Check out this awesome video depicting what the advent would look like in the 21st century.
Merry Christmas!
Articles
Growing through Community over the Christmas Holidays
We all tend to spend our holidays in different ways. Some of us spend it with our families, others alone. Some with big Turkey feasts and others with mac and cheese or bbq chicken from the grocery store. However, the one thing that stays constant throughout the holiday season is our need for community.
Although this may be a pretty funny picture of me sitting all alone, and not being a part of the party, this is how a lot of people feel throughout the Christmas holidays. In fact, for some of your small group members, your group may really be the only family they have in town.
So here is a brief list of suggestions for your group to continue to grow through community over the holidays. Feel free to consider one, two, none, or all of them.
[Read more…] about Growing through Community over the Christmas Holidays
Our Lives In Numbers (Guest Post)
My wife just wrote an incredible post that gives a glimpse into our lives. With her permission, I thought I’d put it here 🙂
Oh la! Feels like I haven’t blogged in ages! Our family was blessed with an opportunity to go to Banff on a district-wide prayer conference. It was a wonderful time of relaxing, enjoying nature, and meeting new people. Also, our family needed this time together.
I was talking to someone I had met about our recent journeys of what had brought us to Edmonton. She insisted that I needed to write down things in order to remember everything that God has brought us through. Thus, I started to compile a little list in my head of things I wanted to remember. I ended up realizing that it had to do a lot with numbers. So, here are a few snapshots of some numbers that hold a lot more significance than we realize.
Our Lives In Numbers:
2 – the number of times we have sold almost everything we own in order to follow God’s calling/leading. It really wasn’t easy at all! I have learned that stuff is exactly what it is – “stuff.” It doesn’t define who you are or what you will become if you don’t allow it to. If you hold on too tight to your “stuff,” you will soon find out that it is actually holding tight on to you.
3 – the number of months we have lived in Edmonton; a place to finally call “home.”
– is also the number of weeks we had to leave Korea. That meant selling all of our stuff, getting rid of our lease (which we had signed for a year and if we didn’t find someone to take it over, we would have had to continue paying rent or risk loosing our $10 000 deposit), packing all our remains and saying our goodbyes. In a sense, we lost what we thought was “home,” only to later realize that “home” is where our family is and ultimately in Heaven.
Ze Frank’s Web Playroom
I came across this fascinating TED talk about technology and social networking. If you have 20 minutes to spare, it’s pretty interesting.
I am…sent
“I’m a plumber.”
“I’m a Conservative.”
“I’m gay.”
“I’m Buddhist.”
“I’m Canadian.”
“I’m a guitarist.”
“I’m ____________.”
What did you think when you read that list above? Sound familiar? Chances are, you’ve either said or heard at least one of those statements.
Depending on the situation we’re in, we always tend to answer these “I am” questions differently. Some individuals identify themselves based on their occupation, others in accordance with their political views, and others in regards to their sexuality, faith, or hobbies. However, none of those categories define who we are as humans. All of those things can change and/or pass away. We need to define ourselves based on the one thing that will never pass away [Read more…] about I am…sent
Marriage and Spirituality
Ever since Christina and I got married, we have always made it a point to keep our marriage centered on God. As a result, we would oftentimes use a devotional or we would sometimes just dig into scripture together. What I’ve discovered is that the format isn’t as important as the fact that you are drawing closer to God together.
It’s fascinating to see what happens when we alter our focus just a bit.
Scenario 1: Spouses focus on each other and strengthening their relationship.
Result 1: Marriage relationship is strengthened.
Scenario 2: Spouses focus on strengthening their relationship to God together.
Result 2: Stronger relationship with God and stronger marriage relationship.
When’s the last time you prayed with your spouse? When’s the last time you talked about spiritual matters together?
Husbands: Take the initiative.
Wives: Don’t wait for your husbands to take the initiative, you take it.
I just purchased Closer: Devotions to draw couples together by Jim and Cathy Burns (http://amzn.to/agoltE) as a practical action step to draw closer to my wife by drawing closer to God together.
What steps are you taking?
The Future of Seminary
I’ve been wrestling with the effectiveness of traditional seminary programs for engaging postmodern culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before I share my thoughts on the subject, I thought I’d just throw this quote out to see what you think.
It comes from Steve Ogne’s and Tim Roehl’s Transformissional Coaching
“Neither seminary nor seminar will prepare us to do ministry in the postmodern future. We believe that ministry equipping for transformissional church leaders will be just in time, on the job, on the Internet, in the church, and in the trenches.”
What do you think?
Follow up (Jan 19, 2011) – After writing this post, I thought I’d follow up with where I’m at now – Check out my post “Why I ditched the M.Div…and am still a pastor.”
Small Group of One
Check out this hilarious video about small groups
Gripped by the Greatness of God (A New Season)
I’m writing this in my new office, in a new city, with a new position (Groups Pastor), in a new church (Beulah Alliance Church). In short, my family and I moved to Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) 2 weeks ago to start this new chapter in our lives.
It’s amazing how God’s grace is so real and just how his timing is absolutely perfect. After leaving Korea, we had no idea where we were going or what we were going to do. That, in and of itself, was stressful enough, but on top of that, we had only a limited amount of money left in our savings. Thank God that we were able to stay with my parents and Christina’s parents in the meantime.
Upon leaving Korea, I was hoping that I would find a position right away and start our new life immediately, but God had different plans for us. It was really a whole bunch of silence for the next couple of months, and that time proved so valuable and crucial for God to do the work he needed to do in our lives. Plus, our daughter had the opportunity to spend months with her grandparents – something that she wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise.
All that to say, I am absolutely loving Edmonton, Beulah, my new position, and this whole new chapter in our lives.
Now that the introduction is done, let me get to the meat of what I wanted to share with you. Right now, our church is going through a series entitled – “Griped by the Greatness of God.” As I was spending time reading the Bible this morning, I just wanted to share the passage that popped out to me.
He (Jesus) was supreme in the beginning and – leading the resurrection parade – he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. (Colossians 1:18-20 The Message Translation)
Why don’t you read that passage again and realize just how great our God is?
What are the two biggest struggles facing the churches in your context?
Here’s my answer, what’s yours?
Rather than being a powerful force of Kingdom counter-culture, the churches in my context have assimilated into this consumeristic North American culture. In an attempt to reach more people with the gospel, churches have lowered the bar of commitment and incorrectly redefined what it means to be a Christian. Sure, maybe lowering the bar of commitment brings more people into the church, but as a backlash, this has created a culture of consumerism within the church. That is why churches are constantly facing a shortage of volunteers, a resistance to involvement in community, and a lack of giving. This consumeristic tendency is producing Christians who just want to receive, receive, and receive, instead of balancing the rhythms of receiving and giving. This is fundamentally wrong in so many ways; after all, did not Jesus come to the earth to serve, instead of be served (Matt 20:28)? And after being saved by grace, aren’t Christians called to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for them to do (Eph 2:8-10)?
In addition to consumerism, I believe that the second biggest struggle that churches in my context are facing is individualism. Rather than viewing loving others as a natural outflow of loving God (Matt 22:37-40), many Christians are choosing to compartmentalize their faith from their everyday life. The result of this is the astounding possibility that one’s neighbors or coworkers could be Christian, but one may never even know it. Now I am not suggesting that Christians go and preach the gospel to all their neighbors and coworkers just to make a statement about their faith, but I am suggesting that a true follower of Jesus should be living a life that is so integrated and whole, that others are able to notice something different about them. For a Christian, faith and life go hand in hand – loving God and loving others are one in the same thing.