Maximum wage...?

Flipping through an issue of the Futurist, i stumbled across this revolutional concept for closing the wealth gap (ie. how in the United States 1% of the population holds more wealth than the entire bottom 90% combined).

In an article by Sam Pizzigati (www.toomuchonline.org) he proposes a ten times rule for a moving maximum wage. In this approach, the income ceiling is tied to the income floor. The wealthy could increase their incomes even with a maximum wage in place. To realize this increase however, the wealthy need only to convince Congress to raise the minimum wage, because the higher the minimum, the higher the maximum. By advocating for the nation’s poorest workers, the wealthy would have advocated for themselves.

There is some innovative income tax guidelines along with Pizzigati’s propsoal, but that’s the gist of it.

Of course, this still doesn’t completely deal with the root issues of greed in the human heart, but at least it would be a step towards helping people see that they are a part of everyone else in this global community.

I find this principle applies in many realms; spiritually, organizational, environmentally, etc.

Can you imagine a future when people embrace the reality that the richness of their own journey in life was dependent upon the last, the lost, and the least that surround us?

for the latest entries and comments see One Life.

Some Christmas photos...

Family…

A new generation of babies this year, Stellar, Carter, and Evan Noah

Home torched Creme Brule

And what’s Christmas without a present for daddy… Nothing like newborn poo shot out on the sleeve!

See the latest entries and comments at One Life.

Gandhi and Christmas...

During this Christmas season as the story of God is tossed around, Gandhi has something important to say to us:

“You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to a battle-torn planet.

But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature.” ~ Mohandas Gandhi

For the latest comments and entries see One Life.

Nobody loves me...

... like she does.

Yvz is the most amazing woman I have ever encountered in my life. Not only is she a passionate follower of Jesus, she's now a mom. Somewhere in there she finds a way to continuously bless me as my wife.

Honey, it would be impossible to describe how you amaze me... but I'm going to spend my life trying anyways.

Here's a shot of one of her most recent paintings for baby Caleb.

It's a ladybug in the grass reminiscent of the Biblical character his name goes by that chooses to venture into the promised land despite the giants that surround.

For the latest comments and entries see One Life.

Holiday reading...

During those rare moments Stellar is sleeping I hope to get ahead on some reading over these next few weeks:

Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole
Worship Old and New by Robert E. Webber
Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer
Worship, Community and The Triune God Of Grace by James B. Torrance
Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views by Harold Best
Soul Cravings: An Exploration of the Human Spirit by Erwin McManus
Strategic Pastoral Counseling by David Benner

Anyone read any of these yet?

latest comments and entires at One Life.

Yesterday I read "Tracks of a fellow struggler" by John Claypool for a crisis counseling course I'll be taking next semester.

It was especially moving for me as it was the reflections of a pastor who watched his eight-year old girl die of leukemia.

Here are a few contextless snippets:

It has taken this long to get to the place I could handle this material without overwhelming pain. Just like a broken leg, a broken heart heals slowly and cannot stand much touching right after the break.

... Saturday afternoon she breathed her last breath and set out on a journey on which I could not accompany her.

There are no experts on the field of grief, for we all grieve in our own unique ways.

You alone can do your grief work, but you do not have to do it alone.

I had my moments when I understood how a person could raise one's fist to heaven and curse God.

One does not sow and reap in the same day, and, quite honestly, I must acknowledge that if this tragedy were my only conscious experience with God, I probably would not have come out where I did.

I did not realize just how hopeful I really was until that Saturday afternoon as I knelt by her bed and saw her stop breathing.

There were times, when Laura Lue was hurting so intensely that she had to bite on a rag and used to bet me to pray to God to ake away that awful pain. I would kneel down beside her bed and pray with all the faith and conviction of my soul, and nothing would happen except the pain continuing to rage on.

I fall back on the notion that God has a lot to give account for... I believe God will be able to give an accounting when all the facts are in, and until then, it is valid to ask.

The way of gratitude does not alleviate the pain, but it somehow puts some light around the darkness and creates strength to begin to move on

For every one of us - there is no way to avoid the trauma of loss if we love even a little.

A statement that struck a chord with the way I feel about my life, and in particular my wife, was a quote in the book by Hugh Prather during an illness his wife suffered:

She may die before morning. But I have been with her for four years. Four years. There is no way I could feel cheated if I didn't have her for another day. I didn't deserve her for one minute, God knows.

For the latest comments and entries see One Life.

Who will create and shape the future church...

Stellar’s still completely consuming my life these days, but here’s a portion of an article I recently wrote for the seminary newsletter.

The church is dying in North America. Most churches won’t acknowledge this because there’s still enough money to keep the lights on. Half of all churches did not connect a single person into a life transforming relationship with Jesus in an entire year. The church today is seen as the remnants of an archaic institution for the old, the sheltered, and the fanatic.

Many churches talk about being relevant to culture today because they are on brink of irrelevance. If God is the creator God then the church should be the center of creativity. Churches ought to be leading the culture, not catching up to it. New churches are needed just as much as revitalized churches, if not more. Our country is desperately in need of churches of all shapes and sizes and types. There are homes, warehouses, cafes, pubs, clubs, theaters, and abandoned cathedrals across the country waiting to be redeemed into communities of faith, hope, and love.

The Apostle Paul’s entire strategy was on church planting in urban centers. Miracles, conversions, and lives transformed just happened along the way. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian states “Nothing else – not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, mega-churches, consulting, nor church renewal processes – will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting”.

It all begins with individuals like you and me; followers of Jesus who are unafraid of risk, adventure and launching into unmarked territory because we trust in a sovereign God who is good; men and women who have caught a vision of God’s heart for establishing missional and redemptive centers of faith – that relentlessly press against the gates of Hades, to bring light into the darkness, and hope to humanity.

Latest entries and comments at One Life.

We're doing better...

It's hard to express all the concern, love, and support we've received over the last while.

We had another little scare with Yvz's health as she was going through some excessive bleeding, but things have quickly returned to 'normal'.

Stellar's very much a regular baby again, crying, feeding, and sleeping.

I've since found my keys a week later and finished my final exam for the semester. Best of all, tomorrow night, Yvz and I will be sneaking out for a bit to resume some form of a date-night. Thank God for in-laws.

It really does take a village to raise a child.

While Yvz was at the walk-in clinic on the weekend, I was roaming the mall with Stellar trying to avoid all the other sick people. Every parent with a child that I passed by I kept thinking in my head 'What an absolute miracle it is for your child to make it this far'.

I hope to remember this every single step of the way.

For the latest comments and entries see One Life.

3 Horrible days...

Wednesday

We get called that Stellar needs to be rushed to the emergency unit.

I realized I've lost my keys as I'm speeding home to take our family to the hospital.

We get sent to the wrong emergency ward putting off urgent treatment that she needs for an hour

Stellar is diagnosed with severe Jaundice. Half of newborns get this but her level is debilitating and can result in hearing loss and brain damage.

Doctor's tell us that babies that come in for treatment usually have half of her levels and don't move much. Stellar's strong and moving frantically which is good.

Stellar needs to go through multiple lamp phototherapy for the next 48 hours. Nurse's take 6 stabs at my baby trying to find her tiny veins to plug the IV into. They say she may need a blood transfusion.

Thursday

Yvonne and I don't get much sleep lying together on a single bed/stretcher for the night wondering what we could have done differently.

Stellar's bilirubin levels drop by 300 points which is excellent.

I find a way to finish my final paper in the hospital.

Yvz and I take solace in God, our praying friends, trusting that the medical staff are doing all that they can.

Friday

Stellar is taken off of her IV and the phototherapy treatment for monitoring.

We discover that she is missing an enzyme called G6PD that led to her jaundice. Because she's a girl they traced that the genetic disorder was passed on from me! It's a rare disease and somehow I managed to get through life this far without it showing up.

Stellar's been finger-feeding while in the incubator and is having a very difficult time returning to breastfeeding.

Yvonne and I both get food poisoning. She vomits once, I vomit five times.

Stellar's okay and we're released from the hospital. We need neonatal follow-up to see if she's going to have any development issues.

My keys still haven't turned up and I've spent over a hundred dollars on parking this past week at the hospital. But all that matters to me right now is that I'm back home with the two most precious people in my life.

Stellar in an incubator with IV and phototherapy lights.

Stellar with her goggles on looking like a superhero. And she is.

Latest comments and entires at One Life.

The finger and some funky smells...

After Steller giving me one of these...

I had to give her five back-to-back diaper changes to clean up the constant oil slick coming out of her rear...

Just so she can peacefully do this...

Overall, things are just borderline insane. I don't mind getting up every hour, but feeding's been a huge challenge. I think we finally hit milk today though.

I can't believe this beautiful life I live is just getting even better.

Now if I can only get rid of those funky smells...

Here's one of the funniest 9 second video's I've ever seen that captures the essence of this post.

Sweet Links...

Here's my latest round of sweet-links.

Video by youthwork.co.uk did an excellent video interview with Rob Bell, asking tough questions on how the church really started, emergent labels, and not becoming Ted Haggard. Hosted by premier.tv here.

Also here's a link to the entire Mastering the Art of Living series by Rob Bell. I'm not sure how long this one will be around for. I listened through it back in 2004 I believe and thought it was absolutely phenomenal.

Mac Tablet? I've been waiting for this, now if only I had the money.

Someone's daughter got a bit excited playing her nintedo Wii, check out what happened.

Article on Thom Wolf describing seminaries as being counterproductive.

A good listing of helpful church planting links

Seedstories - Appears to be a good hub /forum for church planters as well

Sketch - If you're in Toronto, check it out. I just visited yesterday. They do some extraordinary creative arts work with at-risk youth.

Mosaic Alliance has a preview of their members only site for free currently.

** This one just in. Monkey's kissing on you tube. You've gotta love this one!

Latest entries and comments at One Life.

Acts29 / Mars Hill Resources...

Acts 29 is a church planting network that was founded by Mars Hill Seattle and helps plant churches that plant churches. It is a resource I draw on that I would say is very different from the Mosaic movement and Mars Hill Michigan. In fact Mars Hill Seattle would probably enjoy a street fight with Mars Hill Michigan.

Much of this is fueled by Mark Driscoll, who people simply love or hate. I have no problems seeing past most of the peripheral issues and drawing from most 'camps' in the church planting world. Whatever your thoughts on Driscoll are, he sure does make biblethumping almost seem cool again.

I visited Mars Hill during the summer when I was in Seattle. It's definitely a young crowd. And as anti-femenist as they are pegged to be, there were just as many girls there as there were guys. It's amazing what they've done in their short history.

I also had a chance to meet up with Scott Thomas the A29 church planting director the following day. I love how theologically-driven they are. Mars Hill Seattle and the A29 Network would consider themselves first Christian, then Evangelical,then Missional, and finally Reformed.

They have an adapted model of Leslie Newbegin's Gospel <-> Chruch <-> Culture and what they call a ministry matrix that shapes how they do things, from Christology -> Ecclesiology -> Missiology -> Ministry.

I've learned quite about both theologially and practically through their resources over the last several years. While I understand how many ministries need to recoup costs, one of the things I love about Mars Hill and all things related, is that they make their resources free.

There's much more if you dig through their primary websites, but I'll list off some of my top picks here. Again, I'll try to continually keep this page updated. Let me know if you've got some excellent finds.

ARTICLES

Here is a digital copy of the Acts 29 Church Planting manual that I acquired which gets handed out at the bootcamps.
Mars Bars - Article on Mars Hill and the Paradox Venue
Interview with Mark Driscoll 2006
Church planting trends as seen by Mark Driscoll - Notes from Steve Addison's blog

MEDIA - They are all audio mp3 links and video where specified

The Ox - Qualifications of an Acts 29 Church Planter - Mark Driscoll
Reverse Engineering your life - Mark Driscoll
Church planting resources and timeline - Steve Tompkins
Theology - Knowing God's mission - Mark Driscoll
On Mission as One - John Ryan
Art Gospel and Culture - Ed Marcelle
Jesus-Centered Reformed Theology - Chan Kilgore
Death by Love - Mark Driscoll @ Reform & Resurge 2006 / Video
Gravity: The weight of pastoring - Matt Chandler @ R&R 2006 - A must listen! / Video
Preaching the Gospel - Tim Keller @ R&R 2006 / Video
Humble Orthodoxy - Joshua Harris @ R&R 2006 / Video
Breaking the Missional Code - Ed Stetzer @ R&R 2006 / Video
Life and Death of the Missional Leader - Darrin Patrick @ R&R 2006 / Video
Mars Hill in Acts 17 - Mark Driscoll
The Whole Glory of the Gospel of God part 1 and 2 - John Piper @ Reformission 2004
Reformission: Reforming Christian Mission - Mark Driscoll
Holy Hospitality - Mark Driscoll
Theology of Alcohol - Mark Driscoll

Some pictures from my visit

Latest entries and comments at One Life.

Mosaic Ottawa Blueprint...

In the middle of taking a break from writing papers in the library today, I did a bit of dreaming and scheming for the future church plant. Inspired by the leadership synergy diagram from origins, I decided to flip it around and plot out some values of what I've been imagining. It's been on my heart for so long, it only took a few minute once I had a framework to map it out in.

- At the core of every human being is the intrinsic desire to believe, belong, and become.
- We believe that these longings call people out on a journey towards drawing on Christ, deepening in Community, and being driven by the Cause
- Each of these are driven by values throughout in the culture. Both the divinity and the humanity of Christ, the individual purpose and corporate movement of the cause, and the unity and diversity of the community.
- This develops an environment permeated with visionaries, missionaries, and passionaries
- Collectively this is what forms a community of faith, hope, and love.

I wanted to take this a step further, and include another layer or additional overarching values of Reconciliation (faith + love), Beauty (love + hope), and Meaning (faith+hope), but it might be a little overboard.

What do you think? Any suggestions, tweaking, or major overhauling required?

Latest comments and entries at One Life.

Darth Maul...

Here's a photo of me during Halloween. Yvonne painted my face to look like a zebra with the mohawk, but after playing around with the saturation in picasa I thought I looked a bit a Darth Maulish.

You can get Google Picasa free with the link near the bottom of my sidebar.

Latest comments and entires at One Life.

Focus Issues...

I've got focus issues. I'm serious. Our small group did a test for A.D.D. earlier this week, and every single one of us are categorically A.D.D. We were so restless we couldn't even finish the test!

The mere moments I'm focused, I gun straight through things, and am fairly effective. Maybe I'm overly relying on my abilities? But this is something I really need to deal with.

It often takes me at least a couple hours before I can get to a level of productivity. Quite often I'll clean around the house, Make sure I'm on top of my news/blogs, optimize my desk, do my budget, scribble my daughter's 'secret' name, exercise, eat, anything but do the one thing I need to do at the moment.

Now I know many are like this, but I really need to get my act together. My pace of life is excellent, I'm definitely not doing too little or too much in my life. Over the years I've found a good balance of work and rest, but it frustrates me every time I set out to do certain things and take forever just to get started. I feel like I'm leaving time on the table and mockery of the moments I've been blessed with.

People tell me all the time how amazing it is the amount I seem to accomplish. I don't believe this is true in comparison to what I've been blessed with. I find most of these focus issues are usually tied to school work and non-urgent tasks. However with the baby coming and the pressure of ministry increasing, I really need to stop squandering my moments and maximizing what I've been given.

If everyone's got any life-transforming tips in this area, I'll take it. Please help. Now to get back to my paper.

oh look, I just found a few more mp3's and videos to add to the Erwin McManus and Rob Bell resources. Okay, now back to work, really.

Rob Bell resources...

Alright. To follow up the Mosaic Movement Resources as promised, here's some articles, audio's and video's for you Rob Bell fans. I've been downloading all of their sermons since back in 2002, but again, to be on the safe side, all links here are just what's currently available on the web.

For those of you who aren't up to speed on Rob and mhbcmi, I'd say their the Mac of the megachurch world. clean and simple. Rob Bell's an excellent communicator who does his homework, especially with contextualizing ancient Jewish culture. Their church is legend for exploding by word of mouth as Bell preached through Leviticus the first year.

Nooma video's have been the latest craze. People thought I was being silly for spending money on them a few years back. Again, feel free to borrow them from me if you're in the area.

I will NOT be keeping this post up to date. You can find the latest updates, links, sermons, and videos in the equivalent Rob Bell post on my primary blog at One Life.

ARTICLES

Great wikipedia biography
Reviews on the Everything is Spiritual tour here, here, and here
Beliefnet interviews Rob Bell
Article on Christianity Today on mhbcmi
Preaching.org review of using Nooma

AUDIO
Last twelve messages at mhbcmi are always here.
Rob Bell at Mosaiek Church - Flames of Heaven
Rob Bell at Mosaiek Church - Barefoot and breathing
One of the best series that I'd recommend is "Mastering the art of living"
Catalyst interview with Rob Bell
Sheep and goats and you and me
Rob Bell interview on episode ten of x3church.com podcast
Jesus Wept
Audio Review of Velvet Elvis
Communicating Christ in Contemporary Culture Part 1, 2, 3
Suffering: Having nothing and having everything mp3
Also here’s a link to the entire Mastering the Art of Living series by Rob Bell. I’m not sure how long this one will be around for. I listened through it back in 2004 I believe and thought it was absolutely phenomenal.

VIDEO

These videos below are all from Willow, links courtesy of Yuling

The Nazarite Vow
Between the Trees
We're over here
Jesus and Domitian
A Day of Atonement
Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi

Full videos from the Nooma series

Rain
Flame
Sunday
Noise
Kickball
Luggage
Dust
Bullhorn
Lump
Rhythm
Matthew
Rich
Clip from the Everything is Spiritual Tour

Video by youthwork.co.uk did an excellent video interview with Rob Bell, asking tough questions on how the church really started, emergent labels, and not becoming Ted Haggard. Hosted by premier.tv here.

MISCELLANEOUS

Mars Hill bible Church
Nooma clips and study guides - You can by the DVD's here
Isn't she beautiful - seminar for leaders celebrating the local church January 2007
Velvet Elvis - First book
Sex God - Second book

Latest entries and comments at One Life.

Street walk through Toronto...

Friday night Jake, Isabelle and I roamed the downtown core of Toronto for our youth-at-risk class.

We checked out some drop-in centers (Sketch, The Gateway, Seaton House, Sanctuary), Gay bars (Woody's, Sailor's, Churchmouse & Firkin), Other hang outs like Bovine Sex Club, Allan Gardens, The Falls, Hooker-Harveys, Boys town, and other nooks and crannies.

These are some pics I found off the web of a few of the places we checked out. I would've brought my own camera but didn't want to look like a tourist.

From Graffiti Alley (Some good sets here and here)

Woody's - Isabelle forgot her id and couldn't get in. We found out that by going through Sailor, which was way more sketchy, the establishments were connected at the back. No ID checks at Sailors!

Sailor's

A guy came up to us and said Isabelle was cute. Then he turned to me and said "you're cuter". My wife's a lucky gal!

Bovine Sex Club - It was really dark on the streets, but when we passed by this place it seemed to be even darker. Like it just sucked every bit of light that was once there. Doesn't look so bad in the day.

Billboards throughout the downtown core remind us of everything we need and all that is beautiful for those moments we forget

Hooker Harvey's on Jarvis - Jake and I doubled back to 'check out' the response we'd get from a prostitute. She was clearly underage. Immediately after, I felt like we degraded her just as much as anyone else that night would.

Filmore's strip joint and 'hotel' upstairs - supposedly they're celebrating their 25th anniversary right now and returning to 1981 prices.

Street chalk drawings are always a great part of downtown

The condom shack - this place has been around for ages. Has anyone in Toronto not been in here just out of shear curiosity? It's crazy how many people looking underage were in there - they did kick one guy out though. Sex hops have sprung up everywhere now, it's amazing how sexuality, as important as it is, has been brought to the very center of our culture.

I lost track of how many hemp and drug paraphernalia shops we saw

I don't think a picture could have captured the atmosphere late at night at the Seaton House (Hostel for men) . It was the only moment I think any of us felt a bit panicky. 30-40 guys were loitering around like inmates. One guy started bolting for directly towards me. I had no idea what was going on. Sad thing is, I was relieved when I discovered it was because someone else was chasing after him. A real bloody fight was about to break out, and we just kept walking totally unsure of how to respond.

I wish I could share more, like the coked up gal up almost got hit by a car, the dude from the church of satan, the huge goth youth culture, the density of the gay district, the desperation at drop-in centers, the hope and beautiful places that were seen, but i'm still processing it all. We thought our prof asking us to go to the gay strip joint (remington's) was a bit too far for us.

Anyhow, definitely an interesting night. Right now, this is my city, and I'm learning to love it.

Latest comments and entries at One Life

Lon-gerie...

I've been anti-brand name for most of my life, especially when it comes to clothing. I've always felt that brands were just another way of outsourcing our creativity.

We spend those extra dollars in exchange for some sense of assurance, that at least someone out there says it's okay, normal, legit, fits-in, acceptable, etc.

I've begun my own clothing line. It's called "LON-GERIE", get it? The tag line is:

"FASHION THAT BRINGS OUT BEAUTY IN OTHERS"

Here's two from the 'portfolio'.

I'm not sure how long my iron-on will last. Here's two interesting companies that beat me to it and can help create clothing with a personal touch.

Mondonation
Zazzle

May every one of us find ways to creatively contribute rather than conform.

For the latest entries and comments see my primary blog on voxtropolis at One Life...

Saturday Sampler...

Mark Batterson of evotional/NCC is reverse gifting and giving out free copies of his new book (In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day) to church planters for his birthday.

You've heard latest craze of Chuck Norris jokes. Chuck responds. (Thanks Albert)

Zaadz a new social-network gathering those who intend to change the world. I think it's got potential. Join! Here's mine.

Ode Magazine - Magazine for intelligent optimists, who also intend to change the world.

Zooomr Photos keeps developing and has just upgraded their pro accounts to 4GB/month! Get a pro account free here. Here are my sets.

Things really aren't looking good for Ted Haggard. I hope I'm wrong but I can't say he looks convincing to me on the video clips. Mark Driscoll writes some good thoughts on the matter.

Update: Looks like the decision's final on the NewLife church website.

Here's an excerpt from Ted Haggard's wife Gayle that I thought was very powerful.

Dear Woman of New Life Church,

I am so sorry for the circumstances that have led me to write this letter to you today. I know your hearts are broken; mine is as well. Yet my hope rests steadfastly in the Lord who is forever faithful.

What I want you to know is that I love my husband, Ted Haggard, with all my heart. I am committed to him until death "do us part". We started this journey together and with the grace of God, we will finish together.

If I were standing before you today, I would not change one iota of what I have been teaching the women of our church. For those of you who have been concerned that my marriage
was so perfect I could not possibly relate to the women who are facing great difficulties, know that this will never again be the case. My test has begun; watch me. I will try to prove myself faithful.

I'm amazed she has the strength to say something like this so soon.

Update2: Audio mp3 message of the sunday service at NewLife Church. It's loaded with insight in terms of grace, trials, church polity, and discipline.

Latest blog entires at http://onelife.voxtropolis.com

Nachos and I...