Be the Helpers

2018-01-16T05:50:49+00:00By |Jesus Shaped Community, Kingdom of God|

  "If you look for the helpers, then you'll know that there's hope." Fred Rogers It's overwhelming, really, where we have found ourselves. True, we do see the great needs in the world a little bit: the hurricanes and other natural disasters are often in the headlines, but let's be honest: scandal sells and attention is often drawn away from the great needs of the world (which can actually broaden our worldview), and are often given to the most negatively sensationalistic stories that the headlines can muster. Some studies actually show that the psychological effects of the negative sensationalism in the news actually can result in the watchers to begin to catastrophize worries in our own lives. [...]

Thoughts on Worship from a Ragamuffin: the worship pastor side of me

2018-01-16T06:21:01+00:00By |discipleship, Jesus Shaped Community, Worship, Worship Leading|

  Like many church professionals, I have more than one income stream. Half of my time I'm a worship pastor at a Vineyard church, and the other half I'm a team leader at a humanitarian anti-hunger organization which is doing some great things in addressing global hunger. While schedule-wise, I need to watch my time allocation so that my family doesn't go crazy (as well as for my own sanity), right now I'm blessed that I get to live out my calling in this way. What I mean by 'calling' is the re-occurring theme in my life that I've been pursuing and endeavoring to live out for most of my life: the reality that worship, prayer, and [...]

For Tomorrow: a reminder to keep on

2018-01-17T22:17:51+00:00By |Create, Jesus Shaped Community, Kingdom of God|

  I love music and spoken word that challenges and teaches. Here's one of my favorite poets, Joel Mckerrow, and his poem, "For Tomorrow."  When we were watching this as a family, toward the end, my daughter turned to me and said, "That's Heaven!" and I smiled and said, "Yes it is, honey." The Kingdom of Heaven, a reality that is both now and not-yet, is something that I believe we hunger for. When we long for justice, for hope, and for wrong things made right, the compass of our hearts -as broken and imperfect as they are -point north again. Something stirs in us, and our hearts start to resonate with the heart of God [...]

Ordinary Heroes: the glory of hiddenness

2015-01-12T00:59:08+00:00By |discipleship, Jesus Christ, Jesus Shaped Community, The Dangerous Kind|

“I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity, but because there were people willing to be nuts and bolts.” ― Rich Mullins This is the paradox [of discipleship]: accompanying the unveiling of Jesus there is a veiling of us in the same moment, and therein lays the real glory of transformation: the glory of hiddenness. - Graeme Sellers I've been thinking a lot about how the Christians who have shaped me the most significantly are not the ones who are outwardly polished, living an ideal 'untainted by the world.' Actually, in numerous accounts, I've found those to be the ones with great potential for damage, because they tend to project [...]

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