No Perfect People Allowed Quote

Just read this and thought I would share.

Spiritual Growth is a messy Process.  Leaders must assess progress carefully — is this a hard hearted “mature” Christ-follower, heading away from God and needing church Discipline so he won’t damage the community? Or is the a toddler learning to walk in the way of Christ but falling and failing as she learns to trust?  Different people exhibiting the same outward behavior may actually be headed in opposite directions and need drastically different approaches to help them move forward on the way of Christ.  Some need discipline but some just need patience.

— John Burke

Letter to A Christian Nation

So I just finished reading Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris.

This is a book that not everyone should read.  Harris is an atheist and he is writing to try to bring Christians over to the Atheist Camp.  I read it because I was asked to, and I saw it at half price books so I bought it, and marked it up.

I am one of the first people to say that Christians have hurt the cause and image of Christ over the centuries.  And while an apology doesn’t cut the horrible atrocities that were caused under “Christian” leadership, it’s all I can really do.

There was one thing that really bugged me about something Harris had said and I just had to write about it.  Harris was talking about Slavery and how the Bible both the Old and the New Testament encouraged slavery, and how a Christians really have no argument against slavery because their book is cool with it.

Now yes the OT does give prescriptions for Slavery.  And Yes the NT does talk about slavery, but there is something that I think Harris as well as most Atheist have in common, they ignore context.  Sadly many Christians ignore context as well so they misunderstand what the Bible is saying, and they miss-apply the text entirely, and Harris gives one such example on this slavery thing.

In the age of the OT slavery was very common.  Most, if not all cultures had some form of slavery.  Slaves were acquired through military conquest, lack of ability to pay of debts, and things like that.  So for the Law to have a passage that talks about how to treat slaves would be a decent thing to do.  There is also something that Harris ignores all together called the Year of Jubilee, where by all debts are forgiven and all slaves are freed and property is returned to the family ownership.  Show me one culture on earth that had anything like that at the time.

Now I am not saying that I’m down with slavery, but everyone was then.  I agree with Harris that Slavery is horrendous and I am glad that the US has abolished slavery.  But we need to look at the Geo-Political and Social Context of the passage first.

Context is King!

Harris then goes to show how the New Testament endorses slavery from the words of Paul(Ephesians 6:5 1 Timothy 6:1-4).  Harris uses these passages to justify that Slavery is encouraged in the NT.  Clearly he is looking for ammo and this is the best he could come up with.  No where in the NT does it say, “Go Get Slaves, they’re the best!”  that’s what Harris makes it sound like, but he is grossly taking this out of context.

Again during the NT era slavery was still very common.  And many slaves were coming to faith in Christ.  Paul was writing to slaves to tell them not to rebel against their masters, and thus cause discord and give the non-believers reason to hate Jesus.  Instead Paul is encouraging slaves to love their masters.  To serve them and to show their masters that they are serving someone higher still.  Paul was not endorsing slavery, he was not saying that Slaves should be kept!

If you look to another passage of Paul’s writings, he even encourages a slave to be released.  Read Philemon and judge for yourself if Paul was all about slavery.

I just had to post on this.  I’m a Bible guy and this is some gross miss-use of context by Harris.  I don’t want to insult his intelligence but I’m surprised that he would miss this.

Cell Groups – Week 1

So this past sunday (Jan 14) we transitioned our ministry model to a cell group model. This was something that I had been praying about and wrestling with for a long time. And It was something that I have gotten some flak and concerns about since this sin’t they way the youth ministry is regularly done.

But I think this is a healthy transformation for our ministry. We have been struggling with Corporate Gatherings everyweek. They were good, but there was something better, and I new it was something that was simple, and would mobilize more people to do ministry.

So enter the Cell Group. This is a model that isn’t dependent upon a lot of set-up. This is a model that gives more people opportunites to build meaningful relationships with students and influence them for eternity. This is a model that does not depend on a single place, a single person, or a single time. This is a model that opens up many, many opportunities to reach many more people, becuase we can take the gospel to them.

One of the biggest concerns that I and others have had is that it will fragment our ministry. And that would really be bad. Another concern is that students wouldn’t feel connected to me as the Lead Youth Pastor, also a valid concern. Let me address those.

Fragmenting – this concern is very valid and very real. The best way to combat this danger is to meet together at least once a month. We are going to do this the first of every month we will have one corporate gathering. The other thing that we can do to create unity is events, so we are going to shoot to do more together, but keep it simple, and keep it fun.

Connection to Me – I know that growing up my Youth Pastors were very influential in my life. But you know who was more influential? the youth leaders who led my sunday school times, the guys who would hang out with me on saturdays and take me out to lunch, the people that prayed with me at Camp. Those are the people who really impacted me.

Part of the cell group model that is so attractive to me is that it gives more people the opportunity to do the best job in the world, influencing teenagers for eternity. The more people that we can get plugged into ministry this way then I feel the more lasting the impact on these students will be.

I tell people that I didn’t get into youth ministry because I don’t have enough high school and jr. High School friends. Because I do. My motivation is not to be popular, or be the person who they all want to hang out with. That’s not my personality style. Do I like to have friends? yes. Do I love teenagers? Absolutely! Would getting more people to love teenagers be more effective than just me loving them? That should be a no-brainer.

I personally believe that it is a lot healthier to spread out the influence. When I look at youth ministries that I have been involved in, the transition between Youth Pastors is crucial. The pastors that seem to be everyone’s friend, don’t really leave well. When that pastor leaves, students bail. but who sticks around? It’s the students who were connected to the support staff. I know that I will most likely not be at Creekside forever, I have no plans of leaving, I am not looking or anything, but someday I’m going to die, or I’m going to be led somewhere else. It’s just going to happen sooner or later. If I am going to be a wise steward of the influence that God has given me, then I need to be building into the people that will be there when I am not. It’s healthier that way. And I am blessed to have some really great youth leaders. They are completely dependable, they are smart, they are fun to be around, and they love students! I don’t know if I could really do this anywhere else, but I know that with this team I don’t have to worry about anything. It’s amazing.

So last week was our first week, we had three students who had never been to any >>beyond>> event. The group I went to had a good discussion, the leaders did well, and I left feeling really good about where God was leading.

Please pray for this new model, pray for our leaders and students, and please pray for me as well. Thanks for reading this really long post. I really appreciate it.

follow-up:  read this post from Ben Arment, we have similar thoughts.

More Snow, Honestly! It’s Time to Fight Back

So I’ve lived in the Seattle area for about 20 years.  I’ve seen many snow days, I’ve seen power outages that last days, and I’ve seen torrential rain. But today marks my limit for welcome snow.  I don’t remember ever having this many seperate days of snow.  What’s worse is that the snow from last week never melted so now it’s all icy.  My hill has three patches that haven’t seen the sun in days so it just ice.

The problem is the Arctic Blasts from the North.  What else is from the North?  Canada!  So what does this mean? It’s time to fight back.  If we don’t respond to this latest cold front from Canada then the Canadians Win.  And Canada doesn’t win at anything, except of course Hockey, but the outcome of Hockey has no real relevance for this planet.

So what should we do?  What is a proportionate response?

Well I think this is one of those rare times when California may actually be useful.  Governator I’m pleading with you, send some of your killer robots with heat powers north.  The Canadian Border is weak, they have no defense against an attack like this.

And all of the citizens living on the boarder, please point your hair dryers toward the boarder.  Every citizen can take part in liberating our nation from the ice grip.

After we send the heat wave to battle against the Arctic Blast we can then build A gigantic Plexiglass border so the canadians can still see how amazing the US is, but they can no longer come and enjoy our parks and outlet malls.  This move I am guessing will finally bring the exchange rate back to a reasonable level. That being 1 canadian dollar = .5 american cents (that’s half a cent)

There may be some collateral damage from this battle front, but Mild, Temperate Climates aren’t free.  And I for one will pay whatever price I have to pay to ensure that my Son will grow up in average temperatures of 68 degrees farenheit.

The Canadians think their so clever with their Celsius measurements.  They know that US citizens can’t and won’t do math so they think they can trick us by sneaking cold weather down here.  But no more. Please write your congressman or woman.  And let them know that you support this battle.  If we don’t fight back, Mexico will become the new US and the current US will become the new Canada.  That is a price we just cannot afford to pay.

24 – amazing

So I was reminded last night why I love TiVo and 24.  Sunday nights are the nights when we do youth gatherings (I’ll post more about that later).  So when 24 comes back on the air I don’t always get to watch it live. So that’s where the wonderful world of TiVo comes in.  I get home and I can watch the episode, skip over commercials, watch really cool scenes or things where everyone is whispering, a couple of times.

And well last night did not dissappoint.  I can’t believe that this show can continue to get awesome-er and awesome-er.

I think I need this great little action figure as well.

jack

Earl Creps on Preaching

Just read this great post from Dr. Creps.

I’ve always felt that preaching should be as artful as the music portion of any service.  If the preaching isn’t imaginative then why would anyone care?  The Bible should never be boring.  It is full of some of the most bizare and amazing stories.  The only reason the Bible would be boring is because of the presentation.  And that’s where the preacher needs to hone his craft.

I would never by a piece of art that was sub-par, I would never by an album that had no production quality, I would never watch a movie or TV show that didn’t have a compelling story, so why should I expect people to enjoy a sermon, or even apply a sermon, that doesn’t grab their heart and their imagination?  Just some thoughts.

Soul Cravings

Erwin McManus’ Soul Cravings is a great little book.  It’s written in a format that is more like a blog or a journal than a big chapter book.  So I like to read an entry or two a day.

I read this today in the Section titled Destiny:

You were created not to live in the past, but to create the future.  Your soul craves to become, and you will never be satisfied with less.

– Erwin McManus – Destiny Entry 7

Good Post from my Sr. Pastor

Don, my Sr. Pastor blogs over at gradydawn.blogspot.com.

He wrote a great post on the role of women in ministry you can read it here.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this issue.  If you comment please refrain from name calling.

I am of the opinion that God can gift whoever he wants to gift, and I can’t stop him or tell him not to.  So if someone is a gifted leader, and a gifted communicator and they have strong theological convictions and stay true to the Bible, then let them lead.

Love to hear what you think.