Emerging Chruch

Here is an article that you might like to read about the emerging church by Scot McNight.

Honeymoon

Well, it is official. The ministry honeymoon is now over. After the last month or so I am walking around feeling a bit punch drunk. Won't go into all of it, I have just come to realize that the honeymoon is over. Sometimes ministry can be hard I am learning. Sometimes people can be hard. Guess I always knew this, just never thought I would see it in the church as much.

There really is so much that I want to say, but most of it stems from hurt and I would end up saying stuff that I shouldn't. Anyway, I still love ministry, I still love people. I have just learned a little more about both.

Quote for the day

So our youth group took on a local mission project in the last couple of months. There is a family in our church that needed some help taking about a foot of dirt out of their basement and we deciced to take it on as a service project. We finished it up today. The dirt was really hard so we had to get a jack hammer to do the work.

Today one of the students was getting ready to use the jack hammer and one of the guys said that he should be careful so he does not break it because they are expensive.

His reply, "I don't have the money to buy a new one.... but my dad does."

I could not help but think, I bet your dad would not be jazzed to hear that.


The next awesome quote for the day from one of the students as she was digging dirt with a shovel.

"This is just like jumping on a tramp, only with no bounce."

Yep she is right, jumping on a shovel to dig dirt is just like jumping on a tramp.... only with no bounce."

Change the World?

Have you ever felt like you were exactly where you were supposed to be, but that you were not living up to your full potential?

May seem like an odd question, but that seems to be where I am at recently. Not sure that I can put any more meat on that right now. Just feeling like there is so much more.

Was talking to my senior high sunday school class yesterday. We were just chatting and when we closed in prayer I asked that each of us be changed by Christ and that we live as Christ desires for us. It got me to thinking and talking with the students.

What does that changed life look like? I asked myself and the students, What does being a follower of Christ look like? Sadly, I believe that more often then not it simply means to be a "good boy or girl." I mean think about it, most of us believe that following Christ means that we won't smoke, drink, cuss or chew or go with girls (or guys) that do. We try and live this moral life. We essentially try and be boy (or girl) scouts.

My thought is, there has to be so much more. I mean Christ did not live that way. He did not just try and live a moral life. He really shook things up. He effected change. Sure, we can reply to that with "but we are not Christ." But doesn't He call us to be like Him.

I wonder if we really sit down and think about this whole idea of being a follower of Christ and what that looks like if it won't start to look really scary and maybe even dangerous.

I suspect that we get stuck in this idea that we or I am just one person, and one person can't really change anything. Then I run across this picture. Did this guy effect change? Is he all alone? http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Sure, we don't know the entire story, but I am willing to bet that this one picture gave a ton of people the courage to simply stand up.

Just the other day I watched Schindler's List. What a powerful movie. I had never seen it before. Schindler save the lives of 1,100 Jews. I found out later that there are alive today 6,000 Jews who are descendants of the Schindler Jews. 6,000!! That is 7,100 people who would not be alive or have survived had it not been for one man!

Who says that one person can't change things. Look, my thought is this. I really believe that Christ is calling us to more than being a good boy or girl. I believe that He is calling us to change our world.

So, let's do just that.