It’s 12 am and you are preparing a sermon for tomorrow. It’s 4pm and you are preparing for community group that will take place in your living room in a few hours. You have reached an impasse. You could take the easy route and give that nicely packaged sermon or group discussion that you have memorized. You could also take the easy path and deliver that spiel that you know sounds nice, but you know...
This past week I had the opportunity to experience Hume Lake as a counselor. With nervous excitement, I made the almost 5 hour trip on a bus full of ecstatic kids aging from 4th grade to high school. I would be responsible for 11 high school guys who’s spiritual maturity ranged from agnostic to doubting christian. Some of them had grown up in church and had not yet made their faith their own, while others...
I became what some might call a Calvinist my junior year in High school. Going to a Dutch Reformed private school where I took a “Reformed Perspectives” class certainly aided this process. I had resisted of course. Coming from a Non-denominational Bible church, I had a gut reaction against such notions of predestination and all that depravity and sovereignty talk. However, the day came when my heart was changed and I suddenly found myself agreeing...
Returning from the mailbox, you flip through the stack that is your recent prize. You begin the important task of separating the pertinent letters from the ones that will be quickly discarded without even being read. Postcards and invitations in one stack, ads in another; bills, the things you wish you could throw away, on the right; another pile that is placed closest to the trash belongs to the mis-delivered. A Mr. So-and-So has not...
As most of you already know, the San Francisco Giants are World Champions. And as most of you probably know, that fact makes me very happy. This postseason run was incredible, and I’d say this year’s victory was the sweetest of the past three (#Dynasty). The series was incredible! Of the seven games, five were blow outs and two were decided by one run. Both teams were shut out, both teams won 7 run routs,...
I recently read through Carl Trueman’s book Fools Rush In Where Monkey’s Fear to Tread: Taking Aim at Everyone. As a Christian who prefers not to be identified with evangelicalism, I have always appreciated Trueman’s thought provoking essays. I was especially struck by the following quote in his book: The American church reflects the culture: ministries built around individuals, around big shots; churches that focus on god-like guru figures, all of them pointing to one...
This last weekend, 11 freshman stood in front of our congregation, affirmed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and expressed their intention to journey with our church through life, at least until they move away for college. As part of this moment, we anointed each student with oil and said, “Because you belong to Christ, you belong to us, and we belong to you.” It was incredibly beautiful. Before the service, I...
For the majority of my American Evangelical upbringing , I feel as though I was told that there were two main criteria for what religious leaders around me called “being a believer”: 1) one must have the right beliefs (orthodoxy) and 2) one must live an upstanding moral life (orthopraxy). This understanding of Christianity that frames it as a system of right beliefs is, no doubt, a kind of ideological holdover from the era in...
I finally feel free to admit it. I am (mostly) pacifist – I say mostly because my beliefs and thoughts have’t been field tested yet. Before you think I’m crazy and buy me a plane ticket to Pennsylvania to live with the Amish, let me share a few of the reasons why I am pacifist and clear up some misconceptions about pacifism. 1. Where you start determines where you will end, and I want to start...
Switchfoot is one of my favorite bands of all time. Each of their albums is like meeting a new friend – at first, I’m not sure if we’re going to connect like I hoped we would, but over time my appreciation deepens to the point that my life is different because of our friendship. I admit that was a bit cheesy and the analogy isn’t perfect, but I still love their music, for a variety...
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