8000/day/everyday

a student [GRADE:10] in the HSM at Saddleback made this video.

i dig it.
both content and quality.
wow.

but the question remains:

"will you be that leader?"

1bC YOUth Church is cancelled tonight.

#86

jeremy stevens.

what a scrub.

boo.

politics.

a good thing for those of us in church leadership to consider.
i once heard someone say,
"don't go to your student leader's myspace pages. if you do, you won't have a student leadership team."
that's something to think about.

what do you do there?

digital liturgy

i just a new site that will quickly become one of my favorite.
[thanks to GoogleAdSense on my blog]

the work of the people.

some AMAZING video/audio work done in the name of Christ.

there are many more of these films found there:

[previews are small, full res to purchase]

these are the types of things i want to create to lead people into worship or experiencing CHRIST through a means that is NOT congregational singing.

i'm going to encourage my very good, and talented friend, danyul snosraP to create some of these types of things for us to use in YOUth Church, or maybe the one day: SoMa Community Church. maybe he'll invite his brother ben parsons to participate. such talented young men. who knows?

shane + shane

needless to say, i'm pretty excited about this:
studio day 1


i'm glad their music is better than their video editing!
i also see they are playing at Passion07.
i wonder why they don't just get signed to sixsteps?
they play with them often and have great relationship as far as i can see,
but their collaboration of events is so sporadic.

a definition?

I'm currently struggling to work through a 30 page document by Scot Mcknight, as recommended by MarkO of YS.

his opening arguements are two fold:

1. why put labels and definintions ONTO the emerging church? why not let it DEFINE ITSELF? additionally, it is not a denomination.

2. there is a difference between "the emergent church" and "the emerging church":
- "emergent" is a publishing house and an online community: emergentYS, www.emergentvillage.com.
- the emerging church is the collective growing movement of followers of Jesus.

additional comments are made about making sure you don't throw the baby out with the bath water, and likewise, don't take eveything everybody who calls themselves "emerging" as a unfallible theology representing the whole.


but the reason i wanted to share this post is as follows:

two guys, Bolger and Gibbs give, what i believe to be a pretty good definition of "the emerging church":

emerging churches are communities that practice the way of Jesus within postmodern cultures. this definition encompasses the nine practices. Emereging churches [1] identify with the life of Jesus, [2] transform the secular realm, and [3] live highly communal lives. Because of these three activities, they [4] welcome the stranger, [5] serve with generosity, [6] participate as producers, [7] create as created beings, [8] lead as a body, and [9]take part in spiritual activities.

i think that is a very good definition that describes most practices of the emerging church.

maybe the emerging church is made up of those people who want to think different about how church is done and what the church's role is. they are emerging from within the church to put a new skin on.

new wine-new wineskins.

calling all alt. worship stations!

pastor chris seay has a great quote about what we refer to as "alternative worship" nowadays isn't really alternative at all. it's just revisiting that which the Church has been doing for hundreds of years!



every so often, BS and i set up a time of worship that is not "normal".
sometimes we call it different things: alternative worship, stations, experiential worship, etc. etc.

in the recent past, we've done this primarily in two ways:

1. we set up bible-based "stations" around the building to create a time for the individual to connect with GOD using creativity, alone time, art, personal reclection, and all five senses through the Word of GOD.

2. we create videos with images, music, scripture, and written insctructions to allow the individuals in the group as a whole to be guided on a journey with the end result being: a connection with the Word of GOD.


now, we know that we aren't the only ones able to come up with these stations, and you, as readers of this website, and members of the 1bC YOUth community are very creative indeed!


here is the invitation:

using your own resources, through your personal relationship with GOD, come up with new ideas and/or ways for us as a faith community to meet with GOD.

maybe you'll:

- create a video with instructions, upload it to YouTube.com and the embed it in a comment here.

- type out instructions to an experience for the follower to connect with GOD in a creative way, to experience the full weight of the Biblical texts

- be creative, and lead your peers into worship. think OUTSIDE of the box of what "we normally do or don't do in church" and share it here.



chances are pretty great that BS and i will use it in the coming months, or more likely than not, set you up to lead our Body in the excercise GOD gives you. [unless of course you live in Paraguay.]

so get creative, seek the LORD, and then post your comments with your ideas!

GO!

SoMa Community Church

i recently read an article somewhere about the unique nicknames of districts that are popping up in the greater Seattle area. It talked about them following a pattern like the now infamous: SoDo [SOuth of DOwntown, home of the Mariners "SODO MOJO" and the Seahawks]

i recently have been thinking about defining my ministry target and that of my church.

i have also recently been thinking about the current name of my church: First Baptist Church and how unoriginal and unrepresenting [word?] that is of our current state, but more so of the state i hope we become.
in the words of Mr. Luke Hendrix of CBNW, when asked about the "weight" of the word emergent, replied to one of his board members,
"Do you understand the weight of the words CONSERVATIVE BAPTIST?!"
a great line in our affiliation's history, to be sure.

i would say that the target geographical location for my church is Southern Mason County.
or SoMa.

therefore, i think we should name our church:
SoMa Community Church or something to that effect.
[SoMa County Church, SoMa Church, SoMa Community, SoMaCo Church, etc. etc.]

this also would reflect my new affection for the recently voted down, by the old people in our church [addicts], greek word "SOMA" [defined below] for our small group ministry. "LIFE groups" was chosen. how original...

SOMA [n.]
1. the body both of men or animals
a. the living body
2. is used of a (large or small) number of men and women closely united into one society,
or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body
3. as so in the NT of the church
4. a highly addictive muscle-relaxing drug [what a seriously great description of a church!]


so, if the day ever roles around for me to cast my vote for the name of our church to be changed, i will say: YES.
and when asked what i suggest as a suitable replacement name for said church, i will say: SoMa Community Church.
and then be ignored.


what i'm sure will win, as i very highly dread will be a bookmarked name that every other church trying to redefine itself has gone with throughout the 90s. "New Life Community" or some variation of that. but that's what i fear our church and it's leadership will pick. why? because we're at the 90s roadblock.
i do have to admit that it is very "popular" now to go with a Greek name for a church here in the early 21st century.
and at this time, i would like to suggest that the very best name for our church is: "Church in Shelton".
we are merely an extension of the Body of Christ, namely the Church in the city of Shelton, WA
i hope this is reflected in the true origin of my name's choice: we are merely an extension of the Body of Christ, namely the Church, in the community of Southern Mason County.

your best.

when is "i did my best" just not good enough?

what if someone was hired to win a skeet shooting competition...
they loved guns.
they loved the sport.
they lived at the gun range.
they watched competitions every chance they had.
they practiced and practiced and practiced.
and they tried their best in the competition.
but they always got a mediocre score.

but they were hired to win.
they are expected to win.

but they say, "i tried my best."

if you are in charge, what do you do?

when is "i tried my best" not good enough?

they were hired to win. but "their best" consistantly results in the middle of the pack.

what do you do?
how much does performance and expectations play into leadership decision making?
what if you were a better shot?

they SQUASHED axis?

a church leader told me a few weeks ago that he heard from a well-respected man in the community that "Bill Hybels SQUASHED the 'emergent' movement in his church, because they were being devisive." this didn't really sit well with me because of blogs and articles and letters that i had been reading on this same subject. it sounded to me like a realigning of the church's greater vision, as opposed to a "corrective fall out" due to sin/sinful attitudes. there are other articles that give me the complete opposite flavor. i wonder if this is a perspective issue, and it just goes to teach us a lesson about intergenerational church.

[there will be many links and excerpts in this post. i encourage you to read up on them and formulate your own thoughts/perceptions on the background. especially if you lead a church that thinks about or tries to work out "intergenerational ministry"]


AXIS = the former Willow Creek's "20-something"/emeregent service

from Gene Appel, the lead pastor at Willow Creek Church: [summed up by: Scot McKnight/emerging church guru]

We sat in Saturday night to hear Gene Appel, lead pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, explain to the 20-something ministry called Axis what the leadership sees as the next “evolution in Axis.” The Saturday night Axis service will be no more. Axis ministries have been morphed into the larger Willow minstries and weekend services. Ministry to that age-group will continue...
In his tactful and clear address to about 500 Axis service attenders, Gene talked about the inevitability of change, and that change is what Willow and Axis have always been about. (That’s the truth.) More importantly, Gene pointed out that in 1995 the Axis ministry and the Weekend services were dramatically different, justifying two kinds of services. In the last two years or so that dramatic difference has decreased enough to call into question the viability of Axis having a separable service. (This is also true.)
And even more importantly, the more service-oriented, or missional, focus of Axis ministries has now become a staple of the rest of the church community, and Gene Appel over and over said that it was Axis that had led to dramatic changes in the rest of the church. It had changed the trajectory of the whole church, he said.
As a result, the differences between the weekend services and Axis are no longer of sufficient degree to justify a separate Axis service. Axis has been diffused, or morphed, into the larger weekend service.
He also emphasized that Willow needs to recover its original intergenerational focus.

from this account, it sounds to me like the BIG church leadership humbled themselves, took some cues from the younger guys, and shifted their gears. healthy, humble, and teachable.


however, from Dan Kimball's perspective, he sees the decisions made to end AXIS a little bit different. he finds it difficult for there to be a true harmony within an "intergenerational church". this seems to be a common topic lately: " Can a modern contemporary church have an "emerging" ministry and worship gathering in it and not have conflict with the senior pastor and emerging leader?" [from his newest blog post.]

This is why so many of these worship gatherings launched within a church last 3-5 years which are truly more missional, end up imploding generally due to all kinds of reasons, generally it is a senior pastor vs. younger pastor whom have value differences and struggles as they try to squeeze a new cultural form of ministry within an existing church. The power lies with the senior leadership, so the decisions are made from top to bottom and the alternative worship gatherings are not at the top tier in leadership structure within a church. So it is usually the new alternative gathering that gets changed by the wishes of the upper leadership to fit within the whole. Lots of conflict, pain and difficulty in many cases, and I have so many stories of sad things that occurred in staff situations.
Axis certainly served a purpose and perhaps stretched things as far as the larger church could extend to. I remember it used to have I believe around 1,800 people at it at one point when it was thriving. I was close to an Axis staff person at that time and heard such wonderful things going on there. I assume Willowcreek will have specific college and twenty-something activities and retreats going on to cater to that age group specifically. But, it is the story of yet another one of the alternative gatherings that happen using different staff (not a video of the senior pastor) ending.

as my own church begins to talk about ways to target the 20-somethings or the 18-35 population, which i am in the smack dab middle of, i want it to take heed of the warning signs of what is going on around them. a 3-5 year run of a glorified youth ministry, as kimball calls it, will not be a positive advancement for the Kingdom of GOD, the community of Shelton, or our own 1bC church body.

i'm not really sure what to think of this.


please continue reading on dan kimball's blog about this topic here. it is a long post, but is of utmost importance if you are in a postiion to be critically thinking about these situations.

dan's humility and courage can be found in the closing of his blog, but i'll bet he'd be the first to tell you that, while GOD worked it all out, it wasn't the BEST decision for his church or community, but merely one that had to be done because of pride/fear/jealousy/control issues of the leadership in his mother church:

What is the answer - I don't know. For me, it turned out in my specific situation after leading an alternative worship gathering and ministry within a church - that we had to plant a new church. The more I pondered "what is church?" and all the things that caused tension and questions because of value and philosophy differences in a single church - we realized that the differences were too great, and the mother-church did not want to allow us to truly change further beyond just the worship gathering itself, but more or less conform the the systems and values of the mother-church. The mother-church actually began adopting some of the things we were doing with more contemporary music and added art and things to their worship gatherings - but those are externals and without rethinking spiritual formation, evangelism, what is community, leadership etc. holistically - it didn't work. It is much bigger than the worship gathering itself in what we need to rethink if we are truly missional today.

I genuinely want the best for ALL parties involved in our local situation, but i know that stepping out of the way, removing labels, thinking outside the box, and truckloads of humility are the only way we will be successful in the long haul. and that is what it is all about.

the amateur

this is amazing.
simply amazing.
and worth watching.

[HT:aaRON maSON]

christians UNDERSTAND evil

i'm reading an article from "crosswalk.com" that was placed in my box by, assumingly Pastor Gary, about "Christian Chain E-Mails". THe title of the aricle is: 'Forward this email is You Love GOD.' It really is quite interesting to me as there aren't many things that annoy me more than Christians sending out crap via email/myspace bulletin. please let me differentiate between Christians doing it and non-Christians doing it... i just think it's funny [and sad] when people who are obviously opposed to Christ, based on their lifestlye choices, [hypocrtically speaking b/c of my over eating/over-weight sinful/negative lifestyle choice] post/send out those emails.

[i just used a lot of slashes, commas, quotes, and brackets, so if you need to go back and reread that paragraph, now is the time.]

anyway, i really appreciated this quote from the article about WHY Christians are so succeptible to participating actively in these ridiculous habits.

check it out:

2. Christians understand evil. "Because we understand evil, we sometimes see it in places where it isn't and actually expect it in other places, which is logical." says Holden, "It's something that CS Lewis said about evil people not being able to really understand evil at all. Only the person who has resisted evil can truly understand it. A person redeemed from sin has a whole different understanding of it that the average man. This is good, but it can also lead us to suspect more evil than is really there amnd make a bad scenario even worse."

i definitely think that Christians place the title "evil" on many things that are not evil at all. they do this based on the idea that if it is not "from GOD" then it is "from the devil". is it possible that things are from people? even Christians? is it possible that with some things or situations there is not good or evil, but merely, it is. for instance, taking a poop. it is neither good nor evil. it just is.
or maybe it is good: GOD created our digestive system, and so give praise to GOD that it is working properly. well, what if it's NOT working properly... is it evil? can i praise GOD that it is broken? what if i neglect to praise GOD for my digestive system and do not give him the credit that is due to him... is that evil?

a very silly example, that no doubt, in it's faultiness detracted from my original point. let us return to that without delay:

Because we understand evil, we sometimes see it in places where it isn't and actually expect it in other places... it can also lead us to suspect more evil than is really there amnd make a bad scenario even worse.

let's as a collective group of 5 people that read this blog make a pact that we won't attribute the tag "evil" to that which is NOT evil, nor will we attribute the tag "evil" to that which is "not christian".

amen?




on a side note, my hands smell like clams.

the end of the world

i stole this off my friend's myspace.
his quote is:
"I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
that about sums it up for him.
but he did find this sweet flash video im' going to share with you.
***There is swearing involved. you make the call.***
enjoy.

lectio divina

*this is the third time i'm writing this post because IE keeps freezing and shutting down..
*i hate windows.
*and my powerbook finally died yesterday afternoon. RIP.


we did a different form of "worship" this past week at YOUth Church.
partly because of the last post i made,
and partly because of an answer to prayer.
our sound board has finally died.
praise the lord.
amen.


so, here is what we did this past week...


we watched this video:


during the video, i DJed in deliriou5?'s "obsession" from their excellent CD, Live and in the Can. check it out. after the video went black near the end with instructions to pray, i placed the lyrics to the up on the screen as they were being sung as you would in a "traditional" sing-a-long service. during a lower part of the song, i replayed the introduction images and the reading of the verse, then placed the lyrics "my heart burns for you" back up. we ended with the prayer by martin smith on the track following obsession on the CD.
we then went into the prayer.share.chair.

my thoughts:
1. i think it was a good experience for those present.
2. i think it went a little long, mostly because i fired the song too late, and so it lasted longer than i hoped. but it was OK, because even with prayer.share.chair, the talks, and story time + birthdays in the beginning of YOUth Church, we still got out early.
3. i was hoping it ws going to be set up different. i was hoping for clear instruction on what we were going to be doing, as well as what our expectations were for those participating. BS set it up, and i don't think my expectations were made clear to him. it's OK. GOD worked it out.
4. i'm glad the console is dead so we can explore mroe options that are similar in nature to this one. that is an answer to my prayer.
5. i believe participants were able to be emersed in an atmosphere that gave them the opportunity to meet with their Creator and dwell in His Presence.



my thoughts on the video and it's creation:
1. i had to use Windows Movie Maker instead of my beloved iMovie, because the original file i edited was a WMV.
2. the original i edited was created by the good folks at hopechapel santa rosa. it was a little bit shorter. and it did not contain the introduction or pictures. the original can be found here.
3. the computer i was using didn't have a mic, so i couldn't do some of the things i wanted with more verbal instructions, or scripture readings. also, the song obsession was an afterthought and therefore wasn't integrated into the original video.
4. i added the pictures in the beginning based on a conversation that i had with ben parsons about a conversation that he had with phil cunningham, both of YWAM Seattle. phil and ben have been doing a "digital liturgy" with video, instructions, and "mood music" lately. in the creation of the video, phil's task, he was using lots of pictures of jesus and the cross... so the story goes. but ben suggested to phil that jesus is the climax. he is the goal. he is the target. he is the end result. he is everything, so we need to not give them the finale in the beginning. he suggested that images were used to create in the participant a hunger or a desire for jesus, not just to give them jesus right away. [*I AM PARAPHRASING/INTERPRETING TO THIS SITUATION WHAT I UNDESRSTOOD BEN AND PHIL'S CONVERSATION TO BE AS REALAYED BY BEN*] these are good, no... great thoughts. therefore, i added the introductory pictures and scripture reading to help to generate thoughts of babies and sand and beaches and GOD's innumerable thoughts about us.
5. i used google image search and i robbed BS and B.Handsome myspace pages for images of babies and sand that would hopefully be familiar to the students. that way they could remeber the development of our babies since they all were around when our wived were pregnant, they could think back on their thoughts of that time in our lives. maybe bringing it "closer to home". maybe that was effective. maybe it was not. maybe it was just silly.
6. the thing about creating this type of worship experience is that it takes a lot of time for preperation, and there is always a drive to "keep it fresh". i won't be able to use this video again for a pretty long while, or it will "be getting old". but i guess the same is true for preaching and worship setlists. they need preperation and they should be "kept fresh".


please, if you've been reading this or participated in the video above, or were at YOUth Church on wednesday, or are a living breathing creature, share your thoughts on this idea and form of corporate worship.

and, please forgive me for all the reading i've asked you to do lately!

music is merely the VEHICLE

i'm 80-90% "over" musical worship.

wow.
that's a huge statement you say.
maybe...

take a look at this line.
it is a "continuum" meaning there are an infinite number of points along it, between point A and point B:


A____________________________B

pointA: a person enters a church service looking to meet with GOD.
pointB: that person has an encounter with the Living GOD Almighty.

as a worship leader, my goal is to take a person from pointA to pointB.
i have several means to do that with, but my goal still remains the same.

[ok, i understand that "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink", therefore let me rephrase this and say that as a worship leader, i need to lead a person from pointA to pointB by encouraging them, leading by example, and most importantly, creating an environment where they are able to reach pointB.]

most churches in 21st century america, and around the world, are using large scale congregational singing as a way to have "worship" in their services.

this is what i am 80-90% over.

why?

because i think we/they have forgotten that the end result is pointB and not just some point on the continuum.

anything short of pointB is just "singing songs to GOD", and therefore not a "moment with GOD".

some churches get closer to pointB than others on a regular basis, and some worship leaders are very good and "getting there" with their group.

i've been really mulling this over for the past few months.
at Growth Getaway with my 67s two weekends ago, we had musical worship led by a very dear friend of mine, mr. adam hendrix. i love this guy. i appreciate his heart, and he is very inspiring to me. HOWEVER, as he led worship, we didn't "go anywhere". we just sang a few songs, he tried to point out some anecdotes before or after, but all we did was sing to GOD.

at BIG Church, Len usually leads in worship. i love Len. more than anyone on staff, i think. i appreciate his humility and he's very wise. HOWEVER, as he leads worship, we don't "go anywhere".

at YOUth Church there are young worship leaders, and i am "in charge of discipling them". but, even if you ask them, they'll tell you that we don't "go anywhere" when they lead.

when i lead, i've experienced not "going anywhere" [too many times!], but i've also experienced leading people to the throne of the Almighty and people meeting with GOD.

there are other worship leaders, that i think do this on a regular basis:
martin smith/deliriou5?
marty sampson & jowl houston/UNITED
daniel lehmann/Vertical Response
ross yamamoto/unlearn.
jeremy gibbons/FloodGateAlive

i think most worship leaders would say that they desire people to "meet GOD" during hte times they lead worship. if they aren't pointing to someone greater than themselves, they are just preforming songs.

so how did we get so far off?

i think we've forgotten that music is just the VEHICLE of meeting GOD corporately.

most leader's continuums look like this:

A____________X__________________B

and they continually get hung up on that X of "singing songs to GOD" that they forget the goal of pointB: "meeting with GOD"

the more the goal is missed, the more the goal is missed, and it's replaced with what is easy, and measurable, and the more it happens, the more it becomes the norm, so there is a slow drifting away from pointB, the desired result of leading people to and creating an environment for people to meet with the Livign GOD Almighty. Their Creator GOD.

this is why i'm 80-90% over musical worship.
the point is being missed.

therefore, i am going to place lots of time and effort in exploring ways to "do it right" and even more time and effort into exploring ways to "do it different".

i love music.
but not all connect through music.
i've been "conditioned" to respond in that way.
but not all have.
i want to put myself in their shoes.

more to come...

athlete

i discovered a new band: athlete.
it was recommended by: bwack.
i like their older CD, vehicles and animals a little better that their newer one: tourist.
i realized i have a hard time typing the word "athlete" for some reason. wierd.

BS asked me if they were "a christian band'.
i said i don't know.
and, no offense of course to BS,
because i know he pretty much agrees with me on this, but...
i don't care.
i don't care if they are "a christian band" or not.
they make some great music.
they are not bringing death. they bring light and life.
i think "good art" does that.
it inspires.
they are using their GOD-GIVEN life and abilities and creativity to create a response through reflection and art to the world they live in, that was also created by GOD.
i'm not sure if VanGogh was a christian or not, but when i look at "starry night", i think to myself:
beautiful.
you try it:

well, what did you think?

to tell you the truth, i've heard and seen a lot of "art" that is labeled as "christian" that is unoriginal, uninspired, knocked off, badly produced, half-hearted, and completely lame.

please don't let labels get in your way of finding and responding to great art.
i'll try not to either.

he must be on staff at a church.

I'm kind of jealous of the life I'm supposedly leading.
- Zach Braff

cybernations

form a cyber nation.
join the nerds.
we will take over the world.

search: PUAAHUNTER

www.cybernations.net

the new apple iPod shuffle.

the new iPod shuffle is out.
unfortunately, based on the product images,
it's only for metro/homosexuals.
bummer.

weAk IV

EXPOSED! reframing sex in light of GOD's design.
[1bC YOUth november 2006]

version 1:


version 2:


version 3 [final]:


do you remember my post about "nacho libre"?
[times 4]

christ-follower vs. christian

these are absolutely brilliant!
you must watch all three:









[HT: MarkO]