New ventures call for old ventures to be left behind. And I have begun a new venture. 

This will be the last post to For Cost of a Thought.  No, I'm not done writing thought provoking posts I'm just moving them to a new place.

I'm here to announce that my blog is moving to www.astoldbyjosh.com

As Told by Josh was created to reflect the change in perpective that I've gained over the last 2 years. I am begining to see life as a big story book. One that has yet to be completed and is filled with twists and turns that make Hollywood producers jealous. 

Don't worry the topics will be the same. My interests have not changed only the way I look at them have. 

I will be keeping this blog until the end of 2011 but this is the last post. 

I look forward to continuing our discussion at www.astoldbyjosh.com

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All Apple fans have had death on their minds since the announcements of Steve Jobs passing. I've been giving thought to what I would really want to say to you if this was my last day on earth. I'm not planning for it to be - but its something you don't know. These are some issues that I hope to address in my future however long or short it may be. 

1. Young ministers and older ministers need each other. Now. More than ever. 

More than ever young and old need each other to parse this culture which is over-saturated and over-stimulated. Young ministers feel the pressure to "have all the answers". This is impossible because the questions seem to change every hour, on the hour. More experienced ministers have had more years to wrestle through some of these issues. "But they don't understand/respect us!" is the cry of each party. How can we start to understand each other? There must be mutual admiration for the struggles that each generation goes through for struggle is the only consistent tie that binds us together. 

2. The Church needs a voice on social issues.

Do we really want the Westboro Baptist Church and their "God Hates Fags" message to be the voice that defines Christianity in our American culture? Right now, it is. Their message is constantly on the news, blogs, and the lips of those trying to figure out if God has anything to offer them. Should the church be defined by just one voice?

3. Pornography is a murderer. 

It should be arrested for committing war crimes against people who don't even realize that they are being hurt. Porn assassinates the soul, murders the mind, and rapes our relationships. Sorry for the harsh imagery...

Real intimacy trumps digital intimacy.

4. Creativity! PLEASE!

Can we try new methods please? We have grown fond of technological innovation that has brought us the radio, telephone, television, computer, internet, and constantly connected smartphones that deliver the information deemed both important and mundane. But when we suggest that we deliver the message of the gospel in any other way than a 3 point outline and a hymn we scream “heresy”. Come on Americans! Drop the double standard. 

5. Money will always run out. Fulfillment will always fuel your future. 

Most everyone I know is in debt. Some are in way over their heads. Some are managing it well. We learn that money is limited to the job that you hold or held. And at some point it just runs out. And when the vision/purpose of your life is to get money- well, when the money is gone so is the reason for being. There is an occupation that fulfills your soul. I don't know what it is for you. For me it is being a pastor and dedicating my life to help others encounter God. I can do that with money or without and thus my level of fulfillment helps me push on to the next day despite its hardships

6. It does not get better. 

Life will never get better for you because life doesn't change. I believe it was Chesterton who said that "All news is old news happening to new people." Life is what unites us and it never has gotten better. 

But you - you can get better. You are not an it. You are a dynamic person who has the power to choose how you react to this it we call life. Your attitude can get better. Your perspectives can get better. You can get better. But life never will. 

7. I love you. 

One of the last and most important thing I would say is that I love you. This is primarily directed to my wife and daughter. They taught me how to love and I gladly supply all the love I can must back to them. 

To you the reader - I love you too. Just in a much different way than I do my wife or child. I love you enough to tell you. Most people claim to love but never say the words. I hope that my actions can back up this statement when we meet someday. 

8. Jesus loves you more than I ever could. 

Jesus was the constant in my life. He never changed. My opinions, my view, my approach to Him may have changed over the years - but he never did. 

No matter what happens in your life - Jesus will be the constant. Even if you don't believe that he was God. Even if you don't believe in the miracles. Even if you don't agree with his teachings. Despite what you feel about Jesus he still died for you. 

Even if you believe that Jesus was some insane man who believed that by his death he could allow you to become a friend, child, worshipper of God - even if you believe that you still have to hand it to him that he actually went through with the plan and gave himself up for you. 

Doesn’t that mean, at the very least, you should give him a chance? Take a chance on Jesus because he died for you. I'm not dying for you. I don't love you that much. Jesus did. He proved it. At least you can check him out right?

You might be surprised at what you find.

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One of the biggest buzz words in Christendom is "discipleship". And rightly so. Discipleship is the process of becoming more like Christ in our thoughts, actions, and motives. The latter, of course, driving the former. 

So why do I label it a buzzword?

Because everyone is trying it on for size. Discipleship classes and curriculum help mentors and ministers develop a way of "doing" discipleship. Meetings and retreats are scheduled in order that people can get away and get closer to God. As if becoming like Jesus can be relegated to a weekend experience that supposedly permeates the rest of your life. And it seems that everyone is looking for the formula that just works. 

So I have created the formula. (You can pay me for it later)

I am learning to _______________ Jesus. I will teach others to _________________ Jesus. 

Before diving into the depths of this beautiful formula allow me to lend my perspective on discipleship to you. 

Three points:

1. Discipleship happens. It it up to you whether its done intentionally or unintentionally. 

A lesser experienced Christ follower will imitate a more experienced and well-respected Christ follower. Think Christian see, Christian do. This replication goes beyond actions as well. Attitudes, both good and bad, are passed on from one believer to another. An experienced and respected saint that is seen always complaining gives permission to others to complain without ceasing. 

2. Actions must be seen in action, not just listed on a to-do list. 

You can't give people a list of what to do and what not to do and tell them to "figure it out." That's lazy anyway. Lazy disciplers lead to lazy disciples. You have to show people the how to not just the have to. 

3. You can only disciple others where you have been discipled yourself.

The most damage to discipleship programs is done when leaders think an overview course is enough to cut it. "Here is the big picture of what to do and now go do it." This approach may work to enhance the knowledge of disciples but it is not about what you know now is it? 

Maybe my Christian experience is different than most. But when I look back at my life I see specific seasons of growth that were concentrated in specific areas. Certain times I learned about trusting God in the midst of hard trials. Other points I learned about the necessity of joy-filled worship. There was even times when I learned how solitude was essential for my health and well-being. 

I was being discipled. Not in a class or at a retreat, but as my life was unfolding. And I was being discipled by those saints who spoke to me out of their experiences that happened to be similar to what I was going through. I learned more about being a Christian in short 2-minute conversations that I ever did in some 8 week course.  

This brings us back to the formula. We disciple out of what we know. 

I am learning to _______________ Jesus.

Fill in the blank. Encounter, trust, proclaim, worship, talk about, respect, praise, have faith in, spend time with, obey, love. 

Whatever we learn in the present season of life should be what we teach in the next season of life.

The formula continues:

 I will teach others to _________________ Jesus. 

The same verb here. What I learn, I teach. I will pass on to those who are on this journey with me. 

In order for a person to become discipled they must learn and teach. Some seasons of life demand more learning than teaching and vice versa. But both aspects must be engaged. Teaching without learning eventually becomes stale and hollow. Learning without teaching is like eating too much cake - eventually becoming so full that forward movement is difficult. 

Look, I'm not trying to dump on discipleship curriculum. I have good friends that have written discipleship curriculum and it is really good and beneficial stuff.But I really believe that curriculum is merely a starting point. Classes and retreats need to viewed as incendiary events that launch people into a series of discipling opportunities. But sadly some think discipleship is constrained to dates and times when following Jesus is the "focus" of the meeting and not done in the everyday flow of life where it is the most effective. I encourage you to join that class or get away on that retreat and I pray that God steps in and dramatically changes your life. But please don't live your life expecting that one class or one retreat is enough. Don't treat discipleship like a plaque that hangs on your wall of spritual achievements. Discipleship is about being indentified with Christ and shaping an identity is a 24-hour a day task. 

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Most of our movement and travel is based on a destination. I need to start here and go there. "Gotta get from A to B" is a phrase that comes to mind. We drive, fly, ride from point to point. 

But running, at least for exercise sake, is about ending up where you started. We run around a circular track that brings us to where we started. Running around the block brings us back to where we started. The goal always seems to be to get back to where you started. Gotta get from point A to point A, as it were. 

The destination is the same as the beginning. Its only the length of distance in the middle that changes. (One mile or Four)

So with this profound truth now discovered I began to think of other events we take part of that have an A to A path. I could only think of one: 

Outreach. (The mystical and coded church word that means going to people to introduce them to Jesus and helping them find positive life change)

Outreach starts from Jesus with the goal to end up back at Jesus. It starts with leaving the walls of the church with the goal to end up back at the church. 

And for most regular church goers they already have most of this habit down. They come to church on Sunday, leave, and return the next Sunday. But with average church attendance shrinking year after year (depending on which study you read) there seems to be a disconnect - or more accurately a bad connection - between the physical leaving/returning routine and the reason why we leave and return. 

If you were to sit at the same table with your favorite athlete, pop-star, actor, and you met with them and they would do anything that you want and talk about whatever you want - would you ever want to leave?

No. 

But if the person you hold in such high esteem asked you to go and bring others to the conversation you would run out and grab all your friends and compell them to come and meet Brice Springsteen... or, whoever. 

But sadly we do not experience the same "bringing" fervor from people filling our pews and chairs. The Bible that church people read and cling to tells them over and over that God - the God - will show up and talk with them, meet with them and help them. But the only urgency seen on Sundays is to make it home to watch the game and eat the food. 

Even discounting Sunday as a day of rest, most church folks have little urgency during the other six days of the week. Yet they are out and about their lives with the sole desire to show back up on Sunday. Leaving church only to get back to church. But the reason that we leave church in the first place is to go bring others with us! It is pretty clear in Jesus' commission to his disciples that they should go and bring others back to Him. 

I get it some people like to run alone. They don't like to invite anyone to run along side of them. The time alone reenergizes and refocuses them. But thats only the case for running. To get fulfillment, to get refocused and reenergized out of the Christian life one must meet together (in church, small groups, etc) and introduce new people into the routine. Without new people joining, churches can become stale and repetitve. Even runners change courses from time to time, right? 

You know already if you are going to church this Sunday. You already know. You know what it takes to get there and how much energy you will have to expend. You also know that you might encounter Jesus in a different way this Sunday than you did last Sunday. But do you know who you are going to bring with you? Do you know who else in your life needs to encounter Jesus? Are you going to invite them on your run?

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<p>This is Discipling from The Foursquare Church on Vimeo.</p>

This video has been passed around by a lot of people. And as far as videos go its actually pretty good. Good productions values, good storytelling. Just good.

 But I am must say that th emessage is just a little too ambitious for me. 

"Let's make disciples" it says. I agree. 

"Let's live like Jesus told us to live" I agree.

"Let's go out into the community with the gospel." I agree. 

Let's abandon the current expression of the local church to go back to the way things were when the apostles walked the earth." 

I DO NOT agree.

Look anyone who knows me knows that I am not blindly devoted to a certain "style" of doing church. Indeed I spend more time questioning the motives of what we are doing than probably should be allowed. 

But to say that the current expression of the local church needs abandonned for a turn to some grass roots movement is of little help to the real problems that we face in the world today. 

What do we as the Church need the most? 

UNITY. 

In big bold letters.  The danger of putting to death intentional communites is that there stems the real possibility of many heretics, sects, and cults rising from groups of people abandonning any accountability. Mission has the tendency to die when there are thousands who proclaim to being fullfilling it in the only way that is correct. (It becomes less about the mission and more about the methodology which is the exact same problems the Church has faced since its inception.)

Now I am NOT condemming the church that put this video together. Their motives are pure and can be seen as pure through the tone of the video. 

But too often I hear how the church structure, especially in America, is broken. And it is not efficient nor effective at carrying out the mission of Christ in the lost and dying world in which it inhabits. 

You know what I say? Good.

Why?

Because when we suck God gets the glory. 

When we do our best to follow what God commands and we completely mess it up it means that anything good that comes out of us is solely God's doing. 

It is my humble opinion that the problem with the church is not its light shows and productions. Its that we mere mortals try to take credit for it. We try to place our names as Executive Producer on this Sunday morning production we call church. 

And that, I believe is what true Followers are really rebelling against. Thats the reason that this video was made. I think people stand and cheer for a new way of "doing" church because they are seeing less of God and more of man. Justifiably so, many pastors have put themselves in the place of God instead of serving as a guide to lead people on the journey to knowing Him. And true followers of Jesus notice it. They don't feel right about it. It unsettles them in their spirit.

I hesitate to say this but it seems to me that too many individuals feel there is a need for another Reformation and that he/she should be annointed the new Luther. Instead of fighting to correct and restore the Church (which was Luther's original intent) our new Reformationist want to reclaim the pure form of the Apostle's church (a phrase that confuses me) and inevitably break us as The Church apart even more. Besides Luther and the Reformation was based on some poignant doctrines of the church. Not stage lights and seeker-sensitivity.

So let's not throw away the current model of doing church. Let's not burn it at the stake. If we were really honest with ourselves a message so important as the gospel of Christ should be glowing in lights - at least more so than the images of fast cars and half-naked women selling us a bill of of goods we wrongly believe will supply our lives with meaning. The gospel needs to be presented in language. It would be hard to dissuade me that the language of the culture isn't dynamically glitzy and shiny like Hollywood and Fifth Avenue. 

Besides all the people that hail videos like these and raise the protest signs of "Church is for Jesus not Light Shows" are simply too wimpy to radically change their lives to match the message of the videos they just saw, anyway.

Look, if God (and not your self-created imaginary idol that you call "God") is telling you to step away from the church for a time and follow him in a radically different way please do so. Please. This world needs examples of people radically following God. But please be gracious and humble enough to admit that God is not necessarily calling every one down that path...at least not yet.

Deep down every Christ Follower has to grasp that no matter how we choose to gather together to worship God - if it is about Him and not the method, then we have the chance to encounter Jesus and experience positive life change. 

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Sometimes you look back over your life and you say to yourself "How did I get here?"

Sometimes you look back over your life and you say to yourself "That's how I got here?"

And today I have learned that there is not too much that seperates these two inquisitve statements of personal refelction. This is what I have learned. 

How we approach refelcting on the state our lives reveals who we believe is really in control of them. 

The first quetion reveals a heart that believes that you are in control of your self. You are the one in control of everything that happens to you. You view with bewilderment or exhileration the current status of your life as the sum of everything that you have chosen to do, react to, avoid, or conquor. 

And when you get to where you are and it doesn't quite line up with the plan in your head you ask "How did I get here?" Because, honestly, you don't know. 

The second question, on the other hand, denotes a belief that you and I do not control the final outcome of our lives. We see our current status as a series of parts strung together in an elaborate equation that can't be explained by algebra and equals something that struggles to be explained with logic. But we do know that it was in spite of us that we arrived at this point in our lives. 

And when you get to where you are and see how the pieces have come together to make what you now call life you say, "That's how I got here?"

Either way when you look back your life there is some confusion. There have been both good and bad events in your life. Both harm and help have been presented to you. You have presented both help and harm to others. But the only constant in your life is that you have been at the center of it. 

But I think we have a choice in the question that we ask. I can choose to see myself as the cause of all things in my life. Looking back in success or failure is deemed appropriate by how closely my plan was carried out. Or I can choose to think that I'm merely one thread in a brilliant tapestry being woven into a grand scheme by a master needle-worker. 

When I choose to see the tapestry, I call the master "God". When I choose to see myself as the center of cause, I call God, "Josh." 

The times when I take full responsibility of life it leads to either a sense of worthlessness or a sense of pride. If I fail, I am of no value to this world. If I succeed, I am elevated above the others who are worthless. Either way it is sin. 

On the flip side - When I take the opportunity to look at my life I have found it much more rewarding to look back in wonder and amazement to see my humble life as a ornery and rebellious thread that sometimes is too rigid to be woven and too tattered to be strong, but always ending up where it needs to go and fitting into the design correctly. 

I think we can call this viewpoint praise and thanksgiving. Because in spite of me I see the powerful hand of God working in my life and I am in awe of his handiwork. It forces me to recognize that He is far more capable of managing my life than I am. 

As long as I live I will live in the tension of this struggle. We all will. The curse of Adam and Eve was that of having to choose who gets to manage this gift of life.

God? Then no apple. Me? Yummy apple. 

Too often I find out that there is a worm in the apple. 

And my appetite for apples is becoming less and less.

But apples still taste good, sometimes.

(I am talking about sin, in case you missed the metaphor and thought I was in an orchard somewhere) 

I hate this tension - I desperately want God to have full control of my life and get all the credit for it. But even I find that if I gave him full control I'd probably try to take credit for be able to give up the control. Tension. But tension holds the tapestrly together - that, and a lot of grace. 

And of grace, I am forever thankful. 

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Ok you may have thought that I am the weirdest person that you know. Today I am going to confirm your suspicion. 

How? I am going to confess to you that I love etymology. 

(waiting for you to google the word etymology...)

 and we're back

Language often changes over time. Cool doesn't just deal with temperature anymore. 

When you study words you find a new depth to conversations and something to occupy your mind while you listen to someone blab on...(Don't worry, when I'm talking to you you have my FULL attention)

See, told you I would prove to you that I am weird

I want to share something I've come acroos and share it with you. So, here, have an etymology. 

Confidence: ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French confident(e), fromItalian confidente, from Latin confident- ‘having full trust,’ from the verb confidere, from con- (expressing intensive force) + fidere ‘trust.’

 Confidence: the expression of an intense trust. 

Found in the Bible (New International Version) 37 times. 

Highlights:

Proverbs 11:13: A gossip betrays a confidence, but a trustworthy man keeps a secret.

Jeremiah 17:7: But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.

Ephesians 3:12: In him(Jesus)and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence

Hebrews 4:16: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

I John 5:14: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Confidence: Is there an expression of an intense trust in any area of your life?

Have you experienced the wisdom of Proverbs?

Do you need mercy or grace? Can you must the confidence to approach God searching for it? 

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"Eugene O'Neill, the first great American playwright (1888-1953), spoke freely of his hopes and dreams for a new kind of American theater, one in which the audience might particiapte more vitally and fully. He hoped someday to write plays in which the audience could share...'There must be some way that this can be brought about,' wrote O'Neill. 'As it is now, there is a too cold and cut division between the stage and the auditorium. The whole environment - stage and auditorioum, actors and spectators should be emotionally charged.

This can only happen when the audience actively participates in what is being said, seen, and done. But how? That is the problem. Still, there must be away.'"

- Eric Miller

The stage and the church share similar qualities. The most notable being that two groups of people are facing each other. One group from the stage. One from the seats. As expected vital information usually comes from the stage. In the church the most vital information, that of the the message of God's redemption, comes from the stage week after week after week. 

Although the stage prepares tirelessly to present the message (through song, sermon, and systems)  there are times when you have left church feeling the opposite of "emotionally charged." 

There may be a million reasons why you just didn't feel it this week. Some you brought in the building with you. Some you encountered once you arrived. Not to trivialize what goes on people's life but it IS possible to not be held back from feeling it when you come to church. 

How?

Participate. 

Yes it takes a little effort. But the effort invested is worth the dividend of blessing. Any effort you put in to your church expereince WILL result in you leaving emotionally charged. 

What can you do?

• Sing aloud with the worship teams
• Show up early to set up
• Greet and welcome people as the arrive
• Write, produce, direct a skit that helps tell the story of the sermon that day
• <insert your favorite activity here>

By investing some energy into your church experience you better the chances that you leave emotionally charged.

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A friend of mine posted this and I thought I would share 

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In an addendum to the sermon on Sunday - I suppose you could see this post as a deleted scene...

We find ouselves in the middle of tragedy and conflict more often than we would like. 

I can assume that is true for most of us because I find it true for me - and Im just like everyone else. Human.

Its no secret that conflict and tragedy are bewildering and disorienting. 

For the longest time my first response was to look to the Heavens and cry out "Why? God, Why?"

I wanted to know the purpose and nature of this suffering. 

Was it because I had sinned? 

Was it because God was having a bad day and I was the whipping boy?

Was it because it was just my turn to experience the pain and suffering so familiar to humanity?

None of these reactions were based on fact. Just pure emotion.

As I was praying through some of this the Holy Spirit dropped a little thought that blew my mind. 

I was asking the wrong question.

I was concerned with why these things were happening to me. Why? Why? Why?

In order to handle conflict correctly I was supposed to be asking how?

As in "how am I going to get through this?"

What do I need to do to survive this tragedy?

When we switch questions, we switch perspectives. We turn from being emotion driven to being fact driven. 

 Answer a couple questions - see if you can spot the difference:

Why is all this bad stuff happening to me?

How can I overcome this bad stuff happening to me?

How puts you on the path to create a plan to get through. 

If you fail to plan you plan to fail. If you plan on asking the wrong questions you plan on getting stuck in a revolving door of unanswerable inquiries. 

I suppose I could say it like this: Why is only answered in hindsight - looking back with perspective.

Why does us no good in the middle of the conflict because we don't have the benefit of perspective. 

How helps in the middle of battle because it invites in outside perspectives.

How do I get through conflict?

I choose to worship God - I shift my focus from my problems to His glory.

I choose to fellowship with others - I don't stand in isolation but surround myself with people who care

I choose to serve others - My conflict because more manageble when I see the need in others lives.

So, in the middle of conflict if you find yourself asking why? Trying swithing categories and asking How?

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Boy breaks up with girlfriend. Writes moving poetry. 

Sculpter suffers the loss of his father. Chiseles ornate statue of beauty.

Songwriter turned down by record label. Pens Top 10 hit. 

CEO ousted from company. Returns to revolutionize the industry. 

Even the Master Artist, God, creates the beautiful art of redemption through the gory details of the sacrifice of His Son. 

Pain somehow unlocks the creative side of us all. 

But why? 

Why does it take tragedy, personal or public, to spur the creative in us?

My only guess is that we structure our lives in such a way that restricts creative urges. We schedule ourselves to death. Our to do lists are a mile long. 

We logically construct a default order of operations for our lives which leaves us little room for surprises and interruptions. 

Then. It all. Crashes. down. 

Something, someone, delivers a crushing blow of destruction to the tightly wound construction that we call our lives. 

Logic is replaced by the illogical. Usually in the form of "WHY?"

And suddenly we need a solution to a problem. One that didnt exist just moments before. 

Creativity always shines in moments when a solution is needed. When the "why" is asked. 

Its whispered in a new language - one not normally used in our constructed world. 

Its a language of rhythm, rhyme, and risk. And even in its grotesque form, delivers something beautiful. Through pain and tragedy the restless part of our souls gets a chance to breathe...

Mainly because we just don't have the energy to take to rebuilding the walls that were restricting us in the first place. The walls that keep us in check, in form, and in duty.

They have crumbled and that creative spirit comes through. 

I suppose it begs the question - why can't we be creative without the pain?

I don't know. But I do know that one of the first creative human experiences was after the tragedy in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve first felt that pain and separation from God as a result of their sin - they acted rather creatively. 

Suddenly they developped the skill of hiding and making clothes from leaves. A skill not necessary just a few moments before. 

Yes, creativity explodes when we need a solution to a problem. When we need a new set of standard operating procedures. 

When we face a new future because the old one looks radically bleak...

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Every morning Cassandra, an 18-month-old from Bealeton, VA wakes and acts as her Father's alarm clock. 

As Dad, a local pastor, gets out of bed. He is greeted by a familiar theme. Cassandra standing in bed clutching an Elmo doll.

Together they retreat to the living room where Cassandra point to the computer and speak "T! , T!"

Sources say this is street slang for TV. 

And Cassandra is glued to the screen watching episodes of Sesame Street while her father prepares himself for the day. 

Speaking with the father we have learned an important lesson. This is what he said,

"I wish that I had the same desire for Jesus that my daughter has for Sesame Street. I'm really starting to understand what Jesus meant by having child-like fatih. Every day it is the same routine but the thing that is interesting is that the passion is never decreases. She is just a giddy on Monday as on Friday and every day in between. I wish I could say the same about my reading my Bible or praying."

The Pastor continued, "But I'm working on it. I may not be there yet, but I am trying. If I notice an attitude of grumpiness in my spiritual discipline I ask God to forgive me and I try to correct my attitude."

"I'm really trying to love Jesus like my daughter loves Elmo."

Maybe one day we can all love God like Cassandra loves Elmo. 

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A guy walks up to you and hands you a business card. The following is all the info it contains:

 A righteous man,blameless in his generation. Walks with God. Three sons. -

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"If someone tells you they cannot read or write, you don't assume that they are not capable of reading and writing, but that they haven't been taught how. It is the same with creativity. When people say to me that they are not creative, I assume they just haven't learnt what is involved."

- Ken Robinson in Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative

Every single person in every single field has the ability to be creaitve. We label artist as creative. Musicians as creative. Designers as creative.

But what about market capitalist? Electricians? Farmers? Police Detectives?

Our society has stolen the term creative and attributed it to the arts and the arts alone. And in a sly move has made it a cause of concern when anyone not labeled an "artist"

In fact I would say that most of us have been taught how not to be creative and we thus live our days feeling there is something deep inside of us that needs to be shared.

But we don't have the voice to share it. 

But we don't have the audience to share it with.

But we don't have the platform to present it. 

And we believe this lie that we are not creative people when indeed each one of us has an emense ability to be creative. 

Perhaps you need a new definition of creativity.

Here is my favorite,

"The process of developping original ideas that have value" 

Idea that have value...

Not just on a canvas, or through a microphone, or with a piece of fabric.

Ideas that have value to being a parent.

to being a banker.

to being a farmer.

to being a human being. 

Value is not limited to any vocation. And when you find ways to add value to life you are actually being creative. 

Stop doubting and start living creatively. 

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"If someone tells you they cannot read or write, you don't assume that they are not capable of reading and writing, but that they haven't been taught how. It is the same with creativity. When people say to me that they are not creative, I assume they just haven't learnt what is involved."

- Ken Robinson in

Every single person in every single field has the ability to be creaitve. We label artist as creative. Musicians as creative. Designers as creative. 

But what about market capitalist? Electricians? Farmers? Police Detectives?

Our society has stolen the term creative and attributed it to the arts and the arts alone. And in a sly move has made it a cause of concern when anyone not labeled an "artist" shows creative thinking. 

In fact I would say that most of us have been taught how not to be creative and we thus live our days feeling there is something deep inside of us that needs to be shared.

But we don't have the voice to share it. 

But we don't have the audience to share it with.

But we don't have the platform to present it. 

And we believe this lie that we are not creative people when indeed each one of us has an emense ability to be creative. 

Perhaps you need a new definition of creativity.

Here is my favorite,

"The process of developping original ideas that have value"

Idea that have value...

Not just on a canvas, or through a microphone, or with a piece of fabric.

Ideas that have value to being a parent.

to being a banker.

to being a farmer.

to being a human being. 

Value is not limited to any vocation. And when you find ways to add value to life you are actually being creative. 

Stop doubting and start living creatively. 

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I think that I am comfortable enough to admit this to all of you. I hope that you are comfortable enough with me to hear these words. 

At this stage of my life and my ministry I see two distinct stages of ministry. I use the word stages because I can see that one eventually morphs into the other. I'm just not sure to which I belong. 

The first stage is of a gritty start up. Its very reminiscent of Jesus' ministry among his 12 disciples. They went about dealing with needs of people they met. The stories of Jesus in the Bible have a very individualistic feel. The accounts were of Jesus talking, ministering, healing other individuals. Sure Jesus ministered to groups of people and taught gatherings of folks but organization never seems paramount, at least to me.. 

The second stage is that of the churches written to by the Apostles. Less were the addresses to individuals and more to the groups of people meeting together that were scattered abroad. Sure the apostles noted certain individuals but here it seems that the individual was recognized as a part of the whole. 

If space permitted me I would expand upon these thoughts and maybe one day will do so, but as for right now, my reason for writing this is to untangle some thoughts in my own mind about which is more valid a method. 

The answer is neither. 

Thats why I refer to them as stages. Jesus' ministry turned into the ministry of the Apostles and I don't consider the shift accidental. I think it was God-ordained. 

But I find myself stuck trying to define the next steps of my ministry. Stuck betwixt a good thing and a good thing. A large part of my heart yearns for that one-on-one ministry that focuses on taking the gospel to people in the midst of their struggle. To develop a close-knit network of disciples and to go from town to town ministering to the people I meet there. To be able to look back on the stories and be able to name names. 

But I also find that so much of my heart aches for our structured churches to become whole expressions of what God can do through gatherings of people. To see a group of people be dedicated to meeting together and meeting with God. To write letters of encouragement to churches (yes, plural). To look back and be able to define eras of the churches that grew from nothing to something. 

We need vision for both. One stage should never be preferred over the other and neither are they sequential, moving always from individual to corporate. Some mighty ministers have conquered the corporate detail only to be led to spend their lives bringing life to individuals (take Henri Nouwen, for instance). 

The call "Whom shall I send and who will go for us" has been answered with "Here am I, send me" but I am left with the question "To whom am I going."

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But he didn't. He let the emotion hang in the air for just a second and then he moved on. Sure, seeds were planted (and maybe thats what he was going for) but I just felt that it was a missed opportunity. 

Now, what does that have to do with Love Wins? 

Well, Rob Bell's best gift is unwrapping long held assumptions and taking you to a place that makes you explore faith more deeply. Or at least peek around in some rooms you haven't yet taking the time to go through. His biggest weakness is leaving you there to explore without any solid direction. The feeling I had after putting down the book was the same as when I walked out of the auditorium: "Almost. So many people today are like King Agrippa 'You almost persuaded me to become a Christian.'" 

In my mind the genius of this book is that it is primarily an evangelistic message. Its the message of the gospel wrapped in the shell eschatology (concerning end times). The message is that God loves us and wants a relationship with us. But the words used are heaven, hell, reward, punishment, in , out. Its the right gift wrapped in the wrong packaging. Love Wins, like many Christians, suffers from an identity crisis. It defines itself in a controversial topic but at its heart is a message of a loving God that wants to be with you. To borrow a phrase from another Bell book "This is really about that." If I were to read this book with a limited number of pre-concieved notions about God I would end up wanting to pursue this God that loves me and does not give up on me and stubbornness. 

But this is where I feel let down and sullen. I'm at this point where I want to say "You almost persuaded me. In stripping away the assumptions Im left with a very shaky frame of reference. I want to believe that heaven and hell are as you describe. I want to believe that God's love will win in the end. But...I'm just not sure I can."

And Love Wins doesn't quite cross the finish line. 

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I was sitting in the back row at church on Sunday. In my arms was my daughter. A million miles away she was, sleeping comfortably in her daddy's arms. The sounds of the worship team filled in the space around me and I sang along. 

At the quickest of moments I was overcome with emotion. And for what reason I did not know. But I sat there, holding my child. Singing and Weeping. 

I've been reflecting on this most of the day. There was no specific reason I was there crying. I've sat and sung in the church with my child 52 times since she was born a year ago. I've even wept with her nestled in my arms before. But this time was different - for in all the other occurrences I could deduce precisely why the moment was so overwhelming. Today I could not.

I've come to this conclusion, one I'll admit I'm not 100% positive but feel comfortable in sharing, and that when I was holding my child, that moment became a prophetic moment. I was so moved to tears because I found myself prophesying over my daughter. I was speaking into an unknown future with the expectation of a God given result. I did this in 4 ways. First I was praying for my daughter through the words of the song - praying that one day she will experience a relationship with God that might move her to tears. I was proclaiming that this would happen - through faith. I put my trust in God that one day my daughter will be open to God's voice and direction in her life. And I was presenting myself before God to be the intercessor - the one who prays for my daughter on her behalf. Finally I was positioning myself and my daughter, humbly before God in an act of service that will bring about Godly change into existence on this earth. 

In many ways I was singing a prophetic lullaby to my daughter. I was speaking out on her behalf while she has no voice of her own. I am speaking to future fulfillment of something that I am not guaranteed. It is possible that my daughter may never submit her life to following Christ and therefore never feel what I felt this day. But that cannot stop me from believing and trusting and proclaiming that it could happen - and when we are talking about an all-powerful God that deals in making possibilities and turning them into realities, I gladly take my chances and see how the future turns out. 

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Pacifika! One of my favorite bands! And I suppose this is one of my favoite songs if only for a the line "All of the gifts you've given me the greatest has been silence" (It could be perhaps that it is one of only two songs on the album in English)

My life is filled with constant noise. Phone calls, music, conversations, movies, the constant babble of my daughter. And while I appreciate them all to a degree (especially my daughter discovery of her voice) I can't say that I love the constant inundation of "noise" As a side note, we should also pause briefly and consider the "conversations" we hold hold on facebook, twitter, and other online outlets as "noise" even if you are just reading silently. In my opinion they give creedence to the phrase "the voices in my head"

And that is why, I suppose, I am intriguiged by this phrase, " the greatest gift...has been silence." Too often I resist silence. I run away from silence. I destroy silence with my choice of noise over silence. But if the song-writer is correct we should be cherishing silence, not doing our best to avoid it. To be still and know...

Do you have any techniques for carving out time for silence in your life? Or are you like me and seem to have a constant stream of noise that offers you no time for silence whatsoever?

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It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word...

These words made their debut in 1976. And while I have utmost respect Bernie Taupin (writer of the lyrics) and Sir Elton John (the one who made the lyrics come alive) I have to disagree. "Sorry" may be the hardest word for some to say but I don't think it is the hardest word to say in the midst of a struggle. 

I think saying "I forgive you" is much harder. Especially when another hasn't even said "sorry" in the first place. Take the tale of a man who has been cheated on by his wife. Is it harder for the wife to say "I'm sorry" or for the husband to say "I forgive you" ? 

When you say "Sorry" you have instantly relieved yourself of the burden of reconciliation. It is now on the offended party's term of how to proceed. I often counsel people that if you have wronged someone you must apologize to them and if they don't accept it then at least you have done your part and you can now move on. 

But the forgiver never gets the chance to just move on. In forgiveness you have to give up

• the pride of being right. 
• the lust for revenge
• the idea that you are morally superior 
• the time it will take you to go through a forgiveness process (the deeper the hurt, the longer the process)
• the right to hold a victim mentality

Forgiveness is indeed the hardest set of decisions a person has to make. It is a set of decisions because it could take years, if not a lifetime, to be completely reconciled. You wake up with the pain in the pit of your stomach. Day by day you have to forgive that person a little more.  

This is the central truth to the Christian's life and message. Forgiveness between humans is an arduous process. Forgiveness between human and the divine was as well. Just like the forgiver must give up pride, lust, time, etc, in order for the forgiveness process to start, Jesus had to give up many things. He gave up perfect community in heaven to come and live among humans. While He was on earth He gave up the safety of living a normal religious life which ultimately led him to give up his life on a cross. But he did so that we humans could experience what true forgiveness feels like. And from that point in history the arduous process of forgiveness has been put on God. Now all that we mere mortals have to do is say the hardest words..."I'm sorry"

And the process of reconciliation can begin. 

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