Theological Ruminator

Qohelet in Ecclesiastes

2007-08-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Talk about fascinating stuff to digest. I am preaching this Sunday from Ecclesiastes 4:7-11 and so have been digesting a couple of good commentaries on the book. Here's a quick review and my current understanding of Ecclesiastes:

Michael V. Fox in A Time to Tear Down & A Time to Build Up: A Rereading of Ecclesiastes is interesting. I found two parts particularly interesting: 1) His comparison of Qohelet (the teacher - tradtionally Solomon but likely not - featured throughout the book) to parallels in Camus' writing and 2) his conclusion that the repeated refrain translated in NIV as "meaningless" is better rendered "absurd." His commentary on individual passages is a bit limited though. Is very helpful for an overall discussion of the theme/theology of Ecclesiastes.

Tremper Longman III's commentary, The Book of Ecclesiastes, for the NICOT series was particularly useful to me. I found he reasoned well through the issues of authorship, language, and continuity of the book. I particularly found his connection of the prologue/epilogue to the overall theological theme of the book helpful. His commentary is more extensive than Fox's.

My conclusions then (for now):

The author: not Solomon, but a later author who frames the body of Ecc. as a long quotation from a "Solomonic" character.
The theological perspective of the teacher: Negative
The theological perspective of the book: Positive
The key to understanding - seeing the prologue (1:1-11 - notice the switch from third to first person) and epilogue (12:8-14 - Longman and Fox argue together that the NIV doesn't translate well here) as a framework for the extended quotation from the teacher in the body.

Understood this way, I see the book much as Longman does. The teacher serves as a foil in the body of the perspective we are NOT to have but certainly can understand. He has much wisdom. The teacher captures the dispair of a world full of uncertainty and death. Pragmatically, it appears to be the only possible view as you read this book which echoes much modern existential angst. All is uncertain. The only thing that is certain is death. God is there - but he seems distant - even uncaring. True - there are things along the way that lighten the load - maybe bring a little joy. But in the end, even those are wiped out by death as well!

Today many reject God entirely and ultimately come to the same conclusion of the teacher here. Life is meaningless. Absurd. And his perspective would be accurate except for one thing. The teacher fails to properly understand God. He fails to see the ultimate control and goodness of God. Thus he fails to find that there is ultimate meaning in life despite death and lack of personal control. So his wisdom while pragmatically accurate, is ultimately incomplete - much like the wisdom of Job's friends. The epilogue shows us particularly that the teacher demonstrates an attitude that is to be criticized. It points out that human reasoning and wisdom has it's limits. God - in contrast does not.

Thus the book itself is positive in that it takes the teacher's wise but ultimately incomplete wisdom and then points to what we should be doing. We should be living righteous lives because God is there. He is caring and concerned - even about the most minute detail.

Rookie No More

2007-07-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

Rookie. Greenhorn. Noob. Those terms don't apply to me anymore. Well, sort of. As of last month, I passed my one year mark as pastor of Fellowship Bible Church. This past year has been a very good learning experience for me. Of course I know I have a lot of learning to go. But I feel more "in the groove" now.

My biggest learning experience? That's a good question. I've learned a lot for sure. It's just hard to nail one thing down. What comes first to my mind is how hard it is to keep everything in balance. Read back over my blog and you'll see that I perceive many issues/problems in the church today. There are lots of things to watch out for. Lots of things we are doing and shouldn't. Lots of things we aren't doing and should. But what I've discovered is that it is crazy hard to keep an eye on all of these things at once.

What? Our Sunday morning worship songs don't highlight the transcendent nature of God enough? Ok. Let's work on that. Add some liturgy. Add some traditional songs with fabulous doctrine. Have a solemn prayer. Encourage that transcendent sense...

What now? Our Sunday morning worship songs don't highlight the personal nature of God enough? God seems too distant? Too far off? Crud. Ok. Let's see....

Not that I'm complaining. I'm just realizing how great the challenge is for church leaders. I'm recognizing a bit better the reality that no matter what we do we are going to have areas that need improvement. If we do really well at one thing then there is probably something else that we are going to be weak on.

And yes, I know I've been a bad blogger.

John Piper on the prosperity gospel

2007-06-15T05:57:00.001-07:00

Thanks to www.emergingminister.com

LOOK! A post!

2007-06-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Pretty amazing. I'm posting. And from all places - I'm in Guatemala.

Pretty funny thing, this world wide web. I'm down here in Guatemala but our mission house has wireless internet complete with VOIP so I have called my family and stayed up on my email. Very nice. Almost luxurious. But what I'm enjoying is not what most enjoy down here. There are a lot of very poor people.

And my arms hurt. I just about killed myself hammering nails into "houses" for these folks. 12x12 sheds is what we build - but they're huge upgrades. One family we built a house for today then fed us some genuine Guatemala food for lunch - chicken soup. Very delicious, actually.

Pix to come? We'll see. I'd love to but you know me.

Pray for the Turkish Church

2007-04-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dr. Darrell Bock has been blogging about the recent martyrdom of three men in Turkey.

I'm glad I read about it because I'm a soft Christian. I don't understand persecution - let alone martyrdom. I forget that so many fellow believers today are dying for their faith.

A letter from the the church there in Turkey. Powerful words. Read if you have time.

Some details, links, and somewhat disturbing videos.

We need to pray for the church there. Several quotes from the letter really challenged my heart.

Quote 1: “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverence,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek.

Quote 2:

In an act that hit front pages in the largest newspapers in Turkey, Susanne Tilman in a television interview expressed her forgiveness. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, wholeheartedly agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23:34).
In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”

Sermon Illustration: Would You Recognize a Maestro?

2007-04-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

This is the second illustration. I haven't used it yet but I will!

The Washington Post posted an article entitled "Pearls Before Breakfast." The premise of the article was this: Would an unknowing audience recognize musical excellence? They got one of the best violinists in the world - Josh Bell - to play like an ordinary street musician one morning in a subway station in DC. The article is well worth the read. Would people recognize his genius in such a setting?

Read the article. Really....

Ok. If you won't, then I'll spoil it for you.

SPOILER OF THE ARTICLE YOU REALLY SHOULD READ:

Summary: Josh Bell, who had commanded $100 for only okay seats a few nights before, played for the subway crowd. Most did not recognize him. Neither did they stop long enough to notice. Few put in any money. In fact, only ONE person recognized Josh for who he was. Everyone else missed it. Many were too busy. A few paused briefly.

Point: Jesus/God!!! God has revealed himself to us and is playing beautiful music. Yet we are so busy with our lives. We are too preoccupied to stop and listen. We fail to recognize him or enjoy what he offers.

Sermon Illustration: Prison Gates

2007-04-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

I ran across two AWESOME sermon illustrations this week. For my preacher readers I thought I'd post them for you. These are my own in that I found them myself - they're not from an illustration database somewhere. Feel free to adapt and use for yourself. I'll post each one separately.

This one I used in my Easter sermon. It was the perfect sermon illustration. I kid you not when I say that I got tingles up and down my spine when I found it. Honestly - I think God must have shown it to me. Serious.

Prison Gates That Lie

The gist of the illustration is this: Dachau was a World War II Nazi Concentration camp. 200,000 prisoners. Over 31,000 died there. The gate to Dachau that each prisoner had to walk through (and apparently several other concentration camps such as Auschwitz) had stamped into it the words arbeit macht frei meaning literally "work makes free" or "work brings freedom." Bitter irony for the prisoners, I'm sure. --- Point: The words on the gate, however intended, were a lie - work did not free the prisoners. But those words transcend the prison in Dachau. People everywhere are in "prison." They believe that "work makes free." They don't realize that those words are on the gates of their prison. Reality: "Jesus makes free." That's the point and the celebration of Easter.

That was a great metaphor. I was able to carry it all the way through my sermon and it really drove the point home. Below is the illustration as I manuscripted it. This is the "image" of my sermon. I make the point about us being in similar prisons and Jesus breaking through those prison bars later in the sermon. Again, feel free to use!

The Holocaust was a terrible thing. 6,000,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazi’s in a few short years. None of us were there. Most of us weren’t even born. Yet the memory of the Holocaust stands out vividly to us because of how awful it was. Many movies and books on the Holocaust have been made. All recount the horror. Right after college Desiree, my wife, and I used some money we had saved, packed two backpacks, and spent the summer traveling through Europe. When we were in Germany we visited the Dachau concentration camp. Dachau was one of the first concentration camps. And it served as a model for the ones that followed it. It housed over 200,000 prisoners over the course of the war. It didn’t have the death chambers like some of the others did so “only” 31,000 or so prisoners were believed to have died there. Only? That’s the entire population of our county. SHOW PIX OF DACHAU - Those are the beds. Triple bunks, 1,600 to each building. Disease ran rampant through the camp, killing many. SHOW PIX – Those are the ovens where they cremated the dead. The sign on the rafters says in several languages, “prisoners were hanged from here.” SHOW PIX - Those are the gates that each and every prisoner had to walk through to reach the camp. Those words on the gate read, “arbeit macht frei” – literally “work makes free” meaning “work brings freedom.” I can’t imagine what it must have been like to walk through those gates and be a prisoner in a concentration camp. To be arrested. To see your friends and family die. To wonder if you’ll be next. To be fed so little that your body wasted away until it was literally nothing but skin and bones. It was a sobering place to visit. And its sobering to think about the evil that went on there – even now. But as World War II drew to a close, Dachau was one of the first concentration camps that was liberated. So it is hard for me to imagine what it must have been like for the prisoners on April 29, 1945 as the American troops of the 42^nd Infantry Division cracked open those steel gates and offered them freedom. I can’t imagine what they thought. Is it a dream? Is it real? Did they have the strength to dance or sing? Or did they just sigh in relief? I’ve read the story of several survivors that stated they were very numb for a long time. It was only after they had eaten a few good meals, and actually slept in a soft warm bed that they finally began to realize that life had changed and that they were safe now. The impossible was true. It had happened. They were free.

H&R Block Needs to Hire My Brother-In-Law

2007-04-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

I was just on H&R Block's website trying to download their "Taxcut" software so I could do my taxes. Yes. I procrastinate again. But that's not the point.

The point is that I tried to order and couldn't. Why? I discovered it was because they had a glitch in their site that didn't support the Firefox browser. I select product. Click. I enter all sorts of personal information. Click. Then I find a mostly blank page with no directions. What? I try again. Nothing. I try on my wife's computer. Nothing. Finally I try with internet explorer. It brings up a page asking my county in Arkansas. What are they thinking?!! I don't know about the web as a whole, but 39% of the traffic on my site comes from people using Firefox.

Anyways, that's bad. Not good. They should hire my brother-in-law.

There's a great application point in here for ministry, I'm sure. It's just not coming to me right now. Oh - I know - make sure that you don't put up barriers to a large group of the audience that you are trying to reach. Heheh. I wanted the software. I was willing to pay for the software. But I was forced to try FOUR times to acquire the software. Many others would have given up long before that. In the church, we need to make sure we aren't erecting unnecessary barriers between people and the truth of Christ as well.

There. How was that?

It pays to be critical

2007-04-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't say this originally, but I found the mistakes mentioned in the two previous posts encapsulated within sermons that are available at PreachingToday.com

I've found that site an incredibly helpful resource. It costs. $80/year if I recall... But it has been worth it. Good illustrations in their archive and they're well documented. I found the site through recommendations and held off on subscribing for months because I didn't want to shell out. Finally (late one Saturday night!) I caved. I use it almost every week now. Definitely worth it.

This isn't a post about how cool PT is, though so I digree. But I didn't want to come across as bagging on something I really use and appreciate. Anyways, I found the problems I mentioned in my post in sermons in their archive while looking for Easter ideas. I posted about them here but I also sent in a suggestion to them about the Devil and Faust problem.

Yesterday I got an email saying that, yep, it looked like I was right, and even better, that I had been given 6 free months membership. Sweeeeettt!!!

Agghhh... A Rick Warren Preaching Mistake?

2007-04-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've found another slip-up or not. Rick Warren has a sermon available on PreachingToday.com that states:

George Gallup did a poll that said 84 percent of people who never go to church believe Jesus rose from the dead.

You can find this reprinted (?) at Leadership Journal's site on CT here.

Great and interesting stat. That's a big number! 84 of UNCHURCHED believe in the resurrection? Wow.

Rick Warren didn't cite his sources. (Rick, pretty please for the future?) So I had to try to find it myself.

I couldn't find it. That's not saying it's not out there. Maybe I just have lame googling skilz.

I did however find this Harris poll in 2003. It states that 80% of Americans believe in the resurrection (that is a lot). HOWEVER, it sub-divided and stated that only 26% of non-Christians believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Again, that's still a pretty hefty number. I mean, you believe in the resurrection of Jesus and you're not on board? What gives?!!

Notice the difference. Rick's sermon, on CT (not a wimpy site) states 84% of unchurched believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Harris found 26% of non-Christians believe that. That's a big number difference. Even taking into account sampling error, differences in how they polled and categorized, and who knows what else I have trouble believing the Warren one.

So what's the deal? I think Rick Warren made a mistake here. Maybe he confused his categories - mistaking all Americans for the unchurched category or something.

But maybe not. I couldn't find the Gallop poll referenced. So who knows? Rick? I just know I can't use Warren's quoted fact because I can't verify it.

The bad thing - preachers like and trust Rick and CT and are likely to use that quote. If it is indeed a mistake it'll just get copied around unless people work hard enough to check their facts.

Preachers: Check your facts!

2007-04-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

A bad habit of us preachers is that we sometimes let things slip that we shouldn't let slip. I've posted before on the evils of plagiarism in the pulpit and how it has the great potential to erode trust - a very important commodity.

I just ran into a great illustration - I was going to use it. Here's how one pastor said it:

As a tour guide took a group through an art gallery in London, he stopped before a painting entitled Checkmate. (I don't know the name of the artist or the gallery, but it's supposed to be a true story.) The guide talked about the painting, the style and texture, and then moved on. But one of the group stayed behind, staring at the chess pieces on the chessboard in the painting. The chess game was between the devil and Dr. Faust, who had sold his soul to the devil. It appears as if the devil has won. Faust has only the king, the queen, and a weak pawn left. The devil has a smirk on his face, as if waiting for the final verdict, Checkmate! The young man who stayed to study the painting was a chess champion from Russia. When the tour group was two corridors away, they suddenly heard their stray member running down the marble hallway to catch up, shouting, "It's a lie! It's a lie! The king has another move. Another move!

Great illustration! There's hope! That's Easter material! E.g. "We were beaten - but Jesus has given us 'another move.'"

Until I discovered it was an urban legend. Well, probably an urban legend. I looked for the painting. All I found were sermon transcripts, this thread lambasting pastors for using urban legends at snopes.com and this critique on another site. Sounds like an urban legend to me.

What is sad, is the mistake/laziness of several pastors just gives ammo to those who critique Christianity. Just another example to them of how Christians don't think for themselves.

Of course, the point of the story is true regardless. And I suppose you could tell it just fine by saying, "Do you remember the story of Faust and the Devil? The story is told of a chess master who came across a painting of that scene..." I think using the phrase "the story is told" leaves out the question of whether it is a true story or not and focuses on the point of the story. Though, in this case, someone who really knows the game of chess would probably still be puzzled (What difference does one more move make unless that move allows you to possibly win? And - is it really that hard to discover available moves in endgame chess?)

Regardless, the moral: Preachers, be careful, and check your facts.

Bad Blogger

2007-04-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah. I hate bloggers who don't post and then apologize about not posting too...

Anyways, life is quite busy and I'm learning lots. My wife is actually posting much more interesting content than me right now.

As far as updates go, we're still pursuing a land deal. There is a maybe minor snag right now with the price. If that is resolved we should close in the next week or so.

Sunday Morning

2007-03-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

It's just before 7 am on Sunday morning. I thought I'd let you in on how my sermon prep has gone so far since I just hit 9 months (!) as pastor. Honestly, I haven't hit a "stride" yet in that I have a carefully disciplined protocol. Some weeks I'm better than others in preparation ahead of time. Other weeks I fuss over details too long or procrastinate too much during the week. Procrastination is a huge character flaw of mine. When that happens I at times get stuck with large chunks of work to do on the weekend.

But the one variable that has pretty much stayed the same for me is Sunday morning. I get up early. How early depends on how prepared I feel. But I got up at 6:15 this morning - maybe a bit later than normal. I fix some coffee. I don't really need the caffeine - adrenaline is usually pumping pretty good. But I do like the warmth and the familiar feel of my cup. While the coffee's brewing I usually glance over the day's headlines in the news. Then I sit down and look over my notes. At some point (and I'm not consistent here yet either) I pray a prayer that I feel a deep need for every week. It's something to the effect of: "God, make me say today what you want me to say. May my words make an impact. But not to make me look good. To make you look good."

That's probably been the most important part of my mornings. I've felt and posted on this whole sticky pride problem a few times in the past, and that's one way I try to combat it and center my attitude where it ought to be. On one hand it calms me some to trust in our heavenly Father. If I mess up, it's okay. He's in control of things and can use that. On the other hand, it reminds me of why I get up early and review my notes carefully - not to protect my image, but His.

Around 7:30 or so I break away and go take a shower and get dressed. Then I head to the Middle School and make sure everything is going well in setup. At some point I'll take 30 more minutes to go over my entire sermon manuscript one more time and my intro/conclusion two or three times.

Future Location?

2007-03-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

For the past 8 months we have been looking both for a short term location for our church (hence our meeting in the Middle School Auditorium now) and a long term location.

Maybe. Just maybe that long term search ended yesterday. We reached a verbal agreement with the seller of 10 acres of land here in Batesville. We told the church today. We'll be working on financinng this week and waiting to hear back from any church members with concerns. I haven't heard a single negative comment yet though.

This spot is beautifully positioned for our future as a church and it is (relatively) affordably priced. It is on the "edge" of town but is in a location where growth will likely occur in the future.

Of course, until we sign on the line, much can change. But maybe. Just maybe this is our future spot.

(By the way - I have to be quick now - Desiree and her clappy shoew were about to beat me on delivering the news!)

Global Warming and Evangelical Responses

2007-03-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

Here's the headline from CT: "Dobson, Others Seek Ouster of NAE Vice President" (via Chris)

Why? Because, the VP of the NAE (National Association of Evangelicals), Richard Cizik, is a vocal supporter of global warming.

Here's the actual letter that they wrote.

At first glance, this seems to me to be all that is wrong with evangelical political activism. These guys (none of whom are members of the NAE) seem only concerned about a few pet issues and not other issues that might genuinely be important.

But I have to be careful. I want to quickly point out a couple of questions/critiques of their letter. But I also am aware that I don't know the total issue here. I'm not familiar with the inner workings of the NAE or Cizik and all that he has said. My hunch is that this letter is out of line, but I just don't know enough to be too forceful in saying that. So take the following comments as "concerned" observations.

Some excerpts from the lettter with comments:

The existence of global warming and its implications for mankind is a subject of heated controversy throughout the world.

Pun intended? Heheh... But is this really that contentious of a debate? Among people like me that don't know a lot - sure - it's good water cooler stuff. But what exactly is the debate in the scientific community (since this is a scientific question)?

It does appear that the earth is warming, but the disagreement focuses on why it might be happening and what should be done about it.

Hah! See, (Roy!) even DOBSON admits the earth is warming! But again, since (two sentences later) they admit this is a scientific question, where is the "disagreeing" scientific evidence? Is it out there? I admit I don't study this enough to know, but I'm only aware of scientific studies that have concluded probable anthropogenic causation.

We believe it is unwise for an NAE officer to assert conclusively that those questions have been answered, or that the membership as a whole has taken a position on a matter. Furthermore, we believe the NAE lacks the expertise to settle the controversy, and that the issue should be addressed scientifically and not theologically.

Okay. I think they might have a point here. As a representative of the NAE which claims to represent evangelicals, should Cizik be using that platform to put forth his opinion on this issue which IS controversial among evangelicals at least? I don't know. I think maybe not. BUT here's a huge concern of mine. Note the last phrase they use. Is this issue exclusively scientific and not at all theological? Whether we agree with global warming or not, is care and concern for the world God has entrusted for us not an issue we should be aware of and actively supporting?

I'll leave it at this. There are other thoughts I have from the letter. Namely, they quote Cizik a couple of times. I'm not sure the entire context of the quotes, but they didn't seem particularly bad. What impressed me more about it was the wild speculation the letter made after each quote. They kind of took a "slippery slope" approach which seemed a bit overstated.

Q: How Hot Is My Wife?

2007-03-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

A: VERY!!! She was incredibly cool and attractive already. But now she has her own blog!!!

Check it out. It's all about clappy shoes...

So now I have a sexy AND techie wife.

Skype

2007-02-28T12:34:00.000-08:00

Ok. So I'm jumping on the skype bandwagon. Thanks, Justin! Why? Well, a big reason is one of my elders is in New Zealand on sabattical (he's a prof here at our college). Skype to his phone there is .025 cents/min. Pretty good deal. If I could just get him to add skype to his computer we'd really be doing good!

I haven't tested it for that purpose yet, but I'll update you. Still, this sort of tool is helpful in ministry! It beats being tied to one location and it sure beats cell phone rates. If you have a mobile team out in the field with laptops and skype, then your communication is free! (As long as you have wifi - an ever decreasing problem, though still an issue - especially in small towns.)

Anyways, my username is incredibly original - "johnmarkrutter." If you skype, feel free to add me and we can chat sometime.

Jesus had a family? Yawn.

2007-02-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Ok. So there's a new documentary coming out that claims that they've actually found Jesus' body and that he had a family. They found a tomb. It had a number of ossuaries in it. And now (get this) they actually have Jesus' DNA!!! Wow!

The article.

I found the link through McKnight's blog.

It sounds interesting until you get to the facts they're running with and discover that they've made some pretty wild assumptions. Here's one: "Maria" (latin) equals "Mary" the mother of Jesus since Mary later was called this "as more Romans became followers of Jesus." Pretty presumptuous. I don't know everything about church history, but I'm pretty sure that Latin wasn't a strong influence in the church until at least a hundred years after Jesus' death - and I'll bet that is even too early. (Roy?)

From the article:

"It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever," Amos Kloner, professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Kloner researched the tomb for the Israeli periodical Atiqot in 1996.

But debunking this silly speculation is pretty pointless. If you are so compelled, here's a link to Ben Witherington's blog. He's taken the time to attack the silliness from many different angles.

I hesitated to even post (Why give the documentary free publicity? Notice I didn't name it, or link to the website.), but I think we need to be aware of stuff - even silly stuff that comes out so that we can address it if needed.

To me, this is just The DaVinci Code rehashed. Only apparently we're supposed to believe they have scientific proof now. Come on...

UPDATE: Darryl Bock has a scathing critique in which he yawns a bit too. It's a bit academic, but he has some good points.

Parasitic Christians

2007-02-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Scot Mc Knight over on Jesus Creed has an excellent letter he's posted on Christians who are too critical. An excerpt:

Let’s also admit this with each other: being critical is easy, sometimes we find a sad delight in tossing darts at others, occasionally we find criticism the easiest way to take out our own anger, and it is simpler to criticize than come up with a better solution to a problem. But, if we believe in the power of the gospel to heal and transform, then we Christians ought to be better at avoiding the critical spirit than we do.

There is an insidiousness to the critical trend among some today, Matt. Let me refer to these folks as “parasitic Christians,” a term I heard from a friend at coffee the other day.

The rest is a good read too. I've been thinking on this myself a good bit lately. I suppose part of it is formative. I could be wrong, but it seems there is some sort of spiritual formation process that has gone on in me. And that as a part of that, I really ought to be lumped in at times with those "parasitic Christians." Over the past few years there has been an awakening in which I realized that there are many people out there who are messed up and leading people down bad spiritual paths. I realized that this is wrong. And this made me angry and I wanted and did talk/blog about it. But I guess I'm realizing that this is less mature than where we should all want to be. Not that we don't evaluate and criticize heresy/bad theology in some manner. You have to evaluate many things to understand what you do and don't believe. And much of my evaluation has been done here on this blog. But I'm realizing that as I mature and grow spiritually my thoughts won't be centered so much on what everyone else has done wrong but on what we're doing right. It won't be so much critical (though that does have it's place) but more on the encouraging. Constructive. Not destructive.

Good brainstorming tool

2007-02-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

Just ran into a cool site that seems to be an excellent online brainstorming tool.

bubbl.us is new so it looks like it could use some refining. But it is simple and has all the benefits of potential online collaboration. I just used it to quickly think through how our church is going to implement a community outreach strategy.

I could see us using this with teams who collaborate on a ministry project. Or even just personally it is quick and intuitive for personal reflection.

Here's a PCMag review that's more in-depth.

McKnight v. Grudem on William Webb

2007-02-15T07:56:00.000-08:00

William Webb has written the catchily titled book, Slaves, Women, and Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis. I read it back in seminary. In it he proposes a "redemptive hermeneutic in the Bible in it's relationship particularly to gender issues. Regardless of your position on the issue, you should read this book because it forces you to really think through specific categories of thought.

Wayne Grudem, a strong complementarian has strongly criticized web in his book Evangelical Feminism. He also has a pdf file on CBMW's website that I've read and expect says similar things.

Anyways, Scot McKnight has blogged a nice little synopsis of Wayne Grudem's critique of Webb.
And he also just posted his own critique of Grudem's critique. (Convoluted! I know.) Worth a read if you are following the gender issue debate.

It's nicely done and I think he properly calls Grudem out for overstating his case on a number of points. In particular he points out nicely that Grudem's "slippery slope" argument is mostly rhetoric - with little evidence to back it up.

I haven't read Evangelical Feminism but I recall being mightily irritated at Grudem when I read the CBMW critique linked to above. He is passionate in his disagreement and I guess just really wants to make a point. But I thought he went way overboard. Not cool.

Church "Logo"

2007-02-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

Our church now has a logo. Actually, we've had it for a few months now. I think it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

A guy in our church with mad drumming and photoshop skills, Brent Little, helped me put it together.

THE Move

2007-02-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

Well - we made THE move today. It was our first Sunday at Batesville Middle School. Several times people had to change terminology and it was weird. We talked about the "old" building. (Or maybe it's the "office" now?)

I was pretty much emotionally drained by the end, but everything went very well. Sure, there's lots to adjust for next week. But we made the move. It seemed we had a lot of energy. Nothing exploded. There was no cussing.

But here's what I loved:

What really makes me smile - even now: The move was a team thing - not a "me" thing. I think just about everyone contributed in some way - whether helping with the sound, working with the setup team, or fixing the nursery up right. People were plugged in and contributing where they were gifted.

One guy commented to me after the service, "It was great sitting there in the worship service and listening to the worship and thinking that I had a part in making this happen. It gave me chill bumps."

That comment game me chill bumps!

Ten Sins of Preaching

2007-02-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

Skye Jethani over at Out of Ur posted a summary of a John Ortberg talk at the National Preacher's Convention. It's on the "Ten Deadly Sins of Preaching." I found this list good to reflect on because I have personally found I encounter each of these temptations in some form almost every week!

My favorite:

7. The temptation of pride
Having people listen to you give a monologue every week can make you prideful. The antidote? A wife.

My thought after reading through the list is that I should print it out and then pray through the list before and after my sermons each week. I think the more I am aware of the danger, the better I'll be able to avoid it.

Ancient Hebrew in Egypt?

2007-02-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

An interesting story from National Geographic reports that semitic heiroglyphics have been found in Egypt. The text is very old and is about snake spells.

Of special interest, I thought, was the fact that these texts related more closely to Biblical Hebrew than expected. In fact, one word in particular which has been debated in Isaiah was included and helps to specify what Isaiah was meaning.

From the second page of the story:

"This is a discovery of utmost importance," Bar-Asher said. "Almost all the words found [in these texts] are also found in the Bible."
"It's not as different from biblical Hebrew as some people might have expected," Yeshiva University's Steiner added. "A lot of the characteristics of Hebrew that we know from the Bible are already present in these texts."
The language of the newly deciphered spells is so similar to biblical Hebrew, in fact, that Steiner was able to solve a long-standing dispute over the meaning of the word "pot."
Isaiah 3:17 reads, in regard to the daughters of Zion, "the Lord will uncover their pot."
By the Middle Ages there was already a dispute among biblical scholars over whether the word referred to the females' genitalia or to a part of their heads, Steiner said in his lecture.
But the use of this rare word in one of the Canaanite spells appears to settle the question.
"From this text it is now clear the Hebrew term used by Isaiah refers to the female genitalia," Bar-Asher, of the Hebrew University, said.

Pastors and Plagiarism?

2007-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ran into a good link to an article on pastoral plagiarism by Sean over at The Palmer Perspective.

The article is here. A good read to think through multiple perspectives on the issue.

At question is the issue of pastors getting some or all of their content from a (usually online) source and then not attributing that source. For instance, I could to go Sermoncentral.com and get any number of prefab sermons. Outlines. Ideas. Even manuscripts. Convenient, isn't it?

Some say this is no big deal. Including Mr. Rick Warren himself. From the article:

Ministers don't agree about the necessity of attribution. Mark Evans, senior pastor at the Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, Ark., says he routinely credits "Purpose Driven Life" author Rick Warren from the pulpit. Mr. Warren says that's unnecessary. "They are preaching a sermon, not footnoting a term paper," Mr. Warren writes in an email.

I don't want to be yucky on this. But to me, this is a serious issue. Rick Warren is right when he points out that this isn't a term paper. But I think he's dead wrong when he says attribution is unnecessary. I have no problem with canned sermons - as long as you're honest about the fact they're canned. But this is something pastors need to seriously think about - and not at 10 pm on a crunched Saturday night!

They aren't term papers, but I believe pastors must cite their sources when they preach. Not as in "Lewis, Robert, in The Church of Irresistible Influence, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2001, says..." But as in "Robert Lewis has said ... " Or "Rick Warren, pastor of a growing church in California and The Purpose Driven Life has said some good things on this issue and I'd like to share three points with you today that he and I both agree strongly on ..." Or maybe even just a footnote in the bulletin. "Pastor Bob is bi-vocational and gets many of the stories, outlines, and sections he preaches on Sunday from online sources."

Again, I really don't have a real beef with canned sermons. Just with plagiarized sermons.

As pastors, we must cite because of two good reasons:

The expectation when I hear someone speak at church or elsewhere - unless stated otherwise - is that their words are their own. Since I assume they are speaking their own words, my trust is broken if I were to ever hear the same words spoken by someone else. I feel that I have been lied to. The genre demands citation. Integrity demands citation.
There's no good reason not to cite. Citing is easy to do when done correctly - quick and painless. If you are hesitant to cite, then you are probably exposing a problem in your character. (For example: "I can't cite. My congregation expects the sermon to come from me.")

Mr. Warren, Ed Young, and others - please continue to let people use your sermons! You have lots of good ones. But please also encourage pastors to be clear and honest with their elders/board and congregants about where their material comes from!

SBC Study of Growing Churches

2007-01-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

Now that I dumped on the SBC (well, really just Southwestern) yesterday, here's a very interesting study done by them for today.

LifeWay research as reported by the Christianpost.com applied some stringent criteria of growth over a period of 10 years and then evaluated the 26 SBC churches that measured up to that criteria.

There are obvious thoughts to make here. Certainly these aren't the only growing churches in the SBC. 26 would be the best of the best I presume. Also, certainly there are other criteria for church health besides baptisms, membership, and attendance (the measurable criteria applied). All success in a healthy church is not measured by those statistics. However, in fairness, those are the easiest things to measure and often are surface measurements of underlying health.

But a few common factors in these 26 churches caught my eye:

The pastors all stressed evangelism - both in the pulpit and in their personal lives.
Average tenure of the pastor was 15 years.
Atmospheres of the church were described as warm and welcoming (obvious one I think).
Preaching style varied between the churches. Half were expositional. A third were topical. (And the other sixth were ???)
Worship style varied. Only one was "traditional." Most were "contemporary." Some were "blended."

UPDATE: Ugly Complementarians (and Ugly Me)

2007-01-30T14:29:00.000-08:00

Okay. Roy has convinced me to backtrack a bit in my self-righteous and probably not at all Christ-like zeal on the Sheri Klouda dismissal from Southwestern.

I think I was overstating the case to argue that Southwestern was ethically wrong (in a strong sense) to dismiss Klouda. Apparently people get turned down for tenure all the time for various non-academic reasons. This doesn't mean it's a good idea - just that it is not uncommon. And the SBC (rightly or wrongly) had adjusted its trajectory in this area. When Paige Patterson came in to fix things up at Southwestern, Klouda had already been hired. So they admittedly had a difficult situation to rectify. It is probably their legal right to do what they did.

However, I still strongly disagree with the theological position Southwestern is taking. I think it is an enormous stretch to see 1 Timothy 2 as applying to the academic teaching of Hebrew to seminary students.

Also I still think Southwestern has mishandled the human side of things. Perhaps they could/should have released Klouda given their change in views. However, they need to acknowledge that their theological waffling as an institution has hurt Klouda and apologize for that. As far as I'm aware they are merely asserting their rights here and not admitting any fault.

Sad Postcard

2007-01-30T13:42:00.000-08:00

A postcard from postsecret.com

Ugly Complementarians

2007-01-29T10:12:00.000-08:00

The Sheri Klouda case really makes complementarians look bad.

Andy Rowell pointed me to the story of his new colleague.

Wade Burlson was the first to report it.

ChristianityToday has an article on it.

As does the Associated Press.

In a nutshell, Sheri Klouda was a Hebrew prof. at Southwestern who was denied tenure and then let go even though she was hired for a tenure track position. Why? According to her, it was because she was a woman.

From the AP story:

In 2004, Dr. Klouda said, an administrator, whom she would not name, told her that the seminary’s president, Paige Patterson, would not be recommending her for tenure because she was a woman, and that she should plan to move on.
Dr. Klouda said she continued teaching for two more years, receiving good evaluations and usually filling her classrooms. In January 2006, the same administrator told her she would no longer be able to teach but would be paid through the 2006-7 academic year. A couple of weeks later, she said, she was told she would be terminated at the end of 2006 instead. She appealed to Dr. Patterson in April, she said, to no avail.

The chair of Southwestern's board has responded. From the CT article:

T. Van McClain, chair of Southwestern's board of trustees, released a statement calling Burleson's blog entry "filled with inaccuracies" and denied that Klouda was dismissed. "Actually, she did not have tenure and, like hundreds of professors around the U.S. every year, was told that she would not be awarded tenure," he said.
McClain also denied that gender discrimination played a role in Klouda's dismissal: "The second issue involves the desire of (the seminary) to have only men teaching who are qualified to be pastors or who have been pastors in the disciplines of theology, biblical studies, homiletics, and pastoral ministry. This is in keeping, of course, with the statement of faith of the SBC that clearly says the pastorate is reserved for men."
McClain said the school was free to hire only men for these positions, saying, "It is a matter of freedom of religion in this country for a private institution to align itself with the majority views of its constituency."
McClain called Klouda's hiring a "momentary lax of the parameters" and said the school has now returned to "its traditional, confessional, and biblical position."

What bothers me: 1) This view is not the view of all complementarians but it gives complementarians/evangelicals a bad name because most don't recognize that there is a lot of diversity of opinion among complementarians/evangelicals. I can see the rolling eyes, "There go those crazy fundamentalists again!" 2) This seems to me to be a poor interpretation of the Bible. Paul was discussing the church, not Hebrew classes, in 1 Tim 2. 3) I don't know what else, but it really bugs me. There should be a third point here!

Are Goals Bad or Good?

2007-01-25T07:01:00.000-08:00

Jack Hayford has a strong critique of "goal setting" on BuildingChurchLeaders.com

What are your primary goals for the immediate and long-range future?" The question came from the audience at one of our annual pastors' seminars.

"I have none," I replied.

Dubious stares and blank looks everywhere. I continued, "We never set goals—that is, in the sense of numerical targets, fund-raising drives, or enlargement campaigns. Our one goal is to build big people. Every effort goes into developing each believer in the threefold ministry of worship, fellowship, and stewardship of the gospel."

He comes back and clarifies somewhat. And I think he has some good points. Goals can be good but they can be incredibly dangerous as well. They can promote an exclusively human approach to growing the church / God's people.

How do I know when I have a good goal and when I have a bad goal? Jack gives an example of a goal that came to him in a time of prayer. I'm so suspicious of myself I'd feel hesitant to go after a goal like that.

Evangelicals Looking Bad?

2007-01-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

The Ted Haggard fall and its implications for evangelicals has been discussed ad nauseum. But I just ran across a very interesting Newsweek article. It's an interview with Nancy Pelosi's (!) daughter. Alexandra just happened to have turned in a documentary on evangelicals (with Ted as her primary "guide") one week before Ted's fall. I found the conversation interesting. Check it out.

Side note: If you ever see me putting up gigantic pictures of my smiling face around my church, please encourage me to resign.

Our Church Website

2007-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Fellowship Bible Church of Batesville now has a website.

Sort of.

So Brian, please don't click on that link. It will embarrass me. (That's Brian Warren - my brother-in-law and specialist in developing "killer websites." Really he's awesome - hire him.)

We hope to have a "Brian" quality site soon (like his work for the city of Albuquerque). But... that is a bit of money and a chunk of time down the road from now.

In the meantime you can now find our phone number and service time online.

Good and Exhausting Day

2007-01-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

Three more weeks until we move to the middle school.

In other news, today was a good day - but it wore me out. This morning I reached way back and used material from my first sermon ever (Matthew 6:19-20) and was surprised that I could even use some of it. I thought it would be junk, but I ended up using the vast majority of what I had. I'm not meaning to brag here because the fact it was usable wasn't really due to my innate sermon prep skills. Actually, my old pastor, Mike Bickley, helped me enormously when I first preached it. I recall him feeding me entire lines. I can't imagine what I might have preached otherwise! So, thanks for the help, Mike!

I followed that up by teaching our first ever "Discovery" class in a long time. It's our intro class explaining who we are as a church and why we do what we do. It went quite well. I was surprised by how many people decided to stay and attend (I didn't count, but I think it was about 20 adults). It was very encouraging. It was exciting to get to explain the vision and passion of our church and see people start to catch just a little bit that same vision and passion.

But that was too much talking. I loved it - but I was exhausted afterwards. I skipped what looked like a good NFC title game for a nice little nap.

Why I've Never Picked Up Wrestling

2007-01-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Snap preview

2007-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

I just added a preview feature. I don't really know why. It just looked cool. Mouse over a link to see it. Like this to Snap's website. Or this to a good post by Dan.

When is "Needy" Really "Needy?"

2007-01-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

"Ron" just tramped out of my office (still just a table and a file cabinet) here at the church and took off up the street. Ron was here to ask for help. Problem is, I guess Ron only wanted certain types of help. This happens about twice a month. This really bothers me.

Ron came in and asked me a few questions and then cut to the chase, could our church help him with food until Friday?

We have money set aside for people with needs. So we could help him. And I want to help those who are hurting and in need.

But Ron apparently only wanted certain types of help. He told me he only needed "$5-6 of groceries." I offered to go to the grocery store and get him a few groceries - canned goods and things like that. But Ron didn't want that. So he left.

This really bothers me. What bothers me is the fact that I don't want to turn away those who really need a helping hand. But I don't want to enable unhealthy behavior either. Sometimes it bothers me more than others. What bothers me is whether or not I am acting properly. I want to balance shrewd stewardship with generous grace. And I want to err on grace and don't want to set the bar too high. But on the other hand, I guess I feel if you are really needy, then you'll be willing to wait a few minutes while someone goes to pick up some food for you.

Newsweek: "Why Scientists Need Christians"

2007-01-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

It's good to feel needed.

Article: "A group of 28 scientists and evangelical Christians today announced their commitment to working together to address global and environmental climate change--an issue that they say is pressing enough to trump any theological differences between the groups."

Home Improvement

2007-01-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've really caught the home improvement bug. Here are a couple pix I just ran across. I'm installing crown moulding in the first one. That's me sanding down or caulking my best splice of the day (don't ask about my worst splice). Also note, the light above me. That's the hall light I moved to make way for my attic door - also barely visible. Unfortunately, I messed up the wiring when I put it back in (3 way switches are killer) and it won't go off. My solution so far: unscrew the bulbs.

Bill Gooden, a great guy who goes to our church is in the second picture. He was helping me install the crown moulding. By the way - I love nail guns now that I borrowed one for this project. How have I lived without them before? Interesting side story: Bill is a phenomenal (update) psychiatrist (thanks Matt). Anyways, the day he came to help me I got some real depressing news. Ugh. But what a deal! I got free fix-it help and free counseling all day!!!

Here I am trimming out a window this weekend. This was really fun. It was super hard, though (for me at least). The jambs (wood around the inside edges of the window) hadn't been installed properly and left a 1/2 inch gap between itself and the drywall. The old trim had just been thrown up on the drywall - wasn't even put into the wall studs. Argh! I figured it out though. In this picture, I'm inspecting my work on the "stool" of the window sill. I was very pleased with the end result.

The result. I owe the positive result to 1) an air finish nailer, 2) Several really good install jigs, 3) my table saw, 4) my miter saw, 5) good advice from friends and This Old House

Sermon Boo Boo

2007-01-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday during my sermon on fasting we were in Matthew 9 and I wanted to direct people back to Matthew 6. However, some neuron misfired and I told people to go to "Mark" 6 instead! I did hear people doing a lot of page turning which seemed odd at the time, but I totally missed the problem until afterwards. Oops.

7 Months Observations

2007-01-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

I just noticed today that I've been here in Batesville and at Fellowship Bible Church for seven months now. I thought I'd post a couple quick observations on my job/ministry:

1) My weekend anxiety is much better now. I posted on this when I'd been here about one month. Several things are happening. I do get a huge adrenaline surge on Sunday mornings when people start showing up. But I don't get anxious on Saturday and I sleep just fine on Saturday nights. An exception is that I do start to really think about my sermon on Saturday evenings. I especially do this if I feel I have a major chunk of work to do.

2) My sermon prep is getting a little more consistent and perhaps the sermons themselves are coming together a bit easier. It's hard to tell. A frustrating thing lately has been I've gotten so busy with our impending move that I haven't had as much time to translate passages I'm working on or read up on exegetical issues in the passage. I hit the high points for sure, but I have to either carve out more time in my schedule or get more efficient to improve here.

3) I love my job and this church. Most things I do fit what I love and what I'm pretty good at. I'm still figuring things out, but being in a small church with godly leaders is giving me the space and grace to do that.

4) I think I'm finally recovered from seminary. It's not this way for everyone, but seminary for me was like running a 5k race at the pace of the 100m dash. I don't see how I could have made it otherwise, but seminary was so hard. Necessary and good - but exhausting. These past few weekends I've had no "extra" plans. We didn't go anywhere. I did have to do a little church work. But not a ton. So I didn't do much but putter around the house doing little projects, playing with the kids, talking with my wife. This has been very good on a number of levels. Quite the relief.

5) I am going crazy trying to get everything lined up for our church's impending move to the Middle School.

"Indigenous" and "Pilgrim" Principles

2007-01-10T06:29:00.000-08:00

The Resurgence has posted an interesting message by John Piper. He argues that we must not cop out on the truths of God's Word just because they are foreign or difficult to grasp to a certain people group. Excerpt:

Don't aim to preach only in categories of thought that can be readily understood by this generation. Aim at creating biblical categories of thought that are not present.

Another way top put it is to use the terminology of Andrew Walls: "Don't embrace the indigenous principle of Christianity at the expense of the pilgrim principle." The indigenous principle says, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). The pilgrim principle says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom 12:2).
Some of the most crucial and precious truths of the Scripture are counterintuitive to the fallen human mind. They don't fit easily into our heads. The orthodox understanding of the Trinity is one of those. If the indigenous principle had triumphed in the fourth century we would all be Arians.

This is a difficult balance to make. On one hand I want to make sure I am removing cultural barriers that might be present between me and the Gospel. On the other hand, I want to make sure I am not removing the Gospel in the process.

For core issues, this doesn't seem too difficult for me. But there do seem to be some grey areas. For instance, our church has always projected the text being preached so people who didn't bring their Bibles can see it. This is nice for perhaps a person who has just started coming to church. It would feel awkward when someone says "open your Bibles..." to not have one while everyone else is flipping pages. Obviously this isn't a core issue here, but I wonder if perhaps by doing this, we are unintentionally discouraging people from bothering with their Bibles. Essentially saying, "Don't worry about bringing yours - just look up at the powerpoint."

Darth Vader and the Big Move

2007-01-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

I'm preaching in a Darth Vader outfit this Sunday to make a point. I'm going to go all out. Black outfit, mask, the voice...

Me: (heavy vader breathing) "Don't give in to the dark side. Turn to Jesus." (more vader breathing)

Just kidding, Justin!

But I do feel like Darth Vader sometimes. I give in to my fears, insecurities, and anger and just want to crush everything that gets in my way. "Small group leader - you have failed me for the last time!"

I haven't put up a big post on this yet, but our church is planning to move to the Middle School here in Batesville in mid-February. On one hand I am excited. This is a great opportunity for our church to grow and to reach out to our community in a greater way than we have up to now.
But on the other hand, this is really hard for me as well. I am discovering that I am very much so a hardcore "risk manager." I detest risk and thus do many things to eliminate it from my life. Unfortunately, on things like a big move risk can only be managed to a degree. Add to that a lack of experience and I can definitely feel my insecurities and fears churning around.

Preaching in Pajamas

2007-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

That's what I did Sunday.

I was preaching out of Romans 13:11-14 and felt the imagery in the text of "waking" and night/day and putting on / taking off was incredibly vivid! Paul is here motivating his audience to change based on a pressing expectation of Jesus' return (For Roy - the authorial audience would understand Paul to be motivating them to change based on immanent eschatological expectations). So he encourages them to change their behavior in light of the coming "day." A great text for New Year's Eve, isn't it?!

What better illustrates that than starting your preaching with a good pair of pj's?

Now, I have to be honest, I was real hesitant. I had the idea last Tuesday as I was studying the text. And I went back and forth all week. The thing that really made me hesitate is that I felt I needed to take off the pajamas halfway through the sermon to make the point (You need to change!) stick. I felt ... awkward with taking off the pajama bottoms at best. Back and forth - all week long.

Saturday night I had decided not to do it. Sunday morning I changed my mind. I went to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest set of pajamas that looked decent and went for it. I wore them over a black shirt and slacks. When I took the pj's off to make my point, it was a bit odd, but not too awkward. I think there was a moment of question in everyone's mind - "does he have something on under there?!" But as my old pastor always said - "tension in sermons is usually good."

Result? I don't really know for sure yet. But I think it worked because:

1) It broke up the monotony. Preaching can become somewhat predictable. This certainly created some change from the norm.

2) It vividly made the point of the text.

3) I think it created conversation because it was different. It's more interesting to talk about the pastor in his pj's than not. And since it made the point of the text my thought is that this conversation would be helpful.

4) It sets me up to be creative in the future. No one will be surprised if I show up in a chicken suit next week. Humm....

5) I didn't get fired.

I got good, positive feedback afterwards. Again, I think it worked. I'll have to admit, I love the freedom to be creative that our worship style affords. But some might say I was borderline here. Ask me in a couple weeks and I'll let you know for sure. :-)

Site Update

2006-12-19T08:11:00.000-08:00

Notice the cool new "recent comments" widget on the sidebar.

February 11, 2007

2006-12-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

That date could be a big day for this church. I'll post on it next week.

2006-12-11T08:31:00.000-08:00

Baptism Cannonball!

What did not happen in my first baptism.

1st Grade Crushes

2006-12-07T08:46:00.000-08:00

This morning on the way to school, my son Caleb (1st grade) comments:

"Dad, do you know that lots of people in my school have crushes?"

Me: (gulp) "Uhm, no. That's kind of crazy."

"Yeah, Dalton got a crush the other day."

Me: (ack!) "Oh. Why is that, Caleb?"

"Because there are a bunch of places where you get crushes at my school."

(My mind: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!)

My mouth: "Really? That's weird. So you mean - boys and s have places they like each other?"

"No. There's just a lot of things that can fall on you. They give you crushes. Dalton got one on his back."

Two Weeks Off

2006-12-07T07:21:00.000-08:00

I have two weeks off preaching right now. It's great. I love preaching of course, but I tend to wear myself out trying to nail excellent sermons each week. You give it your best shot on Sunday but then come into the office Monday morning thinking, "Okay, what's next?"

One of the great things I love about the elders here at my church is they are very concerned about my personal development and growth and that I don't burn out. So - and I think I've posted this before - one of the things they've encouraged me to do is to have someone else preach at least once a month. I preached straight through November, so these next two weeks will be my 2 Sundays off for Nov and Dec. It's great because I'll still have responsibilities and such, but I don't have to spend time prepping for a sermon and I'll actually get to enjoy the messages getting delivered.

This Sunday is "youth" Sunday. They're doing the whole thing. Our youth leader has been working hard with them. One of the things I love about us as a small church is that we can give more people - like our youth - the opportunity to contribute and take leadership in various areas. If we were a big church I doubt a youth service would work very well. But I think it will work great in our context.

Next Sunday, a good friend of mine, police officer(watch out - he'll arrest you!), and present Dallas Seminary student , Matt Ferguson is coming to lay down the law on us.

Sacrifice as a Pastor

2006-11-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

I sat and talked over coffee this morning with another pastor. We talked about lots of things. But one thing stuck out. This pastor's church has struggled financially recently. He shared how they've gotten to the point where it's iffy as to whether they can keep him full time or not. He commented that he's urged the church to take him on part time for a while now - and he pointed out to me that they might have no other option than to do that in the near future.

"What would you do?" I asked.

"I don't know. Construction probably. Maybe journalism - though that doesn't really pay much."

I thought then, and I've thought a bit more since then that this pastor's willingness to do something he's probably not that great at for the sake of his church's well being exposes him as a true man of God. And it exposes my own heart a bit more than I'd like. Would I be willing to do something I wasn't that good at for a season, for the sake of the church? Or would I just start looking for another, better "job?" Maybe. Honestly, I don't know. I'd like to think I would.

It's a challenging thought.

The Nativity Story 2

2006-11-30T06:31:00.000-08:00

I am republishing the post on the nativity story without the video. I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the embedded html in Blogger and it was annoying having a video play when you loaded the page. You can still check out the video here by clicking on "videos."

Environmental Impact: H3 vs. Hybrid

2006-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that I think we need to take better care of the world we live in. You may also know that if I could have any car in the world, I would pick this sweet little hybrid - the Toyota Prius. I should want a truck, I know. Much more manly. But I would just love to have to fill my gas tank maybe once a month.

However, in an interesting conversation over Thanksgiving my brother-in-law pointed me to an interesting study. This study took into account every energy expenditure that goes into a car from cradle to grave - including research, manufacturing, disposal, etc. Their point was that a car's cost to the environment is far more than just gas mileage. Now - get this: According to their analysis, a Hummer H3 is more environmentally friendly than a Toyota Prius!!!

I don't know what to make of it really. Especially since the H3 gets 15 mpg in the city and 20 on the highway and the Prius gets 60 in the city and 50 on the highway. I have trouble believing other factors can make that much of a difference.

But there it is.

Conclusion: Save the planet. Buy a Hummer.

Using Video Clips

2006-11-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

Thinking outloud here. I think using video clips can be a great way to make a sermon hit home. I also think it can ruin an otherwise decent/good sermon. I've used them now twice recently and found them pretty effective tools.

I like video clips because:

1) They can set the stage emotionally in a way I can't easily. They can put the audience in the middle of a heated argument. In a peaceful meadow. In a difficult circumstance. (warning: don't click unless you have 15 min.) Etc.

2) They save me time. When I found a video clip called "The Complicated Gospel" two weeks ago, I knew I had a great opening illustration for my sermon on Phil 3:1-11. With humor, it introduced a very serious point. I didn't have to spend an hour or two crafting my delivery of my opening "image." I was done.

3) They seem to shorten the message. Not sure why - maybe because there's a break - but I think I could preach longer when I use a video clip and no one would notice.

4) They are a nice change of pace. If I opened every message with a video clip, I think that would get real old real quick. But I think it's good to keep people on their toes.

But I don't like video clips because:

1) They can distract from the message. If I use a clip from Lord of the Rings on the value of fellowship, then I am in danger of while I am trying to bring my audience to the point of application, having them think "Yeah - I remember right after that scene where Gandalf is in the mines of Moria and there's this huge Balrog thing and he falls and..."

2) They waste my time. Hunting for usable video clips is fun at times but very annoying at others. There are a few and books that link ideas to movie clips. (e.g. here) There are lots of video clips designed just for churches now. But the problem is that many of these are BAD! Trying to find the good nugget in the sea of bad is very annoying. Far too many video clips try to say too much. That is - instead of helping me introduce the "question" of the text or the emotion of the text, they try to wrap things up neatly. Many are way too slow in developing. Etc... ugh.

3) There are so few good clips out there. This is related to the above, but it just boggles my mind. Some video clips are excellently produced, but are theologically flawed. Many are just boring and too long.

Sermonspice.com has some great and funny clips in it's top ten. They're worth a look. Here's another site that has some unique content.

Sunday Sermon

2006-11-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

Good news: I did NOT take my cell phone to the pulpit this Sunday.

Priorities

2006-11-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

I'm not saying this is irrelevant, but you've got to wonder about the priorities of the United Church of Canada when you see the latest issue they're tackling head-on.

Thank You Lindsey Jacobellis

2006-11-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't be so cavalier. But I knew when I saw it that poor Lindsey's snowboard catastrophe at the 2006 Winter Olympics would make a phenomenal sermon illustration. This Sunday, I'm preaching Philippians 3:12-21 - you know, "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus" - and using her for my opening image. It's a great image because it's from a race like Paul's imagery is in this passage.

Lindsey just slipped in concentration for a second and tried a little trick. The resulting crash cost her the gold medal. Fortunately for Lindsey it was just a lost medal and a good dose of humility. However, for us, the stakes are so much higher. Will we keep our eyes fixed firmly on the prize of knowing Jesus fully and our eternal hope with him or will we find ouselves counted among those distracted by the many things that are, in the end, inconsequential?

As I worked on this, I couldn't help but think that it would be a great illustration for a message to leaders in the church as well - particularly in light of the recent Ted Haggard fiasco. I've copied the text of my introduction below (Roy, it's the next best thing to having my sermon audio).

SERMON INTRO: [Show slide1]Lindsey in many respects was a winner. In the 2006 Winter Olympics, Lindsey Jacobellis won the silver medal in the women’s snowboardcross event. That’s her smiling on the far right. To most people, second best in the world is a pretty good accomplishment. I’d smile! [Show slide2] But she wasn’t smiling when she was standing on the podium. She looks bewildered. I doubt that Lindsey will ever be able to look at that silver medal without getting an awful feeling in her gut. That’s because more than winning, Lindsey knows she lost. [Show slide3] You see in snowboardcross the racers speed down the mountain as fast as they can, while navigating a series of jumps and hard turns in the track. And Lindsey was the best of the best. For three straight years, Lindsey had won gold at the X games. And in the final race – the race that determined who went home with the gold, Lindsey was spectacular. As she neared the finish line, her two competitors couldn’t even be seen. She was so far ahead that the Associated Press reported with only a little hyperbole that Lindsey “could have practically crawled to the finish line and won.” She had a bigger lead than anyone in any heat, men’s or women’s, in two days of snowboard racing at the Olympics. But then, nearly at the finish line, the unthinkable happened. On the second to last jump, Lindsey lost her focus. After the race, Lindsey said, “I was having fun … I was ahead, I wanted to share my enthusiasm with the crowd.” [Show slide4] So Lindsey tried a little trick. She did a little “backside method grab” – which is apparently a cool thing for snowboarders to do. She tried a trick and then she fell. [Show slide5] She fell – right there – yards from the finish line. In front of everyone. In front of her family and friends – all dressed in “funky red-white-and-blue hats.” In front of her teammates. In front of her coach. She crashed on a jump she had successfully navigated a number of times before. She lost focus and she crashed. And by the time she could recover and scoot across the finish line, she had lost. [Show slide 6] She still won silver. But she lost the gold. And she – along with all her supporters was left stunned and bewildered at that split second in time when she took her mind off the finish line and crashed.

Embarrasing Preaching Moment of the Week

2006-11-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

I forgot to take off my cell phone Sunday morning before going up to preach. Halfway through my message, it rings.

UPDATE: And no. I was not wearing my lucky preaching shoes.

Cussing in Church

2006-11-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I did it. I said "crap" in church. And I told teenagers they could say it too (as long as they were refuting the heresy of people adding circumcision to the gospel message). What I said was more or less what I manuscripted in preparation :

(v. 8b) Emphatic again! “I consider them rubbish” (NIV). Paul has built in emphasis here. His point must be made. This last word “rubbish” is intended for effect. It can be taken a couple of different ways, but because of a number of factors, it is likely a vulgar reference to “excrement” – hence, KJV – “dung” though this is much tamer word than Paul is using. “Feces” or even better - “crap” communicate Paul’s force. Perhaps it’s a bit shocking to use language like that – especially in church. But that’s the point! Paul is grabbing a shocking word and using it to help the Philippians see how repulsive these “good deeds” he has performed are.

Excrement is something we go to great lengths to get off of ourselves. We don’t want it to come anywhere near us. Anyone who has had a baby knows that there is always that first dirty diaper. “Awww… Look at what our little baby did! He made a little ‘poo poo’” But after the first few times, it’s not so exciting anymore. And pretty soon it’s not little anymore either. And yet someone has to change the dirty diaper. It’s not a pleasant experience because poop stinks. It’s gross. And if you’re like me, as soon as you are done you go and wash your hands really, really well. Paul want’s the Philippians to feel the exact same way about righteousness based on following the law. UGH! Get rid of that idea!

So thanks for your feedback and ideas. Some, at least, were very helpful. After much thought I did cuss - BUT I was only quoting scripture! And I also included Mike's idea on illustrating the nastiness of the whole thing.

Teaching Skubala

2006-11-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

And now, you see, I really am studying for my sermon.

I hope my teaching is not skubala, but I do have to teach about skubala this Sunday.

Smiles aside, how do you go about preaching Paul's usage of "skubala" in Phil 3:8? Apparently the term was embarrassing enough that some early church fathers tried to weaken it's meaning (O'Brien 390). And though all the commentaries I have point out that this is a vulgar term, none translate it that way (apparently you can't cuss in commentaries). Hawthorne has "unspeakable filth." Modern translations also wuss out here - "rubbish" doesn't at all have the shock value skubala has. KJV goes with "dung." And that's being specific on one meaning of Skubala. And it's better in capture the repulsive aspect of the term. But "rubbish?" Come on...

It seems to me that the word "crap" captures the shock value and sense of the word well. But you really can't teach that. (Or can you, Roy?) Can you say "poop?"

I'm at a loss - in a Sunday morning setting, what do I do? Maybe "allude" to shock value? Say Paul is cussing mad here?

2006-11-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

Darth Vader being a jerk

I'm really working on my sermon right now. Really. I just stumbled on this one and about died laughing!

No more Seafood?

2006-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

A disturbing study is now being released that claims if present trends continue, all seafood faces collapse by 2048. A quote:

"At this point 29 percent of fish and seafood species have collapsed -- that is, their catch has declined by 90 percent. It is a very clear trend, and it is accelerating," Worm said. "If the long-term trend continues, all fish and seafood species are projected to collapse within my lifetime -- by 2048."

I'm not a scientist, so it's hard for me to determine whether this is good or bad science at work here. However, it certainly appeared well done.

As Christians, should we not be incredibly alarmed by this? What particularly got my attention was a paragraph near the end of the article:

Joshua Reichert, head of the private Pew Charitable Trusts' environment program, pointed out that worldwide fishing provides $80 billion in revenue and 200 million people depend on it for their livelihoods. For more than 1 billion people, many of whom are poor, fish is their main source of protein, he said.

If the poorest among us are deprived of their primary source of food, what will they eat when it is gone? If our growing population and political disinterest is creating the present potential for future famine should we as Christians not be at the forefront crying out for immediate action?

Gordon MacDonald on Haggard

2006-11-06T08:17:00.000-08:00

Gordon MacDonald, himself an evangelical leader who had a major moral failure a number of years ago and now the editor-at-large of Leadership Journal, has put up a post about the Ted Haggard fiasco. Definitely a must read for any church leader. Insightful and thought-provoking. He comments first on "how" this could happen to Ted and then also on the impact for evangelicals in influence and politics. A couple paragraphs:

I’ve spent more than a little time trying to understand how and why some men/women in all kinds of leadership get themselves into trouble whether the issues be moral, financial, or the abuse of power and ego. I am no stranger to failure and public humiliation. From those terrible moments of twenty years ago in my own life I have come to believe that there is a deeper person in many of us who is not unlike an assassin.
This deeper person (like a contentious board member) can be the source of attitudes and behaviors we normally stand against in our conscious being. But it seeks to destroy us and masses energies that—unrestrained—tempt us to do the very things we “believe against.” If you have been burned as deeply as I (and my loved ones) have, you never live a day without remembering that there is something within that, left unguarded, will go on the rampage. Wallace Hamilton once wrote, “Within each of us there is a herd of wild horses all wanting to run loose.” --more--

2006-11-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

John Piper is Bad - the video

This made me smile - props to Lee at ichriscampbell.com for the link.

Blogger Problems

2006-10-31T06:46:00.000-08:00

I was gone in Charlotte, NC over the weekend, shadowing the pastor of a Fellowship Bible Church plant there. Incredibly helpful.

Weird thing was, several times I tried to post on Blogger and errors shut me out. Humm....

Anyways, posting might be sparse over the next few days as I attempt to catch up and then implement some ideas I picked up on my trip.

Hopefully, this post will go up with no problems.

In Charlotte

2006-10-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

I'm spending some time with a church planting friend in North Carolina over the weekend. I've been here the last couple of days. The fall leaves are gorgeous. I'm hoping to pick up some helpful ideas. I'll probably post on these when I get back.

My Lucky Preaching Shoes

2006-10-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't post this last week because I was too mad. Last week I had another mediocre sermon. Similar to the week before - not awful but not real memorable either. I probably would have tuned myself out if I was in the audience.

Yesterday, though, was much better. In fact, it was one of my better ones so far. It was true to the text. I paced it well. I had a good hook at the beginning and a good conclusion at the end. I had good illustrations, quotes, and a few jokes for little mental breaks along the way (but boy is it a lot of hard work to get good ones).

Why was this Sunday better? I think it was because I wore my "lucky preaching shoes."

Or it could be because of helpful input on several key exegetical issues. Or because I stayed up until 2 am Saturday night looking for a good conclusion.

But I personally think it was the shoes.

"Southwestern Bars Speaking in Tongues"

2006-10-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

According to www.christianpost.com Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has barred speaking in tongues on their campus. (Thanks, Chris, for the link.)

Apparently a speaker in chapel mentioned at times speaking in tongues when praying in private. Two months later the school came up with the following statement:

Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including private prayer language. Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices.

The article quotes Patterson as saying he supports the right of other Christians to believe in speaking in tongues:

"But don't wear a Yankee uniform when you play for the Mets," he said.

That's kind of funny... But honestly, is this a good move for them?

Human Spirit or Holy Spirit?

2006-10-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

An interesting exegetical decision that is not irrelevant to proper exegesis and teaching in Phil 1:27 is how one understands the phrase at the end of the verse, "en heni pneumati" ("in one spirit). Some commentators argue this is a metaphorical reference to the human spirit (e.g. Hawthorne, O'Brien), and others argue this is a reference to the Holy Spirit (e.g. Fee). Thus Paul is either saying he wishes to hear that the Philippian believers stood firm "in one spirit" or "in the Holy Spirit." After reading through the three commentaries on this passage I am persuaded by the latter view though I admit I am limited by my available sources and time. Below is the brief commentary I put together as I was looking over the issue. Feel free to comment for or against my conclusion.

What is the meaning of the Greek phrase "heni pneumati" in Phil 1:27( - “the one (Holy) Spirit” or “one (human) spirit?” Some commentators argue for the latter – this is, this passage is referring to the unity of spirit that the Philippian believers have. They argue that the context of unity in this passage strongly supports the idea of a metaphor for unity being present here (Hawthorne 57). Paul is not pointing out the sphere or the agent through whom they will experience unity (though certainly this would be within the Holy Spirit’s realm). Rather, Paul is pointing out the need for unity within the Philippian believers. Thus the immediately following phrase "mia psuxa" , “one soul/body,” lends weight to this view and should be seen as appositional and related to the former phrase (O’Brien 150). Hence this passage should be rendered “…standing firm in one spirit, one soul contending for the faith…”

Some argue for a combination of the two meanings. Thus Martin argues that Paul intends by this phrase to convey in the singular term the double meaning of “the Holy Spirit strengthens the human spirit under trial” (Hawthorne 57). This however, seems stretched and unlikely as there are no indications in this passage that such a double meaning should be in view (ibid).

Finally, some argue that it is specifically the Holy Spirit in view here. They point out that the second phrase in this passage need not necessarily clarify or explain the first phrase – in other words – "mia psuxa" is not necessarily appositional. Fee notes that the phrase “in one spirit” has no analogy in Greek literature and especially not in Paul or the NT. While psuxa is used in this sense, the word "pneuma" is never used to describe oneness or unity between two or more people (Fee 164). Fee goes on to state pointedly, “what is altogether missing in Paul is any hint that ‘spirit’ might be an anthropological metaphor for a community disposition. The Greeks apparently did not [have a term for this idea], and it is highly questionable whether Paul is here creating such a usage” (165). Fee also points out that where Paul has elsewhere used the verb “stand firm” with the preposition “in” (thus, "stakete en" - Phil 4:1, 1 Thess 3:8, 1 Cor 16:13), he has used it in a “locative” sense. That is, it describes the “sphere” within which one is to stand firm. Fee points out that the immediate context is not devoid of references to the Holy Spirit. Phil 2:1 appeals to their common “participation in the Spirit.” Further, Paul has used the exact phrase here elsewhere to refer to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13; Eph 2:18) and these passages are where the emphasis is on the common experience of the Spirit as the basis for unity.

Given these arguments, it seems that the latter view is preferable. The primary argument for the former view is based on the following usage of “one soul/body” as an appositional explanation for the former phrase. However, this understanding isn’t necessary. Further, Pauline usage of this term elsewhere and in near context argue along with the absence of such a metaphor in common Greek literature for a reference to the Holy Spirit specifically.

Word Study: "politeuomai"

2006-10-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

In studying for this week's sermon, I noticed that the major commentaries I had argued strongly for a more nuanced understanding of the imperative "politeuesthe" in Phil 1:27 than what the major translations give. The NIV translates the key phrase, "...conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." Hawthorne, Fee, and O'Brien all argue that there is a political connotation to the word that shouldn't be overlooked when studying this passage. Thus, O'Brien for instance translates, "...as citizens of heaven live in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ."

I've included the admittedly rough commentary I pieced together as I studied this passage below. Read it at your own risk. I tend to side with the commentaries but don't want to over nuance the word here. What do you think? Does the NIV have it right or is O'Brien closer to the mark?

Fee, O’Brien, and Hawthorne all note that this word has a distinct political connotation. It occurs in the NT only here and in Acts 23:1 where it has a rather straightforward meaning (“And looking intently at the council, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this”). Here, though, these commentators argue a more nuanced meaning is in order. In its middle form as it is here, the term meant “to take an active part in the affairs of the polis,” and thus to “be a citizen” (Fee 161). If Paul simply meant to communicate the idea of “conduct” then he could have easily used the term peripatew (peripateo) to communicate that idea as he does in Phil 3:17,18 and elsewhere (ibid; O’Brien, 146). In arguing for the meaning of this word in context it is important to avoid the fallacy of “totality word transfer.” Thus, in arguing against a political sense to the word here, Dibelius points out that this word seems to be almost equivalent at times with peripatew and cites an example from Clement. Nonetheless, it seems that the word here is more than a simple synonym for peripatew. Given the context – the references to life as struggle in their present situation, the unique role of Philippi as a Roman colony, and later usage of other political terminology (e.g. 3:20), Paul seems to be making a play on the term. Fee notes R. Roberts argument, “It is inconceivable that the idea of citizenship chould be absent from [Paul’s] mind as he dictated [this] word” (Fee 161). Thus Fee argues that here – as in 3:20 – Paul is making a play on the dual citizenship that the Philippian believers enjoyed. The term had a political connotation and Paul is now applying it in a theological context. They were to live as citizens – not only of the Roman state, but also of heaven. Lincoln also notes this dual-citizenship possibility in this term

Evangelicals and the White House

2006-10-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

I just read a very interesting article on TIME.com that speaks to the intersection of politics and Christian participation in that arena. It's an excerpt/adoptation from David Kuo's book that is critical of the way the Bush administration has handled evangelical support.

Specifically, it argues that the Bush administration has "used" evangelicals without delivering on promises. Kuo argues that evangelicals are essentially viewed as political pushovers by many insiders. The article concludes:

Now I am finding the courage to speak out about God and politics and their dangerous dance. George W. Bush, the man, is a person of profound faith and deep compassion for those who suffer. But President George W. Bush is a politician and is ultimately no different from any other politician, content to use religion for electoral gain more than for good works. Millions of Evangelicals may share Bush's faith, but they would protect themselves--and their interests--better if they looked at him through the same coldly political lens with which he views them.

Hummmm...

Incarnational Grace II?

2006-10-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

A follow up on my previous post. A new AP story I found on USA Today:

Shooter's wife thanks Amish community

From the article:

The wife of a gunman who killed five s and injured five others at an Amish school released a statement thanking the Amish and others in the Lancaster County community for their "forgiveness, grace and mercy."

The Amish community had every right to be hostile. But they gave it up.

This is incarnational grace if you ask me. And this is also the sort of sacrifice that changes hearts - that changes the world - not boycotts.

How Deep Can you Go?

2006-10-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

I don't have long to post this but thought I'd throw up a quick ramble.

I am discovering that I face a unique balancing act in my desire to be a good preacher in my present situation. For those of you who know me, you know that I highly value academic accuracy and practical application- at least when it comes to exegesis and preaching.

Ideally a well-prepared sermon will carefully evaluate a given text from all angles. In preparation it will critically weigh the opinion of the best commentaries. It will look at major text critical issues. It will consider the nuances of key words and phrases and how they add additional color and significance to the meaning of the passage.

Then the expositor will carefully craft the message so that it is true to the text, but also memorable to the listener. Not that the message itself is necessarily memorable, but that the call to action is memorable. The meaning of the text rings in the audiences' ears in such a way that the truth of what they have heard compels them to action. Phrases are carefully thought over. A clear and relatively concise call to action is prepared.

My dilemma when it comes to preaching week-to-week is that I am finding that I can generally do one side of this well, but not the other. I usually end up with a really academically accurate sermon or a really memorable sermon - but not both. This isn't to say that I preach "memorable heresy" or "academic mumbo-jumbo." I just can't do both to the degree I would like. One week you might walk away thinking - "I got his point, but I wish he'd gone a little deeper at points." Or the next week you might think, "That was some deep stuff... What was he talking about again?"

For instance - I think last week I grasped the academic issues fairly well (though still not as good as I would like to do so). I just didn't have the time to pull those ideas together in a highly coherent fashion.

And doing exegeticals like I did in Romans and Ephesians Greek classes back in seminary? Hahahahahaha. I doubted I could consistently pull off that level of work back then and I know it now. I suppose I'll get more efficient. Also, as I go over stuff I have already studied again, I'll be able to study deeper quicker. But I can't pull that level of study/production without taking time from other important areas.

A Negative of Small Church Ministry

2006-10-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

I love many aspects of my job as a pastor of a small church. But any job has both good and bad things attached to it.

One thing I can't stand already is how "lonely" the job is. Now, that might be overstating it. I see people all the time. I make it a point to try to meet with at least one person every day. Yesterday I was barely in the office as I went from one appointment to another.

What I mean is I've found the job lonely from a "colleague" standpoint. There's no one else here at the "office" when I come in every morning. No one else who I can get excited with or share my frustrations with, or bounce my ideas off of. Ugh...

I'd like to think this will change in the next year or two. But who knows.

On the bright side - there's no one to distract or annoy me either. Also, no one else leaves dirty dishes in the sink. No one tells me my desk is a mess. I don't get criticism on my work habits... :-)

Where do bad sermons come from?

2006-10-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

Bad weeks. Bad preparation. Preoccupation with other issues. Mental fatigue.

Those are just a couple of places that incubate bad sermons. I can't imagine anyone wanting to stand up and spit out tastless words that bore or confuse. But I guess sooner or later most preachers have their share of off days.

Yesterday was my first really good one. A definite "off" day. (Maybe this is God's way of tempering my ambition?!) It wasn't awful. I didn't get booed. Or have assorted vegetables thrown at me. Desiree (who doesn't pull punches) told me it wasn't all that bad. Hummm...

But I did struggle. I struggled to pull things together. I struggled in my delivery. I found myself several times during my sermon thinking, "Oops - I didn't mean to say it like that," or "Wait - I think I'm unclear here."

Oh yeah - I also used the word "plethora." I'm pretty sure that's not allowed in good sermon verbage.

On the bright side: I didn't preach heresy. I preached truth. But I know I could have done better. Could have been clearer. Could have been less boring. More motivational.

Hopefully I'll do better next week.

There's a plethora of opportunity to do so.

Incarnational Grace?

2006-10-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

From CNN concerning the Amish school shootings:

Amish grandfather: 'We must not think evil of this man'

It seems to me that mercy and grace are nice to talk about - but heartbreaking to live out.

Pastoral Ambition

2006-10-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Pastoral ambition is not easy to approach - especially when you're thinking about yourself. On one hand it is a godly thing to want to see the church grow in numbers and influence. On the other hand that exact same desire can be incredibly sinful. Just last night at a pastoral dinner I talked to a guy who has been the pastor of a small church in a small town in Arkansas for a number of years. I am embarrassed to say this, but I honestly lost interest in him after discovering this. Not rude or anything - just didn't pursue him. There were other mitigating factors. True. But when I ask myself if I would have been more interested and worked harder to get to know the guy if he had been the pastor of a larger church I think my heart reveals my problem.

There's a very thought provoking post on Leadership Journal's blog on "pastoral ambition." The author of the article has a very perceptive disclaimer as he dives into the issue:

I walk into this issue with loads of apprehension. There is no way to talk about pastoral ambition without sounding (and, I suspect, being) judgmental. After all, who am I to know the thoughts and intents of another person's heart? The inner motivations that drive all of us are a tangled web of sincerity and self-absorption, nobility and narcissism. This topic is, therefore, a land of cheap shots, often entered into by those intellectually lazy and simplistic souls who enjoy building straw men of those with whom they disagree and then tear them down.

I feel the same way. How do you approach the issue? I don't have tons of experience, but I am beginning to sense more and more how corrupting desires for power and people can be. I look at the big picture and I feel this is a major problem for church leaders. They are presssured to grow and they pressure themselves to grow. More than this - I look at the big picture and I feel this is a major problem for ME.

Almost daily I feel the turmoil. The godly desire to grow the body of Christ. To see lives changed. To see people touched by God's grace.

And then the other side - the wicked desire for validation. ("John Mark's really done a great job up there in Batesville.") Dreams of worldly success. ("John Mark has taken a church from 50 people to 150 in only two years.") Hopes of financial gain. ("John Mark - here's a huge raise. You've done a great job leading this church.) of peer recognition. ("John Mark - We've heard about you and want you to come speak at our next Willow Creek conference about effective leadership in a small town environment.")

I write these things with only a touch of humor. Thoughts like these have all paraded through my mind at one point or another. This dark side scares me.

What makes this worse is that there seems to be some sort of escalating pressure system here. I am finding that the more I am faithful and develop the godly desires I have, the more success I experience. Then people offer genuine complements. And this in turn feeds those dark ambitious thoughts.

I doubt I'll escape this dilemma. But I will face it.

Any thoughts? Suggestions to combat this?

Church Facility Dilemma

2006-10-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

What does a young church do when it has outgrown its present facility? This question has nagged at me for 3 months now.

This is our present meeting place. It's the middle building with the blue awning. Downtown. Kinda cool coffee shop sort of look. Long. Narrow. Intimate on good days. Claustrophobic on bad ones.

We don't fit here anymore. We own the place and can use it for offices and non-Sunday stuff, but we just can't fit all our kids and everyone else in this size place anymore.

So what do we do?

Move.

That's the obvious answer if adding on isn't an option. But "how" you make details work out isn't so easy. Further, if you see buildings as simply a "tool" and not the church itself, how do you help that theology live out in your decisions. Further yet, if you live in a small town in Arkansas how does this inform the decisions you make? You can only be so non-traditional...

It's just messy.

I can't find the clear cut answer. Certain details are emerging but even those don't clarify much.

For instance, we are probably going to move to the middle school auditorium here in the near future. But even that is messy. The auditorium is way bigger than what we need - about 700 seats! And we only fill 65 or so on a given Sunday! Plus, the middle school is only a short term solution. In 2-3 years we have to be out of there.

What then?

Elder Retreat Results

2006-10-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm still not entirely certain how much, but my initial impression after the elder retreat this weekend is that our elder retreat was pretty successful. In fact, I'm very glad we did this.

My goals were 1) as leaders, for us to better articulate who we are and what we would like to see our church doing "down the road," and 2) to begin developing a clear strategy for getting there.

I'll post more on what we came up with as we get these things rolled out to the church here, but overall I was amazed at the level of agreement we had. We were coming up with some fantastic dreams and were on the same page almost every time! We made a lot of progress on the very tricky area of facilities (I'll post on this later too). We developed a better interpersonal connection as leaders as well.

The only thing I wished we had done better on was on developing the strategy with a bit more detail. But honestly we got a lot done as it is so I'm not going to complain here. Anyways, I highly recommend a leadership getaway every now and then.

Elder's Retreat

2006-09-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend I think is HUGE for our church. The elders and I are going on a retreat for a couple of days to pray, seek God's direction, and plan for the future of this church. There is so much that is unclear right now.

I realized I was anxious about this when I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't go back to sleep. This is one of those times when you wish you had the wisdom of a few more years experience.

By the way - I now have phone/internet at work so I'll be blogging more as I think through things.

Blog Lag II

2006-09-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

I can't stand excuses but I feel it's only fair to explain why I'm not writing. The deal is that I do my primary thinking and processing during the day while I'm working on a sermon or other material at church. The problem is that while I do have email access, I don't presently have internet access. That will likely change sometime in the near future but for now the times when I'm thinking and would post something I can't. When I get home I'm usually too tired to bother.

I don't know. This could be the beginning of the end for this blog. It's been a great experience, and I'd like to keep it up but sometimes things have to change. I'll wait until I have a place to work with regular internet access before I decide whether or not to pull the plug. We'll see.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

2006-08-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's a rather rainy Sunday afternoon here in Batesville. I'm watching a little golf and enjoying my first decent break from activity for the past two or three weeks. Whew. Ministry. House. Kids. They take it out of you.

I have a couple thoughts from Leadership Journal that I'll probably post in the next few days, weeks, or months.

The rain is relaxing. The bad thing about is we're supposed to have an evening baptism service in a little over an hour. Of course, we don't have a baptismal. So it's outside. In a pool. The way the early church did it. If the rain doesn't let up we might have to cancel. Or we could just change our method. Sprinkling, perhaps.

Blog Lag

2006-08-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Nothing bugs me more than people who constantly blog about their lack of blogging. So I will not blog about that. I will simply mention it. I am too busy to blog right now.

There.

Today was the first day of school for both my kids. They were excited when we dropped them off if not a bit nervous. Caleb: "I have the butterflies." It was probably harder on Desiree than anyone else.

One Negative to My Seminary Approach

2006-08-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

The one main negative I can think of for getting some ministry experience before seminary was the status of my family. I got married towards the end of college and by the time I went to seminary I had two kids. Now, I love my kids very much. They are an enormous blessing from God that I am very grateful for. However...

Seminary with two kids is incredibly difficult to pull off. Let me say that again (I’m a preacher now! :-) ) Seminary with kids is very, very hard! And I honestly couldn't have done it without God’s grace, and a bunch of very faithful people behind us. Still, it was exhausting and incredibly taxing on us.

Think about it. If you are in seminary full-time (the only option if you don't want to take close to a decade to finish up - especially a Th.M at DTS), then you are paying thousands of dollars for your education and bringing in very little. Perhaps you work a part-time job, but those usually don't pay much - you'll be lucky to cover the cost of seminary with this income. This means it's up to your spouse to cover your living expenses. But if you have kids, younger ones especially, who is going to keep them? We made it, so it's possible, but obviously this can be a very difficult and tricky path to navigate. We were desperately trying to make ends meet but also trying to be good parents. This meant that something always had to give. In the end what often gave was good, relational/conversational times with my wife and kids.

I highly recommend pre-seminary experience, but I also highly recommend tackling seminary before you have kids. Or at least try to get through a big chunk before you start your family. I think I recall a professor telling us that the ideal way to go through seminary is married (because your spouse can financially support you) and without kids (because then you have to make difficult choices on how to make ends meet while taking classes while taking care of your kids).

What Seminary's Been Good For, IV

2006-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Again, this is really titled wrong. It's really morphed more into "training that's helping me now..." But after you start a series how can you fix that?

4. A final critical aspect of training as I reflect now has been my past ministry experience. I've found myself regularly looking back at my 4 years of full-time ministry experience as the youth pastor in a small church. I'm constantly thinking about decisions the pastor there made and thinking about what effect they had. There are lots of parallels between that church and this one (similar ministry philosophy, similar size, similar size town, similar geographic location). This pre-seminary experience I think really helped me while I was in seminary for a number of reasons:

a) It helped me develop realistic passions prior to engaging in specific training. I'm sure plenty of people go right into seminary from college and do fine. However, I can think of a number of guys who pretty much made the leap straight from college and spent a good bit of their seminary time "searching" for what they wanted to do and were gifted to head. While I didn't know exactly what I'd be doing when I entered seminary, I had pretty much figured out that I was passionate about the church and gifted in the area of teaching. This was great motivation in seminary. I wavered some on how exactly I would use this passion and gifting but never on whether those things were there.

b) My pre-seminary experience also helped me to keep my focus (for the most part) while in seminary. Since I was pretty sure of the direction I needed to head, I was able to take classes to complement that focus. For instance, I chose DTS to begin with primarily because I knew the language program there was excellent. I thought that I would probably end up in some sort of pastoral teaching role someday and believed (catch this Kreider and Roy!) that language skills were critical to proper teaching. This focus was good for selecting classes and for latching on to stuff while in classes. Honestly, there was so much information coming at me that I had a hard time holding on to much of it. However, the stuff I really caught on to - and I imagine would be obvious if you looked back over the history of this blog - is stuff that especially pertains to ministry and leadership in the church.

c) My pre-seminary experience also helped me to have more questions when I entered seminary. I knew certain things (e.g. I was passionate about the church) but I certainly had more questions than answers. I think that my questions I sought answers, because of experience and age too, were more relevant/mature than they might otherwise have been.

d) My pre-seminary experience grew me up a bit before seminary. I was less naive and more mature in a number of ways (emotionally, study habits, sense of purpose, etc.). I think this helped me to pull more out of my time in seminary.

e) My pre-seminary experience gave me an academic break and thus made me more excited/hungry for learning in seminary. I was really pumped up for my classes.

I'll post next time about the one negative I can think about for pre-seminary experience.

Interview with Jim Collins

2006-08-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Leadership Journal has an interview online with Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. This book has been widely used in Christian circles as pastors have felt that the principles Collins outlines in a secular context can apply in some shape or form to the church. Collins has now written a small follow up book that examines how Good to Great applies or doesn't apply to a "social sector" (read: church) situation. The full title is Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer. Interesting. I might check this out. We'll see.

A great quote by from the interview:

Question: How do you define "greatness" in a church?

Jim: Greatness does not equal bigness. Big is not great and great is not big. In fact, the bigger you become the harder it may be to remain great.

For my purposes, an organization must have three things to qualify as great:

1. Superior performance relative to its mission in the world.

2. A distinctive impact on its community. So you'd say, "If this church disappeared, it would leave a serious hole in this community."

3. Endurance. Making an impact over a long enough time, so that it's not dependent on the personality of one leader. If a church is effective during one pastorate, it may be a church with a stellar pastor, but it is not yet a great church.

What Seminary's Been Good For, III

2006-07-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

I should preface this post - the title is wrong. This topic is really more "What I've found helpful through my seminary experience." But then I'd mess up the series...

3. While my in-seminary learning has been incredibly helpful, my extra-seminary learning has been huge too. Mentoring by a mature church leader has been critical. Gary Brandenburg, pastor at Fellowship Bible in Dallas, took about 2 hours out of his day every week to meet with a group of us DTS guys to discuss ministry. We'd problem solve, we'd discuss, he'd share stories. Huge - especially now. This was the nuts and bolts of everyday ministry (Roy - ignore metaphor - I agree with you... :-) ). DTS guys - if you're reading this blog and plan to serve in a church, take advantage of this opportunity!

The Myth of Expository Preaching?

2006-07-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

David Fitch has a thought provoking series of articles over on CT's leadership blog, Out of Ur. Titled, "The Myth of Expository Preaching," he argues that "expository preaching has led to the commodification of Scripture."

I honestly struggled to understand his angle. At first I thought he was nuts. Then I thought he wasn't really saying anything much different than I would. I'm trying to decide if his thoughts were poorly worded or my mind is poorly wired, or if maybe I just need to re-read it a few times... :-)

What Seminary's Been Good For, II

2006-07-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

2. Having said that I highly value what I did learn in seminary and that the Grk/Hebrew, Systematic Theology, and Bible classes were all important, I have to admit that they are primarily foundation. In a house, the foundation is important, but not very visible. There is also a lot more to a good house than the foundation. Similarly, the academic side of my seminary learning is not very visible on a daily basis. I haven't carefully studied this, but my casual observation is that I don't use my bible exegesis / systematic theology / language classes on a daily basis. For instance, I spent 1 yr. of classtime learning Greek/Hebrew. I probably use those skills 2-5 hrs./wk - max. The classes I constantly do look back on - many times per day - are my pastoral ministries classes - preaching classes and "dealing with church life" classes. I would be DEAD right now without them. They form the framework for my ministry approach.

In Dallas

2006-07-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm actually back in Dallas tonight. I'm helping Apartment Life a bit shore up some of their process (along with 8 or so other people). Very cool. I also used this time to meet with and pick the brain of my old pastor down here.

I'll post part 2 of my "seminary" thoughts when I get back.

P.S. Sunday's sermon was probably my best one yet in terms of the "yips." I wasn't too nervous the night before and slept well. I actually had my sermon prepared enough by Thursday afternoon that I didn't have to look at it again until 6 am on Sunday morning. That was good progress for me. We'll see if I can repeat this week. It'll be hard since I'll be almost two days behind when I get back Tues night.

What Seminary's Been Good For

2006-07-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm in an actual ministry situation I have some 4 thoughts on seminary. At least now I have 4 thoughts. I'll start with just posting one today:

1. My seminary learning is definitely a foundation. I believe it undergirds a lot of my thinking and decision-making, and certainly my exegesis and commitment to certain doctrines. I have no doubt that I need my seminary training here in ministry. I would be honestly scared of someone in my position who hadn't gone through similar training. Further, I struggle to properly exegete the texts I am preaching and to actually teach what the bible teaches (especially in narrative) versus artificially imposing a message I create on the text. I spent hours and hours and hours practicing this in seminary. I did it wrong gobs of times and had professors helping me to see why "exemplary" teaching is so bad and how to properly teach the text. So I can't imagine trying to do what I'm doing right now without this training. I can't imagine doing this - especially without the language training where I learned lots of my exegetical skills.

The Worst Part

2006-07-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

The worst part of this job so far has been Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Despite my best attempts to get all my work done during the week, so far there has always been something I want to tweak in my sermon. So starting Saturday - and especially Saturday night - I start to think about Sunday morning and I start to feel a bit anxious. Saturday nights I don't sleep real well. Sunday mornings I wake up thinking about my sermon. This morning I woke up and my mind and heart were already running full speed. I feel very consumed. Definitely performance anxiety or something like that.

The good thing is that each week so far has been a bit better. I'm getting a little less nervous (I think) and I'm getting a bit better at managing my feelings. This part has definitely been a roller coaster so far, though.

3 Week Summary

2006-07-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been three weeks now that I've been serving as the pastor here at Fellowship Bible Church in Batesville. It's been great. I can't imagine liking what I do much more. Really - I love to study and learn things. I love to teach. I love to spend time with and encourage people. I love to think about the future and what "could be." And good grief - that's my job!

Of course, I know I'm in the "honeymoon phase" here. No one can really blame me for any perceived problems in the church yet. So I whatever critics I might (and surely eventually will) have don't have good ammo yet. Just give that time, though...

Still, I'm enjoying what I'm doing. I am excited this morning to get up and "go to work." I'm very aware of the steep learning curve I've got right now, but I enjoy a challenge too. I'm convinced that God has brought me here for this time. That's a good thing because I'm sure the days ahead will have many tough times mixed in with the good times.

Thanks for all of you who have been praying for our family during our time of transition up here to Batesville!

4 Week Series on Jonah

2006-07-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

We're starting a 4 week series (a chapter a week) on Jonah this Sunday. This is so far one of my favorite books of the Bible that I've studied in depth from a literary standpoint. It's an incredible work of art - and its message is also incredibly needed and powerful today.

I've included an "exegetical" statement and a shorter, more succinct "message" statement onJonah below. Tomorrow, I should post my exegetical work on the first chapter of the book.

Exegetical Statement of Jonah: The author of Jonah wrote it to the nation of Israel in order to compel those Israelites who were prideful in their position as God’s chosen people yet blind to God’s merciful heart and their own sin, to see their sin for what it was and to catch God’s heart of mercy.

Message of Jonah: Despite human rebellion, God is merciful and desires his people to share in his concern for all people – even the wicked.

Acts 9:1-19a Outline

2006-07-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is a tough one. If you have comments - shoot them to me quick because most of my sermon work for this week is going to be done in the next day or two.

I based by exegetical and theological focus here on the overall thrust of Acts. Clearly this passage shows the expansion of the gospel and tells the story of Paul's conversion. Didactically, I think it is also constructed to demonstrate that transformation is accomplished through divine initiative but often effected through the obedience of God's people (chosen instruments). This is a theme illustrated time and again throughout Acts (e.g. ch 2 where the Holy Spirit empowers the disciples at Pentecost; ch 10 on Cornelius' conversion; the conversion of the Phillippian jailer in ch .16, etc). A key verse would be 15 where God has just instruced Ananias to be his instrument in bringing about the conversion of Saul and fortells that Saul will be his "chosen instrument" to the Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. As Ananias was a chosen instrument, as Saul would become a chosen instrument, it seems that this passage calls us too to be God's chosen instruments.

With that explanation, here it is - feel free to critique:

Acts 9:1-19a Outline

EXEGETICAL OUTLINE:

I. The cause of Saul’s failed attempt to carry persecution to Damascus and subsequent openness to conversion was the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus (vv. 1-9).

II. The means by which the Lord effected the final conversion of Saul, his chosen instrument to the Gentiles and others, was through the obedient actions of Ananias (vv. 10-19a).

Exegetical Proposition: The Lord Jesus’ effecting of the conversion of the persecutor Saul into the Apostle Paul was … based on divine intervention that prepared Saul to receive the message brought by the obedient actions of Ananias

THEOLOGICAL OUTLINE (proposition):

Note: I feel that there is really only one central theological proposition in this text. Hence, I haven’t given an outline – only a proposition.

Theological Proposition: God’s effecting of his redemptive program for all nations is based on his divine intervention that prepares people to receive his message - often brought through the obedient actions of his people.

First Communion

2006-07-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

I survived my second week of preaching yesterday. It was also my first week to lead communion. I really enjoyed that part - though I was a bit nervous beforehand. At the end, I accidentally dismissed everyone even though I had asked the music team to play a last song after communion. :-) Oops.

Special props to Roy and Robert for the great and helpful comments on last week's sermon and outlines. Robert - I even used a line you posted in your comments! They really helped me fine-tune my message in the direction it theologically needed to go. I'll post this week's as soon as I get to them later on today.

Exegetical - Theological Statements

2006-06-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

Okay. Here's some sermon content. My exegetical and theological statements for Acts 8:1-8 - where persecution breaks out in the early church following the death of Stephen - are below. I'd love comments on them.

EXEGETICAL PROPOSITION: The result of widespread prosecution by Saul against the Jerusalem church and its following scattering throughout Judea and Samaria … was that the gospel was preached in many other places such as Samaria with people transformed by the gospel message.

THEOLOGICAL PROPOSITION: While persecution and trials can result in temporary disruption of God’s people they will ultimately be used by God to further his kingdom purposes and transform people’s lives.

Second Week

2006-06-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm starting my second week of work. Yesterday went well. My dream didn't come true - I had prepared. :-) And I didn't forget too much. But it's a bit strange to think that I have to start prepping now for next week's message. Perhaps I'll take Roy's suggestion and post some of my thoughts online.

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for us during our transition up here. I love what I'm doing right now and am incredibly excited for the future of this church. There is enormous opportunity and need in this town. Please continue to pray - particularly for Desiree and I as we learn the ropes of serving in these new roles.

First Sunday

2006-06-24T05:40:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's my first Sunday here as pastor. I'm finished - mostly - with my Sermon prep and feel pretty good with what I have right now. It's funny because it feels odd not having classmates to bounce my ideas off of or professors to critique me as I've gone through the steps of preparation.

I'm not too nervous - but I suppose that will change tomorrow. A few nights ago I had that "I'm unprepared for the sermon" dream again. At that point I had outlined my message but not manuscripted it. So in my dream I only had an outline and I was upset because I hadn't thought through everything enough. :-)

Yikes. I guess that should be an indicator of a decent level of underlying anxiety. Probably closest to the truth is that I'm incredibly excited about what I'm doing now - I love it and don't want to somehow "mess things up." But I also feel an incredible sense of responsibility. I know God is in control but I know I am called to be faithful. I wonder at times how faithful I'll be in the "spotlight."

That probably explains a lot about these dreams. A darker reason I'm sure contributes is I know I have a lot of personal pride in my abilities. I want to "blow people away" with my sermons. "Pastor, that was the BEST sermon I've EVER heard!" I want to totally have it together. But of course, I know I really don't.

First Elders Meeting

2006-06-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Just got back from my first elder's meeting here in Batesville. Good meeting - lots of action points. I think this is a real good group of elders.

Our church's biggest hurdle right now is probably facilities. We own a downtown storefront. Very cool, but lots of space issues. We have room in our current "sanctuary"for 88 people comfortably (100 cramped). We can expand some (to about 150) but it'll cost a good chunk of money. Presently we have the kids and s in the sanctuary for worship and then the kids go to classrooms for the sermon. We have about 60-65 people right now on Sunday mornings. That means we have some fairly important short term decisions that need to be made and some even bigger (and more challenging/controversial) longterm decisions looming large. Yikes!

In Batesville

2006-06-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm in Batesville now. I'm incredibly swamped. There's so much that we had to do to get the house up and running like we need it. I started work on Monday. That makes today my third on the job. I'm prepping for my sermon. I have my ETH outline done and need to get 1/2 way through my manuscript today.

I really don't have time to blog, but wanted to let you guys know I'm here and survived the move!