Cotizar a Brian McLaren

Acabo de leer algo de Brian McLaren encendido Diario de la dirección. En el artículo, Sr. McLaren escribe:

“… Elogiamos a dios para sostenernos cerca, por mantenernos seguros, porque haciéndonos la sensación amó y bendijo y perdonado y se calientan y acogedor en nuestra manta eléctrica de la seguridad eterna (con un comforter caliente de la seguridad nacional lanzado adentro también). Felicitamos a dios en como de bien el dios está resolviendo nuestras necesidades. Cuando decimos, “usted es un tan buen dios,” suena a veces como confortar las palabras habladas a un animal doméstico.”

No soy la clase de persona que desee ser enclavijada como Brian-McLaren-quoter. Ni deseo ser acusado de ser la clase de persona que defina la dirección a través del diario de la dirección. Sin embargo, el artículo es significativo.

En él, Sr. McLaren precisa algo esos que muchos han estado precisando por años: la música moderna de la adoración es también individualista y egocéntrica. El contenido no es exactamente revolucionario, pero el hecho de que está en las páginas del diario de la dirección es.

Nuestra planta de la iglesia, Missio Dei está comenzando su reunión más grande esta semana, y debido a esto, hemos tenido que luchar particularmente con la cuestión de “cómo nosotros maneja música?” Todos deseamos algo creativo, de colaboración, y a ricos. También quisiéramos que fuera theologically apretado. Nuestra meta es tener música golpeada en los temas que se levantan en Scripture. La cosa divertida es, él es increíblemente difícil de encontrar una buena fuente de la música que cabe. Deseamos escribir algo nuestros el propios materia-pero del hecho de que es la materia existente así que el dang anémico y relativamente un-diverso en términos de estilo y contenido es apenas triste llano.

Feliz

I’m pretty happy right now. As you may know, I am a church planter, and starting a church is costly and difficult on many levels. Though we have a good deal of help, things are tight. Today, a friend of mine from Seminary (she’s in the Marriage in Family Therapy Program) lent me her drum kit for a while. She’s open to selling it to us as well. Almost all of our sound equipments and stuff has been provided with little to no cost to us. That makes me happy.

A word of wisdom to people in church plants or to those thinking about it: a wide network of friends and fans is worth a LOT. It is more valuable than money. With a network of friends (which is the reason, by the way, it is worthwhile to affiliate with a group–in my case the Baptist General Conference), you can get alot of stuff given or lent to you. You get encouragement and challlenge. You get an aweful lot. Don’t be a loner in this. The more people and churches you know, the better.

the Darkside of Leadership

This is a tool being developed by one of my professors at Bethel Seminary. He’s an insightful guy, and I appreciate his work a great deal. Check out the test below:

Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership Personal Inventory and Profile

And then buy his book:

Basically, the book explores the darker motivations all leaders have for leadership. We all have some drive to find psychological completeness through leadership. Healthy leaders realize their darker motivations and submit them, continually to Christ. That is what this book will help you to do. Many books may mention such stuff in chapters here and there, but this is the only one I know of that is devoted to the subject.

Disappointed

PLEASE READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE FIRST, OR YOU WILL BE CONFUSED.

I’ve finished my can of Whoop Ass. I am, at best, ambivalent towards humanity. I believe Jones Soda Co. is guilty of false advertising. At least I got 310% of my daily Riboflavin.

:::WARNING: AWKWARD TIE-IN TO CHRISTIANITY AHEAD:::

You know, the church is alot like a can of Whoop Ass. It claims alot, but mostly fails to deliver. People stick around, because they think it is good for them, just as I, though disappointed in my can of Whoop Ass, take comfort in the fact that my Riboflavin needs are met for a few days.

Drinking a can of Whoop Ass

I’m sitting at my favorite coffee shop (2nd Moon on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis). Amy and I are both working on our laptops working on stuff (ESL prep for her, a sermon for me). I finished my coffee, and wanted something refreshing, so I went to their refrigeration unit that holds all their carbonated beverages. They have an energy drink called “Whoop Ass.” The label reads: “Whoop Ass Energy Drink: Revitalizes Attitude & Restores Faith in Mankind.” I bought this so called can of “whoop ass.” I’ve finished about half of the can, and I have to confess: I think I was ripped off. So far, I am still cynical. I remain skeptical as to the merits of mankind. I’ll let you know if something magically happens after consuming the rest of the liquid in my can of Whoop Ass.

I know the Muffin Man

My wife befriended a local guy named Julio Caesar who works at a nearby bakery. Julio is from Guatemala. Every couple of days, Julio brings bags full of bread or rolls or muffins, etc–stuff that wasn’t the right weight or shape or size. Hundreds of pounds of bread are thrown out every day, and Julio takes as much as he can share with friends and family. There is nothing wrong with the bread–it just isn’t quite up to specs for delivery to local grocery stores.

Usually Amy is home when Julio stops by. At such times, I stand, dumbly, unable to really understand them as they converse en Espanol. Today he stopped by when Amy wasn’t home. I tried to talk to Julio, but I couldn’t. We just couldn’t understand each other. I hate the fact that I studied Spanish for 2 years in high school and a semester in college, yet I can’t even have anything resembling a conversation with Julio. I need to take a class or something. Every American should know basic Spanish.

Slavery in Sudan

I just read an interesting article on Freezerbox about the political and religious conflict in Sudan. The article muddies the waters on the Sudan issue. I do not in any way wish to minimize the suffering of millions, but it is important that Christians understand that there may be complexities in this situation that make it more than just a clear-cut issue of fundamentalist Muslims enslaving and persecuting a bunch of Christians who just want to be left alone. This isn’t to say that I agree with the article (Freezerbox certainly is biased to dislike anything about which conservatives are sympathetic). In fact, I am not remotely qualified to make a statement one way or the other about the issues facing Sudan. Nevertheless, it is important for Christians to understand that the situation may not be as simple and clean as they’d like. And that, therefore, solutions might not be easily reached.

Heretical Anabaptists

I had a good chat on Thursday with a couple Jehovah’s Witnesses that came to my door. Before they got into their pitch too much, I shocked them by telling them that I agreed with where they were coming from (that things took a bad turn in the 4th century when the Roman State and the Church became intertwined. The difference between them and myself, I explained, was that they throw out the baby with the bathwater. Many evangelicals today have an anabaptist edge–feeling that the Constantinian turn was a mistake and that the collapse of Christendom is a relatively good thing. But we are orthodox; yet Jehovah’s Witnesses are not. They are heretical anabaptists. I am sympathetic to where they are coming from, but they just went too far.

We had a great conversation–something that is hard to have with a JW, since they are trained not to get into discussions–about what is wrong with the church today. I resonated with what the senior JW (the one training the college aged student who accompanied him) had to say. He had a firm grasp of the perils of trying to forge an alliance between the church and the American Way.

I am passionately Orthodox. I am jazzed about the doctrine of the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, etc., but something in me has to wonder…which is worse: to be, like this JW fellow, a heretic with a Kingdom mindset, or a horribly stereotypical sort of Christain–who is greedy, self-absorbed, consumeristic, and lacking in love, yet who still affirms the creed?

Don’t get me wrong. Orthodoxy is incredibly important. But there is more than Orthodoxy.

Microsoft makes me giggle

I was reading a CNet article (which you should definitely check out) about some of Microsoft’s multicultural blunders when I stumbled upon these sentences:

Another social blunder from Microsoft saw chanting of the Koran used as a soundtrack for a computer game and led to great offence to the Saudi Arabia government. The company later issued a new version of the game without the chanting, while keeping the previous editions in circulation because U.S. staff thought the slip wouldn’t be spotted, but the Saudi government banned the game and demanded an apology. Microsoft then withdrew the game.

The software giant managed to further offend the Saudis by creating another game in which Muslim warriors turned churches into mosques. That game was also withdrawn.

Priceless.

Misplaced Music

Some friends of mine started an internet radio station…but it is more than that. It’s also a co-op for local Twin Cities musicians. The name of this non profit local music co-op is Misplace Music. The cool thing is that the music is good. And they are working outside of the conventional system in order to foster creativity and enjoy music. Anyone can submit. Their style is ecclectic. That is almost too incredible for words. Even if you don’t care about the local Twin Cities music scene, you should listen to their web radio station to support the idea.

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