Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Can you guess who my daughter's "superhero" is?
As part of Red Ribbon Week (aka "Just Say No to Drugs" Week), the schools in our district have been doing crazy/fun themes each day. One day was "Crazy Hair Day." Another was "Favorite Team Jersey Day." Today at the Middle School was "Superhero Day."
So my 7th grade daughter decided that she wanted to be "Jesus" today since He is her "superhero." Let's just say - she had quite a day!
Forgotten God by Francis Chan (Book Review)
Rating: 5 out of 5 doves
Last year, LeAnn and I were blessed to go on a week-long pastor/spouse retreat in Wisconsin. Much of the time was spent in the Scriptures and in prayer. But because we both love to read, several books went along with us.
One of LeAnn's paper-companions for the retreat was Crazy Love by Francis Chan. She really enjoyed it and was challenged by it. She recommended I read it, so I took it to my office and added it to my "to read" stack - where it patiently sat for several months. After reading Made to Stick (which I enjoyed - but not quite as much as I had hoped. The first chapter was GREAT - then it just plateaued from there...), I was ready for a book to grab hold of my heart, not just my head. I thought I'd give Crazy Love a try. Wow! I was challenged by Francis's passion and found my prayers being affected.
I rarely read another book by an author immediately after reading a prior book of theirs. I often like coming back to their style, thought processes, etc. after a break filled with other authors' thoughts, styles, and such. However, I was intrigued by Francis's topic in his second book Forgotten God and I was secretly hoping that the passionate call to follow Christ in Crazy Love would continue to resound and continue God's work in me.
I am pleased to not only announce that my expectations were met, but Forgotten God impacted me even more profoundly than Crazy Love. My prayers have been even more deeply impacted, I am enjoying the Scriptures even more (and I was already loving my daily times with the Bible), and I am becoming even more passionate about God, His Son, and His Holy Spirit and their work in my life and those around me. I'm tempted to say I'm growing like a weed right now, but weeds grow unwanted and without intention. This growth is very wanted and I believe it has been very intentional by my heavenly Father.
But let me warn you - this book is not for the comfortable Christian looking to remain in his or her comfort. Francis is a very passionate individual, and he is not afraid to challenge his readers to become equally passionate about Christ and the Spirit's work on earth. Francis has made some personal decisions out of passion and conviction that leave others questioning his wisdom. For instance, all of the royalties of his first book, Crazy Love, go to a non-profit organization helping children trapped in sex slavery rather than becoming an emergency fund for he and his family. Some accuse Francis of abandoning his own family - but he doesn't see how he can make himself and his family comfortable when little ones are being horrendously abused and misused.
I grew up in a charismatic church, and while I have come to slightly different conclusions theologically than my charismatic friends from my own reading and study of Scripture, I have always appreciated their heart for the Lord. They are very aware of the Holy Spirit (some might say TOO aware at times - or more accurately, not truly aware...). The churches I have been involved in since entering my adults years have been very different. They have acknowledged the person of the Holy Spirit, but they haven't regularly acknowledged the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. This is why Francis has a tag line saying "Reversing our tragice neglect of the Holy Spirit." I really appreciated the balanced approach Francis took throughout his book. Charismatics, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Non-Denoms like me can read this book without feeling like an agenda or certain theological stance is being pushed.
Francis provides a very brief, but good, summary of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. If you are looking for a theological treatise on pneumatology, this isn't the place. But if you are open to being challenged about your surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit, this is the best book I've read so far.
Also worth noting: Each chapter is followed by a biography of a person who lived their life under the power of the Holy Spirit. Francis does a great job of choosing "ordinary" people who lived "extraordinary" lives to highlight in these biographical sections.
One thing I truly appreciate about Francis is his passion. While he is probably a remarkably intelligent guy, the portrait of Francis that emerges out of Crazy Love and Forgotten God is just a simple disciple of Jesus living full-on for God as empowered by the Holy Spirit. He readily admits his imperfections, but it isn't his failings he dwells on, but rather the direction he falls. I, too, want to be falling toward my Savior when I screw up and grieve the Holy Spirit. I want to be a man consumed with a passion for Jesus, being filled with the Spirit like He was, and living out His Image through me everyday.
While I recommend Crazy Love, you do not have to read it first. Forgotten God stands on it's own, and in my opinion is even more powerful, better written, and more perfectly accomplishes the same goal as Crazy Love. This book is going on my "favorites" list, and one I will probably come back to in the future (which is a very rare thing for me!).
For more information about Forgotten God, visit http://forgottengod.com.
Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson (Book Review)
Rating: 4 out of 5 birds
LeAnn and I have a date night every week. Because I'm not a fan of routine, LeAnn has graciously allowed us to do various activities for our date nights. One of the activities we do together roughly once a month is read a chapter of a book. When we started reading books together, we focused on marriage topics. But this past year we decided to branch out from relationship books. With the blessing of a gift certificate, we purchased Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson. And we both feel it was a gift certificate well spent!
The premise of the book is that Christians should be pursuing God - specifically the Holy Spirit. Mark, who is a treasure trove of historical, scientific, and lingual illustrations, says that the Celtic Christians called the Holy Spirit "An Geadh-Glas, which translated into modern English is "the Wild Goose." At first, it seemed irreverent to me to refer to the Holy Spirit as a goose. "If the Spirit is to be equated with a bird, it should be a peaceful dove, not a dirty, noisy goose," I thought to myself. But Mark uses the goose idea adeptly, carefully, and respectfully. Within the first chapter, I was comfortable with the goose imagery.
Through the book, Mark works through six "cages" - responsibility, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure, and fear. These are areas of your life you allow to hamper you and keep you from pursuing the call God has on your life. Mark does an excellent job of working through each "cage" with personal stories, powerful illustrations, and Scriptural insights.
I feared the book would be too similar to Mark's first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. While there was much overlap in ideas, I found the books to compliment one another very well. However, I am hoping that Mark's third book, Primal, will depart a little bit from the "risk-taking Christian life" theme. Because I read Mark's blog from time to time, I know he has more to give to the Church than just this one message.
On a personal note: The first half of the book really irritated me. Not because of Mark's writing or content, but rather because of my own life last winter when LeAnn and I began reading. I felt like I had made some steps to follow God in a certain area of my life, but I felt that others had shut me down. My irritation was that Christians talked about taking risks and following God, but when I began making steps I felt the Lord wanted me to take, I was either discouraged, left on my own, or told it wasn't time to take the risk. Looking back, I realize this was just part of what God needed to do in my life, that those I thought were "stopping me" weren't truly stopping me, but rather giving advice for what they thought was best for me. If anyone was stopping me, it was probably God - or perhaps it was just myself. As the months rolled on, and God matured me, I began to appreciate the book more and more each time LeAnn and I sat down on the couch together to read.
On a Biblical note: Mark's writing assumes you have a fairly good grasp of Scripture. If you've been a Christian for a long while and know many of the stories found in the Bible, you won't think twice. But if you are sort of new to the Bible or just feel unfamiliar with it, you may stumble from time to time feeling ignorant because you don't know the story that Mark is sharing. There are endnotes with the Scripture references, but I think it would have been helpful for brand new Christians who are very eager to chase the Holy Spirit but new to Scripture to either have the references more readily available, or give them a little more background to the Scriptural glances Mark occasionally makes.
On an interesting note: Wild Goose Chase was released in 2008. Just a couple of weeks ago, the church Mark planted and pastors, National Community Church, found out the theater they have used for the past several years was suddenly closing. NCC had 6 days notice. It seems that Mark and NCC are suddenly "chasing the Goose." I know with my own unpublished-and-probably-never-will-be book that God uses the very thing we write to turn around and teach us ourselves. I wonder if Mark will be reading his own book allowing God to give him and his church leadership insight on what to do next, and what cages to be careful of in these uncertain days. It will be exciting to see what NCC does and learns through this time in their church history.
On a concluding note: Because of my work with young adults, I hear of various dreams from twenty- and thirty-somethings. Dreams to be a missionary. Dreams to go to seminary. Dreams to start a business. Dreams to travel, or marry, or have kids. Wild Goose Chase will definitely be a book I refer to those who like to read and want to pursue God's dream for their lives.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
You're invited to the Bird Family Neighborhood "Trick or Treat Party!"
This Saturday night (Halloween), our family is doing something a little different. Rather than just hand candy out at the door to all of the trick or treaters, we thought it would be more fun to have some simple games, hot apple cider, snacks, and more (which, of course, includes candy) as an excuse to hang out with neighbors for a little bit. So we are cleaning out our garage, preparing the games, making food, and printing simple invites for the kids to hand out at school (which you can see above).
If you live in the Bowman Woods neighborhood, feel free to stop by for a little bit!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Simple Stuff
Don't forget the simple stuff!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Growing Up Is Harder Than Ever (How to get over extended adolescence)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
How to get over our extended adolescence.
"Grow up!” How many times have you heard the demand thrown out with vitriol, shot out of the mouth like a bullet? From childhood, we are conditioned to believe that “growing up” is worthy goal—but in reality, we're often a generation of Peter Pans stuck in a perpetual adolescence, saying “Who wants to grow up and get old?”
We are stuck in flux. We are told to explore, to create and imagine, to find the perfect job and perfect spouse ... but also that settling down is lame and for old people. Yet, there is a longing to be grown-up and be movers and shakers, not just people with ideas that can change the world but people who have the power to change the world.
Change happens quickly
Our stage of life is a unique one. According to a Yale study, two thirds of all lifetime job changes happen in the first 10 years of a working career. We are marrying later than our parents (the Census Bureau says the average age for men is 28 and 25 for women), our jobs are less stable and federal studies demonstrate that the traditional four years to graduate is no longer accurate. The old rites-of-passage are disappearing and nothing has replaced them so we are left with the question, what does it mean to grow up?
The phrase has been thrown around in so many ambiguous ways that the meaning is confused. Growing up has to be more than simply a career and marriage; there are far too many people who fulfill both of those requirements and still have the maturity of 8-year-old Max in Where the Wild Things Are.
Gina DeLapa, director of Real-World Etiquette and adjunct instructor in the University of San Diego graduate counseling program, puts it this way: “Being grown up means taking full responsibility for your life—your decisions, their consequences, how they affect other people, all of that. Being accountable. I think it means being able to support yourself and yes, able to hold down steady employment. But even more than that, I think it means being able to rise to the challenges of reality; willing to grow and even seeking it out.”
All these descriptions smell like one thing we often tried to ignore when we were kids: responsibility. When you’re young, other people are responsible for your financial well-being (even if you didn’t get an allowance, chances are you didn’t pay rent to live at home) and though your friendships were important, you hadn’t entered into state-recognized, God-sanctified contracts with them. Kids are responsible for their actions (or should be), but the commitment level is low.
“Young people feel like commitment means they are getting old,” says Brett McKay, creator of TheArtofManliness.com. “That’s what grow-ups do; they get married, get a mortgage and have kids. When you are a kid, the world’s your oyster, you have all these options. To keep options open, they keep putting things off, which end up delaying growing up.”
So does being grown-up and the respect that comes with that simply mean to lose options and live a boring life? Our generation has been told through advertising that life is meant to be “exciting” and that exciting is not sitting at home; exciting is crazy adventure, wild parties, making money, vacations, all of which are focused on the individual and little on giving back, on responsibility. Is it any wonder that we have a hard time making a cultural shift to being “grown up?”
“I think the 20’s are an extended adolescence,” says McKay. “I don’t think you should get married as soon as you’re 19, but if you are still living like you’re 18 and you’re in your 30’s, there’s something wrong. When you feel restless, like you need something more, that’s a good indicator that you need to take on some responsibility. The sad thing is, sometimes when people want to, for example, start a family, it is too late.”
Something bigger
We were meant to live for something bigger than ourselves. From the start, the first people were given the task to care for creation, to be fruitful and multiply. These are responsibilities that far superseded their limited spheres of personal happiness. This isn’t to say that personal satisfaction isn’t important; it is to say that in living for something larger, taking responsibility, we are doing what we were created for and will find true fulfillment.
So what keeps us from reaching this mythical level of getting to sit at the grown-up table? The idea of a career is changing, college education is becoming more the norm than the exception and sometimes, financially, we have dug such a hole that we are unable to take responsibilities without help from others. It is not a bad thing to need help (we all do in some way or another), but this can be a big barrier.
“No employer goes, ‘Ooh, he’s got a college degree’ any more than they say, ‘Ooh, he knows Microsoft Office,’” DeLapa comments. “So people are working harder to get through school, and when the finish, they’re deep in debt and then they may find out the degree isn’t enough. It’s hard to feel grown up when you’re living with your parents—or working the same retail job you had when you were in school.”
The solution is not simply “work hard enough to get a good job, get married, have kids and climb the ladder of success.” It’s more of a mindset, decisions that need to be made and followed through on. Like the decision to start taking responsibility for your own life. And start considering yourself grown-up.
Owning the label
Not everyone will recognize you as an adult, as “grown-up,” initially. In a generation that often struggles with entitlement, it will take hard work before others recognize growth and maturity. If we were coddled and protected as a kid, it may take some searching to truly find out who we are as adults. It may take time and that’s okay. In fact, as DeLapa notes, there really is no point where you “have arrived.”
“The term ‘grown-up’ almost implies the clay is dry, that we’ve stopped growing, which I think is scary and all too prevalent,” she says. “How many people graduate from college and never read another book? Or never expand their worldview, or deepen their faith life? Being ‘grown up’ means you’re always willing to grow and even seeking it out—hopefully as long as you live. It implies a willingness to question things, but in an honest, searching way—not in a snotty, defiant way. ‘Help me understand …’ is a whole different ballgame from ‘How come?’ or worse, just taking your ball and going home.”
There is no point of arrival, no graduation where we can flip the tassle, toss our caps and say, “We’re done!” There’s no one moment of finality; instead, there’s a process where we learn to accept responsibility, embrace commitment and begin to think of ourselves as adults instead of kids. In other words: slowly and painfully, we grow up.
Since I work with young adults, some of whom actually read this blog, I thought I'd point those of you in your 20s to an article about "extended adolescence" from Relevant Magazine.
I've been reading for a few years now that sociologists consider adolescence to be extended to age 26 or even to 30. Some are calling it "adultlescence".
For many young adults, the "marker" for adulthood is marriage. But I think it is far more important for someone to be mature BEFORE they say, "I do." I'm of the opinion that God wants us to seek Him and become mature in Christ. And that means giving up childish ways.
And for those worried about giving up video games, toys, and such - what do you think having children are for? ;o)
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
'LeaderSkilz' Pilot Epidsode
via youtube.com
Here's a GREAT short video (done very quickly according to the makers) with a helpful reminder that leaders don't micromanage, rather they should empower and release people to do what they are good at.
An added plus in my book: This was done by a couple of guys associated at the Soderquist Center, which is on the campus of my alma mater - John Brown University. Great to see quality things like this being produced from the institution that gave me my bachelor's. (This fact OF COURSE makes my degree all the more valuable and legitimate! :o)
Hopefully these guys make more of these leadership videos!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Five Octaves on the Piano (or maybe not...)
Thank you, Relevant Magazine, for this laugh today! I just embarrassed myself in the coffeeshop I'm in right now, trying to suppress my laughter, but this is so hilariously painful, that I don't care what others think of me right now.
And thank you, Shane (whoever you are) for recording this and having the guts to put it on YouTube. Even if you intentionally sang off key for humor's sake, my gut gladly hurts from the laughter.
The End?
As I continue on my journey of reading the Bible in one year, I finished the book of Mark today. The ending of Mark is wrapped in a bit of controversy. Seems some scribes were a bit uncomfortable with the abrupt ending the original manuscript seemed to have, and so they created more "complete" endings. Some endings are a bit shorter than others, and one of the longer endings became the more "accepted" ending, but the whole controversy got me thinking.
There have been times in the past when I've been uncomfortable with the place I'm in in life. I don't like the awkwardness, so I create an "ending" in my mind. I try to find an excuse for God to let me out of the situation, because "surely God wouldn't want me going through this." Yet, James 1:2-4 tells me that I should have joy when I face trials (I think awkward situations count as trials!) because that trial will produce perseverance in me, and when perseverance has it's full affect on me, I will become perfect (i.e. like Christ).
So maybe the difficult moments aren't to be escaped or brought to a false ending, but rather they should be embraced. Perhaps it is in the middle of the uncomfortableness that we find God doing exactly what He wants, operating exactly as He has planned all along.
Are you contemplating an ending to a situation, a relationship, a job, a church, or even your life? Before you quit, before you force an end, before you terminate the awkwardness, consider and pray about what God is doing. Persevere (please!). I would love nothing more than for you to move a little closer to perfection, that is Christ.
Oh, and please don't try to add an artificial end to this post...
(For more on the ending of Mark, see the NET Bible's great note explaining the controversy about the "real" ending of Mark 16.)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Are you truly called? (Francis Chan quote)
As I sit here in Coffeesmiths listening to Phil Wickham's free "Singalong" album (which I'm blown away by! I'm now a fan...), I read the following in Francis Chan's book Forgotten God. For some reason it really hit me, so I thought I'd share it here in case one or two other people needed to hear it as well.
It is true that God may have called you to be exactly where you are. But it's absolutely vital to grasp that He didn't call you there so you could settle in and live out your life in comfort and superficial peace. His purposes are not random or arbitrary. If you are still alive on this planet, it's because He has something for you to do. He placed us on this earth for purposes that He orchestrated long before we were born (Eph. 2:8-10). Do you believe you exist not for your own pleasure but to help people know the love of Jesus and to come fully alive in HIm? If so, then that will shape how you live your life in the place where you are.
Social Media Addicts Anonymous
My foray into the 21st Century has gone "well" you might say. I wouldn't say I'm addicted to Twitter (yet), but I can see how some struggle with it. (If I was following 10,000+ people, I'd probably feel like I needed to be on 24-7!) Anyway, in light of my new Twittering lifestyle, I found this video humorous, and thought someone else might also:
Monday, October 12, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Friendship in Proverbs
Did you know the book of Proverbs has LOTS to say about relationships?
Today in the BE[cause] ABF at New Covenant, we started a new "topical" series out of the book of Proverbs. I got to start the series off by looking at Relationships. We looked at five types of relationships I could find in the book: 1) God2) Others (strangers and acquaintances)
3) Family
4) Marital/Romantic/Sexual
5) Friends I made a mistake in my prep. I thought we'd skim through the first four relationships and spend the majority of our time on the fifth - Friendship. But they had much more to say about these first four types of relationships than I expected (and they had some GREAT thoughts!). We saw in Proverbs 1:7 (and again in Proverbs 3:5-6) that the foundation to living life (including relationships) is to be completely surrendered to God. So in order to live out the last four relationships, we had to have this first relationship, a relationship with God through Christ. On the topic of "others" we looked at Proverbs 3:27-30 which encourages us to not withhold good from those who need it when it is in our power to give it to them. The "Family" topic was the area that received the most discussion - this was a bigger issue than I had expected. We looked at Proverbs 4:1-2, Proverbs 6:20-22, and Proverbs 13:1 and then discussed why a twentysomething should listen to parents, and when a twentysomething single might need to NOT listen to parents. What a great discussion! We actually did skim through the Romantic/Marital/Sexual section, because we were just coming off a 3-week series on the first 3 chapters of Song of Solomon. Basically - don't fall for the seductress (i.e. don't have an affair) and stay faithful to your spouse. (See Proverbs 5:3-5 and Proverbs 5:15-18). Because 80%+ of the group is single, I encouraged them to be faithful now to the spouse they will have one day. Then the area I expected us to spend the most time got cut short. We had time to discuss what makes a good friend (but not time to get to the verses) and a fruitful-but-cut-short discussion on why God says the righteous are cautious in friendship (from Proverbs 12:26). I wish we had had more time to make it to Proverbs 17:17 about a friend loving at all times, Proverbs 17:22 about how a cheerful heart brings healing, Proverbs 18:1 which warns against isolating yourself from people, and Proverbs 22:11 which says that people with a pure heart and gracious speech are friends of the king. And if a king wants to be your friend, everyone wants to be your friend! :o)
Weekend Wrap-Up
As I headed home from church this morning, I realized I had a really good weekend:
- While it wasn't technically on the weekend, I enjoyed watching the Husker's football game on Thursday night. I have never watched a Cornhusker game quite like the Missouri game. Pouring rain, no yardage, tons of penalties, and no Husker points until the 4th quarter, where they absolutely dominated, winning the game 27-12. It was crazy! - I downloaded a GREAT iPhone app - Photoshop.com Mobile on Friday. It has a great feature set of basic photo editing options (I created the photo above with it). And it's FREE! - Friday night I led the wedding rehearsal for two friends. They met through Watershed, the city-wide young adult ministry I used to be a part of (and still miss being a part of!). The wedding was in fact held in the facility of the church that allows Watershed to meet. - We didn't have a "wedding coordinator" for the rehearsal so I was in charge of everything. While things went well, it took longer than planned and I gained a greater appreciation for the wedding coordinators I work with at New Covenant. - I really enjoyed Leadership Community on Saturday morning. Don Purdy did a great job of giving an update on our church family's Relocation Journey. And even though it was short, Kim Pagel's devotional thought on the prayer life of Jesus was a great reminder for me of the importance of prayer in the life of a Jesus-disciple. And the delicious hot breakfast of Belgian waffles was a real plus, too! - Saturday afternoon brought the wedding ceremony. It was a ton of fun! Not only did the couple and their attendants look fantastic, but Christ truly was at the center of the ceremony. It is always a joy to me to officiate the wedding of a couple who are truly seeking to follow Christ. My message was based upon the Message version of Philippians 1:9-11 because that was the passage the couple chose for their Scripture Reading. - I enjoyed teaching and leading the discussion once again in the BE[cause] ABF. We started a new series out of Proverbs. Today's topic: relationships. More on that in other post. - Then after BE[cause], I had a great conversation with a guy trying to apply his faith in his friendships, the very issue we talked about in class. - Tonight, we are going to have our weekly Family Night (moving it to Sunday from our normal Monday time slot due to a church business meeting). Next weekend already looks to be great as well - hanging out with our Equipping staff and their spouses for a mini-retreat, seeing my parents (who are coming in to watch our kids while we go on our mini-retreat), preaching in all four services at New Covenant, and enjoying time with my kids as they get a 4-day weekend.Friday, October 09, 2009
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Catalyst, Clothes, and Contentment
God seems to think I need to relearn contentment (Philippians 4:11).
1) The Catalyst Conference is meeting this week. I have told myself every year for the past 6 years that I am going to go. But each year I have a conflict. Usually it is because I've led a group of college students to the Navigators fall conference called Main Event. This year I am officiating a wedding for two friends (which I truly am looking forward to). But I still REALLY wanted to go this year. In fact, this past Spring, I was making plans to attend Catalyst with a fellow young adult pastor, and when he had to cancel our plans, I decided it was not the best to attend alone, so I went with our staff to the Leadership Summit instead (which also opened my schedule up for the wedding this weekend). But when another good friend received a free ticket to Catalyst, and he has NO clue what Catalyst really is, I found myself fighting a bit of jealousy (it doesn't help that just about everyone I seem to be following on Twitter is at Catalyst as well...). "Be content, Erin, in every circumstance..."
2) This summer I was swimming laps almost 3 times per week. I was feeling great. I lost 10 lbs. I really enjoyed it. So I mentally made plans to buy a pass to an indoor pool to continue swimming through the cooler months. However, when LeAnn and I sat down to reexamine at our budget a few weeks ago, we saw there was zero room in our budget to make it work. "Be content, Erin, in every circumstance..."
3) There have been some other areas I haven't been content in, but the tip of the iceberg (which prompted this post) came when I stood in my closet trying to decide what to wear. You'd think with the cooler temps I'd be excited about the "new" clothes I would get to wear now that the warm temps are now but a memory, but instead I just looked the perfectly good clothes in front of me and thought "I'm tired of these." That's when the next thought came - "This is ridiculous! I have SO much. Be content, Erin, in every circumstance..."
Our family sponsors 3 kids through Compassion. I wonder if they struggle with contentment. I have SO much compared to them, and yet I'm unsatisfied from time to time. I complain about not having much margin in our budget. I long for new gadgets. I get frustrated we can't afford to actually paint the walls in our house or afford decent landscaping to finish the backyard after our deck project. And yet Lucia, Rosina, and Aleki are just grateful when they get new shoes for Christmas. They're grateful for the healthy meals they receive each day. They write us saying how thankful to God they are that they have us for a sponsor. While I have never met my Compassion kids in person, I sense they are quite content with what little they have - probably because they knew how much they didn't have before being sponsored.
Thinking of our Tanzanian kids helps me be content. I can give up swimming passes and new shirts so that they can have food and an education. Giving seems to be a path for me to learn contentment. Perhaps I need to consider finding something to give to this week just to help me be content.
(I know, I can give myself a new iPhone app that will... "Be content, Erin, in every circumstance...")
Sunday, October 04, 2009
A new church metric
Outreach Magazine has produced another list for the American Church to read, learn from, envy, emulate, criticize, and more. I know Ed Stetzer (someone I'm coming to admire and appreciate more and more everyday as I follow his Twitter feed) was involved. Kent Shaffer says lists like this help others learn about church systems. And I'm sure many other devoted Christ-followers were involved in the creation of this list or benefit from this collection. But I have to confess I had a bit of a reaction when I first heard about this new Top 100 list.
In America, bigger is often hailed as better. And each year, I hear various pastors and church leaders from around the country offer counter-statements to say that it should be different in Christendom - and yet more "top 100" lists come out. A few of the people who pastor these churches have had a profound influence on me, so I'm not "anti-big church" (plus, I'm on staff at the second largest church in my city). But I wonder if we are too enraptured with the wrong metrics - giving too much attention to things that don't matter nearly as much as those numbers more inline with the movement of God.At the Sticky Conference this past year, I heard Larry Osborne say that the church he serves doesn't count "salvations" - instead, they count how many people are still with the church 6 months after making a declaration of becoming a follower of Jesus. And then they measure this number again after 1 year. And then again after 3 years. Larry reminded us that the Great Commission does not say, "Go, and make converts." It says, "Go, and make disciples." This concept really got me thinking.Recently, I read about a couple of churches that saw hundreds of people "cross the line of faith" on one Sunday, and they baptized several hundreds on that same Sunday. I truly celebrated when I read that! But how many of the new believers will still be connected to a church body 6 months from now? Knowing the churches that I heard about, I truly believe they will do everything they can to help these people become fully devoted followers of Jesus. But how many other pastors heard the numbers and envied?
On the Top 100 list (I didn't purchase the list, I saw a summary of it on Kent Shaffer's site, Church Relevance) they gave the attendance numbers over the last four years. I wonder if some saw the "declines" as bad. But image if a church of 10,000 planted 10 churches and sent 100 people with each church plant in one calendar year? And just for fun, let's say this church saw 300 people become genuine followers of Christ, but they also sent 200 people on the mission field long term. Assuming no "sheep stealing" (church growth through transfers) this church would decline in weekly attendance! While I think God would be celebrating that a church allowed Him to do such an amazing work in one year's time, I wonder if a some people would look at the raw data and wonder what's wrong.
There is probably a good argument for the existence of this Top 100 list. But perhaps it's also time for a new church metric. Rather than just counting how many seats are taken on a Sunday, maybe we need some lists sharing how many people were sent abroad. We need a list sharing how many people in their church began giving more sacrificially to the Kingdom and the community. We need a list exposing the exciting news of how many church plants were made in a year or decade out of a particular church. We need some list showing the most generous churches. I think THOSE numbers are more inline with the heart of God than just how many showed up on a Sunday.
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One more thought (this is much longer than I had intended): There may indeed be some things to learn from these churches and their teams, but maybe it would be best to teach those lessons through stories and interviews, rather than just raw data. (And because I haven't bought the list - those things may very well be in the full document.)
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As I finished up this post, I took a look at Ed Stetzer's website and saw that he blogged about this list. Reading this almost led me to NOT publish this post because I don't want to just be another one to hammer on a team that probably has good intentions, but as you can tell by the fact you are reading this, I've thrown my small (and probably insignificant) voice into the discussion.
Fly After Your Dream!
While watching some college football yesterday, I saw a commercial for the new "borderless" flat panel TV by LG. You can see the commercial above.
While I have no plans to rush out and buy this TV (my budget laughs at the very thought), I was struck by something in the commercial. I wonder how many people have dreams like the protaganist in the commercial. But they don't pursue them because everyone around, like the scoffing bird that shakes it's head, says "can't be done!" And so we sit on our island frittering away our days.
But if God has placed a dream, a vision, an idea in your heart and you just can't shake it, then you MUST pursue it! You MUST spread your wings and try to fly after the dream. Yes, there will be risks. Yes, you might fall. But wouldn't you rather live with the lessons learned through a failure than with the regret of not trying? And keep in mind - it might not fail. The vision might go even further than even YOU dreamed it could go.
So spread your wings. Get a running start. Jump and fly. Fly after your dream!
The best book (outside of Scripture) I know of on the topic of pursuing a dream is Visioneering by Andy Stanley. If you are thinking about flying, it is worth the investment to buy this book, and learn through the biblical book of Nehemiah how to fly after the vision God has placed on your heart and mind.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Original "Alive" Choreography by the Bird Girls
My girls created their own choreography to Kristian Stanfil's song "Alive." They even included their 5-year-old brother! They wanted me to make it clear that this was just a practice, and they didn't start creating it until today. :-)
A.W. Tozer's Prayer
O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, so that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long.
From The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
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Erin Bird
erin.bird@newcovenantbible.org
Young Adult Pastor
www.newcovenantbible.org
erinbird.posterous.com
Erin Bird
erin.bird@newcovenantbible.org
Young Adult Pastor
www.newcovenantbible.org
erinbird.posterous.com
Twitter: erinbbird
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