Archive for January, 2009
Master Chief’s Guide To Gun Safety
The real guide to gun safety has these 4 simple rules for when you come across a gun:
Stop
Don’t touch it
Leave the room
Tell an adult
Master Chief says:
Pick Up
Reload
Turn around
Return Fire
Wouldn’t See That In Parker
Can you imagine this being sent home from a Boulder school?
Cooper and I are working on Master Chief’s Rules For Gun Safety.
What Facebook Needs
I’ve posted on this before but really didn’t fully explore the concept. Has to do with who is a friend and who isn’t. It came up because I was asked if I would have coffee with half the friends on my Facebook.
To which I replied – there isn’t one of those people that I would leave stranded on the side of the road in the snow with two flat tires.
I realize there may be a better barometer to determine who to accept as a friend or not. And truthfully, there aren’t that many people I WOULD leave stranded.
But the coffee question actually works pretty well, don’t you think?
Other things to consider:
Who’s buying?
Who gets to set the agenda?Â
Overall mood of person?
Are they are close talker? Loud talkers?
Starting At Square One
What an awesome meeting over lunch today. Creative Team – our job is to brainstorm and implement a service that connects people to Jesus.
The plan was to do a series on Love and Marriage – it’s February and we’ve been planning for it for awhile. But…I just had a little nagging that…well…The Whisper as I’ve come to know it. The Whisper said – are you sure?
I get to the meeting today and as we are going around the table deconstructing last week and the series in general. “What would you have done differently? Anything you were dissatisfied with?”
The only thing I could come up with was I felt like we were leaving a lot on the table. Felt like we set the stage by asking all these questions with no follow up. Like that awkward guy at the party that comes up and interrupts a deep conversation with something like – “Where did you get this dip?” (Your mom’s.)
You know you have the makings of a great team when people are more focused on the goal than the work it takes to get there. “Let’s change it.”
So we did. In about 30 minutes we had a completely new series focused on discovery the real Jesus, the raw, incarnate Christ. We’ll look at 9 conversations that gave glimpses to who Jesus is.
A Conversation With…
A Dark World, 4 Fishermen, Servants At A Wedding, An Intellectual, A Girl With A Rep, The Invalid, A Hungry Crowd, A Scandalous Woman, 2 Kinds of Blind…
And yes – I’m back at square one but you know…it’s a good thing.
Why I’m Thinking About Packing Heat
Why is it that preschool moms are deaf? Is it genetic? Does something happen when the kid turns 2?
Amy was a preschool mom. I never recall her being deaf.
I recognize the rights of preschool moms to get out in public and have a normal life. That’s what places like Toys R Us, Chuck E Cheese, and the doctors office are for. Or Panera.
Not this quiet, dark, comfortable coffee shop. It’s not God’s will for you to be here. I’m a pastor. I know these things.
This is a loosing battle I’m fighting. Time to punt, I think.
Keeping The Gauge Towards F
It’s easy to preach on staying full with Jesus, keeping connected with Jesus. Harder to stay towards the F in real life. I know that the biggest impact we’ll have as leaders is not with what we say but how we live.
Having said that, the hard reality is our family is not exactly the shining model of balance right now. Our schedule has something on it Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night and all day Saturday. Throw in normal Sunday activities and our desire/need for a life group – yeah…I’m an idiot.
None of the stuff we are doing is bad. It’s just…busy. The one thing that Amy and I know is valuable and is refueling we don’t have time for – a Life Group. I’m in the exact position that most of the church is in and I got there by my own decisions. So how do you get to there from here?
Saying no. It really isn’t any harder than that. Like – will all three of kids do spring soccer? No. But that is for moral reasons. No kid of mine is going to play that commie sport. (Go ahead, let the pro-soccer comments fly.) Are we doing any spring sports? No. What about other stuff? Don’t know.
Amy and I have always had seasons where we’re pinging the speedometer at 150 mph and then times when we’re not. It’s finding a rhythm that works, that keeps the needle towards the F, not the E. It’s also having the wisdom/discernment to know when the needle is getting close to E then having the ruthless courage to do (or not do ) something to get it back towards the F.
Personally – we’re doing good right now. Adrenaline rush of a new place, we’re protecting our Fridays – all that is good.
But I asked some hard questions of Western Hills yesterday. And they weren’t questions that I’ve got figured out already. What would my life look like if I lived it towards the F, not the E? What would it look like to be captivated by Jesus? Not the church or busyness but the person of Jesus? What would change in our world if we were captivated by him? What would change at Western Hills if our people served out of the overflow of this captivation? What would we have to say no to, say yes to if our primary focus was connecting with Jesus and letting him change us? Transformation…how does it happen?
Whatever captivates us, changes us.
Whatever captivates us, changes us…makes us more like we are captured by.
Finishing A Series
Wrap up my first sermon series this weekend. I think we finally got the audio working on our website – www.whillschurch.org.
This series had brewing in my head for a long time. Trying to change our understanding of church from institution to movement. The church as a movement, a conspiracy of subterfuge is easy to see in scripture, almost impossible to see as current example.
Preaching sermons about it is also easy. Actually pulling it off? Remains to be seen. The good vibe of the first month will be followed by many questions we get to deal with the rest of the year.
Is what we are doing for the purpose of advancing God’s story or Western Hills? Would the community around us miss us if we dissappeared? Are we really trying to be more like Jesus or just more likable?
Are we more connected to Jesus or the church? Do we even know how to connect and stay connected to Jesus?
So many more questions than answers…
Van Cooper
Cooper seems to be doing very well at his new school.
First, he won the school spelling bee and is now his school’s rep in the county spelling bee.
Second, his piece of art was hanging in the hall this morning when I dropped him off.
Pretty humbled to have the kids we have.
The Pandora Experiment
Robert Terrell was the first person I remember talking about Pandora. Actually, it may have been the other Rob “Orangejack” Williams. Either way, I’ve been using it this week for the first time – thanks mainly to the iPhone app.
I love it. The basic premise is this – you tell the site an artist that you really like. It goes and gets music that matches it. It creates this radio station for you and as the new music is played, you give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
The more you vote, the more accurate it gets.
For me – it’s hitting home runs every single time. I have a John Mayer/Stevie Ray Vaughn channel. Incredible matches. I’m finding new artists that I like, new music to jam out to…perfect.
Would You Like This All On This Card?
I bought Burn Notice, season 1 on DVD today at Target. I love this show. Funny. Spies. Miami. Cool. Perfect balance of James Bond on vacation. (I also picked up Chuck, Season 1. We don’t have our Direct TV right now.)
But what threw me off was the checking out process.
I swipe my card, enter my pin, click on the “No I don’t want $400 cash back option” (why is this even an option????) thinking I’m done. Long, uncomfortable pause.
“Sir, do you want to place this entire order this card?”
I’m sorry, I could have sworn you just asked me if I wanted to split this purchase between two cards.
“Yes sir..” She pointed to the card screen.
Sure enough – there it was in whatever colors are on those card readers – “Would you like to use this card for the entire purchase?”
What kind of stupid question is that?
The clerk tells me that Target started doing this during Christmas. She says to me that I wouldn’t believe how many people would split their purchases between two, three or four credit cards.
Good night, our country is in deep weeds.
My NFL Musings
In the middle of moving, starting a new job, finding new schools, trying to find a decent Mexican place in Topeka – my posts on football have been scarce…
Nay…missing altogether.
Instead of writing 14 different posts – I’ll condense them all to this one for the time being.
- The Broncos hiring of Josh McDaniels was a good hire…not great, but good. Great would have been to land Scott Pioli AND Josh McDaniels.
- The Oakland Raiders are the most backward organization in the NFL now, closely followed by the Chiefs. Oakland – they are hiring assistant coaches without naming a head coach. KC – Herm Edwards is still employed.
- Larry Fitzgerald is the best WR in the league. He may be the best ever when it’s all said and done. What’s even better about this? He’s a classy guy.
- It’s doubtful that Detriot will won a game next year as well. It’s not coaching. It’s talent. And Detroit doesn’t have any.
- How is Marvin Lewis still employed?
- This year’s implosion of the Dallas Cowboys was only overshadowed by the Broncos. The Broncos was due to young, immature team trying to learn how to win big games. The Cowboys was about old, immature players and coaches not liking each other. Next year – it will get worse for the ‘Boys.
- I’m hopeful that Arizona can beat Pittsburgh. I realize that I should pull for our fellow AFC brethren but honestly, the thought of Big Ben having two Super Bowl rings is ridiculous. I can live with Kurt Warner having two.
- I’m not sure what to make of the late season surge of the Philadelphia Eagles. Was the benching of Donovan that effective? Was it a coaching philosophy change? Not sure. I’m pretty sure that next year’s Eagle team will look very, very different. Some wounds only a Super Bowl can heal.
- I think Matt Cassell will stay in New England because I’m guessing the Patriot’s brass aren’t as optimistic about Brady’s knee as the media reports.
Leave your thoughts below…we’ll make fun of you as necessary.
A Gift From the Western Hills Blog Readers
There was an envelope slipped under my door this morning.
It was a gift card to Jason’s Deli from the Western Hills Blog Readers.
Thank you much.
Monday’s Aren’t Great…unless you have them off
I closed the office yesterday. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday is worthy of the office being closed. Especially for a church.
But normally Mondays aren’t a great day for pastors. Drained from Sunday, dealing with all the ‘what ifs’ and realizing that you get to start it all over again this week.
I remember Mondays being particular hard for Al – my senior pastor in Emporia. Especially in the winter. Al was the author of some of the greatest advice I’ve ever received. I asked once if he felt that bad, why didn’t he just take Monday off.
If I feel this bad, I might as well work.
I used to think – what’s so horrible about Mondays? I don’t get it. I think I’m getting it now.
It’s not the blank sheet of paper that represents next week’s sermon. At least for me it isn’t. I love that part of this calling – the studying, the crafting, the digging, the listening, the wrestling with God during the week. That’s the great part. I’m guessing that most teachers/pastors would agree.
It’s not the touches of ministry – grabbing coffee with someone who is struggling to hear God, grabbing face time with a leader who is trying to be more effective in ministry, praying with a family who is facing a health crisis, or listening to someone tell their story. Those can be time consuming but more often than not – it feeds your soul.
It’s the ‘organizational junk.’Â The nuts and bolts of the machine that we call ‘church.’Â The by-laws are out of date, need to be rewritten, our organizational structure needs changed, the processes of ‘said’ ministry needs to be revamped.
Every church I’ve ever been in has had it. So it’s not exactly this great big secret.
That is what looms so large on Monday mornings…or Tuesdays if you happen to have Monday off. Those things seem larger than what they really are on those mornings. If I’m not careful, I’ll let it consume me an steal me from what I’m really called and equipped to do. If we’re all not careful, they’ll take center stage and begin to define us instead of us defining them.
Test Driving My iPhone
I am writing this from my iPhone trying out the WordPress app. It really is a pain to type on the phone for a long blog but for a short one it would work.
Any one else out there blog from their phone?
Wondering Aloud On A Wednesday Afternoon
I wonder what would happen in a church if for 365 days her key leaders did nothing but did life with 3 or 4 others? They would worship together, they would get together once a week to eat and ask each other hard, vulnerable, raw questions, and they had 1 ministry they poured into? Ministry being defined as serving others in the name of Jesus. Could be inside or outside the church walls but just 1.
I wonder what would happen if we did that at Western Hills?
I’m not ready to pull the trigger on the idea yet. Just thinking out loud – which is risky in doing, especially with a ‘live studio congregation.’
People here aren’t all that different than people there. Generally speaking, we are frazzled, hurried, hassled, irritated, running around from one event to the next. There is no rhythm with Christ. It’s sports, kids, work. The activity was supposed to make us better, more productive, happier but it’s having the exact opposite effect.
The question I wrestle with is this – what are we saying in our role as a spiritual voice in the middle of this? What are elevating as ‘right’ and ‘good’ – not just with our words but our calendar, our pace? Are we making it easier for people to listen and respond to the Spirit?
No answers coming clear today.
Eating An Elephant
One bite at a time.
Service yesterday was good. Talked about The Compassionate Mandate. We’ve been talking about what makes a church a movement instead of an institution. Mark Edwards – a volunteer with me in Little Rock – started this thinking in me many years ago when he started taking his high school guys life group downtown under a bridge to feed the homeless. He challenged us as a youth team to see youth ministry as a movement, an opportunity to join the invisible mighty Church already at work.
The question has always been – can this happen in ‘big church?’ The odds are against it because most churches are focused on keeping the doors opened as opposed to unleashing the Church. My guess this mentality will only get worse as the economy tanks.
But…does it HAVE to be this way? Is it possible for a church to have a committment to helping others and the messiness that ensues? Is it possible for a church to keep its doors open for the purpose of serving others? We’re asking and investigating and we’re going to try to eat the elephant one bite at a time.
Monday Morning Quarterback: Think I made another goof yesterday. We had a Church Council meeting and instead of running the meeting, I let the meeting run itself. My thinking was – they’ve been doing this Council thing for years, it’s my first one, they’ve got a handle on it, just keep quiet, observe and see how it goes.
Good theory, maybe even good practice. Reality – I was still sitting in that meeting 4 hours after I’d preached two services that morning. Not good. The hard part of the situation is this – it wasn’t a ‘bad’ meeting in terms of the topics or issues we’re dealing with. It wasn’t a bad meeting in terms of the spirit of discussion.
It was a bad meeting because we’re all exhausted after church because we all serve and we’re not doing God or the church any favors by tackling the business of the church at less than our best. Stuff that should have taken an hour or 90 minutes took twice as long. This must change but the how and to what is the question. I know we will get there – we’ve got the right spirit and attitude to do it.
I return to the eating an elephant…one bit at a time.
Favorite iPhones Apps
I love my iPhone. Absolutely love it. Too many cool features of the phone itself to list although the visual voicemail is worth the price of the phone by itself.
The coolest thing are the apps. Here’s my favorite list so far. If you’ve got an iPhone – slap your favorites in the comments.
vlingo – speak it and it happens. Search, call, map, update facebook. The ultimate hands free app.
google – the reader is awesome but you can hit all things google from this single app.
aroundme – looking for a gas station, coffee shop, diner, or a vet? Slap on location services and off you go. Absolutely astonishing and amazing. We’re using this alot in Topeka so far.
shazam – What’s the song they’re playing? Now you know. Hold iPhone up to hear it, it will find it for you on iTunes.
SnapTell – find a book, CD, DVD on Amazon just by taking a picture of it’s cover.
OneTap – want to know what’s showing and where and see the trailer? This is the app for you.
USAToday – it’s the best of the news/sports apps out there. And by best I mean most stable. ESPN and others should steal this app and use it instead of the ones they are currently using.
facebook – if you’ve got facebook, you pretty much have to use this but it’s glitchy. It’s on the list because it’s the best I’ve seen so far but…it’s not stable and I resist using it. I use vlingo to update.
Got any you want to add?
Saying No
I’m in an undisclosed coffee shop this morning. Sunday is coming and I’m not as far into my sermon as I’d like to be.
I’ve no one to blame but myself. Meetings. Touches. Contact. Relational ministry. There is much good with this kind of leadership and ministry. The down side – pace. And being new in a church that hasn’t had any staff for 3 months, no lead pastor for over a year – I can feel the void that was left. People are starving for someone to have a conversation about ministry, someone to care and encourage and listen. I get that.
I also get that if I show up on Sunday with nothing to say – it’s not going to go well. Row jacked me up pretty good via email about pace and saying no and creating holy spaces of nothingness in the schedule to allow God to speak and lead me. I know these things. I just didn’t do them this week. Rookie mistake.
I’ll get another chance to try again next week.
First Day In Office
Yesterday went well. The Tech team threw a little surprise at me with a video clip of epic stories at the start of the sermon, kinda took me a while to ramp back up but overall…it worked nice.
I’m keeping a new journal. It was mainly Row’s idea. Keep a journal as raw as I can about my first year as a Lead Pastor. Row thinks there will be people who will want to read it and he wants to write the introduction to it.
I think he is overly optimistic on the audience of such a book but every now and then some entries will appear here on the blog. Not all of them. But some of them.
I had two former students from 12th Avenue show up on Sunday – Angie and Jennifer. I didn’t recognize Jennifer and it took me a minute to place Angie but it was awesome, weird, made me feel old kind of moment.
As Angie was heading to her seat, she whispered to me – “You are an answer to prayer for me. I’ve been looking for a church home here and this already feels like home.” I don’t know if she felt the same way after the sermon. 
In terms of how we are doing? Pretty awesome. We don’t feel out of place or new, in fact, it feels very much like a homecoming of sorts. Mom and dad showed up for the first service. I think they were overwhelmed with the feel of the church. When your son is in ministry and you’ve heard all the horror stories, there’s probably a piece of your mind that tells you once you find a situation like we had at Pinecrest – to stay put.
Amy is looking at houses today. We’ll settle the school question later this week for the kids. I’m playing with my new iPhone, meeting some ministry leaders, dressing warmer because the wind is pretty cold. It feels good..it feels like this is exactly the fit and place we’re supposed to be.
We just miss our friends. And I suspect that’s not going to change for awhile.