progress update - 7.24
I am 90% complete… just a few bugs to work out that I’ll get to over the course of the next week.

bug #1 - archives aren’t functioning…
bug #2 - twitter status isn’t loading on every page, just the home page

enhancement #1 - updating blogroll
enhancement #2 - updating about me page

any other bugs that you may be running into? leave them in the comments section!

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story this past week highlighting San Francisco as the most walkable city in the United States. As I began to look through the website it links to, I noticed that not only is the city extremely walkable, but the neighborhood we’re moving into (South of Market shown above highlighted in blue) is tied for 5th in the whole city.

We arrive in the city in just a little under 3 weeks and plan to walk and utilize as much public transportation as possible! It’s a great city, and we can’t wait to get out there!

When I started at Community 14 months ago I was in a completely different place than I am now, fresh off a gut wrenching and soul draining experience—in short a hellish year of ministry (somehow even those words can’t quite sum it up). Tracy and I came to Community extremely wounded, limping in on our last legs and expecting the impossible from the people and staff of Community. We came in expecting them to restore our hope in the church, to restore our wounded psyche, our broken hearts, and help us on the road back to wholeness. What was unfair on our part—we didn’t tell them of these expectations.

What’s amazing about the staff at Community and in particular the people of the Shorewood Campus: they didn’t bat an eye, were completely unfazed and immediately surrounded us with an amazing presence of love, support and encouragement like we have never experienced before. It’s the same sort of love, support and encouragement that they give to everyone—yet for us it hit the spot and did more than we could have ever hoped or imagined.

Fourteen months later I am leaving with a renewed sense of hope and faith in the church, a firm belief that the church can actually be a healthy, vibrant, world changing force. This post doesn’t come close to giving Community its due for how it has shaped and impacted me over the past year, but I am far different and a far better person because of how this church pushed towards the mission every day. Thank you Community… I wouldn’t be heading to San Francisco if it hadn’t been for you.

Zondervan—Church & Ministry | Church Life | Church Growth

Although the early church started out with this beautiful concept of the priesthood of all believers—with every member an active minister and good works carried forth in all directions—during the last couple of centuries, most churches have retreated to the Old Testament model. Here’s how it often plays out:

A group of a hundred people get together, decide to form a congregation, and “hire a minister.” …Then they say to their new minister… ‘Preach. Teach. Marry. Bury. Make hospital calls. Visit members. Counsel the confused. Evangelize the community. Raise money. Print the bulletins. Do announcements. Pray for the sick. Then, come year end, we’ll get out our report cards and determine whether you have met our expectations. If you have, we’ll sign you up for another year. If not, we’ll hire someone else.’

…The congregation hires “the clergy” to do the ministry.

So the church ends up with a few overworked professionals, paid by the tithes and offerings of the congregation ot fulfill the whole gamut of priestly functions, while everybody else remains passive observers, their gifts and talents atrophying from disuse.

This is the most widely practiced ministry paradigm in existence today—and it doesn’t have a shred of biblical support. Tragically, this approach has left many contemporary churches in shambles: weak, unorganized, and powerless. And unfortunately, it’s a tough mindset to change. (pg. 62)

When I read these words in a book written by Bill Hybels I was a little taken a back because if you didn’t know who wrote it or aren’t aware it could sound very much like something from Emergent Village. Hybels published this book back in 2004. It makes me wonder how much more we have in common with each other than we truly realize. From much of the rhetoric that gets thrown out in bloggy-land you’d think we were arch-rivals. Hopefully we can begin to find more of a middle-ground and set aside our differences for the greater good of the Kingdom.

I was impressed with this book and although at times it felt “elementary” and “simple” it was a good refresher with great reminders not only for myself but for the church at large. I enjoyed many of the stories and it certainly gave a great glimpse into the world that is Willow Creek Community Church.

David Cook Publishing—Religion | Christian Ministry | Evangelism
239 pages

This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting… although admittedly I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I picked this book up at a Borders after browsing the shelves looking for another book. This one in particular caught my attention because I had seen it laying around the office at Community and figured it must be worth a read, so I snatched it up and paid for it with a gift card.

Starving Jesus was the dream of xxxchurch.com founder Craig Gross and his associate J.R. Mahon born out of numerous rants about the church. It certainly takes on the form of a rant in its writing style, however in the middle it takes a major shift away from what’s wrong with the church towards the spiritual discipline of fasting—particularly 40 day fasts.

I’m not quite sure there was a cohesive theme that ran throughout the entire book, and if there was one I completely missed it. However, if you see each chapter as a sort of essay tied around the hope of what the church can be then it hit the mark. There was deconstructionist tones towards the beginning that found themselves muted at the end, lost in the conversation of fasting. I’m not sure there was a great deal of understanding that I gained from the book, however if you’re looking for something to explain fasting this can certainly be a good start ripe with story and testimonial that I found to be somewhat helpful. Otherwise, I’m not sure there’s anything in this book that I haven’t read or heard elsewhere.

|weekly bonus|*342 songs *32.3 hours* 1.59 GB

I still can’t get enough of Coldplay’s new album… if you haven’t done yourself the favor and bought it yet, you’re really missing out!

I must say I am extremely intrigued, however I’m just not quite sure how it will be completely implemented in our oil-based economy…

Last week while spending time at the North American Christian Convention I was able to make my way into a session on Spiritual Formation led by Dr. Neal Windham of Lincoln Christian College. A few of the statements that Dr. Windham made led me down a particular path of thought that juxtaposed our current emphasis on leadership with our lack of emphasis on spiritual formation as necessity.

I have had the opportunity throughout the past couple of years to spend some time at various conferences throughout the country focused specifically on being the church and bettering yourself as a leader. However, I have never found it odd that spiritual formation was never mentioned in the same breath as leadership until Dr. Windham said this:

Ministries can become small, shallow and confused when we neglect the doxological life.

In other words, leadership is important, vision is important, but without a leader who walks with God they are worthless.

It seems as if in our conferences and even in many of our churches we almost assume that spiritual formation is happening even though we do not have the necessary means of measuring or examining the inner life in accountable relationships. Leadership, it seems is all we’re focused on learning about and growing into.

There must be a radical transformation among the people and specifically the leadership of God’s church… yet, in our conventions and conferences the emphasis sits squarely upon the idea of leadership. It is great leaders we bring in to teach us and speak about leadership issues but we rarely, if ever, bring in a great person on spiritual formation to speak to the masses. I do wonder how many leaders, when looking underneath the mask, truly struggle and are unaware with what spiritual formation truly is and how to go about it.

As a church we need to recover a new attentiveness to the Other, a new understanding and emphasis on formation by the work of the Spirit not only in our people but perhaps more especially in our leaders.

I believe the emphasis on leadership has been extremely effective without it I’m not sure we’d see some of the amazing ministries that are on the landscape today. As a result, I’m not advocating we reduce the notion of leadership or reduce our emphasis on it. Rather, I believe what we need is to elevate the role of spiritual formation in our conversation and practice to the level or above where we currently hold leadership. It will be then and only then that the church will begin to move forward into a new realm of revival.

Leadership and spiritual formation is not an either/or issue… it’s both/and.

I don’t get why parents are always complaining about how tough it is to raise kids… You just have to joke around with them, give them pizza, give them candy, let them live their lives, they’re adults for God’s sake.
~ Michael

Jossey-Bass—Church Ministry | Leadership
179 pages

I blogged my thoughts throughout this book and overall found this to be a very refreshing book. I believe I’ve grown tired of the continual deconstructionist thought that never offers up a solution new or old, that never moves us forward as a church in any direction but simply mopes about calling us a failure of mission and calling us to change–but to what? Halter & Smay are a breath of fresh air combining deconstructionist thought with solutions and offering up their own reconstruction of the Kingdom in their cultural context that can help spur us own towards creativity and solutions in our own contexts!

Take a walk through the posts listed below and pick up the book… it certainly won’t disappoint!

[part 1]
[part 2]
[part 3]
[part 4]
[part 5]

This weekend we started the process of making our 7th move in 7 years of marriage. As the boxes begin piling up from cleaning out the closets, and rummaging through the majority of the possessions I’m beginning to realize that most of them haven’t seen the light of day in over a year. One thing we’re learning is how much stuff we have that we simply “have” and don’t necessarily need or use… it’s simply amazing what we hold onto and purchase for no apparent reason. So, this move is going to be a little bit different… we’re starting over and giving the majority of our stuff away and selling nothing. We’ve already found a home for a few of our things with Habitat for Humanity and hopefully the rest will find good homes fairly soon. We’ve made several trips to Goodwill and haven’t really thrown much away at all… hopefully one man’s un-necessities can be another families treasure.

My recent trip to Great America Ballpark in Cincinnati to see a Reds game is just one more check off the list to see a baseball game in every ballpark in my lifetime. However, not all stadiums are created equal. In fact, some just flat out suck. So, here is my rankings for the stadiums I’ve seen games in. The criteria for ranking the experience is four-fold: Connectedness with baseball history; Fans interaction with each other and with the game; Uniqueness; Overall design.

So here’s the current list.

1] Wrigley Field: There isn’t a stadium like it in all of baseball. In fact, it seems to be the model that many of the newer parks are attempting to replicate in some way. It is ripe with history standing as the second oldest stadium in the majors - and perhaps one of the more interesting facts about Wrigley Field: it took a month and a half to build. It is a simple, unique design from the ivy to the manual scoreboard atop center field, and maintaining the old charm of organ music. The seventh inning stretch is the best in the majors and the fans are incredible. Wrigley Field stands above the rest in a big way! (P.S. don’t forget the trough’s!)

2] AT&T Park: Home of the San Francisco Giants this is the best new park I’ve been to hands down. In fact, it would be easy to call this the best park because of how beautiful it is. In the background is a beautiful view of the Bay and the Oakland Bay Bridge, McCovey cove is a spectacular innovation with the kayaks waiting for the illusive home run ball, and although it’s not a historical ballpark, it certainly incorporates a tremendous sense of history throughout the stadium. I truly love watching games in this park!

3] New Busch Stadium: It’s hard to admit, but I actually really like the New Busch Stadium. It’s got a great view of the city of St. Louis in the outfield, and the fans are really great. The food is amazing, the seats are great, and it truly is an enjoyable experience.

4] Miller Park: Even though it’s got a retractable roof that makes a horrendous sound, and the biggest piece of history rattling around is an All Star Game that ended in a tie, there isn’t a bad seat in the place! The views are amazing and the 6th inning sausage race is one of a kind. The fans are great as of late (since there’s a team to actually root for) and the design is great for a new stadium.

5] Kauffman Stadium: This is the best stadium from the 70’s that has an amazing outfield view. It probably helps that when I visited Sosa hit 2 homeruns, but it was an exciting place to visit…

6] The Ballpark at Arlington: This is one of the better new parks that I’ve visited. It’s got great outfield seating and has a great “old” ball park feel to it. The fans weren’t spectacular, but the ball park certainly was.

7] US Cellular Field: A space ship has landed on the south side of Chicago. It was poorly designed aesthetically and I’m not really sure what the gigantic lollipops adorning the scoreboard are all about, but they’re not good. The Cell is simply utilitarian and not beautifully designed. It doesn’t connect well with history and although the fans are great and can bring the stadium alive, they can also make a game a real bore and simply sit idly by. A funny note about it’s design: it had to be renovated nearly 10 years after opening because of faulty design. The cost to build=$167 million… the cost of renovation=$118 million. Poor design led to massive costs only 10 years later.

8] Old Busch Stadium: This was perhaps one of the ugliest, stadiums of all-time. I’ve seen several games here, and even though there were some good experiences, the travesty of design and turf can’t outweigh what good times there may have been. The circular design blocked any good views of the city—thankfully that was rectified with New Busch. At least the fans are always into the game! That certainly bumped it up on the list.

9] Great American Ballpark: 16,860. That was the number in attendance the night I went to watch a game at the “Great” American Ballpark. It’s perhaps one of the ugliest “new” parks out there… the steamboat in center field is hideous, the scoreboards are in horrible locations, and the fans just simply don’t have it. It was an okay experience, but the ballpark is one of the worst I’ve been to.

10] Dodger Stadium: There is some good history here in Chavez Ravine, however there’s not much to look at. It’s a hard stadium to navigate your way through and there is simply no view. The fans leave after the 7th inning and there are police officers patrolling the grounds at every corner—not the seemingly family friendly ballpark you might be hoping for.

The past few days I’ve been at the North American Christian Convention, the annual gathering of my tribe, participating in a couple of workshops and many great and exciting conversations about San Francisco! One of the sessions that I made my way into was a leadership lecture given by Bill Hybels of Willow Creek. I’ve long been intrigued by Hybels relationship with the Christian Church, especially after hiring Gene Appel and Mike Breaux both of whom hail from the brotherhood. Admittedly, Hybels doesn’t know much about us… but I think we have more in common than he realizes.

Hybels talk was entitled The Four Things I Would Tell Leaders on My Deathbed. And here are some notes I jotted down.

1) Vision –> Keep the Vision CLEAR!
There is some misunderstanding about the phrase “Where there is no vision the people perish”. The word perish actually refers not to a physical death, but a real atrophy of the church. The atrophy comes from people not doing anything, not exercising their spiritual gifts, because there is no direction and they are not sure how to proceed. There needs to be a clear vision in leadership and when there is, the local church will flourish as people jump on mission to make a difference not only in the church but in the surrounding community.

We’ve got to GET IT; COMMUNICATE IT; and DO IT!

2) Engagement –> Get the People Engaged!

Church should be an all-skate event. Everyone is involved and serving according to their gifting!

The 5 ways to get business leaders and high-capacity leaders involved
a) The Pastor must be TOTALLY committed to the future of that particular congregation. Not someone looking to move on in a couple of years— this is what short circuits many local congregations, perpetual turnover in leadership.

b) No small dreams! Low risk and tiny vision will never captivate the attention of business leaders and high capacity leaders who are continually risking a lot day-in and day-out in their jobs.

c) Personal Asks—repeatedly. You must be willing to sit down one on one with leaders and make the BIG ask. This is typically the only way they will get involved. They already have a lot on their plate and a sign-up sheet doesn’t communicate importance… a personal ask and a challenge does!

d) Feedback is the breakfast of champions! Leaders want feedback. They want to hear your thoughts, encouragements, challenges, etc.

e) A regular reminder that what is being done really matters! This goes hand in hand with feedback, but we must encourage leaders that what they are trading their lives for in pursuit of mission is totally worth it! They need to be reminded that they aren’t crazy, especially if they’re taking major risks for the Kingdom. There are people all around them that are probably telling them otherwise… therefore it’s our responsibility to make sure they know they matter and are making a difference!

3) Make your gatherings MEMORABLE!

In the book of Acts as it related to their gatherings, everyone had a sense of awe and a sense that the supernatural was taking place in their midst! People want more than a show. People want to be changed! They want to be different than when they came. We must be creating a place and space for God’s Spirit to truly work in different, mysterious and miraculous ways.

4) PACE –> Pace yourself for the long haul.

As pastors we must run for a marathon, not a mad dash. If we are not careful, when we attain a certain speed our soul will begin to wilt. It’s at these times that we must recognize that we need to reduce speed in order to restore our soul. We need to find the balance and run at an optimal level as opposed to a constant fluctuation of imbalance.

Security in this office park is a joke. Last year I put my spud gun in a duffel bag and came to work. And I sat here the whole day with a rifle that fires potatoes. Can you imagine if I was deranged?
~ Dwight

Just saw the video for the song No Handlebars which has had me riveted for the past couple of months since first hearing it while in Florida.

The lyrics to this song are an absolutely brilliant portrayal of the humanistic bent that our culture continues to take on. Tracy and I have had several conversations about the song, it’s lyrics and its hidden as well as overt meaning. There are strong political overtones towards President Bush and the War in Iraq, there are strong overtones towards what we as man have accomplished and continue to push for (holocaust) in our dealings with each other as we leave our child-like innocence. But what I think is most fascinating is how this song shows exactly where we begin our arrogance–childhood.

Lyrics | No Handlebars | The Flobots

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars
No handlebars

Look at me, look at me
hands in the air like it’s good to be
ALIVE
and I’m a famous rapper
even when the paths’re all crookedy
I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together
I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to “De Colores”
And “I’m Proud to be an American”
Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want cuz, look:

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome
No metronome

I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone
On the telephone

Look at me
Look at me
Just called to say that it’s good to be
ALIVE
In such a small world
All curled up with a book to read
I can make money open up a thrift store
I can make a living off a magazine
I can design an engine sixty four
Miles to a gallon of gasoline
I can make new antibiotics
I can make computers survive aquatic conditions
I know how to run a business
And I can make you wanna buy a product
Movers shakers and producers
Me and my friends understand the future
I see the strings that control the systems
I can do anything with no assistance
I can lead a nation with a microphone
With a microphone
With a microphone
I can split the atoms of a molecule
Of a molecule
Of a molecule

Look at me
Look at me
Driving and I won’t stop
And it feels so good to be
Alive and on top
My reach is global
My tower secure
My cause is noble
My power is pure
I can hand out a million vaccinations
Or let’em all die in exasperation
Have’em all grilled leavin lacerations
Have’em all killed by assassination
I can make anybody go to prison
Just because I don’t like’em and
I can do anything with no permission
I have it all under my command
I can guide a missile by satellite
By satellite
By satellite
and I can hit a target through a telescope
Through a telescope
Through a telescope
and I can end the planet in a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust
In a holocaust

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handle bars
No handlebars

|weekly bonus|*310 songs*20.2 hours*1.51GB

I missed last week, so here’s two weeks worth… can you tell I’m really liking the new Coldplay album? Coldplay continues to amaze me as their music continues to evolve with every single album, yet at the same time remaining true to who they are as musicians. Great stuff!

Needless to say things are only going to get more crazy from here, however, I do have some posts planned and upcoming as well as some personal updates on the church planting front. But for now, I’ve got to run and get some more things done!

P.S. ~ Glad to see the Bulls drafted Rose… at least they didn’t screw this up… still done being a fan of theirs, however.

I can’t be around carbs today. Do you have any idea what a simple loaf of bread would do to my abs?
~ Michael

Smells pretty bad, doesn’t it?… It’s called bull crap. And a client can smell it from a mile away.
~ Dwight, on Ryan’s first sales call

|weekly bonus|*150 songs*10 hours*747.7 MB

I absolutely love the new Weezer album, and I simply can’t wait for the new Coldplay album to release on Tuesday! This is the only reason why I truly love summer… great new music!

“The starting point for any theology of the church today must be a theology of social change….A church whose life is defined and shaped by what God is now doing in the world cannot be imprisoned [by antiquated ] specifications. It must allow itself to be broken and reshaped continuously by God’s continuous action; hence the need for a theology of social change.”

~ Harvey Cox. The Secular City: Secularization and Urbanization in Theological Perspective (1965)

If I had been wiser as a child and realized who owned the Bulls maybe I wouldn’t have found myself in this place… perhaps I would’ve found myself rooting for a team that actually had competent ownership, or at least learned how to utilize and maximize their resources for the good of the game and the good of the fan… but no… I got stuck with Bumbledorf.

So, today it is official… no longer will I root for the Bulls, no longer will I care about the number 1 draft pick that I screamed out loud about when the little board was flipped to reveal the bulls logo… no longer will I root for anything associated with Jerry Bumbledorf. It’s over. And as hard of a break-up this is for me… it’s for the best.

I’m taking applications now… what team should I root for… what team should I care about… or should I even bother? With new allegations of refs fixing the playoffs is there any reason to even care? Should I just begin focusing on the Illini and other college basketball teams?

So, I leave it to you the reader… who should I root for? Who should be the team of choice? If any…