John's First Epistle

So in transit we are starting to look at 1 John. This is one of those books that's shallow and deep at the same time. It's a great book, full of love and rebuke, and encouragement all at the same time. I've been reading the Message lately and I have really dug it. I can't get enough of this paraphrase. It's always good to mix up the translation your reading out of to keep things fresh. Very fun

Logo

podcasting

I'm still working out this whole podcasting thing. I am working on getting a church blog base for podcasting, check it out at creeksidechurch.blogspot.com I am trying to make this as painless as possible for other people to update this, and keep it free. There are some really great sites out there, I'm going to list them for you archive.org ourmedia.org feedburner.com these three sites have been quite helpful. This is quite a learning effort that we are putting together. We'll see what happens if we ever try to vodcast. The reason that I am trying to do this is because I want to create a resource for youth pastors that would be distributed through podcasts. I want to make this resource free as well. Our church is so far behind in terms of our online presence that we need to catch up quick fast, many people are finding us through our website, imagine if they could get a feel for our services before they even step foot on our campus. That would be a pretty valuable tool, and I think it woudl ease the first time guests nerves about what church would be like. Any way, I just thought I would through that up to y'all.

Podcasting >>beyondcast>>

So I'm trying a little experiment, Chris has been faithully recording our messages from sunday nights, and he's the man. We are trying to create an internet presence, so I have been researching how to podcast, and I have succesfully submitted a beyondcast to iTunes. Please take a minute to check out the >beyondcast>>

Youth Pastors are the best people ever . . . EVER !!!

So today I had the priviledge of hanging out with a group of youth pastors this morning. It was great to be with a group of like-minded people who are able to talk about youth ministry from experiences, both good and bad. I know that I learned a lot, just by listening to these great men of God. One of the great messages that I heard today was that youth ministry is hard work. And that's so true, and it's great to hear that I'm not the only one who sees it as hard work. We were able to be honest and real with each other and with the people who were there. I don't really know who gave Brandon my number to call and fill in at the last minute, but I'm glad they did. These panel discussions are really great. If you are on a panel you have to keep your mind open to what other people say and allow yourself to be taught by them. It's not about how much you know or being an expert on anything. If the people in the class didn't learn anything, at least I did.

Dodgeball

So we had an all church dodgeball event on friday, we had youth, college, and young married folks, and people who had never been to our church, but were invited by friends. It was awesome to see all these people getting together to play on of the best games ever. I hope that we have more and more events like this. I think this is one of the keys to helping students make a transition from youth group to the entire church. We can't just keep all our ministries holed away from each other. We have to find ways to integrate the different ministries to make the whole church stronger. These events don't have to be difficult either, we can just open up the gym and play a game that everyone knows. We don't have to spend a ton of money, we just have to do something. Pretty stinkin' cool.

Easter

I love easter. It's probably the best day of the year ever. This is the day when Jesus was raised from the dead, and if it wasn't for this day then I would really have no reason to be, I would have no hope, and I would have no life. But good thing Jesus was raised. I didn't eat any candy or chocolate and I didn't see a single bunny, all in all, I think it was a successful easter on that regard. Church was hopping this morning too. We had tons of folks, new faces aplenty and I love seeing that. It shoots adreneline into the soul of the church and reminds us what we are here for. Easter Rocks

transit absentia

last night I was unable to attend transit because there was a church leadership community at the same time. I was a little nervous because transit is in my house and my wife was going to be there alone, and I had heard that one of the couples that usually attends wasn't going to be there, and it's easter week so i thought we might have a low number. But I was wrong. We had our usual attendance (12) with three or our regulars gone. I talked to some folks afterward and they said it went well. My wife said it went well too. I got home at 8:40 and people were still hanging out which is pretty cool. The community that transit is building is something that I thought would happen but I didn't reallly expect it to be this strong. It's amazing what happens when people get together and hang out and talk about the Bible and worship and pray. It's almost like church. Wait a minute that is what the church is supposed to be. Pretty cool, I'm really jazzed about transit. I get a lot out of it. Partially because it forces me to really focus on what I'm saying because people look up my references and ask questions. It's really causing me to get into the word and dig a lot more. If you're reading this and you are college aged (18-mid 20's) we would love to have you check us out, go to the transit blog.

Myspace Invites

So I'm trying to figure out effective ways to invite people to different events and one of the methods that I am using is the Myspace Events invitation. So I'll see how effective it is, and maybe, just maybe I'll utilize this myspace feature more often. I did however send 3 different invitations to 3 different events so I hope people don't get super annoyed with me. Myspace.com is a great resource and a great fear. So I hope that I can utilize this tool effectively. But we will see what happens. If you want to check out my myspace, here it is

Tourist Faith

I have been reading the book Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, by Eugene Peterson. I gotta say, it's a great book. Peterson has a professors mind with a pastors heart. And that really comes through in his writing. He really communicates that he loves people and he wants people to love Jesus and experience Jesus in everyday life. If you have never read the Message paraphrase of the Bible then I highly suggest you check it out. Anyways, I was reading last night at the Gym, I went to the gym twice yesterday as pennance for eating pizza with my wife. As I was reading I came across this section where Peterson was talking about Jesus in the Gospel of John. There is this part a couple of days before the Crucifixion where Philip has an encounter wiht greeks who are in Jerusalem for the Passover and they want to meet Jesus. Jesus denies them access during this time because he was focused on his mission. Peterson said that Philip was acting as a sort of spiritual tour guide trying to take people to Jesus so they can say that they met him, and go home and tell all their friends. This quote really hit me, "Jesus doesn't pose for photographs." Jesus isn't looking to be a tourist attraction, or even a spectacle. He came with one purpose to bring grace and forgiveness to the world. The crowd, the spectators, the tourists were all distractions from that purpose. Yeah Jesus taught to the multitudes and he fed the multitudes out of compassion, and he did miracles that drew a crowd. But the crowd wasn'tthe purpose behind all of those things. The Purpose was to provide signs that Jesus was who he said he was. I think we are all guilty from time to time of trying to be spiritual tourist or tour guides. Pastors often settle with just getting people to see Jesus, but really we need to work to be change agents not just tour guides. And Christians, myself included can find times when really we just want to visit Jesus like we would Mikey Mouse at Disneyland. We are in a season right now when we are going to have a lot of Tourists. Easter is the biggest sunday of the year (and it should be). My hope is that during this season churches will be able to capture the hearts of the tourists and compell them to move into the neighborhood with Jesus.

Pho, Kwann Lee and the Apple Store

So I reconnected with a friend from highschool through myspace. He took me to a Pho place up on capital hill. It was the first time I had ever had Pho. It's really good. But my friend, Kevin Lee Swann, hence the Kwann Lee reference, was one of the major influences in my life. He helped to teach me how to play guitar. He's the man. It was really great to connect with him again. We talked about everything, and he actually brought up talking about religion which is pretty cool. He wanted to talk about religion w/ someone who is religious. We talked about church and how he perceives it and how it should be, and stuff like that. This connection was a great ending to a bummer of a day because my computer is poop. But That's why I'm at the apple store jacking their internet, checking out the Mac mini. Good times. I love being around people who don't go to church and who actually like to have good conversations. Kwann Lee is the man and I look forward to getting together with him again soon.

Locker Room Epiphany

This morning I was at the gym, which is my regular routine. Today was legs day, tomorrow Abs. After my workout and shower I was packing up my gym bag and for some reason I can't explain I started thinking about time and God and sin. I had read some where I think it was in A New Kind of Christian, by Brian McLaren (great book, interesting thoughts, don't agree with everything he says though). But one of the things that is talked about in this book is how God is outside of time, but instead of God creating the world and letting everything work on it's own. God is actually at the end of history pulling it into himself. So all things come back to God in the end, and that's when the judgement happens. I was thinking about the nature of sin then being that people resist against God's drawing us back to him. Now we can keep fighting and keep sinning, but when we submit to God's drawing and start trusting him. Then we can find peace and mercy because we are cooperating with him instead of running from him. Just a thought. And a disjointed one at that. But whatever I just needed to write it down so I could start processing it.

Sunday Re-Cap

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to speak in our morning service. I talked about Bezalel and Oholiab, and I talked about spiritual gifts and how just because our gift isn't on Paul's lists, doesn't me it's not a spiritual gift. We can't put limits on Jesus and who and how he wants to give gifts too. The important thing though is that we need to use our gifts for the kingdom of God. We all need to build this church. We all need to be faithful and not bury our gifts. Sunday afternoon I fired up the BBQ after church for the first time this season. AWESOME!!! I love summer, and BBQ season. IT's the best time of year. I love it. Then sunday night we had a great evening Matt McCleary spoke about Luke 6:12 and following. He did a really great job. Matt's come a long way in the year that I have been here at tNC and I really look forward to what he's going to do and who he's going to be. All in all it was a good day even if I did lose an hour of sleep.