Coming Together

I love this video clip that my friend Nelson Taylor posted on Facebook today.  Take a minute to watch it.

It always amazes me, how some individuals can lead a group of normal people to extraordinary actions.  In this video, Bobby McFerrin demonstrates how to create a unique and entertaining musical event by harnessing the collective talent in the audience. 

How many leaders squander the collective talent and energy of the audiences they encounter?  How many of us encourage others to join us in participating in the song?  

Bobby MeFerrin has an amazing talent.  But his talent is deeper than most think.  You'd probably say it's his voice.  Sure, he's got a great voice.  But what separates him is his ability to connect with his audience and get them to connect with each other.  This is his genius.

Here's another great example..

Who are you helping connect?

What's your idea???

By the way, I really enjoyed Jon Acuff's book Quitter.  Check it out if your looking for a good read.

I went to Church Sunday!

Last Sunday, I got to leave my church at 10:30am and wander 4 blocks away to a neighboring Baptist congregation.   Bethlehem Baptist Church invited me to participate in a worship service recognizing our town’s fire department and rescue squad. 

When we wandered into the church we were greeted with smiles, hugs, and kind words.   As is the custom with many African American churches, the minute I was recognized as a minister I was invited into the pastor’s study to prepare for the service.  I was honored to pray with the team before the service and accompany their pastor during the service.  They even gave me a chance to “give a word” to the congregation. 

The experience reminded me of how the kingdom of God will be one day and how we often fail to live out God’s promises here on earth.  I shared with the congregation that I brought greetings from our church, First Baptist, and that it was good to be with them.  And then I reminded the group that we may have gathered here from many different churches, but we should remember that God has only one church.

I sometimes wonder what God thinks of us as he looks at what we’ve done with his church.  I would bet that it hurts him deeply to see how divided we have become.  Not just concerning race, but over politics, theology, and power.  Some people believe the greatest divide today is between those who are wealthy and those who are poor. 

There is a lot I could write about concerning the divisions we face (and I may do so another day).  But today I think I’ll just share how glad I am, that Winthey Hatcher, Pastor Ricky Lee and the good people at Bethlehem Baptist,  invited me to join them in service. 

Thank you for sharing the Kingdom of God with me.  Well done!

You Lost Me

David Kinnaman has a great book called, You Lost Me.  This video is a good introduction to a growing concern within the church.

Who's on your bus?

Catalyst Atlanta 2011 | Jim Collins from Catalyst on Vimeo.

So We Bought A Goat

So we bought a goat the other day.  No, it's not in the back yard.  It is on its way to Africa. 

We started this project because we wanted to give our Son a good story.  We wanted to teach him that life is about more than TV or internet games.  We wanted him to learn about giving and the joy of sharing our love with others.  So we went to compassion, let Augy pick out an animal to give and we started earning and saving money. And after a few weeks, we bought that goat and sent it to a villiage in need.

And guess what! 

Now we are saving for a cow.

Heather has documented the Great Goat Journey Here and Here.  She tells it well and you should check out her stories.  I've posted the thank you video below.  If you'd like to buy a goat or another animal, you can go to Compassion and join in the fun.

The Future of Textbooks

Rice University's Connexions project is about to make it cheaper to attend college by publishing free textbooks online for five of the nation's most-attended undergraduate courses.

If Connexions' new OpenStax College captures even 10 percent of the market for these first five courses, 1 million college students in the United States will save in excess of $90 million over the next five years.

The initiative, which is backed by the Hewlett Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 20 Million Minds Foundation and the Maxfield Foundation, will publish introductory physics and sociology books in March and three more titles this fall.

Book Notes

The following quotes are taken from the book, Real Church in a Social-Network World by Leonard Sweet.

"In the ancient world, faith did not mean subscribing to the convictions of theology; it meant living in the confidence of relationships."

"Faith in God is a relationship involving all of who you are and all that is around you. Faith is a lived encounter, a relationship of truth with the Divine."

"Christians use the words belief and faith interchangeably. But to admit (believe) falls far short of to commit (faith). To become a Christian is not to adopt a different belief system. To become a Christian is to experience a transformation into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Admitting is useless without committing."

"The purpose of Christianity is to help people come to faith, which means to establish a relationship with God. Faith is not salvation per se, or liberation per se, or correct belief about the Godhead per se. Faith is the willing acceptance of Jesus’s invitation, “Follow me.”

"What does God want from you and me? Does God want us to think the right thoughts or to do the right things? Of course. But above all God wants us to be involved in right relationships. When the Bible says, “God is love,” it is saying that God is a relationship. Love has no value or meaning in a vacuum. Right relationships are not produced by right thoughts or right actions. Just the opposite. Right thoughts and right actions are produced by right relationships."

“We Bring Good Things to Life.” If Jesus launched an advertising campaign, he might use this slogan: “I Bring Things Good, True, and Beautiful to Life.” The Incarnation—God taking on human flesh—is a participatory event. But we have made it representational."

"This is what missional means: to participate in the mission of Jesus in the world, to incarnate in the experiences of our lives and our communities the good news of God’s love for the world. We must become a GOOD church, which stands for “get out of doors.” We must get out of the church building and venture into the world to join the God who fills “the hungry with good things.”

The quotes above are from:  Sweet, Leonard (2011-12-20). Real Church in a Social Network World: From Facebook to Face-to-Face Faith. Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Who thinks 38% is good enough?

I read an interesting article today about the challenge western churches are facing when centering their growth models around dynamic personalities.  Churches are building their ministries around teaching-based, Sunday-centric, attractional, “come and see” approaches that demand big personalities in the pulpit.  So what the problem? 

First, big personalities are hard to replicate!  But Doug Paul hits the second problem dead on writing,

“Every stat in the world points to the fact that at best, only 38% of people in the United States can be reached by this approach and that stat is dropping every year.”

He continues,

“What this shows is that we are a culture desperately addicted to celebrity—we’re so easily swayed by the gravitas of a magnetic personality that we’ve lost the ability to see true innovation.”

What we see, isn’t what we need.  We want the right pastor to get up on Sunday morning and teach us and we want great experiences in worship.  But what we really need is a practical approach that will help us reach the 62% of people who are uninterested in the Sunday Service.

I don’t have all the answers, but I think this article should help us think about what we need to be talking about.  The whole article is posted in the link below. 

http://dougpaulblog.com/2012/01/how-rob-bell-and-mark-driscoll-are-the-same/

Haven't Seen You Post Recently

There are two main reasons why my blog has been left dormant the past month. 

 

Our office administrator has been in the hospital the last month and that has increased my day to day work load.  The choice we face during times like these is what to cut out.  Too often when work increases we cut out the above (families).   

I haven’t posted much recently and I probably won’t for the next few weeks.  It isn’t because I don’t love writing.

It’s because I love being a husband and a father more.

What do you cut out when life gets busy?

By the way, our office administrator is named Sandra and she could use your prayers.