Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Who Am I? v.1.0
OK, I had seen so many other people do it, that I decided to join in. I cruised on over to mypersonality.info and did a personality test. (No! I didn't fail!) The trouble I have with Meyers-Briggs is that, about halfway through, I feel like I want to answer BOTH answers on some of the questions! :-) Ever felt that way? Maybe I am just a confused person...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Kinship Project
I just finished a kinship project for my Anthropology class. I was to chart my family back at least to my great granparents. Since genealogy is a hobby of mine, it wasn't so much work to come up with the data to work with. The hard part was working within the space constraints that I was allowed. I had to fit the whole chart on a single 81/2 X 11 sheet of paper.
Now...for the clincher. I had never counted the number of my first cousins before. When I finished the chart, I counted the cousins and came up with 53! That is just my 1st Cousins! No wonder it was so hard to fit them all on the page.
Is 53 cousins a lot of cousins? How many do you have?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Mind Dump: 12 August 2007
Wow. Yesterday was a pretty full day. I spoke at two churches, and facilitated a "Speed Dating" event to help my church get to know the couple who are serious candidates to take the role of Interim Pastor. It was a lot of fun, and I was feeling so good last night, about the way the day had gone that I didn't want to go to bed. :-)
In the morning, I spoke at our church. I spoke on something that runs deep in my veins. Ephesians 2 talks about the work that God does in us to prepare us for the work He wants to do through us. I don't know what everybody else got, but I was quite moved by what the passage had to say! :-)
Charles Dickens penned the words, "Marley was dead; to begin with." as the opening line of "A Christmas Carol". What a funny way to open a novel that will go on to become one of the best known of his writings! A significant character in the drama is dead in the first sentence of the book!
Well....Ephesians 2 opens by saying something very similar. Only the opening line of this chapter is, "You were dead." HUH?! I really enjoy the jolt of the paradoxes that Paul lines up in this chapter. You were dead...but God made you alive. You were an object of wrath....but God loved you so much he showed mercy. You were going in a direction 180 degrees away from God's plan for you.....and he chose YOU as the one to continue His work in the direction He is going! Is that not ironic?! Fun stuff!
God brings stuff across your path that He either plans to use to prepared you for the work you were designed to do, or because it is the work you were designed for in the first place! There is something about being told that God has chosen--in advance--something good for you to do that is quite motivational. Especially when you realize that this means you are a unique part of the work that God is doing in this place. What if you are the ONLY one who could play that role?
Think about Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...etc... There are times when God seems to be unwise in His choices because He narrows the plan down to the point that it depends on the obedience and faith of ONE person! Awesome thought!
So. That was my topic on Sunday morning.
Immediately after the service, we played A Game Similar to the Game from 'Fill in the Blank Network -- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". (PHEW! Avoided the copyright infringement issue there....I hope!!!) We had 10 questions. 5 about the couple we were getting to know, and 5 about our church...and we answered them about each other. It was a fun way to approach a serious task. I think it helped to "defuse" the possible tension over the whole matter of finding an Interim. I had fun anyway... :-) (BTW, I found a GREAT Powerpoint Template if anybody needs one for an even, I can give you a pointer to it... )
Sunday afternoon, I crashed for an hour or so, in order to have some of me left for the evening service where I was to speak.
Sunday night, I spoke on Romans 10, at a church where I knew some people, but had never attended. The message was very well recieved, and I think it helped them to think about mission in a whole new way. I use an illustration for the whole series of events that Paul outlines, and put a chair at the "end" of the series. So it is Sending > Preaching > Hearing > Believing > Calling on the Lord....and sitting down. The PROBLEM is that Paul wouldn't put a chair at the "Calling on the Lord" position like we do. He would make it a cycle, I believe.
Who better to fan the flames of those who are passionate about reaching out than those who have just been reached with the message?! And that will sweep them into the process as they learn to share their faith, and the cycle runs again. This is not a linear process....though we often tend to think, "The Gospel is about me not going to Hell." No, the Gospel is about me coming into relationship with God, and bringing others to that relationship!
So...you have had the "opportunity" to sit through two sermons of mine back-to-back! Exhausted? I know I was, but it was a very good exhaustion. :-)
In the morning, I spoke at our church. I spoke on something that runs deep in my veins. Ephesians 2 talks about the work that God does in us to prepare us for the work He wants to do through us. I don't know what everybody else got, but I was quite moved by what the passage had to say! :-)
Charles Dickens penned the words, "Marley was dead; to begin with." as the opening line of "A Christmas Carol". What a funny way to open a novel that will go on to become one of the best known of his writings! A significant character in the drama is dead in the first sentence of the book!
Well....Ephesians 2 opens by saying something very similar. Only the opening line of this chapter is, "You were dead." HUH?! I really enjoy the jolt of the paradoxes that Paul lines up in this chapter. You were dead...but God made you alive. You were an object of wrath....but God loved you so much he showed mercy. You were going in a direction 180 degrees away from God's plan for you.....and he chose YOU as the one to continue His work in the direction He is going! Is that not ironic?! Fun stuff!
God brings stuff across your path that He either plans to use to prepared you for the work you were designed to do, or because it is the work you were designed for in the first place! There is something about being told that God has chosen--in advance--something good for you to do that is quite motivational. Especially when you realize that this means you are a unique part of the work that God is doing in this place. What if you are the ONLY one who could play that role?
Think about Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...etc... There are times when God seems to be unwise in His choices because He narrows the plan down to the point that it depends on the obedience and faith of ONE person! Awesome thought!
So. That was my topic on Sunday morning.
Immediately after the service, we played A Game Similar to the Game from 'Fill in the Blank Network -- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". (PHEW! Avoided the copyright infringement issue there....I hope!!!) We had 10 questions. 5 about the couple we were getting to know, and 5 about our church...and we answered them about each other. It was a fun way to approach a serious task. I think it helped to "defuse" the possible tension over the whole matter of finding an Interim. I had fun anyway... :-) (BTW, I found a GREAT Powerpoint Template if anybody needs one for an even, I can give you a pointer to it... )
Sunday afternoon, I crashed for an hour or so, in order to have some of me left for the evening service where I was to speak.
Sunday night, I spoke on Romans 10, at a church where I knew some people, but had never attended. The message was very well recieved, and I think it helped them to think about mission in a whole new way. I use an illustration for the whole series of events that Paul outlines, and put a chair at the "end" of the series. So it is Sending > Preaching > Hearing > Believing > Calling on the Lord....and sitting down. The PROBLEM is that Paul wouldn't put a chair at the "Calling on the Lord" position like we do. He would make it a cycle, I believe.
Who better to fan the flames of those who are passionate about reaching out than those who have just been reached with the message?! And that will sweep them into the process as they learn to share their faith, and the cycle runs again. This is not a linear process....though we often tend to think, "The Gospel is about me not going to Hell." No, the Gospel is about me coming into relationship with God, and bringing others to that relationship!
So...you have had the "opportunity" to sit through two sermons of mine back-to-back! Exhausted? I know I was, but it was a very good exhaustion. :-)
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
GO! Reachout 2007!
For the third year running, I am involved in the day-to-day operations of GO! Reachout. GO! Reachout is a special mission event for young adults in Western Australia. I enjoy the event, but I must admit that some days, dealing with the logistics of day-to-day planning and the occasional "committee-style" meetings can be grueling. What I *LOVE* about GO! Reachout is the opportunity to spend time with Young Adults who just love Jesus and want to find the opportunity to serve him to the fullest! This year, we are also going to be the Premiere Opening event for the "Voices Tour". I am looking forward to the event, and to how it can be used to encourage young adults to consider their response to the Great Commission. Drop by the website and have a look! Let us know what you think... Thanks!
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Want traffic bad enough to pay $2500???
Bloggers will go to great lengths to get traffic to their site. Ashwin is will to pay big bucks! Ashwin is offering a contest where the winner will receive $2500 for simply posting a blog entry about the contest. So...if you have a blog, cruise over and see if you want to help "relieve" Ashwin of $2500!
Have a read here:
Enjoy!
...we now return you to your regularly scheduled entertainment....
Have a read here:
Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!
Enjoy!
...we now return you to your regularly scheduled entertainment....
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Do we need vocational missionaries or laymen??
Hi Y'all. I was reading this morning and came across this, which I enjoyed reading, but it tweaked a thought for me. Why do we always chase after some extravagant or extreme and miss the nuance in our understanding of ministry. I really enjoyed reading that article, but I was bothered that they felt it necessary to sort of put down the idea of trained, professional missionaries in order to raise the profile of short-term, layperson centered mission work.
I am not one to advocate the importance of "professionals" as more highly valued than "lay people". I don't make that distinction very strongly at all. However, it isn't necessary to go to the other extreme either! You don't have to devalue career missionaries in order to make the amazing potential of short-term lay ministry visible. Each has their place. Neither will function as it should without the other being a part of the picture.
The other thing that bothered me about this article was when Bob Roberts, Jr. seems to be taking a stab at "Business as mission" and summarily dismissing it as "an insult to the businessman". It would seem to me that either Mr. Roberts doesn't understand business-as-mission, or at best has been given a misunderstanding of what business-as-mission is.
In my experience, it is the business people who are EXCITED about business-as-mission, because it validates their role AS A BUSINESS PERSON in the whole mission endeavor. It doesn't leave them in the position of "financier" that they have been relegated to for so many years. It welcomes them to the front-lines of ministry. Why would that be an insult?
There are many things I don't understand. I try not to dismiss them based on my lack of understanding. I wish Bob Roberts, Jr. would have done as much in his treatment of business as mission. I wish that we could develop a vision for mission that would embrace the value of career missionaries without devaluing what laypeople can bring to the picture. Can we also raise the profile of short-term and lay-involvement without devaluing the career missionary?
I agree HEARTILY with Dr. Roberts that the Great Commission was given to the WHOLE church! We each have our role to play. Let's not make it a competition.
EDIT:
I need to add something here. :-) It is funny how you can write something and create (or be the victim of??) a tone that you never intended to inject into your own words. It seems that sometimes Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr. is misunderstood. I guess when you make a seemingly negative statement regarding a "time-honored" institution, emotion charges forward and the backlash can be unexpected. I found this post on Dr. Roberts' site that reads like a script for what was running through my mind when I wrote this post earlier! So....Dr. Bob....we agree, I think. :-)
I am not one to advocate the importance of "professionals" as more highly valued than "lay people". I don't make that distinction very strongly at all. However, it isn't necessary to go to the other extreme either! You don't have to devalue career missionaries in order to make the amazing potential of short-term lay ministry visible. Each has their place. Neither will function as it should without the other being a part of the picture.
The other thing that bothered me about this article was when Bob Roberts, Jr. seems to be taking a stab at "Business as mission" and summarily dismissing it as "an insult to the businessman". It would seem to me that either Mr. Roberts doesn't understand business-as-mission, or at best has been given a misunderstanding of what business-as-mission is.
In my experience, it is the business people who are EXCITED about business-as-mission, because it validates their role AS A BUSINESS PERSON in the whole mission endeavor. It doesn't leave them in the position of "financier" that they have been relegated to for so many years. It welcomes them to the front-lines of ministry. Why would that be an insult?
There are many things I don't understand. I try not to dismiss them based on my lack of understanding. I wish Bob Roberts, Jr. would have done as much in his treatment of business as mission. I wish that we could develop a vision for mission that would embrace the value of career missionaries without devaluing what laypeople can bring to the picture. Can we also raise the profile of short-term and lay-involvement without devaluing the career missionary?
I agree HEARTILY with Dr. Roberts that the Great Commission was given to the WHOLE church! We each have our role to play. Let's not make it a competition.
EDIT:
I need to add something here. :-) It is funny how you can write something and create (or be the victim of??) a tone that you never intended to inject into your own words. It seems that sometimes Dr. Bob Roberts, Jr. is misunderstood. I guess when you make a seemingly negative statement regarding a "time-honored" institution, emotion charges forward and the backlash can be unexpected. I found this post on Dr. Roberts' site that reads like a script for what was running through my mind when I wrote this post earlier! So....Dr. Bob....we agree, I think. :-)
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