What is the gospel?

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. (Luke 3:15-16)

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I wonder if anyone ever mistook me for Christ? John boldly spoke such truth into people’s lives that their hearts were stirred and they thought maybe he was the Christ. Is it possible that followers of Jesus are to become people who others are waiting expectantly for? People who are compelling and magnetic, transformed, and overflowing with truth and love?

That was a life that I never thought could be possible. Until several years ago when I met a man who believed in me more than I could ever believe in him. He saw into the depths of my heart and kept reaching in. He pulled me out from my sins and told me of a life beyond anything I could imagine. He called me out to follow him, living out my life to the fullest while giving it all way. He said that I would walk this earth being a bearer of good news impacting the hearts of men and women and telling them his name is Jesus.

The good news though is not really that my life has been saved, and not really that God is creating a service commune to change the world. It’s that when others look to me, and they see any shadow of goodness, truth, love, and beauty in my life, that the really, really, good news is that the one who called me out is the source of goodness, truth, love, beauty, and even life itself. To echo John, he is so great ‘his sandals I am not even worth to untie’. Yet he bends down to reveal himself to all those who earnestly seek him. Jesus is the gospel. And the good news is that whether we stumble and fall or tragedies hit, there is a God who passionately pursues us with his love in this life and to all eternity.

Mountain of boxes...

Here's a first glimpse at our new condo... I just want to run and dive into all those boxes. More to come.

They sold their souls for Rock & Roll?

My small group community has been watching Pastor Joe Schimmel's "Rock and Roll Sorcerers" videos over the past month. Below is an email/letter to my group regarding my thoughts on it.

First off let me widen the scope to arts or media and spirituality because the theme is applicable in so many arenas. Let me also say that the ‘turn or burn’ approach aggravates me slightly, so I took some time to let my thoughts settle.

The views expressed here are probably a lot more balanced than what would’ve initially been. What actually helped was stumbling on to a picture of Schimmel’s family on their church website and being reminded that he is a child of God diligently working out his calling and for that I give glory to God.

Points of Agreement
We are to guard our hearts…
Rock and Roll Scorcers was an alarming warning of the dangers that can be found in our mainstream media. The memoirs and statements of many famous musicians were revealed as satanic or at the very least corrupting. Many followers of Jesus are undoubtedly exposing themselves to media in our culture that inadvertently impacts their relationship with God. I agree with Schimmel that there is a directly correlation between what we absorb and the lives that we produce.

Evil’s pretty bad…
The videos also depict just how actively intentional some of this media is in persuading and even manipulating its audience. Whether you believe it is the artist themselves, cultural icons, or the devil himself, it’s clear that there is some of it that is bent on evil, malice, and hate. Evil does not passively standby and uses people of influence to further its cause. We absolutely need to guard our hearts and minds against these influences that drag us below the lives that God calls us to.

Points of contention
While the content presented in these videos may provides a word of warning and attempts to distinguish what’s ‘evil’, I don’t believe that it offers the viewer a full sense of who God is and his call for how we should be relating to the world around us.

Exposure to evil…
Jesus came healing, loving, and serving and encouraged his followers to do the same. I don’t know of any references in the life of Jesus promoting studying the occult, or learning more about evil and its manifestations in order to advance the kingdom of God. I know of several people who had trouble sleeping as a result of the images portrayed in the videos. Much like when you're learning to drive, your car goes where you focus your attention. Maybe if we heeded the call in Scripture to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’ this wouldn’t be as much of a problem.

A separation of God and world…
Much of the video seems to be rooted in a dualistic view of God versus the world. Anything beyond what’s found in scripture or, anything in range of the darkness mentioned in scripture is labeled as demonic. Any form of questioning, exploration, doubting, mystical, spiritual activity outside of formal god-language (not that some of it wasn’t blatantly satanic), is assumed to be evil or veering from God’s desires.

Is it possible that God is bigger than the fine print in Scripture? Could it be that Scripture is not suppose to only help us see God in it, but also through it? That we might see more and more of Him everywhere else we look, including the world? That God loves the world, and there is a relationship between Him and all that is in it?

What concerns me is when Christians make a lifestyle out of cataloging where God is not. The arts, where alternative perspectives, role playing, figures of speech, social commentary, creativity and honest expression thrive, can be a goldmine for demon hunters. God is the ultimate artist, mysteriously working with the canvas of our lives. Simply because we encounter things that do not understand or cleanly fit into our theological framework, does not necessarily mean that God is not in it.

Advancing the good rather than avoiding the evil…
If God indeed is the Creator God, then we as the church ought to be the central outpouring of creativity, not its primary detractors. The content in the video almost advocated a posture of fear and avoidance. We are not of the world, but we still must live in it. There is no avoiding culture and media. Moses had an Egyptian education, Abraham pleaded for a wicked city, Jesus used the money of the day, and Paul was well read on ‘secular’ poets.

Is it possible that the battle for impacting culture was lost long before rock and roll arrived? Could it be that each time the church decides to avoid the world and remain ‘pure’ in the interest of self-preservation it abdicates its call to being the hope of the world? What would happen if followers of Jesus followed Jesus, and spent more time advancing the good rather than avoiding what might be labeled as evil?

Learning points
What we've learned is that evil comes in many forms, and can be compelling and attractive and pervasive. However, neutral will never overcome evil. While it’s helpful to know where evil lurks, how we respond to it is of even greater importance. What we expose ourselves to does matter, but what Christians expose to the world matters even more.

The world needs to see Jesus, a God who does not fear evil, but presses through it, to fight for the hearts of men and women. God is sovereign over all and is in the business of redeeming all of creation. He makes life out of dirt, and can make good come out of evil, yes even ‘wicked’ music.

Without going into what I think is a lack of research, contextualization, and questionable delivery, I think there was definitely some interesting background information presented. If ‘exposing’ evil is Pastor Joe Schimmel’s passion that’s fantastic. It seems the videos are helpful for some, and I’m a sucker for changed lives.

My hope is that we don’t all get caught up pointing fingers and scrutinizing culture, or worse yet, sitting on our hands avoiding evil. I hope that we do get so captivated by the mission God has in this world, that we use everything we have, including our God-given creativity and imagination to making God known. I hope that we never abandon the arts, music, media front simply because it may not seem directly scriptural.

And regarding the new-age one-world thrust presented in the videos… that’s right there is a new-age coming, and it’s up to us whether we want to just be by the sidelines watching for shadows or joining God in Advancing His Kingdom.

Visiting my future home...

Back in Ottawa for a week. And heading to Montreal for our anniversary. This city is so much less busy. Malls are near empty and roads are clear.

On our way into the city we drove 40km's or so looking for a gas station after the fuel empty signal had went on. To our surprise the first gas station we went to was closed. That was a first. Luckily another one wasn't too far and we were able to coast there on fumes.

Check out my strength's profile discussion here, courtesy of JVD.

Yu-Ling's got a good post on sex with a few interesting articles.

Back in a bit...

StrengthsFinder Assessment...

Hey readers, jvdworak of Bethel Seminary and LeadershipVision is profiling me today using my StrengthsFinder results on his blog. Feel free to head over there and add your thoughts on what you think my strengths / challenges are in the comments field. Thanks!

I'll be including my comments there a bit later as well.


Two statements on my mind today...

I started reading Len Sweet's "Out of the Question... into the mystery". Sweet says, "People are losing the art of living with one another. Relationship is the soul of the universe. And the soul is sick."

The other statement that struck me during our sunday gathering this week was when our pastor talked about what it meant to be 'chosen'. While we often have an 'us vs. them' mentality, he described how "being chosen throughout the scriptures was not to the exclusion of others but for the benefit of others". Amazing.

Relationships are everything. That's why i'm glad to find 'includer' in the top five of my strengthsfinder results.

Moved in...

It took 20 people and a whole lot of sweat, but we've moved everything in, moved some things into storage (my parents), gave away couches, ac's and a television, hardwooded most of the floors, and repainted every wall. boxes are still ceiling high, but just in different places now.

Yvonne and I are on around year 4 of our 30 year plan right now. everything seems to be falling into place so far, but we didn't expect to find ourselves owning a condo right now.

I finished Malcom Gladwell's Blink recently. I have to say I did most of while on the can. Excellent bite-size nuggets of thoughts throughout the book, but not as good as Tipping Point if you ask me. More on that later.

I've been in awe of the community of people that have helped us out this past while. This group started out from scratch in January and has grown into such a beautiful community of God. I'm left speechless by their sacrifice, service, and support. They've treated our home as if it were their own, and it certainly is.

"How good and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity" (Psalm 133:1).

I'll start posting regularly again, real soon.

Growing up is hard to do...

Greek is over for now. I'll be starting Greek Exegesis in September though.

The packing has begun for the big move. Moving now isn't like all the times I moved as a student. I've got a lot more forms to fill, bills to pay, and boxes to the ceiling of material goods i probably don't really need.

I scrolled back in my journal a year ago, and noticed I had an entry about becoming another big city local and my disappointment with prevailing conversations of materialsm, like what color to paint the walls... well I spent sunday night doing exactly that.

I wonder if i offended anyone when I first wrote that, because I somewhat feel like i just offended myself. I mean there's nothing wrong with having a nice place to come home to right? Adulthood sure can seem lame sometimes.

Here are a couple pictures that mean a lot to me, and remind me of simpler days. The first is my 'lucky sausage'. I got it back in '95 for free in the mail. It's a ham sausage with honey that's been shrinkwrapped, but I never thought it would last this long. For some reason most people I show it off to are disgusted by it. I love it because it reminds me that some of the best things in life really are free, and if you don't indulge in it all at once, it just might last forever.


The second is my cow-poo keychain. It's probably 5-6 years old. When i first got it I couldn't stop squeezing it and pushing my finger in it. But then one summer I left it in the son and the dung just oozed right out next to it. Conversely, it reminds me everytime I passionately get my hands into something, I can't just suddenly leave it out to dry. Some things you need to just keep pushing at, or else it makes a mess of itself.

I'm throwing them both away. It's so hard, but I think it's time to move on...

It's wierd imaginging Bono sharing the gospel with someone... Liam Gallagher of Oasis sounds like he's had enough of it. "I'm f**king God. F**k Bono. I don't need his guidance. He'd talk a glass eye to sleep." I guess even rock stars get shafted.

Google couldn't stop with the earth, it's finally landed on the moon.

Longing for the character of Christ...

This is us with Jeremy and Rochelle, who are a core part of our Discovering God group this past year. Over the long weekend, we hung out at the beaches, had a rooftop bbq, and watched the fireworks. It was completely refreshing.

Waves of busyness have been slamming against us the last while, hence the lack of blog posts. One particular theme that has been rising to the surface in my conversations with God and in our small group study through the book of Philippians is that of character. Particularly my lack of desire for the character of Christ.

My yearnings to have the heart of God formed in me pale in comparison to my endless prayers for more wisdom in my studies, more capabilities in my ministries, and more time to accomplish things. I'm just like the next dude, when you sum it up, who really just wants God to give me his omni's... his omniscience, his omnipotence, and his omnipresence. Yet these are the very things I will never have, which makes me kinda lame. Observing Jesus, it seems these are the very things he emptied himself of when he walked the earth, and still, he lived the most incredible life imaginable.

How often do we get on our knees and beg for humility? or compassion? or thankfulness? In Christ, God passionately longs to forge in us his heart and his character. But do we even really want it?

May we begin to desire God to change our character as much as we desire him to change our circumstances.

There's already a flickr photo group on this morning's London Bomb Blasts.
Tony Morgan, just released his list of the ten most innovative churches in America
Saddleback's officially launched P.E.A.C.E.
A Rollingstone article on christian's and purity - the young and the sexless. Hilarious

Updates...

These are some of the iMosaic peeps. Thanks for putting me in Steve!

Three more weeks of intensive Greek and my life should resume to some level of normalcy again. That and i'll have finally moved into my new shack.

I woke up this morning from a dream with my pastor telling me that I need ritalin. I didn't even know what it was until i looked it up in the morning. God's been speaking to me from several angles that i need to reclaim some order in my life.

Mike and Craig of x3church have a blog now. I love the ministry that they do. They've been visiting porn conventions (with their wives), connecting with people and sharing the hope of Christ with anyone willing to listen. I think Jesus would be right there with them reaching out to every crevice of society.

One comment of a person they had met at one of these shows just shook me.

James, a paraplegic said, "If you want to help me don’t pray for me, give me money so I can buy a prostitute to touch me… no one will touch me.

That's the reality in which we live...

iTunes 4.9 just got released with podcasting support. Mars Hill and many others are listed on the itunes directory.

I just discovered some Rob Bell videos via Yu-Ling
The Nazarite Vow
Between the Trees
We're over here
Jesus and Domitian
A Day of Atonement
Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi

May the love of God continually interrupt your day...

Mystic Nation...

My brain's been cramped the last while. I've been taking several professional development classes at work on the 'voice of leadership' as well as 'emotional intelligence'. More profiling still to be done. Greek's been happening two nights a week, and I think i just bought a home.

This will be a substition post via Alex McManus and the iMosaic discussion.

Mystic Nation is a code word for the decentralized yet connected community of Mystic Warriors that make up ONE expression of iMosaic's missional potential. Rumor is that this Mystic Nation is real but you must know a Mystic Warrior to become one.

Imagine this a house church leader in the south whose group meets at the local coffee shop twice a week, a Christ following musician in Brasil whose band practices three times per week and whose members gather with their friends and family for a cookout once per month.
Both keep their immediate communities and a larger following in touch via blogs, chat rooms, email lists, email newsletters, etc.

Both have communities filled with pre believers, both don't sense the need or benefit of integrating these groups into a local church, but they don t want to be lone rangers. They want to identify with a global Christ following movement that has moved beyond established and traditional forms. They are mystic warriors in search of a nation.

What are the possibilities for a new kind of church that is smaller and more decentralized than a house church and yet larger with more mobilization power and more connectivity than a mega church? Might the era of the house church and the era of the mega church be past and the time ripe for something that integrates the best of both?

technorati tag
imosaic via Steve Watson

Moby and Relevant...

A couple quotes from Relevant's interview with Moby (Thanks to Existential Punk for the tip)

As a Christian, I feel very shut out from a lot of contemporary Christianity. My understanding in what it means to be a Christian is to, in our own subjective way, recognize Christ as being God, and recognize our shortcomings and our failings, and try and live according ot the teachings of Christ as best we can. And what I find so strange is I look at the behavior of so many Christians, and I don't see any aspect of the teachings of Christ represented there. But [I remember] the quote about taking the log our of your own eye before you can see the speck in someone else's eye, so I don't want to get in the position of judging other Christians. I fully admit that a lot of my actions and a lot of things that are still in my life are inconsistent with my beliefs as a Christian. I'm very secular."

"So maybe it's time for a new Martin Luther, who's gonna come along and say, 'Live how you want to live, do what you want to do. But if you're going to call yourself a Christian, at least know the teachings of Christ. And at least understand the character of Christ."

" 'One of my other favorite quotes is, "Those who are sick are in need of a doctor." And the sad thing is we're all sick. It's part and parcel of the human condition, and it's especially part and parcel of living in the United States in the 21st century. We're all sick. We're all deeply unhappy, disconnected, unwell people. We need each other, and we need God. And if God made the universe and if God made us and if God made the world, it just makes sense to invite God into our lives and ask Him, "You made me - what should I be doing?" ' ~ Moby

Other Random Links

Thunderstruck.org - I love this site, i'm surprised i didn't discover it earlier.
Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Videos now also available from some of the talks. The John Piper ones seem to be missing though.
Wrong about porn - Article on feminism's failure to change the way men view women
HousingMaps -Another GoogleMap Hack - Hopefully we'll find ourselves a place soon.
IBM just got into the Tablet market - Thinkpad x41 Tablet
Acts29 - Bootcamp 2005 Audios
Donald Miller of Blue Like Jazz - message on Rethinking Relationships via Veritas Forums.

Visionaries...

CNN has a special feature currently engaging 'leading thinkers' on visions for the future. Ranging from sustainability, nuclear energy, extending life spans, global pandemics, and even one on humanity's identity crisis. Definitely worth the glance.

I just rediscovered one of my all-time favorite monkey video clips. A classic I never get tired of.

Fingerprints...

"We live. . . in a world drenched in God.
And some people seriously ask you: 'Where is God?'
Maybe a better question would be, 'Where isn't God?'
I mean, his fingerprints are all over our world.
Or maybe it's his world and they're our fingerprints."
~ Rob Bell

Detroit Press just wrote an article on Rob's Church, Mars Hill.
Sounds like he's doing the book thing as well, Velvet Elvis is pre-orderable at amazon.

Just glancing at the church site, book cover, and the Nooma series I've got on my shelf, it seems he's got the clean, sleek, Apple interface going on everything... Something about it calls out to me, almost subversively suggesting that I should switch systems.

Or maybe it's just me, secretly longing for the 'fingerprints' of mac on my pc world. I don't want a mac. I don't want a mac...

The Meatrix...

This looks old, but it's a new to me. Discover the lies we tell ourselves about the meat we eat at the Meatrix.

More on the House Church...

I'm half way through Wolfgang Simson's "Houses that change the world" and I still don't think I fully grasp what he's suggesting, but I love his writing. Some exerpts,

The church I dream of is like a spiritual extended family - organic, not organized, relational, not formal. It has a persecution-proof structure. It matures under tears, multiples under pressure, breathes under water, grows under the carpet; it flourishes in the desert, sees in the dark and thrives in the midst of chaos.

Biblical Christianity is a healthy threat to pagan godlessness and sinfulness, a world overcome by greed, materialism, jealousy and any amount of demonic standards of ethics, sex, money, and power. Contemporary Christianity in many countries is simply too harmless and polite to be worth persecuting.

In the New Testament times... Every Christian was, by definition, a candidate for death. If one wanted a soft life, or wanted to get ahead in respectable circles, one simply did not become a Christian. when people became Christians they were 'converted to marginality'. Rather than being a part of the main social establishment they were part of a counter-culture, an anti-society, secret and mysterious to many, loyal to 'another king', a distinctively different spiritual tribe.

Simson also includes a statement from Art Katz, a Messianic Jew on how true community starts, where individualism ends:

Community life pulverizes your old ego in the power of the Spirit of God, and rescues you from just living a miserable private life, where after loving each other during a one-hour worship service a week we rush home to water our flowers, sit on our porch, eat our individual meals and wash our car. We need to start to function as part of the fellowship of the redeemed. As the redeemed, we do not go home after a service, we are at home with each other.

Amazing.

JC Vampire Hunter

In the trailer a low voice states...

In the New Millennium, Vampires no longer fear the Sun...
but they are about to learn it's time to fear.... the Son... of GOD!"

Nothing Biblical, but looks Hilarious...

Enough Sex...

After a month long series on sex, Passion and Purity concluded yesterday.

My prayer is that every person who has come on this journey with us continues to experience the freedom Christ has promised us. I pray we aggressively rebel against our own indifference. I pray that any lingering habits, addictions, compulsions, and attitudes that demean the life that God has given us are no longer supplied room within our souls.

Should any of us stumble along the way, I pray that we would find grace in our communities to continue on the path less traveled. I'm excited to see every person walk from strength to strength and glory to glory as we pursue Christ together, leaving behind our lesser desires for the greatest passion in the universe.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you
~ Mark Altrogge

I hope we have helped redefine and elevate what sex is from God's perspective. That's enough talk on sex from me for now, it's been quite the journey and therapeutic for myself personally and many levels. Audio Archives of John Piper's Desiring God' conference on "Sex and the Supermacy of Christ" are excellent and can be found here.

Thanks to our sister Julie for the cover art for the Passion & Purity manual.

Caught in the act...

Several weeks ago my wife caught me in the act. I never thought I would do something like this, let alone have Yvonne see me this way...

One of the deciding factors in us purchasing a ps2 recently, was my wife's obsession with the game Karaoke Revolution. I wasn't all that impressed with it at first, but I found it grew on me with time. We like choosing the hard songs like 'Under Pressure' and 'ABC' and singing in duet mode with all the overlapping parts.

But then it happened. Yvonne caught me one sunday morning playing on duet mode by myself. Exposed with both mics in my hands and singing both parts, I quickly explained to her how this took the game to totally new levels of excitement and challenge. She sighed and didn't say anything, as if she was wondering why I was even explaining myself.

Then it hit me as we were driving to church. I screamed, that was Karaoke Masturbation! (Keeping in mind that I had been thinking about nothing but sex for weeks in preparation for the "Passion & Purity class I was leading).

I had been doing something by myself that was designed for two. Underneath it all, what it said to Yvonne was that I didn't need her. What once was our pleasure, had become mine alone, to be enjoyed at anytime I wanted.

Sex before God is unselfish and sacrifical, a mingling of the souls, a sacred song sung by two.

Think Different...

Something that just came out of the ongoing iMosaic discussion on the Christ following movement for the 21st century... an old apple video courtesy of breathe_fire.

To the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them,
glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.

And while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world,

are the ones who do.

On another tangent, Karaoke Revolution Party just got announced for release this fall. Maybe i'll share my sex-related anaology relating to it in the next post.

My Worldview (supposedly)...

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational.

Cultural Creative		88%
Idealist		56%
Fundamentalist		56%
Postmodernist		44%
Romanticist		44%
Existentialist		38%
Modernist		0%
Materialist		0%

What is Your World View?
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