Books R' Us

I used to be one of those people who read one book at a time. I would finish a book every week and a half or two weeks and then pick up another. However, the demands of ministry and life, as well as my own scattered interests have forced me to read a myriad of books all at the same time.

In addition, I am also a giant nerd. I love to read. I love to tell people about what I'm reading. I also love to recommend books to people, have them read them, and then talk about the book with the other person. Welcome to my curse. Anywho, here is the small library of books I am working on right now. If you would like to discuss any of these or if I inspire you to check one of these out, please let me know.


A Mind For God James Emory White

I finished this book recently having plowed through it in a day and a half. It is not long, but man, does Jim White hit the nail on the head or what? J. E. White is a great mix of passion for the Lord, academic standards, and practical ministry rolled into one. In A Mind For God, he talks about the importance of Christians thinkers in our day and what it mean to have a mind for god. We are giving this book to our graduates in June.

Jesus the Jewish Theologian Brad Young

I just started this one today. I had been fond of Brad young already having studied his book on parables and their Jewish context, so this book was a no brainer. It is a very scholarly look at Jesus in His culture, that is first century Judaism. The truth is, the 21st century church has largely dejudaised Jesus and Christianity, which is missing the entire context of Jesus. A dense, but interesting read.

Love is a Choice Robert Hemfelt, Frank Minirth, Paul Meier

This is the definitive book on codependency. The truth is that 80% of ministers are estimated to be codependent, and I would guess that about 80% of people in our society struggle with codependency issues. If I was mentoring a young minister, this would be required reading, because we all have the responsibility to examine our past hurts and families of origin and struggle with how it may be effecting how we act and treat others. A deep read that is sometimes painful, but always helpful and interesting. I am reading this book very slow because it is so introspective.

Story Robert McKee

Coming highly recommended by Donald Miller, this book tackles about every possible element that exists within a story. McKee talks about what makes a good story and a bad one, a good protagonist and a bad one, a good climax and a bad one etc. At about 500 pages, I don't expect to finish anytime soon, but it is fun to glean all I can from a master storyteller like McKee.

Overcoming Barriers for Growth Michael Fletcher

We are reading this book as a staff and I couldn't be happier. Michael is one of my favorite people to hear speak and he is almost as good a writer as he is a speaker. this is a good 'ol book on church growth, which is a topic of particular interest to me. I would recommend this for all leaders serving in churches.

Praise Habit David Crowder

I just started this one too, but I love David Crowder. we are looking to really step up our worship on Wednesday nights, so I though David could help us with that. it turns out that he is a pretty good writer. I'll let you know more about this as I get into it further.

Ask Me Anything J. Budziszewski

I love apologetics, which is why I was turned onto this book. Written for college students, the arguments are spelled out very well and the issues are very real and relevant. The thing that caught me off guard was that it is written in story form, as if a professor were eating and talking with some students. It is a nice change of pace, but not as good as I expected. It is still worth a read and will be a great reference for me in the future.

"An Invitation To Know God"

I'm back again with more from Donald Miller in Searching For God Knows What. I have to say that this may be my favorite book of all time, and it is definitely in my top three. We are doing a series in LiveWire Service this month on Identity, borrowing stories and examples from this book. It has been my favorite series we have done in the last three years.

Here we see Donald explaining how his thoughts on God and what it meant to follow Him changed. He wraps this up quite beautifully.

Jesus was always, and I mean always, talking about love, about people, about relationships, and He never once broke anything down into steps or formulas. What if, because we were constantly tyring to dissect His message, we were missing a blatant invitation? I began to wonder if becoming a Christian did not work more like falling in love than agreeing with a list of true principles. I had met a lot of people who agreed with all those true principles, and they were jerks, and a lot of other people who believed in those principles, but who also claimed to love Jesus, who were not jerks. It seems like something else has to take place in the heart for somebody to become a believer, for somebody to understand the gospel of Jesus. It began to seem like more than just a cerebral exercise. What if the gospel of Jesus was an invitation to know God?

There are a couple comments I would like to make about this.

1. It seems clear that Donald is referring to the experience of being born again; falling in love with the Savior and entering into an intimate relationship with God. I think we would agree with this in principle, but I would argue that it is not played out practically as much as we would like to think. For instance, what percentage of your church would you say is born again? By this, I mean really born again. They have had an undeniable encounter with the risen Christ. They have the appetites that born again people have, the appetite to worship, to read and study the scriptures, to pray etc. They have a faith that is stronger than just believing in a set of principles, but that is drawn from an experience that no skeptic can undermine. What percentage would you say? Half? Less? My pastor and I have a theory that the Church has taken people who are not born again and told them that they were, and then told them to crave the scriptures, and worship, and service to the body etc., but they do not have the appetites because they are not born again, so they do not grow.

2. Secondly, what percentage of the Christians you know merely subscribe intellectually to a set of true principles, and how many have actually fallen in love with Christ? I think this is one problem churches run into who make scripture "the point." I dint think we believe in God and have a relationship with Him because of the scriptures, and if we do, I would argue that it is an intellectual thing. No, I think it is the other way around. We believe the scriptures because we have met the risen Christ. Scripture then becomes our guide and our primary and authoritative source of hearing the will of the Lord. But, it is not "the point." God is "the point."

Anyway, those are my rants. I love how Donald can deliver a paragraph that is both beautiful yet incredibly deep and thought provoking. May we continually stress the importance of being born again.

"The most relevant message in the history of mankind"

A few months ago, I was walking through the series of posts from my favorite Donald Miller book, Searching for God Knows What. Well, I got side tracked and was blogging about other things, but it is time to pick this up again. Here is a quote from chapter 3.

[I]f the gospel of Jesus is just some formula I obey in order to get taken off the naughty list and put on a nice list, then it doesn't meet the deep need of the human condition, it doesn't interact with the great desire of my soul, and it has nothing to do with the hidden (or rather, obvious) language we are all speaking. But if it is more, if it is a story about humanity falling away from the community that named it, and an attempt to bring humanity back to that community, and if it is more than a series of ideas, but rather speaks directly into the basic human need we are feeling, then the gospel of Jesus is the most relevant message in the history of mankind.

Amen, Donald. I think points like this are important. They are what I call mental forks in the road. You can choose to believe this or you can choose to believe that, but here are the implications. A more famous one is saying what C.S Lewis and Josh McDowell have said, where they demand that you can either believe that Jesus was who he said he was or you can believe he was not, but don't call him a great moral teacher if you think he wasn't who he said he was, because great moral teachers don't make the claims the Jesus did. The alternatives make him out to either be a liar or a madman.

What Donald does here is is say if you want to claim the entire Jesus message is merely a religion, a list of "do's and don'ts", and a formula by which to live, fine; just don;t expect anyone to be jumping on board. This is why I think that so many mainline denominational churches see so much fall out when students leave for college. If they have been given a formula that does not connect with their innermost needs, they have no need for it. If we have reduced Jesus to a formula and a lists of "do's and don'ts", we have sold him sadly short.

However, if you believe that the message and gospel of Jesus is something much more, an attempt by the god of the universe to bring his beloved creation back into covenant and relationship with him, then, as Don so eloquently puts it, "then the gospel of Jesus is the most relevant message in the history of mankind."

Donald simply paints the picture of the choices and the outcomes here and leaves the reader to decide, although it is clear in the rest of the book which way he has chosen. May we continue to present the message of Jesus for all it is and resist the temptation to reduce it to a formula.

The Lies We Tell Young People, Part 2

While navigating Yahoo! to check my email, I was struck by a headline on their news page. you know, the ones that they make as shocking and eye catching as possible so they can report more hits to their advertisers? Anyway, the title of the article is Can Cheaters Change: Can cheaters stop straying, or is infidelity a personality trait? What!?, I thought. Cheating is a personality trait now? Unbelievable. I read the article, which is very short and a disappointment based on the headline, but it basically says that 25% of men and 15% of women admit to sleeping with someone else while in a relationship, and that those who cheat are more likely to cheat again.

So, I'm sure you are left to conclude, as I am, that cheating is a personality trait, right? And what follows from that is that is it is a personality trait, like introversion/extroversion, it isn't wrong, per say, but part of who they are.

What a crock. Our culture is becoming so steeped in moral relativism that cheating, a practice that obviously hurts and destroys, is seen as a personality trait. This is the dominant worldview that is being handed down to the next generation: that all morality is relative, there is no absolute truth, and every belief is equally valid. Join me on my quest to find more examples of this in the media.

If you care to read more on this subject, I recommend this book on relativism by Greg Koukl and Frank Beckwith. I am about half way through it, and they have already blown relativism to shreds, both logically and practically. It employs quite a bit of deep logical terminology, but most high school grads should be able to follow it for the most part.

As a note before I close, I found it funny that this article, by David Zinczenko, is in a series called "Mysteries of the Sexes Explained." After thousands of years of trying to figure this out, thanks, Dave, for making this all so clear.

The Lies We Tell Young People

This decal that I saw on a Myspace page capsulates perfectly the mindset that many young girls have about dating and the opposite sex. Unfortunately, this seems to fit perfectly with what guys are wanting: attention (laughing at their jokes) and sex. It also seems to meet the wants (needs?) of the girls: attention (checking out their slutty clothes) and to be cherished (sex). I would suggest, though, that each thing that both the guy and the girl think they are getting in this scenario are cheap imitations of what they are actually seeking. They are pseudo-fulfillment of the deep needs that God put inside each man and each woman.

For the man, it is the need to be honored and respected by his wife. He has an innate sense that he wants to make her proud and represent her well. In addition, he has a strong sex drive, a desire for the most intimate connection with a woman; a connection and an intimacy that is partnered with the safety of commitment and the security of "until death do us part."

For the woman, it is the desire to be loved and cherished by a man. The desire to be special in his sight and catch his eye, and to captivate him with her beauty. In addition, the woman is cherished in the intimacy of sex, a sex that operates within the confines of love; love that "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

This cartoon above is apparently the best that secular culture has to offer our young people. In a culture of moral relativism where feelings become the new determiner of truth, instant gratification becomes king. The fastest, easiest avenue to get what you want becomes the road they take. It results in a hollow fulfillment, emptiness, and disappointment, not to mention the more concrete results like STD's, divorce, single moms, and abandonment. Children in single parent homes are more likely to repeat this behavior, so the process is continued.

So, what is needed? Fathers, who will cherish their daughters and teach them the way a man should treat them, and who teach their sons the way men should act. Mothers who will love their children, not by spoiling them, but by instilling in them the values that make a whole person. Boys, who will stop viewing girls as objects and delay gratification for a better end, and who will think, even why society is telling them they should be idiots. Girls, who will see that they have value and worth and beauty, who will set their standards high and not sell themselves short to get attention. But most of all, I think what is needed is the Church, the local body of believers who will step up and change culture one young person at a time.

May we counter the message that is being sent to the young people of this age.

Prison Break

In honor of what is probably my favorite show on TV right now, Prison Break, having shown its season finale last night, here is a funny video along the same theme. You can find this video and more at http://acceptable.tv

"A Bunch of Scheming Swindlers"

Here is a great quote by Kierkegaard that I came across in Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution. My wife and I are leading a team of 9 students to the Philippines for 3 weeks this July and we are reading this book and discussing it as a team (let me know if you would like to get involved by donating to the team). I thought it would be a great quote to share with you all.

The Matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we as Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church's prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."

"The gold standard of academic integrity"

Concerning the whole Jesus family tomb issue that has been much discussed recently, I am left with one overarching thought. It seems that the great mistake that Cameron and Jacobovici made was not the controversial claim, nor was it the slip shod methods , nor was it the lack of conclusive evidence, for claims as ridiculous and controversial as this are made every day. No. The great mistake they made was going public into a multinational media forum without having offered it up to peer review, which Jonathan Reed from the Society of Biblical Literature calls "the gold standard of academic integrity." That step that was skipped is happening now, as you can see many archaeologists and scientists discrediting this "discovery" (which, by the way, was discovered in 1980, and is nothing new). Had they done a peer review, it never would have gotten far enough to be made into a prime time documentary, but they they would not have made their money, either.

If you have not yet, I encourage you to read up on this topic. It seems that the evidence is flimsy at absolute best. Here are a few articles:

This is the article quoted above.

This is a great article exposing a few of the major flaws by Jodi Magness of the University of North Carolina.

This is a blog by Dr. Ben Witherington pointing out many of the flaws as well.

Lastly, you can check out The Society of Biblical Literature Site that has scholarly articles on many current subjects. I have added it to my links on the right. And, may we always continually quest for good information.

"A Parody of Jesus"

On Sunday, my pastor made in interesting statement in response to a comment we hear often in today's world, that being the phrase, "I like Jesus, I just don't like the Church/Christians." His response was that people who say that don't really like Jesus. Rather, they like the parody of Jesus that is often portrayed; the soft, cuddly Jesus who just wants to bless everyone and would never ask you to do anything to risk your comfort. How backwards is the general conception of Jesus?

In reality, Jesus asked, correction, demanded that all who would come after him to die. As Bonhoeffer would say, we have created a death-less (or a cross-less) Christianity, which, he would argue, is not Christianity at all. Jesus is offensive. If the people who say they like Jesus, but not Christians knew that Jesus called them to lose everything, family, friends, comfort, wealth etc., to follow him, I doubt they would like him so much. If there is one thing that Jesus threatens, it is selfishness, which automatically offends the selfish.

Now, to be clear, was Jesus loving? Yes, more than any other person ever. Is the church perfect? Absolutely not. Are we as the church responsible for being better witnesses to the world? Absolutely, yes. But can we please stop pretending that Jesus was a human sized kitten?

Blog Update

I thought I would take a minute and officially go through and give some dap to the blogs that I link to. I am not a "Free linker", so when I link, it is for a reason. If you are interested in broadening your blog horizons, allow me to recommend some and give a word about each.

Emerging Minister is maintained by Greg Atkins, a media pastor and songwriter. He has interesting thoughts on church media and some great videos as well.

Eric Peters is a friend of mine who is an independent singer/songwriter. I absolutely love his music. In addition, he is a fantastic writer. He has recently become a father. Congrats buddy.

Ravelings is the blog of one of my friends here at church, Chip Burkitt. Chip is a great thinker, and there are few people with whom I like to talk and have deep discussions more than Chip. His wit and grasp of subjects come through in his writing.

Ben Witherington is a blog I just added today, but I can tell that he has some great thoughts. Apparently a PhD who teaches at Asbury Theological Seminary, he blogs a lot on current events from a scholarly Christian perspective, which is great.

Malcolm Gladwell had my full attention after I read his book Blink, which is a great read (that you can purchase on the left). He is a writer for The New Yorker and writes great blog articles as well. He seems to have taken a hiatus from blogging for a few months, but I expect him to come back.

Joel's Thoughts is run by Joel Maners, who I met through another blog. He is a good thinker and has an active blog. Check him out.

Vanguard Church is a blog I added recently because the author and myself seemed to be on the same page on a lot of things. The author is a pastor and has a history of working with the younger generation.

Think Christian has become one of my favorite blogs to read. A handful of contributors do a great job of posting on relevant issues in a well researched manner. Two thumbs way up.

Church Relevance is another of my favorite reads. It offers up many studies and stats that are interesting and helpful, as well as many links to great stuff.

The Tune of Tim is another recent addition. Tim placed some good comments on my blog, which led me to check him out, and I found out that he has a pretty cool blog. He writes about similar things as me (so it has to be good, right? :) )

No Kool Aid Zone is a sight dedicated to thinking and not accepting anything blindly. A great premise. A great blog.

Liquidoxology is a blog I linked to because of the great pictures that are posted. It is worth stopping by occasionally because there are always interesting images there.

Randy Dean is a friend of mine who I get to hear preach regularly. He is a fireball and a thinker (imagine that combo!).

Simply Kurt is the blog of Kurt Johnston, the Jr High Pastor of Saddleback Community Church. He is very funny and has a lot of good ministry insights.

Tim Ellsworth is the site that got me started blogging, and still the one I check most often. The site is very active and there is (almost) always some heated discussion. Those who frequent the site tend to be much more conservative than me from a ministry standpoint. I'm pretty sure they think I'm a heretic (not really).

Sand Art

So I wanted to share something amazing with you. There is an emerging form of art that involves the manipulation of sand on a lighted surface. You may have seen it in action in the new Quest commercials that are out. I first saw it last August at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, and then I just saw it again this week at Willow's Student Ministries Conference (which was great, by the way), both times done by Willow's resident sand artist Mark Demel. This is one of the most amazing art forms I have ever seen. This link will take you to where you can watch the video. You won't be disappointed. You can also find this sort of thing on youtube, but without the Christian message in the art, it loses something. Anyway, let me know what you think.

Facing the Giants

*Warning: Spoilers Inside*

My wife and I just finished watching Facing the Giants. In case you are not aware, it is a movie made by Christians (a church I think) with Christian themes and a Christian message. This church (as I have heard) shot this movie, got it in theaters, and it is now out on DVD. It has taken off among Christians (at least in my circles), mainly because it is a movie put out by Christians (it is similar to that whole Christian business network philosophy).

There is stuff I like and stuff I didn't like about the movie, but I will start by giving you a quick synopsis. It is the story of the football coach at a small Christian school who is down on his luck. In 6 seasons as head coach, he has never had a winning season, and there are rumors that he needs to be fired. In addition, he and his wife have tried for 4 years and cannot get pregnant. He comes to a breaking point about a third of the way through and he turns to God. From there, things turn around. He takes a new approach to coaching the team and they start winning, making it all the way to the state championship and winning in amazing fashion. At the end, he finds out that his wife is pregnant. While all of this is going on, there is a revival of sorts that happens at the school.

Time to evaluate. I will start with the bad. I must say I was going into this ready to blow holes in it. Here is what I came up with.

1. The Acting is 2nd rate.

This is understandable since it was such a low budget movie, but we are used to such great art that the bad sticks out in a major way. The accents are annoying. Many of the lines are cheesy. At certain serious times I feel like the actors blow the scene. It is not the entire movie, but it happens enough. Recasting some of the major roles with established actors could have made this movie a lot better.


2. It included a lot of what I call "Pop Christianity."

There are several times in the movie where the writers seem to lose creativity when they want to make a point, so they resort to a type of sermonizing. There are some pretty cheesy sermon illustrations worked into what are supposed to be everyday conversations. I felt myself thinking "Nobody talks like that!" They also could have toned down the Christian jargon talk. It seems at a point about two thirds of the way through where they seem to be forcing a Christian reference into every scene.

3. It has a bit of the "Follow God and get everything you want" message.

It is not a lot, because you do see the characters experience failure, and when they do they stay content in what God has done. However, things go from an extreme low at the beginning to as good as they could possibly be at the end. I understand that there is certainly a place for good endings and inspirational stories, but it is possible that a person watching could have gotten the message that if you turn to God your life will be great.

Okay, I'm done ripping on it. I really did like the movie, and would like to see it again. So, I will now mention the things I liked about the movie.

1. There are some great themes that run throughout the movie.

The themes that I jotted down were God as Lord, Turning to God in hard times, Praise God in all circumstances, Giving God all the glory, Nothing is impossible with God, Facing fears, and Leadership. I know that seems like a lot of themes, but each of these are mentioned several times. You would be hard pressed to find many of these themes in a Hollywood movie, and that is one thing that makes Facing the Giants good.

2. They portray God's way as the best way.

I believe that following God's ways are best. Not only because it fulfills your destiny and all that, but also because they actually are better ways. It is better to forgive than to hold a grudge. It is better to be honest than to lie etc. This message is communicated in the movie. At one point there is a student who constantly fights with his dad. He ends up accepting Christ and feels convicted of the lack of respect he was showing his father, so he apologized to him and started respecting him. The change carries over to the father and things improve. It was pretty well done in my opinion.

3. There are some great quotes in the movie.

The coach gives some pretty good speeches in the flick. In these speeches are some great quotes. Here are a few:

"Winning football games is too small a thing to live for, and I love football as much as anybody."

"The more I read this book (the Bible) the more I realize that life's not about us. We're not here to get glory, make money, and die."

"I've resolved to give God everything I've got and leave the results up to him."

4. When the coach hits bottom, he is a great example of what to do.

I was honestly expecting him to sulk and pout until things started to look up. Instead, he stays up all night praying and reading the Bible, until he emerges the next day having done some serious business with God and having a new outlook. What a great example of how to respond to hard times. How many of us are willing to do such a thing?

5. They refer to God speaking to people.

Even among Christians, the idea of God speaking directly to one of his people is a bit controversial. Most Christians believe that God spoke through the Bible and is done speaking. I belong to the stream of Christianity that believes that God still speaks to believers today, and I think it is crucial that he does. There is a time in the movie where an older guys who prayer walks the school every day walks into the coaches office and says he feels God told him to share a certain scripture with him. The coach follows him and makes a point to confirm, "God told you to tell me that?" It turned out to be a confirmation to what God was telling the coach. It is good to see this controversial idea in the movie, because I believe that it is very important to the body of Christ today.

In the end, the artistic parts of the movie were a bit rough, but it was a good movie. I encourage you all to see it. I give it a B, or 4 stars, whichever you prefer. I welcome other comments on this flick. I had heard mixed reviews before, so I'd be interested to hear what the rest of you thought.

My Thoughts on Global Warming

The Global Warming debate has hit the fan. Now we are at what appears to be the apex of the issue, pre-election and all, when dialogue seems to have never been higher. I know that I run the risk of adding to an already saturated topic, but it seems that despite all of the talk, few people know much about it. I'll admit that I am one of them. I have not done all of the reading and studying that I need to do to rightly weigh in on this matter.

That being said, Kim over at Think Christian has written a great article about the effects of global warming from a Christian perspective. This is refreshing, because it seems that Christians only punch holes in the theory and don't really listen. Still, and I don't want to be a hole puncher, I have a few questions about this issue that I would appreciate commentary on. They are things I think we should keep in mind as we encounter the info on global warming.

1. It seems to me that the plan to stop Global Warming is to basically take better care of the planet, right? I would argue, though, that as Christians we need to be doing that anyway, and we need to be better stewards of the resources God gave us. How is the plan different than this?

2. With over a billion people still so poor and deprived that they daily sit on death's doorstep, and another billion or so that do not have access to clean water, and about half the deaths in the world occurring of diseases we already have cures for, but the medicine has not made it to that part of the world, is spending billions to clean up the planet the best use of resources? Would we not be better served to focus our funds on ending "stupid poverty" and worry about global warming once each person has the food and water he or she needs?

3. Can we really make that big of a difference? I mean can we get enough people and funds on board to change environmental factors that are this large? Even of we get every single American behind it, that is only 270 million of the 6 billion people in the world. Is that enough to get a movement going and make a change?

Thoughts? Impressions? Concerns? Remember, I am no expert, just a question asker who wants to learn more and understand how to best serve God in all aspects of life.

Preaching Tips From...Well, Me

Not than anybody really cares what I think, but I thought I would put down some "preaching tips" from my experience. As I try to become a better communicator myself, I try to learn as much as I can and continue to learn. By the way, I must admit that I completely stole this idea from Tim Ellsworth. It is interesting to see how our lists are different.

Two things to keep in mind: First, that I am young. I gave my first sermon when I was probably 14 to our youth group and have been speaking regularly for the last 4 or 5 years, but I am still pretty young. Second, I work with youth, so that effects my perspective a bit. Here we go.

1. Preach From the Bible

I had a professor that once told my class to always read, quote, and paraphrase the Bible in sermons as much as possible. "That way, when you are done, you know you said something inspired." Well said, Dr. Nunnally. I don't believe every sermon (or even most sermons) needs to be verse by verse expository preaching, but scripture should always be used. How can we get by with not using it?

2. Keep it Practical

My currect senior pastor holds to the idea that sermons should all be very practical. I agree. In a service like ours where we expect to have at least a handfull of newcomers present every week, we should keep it to something they can understand. They don't want hear about why we should boil goats in their mother's milk, but things like parenting, conflict, influencing culture, God's plan for marriage etc. they tend to care about because it speaks to their lives. There is a place for the esoteric studies of fairly insignificant bits of scripture, but that is not a Sunday morning. Another word for this would be relevance. People need something that is going to pertain to their lives.

3. Use Humor/Entertainment

Erwin McManus was once challenged by someone who accused his church of trying too hard to entertain people. His response, in my own words, was basically that to entertain someone was simply keeping their attention. Some people are entertained by hymns, or organ music, or expository preaching, or drama, or humor etc. I think he makes a great point. We are all trying to communicate a timeless message in new, creative ways. Whatever form that communication takes should depend on the audience. In LiveWire Student Ministries we use lots of humor, video, movement etc., because young people (actually, all people) learn in multi-sensory ways. This is not diluting the message, but rather, becoming better at communicating it. Jesus used stories, object lessons, humor etc. in his teaching, so why are we afraid to?

I must say though, that this, like all things, can easily go too far. Making jokes at a time that needs to be serious can lose a crownd quickly. Also, when the goal becomes entertainment, rather than communicating the message, it has gone too far.

4. Be Semi-Normal

Weirdness is not a spiritual gift; neither is it admirable. Some preachers seem to get off on using "insider language" or "preacher voices." Is there anything more annoying? This is the whole problem with the Christian Subculture that has been created. By pulling back and secluding, we have lost the right and the opportunity to speak into the culture. I am going to a conference in 2 weeks where Donald Miller will be giving a talk called "How to Share the Gospel Without Weirding People Out." I think that is a great point.

Now, I say semi-normal, because it is not entirely normal to lay down one's life for a dead criminal, or to simulate eating his body and drinking his blood or lots of other things for that matter. There is a level of percieved weirdness that all outsiders might have for Christians that involve core doctrines that just come with the territorry. But people need a real person. They are very good at spotting the phony.

5. Talk about Jesus

I tend to think that no matter what topic a person is preaching on, they should involve Jesus in the process. It shouldn't be hard, for he is all over the Bible, even in the Old Testament. It seems that the "model" from the book of Acts is just to tell about Jesus and what he did. That seemed to work pretty well. Therefore, we would do well to involve Jesus in our message every time, and to tell the story of the cross regularly.

There it is. It is certainly not perfect nor is it comprehensive, but I have my thoughts down. Feel free to critique, disagree, and call me a heretic if you must, but may we never give up the journey of becoming better communicators of the most important message in the world.

Divine Encounters

Let me share a cool story with you.

I was driving home last night from a conference in Eden Prairie (the HNI regional conference, not that you care). I was driving on 494 near the Mall of America when my car inexplicably began to coast. The engine had died. I was in a middle lane, but was luckily able to maneuver to the right side of the road. I checked some things and tried unsuccessfully to get it started. I was discouraged. I think the enemy tries to attack my vehicles. I have only been driving like 8 years and I have totaled 2 cars and had mechanical problems with 3. It's not just me being an idiot or bad diver, either. Something is up.

Anyway, I was waiting ten minutes to try it one more time to ensure it hadn't flooded or anything and I was in prayer, asking God to fix this. Long story short, it didn't start. So, I called for a tow.

The guy was there quickly (less than 10 minutes). In a short time he hooked the car up and we were gone. We began chatting and he turned out to be a very nice guy. His name was Ed. At one point he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a Youth Pastor. "Wow! Do you mind if I ask you how you decided to do that?" He asked. So, I shared my testimony with him. He told me that he had gone to church a few times when he was a kid, but his family wasn't really into it and church wasn't a part of his life now. But, he said he hoped that some day he would go back. I told him a bit about the Harbor. I told him about our Alpha course, that it was a practical introduction to the Christian faith where questions could be answered in a non-threatening environment. "That sounds perfect!", he said. He asked a few questions about catholics and other stuff, which I was happy to answer. By this time we were to our destination. I gave him my card and said if he had any more questions or wanted to check out the Harbor or Alpha to give me a call. He said, "You may not believe this, but I do actually plan to check you guys out." I think he meant it, and I hope he does.

It would have been really easy for me to get discouraged about my car crapping out and miss an opportunity to connect with Ed. With about 3 million people in the Twin Cities metro, there would have been almost no other way to get Ed and I to connect without something like this happening. I think that God arranged that meeting. Feel free to think me an over spiritual psycho, but I do. Ed was seeking. He was the right age for me to be able to connect with him. We seem to have the right program to fit with what he needs. I believe God set this up. How many opportunities have I missed in the past because I have been selfish and was not open to what God wanted to do? May we be ambassadors of God's love 24-7. May we, when times get tough, trust that God may have us in the situation because there is something he wants to do, someone he wants to touch. May we make the most of our opportunities to connect with the Eds of this world.