Robert's Blog

April 3, 2009

resurrection just gets better and better

i worked out the final plans for painting with lisa, the salvation army hope center administrator. we (tapestry) will be painting tuesday (during the day and late afternoon), saturday (late morning through early afternoon) and sunday morning (early morning till lunch). so this means that we will begin our easter celebration on easter sunday morning by painting rooms for 26 men and women who have no other place to go. not a bad way to start off celebrating JESUS’s resurrection.

it got even better today. while i was talking with lisa i asked what they were doing for easter lunch. she said no one had volunteered to do anything and therefore the residents would just put together whatever they find. so tapestry is going to cook and eat easter lunch with the residents of the hope center. matthew 25 says that when we give food and drink to the most needed in our culture then we are giving it to HIM. i believe that to be true and therefore i believe that we will get to begin out easter celebration by cooking and eating easter lunch with JESUS.

i’m pretty excited about that.

if you are a tapestrite or will be in the point area over easter and you would like to be a part of this email me and i’ll get you all the information.

April 2, 2009

a little wall help

the above image is my very simple design for a wall we can write on in tapestry over the next four weeks. the idea is that we will have places to write & draw examples of life defeating death. i want something that has some solidness to it. i had thought about using easels and sheets of paper but that’s not really as solid as i would like and easels and large note pads are pricey. therefore, i am toying around with the idea of taking two hollow core doors ($26.95 each), placing shelf brackets ($1.47 each x 4) on each bottom corner, and then painting them black (for a cost of $32.83 each excluding black paint which is 94¢ a can). i think this will give me a couple of sturdy “walls” for people to write on. an added benefit is that i should be able to continue to paint these things and use them again and again.

of course, i am open to suggestions. anybody have a better idea? i will gladly swap to something better.

SIDE NOTE – the yellowish tint of the scanned image is the paper of my moleskine.

April 2, 2009

community service as outreach

i spend a lot of time in local businesses. the first reason for this is that i believe in supporting local businesses, the second reason is because they are a great resource for knowing the point area, and the final reason is because i hope that through building relationships with some of these business owners and employees they will be open to hearing about the faith that i believe is the way.

anyhow, today was a great step with one such local business owner. i’ve been using her store for a year and a half now and every time i go in we usually stand around and talk until it gets to busy for her to do so. she’s a great person. we’ve talked local politics, business, and faith. she knows where i stand and i know where she does. she usually describes herself as having “new agey, cosmic, oprah faith.” i’ve invited her to tapestry a few times and her response has always been “robert, i love talking with you but i don’t really fit in with that organized stuff.”

today she responded to our conversation “well i would come to that.” the conversation was concerning whether or not i had finished my message for easter. i didn’t start that conversation off, she did. she asked that question and i told her i had barely started because they biggest part of tapestry’s easter celebration would be painting the hope center (i.e. resurrecting something). i explained the whole thing to her and she asked “so are you doing this on easter morning?” i hadn’t thought of that and i think it is a great idea (i mean a really great idea). i told her so and that i would check into whether we can do it or not. the conversation ended when another customer came in the store. her final response was “well i would come to that. let me know when you have the date and time and i might even come to her service afterward.”

i have tried for 6 months to get her to come to something tapestry-wise without any success. who would have thought painting the hope center would have been the thing that she wanted to come to.

i know a lot of faith communities use community service as outreach to those receiving the service. i think we may begin using community service as outreach to those doing the service.

April 1, 2009

april fool's

i just got fooled by sojo.net.

i get the sojourner’s email updates. i probably lean a little left of center but i still don’t always agree with everything that jim wallis and sojourners say. anyhow, the email today indicated that rush limbaugh was going to be delivering a keynote address at sojo’s mobilization to end poverty.

my first thought when reading this was “really?!?!?”.

my second thought was “REALLY?!?!?!?!?”

i just couldn’t see this happening. i’ve been gone a couple of days and out of the news loop but i still thought i would have heard something concerning a right wing spokesperson buddying up to a left wing spokesperson.

so they got me. their prank convinced me enough that i didn’t start believing anything was fake until i watched the above video. watching the video i decided that i should probably skip to the end of the email and see if this was a prank.

yep, it was. i was fooled.

SIDE NOTE – if anyone has any interesting stories of life defeating death i would love to hear them and possibly use them at tapestry this sunday.

SIDE SIDE NOTE – i haven’t pulled a good april fool’s day joke in years. i need to work on one.

March 30, 2009

the new use for the light

i’ve posted before about the gobo sign that tapestry uses for outside identification when daylight savings time is not in practice. now that daylight savings time is happening we don’t need the gobo outside (because it obviously won’t work in the daylight) so it has been given a new home that i like. it is now working inside the gym. the above photo is what it looked like sunday. i know it’s basically meaningless but it makes me happy.

March 28, 2009

the week in tweets – 2009-03-28

We’re home. Good night. #
I sitting second in my bracket right now, but I think everything it about to fall apart. #
last words of my sermon at Tapestry tonight … “JESUS tells a story about .. HOLY CRAP! … I’ll stop now” #
@ppolnaszek – i thought that was fellowship? in reply to ppolnaszek #
@johnthemember – thanks john. now i have to plan a way to get you and perry back over here when i am in point. in reply to johnthemember #
@bsheets – yeah it was funny, but not planned. i wasn’t as prepare on delivery this week and went WAY over. noticed it as starting a story. in reply to bsheets #
@ppolnaszek – we’ll have to soon . i may just decide to come over to fellowship one sunday morning to see how y’all do things. in reply to ppolnaszek #
terrell family marital discord? pam hated this week’s episode of “the office”. i loved it. #
Watching 8 wild turkeys feed in our backyard about 15 feet from me #
@edstetzer – what’s the name of the biography? I’m assuming “Sister Aimee” in reply to edstetzer #
@edstetzer – nevermind. just found it (http://tinyurl.com/c9ndlo) sister aimee – the american experience in reply to edstetzer #
the dogs sleep too long, therefore i just walked them around outdoors, it started raining terribly bad #
http://twitpic.com/2eqvw – car accident and fire on church street – i’ve never seen a car catch on fire as a result of an accident. all … #
@ppolnaszek – i owe you an apology concerning McDonald’s coffee. Had it for the first time and it’s good. Better than Starbucks, not Emy J’s #
Going to hear Jürgen Moltmann in September – Thanks to the great and glorious Pam my space has been acquired! http://tinyurl.com/cmb5bp #
@edstetzer – was the video “the american experience: sister aimee”? http://tinyurl.com/c9ndlo #
@johnthemember – for the better or worse? in reply to johnthemember #
Some days I am amazed by how much I get done with so little effort. Other days I work hard to accomplish almost nothing. Today is the latter #
In one of Pam’s community meetings and there is a guy here who looks just like Roger Clinton. #
@jesslawrence1 – that KLOVE crap gets old VERY QUICKLY – how can people stand you anymore 🙂 in reply to jesslawrence1 #
@edstetzer great interview (http://tinyurl.com/d3epvw) – favorite quote “Baptists like to talk more about evangelism than to actually do it” #
@dannygilliam – http://tinyurl.com/cesv2j just looked at the site you were talking about. still trying to pick my jaw up off the floor in reply to dannygilliam #
@meganckelly – do tell? in reply to meganckelly #
it’s polito’s pizza for leadership tonight – mhmmmm. #
why do duke and memphis hate me? #
@dannygilliam – apparently not in reply to dannygilliam #
my bracket is basically over now #
When did everyone decided that it was appropriate to answer their phones and carry on cell phone conversations in the library? #
How can you tell if the person in front of you at the grocery student is a college student or not? The ramen noodle to real food ratio. #
@calvinb – apparently not enough of them because i was very disturbed in reply to calvinb #
@bsheets – thanks. from the looks of things i was the only one at the library left out of that memo. in reply to bsheets #
@exchangedliving – not much 🙂 in reply to exchangedliving #
Noah just announced to Pam that the Kid’s Choice Awards are his Oscars. The Oscars are a huge deal for Pam that dare not be interrupted. #

March 27, 2009

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.

March 26, 2009

oh how i wish

i became facebook friends with a guy who visited tapestry this past week. he seems to be a pretty nice guy. anyhow looking on his wall on monday he made a statement concerning visiting a “radical church” which i am going to assume is tapestry (i have no way of knowing how many churches he may have visited on this past sunday so this could easily be another church). here’s a screen shot of his status line and the comments made under it (the names have been blurred out to protect the innocent).

so based on my assumption that he is talking about tapestry i want to make two comments.

1st, OH YES we definitely do need to be a church of people wearing “sweet 80’s pants and jean jackets.” i lived through those days and would probably still be wearing all that stuff if it wasn’t for pam. i’m sure i still have some parachute pants and a member’s only jacket or two at my parents’ house. hmmmmm, good times. of course, we would also have to force people to wear some of those great bill cosby sweaters – lots of bold colors equals lots of fun.

2nd, i truly hope we can become a church worthy being considered “radical.” i think JESUS pushed the limits and the powers responded by hating HIM (and still do). GOD’s freedom, grace, and absurd love seem to cause that type of reaction. i hope tapestry can truly follow CHRIST in that manner. i once heard someone say the following (i can’t remember who to give credit to)

that all the apostles were imprisoned, beaten, chased off, lied about, and killed by the powerful and the religious for how they followed JESUS. when we go through the same things it may indicate we’re actually doing a decent job of following HIM.

i hope we one day merit being considered “radical” (80’s slang or not) in our faith.

March 25, 2009

touched twice united

Perry Describes TTU from Robert Terrell on Vimeo.

disclaimer – i’m on the board of touched twice united so my opinion is slightly biased – of course, it is actually one of the most amazing opportunities you and your church will ever have.

ok, i’ve done my disclaimer now i can speak freely. TOUCHED TWICE UNITED IS AMAZING! it really is a cool way of doing GOD-things.

basically ttu is a way of getting churches, community organizations, and community leaders to work together to help the weakest citizens in their counties. imagine combining a medical, dental, hearing, and vision clinic with any other service you can imagine (beauty salon, oil change service, etc.) and doing it with a $0 budget. that’s part of what touched twice is. churches work together to find people who are already wanting to help their community. the churches also look for ways that are already in their communities of meeting the needs that will be discovered. for example, hold as a part of a vision clinic touched twice gets the lions club involved – those lions love working with the vision impaired – i know this because my dad used to sale the lions club brooms and lights door to door when he was a lion). another example in wisconsin is the fact that there are free dental supplies that the state will offer to any dentist doing charitable work. there are tons of ways of meeting needs that are already in our communities which are simply not very well known. you get all this together and then provide every person in need who shows up for a clinic an “advocate” who will help them to discover needs, determine what can be done, walk them through the process, and will pray with them.

it’s an amazing thing and did i mention that a touched twice clinic is usually done on a ZERO budget? this is why the national institute of health is interested in it (which should make jonathan wilmore happy). if you’re church is interested in learning more or doing one give me a ring, visit the website (the new one is ttunited.org which will be fully functional by may 1st), or even better yet contact perry polnaszek and let him tell you about ttu. as a group we have a goal of having a clinic in every county in the u.s of a by 2011. it’s a big goal but the clinics are really taking off – which is what usually happens with good ideas.

tapestry is going to be a part of doing one later this year and i’m pretty pumped about.

March 24, 2009

upcoming seminars

i’m pretty pumped about two conferences that i will be going to this year. the two conferences are:

q 2009 – april 27-29 – q is an intriguing way to do a convention. get a lot of great presenters to address some of the most amazing questions of our present situation. then encourage as much discussion on those subjects as possible at the convention. this year it involves alan hirsch, chris seay, john burke, and more. it is going to be great.
2009 theological conversation – september 9-11 – this is the yearly emergent village convention. some people love emergent village and some people hate it. i’m probably in the middle. the reason i am going to this year’s theological conversation is because it will be led by jürgen moltmann. enough said. dr. moltmann is amazing. i first read his stuff in seminary (1992-94) and have loved him since then. four sessions with dr. moltmann! this will be incredible.

btw, if anyone is going to be in austin (q 2009) or chicago (theological conversation) for those two conferences i would be very interested in grabbing a room with you.

SIDE NOTE – i was driving to emy j’s coffee today and saw this car on fire from a three car collision that had happened moments before. i stopped to make sure everyone was okay and left when the police officers arrived an started shooing people away (they had this brilliant idea that it would probably be wise to move people away from the gasoline containing vehicles that were on fire and might explode – not sure why we were all comfortable standing 40’ away from this). anyhow, there were injuries but the officer believed that everyone was going to be okay.

i’ve seen vehicles catch on fire before but never actually as a result of an accident until today.