Help for the Cultural Clueless Leader

PyroManiac continues his great service to church leaders. I don't know how our church leaders would know how to communicate to our younger generation without all these specialized Bibles! Think of all the great youth ministry talks that will grow out of Phil's spark of an idea. Think of the magazines and articles that will emerge in the next weeks all because of ideas generated by Phil and other pyro-friends. Where might the brainstorming lead? New marketing opportunities for Christians like Vashti's Secret? Maybe a Christian take on Abercrombie clothes? Oh, wait, we already have that don't we? I can't imagine how the church ever communicated the Gospel without witness wear.

Shades of the Old Door?

The old Wittenburg Door edited mainly by Mike Yaconelli used to be known for its satire of some of the “beloved” and accepted church fads of the day. One of the most controversial was their sardonic riffs on the big glass church in Garden Grove that cost $10 million to house a preaching ministry that proudly claimed it would not talk about sin. You wouldn’t want to ruin someone’s self esteem that Jesus died to reform. The old Door is long gone, but this post on Fide-O on things he learned at a large church in Southern California brings back the memories.

Discardia

Now here is a very interesting site with a single theme - getting rid of stuff. Discardia seems to be more about having a better life by simplifying than it is about getting rid of trash. Could be a very helpful and encouraging site for anyone looking to get a handle on their stuff. I'm not sure how it happens but is seems like our stuff reproduces! It also seems that the more I have the more time it takes even when it is just in a mess somewhere. As someone said, "things take time." Time to go. Think I'm going to discard some papers in my files ....

jenny jack

A new blogger with a great insight ... even if it is my daughter. Jenny reminds us to think about the litttle things that really matter. I'm looking forward to more insights as she learns new things with NieuCommunities ministry in Glasgow.

The Hats We Wear

The Hats We Wear is a pretty rough draft of a paper I thought might help our Church leadership team get a handle on the various roles that Elders have to play. I borrowed the basic idea from a friend (and I think he ripped it off another church). I'm pretty sure that few people actually visit my pages but I put it on my special home page in order to force myself to review the material and maybe re-write it. Or, maybe just shred it!

Survivor

Another season of "reality" shows began tonight with Survivor: Guatamala. Yeah, it is something of a casual guilty pleasure -- I probably miss as many episodes as I might catch, and I really don't feel compelled to watch. I have to admit that I find it kind of interesting just not a passion. (Now the Amazing Race is a different story -- for another time). Anyway I've often thought about what it might look like for a group of christians to play this game. How would you make decisions? Who do you vote off? And how would you do it as one trying to emulate Christ? Deceit seems to show its face in every show ... would it become part of the Christian tribal plan as well? I find it encouraging that most tribal members understand that it is a game and many seem to truly wrestle with having to vote someone off. I know that some of the participants have been Christians and they seemed to try to demonstrate Christ-like principles and character and they seem to have been treated well. I'm not really critiquing the show here. Just wondering. How would Christians play the game? Would they default to getting rid of the weakest or the strongest? Would God really care who won? Would the team pray for God's direction? Would they seek God's will? Just a really odd and random thought today...

To Quote

Some quotes that provoke my thinking from my recent reading: Regarding Church growth as a focus: "The seduction is in believing that God is as impressed with crowds as people are" - Richard and Henry Blackaby, Spiritual Leadership, p. 126. It is amazing how we make the goal of growing the church large in size the idol we must all pursue. "When individuals tie their identity to a program they've created, they lose the objectivity that is necessary to evaluate its effectiveness" - Stanley, Joiner, Jones, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry, p. 104. What a danger to the church when we, as leaders, become enamored with our own creations! "The thrusts of our verbal sword cut deep and have the power to kill reputations, destroy ministries, and sever friendships." - Dan Allender, Bold Love, p. 100. Great reminder that I must be careful with my words ... not only words that might be intended as cutting, but also gossip and words spoken in a "knowing whisper" can destroy.

Mudhouse Sabbath

I just read Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner. Lauren is a young woman with an honest, authentic heart who writes about the things she misses from her spiritual beginnings in the Jewish faith. This is not a deep theological reflection, nor an exhaustive historical defense of how the rabbi's developed their Talmudic practices. It is, however, a creative, provocative, and interesting reflection that added some insights to how I might find some greater meaning in my Christian faith. In fact, I used some of her thoughts on keeping kosher in our last communion service at Crossroads Bible Church. I also learned some great stuff about Hebrew tradition that I had missed in my seminary studies many moons ago. Should be helpful as I interact with the Executive Rabbi at the synagogue just up the street!

Imagination Prompt Generator: Writing Inspiration at the Press of a Button

So ... why don't I blog more? Mostly because I am busy ... but also because it is hard to quickly think of things to write. I don't particularly want to "journal" my life here ... that is still a bit private (though I just read about students who feel that no one should be able to look at their very personal musing on myspace.com blogs without their permission - guess they haven't gotten the word that the web is really wide open!). This site looks like it could be a help to those of us who seem a bit slow in the creativity department. Hopefully everyone will choose different topics each day or we might find blogging to be a bit boring.