:on winter:

the crunch of snow packing underfoot...
the sparkle of the sun reflecting off the snow...
the gasp of cold air refreshing warm lungs...
the sway of pine boughs holding the weight of snow...
the path of wandering footprints...

...is a reminder that winter has arrived.

thoughts about the two videos....

i've been sitting on this video for a while. i couldn't quite figure out how to put both videos in one post. if you know how to do this, let me know.


a few thoughts from the video:
1. i forget that Billy Graham was young once. the majority of videos and images of him show him as a frail old man. he was once young and vibrant. it's true
2. i think Billy was acting as Jesus would with this interview. Jesus was often found hanging out with the "people," you know those "bad" people. Billy was quick witted, honest, and bold with his words. he didn't shy back or avoid anything Woody was asking.
3. a long time ago i read "Just As I Am" the autobiography of Billy Graham. watching this video reminded me of some of the early chapters of his life.
4. when i am in my 80's and look back on my life, and if i see that GOD has used me in 1/10000 of the ways that GOD used Billy, i will feel greatly blessed.

::enjoy::

Woody Allen Interviews Billy Graham??!!!

Woody Allen Interviews Billy Graham, Continued

whoa.

i've had a few post waiting in the draft column, but i've decided to scrap them.
i can believe how quickly this year is coming to an end.
the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas always passes by too quickly.
the realization of getting married continues to bring a smile to my face.
i feel bad about talking so long about seemingly so little last night.
i wish there was snow on the ground.
i need to get my car fixed.
i'm excited about going to the Nutcracker this weekend.
snowboarding wont come soon enough.
it's date night day.
i spend too much time on stuff and not enough time with people.
i've been missing people a few certain people lately.
the distance of a few miles is a poor excuse not to spend time with someone.
i wonder where i'll be a year from now.
i am still learning.

parachurch and church responsibilty

i recently wrote an email in which i took a short deviation and inserted a paragraph or so of my thoughts on "church." afterwards i came to the realization that while i have thought about the topic and had numerous conversations about it, i haven't really put my thoughts down in written words. i given myself a premature new years resolution of starting to write a book on the topic of "church." so i might make a few post here and there along this topic. and don't be surprised if i ask to interview you next year. i don't want to call this part 1 because it isn't really. it's just a part.


many years ago i felt called into ministry. at first i thought my calling was into youth ministry. i got involved with Young Life for a few years. Young Life is an amazing ministry aimed at taking the gospel to the lives of high school and junior high students. it would be considered a parachurch ministry meaning that it is designed to work "along side" of the church. Young Life will make the clear statement that they are not a church, nor is that their intention. their mission is to reach "every kid for Christ." they understand that their mission is to make students into followers of Christ and help them get plugged into a local church. this is often the hardest part of the ministry. Young Life is uses a weekly club meeting filled with messy games, crazy skits, loud music, and a short gospel message to reach students. but when kids come to know Christ and are encouraged to get plugged into a church it's difficult because the elements of club that the kids were drawn to are not found in a typical church. kids see a church where you have to sit and be still for an hour or more, and they want nothing to do with it. so most kids opt to stay in Young Life and struggle with growing in their faith, because Young Life is designed to expose kids to the gospel rather then help them grow deeper in their faith. this is where the relationship between church and parachurch becomes so important. if both ministries are doing what they are supposed to then evangelism and discipleship are being done.

i think i'd like to develop this both and idea of the parachurch needing the church and the church needing the parachurch. if you have any thoughts, i'd love to hear them.

question?

what's your definition of "church?"

i'm planning on making a post to give background for this question, but i wanted to separate the posts so the question wouldn't get lost in the other post. i would love your comments.

thanks.

first powder day of the year

alan slept in; gabe wasn't up for it. too bad. the snow was epic. 8" of fresh snow last night. first tracks for 3 runs. duck under the rope for knee-deep, untouched powder.

sometimes books pull me away from stagnation...

i've been trying to force myself to take time off. this isn't an easy thing for me. Lauren's been helping me though. yesterday morning i didn't work; not turning the computer on helped greatly. i spent a few hours reading "The Doctrine of Reconciliation" by Karl Barth. reading Barth makes my head hurt. i think i'm going to set a new years resolution to start this book over, and finish it in 2007. i like setting new years resolutions. i usually complete them. i'm also thinking of starting to work on a book.

as i was reading Barth i was reminded of a few other books that i'd been wanting to read, so off to Barns and Noble. thirty minutes later i was heading home with 1984 by George Orwell, The Secret Message of Jesus: Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything by Brian McLaren, and Organic Church by Neil Cole. i haven't bought any books lately, so my splurge seemed justified in my mind. i started reading Organic Church yesterday. in one of my classes at TIU one of my professors used the term "organic ministry." when this bas ook came out last year it made it's way to my "should eventually buy" list. i made it through a chapter and a half during my walk to work. i had to stop reading a few times to think. i had two thoughts that i want to work through. feel free to give some thoughts.

1. in thinking about ministry with Satellite: i wonder if Satellite should be in the ministry of planting home churches rather than small groups? as i was thinking through this and this first thing that popped into my head was the announcements that Gabe gave on Sunday. most of the announcements were for things going on hosted at the Ninja Den. why cant the Ninja Den be a church? granted the biggest reason for this not to happen is that people might not like the idea of home churches. but my guess is that the thoughts they have about them are just preconceived ideas because i don't really know anyone who has been a part of a home church.

i'm really intrigued by this idea. the more i try to understand my calling i think that planting churches might be part of it. which is becoming increasingly ironic because of the growing frustrations i have with the North American church. which is even more ironic because of my job.

2. i want to be able to put all of my time into ministry. it's hard for me to have a job that takes my time away from ministry. i've been questioning the thought of raising support. this scares me a lot. the fear of raising support is what kept me from going on staff with Young Life. I've been thinking about this possibility quite a bit lately, but as i was reading Organic Church yesterday i had a new thought along the lines of raising support. what if the support i raised wasn't to do ministry for the church, but for some other element of ministry? maybe i would be raising support as a missionary. i've got to think this through some more to develop what it is that i could be doing.

well, there you go.
enjoy.

GOD's history for us (old post)

the HomeTeams are reading through the book of Esther now. after spending a few weeks discussing the first few chapters together i'm realizing that it really is a different type of book than Philippians. Philippians was written as a letter from 2 people to a group of people. the words that they wrote were written as an outpouring of their hearts. however, with Esther it's very different. Esther was written down as a historical story of GOD's salvation (again) for his people. The story of Esther was to be told each year at the festival of purim to remind the Israelites that once again GOD had saved them.

i think it's easy for us to forget that history is an important part of our faith. i think that it's something we easily overlook. but there's a reason that there are more pages in the Bible dedicated to the history of GOD's people than to stories of Jesus. with history we can see GOD's provision and be sure that if he is a consistent GOD then he will continue with his provision. the life and death of Jesus is another part of that provision. please don't hear what i'm not saying; Jesus is important, so very important, but i think it's easy to neglect parts of the Bible that don't deal with Jesus. please take my words with grace, but what if the Bible isn't about Jesus, but about GOD. and the story of Jesus isn't the focal point of the story, but another part of the story of GOD? if this was true, and we read scripture in this context, i wonder what impact it would have on our lives?

So, i was sitting outside of Starbucks the other day...(old post)

...and that might come as a surprise to some of you, but I do that quite often. I was talking with someone, and a car pulled up and a dad and young son (4-5 years old, I'm guessing) got out of the car in the parking lot. They walked to the sidewalk and then the boy took off running all the while the dad was walking behind him. I was watching this happen as I was continuing my conversation with my friend. As the boy ran past me I hear him calling over his shoulder to his dad, "Tell me when to stop!" The dad called ahead to him, "Keep going." And the boy yelled again, "Tell me when to stop!" The dad called ahead, "Turn right up there," and the boy did.

When I couldn't hear them anymore, I turned my whole attention back to the conversation, and didn't really think much about it until I was leaving and saw them again- the boy out in front calling over his shoulder again. I stopped and watched them, and I thought that I was seeing a really cool picture of GOD interacting with his children. I wonder how often I'm like that little boy? How many times do I take off running trusting that GOD will tell me when I should stop and where I should turn? Or how often is GOD walking calmly behind me, while I franticly run ahead, all the while he knows where we are going and I keep running while I'm waiting for his voice to direct me?

I wonder.

my struggles with blogging

blogging in it of itself is not a difficult task. it isn't a difficult thing for me to have thoughts swirling around my head that i wish to post. what's hard is that i get stuck. i've been studying the topic of GOD's covenant with Abram and i've been really intrigued by it. the more i study the more i want to post. but i don't want to post and incomplete thought. so i wait to post, but get distracted in the mean time.

i've come to a place where i'm alright with either posting incomplete thought or making posts far apart. i know you've all been waiting in eager expectation for me to continue posting, so maybe this will help ease your worried souls.

cheers.

curses curses curses

curse you computer with your random freezing and crashing. curse you.

i was a paragraph short of being done with "part 2" of "circumcision and the law," but then my computer crashed. i've noticed that this seems to happen often when i'm trying to import CDs into iTunes. curse you iTunes.

i'll try to post later tonight. i had hoped to have part 3 done tomorrow. things might get pushed back a day. sorry.