OK, thanks to Ken’s recent comment, I’m trying out a new paraphrase as a motto or slogan or guiding principle or whatever…

“Be ye doers of the Word, and not BLOGGERS only!”

OK, it’s not new and fresh anymore – hey, it’s clearance-priced! – but ever since yesterday, I’ve been unable to get enough of this “old” CD! Especially, the last three tracks…”I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” “Sweet Mercies,” and “We Fall Down.”

Maybe it’s just an earworm. Or maybe God’s trying to tell me something.

WOW! What an opening line! I saw this over at The First Epistle of Mark. It does seem that “everything old is new again” and vice versa. That which we think is new, fresh, hip, happening, cool, dope, sick, clutch, or whatever gets old, stale, dull, square, lame, sketch or whatever pretty quickly.

I wonder why that is. Maybe it’s because we get caught up in being trying to be new, fresh, hip, happening, cool, dope, sick, clutch, or whatever, and forget to be who we were created to be, doing what we were created to do.

This so-called “emerging” church has some real thinkers and doers who may just be blazing the trail to a new reformation and renaissance. But it also has some posers and hangers-on who will be on this kick for a while, then off to the next new, fresh, hip, happening, cool, dope, sick, clutch, or whatever thing that comes along. Maybe I’m one of ’em, who knows?

This ad tears me up!

See, this is the stuff I wish I could do. CartoonChurch, via Church Marketing Sucks, uh, Stinks!

With our emphasis on personal preference and personal expression, the church may be in danger of becoming just another accessory of style. Check out this article from Boundless.

Great article by Dallas Willard, via Allelon.

Erwin McManus makes an interesting point in An Unstoppable Force about the way God intends for the church to exist and engage in the culture of the day. Check this out…

This passage teaches us a very peculiar thing about God. His approach toward us is often to invite us to believe in him and move in his power. God’s first choice is to search for a heart that is wholly his and then strongly support it. But many times that is not the condition of our hearts. Often it is God who forces circumstances upon us in which it becomes necessary for us to rely on God’s goodness.

Since Israel did not have a heart to trust God, God hardened the heart of Sihon – made his spirit tubborn and provoked him to go to war against Israel. God did all of this so that Israel would begin to conquer and possess the land. In short, what God did was bless Israel by forcing them to engage in a battle that they were afraid to fight. (p. 42-43)

He goes on to say…

For two thousand years the church has been called by God to encounter culture through his transforming power. I am convinced that many of the global trends that have brought fear and concerns to the contemporary church are the very act of God, in a sense, hardening the heart of Sihon king of Heshbon. He will force us to engage in the battles at hand. He will do whatever is necessary to reorganize this planet until we have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

For two thousand years Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. We have, at best, given this command nominal adherence. It seems now that God has brought us to a place in history where he is bringing the nations to us. And while we may perceive that the challenge is intensifying, it is perhaps within this very context that the church will discover most powerfully what it means to go, conquer, and possess the land. (p. 43)

I know people who have said they are praying for a return to the power and influence of the first-century church. Then, as the conditions that are amazingly similar to the culture of the first century arise around them, they moan and whine that the church is being discriminated against, short-changed, denied its rights, or whatever the whine du jour is.

Could it be – and I, like Amos, am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; I’ve been chasing sheep and pinching figs all day long – that the very conditions we despise are the conditions that God is using to bring about the greatest days of the church around the world? Maybe not what we consider great, but what God considers great. There is a difference, you know.

Them there’s strong words, boy!

Yeah, I know…I reserve a good “dadgummit!” for only the worst of times! And this is one of ’em!

This is twice today that I’ve started out to compose pretty good posts (in my humble but correct opinion, anyway!) and had something happen to keep them from making it into the blogosphere!

Anyway, since I lost the inspiration, and since my muse, like Stephen King’s, has skulked back down to the basement and lit up a nasty cigar, allow me to to just post a series of links, in the great tradition of everyone’s favorite Canadian’s “contextless links”…

• Seth Godin says it’s not the fear of failure that holds us back from being remarkable. It’s the fear of criticism.
• You’ve gotta have a plan to deal with all that stress in your life.
• Whatever happened to Veggie Tales?
• Change or Die.
• Coffee snobs?
• The ultimate coffee road trip. This guy wants to visit every Starbucks in the world.
• The Ten Steps of Visioning.
• Uncovering your blind spots.

Today, we – my family – learned a hard, but valuable lesson in the difference between leaders and bureaucrats. (Hey, my wife is a public school teacher, ‘nuf said?)

The main difference? Leaders are professional when dealing with their people. Bureaucrats are petty.

Lord, deliver us from petty pretenders. Help us never become like that in our service for You and our leadership among Your people.

(Now please forgive me for that, Lord, and bless all the pygmies in the Congo. Amen.)