Just a note for users of YMX. Our web host is experiencing a massive power failure. At this point, we know nothing about when we can expect to have the site up. If I know anything I’ll post here.
This is highly unusual as the host that we use has about 160,000 sites hosted with less than 1% of downtime annually. Again, sorry for any inconvenience.
There is a great article about my Fightin’ Irish on the ESPN website. Here are some excerpts.
A year ago the South Bend Marriott required a two-night minimum stay
during a Notre Dame football weekend. I know, because my company credit
card was billed $299 per night.
Now for the Sept. 9 home opener against Penn State the Marriott
is requiring a three-night minimum for — are you sitting down? — $649
(plus tax) per night. By the way, the 298-room hotel is sold out. The
Marriott loves Weis.
If you don’t know the story of France’s Zidedine Zidane’s foul in the world cup, read about it here. Basically this one moment of stupidity cost France a chance to win the World Cup… the largest sporting event in the world. (4 times as big as the Super Bowl)
So, with all that said… enjoy this spoof.
I’m not talking about the people. The people of YMX are always amazing and forgiving. But the site itself is acting weird. For some reason there are all kinds of errors coming up.
I shouldn’t whine since the site has been nearly maintenence free all year… but it’s still annoying. I’ll be workin’ on it Saturday.
Dave’s been here 2 weeks today. So far everything has gone better than expected. Last night he planned and led the Middle Madness event and it all came off great.
So far, so good. It’s panning out to be a great time.
There is nothing quite as much fun as coming home. We had a great and productive time. It was not restful in any way but we did get a lot of work done. Good stuff all around.
In just a few minutes the church ministry/pastoral staff will be leaving for 2 days. The goal of this trip is simple… go somewhere quiet and free of distractions and define some vision stuff for the next phase of our church.
With all of the transitions, pastoral changes, heartaches… in the past several years the church has defaulted into a maintenence mode. So the idea here is that we’re off to craft an aggressively insane vision for reaching our community even more effectively using the latest and greatest techniques. (So, if you thought we were pushing it now… hahaha! j/k… that’s all a joke.) OK, in all seriousness all we’re trying to do is shift the church out of a maintenence mode and into something clearer. To do that we need to run and hide in the woods.
The second step in this is coming up with departmental vision for adults, students, and kids. This is the part that really effects "how we do stuff" in the church. So… pretty much every single thing we do in the church is one the table. There are no sacred cows going into this.
Of course, this is just a tempter post since I won’t be able to post any of the results of this time for a while. But I am sure I will be posting some of the good times we’re to have.
p.s. If you have a chance, introduce yourself to Jim… he’s new to Romeo. Jim is our new instrument… the djembe. He’ll be appearing at Light Force and Bonfire.
I won’t be shy. I wanted to take Light Force to DCLA this year. But on the heels of a lot of other projects it just wasn’t possible.
I was glad to hear that the first installment went so well, that YS seems to be doing a great job with it, and that 3Story continues to effectively teach people about evangelism in our culture. (Read the review here)
To depend on the Bible more and more.
Last year my friend Eric Stapleton, a missionary in Vanuatu, blew my mind with his observations of life in another culture. He said, "By seeing the syncretisms of their culture, it revealed to me many syncretisms in my own life and culture."
syn·cre·tism (s
ng
kr
m, s
n.
- Reconciliation
or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion,
especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.- Linguistics. The merging of two or more originally different inflectional forms.
Why did God use this to hit me with a 2×4? I think… and I’m still digesting this… that there are lots of places in my private practice of following Jesus, the way I lead others to follow Jesus, and the way that church in America works that syncretize things from our culture into how I do and think about relationships with Jesus.
Rob Bell does a good job talking about this concept, but it leaves me wondering about solutions. In Velvet Elvis he talks about people always taking the interpretation of the Bible somewhere… he demonstrates how Christians have interpreted and re-interpreted "better" passages as time has gone on. He stabs those who hold to "the old way" in the hand and reminds them that the Bible is alive and not dead.
But there are boundaries to that. Bell, and lots of "emergent" leaders like to use this line of thinking to remove traditional "biblical" boundaries. They say that by drawing boundaries they are "killing the movement of God."
So… this is what I am wrestling with. If the Bible is alive and morphing in it’s interpretation to the generations (see 2 Peter 1:1-4)… how in the world do I know how to prepare myself and my students to navigate their faith through such a dramatically changing climate? How will we know what’s true and good? How will we know how far is too far?
Feel free to discuss with me on this.
– When I say "the Bible is alive" does that mean that it changes? If so, how is it that God is immutable (unchanging and unchangeable) and His Word is mutable in its interpretation
– Is looking at Scripture with a relativistic, or even "culturally situational" mindset a syncretism of what’s going on here and now… or is it something that has happened all along?
– The "fear" of the current evangelicals is that this type of thinking, this new hermeneutic (how we read and apply literature, including the Bible) is that it’s branded as a way to embrace impure lifestyles… is that true? Are these fears well-founded or merely fear-mongering by those "in control?"
Here’s Part One: There is One God
Mormons claim that the Old Testament and New Testament are
incomplete.
They claim that after Jesus spent time in
Jerusalem
,
he spent time with American Indians. The time that he spent here in the
Americas
is recorded in the Book of Mormon.
According to them, there isn’t 1 book authoritative for
daily living… there are 4. The Bible, The Book of Mormon, the
Pearl
of Great Price, and Doctrine and Covenants.
