Messy Church
One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord.
Moody's reply was "I agree with you. I don't like the way I do it either. Tell me, how do you do it?"
The lady replied, "I don't do it."
Moody responded
"I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it."
|
Mom, 5/23/1948 - 2/25/1994
10 years ago yesterday (2/24/94) my mom succumbed to her battle with liver cancer. As weird as it may sound, I always forget her birthday, but can never forget the day she died. (I guess I was only around for one of those days.) My mom prayed me through a number of difficult years, was always a fierce advocate for her friendless child (driving me every week to occupational therapy, all kinds of tutoring, and comic shops and record stores) , and exhorted me with God's truth despite the depression she struggled with.
My Mom was an extremely shy introvert, so you can imagine the challanges that a son like me posed to her. Every day I tried to think of a way to embarrass her in order to cure her introversion. (it never worked) I can't imagine the horror and embarassment when she had to chase me when I was streaking Aunt Lynne's wedding reception at age 5, or when I brought a condom to church to give the pastor. She always loved me no matter how much I humiliated her. I used to run ahead the aisles at grocery stores while we shoped, getting everyones names, so I could introduce them to my Mom. after years of this she eventually made me walk home :)
When I hated myself and wanted to die in middle school she would always pray for me, encourage me, and help me to keep going on. She was my best friend throughout all my schooling, even college. I still have the letters she wrote me in a special binder.
She always prayed for my wife and future kids, A wife and kids I was sure I would never be blessed with (some shared that sentiment :)
I feel like she never got to enjoy the fruit of her labor. I'm not sure I believe that the faithful departed see those left behind. I cannot imagine that being the best thing to occupy them while in the presence of God. I do believe we will party together in the "life after 'life after death'" I do wish she could have met Adrienne and seen the wonderful kids we have had together. We named our little girl Kathleen after my Mom. My Mom's name was Kathleen, but everyone called her Kathy, much to her chagrin. To honor that wish we call Kathleen by her full name.
My Mom exemplified for me how to persevere with God in your weakness, and how the poor in spirit were blessed. She taught me that God can use insecure depressed people to change the world, because she changed my world, and I am eternally in her debt. Thank-You Jesus for the time we had together.
|
This just in, I am promoting a 77's/Mike Roe show on April 1st at 8:00pm (tuesday night). Attendance is limited to 70. Tickets will be $15.00, sold in advance. More details to follow. Comment if your interested.
|
Wow, HomeGroup is over. I flew solo hosting this evening cause Adrienne went to see
Rufus Wainright with Lara (who is dating my brother-in-law John Hickman).
Michael Gallaugher taught on Worship tonight, as well as leading Worship. Thanx Mike, we'll do it again soon!
A couple of Kid notes:
Ian--
On Monday we hiked through the Glen Echo Ravine, stoping briefly to visit with Brian Carle. We made our way to the culvert that is behind Tim Horton's on High Street. I have always enjoyed walking all the way through it w/o a flashlight.
The whole culvert was iced over, so Ian and I slid down the hill on our butts and then carefully walked to the entrance. We got all the way till the turn in the tunnel with a little help from my key-light. It was a blast for Ian. He was talking about our adventure the rest of the day. The culvert is part of local folklore, known as the "bloodbowl" or "the gates of hell" Click
here for some cool pics or
here. A cool text description is
here Ian and I made echoes in the tunnel for a few minutes and then hiked out. We made our way to the thrift shop and ran into our friends Gary and Mindy. Adrienne picked us up shortly afterwords. My hope is that Ian's mind is brimming with memories of adventures with Daddy when he bacomes a teenager and see's me as the bad guy (maybe I'll be spared).
Tonight I was putting the kids to bed and we talked about the difference between liking and loving. We settled on this: You love people, and you like things, so you never put things before people. We discussed this in context of sharing there toys with all the kids who come to home group. I hope their generosity sticks with them into their adult years.
When we were saying our prayers Ian began praying for one of our adult neighbor friends. He asked Jesus to show her he is a real person and that she could be loved by him. He asked for God to help her to come to kinship (what he calls our home group) and have dinners with us too. Adrienne and I are praying along the same lines.
Kathleen:
For VD day (a couple days prior actually) Kathleen and I picked out flowers and went to Cup a Joe. At the florist I was hoping I could get away with buying Kathleen a carnation, but then she exclaimed, "Daddy, can I have some beautiful red red roses." I couldn't resist. At Cup a Joe she said she wanted to have birthday cake, I explained to her that birthday cake was only for birthdays and she looked at me with her sparkly little eyes and said, "I want to feel like it is my birthday!" We had some cake. What a sweet-heart.
One last story: Our client coordinator was meeting with Adrienne and the kids the other day. Adrienne was in the kitchen making tea and Kathleen was playing with our client coordinator. K asked if she would read her a book, and the coordinator said yes. Kathleen wips out her Giant kids Bible and asks her to read ALL the stories. Our CC suggests Blues Clues instead, and Kathleen responds asking her to, "read the story about how Jesus died on the cross to wash away our sins because he loves us so much!" Our CC suggested some other book-but Kathleen kept repeating her request, and then Adrienne walked back with the tea. Kathleen the little Evangelist, oh well . . . it's a free country.
Adrienne is not home from Rufus yet, i miss her.
|
Stuff you should know: John McCollum is in Cambodia for the next two weeks. Keep track with what's up at
John's Cambodia Jounal. You can find out more about
Asia's Hope here, or at my links bar under "stuff that matters." Many you may have read John's
blog. I have known John since 1984, but in the past couple of years I have come to regard him as a co-laborer in ministry, neighbor, and dear friend. John is a big talker, but a rare breed of talker, he backs up his words with actions. Pray for John while he is on his trip, his blog will tell you how.
Oh, btw- John also leades the
559 house group, another great faith community in the Clintonville area.
also- I have never see anyone better at Soldier of Fortune II than John, I think he cheats.
|
Andy Whitman is a friend from my church as well as an old friend of Adrienne's family. I think he lived with Adrienne's parents when they were part of a Christian community house on OSU campus in the 1970's. Here is his article on
The Beatles in 64 that he wrote for Paste Magazine. He writes several pieces for every issue.
I just renewed my subscription.
|
Had Mike and Sara Gallaugher over for dinner last night. It was so good to connect with these guys outside the hustle and bustle. Ian and Kathleen were in rare form, more hyper than I can recall (which is saying a lot).
Gramma Peg gave Kathleen a fake Gold necklace, and they have been fighting over it this morning, referring to it as their "bling bling." PLEASE don't call children's services on us!
Ian's new favorite restaurant is the Waffle House. He was wearing his WH hat yesterday and informed Adrienne that he wants to be a hat passing out person at WH when he grows up, I wonder if he could hook his old man up with free breakfasts.
Recently i encoded all of my cd's to mp3 on my hard drive using i-tunes (12,000 songs) I got tired of always organizing my discs. In the process I was reintroduced to the music of Michael Roe, The Lost Dogs, and the 77's. That stuff definitly holds up to the test of time and ranks very high in my collection. IF you can find any of Michael Roe's cd's on ebay, pick them up, I have found some great deals.
|
Adrienne and I had a quick date at Cup-A-Joe. The place was packed with Howard Dean campaign people.
I wanted to scream out :
"And we are going to take back Cup-A-Joe- aaaarrrrgghhhh!"
But Adrienne kept kicking me. No politics on this blog, and none on a date, oh well. I wonder what shops the Kerry folks hang out at, or How about the Busch folks, or even Al Sharpton.
I would love to hang with Al, much more animated than the other Al, with a killer sense of humour.
Oh well, this is the closest you'll probably see me coming to talkin' politics.
|
Tonight was the first night of the latest
Alpha Course. I thought we might have a lot of no-shows due to the weather, but we were packed far beyond our pre-registration. (That is a first)
I have been leading this class for over four years at Vineyard Columbus. I stress out a lot less and have a lot more fun these days. So many from our faith community (home group, church etc) help to make it happen, and I would like to believe God shows up as well.
Alpha- No question taboo - come whatever your worldview - we have good eats too!
On Thursdays- Come to Alpha and make friends instead of watching them on TV.
On a serious note. It is an awesome thing to be able to hear people's stories over dinner, and hear them describe thir faith journey thus far, and where they see it taking them.
It's also a trip to participate in a sit down meal with homeless and wealthy, married and single, black, white, asian, hispanic, hoosier, etc where we can all be on a level playing field discussing God.
And I have Jay Pathak to thank for tricking me into trying Alpha in the first place.
|
Here is an interesting
blog entry that hints at ways the mega & micro churches can co-exist together and help each other out.
Working at
Vineyard Church Columbus has provided me with a good perspective of the benefits of a large church.
Ministries like Fruit of the Vine (food pantry, free dental-medical-optical clinic, neighborhood programs, ministry to the homeless) Project Compassion (support for HIV positive friends and their families), Addiction support groups, sexual abuse recovery groups, afterschool program and tutoring, summer programs for underprivilged neighbors, educational resources conferences,
Vineyard Leadership Institute are possible for large churches to impliment. But they can also serve as resources for smaller churches and house churches. Already many other local churches partner with us in the aformentioned ministries. Why reinvent the wheel when you can partner with other bodies?
Multiple models of church coexisting together creates a healthier kingdom biodiversity that helps everyone grow stronger. I believe God intends us to work together symbiotically, so lets do that.
I have a great admiration for pastoral care and community that is found in the organic home churches around Columbus. In the mega-church I work at I love seeing people of multiple races, nationalities, economic brackets, education levels (homeless, lawyers, african, appalachian, yuppie, cops, ex-cons, etc etc) raising hands together at the mega church worship service, and at the end of each service seeing throngs of people commit to moving closer the Jesus in their faith journeys.
I look forward to the synergies that will emerge when people pursuing both models speak well of one another, resource one another, pray for one another, and love one another! I link to some of these smaller faith communities because I'm excited about what they are doing and the fruit I am seeing.
I'm tired, going to watch Alias with Adrienne. I'll leave you with this:
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
|
