Dancin' in the Dark

Jesus is not my Snuggie

2010-12-14T01:30:00.005-05:00

Remember last year when Snuggies were on everyone's Christmas list? I know...I didn't get it either. Twenty million Snuggies were sold by January of 2009 and four million were sold in 2009. They were a cultural phenomenon that were initially mocked and parodied on TV, yet come Christmas time everyone wanted one. My mother even knit Snuggies for all my nieces. Personally, I was repulsed by this marketing gimmick that infested us like a plague. It's a blanket with ARMS!!!

I think what makes these Snuggies so attractive is they are a comfort blanket. When we've had a bad day or there's horrible weather outside we love to curl up in a blanket and escape into a book or TV show. They are our "safe place." My comfort blanket is a blanket I've had since I was an infant. I affectionately call it my "cold blanket."

In a recent coffee conversation with a friend I made the statement "Jesus is not our Snuggie!" The problem is that we tend to treat him that way. We keep Jesus neatly folded up on the shelf of our life and reserve him for those bad days. On those bad days we haul him down and wrap ourselves in the promises of "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1) or "...in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). Both of these promises are true and need to be anchors of our faith, however, we cannot reduce Jesus to our Snuggie, to our comfort blanket.

When we look at Scripture we do see that Christ is our source of comfort and strength. We also see that life in Christ is not safe. When we look at the lives of Christ and his Apostles where did we ever get the idea that life in Christ is comfortable let alone safe? Christ was born into a world with a bounty on his head, he was led into the desert to be challenged by satan. Eleven of the Apostles were killed for following Christ. For the first 3 centuries of our faith the church met surrounded by corpses in the catacombs under the city of Rome. So why are we surprised when our lives are uncomfortable, or when we experience more than we can bare? These are the times that we learn what it truly means for Christ to be our comfort and our strength. It is in these times that we come to know the truth of Christ's promises.

Finding God in a Forrest

2010-02-23T00:57:00.009-05:00

Flipping through the channels last night I stumbled across the tail end of Forrest Gump. It made phrases such as "Life is like a box of chocolates," "that's all I got to say about that," and "stupid is as stupid does" were made famous. As I turned to the channel Jenny, Forrest's childhood friend and lifelong love, was laying on a bed dieing from AIDS, while Forrest sat at her bedside retelling the tales of his adventures during their time apart. It was at this point I was struck with how Forrest's love for Jenny parallels God's love for us.

The uniqueness of this relationship is that Jenny was one of the first people to demonstrate kindness to Forrest. While it is clear that Jenny is the only girl for Forrest, it is also clear that Jenny never even entertains the idea of being with Forrest. Through a series of events Jenny begins to fade in and out of Forrest's life. Until, one night Jenny tells Forrest to stay away from her then...as Forrest says, "just like that, she was gone."

Jenny's life is full of poor choices and circumstances that lead her into a downward spiral. Later on in life Jenny contacts Forrest and asks him to come see her. He does so and we discover Jenny is dieing. Forrest moves Jenny into his home and they eventually get married, despite her impending death.

Many of us are like Jenny in one way or another. For some of us, we see God as a nice guy, but we would never entertain the idea of entering into a intimate relationship with him. Others, we have told God we want him to stay away from us. There are those of us who are friends with God, but we don't always treat him the way he deserves to be treated. Then some of us are going down a self-destructive path.

In whatever way we may identify with Jenny, God's response to us is the same as Forrest's response to Jenny; unwavering devotion and love. Throughout the movie Forrest is faithful to Jenny and we never see his love for her falter, regardless of how long she's gone, what she does, or how she treats him. Forrest embodies the agape of God, whose love for us is totally independent of our actions, but is an outpouring of his being.

Heaven: Transitional Housing

2009-11-21T18:21:00.003-05:00

In researching for my thesis I have been thinking about heaven and humanity. At Christ’s return he will usher in what is known in theological circles as the eschaton.

While some believe that Christ will reign on earth for a 1000 years and then take all the Christians off to heaven and leave the earth to be destroyed, I have come to believe that when Christ returns all of creation, including the earth, will be redeemed and heaven and earth will be married together as one. The distinction between heaven and earth will be no more. Thus, humanity’s ultimate destination is not heaven, but heaven and earth.

One interesting observation I am indebted to NT Wright for is how little is mentioned in scripture about heaven, and how much is mentioned about the new heaven and new earth (which some have translated as referring only to heaven). One of the few verses that does refer to just heaven is John 14:2-3; this is the infamous “Behold, I go to prepare a place for you” passage. The Greek word (monai), which is often translated as “mansions” or “rooms”, communicates a temporary dwelling rather than a long time or eternal. The inference we can draw from this is that these rooms are transitional housing for humanity, as we wait for the eschaton to be ushered in and heaven and earth to become one. Consequently, we need to stop dreaming of heaven as our escape to an eternal paradise, and recognize it as a foretaste of the glorious paradise that will be inaugurated with Christ’s return. When, as David Crowder sings, “Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss.”

Family

2009-02-23T14:30:00.006-05:00

In light of my recent blogs that have critiqued the contemporary evangelical church culture, I thought it would be prudent to affirm my loyalty to the evangelical church. As my previous posts have indicated I do have concerns regarding our worship of the system, our passivity in society, and our condemnation (I use this in traditional sense of "damning people to hell") of others. Despite these disagreements I remain committed to the evangelical church.

I have grown up in the evangelical church, it has been my ecclesiological family of orientation for 20+ years. Over those years I have been exposed to other Christian traditions and have developed a deep appreciation for the faith in Christ that they have emulated in their lives and theology. It has been a joy to engage in cross-traditional dialogue. There are many things within these various traditions that are appealing and that we, as evangelicals, can learn from. As a result of this exposure I have found myself having to avoid two extremes of the reactionary pendulum. At one end of the pendulum is an evangeocentrism (evangelical ethnocentrism), where I reject anything that is not common in our evangelical community. At the other end is an unquestioning embrace, where it does not matter what someone believes, as long as they believe something. At one end we find rigidness and 0stracizing, while at the other we find a nebulous of ambiguity.

As I attempt to avoid these extremes I live in relationship with my family. My extended ecclesiological family is much bigger than the evangelical church. My family includes, liberals, conservatives, fundamentalists. It includes Protestant, Mainliners, Catholics, and Orthodoxs. At family reunions I will see this extended family, and in the everyday I live with my ecclesiological family of orientation. As with most families, there will be arguments, perhaps shouting matches. I might even at times storm off to my room and slam the door, but the evangelical church is my family, disagreements and all; and you don't give up on family.

The Christless Church

2009-02-16T14:37:00.008-05:00

One of the critiques I hear regarding Seminary is that it puts God in a box, or that it reduces God to a set of principles and theories. I have to admit that, unless we guard ourselves, this can become a very immanent hazard. The exposure to various theologies presents the temptation of constructing our own system that enables us to justify what we want. As my brother often says, "The truth is what suits your purpose."

What I continually find myself coming back to is the need to be in relationship with God, not apart from my studies, but through them. I am continually reminded of Brother Lawrence, who made every aspect of his life an opportunity to be in conscious relationship with God. Our Eastern Orthodox brothers have a form of prayer that embodies this concept very well. In this form of prayer one repeats the same prayer in one's head until that prayer becomes so much a part of one's thinking that it is subconscious, like breathing. The premise of life being a continual conscious relationship with God seems to constantly emerge in the various generations of the Church. I was first acquainted with this idea through Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline and I've seen it most recently in the writings of culturally savvy Rob Bell with his emphasis on "Everything is Spiritual."

While Seminary, or Christian educational institutions, have bared the brunt of these critiques, I have seen the same hazards permeating in our Church cultural. It is so easy to allow the routine of ritual to become our relationship with God. We go to church every Sunday. We attend bible study. Perhaps we're involved in some other ministry. We even get up an hour before work so we can pray and read our bible. None of these are inherently "bad," just as Seminary is not. The problem emerges when the method replaces the person. Prayer becomes an activity to get through or a gauge for my spirituality. It's as though, we no longer need Christ to be Christians. We just need our system or routine that we walk through each week. This is the Christless Church. While such a possible reality grieves me to the core, I think we need to be introspective about this and ask ourselves: Why do I go to church on Sunday? Why do I pray? What is my motivation for ministry? Is it to be a "good Christian"? Is it to get what I want? In the Old Testament when God's presence left the temple, the people saw the cloud of God's glory leave. I wonder if Christ left our church would we even notice?!

Ironically, one of my greatest lessons in Seminary has been that there is no box that God fits in, or any system that will fully encapsulate God and our relationship with him. There is no equation by which if I do A God will have to do B or if I do Y then X will occur. Our faith is not a sytem , the essence of our faith is us in relationship with YHWH, the one true God.

May our means of relating to God never become our God.

Transforming Culture

2009-02-08T19:41:00.012-05:00

A few years back I read an article by Richard Niebuhr entitled Christ and Culture. Niebuhr looks at how the relationship between the Church and the culture has traditionally been viewed. We've all faced this question in some form in our journey. I have to admit that I've adopted a range of responses over the years. Recently, I've come to settle on the position that we, the Church, are immersed in our culture and no matter how hard we may fight it, in one way or another we are an intrinsic part of culture. The question for me then became what does it mean to be in culture. Are we simply mindless sponges absorbing our culture? Are we at war with this culture we live in? Both of these questions represent extreme positions on a vast spectrum of positions. On this spectrum I have found myself becoming more and more firmly planted in the position that the Church is a transforming agent in culture.

How the Church acts and reacts toward those who share this culture with us has had a profound impact on defining the perception of the Church and her relationship with others. I have found those who have adopted the "at war with culture" approach have produced significant damage to culture and to the Church. Conversely, I have found those who unquestioningly embrace everything our culture embraces have only perpetuated the goods and evils of culture. I have found those who have adopted the position of being transforming agents in culture, however, have produced significant beneficial growth in our culture. John Wesley, John Newton, William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, and Granville Sharp were all members of "The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade," This committee was the vocal voice in society that changed the cultural perspective of slavery, which applied the necessary political pressure to abolish the slave trade. William Booth, and other members of the evolving Salvation Army, bought the freedom of hundreds of teenage girls who were being victimized in the 19th century European sex slave trade. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has been iconisized as the person who mobilized millions to peaceably pursue civil rights in America. The list goes on and on.

What I notice about this list, besides that they're all "Christians," is that for the most part these transforming agents in culture brought about the change through peaceful action. Rather than being passive members of culture or militant aggressors towards culture, they pursued these changes by being active members of their cultures. The second thing I notice about these examples is that they are a voice for the silent victims of society. This would come as no surprise for those of us familiar with Wesley's famous quote, "there is no holiness apart from social holiness." Those of us who are not familiar with this quote, are likely familiar with the words of Isaiah, "Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the orphan. Fight for the rights of widows" (Isaiah 1:17).

As I consider these historical examples, I am left wondering how we, the Church, are seeking social justice. How are we being a voice for the marginalized, and oppressed? This question has become even more personal for me as I prepare to go back into full time ministry. When I look at my old philosophy of ministry I notice that it is primarily inward focused, and consumeristic. I gave a great deal of attention to giving teens "the answers" while they have fun. Realizing how my perception of who the Church is and who she is to be, I am now thinking through: How can I ensure that in my life I am being a transforming agent and encouraging others to do the same?

Cosmic Conversation

2009-02-01T06:22:00.009-05:00

Over Christmas I read Peter Rollins' How (Not) to Speak of God. It gave me some things to think about, one of which is the nature of theology. Rollins is a continental or postmodern philosopher and one doesn't have to spend much time reading in this field before they come across the terms "object" and "subject." An object is acted upon and the subject acts (i.e. Bill [subject] poured the water [object]) . A great deal of postmodern philosophy is spent turning objects into subjects and subjects into objects.

Rollins writes about how in the Enlightenment God was treated as an object that we dissect and categorize. In this era, theology was all about defining God and getting all the answers. With the dawn of postmodernity theology a new way of "doing" theology has emerged. Now humanity has become the object that is being acted upon. Theology is humanity experiencing God acting upon it. As limited begins, we must recognize that our experience is not necessarily the way it is or the way God is.

I'm not content with either of the views Rollins offers. The first one puts God in a petri dish to be examined, while the second view does the same thing to humanity. I think our relationship with God is so much more than a scientific experiment. Thanks to Rollins I have come to refine my view of theology. I have come to understand theology as a cosmic conversation that spans history. Throughout history God has been speaking to us through revelation and we have been speaking back to God, and speaking to each other, what we understand him to be saying through religion. In turn he responds back to us and we respond back to him. In this cosmic conversation no one is solely object or solely subject but we are all both. For when God speaks to us he is the subject and we are the object, but when we speak to God we are the subject and he is the object.

The purpose of the cosmic conversation is for us to enter into a more intimate relationship with God, by coming to know him more fully. This knowledge is not the kind of knowledge that comes by memorizing the facts. It is birthed out of relationship. The most intimate marriage was born out of and nurtured through long conversations and time spent together. The french language makes a strong distinction between "head knowledge" and "relational knowledge." In french there are two forms of "to know." The first one, "savoir," is a head knowledge, like knowing 2+2=4. The second one, "connaitre," is a personal knowledge, like knowing your best friend. Both of Rollins definitions of theology views are focused on the the savoir knowing, expecting it to lead to the connaitre knowing. However, I believe it is only through the connaitre that anyone (Christian or non-Christian) knows anything about God. Although we may not realize it, God is speaking, revealing himself, to all humanity, and it is through responding to his speaking that we become an active voice in this cosmic conversation. True theology is not birthed out of a petri dish it is birthed out of our relationship with God.

Falling Forward

2009-01-26T15:27:00.006-05:00

I was hanging out with a friend this past Friday, and during this time we were recounting the events that had led us to where we are today. Thinking over the past... none of your business years of my life, I realized a few things, one is that comparatively to some, I haven't experienced "substantial suffering" in my life, and the other is that through the suffering and mistakes that have occurred God has used it for good.
Many times we read Romans 8:28 (God works all things for the good...) in isolation and presume that whatever happens to us God wanted to happen (and possibly made happen) because he wants to do some thing great through it. I have a hard time swallowing this interpretation because it seems to adopt an attitude of "the end justifies the means." However, when I read this in conjunction with verses like Genesis 50:20 (God turned into good what you meant for evil). I see Romans 8:28 as more likely meaning that even though things happen in life that God does not desire for us, he still is able to use these things for his good. It is here I begin to see The Beauty of Mistakes and The Beauty of Suffering.

The Beauty of Mistakes
I forget where I first heard the expression "Falling Forward," but I've felt that most of my life has been a beautiful mess of falling forward. Looking over some decisions I've made in my life I can confidently say I've made many mistakes. I do not consider all my decisions to have been mistakes. I've made some pretty good decisions too. However, as I look at some of my "biggest mistakes" I also see some significant decisions that have altered the course of my life. Whether it be decisions in ministry, decisions in dating, decisions in education, or some other decision, I can see how the decisions I have made have influenced where I am now in life. Some of these decisions have produced some of the greatest friendships, taught me how to make better decisions in the future, and produced character in me that I have long been lacking. In making mistakes, I've definitely realized as much as I think I know it all, I know very little. Perhaps not coincidentally, my mistakes have also resulted in many times of suffering.

The Beauty of Suffering
I can usually correlate my times of suffering with decisions I have made. As I said earlier my life has not been full of much suffering, but the times that I would say I have suffered, I have learned a great deal about myself and others. I've also learned how small my faith is, and how big God is, allowing me to question and accuse him (which I'm pretty good at) without striking me with boils or deep-frying my face. It is in this context of mistakes and suffering that I have come to discover who I am, who God is, and as a result loved us both even more.

The last thing I want to do is turn this into a cliche "just trust God" blog, or minimize suffering. To be honest..SUFFERING SUCKS!!! I think the suffering of creation tears the heart of God and that is the very reason he enters into our suffering and suffers with us. Yet, amidst suffering and mistakes there is intrinsic value and beauty. These are not just dark times in our lives that we should repress or forget. There is beauty in our mistakes! There is beauty in our suffering! In our ugliest hours of inadequacy there is value and beauty.

Renovating my Faith

2008-11-15T03:20:00.011-05:00

As a pseudo-existentialist I tend to think we are constantly in a state of becoming who we already are. Or to put it in a less postmodern way, we are by the sanctifying power of God becoming who God intended us to be and who we already are positionally before him in eternity. The past three years of Seminary have been a journey of growth and self discovery, as I become who I already am. During this time there have been 3 classes that have been extremely challenging and extremely beneficial in this journey. These three classes are Christian Theism, Postmodern Philosophy, and Current/Contemporary Theological Issues. The latter of the three being the most recent.

This journey with God has been a time of constantly "renovating my faith". These classes have challenged my biases, my assumptions, and my presuppositions regarding God, theology, resulting in a firmer conviction to God, with some beliefs being reaffirmed and some being altered. The most recent renovation that I am experiencing is unfolding my arms of acceptance.

In the past if I were asked if Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Open Theists, Homosexuals, Mainline Feminists, Fundamentalists...(the list could go on) who profess faith in Christ were Christians; I would have likely given some qualifying statement followed by an affirmation that they are. All of this was my way of saying, "Yes, but not really" or "Yes, but barely". This renovation that I am going through is changing my response. It's leading me to a place of Ecumenicalism. In this journey I am remaining committed to affirming the essence of the Gospel, which is "believe in the Lord, Jesus and you will be saved" and to pursuing an understanding of what it means to live in relationship with God. It is here that I, as well as many others, fight the tension between being Ecumenical and being Emergent.

Both Ecumenicalists and Emergentists recognize that there are many ways to interpret Scripture. The difference is the Emergentist would say, "I don't know, and you don't know, so let's not know together," while the Ecumenicalist would say, "There are things I'm not sure about, but here's what I'm sure about". The Emergentists are content to live in the dark for the sake of being able to hold hands with everyone. The Ecumenicalists maintain conviction to what they believe to be true, yet recognize those who disagree on issues not essential to salvation as family and co-labours for the Kingdom or in the mission of God.

The difficulty of being an Ecumenicalist is the necessity to dig beyond the surface and scrutinize one's own beliefs and put these beliefs through the fire, while attempting to understand the beliefs of others within their proper context. The "danger" that is always at the doorstep of the Ecumenalist is apathy. The weight of the difficulty makes slipping into apathy tempting. Apathy does not require one to evaluate or think about faith. It just requires one to be ambiguous or ambivalent regarding beliefs. Thus, an Ecumentalist must always be on guard of the "I don't know and you don't know, so let's not know together" attitude.

Am I Evangelical?

2008-10-17T19:46:00.007-04:00

This semester I am a Teacher's Assistant for a class called Theology of Believer's Church Tradition. While the title of the class is problematic, as it begs the question what should we consider those outside of this tradition. BCT (as we call it) is a strand within "Evangelicalism" (a term that is slowly beginning to have its definition restored) holds to what we call the "four sola"s. The irony being that sola is Latin for "alone". The four "sola"s are sola gratia (Grace Alone). sola fide (Faith alone), , solus Christus (Christ Alone), sola scriptura (Scripture alone). So salvation is granted by grace alone to those who have faith alone in only Jesus Christ, which is revealed by Scripture alone.

I thought the veneration of scripture was unique to BCT, until recently I was reading Clark Pinnock's Most Moved Mover. In this work he writes that "as an evangelical, my primary commitment is to Scripture, not to tradition, reason, or experience because I believe that any authentically theological model must have biblical backing and resonance" (p. 19). I am unclear as to whether Pinnock means that because he is an evangelical, or that because of his understanding of a theological model he must venerate scripture above all else.

Let us presume he means that an authentic theological model that is biblically based must venerate Scripture above reason, tradition, and experience. It appears self-evident to me that such a model is possible without venerating scripture, as a base can have four corners. If it is not self-evident then that me show how this definition of what it is to be "biblically based" is inherently faulty. The scripture that we use today has been copied over the ages millions of times. In this copying we have been reliant on the reason of the scribes (guided by the Spirit) to take the manuscripts and discern what was editorial comments from the previous scribes and what was original content (hence the multiple ends of Mark). Furthermore, because of our Evangelical tradition we hold the 66 books of the Bible as scripture. If we were Catholic we would have more books that we would include as scripture.

Is it then that one must venerate scripture above reason, tradition, and experience? If this is what he means and it is true can those of us who use the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to engage in the discipline of theology consider ourselves Evangelical? My understanding of the WQ is that scripture, reason, tradition, and experience are considered the four primary modes that God reveals himself (the four corners of our foundation). These four modes are not fit into some sort of hierarchy, but are equal in authority and each mode must adhere to the assertions of the other 3 modes. This four way system of checks and balances is to ensure that one mode is not venerated above the rest.

This leaves me asking: If Pinnock is correct about what it means to be an Evangelical and I am correct about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, then should I continue to consider myself an Evangelical or have I become orphan?

Goodbye Glam God

2008-10-07T18:38:00.007-04:00

For those of us who remember the 80's, we would no doubt remember Glam Rock that was all about looking good. Ok, so maybe it was more about being flashy and extravagant, rather than looking good. Truth be told most of the artists looked like second rate comic book characters.

Seemingly unrelated, I have been reflecting on who God is and his relationship to us lately. When I consider how we depict God I feel as though in our attempt to convince people of how "cool" and "awesome" God is we have gone to the extreme of losing who God is in the flashiness of communicating his message. In our desire to share God we have been making him a flashy, over the top Glam God. I can understand the immediate objection being "God is so awesome that we can never over do it with God"! While I agree that God is beyond our ability to describe, in trying to emphasize God's "holy other"ness we often fail to emphasize his intimate relationship to his creation.

This failure to recognize that this infinite being, who is the source of all that is, has entered into his creation out of his longing to be in restored relationship with his creation, results in us reducing YHWH to the cold, distant, God of Aristotle. He's not wanting to make us a club member or make us "behave". He's wanting us to be in an interactive and intimate relationship with him. Although this may mess with some people's definition of immutable (I question how much our definition of immutable is scriptural & how much is a result of Greek philosophical indoctrination), I will say that our relationship to God is such that God is changed (not in character) by being in relationship with us. I do not mean that some how God is deficient, in himself, by not being in relationship with us. I am merely stating that God experiences joy and love that is unique to the relationship he has with the individual that he would not experience in any other relationship.

In our communication of who God is we need to say goodbye to the Glam God and embrace and emphasize God, the "holy other",who took on flesh and dwelt for awhile among us and knowing no sin became sin for us, so that we can live in intimate relationship with him.

In the words of Bonhoeffer, "Our relation to God is not a 'religious' relationship to the highest, most powerful, and best Being imaginable- that is not authentic transcendence- but our relation to God is a new life in 'existence' for others' through participation in the being of Jesus."

Roaming in Romans

2008-09-29T17:06:00.006-04:00

At my church, we are working our way through the book of Romans and yesterday we briefly looked at Romans 12:1, and as we read it some thing hit me for the first time ever. When we think about the Roman culture of the time, what Paul is suggesting to the Romans was very counter culture.

At this point in history, the Romans have been heavily influenced by Greek philosophy and would have likely been dualists, viewing the physical world as evil, and awaited the release of their "soul" from its physical prison, then they read this letter from Paul, and it says:

....offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (NIV).

I wonder how "weird" or insane this would have seemed for them to be told to offer their "evil bodies" as living sacrifices to God. It may have been more understandable to them for Paul to tell them to kill their bodies as a sacrifice to God so their souls would be free, but for them to give their "bodies" as a living sacrifice?!

Then Paul tells them that this living sacrifice of the body is holy, pleasing/acceptable to God. I would think this would only further confound them as it goes against their basic understanding of the body being evil. Paul is telling them that living in this "evil" body for God is actually a holy and pleasing act of worship to God. Not only is this an act of worship, but Paul takes it a step further and contrasts the physical against the spiritual. Stating that this physical act of living in the body as a sacrifice to God is a spiritual act of worship.

This is all well and interesting, but what application does it have for our lives? It leaves me wondering what presumptions and biases in my own worldview have hindered me in my pursuit of truth.

Divine Inspiration?

2008-09-22T23:57:00.004-04:00

This past week I was able to sit in on the Septuagint Conference that was held at Trinity Western. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Torah/Pentateuch (first 5 books of the Bible) and ,depending on your tradition, some other biblical texts. At the conference the topic of multiple manuscripts came up and the reality that we do not have any original manuscripts of the Septuagint or any other books in the Bible. Furthermore, when we trace back as far as we can the manuscripts we do have contain variants (differences in the text). Discovering this can be a faith shaking experience or at the very least cause one to question their view of Scripture. This is likely more challenging if we think that the 66 books of the Protestant Bible were compiled by the Apostles and handed down from generation to generation (in the KJV, of course).

Realizing that we do not have the original manuscripts has actually increased my appreciation for Scripture because amidst the variants the message remains intact. The consistency of the message amidst the variants has done two things to me. One is it has made Scripture more "real" to me, as it is more believable to me that over centuries of coping copies that changes in the text would occur. Two is increased my awe of God, who has maintained his message to his creation through fallen humanity.

Losing My Religion

2008-09-16T16:28:00.005-04:00

Most of us can think of a time where we have been hurt by an individual or a group who represent Christ. For some of us that has been enough to walk away from the Church, stating "They're all a bunch of hypocrites". Bob Dylan, a folk philosopher and spiritualist (more known for his unique music), rejected Christianity after his "conversion" in the 80s because of the "hypocrisy he experienced in the church".

I think this charge of hypocrisy many times is birthed out of hurt that results from us adding on to salvation requirements. People are introduced to this Jesus of love and compassion, who died for their sin and overcame death so that they could have a relationship with him. However, it's not long after they start to come to church and spend time with other Christians that they start to get told how horrible they are and how if they "have not done this" or if they "have done that" then they aren't really "saved" or they have "lost their salvation". Before long this yoke that is easy and burden that is light has had a check list piled on. This relationship they entered into has been turned into religion that they have been buried under.

When I look back to the Jewish religious culture Jesus was born into and compare it to the Church culture of today I see many similarities. Primarily, I see a people who have taken the revelation of God and formed it into religion. In James letter to "the twelve tribes" he is very clear that "true religion" leads to action. He does not, however, say it is our responsibility to "fix people" because they do not act the way we think they should or believe exactly the same things we do.

We add on to "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31) for us to consider someone a brother or sister. We create divisions within our family pitting brothers and sisters against each other. When people look at our family they see the Hatfields and McCoys. People still love Jesus, but when they meet his bride, they think she's a real........."piece of work".

As I have read some Emergent Church people, I have found their benefit and contribution to the Church has been in their Ecclessiology. In their simpleness they have gotten back to the heart of God, which is to be in relationship with his children and for his children to be in relationship with others. Going to an Ecumenical School (lots of different churches working together) began to open me up to a "simple Gospel", and the Emergent Church has blown the doors wide open on this. When we begin to add requirements onto "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved", I believe we begin to add to the Gospel and turn this relationship God desires into a structured religion of rituals that serve to distance us from God.

This is not an assault on theology. I believe theology is crucial to our relationship with God and that it is through God revealing himself to us by various means that we enter into more intimate relationship with him. This is not a call to "abandon the church, and start our own "church". This an assault on the religion we have formed and a call to speak this "Simple Gospel" through the life we live as the Church. I have lost my Religion and I have grabbed hold of the "Simple Gospel".

Is God Blind?

2008-08-23T14:09:00.009-04:00

In his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume asks the question regarding the nature of God, "Is he willing to prevent evil but not able? Then is he impotent? Then is he malevolent? Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" Picking up on this train of argument one of the more prominent atheists of the 20th century, J.L. Mackie, wrote an article entitled, Evil and Omnipotence. In this work Mackie argues that the presence of evil in the world requires that God must either not be wholly good or all powerful. In this work he explains that many theologians attempt to redefine the words omnipotence (all powerful) or omni-benevolence (wholly good). Two of the examples he gives is that some theologians define omnipotence by either asserting God is as powerful as is possible or that the Bible does states that God is good, not wholly good.

Is it possible that these definitions of omnipotence and omni-benevolence that Mackie and most of us use are actually constructs formed out of the Enlightenment and Modernity? Perhaps the open theists are right and God only has knowledge of everything that has happened up to the present moment in time and therefore is not all powerful in the modernist sense, but is as powerful as possible given the conditions. Perhaps God is Blind. Perhaps there is magic (space and time) that even God, himself, is subject to.

God is Blind?

2008-08-16T01:41:00.003-04:00

During the height of the "open theist" controversy that coincidentally coincided with the suspension of Clark Pinnock & John Sanders (open theists) from the Evangelical Theological Society, I had a conversation with a "gun shy" open theist who attempted to explain his "version" of open theism. This individual would be what I'd call a "conservative" open theist. He described a middle knowledge understanding of God's knowledge, which asserts that God knows not only every decision we will make, but every possible decision we could make and its potential outcome (leading to an infinite number of possible outcomes).

The difference this individual made was that he believed when we made those decisions God would "temporarily" cover his eyes so that he did not know the actual decision we would make. He asserted that there are certain "unavoidable" events that God has prophesied in Scripture would occur and despite what decisions we make, he would bring these events to pass.

Given the massive amount of decisions that are made each second of every day, in this perspective I have a hard time understanding how God would not be blind. If this be the case, then would God be able to bring these "unavoidable" events to pass , only knowing what has happened and not what is happening? He would be blindly acting based on an understanding of reality that only knows the past. Furthermore if in eternity, we remain free beings then it would seem that God would have to be blind in eternity as well.

Oh Judas!!

2008-07-28T18:47:00.004-04:00

I've been reading through Mark and I recently read through Mark 14 which records the account of Judas of Iscariot agreeing to betray Jesus. In the Life Application Bible I own and use for devotions (I'm thankful to my parents who gave me this bible for Christmas. It's been in 5 different countries numerous states and provinces and God has revealed himself to me and drawn me closer to me many times through this Bible) the commentary on Judas is primarily negative. Probably the most positive thing I've read is that Judas thought he was helping Jesus out in order to bring about a political reign (depending on one's theology one might agree that Judas was "helping" Jesus out").

As I read this commentary, I reflected on the information we have available about Judas and it baffled me that Jesus would choose him to be one of his Apostles, one of those in his "inner circle" of followers. I racked my brain over why Jesus would choose Judas, knowing he would betray him. If Jesus emptied himself of, or limited, his divine rights to omniscience or "foreknowledge" then perhaps he was not aware that Judas would betray him. By the time of the Last Supper though, it appears Jesus is aware that someone will betray him.

When we read about all the other disciples there always seems to be some quality about them that despite their failures they have attributes that we can appreciate. When I thought about this in regards to Judas I could not come up with a single attribute. In frustration, I finally said to God, "why did you choose him?!", "What did you see in him?!" Shortly after asking this what happened after the betrayal came to mind. I remembered Judas being so grieved that he had betrayed Jesus that he went out and hung himself and that he only did that after trying to undo what he had done. When I thought of this I realized that Judas betrayed Jesus publicly, and he was the only one who stood up for him when in the darkest hour. Peter swore to follow Jesus even to death. He cut off a soldiers ear in the garden when he was surrounded by the J-Crew, then denied Jesus three times while Jesus was on trial. After Jesus' resurrection Peter did eventually die for Jesus. We know that John and Mary were at the cross, but we know of no action they took to stop the crucifixion (perhaps they caught on).

Amongst all the followers and the disciples, Judas was the only one who went to the Priests and tried to stop the ball that he had started rolling. In the darkest hour, when everyone was against Jesus, Judas was the only one to stand up for Jesus. I do not want to minimize what Judas did, Jesus considered it so serious that he said on the Day of Judgment it would have been better that he had never been born.

Luther once said something to the effect of : If you remove the promise of heaven and the threat of hell, the way people act is who they really are (if someone knows the actual quote I'd appreciate having that). In the darkest hour, with nothing to gain, we see the redeeming quality of Judas. We see possibly what Jesus saw in him.

Why I am Moving Beyond Missional

2008-07-22T20:04:00.006-04:00

To be missional, as I understand it, is to say: the heart of God is to be restored to his creation. We are told that from the beginning of Scripture God has been on a mission to be in relationship with his creation. Abraham has been cited as demonstrating this when God initiates a conversation with Abraham in Genesis 12. God creating the universe and humanity in order to be in relationship, God seeking out "Adam and Eve" in the garden, and his speaking to Noah to warn about the flood, do not always get the attention they deserve, even though they support the concept of God on mission because some family members hold that Genesis 1-11 are not historical (by any means). They hold that these chapters, as well as others, are similar to the parables Jesus told, or allegories that prophets used. Thus, in order to appeal to a large audience, the missional camp often begins with Genesis 12. For this those who wave the missional banner should be applauded. Furthermore they should be applauded for bringing to light that God wishes for the Church (some may cringe at using such an "institutional word") to participate and be a means through which God restores himself to the rest of creation.

Where I break with the missional camp is in the assertion that God's most primary desire is to be restored to his creation. I would argue that God's primary desire is to express love through relationship. Before God formed the universe (however, you feel that happened) the triune God (3 persons, 1 being) was in relationship with himself. Before God sought "Adam & Eve" in the garden God was in relationship with them. More than I am missional, I am Love-oriented.

As I look at scripture I see a God who is driven by a fundamental love, which is foundationally relational. It is this desire that motivated God to create, and motivated God to pursue his creation. I would contend that creating and pursuing stem out of God's love which is expressed in relationship. Thereby, God being missional is merely a bi-product of God's love.

Perhaps, the missional camp would agree with me on this, if this is true then there title is rather misleading, as it puts mission in the forefront and love in the background. Missional also puts the emphasis on action what we are to do, rather than who we are to be. From what I know about Missionals love is to be the primary means by which the mission is progressed, yet making mission the focus leaves Missionals open to the same critique many express regarding the church. The critique of being focused on doing Christianity and not being Christians. Consequently, I would rather focus on God's foundational love and let mission be its outpouring.

Living a Dream

2008-07-14T16:12:00.005-04:00

Growing up, every summer I would spend two weeks at Beulah Camp in Brownsflat, N.B. (even though I grew up Baptist). When I was 11 years old, instead of going to the Children's tabernacle for the DVBS, I snuck up the Hill to the Baptist church where the teen services were held. Most of my friends were already going to youth so I forsook the cookies and juice for my Teen service. The next 8 years of camp I would go up the hill, some times on foot, some times by bike, some times in the trunk of a car. Each year we would have a speaker & as I listened some times I would think about how cool it would be to have the chance to speak at Beulah camp.

As I went off to Bible college and began life in ministry this dream became a distant memory. Whenever Beulah would come around I would occasionally help out with the youth service, and running errands or games. Periodically. the dream of speaking would come back, but it was never something I pursued.

This past spring I was talking to the Kool-Aid Kid and I asked about Beulah and just on a whim offered to speak for the week. They ended up needing a speaker so they gave me the gig. This past week I spoke to the teens about God's Epic and how God is writing a story throughout history that we each get to play a part in and it's up to us what role we play. I had a blast, it was quite literally everything I thought it would be and more!!!!

For giving me this chance to live a dream, to the Kool-Aid Kid and the rest of the District I say an EPIC:

THANK YOU!

The Weight of Experience

2008-05-27T16:20:00.003-04:00

I took a class last Spring entitled "Christian Theism and the Postmodern world". In the class we looked at some of the classic arguments for the existence of God and the popular objections to God's existence. Recently, a podcast I was listening to got me thinking about the argument from experience. Prior to the class I did not give much credence to the role experience plays in discovering or affirming truth. My argument being whether I experience something to be true or not is irrelevant to what is true.

What I came to appreciate in this class is the great value we place on experience in our culture. We tend to base our understanding of truth on what we've personally experienced through our senses, which is why we have phrases like "I saw it with my own eyes" or "I couldn't believe it until I touched it". Even Thomas, in John's Gospel said, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

When we experience personally, or secondhand, a miracle we tend to give more credit to God. Even though, I do not think everything that happens at a Benny Hinn crusade is of God, many people are influenced to believe in God because of what they experience at them. Conversely, there are stories like Charles Templeton (not Face from the A-Team). He was a Christian and a member of the Billy Graham Crusade, but died an agnostic. He tells of a time when he went to a ladies' home and prayed for her daughter and as he prayed the daughter was healed. When asked how he could not believe in the Christian God after experiencing such a miracle, he said that he could not understand why God would choose to heal her and not the billions of other suffering children in the world.

These stories show me that experience can be used to both affirm God's existence and used to deny it, even with the example of miracles. So I find myself feeling that experience is a strong support in the argument for the existence of God, but should not be the primary argument. What say ye?

True or False?

2008-05-14T14:36:00.004-04:00

I was listening to a Stand to Reason podcast, hosted by Greg Koukl. As I listened to the podcast, Koukl stated the simple and precise definition of omnisicence is "God knows and believes all true propositions." A proposition can succinctly be defined as a statement regarding a subject.

My question for Koukl is whether it is possible for God to know "false propositions." My reason for this is, if God is not able to know false propositions then there is information that it is impossible for God to know. An example of this would be a lie, which by definition is a false proposition. Although it would be possible for God to know that a person lied, as the event occurring would be a true proposition, it would not be possible for God to know the contents of the lie. Perhaps, God would be able to know the information if there was a statement made about the lie. For example, although Brian ate the cookie, he told his mother, "No mommy, I didn't eat any cookies"! The problem then becomes by knowing the statement about the false proposition God now knows the false proposition, which goes against the initial proposition regarding omniscience.

Using Koukl's definition of omniscience (which has been used by many others before him) I wonder if there is a means by which God is able to know false propositions or if the definition should be reworked to state, "God knows both true and false propositions, but only believes true propositions."

A Charge I give you

2008-04-29T19:20:00.004-04:00

Now that Spring Semester has finished I'm doing some personal reading, which includes The Chronicles of Narnia. As I prepare for my thesis, which is focused on Creation, Redemption and human responsibility for Creation, the Magician's Nephew has come to life for me. I can't ignore that Chapters 10 and 11 are definitely an allegory of creation.

As I read the conclusion of Chapter 11 the charge of Genesis 1:28 became even more clear for me. Genesis 1:28 reads, "When God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” In recent years I have become more environmentally responsible. I am not, I repeat am not a tree hugger...although it does sound fun. Part of this responsibility comes out of my understanding of what it means when God commands, gives the charge to, Adam to govern and reign over creation, or as it appears in Genesis 2:15 "to watch over" creation. When we construct a mental lens that is formed from understanding of creation, which includes a mandate for us as human beings to care for creation, along with my thesis focus chapter 11 has a greater richness for me.

In Chapter 11 Aslan, the Christ figure throughout the Chronicles, states "Before the new clean land world I gave you is seven hours old, a force of evil has already entered it...As Adam's race has done the harm, Adam's race shall help to heal it". Then as Chapter 11 concludes he asks the Cabby and his wife this series of question:

"Can you use a spade and a plough and raise food out of the earth"?
"Can you rule these creatures kindly and fairly...and would you bring up your children and grandchildren to do the same"?
"And if enemies came against the land (for enemies will rise) and there was war, would you be the first in the charge and the last in the retreat"?

When the Cabby answers in the affirmative then Aslan states, "Then...you will have done all that a King should do."

Each of these questions serves as a charge to me to reinforce the responsibility I have to care for creation. Too many times we interpret "Reign", "Govern", and "Watch over" as conquer, pillage, and rape, instead of care, protect, and , renew. Beginning to fulfill the charge given to the first King & Queen of Narnia would put us on the right path towards fulfilling our Genesis 1:28 mandate.

For "As Adam's race has done the harm, Adam's race shall help to heal it".

Pursuing Truth

2007-11-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Romans 1:18, NLT

Last night as I read this verse the section that struck out me was "suppress the truth".
This semester God has been challenging my forming of beliefs. More specifically what I believe to be true about him and our relationship with him. The challenge has come in attempting to understand and reconcile what I read in Scripture with my mental and moral constructs. This challenge leads to the question "Am I interpreting this passage correctly or does my lenses of understanding need to change?"

The greatest hindrance in facing this challenge has been my presuppositions and biases. Many of the beliefs I hold as true have come out of an intense wrestling in my being and to cast them aside for others would seem to trivialize the journey thus far. As my beliefs continue to grow and mature my being yearns to avoid "suppressing the truth" out of personal preference or because of persuasive personalities. My desire is for a humility that allows me to be wrong, but does not undermine that I could be right.

As my thinking is molded and refined my desire is avoid forcing what God intends to speak to us into some personal mental framework or place requirements upon God that I have developed from my finite perspective. Thereby mutilating God's message and marring his image. At some point I have to confess that I can never fully comprehend the infinite grandeur of God. While I press on to know God more intimately, I must still leave room for the mystery of the infinite.

My hope is to avoid the accusations of Romans 1:21-22

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

DOA

2007-11-06T02:07:00.000-05:00

For most of us DOA stands for Dead on Arrival, but what God has been working in my life over the past couple of months has DOA standing for Danger of Academia. Through my studies and through Jess, God has reminded me of the need for knowledge to engage the whole being. Attending Seminary I have often found myself having to guard against education becoming a mental exercise or to be solely a matter of accumulating knowledge. This is what I have come to deem as the Danger of Academia.

Before anyone gets too excited and thinks I am going to recant my charge of anti-intellectualism within the contemporary Church and culture. I conversely, believe we need to avoid Blind Belief, which divides faith and thinking and refuses to allow the two to interact. The attitude is "I believe it and I don't need to think about it".

Both of these dangers need to be avoided. Education must transcend the mind, engage our spirit and flow out in our attitudes and actions. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). In regards to belief I think Hosea said it best when he wrote the words,
"a people without understanding will come to ruin!" (Hosea 4:14). Ok, so he may have said it in Hebrew, but ya get my point. If we fail to follow Augustine's advice of faith seeking understanding, I fear we maybe DOA. While the Academic runs the risk of being spiritually dead, the blind believer runs the risk of being dead to the world God wishes to save.

RobBELLion

2007-08-23T19:48:00.000-04:00

My current read is Sex God by Rob Bell. I picked it up after several people recommended it and because of his reputation for using Scripture more than other members of "The Emergent Church". As one who feels there are some issues we, as The Church, have shyed away from I thought I would be strongly encouraged by a book addressing God and sexuality. However, as I began to read, excitement turned to concern. Two major concerns and critiques rose to the surface of his writings.

The first is the presence of syncretism in his writing. Six chapters in I have found at least two prominent instances where he attempts to incorporate other religious beliefs into Christianity. As he writes on what it is for man to reflect God (Imageo Dei) he claims "...something of God has been placed in them (people)...A divine spark resides in every single human being" (p.19). The term "divine spark" is a cardinal term of gnosticism, which Christians through the ages have branded as heresy. A further critique of this is the seeming equating of God's attributes with being God. There needs to be an understanding that his attributes are not what make God God, but God is God and the attributes are merely descriptors of what he is like.

The next evidence of syncretism appears in Chapter 4. As Bell addresses the use of our passions he states, "Life is not toning down or repressing your God-given life force. It's about channeling it and focusing it and turning it loose on something beautiful (p.83, italics mine). Channeling is a verb that can be used in my facets, but when it becomes combined with the term "life force", it becomes clearly connected with Zen Buddhism.

Along with his use of sycretism Bell expands the meaning of terms until they essentially have no meaning. His use of the words "sexual or "sexuality" which is foundational to his book gives the clearest example. He claims that the word "sex" comes from the Latin word "secare" which means "to severe, amputate or disconnect from the whole"(p. 40) . He then explains how this is the root of words such as sect, bisect, section, and a few more. It's interesting that "sex" is the only word he cites that ends in "x", whereas the others end in "ct".

According to Bell's definition, sexuality means "First, our sexuality is our awareness of how profoundly we're cut off and disconnected. Second, our sexuality is all of the ways we go about trying to reconnect" (p. 40). In applying the term he refers to swimming in the ocean with his son and dolphins as being a sexual experience because they were truly connected to creation. For those who think this is appropriate application of the term, I challenge you to go ask someone of the same gender to go into the mountains for a "sexual" experience. I doubt the two of you have the same thing in mind.

I also find it interesting that God created us as sexual beings (Gen.1:28) and as two distinct sexes (Gen. 2:27). All of this God did before the fall (literal or metaphorical). Thus, if God created us as sexual and with distinct sexes then we were created as separated from creation, and thus experience the effects of the fall from "the beginning". Bell alludes to a Hickian "soul making" theology when he interprets Genesis 1 as being God creating out of "chaos" rather than "formless" and "void" so I doubt he would have a problem with this.

To Bell's credit he does attempt to approach sex and sexuality in a balanced approach. While I agree with the overall message he communicates, the roads he travels are through the sinking sands of heresy, rather than the roads of orthodoxy.

In Spring of 2006 Criswell Theological Journal contained an article by Mark Driscoll entitled A PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE EMERGENT CHURCH. I strongly suggest finding it and reading it to better understand"The Emergent Church" and it's distinction from the emerging church.

Beulah Banter

2007-07-20T03:04:00.001-04:00

This past week I went back to New Brunswick to visit and of course I arranged my visit during Beulah Camp (the District Conference for the Atlantic District of The Wesleyan Church). Over the past 27 years I think I’ve missed only 1 Beulah camp completely. For those of you who know how old I am and can perform simple subtraction, that’s right I was at Beulah even when I was in my mother’s womb.

This visit back East was an excellent time of reconnecting with friends, but what stuck out to me most was the renewal I experienced, while I was there. What ensues is a collection of the introspection that occurred.

The first thing I noticed was the emphasis on Christus Victor atonement teaching. I tend to receive plenty of teaching that emphasizes our fallen nature prior to salvation, but seldom hear anything about the victory we have because of Christ. Just singing “Victory in Jesus” was “water to my soul”.

The next thing I noticed was the change in me. In the past year I have become more self- aware of who God has intended me to be and in embracing this me there has been a confidence/comfort I have developed. It’s a peace that surpasses understanding.

In one of Dr. Steve DeNeff’s sermon, he expressed a need for us to be less concerned with “God’s will” and more concerned with who God intends us to be because if we act according to our new nature we will act according to “God’s will”. This is because our new nature and God’s will are not in opposition, but agreement.

The next thing that hit me was not something anyone said, but more an observation. In the past (and possibly in the present) I tend to avoid and be critical of those who I feel have broken my trust. However, something the Holy Spirit began speaking to me was the need to give people second chances. What was the most sobering was the question the Spirit posed to me:“Where would you be if I had only given YOU one chance?” In other words, “everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).

ABC's of Scripture

2007-06-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

This summer I'm interning at an Evangelical Free Church and this coming Tuesday we're beginning a Bible Study group for teens looking to learn more from the Bible. Thus we're going to start by looking at what Scripture has to say about itself. We're going to due an overview of Psalm 119, which has the most verses in the Bible (176) and all 176 verses are on the attributes Scripture.

For a little background, I'm going to remind everyone what Mr. Branscombe taught us. The 176 verses can be grouped int passages of 8 verses and beginning with verse each group of 8 verses is a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. We can go through the Hebrew alphabet from Aleph to Taw.

To prepare for the Bible Study I went through the 176 verses and found as many references I could find that ascribe an attribute to Scripture. After I listed them I found some commonality in them so I plotted them into a spread sheet such as that of below:

How 2 Live	Morality	Encouragement	Knowledge
Advice	Purity	Inspiration for the reader	Understanding
Direction	Righteous	Comfort	Make Wise
Instruction	Just/Fair	Hope	Discernment
Guidance	Perfect	Promises
Teaching	Trustworthy
Discipline

Reality	Greatness	Experience
Right	Sustaining & Life Giving	Pleasing
Truth	Awesome/Wonderful	Treasure
	Eternal	Happiness
		My Delight

I was surprised how easily these grouped together and also noticed some commonalities Psalm 176 has with II Timothy 3:16, which reads: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Uneducated Church

2007-06-10T22:54:00.000-04:00

When churches abandon or de-emphasize theology, they give up the intellectual tools by which the Christian message can be articulated and defended.
-Peter Berger

I am becoming increasingly concerned with state of the Church. It seems in an attempt to maintain unity we have opted for ignorance. For many of our brothers and sisters their theological education doesn't go beyond "Jesus loves me this I know the Bible tells me so". Yes the Gospel is simple enough for a child to grasp (at the age of accountability), and yes, Karl Barth did once say that was the deepest theological truth he knew of. Yet, what makes this such a deep theological truth is an understanding of all the implications involved in the making such an assertion. Human Depravity, God's Holiness, Redemption and Grace just begin to scratch the surface of the doctrines that are involved in making such a statement.

Don't misunderstand me; I do not think everyone needs a doctorate in theology. My concern is that we become content to suck on the theological milk suitable for infants rather than chew on the meat that causes us to grow into adulthood. My primary motivation for pursuing my Masters is to help reduce the "graduating out of Christianity". When they leave the safety of youth group they are forced to give a reason for what they believe, but find they have never been equipped to do so. This is not unique to teens, we as the Church seem petrified to admit our allegiance, not out of a lack of love, but because we have no idea how to respond to questions or objections. We as the Church need to begin to grow our theological roots. How can we worship a God to whom we are estranged?

Sliding Theology

2007-05-25T17:44:00.000-04:00

What seems to be one of the common questions people ask about God, is "How can I an all power, all loving, and all knowing God allow evil to exist"? Augustine seems to offer the best response to this question by suggesting it is a result of freewill.

I've recently dove back into watching an old TV series called Sliders. The plot of the series is that a guy, Quinn Mallory, has discovered a way to travel from his current earth/universe by way of a wormhole. The basic idea is there is an infinite number of parallel universe simultaneously existing and a wormhole according to the Einstein-Rosen Bridge would allow an electron to travel from one point in the universe to another point or another universe instantly. Working with this theory Quinn has discovered a way to create this rip in "the fabric" of time and space and has discovered how to stabilize it so that large masses (at least 6 people) can travel through it.

As they travel from alternate universe to alternate universe they encounter different versions of it, with their own unique challenges. The seemingly most minute decision or event in history has totally changed the history and state of the world. Watching this show has caused me to reflect on Alvin Plantinga's assertion that we are living in the best of possible worlds. The basic concept is that given all the essential elements for the existence of the earth, the earth we live in is the best we could possibly have.

Reflecting on Augustine & Plantinga as I watched Sliders I have become convinced that God did create the best possible world and then entrusted it to us (Gen. 1:26-30; 2"15). Thus what we have today is what man has done to the best possible world that was entrusted to him . It's not a question of why God didn't, but why we did?!

At a Lose

2007-04-20T17:38:00.000-04:00

Anyone who's spent an hour with me knows for a short time I pastored in Roanoke, Virginia and you also know how much I love it and how I came to consider it home.

With Monday's events at V.Tech, I'm beside myself. I've held off blogging on the event till now and in this blog I focus very little on the details of Monday out of respect for those who had to live through this Nightmare. When the news reached me I began calling as many friends as I could to check on them, some concerned about their physical safety and others their emotional state.

Reflecting about what happened and thinking about my friends, who I think of as family, I get overwhelmed with the emotions to the point of shock and numbness. What can you say about such a horrendous act that grieviously impacts so many people?!

All I know to do is give my love and my support and I ask anyone who reads this blog to do the same. Show your love and support through prayer and in your prayers mourn with those who mourn. The best way this can be expressed is through the phrase:

Today we are all Hokies!

Wannabe Evolutionist

2007-04-10T16:15:00.000-04:00

It may surprise some of you to read this, but I wish I was an evolutionist. It would be the easiest path to take considering how widely accepted evolution is by the public and Christian communities. Although, I do not consider Genesis 1 and 2 be a literal account of creation. I do consider it to express that God created the world. I tend to think God spoke all of creation into existence simultaneously.

I used to think it would be so cool if God used evolution to create the world and now in my mind it would make life much easier to just be a theistic evolutionist, so I wouldn't have to deal with constant confrontation. The one hurdle in my acceptance of evolution is not Scripture or belief, but ration. As one who has traditionally been an evidentialist, concerned with what we can prove, all the evidence that has been presented to me by evolutionists does not allow me to accept an evolutionary approach. The probability of evolution being a reality is so astronomical that it goes against my "good sense" to put any weight in it. Even with God directing the process of evolution the latest datings of the earth still do not allow the necessary time for the current developments we experience. This is the primary inconsistency I have encountered in speaking with evolutionists and I wish I could make my life easier, but reason does not allow me to make this blind leap.

Facebook Phenomenon

2007-03-14T00:53:00.000-04:00

Recently I did a class presentation on the theological implications of Facebook and I've decided to fill y'al in on what I said.

The Facebook explosion seems to be a result of it meeting the intrinsic desires for individualism and community, within our present culture. By providing each member with a profile Facebook is meeting the strong yearning to be a unique individual. Our profile serves as our identity on Facebook, it represents who we are as individuals to the rest of the members.
While the profile serves to meet the longing for individualism, the networks we are integrated into (Friends List, Groups, and the initial network we join) create the framework for our community. The interaction through “walls”, notes, and comments gives the member a sense of being relational. This sense of relationship seems to be what solidifies the sense of community. Facebook serves as a kind of cyber pseudo-community. Rather than being one of the many, we are a vital part of this cyber society.
Individualism and Community are two ideas we find in Scripture as well. Throughout Scripture there seems to be a focus on individual’s and the role they play in the community. People such as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah are Old Testament examples of this, while Mary, Peter, and Paul seem to be New Testament examples. In I Corinthians 12 Paul writes about the role the individual’s spiritual gifts play in the community of Believers. In the creation account of Genesis 2 God creates the individual, Adam, and in verse 18 we read, “The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." This would be another indication we, as human beings, are intended to be in community. The Hebrew people and the Church in Acts seem to be further biblical examples of God intending for people to be in community.
In recent years the Church has attempted to meet these desires through cell groups. These groups are intended to create fellowship and allow individuals to interact with one another on a more personal basis than what a Sunday morning service would allow. Youth group, men’s breakfasts, and women’s prayer meeting are just a few examples of other ways the Church in the past has, perhaps unintentionally, attempted to meet these needs.
The error the Church has made in addressing these needs, is attempting to meet them through programs. There are certain needs programs cannot meet because a program is purpose oriented. In programs people are not necessarily interacting because they want to, but because the program requires them to. For the individual seeking true community, this would seem to be a cheap supplement.
To meet these desires the Church needs to extend her thinking beyond programs and become genuinely interested in each other. Individuals need to be interacting outside the programs of the Church. People are seeking the type community that happens over a cup of coffee, on road trips, and during a barbeque.

A Long Long Island Lament

2007-03-01T02:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the hockey world starred at their TVs and computer screens in numbness and shock. The unthinkable happened! Ryan Smyth was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the New York Islanders. For those disconnected from hockey Ryan Smyth was the icon of the Oilers' Franchise. Drafted in 1994 he has never played for any other NHL team. Now, Thursday night he will wear another team's jersey for the first time.

Unable to reach contract agreement and with 20 minutes left till the deadline, Kevin Lowe dealt away Smytty, as most Oilers affectionately call him, for 2 top prospects and 1 first round draft pick. To Oilers' fan this it was like trading Porsche for a 3 Ford tempos.

The whole ordeal reeks of underhandedness. Two months ago it was "leaked" to the media that the Oilers had not yet reached a contract agreement with him, which Smyth was blindsided by in a media conference. When asked about the situation, a stunned Smytty replied, "How did you find out about that?!" Quickly followed by, "We're not focusing on that right now! We're focusing on getting our team into the playoffs!" In the very same manner the media would be the one to tell Smyth he had been traded in the same manner. When a trade is done with class the General Manger or the players agent will tell him, not the media.

As details of how the events unfolded it came out Lowe had this trade in his desk drawer with the papers signed, in case they couldn't reach an agreement. Conversely, it is reported Smyth turned down a deal for 27 million over 5 years , which works out to 5.4 million a year, 100 thousand a year below Smyth's asking price (5.5 million/year). To put this in perspective the Calgary Flames just signed Tanguay, for 5.25 million per year. Tanguay does not have the grit and potentially is not as talented as Smyth, and is definitely not the face of the franchise. The manner in which these events unfolded leave the fans wondering if Lowe ever intended on re-signing Smyth or if he was trying to convince Smyth to play for the Islanders the rest of the season and the Oilers would resign him come July 1st.

A tearful Smyth addressed the media today, and as Oiler fans watched they had flashbacks to 1988 when another icon of the team and an icon of hockey, Wayne Gretzky, was sold to the Los Angeles Kings. Feeling betrayed once again, along with Oiler fans everywhere are wondering if there is any loyalty left in hockey. So often we hear about players having no loyalty to the team and now a player has been betrayed by a team who had his entire loyalty. Gretzky commenting on the trade said: "that's the nature of the game now". If Smyth is not re-signed by the Oilers July 1st, the next signature the Oilers may have is Kevin Lowe's on his forced resignation.

Through the tears Smyth spoke positively and respectfully of Kevin Lowe. Then he promised to do his best to win the cup, as an Islander, so he could bring it back home. This type of class is what will have this fans loyalty cheering for Smytty every game.

Ignorant Grace

2007-02-19T03:34:00.000-05:00

If you're part of The Wesleyan Church you most likely heard a sermon on grace and sung some version of Amazing Grace in church this past Sunday. This was a denominational thing stemming from the soon release of the movie Amazing Grace. The movie is about the pivotal role William Willberforce and John Newton (the authour of the first version of the hymn Amazing Grace)played in the abolition of slave trade in Europe, which paved the way for the emancipation of slaves in the US less than half a century later. Those of you who know my passion for the civil war know why I'll be seeing it opening night.

Keeping with the theme of grace I'd like to address what I'll call ignorant grace, the unmerited favor we have no idea we have. Whether you prefer the term common grace or prevennient grace, ignorant grace includes them both.

Ignorant grace comes from a perspective that all humanity is depraved of any ability to do good, without God, and consequently is capable of horrific acts and left to ourselves we would and possibly could be far more depraved than we are. What I'm calling ignorant grace is God's active involvement in the affairs of the world through which he sustains humanity and guides us away from the path of destruction we would dispositionally follow, if it were not for God in his grace luring us away from it. Without God's active involvement, which is unknown to man, it is my belief that our world would have long ago become reminiscent of the 70s and 80s nuclear fallout movies and would lead to the ceasing of life on this planet.

As my msn tag said a few weeks ago: Man has only scrapped the surface of his depravity and merely glimpsed the Glory of God's Grace.

A Bifurcated Blog

2007-02-13T01:48:00.000-05:00

It's been....well...A LONG TIME since my last post. I've most likely lost the majority of my readers, but hopefully they will find their way back. This is my first blog since arriving in B.C. and it comes as a result of two rather impacting moments in my life this week, hence the title of the post. One blog divided by two unrelated events, other than they both occurred this past week. For the sake of alliteration we'll call these two events "The Epiphany" and "The Empathy".

The Epiphany
I was at a party this weekend, which has become the tradition since arriving in B.C. annd some where between the lounging in hot tub and the "smores" around the fire I had this epiphanal moment. I realized the true reason I am loving my time in B.C. so much. It is the people I have met and who have adopted me as their own. Sure I'm still an East Coast Boy, and the plush toush of jokes, but I am considered one of them. A community of 20 somethings did not see me as the new guy who had to earn his stripes into their "clique". They simply accepted my UNIQUE personality and made every effort to include, rather than exclude, me.
As beautiful as the B.C. landscape is and as awesome of a program the MTS cap is, I think the luster of B.C. would have been dulled by loneliness if it were not for these friends who welcomed me into their lives.

The Empathy
This past Sunday Heather, another ACTS student from NB, and myself went into Vancouver to attend Jazz Vespers. In order to do so though we had to drive down East Hastings, which is the part of the city you're suppose to avoid. In fact when I was moving out to B.C. a former TWU student told me, "When you get there find out where East Hastings is, and NEVER Go there." Driving to Jazz Vespers we got a since of the reason for this advice. As we progressed along East Hastings the buildings became increasing run down and the amount of people living on the street became more plentiful.
After Jazz Vespers we made our trip down East Hastings, with dusk giving way to night. Seeing the people lining the street at the various shelters hoping to find a place to sleep for the night my heart grew more and more unsettled. At the point in which one might cry, not me though, I turned to Heather and said , "The only reason for me being on this side of car door is the family I was born into and a few life choices". The sobriety of the moment broke my heart as I realized I did not deserve the fortune of my family, nor did those lining the street deserve the misfortune of the streets.

Broken 4 U

2006-08-14T15:48:00.000-04:00

Over the past year I have come to read I Corinthians 11 23-26 in a totally different manner. These 3 verses are an exert of Paul correcting the Corinthians on sacrement of communion. In verse 24 Paul quotes Jesus as saying, "this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." It is this phrase I have come to see in a new light.

I've always thought this quote was referring exclusively to the ripping and tearing of Christ's flesh as he endured the crucifixion. Then one night as I was taking communion I began to think about who "Christ's body" is. Every where's else, that I can think of, in Scripture when we read about "The Body of Christ" it is a reference to The Church.

So without trying to read something into Scripture that isn't there I think Christ was referring to two things in this sentence.
1. I would agree Jesus is referring to the shredding and tearing of his flesh that occured in the crucifixion.
2. I would like to suggest when Jesus referred to "my body" in this passage he was also referring to The Church.

The first reason I would suggest this is for the previous mentioned reason of everywhere else "The body of Christ" refers to The Church. The next reason would be context. In chapter 11 Paul has been correcting the Corinthians about proper worship and in the next chapter goes into the proper use of spiritual gifts and how they are for the edifying of "The body", referring to The Church.

So what are the implications if I am right that Jesus was referring to the church in this passage.
Well, if I am right (and I think I am or I wouldn't be writting this post) then we need to consider how different Translations translate the this verse.

The NIV translates this sentence as, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." which would mean we, The Church, are for each other.

NLT translates the sentence as, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.". This would mean we are given to each other.

KJV records the sentence "this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." .

I think the KJV translated this sentence the most accurate (I'll tell you if I'm right after I finish my Greek classes). I lean toward the word "broken" being the most accurate because Paul makes a point prior to this of saying Jesus broke the bread. So if we are Christ's body what does it mean for us to be "broken for you"?

I would like to suggest the deeper point Jesus was trying to drive home is when God breaks us(gets us to that place of "whatever you want Lord") it isn't soley for our personally "betterment", but it is for the edifying or betterment of the whole body.

In other words, the sanctification of the individual is for the rest of us too.

The 1 Percent

2006-07-20T22:29:00.000-04:00

My current read is Ten Rules of Youth Ministry and why Oneighty breaks them all. In his introduction Blaine Bartel brings to light a shocking stat. Between 1910 and 1946 approximately 65% of the teens were reached for Christ. This time span is known as the Builder Generation and they are the first generation of teens to experience youth ministry.

Now fast forward to the 1977 to 1994 era. This is known as the Bridger Generation and they are the most current completed generation. In this generation only 4% have been reached for Christ.

Looking at this we can quickly do the math and see the 61% differnence between the beginning and the end of the 20th century. The obvious question is, "what happened?". I don't wanna ask the obvisous question though. Simply because "What happened?!" forces us to look back instead of forward. My question is "How do we make it 5%?" I wanna know how in this current generation we can improve 1%.

In the Bridger Generation 96% of the teens were not reached for Christ. Our ultimate goal needs to be to reach these 96%, however this is done 1% at a time. So how do we get our first 1%?

Hi Emily

2006-07-12T21:40:00.000-04:00

At Beulah this year I met a teen who I seem to meet over and over again, Emily. Apparently I always seem to think she is someone else. She told me she reads my blog so I'm using my blog to say "Hi" and hopefully make up for thinking she was someone else.

While I was at Beulah my nephew asked me a tough question. We were talking about my move out west and my teenage nephew looked up at me and asked. "Uncle Dave , how come you always have to move so far away?"

I had to step back and think, "What does take me to so many distant places?". What makes me wanna travel to Virginia, Zambia, and soon British Columbia? Why aren't I content to just live in the same house I grew up, while ministering at my home church or to go to Nova Scotia for my Masters?

Mark Buchanan's book The Holy Wild helped me answer this question for myself. He also wrote Your God's too Safe and both of these books are very John Eldredgish in their subject and approach. The book is a pretty good read. It didn't revelotionize the way I see God or my relationship with him, but it did help strengthed both. Now to how this book helped me answer my nephew's question.

In the final chapter of his book Buchanan uses Bilbo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkein's The Hobbit as an illustration. Buchanan writes about how Bilbo's mother was a Took and his father was a Baggins. The Baggins were homebodies who played life safe, while the Tooks were adventurous. Bilbo struggles with being a homebody Baggins and an Adventurous Took and ultimately follows his Took nature and has the adventure of a life time.

Buchanan uses this to ilustrate how we all have a Baggins and Took persuasion inside us. This isn't an illusion to a dual-nature of good or evil, more so how we all have a desire to play it safe and to live the risk taking adventurous life. Most of us have found our place on the Baggins-Took spectrum, without realizing it. I have found my place on the spectrum with the Tooks. I love to try new things and if no one's done it before I'm more likely to do it. However, my Baggins forces me to look before I leap .These risks or adventures are only taken after thinking it over and trying to look at all thepossible scenarios,

In life we tend to embrace the Took or the Baggins in ourselves, on which side of the Spectrum do you find yourself?

Saving Superman

2006-07-03T21:23:00.000-04:00

After 5 rewrites the 5th installment of the Superman Series was released last week. I consider myself a Big Superman fan. I don't have the pjs anymore and I stopped trying to fly off my roof, but Superman is still my favorite super hero.

In Superman Returns they attempt to resurrect the man of steel's legacy. I use the term "resurrect" because throughout the movie they insult our intelligence and continually slap us in the face with these "Christ Parallels". You think he's Jesus, WE GET IT!!!

Maybe they should have gone with a 6th rewrite, because all I found, besides the excessive and over the top Christ parallels, is a drug out plot and small pockets of actions. It's almost as if the directors changed midway through. The characters are re-introduced in interesting ways. Great rising action. The movie's goin' along nicely. Then there is a lack of any REAL climax and the movie dribbles off to the credits.

Along with a rewrite they should have done some recasting. Brandon Routh?! Come on now!!! Just because he looks like Christopher Reeves doesn't mean he can be Superman. Why not go with guys who have proven themselves as Superman on TV. Dean Cain isn't too busy these days. I'd even take Tom Welling over Brandon Routh (yuck). Kate Bosworth did well to keep the Lois Lane character consistent. I feel bad for James Marsden, who I have a feeling may have gotten himself written out of X-men (Scott Summers) so he could play this role of Richard White, Lois' boyfriend. James seems to do a great job playing the jealous boyfriend. Kevin Spacey played and excellent Lex Luther. His villainous humor along with Sam Huntington's portrayal of Jimmy Olsen made the movie endurable. There is also a scene where 1 of Lex's henchmen & Lois' son, Jason, play chopsticks, that brought some good laughs too. You can definitely say the movie was a good laugh.

Kryptonite is yet to kill Superman, but Bryan Singer & Michael Dougherty (screenplay), Dan Harris (director), and Brandon Routh (Superman) sure have him on life support. The sequel for Superman Returns schedule for release in 2009 has allot to overcome to return Superman to its place of prominence

Definition of Suck

2006-06-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

In October we sat down with our teens and the parents to decided whether we had the finances to continue planning to attend Logos5. We decided the the finances were not there so we began pursuing Creation Fest as an alternative. Over the next few months we stepped up our fund raising and very successfully raised the money to go.

Sunday we had our final meeting with the teens and parents, where we went over the final things they would need and to field and final concerns. With everything in place we met tonight to load up the vehicles and get all the final paperwork. We had just finished packing the vehicles when we found out Creation NorthEast 2006 had been canceled do to large amounts of rain over the past 48 hours and the anticipated rain over the next week.

This was gonna be the biggest thing the youth had done in almost ten years. You could have cut yourself a big old piece of disappointment in the room after the news hit. So now we have to figure out how we're gonna make it up to the teens.

The Definition of Suck: When after 8 months of planning it all falls apart in 8 seconds.

Big News & Big Trips

2006-06-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

The big news in my life is I'm moving across the country. From Coast to Coast. In 60 days I'll be flying to British Columbia to start my Masters work at ACTS Seminaries on Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C.

Special Props go out to Jeremy Cummings, Aaron Perry, and Jay Major, who gave me advice on how to choose my Seminary. These guys have always saw the potential God has placed in me and encouraged me to chase God size dreams. Always with common sense and practicality in mind, right AP?!

My first classes are Introduction to Greek, Introduction to Hermeneutics, Believers' Church Theology, and Reseach Methods. I'm pumped about my classes, especially Greek & Theology. I've already learned my Greek Alphabet (thanks again AP).

I've found a place 10 minutes from the the campus. It's a really sweet townhouse with a gym and clubhouse all included. It also has cable and wireless internet access. I've included some pics to show you how sweet it is. Like something out of a magazine, I hope it isn't.

Tithing Times

2006-06-08T22:34:00.000-04:00

Last year I was at a job where I was paid bi-weekly and I averaged between $350-400 a pay-period. In February (2005) God put a challenge before me. He asked me to start tithing $50 each pay in faith that he would increase my pay to a point where $50 would be 10%. I couldn't pay my monthly bills and I was geting behind, so he asks for more?!

Over the ensuing months I would tithe the $50 and my pay didn't get any better.I actually was losing money and getting even further behind in my bills. Six months later I got a new job and within the first 2 months of being at this new job my pay went up to a point where $50 was under my 10% tithe.

After I got the job I had forgotten about God's challenge and it's just been in the last month or so God said, "See?! Told ya!" I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but now I can pay my bills and I'm not constantly scrapping change together for a Tim's Coffee. I know we've heard prosperity preachers tell us time after time, "Give money and God will give you untold fortunes!" This is not what I'm saying.

Tithing is just another way God has shown himself faithful to me.

Faithful in the Everyday

2006-05-31T12:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend I was looking for my keys, After I spent about 20 minutes looking for them, I quietly breathed these words, "God, please show me where my keys are". Two minutes later I lifted up a towel and there were my keys. Then the other day I was looking for my belt, so I again prayed, "God, show me where my belt is". Twenty seconds later, I see my belt laying on the other side of my laundry basket.

Back in high school I got in the habit of stopping for a moment when I can't find something and praying for God to show it to me. I'm not sure which pastor suggested this, but I know the idea didn't come from me. Over the years I have continued to do this, whether it was a piece of paper, my wallet, keys, or even socks, and every time without fail I have found whatever it was I was looking for within 5 minutes of asking.

I think it's amazing how God shows himself faithful in the little things. If this was a one shot deal I could credit it all to coincidence, but it's every time. There might have been 4 times that it went over 5 minutes, but I still found what I was looking for. Maybe it's psychosomatic, but I doubt I'm able to move objects with my mind to place them where I can find them. I tend to think it's more logical to believe an all knowing, loving and personal God cares about me enough that he leads me to look in certain places and prompts me to move certain objects because he cares about even the little things in my life.

Homesick

2006-05-22T21:22:00.000-04:00

I just got back from spending the weekend with an old college roommate, Anton. We spent our last full year of Bethany together. Over that year we became more than rommates; we became "roommies". "Rommies" are roommates who do more than co-exist; they become good friends. During our year together we shared hurts and struggles and Anton's listening and offering advice helped me through that year. There were many times just seeing Anton come back from the TP (dorm) Chapel with his bible encourage me to get my butt in gear with my devotions. I don't think he has any idea how much he encouraged me.

Anton and I lost contact over the past few years, which meant I missed his wedding. Thankfully, over the past year we got back in contact and this weekend it was like we hadn't missed a day.

I had so much fun hanging out with him and his wife (Marilee is super fun) I wanted to move up there or get them to move down here. Then I realized if I did, or they did, I still would have friends who live far away and then I'd wanna move near them. Then I thought well everyone could move to me ( I am the center of the universe). Then I realized all the friends they would give up.

Some of my closest friends and how far they live away started to come to mind and I actually Googled the distances. So to give you an idea, here's a list of their approximate distances from me. If you don't appear on the list, I still love you.

Cummings- Aumsville, Oregon (6 000 kms)
Hancocks- Martins Creek, Virginia (1 800 kms)
AP- Johnson City, New York ( 1 200 kms)
Carters- Tidnish, Nova Scotia (220 kms)
Andy- Saint John, New Brunswick (20 kms)

Thinking about the restraints of time and space made me homesick for heaven. Not that I want to die or anyone else to. I'm just eager to be able to have true fellowship with friends who live so far away. I'm excited to know I won't have to jump a plane or drive down the Trans-Canada to see my friends. We will all live in the same metaphysical House. It'll be a big big house with lots and lots of rooms. With a big big yard where we can play football (believe me, there will be football in heaven).

I could go on, but y'al are probably tired of reading.

The Davidical Musicological Deali-O

2006-05-11T10:24:00.000-04:00

Emo Evolution
A few of my teens talk about being emo. For those who don't know, "Emo" is a gendre of music that has also developed into a teen trend. When artists like Dashboard Confessional started paving the way for emo music, I don't think he intended on it becoming another arm of teen culture. I think he just had emotionally expressive music that didn't fit into the current music box. However, people have taken what started as music and injected it into every area of culture, until it evolved into this mutanous thing.
As I obsvere teens that are emo. I see the trend of emo being a "happy goth". Emo teens, who are guys, tend to wear eye-liner and fingernail polish, just like goths tend to. The clothing appears to be similar . The only difference I've seen are emo teens are allowed to be happy, whereas goths have to be more somber and depresed. The funny thing is emos tend to gravitate toward negative emotions, perhaps because they are easier to express and distinctive. In a time in our lives when we struggle to discover our identity being distinct is better than gold. Because negative emotions tend to be more plentiful in the subculture would seem to be the reason emo teens & goth teens appear to have the same style of wardrobe. Also, We're gonna notice the attire of an emo teen who expresses themself in dominant black colors over and emo teen who uses...say...neutral earth colors, which would mean there are probably emo teens who we don't even realize are emo.

R&B Confession
I have a dark history of secretly indulging in bands and artists that would not carry the most credibility with mainstream music fans. In the past I have been a fan of The Moffatts, I actually went to 1 of their concerts. I was a Britney, Christina, & Jessica fan before the were considered women of ill repute. I've always loved the '80s and finally lately I have become a fan of R & B music. I really have nothing to say in my defence. I like it.

Emotional Roller Coaster

2006-05-05T22:37:00.000-04:00

Today, I have gone through a range of emotions. I'm finishing up the Poser book and as I read the book I began to struggle with a few things. I got really angry at the regulations imposed by the church and how we seem to set standards for receiving and maintaining salvation, that I would say are contrary to scripture.

Then I found myself irritated at myself because I tend to ascribe value and worth to people like their items I would buy or sell. "You're worth this much time!", "Don't bother me, I've got better things to do!", and "Oh no, they're coming my way!" are all thoughts I could have any given day.

At youth I became passioante as I talked to the teens about the "fellowship" (kind of ironic) we are intended to have with each other, God, and ourselves. The passion continued as I talked with someone I've come to call Barnabus, and a dear friend. We talked about personal holiness and the regulations of the church. While I was able to voice my frustration, I was also able to share my passion.

I went home tonight encouraged. Not because of what I had shared, but because Barnabus had brought out a passion I wasn't sure still existed. He silenced thoughts of doubt that nagged my heart.

Accepting Me

2006-04-25T12:13:00.000-04:00

I was having a discussion with the Kool Aid Kid (from one of my previous blogs) about a book I've been reading and after sharing with I've decided to share with you.

I'm currently reading Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes written by Brennan Manning & Jim Hancock. This book is actually an explosion of a chapter you would find in another one of Brennan Manning's books, Abba's Child. The chapter in Abba's Child this book expounds upon is the chapter titled The Imposter.

In Posers, Fakers, & Wannabes Brennan tackles the oh so common dilemma we have of wearing different masks. He talkd about how we pretend to be one person here and another person there and how these different people we all pretend to be are just "The Poser" within us.

The Poser is the one who first protected us from the world, who would want to hurt us, by showing us how to hide our true self. Because of this we've come to trust the poser and lean on him to keep us safe. He is a distinct part of who we are.

Brennan does something I haven't seen many authros do. Instead of bringing us face to face with what we've done, he brings us face to face with who we are. He gets us to stare ourselves in the mirror.

Doing this has brought out some true honesty in my relationship with God. It's brought to light some of the thoughts and feelings which for the longest time have resided in the darkest places of my being. I've discovered thoughts and feelings I didn't even know I had, but have been at the roots of the other thoughts and feelings.

By facing the Poser and befriending him, instead of hating him, I am coming to love who I am. Rather than hating who I am being and desiring who I am suppose to be. Now the Poser and I are taking the journey together. Perhaps for the first time we are being sanctified rather than manufacturing the appearance of sanctification.

What the Blog?

2006-04-24T17:56:00.000-04:00

So it's been two weeks and I haven't blogged about anything. This week I still don't know what to blog about. So this is me filling space so some of you have something to read when you stop by my blog.

Rich Mullins' Award

2006-04-09T23:38:00.000-04:00

This last weekend the local Christian radio station had a tribute to Rich Mullins, a man who seemed to be an icon of Christ, in reference to simplicity. This blog also comes from some introspection and conviction, which showed over the last while I've been pretty Dave-o-centric. As a result, I've decide to use this week's blog to recognize three guys I met at Bethany who are neither ego-centric or materialistic.

Living in a dorm you get to see the sides of people you wouldn't see in the cafeteria, chapel, or classroom. You see how guys react when their clothes' soap is used without permission (ie. purple Kool-Aid), when the guys won't give up the TV for Smash Brothers, or the Geeks...I mean guys, won't give up Nintendo for the Playoffs. It's during these times when it seemed no one was watching that these guys' lifestyles and hearts seemed to reflect the same spirit as Rich Mullins.

Now in Rich Mullins' simplicity of life he most likely wouldn't have seen any need for an award or any recognition. He would have felt these guys are just living the way they are suppose to be and I'm sure these guys would feel the same way as Rich. The rest of us aren't quite as free from the materialism or self promotion, which is why they're getting the award and we're not. While these guys would probably blush and insist I was making a big deal over nothing, to the best of my knowledge none of them read my blog, so let's keep this our little secret.

The 3 guys I would say are deserving of the Rich Mullins' Award are:

Jason Major (Duffy Moon)
Dusty Crozier
Donnie MacDougal

Impact

2006-03-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

In the last week I've been exposed to both sides of the impact we have on the lives around us.
In visiting Roanoke I discovered the scope and depth I effected peoples lives there. I thought after a few months I was a forgotten face or a whisper of a memory. As I ran into person after person they shared about how much they've missed me and wished I would come back.

I have to admit, it was nice that no one said, "Man, am I glad you left!Things are so much better now that you're gone." If anyone thought it they didn't say it or come even close to expressing that. When I left Roanoke I knew I was moving away from some great friends. What I didn't realize was all the hearts I touched while I was there. It's amazing the positive impact we have on people just by being ourselves.

Conversely, I'm also growing to realize the impact of sorrow we can have on people around us. A teen in one of our local high schools recently hung himself and it's overwhelming how it effects even people who didn't know him. For some I think it serves as a reminder of finity of man. For others it's hard to believe some one was hurting so bad and we never knew.

He had no clue the impact his one momentary decision would create. He never imagined the tidal waves it would create through the halls of his school, where he felt so unnoticed. He was well know and liked by most of the students and the popularity was no comfort to him.
If he knew the impact he had on those around him would he have hung from the ceiling that night?

Super Friends

2006-03-17T12:59:00.000-05:00

Last Night I had potenially the night of my year!!

A family who I got really close to during the 3 months I lived in Virginia flew me down for a week, which included taking in Winterjam here in Roanoke. At Winterjam Hawk Nelson, my favorite band, played. It blew me away. I not only got to meet them, but I also got to talk to them and found out they sometimes visit Moncton and Jason wants to move to PEI.

I'm beside myself at how the Hancocks would give me such a great gift. I've never rocked it out so hard at a concert before. Now that the concert is over we get to share this memory. I also ended up on the local news, and hopefully the words I spoke God will use to promopt a heart to go to church this Sunday. At the concert 126 people committed their lives to Christ.

When I got home form the concert my Super friend, Jackie, called. We seem to grow closer with every phone call. For thos who don't know I'm dating a girl I met on the internet. We meet on a christian singles forum. Neither of us was looking for a relationship, single people just seem to be more talkative. Anyways, we talked as friends and a mutual attraction developed. WE spent 2 months REALLY getting to know each other asking the hard questions and then decided to start a dating. Best decision I've made since I decided to come on staff at River Valley.

These are my Super Friends who make my life even better than before!

Death of Punishment

2006-03-03T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about punishment lately. A mentality I have had, and I think many others, is, "I better not sin or God will punish me". I know this isn't healthy, nor do I think it's true.
It may seem a little Calvinist, so brace yourself. Here's what I'm thinking...

The Law lays out for us what is required of us. Sin causes us to fall short of these requirements. The Law is Broken and therefore there must be punishment for the breaking of The Law. Punishment being the steps necessary to repay the wrong.

Here's a no brainer, Christ took the punishment for sin. So if Christ already paid the punishment for sin then should more punishment be dealt out?

I think with Christ's death and resurrection we saw the Death of Punishment. I think we have the GRACE of experiencing God's discipline and correction. Correction being, the quickening of the Holy Spirit as we lean towards sin, and the conviction which comes after sin. Then the discipline being the events God allows us to go through in order to develop the attributes and characteristics necessary to say "No" to Sin.

Understand we still experience the natural consequences of our actions. However, because of Christ and his grace, he makes available to us, we no longer need to make retribution or experience additional consequences in order to make right our wrong.

I would tend to think Paul in Romans, the writer of Hebrews, and James would agree with this approach.

What do you think?

Big Brotha

2006-02-26T20:31:00.000-05:00

Growing up I became a self-appointed Big Brotha for a few girls in the youth group. My responsibilty, as their Big Brotha , was to essentially watch out for them, stick up for them, and give them guidance (some times this came soft and some times not). For 9 years I'd watch out for these girls, whether it be protecting them from guys, or giving permission for guys to date them. Each Sista had their own personality and therefore protection and guidance took on a different appearance for each.

Over the last few years I've had the honor of watching each of marry and begin a life with a new man. Signifying they no longer need me to protect them, or give them guidance. There's a new man, who's closer than any Big Brotha could be. Yesterday, the last of the girls took her husband's hand.

No more littla Sistas, so now what do I do?!

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

2006-02-21T19:44:00.000-05:00

Today my mother asked me "What do you think blasphemy against the Holy Spirit...", at this point I had already begun to prepare my answer because I'm used to having this sentence end, "is".

Then my mom threw me for a loop when she said, "looks like".
Usually I would say, "It is when someone rejects God all the way to their grave, like Stalin who shoke his fist at God and die".

What does it look like though? This would suggest we could seal our eternal fate before death?.

What do you think?

And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
-Matthew 12: 31 (NIV)

I'll let you determine context. Unless you're being stupid, then I'll politely tell you, "You're being stupid"!

The How of Submission

2006-02-13T20:51:00.000-05:00

A wise professor once told my Doctrine of Holiness class, "The difference between Initial Sanctification (Salvation) and Entire Sanctification (whatever denominational term you wanna insert) is an issue of position. If you know the prof I'm talking about, you also know he made this statement with a great deal of qualifying ones as well. With salvation we come to God as enemies and as a rebel soldier Surrender our arms. In Entire Sanctification we come as slaves and Submit our hearts/wills.

The surrender aspect of this happened 21 years ago for me, the submission aspect seems to be a continual thing. I wouldn't wanna claim I am Entirely Sanctified because God knows, along with many others, there are times my will isn't always submitted to him. Every time I think he has it ALL there's something new he shows me to give over or an area I need to give him more dominion.

Over the last few weeks God's been bringing to my awareness the need to be recognize his sovereignity, and to give him more rulership in my life. The big thing is, he hasn't exactly told me what area or HOW.

As a guy who thinks of things in comparments, to not have a compartment to look at is very challenging. I know what must happen, I just haven't been shown The How.

Sour Seattle Seahawks Supporters

2006-02-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

Over the last few days, I've had to put up with some whining from those who were cheering for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. The most common complaint I have heard, is the referees were favoring the Steelers. To be fair.....ok, I'm bias, so to prove a point I want to look at three of the most commonly referred to "questionable calls".

1. Touchdown called back

In the first quarter Hassleback connected with Jackson in the end zone, however a flag was thrown for offensive pass interference. Offensive pass interference was the right call.
The play occurred right in front of the ref and no matter how many times you watch it in instant replay you clearly see Jackson's hand touch Taylor's (Steeler) chest, pushing him away from the play. The contact was minimal, however the sheer presence of his hand would impede the defender from being able to make the play. This play will most likely serve as a textbook example of offensive pass interference in training videos for years to come. Anyone who feels the need to "let the players play", would also have to contest the Hassleback fumble that was over turned in the 4th quarter. Foote (Steelers) briefly touched Hassleback before he went down. Although Foote most likely didn't contribute to Hassleback's stumble and fumble, according to the rule book Hassleback was ruled down by contact. Therefore the initial ruling on the field was over turned. While the referees were picky they were equally picky on both sides.

2. The Roethlisberger Touchdown

Many people, including myself, thought Big Ben's dive into End Zone came up short, while the referees called it a touch down. If one is to do a instant replay and slow down the dive frame by frame, they will clearly see the tip of the ball, parallel to a piece of white line of the End Zone. The rule is, "if ANY piece of the ball, breaks the plain of the goal line(meaning the white line) it is a touchdown". All of the ball does not have to cross all of the line, this isn't hockey, all you need is a piece of the ball to be parallel to a piece of the goal line. At the Superbowl party we rewound and played it in slow motion, and on the second time everyone, including Seattle fans could see the right call was made.

3. Hassleback Illegal Block
This is the only play of the three I would call touchy. After being intercepted, Hassleback lowered his shoulder in front of a Steeler blocker as he went down to tackle Ike Taylor behind the blocker. I'm not positive Hassleback actually made contact with the Steeler blocker, and perhaps they should not have been given the 15 yard penalty. Of course Seattle didn't get called for their illegal block when Roethlisberger was intercepted. Roethlisberger was pursuing a caravan of Seahawks down the field and was cutting in to try to make a tackle, when a block was made on him, where the player clearly hit him in back as their hand was placed directly on the 7 of the back of his jersey. So if Hassleback didn't make contact these to balance out.

In the end Seattle simply didn't play to win! With their constant clock mis-management, missed field goals, dropped balls and the disappearance of Jackson and Alexander, they failed to seize the opportunities they had. The game was Seattle's to win or lose and they lost.

Champions are formed in adversity.

Bleacher Believers

2006-01-24T21:28:00.000-05:00

In season with the upcoming Superbowl and perhaps as a result of a little Maxwell persuasion, I would like to rant about Bleacher Believers.

Every year millions of people tune into the Superbowl and most of them are at some sort of party. During this party we meet people who we can clump into 3 categories. The nomiees, the quasis, and the Crazies,

The nomiees are the nominals who are at the party because they're, it's a party they could really careless about the actual game, sure they ask occasionally what the score is, but that's the extent of their involvement. These people drive the Crazies crazy...........er.

The Quasis are the people who know a little about football, and have picked a team to cheer for, but they're really still there for the party. These people are easily influenced by the nomiees and the crazies.

Then there's the Crazies who would come close 2 selling their first born just 2 watch the game. I find myself in this category. If there was no party we'd still be watching the game. For us everything around us becomes inexistent as we are immersed in the game. There are times we can almost smell the grass and taste the turf (this maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea).

In Church life we seem to have these three catergories, as well. The nomiess, who come for the party. The quasis, who are kind of involved in things, but are still more interested in the party.However, with some guidance from some crazies could make the jump.The crazies are the ones who could careless about the party they just wanna be a part of what matters.

The big differences between a SuperBowl and the life of the Church is the Prize at the end for those of us who win, and the destiny of those who lose. The other difference is we are not to just become artificially immersed in the event, we are to be truly active and living out the experience. We are to get out of the bleachers and onto the field.

AN OT JC

2006-01-14T07:06:00.000-05:00

This morning I was woken up out of a dead sleep at 5:45am. For those of you who have ever had the "pleasure" of sleeping in the same room as me you know this isn't the norm for me. It takes next to a natural disaster to get me WIDE awake and a whole lot of diligence to even budge me from my slumber otherwise.

I wasn't woken up by a natural disaster. I was woken up by God himself. When I woke up it wasn't a startled awake. It was a "I'm sleeping....I'm sleeping.....I'm awake. Absolutely no transition! So I did the logical thing, I went to the "lavatory" upon returning from my excursion, I laid down to go to sleep with, but to no avail.

After an hour of "discussion" I clued in God had woken me up for a reason. So I got up showered, grabbed a coffee and began to work on some youth things.

As it turns out if I had of gotten up as late as I was planning to I would have never been able to get every thing I wanted to have ready for our youth meeting that morning.

It reminded me of Samuel when he was laying in bed and the LORD kept calling him. While our relationship with God is dynamic, growing and changing as individuals and as his people, it's always cool when he reveals himself in some of the powerful ways of the Old Testament. Sure, I didn't hear an audible voice, but I do know who woke me up! Kinda throws a kink in those "that was Bible times, this is now" arguments.

Renewal

2006-01-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

I have entered into the New Year with a great deal of joy. The Wesleyan Church is declaring this the year of the Bible and our church has begun working through the Bible. Now, me being the sly maverick, I have deviated from the reading plan and have begun my own. I'm reading books of the Bible I haven't given much attention to.

Historically, I've never really enjoyed reading the Bible, nothing against God, I just found it boring. I've prayed for my eyes to see what he has to say to me and I've prayed he would awaken me to his truth.

I've regularly read the Bible out of discipline, rather than enjoyment, then this year I began reading and I've begun enjoying it. I actually get excited about the Bible.
Being a Bible college graduate, I know that's suppose to happen instantously when I enroll, but I'm a little on the slow side, so give me a break.

This is the excitement of my New Year. What has everyone else's been like?

Our King

2005-12-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
-Luke 1:31-33 (NIV)

What a joy it is to know the Savior Mary once helded in her hands; rules all of creation with his.

Just in Time For Christmas

2005-12-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

Canadians every where can hang their heads in shame over the Christmas holidays. Wednesday, Canada's Supreme Court handed down a ruling that makes Swinger Clubs legal in Canada.

Swinger Clubs are basically people married or single who meet at a club, and rather than the old key swap of the 70's. They pick who they want to have sex with. They may choose 1 or multiple individuals, as long as everyone is consenting. The Supreme Court ruled it is not a criminal act because "it poses no threat to society". Forget the moral fabric we've already shred.

This all came about because some clubs in Montreal got charged for operating a "bawdy house" or brothel. One owner's lawyer is quoted as saying, "It does not contaminate society. It does not hurt, it does not do any harm to society and to the public in general."

Come to Canada, where we have no morals.

Why would I be proud to be a Canadian?

Wrestling with the Holidays

2005-12-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

http://www.visithoustontexas.com/fall-gallery/images/christmas%20Tree.jpg

The Christmas/Holiday Tree incident of Boston has sparked allot of discussion about the growing taboo of saying "Merry Christmas". The general attitude I get from most Christians is "It's our holiday and we're not gonna let you steal it from us".

What gets me is we stole the holiday from someone else. For those who haven't taken church History or who were sleeping during it, because of the persecution of the Church in the 1st few centuries AD Christians would use pagan holidays and celebrations as their times of celebration. For example Christmas was assigned the date of December 25 after the last Great persecution (c.330). Prior to this date the birth of Christ was celebrated at different dates each year (http://www.nisbett.com/holidays/christmas_date_and_origin_of.htm).

So really we have no rightful claim to December 25. Sure some people have argued this is the actual birth date of Christ, but we don't know for sure, and allot of other people were born on December 25th does this mean they're not allowed to celebrate their birthdays too?

In case you think I'm saying we need to start saying, "Happy Holidays", I'm not!! I am saying we need to get ride of this "It's our holiday" mentality and realize there are other religions using the date too. Still say "Merry Christmas" and if people get offended, we live in a land of religious freedom, it's about time Christians started having some.

If we really wanna make an impact, I say we stop celebrating on December 25th and move the date to some obscure time of the year, like May or something. Then sales rapidly decline because even "name only Christians" would follow suit. We would disturb the false god, "The almighty Dollar" and Then the TaD worshippers will quickly follow.

For Narnia!!

2005-12-10T22:40:00.000-05:00

I recently watched Chronicles of Narnia and here are a few symbolic things to remember from the book to make your viewing more memborable.

Symbolism
Aslan = Christ
Aslan's breathe = Breath of life
Deep Magic = The Law
Lamp Post = beginning of spiritual journey
Stone Table = Temple Curtain
Turkish Delight = The lure of sin
Wardrobe = entrance into spiritual realm
Winter = Adamic Depravity/Reign of Sin
Witch = Satan
Witch's Staff = Death

I'm sure there is more symbolism that I missed so feel free to share with me others. I'm going to see it 2 more times so I'd love to have new stuff to think about as I watch it.

(http://www.canmag.com/images/front/lap/narnia.jpg)

Worshipping 2 Goo

2005-12-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

By now we have all fallen in love with the Goo Goo Dolls new single, Better Days. I've found there are some pretty spiritual messages in the song. I'm not talking about God is in the trees type spirituality. I'm talking arugeably sound Christian doctrine The chorus goes like this:

So take these words
And sing out loud
Cuz everyone is forgiven now
Cuz tonight's the night the world begins again
And it's someplace simple where we could live
And something only you can give
And thats faith and trust and peace while we're alive
And the one poor child that saved this world
And there's 10 million more who probably could
If we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

Driving home from town tonight I let the Goo Goo Dolls lead me in worship as I praised God for the forgiveness he made possible through his son, the one poor child, who saved this world. I also praised him for allowing us to be a part of his plan for salvation, by carrying the message of salvation to others. During this worship session they reminded me I am the only one who can give my faith, trust, and peace. No one else can do these things for me. They are my responsibility to exercise.

Their song reaffirmed the truth I believe and challenged me to fulfill my role in God's plan.

How many worship services can we say do that?

Simple Things

2005-11-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

(www.http://tsn.ca/cfl/)
I am currently celebrating the Edmonton Eskimos' Grey Cup Win!! For those of you who are anti-CFL... I'll pray for you!

I have been an Eskimos' fan since 1994, and many times I have watched them go to the Grey Cup and, in heart break, the same amount of times lose by a touchdown or less. The one time they won since I've been a fan, I was in Zambia and couldn't even watch a minute of it.

So this year, I made sure I was home to watch the game! They controlled the game early but some how with 2 minutes left they were down by 5. My heart raced, as thoughts of "NOT AGAIN!!" went through my head. Then they scored and went for 2 to go up by 3. The Alouettes, were able to tie it up and send it into Overtime. As I stood hunched over the TV, less 6 inches away, I watched the teams trade points on the first series of Overtime.
The Eskimos were stopped short of a Touchdown on the next series and had to settle for a fieldgoal, and the doubts of not again began to return. However. whne the Alouettes got the ball, the Eskimos' defense stopped the Alouettes cold and on their final down, 3rd and 31, the Alouettes Quartback ran and kicked in desparation, as they came up short. I jumped and quietly screamed (didn't wanna bother the rents).

So all this week, as simple as it may seem. I am going to be celebrating my Edmonton Eskimos' Grey Cup Win!

Motion

2005-11-24T15:18:00.000-05:00

How long has it been since we've been passionate about the ministry God has called us to?

Thinking back to the first time I was hunting for a ministerial position. I wonder how much of my quest was fueled by a genuine desire to be in a place of ministry, which is within God's will and plan, verses a desire to just be in a church.

When I initionally had my denominational interview about becoming a pastor, something I shared about my calling into full-time ministry is "I couldn't imagine doing anything else and being happy". A few years older and perhaps a little bit wiser. I would say it's not enough to want be in full-time ministry. What is essential is to know our place in full-time ministry is within God's will. A will that could have a multitude of possibile places or simply 1 option.

Motions of Ministry
For us to serve in a church out of our own desire to be in ministry would be dangerously close to sin. A sin against God and his people, and ourselves. How can we consume a position of ministry we know is not within God's will for us, simply so we can be in ministry? Consider this, by maintaining a position of ministry, we know is not our place in God's will, is to go through the motions of ministry. In going through the motions we hinder and work against God's will. God has a better place for us in his divine plan and the place you currently hold belongs to another.

Ministry in Motion
Ministry in motion is to seek not only a place to minister but the place God has for us in his plan. Think of it as a train yard. There are hundreds of trains going different direction all for the same purpose, to get people where they need to go. Instead of jumping on a train and trying to make it go your direction, look at the direction God's already taking the train, then jump on board the train going in your direction.

The introspective question of the week: Are we going through the motions of ministry or are we ministry in motion?

Complacent Mediocrity

2005-11-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

So I've been tearing up this book, The Youth Builder, by Mike DeVries & Jim Burns. Some of you would have had it for required reading or collateral reading in a youth course, if you went to Bethany. Well, I was not one of you, but was blessed to have it given to me. The book has allot of practical ideas and principles drawn from years of youth ministry experience. It's not the Bible of youth ministry or anything, just a very valuable resource. Kindof of like Maguyver's swiss army knife.

As I was reading today, I was deeply convicted about something. I was convicted about how we go about ministry half heartedly. As long as things are running smooth, what we're doing is good enough. We shouldn't live in a constant depression of inadequacey, but we should always have in our mind, "What needs to happen for us to go the next mile?"

This life of ministry we have isn't about achieving a certain standard. It's not about numbers. It's not about programs. It's not about being trendy.It's about impacting lives for Christ, the best way we know how.
.
Those of us who think our ministry is "good enough" are falling to fulfil our responsbility to God and those he has entrusted to us. If we are at this point we need to ask 3 things.

1) Is my heart right?
2) Am I in the right ministry?
3) Am I in the right place?

With a "good enough" ideology we are a parked cars in the middle of the freeway. So we'd better get our tires spinning or get off the freeway!

Consumer Christ

2005-11-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

Like most youth leaders of the Atlantic District, I was at Booster this weekend, which in my opinion was the best Booster I've been too. The speaker was Matt LeRoy. At the last rally he talked about the Cost of following Christ. This got me thinking about how we've watered down the Gospel. We tell people about how easy it is to accept Christ and then once we get them committed we start telling them about what God requires of those who follow him.

Please understand I am not intending to preach salvation by works. I do believe God freely gave himself for us, and it is only through Christ we are saved.

We sell Christ to our teens and THEN start telling them, "Now that you've accepted Christ, he requires you to do this and that". We're the fine print people.
"For only one easy prayer you can have eternal life and your own Personal Saviour. Now that you have eternal life here's what's required of you by your new Lord & Savior".

We need to be more clear about what God requires of us in the long run from the beginning. I gotta question my integrity if I don't let people know upfront Christ requires our whole heart and not just a 5 minute prayer.

When I look at Scriptures like II Peter 2:21-23, telling us how it's better for those who accept Christ and turn away to have never known him and then passages like, "Whoever sets his face to the plough and looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom of God". I gotta wonder what God's gonna say to us when we stand before him.

By presenting a Consumer Christ, we attributed to Consumer Christians, who sign up for their free trial, and then when it starts to cost, they give up.

From the other side of the Glass

2005-11-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, I went to an "Understanding Teens" seminar that was held up in Moncton, with one of my friends, who just happens to help with youth. The Seminar was geared toward parents, but I felt we could get some helpful insight by going.

As we sat there in the High School auditorium, something hit me, besides realizing we were almost the only 2 people there who weren't married and had a child. What hit me was how differently we look at things now that we are out in ministry.

Back at Bethany we were pretty well immersed in the hypothetical, with some practical. We went to class every day, most of us, and once a week helped out with or ran some sort of ministry. So our perspective of ministry was pretty much shaped by what we were told in textbooks.

The best way I can think to describe this comes from a junior high school memory. We used to have a class called Family Education, or something like that. In this class we'd spend time learning about the development of children and then after a few weeks we'd throw together a temporary day care. During these weeks there would be a time we would sit behind this one way mirror, you know the kind they have in jail, and watch the childrens' behavior. Then we'd paly Freud, Skinner, Piaget or some other psychologist and try to explain why they do certain things and how we should respond. This is pretty much what we did in our classes at Bethany

Now we find ourselves on the otherside of that glass. Now we're immersed in the practical and we dabble in the hypothetical. Other than the few seminars we hit or the books we read our perspectives are now being shaped by our experience.

Dance Around the Altar

2005-10-31T19:36:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking over the last few weeks about "the power of the altar". It seems we, especially in The Wesleyan Church, have attributed some sort of "divine power" to the hunks of wood that sit at the front of the sanctuaries of our churhes. We seem to have this subconcious drive, "if we can only get them to the altar, then we can fix them!" or "If I go to the altar I will get fixed!"

When you combined this mentality with the reality that many speakers' effectiveness is measured by the amount of people who flood the altars at the end of the message, we find a sensationalize altar. We're guilty of what I call "Dancing around the altar". We have a desire to enter into a deeper relationship with God, we're caught in some sin, or we're struggling to demonstrate certain fruit of the Spirit so we go to the altar, we pray, and we expect to magically have everything fixed.

We've forgotten that the change does not need to happen at the altar, it needs to happen in our hearts. We expect to rise from the altar and to float away on some glorious cloud. Then when we're faced with the battle of demonstrating the fruit or resisting the temptation we think we need to go back to the altar because we didn't get fixed the first time.

Speaking as one who has done this altar dance, it breaks my heart to see brothers/sisters do the same thing I did. I'd work myself into an emotional frenzie and weep at the altar. I cry out to God about the same thing for the 100th time, stand up, hug a friend and leave unchanged. "The Altar Dance". I would go through these actions like some magic ritual hoping this time it took. Thinking all I need to do is go to the altar and that'll fix everything. NO! We need to get serious about the issues we are dealing with. Faith is acting on what we believe! The heart change does not happen at the altar it begins when we stand up from the altar and start acting according to what we believe.

Wellington Mara (1916-2005)

2005-10-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

"My magnificent Creator has seen fit to give me a long life and a large family and he has used them to show me crystal clearly the sanctity and invariability of life and for that I am forever thankful to him" (1997 Hall of Fame Induction Speech).

For those of you disinterested and uninvolved in the American Football world, you'll have no idea who Wellington Mara is, to be honest, I knew him only as a name, until his death yesterday was announced. Wellington Mara started as a ball boy and eventually became the owner of the New York Giants. For 81 years he was involved in the Giants' organization and saw 6 Superbowl Championships.

During the interviews one of the things that stuck out to many people was his uncompromising faith. He was known as a religious man and when the Giants won the SuperBowl in 1986 instead of having champagne they had Pepsi (should have been coke).
Tiki Barber, the Giants running back had the blessing to visit with Wellington the night before his death and pray with him.

This Post is dedicated to all the men in pro sports, like Wellington, who live a life committed to Christ in a world full of compromise. With the steroids scandals and the domestic disputes, it is tempting to lay down the cross to hoist the Trophy. To those who have continued to carry their cross from home, to the field, and into the locker room. I thank you for being a light in a dark world.

Remembering December

2005-10-18T21:31:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, over the past year or so I have developed a love for a little known Ontario band called Hawk Nelson. They're a punk band who encorporate girls, politics, and Christ into Rock-Awesome songs. Songs that penetrate my heart. One of their songs, From Underneath, slices deep into my heart. The part of the song that captures me every time goes, "I'm reaching out to take my Father's hand. Do you remember that cold day in December, leaving everything you knew behind?"

When we look at our relationship with Christ each of us can think back to our own personal " cold day in December". A time in our lives when God asked us to lay down our plans and venture out on the path he has for us. Like Abram we left everything familar behind to pursue what God has for us. We may have only had one "December Day" or we may have had multiple, with each "Day" calling us to a deeper or more sacrifical commitment. When I look back at my "December Day" and remember the things and pathes I left behind, there is both a peace and a thankfulness that accompanies those memories. Even though the path I have taken still isn't my ideal, I know it's a path the Lord has forged for me. The peace comes because I know I am in the Lord's will and the thankfulness comes from the knowledge I am not the man I was.

What memories do you have of your "December Day"s?

This Broken Life

2005-10-11T21:38:00.000-04:00

Last night I was talking to a close friend of mine about life and basically where we are at with God. We were honest about our relationship with God and posed the questions were suppose to have all figured out. We weren't looking for answers; we were looking for our hearts to be heard.

For an hour we took off the clergy camoflage and told each other we weren't perfect, we don't have all the answers, and we still have doubts.
I think one of the greatest detrements to the message of Christ, is those of us who stand at our pious pulpits and pretend we have it all figured out.

When life doesn't go as planned, we have a crisis of faith, as minute as it may seem. In those moments there is a dark place of the heart where we ask, "Is God really in control?", "Does God really love me?" or "Am I praying to a religious creation?". Whether the thoughts originate in our heart, or come from an exterior source they are there and it is in these crisises our faith is challenged.

I'd like to say these questions come, but once, and being answer never reappear, however, each of us knows when the light dims for a moment our faith is shaken.

I don't know where we got this idea that our Walk with Christ is easy. The Bible doesn't tell us that, Church History doesn't tell us that, not even the Media tells us that. Maybe it's left over dreams of our ancestors, who jumped on a ship and set sail for "The New World" in search of freedom from persecution.

It's not until we allow these dreams of a utopic life to die in the origin of their sin that we will ever see daylight. When we come to Christ most of us are looking for a good cleaning and a little mending here and there, never realizing our true brokenness. It is in the reality of our broken life that we are usable. So long as we hold to our self-adequacy and the mentality that "I'm not that bad" we are useless to the cause of the cross. It is in the broken life God works.

My prayer to God is: This Broken life I have held so close protecting it from your healing touch. I release my grip from This Broken Life and ask you to do as you please.

It's a pretty simple concept, I think we need to revisit more.

Hangin' up the gloves

2005-09-30T23:54:00.000-04:00

After perhaps the main event of the night, I have decided to hang up my gloves! Most of you know about my playful aggressive nature and for the most part this has always been more play than aggressive.

Well, at youth on Friday we were having the Amazin' Race, not the Amazing Race, for copyright infringement purposes, and we recruited some extra volunteers to run events. So before anything started I was upstairs talking to some people when I got jokingly jumped by one of the volunteers. We wrestled, I got some carpet burn, but everything seemed normal so I went on my merry way and talked to some parents before goin' back inside to check on the teens. When I went back inside the teens came running downstairs to tell me one of the leaders had broken another leader's nose.

I ran upstairs and see a pool of blood on the carpet and the involved parties trailing off to the bathroom. I follow them and eventually get the 411, so to speak, of what went down. When I was wrestling with one of the leaders I had given him a concussion, he has a history of them, and was feeling dizzy. What made things worse is the other leader had come in, not knowing about the dizziness, and jumped on the back of the leader, who has the concussion. The leader with the concussion, lifts the other leader above his head and begins to spin. He looses his footing and trying to put the other guy down, drops him on his face, breaking his nose.

Seeing all the damage I've caused just by wrestling, I am going to attempt to hang up my fighting gloves.

HomoSEXuality Sells

2005-09-27T21:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was doin' my usual newspaper reading, in the usual spot, and as I sat there I began to fume with what I hope was righteous indignation. The largest headline read in huge bold font, "NDP elect Lesbian Leader". I think that's an exact quote, my vision may have been blurred by rage. It wasn't just the title that bothered me, it was the caption alongside it. The new leader stood between her mentally delayed son and some "older lady".

It was the blatant advocation of sin by the NDP party that initially provoked my anger. Then the caption seemed so phony, pushed me dug a little deeper as she pavarotsically prostituted her son. Then there was the media who took the opportunity to try and instigate a fight.The gay and lesbian community screams for equal and human rights, while the media is encourage to take every opportunity to Fly the rainbow flag. What is so equal about allowing one's sexuality to define them? It seems to be selling a lifestyle rather than equality.

As Canada etches out her path to Sodom, I wonder how long we'll allow ourselves to be drug along like passive resistant asses. If we would stop allowing our fear of being perceived as self-righteous and intolerant to silence us, would we be able to delay our countries deprivation?

The Exorcism of North America

2005-09-19T20:09:00.000-04:00

The Exorcism of Emily Rose speaks to both beleivers and doubters alike. Terry Mattingly is quoted as saying " (it's purpose is to) make believers think twice about what they believe and doubters have doubts about their doubts.” in Plugged in Movie Review by Focus on the Family.

After watching this movie something glarred me in the face, and it didn't have horns or red eyes. It was the realization that our culture is obsessed with the spiritual realm, and yet denies it's true existence. Just count the number of movies in, and coming into, theatres related to the subject and you'll see what I mean.

C.S. Lewis said, "There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors."

As Father Moore said, “Demons exist whether you believe in them or not.” So I wonder how pleased they are with our Culture, who has the "best of both extremes. We disbelieve in devils, and yet feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them?

John 14:2

2005-09-10T10:09:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about heaven recently. I hear allot of talk about us having our own personal mansion, with John 14:2 usually being used as support.

I've been doing a little research on this and the majority of the translations/versions I looked at say, "In my Father's house are many rooms. The only ones I found that don't are Young's and (New) King James, which say, "In my Father's house there are many mansions". Feel free to do some research of your own that, www.biblegateway.com.

As usual, I'm drifting from contemporary thought and I would like to suggest, we won't have individual mansions when we get to heaven. I'm thinking there'll be 1 "...BIG BIG HOUSE with lots and lots rooms" (to quote Audio A). Even in the translations/versions that use "mansions", the mansions are in "My Father's House", one single establishment. I tend to picture a Southern homestead. Y'al jump in da truck we goin' on up to the Big House.

I would think individual mansions lining the streets of gold would reinforce our individuality and created separation. Whereas the 1 House with rooms/mansions within it would reinforce the community and family we are suppose to experience in Christ, and what Adam and Eve had before the Fall.

Lime Light

2005-09-03T11:04:00.000-04:00

Most of us are familar with the story of the master who gives 3 servants different amounts of money before he leaves for a trip, then when he returns each servant must give an account of what he has done with the master's money (talents).

When we think about our place in God's Kingdom, most people see themselves in the lime light. We tend to think we'll never be rich or on MTV, but we DO tend to think we'll be pastors of Mega churches or the founders of "the most successful church plant ever". When we think about our place in the Kingdom we wanna be the next Mother Theresa or Billy Graham. Even a John C. Maxwell, business man. We all wanna be the 10 talents guy; no one ever wants to be the guy who gets 1 talent.

Chris Tomlin, in his book The Way I Was Made, talks about how when he made the decision to trust that God was leading him to travel and play music, it was risk. When Chris gave up his pursuit of fame God gave it back to him.

My question is how many of us are still willing to give up our talent, when there's no guarantee we'll ever find that fame or recognition? If our place in the kingdom never extends beyond the shepherding of a country church and dieing quietly with little "fan fair", perhaps only remembered by a handful, are we still willing to invest our talent?

If there is no lime light at the end of the tunnel are we still willing to enter it?

How Worthless am I?!

2005-08-28T16:14:00.000-04:00

So I'm in my car AGAIN ( do some of my best thinking there) driving through the back roads of Fredericton, listening to JoyFM. I'm singing along with the music when my singing stops dead. The song was When God Made You by Natalie Grant and Newsong. The words are, "When God made you, He must have been thinking about me" http://www.christianlyricsonline.com/artists/newsong/when-god-made-you.html.

It's a great sentimental thought, "you seem so perfect for me", along with all those wonderful phrases we use when we're in love. Really though!? Honestly, how vain is that? When God created you the thoughts that entertained him was not his love for the individual he in the moment was creating, but the person they would marry.
To think my creation was not out of God's love for me, but for someone else!? How worthless am I?!

Movement

2005-08-23T15:20:00.000-04:00

I was on my way over to my friend's place and had the local Christian radio station playing and FFH came on the radio. I'm no where's close to being a FFH fan. However as their song played it caused me to ask my spirit a question.

The main line of the song goes,

"Lord move in a way, that I've never seen before
Cause there's a mountain in the way
and a lock on the door
I'm drifting away,
waves are crashing on the shore
So Lord move, or move me"

(http://www.lyricsdownload.com/ffh-lord-me-or-move-me-lyrics.html).

The question I asked my spirit was, "Are you willing to ask God to remove you from a place of ministry if you are hindering his work?". It seems like a no brainer, especially if you are ministering in a place where you want to be moved.

I really had to search my heart for the answer, when I put the question into my current context. Being at River Valley, I can't imagine being, or have any desire to be, anywheres else, so it'd be extremely difficult for me to pray this song.

My current prayer is, if there ever comes a time when I am hindering the moving of the Holy Spirit, he will bring me to a point of discernment and humility that I recognize this, so I may be moved to where I am effectively being used by the Holy Spirit.

Why?!

2005-08-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to see The Skeleton Key. I tend to enjoy going to "horror" films. Each time I go to see if Hollywood has created a movie that can scare me. Unfortunately, The Skeleton Key failed to even come close to achieving this goal the only movie to be successful in the last few years was "The Bogeyman".

For some reason I got to those movies wanting to be scared and I know I'm not alone in this. The thing I don't understand is "why". Why do we actually wanna subject ourselves to two hours of mental torment, which is followed by us cautious entering rooms and sometimes pulling the covers over our heads.

I'm not totally flippant about what I watch I tend to avoid things I know glorify the demonic. For example I was extremely convicted for watching The Exorcist. I wasn't freaked out by it, but as I watched it, I knew was opening myself up to attacks. So I have stuck away from all the it's sequels.

So here's the pyscho-analytical question of the week. What in our pyschy incites us to cautiously freak ourselves out?

Principles

2005-08-06T22:59:00.000-04:00

Going through Bible College you are filled with Principles. There's 5 Principles of Christian living, 10 principles of money management, 3 Principles to keeping your toe jam organized and so on. Don't get me wrong principles are great guide lines for living and while I was at Worship East I came up with a principle I think will be very beneficial in ministry.

There are many times as an assistant pastor you are scared to do something for fear of the repercussions. We're scared someone will find something wrong with our decision and this causes us to miss out on opportunities or do allot of unnecessary work. For this reason I have instituted the Who's gonna stop me? principle. Before you get the wrong idea, this isn't a license to go out and just be a jerk or act without thinking. It's not even a might makes right mentality. The principle is to be used in relation to those minor details of ministry. In these times of ambiguity when you would like to do something and are scared that there maybe negative consequences takes these 3 easy steps.

1. Ask yourself "What could possibly go wrong?"
2. If something could go wrong, determine if the
possible negative outcomes are an acceptable risk.
3. Announce your plan or idea, and Act.

If anyone has a serious problem with your idea or plan, this is where they will try to stop you. In essence Steps 3 is you asking "Who's gonna stop me?". Except instead of being a challenge it's more an invitation for people to speak up.

The Lure of Love

2005-08-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

I'm what some may call a gradual reader. I'll take 3 or 4 books and read them all over the span of a few months, while others may take 1 book and read it in a week. Then there's you over achievers who read 20 books a month.

In reading one of the final chapters of The Sacred Romance a switch clicked in my head. In this chapter John Eldredge relives how he & his wife, Stasi, took a trip to the "chateau" where they spent their honeymoon, in an attempt to save their marriage. As my eyes touched each word I realized for most of my Christian life I have looked at God as my judgemental father. I was Constantly trying to seek & earn his approval. Knowing I never could, and grace would cover me, I still sought to prove to God, I was a "good boy". I kept trying to make my dad proud of me.

In Scripture God portrays himself as a judge, a master, a father, and as a husband to the church. I think that each of these is a way we relate with God as we continue in our journey and mature in Christ.

As I concluded The Sacred Romance God and I ventured into unchartered waters for me. Our relationship left the realm of judgement and entered into romance.This is a sacred place of union, only husband and wife can know, it is where defenses are dropped. Where there is no longer an attempt to prove worth. They love not for what the other has done or does. It is a selfless love they share with each other. Their actions are not an attempt to prove their love but are motivated by their love.

The Space Between

2005-07-26T15:02:00.000-04:00

In life we're often reminded of the choice between right or wrong, good and best. Life is painted in a black and white tapestry and the decision is easy. Then there are the times Pastors try to avoid in the messages. The times when there is no black and white, but techno-color. This is what I call The Space Between. It's the space between right and wrong, where there is no absolute, only options.

This week I find myself faced with a decision. It's not a choice of right or wrong, but of what do I really desire. I think we've all been in that place where we are presented with two options and the right choice isn't so black or white.

It's like an invitation you're scared to open. What seems to be starring me in the face is an invitation to an adventure. I haven't been given the details of the trip or even the destination. I've just been challenged to live beyond myself and my understanding. Now in this Space Between I must make my choice, with no morals or ethics to guide, just desire.

Haha..Very Funny?!

2005-07-24T13:04:00.000-04:00

This past week I went to visit friends at Baptist Park, a camp I volunteered on Scholarship with 2 years ago. I told them anything they needed help with. I would do whatever. I was expecting they were gonna have me help maintain the camp with the general workers, as they didn't need any teachers for this week. I thought it would be great to work with some old buds I hadn't seen in 2 years.

I pulled into Baptist Park at 12:30am Saturday morning, leaving River Valley Wesleyan at 10:30pm. A nice 3 hour trip. We stayed up watching movies and playing games until 4:30 before turning in for the morning.

Many of you know of my "great fondness" of caring for children. You might even call it a passion....to usher the children quickly into the presence of God. So with this in mind, the next morning I was given an invitation to teach a class to the the gr.4-6 kids for the week. Even though I'm of the persuasion that any children between the ages of 2 and 12 should be caged I figured I would challenge myself, even though I had no material to go on. Attending a Saturday evening service at Presque Isle Wesleyan I was inspired by Pastor Rick's message about Peter to do a whole theme of "Carnies from the Bible", or as the camp renamed it "God's Carnival". So with the week planned out I was sitting pretty right up until 2:30pm Sunday afternoon.

Sunday, There was a 3 day, ages 6-8, camp that came in and all the volunteer counsellors backed out, so they asked me if I really meant "whatever", as they knew how I love "children's minsitry". It just excites me soooo much. With hestitation and terror in my voice I agreed. All I could think was "Haha very funny God! You must REALLY love me to discipline me this much".

Sunday night was full of one camper's continous temper tantrums (discovering later this child was slightly authistic, poor little guy) and a 3:00am Pee Cleaning. I was loving it already.

Monday and Tuesday my prayers were full of pleas for patience and love, as the 3 day camp wrapped up and I waved good-bye to the wonderful flesh bags a group of us jumped into a 1983 BMW and cruised Presque Isle, making the key stops of Wal-Mart and Tim Horton's.

The rest of the week I continued my teaching, of three 45 minute classes each day looking at a different charcter in the Bible who could have been a Carnie. Using various forms of interaction we had a blast watching, lions' devor corrupt officials of the king, sneaking a peak at Samson and Delilah's Romance, walking across tables as Peter walked on Water, and Torching Rocks with Elijah.
In between classes I had a chance to genuinely reconnect with many of my old campers, who are now staff. What shocked me most was I actually was enjoying teaching.. .children. When people asked how classes were going I could honestly answer, "I'm loving it".
It's awesome how when you open yourself up to whatever... God will not only use you, but you end up enjoying it.

For future reference, I stil have no desire to go into Children's ministry. This just means I'm able to tolerate the human vermon, alittle more. I do love children, just not the things they do. Like snot bubbles, and kicking each other, and crying, and whinning and interrupting and....well, you fill in the blanks.

Mountain Top Experiences

2005-07-11T22:26:00.000-04:00

When I was in Zambia I would drive by a large hill on my way to and from Lusaka. The top of this hill is where it is said David Livingstone stood and wept, For he saw "a thousand fires for a thousand souls who do not know the Lord".

Then when I was in Roanoke, VA I would often drive to the top of a mountain at night, where the Roanoke Star is and look out over the Roanoke Valley, and my mind would be haunted by the words of Livingstone as I saw the street lights, the porch lights, and the busy traffic lights. This time the words would be, " a hundred thousand lights for a hundred thousand souls who do not know the Lord" and then I would weep.

Now at River Valley, many times in our sanctuary, which happens to sit at the top of a hill in Grand Bay, I find myself being burdened to tears for the lost of our community in Grand Bay-Westfield.

While I was in Zambia one of the verses that the Lord kept laying on my heart was Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." (NIV) and in this verse Jesus' standing on a hill overlooking Jerusalem. I think it's pretty cool that I have always had a hill to overlook the place I'm ministering and experience what Jesus and David Livingstone experienced.

All this nostalgic banter leads me to this question, "Am I weird?" Does anyone else have these types of experiences, perhaps not on a mountain or hill, but does anyone else weep for the lost in their community. Do you some timeless feel overcome by the intensity of others helplessness?

The Birth of Cynicism

2005-07-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

I've noticed over the last little while that through the teenage years there is a change that occurs within each youth I know. You can stop the childish giggling because I'm not referring to puberty. While puberty maybe be linked to this change, I have discovered a worldview change within the youth.

In Middle School teens are pretty much game for anything and think the world of you. Just by the influx of your voice they burst in to cheers, giggles, or disgust. They believe we have their best interest in mind and fully trust our decisions.

Then High School comes along and there is a distinct line drawn, placing us with the adults and as one of the many who can't be trusted. There's a birth of cynicism within these once trusting teens. All of the sudden the cheers turn to leers. Whatever the project, they are "too cool" for anything an adult wants to do. We find ourselves having to prove ourselves over and over again, as the teens keep trying to discover, "what is the catch"?!

Amongst the cynicism there is a plea for guidance and a desire to trust. They stand at the line, leaning over, and waiting for us to whisper direction into their ear. In postmodern fashion they are covertly saying, "Show me the way, but I'm not asking for help"!

They hope the guidance they are given will be worth the price, they will one day pay, not believing our love comes free of charge.

Is this Business or Personal?

2005-06-26T19:10:00.000-04:00

Over the past half a decade I have come in contact with many church leaders and aspiring church leaders across denominational lines.
Through this exposure I have discovered there are two types of holiness in the church today. There is what I call Business Holiness and what I call Personal Holiness.

Business Holiness
This is the life we live in front of the crowd. These are the people to whom holiness is a profession rather than a lifestyle. Going through Bible college, and being in full time ministry, one naturally meets the those who are in the business of holiness, student and leader alike, the ones who say the right things and do the right things for the public eye. Yet in one on one relationships the holiness lacks.

The speech that pours out of their mouth is profane and full of gossip. Their actions corrupt. Others' importance to them is directly proportional to one's ability to advance their "career". They are the shining stars for all to see. They preach holiness, yet they do not truly know holiness. They are our modern day pharisees; pointing the pious finger outward.

Personal Holiness
In contrast to Business Holiness, along my journey I have met those who live holiness. These are the ones who have modeled a Christ-like lifestyle to me. They have taken the time for those the stars have cast aside. They see us and know we can not advance their "career", but see their ministry.

Their speech is full of encouragement and points us to the cross. They are transparent enough to allow us to see their passion and their pains. We are not held at arms length but embraced in love, as brothers or sisters. In these times, their struggles are revealed yet are shadowed by their thirst for Christ-likeness.

After having one of those intimate moments with those living Personal Holiness, I always find myself driven to be more like Christ and asking myself, "Am I in the Business of Holiness or am I living Personal Holiness?". Kindof a sobering thought for those of us in full-time ministry.

Is our holiness business or is it personal?

*Please understand is this blog is meant to spur us on to true
personal holiness and is not an attack on any specific individual.*

Assembly Required

2005-06-12T16:06:00.000-04:00

"And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. "
-Acts 2:44, NLT

This past weekend 12 churches from a multitude of denominations got together for Love Saint John. This began in Abbotsford, B.C. a few years back and has exploded across the country. Essentially churches put down their denominational arms and go forth as the body of Christ to show God's love in tactile ways. For example in our area, the Church cleaned up trash and then handed out bottles of water... after we washed our hands! In other areas of the city we handed out hot dogs and offered prayer. My personal favorite was a "cashless yard sale" (genius!!).

While the focus of the ministry is to reach out, over this weekend I could sense and visibly see ways the body of Christ was being knit together; as Baptist, Wesleyan, charismatic, Roman Catholic titles disappeared and brothers and sisters stood united for our Father's Kingdom!

This past weekend we were the Acts 2 church!

Calling you

2005-05-31T22:42:00.000-04:00

Preparing for ministry you constantly hear conversation about how poorly pastors are paid, or how this church pays their pastor more than that church. Recently there was a group of people together and they were praising a senior pastor, the comment was made, "He could easily make more money at another church" and then some one hushed them and said, "Don't let him know that, he may leave". Overhearing this conversation I whispered to a friend, "If your calling won't keep you, we don't want you"!
My personal opinion of "the call" is God calls individuals to full-time ministry. Then allows us to pick how we will fulfill that calling as we examine our "SHAPE", as Warren calls it. With this understanding I would also be predisposed to think that one could fulfill God's calling to full-time ministry in a large spectrum of ministries.
If one is called to full-time ministry salary should never be the determining factor in whether they remain at a church or not.
I would respect a pastor who left a church because he was not passionate about the ministry he was in, or he didn't feel his talents and or gifts did not match the ministry he was in far more than I would some who leaves a church because they don't pay him enough.
For those of you who know me, you would realize this is a drastic change in my previous opinion that salary should be a major factor in the decision to go to a church or not.
In Summary "your passion and God's peace should empower you to be at a church to fulfill your calling. If you do not have passion or peace then it's time to leave and fulfill your calling elsewhere".
Please comment and help me to develop these thoughts further.

Growing and Dieing

2005-05-23T10:39:00.000-04:00

So over the last month or so I have been receiving MSN messages asking, "What's up with your blog spot". I usually responded with, "it wasn't fulfilling its purpose so I trashed it". However, the requests have still been coming, so I have decided to resurrect this cyber valley of dry bones. To everyone I say, "You've brought this upon yourself"?

This past weekend our youth group went to May Rally and during one of the rallies I got nostalgic. I thought back to years ago when I was a teen and how I would stand in similar rallies with my hands raised and my heart humbled. There was a genuine contrite spirit that pleaded before the Lord to be made holy, with full anticipation that he would do it.
Fast forwarding to this weekend I began to ask myself this question, "What happened to your childlike faith"?

As we "grow up" it seems we build a callousness around our hearts and a cynicism around our minds, all to protect "US". Our faith has shrunk from a mustard seed to an atom. The God we once praised for being able to conquer death and shake the foundations of the earth, we no longer feel safe to give our heart's desires to. We chain the Lion of Judah to our realm of understanding . YHWH has become a security blanket. We no longer, rely on the Bread of Life for our daily bread. Warm fuzzies he can give us, but we need to take care of our real needs.

"When did growing up turn into our faith dieing"?