| [..who i am..] |
|---|
| I am trying to be the best husband to Jessica and father to Connor I can possibly be. In the daytime (and after they go to sleep) I am the Innovative Creative Arts Pastor at Powell Church in Knoxville, TN. I love songwriting, creating stupid videos, apple computers, and pie. |
| [..blogs that i read..] |
| journey to claire |
| real live preacher |
| bill wolf |
| cult of mac |
| adam mayfield |
| bob carlton |
| adam feldman |
| futility closet |
| jeph hurst |
| jason edelen |
| jon reid |
| church marketing sucks |
| kem meyer |
| anthony coppedge |
| betsy wolf |
| mark nelson |
| multi-site arts |
| [..graphic & video resources..] |
| sxc.hu |
| igniter media |
| sermon spice |
| highway video |
| worship house |
| digital juice |
| church marketing lab |
| [..music & artists..] |
| gregadkinsmusic.com |
| greg on Myspace |
| new city cafe |
| bill mallonee |
| the innocence mission |
| andrew peterson |
| andrew osenga |
| over the rhine |
| nickel creek |
| david wilcox |
| rich mullins |
| hem |
| andy gullahorn |
| jill phillips |
| arthur alligood |
| dave potts |
| [..my so called music career..] |
|
| [..52 songs in 52 weeks..] |
|
| [..where i serve..] |
| powell church |
| [..disclaimer..] |
| I am on staff at Powell Church in Knoxville, TN but the opinions, thoughts, comments, and humor on this page are solely my own. Wade in at your own risk and be warned, I'm a bit of a goofball. |
| [..my site feed..] |
| RSS |
| [..archive..] |
Bobble Head Theater Episode Five now online!
Bobblehead Theater Episode Five is now available for your downloading pleasure. Go HERE to download it. It's a 59 MB Mpeg1 file so you'll need a fast connection to download it but it's worth it. If you can't download it, it's also available as a streaming video file, but it is very low quality.
This time, Davey and the boys act out a scene from "Fellowship of the Ring". Starring Mr. T, Barbara Bush, Buddy Holly, Lucky Charms Guy, Greg Brady, and Buddy Lee. Funny stuff!
Oh man.. this is not the time to be...
French Guard I'm French! Why do think I have this outrageous
accent, you silly king-a?!
What Monty Python Character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
An interesting quote
Thanks to Andrew Careaga for posting the following quote..."Jesus was the first rock star. The cross is the biggest, greatest piece of merchandise in history, bigger than any concert T-shirt. And Jesus was the first dead rock star. Like Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix, he became immortal by dying. A dead rock star becomes perfect, and he'll be that forever. He'll never change, never get old, never turn into something less great than at his peak, at the moment of his death."
Oh... who is the quote from? Marilyn Manson.
Not saying I agree totally, but very thought provoking. The cross is, no doubt, in our culture, a piece of merchandise... and the church is mostly to blame for this. Just walk into any Christian bookstore and you'll see... the cross may represent free salvation, but if you want to wear it, you're going to have to pay.
Back in late college days, I was the mid-day D.J. for a modern rock station. In an interesting turn of events, I quit the station because I felt like we were playing too much Marilyn Manson and I was being asked to hype him up. I couldn't bring myself to actually promote him to kids so I felt like it would be better to quit, which I did. (In retrospect... as the only Christian on the station, I could have done more good by staying, but oh well... I was a kid). Anyway, the guy they hired to replace me was high school buddies with Marilyn Manson back in Ohio. He had all kinds of stories of how he used to see him at church events and how he gradually got more reclusive and darker. I wish I could recall them more clearly but again, this was a few years back. Anyway, kind of interesting how that all played out.
Oh, the above quote is from this month's Rolling Stone issue on American Icons.
A bit swamped...
Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I've been a bit swamped with work and home and just kind of taking a break from the hectic speed life has been traveling at. Life hasn't been without good material though... A few things I've been wanting to mention...1. The book "Alternative Worship" by Jonny Baker and Doug Gay is UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. What an outstanding resource!!! These guys have put together a useable, creative, imaginative book full of ideas for progressive worship. Almost all of this stuff is useable and I can't recommend it highly enough. You'll have to order it from Amazon UK as it isn't available in the states but it's worth it. Cost me about $22 including shipping and came in about a week. Great stuff!
2. Saw Nickel Creek last night in concert at the beautiful Tennessee Theater. I'll have pictures up tomorrow... unreal. Those guys can flat play! The highlight was the 2nd encore, they unplugged and stepped to the front of the stage. They played 3 songs without amplification in a very big theater... I talked to a guy who was in the back of the balcony and said he could hear perfectly. The room has great acoustics but they can flat out SING. The highlight was they closed with a stunning version of "Be Thou My Vision". About 2 lines in, the singing of the crowd rose up and just filled the room. It was beautiful to hear a hymn sung in that setting. There was no mention of Christ, Christianity, or anything, but it is obvious in watching Nickel Creek that they are doing the work God gave them to do. They don't make a big deal of it, they just do it. The crowd was so diverse and obviously full of people of all different faith's. The singing of this hymn was one of the best "church" experiences I've had in a long time. Beautiful.
3. Working on a new Bobble-Head Theater video that will be online tomorrow for everyone to enjoy. This is a different take as the Bobble-Head guys are acting out a scene from Fellowship of the Ring for your viewing pleasure. Should be up by 6:00 tomorrow.
4. Pray for me to have patience in a situation I'm dealing with at church. The traditional approach versus a progressive approach is being discussed among leadership and one of the fellows of an opposing viewpoint just absolutely boils my blood some of the things he says. I won't go into it, but I really need God to help me because half the time, I want to just punch him in the mouth, which of course, would be bad and would probably get me fired. I don't want to feel that way... I know he can't help how he was raised and who he is, but when he says things like "someone needs to tell our new intern to get rid of that ear-ring" I just want to grab him and shake him so hard and scream at him "I DON'T INVITE MY FRIENDS TO CHURCH BECAUSE I'M AFRAID THAT THEY MIGHT RUN INTO YOU... YOU... YOU... BUTTHOLE!".
5. Sorry for that outburst. Like I said. I need prayer. For real. I need to not be angry about this.
Oh, and tomorrow I'm getting my ear pierced and a dragon tattooed on my face like Mike Tyson.
Justin Gottlieb... COME ON DOWN!
Congratulations to Justin Gottlieb who won the "leave me a comment" contest from Friday! Since we didn't reach 40 comments, he doesn't win all 4 prizes, but he did win one! He chose to get a book of my choosing and I choose "Soul Tsunami" by Leonard Sweet, a great read! Congratulations Justin and enjoy the free book.
Now... if I can only convince OTHER bloggers to give away free stuff... yess.... thennn.... I will ruulee..... the WORLD!
What's New...
First of all, there is a brand new section up on the Graphic Archive. Check those out!
Also have some new reviews online both of books and CDs for you to check out. They are:
Richard Shindell - Somewhere Near Patterson
Will Kimbrough - Home Away
Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius
Various Authors - Stories of Emergence
I came across this hilarious list of the best quotes from the war by Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf. These were all made during the war. Hilarious classic stuff!
"they are nowhere near the airport ..they are lost in the desert...they can not read a compass...they are retarded."
"I triple guarantee you, there are no American soldiers in Baghdad."
"God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."
"My feelings - as usual - we will slaughter them all"
"We made them drink poison last night and Saddam Hussein's soldiers and his great forces gave the Americans a lesson which will not be forgotten by history. Truly."
"Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the gates of Baghdad. Be assured, Baghdad is safe, protected."
"We will slaughter them, Bush Jr. and his international gang of bastards!"
"They think we are retarded - they are retarded."
Here's a shot from Wednesday night's dumpster worship service. It was a pretty strong visual and the smell was also quite rancid. It made the point though... we know that God will meet us at our worst... at our most broken... at our most destroyed... at our most rancid. That's Ben Lakin on the left and me on the right. In retrospect, it was pretty mean for me to put him in the trash dumpster while I got to chill in the recycled newspaper dumpster. No comparison in terms of nastiness really. :)
Not even close!
Well, we only got 16 comments instead of the 40 we were looking for... oh well. Better luck next time! But, as a show of extreme kindness, I have randomly chosen from the people who submitted and the winner is: Justin Gotteib! He gets to choose one prize from the stash below. I'll let you know what he chooses.
Thanks for playing! All of you who entered will receive a lifetime supply of Turtle Wax and a case of Rice-a-Roni, the San Francisco Treat!
A special day!!!
With many thanks to Andrew Careaga, I hearby declare today, April 24th as LEAVE A COMMENT ON EMERGINGMINISTER.COM DAY! As a special bonus, if the number of comments on this post reaches 40 (that's 40 comments by 40 unique people), I will draw 4 numbers between 1 and the number of comments received and the winners will each receive a very special gift!
Johnny, should we tell them what they're playing for? Well okay then! You'll be playing for:
1. A 2 CD live show from Bill Mallonee and the Vigilantes of Love featuring over 20 great songs!
2. A copy of my Christmas CD (yes, I have my own Christmas CD!)
3. A chance to write your very own entry on my blog on anything you want. Not a comment... an actual blog entry. Whatever you want!
4. A book of my choosing that doesn't suck.
So, there you have it! 4 great prizes for the lucky winners! Post away! Remember, for the prizes to be valid, we have to get to 40 unique comments so everybody needs to throw one on there!
I'm reading an interesting book today called "Bobos in Paradise" by David Brooks. It's about a new social class he calls bourgeois bohemians which are rich people who act like hippies (that's a very short summary... the book is very in depth). Basically, it talks about millionaires who wear hiking boots and like to drink cappuchinos at Borders and how weird that is when compared with the 80s. ANYHOO...
At one point he talks about the film the Graduate with Dustin Hoffman and it got me thinking that this film is a great analogy for us to use now. Listen to Brooks' words:
"The most famous wedding moment of the period, of course, was the one that took place in the last scene of The Graduate. Elaine, the Katharine Ross character, is going through a conventional, if rushed, wedding ceremony in a modern Presbyterian church in Santa Barbara, with a starched blond doctor of the WASP variety. We know he's retrograde because he proposed by suggesting "We'd make a great team" - a phrase that captures the supposed emotional coldness of the WASP culture, as well as its insistent sportiness. Disheveled Ben (Hoffman) rushes into the church just as the ceremony is ending, pounds on the glass on the balcony overlooking the nave, and calls out Elaine's name. Elaine looks up, sees the vicious expressions on her parents' and her husband's faces, and decides to run off with Ben. Elaine's mother, Mrs. Robinson, hisses, 'It's too late,' and Elaine shouts back, 'Not for me!'. Ben and Elaine ward off the family and the rest of the crowd and dash onto a public bus. The long final scene shows them sitting side by side on that bus, Elaine in her torn wedding dress. At first they look elated, but then they become more and more sober, and finally they look a little terrified."
I picture so many Christians now, stuck in the rut of the modern church while the elders nod their approval. A changing and emerging church meanwhile pounds on the glass and those trapped get that glimmer of hope in their eye that maybe there's something better out there... out of the safety... out of the confines. Some will hiss "It's too late!" while some will simply stare. Some of those inside will be content to stay where they are but others... you and I perhaps will cry out "Not for me!" and run for the exits on the way to something different... something real and alive. As we ride off on the bus, our wedding dress a bit torn from the wear (I love that analogy), we just might go through those same emotions... elation to be gone leading a bit to fear. But this is a good fear... it's the same fear I faced on my wedding day to my wife. I had no idea what was coming for us or how on earth I would know how to get through it, but I knew that God was true, and my wife would be beside me, and that was enough to make all fears subside.
I'd love to hear further thoughts on this... If you haven't seen The Graudate, you might want to check it out! Great flick!
The Well Tonight...
Tonight should be an odd service. It's beautiful here so we are meeting outside with the centerpiece of the service being our dumpster... our great big trash dumpster. We are going to have the worship band inside the dumpster and our speaker will deliver his message from inside it as well. We're talking tonight about God's willingness to get his knees dirty. As a reflection on Christmas and Easter, we're reminded that God came into and went out of this world in disgusting circumstances. In a barn... at the city dump. Wherever we are at, God will surely meet us... we don't have to clean up our act before we can ask Him for help. I'll try and take some pictures and have them for you tonight.
Oh.... My.... Gosh....
This morning, at around 4:00 am... someone from the UK surfed on over to UK google, did a search, and found my site. Their search? What did they search for you ask? What were they looking for that brought them here? To emerging minister dot com? The suspense is killing you? You must know?
Google Search: "FUNNY MPEG IMAGES OF A SICK ADULT NATURE".
wha wha wha WHAAAAA? augity augity augity augity arrrroooo? (say that out loud real fast and that's what I said.)
Worship analogy of the night
I have two shih-tzu dogs, Emmy Lou and Molly Sue. See, a good southern dog needs a good southern name, thus, the Lou and the Sue. And yes, the first is named after Emmylou Harris. Anyway, my dogs are relatively mellow creatures... like to lay and sleep, chew on toys, normal dog stuff. As I go about my business in the house, they are usually content to lay around and watch. However, if I am to get down in the floor, either sitting or laying, well then... they instantly go bananas. They come running, tails wagging, usually bringing the gift of a chew toy or a sock, ready to play. Nothing makes them happier than to have their dad get in the floor with them and play. Anyway, there's an analogy in there somewhere.
There's a boy in my church who just came to Tennessee to live with some family because his parents could no longer handle his behavior. We'll call him John. This was kind of a last resort for his family, sending him down here. Anyway, he's been in town for about a month. This past Friday, he found out that his girlfriend from back home killed herself and the only note she left behind said only: "I miss John".
The girl's family has asked him to come and be with them for comfort and to help them maybe understand why this happened. This boy is only a sophomore. When he found out this had happened, his immediate response was to get baptized, which he did on Sunday. So, I know already that God is moving here... if you have a free second, just say a quick prayer for a young man to somehow find wisdom beyond his years to get through an impossibly tough situation.
Response to Doug Pagitt post
Read this post from Doug Pagitt's blog.No, really, go read it really quick.
This really hit me a strange way and I'm hesitant to respond as this will be my first "opposing viewpoint" response to anyone in this discussion, but I do feel a need to respond to this post. I'm inspired to respond because I think on the surface, I would be one of the people he is talking about. To someone in tune with these things attending our Wed. @ the Well service, they might say, "same old way of doing church with some candles and a wacky service order, but nothing groundbreaking." I've seen lots of pomo styled services that also kind of fit this... really edgy in their service, but the outward appearance that perhaps there isn't much beneath the surface.
Doug is the pastor of a very progressive and by all accounts wonderful church called Solomon's Porch. I've looked at their website (I have it linked even!) and it looks like they are doing some wonderful things. There are lots of churches like this springing up all over the place and I'm amazed at the great work they are doing in the body of Christ. I am OFTEN fighting feelings of jealousy, longing to work in such a "cool" church. I know with my gifts and the way I am wired, I would fit right in.
But, as it stands, I do believe I'm called to be where I am now, and I love it here. I can only imagine what it would be like to be in one of these progressive new churches... these churches where our way of doing things takes precident... where the only limitations are the truth and our own creativity... where everyone around you "gets it". That's not my world... my world is trying to foster change by working within a more traditional congregation, helping to expand our vision to include people our church hasn't normally gone out of its way to reach.
I have a deep desire to "reach for something new"... however, my approach to that has to be sensitive to a leadership board of more traditionally minded men who sometimes are slow to embrace change. Therefore, the way I live out a postmodern approach to church, is by nature, going to look very different than it will in a cutting edge new church. I know that what I am doing will take time... will take dialogue... will take patience... will take stretching. I know that from the outside looking in, it may look like the same old thing in a shiny new wrapper. Doug says in his post that we need people "willing to step into the future". I agree... but remember, that some of us are still in Gumpish leg braces and aren't quite ready to break into a sprint.
I believe that God will use us both in a mighty way. Churches like Solomon's Porch (and others I have linked to the left) are doing it now, and doing it well. I think they are reaching those who are ready to face this brave new world we call emergent faith head on... they are convinced things have changed and are ready to embrace a new approach to living out their faith. Others, are working with some of the gatekeepers, trying to nudge them to notice that things have indeed changed and that their models for church are not going to last forever. Change here will come slowly and instead of people running towards the light, it will be more like tiptoeing up to the edge of an unknown abyss. I believe that both camps are essential. I also hope that those in the fast lane won't get to moving so fast that they leave me and others behind. If those of us within this conversation begin competing with one another, we will fall into the same traps that crippled those who came before us.
Enough with this Stations of the Cross madness!!!
Okay, for real, this is the last post. Just wanted to let everyone know that VIDEO from Stations of the Cross is now online.
This is footage I shot of the empty stations so you can see exactly how we set it up, just to give an idea if you would like to ever do this in your community. At the end of the clip, is some footage of people going through the stations. The video is not available for download because it is 11 minutes long! Instead, it is a Real Video file you can watch with the Real player. I hope it is useful to some of you.
Finally, my recap. It was beautiful. It was difficult to participate on the same level as everyone else because it was totally new to them. I helped set it up which made going through it perhaps not quite as powerful as it was for others. It was beautiful to watch our whole church go through on Wednesday night. We designed it for our college group but the high school group came too and then, the adult class came through. At one point, we had folks kneeling from 6th grade up to a man in his 80s. It was beautiful to see the body of Christ coming together in rememberance and worship on common ground. The generation gap is so wide in our congregations but I was once again reminded that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
We liked the Stations enough to leave them set up for all church worship Easter Sunday morning. As I was going through rehearsal and sound check this morning, a beautiful thing happened. Five elementary school girls were playing in the sanctuary in their easter dresses and hats when I noticed that they had begun looking at the stations. They started at the beginning and at first were giggling and goofing off but after the second station, they started following the directions... praying the prayers, kneeling, they even took communion at the end (with 4 day old bread no less!). It was a beautiful act of worship from these kids who weren't asked to do it, they just saw it and did what came naturally.
If anyone has an interest in this, please email me and I can tell you what we did, what others have done, and give you some good resources. Okay, for real! That's the last post on that for this year!
Currently...
READING:
"Renovation of the Heart" by Dallas Willard
"A Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius" by Dave Eggers
"Church on the Other Side" by Brian D. McLaren
LISTENING:
"The Thorns" by The Thorns (Matthew Sweet, Evan Dando, Shawn Mullins)
"Making God Smile" - Various artist tribute to Brian Wilson
"Divine Discontent" by Sixpence none the Richer
"She Must and Shall go Free" by Derek Webb
"Somewhere near Patterson" by Richard Shindell
Excellent post on Rob Graham's blog
Check this out... Tears
Christmas and Easter and Hype.
I was thinking today... driving in from home to work, I pass a whole lot of churches. Most of the churches have big banners out front advertising their Easter programs. Most promise big, flashy, smoke and mirrors and the like. Same deal at Christmas... all the churches in town compete to see who can throw down the most extravagant production. It caught up with me today that it all seems so pointless.
I mean, of all the days in the church calendar that don't NEED any hyping, these are it. The days themselves are the hype. However, as the music minister at a suburban middle-class church, I feel a lot of pressure to "perform" on these days... like, I better come up with something good or I'm going to hear about it. Man, of all the days... I don't NEED to come up with something good! Something good has already been done. I prefer to say that I need to come up with a creative way to tell the story again... that kind of wording gets me more excited than "put on a good show" and the like. As my friend Mark always says (and this line might be from Buechner), we have to continually put new frames on the gospel. Same window... same view... new frames.
I would much rather put my energy and effort into coming up with something good on the "same old Sunday" days... the middle of the summer where people would rather be on the lake or the dead of winter where people would rather be asleep. I know of churches who begin work on their Christmas and Easter plays 11 months before they happen. ELEVEN MONTHS! If I had to spend that much time planning one event, I can't even begin to imagine how pointless I would feel. I would rather make little moments... little impacts... little stories... little discussions than ignore folks for 11 months of the year, building up to the BIG EVENT. Maybe that's just me.
One of the things I love about the emerging church is that there is a greater recognition that these holy days are just that... Holy. Huge productions aren't what we want anymore. We want to be still... to listen to what God is saying... to bask in the glow of a beautiful story, and how it is changing us again. What do YOU think?
The Worst Christian Singer in History
Check it out... my prayers have been answered as Carman performances are banned in Iowa.
If like me, you ever had to endure a youth group performance of Carman's "The Champion" at a week of church camp, this will make you laugh out loud. This reminds me... I have a friend who lives in Nashville who SWEARS that the following story is true:
A friend of her's went on a blind date with Carman (I know... gross!). Anyway, Carman picks her up in his brand new black Lexus and lets her into the car like a gentleman. He suavely walks around the car and gets in, closes the door, and says with total sincerity: "So... which one of my CDs do you want to listen to?".
For real. She SWEARS it is true!!!
Via Dolorosa pictures now up
Go here.
The dance
I led worship this morning for an area Christian middle school's morning chapel service. The service opened with one of the students doing an interpretive dance to the song "When you Believe" from the film "The Prince of Egypt". She was exceptionally talented and the dance was beautiful. What amazed me was... the kids paid attention. They went from talking and carrying on one minute to being mesmerized by this dancer. As soon as she started, mouths froze, eyes fixed, minds cleared.
Then I got up to lead worship. This was met with the usual junior high responses... some kids totally into it... others talking to each other... others checking out the hotties... some had their hands jammed in their pockets, looking at me with their best "this is so totally lame" expression. Some of those kids have the apathetic sneer down to a science. Like munchkin kurt cobains. Anyway, if you've worked with Junior High kids before, you know how they are. Worship here was about par for the course.
But I can't get over the difference between me and the dancer... I went immediately after her, and the responses from the students couldn't have been more night and day. I represented the modern as we would say... a worship leader, older than they are, getting up, leading songs they know. Fine, fun, no problem. Response was alright but nothing special. The dancer represented the postmodern... one of them... part of their community (I am not)... not speaking but saying more than I would have said in 20 songs... artistry and beauty. The response to her was... well, worship, or at least from what I could see... the kids were drawn in by the dance in a way that I could not have done with a guitar.
It was quite interesting. Made me feel outdated but it also gave me another dose of hope.
Too tired to blog
Wow. Stations of the cross is over. Went great. I'll tell all about it tomorrow, with video and stills. I'm going on fumes now though. Must.... sleep... now....The second to last post on Stations of the Cross
Last night my wife and I were at church until nearly midnight trying to finish stations of the cross. We cranked up some Sarah Masen on the sound system (tangent: Sarah's husband is author David Dark and I highly recommend his book "everyday apocalypse". end tangent), loaded up on sweet tea (true southern comfort food), and just went nuts hanging fabric, setting up candles, etc. I can't wait to get some pictures online for you all to see. This has been a lot of fun to set up and like I said before, very emotional to focus on each station.
Someone asked about expenses... we've spent about $60 on everything. About $20 of that has been candles and candle stands (garage sale purchases), about $5 of that was for a couple of cheap picture frames and plate stands (little easel looking things to lean the frames on), and the rest has been on fabric. We're using a LOT of it... black... red... purple... white.... It's amazing what some cheap fabric will do to change the look of a room.
Pray for us tonight. Nearly the whole church is coming through, from our seniors class on down to our junior high kids. Hopefully not at the same time though.
On a side note, last night's American Idol (taped it... watched it when I got home) was AWESOME. I am such a Billy Joel fanatic and they did all his songs. I literally learned to play piano by sitting in my basement with a Billy Joel tape (and and Elton John tape) and figuring out as much as I could. If Ruben doesn't win this show, well... I guess I'll move on, but it will still be lame.
A final side note. 24 is the best show on TV.
Moveable Type?
Hey bloggers... how many of you guys have moved from Blogger to Moveable Type? Advantages? I've been told I need to do it.Pressure
Another topic I'd like to hear comments on...Now that my blog is "out there" (meaning a few people actually read it sometimes), I am feeling unexpected pressure to be interesting. Oh man, it's 5:00... I haven't blogged anything today... got to get something cool out there. This is not a good development... I don't want to feel that way but, humanity what it is, I do.
Do other bloggers feel this? Does that annoying Billy Joel song "Pressure" thump through your brain? If it does, they make a cream for that.
My thoughts are, this will get better as time goes by. Since this blog is relatively new, I'm still having lots of great ideas of things I should talk about here. After awhile, once the new-blog smell has worn off a bit, perhaps this urgency will subside.
Absorbed in the Cross
Sorry I haven't had much time for blogging today. My wife and I were HARD at work tonight, preparing for Stations of the Cross. We worked 5 hours together tonight (in addition to 5 by myself) and it was a really great time. I know my experience going through the finished Stations will be different since I helped create the setup, so I am trying to experience it as I go by totally absorbing myself in each station as it is created.
Tonight we worked on: "Jesus is Condemned to Death"
"Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns"
"Jesus receives his cross"
"Jesus falls down from the weight of the burden"
"Jesus meets his mother"
5 down... 7 to go. I plan on really posting a lot of resources to the site when we are done, including photos, lists of resources used, and also a mpeg video of the stations so you can see exactly what we did. Should be cool!
Set in our ways?
Jeph posed this question in a comment and I thought I would throw it up for all to see... His question is, when our generation is old in 50 years, will we be set in our ways and frightened by what the youth are doing? Will we resist it the same way many traditional folks do now?My answer is... I hope not. I hope that as long as what they are doing is full of truth, I will be not only okay with it, but an encouragement. I think most of the people I know who have fought some of the same fights that I have, will feel the same way.
However, I also feel like, there will always be people who fall extremely liberal... and people who fall extremely conservative. There will always be bickering. there will always be those yelling "My way is the only way" and there will always be fundamentalists. Fundament means butt in the dictionary by the way.
I'd love to hear other thoughts on this.
Frustrating ministry day...
Had a frustrating day today... came head to head with a few folks who are from a very traditional background... I got very frustrated. The more I've thought about it though, the more I've cooled down and realized that they can't help it... it's who they are and all they know. Still, it's very frustrating to believe that no matter what you say, some people will never "get" you.Tradition... Been thinking about that a lot today... about when tradition is good and when it is bad. I think there are a lot of people who confuse tradition with truth. I think I've come to this conclusion. There is nothing at all wrong with tradition. Tradition is a good thing. It is familiar to people, it can bring comfort, trigger nostalgia, stir emotions, etc. Tradition becomes bad when it gets in the way of truth. When tradition (not truth) becomes something unflexible... something you HAVE to do... a barrier, that is when things go wrong.
In my denomination (Christian church which is like a non-denominational denomination if you can imagine that), we have certain "rules" of service. There is always communion. There is always an invitation. There is always a communion meditation. There is always singing. There is always a sermon. That's just the way it is... you don't question that.
Again, none of those things are bad... but the rule that makes them inflexible is. Do any of you struggle with this? I know in newer plants, house churches, and postmodern services, these aren't problems (and they aren't in the pomo service I work with either). But, in my day to day, Sunday morning job responsibilities, these things FRUSTRATE me to no end.
Sorry I'm not making more sense tonight. Just frustrated...
What's New
Under the "culture reviews" heading above, there are several new reviews online.Music - Caedmon's Call "Back Home", Derek Webb "She must and shall go Free", Will Kimbrough "Home Away".
Books - "Stories of Emergence" edited by Mike Yaconelli, "A New kind of Christian" by Brian D. McLaren, "Girl meets God" by Lauren Winner
Film - "I am Trying to break Your heart", "The Good Girl".
Check 'em out... let me know what you think. I'd like to get some discussions going on Christian art / artists and how they tie in to the church now. I know using the arts in church is on the rise right now (at least in these circles) but how can this be broadened? How can we reach out to the artists and let them know we value them? Probably different thoughts for a different blog but if it inspires any thoughts, share in the "comments" section below.
Where to get Candles
As everyone now knows, in the world of worship, if it ain't got candles, it ain't postmodern... or something like that! Seriously though, without allowing it to become a cliche, I really do love candles... They most certainly set a mood, and that can be a very good thing when used effectively.Today my wife and I went garage sale shopping and my goodness... other people must hate candles! We got a carload of candles, funky candle stands, candle trays, etc for about $20. I hear the voice of Rod Roddy... "Actual Retail Price... over one-hundered dollars Bob!".
Seriously though... buy a paper, find garage sales, go to them. I highly recommend the garage sales held by old people in old neighborhoods. You can find some cool vintage stuff there. In the middle class suburbs it's nothing but car seats, cribs, and baby-Gap.
Great googley moogley
If someone finds my site on google or yahoo or something, I can see what they were searching for to find the site. Someone just found my page by searching for:"Mclaren's Cheese Recipe".
Outstanding.
I'm coming home... I'm coming home...
Heading home for the night. Wife and I are going to eat at an awesome hole in the wall called Savelli's, then to see the new Sandler / Nicholson flick "anger management". Looks stupid but Sandler cracks me up. I'll give a report later if it's worth it.
More stations of the cross
Thanks to Jonny Baker for sharing this awesome link. Click the logo to see an awesome shockwave file on the stations of the cross. Great stuff. Thanks Jonny!You must read this...
Just read this great bit from "Stories of Emergence" and wanted to share it with you. This is a quote from Chuck Smith Jr's section. Very very interesting stuff... Parts of it are even convicting.
"I'd like to suggest a problem that might not have occurred to you; the myth that all a church needs in order to increase its appeal to outsiders is a change in its forms. We think that sprucing up the old images and making superficial programmatic changes will result in busloads of new visitors to each of our churches.
A lot of churches are making this mistake right now. Under the banner of starting a Gen-X ministry or attracting baby busters and their younger siblings, many churches have taken steps they feel are bold and innovative. What they have done is merely changed the name of their youth group to something clever, brought in a praise band, added candles, and borrowed a bit from different liturgies. Some of these youth groups have also experimented with the arts, which tends to produce an aura of creativity and openness. A good ruse, actually.
Because clusters of evangelicals - and their children and grandchildren - live in most large communities in the United States, these youth groups with catchy names can potentially attract a lot of young consumers. Perhaps these young adults will bring friends who have no other evangelical influence in their lives. But we're deluding oursleves if we think that we're making a dent in the huge population of post-boomers who are oblivious to our new format and who couldn't even fake interest in it.
Early on we made the mistake of thinking we could change the style of our service and expect the whole community to show up only to find out that when you improve the style of your ministry, the first people to arrive are Christians - bored with their former churches. Church shoppers are always looking for the latest and best entertainment."
Discuss!
Picture from Wed. night
Here's another shot from Wed. @ the Well from this past week. There are more if you click on Wed. @ the Well above.
Hilarious Poster
I used to work in an office that was covered with posters like these. I wish I could have had this then... I could have switched them to see if anyone noticed. Muuuahahaha.
Christian Education...
Just got to thinking while writing a post on Rudy Carrasco's excellent blog Urban Onramps. Here is what I wrote:My wife is a public school teacher here in Tennessee and really values the experience as her ministry. Talking to some friends who have taught in Christian schools here (mostly Baptist), their experiences have been unbelievably bad... poor pay, meddling parents, whiny spoiled kids. Perhaps the mission field there is to save these kids from the Christian ghetto.
I also should say that I know of some good Christian school experiences too. There is a Christian middle / high school here in Knoxville that is pretty together. Anyway, I can't say I have super strong opinions on this as I do not have children and I am not an educator. I imagine that when I do have kids though, that I will develop some strong opinions one way or the other.
Easter
What is everyone doing for Easter in their churches? I'd love to hear some thoughts. I find Easter difficult to plan on a whole-church level because of the severe lack of resources available. This is a good thing though.. at Christmas it's easy to rely on all the music and good feeling to kind of coast through the season without really SAYING anything. Easter doesn't have much of that traditional sentiment... maybe it's the weather warming up or the lack of a static date every year but people usually don't even think about Easter until the week before. Anyway, without all of those things, it gives me a good challenge every year to come up with a way to get people to just slow down, step back, and notice the cross... notice the tomb... notice the truth. Christmas is great but Easter is the deal... the big dance as they say.Are any of you guys involved in service planning ever feeling like there is a lot of pressure on you to produce amazing experiences? I've been in that situation before where I have definitely felt that but I'm getting to the point now where the only pressure I feel is from myself. God gave me creative ability and TONS of creative friends... it would be wrong to be boring when He's enabled me not to be. Now, how you define boring is probably different for everyone, but for me, I just want to get people to see things in a new way. I'm admittedly a bit too reliant on technology tricks, but it really is motivated by a need to create, as my friend Mark says, "new frames for old windows.".
Technology Schmechnology
So last night was one of those nights. We had an elaborate deal planned that hinged on a wireless transmitter from a video camera in the parking lot... when it came time for the feed... static. It had begun to rain and the interference just ruined the whole thing.However, and this never ceases to amaze me, God still moved... the point was still made. Everything was fine. It's interesting... we use a lot of technology and when it works, it usually goes really well. However, when things DON'T work, sometimes they go even better. It's as if God is moving in the chaos more than in the order... God moves when we drop the "service order" and fly by the seat of our pants... I hate it that it God sometimes has to smack us in the face to get our attention. One day, maybe we'll get it right... or maybe not. Either way, still seeking...
Let's Break it Down
I just wanted to take a second to let you guys know what all is on the site, just in case you haven' t looked around fully. First of all, the "emerging content" links to the left will take you to the other sections of this site. These links are replicated up above. Under "graphics", there are over 50 downloadable graphics you can use in worship settings. Under "audio", are MP3s including worship, some great emerging songwriters, and a couple of hilarious songs that you just need to hear. Under "video" we have MPEG1 and streaming real video samples of over 15 videos you can use in worship. These downloadable files can be plugged into any presentation software. Under "culture reviews", You will find music, book, film, and television reviews written by me and my team of reviewers. We have over 20 original reviews up already with more being added every day. Under "worship ideas", you will find an archive of all of the worship thoughts I post here on the main blog page. Finally, under "wed. @ the well", you will find information about the postmodern alternative worship service I work with. There are pictures, downloadable chord charts of the songs we do, message notes, journal entries, and more.Now take a look around! Post a comment! Communicate!
At the Christian Bookstore
Still promising that rant on the Christian bookstore but you know, maybe I can say it better in song. These lyrics are from Jonathan Rundman's awesome song "Christian Bookstore".At the Christian bookstore there is product to be sold
So over there in China there's some little eight year old
Working in a factory and never going home
She's assembling plastic pencil cases with the words to that footprints poem
I wonder if the kids who buy those bible action playsets
ever stage a cleansing of the temple reenactment
Now no one knows for sure, but I think it's safe to say
If Jesus hadn't risen, He'd be rolling in his grave
Way to go Jonathan. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Stations of the Cross
What a cool idea this is! We are going to try it next week in Wed. @ the Well. For those of you who like me up until yesterday, have never heard of the stations of the cross, it is a meditative journey through the last day of Jesus life. If you go to this page at the emergent village you can download a powerpoint presentation that explains it. I'll quote from that:
"Legend has it that the Stations of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa or the Via Crucis, were first walked by Jesus’ mother, Mary, in the years following his death, burial, and resurrection. By the end of the fourth century, scores of pilgrims came to Jerusalem every year to walk along the Via Dolorosa, which traces Jesus’ path from Pilate’s house to Calvary. By the Middle Ages, Christians were recreating the Via Dolorosa all over Europe, some measuring the exact distances between stations. Today, the Stations can be found in most Roman Catholic churches, and they are most often walked during Lent and especially during Holy Week."
Wow. I feel stupid for never even having heard of this but geez... I live in baptist country down here in Tennessee... not a whole lot of Catholics here so I don't feel too bad about it. Regardless, we're going to try it out on the 16th. We'll have pictures to let you know how it went.
Love that Christian Bookstore
I have a rant I'll do about the Christian bookstore one of these days when I have more time but I for now, let me show you a hilarious poster I saw there this past week. I'm proud to say I haven't read ANY of the Left Behind books, although I was forced at gunpoint to watch the movie starring Kirk Cameron. If you want to talk about an awful film... my goodness. I'd rather watch 24 straight hours of "Battlefield Earth" than ever have to sit through that hideous garbage again.Anyway, the poster was for the newest book in the series "Armageddon". I don't have a picture but I've recreated it for you here about the same as it looked:
Oh well, another wrong prediction. April 8th has now safely come and gone so looks like we dodged a bullet people.
And another thing... people always ask Christians if we are pre-trib or post-trib or whatever... it seems like to be a Christian, you MUST have an opinion on the Revelation. Well, I have one... I wish there was a name for it... my opinion is: WHAT DOES IT MATTER???? Who cares if Christ comes this day or that day? He's coming, I trust Him to work out the details. A book of prophecy is meant to have a bit of mystery to it. Why worry so much about interpreting it perfectly... what will it change even if we could figure it out for sure? Nothing. My approach is, I trust God with my future... the book of Revelation is the future... so I trust God to work it out. You can read Left Behind books all day long but you still don't know anything I don't know. This end-times obsession is flat out unhealthy. People need to spend a little more time worrying about the current times and all the things wrong that need fixin right now. As Jesus said: "don't worry about tomorrrow... tomorrow will take care of itself."
Tonight, Tonight, Tonight
Tonight at Wed. @ the Well we are talking about suffering. This is always one of my favorite and least favorite topics. It's a favorite in that it is interesting to discuss (why to bad things happen to good people... if there's a loving God, why do innocent children starve to death?). It's my least favorite in that there are absolutely NO easy answers. A lot of people just throw out some simple answer like "well, because we sinned and ruined the world" which may be true but it doesn't help much for those in the midst of suffering to understand. "Oh, now I get it. Well, if you could help me, let's see if we can get everyone to stop sinning for a few minutes so I can get some freaking food!"That reminds me of something I was reading in Brian McLaren's "the Story we Find Ourselves in" about the different theories of how Christ saves us and at one point he's talking about the Pharisees and how they expected the Messiah to come. I'd never thought about this but he presents it as they felt like in order for the Messiah to come, everyone had to stop sinning. I'd never heard it put that way... they were so high on the law because they felt like all the breaking of the law was keeping Messiah from coming. No wonder they were so angry with Jesus when he would heal people on the Sabbath or say he had the power to forgive sins. That perspective helps me understand where they were coming from a bit better.
I am going to regret this...
Okay Nolan, this is for you. As some of you may or may not know, I majored in creative writing with a poetry emphasis in college. This was NOT because of any desire to be a poet or because of a deep love for poetry. After 4 semesters I sat down with an advisor and said "shoot me straight man... what's the fastest way out of here." His answer was... "poetry". So, and I know I'll regret this, here is a sample of some writing. This is a short poem from 1998.West Knoxville
“I’d fly away from here if the money weren’t so good.”
she sets down a muffin someone else made,
pours a bottomless cup of coffee…
I believe in eternal life
but not now, not here.
Bruce Springsteen screams through speakers.
A flag the size of a drive-in screen
snaps and flutters at who knows
what… ghosts or dreams rising
up from these tables.
Am I supposed to feel something?
Three AM is no time for patriots
with bottomless glasses half empty.
An easier worship idea of the night
Keep a prayer journal. In Wed. @ the Well, we have a book at a table in the back (the book is just a blankbook we bought at Barnes and Nobles) that people can write prayer requests down in. We ask them to leave space in between each request so that they can go back later and write down the ways God answered the prayers. After the service, we type up the requests from the book and email them to everyone who came so that we can be praying for each other.This is a simple idea but a good one for building a community that prays for one another.
Worship idea of the Night
We asked around in our church for old TVs and got about 10 of them donated. In our pomo service Wednesday @ the Well, we now hook up all 10 TVs together by using a simple cable splitter you can get at Radio shack. You may also need a converter if some TVs are coaxial and others are composite. Email me if you have questions about this setup.Anyway, after the TVs are hooked up, we send a VCR signal into the splitter that then goes into all 10 TVs. Depending on the theme of the week, we try and find a looping background (like something from Digital Juice or Highway Video) and play it on the screens throughout the service. We also have filmed our own loops. Or, instead of using a loop, run a video camera instead of a VCR and you can put the camera on a cross, candles, worshippers, whatever. The "wall of tv" effect creates a neat feel to the room and can be really cool. Remember though, the point is NOT to be cool, but to help create a space that people feel comfortable worshipping in. Try not to make your loops too flashy or distracting.
More reviews online
New reviews up under the culture reviews tab at the top and to the left:
Gotta Serve Somebody - The Gospel songs of Bob Dylan
Alison Krauss and Union Station - Live
Jan Krist - Curious
Dar Williams - The Beauty of the RainThrough the roof
Thanks to Jared Williams for presenting this proposition: "Read the story of the men breaking through the roof to lower the paralytic again--this time with the mindset that the four men may represent the picture of the emerging church."What an interesting thought. Let me quote the scripture here first:
"Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'" -- Mark 2:3-5
This spawns all kinds of ideas. Let's look at who each of the people in the story might represent.
The Crowd -- The first thought of interest is that the people themselves were a barrier to Jesus. Is that the church of today? Do the very people who claim to serve Christ actually present a barrier to get past? Sometimes, I think this can be true. There are many many churches who have unspoken rules and if a newcomer doesn't follow them quickly, they are shown the door (or at least ignored). Many people who wear the name of Christ are actually just blocking the door for others. Interesting. God help me if I ever fall into this category (and I'm sure sometimes I have).
The four men -- Lots of possibilities here. These are sympathetic men who want to get a hurting person to Christ no matter what it takes. We can gather from the text that they are very creative. I would compare them to artists of today... looking at the big picture and not afraid to move outside the box. They are determined. It doesn't say the roof had a skylight or anything... they had to dig through a caked mud roof to get through. It even says they had to "dig through it". These guys were in it for the long haul. The third thing I'm guessing about them is that they weren't afraid to get dirty. This is VITAL to emerging church leaders. People aren't looking for the "big-boss-man" pastor anymore that they have to call a secretary to set up an appointment to even get to meet the guy one on one. They want a pastor who is just like them... actually, who serves them... who is lower than them... more humble. They want the pastor that cleans up trash after the fellowship meal.. not who sits at the table of honor and leaves immediately. Our willingness to get dirty will be closely evaluated by emerging generations and they will judge us by it. The fourth thing I learn about the four men is that they were risktakers. Taking a cripple up on the roof of a house isn't very safe... and they didn't care. Those of us in pomo worship planning will probably all agree... if we aren't being told "you are nuts man!" at least a few times a year, we probably aren't taking enough chances. Sometimes we are going to fail but I'd rather die trying than to do nothing.
The cripple - Here is the point of the whole deal. This man was sick. He needed a doctor. It's all about that. The lost coming home... the sick being made well. The emerging church needs to remember that our mission should ALWAYS be about the sick man... not about us. We can share our stories of lowering them through ceilings (and we should) but as soon as we become more interested in our stories than we are about theirs, we have failed. Notice that the text says "When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic...". This is encouraging. If we have faith as church leaders, Jesus will heal the ones we bring before his throne. It's awesome to think that our faithfulness matters and that Jesus himself acknowledges this. The paralytic may have had faith too but it doesn't say that... it says the ones bringing him to the feet of Christ had faith... and that was enough.
Thank you Jared for a wonderful question. I'd love to see your additional thoughts on the topic as well.
One band I don't ever plan to see in concert...
Check out this horrifying story:Death-metal vocalist faces life for an alleged Christian hate crime.Church growth in 2003
That last post got me thinking about this so I'll throw this out there too. I am in a church that has grown from about 250 to about 550 in the past three years (no credit to me... I've only been here since May). I've seen a lot of growth though just in 11 months and I'm noticing a disturbing trend. A lot of people are transferring in because they like our worship or our preacher or our gym or our programs. This frightens me.I also work with a group of Bible College students here in Knoxville. I see the way they attend church and it is the same type thing. Every year it seems, a local church becomes the "coolest church in town" and all the students go there. It changes every year or two and all the students change with it.
Others I've talked to in town are discussing this disturbing trend of "church hopping" or "experience seeking" as I've seen it called. I feel strongly about what I'm about to say: This has to stop. The last thing I want to do in planning a service is to make it so cool that other churches lose members to it. While I can't really control that, it breaks my heart because I know that church members that we love and care about will just as soon do the same to us. Our Wednesday at the Well service is I fear, with some, the "flavor of the week" and I know that what is "cool" today will soon be yesterday's news.
Christ calls us to love His church and I firmly believe that while this means we must love the whole church (global) we must also love A church. Sure, people leave... needs change... relationships change. I understand that. But if we are involved in the church for the experience of the service, we are missing the point badly. I want to see people pour themselves out in SERVING and become so connected to the church and so in love with its people that the worship could all of a sudden become southen gospel and they'd stay anyway because that is their home.
Am I dreaming?
How many is too many?
Our church is in a discussion right now about going to 3 sunday services in the September. This is due mainly to space issues. Our two services are currently about full. Right now, we run 2 blended services... hymns, choruses (yes, like from the 80s), and modern music (Redman, Hughes, Townend, etc) are combined. (for those interested in these things, Check the Wed. @ the Well link above to read about our postmodern service on wed. nights).Anyway, in the fall, we're talking about having a traditional service (hymns only) early, then a blended, then a service with all contemporary. Some in this discussion say "great, people have been asking for this and we can please more people". Others say, "we're separating ourselves... it's 3 separations for now but how many will there be later? Are we opening the door for everyone to demand a service of their own personal favorite style and is that what its all about?".
I know lots of churches do lots of different things so if you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them. I also wonder about this in relation to the emerging church. As we shape services for one group, how many others do we exclude? I've encountered lots of young adults who are simply uncomfortable being in a "free-worship" environment where participation is encouraged (through labrynth, prayer stations, hands-on activities). I realize that this is a circular question with no "right" answer but I wonder about it. God help me if the services I work so hard to plan to reach people for Christ actually keep people away because of their complexity.
Your comments would be appreciated on this one. Click the "comments" button below... let me know what you think.
Jesus Bobble-head?
Okay, this is something I'm struggling with. I collect bobble-heads. I love bobbleheads. Bobble-heads rule. In fact, I have produced a 4 part series of videos called Bobble Head Theater you can watch if you click on the "emerging video" link up above or to the left.The dilemma... do I get a Jesus bobble-head doll? My collection is kept in my office here at the church. Some might say it is sacreligious... others may say "awesome"... but, do I want to take heat over a stupid bobblehead? I'm torn. Help!
Like little children
We had our little little kids choir sing in church this morning (2-4 year olds) and at the conclusion of their song, one of the kids ran off the stage to his mother and shouted "I DID IT!". Laughter erupted from the congregation. What a great moment. There was an obvious connection to be made of running into our Savior's arms and shouting the same thing but I stopped short of pointing it out. I have to fight the urge sometimes to point out the "obvious christian tie-in" sometimes. It's a tough call to make but I think I was right on this one.I was talking to a family after church and they mentioned the thing they hate about most Christian written and themed drama assumes the audience is made up of mouth-breathing morons who can't figure anything out for themselves. That kind of drama spells everything out, leaving nothing to mystery and imagination. I guess this moment was kind of like that. God, I wish I could be that innocent again, and at the same time, I thank God for all I've been delivered from.
I am trying to break your heart
I just watched a great documentary about the band Wilco called "I am trying to break your heart". Great film and I've posted a review under the culture review tab above. Anyway, it got me thinking more than I wanted to write in the review so I figured I'd post it here. In the film, the band gets dropped by their record label when their new record is deemed to be too weird to release. In the end though, when the record comes out, it landed in the top 10 albums and sold 10 times more records than anything they had ever released.
This gets me thinking about the future of music... the future of art. The powers that be think that they run the game churning out Aguileras and the like by the handful, knowning in their boardrooms that the dollars will soon follow. This film is a sign to me that maybe they are starting to lose their grip. They mention in the film that even though they had spend $200,000 on the band to record the album, they didn't think they could earn that back so they dropped them. Forget art... forget beauty... if the money isn't coming, forget it. Boy were they wrong. The public bought it and truth be told, it is a weird record. It's noisy... unpredictable.. strange... but at its core, beautiful. Perhaps art has a chance after all
Can Christians heed the call to strip our faith of all the slickness we have adorned it with and lose the consumer mindset much of christian america is currently in? We've gotten so good at packaging our faith into a tasteful presentation... but perhaps what people are looking for is the truth... unpredictable... strange... noisy... but at its core, beautiful.
worship idea of the evening
Last week we were trying to think of a way to have an extended period of meditation and prayer. We talked about pre-school and kindergarten and asked people to share memories of what that time brought back to them. Then, we had a "nap time" where we asked people to spread out all around the sanctuary and actually lay down on the pews or in the floor, close their eyes, and rest. As they rested, we asked them to focus on God and prepare for a worship time that would follow. As they rested, we played piano music (Linford Detweiler's "I don't think there's no reason to bring Nothin" which is a WONDERFUL album.).This worked well. A couple of students mentioned this was the first time they had actually "rested" before a worship service in a long long time. The time of worship itself was one of the best of the year, mainly due to the focus of the students on the importance of what they were doing.
Worship idea of the afternoon
This is a wonderful creative exercise from Marcia McFee's book "The worship workshop" that I am planning on using sometime in the well.1. Everyone needs to partner up. Each pair has a blank paper and a marker.
2. Both partners place a hand on the marker (yes, 2 hands on 1 pen).
3. Ask the partners to draw "the church" without speaking or giving any verbal clues to each other. Affirm that the church may be interpreted in different ways.
4. When they are done drawing, have each group come hang their picture in the front on a clothesline you have hung in advance.
5. Reflect on the experience of drawing together. How is the experience like the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit within the church?
taken from "The Worship Workshop" by Marcia McFee - page 13"
worship idea of the morning
A really wonderful resource I picked up recently is a book called "The book of uncommon Prayer" by Steven Case.
This book says it is designed for youth groups but it works great in adult settings too. It features some wonderful responsive readings, prayers on many subjects, service ideas (I love the idea for a Christmas service circled up around a hotel dumpster. Very cool), and also comes with the CD "Eucharist", a great techno flavored CD from the UK Alt-worship movement. Lots of useful stuff in this inexpensive little book. You can buy it on amazon.
Reviews now online!
Our first 4 music reviews are now online! They are:
Andrew Peterson - Love and Thunder
Tree 63 - The life and times of Absolute Truth
Lost Dogs - Nazarene Crying Towel
Patty Griffin - 1000 KissesYet another band with a number
My church is hosting a concert next week by up and coming band "Slingshot 57". They are actually pretty good. However, and you teenagers pay special attention... PLEASE STOP PUTTING NUMBERS AFTER YOUR BAND NAME! NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS. Blink 182, KJ52, Pax217, Stroke9, Primer 55, Matchbox 20, are there more? This must stop. I'm not kidding.Entering the Discussion
If you spend any amount of time browsing websites that deal with the emerging church (sites like The Ooze or The Emergent Village you will hear a lot of people use a phrase like "enter the dialogue" or "join the discussion". I feel like I have officially "joined the discussion". I believe that the church is going to have to change because we ourselves are changing. I read the stuff people write and I'm like "Yeah, right on! I've felt that way too!". But I've noticed a disturbing trend...My vocabulary is too small. I can follow these concepts pretty well but some of these people drop "postmodernistic dispensational hermenutics" like it's nothing. Heck, I probably misspelled all three of those words. I rushed out and bought Leonard Sweet and Brian Mclaren's book "A is for Abductive" thinking maybe it would help but I haven't been able to read it yet. I don't know what abductive means so it's scaring me off.
I think I have good things to say in this discussion... I just haven't learned the passwords yet. Note to self... become intellecutal.
Good conversation
I spent about an hour after service Wednesday night talking to 4 college students aged 19, 19, 20, and 23. For reference, I am 28. It was interesting... I was talking about how our church may be going from 2 blended-style Sunday morning services to 3 services (traditional hymns / blended / contemporary) and it was interesting to note their responses. One of them said she would go to the contemporary service no matter what because those songs "connect" with her more than hymns. Another wanted to go to the blended service because she has a traditional background. What I liked best was the answer of the other two. We offer different classes during the worship hours and they said they would choose their class first and then go to worship in the other hour, regardless of style.
What is important to emerging generations? I think that for one thing, the necessity of a "rockin band" is diminishing... the necessity for deep teaching however is absolutely essential. I think emerging generations will value truth and the word over music. That said, music is still important but in an experiental way as opposed to a "wow, those guys are good" way.
Anyway, as I told these 4 students last night about my life... my college degree... all the uninteresting jobs I have had, one of the girls interjected "Hey, when you were starting college, I was nine!". At that point, I threw them out of the church, drove home, and watched "Better Off Dead" on DVD.
Worship Idea of the day - Oz style
We did a night on learning to see God in the everyday. For many of us involved in worship planning, this is a discipline that we develop... we are always looking for the spiritual in everything (often so we can use it in a service... not so it can change us). We wanted to have a night to encourage our attenders to do the same. We took "The Wizard Of Oz" and edited it down to about 30 minutes. You'll need a computer with video editing capabilities to do this. It was tough to get it that short but all of the good stuff was left in.
After watching the film, we broke attenders into groups and asked them to discuss spiritual elements of the film, knowing that the film was not intended as any kind of Christian allegory (like Chronicles of Narnia or anything like that). Here are some of the things they came up with:
"When we are baptized, all history of evil is washed away... when the witch was hit with the water, the evil disappeared."
"Love the Lord with all of your heart, soul, and mind." -- This verse is represented in the scarecrow (mind), the tinman (heart) and lion (courage/soul). The wizard giving them their gifts at the end brought that scripture to mind.
"Crimson blood... crimson shoes."
"Dorothy was immediately amazed by the land of Oz... Oz welcomed her with fanfare and song... however, the longer Dorothy stayed, the more she realized that Oz was not her home and she was a stranger in a strange land. Dorothy's eventual longing for home is the same as what ours should be for heaven."
So, as you can see, it was pretty interesting. Maybe your group could try a different film. Oh yeah, it helps to really play up on whatever you choose to set the mood. We made a yellow brick road out of butcher paper leading into the sanctuary and at the start of the film had 4 guys come out on their knees with giant suckers and after sucking helium from a balloon sing the "Lollypop Guild" song. It was pretty funny.
We're up and running!
Welcome to www.emergingminister.com! We now have the domain name up and running. In the next few days, I plan to have lots of great stuff going here but for now, it's just the blog and the graphic archive. Next up will be the worship ideas page and a barebones review section. Audio, video, and Wednesday @ the Well to follow.
seeking reviewers
For part of the new site launch, I am looking for anyone who would like to write music and film reviews. They don't have to be flashy or elaborate at all. If you contribute, I'll post links to your blog as a "contributing writer" on my front page. I'll also include those links within your reviews. Music, film, television, whatever! Help!
This is from the book of common prayer. Beautiful communion meditation (with thanks to Brian McLaren's "The Story we Find ourselves in" for quoting it).
“Almighty and ever-living God, in your infinite love, You created us for yourself, but when we had fallen into sin, and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. He stretched ou his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts. Sanctify them by your Holy spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him.”
tonight's Wed. @ the Well
today being wednesday, tonight we have our service. This week, our theme is Zzzzzzzz and we're talking about rest and sabbath.
We're taking an idea from Dan Kimball's excellent book "The Emerging Church" and setting the worship team up out of sight in the back of the room. On stage, we have a giant wooden cross we are going to bring out and surround with candles and also an area with bread and juice. This way, instead of people feeling so much like they are at a concert they can focus on Christ. We are going to begin the service with a 10 minute "nap" which is actually a time of meditation... a far longer time than we usually take to prepare to worship. after worship we have a guy singing the Eagles' "learn to be still" to tie in with his message on learning to slow down. Not the most creative night we've ever had but that's actually part of the point tonight... remove distractions... forget about the flashy and learn to be still.
Chicago
By far, the best movie I have seen this year is Chicago. Insanely creative, beautiful, heartbreaking, and entertaining. I was thinking about the "puppet" scene during the song "they both went for the gun" today on the way in to work. If you haven't seen it, in this scene, Richard Gere's character is a lawyer preparing Rene Zellweger's (how do you spell that?) character for her answers to the press and also for courtroom testimony. Rene is made to look like a ventriloquist dummy and she sits on Gere's knee. Behind them is a bunch of reporters all attached to marionette strings that are being pulled from above by... Richard Gere... he's in two places at once.
I was thinking that some people view the world this way... God pulling the strings of those all around us while he works us like a dummy... Particularly, it made me think of Christians who believe they are "God's voice" or, in this context... they are the ones getting to move their mouths... the rest of us just have strings tied around our ankles and wrists. I think of some people I have known in my congregations who believe they have a special connection to God and therefore should be heard above all others. I think of people with huge hair on religious TV. I think of infamous lunatic preachers like the one in kansas city who started the godhatesfags.com website (no link but you should look at it... it is heartbreaking).
Anyway, didn't mean to get off on a tangent but, I recommend Chicago. Actually deserving of the academy award this year. That said, if Return of the King doesn't win next year, I'm never watching those stupid awards again.
Recommended Music... for real
If you haven't heard Beki Hemingway, go to her site right away and check her out. Beki is one of my favorites and if you have a chance to see her live in concert, I would highly recommend it. You can find her tour dates on her website. I would describe her music as somewhere inbetween Patty Griffin and Sheryl Crow, even though I really hate comparisons like that. As frank zappa once said... "talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
confessions of a pathetic addict
So it was about this time a year ago... there was a hot new TV pheom called "american idol" that everyone was talking about. I was talking about it too... usually in these terms: "that show is ridiculous. that manufactured pop is garbage... if you watch that, you are pitiful". You get the drift.Fast forward to this year. A friend invites me to watch the season opener. It was explained that this was the episode to watch because it had people doing impressions of mating yaks set to music and the like. So, I watched it. It was funny. The next week had more of the same... so, I watched it.
And then it was over. I am pathetically hooked. Of course, it doesn't hurt that it comes on right before 24 which I'm getting psyched up for but still... I am hooked. And, I am impressed. The two people who I think are the least "pop" are the two frontrunners. That is Ruben and Clay. I mean, I figured when they started the show their idea of the next big popstar wasn't a 300 pound guy from Alabama. I'm just glad that they're kind of bucking the "pop" tradition this year and going with true ability. Ruben and Clay are both talented guys with big voices and stage presence to spare.
I've been trying to think up a way to play off of this in a church setting. I thought of filming a "mockumentary" of worship team auditions (which we don't even have) where singers come before a mean judge who makes them cry. Might be good for a laugh in one of our summer wednesday night services.
Big Changes
Okay... I know, the blog is only 4 days old but I've got a vision! The blog will be moving to its own domain at www.emergingminister.com. This way I will have web storage space and I can provide content right here on the site like graphics, video, audio, etc. It should be great! I hope to have the site up and running by Friday.Worship Competition?
One of the things I like best about reading many of these worship oriented blogs is the spirit of sharing the wealth. I've known a lot of people in ministry who do something cool in their church but then get offended if another church copies what they did. Here in Tennessee, there are a LOT of churches... one on every block it seems. The climate here is that churches often compete for members and so many Chrisitans now are church-hopping. They are looking for whoever has the "coolest experience". I work with a group of bible college students and have seen that in them. It seems like every few years a different church gets the label of "cool church of the year". God help us if we ever strive to be known as the "cool church"! Through the things we do, some people may see us like that and we can't worry about that, but we must always be about spreading the Gospel of Christ. Any earthly ambitions to boost reputation must be put aside.
I don't know who first said it but it is true that "a rising tide raises all ships on the water." We would do well as a Church to remember that.
