St. Francis Prayer

Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,

Grant us the desire to do only what pleases you,

and the strength to do only what you command.

Cleanse our souls,

enlighten our minds,

and inflame our hearts with your Holy Spirit,

that we may follow in the footsteps of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Gaining Christ

I am blessed. No doubt I have lost more than I wanted but I still have more than most. Even if I lost it all, it would still be a good deal to gain Christ. Since our transition out of vocational ministry we have hung on to Matthew 5:10 that we would be blessed. We have been...

• Kristan and I have stayed connected
• The kids are resilient
• Friends have drawn close for fun, comfort and care
• Family have given us support, food and love
• Kristan is living her dream of a private counseling practice
• Church family has prayed, hugged and given us money
• We have had ministry opportunities to speak and serve
• I have new insight into Scripture, people and myself
• God has given us daily bread
• Our bank account has multiplied like loaves and fish
• Doctors and Businesses have comped their services
• Charlie has a home with my parents
• Brent has given us a home
• I have a job with benefits and free tuition
• I sense God's presence and preparation for what's next

Ultimately I want my life to please Jesus. A quote by Fil Anderson has helped...

"Often, our gift will be found in endless and tireless service, but Jesus reserves the right to suspend our service in order to help us know what our greatest affection is."

Losing it All

My favorite chapter in the Bible is Philippians 3. In verse 8, Paul says...

"I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ."

I have found this to be true, though I have questioned and found it painful. In my recent transition out of vocational ministry it feels I have lost it all.

• the church I pastored
• my career
• some friends
• my credit score
• my house
• district support
• my reputation
• my possessions are in storage
• stability for my kids
• money, lots of it
• my dog can't live with us
• american amenities and luxuries
• position, status, recognition
• privacy, solitude, control of quiet
• my books are in boxes
• platform for ministry
• neighborhood friends, routines, places
• maybe even a portion of my faith

I don't naturally have the proper response: mourn, detach, refocus, anger, depression, paralyzed, cocoon, vengeance, cursing and cussing. I know I am not like Paul yet and far from the quality of Jesus. I lack contentment, peace, love, faith, hope and forgiveness.

It amazes me to think of what Paul lost. In the religious world of the Jews, he had it all: education, position, success, accolades, mission, status. As a Pharisee he was set for life and a 401K to retire on. Paul chose to lose it all for Jesus. Or Jesus chose Paul.

Top 10 Pick Up Lines for Christians

1. "You've opened the eyes of my heart" - Paul Baloche

2. "Beautiful one I love, Beautiful one I adore, Beautiful one my soul must sing" - Tim Hughes

3. "You are my all in all" - Dennis Jernigan

4. "Draw me close to you" - Kelly Carpenter

5. "All of you is more than enough for all of me" - Chris Tomlin

6. "I could sing of your love forever" - Martin Smith

7. "Every move I make" - David Ruis

8. "I stand in awe" - Mark Altrogge

9. "You never let go" - Matt Redman

10."I called you answered and you came to my rescue and I wanna be where you are" - Hillsong United

Psalm 23 - is for the Dogs

If we changed the metaphor from sheep to dogs...

Jesus is my master, I do not have to beg for anything.
He invites me to sit on his lap,
He fills my water bowl with cool water
He refreshes my panting mouth and tired paws.
He holds my leash and guides me down the right path because he is good to me.
Even though I cross major intersections, I don't fear people who want to hurt me,
For my master is always with me;
Your "down boy" commands and "good boy" affirmations comfort me.
You feed me everyday and give me treats,
The coyotes and big dogs are close but you protect me
You get me groomed and my water bowl overflows .
No doubt you will continue to be good to me and pet me all the days of my life,
and I will be a loyal companion in my Master's house forever.

13 MANscaping Tips

The philosophy behind manscaping (landscaping of a man's hair) is if you get a haircut for the top of your head, you should consider caring for the rest of your hairy body. If your wife says she doesn't care or notice, she is lying! Never manscape in public (like the gym locker room) and don't think people don't notice your curly, pubic-like, shoulder hair when you wear a tank top. Lastly, the motivation for manscaping is for a woman, not to become one.

1. Trim your hairy chest, arms and legs. Shaving them is metrosexual, trimming is manscaping
2. Wax your back, it's gross
3. Keep armpit hair in your armpit
4. No one should ever see hair coming out of your nose or ears
5. If you're going bald, shave it. You're not fooling anyone and Agassi's hair was a wig
6. Never give yourself a haircut and if no one has ever complimented you after your wife's attempt she must stop too
7. Shave your neck line between haircut appointments
8. Uni-brows are still out so pluck and shape but don't over do it Alice.
9. Eyebrows should have a length limit. How come you don't notice that 2 inch wild hair?
10. Cut your sideburns parallel to your jaw bone and cut facial hair symmetrically
11. Don't miss a patch of hair while shaving. We notice the left over stubble under your nose and around your moles
12. Trimming some areas make objects appear larger than they are!
13. Knuckle hair shouldn't cover your wedding ring

Top 10 Favorite Things of NorthGate Church

Kristan and I have spent the last 5 1/2 years serving as lead pastors at NorthGate Church of the Nazarene. Here are just some of my favorite things...



10. Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the church with former pastors and families

9. Ministry to people and seeing God move to help and change them

8. Participating in life's passages such as marriages, baby dedications, baptisms and funerals (can you believe the Benson boys finally got married! Most painful to me was saying goodbye to Emma Simpkins - see you soon)

7. Preaching the Word - nothing greater than trying to communicate God's heart for people

6. Doing church at the movie theater - thanks for leaving the 99 so we can search for the 1

5. Getting healthy - I found a safe atmosphere to get physically healthy and strengthen my marriage

4. Taking trips - Mexico, Mt Whitney, Uganda, Grand Canyon rim to rim and Ireland!

3. Learning about leadership and loving people by teaching, practicing our faith and finishing my B.A.

2. Raising my family - Kennedy was 2 and Kristan was 8 months pregnant with Jameson when we came. NorthGate was a great introduction to my kids

1. People - Thanks for your love, support, patience and forgiveness. We love you too!!!

Emergentia - Missional

Dave Curtiss presented this message from Mark's Gospel.

He opened with Genesis 12 and the vague vision of God's plan. 2 of the most powerful words in Scripture..."Abram went".

This was paralleled with Jesus' call to his disciples...

"Let's go to the other side."

The other side of the lake was home to pig worshipping herders, demon possessed people and backslidden Jews.

Hear the voice of the Holy Spirit sending us on the Misseo Dei.

Emergentia - Holiness

Stan Reeder presented this topic. Very helpful in seeing the distinctive between yesterday's understanding of holiness and today's. His outline was Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis. This was debated on who is exactly under what. While being helpful, I didn't find it hopeful. Synthesis was a future reality not to be experienced today.

Thesis (1838 - 1960)

A. Personal Piety

B. Heavenly Focused

C. Crisis Emphasis

D. Prophetic Destiny

Antithesis (Today)

A. Authentic Community
B. Missional Focus
C. Discipleship Emphasis
D. Historically Rooted

Synthesis (Future - the pendulum will settle in the middle)

A. authentic community enjoyed by individuals of personal piety
B. mission focus compelled by eternal motivation
C. discipleship journey punctuated by crisis of experiential grace
D. historically rooted with a sense of prophetic destiny

What if the pendulum is the wrong image to think about in regards to God's revelation of holiness?

Emergentia - Christian

Dan Copp presented this session, I love this guy!
He started by telling his story of love expelling sin and pharisaical pride. Dan encouraged us to tell our stories but not be prescriptive on how God should work but rather descriptive.

"The body of Christ is to be the DNA of Jesus". - Howard Snyder

1. One - Diverse: put a name/face on those that are different
2. Holy - Charismatic: invite the Spirit into messiness
3. Catholic - Local: we are part of a Kingdom and a tribe
4. Apostolic - Prophetic: we follow the apostle's teaching and are visionary dreamers

The Nazarene's core values are stakes in a big tent.

Emergentia - Portland

I went to Portland, Oregon last week to attend the Emergentia Conference at the Community of Adsideo. It was a time to think about and discuss the Church of the Nazarene's core values and how they relate to the emerging church. In short, good times, good people, bad weather.

Some Highlights...

• Being with old friends and making new friends


• Enjoying local establishments in the Sellwood neighborhood


• Hanging in Adsideo's Living Room


• Voodoo Doughnuts - eating cock and balls


• Powell's City of Books - 1 city block and 4 stories of heaven


• General sessions with thought provoking presenters


• Seeing the difference between being a critic and an editor


• Feeling hostility on boths sides of the discussion


• Being away from home and more so coming home

Thanks to Jim Wicks and his people for their hospitality (especially Chad and Chris for letting us crash at your place).

Why Pastors Stay

The following is corny and will get annoying by the end of the post but is a great topic and conversation starter. Here are 12 things that will help with a pastor's duration and continuation with a congregation...

1. Desperation - for Jesus and reaching others
2. Transformation - willingness to allow God to change your life and desire same for others
3. Celebration - positive and expressive response to God's movement
4. Appreciation - expressions of being wanted, needed and loved
5. Compensation - salary and benefits to remove stress from family
6. Cultivation - opportunities to learn and grow into God given potential
7. Imagination - using creativity to envision God's dream for the future
8. Innovation - looking forward and risking something new
9. Reconciliation - conflict handled in a healthy, biblical way
10. Relation - meaningful and deep friendships
11. Collaboration - working together in harmony with respect and humility
12. Destination - traveling the same road together towards the same goals

Why Pastors Leave

Pastors leave churches for all kinds of reasons. Leaving makes some people happy and some people saddened. Here are some various reasons...

Stress, finances, conflict, immorality, resistance to change, power brokers, immaturity, ambition, loneliness, not prepared for the job, negative effects on the family, gap between effort and reward, bad fit, unrealistic expectations, unwillingness to confront issues, poor self image, refusal to own or learn from mistakes, lack of vision, lack of ministry volunteers or resources, no sense of support from leaders, leadership style (too strong/ too weak), health, prior unresolved conflict, poor people skills, decline/rise in attendance, burnout, out of tricks, no longer fun or joyful...

We need to add that none of the above reasons could be involved. No one knows where the wind will blow and so sometimes leaving is just obedience to what seems to be the Holy Spirit's leading.

In the Church of the Nazarene, pastors are staying longer.

Average Tenure:

• 2006 - 4 years and 5 months
• 1996 - 3 years and 3 months
• 1988 - 3 years and 3 months

Some pastors and people think that after 5 years it is time to move on and some pastors and people are looking for a lifetime covenant. What do you think?

The Bell Boy vs. The Maid

I recently had the opportunity to stay in a nice hotel.
I observed 2 types of servants:

The Bell Boy...

• Up front
• Works hard
• Motivated by tips

The Maid...

• Behind the scenes
• Works hard
• Motivated by the work

It seemed to me the bell boy was wanting to please me for more money while the maid simply wanted to do her job well. We are all called to serve but what is our style and motivation?

The Nines Leadership Conference

On 9/9/09 there was an internet conference for pastors and church leaders. Each presenter had 9 minutes to say what they wanted. Here are some quotes I enjoyed...

• A movement of God cannot be planned but it must be prepared for - Perry Noble
• Don't confuse large with legitimate - Skye Jethani
• Lord, send us the people no one else wants - Jorge Acevedo
• Spiritual Practices, Safe Relationships, Stretching Experiences - Nancy Beach
• Missional Church - people of God, partnering with God in His redemptive mission in the world - Reggie McNeal
• How to deal with a big head... A Jesus Spirit of humble confidence and confident humility. Paradoxy is Orthodoxy. - Len Sweet
• Do ministry out of the overflow of the Holy Spirit. - Craig Groeschel
• Ask barrier breaking questions. - Greg Surrat
• We have shrunk Jesus to the size he can save our soul but not big enough to change our world. - Jennie Catron
• 1 God idea is better than 1,000 good ideas. - Mark Batterson
• Be a both/and church. - Rich ?
• In the church, tradition should never get in the way of mission or it is a sin. - Dan Kimball
• God's message of loving ALL won't be credible when preached to segregated pews. - Mark DeYmaz
• Take care of yourself. - Chip Henderson
• Best practices come from good theology or we get better at doing the wrong things. - Brian McLaren
• Disciples are hand crafted not mass produced. - John Ortberg
• People want access to our hearts and lives. - Rick McKinley
• Mission is the opposite of self. - Ed Stetzer
• Idolatry = we make a good thing into a God thing and it becomes a bad thing. - Mark Driscoll

Top 100 Church Blogs

http://churchrelevance.com/resources/top-church-blogs/

Dualistc Duos

Instead of thinking in terms of opposites and enemies maybe we can think more paradoxically like peanutbutter and jelly, chocolate and peanutbutter, needle and thread, love and marriage, cardinals and superbowl.

APOPHATIC AND CATAPHATIC
CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION
TRUTH AND LOVE
EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP
TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY
LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE
ATTRACTIONAL AND MISSIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND SMALL GROUPS
WORD AND SPIRIT
BODY AND SOUL
SCHEDULED AND SPONTANEOUS

Can you think of others???

To Do or Not To Do?

An emergence or resurgence of social justice is being awakened in the church. There is a renewed emphasis on the poor, marginalized and disadvantaged. This is being led by Bragelina, Bono and Emerging Church leaders.

This could be a reaction to the spirituality of not doing. The aim of not doing was focused on the Big 5: NO drinking, smoking, dancing, movies or playing cards.

The spirituality of doing could be rooted in Matthew 25 when Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me”. The list could be called the Big 6: hunger, thirst, hospitality, nakedness, sickness, and the imprisoned.

The problem is that we can be the source of our not doing or the source of our doing. We use our energy so we get the credit for not doing harm or doing good. Most of us run out of energy and experience moral failure or burnout. Matthew 7 reminds us that Jesus desires for us to know him, not just prophecy, drive out demons or perform many miracles. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of loving God and neighbor not just being a do-gooder. And back to Matthew 25, neither the sheep nor goats had a self consciousness of their doing or not doing when they both said, “When did we see you and help you? When did we see you and not help you?”

The good news is that Jesus sends His Spirit to live in us and be our energy. It seems the pendulum of doing vs. not doing swings every 50 years. The church can chase the culture and try to stay relevant or live in the energy of God and lead the cultural change. It is not about doing or not doing but about allowing God to do or not to do through us. This is the simple definition of holiness = Holy in us. Think of how much more good we would do if the Spirit of Jesus lives through us.

Come Ye Aparty

The basic meaning of holiness is "separateness". When people in the holiness tradition want to make a moral argument against something they say, "we are called to be separate". This has led to the exclusiveness of the christian bubble, our irrelevance to people and our ineffectiveness in healing the world.

I do believe that God's Spirit indwelling a person will dramatically change one's behavior because of their heart being purified. Yet the end goal is not to never drink, smoke or play the lottery.

Holiness is separateness FOR something. We are sanctified for sacred USE.

Jesus, without sin, partied with sinners and was accused of being a drunk and glutton. He was divinely used to teach others to live, laugh and learn about God's promised abundant life.

So, will you Come Ye Apart or Come Ye Aparty???

What is the Church???

The Church of the Nazarene updated the language on the mission of the church. Here is article XI.

We believe in the Church, the community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the covenant people of God made new in Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the Holy Spirit through the Word.
God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit; in worship through the preaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry in His name; by obedience to Christ and mutual accountability.
The mission of the Church in the world is to continue the redemptive work of Christ in the power of the Spirit by making disciples through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working for justice, and bearing witness to the kingdom of God. (new language in bold)
The Church is a historical reality, which organizes itself in culturally conditioned forms; exists both as local congregations and as a universal body; sets apart persons called of God for specific ministries. God calls the Church to live under His rule in anticipation of the consummation at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Exodus 19:3; Jeremiah 31:33; Matthew 8:11; 10:7; 16:13-19, 24; 18:15-20; 28:19-20; John 17:14-26; 20:21-23; Acts 1:7-8; 2:32-47; 6:1-2; 13:1; 14:23; Romans 2:28-29; 4:16; 10:9-15; 11:13-32; 12:1-8; 15:1-3; 1 Corinthians 3:5-9; 7:17; 11:1, 17-33; 12:3, 12-31; 14:26-40; 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:1; Galatians 5:6, 13-14; 6:1-5, 15; Ephesians 4:1-17; 5:25-27; Philippians 2:1-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12; 1 Timothy 4:13; Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 Peter 1:1-2, 13; 2:4-12, 21; 4:1-2, 10-11; 1 John 4:17; Jude 24; Revelation 5:9-10)

My thoughts...

Church is a…
1. Confession – Jesus is Messiah
Matthew 16:13-19
2. Covenant – Mutual love
Matthew 18:15-20
3. Calling – Mission to be/make disciples
Matthew 28:19-20
4. Context – Meaning of the message to the surroundings
Matthew 2:1-12