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Missions: Re-imagined

So much happening on this front at CCA.  Many have been reading my summary of 2005's Namibia trip in anticipation of the 'rest of the story' that is continuing to emerge.  Thank you for your valuable input.  I've begun the preliminary work of returning to the story and filling in gaps which includes input from a few of the participants.  The gathering and organizing of this content has been thrilling to me.  The more I read, the more convinced I am that this is a story to be told.  Trust me, you cannot wait to see this!

This summer's team is preparing to depart.  A large part of this trip will be in gathering, documenting and communicating more of the story.  Plans are in place (and many prayers are being focused on) 'capturing' more this trip than ever before.

I had the privilege of sitting down yesterday with a group of dancers who will be a part of this summer's team and listening in as they plan for their side of the trip.  I am so very proud of this group and impressed with the maturity of those who are returning.  Now they are stepping up as leaders.

So, the team is 7 people from Christ's Church and 11 who don't call a particular church home.  For nearly three weeks we will all call Namibia home, one another and our hosts family.

It is all part of missions being re-imagined.  More to come... 

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Missions, Namibia, Missiology

Mr. President?

Look what I found.  I've always loved July 4th.  I'll be in Namibia this next July 4th... with an eye on the internet. 

Of course I'm not allowed to endorse a candidate as 'Pastor Darin'.  As Citizen Darin, however, I will be very interested to see what Mr. Thompson does.    

Technorati Tags: Election 2008, Fred Dalton Thompson

More On The 'S' Word

Ran across a great section on secular vs. sacred in Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis'.  He begins by declaring that the word Christian is a great noun, but a lousy adjective.  He gives a number of illustrations where things have been labeled Christian and how that hasn't always been good.  Very thought provoking.  Then he settles into an argument that things don't have to be brought into the church in order for them to be 'for God'.  These words fueled my thinking:

"The goal isn't to bring everyone's work into the church; the goal is for the church to be these unique kinds of people who are transforming the places the live and work and play because they understand the whole earth is filled with the glory of God.  God isn't in one building only.  Doing things for God happens all the time, everywhere.  If you are an actor, the goal isn't for you to do your work in a church building or a church service.  Please go wherever it is in the world where people act and do it well.  Really well.  Throw yourself into it with everything you have."

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Sacred, Secular, Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis

More On The Truth War

By now you know that one of my favorite daily reads is Andrew Jones, or Tall Skinny Kiwi.  He has posted a review of John MacArthur's book 'The Truth War' on his blog.  As we continue to discuss it here, and my read and review of MacArthur's Truth War alongside Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis, Kiwi's take is very much worth a read.  Thanks to Andrew for a good response done with a balance of creativity, humor and respect.  Go and check it out!

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon, Tall Skinny Kiwi, John MacArthur

A Pit Viper Or A Velvet Elvis pt. 4

Continuing my parallel reading and review of John MacArthur's 'The Truth War' and Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis'.  You can order copies of both of these books by clicking on them in the left hand panel of this blog.

Through three chapters of both books.

MacArthur's third chapter is entitled 'Constrained Into Conflict: Why We Must Fight For The Faith'.  Bell's is called 'True'.  I continue to smile at the difference in their approach to titling their chapters (see my remarks in pt. 3).

MacArthur begins this chapter with a very thoroughgoing introduction to Jude - the man.  He devotes 6 pages to clarifying that this is Jude, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus.  The introduction is helpful as Mac moves into the message of Jude's epistle, an urgent call to defend truth.  He compares Jude's message with that of the Apostle Paul in Galatians, where Paul urges that false teachers and false teachings be exposed. 

Bell begins his chapter with a few pages of wonder and awe.  His point: most people recognize that there is something bigger behind experiences in their lives.  He asks, what if that 'something' is actually a 'someone'?  Like MacArthur, Bell turns to the Apostle Paul to illustrate his point.  In a number of settings Paul quoted cultural poets and philosophers - men who were not believers, but yet whose words (in the particular instance quoted) rang true. He continued that Jesus is most often presented in our culture as the solution to a problem (sin).  He affirms that this is true, but that Jesus is a lot more than that.  Jesus is everywhere.

MacArthur mentions the different soils of Luke 8 - a text I preached on a couple of months ago.  After reading his take... he wouldn't have liked mine.  Bell, on the other hand, takes on the issue of sacred versus secular a bit in this chapter, a topic I have been addressing here on the blog the last few weeks.  I very much agree with his take.  Having said that, I am still a little uncomfortable with Bell taking statements like Jesus declaration, "No one comes to the Father but by Me" and attempting to clarify it by saying, "Jesus' life is our connection to how things truly are".  I know what he means, but I think his attempt at clarity is foggy.

Darinisms ~ I'm not really disagreeing with either of these guys in general.  I am noticing that MacArthur's definition of truth is a bit broader than Bell's.  MacArthur seems to include the gospel of salvation and many lesser doctrines with an 'if there's error in one area, the whole thing collapses' attitude.  Bell, on the other hand, seems to be very clear on the truth of the gospel (and would be agreeing wholeheartedly with Paul that false gospels are no gospel at all!), yet is willing to allow God to be bigger than our ability to articulate every finer point of doctrine with precision.

On to chapter four.

Technorati Tags: The Truth War, John MacArthur, Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell

What's On My Mind?

"Nobody move.  I've dropped my brain."  Captain Jack Sparrow

Memorial Day Weekend ~ In the rear-view mirror.  Great chance to enjoy family and friends.  Our family took in a couple of movies, Shrek the Third and Pirates (also the third).  Enjoyed them both, just not as much as the firsts and seconds.  Wonderful time this weekend with my girls at their year-end dance recital.  I'm proud of you girls!

Jesus of Nazareth ~ Yes the Lord... but actually the book by that title written by Pope Benedict that is out now.  I've been reading of this book, and shall be on to getting a copy for myself as soon as I near the end of the two books I am reading and reviewing here on the blog right now.  By the way, Scot McKnight is reading and reviewing Pope Benedict's book over at Jesus Creed.  Check it out.  Looks like it will be a good read.  By the way, I noticed the Pope's book isn't on any best-selling lists.  Too bad he's not the pastor of a mega-church named Hybels, Warren, or Osteen eh?

Anyone interested in reading the Pope's book with me?

Budget ~ Great news from Namibia this weekend.  The vehicles our summer team needs for their use appear to have... well, appeared!  You probably didn't know this, but we had been told there were no vehicles available to us this year with our regular source, meaning we would have to consider using a company at three to four times the cost.  So, I am considerably happier today than I was last week.  God is good!

More Budget ~ And yes, it is THAT time of year for Christ's Church.  More budget planning meetings and crunching numbers for the new (and rapidly approaching) fiscal year.  Ministry would be great if it wasn't for administrative details!  All the more reason I should stop blogging and start sharpening pencils this morning!

Technorati Tags: Pope Benedict, Jesus of Nazareth, Namibia

Preparing Our Hearts

If you are one who likes an advance read of the text we will consider together on Sunday morning, give 1 Peter 5:1-5 a read.  You might also visit Acts 20:17-38.  Additional background for our consideration can be found in Jesus words in John 10:1-21.  Finally, a brief look through Ezekiel 34 might be thought provoking.  We will be talking about the role of an Elder in our midst.

Peter and members of the music team are prepared to bring us a great mixture of songs, something for everyone to help us praise and adore the Lord.  I see some Hillsong, Matt Redmon, David Crowder and Chris Tomlin on the list.  Should be a real blessing!

It's a holiday weekend.  For those of you who are not planning to be away - I look forward to gathering with you to worship our Lord!  Everyone who will be away - God bless, and have a great weekend!

Parson To Person

Another segment in an ongoing fictional/creative non-fictional series.  Earlier segments can be found in the right hand panel under 'Parson to Person'.

We sat together for a long time. I once again forgot about my coffee. By the time I finally thought to take a sip, it was cold. I noticed several looks back and forth between Evelyn and Sarah, almost as if they were carrying on a secret conversation. The confidential nature of the work at the Center had often left Sarah unable to share details with me. In this instance it felt strange because Evelyn had been very open with me thus far. What else could there possible be? I felt sort of like an outsider. Then, as I processed that feeling, my heart went out to Jay Dukes. At the moment, he was the real outsider. Noticing the time, I excused myself to make a phone call and figured that would give Sarah and Evelyn a chance to verbalize whatever their non-verbal communication was all about.

"Hey Jack. I’ve run into an unexpected delay. I’ll be over there shortly. If I’m not there, start without me."

"No problem Brian! What’s up? Anything I can do?" Jack always offered, but there was rarely anything he could do.

He continued, "I was thinking about you yesterday, buddy. How did the lynching go? Did you let the sorcerers get to you? You know, the Bible says that rebellion is akin to witchcraft! You’ve got some demons chewing on your hind-quarters man. That’s all!"

Then, as only Jack could do, he broke into one of his fractured illustrations. "It’s like this zebra who decided he wanted to be a lion. He was tired of being an herbivore and wanted to eat some meat. He quit neighing and started to roar. He quit grazing with the other zebras and told his woman-zebra to go get him some food – after all, in lion culture it’s the lionesses that do all the work. What a life! Well, all the other zebras got mad at him and threw him out of the herd."

I offered up an uninspired "Uh huh".

"So, this zebra that wanted to be a lion, he’s got nowhere to go. He decided to go live with a pride of lions. He saw a bunch of males lying under a tree, licking their paws and all this stuff. That’s the life he wanted! He went up there and lay down and started to roar, lick his hooves – you know, just like he belonged there. And you know what happened? Do you know, Brian?"

"They lions accepted him and all the zebras were jealous?" I ventured.

"No, Brian! The lionesses came home and saw a zebra lying there with their men. They tore him to pieces and fed the whole pride! They’re lions, Brian! They eat zebras. Get it?"

I offered that I’d think on that for a while as we hung up. Jack did help. His story managed to put a smile on my face – even if it was destined to be very short-lived.

Technorati Tags: Parson To Person, Creative Non-Fiction

3 Chords Goes Green!

Interactive Sermon Exclusive!

3 Chords & A Cloud of Dust will plan an unplugged acoustic set tomorrow night at the Open Mic Night at JBeaners in Amherst. 

Here's a press release from the band's management: "Al Gore has determined that we all need to do something to save the planet.  We will do our part tomorrow night by performing a more enviro-friendly, unplugged set.  When 3 Chords plays, typically, we use a lot of electricity to power all of our amplifiers and Jesse's array of pedals.  We're going to turn it all off tomorrow - a voluntary 'brown-out'.  In addition, we realize that Dan's head puts off a lot of heat when he plays the full drum kit under stage lights.  So, he is scaling back to hand drums for the evening, and we will be testing a special 'enviro-friendly carbon reduction lotion' on his skull for our performance tomorrow night.  Finally, the band has also considered their set list.  The song 'Fire' for instance - the very name generates heat.  Tomorrow night we will call the song 'Ice' and think cold thoughts while we play it.  3 Chords is concerned about our planet!"

3 Chords is set to play tomorrow night at 8:15.  We hope to see you there.  Go green!

Technorati Tags: 3 Chords & A Cloud of Dust, JBeaners