Challenge of the Month - End of October/November 2005

I apologize for not posting in a quite a long time. There are a couple of reasons for (not) doing so. The first is that I really haven't had much to say. I believe that "journaling" is an ebb and flow process and that sometimes it's better just to clam up, read what other people are talking about, and wait until you have something to say, rather than say something just to fill space. The other reason is that I've been extremely busy as the beginning phases to the financial campaign that Southwest Church is going to go through early next year is hitting my areas in a big way.

However, I have thought of a challenge for the end of this month and all next month. By the way, both challenges so far have been successful, and yet not successful. What do I mean. Well, I fulfilled what I set out to do both times - not go to Starbucks, and not chew my nails. Yet I reverted back to doing both - today I went to Starbucks twice, and my nails are "down to the quick" again.

This next challenge of mine is one that will have a lasting effect, however; it's one of those challenges that you either fail completely or succeed completely.

I truly believe that God communicates to us in several different ways - through his Word, through the Spirit, through circumstances, through counsel of others, through prayer to name a few. These have all happened in my life at one time another - some of them I have seen as "big" communicators, some of them as subtle communicators (counsel of others probably being one of those). However, there is one communication process that I firmly believe God uses in my relationship with Him to speak to me and show me things in my life that need changing, or at least need examining. This communication process happens through my reading. I have noticed that as I read through books (I read through several at one time), there always seems to be a consistent theme that flows throughout them - stories, anecdotes, chapter themes, etc. And these themes get emphasized in other ways as well - conversations I have with people, messages at church, stuff I read online being some of those ways.

It is no different with what I'm reading right now. Everything I'm reading points to two themes that are pretty similar: forgiveness and grace. And I know why these themes are running through my reading and through my life. My life has not been an easy one, to say the least. The past few years have been relatively easy, but the rest of it has been one crazy ride. In the process of my life, there are several people who I have harbored resentment, anger and bitterness towards them - the way they have treated me, the situations that they have pushed me into, the way they have wrecked lives of people around me. It has become increasingly difficult to speak of grace and forgiveness in any kind of "church" setting, because I know that I am hypocritical in this area. I know that I cannot tell people that they need to forgive others in their lives when I have so many people that I have not forgiven in my life. I cannot realistically or honestly speak of grace and how it changes hearts, when my heart is filled with ungrace. I think that part of me has always felt that if I forgive someone, or extend grace to someone, that there needed to be an end then to the hurt that I feel as a result of the past. However, as I am reading the book "What's So Amazing About Grace" by Philip Yancey for the hundredth time, he says something that has finally helped me to see past this incorrect thought process. He says this:

"At last I understood: in the final analysis, forgiveness is an act of faith. By forgiving another, I am trusting that God is a better justice-maker than I am. By forgiving, I release my own right to get even and leave all issues of fairness for God to work out. I leave in God's hands the scales that must balance justice and mercy. When Joseph finally came to the place of forgiving his brothers, the hurt did not disappear, but the burden of being their judge fell away. Though wrong does not disappear when I forgive, it loses its grip on me and is taken over by God, who knows what to do...I never find forgiveness easy, and rarely do I find it completely satisfying. Nagging injustices remain, and the wounds still cause pain. I have to approach God again and again, yielding to him the residue of what I thought I had committed to him long ago. I do so because the Gospels make clear the connection: God forgives my debts as I forgive my debtors. The reverse is also true: Only by living in the stream of God's grace will I find the strength to respond with grace towards others."

I could never forgive in the past, because I could never see how the end result of that forgiveness would play out in my life and in the lives of those who have wronged me. Now I realize that I don't have to know the end result. I entrust it to God and allow him to know the end result and free myself from the chains of resentment and anger.

So this is my challenge: to forgive those who have wronged me, and to let them know somehow - not only by telling them so but by showing them through my actions and attitude towards them.

There is a flipside to this as well: thinking of those who I have personally wronged and asking forgiveness from them. Although I will never know everyone who I have hurt and wronged over the years, several people do come to mind.

If you are reading this, please pray for me. This is hard.

More Ready Than You Realize

I'm almost done with this book by McLaren, and it's been pretty good, although the e-mail format makes it hard to read. But I thought that near the end, he does a good job at wrapping up his thoughts into eight separate evangelism "factors". Here they are, in condensed form:

I've been reading "More Ready Than You Realize" by Brian McLaren, which is a book on evangelism, and I thought that eight factors that he talks about at the end of the book was very good for us to think about when it comes to unchurched people and how we can reach out to them - here they are:

1. THE RELATIONAL FACTOR: Count conversations, not just conversions.

Some of us Christians don't "get out much." We run from holy huddle to holy huddle, like squirrels darting from tree to tree, afraid that we will get hammered by a devil or seduced by a temptation.

But if you are willing to get out, reach out, relate to and willing to be a neighbor, a friend, a decent human being, then you are more ready than you realize. You don't start by being religious; you start by being human, relational, neighborly, friendly. If you've forgotten, it is never too late to relearn.

You may have to, as we suggested before, trim back your church activities. Instead of yet another Bible study, you might start coaching basketball, or taking an art class, or volunteering at a retirement community - just to get out a bit. In the process you will meet some people and you will ask some questions, conversations will begin, and a relationship will develop. Don't worry about the content of the conversions. Just get them going and see what happens.

2. THE NARRATIVE FACTOR: Listen to their story, share your story, and share God's story, not just propositions or formulas.

As we have seen throughout this book, somewhere along the line modernity tricked us into thinking that the greatest truths are contained in abstractions rather than stories. We start by honoring the stories around us.

Next time you are on an airplane, don't hurry to stand squashed in the center aisle waiting to deplane at your destination. Just sit there and look at the people. Notice their faces. Imagine the story behind each face. You are story in progress surrounded by stories in progress, and at any moment, your story could intersect with the story of someone else, and as a result, both of your stories will take a novel turn. In the process, both of you will find yourselves part of God's unfolding story too, because God's story intersects with ours at every turn, in every breath, pulsing in every heartbeat.

3. THE COMMUNAL FACTOR: Expect conversion to normally occur in the context of authentic Christian community, not just in the context of information.

Spiritual friendship isn't just about you. You are part of something bigger, something Paul called "the body of Christ." In a real way, Jesus is still here in the flesh through one body composed of thousands and thousands of us. So one of the best things you can do for your friends who don't yet know and love Jesus is to introduce them to your other friends who do.

Jesus said that the love your unconvinced friends observe between you and your fellow disciples will be the most telling evidence possible for his legitimacy. In the context of imperfect but vibrant Christian community, the message of Christ will come alive in a way that a booklet or lecture never could convey. And once your community begins to function as such a portal, a process will be set into motion that will not always be easy, but will be exciting and worthwhile because every new person who comes in will make your community even more ready to welcome the next.

4. THE JOURNEY FACTOR: See disciple-making as a holistic process and unending journey, not just a conversion event.

You will be more comfortable with the journey factor if you understand the difference between four kinds of thinking - boundary, centered, process and journey thinking. (diagrams go here) Boundary thinking is always asking the same question: in or out? Christian or non-Christian?

One of the negative effects of our boundary thinking has been this: What Jesus intended as a starting line became for us a finish line. Because of our boundary thinking, many of us got across the in/out barrier and parked there. But Jesus did not call us to a parking lot, he invited us to an adventure, an odyssey, a journey that will never end. Quite a difference!

5. THE HOLY SPIRIT FACTOR: Believe that God is at work "out there" in everyone (either working from the outside to get in or from the inside to get out), not just "in here" in the church.

Many people are experiencing the Holy Spirit but do not realize it. The Spirit of God reaches out to them through beauty, humor, joy, rest, excitement, justice and mercy. In many ways, we simply come along to help them understand what already surrounds them, as Paul did at Mars Hill in Athens.

One of the tragic ironies of the twentieth century was the continual talk about "church renewal" that preoccupied us with how the Spirit would work through us in our church services. Meanwhile, Jesus was concerned about how the Spirit would work through us in the world outside the church - its ghettoes, art galleries, shops, schools, sidewalks,parks, etc. The Holy Spirit factor reminds us that evangelism is not simply the transmission of information, it is a mysterious encounter between human beings and the Spirit of God, who loves, surrounds, and pursues them gently. It is our privilege to be part of that mysterious encounter.

6. THE LEARNING FACTOR: See evangelism as part of your own discipleship - not just the other person's!

Like Peter with Cornelius, we all find that we learn lessons we never could have otherwise as we reach out with God's love. This learning posture helps protect us from the arrogance and brashness that were too common in our modern-era evangelism, as if we had found "it," figured it out, processed and packaged and sold it, but stopped learning from it ourselves.

7. THE MISSIONAL FACTOR: See evangelism as recruiting people for God's mission on earth, not just people for heaven.

When Jesus says to go and make disciples, teaching the new disciples to do everything Jesus has taught, it is clear that Jesus is not just recruiting "souls" for heaven. He is sending his agents into the world. He is launching a revolution, which he called "the kingdom of God." Hatred and revenge will be replaced by love and mercy; love and greed will be replaced by respect and generosity; luxury and stress will be replaced by joy and rest. We contribute, one life at a time, to changing the world.

The fact is, our mission has two dimensions - a historic, here-and-now, down-to-earth dimension of changing lives, changing cultures and changing history, and an eternal, ultimate, transcendent dimension of helping people become the kinds of people who will enjoy God forever beyond this life.

8. THE SERVICE FACTOR: See evangelism as one facet of our identity as servants to all.

Should we be surprised that Jesus said our role in this earth is not one of critics, cynics, consumers, escapists, controllers, or isolationists - but rather servants? Jesus said he came not to serve but to be served. So the best first step for you as you finish this chapter would be to keep your eyes open - as a servant does, as a waiter does in a restaurant, simply looking for an opportunity to be of service. Anyone can serve...anyone who is willing. And so, if you are willing, you are more ready than you realize.

The Poor You Will Always Have With You, part 2

This article disturbed me in so many ways, that I don't know if I will be able to actually articulate well my thoughts on it, but I will try.

The basic theme of the news article, in case you really don't want to read it, is that Skid Row, the place where most homeless in Los Angeles "live", has become a dumping ground from other cities in Los Angeles County. I guess the idea is that we don't want them in our neighborhood, so let's send them to a place where they can hang out with other unwanted people or something.

I had the opportunity both in college and during my internship at a church in Tucson, Arizona, to spend several weeks down in the inner city of Los Angeles, with an organization called Center for Student Missions. One of the things we did every first night in L.A. was to pray for the city, and the CSM host would take us to different sites around the city and we would pray. We would always go to Skid Row, and it was amazing to see the multi-million dollar hotels and apartments just a block away from Skid Row. It was something that broke your heart. I remember one of my students asking a hotel concierge what they did about the homeless - what she was basically asking was "Does your hotel contribute to missions and programs that minister to the homeless?" What the concierge took her question as was: "How do you protect your hotel guests from these scary homeless people?" So he went on and on about the security procedures that they have, how they kick homeless people off of the street by their hotel very quickly, etc. It was disturbing.

Just typing this out brings to mind so many stories from those missions trips. I remember one morning we went into MacArthur Park, where a lot of homeless people slept. Right before we did this, we all bought breakfast and were pretty hungry after a long night of prayer and ministry. The host showed us all the homeless people and said, "Okay, now you can eat your breakfast. Or you can share your breakfast with people who possibly haven't eaten for days." So we went out and met people and heard heart-breaking stories. One man only talked about his young daughter and how he missed her. One of my students gave another homeless man her Bible. I firmly believe that although we helped a lot of people on those missions trips and everything, the inner-city missions trips helped us. They changed us. They made us realize that Jesus was out on the streets of L.A. They reminded us that Jesus didn't have a place to lay his head. They broke our hearts.

Another disturbing thing about the article was when they talked about the elderly people who couldn't afford care anymore in nursing homes getting dropped off in Skid Row. I remember a quote I heard a long time ago that basically said that you can tell a lot from a country by how they treat their elderly and their young.

Whoa...

Okay, so I pretty much don't read/watch/pay attention to the news very much. I mean, I might have been the last person to know about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and destruction and all. I just don't pay attention.

However, I was looking up an article on wikipedia - the free online encyclopedia - when I glanced at the news area.

It said that President Bush nominated a woman by the name of Harriet Miers to fill O'Connor's spot on the Supreme Court.

Well, I was rather surprised. No, actually, my jaw dropped, because Harriet Miers attended the church that I worked at in Dallas. She was a long-time member, and, although she left ("temporarily", she said) about four months after I got there - Bush tapped her to be the staff secretary - the person in charge of all incoming mail and correspondence to the White House - I had met her and she seemed to have a real good head on her shoulders. She was good friends with an elder at our church (okay, they dated over the years), who also was on the Texas Supreme Court, and I remember wondering one time if we would ever see Nathan on the U.S. Supreme Court.

It turns out I wondered about the wrong one.

Well, Harriet, I hope you're confirmed. Although some conservatives are mad because they don't think you are conservative enough - and you donated some money to Al Gore's campaign - ironic, considering you ended up working for the other guy - I think you will do a great job!

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.