Zoom, zoom, zoom

How can it be almost Christmas time ? Time flies. I remember being in high school and wondering if I would ever finish those four years and then get out on my own. Now I'm on the other end of the curve, time is always flying.

We have decided that our community called Resonance is to be released into other endeavors in the kingdom. It seemed to be God's timing to move on. I will write a prologue on our church planting experience later. We are going to stay in North Dallas and focus on getting out of debt for the time being. We are not in a hurry to move on and will attempt to wait on the Lord and hear the next step from Him.

I am amazed at the hurried pace of life here in the metroplex. I am also awed at how quickly I am drawn in to that cycle. I can imagine the Father sitting on a park bench and saying Berry slow down and fellowship awhile. My response too often seems to be "Let me get caught up God and then we can spend some quality time together."

God continues to speak to me that His ways and His plans can never be separated from relationship. God speaks direction, and then God walks along the way fellowshiping in that direction. Truly knowing Him is not designed to get direction at the beginning of the day and carry out the task, but to stay in fellowship with Him at the beginning (guidance), throughout (the journey), and until the end (fulfillment).

Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you !

Calling: the journey continues

In my Christian existance, I have found the understanding of calling to be an ongoing developmental process. Let me explain.

In my first years of truly following after Christ I began to recognize a pull within myself to encourage other Christians. If you would have asked me in my two year understanding of the Christian journey, I would have said that God had given me a gift of encouragement.

A short time after that, God allowed me to be a leader in our college ministry. I was the one who would plan our weekly prayer, worship, and teaching time on Sunday nights. At this point I probably would have said that my calling was to teach and encourage.

Maybe four years after giving my life to Christ a scripture, Isaiah 61:1-4 began to stir me greatly and was involved in a very specific call on my life. The unveiling of that call came with a very dramatic week that supernaturally confirmed a call of God on my life. At this point I would have said God called me to preach.

Years later I was involved in pioneering a young adults ministry as an intern at a large interdenominational church. My understanding here was that God had put me in a place of peer leadership. I taught, cast vision, discipled people as God led.

After some other wilderness experiences, some school experiences, some other ministry experiences God began to deal with me and say you are getting older, your no longer a peer leader, I am calling you to Father. I wasn't sure I wanted to be old and a Father but I recieved this direction from the Lord.

I give all this background to remind myself of the process and to say that our calling in the Lord is ongoing. It is not an event and it is not stationary, it is always evolving. It is a growing understanding. It is an ongoing relationship. We can't define it by yesterday or tomorrow, but have to define it within the context of our relationship with Christ today.

Today I am reminded that our callings are always subject to change. We are not our own, but we are bought with a price. It is God's will that directs us today in whatever direction He deems beneficial to His glory and His kingdom.

Riding under the waves

I like blogging, but like my life right now I am riding under the waves. Most people unless really close can't see me, my life, and the realities of my journey with the Lord. I keep saying over the next horizon I will have time for this or that.

I think reality is: accept the reality I have. So I'll keep popping up for air from time to time.

I'm learning about calling these days. It will sound simple, but I'm learning when my friend is mad at me, I am still called to be a friend. When my wife is mad at me I am still called to husband her. When my kids are mad at me, I am still called to father them. When I am mad at me, I am still called to pastor others, father my kids, husband my wife, serve the body of Christ. I am not my own but I am bought with a price. Circumstances don't dictate our calling, being obedient to Christ does. I'm learning.

Angelic

I ran across this mural on a side of a building in the Greenville area of Dallas so I took a couple of shots.

Stewarding our authority

God gives his children impartations of grace that enable them to serve others. Authority happens when we under the Holy Spirits guidance use what God has given us to serve Him and others. It is not our authority, it is His. We are to steward well the grace given us. God is challenging me and our community to use what He has given us faithfully. We can never assume that our lives don't make a big difference.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 1 Peter 1:13

Girding up has the picture of tying tightly the belt around a flowing garment so the person can run or exert themselves. And then being sober is the opposite of being drunk. Being drunk is the loss of control. Being sober is giving control to God and being at peace. So we are rolling up our sleeves, giving full control to God, and then resting all our hope and expectations on Him (Jesus) alone.

What a great reminder for me. Peter was talking to people who had left their home and were foreigners in other places. They were people of transition. They began to taste what it meant to be strangers and aliens in this world. And Peter was encouraging them not to lose focus, but to put their weight in Christ.

The reports of my death have been exaggerated

No, I haven't given up blogging, but working 65-70 hours a week takes away my creative energy to blog. I miss the normal routine of journaling through a blog.

I have hope that sometime in the days to come I will get to return to the social revolution found in blogging.

Check out these articles on blogging:

1. The Blogging Revolution (Weblogs Are To Words What Napster Was To Music)

2. Business Blogging for Beginners

Faithful in Little Things

The word tells us to be faithful in the little things and we will be given much. I've been thinking about how we turn that verse to the idea of promotion. If I work hard here I will be promoted and be in a better place. Then I began to see an application of this verse in Jesus life. He was faithful to be broken. His willingness to be broken in little things led to His being given much brokeness (the cross). The cross was the ultimate brokeness and the ultimate submittedness. It is a High King laying down His life for the peasants who He sees as friends.

I want to change my paradigm from seeing brokeness as a season I have to endure to get to the good stuff and rather see it as the avenue for love to be poured out to others. Brokeness is our friend not our enemy. True brokeness birthed out of love is to be admired and aspired to.

Real Stories

Callie (11 yr old): Dad, what does homie mean ?

Dad (44 yr old): Homie is like someone your close to, a friend, somebody you like to hang with.

Callie : hmmmm

Next day

Callie walks out the door and dad catches a glimpse of a new piece of art on the back of a white tee-shirt Callie is wearing: Jesus is my homie written in black magic marker.

Blitzed but not tackled

Work has blitzed my time to blog for a few weeks now. It reminds me of being a quarterback in football and seeing that blitz coming. You had to make quick decisions and be a bit elusive to survive. Some blitzes ended in bruising tackles and others in big plays.

Even though I am getting the life blitz right now. God is working some good things within me . I have been meditating on Psalm 1 for weeks now. It is coming more and more alive to me. I was very familiar with Psalms 1 having committed most of it to memory years ago. I am learning that a dangerous thing happens when you have studied and know a portion of scripture. You begin to think you have the understanding of it. It is not a pompous kind of pride that lifts up it's ugly head, but more like a sneaky little pride that slips in the back door. The whisper of this little pride goes something like this "hey, why read that scripture, you know it well, and it's really kinda boring."

I have taken some wisdom from something Kirk Bennett out of IHOP said. He said approach all scripture with a "God, will you teach me about this passage?" I have been asking the Lord to teach me more about Psalms 1 and it is beginning to take. One of the first things the Lord directed me in was a picture of this man in Psalms one who is blessed. The picture He gave me was one of Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of Psalms one. Jesus delight was in the law of the Lord and on it He meditated day and night. We know that Jesus had a pure continual fellowship with the Father. Here is a key insight into that fellowship. Jesus meditated on the word. I can picture Jesus working at the carpenter bench crafting a new table for someone with Psalm 1 on his lips. "Blessed is the man, Blessed is the man, Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, Blessed is the man who does not walk, who does not go in the direction of ungodly counsel, who does not listen to ungodly counsel . . .". I picture Jesus repeating this in thought and with voice, reading the word, speaking the word, thinking the word, even singing the word, and praying the word He is thinking on.

Psalms 1 is becoming a delight to think on. I am beginning to glean some fresh manna from it. I hope to continue meditating on Psalms 1 for weeks to come and continue feeding my soul.

House Churches have no sex appeal

Check out the article by Andrew Jones. It brings up important issues that all churches should wrestle with.

link

Down from the mountain

Having a sabbatical week in Kansas City a couple of weeks ago was a mountain top experience for me. I came back refreshed and energized. This week has been the "your off the mountain week".
I have had some 15 and 17 hour days at work, our finances are on the edge this month, and emotionally I have been drained. I am aware that God is still working in weeks like this, just not in the ways I would rather Him work. Let's see Tuesday night I played basketball at a new place and offended someone I don't really know (I did apologize) . The same night someone landed on my foot and it broke the toenail at the base so my big toe is blue. I missed the bible study at my house because I could not finish work in time. I communicated poorly to my wife about the Bible study and it didn't go that well. Those are some samples of how this week has gone.

I write this not to complain, but to realize every week isn't storybook in the Christian life. I can read a biography of some Christian leader and it seems their lives are just filled with hearing God clearly each week and having supernatural events consistently happening. I have to remind myself that these are the highlights of this Christians life, not the everyday stuff. Christ is found in the mundane as well as the exciting.

I am also reminded of Paul saying: we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

A good Passover

Resonance met on Sunday night this week rather than on Sunday morning. We are trying to have a more contemplative time once a month on Sunday nights. Our friends Shane and Amanda were with us from Lubbock. It was a time of the Lord's encouragement for our community. See the details on Resblogs (our communities blog).

An aha moment

We are beginning a time on Thursday nights to study the gospel of John over a meal. We are going to be using N.T. Wrights John for Everyone to create dialogue. I have had my kids join us in this endeavor. I have been seeing the need in my kids to get them more involved in a constant intake of the word of God. As I see times that their emotions have breakdowns I've been realizing that teaching them to receive from the Word isn't just a duty Christians parents should do, but something a Father would desire to equip his children with to help them battle the attacks of worldliness, the attacks of selfishness from our own flesh, and even offenses that will come their way. And at the same time teaching them to encounter the heart of Jesus and not just information about Him.

Anyway all that to say: The kids and I were driving along in my pickup and my son Ethan had an aha moment. He said "dad, I just thought of something. A lamb had to die because Adam and Even sinned right" I said yea, there has to be a sacrifice for sin. He then said "It is like God is telling us something that is going to happen in the future then, because just like Adam and Even had to have a lamb die for their sin, we need Jesus the lamb of God to die for our sin, so God shows us stuff that's going to happen even before it does." What a blessing to have an aha moment for myself to see that my son had a moment of revelation. God was speaking to his heart. It was a good day !

Worship while you blog

I used to use this site alot to listen to worship while I was on the net or even while I was hanging out in my bedroom. I ran across it afresh this week.

Worship at night watch ministries has some prime worship music. Take a listen.

Here I cry
You who dwell in heaven
Draw near to us
For Your sole desire

No one else
Could ever do in this life
Make us blameless
In the sight of Your Son

As we rend our hearts
May you rend the heavens
As we look to You
May You shine Your glory

by Isa Couvetier

Rend our Hearts was a song that became a prayer while I engaged with the Lord in worship this past week at IHOP. I think this scripture is out of Isaiah 62

Engaged hearts

This was during one of the IHOP conference sessions. People were engaged in loving Jesus.

Dinner in Tulsa

This was the dinner made by Nancy Bishop as I stopped by Tulsa on my way to Kansas City and had a great time of fellowship with friends Loren and Nancy. The color was too cool not to photo.

In Him we live

I just got back from a conference at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I can not think of a place on the planet I would have rather been this weekend. What a privilege to get to spend three days of just hanging out with your best friend who also happens to be the Majestic King of the Universe.

How that happens I don't know. How Jesus can be so personal with us and allow us to encounter Him as friend and at the same time be the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who has a fierce roar and will one day come and judge the nations. I just don't get that. But I am still excited that His grace and kindness extends toward me.

For three days the Lord has visited me and allowed me to encounter Him afresh. I have experienced His peace, I have heard His challenge me about the dullness of my heart toward Him and I have been encouraged as His son.

I will be writing more about specifics here.

Today's prayer

I hunger and thirst for You the living God
Show me more of Your heart
Expose the dullness of my own heart

I cry out for more

More of Jesus
Allow me to Encounter this man Christ Jesus
Allow me to be exposed to His glory

Come Lord, Come Lord
in me

Face of Postmodern Worship

Andrew Jones has a feature article in Worship leader this month called The Emerging Face of Postmodern Worship.

A large room is filled with garbage, but will soon become the scene for communion. A multi-media labyrinth leads participants through a one-hour encounter with their creator. A senses lab includes a wind tunnel for meditating on God’s spirit. Another room is filled with incense and the soft light of candles. It is called the Luscious Room and passages from Song of Solomon are written on the walls. The dance space is completely saturated with video images and electronic worship mixed by DJs from Switzerland. There is a birthday party where people on all four levels of the atrium are eating cake and celebrating life, yet there is also a memorial space for a friend that died a few weeks earlier. There are over a dozen worship environments occurring simultaneously but none of them have a stage. There is an abundance of music but no bands. People weep as they meet with God, but no one leads the meeting. Is this the emerging face of postmodern worship, or just a moment in time when those on the journey towards holistic, authentic worship find themselves caught up in creating something that will never be repeated?

This is from an Indie Allies get together last night. We talked about what biblical leadership looks like, about upcoming books that label the emerging movement as herectical, about the nature of life in Christ, about new Mac laptops, and some thoughts on NT Wright and his take on Romans, among other things.
 

The true testimony

My friend Loren Bishop has entered the blog world with a blog focused on how God is restoring a pure witness of the testimony of Jesus in these days. Check it out at Pulpit of the last days.

From an interview with Sally Morganthaler

One small barking dog interviews Sally Morganthaler. Here are some excerpts:

A few years ago, I realized (to my horror) that I had lived a huge percentage of my life rotating between three futile perspectives: regretting the past, surviving the present, or worrying about the future. A change was in order. Now, I try to focus on each moment that is given to me, as it is offered. I ask, "What does this moment require of me?" Or, "What is God trying to communicate to me?" This wholehearted investment in life - this grabbing hold of the wonder in my path, whether it be intense challenge, recreation, uncertainty, a neighbor's frantic call in the night, difficult relatives, a stranger in the airport, or extended isolation - this is medicine to my soul and a rooting in God's good plan. It is, for one known as skeptic and practiced rebel, a place of delightful submission to God's sovereignty. And, I must say, a surprising and welcome turn.

I'm not generally one for despair. But I do have concerns. My own generation of Americans (baby boomers) suffers from a particularly virile form of narcissism. In our quest for personal fulfillment, we have failed to both teach and know our children well. Truly, our deprioritization of our own offspring is one of the great tragedies of late twentieth century America. The effects are staggering, and I'm not just talking about broken homes. It goes much deeper than that. The cessation of intergenerational narrative is at the core. The exchange of story has been one of the most important roles of family life. But getting involved in that exchange means sacrificing time, listening, and value that our children are actually worth the effort. A few days ago, I was at a Christian conference and had just ended a talk about creating sacred space outside the four walls of our churches. I didn't focus the talk on young people, but one father came up to me afterward and plied me with questions about what kind of music he should let his kids listen to, what kind of media, films, TV programs, etc. I was comforted that he was evidently having an epiphany moment that he might need to be involved in these sort of things, but the attitude was still trying to protect them from their own culture, their own stories. It's amazing how rarely I hear parent's ask how they can dialog and actually share life with their children, how they can enter their offspring's worlds, find out the stories their children are actually living, and earn the right to tell their own stories. We are truly in relationally challenged as a nation.

link

Random thoughts on leadership . . .

What the heck is leadership ? Is leadership a biblical concept ? Maybe it is false concept of modernity that needs to be done away with ? Maybe it is a solid concept that has been misused.

Some random thoughts:

The basis of leadership in our lives is influence. We are leaders in the capacity we influence people toward Jesus our King and His kingdom.

Leadership within a Christian context is being who you are as you abide in Him. It is who we are in Christ.

Finding who we are in Christ is a lifelong pursuit of His heart. This is the true biblical hermeneutic (way of interpreting scripture). It is finding out what is Gods heart in what the
bible says. That heart is reflected in God's son Jesus Christ. It is finding God's heart in the decisions we make. It is finding Gods heart in how and when we influence people's lives.

It is God's choice on how we influence others.

I'm convinced as we learn to walk in humility and submission to
God's heart and His ways, influence is the natural outcome of that. This influence will look different for all of us. It has to do with the gift that we are to the body, and the call that is upon us to glorify His name.

Influence can not be found in copying someone else's style. It can't happen by following someone else's pattern of influence.

Influence can be found by learning how to be in relationship with the Father. It can be encouraged by seeing godly principles operate in others lives and seeing how to know Gods heart in those principles.

Postmodernisms answer to the consumerism of the modern age is being organic. But in my mind even though I see the faultiness of the modern mindset, I recognize the answer is not in having a postmodern mindset. The answer is in developing more fully a living relationship with the Lord Jesus and allowing the overflow from that relationship transform our minds and our hearts and our emotions and our past. The previous statement is not a formula for success. I am so tired of the church coming up with formulas for success. I don't want to be sold a formula. I've tried many and all leave me lacking. What I want is more, more of Him, more communication with Him (Jesus), more thinking like He thinks, more drinking in what He drinks in. And I believe that more of Him is attainable, not as a one time more experience, but as a journey of more of Him as I live. That is truly organic.

Jesus heart in leadership is:
1. That the Father may be glorified. This was the intent of Jesus heart in being who He was on the earth. It is significant to recognize that Jesus never did any miracles for himself. The miracles were that the Father would be glorified. "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." (1Cor 1:31) & "The first commandment, And you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Mark 12:29)

leadership is not exerting our control upon a situation. It is not our wisdom on how to deal with a situation.

Leadership according to the kingdom is not a title. It is not an appointed position. It is a lifestyle that flows out of relationship with Christ.

Influence on others is not a stamp of approval on all the actions of the influencing person. Just because someone has an arena of influence does not mean they have mastery over all areas of their own life. We need the whole body. Lone followers of Christ is an oxymoronic phrase.
we can not follow Christ on our own. We need the others parts of the body to function, to be on a healthy journey following Christ.

There are so many others aspects of true leadership and and a biblical defintion, but sleep is upon me.

don't want medication

but i don't want medication

just give me liberation

even if it cuts my legs right out from underneath

don't give me medication

i want the real sensation

even when living feels just like death to me . . .

Derek Webb: I see things upside down

Because . . .

I wanted to do something fun with the kids today and let them get out of the routines of life. We went to the mall, went to see a movie, and then got a bite to eat. We saw Because of Winn Dixie. This is not a great movie, but it is a very good one and it relays some good theology about true community. And you Dave Matthew fans will enjoy Dave's role in the movie where he does a bit of playing and singing.

A site to see

Soul Searching: cool design and content. Check out the video clips of peoples stories. I like that uk accent.

How can my ministry promote the kingdom ? not the other way around.

Mike Pilavachi speaks to the issue of giving up our lives in Confessions of a middle aged youth worker.

Things people won't say when they see a Christian bumper sticker or fish on a car

From John Dekker's Journal

Things people won't say when they see a Christian bumper sticker or fish on a car

7. "Look! Let's stop that car and ask those folks how we can become Christians."

6. "Dad, how come people who drive like that don't get thrown in jail? Can we get a bumper sticker like that, too?"

5. "Stay clear of those folks, Martha. If they get raptured, that car's gonna be all over the road!"

4. "Oh, look! That Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a policeman."

3. "No, that's not garbage coming out of their windows, Bert. It's probably gospel tracts for the road workers."

2. "Don't worry, Billy, those people are Christians. They must have a good reason for driving 150 kilometres an hour."

1. "Quick, Alice, honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus!"

Is life fair ?

"to live is Christ, to die is gain"

I had an interesting conversation with my wife this week. We were diligence about when we get tired and the issue of "Is that fair?" comes up. I had to clean the house this week and you didn't have time to help, was that fair? I realized "Is that fair?" is not a question a Christian asks. The more appropriate questions is "God, What is your will in this?" When I ask is that fair, what I'm really saying is "Is this a fair deal for me ?"

Just because something isn't fair doesn't mean it isn't right. To serve another is not a fair thing, but it is a right thing. To bless your enemies doesn't seem fair, but it is right. To forgive doesn't seem fair, but in God's economy it is right. In this life I pray I will die to my expectations of fairness and embrace what is right: serving God which translates as Christ living through us.

And right isn't always fair. It wasn't fair that Jesus had to die and take the burden of the sins of the world upon himself. It wasn't fair that God has mercy on me even though I demean His holiness by my sin.

The mystery of His presence

The past two Sunday mornings at our house gathering, there has been a very real and encouraging sense of Gods presence among us. Our father loves to build up His children.

This Sunday we had a time where children and adults did a playdo sculpture to signify something they knew about God's nature. Teryn, one of our preschoolers shared her sculpture of a mouth with sores on it and told us how it reminds her that God "fixes us when we're broken". I think every adult in the house was moved by that.

We later partook together of the richness of Romans 12. We were reminded that the body of Christ is connected not only with adults but with our children. And that we need them as part of the body. Another comment was how digestive systems are needed as much as shiny hair. Those behind the scenes giftings are just as valuable and needed.

On both occasions we have ended in soaking prayer for one or another of our community.

This morning I was reminded of a Vineyard song of a few years back and find it being my prayer today.

Come walk among us
Come walk a-mong us Jesus
You know that we need You
You know that we need You Jesus

You see our hearts
You know that we're but dust
Its You who made us
Lord in You we choose to trust

Come Lord,Come Lord

Artistry rules

Daniel Pink says:

Logical and precise, left-brain thinking gave us the Information Age. Now comes the Conceptual Age - ruled by artistry, empathy, and emotion

Read Revenge of the Right Brain in this months Wired.

Quick links

Brain McClaren is one of the top 25 most influential evangelicals according to Time magainze.

GodBlogCon 2005 a convention for the Christian blogosphere is in October in Mesa Arizona.

Hugh Hewitt has recently written BLOG (understanding the information reformation that's changing your world)

A generous orthodoxy indeed.

I recently have read through a Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McClaren. A Generous Orthodoxy is one of those books that stirs up sentiment in dramatic ways. It is one of those books that is either loved or hated.

Without going into huge detail about it's contents I found a review that I thought was really fair and along the lines of my own thinking. Check out Craig Bloomberg's review from Denver seminary.

Did I love the book or hate it? The answer is yes to both. It's a book that challenges current paradigms of Christianity, I loved that part. It is a book that stretches the boundaries of traditional Christianity which is distressing. Overall it is a book that should make a person think and not be afraid to ask questions. No, Brian doesn't have all the "right" answers and I think that is one of the points of the book, noone does.

Whether love or hate, you should read A Generous Orthodoxy.

For even more info you can check out the blog.

God's kingdom is the destination

Two quotes I liked from a recent conference examining the emerging church held at Fuller seminary.

, Reggie McNeal called the church to celebrate the "last gasp of the renewal movement of the modern church," with its emphasis on "programs, methods, and systems," and recognize that the emerging church in the 21st century is about "nations, tribes, and movements. Church is not the destination--God's kingdom is the destination. This is what it means to be 'missional' in the world today. Church starts with the world, not our church refuges."

Ryan Bolger in his summary: "In the old modern world, we understood the gospel to mean 'you're sick, and God wants to fix you so you can come be like us," Bolger said. "Churches are no longer seen as places where people go, it's movements of people out, declaring a message that 'A new day is coming and you get to participate with God in the redemption of the world,' and invitation to join God's story."

Those guys know how to grieve

When Jacob died, the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days, then Joseph and his brothers took Jacob to be buried in the land of Canaan. There Joseph mourned for his father 7 days and the company with Joseph which was a mob cried in loud voices. They lamented bitterly. Grief is a lost art in our American consumer culture. We do suffer loss, and loss messes with our souls. May we learn again how to grieve, maybe then we wouldn't be tempted to medicate ourselves to kill the pain.

Reading through the word

I have found recently that I like using the One Year Bible online for devotional reading in the morning. You can change versions you are reading. I like NKJV and NASB but it is nice to look at a verse in others renderings also.

This morning I read:
^{Proverbs 4:23}

Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life

I am reminded that I have to be intentional about watching over my heart, there are so many noises that want my hearts attention and will crowd out the voice of the Almighty.

Emerging Stories

There has been a renewed commitment with myself this year to be a connector for emerging church people. With that in mind I started emerging stories. Emerging stories is a blog with tons of links to emerging stories around the globe.

My intention with this blog is not be all encompassing. So hold any criticisms about who and what is included at this point. I just want to have a place in the blogosphere where you can get a ton of pathways into the emerging conversation. And hopefully if your new to the conversation, you can get a heavy dose of exposure here.

Let me know if you have any suggestions and feel free to send me links and recommendations about the blog.

Indie Allies

Indie Allies was pretty casual this month. More than overall conversations, we had many scattered dialogues.

The Alvis family is wifi

We have finally entered into the world of wifi. We wanted to have two computers in the house that had internet. The kids need to do research for school projects and even mom wants to get on the internet from time to time. I bought a linksys Wireless G router. The setup was simple. The PC's are connected, the next step is figuring out how to get the Macintosh connected.

Simplicity in Identity

Paul begins many of his letter telling the reader that he is an apostle called by God, not by men or of men. He is a bondservant. Paul knows his identity. This gives him purpose and focus. There is a simplicity found in knowing our identity. It gives focus and clarifies direction.

This past year and a half has been about deconstructing identity for our community Resonance. My sense is that the next season for us is one of building a God given identity. Three areas for focus within Resonance this coming season are:

1. Building healthy community:
For us that means being connected on our journeys together and encouraging one another in our pursuit of God as a community.

2. Being a support to Foursquare:
We want to lend ourselves to serving the Foursquare denomination and their vision. It isn't that we think Foursquare is implicitly more correct than other denominations, but it is the family God has called us to support.

3. Being a support and encouragement to the emerging church movement:
As Foursquare is a representative of the traditonal church, we also believe we are to be part of the emerging church movement. We want to encourage, support, and lend ourselves to encouraging emerging church leaders and communities.

As a church we are not an either or type of group but a both and. These three facets of our dna should help us find focus as we launch into 2005.

The Emerging Church: a definition

Check out the defintion of Emerging Church at Wikipedia. There are also some good links to peer at.

Wikipedia is like the open source encyclopedia. Anyone can edit and it is free.