February 2012
8 posts
“Stop using the word ‘missionary’ and stop sending people out to the...”
– Rob Bell | Hello, Rob Bell | This quote is from a great little interview that talks about connections between what we believe about our work mattering and the future of the world. Check it out.
on insistence of pastoral authority
So it seems everything I hear this month about church leadership has been centered on asserting power and authority and how “questioning authority is sinning.” And all I can come to is that there are a large number of people who are obsessing over power in relation to leadership in the church. I’ve been holding out on writing because I just have not been able to bring up the...
January 2012
8 posts
Sacrilege #SpeakeasySacrilege
I received a copy of Hugh Halter’s Sacrilege through Speakeasy On Tap. My only real interaction with Hugh has been hearing him speak once and talking with others about the Tangible Kingdom.
Sacrilege was a pleasantly surprising book, one which breathed a lot of life into me as I heard a lot of similarities between Hugh’s experience and what we’re trying to do with Sacred Roots....
Well, I’m back from vacation. Guess I didn’t follow through on doing those blogs. But they’re coming, oh yes, they’re coming.
More to come, but know, vacation was great and I’m ready to hit the ground running again. Blogs soon!
Vacation
Being on vacation is nice. It’s been great already to have some time to just breathe and enjoy the sun and read and hang out with friends. I have a sense that this may be just what the doctor ordered for me. Anyway there’s a little update on what’s going on with me. There may be a few blogs on the way too!
Missional in Suburbia
Tomorrow I’m teaching a day of a Missional Church class the my friend Rob does at Whitworth University. In the past I’ve found that a lot of folks in class struggle with seeing what being missional looks like in urban settings but have a much harder time getting it for suburban and rural areas. I asked my friend Matt Bowen to share a bit about his experience of being at a larger...
“Destructive to marriage is the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and...”
– Stanley Hauerwas | HT: You Never Marry the Right Person (Relevant Magazine) an Excerpt from Tim Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage
a response to tallskinnykiwi's 9 reasons not to...
I won’t make it much of a secret that I love Andrew Jones’(tallskinnykiwi) blog. It’s always interesting to read what he’s experiencing and the thoughts he’s sharing. Today, he posted a list of 9 reasons not to plant a church in 2012. It’s well worth the read, but I wanted to offer a few thoughts in response to further this, so go read it, then come back and...
2 tags
resurrected post: on mentorship
This is a post I wrote a while back for my friend Tyler’s blog. It’s one of my favorite guest posts I’ve written and thought it a great post to share today.
I have a confession: for the longest time, there was nothing I hated more than the thought of being mentored in a church. And I suspect I’m not the only one who’s felt this way.
It’s not that I’m against the idea of...
December 2011
8 posts
The Cost of Community
Earlier this fall, my friend Jamie Arpin-Ricci’s new book The Cost of Community: Jesus, St. Francis and Life in the Kingdom. I was sent a copy to review by Likewise, and it has been my favorite book I’ve reviewed this year.
The Cost of Community in all truth has made me a little jealous. It’s the sort of book that I’d like to write - one that explores scripture but does...
Watch
Skrillex Christmas Lightshow
Hard for me to not be stoked about a combination of Christmas lights and dubstep. Merry Christmas Eve Eve.
4 tags
Jesus vs. Ayn Rand: Christmas Smackdown Edition
Will Willimon weighs in on how celebrating Christmas flies in the face of the values of Ayn Rand:
I’m amazed that these politicians promote Rand’s philosophy without concern for her atheism. But more amazing is the grand celebration we Christians are about to witness. Christmas, the nativity of Jesus Christ, is an eloquent rebuke to Rand and her contemporary devotees, because Christmas is God’s...
giving gifts
It’s been encouraging to me that over the past few years it’s become much more popular to decry consumerism during the Christmas season. Great projects like the Advent Conspiracy have popped up, encouraging people to step off the carousel of feeling like they need to go into debt in spending to illustrate their love to each other during the Christmas season.
I think it’s a...
November 2011
10 posts
on bi-vocational ministry
I intended to write a post yesterday about some of the things I’m thankful for, but I spent my time instead hanging out with friends enjoying company and a break. It was nice and something I’m really thankful for(see what I did there?).
One thing that I am quite thankful about though, is that God didn’t strongly call me into the ministry until I was so far along in my computer...
“The calling of men and women to be converted, to follow Jesus, and to be part of...”
– Lesslie Newbigin | The Open Secret | HT:Rob Fairbanks
skinny jeans and carhartts, further explanation
I suspect that some of the nuance in my metaphors on my post “take off the skinny jeans and put on your carhartts” was missed(see latest comment on it for reference). So I wanted to offer a few further thoughts on what was intended in my post.
I’m not using skinny jeans and carhartts as actual reference to a way of dressing. Rather they both serve as metaphors to an approach...
god hates you?
The Out of Ur blog posted the video where a notorious pastor to the north proclaims to his listeners that “God hates you.” There was a comment on the blog that I found so well stated that 1) I hope to be that cool of a commenter on blogs one day & 2) I loved enough that I’m reposting it here.
There is a modern theological narrative that suggests that what Jesus purchased...
WatchHere’s a great video about Christian Associates International. It’s worth your time!
our happy block
An uncared for parking lot can be a major pain for a neighborhood.
One such parking lot exists just down the road from my house on 82nd & Woodstock. A neighbor took note of how the parking lot was being used as a cutoff to get around a stoplight which was creating traffic safety issues for the neighborhood. In addition it was attracting unseemly elements of drug trafficking and...
October 2011
13 posts
“The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the...”
– Eugene Peterson | HT:JR Briggs
take off the skinny jeans and put on your...
There was a philosophy that I heard stated in different ways when I was in youth ministry and every time I heard it, it always drove me a little crazy. That philosophy was something along the lines of “if you can win the quarterback, you will win the school.” And whether stated or unstated, it was the basis of most of the youth ministries I observed. Tons of energy was poured into...
2 tags
required reading for those seeking to do ministry...
A friend that’s a part of an intentional community in outer southeast Portland and I were talking the other day about how frustrating it is to see tons of energy coming from people wanting to church plant and picking Portland as where they’re focusing, only to target all of the “cool” spots around town. My experience in Portland is such that there’s more than enough...
“Not because you are religious, but because I myself have experienced and felt it...”
– Fyodor Dostoevsky in a letter to N.D. Fonvizina, who sent him a copy of the gospels while he was in prison (via shortbreadsh)
places in FoPo: Bar Carlo
Bar Carlo
photo originally found on fosterpowellpdx.com
I love Bar Carlo, it is my primary fall back spot in Portland for food and hanging out. The staff is chill, the vibe is very true to our neighborhood. There’s a good chance if you want to meet up with me to discuss something, this is where we’ll hang out. The food’s great, and I just love the place. It’s been my...
Occupy FoPo →
Great little blog article(click the link above) from a blog that I have recently discovered and decided I love - FosterPowellPDX. You guessed it, it’s about FoPo!
The article is a reflection on Occupy Wall Street and the little things we can do here and now. Foster Powell is definitely not a high rolling street, but I love the sense of community that seems to be emerging more and more.
link: urban renewal, negro removal →
Read this challenging article by my friend and mentor Paul Metzger. This is one of those tensions existing in Portland that it’s quite easy to forget exists, but a very important one to be mindful of.
resurrected post: robbing from the poor to give to...
There are two quotes that I’d like to put forward as a thought about how the early church approached Jesus’ teachings about how we handle our money. Both of these quotes are from St. Augustine.
“Failure to share one’s surplus with the needy is like theft.”
“The surplus goods of the rich are the necessities of the poor. When you possess surplus goods, you possess the goods of others.”
Both...
words
This is a reflection and riff that has been sitting in my drafts for quite a while, since reading an acquaintance’s blog about her art form being words. I felt it calling to be posted, so here it is.
words speak life or death, can create heaven or hell for those who receive them.
there are the chosen few- those whose expression is not drawings or paintings or song or sculpture or photos...
“Mission is more and different from recruitment to our brand of religion; it is...”
– David Bosch | HT: Jesus Creed
Congrats Tom & Des!
Yesterday was the wedding for Tom and Des. It was a pleasure to get to be present as someone who has been ministering alongside them and seeking to love Portland together. It was a beautiful celebration of Tom & Des being drawn together and also strongly reminded me of how these weddings are a little window into Christ’s love for the church.
It was a celebration that couldn’t be...
September 2011
10 posts
Liturgy is NOT “the work of the people” →
Interesting blog post on worship and liturgy (click the title above)
As a follow up to that quote I posted today, I wanted to offer a couple thoughts. This isn’t a commentary on Mars Hill Portland, I have my issues with video venues, but I truthfully don’t know that much about them individually outside of some boneheaded things I’ve heard Driscoll say.
What I’d rather comment on is our posture as Christians towards our cities. When our...