what’s behind the glitz

the boys and i recently watched two cgi animated movies. since their animation method was the same i thought i would use the differences between the two to discuss a belief i see in american evangelicalism’s that our methods will make us meaningful to the culture around us. you see i believe that way too often in modern evangelical churches we think that when we are not reaching our culture all we need to do is change our methods. we often think that the answer is to simply change our music style from traditional to contemporary (which isn’t contemporary because it sounds like bad late 70s or early 80s music) and then to modern. or maybe the answer is to change our worship gatherings from preaching only to preaching & skits and then to preaching with custom made videos. we rarely consider whether we are actually doing a good job of communicating our message and living out our faith. we just believe that changing the method will take care of any problems we have.

now let’s consider the two movies.

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first the boys and i saw “up.” it is absolutely amazing. it is a great movie. not merely a great animated movie but A GREAT MOVIE! yes, the animation is terrific but the most impressive thing is how incredible the story of the movie is. the plot takes on adult themes and does an amazing job of dealing with them. i would recommend that anyone goes and sees “up.” if you don’t have a kid and feel like you have to have one with you to watch an animated movie then borrow a neighbor’s child and go watch it. i will be dumbfounded if it is not at least nominated for the best picture oscar.

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next we saw “monsters vs aliens.” it was okay … not terrible but not good. the only redeeming part of the movie was that it cost a mere $9 for all three of us to go (including popcorn). the animation was basically as good as pixar’s “up” but the story and the way it dealt with the story was no where as good as what “up” did. the best part of the story was reese witherspoon’s character. her character was at least a good example of a feminine hero. i would imagine that if i had a daughter i would like this movie a little more because of this fact.

so here’s my point. both movies used the same medium. they had glitzy animation and it is cool to see really good animation … once. however it is the story that determines whether most people really want to re-watch the movie again and again. “up” obviously concentrated on what was behind its animation more than “monsters vs aliens” did. i think the reason “up” did this is because the producers, actors, animators, and others realized that what is behind the animation is actually what is most important.

so my point is simply this. we don’t have to neglect our methods and mediums. in fact, we should make them the best we can. our churches should have good methods for conveying the message and life of CHRIST. YET OUR METHODS AREN’T NEAR AS IMPORTANT AS WHAT/WHO IS BEHIND OUR METHODS AND MEDIUMS. we need to focus more on making sure that we are focused on the extremely quality story and actions of CHRIST than we do on simply making sure that our methods are glitzy. when we stay centered on the amazing story of the gospel we will deal with the real issues of life and people will be more interested in hearing it again and again. that’s the stuff that matters. our fancy methods will draw people once or twice but truly effective communication of WHO is behind those methods will connect with people again and again.

excuses, excuses


first let me state something obvious – cousin’s sandwiches suck. some people around here like them but not a ton of people. of course, as the sign shows it is a lot easier to blame the economy for a shop going out of business than it is to blame one’s business model, product, or self. it’s always nicer to place the blame on someone or something else. it makes us feel good.

the same is true with CHRISTianity. it’s easier for us to say that the world is changing or people want a “cafeteria style” religion, etc., etc. than it is to maybe admit that sometimes we simple are doing a lousy job of presenting the gospel. we do like our excuses.

i don’t believe that the “product” we offer the world is a failure (i feel terrible to refer to JESUS as a product but it is merely an analogy). HE never fails but i do think that we fail in conveying HIS message to the world. sometimes we just need to admit when it is our fault and change our methods so as to convey the message of HIS love. rather than making excuses that demand that the world change so it can hear our message, we need to change to convey the always consistent CHRIST in ways that everyone will understand.

excuses may be easier but they don’t accomplish anything good.

ole`

it really “floats my boat” to think that all those soccer fans are singing “by GOD” when they sing ole`. also i would like to add that ryan hall is the real deal.

ht adam via andy

SIDE NOTE – i’m not sure if i know anybody in austin, texas or if anyone from there reads this blog but i will be in austin sunday through wednesday for the q conference. if anyone fits those categories i would gladly grab coffee with them.

the journal

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at tapestry on sundays we have a journaling station set up in the back of the room for people to write down their thoughts, prayers, etc. concerning what has happened. last week i was pretty excited to find the above printed in the journal. i wasn’t excited because i was the one speaking on the evening, rather i was excited because it was another reminder that people are getting what we are doing as a group.

the photo above is the entry that i am talking about.

a GOD sized task

this afternoon while meeting with a couple who have been coming to tapestry for a month i was reminded of the need for CHRISTians to try GOD-sized things. brent and rachel moved to stevens point from around chicago. there they were a part of the chapel and worked within the chapel’s domestic missions. we were talking about it and rachel said that the goal for her mission was to end all hunger in their county. that’s a large goal. some would say that was probably an impossible aim. that’s what makes it GOD-sized, because GOD likes to do the impossible.

as the bride of CHRIST we need to aim for GOD-sized goals. i’m not sure if we are doing that enough. GOD has to be present and working for us to accomplish GOD-sized goals. when we aim small we don’t need GOD. we can reach tiny goals on our own. yeah we can brag about succeeding with them and pretend like we saw GOD do something but we know the truth … we usually do them in our own strength. that’s not true with GOD-sized goals. with them we are going to fail if GOD doesn’t show up. with GOD-sized goals HE gets all the credit because HE is the only ONE WHO could accomplish them.

i know our present economic time calls for prudence and i agree with that. i’m not talking about any church over-reaching itself with its finances. instead, i think we need to push the limits on our love and sacrifice. if we love and sacrifice in GOD-sized manners i think really cool things will happen and i want to be a part of that.

turning aside

pam and i meet with a group of friends every monday night to eat dessert and help each other follow JESUS more closely (the church phrase for this is “small group” or “life group”). it’s great. tonight we all started going through “the life you always wanted” by john ortberg. the book is about spiritual practices and is kind of a lighter version of richard foster’s classic “the celebration of discipline.” i think it is going to be awesome 1) because i really like the group and 2) i really connected with the 1st chapter. it was basically all about the story of moses and the burning bush. ortberg points out that the story hinges around moses “turning aside” or noticing that GOD’s presence was there. so that’s what we are trying to do this week – “turn aside” or notice that GOD is there. we discussed a few basic ways of doing this. my manner of choice was to blog about it. therefore, along with the other random things that i post i will be throwing out my “turning asides” for the week.

SIDE NOTE – an open letter to the one who parked in spot #95 before me.

dear previous spot 95 parker,

 

thanks!

 

thanks for leaving your parking spot while there was still time on the meter. you see, i didn’t have enough change to place in the meter to cover the time i was going to be in the university center. i knew i was going to go over the time i would be able to purchase with the dime and a nickel i had on me and as a result i was fairly sure that i would get a ticket. i was just going to have to chance it but thanks to you leaving your paid for spot an hour and two minutes before your allotted time i didn’t have to worry with a ticket or even parting with my 15¢.

 

you’re the best oh wonderful previous parker.

 

if there is anything i can ever do to repay you for your generosity in parking meter time i will gladly do it. in fact, i will try to “pay it forward” by paying for a couple of other people’s parking.

 

your parking buddy,

robert

be like JESUS

one of pam’s friends posted the following from another blog she reads. i hadn’t seen it before, loved it, and thought i would repost it over here. the original post can be found here.

1. Get baptized by the craziest guy in town.

2. Say and do things that are guaranteed to make religious people want to kill you. Repeat again, and again, and again, and again, and again and don’t stop unless forced.

3. Do amazing things for people and ask them to not tell anyone.

4. Hang out with the most despised, marginalized, looked down upon, and shunned people you can find.

5. When possible, forgive and restore people, even if they betrayed you.

6. Live in a way that provokes gossip.

7. Win the most grace competition.

8. Keep the party going.

9. Serve people (note: nose plugs may be required).

10. If you’re sad cry.

11. Empower people to do the extraordinary.

12. Act like a rock star in a hotel temple.

13. Radically simplify theology.

14.Break human-made religious laws. Repeat consistently.

15.Prioritize the most important over the important.

16. Let women with questionable backgrounds pay your bills.

happy fat tuesday


thought i would wish every one a happy end of fat tuesday. i’m still debating what i will do, if anything, for lent. anybody doing anything for lent?

anyhow above is my favorite resource for lent.

down with the ceo model of senior pastors

interesting blog post quoted by kottke concerning non-hierarchical business management. one of the opening quotes is:

The word manager makes many people uncomfortable. It calls up the image of a bossman telling you what to do and forcing you to slave away at doing it. That is not effective management.

 

A better way to think of a manager is as a servant, like an editor or a personal assistant. Everyone wants to be effective; a manager’s job is to do everything they can to make that happen. The ideal manager is someone everyone would want to have.

 

Instead of the standard “org chart” with a CEO at the top and employees growing down like roots, turn the whole thing upside down. Employees are at the top — they’re the ones who actually get stuff done — and managers are underneath them, helping them to be more effective. (The CEO, who really does nothing, is of course at the bottom.)

sounds very similar to this from JESUS

JESUS called them together and said, “you know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. not so with you. instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the SON OF MAN did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

the problem for me is that i have unfortunately seen churches where the pastor serves more as the ceo of all rather than the servant of anyone. in this view the pastor is the head and everyone else’s job is merely to make him (or her) more effective.

i know of one pastor that has a group of people whose job it is to surround him after the service is over so that he won’t be stopped by any of the church members when he is making his way out. it’s not that this pastor doesn’t love the church members, rather it is that there are too many other things that he needs to do and therefore he must move it in order to make it to them. probably says more about large churches than it does about the pastor.

anyhow, if JESUS told HIS apostles to “lead” in the manner of a servant shouldn’t the rest of us do the same thing?

how the bible should be for us

i once heard someone say that when we read the bible we should have a hard hat on because when we read it our lives should turn into construction zones. there is also a story that shane claiborne tells of being thrown into jail and a police officer telling him that he should be careful in reading his bible because it is a dangerous book. well at least it should be. i’m not sure it always is in my life.

the faith, stories and teachings found in scripture have lead people to take amazing leaps to faith. still it seems that so often we treat it as a nice little book that has comfortable sayings in it. don’t get me wrong. there is comfort to be found in the ONE of WHOM the bible speaks. yet there is a vast difference between receiving comfort and being comfortable. comfort you need when times are though and struggles are going on. comfort helps you to continue. being comfortable implies no need to move or change. comfortable can be a great thing in relationships (we should be able to be comfortable in GOD’s love – hebrews 4:16) but it can be a lousy thing in living out faith.

i love the lyrics of rich mullins. one of his last songs was “surely GOD is with us.” in that song he makes the following statement concerning how people may have reacted to JESUS when HE was walking on earth:

who’s that MAN who says HE’s a preacher?
well, HE must be, HE’s disturbing all our peace

wouldn’t life be exciting if all of us who claim to be followers of JESUS lived that lyric out in our faith and in the way we approached the bible? i think it would be cool if i was constantly have my peace disturbed by the words of my LORD. it might not make me very comfortable but i think it would probably lead to many others receiving comfort.

SIDE NOTE – this post was just supposed to be about the fact that i like the above sign. it’s on by florian.b on flickr. i was just going to say that i like the photo. as most of you probably know i can be a little long winded. ht neatorama.