Don’t Waste Your Life

A few days ago I finished the book “Don’t Waste Your Life” by John Piper. I know many of you have read this book, but I wanted to take a moment for those of you who haven’t to encourage you to read it. I was most impacted by Piper’s imagery that we must live our lives with a wartime mentality. I also love Piper’s views on the joy and satisfaction we must find in Christ and how this joy allows us to magnify God, even in the grips of suffering and death. I’ll end with a few of my favorite (and most convicting) quotes. You can order the book from Amazon by clicking on the picture or title above:

“If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn and legalism.” (P.31)

“The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing.” (P.44)

“If you love for men to make much of you, you will feel shame when they don’t. But if you love for men to make much of Christ, then you will feel shame if he is belittled on your account.” (P.65)

“The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain.” (P.72)

“Avoiding fearful trouble and forbidden behaviors impresses almost no one. The avoidance ethic by itself is not Christ-commending or God-glorifying.” (P.118)

“The greater problem is banality. A mind fed daily on TV diminishes. Your mind was made to know and love God. Its facility for this great calling is ruined by excessive TV. The content is so trivial and so shallow that the capcity of the mind to think worthy thoughts withers, and the capacity of the heart to feel deep emotions shrivels.” (P.120)

Distinctly Christian Worship: A Response

Josh Malone has posted some intriguing questions regarding the “Christian” nature of our worship gatherings in today’s Evangelical churches. You can read his post here. Below are a few clips from his post and my response.

It seems to me that most current worship/arts folks define "Christian worship" very broadly and typically without any inclusion of the Lord's Supper…. This kind of worship might be something, but it does not appear to be distinctly Christian... Is the proclamation of the Lord's death and resurrection by the means which God ordained, the Lord’s Table, the focal point of our worship or do we worship according to our preferences? Seems as though we’ve made other things “sacramental” (music/preaching) and redefined Christian worship apart from its distinctiveness.

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Wow, what a juicy post Josh! I was actually going to bed early until I read this post… now I feel like I can’t sleep until I think through a response! You have some great thoughts that I find very challenging.

Outside of my childhood involvement in main-line church denominations, I have never been in a church that observed communion weekly. It is interesting thinking about the fact that the more “Evangelical” I became, the less emphasis I experienced being put upon the Lord’s Table. All this to say that I am not sure that, “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup…” necessarily specifies a frequency requirement for the gathered church (1 Cor 11:26). So, even though pre-Reformation communion was likely observed weekly, since the Reformation, Evangelicals have obviously taken a much looser view on the frequency requirements of this ordinance (e.g. some quarterly, some monthly, some twice a month, etc…). Consequently, an argument for the weekly observance of the Lord’s Table is grounded more in historical and not Biblical observations.

So have modern “worship/arts” ministries left out a very central component of the gathered church in worship? Maybe. I certainly find it very interesting that the importance of creeds, baptism, communion, and other liturgical elements are being seen as favorable among new generations of believers and unbelievers alike. In defense of all those who work and serve in arts ministries around the world, I think the primary reason they classify their ministries as “dance, drama, music, media, etc…” is because they see these areas as the “how”, not the “what.” In other words, the “what” is music, prayer, scripture, preaching, communion, baptism, etc… and the “how” is the creative means by which the “what” is supported and or presented.

I do also take you to task on the issue you raised in regard to preaching (for some reason this has been a hot-button for me lately). I think the scriptures make preaching a central means of grace in the worship service. This can be seen in Rom 10:14-17 and all throughout the NT starting with Peter’s sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:14-41. Now I do understand that much of the preaching we observe post-gospels was not done in the context of a believers gathering; however, I think the NT clearly models God’s central use of the spoken word within the gathering as a means to teach the scriptures and share the gospel. (NOTE: Depending on your doctrinal view of the church, one could argue that Jesus regularly preached to the church as he gathered Jewish believers around him and taught. Did he sing in his gatherings? Likely. We at least know he did it following the last supper with his disciples in Mk 14:26.)

In closing, there is no ordained “order of service” or “liturgy” within the entirety of the NT. Is God’s word vague because He desires us to keep asking, “how did the early church do it?” Should we use the historical texts and archeological evidence to mold and shape our gatherings to become more identical with early Christendom? For the most part, my answer would be "I don't think so." If only I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard people say that house churches are more Biblical than churches that meet within church buildings!! We’ve got to be very careful to not become enslaved to historical context to the point that we restrict the freedoms granted us by God in His Word.

In closing, I have been thinking A LOT about what Biblical worship should look like and I have been somewhat troubled by what worship in the church (international/visible) has become. Posts like this keep me searching the Word and praying over what God is calling the Worship and Arts ministry at Parkview to do in order to better proclaim the glory of God to the lost, hurting, and hopeless within this world. Thanks for the challenge Josh!

A Call to End Clericalisation

This quote from Peter Leithart is an interesting (and convicting) assertion that today’s Evangelical worship is more akin to medieval worship than reformational worship.

Nearly every non-Anglican evangelical church I have worshipped in uses a form more akin to medieval Catholic worship than to Reformation worship. True, worship is conducted in the vernacular and when the Supper is served it is served to every communing member. In other ways, however, much of evangelical worship is pure medievalism, with active clergy and passive congregation. The congregation does not bow or raise its hands; the people never pray audibly, rarely if ever saying the Lord’s Prayer; the congregation frequently does not say a creed; there are no responsive readings of the Psalms or corporate readings of other portions of Scripture. On most Sundays, the congregation watches, listens, and the only active participation is singing a few hymns. Apart from singing, the only voice that is heard is the minister’s. . . .

The typical evangelical service is not Reformation worship; it is in important respects closer to the medieval abuses that the Reformers spent themselves to change. Reforming worship demands an end to the clericalisation of evangelical worship and a new emphasis on congregational participation.

Peter Leithart, “Transforming Worship,” Foundations 38:31

Attractional vs. Missional

On my sabbatical I am wrestling through some philosophical issues regarding how Biblical principles and our present cultural context should influence our Worship and Arts Ministry in the years to come. In this post I would like to start by summarizing some of my observations on some of the fundamental shifts we are seeing in today’s churches (specifically in the United States). Volumes have been written on the specific issue I am discussing in this post, so if you think my thoughts are a gross simplification, you are right. Please join in the conversation if you have any comments or questions that could contribute to the issues within this post.

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In recent decades the most popular evangelism model for church growth has been the attractional model. I remember several years ago at the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek, Bill Hybels stood on the stage and drew a large funnel on a flip chart explaining that the seeker driven strategy gets unchurched people into the funnel (the seeker service) and then channels them from there into different levels of experience and involvement within the church community. At some point in the process these people come to faith in Christ and begin experiencing growth through involvement in the mid-week worship services, serving in ministry, attending small groups, etc... This is an extremely simplified glimpse at the attractional model; however, it gives an understanding of what many evangelical churches have embraced in some form as a primary evangelistic strategy.

The emerging church claims that effective evangelism for our postmodern culture is no longer attractional. They invert the attractional funnel, transforming evangelism strategy from a come-and-see (attractional) to a go-and-tell (missional). To effectively become missional, emergents tell us we must become incarnational. In the same way as Christ took on flesh in the incarnation so that he could identify with humanity and become the sacrificial lamb, we are to take on the culture of those we are trying to reach in order to win their trust and thus have a voice in sharing the gospel with them.

One reason this missional strategy may be more effective today is because, with the proliferation of information (via the internet, technology, etc…), cultural trends are more fragmented and morph at a higher rate of speed. This fragmentation and morphing effect is causing relevancy based attractional models to struggle because there is no longer an identifiable “style” that can effectively reach an entire demographic. On the flip side, if John is missional with his classmates, and Meghan is missional with her fellow employees, and Andrew is missional with his motocycle club, then these Christians are effectively reaching people within the context of their individual cultures (e.g. being incarnational in their evangelism).

So what does this mean for a Worship and Arts ministry in the local church? Well, quite honestly, I am trying to figure this out. One thing for sure, as my Senior Pastor recently shared with me, our approach to evangelism should not be “either/or” but “both/and.” I do agree with his statement. If our only strategy for evangelism is missional, we risk discounting the Biblical model of preaching as a means of grace for the winning of the lost. In the same regard, if we primarily rely on an attractional evangelism strategy, our churches may continue the trend of becoming less and less effective at reaching new generations.

Christian Humor

Josh Malone recently posted on the use of Christian satire on the web. In line with his post, I do think it is important that we are careful about how we poke fun at one another, especially since the web can take embarrassing information or sarcastic articles and make them instantly available to the whole world. As long as we are careful, I think there is a place for learning to laugh at ourselves. In line with these thoughts, I stumbled across this website which showed a bunch of old Christian music album covers along with other humorous posts and articles. Hopefully it will add a little levity to your day!

Don’t Sing So High!

This quote comes from the “Brehmcenter” on our tendency to hinder the participation of the congregation in singing our congregational music in too high a key. Of course, as a humble baritone I am a bit biased on this issue. There are a few generalizations in this quote; however, some good food for thought.

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“It seems that the world is full of tenor worship leaders these days! Think about it! Name a few and see if I’m not right. Great voices, great hearts . . . but tenors! I can’t believe how high Chris Tomlin sings “Indescribable”! Great song, but not me in that key! I don’t know what your vocal range is, but the average Joe and Jane Pewsitter have about a one octave range . . . from C to C. Though not all songs have a one octave range, many are very close or smaller. So, if the goal is to encourage congregational participation, then considerable thought should be given to that average C to C range. If you get beyond that range, be ready for people to shut down, stop trying to sing . . . and the cards and letters of complaint will follow! Adjust your comfort and playing ability to what is more important: congregational accessibility and involvement. Remember, the congregation is the largest group in your Worship Ministry, so their ability to focus on God and not the note they can’t reach should be of really high priority.”

(“The Worship Leader and the Vocal Range of Congregational Songs” from Brehmcenter)

Isaac Watts: His Life and Hymnody (Part 3)

This is my final installment on a series of 3 posts on the life and hymnody of Isaac Watts, the "Father of English Hymnody." I find it particularly interesting in this segement how progressive Watt's writing was and how as pastors and song leaders began to integrate his hymn texts in both casual and formal settings (as sung hymns) they were met with staunch persecution.

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Despite the “Calvinistic” theology that went into his hymns, many of his songs were accepted and embraced by all cultures and denominations. His hymns were definitely the most popular hymns of the day. They were so well and loved that they were heard sung everywhere, even on the streets of London. Farmer, Ebenezer Holman would pause from his labor in the fields on a daily basis to lead his men in the hymn “Come all Harmonious Tongues.” In witnessing the scene Paul Manning writes:

He lifted his spade in his hand, and began to beat time with it; the two laborours seemed to know both words and music, though I did not…. Somehow, I think that if I had known the words, and could have sung, my throat would have been choked up by the feeling of the unaccustomed scene.

This kind of “recreational” singing of hymns fell under harsh criticism by pastors like Charles Chauncy , pastor of First Church in Boston. He was sharply opposed to the emotional and common application of hymnody in every walk of life. Watt’s hymns even became popular in the African American tradition. African Americans would often use Watt’s text and then set them to their own rhythms. Other denominations who didn’t agree with his theology would take many of his hymns and simply edit them to fit into their theological perspective. The Unitarians were known to take many of his hymns and carefully doctor them, removing any trace of the name of Christ.

Watt’s popularity in the American colonies exploded on the heels of the first and second great awakenings. The first great awakening was launched and sustained primarily through the ministries of two men, evangelist George Whitfield and theologian and pastor Jonathan Edwards. Whitfield was a captivating speaker who awakened curiosity within inventor Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was so impressed by Whitfield’s preaching that he came away from Whitfield’s message believing that his messages could be heard by over 30,000 people at one time. Jonathan Edwards was both a pastor and theologian. He is also recognized as the first president of Princeton University. One of the greatest reasons these influential leaders promoted the songs of Watts wherever they went was because he was theologically united with them in their love for Calvanistic theology. An illustration of this can be seen in Whitefield’s rejection of Wesley hymns. “When Whitefield came preaching to the American colonies in 1739, he brought with him Wesleyan hymns. When he protested the Wesley’s Arminian stance, he abandoned Wesley for Watts.”

Another reason that Watts hymns were so popular in the church of the Americas was because in America the church was in a difficult time of reformation and persecution. Watt’s fresh approach to hymnody and inspiring settings fueled peoples desire to stand up to the hypocrisy and tyranny of the corrupted church. One example of this early persecution is seen in this report of what happened in 1771, when a small Baptist congregation began adapting to the practice of singing.

Brother Waller informed us…. [that] about two weeks ago on the Sabbath Day down in Caroline County he introduced the worship of God by singing…. The Parson of the Perish would keep running the end of his horsewhip in Waller’s mouth, laying his whip across the hymn book, etc… When done singing [Waller] proceeded to prayer. In it he was violently jerked off the stage; they caught him by the back part of his neck, beat his head against the ground, sometimes up, sometimes down, they carried him through a gate that stood some considerable distance, where a gentleman [the sheriff] gave him… twenty lashes with his horsewhip…. Then Bro. Waller was released, went back singing praise to God, mounted the stage and preached with a great deal of liberty.

This example of the religious persecution of the day portrays some of the climate in which his hymns so radically lit within the people a desire to sing praise to God in a whole new way. In many ways Watt’s legacy of great hymns have been a more lasting influence upon the church and it’s theology than any great speaker or preacher. One of the hymnals that was written during the second great awakening was Ashel Nettleton’s, Village Hymns for Social Worship. In this hymnal Nettleton featured close to 50 Isaac Watts hymns. In the preface of Nettleton’s hymnal he writes:

With great satisfaction and pleasure have I often heard the friends of the Redeemer express their unqualified attachment to the sacred poetry of Dr. Watts. Most cordially do I unite with them in the hope that no selection of hymns which has ever yet appeared may be suffered to take the place of his inimitable productions.

This hymnal was considered by some as the “most evangelistic” hymnals ever produced.

The hymns of Watt’s won the attention of many great people. One of Isaac Watt’s greatest fans was Benjamin Franklin, who was responsible for publishing his Psalm paraphrases in 1729. Fanny Crosby, the most prolific American hymn writer of all time was converted when listening to the Watts tune “Alas and Did My Savior Bleed.” Charles Wesley himself, said that he would have given up all the hymns he wrote, if God would have allowed him the write the words of this most famous hymn of Isaac Watts:

When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ, my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His Blood.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

This hymn which was inspired by Watt’s reading of Galatians 6:14 was the one that Matthew Arnold named the finest hymn in the English language. Hymnologist John Julian declares that it must be classified with the four lyrics that stand at the head of all English hymns.

Isaac Watts life finally gave in to his life time of sickness and frailty. He passed away on November 25 of 1748. He was buried at Bunhill Fields, London, near the graves of John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe. A monument to his memory was placed in Westminster Abbey, the highest honor that can be given an Englishman. Perhaps as an even greater monument in his honor are the many hymns that Christians have been singing and will continue to be sing for generations to come.

New Malone Baby

Our Pastor of Young Adults and wife Emily just welcomed Rebekah Grace Malone into the world. Click here for a few pics and more details. Congratulations Josh and Emily and welcome Rebekah!

The Movie Luther

Tonight I watched the movie Luther, which was released in September of 2003. Over a year ago a good friend recommended it to me and I really enjoyed the movie. Though I have not seen a scholarly review regarding historical accuracy it received a favorably review here on crosswalk.com. It helped me knit together some of the historical events and better understand the gravity of corruption in the Catholic church that spurned the reformation. I recommend it to you as an inspirational story of faith worth watching.

Caspian Ready to Set Sail

If your like me, you really enjoyed Disney's recent motion picture adaption of C.S. Lewis' classic, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. According to Christianity Today, the next film from the Chronicles, 'Prince Caspian,' will begin filming soon.

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The next movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series, 'Prince Caspian,' will begin filming early next year, with all of the children resuming their roles as the Pevensies. Plus: Congress joins debate about PG rating for Christian film; Keith Richards to appear in 'Pirates 3'; and more.

(HT: Christianity Today)

Self Esteem vs. God Esteem

The definition of esteem is “to regard with respect; prize.” I have always struggled with the idea that I will find contentment in life by loving myself or esteeming myself more. This thinking has been primo in our culture for years. Countless therapy sessions have ended with the psychologist writing in his or her notes, “suffers from poor self-esteem.”

I have been reading John Piper’s book “Don’t Waste Your Life” and really appreciated his insights on this issue (P. 33):

For many people… they do not feel loved when they are told that God created them for his glory. They feel used. This is understandable given the way love has been almost completely distorted in our world. For most people, to be loved is to be made much of. Almost everything in our Western culture serves this distortion of love. We are taught in a thousand ways that love means increasing one’s self-esteem. Love is helping someone feel good about themselves. Love is giving someone a mirror and helping him like what he sees.

This is not what the Bible means by the love of God. Love is doing what is best for someone. But making self the object of our highest affections is not best for us. It is, in fact, a lethal distraction. We were made to see and savor God – and savoring him, to be supremely satisfied, and thus spread in all the world the worth of his presence. Not to show people the all-satisfying God is not to love them. To make them feel good about themselves when they were made to feel good about seeing God is like taking someone to the Alps and locking them in a room full of mirrors.

The really wonderful moments of joy in this world are not the moments of self-satisfaction, but self-forgetfulness.

Sabbatical

Today I am officially beginning the three-week segment of my four-week summer sabbatical (July 10-31 & August 7-14). Though I may not be blogging quite as frequently, I will continue to post on a fairly regular basis. Thanks for checking in. If you have any ideas of ways this blog media can keep you better informed please let me know.

Hope you’re having a great summer! To God be the glory!

Scott

What is ServFest?

Last week I posted a question on David Wilcox’s blog after he posted some amazing numbers for volunteers who recently got involved in his ministry. Yesterday he posted his church’s volunteer recruitment strategy, which is similar to ours, but takes it up a notch in several ways. Below is the latter half of his post. Click here for the entire post.

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On June 9th, our senior pastor, Joshua Harris, gave a message on serving. He ended about fifteen minutes early, so that anyone who wasn't serving could attend ServFest. Each major group of ministry teams gave a five-minute presentation in one of three tents set up on our back lawn. Large signs led people to the teams they were most interested in.

I did a short ditty on the Technology Ministries. That isn't even an official group, but it made sense to include the sound, lighting, video, duplication, and IT teams together in that group. Other groups were Outreach, Communications, Children's Ministry, Creative, etc. I think we managed to categorize all the ministry teams into 9 different groups for presentations

Each person got a card, and he was able to indicate on that card what ministry team group interested him most. Then he wrote down the specific ministry team on a line below that group. I guessed that I had 300 people listen to the presentation on Technology Ministries. From that, I had 80 people check off the card that they were interested.

From here, it's my responsibility to follow up. For those 80 people, we'll have a series of meetings on a Saturday in August, introducing them more fully to each of the different teams. For someone who comes in through Starting Point or the Kiosk, I'll often meet with them one on one or in small groups. At that point, they make a decision to sign up or not.

Boer Prayer Update

I have had numerous people ask about how Rob Boer is doing with his recorvery from brain surgery. I just recieved this update today. Looks like good news and answered prayer!

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Dear Loved Ones,

The following is a note from Rob regarding the last MRI. We are doing well. He and I both struggle with being tired and sleeping well (mine from a combo of fibromyalgia and Emily waking at night; his from drug interactions). But we are grateful for all that the Lord is providing. Emily is happy overall in spite of toddler frustrations when she doesn't get her way. :) She has been having some bad dreams and is scared of thunder and firework noises at night. But her joy of discovery is a blessing to behold. Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support.

Keri Boer

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Friends, I finally received a phone message from Duke, who had received the MRI film and CD-ROM from Asheville, after my scan last Wednesday. They report that the tumor has not changed or grown, praise God; it is stable and fine and there is nothing new. That is a good start; my next MRI is in 2 months at Duke, and hopefully it will continue to not grow.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I continue to serve God with my face down in prayer before Him, and my life even with this threat to it belongs to Him completely, and being Christ centered, student focused and service driven at the college is so much more exciting and focused this way!

Have a blessed week, all.

Dr. Robert Boer
Director of Music Programs
Montreat College

Postmodernity Terms Defined

I just now took some time to watch the video's in preparation for the conference much of Parkview's Sr. Staff is attending in September on postmodernity. If you've read the recent posts and have been scratching your head on what all this is about, the videos found here on the conference site are VERY helpful in clarifying terminology.

I especially appreciated Mark Driscoll's video's on Seeker vs. Missional. Very helpful!!

Incarnational Lingo (A Response)

Josh posted a response to my post entitled "Incarnational Ministry Concerns." You can read it here.

Holy is the Lord Trainwreck

I died laughing at this sound file from a church service (not our church service), probably because I've had nightmares of putting my capo on the wrong fret only to discover I am a major second above or below the rest of the band. It's only by the grace of God this kind of thing doesn't happen more often!

Incarnational Ministry Concerns

Yesterday Josh Malone, Pastor of Young Adults at Parkview posted some very interesting thoughts on Church culture. I really resonate with his thoughts. It did pull the trigger for me on one issue that I have been struggling about as I read the literature and follow discussions on what some say the Church of tomorrow must do to reach a postmodern culture. My main concerns and questions are about the term incarnational ministry. I am cautions about what this term means within emerging movements and hope my questions and comments will lead to me becoming more informed and effective in ministry. You can read all my thoughts below.

May God enlighten us all!

Scott

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Josh, I really appreciate your four-fold classification that categorizes today’s church culture. I have wanted to gain more clarity on these issues for some time. I am thankful that your post is opening up this dialogue at Parkview.

I am in agreement with you that the #2 traditionalist-relevants classification is definitely where Parkview and other churches interested in winning people to Christ needs to reside. As you implied, the brush stroke within the traditionalist-relevants classification is huge, so let me boil it down and lead into a few comments and questions.

I want to start by admitting that I don’t have a lot of first hand experience with communities that are supposedly living out the incarnational/emerging philosophy, maintaining orthodoxy, and reaching postmodern’s effectively. I have read several books, read articles/blogs, and have listened to and watched various media resources. With this limited exposure I would like to make a few likely discombobulated observations.

1. INCARNATIONAL MOVEMENTS RISK BEING UNBIBLICAL

In the book “The Shaping of Things to Come” the “incarnational” church borders being devoid of Biblical distinctive. The book strongly encourages people serious about winning the postmodern culture to abandon “institutional” church models and start churches among lost friends at the pub or in the local motorcycle gang. I totally agree that Christians, particularly in our nation, need to become more incarnational in their outreach by getting more vitally involved in the lives of lost people; however, to define these communities as churches risks being non-Biblical because it denies the scriptural means of grace necessary to be a church and ultimately to win the lost (Preaching & Sacraments… No sacraments don’t save, they are confirming means of faith).

2. INCARNATIONAL MOVEMENTS LIKE ACT29 ARE NOT SMALL HOUSE CHURCH MOVEMENTS

One of the poster-children of Pastors effectively winning post-moderns is Mark Driscoll. Mark is ministering in a church of thousands in Seattle and, from watching his Vodcasts, seems to be quite conventional with one distinction, he is very hip. In essence, he is winning people like himself and that’s it. This makes me wonder, is the problem really the mega-church model, or how it is expressed? I also think of churches like Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis. Piper’s church of 4,000 is filled with post-moderns who are living out a missional faith by going around the world to share the gospel. If I could think of a classification for churches likes these it would be reformed and missional. Though some would argue that the "reformed" (as in Calvinism) bent in these churches has nothing to do with their success, I am not so sure (discussion on this is for another post, another time).

3. I AM SCARED OF BRANDING THE INCARNATION

The idea that we replace our relevant-paradigm with an incarnational-paradigm is good for the following reasons.

• The relevancy concept in church risks being consumer/marketing driven (as you pointed out in your post)
• The relevancy movement feels artificial and trendy, especially to post-moderns
• Incarnational ministry gives us a more Biblical paradigm for being missional
• The incarnational term centers our church philosophy on mission in Christ

What I am concerned about is this; the incarnation (in and of itself) is not an evangelism strategy. Wayne Grudem says of the incarnation in his Bible Doctrine book (P. 246) that,

It is by far the most amazing miracle of the entire Bible – far more amazing than the resurrection and more amazing even than the creation of the universe. The fact that the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever, so that infinite God become one person with finite man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.

When I ponder the incarnation I am overwhelmed by the creativity, economy, and mercy of our great God! My first and primary reaction is awe in regard to the God-to-man nature of the transaction. My second reaction is humility and brokenness over the man-to-God result of the incarnation (e.g. we now have access to God through the imputation of our sin upon the Son of God). If “incarnational” ministry becomes a strategy, what does this do to the true doctrinal meaning behind the incarnation, which is not a strategy but a profound mystery of God?

In conclusion, I think we’ve got to wake-up in the church and address some of the non-Biblical paradigms that are rendering us ineffective in today’s emerging culture. If that mean’s we must radically shift the forms that define our ministries, then so be it. Let’s just take care to not do it at the risk of cheapening orthodoxy with the latest trend or fad.

OK, now it’s your turn. Am I out to lunch? Does any of this make sense?

First Theology

Parkview’s Pastor of Young Adults, Josh Malone has now joined the blog world. Josh is one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. He loves God and discussing the scriptures and theology. He and his wife Emily are amazing additions to Parkview’s staff team. He is now linked in my “links’ section under “First Theology.” You can also link directly to him here.

Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers

Justin Taylor featured this kids teaching program on his blog a few days ago. If you have young ones at home, this sounds like a pretty neat program for teaching your kids about some of the harder to understand Biblical issues including the Trinity, gospel, scriptures, and mission. After reading several he recommends them highly.

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

The Nativity Story

In December 2006, New Line Cinema is releasing the major motion picture, THE NATIVITY STORY. You can go to the official site here. Below is the “about the movie” description on the site.

From humble beginnings, great things can come. THE NATIVITY STORY tells the extraordinary tale of two common people, Mary and Joseph, a miraculous pregnancy, and arduous journey, and the history-defining birth of Jesus. Brought to life with an unprecedented attention to detail and commitment to historical accuracy, THE NATIVITY STORY is the very human, very dramatic, and uniquely inspiring saga of a journey of faith.

Humble Orthodoxy

The “emerging” church movement is confronting a lot of the problems in today’s church; however, in the process of reformation some of the movement has abandoned orthodoxy.

At this link you can download and view a talk given by Joshua Harris at the New Attitude conference called “Humble Orthodoxy.” I watched it this morning and really appreciated it’s message to the emerging postmodern culture. Here are a few of the sound bites:

• We live in a day where certainty is out of style
• Is the gospel play-dough or a diamond?
• We need humble theology
• What our world needs is young men and women courageously committed to the truth

The Centrality of Preaching

Recently someone expressed concern over a statement in our arts ministry that implied that artistic media is capable of “outperforming” the preaching of the Word in the divine work of calling people to saving faith in Christ. It is by no accident that I had been spending quite a bit of my time lately thinking about this very issue. I have been asking fundamental questions like… What role does the arts have in worship? What role does preaching have in worship? How should this influence how we go about planning our services?

One doesn’t need to be in music ministry long to hear comments from artistically “bent” people like “I wouldn’t mind if we’d sing for 60 minutes and have a 10 minute message.” At these comments some worship leaders smile and think about what an effective ministry they must have to have earned such a compliment. Why do you think it is that worship leaders are so fond of meditating on 2 Chronicles 5? Solomon is dedicating the temple, the Ark of the Covenant is put into place, the trumpets blast, cymbals clang, and singers sing. The presence of the Lord fills the temple like a cloud keeping the priests from continuing to minister. Worship leaders are raised dreaming of that moment when the emotional ballad ends the music set, the glory of God fills the room, and the preacher says “God is here… let’s just keep singing!” Certainly, we would all love to experience the glory of God in such a powerful way, but should this really be our consuming passion? If we are not careful, we risk becoming egocentric, thinking that “our medium” is somehow more linked to the glory of God than preaching.

Let’s look for just a moment at Romans 10:14-17.

But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Based on this passage, and others like it, we’ve got to be very careful to not view services in such as way as to assume that slick marketing, excellent music, relevant dramas, or great technology will make or break God’s agenda for the service. Though mediums such as music are essential and even commanded by God in worship, Romans 10 teaches us that there is a special role and calling for the preaching of the Word as well as the administration of sacraments. Preaching and the sacraments of baptism and communion are primary means by which God chooses to create faith. This is well articulated in this line from the Heidelberg Catechism, “The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts by the preaching of the holy gospel and confirms it through the use of his holy sacraments.”

So what are a few practical applications for those of us who love and lead worship through various artistic mediums? For one, we must work hard to serve God’s agenda for the spoken word by asking questions like “how can we creatively program a service to serve the spoken word?” or “what artistic elements will accentuate this weekends message/sermon?” We can also fervently pray for our teaching pastor who has the primary responsibility of bearing the Word of God through preaching week after week. It is a responsibility that demands hours of study, close attention to scripture, doctrine and the history of interpretation. How often do you pray that God would direct your pastor’s preparation and work powerfully through his messages? If your answer is “not much” then I would challenge you to start praying regularly for his ministry.

In closing, consider these words by Michael Horton in his book “A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship.” (P. 64)

While there may be other supports for the Christian life, “faith comes by hearing the preached Word,” says Paul. While the Spirit is free to work apart from these means, he has promised to work effectually through them alone. We must resist the temptation to associate the work of the Spirit with numbers and noise, or we will inevitably miss the magnitude of what the Spirit is doing every week in the ordinary ministry of the means he has appointed. God works savingly then and there because he has promised to meet us then and there.

Bacteria on Purses

So, the other day I picked up my wife’s mammoth stylin’ purse and inadvertently glanced inside. It contained the normal purse stuff including make-up, keys, etc… but was also filled with an assortment of children’s toys. Now, I think the kids had more to do with the toys than their mother, but it was a humorous look for me at the life of a hard working mother of five kids. Not even her purse is sacred!

This leads me to recent findings some researchers uncovered inside of women’s purses. Read below…

- - - -

A study was performed on women's purses. A health team went to a local mall and took samples from the bottom of 50 women's purses. The purses were swabbed with cotton swabs along the entire bottom of the purses and placed into special containers. The swabs were then processed at a local laboratory.

The Health Report also showed where women place their purses: public rest-rooms (on the floor beside the toilet), kitchen counters & kitchen tables, on tables & chairs in restaurants, etc. The results of the laboratory tests contained the following most serious result: 1 out of 4 purses — E COLI

Other extremely serious bacteria also were listed, including Hepatitis.

They recommended that women should DAILY wipe their purses (particularly the bottom) with a disinfectant wipe and to be extremely careful where you sit your purse. Most important, do NOT place your purse on a table (anywhere) where you will eat or on a kitchen counter and do not put it anywhere close to a toilet.

(HT: Snopes.com)

Comprehensive Fall Schedule

Below is the comprehensive programming schedule for the Fall 06 ministry season. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of supportive feedback that we received with this schedule. There were a few very valid questions and concerns that were voiced by several individuals. I will attempt to answer a few of those at the end of this post.

The arts staff team took quite a bit of time on Tuesday working on a schedule that would maintain our goals of excellence while also being sensitive to your time commitment as volunteers. If we maintain the present sound-check schedule “as is” the adding of the additional Saturday service would add one more hour to the weekend schedule. Fortunately, the staff team felt that this new structure gave us the luxury of streamlining our rehearsal/sound-check schedule, cutting a total of 45 minutes. These changes make the increased volunteer commitment a total of 15 minutes! Needless to say, I was delighted that God provided a structure that allowed us another service without asking significantly more time from our volunteers.

- - - -

SATURDAY

3:15 PM

• Stage Sound Check (Technical Team Call Time)

3:30 PM

• Full Tech Rehearsal (All Programming, Arts, Music & Tech)

4:30 PM

• SERVICE 1
• Sunday School / Nursery
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Support Groups / Institute Class
• Meal for Volunteer Teams / Families

5:00 PM

• Café Opens

6:00 PM

• SERVICE 2
• Family Connection (30-40 minutes in length)
• Nursery
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Support Groups / Institute Class

8:30 PM

• Café Closes

SUNDAY

7:30 AM

• Atrium Team Rehearsal

8:00 AM

• Café Opens

8:15 AM

• Mainstage Team Rehearsal

9:00 AM

• SERVICE 3
• ATRIUM VENUE SERVICE 1
• Sunday School / Nursery
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Institute Class
• Youth Sunday School

10:30 AM

• SERVICE 4
• ATRIUM VENUE SERVICE 2
• Traditional Sunday School / Nursery
• Family Connection (30-40 minutes in length)
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Institute Class

12:15 PM

• Café Closes

- - - -

The following were some questions that arose in the evaluation process of this schedule:

Why are we adding another service to Saturday when the present service is only half full?

The adding of the service is more an issue of magnetism than flood relief. What I mean is this. The dual track service structure is an essential model for our discipleship and serving strategy. For example, during weekend services we encourage people to take advantage of adult fellowships, serving opportunities (children’s ministry, greeting, etc…), and youth Sunday school programs. The reason this works is because people can serve or attend in these supplemental programs and then attend the corporate service. This year we had a lot of struggles with the Saturday service because all the people who signed up to serve or who wanted a group fellowship experience would be forced to come back to Parkview on Sunday in order to “complete the experience.” With the new structure this is no longer a problem. Someone can now attend on Saturday without being forced to return Sunday to “complete the experience” thus making Saturday a more magnetic/attractive service to our general population. We are hopeful this will make Saturdays a more appealing alternative for those who are presently attending on Sunday mornings, thus opening up more seats during the hours visitors are most likely to attend.

Why are we shifting our Sunday service times to 9:00 and 10:30 am?

There are several reasons for this shift. For the sake of space, I will address two of the more prominent ones. With our two-service structure on Sundays we have been attempting to evenly distribute our attendance so that both services are equally full. In our present structure (8:45 and 10:15) we have found that the 10:15 service is the largest attended service. We are hopeful that the 15-minute shift will help equalize both services, thus maximizing our use of space. One other issue we have with the present times is that Jr. High and Sr. High students are no longer attending corporate worship. The pre-9 am factor causes most students to skip the first hour services and just show up for the 10:45 youth meeting time. We are hopeful the new schedule will maintain our desire to have our weekend services be a multi-cultural, multi-generational picture of the body of Christ.

In conclusion, if there are more questions I can answer please shoot them my way. Your feedback is needed and appreciated!

Honda Car Choir

I played this brilliant car commercial for the choir tonight. Yes, the sound affects are all made with a choir. Great illustration of what the human voice can do with hard work, skill, and precision. This would have been a riot to conduct. You can watch the commercial and also see a "making of the ad" video.

Arts BBQ Photos

I've now posted 44 photos from the Arts Ministry BBQ here at our photo hosting website (see some of the samples below). You can actually purchase copies directly from the hosting site and have them direct mailed to your home. Thanks again to the Boatman's, Chris Carlson, and the many others who helped make this fellowship such an amazing success. I thank God for the perfect weather and for giving the Arts Ministry such wonderful volunteers who are so much fun to be with!

The Words Win

I'm not sure everyone in technical ministry would necessarily agree with David Wilcox's approach to mixing sound for worship, but it is a well articulated and interesting approach to mixing a band/vocals. I think it is certainly arguable that the words must be intelligible when mixing for worship in order to give the congregation the ability to freely and comfortably participate in worship. To read the entire article click here.

Music in the Church

In this post on The Resurgence blog, John Armstrong gives a very fresh perspective on the role of music in the church. I so enjoyed his Biblical teaching on God's love for and use of music. He also makes the following statements of how certain approaches to music fall short of a proper Biblical perspective:

For one, music should not be rooted in the tastes of the people through a kind of democratic principle. If this is the case, we sing and play what appeals to the group at hand, and the result will be composition that usually lacks theological concern and musical depth.

Second, it seems to me that we must not sing and play, as an end in itself, what simply “preserves our particular heritage.” Scripture will not endorse the idea that the primary function of our music is the preservation of heritage, as important as that heritage may be.

Third, it should be obvious that the place of music in the church is not entertainment! Such an approach treats music as a kind of escape valve. Music can certainly have a place for entertaining us elsewhere, but worship is never conceived of as entertainment in the whole of Scripture.

Finally, any philosophy that treats music as an end in itself is suspect and unhelpful. This is the “art for art’s sake” idea. It often drives certain churches that take great pride in their “high cultural” approach to liturgy and form in music. The answer to this is simple: Art for Christ’s sake is our goal!

What a great message for the church today. You can read his complete post here.

(HT: Resurgence)

Iowa City Ranks Well

In the midst of some browsing today, I ran across some rankings about Iowa City in recent publications. It confirms that Iowa City is a great place to live and a strategic place for ministry.

Here are some recent rankings...

• Out of the 40 best college towns Iowa City ranked as No. 10 making it one of the coolest places to work, play, study, party, and live in North America!
• Kiplinger’s Personal Finance ranked Iowa City as No. 10 out of 50 of the “smartest places to live.”
• Forbes ranked Iowa City No. 13 in the “Best Small Places to do Business” publication
  
• Men’s Journal ranked Iowa City No. 6 among the healthiest, safest and sexiest places to live in America.
• CNN Money Magazine listed Iowa City as one of the top five places to retire.
• Expansion Management Magazine ranked Iowa Cities Public Schools No. 4 out of 334 (2004)
  
• Forbes ranked Iowa City the No. 3 best “Small Metro Area” in 2004

ARTS MINISTRY BBQ

Here’s a picture from our summer Arts Ministry BBQ out at Doug and Jean Boatman’s place. God gave us such a beautiful evening for some wonderful fellowship with great food, fishing, hayrack rides, and a huge jumper for the kids (picture of my daughter Elizabeth to the left). I’ll post more pictures very soon. It was great connecting with so many of you and getting to know you better! Thanks Doug and Jean for being such wonderful hosts!

Lighted Metranome Pick

OK, I know I am on a run of consecutive relatively meaningless blog entries, but this is an interesting development from Santa Cruz Light Wells. Thanks DBoats.

- - - -

LEDs are so small that now they can even fit into a guitar pick, and Santa Cruz Light Wells (SCLW) has placed a group of eight of them on the Light Pick, which is powered by a tiny watch battery and also functions as a metronome. It’s available in a variety of colors, and in right-handed and left-handed versions. It also includes three interchangeable tips for light, medium, or heavy picking action.

Only problem is, the Light Pick’s $60 price is enough money to buy hundreds of conventional guitar picks. But then if you want it to look like your playing is packing enough heat to set that guitar ablaze, it might just be worth it. – Charlie White

(HT: Gismodo)

Groovin on the Throne

Those of you who love your ipod will love this one. Yes, even on the throne you can “feel the rhythm” of the music. The icarta is the real deal.

Please! Don’t forget to wash your hands before removing your ipod!

(HT: Rich Kirpatrick)

Nacho Libre?

Our Senior Pastor and Children’s Pastor have both been really talking-up this movie. For those of you who loved Napoleon Dynamite, this is the next big film by the same director.

Here is the opening to Christianity Today’s review:

There's a pretty simple test as to whether you'd enjoy Nacho Libre or not. Two questions: Did you like Napoleon Dynamite? Do you typically like Jack Black?

Read the rest here.

Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

14 Pounds of Baby

Dan Van Oss needed a creative outlet this week and chose to have a little fun with one of our pastor's presentation of his new baby twins in services last weekend. The combined weight of the twins was 14 pounds! Check out Dan’s funky remix here.

Fall 06 Proposed Schedule

Parkview Friends,

Most of you have likely either heard or read about the proposed service schedule for the Fall ministry season. This schedule has gone through the Senior Staff and Elders and is now open for feedback from the congregation. Here is the schedule:

SATURDAY

4:30 PM

• SERVICE 1
• Sunday School / Nursery
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Support Groups / Institute Class

6:00 PM

• SERVICE 2
• Family Connection (30-40 minutes in length)
• Nursery
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Support Groups / Institute Class

SUNDAY

9:00 AM

• SERVICE 3
• ATRIUM VENUE SERVICE 1
• Sunday School / Nursery
• Family Connection (Starts at 9:30 am)
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Institute Class
• Youth Sunday School

10:30 AM

• SERVICE 4
• ATRIUM VENUE SERVICE 2
• Sunday School / Nursery
• Family Connection (30-40 minutes in length)
• Possible Adult Bible Fellowships / Institute Class

This week I will be discussing this schedule with all the vocal ensembles. The changes are being proposed as part of a new “family based” discipleship model for kids, ages children through youth. This structure would also give us four appealing service times and a “fully self-sufficient” Saturday evening experience, eliminating the need for people to come back on Sunday for ABF’s or Services.

There are a lot more specifics regarding this structure, but those details are better shared in person. Part of the reason I posted this schedule is I invite you to post questions that you might have regarding the specifics and/or motivation behind this schedule. Please hold off from expressing concerns/feedback until I’ve had the opportunity to verbalize all the details in person. I will answer posted questions (if there are any) as best as possible during the Q&A sessions this week.

Thanks,

Scott

Worship God Live: The Review

In 2005 Covenant Life Church hosted two evenings of worship to record their recent project Worship God Live. I thank Bob Kauflin and the team at Sovereign Grace Ministries for the opportunity to review this CD.

I would like to start this review commenting that I deeply respect the vision behind the Worship Ministry and this project at Sovereign Grace Ministries. This kind of project represents a desire in many to awaken mindful affections for God that will take the contemporary listener to new levels of appreciation for the boundless riches we find in His grace. As stated in a recent post, I have a deep desire for contemporary songwriters to begin writing songs that combine substantive theological thought with skillful poetic lyric. I applaud the effort that went into this CD toward the accomplishment of this goal.

The musicianship and recording quality on this project was fantastic. It is wonderful hearing so many excellent musicians dedicating themselves to playing for the glory of God. As in past projects by this ministry, there were some very creative nuances that made many of the songs sound fresh and original.

Though this project excelled in many ways, I was surprised that as a live recording it didn’t sound more “live.” There were moments you could hear congregation participating with singing or clapping but these moments were minimal and drown out by a predominant vocal team sound that was excellent, but also somewhat stylistically dated. A thinner vocal texture with more audible live congregational participation may have given this CD an air of authenticity that would have made it more relevant to a broader audience.

Some of the songs also sounded a bit too “happy” or “sing-songy” for my taste. The problem with this musical feel in a song is that it can risk sounding artificial and fake to believers and unbelievers alike. This is especially problematic when we observe that the call to faith in Christ is often a call to suffer. When in the midst of suffering people want to celebrate, but they want to do it in the context of joyful melodies, not “happy” ones.

Despite these concerns, this recording blessed me. In preparation for this review I spent a lot of time listening to the CD and it lead to several meaningful moments of worship. This recording will undoubtedly be a great resource for many churches across the nation and around the world. Though some of the stylistic characteristics may inhibit it’s influence and acceptance in certain arenas, it is certainly a project that God has and will continue to use to edify the church and bring glory to His name.

The Kingdom of Rock is At Hand

Christianity Today featured a stinging article about Christian Rock music that heavily references Andrew Beaujon’s book “Body Piercing Saved My life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock.” In it are some interesting critiques about the Christian music industry. It reminds me of a Christian song from the 80’s that said, “why does the Devil have all the good music?” I don’t necessarily agree with the statement, but wish Christians could shake the reputation of putting out music that is sub par or in the very least a copy of what successful secular musicians are doing.

Here’s a quote from the article:

- - -

Such is the tortured state of popular Christian music: It's of the world, but not in it. It exists, as Andrew Beaujon attests in his engrossing Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock, in a "parallel universe," never fully intersecting with the trendsetting sonic landscapes of mainstream or alternative rock. Christian music may approximate the sounds of popular rock, and the labels may even be owned by the same parent companies, but to many people's ears, Christian rock is just one long cover.

Living Out Biblical Manhood

In this post C.J. Mehaney challenges pastors to live out the Biblical calling of being a huband and father. I’m going to ask my wife these questions he suggested. What about you other married guys out there?

- - - -

Our teaching on this topic will only be as effective as our personal example. Modeling precedes teaching. Biblical instruction cannot be divorced from personal example. We must provide our churches with a genuine (not perfect) model of biblical masculinity. It is possible to skillfully teach Genesis 1-3 or Ephesians 5 and yet neglect to apply these passages to our lives. So, let me ask you: Where and how are you going to demonstrate biblical manhood to your wife and children this week? What difference is your complementarian position going to make in your life and for those you love, lead, and serve? If I spent the week with you, would your conviction about biblical masculinity be obvious?

Gentlemen, here is a gift you can give to your wife this week. Set aside a few hours of uninterrupted time, and ask her to honestly evaluate your personal example of godliness and your leadership in the home.

I dare you to ask her this question:

Where do I need to grow in serving and leading you?

For bonus points, ask this question:

Where do I need to grow in serving and leading the children?

This one conversation could initiate dramatic changes in your life.

After you’ve talked to your wife, I would encourage you to relate the details to a fellow elder, pastor or friend. Invite their questions and observations and make yourself accountable to them for application. This step will weaken pride and cultivate humility. Because God gives grace to the humble, this is a very smart thing to do. In fact, it would be stupid not to, since God opposes the proud. So, let us avoid being mere advocates of the complementarian position. By the grace of God we must be functional complementarians, and this must be evident for all to see.

Pray for the Elders

For those of you not aware, I am now starting a 2-year term on the elder board. Yes, some of you may think I am off my rocker for adding one more thing to my plate; however, this is such a strategic time for our church right now that I feel it is important for me to step up and be part of the process.

In light of this, I’d like to invite your prayers. Tonight we (the elders) are trying to wrestle through some practical and philosophical issues regarding our general approach to ministry programming. By God’s grace we appear to be getting closer than ever to arriving at a weekend service strategy that we feel will give the church something to build upon for years to come. Thanks for your prayers and I'll update you with more information in the very near future!

Scott

Batwoman is a Lesbian

The DC comics crew is resurrecting Batwoman as a lesbian. In my opinion their new strategy is not to make the comics more PC, but to stir up the sexual excitement in young hormone driven boys. All you need to do is watch the sitcom "Friends" and quite regularly you'll see the character Joey's eyes light up at the thought of two women being together. It's something that curious comic readers (and men in general) will find alluring and addictive.

Of course, the comic writers are promoting Batwoman's coming out as an opportunity to represent diversity in their comics. As a parent of five children, I am frustrated that I can't even allow my child to buy a comic book without fearing that he may see two women kissing or read about hints of homosexual sex. Here's the full story.

(HT: Meditations of Gill)

Don Whitney on Family Worship

Justin Taylor featured the post below on a new family worship booklet by Don Whitney. I attended a conference by Whitney on the spiritual disciplines when he was the Professor of Spiritual Formation at Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City. He has written much on worship and I am sure this volume is a worthwhile read. I confess having a hard time leading my family to worship together (though worship is the top priority of our family mission statement) so this will be a good read for me as a husband and father. I’ll get it and let you know what I think.

- - - -

Don Whitney has written a 32-page booklet entitled Family Worship: In the Bible, in History, and in Your Home. Here is some more information on it:

Don Whitney has written a book we truly need. . . . This book belongs in every Christian home and in the hands of every Christian parent.
—R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Family Worship by Don Whitney is a priceless little volume. Whitney makes a compelling case from the Bible for the practice and illustrates it richly with historical examples. He even answers the frequently asked questions and responds to common objections. This book is persuasive, practical, and most of all, doable.
—Dr. Tedd Tripp, Pastor and author of Shepherding a Child's Heart

Family Worship surveys the biblical teaching on family worship, demonstrates how our heroes throughout church history have practiced it, and then gives fathers/husbands the simple, specific, practical how-to's of family worship.

There's also a section dealing with common questions such as,

• What if the father is not a Christian?
• What if there is no father at home?
• What if the children are very young?
• What if there are a wide range of ages among the children?

A Discussion Guide for each of the five chapters concludes the booklet.

This 32-page booklet retails for $5.95. However, generous discounts are available for bulk purchases. At present, this just-released resource is available only through The Center for Biblical Spirituality.

Family Worship is designed for individual reading or for group study. Some churches are giving a copy of this booklet to each man in their church.

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

For Men Only

For all of you guys who are married, I HIGHLY recommend this book. A friend (thanks DBoats) gave it to me a month ago and I finished it while on vacation. It is a sequel to the book “For Women Only” that my wife read several months earlier. Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn wrote the book based upon survey results from thousands of women to help men understand the inner lives of women and consequently, how to love them better. True, books like this tend to make generalizations, but all one needs to do is sort out those generalizations which don’t apply to your relationship. Here are some of the quotes that in many cases blew my mind!!!

• Women’s “thought lives are almost like busy computers with multiple windows open and running all at once."
• 95 percent of women feel that a reasonable solution would not solve their problem.
• Instead of filtering out her feelings to concentrate on the problem, we need to practice filtering out the problem so we can concentrate on her feelings about it.
• You’re not just the guy who shares her space. You’re her most important mirror.

It is a quick and easy read that is worth your time. The data is relevant for today’s relationships and is also written from a Biblical worldview. Read it!

Vodcasts with Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll (A.K.A. the cussing pastor) is the Senior Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. Have I ever hear him cuss? No. But he does have a reputation for, at times, seriously lacking in tactfulness. Mark is known as a cutting edge Pastor who represents a conservative wing of today’s postmodern church movement. He is most recently famous for a public backlash against other postmodern leaders who have forsaken Biblical inerrancy and embraced liberal stands on issues such as egalitarianism and homosexuality.

The reason I am writing this post is to recommend his churches vodcast, which is a video version of podcasts. Once a week the most recent message video goes online and automatically transfers to my itunes. Like any Bible teacher, his views need to be listened to with discernment, but I just finished the second message in his 1 Corinthians series “Christians Gone Wild” and I must say that I have been quite impressed. He teaches with an “in your face” style that is refreshing and quite challenging. He is also not afraid to grapple with some very difficult issues. Take a look and let me know what you think!

DIRECTIONS: In itunes, go to the advanced option on the menubar and select, “subscribe to podcast.” At that point you can enter the address at the bottom of this post. Once a message has downloaded you can view it in the podcast link on the left menu bar of your itunes. CAUTION: This is only an option for people with high-speed internet. Dial-up users will require 8+ hours of download time per message, sorry.

http://feeds.marshillchurch.org/feed/mhvodcast/rss.xml

The Missional Church

The word "missional" is a major "buzz word" in the postmodern church movement. At Parkview you may remember the word being used by Nate Hobert in the last couple of messages he gave in services. In this post, Anthony Bradley challenges us to remember the Kingdom in our missional world view. Here is a quote:

The mission of the kingdom has begun and will be finalized completely at the return of Jesus. What are Jesus followers to do in the meantime? Press the "pause" button and sit on their butts, huddled up on their 60-acre compounds waiting on Jesus to return? Nope! Jesus followers are called to "go!" That is, to "go" be witnesses and testifiers of the Kingdom of Jesus everywhere in the world and in all areas of life empowered by the Spirit of God himself (Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8). This means teaching the nations about the Kingdom of Jesus, calling them to repentance and faith, living out the good news in their midst, and engaging all areas of life and culture as a picture of what God intends for his world (Col 3:23).

Women in the Church

One of the controversies within today’s Evangelical church is in regard to the role of women in the church. There are two primary positions that are embraced by Evangelicals. One is complimentarianism and the other egalitarianism. In any given church you will see extreme and moderate views on both sides of the issue. Here’s a very limited definition of the two views:

• COMPLIMENTARIANISM: Men and women are equal in value but have complimentary differences.
• EGALITARIANISM: Men and women are equal in value, role, and position.

Parkview does hold to a more complimentary view on this issue. One of the biggest problems with the egalitarian view is its lack of strong Biblical support. Recently a coalition of churches united under the banner “Together for the Gospel” posted an explanation for why they included a complimentary statement on this issue within their statement of beliefs. You can read it here.

If you are interested in a comprehensive look at the issue you can get an excellent book called, "Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood" by John Piper and Wayne Grudem here.

(HT: JTaylor)

Archway Adventure

Vacation is almost over. Today we visited the Archway Monument that spans over Interstate-80 in Kearney, Nebraska. Next time you are on your way to Colorado (most people I know tend to go through Nebraska, not too Nebraska) it would be a stop worth making.



Judging from these signs on a pedestrian bridge at the monument, people in Nebraska must be worried about the growing obesity epidemic.

Civic Holidays and the Church

I confess always struggling to know how appropriate it is to observe civic holidays in our church services. For example, I had a voice mail two days before the Memorial Day weekend by a senior citizen in our church who said, “this may be short notice, but I sure hope we will be singing the “National Anthem” or “God Bless America” this weekend.” I am extremely proud to be a citizen of this great nation and am so thankful for the freedom we enjoy; however, I wrestle with how appropriate it is to give a lot of time toward leading the congregation in the singing of patriotic songs in our services.

I found it very interesting to see that Bob Kauflin recently took time to speak to this very issue in a recent post. Here’s a quote:

"In brief, since God’s kingdom is not of this world (Jn. 18:36), we don’t feel any obligation to draw attention to, highlight, or celebrate civil holidays as part of our Sunday gatherings. There are a number of reasons. Our country doesn’t set the agenda and priorities for the meetings of the church – God’s Word does. Also, one country’s celebration may confront another country’s values. For instance, not too many Christian Brits celebrate Independence Day. Finally, we gather on Sundays to remember the covenant God has made with us, celebrate the redemption He has provided through His Son, and to encourage one another to live lives worthy of the Gospel. The values celebrated by a particular public holiday may not always line up with those goals.Kauflin does go on to point out that there are legitimate times to emphasize national holidays within services, but definitely cautions one from going too far in this direction."

In a related vein, I was angered by all the patriotic musicals that came out for churches in the wake of 9/11. It smacked of the music industries desire to profit from the attacks by filling all the churches with patriotic music. I enjoyed several very meaningful renditions of the “National Anthem” following the attacks, but felt like publishing companies put out endless 45-minute patriotic musicals in attempt to milk the emotions of people for corporate profit.

This leads me to the assertion that I have heard some make that America is some kind of new Biblical Israel. This has no support Biblically and feeds the ego-centric mindset that harms our ability to truly be effective for the work of the gospel around the world. We must remember we are citizens of heaven first and if, God forbid, one day this great nation would fall our citizenship in heaven would not be shaken.

NOTE FOR PARKVIEW: With this post I am not making the statement that we will not recognize these holidays in our services, nor am I saying that we will not ever sing a patriotic song in our services. I am simply stating some of my concerns about making Patriotic themes too central in our services.

Nebraska the Good Life

This is the motto of the state in which I was born and raised. It is a unique culture in central Nebraska. There is generally a lot less humidity here than in Iowa (where I now live) and a whole lot more wind (no, Nebraska isn’t windy because Iowa sucks). The people are friendly and life is somewhat simpler. The unique thing that is happening to the climate here is a little scary if you consider projections.

The Ogallala aquifer is the large underground lake that supplies central and western Nebraska with its water. People in Nebraska water their lawns all the time and the crops are continually irrigated. This aggressive water use is necessary to sustain the crops and communities. The problem is that the aquifer is slowly disappearing. In the small community of Bertrand where I have stayed the last few days, city wells drilled decades ago were around 300 feet in depth. The most recent well drilled in the last few years needed to go over 600 feet deep in order to insure a sufficient water supply for the years to come. Reservoirs that once sustained water recreation almost year around are now shutting down in early June because levels have dropped so drastically that boats are no longer able to dock.

I am not a mystic Christian looking for demons behind every bush or worrying about the apocalypse with every earthquake; however, it is a little scary imagining the state of Nebraska slowly becoming a desert. How much of this is caused by global warming? Is this part of a global climate shift that will render our world unable to sustain life as we know it? Those questions are for the scientists to debate. No matter the answer, our eroding climate is simply a reminder that life as we know will one day end, and at that point we will begin an eternal existence that will no longer be subject to tears, crying, pain, tornados, cancer, aging, sickness, drought, and the like.

Writing Songs for Your Spirit and Your Mind

This morning I read 1 Corinthians 14:15b which says “I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” This verse is specifically speaking to the issue of using tongues in worship, stressing the importance of singing (and speaking) praise in a language that edifies the body by causing people to not only “sense the emotion” behind the praise, but to also become intellectually engaged by its content. I believe this verse captures, in principle, a concept that may be helpful for today’s Christian songwriters to contemplate.

Recently I reviewed several CD’s that represent a resurgence of songs in the church that are written using old hymn texts set to new tunes and/or instrumentation. It is nice to see the church finding value in the old hymn texts that have otherwise been forgotten; however, I can’t help but notice that this resurgence claims, in part, to be a reformation for a singing church that tends to gravitate toward songs with lighter weight lyrical content.

Now, if we consider that musicians who were also pastors and theologians wrote a lot of the hymns, it no surprise that these songs often reflect an understanding for the deeper issues of faith. This leads me to a few challenges for contemporary songwriters.

1. Become avid students of the scriptures and theology. A deeper understanding of your faith will better equip you to capture more thoughtful content in your writing.
2. Consider approaching your songwriting as if you were writing a poem. If the lyric could be published as “stand alone” poetic verses, then you are likely writing something that will engage the spirit and mind of the congregation.

In closing, I must qualify my challenges. Firstly, there is a lot of great music being written today. It is totally acceptable and appropriate to sing songs that are simpler in content and that meditate upon a specific aspect of God’s character; all this to say that the church would benefit from new songs that teach and sing about deeper issues of faith and theology. Secondly, I am not a songwriter, so I do not understand the finer points of writing a good song. I would appreciate any input from you songwriters that would add to my thoughts.

Sisters Charged in Fight Over Parade Candy

Sisters fight over candy all the time. Right? These sisters were arrested fighting over who got the most Twizzler’s in the Wood Dale, Illinois Memorial Day Parade. Pamela is 23 and Joyce is 31. Read the rest here.

Lizard Attack!

OK, this is indeed a very funny link. This guy is scared to death of lizards. The more I watched it, the more I laughed.

(HT: Vitamin Z)

State of the Ministry Address (Summer 06)

The summer is in full swing and I am presently sitting in the basement of my in-laws place in rural Nebraska. The kids are playing with cousins and grandpa’s Nintendo 64 and I thought I’d take a moment to update you all with a summer “State of the Ministry” address.

MUSIC

The vocal and instrumental ministries are charging forward for the summer. Both the vocal and instrumental schedules have been released and in some cases are presently being refined. John Carlson is working on a re-release of his instrumental preludes project that was originally recorded and mastered when he was a Music Director at Willow Creek in Chicago. I’ll let you know when his re-release is out so you can get a copy. Also, John is going to be featured in the “Art Scene Iowa” newspaper. The article will be on “Jesus and Jazz.” I’ll let you know when that is also released.

Singers and instrumentalists, your year around commitment is so appreciated. It’s awesome knowing that our summer programming maintains the same excellent quality as it does in the Fall and Spring, It a testimony of your love for the Lord and commitment to excellent ministry.

VISUAL ARTS / CAFÉ

The Visual Arts team is presently working on our Proverbs Series installation on mainstage. Thanks to Ann and all the team for your continuous work. Also, thanks to Nancy and Alice for the beautiful plants and communion décor that we enjoy on a regular basis. Sue Aunan is the artist presently displaying her excellent art in the Café gallery. Please check in regularly for new art displays. On top of leading the VA team, Ann is also the coordinator for the Atrium Café. Her teams are continuing to provide an amazing ministry to our church with fine coffee’s, muffins, fruit drinks, and yes, even chocolate (try the bug bites… I love em’). When you see Ann and the other baristas, be sure to thank them for all the hours they put into providing excellent ministry week in and week out. If you are interested in serving in this ministry, be sure to contact Ann, I know she is always looking for future baristas!

INTERN

For the second summer in a row our ministry has a summer intern who is learning the ins and outs of the Arts Ministry at Parkview. This year Eli Suddarth is filling the position. In the Fall Eli will be entering his final year at the University of Iowa. You’ll be seeing Eli in a lot of different positions throughout the summer either playing guitar, running sound, shooting a camera, or leading worship. Eli is a great asset to the ministry and brings an amazing heart for the Lord to all he does. Welcome Eli!

TECHNICAL MINISTRY

Thanks to the tireless help of Phil Gugliuzza, Bill Christensen, and Don Keiser the Technical Ministry has been charging forward despite the loss of our former Technical Director, Dan Grimes. Thanks guys and all the volunteer teams for doing a fantastic job keeping this ministry moving forward! By the end of the summer we will put plans in place that will transition us from an “Interim” structure toward a more permanent structure. More on that coming later this summer!

If you get the chance, be sure to thank Julie Bates for all she does as the Head Producer for our weekend services. She is now serving in a more “official” capacity this budget year and we so appreciate all she does to keep the services well coordinated and flowing seamlessly. Thanks Julie!

DRAMA MINISTRY

Some Drama Team members are beginning to work on a “next level” drama ministry implementation following the loss of our former Drama Director several months ago. I know all of you drama queens (and kings) out there are getting anxious to serve. Please know that plans are in the works and that I look forward to seeing you in action very soon.

SABBATICAL PLANS

One of the very sweet benefits Parkview extends to the Pastoral staff is a sabbatical policy that allows for 3 months of sabbatical for every 5 years of service at Parkview. This summer I will be taking about one month’s worth of time for some personal R&R and to attend the “Worship God 06” conference at Covenant Life Church in Maryland. My beautiful bride Carrie will join me at the conference. She is my editor, support, and encouragement for all I do in ministry. It will be wonderful getting to share the conference experience with her and getting some long overdue time together and away from the kids (this will be the first time we have been away together for several days without a child since we had our first over 10 years ago!!!)

The dates I will be officially “out of the office” will be July 10-31 and then August 8-14. I am still working out the details, but Parkview will be in more than capable hands with John, Greg, and Eli holding down the “musical fort” for the four weekends I will be out.

FALL SCHEDULE

As we’ve continued forward with our present weekend service schedule we are discovering some “weaknesses in the system” that, if resolved, will help us be more effective at reaching people and continuing to create more space for our capacity service at 10:15 am. The elders and staff teams are working on some proposed solutions, but we do not yet have a final draft that we feel will be effective at enhancing all the ministry areas. Please stay tuned as we continue to consider ideas, review trends, and get feedback about how we can better facilitate the worship of God through our ministry schedule. We would definitely appreciate your prayers as we wrestle through this process.

CHILDREN’S MUSIC

Zack and Eryn Durlam along with Julie Bates just wrapped up the Spring ministry season with the Parkview Children’s Choir. The kids add such an amazing energy to our services and have learned so much under their director’s commitment to education and excellence. We look forward to seeing them back in full force after the summer!

SUMMER SOCIAL

I hope you can all join us for our summer Arts Ministry Social on Friday, June 23rd at the Boatman’s ranch north of Iowa City. This will be a time for all the family. At their place you’ll be able to enjoy fishing, fellowship, a hayrack ride, a BBQ, and possibly even a baptism service to end the evening. Outside of meat and beverages, the food will be potluck. We would appreciate your RSVP for the event, so just reply as you get the e-mail within the next week or two. If you have not been baptized since you put your faith in Christ and would be interested in celebrating your baptism with the Arts community, please let us know. If we don’t have enough interest we may put off the baptisms for another time.

AUDIO CD AND TAPE MINISTRY

Thanks to Barb Alton and her teams for keeping this ministry going so seamlessly. Some of the recordings they make of the weekly teaching at Parkview are going around the world. It’s encouraging knowing that the God’s Word, through the teaching ministry at Parkview, is having such a widespread influence while also continuing to bless so many locally.

IN CLOSING

I want to thank the Usher and Communion teams for their ministry to us in services. Sometimes these ministries become so familiar to us that we take for granted the immense value they to our weekend worship experience. I feel blessed beyond measure to work with such amazing people in every area of ministry at Parkview.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow!!!

Scott