Really? Really? We can’t do better?

Some things I’ll never understand if I live to be a 100 and this is one of those things…Why do a cartoon that has absolutely nothing to do with religion or Christianity need a Jesus voice? And out of all the people in the world guess who the voice of Jesus will be? You got it! Lil’ Wayne, he will be providing the voice of Jesus in the new cartoon “Freaknik.”

In order to understand this you must understand what “Freaknik” was you should understand its origins. Freaknik was an annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, primarily of students from historically black colleges and universities, begun in 1982. Atlantans’ reception of the festival was mixed. In its heyday, the fest attracted upwards of 250,000 revelers to the city. Many residents attended and enjoyed Freaknik, and others complained about traffic congestion due to street parties. City leaders eventually took measures to curtail Freaknik’s accessibility, and hence its popularity. As a result, Freaknik moved to Memorial Drive in Dekalb County then Daytona Beach, Florida and was shut down soon after there arrival for spinning out of control.

The show, which is a 1-hour musical, will be airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim in March and is said to feature many guest rapper’s, including Lil Wayne as the voice of Jesus Christ, who will be performing a music video for “Ghetto Commandments.”

The creative director of Adult Swim, tried to explain the shows concept and the rappers involvement. “Basically it was a Black Spring Break that went down in Atlanta and got shut down back in ‘98 or ‘99. So the show is going to resurrect that, and it’s going to be starring T-Pain and Lil’ Wayne and all these other artists like David Banner and some other dudes. It’s all drawn, and T-Pain plays the ghost of Spring Break, the Spirit of Freaknik. He brings this party back to Atlanta and the artists have done all this music for it, and it’s amazing.”

Outsiders View

“You have never met a mere mortal: You have either known an immortal horror or an eternal splendor”

~ C.S. Lewis “The Weight of Glory”

Now that I’m not in “full-time” professional ministry I’ve had the great opportunity to work directly with many people who are not Christians, don’t like Christians and sometimes hate us. I have asked some of them to share there story and there real view of Christians. Why you may ask? Given my testimony I have a passion for the outsider, though Christ seems to be drawing me to the “older b rother” (focus on vs. 25 – 32), and that passion leads me into some extremely interesting conversations. I’ve learned that each person has a story, a journey, and what many theologians call….. baggage. I honestly want you to hear there perspectives and join me in realizing how far we have to go. Honestly, most of you that read this probably feel that you are on mission and I’m not here to tell you otherwise but a constant reminder of why the message that we bring is so unpalatable to so many. I love those who will be sharing with us and I pray that you will join me in praying for them and our reactions to there perceptions (right of wrong) of those of us who follow Christ.

and how was your Christmas?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apWrS2uPBTg]

In perhaps one of the more spectacular YouTube performances of 2009, a child opens his Christmas present, an Xbox 360, and is transported to another dimension. Honestly, the only sane one in the room in the dog, no seriously watch and listen closely.

Honestly, I pray that your Christmas and New Year will be one that you remember. If you are in pain (spiritually, personally, physically, ect.) please remember that there is nothing that our God has allowed that won’t eventually lead to our joy and His glory.

I love you each, more than you’ll ever know.

Christless, expounding on nothing…

I love that a whole crop of young men and women that are passionate about the Gospel of Christ and sharing it everywhere. I have wanted to share this for awhile and hope that you enjoy this short clip of Pastor Matt Chandler and check yourself as your lead and teach others towards Christ

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5YzI7b92L8]

This was an excerpt from a sermon called “A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep”
from the 2009 Desiring God Conference for Pastors please download and watch the rest of the sermon @ http://www.desiringgod.org/…

the “elephant in the Church”

I think it is about time to take on the “elephant in the Church”. The elephant in the Church (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, elephant in the kitchen, etc.) is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored. It is based on the fact that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to overlook…it is called PORN. There are some scary statistics out there, especially when it comes to those who are believers in Christ. I guess deep down inside all we want is to know that everything is going to be all right. We ask ourselves the question…is there something wrong with me because I am struggling with pornography? If you are not asking that question you should examine your motives. With this issue comes a lot of shame and guilt. It’s a dirty little secret that you can’t let out and in the meantime you feel like pond scum. For men we have three main facts:
1. We all love to look at nude women (yes, I just said this on t church site).
2. We have all looked at nude women.
3. We all know where we can find pictures of nude women.
The question is what are you going to do about the facts? We can simply accept the facts and give into our flesh, or we can live a life of integrity and avoid the pitfalls and traps of Internet pornography. This is every man’s battle. Porn is a lie. Porn tries to tell you what sex should feel like, sound like, and look like. Porn is simply fantasy designed to do one thing- keep you inclusive to yourself. Porn will destroy the relationships around you, as you pull away because of your dirty little secret. As you consume porn, it becomes your life, and you will eventually lose your choice to the addiction. Stop now! Do it for yourself. Do it for your eventual wife. Do it for the kids you will have one day. Do it because it’s the right thing to do.

Facts and Stats
– Last year more money was spent on purchasing pornography the the United States spent on foreign aid (12 billion vs. 10 billion)
– Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball, and basketball franchises.
– US porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, & NBC (6.2 billion).
– Child pornography generates $3 billion annually.
– Average age of first Internet exposure to pornography = 11 yrs old
– Largest Consumer of Internet Pornography = 12 – 17
– Christians who say porn is a major problem in the home = 47%
– US adults who regularly visit internet porn sites = 40 million
– 70% of women keep their cyber activities secret.
– 9.4 million women access adult website’s each month.

So here are some Next Steps
1. Come Clean (Prov 28:13; James 5:16)
The first thing to do is get the monkey off your back. Get face-to-face with God, let Him know you are ready for change and tell another human being.
2. Work out your faith (James 1:4)
You will have to work this thing out. It might mean you join a local group like Life Ministries or another anonymous group. Nationally there are a number of 12-step programs devoted to sex and pornography addictions and countless other Christian programs.
3. Get Accountable (Galatians 6)
You must keep your behavior in check with a close friend or accountability partner.

Resouces:
xxxchurch.com (#1 Christian Porn Site, consisting of porn addiction help and a variety of other sexual addiction aids and tools)
x3watch (Internet Accountability, Mac or PC)
Pure Online (Online, Confidential, Streaming Video Workshops for couples, men, women and teens, Mac or PC)
Safe Eyes (Internet Filtering Tool for Parents, Mac or PC)
Every Man’s Battle (Winning the War on Sexual Temptation One Victory at a Time)

“Missional…….is that a tire or something?”

This one hits me personally since I am in seminary and we speak “Christianeeze” everyday. Christianeze or Christianeeze is a completely made up word just like many of those that we use within Christendom. Usually we define words as we introduce them into culture but lately we have been becoming lazy. Let me give you an example. A few years back, I was sitting in a local coffee shop amongst friends discussing how we can help improve discipleship within our context (darn-it I did it again, stupid buzz words) area at church. We were talking about a piece that will help us to communicate how strategy for spiritual growth in our church (mainly because every church is different). As we sat there 3 words seemed to emerge as the focus on conversation, which centered around the clarity of the piece.
The 3 words were:

Missional
Relational
Transformational

I assumed that we each understood what was being communicated but objected because I realize (not all of the time) that the language that I speak isn’t always palatable to most people. So we were discussing and the question came, “Missional….. is that a tire or something?” At that very moment I realized something, I realized how absolutely, completely, ridiculous, I sound when I use terms that are not used in common vernacular and also not defined.
The word “Missional” or the term “Missional living” are Christian terms that describe

“a missionary lifestyle; adopting the posture, thinking, behaviors, and practices of a missionary in order to engage others with the gospel message”.

The use of this term has gained recent popularity due to the Emerging church movement to contrast the concept of a select group of “professional” missionaries, with the understanding that all Christians should be involved in the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. If you don’t like that definition then try this one,

“Missional” is an adjective describing all of the activities of the church body as they are brought under the mission of God (Missio Dei) to proclaim the good news of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ.

See what I mean this is silly, but this is the language of the modern Church…I think. So here is what I would like for you to do, when you are finished reading this help me out. I know that there are so many Christianeze words out there let me know what some of them are and provide a definition. Please don’t get me wrong, when the Apostles in the New Testament introduced a word within the common language they defined it, there is not an instance where a new word is given without an explicit definition. I want so badly for Christians to engage culture and affect it in a way that we all joyfully submit to Christ, but if the culture that we are engaging does not understand the words coming from our mouths then they may never come to understand the truth of Jesus Christ. Just think about it.

Right Theology

Everyday on thousands upon thousands of people tune into Dave Ramsey and listen to him say his tagline almost every time he answers a phone call by answering the now famous phrase “Better than I deserve”. I adopted a variation of this response, much to my wives chagrin, and use it almost everyday. Most people when they first hear this response are surprised, then they will respond with something like “No, you do deserve what you have.” A young lady who says that she is a believer in Christ, by far, uttered the most annoying retort. While at work I said my usual response to the everyday pleasantries, she stopped me and asked if I was a Christian I answered yes. She answered by saying since I was a “child of the King I deserve” So I wanted to spend a quick minute defining some terms.

De·serve: to have earned or be worthy of something, in other words merited favor

Vs.

Grace: the infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill shown to humankind by God, in other words unmerited favor.

C. J. Mahaney (who first made this a popular term) is famous for making it a habit to answer, “Better than I deserve.” As I think about my life, I am more and more convinced that is true of me. It’s strange how often we allow ourselves to compare our situations with some imaginary perfect one and get dissatisfied. But when I stop and think about it, I am very fortunate.

My job is far better than I deserve—allowing me to spend time with the family God has given me—that is in itself much better than I deserve. I earn enough to pay the bills, and yet like so many of us, I sometimes fall into the trap of thinking “just a little more would be enough . . .” My wife truly is my best friend, and is more understanding towards me than my treatment of her warrants. Most of the time my child is obedient and a delight to have around.

I live in a far better home than most, even in this country, let alone in the rest of the world—it, too, is better than I deserve. Of course, the next breath that I am going to take is not something that is mine by right, any more than the pulsing of my heart is anything that I have done something to earn. So being allowed to live—let alone being saved by the sacrifice of Jesus—is much, much, more than I deserve.

So given all these things for which I have to be grateful, why is it that the quality and extent of my worship of Jesus remains so much less than He deserves from me? To be honest I’m not sure but I do know that my worship of Christ, in my life, emanates from right theology about Him and knowing my place within His Kingdom. I pray that we begin to try and grasp at His grace on our lives and that we truly deserve nothing that He grants us.

“Total depravity is the only doctrine that we have thousands of years of history to support it.” – G.K. Chesterton

Subversive Math

IF we define the church simply as:

“Where the word of God is preached and the sacraments rightly administered.”

“A weekly event where I hear biblical preaching and join with others in musical worship.”

And if our our primary concerns are:

Converting as many people to a gospel that can be communicated within a half hour

and

Having Christians grow in their understanding of the faith, which will in turn, make them better disciples

There also isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t try to grow as large as possible. If one agrees with the above, and believes that their church is doing a good job, why not try to gather as large a crowd as possible? Sure, there may be some things that condition how we understand the above…we might want to do it in a multicultural way, if that is a value of ours. Or we may wish to do it in a liturgical way, if that is a value of ours.

I think many churches see things the way I’ve laid out. That is why we have so many churches that are intentionally trying to “grow” their Sunday services and are trying to find ways of making things even bigger. They are being consistent with their ecclesiology. In their ecclesiology, numbers are very important. But so is biblical truth. But these two things are kept in tension. Some churches that want to attract a larger crowd will avoid the more provocative or heady parts of our faith. They will address is down the road in their small group programming or adult education programming. These folks may be accused of neglecting “biblical preaching” but they merely temper it a bit their desire for conversion. Other folks may have stronger preaching, believing that true seekers will still come, and that the congregation will be better equipped to go out and share their faith. They may be accused of neglecting seekers, but they merely temper their heart for seekers with a passion for biblical preaching. Other groups may hold these in tension with a commitment to the liturgy, or to some other core value, but it still makes sense to try to gather as big of a crowd as possible and perhaps even do such things as launching satellite congregations or building bigger sanctuaries. Such a move is faithful to their ecclesiology, which focuses a great deal on the worship service and the sermon. Most of the church budget for most churches is tied up in the weekly event–cost of a building for worship services, the cost of production each week, the pastor’s salary (who spends much, if not most, of his/her time preparing for the sermon), etc.

We shouldn’t get mad at people because their church is bigger or because they are starting satellite services or if they are building a larger building, or if they are always sending out mailers to reach out to more and more people. We shouldn’t be frustrated about how much these churches focus on numbers as a sign of success. If we define church the same way they do, then we have no reason to be upset. I just thing that Church shouldn’t be centered around an event.

Worship is a way of life, not just a 30 minute music set. The Gospel can’t be adequately communicated in 30 minutes (unless, perhaps, the person already understands a lot about Christianity). And, while preaching is important, it lacks the fundamental “one-another-ness” that we read about throughout the New Testament.

Many Christians will agree with what I am saying, but at the same time will do the “church as event” approach. If you think church isn’t about numbers, then stop counting.

If you think worship is about lifestyle, then don’t overvalue singing.

If you think church is a place to explore truth, then start discussing, rather than spend so much of your time listening to a sanctified lecture each week.

If you think church is a family of faith, then spend time in relationship
(Gospel Community) rather than treating church as a 2 hour long weekly commitment.

If you agree that church is people, not a building, then stop saying “I’m GOING to church.”

We spend so much time attracting people to hear the “gospel” when we need to spend more much more energy in understanding how we can best embody and articulate the Gospel. We need, more than ever, to start developing the QUALITY of the church, and stop paying so much attention to QUANTITY. We need to use subversive math. Where we stop counting, and figure out what counts.

Confession Part 2: My Calling

Early in my life in Christ people started to identify the call on my life but what they were saying wasn’t new to me. Early in life my mom told me that I would be a “lawyer or a pastor”. To say that she sure knew her child would be an understatement. When I went off to K-State (the greatest school on earth) I wanted to become a lawyer and after coming to Christ my passion and calling pointed directly towards pastor. I say all of this to confess:

I am completely and totally unnerved by the gravity of my calling and its implications.

I take seriously the warnings that the Bible gives to those who teach in the Church and and behalf of one who saves us (cf. James 3:1, 1 Timothy 1: 6 – 7). Please don’t get me wrong, this does not nor will not stop me. Honestly, I am scared for people that I run into that take this calling so lightly. I here people ask why be in school don’t you just preach or you could be a male Oprah! When I hear these assertions I shutter deeply and my heart becomes saddened that this calling has become merely celebrity or some type of character.

I am now in school to begin the process of working out this call in my life but even writing this I’m freaked. In all of my studies I want to do one thing and one thing alone…… preach Christ and Him glorified. If that is done then I’ve done what I was placed on this earth to do.

Question: What is your calling and what are you doing about it?

Our God Reigns!

Every once in a while God reminds me of His power and the praise that He deserves. Last night, while at work, I was asked by a coworker to visit her table who claimed to know me. I said that I would when I had time but I forgot. Later, an assistant server (dub) ask me to do the same thing but at that time I was swamped and the show began. During the intermission a guest came over to my section and said my name. When I looked up it was a young man that I had worked with during my time at the Cheesecake Factory. This young man, like so many in the restaurant industry, wasn’t exactly receptive to the message of Christ. After the show I dropped by his table and we began to talk, reconnect, and I soon realize that this encounter was not by chance. After almost 5 years since I first presented the Gospel to him, he was now receptive. Are you kidding? What are the chances that I would run into someone 5 yrs after presenting the Gospel and they would actively want to ask questions about Christ and His glory? Man, I love the God that I serve and last night as I drove home I rolled down the window of my car and scream His praises. So I would ask you this, are you starting to doubt the power of our God and His sovereign will? If, so please spend time repenting and worshipping Him [in song] where ever you read this (that was what I had to do last night). He is worthy, He alone is worthy, He REIGNS!!!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLfcx9zN0c]