Friday, December 26, 2008
Acting like a church
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Life is moving forward
Friday, October 31, 2008
Things that make me angry
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Coolest Sub Ever
Monday, October 27, 2008
Billings Pumpkin Patch
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Friday, October 10, 2008
Welcome to Montana
Friday, October 3, 2008
Phillipians 3: 4-14
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Fasting
Thursday, August 28, 2008
I earned some money 2day
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
We are not in Kansas anymore
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We have a name...
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thank You
Thursday, August 14, 2008
34 and counting...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
La Brea St. Cook Out
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ride'n in the Rain
Friday, July 18, 2008
Beartooth Pass Day Trip
Oh yea, and we saw snow in July. That was a first for all of us.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
SunCom made it right!!!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
What I learned today...
2) Court and I are not good at Frisbee Golf. In fact, we are terribleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It was a lot like regular golf. I lost my ball (Frisbee) on the 3rd hole, I kid you not. The 3rd hole! After a long search for my Frisbee, which is apparently stuck in a Sycamore tree at Pioneer Park in Billings, Mt near the 3rd tee box of the Frisbee Golf Course, Court actually forgot where her last throw went. Thankfully after a 10 minute search we found her Frisbee, as well as, another frisbee so I could finish the round. Truth be told we have no idea how to keep score in Frisbee Golf, so we played every hole like a Par 4. I won 2 over par to her 4 over par.
Friday, July 11, 2008
I want to ride my bicycle...I want to ride my bike
Monday, July 7, 2008
SunCom (UP DATE: Read the SunCom Made It Right blog)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part VII)
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part VI)
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part V)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part IV)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part III)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part II)
Friday, June 27, 2008
Mov'n to Montana...Jump in the Snow (Part I)
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sorry for the break
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Bought a house and assorted prayer request
Friday, May 23, 2008
I need a "Strategery" for faith
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
God please rescue me!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Survivor Frustration
I admit it...I watch Survivor. I am a loyal follower since the reruns of season one during those first summer months. I guess we all have our guilty pleasures. For some it is chocolate, for others egomaniacal foreign policy and still others it is a stupid T.V. show under the reality tag where most of plot is unscripted fiction.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Beach Baptism/Why?
Sometimes this ministry thing is a real privilege...
Yesterday I had the opportunity to baptize eight of our students off Wrightsville Beach. These students come from different socio-economic backgrounds; they attend six different schools and run with five or six different crowds. For some this baptism was a long time coming, a life spent seeking God. For a couple it was decision made in the last few days and for one it was a decision made at the beach. Though God has undoubtedly been at work in their lives as well.
I mentioned the privilege part as it concerns me...it is a privilege. I have been walking along side most of these students for the last four or five years, a few of them have only been a part of our group for a year or two, but our relationships are strong. I always say two things to people asking about being baptized.
1) You do go to heaven when we accept Christ into our hearts.
2) Following God is about more than that, much more.
For me baptism is about showing the world that it is your desire to walk through life with God. It is a public acknowledgement that we will seek out Christian community and look for ways to serve this world with our lives. In a nutshell the Great Commandments... We love God by loving others.
The people I have baptized have no idea what they are getting themselves into. They don't fully comprehend the breadth or depth of following God. They have no idea the difficult times or the times where they will feel distant from God. They just know they want to follow God. Praise God, because that is enough! I have been do'n this God thing for some time now. I still don't know what I have gotten myself into. :)
I have little doubt these eight young people will struggle in their lives. Some of them might loose their way for a bit, some of them might forget for a time that they wanted only to follow God. My prayer for each of them will be that we as their friends, family and church will walk along side them and disciple them. Jesus showed us the game plan for this!
Following God isn't about getting into heaven and stay'n out of hell. It is about joining the "Missio Dei" (The Mission of God) and living life in a community (Church/Christian Fellowship) and serving the world (with our lives).
Monday, May 5, 2008
Sold the house
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Gas Prices
Everyone seems to be sitting around waiting for the government to do something. Are u kidding me? It ain't gonna happen. We have to change ourselves first. Nothing of note in this world ever begins with legislation or for that matter from the top down. True change must be grassroots!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
24 hr News Media
When I was a kid I remember the big deal CNN made about being a 24 hour news source. In retrospect what a mistake. Has news turned from news into entertainment? News sources now own other companies or other companies own news sources. Ratings, money, etc…these are the stories they are truly after.
Was it always like this? I watch the nightly Democratic Presidential nomination race and ponder…Am I watching news coverage? Or a scripted drama where our politicians play their part?
Whatever the case I am pretty sure the news makes the news, they don’t cover it any more. MSNBC, FOX NEWS, CNN...Shame on us for letting you do it!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Questions
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Final Four
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Prophetic Voice
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Guilt Free Christianity
Based on Mark 10:17-31 (The Rich Young Ruler) 17As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 18And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.19"You know the commandments, 'DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"20And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." 21Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 22But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. 23And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" 24The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 26They were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" 27Looking at them, Jesus said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God." 28Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You." 29Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, 30but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. 31"But many who are first will be last, and the last, first."
- If we give 10% of our money to our church but people starve in our city streets we aren't sacrificing enough
- If we have a college education, grad school, etc...but children in our school systems read below their own grade level we aren't sacrificing enough
- etc...
Thursday, March 6, 2008
3 years w/ Jesus Christ
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Part 2 (Sidewalks in the Kingdom)
“Sidewalks in the Kingdom” is basically broken into two sections.
Part 1, Thinking about Our Cities
Part 2, Markers of the City
Last week most of what I shared dealt with Part 1, this week I’ll share some thoughts from Part 2.
I must admit as I began to read chapter 7, Beauty, Quality and Other “Nonessentials”, I contemplated skipping a head to the end of the book. I believe it is fair to say I do not have the strongest eye toward artistic things. Not that I do not enjoy beauty, however beauty for me tends to come from natural things. Like an awesome sunrise or the way fog rises from a river on that first cold morning after a long warm spell. My eye sees beauty in this form without hesitation.
The second part of the book spoke about the beauty of architecture. Honestly, early in chapter 7 I was getting sick of Jacobsen’s wordy effort to explain the beauty of traditional buildings verses the modern landscape. Thankfully for me, I made the mental decision that until chapter 7 I had loved the book, so I continued reading and didn’t skip ahead.
One major theme was any cities architecture should be unique and should develop over time. To make a long chapter short, the buildings we tend to build today have little character and offer little to a community. (Wal-Mart, Ruby Tuesdays, insert chain name here…)
Think about three historic buildings in your community. What do they offer? How do they provide a sense of pride to the community?
Think about 3 locally owned stores. What is unique about them? What makes them perfect for your community?
As I continued to read Jacobsen’s ideas about the importance of architecture to a community I found myself wondering about the Christian church. Think about the historic churches in your community and ask the same questions. (Look beyond their simple structures, because a church is more than a building) What do they offer? How do they provide a sense of pride to the community?
Take this thought a step further; think about 3 churches and how they are uniquely shaped for your community. What is unique about them? What makes them perfect for your community?
I guess I started to think about the Christian church over the last thirty years. Maybe we look less like the historic buildings, which offer so much history and elegance to a community. Maybe, just maybe the Christian church is beginning to develop like our chain stores, cookie cutter approaches for our entire country and our entire world.
Not just new churches either, old established churches are rushing to find the next big thing to keep them relevant. To help them keep up with society.
I am not fully bashing chains stores here. We still shop at Wal-Mart and my favorite restaurant is O’Charlies. However, the church cannot adopt the same approach to ministry as these chains have for entering into a community.
I don’t have this fully worked out in my head. But I know the church does not have to be relevant to the culture. In fact, the more the church tries to be relevant the more irrelevant we become.
Instead, maybe we should simply look for ways to be unique, to be perfect for the needs of our community. We should be comfortable that each church will not look the same. More importantly the bottom line of getting people to attend shouldn’t force us to look past those special qualities that will allow us to stand the test of time.
This same approach was used to help plan and erect each of our historic buildings. Thankfully pre-WWII we looked beyond the bottom line to see the long-term value of beauty.
As the church we should look beyond the bottom line of attracting as many people as possible so we might take part in ensuring the long-term beauty of the Good News of Jesus Christ.