Requests and Updates for 7/14/09

Friends,

Pray for:
- Spiritual disciplines
- Times of rest and refreshment amongst the busyness.
- God would reveal what He wants me to do next semester and when I graduate.

Wow, a month's already gone by. I didn't expect things to fly so quickly.

Thus far, Madison has been really good to me. I've been plugged in to a great social circle which is composed of all girls, oddly enough. But they're so much fun to hang out with. My only stipulation to them, was that they don't treat me like a doll :)

I've had the opportunity to shadow some people and have really learned a lot through that experience. It's really good being able to see how professionals do it. They also talk through some of their thought processes so I get an idea of what they're thinking and motivation as they make their decisions.

We've been given a project to work on for Urbana. It's a piece about stewardship. For a few weeks, we've been wrestling with the concept. This past Thursday, we had a major break through with an idea that everyone seems to really like. It's given us a new burst of creative energy.

We've also been working on film project outside of work called, "The Intern Project". It's essentially an intern version of "The Office". The interns and I have been writing it and we're getting ready to go into pre-production and production soon. The whole process is more accelerated than I would like, but I think it's been a really good learning experience for all of us.

A few weeks ago, we had ONS (Orientation for New Staff) and NISET (National Institute for Staff Education and Training). While we were supporting them, I really got the sense that I wanted to do ministry. And as a matter of coincidence, I ran into my old IV staff worker from my days in undergrad. We talked a bit and I'm thinking about volunteering for staff this coming semester.

Thanks for you continued support!

Requests and Updates for 6/2

Yesterday, I started my first day at 2100 Productions as a Production Intern. It was a busy day of orientation, introductions, and just getting an idea of the culture. Today, we did some more training and did an Avid tutorial. They mostly have Avid stations to do their editing, but they do have one Final Cut Pro machine.

Everyone has been really nice and welcoming. A lot of people have stopped by our cube, which is tucked away in one of the back corners, just to say hi. I have 3 other interns here with me. Kristin, Jamari, and Valaree. It should be a lot of fun getting to know them and working with them this summer.

Avid is interesting. Until I get to work with it more, it's hard to say if it's better than Premiere or FCP. There are so things I find kind of quirky, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of them with more experience.

I'm still kind of getting used to being in Madison. Even though it's called a city, it's nothing like NYC, natch. And the pace is much slower. Still, I went home exhausted yesterday. A combination of meeting new people and just getting so much more information. The rest of the week is going to be different sorts of training, such as, lighting, editing, camera, etc. A lot of the practical production side of things.

I think the biggest difficulty has been transition to the new schedule. I'm so used to waking up around 9 or so, but now, I have to wake up at 7, if not earlier. Luckily, the commute isn't too bad. It's about 20~30 min with traffic. But waking up early means going to bed early. Which hasn't been difficult thus far, considering how tired I am at the end of the day, but I would like to be able to do stuff. I'm sure as I get more accustomed to the schedule and the pace, I'll find time and capacity for other things, such as writing and climbing.

One of the things I'm hoping to do is to shoot some video with my fellow interns. I brought my camera along, so it'll be nice to do some fun stuff. We still have 1 more intern on the way, Valaree, so I'm going to wait for her to arrive before beginning to brainstorm ideas.

My host family has been great. I made the mistake of telling them that too much cheese gives me gas. So, now, they're all cautious about putting cheese in food. I really enjoy cheese! And considering I'm in the land of cheese, Wisconsin, I really want to experience all that it has to offer. But they're great, generous people, and it's real blessing being able to stay with them.

So far, things are good, but you can pray for:

• Build strong friendships with the interns


• Build relationships with other co-workers


• Transition to new schedule

Benedictions in Scripture

The following is a list of every benediction in the Bible. Please contact me if you see one missing.

Peace, peace to you,
and peace to your helpers!
For your God helps you.
1 Chronicles 12:18

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 Corinthians 13:14

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21

Peace be to the brothers, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
Ephesians 6:23-24

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
2 John 1:3

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Jude 1:24-25

Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us
1 Kings 8:56-57

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance[a] upon you and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices!
Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
psalm 20:1-5

May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Psalms 29:11

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
Psalm 67:1

The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 121:7-8

The LORD bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
Psalm 128:5

May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!
Psalm 134:3

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1 Peter 1:2

the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 5:10-11

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
2 Peter 1:2

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:7

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Philippians 4:19-20

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelations 1:4-6

May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:23

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17


"'The LORD bless you, O habitation of righteousness,
(D) O holy hill!'
Jeremiah 31:23

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philippians 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 1:3

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Timothy 1:2

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Galatians 6:18

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 1:2

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Philippians 4:23

May(A) the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Romans 15:33

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.
Revelation 22:21

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.
2 Timothy 4:22

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Romans 16:20

Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
1 Peter 5:14

Grace be with you all.
Titus 3:15

Grace be with all of you.
Hebrews 13:25

Grace be with you.
1 Timothy 6:21


Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58

To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1 Timothy 1:17

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into) the way of peace."
Luke 1:68-79

Commentary on 5 Distortions of the Gospel

This is a commentary on 5 Distortions of the Gospel in Our Day.

I would like him to explain some of the points a little more so I can understand his perspective, but here are my thoughts.

What does MacDonald mean by "Gospel", is he talking about the narrative of Jesus or God's redemptive plan? Those 2 are pretty different. I'll assume he's talking about the latter when addressing his points. I'll also assume that his goal is to reach the lost for the kingdom.

Cake Mix Gospel

If we leave out key ingredients our souls will never “rise” to God. We don’t need the message reduced to some irreducible elements, we need the whole gospel.

It's hard to know what parts MacDonald thinks is being left out of the Gospel or what components go into making the Gospel. Maybe because I've already broken it up into its essential parts. But the reality is, different people need God in different ways. If the Word is truly living, then different aspects will touch different people depending on their particular social game or set of experiences.

If our goal and God's goal is to bring people to saving knowledge of Him, we're going to use the parts of the Word that speak to the particular people.

This is not to say that we should just write off parts of the Gospel. But it doesn't mean that we necessarily need to present the entire thing at once. Faith is a long journey. There's so much information that needs to be conveyed that there's no way to effectively convey it all at once. Even if you could, it would take a lot to be able to process it all.

Just as the Jesus' 12 disciples spent time learning from our great teacher, they also spent time afterwards figuring out what it all meant. Paul wrote a bunch of letters to correct the Church and bring it back on track.

Winning souls isn't about praying a prayer, it's a journey of faith to become what Christ modeled for us.

The Cultural Gospel

Understanding the ‘culture’ is much less important than knowing what the Bible says about every human heart separated from God. We don’t need slick sales people giving out the gospel. We need bold, Spirit-filled messengers with a deep heart of compassion for lost people.

I agree with his first statement, that "Understanding the ‘culture’ is much less important than knowing what the Bible says about every human heart separated from God" only to an extent. I think they're equally important. The people we're trying to reach for the Kingdom exist in the culture. Language is a part of culture. I would be hard pressed to bring the Gospel to a country in Africa without first learning the language. But even language is only a part of the culture.

Having a "deep heart of compassion for lost people" will want us to want to learn about their culture. How they think, work, play. The things they need or care about. We see the example of God himself. Having been disconnected from His people for so long, He sent his son, Jesus, to become one of us (John 1).

Understanding culture is more than just ethnography or anthropology, those are the first steps. We then take that knowledge so that we too can incarnate God into their midsts. Just as Jesus lived with us, we live with them. Just as Paul said, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)

The Cool Gospel

We don’t need to ’spin’ the message, we need to say it. We need to stop shaping Jesus in some misguided effort to make Him appealing.

Agreed, we have to say "the message". But how do we say it? I'm not necessarily advocating that Jesus be "cool", whatever that means. But the Gospel needs to be appealing. It's our job to figure out how it will appeal to the lost and let the Holy Spirit do His work and finish the job.

Part of making the message appealing is by making it relevant. Another part is presenting it in a way that people haven't heard before so that they notice the message.

Advertisers have been having this problem for ages. Eventually, the message wears off and people start tuning it out. If advertisers continue to just broadcast and broadcast, they wouldn't be getting anywhere.

I'm not saying that we change the message, just how the message is presented. If it turns out that the way we present it is "cool", what's wrong with that as long as the Gospel is being preached? The message is still there. The Holy Spirit is still there. We're just doing the human part.

Carnal Gospel

The selfish gospel that promises things Jesus doesn’t promise is a lie and is sentencing the lost who listen to a shocking surprise in eternity.

Jesus does promise "health, wealth, always happy, never hurting". And I think there's nothing wrong with embracing those promises as long as we're authentic about how God provides. The Gospel has real power to heal and to bring hope, not just in the after life, but in this life. We need to start embracing the truth and reality of that power.

Additionally, we need to stop over promising. We have to be able to answer the hard questions that people ask of us because these hard questions are real. The biggest is the issue of suffering. God has a plan is little comfort to those who experience it. We really need to seek the Spirit and come up with a theology of suffering. I wish I had a better answer, but don't yet.

The Carefree Gospel

The gospel of “get them to church, and in time everything will come together as long as we don’t offend them” is a dangerous gospel.

I know I rather have people in church, where they will hear God's word and be surrounded by a cloud of witnesses than not.

There are definitely times where truth can be offensive, but doesn't mean we need to speak it in an offensive way. I'm not keen on the whole politically correct business, and I don't think we should shy away from correcting people when they need it. But we need the right to speak those things into their lives. And not from a position of power or authority. But from love and relationship.

This idea of being afraid to offend someone comes from people being strangers to us. If we have that relationship, we know what will and won't offend them. There's going to be times when we do, whether knowingly or not, that we may have to apologize for afterwards. But if the relationships isn't there, then none of that is possible.

Decline of Christianty

I was reading an article about the decline of Christianity on the WSJ.

...the percentage of Americans calling themselves Christian dropped from 86% in 1990 to 76% earlier this year while the percent saying they had no affiliation jumped from 8% to 15%

Those percentage jumps are pretty big. Granted, it has been 17 years. More importantly, what do the numbers really mean? The author has a theory.

...perhaps it's not that the devout have lost their way, it's that the nominally religious have stopped pretending to be religious. Perhaps what we're seeing is not an increase in the number of "nones" but an increase in the numbers willing to admit it.

Another bit of evidence for this theory is that the rates of church attendance during this same period from 1990 to 2009 have remained stable.

As Christians, pastors, or leaders, this should be fairly good news. It means that people are no longer afraid to say they're not religious. This allows us to have different sorts of conversations with people.

When asked, these were the top 3 reasons why they left the faith

• "Religious people are hypocritical/judgmental/insincere"
• "Many religions are partly true, none completely true"
• "Religious orgs. are too focused on rules, not spirituality"

The first has to do with character and discipleship. The hypocritical thing has been around for so long. We talk about relational witnessing and wonder why it doesn't work. That's why. But it goes deeper than that. It speaks to a faith that's not realized or a fear of transparency with our faith. I don't think people are asking us to be perfect, but they're asking us to be honest and authentic. That yes, we strive for holiness and godliness, but we still sin.

It's how we present that to people. Are we standing on a pedestal looking down? Or are we reaching out and offering to journey with them through these struggles. People want to know that this faith has hope and implications for their current life, not just the next life. They want to know that the faith is real and has power.

The second has to do with teaching. For too long, we've taught that Christianity is the only truth and therefore, all other religions are not true. But I don't think that's right. Jesus is still the only way, but that doesn't mean that other religions don't get some of it right. Instead of fighing the "truth" battle, we can focus on what sets Christianity apart from the other religions. That personal relationship with the heavenly Father through Jesus.

The third has to do with soul care. The church has focused a lot on behavior. You can't do this, you need to do this, etc. In trying to reform people's actions, we forgot to go for the heart.

There's one sign of hope for those wishing for a more pious population. One-third of the unafilliateds are still open to joining a church. They just feel they haven't found the right fit yet.

Requests and Updates for 2/14/09

Requests
==
+ That I would see people the way Jesus sees people
+ That I would be shaped into whatever God wants me to be
+ That the above 2 don't hurt too much

Updates
==
These last few weeks have been kind of weird for me. I picked up a nasty flu while I was in Taiwan which kept me in bed for a solid 6 days. When I got back, I picked up Bronchitis. Soon after, it was back to school.

Between school and work, I've found very little time for myself or anyone else. Actually, since starting school, I've found very little time for others in general.

I was sitting in class this past Saturday and we were studying the parable of the talents. The discussion turned to the afterlife and what we'd give an accounting for. I thought back on the last 6 or so years and realized that I hadn't really done much for God. Funny, since I had just squeezed out some videos in 2 days with an essay looming the following Monday.

I look back and I see some great work that God has done through me. Drama, Youth Group, and other stuff. But I couldn't help that but feel that it wasn't enough. Not so much I wanted to earn more grace or love or mercy, but to really invest what God had given me for His Kingdom.

So far, I've enjoyed being at Metro. The staff is really chill and we have some great laughs. I understand as an intern, I gotta do crap work. It comes with the territory. No complaints there. But I realized that the projects that I was working on, weren't stretching me in the ways I wanted to be stretched.

I have a lot of functional skills. The Church, as a whole, has been lagging behind the rest of the world by a good 5 years. So it's easy to fall into that gap to fill it for the good of the Kingdom. Which results in a lot of technology, web, design, video, etc. These things are all good and God wants to use them for His glory. And even though there's still a lot I can still learn in these areas, they're just not good for me right now.

If I want to be the most effective for God and His Kingdom, I need to be stretched in other areas. I just wasn't sure how or where.

I came back to that old question: What is God's vision for my life?

I thought I had it all together: Creative Arts Pastor. But was this the "safe", "default" path? Was my God too small? I seriously thought about it and wondered if I could go bigger. Because I can step up to a small vision, but a big vision forces me to rely on God because I can't do it on my own.

Maybe this whole vision thing stems from my lack of identity. I thought I had that figured out too: I'm a sinner. But as I lay in my quarantine in Taiwan, the whole concept of identity began to gel. Being a sinner is only one aspect and one component of who I am. There are all these other facets, but what makes me me?

Identity is the intersection of form and function. What identifies something from everything else are its distinguishing characteristics. Some of these will be functional, others will be aesthetic (the form). So what were my distinguishing characteristics? Are they purely functional? In what capacity?

Example: The thing you sit on is called a chair. It can have 2 or more legs, a back is optional, and it can be of varying heights. If your chair has 4 legs, lacks a back, it's called a foot stool. If your chair has 4 legs, lacks a back, and the top surface is wide, it's called a table. When does the table stop being a table and becomes a chair? The moment you sit on it? Does it retain its identity as a chair? So what are the distinguishing characteristics of a chair?

Yesterday, I came to realize one of those characteristics. I'm abnormal. I'm an outlier. I'm a freak. I'm strange. Whatever you want to call it, I don't fit the normative patterns of the rest of society.

Part of it might be because I've been in school and forgot how to integrate myself with the rest of society. But I think that's a lousy excuse.

Because I don't fit normative patterns, I find that I have to work to engage with other people. I smile, be cordial, and I try to take an interest in them. And for the most part, it works out. So on a superficial level, things are okay. It's tiring and I have to make an effort, but it works.

The real problem comes when people try to connect further. My discriminating taste and incredibly high standards make it so most things are just average. I try to save my superlatives for things that deserve it. But in doing so, it becomes difficult to agree with others on their likes and dislikes.

Apparently, people find their identity in things they like. Not liking what they like implies that you don't like them and this hurts them on a personal and emotional level. Granted, I have my own identity issues that I need to contend with, but I know that regardless of the things that I like, produce, or own, I am not those things.

I've been told on several occasions, that what people like about me is my honesty and truth telling. They find it refreshing in a sea of sugar coated conversations.

If honesty and truth telling are my strengths, they also become my weakness. So where does that leave me?

1) Pretend to like everything. Then I come off as fake and inauthentic.

2) Disengage from the conversation. Then I become antisocial, unapproachable, and people don't get the opportunity to learn who I am.

3) Dodge the opinions and only engage where our likes intersect. Opportunities of true engagement would be rare as I like very few things.

4) Preface all my opinions with a disclaimer: "Can I share my opinion with you?" Awkward and clumsy during conversation.

5) Other.

Alas, unless I discover number 5, I'll have to try 4 and see where it gets me.

My scariest thought is, am I willing to fundamentally change who I am so that I can be more effective for God and His Kingdom?

Yes.

Because I've died to my old self and are now a new creation.

Or maybe no, because of this flesh, I do the things I don't want to do, even though I know what I ought to do.

In the mean time, do I fake it until I make it? At what point do I go from being inauthentic to authentic? And what does that tell us about identity?