caffeine, please.

The ultimate sermon illustration

A Dutchman with a vision to build a replica of Noah's ark has just opened the door to his massive biblical ark replica.

(Click to read a BBC article on the ark.)

What is so incredible to me is that the replica is less than half the size of the actual ark.  And he built it by himself. 

I believe this kind of project has power to help people's faith grow.  Our physical senses sometimes need to experience things that help our faith senses grow.  Seeing a massive replica of an ark gives me the ability to conceive of how God could have preserved so many animals unharmed during a worldwide flood. 

If I ever get to see this ark, I'm going to preach a message from on it via video and use it back home in Chicago.  Its the ultimate illustration!

Feelin mossy

Talking with Nate, our media outreach specialist, the other day as we were driving to a meeting.  I was asking him how he was feeling since coming on staff.  He gave me a quote I'll never forget--"As Kramer would say, 'I'm feelin MOSSY!'"  He said this while wriggling his fingers over his head.  Love that image--totally got it when he said it.

Today I was reading in Psalm 92 and I found the "feelin mossy" scripture--didn't know there was one before today. 

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon
They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God;
They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green.

I love that!  "They are ever full of sap and green!"  That is my desire--to be full of sap and green--mossy, as it were--when I am old wrinkly.   And to be sap and green all along the way.  Sap and green--sounds like the name of nice English pub, doesn't it...

Caffeinate your Thursday

Started a new 8 week small group this morning... early this morning... 6am this morning... which means I got up at 4:30am this morning.  Arggh.  Funny thing despite the early hour--I really enjoyed the group and time slot.  We're doing a DVD & discussion group study on John Maxwell's 21 Laws of Leadership.  Maxwell does great general training for the foundational issues of good leadership.

The only promotion I had done for the group was a sign on the table at our small group launch last Sunday so I was impressed to see the eagerness of 8 people willing to arrive (on time I might add) for a group that early in the morning.  I think the desire to grow in leadership and the reputation of Maxwell are a strong draw--even outweighing a shorter night of sleep.

Its got me thinking--maybe I'll make this a staple time slot for me leading a small group.  It is really fun to start the day with a group of people like this who are hungry to grow and are willing to make sacrifices of sleep to do so.

So to Brian, Justin, Alan, Louise, John, Mike, Mickey and Ryan--thanks for coming out to kick off the group.  Hope to see you back next week and if your name isn't on that list but you'd like to join us too, you are welcome.  We'd be glad to have you caffeinate your day with us next Thursday!

Do you live in a mission field?

The Christian Post, a new discovery for me, has a great article on the need for church planting and evangelism here in the U.S.:

America Still 'Less Reached' Despite Church Planting Surge

(By the way, if you think you are living in a Christian nation, c'mon.  Are you kidding?) 

The decline in churches is very visible if you take a drive through some Chicago neighborhoods with me.  There are areas of the city where most of the historic church buildings that used to serve the community are now converted to condos.  And understand that those churches have not been replaced.  There are simply fewer churches and fewer people following Christ per capita in the city.

I have nothing against condos.  But, I do hate the fact that in a city where every church has to be granted special zoning to use a building for religious purposes, buildings that were already zoned are being sold to developers for profit rather than being reinvested into the kingdom. 

But the cool thing is, New Life has been gaining opportunities to partner with churches that are on the decline to restart them, building off of the legacy of their past while moving into an aggressive outreach-focused future.  As a church we've done 5 restarts and we're asking God for more opportunities to help reclaim church-zoned property for vibrant ministry and outreach.  Fun stuff.

Bottom line--America is a mission field and there aren't enough churches reaching people.  Don't be fooled by prominent churches into believing that churches are on the incline.  We're not--but I believe we can be.  But currently there are fewer churches closing than opening.  That's why we need to mobilize more leaders, creativity, risk, passion and resources into church multiplication.

Yeehaw!

The power of not working

Just came back from a casual dinner and hang out night with our full pastoral team couples.  Really refreshing and fun time.  Its good to stop, share stories, have fun and relax together as a team when most of our interaction occurs in the context of work and ministry. 

As a leader, this is an area I need to grow in with the people I lead.  I need to provide opportunities for periodic "let you hair down and hang out" times.  I believe they glue a team's hearts together and create fun memories.  Thanks to Pastor Mark and Dee for hosting a fun evening.  Didn't want to leave.

Praying for what will pop

As a pastoral team we are praying through 5 different opportunities for new venues this coming fall at New Life.  At this point all of them are in the category, "glint in their mother's eye".  Pray that God would cause the right opportunities to heat up and pop.  We want to see God's leading and respond to it--we don't want merely to pursue our ideas and thoughts.

Pray particularly for the idea of a New Life Lakeview "marketplace venue"--a theater or concert venue nearby on the north side.  We are called to press in and take risks to reach people in Jesus name.  Pray with expectation.

Mr. President, "have pity on the working man..."

On the way to school this morning Jaley says, “dad, did you know you can see the Great Wall of China from space?” 

“No you can’t honey.  That’s just a myth.” 

“But, dad, I read it on the COMPUTER.  You CAN see it from space.”

“Jaley, the Great wall’s like 20-30 feet across and maybe 30-40 feet high, right?”  (I was guessing but I figured I was close.)  “How tall do think that building over there is?”

“I dunno.” 

“35 feet or so.  And its about 30 feet wide too.  If you can see the Great Wall from space then you can also see that building right there.  And what about huge buildings like the Sears Tower?  How come you can see the Great Wall and not big downtown skyscrapers?”

[Note:  with Google earth, of course you can see just about anything 'from space'--but the common reference I'm taking for what can be 'seen from space' is what an astronaut can see while orbiting the earth.]

It was starting to settle in that MAYBE I might know something—that I might be right.  She wasn’t totally convinced yet, though.

“Well, why would people lie about stuff like that dad?  Why would they make that up?”  She was asking more like, “Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about if you can’t explain to me why someone would lie about that.”

“Jay, people lie about stuff like this for reasons I’ll never understand all the time.  People lie.”

She stewed on that for a minute.  I could tell I was convincing her.

Then came the payoff comment:

“Dad, why doesn’t the President make them stop?  He should just go on the computer and delete that stuff and if they do it three times they should get in a lot of trouble.”

That is priceless stuff!  Remember when you used to say stuff like that?  Remember when you thought the President should fix every problem that happens in the world because you really thought he could?  I totally remember saying the same thing when I saw injustice happening and no one doing anything about it.

I just chuckled and agreed that the President should fix the problem.

Made me remember, we all long for God to make things right, don’t we?  And when you’re young, the most powerful earthly expression a child can think of for the “make-it-right” power in the world is the President, of course.  I think it is a tip of the hand that every heart longs for God to bring justice to the earth.

Thy kingdom come.  (And in the meantime, let me laugh at my kids’ jokes—they’re really funny.)

So I'm in the throws of research and prep to write a research paper for my Church History class.  (Hence the lack of posts the last couple days...) 

Anywho--I came across this little nugget about the early church practice of baptism:

Easter, the one festival Origen's church certainly celebrated, was the normal time for baptism.  [So far, pretty normal.]  The timing emphasized the baptized person's identification with the dead and resurrected Christ.  Catechumens [people being prepared for baptism] about to be baptized prepared themselves for the rite by fasting for some days or even weeks before Easter, and the rest of the congregation joined them in solidarity.  This is the origin of Lent.  On Easter morning they went to a stream of "living" (flowing) water.  The catechumens were exorcized, they renounced Satan, and they affirmed their faith publicly.  Deacons baptized them, men and women separately, in the nude, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Baptismal nudity, which reinforced the symbolism of the new birth, was not awkward because early Christians were used to public baths.  On emerging from the water, they put on a spotless new white garment.  The cleanness reminded them of their newly acquired purity and their need to keep it unsullied by sin... 

(from Origen: The Bible and Philosophy in the Third-century Church by Joseph Wilson Trigg, p. 25-26)

Put that in the baptism brochure whey don't you?  Hah!

Red Eye day 2

So today's RedEye ad promoting our upcoming series God Love Sex landed at the end of the paper next to an ad for Headache remedies ("not tonight--I have a...")!  Can you believe it? 

Sex series

Really feeling the weight on my preparation for this sex series starting on Sunday.  A good weight.  A weight that says, "don't softsell truth, don't hurt people by being insensitive, don't skim the top--go to the hard place, don't be simplistic but offer hope, and be sure to be plugged in enough to truly grasp the kind of sexual issues people are grappling with."

I picked up and have plowed through a chunk of Unhooked:  How Young Women Pursue Sex, Delay Love and Lose at Both from Barnes and Noble today.  Very eye-opening treatment of the sexual issues facing many college-age and 20 somethings of this generation.  I'm praying that the book helps me to see life more clearly from the shoes of people wrestling with sexual struggles.  I don't want to give pat or primarily negative instruction on this critical topic.

I don't normally do this here, but I would ask you to pray for me in relation to this series and the things I've mentioned.  Thanks in advance.

Red Eye ad

Here it is gang:  a clip of our ad in today's RedEye for the message series we're beginning this weekend.

Incidentally--I love the placement next to the ad with the headless woman in a bikini.  Talk about ironic placement!  Someone else uses sexual imagery to sell their product and we're able to speak to the person looking at their ad.  Yes!

Pray that this series is a valuable tool to turn people to real sexual freedom, not the version advertised in pop culture. 

Blatant Dutchism and Heightism

I'll admit it--I'm proud of my Dutch heritage.  And I like being tall.  (Pretty pathetic--proud of two things that happened entirely without my participation.)  Articles like this only feed my Heightism and my, er... Dutchism.

Respond with comment

Here's the question:

• When presenting the message of the Gospel of Jesus to people, what is most important for them to grasp--that it is true? or that it is helpful?
• If it is true, what if it isn't helpful?  Doesn't that make its truth seem less authentic?
• If it is helpful, what if it isn't true?  Doesn't that make its helpfulness less valuable?

(I believe I may be indebted to Francis Schaeffer for the genesis of this question though I can't find the quote.)

Facing the Giants

Watched Facing the Giants with my wife and in-laws last night.  Interesting to see this movie shortly after watching the Juliet production.  Each production approaches faith from a pretty different angle.

A couple positives and negatives:

Positives:

• Vision of this project, being produced by a church for cheap, was very cool--love the "thinking big" factor
• The acting, though employing locals with no movie experience, was pretty good.
• The movie was on the par of a good TV movie--think Hallmark Hall of Fame
• The idea of doing everything to honor God first and foremost and the concept of "we praise Him when we win and we praise Him when we lose" was right on.
• The school revival and the example of the praying "old man" were beautiful and tasteful pictures of humble, biblical Christianity.

Negatives:

• The story tied up a bit too happily for me.  The implication of the message was, "if you'll trust God, He'll make everything 'all better' and He'll put a nice bow on your life."  More realistic would have been to have some loose ends that weren't so rosy.  (I won't spoil the movie with my suggestions.)
• I'm not sure how receptive an un-churched audience would be to this film.  The revival talk and some of the biblical referencing were "insider"-oriented. 
• Some of the references were a little too obvious.  (Kicker named David beats the "Giants".)  Give the audience some credit by making the story more subtle and letting people make their own connections.

You'll find yourself cheering and smiling at the end of the film.  Its a heart-warming and sweet story.  Definitely worth a Friday night viewing.  Sure to challenge you to examine your faith-orientation in the everyday of life and to press you to ask, "am I living out all of my life to honor Jesus?  Do I praise Him when I win AND when I lose?"

Value of dating your kids

I performed a wedding out in the suburbs this weekend.  I'm learning to use ministry opportunities like this as an opportunity to date my kids while doing things like weddings and hospital visits. 

Jaley went with me on Saturday for the rehearsal and we had a great time!  She's my little babbling brook--I don't think she stopped talking the entire ride there and back.  We managed to storyboard her entire young author's project on our excursion and had a lot of fun.

On Sunday I took Lena with me to the actual wedding.  Lena is more of what Gary Chapman would call a "dead sea".  She listens more than she talks and quality time is more her love language.  She snoozed a bit on the way out to the venue and we had a quick lunch at Panera before heading over for the wedding. 

This was her first time seeing daddy perform a wedding.  When I asked her what part she liked best she said, "the wedding part--but waiting for it to start was boring."  Classic!

On the way home we stopped at the Dempster Oasis for Auntie Annie's pretzel sticks and lemonade.  A quiet but meaningful snack time together.

After being together for about 3 hours and when we were only about a mile from home Lena turns to me somewhat urgently and says, "daddy, I need to tell you something."  Music off--time to tune in--daughter about to expose her heart. 

"Daddy, I think Felix likes me..." 

Blood pressure goes up.  "What?!" (Internal conversation--not verbalized.)  "Hmm.  So what do you think of that, Lena." 

"Well, daddy, I'm not ready to get married so I don't like anybody yet.  I think Felix is just my friend."  We discuss this rest of the way home and I am relieved to hear that she has internalized some of the values we've tried to instill regarding dating and relationships.

But what I learned about my daughter was this:  creating space for communication is huge because without spending several hours together, my daughter never would have gotten to the point of sharing that final "nugget" from her life with me. 

Glad for the refresher on the importance of dates and for the special moments with my girls.

Excited about this weekend

We're doing a couple things new this Easter weekend--a special Good Friday Service, adding a Saturday night service to accommodate extra Easter weekend traffic and bringing in a nationally acclaimed drama on the life of Christ called the Gospel of John performance for Saturday night and Sunday morning.   

Here's the story on the Gospel of John performance from the performer's own website:

The Gospel of John is a one-man “live” performance of the fourth gospel in its entirety. It took Atlanta-based actor Brad Sherrill four months to commit the entire gospel (from the N.I.V. translation) to memory. Since its premiere in 2000, The Gospel of John has enjoyed over 350 performances in churches and theaters across the U.S. and Canada (including a six-week run off-Broadway at New York City’s historic Lamb’s Theatre (2003) and at theaters in Washington D.C., Toronto and Atlanta (from 2001-2005.) It has also been performed at Yale School of Divinity (2002), the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD (2004) and American and Catholic Universities in Washington D.C. (2005).

This is going to be a historic opportunity for outreach--we'll have more people through our doors this weekend than any other throughout the year.  We're praying that God will move powerfully in exalting Jesus, especially before those who have not yet received Him.

Here's an audio clip from Charles Osgood of CBS radio fame on the Gospel of John performance:
Download osgood_on_gospel_of_john.mov