Arts Ministry BBQ 2009

Thanks to all of you who were able to make this years Arts Ministry BBQ out at the Boatman's. The Lord was very gracious to give us a dry cool evening when, just the day before, it appeared rain was imminent. I am so thankful for the wonderful people I have the privilege to work with day in and day out at Parkview. What a great group of people who love the Lord and love doing life and ministry together! Thanks for hosting us Doug and Jean! The following are some pics of our time together.

Insanity or Creativity?

Thanks to Ryan Lamb in San Fransico for the pic!

Anniversary of the Flood

A year ago this week, Parkview was under 4 feet of flood water from the Iowa River. It's hard to believe all this church and community went through over the last year. Recently I went through all the photos and was surprised how much it moved me. The feelings were not of regret or frustration, but of fondness. Fondness rooted in the memory of working side by side with such wonderful people. Though some might think the flood got the best of us when it filled our facility with over four feet of muddy river water but, in my view, the Lord used the flood to cement our trust in Him and to fordge deep and meaningful friendships. For this I am grateful.

Here is a recent article in the Press Citizen regarding our return and below are a few pics and descriptions recounting some of the events that surrounded the flood. To see a complete review of the flood, you can visit my June blog archive for more pictures and written detail.

On Sunday, June 8th we began building a sandbag wall around the church. At the time we only expected to build the wall a few feet high.



Each day the flood projections required us to increase the height of the wall, leaving it at about 4 feet tall all the way around the building. Rain gutters were re-built in order to send roof water outside the flood wall.



Walls were fortified and sump pumps were installed all along the wall in order to maintain the integrity of the flood barrier.



Eventually trucks and tractors were unable to transport sandbags due to the eroding driving path. From that point forward long lines were made to pass sandbags where ever they were needed.



Here's our access to the main entrance of the church facility.



A boat with diesel fuel was ready to keep our generators fueled that were to power the sumps once land access was no longer available.



Sand bagging operations continued in our upper parking lot for both the church and area neighborhoods.



The water kept rising.



The wall on the southeast corner of the facility was holding back water by Wednesday, June 11th.



Sandbagging operations kept shifting further north as the waters rose.





On Thursday the 12th, we were ordered by the city to evacuate. At the time we were told flood waters were now projected to reach to the eaves of the building.



Most of the facility was evacuated in these crates that were hauled by lifts across the floodwaters into numerous semi trailers.



Services were relocated to West High.



Within a day the entire facility was flooded.



A few of us were joined by CNN (the guy with the camera) as we toured the flooded facility.



Here's the window in the main office.









On Sunday, June 22 the waters fully receded and we were given access to the facility to begin the process of clean-out.







On December 14th, we had our first services back at Parkview after almost 6 months of facility renovation.

I Am Clean

From my reading from Leviticus for my OT survey course...

If a man's hair falls out from his head, he is bald; he is clean. And if a man's hair falls out from his forehead, he has baldness of the forehead; he is clean. Leviticus 13:40-41

Great reassurance for follicly challenged men everywhere.

Proud of My Sister

This post is a bit out of the ordinary for my blog, but I could not help but brag on my sister who is a veterinarian in Kearney, Nebraska. She was recently trained in a cutting edge ACL repair procedure that involves rebuilding the structure of the leg in order to change the physics of how it functions. Outside of Omaha, she is the only vet performing this procedure which allows young larger sized dogs a quality of life previously unavailable. Here is an article featuring her work in their local newspaper and below is an x-ray of her first completed procedure. If you are looking for a good vet in central Nebraska, I've got a recommendation for you.

Ministering to the Transgender

In this set of articles, Russell Moore, a seminary faculty member at Southern Seminary, deals with the ethical dilemma of how to counsel a surgically altered transgender with a daughter who comes to faith in Christ. To be honest, I am still wrestling with this one. Where Moore's article may break down a bit is the assumption that this person does not have a whole host of emotional struggles that keep them from neatly progressing through the process of discipleship. None the less, he certainly has well thought answer that is Biblically sound. I just worry that his thoughts are written from the perspective of one who has never actually walked through this type of issue with a transgender individual. I am concerned that those who read his thoughts will "amen" them and not really be equipped to handle the sophisticated issues one encounters when working with people in this situation. If dealt with improperly, the Christian could end up pushing the individual out of the church. One thing for sure, helping people with these types of issues requires you to have lots of grace and be in it for the long haul, but that is what the church is to be all about. Here are his thought provoking posts on the issue.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Soul Winning Made Easy

This was too funny to not cop from Challies blog. As a future church planter, I'll need to keep tabs on this post from a 1959 soul winning pamphlet for future reference!

God's Calling

Tonight at the congregational meeting, those of you in attendance heard that Carrie and I are accepting what we believe to be the call of God to plant a church in a little over a year (June 2010) with the Acts 29 network.

This calling stems from a growing heart to be part of, not only planting a church, but of planting a missional church that is committed to spreading the Gospel through the ongoing process of planting new churches. This vision for being part of a “movement of the Gospel” stems from a growing conviction from God and His Word and a growing love for His church. This growth has lead Carrie and I to pray and deeply ponder how it is God would uniquely use us in His mission to “make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19).

I am presently in the process of undergoing assessment with the Acts 29 network, which is a network of churches with the goal of planting 1000 churches, both locally and globally, in the next 10 years. We are presently setting our sites on Madison, Wisconsin as an optimum church plant location.

This next year will be a busy one as I work to...

• Develop transition plans with those of you serving in the Worship and Arts ministry
• Help Jeff and the elders in the search for a new Pastor of Worship and Music
• Serve as a member of the building committee as we undergo a master planning process for our future facility relocation

Please be praying as we work with the elders in upcoming months to confirm the various details of this planting vision. We are thankful to be part of a church that not only shares our vision for Gospel expansion, but has also patiently loved us as we have grown through the various successes and failures that often come with ministry. In the last 10+ years of ministry God has used you all to form and shape us in ways that leave us humbled and immensely grateful.

Arts Ministry BBQ

Worship and Arts teams! On Wednesday, June 10 from 6-8:30 pm we'll be having a BBQ fellowship at the Boatman's. Meat will be provided. Bring your own beverage and side dish (last name A-M) and dessert (last name N-Z). Tableware will be provided. We'll have an inflatable game for the kids as well as numerous other games. Those of you who want can bring your pole and tackle to fish in the pond.

Here's a few pictures from the last community time we had at the Boatmans. Kristen will be emailing directions. Hope you can all make it!

By My Side

A few months ago my oldest, Hannah, sang 4 songs for me that she had written with the hopes that one of them would be a candidate for this year's middle school pops concert. We selected "By My Side" and she ended up singing it for tonight's concert. Way to go Hannah! Thanks to John Carlson for playing percussion (that's me on guitar) and thanks to God for giving her such a neat opportunity to sing this message to her class. The lyrics are below...



VERSE 1
When life is hard and you don’t know what to do
Seems like everything is crashing in on your life
You feel like there’s nothing left to do, and you think you can’t push through
And you feel like there’s no comfort for you.

CHORUS
Well I know a solution to help you through this life
To guide you through tonight and every time
He will change your life, when He’s by your side.
And I guarantee you’ll like it, yeah you’ll like Him
By your side.

VERSE 2
When your life is going great and it seems just like a dream
You’ve got lots of friends and things are perfect, so they seem
But you still feel lost, it’s something you can’t ignore
Inside you feel so empty, your looking for more - - - -

CHORUS

BRIDGE
He’ll help you through and guide you, in the right direction
Never leave you on your own, you can trust him now.
He’ll always be there for you.

CHORUS

Yes, the God, my Lord will help you through this life.

Simple Church on Discipleship

Quote from the book, Simple Church (p 26):

To have a simple church, you must design a simple discipleship process. This process must be clear. It must move people toward maturity. It must be integrated fully into your church, and you must get rid of the clutter around it.

This is truly a challenge for today's church which struggles to compete with complex lives and a complex church culture. Like many churches it is something that we struggle to keep in check at Parkview. One thing for sure, defending a simple vision requires us to say "no" to a lot of good things. This is one of the most difficult essentials when it comes to guarding and advancing a vision.

Hold the Interview

In this month’s Fast Company magazine Dan Heath & Chip Heath wrote a great article that turns conventional hiring practices on its head. In it they propose that it may be wiser to hire people without ever meeting them. They site that, “Interviews are less predictive of job performance than work samples, job-knowledge tests, and peer ratings of past job performance. Even a simple intelligence test is dramatically more useful.” The conclusion is that with potential employees we need to give interviews the same or less weight than we do other methods of evaluation.

For the church this is a great reminder for those of us who regularly hire church staff. I would suggest that these realities may even come in handy as we consider the appointment of lay leadership. The main point being that we must never minimize the importance of getting work samples and doing multiple layers of job performance evaluation beyond the standard “references” of the candidate. For lay leadership, it just means we do our homework outside of the interview, so we are considering other factors and methods of evaluation before making leadership appointments or recommendations.

Death is Not Dying

Rachel Barkley is a 37 year-old wife and mother of two who is dying of cancer. Physicians say she will be dead in a matter of weeks. On March 6th she spoke to 600 women in Richmond, BC, Canada at the "Death is Not Dying" conference. To see and hear this powerful talk click here.

(HT: DG Blog)

Video Worth Contemplating

Before you watch this video posted on iMonk I want to say that one of my pet peaves is when missiologists try to shock people into action. In many ways, the purpose behind this video is just that. The dark music and dismal tone only increases an unwarranted panic in the hearts of Christians. Your motivation to serve God in global mission should always be your desire to see the fame and worship of God reach every nation, not your fear of cultural domination.

All this to say that the statistics in this video are difficult to argue against and somewhat alarming. The global cultural landscape is quickly shifting and as followers of Jesus we should be aware and ready.

Swine Flu at Major Universities

Here's an interesting map that shows where swine flu is showing up at major universities around the nation. I am honestly not following this flu thing all that much. It seems like a bit more of a hysteria than anything else, but it is probably worth keeping an eye on. No cases at University of Iowa.... yet.

Biblical Leadership and Submission in Marriage

In Each for the Other, Brian Chapel develops one of the best expositions I've ever read on Ephesians 5 regarding Biblical leadership and submission in marriage. Here are two excerpts from the book, one regarding the husband and one the wife. I know most of you won't take the time to read or contemplate these quotes, but please know I truly believe that "getting" the meaning behind these quotes is one of the foundational keys to a strong marriage.

Regarding the husband....

A husband should submit his own life to God before he requires submission from anyone else. The true head of a home bows before God, asking to be the man God desires, interceding for the welfare of the family, and petitioning for love, wisdom, and strength that will make God's grace evident in the home. Only when a man humbles himself in these ways can he give a proper account of his headship to God. (p 40)

Regarding the wife....

The wife fulfills a redemptive purpose in the home, enabling each person more fully to know and be what the Savior desires. She does this by submitting herself in love to the good of another, and in doing so she reflects Christ's sacrifice. As his image bearer she becomes his chief representative to her spouse. Like her husband, the wife lives for another and thus represents Christ in and for the home. (p 102)

Twittering In Church

OK, some of you don't have a clue what Twittering is, but some churches are encouraging people to tweet during the service as a way to ask questions and discuss the sermon while it is being delivered. At Parkview we're discussing how it is Twitter can be a good source for event communication. Here's yesterday's feature article from Time magazine regarding this new trend in churches.

Churches and Pig Flu

Some churches like Mars Hill are suggesting that all churches take extreme measures in assuring their people that they can come and worship with no fear of the flu. If you ask me, they seem to be getting a bit carried away. Read about it here.

I'm Now On The City

Mars Hill Church in Seattle developed the web community, The City for the purpose of connecting their people in community and service. It's not church management software but, in their words, church movement software. The service has now been passed over to Zondervan Publishers who are making it a resource available to other churches and organizations. I am presently a member through the Gospel Coalition, but am interested to see if it will be an expanding resource for more and more people in the future. Here's a video detailing more of what it's about:

Swine Flu In Iowa

Two cases of the swine flu are now in Iowa. One of the suspected cases was recently in Coralville for a conference. The University of Iowa Hospital now has this web page up where they are posting regular updates regarding the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus in Iowa.

The Gospel and Idolatry

I just re-listened with my wife to Tim Keller's talk on the Gospel and Idolatry from the Gospel Coalition Conference and have to say that the talk really hits it out of the park. If you are trying to gain a fundamental understand regarding how to win your community for Christ, this talk puts the discussion into crystal clarity. If you are hoping to gain a better understanding of your own battle with sin, this talk will aid you in discerning your personal idols. It effectively frames life and ministry within the Biblical dichotomy of idolatry and God worship. Good stuff. You can listen to the audio or watch the video here.

Godin on What's Broken

Good marketing, customer service, and communication in any business is what determines whether or not products sell or customers return. I am not suggesting the church should run like a business, but think there is a ton we can learn about how to be more effective in our communication and systems development. This video is from business guru Seth Godin regarding what is broken in the world of business. Perhaps those of us in the church can learn a thing or two from resources like this about how to better communicate with and engage our people.

iPhone on Verizon

Glory hallelujah! According to USA Today and Wired Magazine, the iPhone is getting closer to possibly cutting a deal with Verizon. Those with iPhone's in our area have long lamented the poor reception offered by AT&T. Hopefully change is on the horizon!

The Power of Illustration

As one who has become increasingly interested in preaching, I felt a bit like a kid in a candy store at this years Gospel Coalition Conference. One of the very cool things about the conference was that it hosted a very diverse yet highly skilled line up of preachers (Tim Keller, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Ligon Duncan, Bryan Chapel, C.J. Mahaney, D.A. Carson to name a few). Another interesting twist was that most of the teachers were assigned a portion of 2nd Timothy, meaning that by the end of the conference the entire book was taught in completion. Side by side I’d never seen such quality teaching done with such diverse styles. One of my takeaways was the power of good illustration. Here’s a few of my observations regarding what makes a good sermon illustration.

1. Parallel the Meaning of the Text

A good sermon illustration must closely parallel the emphasis of the subject matter within the text being taught. It’s important to remember that if an illustration doesn’t strongly tie-in with the text it’s better not to use it. A lot of Pastors use stories or movie clips because they are “hip” or “inspirational” but in doing so, totally miss the point of the text.

2. Be A Story Teller

The best preachers are great story tellers. Even if you’re a person who uses a manuscript when teaching, the illustration gives you and excellent opportunity to pull yourself away from the text and fully engage with your listener. For the less experienced teacher, it is imperative to practice your illustrations so they flow naturally and capture attention.

3. With Age Comes Wisdom

In the pastor panel at the Gospel Coalition Conference Tim Keller remarked how he is a better preacher because he is an older preacher. At his stage of life he’s helped scores of people walk through difficult suffering, struggled with personal health issues, endured persecution, etc. It’s no question that, like a good wine, preachers can become more effective with age because they bring more wisdom and experience to the illustrations they share.

4. Study Culture

In my preaching class at Covenant I remember the quote that every teacher should have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Though today it’s probably more accurately said, “a Bible in one hand and a laptop (preferably a Macbook Pro) with Google Reader in the other” the point is the same. If we hope to relate to culture, we must be a student of what is going on around us. Using illustrations directly from the culture give us powerful points of relevance with those we teach.

5. Develop a Filing System

Recently I started trying to assemble a file folder of good illustrations. The content of these illustrations come from blogs, books, podcasts, emails, and life experiences. Many preachers find ways to organize and store good illustrations either in file systems or on their computer.

6. Don’t Overdo It

First of all, illustrations that are shared more than once or twice loose impact, so don’t become lazy by using the same illustration again and again. Second, just like the parables, illustrations are only helpful at emphasizing one or two points. Use it to make the point and then move on. It’s fine to say the egg illustrates three being also one, but the illustration breaks down quickly when you assign the yoke to God, egg white to Jesus, and shell to the Holy Spirit. I think you get the point.

Spurgeon on Reading

Today at the Gospel Coalition Conference I heard Ligon Duncan, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Mississippi preach from 2 Timothy 4:6-22. In the opening of his message he shared this quote from Charles Spurgeon regarding Paul's request to Timothy in the final weeks of his life (4:13) to bring his books to him so he can read.

As the apostle says to Timothy, so also he says to every-one, 'Give yourself to reading.' ... He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own... You need to read. Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works, especially the Puritanic writers, and expositions of the Bible... the best way for you to spend your leisure is to be either reading or praying."

The fact that the apostle Paul, who knew he was in his final days, was still concerned about reading and writing, gives us a great insight into his life-practices that advanced His influence for the advance of the Gospel and building of the Kingdom of God. May his example influence us to do the same.

What To Do With Criticism?

Having worked in different aspects of music ministry for almost 15 years, I am no stranger to criticism. It has come from people who are very close to me as well as people who prefer to remain anonymous. Some criticisms are delivered in the context of anger and others are thoughtful and constructive. Here’s a few things I try to think about when criticism comes my way:

1. What can I learn?

Though it is humbling to have someone critique your work, it is important to maintain a teachable attitude.

2. Always assume the best

Unless it is substantiated that this is not the case, it is important to always assume that people have good intention when they share their concerns.

3. Validate people’s concerns

In most cases, the person sharing the concern is very sincere. Try your best to “walk in their shoes” and empathize with them.

4. Rebuke when needed

If people are sinning in how they confront (critical spirit, arrogance, etc.), then call them on their sin. If they are complaining about someone else then ask them to take that concern directly to the person before speaking with you.

5. Consider subjectivity

Remember that people’s opinions are often subjective. Sometimes you simply have to agree to disagree.

6. Educate

Often people disagree with a decision because they aren’t aware of all the information that went into making the decision. Do your best to inform them so they can get your perspective on the issue.

7. Empower

Sometimes our strongest critics can become our greatest ally if we get them involved in the process of coming up with solutions. If someone doesn’t like the way a specific ministry operates, then get them involved in a group working to reform or guide that ministry.

8. Let it go

Try your best to not take criticism personally. If our identity is too tied into our work, then we will allow criticism to paralyze us, making us ineffective for the Kingdom. Once you’ve received and learned all you can from criticism, the next step is to move on.

That's Easter

JT just featured this video from St. Helen's Bishopgate in London, which serves as an outreach video to be shared with unbelievers. It's a really clear teaching video on the reason believers focus so intently upon the death of Christ.

Easter Promotional Video

This weekend we put together a very last minute Easter promo video to try and make our Easter announcement a bit more memorable. I'm not sure we if accomplished that goal, but we at least had fun.

We Are All Addicts

Addiction is a worship disorder we can all relate to. Are we satisfied in God or do we turn to other things as our source of comfort, escape, or purpose? In some measure we all know what it’s like being addicts. Though our addictions may not be as dangerous, or obvious, or public, we have all struggled. For some of us, God’s grace has matured us in such a way that we’ve been freed from some of the deep entanglements we once had with certain areas of sin.

I just finished the book Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave by Edward Welch. Though it primarily references people struggling with addictions like alcoholism, it is a book that would greatly benefit anyone struggling with any kind of addiction. One of the things I enjoyed most was the way the book synthesized contemporary therapy-speak with a Biblical understanding of disease and slavery to sin. I now view this book as my counseling handbook as I meet with people struggling with different areas of sin. I pray many will read it and learn how to turn from their idols and embrace the transformation available only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Facebooking at the Office

Some of you may want to show this to your boss. I have never been one to ban social networking from the workplace, though I do think we must be very careful to not do it at the cost of productivity. According to this Wired magazine article, a recent study in Australia shows that people who Facebook (or use other networking sites) are actually 9 percent more productive. Here's a snip from the post:

Caught Twittering or on Facebook at work? It'll make you a better employee, according to an Australian study that shows surfing the Internet for fun during office hours increases productivity.

The University of Melbourne study showed that people who use the Internet for personal reasons at work are about 9 percent more productive that those who do not.

Study author Brent Coker, from the department of management and marketing, said "workplace Internet leisure browsing," or WILB, helped to sharpened workers' concentration.

"People need to zone out for a bit to get back their concentration," Coker said on the university's website (www.unimelb.edu.au/)

"Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the Internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days' work, and as a result, increased productivity," he said.