The Never Ending Pasta Bowl. . . pastoberfest

Tis the season. It's October. I really, really like the fall. Football is in full swing, hopes are high for the Stillers and the bengals stink which re-assures that the world is still normal. Apple cider. Nice cool weather. It is also the time when everything gets hyped by changing the word 'Octoberfest' into something 'new' and 'cool'. 'Rocktoberfest', 'Shocktoberfest', Is saw a 'Bratoberfest' (which I will definitely be a part of) more on that later. It is also that precious time of year when the Olive Garden offers the never-ending pasta bowl. All you can eat scrumptious pasta. This is the epitome of self indulgence. Julie and I graced the Olive Garden last Friday. My normal plan going into pastoberfest is to eat enough pasta to make up the difference of over priced meals that I have eaten throughout the year. I am sorry to say though, that this year, I did not make a strong showing. I may have to consider retirement. I was only able to take down 2 bowls. In years past, 4 was the norm. I believe the highest was 6 (which, I must point out could have been higher had I not been cut off) So I may need to hang up the gloves.

I spent some time with some pastors last week. I was in the middle of preparing a sermon that I gave at our church over the weekend, when my pastor invited me to attend a meeting with some fellow pastors in the denomination. It was a simple little Bible study/small group. It was a very interesting dynamic. I have been serving at a church that is wildly contemporary and more importantly working really hard to minister to people. I consider myself very lucky to be a part of a church family that is concerned with reaching people with the love of Jesus and getting those people plugged into the ministry of the church, which goes way beyond our weekends together. Coming from this point of view, mixed with the fact that I just finished an MA in pastoral leadership, where the teachers and students are totally fired up to see the church become what it was meant to be, I sat with these guys and marveled at how easy it is for churches to become so pre-occupied with their thing. This group of guys was a cool group, and I won't tell you about them individually, but I will mention that they follow in a long line of people who I have encountered recently who are falling into this trap of taking what they are already doing and trying to re-package it to make it connect with new people. Let's take our Sunday service, throw in a guitar and assume that will fix the problems. We'll put out a sign for a 'contemporary service', and it will all just take off! Let's take down the sermon series from the marquee and put up there 'Churchtoberfest!'. My sermon was based on the idea that for the church to be the church, we can't just be all about Sunday. We have to be all about each other (after Jesus) and then together, all about the world around us. 24/7. This is really easy to say. I know, i just said it. But in spending time with some other pastors and hearing from other churches, I see that this easily gets lost in the shuffle. Satan wants more than anything for churches to keep doing what they're doing, make sure Sunday is an awesome show, repackage the old stuff, and neglect the call for unity, growth, true worship (living sacrifice, spirit and truth, no building built by human hands, etc) and ministry. There will always be a battle in keeping the call alive. When a church is healthy the battle is to keep it. When a church is not, the challenge is more apparent, but equally important.

No real questions or answers, more of an observation that should challenge to be aware of the deception of Sunday.

And now a quote. "Sallah I said no camels, that's five camels! Can't you count?!"
know the movie?

Sad day to live in Ohio . . .

Unless you are a Steeler fan. The state of Ohio got beat up with the left overs from the last hurricane. The Buckeyes got it handed to them by USC. Then as usual, the Bengals couldn't be any worse, then the Brownies lost their must win against the Black and Gold. Good times. That is not all to worry about in this particular blog post. I actually have had a ton of things that I wanted to bring up to the blog world of the last few weeks, but have not been around the internet for enough time, so I'll bring up a couple and then hopefully post a bit more with the rest later on.

On Spiritual Gifts
For whatever the reason, the topic of spiritual gifts has come up a lot in my circles. Tim had a couple of blogs asking why most churches do not really utilize the power of the Holy Spirit, or at least not in context of teaching through and practicing the gifts. More specifically the sign gifts. This is really important for the church. The church where I serve does very little when it comes to the gifts. Without getting into a reason as to why, I want to comment on something that I see in the the church. The church (western culture) wether old school, or new school, dying or huge, has a major proclivity to emphasize only Sunday. Now this could not be more of a general statement. The more I think about it though, how many people only see church as a Sunday thing. This plays out in everything. Big seeker sensitive churches spend 70+ percent of their time working towards Sunday, then more of their time working on growing Sunday. Dying churches get into fights about tradition and methodology primarily circling what happens on Sunday (i.e. music style, pews, burn the organ/don't burn the organ, can we move the couch in the fellowship room?) This plays out in struggles for all of the other ministries at the church. Trying to get adult leaders to come and hang out with struggling teens, or serve in the food pantry, or whatever else in the middle of the week, leaves the church doing 80% of their truest ministry with 20% of the people. So, what does this have to do with sign gifts? Hold that thought. We have several students involved in a informal college Bible study at our church and after the first meeting several of them came to me, freaking out because they talked about sign gifts and had a mini 'healing revival/ slain in the spirit hoopla'. So, I met with the guy leading it, who is relatively new believer who is just working through his passion to preach, and minister. In my discussion, one of the things that same up was that this dude was not really plugged into a growing community. Being a person who considers himself charismatic, I wanted to connect with this guy, encourage him in his spiritual development, but also help put some order to what was going down.
So here is how this all connects. The spiritual gifs were given to the church, for the edification of the church. To encourage, build up, challenge, equip, (insert whatever verb applies). The problem when it comes to the gifts is 1 Corinthians 13. Chapter 12 talk about the gifts and then how the church works and Chapter 14 talks about tongues and prophecy a bit more in depth, but 13 gets into how it all connects under the umbrella of 'the most excellent way.' It talks about what love (agape) is to look like in the church. Anyone who has been to a wedding has heard it. You know, the patience, kind, slow to anger. . .etc. Here is my point. When the church is limited to Sunday and people are not deeply connected in service and ministry outside of Sunday, they do not have the opportunity to do 1 Corinthians 13. The easiest way for me to say it, if you haven't gotten mad at each other, (then gotten past it) you haven't been there. The gifts are so important for the church, but not without 13. When the gifts spring out without a base of connectedness in a church, I feel like the idea of order gets lost and maybe more importantly, the gifts lose potency, they are more easily dismissed and it adds to the argument against their existence and use in the church. When churches dismiss or neglect the gifts, they miss out on a major part of what drives the body of Christ. But it has to come through deep connectedness with other believers, serving together, loving each other, walking through trials with each other, seeking God in prayer together. So let's get after the gifts, but let's get into each other's lives as well.
The Baby or the Bath-water
I have recently been listening to/ watching Mark Driscoll on Youtube. If you haven't heard him, check him out. He is huge on reformed theology, men in the church and being angry. I agree with him 98% of the time, but he has some really good stuff to say about religion. My church is free from the ties of dealing with traditions that shackle a lot of churches that are trying to grow, many of who are dying. Without really getting into a long discussion on how to spur change within a church, I want to point out that when it comes to change, it all about methodology. It is always a struggle to adjust what used to work. Especially when what worked is woven into the fabric of who a church is. I think of the phrase 'don't throw the baby out with the bath water'. The problem is, for many people the baby and the water are hard to distinguish. What happens is, churches go to extremes to 'change' and they throw out truth in exchange for tolerance and universalism. That freaks out the other churches who decide not to throw out anything, and they just try harder to play the game by the old rules. All of that to say, the church by definition, is supposed to grow and reach people for Christ. When religion gets in the way, methodology takes over and people freak out over needing to change. Check out Mark Driscoll if you get a chance
Why John McCain should be president
Despite my over arching desire to not publicly support a candidate as I think everyone needs to think for themselves, I must point out how close the Republican candidate's name is to John McClain. Could he be the inspiration for Die Hard? He did help discover the wheel. . .

And now for a quote:
“I couldn't help but catch the 'Equetsu Orcha' part. Did you just refer to me as white devil?”

Fantasy time again

Well, after thinking I might not get into a fantasy league earlier this week, I am now in a whole bunch. I am taking my weird draft strategy or taking the best of everything else while everyone fights over running backs. Conventional wisdom says that this is foolery, and if you don't do fantasy, you will not understand any of it any way, but this unorthodox draft strategy got me to the final game in two leagues prior only to loose to people who did not have top backs on their team anyway. So off we go. . . with the joyous return of the NFL and fantasy football, the further away from playing I get, the more I revel in the view from the couch.

In other news,
-Lucy has grown a ton and is making lots and lots of noises. She is going to be a talker, which is a funny labeling as we hope every child is a talker.

-I am also as sick as crap with a nasty cold thing that is keeping me up at night.

-Steven Curtis Chapman songs can make a statue cry (see Cinderella and All I really want for Christmas)what can I say, the dude has a gift.

-The Bengals look wretched (not really news) while the Steelers look like another run is in the future

-The Olympics are done, and I am questioning the true value of many of the sports, that's all I'll say.

-My cat Jeremy has fleas, because he has figured out a way to ninja his butt outside the house without us knowing.

-Presidential election is coming up. . . nothing valuable to add, because really, despite knowing full well who I am going to vote for, I like to comment on what other people say with absolute conviction and play devils advocate, because frankly, I think people need to look deep into why they would vote for a particular candidate and make an educated choice, and a lot of what I hear from folks is a lot of surfacy stuff that doesn't actually deal with the capabilities of a candidate to lead.

-And now a new addition to Sean's blog posts, name the movie quote. . .
"Kickboxing. Sport of the future. "

until next time

I thought I was busy once

Well hello in blog land, my apologies for the time between my posts. Things have been very busy around the Savage house. There has been so much going on it is hard to know where to begin. So I will try to keep it to some highlights.

1. Been watching the Olympics and for the first time I can remember, I have been quite engaged by the different sports and different countries and all the hooplah. I am sure that once we get to the ribbon dance event, that will subside a bit. While I likes me a good ribbon dance, since they kicked me off the ribbon dance squad and squashed my Olympic dreams, I choose to not follow that most intense display of athleticism. All in all Olympics = cool.

2. Stuff at the church is going very well. I have settled into the job quite well and am gearing up for some huge things coming into the fall. We have seen a ton of kids coming to our Thursday night deal and have been diving into the word very strongly, my prayer is that the kids will feel loved and build solid relationships and most of all be guided closer to Christ. There are tons of challenges with our kids, not the least of which are the 10 or so kids who put out the cigarettes their parents bought them right outside the door before they come into church. And do not get me started on our first discipleship retreat. Maybe we'll join Bible bowl. ( for those who do not know . . . just nod and smile) Our worship team is growing leaps and bounds. The players are getting better and more comfortable leading on their own, while we have added like six new people in the last couple of months. It has been awesome to see them all growing in their faith as well. Small groups is the ministry that I love and is also the most frustrating at the same time. Getting the more mature people in our church to be willing and equipped to lead more small groups has been very difficult and is perhaps the most important thing to our church. We have so many people who are new to church coming in every week, we have to get better at discipleship, fast.

3. Lucy is growing like a weed. She and Julie went away for a couple of days last week and she came back walking. . . not quite. But she did look HUGE. It has been cool to watch her discover new stuff. And it gets cooler every day to watch Julie be a mom. Any who, for those interested here some pictures and an attempt at a video post. The video is of Lucy doing what she does, and me probably making silly noises at her. . . and then she ninja kicks the cat and tries to discuss quantum physics. . . I may have run out of batteries before that happened so, all you get is smiles and noises.

Where to begin

Hello everyone out there in blogville. It has been quite a while, but there is lots to talk about so. . . here goes. I finished school a couple of months ago and then dove headfirst into work at the church. For those who do not know, Julie had been the youth pastor at our church for about a year and a half until Lucy was born. I was involved with several ministries at the church, but unofficially. When Julie was gearing up to have Lucy and I was trying feverishly to finish school, we decided to switch our roles at the church. I would take over the vision and direct of the youth ministry along with other ministry opportunities and get paid and she would stay at home with Lucy and serve in various areas as time allowed. Well that has happened, what was unexpected was that she was placed on 'bed rest' for the last two months of being pregnant. That is the preface for the last two months of mad scrambling to put together some youth trips and summer plans and really dive into the youth ministry for me.

So, we started our summer youth group stuff. I couldn't think of anything awesome, so I call it 'Super Thursday'. I may have stole that name from a furniture sale, but nonetheless, it has gone pretty well thus far. We have been averaging about 25 students that are coming and getting into the word and learning what it means to be the church. We spend time together with some worship and intro stuff (games and videos and whatnot) and then split into small groups. I am hoping and praying that it will grow and more importantly that the kids will 'get it'. If anyone has any awesome youth group games or ideas feel free to share them. We have yet to unleash the gross games, I have a ton in the arsenal, but am always looking for more.

Then three weeks ago we took 12 senior high students to CIY Move conference. This was a great trip. They do their conferences very, very well. And it exposed our kids to a week of awesome worship, fellowship with other students trying to follow God, and terrific Biblical challenge. I recommend it. Our trip was interesting to say the least we had about as random a group of kids as possible, from a few who were entirely new to the church, to a few sold out students ready to follow wherever God leads, to a few lifelong luke-warmers, all of whom had great experiences along with some serious challenges. I won't go into detail, but if you can dream it, it probably happened. But I think it will be a great building block.

Last week, we took 6 junior high students to a mission trip. This was also a great experience for the kids, though not for Sean. We had several kids cancel at the last minute and the organization we went through really dropped the ball in several areas. That being said, I know the kids learned a lot and had an awesome experience hanging out with the other church groups that were there.

Mixed in with getting those trips to go, my grandfather passed away. That was definitely a stressful week, with all of the family stuff to sift through, however it was awesome to come together and celebrate his life and see family and whatnot. It was awesome to see the impact that he had made for so many people and how his love for Jesus bled over so much.

Not directly related, I have been thinking lately, more like burdened with the idea of the church doing all it can to impact as opposed to just doing churchy stuff. The difference in the two trips were perfect examples of this idea. The one was not a mission trip but rather a 'retreat of sorts', but at no point during that trip did it feel like any part of it was simple there to give kids something to do. Every part was about challenge spiritually and challenge to go make an impact. The mission trip on the other hand was the opposite and felt like they were doing things just to fill a week. The biggest sign of this was this girl from another church, who I talked to. She was getting ready to go to college and she was sort of coerced into the trip. She had grown up in church, but was far from God. She has embraced postmodern ideology to the full, talking about 'I believe in a higher power but it isn't the same for everyone.' This was at the end of a trip, where the kids should have been shown how to love people, because Christ who call them to one faith in one Spirit loves them and wants everyone to have life. But never once on that trip did we ever talk as a community about why we were serving people, we just did it because it was a mission trip, something to do with friends from church. My biggest prayer is that the youth ministry at our church would not be a 'safe hang out', but rather would equip students to step up and play the role they are ordained for in the church as fellow ministers of the gospel. I love that our church has been so good at moving, but I see all over how easy it is to get caught up in the ideas of denomination, or doctrine, or tradition, or whatever and forget to move and follow Christ. I guess one of the things that also has come up is my wife's alma mater. The school has come under attack because it is teaching through issues of postmodernity in the church and homosexuality. There is more to that, but the thing is, that university is not condoning universalism or any other sort of huge liberal agenda, but rather trying to develop Christian leaders who can interact in the real world and love people to Christ. They are equipping the church to grow and shift and continue to be grounded in scripture as opposed to tradition. While traditions have place and are rooted often times in great things, when people fall more in love with the methodology of their particular church or denomination, or their traditions, or their original group of church friends than Christ, they lose the desire to go. What is left is a complacency that leaves the church going through motions. That's all I'll say about that.

If you are still here, the moment you have all been waiting for I'm sure. . .
BABY NEWS
Lucy is now just over three months old. She is getting real big. She started smiling consistently a few weeks ago. My mom insists that she would smile at her when she was like three weeks old. (clearly gas) But now she is smiling for real. And responding to people. She can almost totally hold her head up, although sometimes she forgets to hold it up and it flops around. She makes lots of noises and is learning to grab things. The best is when she tries to suck her thumb. She is all about it, but not totally coordinated enough to get it. She is about 36% effective at thumb into mouth. Most of the rest of the time she either has her thumb tucked behind her index finger, or even better when her mouth does the sucking motion, but her hand is like 6 inches away because she can't get her elbow to move on command yet. Julie is doing awesome at the mom role. She is really shining at being a mom to Lucy, she is always playing with her and teaching her and stuff. That has been cool to see. I love them both a lot. Well, here are some pictures. My goal is to get a few more up there soon.


Yeah lips


Me and my dad. . . don't look at the camera!


This is my hoodie, it's comfy


This is me pulling a Babs


This is cousin Ethan ( who I am taller than) yeah baby.

When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master.

Hip Hop Horay! Well, for those who do not know, I have been working feverishly to complete my masters degree. Today, I just found out that with straight A's in my last semester, it is finished. Above is the picture of the ticker tape parade we held this morning. Schooling was quite fun, though at times was a little stressful. I learned a lot and now have some more tools for ministry, and can start paying back loans:(.

So, for all of those who have been waiting in anticipation for some awesome blogging, I thought I would kick it back in with this thought. I had a discussion with someone from the 'uppers' of a church, on the topic of leadership, specifically when it comes to church. This person was convinced that leadership is something that everyone could learn and a position that anyone could fill. All in all, the idea being that a local church should be built on shoulders of strong leaders, plural. In essence, the implication is that when a church fails, it is simply a lack of submission to Christ, specifically from the communal form of leadership in the congregation. The pastor did not succeed in teaching those goals or the people just didn't do it. Cool, sounds good on paper, but then the ordained pastor or 'leader' of said church is sent to another church to not lead, because they should already have a communal form of leadership in place. The whole thing trying to combat the old form of church, where the pastor did all of the ministry and held a position of high authority over people.

While it is of utmost importance for the church to be developing leaders and to have strong leaders within the context of the church (elders and team leaders)I believe that scripture is clear that there is a position of singular, visionary leadership to guide a local body. That singular, visionary leader must then be surrounded with other leaders who can help support and guide the process through, prayer, biblical insight, discussion, guidance, wisdom, etc. But at some point the buck stops with one leader. This person is not better than anyone else, nor is their giftedness better. The reality is that the role they play in the body is to give direction to empower the saints for ministry. There in lies the key. How many church leaders miss this? They either miss the magnitude of the responsibility, or they get to enamored with the magnitude and feel they are better than everyone else, and treat their role as king, with all of the right ideas and no one has a right to question. It seems like the person I was discussing this with probably has, like me, experienced too much of these two extremes. The result was an ideology removing of the position of strong, singular, visionary leadership. I am still thinking through the ramifications of this, but I have to rest on the fact that God rose up individuals all throughout scripture to move His people. When they led properly, taking advice from other leaders, following after God, empowering people and serving, they did great things for the kingdom.

So, that is a snippet of a huge idea. I guess the biggest idea that I had to settle on was, as a leader, there is a huge responsibility. Are the people I lead being empowered for the ministry they are called to? Do they feel 'Lorded over' or loved? Am I seeking God for every step? Who am I developing to lead?

That's it, just some thoughts.

It's the brak show. Look, it's me, I'm brak!

Well, thought it was about time to show some more pictures of the wee lass. I actually have a ton of thoughts for jumping back into proper blogging, but, I am taking some time off because I just finished all of my work for my master's degree, and am waiting anxiously for my grades to come back and ensure that I am a master. Finger's crossed.

Anywho, here's Lucy. She is now 4 wks old and is currently learning the violin. It's just something she likes to do in between feedings.




Obviously, these pics were taken in a one minute span. If you will notice her hands, you can join us in marveling at how she has no concept of proper hand usage and placement during social situations. She is all about having her hands around her face.
I guess that's ok until wk 6.

Some new pics

Yeah, you know how every now and again you see a baby who is not so cute. You still say they are cute, but you know full well that they are not. Julie and I always wondered if our baby A. would be cute B. we would be able to tell if she wasn't or we would be just blinded by parental love. Well, we think she is cute so we will just assume that she is in fact cute. He some more pics.

Adalei

For those of you who are new, Julie and I just had our first baby, Lucy Adalei. (see pictures below) She is good times. We brought her home on Friday. She is so little! She sleeps on my chest sometimes and runs a serious risk of falling into my belly button and being lost forever. Not quite. She sleeps, looks around, does bathroom things and eats (and throws up). At this point in her life when everything is new, this a vast array of fun to chose from. We are going through the joys of getting on a schedule with her/ finding time to sleep and go about life. It really is cool. Julie's mom has been hanging with us, which has been a huge help in the transition process.

So that is the update. I did want to make a couple of non-related comments.

1st of all, I got to hang with my friend Thunder Dan Gartley last night, which was good times as always. Dan may be the friendliest guy I know, he always makes me smile. Anyways, he recently got me hooked on the awesomeness of Tom Petty, (to which I am greatful) I don't know how I over looked them for so long. I do not think they have ever made a song I don't like. But then last night we got see a band that he has been talking about called, 'Decemberadio'. Yeah they rocked in every sense of the word. Dan had said that they were the most talented and legit rock band in Christian music, and I must second this claim. Anyone interested in some great rock, check em out.


2nd, Lucy's middle name is Adalei. And we need some clarification. It is a silly spelling, but easy to say. (Add - uh-lay ) We sort of made it up. And chose it based solely on the rythm along with her first and last name, along with wanting something that sounded unique and girly. So no big ploy to fool the world and make life difficult for her forever. The reality is that in about 6 months, nobody except the family will pay notice to her middle name. Until, of course, she is a famous female singer-songwriter who also plays the violin and sings awesome harmony with her dad.

I write this out because I have had several people say, in response to me telling people her name, "Eww, why did you make her middle name so hard?". . . mk, I am not angry, although this response automatically switches my brain into cynical sarcastic guy. I kind of want to say, um "Eww, name your own child", or express how difficult it is to repeat 'Add-uh-lay" 'yeah, it is pretty difficult, we should have simplified it to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.' While here name is no Ann, May, Jo, Marie, Sue or one of the other 10 American sounding girl middle names, her name isn't hard to say. It is sort of difficult to spell. But that is in honor of her dad and people messing up 'Sean'. Names are funny.

Also, I did find some hunting and found out that her name is loosely connected to the German name Adelaide, which means 'noble one', or when applied to a little girl. 'princess', which is nice. So, that's it, check out Decemberadio.

I love Lucy

Here are a few more pics

Lucy Adalei Savage

Ok, all we just finished delivering Lucy. 6 pounds 15 Ounces, beautiful little girl with her daddy's cheeks and here mommy's long legs. I know you have all been praying with us to get us through the long ordeal, and so without further ado. . . here are some photos.

Go slinky go! This is going to be some kind of recooord!!!

Hrs 48-49. It is officially the nicest day of the year thus far, except we still don't have a baby. She is having good strong even contractions, but is only at 2 cm. (if you don't know what that means, you don't want to know) This means that after all that time we will more than likely end up having to do a c-section.

The good news from waiting all this time. . . I get to skip my last class of my graduate school career. Good times.


word, if you know all the words to the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Aire

Waiting on the world to change

Ok, so we're sitting here in hour #36 of having a baby. Sparing some of the graphic details, we have crossed over into the 'home stretch'. Obviously, the 'home stretch' is somewhat un-eventful at this point since I am able to blog. And compared to the previous 36+ hours, the next 6 hours of home stretch should be relatively quick.

I was thinking of John Mayer songs, like 'daughters' which will now hold more meaning, but settled in on 'Waiting on the world to change' simply because that is what it feels like I am doing. Obviously the wait seems way longer than it actually is, while you are in it, but I think the wait is accentuated because I am doing a whole lot of nothing, just waiting for my world to change. There is a ton to be said about that, and in reality, I am still a few hours from the reality of this whole deal. But I am excited about it, and can't wait to hold my little girl.

. . . and pictures are coming soon.

BABY!!!

A wonderful nine pound, two ounce baby was born. . . but not ours. April Fools! (hehehe, first 'dad' joke) To update anyone who is watching, we spent yesterday waiting for some action on the baby front, but alas nothing. So, We approaching the 24 hour mark and we'll see how today goes, Julie is doing great, no really big pains yet and she is just hanging out in the bed. I, on the other hand, am impatiently chomping at the bit. For those guys who have had a baby, you can relate to the long wait. Luckily, I have internet access, so I can fool around and blog and crap.

As before. . .baby pics soon to come!

Having a Baby

So, we are starting to induce labor this evening. So we should have a baby tommorrow ( or if it takes really long, Tues. We are so blessed that she has made it to 39 wks. and is ready to go. Pictures to soon follow once Lucy is born.

"I bet if I had a million dollars I could hook that up. . ."

Name the movie for a star. . .

For all two of you who have vested interest in what's going in Savagetown. . . that is stupid, my apologies. Here is an update, Julie and I are waiting Lucy's birth. Good times, though, the last month officially stinks. It is well worse than waiting for my wedding day, because at least there was for sure date, and I got to hang out with Julie everyday, and friends, and plans lots of crap. There is no such mountains of fun in waiting for baby. Although, we have had good times washing all of the new clothes for her to wear, thhbbbbbbt! No, really, we are totally excited, and I am a little impatient, which is silly because Julie is on bed rest and has to sit at home all day for a month, so I'm sure she feels double impatient. But, speaking of wedding, today is Julie and my anniversary! Yeah! It is cool to remember our wedding day and the excitement of being together. It is also fun to think about how different our lives are now, and how God continues to watch over us and use us.

My dear friend JR visited us on the way down to his new home in Memphis, where he will, in fact, be walking. It was awesome to see him, though it wasn't much of a party. Since Julie and I are in wait mode, we do a lot of sitting. He and I got to chatting a bit about how crazy change is and how different people respond to it and what not. I have realized that I have trouble with really big changes, and can't imagine going through them without Julie as she is much more calm during those time. And I found twenty dollars or my dad's name is Randy.

I added 'the chuck' to my links area on the blog, this is a link to some awesome Chuck Norris facts. I also am in the hunt for a Chuck Norris total gym. I found a couple on Craig's list, but they haven't emailed me back yet. I know that with a Chuck Norris total gym, I will be one step closer to becoming a Ninja.

In other news, I got to preach last weekend. I personally felt that it went very well, although, you may get a different story from the congregation. Not really, I have received positive feedback. The sermon was on 'Love', more specifically , the sort of love the church should for each other and the world around them. Originally, I was going to go down the road of unpacking the meaning of 'koinonia' - fellowship and what it truly looks like, but I kept leaning more towards the love side. THen the kicker was, I was on the net, and stumble across an article by this KJV only dude who was basically going off on people who point to greek 'nuggets' in their sermons. It was pretty interesting, because I don't think that it is necessary to dive deep into greek or hebrew when preaching the word, and at times it is overkill, espescially if the preacher is not good at connecting with the people and teaching them through the importance of a text. This guy, however was on a whole nother level. He was going as far to say that using greek in a sermon was nothing but an unbiblical parlor trick, that only points to glorify the knowledge of the speaker. I am guessing, he has not had good experiences with this.

He went on to site the different words for 'love' in the NT. His claim was that they are universally interchangable within the text and held no difference for the original readers, nor do they hold any relevance to today. (remember old KJV guy) To top it off, he included a 'test' as proof for this claim. The short version of the story is, his test totally proved him wrong. Anyways, all of that to set up the fact that I ended up feeling led to talk about the difference between the loves in Scripture. (Philos and Agape) The premise being that Agape is totally unbiased emotionally. Agape love, which is God's love that we should model and have in the church and to those outside of the church, is given despite any sort of ill feeling towards people. Example: 'Turn the other cheek'. . .if you get slapped by someone you love emotionally, it would be pretty easy to turn your cheek, overlooking the wrong that had been done. But if random Joe who annoys yous slaps you, it's on. Agape love is intentional, covers over wrongs, and gets the people who don't automatically connect with you emotionally. (enemies, weird neighbors, ugly people, widows, orphans, single moms, those on the margins, rich people, etc.) It covers everyone. You might say its patient, kind, selfless, keeps no record of wrongs, slow to anger, selfless, not rude, etc.. This is huge for the church. George Barna said that the church has become 'an island of piety surrounded by a sea of irrelevance' to many people. I wonder if that's because they love (Agape) really well?

I'll leave that there, but thanks to angry KJV guy, for allowing God to speak through your wrongness.

"My body is throwing a party and my brain is not invited."

This may be the best quote I have ever heard. This was the description of adolescence used by my professor for a class in family counseling. I can't get enough of it and am going to use it whenever possible for the rest of my life. It was worth all 1500 smackers that the otherwise boring class cost.

Also, I recently watched this mime on the youtube that I had seen last year, again. I may have even blogged about it, because it cracks me up. If you are interested in a few laughs, and have a distaste for mime or 'interpretive dance', then this is the clip for you. Here is a link to Josh's blog. He has the three best clips right there for you to peruse.

Hm Haw

Myron cope died today. For those who don't know he was the legendary broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers and originator of the terrible towel. He was a throwback to the days before HD TV and commentators filling the games with pointless stats and John Madden. While it is awesome to see football the way it is today, it will be sad to lose the nostalgia of hearing the voice that helped build Steeler nation.

Also, Larry Norman passed away the other day. For those who don't know who he was, he was like the father of Contemporary Christian Music, one of the first Christians to play 'devil music'. I am not sure which legacy is cooler: Terrible towel or Jesus Rock.

Thbthbthbthbthbttt!

This is the sound of trying to make a 'th' and 'b' sound simultaneously, while blowing a burst of air past the lips, ending in a crescendo at the end. Those of you who have just tried that now can gain a deeper understanding into last week.
Without going into specific details, last week was a rough week for Julie and I. I am sure we all have weeks, or days, or months, or years that fall into this category. The one where at some point you really have to stop and say, um God? Did you forget we were here? I know you are busy, but this is a bit much. It was one of those times when you truly understand that His grace is sufficient. Sufficient meaning enough, not more than, or less than; but enough. It will make a good story later on, and perhaps even now, but I will save it for later. We have come out basically unscathed, and I have seen God's provision all around, but that doesn't make the time less stressful. There is a reason why Jesus said not to worry about tomorrow. You'd think he had supernatural insights into the soul.
All that to say God is faithful, and also not content to see us content because there are people who need to know him, need his hope, his grace, his love, and to get 'content' would lead to being complacent. I thought about the manna he provided the Israelites when they were wondering, and how they grew tired of it. I am thinking that had God provided them an abundance, they would have been content and would not have pressed on to what God had in store for them. Though the journey was hard at times, they reached the promised land. I guess it comes back to trust. Do I trust God will meet my needs, so much that I do not grumble and complain? There are some rabbit trails to go down when talking about this, but I have just come to settle on understanding that God is doing a great work in those who love him. He is going to refine and mold more and more into his character, because there is still a great work to be done. And that is where I have ended, there is great work to be done. Do it.

Doo doo doot nnn doo

The title for this blog is the written version of the opening riff of "Vehicle" by the Ides of March. Sweet song that goes well with this dude. I am throwing him into contention for the profile picture. Don't forget to check which one you like in the previous post.
As for this post, I fore warn you, it is going to be long. So here goes. . .

The Adulterer
I have discovered that every college has a select group of socially awkward individuals who band together into their own social niche that gathers outside of campus sponsored activities. The tend to pick a spot, usually the unpopular lounge of a dorm, claim it for their own and commence weirdness. They will play freeze tag, fake light saber fight, yell to people coming in the door then hide, and other 2nd grade recess games. When I was doing my undergrad we called them the lounge-rats. This was a little mean, but I justify it by feeling as though they took pride in their title, much like mall-rats. What set them apart from second graders at recess was that they all 'dated' each other (and they were older). And by dated I mean NCMO. (Non Commitment Make Out, for those who do not know) Once it hit like 9:30 PM, any trip through the lounge brought with it the truly uncomfortable position of not interrupting someone making out in the public lounge. . . . Yucky.
Anyways, I had to go through a lounge at school yesterday and sure enough, lounge rats, NCMO. They are apparently everywhere. In my under-grad the lounge rats were led by a dude who may have never left the lounge. He was known only as the adulterer. This was because his NCMO knew no bounds. The dude had a different girlfriend every other day. (exaggeration) But anyways, I thought of him yesterday, so props to the adulterer, I tip my light saber to you, live long and prosper.

The Worst Infomercial Ever
Julie and I stumbled across the worst infomercial in the history of tv last week. The only reason I didn't believe that it was a Saturday Night Live sketch was because I didn't recognize the people on screen. It was ridiculous. It was for some hair product that was supposed to instantly volumize your hair. 1st of all, the was a lady off screen that never stopped loudly exclaiming how great her hair felt. While that was going on this weird guy was trying to explain why the stuff was awesome while he was 'fluffing' these two ladies' hair. Basically he rubbed the goop on his hands and then messed up the ladies hair, and called it awesome. Now I am no fashion-ista, and if Julie didn't warn me she was getting a hair cut, there's a good chance that I would not notice. This is mostly because, outside of awesome beards, hair is simply there and doesn't conjure in me an emotional response for whomever I am looking at, unless it is really bad. From that standpoint, I feel like the guy didn't help the ladies hair at all. Both ladies had perfectly acceptable hair before he messed with, and after he was done it was a tangled mess.
I wonder how many people are that gullible, and if I am that gullible, that if someone gets in front of me, gets excited about something, would I follow suite and buy said product? It reminds me of the day I had to do face painting at camp. (not good use of giftedness) I basically convinced every kid that the coolest thing ever was to get a 'slash' ( basically, the quickest possible stroke of paint on face). They went nuts. There is a good chance that I got in trouble, but the kids went insane. Maybe I should try to sell the slash. . .the bar isn't all that high.

Shaq
Old.

Loving Leaders and those who aren't
To get a little bit serious, I have been working through what it looks like to develop an intentional assimilation process in the church. The goal is to make sure that the people who come into our church community feel loved and then are challenged towards discipleship. Discipleship is possibly the most important element to the growth of the church and it is also the most dropped ball. That is a discussion for later, but today I am dealing with the question of who do you focus your time on? I struggle with how to word this. When it comes to loving people and building relationships, as a Christian, love should abound, but there is also a real separation in how we love peers, upcoming leaders, those who will never lead on a large scale, the socially awkward, all in the church and then all of those categories again for the unchurched.
Scripture is pretty clear that certain people are going to stand out as leaders who need discipleship, this person is pretty easy to build a relationship with, they are like me. But if my time goes there, it can't go to the non-leaders. I am most specifically thinking of the socially awkward person, the ones that Jesus called the least of these. They need loved and to connect in a relationship, in many cases more than others. The re-occurring theme is to be more intentionally pouring into the leaders and let them meet the needs of the needy. The goal is to learn to truly equip the saints for ministry.
That is all well and good, but is it happening? I feel like a lot of time, leaders are not developing anyone, or if they are pouring energy into a relationship with people, it isn't to intentionally grow them. So the church becomes exclusive and people love their pastor, and nobody who needs the love of Christ get it. If you are a Christian leader, you need to have a disciple or several. Not just a flock, or a small group, but a disciple. I am wondering if it shouldn't be equally as important to have a 'least of these' as well. Most simply because how are we going to teach a disciple to love them if I do not. I am just starting to think about this, so any thoughts are welcome.

Hymns and Sexyback
Last one, I love hymns (not all of them) but the good ones are awesome. They are deep and well worded and affirm a great deal of truth. The church is really sort of past the argument of going contemporary in worship. I think it is on every one's radar to the point where the only people still putting up a fight about new music styles are over 70. I do not want to get into that huge discussion aside from I love how older folks stake the claim that the hymns of old are so much better because they are chock full of theology, where as new songs are not. That argument is crap, for every awesome hymn there is a crappy new song, and for every awesome new song, there is a crappy hymn. That is not even getting into any musical connection at all.
I am taking a class called doctrine of Grace with an older professor, who absolutely holds this belief. He starts every class with this song (which is a chorus not a hymn) And probably only my older Salvation Army friends will recognize it from the old band, bass drum, Sunday evening hallelujah wind up, days.

I am not under law; I'm under grace!
It was grace that rescued me; it was grace that set me free.
I have sought--I have found--a hiding place;
I am not under law; I am under grace!

This is all well and good. The prof.,who is well published scholarly author, is really thorough in his breakdown of the doctrine of grace. But he keeps using random hymns as a part of his argument. Like this one. . . He is explaining how grace has to cover us for salvation, no matter what we ever did or didn't do. And then he quotes the song, “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy law’s demands. Could my tears forever flow; could my zeal no respite know! All for sin could not atone; THOU must save, and Thou alone.” . . .well in that case, .

I have come to realize a certain pattern that I did not see before. Many of the older hymns (musically built off of bar tunes) had to be infused with truth teaching. The goal of the hymns were to affirm belief and doctrine. Newer songs really do not worry about affirming belief as much as simply praising the Lord. (neither is better or worse, and both deal with 'theology') There is something to be said about how the church is moving away from dealing with deep doctrinal issues, and the music reflects this. As for the prof., I am not a real strict person or anything, but why put any stock on the authority of a song? You know the scripture, use it for authority and let the song point to it.

I would like it if more daily truth was argued in song. I could interrupt any conversation, meeting or caucus because I'm bringin sexy back. Doo doo doot nnn doo . . . I'm a friendly man in a black sedan and I like chicken wings . . .