Remember that part in the purpose driven program where Rick Warren said that pastors should do the following:

- lie, manipulate, and breached confidentiality
- remove Sunday School teachers for refusing to back down from their position on the Purpose Driven program, even if it is a confidential and discreet position.
- no longer welcome confidential and discreet dissenters to attend Sunday School
- refused to respond in writing concerning removal of dissenters (which should occur without a vote by the congregation, even if that congregation originally voted to install the discreet dissenter as a teacher and a deacon)
- tell the secret dissenter’s Sunday School class that they were removed for challenging his authority
- have the deacons claim that they were removed temporarily for an investigation they did not conduct
- not allow the congregation to hear the either side of the complaint
- have the discreet dissenter’s fellow deacons cutoff the mediation process with a mediator from the state convention
- make sure the fellow deacons send them a letter stating that they see no evidence of pastoral misconduct or theological issues with Purpose Driven.

Oh wait… none of that is part of the purpose driven program. But apparently one ODM would like to blame their bad purpose driven experience on Mr. Warren personally. I am finding more and more that many who hate the PD program actually hate the experience they had with a pastor implementing the five purposes of the church. They don’t like the way they were treated, being forced to sing new songs, working with new church structures and that five letter word… change.

I mean, basing everything in your church around worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship and service should not be all that alarming. It is the growing pains that come with change, and the bad implementation of the five purposes by pastors who truly do not understand it that cause such dissension. So many times, pastors get over zealous with wanting their church to be the next Saddleback, that they make the wrong changes. So, it is one thing to critique the program, it is another thing to critique the program based on how pastors have inappropriately used it.

Plus, I am not at all familiar with this situation, but it is rare for a whole church community to treat an individual in this manner when they are confidential, discreet, respectful and supports the leadership in the midst of their concern. Red flags are always sent up when the pastor, leadership and deacons all find issue with the person who is in disagreement.

Today, Ingrid acknowledged here that the Newsweek article she quoted was wrong when they stated that Rick Warren would be meeting with gay father’s this Sunday. She suggests that Newsweek owes her an apology because she and others trusted their “journalistic soundness”.

Perhaps more importantly, Newsweek owes Rick Warren an apology. Perhaps those of us who were too quick to criticize him for something he had no intention of doing should apologize to him as well.

Last Sunday morning, one of my friends told me to look-up a video she’d seen on GodTube, which I got around to doing.

As an ex-theater major (turned chemical engineer – go figure), I have always been wary of the use of drama in corporate worship settings. In some ways, I think it has been the quality of thought, writing and production often absent – and the feeling of being ‘tacked on’ or ‘disconnected’ from the service, as a whole – that has led to this apprehension.

However, I found myself surprised and moved by this one:

As I hear more and more in my workplace about the power of images over words in current culture, I wonder if well-done elements like this one might have more of a place for effective outreach – when combined with sound teaching, of course – as we look to teach and evangelize, particularly youth…

The important thing, I think, though is to be wary of what we lose in visual presentation, aware of what we gain by it, and that we supplement the visual/experiential with, at least, the bare minimum of exposition to interpret the visual ‘narrative’…

In my time as a Training & Development professional, I learned that one of the ‘rules of thumb’ in the trade is called the “70-20-10 rule”. Teens and adults tend to learn and retain based upon: 70% experience, 20% relationships and 10% expositional/didactic teaching. So, the key to training people is to leverage the 90% that is not in the ‘classroom’ or reading – the use of music and art taps into the 70%…

When you look back at the church, prior to the invention of the printing press and prior to the ability to easily duplicate images, the use of imagery within the architecture and traditions of the church was much more prevalent than the past several hundred years. The use of illumination, as in the Book of Kells, and the use of iconography were ways in which the church used images to convey the truths of the Bible. Because most of the people could not read nor understand Latin, these methods of teaching, learning and experience were effective. However, when worshipers started behaving in ways that worshiped the icons and venerated the images, their usefulness was outstripped. The icons, in and of themselves, were not evil, but for some, they were being used in a way that was so.

In the same way, I see churches who use artistic expressions, displaying truths of Christ, as something that can be very helpful – particularly in light of the ways adults, especially, learn.

The danger lies in idolizing the methods and missing the message.

To demonize the method or to insist the message be expressed in a singular manner is not the proper response. Instead, it takes the involvement of the local shepherd to gauge the pulse of his sheep, and to make adjustments accordingly…

I’ve been re-reading Philip Yancey’s book called What’s So Amazing About Grace? In the beginning he shares this story that a friend of his told him.

A prostitute came to me in wretched straits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old daughter. Through sobs and tears she told me she had been renting out her daughter– two years old! —to men interested in kinky sex. She made more renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story. For one thing it made me legally liable—I am required to report cases of child abuse. I had no idea what to say to this woman.

At last I asked if she had ever thought of going to a a church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naïve shock that crossed her face. “Church!” She cried. “Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”

Yancey continues,

“What struck me about my friend’s story is that prostitutes much like this woman fled toward Jesus, not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself, the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge. Has the church lost that gift? Evidently the down-and-out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer felt welcome among his followers. What has happened?

I’ve pondered this question for years. What has happened? How have we as the church lost our way? When did it become about being right instead of being refuge? When did it come about posting our credentials? When did it become about creating mocking names about offering children to Molech? When did it become Ok to mock and jeer those we disagree with or those we agree with who aren’t as mean as we want them to be? When did Jesus tell people to take their plank and shove it? How many people have walked away from the church because those who made it up forgot how dirty they truly were? Somehow, we’ve lost our way as a church. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the blogosphere where people can hide behind any name they want and say whatever they want to say. Someone can call 15 year old girls painted whores of Sodom and write Tabloid titles because they don’t have to see the pain they are causing people. Somehow, the political party you belong to is more important than the family you belong to. If we believe we are criticizing children of God then we are family. If one is not criticizing God’s children then we’re violating all sorts of Scriptures not in the criticism but in the name calling. Lines are being drawn not about salvation but about what is worn on Sunday’s to church.

And the whole time people who’s lives are being blown apart just keep on dying. They just keep on living the wrong way because Darn It, I AM RIGHT!!! One camp picks apart a person in the other camp because he doesn’t go far enough down the Theological trail with them. They may agree that one goes to Heaven by believing on the work on Christ but down the path they disagree so it’s Ok to tear each other apart. I wonder, does this make you as sick as it does me?

Here’s what the Apostle Paul had to say about it,

The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

I wonder how many people have been devoured by someone who “was right” and “justified.”

Confession and testimonies may not look or sound the same in AD 2008 as they did in AD 208, but I imagine that they have always been moving in their demonstration of God’s work in His kingdom

HT: Rick Frueh

My wife and I have been together for 13 years.  Last Friday we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.   Every year on our anniversary I can count on 3 things.

1) I’m gonna get a gift.

2) She’s gonna get a gift.

3) We’re gonna get into an argument.

Every year for the last 10 years we’ve had a minor blow out about something inconsequential and meaningless on our anniversary.  Nonetheless in the heat of the moment we both stake out our positions and commence firing shots at one another.   We speak in coded language.   We flash old battle scars.   Eventually our arguments disinegrate into an adult version of “I know you are but what am I?”  We begin to talk past each other.  Refusing to hear the other side.  Only concerned with voicing our own. 

In a conversation with my Pastor I shared with him about this scenario to which he responded “You fight because the expectations for that day are so high.  One missed step and it all comes crashing down.”   Sadly he’s right.  I have expectations on my wife and she has expectations on me.  If either one of us doesn’t live up to the others expectations we begin to defend our right to have those expectations.  Unfortunately this is counter productive to the unity of our marriage.

Over the last week I’ve witnessed a similar scenario play out in the comments on this blog.  In fact if you follow the blog rabbit hole you can see what I call the “ripple effect”.   Someone lobs a rock into the CRN.info pond and then the ripples spread all across the blogosphere lake.   Those that agree with whatever point was made applaud and cheer the beauty of the ripple from their respective vantage point.   Then another rock is lobbed and on it goes. Rocks get lobbed at ET, Old Truth, Camp on this, etc…   Spiraling further out of control and looking less like Jesus the further it goes.  An adult version of “I know you are but what am I?”

When I argue with my wife the one thing that I am most deeply convicted of every time is “Husbands love your wife like Jesus loved the church and gave his life for it.”   Most days I fail miserably but on the rare occasion I grasp the breadth of that command I watch my wife radiate, secure in what God had intended when he ordained marriage and called it good.

The church that Jesus loved and gave his life for is also commanded to live in unity.   For we are all of the same body.  All given certain gifts.  The hand can not say to the foot I don’t need you. 

Brothers and sisters the expectations are very high.  Because of that let us all walk in the bond of unity that God commanded for the church.  That it may radiate the beauty of Christ.  

I don’t know that we’ve ever discussed role-playing, etc. on CRN.Info – a cursory search doesn’t pull up anything that looks like it.  Having been involved with it in the past, along with being a bit of a sci-fi geek, all of the 80’s panic around D&D seemed so… silly … kind of like backmasking.

With that in mind, I’m reposting a video I tossed up on my personal site a few days ago – which demonstrates what happens if you take something harmless to an extreme (as these apparent LARP’ers did (or at least staged it to look so)).

I feel like this article was little more than a cheap shot at Rob Bell. Could you imagine Paul writing his list of credentials and then say “I write this to tell you that I can relate to Peter and Barnabas’ success, but just did it all better.” Our lives are supposed to be given to bring people to God with our stories and experiences, not prove how we are more spiritual because of the path we chose or how overqualified we are to combat a methodology. It’s sad when someone feels they have to prove themselves with such lofty credentials, only to use them to cut a brother down. For me, that is a sign of deep insecurity and extreme brokenness.

I found a Bible I haven’t used in several years and found this bit of commentary pasted into the back of it (I believe that it came from Tragedy Ann’s front man Mikee Bridges):

What is it about accusations [against believers, especially], that makes us so gullible and quick to believe them? Have you heard the one about TV preachers? Supposedly, whenever the national religious broadcasters have one of their conventions the hotels they are booked at report a spike of increased rentals of porn movies. Well, the editor of this magazine called up the two major hotels used at this year’s NRB convention, the Anaheim Marriot and west coast Anaheim and asked about this. The management staff said they’d never heard this report. If it were true, wouldn’t they know? Our own genre has its own urban legends as well. A few years ago at Tom Festival, a prominent artist reported what he’d heard from a friend, that the two best selling items at the nearby convenience store were beer and condoms. We talked to the owner/managers of this store, and were told that this is the furthest thing from the truth. Why are false accusations like this believed? Granted, if they were true, they would make for a great and powerful rebuke. But we don’t have to make up sins to preach against. And we shouldn’t rust to judgment — especially when it’s based on the testimony of only one “witness.” Where in the Bible does it say that, “in order to believe in God, you must check your brain at the door?” It doesn’t! Let’s use our God-given ability to reason and not be so gullible. In the Bible Satan is called “the accuser of the brethren,” and we are also told that Jesus is at the right hand of the father, interceding for the saints. We can align ourselves with one of two ministries that is taking place in heaven — accusation or intercession. It’s your choice, so choose wisely.

Sometimes, a dude in black leather pants and a cowboy hat will lead them.

There has been a great deal of discussion lately on the subject of “atonement”, sin, and the nature of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. In many cases, adherents of specific views of atonement (particularly the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement) have taken a dim view of groups of Christians who do not hold to identical views – in some cases, suggesting that the “correct” view (theirs, of course) is required both for evangelizing and for salvation.

Fortunately for Christians throughout the centuries without such ‘enlightenment’, systematic theology does not save, but rather the Grace of God and the mysterious work of salvation made possible through the cross and the empty tomb. In reality, many theories and ‘word pictures’ have been used throughout the history of the church to describe this work, and there is room for liberty in differences of view. Despite this liberty, though, there is need for some boundaries…

Guardrails

In Charleston, S.C., there was a bridge that was rather narrow, and was somewhat frightening for many motorists to cross. Once, during a period of repairs, the outside rails of the bridge had to be removed. Immediately, this bridge went from 2 functional lanes to a single lane, causing all sorts of traffic snarls, because people were afraid of falling off the edge. The rails, when in place, were not very capable of stopping a determined car from going into the water, but they gave some sense of security to motorists.

One of the lessons we can learn from this is that boundaries, contrary to popular opinion, are not always restrictive. Rather, boundaries clearly delineate how far you can be without going over the edge, leaving much more functional room within their borders. Unlike those who acted as if there was only room for one lane on the narrow bridge, once guardrails were in place, there was room for multiple lanes for cars to cross. The bridge, itself, did not change – it did not become wider or narrower. In fact, it became safer AND more efficient.

In the case of atonement theory, it is important that we establish the ‘rails’ – the primary one being that Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection was required in order to bring salvation to mankind. The second rail would be that man could not find salvation by his own means. These rails rule out “all paths lead to heaven” and “if you’re good enough, God will accept you”, and other universalist/semi-universalist views of atonement.

Atonement Views

The Views of Atonement:

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