reformissionary

New Website Update!

2005-02-05T13:48:00.000-06:00

Reformissionary will now permanently be changed to my new domain, www.stevekmccoy.com. Please update your links. The other link I gave will still work too reformissionary.blogs.com.

We will probably keep the Sunshine Lane site where it is.

Reformoving

2005-02-02T13:26:00.000-06:00

Hey, it looks like my blog is moving. I'm pretty pumped about it. I'm heading to Typepad, which has a monthly fee, but the site is remarkably more attractive and much more useful and user friendly.

Give it a look: Reformissionary. Set a new bookmark for the site.

I may try to get my own domain soon, which would change the address again. But it won't be right away.

Unstoppable

2005-01-25T14:37:00.000-06:00

One of the books I've been re-perusing through our church's vision process is An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus, who is the pastor of Mosaic in LA. It is a non-Southern Baptist, Southern Baptist church - meaning - it's Southern Baptist for the right reasons and non-Southern Baptist in a lot of ways they shouldn't be.

I have a few interesting quotes...

"The more one focuses on one's own living, the less one is concerned about giving life to others. The only way church buildings stay filled through generations is if the church lives and dies and is born again over and over." (p18)

"I will never forget the look on their faces when I promised that I would either lead us to impact the city or--in the effort--close our doors. I was a very young believer at the time and only in my twenties, but I was sure that there was no promise in the Bible that insured survival. Once survival has become our supreme goal, we have lost our way." (p23)

"The real tragedy is not that churches are dying but that churches have lost their reason to live!" (p24)

"If those who prepare for leadership are looking for the safe place, who will lead the church into the dangerous places?" (p32)

"The only storm that can sink a church is the one that rages from within." (p34)

"Friction is what hinders us, slows us down. But traction is what helps us get going and enables us to launch a movement." (p44)

"We are strangers, out of town guests, in this world. We are to pitch tents, not to build cathedrals." (p64)

"I've been to a place where pastors have lost their jobs, a place where the abuse and pain have been so severe that pastors have found themselves in professional psychiatric care. In this place, pastors have lost their marriages, sacrificed the health of their children, and even at times nearly lost their faith. In this place the persecution of spiritual leadership is so intense that the survival of the leader, in and of itself, is a miracle. This place is not some foreign land; it is not under the oppression or the rule of another nation. This most dangerous place is where a leader is seeking to transition a congregation from institution to movement." (p186)

Saturate

2005-01-23T18:00:00.000-06:00

I have started writing articles for what I call "Saturate." It is my writing ministry that is geared to be another teaching ministry to our church.

The purpose of Saturate is 'to meditate on Christ and reflect on culture in order to equip disciples of Jesus to saturate the culture with changed lives.' My first article is now online, and others will follow soon. I plan to write at least one a month.

Occasionally the articles are very personal to our church, so I will preface my articles with a bit of explanation. Enjoy!

Re-Rocked by Piper

2005-01-17T18:09:00.000-06:00

Disclaimer: Sorry for all of you who are sick of Piper quotes. Get over it.

I have been doing some "soul searching" lately about ministry and God's calling and direction as I pastor a church in northern Illinois. In that process I have reread several chapters from one of the most helpful books I've read by Piper, Brothers, We Are NOT Professionals. Here are several really good thoughts.

"The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom by the power of God's Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river." (Page 3, quoted from Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood)

On professionalism...
"I have seen it often: the love of professionalism (parity among the world's professionals) kills a man's belief that he is sent by God to save people from hell and to make them Christ-exalting, spiritual aliens in the world." (Page 3)

On prayer...
"Prayer is the coupling of primary and secondary causes. It is the splicing of our limp wire to the lightning bolt of heaven." (Page 53)

"A pastor who does not know the rhythm of desperation and deliverance must have his sights only on what man can achieve." (Page 53)

"The great pressure on us today is to be productive managers. But the need of the church is for prayerful, spiritual poets. I don't mean (necessarily) pastors who write poems. I mean pastors who feel the weight and glory of eternal reality even in the midst of a business meeting; who carry in their soul such a sense of God that they provide, by their very presence, a constant life-giving reorientation on the infinite God." (Page 66)

On the Bible...
"We must form the habit of being systematically disturbed by things that at first glance don't make sense. Or to put it a different way, we must relentlessly query the text." (Page 74)

On suffering...
"God designs and purposes his pastoral afflictions for the good of the church." (Page 140)

"The fabric of a pastor's life will be laced with dark threads of pain." (Page 140)

"No pastoral suffering is senseless. No pastoral pain is pointless. No adversity is absurd or meaningless. Every heartache has its diving target in the consolation of the saints, even when we feel least useful." (Page 140)

"All pastoral afflictions are graciously designed to make us rely on God and not ourselves." (Page 141)

"[Jesus] brought life to the church through weakness and affliction; so should his ministers." (Page 142)

On preaching...
"If the heart is without passion, it will produce lifeless, jargon-laden spontaneity. And if the heart is aflame, no form will quench it." (Page 147)

"Emotions are like a river flowing out of one's heart. Form is like the riverbanks. Without them the river runs shallow and dissipates on the plain. But banks make the river run deep....The creation of a form happens because someone feels a passion. How ironic, then, that we often fault form when the real evil is a dry spring." (Page 148)

"Many pastors are not known for expressing deep emotions. This seems to me especially true in relation to the profoundest theological realities. This is not good, because we ought to experience the deepest emotions about the deepest things. And we ought to speak often, and publicly, about what means most to us, in a way that shows its value." (Page 149)

Retreat!

2005-01-15T20:07:00.001-06:00

I'm spending a few days on a bit of a planning retreat. It has already been very fruitful. I thought it would be interesting to share some books I've already read that I am taking off the shelf and perusing for nuggets of encouragement and advice (as previously underlined, usually). Here's what I have off the top of my head. If I forgot some, I'll add them later to this post.

9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever
An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus
Brothers, We Are Not Professionals by John Piper
ChurchNext by Eddie Gibbs
City on a Hill by Philip Graham Ryken
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala
Preparing Your Church for Revival by T.M. Moore

I have also found some books I am currently reading helpful.

Against Christianity by Peter Leithart
Dangerous Wonder by Michael Yaconelli

Infiltration

2005-01-15T13:46:00.000-06:00

"The church must be not only inviting but infiltrating the groups it seeks to introduce to the Savior."

Eddie Gibbs in ChurchNext, page 182.

God's Society Among Human Societies

2005-01-14T20:38:00.000-06:00

"God created a world of stories, symbols, rituals, and community rules. Into this world of stories, God introduced a rival story; into a world of books, God came with His own library; in a world of symbols and rituals and sacrificial meals, the Church was organized by a ritual bath and a feast of bread and wine; in the midst of cultures with their own ethos and moral atmosphere, God gathered a community to produce the aroma of Christ in their life together. Only by insisting on the Church's ordinariness can we simultaneously grasp her strangeness."

"The Church can cut across the grain of existing human social and cultural life only if she bears some likeness to existing societies. If she is a completely different sort of thing, then societies and nations and empires can go on their merry way ignoring the Church, or, equally deadly, find some murky alleyway to push her into. But if the Church is God's society among human societies, a heavenly city invading the earthly city, then a territorial conflict is inevitable."

Peter Leithart in Against Christianity, page 18.

A Child's Mind

2005-01-14T13:15:00.000-06:00

Something I overheard...

Elijah and Jack were building a Lincoln Log world this morning. Elijah built something very creative and said, "Jack, look! My imagination!"

Jack responded, "Imagination is too hard, there aren't any instructions."

Dullness

2005-01-11T15:08:00.000-06:00

"The most critical issue facing Christians is not abortion, pornography, the disintegration of the family, moral absolutes, MTV, drugs, racism, sexuality, or school prayer. The critical issue today is dullness. We have lost our astonishment. The Good News is no longer good news, it is okay news. Christianity is no longer life changing, it is life enhancing. Jesus doesn't change people into wild-eyed radicals anymore, He changes them into 'nice people.'"

Michael Yaconelli in Dangerous Wonder, page 23 (emphasis his).

Chantico - The Chewable Drink

2005-01-07T13:09:00.000-06:00

Well, my contacts at the local Starbucks wanted me to have a whirl at the new "Chantico Drinkable Chocolate."

Whoa. I'm not sure what to say.

It's almost chewable it's so thick. I literally takes about a minute for all the chocolate to get out of my mouth and down my throat. It's described as a dessert drink, to which I would say, "Uh, yeah!" It may be Starbucks ploy to get non-coffee drinkers to come in after a meal.

On the other hand, I like the taste. A very different chocolate flavor than I'm used to.

Would I order it? No way. I'm not into chewable chocolate soup. I mean, I like hot chocolate, and my regular drink is a mocha which has chocolate in it. So it's not that. I don't like the thickness, the richness, or the concept in general. But maybe that's just me. The Starbucks team is pretty good at finding out what the culture will buy. They must figure it will have an audience.

As for me, I'm guessing it won't catch on. But who knows. I don't like lattes and those sell just fine anyway.

What's Wrong With Us?

2004-12-31T13:29:00.000-06:00

Have you ever felt like meeting with your local church makes it harder to follow Christ instead of feeling energized and encouraged? If so, why do you think that is?

Random and raw thoughts in no particular order...

1. People are so cold to one another, aren't they? At the least, people are colder than they should be. We are so unfriendly that we have "welcome" times where we encourage people to shake hands and greet each other. Greeting and hugging each other should be a natural thing for Christians to do, but it isn't.

When you meet with your brothers and sisters in Christ, take on the mentality that this is your family. Treat them like your family. We should have the closest relationships the world has seen.

2. Christians talk about how they have to "put on their happy face" when they come to church. Why do we think that? Are churches teaching this? Nope. It's a default setting of society that has entered the church for a variety of reasons, including the fact we don't know each other and love each other and trust each other as we should.

Let's stop blaming the organization of the church and start being honest with each other. Don't start by telling others they need to be more open and candid. Look in the mirror and start there. I think it's an easy excuse to complain about all the people in the church who won't be honest with us, and all along we aren't honest with them either, about our struggles and needs and longings.

Stop worrying about what everyone else does. You are free to release them to do everything wrong and love them anyway. And as you do that, they will learn to do it in return. One of my best friends is very good at asking how I'm really doing and sharing when he's struggling. I've learning I don't need to put on a facade with him because he has led by humble example rather than demanding I do it right first.

3. We often hear complaining about having more interaction and fellowship time. "I want more discussion and less teaching." "Why don't we have more time for fellowship?" There are very few times in most churches to be taught by someone who knows the Bible and has been called to teach.

We need to take all those opportunities we can get because at most churches you may get a total of a couple of hours a week of this. At my church we have Sunday morning Bible study and Worship. That's it for public meetings. No Sunday night. No Wednesday night. But the real problem is not our method of teaching, it's our unwillingness to seek deep and encouraging relationships with each other. We all could talk about what we are learning all week long, but we don't. We don't seek to encourage, but rather complain about the people who don't encourage us.

Let's start making time to talk together and encourage each other. Don't wait for the church to organize a fellowship event, find someone to meet with and encourage them with what the pastor has already taught. Ask people questions about the sermon or Bible study and talk about how to do what you have learned. We can do this throughout the week, Sunday after church, after other meetings, on the phone during the week, through dinner conversation with a family in the church, etc.

I'm quite sure that generally speaking the Church is so good at complaining about what IS happening so we can avoid what is not right in our own hearts. We look at what others do bad and don't think about what we should do better. We feel discouraged about the apathy of others and less concerned about the apathy in our own hearts.

It's time to seek a revival in our hearts. If we don't seek that, we will remain a pack of complainers who wonder why we aren't growing as a church. Let's shut our mouths, think about serving rather than being served, and let our hearts break before God over our own deadness.

I encourage you to read Five Resolves for Personal Revival and A 12 Point Cure for Complaining, both by Jim Elliff. Let's seek the personal revivals that may spark a revival in our churches.

Go Tell It On the Mountain

2004-12-17T13:07:00.000-06:00

I recently decided to compile a few mountain biking pics.

A lot of the people I know where we live in Illinois don't know me from my days when I did a lot of mountain biking. I hope to keep riding here in the flatlands of IL, though southern Wisconsin is more likely. Happy trails.

God Gave Wine

2004-12-16T11:49:00.000-06:00

I recommend all Christians who are against drinking alcohol listen to this free online audio journal by St. Annes Public House. It is a compelling argument concerning the biblical view of the goodness of wine.

Making Crap

2004-12-10T14:19:00.000-06:00

Some guy named Alex just made a thoughtful comment on another site that ended with, "Evangelicals don't seem to understand that they have been redeemed in order to redeem, not sit around and make crap." Great read on the Christian cultural ghetto.

Fakers, Posers and Frauds

2004-12-08T14:43:00.000-06:00

I was really blindsided by a candid post on The Boar's Head Tavern today. He really deals with the issue of being a fraud. I hope you might read it and instead of judging his comments, truly put yourself in his shoes and wonder if we aren't all frauds and posers and fakers.

Are any of us as happy as the face we put on for the people around us? Are any of us really the person that we try to make people think we are?

Jingle Bucks

2004-11-27T13:36:00.000-06:00

I was doing some sermon work at Starbucks today and, whooosh!, the Christmas spirit came in the door. Here's a picture of "The Dickens Carollers" who liked the indoor singing better than the outdoor rain today. Their singing was excellent.

Generous Orthodoxy = Oxymoron?

2004-11-26T17:23:00.000-06:00

Brian McLaren's newest contribution to the emerging church movement, and surely he would hope the Church at large, is A Generous Orthodoxy. As I make my way through this book, I intend to interact with quotes and ideas.

I am reading this book for several reasons.

1. I think McLaren is a true follower of Jesus with much to offer Christians and Christian thought. I am especially intrigued by his critique of the Church and the questions he raises about life and faith.

While I admit at the outset that I think he has many theological problems and inconsistencies, I realize that my judgment of his beliefs is exactly the kind of Christianity he loathes. He believes we have been so gripped and immersed in modernism that we struggle to see past it. That fits with what I have observed in Christianity in general, though I have not drawn the same conclusions. I want to understand his conclusions.

2. The emerging church movement is growing and must be understood. He is the primary mouthpiece for this movement, though somewhat by accident. It's easy to judge the movement rather than understand it. I think it will benefit my ministry and those around me by studying the movement.

3. Rob Bell, a pastor who seems to understand communication to the emerging generations very well has recommended him.

4. I think as a pastor it's my responsibility to understand things inside and outside the church with which I have disagreements.

There are more reasons, but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

Other sources of emerging church thought and conversation:

The Ooze
Next-Wave
Emerging Church Network

I don't necessarily recommend these sources for your own spiritual growth.

Windtown

2004-11-26T17:02:00.000-06:00

St. Petri's Evangelical Lutheran Church at Windtown, IL.

Dan Would Rather Not

2004-11-23T13:26:00.000-06:00

If Dan Rather's career were a tree, we'd be planning to make a park full of picnic tables right about now.

Signposts

2004-11-23T10:29:00.000-06:00

On pages 58-60 of The Radical Reformission by Mark Driscoll, he gives seven signposts that he uses to point the way to Jesus.

He prefaces the signposts on page 58 by saying, "The cultures that surround you are filled with lost people who cannot find Jesus unless you give them directions with signposts to guide them."

Here are his signposts with minimal explanation...

signpost 1: the gospel connects to this life
"Many people today plan on living long but miserable lives and are likely to be...compelled by the idea of belonging to Jesus for the benefits of this life." (58)

signpost 2: the gospel infuses daily activities with meaning
"Our culture is filled with 'successful' people who are mired in anxiety and confusion because they do not know the point of all their toil. But the gospel reveals Jesus as Lord over all of life, who infuses even mundane tasks such as dishwashing with meaning as acts of worship." (59)

signpost 3: the gospel names sin and points the way to forgiveness
"Only the gospel can show people not only how bad sin truly is but also the justice of God through Jesus' death in our place to forgive our sin." (59)

signpost 4: the gospel transforms life
"What people long for most is not just a way to cope with who they are now and how to manage their sins. They also yearn for new lives as new people." (59)

signpost 5: the gospel builds a spiritual family
Following Christ means joining a family that cares for and corrects one another which "can be the most convincing proof of the power and benefits of the gospel." (60)

signpost 6: the gospel is about participation with God
The gospel compels us into mission. We participate with God in the culture we live in.

signpost 7: the gospel is about jesus as the means and end of our salvation
Jesus isn't just the end, but the means. "We must both proclaim his truth and live his lifestyle." (60)

Kinsey

2004-11-19T13:17:00.000-06:00

Kinsey is a new movie starring Liam Neeson. I don't anticipate it breaking any records at the box office, but it has certainly begun to stir up discussion on human sexuality and the perversion of it.

One very helpful article on the subject of Kinsey is by R. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. It's titled, "Kinsey as He Really Was--What You Won't See in the Movie." I highly recommend the article.

Imagination and Beauty

2004-11-16T07:58:00.000-06:00

"Imagination is the faculty of the mind that God has given us to make the communication of His beauty beautiful."

John Piper in Life as a Vapor

upside down = right side up

2004-11-15T18:41:00.000-06:00

"I’ve found that often success looks more like failure, riches more like poverty and real life often feels more like death…the Christian life is very literally the process by which we are killed." – Derek Webb

Derek Webb is a former singer-songwriter from Caedmon's Call. He is now a solo artist who has put out two studio CD's with a live CD in between.

He truly is an artist, not just someone who cheesifies an out-of-context Scripture verse. His music isn't put out for the commercial radio. In fact, just the opposite. He speaks honestly about the perils of consumerism through his music. He also wades through topics of biblical theology, honest introspection, and relational imperfection, among other things. Without blushing, he writes about the legalism of Christian culture. He writes from a deep theological framework, to say the least.

I am so hungry for more followers of Jesus to approach singing and songwriting as DW does. I'm hungry to see things upside down, as Derek sings about in his new CD, "I See Things Upside Down." I want to encourage everyone to pick it up.

You can get it everywhere from your local Christian bookstore (maybe) to Wal-Mart.

sex and the supremacy of Christ

2004-11-13T10:57:00.000-06:00

All of the audio from the Sex and the Supremacy of Christ conference that Molly and I attended in September is online. The conference was put on by Desiring God. You can listen to every message without cost, and for great benefit. While every message is excellent, I particulary recommend Ben Patterson's message on "The Goodness of Sex and the Glory of God."

building-centered christianity

2004-11-07T21:08:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking for years on the place of a church building in the life of a church. It's a curious issue.

Some big-name pastors have been encouraging new churches to meet for years before even considering the permanence of a building. A building, after all, can fishbowl a church rather than allow it to grow freely and quickly. It also changes the mindset of a people to have a building since ministry begins to be seen as landscaping.

But we have hundreds and thousands of churches in America that already meet in buildings. Many or most of these churches are trapped in a building-centered mindset. We have grown comfortable with our "church home." How do we change our minds so as to impact the culture through our calling as counter-cultural communities?

I'm pressed in two different directions. On the one hand, buildings can be a tremendous hinderance to growth, and and huge temptation to building idolatry (brickolatry?). On the other hand, a building can be a very useful tool, and so serve as a "deacon" of the ministry.

Any good thing can become an idol if put in the place of God in our lives. Food, spouse, money, and sex are all things that can be of great pleasure and benefit in this life. But if abused they can turn into gluttony, co-dependency, greed, and lust.

We need to learn to have a building without becoming building idolaters, or we must question whether it is wiser to get rid of them. Jesus said in Matthew 5:30, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."

As a pastor of a church with a building, I feel the comfort it brings. I don't have to get up earlier to set up chairs and sound equipment in the local high school. I don't have to make calls to find a new place to meet because our old one just doesn't fit our needs anymore. I can invite people today to the church and our address won't change. There are great benefits to our building.

But I'm also very concerned that our building might be choking us. It gives us a feeling of being at home, and that isn't good because a church building (a glorified rain shelter) isn't a home. It's a place of gathered worship, equipping and sending. It is a place of great utility that becomes futility if we aren't careful to keep it in its place as a tool.

Stephen's speech in Acts 7 made clear that the Jews were so focused on the Temple (Templolatry?) that they missed a better building: Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Matthew 12:6, "I tell you, something greater than the temple is here" (cf. Eph. 2:19-22). He was greater than the temple, and so infinitely greater than our church buildings.

Buildings are just tools, helpful when properly use and harmful when idolized. It would be good for those of us in buildings to take on the mindset of meeting together not to come home, but to get equipped so we can scatter and spread the love of Christ in life and word.

sticker shock

2004-11-02T13:33:00.000-06:00

Funny how good it feels to vote.

Readformission

2004-11-02T11:22:00.000-06:00

I have now completed...

This is an excellent book on ministry in our culture. Notice the name change of my blog.

being a neighbor

2004-10-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

Brian McLaren, a postmodern, emerging church leader in Christianity, pastor and author is of occasional help on some issues while unhelpful in others. But I heard a talk he gave and he had a good perspective on loving your neighbor.

He gave some practical advice in his church, that in the next year he wanted every church member to get to know their neighbors. He recommended they take their six closest neighbors and invite them over for dinner in the next year. We always talk about this kind of thing in our churches, but it rarely actually happens except for a few people.

Then he recommended viewing your neighbor in four different ways.
1. Geographical: people who live near us (who's on my block/street)
2. Regional: people we will see regularly (who's in my neighborhood/city)
3. Experiential: people we see at any given moment (who's next to me right now)
4. Intentional: people we choose to treat neighborly (who's neglected/without a neighbor)

I think these are good categories, especially for a postmodernist!

pagan pardon

2004-10-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

Witches are pardoned after being executed hundreds of years ago. Man, I bet they feel so much better!

redemption

2004-10-29T13:27:00.000-05:00

"Reformission is not about abstention; it is about redemption. We must throw ourselves into the culture so that all that God made good is taken back and used in a way that glorifies him."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, page 152.

prohibition

2004-10-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

"Do you suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused? Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?"

Martin Luther

involvement

2004-10-29T13:24:00.000-05:00

"Automatically equating one's involvement in culture with worldliness not only is silly but also condemns the life of Jesus and compels his followers to be unlike Him."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, page 125.

avoidance

2004-10-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

"Some Christians refuse to be about reformission simply because they avoid people they find unpleasant."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, page 105.

closeness

2004-10-29T13:19:00.000-05:00

"Reformission evangelism considers it vital that lost people be brought close enough to witness the natural and practical outworking of the gospel in people's lives."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, page 69.

traditionalism

2004-10-29T13:14:00.000-05:00

"The result of traditionalism is a Christianity that has all of the right answers to all of the wrong questions, because the questions that were once pressing are no longer being asked."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission, page 51.

art of evangelism

2004-10-26T17:00:00.000-05:00

"The art of evangelism is not one to be mastered; it's more lifestyle than duty and more natural process than calculated function of necessity."

Matthew Paul Turner in The Coffeehouse Gospel, page xiii.

Weeble Christianity

2004-10-24T20:25:00.000-05:00

In my sermon I used the illustration of Weebles ("Weebles Wobble, but they don't fall down"). I used the physical illustration of the "bop bag" which is a kids punching bag that can be hit and always comes back on its feet. Here's the one I bought and used...

Sunday's sermon illustration.

becoming reformissionaries

2004-10-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

I'm reading and providing occasional quotes from this book (some are below). If you read it, beware, it just may challenge you to be a missionary...and not in the ways you might expect!

A truly radical new book by a young pastor in Seattle.

behold the lamb of God

2004-10-21T14:02:00.000-05:00

A Christmas CD you can listen to all year long? Yep. It's Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God", probably one of the best albums I have heard of any genre. Pick it up. You won't regret it.

Best Christmas CD Ever

ventures into the culture

2004-10-20T17:43:00.000-05:00

"Rules, regulations, and the pursuit of outward morality are ultimately incapable of preventing sin...Jesus' love for us and our love for him are, frankly, the only tethers that will keep us from abusing our freedom, yet they will enable us to venture as far into the culture and into relationships with lost people as Jesus did, because we go with him."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission

addictions to morality

2004-10-20T17:39:00.000-05:00

"Reformission requires that Christians and their churches move forward on their knees, continually confessing their addictions to morality and the appearance of godliness, which does not penetrate the heart and transform lives...God's mission is not to create a team of moral and decent people but rather to create a movement of holy loving missionaries who are comfortable and truthful around lost sinners who, in this way, look more like Jesus than most of his pastors do."

Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission

derek webb

2004-10-20T14:59:00.000-05:00

One of the most powerful singer-songwriters I know of is Derek Webb, formerly of Caedmon's Call.

Derek's new CD, "I See Things Upside Down," is going to be released on November 9th. There is a free download of his new song Reputation available. I want to spread the word on Derek who has excellent theological foundations and a great perspective on Christ and culture. Enjoy!

practical pastoral help

2004-10-18T19:22:00.000-05:00

One of the best practical websites on the church and pastoral ministry is 9 Marks, the ministry of Dr. Mark Dever who is the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. They have book recommendations, book reviews, audio interviews, sermons, and many other resources.

Tonight I listened to several short audio clips with Mark responding to questions on very practical pastorial issues. Really an excellent resource for pastors.

unchurched people

2004-10-17T19:39:00.000-05:00

"If all the unchurched people in the U.S. were to establish their own country, they would form the 11th most populated nation on the planet."

George Barna as quoted by Mark Driscoll in The Radical Reformission

on voting

2004-10-15T13:28:00.000-05:00

I can't help but say something about this. I am sick of hearing people talk about the importance of voting. I just heard a radio talk show host here in Chicago talk about voting as if it doesn't matter who you vote for, just vote because it's a gift given to us.

There is no benefit to voting itself. It wastes time and effort and taxpayer money. But there is benefit in casting a vote for a particular person. In other words, there is benefit in voting for a person who you think will be good (or less harmful) for the country and for Americans. The generic idea that voting in itself is somehow such a great thing is silly.

I don't want anyone to vote unless they have thought through the candidates and the implications of their choice. Ok, I feel better for saying it.

calvary website

2004-10-10T20:47:00.000-05:00

After much procrastination, the Calvary Baptist Church of Woodstock, Illinois website is now up and kickin'. Me likey!

cute couple

2004-10-08T14:59:00.000-05:00

In our hotel room in downtown Minneapolis. Just about ready to head out to the Desiring God Conference. For more pics, visit Sunshine Lane, our family blog.

dragons

2004-10-06T22:15:00.000-05:00

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

G.K. Chesterton

writing and learning

2004-10-02T19:58:00.000-05:00

"I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write"

Calvin quoting Augustine

cubby whiners

2004-10-01T16:08:00.000-05:00

Here is why the Cubs won't make the playoffs.

vacation update

2004-10-01T16:04:00.000-05:00

For a recap of our vacation, visit our weblog, Sunshine Lane.

mccoy vacation

2004-09-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

Check out vacation pictures at the McCoy family weblog. We took three nights at Wisconsin Dells, two nights at the grandparents house, and now are at a conference in Minneapolis.

house built on the sand

2004-09-17T15:40:00.000-05:00

Matthew 7:24

Of course we look upon this man with compassion. He has lost so much. But no hurricane can destroy a life built upon the Rock of Christ.

change for McCoy home group

2004-09-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

The home group at the McCoy's house is moved to the Thompson's house for the 23rd. We are out of town. Have a great time guys!

vote kerry - vote terror

2004-09-07T16:30:00.000-05:00

Wow! I don't know if Vice President Cheney was intending to be this bold. Was he? Is a vote for Kerry/Edwards really going to put us in greater danger? Even if it would, saying so is a risky thing.

tools for terrorism

2004-09-07T14:29:00.000-05:00

The U.S. media is such an unwitting tool for terrorism. The last thing we need to do is escalate the "number dead" talk right before a milestone, like 1,000. The "news" has become a sovereign, and that's a problem.

archive bible study: philippians

2004-09-06T15:05:00.000-05:00

Topic: Philippians
Title: "Gospel-Centered Life"
Completed: September 5, 2004

Resource Recommendations...
Basics for Believers: Philippians
The Epistle to the Philippians

archive sermon series: doctrine of God

2004-09-06T14:55:00.000-05:00

Series: Doctrine of God
Series Title: "Visions of the Almighty"
Series Subtitle: "The Depths of the Knowledge of God for Daily Life"
Text: Various
Completed: September 5, 2004

Sermon Titles:
"Knowing the Incomprehensible God" - Romans 11:33-12:2
"Embracing the Scrutiny of God" - Psalm 139
"Sustaining the Fear of God" - Isaiah 6
"Making God Your Only God" - Jeremiah 10:1-16
"Hoping in the Faithful God" - Lamentations 3:21-26
"Imagining the Triune God" - Various

Resources and Recommendations:
Knowing God
The Forgotten Trinity
God in Three Persons
Bible Doctrine
Doctrine of God

playfulness in the Trinity

2004-09-04T17:47:00.000-05:00

"Playfulness naturally resides at the heart of the Triune Christian God. There we find not merely a mysterious oneness but also a community of equals and genuine difference. No self-chess. As Lewis Smedes surmised in response to the ancient query, What was God— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— doing before creation? 'The three of them were simply enjoying being with each other. Three persons with nothing much to do, no time schedule to keep, no superior's orders to obey, no problem of survival, and no creatures to worry about. If in some impossible fantasy we could have looked on, we might have scolded the holy Trinity for wasting time. But we would have been outsiders, unable to understand the freedom of the Trinity to have their own rules to play by. And we would have been mystified, perhaps, by the enormous pleasure that they seemed to have in what they were doing. I cannot think it wrong to suppose that if anything on earth could be an analogy of the eternal goings-on, it would be children at play.'"

Douglas Jones in "Spoiled by the Trinity: A Primer for Secularists"

faith

2004-09-03T19:09:00.000-05:00

czeslaw milosz

2004-09-03T18:18:00.000-05:00

A great man of literature has recently died. This is an informative introduction to the life and contribution of Czeslaw Milosz as blogged by R. Albert Mohler. I have perused his New and Collected Poems: 1931-2001 and have found it insightful.

fear

2004-09-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

"...and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea." Daniel 7:2

results of the fall

2004-09-03T10:00:00.000-05:00

What a world we live in. As a parent of four, this is just terrifying.

UPDATE: And it's worse than we thought.

FINAL UPDATE: Death toll over 350.

softball

2004-09-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

Democrat, Senator Zell Miller on Hardball was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Challenging Chris Matthews to a duel? Hilarious.

crashing in slow motion

2004-09-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who thinks an approaching hurricane as seen through the eyes of projections through technology is like watching a car crash in slow motion? What a terrifying thing.

I found an article about the coming storm with an interesting quote...

"'I have no doubt that there will be tragedy associated with a storm like this, but I also have no doubt there will be miracles,' said Dr. John Agwunobi, Florida's secretary of health."

discerning readers?

2004-08-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

I have used The Discerning Reader for many of my book purchases in the last year. They have incredible prices, awesome freebie deals, a great selection of good books, and they are one of the best resources I know of to find the good new books that are coming out. Their customer service is lacking, but they are in continual works to fix that, so I consider supporting their ministry and putting up with a few glitches as better than giving my money to Amazon.

On the other hand, on occasion I just don't get them. They have just recommended a book by a proponent of Open Theism, which I consider to be a heresy. They give a few words of warning, but too few in my estimation. Unfortunately the Discerning Reader must think every reader is as discerning as they are. That is not the case.

rnc blackout?

2004-08-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

There is going to be a Republican National Convention blackout? It looks like it.

xxl please

2004-08-28T13:59:00.000-05:00

Will someone please get this for me? Thanks to Wes for pointing this out to me.

a holy violence

2004-08-25T14:44:00.000-05:00

"Believers are plainly taught to use active personal exertion, and are addressed as responsible for doing energetically what Christ would have them do, and are not told to 'yield themselves' up as passive agents and sit still, but to arise and work. A holy violence, a conflict, a warfare, a fight, a soldier's life, a wrestling, are spoken of as characteristic of the true Christian."

J.C. Ryle in Holiness

2004-08-23T12:27:00.000-05:00

Clean...simple.

we cannot compete

2004-08-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

"If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions."

C.S. Lewis

seeking sickness over substitutes

2004-08-20T20:47:00.000-05:00

"The greatest need of the church today is a true vision of God in His incomparable holiness, in his eternal majesty, his burning purity, and his utterly undeserved grace. It is this above all else which will dwarf our pretensions, sicken us of our God-substitutes and bring us back to where we belong in repentance and renewal."

Peter Lewis in The Message of the Living God

want of true objects

2004-08-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

"It is natural for the mind to believe and for the will to love; so that for want of true objects they must attach themselves to false ones."

Blaise Pascal

educated idolatry

2004-08-20T18:49:00.000-05:00

"Idols are not just on pagan altars, but in well-educated human hearts and minds. The apostle Paul associates the dynamics of human greed, lust, craving, and coveting with idolatry."

John Seel in the chapter "The Idol Factory" in No God But God: Breaking With the Idols of Our Age

Lord's Supper

2004-08-15T19:56:00.000-05:00

God's work through the Lord's Supper.

from death to offering oneself

2004-08-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Concerning Isaiah 6:1-8...

"The king's [Uzziah's] death prepares the way for the vision of God; the vision of God leads to self-despair; self-despair opens the door to cleansing; cleansing makes it possible to recognize the possibility of service; the total experience then leads to an offering of oneself."

John N. Oswalt in The Book of Isaiah: 1-39 in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament, page 186.

joe's head

2004-08-12T15:54:00.000-05:00

Hey, my buddy Joe thought it would be funny to send me a goofy picture of himself. Unfortunately, this is what he really looks like. Haha!

absurdity without revelation

2004-08-10T15:08:00.000-05:00

"If God is our Creator, revelation in some form is overwhelmingly probable since we may presume that God made us for a purpose; and since his creatures are obviously responsive beings with inherent tendencies of relationship, we may also presume that God's purpose in creating us involved some kind of relationship and response to himself. Such a relationship and response require revelation in some form; creation itself, therefore, appears to imply revelation. Indeed, would a patently wise, intelligent Creator leave his creatures to grope in the dark for some clue to his existence without making himself known? The thought is palpably absurd."

Bruce Milne in Know the Truth, page 31.

an abhorrence of sin

2004-08-07T15:34:00.000-05:00

"In declaring his hatred of those who despised God, [David] virtually asserts thereby his own integrity, not as being free from all sin, but as being devoted to godliness, so that he detested in his heart everything which is contrary to it. Our attachment to godliness must be inwardly defective, if it does not generate an abhorrence of sin."

John Calvin in Calvin's Commentaries, page 222. Calvin is giving comment on Psalm 139:19-24.

conscious imbicility

2004-08-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

"David...confesses it to be beyond his comprehension, virtually declaring that words could not express this truth of the absoluteness with which all things stand patent to the eye of God, this being a knowledge having neither bound nor measure, so that he could only contemplate the extent of it with conscious imbecility."

John Calvin, Calvin's Commentaries, page 210. This quote is Calvin's response to Psalm 139:6, where David writes, "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it."

sunshine lane

2004-08-06T20:19:00.000-05:00

If you are interested in seeing an occasional picture, hearing about the wife and kids, or just have too much free time, check out our revamped family weblog.

church structure, post 9/11

2004-08-06T19:59:00.000-05:00

Jim Elliff has written a new article on how we should be organized as churches in light of 9/11 and specificially the 9/11 report of a few weeks ago. Though this article is about being prepared should the church face persecution, I think it's also Jim's subtle (or not so subtle) way of plugging the very biblical idea of meeting in houses to worship, study, pray, eat, and encourage one another. I highly recommend the article for both those thinking of church planting and those in existing churches.

young SBC leaders

2004-08-06T14:14:00.000-05:00

This article by Ed Stetzer is very helpful in identifying the struggles between the younger generation of Southern Baptist pastors and leaders and the good ol' boys. It is also good in identifying what needs to happen for the emerging leaders to get excited about the SBC for the future.

boundless

2004-08-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

I often find very helpful articles at the Boundless Webzine. This site has thoughtful articles geared toward university students, I believe. You can also get on an email list with lists of new articles.

the village

2004-07-31T19:46:00.000-05:00

I did see The Village on Friday night with Molly. I found it to be an intriguing movie, and I'm already looking forward to seeing it again. I can't really say much about it because I don't want to spoil it for you. Give it a look, even if you aren't a horror movie fan.

finding neverland

2004-07-31T19:42:00.000-05:00

Johnny Depp stars as the author of Peter Pan (James Barrie) in the movie Finding Neverland coming out on October 22nd. It's a PG movie, so might be good for wider audiences as well, though it does have "brief language."

I am excited about this movie because it seems to deal with the crucial topic of the imagination. Mark your calandars.

doxology and devotion

2004-07-31T18:35:00.000-05:00

"Theology is for doxology and devotion—that is, the praise of God and the practice of godliness."

J.I. Packer in Concise Theology, page xii

theology proper/proper theology

2004-07-31T17:49:00.000-05:00

Sometimes what people mean when they say "I don't want theology, I just want Jesus" is that they don't want to read really big books with big words written by overeducated guys who explain God like a scientist would explain the elements of a foot fungus on a Petri dish.

In the proper sense, theology is the business of every Christian as we meditate on and study our great God through the Scriptures for the purpose of knowing Him better, praising His greatness, and knowing how to devote our lives to Him with greater fervor and consistency.

dispassionate exposition

2004-07-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

"A dispassionate exposition of God's Word often falsifies it."

John Frame in The Doctrine of God, page 611

famished jelly

2004-07-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

I found and somewhat reworded this brief story from R. Kent Hughes' preaching commentary on Romans. All credit to Hughes and Lewis.

C.S. Lewis explains how humans are limited in their understanding of God by telling a story of two shellfish on a reef. One tries to tell the other about what man is like. It explains that man has no shell, is not attached to a rock, and does not reside in water. To help the other shellfish get the idea across, other scholarly shellfish expand on his explanation and finally conclude that man is a "sort of amorphous jelly (he has no shell), existing nowhere in particular (not attached to a rock) and never taking nourishment (there is no water to drift it toward him)." Conclusion? Man is a famished jelly existing in a dimensionless void. In the same way, our human limitations keep us from thinking rightly about our infinite God.

to know God

2004-07-30T14:51:00.000-05:00

"Once you become aware that the main business that you are here for is to know God, most of life's problems fall into place of their own accord."

J.I. Packer in Knowing God, page 34

increasing our wonder

2004-07-30T14:40:00.000-05:00

"The hymn of wonder in Romans 11:33-36 expresses amazement not at what is unrevealed but precisely at what is revealed, at what has been described in great detail by the apostle. The more we know, the more our sense of wonder ought to increase, because increased knowledge brings us into greater contact with the incomprehensibility of God."

John Frame in The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, page 24

looking into another world

2004-07-27T11:20:00.000-05:00

As I sit working at Starbucks, a little girl maybe five or six years old just walked past me. As most children have done since I started doing some regular work at the café, this little girl took a peak at my computer screen. It struck me that the computer screen is like a portal into a new and endless world, and every peak at a new one must be a thrill for a child. And wouldn't we all like to peek into a different world for a moment? Who knows what wonders will be found there...

archive sermon series: gospel

2004-07-26T15:42:00.000-05:00

Series: The Gospel
Series Title: "Seeing Beyond the Suburbs"
Series Subtitle: The Story of Stories and Where We Fit In

Sermon Titles:
July 4: "Once Upon A Time..." (Genesis 1-2 and various)
July 11: "Paradise Lost" (Genesis 3 and various)
July 18: "Dead Man Walking" (Isaiah 53 and various)
July 25: "...And They Lived Happily Ever After" (2 Peter 3, Revelation 20-22 and various)

Resources and Recommendations:
New Way to be Human
The Christian Imagination
2 Ways to Live

failure of imagination

2004-07-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

I thought the 9/11 report contained a remarkable statement, though not a new one.

Since September 11, 2001 there have been a number of stories explaining that 9/11 was probably not so much a failure of information, but a failure of imagination. Do a Google search on "failure of imagination" and you will see what I mean.

So the 9/11 final report's findings are nothing new since it basically makes the same point, that it is not so much the lack of information, but the failure of imagination that cost more than 3,000 lives.

What I find most compelling is how similar the 9/11 report is to the problem of all humanity. The evidence and information is clear and available to know the Creator, recognize our rebellion, and see our need for a Savior. But what humanity lacks because of the fall is imagination. Could it be that in the fall our will is so comprehensively torqued that our imagination is unable to respond to clear evidence (Rom 1)? I think so.

As a community of evangelists we are essentially calling people to a renewed imagination.

professing christ

2004-07-21T20:38:00.000-05:00

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

Martin Luther

melting stars

2004-07-21T20:37:00.000-05:00

"Human speech is like a cracked kettle
on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to
while we long to make music that will melt stars."

Gustave Flaubert in Madame Bovary

for sunday

2004-07-21T20:18:00.000-05:00

It would be good to read 2 Peter 3 and Revelation 20-22 for this Sunday's sermon, "...And They Lived Happily Ever After."

browsers

2004-07-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

I have used Internet Explorer for some time, really because I didn't know any better. I changed, and so should you. Check out Mozilla's Firefox browser. You can change the look, has a nice Google search at the top, a good links section at the top, a better organized bookmarks section, and maybe best of all: a pop-up blocker. Really nice stuff, and it's free.