Posts

Posted on

TGIF

This is the last TGIF before summer vacation ends. Beginning next Friday, the letters TGIF will begin to mean more. 🙂 Jan and I spent the past two days at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. We were volunteering at the World Vision table here at the Charlotte site, and were able to sit in on all the sessions for free. We enjoyed it and learned some valuable things. If you’ve get a chance to go to a Leadership Summit, check it out. It’s more than just mega-church CEO type leadership stuff.

Now, it’s with great pleasure that I present to you the links of the week:

Holy listening. Sarah Gillis writes the winning entry in the wrecked.org social justice writing contest. Dr. Lewis thinks we should all listen to this. Jared Wilson gives us 25 evangelical myths. Alan Knox on distractions to worship. Planetshaken, but not stirred. Jonathan Brink on true fundamentalism. Interesting series on Genesis one. Part 1 is here. John Armstrong asks if we have a theological deficit. Jeff McQ has been rethinking his views on worship.

Enjoy your reading and have a great weekend.

Posted on

World Vision Wednesday

Ten things you need to know about human trafficking:

1. Girls are trafficked into many industries beside brothels

2. Trafficking is visible; trafficking is accepted

3. Dirty jobs fuel trafficking demand

4. People smuggling is not considered trafficking

5. Trafficking victims most often “rescue themselves”

6. Adoption is still a trafficking risk

7. As many as one in five trafficking survivors fall prey a second time

8. Boys and men are trafficked too

9. Disability is attractive to traffickers

10. There is no one profile of a trafficker

For a far more detailed explanation, go here.

Jan and I are going to be at the Charlotte site for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit simulcast tomorrow and Friday. We will be at the World Vision table. If you’re there, stop in and say hello.

Posted on

TGIF

This has been kind of a slow week for me. Yesterday, I spent about 5 hours helping Jan move everything that belongs to her out of the classroom where she’s been teaching. It was hard for her to pack up all the stuff that accumulates over a period of years that was such a major part of our lives. We’re both looking forward to the next thing the Father has for us on our journey.

As usual, here are the links:

Alan Knox has a couple of good posts up, here and here. iMonk writes about caricatures. Spirit vs structure. Jonathan gets honest with himself. Don Miller on stories. Sometimes the questions are tough. Crazy things dogs have eaten. Scot McKnight reviews a book about forgiveness. John Armstrong on Judge Sotomayor.

Jeff McQ claims he hasn’t backslidden. Short but sweet from fr’nklin. Karen Swank writes on value, beauty, and worth. Are there non-negotiable beliefs for Christians?

Have a great weekend.

Posted on

What Kind of Questions?

Last week fr’nklin posted this quote: “Apologetics is answering the questions raised by our lives.” This is a brilliant statement, and a much better way of looking at apologetics than I had ever heard before.

As we talked about this, we wondered about the kinds of questions currently being asked about the church. Questions like, “Why does the church hate gays?” How about, “Why can’t people in the church get along?” Maybe you’ve heard, “Why is the church always asking for money?” Then there’s, “Why do churches need those big buildings?” When these questions are asked, the answers that are given usually have little to do with the teachings of Jesus.

What if people began to ask, “Why do those people share their things with others?” What if, instead of asking why we’re against certain people, folks asked why we showed love to everyone, even those who were hostile to us. When the religious leaders in Jerusalem were questioning the disciples, they wondered about the fact that they were unschooled, but then took note of the fact that those men had been with Jesus. Imagine the questions this raised in those leaders’ minds.

When those around us see our lives, what kinds of questions do they ask? Do they take note that we have been with this religious group or that church, or do they see that we have been with Jesus?

Posted on

World Vision Wednesday

In the country of Niger, students normally register for school by the age of seven. If they are not registered by then, they may not be able to get into school. The older they get, the less chance they have of going to school.

World Vision is changing that in one village. You can read more here.

Posted on

TGIF

This has been quite the week. Jan and I went to the beach for a couple of days, after learning that Jan is going to have to look for another job. We had a wonderful time, and it was good to get away from everything and everybody for awhile. After we came back, we officially left the congregation we have worshiped with for the past 14 years. Josh came home last night from his two month sojourn in California. On top of all that, yesterday’s post was number 200. Wooo hooot!

Anyway, here are the links of the week:

The real question is, what is Jesus doing? Ben MacKinnon reflects on faith. The God of the OT vs the God of the NT. Here is a good post on theme parks and wilderness. Alan Knox puts the ekklesia in context. Kingdom vs church. Just beyond the 100th time. iMonk riffs on post-evangelicalism.

Good post from Jeff McQ. Should a Christian use acupuncture? Scot McKnight continues his series titled, “Beginning with God,” with part 8. Mark Roberts begins a series on the Christian life (HT: Scot McKnight).

Posted on

The Road Winds a Little More

A few years ago (at least it seems like just a few years), The Hollies sang a song which began, “The road is long, with many a winding turn.” That pretty much sums up my journey, and the road is winding a bit more now. The bends have become sharper and the road ahead is a little harder to see. Things have changed in our lives the last couple of weeks.

The school where Jan and I taught (me for ten years, and Jan for fourteen) has closed. The enrollment had dwindled to the point where the school could no longer afford to operate. It’s sad to see a place you’ve poured your life into, a place your children graduated from, close its doors. It’s also sad to watch as people try to lay blame. As in many Christian organizations, unfortunately, there are a number of people who have been hurt. I don’t want to get caught up in the blame game, because it does the Kingdom no good at all. Regardless of the reasons, the fact remains that those who worked at the school, including Jan, are now looking for work. So, that’s one bend in the road.

The other thing that has happened is that we have left the congregation we have been a part of for the last fourteen years. Over the past months, we have come to the realization that God is leading us in a different direction than the one in which that group is going. What that is going to mean for the future, we don’t know. We do know that the Father is leading us, so there is not a concern in that area. We have been part of a house church that meets on Sunday nights for about half a year, and a friend and I are seriously thinking about beginning a fellowship on Sunday mornings. We’ll see where God leads.

So, the road sometimes seems long, and there are many winding turns. But, as another line in the song says, “We’ll get there.”

Posted on

TGIF

We spent the biggest part of this week cleaning out the garage. It’s kind of fun finding out you have things that you forgot you had.

Without further ado, here are the links:

Brian Onken writes about Jesus’ timing. Jesse Medina reviews The Hole in Our Gospel. N.T. Wright on the question of gay clergy. What is your reaction to this? Imperfect spirituality. Alan Knox writes about koinonia. By the rivers of Babylon. Stories behind 10 T.V. theme songs and the world’s smallest microwave (HT: Brother Maynard).

Josh has a regret. What is an “average church?” A new riff from iMonk. What if winning means losing? How many of these do you drink? (HT: Scot McKnight) Scot McKnight has a series titled, “Never Alone.” Part 1 is here. John Armstrong has a series on Christian marriage. Part 1 is here. Jeff McQ on practicology. Grace talks subversion.

I hope your weekend is restful.

Posted on

World Vision Wednesday

In the Darfur region of Sudan, fighting has forced millions into temporary camps, threatening food security. World Vision is providing emergency assistance and agricultural training, helping women rebuild their lives.

Read more here.

Posted on

House of God

Saturday, as we were driving home from Grandfather Mountain, I noticed a sign by the side of the road. The sign read, “Burning Bush House of God – The Place Where God Is.”

My first thought was that it seemed a bit arrogant to call your church the house of God. Then I realized that this church was only stating up front what many congregations feel about their church buildings. Parents tell their children to be quiet in God’s house, songs are sung about bringing praise into the house of the Lord, and people talk about going to church to meet with God.

The problem with this kind of thinking is that it comes from a faulty view of our relationship with God. It is a view based in the Old Covenant, where there was a Temple that was the centralized place of worship. This building was the place where the people would go to sacrifice, to bring their tithes and offerings. The Temple was the center of the Jewish nation, of their way of life.

Jesus came as the fulfillment of everything the Temple and its sacrifices represented. He fulfilled the Law and turned the entire system of worship upside down. Now, the Spirit of God would dwell within the followers of Jesus. The temple would no longer be a building made with human hands, but would be those who believed on the Messiah, both individually and corporately. There is no longer a “house of God.”

We no longer need to go to a particular location to worship God. We don’t “go to church,” we are the church. While there is nothing wrong with followers of Jesus gathering together in a building, we should never think that we can only worship God at certain times or at certain places. Jesus said that he is in the midst of any group gathered in his name. That gathering can take place in a “church” building, a home, a coffee shop, a park, or a pub. In fact, a location out in the marketplace may be a very effective way of spreading the Gospel to those who do not know God.