i hopped on the back of a shopping cart last night (one of those short stubby grocery store ones) that i had loaded full of bottled water pointed it down an incline and kicked off. i highly recommend it. btw ~ you might want to perfect your stopping before you perfect your starting. i wore out a good pair of shoes trying to stop. :) K

one of our artist moderators for wabiSABI has put a link to where some of her work can be purchased. you must go there. i am so excited that Anita is going to be a part of the experience. don't miss it.

go to wabi

as a follower of christ i guess that we are not allowed to get our feelings hurt. i mean if we are doing what he wants then our time, our money, our energy, our relationships, etc are not really our own, but part of his great orchestra. not saying that actions don't hurt, but to react based upon those feelings would be wrong...right?

an example - sometimes it is hard when the people closest to you who say they share in your same values fail to act in a manner that is consistent with that. not that everyone has to like what i stand for, but don't tell me you do and then do something else. we as believers need to be truthful and honest in our dealings with each other. my first reaction was to immediately want to blog about how mad i was and make it so those folks knew exactly why i was upset. it's been a few weeks now and the Father has shown me that i have to let it go and still love them like nothing happened. i'm still working through my theology on this one.

in case you don't know my blogging friends...meet nathan and jessica. links to their sites are on the right.

we are in austin this afternoon with shannon and jessica doing some preliminary work for wabi. the more prep we do the more excited i get. please be in prayer about being a part of this with us.

new wabi stuff

in case you haven't been there yet today...you ought to.

joshua has done great things with the wabiSABI site. go check it out and start telling others about it too.

i've been wanting to know more about the whole abide in christ thing for awhile now and last week while digging through my library (my one bookcase) i found a book entitled "abide in christ." cool thing about it is that i wasn't familiar with this book, meaning i didn't buy it, it just showed up. the book is a 31 chapter daily read to help one understand the principle.

this morning's chapter dealt with the parable of the vine and the branch. learning that the value in each is interdependent upon the other is what makes the story come alive. Jesus (the vine) needs us (the branch) to produce fruit to reach others while at the same time we need the nourishment that can only come from the vine. neither the vine nor the branch can be effective acting alone. for me it was a valuable lesson to be reminded that i don't have to do anything under my own strength. it was also refreshing to see scripture encourage me as valuable to the work of the Father. Understanding this relationship does wonders for helping me get a better grasp on the abiding part. PAX.

chruch life and a busted printer

i was talking to my mother a few days ago about how much she paid to repair an office printer. i was quite surprised that anyone would choose to repair something that essentially was a throw away item. to make matters worse, i had just purchased a new, much higher quality printer the day before for about half of the cost of her repair.

now i mean no disrespect to my mother. in fact the idea of repairing what you have instead of tossing it away is something that we all should practice more, except for the case of cheap printers and sometimes churches and/or church services.

i hear people so often say that they are trying and struggling to get their church to change to reach more or different people..in other words to repair it. now maybe you just want to be more purpose driven or contemporary, but what if you also want to be more tattoo friendly or pierced friendly or green spiked hair friendly (don't forget that jesus died for them and has a plan for their life too). will that ever happen even with an unlimited amount of church counsel meetings or focus groups or whatever pop-business-church-psyche name you want to call it? probably not.

then why do we do it? why not be faithful to what the Father has called you to do. why not empower believers to go reach these people where they are and on their terms. quit paying $100 to fix a $25 problem. there are no medals in heaven for "sticking it out" in a problematic church, but there are some for discipling the lost and for giving your life to kingdom work. don't wake up one day and realize what could have been or the lives that could have been changed by allowing the Father's love to flow through you. don't give all of that ministry up in trade for wanting one more praise chorus during the sunday 10a holy hour. dust off your feet and move on...today.

christ has come to set you free, so quit putting your chains back on.

not so super sunday

i was asked to fill in on bass guitar this sunday for a worship service - one of my most favorite things in all the world to do - so i responded with an enthusiastic YES. when i got there i was told that the praise band was the half-time "entertainment" for the super bowl. apparently the church is bringing in a large screen tv for the game and you can figure out the rest.

now i don't have anything against churches doing this type of stuff to build community, but to do it and toss in a little worship is just wrong to me. worship shouldn't be filler or stuffing, it's the main deal. what a better example for the church to show unbelievers that our corporate time with the Almighty it too important to substitute in anything else.

i just feel really weird about the whole thing. am i being too dramatic? maybe it's just because i don't care about football.

good new stuff from my beloved, angelbiscuits.

keep checking the wabi site for current information. some of the moderators and panelists are starting to dialog there. get used to me writing about this...i really believe it is for you. click wabiSABI for more information. i haven't learned my code good enough to make it link automatically.

well the weekend is over and we are back home. for us the assessment was powerful and convicting. while part of me wants to pass judgment on the churches of that area, i know that i have treated ministry the same way. i felt justified because we had a "cool" building or good music and because we were in a small city i rationalized that everyone knew about us. it was their choice if they didn't want to come.

i see now what can happen on a much larger scale over a longer period of time. with some exceptions (mostly of a specific and limited demographic), church in the killeen area is reserved for those 55 and above.

now to keep this from dragging out any further...the bottom line that i see is that it is time to take the church back to the streets. we could raise and spend millions trying to build the perfect building or compound or center or whatever, but why? Let's get on their turf - the bars, tattoo shops, community centers and so on. i believe that scripture tells of Jesus talking to prostitutes and tax collectors where they were, not after having coaxed them into some tabernacle or crusade. it could actually be a really fun ministry or at least i think so. i've always liked the controversial but correct thing - in regard to church life that is. it sucks to be vanilla.

one thing of note before i shut up. the killeen model while distinct in some areas is very common in others. we must get the gospel on the street in whatever community or city where you live. gone are the days when new churches fill up like new restaurants do on opening day. "if we build it, they will come" is not a good MO to use for church buildings, but it might be for church sponsored skate parks or gaming clubs or internet cafes or theology cigar lounges or car rallies or ______________ (whatever the Father tells you to do).

***** go to wabi ****

one more note - these thoughts are my take on the collective thoughts of the group this weekend. most of the above thoughts did not originate with me, but i don't think anyone will mind if i act on their ideas. if an assessment weekend sounds like your thing then contact me - there is another one in march.

please pray for the killeen/copperas cove/harker heights/nolanville/ft hood area. the people here are hurting much more that i would have ever imagined and the churches are so lost without a clue that it makes your heart sick. if local missionary work is your calling, pray about this area.

just a note...the irony of the whole weekend for me is that most of us here, 20 or so, are not currently involved in institutional church however we are trying to capture data to help traditional church reach these folks. truth of the matter probably is that it will actually be the emerging culture of individuals that will do the work. the tattoo artist that i spoke to today will unfortunately never be welcomed by many churches here, so they have to be loved by someone else. that someone else has yet to emerge. pray that we find that person or team or org or whatever or pray that it may be you.

PAX, really.

this weekend di and i will be part of another city assessment orchestrated by the emerging church network folks. this is always a bitter sweet time for me. sweet because it brings me back into focus of outreach and i re-tune in to what really is important as a follower of Christ. bitter because the reality of what's being done (outside of a few exceptions) is so little. with a church on every corner in some cities, why aren't we saturating communities with the gospel? are we not doing the right things or just not doing things right?

please pray for the folks doing emerging type ministries. some of these folks come under fire routinely from traditional (well-meaning) church people. as the Church community we should be heralding these ministers as heroes. they truly are carring the sword of truth to those that need it. they are seeking the lost, not just opening the doors hoping they will come in. gotta go.

evening, morning, and at noon, will i pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice.
the writings of david the psalmist in chapter 55

shut your mouth and show me some love

ran into some old pew pals this week in the store and the first thing out of their mouth was "gee, we've missed you, we think about you all of the time." i don't buy it. if you truly care about someone then pick up the phone and call. show me some action, show me some jesus. i don't care what your intentions were or are.

when will the church learn that if we aren't even good enough to fool each other with a superficial type of love that we don't have a chance of reaching the hurting and distrustful lost? and the real sadness is, if you are fake to me then so what. I am still a believer. but if you are fake to a person who doesn't know Jesus, then you could make it that much harder for that person to ever believe there is a God big enough and real enough to love them.

when will christians get out of the way of the believers who want to share the saving love and grace of Jesus? will the real slim shady please stand up?

I WANT MY MTV

i am so amazed at how contemporary church is so out of touch with my age group. to get right to the point - i feel that every minister trying to reach our generation should spend an hour a day watching MTV or at the very least the top 20 countdown on VH1. just listen to the lyrics and you'll hop on the expressway to their soul. "but the stuff on MTV is so vulgar" you may say...well, hell yes it is and so is their world! nothing short of the gospel will change that. only when we can see these artists as voices for the lost around us will we understand how to reach them.

rest, yeah right?

i just went to a very worshipful service tonight where one of the questions presented was "when was a very restful time in your life"? several of the answers seemed to revolve around some type of drug (legal, but controlled) substance. why is that? why when it comes to rest does the word morphine come to mind? do we need to hike into the desert for 40 days like jesus? ahhh...maybe there was something to that. of course i won't have that much vacation time at my job for another 25 years so i guess i'm off the hook right?

if you are in san antonio check out common ground. Blessings -*k*

as i help out with this event and learn about the emerging ministries around the country that may be a part of this, i am completely humbled. some of these ministries are absolutely incredible. i knew that i couldn't attend wabi without being changed, but it is almost 3 months away and already the Father is working on me. wow.

go here for more wabi information.

from christmas my wife gave me a window sticker for my car that says

"WE ARE THE PEOPLE OUR PARENTS WARNED US ABOUT."

that is strangely convicting, but i like it. PAX -[k]

what's on tap, what's freshly brewed, and oh a coke for my friend

there are times that even as an adult that i want to fit it, to be edgy, to be whatever it is that i think i'm not. many of those times, thanks to watching too much thursday nite NBC include a good cup of coffee or a longneck at some perfect little neighborhood pub. unfortunately i like neither. now the pub is fine, but give me a cream soda or a mountain dew instead of the sam adams. the weird thing is that i've really tried to like both, but no luck.

as i start to talk to folks about emerging church ideas it seems that a lot of people are like me and my coffee - they want to like it and understand, but they don't. they can see that this is a passion of mine and a calling worthy of my life, but to them it holds no meaning. that has to be ok for both me and them. as believers we aren't commanded to agree only to love each other...so next time let's go somewhere where i can get a black cherry soda on tap.

the writings of isaiah, chapter 43
"forget all that - it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. for I am about to do a brand new thing, see, I have already begun. do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come. I will create rivers for them in the desert!"

even though this was written several thousand years ago, it seems completely fitting for today. all over the world people are finding the spirit move in places outside the realm of institutional church. like minded individuals are coming together across denominations, oceans, and internet connections to establish communities of faith. people are stepping out in faith raising up disciples according to the leading of the spirit. it truly is a new work and it is wonderful to be a part of it.

to experience some of what the Father is doing, join us at wabiSABI in Austin, Texas in late march. collaborate, discover, and express is the theme as we come together as part of the new thing the Father is doing.

a new thing

the writings of isaiah in chapter 43
"forget all of that - it is nothing compared to what i am going to do. for I am about to do a brand new thing. see I have already begun! do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers for them in the desert!"



come be a part of some of the new things of the Father at wabiSABI in Austin, Texas in march.

we had a wonderful time visiting with shannon, nathan, and amy and our newest friend martina. it was a sweet time of fellowship that i think the father reserves only for believers. i'm not sure that i can explain that much further, it just feels like home when you are with those that are connected. (i'm trying to dodge the christian word anointed 'cause i think it is overused, but that really is the word)

the father was in front of us, behind us, above us, below us, and in us and it was good.

follow the yellow brick road or maybe it's just hwy 290

Di and I are off to Austin this morning to spend a day or 2 with shannon and talk about wabisabi. we currently are in such a heightened state of expectation from God that i'm afraid we will stress everyone out. no worries though. we really enjoy going places and discovering God working differently in other people's lives. it helps us tear down the walls of our understanding and allow God to show himself differently and that usually means in bigger and better ways.

service for poppy

please be in prayerful support of bea and her family with the passing of her grandfather and with the services today. ask the father to renew strength in her 80 year old grandmother and give her daily encouragement until the grand reunion one day.