Archive for April, 2006

I had incredible high school English teachers. There was a point in my life that I distinctly remember enjoying the ability to diagram sentences. To turn a perfectly ordinary linear sequence of words and thoughts on a page into what looked like a sports bracket was liberating. It gave English a sense of competition, of being able to be conquered. It may have birthed in me a love for writing, of being able to use words to entertain, connect with, inform, cajole, correct, and inspire. Knowing what words to use when was like calling a winning play with 10 seconds left on the clock in the big game.

The thing about language use is the amazing mystery and ability it has to captivate a reader. For instance, if you’re still reading this post… there has been some elusive quality to it, a mental magnet that has drawn you into the second paragraph from the first, wondering… what’s the point? What is Jeff going to wide up with? Will I be delighted or disappointed? It’s been intriguing so far, but will all these connected letters and words produce for me a satisfying response upon their conclusion? Will I want to talk to others about this post later? Will I forward a link to it? Perhaps… it has so ensnared my imaginings that I will even comment on it…

I’m gay.

Not really.

But you see? Two simple words combined into a sentence produced immediate reaction and response in you. A millisecond impulse of confusion/unease/trepidation. Such are the power of mere words. And these words coming from a 38 year-old Arkansan who is a graphic designer/pastor. I’m so… ordinary. Yet these words from my mind to this screen have engaged your being and thoughts for several minutes now. Your life is on hold. Your mind is in my hands. Your existence is intertwined with mine for the moment.

The power of words….

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For those of you Treo users out there… I’m assuming by now that you use TreoAlarm. I mean, why in the world would anyone own a Treo and NOT use it?! It would be like buying a Mercedes with no wheels. I’ve used it for a while now and love it! The ability to set multiple, repeating alarms, check the weather forecast for different locations, and a host of other cool features make it a must-have program for the best cell phone in the world.

I no longer use an alarm clock at all. I put my Treo on my bedstand, and I’m ready to go. It’s so easy to use, I also use it for those afternoon “power naps.”

Zip on over to treoalarm.com and get it today!

What the heck?! I just finished George Hunter’s The Celtic Way of Evangelism. It’s a short book, and though I rarely do this (yea, right!), I must urge you all to run out and buy a copy today. C’mon, you can do it. It’s only 121 pages. But stuffed into this small book is such profundity that you will find your perspective on church, outreach, strategy, and history refreshed and encouraged.

I wanted to provide you an outline/synopsis of Chapter 4 (one of the best)…

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It’s been a few weeks since my first entry on this subject, but you can review it here.

In this entry, I’d like to offer up some thoughts about why churches choose NOT to plant. And away we go…

Why Churches Choose Not to Plant:

• A lack of understanding of the nature of the Church
• Ignorance of planting even being an option (even the best option in many cases!)
• Selfish reasons
• A lack of leadership from denominational or church leaders
• Assumptions about the life of their church
• Failure to understand and connect with their community
• Desire for achievement, recognition, or status
• Lack of leadership development

Let me attempt to address the first few reasons in this entry, and I’ll come back to the others in the near future…

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I went and did it. I’ve designed a cool shirt for all you bloggers out there! Pass the word. It’s $10. Here’s what it looks like…


If you want to place an order, click the order below. Make sure you give me your shipping ($3 extra) and your shirt size. Shirts will be ready by the first of next week and will ship out immediately!

Update:
The “Read My Blog” shirt was referenced by Sillcyrystal on April 14, 2006l 14, 2006
English: World English Bible - WEB


WP-Bible plugin.

4/23/06 – Shirts are not currently available, but if you want to order one, let me know, and when I get 50 orders, I’ll have have them run. I will email you when you need to pay. Just drop me a comment if you want one…

I’ve been a fan of Scott Adams for a long time. He’s the creator of Dilbert. Not only does he draw one of the funniest comic strips ever, but he also finds time (daily) to blog. On top of that, he responds to emails personally. Wow. Considering that many of his blog entries will have 300+ comments, that’s amazing.

N-E-WHO, Scott has been blogging in recent days about religion. In today’s entry, he asks how people know which prophets are legitimate and which ones are looney tunes. I don’t think Scott claims any particular faith, but his blog has provoked some amazing, fresh, and respectful dialogue.

Hats off to Scott, for presenting such honest questions on his blog and being willing to provide a forum for many different view points to interact. The Truth is out there…

BTW… there’s a great interview on Souldish of the Ebay Atheist...

There’s no surprises here for me, but if you’ll stop by this site, you can take a very brief quiz that purports to be able to classify your political leaning. I’d be interested in knowing what you all are. Post a comment to let me know!

Here’s mine:


CONSERVATIVES tend to favor economic freedom, but frequently support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates “traditional values.” They oppose excessive government control of business,
while endorsing government action to defend morality and the traditional family structure. Conservatives usually support a strong military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor a free-market economy, and endorse strong law enforcement.

Stop by Tom’s blog and read this touching account of a soldier’s return from Iraq. Tom was a student at UAM when I was there as the BCM Director. Thanks to Brandon, for hooking me up with Tom’s blog!

Hop on over to Justin’s blog and read about the avowed atheist on Ebay who auctioned off his willingness to attend church… It’s an amazing story that’s getting national media attention.

I’d like to invite any and all of you to check out the Journey Church Passion Week Blog! We’ll be posting and commenting each day of Passion Week!

Comment here if you’ve been there!

I’m going to begin keeping a running track of informative articles about the re-discovered Gospel of Judas. There are important implications for Christ-followers today. While being open-minded, let’s also not be open-ended. There were strong reasons that the early church vetoed the Gospel of Judas.

The Gospel of Judas was condemned by early church leaders as heretical, as was that of Thomas and Mary. Here’s what Irenaeus (c. 135 – c. 200) said about it:

Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas. [Refutation of All Heresies I.31.1]

The early church was very aware of other writings about Jesus that had their own "spin" much as we encounter today. The fact that this has been the only parchment found to date of the Gospel of Judas (in contrast to thousands of parchments and fragments of the other New Testament documents) should cause us to pause. Just as modern-day works of revision fade from the scene quickly due to their unreliability or political agenda, so too have older works faded from the scene which were not regarded as truthful, valuable, or honest. I find it somewhat humorous that this "missing piece of the puzzle" suddenly offers up Judas as not being a traitor, and not just being a good guy, but actually the only disciple that really gets it. Yea. Read the text.

With all that being said, I am definitely fascinated. I hope you are too. It means that our world is once again alit with a flame of interest in Jesus, the Bible, and Christianity. Sieze the day and share how much Jesus means to you!

Links and references of interest:

• Actual text of Gospel of Judas – It contains far more weird, gnostic stuff than the media is letting on.
• New York Times – very balanced piece
• Scott McKnight’s blog, Jesus Creed is beginning an ongoing look at these findings. VERY good! A MUST visit. He has since added Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.
• Wikipedia’s article
• Mark Robert’s commentary – This is excellent and references the source materials available on National Geographic’s website (which in and of itself is amazing! You’ve got to go to the timeline and explore it!). Mark has been writing a long series on the Da Vinci Code.
• Ben Witherington’s blog Part 1, Part 2
• More info than you’d ever want at The Coptic Gospel of Judas
• Mark Daniel’s blog

Oh, and get ready for the marketing campaign! Judas stuff galore. Oboy. I can see it now… WWJD? all over again. With a twist.

Follow the money trail…
Mark Roberts made this astute observation on his blog article listed above…

You may wonder why the National Geographic Society has waited to this
moment to release the document and to air the television program. James
Robinson offers what I believe to be a telling insight. In the AP story I mentioned earlier,
Robinson " speculated the timing of the release is aimed at
capitalizing on interest in the film version of "The Da Vinci Code" ? a
fictional tale that centers on a Christian conspiracy to cover up a
marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene." There’s no question in my
mind that this is part of what lies behind the timing of the release of
the Gospel of Judas and the related television program. This is good
marketing.

Again, I would encourage you to use this "news" as a wonderful opportunity to dialogue with others about your faith. The media is actually helping you! Be informed about the Gospel of Judas, but be passionate about what the Gospel of Jesus has done for you.

More to come…

For all of you out there who thought blogging was a “new thing,” ;) then you might LOVE checking out Pandora. It’s a music service that allows you to discover new music that you might like. You add the songs that you already like, and it searches a vast database and offers up songs that are similar. Been listening to it for the past hour, and it’s uncanny! Try it out!

I’m still going through Beth Moore’s Bible study, The Patriarchs, though my attempt at a blog study didn’t fly. Recently, as I was reading day 1 of week 5, I was struck by her commentary about Genesis 25.21-22:

Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the LORD about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.

There are so many observations that could be made here. Husbands, are you praying deeply, fervently, and regularly for your wives? When you are not seeing an answer to your prayers, do you persist, pleading? Do you know WHO to pray to or to turn for help? Do you believe that Creator God answers prayers and cares about you?

But none of those powerful implications are what really snagged me. It was her comment, “Once our prayer is answered, our tendency is to expect smooth sailing.” Wow. Guilty. That’s me.

I want to encourage you to remember that when God answers a prayer and you see the fulfillment of something you’ve been deeply praying would come to pass, that it is just the beginning. God has more road in front of you. We tend to regard answered prayers as stop signs with God. When we receive what we’ve been asking, our short-sighted, earth-bound vision wants to simply stop there and revel in the reception of our request. But our God sees much further; He sees the end from the beginning; He has intricately woven all of reality into a tapestry with interconnected intricacy.

What we pray for and receive most often becomes only the beginning of our path. Our answered prayers also become our struggles and an example for others to consider. Rebekah’s answered prayer led her to a confusing, difficult pregnancy, and then to a peculiar prophecy.

Don’t allow your current struggles to cast a negative light on the fact that your own prayers have been answered in some way. What is worth praying for is worth struggling through, both before and after. Though your perspective is limited, trust the character, wisdom, and love of God for you. He is still weaving.

This is bound to be a somewhat sensitive subject for my locale. We have two churches (at least) in our area that are currently pursuing the sale of their existing property to build new facilities elsewhere. We also have other churches who are currently involved in building projects as well. At the outset, let me say that I am not trying to criticize or deride any of our sister churches in our area by my comments. This entry is simply to shed more light on the subject of church growth and health. Many who will read this are not aware that there are other options than building when a church begins to grow.

I think this will end up being a multi-part entry, so stay tuned for more additions to it…

When you talk about whether to building vs. planting, you must first identify the reasons for building. Traditionally, most churches never think of planting a new church. Rather, they first consider the option of increasing their current facilities, or building new facilities to replace outdated ones. There are many emotional issues at stake as well.

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You’ve got to swing by and look at Terry Heaton’s commentary about "TV Is Killing Us," and then look at the summation of the research by the Kansas City Star.