Getting in the God Groove

The person who lives in right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Habakkuk had it right: "The person who believes God, is set right by God—and that's the real life."

— Galatians 3:11b, TM

That came today in Soul Care, a daily devotional published by the Church of the Nazarene office of Clergy Development. It spoke directly to me as I biked to work on an absolutely glorious morning here in Michigan. We have had 2 spectacular days already this week, and I have been biking whenever possible. It is good for me and saves gas for the 8 mile round-trip.

What I realized over the past two days is how God is working in my life and going ahead of me. My business is good, and recently many things have fallen into place for clients with interviews with major media and audiences they want to reach. For that I am grateful.

As I biked to work this morning I saw a beautifully still river with trees reflecting off of it. I was mallard ducks swimming, gentlemen fishing, older couples walking the bike path, moms and babies in strollers and the usual hustle and bustle of the city. It reminded me that God is the Lord of all things, and the world he made for us is for our pleasure. We are to be stewards, but we are to appreciate what he has given us. I find myself doing that as I bike to work. Praise God for the beauty of the world. Praise Him for all that we have, and all that He has kept away from us. Praise Him for everything.

Rich Mullins had the gift of seeing God in nature. I truly miss him since his death 10 years ago. Look at the lyrics to one of my favorite songs that he wrote. The song is "The Color Green" from CD A Liturgy, A Legacy and A Ragamuffin Band:

"And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter's shop
And every house must have it's builder
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Stretched from the sun
Across the sky north to south
And on my way to early meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
I heard the rocks crying out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise

And the wrens have returned and they're nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter
Winter unfrozen and free to run away now
And I'm amazed when I remember
Who it was that built this house
And with the rocks I cry out

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green

Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise"

What a gift he had. The video for that song is below. Just click on the play button in the screen.

The price of Gossip

1 Timothy 5 has some advice: 12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. Read this story. I find it chastening because I can be prone to this and the Lord is working in my life to show me a better way. As you may know, I believe Gossip and Gluttony are the only two permissible sins in the church. By permissible, I mean things you rarely hear preached about from the pulpit, are allowed to persist in the open, and in many cases have leaders that condone if not participate in them. Imagine if church discipline were handled like this town handled their issues. I'm not advocating that, but it is something for us to think about. It harms the body of Christ and our witness. And it can destroy people's lives and reputations.

WHEW!

The semester is finally over! I have now completed 22 of the 96 hours needed for my Master of Divinity degree at Asbury Theological Seminary. This was a different semester with the classes I took, but I wanted to share with you a neat book from my Christian Doctrine class.

Across the Spectrum does a wonderful job of taking a bunch of issues on which evangelicals may disagree. Some of them include:

Biblical Inspiration
Sovereignty of God
Baptism
Sanctification
The Lord's Supper
Women in Ministry

and the list goes on. I give the authors credit for presenting all sides fairly without forcing the reader to a conclusion.

If you want to explore some of these issues I encourage you to read this. Each chapter is about 20 pages, and is a quick read. If nothing else, it will make you think and sharpen your arguments. It may even change your mind on some things. You never know.

Going off the deep end

Did you know Jerry Falwell was a liberal? Me neither. But according to the Westboro (name omitted to avoid besmirching my Calvinist brethren) Church, brother Falwell is deserving of a protest. I realize that I just posted something about criticizing the church, but this bunch is ridiculous. Fred Phelps and his band of hate-mongers are giving all Christians a bad name. Pray for divine intervention to stop this mess.

Some thoughts on fault-finding

I apologize for putting the entire message here, but I can't find this on their website. This is a recent email from Emergent Village that struck a chord with me. I have been a vocal critic of the church and this chastened me some. We do need to fix some things, but we need to make sure that we are not condemning in our critique. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Deep Church

From Jason Clark, co-ordinator of www.emergent-uk.org, planting/senior pastor of www.vineyardchurch.org , and Ph.D Student at Kings College London.

In the world of psychiatry, students study not just the manifestations and causes of mental dysfunction, but the idea of 'wellness,' of what helps the well part of a patient become 'more well.' In the worlds of education, and business, rather than focus on people's weaknesses, there is the move to explore and develop people's strengths. In looking at developing countries,debt relief agencies, look for positive attributes for assessment, instead of previous models that just measured the bad ones.

This doesn't mean you ignore glaring weaknesses and problems inherent to the system you are involved with. What it does mean is your focus stops being 'what is wrong?', and becomes 'what is right?' Back to a medical example, doctors have had to learn that referring to a pathologist, doesn't lead to good health.

And with that in mind, I often wonder if we have made the mistake in our assessments of church, in becoming almost pathological. We look at current forms of church, and church in the past, with an eye to the 'ill health,' the deformations, the things we dislike etc. Then we construct idealisations of church in reaction to this 'sickness' diagnosis. Church be-comes about 'not being,' and we measure who we are by what we don't do, and what we are not. Are we left with any understanding of 'wellness' of the church at all?

In Europe where the church has been almost deracinated (for instance where I live around 1-2% of the population are connected to a local church community), does this focus on what is wrong, or just exacerbate the problem. Does it give us more reasons to avoid the notion of the people of God in any missional sense, with our pessimism about church seemingly insurmountable, and our confidence shattered beyond restoration. Indeed church within the pathological vision might become so bad, that we might see ourselves as post-church to escape the sickness that is church.

How do we avoid the slide into a pathological ecclesiology, whilst attending to the very real problems of church. How do we speak prophetically, idealistically and passionately to the need for church reformation, whilst being practical and pragmatic, without losing the confi-dence towards action? How do we find the best of church through history, to take us for-ward into the future, without a blind naive sentimentalism to the past, whilst on the other hand avoiding the fostering of a negative and bilious cynicism that invalidates everything that has gone before us?

How do we navigate these dilemmas and arrive at a positive and enabling vision of church, that leads us to 'wellness?'

For some of us in the UK, the notion of 'Deep Church,' a phrase coined by C.S.Lewis is providing a mood to direct our reflections and actions to that end. It maybe finds it conjunctive resonance, outside the UK in the 'Deep Ecclessiology' articulated and lived by Brian Mclaren, and the Emergent movement/network/tribe/mode/phenomenon.

Deep Church hopefully values and affirms the many streams of what the Spirit is doing with the church in our times. Maybe this includes amongst many others, the fluid, and emerging forms of church, outside the existing church structures. Then perhaps the 'fresh expressions' of the inherited church as it seeks to experiment with new forms of church outside of itself, but in relationship with it. Then there is the inherited church and existing church that is seeking to renew itself, whilst we then find the streams of church that are trying to preserve traditions and practices in the face of cultural change.

And in all these forms/streams, the Deep Church focus becomes, not about what is wrong and invalid or that which is authorised by existing or new groups, but about the challenge of the shared context we find ourselves in. There is within Deep Church, a desire to re-cover a confidence in the gospel and scripture, along with the accessing of the spiritual re-sources of the historical church in non superficial ways, so that we might align ourselves with the work of the Holy Spirit in forming communities, that are living faithfully in disciple-ship to Jesus, in our contemporary context.

We are not wanting to re-package the past, or be fashion victims of the emerging culture, but rather aspire to an understanding of church embedded in the past, whilst fully engaged in the present. So that within that we might discover and build on what is 'well' with the Church Catholic.

If you want to comment and interact on thisn article, and explore the Deep Church vision, with others from around the world, you can do so at www.deepchurch.org.uk.

Jason Clark

www.jasonclark.ws

24/7 x 10 Prayer

My local church, in cooperation with three other churches in Dundee, is hosting a 24/7 prayer room from May 17-27. If you have a chance to come out, it is located at 120 Tecumseh Street in Dundee. If you have something you would like prayed for, send it to prayerroom@dundeechurch.com and we will add it to the prayer list. The video clip below gives some background on the 24/7 prayer movement.

Goodbye to Jerry Falwell

Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority founder, Liberty University founder, and pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, went on to his eternal reward yesterday. While I often cringed at the comments he made, he was my brother in Christ. There is no doubt in my mind that he sincerely loved his Lord and was doing his best to serve his Savior.

He changed evangelical Christianity with his emphasis on political action, and brought many social issues to the forefront of the political debate. His leadership energized many Christians to rejoin the fray in the electoral and judicial process, and for that we can be grateful. Like all of us he had flaws. But he loved God and lost people. I would do well to emulate those traits.

Rest in peace Brother Falwell. Your Lord awaits you.

Neglect

My once proud backyard is in a bit of a shambles. What once was lush green grass and shrubs is now a collection of ground ivy patches, holes dug by the infernal dog, dead spots in grass courtesy of same dog, a path worn through the grass by dog, and bushes that need trimming. And it all seemed to happen so fast.

I think it started a couple summers ago when I was busy with stuff and was painting the house. That consumed most weekends and I just sort of let it go. Then last year came, school interfered with life and the puppy was here. Now, it's a mess and I may wind up nuking large portions of the grass and starting over. I once sprayed most of the yard with Roundup and took a weed torch to anything that survived the Roundup. I had a great lawn after that.

As I was mowing (baling) the back today, I was also thinking about a paper I am writing. It is a "Rule of Life" for my Vocation of Ministry class. Basically it is a set of governing principles for my life. More on that another day.

But one area of emphasis is ongoing spiritual formation. And spiritual neglect can make a mess out of a person in the same way that my neglect of the yard made a mess out of it. It can be as benign as doing good things (painting the house) at the expense of other things. Or it can be as ugly as sloth (choosing to play rather than work in the yard), but either way the result is the same. What was once a beautiful garden is now overgrown with weeds and thorns and requires radical action to fix.

Don't let your life be like my lawn. Do your daily maintenance by praying, reading scripture, visiting the sick, comforting the mourning, and working to right injustices. It will keep the weeds out.

Colored People - DC Talk Style

I have to confess that when DC Talk released their Jesus Freak CD in the 1990s I wasn't a big fan of theirs for several reasons we don't need to get into here. But as I grow older( and hopefully more mature), I truly appreciate what they were doing with that CD. The title track is still played at every Toby Mac concert I have attended, but the song Colored People really grabs me. Part of the attraction is that I like Kevin Max's voice on that song. But take a look at the lyrics:

[1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4]

Pardon me, your epidermis is showing, sir
I couldn't help but note your shade of melanin
I tip my hat to the colorful arrangement
Cause I see the beauty in the tones of our skin


We've gotta come together
And thank the Maker of us all

(chorus)
We're colored people, and we live in a tainted place
We're colored people, and they call us the human race
We've got a history so full of mistakes
And we are colored people who depend on a Holy Grace

[1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4]

A piece of canvas is only the beginning for
It takes on character with every loving stroke
This thing of beauty is the passion of an Artist's heart
By God's design, we are a skin kaleidoscope

We've gotta come together,
Aren't we all human after all?

(repeat chorus)

Ignorance has wronged some races
And vengeance is the Lord's
If we aspire to share this space
Repentance is the cure

[1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2... 3, 3, 3, 3... 4, 4, 4, 4]

Well, just a day in the shoes of a color blind man
Should make it easy for you to see
That these diverse tones do more than cover our bones
As a part of our anatomy

(repeat chorus)

We're colored people, and they call us the human race
[Oh, colored people]
We're colored people, and we all gotta share this space
[Yeah we've got to come together somehow]
We're colored people, and we live in a tainted world
[Red and yellow, black and white]
We're colored people, every man, woman, boy, and girl
[Colored people, colored people, colored people, colored people, yeah]

When I hear that song I feel so sick for the way we have treated people based on their race and ethnicity. God forgive me for my bigotry and hatred toward so many people in my life. As I mature, I look back with sadness at many things I have said and done.

God forgive the church for the racism it has practiced and condoned throughout the years. God help those people to not close their hearts to Christ because of the behavior of the church and the Christians who are its body parts. And God let me be a minister that sees souls and not melanin. The world has had enough of that.

Go buy the Jesus Freak 10th Anniversary CD if you want a good listen. The remixes on the 2nd CD are worth every penny, including Jesus Freak in a minor key.

Judas

Do you ever feel sorry for Judas? Sometimes I wonder if he knew what he was doing when he betrayed Christ. He had been with Christ for three years or so, heard him teach, saw the miracles and had the chance to walk with him and learn from the Master.

I often wonder if 30 pieces of silver was really enough to make him betray Jesus. And I wonder if he knew that execution was the price of his betrayal. The account in Matthew 26 seems to give the thought that Jesus told them that he was going to be crucified THEN Judas hatched his plan. Maybe I've been to easy on Judas. Maybe he really did want Jesus to die. Maybe he thought that would bring about the violent revolution to overthrow Rome and free Israel from their pagan oppressors. We will never know what he thought. But I do feel sorry for him, in an odd sort of way.

Joining or becoming?

My friend Kurt Stevens, over at Kurt's Korner had a great post on What The Marines Taught Me About Christianity Click on it and enjoy.

I found his discussion the distinction between joining something and becoming something to be very insightful. It is a subtle distinction, but a crucial one with Christianity. We need to become something new, to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We aren't joining a club. We are becoming like Christ. The mindset is very different.

He said it much better than I can. Go read it for yourself.

A lesson in humility

No, I didn't have a foot-washing service. But I did have a positive lesson in humility over the weekend. For those who do not know I recently received my district minister's license from the Eastern Michigan District of the Church of the Nazarene. It is a significant step in my call to ordained ministry, and I am humbled by the honor and the office.

Last Sunday I had the privilege to preach in a friend's church so he could take the day off. And what was truly humbling was how the Holy Spirit took what I said and amplified it to speak directly to several persons in the congregation about situations in their life. It certainly wasn't my eloquence or fiery delivery (neither of which happened) but rather the Spirit of God taking the text and illustrations and showing them how God can move in areas of their lives where they are struggling right now. For some it was encouragement. For others is was a challenge. And for some it was an answer to prayer.

It is my first experience with how God takes the stuff that comes out of my mouth and uses it to build his kingdom. It's not me, it is clearly him. And I pray that I never think it is about me. I have a role to play in diligently preparing and praying, but He does the true work in their hearts. And if I ever get too big for my britches, I just have to remember that God also spoke through a donkey to Balaam.

This would be funny if there wasn't truth in it

Granted it is hyperbole, but there is enough truth there to make it hurt. Many churches have fallen into an insular world where it is all about them. One thing I have been hearing clearly from the Lord is that the "fields are white for harvest." We live in an intensely spiritual age. Unfortunately much of the spiritual seeking is chasing false gods. But people are yearning for something larger than them. We need to be like Paul in Acts 17 and point them to the God they seek but do not know.

Pray for Holy Boldness for all Christians to share Christ with those we know who are seeking.

The newest enemy of the planet

I don't watch the news any more simply because they cover stuff like this.

I am still trying to figure out when the moment celebrities became experts on anything other than their celebrity. We have actors testifying in front of Congress, telling us how to live our lives and save the planet.

Will someone please remind me to stay upwind of Sheryl Crow? Just in case I forget.

Churches are to airports...

No, this isn't an SAT question. But if you take a listen to Reggie McNeal's presentation to the M7 Conference I attended in February, you will gain some understanding of where I am going with this. He is addressing the Church of the Nazarene on evangelism. His point is that our goal is not to make people into church people. The church is like an airport. We are the conveyance device for people into life. Jesus didn't say that "I come so that you might have church, and have it more abundantly." Many churches have lost sight of the fact that like the airport, we are not the destination. No one wants to go to the airport for the sake of going to the airport. And they get awfully restless and grumpy when they spend too much time in the airport (church) and don't reach their destination.

He powerfully argues that too often the church is asking people to accept a culture, rather than accept a savior. That we are so preoccupied with the things of the church that we neglect the things of the kingdom. We are so focused on us, that we forget the work of the Father. He pokes a great deal of fun at the church, but there is a serious message to what he says.

It is a powerful presentation that is worth listening to. My advice is to download it and fast forward to his presentation. He is the guy in a black shirt wearing a beret. If you stream the video, you can't fast forward nearly as easily. You can also subscribe to the Itunes Podcast if you want .

Listen and let me know what you think.

Every Parent's Nightmare

The massacre at Virginia Tech this week is every parent's nightmare. You send your child off to college knowing that the world is a scary place. But you never expect a massacre of students in the classroom and dormitory. I cannot even imagine the grief those parents are feeling.

I also cannot imagine the pain that Cho Seung-Hui's parents are feeling. Not only have they lost their son, they live with the knowledge that he was a deeply disturbed individual who killed 32 people in his final spasm of violence.

Pray for all the families including Cho's parents. What their son did is unimaginable and evil. But they need God's love right now, just like the families of Cho's victims. God can heal the hurt and wrap his arms around them. I pray that the Church of Jesus Christ will embrace these folks and let them know they are loved. They certainly need it.

Come Lord Jesus, Come.

How long must we sing this song?

That is the plaintive cry of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2. It is a cry born in the pain of the IRA/Britain struggle, but it resonates on so many levels, especially in the wake of another disturbed young man who has killed a group of people for no apparent reason.

The world is hurting, and we, as Christians, have a message of hope to bring to the hurting. We have a God who understands hurt. We have a God of compassion. And we have a God who will ultimately be victorious.

How we bring that hope to the world is up for debate. But there is no debate that the world needs to hear the hope that is in Jesus Christ. As the words to the hymn go:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

We are in a period of darkness right now, and His face seems to be hidden. We need to rest in the grace of Jesus and use the holy boldness to proclaim his message of love, reconciliation and holiness to a hurting and desperate world.

Watch U2 sing their cry. I wish the church could speak with a voice that loud and passionate.

Unimaginable Horror

By now most of you have seen the stories about the carnage at Virginia Tech University on Monday. I cannot imagine the horror of what happened to those students and faculty on an overcast ordinary Monday morning.

As the stories continue to roll in, there is great confusion and some contradiction of information. But there are also stories of individuals who acted selflessly and some who died for their actions. Read this story about an Israeli engineering professor who was shot to death barricading the door while his students jumped out the windows. There are glimpses of God acting in the lives of people in the midst of unimaginable, evil acts by people. Such is the world since the fall of man.

I don't have any words of wisdom to offer. Only heartfelt prayers to those who were injured and their families and the families of the deceased. Virginia Tech will never be the same and all who have been touched by this will carry memories of this horrible day with them for the rest of their lives. But God can heal their wounds because he knows what it is to suffer. He knows what it is like to see a child die unjustly. And Jesus knows what the pain of torture and execution feels like. It may seem trite to say that, but God does understand. And I am sure that he is saddened on this day as well.

Join me in praying for those who have been affected by the evil actions of this young man.

Hateful Boys

My former pastor used to playfully accuse me of being a hateful boy because of some of the things I said. This week I was able to see what hateful boys can really look like. Just look at Mike NiFong and Don Imus.

I'm sure you heard the incredibly stupid remarks that Imus made on his show about the Rutger's University Women's Basketball team. I don't know if he deserved to be fired for them, but there was nothing redeeming about those remarks. They were racist, sexist and just despicable. But comments like that have been a part of Imus' show for some time. I find it odd that CBS and MSNBC suddenly found religion with him.

NiFong is a despicable human being for what he did to the young men on the Duke Lacrosse Team. He knew early on that the rape allegations against them were without merit, and he allowed them to be branded as racists and rapists for an entire year so that he could curry favor with African-American voters and win reelection. The abuse of power here is breath-taking.

Imus said something stupid on the radio. NiFong charged them with a crime he knew they didn't commit. Yet all our attention is on the words of Imus. To paraphrase Ray Donovan, former Secretary of Labor in the Reagan Administration "Which office do these young men go to to get their reputations back?"

Both of these men deserve to be sanctioned. I just think we are stringing up the lesser of two evils with Imus. NiFong abused the public trust as a prosecutor and branded these young men as criminals for crass political purposes. That is just hateful and wrong.

Perish the thought

The idiot lawmakers who proposed buying IPods for Michigan students were recently back from a junket to California funded in part by Apple. Imagine that. Lawmakers, corporations, cash influence. That could never happen. Not with the paragons of virtue running Michigan. Read the Detroit Free Press story below.

Using their logic, we should buy every kid going through driver's training a car. That would stimulate the local economy and give them real world skills. This reinforces the need for a part-time legislature. We pay full price for this?

Lawmakers pushing iPods flew on Apple's dime

Democrats: Trip had other business

April 11, 2007

BY DAWSON BELL

FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU

LANSING -- Two state lawmakers backing a controversial plan to buy iPods for every schoolchild in Michigan were among a group of politicians who made a trip to California that was paid for at least in part by Apple, the maker of iPods.

The 2 1/2 -day trip earlier this year covered a range of issues and interaction on topics related to Michigan. It included a visit to Apple in northern California, where the politicians discussed classroom technology and educational uses for the popular audio and video players, said Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena, one of the legislators who made the trip.

House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, also made the trip to San Francisco and nearby Santa Clara County.

The $36-million iPod proposal was unveiled last week at a news conference called by Dillon to discuss the state's budget crisis and House Democrats' plans to address it.

Dillon's office did not provide details on the trip or say whether Apple paid for all or part of it. Gillard said he thought Apple covered a portion of the costs.

Dillon defended the trip in a statement issued by his office Tuesday night. He said he was "one of several lawmakers to take this trip, and I am more convinced than ever that the future for our children lies in education. As we move to the technology age and the knowledge-based economy, it would be irresponsible to separate technology from our K-12 system.

"I have four children, and I see how powerful technology is in their learning experience. While I believe that moving our classrooms into the 21st Century is critical to the future of our children and this state, I fully understand that unless and until we solve the state's fiscal crisis we cannot pursue this initiative. As I have said all along, we are focused on the state's fiscal crisis first."

Dillon and Gillard have been vocal supporters of the iPod idea. They did not identify the other lawmakers who went on the trip.

Critics of the proposal have said it indicates that Lansing policymakers are out of touch with Michiganders' anxiety over the state's $600-million budget shortfall and the state's depressed economic conditions.

Susan Lundgren, an Apple spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the company's Lansing lobbyist was not available for comment Tuesday.

Gillard also defended the iPod proposal and the trip. He said the lawmakers spent more time on non-Apple business during the trip, discussing such issues as wine distribution and Michigan business taxes. He said he didn't know how much the flight and accommodations cost, or whether Apple paid the entire sum.

"This is about technology in the classroom," he said. "I don't know that it has to be iPod-specific technology."

Gillard said news media reports about the proposal have focused too narrowly on the iPod, which critics view as less of an educational tool than a form of entertainment. The iPods could be used to download lectures and materials.

The trip taken by Dillon and Gillard is similar to those taken in past years by other lawmakers, including many Republicans, Dillon spokesman Dan Farough said.

Matt Resch, spokesman for the Republican leader in the House, Rep. Craig DeRoche of Novi, said he believed that statement is correct but said he didn't have details about such trips immediately available. Resch said, however, those trips were never followed by the kind of proposal unveiled by the Democratic leadership to buy $36 million worth of Apple products.

Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a political watchdog group, said he hadn't heard about the trip and had no idea whether it was connected to the iPod proposal. But Michigan lobbyist disclosure laws are so anemic that it may never be possible to know, he said.

"There are legitimate reasons for doing such a trip," Robinson said, "but I want to know about it when it happens."

Contact DAWSON BELL at 313-222-6604 or dbell@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Using your noggin

I know all of you have heard the recent hysteria over global warming and how we are all going to die in hell-like fireball here on earth. OK, maybe I exaggerate a little there. But I just want to encourage you to use the brains God gave you before you start radically altering your lifestyle.

Consider this bit of news. It seems that icecaps are melting and the temperature is rising very rapidly on JUPITER. Last time I checked, there were no SUV's on Jupiter or coal-fired power plants. NASA now reports that the icecap on Mars is melting. Somehow, that doesn't seem to be our fault either. But logic does dictate that if the 4th rock from the sun, and the giant ball of gas beyond the asteroid belt are warming, then we might be getting warmer since we are closer to the sun than those two planets.

It appears the sun is in a period of increased output. My friends, that is how averages are made. It is cooler, it is warmer and we come up with an average over a great period of time. Our problem here is one of perspective. We only have about 200 or so years of reasonably accurate weather data. It seems that the past 200 years were one of cooler cycles in Ol' Sol's output cycle.

So, buy more sunscreen, get a fan, and live your life. There is nothing we can do to change the sun's behavior. And the heavens were created by God. He didn't say the world will end in a clambake. He did tell us Jesus will return to the earth. And the way I read the story, someone will still be here when he returns.

Will the last one out please turn off the lights?

Here is a Detroit News editorial from April 6, 2007. Read it and shake your head. This is a state where you can't sell a house right now because there are so few buyers. People are leaving, jobs are disappearing, and the legislature wants to buy kids Ipods. It just makes you shake your head.

Editorial

An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?

The Detroit News

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to "invest" in education. Details, we are promised, will follow.

The Democrats, led by their increasingly erratic speaker Andy Dillon of Redford Township, also pledge $100 million to make better downtowns.

Their plan goes beyond cluelessness. Democrats are either entirely indifferent to the idea that extreme hard times demand extreme belt tightening, or they are bone stupid. We lean toward the latter.

We say that because the House plan also keeps alive, again without specifics, the promise of tax hikes.

The range of options, according to Rep. Steve Tobocman, D-Detroit, includes raising the income tax, levying a 6 percent tax on some services, and taxing junk food and soda.

We wonder how financially strained Michigan residents will feel about paying higher taxes to buy someone else's kid an iPod.

That they would include such frivolity in a crisis budget plan indicates how tough it will be to bring real spending reform to Michigan.

Senate Republicans issued a plan a week ago that eliminates the deficit with hard spending cuts. Now their leader, Mike Bishop of Rochester Hills, is sounding wobbly, suggesting he might compromise on a tax hike.

We hope Bishop is reading the polls that say three-quarters of Michigan residents oppose higher taxes.

There are few things in the House budget outline from which to forge a compromise.

For example, Dillon says he would shift the burden of business taxes to companies that operate in Michigan, but don't have a facility here. The certain outcome of that plan is to drive even more businesses out of Michigan.

About all we see of merit is a call for government consolidation and a demand that state employees contribute more to their retirement benefits -- which is no more than House Democrats suggested for future state lawmakers a few weeks ago.

We find it ironic that the Democrats are proposing floating $5 billion in revenue bonds to pay for retiree health care, when Gov. Jennifer Granholm vetoed a nearly identical plan by Oakland County because it would cost the state money.

Instead of advocating cost-saving changes in public school teacher pension and health plans, Dillon suggests more study. There have been plenty of studies of the issue, with the conclusion being that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved through reforms. Michigan needs action, not more study committees.

Dillon also proposes that the state cover 50 percent of the cost of catastrophic health insurance for everyone in the place, but once again doesn't specify a funding source.

Stop the stupidity. Michigan can't tax or spend its way out of this economic catastrophe.

The only responsible option is to bring spending in line with current revenues. The mission must be to expand the tax base, rather than to expand taxes, by crafting a budget that encourages growth.

We won't get there by wasting money on early Christmas presents for Michigan kids.

Consumerism

I have to confess that this stings a little. I too have gotten caught up in the "what's in it for me" church shopping mentality. Watch the clip and comment. It is a sad indictment of what we as Americans are looking for in a place and body of worship.

Wreck the Roof

This recent article in Leadership Journal really struck a chord with me. It is about being willing to be like the friends in Mark 2, and I'll excerpt the article here:

"Jesus is speaking inside a house, and "some men" bring a paralyzed man to the place, carried by four of them. They're trying to get their friend to Jesus. But a crowd knots the door, creates a barricade of backs. There's no getting past them to reach Jesus. So the men take the building apart. They rip open the roof and lower their friend through the hole. Jesus, seeing their faith (these are some men), forgives the paralyzed man, and then heals him.

And, of course, controversy breaks out among the religious folk."

Imagine that. The religious folk don't like the friends interrupting their service to bring the paralyzed man to Jesus. I can't even imagine such a scene in today's world. *sarcasm alert*
I mean our churches all bend over backwards to help those unlike us get to the fount of healing that is Jesus Christ. We structure our programs, services and activities to maximize the opportunity for people to come in off the street an join us in worshiping the God of Creation. Really, it is all about them and getting them to the Lord. Our needs, wants and preferences are all secondary and have no bearing on how we do church. *end sarcasm alert*

The author calls this "Roof Tile Syndrome." Picking up again in the article :
"Roof-tile Syndrome is when we are so caught up in the preaching of Jesus, we turn our backs to the needs of those still outside the building. We become barriers and not gateways. It's when we care more about keeping things intact than about restoring lives that are shattered. It's when we're more upset when stuff gets broken than excited when the broken are mended. It's when church gets reduced to the preaching of Jesus so that we fail to notice that we're seeing very little of the forgiveness and healing of Jesus. It is when we are so fearful about upsetting the religious folk (or homeowners) in our midst that we stop taking risks to get people to Jesus.

It's when my program, my office, my title, my privilege, my influence, my comfort takes precedence over others' needs.

It's when the church exists for itself; to hell with the rest of you."

It's easy for me to criticize. I am not a pastor. I don't run a church. The church I attend doesn't own its own building or roof tiles. But that still doesn't stop those words from cutting right into my soul and showing me how my actions hinder others from knowing the Lord. And as my move into ministry continues, I pray that I never lose that sensitivity to making church as accessible as possible to the lost and hurting. God help me.

Damage Control

Evidently James Dobson felt the sting of his comments and the arrogant clarification of his spokesman. Today, the damage control party was summoned. Read this article to see what I mean.

I find their choice of blaming the media interesting. Not that the media doesn't deserve it, but it is hard to mess up the quote that Dobson's first clarifier gave. Let me share that beauty with you again.

"In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility.""

Yeah. I can see hot the media got that one wrong.

Evangelical Arrogance

Check out this recent US News & World Report story. What struck me is this exchange which follows James Dobson's assertion that he doesn't think Fred Thompson is a Christian.

"In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility.""

So, let me get this straight. Evangelicals are the only real Christians. That means the world's Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Mainline Protestants are not Christians. I really can't imagine a more arrogant statement that this man could utter.

Do we need to recount the evils from which the evangelicals have averted their eyes? The AIDS Crisis (until recently) The plight of the poor throughout the world has been largely ignored. Yet we have the chutzpah to judge whether someone who is a Christian is or is not a "real" Christian based on whether they talk about their faith.

Just a thought. What if they live out their faith rather than talk about it.

That is a show I imagine Dr. Dobson will not be airing anytime soon.

A surefire way to improve your gas mileage

No, it isn't a gadget you attach to your car or an additive in your gas or oil. Here is the big secret.


LOSE SOME WEIGHT.

Read this article and you will see that "Americans are burning nearly 1 billion more gallons of gasoline each year than they did in 1960 because of their expanding waistlines. Simply put, more weight in the car means lower gas mileage."

I hear you. I'm actively seeking to reduce my gravitational attraction with some modest success. Maybe saving a few bucks at the pump will help motivate me.

Lord knows I need help.

A book worth reading

If you are looking for a way to integrate spiritual disciplines into the daily rhythm of your life, you might want to consider "Sacred Rhythms" by Ruth Haley Barton. It is an easy read with good life application of spiritual disciplines such as prayer, solitude, sabbath, self-examination etc. It is not Celebration of Discipline, but it is a good life application-oriented introduction into spiritual disciplines. There are individual and group activity guides inside, and I am using it in a small group where it is being well-received.

Just a thought for some Lenten reading.

Here's an idea

Maybe Detroit World Outreach Church could learn a little something from this guy. Rather than spending nearly $4 million on a parsonage, they could help out some needy families and support Michigan's pitiful real estate market.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Millionaire Gives Mansions to Homeless

Mar 22 09:36 PM US/EasternBy AUDREY McAVOYAssociated Press Writer

HONOLULU (AP) - Dorie-Ann Kahale and her five daughters moved from a homeless shelter to a mansion Thursday, courtesy of a Japanese real estate mogul who is handing over eight of his multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families.
Tears spilled down Kahale's cheeks as she accepted from Genshiro Kawamoto the key to a white, columned house with a circular driveway, a stone staircase and a deep porcelain bathtub. Her family will live there rent-free, but must pay utility bills.
"I'm shocked. I'm overwhelmed," Kahale said. "From the little box we had to what we have today."
Kawamoto, whose own eyes started welling up as Kahale cried, handed over two other homes Thursday to homeless or low-income families.
Kawamoto, one of Japan's richest men, said he plans to open eight of his 22 Kahala homes to needy Hawaiian families. They will be able to stay in the homes for up to 10 years, he said.
Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented among the state's homeless and working poor.
Kawamoto owns dozens of office buildings in Tokyo under the name Marugen and his been buying and selling real estate in Hawaii and California since the 1980s.
He has been criticized for evicting tenants of his rental homes on short notice so he could sell the properties, as in 2002 when he gave hundreds of California tenants 30 days to leave.
Two years later, he served eviction notices to tenants in 27 Oahu rental homes, mostly in pricey Hawaii Kai, saying they had to leave within a month. He said he wanted to sell the houses to take advantage of rising prices.
Kawamoto selected the eight low-income families from 3,000 people who wrote him letters last fall after he announced his plan. He has said he tried to pick working, single mothers.
Giving away mansions shows more dedication to helping Hawaii's homeless than just handing out wads of cash, he said. Asked whether he was concerned about losing money on the effort, he laughed and said: "This is pocket money for me."
Kahale's new house is worth nearly $5 million, an average price for the mansion-like dwellings on Kahala Avenue. It is one of the more modest homes in the neighborhood, many of which feature ornate iron gates, meandering driveways and sculptured gardens.
Kahale became homeless two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from $800 to $1,200, putting the apartment beyond reach of her salary as customer service representative for Pacific LightNet, a telecommunications company. She first stayed with relatives, then moved to a shelter in September.
"What we need to do is appreciate," Kahale said after getting the keys to her new house. "As fast as we got it, it could disappear."

URL: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8O1JQJO0&show_article=1
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

God of Wonders

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

Do you ever just go outside and stare at the night sky? I do, and I am humbled by the majesty of what God has done. He created all of this from nothing, to show his glory. And when we stare at what he has done, we can sense the presence of the Holy God.

Try it sometime. Go outside on a clear night and stare at the night sky. Let your soul drink in the presence of the Lord.

Here is a video clip to get your mind thinking on this topic.

The Devil's Dictionary

Years ago I came across Ambrose Bierce's masterpiece of cynical thought, aptly titled "The Devil's Dictionary." If you have not had the pleasure of reading it, please follow the link or check it out of your local library. It is a wonderfully cynical look at life at the turn of the 20th Century.

Here are a few of my favorite definitions.

PAIN, n. An uncomfortable frame of mind that may have a physical
basis in something that is being done to the body, or may be purely
mental, caused by the good fortune of another.

INSURANCE, n. An ingenious modern game of chance in which the player
is permitted to enjoy the comfortable conviction that he is beating
the man who keeps the table.

JUSTICE, n. A commodity which is a more or less adulterated condition
the State sells to the citizen as a reward for his allegiance, taxes
and personal service.

About 20 years ago Chuck Moss wrote some additional, more modern definitions in the Detroit News. To the best of my memory, they were something like this

Greens, n. Ex Reds

Anti-Woman, adj. Anything any feminist dislikes

Special Interest, adj. Your Group

Public Interest, adj. My Group

I'd like to spend some time working on some modern definitions in the mold of Bierce.

For starters:

Darwinism, n. The only approved religion in science, characterized by a fervent belief in the unseen "missing links" and a fundamentalist denunciation of all who disagree with its tenets.

Obesity, n

1. A medical condition caused by excess weight, generally in excess of 20 percent more than the ideal weight for an individual as determined by medical experts.

2. The only permissible sin in the church. Characteristic of all classes of Christians, particularly preachers prone to expounding on the evils of vices other than gluttony.

There is a good thread here discussing this.

Let me hear what you have and we can add to it.

This will be fun.

Sola Scriptura (Sort of)

It seems that some of the Protestant church has fallen victim to tradition at the expense of Scripture. Read this to see what I mean.

Quoting from the article now:

"These questions came to me acutely not long ago. I was getting ready to preach. As the worship leader was finishing the music set, he offered some unscripted theological reflections. He said something like: "The only thing required of us is to believe that Jesus' blood saves us. Nothing more. It's nothing but the blood of Jesus."
In my Baptist context, we've heard these thoughts a thousand times. The problem was that I had in my pocket a message in which Jesus himself had a very different answer to the question of salvation."

Our former pastor used to refer to the process of professing faith, but not moving on in discipleship as "fire insurance." There is an edge to that comment, and a lot of truth. Unless you go where this author is going.

"In reading through Luke, I had discovered that twice (10:25, 18:18) Jesus is asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
In the first passage, Jesus turns the question back on the lawyer who asks it. The lawyer replies with the Old Testament commands to love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mt. 22:34-40). Jesus affirms his answer: "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." The lawyer then tries to narrow the meaning of neighbor. So Jesus tells the unforgettable parable of the compassionate Samaritan, who proved to be a neighbor to a bleeding roadside victim.
In Luke 18, Jesus responds to the same question, this time from the man we know as the rich young ruler, by quoting the second table of the Decalogue, forbidding adultery, murder, theft, and false witness, and mandating honor towards parents. His questioner says that he has kept these commandments, and Jesus proceeds to call on him to "sell all … and distribute to the poor." Jesus assures him, "You will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." The "extremely rich" ruler won't do this, and Jesus goes on to teach his disciples about how hard it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God.
Trying to be an honest expositor of the texts in front of me, I told the chapel students that morning that on the two occasions in Luke when Jesus was asked about the criteria for admission to eternity, he offered a fourfold answer: love God with all that you are, love your neighbor (like the Samaritan loved his neighbor), do God's will by obeying his moral commands, and be willing, if he asks, to drop everything and leave it behind in order to follow him.
I concluded by suggesting that the contrast between how Jesus answers this question and how we usually do is stark and awfully inconvenient."

I'll confess that I have been lax in this area in my life. But I also am aware of what God sometimes calls us to do that is not convenient. Which is why I am in school and running my own business. I don't pay >$400/credit hour to amuse myself. But I do know that God has called me to something. And my proper response is "Yes Lord" whether I want to or not.

You have to be kidding me!

Check out the article below on the ostentatious house recently purchased as a parsonage. If this doesn't give the church of Jesus Christ a black eye, I will be surprised. The prosperity Gospel crowd drives me crazy with stunts like this.



Detroit World Outreach Church considers its purchase of this mansion proof of God's blessing.

No taxes on $4M parsonage

Northville Township loses $40,000 annually after church buys home.

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- A Redford Township church that believes wealth is God's reward is raising eyebrows for buying its pastor a $3.65 million mansion and taking it off the tax rolls.

This month, township officials grudgingly conceded they had no choice but to remove the 11,000-square-foot home overlooking Maybury State Park from its assessment rolls, losing $40,000 annually in taxes.

They concluded the plush pad is a parsonage, but that hasn't quelled debate among township officials and neighbors about whether Christian charity extends to the Detroit World Outreach Church's purchase in September of the home for Pastor Ben Gibert and his wife and co-pastor, Charisse Gibert.

"I also have faith in God, but I don't expect to live in such opulence," said Evgenia Asimakis, a single mother of two who lives nearby and has trouble paying her property taxes.

Her neighbor, Gary Wall, is blunter: "You don't need a multimillion-dollar place to see God. He'll take a lot less."

Detroit World Outreach Church isn't apologizing. In fact, members say the mansion is proof God has blessed them.

The 4,000-member church is part of a growing movement that preaches prosperity. Also known as "health and wealth" theology, the ideology preaches that God wants followers to do well, be healthy and have rewards -- such as the $50,000 Cadillac Escalade the church bought the Giberts, who have four children.

Ben Gibert said God surrounds the faithful with beautiful things.

One of the leaders of his church agrees. "God's empowerment is to make you have an abundant life," said Elder Marvin Wilder, a lawyer and general counsel for the church.

"In this country we value rock stars, movie stars and athletes. They can have a lavish lifestyle, and a pastor who restores lives that were broken shouldn't? When our value system elevates a man who can put a ball in a hole and not a man who does God's work, something is wrong."

Born in the 1950s, prosperity theology has a strong following among some fundamentalist and nondenominational churches. It's gained popularity among mega-church ministries of such well-known national pastors as Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes and Pat Robertson.

Even so, most Christian denominations disparage the belief as consumerism run amok, said David G. Myers, professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland who has written about the movement.

"Are people really any happier for that sort of self-indulgent spending? The answer is clearly no," Myers said.

Wilder said the four-bedroom mansion "isn't flamboyant" and is compensation for Ben Gibert leaving his job as a high-paying automotive executive with DaimlerChrysler's minivan division after the sudden death in 2005 of church founder Bishop Jack Cameron Wallace.

Wallace dropped dead in Zimbabwe doing what Wilder said was the church's work. Wallace, 47, was an accomplished weight lifter and co-founder of Prosperity Nutrition Inc., which sold performance enhancement supplements, such as creatine, online.

Wilder said Gibert saved the church whose membership, once at 10,000, had fallen by more than half. Its services still are carried on a host of television channels throughout the Midwest.

"We know that it will cost the township some tax revenue, but every church in the state gets property tax exemption," Wilder said. "Having a parsonage is a historical precedent. Ours happens to be worth $3.6 million."

The mansion sits on 12 acres and behind a quarter-mile-long driveway and a tall, electronically controlled gate. That's necessary because the church has spoken out against homosexuality and Islamic violence, Wilder said. Wallace once had a live bullet delivered in the offering plate, Wilder said.

Gibert, who left a 7,000-square-foot home in Franklin for the mansion, agreed security is a concern.

"I am an African-American man who became pastor of a multi-ethnic church. Some people don't agree with that," he said. "I have not received death threats, but people have followed my children to school."

Thelma Kubitskey, the township's finance director, said officials weren't thrilled, but had to remove the house from the tax rolls. Tax-free status can be granted to church-owned residences if clergy live there, even if they're not in the same communities as the churches.

"If the church is willing to pay for the house, it's fine with me," said neighbor Janice Gutowski, whose $800,000 home is dominated by the Giberts' house and lawns.

"Churches don't pay taxes, so the rules should be the same for everyone."

Township Clerk Sue Hillebrand complained that Northville schools can ill afford to lose more revenue. She said she's amazed by the church's generosity.

"They could buy a very, very nice home out here for half a million," she said. "Can you imagine how many miracles you could perform, how many people you could help with the $3 million left over?"

You can reach Doug Guthrie at (734) 462-2674 or dguthrie@detnews.com.

---

Prosperity Gospel
Prosperity theology -- also known as health and wealth -- has its supporters and detractors, both of whom point to the Bible to make their case:
Supporters:

Deuteronomy 8:18: God "giveth thee powers to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant for he sware unto thy fathers."

Mark 11:24 -- "Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

John 10:10 -- "Then Jesus said ... I have come so that they (His disciples) may have life, and have it more abundantly."
Critics:

Matthew 19:24 -- "And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Matthew 6:19-21 -- "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal."

Luke 18:22 -- "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."
Sources: Detroit News research, Religionlink.org