Haven't been blogging of late

I guess you noticed that I haven't blogged in quite a while. Let's catch up - finished Eragon. Great book! Just started "The World is Flat" which deals with the idea of globalization. My daughter was baptized last Sunday! She is quite a remarkable young lady, if I do say so myslelf. Getting ready to fly to Oklahoma to pick up my oldest daugther who just completed her freshman year at OC (Oklahoma Christian Umiveristy). It'll be great to have her home for a the summer. I have a four hour layover in Phoenix - so a good friend of mine that lives there is coming to pick me up and take me to In-N-Out Burger. Oh, man I can't wait! My favorite hamburger place? What is your favorite burger joint?
Just got my summer haircut. Holy cow, it's short! Feels good, though.
The summer movie guide just came out. What are the movies that you can't wait to see? Looks like some good ones coming !
Going to be beautiful weekend. Time to wash the car; mow the lawn; maybe start working on the garden?

Who Killed Jesus?

Greg Johnson shared this poem at our pastor's meeting today. In light Good Friday, I thought this would be some food for the soul. Randy

"Who Killed Jesus? I Would Like To Know."

Who killed Jesus? I would like to know.
Who is guilty of a crime so low?
Why did He have to die?
What is the reason why?

Who killed Jesus? I would like to know.
Was it Roman Soldiers, with their tools of war?
Pounding nails through hands that did no wrong.
Mocking and abusing, crowning Him with thorns,

All the evidence is very clear.
Was it Pontius Pilate, he was Governor,
Trying to decide the case that day?
Finding that the Savior had no fault His own,
Was he guilty when he turned away?

Was it Hebrew children, proud of who they were?
Shouting "Crucify Him" to their King.
Rejecting their Messiah for a common thief
Turning down the Kingdom He could bring.

When I think of Jesus, and the way He died,
How upon Him all my sin was lain.
All the other people, fade away from view,
It's for me the Sacrifice was made.

I no longer wonder anymore,
I have found what I've been searching for;
My sin demanded Hell, on Him the Judgment fell,
I am guilty, now it's plain to see,
that it was really me!

Great Elder's Meeting Tonight

Had a great shepherd's meeting tonight. We spent some time interceeding for the people in our congregation. Then, each man shared how the other shepherds could pray for him. In other words, what were the spiritual issues in our lives right now? There were confessions, tears and genuine heart issues shared. You see, we are trying to shepherd the flock while we shepherd each other. Then, we spent some time praying for each other.
We also discussed the third chapter of the book "Like A Shepherd Lead Us". (Great book, BTW!) The chapter's theme was to, as leaders, move from the boardroom to the living room. The book reminded us to pray with our people. Some great ideas flowed. A few are: to invite whole families to pray with us on Tuesday nights. We want to keep inviting people at the end our worship assemblies to come and pray with a shepherd. We will divide the congregation into shepherding groups - each shepherd will contact those in his "group" and ask what the needs are.
Went home feeling really blessed to be a part of the this leadership team.

Got the Gout!

Went to the doctor today and he told me what I already suspected - I have another case of gout in my right foot. Very painful! This is my fourth time to have this wonderful stuff - so now I will be put on gout medicine. Ah, man. I guess I'm gettin' old. Bummer.

I'm enjoying reading Eragon so far. Don't usually read fantasy novels - so this gets me out of my reading rut.

I'm having a hard time deciding what is my favorite T.V. show right now - LOST is in high gear; Prison Break is cranking back up; like American Idol; enjoying Amazing Race (although not the best season) - I would love to watch 24 - but just haven't had time to start watching. Your favorite show? Oh, sad to see 7th Heaven wind down - but it was time.

A Busy Weekend!

Had a very busy weekend! On Saturday night I went to "A Night With The NFL" at the University of Utah. Tony Dungee, head coach of Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Harding (starting center for the Steelers) and Luther Ellis (a former Utah Ute and Detroit Lion) all spoke about their faith in Christ. A very powerful evening!

Had a very unusal and busy Sunday yesterday. Since our youth minister was preaching, I went to our first service, then, as I like to do when I'm not preaching - I visited two other churches! I do this for several reasons: First, I like to get new ideas! Second, I like to encourage the minister (I know most of the minister's from various "pastor's" groups I'm invovled with). Third, it reminds me that there are many ways of doing "church" - and each glorifies God in a unique way.
So, yesterday I went to South Mountian Community Church for their first service. SM is probably the second largest evangelical church in Salt Lake (Calvary Chapel is the largest). Then, I went to the Adventure Four Square for their second service. Their minister, Eric Van Rahee wanted to pray for me during the service, which I thought was neat, but an hour into the service he still wasn't preaching, and I had to go because we were having our 40 Days of Purpose Task Force Potluck Pizza celebration and evaluation at Southside at 1:00 p.m.! I got some great ideas!
Sometimes, I have to fight the urge to be envious of other people's "success". Both of these churches started about 7 years ago - one of about 1,200; the other about 600! Southside has been here since 1976 - we almost got to 400 before our church plant three years ago. It's hard not be to jealous of their numbers and wonder why my church isn't that "big". The thought kinda nags at me - "if you were a better ________, your church would be as big as theirs!" But in reality, I know that is not true!
And yes, sometimes I visit small churches and encourage them, too. These two churches just happen to be about a half mile from each other!
To top the afternoon off - we had a team leaders meeting at 3. Needless to say, I went home about 6 in the evening, tired but blessed. It was a great weekend of ministry and idea gathering, celebrating and planning, being encouraged and inspired. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!
The new week has started! Let's glorify God in all we do! Easter is coming! Jesus is resurrected! (and so must my sermon for Sunday! It's still in the tomb!)
With God's Best, Randy

A Reading Retreat

Since I'm not preaching on Sunday, for the next two days I'm having a 'reading retreat'. I'm not going anywhere - just catching up on my books stacked up waiting to be read. Today I read "Rekindled" - a Christian fiction book written by a friend of mine Tamera Alexander. It is her first book to be pubished - she has signed with Bethany House for a series called "The Fountian Creek Chronicles". This was the first book in the series. Much in the tradition of Janette Oke and Beverly Lewis - Alexander holds her own! Way to go Tamera!
Tonight I'm starting "Eragon" and tomorrow I'm finishing "7 Practices of Effective Ministry" and will hopefully put a dent in "Seeking Lasting City".
It snowed all day today, so it was a great day not to have to put a sermon in the oven - and just enjoy some reading. Haven't done that in a LONG time and it was good for the soul. Even cancelled plans to go out to lunch with my preacher buds and called the wife and took her out to lunch.
I need more reading retreats - maybe a day devoted to reading once month? More lunches with my wife - yes!

World's Fastest Indian

My daughter has taught me how to blog using pictures. So, I thought I would start with Andy Griffith. Why is it that our kids have to show us how to do this stuff?
Saw a great movie tonight, "The World's Fastest Indian". Awesome. The best feel good movie I've seen in a LONG time! Plus, it's a true story. Should be out on video soon. If it's still showing in your area, treat yourself to a good movie.

New Building hurdles to overcome!

Can't believe that I haven't blogged since Monday! Where did this week go? It's been one of those weeks that just flew by.
Looking forward to the final four this week. I am pulling for George Mason. Their sling shot may not have any rocks left in it, but I hope so. My head says LSU vs. Flordia; my heart is for GM.
Trying to get the permits to build our new building. The city is asking for 5 easements that would total about 2 acres of our 5.6! Plus, they are not paying us any money for the land that want to use! Where we want to put in a ball field and coverd pivilion for cookouts (like a city park) - the city wants a turn around for the neighrhood next to us. Plus, we would have to pay for the sidewalk and curbing!
Well, please put that on your prayer list! We are meeting and talking with city officials almost on a daily basis to figure out how we can proceed without the culde-sack (spelling?). All of these easements adds thousands and thousands of dollars on the project. We're just trying to be good stewards of the Lord's money.
We hope for the "park" - because of the ways it could be used - so we can use it to outreach to the neighborhood by letting them use it; the school (that meets in our building) would certainly use it, not to mention all the church activities we could do on it.
Been really enjoying "The 7 Practices of Effective Ministry" by Andy Stanley. Great book for seeing ministry in a new light. Also enjoying "Manhunt" - the 12 day chase for finding Lincoln's killer. Really interesting.
Hope you have a great end of the week.

Catching up

Had some great friends to visit us last week from El Paso. Had a great time but I didn't write a single post - so it's time to catch up!

Had a great time watching college basketball. Who would have thought that George Mason would be in the final four? Mike & Mike on ESPN said that out of the 5 million brackets filled out on their web site only 10 had George Mason in the final four. That is amazing! Go George Mason!! BTW - did you notice that two out of the final four are from the SEC? Congrats to Mike Anderson, former assitant coach to Nolan Richardson at Arkansas, on being hired at Missouri. He will do a great job.

Had a busy but good weekend. We had our annual dinner/auction to fund raise the youth group mission trip. (We raised $3000!) On Sunday we wrapped up our 40 Days of Purpose with a Celebration Sunday at Oquirrh Elementary. It was great to be in one assembly! Instead of a sermon - we had a mission fair! (For those that think we are in a rut in worship planning - we got out of the box yesterday!) For 20 minutes our folks went from booth to booth signing up for ministry! Love it! We finished up with a good ole fashion pot luck. It was the best attended pot luck in our history many said. Love the fellowship! It was a great weekend!

Gained five pounds last week! (didn't walk for a solid week!) So, now I'm back on "diet" mode for a while. I've got to get back to my daily 2 mile walk. I promised that I wouldn't get over 160 since loosing the weight last year. I went 9 months without gaining any weight!

Okay - I think that's it. Looking forward to the Final Four this weekend. Any predictions? The first Final Four without a number one seed since 1980. Should be exciting! I'm going with an all SEC final - LSU vs. Florida, with LSU winning it all. But I'll be rooting for George Mason!

Memorizing Scripture

Last week finished journaling through Colossians. I love that letter! Paul encourages us "let the word of God dwell in you richly as you teach one another . . ." The word stored in my heart should be of "Walton proportion" - it should be rich! Sadly to confess, it looks more like a "pauper's portion" - I haven't done much memorizing in the last couple of years, so - last week I picked several passages (some paragraphs) from Colossians that I wanted to re-memorize. Its a discipline that I've put on the shelf.

I would encourage you to do the same. Memorize scripture! Get the word of God in your heart! Why memorize if you will just forget a lot of it? A student asked Jimmy Allen, long time Bible professor at Harding University, the same question. I never have forgotten Allen's response. You see, if you took Allen for any class - Romans, Hebrews, - he made you memorize whole chapters! You were tested on it - you simply wrote out the chapter on a piece of paper in whatever version you used. Every comma, word missed or added - was one point off.

So this student asked the question - why are we doing this if we'll just forget most of it? Allen didn't flinch - he said, "Let's say you have a dirty basket. You take it down to the river and fill it with water. Will it hold the water long? No. It will leak. However, will the basket be cleaner for having gone through the process? Yes! You have a dirty heart. I have I dirty heart. Full of sin. When you memorize scripture, you are filling it with God's holy word. Most of it will leak out, but your heart will be purer for the process."

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Make a depoist today! Memorize a verse. God's banking on it!

Clarify The Win

I've been listening to a series by Andy Stanley called "The 7 Keys to Effective Ministry" (- which you can download for free - just go to www.northpoint.org click on church leaders, then click on pratically speaking). The first session is "Claifying the Win". Excellent!
What Stanley says is this - most churches have a mission statement; however, what gets "put on the wall doesn't always take place down the hall." How true! In other words, our mission statements haven't changed how most churches operate.
So, according to Stanley, we must clarify the win. For example, most times we simply let attendance be our watermark. Wow, we had a packed house today! Instead, Northpoint has clairified the win - if they have a first time visitor, is blown away by what they experience and they come back next Sunday - THAT is the win for them.
Many ministry leaders, Stanley says, are frustrated because the "win" is not clearly defined, so after a few years they resign from the ministry (sound familiar?) and go do something else.
So, what is the "win" for your ministry? congregation? family? for yourself?
At the end of the week, how do you know you have "won"? In a recent conversation with another minister, who himself told me about the series by Stanley, said that now for him the "win" watermark is that he calls 100 people and invites them to Sunday assembly (his own members included!). If he fails to do that, the week was not a 'win' for him.
What is your "win"?
BTW - these downloads are in MP3 format, so you can download them to your iPod or any MP3 player.

WHAT CHURCH IS SUPPOSED TO BE

I wasn't going to post again until Monday, but saw this moving description of the church on the blog "real live preacher" (www.reallivepreacher.com) and wanted to share it with you.

Let me tell you what church is supposed to be. It is supposed to be a community of friends who have walked together through the good times and the hard times of life so that their shared history is more powerful than their differences. It is a gathering of spiritual seekers who do not demand exact conformity in every doctrine, but acknowledge a shared commitment to Christ and fidelity in living. There is real trust and love. Mistakes are made and people are forgiven. And you feel safe. Safe enough to laugh or cry. Safe enough even to sneak up to the front of the church and have a little fun with the ashes.

A few thoughts going into the weekend

It's Friday. The Hogs are playing Flordia tonight - they've won their last seven, but tonight is going to be a huge challenge. Florida is rested; the Hogs played late last night. They are 7-0 wearing throw back uniforms from 1978. The ghost of the "triplets" have brought some much needed mo-jo. It's rumored the Razorbacks are coming to Salt Lake for the first round of NCAA's. Calling the Hogs in the Huntsman! Oh, yeah, I'll be there!

Hope to see the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" sometime this weekend. I've heard a lot of positive things about it. Anyone seen it and have a review to offer?

Finally, I've started reading "Camel Club" by David Baldacci. He is one of my favorite writers. The sermon is already done - power point and all (just hope there's some power in the points!) - so I'm hoping to get some time to turn some pages.

March Madness is here! Cancel the appointments. Get the chips. Settle in for some good hoops! Here's hoping that your team appears in the brackets on Sunday afternoon.

I hope you have some great family time this weekend. Hope you have a great time of worship. See you Monday.

Mike Cope on B-I-B-L-E#2

Wanted to share Mike Cope's post today on his blog. Especially note the last paragraph! --Randy

The B-I-B-L-E #2
Another shocking discovery of my early life was this: people wrote the Bible.Real, live people. People who did not have perfect lives or perfect insight into the mind of God.
People who wrote in their language, using their own vocabulary and style. Luke's writing is polished; John's is more like someone who was trying to connect with the middle schoolers (simpler syntax and vocab).
Now, again, doesn't this fall into the category of no-brainer? In one sense, yes.But somehow I'd always thought (based on a misinterpretation of a couple passages and perhaps also on my wild imagination) that the Bible was dropped from heaven. Maybe delivered by the Holy Spirit dressed like a dove.
Several OT writers quoted bits of information they had looked up. Luke said he did his homework before sitting down at the computer. And, almost certainly, Matthew and Luke peeked at Mark's gospel while writing their own. Jude peeked at 2 Peter. Or vice versa. Or maybe they shared a common source.Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he had baptized only Crispus and Gaius. Then he remembered that he'd also baptized the household of Stephanas, so he added that as kind of a footnote.
He also told them that on one matter he had no instruction from the Lord, but he gave his own judgment (7:25).Frankly, not everything in the Bible is quite as smooth as I used to imagine. There are jars and clashes. Was Jesus' Nazareth sermon early in his ministry (Luke) or much later (Matthew, Mark)? Was Jairus's daughter dead (Matthew) or nearly dead (Mark -- maybe this falls into the Princess Bride's category of "mostly dead") when Jairus found Jesus? Did the cursing of the fig tree happen before (Mark) or after (Matthew) Jesus' entry into Jerusalem? Was it one demon-possessed man (Mark, Luke) or two (Matthew)? And was it at Gerasenes, Gergesenes, or Gadarenes -- or are those the same place?
For a while I tried forcing explanations so that there were no problems, but I eventually had to admit (with some encouragement from my professors) that this was disingenuous.And this is just the beginning. Clashes and jars. When we labor under our Western assumptions of HOW THE BIBLE OUGHT TO BE, that's extremely problematic.
But what if scripture isn't bound by our assumptions of what it ought to be? So, were the writers of the Bible guided by God? That's what I believe by faith. Instructed in some sense by the Holy Spirit? That's my conviction. Producing authoritative documents that are able to guide the church in teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16)? Yup.
Do I still have confidence in scripture? I'll let my years of preaching, teaching, and writing stand as an answer to that question. I have more appreciation for scripture than I used to. More desire to live under its guidance rather than to attempt to conquer it with perfect comprehension. More eagerness to catch what it intends to do: point us to Jesus.
The ultimate goal isn't to defend the Bible, memorize the Bible, or understand the Bible. The goal is to let scripture point us to Jesus, committing ourselves to him and jumping into the journey of discipleship.

Hogs & Beth Moore, Third Day in Salt Lake?

Just saw on ESPN.com that the Hogs are slated to come to Salt Lake City for round one of the NCAA tourney. If that holds true, I will be in the Huntsman calling the Hogs. I'll even wear my Hog Hat. Ah, how much fun would that be? ESPN has them playing Wisconsin in the first round, and probably Gongaza in the second round. I think we can play with both of those teams. Here's hoping that ESPN knows what's what. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.
Beth Moore is coming to Salt Lake in October. Southside is a host church - we have purchased 75 tickets for the event! The tickets are going fast! Should be a great event!
Third Day is coming in concert this Saturday night along with the David Crowder Band. Man, how good is that going to be?
People I would have on my wish list to come to Salt Lake: Casting Crowns; Chris Tomlin; Point of Grace; Avalon; Philips, Craig & Dean; FFH, - anyone else on your list?
Any events happening in your town?

Monday stuff

The sermon went very well Sunday. It was interactive; I asked the congregation what qualities draws them to Jesus, then asked them what quality they would intentionally work on for this week. Very powerful.
I've changed the wording for our 40 Days of Purpose to all verbs: Bowing (worship); Being (the body; fellowship); Becoming (like Jesus - Discipleship); Sending (missions/evangelism); Serving (service).
Just finished a great book - Armchair Mystic. A good book to give you some unique perspectives on prayer. I was very much drawn into Philip Yancey's book "The Jesus I Never Knew."
The Razorbacks on a roll!! Bout time. Maybe they will win a few games in the SEC tourney and shake things up. Looking forward to March Madness. With the Hogs hopefully in this year, it will even more fun. Next week I'll post my picks!
Have a powerful week!

Tomorrows sermon

Been having trouble with this weeks sermon. The theme is "Becoming Like Christ". We're doing the 40 Days of Purpose, so I'm supposed to be following Rick Warren's sermon outlines. Did a fairly good job of following his outlines on worship and fellowship. Can't follow it for tomorrow - he approaches the sermon with things like "Trouble causes us to trust". Well, that may be true; but does it help me to be like Christ? So, my sermon will be on who Jesus was so we can know what to imitate.
Two books have helped shape my thoughts for tomorrow - The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey - that he makes the point that sinners were comfortable in the presence of Jesus; and he was comfortable in their presence as well. Today, the church is not comfortable being in the presence of sinners - and the sinners aren't comfortable in the church either. Yancey asks the question - what has gone wrong? Great question isn't it?
The other is a chapter called "Jesus" in Donald Miller's book "Searching For God Knows What". Great stuff.
Well, I'd better get back to it. The sermon has been a burden to me all week. Usually that means that I'll get little sleep - get up early - and God will give me a message sometime before 8:15. He always has; he always will.

Things I wish I could do

Things I Wish I Could Do:
dunk a basketball
write like Max Lucado
preach like Jerry Jones
grow a church like Rick Warren
motivate people like Marvin Phillips
sing like Jerome Williams
play the banjo like Earl Scruggs
draw like Anne Kullberg
lead people like John Maxwell
have the compassion of Mother Teresa

leave any out?

. . . since I can't; I'll just be the best Randy Clay I can be. That's all God expects of me. Whew, I fell better.

Lent Begins

Ah, the first day of lent. Do you observe lent? Some do; some don't. I have given up my beloved Diet Coke. My daughter has gove over 90 days without sipping a soda - she challenged me to give it up for a while. A friend of mine gives up eating food for lent. Now, there's a guy I admire. Me, I'm just putting my toes in the water of lent, while others, like my friend, dive in.

From sorrow to joy in Mayberry. Don Knotts passed away a few days ago. Today is Ron Howard's birthday. Even in Mayberry, life is full of ebb and flow. Happy Birthday, Opie.

My daughter is bringing back memories - she called to say that she is going on a mission trip for spring break at Oklahoma Christian. Those are some of the best memories I had while in college. I hope the same for her.

The Amazing Race started last night. My wife loves that show. In fact, we tend to watch a lot of reality tv - big Survivor fans; love American Idol; Apprentice sometimes. Deal or no deal is a big deal too.

The Razorbacks are coming on, baby! RPI of 48. Maybe time to buy some dancing shoes? Its been five years since we've gone dancing. I think we've forgotten how. First things first, we've got to beat Ole Miss tonight. Its at home, where we're 15-1. Put down a "W" for the Hogs tonight.

Observe Lent?

Just finished a great book, "Mudhouse Sabbath" by Laurie Winner. She discusses the Jewish rituals in a Christian context. Winner has a unique perspective - she was raised in Judiasm before becoming a Christian. Read "Sacred Sorrow" by Michael Card on the plane. Card writes like the poet he is while having great insights into lament worship.

Just started "The Camel Club" by David Baldacci. Baldacci is better than Grisham, in my opinion. Read any good fiction lately? I need ideas! (If you haven't read the "Kite Runner" - go to your local library of Barnes and Noble and enjoy this great read).

Still reflecting on the ACU lectures. Mark Love is doing a great job of retooling the annual event on the ACU campus. I would recommend putting it on your calendar for September when it makes the switch from Feburary (thank you!!!!!) when the weather should be great.

Trying to decide on whether to observe Lent or not. Do you observe Lent? Why or why not?

Okay - it's Monday. Gotta get it in gear.