The Ready Reader

People ask me: So what books are you reading or what are your all time favorite books? Well I've decided to post them here. Some will be current, others will be awesome ones I have read over the years.

A good book on leadership. Only the second one I've ever finished - I usually find them terribly carnal. This one was really good. He challenges some basic church structures and traditions. I found it a refreshing view on leadership. It gets better as you read it too, so you have to finish it. I almost put it down near the middle but kept going and I'm glad I did. I would recommend this to anyone in church leadership because it will stretch you - and its healthy to be stretched - It lets you find out where your limits are and then you have to question them.

This book is not for the easily offended. You will throw it out before you finish the first chapter.

The only annoying thing is that Cole promotes his products, but I just ignore that and take the meat out it. Believe me there is a lot to chew on. Much of what he says matches my personal values of what the church should look like - no paid clergy, multiple leaders, etc. However, this ideal is not always a reality, especially if the church has been in existence for a while and did not start with these principles. I enjoy that he did talk about this and that he's pretty balanced in his expectations of established churches. I found this book primarily written for church planters (which is what he's all about).

The First Commandment

A great message by Shelley Hundley that we probably need to listen to in this day: http://todayandthatday.podOmatic.com

Eulogy for Civi

Well today I finally had to retire my 1996 Honda Civic. In her memory, I have written a eulogy.

Loved by me and misunderstood by most it was a very sad day. Civi may have been old and feeble, but she had personality. She (yes my car was a "she") lived to see 13 good years. Well maintained by me and her previous owner, her underneath just got too brittle to keep going. Even in her last days she had comfortable seats and shifted easily. Civi will be mourned by me...and probably only by me. Her final resting place will most likely be the junk heap and her organs (whatever is left of them) will be donated. In lieu of flowers, please send Shawna some money so she can make the payments on her new car!

The View from Here

I was working on my computer on Friday and I worked right through the morning news, Regis and Kelly, and then The View came on. This snapped me out of what I was doing - not because they were having some loud obnoxious conversation but because of the topic they were discussing. They were talking about the Angels and Demons movie.

**As a side note: I read The DaVinci Code book and then watched the movie. I was glad I read the book first because the movie just scratched the surface. I will do the same thing with Angels and Demons - read the book first.

Anyway, they briefly talked about the movie and then Barbara asked the question about whether or not the ladies believed in an afterlife. Barbara and Joy said they did not. They say we just cease to exist. Sherri said she believed in an afterlife. Whoopi said she wasn't sure but she was going to say yes in order to keep all of her bases covered. Then Tom Hanks and Ron Howard came on and Barbara asked them the same question. Tom said he did not believe in an afterlife. Ron Howard said that he wasn't sure. While he would like to say he did not believe, there was something inside of him that makes him wonder about it.

I find it fascinating that we live in a day and age where the topic of an afterlife is one of the main topics of a talk show and that everyone on the panel can feel free to express their opinions honestly. I also find it interesting that there are so many different opinions among that small group of people. That small group is most likely a sample of our larger society.

I wish I was on The View. I have some things to say...oh wait...I get to have discussions everyday with people I know, who are asking the same questions! The media can pump a lot of crap into our society, but it also provides Christians with great opportunities to share the truth about Christ and most people are very interested in listening.

Simplicity

Have you ever had so much to blog that you can't get your thoughts straight? I wish I could just transfer what is in my brain right to the page. I suppose that's what I get from taking so long to blog again. I've rewritten this so many times and what I ended up with is this summary of where we are at.

The people of God (at least in our area) are being taught by God in a very deep way right now. Many Christians seem to be getting very serious about their faith, studying the Scripture, and praying less to get God to move and more to hear Him.

As a church we coming to grips with the fact that our great ideas are not what God wants. We can engineer church because we are good at it, but that is not God's way. Church growth models and plans that we read in books are not what God desires. And so we are continually moving toward more and more simplicity.

We can no longer depend on men or men's products to change society. A move of God is the only thing and so we are encouraging people to seek Him. Sounds simple, sounds basic, sounds Scriptural, but how much does the church really do this? And if we do this, is it really the core of our Christian community or an add on? Maybe we need to take away some of our supports and see if we sink or swim...I'll keep you posted.

Getting Sassy Back

Wow June 17th huh? I am such a bad blogger. I was reading Hurd's blog today and discovered that I have become brain dead. Everytime I read his blog I laugh so hard that my eyes water and my nose runs. As I was reading his blog, I discovered that I no longer get to think for fun. Instead I'm forced to think about things like curriculum, gender, wait time, multiculturalism, inclusion, etc. All of these things would be great if I could think of them on my own time without having an assignment to do on them. Every time I get the urge to blog I think about the time I would be wasting that I could be spending on school work. In fact, I'm thinking about that right now.

Contemplating random things in life was the purpose for this blog and so I need to go back to doing that. Right now I am neither creative nor funny. I really need to get my sassy back. I think my next blog will be written as I watch Obama's inauguration - US politics is usually a good time, although not nearly as funny as Canadian politics... (Dion's cell phone video to Canadians - case in point, totally hilarious).

Gay Haters?

As I was watching the news this morning and they were talking about how SanFransico legalized gay marriage, I felt angry and sick. Not because of gay marriage, but because there were people outside the courthouse protesting the legalization with signs that said "God Hates Fags" and "Fags Will Burn In Hell." These signs made me disgusted because of what they say to our society. and more importantly, what they say to people we know and love who are involved in homosexual relationships.

I became so angry and disgusted, wondering who these people were. Where do they come from? Who told them that nasty, hateful signs are how we engage our culture? They portray the stereotype of Christians who think everyone (except them) is evil and unloved by God. I do not want to be lumped in with these people, but every time someone pulls a stunt like this it happens to me anyway. In the eyes of many, I become a gay hater even though I am not. I wish these protesters would wake up and gain an understanding of the heart of God. I wonder if they know anyone who is gay. I wonder if they have any friends or family members who are gay. I wonder if they have ever just listened to their gay friend speak about their life.

I personally have a conservative view on homosexuality because there are parts in the Bible that we can't just ignore. We cannot choose passages we like and leave those we don't like. However, I think we need to be careful in how we express our beliefs. We can be open and honest about them, we do not need to hide them. But we need to make sure we are entering into discussion with people who don't agree with us, not just yelling and waving signs. Open dialogue is needed if we are to gain an understanding and the ability to have compassion for our world that is required of us as Christians. We also need to be careful that we don't focus on one issue. In 1 Corinthians 6 where homosexuality is mentioned, heterosexual immorality is also mentioned, as are slanderers, theives, alcoholics and those who are greedy. We need to be careful, when we cast stones at the courthouse, that we are also not among that list. Jesus warned us over and over about the dangers of self-righteousness, so how have Christians, Jesus' followers, become so good at it? Many other issues are mentioned throughout the Bible and I've become convinced over the years that pretty well everyone has their thing that they struggle with. Why have we elevated homosexuality as the unpardonable sin?

It appears to me that the protesters do not care too much about transformation but more about condemnation. But, just like the protesters don't know the people in the courthouse, I don't know the protesters either. So I guess I need to wait to jump to any conclusions until I get a chance to speak with one of them. What I wish the world knew is that NONE of the Christians I know personally (and they are many) hold the belief that "God Hates Fags", nor would they ever hold a sign stating it.