Reading "Confessions of a Pastor" by Greg Groescheil. Wow! What a powerful book. Greg is a pastor (i.e., "minister") of a cutting edge church in Edmond, Oklahoma. He has written a book that EVERY minister you know can relate to. He has written what many of have been thinking but were afraid to share it. Well, Greg does! He writes in an honest, confessing tone.
Some of the chapter titles: "I have to work hard at being sexually pure," "I can't stand a lot of christians," "I worry most of the time," "I feel completely inadequate" "I'm afraid of failure"
"I stink at handling criticism" "Most of the time I feel incredibly lonely" and more!
Have you ever read a book and thought, man, this writer has been reading my mind - this book is one of those books! This book should be required reading for ministers.
If you have a minister on your Christmas list (and who doesn't?), please buy them this insightful book.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanksgiving thoughts
Many times I dwell on the things that I wished I could do but can't: Ride my bike with no hands; sing, play the banjo like Earl Scruggs, -- but this day makes me stop and give thanks for what I do have. I have a lot to be thankful for.
Hope you have enjoyed a great Thanksgiving holiday. We joined the Osborn's (we have 13 of the last 14 years) in hosting several families who do not have family close by. This year we had about 23 people. We've had as many as 48 in years past! It's one of our annual traditions.
Had our annual "Pie Night" at Southside. We had close to 300 come and enjoy the 95 pies! Our praise team did a great job of singing; many, many guests came! Now, that's "a win"!
Had a great time watching the LSU vs. Arkansas with several good friends of mine. Wow! What a game! Couldn't believe the Hogs pulled it out! Maybe McFadden also won a Heisman as well! Hope so.
Took by seven year old daughter to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium today. Good movie. At least we both enjoyed it.
Looking forward to seeing "Enchanted" and "August Rush". I like it when Hollywood makes movies I can see with my children.
Hope you have enjoyed a great Thanksgiving holiday. We joined the Osborn's (we have 13 of the last 14 years) in hosting several families who do not have family close by. This year we had about 23 people. We've had as many as 48 in years past! It's one of our annual traditions.
Had our annual "Pie Night" at Southside. We had close to 300 come and enjoy the 95 pies! Our praise team did a great job of singing; many, many guests came! Now, that's "a win"!
Had a great time watching the LSU vs. Arkansas with several good friends of mine. Wow! What a game! Couldn't believe the Hogs pulled it out! Maybe McFadden also won a Heisman as well! Hope so.
Took by seven year old daughter to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium today. Good movie. At least we both enjoyed it.
Looking forward to seeing "Enchanted" and "August Rush". I like it when Hollywood makes movies I can see with my children.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Who Can Be a Prophet? What is the goal of preaching?
Who can be a prophet -- who is qualified "preach the word"? Read this challenging words from William Willimon:
The purpose of my preaching, the test of a "good" sermon, is its ability to be enlisted by God as part of God's prophet-making process. God intends to have a people who speak the truth, who testify to the world of God's great, loving assult upon the world. As Moses put it, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!"
In Acts 2, the pentecostal test for prophecy is not how outrageous we preachers have managed to be in the pulpit but rather how many people we have produced who are able to say, NO: people who speak the truth to power, people who can go up and stand before the Pharaoh and impudently tell him that he is not fully charged in the world - old men and women, janitors and maids with visions and dreams who don't mind telling the world about them.
From my reading of Acts 2 and Luke's account of the birth of the church, I derive a few principles for prophecy: (1) The Spirit has given the world a prophetic community, not simply a few outspoken social critics; (2) the goal of the Spirit's descent is the creation of a polis, a people who look, speak, and act differently from the world's notions of community; and (3) No individual prophets are possible without the existence of a peculiar prophetic community whose life together is vibrant enough to produce a band of prophets who do not mind telling the truth to one another and to the world, no matter what.
The goal of our pastoral care, preaching, visitation, prayer and praise is the production of a whole gaggle of prophets who will let God use them to get back what God owns.
Wow! I love that! Does that encourage you today? Yes! It is more than just creating "good" sermons -- finding that story that everyone will love. It is much deeper than that! Is your ministry producing prophets who live out the gospel during the week?
That's the question we should be wrestling with!
The purpose of my preaching, the test of a "good" sermon, is its ability to be enlisted by God as part of God's prophet-making process. God intends to have a people who speak the truth, who testify to the world of God's great, loving assult upon the world. As Moses put it, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!"
In Acts 2, the pentecostal test for prophecy is not how outrageous we preachers have managed to be in the pulpit but rather how many people we have produced who are able to say, NO: people who speak the truth to power, people who can go up and stand before the Pharaoh and impudently tell him that he is not fully charged in the world - old men and women, janitors and maids with visions and dreams who don't mind telling the world about them.
From my reading of Acts 2 and Luke's account of the birth of the church, I derive a few principles for prophecy: (1) The Spirit has given the world a prophetic community, not simply a few outspoken social critics; (2) the goal of the Spirit's descent is the creation of a polis, a people who look, speak, and act differently from the world's notions of community; and (3) No individual prophets are possible without the existence of a peculiar prophetic community whose life together is vibrant enough to produce a band of prophets who do not mind telling the truth to one another and to the world, no matter what.
The goal of our pastoral care, preaching, visitation, prayer and praise is the production of a whole gaggle of prophets who will let God use them to get back what God owns.
Wow! I love that! Does that encourage you today? Yes! It is more than just creating "good" sermons -- finding that story that everyone will love. It is much deeper than that! Is your ministry producing prophets who live out the gospel during the week?
That's the question we should be wrestling with!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Open House/Dedication Sunday
We had our community open house last Saturday. We invited the community in to see our new building. The West Jordan Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon cutting to open things. We had 500 people to come and visit! A number of them expressed that they hadn't been active in a fellowship in a long time and felt the need to do so. Many came on Sunday!
On Sunday we had our day to dedicate our new facility to the Lord's use. We had 365 in worship! About 200 stayed for the potluck. We had over 14 first time guests! (Most were from our open house). Many of them stayed for the potluck.
Wow! What a day! I especially liked what one guest wrote in our guest book, "You are some super friendly people!" It's one thing to say that you have a friendly church; quite another to have a first time guest say it!
Now, I embark on a four part series "Simple Church". I will attempt to bring us back to imitating Jesus two commandments! I'm praying that we, along with our guests, will get a fresh glimpse of Jesus' radical vision of what his church is to be.
Really enjoying reading "UnChristian". Good stuff!
On Sunday we had our day to dedicate our new facility to the Lord's use. We had 365 in worship! About 200 stayed for the potluck. We had over 14 first time guests! (Most were from our open house). Many of them stayed for the potluck.
Wow! What a day! I especially liked what one guest wrote in our guest book, "You are some super friendly people!" It's one thing to say that you have a friendly church; quite another to have a first time guest say it!
Now, I embark on a four part series "Simple Church". I will attempt to bring us back to imitating Jesus two commandments! I'm praying that we, along with our guests, will get a fresh glimpse of Jesus' radical vision of what his church is to be.
Really enjoying reading "UnChristian". Good stuff!
Monday, November 05, 2007
McFadden back in Hesiman?
It was good to see Darren McFadden & Felix Jones run for a combined almost 500 yards of rushing Saturday night for my Hogs. Hopefully, McFadden will get back in the Heisman running.
This coming weekend is our grand opening weekend. We have a ribbon cutting open house on Saturday; a dedication/homecoming on Sunday - complete with a potluck! Should be a busy week getting all that planned and implemented.
Finally, I get time to read Harry Potter 7! Also, I will start reading the book "UnChristian: What the next generation is saying about Christianity". Looking forward to it. Next on my list is "Confessions of a Pastor".
This coming weekend is our grand opening weekend. We have a ribbon cutting open house on Saturday; a dedication/homecoming on Sunday - complete with a potluck! Should be a busy week getting all that planned and implemented.
Finally, I get time to read Harry Potter 7! Also, I will start reading the book "UnChristian: What the next generation is saying about Christianity". Looking forward to it. Next on my list is "Confessions of a Pastor".
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