That’s it!

I’m Done buying white Shirts. – its now official , everyone I own has a coffee stain on it. 

Kayak

My roommate and I bought a used Kayak. We took it out today. Its pretty much, lots of fun.Interested in where we went, here is the map. we did the blue line.   Kayak Mapwe stopped and snorkled in some new places, I think the kayak has some big potential.Hopefully we’ll be able to  use it often.  

Darth Vader

Someone did a great job editing – they overlayed James Earl Jones QUotes from other movies, to Darth Vader in Star Wars.

Its pretty funny.

Vader

What is Church ?

Recently I just finished some reading and discussions about Church Growth, Structure, and Health. Some of my friends knew this. And one in particular has asked a few questions about it, so rather than just respond via email; I’m putting my thoughts and responses up here, I’m hoping some of you guys would give some feedback and thoughts. I do want to be clear, I’m not by any means attacking ways that church  looks, just throwing out some of my thoughts on how I think it should look.  My plan is to keep these shorter, so I’ll do one question at a time.  

1.  ”What is the biblical definition of a church?”  the way we went about looking at this, had a lot to do with what was not the church, because as you narrow down things that are not Church, you are defining Church. so we came up with some measuring sticks to use to qualify something as church. [Note we are not particularly defining a healthy church, that will come later.] so you would ask: does this thing (that we are testing to be a church or not ) have :   

-multiple people 

-a purpose of the meeting

-common beliefs 

-frequency of meeting

-activities they engage in

-what activities need to be there – may fall more under a healthy church.( discipline, preaching word, administering sacraments) 

-structure of leadership

-self-declaration  - {acknowledging and claiming by the group that does these things, that it  is a church, therefore taking on responsibility}

 

 now we took that list and answered some defining questions:

 A Church is :

WHO: multiple self governing confessing Christians

What: [again some of these things, could be health related, but are important to name here]

-Building up one another with Gifts

-teaching/preaching word

-equipping saints for ministry

-mutually submissive

-prayer

When: Regularly

Where: does not matter

Why: For God’s Glory/our Joy

How: By God’s Grace

 

now to work that into a sentence :

A church is a group of self governing  believers frequently gathering with the intent of serving each other that we might participate in the Worship and Mission of God. 

  

Reading The Old Testament

Pastor Dale Ralph Davis wrote a book – called The Word Became Fresh - its about preaching from Old Testament Narrative Texts. why am I reading that book you may ask ? great question. I’m not preaching, and if I was I don’t think my first sermons would be a series from the Old Testament.   However, I do like to read the Old Testament, and anything that can help me understand the story better, I’m for it. and its a short book.  anyway,  so far its got some great pointers on tips for things to notice to help understand the OT.  and on the off chance your not reading this one; i’ll post them here:  (posed as general questions to ask of the text)  

•  how can I see the character of God reveled in the text ?
•  What is God’s opinion of what just happened ? (pleased/displeased) 
• Is there some dramatic irony ? what is the character’s perspective and how does that affect his actions ? [since I know what he doesn't ? i.e. Job]    
• If your curiosity is raised, but the question is not answered, make note of what the author left out.  It must not be that important. [i.e. - Gen 22:3 told of Abraham's obedience but not his  feelings]
• can you notice any sarcasm or underhanded commentary on the situation ?
  • Daniel 3 – the writer reports the situation, but emphasis the set up of the images
• did the writer use 153 words to say what could be said in 10 ? [ Joshua 11:1-5] 
  • the writer is not merely trying to inform, but also impress you with the majesty of God much like we would recap a football game, not just giving the score, but the exciting breakdown. 
• are there any surprises ?
  • a surprise may reveal a new perspective on your priorities 
  • it could also reveal a new take on what is urgent, what is important
• take note of:
  • repetition
  • tightly packed sections – where a lot happens in little writing
• enjoy the tension of the story – try and get the suspense, the narrative is exciting – notice how the authors build the tension
• always remember where we are headed. -> Jesus. take note of how God’s people and the line to Jesus is unfolding. sometimes it is clearly preserved only by God’s soverginity

more to come as I keep reading

Sunday Night Football

the Colts are handing it to the Ravens tonight. but something about John Madden keeps me watching the game. he is uniquely hilarious to listen to. I’ve never listened to anyone who will consistently just start talking, and then be surprised to where his sentence took him. its like his statements are creatures with a life of their own – Madden is just as much of a bystander as we are. but he keeps me listening even if it is for the unintentional comedy. there’s nothing quite like Sunday Night Football – except Monday Night Football. 

Getting Started – Again

 I’m back in the blogging world. I’ve had a little down time recently being back in the states and traveling around. So I’ve worked out my problems (not personal, just with the old Blog) – and I hope to keep this one up and running. just so we are clear, this blog is not going to be used for updates on my life.you may glean some info about things that are happening with my by reading here, but that is not the purpose. for anyone that is interested in being updated about me be sure I have your email. send it to me with a comment. … that’s basically the only thing.anything else is fair game – commentary on what I’m taking in (reading, watching, listening), i also really want to use you guys to bounce thoughts and ideas off of about what I’m doing and learning. so, well – you know.