Open My Brain and Out Comes...

Where's Your Little Light Shining?

2009-08-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

At our church growing up there was this giant map of the earth on the wall outside the sanctuary. You know, the one where Greenland looks like it's getting ready to take over the planet, and Russia was labeled "USSR" long after the collapse of said Union. It was a nifty map, though, because it was lined on either side with the pictures of families and individuals, and each picture had a little red button underneath it. You could push the little red button and it would light up a little light somewhere on the map, showing you where that particular person or family was located. This was super high-tech stuff. I don't remember ever caring particularly who any of those people were, or where in particular they lived, or why they lived there, it was just an amusing little novelty in between Sunday school lessons to be able to push the button, see the little little, push another button, see another little light.

At Momentum, we've been talking a lot lately about God being a "sending God." About the Father sending the Son, the Son sending the Spirit, and they together sending the church into the world. I think we get that. At least I think we think we get that. God is on a mission, and He sends His church to carry out that mission. Easy enough, right? Evangelism...missions...justice and all that...it's important. We get it.

Recently some good friends came and did a Q&A session/dessert party at Momentum. They are missionaries over in eastern Africa, and they came and shared with us about the way they live, about their efforts to learn the culture, and about their strategies for manifesting the gospel in a way that their friends there can understand and access. They talked about the tangible things they do to meet the needs of the people they meet there, and how those acts of service help build relational bridges from which discipleship can begin. After all, these are the things missionaries do. They orient their entire lives around a mission, a goal, a purpose. They learn new languages, study cultural meta-narratives, and pretty much spend every hour of every day investing in people and seizing on opportunities to point people to this Jesus. Bible study, prayer, fellowship...these are not ends within themselves, but disciplines that better equip the missionary to accomplish their mission of pointing people to Jesus.

I get to thinking about that map again. About church sanctuaries lined with the flags of 50 different countries. About people and families over in Timbuktu and Who-knows-where; little lights on the map; big ole flags hanging proud. It's obvious that we care about global missions - about evangelizing the pagan peoples in far off lands. But what about the people here in my neighborhood? What about the people across town, in the rough neighborhoods where none of us want to venture. Are missionaries being sent there? Are missionaries being sent to my neighbors across the street? What grand strategies are being devised to reach them? What little red LED is lighting up there?

Seems like maybe the distinction we've made between the people who live and serve way over there, the people "called to missions," the "missionaries," and those of us normal Christians left here to live our normal Christian lives, us "uncalled ones," is a false one. Maybe we're all called to be missionaries. Maybe each and every one of us who claims to follow Christ should be living with the same intentionality and focus as those missionary friends of mine. No longer seeing church attendance, Bible study, or fellowship as ends in and of themselves, but as means to be better equipped to carry out our singular mission of pointing people to this Jesus (and perhaps tracts, four spiritual laws, and standing on street corners with bullhorns has nothing to do with this...). Maybe we should all be devising strategies to better bridge the gap between our culture and the Gospel of the Kingdom, like missionaries in far off places do. Like aliens sent to live in a foreign land do.

Like Jesus said to those who had chosen to follow him, "As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you..." Maybe Jesus has sent you to shine your little light right where you are. To live your life with the greatest intentionality. To live like you're on a mission from God.

Planning Song Sets for Worship

2009-07-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

As a slight change of direction, I thought I would wax a bit about my processes for putting together song sets at Momentum from week to week. While I'm sure methodologies here vary widely, from the super-spiritual (i.e. "what songs does God like this week?") to the overly-mechanical (i.e. "these songs are all in A, let's do them!"), I try to make as many practical and spiritual considerations as possible, then move forward from there. Some weeks, practical considerations weigh more heavily, other weeks, spiritual matters are most important.

Here are some of my criterion in programming out song sets, and the accompanying questions I ask myself for each criterion:

Function
What is the energy of the song?
Is this song more celebratory/horizontal, or introspective/vertical?

This is a major consideration for me. In my experience, kicking off your service with an engaging, high-energy pick-me-up song ("Awesome is the Lord", "Happy Day") is an absolute necessity. By the same token, a powerful, singing-straight-to-God-from-the-top-of-my-lungs type of song ("How Great is Our God," "Jesus Paid it All") can be the best way to close out a song set, especially one that leads right into the teaching time.

The energy of a song is determined by a number of factors, namely tempo, dynamics, and what I like to call the "clapability factor." Ultimately this is a subjective thing, but it's a useful exercise to characterize the overall energy of a song.

This is where having a well-catalogued music library can be a huge help. I have all the songs in our planningcenteronline.com database labeled as one of three "feels":

High energy
Medium drive
Contemplative

This way, all I have to do is filter by any one of these feels, and I can see which songs I have available to kick off a service, or to close it out.

While this may sound a bit mechanical, it's actually one of the most artful considerations to make in song planning. This is because it requires that you rehearse the song in your head, to test how it will function, how people might respond, and how the different feels might flow from one to another. You'll probably lose your audience if you move too quickly to a super introspective song, because you haven't given them time to really orient their hearts in that direction. You also don't want to juxtapose too many slow songs with fast songs right after.

It is in thinking through the feel and energy of a song that you can give your sets the greatest sense of "flow," where one songs seems to naturally flow to another - a high energy song to a mid-tempo, medium energy song, and finally to a contemplative, focused, vertical (singing directly to God) type of song, or something close to that. This consideration requires a lot of sensitivity on the part of the song planner.

Frequency
When was the last time we did this song?
How many times have we done this song in the last year?

For newer songs, I like to introduce them one week by putting them in a low-pressure slot in the service, like during communion where most people are preoccupied doing things other than singing. Then we'll make sure to do them a second week in a row, to really help with recognition and retention, take a week off, then do it a third time the next week. Introducing songs this way ensures that people feel comfortable with them by the end of the third repetition, and that song is then ready to be put into your regular rotation

I try to avoid doing any one song more than 7 times in a year, as anymore than this and the band starts getting bored with it. This is a little bit selfish, since ultimately our job as the worship leaders is not just to keep ourselves entertained but to help our community praise God, but it's a worthwhile consideration because if your band is bored with it, they're not going to bring much enthusiasm or energy to it, nor are they going to prepare as well for it during the week.

Content
Is this song pertinent to what's being taught about?
Is this a song that our people really need to be challenged with?

This is ultimately the most important consideration in song planning. It's where you have to learn to use your "spiritual radar" to determine how best to edify/encourage/challenge the body through song. If you sense that your community needs to be challenged in the area of giving, you might build your set around Matt Redman's "Breathing the Breath." If your people are particularly timid about raising hands, you might build around Chris Tomlin's "Unchanging," teaching through the idea that we are instructed to "raise up holy hands in prayer" (1 Tim. 2:8). If you know that the teaching is going to be focused on how we use our tongues, it would be a good idea to plan a song like "Take My Life" post-teaching, as a moment for the body to respond to the teaching through song.

Songselect.com's "theme" search can be an invaluable tool for this sort of planning, because in just seconds you can search for all the songs in their database that pertain to any particular keyword, like "thanksgiving" or "missions." You'll inevitably have to wade through a lot of really bad songs, but if you keep in mind that most of the songs that are worth doing are marked with a little icon for Audio, Chords, Leads, and/or Hymns, you can quickly navigate to the songs that are actually decent (i.e. widely performed).

The lyrical content and subject matter, as well as its applicability and benefit to your congregation is one of the most important factors in song selection - and one that's accomplished best through prayerful consideration.

This is just a little glimpse into my process for planning song sets. Hopefully it provides you with a start for purposeful, creative, tasteful song planning.

How do you plan song sets?

Sunday Summary - 6.1.09

2009-06-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

Man, what a fantastic week at Momentum! The energy was high, the music was loud, the production team was tight, and the band was ON! It was definitely one of the strongest sets we've had in a while, and the music team pulled it off brilliantly.

The band opened with the high energy "Filled With Your Glory", which we've done quite a bit over the last 6 months. It's a really great song, but I'm afraid we haven't been able to give this song a fair shake because we pretty much always use it as an opener, and the vast majority of people who join us on Sunday morning are not seated and ready to go at the start of the service, so inevitably the opening song becomes more of a performance song that people just hear as they amble into the service. There's been the temptation to give in to the lateness, and either start the service later, or start it with something that doesn't require rehearsal and preparation like a song does, which can end up feeling like a throw away, or like a wasted effort if people are not participating with what's go on, or not even there at all. However, we've decided to stick to our guns and keep starting right on time, in hopes that eventually people will get the idea, and head in a little earlier than usual. Although, I've also come to realize that one big reason people may not be seated as the service is starting is that they are actually conversing and connecting in the foyer, in the children's area, outside, or wherever, and that is definitely a good thing! So, for now, we'll just keep on doing what we're doing, and hope that it does actually serve some functional purpose.

It's always a treat when we can have two electric guitars on stage, especially when they're as ridiculously talented as Chad Johnson and Joel Chandler are, but this week seemed especially so. Vocals sounded great, rhythm section was tight, the mix was spot-on, and the songs were the kind you just want to sing from your toes! Having two electrics trading off on lead and rhythm was just the cherry on top. Add in the fact that the lights were as dynamic and energizing as I've ever seen, and the video loops provided just the right ambience, and it was just a really great service. Brad Sinclair's vocals on "Lift High" were amazing, and Julie Cruz on "Lead Me To the Cross" was chill-inducing. Man, that girl can sing! Walker brought the funk on "You Are Good", which was good, because he's pretty much always itching to bring the funk. Patrick Greer was as solid as ever, especially on the various stops and fills on "Lift High," on the new song "Lead Me to the Cross," and on the high-energy, lay-it-all-out-there iteration of "You Are Good." Patrick just continues to amaze me with his versatility, and the ease with which he seems to pick up new songs and new rhythms.

This was a week that saw us return to the familiar full-band setup after several weeks of simpler, more stripped-down ensembles, and it was a great way to do it. When you mix in the fact that the band can pull it off like they did with minimal involvement from me, the "staff guy," that makes for a big win for Momentum! Way to go guys!

I wanted to take a moment to recognize our fantastic Production Team. This week, I had the privilege of serving with the Production Team as the producer, and that is always so much fun for me, both because I enjoy being able to lead in a more behind-the-scenes role, and because the team is just so enjoyable to work with. These folks put in a lot of time and effort to making sure that our services run smoothly, that the environment and ambience is conducive to connecting with God, and that the efforts of those on stage are enhanced in any way possible. All this means that if they are doing their jobs to perfection, they probably won't be noticed. If the sound tech has it mixed just perfectly, most people are just going to think the band sounds amazing (which they do!), but not think much about what it takes behind the scenes for it to sound like it does. If everything is running like a well-oiled machine, not many people are going to realize that it's due in no small part to the leadership and direction of the producer who is on that week. So, if you are reading this and have not recently thanked the members of the Production Team for the incredible job that they do week in and week out, do so ASAP! Our services would not be what they are without these dedicated folks, these "technical artists," if you will. Michael, Maria, Heidi - it was a pleasure serving with you guys this week, and you all did a fantastic job! Heidi - great job staying on the ball, and picking tasteful and appropriate video loops! Maria - definitely one of the best mixes I've heard in a long time; you've got a fantastic ear! Michael - thanks for being willing to get creative and a little bit "out there" in the use of stage lighting this week.

On a final note, this was probably Julie Cruz's last week singing with us at Momentum. She and her family are going to be heading back to their old stomping grounds in California. We wish them the best, and will be excited to see how God uses Julie and her AMAZING voice to advance his Kingdom, and to inspire others to worship Him. We will also be sad to see her go, as she has definitely been a blessing to us over the last year that she's been with us. We love you, Julie!

Music Team
Julie Cruz - BGVs, lead vox
David Walker - bass
Patrick Greer - drums
Joel Chandler - electric
Brad Sinclair - acoustic, BGVs, lead vox
Chad Johnson - electric

Production Team
Maria Taylor - sound tech
Heidi Leonard - media tech
Michael Wcisel - light tech
Me - producer

Songs
"Filled With Your Glory" by Starfield
"Hosanna" by Hillsong United
"Lead Me To the Cross" by Hillsong United
"Lift High" by Eddie Kirkland
"You Are Good" by Israel Houghton

Sunday Summary - 4.12.09

2009-04-14T09:15:00.001-07:00

Despite the negative tone of my last post, Easter Sunday really was a great morning of celebration at Momentum. The energy was high, the lights were bright, and the music was loud (too loud for some, I've heard...). This was due in large part to the unveiling of the new stage, video screen, lights system, wall curtains, and tweaked sound system. It was fun to watch peoples' reactions as they entered the newly revamped space for the first time. I think many people were surprised about how much had been accomplished in a week's time, and how much of a difference those changes made in the overall feel of the room.

The music team was awesome, and it was a set that really allowed us to keep the energy and spirit of celebration high throughout the service. The pseudo-special "Christ is Risen", as the culmination of the "Easter Changes Everything" teaching was really a highlight. Even though it is a very simple song (I think there are only three chords in the whole song), its simplicity makes it very accessible to listener and performers, and it was frankly just a lot of fun to play. It was awesome to see the response of the body as in both services people were inspired to stand and sing with us in praise to the risen Christ - "He is risen, hallelujah..." Very very cool moments. Totally appropriate then as we closed out with "Salvation is Here" to cap off a morning of high-energy celebration of Jesus.

Music Team
Patrick Greer - drums
Julie Cruz - BGVs
Brad Sinclair - acoustic
Chad Johnson - electric
Glenn Smith - bass
Me - keys, lead vox

Songs
"All Because of Jesus" by Steve Fee
"Happy Day" by Tim Hughes
"Til I See You" by Hillsong United
"Christ is Risen" by Jeremy Riddle
"Salvation is Here" by Hillsong United

Easter Reflection

2009-04-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

I always have a hard time with Easter. It's hard to program for, it's hard to execute, it's hard to deal with the dynamic of a bunch of new folks (family members, one-time visitors, etc) that we'll likley never see again, and it's hard to know how to approach it mentally and spiritually. Because we are not a tradition that follows much of the traditional Christian calendar, Palm Sunday/Easter and Christmas Eve/Christmas always feel so totally disruptive to the rhythm of teaching and forward movement we normally experience. In those traditions that do follow the Church Calendar, the year begins with Christmas celebration, and builds to a crescendo culminating at Easter, so that by the time you reach Resurrection Sunday you've been anticipating it and building towards it through 40 days of Lent, special Holy Week observations including Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. In this context, Resurrection Sunday is truly climactic, truly a day of joyous celebration that you have looked forward to through the pains of a 40-day fast, through pre-Lenten reflection on Jesus' life and ministry, and even through Advent and Christ-tide.

In our tradition, though, we maintain a more fluid schedule for teaching and reflecting on the life of Christ. We do our best to respond to exactly what we feel our body needs to hear and be challenged on at any given point in time. We also observe the Lord's Supper every week, so every week we are remembering and reflecting on the death and resurrection of Christ. Because of this, Easter celebration has often felt forced to me. We sing loud and joyously because we know that the resurrection was something truly significant, and we teach, once again, about how significant the resurrection was...but somehow there's a disconnect, perhaps because Easter celebration really only makes sense in the context of the Church Calendar.

I'm still totally unresolved on how to rectify this situation. I've had a strong desire before to adhere more closely to the Church Calendar, to live within the rhythm of life and time that the Church has for so long in following the Calendar. Though I've never been a part of a tradition that actually does this, part of me has really desired this for a long time. Recently, though, I've really questioned the validity and value of this, because there doesn't seem to be any biblical record of the early Church following this sort of a tradition. Because we are stuck somewhere in the middle, in observing certain parts of the Calendar but not others, we miss the value in it entirely. Maybe we should do all or nothing. Perhaps we would do best to either fully buy into that tradition, or do away with it entirely and establish our own rhythm of learning, growing, and moving forward as the body. Any thoughts? Anyone feel similarly about Easter?

Momentum Baptism Gathering Video

2009-04-14T09:10:00.001-07:00

2009-03-31T14:27:00.001-07:00

Another fantastic week of music at Momentum! A solid band, great songs, an engaged congregation...all around, one of the strongest weeks we've had!

The service opened with the high-energy "I Am Free" that Joel Chandler introduced a few weeks ago. I'm a little bit skeptical that anyone at Momentum except for Mo is actually, legitimately excited that we are "free to dance" because of Jesus, and that will probably be a line that will always bother me about that song; not because I think there's anything wrong with dancing, or singing about dancing, or singing about being free to dance or anything like that, but because I've never been a part of a body that was actually excited and engaged enough to actually dance. I've heard about such groups, but have yet to witness it for myself. So until we get some high-energy movers bold enough to dance, I will feel weird about singing "I am free to dance." But I digress. It's a great song, though, and the band really played it well.

We introduced a new song, "Lift High", by North Point's Eddie Kirkland. It's a great song, with a fantastic melody, which may be a bit of a stretch for congregational sing-along, but it really works well coming out of our "Jesus is Lord" series and heading into Palm Sunday/Easter. The chorus lyric, "lift high your chains undone....all rise exalt the Son..." has such beautiful imagery, which is particularly poignant with all the teaching on slavery and freedom that was a part of the "Jesus is Lord" series. Unfortunately, I had this placed a bad point in the service for first service as the second song of the opening set, followed by an oddly placed welcome and meet-and-greet. Sometimes you just can't foresee how these things will play out until they actually play out. It just really didn't work too well having a new song that's very reflective and worshipful going on while people were still walking in the doors, followed by the meet-and-greet, which really needs to ride on the energy of a high-energy song in order to have the appropriate feel. We recognized it after first service, and made some pretty significant changes to improve the flow for second service. It was a vast improvement.

Jessica Greer sang lead on "Hosanna," which ended up becoming the closing song for second service, and it was phenomenal. The band really really nailed it. Sarah learned this fantastic little lick on the piano that added just that perfect little ornamental sound, and Chad was all over the super-powerful solo at the climax of the song. All around a really fantastic performance of a really great song, and one that people really engaged with.

All-around, it was just a really strong week. The band was really tight - dynamics, cutoffs, tempos all were right on. I spontaneously inserted a whole section on "I am free," and they totally flowed with it. It was awesome. It was truly a joy to play with them!

Music Team
Patrick Greer - Drums
Stephen Jernigan - Bass and BGVs
Jessica Greer - Lead vox, BGVs
Sarah Hart - Keys, BGVs
Chad Johnson - Electric guitar
Me - Acoustic guitar, lead vox

Songs
"I Am Free" by John Egan
"Beautiful Jesus" by Kristian Stanfill
"Surrender" by Marc James
"Lift High" by Eddie Kirkland
"Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser

Sunday Summary - 3.22.09

2009-03-24T07:33:00.000-07:00

Man, what an incredible week at Momentum! The music was awesome, people were engaged and really singing from their toes, and it was awesome to be a part of. The majority of people actually raised their hands after my super-literal "lets raise our hands when we sing 'we raise our hands,'" challenge! There were definitely some goosebumps moments, some "holy-crap-this-is-like-a-glimpse-of-heaven" -type moments. And of course, it seems like so many of the best moments are borne out of those situations that I have lower expectations about. Call it a "God-thing", I guess. It was awesome.

We pulled some vintage 90s songs out of the storage closet, and they worked really well, and people really engaged with them. Classic Darlene Zschech and Rich Mullins...We've only done the "Awesome God" tag once or twice at Momentum (and never the full song..."When we rolls up his sleeves he ain't just puttin' on the ritz...?!" It's amazing that one of the most powerful and timeless choruses of the past generation could have such horrible lyrics on the verses), and we've never done "Shout to the Lord." People know it though, probably from years and years of Christian radio saturation, and there's something really redeeming about re-introducing songs that haven't been heard or sung for years, especially doing them in a new way. Our iteration of "Shout to the Lord" wasn't a radical departure from the original, but doing it in the acoustic setting, using Lincoln Brewster's faster, more high-energy arrangement as a template, and with two phenomenal backing vocalists thickening it up with harmonies, it really worked well. Add in some of Mr. Brad Sinclair's phenomenal flutter strumming on acoustic, and some of Mo's excellent djembe-handling, and we had a downright inspirational performance of a great sing-along song.

"Clinging to the Cross" has quickly become one of our favorites at Momentum. We on the Music Team love it because it's got some phenomenal harmony/melody interplay, and the simple iv-I-IV harmony on the intro is incredible. The lyrics are fantastic, and it just really draws people in.

This was my first week playing on my new Roland RD-700GX, and I've got to say it was an absolute treat. It's seriously like sitting down at a beautiful concert grand; it feels like it, it sounds like it, and it's as inspiring and fun to play. The "Ultimate Piano" patch is absolutely one of the best pianos I've ever heard. I still can't hardly believe I get to play on this thing from now to kingdom come...

Music Team
Julie Cruz - BGVs, lead vox
Mo Ingram - djembe
Glenn Smith - bass
Brad Sinclair - acoustic, BGVs, lead vox
Jill Pate - BGVs, tambourine (which was freakin awesome on "Son of God!")
Me - keys, lead vox

Songs
"Unchanging" by Chris Tomlin
"Son of God" by Tim Neufeld
"Clinging to the Cross" by Tim Hughes
"Shout to the Lord" by Darlene Zschech
"Awesome God" by Rich Mullins

Creative Graphics of Art & Design

2008-07-08T05:58:00.001-07:00

I have posted a new site to my links, to the Creative Graphics of Art & Design website. This particular page highlights some of the most amazing and innovative designs in video and commercial advertising. It's basically like YouTube for the best commercials, music videos, and video shorts out there. Seriously...you should check it out, and then leave a comment about something cool you found there.

A (slight) distraction from blogging...

2008-06-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Though I plan to continue using my blog as a medium for communicating my ongoing cultural observations, research (which, admittedly, I haven't done much of up to this point), and other random quips, I have begun writing a screenplay, which will inevitably demand more of my time and creative energies than regular, consistent blogging would allow. I may provide details about my screenplay sometime later on, but at this point the narrative is really just a sketch, and I'm mostly concerned right now with profiling the major characters in the story. I would love to dialogue with some of you about the possibilities for the characters, themes, and overarching narrative...let me know if you're interested! Burke has already helped immensely in sparking some thoughts and inspiration for characters, setting, and story. Who knows, maybe you'll get "Written By" credits when it is made into a Hollywood blockbuster...

Hirsch is preaching to me once again

2008-06-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

"...We need to ask ourselves [the question]...What is the irreducible minimum of the faith? What can be done away with? What is too complex and heavy to carry into a new missional situation and an adaptive challenge? We, too, need to eliminate the things that don't matter."
"Take for instance the predominant idea of attractional church in the church growth mode. If we wished to start a church plant on the assumption that need to look like the local megachurch, with all its polished professionalism, great worship bands, exceptional communication, fully staffed children and youth ministry, effective cell programs, and all around attractive appeal, then for the most part, it is simply not reproducible - at least not by the vast majority of average Christians. Whether we intend it or not, the implicit message of this medium says that if you want to start a church, then you will need all of these things if you wish to be effective. Well, the fact is that most people can't put together a show like that - and it is a fact that we have had church growth and megachurch for well over thirty years now and the overwhelming majority of the 485,000 church in the United States remain under eighty per congregation, while laboring under the guilt of failure to perform like the bigger churches. Let's face it squarely: it is darn hard to reproduce a Saddleback or a Willow Creek, as remarkeable as those churches are. A church like that, with all its professional departments, charismatic leaders, large staffing, and financial resources, simply cannot be easily reproduced. If we put this up as the sole model of effective church, the net effect will be to marginalize most people from ministry and church planting, and it will effectively put a contraceptive on the reproductive mechanism of the church. It will certainly stifle genuine people movements, because it necessitates a professional concept of ministry with massive buildings and resources."

Hirsch continues to smash my head through the wall of my own preconceived notions...

The Implications for Church Planting seem pretty significant...

2008-06-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

From Seth Godin's blog:

Not so grand

Grand openings are severely overrated. So are product launches and galas of all sorts.

Make a list of successful products in your industry. Most of them didn't start big. Not the Honda Accord or Facebook, not Aetna Insurance, not JetBlue or that church down the street. Most overnight successes take a decade (okay, four years online).

The grand opening is a symptom of the real problem... the limited attention span of marketers. Marketers get focused (briefly) on the grand opening and then move on to the next thing (quickly). Grand opening syndrome forces marketers to spend their time and money at exactly the wrong time, and worse, it leads to a lack of patience that damages the prospects of the product and service being launched.

Non-profits do the same thing when they spend months planning an elaborate gala that takes all the time and enriches the hotel and the caterer. Far better to spend the time and money building actual relationships than going for the big 'grand' hit.

The best time to promote something is after it has raving fans, after you've discovered that it works, after it has a groundswell of support. And more important, the best way to promote something is consistently and persistently and for a long time. Save the bunting for Flag Day.

Comfort=Joy?

2008-06-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

I am becoming more and more convinced that the extremely high premium our culture (and, subsequently, I, myself) places on comfort, as an end in and of itself, flies directly in the face of a following-of -Jesus-way-of-life. It doesn't take much searching to see how pervasive the pursuit of comfort as an end in and of itself is in our society. So many products and services are marketed, seemingly with great success, purely on the merit that they will provide the consumer a greater amount of comfort, and I'm sure anyone reading this can fill in here with an appropriate example. Consumers themselves invest great amounts of time, energy, money, and searching into increasing the amount of comfort in their lives, once again, as an end in and of itself. But is this a worthy pursuit? Is comfort something that should be placed so high within our values systems?

C.S. Lewis said this:

"Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth, only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."

While Lewis was talking specifically about a "false gospel" that appeals to one's desire for comfort without confronting them with the harsh truths of sin, law, and condemnation, I think that the principle he presents reveals a broader truth that applies here: that the pursuit of comfort is detrimental and contradictory to any number of other, far more worthy values: truth, integrity, love for your neighbor, stewardship, and, above all, Christ-likeness.

Jesus himself said, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head..." (Matthew 8:20). Pursuing comfort as an end doesn't exactly seem to fit into Jesus' value system when he didn't even have a bed to sleep in. And he wasn't just saying this as a statement of his current situation. Instead, he was saying it to make it clear to a would-be disciple that following Him is not an easy way, nor a comfortable life. Instead, you can expect that at times you will find yourself without any of the trappings or comforts that so characterize and consume the lives of others...

This is definitely an issue that we must wrestle with, because if comfort is too high in our personal priorities, it will undoubtedly prevent us from "stepping out of the boat," so to speak, and really following Jesus. Jesus, after all, doesn't just live in your own personal comfort zone.

So, as his followers, how do we integrate this truth into our lives, despite our culture's coaxing much to the contrary? Does it demand a complete renouncement of earthly comfort, in favor of pain, restlessness, or insecurity? The individual's conscience will ultimately have to dictate how they live out their Christ-followership, but I think that pursuing the opposite-of-comfort is as much off-base as is pursuing comfort itself. None of these hold much value in and of themselves, neither comfort, nor pain, restlessness, or insecurity. Perhaps the pursuit of higher values, namely "justice, mercy, and faithfulness" (Matthew 23:23), which may or may not result in comfort (or pain), will yield far greater results in terms of personal satisfaction and joy, and, ultimately, lead to greater Christ-likeness.

Like a locomotive engine plowing over an unsuspecting pedestrian (but in a good way)

2008-06-05T07:46:00.000-07:00

Still gathering my thoughts after getting blindsided by this book...

A quick thought (quote) about the church

2008-06-02T11:45:00.000-07:00

A quote from Alan Hirsch's book The Forgotten Ways:

"A combination of recent research in Australia [where Hirsch is from] indicates that about 10-15 percent of that population is attracted to what we can call the contemporary church growth model. In other words, this model has significant 'market appeal' to about 12 percent of our population. The more successful forms of this model tend to be large, highly professionalized, and overwhelmingly middle-class, and express themselves culturally using contemporary, 'seeker-friendly' language and middle-of-the-road music forms. They structure themselves around 'family ministry' and therefore offer multigenerational services. Demographically speaking, they tend to cater largely to what might be called the 'family-values segment' - good, solid, well-educated citizens who don't abuse their kids, who pay their taxes, and who live, largely, what can be called a suburban lifestyle."

He goes on to say this:

"Thus, in Australia we have the somewhat farcical situation of 95 percent of evangelical churches tussling with each other to reach 12 percent of the population. And this becomes a significant missional problem because it raises the question, 'What about the vast majority of the population (in Australia's case, 85 percent; in the United States, about 65 percent) that report alienation from precisely that form of church?' How do they access the gospel if they reject this form of church? And what would church be like for them in their various settings? Because what is clear from the research in Australia, at least, is that when surveyed about what they think about the contemporary church growth expression of Christianity, the 85 perfect range from being blasé ('good for them, but not for me') to total repulsion ('I would never go there'). At best, we can make inroads on the blasé; we can't hope to reach the rest of the population with this model - they are simply alienated from it and don't like it for a whole host of reasons.'

Does this describe us? Is that who we are as a church? Are we catering to and consisting of mainly the "...solid, well-educated citizens who don't abuse their kids, pay their taxes and who live, largely, what can be called a suburban lifestyle"? Hirsch's solutions are yet to come...

Wall and Peace

2008-03-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

Anyone who's never seen graffiti artist Banksy's work before, you need to run, not walk (or whatever the web-surfing equivalent of running is) to his website here. He is a genius. I've never been anything like a graffiti enthusiast, but he really makes me believe in the medium. He snuck his work into the Louvre in Paris, and glued it onto the wall; it was an altered painting of an old duke or baron or something, holding a can of spray paint, painting peace signs on a brick wall. It stayed up for 2 days - that's awesome. He took a trip to Palestine and painted some amazing works on the segregation wall right in the middle of Palestine. The wall has armed lookout posts every 300 ft. or so, and is very well protected, yet he somehow managed to paint these huge pictures on the wall. One of them made it look like there was a hole in the wall, and on the other side was revealed a beautiful, idyllic looking beach. Genius! There was this hilarious quote underneath that went something like "Onlooker: You make the wall beautiful; Banksy: Thanks; Onlooker: We don't want it to be beautiful. We hate this wall. Go away." One of his particularly poignant pictures (not in Palestine, but somewhere in London, where he lives and primarily works) was a faux-street sign that had apache helicopters chasing a crowd of men, women, and children, and said "Americans Working Overhead" at the bottom. It's an interesting look at global perception of America right now. Anyways...he's an amazing artist, and you should definitely check out his work. One of the most amazing things about this enigma known as Banksy is that no one knows who he is! He's done thousands of pictures (I'm sure there's a slang term for graffiti pictures that I'm just not hip enough to know about...) all over the world, hung his work in museums in Paris, New York, and London, and really has a huge cult following, and yet only a small handful of people really even know who he is. I don't know about you, but I'm intrigued...

Cars are fun (aka "No more Brad Turner, I'm playing Michael Knight now")

2008-03-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a godsend friends can be! After scouring Craigslist nearly incessantly for the past 2 weeks, looking at car after car, junker after junker, and scam after scam, I finally decided to send out an email to everyone we know here in Georgia, to see if any of them were selling or knew someone who was selling a car at a decent (sub-3000) price. Some good friends of ours, Brad and Lanie Beth, work with a guy who just happened to be selling his car. Better yet, his in-laws were buying him a new car, so he didn't need to make any money off his old car, so he was willing to give us a sweet deal on it! So after all our searching, driving, praying, frustrating (can I use that as a verb?), and despairing, I'm driving off in my own 97 Honda Accord, with only 125,000 miles on it! Woo-hoo!! No more driving my motorcycle at 50 miles an hour on a 32 degree morning! No more mooching a car off Bart, Seth, or Debbie to go pick up lunch!! No more helmet hair!

Perhaps the day will come that I will lament being able to drive a motorcycle to work everyday, but that is certainly not this day. Amen.

A grey and rainy day...

2008-03-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Today's weather is a perfect metaphor for this brief yet all-too-drawn-out season I find myself in: grey, overcast, on-again off-again drizzle and downpour, and an overall sullen demeanor across the landscape outside our window. No doubt there are a number of things contributing to this morose and somewhat dismal state Maria and I have been in for the past few weeks: the let-down and stress after the purchase of our first house, the frustration of trying to buy a decent yet affordable used car, the counseling I am currently undergoing, which is stirring up a lot of pain and shame from my past, and a hard-hitting series at Momentum that the enemy seems determined to undermine...I swear I hear Simple Minds playing somewhere in the distance..."rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling down...down...down...down"

Congratulations, Idol, you win

2008-02-14T07:03:00.001-08:00

It's funny to look back at all the things that I have at one time boycotted and said "I will never...", and then eventually succumbed to. Cell phones. Guitars. DVRs. And now American Idol. The first 5 seasons of American Idol's existence I couldn't have cared less about the show, and probably did everything I could to defame the show and its viewers (conveniently, I can't really remember just how much I used to dislike the show, though). Last year I started to soften, as I watched the first few shows just simply for the gag-or-laugh factor of all the terrible vocalists that shamelessly subject themselves to the chuckling of Randy, the pitifully sympathetic waffling of Paula, and the wrath of Simon. Once it really got into the show, though, I started to lose interest, especially once my favorite contestant, the chubby curly-haired worship leader dude from Charlotte named Chris got eliminated. This season, however...I'm afraid I may have become a full-fledged Idol fan, painful as it is to admit.

I actually lost sleep last night because I couldn't turn my brain off after watching the first round of Hollywood auditions. I literally broke out in a sweat as my heart pounded on behalf of the contestants! I know how tough auditions can be, but I've obviously never experienced an audition with the pressure and weight that rides on an audition like that. So I sweat and shake on their behalf. I found myself shouting at the judges for their patronization of the 17-year-old who lives in his car and, though he was awfully likeable, has no business on Idol. I nearly cried in joy along with Brooke White when the judges finally announced that she was through, after the usual painful drawn-out speech about how tough it is to be a judge and to say "no" to people...Yikes! What has become of me...alas that these days should be mine, that I would foresake the last vestige of sanity and dignity within my soul...God help me.

From among the myriad, The Myriad emerges

2008-02-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

I am really digging this band "The Myriad" that I read about in Relevant. They combine the electric guitars and electronics of Radiohead, the pianos of The Fray, the vocals of Keane (only way better), and some of the rhythmic complexity of Mute Math; basically, they could be one of the best bands in recent memory! And yet, they do not sound like a rip-off or a cheap substitute. Their sound is distinct and unique, at least to my ears. I've only listened to their 5-track EP, appropriately called Prelude to Arrows (Arrows is their full-length release coming out in a few months), thus far, but it's really really good.

I'm really loving the keys with the abstract guitars and ethereal vocals; it's a great sound. They sound so polished, too, it's hard to believe they haven't had a major label release until now. Their melodies are soaring but palatable, the lyrics are abstract but not completely ambiguous, and the production quality is impeccable. I implore you to listen to the infectious "We Will be Disappointed Together" and not walk away singing the repetitive chorus for the next hour. Maria and I have already succumbed...

Working out like the Holy Man of Nazareth (I'm quoting Charles Spurgeon, so I must be super spiritual)

2008-02-11T06:28:00.000-08:00

I have this Charles Spurgeon daily devotional as part of a Bible suite program on my computer, and it's chock full of savory morsels of spiritual insight. It must have been written about 120 years ago (which I can confirm after a quick check at wikipedia), and the olden language reflects that. Nonetheless, I begin to see why Spurgeon is held up as one of the "heroes of the faith," so to speak; not only is he eloquent and verbose, his thoughts just teem with passion and zeal for Christ, and a sincere desire to invoke the same in his readers.

Anyways, the reason I mention it is that the entry for today is all about how even though the Gospels present a clear and intriguing picture of Christ, Christ's followers themselves should display the most striking resemblance to Christ that anyone could ever see. This is obviously not a new idea, or even one that I haven't heard in the last month. However, it's when Spurgeon says "but they [should], when they once beheld us, exclaim, 'He has been with Jesus; he has been taught of him; he is like him; he has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and every day actions'" that he really gets me. Now, obviously for someone to exclaim that presupposes that they know all about the person and character of Christ already, which somewhat misses the point. But, I wonder if I could honestly say the same about myself. Do I "work out the very idea of the Holy Man of Nazareth in my life and every day actions?" I hope that that could be said of me. I hope that more and more my life reflects the One I claim to follow. That's my hope for THIS day, as a start.