Brand New

Well, this summer I bought a new Optima Battery for a good price. I guess it had been sitting for too long, and it didn't work. I called Optima, went to Autozone, made the manager mad because I wouldn't let him put me off, and ended up with a brand new battery.

Right when I thought I had wasted money and would have to buy a new battery for the second time, I got this for nothing. Sweet deal.

I ordered my Cold Air, will put the headlights on, and hopefully be driving Sacramental soon.

Is Reformed Alternative Reality?

One of the fastest growing traditions among younger evangelicals right now is the reformed movement heralded by spokespersons like John Piper, Al Mohler, and Mark Driscoll. My friend Lucas has some good thoughts, which have got me thinking too about why the reformed tradition is catching so much momentum. One of Lucas' ideas is that Calvinism is strong because we live in a pluralistic society therefore a close-system religion is powerful. You don't have to listen or worry about anything else when you have all the answers, which 5 point Calvinism seems to do for evangelicals by providing answers for everything.

Here's my thoughts on why the reformed tradition has grown in strength for younger evangelicals. As the church, we live in a parallel and alternative reality to that which surround us. We are parallel in the sense that we live in the same world where we go to work, eat, sleep, send our children to school, and such. As a missional community though, we are to be different. The difference is our reality is shaped by a different narrative which takes its forms in song, sermon, community, ritual, tradition, doctrine, and beliefs that allow us to understand our reality so that when we face the alternative reality of the world, we can live counter-culturally.

Within our churches though, we find that our worship is informed and baptize by world. We've allowed culture to shape our ritual and song. This is why I think the reformed tradition is so strong. Within the reformed church you don't have to live alternatively, because your doctrine is very defined. Therefore, alternative reality takes shape in belief, but not practice. It's then easy to succumb to the "world's values of materialism and experiential consumerism, of narcissistic self importance, and personal taste, of solitary superficiality, and of ephemeral satisfaction (Dawn, A Royal Waste of Time, 335)."

Any community that desires to delineate itself and live a substantively different life from larger society must surround itself and maintain its own language, customs, habits, rituals, institutions, procedures, and practices that uphold this alternative reality. In this manner, the alternative life is nurtured and and encouraged in the face of pluralism. I think younger reformed evangelicals are doing the same thing that people in the emerging church are doing by looking at the church and seeing that it has failed to live in an alternative reality and thus lost all impact. Instead of reinventing the church for a pluralistic world though, the reformed movement allows for Calvinistic language and its alternative reality to effect itself in dogma. Orthodoxy is once again king, and orthopraxy is only secondary.

We must define and live in our alternative reality by knowing our story and practicing our rituals. It is easy to live in a tradition that has defined itself so narrowly and only reaches back 350 years. This is not an indictment to all reformed churches, but only an explanation of my viewpoint of why Calvinism has grown so strong as of late, especially among the younger materialistic, democratic, narcissistic generation that is my own.

And it starts! I finally got some time to put into the Mustang, and got it started. It was the fuel injectors, so after a rebuild and clean up fuel delivery is on par.

Couple things:

1. No Mufflers (therefore, the sound is not muffled...duh!), so its loud. I think my neighbors hate me.

2. No Idle. The idle air valve has been sitting for 10 years, so I'm thinking that's the problem. Also, the new throttle body needs to be adjusted. I have to keep on the throttle, and it's really not drivable until that's fixed.

3. No power steering. The pump has been sitting for over 10 years too, so it's probably shot. I definitely won't be driving it until the power steering is fixed.

4. There's some other minor things that need to be done (headlights, alignment, battery, mufflers) then I'll be driving Sacramental around.

I wasn't expecting the power steering to be out, and I was hoping that the Idle Control would be fine, but no. Oh Well, here we go again. At least it starts! Enjoy the video, Sacramental sounds sick.

Tallskinnykiwi on house church

Green Apple Mac

Make sure to watch the video...

And if you feel guilty about owning a Mac, (and we all know you'll never get anything else) make up for it by visiting here.

And just to package creativity and being green. sitting on trash.

Baptizing the Imagination

A recent article from the leadership blog hit on an important aspect of Christianity for leadership, discipleship, and for basically all aspects of life.

Discipleship usually focuses on two main realms: knowledge and skill. The problem with these two areas is that they can only go so far. Usually, both knowledge and skill come in the form of a boxed set, a model. We force people to move from model to book, or soup kitchen to homeless shelter. This isn't conducive to life though. Discipleship then becomes smothered by activity and life that is not centered on programs.

However, knowledge and skill based models, while necessary components of spiritual formation, both miss the imaginative aspect of the human spirit. And by ignoring the intuitive capacity of the mind the church has essentially surrendered people’s imaginations to the pop secular culture without a fight.

People are filled than with knowledge of God and how to "go" serve him where programs have been created.

Those filling the pews every Sunday may be full of information about God, and they may be expertly trained to obey God, but without an imagination enraptured by God they will be powerless to live the life he’s called them to. They simply cannot imagine living any differently than the culture around them

This may be my most recent kick here lately, but I do beleive that the church is in desperate need of imagination, not more discipleship or service projects. Imagination in itself is an act of worship and discipleship, and it is the only way life in the Kingdom can be sustained.

Evangelicals and African Commentary

Christianity today has listed the top 50 most influential books for evangelicalism. Some are scary (Left Behind, Purpose Driven Life), but some leave hope for us all (The Divine Conspiracy, Mere Christianity, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Cost of Discipleship).

More importantly, I think, is this commentary coming out of Africa. I really think Western Christianity needs to listen to the voices of Christianity in the 2/3's world. Here are Scot McKnights salient points

• Commentary on the whole Bible, every single verse. The only problem I see is that the authors are all educated in America and Europe, so I wonder if they write with Western motifs.
• Essay cover a wide variety of subjects: scripture, translations in Africa, environment, debt, democracy, homosexuality, persecution, principles of interpretation, etc.
• Specialized essays: cultural issues, dreams, female genital mutilation, AIDS and HIV, initiation rites, refugees, tribalism, widow inheritance, etc.
• This commentary is written from a conservative evangelical viewpoint, thus it will be the equipping this generation to grapple with orthodoxy in their own context. In a way I hope this commentary is not at all defining, but only a starting point. The reason is, is that I believe we need some heresies, at least heresies against the Western church to be effective Christ followers in the new world, in the 2/3 world.
  

OUCH!

This site may make you blind or roll around on the ground while frothing.

Thank you for yet another tasteless and just plain bad Christian web site.

So what?

Yesterday, I was able to speak with someone else who attended Catalyst who is not in seminary. Here's a thought he had. After listening to speakers like Donald Miller and Rick McKinley, he said that he agreed and could get on board with what they were saying, but "how is that any different than what we are already doing? How is it different than our local missions, mission trips, etc" "I agree with them, but so what? What am I supposed to come back and do?"

I think this may be an example of a need for creativity. There exists a big difference between someone like Rick McKinley and John Maxwell. The difference is that Rick strattles much more if not fully stands in the p0stmodern paradigm of reality. This "so what" question addresses the narrative that was used by some of the speakers.

After Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way spoke, a person questioned him and basically asked him, "how can I be like you where I'm at." Of course these were not his exact words, but it was the jist of what he was saying. Shane said something to the effect of don't be like me, be like Jesus.

This is the problem, we need models, not stories. When we are trained to fight against creativity we need someone to tell us, "so what." Can we live without someone telling us so what? If so, what will that look like? Narrative, story, and no "so whats."

Pains of Creativity

After returning from Atlanta and the conference (Catalyst) I've had some time to reflect. Many of the subjects that were presented were interesting, but the usual presentations you would expect: culture, neo-church, passion, etc. More than anything, I wish some one would have presented over creativity or imagination. Some of the speakers hinted at this subject, but no one really fleshed it out. But then again, what was I looking for? or exactly what would they talk about?

I think more than anything, we as a church, especially ministers and leaders are in a crisis of imagination. Here's the problem though, we live in a culture that fights against imagination. We have television, magazines, education, jobs, titles, and roles to stand in or participate in. No one is allowed to fight against the structure, otherwise they are considered as a bad student or terrible employee. Instead of giving people grades or ultimatums, what are we to do?

As leaders, I don't think we begin with this question, but rather how do we cultivate creativity and imagination in ourselves? Something that I noticed at the conference was many people were looking for the model to take back to their church or how they could be "Shane Claiborne" or "Rick McKinley" to their church. Something that Rick said that has struck a cord in me was about Donald Miller. He said that Miller really is not all that much different than those in the crowd, except he "found his voice." This is what I need, my voice, the person I am to be to minister and live in the Kingdom of God.

Catalyst Day Two

Well, I meant to post some more up yesterday, but there has been no internet until tonight. Last night, did not deal so much with leadership, but mostly it dealt with culture and such issues in the church. I really enjoyed Rick McKinley, the author of A Beautiful Mess and Jesus in the Margins, and pastor of an emerging church at Portland, OR called Imago Dei. I think enjoyed him because he was funny. For the most part there's been nothing new. Everything that's been said I've read or learned along the way.

Today, at the actual Catalyst Conference was set up very differently. The best speakers I've heard so far have been a guy from the International Justice Mission. Besides that John Maxwell, Andy Stanley, and Jeff Foxworthy...yes that's right, JEFF FOXWORTHY...at Catalyst, a Christian leaders conference. It was awesome. We got preached to by a redneck! The next greatest thing of the day was Dave the Horn Guy. Check him out, it was probably one of the most entertaining things i've seen in a long time, thanks Dave.

I must say, I'm tired. It's been good, but it's been hard to care or put myself into this because I'm tired. Overrall though, it's been good.

Shane Claiborne

A week or so ago, I quoted Keel, "We are in a crisis of imagination." Again, this idea and desperate need for imagination inthe church came up in Shane's session. I've grown accustomed to reacting against things, the church institution, structures, powers, religion, or whatever, but now that I have the "don't's" can I have the "do's."

An idea I really like is how in their community that have a relational tithe. This is how the community takes care of the health needs, or whatever needs in the community. The amazing thing is when a need arises, it's met immediately. 10,000 dollars worth of damage? No problem, the church took care of it for anyone and everyone.

Again, this took imagination. We need in the church imagination to creatively BE the church of the kingdom IN the world. Creating the vision of God's desire in the world, and as easy as this sounds, it's not. It's difficult, and I believe very because we've been trained inside of the University, the schools, our churches to be uncreative, to sit and listen, and to conform to models that have been set up by modernity. I pray that the Church in America recaptures Jesus adn waht it means to follow, simply follow Him and nothing else.

Catalyst Begins

Finally, after travelling for 15 hours we have arrived here at Catalyst Leadership Conference. Yesterday, we drove into Birmingham, AL and stayed over at Holiday Express, and today we arrived at Atlanta, GA for this sucka. Wed, Thurs, and Fri will be continous sessions of leadership.

Today the first session we are in is led by Shane Claiborne, the founder of the Simple Way and author of The Irrestibable Revolution.

So far after driving for too long it has been pretty good. Hopefully the sessions will all go pretty well. After this I think we are going to listen to Lauren Winner, than Rick McKinley.

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.