16 December 2007
04 December 2007
Two Jobs
I have officially been working two jobs for the past month. One is my corporate job - 32 hours there - and the other is the part time interim admin at Solomon's Porch.
It has been great to help get the books and other record keeping information up to date at the Porch and feels good to put together some systems for getting stuff done quickly so that this job can live a little less in the grey area. My head has been spinning a little bit, but I am better busy, than I am with free time - so it is generally a good thing for me.
Needless to say, my job search for another church has been a bit delayed. I talked recently to an existing church - and after a phone call and email was interested in the position. Upon reading their website - I found one of the "deal breakers" in their belief statement. It is something that many many wonderful churches have as part of their fait statement, but is just does not sit well with me. I am sensing less and less that there is a church out there who is looking for some one like me - or that I will find a church that matches anything I am looking for.
I believe the type of Christian community I would like to be a part of - wouldn't be looking out side of the community for their next pastor. If resume qualifications are what they are looking for - then they don't understand the work of God and purpose of the Church universal in they way that I do.
It has been great to help get the books and other record keeping information up to date at the Porch and feels good to put together some systems for getting stuff done quickly so that this job can live a little less in the grey area. My head has been spinning a little bit, but I am better busy, than I am with free time - so it is generally a good thing for me.
Needless to say, my job search for another church has been a bit delayed. I talked recently to an existing church - and after a phone call and email was interested in the position. Upon reading their website - I found one of the "deal breakers" in their belief statement. It is something that many many wonderful churches have as part of their fait statement, but is just does not sit well with me. I am sensing less and less that there is a church out there who is looking for some one like me - or that I will find a church that matches anything I am looking for.
I believe the type of Christian community I would like to be a part of - wouldn't be looking out side of the community for their next pastor. If resume qualifications are what they are looking for - then they don't understand the work of God and purpose of the Church universal in they way that I do.
31 October 2007
Stop Junk Mail - Some of it at least.
Here is a way to opt out of pre-approved credit offers:
http://www.creditsourceonline.com/opt-out.html
The short of it is that if you have a good credit rating, the major reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, etc.) sell your information to credit card agencies. So instead of getting pre-approved mailings 5 and 6 times a week the way we used to, with in 2 weeks, we didn't get any more pre-approved offers. I also called all the companies who were mailng on a regular basis.
You can opt out of the mailings for 5 years over the phone, or for your lifetime using a form they will send you in the mail.
Basically all you need to do is to call this number and follow the prompts:
1-888-5-OPTOUT
Most of my junk mail was of this variety. I found the phone number on one of the pre-approved offers that I received, once I took the time to read them and figure out how to opt out.
http://www.creditsourceonline.com/opt-out.html
The short of it is that if you have a good credit rating, the major reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, etc.) sell your information to credit card agencies. So instead of getting pre-approved mailings 5 and 6 times a week the way we used to, with in 2 weeks, we didn't get any more pre-approved offers. I also called all the companies who were mailng on a regular basis.
You can opt out of the mailings for 5 years over the phone, or for your lifetime using a form they will send you in the mail.
Basically all you need to do is to call this number and follow the prompts:
1-888-5-OPTOUT
Most of my junk mail was of this variety. I found the phone number on one of the pre-approved offers that I received, once I took the time to read them and figure out how to opt out.
20 October 2007
WKDU Electronic Music Marathon
Well, 10 years ago in Philadelphia a couple of guys (one of them me) had an idea to start an electronic music marathon to raise money for local charities on our college station. This is the 10th year of the WKDU Electronic Music Marathon.
Each DJ plays for an hour and raises money like a walkathon.
If you like the electronic stuff - tune in - you can also donate on line to the PhiladelphiaFIGHT charity - the same non profit organization we sponsored on our first year. This goes till midnight on Sunday. You can see more info, a dj schedule at their myspace page.
Each DJ plays for an hour and raises money like a walkathon.
If you like the electronic stuff - tune in - you can also donate on line to the PhiladelphiaFIGHT charity - the same non profit organization we sponsored on our first year. This goes till midnight on Sunday. You can see more info, a dj schedule at their myspace page.
14 October 2007
Solomon's Porch Web Cast Issues
So we are having audio issues with the Webcast - the pictures are great, but the sound isn't coming through the computer properly. I hope this gets worked out before too long.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
07 October 2007
Solomon's Porch Webcast
I am preaching this evening at Solomon's Porch, and this will be our innaugural webcast.
We will webcast both the 5pm and the 7pm (CST) gatherings - we may be working out some technical difficulties with the webcast - the audio feed and what not - but it should give you a picture into what we are up to. I will be walking through Acts 13 -14.
You will need the most recent version of Flash Player to view the stream. (Make sure that you get the free version.)
Here is the link:
http://www.www.ustream.tv/channel/solomonsporch
UPDATE: We had audio issues, and those will be fixed for next week.
We will webcast both the 5pm and the 7pm (CST) gatherings - we may be working out some technical difficulties with the webcast - the audio feed and what not - but it should give you a picture into what we are up to. I will be walking through Acts 13 -14.
You will need the most recent version of Flash Player to view the stream. (Make sure that you get the free version.)
Here is the link:
http://www.www.ustream.tv/channel/solomonsporch
UPDATE: We had audio issues, and those will be fixed for next week.
03 October 2007
Busy/Exciting Week
We just returned from the annual Solomon's Porch Lake Beauty Fall retreat. It was great. Here are some pictures that my friend Jon White took of the weekend:
http://www.jonwhitestudio.com/photo/07c_retreat.php
I am also preaching at Solomon's Porch this Sunday and next. I am preaching on Acts 13 & 14 this Sunday and next Sunday will be either 15 and maybe 16. We are trying to get a live webcam up in the gathering space, and I just might be the first person live on the internet from Solomon's Porch.
We also have a visitor coming in from Missouri for a Celtic Chrisitanity conference - who has been involved in intentional communities - so we are looking forward to having conversations with him about his experiences in different types of missional life.
http://www.jonwhitestudio.com/photo/07c_retreat.php
I am also preaching at Solomon's Porch this Sunday and next. I am preaching on Acts 13 & 14 this Sunday and next Sunday will be either 15 and maybe 16. We are trying to get a live webcam up in the gathering space, and I just might be the first person live on the internet from Solomon's Porch.
We also have a visitor coming in from Missouri for a Celtic Chrisitanity conference - who has been involved in intentional communities - so we are looking forward to having conversations with him about his experiences in different types of missional life.
18 September 2007
Idols
This is a sermon by one of my professors at Seminary: Dr. Fred Gaiser. He is an Old Testament Professor and has spent a great deal of time living in the prophets. All this talk about idolatry made me think about this sermon. It is convicting of all our modern idolatry of fame and money and sex.
It is a beautiful sermon, and speaks to the idols that I myself need to watch out for on a day to day basis.
It is a beautiful sermon, and speaks to the idols that I myself need to watch out for on a day to day basis.
Yoga and Christianity
It seems that every one is weighing in on this Christianity/Yoga debate, so I figured I would speak my mind on the conversation. I agree with some of the critiques of Doug that he spoke naïvely about yoga in the new program, and about yoga’s potential to distract people from God. I believe that we must be aware that when we borrow/reappropriate things from other cultures, belief systems, and religions that they can have elements which distract from God. I believe that Doug’s apparent naïveté comes from the great experience he and others around him have had with using yoga stretches and poses to connect with the goodness of God’s creation – and with the harmony of God’s love for the world and all that God has created.
It is very good for our faith and our experience of God to be more than just intellectual, but to also be physical. The problem is that much of the Judeo-Christian practices of physical prayer and meditation have been lost. Many of these practices didn’t fit in to Christianity any more because neo-platonic equations were imposed on Christian thought. Simply put the thought goes something like this: God = good And earth = bad. Thus: God has little or nothing to do with our physical existence here and now. This is how MacArthur lays the foundation of his argument against yoga. God’s separation from us is not a Biblical concept, but instead based on Greek philosophy (I will talk a little more on that later.)
If we have lost our traditional physical ways of connecting with God in our world and with God’s creation (part of which is our bodies that are created in the image of God) we should find ways to do that: being fully conscious that this practice is for the Glory of The One True God. The Triune God. There is no other God before God.
The main argument against yoga is that it distracts people from God, because Yoga is the product of another religion/philosophy. This for me is where the argument against yoga loses all of its steam. Christianity as most of us modern day Christians express it is anything but pure in origin.
We can look at Neo-Platonism and how it completely changed Christian thought: Augustine’s neo-platonic background colored deeply all of his theology, which has in turn shaped nearly all theology since then. This was a religion/philosophy that was part of a polytheistic society, which lead many away from Christianity and justified persecution of our Christian and Jewish forefathers. We can look at the celebration of Easter. The word “Easter” comes from the name of a pagan fertility Goddess, hence all the eggs and (fertile) bunnies – we attached the birth of Christ onto a pagan festival so that the Christian faith could reach more people. Good or bad, this is where our current faith stands.
Christmas’ rampant materialism clearly distracts people from seeking God. Many of us Christians are more upset by stores not saying “Merry Christmas” then we are about the fact that our High Holy Holiday celebrating the birth of our Lord is used to increase profit margins. We can even look at the philosophy of pure reason which underlies much of science. This philosophy has taken many people’s thoughts and eyes away from God, but very few are the Christians who won’t use electronics, cars, mobile phones because they grow out of a culture that make logic and reason its gods.
The purity of Christian practice is a myth, so arguing against yoga from that foundation is extremely flawed. However, if we borrow poses and stretches from other cultures/religions/philosophies we must not ignore their source completely (as it Doug appears to do in the interview) but we must be honest about where they come from, and how we are allocating them for a new purpose.
It is very good for our faith and our experience of God to be more than just intellectual, but to also be physical. The problem is that much of the Judeo-Christian practices of physical prayer and meditation have been lost. Many of these practices didn’t fit in to Christianity any more because neo-platonic equations were imposed on Christian thought. Simply put the thought goes something like this: God = good And earth = bad. Thus: God has little or nothing to do with our physical existence here and now. This is how MacArthur lays the foundation of his argument against yoga. God’s separation from us is not a Biblical concept, but instead based on Greek philosophy (I will talk a little more on that later.)
If we have lost our traditional physical ways of connecting with God in our world and with God’s creation (part of which is our bodies that are created in the image of God) we should find ways to do that: being fully conscious that this practice is for the Glory of The One True God. The Triune God. There is no other God before God.
The main argument against yoga is that it distracts people from God, because Yoga is the product of another religion/philosophy. This for me is where the argument against yoga loses all of its steam. Christianity as most of us modern day Christians express it is anything but pure in origin.
We can look at Neo-Platonism and how it completely changed Christian thought: Augustine’s neo-platonic background colored deeply all of his theology, which has in turn shaped nearly all theology since then. This was a religion/philosophy that was part of a polytheistic society, which lead many away from Christianity and justified persecution of our Christian and Jewish forefathers. We can look at the celebration of Easter. The word “Easter” comes from the name of a pagan fertility Goddess, hence all the eggs and (fertile) bunnies – we attached the birth of Christ onto a pagan festival so that the Christian faith could reach more people. Good or bad, this is where our current faith stands.
Christmas’ rampant materialism clearly distracts people from seeking God. Many of us Christians are more upset by stores not saying “Merry Christmas” then we are about the fact that our High Holy Holiday celebrating the birth of our Lord is used to increase profit margins. We can even look at the philosophy of pure reason which underlies much of science. This philosophy has taken many people’s thoughts and eyes away from God, but very few are the Christians who won’t use electronics, cars, mobile phones because they grow out of a culture that make logic and reason its gods.
The purity of Christian practice is a myth, so arguing against yoga from that foundation is extremely flawed. However, if we borrow poses and stretches from other cultures/religions/philosophies we must not ignore their source completely (as it Doug appears to do in the interview) but we must be honest about where they come from, and how we are allocating them for a new purpose.
16 September 2007
MWM Emergent/PoMo Pastor seeking long term relationship with like minded organization...
I guess maybe I should have posted this sooner.
Lauren and I are right now looking for what is next in our lives. We are looking at small churces, large churches, house churches, neo-Monastic communities, non-profit social justice organizations and other places where we may shine God's light on the world.
If you are interested in hiring me, or even talking through future ministry options check out my resume here.
Lauren and I are right now looking for what is next in our lives. We are looking at small churces, large churches, house churches, neo-Monastic communities, non-profit social justice organizations and other places where we may shine God's light on the world.
If you are interested in hiring me, or even talking through future ministry options check out my resume here.
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