Justification

Here is a quote from an NT Wright interview based on his new book on Justification that I am really excited to read:
"because the question Paul is asking is not, 'How can you get enough righteousness so that when God looks at you he’ll be happy with you?” but, “How can you be sure that you are a member of God’s people, that your sins are forgiven, and that therefore you are part of the covenant purposes of God which, ever since Abraham, have been the way in which God was addressing and rescuing the world?' "

Marley, Chief and Me.

Lindsay finally got me to watch Marley and Me last Saturday night. I still hadn’t recovered from watching 8 Below three years ago, and didn’t know if I was ready to watch another dog movie because without fail the dog dies at the end. I reluctantly watched the young couple get their dog at the beginning of their marriage just like us. Lindsay and I got Chief right around the time we got married and Chloe soon after on our first married Valentine’s Day. As a grad student I was perplexed how another grad school couple with a similar income could afford to go on vacations and afford a new car when we couldn’t, until I realized that the only other expense we had that they didn’t was our two dogs. These dogs have cost us a great deal, but there is a reason they are called man’s best friend. Dogs truly do love you for who you are and just want to be around you.

UPDATE-This blog turned out to be ominous foreshadowing. I wrote this blog earlier last week and didn't post it when we found out that Chief had cancer. After removing two cancerous tumors from his hip, the vet said that he had a fifty percent chance that the cancer wasn’t in his blood stream. We spent last week dreading the results of Chief's blood work. Today we heard the good news that the cancer wasn’t in his blood stream. After finding out that most likely Chief will not have anymore cancer, he is going to be extremely disappointed that the preferential treatment he experienced last week will not last. Lindsay and I sure are glad that Chief is back to sleeping in the living room and eating his regular diet.

Memoirs of a church planter- Vol 1

Planting a church has been quite an adventure so far, and it’s only going to get more overwhelming, exciting and stressful as we get closer to our weekly launch in October.
Here are three of the lessons I am learning:
1. Measure twice, cut once. We only get one chance to establish our initial DNA and we will be affected by this DNA for years. If (and that’s a big “If”) we can thoroughly measure out who God is leading us to become, then we will save ourselves a lot of cutting down the road.
2. Make the ask. The leaders in my life that have blessed me the most have been the ones who have painted a picture of who I could become and invited me to become that person. Many of us are waiting for someone to give us the opportunity to grow, and those of us who God has entrusted with leadership roles owe it to them to give them those chances.
3. Don’t fear the “no.” When I was in college, I would invite people each week to make the forty-five minute drive with me out to the country church where I preached. Fifty percent of the people who said they would go with me would never show up at my house on Sunday morning. This lesson has helped me more than most lessons I learned in grad school. People will dissappoint you, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be a disappointing person.

Venture's Location

We finalized our Sunday meeting place for our first year at Venture- Crownover Middle School. It's a great location and has great space for children's ministry. We are pretty excited about it.

Venture

We finally got something up on Venture's website- Venturecommunity.org. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will start to take more shape. On May 15th we will have our last vision casting meeting and then we will transition to weekly small groups as we build towards our first preview service on July 12th. I am sure these next three months will go quickly. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Denton Project Update

We finally decided on a name for our church and purchased our domain name. Our website should start to have some stuff on it soon, but until then check out this preview for our site and our name.

MacChurch

Within a few days of getting my first Mac laptop I was hooked because of the seemless interface with my Ipod, camcorder, camera, calender, phone, etc. Since all of these things work together so smoothly I have ended up use them more often and more efficiently . I hadn’t purchased many CDs in the last few years, but once I had easy downloading capabilities from Itunes I began purchasing music almost weekly. As I am now about to get my third Mac laptop I must admit that I am committed to the brand.

So the question is how do we develop a church that can be as seamless as Mac? How can we let all of the expressions of our Christianity go smoothly together instead of the seemingly disjointed church experience of which many of us have grown tired or just begrudgingly accepted. How does our personal reading of scripture and other spiritual disciples get incorporated into our church life? How can we serve our local community with our church community? How does what our kids experience on Sunday morning affect them and our family throughout the week? How does what we hear on Sunday morning interface with our small group? I know that just as I was less likely to drive to a music store and buy a CD, but very likely to download music off of Itunes, many people will be more willing to engage in the Christ life if they have that same accessability.

My answer-simplicity. The more the words, the less the meaning (Eccl 6:11). We need to speak less words and do less activity for more meaning. Getting people busy or always at the building (if you have one) doesn’t produce more Christ-likeness just as hanging aroud the biology department doesn’t make you a doctor. What makes someone like Christ is enabling them to embark on the venture of following Jesus. We need to do a few things that all explicitly tie to a singular vision of Christ-likeness.

What do you think is the best way to a seamless church?