eternal life is knowing Jesus and the one who sent Him), and if I believe it, why am I not concerned about the same things Jesus was concerned about while he was here on earth? Namely, the poor, the downtrodden, those who are sick and need healing. Christian "leaders" (I use that term loosely) have already come out and blamed the hurricane on the Mardi Gras celebrations that take place in New Orleans every year - again, another great distraction (one that isn't true, by the way) that will take our mind off of what we should be doing - helping the poor.

I was talking with my eighty-two-year-old grandmother today (she came into town unexpectedly, but it was nice to see her again), and she brought up the fact that the middle class was created in the 20th century so that the poor wouldn't focus on the rich, and the rich didn't have to worry about the poor. I don't know if I agree with her assertion, but it does make me think about it. The poor could aspire to become middle class, and the rich didn't have to take care of the poor or worry about them, because there was always the chance that the poor could move up to the middle of the economic ladder. The problem is that those who belong to the middle class are always looking up - how to get rich, how to keep up with those who are reaching that rich rung of the ladder quicker than ourselves - and we certainly don't want to think about those below us, those poorer than ourselves. Again, another way to distance ourselves away from people with real needs.

The Missional Church Foundation Model

This is the missional church foundation model. Part of me hates these two pictures, because basically everything about my position as a worship minister at a church follows right along with the traditional church model. My whole job is basically about what takes place during the Sunday services. And I like it. However, my heart is also with the other model, because I believe that that church model is more healthy. So once again, I find myself having to become almost spiritually and "churchilly" (yes, I made that up) bipolar so that I can survive in the church culture.

The Traditional Church Foundation Model

Well, my internet connection finally was worked out, so I can actually post something again finally. Let's just say it's not fun when your DSL company keeps sending your bill to a different city because according to its computer, the community you live in doesn't exist.

Anyway, a couple of posts ago, I alluded to Dan Kimball's book "Emerging Worship", and in that book, he did a good job of describing the huge difference foundationally between a regular church and a missional church. So, voila, I found the diagrams I did when I read the book (yes, they're in black and white and not very good, but you'll get the point, I think), so above is the first model, which is what churches usually do.

Challenge Of The Month: September 2005

Okay, so I got through one challenge successfully so far. And to celebrate my victory, I went to Starbucks today and got a triple venti Mocha. What's nice though is that I don't really crave Starbucks anymore. If I have it, I have it, but I don't have to go almost every day to get my fix. I have learned to trade really good coffee (Starbucks) for pretty cruddy coffee (mine). And the money that I saved on Starbucks will go to people who most definitely need it right now.

I have two challenges this month - one that I can't share until after the month is over, and one that I can share that will probably seem a little silly. The one I can share has to do with a habit I've had for years and years and years. It's something I do so subconsciously without even thinking about it - especially when I'm driving or riding in a car. Or I'm in a meeting. Or in a hundred other places.

I bite my fingernails.

Again, silly - but I've done it for so long, that I really don't know if I can handle this challenge. I have to figure out some kind of signal I can give myself when I'm about ready to start biting. Hmmm. If you have any ideas, let me know.

We'll see what happens.

Untitled Rant

One thing that I like about The Ooze Website is the amount of poetry and other short forms of writing expression that they "publish" on their website.

Today, I was looking on The Ooze for the first time in a month or so, and saw this poem. The reason I link to it here is that it is something that I struggle with the Church as a whole as we try to seek the heart of God when it comes to success and results. Does success hinge upon the usual church ABC's (attendance/buildings/cash) or does it hinge upon something else? And is that something else even measurable? I don't think it is, personally - who can really measure whether actual transformation is taking place in someone's life? You can fake it. You can lie about it. Sure, eventually people figure out that you're really not where you say you are on your journey of faith, but by that time you can leave that church and find another one to fool.

This is something I think about all the time. Unfortunately, thinking about it doesn't mean coming up with an answer.