Overdue Update

I’ve gotten really bad about blogging this summer . . .

Another quick-hits list:

• I am meeting a great friend and mentor, Al Jackson, from Lakeview Baptist in Auburn today for lunch.  I’m REALLY looking forward to spending some time with him.  I consider him to be one of the greatest leaders to personally invest in my life.  As Emily and I prepare to relocate and finally get our lives moving in ministry, I know he will be excited and will be a great help on the journey.
• I’m REALLY getting pumped about our Scouting Trip/Vacation this week.  Emily and I are leaving for Baltimore on Wednesday to scout around, meet some people, look for community impact opportunities, get a feel for the real estate market . . .
• When we get home, we hope to be able to start naming a specific community for us to focus on.  We’re 98% sure now.  The next 10 days will hopefully reveal the last 2%.
• Having 100% certainty on a community will set us free to run full-force into support-raising.
• I sent out a couple resumes to architecture firms in the area so I can have gainful employment from day one.
• I really need everyone out there to help us pray through some stuff related to associations and assessment processes.  I’ve been struggling a lot with it lately.
• We’re going to take a few days to experience July 4th Baltimore-style . . . We’re thinking about going to see the Baltimore Sympohony Orchestra’s celebration on either July 3 or 5 . . . and we’re probably going to brave the crowds at the Inner Harbor on July 4.  I’m sure this will make Auburn’s stuff at Samford Park look pretty lame.  I’m looking forward to it.
• I’m looking forward to this week as a focussed time to reconnect with my beautiful bride, Emily, before baby Katie arrives in September.
• I finished reading Pop Goes The Church this week.  It was definitely helpful for me to think through WHY, HOW, and WHAT related to using Pop Culture in the church.  I’ve grown accustomed to the idea in the past several years . . . but just introducing Pop Culture elements and actually leveraging the culture for the Gospel are two totally different things.  Help me think it through BIG TIME.
• I’m really stuggling with “renewing my mind” lately.  My brain is overwhelmed with the visual power of my work in architecture.  Every time I try to focus on something else, it seems to get overrun with drafting images or code issues.  I HATE IT.  I can’t focus in prayer time.  I can’t focus on reading my Bible.  Please just pray that this Scouting Trip/Vacation gives me an opportunity to “HIT THE RESET BUTTON.”  I need it.
• From the previous note . . . If you don’t think the visual and musical arts have power over the way people think, you’re an idiot.
• I have a blog post related to that thought coming soon.  I have to finish thinking it through and writing it.

Enough hits for now.

Reading Update

One thing I didn’t mention in my Quick Hits:  I’ve been reading a lot again lately.

Currently, I’m reading, Pop Goes The Church by Tim Stevens of Granger.  As I prepare for church planting and pastoring, it’s a great help for me to think through how to balance the Truth of the Bible and the influence of culture in how our church communicates.  It’s more than just cool series titles, rocking music, and awesome graphics.  Thinking each of those things through to communicate the Power and Truth about Jesus Christ to those who are far from God.

I also recently read Mark Batterson’s In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.  Great book.  More than a great read. It helped me to filter through some of my hesitations to packing up to moving to Baltimore.  Sometimes we just need to face our fears.  Take a risk. I’ve been in Auburn for almost 14 years.  That’s actually close to half my life!  I’m known for doing crazy things and being a bit of a lone-ranger.  But I have to admit that packing up and moving to a big city where I know very few people can be scary.  Getting past my fears and listening to God’s call in my life is a big deal for me right now.  This book was a help.  Having a guy like Mark an hour or so down the road when we get to Baltimore is also a bit of an encouragement!

Reading Update

I just realized that it has been a REAL long time since I did a reading update.  Normally, I’m a one-book-at-a-time kind of guy . . . but with my crazy schedule, things are changing.  It takes me too long to get through each book.  Some of the books I am reading right now are how-to books.  Not something I want to sit down and devour . . . so I’m trying something new.  I’m reading one how-to book and one fun/inspirational book at the same time.

 

Dangerous surrender was really awesome.  I actually finished it a while ago, but I never did a follow-up.  A couple pastor friends’ wives started reading the book and in turn talked their husbands into reading it.  They then both suggested for me to pick it up and read it.  It was defintely the kind of book I needed to motivate me and get me fired up for what God has in store for Emily and me.  It was also a great encouragement as I think about the past 6 years that I have been waiting to move forward in church planting.  It makes me value the learning process.  Definitely a good read for anyone.

 Vince Antonucci has probably become one of my primary teachers as I get ready for this church planting thing.  He and I have emailed back and forth a couple times . . . but in reality, most of my learning is coming from reading his blog day-by-day.  His perspective on church is radically different than where I came from.  His brain doesn’t work like everyone elses’, so you’ll find yourself rolling on the floor laughing at the same moment you’re crying out to God in repentence for your hardness of heart or stupidity.  Knowing what his blog is teaching me, reading his first book is a no-brainer for me (I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt).  I read 5 chapters last night while taking a break from something else.  Awesome stuff!  I’m only on chapter 6, and I already KNOW this is a must read for anyone wanting to impact the USA with the name of Jesus.

 Planting Growing Church for the 21st Century is my current how-to book.  I’ve had it on my shelf since my last year of seminary. It’s a few years old, but still some valuable information for a church-planter-to-be.  I’m trying to read some books specifically about church planting.  Unfortunately, most of them say pretty much the same stuff.  Maybe if I keep reading them, I’ll eventually learn what they have to say.

 

 

Book Updates

Earlier this week, I finally finished unChristian.  This is a MUST READ for every Christ Follower in 21st century America.  I came out of a traditional church where I was beginning to realize the decreasing influence of the church and increasing difficulty in sharing the Gospel with upcoming generations.  Over the past year and a half, I have been in a new church plant and networked with several other church planters.  This has helped me understand a little of the “why,” but there’s still so much more.  This book breaks it down.  It attacks our “Christian” subculture with facts.  This is not a propositional book.  This is an in-depth study at the reputation the Church has in 21st century America.  It’s an indictment.  It’s a call to change.  And it doesn’t leave us short.  It gives us practical suggestions on how to move forward.  If you haven’t read it . . . click on it, buy it, and read it!

My next book, that I started reading on Tuesday, is Dangerous Surrender, by Kay Warren.  Several pastor friends have suggested I read it, so I’m diving in.  It’s pretty good so far.  I’ll have to give a review later.

** Don’t forget, clicking on any book link on APK’s Attic leading to a purchase from ChristianBook.com will result in 10% earnings for us as we prepare to plant a church.  You can support us by buying and reading books that will grow your faith and influence!

unChristian - part 1

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, or if you pay any attention whatsoever to the sidebar of my blog, you know that I am currently reading through the Gospel of Matthew and unChristian.

Sometimes God likes to time things just right.  You know what I mean?

Earlier this week, I read through Matthew 23, that passage where Jesus totally goes off on the Pharisees.  He uses incredible word pictures along with strong vocabulary such as: “hypocrites, blind guides, whitewashed tombs, etc.”  One particular verse that hits me hard, verse 15: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”

In unChristian, along with several other books I’ve read recently, I have learned that a label of “hypocrite” has become one of the biggest hurdles to reaching disconnected people with the Gospel in this generation.  Some of the label is legitimate, and some of it is a skewed perspective, but it is a real hurdle either way. This book goes on to tell us that even folks inside the church struggle with this problem.

Chapter 3 gives candid help for this issue.  Perception: Christians say one thing but live something totally different.  New Perception (for us to strive toward): Christians are transparent about their flaws and act first, talk second.

That’s the bottom line.  As Christ followers, it is so easy to talk about what believe about anything . . . but it is a whole lot harder to put those supposed beliefs into practice.  We often try to hide our shortcomings under the carpet so that we can look like Good Christian Folks.  Perry Noble’s top post for 2007 addresses what becomes of this.

The point is, if we are going to reach people for Jesus in 2008, we need to learn to be honest when we are falling short of ideal.  I struggle with stuff.  We all do.  I say things about my beliefs that I don’t always live up to.  The bumper sticker “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven,” is a sorry attempt at what we’re aiming for.  That statement is a cop-out.  Far better is to say, “I know I fall short of God’s ideal.  That’s the whole point of Jesus.  He did what we can not.  I’m still not perfect, but the power of Jesus in me is getting me closer . . . at least when I’m willing to let him.”

Even better is to demonstrate that statement.  Actions really do speak louder than words. Openly admit when we fall short.  Even more openly admit that we recognize that falling short does not please God.  Then, make very real and practical steps . . . ACTIONS, toward getting better.  This is living out transparency.

For me, I fall far short in sharing my faith.  It’s not that I can’t or won’t.  It’s that I am not constantly looking for opportunities.  It’s going to be a big step for me, and I will probably fall short a several times, but I’m joining Aletheia Church and Darren Plummer with a goal to share my faith (for real, not just, “come to church with me”) with 50 people in 2008.