Here's This

Marriage, Kidnapped Jackets, & Taming the Tongue

2011-12-13T20:20:00.005-05:00

Stanley Hauerwas once said, "I have never gotten used to being waited on. And I have trouble being around people who have." I feel the same away. And I feel the same way about writing. I'm not used to writing about myself and I don't like reading other people's writings of themselves and sometimes I just don't like other people's writings. Nonetheless, here's this.
Last month, Christy and I got married. Our wedding was held with the church where we met. (Here, I would like to recognized Brian Regan for reinforcing my awareness of ending sentences with prepositions. Otherwise, I may have typed, "where we met AT".) Our reception was held at The Defoor Centre. Children danced. We lit lanterns that floated off into the distance. Then we left for our honeymoon!
Upon our return from the honeymoon, we received a message from Christy's mom that a jacket was left behind at the Defoor Centre. It belonged to my cousin, who was my groomsman. I notified the Defoor Centre's executive director, Michele. She replied that the jacket had already been picked up but she would find out by who. She informed me that she had jury duty all week but would watch surveillance footage after hours to find the jacket kidnapper.
Meanwhile, Christy and I are getting adjusted to married life. Our jobs are becoming increasingly busy. Christy works for a non-profit and their responsibilities are ever increasing in this economy to stay afloat. I recently received a promotion, got a brand new manager and lost three people on my team.
I'm able to start attending the Men's Tuesday morning breakfast again. We've been discussing Sinclair Ferguson's exposition on James 3 - taming the tongue. Tuesday of last week I was riding from Men's breakfast into work, sitting in traffic, when mom calls to tell me that if I cannot recover my cousin's lost jacket that I would have to buy him a new one on the basis of very irrational reasons. I assured her we were trying our best to get his jacket back (she had no knowledge of the jacket-kidnapping). She then reiterated that I would have to buy a replacement jacket then proceeded to criticize my friends who were not able to help find the jacket after the reception. I was now put to the test of bridling the tongue. And not only bridling the tongue, but speaking words of grace.
So I hung up.
I sent a text message later that morning telling her how hurt I was. I'm still praying about what to say.
Meanwhile, I've had some responsibility every weeknight since the 30th. Conference meetings, rehearsals, deacon meetings, weekly Bible study, church Christmas party, etc...
Tuesday morning breakfast was today. We're finished with the James 3 exposition. We talked about how our tendency is to criticize and complain about things when really there are so many things to be thankful for. (Lam 3:37-39) We talked about the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people" which lead to a discussion about the inerrancy of scripture. Keith is a regular attendee who likes to share his "understandings". He reminds me of James Denney's quote:

“There is that in the Gospel with which no one is allowed to argue. All we can do is believe or disbelieve; to give it in our life the place of the final reality to which everything else must give way, or to refuse it that place. Many people ... would like to talk the Word of God over. It raises in their minds various questions they would willingly discuss. It has aspects of interest and of difficulty which call for consideration; and so on. Perhaps there are some that confusedly shield themselves against the responsibilities of faith and unbelief by such thoughts. All that such thoughts prove, however, is that those who cherish them have never yet realized that what we are dealing with in the Gospel is GOD. When God speaks in Christ, He reveals His gracious will without qualification. And without qualification, we have to believe in it, or refuse to believe, and so decide the controversy between ourselves and Him. God has not come into the world in Christ ... to be talked about, but to become the supreme reality on the life of men, or to be excluded from that place.”

Early this morning, Michele from the Defoor Centre emailed us with good news. The jacket had been returned and was ready to be picked up! I replied, "I'll be there in 45 minutes." I arrived to pick up the jacket. Michele explained that after she got off jury duty to review the surveillance footage, the viewing monitor shorted out so they had to order a new one. Whomever kidnapped the jacket was a heavy smoker and Michele had clipped a $20 bill to the jacket to have it dry cleaned! It has since been dry cleaned and as I type this should be on a FedEx truck to Lancaster, South Carolina!
And all this time, people thought we were just sitting here twiddling our thumbs...
So now I'm here typing this, thankful for a job - stressful or not - and for a wedding with a patient groomsman at a reception site with incredible customer service, for a church that points me to Christ, for Christ who's love for sinners shows that forgiveness is the most powerful force of reconciliation, and for a great wife who got me excited about writing tonight - for better or worse. She also keeps a bottle of wine on the door of the refrigerator next to the ranch dressing...

Sound Worship Conference Series

2011-10-08T11:07:00.004-04:00

In less than a month the Sound Worship Conference Series will hold it's first of three conferences. The series is made possible by The Calvin Institute of Worship's Worship Renewal Grant Program.

Worship should be important to us because it is important to God. Just ask Uzzah (2 Sam 6:5-8). Roughly speaking, worship renewal programs and conversations emerge in one of four kinds:

Those driven by fear. Fear of the demise of a congregation, fear of loss of liturgical identity.
Those driven by shame or guilt for not doing enough to please God.
Those driven by greed or a quest for success, power, and fame.
Those driven by gratitude, by people who are so grateful for the gift of congregational life and the Gospel that sustains it.

This first conference will be addressing the question, "What is Gospel worship?"
I have been eagerly awaiting this conference since the beginning of this year as it is themed on the core convictions about Christian worship. I am especially excited to hear the theological reflections on Christian worship from the speakers. Christian worship is immeasurably enriched by a vivid, biblical awareness and understanding of the triune God. It cultivates our knowledge and imagination about who God is and what He has done and it raises our awareness of the glory and holiness of God.
Worship begins with seeing God. We respond to His revelation.

Thus, "What is Gospel worship?" is a great question to begin with. It is a great question because when we come to worship believing that God is our superior and that He sees us as morally offensive without Christ, it will change the way we worship. We don't worship the gospel, we worship Jesus Christ. The gospel is about Jesus whom we worship, and Jesus is about the gospel we affirm. These conferences will be valuable events to learn what picture of God we are, consciously and unconsciously, cultivating in our worship.

"Some people today justify worship for any number of other reasons. We are told that we should worship because it brings us happiness. Sometimes worship does make us happy, but not always. We are told that we should worship because it will give us a sense of self-fulfillment. Surely worship does fulfill the purpose of our existence, but we do not worship because it brings us self-fulfillment." - Hughes Oliphant Old

Lord, We Adore Thy Boundless Grace

2011-10-06T14:16:00.002-04:00

"But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."
(1 Timothy 1:13-14 ESV)

Lord, We Adore Thy Boundless Grace
Anne Steele

Lord, we adore Thy boundless grace,
The heights and depths unknown,
Of pardon, life, and joy, and peace,
In Thy Beloved Son.

O wondrous gifts of love divine,
Dear Source of every good;
Jesus, in Thee what glories shine!
How rich Thy flowing blood!

Come, all ye pining, hungry, poor,
The Savior’s bounty taste;
Behold a never-failing store
For every willing guest.

Here shall your numerous wants receive
A free, a full supply;
He has unmeasured bliss to give,
And joys that never die.

Lord, Dissolve My Frozen Heart

2011-07-14T20:10:00.003-04:00

Thomas Kelly died this day in 1855. While studying for the Bar at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, he was convicted of sin through the writings of William Romaine. Finding that all his efforts to reform were useless, he at last obtained "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"...and abandoned the study of law for the preaching of the Gospel and at the early age of 23 became a clergyman of the Church of Ireland.
His evangelical preaching led to the Archbishop of Dublin (Dr. Fowler) prohibition; and forbidden any longer to preach in the established church, he left it and (with others like-minded) taught in various chapels in Ireland those glorious truths that find expression in his hymns. One of those hymns being "Lord, Dissolve My Frozen Heart". In fifty years, 765 hymns came from his pen.

Lord, dissolve my frozen heart
By the beams of Love Divine;
This alone can warmth impart
To dissolve a heart like mine.

O that love, how vast it is!
Vast, it seems, though known in part;
Strange indeed, if love like this
Should not melt the frozen heart.

The love of Christ passes knowledge.
The Love of Christ eases fear.
The love of Christ hits a man’s heart;
It pierces him like a spear.

Savior, let thy love be felt,
Let it’s power be felt by me,
Then my frozen heart shall melt,
Melt in love, o Lord to thee.

Prepare Yourself

2011-04-06T15:23:00.004-04:00

"Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created."
Revelation 4:11

During last Thursday's Bible study and prayer time we reviewed Westminster Shorter Catechism 8 which reads,

Q.How doth God execute his decrees?
A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

The discussion that followed regarded words of truth that comfort those in the midst of tragedy. We were, particularly, reflecting on the recent tornadoes that spread across six southeastern states the evening before causing near 300 deaths (the count is still rising) and damage that is competing with a record storm from 1974 that resulted in over 300 deaths. So we asked the question, "Does God cause these things to happen?" Yes. However, by itself, this truth is most likely not comforting to many experiencing tragedy.

Several weeks ago 34-year-old youth pastor Derek Taatjes and his 5-month-old son Dylan were killed in a fire in their home in Grand Rapids, Michigan (Article here). In his last message he spoke on the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Derek said this question is, "a joke". He explained that the question places the emphasis on us. “When you ask the question the first way, you believe in the supremacy of humanity. When you ask the question the proper way, you believe in the supremacy of Christ. Now you can come to the conclusion that I am only at the mercy of God.”

I believe Derek is right. Tornadoes, fires, terminal illnesses, lay offs, pop country music, car accidents. To use the cliché, we are - under every circumstance - better than we deserve. Aren't these "bad" things which happen to sinful man actually merciful when held against God's just wrath? The question of why bad things happen to good people IS a joke precisely because no one is good but Jesus. The question we ought to ask is, "Why has God been merciful to me?"

We sang John Stocker's "Thy Mercy, My God" at the opening of Bible study which says in one verse,

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here
For sin would reduce me to utter dispair
But through Thy free goodness my spirits revive
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

My life is, indeed, an example that I am worthy of nothing, yet I have received mercy. Hallelujah! I hope that when tragedy does strike me that my comfort would flow from meditations on God's grace, mercy, and providence. Why has God been merciful to me? HOW has God been merciful to me? I have been justified apart from my works on account of Christ alone!

I'll end with an excerpt of a letter from Samuel Rutherford who was counseling a woman after the death of her daughter:

Men do lop the branches off their trees round about, to the end they may grow up high and tall. The Lord hath this way lopped your branch in taking from you many children, to the end you should grow upward, like one of the Lord’s cedars, setting your heart above, where Christ is, at the right hand of the Father. What is next, but that your Lord cut down the stock after he hath cut the branches? Prepare yourself; you are nearer your daughter this day than you were yesterday.

The Sufficiency of Christ’s Atonement and the Absurdity of Christian Guilt

2011-04-06T13:42:00.002-04:00

Why Should I Fear?
William Williams
My soul, thou art immerg'd in sin,
So deep that none can trace;
Look to the ransom GOD decreed
To clear the guilty race.

The atonement once made on the tree,
Can balance many more
Than all the sins of Adam's race,
If number'd o'er and o'er.

He paid the mighty sum and died
For sinners yet unborn;
From men, the works of his own hands,
He suffer'd shame and scorn.

Had I the guilt of all the world,
He's able to forgive:
Why should I fear? The debt is paid.
If only I believe.

Here's This Move

2010-07-29T09:55:00.002-04:00

For the three of you who check my blog, i'm moving it from Blogger to Tumblr. In my opinion, it's an easier way to blog considering i don't write much and when i do, it's brief. In addition, i can easily upload pictures to Tumblr from my phone.
OKAY! SEE YOU THERE!

HERE'S THIS

http://imunderwater.tumblr.com/

MORE Mobile Uploads

2010-07-27T15:44:00.004-04:00

Mobile Uploads

2010-07-19T11:51:00.006-04:00

Discussing VERY important things at the office...

My older sister looks at me the same way too...

Leeeeewwwwwiiiiis...

2010-07-14T10:56:00.002-04:00

I am so happy to have a house, especially to have a house in East Point - near the people I love and who love this broken town. I have spent little time in my life away from a church family. During my initial move to Atlanta, I got mixed in with a crowd that consider themselves “churched” but getting to know them and listen to their words I observed they have very little idea of biblical Christianity. They speak of God as though he was interesting. But God is not interesting. He is deeply upsetting. And more, they love a ministry that is catered to them, their emphasis is on their own journey. They are without accountability or discipline. They love doing their good deeds before others. It breaks my heart and I have strong desires to reason with them about it but want to do it biblically, in love, and in a way that doesn’t make me sound like a “super saint.” I pray about it often. In retrospect, I am especially in awe not only of God directing me to EPC, but giving me so many opportunities to serve and grow here. There is no church apart from Christ. No one can be too Gospel centered. It will take an entire lifetime to get a legal temper destroyed. It was no difficult decision to buy a home in this community.

Give me Jesus

2010-07-11T08:34:00.001-04:00

The comedy of man survives the tragedy of man

2010-07-02T16:23:00.000-04:00

"But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." 1 Timothy 1:12-17

One day during the summer while visiting family in Tennessee I went for a walk with my father and grandfather through a field down to a creek. On our way back to the house we climbed over a post that supported a barbed wire fence. After watching them successfully hurdle the obstacle I made my own attempt where, during the dismount of the post, my tennis shoe somehow got hung on a barb of the top wire and my upper body, now out of my control, swung underneath me. Gravity had its way, the ground kissed my face, and I was left hanging upside down by my shoe. I gathered enough of myself to yell for attention and my father and grandfather who were not too far ahead promptly came to release me from the barb and then had me listen to their jest of witnessing my predicament.
I imagine I could have remained silent and wiggled my foot out of the shoe quickly catching up as though nothing had happened; however, if my family loved me at all I would hope they would ask why I was limping and had grass in my hair. I can imagine this because these accidents happen all the time and, more often than not, they are less accidental and just a result of selfish intentions. If you live long enough you will be flipped upside down and if you survive that you will eventually get flipped upside down again. And when that happens, generally, some one knows or will somehow find out and hopefully you will be inquired.

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work. " Sam Clemons

2010-06-30T00:45:00.006-04:00

Lightening wasn't too far from home last night. I took some video from the front bay windows...

If you pause it around 13 seconds, you can see my front yard.

Here's a screen capture of the cul-de-sac lit up like daylight.

And this amazes me. The red spot in blackness at the top right is the street light and everything below looks like broad day light...

Weekend in BHam

2010-06-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

Mr Bean - Eating sweets in church

2010-06-26T00:14:00.000-04:00

Here's these pictures from my drive into work

2010-06-16T08:56:00.002-04:00

Love is the final fight

2010-06-14T09:53:00.002-04:00

Been patching the house together. Here's this poem just now:
Paint, air conditioning, vinyl floors,
Appliances, carpet, garage doors.

ANYWAY, I'm stoked about the house and for many reasons. The most meaningful reason is the people nearby. It has been an overwhelming blessing to have everyone help from carrying furniture, cleaning the kitchen, dremeling holes, to the Fowlers driving up with a hot casserole! Anthony stopped by over the weekend to help move furniture and after explaining my frustrations of not having air conditioning for two weeks, trying to sound all wise, I said something about common graces and how my problems are small. He reminded me that our problem has been solved.
Gospel community - local works of grace and mercy - have been underscored in these and many other forms these past few weeks. All because our problem has been solved.

Here are these pictures from my phone

2010-06-08T22:54:00.003-04:00

Definitely NOT what it's all about...

2010-06-03T08:09:00.000-04:00

Here's this chat

2010-05-25T17:15:00.002-04:00

Jason Jae: Thanks Jeremy. I need to verify the account. In what city were you born?
Jeremy: Atlanta
Jason Jae: Sorry, That is incorrect.
Jason Jae: Can you verify the last 4 digits of the credit card on file with us?
Jeremy: XXXX
Jason Jae: Thanks Jeremy.
Jason Jae: Your security answer was "you should know this".
Jason Jae: Would you like me to change that for you?
Jeremy: haha, yes please.
Jason Jae: Change the answer to Atlanta?
Jeremy: Yes please
Jason Jae: I have updated that for you.

Upon being asked on his deathbed how it was with his soul...

2010-05-23T23:31:00.002-04:00

“I have taken my good deeds and my bad deeds and thrown them together in a heap. Then I have fled from both of them to Christ, and in Him I have peace.” David Dickson

Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion

2010-05-22T00:05:00.004-04:00

Oooooo! A book review! How studious of me. I'm suddenly being flooded with memories of Reading Rainbow.
Why We Love The Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck gets a blue ribbon from me (for whatever it's worth). These guys put a lot of time and wisdom into defending the biblical and historical church. Their writing is clever and witty, though never flippant, and their critique is honest in a way that convicts me of my unthoughtfulness. It's one of those books that while reading it, I wished I was so mature as to say those things that way, and my ignorance wants to believe this book was written just for me.
I was comforted to read about his "Internet throwdown" in a blogosphere with a couple of disgruntled Johnnies (see post from May 10th). I will certainly be returning to this book as a valuable reference but wish there weren't so many people I know who need to read it as a plea to love Christ's church. It says a lot about the power of sin that a book on this topic should need to be written. How much greater is our Savior for bearing that sin on our behalf.

THE FEAR FOLKS AND THE LOVE PEOPLE
The fear folks are probably the people for whom books like Revolution, Wide Open Spaces, and Starbucks were written. We have some of them in our denomination; people who are so busy pounding their fists about the fear of the Lord that they also forget that God is love.
"It's quite possible that you put on a mask of the fear of the Lord, but you're a jerk," Kevin suggests. "You just don't like people. It's possible."
The love people, likewise, have their own blinders on. There are the Christians who ignore Christ the judge. He's not here to be judgemental, they suggest. Rather, He's here to be your intimate friend and ministry partner. To the love people, God wants to be in a relationship with you, and he loves everyone, equally, in the same way.
"You look at scripture," Kevin suggests, "and getting close to the living God is a fearful thing."
Paul's motivation in his letter to the Corinthians was to get them to see that God was both entirely loving and kind, and also entirely the object of fear. Both of these ideas are necessary if one is to truly understand and worship this God we say we believe in. We can't understand love without also understanding that the penalty Christ paid on the cross - penal substitutionary atonement for our total depravity - was the most loving act ever committed in the history of man. It was an act far more loving than those portrayed in the usual smattering of "buddy Jesus" or "intimacy with God" books where Jesus is your therapist and there you lie on His cosmic chaise lounge, waiting for Him to dispense beauty and/or easy solutions until the last grain of sand runs out of the hourglass and your time is up.

Oh God, Where Are You Now

2010-05-20T15:48:00.000-04:00

Photo archive

2010-05-17T11:58:00.004-04:00

Here's this gchat

2010-05-12T14:52:00.001-04:00

1:36 PM me: indeed
1:37 PM Jonathan: happy Birfday
1:38 PM me: thank you kindly
15 minutes
1:53 PM Jonathan: are you going to kellys wedding onf ri
1:54 PM me: nope, didn't even know she was getting married
you?
1:56 PM Jonathan: eah
i sorta set them up
me: haha, that's the spirit
1:59 PM Jonathan: im sure you could be jacy's date
38 minutes
2:37 PM me: don't let the success of kelly's matchmaking go to your head
7 minutes
2:45 PM Jonathan: come man..i know what im doing
2:46 PM me: really? are you dating anyone then?
2:50 PM Jonathan: some time the best coaches are the best players
2:51 PM let me try that again
sometimes the best coaches are NOT the best players
2:52 PM me: "Marriage is a duel to the death which no man of honour should decline." - GK Chesterton

At least next time it will be biblical

2010-05-10T18:57:00.003-04:00

I've never met John Mark myself, but a friend of mine who shared his record label tells me John Mark seems like a really nice guy. Now, I'm aware that I have a strong tendency to come across as judging so I want to clarify up front that John Mark is hands down a talented artist who has recorded very creative music. He has accomplished a lot in his musical career.
I often suffer from my ignorance of the practice of humility. A real fear that exists everyday is getting puffed up by displaying the things I love and hate. Displaying one's passions is an easy thing to do especially on the internet but is only significant if done as an overflow of the mind and heart that has had a revelation of God's holiness.
Nevertheless, this is what happened between John Mark and myself on twitter:

imunderwater: "He that is jealous is not in love." - Augustine. Take THAT John Mark McMillan!!!
4:20 PM May 5th

johnmarkmc: @imunderwater "For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy." -The Apostle Paul (2nd Cor 11:2) Take that Augustine!!!
12:39 AM May 6th

imunderwater: @johnmarkmc Yeah, Augustine! Read the NIV instead of the original greek and hebrew texts already! Gah, silly theologian!!!
about 6 hours ago

johnmarkmc: @imunderwater Oh crap, next time I'll be sure to write the song in Hebrew.
about 2 hours ago

I acknowledge this banter is immature on many levels, I repent, and it will go no further (there's only so much you can say in 140 characters). However, I think it makes for an interesting post, so here it is.
May the blood of Christ stand in our defense.

Keep your eye on the baptistry

2010-05-08T15:29:00.002-04:00

I would like to thank Noah Reid for sharing...

How to Write An Awful Worship Song

2010-05-05T12:05:00.001-04:00

How to Write An Awful Worship Song
Written by Stephen Altrogge

So you finally learned to play the guitar and now you’re wondering, “How do I write a truly awful worship song?”

You’ve come to the right place my friend. Here are some sure fire ways to write a truly horrible worship song.

Recycle A Love Song.

Write a song for your girlfriend. When she breaks up with you, convert it into a worship song. Be sure to change all uses of “girl” or “baby”.

Use Time Tested Rhymes.

Make sure that you rhyme “love” and “above” at least twice. The song becomes doubly awful if you can also incorporate the word “dove”. Example: “You sent your love from above, makes my heart feel like a pure white dove.” You get the point.

Be Vague About Your Theology

Make sure to avoid any theology at all costs. Don’t talk about atonement, wrath, or any other biblical concepts. You want your song to be all about feeling. Don’t let the mind get in the way. Repeat after me: “Worship is a warm feeling, sort of like heartburn, only better.”

Make the Song All About You

The main point of your song should be your experiences and how God makes you feel. Don’t bother with objective truth about God. I would suggest that you use the words “I” or “me” at least 12-15 times. For example, “I feel like singing, yes I feel like spinning, because You make me feel so good inside. Like it’s my birthday, but more awesome.”

Be Incredibly Poetic

If you can, muddy the waters with poetic phrases that don’t make much sense. Example: “Your love is like a warm summer’s breeze, washing over my heart like a crystal river.”

Use Well-Worn Musical Progressions

If you can, keep your music and melody boring. I would suggest that you use no more than four distinct notes in a song, so that by the time someone is done listening to it they want to scream. A worship scream, but a scream nonetheless. It also helps if you use the chords G, C, and D over and over.

Defend Your Song Like It’s Your Firstborn Child

Do not, I repeat, do not, let anyone make suggestions for improvement. Tell people that God laid the song on your heart. Tell people that you really want to preserve the artistic integrity of the song. Tell people that you already did the song at your campus ministry and that a revival broke out. Don’t take advice from anyone.

There you have it. Seven ways to write a terrible worship song. You can thank me later.

What else would you add to the list?

Mobile Uploads

2010-05-03T15:34:00.010-04:00

Nephew Cayden

Relay for Life

Stam Toopas!

Headed West

The new hizzy!

Why Doctrine is Only Half the Message

2010-04-26T13:22:00.002-04:00

Donald Miller is far from being my hero, but I think this is good...

In your opinion, is being a jerk heresy?

I only ask this because it seems we’ve lost touch with a true, holistic understanding of communication, believing as long as our ideas are theologically or philosophically true, we can present those truths through an offensive methodology. If you ask me, it’s a trick.

In a perfect world, people would make decisions about what they believe based on it’s philosophical merit, but that isn’t how people decide what is true at all. The truth about how people decide what is true is simple: If a philosophy creates a person that affirms my intrinsic value as a human being, it has merit, and if it doesn’t affirm my intrinsic value as a human being, it does not have merit.

Now that doesn’t hold much water in terms of deciding how to live, and yet, that’s how most people come to believe the ideas they believe. And God knows it, because God designed the brain to work in exactly this way. That’s why God emphasizes doctrine and love, or better, doctrine IN love.

The beautiful thing about the gospel of Jesus is it affirms the intrinsic value of mankind, stating we are the creation of God, fallen, and that God wants to be back in relationship. That’s a beautiful message.

We commonly believe that the Evil One wants us to teach bad theology, and I suppose he does. But what he wants to do more is to have us teach right theology in a way that devalues human beings, insults and belittles them, and so sets them against the loving message of God.

So if we teach right theology in a way that is condescending, we are just as guilty as being heretics. That’s why the Bible spends as much or more time talking about love as it does about doctrine. My guess is we love doctrine because it makes us feel superior, but neglect love because it calls for personal sacrifice and vulnerability.

And so we become personality heretics, speaking the truth, but teaching heresy.

The Devils methods are indeed effective.

JOKE.OF.THE.DAY

2010-04-23T15:59:00.000-04:00

I mean, this has GOT to be a joke, right? Are they serious? I can't tell!

On Tradition and the Gospel

2010-04-22T15:42:00.001-04:00

An excerpt from "On Tradition and the Gospel" at FaithforFaith.org

"When we turn from the pages of Scripture and look to our own generation, much can be surmised by how we speak concerning the Gospel and our witness to it. I cannot begin to recount how often I have heard Christians speaking of their “witness” and then perceiving how little that witness had to the do with the Gospel of our Lord. More or less it has to do with not cursing, drinking, smoking, hanging out with bad friends after work, etc. in order that the world would perceive that they are different, not in that they are sinners who have been forgiven, but in that they are moral people. And while a Christian may or may not do these things because they have been changed by the Spirit of God, our witness to the Gospel is not to be about how good we are, but it is to be about how weak and despicable we are, and how great and powerful and merciful God is. Many times we are so concerned about putting on a show in front of the world based upon a morality that has nothing to do with Christ and Christianity rather than showing the world that we are still a people in need of a Savior. We instead go to great lengths to disguise our weaknesses and to highlight our strengths, when we should rather imitate the apostle Paul who said, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2Cor. 11:30). For when we show ourselves to be weak, we show Christ to be strong, and when we show ourselves to be needy, we show Christ to be sufficient for those needs. For the Gospel has never been about us, but it has always been about God and his ability to call a people to himself and to make them holy."

Read the whole thing at FaithforFaith.org

T4G Note

2010-04-16T14:28:00.007-04:00

Luke 6:47-49

47"Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."

Joshua Harris spoke from this text last Wednesday afternoon in his session titled Helping Others Build Their Lives on Christ-Centered Doctrine. What peeked my interest in signing up to attend this session was my burden for the many who are "churched" yet unregenerate. I have known and continue to meet so many, both those inside the church and those who claim to love Jesus without her, who assume the gospel. I pray Christ is shielding me from that danger.

The T4G conference was a very eye-opening experience. So many great things happened with such solid organizers, speakers, songs, and participants. When looking at the big picture of the conference, I would not have wanted to miss it even without all the free books. And I will note the special element during the times of singing timeless truths in a room that was near 95% men. It will put wind in your sails.

And in addition to the big picture are the "ground zero" experiences. I got to spend four days with a bunch of hardworking, earnest, and kind brothers from church including the leaders who are really concerned about shepherding their flock and reaching them with the gospel. These guys are passionate about worship, about getting the gospel right, and about reaching the lost.

When I think of where I was this time last year - a wandering, disgruntled critic of everything in the church that bases its justification on public approval (a heart of criticism which I am still being sanctified of) - I am in wonder of how God has placed me in a church with people who have spent so much time studying the Scriptures and classic Christian texts and more importantly live in obedience to the teachings of the Scriptures. I must learn to marvel at the patience God has with me. The fact that these men have befriended me by inviting me into their homes and to their tables and given me opportunities to serve as though they think they can learn anything from me is incredibly humbling and, to be honest, a little terrifying.

They've also committed themselves to planting East Point Church which, I can only imagine, often feels like losing an uphill battle, considering the Bible tells us we will be out of place and largely reviled in culture. Be encouraged, brothers!

J.C. Ryle gave a charge to all of the lukewarm, bored, uninterested, apathetic churchgoers of his day:

"For another thing, let me warn all careless members of Churches to beware lest they trifle their souls into hell. You live on year after year as if there was no battle to be fought with sin, the world, and the devil; you pass through life a smiling, laughing, gentleman-like or ladylike person, and behave as if there was no devil, no heaven, and no hell. Oh, careless Churchman, or careless Dissenter, careless Episcopalian, careless Presbyterian, careless Independent, careless Baptist, awake and see eternal realities in their true light! Awake, and put on the armour of God! Awake, and fight hard for life! Tremble, tremble, and repent."

In "Why We Love the Church", Ted Kluck comments on this quote saying:

"Church isn't boring because we're not showing enough film clips, or because we play an organ instead of a guitar. It's boring because we neuter it of its importance. Too often we treat our spiritual lives like the round of golf used to open George Barna's Revolution. At the end of my life, I want my friends and family to remember me as someone who battled for the gospel, who tried to mortify sin in my life, who fought hard for life, and who contended earnestly for the faith. Not just as a nice guy who occasionally noticed the slpendor of the mountains God created, while otherwise just trying to enjoy myself, manage my schedule, and work on my short game."

So many free books were given away at T4G2010 that I will go ahead and give a disclaimer that there either won't be any blog entries in the near future, or if there are, they will be what I've highlighted in these helpful resources. I resonate with Al Mohler's words as he concluded the conference, "I have received so much more than what I came for."

Vids and pics from the Rev

2010-04-11T09:39:00.003-04:00

Rachel @ The Rev (with Jeremy Taylor and Band) from Anthony Carter on Vimeo.

Josh @ The Rev (with Jeremy Taylor and the Band) from Anthony Carter on Vimeo.

From Alex's camera phone:
"Sorrow" by Bad Religion
"For the Widows in Paradise" by Sufjan Stevens

A post-Easter post

2010-04-07T10:34:00.001-04:00

Two little boys singing in church...

Here's these mobile uploads

2010-04-06T11:47:00.012-04:00

HEY GUYS! WEAR YOUR SUNGLASSES INSIDE AND THEN READ THE NEWSPAPER!

ALSO, WEAR YOUR MOHAWKS!

This Is Your Brain On Music

2010-04-05T10:14:00.001-04:00

An excerpt from the introduction to This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin:

“Jim Ferguson, whom I have known since high school, is now a professor of anthropology. Jim is one of the funniest and most fiercely intelligent people I know, but he is shy - I don't know how he manages to teach lecture courses. For his doctoral degree at Harvard, he performed fieldwork in Lesotho, a small nation completely surrounded by South Africa. There, studying and interacting with local villagers, Jim patiently earned their trust until one day he was asked to join in one of their songs. So, typically, when asked to sing with these Sotho villagers, Jim said in a soft voice, “I don’t sing,” and it was true: We had been in high school band together and although he was an excellent oboe player, he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. The villagers found his objection puzzling and inexplicable. The Sotho consider singing an ordinary, everyday activity performed by everyone, young and old, men and women, not an activity reserved for a special few.
“Our culture, and indeed our very language, makes a distinction between a class of expert performers – the Arthur Rubinsteins, Ella Fitzgeralds, Paul McCartneys – and the rest of us. The rest of us pay money to hear the experts entertain us. Jim knew that he wasn’t much of a singer or dancer, and to him, a public display of singing and dancing implied he thought himself an expert. The villagers just stared at Jim and said, “What do you mean you don’t sing?! You talk!” Jim told me later, “It was odd to them as if I told them that I couldn’t walk or dance, even though I have both my legs.” Singing and dancing were a natural activity in everybody’s lives, seamlessly integrated and involving everyone. The Sesotho verb for singing (ho bina), as in many of the world’s languages, also means to dance; there is no distinction, since it is assumed that singing involves bodily movement.
“A couple of generations ago, before television, many families would sit around and play music together for entertainment. Nowadays there is a great emphasis on technique and skill, and whether a musician is “good enough” to play for others. Music making has become a somewhat reserved activity in our culture, and the rest of us listen. The music industry is one of the largest in the United States, employing hundreds of thousands of people. Album sales alone bring in $30 billion a year, and this figure doesn’t even account for concert ticket sales, the thousands of bands playing Friday nights at saloons all over North America, or the thirty billion songs that were downloaded free through peer-to-peer file sharing in 2005. Americans spend more money on music than on sex or prescription drugs. Given this voracious consumption, I would say that most Americans qualify as expert music listeners. We have the cognitive capacity to detect wrong notes, to find music we enjoy, to remember hundreds of melodies, and to tap our feet in time with the music – an activity that involves a process of meter extraction so complicated that most computers cannot do it. Why do we listen to music, and why are we willing to spend so much money on music listening? Two concert tickets can easily cost as much as a week’s food allowance for a family of four, and one CD costs about the same as a work shirt, eight loaves of bread, or basic phone service for a month. Understanding why we like music and what draws us to it is a window on the essence of human nature.”

Wendell Berry discusses life

2010-03-28T16:23:00.001-04:00

April 9th @ RevCoffee

2010-03-23T13:28:00.002-04:00

RevCoffee

A Savior On Capitol Hill

2010-03-22T16:33:00.004-04:00

Yesterday is a wrinkle on my forehead

2010-03-19T10:05:00.006-04:00

Axe Cop is a web comic that makes me lol aplenty. It's drawn by 30 yr old Ethan Nicolle and the saga is developed by his five yr old little brother, Malachai. This picture captures my childhood pretty accurately:

I think it's safe to say that my life is not everything I dreamed it would be when my world was younger and I had everything to lose. Today is all we've got now and today is all we'll ever have.

These are dangerous times

2010-03-17T11:19:00.002-04:00

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." - John Piper

Breath it in, the highs and lows. We call it living.

2010-03-15T13:47:00.003-04:00

This entry is not because I think I've got anything to share, but only because I feel like I should post something out of necessity. Brace yourself for the mediocre.
My supervisor and I are riding to Charlotte, SC tomorrow on business. This means we'll be in a car together for eight+ hours. This also means I will miss fellowship with the men of EPC in the morning for the fourth time in a row.
I just made lunch plans with two of my coworkers. Waffle House is on the schedule for Wednesday. I've been eating there almost everyday for a week, scrambled eggs w/ cheese and sausage patties, coffee and a water. It has cost a different amount every time. Not sure how they add it up. Maybe they don't know either. There's a literary technique called a False Document. A False Document is when you refer to or quote books and stuff that don't exist in real life, but your whole story pretends like they actually do. Like when Shakespeare reads the dictionary. I like to think Waffle House is just using this literary technique when they take my order. They're so smart!

Dear Wormwood

2010-03-10T09:21:00.003-05:00

"Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours – and the more “religious” (on those terms), the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here --"

“It[flippancy] is a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it.”

-Screwtape Letters(C.S. Lewis)

Dare You to Move

2010-03-02T11:38:00.002-05:00

I think as kids we have this incredible sense of adventure and nothing to lose and as we grow up and the world wears us in we lose a lot of that passion. Jon Foreman is very much one of my heroes for many of his songs about getting that passion back, including this one. I recorded this video at the Help Haiti Live benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium last Saturday night. Sorry about the stupid handrail :).

Here's this post

2010-03-01T17:45:00.010-05:00

My heart broke a little today when I saw this ad on Facebook:

I grew up in Enterprise, AL from age 14 months to 9 years old where my father served as Minister of Music for eight years. My family and I have life-long friends from this town. For part of my high school and all of my college life, we lived in Dothan, AL which is only 30 minutes from Enterprise and took advantage of continuing to build relationships while in such close proximity. While in Dothan, the church my father previously served at in Enterprise asked me to help with contemporary music in hopes of bringing in new faces to their dwindling congregation. After a few months I realized how futile those efforts were and had mixed emotions of bitterness towards the leadership and heartache for the congregation.
Now, it seems like the familiar smell of churches modernizing worship service styles in hopes of growing numbers of attendees, therefore measuring your church as "successful", is everywhere. Like a woman who thinks she needs plastic surgery to be loved. The church in America is in a mid-life crisis chasing after lovers less wild than Christ.
Not entirely unrelated, I frequently check a web-comic called Dinosaur Comics and on March 30th (my birthday) of 2005, cartoonist Ryan North posted this comic:

The comic was so popular, the creator sold shirts based on the idea of the comic and has recently revised the image on the shirt:

Anyway, it reminded me of all these churches that get confused and try to make everything "X-treme".

A Tale of Adventure

2010-02-24T22:42:00.004-05:00

All the employees at the home office I work out of are being assigned two days out in the field at one of our local branches. I've spent the last two days at a branch located west of town. The first day, as it shares the building of the branch I was assigned to, I accidentally walked into the branch building next door which happened to be a branch that uses heavily the technology that I support. Being the passive nice guy that I am, I pretended like I was suppose to be at the meeting they were having and then I pretended like I was prepared when they asked me to speak about said technology and take their questions. Boy, was I sweating.
After slipping over to the correct branch, I spent the day with three ladies who worked as admins, taking calls and doing lots of paper work. Mary who has been working at this branch for fifteen years and two other college girls gave me more relationship advice than I would ever imagined asking for. They labeled me a surreal "Leave It to Beaver" type and advised I not mess with ATL girls but go back to Alabama and find me a sweet "Susie Jo". However, I think the geographical stereotype is overrated and still prefer the old hymn writer's simple advise that love is friendship set on fire.
The second day was spent riding around with a pest control tech, a Muslim from Nigeria. His opinion on relationships is that it's better to be a polygamist than to marry one woman and have many girlfriends. He had many other... well thought-out opinions but there is no time here for that. We let ourselves into dozens of people's apartments and sprayed chemicals in their corners. I was surprised at the number of Georgia Tech students who sleep during the day.
I'm going on another "field trip" to Charlotte, NC this Friday and then am going to Nashville to visit family for the weekend and see the Help Haiti Live benefit concert Saturday night at the Ryman Auditorium and will be back next week with more tales of adventure!

Help Haiti February 27th - HelpHaitiLive.com from Compassion International on Vimeo.

Switchfoot - Sex, God & Politics

2010-02-21T14:30:00.001-05:00

Iustificatio

2010-02-16T13:17:00.002-05:00

View from my balcony.

"In writing, don't use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was 'terrible,' describe it so that we'll be terrified. Don't say it was 'delightful'; make us say 'delightful' when we've read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers 'Please will you do my job for me.' " - C.S. Lewis

Another example why "Christian music" doesn't mean anything to me

2010-02-11T11:04:00.002-05:00

"I'm not even a christian and I dig your music."

On Snow and Justification

2010-02-11T09:36:00.001-05:00

"Being from North Carolina, it is difficult not to love the sight of snow. It is a sight that is seldom seen, and when it sticks it transforms everything on which it falls. Regardless of where the snow lands, be it on the lawns of the wealthy or on the trash heaps of the landfills, everything is made beautiful. It is, in some ways, a perfect picture of the Gospel. For the Gospel, like the snow on divers landscapes, is not a respecter of social class, race, nationality, or political position, and it falls upon God’s dispersed elect and covers them beautifully with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. God’s people, called forth from every tongue and every tribe, from paupers to kings, who are as muddy and filthy as the natural landscape, find themselves fully blanketed with the whiteness of Jesus Christ and, when the clouds give way to clear skies, reflect with blinding radiance the glory of their Father. They who were once dirty are now clean; they who were once dull are now radiant–not by any merit of their own, but because God came near and gave to them his cleanness and his radiance and thereby made them beautiful."

-D. Matthew Brown

The only thing wrong with Christianity is Christians

2010-02-04T13:01:00.005-05:00

If you've read enough of my entries you've noticed an influence from Gilbert Keith Chesterton on my philosophies. I've only completed one of his books, Orthodoxy, and have read many of his short articles he wrote for a journal called Tremendous Trifles. And I love reading his quotes here.
I started reading one of his books, The Everlasting Man, about a year ago. And when I say "started" I mean I read the introduction and first chapter. He presented such a big idea in just those few pages, I've had to set it down and let my mind wonder.
"There are two ways of getting home," Chesterton begins, "and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place." The Everlasting Man is addressed to those who have not gotten home in the first way, inviting them to approach their home in the second way. Chesterton writes:

The point of this book, in other words, is that the next best thing to being really inside Christendom is to be really outside it. And a particular point is that the popular critics of Christianity are not really outside it. ... the best relation to our spiritual home is to be near enough to love it. But the next best is to be far enough away not to hate it. It is the contention of these pages that while the best judge of Christianity is a Christian, the next best judge would be something more like a Confucian. The worst judge of all is the man now most ready with his judgments; the ill-educated Christian turning gradually into the ill-tempered agnostic, entangled in the end of a feud of which he never understood the beginning, blighted with a sort of hereditary boredom with he knows not what, and already weary of hearing what he has never heard. ... For those in whom a mere reaction has thus become an obsession, I do seriously recommend the imaginative effort of conceiving the Twelve Apostles as Chinamen. In other words, I recommend these critics to try to do as much justice to Christian saints as if they were pagan sages. But ... when we do make this imaginative effort to see the whole thing from the outside, we find that it really looks like what is traditionally said about it inside.

I am one who has gotten home by staying there. And what I have seen myself commit with strong judgments are all the complaints of problems in the Church. Her hypocrisy, self-righteousness, carelessness, arbitrary programs, laziness and slothfulness. But in my best behavior I am really just like her. If it's true that I have no righteousness of my own would I hold my very household to have one of their own? I have and am wrong. My "ill-education" is my forgetting the Gospel and my "ill-tempered agnosticism" is believing that I'm better. Without walking round the whole world till I come back to the same place, the Gospel by the power of the Spirit constrains me to draw near enough to home to love it and to desire the sanctity of the Church through the prioritization of the Gospel.

Late night television

2010-02-03T10:07:00.003-05:00

A lesson I learned from a mistake I made yesterday is that if I'm tired and lay down to rest at 6:30pm, I ought to set an alarm to insure I don't sleep for five hours, consequenting in staying awake until 3:00am watching made for TV movies and watching bits of religious TV during the commercials. And the thing is, I'd rather watch a show about a military stealth fighter jet android that evolves and develops human feelings of regret because it got struck by lightening than listen to an old man with a TV show and a twitchy face teach that God is not sovereign and in control of everything because he would never allow a girl to get raped.
I should have been reading.

"The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man." - Chesterton (An Introduction To The Book of Job)

We want more than this world's got to offer

2010-01-30T11:12:00.000-05:00

"We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised by television to believe that one day we'll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars - but we won't." Durden (Fight Club)

Stop hitting yourself

2010-01-28T14:25:00.001-05:00

marriedtothesea.com

Spread thin

2010-01-26T20:07:00.005-05:00

So much going on at the office. 10 people were laid off last Tuesday. There's a lot of responsibility being reorganized.
I went to Shades Crest Baptist in Birmingham, AL last weekend to lead small group Bible studies for 13 high school senior guys during an event called DiscipleNow. My group stayed at a ranch-like house, out in the boonies. We went skeet shooting Saturday. I got to shoot a 44 mag revolver...

The church brought in a guest speaker to speak during large assemblies over the weekend. He spent a lot of time plugging his book, telling stories of celebrities he's shared his faith with, and convicting teenagers to be more forward with defending scripture and proving God. He didn't spend much time, or any that I remember, referencing the Gospel - which not only is the message that has saved us but also gives us the confidence through the power of the Spirit to boldly share our faith. The ability to defend scripture and present evidence for God is useful, but without the root of the desire being to segway into the Gospel in hopes of a transformed life places us in danger of pride and browbeating. That piece was missing from his sessions. So during small group times we went over the essentials of the Gospel - that Christ accomplished the atonement of sins on the cross, that accomplishment is offered freely to whosoever, that accomplishment is applied when whosoever has faith in the accomplisher and his work, and whosoever's sins are then forgiven and they are reconciled to God. I hope my words honored God and that the Spirit continues to work the Gospel within me and those who hear it.

"Reason is always a kind of brute force; those who appeal to the head rather than the heart, however pallid and polite, are necessarily men of violence. We speak of 'touching' a man's heart, but we can do nothing to his head but hit it." - Chesterton ("Charles II" Twelve Types)

When I drove back to ATL Sunday afternoon, I had 45 minutes before I needed to be at EPC. I got ANOTHER flat tire in East Point! And it was one of the new tires! Apparently I have been underestimating the effects of curbs against the side-wall of a tire. Thankfully it was insured as I just bought it a few months ago and got it replaced. So I didn't get home until midnight, had to be at work early Monday to stay caught up with the chaos, got the tire changed and then had small group until 10:00pm, then was at work early again today and worked late.
Spread thin. I miss spending time with EPC. Looking forward.

What's the use in reading the Bible when there are televangelist who do the work for us?

2010-01-18T15:13:00.004-05:00

Here's this article from TIME's website on Robertson's televised remarks on the Haitian quake.

"But even if you believe the story (something many historians doubt), Satan's lease on the tiny island nation should have expired in 1991." - Dan Fletcher

From J. I. Packer's Concise Theology,

There is a distinction to be drawn between the church as we humans see it and as God alone can see it. This is the historic distinction between the “visible church” and the “invisible church.”

Invisible means, not that we can see no sign of its presence, but that we cannot know (as God, the heart-reader, knows, 2 Timothy 2:19) which of those baptized, professing members of the church as an organized institution are inwardly regenerate and thus belong to the church as a spiritual fellowship of sinners loving their Savior.

Jesus taught that in the organized church there would always be people who thought they were Christians and passed as Christians, some indeed becoming ministers, but who were not renewed in heart and would therefore be exposed and rejected at the Judgment (Matthew 7:15-27; 13:24-30, 35-43, 47-50; 25:1-46)

Courage

2010-01-12T14:47:00.001-05:00

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die."
-G.K. Chesterton (Orthodoxy)

And then, just like these doves and sheep, oh, you will be set free

2010-01-05T11:32:00.002-05:00

What Bothers Me About Our Church

An email from Jeff Henderson of Buckhead Church

I’m biased.

I love our church. I would be a part of Buckhead Church even if I didn’t work here. I plead guilty. I love this place.

And yet, there is something that bothers me.

Let me take you back a few Sunday nights ago and see if I can explain. It was Sunday, December 6, and we were in Part 3 of An Unexpected Christmas. The opening song and music were incredible. Andy’s message was amazing. I walked around the church and, in doing so, heard some powerful stories about what God is doing in your lives and the lives of your friends.

I spent about 14 hours at Buckhead Church that day. It was a great, rewarding experience and I was very encouraged.

And then it happened.

As I pulled away from the building, so excited about the day, I saw this:

I saw Buckhead. And I was reminded of a sobering truth. As excited as I was over what happened at church that day, MOST of Buckhead had no clue. MOST of Buckhead and the surrounding community were still no closer to a growing relationship with Jesus than when the day began.

This bothered me. It bothered me so much that I took a picture of it as a reminder. But as the days progressed and a New Year drew near, I thought, I shouldn’t keep this quiet. I want this to bother you too.

It bothers me that there are still more unchurched people than ever before just ten miles from the front door of the church that you and I call home. This has bothered me so much that I have spent a lot of time thinking about what to do. And I think I have an idea that might be worth exploring. Granted, it’s not the most original or creative idea, but it actually might be the best one to pursue . . . at least at first. Okay, here it is:

I want us as a church to begin 2010 with a 21-day journey of prayer and fasting. Now, before you click delete or leave the Web page, hang with me for a second (details are coming).

It’s my experience that, generally speaking, many Christians aren’t investing in unbelievers. If we’re not careful, we will drift into holy huddles of believers and isolate ourselves. Maybe we just don’t know how to bridge the gap and begin a conversation about Jesus. So we immerse ourselves in our daily lives and soon we aren’t spending time with anyone who isn’t already a follower of Jesus. I just don’t want us to drift into that danger zone. After all, one of the reasons Buckhead Church exists is as a resource for you to use to reach those who are far from God.

The good news is that our church continues to grow. The bad news is that the number of the unchurched in Buckhead is growing faster. This bothers me.

But what if that trend could change in 2010? What if each of us prayed and became burdened for at least one person in our circles of influence? What if we prayed and fasted, becoming more burdened for this community than ever before? What might happen?

Honestly, I don’t know what would happen. But I do know that I would like to find out. If you would like to find out, as well, and are interested in joining me on this 21-day journey, simply check back over the next few days on the Buckhead Church blog. Things are about to change drastically on the blog as we prepare for this journey together. You will receive details about how to fast, how we can pray, and much more, including info on our Night of Worship on Thursday, January 21. This will be an incredible night as we end our fast, worship, celebrate, and pray together.

Okay, that’s all. Thanks for listening. As we’ve often said, “It’s not about Buckhead Church. It’s about Buckhead.” And until this community hears the great news about Jesus, I will remain bothered.

I hope you will too.

Happy New Year!

Jeff

Anonymous said ... (December 27, 2009 at 9:33 am)

Even those in your church don’t know the gospel. I’ve met with many many folks from buckhead church and frankly I don’t think they even know the message of salvation. I am single and have had the luxury of going out on first dates with many attractive women from your churh, without exception I was asked my sign, and when basic scriptural questions were asked, it was an empty stare in return. Start preaching the gospel my friend, create conviction, your church should be half the size it is now, because many would leave the minute the holy spirit begins to convict. What your church is right now is a sunday meet market. I’ve even sat in the hall on a crowded day and watched as gay men trolled for each other, leaving right after the music. Preach brother, we don’t need anymore joel olsteens

jeff henderson said ... (December 27, 2009 at 12:00 pm)

Anonymous - thanks for the comment. Here are some thoughts:

Why is it that you think the Holy Spirit = less people? What is so unattractive about the Holy Spirit? The second chapter of Acts presents a completely different perspective, especially verse 6. The crowd doesn’t decrease. It only increases. The thinking that less people is better and more Godly simply doesn’t jive with the story of the early church. Nor the Gospel. Ephesians 3: 6 – 12. Also, it’s my experience that people are drawn to the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who wants to deal with their sin, because while sin may be attractive at first, it destroys in the end. Most people trapped in sin know this and they are desperately searching for a way to deal with their sin. The Holy Spirit doesn’t show up to scare them off, because The Holy Spirit is the Only One who can deal with their sin.

Finally, if you find yourself in a dinner conversation with someone who doesn’t know the Lord, then that’s wonderful. Share the news of Christ with them. Instead of criticizing preachers, be one. It’s an incredible opportunity.

Here’s what I think. I think we’re on the same team. Maybe that was God’s plan the whole time. Maybe God used Buckhead Church to plant the seed, and you get to water it. It’s not a new concept, but it’s one that works: 1 Corinthians 3:6, 7.

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeremy said ... (January 4, 2010 at 10:42 pm)
Jeff, thanks for sharing your convictions. As Martin Luther famously said, “To go against conscience is neither right nor safe.”
These are my thoughts after reading your post:
You stated that what bothers you is “that there are still more unchurched people than ever before just ten miles from the front door of the church that you and I call home” and then, “The good news is that our church continues to grow. The bad news is that the number of the unchurched in Buckhead is growing faster. This bothers me.”
I think what confuses me about what you’re saying is not knowing why it’s specifically the “unchurched” that are your burden. The way you use the word “unchurched” throughout makes it sound synonymous with “unsaved” which obviously is a distinctly different idea. And if I had to pick between the two as to which ought to weigh heavier – it would be the unsaved. Then, when feeling that you have to clarify that “It’s not about Buckhead Church”, only exacerbates the problem for me.
I believe what causes Anonymous and many others to lash out is seeing popularity associated with the Gospel. Especially after reading scriptures like Luke 6:26, Matthew 10:21, Romans 8:16, Phillipians 1:29, 2 Timiothy 1:8, ect.
Though high numbers do raise red flags, I cannot prove from Scripture that a church should never consist of more than three hundred or so people, but I would argue that a church which is so big that the pastor who preaches cannot know every member by name, and something about their daily lives, needs, and struggles, is a church where the pastor cannot easily fulfill the obligations of a biblical shepherd of God’s flock. Put bluntly, I want to be in a church where my absence on Sunday will soon be noticed and where the pastor or elders can draw alongside me and ask the pertinent questions. I want to be in a church where the eldership takes note if my behavior towards others is sub-par on a Sunday (hinting at much worse in private). I want to be in a church where I pray for the leadership and where they pray for me—not just in a generic sense of being part of the membership, but informed prayer based on real relationships. In other words, I want to be in a church where my pastor is, well, my pastor and not just that guy who is preaching over there in the distance on a Sunday morning. Put yourself in a small, faithful church, and the pastor is more than likely to hold you accountable to the basics of Christian belief and practice. (In addition, from my experience of currently being in a BC small group and my roommate being the leader, the argument that small groups are designed to suffice as that accountability is not a valid argument.)
As it’s said, “Buckhead Church is a church for the unchurched.” However, I am strongly convinced that the church is for the church. We are His beloved and He is ours. That is all. Thanks for listening!

Jeff Henderson said ... (January 4, 2010 at 11:12 pm)
Jeremy — great comment. I hear what you’re saying. I have nothing against small churches. I was raised in small churches. I’m a preacher’s kid. I’ve been around small churches all my life and have benefited from them. However, when I hear people talk about small churches, it’s as if less people automatically equals greater spiritual obedience. In many cases, I have seen just the opposite. Again, I have nothing against small churches. I do think churches should grow, though.

Typically, when people describe why they think small churches are better it starts with what the church can do for them. It’s my experience that we will never understand what the church can do for us until we experience what the church wants to do through us. And part of what the church is called to do is to reach people, i.e. grow.

When a church stays small and no one new is coming through, it’s my experience that in time the church will eventually implode. Having said this, the beauty of the local church is that there are many, wonderful expressions. What might work for one person might not work for another. I appreciate and value that diversity of expression. However, it’s unjustifiable scripturally to judge a church as invalid based on how many people attend. Thanks for listening as well.

Jeff

Social Media Revolution

2010-01-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

Elephant and Mouse

2010-01-01T09:17:00.008-05:00

I just finished reading When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. Missions expert Miriam Adeney relates a story told to her by an African Christian friend regarding how to do short-term missions without doing long-term harm...

Elephant and Mouse were best friends. One day Elephant said, "Mouse, let's have a party!" Animals gathered from far and near. They ate. They drank. They sang. And they danced. And nobody celebrated more and danced harder than Elephant. After the party was over, Elephant exclaimed, "Mouse, did you ever go to a better party? What a blast!" but Mouse did not answer. "Mouse, where are you?" Elephant called. He looked around for his friend, and then shrank back in horror. There at the Elephant's feet lay Mouse. His little body was ground into the dirt. He had been smashed by the big feet of his exuberant friend, Elephant.
"Sometimes that is what it is like to do missions with you Americans," the African storyteller commented. "It is like dancing with an elephant."

Adeney summarizes the situation as follows...

By definition, short-term missions have only a short time in which to "show a profit," to achieve pre-defined goals. This can accentuate out American idols of speed, quantification, compartmentalization, money, achievement, and success. Projects become more important than people. The wells dug. Fifty people converted. Got to give the church back home a good report. Got to prove the time and expense was well worth it. To get the job done (on our timescale), imported technology becomes more important than contextualized methods. Individual drive becomes more important than respect for elders, for old courtesies, for taking time. We end up dancing like elephants. We dance hard, and we have big feet.

Okay, last post of the year - Make it count.

2009-12-31T09:49:00.003-05:00

What makes me super excited today, you ask? The new sugar-free vanilla wafers in the vending machines at work. They're really the only available option in the machine appropriate for me to eat considering my weak pancreas unless you count the BBQ pork rinds but those are for truck drivers. However, a considerable disadvantage of wafers: every bite an explosion of crumbs. That being the case, I know if a coworker finds it pleasurably mischievous to take them from my desk, they'll have much work to clean the crime scene. Thanks for asking what makes me super excited today!

Also, I would like to share an opinion on toothbrushes. When returning from my grandparent's after Christmas weekend, I realized that I left my shaving kit. Upon returning home, I visited the local Kroger to collect replacements for the forgotten hygiene items. Anyone who ever replaces their toothbrush already knows the variety of options available. Battery-operated brushes, power-grip brushes, extra-reaching flexible neck brushes, Dora the Explorer brushes. But here's my opinion: NO toothbrush should cost more than $9 unless it makes other people's breath smell better when I use it.

See you next year!

"Voices"

2009-12-30T09:28:00.001-05:00

by Jessie Eubanks

I got a phone call last week from Sam. (I wrote about my dear friend Sam here. Sam and I met when he was a resident at JSBC and have been friends ever since.) It was from an unknown number and I was confused where he was calling from. “I’m in the hospital,” he said. “I’ve been hearing voices telling me to kill one of my family members. I got scared so I checked myself into the hospital.”

“Kill a family member?”

“Yeah, it’s some twisted stuff man. The stuff in my head is pretty messed up right now.”

I asked a bunch of clarifying questions like, “When did you check yourself in?”, “Which family member?” and “Would you consider me family?”

Sam told me, “This isn’t the gospel, man. The gospel tells me to love my family, to pray for them. This isn’t what’s in my heart. In my heart, I love my family. Something is broken between my heart and my mind.”

“Can I tell other people about what’s going on with you? Is it okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, man. It’s the truth. All we have is the truth. This is where I am and what is going on. Tell people to pray for me. People can come visit too if they want.”

The next day I went to the hospital. Sam was the third friend I had visited in a mental ward in the last year and a half. It’s strange how quickly foreign lands become familiar territory. I pressed the buzzer and stated my name into the sound-box with authority, just in case the hospital needed to believe I was “Somebody” like a counselor or priest or a drug rep. The door buzzed and I opened it. I walked into the middle section where the entrance behind you has to close and fasten before the next door turns green and unlocks. My heart always beats faster in this middle section. I don’t like being locked in. I can only imagine the anxiety of some of the people sheltered in on the other side.

I opened the door and the nurse called Sam’s name over the loud speaker. From down the hallway, I could see Sam walking toward me. He was dressed in scrubs and bright red socks. He was smiling ear to ear. Sam’s smile is always contagious. When he smiles, you can feel the corners of your mouth turning up without control and your heart warms a bit. Sam wrapped his arms around me. Because of our significant height difference, my head always ends up buried in his chest. A nurse turned and asked, “Is this your son?” “No, this is my brother.” Her eyebrows lifted in confusion. “My spiritual brother”, Sam said.

We sat and talked for almost an hour. Sam's mind was sick. He told me about a family member with the power to put thoughts in his head. He told me about his family member’s scheme to manipulate him and described them as “pure evil”. He used more fowl language than usual. He was openly agitated.

We talked about angels and demons, about demon possession, about what powers God gives to humanity and which he does not. We talked about Satan’s schemes to confuse us and trick us and tear our lives apart. The conversation turned a corner when I asked Sam to describe his interactions with the “evil” family member. “He’s always been kind and loving to me”, Sam said.

“Listen,” Sam said, “Maybe this all in my head. Maybe I am sick. I don’t know. I am angry and I don’t understand why this is happening. But I know God will get me through this. I know that God is more powerful than this stuff – whether it is real or just in my head. You tell people to keep praying for me, okay?”

As I thought about Sam hearing voices, I started to think of the voices I hear. I hear voices every day that tell me I need a little more money, that I need to lose 10 pounds, that make me wonder what a girl would look like naked, that tell me to be afraid of people of a different skin color, that tell me that I deserve to have most of my meals fixed by other people because I work hard enough to deserve it. I hear voices that tell me my ideas are the best ideas; that I need to create quality art and write thoughtful words or the world will forget me. I hear voices that tell me this whole Jesus thing is crap.

Sam might physically hear voices, but last I checked, the voices I hear make my head just as broken and terrifying as his. Sam has good reason not to trust his thoughts. And so do I.

I left the hospital and went out to my car and bawled my eyes out. I cried so hard that I made ugly, snotty faces and wailed to embarrassing levels of volume – the kind we make when a loved one dies and we realize we won’t ever see them wearing that stupid belt buckle again, or they won’t be telling inappropriate jokes at our kid’s wedding, or we hear a song we know they would love but cannot share it with them. I can’t explain why I mourned on this level except that Sam seemed so confused and different than the man I knew. In the one hand, he was a man of hope and faith in Jesus as he has always been. In the other hand, he was lost and bewildered. He wanted so desperately to make sense of things that did not make sense. He was profoundly grieved by this. And because he was my friend, I was grieved too.

The Psalmist wrote, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” (Psalm 139:7-8) Sam’s reality was dark. Each night as he lay down, staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore the voices in his head, his bed was in the depths. But even in this place he knew that “God will get me through this.” Despite my own grievous struggles, Sam constantly reminded me that the Still Small Voice will always be more victorious than any other voice – human, spirit or otherwise.

The same weekend I visited Sam, my 25 month old daughter was sick. Evangeline had a high-grade fever and a sinus infection. She wasn't eating much and we decided she needed to go the doctor. As we were about to leave, I had to let Evangeline stand on her own as I gathered up needed items. The fever, lack of food and physical exhaustion had worn her small body down. She stood still as her body shook, like an elderly lady with Parkinson’s. She stared at me with longing eyes and whimpered. Suddenly, she began to sing softly to herself. As I stopped to lis ten, I realized she was singing a worship song that she hears in our home frequently. As her body quivered in fatigue and chills, she sang gently, “You are always with me Jesus.”

God met both Sam and Evangeline where they were. He meets me where I am too. That is the power of the gospel. There is nowhere we can go to escape the presence and compassion of God.

Jesse Eubanks
Hope for Louisville Director

Magazine

2009-12-29T13:00:00.008-05:00

by Pedro the Lion

This line is metaphysical
And on the one side, on the one side
The bad half live in wickedness
And on the other side, on the other side
The good half live in arrogance
And there's a steep slope
With a short rope
This line is metaphysical
And there's a steady flow
Moving to and fro

Oh, look you earned your wings
Are you an angel, now
Or a vulture
Constantly hovering over
Waiting for a big mistake

Oh, my God, what have I done?
Oh, my God, what have I done?

Wouldn't you love to be
On the cover of a magazine?
Healthy skin, perfect teeth
Designed to hide what lies beneath

I feel the darkness growing stronger
As you cram light down my throat
How does that work out for you
In your holy quest to be above reproach?

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T13:22:00.000-05:00

Here's these pictures I stole off my mom's SD card

2009-12-22T14:05:00.009-05:00

Santa called me three times last night. I told him to stop stocking me.

Keyser sat on my Christmas gifts.

Crank it to 11

2009-12-14T15:47:00.000-05:00

The BBC News video player's audio goes to 11.
Brilliant!

We are once in a lifetime

2009-12-09T14:08:00.002-05:00

"Man comes out like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and continues not.
And do you open your eyes on such a one
and bring me into judgment with you?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is not one.
Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass," (Job 14:2-5).

The “Field of Dreams” model does not work

2009-12-09T13:42:00.002-05:00

For the past several decades, the church in America has adopted a “if you build it, they will come” mentality of church growth. This mentality has become so engrained in our Christian psyche that we do not even realize it any more. We demonstrate it with the language that we use (we invite people to “church” and with all our mind refer to a building when the church is by the etymology, “the elect”), in our methods of evangelism (Upward Basketball, etc.), in our “Christian” advertising, in our building programs, and in our measuring of success by numbers not by lives characterized by holiness. It is demonstrated in our focus on liturgy, on music styles, on carpet color, and everything else that Christians bicker and argue about that have nothing to do with the Church. The Church has been watered down, deformed, and beaten into a building where Christians meet on Sunday mornings, instead of being the ekklesia (”kle-”: called; “ek”: out)–those who have been called out by God to be holy as he is holy.
Last Sunday morning I visited a church in downtown Atlanta with some friends and their acquaintances. Afterward, at lunch, they were asking what I thought about the service. (I had visited this church for a few weeks about a year ago when searching). My response was that I liked everything about it except that everyone there was just like me. Trendy young adults with a preference for an ancient/modern worship style.
I only write all of this because I think it's interesting that people intentionally look for other people who match their social preferences when looking for a church to be a part of, as though it is an advantage. In turn, many churches react by modeling their style and programs to cater to these man-centered preferences and call it "relevancy." So many in this age aim at harmony rather than beauty. If his hair does not match the mauve sunset against which he is standing, he hurriedly dyes his hair another shade of mauve. If his wife does not go with the wall-paper, he gets a divorce. I think this quote by Josh Loveless is very clarifying, "Relationships formed over a lifetime with people who are just like us is a form of self-worship."

Sigor Ros - Hoppipolla

2009-12-04T09:12:00.004-05:00

Here's two great videos for the same great song!

What do you think is a perfect (or near perfect) way to spend a rainy weekend?

2009-12-03T14:23:00.003-05:00

Typically, the rain doesn't deter my plans. I see the popular response to rainy weather as disappointment. "Awww, it's raining! What are we going to do NOW?!" Sure, rain appears as an inconvenience when you have to walk across a parking lot three times because you forgot your badge without an umbrella in your work clothes; however, an inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered. An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered. So when I see rainy weather, I see all the complaining it typically brings and am motivated to turn it into an adventure to stop all the complaining.
This isn't answering the intent of the question though, is it?
Practically speaking, I would make some coffee, read and take notes, go to the gym, maybe watch a favorite movie, and learn songs on the guitar. I like having projects, like my sound-to-light converter. I'd probably work on that. I would likely see what friends were availabe to hang out. The thing is, these things aren't really all that different from things I'd do on a sunny weekend. Only, in the case that it wasn't winter time, I would leave a door or window open so that I could listen to the rain.
So for me, the perfect way to spend a rainy weekend is to spend it like I would any other weekend by finding happiness in the rain.

Here's an excerpt from Chesterton's Tremendous Trifles called, "The Advantages of Having One Leg"

I grant that those who have serious wrongs have a real right to grumble,
so long as they grumble about something else. It is a singular fact that
if they are sane they almost always do grumble about something else. To
talk quite reasonably about your own quite real wrongs is the quickest
way to go off your head. But people with great troubles talk about
little ones, and the man who complains of the crumpled rose leaf very
often has his flesh full of the thorns. But if a man has commonly a very
clear and happy daily life then I think we are justified in asking
that he shall not make mountains out of molehills. I do no deny that
molehills can sometimes be important. Small annoyances have this
evil about them, that they can be more abrupt because they are more
invisible; they cast no shadow before, they have no atmosphere. No
one ever had a mystical premonition that he was going to tumble over a
hassock. William III. died by falling over a molehill; I do not suppose
that with all his varied abilities he could have managed to fall over a
mountain. But when all this is allowed for, I repeat that we may ask
a happy man (not William III.) to put up with pure inconveniences,
and even make them part of his happiness. Of positive pain or positive
poverty I do not here speak. I speak of those innumerable accidental
limitations that are always falling across our path--bad weather,
confinement to this or that house or room, failure of appointments
or arrangements, waiting at railway stations, missing posts, finding
unpunctuality when we want punctuality, or, what is worse, finding
punctuality when we don't. It is of the poetic pleasures to be drawn
from all these that I sing--I sing with confidence because I have
recently been experimenting in the poetic pleasures which arise
from having to sit in one chair with a sprained foot, with the only
alternative course of standing on one leg like a stork--a stork is a
poetic simile; therefore I eagerly adopted it.

Here are some links I assembled for you guys

2009-12-02T09:38:00.008-05:00

This concludes the links I assembled for you guys!

He is Man, the most terrible of beasts

2009-12-01T10:53:00.003-05:00

An excerpt from Heretics, 1905
by G.K. Chesterton

It is not fashionable to say much nowadays of the advantages of the small community. We are told that we must go in for large empires and large ideas. There is one advantage, however, in the small state, the city or village, which only the willfully blind could overlook. The man who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world. He knows much more of the fierce varieties and uncompromising divergences of men. The reason is obvious. In a large community we choose our companions. In a small community our companions are chosen for us. Thus in all extensive and highly civilized societies groups come into existence founded upon what is called sympathy, and shut out the real world more sharply than the gates of a monastery. There is nothing really narrow about the clan; the thing which is really narrow is the clique. The men of the clan live together because they all wear the same tartan or are all descended from the same sacred cow; but in their souls, by the divine luck of things, there will always be more colours than in any tartan. But the men of the clique live together because they have the same kind of soul, and their narrowness is a narrowness of spiritual coherence and contentment, like that which exists in hell. A big society exists in order to form cliques. A big society is a society for the promotion of narrowness. It is a machinery for the purpose of guarding the solitary and sensitive individual from all experience of the bitter and bracing human compromises.

If we were tomorrow morning snowed up in a street in which we live, we should step into a much larger and much wilder world than we have ever known. And it is the whole effort of the typically modern person to escape from the street in which he lives. First he invents modern hygeine and goes to Margate. Then he invents modern culture and goes to Florence. Then he invents modern imperialism and goes to Timbuktu. He goes to the fantastic borders of the earth. He pretends to shoot tigers. He almost rides on a camel. And in all this he is still essentially fleeing from the street in which he was born...

We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next-door neighbour. Hence he comes to us clad in all the careless terrors of nature; he is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain. He is Man, the most terrible of beasts. That is why the old religions and the old scriptural language showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke not of one's duty towards humanity, but one's duty towards one's neighbour. The duty towards humanity may often take the form of some choice which is personal or even pleasurable. That duty may be a hobby; it may even be dissipation. We may work in the East End because we are particularly fitted to work in the East End, or because we think we are; we may fight for the cause of international peace because we are very fond of fighting. The most monstrous martyrdom, the most repulsive experience, may be the result of choice or a kind of taste. We may be so made as to be particularly fond of lunatics or specially interested in leprosy. We may love negroes because they are black or German Socialists because they are pedantic. But we have to love our neighbour because he is there--a much more alarming reason for a much more serious operation. He is the sample of humanity which is actually given us. Precisely because he may be anybody he is everybody. He is a symbol because he is an accident.

Blow out!

2009-11-29T15:10:00.004-05:00

My sidewall blew!

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don't

2009-11-25T22:40:00.006-05:00

Switchfoot concert tomorrow!

2009-11-23T17:04:00.001-05:00

Theology is only thought applied to religion

2009-11-19T12:57:00.004-05:00

Themelios is an international evangelical theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. It was formerly a print journal operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008.
Here's an excerpt I love from Volume 34, Issue 2 by Carl Trueman called Minority Report: A Question of Accountability:

Second, church involvement brings with it a natural accountability at a very practical level. Here I guess I show my strong preference for smaller churches. I cannot prove from Scripture that a church should never consist of more than three hundred or so people, but I would argue that a church which is so big that the pastor who preaches cannot know every member by name, and something about their daily lives, needs, and struggles, is a church where the pastor cannot easily fulfill the obligations of a biblical shepherd of God’s flock. Put bluntly, I want to be in a church where my absence on Sunday will soon be noticed and where the pastor or elders can draw alongside me and ask the pertinent questions. I want to be in a church where the eldership takes note if my behavior towards my wife or children is sub-par on a Sunday (hinting at much worse in private). I want to be in a church where I pray for the leadership and where they pray for me—not just in a generic sense of being part of the membership, but informed prayer based on real relationships. In other words, I want to be in a church where my pastor is, well, my pastor and not just that guy who is preaching over there in the distance on a Sunday morning. Put yourself in a small, faithful church, and the pastor is more than likely to hold you accountable to the basics of Christian belief and practice.

In my search through the subject of what recognized criteria constitutes that church has taken place, I found this article on legalzoom.com that explains that the IRS recognizes Young Life as a church: "In the end, although Young Life did not meet all federal criteria for religious entities, the IRS concluded that it did meet a sufficient number of them to qualify as a church."

To define churches and other religious entities, some of the IRS guidelines consider whether or not an institution has:

* a distinct legal existence and religious history,
* a recognized creed and form of worship,
* established places of worship
* a regular congregation and regular religious services, and
* an organization of ordained ministers

Aside from legal criteria, what has HISTORICALLY constituted that church has taken place is that the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are served. Can you think of any "churches" that do little to none of either of these? I can. I won't say any names but their initials are Buckhead Church and they look a lot like a satellite of Northpoint Community Church.

Blood:Water Mission Christmas

2009-11-18T14:12:00.005-05:00

This holiday season, we're invited to join in a very personal effort to bring safe water to over 1600 individual homes in Zambia. This is made possible via household units called Biosand filters which are able to eliminate up to 98% of the dangerous pathogens typically found in the water. Through these filters, an entire family can have access to clean water for only $85! It's amazing that for 1/3 the price of an iPod, a family in Zambia can have up to 20 years of safe water.

Visit www.bloodwatermission.com/christmas where you can watch this video about the filters, sponsor your own, and easily share the info through print and web resources. If you want to give a filter as a gift on behalf of someone, there are printable Christmas cards you can use to let them know. 1600 families is a lofty goal, but we know that with enough support we can make sure that these homes in Zambia don't spend another year without safe drinkable water.

A change of opinions is almost unknown in an elderly man

2009-11-17T11:17:00.005-05:00

Let's say you can live in any time period in history. Which period do you choose? I choose the future! Or at least, I did choose the future until I realized that things might not ACTUALLY be better down the road. If I lived 300 years from now, I could be living in a post apocalyptic time where most life has been obliterated by a catastrophic asteroid impact - an impact so large that enough dirt has been thrown into the sky to BLOCK OUT THE SUN, disrupting the entire food chain and causing mass extin -
Anyway, that's a possibility or whatever!!
My point is, the past is the only safe choice. But then I thought, well, there's a lot we don't know about the past either. And I wouldn't want to choose a time where it turns out nobody can make certain jokes or they'd go to jail and nobody thought to write any of this down, so the whole deal is lost to history!
That leaves us with changing the question so we can live in any time period, real or imagined. I guess.

I met my first elderly relativist today. Not that I was under the impression that postmodernism is exclusive to youth, I've just never met one in REAL LIFE! During a group discussion on the sovereignty of God and His foreknowledge, this older gentleman stumbled through his vocabulary to communicate his belief in free will and in his attempt to articulate that, he revealed his belief that God doesn't know the choices we will make, making God a learning God. But it sounded like he was ignorant of this train of thought only because he hasn't thoroughly worked it out with scripture. He repeatedly referenced himself as the source of his belief saying things like, "This is my personal belief..." and though he spoke his ideas with conviction he also would state, "I haven't gotten everything figured out, I still have a lot to learn." But what rule has God given to direct us in how we may glorify and enjoy Him? The Word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, is the only rule to direct us in how we may glorify and enjoy Him.

Psalm 139

1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.

When I grew up in church, I grew up in the children's department, then I graduated to the youth department. We had our own youth floor and had our own weekly youth activities on the youth floor. We had our own youth choir, youth praise band, and went on our own youth mission trips. Then when we'd go to "big church" the youth would sit together in the balcony and watch the adults have all the involvement in corporate worship. Then in college, I invested myself in what little college activities we had. Then post-college, I found that all the single twenty-somethings were being hoarded by "churches" with modern style - a full band with stage lights, big screens, fog machines, songs with little to no theology, fancy graphic designs, and messages with desperately trendy illustrations (like explaining prayer by comparing it to a bluetooth connection - no joke!). I share all of this because in my recent gradual exposure to meeting regularly with adults in the church and building relationships with them, I feel like my youth has been robbed of something remarkably special. I am having thoughts that segregating age demographics in church (beyond healthy moderation) is all too popular in larger congregations and is doing a great disservice to the younger AND older generations. Could this be one of many reasons that so many twenty-somethings are not in church? I'm starting to think so. I'm starting to think there is a greater reward in belonging to a multi-generational church. And I am willing to go to the mat to defend it.

MUTEMATH

2009-11-16T13:12:00.004-05:00

Guerilla Gardening

2009-11-13T15:51:00.004-05:00

An artist named Posterchild is in NYC, and while he's been there he's been doing some guerilla gardening: planting trees in abandoned phone boxes and, similarly to the flowers he planted in Toronto, he's been planting Canadian trees in abandoned NYC newspaper boxes. What's crazy is that he planted one tree in a box for a paper called The National, a box that rustily accepted his 75 cents twice: once to open it to measure the box, and once when he returned with the tree and the planter. Posterchild did some quick research and discovered that the reason The National only cost 75 cents while most other papers cost more: this paper folded in 1992. This empty box, this garbage, has been taking up space on the street for sixteen years before he came along and did something with it. Sixteen years, you guys! There are people reading this blog who weren't even born when this newspaper box was dumped on the streets of NYC, left there by a company that didn't care to clean up after itself. Most city governments don't care about enforcing their bylaws about this sort of thing either, and nobody else noticed because these newspaper boxes are something we've all grown to accept (company trash on the sidewalk is the price of living in a major city, right?) and something we've all learnt to ignore.

For sixteen years.

Anyway my point is trees and flowers planted in these here newspaper boxes are pretty cool

Causecast: Jon Foreman on Music, Society and Making Impact

2009-11-12T14:25:00.003-05:00

Brandon Deroche: So, what do you think is music’s most powerful tool?

Jon Foreman: I think music is powerful because, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “fiction and fairytale sneak past the watchful dragons of religion.” We all have these sentinels set around our lives that keep anyone else’s viewpoint out. Other people’s viewpoints might not line up with our way of seeing the world, so we keep all these things out.

I think music gets in underneath the skin without permission and suddenly you’re taking a second look at somebody else’s view. It’s crucial because in many ways we’ve been lulled to sleep as a culture. I look around and see decadence as the norm and I’m not pointing the finger at anyone; I travel in a tour bus, thats decadent. The world we live in, if you live in America, is richer than 99% of the world. Yet, we would call it a struggle to pay rent and the struggle is by degrees. I’m reading a book by Thomas Sowell that is called “Basic Economics.” He’s talking about the idea that this isn’t a new problem, this is a kind of basic economics. There is a limited supply of certain elements and the way we use those determines the way we shape our society.

There is this story I like to tell, it’s like it was almost a dream to me because I have trouble believing it actually happened. But, it did. I was walking around downtown San Diego looking for a card to give. I think it was my mom’s birthday or something. I was in a book store looking for the right card. There is this wizened old African-American man talking to this beautiful young blonde model-looking girl. That in itself wasn’t too odd. It was a little peculiar. I’m just thumbing through the cards and I’m overhearing what they’re talking about. The old man says, “show me any runner and ask him how he got so strong and fast, he will tell you, ‘I’ve suffered.’ Show me any weightlifter, ask how he got so strong and how he got so big. He will tell you, ‘I’ve suffered.’ Show me any civilization and ask them how they got so strong and how they got so powerful, they will tell you they’ve suffered. Any civilization that makes it their point to avoid suffering is already past their prime.” And I’m just kind of looking at my card, looking over at this couple, thinking, “oh my gosh this is happening right now.” I feel like as a nation, we’ve made a point to avoid suffering and find the right drug, the right person, the right fix to deaden the riotous noise in our own heads. That’s why when I hear about groups like yourself that are taking the focus off of yourself and putting it on other people who need our help, I’m inspired by that.

Will you pass the gravy?

2009-11-11T12:36:00.004-05:00

With roots dating back to 1881, Jefferson Street Baptist Center has served the poor and homeless of urban Louisville by meeting their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Whether through the Day Shelter, which offers a welcome and safe place from the elements, or through our Fresh Start program, which helps men transition from a life of homelessness, JSBC continues to provide hope for the homeless.

Jefferson Street Baptist Center exists to make the entire good news of Jesus Christ known to the homeless of Louisville – meeting physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. This is manifested through unconditional service and the emphasis on relationships that exist between God, guests, residents, staff and volunteers. JSBC has 4 programs that seek to minister to the needs of the homeless.

Here’s how it works:

1. Provide them with your contact information. (Take 30 seconds to fill out the form at www.jeffersonstreet.org.)

2. You will receive a Kroger gift card in the mail already credited with $5.00.

3. Next time you go to Kroger to get groceries, simply ask the cashier to put money on your card before they begin to ring up your order. 4% of what your put on your card comes back to JSBC.

4. Keep your gift card and reuse it over and over again just like the above. It’s important to keep the card because that’s how your donation is tracked.

5. You’ve just loved the homeless!

Look closely

2009-11-11T12:15:00.002-05:00

Here is some exciting news! Do you have something gross lying around your house? Of course you do. Well, it turns out that you can now get a free scanning electron micrograph of ANYTHING. Fill out a form, send in your object sample, and they'll post the result on their site!

ASPEX corporation will let people get free scanning electron micrographs of just about anything. They make a desktop SEM, and all you have to do is fill out a form and mail it in with your sample of a dead bug or a microchip or bacon, and presto, within a few weeks they'll have it scanned in and the image available on their website. You can see their current galleries here.

I asked them if they knew how many readers I have, and they said no problem, they can handle it.

Huh.

Guys we all have to do this!

Hello Hurricane

2009-11-11T11:48:00.004-05:00

Hello hurricane! You're not enough to silence my love! Neither is tropical storm, Ida. Yes friends. Switchfoot's "Hello Hurricane" started off at No. 4 overall on iTunes, and No. 1 (Deluxe Edition) and No. 4 (Regular) on the Alternative Albums chart. Notable is the fact that it is behind some small names such as 50 Cent and Bon Jovi.
Also notable, is that Switchfoot is ahead of other notables, Dashboard Confessional and Flyleaf. Very very good opening day for the boys from San Diego.
If you're in the ATL area, come see them on the 24th at The Loft!
Check out their video for "Mess of Me."

Signs

2009-11-09T15:56:00.000-05:00

Potential Christmas card

2009-11-04T11:28:00.001-05:00

A New Law - Derek Webb

2009-10-27T10:43:00.001-04:00

Don’t teach me about politics and government
Just tell me who to vote for
Don’t teach me about truth and beauty
Just label my music

Don’t teach me how to live like a free man
Just give me a new law

(pre-chorus)
I don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
So just bring it down from the mountain to me

(chorus)
I want a new law
I want a new law
Gimme that new law

Don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
I prefer a shot of grape juice

Don’t teach me about loving my enemies

Don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
Just give me a new law

(bridge)
What’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
For one you can that cannot get you anything
Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid
Do not be afraid

Iustificatio - articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae

2009-10-23T13:21:00.001-04:00

I have posted here snippets from an article written by R. C. Sproul on the current situation regarding the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. This is one doctrine that has been maligned for nearly two millennia, even from the early days of the apostles. As Sproul noted, till today much is being proposed to contradict this important foundation of the Christian faith. On the matter of justification by faith alone, Martin Luther’s famous quote in Latin is mentioned here once more: articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae (the article on which the church stands or fall). The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote a potent pronouncement on those who will even attempt to deliver an adulterated gospel:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-10)

Confessing evangelicals must take an uncompromising and clear stand on the pure and unsullied Gospel of Jesus Christ where justification by faith alone is a central truth. Otherwise, we are selling out like Esau who exchanged his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of red stew; the red stew being a type of another gospel. We proceed to read and be reminded on the following verses contained in the Scriptures where the biblical doctrine of justification are grounded, unfolded and summarily proclaimed:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” – Romans 3:21-26

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. - Galatians 2:20-21

For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2Corinthians 5:21

And to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness – Romans 4:5

The reformer Jonathan Edwards, in his 1734 treatise entitled ‘Justification by Faith Alone’ based on Romans 4:5, proposed these 6 points as to the importance of this doctrine:

First, the Scripture itself treats this doctrine as of great importance. It records for us the apostle Paul’s insistence on it, more specifically in his letter to the Galatians. Second, any other scheme is a man-made salvation. It takes away Christ out of the place of the bottom stone, and puts in men’s own virtue instead of him. Third, it is in this doctrine that the most essential difference lies between the covenant of grace and the first covenant. Fourth, this is the main thing for which fallen men stood in need of divine revelation, to teach us how we who have sinned may come to be again accepted of God, or, which is the same thing, how the sinner may be justified. Fifth, the contrary scheme of justification derogates much from the honor of God and the Mediator. It diminishes the glory of the grace of God and the Redeemer, and proportionally magnifies man. It makes the goodness and excellency of fallen man to be something, which I have shown are nothing. Sixth, the opposite scheme does most directly tend to lead men to trust in their own righteousness for justification, which is a thing fatal to the soul. This is what men are of themselves exceedingly prone to do, through the partial and high thoughts they have of themselves, and their exceeding dullness of apprehending any such mystery as our being accepted for the righteousness of another.

I can't bring myself into buying Crowder's new album.

2009-10-20T11:25:00.007-04:00

LifeWay recently posted a blog about John Mark McMillan's song, "How He Loves Us." Lyrics are as follows:

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.
(x2)

We are His portion and
He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption
by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns
violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

Really? God is jealous for you!? You're that righteous? Or is God so jealous for his own glory that, by His Son, He has given us the ability to enjoy being jealous for His glory forever?
I first heard this song at an event called The Call in Nashville summer of '07 and have since heard it performed at modern services, on the radio, and raved about online.
"There is only one explanation for God's sacrifice for us. It is not us. It is 'the riches of his grace' (Eph. 1:7). It is all free. It is not a response to our worth. It is the overflow of his infinite worth. In fact, that is what divine love is in the end: a passion to enthrall undeserving sinners, at great cost, with what will make us supremely happy forever, namely, his infinite beauty." - John Piper (Find Your Joy)
Aside from the implications of the song being that God's love for us is about our worth, the song is very one sided in regards to the mystery that God is both our friend and to be feared - He is both intimate and eminent.
Church music has become so subcultural that its publisher's and its audience cannot see the forest for the trees. I think D. A. Carson says it best in Worship by the Book,

"In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset."

LifeWay's blog addresses how The David Crowder Band recently covered the song but changed the lyric "sloppy wet kiss" to "unforeseen kiss" with McMillan's permission. Jonathan Riggs states in the blog that he prefers the original lyric saying, "It speaks of both the passion of God and the mess of humanity. It's both divine and gritty, much like the Incarnation itself. And if it makes people stop and think about what they're singing in church, so much the better."
This makes me furious.
According to Riggs and McMillan, the controversy is not in whether God is being rightly revealed and therefore rightly worshipped. The apparent controversy is that the lyric, "sloppy wet kiss" is too graphic in many circles of Christiandom.
McMillan reacts on his blog by saying,

"What I do have a problem with though, is that the condition of greater Christianity would be as such that he[Crowder] would even have to change it. I think the fact that a line like “Sloppy wet kiss” could be controversial is ridiculous. Are we in kindergarten? Has any one out there not had or at least expected to some day, engage in a sloppy wet kiss? Have Christians decided to stop procreating and let Islamic extremists populate the whole earth?"

He says in a later entry that,

"I'm not at all against traditional expressions of worship (btw I consider most "contemporary" expressions still to be incredibly traditional), but I am against the stupid idea that these expressions are any more "correct" or "Biblical". Our common expressions, even the most traditional, still look relatively nothing like those of the bible... and that's OK because "it" (whatever "it" is) seems to be more about the level of our authenticity, not the precision of our mimicry. I'm just sick of people telling me what "worship" is and isn't simply because it doesn't look or sound like what they do at their church.

So, I'm done...
...not with the blog, but with wasting time defending these values. "

When I read this, I translate it to mean that he is not as passionate about the glory of God as he is about being indie. What a cop-out! If you consider a defending of a value to be a waste of time, then to you it is not at all a value. What you're passionate about is not what you cheer for but what you suffer for. How passionate you are about something is measured by the degree of difficulty you are willing to endure to accomplish the goal. To pursue a life of writing Biblical songs for the Church body in hopes that Christ would be made to look glorious and then neglect the responsibility of defending that work is like marrying your wife and then refusing to give her a sloppy wet kiss because you're tired of explaining to people why you do it all the time.
I hate seeing someone who wants to be an indie musician at the expense of wimpy Christians.
Yeah, so anyway, I can't bring myself into buying Crowder's new album.

Drunk Nixon and Jesus

2009-10-16T10:07:00.001-04:00

by Jesse Eubanks, Hope for Louisville Director

The first time I can remember meeting Frank I felt like I was meeting a drunk Richard Nixon. He had a refined manor about his speech and the waves of his hair fell perfectly in place. He wore nicer clothing than a typical impoverished urban dweller and always wore a slight smile on his face when he interacted with people. When he would reach out to shake my hand, he would look me straight in the eyes as we spoke. In another life, he could have been a business owner or military leader or Billy Mays. He oozed confidence and genuine interest in the people he was talking with. But between his mental illness and his regular devotion to alcohol, his speech would often come off the tracks, until it became unclear what the conversation was even about.

I would see Frank every few weeks and the story was usually the same thing – confident speech, kind face, drunk Nixon.

A few months ago though Frank moved into our little community on Jefferson Street. He had been sober for a couple of weeks and was tired of living in the uncertainty of homelessness. He was tired of the alcohol. He was lonely. In the hurricane of addiction, he had finally stepped into the eye and could see clearly “This is not what I want out of life.”

Frank’s life, which had been ruled by unrestrained freedom for so long, was now ruled by the guidance and discipline that Christian community brings. He had other men waiting for him when he woke up in the morning, other men who were on a similar journey towards Jesus and putting their lives back together, other men who asked simple questions like “How are you today?” and “How old were you when Jerry Abramson became mayor?” He had other men to sit with him and help him understand the Bible, and encourage him not to choke another person even when they deserved it, and to listen to him wonder aloud, “I really want to be a preacher some day.”

After a couple of months here, we received a letter from a counselor who Frank had spent time with for the last couple of years. The counselor told us, “I’ve seen more change in Frank in the last two months than I have in the last two years. I am amazed.”

I am convinced that when a community builds its foundations on the real living person of Jesus, that they will be drawn upwards and inwards in ways that bring healing. There is great strength in good friends – friends who keep showing up to love us, who are willing to tell us things we don’t usually want to hear but that we need to hear, friends who laugh at our corny jokes or teach us laugh at ourselves.

Frank would tell you in his own dignified speech that his strength is coming from Jesus. I hear him talk like this all the time. He talks about how he wants to “do God’s work” and is being patient and enjoying where God has him right now. And for now, I am glad that I get to come to work every day and have a strong man look me in the eyes and shake my hand.

!?!?

2009-10-15T18:33:00.002-04:00

He's not a tame lion. No. But he is good.

2009-10-06T09:50:00.005-04:00

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,"

1 Peter 3:18 "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,"

I had lunch with my supervisor a couple of weeks ago. Fridays are Taco Loco day at La Parrilla and he hits it up almost every time.
He's mentioned around the office that his wife makes the family go to church on occasion, so I asked him over lunch if he had been attending regularly at any particular church. He began his rant over the hypocrisy of proclaiming Christians and how much he hates it when pastors preach about giving. Overall, his conspiracy theory of churches having agendas prevents him from taking part in any kind of Christiandom. When I asked if he considered himself to be a born-again believer, he responded by saying he believes in God and tries to be a good person. Which translates to, "No."
Later in the conversation, we were talking about the Joseph Storehouse food give-away ministry and I started explaining my approach when speaking with the families who arrive needing groceries. An initial question I ask is whether they consider themselves to be Christians. Regardless of their response, I ask them how, in their own words, they would explain the Gospel, if they've ever heard it. This gives me an idea of their faith in what they claim or don't claim.
At that, my supervisor said asking them to do this is a wrong thing to do. That it makes them uncomfortable. He argued, with conviction, that ministering to people means making them feel comfortable, therefore, quizzing them is wrong as it ensues panic.
Without transition, I shared the Gospel. That Christ's death on the cross accomplishes the trading of our sin for His righteousness, that that accomplishment is offered freely to whosoever, and that when whosoever places their faith in that accomplishment it is then applied to them, sins are forgiven and we have the ability to know God!
By this time, we needed to be back at the office though the conversation felt unresolved. But that's okay. I know where he works.
We MUST NOT believe that asking people to state the Gospel is a poor decision based on the idea that it probably will make people uncomfortable. In fact, it SHOULD make people uncomfortable. The convicting effect of being asked to articulate the Gospel should be a motivation for all of us to do it more often. We can never hear nor share it enough for it is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16)! It gives sight to the blind, new life to the dead, and it puts steel in the spine of wimpy, nominal Christians who often convince themselves that we can live the Christian life in our own power.
The Gospel is offensive as it demands we die to ourselves. It is taboo to share with the lost and with the self-righteous as it demands our life - our all. It is not safe. If you are ministering to people (which you can't do effectively without the Gospel) and the hearers are feeling comfortable, safe, and unmoved then it is probably not the Gospel you are preaching to them.
At the end of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", Tumnus and Lucy exchange an observation about Aslan - the Christ figure in the story. Lucy says, "He's not a tame lion." To which Tumnus replies, "No. But he is good."

It Must Ensue

2009-10-02T10:59:00.001-04:00

"Don't aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue... as the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a course greater than oneself."
- Viktor Frankl

A Continuing Ethic

2009-09-30T18:54:00.000-04:00

"If you're hiding, then it will always be impossible for you to receive love because anyone who actually tries to love you, you will discredit their love in your spirit by saying, 'They don't know who I am.'" - Matt Chandler

Excerpt: Christ-Centered Worship - Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice

2009-09-28T13:19:00.002-04:00

Because they understood the importance of our worship, early church fathers designed an architecture for worship that is still reflected in most churches today. As early as the second century, records indicate that the church divided its worship into two major segments: the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Upper Room. Today we think of the Liturgy of the Word as the portion of the worship service that culminates in preaching. We think of the Liturgy of the Upper Room as the part of the worship service that includes the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. Even if our churches do not practice Communion every week, they still typically break the service into these two major segments on the occasions the ordinance is observed. By moving from Proclamation to Communion in the order of worship, churches through the ages retell the story that those who truly hear God’s Word will share his love.
My hope in writing this book is that readers who just had an “aha” moment in the preceding paragraph—discovering that their worship pattern unites them with multiple centuries of fellow Christians who have worshiped similarly—will also be delighted to find how their worship can unite them in mission with those fellow believers. In every age, we worship God to further the cause of his gospel. We know the “good news” of that gospel as we recognize the holiness of our Creator, confess our sin, seek his grace, are assured of his mercy, give him thanks, petition his aid, seek his instruction, and, in loving response to all his mercies, live for him.

-Bryan Chapell (Christ-Centered Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice)

That Top Gun Song

2009-09-25T09:07:00.000-04:00

How Should We Think About Justification?

2009-09-23T12:41:00.001-04:00

Iustificatio – articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiae
(Justification: the doctrine by which the church stands or falls)

"A. H. Strong, a Baptist scholar who rubbed shoulders with Warfield and Hodge, gave the following illustration that I think clarifies the situation. Imagine a train with boxcars attached to the steam engine. Now the boxcars are attached together by the clasp at each intersection and finally to the steam engine by the lead car. Those clasps lock each boxcar of the train together to be pulled behind one another, and ultimate by the steam engine. Now the boxcars are Christians. These boxcars are completely black and filled with dung. They do not have a tint of white on them. The clasps are “faith” by which they are joined to the steam engine. The steam engine is Christ. The steam engine is completely white with no trace of black in or on it at all. Christ, the engine, pulls the boxcars along the track. Is this a simple illustration so far? I think it is. Now the Roman Catholic will say that God looks at the boxcar and the steam engine pulling the boxcar and declares the boxcar justified in his sight. Be reminded, the boxcar did something to earn this, and God declares him just on the basis of his work, and what Christ accomplished on his behalf. This is called an analytic declaration. God analyzes the car and the engine together, and on that basis He declares the boxcar righteous and infuses it with grace which can be lost depending upon what the boxcar actually does. Now the biblical theologian rejects that altogether. He says that God forensically declares the boxcar just synthetically. This means that God only looks upon the steam engine alone. Based on the work of the steam engine alone He declares the boxcar just. For the Roman Catholic, the boxcar turns white when it is infused with righteousness and then turns black again when it looses it. Thus it is in a continual flux at attempting to be justified. It is no wonder why all strewn though their 16 chapters in the sixth session of Trent they continually press the point that men cannot know if they are truly saved since they repeatedly need to be infused with a righteousness they frequently lose. But the biblical theologian knows that on the merit of Christ alone men are declared just (actus forensis) in God’s sight – the very thing the Council of Trent anathematizes. This is a one time act which cannot be recanted or lost. It a court-room judgment of God on the sinner for his eternal soul."
- Dr. C. Matthew McMahon

Small Groups Anonymous

2009-09-17T11:34:00.005-04:00

Reading Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship has inclined me to lay and dwell on small groups. I got to know an acquaintance better last night at open mic who told me how his small group had broken up mostly by the fault of irresponsible leaders and lack of their commitment. I am empathetic. My group is committed as far as attendance and hanging out on weekends, but hardly committed to discipleship, taking our studies seriously, and honoring trust when things are told in confidence. On the surface we make ourselves look right but underneath we don't really know each other. We just know about each other.

I see the same thing when I talk to most people in small groups. Loneliness. Or something worse than loneliness. I see groups of people laughing and in each others lives every day, but not any deep community. No one truly knows the real them. They only know the socializing, fun, hanging-out version of them. You can tell from the substance of their conversations that a lot of folks rarely let people in past the first or second layer of the heart. They're dying right in front of everyone's eyes as we laugh and eat food and watch movies.

A lot of folks don’t have deep, true community. But we NEED it. We need it like we need oxygen. It is part of the very way we are wired as human beings. It is part of the way God Himself is wired within the Trinity. Without community, we die a slow death. Without close friendships and people we can trust and journey with, what should be a life of joy feels like a life of waterboarding. We become depressed and angry and neurotic. We start getting too many cats and collecting beanie babies.

We become our own master – not answering to anyone about the things we say or do, the way we spend our time and money, the things we believe in or don’t believe in. No one ever questions us because no one knows enough to question us. And this leads to isolation. And just like in warfare, when you can divide your enemy from their community, they have lost their strength and you can kill them. Relational isolation leads to death.

God has designed us to need one another. And the possibility of having true, deep, rich community in our daily lives is beautiful and freeing and a reminder of God’s love for us. We need communion with God (meaning that we need to know Him and walk with Him and trust Him) and we need communion with each other (meaning that we need to really know other people, and live the big and little moments of life together and remind each other constantly of the Truth).

Can it be challenging? Can it be scary? Can it be awkward? Yes, it can be all these things and more. The best things in life are also usually the hardest. A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.

Fight Clubs

2009-09-11T14:38:00.007-04:00

Here's an excerpt from a good book from The Resurgence:

"All too often, our online identity is very different from our offline identity. Our Facebook status projects what we want others to think of us, not who we truly are. Our blog posts are shrouded in airs of intellectualism or edginess. We all face the temptation to project a false image of ourselves because we find the real image inadequate. If we are honest, the real image is nowhere near as attractive as we want it to be. We want to be more beautiful, more successful, more creative, more virtuous, more popular, and more intelligent than we actually are. We all have an image problem. The problem, however, is not that we lack beauty, success, creativity, virtue, popularity, or intelligence. The problem is that we believe the lie that obtaining those images will actually make us complete, happy, and content people."

-Jonathan Dodson (Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship)