Post 396 - Brother Love

My brother and his wife are going to South Africa.

Thats right... they've joined the Peace Corps!

They've started a pretty interesting blog to document the journey.

Change...

As I reflect on some of the big changes the last couple years have brought... mainly moving to arizona and planting a new church... its amazing to me many of the small things that have also changed.

1. I am into geek games. I have my own collection of MTG cards and I spent Easter playing "Settlers". I sometimes play scrablle on facebook, and I haven't played a console video game in months. The one exception is playing super mario 3 with Isaac on the wii. I've also been known to spent my time waiting in lines playing Peggle on my phone.

2. While I still need to get to the gym, I've become a bit of a sports fan. I subscribe to MLB game day audio and sometimes listen to more than one game a day. I am a fan of the AZ cardinals. I am playing fantasy baseball... and doing well. I even listen to sports talk radio and enjoy it way more than KFI or any of it's cousins. Believe it or not, I even went to a NASCAR race on saturday. Part of this is just living in Phoenix where there is a major sporting event everyday.

3. What happened to blogging? I'm not sure why I have not been writing as much. Feeling the pressure of being a bi-vocational pastor and writing weekly sermons for grown ups has certainly absorbed some of that energy. Also joining f-book has fed by self sastifying desire to be in the spotlight and get instant feedback from others.

What things have changed recently in your life?

4.0 at 4:14

This is where I live.

This is why I'm awake.

I've been buried in parties, work responsibilities, and chasing my dreams. Hopefully there'll be more blogging soon. I have plenty of ideas that need a little more processing, I just need time to share them. Please know that Topherspoon is doing well during this very exciting and sometimes hard season.

The big announcement is coming soon...if you don't already know.

Random Links

This list from Outreach magazine of "America's top 25 multiplying churches" is way interesting. I am way impressed with the churches that have planted churches outside their denomination.

This is a problem.

This is cool. Topherspoon gets some love from Marko.

Sorry... If I flooded your reader.

Recently in my efforts to be a more effective blogger, a little bit closer to web 2.0, I went through and labeled all of my posts. This caused them all to show up in some readers and I can only imagine that was maybe too much TTSM for some people. Thanks for your patience, I'm still learning. Since I started counting on March 18th, 2007. TTSM has had over 200 visits from 80 unique visitors. For my other blogging but techno knowledge deficient friends, I found this out from Google Analytics. The application leaves something to be desired, and I'm still not certain what a "bounce rate" is, but the full color charts, graphs, and maps are really cool!

No more Blogger Blue.

I am officially on vacation. I am happy that the TTSM remodel is done and despite the trajic loss of Jerry Falwell, we still have Pat Robertson around to stick his foot in his mouth on behalf of all Christians.

All joking aside... The Falwell family is in my prayers.

You know that disclaimer you get when you call a customer service line... "your call may be recorded". Well, I want you to know you are now being counted. Not to ensure quality or anything like that, just to make me feel good or bad about my self! Thanks for stopping by. Look for some further page editions maybe next week. For now, the whole fam is off to Fresno...Grandpa is turning 80! We will return to sunny so cal late saturday night in order to be ready for church on Sunday.

Check Out the Links

I'm officially hooked on this blogging thing. I'm gonna try to make things not so generic... in my free time. Today I added some links of folks I follow through the blogoshere. Some of these folks fall into more than one category. I did my best to not just have a typical list of links. Hopefully the creativity doesn't thwart the functionality. There are a handful of other folks in my reader, and a few who are still trying to figure out RSS, I might add them later. Enjoy the love and expand your horizons. Check them out.

Grace, Authority, and Leadership. Part 2

Wow, the begging for comments was really just a ploy to see if anyone was still reading this. Maybe it would have been easier to install a counter. I'm glad at least three of you are reading. I'm finding a real helpful escape in just being able to think through some of these things, outloud in a sense.

Without getting into a discussion on church structure, there is certainly a diversity of positions held even by you three who were kind enough to comment on the previous post, I would like to explore this further. I can see clearly the pros and cons of my own church's leadership structure (or what JDF might see as a lack of leadership structure), and I have a fairly good idea there are pros and cons to your church's structure as well. Certainly there are a lot of books and even classes being taught on pastoral leadership that cover grace and authority, but I wish there was more being said about the assertiveness of Jesus, and how that applies to christian leadership. This "third way" Journeyman spoke of, Jesus calling us to turn the other cheek, Being a "strong" leader without feeling the need to control or manipulate others, these ideas go together. I hope they are marks of my ministry.

I love being a Pastor. Do it cuz it's the law! Do it cuz it's policy! Do it cuzz I'm the boss! No, no, no...Do it cuz God says! Now there's power! Seriously, there's this relief that when people step outside established boundaries and rebel or sin ...they are not disrespecting me but actually disrespecting God. Wonderful, carries with it the huge responsibility of greater judgement, and making sure you actually say what God says. I was blown away by a recent conversation I had with a pastor that shared he spends less than 10% of his time working on his messages. There is something wrong here. Is this because he's being the ceo, administrator, maintenance person, worship leader, technical advisor, etc? I think so, but what are the praxis for protecting yourself from that? Logistically, these things are necessary. Yes? I love what Journeyman added about submitting to each others strengths and giftings, takes a certain humility and Godly wisdom for a leader to do this well.

General consensus...Live Godly lives and lead by example.

How do we separate the common from the holy? or the secular from the sacred? I am not a financial guru, fitness expert, or enlisted warrior in the religious "rite". However, I do feel like stewardship, health, and social action are important facets of my faith. Certainly Jesus spoke about these things, albeit in His unique assertive way. I have a hard time saying certain areas are off limits for God to speak into. He is the creator of all things. As His called, and appointed, leaders are there certain "common" areas we should not speak into? I would hope people would see the incarnate Christ in the ways I live, spend, and even vote, or maybe even don't vote.

Certainly I would agree that Christianity in many churches across the U.S. has become all about being wealthy, drug free, and republican... for Jesus. And then there's the other voice that strives to be giving to the coolest cause, following the latest health/nutrition fads, and voting democrat...for Jesus. And now these two camps and (and their countless off shoots) can focus on pointing and laughing at each other, instead of focusing on Jesus. Certainly these are "common" things and our lives should be summarized, not by these labels but by ideas like grace, service, redemption, love, and holiness. Surely these are the causes that the scripture, the sacraments, and the godly shepherds will lead to. As christian leaders can we and should we, impart these practices with out ever talking about political associations, 401k, or weight watchers?

I think that for the sake of "discussing the vernacular" we must talk about these things. Any overseeing should truly be practiced in the so called "sacred" areas. As individuals we should be intentional in finding fellowship and practicing grace, among others who disagree with us in the so called "common" areas. And any pointing and laughing should probably be at our own expense. Surely there is plenty to laugh at.

May we always stay focused on Jesus. And may we lead others to see Him and serve Him.

Whew... 7 in 7 + 1

Okay, I decided "7 in 1" is a bad idea because I love to write bloglines. Today you get all seven snapshots each as their own posts. Life is just as busy and I keep slipping further behind, but oh how the Father has allowed hope in the journey. Hope you enjoy all of today's posts.

Is it okay to Blog prayer request?

Are there ethical boundaries or guidelines I've violated today (see next two posts)? Is there bloghead jargon for such a thing? A blogtition? rss God feed? Standing in the Virtual gap?


Any Thoughts?

Going Public...

So far so good. This writing for others to see, sharing my thoughts, and having my own "home" on the world wide web has been wonderful. I'm pretty sure I've written nothing yet that would get me fired, endanger my family, or offend my closest friends so... feel free to share or link. It would be an honor.

I know I invited many of my original readers with extreme caution. "Please don't link to me", "TOP SECRET", and "Just for you" were some of the conditional clauses I included when invited others here. And while so far I have largely ignored the critques and criticisms I've recieved; I think it would be nice to have more than one comment on my entire page.

So, with humility and fear (ok fear's the wrong word. maybe this is the wrong place to do this. blog etiquette is so confusing. does anyone even care?), I invite you to share "Things that shouldn't matter..." with your spouses, friends, and co-horts... if you want to. Also feel free to link to my page or to any of my articles.

I've written enough about me (maybe you could leave a comment about me). Insert chuckle, or cute initials, or happy face here...LOL :) HaHa. In all seriousness, Thanks for reading. I'm having a blast.

A very interesting article...

http://www.ginkworld.net/yourvoice/on_theology/is%20it%20worth%20it.htm

2007 is here...

Finally I've set up a place where I can start to write. Many have said I need to do more and often times when I've shared my writing with others they've actually asked for more... but this place will be safe. I will only share it with those I want to. Is it public masturbation? I hope not.

3 Words for 2007... Change, Reduce, Share