Book 2 Update

I finished book 2 on the way home from Busan, in case anyone was wondering....

Book two

I came up with 3 reasons why I picked this book to read:

1) I was drawn to it. I can't really explain, maybe it has to do with items 2 and 3.
2) The irony. Need I say more
3) The sub title - don't we all want to be a part of that?

I've received a few interesting looks from my colleagues here at the festival. Most of them are intrigued too. I think one of them is going to pick it up when he gets home.

One last thought...

I was thinking as I was getting to the end of this book that some of the changes in my thinking have been encouraged by Erwin McManus, Rob Bell, Donald Miller and Scot McKnight just to name a few. Maybe it's that some of the things they say aren't really mainstream. They are fresh and different.

So near the end of the book Erwin discusses the statement that "God wants to keep you safe." Looking at some of the examples that are used in the book I would have to say that may not always be the case. There are tons of examples, and maybe we can discuss this sometime, of just the opposite.

This paragraph bothered me:

"It may seem counterintuitive, but the more civilized we seem to become, the more detached from the pain of others we end up finding ourselves. The most civilized churches have really no practical concern for people outside their congregations. The brokenness of a lost and unbelieving world is not enough to inspire the painful changes necessary to make the church relevant to the world in which we live."

I'm asking myself where do I fit into this? How concerned am I? How relevant? How involved?

By Committee

I've heard that word a lot this week. The way these festivals work is they are run by a local committee. It seems like this week has been one non stop clash between the local committee and BGEA. I mean no disrespect to the local committee or to the local culture. This post really has nothing to do with this local committee, but more of the timing of coming across this little snippet which I found amusing.

I'm just getting to the end of the book and Erwin is talking about groups of different animals. You'll have to read the book to understand how it fits into the book.

I'll set the stage with this:
A group of whales = a pod
A group of cattle = a herd
A group of lions = a pride
A group of fish = a school
A group of flies = a swarm

By now I think you get the point. So I found this to be most interesting. Do you know what a group of buzzards is called?

yes, a committee. A group of buzzards waiting around to feast on leftover carnage is called a committee. Erwin points out "This explains so much of what's going on in churches -- a lot of committees waiting around to live off human carnage."

Hmm.... we'll just leave that there...

We are what we read

I know this is true for me. I tend to jump into whatever my current "project" is with both feet. I tend to get pretty excited about a new thought or idea that is part of what I may be working on. I think a lot of it comes from my lack of really being able to multi-task. Sure, I can be running multiple projects or jobs at one time, but I've discovered that its not really multitasking. I'm really only working on one thing at a time. I watch my wife read a magazine while watching tv and not miss a beat. If I try to do that, I either don't remember what I read or miss something funny that just happened. Thank goodness for digital cable and the ability to rewind!

So I packed 3 books with me for this trip to South Korea with the hopes I would be able to catch up on some self learning. I've actually started in all 3, sorry Rod, I know that is a no-no, but only to see how easy they were to get into. I read a little on the plane on the way over, and that was cool. Today I decided I would really try to make a dent in one of my books. I packed "The Barbarian Way", by Erwin McManus basically because it was the thinest book I had with me. I think that Erwin has some fresh thinking on some topics and the fact that he could be viewed as controversial is good for conversation. One thing jumped off the pages to me today.

pg 45 "God would never choose for us safety at the cost of significance. God created you so that your life would count, not so that you could count the days of your life".

Some other things that hit pretty close to home had to do with teaching our children. He asks the question "are you teaching your children about God or how to experience God in their life?" Makes you think, doesn't it?

So I read in between soundchecks and moved from the stage to our production office and back. There was quite a breeze today and it was much cooler. Toward the end of the afternoon just before the service started Paul came by and asked "What would you be doing if you weren't doing this? You seem to read a lot." I told him I was playing catch up on the reading and I really didn't know what I would be doing, other than something that helpes to bring change to peoples lives ...

JTA Theme

I was able to get into a couple of books on my last trip and one of them was Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels. I got the book for Fathers day from my mom, (Did I say thank you?, thanks mom). It is a really quick read but it did what good books do and made me think. That's not what this post is about. In Chapter 3 Bill is talking about Your "One Thing". Bill goes on to talk about one main verse that talks about "why we are here" on page 51. He quotes Ephesians 2:10, " We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do!"

That is our theme verse. I think that is cool. It's a good reminder that God has already prepared the way for us. It's also cool to stop and think that we are His handiwork. Created in His image. He created us to do "good works".

I'm glad I'm able to do them with you. I look forward to the road ahead.