Happy Winter!

We greeted yesterday's official onset of winter with another foot of white stuff...added to the 8 inches already on the ground from Friday's storm. And we expect another 3-6 Wednesday!

When I arrived at work this morning, the facility maintenance guy was toiling with a shovel to move the stuff. I asked him why he wasn't using the snow blower (like I intend to later) and he said the rip cord frayed and broke, and the electronic start wouldn't kick the machine over. Bummer.

Besides the snow blower, I get to trudge through the drifts and try to remove some of the snow buildup from the porch roof with a roof rake (interesting name: 'cuz you literally pull snow off the roof with it).

And it's flurrying right now. Ah, North Country weather in winter! So much for global warming!

It'll definitely be a white Christmas this year.

Thoughts on quitting (teaching SS class, that is)

I've been debating this thought for a while now: I think I need to end my tenure as Junior High Sunday School teacher after this year ends. Not that I really want to, mind you. But I find I can't give the task the time and energy I want to, and there's really nothing else to give up.

Part of this dilemma arises from my role at the church, and my necessary involvement in overseeing ministries and coaching leaders. I teach a Bible study at the local senior living facility (I consider that outreach since I can plainly present the Gospel every time I'm there). I coach and serve on the Connection ministry team (our monthly mid-week worship gathering), occasionally speaking as well. Then there's our newly started small group, which includes two couples who have a lot of questions (they're fairly young in the faith).

Eventually, my coaching role on the Connection team will no longer be needed (I hope), and I hope to involve more people with the Bible study. The center would love a weekly study, but it's during the morning (when most of the 70-, 80-, and 90-year old residents can best function), and that's when most other people work.

All this on to my of my regular duties developing the small group ministry, aligning church ministries to our church vision, handling the administrative needs of the church, etc. I successfully transitioned the weekly slideshow preparation, as well running the slides during services. And I stepped away from regularly playing in the worship ensemble a year ago.

So I have had more time for planning and research and more planning, etc. But I find the Sunday School class has become a late-Friday after thought. "Oops, I still have to put together Sunday's lesson plan!" And I certainly don't have the band-width to keep in touch with the kids and build relationships outside of Sunday morning (I wish I could).

Besides, I'm not the only one who can do this: with over 200 adults in the church population, there has to be someone who can and wants to work with these kids. But as long as I'm in place, these individuals will never step up to say they'd like a shot at the class. Last year, the senior high class teacher stepped down, and we actually thought we wouldn't have a class. But someone stepped up, and with a novel idea for the class structure, she has a regular attendance that we haven't seen in years.

So maybe it's time for the junior high class to be removed from my plate, so someone else can take up the opportunity.

Habits are hard things to break...and create

I'm still working through John Burke's Soul Revolution, a book that walks readers through his church's 60-60 Experiment. This experiment basically trains a person to become more aware of God throughout the day, by connecting with Him every 60 minutes for 60 days. The book includes lots of stories of how people's lives dramatically changed through their experience.

Whether 60 days is enough is debatable. Burke talks in one chapter about how people need to do something every day for 90 days for a new habit or way of thinking to take hold. But I suppose 60 days sounds more doable if you're trying to convince someone to take on the experiment.

I purchased an inexpensive kitchen timer (60 minutes) to try this. But during the dry run, I discovered that I have to cycle through every second to reset the timer for the next hour. That's a lot of thumb pushing, unless I decide to enter the "texting" Olympics.

* * *

Another habit I plan to attempt to build is exercise. A local gym recently opened its doors and the cost was more than right: it basically removed all obstacles to joining. Since I'm pushing the half-century mark, and my family's medical history may start to catch up with me if I don't do something, I took the plunge and enrolled last Wednesday.

Then my wife and kids decided to visit friends in Connecticut over the weekend, leaving me with no car (yes, we did that on purpose). I planne to--and did--walk wherever I needed to go. I think I averaged about five miles each day. So I haven't made it to the gym yet. Today should be the day.

Vacation is great!

Spent four days away from the daily routines, visiting my sister and family. Their church currently lacks a pastor (long story there) and the speaker was the sound man! He shared his (brutal) testimony, focusing on forgiveness. Which was a kicker of a message given the guy's background.

My brother-in-law leads worship and invited me (since he knew I was coming) to join the worship band Sunday morning. I added my violin and whistles to the musical texture. I muct admit I had a ball. It is especially gratifying to play with musicians who are very good at what they do, but also know how to play with others, and understand music. Not everyone played every song the same way, or even all the time.

Part of vacationing for me includes avoiding the news: I don't even read the newspaper. I came back to the office this morning, fired up my computer, and deleted about 100 emails, including four doomsday warnings that the FCC will imminently ban religious broadcasting fro TV and radio. This sucker has been around since 1975 and remains false. I also discovered that the pressing national news item on Yahoo.com is what breed of dog will live in the White House.

Come on! Like that's news?! But then, given our culture's obsession with celebrity, I shouldn't be surprised.

We can be really dumb sometimes

"First of all, I urge you that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority..." 1 Timothy 2:1-2

I'm sitting here the day after a national election, considering what turned out to be a close election (popular vote). Only four percent separated the two major candidates. As a full-time employee of a church, I tread a careful line before the election, guarding my personal views. Now that the election is over, I can say most of the folks I voted for will be looking for new jobs soon.

Some observations on this "morning after":

• It will be trumpeted that America spoke and voted for change. Well, half of us did. Obama will do well to remember that almost half the country did not vote for him, so he does not enjoy strong majority support. In my over 20 years in the business world, change for change's sake NEVER ends up good.
• Elections should be about choice between ideas. Listening to the news and the pundits and anyone else who managed to get themselves in front of a camera this morning, this election was apparently about getting--finally--a black/minority president. That's all anyone talked about for the 45 minutes I had the TV on!
• We really need to abolish the electoral college. Yesterday's election results would not have changed, but when the popular vote is so close, but the electoral college is not, there's something wrong. Every other office in the country, no matter what level, relies on a straight popular vote: either the people voted for you or not. We like to pay lip service to the idea: one person, one vote. That's hogwash. My vote only counts if I happen to side with the majority, AND if my state carries enough weight to matter on the national stage. Eliminating the electoral college would force candidates to value EVERY voter, no matter his/her residency.

I admit I fear for our nation and the direction a mere majority seem to want to take it. But more importantly, we followers of Christ must take up Paul's exhortation (command?) to Timothy: pray for your leaders, wherever they are. Paul didn't qualify his command with "if you voted for him/her" or "if they think like you." Just pray for them.

Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will need our prayers: that their decision-making will be infused with godly wisdom and truth (hey, it could happen!), but even more importantly, that they will, if they haven't yet, committ to following Jesus Christ.

Let's start today to pray.

Ben Stein's "Expelled"

Our local theater didn't show the move what it came out, so I've had to wait for the DVD release. I viewed the movie last night. I loved it. Ben Stein's sense of irony and humor weaves throughout, while maintaining an even-handed treatment of the subject.

Ben's point is that society must encourage and nurture an open and honest exchange of ideas, allowing for dissension and disagreement until all the facts are known. Neo-Darwinism's stranglehold on academia and science takes a huge hit because of its proponents unwillingness to even hear another viewpoint, especially one that challenges the status quo.

But didn't Darwin's Origin of Species challenge the status quo of his day? What about Einstien? Sir Isaac Newton? Copernicus? Galileo? And yet the theories of all these men, excepting Darwin, have been proven correct over and over. Darwin's theories remain in doubt.

Expelled simply suggests that the repression of honest debate leads us down a path of moral relativism, spiritual abiguity, and intellectual poverty.

Stein sports his almost trademark-status sneakers, and the film ends with his call for people to stand up to the establishment in the name of debate: "Anyone? Anyone?" Which movie buffs will recognize from his character in Ferris Beuller's Day Off."

We're planning on watching the film tonight in our small group.

At our quarterly business meeting yesterday, I repeated our mission statement/discipleship process: "We seek to grow in our love for Jesus, love for each other and love for the world." I introduced this in a message I presented Columbus Day weekend, when I suggested that being a disciple, or follower, of Jesus included learning His teachings, and doing what He does. That's what any disciple of a rabbi would have done. I shared a LOT of other cool stuff too. :)

At yesterday's meeting, I introduced the next phase of the process of re-engineering our discipleship process. Now that we know what it is, we next need to ask for each step: "What does this step look like at FBC?" For example, loving Jesus...what will committed followers of Jesus at FBC be doing when they are loving Jesus? The two, three or four things we agree on are then associated with that step in the discipleship process. And then we do the same for the other two steps.

Next, we match ministries or programs to each of those things we identify. Anything else becomes extra, and prime candidates to be re-visioned & recommissioned, or combined or move to something else, or eliminated.

Love and small groups
I suggested that for us, our weekend and midweek worship gathering are the primary entrypoints into our church. That's where people learn and practice loving Jesus. The church leadership has decided that small groups serve as the best environment for people to learn to love each other.

And here's the kicker statement from yesterday: "You need to live in community with a group of people. You cannot love Jesus and not be part of a small group."

That may sound legalistic, and some might even suggest heretical. But in the context of FBC's discipleship and ministry startegy it makes perfact sense...and is truth. John's first letter makes this very clear: we cannot say we love God and not love our brother.

We love, because He first loved us. If somebody says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother. (1 John 4:19-21)

First, John says it's a command. It's not optional. Jesus commands us to love Him and others. So wrap this up with our church's specific strategy, and I can safely say that if you join with our local body, you need to be in a small group. Because it's in that small group that you will learn and practice love for your brother.

Loving the world
The final step in the discipleship process is "loving the world." Another way to say this is to serve the world. But we liked the alliterative "love." Within the context of small groups, we grow in love for each other, and by extension, people outside the church. As we become more like Jesus, we cultivate His heart, which beats for hurting, broken, despairing people. Jesus spent much of His time meeting people's practical needs. So should we.

All this to say that one meeting participant disgreed with my statements. To which I say, Hmmm.

Ouch, it's been a while...

I confess I'm really not trained to post as regularly as I should. I keep thinking I'll post when I'm sufficiently inspired, but when I am, I'm usually in the middle of something. That's why it's been couple of months since my last post.

Since that time, I've married off my oldest daughter (September), and finally saw a bill moose. I preached at church on ministry (nested between two missions weeks. That went real well. And I've done a lot of reading and formulating thoughts on ministry, small groups, church leadership, church in general, etc. And we squeezed some camping in on Columbus Day weekend.

I've mentioned before that I've been working on our church website. I revised the staff page to include links to full biographical write-ups. Mine includes a link to this blog.

Which means, I suppose, that I'm now going to have to post at least weekly!

I continue to be inspired...

I'm trying to wade through the reading materials I collected at the Leadership Summit. Just finished Craig Groeschel's It. I still have John Burke's book Soul Revolution to read. Then I'll probably tackle Bill Hybels' classic Courageous Leadership.

I was very impressed with Bill at the Summit. It was my first time ever hearing him speak and I admit I was impressed with his humility...and passion to encourage, embolden and even inflame church leaders to become kingdom leaders. There's a difference.

Church leaders tend to focus on the local entity or organization and its processes and programs. Kingdom leaders maintain a much broader, more eternal perspective, of which the local body is a part. I like this idea, and am thinking through its implications for leading people into ministry.

Leadership Summit was awesome

Last Thursday and Friday I participated in Willow Creek Community Church's annual Leadership Summit...via satellite...in Portsmouth, NH; along with 140 other host sites around the world. The host church was a superb host, and the faculty speakers were great. Especially since they were authors I have recently read: Craig Groeschel, John Burke, Chuck Colson. Efrem Smith, a regular contributor to Rev! magazine and pastor of an inner-city "hip-hop" church in Minneapolis, MN; and Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek, also spoke. Our senior pastor described the summit as a vitamin B12 shot. I liken it more to a blood transfusion! Lots to think about and process, but one of the main themes that wove throughout the two days--and I'm not entirely sure it was planned this way--was: "Get out of the boat. Stop playing it safe. Get out of your 'climate-controlled Christian cul-de-sacs'." That last one came courtesy of Gary Haugen, another speaker, who founded the International Justice Mission. If you can only go to one conference, go to this one: next year's summit is August 6-7, 2009.

Are you happy? Are you human?

I check out NASA's picture of the day, and occasionally the organization has something really cool. Today's "picture" is actually a video (runs a little over 4 minutes), but well worth the short view.

Check it out.

I am such a deviant!

I recently watched two movies, one to preview for my youngest, and the other to see of the advance hype was warranted.

The Spiderwick Chronicles had some "jump" scenes and probably is not a good film for younger kids, especially those prone to fear monsters in the shadows. But it's a good (though not accurate) adaptation of the five-book Chronicles series. My youngest (11.5) has read all five books (I read the first two yesterday--they're that easy to read. And they are very entertaining because they incorporate a lot of creatures from fantasy literature. It dawmed on me as I read the books, and leafed through the companion field guide (a "faithful" reproduction of Arthur Spiderwick's compilation, which serves as the focal point for the books and the movie) that this film would be an excellent springboard to talk about spiritual things. We Christ-followers focus so much on what we see--while doing lip service to the super-natural--that it helps to be reminded that throughout human history, there have always been stories about unseen, magical, mystical creatures all around us. So where did the stories all come from? Did one person one day come up with them and manage, just manage to dupe a bunch of people? Or can it be possible that, as WB Yeats said in The Celtic Twilight, there are unseen people all around us, some ugly, some mischievous and some beautiful.

The other movie I watched was The Dark Knight. It was a good movie, but I didn't think it lived up to the hype (contrary to the irrational ravings of practically every other person on the planet). Not as tight as the first movie, it ran much so long because the director wanted to work with two villains, not just the Joker. Frankly, the movie should have ended when newly-appointed Commissioner Gordon visits Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the hospital. That would have been set up a sequel perfectly! Bale's voice-over as Batman got a bit old. It's not like he's wearing anything over his mouth that would alter his voice! Did I enjoy the movie, yes. Was the acting good? Yes. Was Health Ledger's portrayal of the Joker noteworthy? Yes. Does all this--or should it--automatically warrant the hype about an Oscar for Ledger? No. And it definitely should have carried an R rating!

I liked Hancock much better.

On praying

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)

Our guest speaker yesterday cast a vision for the new community-based student ministry to be started in our area, targeting primarily unchurched kids. It will be a chapter of the LifeBridge ministry in Wolfboro, New Hampshire. The speaker commented at one point about the need for patience with some of the kids, which sparked a thought which I developed a bit in my journal. I include some of that here.

When we pray for patience, are we really focusing on ourselves and not on what God wants to accomplish in our lives? Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, and I suppose we should always purpose to produce such fruit. But desire, effort, willpower--and prayer--don't produce such fruit. The Spirit does.

We typically pray for patience in the context of a trying situation, whether from circumstances or another person. It's in the middle of such a trying time we breathe the prayer: "God, give me patience." Why do we ask for it? If we're honest with ourselves, we want to endure the situation until everything goes back to "normal," when we are again comfortable, perhaps even in control again.

Instead of asking God for patience--how often do we pray for the other fruit?--which comes naturally from God's work, perhaps we should pray for open eyes and a soft heart to learn the wisdom God has for us in the middle of the situation. What can we learn from it or from the person we're dealing with? What can I learn about God? About me? "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." (James 1:5)

I'm not suggesting we never pray to avoid things such as sin, temptation, etc. But we live in a broken, sinful world, among broken, sinful people. And guess what? We are broken, sinful people! So if the "state of the union" is such, we will always, in the course of events, run into situations that arise from the consequences of that brokenness and sin.

Maybe we should focus less on praying the fruit out of the ground, and instead make sure we're doing our part to keep the ground fertile for growth to occur.

Lord, may I be a diligent husband of my heart-soil.
May I focus my efforts on the work of self-care so that my heart becomes the fertile ground where Your Spirit may plant and grow and produce good fruit.
May I stop wasting time praying for a result that will come naturally, but requires time and work (mine and Yours) to produce.
May I focus on Your work, not out of performance, "works," duty or obligation. But out of Your power which works in me.
May my prayer remain aligned with Your purposes and not my sinful desires.
Amen.

Spiritual life rhythms

Some friends loaned me their copy of the 1992 movie Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer, Graham Greene and Sam Sheppard. Kilmer plays a tough undercover FBC agent assigned to a murder investigation/clean-up on a Sioux reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota. During his tenure, he discovers the murder is part of a cover-up of a federal negotiation for drilling rights on the reservation.

For some reason, I enjoy movies about Native Americans and their ancient ways. Not so much because of the mysticism and animism of the various religions, but because Native Americans understood and understand what living with the land really was all about. I think this is what God had in mind for Adam and Eve in Eden. I don't think God meant for us to use the earth without any thought to the consequences of our actions.

Graham Green's character in the movie encouraged Kilmer's agent (whose family tree included Sioux blood...all the way back to Wounded Knee) to "listen to the wind; listen to the water." Apart from the obvious reference to the pantheistic god system the ancient peoples held, the idea that we can experience creation with all five sense is intriguing.

We watch a sunset and think "Cool." And we can hear the wind in the trees. One can even smell rain approach in the air. You can touch the velvet nap of moss on tree trunks. And of course, there's the eating: fruits, nuts, vegetables, etc. [I do eat meat, too.]

We recently visited our home church in Connecticut (we still think of it as our home), and the pastor is working through a message series on the spiritual disciplines, what he's calling "spiritual life rhythms." I like the word rhythm instead of discipline. Discipline carries an obligatory connotation, but rhythm suggests the ebb and flow of life, of breathing. Our spiritual journey with Jesus should be alive and breathing, not dead, cataloged, labeled and indexed. [Doctrine is important, don't get me wrong, but it's not the end.]

Between this idea of spiritual rhythms and the Native Americans' understanding of living on earth and with God's creation (whether they acknowledged him), gives me a new way to think about my walk with Christ.

"Holy Discontent" disappoints

I know, I know. I'm still working through Foster's Celebration of Discipline, but I picked up Bill Hybel's book, Holy Discontent out of curiosity and finished it faster. It reads that easy.

The book is structured much like what I imagine Hybel's messages are like at Willow Creek. But I confess I was disappointed. There was no new ground: just a restating of stuff that's been written by many people. Hybel's basic point is: people give themselves when they can't stand a situation anymore and just have to do something about it. Um. Duh?

Hybels cites Moses, Nehemiah, and Popeye as examples of people (or characters in Popeye's case) with what Hybels' calls "holy discontent." The problem is that Hybels states that this discontent releases a positive energy that drive a person to act. Hybels warns we must make sure our goals and work align with God's, that we must make sure we prayerfully ask God to bless our efforts.

But doesn't that put the cart before the horse? Shouldn't we discover what God wants us to do and then pursue that, rather than ask God to bless our plans? Granted God can work through our passions, but I'm not comfortable letting my emotions (even anger) about something be the bellweather for my life's work.

And what about that "positive energy" stuff? Shouldn't we be more concerned with the Holy Spirit; God Almighty living in us and through us? But "positive energy"? Sounds like Hybels has compromised a tad in the post-modern direction.

Hybels has had a lot of good things to say over the years, but I don't think Holy Discontent is one of his better outings.

Blue Like Jazz (review)

First, I must say I blew through Donald Miller's Blue Like Jazz. It's that easy to read...in the good sense. There were a few times I cocked my head to one side and went "Huh?", but Miller's book is not a theological treatise or doctrinal statement. It's a collection of thoughts from a man on a spiritual journey.

Miller describes how he came to faith, not in one huge epiphany, or black-and-white revelation in which all things fell into perspective, but rather his journey through doubts, denials, questions, accepting, believing, more doubts, questions, etc. You get the idea.

For the areas where he has things figured out for the time being, Miller does a great job of describing spiritual truths in every day vernacular. Which is a good thing.

I mentioned in a previous post that I read John MacArthur's The Truth War. In that book, MacArthur casts the entire Emerging Church movement in one broad-brush stroke of post-modern heresy. At one point he cites a passage from Miller's book. But when I read that passage--in context--I discovered it didn't say what MacArthur said it did. In fact, Miller makes it very clear he doesn't support the very thing of which MacArthur accuses.

There are some places where readers may scratch their heads, or wonder what Miller was smoking at the time. But one has to remember, Miller isn't trying to itemize and prove the Christian faith. His book provides glimpses into the lives of the Christ-followers Miller surrounds himself with, including Rick McKinley, pastor of Imago-Dei, a church in Portland, Oregon. McKinley wrote This Beautiful Mess (which I read a year ago or so), which considers what living in the kingdom of God means here, on this side of eternity. All that to say that Miller's stories show a very human side of McKinley. Like all of us, neither Miller nor McKinley have everything figured out.

I highly recommend this book as reading for anyone wishing to understand the post-modern mind, and how it is possible for such a thinker to actually come to faith.

The Golden Compass & The Truth War (reviews)

Well, I finally spent a buck (we have a redbox® movie kiosk at our local supermarket) and viewed The Golden Compass. Talk about a confusing and disappointing movie. It was very disjointed, with a lot of things mentioned but never explained. Unlike other recent movies based on a trilogy which at least made sense even within themselves, this movie lacked any sense. And if it is indeed based on the book, then it ripped off Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, the Star Wars saga, and even Harry Potter! I kept thinking: “I’ve already seen this movie.” Given the falderal about the atheistic worldview of the trilogy that preceded the movie’s release, The Golden Compass disappoints even as a movie.

On another note: after completing wallowing through Shopping for God, I decided to try something from the other end of the spectrum. So this last weekend I tackled and finished John MacArthur’s The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in ah Age of Deception.” Yep, that’s a mouthful.

MacArthur, who occasionally goes off on “witch hunts,” does an admirable job summarizing the development of postmodern society (there are tons of books which delve into this subject). He also provides some rather damning evidence that the Emergent Church Movement (think Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Dan Kimbell, etc.) may have bought too much into the post-modern thought, which has its roots in several heresies that have been around since the first century church. MacArthur casts the entire movement in the same light, but only offers quotes from McLaren’s writing. These are scary enough, if they are accurate and in context. MacArthur even suggests that Rob Bell and his wife started Mars Hill in reaction to the too-dogmatic, too-certain teachings of their church. But there’s no documentation to back this up.

As a call to arms—to content diligently for the Truth—the book serves well. But as a critique of societal developments, MacArthur could probably have done a better job researching—or at least documenting for further review and study—his claims.

Definitely worth reading. One final comment: I bought the book at Borders of all places!

Megachurches and the universe

So, I finished James Twitchell’s book, Shopping For God. It ended being a discussion of the factors contributing to the rise of the so-called mega churches, and what the next developments may be. Overall, it was an entertaining read, and I was pleasantly surprised when the book ended considerably short of the end of the printed pages: The endnotes and index took many pages.

But I was very disappointed with the endnotes. Because in the entire book, there was not one note marker! There all listed at the end of the book, but there is no way to correlate them back to the text!

Somebody goofed.

On a different note, our small group viewed the DVD, Unlocking the Mysteries of Life (Illustra Media), which presents some compelling microbiological evidence for intelligent design as a possible—even plausible—explanation for the origins of the universe (as opposed to Darwinism, commonly called evolution).

Last week, we viewed the companion DVD, The Privileged Planet, which looked at our earth, the solar system and the universe, and how unique earth really is, from an astronomical perspective.

So we went from a very macro level to an ultra micro level. The intricacy and complexity of the universe at all levels, taken as an aggregate, seem to overwhelm all arguments for evolution. One of our members commented, “How can someone familiar with all this evidence from science, still hold that evolution is the only way to explain it all?”

Good question indeed.

Developing the cynic in me

This is the last week...partial week, actually...that I'm holding down the fort, so to speak. The senior pastor returns Thursday. I haven't had many people contact the church looking for financial assistance this time around. The few I did, I ended up challenging or regretfully declining assistance (for good reasons, trust me). The longer I'm here the more the stories start sounding familiar, and the more familiar I am with how things work and don't work.

So when someone asks for help restoring utility service and cites an amount that is obviously several months' worth, I wonder what's going on. And whether our help will merely enable wrong behavior. Three years ago I probably would be bending over backwards to try to help.

Many of the requests we get are for gas "vouchers." We've an arrangement with a local service station whereby we send people who need gas (we call ahead). When we moved up here, ten bucks would give you half a tank of gas. Nowadays, it doesn't give one alot. But our pockets aren't any deeper just because costs are up.

And we still must remain good stewards of the funds people entrust to the church for benevolence help. Not everyone who asks for help, needs the help they've asked for.

National Day of Prayer

Thursday (May 1) was the National Day of Prayer. Our senior pastor has been away on vacation (good for him), and so our church did not host the community service as in the past. Another church, one with a bit more charismatic flavor, served as the community venue. I certainly didn't expect a staid, buttoned-down affair.

My wife and I arrive about 15 minutes late (rehearsal at our own church) and they group was still singing its opening song set. I didn't know any of the songs, and found myself wondering "Where do people find these songs?" I vaguely recognized one and tracked its information down Friday. Now I just need to locate the music...

The evening was "energetic," but no overly so. There was a lot of "claiming" and petitioning God to clean up our country's messes. It got me thinking. Why do I approach these types of affairs with so much trepidation? I think, as I listened to the various prayers and pray-ers, that my hesitancy arises from the tendency people have to place God on the hook for our incompetence as His people. We've abdicated our societal responsibilities long enough that government and other organizations have stepped into the gap. They don't meet needs from a Biblical perspective--they're not the Church, after all--and we complain that they don't and aren't.

For example, the group used a prayer guide distributed by the national coordinating organization, and one area suggested several points to pray about the media. Some of the prayers--and suggested praying points--sounded downright naive! Then a thought crossed my mind. We individual followers of Christ are the Christian media.

If we aren't sharing the good news with family members, friends co-workers and acquaintances who are outside the Christian faith, we shouldn't complain about the movies a secular production house generates. Most of the outsiders don't darken our church doors, and if we keep sitting on our comfortable pews (or seats) awaiting for them to come to church, well we've a long wait. Rather than expend energy trying to "attract" people to church--there's a reason they're not coming--maybe we should try doing what Jesus called us to do: become fishers of men.

Fishermen study the habits of the fish they want to catch: where they swim, the kind of food they eat, the best weather to find them, the time of day they're most likely to be around. Bass, trout, pike, perch...all differ in these areas. A wise fisherman doesn't try to use the same equipment, bait or techniques for all of them.

Which means we need to become students of outsiders. Go to them and befriend them where they are, not where we want them to be. James defined pure religion as seeing to the needs of those unable to care for themselves (James 1:27). After that, we are to avoid becoming stained by the world. But to help people we will need to get dirty. We just don't have to wallow in it.

Anyway, we will conduct a prayer service tomorrow morning, meditating on Psalm 18, as a follow-up to the National Day of Prayer.

A veritable potpourri...

According to my current reading list (to the right), I'm wading through two books at the same time. The first is Shopping for God: How Christianity Went From In Your Heart to In Your Face, by James B. Twitchell. The second is The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives, by Peter Scazzero.

Shopping for God is a very interesting read: Twitchell is Professor of English and Advertising at the University of Florida. I like his style, which is a new notches short of, say, Ann Koulter. But with just as effective a punch, and little irreverence for spice.

Twitchell characterizes himself an apatheist (his term): as one who believes religion and faith are critical ingredients to society and culture, but he doesn't what form-or to use his term, brand--you use.

I'm only a quarter of the way through the book, but he does have some very insightful gems among the dirt. Here's one:

"...with the exception of furniture and major appliances, it is possible to outfit your entire self and home in Christian products--bird feeders to body lotions, luggage to lamps. It has been said that the medieval peasant lived surrounded by such iconography, from the door frames incorporating the cross, to his eating utensil laid out in the shape of a cross, to the cross on the church. We're coming close. Clearly, religiously informed objects are now a part of the modern scene, asserting their place in a multicultural world...

"...the statement is not about belief as much as about an entire lifestyle. The new Christian decked out like a bumper covered with stickers considers his faith not something to exercise on Sundays but something to do in public, in front of you. It's not something to believe in; it's something to wear."

Scazzero's Healthy Church book reads more like a personal testimonial. He describes his journey with his church, where it learned how to dig beneath the surface issues most churches prefer to stay with, and get to the root issues people really need to address. Chapters include:

• Break the Power of the Past
• Live in Brokenness & Vulnerability
• Receive the Gift of Limits
• Embrace Grieving & Loss

We may work through the book as a church sometime this summer or fall.

Since my last post,...

For you three people or so who actually read this blog, I apologize for the long dormant period. Easter season was a "killer" at church. Right. Lame excuse, I suppose.

But I've taken on a new project: training people to run PowerPoint slides during services. I've been doing it since August 2007, not for lack of recruiting. But the last batch I lined up in September dissipated like so much campfire smoke. I have six people signed up to be trained. Since we have only one computer, I'm training people one-on-one, real-time. It seems to be working, albeit slow. The next phase is to train people to actually build the slideshows. I confess that will be harder for me to let go, since it offers me a creative outlet But I need to free the time for more important things.

After that, there's a constitution revision project, and an employee handbook to draft. We actually have five paid employees on staff! So it's time to formalize our employment practices.

I've also been slowly adding content to the church's new website: www.nhfaith.com. Check it out sometime.

The new face of youth ministry

Our church hasn't had a thriving youth, er student ministry since before I arrived. Yes, we've made several stabs of resuscitating it, and we've tried a couple of different models, but the reality we face here is no one comes.

Many factors play into this, so one can't poke a finger at any one thing and claim to identify the cause. But there are several factors that keep recurring.

1. God hasn't yet resourced us with someone (couple) with a true passion for teen. By passion, I don't mean the desire to start something "for the kids" because there isn't anything. I mean a gut-driven , can't-avoid-it-even-when-I-sleep desire to get to know kids at a deep level, and let them into one's pathetically imperfect life so they can see the adventure we call following Jesus Christ. That kind of passion.
   
2. Senior high kids are so over scheduled. One can blame the schools and organizations for scheduling all those practices and games, but parents too share some of the blame for not making their kids select one or two activities. Instead, they've allowed their kids to run the show. I confess I'm tired of hearing "It's their time now."
   
3. Junior high kids must rely on parents--or older siblings--for transportation. If the car doesn't go to church, the kids don't either.

We have a couple that has started biweekly meetings...on Friday (oops!), and are now wondering why no one shows up.

Besides a very bad choice of evening, the model of youth meeting where you schedule games, make the kids sit and listen to a short talk, then split up to discuss stuff, then pray, then eat, apparently doesn't attract kids anymore.

What we're seeing work starts with building relationships with the kids--and this next part is important--on their turf, be it school, the soccer field, whatever. Once the kids know you care for them as a person, where they are, and not as a conquest or target, they may let you care for them in other, more important ways. As one leader recently observed, "We have to earn the right to listen. When a kids comes up to you and initiates the conversation, then and only then do you have that right." And it's working!

Disclaimer: the leader I mentioned runs a faith-based ministry that works with kids--ready for this--in the public high school!

This turns a lot of my own youth ministry experience on its head.

Faith and works...the debate

I mentioned in my last post that our small group (a bunch of people who get together regularly to encourage one another in our journey with Jesus) is working through James ( short letter nestled almost at the end of the New Testament). Chapter two deals with the faith-works debate. [I find it weird to refer to a letter with "chapters." If I sent my Dad a letter long enough to be broken into chapters, he'd probably think I'd overdosed on Charles Dickens!] Back to the topic at hand.

Why is this termed a "debate"? And who started it?

Our group is trying something new: we're all working through the letter a chapter at a time, but we're using whatever study aids we wish. So... My study guide, written by John MacArthur, talks about the apparent contradiction between what James writes and Paul's writings. Paul clearly teaches in his writings that there is nothing I can do to earn my way into heaven. Even my faith is a gift from God! So far, so good.

James seems to imply (according to the debate) that we must generate works to prove our faith means something to us. By itself, that makes sense too. After all, Jesus' described a holy person in this life (we will never reach perfection until we die) in His famed sermon on the Mount of Olives (called "The Beatitudes," a term I confess I find sounds silly. I mean, who came up with that term? Sounds like a British rock band or something...) Anyway, the qualities of life Jesus prescribed make no sense in isolation. They only make sense in relationships with others.

Jesus said, for example, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy" (Matthew 5:7). How can I show mercy if I stay in the isolation of my Christian subculture? I can only show mercy, thereby proving I'm merciful, if I relate to someone I need to extend mercy to! See what I mean? Jesus words about us being "salt" and "light" (Matthew 5:13-14) tell me that His expectation of me as His follower is to enter into the lives of other people who need Jesus, not as a evangelistic conquests (a la Evangelism Explosion), but as people who need to a genuine follower of Christ to come along to live with them through their mess.

So my faith, which derives from my belief, evidences itself by how I live, specifically as I relate to others. I don't see how that contradicts Paul's teaching at all.

Real Christianity?

I finally finished wading through Dave Kinnamon's book "unChristian." For those unfamiliar with it, the book describes the results of three years' research among "outsiders"; those "outside" the Christian faith, and how they perceive Christians in today's culture.

This research was sparked by the fact that in ten years, Christianity has slipped from a highly favorable perception in society to a highly unfavorable one. These days, we Christ followers bear little resemblance to Jesus Christ and His teachings or lifestyle, according to the Mosaics and Busters interviewed. If perception is reality, this book represents a wake-up call. Sobering stuff to noodle through. [I confess I started this book before Christmas!]

Our small group is working through James. Guess which chapter we focused on this week--the same week I finished Kinnamon's book? Chapter 2: the one where James deals with favoritism (judgmentalism?) and the faith without works question. Together, these two writings present some serious, though-provoking challenges to the Christian "sub-culture" I was indoctrinated into over the last 44 years.

How much of my "faith" is biblical, and how much is cultural? Where do my presuppositions and judgments come from? What thoughts do I kick around when I see a 20-something hanging out in front of the town library, smoking a cigarette? If I meet a gal with a young child, and learn she isn't married, how do I react?

How would Jesus have reacted?

If I follow Jesus Christ in everything He taught and lived, where do I find disconnects between my lifestyle and interactions with others, and what I claim I believe?

Jesus calls us to engage in the same ministry He came to earth to inaugurate. He initiated a ministry to free captives--not just in the spiritual sense--but those who were captive in the results of poor choices, or were victims of unfavorable circumstances.

Our small group kicked these kinds of questions around for two hours tonight. And I realized that if I met a homosexual this morning, I would have assumed he or she was not a follower of Christ. But how do I know that? Could not that person--loved and cherished by God, yet fallen--have just agreed to let Jesus take over last Sunday? Maybe God put me into his path to accompany him on this newly embarked journey...the same journey I'm on. Just a little further down the the road.

At least, I hope so. Or is that comparing myself to this new friend? Doe that thought betray a prejudice I need to shed?

Here lies my struggle: God calls me to enter into and extend grace to those I come in contact with. Too often, I have done just the opposite.

UnChristian? If that means not really Christ-like, then yep.

Total lunar eclipse

For the first time that I can remember, I witnessed a total lunar eclipse last night. I've seen pictures, so I knew what to expect, but seeing it transpire in real time was cool.

We left our small group last night and noticed the lower left edge of the moon was fuzzy, as the earth's penumbra was just "kissing" the moon's edge. Over the next hour or so, we watched as the shadow obscured more of the lunar disc, until finally it fully entered the umbra.

What was even more amazing was that when the moon emerged from the earth's shadow, it seemed a lot brighter than on any other night.

All I can say was that it was neat to be finally able to witness this event: it's usually during the wee hours, when I'm comfortably oblivious to astronomical phenomena.

Thinking back...

I was reviewing some notes I jotted down during my family's trip to Arizona over Christmas. I remembered one observation I never had a chance to document.

My dad was driving us into Phoenix to Sky-Harbor Airport and we were on one of the major east-west highways. A police car passed us and was ahead of us for a while, when all of a sudden he moved from the far left lane (four-lane road), all the way over to the far right, then back to the far left lane. He continued this back-and-forth pattern, slowing down as he went.

We realized we were supposed to slow down and not pass him. Probably some sort of traffic problem ahead (accident perhaps?). So we...well I...began to be concerned about whether we would make our flight, etc.

All of a sudden, Dad said out loud, "Okay Lord, we need Your wisdom to know what to do next." ~Pause~ Then he took the next exit. We felt our way through North Phoenix for a while, until we were able to get back on the highway, past whatever problem there was.

We made our flight.

It was really neat to see Dad's almost casual reaction (admittedly better than mine) to the situation. I wish God and I talked as easily.

New year, new record

Just read that December 2007 was the snowiest in New Hampshire history...that history being since we've measured snowfall amounts. As of noon yesterday, over 43 inches had fallen (a record that has stood since the late 1800s).

In Littleton, we received 4 inches yesterday morning. Today, to start off the new year, we expect another 3-7 inches starting this afternoon and lasting into tomorrow morning. Just in time for the return to school.

I plan to spend today writing several annual reports for ministries which don't yet have someone to lead them. The Annual Report will be published January 13, two weeks before the meeting itself. My wife gets to work at the hospital today. It will be very quiet.