Ordered Three books today on Amazon:.

"The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture : How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church "Shane Hipps; Paperback;

"The Faces of Forgiveness: Searching for Wholeness and Salvation"F. LeRon Shults; Paperback;

"Atonement for a 'Sinless' Society: Engaging with an Emerging Culture (Faith in An Emerging Culture)"Alan Mann; Paperback;

Power, critics and the emerging church

There has been a lot of criticism about what the church will look like in the future. There are those who are afraid the future church will abandon important issues they believe to be foundational or imperative to faith in Jesus. Sometimes these are folks who have made absolutes out of as many things as possible. Baptism required for salvation? A certain view of scripture generally starting with in-? To some of us this perspective seems a bit militant. To those who hold these absolutes, they are not optional beliefs.

So there are folks who are looking for a safe place to work out their faith, because the simple answers seem patronizing, and frankly hard to swallow. I'm not talking about hard to swallow in the sense that these emerging folks don't want to face some kind of sin, or that they find what their critics call orthodoxy. It's that when they look at scripture and they understanding it gives on the nature of God, they have significant issues with the critics version of orthodoxy. Generally they find it far to close and generally undermined by a cultural bias and as such the emerging folks believe it to be an issue of faithfullness. They simply can not be faithful to the God of the Bible and make some of these issues absolute.

It's interesting because both groups seem to love God deeply, both groups have a desire for orthodoxy. Both groups have a desire to see the kingdom come and God's will be done. It's just that they are coming to different conclusions.

Unfortunately, then it's the critics of the emerging leader who seem (it's my perception) to want to convince the emerging folks to believe their perspective. Convince is a mild term. But I'm attempting to give them the benifit of the doubt. What it feels like is condemnation, slander, malicious misrepresentation and a grab for power. Is that what it is? I'm not sure, but on this side of the criticism it doesn't feel loving.

Emerging folks are learning that they do not need the approval of critics, and their grab for power is like grabbing for air. Their criticism don't take root all that often because they are rooted in something other than the Kingdom they claim to represent. Of course they feel like the are standing up for truth, which should be acknoledged and honored.

Another note on this: It's important to listen to those who are critiquing our thoughts. We still have a lot to learn from our friend, even when it feels like they seem unhealthy or have an above average amount of zeal to tell you what they think of you and your thoughts.

So, Emerging friends, please be patient with our brothers and sisters who are vocal with each of us. Continue to pray for them and assume that they are praying for us.

It's time we beleived the best about each other and it's alright to give up having to be right all the time. There is no need to defend the emerging church, such conversations generally are not helpful in the blogosphere, when you can, buy a cup of coffee with a critic and find out about them, their family, the children, they dreams for the church, their love for God.

Please do not be tempted to lash out to legitimize yourself against these folks, your faith is not dependent upon their agreeing with you.

But do find community. Find people who take scripture seriously and who will prayerfully sharpen your thoughts and theology. Don't surround yourself with yes men and women.

Pam's Surgery

So Pam will be having surgery Tuesday. April 4th sometime in the morning at OHO.

This is a description of the procedure. It's called a Microdiscectomy.

Pam's got a ruptured disc (L5) and she is having horrible pain in her right leg. This has been going on for a month straight. Pam's been having bad back pain for 5 years or so.

Mark Palmer:.

I never met Mark, though he and I had a dozen common friends. I often heard about his life and courage and prayed for his family. This morning Mark passed away.

If you haven't heard of Mark's Story here is a recap:

Mark Palmer's Story:

In August 2003, Mark and his year-old son (Micah) lost their
young wife/mother Jennifer to a swiftly-developing
case of stomach cancer.

On November 6, 2004, Palmer was remarried to Amy Smith.
Two months later, in January 2005, Mark was diagnosed
with rectal cancer and was set upon a course of treatment.

Then in April 2005, the Palmers discovered that Mark's
insurance would not cover his cancer treatment because
of a preexisting condition. Thus, the Palmers would have
to bear the cost of Mark's treatment.

After a couple months of chemotherapy, Palmer went into
surgery to have the tumor removed. During the operation,
doctors discovered that the cancer had spread to his liver.
About six weeks later, Mark underwent surgery to remove
75% of his liver, his lymph-nodes and another tumor
discovered during the operation. The surgery lasted eleven
hours. About 2 weeks after that surgery, Mark went under the
knife yet again to try and get his incisions to stay closed
and heal properly. So in less than 8 weeks he had 3 surgeries,
never really giving his body enough time to heal from the first
surgery. And finally, 33 days later, Mark was released from the
hospital.

Currently, Mark's medical bills exceed $200,000.

More about how to help Mark: www.landingplace.org/charity/

Zach's First Rock Show

So my buddy Steve passed on two tickets to my for the Switchfoot concert here in town on Monday. Zach's never been to a rock show. He'd seen Jump5 a while back, but never something this loud. It was a good show.
Switchfoot took the stage at 9:25pm, exactly 2 hours after Zach's bedtime.
After repeated attempts to try to get him to wear ear plugs the show started.

Most of the time I couldn't tell if Zach was engaged or not. He sat there and stared at the stage.
Everyone once in a while he'd turn to me with a "wow! did you see that!? kind of look"
Those moments were:
- when someone in the crowd started crowd surfing.
- when john (or is jon) the lead singer jump up onto the bass drum and sang
- when the ultra bright white lights pointed at the fans turned on
- when the lights behind the band started flashing and dancing
- when he finished the extra large tub of popcorn

By the end of the show Z was leaning on me and fading fast. I asked him several time if he wanted to leave and each time he said "No!" and looked at me like I was a crazy person.

On the way back to the car he said, " I'll get my hearing back tomorrow Dad."
Yeah you will son.

Christian Camo:
I'm going to have to get a picture of this.
Yes, if you look closely in the camo is a dove, an olive branch and a ark. Camo with a purpose.

You can go to christiancamo.com and see that you can buy a pistol case or a bible cover with christian camo covering it.


So you can wear your christian camo the next time you go hunting and kill a deer.
or
you can wear them to the next years aquire the fire event. I'm sure it will go with the theme. My guess is it will be "Youth Being Militant for Jesus" or something.

Mike and Joyce Bolthouse

Today I've been thinking about Mike and Joyce Bolthouse. I worked with Joyce at BVC in Michigan. She was always very patient with me and my budget questions. It seemed like I always had a question about money, and Joyce would alway stop what she was doing and help me.

The main reason I'm thinking about them is my plumbing project today. In the master bathroom of the new house my shower knob decided it would break through my shower faceplate and keep me from turning the water off. I knew what the problem was because Mike taught me about plumbing. He almost single handedly (with a lot of help from Brian, and some help from Andy and Jeremy and myself) build out a full bathroom in my basement in Rockford.

If you are reading this Mike, it was the copper pipes running to my hot and cold were not attached to any studs. It appears as if they never were. nice. So I had to cut into Pam's side of the closet to get access to the plumbing. I build out some support from the studs and attached the copper tubing to it. Bought an access panel and a new shower knob and face plate and shazzam a new shower. I did have to use a hammer to break out a little bit of tile to get the new face plate to fit. But it works!

Mike and Joyce were gifts to me and my family and we were changed because of their graciousness and consistant service to us and the Something community.

Tulsa Workshop:

I'll be providing coaching and consulting for the Churches of Christ and a few Independent Christian Churches at the International Tulsa Workshop this week. It will be similar to what I did for Youth Specialties in Nashville last fall. If your pastors are going, have them sign up!

Stress:

I have felt pretty stressed recently. Starting a business has been a tough road. I really dislike the administrative side of the business. Bills. Taxes. HR stuff. Health Insurance. No fun at all.

Stepping out to start this venture was the either the boldest act of faith or single greatest lack of discernment of my life. So here I sit.

In my head there are several stream running.

Stream #1:.
The clients I'm working with are amazing. I'm humbled to be working with them. The volunteers within these organizations are incredible. They love the church, live from a missional perspective and they seem tireless. They seem to love the way the process has focussed their energy and they can see that their churches are becoming better places. If I had not started this venture I would not be working with these folks. They would be stuck in the same patterns and looking for answers. Their faithfulness is an encouragement to me in this process.

Stream #2:.
What I'm discovering about church leadership is disappointing. I've worked in the church for quite a while, and worked with Senior Pastors and church leaders in a variety of settings. There are too many church leaders who simply do not care about youth or children. They care about their parents, but too often not about the youth. There are too many church leaders who give lipservice to caring for kids, but in reality they measure success by big numbers and zero complaints from the congregation. This isn't everyone. But for a church to help their congregation and youth they have to actually care about kids. I hope I'm wrong on this. But this is how it feels right now. Like I said, I've worked with these folks a lot in the past, but it feels more prevelant today. I'm hoping this is only assumptions I'm believing right now, and not reality. For the sake of the church.

Stream #3
There is such a huge need for what the Riddle Group is doing. HUGE. Most churches believe the formula for healthy youth ministry looks something like this:

The Right Youth Pastor + The Right Programs = a healthy youth ministry

When in reality the formula might look more like this:

The right expecations of the congregation, staff, kids + appropriate behavior patterns over the long term + a church who learns + a congregation who takes responsibility + the right programs + the right infra-structure + God + (maybe a youth pastor) = a healthy youth ministry


As a result, the Riddle group brings alignment to these issues and helps the church understand it's system. This creates sustainability for the health of the kids and of the youth.

Stream #4
As much as I'd like to give away my services I can rarely do it. I feel an inner tension for the need to make money and selling the Riddle Group to serve churches who need it. The fact is I need more business for this to be sustainable long term for me and my family.

Outlook Express, Kyle and Kyle

I have a new friend (over the past few months) his name is Kyle Meador. I really enjoy hanging out with him As a result, I find myself emailing him occassionally.

In the modern world there is an experience in dealing with loss. When using Outlook Express when I start to type K-Y-L-E the program fills in the rest, trying to guess who I'm going to send an email to. This is often convenient. When I email Kyle my friend Kyle Lake's name appears. Kyle Lake passed away last October and I haven't taken his name out of my address book. It's good for me to remember Kyle, when I think of Kyle.

Some Folks buy Fountain Pens:

For Valentines day, aside from flowers etc, I bought Pam a knife. A kitchen knife that is.

A 7 inch Wustof Gourmet Santoku with Hollow Edge knife to be exact.

I love cooking with it. But unfortunately Pam is afraid of it. Yeah, I've almost cut the end of my finger off with it. twice. But cooking with this is fun.

In Search to Belong:

Sounds like a good name for a book. After moving to back to Oklahoma, Pam and I are looking for community. We have found ourselves talking about this occassionally, Pam talking about missing friends in Michigan (and me too) and me carving out relationships and praying that God will create a local community with us involved. It's in the back of my mind in a lot of my conversations around town. Is this person connected to community? Would they be interested in belonging to a local community?

What is also interesting about Tulsa, is how often people ask "Where do you go to church?" and few times we have been invited to go to church. In other words, people want to know where Pam and I go, (People in Tulsa often ask this the first time you meet them.) But no one is inviting us to come.

Now. I've served in ministry in this town for several years and I have many friends in ministry who don't ask out of respect. Which is very nice of them.

But others we don't know as well, generally ask, "where do you go to church?" and when we say no where, or we've visited __________ and _______________ they don't follow up.

Jeff Dunn from Believers invited me to Believers church a few months ago and I've been invited to speak a few places, but no other invitations that I know about.

Now. I should also say that, just because we would be invited, doesn't mean we would go and church isn't actually what we are interested in. Community is. community where we can serve along side other folks who are either searching for jesus, skeptical of jesus, following jesus and one dealing with real issues.

We are going to create something in the Broken Arrow area... but we are still getting to know people around town.

Regardless, life without community is hard.

Record set for hottest temperature on Earth
Scientists produce gas more than 100 times hotter than the sun

"Scientists have produced superheated gas exceeding temperatures of 2 billion degrees Kelvin, or 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit.

This is hotter than the interior of our sun, which is about 15 million degrees Kelvin, and also hotter than any previous temperature ever achieved on Earth, they say.

They don't know how they did it. "


I'm totally fascinated by this.

Link

Unintentional Systemic Pastoral Passive Aggression

My friend was up mad. Maybe frustrated would be a better word. Thoughout the tenure of my friend's leadership of a very large congregation (we'll call it First church) there were several recurring themes. This week the issue taking front and center was what he perceived to be the consumeristic spirituality that a large portion of his congregation seemed to hold. One event that brought up this issue was a phone call, from a concerned churchmember who reported that a family he loved and cared for, a family he actually knew, was leaving First Church for a church with new video venue and hip new youth ministry. The second event was the Tuesday staff meeting in which the Executive Pastor reported on the process of looking for a youth pastor. The process was going very slowly, and the church was looking for just the right person, however, there were rumors floating around the congregation that First Church no longer cared about youth and families because they did not see Youth ministry as a priority. Furthermore, there were people who had take the Senior Pastor's own words in a recent sermon and twisted them to feed this rumor. This development sent my friend into a rush of emotion. He personally wanted to care for teenagers and he knew the staff cared about teens, which is why they were taking their time to find just the right person. But their approach seemed to be causing problems. The next Sunday rolled around and my friend was giving the sermon. In it he blasted Consumerism. He blasted people who come to church for the wrong reasons.

If you change the circumstances, or the topic of frustration you have something that is a very common senario. A pastor gets upset with results, or cirmcumstances and immediately points the finger at people. The problem isn't always with the people, often the problem with in the system.

Can you identify the systems issues in this story?

The Choking Game:

Something to be aware of as youth workers. This has been going on for decades, but it is reaching a mainstream popularity that is disturbing.

Link