Tweet, tweet, tweet

I read a blurb in my last Leadership Journal that said no one is really accessing church websites anymore. Not because the websites are bad, but because websites "are so 2004."

This blurb reported that younger folks today (Mosaics and Busters) prefer text messaging, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

I am so out of the loop, and I'm even in the "Buster" generation (born between 1965 abd 1983)! (Also known as GenX--though I'm on the cusp between GenX and GenY)

For one, I seriously hate text messaging. I don't get it. Call me or email me. Why do you need to text me? Part of it is that I don't get the shorthand, and it takes me FOREVER to reply to a text message.

I guess that shows I'm getting older and less technologically savvy. Not that I ever was to begin with!

Twitter? Confession: I don't even know what that is. I've never been to the site, not sure what goes on there, and so I don't tweet. But I know a lot of folks who love it.

I do have a Facebook account. And though I've been lax on keeping up with it, I've been trying to do better.

In addition, I've recently re-connected with some old friends and people I haven't seen in over 10 years, which has been awesome. I thought about starting a Facebook page for our church, but to be honest, I'm not even sure how to do that!

YouTube has interesting stuff. I use clips from there occasionally in my sermons. And I know of one guy in our youth group who is amazing at creating videos. Since I like movies (a lot!) I can see the power of of video. I personally like to watch YouTube videos of bands performing.

A few years ago my wife bought me an iPod shuffle for Christmas. It's still in the box. Never taken it out. I'm not against iPods or anything. I just haven't taken the time to figure out how to use the thing.

My wife uses her iPod nano all the time. I guess I'm just old fashioned in that I like CDs. Heck, I used to have vinyl records as a kid and I remember the 8-track my parents had! Anyone else remember making "mixed tapes" for your sweetheart?

Yeah, that must be so 1990 or something!

My wife teaches writing and journalism at the college level. Her students today were born long enough ago that they have no idea who Kurt Cobain was!

Pearl Jam: Is that a flavor of jelly?

Alice in Chains: Sounds like domestic violence.

Man, I'm feeling old! (In case you are way younger or way older than me and didn't know, the above are all popular alternative rock bands from the 1990s--they also were some of my favorite groups, and some of them are still making music!)

Society and culture change. Technology changes and advances. The church and its leaders have the tough task of discerning how to use technology to communicate the timeless, unchanging Truth of the Gospel in a way that is meaningful and relevant to the culture.

I'm not talking about gimmicks and fads. I'm talking about utilizing the tools that people use in their day-to-day lives

In other words, I guess I better start texting and tweeting!

What Every New Christian Needs to Know . . . NOW!

This is just hilarious. Check it out and have a good laugh.

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2009/11/the-beginners-guide-to-christianity-thirty-things-you-need-to-know-right-now/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ParchmentAndPen+%28Parchment+and+Pen%29

If you found anything offensive from the link above, I give you my favorite Thomas C. Oden quote, which is how he begins the first volume of his three-volume Systematic Theology:

"Because of piety's penchant for taking itself too seriously, theology--more than literary, humanistic, and scientific studies--does well to nurture a modest, unguarded sense of comedy. Some comic sensibility is required to keep in due proportion the pompous pretensions of the study of divinity" (1).

Seriously, have some fun. Theology is fun!

Where is God when it Hurts?

Okay, so I stole the title of this blog from a Phillip Yancey book.

But it accurately captures the essence of what's on my mind.

Yesterday I preached one of the hardest sermons I've ever had to preach. The text was Matthew 7:7-11. The Big Idea was that God hears and answers our persistent prayers.

That's a great promise of Scripture, illustrated by other stories that Jesus told such as the man who need to borrow bread from his friend in the middle of the night (Luke 11:5-13) and the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8).

Yet there is also a huge problem: Not all of our prayers are answered.

I'm not talking about trivial prayers or prayers that spring from wrong motives that are purely selfish and self-indulgent (see James 4:1-4).

Rather, I'm talking about heart-wrenching, persistent prayers for the healing of a loved one, or the turning back to Christ of a wayward child, or the sparing of a sick and dying child, and similar situations.

Wrestling with the deep hurt and pain and grief of loss and unanswered prayers is a real issue that people face regularly. I myself prayed daily (usually multiple times a day) for seven years for God to heal my father of a terminal heart condition. God answered that prayer by taking dad home to be with the Lord at the young age of 44.

Christians like to talk about the miracles and victories. And we should celebrate those things and praise God for them!

But what happens when God chooses not to do the miracle? What happens when the worst we could think becomes reality?

There are no easy answers. As a pastor I want to throw my arms around folks experiencing that kind of pain and grief, cry with them, and tell them I don't understand why God allows these things and I'm so sorry.

Theologically I can tell them that we still live in a fallen, sinful world. And part of the consequences of that state is that there will be sickness, disease, and death. There will be tragedy and violence and unspeakable evil.

The comfort we can take as Christians is that despite appearances to the contrary, God is on his throne and He is in control. And no matter what horrifc things come our way, God can work those things out for our good and His glory.

Though we may have to endure pain and hurt and loss for a time here and now, there will be a day when all wrongs are put right, all hurts will be healed, and all suffering will be over.

Forever (see Revelation 21:1-4).

Where is God when it hurts? He is right there beside us, granting us the grace and strength to persevere through whatever storms we are facing (Psalm 23:4).

Being the Church

A pastor-friend of mine recently lamented that too often today we spend our time "doing church" rather than "being the church."

It's a rut that's easy enough to fall in to.

I grew up in a church tradition, for example, that had a host of rules and expectations such as attending church every time the doors were open. This made you more holy. Or something like that.

Of course, as a pastor of a local church, I would always encourage people to attend service! But I'm not a proponent of having something at the church almost every night of the week. Sometimes we do get caught up in doing stuff at the church rather than being the church to a world that needs to hear some Good News.

So how can we be the church?

It seems to me the early church was united around two core commitments which helped them be the church: (1) Fulfilling the Great Commandment, and (2) Fulfilling the Great Commission.

In the Great Commandment, found in Mark 12:29-31, Jesus taught us that all the commandments in scripture boil down to two things: Love God and love others.

In the Great Commission, found in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gave us our mission: Make disciples of all nations, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

Maybe we make things too complicated sometimes.

Or maybe we try to get too cute.

Or maybe the latest church growth and church leadership strategies have blinded us to our biblical mandates.

Or maybe our American consumerist mentality has made us think of the church as a shopping mall where religious goods and services are consumed and experienced, rather than as a place where we worship God in Spirit and in truth, encourage and build each other up, and get equipped to impact the world in our spheres of influence.

What would happen if we united around the common vision of fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission?

I think we would be the church, and not just do church. And whenever the church is being the church it makes a difference.

It makes a difference in my life, in yours, in your family, your neighbor's lives, your co-worker's lives; and the ripple effects would go out into all the world.

Crazy "Christians"

A parishoner called me this morning disturbed by a newspaper report that he'd read. A North Carolina pastor and his church are going to burn Bibles and other Christian books, among other things, on Halloween night.

The pastor claimed that all versions of the Bible besides the King James were perversions and works of Satan and that only the pastor can rightly interpret the scriptures, among other ludicrous things.

I Googled the info and came across the story. Click here to read it.

The unfortunate thing is that, how ever well-intentioned this pastor is (and I assume he's very well intentioned and is quite zealous for God), he is extremely misinformed and flat-out wrong on number of points, and therefore is leading his congregation astray.

This, to me, is the real tragedy, not to mention how crazy it makes Christians look.

As I've been preaching in my current teaching series, Jesus Kingdom call is radical and it places radical demands on our lives. But I don't think burning versions of the Bible was what he had in mind.

The first thing that this pastor is misinformed and wrong in his assertion that the King James version is the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

As the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy clearly affirms, only the original manuscripts (i.e. the autographs) are inspired and inerrant. Furthermore, copies of the original manuscripts and versions of the Bible are the Word of God "to the extent that they faithfully represent the original" (Article X).

And here is where the North Carolina pastor is badly misinformed. Today we have far more and far earlier manuscripts on which our modern English versions are based than when the KJV was done. Because we have earlier manuscripts and more manuscripts to compare, we are much closer to constructing the original text (autograph) than the translators of the KJV were able to. In short, the KJV is really not a very accurate version of the Bible compared to our more modern versions.

In addition, there is the language issue. The KJV is written in archaic English that is almost unintelligible to modern readers and hearers. Yet the purpose of God's Word is for people to be able to understand it!

The original languages that the Bible was written in were the common Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek of the day. The Bible was not written in some special "heavenly" or "divine" language, it was written in the common language of the day that people used and understood.

The goal of Bible translators then, is two-fold. First, they want to accurately and faithfully translate the text (the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) into the modern language, which in this case, is English. Second, and equally important, they want to do it in such a way that it is understandable and in good, modern English.

The second area that this North Carolina pastor seems a little whacked to me is in his condemnation of the people such as Mother Teresa, the pope, Billy Graham, and Rick Warren.

To be sure, there are plenty of false teachers, misguided folks, and flat-out heretics (a word I don't throw around lightly) in the church today. I, for one, think of the prosperity preachers as such people. But I think this pastor is barking up the wrong tree on the specific examples he cites.

Finally, to assert that only "the preacher" can rightly understand and interpret the Word of God is anti-Reformational at best, not to mention arrogant, and flat-out dangerous. This smacks of the stuff that cults are made of. My advice? Don't drink the Kool-aid!

Behind the Scenes

Since becoming a pastor I've become more keenly aware than ever of all the folks "behind the scenes" who do the often unnoticed and thankless work that makes things at the church work.

Every church, no matter how big and how many "paid" staff they have, could never accomplish what they do without the dedicated effort of people volunteering their time and using their gifts, talents, and passions to minister to others.

In this blog I want to specifically acknowledge and thank the many at our church who do the behind the scenes stuff that can often go unnoticed, is taken for granted, and is rarely ever publically acknowledged.

There's our Thursday cleaning crew, for example. Two retired couples and another woman that spend a good portion of the day cleaning every inch of the church. They empty trash. Clean the toilets and sinks. Vacuum. Dust. Mop. Pick up stuff. Clean all the windows and mirrors. Clean the kitchen. Clean the worship center. And I'm told that the woman who cleans our children's nursery area painstakingly cleans every single toy.

Impressive.

There are many others. The volunteers who run our sound system, the PowerPoint, and all the other technological gadgets we try to use. Bigger churches have paid staff to do those things. Smaller churches, like ours, have dedicated people who show up early and stay late to make it all happen.

There's the church decorating committee, which in our case, is primarily led by the vision and incredible decorating sense of one particular woman and her husband. Just a couple weeks ago they changed the "summer" decorations out for fantastic "fall" decorations.

And all of that done under the radar with no one really knowing, but everyone benefiting.

There are many others too. Like all of the volunteers that teach Sunday school (for all ages), work in the nursery, do Children's church, serve as greeters and ushers, lead singing during morning worship, help out with our Wednesday night Kidz Alive, and our upcoming Upward Basketball.

All of these and many other things that could be mentioned are done by dedicated people who are using their gifts and passions to minister to others and to build up the body of Christ. And they do it faithfully, week in and week out. And quite often without any recognition or thanks.

So, next time you go to church, think about all those people behind the scenes that help make your experience what it is. Without them, we couldn't pull off what we do day in and day out.

And for all those who do the behind the scenes, thankless jobs: THANK YOU!!!!!

Mondays

I'm currently sitting at a Barnes and Noble Cafe in Valparaiso, Indiana drinking my standard venti mocha, no whip.

Mondays are my off day and in this crazy transitional time that my wife and I are still in it has developed a bit of a routine and rhythm.

Sunday afternoon after morning worship service I pack up and head back to Indiana (we haven't sold our house there yet). I have a grad class on Monday nights and during the day I try to spend a little time with my wife, but it's difficult because she teaches an 8 a.m. class and then has her own grad class in the middle of the day, then I have my grad class at night.

Hence, that's why I go with her to Valpo to class. She drops me off at the nearby Barnes and Noble where I chill out for an hour or so and wait for her to pick me up after class. At least we get to be together during the hour-long commute each way.

Here's a snapshot of my day so far:

Wake up at 6:50 a.m.
Let the dogs out, feed and water them.
Start brewing hot tea.
Turn on my laptop and get connected to wireless Internet.
Make cup of hot tea.
Have a brief morning devotional.
By 7:15 a.m. I'm settleed back in front of the computer to catch up on two days worth of emails and drink my tea.
By 8:10 a.m. I have shaved and am in the shower.
At 8:25 a.m. I am putting two cans of Fix-A-Flat into the rear passenger-side tire of our Honda.
By 8:45 a.m. I am at Big O Tire and checking in to get a couple new tires.
9:00 I call my mom on my cell and wish her a happy birthday.
9:05 I call Jen to update her on the status of the car, but she doesn't have her cell with her.
9:15 a.m. the car is done, I pay, and am on my way back home.
9:25ish I'm at home, start load of laundry, and chat with wifey about her class.
A little before 10 a.m. I'm back online checking emails and responding to messages.
10:30ish I head out to run some errands, including buying my mom's b-day present.
11:30ish return home and pick up wifey on the fly to grab some lunch before leaving for Valpo.
11:40-12:30ish we eat lunch at Hacienda.
12:35-1:50 commuting to Valpo. We chat along the way and listen to the radio.
Upon arrival at Barnes and Noble I order my mocha and browse the books for a bit, then settle at a table and get online using their free wi-fi.
2:20 p.m. I start typing this blog.
In another 30 minutes or so my wife will pick me up. We'll have an hour and ten minute drive home (arriving shortly after 4 p.m.) and then I will have to get ready to go to my grad class, which lasts until 10 p.m.
I'll arrive home shortly after 10 p.m. and wifey will likely already be asleep or close to it.
I'll stay up until close to 11 and read, then hit the sack.
Drive back to Ohio tomorrow morning.

That's my typical Monday.