National Day of Prayer

Today is the national day of prayer.  And this is one of those presidential proclamations that if you don’t pay attention will pass right by.  But we as a church make a concerted effort to be a part of anything that shows the city that we care and that we love them.  So we have been encouraging folks to go Mountlake Terrace City Hall and pray.

Today was a great day.  there were probably about 50 people from 6 churches that gathered on the steps of city hall.  Not tons and tons of people, but it was cool to unite with other churches and with our a few city officials and to pray.

I had the privilege to lead in prayer today and it was a great experience.  So if you haven’t prayed for our country, cities, leaders, then please take a moment and do so.

Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches — Review

So the day before Kathy and I went on our mini-cation, I received a box of books I had ordered.  The First one that I picked up was Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church.  I have read releases from all of the contributors except Karen Ward, so I was interested to see how this whole thing would come together.

I think one of the most misunderstoood things about the emerging church movement is that there is a broad range of people who hold different theological positions from very conservative to very liberal.  And this book does a great job of bringing people from the whole spectrum to talk about three hot issues, The Trinity, Scriptures and the Atonement.

Driscoll from Mars Hill is one the conservative side of things, Dan Kimball is the middle of the road, and then Karen Ward rounds out the more liberal side of the spectrum.

Each Contribution was very well written, the one person who really didn’t follow the guidlines was Doug Pagitt, who didn’t real say anything about the three topic, but he wrote very well about transformations in the church.

This is a great book, and if you are looking for a resource to help you make sense off the different camps in this whole emerging/emergent conversation then this is a great place to start.

Mini-Cation

So last week Kathy, Judah and I took off to Cannon Beach for a couple of days.  Man I needed a little break, I didn’t bring my laptop to eliminate the temptation to work, so I tried to be with Kathy and Judah and rest.  It was great.

The weather was alright but Judah didn’t really like the beach, so we spent more time in town, and in the hotel room for nap time. We had some really good food, and there is a little Cafe, that has super delicious coffee from portland roasting company.

I felt so incredibly rested.  It was great.

While I was there I also read a book, and I’ll write a review about it later.

What a great weekend.

Monday’s w/ Mitch part deux

So I know I’ve missed a couple of weeks so I’ll post another Mitch Hedberg joke

I opened up a yogurt, and underneath the lid it said “please try again” because they were having a contest I was unaware of. But I thought I might have opened the yogurt wrong. Or maybe Yoplait was trying to inspire me. Come on Mitchel, don’t give up, please try again! A message of inspiration from your friends at Yoplait. Fruit on Bottom, Hope on top.

M. Hedberg

Monday’s w/ Mitch

I bought a house, it’s a two-bedroom house. But I think it’s up to me how many bedrooms there are, don’t you? This bedroom has an oven in it. This bedroom has a lot of people sitting around watching TV. This bedroom is over in that guy’s house. “Sir, you’ve got one of my bedrooms, are you aware? Don’t decorate it!”

M. Hedberg

Busy, Busy, Busy

This week I am heading out of town on thursday for a mini-vacation.  So I’m trying to get a bunch of work done as early as I can.  Run, run, run.

I didn’t do a monday w/ mitch yesterday so here it is

 I want to be a race car passenger. Just a guy who bugs the driver. “Say, man, can I turn on the radio?” “You should slow down.” “Why we gotta keep going in circles?” “You really like Tide.”

-M. Hedberg

Thursdays with Jordan and a Reason to Celebrate

So I have been having lunch with Jordan Brown.  Dude’s hilarious.  We have been meeting everyother week for lunch, to talk, and go over a book, the Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus.  Jordan’s schedule is such that he is free during the day a lot, so it’s pretty easy to schedule.

He’s one of those guys that funny, laid-back, but really gets it that the Gospel is more than saying a prayer and being in church.  Anyway it was great hanging out with him and I look forward to these times each week.

I also wanted to Celebrate something at the End of the post that I am hoping will up my blog stats (just kidding).  I have never really cared about American Idol until this season.  Partly because Kathy went to High School with blake so that’s cool.  But also because Sanjay was just so bad, he was like watching a train wreck week to week.  But now he’s gone.  And I don’t know if I’m actually going to care about the show anymore.   But let’s just be grateful that we won’t be bombarded with Sanjaya Malakar singles and albums anytime soon.  Praise the Name of Jesus!

Keep it Amicable

Acts 15:36-41

36Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

I love this passage because it shows that church leaders can disagree with something, but the mission can keep going.  I think we need reminders from time to time that as long as we are preaching Jesus we are still on the same team.