tentative plans...

Just finished a book by Henri Nouwen titled "The Return of the Prodigal Son." It is a book that was inspired by Rembrandt's famous painting depicting Jesus' parable. Unless you have a lot of time, I don't know that I would recommend the book, however, he has a great conclusion, which may be worth your time.
He spends the first two thirds of the book talking about the roles we play, and talks about both sons, then he finishes by talking about how eventually, we should begin to take on the role of the father. We should begin to welcome people home. To be the one that expresses forgiveness, to be the one that has a party over the one who was dead. Those of you who are going to move to a whole other state just to start a church, I think God expects all of us to take on the role of the father to a certain extent. I understand we will each experience times of being the prodigal and needing to come home, and times of being the elder son and being a judgmental jerk, but overall, we are going with the purpose of starting a community of faith where there was not one before.

So that is the "devotional" side, here is the practical. OK, doing some thinking about some tentative plans. I am thinking through how we can go about a lot of things, so here is some of what I am thinking right now. Hopefully most everyone can get to Denver between July and September of 2009. Those were dates most everyone I had talked to felt fairly comfortable with, and I understand that may not work out. But I am thinking once everyone gets there that will get there, we start meeting.
Now, I think for about 2 to 3 months we can just meet, just those of us that are there with the express purpose of starting this church (which remains nameless). What we will do at those meetings is a lot like Bible study, but maybe a bit more involved. We can discuss important issues, difficult topics. Obviously the most prominent, at least in my mind, is homosexuality. We will work through the issue, and while we won't have all the answers, we can at least have a starting point, and at least be on the same page. We will also need to work through budget, and things like that. So what things do you think we will need to talk and think about?
I am thinking after we have had a chance to do that for awhile, we can expand some, begin to have worship services, specialized groups, figure out a place to meet, even if its temporary, structure children's and youth ministries, and on. This is obviously only tentative, and I really do want some of your input on how you think this can go, how you would change it, etc. I think the time where it will just be the founding core will really benefit us because we will get to know eachother better, we will have a good, unified vision, and we will all have similar goals from the outset.

Proverb of the week "A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you." Proverbs 9:8. What you jokers think?

Who are we?

I had the great pleasure of seeing some long lost friends this weekend. It was great. We were talking about church, and they were telling us how they are finally at a church that they love, that they believe in. It was great to talk about why.
So one of them was telling us why she loved it so much, and she said some friends had come to visit. She said after the service was over, the friend, who was not a Christian, was telling her how much she loved it. She was just so happy to finally have a church that they didn't have to say "well, look the preaching isn't great, but the music is ok right?" or "Listen, I know the service sucked, but you can really build community here" or anything on those lines. Her new church could represent itself. It was a good community, not perfect, but good, that was capable of making a good impression on people without having to be explained or excused. This is what I hope we can become.
On that note, what are some ideas you have had for a name? We don't have to decide now, but if we could get some of the ideas out there, then maybe we could start to think and pray and narrow it down. Some that I would like to eliminate, not because they are bad, but maybe either over done or just copies: Mars Hill, Grace, 1st Baptist (JK), Agape. I'm sure there are more, I'll post them as a I think of them. Here are some I have either thought of and kind of like or really like: Hesed Community Church (Hesed is the Hebrew word for covenant, love, etc), Refuge, I like Koinonia (Greek for fellowship) but I think it maybe overdone, can't remember more now, but I would love to hear your ideas. And its ok if you hate my ideas, I'm not married to any.
Love you guys, and hope you have a good Christmas, let me know how you are.

What are we for anyway?

I posted some of these thoughts on my personal blog, but I think it is really something we should probably toss around. Right now on facebook, there are quite a few groups for or against a boycott of the movie "The Golden Compass." Now, I just couldn't contain myself and had to get on one of the boycott groups and ask them why they were wasting so much energy on a movie, and I have to ask you guys, why are Christians most known for what they boycott today?

Probably if you went up to the average guy on the street and asked him what Christians were all about, he would probably say something like "Well, I know they don't like the gay community, and I know they are against abortion, and I know that they don't like Harry Potter," and it could go on. I think it is a great shame that we are probably most known for what we are against, be it evolution, the big bang, abortion, homosexuality (and I know we need to talk about that, it will probably be a round-table discussion when we are all at Denver, much better to talk about in person).

Jesus told the disciples that they would be known by their love, kinda seems more like we should be known for that huh? So it will take us some work, to establish that we should not be known for what we are against, but what we are for, which should be humanity, the disenfranchised, those who cannot help themselves, those who are outcast and lonely. So the question now is, what do you think we should be known for? Love doesn't count, thats a gimme. My answer would be reconciliation. I think we are called to help reconcile people to God, and to be reconciled to each other. I think that brings healing and helps make the world a better place. What about you? What do you think we should devote energy to making ourselves known for?

The proverb of the week "Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?" Proverbs 20:6

Fears

Sometimes when I start to think about starting a church in Denver, it seems like it is only a dream. It seems like it is at least a decade away, so why worry. Then there are other times, the other night for instance, when it seems like it is going to happen tomorrow.
When I am really honest with myself, there are some things about this that really scare me. What happens if something happens, and none of you are able to go? What happens if we get there, but we can never find a place to meet? What happens if I can't get some job that will be flexible with hours, or if Robin can't get a job? What happens... The thing is, there are quite a few things that scare me about all this, and I think that is normal. This week, I just want to invite all of you to share what scares you about it.
Or if you would rather talk about wisdom, here is the proverb that I thought you may like this week. "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Prov. 18:21

Give Thanks

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you got to see some family, hang out with people you don't see enough, etc. What are you thankful for this year? I am grateful for you guys, thinking of moving a long ways from where you are to start a new community of faith. I am thankful to have such a loving and understanding wife, someone who really believes in me, someone smart, and beautiful. Hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving.

Wisdom

The other day in my Scriptures 2 class we were talking about wisdom, specifically Proverbs. We were talking about how smart everyone in our country is today, but how many problems we have because people do not have wisdom. I think this is a good note for us. We are considering something that is not easy by any stretch of the imagination, something daring and difficult. I think it is extremely important for us to have wisdom.
Back in the day, all the best and brightest got together and discussed the Bible, theology, and God. Now the best and brightest study money, science, and law. Many of them have never sat down and thought about how life works. Many of us have never sat down and thought about how life works. So, I think each post from now on I will include a verse or two from Proverbs. We can either discuss it, or whatever topic happens to have caught my attention lately. Hope that works for you guys. So for today, what do you think wisdom is? Who do you think of when you think of wisdom? Ever had a situation where you needed a lot of wisdom?
Proverbs 18:13 "He who answers before listening-- that is his folly and his shame." Thoughts?

Football

One of the real difficulties that many people have had at churches in the United States today is that it seems like ministries are phony a lot of times. "Come on over and we'll do something that no one really wants to do, or thinks is worthwhile, but we will do it because we always have..." This is the attitude we find a lot of times.
Last year, during football season, I started having guys over to watch college football with me. Sometimes they had to endure me yelling and cussing at the TV, others they got to see my jubilation when we won the Big 12 championship. I never intended in the beginning for this to be a ministry, but I think in the long run it turned out to be one, in a way. I was able to make a connection with a couple guys that otherwise I might not have had. They had to see me at my worst, but in the end I was able to convey, hopefully, something of the change that Jesus has been in me. I think God wants us to minister where we are passionate. We can find a connection with almost anyone out there, but I think it should always be genuine. Each of you has something you are passionate about, and something that you can connect with people that maybe the rest of us don't have. What is something that God may want to use in you, to make a difference as we start the "Fancy Walrus" together... I really laughed out loud at that... pretty ridiculous... so what has God made you passionate about that maybe you could share with people that need to be shown God's great love?

Dreams

One of my ultimate dreams for our church (and by the way we may want to start thinking of a name, to simplify things) is that someday we will have some type of care for single parents, and mothers in specific. I think that this is a group that Jesus would hurt for, and one that all too often our churches have really neglected. I would like to find a way to help with child care, groceries, laundry, emotional injuries, mentoring for boys without fathers, etc. This passion and idea of mine has grown from previous hurts in my life. I realize that this will not be something that we will have at the beginning, and it is not something that will happen overnight. But it is a dream to work toward.
Is there something like that that God has put on your heart? How would you like to work towards that goal? It is important in this whole project to remember that nothing happens overnight, and these ministries will take energy and work. What do you think?

choice

great thoughts guys. when i think about the things we will go through as a community, as a team, there are a lot of things that go through my mind. i think about what will be our first baptism, our first eucharist, our first marriage, our first funeral. there are exciting times ahead, i think we have this wonderful chance to start from the ground up, to learn from other churches victories and failures, and to make, not a perfect church, but maybe a perfectible one.
i think about the stresses that will push on us, and this makes me think of marriage. in marriage, and i know you are all aware of this, you choose a person, that person chooses you, and you go. you set off for a new life, a new adventure. worries press in, money gets tight, decisions must be made. sometimes one spouse sacrifices so the other can do what God has called them to do, but the point is that the first priority for each is the other. each wins some, each loses some. but each, in the end, has gained the other.
i think this reflects on the way we should do church. there are a lot of things that we will have to decide on. what color will we make the walls, what time will we meet on sundays, or saturdays, or whenever. how will we elect leaders, will we elect leaders. the thing i think we have to keep on the very front of our minds at all times, is that we should first commit to people, jesus and eachother. there is no other way for us to make it. if we come into this with the idea that we must meet at 6pm every saturday, and we must have children do bible drill, and youth must go to super summer, etc, then all is lost. these things are subordinate. i want each of us to be aware of that before we head in, when times get tough, when we are broke and when we don't know where we will meet next week, we have got to decide first and foremost that we will be loyal, that we will care about eachother.
this does not eliminate criticism, or accountability, but those things should always be done out of love, in the interest of the other. we should refuse to talk behind eachother's backs, we should encourage, we should build up, we should choose eachother. it is my prayer that this is the type of community we can build, what do you think?

denver

The great difficulty with moving to a strange city and starting a church there will be that most of us will be moving without jobs. We may not know where our next meal will come from. I think that is legitimate concern. This is why I think it is important to seriously evaluate whether you are called to do this. It will not be easy, at least not at first. But I think, to steal a line from Caedmon's Call, "had to walk the rocks to see the mountain view." Things that are worth doing are not always going to be easy.
I don't want this to sound trite, but I do believe that where God calls us, he provides. If you feel a little, or a lot, discontent with your present situation, then it may be that God wants more for you. I think we have an opportunity to go to a place where there are very few that follow Jesus, and an opportunity to create a community that can help others find the God that loves them.
You may feel called to be a part of this, God will provide. Robin and I really felt like God wanted us to move to Waco to finish school and God provided her with a great job. Not immediately, but eventually. I think when things get tough we have to remember that God doesn't necessarily provide in excess, or before we need it, but we should remember the birds of the air and the grass of the field. He provides for them right on time. So you may be struggling with indecision or difficulty as to embarking on this adventure with all of us, please pray and evaluate what your life would be like with or without this little experiment we are going to be doing. And remember that God knows before we do what we need and how much we need.

busy busy busy

hey everyone, sorry i have not been all that consistent with blogging. i have a 20 page paper due tomorrow, so its been occupying most of my weekend and most of my wrath. OU also lost on sat, so i was a bit depressed about that, but I'm getting over it. i just wanted to ask what kinds of topic you guys would like to discuss here.
also, im watching "the way of the master" on tbn right now. there is no way we will ever use that in denver. it is awful. sorry. i just could not live with myself if i was ever the pastor of a church that endorsed it. so, what do you guys want to talk about?

the opportunity we share...

we were talking today in one of my classes about what it means for humans to be created in the image of God. classically, the Old Testament affirms that even after sin, humans still bear the image of God. people are told not to murder because that is taking the life of someone who was made in the image of God. in the New Testament, excluding a passage in James and one in 1 Corinthians, the image of God is found in Christ. and as we grow in maturity in our faith and our intimacy with Christ, we become more like him. the image of God grows in us. we are still taught in James and 1 Corinthians that all humans deserve dignity and respect because they were created in God's image. i dont really want to take an overlong time in discussing the theology behind it, but i think it can be summed up by saying that part of our job as the church is to help people rediscover their image.

one of the great opportunities we share is to start over. we can create our own community, set our own priorities and show people who they were created to be. this, i believe, should be one of the main priorities of the church, this is a key to evangelism. people are searching for identity, what makes them special, what sets them apart. as Christians, we believe God made each special, each unique, each with a wonderful and beautiful identity in his own image. as we work together to form this community, we must keep in mind that our fellow workers and those that exist outside of the church were made in God's image. we also must help share this wonderful message with the world. here is my question. what does this mean practically? how does this theology take shape in our lives and in the life of our church?

gifts

"12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?"

1 Corinthians 12:12-24 (The Message)

one of the things i would like us to think through together is our giftings. i am not advocating a cookie cutter spiritual gifts test so that some of us can then wonder what "prophecy" means or whatever. i am suggesting we are honest and open with one another about what we think some of our strengths are and some of our weaknesses. i feel like i am gifted with leadership, but also cursed with stubbornness, for example. it will be important that we are open and honest with one another. i really feel like i could go through and list out many of your strengths because i know you all pretty well, unless someone that i dont know just came and started reading, but that would take away a part of it. it is important that we realize our own strengths and how we can fit in to help this body grow and work. we will not all be gifted in the same ways, hopefully, because otherwise we would all just stubbornly argue a lot.

so, hopefully this will elicit some response. what do you think you are gifted in? do not feel like this is bragging, it is ok to be honest with what you are good at, especially if you are honest enough to know you are not good at everything. i feel like, as i said before, i am gifted with leadership, and vision. i think i can help others to discover their respective place in Christ's body as well. what are you bringing with you? and please, no false humility. i know each of you well enough to know that each of you is very gifted in quite a few areas. (hopefully this goes better than the last one)

if only they knew...

"no one would love me if they knew, all the things i hide" Caedmon's Call- Love Alone

i think in the darkest part of our hearts, each of us has identified with that statement at some time or another, possibly more often than not. we live in a world surrounded by people that refuse to allow anyone to know who they truly are, for fear of rejection or judgment. unfortunately, we have each gone to churches where this holds as well. rather than being a place where people are authentic and real and transparent, all too often church is a place where people pretend to be something that they are not.

a few of our tasks as a congregation will be to encourage authenticity, while also encouraging growth and change. we need to be a safe place, where people can know that god wants them just as they are, but we also need to let them know that god is not content to leave them as they are. this is an incredibly difficult task, and as such, it will take each of us being very much honest and very much open about our struggles as well as our triumphs. there are, of course, boundaries and times when certain things are appropriate and inappropriate. this is a part of the journey we are embarking on. how do you think we can bring this about? what are some practical ways to implement this type of honest community?

bethany, thanks for sharing about your life. it is good for me to have an update and that is helpful while we pray for you. you guys can pray for me, i really am hating school right now. i realize that i need to go, and the things i learn will help me in ministry, but i also just want to get there and begin. it is also hard for me to watch robin work really hard so that i can finish school. i want to be able to help. what needs do you have?

a world drowning...

"...It is waking up to the realization that the church isn't here for we who believe, but rather that we in fact are the church, and we are here for a world drowning in disbelief. Relevant engagement of culture, when born out of the heart of God, is less about marketing and more about passion. It is Paul offering up his own damnation if only Israel could be saved. It is fleshed out in the willingness to become all things to all men that we might somehow save some." Erwin McManus in The Church in Emerging Culture
most of us have heard a lot of things about becoming all things to all people. some use it as an excuse to do whatever they want, others use it as a reason to be even more legalistic than they were previously. things we need to think about as a community are, what kinds of things are we going to be doing to draw people into our fellowship? will we do some things that would make us seem more like a business?

i personally am against things like billboards for churches, slick advertising campaigns in order to bring more people in. i dont think that is what paul meant. i think paul was talking about meeting people where they are, in the places they live and work, and letting them know that they can belong to a group that will accept and love them the way they are, all while refusing to let them stay that way. how we go about implementing this on a day to day basis may take some work, some practice and some experimenting.

what does it mean to you?

So we can understand...

"...Because although he (Jesus) knows us, we do not know him very well. We are lonely and empty because we do not know him very well. We are vacant inside, deafened by the continual wind of our emptiness, and only his presence can fill us. Yet we fail to know him well. Sometimes this is because we don't want to know him and sometimes because we don't know how.
Why do people continually want to revise the prevailing view of Jesus?
To relieve the pain of this dilemma by changing Jesus into something we can understand.
What is Jesus' alternative plan?
To change us into something that can understand him..." (Frederica Mathewes-Green from The Church in Emerging Culture

most of us are currently going through something right now, be it a change in job, change in town, change in anything, that seem difficult. it may be all of those things. i think the challenge for us, is to view these things through God's eyes. to see that maybe he has a plan, and maybe that plan involves some difficulty right now. i think for each of us, god wants us to be different tomorrow than we are today, to be closer to knowing him, closer to following him as we should.

i know for me, i am having to learn that i can't do everything. that sometimes i have to let other people do difficult things to help me, and that is a part of life with others. what is god teaching you? as he prepares you to go and do this thing in denver, what are some lessons you are having to learn?

a few books you guys may like to pick up, and i know we all wish we had more time for reading, but i think these would help considering the type of church we would like to be: A Primer on Postmodernism by Stan Grenz and the book i quoted at the beginning. if you all would like i can continue to recommend books, just let me know. or if you have a book that you think would benefit our little project, post it.

organization

or as the brits would say, organisation...
anyway, this was something that we could/should have done much better while i was at nexus. this is a tricky area, because if you do it well, you should never really notice or have to work on it, but if done poorly, the entire ministry could suffer very much.
the things we need to work through together, and hopefully i can start drafting things for us to think through, are things like, church polity, how will we make major decisions, how will we make minor decisions, what directions will we go with certain things, say our music guy or youth girl or children's person decides that he or she needs to leave, how will we fill that certain role. what roles will we have, what ministries will we create.

on the one hand, we do not ever want to give the impression that this is a business and must be run as such, that is not the purpose of church. there are certain things about church that are messy, and necessarily so. it is a place where ragamuffins tell other ragamuffins where to find bread, to steal a paraphrase from brennan manning.

however, we should also have the insight to learn from those that have foolishly ignored any kind of structure and injured themselves and their ministry. for instance, when it comes to how money is spent, all too often that is left at the sole discretion of the pastor. this then turns into a dangerous practice in which the pastor has more pressure upon him or her than necessary. it also opens up avenues of temptation for the misuse of money.

the things we need to work through together, and maybe the most important, is a system of checks for ... checks. how do we make sure no one can abuse money, while at the same time trusting eachother? also, how do we want to make decisions? the thing we have to keep in mind while we work through these things is that our church may very well grow very large, and it may very well stay small. we have to have some sort of process that works for either.

this is not a popular subject, but once we have this kind of thing worked out it will enable us to do ministry and care about people without worrying about the same things over and over.

the move went well, we are here in waco now, jobless and disorganized. pray that god would provide, and please, leave any needs you may have here for the rest of us to know. it is not to early to build our own community.

The Countdown

As I sit here in Brownwood's finest coffee shop filling out my FAFSA... again. It hit me; 2009 is right around the corner. I better get crackin'!

updates

sorry, were pretty busy getting ready to move at the moment, only six more shifts at starbucks, pray that i dont murder any customers before its all over. just want to let you all know, robin had a couple job interviews in waco a little more than a week ago, so be praying that one of those would work out. its kinda tough to be moving on, scary but exciting at the same time.

so, whats the word on you? update us all, let us know whats going on in your life. once i get moved, i will find a series of things to post on, to get all of our brains working.

excellence

sorry for the long span between posts. i was enjoying that discussion. i just had one or two things i wanted to add to place. i would love for us to find a place that was first used for a different purpose, and restore it and turn it into a church, or a new church, i love the metaphor of redemption in our building as well as our people. i would love to have a location near schools or in the middle of downtown, someplace people that are poor can walk. and i would love to have something of a greeting, either over the door or maybe in another way, something along the lines of "welcome all you sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterors, thieves, come and be redeemed," and that is very open to editing.

now, onto the topic i would like us to discuss in some more detail, the idea of excellence. all too often i feel like churches use the fact that they are working for god as an excuse to do some very subpar work. all too often it is used as an excuse to not plan ahead of time, to wait till the last minute, to put less energy into the work than we would with homework, or work for our jobs. i think that is pretty insulting to god. we have a much higher calling when we do work for the lord, therefore i think we shoudl put even more energy into it than we might with the things we do with less than eternal impact.

so i think it could help us to discuss several things; why do people so often not put their full effort into church work? why are they so apprehensive to plan ahead of time? and what can we gain by being very forward thinking? what are some ways we can encourage one another to do a better job, how can we help someone who is putting less than excellent effort into their work? it is very important that from the beginning we are honest with one another, but tactful at the same time, a lesson i am continually learning the hard way, but one that is necessary.

it was really great to have so many different voices respond to the last post, and it is ok if you just dont have something to say, but i want this to be all of our church, from the ground up, this is a place where we can share thoughts and ideas, so the more the merrier. anyway, keep us all updated, and lets really be praying that god brings us through our current ordeals with our eyes upon him. im excited every day about our future together. hope you guys are well.

place

i know each of you has a home. think in your mind of home. now why is that place home? what is it about that place that makes it home? what about an encounter with god? is there a certain place where you "feel" god more than anywhere else?

when we are really honest, we know that god is everywhere. place does not matter that much to him. but also when we are really honest, place matters to us. so it matters, but it doesnt, but it still does. this is a tension we live in.

so this week, i want us to discuss (dont hold your breath, i know), what kinds of things we would like to have as far as facilities go. place does not matter that much for a church, but it matters incredibly. what things about a church make it seem like home? how can we cultivate a place of worship with the building itself? one thing i love about nexus is that we tried to make it where our building would tell a story. someone could know what we are about by being shown the facilities and having some things explained. what ways can we do that in denver?

i dont want anyone to misunderstand, it is much more important who is in the space than what the space is, but i also think we should strive to have an excellent place, even if it is not that way at first. so. lets just throw out ideas. they can be complete, or incomplete, they can just be thoughts, or they can be things you are passionate about seeing. lets just keep in mind, we will not be able to do everything, but i think this is something good to think about a long time out.

as always, lets be praying for one another. i know we can pray for tyler as he is in the land of florida, wanting to end his life, for bethany as grad school decisions are being made, for tanner as he is going to the middle east and spain, for robin and i as we are beginning to move, for grant as he looks for a job and as he and desiree settle in. i may not be up to date completely, so if im behind just update. hope you all are well.

representatives

ok. i dont know if you are like me, but this stupid "way of the master" thing is making me crazy. my friend matt the other day said some lady approached him and just started rattling off questions. didnt ask his name, didnt say anything about caring for him, nothing of that, just started into questions about his eternity. and the thing that makes me crazy about this whole deal? we are lumped into a category with those jokers.

so i started thinking about what all that means. for me, it means i have to begin to really think through things before i say them, because when i say them, that also says something about my wife, it says something about my church, it says something about each person within the church, it says something, most importantly, about the god that we profess to worship. fair? i dont really know, but fact? no doubt.

so, as im thinking through that, i also come to the realization, that although we should be very careful in remembering that we represent eachother, we also have to love with some recklessness those that are outside. so much so, that sometimes our name must be dragged through the mud a little bit. jesus was, after all, a friend of prostitutes and tax collectors. not great company. so it would seem that we are trying to practice the dialectic, as the great dr. roark would remind us. so, i guess for us to discuss, how do we keep each other's reputations clean, while at the same time loving those that would make us seem very unclean? what difficulties do you think this presents? how do we overcome those? essentially, where do we go from here?

and, if you need prayer, please say so. we need to be supporting and lifting eachother up even now, from what seems a large distance of time.

context

something i have been thinking a lot about lately, is that everyone, everything has a context. i know this lady that comes into starbucks fairly often. shes a bit on the rude side sometimes. i have heard she is not a very good sport when it comes to athletic events. so sometimes i am tempted to write her off.
but then i get to thinking. this lady lives in brownwood. not only that, but she is probably nearly forty and single, and no doubt lonely. so when i am tempted to write her off, i realize that she has a few reasons to be a little bitter. now, this doesnt mean she maybe shouldnt be a little more pleasant, or maybe a better sport, but it also means that i should look on her with a grain of salt.

every person we meet has some sort of context. each has hurt, maybe is in the process of hurting, maybe has never felt truly loved. as christians, as the church we have an obligation to see deeper, to really try to see people through the eyes of god, which means that sometimes we have to forgive things before they are asked, and look at people with a graceful eye. what are some ways you have looked on people in an ungraceful way? what are some ways we can cultivate that at our church? how can we forgive people for these shortcomings while at the same time not condoning poor behavior or allowing them to be jerks? what are some other thoughts on this in general?

still, if you have need of prayer, or if there is something you would like to discuss on here, let me know. i am exceedingly excited for what god wants to do in denver, and what he is doing in each of you as we all prepare.

fights

well, that was a rousing success. i guess we all had a lot to say...
ok this week, i want us to talk a little bit about what is worth fighting for. i was just in a business meeting, no fights broke out, but i know that they have a propensity to happen in that type of setting.

one thing i have learned/been learning since i have been married is that some things are not worth fighting over. we should not be willing to die on every hill, as it were. this is something that we should very much be thinking through as we all consider helping to start a church. this is not something a community can really decide on together, but that the individuals within the community must decide on seperately. what are you going to die for? what fights will you participate in? which ones are better to keep your mouth shut on? these are things to be considering within yourself.

the other thing, and it is really my fault for this not being my first post, is that i really want to encourage you all to be praying. there are about eleven of you that i can count that are pretty solid on doing this thing, then several others that are considering it, then several others that are just praying for us. so, what are some ways we can pray for one another?

these are some ways you can pray for me and robin, personally right now: it is difficult for us to be leaving brownwood, we are sad, and robin needs a job in waco, i need some refreshing and healing, ive been burning the candle at both ends for too long, my family is always a concern

for our future church: that god would guide us in our leadership, that he would guide us in our roles, that he would provide us with a place to meet, that we would each deal with much of our baggage or at least acknowledge it as we draw nearer to our beginning, that we would draw near to god, and that we would draw near to one another.

so, questions you can answer: what is worth fighting for? what are some ways we can pray for you?

ok vent time

alright, each of us has some serious gripes with churches. the last thing i want is for us to simply be some reaction to our problems with the church as it is today, but i also think it is important for us to see the problems and make some changes. this is not to say we should throw out everything that has been done before, because there are a lot of good things done right now in churches, and some ways that they are run are very intelligent. but for this week, lets just say what some of our problems are with church in our day. next week we will talk about how we can respond and do things differently, but this week is our chance to be critical. feel free to respond anonymously if you need to, and lets not have negative personal attacks, just talk about some issues we have. for example, i know of a church in houston that people in the ministries each have a baptism quota that they have to reach each quarter, or they will lose their ministry job. i have an issue with that. so. vent away.

what is church?

as we all contemplate beginning this journey together. some questions i think it would be good to begin with are
what is a church?
what is the church?
the apostles creed has a statement near the end "the holy catholic church" so what does it mean to us, "holy," "catholic," "church." lets dialogue about what each of those means, what we want it to mean, etc.
one of my seminary friends and i were talking the other day about what church is. i think it can be anywhere, anytime, whenever more than one christian sits together and talks about god. he thought it was anytime we gathered for a specific reason, namely to worship. what do you guys think? im not sure there is a right answer, but i think it is important to think and talk about.
if this falls flat, let me know a better way to start these discussions and i will try to make them better
so. what is a church, what is the church, what does it mean to be the holy catholic church?

Ladies and Gentlemen...

We are looking at quite possibly the single greatest blog ever created; yes, even better than R$%##$ blog!

This exists so that we can feel free to talk, curse, argue and express any feelings about Denver.

I for one feel that Christ has lead me to dive into this venture, I'm pretty stoked. So, let the blogging begin!