Wednesday, November 26, 2008

give thanks

As I prepare for the American tradition of Thanksgiving with my family, I'm mindful of those in the US and elsewhere that are not able to share this kind of celebration because of their poverty. Whether it's someone who is struggling financially in these difficult economic times or someone who has been homeless for sometime or even someone in a developing society who lives their whole life in hunger and poverty, may each of us take the opportunity to be kind to someone in need as part of our celebration.

Monday, November 24, 2008

What's all this Business about...

...the dominating metaphor that’s typically constructed for the church today is the business corporation. The pastor is the CEO. The clergy and/or staff is upper management. Evangelism is sales and marketing. The congregation is the clientele. And there is competition with other corporations (“churches”) in the same town.

But the corporation metaphor has a major problem. Not only is it glaringly absent from the New Testament, it does violence to the spirit of Christianity.

...In short, the church that’s introduced to us in Scripture is a loving household, not a business. It’s a living organism, not a static organization. It’s the corporate expression of Jesus Christ, not a religious corporation. It’s the community of the King, not a well-oiled hierarchical machine.
As such, when the church is functioning according to its nature, it offers:
  • interdependence instead of independence
  • wholeness instead of fragmentation
  • participation instead of spectatorship
  • connectedness instead of isolation
  • solidarity instead of individualism
  • spontaneity instead of institutionalization
  • relationship instead of programs
  • servitude instead of dominance
  • enrichment instead of insecurity
  • freedom instead of bondage
  • community instead of corporation
  • bonding instead of detachment.

- Frank Viola

Don't cheat yourself, read the rest of the article in Next-Wave...

Frank Viola is an author, conference speaker, and church planter. Visit www.ReimaginingChurch.org for more information.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

FB - Blogger - FB - Blogger

Facebook is seriously cutting into my already diminished blogging time. I must say that I've throughly enjoyed re-connecting with friends, new and old and really old (well, from a long time ago).

Pray for:

Perry (Minnesota)
Craig (Rhode Island)
Matthew (S. Indiana)
Stephen (London)
Randy (Hillcrest High School)

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

apocalypse soon?

Now that we have an "antichrist" in power, refresh my memory... is the mark of the beast my IP address? ...no wait... my social security or my driver's license or my random sequence number (draft lottery) or was it my student id in Junior High? Did I miss it?

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

our only hope

I sincerely hope we pray as fervently for our new president as we campaigned for our candidate of choice over these last several months. Perhaps we will listen to the voices of our future generations and think creatively with them about that future.

In all your ways acknowledge Me and I will direct your path.

- God