So, this is different. Generally each week I share some blog posts from around the internet that I found to be worthy of a shout out… but today I won’t be sharing blog posts. Instead, only videos. And they’re rather mellow. Chill.
I won’t bother giving any commentary, other than to say I found them to be beautiful – so I’m whispering shouts about these videos:
#1. VIDEO—Broken Vessels… Read More
Hold, hold your tongue now. And let them all listen to your silence. —The Ting Tings, Silence
We are addicted to filling all the spaces with noise.
And when I say “we,” I mean us Charismatic Christians. That includes Pentecostals (who are the worst about this).
Please don’t think I’m writing this to throw someone else under the bus. If anything, I’m throwing myself under the bus. I am both a Charismatic and a Pentecostal (although I prefer the Charismatic label, and would like to add a couple descriptors like “gangsta” and “who loves Catholics”). I am constantly working to fill all the spaces with noise – background music, words, videos, more words, and more music.
In a conversation with Andy Jones about Sunday’s service at NWLife, he said,
“This could be taken the wrong way, but my favorite part of the baby dedication was when you guys were all done saying stuff and just stood there for a while holding and looking at Zoey.”
Funny how his favorite part was the one without any noise.
Maybe we need less cacophony and more opportunities to, as Depeche Mode… Read More
Our staff has been reading Rudy Rasmus‘ book Touch: Pressing Against the Wounds of a Broken World. Today we are getting together to discuss what we’ve learned. Here are some of my favorite quotes…
When we are convinced that we have received love and grace that we so richly don’t deserve, we’ll stop trying to affix blame so we can one up someone else. The experience of grace trumps blame and opens the door to loving others.
I don’t ask why a person is homeless or jobless or cross-dresses or smells bad. I don’t care if it’s her fault, someone else is to blame, or if a meteor came from outer space and caused the problem. There’s no need to assign blame, keep score, or label people. Instead, I just see someone Jesus is dying to love, someone who needs help, someone God has put in my path at the moment to… Read More
In today’s Leadership Bites (6 minute leadership podcast), Andy Jones and I talk about a few practical ways to get… Read More
Leadership—specifically Christian leadership—is a messy business. It’s messy because it’s never pure. The motive behind what we do is a mixture of Ego, Ambition, & Holy Calling. And there is this shadowy dark side that goes along with our leadership strengths – what I call the Underbelly of (Christian) Leadership.
Is it possible to do great things without abusing power, inflicting damage on others, becoming a control freak, or leading with a sense of entitlement (breaking rules to satisfy personal desires)?
Is it possible to do great things without becoming Darth Vader?
In my opinion, it’s not.
Let me clarify: If the goal is ME DOING GREAT THINGS, I will inevitably abuse power, inflict damage on others, become a control freak, and lead with a sense of entitlement. If it’s about me doing great things, I will become Darth Vader.
Not too many years ago, my goal was to someday have a church of 10,000 people. And my motive was a mixture of… Read More
We just started a new series at NWLife called “Kingdom Invitation.” The big idea of this teaching is that we’ve been invited to participate in the Kingdom of God RIGHT NOW. Each week we will be attempting to answer the question, “What is the Kingdom of God like?”
Here’s a cool whiteboard session on… Read More
I don’t know what the vision statement of the church I grew up in was, but if I were to guess based on the rapture movies they used to show, it’d be something like:
We exist to scare the hell out of everyone.
Yes, I had nightmares about missing the rapture, heads being chopped off, accidentally getting the mark of the beast, and a variety of other apocalyptic terrors.
And there were a number of times when, coming home from school and finding no evidence of family members, I’d panic and assume the worst: I had missed the rapture. For the next few minutes (until my mom came back from visiting with a friend), I’d frantically devise my ridiculous escape and survival plan… Read More
I was listening to Jonathan Martin speak on the Myth of Moses while out on my favorite trail yesterday…
Here are a few summarized bits of what he was talking about:
Each Sunday, I share what I liked on the internet from the past week. Here are three posts you don’t want to miss…
This post, “Making Room For Your Ideological Enemies” by… Read More
Two days ago, on Monday evening, I tweeted
Then, concerned that I sounded a little too destructive… Read More
