Archive for September, 2005
The Joys of Downsizing
Our current mini-van has 104,000 miles on it. It’s survived 8 years of kids and moving from Kansas to Little Rock. It’s a slow, painful sucking sound on our pocket book in the form of gas mileage and repairs.
So this week – with the help of the mini-van needing another visit to the shop – we decided to complete the humilation of Grant. We are going to downsize to one of those Hyundai or Toyota gas mileage monsters that get 134 miles to the gallon. I’m going to drive it, while Amy drives the Sequioa (carpool).
So – In the short span of a year – I’ve gone from driving a Toyota Tundra 4WD tricked out truck to a mini-van to – a Hyundai. They are going to start checking my man-card at church now.
In order to salve the pain and humilition of such a fall, I told Amy – I’m going to have a sound system in the new car that kicks…subs, CD, DVD, MP3, and neon trim lights. Think a Pastoral PIMP my ride!
My bride, who is beyond measure the best woman on the planet – says this to me…
“Instead of doing all that, why don’t you get an IPod?”
She’s a freakin’ genius. It shipped today – my U2 IPod complete with a coupon to download the Complete U2 collection from ITunes.
So, by next week, I’ll be driving a little puny gas camel…but I’ll be singing with my IPod.
Duh…Faith key Ingredient in Marriage
The brilliant minds of MSN bring us this story….
wait…..it’s profound…..
Common spiritual bond is critical to marital health and happiness.
No kidding? Actually, the article is quite good.
Here’s the best quote -
The greatest predictor of marital stability, however, isn’t whether a couple is of the same faith but how much they agree on the role religion will play in their lives.
That would explain the 60% divorce rate among CHRISTIANS as well.
Worship in a Life Group
This is second most awkward thing in a life group. Mainly because I think we (leaders) force it. How? Because most of us, while have a BROAD DEFINITION of worship, we have a NARROW APPLICATION of it.
Worship = guy/gal with a guitar + everyone else singing.
So….do you play the guitar? What if you don’t? What if no one in your Life Group can sing either? (I mean, they might have the ability to make noises with their mouth but we’re not calling it singing.) What if the whole scene of sitting around in a circle, staring at each other and singing to each other just makes you feel ….well, like a bad 70′s musical?
There has got to be another way, right? Well, if you just gotta sing – check out these. They are DVDs with praise songs and words on it. Think karoake worship. Good option if you just have to sing.
For the rest of us, what could worship possibly look like? If our understanding of worship is giving God His due – how else can that be done?
I’ll post my own ideas later in the week.
Linkage
Couple of new links I’d like to throw at you.
‘Reverand’ Bill Hayes – he is the uncle of Orangejack Rob, and owner of the Rev Bills in my CBS Fantasy Football League. Good thinker.
Noel Kurtz – former student, blogged about him a while back. A sophomore at UCA wrestling with what it means to really follow Jesus.
Nixon Casablanca – forgive his OUness, another sojourner and the Number 1 blog in Little Rock…guess who’s number 2?
Biblical Curse Generator
Man, I am going to wear this thing out!!
A sample:
Woe unto thee, O thou who art a byword for idiocy, for you will see your pomegranates wither!
Not to be Reactionary…but
From Anonymous on Wounded:
Just another consideration for you to think about…Could dress be a stumbling block on either side, the rich and the poor? Is the target area anyone who needs Jesus? Did Jesus want the people to see Him or see God?Keep looking to Jesus. He will steer you to what is right.
Could dress be a stumbling block? I think the obvious answer is yes it is.
Is the target area ANYONE who needs Jesus? Yes. But I feel like the western church, particularly West Little Rock, is guilty of exactly what the Temple was in the day of Jeremiah and in Jesus – the people who need God most are shunned the most from church. They can’t to “God” (the Temple) because they can’t afford to dress right and they are shamed when they get there.
Plus the complete avoidance of dealing with the poor on a large scale by MOST churches is appalling. And when confronted about it, we will break out in double speak saying “Rich people need Jesus too. Who is called to reach the rich people?”
Well, who is ‘called’ to reach the poor people? According to Jesus’ words – we all are.
And here is the selfish thing about all of this – I didn’t ask for this battle or issue. It’s not like I’m on this crusade to crush all of those who wear dockers…hey, some of my best friends wear dockers!!! (he heh…)
It’s just in the process of being real and trying to do the ‘right’ thing, I got a shot from someone who I thought was ‘on my team.’
Welcome to ministry in the Bible Belt….he heh.
I think Rita Ate My Computer
Did a bonehead thing last night…left my laptop plugged in. Normally, that isn’t a problem but if a tropical storm is coming through your city, well…maybe you ought to unplug it.
So this morning at church, I’m firing it up getting it ready for service when the “blue screen” pops up and tells me some kind of power failure has caused windows not to load and it won’t load until Bill Gates gets even more money.
A guy from our church is looking at it…hopefully he can fix it.
Roll Tide…sort of.
After this, I took this morning to just veg out with my Tide…and I’ve just watched two of the most clueless coaches in the SEC go against each other.
Houston Nutt and Mike Shula.
‘Bama won…but two illustrations alone will suffice my claims.
Shula, up by 4 with 5 minutes left on the Arkansas side of the field, PASSING the football. His refusal to run Darby in the 4th quarter is mindblowing. Fortunately, ‘Bama scored.
Nutt refusing to stick with McFadden even after he had torched the Tide defense with a 70 yard run. Then him refusing to air it out at the end of the game when they needed 2 scores. Screens and draw plays with 3 minutes left is not going to close the 11 point lead.
Alabama will THINK that they are better than their #20 ranking. Their defense is. Good night, they are fast. Their offense…well…I’m not quite convinced yet.
The bad news for my Razorback friends – Alabama played poorly, dropped lots of passes and INTs and still won. Could be a long season for the Hogs.
Wounded
I wrestled with posting this. While living transparently is a huge value to me, I also realize that it opens up massive-huge cans of worms for us as a church just because of the title after my name.
So I’ve decided to post it. Not for all reasons altruistic but also because it hurt. And it pissed me off at the same time. Got this email this week.
Your preaching attire never crossed my mind until you assumed your new responsibilities. For some reason, and I really don’t know why, your sloppy attire struck me. My first thought was “oh, I wish Grant would wear slacks and a shirt when he preaches� that was it, just a thought. Then the next time I thought “you know, I should mention to Grant my feelings about his preaching attire�, but not being a confrontive kind of person I remained silent.Grant, I have enough confidence in your preaching and the exhortation of the Holy Spirit to know that they [poor family] would have returned even if you had preached in Dockers and golf shirt. Give it a try. You just never know.
We grabbed some face time this past week because I’m smart enough to know that these discussions never go well via email. The conversation was pleasant and kind. But it was pointed as well.
XX:”Are you saying that you can’t preach a Spirit-inspired sermon in Dockers and a collared shirt?”
GE:”No, my dress has nothing to do with the kind of sermon I deliver.”
XX:”By dressing as a slob, you do realize that you are completely missing a segment of our body.”
GE:”Hmmm.”
XX:”Well, to some people, they can’t get past the dress.”
GE:”Where do poor people go to church in this town? Why – by our unspoken dress code – are we asking the ‘least of these’ to be more mature than ‘the most of these’?”
XX:”I’m just trying to understand what is your avoidance to wearing dockers and nice shirts.”
GE:”Honestly, it’s this. Overdressed rich people don’t come into a context and feel intimidated, shamed, or embarrassed. They come in, they think everyone else is poorly dressed OR they next time they show up, they don’t dress up as much.
Underdressed poor people come into that context and the shame, guilt, and embarrassment is so much that they probably aren’t ever coming back. I never want dress to become a stumbling block for people to encounter Christ at Grace. Never.”
XX:”What’s with the focus of ministering to the poor lately? I mean, is this the direction Grace is headed?”
GE:”A buddy of mine a year ago started challenging me – with his life, not his words – about how rich and self centered I am. He probably doesn’t even know the impact he’s having on my life. But it forced me to re-read Jesus.
Do you know how often Jesus equated following him with helping the poor, widows, and orphans? It’s convicting me to the core. And I’m fumbling through this, trying to allow Christ to change me. I could live the rest of my days without buying another piece of clothing. I’ve got that many clothes. It’s a luxury.
And as far as the direction of the church – yes, I think it is starting to and will continue to be a focus of Grace. I’m not sure what it will look like. But could we continue calling ourselves a church if we didn’t help the poor?”
XX: “There are people who aren’t going to be comfortable with that and they will go to another church. You know that, right? So by dressing this way, you are willing to let them walk out?”
GE: “Yes and yes. I feel for those people who can’t get over preaching in jeans. But they aren’t in danger of being left out or looked over. So I don’t feel a huge call to ‘minister’ to them by what I dress in.
I also know this – they are never going to experience the fullness of Christ if they only allow that which is comfortable into their world. Is it really about being comfortable?
And more pointedly – what are you going to do with all of this?”
XX: “”I don’t know.”
The meal ended okay, we hugged, XX confirmed his love for me and the church.
But it stung on multiple levels that I am still trying to sort out.
The Family Showdown
If you’ve been keeping up – you know that my blogging bro-in-law Tom and I are exchanging friendly jabs at each other.
The truth of the matter – I smoke him in blogging…BUT he got me started blogging. Part of the reason I smoke him in blogging is because he has a real job.
On top of all of that – we play against each other this weekend in fantasy football. I am an 18 point favorite…which means absolutely nothing.
I’ll keep you posted…
Ohhh…. and the Tide will roll over the Hogs this weekend. 
Stop! Hammer Time…
While Amy was leading high schools into an encounter with Jesus….
I was upstairs playing. I use Firefox browser and Thunderbird email reader (which is awesome, because it is how I subscribe to all my RSS feeds. Just read ‘em in the email, don’t have to surf all over God’s green earth….except that the internet isn’t green and it really isn’t the earth either…but I digress.)
I picked up a couple of funny extensions…
First – the STOP! Hammer Time Stop Button. Every time I hit the stop button on the browser – I hear MC Hammer….Stop! Hammer Time. It has absolutely no value at all except it makes me laugh.
Secondly – and also on that same page – the Bork! Bork! Bork! Translater. Which will take any webpage and translate it into how the Swedish Chef from the Muppets would say it. Great fun stuff…
Marinate Ponderings
I’m not preaching this week, instead I’m leading worship. I like the change up. Gives a completely different pace to the week. Robert Upshaw is bringing ‘it’ this week.
We ate lunch with each other yesterday just rambling about life, the sermon, the series. Then it happened…a God moment.
He tells me – “Hey man, I haven’t had a chance to listen to your sermons yet, but the text I’m going to use in the Old Testament….Deuteronomy 6 where Moses is telling the people to write the words of the Lord on their hearts and doorways and around their neck.”
I about jumped up and down on the table! “DUDE!!!!! Do you know what verse is RIGHT before that PASSAGE???????????? The Shemah!!!! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your strength!!!!!!!!!! Do you have any idea how freakin’ awesome this is????”
Yeah, I kinda a little animated. Then I told him about the whole premise of the series is figuring out how to do that – hence the disciplines.
Great time…and some questions popped up.
How do you most often approach the Bible – as an instruction manual or a love letter?
What is the difference between the two approaches?
How does that influence HOW you read the Bible?
How would reading scripture in community help?
What are your biggest obstacles in spending time in the Word? Ignorance? Time? Intimidation? Vocabulary?
What type of literature do you like better – poetry, history, prophetic, letters?
Looking forward to see how Robert unpacks it. Gonna be great time.
The Value behind the Value
From Wayne:
Why do you value these things?
From Zack, (I’d link him but he blogs less than my brother-in-law):
How can the things you value give you a better MUG time? (BTW, MUG = Mystical Union with God, it’s a stumin thing.)
Good questions. First to Zack, (another answer a question with a question moment)
What constitutes a MUG in your mind?
Now, onto Wayne…
the short answer is because I value people. Hopefully, one day I’ll value people just like Jesus does.
But here are the specific types of people I value…
The Spiritual Misfit and Wounded Believer who is fed up with fakeness, irrelevance, and double-speak. They hate churches who are more concerned about building their empire than caring for the poor, widows, orphans, hungry, and disenfranchised. They have been hurt/abused by “Christians� and possibly jaded and bitter. They are looking for the ‘revolution’ they thought they signed up for, a place to heal, a place to belong, and a place to make a difference. They don’t have all the dots connected and are suspicious of those who do.
The Pagan Seeker/Atheist who is curious to see if Christianity works but doesn’t want an argument or be ‘sold’ Jesus like a vaccuum cleaner (to steal from Don Miller). She wants a conversation and a chance to observe and not be judged. She wants to taste unconditional love without the requirements of being a believer, member, or even a good person. She wants both community and cause because she feels those holes inside herself. She wants an arena to be genuine.
The Roaring Lamb who is tender with the lost, attempting to live out of the overflow of their love for Jesus, compassionate to a fault with the seeker, the wounded, and the confused, uncompromising in living in community and reproducing other roaring lambs.
Because I know Jesus is the only One who can heal and restore them
AND because they need to connect to Him
AND because I want to help them connect with Him
AND because HE wants to connect with them,
I embrace these shared values WITH them.
transformational over educational
community over isolation,
authenticity over polish,
interaction over instruction,
risk over caution,
questions more than answers,
partnerships over ‘do our own thing’
experiential over observation,
impact (community, missional living) over incubation (isolation and withdrawal)
which translates into these…
My Famous Father-In-Law
This is so true and so funny. It’s a blog by my brother-in-law. It’s his annual post.
As a teaser – here is the picture…
What I Value….
As we are interviewing candidates for our teaching pastor, this question has come up alot….
And here are my answers.
They in no way are endorsed by Grace Church and probably will lessen your chances of getting hired…anywhere.
I value questions more than answers – thanks marko.
blue jeans over dockers
coffee over power breakfast/lunch
raw over produced
stumbling over smooth
rock over liberace praise music
failure over safety
risk over status quo
asking forgiveness over never offending anybody
guitars over organs, pipes or otherwise
abandonment in worship over proper
erring on the side of grace over having the right answer
giving the last 10% over playing it close to the vest
changing my mind over ‘consistency’
adding to my list (or subtracting) over stability
What do you value?
Turbo Groups
A not-so-random question for us….If the bulls-eye of our LIFE Groups is to have a life-changing experience with Jesus, how do you get all the leaders on the same page as to HOW to do that and WHAT that looks like?
Hmmm. Intrigued yet? Don’t worry – I am NOT going to go CONTROL FREAK on us. There is no way on the planet to wrap up “what is an encounter with Christ” so that every life group has the same exact experience. That’s not only ridiculous but it devalues every one of us as a unique, gifted representation of God.
I do think there is a place to make sure we are all “shooting at the same target” as well as learn some skills and practices that will help us. And I love the idea of having leaders having some extended time learning from each other.
The need for these skills is pretty apparent for most of us. Most of us have got a Life Group that is too big to be effective but how do you birth a new group with out destroying the vulnerability that you’ve worked so hard to achieve? How do you know if the intern is ready? How do you decide which person goes in which group?
The Short Term Solution:
10-week “Turbo†Life Groups
September 25th – November 27th (Sep 20) Sunday Nights, 6-8 PM
December 4th – February 19th (Nov 30)
February 26th – May 14th (February 21)
We want every level of leadership in our LIFE Group structure to take 10 weeks to recharge AND reinvest. It’s not “training†as much as it is as opportunity to rub elbows with other leaders to hear what is working, what isn’t. To hear their stories of triumph as well as failures.
It’s ten weeks to solidify a foundation of skills and to ask questions that you’ve never had an opportunity to ask before. It will give us not only a common vocabulary about Life Groups, but reinforce that we are shooting at the right target.
What does the 10 weeks look like?
Week 1: Why are we here?
Week 2: Inner Disciplines, I
Week 3: Inner Disciplines II
Week 4: Community (LIFE Group) Disciplines
Week 5: Leading a Group
Week 6: Leading a Meeting
Week 7: Interns
Week 8: Holy Moments
Week 9: Birthing a Group
Week 10: Coaching
Now What?
Pick 1 of the 3 times the Turbo Group is offered. (This is for both husband and wife, by the way.) Let me know by the date in parentheses which one you are going to attend. We are going to provide childcare for this and we need to know how many workers to hire.
How can I do that AND lead a Life Group?
Let me throw a couple of options at you. My first response is – don’t. Let the Life Group Leader couple pick one 10-week rotation and allow the Intern to lead during that time. Then rotate – let the Intern go through the 10-week group while the Life Group Leader leads.
Another option is to tell your Life Group that you and your Intern are going on a 10-week sabbatical. If they want to meet together – great, but you are not going to lead that encounter for the 10 weeks.
A last option is for you to lead your Life Group on one night and go to the Turbo Group on the other. (I’m not recommending this option – just saying that it exists.)
Who’s this for?
This is for all Coaches, Life Group Leaders, Interns, and potential Interns.
UPDATE:
The December-February group is almost completely full.
Fantasy No Mans Land
I’m up in my CBS league with Orangejack (who has a new website by the way…it looks really good)…actually, I’m playing him this weekend and I’ve got a 18 point lead going into Monday nights games.
I put up great numbers in my Yahoo league but am losing by 34. The team I’m playing put up a record 106 points.
Here is the rub…I own Julius Jones and Lamont Jordan in my Yahoo League and need them to go nuts tonight and tomorrow BUT I don’t need Julius Jones to really go nuts because Orangejack owns Jones in the CBS league.
He also owns Joe Horn. That 18 point lead looks really, really small right now. Looks like I could go down twice this weekend.
Ridiculous…
Preached on serving today…the same week we HAD to send out letters to our body requiring parents who have kids in Crosswalk to serve at least 2 weeks a year.
On one hand – it’s pretty cool that it’s only 2 weeks. On the other hand…well, I still feel this way.
As a pastor – it’s not that I want/need the manpower to run the church. It really isn’t. I just know that it is impossible to experience the fullness of Christ or to mature in Christ without serving somewhere.
Some things God only teaches in the lab of serving.
Enlightenment at the Expresso Maker
This morning, as is my normal Friday routine – get up, read, mosey to kitchen, make a mocha, read some more, make a bagel…okay, toast a bagel – read some more.
Then it hit me – the perfect story of how Jesus defines serve. Which is what I was preaching on this Sunday.
Problem – it meant completely starting over my sermon. Which is okay…because this is better…and I think of the Lord.
Unless it sucks…then it’s all me.
Tonight – me and Amy are going to Moe’s, then playing cards.
What Now?
Ever been so tired – mentally – that to construct a single line of theological thought that has depth and meaning is akin to climbing Everest?
That’s where my soul is.
Finally Able To Speak About the Broncos
Random Recovering Thoughts After the Bronco Loss.
Actually, it wasn’t a loss. It was a beating. Go to Miami to play a rookie coach, a has been quarterback, a cross-dressing marijuana running back (who’s actually on suspension), a rookie running back, and team dressed in pansy looking unis…and get spanked.
Shanahan – what the heck, man? Miami? It’s like Arkansas losing to Vandy..oh yeah…that did happen, didn’t it?
You got two rings – congrats. Be sure to tip John Elway on your way out.
We’ll try to forget the Brian Griese Era. And the Dale Carter Era. And the Maurice Clarret Era. And the Cleveland Browns Defensive Line Era. And Jake Plummer Era.
I dare you to name one coach that has gotten more credit than he deserved for winning a Super Bowl.
Mike Holmgren.
Okay. Good point. Name another.
Both coaches rode the arms of their incredible quarterbacks. Both coaches have laid major eggs since (Indianapolis and St. Louis). Both coaches have tried to resurrect Jerry Rice.
Both coaches are going to get axed at the end of the season.
Uncorking a Sermon
I’m studying and reading this week about my upcoming talking on serving…
It is going to hurt. Did you know that a follower of Jesus will never mature unless they are serving? Did you know that serving for Jesus included a baseline expectation of helping the poor, needy, orphans, widows, and helpless?
Read that question again…does that shame/shock you at all? It does me. And here is the other thing that shames/shocks me…for a church like Grace that has so many “mature” believers (which I am NOT convinced we do), why are sending out letters begging people to help in children’s ministry? Why did we have to set up a required parent rotation?
It’s sickening.
You know what else is sickening? The folks who serve in multiple areas will hear this or read this and think I’m talking about them while the people who just show up on Sunday and don’t do anything else won’t.
Getting Ready to Serve
If you haven’t already read this – go ahead. It’ll give you an idea as to where we are going on Sunday.