Archive for July, 2006
Finding God’s Will
I wrote this in February of 2005:
Have we made God’s will a lot more mysterious and a lot more difficult to figure out than what it really is?
Wouldn’t you like to answer some questions, get some answers, put that to bed and not have to deal with it again?
Yeah, me either.
It’s been one crazy year for us. When Grace turned out to not be the long term fit that we thought, it started Amy and I on a journey of praying, listening, interviewing, praying some more, interviewing, praying, listening, and listening again. It’s been exhausting but not confusing. It’s been an emotional drain, but not foggy. He’s never been early but always been clear – for which we are thankful.
Along the way we’ve met some incredible pastors, wives, and leadership teams. People that we’d love to work with and do life with…but every time God’s said no. At times, I wish I’d had a vision dis-connect or theological argument or even a good ole personality clash. It’d been easier to explain and deal with.
“Hey – I need a job but the thought of looking at your ugly mug every day just wears me out!!”
We know enough to know that when the Spirit says “No”, don’t argue about it or WORSE try to force it. It doesn’t matter if your assembling a child’s toy or picking a job – every time you force something, something is going to break. Every time.
So through all of this, Amy and I figured out some stuff. We felt like we had one more run in student ministry for us. We love the youth culture, we love discipling leaders, I’d love the chance to disciple someone to the point of taking over my job. We wanted to get to a non-churched culture. If we had our druthers, we wanted to stay in a place for the next 15 to 20 years. That means that there would have to be a place for me to eventually do something other than student ministry.
I learned that not a lot of churches think this way. They (we) hire for the immediate need as opposed to a long-term relational fit and ministry. Honestly, most pastors look for a job that way – immediate need, fit, and paycheck. I’ve been guilty of that so I’ll take my own licks on that.
We wanted to work on a team that we would vacation with. If God could work that out in the Rocky Mountain region, great. If not, that’s fine. Anywhere but Cleveland or Oakland.
Now the temptation is to “God Doctor” all that language up there and make it sound like all that “came from the Lord” absolving me of all personal responsibility. I hope God ordained and worked that stuff in me. I do. But if all of that is wrong – it’s on me, not God. I reserve the right to completely miss the point. All I know is that we started asking for a place to serve, hopefully with some of our ‘wants’ in it but with this disclaimer – “God, be clear. Spirit, You’ve got the trump card. Whatever, wherever, however.”
This is where we are today…flying out to Pinecrest Community Church in Parker, Colorado on the weekend of the 13th of August to see if it’s “all green.” It’s been exhausting but clear. So far – all good. That doesn’t mean that Pinecrest is all good. It’s a church that has people in it…you can do the math from there.
It does mean that we are amped about the future and the glimmer is returning to my eyes.
Encouragment Week – Harry Anderson
I didn’t finish my encouragment posts. I’ve got three more I need to land. Won’t all be today but here’s Harry’s.
Harry is a recovered (he would say ‘recovering’) alcoholic. He is a self-described ragamuffin-saved-by-grace-Jesus-lover. He’s also one heck of a friend. I’ve learned pacing from him. Travelling with Harry forces you to slow down. Mainly because Harry doesn’t do anything in a hurry and he’s too big to intimidate to speed up.
Which is incredibly odd given the amount of coffee he drinks. He’s the guy that will sit and listen and talk for hours. He’s just not going to get in a hurry. If you are with Harry, you are the center of attention. No phone calls or other interruptions. Just you and him. How much better has that little thing made us in youth ministry? Heaven only knows.
There’s No I in team…
but there is a U in butthole.
That gem came straight from Wayne Galli this morning. I laughed hard. How many times could I have used that phrase? Too many to count.
Which brings me to NFL Training Camp Days.
Over/Under on TO meltdown with Dallas: 4 games. Mark my words, by game 4 or sooner, TO will blow up that team in Dallas. They aren’t as good as advertise and that will send TO over the top.
Most Bizarre Holdout: Ashley Lelie, WR, Denver Broncos
“Who’s that?” you may be asking. Which is exactly the point. Broncos sign Javon Walker and Lelie decides that it isn’t about the money but an opportunity to be the Number 1 receiver. Couple of pointers to Lelie.
1. You earn that on the field, not holding out.
2. You’ve had 2 years to outplay an ‘old’ Rod Smith (36) and you can’t.
3. You had 1 touchdown catch last year. 1 less than Dwayne Carswell – the backup right tackle.
4. Which means the trade you are demanding is undoable. Teams don’t want an overpaid, underachieving receiver who has no concept of reality.
4. It is about the money. As in 14K a day in fines gone. So far – 56K in fines.
Biggest “Glass is Half-Full” Team: New Orleans Saints
Get Drew Brees, get Reggie Bush, sign Reggie Bush, Reggie gives % of earnings back to Katrina victims, New stadium upgrade. I’m not saying they are playoff bound but can you name another team (other than your favorite) that you are most pulling for?
Biggest “Can We Go Straight To The Offseason?” Team: Tie: Cleveland Browns and Cincinnatti Bengals
Losing LeCharles Bentley, question marks on Kellen Winslow, and the Quarterback of the week situation in Cleveland almost makes you wish there was a “do-over” button for the season. Almost.
The Bengals have now changed their team goals from winning the AFC East and a first round bye to “Fielding enough players on opening day so we don’t have to forfeit.”
The Biggest “I Don’t Get Moves” of the offseason:
1. Titans drafting Vince Young then letting go of Steve McNair. Can you name someone better to mentor and teach Vince Young than Steve McNair? Can you name someone who has meant more to their franchise than what McNair has to the Titans? I can’t either. Dumb move.
2. NY Jets…the whole package. It’s hard to prioritize which offseason move was the worse. Letting Herm Edwards go for a 4th Round pick? Signing 4 average to below average quarterbacks in the offseason? Pinning entire season on the over 30 legs of Curtis Martin? Taking D’Brickashaw Ferguson with the 4 pick (a great lineman and pick) instead of trading down and getting multiple picks in the first round for all the holes the team has? Any one of these by themselves is forgettable if you put a team in the playoffs. All of them by the same team with a rookie coach and an old team at that…don’t get it.
3. San Diego Chargers. You sign Marty Schottenheimer and he tells you he wants/needs Drew Brees back to help lighten the load on LT. Gates is emerging as the next Tony Gonzalez except better. Marty tells you that Drew’s locker room leadership alone is worth the risk on his shoulder. Instead, you put the franchise in the hands of a 2nd year pro who’s never started a meaningful game in his life. (He played for Utah St. for crying out loud.) You’ll blame and fire Marty when the Chargers go 6-10 this year.
4. Oakland Raiders. Hire Art Shell back (good move). Keep Joey Porter and Randy Moss (good move). You let go your starting QB of last year (questionable) but you have the number 7 overall pick in the draft. Which allows you to draft…..a cornerback??? You had the opportunity to pick either Matt Leinart OR Jay Cutler. Instead you pick…a corner?????? The Greatness continues its tradition…
5. New England Patriots. It’s hard to critique the Patsies. They draft well, they sign free agents well, they’re coached well. So when they let Adam Venateri walk this offseason – to the Colts, no less – it was a head scratcher. The most clutch field goal kicker of this era. (Not necessarily accurate, just clutch. As in the opposite of Vanderjack)
[tags]NFL Training Camp[/tags]
Blog Update Day
Today will be a high traffic day on grantenglish.com. Why? Because I think I’ve finally pulled out of the pile I was under and now have some time to write, update, and reflect.
Plus, I’m building a new website for Grace Church using WordPress so I’m on the net all day today!! Woo-hoo!!
Yeah for me!!! And yes – this is a real job and if you think it isn’t, I’ll be glad to have you walk in my shoes for the last month!
NFL Head Coach vs. NCAA Football 2007
There is no other company when it comes to sports games – EA is all you need to know. But these two titles are completely different from each other.
NFL Head Coach is a role playing game. You make every decision that a head coach/general manager would in the NFL. What clothes to wear, what plays to run in practice, what kinds of practices to run, what assistant coaches to hire and fire – every one. How to talk to players, what in-game strageties to use – in other words…
If it’s in the game, it’s in the game.
If you loved the offseason side of Madden – the trades, salary cap, resigning and all that jazz – this is that on steriods and crack. You can simulate some of the tasks and to get started takes some time. The layout isn’t all that friendly at first – something they’ll probably improve if they make another version – but once you learn it, it’s pretty awesome.
I got this game this year instead of Madden or NCAA 2007. Mainly because I’ve got last year’s versions of those games.
However, if you love gameplay instead – head over to NCAA Football ’07. I’ve got 2006 and absolutely think it’s….hold your tongue…better than Madden. I know, I know, impossible….but I think it is.
There you go Justin. Hope that helps.
[tags]EA Sports, NFL Head Coach, NCAA Football 2007, xbox[/tags]
Why Mythbusters Rocks
Amy’s at bible study.
Kids in bed.
So I could play Xbox and my new favorite game, NFL Head Coach…but I’ll do a quick check of what is on the TV.
MYTHBUSTERS!!!! SWEET!!!
Tonight’s episode – the fastest way to cool beer. I’m sitting here laughing out loud. Take a 63 degree room temperature beverage (beer) to 38 degrees.
Method 1: Bury 6 pack in sand, pour gasoline on top of sand and burn it. That was busted pretty quick.
Method 2: Ice chest with Ice
Method 3: Ice chest with ice and water.
Method 4: Ice chest with ice, water, and salt
Method 5: the Fridge
Method 6: A fire extinguisher
The fastest?
The fire extinguisher. That will cool a 6 pack in 3 minutes. Of course, it’s going to be expensive – around $30 a pop. The second fastest was ice, water, and salt – good ole’ chemistry in action.
Youth ministry application? I think it’s clear. Next time you forget to cool down the cokes – get a cooler of ice, water, and salt and you’ll have cold colas in no time.
Or – if you have a great relationship with your elder board – grab the fire extinguishers.
[tags]mythbusters, fastest way to cool drinks[/tags]
Encouragment Week – Wayne Galli
Wayne,
Another freakin’ engineer.
Seriously, you’ve been a safe place for me. A place to be real and challenged and loved (but not in the gay way…ha ha). We’ve struggled being dads of young kids together. We’ve solved the Little League Problem Parents problem together. I’ve watched you become the youth pastor to 8 boys who are figuring out how to grow into a man of God.
I think they’ve found a great mentor. Your insight and questions of theology are only matched by your determination to flesh it out, to move it from beyond head knowledge to heart ownership. You are somehow figuring out how to have a relational based ministry while juggling a wife, 4 kids, a demanding job, and close friends.
You’ve personally shown me how to be an intense relaxed person. And for some reason – I think you know exactly what I mean.
Which means you are not a complete engineer and there is still hope for the lost mystic inside to come out!
Thank you, brother.
[tags]encouragment, spiritual disciplines[/tags]
Why Encouragment Week
There’s a chance that a lot of readers won’t know who these people are. My first response – who cares? I know who they are and it’s my blog.
Then I started thinking – yeah, you do know who these people – especially if you are minister/pastor type person. At least you ought to. If you don’t – that’s more of an indictment on you than anything else.
These are the people who give up family time and vacations to invest in other people in Jesus’ name. They don’t do it for us, but they love doing it with us. These are the people who see you as a person first, pastor second. These are the people who’d love you if you were a mail carrier, plumber, or trash collector. They’ve been God’s encouragment to you as a pastor. They are the safe haven where you can be authentic and real and they can be the hands and feet of Jesus to you.
And yes – we’ve impacted their life and helped them and ministered to them. But the truth of the matter is they’ve done more for us than we’ll ever be able to communicate or even know.
Gosh, I love what I do.
[tags]pastoral leadership, encouragment[/tags]
Golf time
Waiting sucks.
So I’m going to play golf.
Harry – if you’re reading, I’m at Rebsamen. Teeing off a little after 4 with Wayne-O.
Encouragment Week – Steve Boehm
This week in our spiritual formation group one of our possible “practices” is to write a letter of encouragment to someone.
So this week – every day, I’ll do an encouragment post.
Today – Steve Boehm.
Dearest Steve (but not in a gay way),
You are the biggest goofball in the world.
That might not sound like encouragment but it is. I’d never imagine an engineer dressed in drag, quoting movie lines by the dozens, who can’t carry a tune in a bucket but praises God anyway could give away more time and money to teens than entire churches. I’d never imagine that anybody could have such a sensitive gag reflex that the mention of “sour milk and apples” starts the heaving.
That’s topnotch goofball material there.
Oh yeah, you’re terrible at Halo as well. Why do you even bother playing the game?
I’ll tell you why – because teenage boys play it and it doesn’t matter that you couldn’t hit an ant with a rocket launcher. It matters that you were there on Friday and Saturday nights, staying up late, eating junk food, laughing, talking trash, taking trash, and showing a bunch of boys how to grow up to be a man.
Here’s the short list of how you’ve made me a better lover of Jesus:
It’s more important to implement a plan that HAS to trust Jesus, than to have an incredibly thought out plan that never gets feet.
Mission trips are more fun when students are in charge.
It’s good to be called “off-balance” for the King.
Lost teens don’t need another “cool adult.” They need Jesus. So love them to him.
It’s okay to be smart. It’s better to be honest.
Trust God and do the next thing. Even when you feel like you are lost in the weeds, desert, fog, or storm.
A dry time is half as dry with a friend.
Some things you just don’t need to pray about.
I love you Steve….(but not in a Brokeback kind of way…)
Oops…
The audio will be up tomorrow but I had a pretty good mistake in the sermon today.
What I meant:
There was a debate between Madeline Murray O’hara and W.A. Criswell.
What I said:
Madeline Albright.
Who knew that the former Prime Minister of England was an atheist???
I will post the audio later.
Arkansas Arts Center
They have a cool web site. They have some neat pieces in the free part of the museum.
There….I said something nice, can I vent now?
We went to Pursuing Picasso today. For $12 a person you can walk through that exhibit. The rest of the one floor musuem is free.
I understand charging something for the Picasso exhibit. Art is not all the well funded – I can only imagine how popular it is in Arkansas!
And I wasn’t expecting the Kimball or the DAM – which are the two best art museums I’ve ever been to. But I was expecting more. A lot more. Most of the exhibit was art from people who were inspired by Picasso with his works splattered throughout the hall.
I’m glad we went – I love it whenever I get a chance to be with Renee’, Kayla, and Britton – but I was expecting more.
Here we are goofing off before we go in. The museum opens at 10. We were there at 9.50. We know that because the guard told us!!! “It’s 9.50 and we don’t open till 10…or when this gate opens.”
Thanks…appreciate it.
[tags]Arkansas Arts Center, Kimball Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Pursuing Picasso[/tags]
The Blog will be silent for a day or two
I’ve had a rough couple of days sleep wise and schedule wise. For some reason this must be “Call Grant and see if he’s got any breakfast/lunch/dinner plans week.”
At some point this week, I will finish my sermon.
It’s on Matthew 22:15-40 – Adventures in Missing The Point.
More later…now for a day (or two) of rest.
Going to take the team to the art museum tomorrow to see the Picasso exhibit. Hope that helps.
In Response To Your Own D*%! Family
As the comments grow on this post, I’d like to add a couple of things. (By the way – Heg – thanks for the comment and when are you baking cookies next???)
I’d gently like to ask a couple of questions. 
Is the point of being in ministry to influence public policy? Should the driving force of a ministry be to basically function like a lobbyist on Capital Hill? Can heart change be legislated? Are our religious freedoms really at stake or just our political clout and power?
James Dobson’s integrity is not in question. He’s handled that well. My question is whether or not the political battles are worth losing the ‘ear’ of half the population right out of the gate? As a pastor, I think my calling is higher than that and my greatest example won the cultural battle by changing hearts before he changed governmental policy.
I’m okay with Jesus and his death, burial, and resurrection being the stumbling block. I’m not as okay with my position on stem cell research, the war on terror, or illegal immigrants being the stumbling block.
Just more questions for the discussion!
TO misquoted himself?
TO’s autobiography hits the shelves this week. (He misquoted himself, apparently.)
Italy won the World Cup.
Iverson will be traded soon.
Now…does anybody really care? Neither do I.
Please hurry, NFL….we’re dying.
A Sermon Excerpt…
I just got done with my sermon for Sunday – now it’s time to marinate on it and let it soak. I normally have more than just a couple of days for that but life is crazy right now. Here’s an excerpt…
For some wacky reason God decided to roll the dice with humanity and invite us to partake in a partnership with Him. A partnership where He trusts us with His Story and His Spirit. Now all evidence would lead us to the contrary of this proposal. We are a selfish, lazy, vile species at times.
But He delights in seeing us put into practice – fruit – who He is. He seems to love seeing His Spirit get hands and feet and legs. It seems that it’s part of His good pleasure to see the fruit of His work – the outworkings and proof of His inner work on and in us.
Focus on your own d*%! family!
That bumper sticker made me laugh this past weekend. A pastor friend of mine in Colorado told me that the anomousity level towards Focus on the Family (headquartered in Colorado Springs) has hit an all-time high this past year because of their relationship with the President.
He told me that there is such distaste with how he’s handled the war, the environment, and election reform that many folks are throwing the baby out with the bath water. Dobson still has great insight but the organization is so married to the Republican Party, they are losing their voice.
That got me thinking. By marrying up with a political party, they’ve lost their prophetic voice – the ability to call the culture on the carpet.
Pastors (churches) can be in grave danger of this. More than just politics – socially and economically is what I’m talking about. I think of my city – Little Rock. A couple of weeks ago the mayor sent a letter out to every church in the city calling on them to pray for our city as it is breaking apart. Violence, poverty, homelessness, and racism.
He called for us to pray.
I think we are going to have to do a lot more than that.
Sunday morning is still the most segregated hour in our city. It’s also the most socio-economic polarizing hour of the week.
Our children’s pastor wanted to do a VBS with an inner city church – read poor and black. Of course the wheels coming off the wagon at Grace derailed the idea but I wonder if we could have pulled it off? Would we have struggled getting volunteers? Would our parents have a hard time leaving their kids downtown for VBS? Would the normal west Little Rock VBS-hopping shuffle of moms in mini-vans followed us to downtown?
I don’t know, I’m just curious. The answers could be yes just as easy as no to those questions. But I don’t think VBS is going to be enough either.
More partnerships like it – student ministries, women ministries, men ministries? Possibly. Student ministries would be hard to do. Here’s why – money. How many students can afford a $400 summer camp, $100 retreat, and the like? Would churches and student pastors have the guts to punt anything that was a financial stumbling block? Let’s face it – the way most student ministries are run, it automatically eliminates the lower 2/3rds of the economic class structure.
But the loss of prophetic voice is intimately tied to money. By listening and cozying up to big givers, by showering them with thank you notes, access to leadership decisions makes us impotent in leading. We start worrying about the bottom line instead of the other bottom line – where is God leading?
I remember a buddy of mine trying to get me to join this “it’s not Amway” company. With my “extensive” student ministry contacts, I could be financially independent. That was his goal – so that he didn’t have to rely on a church for a salary. The church could use that salary for ministry in other places. Can’t really fault him for his heart.
But I couldn’t do it. I saw too big of a temptation for failure for me.
I’m a pastor, not a businessman. It’s a good thing for me not to be self-sufficient. Makes sure I’m walking by faith.
More than that – I don’t want there to ever be any confusion when I talk to someone as to my motive. I want them to follow Jesus and figure out what He wants. I don’t want them thinking I’m telling them something because I want them to keep buying detergent from me. Or that I’m so dependent on them that I’ve become a “yes” man and lost my perspective of God.
I exist to serve them, not the other way around. I’m here for their benefit, they aren’t here for mine.
When you marrying up, that gets blurred. And when that gets blurred, we can lose our prophetic voice.
[tags]Focus on the Family, prophetic voice, pastoral leadership[/tags]
Minor Regrets
Spending the weekend around my old stomping grounds got me thinking about my high school and middle school days.
I really sucked as a person back then. I might have been one of the most selfish butts on the planet in fact.
I wish I’d been a better brother to my younger brother. There’s like a 23 year age difference (not really) and I should have taken more interest in his activities.
I wish I’d been more interested in others than myself.
On the whole, I just wish I’d love Jesus more back then.
Enough remembering.
Downtown Denver
Great day today, just hanging with Aim.
I think the pics are self explanatory. If not…download google earth and have some fun.
No incredibly funny stories today except I ate in the world’s worst brewery today. Had the world’s worst root beer.
No worries though….ate a piece of cheesecake to make it better.
Okay, this one will need a little exposition. This is the new Denver Art Museum building. How freakin’ cool is that. One minor problem. It isn’t open until October and the art museum is closed on Mondays.
[tags]Denver, 16th Street Mall, DAM[/tags]
Pirates 2
You might need a bottle of rum to make it through this flick.
In parts – it was hilarious.
In parts – it was scary.
In parts – it was boring and disconnected.
About halfway through the movie – when the one-liners were great…”Look! An undead monkey!” and “Elizabeth Swan! Hide the rum” – I thought to myself…
This is funny but moving slow. In fact, it’s almost like it’s a prequel…setting us up for another movie after it.
I hate it when I’m right.
It’s a fun movie – don’t get me wrong. But’s it’s not up to the standard of the first one. In 1, Depp had Geoffrey Rush to play against. Rush’s performance in 1 almost stole the show from Depp – which made Pirates 1 one delicious movie to watch.
In Pirates 2 – it’s all Depp, all the time. If Depp’s not in the scene, you can feel the energy just sapping away. Even the drop-dead gorgeous Keira Knightly falls flat in her scenes.
Effects were great. One-liners and inside jokes abound.
But….when it’s all said and done, you’ll feel somewhat cheated – but interested enough to see the 3rd one next summer.
If you liked 1 and you enjoy Depp – go catch a matinee. Otherwise – rent it on DVD.
[tags]Pirates of Carribean 2, Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightly[/tags]
Memory Lane
This is mainly for Mom.
We drove around in Aurora today.
Here’s my high school.
Yeah, right.
Anyway – this was our house when I was in high school.
And now for some shocking pictures.
This was where my old house USED to be. It was on Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center – which is now the home for the University of Colorado research school and the Veterans Home.
Fun day – sort of. Hard to fathom that it’s been 18 years since I’ve lived here.
Tomorrow – Bronco Headquarters and Pirates.
The Crime Scene
I actually took this picture to show the mountains and the planes at the Salt Lake City Airport – not as exhibit A for this post.
Rob – for some reason I can’t figure out how to post a pic in that group so here it is.
Throw down on a Jet
We flew into Denver today via Salt Lake City. Someday, somebody in the airline industry is going to explain to me how it can cost me half as much to fly twice as far as needed. On the way we’ll go to Atlanta in order to get to Little Rock.
At any rate – we are on the plane and behind me I hear this guy’s voice getting pretty intense. He’s sitting right behind me so it’s impossible for me not to hear him. He’s talking to a teenage girl across the aisle from him. He’s laying into her about keeping her blanket on her side, quit touching him with the blanket, he can’t sleep.
She looks scared to death and her boyfriend is just sitting there.
I turn around – heck the whole back of plane is watching – hoping he’ll see that he’s making a huge deal out of an accident.
He doesn’t.
He keeps talking. He’s like a parent stuck on lecture number 235.
I finally say…”Dude….relax. She gets it.”
He turns to me and now he’s real angry but he pauses. He’s sizing me up.
(Don’t ask me how I know he’s sizing me up, guys just know. Personally I think it was my rugged good looks that scared him.)
He then says to me – “I have a right to sleep on this plane but I can’t with her touching me.”
It’s now hard not to laugh because this is sounding like a family vacation of yesteryear…”WILL YOU STOP TOUCHING ME!!!!!!!!!
He keeps talking. “I don’t think she understands that.”
“Oh, I think she does. I’m pretty sure she gets it.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think she gets it.”
He says a couple of other things but I’m not really listening. The situation is intense. We’ve got another 90 minutes in the plane and he’s pretty worked up. Now before I tell you what I said next, just remember…I’m a trained professional at inappropriate humor. You shouldn’t try this at home.
“Dude, the whole back of plane gets it.”
After that, a few things happen all at once. He shuts up, throws on some headphones, the lady sitting across the aisle from me starts laughing hysterically, the baby sitting next her is now awake and he starts playing peak-a-boo at the top of his lungs.
The girl that was getting chewed on finally starts breathing again and she leans over, grabs my arm and says “Thank you so much.”
I’m like – “Hey – quit touching me lady. I’m trying to sleep and I have a right to sleep on this plane.”
No, I didn’t say that but that would have been really funny.
The guy didn’t say a word the rest of the flight, nor did he sleep.
Funny…I don’t feel bad about that.