Month: January 2007 (page 2 of 3)

When you say “choir”, what do you have in mind?

Just wondering…

When you say “organ” (as in, “A church without an organ is not really a church”), what do you have in mind?

Just wondering…

God has been gracious enough to let me cross paths with several folks who are out there on the cutting edge of Kingdom work, planting brand-new churches that are making a huge impact in this culture. Almost every one of the church planters I know is facing great challenges. I pray for the ones I know almost daily. I try to help carry their burdens and more than anything, I want to be a friend and encourager to them.

BUT…

Tonight, I think if I hear one of them say anything about how much tougher they have it than pastors of established churches have it, I just might commit a felony!

Yes, to quote one of my church planter heroes, church planting is the extreme sport of ministry. Yes, there are challenges planters face that guys like me don’t face.

BUT…

Tonight, I am once again convinced that the absolute toughest, most dangerous assignment in ministry is trying to lead an established church through a transition to make an impact for the Kingdom right now.

Just in case you were wondering about the progress of the flood recovery efforts, I went into the office today and checked in with our Servpro folks. Get this…they told me they’ve removed over 500 gallons of water since Sunday morning!

Oh, and here’s anew concept for you. You know that stuff you make interior walls out of?

What’s it called…DRYwall? NOT!

Ours is now WETwall! Nice, huh?

It’s a-MAZ-in’, ain’t it, Tom, what one little tyke-sized toilet can do! There’s gotta be a sermon illustration in there somewhere!

Well, I had my first guitar lesson today. My teacher? Me. Along with Mel Bay and his world-famous Modern Guitar Method.

I feel a lot like Gitarzan, of whom it was famously said…

He ordered Chet’s Guitar course C.O.D.
Makes “A” and “E” and he’s working on “B”
Digs “C” and “W” and “R” and “B”
And me and the chimpanzee agree that one day soon he will be a celebrity.

Anyway, it was fun, if a little frustrating, due to my impatience. But it really is going to force me to value the process, which, if nothing else, may be helpful if I can translate it into some other areas of my life. Go figure…

BTW, I mentioned that my guitar is an old “beater.” I found pictures of one just like mine on the Web today. Check it out here.

I also met the nice folks over at Donley’s Music, a local shop just a couple of miles from my house. They didn’t laugh at me or my guitar, (in fact, the guy at the store gave me several plausible-sounding reasons why it’s a great guitar for learning!) and they fixed a couple of things and re-strung the guitar at a very, very reasonable price in less than an hour. I may end up signing up with them for some real live lessons in a little while.

But until then, I’m off to practice…”1st-String Etude,” “Etude No.2,” “The Mixmaster,” “The Merry Men,” “Frolic,” and “E-B” have never sounded so good!

I’m a-pickin’…and you’re a-grinnin’!

What a day already! Got to church this morning, going about the usual Sunday morning get-ready routine, when, all of a sudden, our nursery coordinator shouted, “Oh, no!”

I headed down the hall to discover about 2-3 inches of water in a 70-foot-long corridor! Nice! I got a stick and held it aloft at the end of the hallway, but it didn’t work for me like it did for Moses! Dang!

So I had to slosh through the flood (funny, it didn’t work like it did for the priests at the Jordan River, either, come to think of it!) to find the source of the stream: a constantly running toilet in one of the preschool rooms!

Well, at any rate, the flood was a good excuse to get rid of a bunch of junk that had been accumulating for years, and it gave us a good excuse to renew our friendship with our local Servpro folks.

Anyway, all that to set the stage for tonight’s Unwind…

I’ve not been real partial to Hillsongs for some reason, but last night I watched NewSpring’s service from last weekend, and was really moved by the worship (led by Lee McD!). They used Mighty to Save from the Hillsongs project of the same name, and it rocked my world for some reason! So I did the old iTunes thing and got it and the Chris Tomlin project which includes “Everlasting God,” “Awesome is the Lord Most High,” and a very laid-back but powerful rendition of “Amazing Grace.” Good stuff!

OK, here’s the deal…

I’m 46, I have some musical background, and I want to learn to play the guitar. There, I said it!

Now I have no illusions of being Jimi (heck, I can’t even hear Jimi, remember?) or Eric or Segovia or Lincoln or even Esteban! But I would like to be proficient enough to get through some basic chords, etc. and not embarrass myself if I tried to lead a little worship now and again.

What are some basic resources – books, web-based, anything – to help me do that?

I already have an old “beater” to learn on…I just need someone to point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

I keep finding ways to have coffee with some of the greatest leaders around. First it was coffee with Craig Groeschel. (You did know he’s blogging now, right?)

Today it was coffee with Andy Stanley. (I don’t know if he’s blogging or not, but I do know he responds to blogs sometimes.)

Anyway, you’d think that since I’d gone to the trouble and spent my hard-earned money to buy Andy’s book, just so I could have coffee with him this morning, that he’d nice enough to not haul off and punch me right in the gut!

But he didn’t think twice about doing it!

Here’s where he did it…(long book excerpt warning)…

What if you had a sixteen-year-old son who said he was coming to church one last time and then he was packing up and hitting the road for good. And what if in the middle of the night and angel appeared and said, “You can reach the heart of your son if you do exactly what I tell you. Go into your attic and find his old box of Legos. On Sunday, preach a message around this one point: Christ came to build a bridge to the disconnected. The entire time you are preaching you are to construct a bridge using his Legos.” I know it’s far-fetched. However, I also know that somebody reading this book is going to find some Legos and build a bridge next Sunday.

If that really happened to you, I feel confident that you would not respond by saying, “I can’t do that in my church, it would require moving the pulpit.” If you really believed that getting way outside your comfort zone on a Sunday morning would reach your teenage son, you would do it. If you wouldn’t, there are probably other books you should be reading.

Now please don’t miss this. Next Sunday, somebody’s prodigal son or daughter may slip into the back of your auditorium to give the God thing one last try. And it could very well be that somewhere in your town there is a mom or dad praying like crazy that something significant would happen in the heart of their child. I know you would be willing to do some new and possibly unusual things to reach your own son or daughter. What would you be willing to do to reach someone else’s? (Communicating for a Change, p. 176-177)

WOW! And OUCH! Thanks for the coffee, Andy. And thanks for the punch in the gut.

Now if we can only remember what the punch in gut felt like this morning – and do whatever it takes – whatever it takes! – to communicate the powerful, life-changing message in powerful, life-changing ways!

Went to a meeting today with The One, The Only Mad Babbler Himself! Much to my disappointment – and deep down, to Gary’s disappointment, too – nobody even mentioned the Christmas Eve video!

The great A Love Supreme follows Kind of Blue in tonight’s “Unwind” sequence.