Be Back Soon
Posted on | August 27, 2008
Sorry for not writing lately.
We’ve been in Glenmore (Scottish Highlands) at our staff retreat.
Don’t worry, though. You’re confessional fix will come soon. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of the area of Scotland we’re in…
Unplugged Europe Wrap-Up
Posted on | August 23, 2008
Unplugged Europe was definitely a worth-while experience. For those of you who care, I thought I’d give a brief summary of the good and the less-helpful. Good stuff first…
Mark Batterson and his team from NCC are great people with a passion for Jesus.
- My creativity was inspired.
- Since the conference was small, I had the chance to get to speak quite a bit with Mark Batterson,Toney Foley (Lead Pastor at Eikon Church and host of the conference) and their teams.
The only thing that was challenging to listen to was a lot of the best-practice stuff. Watching another church’s videos and seeing their print materials is far less interesting to me than the thought process that got them there. In fact, some of that stuff can be outright depressing, because you begin to feel badly about what you can’t do… especially when comparing yourself to a mega-church.
But, all in all, a great experience. Thanks NCC, Eikon, and Mark Batterson. It’s much appreciated.
God is Out of the Box
Posted on | August 21, 2008
I’m thinking I might start a new blog series called Out of the Box.
Reading Scripture can do a lot to mess with your theology. Darn Bible, getting in the way of what I’d like to believe. Please allow me to share a Scripture with you that has just successfully sprung God from the box in my head. It’s long, but bear with me, it’s worth it…
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD.”
Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ”The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, ”therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; let him put his mouth in the dust—there may yet be hope; let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. For the Lord will not cast off forever, but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve.
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
Did God just get bigger to you?
Live Blogging from Unplugged Europe, part 1
Posted on | August 21, 2008
Sitting here in the Unplugged Europe conference, session 1. Main points are great. Here are the big ideas coming out up top…
I love how humble and helpful these guys are. Here’s Mark Batterson, big fish, let’s be honest. And here I am sitting in a room with 40 other pastors that he’s happy to come and help here in the U.K. I really appreciate that.
Two good quotes brought out…
A mind stretched by a new idea never returns to its original shape. - Oliver Wendell Holmes
The blessing of God complicates our lives in wonderful ways. - Mark Batterson
More later.
Hellfire! Damnation! Wrath! Grace!?
Posted on | August 17, 2008
Scene: Gospel Class
Topic: Creation and the fall of man
I spent an hour preaching and teaching on how beautifully God made everything and how horribly broken we have made it. I must have split that about 20/80. That is, about 80% of the time was on our sinful, totally depraved, fallen natures.
I pulled it all out. I felt like I was channeling Jonny Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
In the midst of my teaching on God’s terrible anger at sin, His wrath, and His righteous judgment… you know what happened?
Grace.
Pure, heavenly, unadulterated grace. Miracle of miracles. Heaven broke through a hard, stony heart and a young man repented and believed.
When asked why they don’t preach about Hell, blood, wrath, and sin, most preachers say something like, most people have a hard time relating to that kind of stuff. We want to help people with something more relevant. Hmm. Well, let me help you with something.
If it’s real, it’s relevant. It certainly was relevant to that young man.
If all that stuff about our fallen nature is actually real, and we really can’t even take a step toward God, and we really are utterly broken, and even our very best works are like filthy rags before God… if that’s real, that matters… a lot. More, I would say, than a month long series on the 7 D’s of Financial Success, or the 12 F’s of Victory, or the 423 Q’s of… well, you get the idea.
If we are really lost, then Christ, well all of a sudden he looks very, very good. If we’re that jacked up, the free gift of grace begins to look rather appealing…even, glorious?
So what are we preaching? What are you preaching?
The Confessional has been Remodeled!
Posted on | August 16, 2008
If you’re reading this, then that means you’ve made to the newer, better, brighter, slightly cooler (at least I think so) confessional. Let me give you a tour…
First off, you’ll notice some new buttons. These are the two best ways to keep up with the blog. You can subscribe and/or become a fan on facebook. If you don’t have facebook, go ahead and join the 21st century. If you’re confused about RSS, you can read about it here. I highly recommend it.
Secondly, you’ll see some new stuff off to the right. Click my face to read more about me. Additionally, you can click on the button that looks like this to learn about how to support the work that Hope and I do.
I’m sure there will be more coming, but for now, I hope you like the new look.
Let me know what you think!
Something New is Coming…
Posted on | August 15, 2008
Did you accidentally find yourself here?
Something new is coming around the confessional…
Reflections on Love
Posted on | August 12, 2008
He loves me.
It’s one thing to know, but it’s an entirely other thing to know, you know?
I’m reading D.A. Carson’s The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, right now. It’s difficult because its both hard to fathom intellectually and hard to wrap your heart around experientially. And that’s true, it is difficult. But on another level… when it hits you… it’s the simplest, most right thing ever.
I have a hard time acting like I’m accepted by God. In my natural self I’m the most religious of all the Pharisees. I’m a doer, and so I can easily slip into letting my actions, my service, my knowledge, be the thing that I’m depending on for acceptance.
Tragedy of tragedies.
Self-righteous religion is bad, bad news. It doesn’t help anyone. It doesn’t add value to anyone’s life. It can’t help the hurting. It can’t cleanse the wounds of those in pain. It can’t love the lost. It can’t win a city. It can’t win anything. I’ll tell you what it can do. It can make you into a jerk. It can make you into a proud, arrogant, fake, insecure, biggot. It can make your kids hate church and anyone who says they go there. It can make your spouse see you as a hypocrite. It can make you very, very ugly. It makes me very, very ugly sometimes.
But love. Well, that’s altogether different. If love is free, unearned, and in fact despite all my best efforts rather than because of them, then I am beholden to that love. There’s nothing that love cannot ask of me. If I am loved because I did something, then I have rights. If I am loved because I did nothing, then I have nothing…nothing…but…love.
What do you have?
iBored
Posted on | August 9, 2008
Rainy, cold, Scottish day. Hope’s camera. Free time.
The Head and the Heart
Posted on | August 7, 2008
I had lunch today with a friend that got me thinking…
My friend is from Africa, is highly intelligent, and a deep lover of God. We were discussing how we each connect with God best. For him it’s passionate worship, Holy Spirit gifts, tongues, then some bible. For me, its bible, word, thought, then worship comes, Holy Spirit, tongues, etc.
What’s fascinating to me is that he’s very smart and very passionate. His heart and his head meet, co-mingle, and work well together. Although we have different preferences, styles, and come from very different backgrounds, this I felt I could really relate to.
I was convicted. I hope, I want, I desire, that my head and my heart would touch each other well.
May thinking inform, guide, and guard feeling. May feeling colour, beautify, and make loving our thinking.
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