I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of Randy Elrod’s Sex, Lies, and Religion when I opened the book.  What I found was a well written, well though-out look at sexuality from a biblical perspective.  Elrod takes on the western (especially American) preoccupation and fear of sex; including nudity, masturbation, and attraction.  He does a great job of getting the reader to reevaluate the traditional readings of biblical narratives that we have grown up hearing from Sunday School, and the pulpit.  You may not agree with every conclusion that he comes to, but you will definitely think.

Elrod takes on nudity by first looking at Michelangelo’s David, describing the artistry and the feeling of experiencing it for the first time. He then moves to the familiar story of Adam and Eve. He writes:

The Hebrew Bible says that God created man and was pleased with his naked beauty. The Bible describes both man and woman as unclothed and feeling no  shame. And although God created them nude, subsequently it was Adam and Eve who covered themselves and hid in shame–not from each other–but from God.

We know that Adam and Eve were ashamed but is it possible that they did not want God to look upon their nakedness because they realized their intimacy with God was irretrievably forfeited? What if they were ashamed of what they had lost (an intimate connection) rather than ashamed of their nakedness?

As I said, you may not agree with his interpretation, but Elrod with make you think about your attitude towards sexuality, and everything that entails. Pick up a copy, read it, and see if you see things a little differently when you’re done.

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Unless I think of another category, this is the final top ten of the decade from me. And the top ten albums of the decade, once again in no particular order, are:

1. Georgia Hard -Robbie Fulks

2. See the Morning -Chris Tomlin

2. Mockingbird -Derek Webb

3. Back to Black -Amy Winehouse

4. Come Away With Me -Norah Jones

5. The Rising -Bruce Springsteen

6. Only By Night -Kings of Leon

7. Modern Times -Bob Dylan

8. Time Without Consequence -Alexi Murdoch

9. Poses -Rufus Wainwright

10. Busted Stuff -Dave Matthews Band

Everybody has been doing their top ten lists over the last few weeks so I decided I better put my two cents in. I’ll publish a few top ten lists today, starting with movies.

These are my top ten movies of the decade, in no particular order.
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Sideways
3. Lost in Translation
4. Almost Famous
5. Moulin Rouge!
6. High Fidelity
7. Wonder Boys
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Mystic River
10. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy

And a few other great ones just for kicks: Star Trek, O’ Brother Where Art Thou?, The Departed.

Ok, another top ten list. We’re on a role. My top ten books of the decade in no particular order are:

1. The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay  -Michael Chabon

2. Born Standing Up: A Comics Life  -Steve Martin

3. Crazy Love  -Francis Chan

4. The Road  -Cormac McCarthy

5. American Gods  -Neil Gaiman

6. American Jesus  – Stephen Prothero

7. The Tipping Point  -Malcolm Gladwell

8. Simply Christian -N.T. Wright

9. The Fortress of Solitude -Jonathan Lethem

10. Blankets  -Craig Thompson

Here are my top ten TV shows of the 2000s. Once again in no particular order. By the way, this was a much easier list to narrow down than movies or albums.

1. The Sopranos
2. Arrested Development
3. 30 Rock
4. Mad Men
5. Modern Family
6. True Blood
7. Gilmore Girls
8. The Wire
9. How I Met Your Mother
10. House

If your from Alabama, you have no doubt been inundated with talk of electronic bingo gambling over the past few weeks. Its been all over the evening news and has been the focus of a number of stories in the state Baptist paper “The Alabama Baptist.” Yesterday, a friend and fellow pastor of mine pointed out the irony of the latest issue being filled with information on gambling, while also publishing statistics which show that many of our churches baptized no one during 2008.

We are studying The Gospel of John at Creola First Baptist on Sunday mornings. Today’s message was on John 4:34-38, and was titled “The Time Is Now.” Jesus is telling us that we can’t sit around waiting, we have to start making disciples now.

My first point was that one of the excuse we use for not evangelizing, for not making disciples is that “other things are more urgent.” Right now, in Alabama, it seems that we have decided that eliminating bingo machines is more important, a more urgent matter, than reaching people for Jesus Christ.

I have been invited to “urgent” meetings to discuss the issue, one with the governor. I’ve received numerous emails from fellow pastors. This morning I even received a DVD, with a message from the governor about bingo machines, from the Alabama State Board of Missions. The State Board suggested that we show this almost six minute video during the Sunday morning worship service, instead I showed a video about people reaching bikers for Christ in Myrtle Beach.

I have to confess, I’ve been distracted. I’ve been doing everything but making disciples during my first to months as pastor at Creola FBC. I’ve been doing church, casting vision, studying for sermons, spending time in fellowship with members, everything but going out in the community and telling people about Jesus.

I challenged my people this morning to go out in the community and help me share the gospel. I asked them to lead so many people to Jesus that I have to stay in the baptistery until my fingers get pruny. My prayer is that the spirit would move at Creola FBC, and that we would be filled and take Him out into our city.

If we want the people of our church to be distracted from their mission, making disciples, than we should show these videos, go to these meetings, write these articles, and continue to fight the culture war. If we want these issues to be in the past, than we need to teach our churches to make disciples, to “preach Jesus and him crucified.” When people come to Christ, and his church disciples them, we will see heart change. They’ll worship Jesus instead of money.  With money know longer an idol, they’ll have no desire to gamble, the machines won’t make money, and electronic bingo machines will be a thing of the past.

I just got finished reading Lost and Found by Ed Stetzer and though I can easily recommend it, I found it to be a mixed bag.  There are a lot of interesting findings from Lifeway’s research,  and much of what is concluded from these findings is true, but I really didn’t learn anything new.

In the first part of the book the authors, Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes set out by showing the reader the hard numbers from their research and looking at a few implications.  They come up with four classifications for the “younger unchurched,” Always Unchurched, De-Churched, Friendly Unchurched, and Hostile Unchurched. Though there is some truth in these monikers and their descriptions in the book, I feel that this is too much over an oversimplification that might through off some of the people who are unfamiliar with people from this generation.

The most interesting part of this section was the comparison of the younger generation with the baby-boomer generation.  I have often talked about how my generation seems more open to God than my parent’s and it was interesting to see this shown true through statistical research.

In the second section the authors use the research from the first to show in a very general way what young adults are looking for in a church. I agree with everything here but feel that as I stated earlier, there doesn’t seem to be much new.  This may very well be because I saw myself and people I spend time with in this research, and saw repeated many of the same questions, musings, and complaints that I have heard over the years while working in restaurants and coffee shops, spending time with those not involved in the church. But, once again, this shows the value of the information.

I wish the third section had been more in-depth, it really could be its own book.  In this section we see how churches across the country are implementing some of the ideas brought out in sections one and two.  As I read each chapter in section 3, I kept finding myself wanting more.  There seems to be a lot of hinting at what these churches are doing without much practical advice on how to implement these strategies in your own context.  That being said the less is more approach is probably warranted as it motivates the reader to look into the churches, ministries, and leaders mentioned, possibly creating networking and learning opportunities.  It may lead a reader to search out a church’s website or a pastor’s blog where they can see for themselves just what is going on.

The only truly negative thing I found in the book was the narrative sections featuring Mitch and his caricature friends.  the story was not engaging in the least and I do not feel that giving the four “young unchurched” stereotypes names really led to a better understanding.

As I stated before, even though there are some definite flaws, I feel that I can recommend Lost and Found, though maybe not to those in the generation being looked at. If you are between 20 and 32 you will probably not learn anything groundbreaking, but if you are older, and have not spent much time with this generation, you will.  If you are struggling with how to reach twenty-somethings and feel you don’t understand them Lost and Found is a must-read.  Don’t stop there though, the book is a great place to start but it can’t be the end. Get online, read the blogs, get on Twitter, and you’ll find out even more.

A recent post by Nathan Finn at Between The Times asks why young pastors and leaders are not attending the SBC annual meeting. There is no place for comments on the post so I thought I’d throw some ideas out there and see if we could get a conversation started. So, why are we not attending?

I have gone to the annual meeting the two years and am tentatively planning to go this year as well, but I can echo some of the concerns that Finn brings up in his post. First and foremost I would argue that most of us feel, even when we do show up, that we’re not wanted, that we really don’t have a place at the table. That perception maybe wrong, but I know that it is how a lot of us young guys feel.

Though I have enjoyed networking with people and learning how things work in the SBC during the last two summers, I have to say that other than growing some friendships with students that attended with me, I didn’t get a whole lot out of going. It was interesting, and fun (because I was with fun people) but I am thinking of spending the money set aside for conventions and conferences this year to attend a conference or two where I can learn a thing or two to take back to my church.

I’m going to start a list of reasons why we young guys are not attending, these are just my opinions and conjectures but feel free to add to this in the comments:

1. Young SBC leaders do not feel wanted/needed.
2. We would rather not spend time arguing over non-essential things.
3. There is not much of substance at the convention. (Maybe we need to people teaching “break-out sessions” during parts of the meeting.)
4. There are enough business meeting at our churches. Why do I want to spend money to go to another one?
5. We want to connect to other young leaders (inside or outside the denomination) and they are not there.

I have been thinking about John 15:12 lately;  “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  I’ve been asking what it means, and how we can do it. The first thing we have to realize is who is speaking, its Jesus, God himself, and he is saying that we have to love each other as he has loved us.  So, how does God love us?

First, I see that Christ accepts us for who we are.  No matter how bad things have gotten, no matter how far away from him we’ve gone, he is there urging us towards him.  Secondly, Jesus challenges us to move forward, to grow closer to him, to “be perfect” as he is perfect.  He also forgives us when we inevitably do not reach this perfection.  Sometimes his love is tough love, he allows us to step in it so that we can be rebuked through the consequences of our sin.

Finally, Jesus died for us.  He gave his life for our mistakes; paid for our sinful nature with perfect love. In the next verse he says,“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Later he calls his followers his friends.  He laid down his life for us, are we willing to do that for each other? Literally? Symbolically?

How can we live out this commandment?  We have to accept each other, faults and all, but at the same time show love by holding each other accountable to this and all of God’s commandments.  When we fall short, we have to help each other move away from sin and closer to God.  We have to be willing to use scripture to teach, reproof, and correct. Most importantly we have to put others before ourselves. Does that mean physically dying? For most of us probably not, but it will probably mean dying to our wants and desires so that we can help meet the needs of others.

Any other ideas on how God loves us?  Any ideas on how we can show this kind of love to others.