Justice in the Burbs

Add Justice in the Burbs to your list of must reads! I remember hearing about it on an emergent village podcast about a year ago (the authors spoke of it) and was very moved by the message. Essentially it's about a couple that decided to begin living what they said they believed in the context that God had placed them.

Go read. But if you are not convinced Amazon.com reviewers Keri W. Kent wrote,

As a suburbanite who is deeply concerned about social justice, I often felt like a walking oxymoron. Or sometimes, just a moron. In the last year, I've taken a class on urban ministry and racial reconciliation, I've started volunteering at a homeless shelter in a rough neighborhood in the city. I've been wrestling with what it means to "act justly and love mercy." But I felt conflicted when I returned home to my quiet, safe suburban neighborhood. This book offered both healing encouragement and a kick in the behind, and I needed both.

Wow. I relate. What troubles you about your convictions and actions in the area of social justice?

End of Denominations?

I ran across the following you tube post on the Floating Axe Head a few months back and I'm just now getting to it. Yea I'm behind (I read too many blogs I guess). The Axe writes,

We’re all for reducing the denominational stronghold on Christianity and just focusing on being the church, but denominations likely won’t go down without a fight.

I must agree, however the vid below is worth a listen. Here's the way back to the the post on the Axe where I found the link.



Thoughts? Where do you think Denominations are headed?

Craig Groeschel on Self-Esteem

Craig's started a series on self-esteem that you should check out.

He begins the series by defining esteem as follows:

I’ll define spiritual esteem this way: To find our identity in Christ, not ourselves, our performance, or our ministry.

Comments? thoughts?

Thank You Notes

Great post a while back on church of the customer here. It deals with the "five must haves for thank you notes". I don't know about you but I've always had an aversion toward thank you notes. I'm not sure if it's because I neglected some when I was in my teens or because I think the entire process to be a bit cold and over done. I myself would prefer to receive a verbal thank you, however there are times when for the sake of networking and due to the other party involved it is best to write a thank you note. When that time calls here's a few simple rules to follow:

1. Spell the recipient's name correctly (doh!).
2. Thank the person for choosing your business. If they shared a specific reason why they choose your business of why they like it, reaffirm it. For heaven's sake, though, don't turn it into a sales pitch.
3. Include a personal detail about the recipient that you picked up on. Prove that you were listening. Humanity is a good thing in the antiseptic world of business.
4. Open the door to feedback. Whether the recipient provides it isn't the point; it's the idea that you're passionate about creating a recommendable experience.
5. Be authentic: Include your full name and contact info -- email and/or phone. Or a business card.

Good stuff! Thanks Jackie.

White Board Sessions: Conference

Ben Arment has alluded to a conference for those that are tired of over done conferences on several occasions. Here's the basics from his first post:

I'd call it The Whiteboard Sessions
One day.
8 influential ministry leaders.
Each with 30 minutes...
and one compelling idea.

You can read his initial post here.

It looks like it's going to happen and here's the details:

Thursday, May 22, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in the Reston Town Center.

This is definitely worth following. Follow over to Ben's blog dubbed History in the Making for details and the entire post.

I think I'm excited because I am so often let down by conferences. There seems to be so little new and genuine thought at conferences. It's as if those that speak just move here and there with canned talks. We need something fresh and real. Synergy.

Losing My Religion Part 3

I'm excited about part 3 in this series. Next Tuesday on December 4th should be a powerful message... we will be discussion the Mission of God and how it has been misunderstood and mistaken by many religious people. This message gets to the heart of God, which is awesome. I truly believe God is taking us as a community deeper and going deeper means among other things connecting with God's mission.

Join us and invite a friend!

Social Justice?

Interesting. You should journey over to Think Christian and read the rest of the post. It's worth it. Actually the post at TC uses a this cartoon as a spring board. Here's the original ASBO Jesus comic, blog, where the cartoon hails.

You can read the post commentary on this cartoon by clicking below.
Go here.

Seth Godin: Small Business Sucess

Seth Godin wrote a few weeks back about the three simple components needed for small business success...

Three things you need:
1) the ability to abandon a plan when it doesn't work,
2) the confidence to do the right thing even when it costs you money in the short run, and
3) enough belief in other people that you don't try to do everything yourself

I think far too many ministries and non-profits lack the ability to execute number 1. No. I'm not thinking of quiting my current endeavor with Matthew's Table, however I think we as a people get locked into an idea and simply can't let it go.

Likewise many ministries and non-profits over tax their staff, market pitifully, and essentially violate number 2. This violation is NOT due to a lack of cash within the Kingdom, rather it is most usually due to, as Godin states, a lack of confidence. People are scared to follow dreams whole-heartedly and in this way when they are afraid to abandon a plan they attempt to hedge those bets by following through but protecting the bank account. This is short sighted as Godin points out as anything worth doing is worth doing for the long term.

Finally, the body of Christ must trust others. It's simple but far too many solo-pastors or senior pastors lack this essential element. In the end such lack of confidence in the leaders around us puts us in a situation that will inevitably stunt growth. Give ministry away people!

Thanks Seth!

Life, Death, and Resurrection

I ran across the below thought, an incredible thought, at Living Spirituality this afternoon.

The life, death, and resurrection of Christ are the imprint for redemption, which stamps itself upon us in living spirituality. These events are the key markers on the map for our journey and they open up the path to life. To obey from the heart is to live a new life, understanding the double-edged truth that grace reigns and that sin is no longer our master.

Some things are best left speaking in their own voice.

Tryptophan Blogging Break

Well it looks like I fell into a Tryptophan Blogging Break during the Thanksgiving holiday! Seriously I've been resting and chilling out hard the last few days. Joylene and I watched Lord of the Rings (part 1 and 2 of the triology), bought new cell phones with Verizon, went on several dates, ate good food with family, and connected. Great times.

I plan to now go on a blogging binge over the next few days in order to "make up" for lost time.

Check back regularly!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone enjoys a day with family and friends... a day to be thankful for all we have! Forgive me but I had to mix this silly concept of thanksgiving with one of blessing and family etc.

What are you guys doing for thanksgiving? Any traditions?

One Recap 11/20/07

One was great last night! We changed things up in subtle ways last night such as having everyone seated at round tables with more of a coffee house atmosphere. I began the night speaking, far more informally than I usually do, that is we started the night directly into the discussion rather than a "worship" warm up. Part of this is that we felt we needed to make some tweak changes, these included becoming more discussion based and participatory. Therefore, my talk was shorter than usual and clocked in around 15 minutes or so at which time we took the main point Jesus Values Relationship over Tradition or Ritual and had each table discuss what that level of value for relationship would look like in the context of Loving God and Loving Others. We allowed 15 minutes or so for that discussion. I then spent 5-10 minutes debriefing the group and leading us into worship, a big change from the normal "warm up" and "get out" approach to worship! The fact that the band was acoustic changed the atmosphere too.

All and all I was surprised by how much the changes affected everyone involved. People seemed set back by the idea of participating and challenged by the concept of sitting at tables. The night was far more conversational and community driven than any to date.

What are your feelings about the evening? What would you have done differently and how so?

Losing My Religion

I'm so excited about tonight! I'm praying that God will use and do something amazing in our community as we begin to walk the path of increasing participation.

Hope to see you guys tonight as we tackle ritual and tradition!

7:30pm in Downtown Dalton

Discipleship, John Joyce, and friends

I'm excited about getting together with John Joyce and a few other guys this afternoon for what one might formally call discipleship. I like to think of it as learning to follow God and becoming more like Jesus. Here's the story in brief...

About a month ago God laid on my heart the need to be pouring into a few guys in our ministry in a more formal and consistent way. Then enters a lunch date with John Joyce, a humble, Godly, missionary of 20 some years that is now state side. As John and I spoke over lunch with his wife and Joylene we realized that we were kindred souls in our walks. During the discussion the topic of discipleship and walking with others came up and one thing led to another.

This afternoon John, Jared, Jared, and myself will be getting together to lay out the details and start the process of learning and journeying together.

Who pours into your life? Whose life are you pouring into at this time?

Losing My Religion Part 2

I'm really excited about One on Tuesday! I've made some hard decisions about the message that should be intriguing to watch unfold. All I'll say at this point is that we will still be discussing Tradition and Ritual, however I won't be talking for 30 minutes. I've been longing for a more participatory format and we should accomplish that on Tuesday and still deal with the issues that are pertinent to where God is leading us.

A lot of this movement was born from a prayer day I had a few weeks back where I journeyed through the book of Luke and God has still be rocking my world with it!

Hope to see you guys on Tuesday!

Pedro the Lion and David Bazan on Christianity

I ran across these two interviews, which appear to be about a year old. I find Bazan's comments on God to be and life to be refreshing and it's a voice we need to hear. Enjoy and let me know what you think?

Monty Python Compendium

Need a laugh? We all do at times... I was happy to run across the following blog post, which is a compendium of 150 Monty Python skits via YouTube.


Here's his list of 150 sketches!

Mastering the Magic of Love

Cheesy title but great skills! I posted about this a month or so ago here. And this week Joylene and I will be leading a small group of married couples through the training. The skills are solid and I'm looking forward to it, although I wish life was a little slower right now so I could actually sink my teeth into the experience more deeply.

The training involves expression skill, understanding, conflict management, and problem solving. If you ever have a chance join one of these seminars (Joylene and I would gladly present it for groups of 4-6 couples).

Joylene has written a piece on this as well here.

29 Leadership Principles

Great article over on Threads Media by Jason Hayes who writes about the 29 Leadership Principles he has learned by the age of 30. You can go here for the entire list but the article is a smart read for anyone leading twentysomethings.

Here's a few that hit me...

3. Humility is the hallmark of a spiritual leader.

12. Our problem is not too little time, but making better use of the time we have.

18. Be slow to speak and quick to listen.

22. Replace yourself.

27. Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.

Thanks Jason.

Stop Foreclosures

If you need help with a foreclosure of info about one go here.

http://ForeclosureStopGuide.net

Getting Together: Vision, Direction, and God

Please pray. This Thursday myself and the MT team will be getting together in Dalton along with several other interested parties to focus on our vision, direction, and the heart of God. This get together should prove important in the direction that MT will take over the next 6-12 months so as I said at the beginning please pray.

Pray that God will direct our conversation.

Pray that we will be open to that direction.

Pray that egos will stay at home.

Pray that brainstorming and fresh thinking occurs.

Please pray.

Losing My Religion: November 20th

I'm really looking forward to next Tuesday night! I believe God is going to continue to break through our religious facades and call us toward a deeper, genuine, and more intimate walk with his Son. If you missed part one no worries because I'll be recapping it next time we meet on Tuesday.

During part 2 of the series we will be discussing Tradition and Ritual and how they can subtly wear away at our fresh and vibrant walk until it becomes a different thing all together... a mere Religious Persona.

Join us and bring along a friend!

Peddling the Gospel?

There's a post over on Living Spirituality that made me cheer and say to myself wow just prior to invoking the "Joylene you gotta read this"--a phrase that is always followed by my reading as much as she will allow.

Seriously, the post is not long. The post is point on topic. What topic? Have you not seen a "Wal-Mart" or "Walgreens" church plop down in your back yard yet? If not it's coming and while I'm pretty sure that was not Greg's initial intent it is surely where my mind fled.

Here's a brief excerpt from the post,

Whatever happened to the church proclaiming Christ, instead of a being a parody of cultural consumerism rooted in the art of rhetoric, which aims to give the consumer what they want and to reap the financial windfall connected to it?

I don't know about you but those words cut deep. They are precise and evoke images of place and people I've known. God forgive me for judging your bride as I realize we are, many that is, yours, however I detest this Pharisaical brand of Jesus I'm finding on each suburban block.

Go read the entire post now... and thank Greg for his insight.

What do you guys think about his post? Comment people...

Prayer Day Recap

I mentioned last week that I was setting aside a day for the sole purpose of hearing from God being in his presence. Wow did the day pay off! I've never been able to sit around and pray for 8 hours, no way, I'm far to ADDish and jittery. Therefore, the day consisted of praying over some specific things in the morning, taking a walk with God and listening, reading and praying through the first 12 chapters of Luke in the morning, lunch, and then reading and praying through the last half of Luke in the afternoon. Wow! The time was awesome and here's why...

I've been learning a lot lately about empathetic listening, expression skill, and understanding from various sources and when I say lately I mean over the last 2 years (I'm slow at times). Listening is not a natural for me at all... so it's been hard to practice even if I know it. So how does this fit in with God and I? Well I've begun to practice this dialogue of expression and listening and then asking for more info or reflexive listening with God lately and it is powerful. I'm quite sure that far to often we merely bark our "orders" to God expecting money or our "need" to fall out of the sky. God wants a relationship with us, which by necessity means conversing. So that's where I am at the moment and I believe it is deepening my walk and talk.

As a side note reading through the book of Luke in one day has deeply impacted me and rocked my world to be honest. Perhaps I'll do a series on that once I get my head around it.

Do you dialogue with God? How are your listening skills? When have you set aside time to simply be with God?

Top 100 Novels

I woke up one morning a few months ago and realized I don't read fiction any longer. That's shame as I was once a English Lit major in College! I've been toying with the idea of expanding my reading and tackling a top 100 list so I did what anyone would do I googled the words "top 100 novels" and after scanning a few of the links I settled on a list that appeared in the NY Times in 1998 and of which there has been much discussion.

Apparently this is what went down,

In 1999, the editorial board of the Modern Library came up with their list of the "Top 100 best English language novels of the 20th century." The goal was to get people reading.

It might just work for me! Here's the list and here's top 1o...

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck

I'm contemplating it but I'm wondering if anyone out there would like to read the list with me? If so let me know! Here's the link to the list again.

Live David Bazan Concert

Picture from The Drop.


The below comes from the David Bazan Newsletter.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Brought to you by It's Hard To Find A Friend and Scott Bradford.

David Bazan Live in Asheville, NC
November 4th, 2007

You can download an entire show here:

Go here for the set!!

The set list includes six brand new songs that'll be on David's next album.

Blog Readiblity Test

I ran across the below widget from Subversive Influence, which really made me chuckle. I'm really not that vain and if anything this widget, which is said to be "ultra-scientific", illustrates my need to write and speak at a NIV or Message type level.

I don't make much of it but it made me laugh. You can go here for it.

Day of Prayer

I've been waiting for Thursday November 8th for a while now. Why? I'm becoming far more intentional with my schedule and use of time and have set aside that day as a day of prayer, thinking, and dreaming. I've sensed the need for more extended focused times of prayer and hearing from God on issues.

I'll be struggling with God regarding the direction of our connection point service One, our direction as it relates to Community Service, and some personal issues.

I would encourage you as readers to become proactive and intentional with your schedule and if at all possible to set aside time for days or half days of prayer. It's one thing to schedule it and set it aside it's another to ruthlessly cut others out of the picture during that previously scheduled time as needs arise during that week. Realize there are few urgent matters that cannot wait a few hours or day.

Do you set aside time in your schedule for days of prayer or something similar? If so what does that look like in your own walk?

Losing My Religion: November 6th 7:30pm

I'm so excited about the upcoming series as I honestly believe God is gonna do some incredible things in our community! On Tuesday we will be discussing how Jesus hates religion! I've received a decent amount of troubled feedback about that title and statement and this alone seems to indicate that there's a religiousity in the air that must be dealt with during this series. I believe God is going to use this series to free us and bring us before the Cross.

Ben Arment: Leading like I want to be Led

Ben Arment has another great post, what else is new, about leadership! He's titled it Leading like I want to be Led and you can read it here.

Is there anything more difficult to get your head around, more complex and multi-sided, more full of pitfalls than leading? Parenting comes to mind but I haven't done that yet and I guess technically that's a form of leading. My point... leading is not as easy as it looks. You won't find a book that tells you how to lead in 3 neat points. You won't find that quick fix because it doesn't exist. However, the world needs leaders, our communities need leaders, and our churches surely need leaders.

I appreciated Ben's comments and the below list because it was honest and told the truth as it relates to mistakes he made. I appreciate the spin that a leader needs to be the one out there leading... more than a spin I think.

Here's his list:

• 1. I'm going to call you, not talk behind your back.
• 2. For every request I make, I'm going to invest in you first.
• 3. I won't ask your opinion without truly considering your advice.
• 4. I'll give you a vision you can understand and get behind.
• 5. I'll honor you with personal contact, not have my secretary do it

Are you out in front leading by example? Are you doing the more difficult work of investing and relating? What are you thoughts about Ben's post and my comments?

4 Ministry Evaluation Areas for Leaders

Here's yet another great post you must check out!

Church Relevance blog summarized a blog series by Jim Wideman found here. I'm including the summary from Church Relevance's post and you can track over to Wideman's blog as well for the full story, which is well worth your time.

1. Your Attitude
   Do I have the heart of a servant?
   Am I an asset or a liability to my pastor?
   What is my attitude about others around me?
   Am I grumbling and complaining?
2. Your Priorities
   It’s one thing to know your priorities, it’s another thing all together to live according to those priorities.
3. Your Time Management
   How am I spending my time?
   Am I spending time daily with the Lord?
   Is my family suffering while my ministry is flourishing?
   Am I making time for personal growth and development?
4. Your Performance
   Am I being a team builder or a one person show?
   What am I doing that someone else can do?
   Have I communicated clearly to all my workers what they are to do?
   Can I be relied on to complete assignments and keep commitments?

Are you in the habit of evaluating yourself? If so what paradigm are you using to do so?

A Vision of Students Today

I received info about the below clip through a Threads Media e-newsletter. If you don't know what Threads Media go check it out-- the short of it is that they are all about young adult resources for small groups and leaders. Here's the quote from the newsletter I received,

Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, posted an intriguing video on YouTube. He put it together with the help of 200 of his students in an effort to summarize the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, etc.

Head over to our Facebook Group, and check out the "College Students: Does This Ring True?" discussion thread. Watch the video, and then share your thoughts!

Chris Ediger
Threads Internet Producer

The aforementiond and below clip is important for all of us interested in young adult or college ministry. Likewise it's important for anyone interested in the church and what it will or ought to look like in the next 20 years... I could say more but I won't... check it out.