A Modern Christmas Story.

As I have said many times, I have the great privilege of working with middle school students. They are so awesome! Recently a few of my students wrote and acted in a Modern Day retelling of the birth of Jesus. Since, it is highly likely that Jesus was born to a teenager, this video is strangely compelling to think about.

Brandon the INVENTOR!

My friend Michael challenged me to take this personality test today... so I thought I would publish the results here... Do you think they fit me?


Here is how they describe my type:

"ENTPs are idea people. Their perceptive abilities cause them to see possibilities everywhere. They get excited and enthusiastic about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to others. In this way, they get the support that they need to fulfill their visions"
- Portrait of an ENTP (The Personality Page)

"It is so natural for these individuals to practice devising gadgets and mechanisms, that they start doing it even as young children. And they get such a kick out of it that they really never stop exercising their inventive bent"
- The Portrait of the Inventor Rational (Keirsey)

"ENTPs are usually verbally as well as cerebrally quick, and generally love to argue--both for its own sake, and to show off their often-impressive skills... argument as a sport."
- ENTP Profile (TypeLogic)

"ENTPs contribute an innovative, versatile, and enterprising approach to work. They view limitations as challenges to be overcome and look for new ways to do things. They need to find a niche for themselves in order to be free to maneuver. They prefer the start-up phase of a project rather than the followthrough or maintenance phase. Once the project is designed, they prefer to turn it over to someone else."
- ENTP - The Innovator (Lifexplore)

"...attention seeking, experience junky, insensitive, adaptable, not easily offended, messy, carefree, dangerous, fearless, careless..."
- Jung Type Descriptions (ENTP) (similarminds.com)

Did You Know Video

Since I have been talking about Communication a lot lately, I thought I would include one more video... it has been making the blog rounds lately... I say it on both marko's and michael's blogs...



As always, let me know what you think...

Brownsquirrel Classic Rewind: The Story Begins..

This is the first real post ever published concerning the legend of the brown squirrel...

Checking his pack again, the brown squirrel set out on his journey... He had everything, yet nothing that he needed... a strange paradox common in this time. "@#$%," he thought, "how's a squirrel supposed to find his way in the world without a map." He had a map, of course. The very same map that had been used by the travelers before him and then passed on, stained & scribbled over with "helpful" instructions by all its previous owners. The map "spoke" with all of their voices, but loudly and at the same time. Rather than helpful, the deeply layered directions nearly always led nowhere, or more to the point, led everywhere, while at the same time warning the reader not to go there...

"I wish I could look at this map without all of these scribbles," said squirrel while swearing under his breath. The frustration of so much sitting still was really getting to him, but did he dare journey onward with such great perils all around him?

Before the brown squirrel could take even a step upon the trail before him, he heard someone walking up behind him.

"Hello Friend," came the greeting from what appeared to be a wayward raccoon. The raccoon had a slick appearance, like a used car salesman, and was carrying a briefcase. Squirrel had never seen a raccoon so slick and professional looking.

"Have you lost your way?" asked the raccoon.

"Sorta," replied the squirrel, "it's just that the way is not as clear as some have said, and my map is covered with all of this conflicting directions."

"Well," snorted the raccoon, "Have no fears at all... I am an expert in these here parts... I have known them well since my birth... where is it you want to go? Hand my your map..."

The Squirrel was very uncomfortable with this raccoon... he had not asked for help, nor did he really want this over slicked "friend" to further complicate his map...

Deep inside of him the tension was building to near explosive dimensions. On the one hand, the voice of niceness was telling him that he had to be civil and friendly to this person.

On the other hand, he wanted to push him away and run. Caught in this in-between moment of life, Squirrel had no concept of the true implications of this decision. If he again allowed appropriate niceness to govern the day, he would have to forfeit his map and listen once more to the advice of another "slick perfect answer man." He had done that before, always to frustration and discouragement. What was the solution... could he run... would his conscience allow it...?

According to Legend, the squirrel ran... but I am not sure if I believe it

Larry Lessig on User Generated Content.

I found this Presentation on the website Presentation Zen. Ok... it is 18 minutes long... so you are most likely not going to watch the whole thing... though you should... but at least check out the first 2 minutes.

He starts off by talking about how the "talking machine" showed up in the early 1900's created quite a stir in its day.

"In 1906 [John Sousa] traveled to [the United Stated capital], to talk about [a] technology that he called 'the talking machines.' Sousa was not a fan of the talking machines (phonographs). This is what he had to say 'these talking machines are going to ruin the artistic development of music in this country. When I was a boy... in front of every house in the summer evenings you would find young people together singing the songs of the day, or the old songs. Today you hear these infernal machines going night and day. We will not have a vocal chord left,' Sousa said, 'the vocal chords will be elinated by a process of evolution, as was the tale of man when he came from the ape.' ... This is a picture of culture. We could descrivbe it... as a Read/Write culture. Its a culture where people particpate in the creation and the re-creation of their culture, and in that sense its read-write.

Sousa's fear was that we would lose that capacity because of these 'infernal machines.' And in its place we would have the opposite of read-write culture, what we could call a read-only culture.

A culture where creativity is consumed but the consumer is not a creator. A culture which is top-down, owned. Where the vocal chords of the millions have been lost.

Now as you look back at the 20th century, at least in what we think of as the 'developed world,' [it is hard] not to conclude that Sousa was right.

Never before in the history of Human culture had it been as professionalized... never before as concentrated... never before has the creativity of the millions been as effectively displaced, (by these infernal machines).

I think it is clear that he is right. The culture masses have forfeited their right to be creative and original for the right to be massively and passively entertained.

I think this same principal explains so much of what the Christian Church is going through in this country right now. After decade of professionalization, we are realizing that its just better when it is organic, real, and user generated than when it is professional, organized, and slick.

Where have you experienced this? What does it make you think about?

Does Church attendance really change people?

Willow has recently completed a study into how much long term church attendance actually does change people. They found that it is not causing the "guaranteed change" that they thought it was...

A lot of people have used the maxim, "I would rather have people at church for the wrong reasons, than not there at all." I heard it from my mom growing up... But I often wondered if it was really true.

Now... I would say that if by "at church" you mean "an genuine encounter with the dynamic living community of Christ on earth" ... I would have to agree... such an encounter would be beneficial to almost anyone regardless of their original intent for "attending."

BUT...

If "at church" means going to a hour long program where professional people talk and sing, tell us when to stand and sit, and the person next to you likely "doesn't know your name"... I confess I do not see the life changing potential...

I don't think it would have taken a well funded research to discover this...

Just think about it...

Jesus did not start a program but a revolution... A revolution might eventually have buildings... but it starts on the streets...

Jesus taught in the synagogues... but most of his memorable miracles and teachings were in gardens, hilltops, plains, streets, along rivers, by trees, in boats, fishing, and very prominently eating.

Jesus took the message to where people are in two ways...

1. Physically... he took it to their location, rather than inviting them to his location. Even the disciples, first he went to them, before he ask them to Follow him.

2. Culturally... Jesus spoke and illustrated things in the vernacular of his time period and audience. He explained himself using recognizable images.

The world will not be "rescued" by coming to us...

We need to go out.



Who do you know that really gets this... what are they doing?

Presentation overload... or good graphics?

So I went to the catalyst conference this year. They do everything there to the extreme. I enjoyed it but found myself wondering whether I was draw into the worship by them... or distracted from the worship by them.

I realize that this clip fails to capture the essence of being there... but what are your thoughts on the pluses and minuses... benefits and drawbacks to using really stunning visuals as part of the worship experience.

The paradox of well meaning nostalgia...

I was reading Seth Godin's Blog the other day and came across an interesting article about a band that really capture a truth about the church.

Seth writes:

Twenty years ago, the Cowboy Junkies released close to a perfect breakthrough album. It sold a bazillion copies.

Every since, they've been touring ... as they've released almost twenty records, none of them monster hits in the US. The paradox occurs at their concerts... when they play one of the old hits, the crowd goes wild.
The people most likely to come to their concerts are the ones most likely to encourage them to become an oldies act.

...the fans create the paradox. The fans, the ones that should be cheering on the hits and the misses, the ones that should be demanding the next thing, they are the ones that create the paradox, because they're the ones that cheer loudest for the old songs...

This was really interesting to me because I run across it so often in the church. Most of the best churches start off by doing some cultural analysis of their unique community and then forming a church that is a natural expression of the Body of Christ in that community.

This is not a bad thing... it is what we are supposed to do... It is a simple incarnational reflection of what Jesus did when he came to the earth...

Something wierd happens as good churches age though...


Seth sums it up this way:

Your current customers want nothing but the old stuff, but the new customers don't know you exist, so they can't speak up.

Seth rightly identifies that often it is the strongest fans, customer or congregates who can cause an organization or church to become irrelevant and decline.

The more we demand the ways things were... the further we distance ourself from reaching the community that we co-exist with today...

When churches lock into a particular culture or expression, and link it to the gospel, they become incarnations of the pharisees who held to tradition rather than embracing the living expression of God that was right in front of them...

Everyone accepts that the Bible must be translated into new languages... but we need to realize that it needs cultural translation as well...

Where have you seen this principal at work for good or bad?

Turkey day fun...

For thanksgiving Emily and I had a lot of guests. My Brother Cory, his wife Vicky, their two daugters Zoe and Ainzley, and their dog Chewy, along with My mom and dad all were hanging out in Emily and my house for 4 nights of awesome family time.

Total= 3 dogs, 2 infants & 6 adults in a 3 bedroom ranch... NOT Bad at all... there were not fatalities and lots of fun times had.

This time with my family made me consider how thankful that I am for them, even the ones who are dogs...

Favorite moments:

-Watching Emily play guitar hero!
-seeing Ainzely play with the dogs...especially Francis,
-Holding Zoe,
-Getting to hug Ainzely goodnight
-Time off of work.
-Being with people who know you...
-Watching Izzy fight with Chewy
-A few glasses of good wine
-Seeing the pictures of Trent and Julie's new Baby
-Some awesome conversations about life and what is important
-Hearing about the ministry Cory and Vicky are going to be involved with
-Thanks giving dinner with both Emily and my family together
-Working with Cory and my Dad to build a corner cabinet
-staying up late playing Halo and Guitar Hero with Cory,
-Hosting loved ones with Emily!



All in all a good weekend.

Wendy Shalit, Author of "Girls Gone Mild" on youtube.

This is great advice and a little taste of why you should read "Girls Gone Mild"

Changes.... I can feel it in the water...

The World is changing... or has changed.

I think that these are some critical changes that make these times confusing...
-

We are Post Christendom...

The culture is no longer Christian, and the metaphors that people use to explain life have shifted and are largely un-informed by the Biblical Narrative.

-There is a elevated amount of religious bickering and name calling.

Not that this has not always existed, but in my life time, there seems to be more polarized religious camps. Anecdotally I have witnessed this myself, and know of nearly no Christian who has not been effected by Christian name calling and division recently. Labels like: postmodern, modern, emergent, established, etc.

-Language and cultural upheaval:

The cultural values have changed faster than we have. Communication technologies have connect the world, but the church is not keeping up on the information and technology curve. Where we used to have a voice that we used to gain justice for the marginalized... many of our traditions now are viewed to be marginalizing to woman, homosexuals, not to mention polarizing politically, racially, and in regard to gender. How do the good news of liberation and freedom in Jesus day, become so oppressive sounding to so many in these days?

-Technological revolution:

Like it or not, technology is closing the communication game. While we still do not have flying cars, who needs one when you can set up a visual teleconference with people from all over the world at the same time.

-Marketing Overload.

.. changes the methods of gospel presentation. But I have already posted about this...

-Different questions driving culture:

I feel like today people are driven by a different set of questions than before. What questions do you think people are asking today? Where are they searching for meaning?

-Globalism:

Thomas Friedman says the world is flat, and he is largely right. A church now must contend with ideas and influence from all over the world. Mom and Pop are out, and World Market took their place... Along with multinational conglomarates. This means that people are able to interact with ideas from all over the world... and it forces us to interact with them as well...


That is my list of "issues" we face... It is not comprehensive... What is you top five issues the church must face into?

Marketing burnout and the Death of the Gospel "presentation". (rough draft)

I am a marketing cynic... Whenever I am watching TV, driving, answering the phone for tele-marketers, getting my carpet vacuumed for free by a actual door to door salesman, walking through the mall, watching movies, or even the 15 minute run up to actually being able to watch a DVD that I purchased I am struck by how sick of marketing that I am. I am not alone either... do you think anyone really wishes there were more billboards or more adds before the menu comes up on a DVD?

I have an allergic reaction to the sales pitch.

In a strange coincidence my allergies also go crazy in churches, Christian bookstores, evangelistic meetings, christian concerts, or even just listening to christians talk. Sometimes in the middle of a sentence I realize I am even allergic to my own christian slogans...

I do not think I am alone here either.

Could it be that the further we position the story of God from the marketing schemes of the world, which over promise and under deliver, the better? Maybe instead of buying into the communication philosophy of commercialism and get rich or happy quick products, we should do our best to offer a real solution that stands on its own merits and does not need to be propped up like the wooden idols of Isaiah's day.

I think Jesus can stand on his own... and that the best marketing we can do is truly living and loving like he did... that would be viral...

I am all for sharing Jesus and his love with other people...I just don't want to do it like a high pressure salesman anymore...

Do I really want people to feel like I have sold them a used car that they didn't want with monthly payments they can't afford after I leave...

My suggestion is that we stop patting each other on the back about how many times we have "presented" the "simple gospel" or the "x # of spiritual laws" and start doing the hard work of learning to live and love like Jesus in this post-christian culture...

if our live does not make them ask, then we have nothing to say anyway...

In the mean time... can someone pass the allegra?

"GIRLS GONE MILD": A fresh look at modesty.

I recently asked some middle school students to define the word "Modesty" and they acted like I was speaking a different language. It was like they had never heard the word before, and based on the way that many in our culture live, I would say we have lost not only the word, but the whole concept of Modesty. It seems that the very idea of holding anything back is somehow offensive to our culture.

There seems to be some loud voice telling everyone to cast off all restraint and go "wild..." especially if the camera is watching.

Well... there is a cost to all this "freedom." Wendy Shalit has written a book called "Girls Gone Mild" where she articulately chronicles some of the effects that she has observed in her research.

Her first chapter entitled "HI Slut" makes some great points about this issue. Here are a few:

"To some baby boomers, it seemed, modesty is much worse than adultery"

"Although we live in a supposedly liberated age, our hysterical witch-hunting of those who question our ideal of recreational sex suggests something else: that our liberation does not extend quite as far as we imagine."

"Today many young women feel oppressed by the expectation that they will engage in casual sex, just as their mothers once felt oppressed by the expectation that they would be virgins until marriage."

What do you think?

How would you define modesty?

What motivation would you give to a young person to be modest?

Check out her website here or read the first chapter of her book here

Better yet, buy the book here

Blogging, disclaimers, and drive by "confrontation"

OK... I must be a little bit desirous of trouble because I blog my inner thoughts on the internet for the whole world to see. Being a pastor of at a church, and working with students and parents makes blogging an especially hazardous pastime. Yet, I still do it, which means I must desire the conflict on some deep repressed level of my subconsciousness.

I have thought a lot about this, especially lately, because a few people have been offended by various things I have endorsed, mentioned or opined about. I am always a little surprised when this happens... and I am not sure why. Today I got a phone call from someone who was very upset about my Blog... upset enough to call and leave me a long message about it...

Unfortunately their message also indicated that they will be out of town for a few weeks and would not be able to talk about it until then...

Anyway... all of that got me to thinking...

1. Should I have a blog as a pastor?

2. If so... how much should I censor what I write about... or reveal about myself and my thoughts.

3. Is there a way that I could truly write a disclaimer strong enough to somehow lesson the connection between "my ideas and thoughts" and "official Elmbrook policy and belief"

4. What things have I written about which were offensive to people? Was the offense avoidable?

5. How do we deal with conflict over ideas and new technology in a way that minimizes discord within the Church community?


What do you think?

Squirrel siting...

Squirrel Reader and relative Mike has used his crazy awesome paparazzi skills to capture the squirrel out on the town... or tree stump as the case may be. Sources close to the squirrel mentioned that he is prone to binge eating in the fall time, and that perhaps the publicity of this picture might help him get help.

Peeps: Explosive Peer Pressue

Phil gives into peer pressure with explosive results.

Help Me Decided...

I thought it would be fun to involve the loyal readers in a little slice of my life. I have a winter retreat coming up for our Middle School group and have to figure out which design to go with.

I like both.

SO which do you prefer?



Sno Rodeo is the Mosaic Middle School Ministry winter camp. This year's theme is "The Rise of the Ordinary Hero". We will explore how students don’t have to be “Extra-ordinary” to make a difference in their world, because we serve a “Extra-ordinary” God, who uses ordinary people. When connected to this super God everyone can make the world better for someone almost every day.








This is another option that I considered...

Peeps: Making New friends is hard.

Sometimes it's hard to make new friends. Phil the peep and Francis the puppy look like they are going to be friends

Peeps Video... some things are worse than being alone.

We have some strange things we do to make a point.

Paul thanks for asking... I am right here.



(PS... Paul is an awesome photographer)

Scandalous

So a few observant readers have noted that the picture on this blog is actually of red squirrel and not a brown squirrel. Who knew... but the whole town is buzzing with the scandal...


Fear not all you avid brown squirrel readers... (both of you)... this will not discourage his legendary-ness... but the adventure will continue...

after all... the color in the adventure was never about the official color of the squirrel...

but about the squirrels true colors...

which remain unabashedly brown...

Painfully true...

(image: www.despair.com)

Awesome ministry Insight from John Stott...

Several weeks ago I heard a mp3 of John Stott's Final address. Stott has been a stalwart of evangelical faith for half a century, and to be honest I was not expecting much from the message. My own cynical struggles aside, I was quite surprised when the message held some incredible and timely wisdom for the church.

I will lay out what I thought was the most significant stream of thought in it... but feel free to read it for yourself and tell me what I missed.

I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth and it is – God wants His people to become like Christ. Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.

[There is a] sense in which the Incarnation was not unique: the amazing grace of God in the Incarnation of Christ is to be followed by all of us. The Incarnation, in that sense, was not unique but universal. We are all called to follow the example of His great humility in coming down from heaven to earth.

[In] his commissioning in John 17 [Jesus] says ‘As the Father sent me into the world, so I send you.’ These words are immensely significant. This is not just the Johannine version of the Great Commission but it also an instruction that their mission in the world was to resemble Christ’s mission. In what respect? The key words in these texts are ’sent into the world’. As Christ had entered our world, so we are to enter other people’s worlds.

This entering into other people’s worlds is exactly what we mean by incarnational evangelism. All authentic mission is incarnational mission. We are to be like Christ in his mission.

Why is it, you must have asked, as I have, that in many situations our evangelistic efforts are often fraught with failure? Several reasons may be given and I do not want to over-simplify but one main reason is that we don’t look like the Christ we are proclaiming.

John Poulton, who has written about this in a perceptive little book entitled A today sort of evangelism, wrote this:

‘The most effective preaching comes from those who embody the things they are saying. They are their message. Christians need to look like what they are talking about. It is people who communicate primarily, not words or ideas. Authenticity gets across. deep down in side people, what communicates now is basically personal authenticity.’

What thoughts does this generate for you?

Systems are more important that mission statements...

This was the main point of a talk by Andy Stanley at catalyst. I was really engaged by the concept. Marva dawn has written a whole book on how human systems are effected by sin and create injustice. But for the purpose of church leadership, here are Andy's points that I liked.

Systems create behaviors...

Preaching and Cool environments do not create behaviors; systems create behaviors.

A system is the way that your organization gets things done, or fails too.

The system you adopt will impact what staff and volunteers do... 80% of your problems are most likely related to systems...

For Example: If people in your church are not inviting people.... it is because there is a system that is creating that behavior... an announcement does not do this.. nor a video... nor _______

Your church is a combination of multiple systems... if you don't fix them, you will spend time blaming people, firing people, and never figure out why things don't change.

if you dont address things on the system level, nothing changes...

Components of a Good system (or lack of):
1. Expectations / rules...
2. Rewards (or lack of...)
3. Consequences... (or lack of...)
4. Communication, (style and content...)
5. Behavioral patterns (of those in charge...)

Look at those five things and ask what are the expectations in our organizations... (what do we reward... )

In any organization, what's rewarded is repeated.

---> Missions statements are less significant than systems....

--->Your staff is doing what you have led and rewarded them to do...


1. This principal explains why it is so difficult to transition an organization...

2. If a new leader casts a new vision and never addresses old systems, nothing changes.

Change the system... change the organization...

IF you create a context in which leaders are free to lead, and you will attract leaders...



Three Questions that we need to ask ourselves as we explore this stuff...

1. What are the behaviors that we wish characterized our people and organization?

2. List one thing we are doing systematically to encourage them?
-What are we doing in the rhythm of our organization to get it?

3. List the things you are doing to encourage wrong behavior?

Onslaught: a provocative Video on Beauty...

So I saw this video the other day... It was made as part of Dove's Campaign for true beauty and it really impacted me. I am still trying to figure out how and when and if it can be useful in a church context working with Middle school students...

Would you use it, and in what context, and for what purpose?






I found this video on MarkO's blog...

Catalyst Conference

I am at the Catalyst conference in Atlanta, and I was going to live blog each session, but I can't since the WIFI here does not work... SO... now you are going to only get a few thoughts from the day....

One of my favorite authors, Patrick Lencioni, was talking about Jobs that suck this morning. He said this...

I talk to some managers who tell me that they do not take a personal interest in their employees because they just are not interested. They don't want to know the details of their lives. This may sound bad, but it is really ok. Organizations have many roles that work fine with an individual contributer. However, to be a manager requires that we care about the people who work for us... If we do not care about the people we manage we need to be an individual contributor... not a manager... The power of getting to know people is truly great....

My favorite speaker of the day was Francis Chan. He said many great things. These are a few of the best quotes:

"You can be a very successful pastor without loving anyone... I really do love my people... but this is a new thing for me... I could preach great sermons and was an awesome pastor and grew a church for a long time, but did it without loving God or People. I was not in love with God or these people... but man was I a good pastor."

I was talking to my wife and I realized that if Jesus had a church in SIMI valley... Mine would be bigger... if Paul had one... mine would be bigger....in fact, I am more popular than Jesus.

We were about to build a 60 million dollar building... but we stopped... wouldn't it be a better picture of Jesus to the community to feed the poor than to to build another church building.

Izzy is growing up...

I love my dogs... though on occasion, they do eat one of my favorite things.... such as my $80 mac power cord, or ipod speakers, or my favorite sandals.... they really are a person best friend.

Izzy is at a cute stage... basically from the moment we come in the door she follows us around... until we leave.... all day... all night she is like 6 inches from us. Sorta cute...

Television Evangelist RAP!

Ran into this on youtube... I think that most would agree about television evangelists, but it made me think again about how many negative stereotypes the Church has to overcome to be effective. The problem of course is that so many of them are based on some degree of truth...

Brandon's Story of God Project.

These images are from a curriculem on the Old Testament that I am writing. (except for the picture of the ark of the covenant which I barrowed from http://www.mishkanministries
.org/theark.php)

I thought it would be cool to post on of my stories and get some feedback. It is a little long, but I would love to know what you think!

This is the episode which bridges the Old and New testament.






SIGNS
A new star appeared in the sky, it's light shining in the darkness of the night unnoticed by the world below. As the stars in the evening sky looked down on Israel, this new star seemed particularly interested in the events unfolding below. The people scurried to and fro unaware of the part they would play in what would soon transpire. The signs were all around them, but the struggles of daily survival were great, and most of humanity was unaware of the strange movements taking place in the heavens. There were some, however, who found great meaning in the movement of the stars. Deep in the east, a gathering of Magi, or wise men, watched the night skies trying to discern the meaning of these movements. Something big was coming.

Life was not good in Israel. Even though the Israelites had returned to their land and rebuilt their walls and temple, things were not like they once were. Israel was located on a very strategic route connecting the northern Mediterranean territories to the southern. In times of peace this roadway brought merchants and money, but these were not peaceful times and Israel had become the highway for conquerors and their armies. As they passed through the land, soldiers took whatever they wanted from the people, be it food, possessions, or other unspeakable things far more precious.

Powerful countries met for their wars on Jewish soil and turned the Israelites' homeland into a battle ground. The toll was mounting, but Israel felt powerless to stop it. Israel's land was simply too strategic to ignore so they were forced to serve one kingdom after another in ruthless succession. First it was Babylon, then Persia, then Egypt, then Alexander the Great and the Greeks, and finally Caesar Augustus and the Roman Empire. Each country had its own demands, but all made life hard for the people living in Israel. They dreamt of freedom; of the day when their God would make things right again. They were tired of paying taxes to fund the military ambitions of the latest superpower to conquer them. They were tired of the lack of respect given to their God and their land. They longed for the old days when David sat on the thrown and God fought for them. The days when the land flowed with milk and honey ... and laughter.

The Prophets of God spoke of a coming Messiah; a King who would be like David. He would deliver the people and inaugurate a new day of peace and prosperity. All of Israel longed for this Messiah to come and to save them. "Concerning this [coming] salvation, the prophets ... searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit ... in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of [the Messiah] and the glories that would follow ..." Little did the prophets know that they were not alone in their search. Even [the angels in heaven] long to look into these things.

The words of the Prophets were like seeds in fertile ground, and the legends of the coming Messiah spread like an uncontrollable fire. The idea of the Messiah became the answer to every struggle the Israelites faced and they thought that when he came all their problems would be over. They could imagine him marching down the streets of Jerusalem like a triumphant King returning victorious from battle. At first, all of Israel waited expectantly, passionately pleading with God to send their Messiah. Now, after 400 years without another word from God, the people were starting to wonder if he would ever come. They began to doubt the words of the Prophets. Contrary to their hopes, things were not getting better but worse. But the Prophet's words were not empty and unseen by human eyes events of great importance were shaping up.

Meanwhile, a great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon ... Something big was coming.

Echo the Story.

My friend Michael has been working on a project that seeks "to recapture this sacred art of biblical storytelling, inspiring new generations to find themselves in God's Story." (Check out his site: Echo the Story)

In his words:

We use a process called Storying (short for Chronological Bible Storying) - a sequential telling of Bible stories followed by a time of review and dialogue. Derived from the ancient Hebrew way of learning, Storying was rediscovered a few decades ago by missionaries who are now using this method extensively around the world. Recently, storying is also proving to be effective with youth and adults in our media-literate, story-oriented North American context.
The purpose of Storying is to create an environment for us to connect with God through His Story.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to train at a youth conference with Michael and we used his storying process and a Biblical story set that he had written. It really brought a lot of things together in my understanding of the Bible and ministry. I grew up on sonlife strategy, but when I looked at its basis as a mature adult, I could not find just one "strategy" in Jesus life that was also meant to be the instruction book for us to follow "religiously" today. Jesus basically said rely on the Holy Spirit and live like me in total dependence on the Father. Finding a 3.5 year replicable strategy in his life does not seem to be the point.

Having grown up with this as an assumption, I began struggling to find a framework through which to understand ministry. There were lots of things that helped me to find a proper framework, but the idea of the "Story of God" has been the main piece that reconstructed my deconstructed faith.

As I worked with Michael and saw the amazing way in which this process formed Christ in students. As a middle school Pastor I was inspired by Michael's vision and have started working my way through the bible and writing my own story set. Mine are not as good as the ECHO ones... but the process has been priceless for me, and now the story of God is the framework that helps me think through my ministry every day.

The Echo stories are available from Michael's website here:

Halo 3... is it too wild at heart? (John Eldridge style...)

I have some amazing friends. As a result of one of my amazing friends I have been playing Halo 3 on a Halo 3 themed Xbox 360 for the last 3 days or so. The game is great, and lives up to the hype about the series. For a long time I have said that I would have bought an xbox if Halo was the only game that it played. While I enjoy the campaign, it is really the multiplayer version that I love the most. I love shooting and being shot, blown up, crushed, etc by my good friends!

This all brings up an interesting divide within Christian values. The game is rated M for violence. Some have powerfully argued that this makes it off limits to Christians and especially teens. I have to admit that I grew up playing guns, A-team, and video games to boot. I loved starwars and have had hundreds of light saber fights with cousins and brothers over the years. (While I should be all grown up by now, i have to admit that I have had many lightsaber fights in the Gym where I work with students who come there on Wed during lunch.) Once when I was reading Wild at heart, I was impressed that these type of things is how boys have always played, and that video games are the "cops and robbers" of the current day. I think I mostly agree with this. All of these factors lead me to think that there is nothing wrong with Halo 3... or many other games that involve guns and warfare.

On the other hand, there are other games that involve violence against police officers, or rampant sexuality. I feel that these sort of games are in a different category than war themed games.

What do you think? Where would you draw the line and why?

IDK my BFF, Rose?

ok... this is just sad. I am actually happy that At&t made a new BFF commercial. Watching it was sorta like watching a new episode of you favorite TV show... sorta like a really short sitcom... 31 seconds an episode.

Hopefully the put out a few more!

Facebook or Myspace... or neither? Do you do the social networking?

I love Demetri Martin... this is his hilarious report on social networking... check it out if you have time.

AS for me... I started off as a myspace person... but now I am a Facebook junkie... Thought I still have both, I prefer the interface on Facebook... it is a little less cluttered. I also like that for right now I get less junk there, and have been able to actually use it in helpful ways.

What is your preference and why?


DO you think Facebook and Myspace represent the end of the world as we know it? (I feel fine...?)

Homelessness in America.

Not everyone gets the same opportunities... I wonder if I would do more about issues like this if my house was not insulated against the weather as well as it is...

Or... if I had students who lived in conditions like this...

Micro Community in a Mega-Church

I work at a large church. There are much bigger churches out there, but for our community, we are the "Mega-church" I do not think this is a good of bad thing... it just is the way things are.

I have to admit that I like being a part of a big church for the following reasons:

1. a greater variety of spiritual gifts become useful.

2. the reach of the network of influence can be greater.

3. the ability to truly shape the community you are part of can be stronger.

4. There is room for staff to be humans and not have to work 60 hrs a week for half of a fair salary.

5. There can be more diversity, although this is not guaranteed.

6. There is not the temptation to feel that fellowship means knowing everyone… thus there is more freedom to settle into a small group know them deeply.

It is this last point that has me thinking today. Because I am part of a large church, I do have a small group which I love. Sometimes I think my job as the pastor of a Big church is to help people get into small micro-communities with in the larger body here. This church only feels big until you know a few people, then it feels like home.

Charlie made some awesome comments about this recently here:

Here are a few highlights of his thoughts:
"So here’s what happened: Leslie invited anyone she wanted…I counted at least forty people surrounding the hot tub on the deck. I welcomed people, talked briefly about what baptism signifies & prayed. Leslie read her testimony through many tears. People from the crowd affirmed Leslie by calling out Christian attributes in her life. Then Summer baptized her…we cheered…I prayed…we had a great lunch.
I found myself wondereding today if 40 people gathering at a house, celebrating new life in Christ, eating together, talking, sharing in their life — I saw two people praying together later in the day — I wonder if this is more “church” than sitting in a seat to see a great performance and hear an “inspiring” message (I use the word “inspiring” on purpose) and then heading out to lunch afterwards with the same 2-3 people that you rode to church with. I know that I work at a megachurch…and I’m not knocking it…I just wonder sometimes if maybe our goal should be to make people’s experience a lot more like the one I had today."

Global Warming is a Hoax*

*this is definitely one of the most provocative headlines I have seen Newsweek run.

Here is the article if you want to read it.

Here is what is really bothering me about this issue: Why do so many Christians deny its truthfulness? Is it because we have done any real research about it, or is it because of our strong connection with other conservatives and Republicans on issues such as abortion? Or... is there something I am missing on this?

I think that "conservative" and "liberal" are such useless labels sometimes. Issues need to be considered thoughtfully regardless of which party presents them.

So which is it:

a. Many Christians deny global warming because they are aware of good scientific research that refutes it
b. Many Christians deny global warming because it is not a "conservative issue"
c. Very few Christians actually deny global warming.
d. None of the above

I personally like Rat's opinion on the source of Global warming.

iPhone price cuts deep.

There are articles all over the web right now about apples unexpected cut in the price of the iPhone. I think it is fascinating on many levels. It sorta reminds me of a story in the Bible about labors in a field. A manager needed some labors to work for him, so he hired some in the morning, but still needed more. He then hired more through out the day. At the end of the day, he paid them all the same. Those who had worked a whole day were outraged feeling that they deserved more. However, they had received exactly what they agreed to work for. Is this fair? Probably depends on your perspective.

I was shocked by the backlash of people feeling ripped off. They agreed to a certain price and got exactly what they paid for. If apple later decided that they now want to offer the same thing for a lessor price, I struggle to see where someone who paid more has the right to a "refund." It is sorta like haggling in Mexico. If you think you got a great deal on something, do not stick around the tent. If you do the next person will likely get the same thing for $5 cheaper, and now the shirt you would have paid $50 for in the USA but got for $15 seems like a rip off.

I am not really sure the moral of the story? What do you think?

Stardust: Movie Review

Last weekend, Emily and I saw the movie Stardust. She was not convinced that she would like it since fantasy movies are more my thing, but I convinced her to go anyway.

I have been really excited about this movie ever since I saw the trailer a few months ago and I have to say it did not disappoint. It is really a coming of age story which features the adventures of Tristan, a normal young man who is trying to secure the love a beautiful but non-interested young lady name Victoria.

Tristan and the young lady are having a light night chat when they see as falling star fly over. Tristan promises to retrieve this star for the woman in order to secure her love, and thus sets off on his journey.

When he arrives at the site where the star lands, he finds that the star is in fact a young lady who has been knocked from the heavens. She is magical, and everyone wants to capture her for their own use. Tristan wants to take her so he can win the heart of his beautiful crush, some witches want to eat her heart so they can have eternal youth, 4 sons of a king want to capture her in order to secure their ascent to Kingship, and the whole kingdom is full of others who would happily profit from selling her to any of these purposes.

What is fasinating to me, is that Tristan is ignorant but noble. He is blind to the wrongness of his taking the star for his own purposes, but genuinely does not mean to harm her. He simple feels he needs her to fulfill his pledge to Victoria. As the movie progresses he is awakened to his foolishness and becomes the Star's protector. It is an awesome journey to watch him go from a selfish wide eyed youth to a selfless, noble and sacrificial hero.

This theme is significant to me because of my Christian Faith. While the movie does not claim any Christian ties, the idea of coming of age and taking responsibility for ones actions is a huge part of the faith journey. Most people enter life very self centered and ignorant of the needs and desires of others around them. Often we are tempted to use people for what we can gain from them without considering what is best for them. It is indeed a mature day when we discover this self centered existence is the opposite of how Jesus is presented in the Bible as a "Humble" God. As a Christian I am called to consider others needs more important than my own, but all too often I see others as a way of meeting my needs. On this level this movie was very moving and convicting. It made me think about who in my life I was trying to manipulate rather than love and serve.

This is only a few of the things I liked about the move (Robert Deniro is brilliant!). If you liked the Princess Bride I am fairly confident you will like this movie as well.

My Take: It was a magical experience and I loved it.

Me... on the radio... sorta...

Last week Mel, my Sr pastor asked me to sit down and do an interview about students and going back to school. If you are in the mood you can check it out here:

http://www.cometothebrook.org/

Internal Personality Conflict Syndrome

I have a neurosis... ok admittedly it is one that I have made up myself... but I still think it counts.

I find that I am restless way more than I think is normal. I am not an expert, and have done no real research, but I just sorta feel like most people are not as restless as I am.

When I am with people... I often find myself longing for more alone time... if I am alone... I am almost immediately struck by crashing waves of loneliness... it is like I am an unstable fusion of an introvert and an extrovert. I feel like this would make for a really funny movie, but I must admit it isn't always quite as funny in real life.

Here are some examples:

...Sometimes my office will fell oppressive, so I will go to Caribou to work... and as soon as I am sitting and working... I feel like I am so distracted that I would be better off in my office...

...Often I will stop working on something and schedule some "group" time to collaberate on it... but once I am in the "group" I just want it to be done so I can work on it by myself

...Sometimes I go into a store to but something... the whole reason I have driven across town is just for this purchase... then when I get to the store... I will decide that it couldn't possibly be worth it... and not buy it... by the time I am home again, It is all I can do to not turn around and go back... which I sometimes do and then get half way home and wonder if I could return my purchase...



All of this to say, I most of me is pretty sure have Internal Personality Conflict Syndrome and I am afraid that I am the only one who does... But I half want to be alone with it...

maybe there is a group I can join for people like myself... that has lots of very short meetings.





Let me know if you also think I am crazy.

The Story of Jesus

So I am working on writing a 25 episode narrative curriculum about Jesus... I promise it is more exciting than it sounds.


Here is my problem though... the 4 gospels are not easy to wrestle into a simple narrative outline.

SO here is where you come in. If you were going to try to outline the life of Jesus, and were limited to 10 events... what would your outline be?


I will publish my full outline and my short list in a future post.

The Roof is Done!

Everything went great and we finished the roof at 8pm on Sunday.

Special thanks to:

Rainer

Bob

Gery

Emily

Moni

Kyle

Drew

Jason

Katy

Dan

Ashlyn

Claude

Jerry

Caleb

Joshua

Brian

Joy

Thom

Mike

Wendy

Megan

Chrissy

Curtis

Becky

Nick

Alex

Nick

BP

Dale

Art

Chris