Firefox Sage Reader

For those of you who are taking advantage of the “blogging” universe, you should consider the Sage reader add-on to the Firefox web browser. I have been an avid user of the “Google Reader” but have been really enjoying the advantages that come with the Sage reader. I first heard about the reader through a post on Rich Kirkpatrick’s weblog.

So what is the Sage reader? Well, in laymen terms it adds a function to your Firefox web browser that allows you to read all your blogs in one place at the push of a button. The biggest advantage to this add-on is speed and convenience. Since posts are sync’d right into your browser you can access and update them while doing numerous other things.

This is one of the amazing strengths of the Firefox browser. You can customize it however you want. I’ve got the weather temps, itunes controls, and blog posting software all in sight and one click away when I am on the web. You can link to Firefox here and the Sage reader add-on here.

Many Me

Hm... there are more of me than I thought there would be.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 16 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Windows Vista Wow!

This is a pretty humorous quip from Seth Godin.



Seth said... I absolutely adore this photo from the Times. Not one smile in the bunch, never mind ebullience, mania or even pleasant anticipation.

Just because a marketer says something is amazing, exciting or just plain wow doesn't mean it is.

Story Behind: The Power of the Cross

Parkview has been enjoying the new modern hymn titled “The Power of the Cross” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. Below I have published the “story behind the hymn” from the Getty website. There are so many rich messages within this hymn text, the greatest of which is this idea of the “imputation” of our sin upon Christ. We sing about this with the line in the refrain “Christ became sin for us.”

People are extremely familiar with the physical sufferings Christ endured on the cross, but very seldom do we stop to consider what it was like for Christ “to be sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) and to become “a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Grudem, in his Bible Doctrine book, points out that Jesus “hated sin with his entire being… Far more than we do, Jesus instinctively rebelled against evil. Yet in obedience to the Father, and out of love for us, Jesus took on himself all the sins of those who would someday be saved.” (P. 252) Could you imagine the utter horror it was for the blameless Christ to endure the imputation of our sins upon himself? To literally become our sin and endure the spiritual wrath that God had been storing up for all the sins of the saints past, present, and future? Mel Gibson could never imagine or even come close to putting this reality on film. In the words of the song “what a life, what a cost, we stand forgiven at the cross!”

- - - - -

"The Power of the Cross" is a meditation on the sufferings of Christ.

Over the past couple of years, we have been working through the Apostles Creed and writing hymns teaching the fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

The Creed teaches that 'He suffered under Pontius Pilate', and in communion we are commanded to 'remember his death 'til he comes'. In the New Testament, Paul and the Apostles often preached and prayed in more detailed and visual ways about the cross, turning all of our senses to Christ's sufferings and their significance.

Stuart and I considered how the reality of His sufferings should penetrate our worship services and were challenged by the need to explain the overwhelming significance and implications these have for our lives. In our congregational worship the sufferings of Christ have often only been given a surface glance and it is hardly surprising that the theological meaning often remains confused:

This the power of the cross
Christ became sin for us
Took the blame, bore the wrath
We stand forgiven at the cross.

Our hope is that the hymn; "The Power of the Cross" will be a resource to the church as a declaration of what we believe; a challenging reflection on Christ's sufferings and a powerful song for Easter or Communion services. It is also our hope that people will be challenged again by the wonder and the power of the cross.

Impossible to Love the Lost

In John Piper’s book “Let the Nations be Glad”, a portion of which I am reading in the Perspectives Reader, he quotes John Dawson, a leader in Youth With a Mission regarding why our passion for people who don’t know Christ (a.k.a. lost people) cannot be detached from our passion for the glory of God.

Many believers search their hearts in condemnation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love “the lost.” You can’t feel deeply for an abstraction or a concept… Don’t wait for a feeling of love in order to share Christ with a stranger. You already love your heavenly Father, and you know that this stranger is created by Him, but separated from Him, so take those first steps in evangelism because you love God. It is not primarily out of a compassion for humanity that we share our faith or pray for the lost; it is first of all, love for God. (Taking Our Cities for God, p 208-209)

I wish I had a nickel for every time I prayed “God give me a burden for the lost.” My hopes being that I would become emotionally moved to the point of being more bold in my witness. Of course, this isn’t a bad prayer, but how many of us are trying to find our motivation in the wrong place? Both Piper and Dawson are suggesting that if we (the church) are not “centered on the exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God” that we will not be able to find the motivation for evangelism. According to Piper, “The great sin of the world is not that the human race has failed to work for God so as to increase his glory, but that we have failed to delight in God so as to reflect his glory.” (p 51) This idea is very liberating for the Christian who is seeking to participate in God’s mission. A passion for God’s glory sustains in suffering, gives us boldness, and reminds us that our “product” is the hope of the world.

Church Hosts 'Porn and Pancakes' Event

Today ABC news ran a story on "Porn and Pancakes"

It's not your typical church breakfast. An event billed as "Porn and Pancakes" is being hosted by a church in rural upstate New York.

The breakfast discussion on the pornography industry in America is planned next month at the Living Word Assembly of God Church in the town of Ontario, about ten miles east of Rochester.

A billboard advertisement near the church shows the words "Porn and Pancakes" written in syrup on a stack of flapjacks.

It amazed me, as I read through most of the bible this last year, that the bible is packed with stories (or teachings) illustrating the cost of sexual sin. As a former pastor used to say "sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay." This seems especially true with sexual sin, which is an amazing challenge for our culture as we live in such a "sex-crazed" society.

No matter what you think of "Pancakes and Porn" I hope you can join me in thanking God for churches that aren't afraid to takle this issue head on. For free resources on fighting porn you can check out xxxchurch.com. They offer free accountability software and other resources devoted to helping people escape from the grips of sexual sin. They are also the organization helping put on these pancake breakfasts around the nation.

"Rather clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, then to think of how to gratify the desires of sinful nature." (Rom 13:14)

Creativity

Interesting little quote (so true) from Seth Godin on creativity...

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

(HT: Godin)

The Lord's Super Bowl

Many of you are personally stoked for this years Super Bowl between Da' Bears and the Colts. This Super Bowl is historic, because it is the first bowl where both teams are represented by African American coaches. In the "Christian Post" a recent article highlights that this bowl is also significant because both coaches are professing Christians. It reads...

"The Lord set this up in a way that no one would believe it," said Dungy, according to the Baptist Press. "The Lord tested us a lot this year, but He set this up to get all the glory."

Both Dungy and Smith, who are close friends, gave credit to God after defeating their final opponents to head off to the Super Bowl game.

While Dungy has had more opportunity to share his Christian faith during his five years coaching the Colts, this is Smith's first tenure as a head coach. And he has already made his faith in Christ apparent.

To read the whole article go here. I am not one to make a big deal about sports celebrities, but in light of the visibility of these two men, I am thrilled that they have the opportunity to make such a visible stand for the Lord. To God be the glory... and I mean that no matter who wins (sorry John). :)

America's Most Innovative Churches

Outreach magazine has named America's top 25 most innovative churches. Here is a link to the article and here is the link to the actual list. I was interested to see that #6, #7, #9 and #19 will all be helping lead the Multi-Site Church Conference I will be attending with Nevin Suddarth, Parkview's Executive Pastor, in a few weeks (I know, San Diego in February... it's tough but someone's got to do it). If you are curious to learn more about these churches, be sure to check out their website on the top 25 list.

Elder and Pastor Retreat

When I joined the Parkview ministry team in January of 1999, we were a church of 800 worshiping in what is now known as the chapel. It was an exciting time and the following five or six years resulted in an explosion of attendance to a peak of 1,800 attenders a weekend. All throughout this time the staff and elders were aggressively working to update our staffing and strategy to better accommodate this growth and the complexity of managing a church that had grown at such a high rate of speed. Though we have been encouraged by seeing so many lives changed by the gospel and so many people motivated to serve the Lord in ministry, we have also struggled to adapt and communicate a vision that has kept us completely unified and informed as to where God is leading us into the future. This is a challenging place to be, but also a very healthy place to be. We are being forced to really depend upon the Lord and seek him for clear direction and guidance for our future.

All this is why I am very excited about our future Elder and Pastor retreat on February 11th and 12th. We will be spending our time attempting to refine and unify our vision as a leadership and church. I ask that all of you please join the elders and staff in praying that the Lord would guide and direct our upcoming time together. We will be joined by Aubrey Malphurs who is a professor at Dallas Seminary and an experienced advisor in helping churches increase effectiveness in ministry. His presence at our retreat should provide a valuable third party perspective that will help us identify weakness and build upon strengths. Thanks again for your prayers and for being part of the greatest mission on earth, to invite more and more people to a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ!

Fellowship Church's Daniel Fast

On January 7th Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX joined his congregation in a 21 day Daniel fast. The Daniel fast comes from Daniel 1:8-14 where Daniel chose to not defile himself with royal food, but instead went on a fast that included eating only fruits and vegetables.

I heard about this fast from my wife through a friend of hers. It is significant because Fellowship Church is a large church and I haven’t really heard of a church like this ever challenging its membership to fast together (though I’m sure it’s happened before). You can read testimonials of how God has worked through the fast here and link here for other information about it.

I haven’t fasted an abundance of times, but appreciate the sacrifice and Ed’s heart for people to “hunger for God” over the 21 days of their fast. The church is expecting amazing “God sized” things to happen as they deny themselves and consequently refocus their affections on God. It’s an inspirational quest.

As I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about church leadership lately, this fast has been an example to me that people want to take risks and live dangerously for the Lord. We simply need to challenge them in their faith and give them a unified vision for the adventure. I wonder if in our tendency to make people comfortable, we forget that everyone in their heart of hearts wants to be part of something far greater than themselves… after all, isn’t that what we were created for?

How to Fix a Scratched DVD

This Christmas we bought our kids a PS2. Within a week my oldest son’s favorite game was damaged (likely by one of his two little brothers). Since it would not work I searched the web for suggestions of how to fix it. In my searching I found a site that compared all sorts of cleaning options with the results from multiple cleanings (sorry I couldn’t find the link again). I was surprised to see that Brasso (the metal polish) was rated as far superior in comparison to professional DVD cleaners and toothpaste. I didn’t have Brasso on hand, so used toothpaste 3-4 times. Each time I could see that the paste was “wearing down” the scratches, but to no avail, the DVD would never work. As a last ditch effort I got Brasso the other day at Walmart and tried it. After the first application, the disk still wouldn’t work. Since there was nothing to loose, I thought I would give it one more try and, low and behold, the game has worked perfectly ever since.

Consequently, I recommend Brasso for any CD or DVD repairs that aren’t fixable with a simple cleaning (sometimes the disks don’t work because of finger prints/grime). So, if a scratch is keeping your disk from working, use a soft cloth and apply Brasso in a circular motion on the disk. The Brasso is literally rubbing off some of the coating on the disk, so don’t push too hard, but also don’t push so light that you aren’t being productive. Once the Brasso coat has dried you can wash it off in the sink with water and dry it with a soft cloth. The study I read said that multiple applications actually improved the quality of the fix, so if it doesn’t fix it the first time don’t be afraid to do it a 1 or 2 more times.

If any of you have any other disk fix testimonials or discoveries I’d love to hear em.

Mighty To Save Drumming Video

We just learned the song "Mighty to Save" this weekend in services. The Jimmy "The Snake Handler" Coates found this instructional drumming video on the song on youtube. It appears to be from a Hillsongs teaching video. If you're not a drummer this may not interest you, but if any of you who read this do music in your own churches, it might be a helpful resource.

Carson on Excellence in Worship

This quote hit me hard from “Worship by the Book” by D.A. Carson.

“Although there are things that can be done to enhance corporate worship, there is a profound sense in which excellent worship cannot be attained merely by pursuing excellent worship. In the same way that, according to Jesus, you cannot find yourself until you lose yourself, so also you cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Despite the protestations, one sometimes wonders if we are beginning to worship worship rather than worship God. As a brother put it to me, it’s a bit like those who begin by admiring the sunset and soon begin to admire themselves admiring the sunset.” (p.31)

Music is a craft that demands skill. The problem is, highly trained musicians can create excellent musical worship services. I am concerned that too many worship leaders (myself included) underestimate the value of a worshiping heart that is connected intimately with its creator. Music, programming, lights, and transitions are all tangible means within a worship service, so we tend to spend most of our energies planning for, producing, and evaluating services based upon the success or failure of these elements. This is not a bad thing; however, the far less “measurable” and yet far more essential element of worship is our connection with our creator God.

Five Streams of the Emerging Church

Scot McKnight wrote an interesting article in defense of the Emerging Church movement in Christianity Today. It is long, but does a good job at provoking thought and clarifying (at least in his perspective) what the strengths are within this movement. Here are a few excerpts:

The misconceptions...

It is said that emerging Christians confess their faith like mainliners—meaning they say things publicly they don't really believe. They drink like Southern Baptists—meaning, to adapt some words from Mark Twain, they are teetotalers when it is judicious. They talk like Catholics—meaning they cuss and use naughty words. They evangelize and theologize like the Reformed—meaning they rarely evangelize, yet theologize all the time. They worship like charismatics—meaning with their whole bodies, some parts tattooed. They vote like Episcopalians—meaning they eat, drink, and sleep on their left side. And, they deny the truth—meaning they've got a latte-soaked copy of Derrida in their smoke- and beer-stained backpacks.

Emergent and emerging defined...

To prevent confusion, a distinction needs to be made between "emerging" and "Emergent." Emerging is the wider, informal, global, ecclesial (church-centered) focus of the movement, while Emergent is an official organization in the U.S. and the U.K. Emergent Village, the organization, is directed by Tony Jones, a Ph.D. student at Princeton Theological Seminary and a world traveler on behalf of all things both Emergent and emerging. Other names connected with Emergent Village include Doug Pagitt, Chris Seay, Tim Keel, Karen Ward, Ivy Beckwith, Brian McLaren, and Mark Oestreicher. Emergent U.K. is directed by Jason Clark. While Emergent is the intellectual and philosophical network of the emerging movement, it is a mistake to narrow all of emerging to the Emergent Village.

Emerging catches into one term the global reshaping of how to "do church" in postmodern culture. It has no central offices, and it is as varied as evangelicalism itself. If I were to point to one centrist expression of the emerging movement in the U.S., it would be Dan Kimball's Vintage Church in Santa Cruz, California. His U.K. counterpart is Andrew Jones, known on the internet as Tall Skinny Kiwi. Jones is a world-traveling speaker, teacher, and activist for simple churches, house churches, and churches without worship services.

His warning to the emerging movement...

So I offer here a warning to the emerging movement: Any movement that is not evangelistic is failing the Lord. We may be humble about what we believe, and we may be careful to make the gospel and its commitments clear, but we must always keep the proper goal in mind: summoning everyone to follow Jesus Christ and to discover the redemptive work of God in Christ through the Spirit of God.

What Kind of Church Are You?

A few days ago I heard part of a message by Dr. Tim Keller where he mentioned a familiar quote that I have been thinking about quite a bit the last few days. The quote goes something like this; “Presbyterians are good at their theology, Baptists at their evangelism, charismatics at their worship, and Methodists at their social programs.” We could probably all name churches that would modernize the quote a bit. Bethlehem Baptist (Piper) and Grace Community (McCarthur) are known for their theology, Willow (Hybels) and Mosaic (McManus) are known for their evangelism, charismatic churches are known for their worship and worship leaders (Tomlin, Baloche, Brewster, Walker) and emerging and mainline churches are known for their social influence.

In the talk Keller promotes the idea that a healthy church should actually strive to excel in all of the aforementioned areas. But is it really possible? Keller’s Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City believes it is possible and may be doing a pretty good job at accomplishing this goal (though I can’t verify this by personal experience). So what do you think? Can a church excel in all these areas? Is a theologically faithful, evangelistically driven, energetically worshiping, and socially impacting church possible?

They Mystery of Picasso

Have any of you artists out there ever wondered how Picasso went about painting his masterpieces? Here is a step-by-step video that was captured of him doing one of his paintings
edited into a 2 minute time-lapse clip.

God is a Missionary God

In our first session this week at Perspectives Andy Kampman gave two talks that examined how God’s heart for the nations saturates the entirety of scripture. The following are a few of my reflections regarding this session.

Those of us in the United States tend to be ethno-centric in our perspective.

In other words we tend to limit our vision for evangelism and life to what we know and understand in the United States. Our conversations, attitudes, and personal mission statements should incorporate a vision for worldwide mission. We also must be aware that our wealth makes us venerable to complacency in this regard.

God’s has a cohesive plan for the redemption of all peoples.

The cohesive picture of God’s agenda from Genesis through Revelation is refreshingly simple and clear. Simply put, he desires all peoples to know and follow him. Certainly ethnic Israel has a unique role in the fulfilling of God’s agenda; however, the agenda is still the same.

Our worldwide perspective should affect the way we live.

We should all participate in the cause of world evangelization. Here are a few ways this should/could be done:

• Pray regularly for missionaries, nations, etc…
• Give sacrificially to the cause of world evangelization
• Go on short and/or long term mission projects
• Teach and openly pray with our children and grand-children, that they would be vitally involved in God’s agenda for the nations
• Never retire. Of course, one can retire from a profession, but one must never retire from being a minister of the gospel and taking an active role in local and global outreach

I am sure there will be future related posts as I continue to work through this course in the next several months. I am praying that God will work upon my heart through Perspectives. I have much to learn.

First Theology on Offensive Language

Josh posted some thoughts on Philippians 3:8 based on Grudem's letter I posted yesterday. Below is an excerpt and here is his complete post.

- - - -

Now I think Grudem has good sensibilities here. He clarifies that there is no explicit command against foul language - which he is right about. He then points out more subtly (and theologically) that the vulgar talk tends to communicate uncleanness - which is a theme repeated in Scripture (he uses specific NT examples to show it continuing applicability today). This is the route by which he suggests that it does not seem wise for a believer to use this type of language. This seems pretty reasonable to me.

The one question that I think is a bit difficult is if Scripture ever uses at least mildly crude language to communicate strong emotion? Piper seems to think you can find such language (albeit infrequent), Grudem is not so sure. The biggie that many folks quote is from Phil. 3:8 where Paul counts all things "rubbish" (the clean translation - ESV, NASB, NIV, NKJ) or "dung/crap" (the more vulgar translation - NET). Grudem comments that while this word can mean either thing (this is called semantic range), he believes Paul is using the more clean nuance of this word in Phil. 3:8. The nuance of a word is determined first by context, then by looking how the author uses the word elsewhere in the NT, and finally by other NT authors & then other extra-NT literature which uses the word (the importance of each is weighted in that order for most folks - FYI: This word is used nowhere else in the NT). On the other hand, the NET Bible has this note:

The word here translated "dung" was often used in Greek as a vulgar term for fecal matter. As such it would most likely have had a certain shock value for the readers. This may well be Paul's meaning here, especially since the context is about what the flesh produces. [my note: which would be seen in contrast to what the Spirit of God produces - so there is a parallel in imagery and maybe some subtle humor... fallen man produces fecal matter literally and in terms of his efforts toward righteousness, but God produces true righteousness thru Christ leading to holiness]

I know this is what my Greek prof. in seminary thought it probably meant (he is the editor of the NET Bible and wrote the "industry standard" grammar for NT Greek). His contention was most translators don't have the stones (to use a more mild euphemism) to translate these kinds of terms with the more edgy/earthy/vulgar connotations he believes they carry in the few instances they are used in Scripture (if that's the case we might say those translators/translations are not as literal as the NET - OK that was a cheap shot on a Bible that prides itself in it's transparent literal translation method... sorry I couldn't resist ESVers).

Wayne Grudem on Offensive Language

I still remember a brief period of time in college when those involved in ministry with me became quite enthralled with using profanities both as a joke and for the sake of adding a little shock-value to the various statements they would make. I remembered being a little perplexed by the whole thing. It felt kind of cool to swear, but I had a hard time understanding how that all fit with being a Christian. Is it appropriate for a Christian to use a profanity to add emphasis to a point being made?

Recently John Piper used an offensive phrase to make a point in a message he delivered at the Passion 07 conference. Here is the apology he later wrote and below is a thought provoking follow-up letter Wayne Grudem wrote to John Piper that was posted publicly by permission on the Desiring God website. It is an interesting discussion that may make me more careful about throwing around the word “cr- -“ all the time. My wife will be pleased. ☺

- - - -

John,

I saw on Justin's blog a link to your comments on your use of "strong language" at Passion07. I'm glad you said that now you regret saying it and thankful that you were willing to say this.

I'm not sure if this will be helpful but I've thought of such language as a question of having a reputation for "cleanness" in our speech, as in the rest of life, out of concern for how that reflects on the gospel and on God whom we represent.

A number of different words can denote the same thing but have different connotations, some of them recognized as "unclean" or "offensive" by the culture.

Examples:

• urination: taking a leak, pee, "p---"
• deification: poop, "cr--", "sh--"
• sexual intercourse: sleeping with someone, "f---"
• rear end: backside, "a--"

Speaking of these things and using different words for them is not contrary to any biblical command (and so it is different from taking the Lord's name in vain, which is explicitly forbidden), but we are also commanded to maintain a reputation for cleanliness:

• ESV Titus 2:10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
• ESV Ephesians 5:4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
• ESV Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
• ESV Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Using the words commonly thought to be offensive in the culture seems to me to be sort of the verbal equivalent of not wearing deodorant and having body odor, or of going around with spilled food on our shirts all the time. Someone might argue that not wearing deodorant or wearing dirty clothes are not morally wrong things in themselves, but my response is that they do give needless offense and cause others to think of us as somewhat impure or unclean. So, I think, does using words commonly thought to be "obscene" or "offensive" or "vulgar" in the culture generally. Plus it encourages others to act in the same way. So in that way it brings reproach on the church and the gospel.

I remember a long time ago you mentioned to me that when you were in jail for Operation Rescue you listened at night to the talk of prisoners in the cell block, and how their talk was just filled with vulgar bathroom language and sex language. It struck me at the time how a person's purity or impurity of speech is often an indicator of purity or impurity of heart. (ESV Matthew 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.)

As for your comment about finding language "as offensive as that" in the Bible, I'm not sure. It's difficult for us to be sure about the connotations of words in an ancient culture. When I was in seminary I remember another student arguing that Paul's use of skubalon in Philippians 3:8 (For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ) was just like using "sh--" today. I thought that sounded right. But later I found that the word has a broader range of meaning and I'm not sure it had the offensive overtones that "sh--" does today in English. (BDAG: useless or undesirable material that is subject to disposal, refuse, garbage [in var. senses, ‘excrement, manure, garbage, kitchen scraps’]). In translating the ESV we rendered that term in Phil. 3:8 as "rubbish," not as a more offensive word. I think that was a good decision.

All this is to say I think you were right to express regret for saying what you said.

Again, out of respect for your time, please don't feel that any response is necessary. I am so thankful for you and for your faithfulness to the Lord.

Wayne

(HT: JTaylor)