Dear church people..I hate church

**I read this open letter a few years back and it recently crossed my desk again. So if you don’t go to church and are reading this, I’m curious to hear your thoughts. If you do go to church and are reading this, I’m curious to hear your thoughts, too.**

Don’t worry you won’t offend me I just would love to hear some honest opinions**

Dear church people,

I recently attended your church. I don’t know why I decided to get up early on a Sunday morning and I’m not sure why exactly I chose this church, but nonetheless, I went. I guess it was because I overheard someone talking about this man named Jesus and he seemed really edgy and from what I gathered, he seemed like a rebel like me. And then I heard that somehow he can help me get rid of all of this junk that is messing up my life. I’m not sure what you church people call it..i guess its “sin” or something. So anyways, yeah, I was compelled by what I overheard, and I didn’t quite hear everything that guy was saying, but he was telling the other person to check out their church. I didn’t catch what church name it was, so I wound up here.

But can I just say, I really hate church. I do. I mean, that Jesus guy sounded really intersting, but I just can’t do the church thing. The building looks nice and all, but when I got inside, I felt like a total outcast. People were just staring at me. I guess you guys don’t do lip rings and punk hair very often.

And those church program things, whatever you call them, they have a cool picture on the front…i guess…and your program thing makes me think that obviously you guys have lots to do around here….but how come I never see you guys around in my neighborhood? My neighbors just had a giant fight and the wife threw all of the husbands stuff out on the front lawn and then she drove off. I helped that guy pick up all of that stuff and we put a few beers back…i think he was trying to forget what happened. We could’ve used some extra help picking that stuff up. Where were you? And I always talk to that lady sitting outside my work building who is asking for food for her kids. Sometimes I try to get some MickeyD’s breakfast for them. Is that something you guys would be interested in helping with?

But anyways, I’m getting off track. So I go in and sit down and some guy mumbles to his wife about me sitting in their seat. I’m really sorry about that. I don’t know who the guy was, but if you know who it is, can you tell them I’m sorry. I really didn’t know. I didn’t see a name tag or anything…did I miss it on the chair somewhere? I’m really sorry, again.

And that music…well, I will say that the guitarist was totally killer and the drums were sweet. I didn’t really know what you guys were all singingabout, I didnt know those songs…but I did see that Jesus guys name a few times, so i tried paying attention. That leader seemed pretty pumped up and trying to get everyone to clap…but I think those people around me were bored with your songs. I dont know them, though, so maybe thats how you’re supposed to respond. Maybe there are rules I don’t know about. Im sure there are. I know that when Im at a concert and im really pumped up about the lyrics, i can’t contain myself. but i guess it is church..so..maybe thats why you stand so still and just stare at those jumbotrons with the words on it.

The speaker dude wasn’t too bad. He seemed like he really believed what he was talkin about. I heard that Jesus guys name again…i’m really curious about him. Do you know who I’m talkin about? Jesus somethin. I need to find out about that guy..do you know where I could find more out? Iknow the speaker guy could help me…he did say something about coming up front if I wanted to know more about Jesus…but no one else went up there..so i’m totally not going up there. are you kidding? those people were all looking around like they were gonna go attack the first person who stood up or somethin. Freaky.

Sorry, but i was just really bored, over all. I’ve gotta know more about this Jesus guy. I didn’t wanna go bug that speaker guy cuz there was a ton of people around him, so I just decided to leave. As I was walking out, I heard some ladies pointing at another lady and they were sayin some pretty rude things. Dude, if church is a place full of clicks and gossip and high school drama, I’m FOR SURE in the wrong place.

All this to say, I guess I’m sure there’s somethin I’m missin…there’s probably somethin I didn’t read somewhere…but I was really just hopin to find out about that Jesus guy. But, sorry, I just don’t do long boring program things around a bunch of people that stare at me and bash their so-called friends.

Maybe that lady asking for food for her kids outside of my work building knows about that Jesus guy. Yeah. Maybe I’ll go ask her tomorrow.

Sorry church people, I just can’t do that church thing you guys do. But hey, if thats your thing, more power to ya.”

Sincerely,

The guy/girl who doesn’t go to church

You are a Christian…right?

A friend from work texted this to me and I laughed immediately. He said that it reminded him of some of the conversations that we have had about Christ and His church. I would love know your reaction to this….

Why religion is silly (part 2)…

** From time to time I will come across an article that simply makes me think “Religion is so silly!” When that happens I will post it so you can see the destructive silliness of trying to achieve your own righteousness through [your] works and not grace… enjoy!**

“Religion is the default mode of the human heart”

– Martin Luther

An Islamic cleric living in Europe reportedly has warned Muslim women not to get too close to bananas, cucumbers or other produce — to avoid having “sexual thoughts.”

The unnamed cleric, whose directive was featured in an article in el-Senousa, a religious publication, purportedly said that if women wanted to eat these foods, a third party — preferably a male related to them, such as their father or husband — should cut the items into small pieces before serving, the Egyptian website Bikya Masr reported.

Carrots and zucchini also were added to the alleged cleric’s list of forbidden foods for women.

News of the statement quickly spread online, leaving many liberal Muslims embarrassed and angry, evoking a flurry of mockery in online forums.

“Many of the commentators are Muslims themselves, who have expressed their anger against the cleric for making Islamic religious practices appear unreasonable,” The International Business Times reported.

BikyaMasr.com said the cleric, identified only as a sheikh, was asked in the interview how to “control” women when they are shopping for groceries, and whether holding these items at the market would be bad, to which he replied that the matter was between them and God.

Questions also arose about the validity of the original published interview. An online search for the el-Senousa article, for instance, yields only results linking to the Bikya Masr report.

But the mere suggestion of a strict order for Muslim women handling food has been enough to send people to website forums and Twitter to air their indignation.

Danish/Lebanese journalist Helen Hajjij tweeted: “So if Muslim women should stay away from cucumbers and bananas, should men stay away from melons?”

Bible Reading Plan for 2012

At the beginning of every year it seems that almost every person I come across resolves to do something different in the upcoming year. The actual statistics are that 40 to 45% of American adults make one or more resolutions each year. Among the top new years resolutions each year are ones about weight loss, exercise, and stopping to smoke. Also popular are resolutions dealing with better money management / debt reduction.

While many people who make new years resolutions do break them, research shows that making resolutions is useful. People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who do not explicitly make resolutions. So I wanted to suggest one to you taken from a blog post I read a few years back, enjoy!

The beginning of a New Year is an an excellent time to try something new. As you make your list of resolutions and goals I want to recommend adding a simple four step process that could transform your life by, quite literally, changing your mind.

After reading the entire post the vast majority of readers will snicker at such a hyperbolic claim and never implement the method I outline. A smaller number will consider the advice intriguing, my assertion only a slight exaggeration, but will also never implement the method. A tiny minority, however, will recognize the genius behind the process and apply it to their own life. This group will later say that my claim was an understatement.

This post is written for those people.

A few years ago I stumbled across a variation of the four steps in a blog post by my Evangel co-blogger Fred Sanders and implemented his recommendation that day. I later had the pleasure of meeting Sanders in person and telling him how his post had transformed my life. My hope is that at least one other person will follow this advice and experience the same transformative effect.

Before I reveal the four steps I want to reiterate that while the advice couldtransform your life, it likely will not. As with most life-altering advice, it is simple, easy to implement, and even easier to ignore. Statistically speaking, the odds are great that you’ll ignore this advice. But a handful of you will try it so for the one or two people who will find this useful, the four steps that will transform your worldview are:

1. Choose a book of the Bible.

Choose shorter books and work up to longer ones. Since you’ll be reading an entire book of the Bible and not just a chapter or two, you’ll want to work your way up to more extensive readings. When beginning this program you may want to start with a short book that has only a few chapters that can be read several times in one sitting. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and help develop the reading habit. For example, a short book like John or Jude can be read four or five times in one sitting allowing you to finish the entire twenty readings in less than a week. [NT books, shortest to longest: 3 John, 2 John, Phlm, Jude, Titus, 2Thess, Rev, 2 Peter, 2 Tim, 1Thess, Col, 1 Tim, Phil, 1 Peter, James, 1 John, Gal, Eph, 2 Cor, Heb, 1 Cor, Rom, Mark, John, Matt, Acts, Luke; OT books, shortest to longest: See this chart.]

Choose an appropriate version. A modern language paraphrase is not an appropriate version for synthetic reading. Likewise, the familiar rhythms and cadences of the KJV can, upon repeated readings, get in the way of comprehension. I personally recommend the ESV, though the NIV can be a suitable alternative.

2. Read it in its entirety.

3. Repeat step #2 twenty times.

4. Repeat this process for all books of the Bible.

Click here to read the rest of the article…

How are you planning to get into the Bible more in 2012? What do you think?

I’m not crazy, you are…

Recently, my family and I went through an experience that many people told us to run from. To be completely honest, they were absolutely right (from the world’s point of view), we should have taken the very next bus out of town and never looked back, but our Father was calling us to something different. As a friend of mine said recently, you “either can be defined by your surroundings, or let the Father REFINE you in the fire for His glory.”

Don’t expect God’s next step to make sense.

In my short time as a pastor I’ve seen so many people who have HUGE dreams but back off because it will not work out on paper and they are afraid people will think they are crazy…

I think we need more crazy people…

People thought Noah was crazy when he built the ark.
People thought Abraham was crazy when climbed a mountain to sacrifice his son.
People thought Joseph was crazy when he shared his dreams!
People thought Moses was crazy when he announced God’s relocation project!
People thought Joshua was crazy when he announced the battle plan for Jericho!
People thought Gideon was crazy when the army got reduced to 300.
People thought David was crazy when he walked out to meet Goliath.
People thought Elijah was crazy when he faced the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel
People thought Nehemiah was crazy when he had a dream to build something incredible for the Kingdom.
People thought John the Baptist was crazy when he preached a radical message. (He might of actually been a little crazy)
People thought the woman who poured out perfume on Jesus’ feet was crazy…and yet He honored her in front of all of them. (Listen)
People thought the Apostles were crazy in Acts 2 when the Holy Spirit showed up!
People thought Paul was crazy for planting churches and taking the Gospel to the Gentiles!

These were crazy people, insane, but ALL of them were used by God to do GREAT THINGS because they refused to be “normal” when our Father called them to be something so much more.

I do not want to be the guy who never attempts anything great and plays if safe. “Taking up my cross” SCREAMS, “be willing to give up everything, including YOUR REPUTATION!”

The world needs more people who will die to the idea of being crazy and live in complete obedience, those are the people who make the difference.

So which one are you? Are you sitting on the sidelines hearing the Father calling you to engage? Are you still refusing because of (you fill in the blank)?

The Gospel: Sermon Series [audio]

Part 1: What is the Gospel?

Part 2: The Glorious Gospel of Grace

Part 3: How the Gospel Changes Discipleship

Part 4: How the Gospel changes the Church

Part 5: Subverting the Gospel through a Shadow Mission

Part 6: Overcoming your Shadow Mission through the Gospel