Peace Keeping --2

Peace is a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I like peace and think that the church above all people groups should work for peace. What I’m aiming at is spiritual cowardice and poor leadership being masqueraded as “peace keeping.”

Here’s a typical example: A church I know was considering making some changes in terms of the use of women in worship. Many church members had been patiently asking for an open study of the issue. Church leadership decided to pursue it, but then—before the first Bible had been opened—the leaders responded to the backlash and opted not to broach the subject at all. The reason they gave was that it would cause division in the church. Clearly this was not a decision made out of conviction; either conviction to honor honest seekers with genuine questions nor conviction to make decisions based on an earnest examination of Scripture. My point here is not that this particular community needed to make some kind of change, but rather that the illusion of maintaining peace trumped what Christians should be doing—searching the Scriptures.

Yet this is frequently the way the church approaches things. This, I think, is what the pastor from the previous post was speaking to. Churches, to be healthy and a reflection of the heart of God must maneuver from a place of conviction and earnest belief. Anything less is other than what the ministry of Jesus indicated. Was Jesus concerned about peace keeping? I’m sure he was, but that took a back seat when he rebuked the religious leaders, chased the moneychangers out of the temple, and consistently provoked the Pharisees. Jesus comes to earth as a revolutionary and his ministry reflects it. He is a truth-teller and whatever comes from that telling is what comes. In fact, Jesus is so bad at keeping the peace that he upsets enough people that they eventually kill him.

What Jesus did do was call God-seekers to a higher ideal. He called them to Kingdom living that surpassed what they were already doing and he called them to a vision of the world that was different than what they had been taught. He called them to re-orient their lives, which is naturally tumultuous! Transformation, by nature, contains upheaval and disorientation, which people, by nature, do not like. Transformation is not a peaceful experience! Therefore, if church leaders focus on peace, when we know that upheaval and disorientation are part of the transformational process, then we are curtailing opportunities of growth for those under our care. While we think we are being Godly, in truth we are keeping people from experiencing the nature processes of spiritual formation and development. It’s what Erwin McManus refers to as “excessive nurture.” What McManus means is that churches are often so concerned with nurture—and peace is part and parcel with nurture—that they fail to mature and develop people. Where insufficient nurture leaves the back door of the church open, excessive nurture creates a logjam at the front door—to use McManus’ words. In short, sometimes the peace we wish to keep is the thing keeping us from becoming the people God wants us to become.

Peace Keeping -- Part 1

This post is one in a series dealing with the beauty and and pitfalls of "keeping the peace" in the church.
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Could it be that peace is overrated? Please know I am committed to peace – in its true meaning and practiced correctly. As the apostle Paul writes, I try to do everything to “live at peace” with those around me and in the world. However, there are times when peace is the enemy to both progress and discipleship.

How? Let me explain.

A frequent occurrence in the church is for leaders to make reverse decision or change direction because of peace. We want to “keep the peace” or “work for peace” or “live in peace” with one another. On the surface this sounds good, ideal even. The problem with peace keeping in the church arises because “peace” is often code for “keeping the status quo.”

Imagine a scenario when a church is considering a major change in its structure or mission. Meetings are held, perspectives considered, Bibles studied etc…. But as soon as the folks in the pews get wind of a certain change the pushback begins. Congregants with deep pockets start saber rattling, long time members who disagree start talk of “leaving if…” and private and secret meetings occur. Next church leaders begin having lunches and meetings with people who are upset in the hopes of mediating some kind of mutual agreement. This doesn’t always work, though, and then church leaders must make a decision about what to do. And often the decision is to maintain the status quo or put forth some watered-down, pseudo-interesting version of what God may have placed on the hearts of the leaders in the first place.

The reasons for re-visioning the initial change are myriad: keeping power, fear, over-sensitivity to criticism, whatever. But the articulated reason is usually “peace.” We want the church be peaceful.

And this hyper-privileging of “peace” is killing the church of Jesus! It gives influence to those of the church ranks that are the least mature and allows them to remain so. At the same time, the church becomes focused on offering insiders a comfortable community and becomes disengaged from reaching out because the peace within must be maintained.

A friend of mine tells a story about a preacher of a large church from my non-denomination meeting a nationally known pastor who ministers to a large church in Atlanta. As the two spoke, the pastor explained to the preacher that our non-denomination was mostly churches with memberships of under 100 people (which is true), a significant number of churches around 200 people (which is true), and occasionally we might have a church blossom to around 5,000 members (which is true), but never really more than that. The reason, this pastor posited, was that because the way leadership works in our churches we were incapable of growing larger congregations. He stated the reason this way: “Your leaders go to work all day and do battle all day and when they come to church they want peace. And you can’t lead when peace is privileged over evangelism and transformation.”


(More to come…)

Style in Ministry

Thought these thoughts from Mark Driscoll were appropriate. One of the struggles I constantly face is dealing with people who have no clue about being in the culture. Many folks I know want people to convert more to the conservative, white Christian sub-culture than convert to Christ.

You're Rich

During this Christmas season, when all of us are coveting more than should be humanly possible, you might want to check out The Global Rich List. Here you simply type in your yearly earnings and it calculates where you are on the global rich list. Now you can see where you stack up against the Bill Gates and Warren Buffets of the the world. And I think you'll be surprised -- I was.

After seeing where I fell on the list I was awed again by how rich the average American is, and how much poverty exist in the world. I was more than awed. I was ashamed. I heard Jim Wallis Wednesday night on "Anderson Cooper 360" say that wealth is always meant to be shared, and I think he's right.

This year our family decided to only give gifts for Christmas that blessed the poor and oppressed. Maybe next year we'll skip gift-giving altogether and give more to the people who are further down on the list. Merry Christmas.

After Jesus

Tonight CNN will air After Jesus: The First Christians at 7 and 10 pm EST. It will be interesting to catch the news network's take on a small band of believers, with a crucified leader became one of the most dominant and popular religions in the history of the world. Tune in!

Congrats to Me

I would like to be the first to congratulate me on being Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year'. Honestly, I can think of thousands of people who have had better or more interesting years, but it would be in bad taste to turn down such an honor.

After all, this year has had it's ups for me. I was honored to be able to be a reviewer/reader for Sarah Cunningham's book, Dear Church: Letters from A Disillusioned Generation. I have also had the opportunity to contribute to the writing of The Voice Bible Project, which I'm extremely honored by. I was blessed to teach at both the winter ACU Lectureship and Pepperdine University Lectures on topics which I think are important to the church. In addition, I've had a pretty full speaking schedule, speaking to hundreds of teens, ministers, and other adults -- which is always needed when a family is living on one income. Plus, this year my wife became pregnant with our second daughter. And my brother -- whom I come to love and appreciate more ever day -- became engaged to a nice young woman who obviously loves him. Most importantly, I'm still the husband to an absolutely wonderful woman and father to an incredible 3-year-old girl.

I've noticed since high school graduation that life seems to move pretty fast -- faster every year, it seems. Ferris Bueller was right, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." I have to confess that I'm one of those people who can easily become so engaged with projects and work that I forget to "look around."

That's why it's probably a good thing that Christmas is so close to New Year's Day. The combination of the two forces us to reflect on where we have spent our time, and what we have done with our minutes, and the whole time the birth of Jesus looms over us reminding us of what is most important. As I reflect on my year, it's not the projects or production that make me feel like the person of the year, it's the people whom I love the most that make me feel special, wanted, and loved. Those are the things that last.

Plus, you have to remember, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Nikita Kruschev have all been Time's "Person of the Year." Not the best company!

Merry Christmas.

Market Share

I mentioned in my last post that I would be reading a number of books over the Christmas holiday. Well, I've begun, and much to the dismay of my wife and daughter, once I start reading it's hard to get me untangled.

One of the books I'm currently reading has me asking some questions. The questions are not about the argument of the book, but rather the language of the text. In the book, terms like "organization," "gain market share," and "compete with the competition" keep springing up.

I'm not sure how I feel about the words. Of course there are organizational aspects to the church, but aren't we going a little too far when the organization of church becomes concern with "market share." At what point -- if any -- does the church transition from a community of people seeking and offering life-change into a gaggle of salesperson? How much do we want the church reflect the best practices of the Fortune 500? It seems to me that it is very easy to build a large church: give people what they want, challenge little in terms of transformation, offer more and better activities for kids than any organization in town, make it easy, serve up religious goods and services. The problem is that I'm not sure if the best way to build a church is the best way to make disciples. I often wonder what many church leaders would spend their time doing if they (we) could divorce ourselves from the desire to compete with our fellow ministers and increase our market share?

Updates On Things Only I Think Are Important.

OK, enough is enough! Two weeks ago I enjoyed my favorite meal from Taco Bell -- two double-decker tacos and a bean burrito. The next day people in the northeast were getting sick from eating at Taco Bell. Well, guess what. I ate at Olive Garden yesterday and now folks are getting sick from that. I hardly ever go out to eat, now when I do somebody dies.
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Everyday brings the birth of our second daughter ever closer. Still no name decision in sight. It's just that when we ask people for name ideas, the women just tell us to name her after them and the men give their wives or daughters name. Originality is dead!
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Christmas is coming very quickly. I usually get a lot of reading done during that time. On my list to finish before the January 1: Barna's "Revolution", Rainer's "Simple Church", McManus' "An Unstoppable Force", Stanley et al's "7 Practices of Effective Ministry", and Batterson's "In The Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day".

History as Spiritual Discipline.

I just finished reading Rowan Williams' book, Why Study the Past: The Quest for the Historical Church. I'm typically resistant to theological books that are on a "quest" for something. Usually they are an experiment in heresy and essential put forth some line of reasoning or argument that has long been debunked -- think "The Da Vinci Code". However, Williams work is different. At once it is boring, thoughtful challenging and inspiring.

Here are some of the more interesting quotes:

"The inspiration of Scripture, as some modern writers have said, is not a matter of the Holy Spirit holding a writer's hand as a book is written; it is the present reality of a divine mediation that makes recognition possible as we now encounter the strangeness of the story. Abraham isn't 'one of us'; yet we and Abraham do make up an 'us' in relation to God, a shared reality before God which will take a lifetime to fathom."
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"God is free to do what He wills, and his freedom takes the form of acting so as to change us. It is a mistake to think that Luther (or any other classical Protestant) believed that 'justification' meant only a change in God's attitude without effect in us. On the contrary, what changes is that we become the locus of God's free activity. Unprovoked, unconditioned, and unconstrained by any other agent. God steps into the void and chaos of created existence and establishes himself there as God."
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"The challenge posed by the Reformation era is whether it is possible to conceive the question about unity and communion in the Church as bound to a witness to the priority of God's act rather than to issues around visible structures...In other words, baptism already encodes the theology elaborated by the doctrinal disputes of the early church."
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"If it (unity) is most clearly done in worship, then when we sing canticles, psalms and classical hymnody we express a unity across time as well as a unity in space."

A Day with Bridges to Life.

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Reflections on the "Bridges to Life" Prison Ministry

Video Blog -- How's Christmas at Your House

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Christmas at St. Francis' House

**Warning! This post will be longer than usual, but most of us need to read it.
Maybe even twice**

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A friend of mine tells a story about walking through his neighborhood a few weeks before Christmas years ago. Here in Houston it never gets too cold so walks in December aren't unusual. Anyway, as he approached one house, he noticed the Nativity in the front yard. Everything was in its place, shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, and manger. Only, inside the manger was the baby Jesus wearing a Santa Claus hat; fur-lined, red, and with that cool looking white ball thingy at the top. My friend points out that that's the problem with Christmas – many of us cannot see the difference between who Jesus was, what He taught and did, and the unhinged, consumeristic fervor of America's most gluttonous season.

It all begs the question: What should we be thinking and doing at Christmas?

Before I came to the church where I currently serve, Christmas was essentially about getting the stuff that I wanted, the presents under the tree. A good Christmas mean I got what I wanted and the sweet potato pie was good. It had nothing to do with Jesus. In my religious tradition we simply did not celebrate Christmas as a religious event.

It was purely secular!

I remember asking my fifth grade Sunday school teacher, Larry, why we didn't celebrate Christmas and Easter, and why we paid absolutely no attention to the Christian calendar. No Pentecost! No Advent! Nothing! Larry told me that no one knew the exact dates of those events so to celebrate them on the dates proposed was outside what we knew from the Bible. That’s true, I suppose. However, I knew that my grandmother as a black woman born shortly after the turn of the 20th century in Mississippi had no birth certificate and no one could remember her exact birth date, but she still got older each year and we still acknowledge her life. I applaud Larry and the church of my youth for being concerned about what the Scriptures say, but at the end of the day it taught all us kids that Christmas was about the same thing that Fisher-Price and Mattel wanted Christmas to be about: the stuff!

And that teaching has been hard to shake!

Each year as Thanksgiving rolls around I know that there are very few things that I need. A new pair of pants, some new shoes, maybe, but nothing sexy – no iPods or new cars. I tell myself that I don’t need anything, and don’t want anything and that I won’t ask for anything, but I can never keep up with my plans. Suddenly things start shining, old things seem, well, old and in need of replacement. Those things that seemed like nice hobbies to start “one day” turn into imperatives that need me to invest in them immediately. So I end up needing, asking and wanting more. Thank goodness Christmas sales are right around the corner.

Before I know it, this time of year, this Advent season in which the church is to anticipate the coming of Jesus into the world, this time when we are to be looking to the Heavens with expectation about the healing of the world and the healing of our broken relationships with each other and our broken relationship with God becomes a dime store smash and grab to see what stuff we can make off with.

Have you ever had that experience? Am I the only one?

Recently, I was thinking about my Christmas coveting and reading about Francis of Assisi (these are not two things you should do simultaneously). Francis was born the son of a wealthy merchant and had visions of becoming a superior fighter. After and illness, however, he began to experience deep religious feelings. He would go off by himself to pray, wear ragged clothes and give away money from the family business to the poor. As you might imagine, this made his father a little – um, irritated! His father took Francis to court and asked that the bishop force him to give back all the money he gave away. Equally irritated, Francis stripped off all his clothes, hurled them toward his father and walked out proclaiming that he would only now speak of his Father in Heaven.

From that point, Francis renounced materialism. Over time, Francis founded several mendicant – which is fancy word for “beggar” – religious orders. Unlike other orders, Francis and his followers rejected not only individual property, but also communal and collective property. In short, they had no stuff! For Francis, poverty was not an end in itself, but a means of aligning with Jesus, the disciples, and the gospel by direct imitation. One of Francis’ biographer/followers wrote: “While this true friend of God completely despised all worldly things he detested money above all. From the beginning of his conversion, he despised money particularly and encouraged his followers to flee from it always as from the devil himself. He gave his followers this observation: money and manure are equally worthy of love.”

Could you imagine spending Christmas at St. Francis’ house?

I wonder what this patron saint of animals and the environment, who married Lady Poverty for the sake of the gospel, might say about “Black Friday” –the day after Thanksgiving – when Americans sleep outside department stores to get the first look at sales. Or what might he offer to a Christian community that essentially sees and treats Jesus like Santa Claus? Perhaps he would feel uncomfortable with the fact that American Christians, who by and large have too much stuff, spend the season of Advent concerned about getting more stuff.

Perhaps St. Francis might tweak our practice of Christmas a little. Maybe he would say that during Advent and Christmas, we shouldn’t focus on our riches but our poverty. Of course, there are a lot of us that give to good causes year round, but that’s not the kind of poverty I’m talking about.

I’m talking about real poverty – spiritual poverty.

I’m talking about the way that many Christians exercise no demonstrative difference in their character than non-Christians. I’m thinking about Christians who proclaim love for the powerless babe in the manger, but spend each breath of their existence trying to beg, borrow, steal and deal for more power for themselves. I’m speaking of pastors and church leaders who have no vision for the communities they serve and no love for the sheep of their flock, looking only to the church for what they can get from them. I’m concerned about people who are made miserable through their own self-concern. And I’m talking about those of us who fundamentally believe that something other than God will finally or ultimately make us healthy and whole. We are all so deeply, deeply poor.

And that’s why we need to visit friend Francis this year. We need to strip it all off and look only to our Father in heaven. If we don’t we will continue to look around the next corner, over the next bend, and under every rock for that “thing” we think will make us whole.

Seeker vs. Missional — Mark Driscoll

I'm part of a fascinating church movement, called the Restoration Movement. As with all things, there is both good and bad. Plus, there are things that were meant to be and have been beneficial, but turned out to be negative.

One of these has been our emphasis on "ministry." Now, of course I'm not against ministry; I do it for a living. But the word "ministry" became twisted over time and the few people that church leaders were able coax into a ministry formed ministries that for the most part just served others in the church. (I have a degree in Youth and Family Minister, which can become the ultimate "serve ourselves" ministry ever created, but that's another post.)

Anyway, "ministry" became about what we did for each other and the world was left in the rear view mirror.

Luckily, some very thoughful theologians and churchmen and woman began to talk about being "missional." Here they were aiming to get the church to think about what happens and is happening outside its own walls. Missional is about Christians seeing themselves as missionaries--people sent out with the message of God--rather than seeking the best religious goods and services for themselves.

The difference is best seen by asking the question of whether the church has a mission or does God's mission have a church? The way you answer that question should transform what the church is and can become.

My wife and I believe deeply in missional ecclesiology, but we were raised in a different church culture and sometimes struggle to live out what we know is a better way. For instance, when Rochelle left The Briarwood Church to stay home with our daughter, her replacement, Jeff, was a new Christian and a member of an intentionally missional community here in Houston, Ecclesia Houston. Jeff began inviting co-workers to his home, out for conversation and other activities. At first Rochelle didn't fully get what he was doing, but he was being missional. He didn't know any other way to "do church." For Jeff, Christianity was about getting to know people and love them the way Jesus would, and being salt and light to them.

And maybe that's why new churches in America are the ones best able to reach non-Christians. New churches and new Christians aren't burden with the old Christendom world where it was sufficient to just invite people to church.

What Driscoll points out in this interview is important for the church to understand. Enjoy!

Missional vs Seeker Sensitive Churches

This is Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC. I don't know a great deal about Keller, but he seems to be a thoughtful voice concerning church-planting, emerging churches, and missionality.

Redeemer Church is doing some wonderful things reaching out to post-moderns and the unchurched in NYC.

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Road Trip #4: Back Home

Wow! There's nothing like coming home: your own bathroom, bed, and easy chair just can't be beat. Unfortunately, when you leave town for a week, all your work is still waiting for you when you get back. That's ok though, there are a lot of good things happening in my life and the Kingdom of God, so doing my little part is exciting.

I hope your holiday was refreshing, too.

Road Trip #3: Similarity

It's easy for me to think that over time I become less and less like my family of origin. I suppose that comes from growing up and moving far away from home and not being able to get back very often. Over time, home seems less like the place that birthed you and more like a place that only seems familiar in the sense of a dream or past life.

Returning home, however, quickly changes that sense of difference. If it's not your grandmother reminding you how much you look like your great-grandmother or the odd fact that you and that same grandmother order the same sandwich and chips at Subway, then it's the fact that your brother and you somehow have exactly the same computer bag and sit down behind said computers whenever their is a minute to spare to get some work done.

My family doesn't usually get together for large gatherings, so this weekend is quite unusual. Tomorrow we will celebrate Thanksgiving and, more importantly, football. Friday my brother and I will hit the sale at the local Apple store, and then my entire family will sit in club levels seats at the Atlanta Hawks vs. Toronto Raptors basketball game.

There's not telling what the week will bring. I'll keep you posted.

To be continued...

Road Trip #2: Surrender

We made it to the Atlanta. I spent the entire day wife my wife, daughter and grandmother adding my mom to the mix after we arrived tonight. The entire day I reminded myself, "Enjoy the view."

Hey, it isn't everybody that gets God commenting on his blog.

Anyway, I just finished watching one of my favorite TV Shows, "Scrubs." It was the one when all the doctors parents come to visit and they have to deal with being adults and being good children all at the same time. I bet a lot of people are feeling that tension this time of year.

The show ended with Cheap Trick's classic song, "Surrender".

Here's the chorus:

"Mommy's alright, daddy's alright
They just seem a little weird
Surrender, surrender
But don't give yourself away
Hey, hey!"

Good Advice, I think.

Road Trip

I'm not a fan of road trips.

Never have been.

The idea of sitting in a car going across the country is almost death to me. My brother, Richard, is the complete opposite. He loves being in the car and driving. A guy who cannot normally sit down for five minutes can drive for hours on end. I don't get that! He once thought about being a cross-country truck driver. That's how much he loves it. I can't think of anything I would dread more.

Anyway, tonight I find myself in the middle of a road trip. My family is off to see more family for Thanksgiving. In all honesty, I've been married to my wife for almost nine years, and today was the longest time we've ever spent in a car together (10 hours).

I hate road trips and I avoid them at nearly all cost.

But, alas, I broke down and now we're spending the night in a Marriott in Jackson, MS, the city in which I was born. And tomorrow promises only more driving.

They say that you can learn a lot about a person on a road trip. I think my wife and daughter have learned something about me: I hate road trips. But then again, I could have told them that beforehand.

I wish there was something profound or inspiring to say about this experience so far, but there isn't. I look forward to picking up my grandmother tomorrow. I look forward to seeing my mother, my brother, my best friend from high school who's wife just gave birth to their first child, and I look forward to eating my mother's cooking. I just don't look forward to the seven more hours of driving ahead of me tomorrow.

Pray for me, y'all!

Pain and Praise

I'm headed out this weekend to speak at a retreat for a church where a good friend of mine works as youth minister. I'm so grateful that the Lord continues to use me and the gifts he's given me to further His Kingdom and bless those who are trying to walk with Him.

The theme of this retreat is "Praise You In This Storm." This youth group lost a young woman to murder this past summer. The crime was heinous, brutal and--like all murders--completely unnecessary. Though the retreat was not envisioned with this event in view, the weekend will focus on how to love and worship God in a world that is so enormously fallen.

In preparation for the weekend, I've revisited some of the more painful events from my life and how I saw God and discovered Him anew in the midst of them. One of the best resources for me has been the pen of Philip Yancey. Yancey's work is among the very best of popular Christian literature. I love these words from his book, Disappointment with God:

"Some Christians long for a world well-stocked with miracles and spectacular signs of God's presence. I hear wistful sermons on the parting if the Red Sea and the ten plagues and the daily manna in the wilderness, as if the speakers yearn for God to unleash his power like that today. But the follow-the-dots journey of the Israelites should give us pause. Would a burst of miracles nourish faith? Not the kind of faith God seems interested in, evidently. The Israelites give ample proof that signs may only addict us to signs, not to God."

Good words, I think, for people like me who often want the benefits of God more than they actually want God.

iPods eVerywhere

Apple announced Tuesday that it is teaming up with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to deliver the first seamless integration between iPod and in-flight entertainment systems. These six airlines will begin offering their passengers iPod seat connections which power and charge their iPods during flight and allow the video content on their iPods to be viewed on the their seat back displays.

Dang it! I had been telling myself that I could continue to live with my blue iPod mini for many years to come, but now I might have to come off the money to pick up a new video iPod.

My problem is that Apple makes me covet! I was in the store yesterday for a podcasting workshop, and those new, shiny MacBook Pros and iPods just started calling out to me--it's like I'm an addict. The problem is that I don't have $2,700 for new 17-inch MacBook Pro or even the $249 for a new iPod. As a matter of fact, both my iBook G4 and iPod mini are just a little over a year old. But when I'm in the Apple store, I feel like I need new stuff.

That's the problem with covetousness; we will never be satisfied with anything outside of God. We will keep reaching and reaching never to find that ONE thing that we think will cause our straining to cease. And Satan knows it. He promises that the next new gadget, a thinner waist line, the love of that person you've been pining for, a better sex life, or whatever it is for you, will bring you the satisfaction that you desire. It won't! Just like Apple and their introduction of the newest MacBook Pro last month which was an upgrade from the first MacBook Pro that came out in January, the evil one keeps moving the finishing line. There will always be a newer model, and faster mode, but it will not satisfy. Only one thing can: enjoying God and worshiping Him forever.

When God says, "Thou shall not covet..." He's may be saying, "You'd enjoy life a lot more if you could not covet; you're only hurting yourself."

I think that's good advice.
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Wednesday marks my 7th anniversary of serving the Bering Drive Church. There have been ups and downs, joys and deep hurts, but in the end, it has been good for me. Some of the best people I know worship God here. I am honored to know them, to be able to speak to them with grace, and have them love me, my wife, our 2-year-old daughter, and the little girl that is on her way to joining us. Thanks!

So Proud

I'm incredibly excited about another "first" in my life. Though both my wife and I have made our livings using words--both written and spoken--there have been precious few times when we've been able to use words together. Even though when one of us speaks in public, the audience is probably hearing us both, we have never shared the same lectern, podium, or stage.

Well, all that's about to change.

This May, Rochelle and I will be speaking and teaching together at the Pepperdine University Bible Lectures. Though I've been blessed to teach at the lectures several times before, speaking alongside my beautiful wife will be something completely new. And yes, I have joked with Ro about riding on my coattails, but the truth is that she is and excellent presenter and an extraordinarily thoughtful person. In fact, if she had been raised in another faith tradition she likely would have been a preacher and a brilliant one too--just like her father.

At present, we're still kicking around topics for Pepperdine, but we will settle on something by Wednesday I'm sure. The reason I'm sure is because we have to. Dr. Jerry Rushford and his crew at Pepperdine need to print the program soon. So if you have any suggestions, we're more than welcome to hearing them. And if you think I should just sit quietly in the background and let Rochelle teach our classes, well, that's probably a good idea, too.

Scripture Love/Worship

I come from a religious tradition that truly loves Scripture. Well, love might be the wrong word; "worship" might be a more accurate term. This love/worship of Scripture for the church and for the individual has been both a blessing and a curse.

On the blessing side, I grew up learning, memorizing and reciting Scripture. It was important for us to know what the text said. Each Sunday my brother and I, along with all the other kids, would bound into the church building prepared to recite the week's text which had been given to us as a memory verse the previous week. For each properly regurgitated text we would get a star by our names on the bulletin board and the pride that comes along with knowing that we knew something that all the adults told us that we should know. Therefore, by the time I left home for college, I knew what the Bible said. That's the blessing side.

The curse side is that the love/worship of Scripture turns the Bible into a idol. In those same churches that taught me so much Scripture, I--along with scores of others--learned that the Bible was the important thing, and everything else was secondary at best. Everything. Jesus wasn't even the point, except in terms of what the Bible said about Jesus. And don't even get started talking about the Holy Spirit. We couldn't quantify it, so many people within our fellowship held the position that the Holy Spirit was only operative up until we got, you guessed it, the Bible.

Now, of course, I'm not against the Bible, I like the Bible, but I think it would be wise for us realize the text of the Bible isn't the point of the Bible. The Scriptures point to Jesus and the God who sent Him into the world not back to itself. After all, at this point in world events, there have been more Christians in history who worshiped God without the Bible as we know it than have had the Bible, and the church seemed to manage okay.

This week I was lead to think about this as I was reading Bill Willits book, "Creating Community: 5 Keys to Building a Small Group Culture." Willits writes succinctly, "Biblical literacy is important for people to become lifelong self-learners of the Scriptures and doers of the word. But in and of themselves, I would suggest they aren't the goal."

Good Reads

As four workman were working on my on my air conditioner, installing a new evaporator coil in the attic, I heard a knock at the door. When I got to the door there was no one there. What were there was two packages.The first one was a gratis copy of Spencer's Burke new book, A Heretic's Guide to Eternity. It is the pre-released, pre-proofed copy. Written across the cover are the words "UNCORRECTED PAGE PROOFS. NOT FOR SALE." I guess this is the copy that they send to a small group of people to read the book before its release and create buzz. Since the book has been out a while, I guess I won't be much good for pre-release buzz. What I can do is tell you all about it and encourage you to pick up a copy.

The second package contained the newest installment of THE VOICE Bible project entitled: The Dust Off Their Feet. Brian McLaren is the principle writer with great contributions from Chris Seay, Kerry Shook and many others.

You're gonna want to purchase every installment of THE VOICE. Every time I open the pages of the first few installments--The Last Eyewitnesses and The Dust Off Their Feet--I'm captivated by the beauty of the words, thoughts, and images. It really is a project that is recapturing the grandness of Scripture.

Thursday Morning

Thursday mornings are hard at my house. On Thursdays my wife leaves for work about the time I wake up so I have to wake, feed, and dress both myself and my daughter for school and work. Then we have to fight 20+ miles of Houston traffic to get to pre-school--which is also in the building where I work--before the 2-year-old teacher looks at me with great disdain for showing up late. Often I find myself dreading Thursday mornings. But this morning, when I got to work I read again a post I placed on this blog in May 2004 and remembered the beauty of being a father.
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Don't you hate mornings? I do! I have never understood those people who jolt out of bed and bound around the house before 6:00 am each morning. Are they crazy? Do they not have good dreams? My wife works with a woman who wakes up every day around 4:00 am. She practices her piano--which I'm sure her husband loves,--eats breakfast, reads the daily paper and gets to the office before 6:00. Why? Surely there must be some mental dysfunction going on there. But, I guess some folks are just morning people.

I am not one of those people! I am a night person. In my view the world is backward. We should sleep in the day and be up at night. I understand why our inner clocks work the way they do, but I'm not a farmer or a rancher. I don't need the daylight to get things done. The earliest anyone needs to get up is 10:00 am. Anything that needs to be done before that can wait. Right?

Well, that's how I used to feel.

Now our daughter, Malia, wakes up every morning between 7:30 and 8:00. From the living room we can hear her begin to stir. Turning, stretching, yawning and sighing are signs that her new day is about to begin. My first instinct is to race in to get her, but to do that would mean missing the magic. When she first stirs, she's not quite fully awake. The patient man is rewarded if he can wait for a few minutes until she is fully awake but she hasn't realized she is alone. If you go in her room then, you will see the glory of the sun in her eyes. Standing there, I watch her roll over when she senses the presence of someone in the room, her eyes blink as she recognizes a familiar and loving face and then a smile only given to angels inches across her face. It is magic!

Right then, a overwhelming feeling of joy and love floods from the heavens into my heart. My only response is to pick her up, kiss her and tell her how much she is loved. It's a feeling so far beyond words, that one feels silly even trying to describe it. No matter how difficult it was to put her to sleep the night before, or how much she fused the previous day, or how many diapers there were to change, the love greatly outweighs the pains (if those things can even be called pains).

There is something mysterious and magical about the morning, something glorious. Each day is a new beginning, a fresh start to revive our lives. Malia has taught me that mornings are God's perfect painting of renewal and blessedness.

Standing over her this morning, these words came to mind:"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (May 2004)
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Those are beautiful words if I say so myself. Here are some beautiful words Malia shared with me this morning as I went into her room: "Daddy, I'm poopy."

How things change! She is still glorious!

Ted Haggard

This weekend, while I was lying sick in my LA-Z-BOY, I wrote a brilliant, thoughtful and sensitive post for this blog about Rev. Ted Haggard. In the post I wrote about ways to think about all this if the allegations made by male prostitute, Mike Jones, concerning Haggard were true and ways to think if they were false. It ended discussing the nature of people to sometimes go to public battle about private issues--our way of taking a battle that we are fighting on the inside to others in the hopes that defeating it outside us would help us defeat it within us.

Since I started that post more information about Haggard has been exposed and to post that blog now, knowing what we think we know, would seem silly.

One thing I can say is that the Haggard situation, regardless of what you think of him or drug-use or homosexuality or politically involved evangelicals, is just sad. It's sad for Haggard, his wife, their five kids, their 14,000 member church, Mike Jones (a man who made a living as a male prostitute and drug procurer), the church, the witness of Jesus, and everybody else. Heck, I've felt sad about it all weekend and I don't know the man or anybody that he knows. It's all so terribly sad.

Out of Ur--a blog hosted by Christianity Today and one of my daily reads--has posted a thoughtful article about Haggard. Read it here.

Drive Thru History America

I went to school with Dave Stotts, the host of Drive Thru History. He, like me, is also from Atlanta, so you know he's a good guy. What you get in the DTH videos--both this series and the original Drive Thru History--is pure Dave. I'll always remember he was doing a announcement in chapel He prefaced it by saying, "Okay guys, I'm gonna take you back, way back on this one." Then Dave fell backward on the stage. I laughed hard. No one else did!

At any rate, check out Drive Thru History, which is currently airing on The History International Channel. It's a great show and Dave does the writing, research, filming, producing and editing pretty much by himself. It's incredible, I think. Dave brings a sense of humor, fun and insight to history. In particular, Dave highlights the role of Scripture and people of faith in the unfolding if history. There's no Christian overreach or here.

You'll be blessed by Drive Thru History.

The Slightly Cynical Side

As you can see, I've been posting videos and thoughts about the One Campaign. I think it is a wonderful, hopeful campaign that is bringing people of different faiths and beliefs together to add their voice of concern to the on-going genocide, HIV/AIDS pandemic, hunger, poverty, disease and war in Africa. The problem there is enormous. For example, I recently heard that HIV/AIDS education is so poor in Africa that many men who have contracted HIV/AIDS--and whom are not faithful to one woman or their wives--believe that the way to get rid of AIDS is to have sex with a virgin. Therefore, young girls are being raped, getting AIDS, and some are giving birth to children who are born with AIDS. So something needs to be done.

But then I also have a more cynical side. I was at home with my wife when we saw Bono on Oprah. Now, you must understand, I don't like Oprah! Never have! I think she's self-important and condescending. But I will say that she is one of the few people I know of who have decided that wealth and power aren't just for her own use. So, I guess at the end of the day, I do kinda, sorta like Oprah, maybe.

Anyway, the two--Bono and Oprah--were discussing and launching the Red campaign. At first, I thought it was great. Red ipods. Red T-shirts. Red. Red. Red!

But then I thought, "How sad!" The devastation occurring in Africa isn't moving enough to get Americans involved on its own. We have to have products to get us interested! Now in a way this is good. For instance, people who are preparing to purchase Christmas gifts can give Red products and part of the money will go to a good cause. But how consumeristic are we? I mean, I saw the Red iPod and wanted one. My current iPod, which I got for free with my computer, works fine. What's more, if you buy the Red iPod ONLY $10 goes to humanitarian aid. $10! I think it would be much better for people like me just to give $10 directly to a charity, which is what my wife and I did this week.

It appears that we are caught in the pull between generosity to others and consuming for ourselves. Perhaps there are some things we can do to help us bridge the gap between what we are and what we need to be? So here are some ideas to consider as you think about how to use your voice and power over the next few months.

1. Make your holiday season about others. Give to charity. Take your children to work with the poor and homeless. Limit Christmas gifts to one per person and use the money you would normally spend helping to change the world and joining the mission of God in our world.

2. Find a charity or issue that you care about and talk about it with your friends. Dedicate what you have--time, dollars, influence, contacts.

3. During Thanksgiving eat with another family (outside your biological-extended one), share the cost and use the extra cash to support a shelter or ministry feeding the homeless. Or actually go and feed the hungry with your family.

4. If your church has small groups adopt a project or less-fortunate family to help through the holidays. Pray with them, care for their kids and give lots of love.

5. Make Christmas about Jesus. Take your family to as much Jesus related stuff as possible and limit trips to the mall--maybe just go for a Santa Claus visit. Rochelle and I have done this, and for a former Christmas-hater, it has saved Christmas for me.

Behind the Scenes of ONE

This week I've been focusing on the ONE Campaign. Here'sa video with some of the participants--particularly Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback--talking about why One is important.

One Vote

My daughter has everything in the world she needs: books, more toys than she can play with, DVD's, markers crayons and coloring books, clothes, access the healthcare and medicine, a church who loves her, friends, great grandparents and great-grandparents. She has parents who think she spun the world into existence and she has so much food that she can eat as much or as little as she wants any time of day.

Sadly, not all children have what she has. Every 3 seconds a child dies in underdeveloped parts of our world. What's more, they are dying from completely treatable diseases. Treatable!

What's happening in our world transcends politics and political parties. It's about joining God on a mission to save the world, and a lot of peopl are joining in.

Our country has an embarassment of riches, and to whom much is given much is required. This November, I think our votes (and early voting has already started) is not just about who will lower our taxes or serve us. We are all stewards of one vote. We have been given a gift from God--like all gifts from God--that is intended to be used for the benefit and blessing of the world.

Go vote!

The ONE Campaign

I am so pleased that the hearts of so many people--both Christians and non-Christians-- are responding to the tragedies of poverty, hunger and AIDS in Africa. The One Campaign--as this video shows--has brought together some of the most unlikely people to help people in need. I encourage you to visit the One campaign. You can simply click of the banner at the top right of this page. There are a lot of different ways to help.

I truly thank God for people like Bono who have helped the Christian church identify the need and recognize where and how we can join God on His mission to save the world.

Do what you can.

God bless!

Grace, Joy and Forgiveness

Yesterday's sermon was entitled: A Community of Grace, Joy and Forgiveness. The genesis of my thinking on this subject lies in a phone call I recieved over two years ago from a distraught, hurting young woman. Honestly, in the preparing and even the preaching of the sermon I thought it was one of the worst sermons I had ever put together.

The response from the congregation said otherwise--show's you what I know. The response was overwheleming in fact!

Anyway, for those of you wanting to dig deeper, I commend to you F. Leron Shults' The Faces of Forgiveness. Leron is a brilliant scholars with two Ph.D's. He is also very involved in the Emergent conversation and a native Texan, though you'd never know it when you meet him. Currently, Shults is professor of Theology at Adger University in Norway.

Quick Hitters...

A new dose of my favorite commercials www.apple.com/getamac/
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For those of you who don't know, my wife, Rochelle, is pregnant again. She is due in February! My old college roomate, Chad, and his wife just had a baby boy. One of the guys in my current prayer group is expecting his first son in February. One of the kids I used to teach while I was in college is expecting her first daughter soon. And one of the other ministers on staff here is adopting a baby from China soon. Everywhere I turn it's baby fever.

We're having a girl, any name ideas?

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My main football team, the Florida State Seminoles are down. My second team, and my wife's graduate school alma mater, Texas, is back in the National Championship hunt. Texas' QB's parents and grandparents went to Abilene Christian University, of which I serve on the Alumni Advisory Board. Gotta be good people!

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I've been reading a lot of church history lately. It's amazing the church has survived. Only God could work through such feeble people.

Blessings....

Appreciation!

Don't forget, October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Gifts are accepted!

Thougths on War and Peace

Last night, I hosted a group of folks from our church for what we're calling, The Wednesday Night Buzz. The thought behind the Buzz is to experience communal spiritual formation as we learn to think theologically in our world. Last night's topic was war; a subject near and dear to all of us.

I simply shared some of the questions about war that are on my heart, things and ideas that I think about. In the course of gearing up for last night, I was drawn back to the writing and speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. I thought I'd post some of his marvelous thoughts here.
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Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being into the being of another.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957

At Oslo I suggested that the philosophy and strategy of non-violence become immediately a subject for study and serious experimentation in every field of human conflict, including relations between nations. This was not, I believe, an unrealistic suggestion. World peace through non-violent means is neither absurd nor unattainable. All other methods have failed. Thus we must begin anew. Non-violence is a good starting point. Those of us who believe in this method can be voices of reason, sanity and understanding amid the voices of violence, hatred and emotion. We can very well set a mood of peace out of which a system of peace can be built. Racial injustice around the world. Poverty. War. When man solves these three great problems he will have squared his moral progress with his scientific progress. And more importantly, he will have learned the practical art of living in harmony.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., "DREAMS OF BRIGHTER TOMORROWS" (March 1965)

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of nuclear annihilation... I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow... I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed.
--Martin Luther King, Jr., Address in Acceptance of Nobel Peace Prize - 10 December 1964

I am convinced that love is the most durable power in the world. It is not an expression of impractical idealism, but of practical realism. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, love is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. To return hate for hate does nothing but intensify the existence of evil in the universe. Someone must have sense enough and religion enough to cut off the chain of hate and evil, and this can only be done through love.
----Martin Luther King, Jr., 1957

More Air Banding

A few weeks ago I posted an air band clip from Scrubs. The hits on the blog went through the roof. I'm right in the middles of a lot of work at church and finishing some writing projects, so I haven't had time to continue some of my thoughts on the "Authentically Black" series. But I can tell you one thing: This clip is not Authentically Black...but it is funny.

Here's more air banding.

More On Plagiarism

A few weeks ago I posted a guest blog from Scot McKnight about plagiarism in sermons. Last night I read this article from the NY Times about the subject and the fallout from plagiarism for one particular minister. I post it here for your edification.
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By MICHAEL LUO

The Bible does not discuss plagiarism. But it does say that thou shalt not bear false witness and thou shalt not steal.

So what to do in the case of a disgraced former preacher who violated both commandments several years ago when he borrowed sermons, often whole-cloth, from other ministers and passed them off as his own?

For members of the Park Avenue Christian Church, a struggling congregation on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the proper response is to give him a second chance.

Members of the small church, which dates to 1810 but has dwindled to just 40 people on Sundays, voted this week to hire the former high-profile preacher, the Rev. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, 56, as their new senior pastor.

“It’s really a chance at a fresh start for both Park Avenue and for me,” Mr. Jackson, who will begin his job in September, said in a telephone interview.

Until several years ago, Mr. Jackson was a shining star in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), an 800,000-member denomination. A renowned orator, he was pastor of the church’s flagship congregation, in Washington, and as the denomination’s moderator held its highest elected position. In a previous post, in Memphis, he expanded a church of 350 members to more than 8,000 in 19 years.

But he was embarrassed in late 2003 when a curious member of his staff in Washington discovered that Mr. Jackson had been preaching, often verbatim, the same sermons as the Rev. Thomas K. Tewell, at the time the leader of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. (Mr. Tewell later encountered his own problems, leaving Fifth Avenue over allegations that he had had an extramarital affair with a woman he was helping in marriage counseling.)

Kathy McGregor, staff nurse at the National City Christian Church in Washington, woke up early one Sunday and, out of curiosity, typed into Google Mr. Jackson’s provocative sermon title for that day, “Sorry Mr. President, I Don’t Dance.”

Reached by telephone in Memphis, where she later moved, Ms. McGregor recalled that she had been curious about whether the sermon was going to be about the war in Iraq, something she had been hoping the church would address. A sermon with the same title by Mr. Tewell popped up on her screen. Clicking through Fifth Avenue’s Web site to see Mr. Tewell’s other sermons, she saw that many other titles matched Mr. Jackson’s as well.

She printed out Mr. Tewell’s sermon and took it to church. Mr. Jackson proceeded to deliver the exact same sermon, she said, right down to the same um’s and ah’s in the transcription of Mr. Tewell’s — and even the same personal anecdotes.

“Mr. Tewell’s friends were his friends,” she said. “He never even changed the name of the people.”

After being alerted by Ms. McGregor, church officials confronted Mr. Jackson. He eventually admitted to borrowing liberally from other ministers’ sermons and asked for his congregation’s forgiveness. The Washington Post traced the trail of copied sermons back at least a year and a half. Mr. Jackson even used Mr. Tewell’s talks in a 12-week series he preached that was recorded and sold for $50.

Making matters worse, Disciples World, a magazine affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, discovered that one of Mr. Jackson’s messages that had been published in a collection of sermons preached after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, had borrowed large sections from a 1982 book by another minister.

Mr. Jackson took a 10-week leave from the church. He returned for several months, but his congregation remained in turmoil over his leadership, and he resigned.

According to Mr. Jackson, his resignation ultimately had nothing to do with plagiarizing but stemmed from opposition to the more multicultural direction that he, as a black minister, was taking the mostly white congregation.

Nevertheless, over the past few years, Mr. Jackson said, he has done much reflecting on his mistakes. He maintained his home in Washington but also spent time in the Gulf Coast region, working with evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. He also did some consulting work for churches.

He is contrite, offering candid explanations about the pressures he was under but hastening to say they are not meant to be excuses. He had been bouncing between his responsibilities in the church and his leadership position in the denomination, he said, and simply became overwhelmed.

“It’s a pattern you get into,” he said, explaining he was struggling at the time with issues of self-esteem. “It happens bit by bit. You end up using more and more. You’re using a little material maybe initially, and then using more. It’s really not rational.”

Borrowing of sermon material occurs often among preachers, but Mr. Jackson went too far, said the Rev. John M. Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago, whose Easter sermon was copied by Mr. Jackson.

“We all borrow from one another, and we’re all inspired from other ministers and informed by one another,” he said. “What’s not so good is when you simply take something of someone else’s and don’t attribute it and claim it as your own. That steps over a serious line.”

Still, Mr. Buchanan, who said that at least three other pastors had copied his sermons to varying degrees, said that Mr. Jackson deserved a chance at redemption.

“He’s obviously a gifted and strong leader,” he said. “We need all those we can get.”

Melissa Little, the chairwoman of Park Avenue’s pastoral search committee, said she and others at the church were ultimately willing to look past Mr. Jackson’s mistakes, serious as they were, in hopes that he can reverse the church’s fortunes. The congregation at Park Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets has been through several pastors over the past decade and has been steadily losing people, she said.

“He realizes what he did,” she said. “He’s not going to do it again. He’s discerned it. He’s worked on it.”

David Mitchell, the church’s moderator, is a business manager for a small publishing company. Among his duties is writing letters to people who have violated the company’s copyrights. As a result, he was initially profoundly bothered by Mr. Jackson’s history.

But after pressing Mr. Jackson, he came away positive about what Mr. Jackson might offer the congregation as a preacher and his plans to bring diversity and renewed vibrancy to the church.

“I would hope that if I were to ever do something that stupid,” Mr. Mitchell said, “that I would also find the grace to be able to recover from it.”

Scrubs - Air Band

One of my favorite television sceens ever. I don't know if it's Authentically Black, but if it's not, what is?

Plagiarism in Sermons

I know I'm in the midst of this "Authentically Black" series. I hope is has been good and helpful, but I just keep coming across other things that I also feel are "blog worthy."

Today's blog is taken from Scot McKnight's "Jesus Creed" blog. Scot is a theologian and excellent blogger. The post is about plagiarism in sermons. Now most of us have heard a plagiarized sermon before, we just don't know it.

McKnight sheds some much needed light on what is wrong with plagiarism in sermonic material and I think all us pastors, preachers, teachers and church leaders should take note.

Here it is:

"The NY Times ran an article about pastors swiping sermons from sermon sources, and then Out of Ur ran a piece which got some comments. IÂ’m wondering what you think. Here are my thoughts:

I once was in a situation when a pastor admitted to using sermons from sermon sources, and he also said he hadn't thought there was anything wrong with it. What most confused me about the situation was that he was using illustrations from other preachers in the first person — and you really did think these experiences were his. So far as I know, he stopped.

What are the issues? Here’s what I see:

First, it is not honest. Part of the pastoral task is to preach (if that is part of your “job description”), and that means preparing their own sermons. I don’t know any search committees that prefer their pastoral candidates and preachers to use sermon sources [in order to borrow or swipe sermons preached by others on a routine basis or without acknowledgement — added in light of Steve May’s fine suggestions and clarifications below].

Second, the temptation is evidently strong, and I’d like to know what you think drives plagiarize sermons, but here’s what I see. Sometimes they don’t have the time to get a sermon ready. Sometimes they have too many sermons or talks to get ready for the week and resort to using somebody else’s for one of the talks. Sometimes the pressure to be a good preacher is so strong the preacher is tempted to use someone else’s already-shown-to-be-good sermon. Sometimes there are so many good preachers in the area swiping sermons is the only way a preacher can “compete.” Sometimes a pastor’s job is on the line for how he or she preaches and they are able to postpone the inevitable with a few good sermons swiped from a source.

Third, pastors should not subscribe to such services if they are at all tempted to swipe sermons. I suppose these services are designed to help pastors see what good preaching looks like — but that’s another series. If the temptation is there, it is far wiser to make it unavailable.

Fourth, sermon services are partly culpable here: I’ve never been part of this so I’d like to hear how they work. Do they warn of plagiarism? Do they educate on the proper use? Someone will know more than I about these services.

Fifth, what is a sermon? Well, it’s a whole life brought to bear on a text each week for a single 30 minute or so sermon before a specific congregation. It shames the preacher not to be who he or she is in the pulpit, and to pretend to be someone else. It de-localizes the sermon from the local context. It distorts who the preacher is before the congregation.

So, the sermon is highly biblical, highly personal, highly local, and highly temporal: it is the individual preacher engaging God and Bible and congregation, in that specific location, for that time.

Sixth, which brings up the philosophical issue: Is there not nothing new under the sun? Well said. To be sure, nearly every sermon emerges from books and sermons and ideas and all sorts of things that were used. But it is bricolage, it is quilting, it is convergence — it is precisely those things and not simple usage of others. It brings together other people’s ideas and says so if it is substantial; but it is a uniquely personal, local, and temporal bringing of those things together. Taking someone’s sermon destroys the bricolage and turns it into a canned, deceitful act of creating a false image in front of God’s people.

Now let’s be honest: sermons don’t have footnotes and need not. You need not end each separable idea with a “I got this point from Ortberg and this one from Niebuhr and that one from Bonhoeffer.” We all use things from others in sermons, and when we use a lot from someone about some point, we say so. By and large the congregation doesn’t care about that. But, I think they expect the preacher to be preaching his or her own sermon and not someone else’s."


Well said, Scot.

Dear Church

I'm taking a break from the "Authentically Black" series to give everyone a heads up about a new book. Sarah Raymond Cunningham has written a wonderful book, entitled, Dear Church:Letters from a Disillusioned Generation.

Dear Church is a series of letters from Sarah to the church concerning the issues she views as those most deeply affecting young adults and the young at heart. She is a thoughtful, elegant writer, and you would be more than blessed by reading her book. Dear Church just hit store selves this past Tuesday, so your local might not have it, but of course it is available on Amazon.com.

I was privilege to read and offer insight to Sarah's first chapter. She found me via this blog and asked for my feedback. In truth, I offered very little because what she wrote was so thorough. In a gesture of thanks, Sarah has listed me--along with other writers and bloggers--in the acknowledgements section of her book.

You can add your own thoughts and letters at www.dearchurch.com and become part of a community that looks to do more than complain and gripe about the problems facing the church and seek lasting dialogue and solutions.

Authentically Black #2

What now passes for "authentically black" really isn't!

In reality it is simply hip-hop culture; urban slang, gangsta rap, baggy clothes, and the entire 'thug life' in general. Unfortunately, hip-hop as a brand name has been so successful that when people--black, white, red, yellow, whatever--think of "black" they envision "hip-hop."

I have a hard time believing that folks like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X would pass the "black" litmus test that many are all too quick to give in our contemporary setting. These men--along with many others--were thoughtful, well-spoken, socially courageous men who sought to elevate the black community through African-American advancement in endeavors other than sports, music, dance, etc...

For example, as a boy I had a high bar set for me educationally. My father grew up in the inner-city of Jackson, Mississippi. (Now, if there is a racist place on earth it is definitely in Mississippi.) Yet my father and each of his three brothers maximized the opportunities given them, and that was in a day and time when there weren't near as many opportunities available. The cousin's, the children of my dad's three brothers, my brother and myself have come to own businesses, have been successful in the military and law enforcement world, made millions in the tech boom of the late eighties and early nineties, and--some would say--have done a pretty good job in ministry. In many ways, my cousins, my brother and I are the picture of the American dream. Our grandfather, didn't finish the 3rd grade. He worked the land, and my grandmother cleaned rich, white people's houses, and watched neighborhood kids for money. My dad, and his brothers, Forrest, James, and John, made the most of their opportunities and viewed leaving "the 'hood" as the objective to life. The same was true of my parent's friends whom I knew as I child. They became doctors and lawyers, university professors and entrepreneurs. This did not make them less black, but it did make them optimistic.

What is so desperately lacking in much of the black community is simply optimism; the belief that hard-work and catching a break here and there would lead to a better life. (And by the way, both those things are important. I reject the right-wing position that success is all about hard-work, but I equally reject the leftist position that everything comes down to breaks. For an economic underclass to rise, people need both.) Truly, nihilism is so deeply embedded in some parts of the black community that anyone who makes it out is considered some kind of race-traitor or is trying to be something or someone that they are not. The logic flows like this: Our case is hopeless, everyone hates us, we're doomed to this fate, therefore those who make it out must have acquiesced to "whitey", so they are no longer "black enough".

Now, let me say, if you're black in America, things can often seem hopeless, and there are plenty of people who hate you and even more people who practice a working racism and don't even know it. I'm not saying that racism doesn't exist or that there aren't obstacles to overcome. What I am saying is that the racism faced today may be more subversive, but is certainly no more severe than what my father, his brothers and his friends endured in the days of institutional racism and Jim Crow and they reached farther and achieved far more than their father could have.

There was time in America when being authentically black meant being an overcomer rather than being overcome. I love this quote from Joseph C. Phillips: "At the close of the Civil War, black Americans were almost ninety-percent illiterate. One generation later we had created colleges and universities, had thriving business centers and an entrepreneurial class that was growing. We were practicing law and medicine; we were architects and craftsmen. Today, just 130 years removed from bondage, we sit on the heads of major corporations, run city and state bureaucracies, are leading experts in the fields of medicine and law, and set trends in music, fashion, and pop culture. There was a time in this country when men of letters were celebrated. It would not be unusual to find photographs of intellectuals like W.E.B Dubois, Paul Robeson, Langston Hughes, or Zora Neal Hurston hanging in black homes. Today we brag about our sons' field-goal percentage."

I'm interested in recapturing the essence of what it means to be authentically black. What it has meant to be black in America since we were brought here, and not just what it has come to mean in the last 20 years. I'm optimistic that we can. What about you?

More to come..

Authentically Black #1

I was in Portland, OR a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to swing by Powell's Books. Powell's is the world's largest independent new and used book store. It encompasses an entire city block and is about four stories high. I spent two hours there and could have spent much, much more.

At Powell's I purchased two books on one subject that has become increasingly important to me as I grow older. The subject is 'race'. This past May I spoke on the topic of race and the church at the Pepperdine Bible Lectures and was truly disappointed in the attendance and interest. Jerry Rushford and the folks at Pepperdine do an incredible job putting together the lectures and I am grateful--not to mention humbled and shocked--that they keep letting me have a blank sheet in regards to what I teach.

At any rate, the two books were Joseph C. Phillips', He Talk Like A White Boy, and John McWhorter's, Winning the Race. You may remember Joseph Phillips from his turn as Denise's husband in the latter years of The Cosby Show, and McWhorter--well, McWhorter is just smarter than most people you'll ever meet. Phillips is a self-avowed conservative, while McWhorter seems to lean to the right, but is somewhere in the middle politically. Either way, both men have some very compelling and important things to say about the state of race relations in America--and for the most part--I agree with them.

Both writers, give sharp, intelligent critiques of the thinking and policies that have contributed to the contemporary condition of the black underclass, the seeming disdain for education in the black community, what has caused and is causing the economic disfunction in the black community, and most importantly, what it means to be "authentically black".

Of course, having achieved what they have achieved, being proficient in the proper use of the English language and not wearing their pants around their ankles, both men have and continue to hear taunts of not being "black enough". Or worse, "not black at all". They are not the only ones. People like Condelezza Rice and Colin Powell--because they have taken the most advantage of the opportunities granted them and have not bowed to hip-hop culture--have also had to endure the thoughtless, inane disdain of others who feel that any black who succeeds in endeavors other than art, music, sports, or dance have somehow abandoned who they are. And honestly, I have often heard many of the same things.

My parents grew up in the 50's and 60's and were part of the Civil Right Movement, a movement designed to be practiced in peace and love for enemies with equal access to education, pay, and work as the end goals. When my father talked about those days I listened and took his words to heart. Doing well in school was important, being competent in my field of endeavor was important, and knowing that I was as capable and worthy as my white counterparts was deeply ingrained in my mind. Therefore, I have always seen my life--one with a good education, a beautiful family, a house in an integrated community, a fulfilling job, the respect of my colleagues and countless opportunities--was the point of what Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King died for. Unfortunately, there are some who now see that kind of life as antithetical to "being authentically black". For example, does anyone remember that pointed and correct Chris Rock--whom I love--routine where he says, "Black people get more respect for coming out of jail than getting a Master's degree"?

Sad commentary.

Joseph C. Phillips in He Talk Like A White Boy recounts the story of when he--in the eyes of a classmate--became inauthentically black. After answering a question in class, one of the other black students exclaimed, "He talk like a white boy." Phillips writes...

"I never knew how ugly, or hurtful, the words "Uncle Tom" were. In that moment, the tyranny of opinion--the notion that there are some people empowered to stand at the doors of culture and determine who is and who is not welcome--was made painfully clear to me. My definition of blackness-more accurately, my black self-was unimportant. That decision was left to the anointed, and no matter how idiotic, arcane, or nihilistic their definition, any deviation would be dealt with swiftly and decisively...

"So there you have it. At the tender age of twelve, with no warning whatsoever, my membership credentials to the brotherhood were confiscated and ripped to shreds. The mere difference in how I spoke--the sound of my voice, my diction--clearly meant that I was trying to be something that I wasn't, that I was an infiltrator, and that difference, real or perceived, made me an outsider."

This type of treatment of one another is exactly what McWhorter, in another work, calls "self-sabotage" in black America. And in my opinion is one of the root causes that smart, capable blacks often fail to break out of generational poverty and educational failure. People like Phillips, McWhorter, Rice, Powell and countless others should not be treated with contempt for who they are what they've done, they should be treated as heroes in and of the black community.

Perhaps the black community should be mindful when we speak to and about each other that whether we are factory-workers or CFO's; whether they are high-school educated or tenured Ph,D's; whether we speak colloquial slang or are dedicated to following the most minute rules of proper English usage; Condelezza Rice is right when she says, "You can't try that 'black enough' stuff on me. I've been black my whole life!"

More to come...

Enjoying It

Recently, I wrote an article for our church bulletin. I liked it. I thought it was one of the more thought-provoking, interesting articles that I've written in a while. Well, I supose I was the only one since it was welcomed with thunderous silence. Usually, someone will say something about my articles, but this time nothing, except for someone asking me what kind of response I got from it. The theme of the bulletin was "Seeking the Face of God" and had a flattering picture of my daughter on the cover, so we were all writing about spiritual formation. Here's the track I took. Tell me what you think.
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Enjoying It

You might have noticed that I don’t talk about Heaven much. It’s not that I’m not interested in it or don’t want to go there; it’s just that—believe it or not—I’m not convinced that going there is the point of the spiritual life. I’m aware that that might sound sacrilegious to some people, but I don’t believe it is. As Dallas Willard helpfully points out, a gospel centered on getting individuals to heaven makes us “vampire Christians who want Jesus for His blood and little else.”

It seems that a great deal of contemporary Christian spirituality centers on how to get into heaven after you die. So the church talks a lot about sinner’s prayers, or baptisms—whatever “conversion” means for a group—and once you’ve done that your duty is to hang around the church enough to be considered a “good Christian,” contribute what you can financially and be nice to people. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with those things, but I have to ask: Is that it?

Surely, it can’t be!

Can you imagine what the ministry of Jesus might have looked like had getting back to heaven been the Savior’s endgame? Why spend time in solitude with God? Why minister to the disease-riddled and broken? Why commune with a band of twelve guys who couldn’t get much right? Why even bother with studying in the Temple, or preaching the Sermon on the Mount or Plain? Certainly Jesus could have angered the Pharisees enough to kill Him without all of these touchings and teaching in between.

What we see in the life of Jesus between the nativity scene and the empty tomb is spiritual formation. Time alone with God, moments spent with a small group of people struggling to understand the kingdom of God, ministry to the hurting and powerless, prayer—both in solitude and in community—dwelling on the word of God, the journey toward a destiny, struggling with the call of God, anguish, mourning, celebration, and others practices and experiences are the spiritual life. Jesus chooses to embrace each of these experiences and practices not because His goal is to get back to heaven, but rather because He knows what Heaven really is.

Let me put it this way: There is more to Heaven besides getting there, there is also enjoying it. One ancient spiritual master said that the goal of life is to love God and enjoy Him forever. And as a more modern thinker has said, “For some, the flames of Heaven will be hotter than the flames of hell.”

What these spiritual masters mean is that it is through engaging the disciplines of spiritual formation that one comes to more deeply love God, more intimately know His personality and character, and hear his voice. Without which, Heaven would be like listening to a group of old friends reminisce about the wonderful times they’ve shared and see the joy they experience while in each others company and feel as though you are on the outside looking in.

So when I talk with people about Christianity, Heaven is not usually on the agenda. For many of the spiritual masters, Heaven was about enjoying God, and through the various processes of spiritual formation—prayer, friendship, dwelling, solitude, silence, suffering, seeking the face of God, etc—we are given a taste of knowing and enjoying God right now.

So we don’t have to wait until we’re six-feet-under to experience Heaven. It is here, waiting for us.

World Cup

Okay, I have to admit, I've been watching the World Cup. Typically, I make fun of soccer, even though I played it as a kid and enjoyed it very much. Well, I enjoyed everything but the constant running. I guess that's why I was a goal-keeper and sweeper.

Anyway, the tournament has been fun to watch and interesting. I love seeing the fans! They are pumped and excited about what's going on. During England's loss, the camera kept cutting back to a pub in England. The fans stood the entire game and seemed to flip back and forth between life and death (metaphorically, of course) with every play. In addition, it is truly a world competition. Unlike the NBA or NFL, the winning team would have been in a tournament with truly the entire world.

As much as I have enjoyed the World Cup, I have some serious questions/problems with the game itself--particularly the rules.

Here are my questions and comments:

1. What's the deal with off-sides? That's a ridiculous rule. If an offensive player out runs the defensive player, then props to him. A team shouldn't be penalized because the other teams defenders are slower. Why should he have to wait til the ball is kicked? Why can't a player anticipate what the his teammate is going to do and where he's going to kick? In American football, the receiver is SUPPOSED to get BEHIND the defender. The off-sides rule has got to be one of the main reasons why I sat and watched 119 minutes of soccer yesterday before I saw a goal. Soccer People, get ride of off-sides, increase scoring, and you'll get more American fans.

2. What's up with "Stoppage Time?" Last I checked it was the year 2006. I think we're capable of stopping a running clock! Basketball does it. Football does it. Hey, my stop watch does it! In soccer, the game is over, but then it's not over because the refs have 3 or 5 more minutes for stoppage time. Wouldn't it be easier to let the players and fans know exactly where we are in the game and how much longer those poor guys are going to have to run?

3. Team Jerseys! For those of us without intimate knowledge of the sport, wouldn't it be better for teams to wear jerseys that somewhat resembled their nation's flag. If your flag is red, green and white, please don't wear a yellow jersey. If you're trying to gain fans, help us understand who is who. And while you're at it, put your goal-keeper in a jersey that somewhat looks like the rest of the team. I know their jerseys have to be somewhat different, but in the neighborhood would be nice.

4. Soccer player, stop faking injury. I must say that my most lasting and painful injuries have been from soccer, but if you're laying on the pitch, screaming in pain, having to be carried off by a stretcher, then you can't be back on the field 2 minutes later. If you're hurt, you're hurt--I get it. If not, rub some dirt on it and play. After all, you don't want anyone to have to stop the clock.

5 Yellow Card. I can't tell what's worth a yellow card and what's not. Refs give them for tripping one time and 5 minutes later a guy catches an elbow to the face and they don't call anything. Plus, soccer players are falling down all the time anyway. I can't tell what's worth it and what's not. Can you help me?

Don't get me wrong. I have LOVED watching the Cup, but I'm not sure that I fully "get it." If anyone can help, please do!

Who Over What!

Often I'm shamed by how infrequently I post on my blog. The truth is that I've been a little too busy for my own good--not to mention the good of my family. Since my last post (you know the one where I was speaking at a camp)I have traveled to speak to another church, been a participant in a church planting lab, and right now I'm preparing a presentation for a church in town, as well as getting ready for a trip to Portland, OR.

That's a little much when you place it next to the day-to-day responsibilities of ministering to a church and being a husband and father.

Speaking of ministering to a church, I'm teaching a class right now on the gospel of John. It has been a lot of fun. I'm using my friend, Chris Seay's re-telling of John. Chris is shepherding "The Voice" Bible project and has been gracious enough to let me use his text, even though some parts have not been published yet.

Tomorrow, our class will be looking at the religious leader's questioning of John the Baptist in John 1. It's an amazing text and Chris captures it beautifully. Here is a scene where the leaders are asking all these "what" questions--questions about John's baptism and his authority. Yet here is John dismissing the "what" questions and announcing and proclaiming the coming of Jesus. Did you catch that? They are worried about the what questions, when the heart of the story is centered in the "who" question.

Perhaps that's a good primer to view the entire gospel of John--or all of Christianity for that matter. Perhaps we should focus on the who not the what. When Jesus says later in John that He is the way, the truth and the life, perhaps He is articulating a way of being in the world; a way focused on living life in the way of Jesus--following a person, rather than a religious construct.

Try this out: Read through John's gospel this week and deliberately ask "who" questions. See what that might do for your week.

Freedom

I'm away speaking at a camp for high school students this week. The theme for the week is "Freedom." What a tough topic, huh? This is an interesting camp. Everyday we speak, pray, discuss, and praise about one topic. I supppose that by the end of the week the kids--and those of us charged with leading them--either discover something in the topic or are sick to death of it.

The problem with discussing Freedom is that as Americans we think we know what it is. The truth is that we don't. As a matter of fact, when you think of all the death, divorce, addiction, and psychological turmoil we experience, we are some of the most enslaved people in the history of the world.

The fact is we all serve a multitude of masters.

We think of Freedom in terms of the American Revolution or "Braveheart" (which is a favorite movie of mine), but those things are much more about autonomy and independence than true freedom.

The opposite can be true too, though. Some of us free where others might take the concept of Freedom, and like the Pharisees that Jesus fought, we construct a whole list of rules and regulations and other crap to hem people inside the walls where we want them to stay.

Neither of those is the freedom that Jesus died to give us.

If I had to try and define freedom I guess I would land somewhere near where Morpheus does when he meets Neo face-to-face in "The Matrix". Morpheus says, "I am offering you the truth."

That what freedom is to me--the truth. The truth about the meaning of life, the truth about where I came from and where I am going. And the truth that Jesus and Jesus alone is the truth.

Freedom is the ability to live fully in God's truth.Free from the false addiction of thinking you can do what you want when you want. And freedom from the false bondages of those few people inside religious institutions that want to shut down every thought and action but their own.

** I've got to run and take a picture now. Sorry of any misspellings our un-proofed work.