DGM National Conference

I'll be gone all weekend at the 2006 Desiring God national conference. I hope to provide some reflections here as I reflect upon the content of the conference. It promises to be a great weekend.

MuteMath

Last night I went to the MuteMath show here in Albuquerque. All I can say to you people is that if they are coming anywhere near your city, it would be a fellony for you not to go to the show. It was one of the most amazing shows I have seen in a long long time.

Here is a promo video for the tour:


Here are the tour dates:

09/29/2006
Club Sound w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Salt Lake City, UT

09/30/2006
Bluebird Theater w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Denver, CO

10/01/2006
Bottleneck w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Lawrence, KS

10/05/2006
Park West w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Chicago, IL

10/06/2006
The Loft at Barfly w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Minneapolis, MN

10/08/2006
Creepy Crawl w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
St. Louis, MO

10/10/2006
Revolution Music Room w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Little Rock, AR

10/11/2006
Cain's Ballroom w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Tulsa, OK

10/13/2006
Gypsy Ballroom w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Dallas, TX

10/14/2006
Numbers w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Houston, TX

10/15/2006
Stubb's Bar-B-Q w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Austin, TX

10/19/2006
Norva w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Norfolk, VA

10/20/2006
Starr Hill w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Charlottesville, VA

10/21/2006
Cat's Cradle w/ Shiny Toy Guns & Jonezetta
Carrboro, NC

10/22/2006
Tremont Music Hall w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Charlotte, NC

10/24/2006
40 Watt Club w/ The Whigs and Jonezetta
Athens, GA

10/25/2006
Handlebar w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Greenville, SC

10/26/2006
Zydeco w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Birmingham, AL

10/27/2006
Roxy Theatre w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Atlanta, GA

10/28/2006
Voodoo Music Experience
New Orleans, LA

10/29/2006
New Daisy Theater w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Memphis, TN

10/31/2006
20th Century Theater w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Cincinnati, OH

11/01/2006
BB KING'S - CMJ PUREVOLUME SHOWCASE
New York, NY

11/02/2006
9:30 Club w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Washington, D.C.

11/03/2006
T.L.A. w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Philadelphia, PA

11/05/2006
Axis w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Boston, MA

11/06/2006
Webster Underground w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Hartford, CT

11/07/2006
Mile End Cultural Center w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Montreal, QC

11/09/2006
El Mocambo w/ The Whigs and Jonezetta
Toronto, ON

11/10/2006
The Basement w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Columbus, OH

11/12/2006
City Hall w/ The Whigs and Jonezetta
Nashville, TN

11/14/2006
Martini's w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Jacksonville, FL

11/15/2006
The Social w/ The Whigs and Jonezetta
Orlando, FL

11/16/2006
The Social w/ The Whigs and Jonezetta
Orlando, FL

11/17/2006
State Theatre w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
St. Petersburg, FL

11/19/2006
Culture Room w/ The Whigs & Jonezetta
Fort Lauderdale, FL

FoxFaith

Fox is launching a new TV station to cash in on the huge demographic of people who spend money on Christian entertainment. It will be interesting to see if authentic ministry can be produced when money is the bottom line. I'm not holding my breathe.

Ultimate Fighting is Cool

Yesterday my wife informed me that some new friends from our new church here in New Mexico had invited us over to hang out with them and some other couples. I thought, "Cool, sounds good". Then my wife told me that the main attraction of the night was pay per view Ultimate Fighting Championship. I thought, "What the heck?! What kind of church is this anyway, and how are these people that I thought were reasonable, doing inviting us over to watch a glorified version of cockfighting?" (which by the way is legal in New Mexico).

Kim is the last person that I thought would be down to view this visceral display of sheer manliness, but since we are eager to meet new friends we got a babysitter and it was on. Kim and I went out for a brief dinner and as we were leaving she said, "Don't you think we should bring some beer?" As this point I didn't really know what had gotten into my wife, but I was pleasantly surprised that she was diving, head first, into "man world". Heck yes, we needed to get some beer.

Armed with our six pack of Killians Red my wife and I headed over to our friends place to witness the blood thirsty smackdown. When we got there we had some brief conversations and munchies and then it was time to the Main Event of the evening. To be honest I was kind of nervous to watch this crazy spectical, but kind of excited at the same time. Is it ok for church people to watch Ultimate Fighting? (Mark Driscoll thinks it is) Isn't this some sort of 21st century version of gladiator fighters?

The first match was between these two little 140 pound dudes. It lasted about 10 seconds. One dude cold-cocked the other one square in the face and he was out. Match over as quick as that. Now my interest was really peeked and amazingly enough I think the same was true of my wife. We watch a few more matches, but everyone said that the best match would be the main event between UFC legend, Matt Hughes and BJ Penn. I think by this time in the night both my wife and I had become fans of this new naughty sport.



The main event lived up to the hype. Matt Hughes looked like a rugged farm boy from my home state of Iowa, (interestingly, enough, in doing a bit of research this morning, I found out that Matt almost become a collegiante wrestler for my alma mater, The University of Northern Iowa) and his opponent, BJ Penn was a rather unimpressive looking Hawaiin guy. When the match started, the Hawaiin guy, BJ Penn clearly had the upper hand. Basically this guy is a ninja. It was crazy to see the moves that his guy with this cat like reflexes and amazing flexibility. Farm boy, Matt Hughes was basically on the recieving end of an old fashioned beat down. This went on for about two rounds and in round three new favorite ninja was totally out of gas. It was Matt's time to shine and he did. He got this poor dude in some sort of funky hold where his hands where pinned down and Matt proceded to mercilessly pummel him in the face. At that point the referee had to call it and Matt was the champ. But this still was not the best part...



After the match, Matt was interviewed by Joe Rogan (of Fear Factor) and armed with this cheesy Christian t-shirt, (AMRY logo, saying "army of one") he was quick to give all praise and glory to Jesus Christ for the vicious man rage that he just displayed in the thorough butt kicking that he inflicted upon his opponent. Classic.

My wife and I left feeling educated and for some odd reason, kind of pumped up. It was not as bloody or gorey as I had imagined. Basically it's a wierd mix of kickboxing, martial arts, and traditional wresting. To be sure, the guys that are good are amazing athletes.

Can one do ultimate fighting for the glory of God? Not sure about that one yet, but it sure was entertaining.

New Switchfoot Single

Switchfoot has a new single that you can buy at iTunes and other various online retailers.

iTunes users can click here to check it out. It sounds extremely cool.

Nudity in Church?

Is there such a thing as tasteful nudity in art? I think the answer probably is yes, for sure. All the pornographers commonly use the phrase, "The body is beautiful, why not have all of it on display to see?" This certainly a gross distortion, that preys upon the lustful tendencies of humanity, but it is true that when presented tastefully, we should be able to see beauty in the human body that God has created.

If your church had an art gallery would you allow paintings of the nude body? Dan Kimball dealt with this at his church. You can read about it here. I think his post raises some good issues for discussion.

Vision for Worship at Desert Springs Church

Today I am meeting with the young adults group here at our church to talk through vision for leading worship. I wrote down some quick thoughts and thought I would post them here as well.


In John 4, Jesus said that true worshippers will worship the Father in "spirit and truth". This implies that we have to know what is true about God in order to know how to worship him in the way that he desires. This speaks to the primacy of the Bible teacher. These men are really the lead worshippers as we respond to what they bring in presenting God's truth in revelation.

James Montgomery Boice said, “To worship God we must know who God is, but we cannot know who God is unless God first chooses to reveal himself to us. God has done this in the Bible, which is why the Bible and the teaching of the Bible need to be central in our worship.” (Give Praise to God, opening page)

My passion for worship at DSC would be that people would be living lives that completely correspond to what God’s desires for us are. Thus worship = obedience.

I don’t really care that much about what form our worship takes on Sundays, I have my preferences for sure, but the primary emphasis should be our lives and not our expressions or responses for one hour on Sunday morning or Thursday night.

I don’t really care if peoples hands are raised on Sunday morning expressing surrender or emotion, if those hands go home and smack their kids around in unjust and arbitrary punishment.

My passion for DSC worship is that our people would live lives of obedience and be God filled, showing a passion for the blessing of obedience and then have that overflow into adoration, praise and surrender in our times together in worship through song, listening and loving on Sunday mornings.

The first question is not, what does Sunday morning look like – if we are taking care of the “during the week” lifestyle, Sunday morning will in a sense take care of itself. The bigger question for all of us is, how do we cultivate obedience in our heart and the hearts of our people?

A Word from Bob...

Bob Kauflin says:

However, the idol of relevance is rooted in the fear that people may not like us because we seem different from them. We want them to know we eat at the same restaurants, watch the same TV shows, listen to the same bands, laugh at the same jokes, and go to the same movies that they do. Our greatest fear is being perceived as out of touch.

Obviously, there are many times we’ll engage in the same activities as non-Christians. It's one way that we maintain a conversation with and presence in the world. However, we're fighting a losing battle when relevance becomes our aim - to convince the world we're just like them. There are aspects of our culture that we clearly want to set ourselves apart from, simply because they contain so much that is opposed to glorying in Jesus Christ.

Martin Lloyd-Jones addressed the desire of preachers to be "relevant" in his book, Preaching and Preachers. His point is applicable to worship leaders as well.

"Our Lord attracted sinners because He was different. They drew near to Him because they felt that there was something different about Him. That poor sinful woman of whom we read in Luke 7 did not draw near to the Pharisees and wash their feet with her tears, and wipe them with the hair of her head. No, but she sensed something in our Lord – His purity, His holiness, His love – and so she drew near to Him. It was His essential difference that attracted her. And the world always expects us to be different. This idea that you are going to win people to the Christian faith by showing them that after all you are remarkably like them, is theologically and psychologically a profound blunder." (p. 140)

Read the whole post here.

Favorite Quote of the Day

"I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate," Jerry Falwell said at a breakfast session Friday in Washington. "I hope she's the candidate, because nothing will energize my (constituency) like Hillary Clinton," he said. "If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."

Full story

Juice or the Real Deal?

Anthony Bradley has a very interesting post here dealing with the issue of grape juice or real wine in the service of communion. His title might clue you into where he leans...

"Using Grape Juice Instead of Wine Is Like Using A Butter Cookie From The Girl Scouts Instead of Bread Some Might Say"

Postmodernism and Monism

Mark Lauterbach has an interesting essay on the similarities between "new" postmodernism and the philosophical idea of "monism" that has been around for hundreds of years. In his post he says:

Postmodernism is really nothing new historically. I am also not an expert in this – but it seems to be that postmodernism in the west is a new form of monism. For the uninitiated, monism is the heart of Hinduism. Monism teaches that “all is one” – good and evil are not really different, truth and error are not different. One illustration that has been helpful to me is that monism teaches that life and history is really much like watching a play, where actors don various alter egos and play out their anger, love, violence, disagreements – and then go back stage, take off their costumes and go out for dinner. There is no truth. There is no error. There is no evil or good – it is all an illusion.

And what does all this have to do with the Gospel? The Gospel has edges – it is rooted in a Christian world view. The character of God, his role as creator and judge, the clear definition of sin, the nature of judgment and punishment, the absolute necessity of the atonement as a susbtitutionary act, and the centrality of imputation – these cannot be defined in any clear way by a monist. Monists want relationship but they do not want definition. And if we are not careful, we will accommodate the Gospel to them and actually alter its meaning. A Gospel without edges is no Gospel. Truth must be communicated in a context of a Biblical worldview as only then does it transform by the power of the Spirit. Truth converts and truth offends. The Gospel is the power of God to save.

We do not want people converted by adding Jesus to their monistic post modern wordlview. We want people converted to the truth of God and the order of his creation and this requires careful thought. I am not advocating harsh harangues against pomos -- I am arguing careful apologetic communication without one trace of compromise in the biblical worldview. And let's do this with confidence, not intimidated by yet another iteration of old error.

Ministry Labels are Somewhat Meaningless

The more I am exposed to Christian ministry via, churches, blogs, conversations, magazines, etc, the more I hear different ministry labels being through around. The big ones these days being, "missional" or "emergent". Fifteen years ago it was "traditional", "contemporary", or "seeker". The more expereince I get in ministry the more I am finding that these labels really don't mean that much and I think we would all be better suited to do away with them. I know that this is unrealistic and labels are somewhat necessary in order to generally know where someone leans, but in the end I don't care for them.

Don't tell me that you are "missional". Tell me who you are, what you are passionate about and let me observe what you do in ministry for about a year and then let's find a label to put on it. More often than not, a ministry label can be a kind of identity marker that can give a person or a ministry a sense of belonging, but in terms of the power for ministry it means nothing.

I don't care about your ministry label, I care about your personality and your gifts. Don't try and fit into some perceived ministry system. Be yourself and get on your knees and ask God who he wants you to be and do that.

If you think I am missing something here, let me know. I would love to hear your take.

Self-centered Worship?

From Andrew Beaujon's Body Piercing Saved My Life:

Worship tunes tend to evince an adolescent theology, one that just can't get over how darn cool it is that Jesus sacrificed himself for the world. "Our God is an awesome God." "Oh Lord, you are glorious." "How can it be/That you, a king, would die for me?" Moreover, it's self-centered in a way that reflect evangelicalism's near-obsession with having a personal relationship with Christ. It's me Jesus died for. I just gotta praise the Lord. Not for nothing is "Amazing Grace," which marvels at the author's salvation, one of the few traditional hymns to be regularly included in modern worship services. Absent is any hint of community found in hymns such as "The Church Is [sic] One Foundation" -- the Jesus of worship music is a mentor, a buddy, a friend whose message is easily distilled to a single command: praise me. Not "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner." Simply thank him for his gift to you (and make sure to display copyright information at the bottom of the screen so royalties can be disbursed).

These are interesting comments coming from someone who is, as far as I know, not a Christian.

I'm sure this is still true in certain circles, but I think there is an attempt to NOT to what is described above by many up and coming evangelicals in today's church culture. What do you think?

(HT: SHLOG)

Government and Church Discipline

This could be a watershed case in terms of interaction between federal or state government and intimate church matters of discipline.

(HT: Pure Church)

Ecclesiastical Community and Artistic Expression

As an artist, this quote pretty much knocked me off my horse today. It comes from the perspective of a literary writer, but applies to all artistic expression I think. Thanks JT.

The time has come for Christian artists in their communities to begin building that City on a hill again,and I hope that one young student, or even a middle-aged one, will understand what I'm saying and perhaps at this moment sense the stirrings or a first novel. If that student takes scripture seriously, he should know that the more he immerses himself in a particular communion and comes to understand the ways in which each person within it is essential, the more distinctive and original his writing will be. And I hope that some young woman has begun to visualize her lifework, a shining series of interlocking narratives that will provide the material to repair some of the buildings of the centuries-old tradition of Christian writing. These were left unfinished when the writers of my generation turned aside to imitate our culture rather than turning first to the community that always should be available in Christ.

Larry Woiwode, "Acts" (Harper Collins, 1993), pp. 74, 75-76

MuteMath on MTV.com

I am going to see MuthMath in concert a week from tonight in ABQ. All I can say is that if you have a chance to see them live, don't miss it. Click here for their touring schedule.

Here is an interesting article about them from MTV.com.

Pentocostal Sounds Off on "Jesus Camp"

Author of this CT article, Rich Tatum says,

As a Pentecostal, I'm not too thrilled with the way kids from my denomination are depicted in Jesus Camp. Matter of fact, this new documentary ticks me off—for a number of reasons.

Read the whole thing here.

(HT: JT)

"Jesus Camp" Interview

Here is an interview with the directors of the very scary film, "Jesus Camp".

Genocide in Sudan

Call President Bush and tell him that you care about the people of Sudan and that we need to do something to stop the genocide taking place there.

Here is the number - 202 456-1111 (seriously, you can leave a comment)

www.savedarfur.org - click here

Insecure Professors and Rockstars

From "The College Administrator's Survival Guide", page 36:

Academia is filled with insecure overachievers who--no matter how high their objective level of achievement or recognition--fear that they're not worthy of their success and that at any moment they may be exposed as frauds (this phenomenon, which can be found both inside and outside academica, has come to be known as "the imposter syndrome").

As a professional musician in Nashville for two years I found this quote to directly apply to "successful" musicians. I think I secretly always was wondering if people around me knew that I wasn't as good of a musician as my position might say that I am, or they did and just didn't have the guts to tell me.

I remember reading an interview with Chris Martin, frontman of the band Coldplay (if you have been living under a rock for the last 5 years and don't know who Coldplay is, they basically are the biggest band in the world), and he recounted a similar sentiment - that he was just waiting for people to find out that he isn't nearly as cool as people think he is.

But then again, does anyone really look at themselves and say "Yeah, I guess I am as intelligent, awesome and talented as you might think I am based on my position and letters behind my name". If there are people out there like that, then they have a far deeper problem than personal insecurity.

It's great to know that we all are leveled at the foot of the cross. Let's fight for the perspective.

(HT: Sean Michael Lucas)

Adultry

Michael Spencer has a very powerful essay dealing with the issue of adultry as it pertains to men. I commend it to you highly.

Finally settled in... sort of

Well, the travel fiasco of of moving to ABQ is finally over and now we are just trying to sort through a sea of boxes and trying to find the right places for everything. I started my first day on the job as worship leader at Desert Springs Church today. Everyone has been amazing to work with and extremely gracious. The family and I are feeling exheedingly blessed and grateful for all that God has provided through them.

If you are ever in the southwest let us know!!

The Pope and Islam

Tim Challies offers some sage commentary concerning the outrage of some Muslims that was sparked by recents comments made by the Pope.

Continuum

John Mayer's new record is freak nasty. Dark and brooding with slow, infectious grooves and amazing lyrics as usual, this record might be my favorite to date.

Here is a good review.

His website is pretty cool too: www.JohnMayer.com

Worship Keller Style

Tim Keller on making worship comprehensible to unbelievers:

Our purpose is not to make the unbeliever "comfortable". (In I Cor. 14:24-25 or Acts 2:12 and 37--they are cut to the heart!) We aim to be intelligible to them. We must address their "heart secrets" (I Cor 14:25.) That means we must remember what it is like to not believe; we must remember what an unbelieving heart is like. How do we do that?

Worship and preaching in the "vernacular". It is hard to overstate how ghetto-ized our preaching is. It is normal to make all kinds of statements that appear persuasive to us but are based upon all sorts of premises that the secular person does not hold. It is normal to make all sorts of references using terms and phrases that mean nothing outside or our Christian sub-group. So avoid unnecessary theological or evangelical sub-culture "jargon", and explain carefully the basic theological concepts, such as confession of sin, praise, thanksgiving, and so on. In the preaching, showing continual willingness to address the questions that the unbelieving heart will ask. Speak respectfully and sympathetically to people who have difficulty with Christianity. As you write the sermon, imagine an particular skeptical non-Christian in the chair listening to you. Add the asides, the qualifiers, the extra explanations necessary. Listen to everything said in the worship service with the ears of someone who has doubts or troubles with belief.

Explain the service as you go along. Though there is danger of pastoral verbosity, learn to give 1 or 2 sentence, non-jargony explanations of each new part of the service. "When we confess our sins, we are not groveling in guilt, but dealing with our guilt. If you deny your sins you will never get free from them." It is good to begin worship services as the Black church often does, with a "devotional"--a brief talk that explains the meaning of worship. This way you continually instruct newcomers in worship.

Directly address and welcome them. Talk regularly to "those of you who aren't sure you believe this, or who aren't sure just what you believe." Give them many asides, even expressing the language of their hearts. Articulate their objections to Christian living and belief better than they can do it themselves. Express sincere sympathy for their difficulties, even when challenging them severely for their selfishness and unbelief. Admonish with tears (literally or figuratively.) Always grant whatever degree of merit their objections have. It is extremely important that the unbeliever feel you understand them. "I've tried it before and it did not work." "I don't see how my life could be the result of the plan of a loving God." "Christianity is a straightjacket." "It can't be wrong if it feels so right." "I could never keep it up." "I don't feel worthy; I am too bad." "I just can't believe."

Quality aesthetics. The power of art draws people to behold it. Good art and its message enters the soul through the imagination and begins to appeal to the reason, for art makes ideas plausible. The quality of music and speech in worship will have a major impact on its evangelistic power. In many churches, the quality of the music is mediocre or poor, but it does not disturb the faithful. Why? Their faith makes the words of the hymn or the song meaningful despite its artistically poor expression, and further, they usually have a personal relationship with the music-presenter. But any outsider who comes in, who is not convinced of the truth and who does not have any relationship to the presenter, will be bored or irritated by the poor offering. In other words, excellent aesthetics includes outsiders, while mediocre or poor aesthetics exclude. The low level of artistic quality in many churches guarantees that only insiders will continue to come. For the non-Christian, the attraction of good art will have a major part in drawing them in.

Celebrate deeds of mercy and justice. We live in a time when public esteem of the church is plummeting. For many outsiders or inquirers, the deeds of the church will be far more important than words in gaining plausibility. The leaders of most towns see "word-only" churches as costs to their community, not a value. Effective churches will be so involved in deeds of mercy and justice that outsiders will say, "we cannot do without churches like this. This church is channeling so much value into our community through its services to people that if it went out of business, we'd have to raise everybody's taxes." Mercy deeds give the gospel words plausibility (Acts 4:32 followed by v.33.) Therefore, evangelistic worship services should highlight offerings for deed ministry and should celebrate through reports and testimonies and prayer what is being done. It is best that offerings for mercy ministry be separate, attached (as traditional) to the Lord's Supper. This brings before the non-Christian the impact of the gospel on people's hearts (it makes us generous) and the impact of lives poured out for the world.

Present the sacraments so as to make the gospel clear. Baptism, and especially adult baptism, should be made a much more significant event if worship is to be evangelistic. There may need to be opportunity for the baptized to offer personal testimony as well as assent to questions. The meaning of baptism should be made clear. A moving, joyous, personal charge to the baptized (and to all baptized Christians present) should be made. In addition, the Lord's Supper can become a converting ordinance. If it is explained properly, the unbeliever will have a very specific and visible way to see the difference between walking with Christ and living for oneself. The Lord's Supper will confront every individual with the question: "are you right with God today? now?" There is no more effective way to help a person to do a spiritual inventory. Many seekers in U.S. churches will only realize they are not Christians during the fencing of the table after an effective sermon on the meaning of the gospel. (See below for more on addressing unbelievers during communion.)

Preach grace. The one message that both believers and unbelievers need to hear is that salvation and adoption are by grace alone. A worship service that focuses too much and too often on educating Christians in the details of theology will simply bore or confuse the unbelievers present. For example, a sermon on abortion will generally assume the listener believes in the authority of the word and the authority of Jesus, and does not believe in individual moral autonomy. In other words, abortion is "doctrine D", and it is based on "doctrines A, B, and C." Therefore, people who don't believe or understand doctrines ABC will find such a sermon un-convicting and even alienating. This does not mean we should not preach the whole counsel of God, but we must major on the "ABC's" of the Christian faith.

If the response to this is "then Christians will be bored", it shows an misunderstanding of the gospel. The gospel of free, gracious justification and adoption is not just the way we enter the kingdom, but also the way we grow into the likeness of Christ. Titus 2:11-13 tells us how it is the original, saving message of "grace alone" that consequently leads us to sanctified living: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ." Many Christians are "defeated" and stagnant in their growth because they try to be holy for wrong motives. They say "no" to temptation by telling themselves "God will get me" or "people will find out" or "I'll hate myself in the morning" or "it will hurt my self-esteem" or "it will hurt other people" or "it's against the law--I'll be caught" or "it's against my principles" or "I will look bad". Some or all of these may be true, but Titus tells us they are inadequate. Only the grace of God, the logic of the gospel will work. Titus says it "teaches" us, it argues with us.

Therefore, the one basic message that both Christians and unbelievers need to hear is the gospel of grace. It can then be applied to both groups, right on the spot and directly. Sermons which are basically moralistic will only be applicable to either Christians OR non-Christians. But Christo-centric preaching, preaching the gospel both grows believers and challenges non-believers. If the Sunday service and sermon aim primarily at evangelism, it will bore the saints. If they aim primarily at education, they'll bore and confuse unbelievers. If they aim at praising the God who saves by grace they'll both instruct insiders and challenge outsiders.

Read the whole article here.

A bad moving day can point us to Jesus

The move to ABQ was going great. We made it to Oklahoma City just fine, spent the night there and then headed out the next morning for the second leg of the trip. All was well until the moving truck with our whole house packed in the back broke down 180 miles from Albuquerque. Before we left everyone felt the need to tell me all their moving horror stories about trucks breaking down in the rain, etc, but I thought to myself this will not happen to us. It did. So here we were out in the middle of nowhere just about 50 miles inside of New Mexico (better than the old) and it was clear that we can't leave Kim, her mother and our two little children (who are already dying to get out of their car seats after being strapped in for two whole days straight) on the side of the road with me waiting for help, so I send them on to ABQ, thinking that surely we would rendez-vous later that night at the least. Again, I was wrong.

When the towing co. got there they informed me that we had to tow the truck with all our stuff BACK to Amarillo, TX (two hours drive back the way we came), cause this was the nearest place that could fix the truck. Keep in mind that where we broke down was just a few miles shy of the exact middle point between Amarillo and ABQ. I called and called the Budget Truck people pleading (ok, it was not pleading, it was more like yelling, threatening, and being very angry) with them to take me ABQ instead, since this is where my family was and this is my final destination anyway and it was not that much farther to ABQ than back to Amarillo, TX. I could not get anyone on the phone to sort this out, thus their protocol of always taking a broken down truck to the nearest location to fix it was the trump card. Basically, they called the tow truck driver and informed him to take my truck with all my stuff in it back to Amarillo, no matter what I said. He informed me of this and so basically there was nothing I could do at that point - how can I say this nicely?... I was pissed, very pissed.

When I got to the hotel I looked up the web page of the service place where my truck got towed to. It turns out that this truck service facility is a nation wide business and they have the same facility in ABQ!!!! Now I was really pissed. So basically Budget rental screwed me over for the sake of 45 miles difference of towing. But what makes no sense at all is how bad of a business decision this was on their part. They could have towed me to ABQ, but instead the computer or policy or whatever said to take me to Amarillo, no questions asked. Now they have to reimburse me for meals, gas, cell phones minutes, and hotel. What sense does that make? If they would have taken me the extra 45 miles to ABQ they would have none of these costs and they would have not lost a customer for life. Bad business.

So Kim, her Mom and the kids stayed the night last night in a empty house. Stressful situation for them and I felt bad that I could not be there to help her with the kids and other things.

So here I am this morning laying in bed in a hotel in Amarillo praying the truck gets fixed soon so that at least I can get to my family today.


Now to the spiritual stuff...

As I awoke this morning I was vacillating between feelings of serious anger, but also thankfulness. My possessions were taken from me to a place that I did not choose and our plans were set back 24-48 hours. But it could have been worse and many many people throughout the history of the world have experienced much much worse. What if I was a Polish Jew in the 1940’s and instead of my possessions being taken away from me and shipped off to a place that I did not choose, it was my kids who were taken away, never to be seen again? My situation is not that bad.

Or I could have been born in modern day Sudan or North Korea where people are being mutilated, raped, and tortured on a daily basis. In light of this, my situation is frustrating, but really not bad at all.

I was also reminded that my family has enough possessions to actually fill a 26-foot truck. This is something to be thankful for in light of the fact that owning a pair of shoes qualifies you as rich by the world’s standards. Seems like my situation is getting better the more I think about it. We are blessed beyond measure.

Ok then, let me ask you this…

In light of my situation yesterday, what is the more godly thing to do? Joyfully, receive the mild suffering inflicted by a big business making bad business decisions for the sake of identification with Jesus, or put up the best fight you can for what is right?

It seems to me that there are two big issues at work here:

1. I know that we are called to accept suffering joyfully for the sake of identifying with Christ who “for the joy set before him endured the cross”
2. We also know that God is a God who loves justice and hates oppression and thus we as Christians, who are made in his image, should fight for what is right and good.

In the end, I think we fight for what is right, but when there is nothing left for us to do and our hands are tied, we thank God for the fact that his hands where tied down too and that he was mistreated and went to a place that his human flesh did not want to go for the sake of bearing the pain that I should have bore. This is truly good news.

I thank God that a bad moving day can point me to Jesus.

Does Your Church Marquee Need To Go?

Here is a good filter to look through before you step out to the curb and slap those single plastic letters together to make your clever church sign.

Are we that different than Joel? Maybe...

Shaun Groves with some insightful commentary on the TIME Magazine article on Prosperity Gospel and Joel Osteen stuff.

Youth Ski Trips and Discipling our Kids

Michael Spencer with an amazing push for the minstry of Gospel for Asia by challenging our leaders of youth to change perspective a bit and forsake the ever common youth ski trip. Sounds like a big phat downer right? Read the post. In it he says:

I know this kind of thing can get a big discussion started. You aren’t a bad person to go on the ski trip. Your church isn’t bad for sponsoring it.

Here’s the thing: your church thinks that ski trip is what you want. They believe that you want the kind of youth or college group that goes skiing, has a huge “spiritual” experience, then comes back and schedules a mission trip for next year.
But you and I know that there are millions of young Christians who don’t need the ski trip or the concert or the entertainment. They don’t even need the once a year week on the mission field. They need to live the life. They need a passionate vision and opportunity to give till it hurts, to sacrifice, to connect with the cause of Christ. They want the church in America to stop being a joke and to become the asset to world missions and church planting movements that it can be.

You can start that. Start it with Gospel for Asia or another ministry that is there on the ground with the real needs. You don’t need to ship your youth group overseas to build the building. You need to give the money and make the thing happen. And then you need to do it again, and again, and again. Till the youth minister gets saved, the pastor starts preaching on missions and the parents are afraid you’ll spend your college money starting churches in Mongolia or building clinics in Appalachia or tutoring in the inner city.

Ruin your ski retreat for Jesus. And have fun doing it.

Read the whole thing here.

Blogging This Week/Road Trips and Kids

Most likely blogging will be light this week as we are preping to leave for New Mexico. The big phat moving truck leaves out of Nashvegas on Wednesday morning as early as we can get the kids roused and ready to roll.

Here is a question for all you parents out there: Which is more abusive? To strap a 4 year old and a 1 and 1/2 year old in their respective car seats for two 10 hour days of driving or giving them a little somethin' somethin' to help them have a nice long nap on the way? Benadryl perhaps? (We are not talking horse tanqualizers here people)

My contention would be that as long as it's a safe means to make the little ones a bit more sleepy than normal, go for it, and since my wife is a medical professional, it makes me feel that much better about it. We are making today's naptime the test case and see how it goes.

Is there any qualitative difference between an adult taking a sleeping pill for a long international flight and what I just described?

Thoughts?

One last show

Last night I played my last show as a member of Matthew West's band. It was a great run and the blessings were many. Nashville was good to us and God taught us many valuable lessons during our two year stay there. This Wednesday the family and I head out to our new residence in Albuquerque, New Mexico where I will be the worship leader for Desert Springs Church. God is faithful!

TIME magazine deals with modern day heresy. CNN.com has a story about it here.

"Jesus Camp" Review

From the review.

If the filmmakers had made it clear that this pastor and this group of families are not the norm of the evangelical world, this film would not have been so demeaning and misleading. As it is, those who have no knowledge or experience with the evangelical world and who watch “Jesus Camp” to gain an understanding will only have an extreme form of Pentecostalism presented - not a representative picture of Christian evangelicalism. In this way, this film highlights a small extreme sub-group to describe this important branch of Christian faith in much the way as believing militant terrorist groups represent all Muslims. Neither is helpful in bridging different faiths or creating understanding.

Read the whole thing here.

Fundamentalism and the Cult of Muscular Personalities

Sean Michael Lucas has an interesting post today entitled, "Fundamentalism and the Cult of Muscular Personalities"

Harold Best Quote

Harold Best says in, Music Through the Eyes of Faith (BTW - if I could recommend any book for thinking about music and the faith, it would be this one):

The Scriptures include or allude to just about every approach to worship there is: organized, spontaneous, public, private, simple, complex, ornate, or plain. Yet there is no comment anywhere about any one way being preferred over another. Rather, it is the spiritual condition of the worshiper that determines whether or not God is at work. This fact alone countermands the tendency to assume that if we could just find the correct or fashionably relevant system, all will be well and God will come down. This doesn’t imply that we have no responsibility to make intelligent and sensitive choices or to be creative. But whatever these choices eventually are, they are incapable all by themselves of establishing the superiority of one system over another. (p. 146)

(HT: Bob Kauflin)

12 things to know about sex

As Christians living in a society obsessed with a completely false vision of the role of sex, I found these 12 comments from Joe Carter quite helpful. Anyone seeking to undo the brainwashing from the halftruths/lies seen in the media everyday, this would be a great place to start. I reprint them here in their entirety.

1. We should continuously point out that the term pre-marital sex is an oxymoron. Because sex and marriage both perform the function of uniting a man and a woman into one-flesh, engaging in sexual relations is ontologically indistinguishable from marriage. Even when the tongue claims otherwise, the body understands the promise being made during intercourse. Saying “I do” with the body may not carry the same consequences as it does in a marriage ceremony, but the effects on the soul are similar.

2. Some people will claim that there is something valuable to be gained by having multiple sexual partners before settling down for lifelong monogamy. These misguided souls completely miss the point. Sex is not a technique to be mastered but a means of communicating. Sexual intercourse is a non-verbal expression of profound commitment, openness, and trust. Having multiple sexual “partners” as a means of preparing for marriage is like mastering the art of lying in order to become a paragon of honesty.

3. The bookstores are filled with books and magazines that offer tips and advice on maximizing pleasure, providing multiple orgasms, and other ways to have “better” sex. This desire to improve and be more productive is a hallmark of industrialized sex. But there is no objective standard by which sex can be measured against. “Good” sex is not found by following a formula which will lead to the efficient maximization of sexual pleasure. Sex cannot be measured by the number of orgasms per hour (OPH) or any other idealized unit of measure anymore than a good conversation can be measured by the number of words spoken.

4. How long should lovemaking sessions last? Ideally, from the beginning to the end. Truly, the focus on time (“I can make love all night…”) is absurd. Clocks and calendars have no place in sexual relations. Intimacy is a lifelong process that begins on the wedding day and is unjustly interrupted by death; intercourse is simply intense periods of special physical intimacy that ebb and flow throughout this period. While each phase is special and important the duration is of minor consequence. Watching the clock takes the focus off the proper object: one’s spouse.

5. Although sex is not tied to the Gregorian calendar, it is cyclical, often following the natural rhythms of the female body. The husband’s desire should, therefore, be respectful of the woman’s physical and hormonal cycles. Her body is the means by which God chose to bring forth new life and the vessel he chose to enter the world in physical form. A woman’s body is not a machine for delivering pleasure but a mysterious and precious creation. Husbands should always keep that in mind.

6. Having sex can lead to having children. Industrialized sex views this as a potentially unfortunate hazard that should be avoided. Deciding to have a child is a decision that should be made prayerfully and with God’s guidance. And the choice of using technology – whether a thermometer or the Pill – to avoid an untimely pregnancy is a matter between a couple and their Creator. But sex should never be completely stripped of its conceptive role.

7. Sex may be a joy and a sanctuary but it is also a marital duty. It is the primary physical method God provides in order to deepen and strengthen the union of a man and a woman. Forgoing sex for long periods of time can be a form of disobedience. If we are physically able, we should give ourselves to our spouses. We are the sole means by which they are able to properly meet that physical need. Denying our spouse food or sleep would be cruel and unjust. Withholding sex is no different.

8. While it hardly needs to be said, p*rnography has no place in marriage. Sex is intended to be viewed from the place of a first-person participant, not a third-person observer. One of the reasons pornography becomes addictive is because it leads to the attempt to fulfill an impossible desire. When observing p*rn, a person shifts from an I-Thou relationship to the place of the Other, forever outside, waiting to be invited in. That invitation never comes, leading to an endlessly frustrating search for fulfillment that can never be met.

9. Equipment belongs in the factory, not in the bedroom. If you need battery-operated tools to enhance your sexual experience you have a problem.

10. Most of what gets classified under the category of sex has nothing to do with sex at all. Fetishes, sadomasochism, dominance and submission, etc., are always about something else (usually power) and never about intimacy and communication. Sort out your psychological issues on your counselor’s couch, not in your marriage bed.


11. A last bit of advice for young people: You may foolishly decide that you need to “make your own mistakes” rather than rely on the hard-earned experience of those that have gone before you. You may even be able to avoid most of the more blatantly detrimental aspects of sexual sin. I certainly did. I never suffered from the ravages of a venereal disease or had to deal with the effects of an unexpected pregnancy. I never suffered much of anything from my sin – except for loss. I lost one of the most valuable gifts God gives man: the ability to give myself completely to the person I love.

Anyone who tells you that sex outside of marriage causes no harm is a liar and a fool. You can’t build a fire in your lap and not get burned. And you can’t have multiple sexual partners and not become desensitized to the beauty and intimacy of marital intercourse. With Christ there is redemption and the hope of restoration. But before you make a rash choice, weigh the cost. It is never worth the price of true intimacy.

12. Christian couples are not only joined in union with each other but are united within the body of Christ. We belong not to ourselves but to each other. The church, therefore, must take an interest in the sexual needs of couples just as it would in the other spiritual and physical needs. The community of believers needs to show that the Bride of Christ rejects industrialized sex.

*I address this post to Christians because non-believers would not share my understanding of the role and nature of sex. While there may be some overlap of agreement, the presuppositional attitude of most non-Christians would be so foreign to my view (that God created sexual relations with a specific form and for a particular range of purposes) it would be impossible to offer suggestions for a general audience.

Why do we have Labor Day?

This morning my wife asked me why we have Labor Day. I had no good answer. For those interested, here is an explanation:

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday that takes place on the first Monday of September. In 2006, Labor Day occurred on September 4.

The origins of the American Labor Day can be traced back to the Knights of Labor in the United States and a parade organized by them on September 5, 1882 in New York City. They were inspired by an annual labor parade held in Toronto, Canada. In 1884 another parade was held, and the Knights passed resolutions to make this an annual event. Many other labor organizations, notably the affiliates of the International Workingmen's Association, favored a May 1 holiday. With the event of Chicago's Haymarket riots in early May of 1886, president Grover Cleveland believed that a May 1 holiday could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Thus, fearing that it might strengthen the socialist movement, he quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day.

Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States since the 1880s. The September date has remained unchanged, even though the government was encouraged to adopt May 1 as Labor Day, the date celebrated by the majority of the world. Moving the holiday, in addition to breaking with tradition, could have been viewed as aligning the U.S. labor movements with internationalist sympathies.

Labor Day is generally regarded simply as a day of rest and, unlike May Day, political demonstrations are rare. Forms of celebration include picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays, water activities, and public art events. Families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer. Some teenagers and young adults view it as the last weekend for parties before returning to school. However, of late, schools have begun well before Labor Day, up to the 15th of August in many urban districts, including Nashville and Atlanta.
One of the largest modern traditions of Labor Day in the United States is the annual telethon of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, hosted by Jerry Lewis to fund research and patient support programs for the various diseases grouped as muscular dystrophy. The telethon raises tens of millions of dollars each year.
According to Howard Zinn in his research in A People's History of the United States, the original parade in 1882 organized by the Knights of Labor had a loose affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, a main reason why the more progressive supporters of a labor parade prefered the May Day march.

From Wikipedia.org

Thoughts on Music

Jeremy Smith, writing for Reformation 21, has a great article here dealing with how music impacts us. What methods should we use to discern what sort of music we should be listening to?

"In The Gay Ol' Summertime"

Internet Monk has a very compelling essay concerning how we as Christians should be dealing with the issue of homosexuality. It is long, but well worth the read. I found it convicting and enlightening.

How to Disagree

Mark Lauderbach has a great post here on how to disagree welll with other believers. In light of all the unchartiable words we easily find in the comment sections of blogs, I think this post would be worth the read.

"Jesus Camp" Responses

Josh Malone, Young Adults Pastor at Parkview Church in Iowa City has some good reflections on the trailer to "Jesus Camp" that I posted yesterday.

Yesterday he asked for some comments from others. You can read those here.

Derek Webb

Derek Webb, formerly of Caedmon's Call, is giving away his new record for free. Check it out here.