good is evil and evil is good

I was listening to sports talk radio the other day and got a glimpse of how far away we’ve come as a culture from having our priorities in order.  The radio host had posed a question.  “What are the top 3 things that pro athletes do that drive you crazy?”  He then went on to list some of the top headline grabbers of the last few years…audultry, murder, greed, showboating, leaving a team for more money, etc.

A caller was on the line and started to make a case how he doesn’t think athletes having affairs and abandoning their children is a big deal because “he’s only affecting a small number of people”, but something like what Labron James did to the city of Cleveland was a horrible, evil thing because it affected so many people.

I literally sat in my car on the verge of tears.  There are so many things wrong with that callers position I couldn’t even begin to discuss them in a short (or kinda long) blog post.  But one thing I will address to the men of my generation…grow up.  I don’t mean in a “you hurt my feelings” kinda way…I mean in a “stop pursuing and living for the toys and hobbies that you were obsessed with when you were 12, go get a real, full-time job to support your family, be the spiritual leader of your home and learn how to be a man.”  I’m really not sorry if your a man and that hurt your feelings, if it did then just consider that more evidence of the fact that you need to grow up.

We live in a culture where someone can call into a radio show and spout crap about how sports are more important than marriage and family.  Ultimately, that is what the caller is saying.  I will challenge my generation that we agree with the caller every time we decide to spend more time in a week checking and working on our fantasy football team than we do spending time with our children and spouse.  This isn’t an attack on fantasy football, I’m in two leagues this year…it has nothing to do with that.  It’s simply one example.

I believe that God is calling a generation of men that will stand up and live like true men.  That will be responsible financially, that will work to provide for their families, that will be spiritual leaders in their homes…that won’t put sports, or videogames, or some other stupid hobby in front of their family as a priority in their life.

…and I do think Lebron should have stayed in Cleveland, so I’ll have to root against the Heat this year. 

 

peace,

pastor Greg

well, that was “interesting”

Last Sunday I was on vacation at the Lake with my family and a few friends.  I’ve always wanted to do a “video sermon” and I just got a new iPhone 4, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to give it a go.  The video is pretty rough, but hopefully you’ll get something out of it.

Disclaimer – I had no idea how loud the insects were going to be in that first video clip, it was later at night and they were crazy loud!

Size Matters?

This is a great article I read this morning from one of the Catalyst newsletters I get…

My Musings as a Pastor of a Small Church

By Charles Lee | The !dea Camp

People are often surprised when they visit our ministry at New Hope. For many, they come expecting our ministry to be much larger in size than it actually is. I suppose some of this expectation is fueled by our online presence as well as the various projects I personally engage in throughout the week.

Quite honestly, I somewhat enjoy the surprise (or even the body language of disappointment from time to time) that people express. You see, we currently have two campuses that together total maybe 100 adults…just maybe.

People often ask me, in light of my background in leading both larger and smaller ministries, what I think is better. My answer: They both have challenges.

For the larger church, I think one of the greatest challenges is to NOT think that you’re superior or more legit than a smaller ministry. Unfortunately, I have witnessed several leaders of large ministries change their body language or tone of voice when they come to realize the size of the ministry I currently lead. Let the ignoring begin. Seriously? Yes. Contrastingly, I’ve also seen people’s postures change when they come to realize that I’ve created some projects and events that they respect. Suddenly, I become someone they want to listen to. This is equally unfortunate. One minute I’m a nobody and then the all of a sudden I magically turn into someone important.

Note to self: Becoming a big-time Christian celebrity is not my goal in life nor is treating fellow human beings as less than equals. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that we should treat others better more highly than ourselves.

For the smaller church leader, I think one of our greatest challenges is to NOT buy into our tendency to cover our own inadequacies and wants by projecting negativity towards larger ministries. We must not exist to compete against the mega. If criticizing a larger ministry only makes you feel better about yourself and your ministry, isn’t that nothing more than narcissism fleshed out? Let’s stop saying that we are more authentic, intimate, real, and people-focused. In my opinion, these kind of comments are arrogance verbalized.

I’ll be honest. It is extremely difficult not to feel like a failure in a culture that measures success by numbers. Furthermore, the insecurity that most of us leaders, both in larger and smaller ministries, work so hard to hide can cause us to hold a delusional perspective on who we are and the significance of what we’re doing.

Let’s not forget that we’re on the same team. We’re suppose to be ONE CHURCH. Embodying the belief and practice that we ought to treat others better than ourselves will take us a long way towards unity.

Unlike an airplane emergency drill, please get oxygen to the other person sitting next to you before putting it on yourself. Get fresh air to the other and hopefully they’ll do the same for you.

Charles Lee is the CEO of Ideation, a consultancy that specializes in branding, marketing, design, web, social media, and event development. He is also a founding member of JustOne, a NPO committed to addressing issues of poverty, orphans, and slavery. In addition, Charles leads New Hope, a faith community in the Los Angeles area, and is the creator of grassroots efforts including the Idea Camp, Ideation Conference, and the Freeze Project. Charles regularly speaks around the country on topics such as creativity, innovation, leadership, social media, community development and compassionate

Sitcom Jesus

My wife and I loved the show “Friends”.  So much that we bought all 10 seasons on DVD and have watched them all at least four times.  There’s plenty of other sitcom’s that I’ve enjoyed over the years as well…from “Cheers” to “30 Rock”, from “The Simpson’s” to “Arrested Development”.  Sitcom’s are great, they’re only a half hour of our week in which all the characters problems usually get worked out and it’s so easy to just sit back and “veg” while watching them.  Most people have 1-2 sitcoms that they “follow” every week, some have more, but even if you’re not a committed fan of one right now, we’ve all experienced the joy that is a half hour sitcom.

I say all this because I came to a realization last week while preparing for one of my sermons.  A vast majority of people who call themselves followers of Christ treat Him almost the exact same way they “follow” their favorite sitcoms.  Think about some of these comparisons…

• Sitcoms almost always are scheduled and produced as 1/2 shows. (Usually around 20 minutes of actual show).
• They only come on once a week and it’s at a predetermined time.
• They don’t cost anything to follow. (except the 30 minutes of your time that is takes to watch them)
• We usually turn to something else if our weekly episode is a “re-run”.
• We can watch them when it’s convenient for us. (thanks to the magical box known as DVR)

I don’t know about you, but those are NOT the descriptions of what I want my relationship with Jesus to look like.  But think about it, have you allowed your relationship with Him to mirror any of these descriptions?

I would submit for you to consider that if you are only spending a half hour a week “listening” to a sermon at church as your “time with the Lord”, then you might be following a sitcom Jesus.

If you are only dedicated to following Jesus as long as it doesn’t cost you anything (like free network programming), you might be following a sitcom Jesus.

If you are only going to follow Jesus when it is convenient for you and only at the predetermined, “scheduled” times, you might be following a  sitcom Jesus.

If you just can’t get into spending time in the Word or going to church because it all feels like a “re-run” that you’ve already seen, you’re following a sitcom Jesus.

The real problem with all these scenario’s is that there is no such thing as a “sitcom Jesus”.  He is either Lord and Savior or He is not. I’m afraid that our sitcom Jesus and the Jesus of the first century would be “perfect strangers”.   That may seem “hardcore”, but it really just boils down to the question of whether or not you are genuinely following Jesus, or would simply prefer a “god” that will follow you?

“I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father, but through me.” ~Jesus

peace,

glo

Truth, Possesive or not (and a little LOST)

So as a bi-vocational pastor who sells home security systems for ADT I end up spending a LOT of time in the car.  Today as I was driving I was listening to my Regina Spektor CD, specifically the song “Samson”, and had a thought I wanted to share based off a line of the lyrics in her song.  Toward the beginning of the song she has a line that says “beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth”.  It’s truly a beautiful song and I love it, but hearing that line today got me thinking about “truth” and whether or not it is actually something that can be used in the possessive sense.

This is what I mean.  I don’t believe that truth is something that is “relevant” to a specific situation or personal viewpoint.  I believe that there are such things in our universe as “ultimate truths” or “absolute truths”.  This can be easily argued with something as basic (but amazing complex) as the law of gravity, but I actually want to dive into the thought of how this relates to us in our personal relationships with each other.  I’m not sure the phrase “my truth” is even an accurate statement.  While something that we hold in our belief system may in fact be a truth, I’m not sure we have the right or ability to take a possessive stance with that position as belonging to us.  And simply because we believe something to be the truth doesn’t necessarily mean that it is.  For example, a recent study showed that 17% of people polled in Australia put “Jedi” as their religious belief system.  This might be “their truth”, but it’s not a truth.

Which leads to the idea of are we living truthfully or fictionally?  What I mean is that I don’t think the truth is something that we can dictate in our own lives, but we have been lead to believe that this is so.  Which is not a truth and therefore has opened the door to allow those of us who desire to do so to live in a completely fictitious existence.  This may seem somewhat “ethereal”, but it got me to thinking about the idea that if we live our entire lives outside of the truth, have we truly lived at all?

ie.  It is an “absolute truth” that human beings must breathe oxygen to live.  If someone decides this is not true and attempts to live without oxygen for an extended amount of time, they cease to live.  I think this same principle applies with other, less obvious truths.  Take, for instance, someone who refuses to live their life according to the truth that the most valuable thing in this world is our relationships with God and others.  Someone could live a semblance of an existence outside of this truth, but I would argue that without this truth being relevant in our everyday living we wouldn’t be living at all.

I think this might be one of the reasons I enjoyed the seasons and the ending of LOST so much.  I suppose if I was going to take possession of a truth about that show this would be it.  “My truth” about LOST is that it was one of the greatest shows ever made and had one of the most beautiful and well thought out endings I have ever seen.  It’s been a while since any form of media has been able to achieve an emotional response from me like the responses I had multiple times while watching that finale.

peace,

Greg

This video is right on about what’s all wrong…

please share your comments…

automated automation

There are very few things in this world that truly annoy me.  (getting pooped on by a bird, people who walk in the street when there is a sidewalk, etc.)  But in the last few months I have developed a genuine distaste for a new annoyance and up until recently I really couldn’t tell you why.  I like McDonald’s sweet tea, so naturally I find myself in the drive thru of McDonald’s on a regular basis.  I have to ask, am I the only one who can’t STAND the pre-recorded “it’s a beautiful day to try a new (insert food/drink item here)” messages that you are greeted with every time you go through the drive thru?

We all know the speakers and microphones on the drive thru are one of the best examples of HORRIBLE technology in the first place, but the pre-recorded messages that blares out of them now are just adding insult to injury.  Well, maybe not injury, but at least annoyance.

I think it bothers me because the drive through experience is already impersonal enough, adding a pre-recorded message to the whole encounter gives me the same feeling I have when I call my bank and have to sit through three minutes of “automated menus” before I can talk to a live person.  (add that to my list of annoyances)

But enough about that, I actually don’t want this to be a rant on my annoyances in life, even though that’s how it’s started.  I’m sharing these thoughts because of something I read last night in a book I started reading.  The title of the book is “The Jesus Way”, by Eugene Peterson.  In the introduction of the book he makes a truly brilliant observation about the message and “way” of Jesus…

“The prevailing ways and means cirricula in which we are all immersed in North America are designed to help us get ahead in whatever field of work we find ourselves: sales, and marketing, politics, business, church, school and university, construction, manufacturing, farming, laboratory, hospital, home, playground, sports.  The courses first instruct us in skills and principles that we are told are foundational and then motivate us to use these skills so that we can get what we want out of this shrunken, dessicated world, flesh and devil field.  And of course it works wonderfully as long as we are working in that particular field, the field in which getting things done is the end.

When it comes to persons, these ways of the world are terribly destructive.  They are highly affective in getting ahead in a God-indifferent world, but not in the community of Jesus, not in the Kingdom of God.”

After reading that I realized that Jesus’ “way” truly isn’t of this world at all.  Peterson goes on to reference how we’ve allowed the world’s “way” to influence our churches and cites that as a main reason why so many “Christians” are so consumer based in their pursuit of their faith.  I don’t want to pursue Christ as a consumer, last time I checked the word, it read that He was the consuming fire, not us.  We aren’t supposed to be consumers, but be consumed.

I think that’s truly why the pre-recorded messages at the drive thru bother me so much.  We live in such a “disconnected” world already, and to take something that is already disconnected and figure out a way to make it even more disconnected is truly disturbing.

…or maybe I’m just mad because I have to wait an extra 13 seconds to get my sweet tea.

peace,

Greg

I chased down the postman today!

Not in a bad way though. A few weeks ago I found an AMAZING deal on a set of brand new Specialized bib shorts and matching jersey on ebay.  So I ordered it and have been waiting, not-so-patiently, for them to arrive so I could try them out

So I get home to have lunch with my wife and I see a little “we were here, but missed you” sticker from the USPS on my door.  At first I conceeded that I would have to wait until tomorrow to go pick up the package from the post office…until.  DUN DUN DUHHHHHH!

I noticed that the post woman’s (yes, we have a post woman, not a post man) truck was still parked down the street, so I knew she was still walking around our neighborhood somewhere.  So, of course…the hunt was on.

I started driving around and actually found a postman just a few blocks away from our house.  So I parked the car and went running up to him (a little crazy I guess) and was disappointed to find out that he only serviced the neighborhood to the south of ours, not ours.  He did inform me of where my postwoman would be though!  So the hunt was on again!

Drove a little while longer and found her just a few houses down the street from our home.  Gave her the slip of paper that was on our door, showed her my ID and voila…I got my new bib shorts and jersey!

So, ok, maybe it’s not the most dramatic or interesting story you’ll read today, or even in the next five minutes.  But I had fun with it so I thought I would share it with all of you!

Have a great day and enjoy the beautiful weather!!!

peace,

glo

been a while since I felt that…

An “interesting” thing happened this afternoon.  I was sitting in my office when I noticed someone on a bicycle ride in front of the church.  I heard the front door opening, but was on the  phone so it took me about 30 seconds to get off the phone and go see who it was and how I could help them.  Well, I couldn’t find anyone.  I looked in the daycare, the lounge, the bathrooms and even the sanctuary.  Whoever it was had disappeared, or so I thought.  I saw that their bike was still out front so I knew they had to be in the church somewhere and this is where it got interesting.

I walked back into the sanctuary to turn the lights on and have a look around and a homeless man popped his head up from behind our sound booth.  He quickly ran around the booth and out into the foyer of the church.  I stopped him and asked him what he was doing back there and he said “oh, nothing, just putting my backpack down.”  Well, that was a half-truth…

I walked behind the sound booth to find the church’s laptop computer disconnected and laying on the floor right where he had been 15 seconds earlier.  Basically he was going to walk into a church in broad daylight (during Passion

week, none-the-less) and steal our laptop computer…and then lie to the pastor about it!

I confronted him about it and he said he just “needed money for a bus pass”.  I told him the only thing I was going to offer him was 30 second to get out before I called the cops.  So he left with me walking right behind him until he was completely out of sight.

I guess that’s just another day in the lift of a Pastor?

Watery tarts throwing swords!

I was hit with a thought yesterday that I can’t get out of my head. Have you ever taken the time to consider the differences between how Jesus came into His kingship and how all other earthly kings did? I started thinking about this because I don’t believe we, as Americans, can truly understand what it means to live in a Monarchy system of government. But when I really started thinking about it, even comparing Jesus rule to an earthly monarchy doesn’t do it justice.

Earthly kings come into their kingdoms in basically one of two ways. They are either born into their position or they take it by force. Jesus’ method of taking His place as King was the anti-thesis of both of those models.

He wasn’t born into His kingdom (in regards to the Passion week), He was murdered into His kingdom.

He didn’t take His kingdom by using force against others, He took His kingdom by allowing others to use force against Him.

Not only is Jesus a King. He’s THE King. It’s not fair to attempt to compare His authority and rule to any other king in the history of humanity. When John saw Jesus on the isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:12-20) he fell to the ground as a dead man. This is not the common reaction that people have when they encounter a member of royalty. This is something more.

So what does this mean for us? I can’t get the following passage out of my head, and I could be wrong…but what if I’m not?

Matthew 11:12 – From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Think about this passage in relation to how Jesus came into His kingdom. He didn’t exemplify a violent life against other people, obviously it was the exact opposite of that. His kingdom advanced when people took actions of violence and force against Him! If you are familiar with church history you also know that the times in which the church has grown the most and been the strongest has not been because of military might or conquering armies, but when the church was suffering violence and persecution. These are the times throughout history where we see the church moving in the most power.

What if…and it’s a big “IF”, Jesus wasn’t saying that we are going to advance the kingdom by violence ourselves (physically or meta-physically), but what if He was trying to communicate that His kingdom will advance the most and take the most authority when the “violent” and “forceful” come against it?

For another perspective consider this fact. The times when the church has been the most corrupt has been when it was governed by rulers who tried to establish it by force and law. Anyone remember the crusades? That was a government run church system.

I don’t know what the full implications of these thoughts are yet, I’m still processing through them. He just hit me up with all this stuff yesterday. But I think it’s important to consider these things, especially in the social/cultural/political atmosphere that we live in today.

So, I’ll leave you with this question. Are you making the same mistake I made of trying to ascribe to Jesus qualities of an earthly king? He is not an earthly King, and His kingdom is not of this earth either. He is the King of Kings. Are we living like “Dennis the peasant” or John the apostle on the isle of Patmos? The two reactions to their “kings” are polar opposites. We will all fall on one side of that scenario or the other. I pray to be more like John than Dennis.

peace