Dr. Ruth Ann Foster

Please pray for Truett. Waco Tribune's Obituary for Dr. Foster.

"Dr. Ruth Ann Foster, one of the two founding faculty members of Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary, died Thursday, Sept. 28, in Hewitt after battling cancer. She was 59.

Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Oct. 3, at First Baptist Church, Waco. A memorial service will follow at the same location at 1 p.m. with the Rev. Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Waco's Calvary Baptist Church, officiating.

A native of Ashland, Ky., Foster joined Truett Seminary in 1994, along with fellow founding professor, the late Dr. A.J. (Chip) Conyers. She came to Baylor from Manor Baptist Church in San Antonio, where she had served as minister of education. Before that, she served as an adjunct instructor in the department of religion at Texas Christian University from 1984-91.

As associate professor of Christian scriptures at Truett, Foster taught New Testament, Old Testament, New Testament Greek and biblical interpretation. She also supervised ministry research for candidates in Truett Seminary's doctor of ministry degree program.

In May 1998, Baylor named Foster an Outstanding Faculty Member in a tenure-track position. In spring 2000, she was awarded the "Professor of Choice" Award by the Truett graduating class of 2000.

"Ruth Ann is the last of the founding faculty of Truett and as such had a special place in all our hearts," said Truett Seminary Dean Paul W. Powell. "She was a perfect blend of toughness and tenderness in dealing with the hard issues we faced in our beginning years. I affectionately called her 'Mother Superior' because of the love and respect I had for her. Truett has lost a scholar, a cheerleader and a dear friend."

"Ruth Ann loved students and was beloved by all. We will sorely miss her wit, grace and passion for teaching," said Dr. David E. Garland, associate dean for academic affairs and The William M. Hinson Chair in Christian Scriptures. "Some of us who were at her bedside toward the end will always be touched remembering our last laugh together even as death was looming and our last prayer together expressing our faith that death will be the last enemy to be defeated."

Two members of Truett's first graduating class in 1997 remembered Foster as woman of great grace, who could hold her own in any debate, and a faculty member who took on the role of pastor to students.

"When the other professors took interims and preached on Sundays, Ruth Ann preached and pastored the students," said William D. Shiell, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Knoxville, Tenn. "She did not need a pulpit; she used her desk and her classroom to exhort us in our callings. Yes, she could hold her own against every Calvinist, closed-minded, anti-women-in-ministry student she taught. But she handled every confrontation the way Bonhoeffer prescribed in 'Life Together' - with honesty, grace, poise and candor. And she showed each student how to disagree and still remain friends with some of the very people with whom she debated."

Shiell attended Truett Seminary, when classes were held at First Baptist Church, Waco. He said the faculty, staff and fellow students from those early days hold a significant place in his heart and in the seminary's formation.

"The glue that held us together was Ruth Ann Foster," Shiell said. "She leaves a legacy that we should all emulate."

Matthew W. Cook, pastor of Second Baptist Church of Little Rock, was another member of the first class of students at Truett. Cook said he will "forever be grateful to God" for Foster's scholarship, ministry and most of all friendship.

"The first class was a bunch of pioneers, far too sure of ourselves and our own ideas, and I suspect we could have gone in a thousand different directions, but a gentle, loving, and delightfully friendly faculty pulled us together and headed us in the right direction, toward ministry in God's church. Ruth Ann was the very embodiment of that loving, gentle, friendly spirit," Cook said.

"Ruth Ann was also a fierce guardian of the original vision of the seminary - a place of high expectations, of both high intellectual and spiritual standards, but also a place that was intimate and tightly knit," Cook added. "I pray that her passion for the place will live on in others. I know it does in me."

Laura A. Cadena, a 2001 Truett graduate who currently serves as missions partnership relationship manager with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions, said the passing of Ruth Ann Foster is a great loss for the Truett community.

"Ruth Ann approached life with grace, humor and poise," Cadena said. "As a member of the founding faculty she was instrumental in building the Truett community. Ruth Ann was a minister to alumni and students, and she exemplified the life of a minister by nurturing our callings and investing in our lives."

Foster earned her bachelor's degree in theology from Clear Creek Baptist College in Kentucky in 1978, her master's of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1982, and her doctorate in religion from Southwestern in 1989. In addition to teaching, Foster served as a faculty adviser for the Truett Women in Ministry group. She also was a frequent speaker in Texas and beyond, teaching Bible conferences for churches and the Baptist General Convention of Texas, and leading Women's Retreats throughout the state.

Foster published articles in a number of periodicals, including "Mary the Mother of Jesus" in the Biblical Illustrator, a chapter Introduction and Commentary on 1 John in The Woman's Study New Testament, "Dangerous Waters of Justice and Righteousness: A Study of Biblical Justice" in Christian Ethics Today, and a book review for the Journal of Church and State. She also wrote the Life and Work Sunday School lessons for the Baptist Standard.

In 1996, Foster participated in a three-day seminar and symposium on Global Stewardship at the invitation of Christianity Today. The results of the seminar, which brought together biblical scholars, theologians, sociologists, economists, environmentalists and others was published in the September 1996 issue of Christianity Today.

She served on the editorial board of the Review & Expositor, and was a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion.

Foster is survived by her mother, Alice; a nephew, David Foster of Ashland, Ky. and his wife, Annette; a great niece, Beth Foster; a great nephew, Jeremy Foster; a cousin, Connie Marshall and her husband, Roger, and her life-long best friend, Jane Kerns and her husband, Ken, of Lexington, Ky.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Dr. Ruth Ann Foster George W. Truett Theological Seminary Endowed Scholarship Fund at Baylor University, Box 97026, Waco, Texas 76798-7026."

Tim Keel quoted...

We are in a crisis of imagination. We run to Barna for information, but there are people, visionaries who are seeing this stuff 5 years before Barna’s writing about it.
“The problem is we have people so well discipled in technique duplication.
We go out and find the experience, then reduce it to a model, then supplant the model into techniques, then market it. What has happened is that pastors have begun to lose their ability to live specifically in a place, know themselves, know their church, know their neighborhood, and to be able to discern God’s spirit already ahead of them at work and then to respond to what’s going on. And so it’s not as if leaders have got to be able to have all these capacities in themselves. What they have to do is to have the ability to have the freedom and grace to create an environment where those things can exist, and it’s not easy. Because you want to control it, and you can’t do that. Control kills creativity.”

For any church leader the kind of leadership described above is not easy and pretty scary. First, it is obvious that Tim is reacting against the leadership of buying ministry in a box. One word that Keel uses for leadership, especially for himself is intuitive.

Why intuitive? Something largely important that I see in the emerging church is the stress on the Holy Spirit. I don't necessarily mean speaking in tongues or healing. What I mean is that as a community and leader of Christ we must be able to look out into out communities and see where God is already working.

One problem we face in churches is ministry. Ministry has become an idol for many. Why do we have youth ministry, evangelism, hospital, visitation, etc ministry? For many, we do these things out of "just because." Just because we have always had it, or some church in California does this ministry, "so should we."

Where does ministry come from? Certainly not from the outside. Rather ministry occurs fluidly out of community. When a healthy family has a crisis, do they have to form committees to solve the problem? No, but the problem is still ministered to. From Community flows ministry.

Therefore, we must gather as a community of Christ followers and look into our communities to find where God is already at work in HIS creation. Instead of forcing a ministry onto people, the minstry flows out of the creative imagination of the community.

A shift in reality?

I often take the postmodern shift for granted. I forget that it's an actual shift in reality. I want to cloth the paradigm of modernism with the language of postmodernism and called it real. The problem is, I admit, I'm not creative enough. To live in a new reality requires language to describe reality.

A few weeks ago, I had the oppurtunity to interview Tim Keel. I hope to get some more ideas that came out of our conversation. I wanted to wait after I had chewed on some of these ideas. I really appreciate Jacob's Well and Tim Keel in taking that initiative in our culture to be the reality of Jesus followers in this shift.

I'll admit it, Tim Keel is my Emergent Hero for the time being. What a cool cat! I really enjoyed the time I was allowed with him. Here's some things that have come out of this conversation. DISCLAIMER: Whatever I write, does not reflect Keel or Jacob's Well, since I had to interpret what we talked about, and am writing from my perspective with my thoughts.

Here's some language of the new reality that was used: missional imagination, ministry and evangelism are byproducts, intuitive environmentalist (leaders), ministry is one of the greatest idols, and metric measurement by Christ aroma and God story.

Satisfied in God?

With a title like that you knew what was coming (maybe)...John Piper.
Here's a good list, I think, on how to direct people or congregants into worship and satisfaction in God. Thanks Resurgance.

1. Love God will all your heart and soul and mind and strength in the presence of other people. It is contagious.

2. Love other people from the power of God's grace. That is, show them the beauty of Christ through his love for them in the way you love them.

3. Tell stories about those who were ravished by the beauty and glory of God. It seems that true narratives of peoples' experience with the worth of God are very awakening.

4. Describe God's value—his treasure—in lavish terms.

5. Teach the people how to pray for the transformation of their own hearts, that is, teach them how to pray with the psalmists, "Incline my heart to Thy testimonies and not to getting gain."

6. Model for the people extended meditation and reflection on the word of God. Most people do not know how to take a word or phrase or sentence of scripture, commit it to memory and roll it over again and again in their mind and look at it from different sides and ask many questions about it and apply it to different aspects of their life and think of analogies of it in their mind. But it's precisely in this cogitating that the juices in the fruit begin to flow down and awaken the taste buds of the soul.

7. Show the people how to find specific, particular promises in the Bible to savor. When Paul says in Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing . . .", he is pointing out that joy and peace rise up as we trust in God's precious and very great promises. So people need to do more specific searching for promises and then hold them in their minds and dwell on them as they go through the day.

8. Pray for your people that their hearts would be softened and made tender and more susceptible to the beauty of Christ.

9. Help your people to turn off the television. Few things in our culture are more spiritually numbing than the television. Even the so-called "good" shows are by and large banal and low-minded and anything but cultivating of a rich, deep capacity to enjoy God. And when you add to that the barrage of suggestive advertisements that accompany virtually every program, I do not wonder why so many of our professing Christians are spiritually incapable of experiencing high thoughts and deep emotions.

10. Point the people to God-centered biography. The struggles and the triumphs of Christians who have known the glory and greatness of God are very engaging and awakening.

11. Show the people how to transpose their joys in natural things into joy in God. Here's what I mean. Even the most joyless person seems to have one or two things in their lives that make them happy. It might be their family. It might be the night sky in the north woods. It might be fishing. Help them to make a transposition, that is, to take the line of music called "joy" in their soul and transpose it up from the natural to the supernatural by an act of faith in God as the one who created the family or the night sky or the fishing. Help them see that all the things that are truly delightful in this world, which awaken pleasures in their hearts, are gifts of God and are reflections of his character and his goodness. If they are capable of delighting in natural things, then by the grace of the Holy Spirit they may be capable of transposing those very joys into a higher key and thus discovering joy in God.

12. Call the people for confession and renunciation of plaguing sins that make them feel inauthentic and block true affection for God.

13. Teach them about the necessity and value of suffering in the Christian life and how it is not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed.

Love Is Not Against the Law

What a way to end the album. It seems that Webb is redefining love in a revolutionary way here. Love is not against the law. Should Christians worry about legislating morality, or should we just love like this:

(Vs. 1)
politics or love
can make you blind or make you see
make you a slave or make you free
but only one does it all

and it’s giving up your life
for the ones you hate the most
it’s giving them your gown
when they’ve taken your clothes

it’s learning to admit
when you’ve had a hand in setting them up
in knocking them down

(chorus)
love is not against the law
love is not against the law

(vs. 2)
are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lives acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend

‘cause you cannot choose your friends
but you choose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same

could you find a way
to love them both the same
to give them your name

That is all.

Please, Before I Go

I think there are two songs specifically on this album, I Hate Everything (But You) and this one, that are love songs written for Derek Webb's wife.

like an addict to his fix
so am i to your sweet lips
the wife of my youth, my drug of choice

This is something I think our culture and world needs to know, that there is a drug worth seeking. Love can be so sweet and like nothing else, but instead we seek so many other fixes when all we really need is that other person across the room doing the dishes, sleeping next to us, or just plain putting up with us.

listen or get the album for nothing

In God We Trust

What usually comes to mind when you here this phrase, "In God we trust?" Money, or maybe the "christian right or duty" to have the slogan on it's median of exchange. A national icon of who we are and what we are supposed to protect as "American Christians" (the emphasis being on American, not Jesus).

Although, he is using a slogan of national identity here, Derek Webb is trying to get our faith to reach beyond that in a God who we can trust beyond ourselves.

in God we trust
even through our great presumption
in God we trust
even though He favors no nation-state
in God we trust
even when the blessing is a curse

There is so much truth in this song that we as a church need to take to heart. Christians, in America especially, need to grapple with this idea that our country is not some theocratic state or something that we need to make our own. Our trust should go beyond legislating a nation around our agenda, but into a relationship of covenant and trust that goes far beyond and breaks political boundaries.

Well, it looks like I missed step, and Lucas and I are back on track together. You can read his ideas and listen to from his blog, myfourwalls.com.

Zeros and Ones

This song could very well be the reason and logic behind why Derek Webb is giving this album away, though I think he deserves to be paid for his prophetic voice. Either way you get it, the point is, get it!

i’m in love
oh i love what i can convince you of
‘cause i’m a prophet by trade
and a salesman by blood
now i’m dying just to be
a filtered, sub-cultural version of me

My Enemies are Men Like Me

I'm excited. First, I'm excited that I finally got a post up before Lucas...he's quick. Second, this must be one of my favorite songs off this album and overall right now. In a day of war and Christians backing it with theological agendas we need Jesus. We need to listen and understanf what is means to prepare a table before our enemies, to love our enemies.


Not only are his lyrics strong in this song, there is a short audio clip from one of the greatest Jesus followers in the last 50 years...MLK Jr.

I try to think in practical terms, "what does it look like to follow Jesus by loving our enemies?" Well, certainly, we do not teach purity by way of fornication, so what do we teach about our faith when we back violence and war?

i have come to give you life
and to show you how to live it
i have come to make things right
to heal their ears and show you how to forgive them

because i would rather die
i would rather die
i would rather die
than to take your life

how can i kill the ones i’m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution

when justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
the ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor

A Consistent Ethic of Human Life

This is the only song with no words. The instrumental makes me think of birth, but then the question is, "What's next?" Political parties fight over abortion and welfare, and much more.

All of Mockingbird is about this question of what do we do with life. We must fight for life and stand against senseless abortions, but we must still care about that life after it's been born. Education, medical care, oppurtunity, family, etc must all be addressed in a consistent ethic of the kingdom.

Doctoral List

Thinking of Doctorate work after seminary? Me too. Here's a good list of where to start looking by Reno, which can also be found at Generous Orthodoxy ThinkTank from my side bar.

Rich Young Ruler

Is there a reality of following Jesus? What does that reality look like?

Mostly, I think we can say that reality looks like Jesus' greatest commands: love God, love neighbor.

Sometimes that entails a lifestyle of love. Then what is this lifesyle I'm talking about. Is it not enough to just be saved? A call to be a Christian is a call to follow our Lord, who died and resurrected. So then, let us die so that we may allow other and ourselves to be resurrected.

Here's the lyrics for today's song off Mockingbird. I felt that all of them should be posted this time, because they talk about this life of love that is easily overlooked in our American culture of rights and affluence.

(vs. 1)
poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me

(vs. 2)
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your suv
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
i want the things you just can’t give me

(bridge)
because what you do to the least of these
my brother’s, you have done it to me
because i want the things you just can’t give me

Listen.

I Hate Everything (But You)

Derek Webb's songs, if you can't tell, are often love songs. The hard thing is figuring out whether he is singing to his wife or the church. I think on this track on Mockingbird he is singing about his wife.

In his words:

it’’s been one of those kinds of days
and i feel so out of place
and i hate everything, everything
i hate everything but you

Anyone who has been in love knows what it's like to have someone in whom no matter how badly the day has fallen apart, you still find your bearings. What its like to have a refuge in your lover.

What I like about the song is its distinctive human quality. I hate everything (although I probably shouldn't), except you, my love, my wife.
Check out Lucas take on it here.

Sacramental Update

Well, it's almost time. Yesterday I put the exhaust on and new throttle body. All that's left is the distributor, plugs, and plug wires. I ordered my headlights last night too.

Check back and it should be running soon!

YPAP

Young People As Prophets that is.

Criticizing Joe Osteen

When it comes to Joel Osteen, main stream Christian evangelicals don't seem to know how to talk about him. Many despise him, but is it for any reason other than his fame and wealth. I certainly believe so, and Bob Carlton does a good job of articulating some criticism against Osteen. Here's what he concludes with in summary:

1) As presented in his books and messages, Joel Osteen isn’t an evangelical. He’s a motivational speaker.
2) No matter what his personal or occasional doctrinal statements, Osteen’s books and sermons are absent the Gospel message.
3) The vast majority of Osteen’s message is simply advice for being a better person- the antithesis of the cross and the Gospel.
4) The MSMs attention to Osteen as a successor to Billy Graham should be loudly opposed by every pastor, preacher, teacher, leader and blogger in evangelicalism.
5) The promotion of Osteen by publishing interests is an outright detriment to the cause of Christ in the name of making money.

You can read all of his thoughts at internetmonk.com.

PostSecret Breaks Me Sometimes

This is what makes me want to question homosexuality and the Bible.

Discover PostSecret if you haven't yet.

A King and A Kingdom

According to my Itunes, this is by far one of the most played songs on my list. A King and a Kingdom is definitely one of my favorite songs off this Derek Webb's Mockingbird.

Why? I truly believe this song is prophetic, it speaks directly into my life and so many other American Christians.

It's so easy to confuse faith with politic, especially as much as religious terms have been thrown around by both Democrats and Republics, especially thinking of the Bush administration.

Then I think of all the fourth of July and Memorial Day services I've been to in churches where this country was placed so high and possibly even glorified. Derek sings,

"my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom"

The church in America needs to capture what it means to live and be citizens in the Kingdom of God, and make that more important than any nation or politic.

If you don't own the album yet, get it free!

Also, read Lucas thoughts on this album too.

A New Law

Today's song, A New Law, can be heard here and read here, bought here or get it for free here (or posted on here).

This is the first single that I heard from Mockingbird, and it made me buy the album. This songs speaks to me in so many ways, because I came from a fundamental background. Instead of allowing people to responsibly live in the freedom of Christ, we form "do's" and "don't's" for Christians to follow. Why? It's easy and controllable.

So many people in the church do not care about how faith and Jesus intersect into the political, economical, artistic, national, and war policies of the world. Rather, comfort is found in a new law formed around other agendas that just are not kingdom principles.

EDIT: I wanted to add a little something. I typed the above in class, so I was hurried and missed some thoughts.

The end of his song brings hope into my heart, when he repeats, "do not be afraid." It's time to give up this law righteousness, this legalistic mindset, this new law; and step into grace and freedom. Yes, it will be hard and giving up control is almost always messy, but do not be afraid.

Hello Kitty TailPipes?

Lucas sent me this pic, and even though you'll never see this on Sacramental Mustang (or any of my cars), I thought this would be a great ricer upgrade for all you Hello Kitty Fans.

When?

AKMA has a good chronology of church history for quick reference:

Fall of Jerusalem 70
†Clement of Rome 100
†Ignatius 107
Pliny-Trajan correspondence 111
Bar Kochba Revolt 135
†Polycarp 155
Montanus begins preaching New Prophecy 156
Justin's Martyrdom 165
† Irenaeus 200
Septimius Severus' Persecution 209-211
†Clement of Alex 215
†Tertullian 220
†Hippolytus 235
Decian Persecution 249-251
†Origen 253
† Cyprian 258
Diocletian's Persecution 303-312
Edict of Milan 311
Council of Arles rules against Donatists, 314
Council of Nicaea 325
† Arius 336
† Anthony 356
Apollinaris elected Bp of Laodicea 361
†Athanasius 373
†Basil 379
†Macrina 380
Council of Constantinople 381
†Gregory of Nazianzus 389
†Gregory of Nyssa 395
†Ambrose 397
†John Chrysostom 407
Fall of Rome 410
†Jerome 420
Nestorius begins preaching against the Theotokos 428
†Augustine 430
Council of Ephesus 431
†Cyril of Alexandria 444
Tome of Leo, 450-ish?
Council of Chalcedon 451
†Benedict of Nursia 543
Gregory sends Augustine to England 597

Missions in America

who would ever thought, we need missions here in "Christian" America, right? well, I do and wish I had the money to go out to California for just two days for this training event, which is in partnership with Forge out of Australia. Forge is the missional network that Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost write so much about in The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission For the 21st Century. As a matter of fact, both authors of the book will be there. Road-trip anyone?

15 Un-Missional Things

Don't do the things on this list (if you care about Christian mission). This is 15 ways to handicap potential missionaries in the local church list from here.

1. Force them to go through a “missions preparation” program which effectively weeds out the entrepreneurs.
2. Don’t consult with anyone who has ever lived with cross-cultural realities when you design your requirements for those who will be sent.
3. Choose people to oversee your mission efforts who have no experience or understanding of cross-cultural realities.
4. Make missions a “program” instead of seeking to make your church missional.
5. Decide to support missionaries 100% of their budget. It creates marvelous dependency.
6. Have standards that Mother Teresa or the Apostle Paul incarnate couldn’t meet.
7. Require seminary.
8. Make sure they have taught 5th grade Sunday School class as a pre-requisite which demonstrates loyalty to the church.
9. Imbue an ecclesiology that believes the sending church is supreme and missionary entities are appendages.
10. Ignore the concept of leverage and only support “front line” workers.
11. Adopt a trendy and unsophisticated view of missions that only supports those going to unreached people groups.
12. Placate the control freaks and don’t let potential missionaries raise money from anyone in the church.
13. Limit whom they can minister with to your own denominational or creedal group. Perish the thought that they would be contaminated by touching those who may be their neighbors in heaven.
14. Encourage “storehouse giving” so that all their money must come through the church.
15. Convince your congregation that short-term, tantalizing overseas experiences are most effective so that there is little money, prayer or commitment left for the few willing to commit their lives to longer term, incarnational, sacrificial service

The above list is directed mostly at the more modern, traditionalist church. Here is a list of ways "emerging" churches can stifle missionaries too.

Where to Start

One of my interests is church planting, and figuring out what it means to be the church in the given context. Here's a good example of a church who went through some ups and mostly downs to figure out that the question is not "how can we be missional, or relevant, or emergent, or purpose driven, but how can we be the church?"

How can we be the church?

Mockingbird

The first track of D. Webb's Mockingbird, seems to speak into the lives of Christians and the church. I think he's talking about how we act like we are so intimate with Christ, yet we lack so much. How we can be content in our lives and secluded from the world, yet feel so close to God.

What is this same old song we are to sing? The redeemed song of a new person living in the reality of God.

Check it out yourself. Lyrics and Listen.

Purpose Driven Dissent

The purpose driven bandwagon has finally passed (for the most part I hope) and the evidence is in the writing. The Baptist Press, who would be the first to jump on board with Warren, have actually posted an article about the harmful effects that the Purpose Driven Model has had on churches.

Michael Spencer, internetmonk, posted his thoughts on the subject.

"Younger pastors reading Warren’s books, hearing success stories and dreaming of what it will be like to turn their church into a hip megachurch like Rick’s have often done some pretty rude, dumb, hurtful things along the way and that story hasn’t been told. I’ve read and heard dozens of versions of the “why we are changing” mantra, and I can understand why a large chunk of traditionalist Baptists have filed it all away in the “just enough rope to hang him” department."

"Megachurches, their super programs, their consumer driven worship, their shallow, free-floating theology and their non-pastoral pastors are dinosaurs. A world-wide, global emerging church that’s too diverse to fit into anyone’s book is the rising tide."

I certainly hope that I'm not just moving with trends, because in my fundamental days (after reading The Purpose Driven Church by Warren) I was all about megachurch and planting a church just like Rick Warren did (I admit that I was a fool). Now, I'm all about finding the voice of the culture and allowing church to emerge within context, and even allow new theology and practice to be shaped by culture.

All I know is that I'm actually glad this has been exposed, the dark side of purpose driven. Not that I have it in for Warren, but I feel it's the model church that keeps Christianity from going deep and actually reaching people. No model can be adapted without giving some flex to the culture to change it and make the model its own.

Thoughts?

That Question

"What do you believe about the Bible?"

Anyone involved in ministry or who takes their biblical faith seriously is more than likely to hear this question. What I don't understand are those who say they take the Bible to be completely inerrant and infallible, and only believe in the Bible. What use do these words (ie, inerrant) actually serve in Christian circles? I think more than likely these are political terms, not faith or even biblical terms.

What terms would I prescribe to the Bible? Let it speak for itself...

2 Timothy 3:16-17:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So many of the questions we try to apply to the Bible when we use words like inerrancy seem to force the literature to speak outside of it's own agenda and purpose. The concern of the Bible is how God relates to creation, and how creation relates to itself:

Jesus said,

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

So, can someone have biblical faith and not believe in inerrancy or infallibility of scriptures?

Just Because It's So Good

I rarely buy music, mostly because I feel like I don't want to buy something that I may be able to pick up later or spend money it. Well, this year, one of the few albums I've bought is Mockingbird by Derek Webb. Here's the deal though, you don't have to pay for it.
FreeDerekWebb.com is the place to get it, for FREE. Derek has allowed this album to be released to the masses at a huge loss to himself . Am I upset at all that I paid for it, since I buy so few albums? Not at all.

This project is so good for faith that I'm going to blog it for the next few weeks, along with my friend Lucas at myfourwalls.net. So, go ahead and download it (for FREE), and check here tomorrow for my thoughts on the first song.

So Close, I Can Almost Taste It

We're only weeks away from hearing that sweet exhaust note from Sacramental Mustang. I've been slowly approaching this moment, checking things, putting on the smaller accessories, and waiting on just a few parts, but within a week the freshly rebuild 306 should feel the fire in it's cylinders. My only worry is that I'll turn the key over and nothing will happen.

I plan on getting the first fire up on video and audio, and I should be able post it for all to see. Then after insurance and registration, I'll drive to a muffler shop (without the mufflers on) and get them to weld it up. After that, it'll need an inspection and I'll be cruising around in my Sacrament.

Then again, I definitely need to order headlights first.

Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree

Directly after the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, a very troubling text surfaces. Mark 11:12-25 and Matthew 21:18-22 tell the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree for not bearing fruit. There seems to be some debate whether or not the tree was in season to bear fig, but it seems plausible that it should have had something on it.

I've heard people accuse Jesus of being luny for this act of cursing a fig tree, just because it didn't bear fruit when it was supposed to. Obviously, at face value, this story is nonsensical.

The question that we should ask then is, "what significance, if any, does the fig tree carry in the Palestinian culture of Jesus' day?"

For the nation of Israel, the fig tree symbolized peace and security. Micah 4:4 and Zechariah

3:10 are good examples of how the fig tree signified rest for the nation. Also, the prophets would speak about the destruction of vines and fig tree to warn of hte impending judgement of God on the Israelites, see Jeremiah 5:17, Hosea 2:12, and Joel 1:7 and 12.

The fig tree became a national symbol of peace for the Jewish nation of Israel, so when Jesus cursed the fig tree, he was giving a great object lesson for the end of an era. No longer would Israel be in peace, rather because of such actions as turning God's house into a den of thieves Jesus was declaring that the nation of Israel would never bear fruit again.

A new era had begun. The Jesus movement. The inauguration of the Kingdom of God on earth, and instead of a priestly nation, God's chosen people were now to be his called out ones, Christ followers.

To Disturb

The duty of the church is to comfort the disturbed and to disturb the comfortable.

--Archbishop Michael Ramsey

Prepare Yourself!

Derek Webb for FREE!!!

I beg you to get this album and LISTEN to it.

Outside these Walls of Ours

Can we ever step outside of ourselves? Experience reality beyond our beings?

I think everyone has to admit that they are limited, by space, knowledge, experience, understanding, etc. Even scientists, I think, should admit that the "laws of science" must be looked at with humility, and be able to admit that, well, maybe we just got it wrong. Take Newton's Laws of Motion, which at the subatomical level have mostly been disputed.

I guess, what I'm trying to say, is that there is nothing that we can experience outside of ourselves. We can try to be objective, but even then, our own understanding of what objectivity is subjectivity.


If your a scientist and you stumble across this, please shed some like on this from your perspective.

Semester Startup

Today was the first day of the fall semester. I'm excited for the most part, I don't have too great of what I call the syllabus syndrome (you know the feeling of being overwhelmed by all the assignments all at once). It was mostly exciting to see everyone again. I've missed the community at Truett that God has given me. Also, I'm mentoring a cov group this semester, so I'll be able to meet some new guys this way.

My classes look good. I start off in the morning with Christian Worship which shouldn't be too hard. I think the content will be alright, but some of it will be subjects I am past and don't really care about...worship wars, but I'm very interested in going into the Christian calendar and liturgy (work of the people). Next, I go to Scriptures 3, the Gospels and Acts which is taught by Dr. Garland. He is cream of the crop of prof's at Truett, so I'm looking forward to sitting with him looking at these great texts, but also this can be intimidating. No tests, but the papers and work should be tough and keep me busy...I have a presentation this Thursday, already.

After lunch I head over to Dr. Stroope's class, Christian World Mission. I am looking forward to learning about the history of modern missions, but also grappling with the very essence of what the church is according to Missio Dei. I'm torn in this class already, because we get to write a paper over an issue of choice from a list. My choices are Universalism, the Kingdom of God and Mission, the development of Missio Dei, the Trinity and Mission, and much more.

Finally, on Tuesday night I have Next Generation Leadership from 5 to 7. This class should be interesting. We meet until the end of September, go to a conference in Atlanta for 5 days, then we don't meet anymore, we just do 3 books reviews.

Overrall, I'm excited about getting back into the rhythm of the semester. I hope that school and the FBC ministry work together.

Update 2: Sacramental Mustang

With ease and care, the engine came together. This part was especially hard, because it was oily and everything had to be lined up just right.

This is an amazing improvement over how horrible it looked when I cracked it open. No more crust!!!

The oil pump and timing chain went on next. Also, I put the Trick Flow Cam, stage 1 in it.

Everything finally lined up after several hours of working with the bearing and caps, and also the rod caps. It took a while, but after I realized what I had done wrong, it was an easy fix.



You can see in the pic on the right, I got the water pump installed, then went to work on the ARP head studs. In this pic the head gasket is on wrong, but luckily I got that before any thing was final.

Next, It was time to put the heads on, test for clearance, take them back off. I used good old Orbit gum to test clearances.

The heads are a much improvement over the stock E7's. These are the Edelbrock Performer RPM's, with 1.6 FMS rocker arms. It took a bit of elbow grease to get the bolts down to spec, but these jokers shouldn't be going anywhere.

Next, I had to bolt on the intake and get some higher valve covers to clear the rockers.











The covers will add a cool effect inside the engine bay. Maybe after it's running for a while, I'll paint the upper plenum to match.

Before I could bolt up the transmission, I decided to look inside and make sure there was no build up or excessive wear. Also, I wanted to change the speedo gear to help with the 3.73's in the rear end. Unfortunately, I took it apart and put it together 3 times. It took a while to diagnosis the problem, but I fix it after a call to a T5 expert.
This little yellow gear on the back is what drives the speedo cable. with the change it should be a lot more closer than it would have been.





Finally, I got the tranny and started bolted onto the engine. I also decided to go with a Ram HD clutch, new throw-out bearing, and pilot bearing.


I got my wife to help push in the car, as i guided and put the engine in the bay. It was a little difficult putting it in with the tranny attached, but much easier than it would have been to go underneath with the tranny.





After much manipulation and my wife's pushing the car, we got the engine in.

Last night I put fluid in the engine and tranny, plugged in some things, and bolted down the engine. Now all that's left is bolting on what I can of the exhaust (the driving it without mufflers to a shop to get them welded on), bolt in the shifter and center console (I'll get some interior pic's up later), and plug in a few more wires. Oh yeah, then there's the whole deal of getting insurance, registrations, and passing inspection...the emphasis being on passing...or maybe the emphasis should be on getting it running period.

Update 1, Sacramental Mustang

The few weeks have been rough. I've been busting it trying to get as much done on Sacramental Mustang before this semester started. Well, classes started today, and I have the engine and transmission in. All that is really left is to bolt on the accessories and exhaust, along with some smaller items. Here's some pic's of progress.

Much of the wiring, battery, and coil are in. If you look closely you can see the MSD leads that are tapped into the coil. I hope the battery tray lasts, the hold downs are not the best quality.



To the right is part of my cold air, which is actually missing the upper pipe from MAF to throttle body. The MSD 6aL was pretty easy to install, and you can see the green tach wire running into the bottom too.


The lower intake needed to be matched to the gaskets that will sit on the heads. I took a dremel tool to both the upper and lower to open them up some and polish the insides the best I could. Several hours later (25-30), and several dremel bits, I finished with dust everywhere.

Much of what I learned throughout this experience was patience and paying attention. Also, paying the price up front for something greater in the end. Much of the build was uneventful, hot, frustrating, but in the end it's really coming together.

I'll follow up this post with the engine build.

Blessings of Retreat

Today, I met with some other folks from school to prepare for spiritual mentoring this coming fall. The morning began with some intro's of what God had done for us this summer, then we had like 3 to 3:30 hours of quiet, then some discussions afterwards...and boy did I need it all. I've allowed myself to be so consumed with sacramental mustang that I've been missing out on so much of my normal routines. I look forward to getting back into them this fall.

This summer has been so busy that I haven't taken the time to sit, listen, and reflect. Our leader asked us to open with what God had done for us this summer. At first I thought, uhm, nothin'. Then as I sat and reflected God swarmed my mind with the many graces and much love that has been sent to me over the past few months.

Also, I began the silent time by walking the labrynth. Man it was hot outside, but I loved it. God used it to speak to me. I feel rested and prepared for this semester...that is of course until Tuesday when it actually starts.

Who Would of Thought?

My buddy Lucas, over at myfourwalls.net has had some interesting discussion over something that has been on my mind lately...universalism. Here are some of my thoughts on something that has come to mind, and brought up in the conversation a bit. Mostly, the world is screwed up because of the church...no this isn't your normal churchh bashing post.

This is my proposal. The church, in the modern period especially, created a sacred space...ie...the church building. All else was secular. Business, homes, markets, etc were all secular places. People had to gather into buildings to experience the sacred...no food or drinks allowed!!!

But inside this sacred place, people found a God painted with a cruel and unusual face. A being that chooses some for heaven, some for hell, all to his glory. It happened, maybe we lost touch with reality... the incarnation, but it happened, and people reacted.

Mostly, they ran from this God. They ran from the sacred into the secular...their place, where it was safe to eat, drink, cuss, and live without the tension that everyone is staring at you, judging you.

So what should we do? First, we could do away with the secular/sacred divide. Let's be the church and worry less about going to some building. Let's rid ourselves of Jesus stickers, shirts, C.D.'s, posters, paper weights, hats, bands, fishes, special movies and music. And redeem where we are. No longer allow normal things to be secular, but realize that all places and things can be sacred, created by God in her presence.

We would also benefit from ridding ourselves from this God of distance, far beyond in the great blue...you'll be lucky if he chooses you. Instead, we should talk about the suffering God, who came as a man to be with us, to redeem us. A God of justice in our affairs, not just in damnation on account of his holiness. A God of grace and love, with us, among us.

Progress Thus Far

We can stop now! (just can't go)
I finally got my brakes done, including the rear supsension arms, front maximum motorsports adapter, and all the brake lines. My buddy from the apartment complex has been a great help here in the last few weeks. We got the brakes bleed, and they work (they'll need to be adjusted once sacramental is running)
You can see the before pic's in the
upper right corner, as opposed to
upper left for the front brakes. The pic above is after the old spindle and before the new ones from the SN95 Mustang.

To the right is the new rear brakes, and under it is the old rear brakes.
The pic below shows the difference between the stock arms and the new ones.




Here are some pics of the engine bay. Russell and I have been scrubbing with wire brissell brushes, brushes on drilles, and a dremel tool. All the rust is gone now, and it looks pretty sweet, just needs an engine now. Oh, by the way, we drained the old oil, manuelly ran some new oil using a drill and a socket, and have drained that oil. Now, it's time to take it apart and put on the new heads, intake, and cam. Woohoo, light at the end of the tunnel (I hope)!

Mac App's that you need

Tomorrow is my final in Latin, so what a better way to use my time than to find and play with all these nifty app's for my laptop. Here's a list of some free applications that I'm currently using, and some of them I don't know how I ever got along without them.

1. Butler: This rocks my socks off! If you don't have, don't even read on. GO GET IT! What it does is that butler takes your finder and gives you easy access from your top toolbar, and much, much more. Not to mention that you can access all your bookmarks, google, amazon, I-tunes, and on, and on from it. Like I said, get it.

2. Desktop Manager: Here's something that can keep you desktops less cluttered by allowing you to have between 4 to 10 desktops to scroll to and from. That way you can have all your latin on one desktop, and when the teacher isn't looking, you can be surfing the internet on another.

3. Backlight: takes your screensavers and uses them as your desktop background. Impressive party trick!

4. Qumana: This is a free personal blog editor. I use every once and a while, it works well and is good for it's cost...free!

5. Blue Coconut: Now you no longer have to just listen to other people's Itunes, you can take them. It's senstive sometimes, so you have to take it off and redownload it sometimes.

6. Podview: Along the lines off above, this app takes music, pic's, movies, whatever from an Ipod and allows you to look at or take it, and put it on your computer.

7. Corripio: For all those CD's and tracks you've permentely borrowed, Corripio will find all the art and covers for Itunes.

8. Delibar: Allows you to access your Del.ic.ious from the top toolbar...coupled with Butler, you'll be unstoppable.

Post your freeware that you just couldn't live without!

McKnight on Justification

Scot McKnight, author of the Jesus Creed (which is on my reading list for the summer), has written some good thoughts on justification, salvation, and reconciliation.

My thought, though, is I wonder if the authors of the Scriptures and early Christians parsed each idea so much like we do as modern Christians. It seems that the way we take apart and parse these ideas stems from the enlightenment project and scientific study methods.

I wonder if each word overlaps and contains the other, so that you cannot have one without the other. Sometimes it seems that the ideas are held in tension, such as the idea that the kingdom has come, but not fully.

700!

Since I've started sacramental mustang, I haven't had time for too much else, even online play. So that means I haven't touched my newsreader in weeks. For fun, in class, I thought I would open it and see what we got...(drumroll please)

700!

Looks like I won't be paying attention in Latin today.

How do you take inner city kids in the roughest, most oppressed parts of LA out of gang bangin' and drug slingin'?

That's an easy one...clown makeup and the stripper dance.

When it comes to building community, we as Americans suck. And the church, well, the church really isn't all that good at it either. Over at myfourwalls there is a conversation going on right now about this very thing that seems to escape us, but we need. We are so fragmented in our communities that we forget to connect, or we just don't know how to.

Tonight, I watched the documentary Rize, and that's a good place to look for community. What does a documentary about clown dancing or krumping in the ghetto's of LA have to do with Christian community? Everything.

Watch it.

Peace by Way of War

Derek Webb:

peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
it’s like telling someone murder is wrong
and then showing them by way of execution

chorus:
how can i kill the ones i’m supposed to love
my enemies are men like me
i will protest the sword if it’s not wielded well
my enemies are men like me

How Much? A Spiritual Question...

Like I said before, I want and am trying to make this project of mine a spiritual discipline. In many ways it has been. I've learned some things about myself, been able to create a different community, and have had a different prayer life (and sometimes language at times).

One my mind and heart this week has been the question of how much is enough? This, of course, is not a question directed just a this project, but life, business, economics, money in general. Putting money into sacramental mustang has not been a question, because no matter what it'll be cheaper than a new car. Sometimes though, I have to stop and ask myself, do I really need that? But here's the thing, I'm not sure alot of times. When it comes to spending money is there a gray area or something. I mean, I know I point at big business and government and mock the way they spend money when so many people, nations, cultures would benefit from just a percentage of how money is wasted and used. Then, I look into my life, and see the same thing, in a way, only on a smaller scale. Do I really need those heads that will help make 70 more horses? Or that cam that will make my car sound cool? Paint? Is that just superficial?

These seem like easy questions right? Of course not! Well, then do I need this laptop? I could have just used paper for notes. My apartment? There are much cheaper units in Temple. My Dog? He eats (alot). So my question is, when is it too much? I feel like many of these decisions are guided by comfort or ease of life. Well, I need this laptop to make it easier, my apartment to be "safer," my dog, well I'm not sure on that one. Is it justifiable because I'm not spending ridiculou amounts of money like businesses can?

So, I've learned to live a little more in grace, knowing that I have so much. I've learned that it's harder for me to point fingers, when I'm not part of the solution. I've learned to be a little less judgemental on how others spend money. I've learned that the answer isn't always simple (Mary washing Jesus with that alabaster box). I've learned that my possesions aren't all that important, money's not that important, but it is a means to end.

I'm sorry if these thoughts are scattered, but the my thoughts and ideas are still being formed, I just wanted to get it out there. What are you're thoughts?

Brake Parts!

So, this week my brakes didn't come together, it was a bit disallusioning. I thought I had most of my bases covered, but of course we hit some minor and major walls. First, to install disc brakes in the rear of any car is to change alot in the braking system. One of the major mod's is to defeat the stock proportioning valve, so you can install an adjustable one and be able to control and adjust it yourself. This is important so your rear brakes won't stop before your front, making the car sling around (no fun in rain or ice). So order the plug to defeat the valve, but for some strang reason, unbenownst to my, its too small. Instead of using this plug that I paid 6 bucks for, I've decided to take the plug that came out of the valve, fill it with JB Weld, and put it back it (and pray that it will hold up against brake fluid!!!). Now, I'm just waiting for it to really dry and set for a few days.

The next problem I ran into, which was the most frustrating for the week is that the brake brackets I have for the rear to mount up my calipers don't work. Here's the deal though, the first time I put the rear end together, filled it with lube, and sealed it, I realized that I didn't have the brackets on. OK, so I took the rear end apart, again, and drained the fluid into a clean pan to reuse, put then brackets on, then put it all back together, filled it, sealed it. Then, a few days ago, I tried to mount up my rear brakes, NO GO. Wrong brackets. Well, I pulled it apart again, drained the fluid again, and will have to fill it and seal it again. I don't really mind taking it apart anymore, I mean, I'm a pro at that by now. The real downer is that the brackets that I needed cost 175 dollars. OUCH! All of this could have been avoided too, if I had known that instead of using stock lenght axles, I could have used longer axles of a 94-98 mustang. Oh Well.

The good news for the week, I have all my parts together now. All I have to do is get my parking brake handle welded together, get my front tires, put all the brakes together, bleed them, put the rear end together, and the brakes will be done!!! I have a latin test on tuesday, so I won't be able to work on the car immediately, but hopefully the brakes will be done my Tuesday night or Wednesday and that'll be a relief.

What next for Sacramental Mustang? I plan on slowing down some and taking my time with the engine. I want to clean up the engine bay, hide the wires, and paint it black where Ford missed some spots. Hiding the wires will be the trickiest part, because if I screw them up, then FIRE. Nobody wants that.

The engine has been sitting for about 1o years, so I'll have to manuelly run oil through it, but I don't think that will be too difficult. Then, I'll take the engine apart, well, the heads, camshaft, and intake are all coming off to make room for the new go fast parts.

All that's left to buy, I hope anyways, are some headlights (the lights yes, but also the whole assembly), because my car doesn't have any, and some small miscellanious parts to get her up and running. A guy in Dallas may trade my hood for a hood that I want, and maybe after doing hte firework's stand this holiday, we can get it painted.

I'll get some pic's posted when the new brakes go on!

Oh the Humanity!

So it's been quite a few weeks now since I've started my little project, sacramental mustang. I've learned some things about myself like how I have little patience for things that seem easy on paper, but don't quite come out well in reality, or how I can become so absorbed in what I'm doing...the task at hand, that my relationships with others suffer. Sometimes, I've learned, it's best to stop and just breath, enjoy it even.

One of the harder things I'm thinking about as I continue the build is how do we as theologians, pastors, ministers reach the working class, those who are consumed by their work, who are living in the practical, day to day battle of life. Sacramental mustang has forced me to think differently than I have been for the last few years. To go from theology and philosophy to practical thougth has been an exercise itself. Right now, I've been so consumed with what I'm doing that I hardly have time to think about theology, why it's important that the church emerges, or whatever. All I can think about is how much the next part is going to cost, and how in the hell I'm going to put it together. So, how do we as ministers reach those who don't have the time or thoughts for theology. More importantly, how do we build a deep faith into the lives of those who are already consumed, how can we redeem their situation, so that what they are consumed in becomes a spiritual discipline?

Overrall, I think this project has brought out my true humanity in me. I have my ups and lows, anger and joy. It's been harder and more expensive than I planned, but I guess that's life...right?

Joe? Where are you?

Of course, where'd ya think. Just in case you were wondering if blogging was a fad, seeing that I haven't really touched it too often here lately, let me say, I wish that was the reason. You see, building this car has become very consuming. So if you don't see me or hear from me, I'm right where the photo shows.

Besides working on "Sacramental Mustang," I've been doing some other things to keep busy. For the first half of the summer, I'm taking Latin 1301...lots of memorizing. I'm starting to fall behind a little because of the time I've been putting into the car (not good).

Also, I've been working really hard on the car this week, because this week is my first official week at my new job. Yes, a job. I know, I know, 2 years later. Hey, it's even in ministy, so there ya go. As of this Sunday, I'll be on board at

FBC Georgetown as the college/singles minister. I'll have to post in this later, as I'm not too comfortable in the bigger church, but it's exciting because this is a chance to minister to the age group that doesn't really get ministered to.

Charlotte and I have been keeping busy hanging out with friends. It's been exciting to build the relationships we have here at our apartment complex...because of our dog. Yeah, I call that sacramental dog owning.

I'm tired, but I love it. I pray that God gives me grace during these times, mostly because there are so many new people put in my path because of all these different things. Maybe things will slow down, but I doubt it until Sacramental Mustang is done.

Sacramental Brakes

Much of what goes into building a car is like anything else...thought and research. The first thing to be done on Sacramental Mustang is the brakes. The Fox Body Mustang is notorious for bad brakes, plus 79-93 was the year for the akward 4 lugs axles and spindles. So, right now, I'm working on gathering parts to do a 5 lug, all-wheel disc brake conversion. My dad did a great job of gathering some of the main things like spindles, calipers, and some smaller parts.

I have to to get gather 5 lug axles, rims, tires, brake lines, rotors, brake pads, a new master cylinder, and some smaller parts to put it all together. I've found some rotors and pads on ebay for a decent price, and am hoping to get some axles there too( because our local junkyard is pricy).

As you can tell, this is no small project. I have to fabricate the brake lines myself, and make sure the things actually work. Plus, I have no idea how to fix the parking brake. I found a guy up in Ft. Worth who has some rims for a really good price, although one of them is slightly damaged.

This part of the build is frustatingly slow, because I can't do anything without all the parts. So I have to spend money on everything all at once to get it going. It will be nice when I can go get my hands dirty and see some results. Even then, there's the expectation though of running into hurdles, especially when it comes to the brake lines and parking brake.

When all is said and done, the car will stop safely and on a dime. Plus, it will look really cool too!

Witnessing for Legalism

How do we make people "christian?" Why do we witness? What is a witness? Evangelism? Who does it, and how do they do it?

Recently I had a conversation, and many of these questions and ideas came up. To be honest, these things bother me. When I first became a Christian in late high school, I was broken and transformed by Christ. Through a few years of fundamental, overly conservative church attendance, not to mention this place, I lost my first love. The life Christ gave me was stomped out, replaced by legalism.

Legalism was my number one goal and I didn't realize it. Why? because I was concerned with being a good "Christian," and had to have a good witness. No matter what I had to protect my witness, and the world made me sick, secular music made me sick, to be honest secular people made me sick. Love the sinner, hate the sin...yeah right. This so easily translates into hate the sinner, until they are a good and clean Christian.

Now, well, I've changed. I love God again, I love his work, and I love people, especially those who say stuff like damn and shit, those who like a good beer, those who don't think like I do. And here's the deal, I DON'T WANT ONE SINGLE PERSON TO EVER BECOME A CHRISTIAN BECAUSE OF ME! (I know, your expecting me to say, I want God to do it...but that's not where I'm going either).

See, a Christian is a person who rearranges their life around the western, modern day church. To go to church every Sunday, to dress right, to quit smoking, cursing, stop being a liberal. Being a Christian is adopting principles and practices of men, to be like the world, but in the culture of Christianity.

Rather, God is working in this world. He speaks to people through movies, music, conversation, and much more. People outside the walls of the Christian world are thirsty for spiritual things. Everyone is concerned with the kingdom of God, whether they know it or not. Where do I come it. I'm sent by God to help others actualize and realize God in their life. Allow them to become followers of Christ in their culture, to their friends. These people become the church fluid.

I no longer need to worry about my outside appearence so much, creating constructs to follow so that my "witness" will be protected. I worry about following Jesus in my community, here at church and here at the apartments. Both need to be redeemed, both need Jesus. What does it look like? Genuine, real, ugly, broken and redeemed. Fun, exciting, mysterious, hard. It simply looks like life as a Jesus follower.

iGod

Baptist Art

Steve McKoy has two really good blogs, Reformissionary and Missional Baptist, but I love his photo's. This one is a recent that I really like.

It's good for me to find a baptist who cares about missionality within the denomination and art, like what you see above. He's not always thinking with one side of the brain, and the church needs that.

Oldham on Brown

I know I said I would quit blogging the Da Vinci Code stuff, but here's on last thing. I figured I would post something different from what I'm saying. You can hear streaming audio or download a sermon by Dr. Steve Oldham from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. He goes about proving it wrong and I like the way he handles it: he's a bit comical, corny, and weaves in the Christian story. Enjoy!

To listen you have to go to First Baptist Georgetown's site, and click on the Da Vinci Code link, then click on Steve Oldham's sermon.