learning and unlearning

thanks men...what a great and challenging discussion at our novel tonic men's breakfast this morning...i think we really did have a refreshing drink this morning....
well...for the rest of you we men talked about chasing lions...and one of the topics that came up was learning and unlearning...and then the rest of the day i have thought much about those two things....here are some of my thoughts....
half of learning is learning...the other half is unlearning...unfortunately i believe unlearning is twice as hard as learning...it is sort of like a computer virus on a hard drive, our minds can become infected with bad files...fears, misconceptions, and stubborn attitudes keep us from operating to our full potential...if these bad files aren't uninstalled, the undermine everything we do...
even Jesus had the purpose of empowering those who listened to him to unlearn...he said...
"you have heard it said...love your neighbor and hate your enemy...but i tell you...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...
let's ask the Lord to help us uninstall all the negative, religious, traditional and irrelevant files that may infect us....
help me Lord!

can you think of things that you need to unlearn?

the E word

everybody knows the E word..."evangelism"...does that word stir up the same images for you as it does for me? Christains who participate in evangelism have an image problem...the impressions we make certainly create perceptions for those who are watching and listening...then their perceptions become their reality...what if the world's perceptions are right?
is there a better way to lead people to Christ...to lead them to a life altering decision...to help them establish a new world view and have God as a part of it? when is the last time you led someone to Christ? how did you do it?

conclusion to what makes music meaningful?

well a few more people responded this week to our poll question...and the majority of you voters responded that freedom and experience is what makes music meaningful to you...it is good to see that the selections give indication of your participation....i think all the choices from songs to the leader to the style...to freedom and experience all work together to make music such and emotional and meaningful part of church...
since most of us love music in some fashion...praise God that we get to worship Him that way...with music!
if freedom is important to many of you...remember where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom...so in our music element the Spirit of the Lord must be welcomed and allowed to flow...
keep enjoying the worship journey!

for the joy set before...

wow! what a long day today! and when it was over i got to take my little boy noah to the urgent care...he had fallen outside playing baseball and had a bad cut on his left knee...of course when i arrived home noah was in tears and everybody was trying to give their explanation of what had happened....that can get a little crazy....
while at the urgent care i observed the doctor work on noah's knee...no stitches needed just some sterile strips...but while she cleaned the wound noah wrenched in pain from the burning sensation....when the doctor had finished the cleaning all noah wanted to know was would he be ready for his basketball tryouts this saturday...as i listened to him i realized that the pain was bearable as long as he could still consider the joy of saturday basketball tryouts....
and then i thought of Jesus...who for the joy set before him endured the cross!
i wonder if we thought more about the joy that awaits us how much more we could endure?

when people look at us, do they see Christ?

i read an article earlier today that posed the question...when people look at us, do they see Jesus? i began to wonder about my answer...really what do they see when they look at me? what did the folks from Jesus' culture see when they looked at him? did they see someone relevant to their culture? did he dress like them? did he talk like them? did he speak their language? did he spend time in their comfort arenas? did he allow himself to be inconvenienced?
so...when people look at us....do they see compassion? hope? strength? joy? peace? ... or do they see judgement? condemnation? apathy? indifference?
i once heard another pastor say...we are God's display window to the world...the world all around is window shopping...when they look in our window what do they see?
think about it!

music is the element of choice!

well, our very first poll question has closed...and we find out from our blog readers that music is the #1 element of choice when making a decision about a church.
what does that tell us? well, music is the big area of church where emotion and experience are created...this tells me that most people are wanting their emotions to be stirred and they want to have an experience not just be a spectator...
sounds like we really need to put some thought and creative effort into our music element at adventure life church...sounds like a lot of fun to me...i love music!
please give any thoughts you have on how we can make the music element really stand out and become distinguished from what everyone else is doing...thanks.

potential to be Christ followers

well...i have been out of town and been unable to post for a few days...but i have really wanted to write about this....
i'm reading again...the book is called unChristian...the book is about the world's perspective on the church...one 25 year old young man said that he felt Christians talk about hating sinand loving sinners, but the way the go about things, they might as well call it what it is...they hate the sin and the sinner...so the running theme in the book is that the world see that Christians are prideful and quick to find faults in others....when what we should want them to see is that Christians show grace by finding good in others and seeing their potential to be Christ followers.
i heard another story about a young lady who went to a church small group Bible study...she went in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of this Jesus thing...the group of young women were discussing sex, intimacy, and pregnancy...the new young woman brought up the life situation of one of her friends who had been abused...she is now pregnant and considering having an abortion...the conversation then turned defensive with all the ladies trying to convince her abortion was wrong...all she was searching for was some empathy for her friend's situation....what the group did not know is that the new young lady had an abortion herself earlier in her life...she quickly felt on the outside...and the potential she felt she had to follow Christ had just diminished.
the point to recognize is that we never know the full life story of those we are talking to...we really need to focus on talking to versus talking at....we need to recognize everyday the potential in others to become Christ followers.
the people we meet everyday and those we already know live very complex lives...God is wise enough to handle the complexity and demonstrate his love....we should be as well....we should focus on showing compassion especially when we believe so strongly about something....
looking for the potential in others to become Christ followers!