10 Reasons My Wife is Cool

10. She worked at 3 a.m. on Black Friday at Kohls.
9. She organized and ran the EDGE Sunday Worship band, which did a great job and sparks some neat potential for an ecumenical young adult service in the next few months!?
8. In the midst of this crazy week, she put together a great pasta dish to take to Billy's house as a housewarming present.
7. She gets me ice when my face gets mangled playing football.
6. She has worked a total of about a bajillion jobs to get me through undergrad and now seminary. (All of them overworked her and underpaid her or failed to honor promises made up front.)
5. After a long and tiring day that started at 5 a.m. for us, I came home and wore comfy clothes...she came home and went to work.
4. I like to talk to her...She's funny.
3. In the midst of a chaotic and stressful morning, she set her purse down, got her leg caught in the strap and about bit the dust before we got out the door. Comic Relief Anyone?
2.She has put her passions of cooking and singing on the backburners so that I can get a diploma.
1.She gets my affinity for Browns culture.

Shaina, you will read this when you get home from work. I will be at bball. I like you and I dig your chili.
B-Smooth.

EDGE Sunday

I just sat down after completing three EDGE Sunday services. I am always surprised at where and when God moves.

I had some ideas about where I felt God was leading the service but I could not figure out where the message was supposed to go. I sat down repeatedly to write a message, but came up empty all week. Last night I was about at wits end...finally I went to bed with about 40 options running through my head and I woke up at 5 to try to make some sort of coherent message.

I still do not feel like that happened, but I have not been in a church service that was more emotional for the people than this service.

God worked through the young adults and touched hearts despite it! To see young adults make a public statement about the change they've experienced in Christ and have some of them share their musical gifts, it was just a really moving service. It is humbling to see God move. An older member of the congregation that I had not met shared how meaningful the service was to her and how it caused her to remember her own story.

I am gonna watch some of the browns game and probably catch up on some sleep.

alien bowl pics

The biggest turn out for an alien bowl yet! The ground was like cement for the first hour.

There's the champions...luckily they got my good side...my other eye got quite a shiner!

CHAMPS!!!

One mangled black eye, 2 dropped touchdown passes (don't blame me...I watch the Browns every week...I don't know any better) 1 touchdown pass, 1 touchdown catch, a stiff neck and muscles that I did not know i had, aching...1 CHAMPIONSHIP... Worth it! haha.

With a record number of participants (50ish), The Alien Bowl witnessed its first ever safety, It's first ever overtime game and its first ever champion that did not have my cousin A.J. on it. My team survived round one with a couple defensive scores and then broke out our version of the Wildcat in the championship game, running end arounds that turned into hail mary's. We received the trophy...I'm hoping to get pics up and running over the weekend.

Now I just have to tend to this eye before I preach on Sunday!

Thanksgiving

HAPPY WHITE EUROPEAN INVADER WIPE OUT AN ENTIRE NATIVE PEOPLE DAY!

What? Would you rather:

HAPPY AMERICAN GORGE IN YOUR EXCESS WHILE A WORLD LIVES IN POVERTY DAY! ????

But seriously, minus the ethical and moral wrongs associated with this day, it is a time to stop and be thankful for who God is and what he has done, see some family and play some football. The last of these is particularly exciting for me.

My friends and I will be participating in the 5th annual ALIEN BOWL on Thursday morning. Last year we had bloody noses and mouths and a dislocated pinky. The year before that, a torn MCL and ACL. But the fact of the matter is this, I've been a champion three out of the four years and I plan to defend the title...irregardless of my personal well being. haha. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Too much free time...haha

Stolen from my Catholic homeboy, Mike2theG

P. 56 Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall. [or blog]
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

"Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the othercows on the bank of the Nile." Genesis 41:3

Do I get bonus points if the book closest to me was the Word of God?

EDGE

We are studying Daniel in our young adult group at church. We looked at chapter Daniel 3 tonight. It's the familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach,and Abednego in the Fiery Furnace.

I got a lot out of the study, even if the faces of everyone else looked comatose. We talked about what it means to be a person of Consistency . The three fellas did not COMPROMISE. They were not COMPLACENT. And they did not CONFORM.

I brought up two analogies, the first being the story and image of Harvey Dent from the Dark Knight, who is also known as Twoface. I think a real challenge for young adults is whether they are the same person when they are at Bible Study as they are when they are on college campus or at their work place. Our Consistency in following Christ matters.

The second analogy comes from my career in the pizza industry. I have made 50 pound batches of pizza dough and forgotten the yeast. The dough may look the same at first, but it doesn't take long to see that it is the wrong consistency. It won't raise. It won't bake properly and it won't taste right either. In other words, consistency doesn't mean jack if it is not a holy and right consistency.

So where is it toughest to walk the talk that you talk at church? AT WORK? AT SCHOOL? AT HOME? AT WAL-MART?

My own confession is probably a tie between at home with my wife and at basketball. It is really easy for it to appear that I am not an ambassador of Christ by how I treat Shaina some times. It is also amazing to me how badly competition influences me. I love to compete and to win. Worse yet...I'm that guy that loves to make you lose as much as me win.

So...Confession Time...Own Up. How are you inconsistent?

Systems

So, we are a people, particularly in Western Society who love systems. Specifically in the church, we identify how God has worked, systematize it and call it such things as orthodoxy or orthopraxy (the normal way to do it).

For instance. In the 50's (I'm guessing) a movement started where people stayed after church to study the Bible. It was called Sunday School and some great things developed and occurred in that setting. God's Spirit breathed life into people and transformation/discipleship took place.

In the last 10-20 years, the move has been away from Sunday School in most churches and more to Life Groups or Adult Bible Fellowships. The idea being that God was breathing life into home groups or small groups that lived life together. Some great things have happened and continue to happen here, but what is the mindset of the Church? We want to systematize what a small group is, how it runs, how the leaders are trained, what criteria they are to meet, etc. We want to systematize it. I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. Don't hear that. In fact, equipping the people of God to lead authentic, transformative small groups (Greek: oikos) is a great idea.

I may be hesitant in saying that this is the only way that God is showing up. I hate when something creative, organic (living) and redemptive springs up and we the Church attempt to systematize it. As if we can somehow put the Holy Spirit into an equation. Someone recently said something startling...if the Holy Spirit was removed from your church, would your church look any different than it does now?

God certainly can move in, through, and in spite of our systems, programs and equations, but wouldn't it be a good idea to stop looking at what the church that is having all sorts of success doing x, y and z and instead begin looking for d, e, and f that God is calling and gifting your church to in the first place?

If God were to affirm one thing in your church, what would it be?
If small group ministry is the "New Sunday School", what might be the "New Small Group Ministry"?

Rivalry Weekend

Well, its that time of year again. Ohio State vs. Michigan. I have never gotten into college football, especially Ohio State, but this is still a great rivalry. They've both contributed to ruining each other's seasons at one point or another. This doesn't look like much of a game on paper, but it will be interesting to see if Michigan can make it a game.

The more important question...What is the greatest rivalry in all of sports?

Celtics-Lakers?
Red Sox-Yankees?
Packers-Bears?
Duke-UNC (bball)?
OSU-Michigan?

Someone else?

Let's hear it!

Bond...James Bond

Saturday I forced (I mean that) Shaina and I to go to a movie matinee. We had to-do-lists about a mile long each, but at somepoint you have to tell your to-do-list to shove it and take some time to just BE. Shaina is a pretty big James Bond fan. I, myself am a casual fan. I will watch the movies when they are on tv or something, but I never really got into the hype...until Daniel Craig.

Pierce Brosnan couldn't pull of Bond the way he was meant to be portrayed, but Daniel Craig rocks it like a rockstar. He's ripped, athletic and still looks fly in a suit.

Casino Royale was a great movie and I was curious to see if Quantum of Solace could measure up. In my opinion it is an action packed movie with a thought provoking theme of vengeance. Solace delivers the expected quota of car chase scenes and even incorporates a plane chase scene which was unique. Bond is upset at the loss of his love, Vespa from the end of Casino Royale and is seeking vengeance against the one who was responsible for her betrayal and death. Will he get his revenge? Will it be as satisfying as he believes it to be?

Good stuff and has a message for us all...Vengeance is not ours to repay. Instead it is the Lord who will seek and implement justice. We just need to be faithful.

So, the all important question...who is the best James Bond actor?

Good Ol' Days

They just don't make 'em like they used to.

Where is the Next Generation?

So I work with young adults.

Here's a summation of an article I just read.

The 20 something generation has to make more money in order to live the way that is deemed 'right' or 'normative'. In general this impacts the Church in two pretty drastic ways. First, the young adults don't have time for church. Many are working two jobs to live at the standard they are coveting. Others work hard all week and come Sunday, feel a sense of entitlement (or exhaustion) to sleep in, so they don't show.

Second, if they are attending church, they are generally not giving 10 percent (tithe) to the church. In fact it is more typical for young adults to put money into parachurch organizations that represent a clear cut cause that is doing something tangibly in the world. But, even when money is given there, it is rarely 10 percent of that person's income. How can they afford such sacrifice? They have a house payment, 2 car payments, insurance for those cars, starbucks stops each morning for 4 bucks a pop, tivo so they can watch all 18 shows that are on at 8 p.m. (is that fulfilling? really?)

So if a whole generation is stuck paying off college debt and not attending church, then what are the ramifications? Well, in one major way it calls us to rethink church. Is this generation going to allow for church's to maintain their current budgets? To do active, relevant ministry, be involved in life changing mission, pay staff, pay for building upkeep, maintenance and expansion...that all costs money. What happens when (especially in a less-than-thriving economy) people hold their money close fisted rather than openhanded (as if it's their money to begin with!)?

I guess we will find out soon enough, but the church will either be proactive and find other avenues of redemptive means in this culture or they will be reactive and try to respond once crisis strikes.

So...what's your take?

Sigh

Hey! Here's a thought...be the church.

In a part of the world that is hostile toward other faiths...we Christians have done what we often do best. Become hostile to each other. This grieves me. I heard a pastor friend of mine say once that the Christian Church is the only army that destroys itself in the barracks.

What do you think? True or False?

80s Tribute Week 7

Maneater's birthday song.

80's Tribute Week 6

Proud to say that this was the number one song when I was born in 1982.




What was the number one song when you were born? Thanks Mike for the link!

If you know my wife, you will have to ask her how she got the nickname "Maneater" in highschool. True Story!

The Myth of Solitary Religion

So...a few days ago I was crushing a theology paper and inquired about your thoughts on the point of the church. After overwhelming response, I decided to weigh in on one area that I thought was helpful.

Michael Jinkins, a current theologian makes a great point that I just came across about faith. He says that there is personal faith but there is not private faith in Christ. Meaning, I can have a personal faith in Jesus, but if it is private and does not inform my lifestyle, my mindset, etc., then it is really not a personal faith.

He goes on to say about the idea of having faith in Christ and choosing not to be involved in a church community, "When we are left to worship by ourselves, what we usually worship is ourselves. Solitary religion tends toward idolatry, the worship of false gods made in our own image. The great scandal of the church according to Christian faith is not that it is full of hypocrites and sinners but that God actually reveals himself in the midst of and through the lives of these hypocrites and sinners."

So...what do ya think? Can a person be a follower of Christ and not be a part of a church community?

Getting old is sweet

Have a good Sunday!

Church...What the heck? Why the heck? Who the heck?

ok...theology paper due monday. I'm halfway done and taking a breather...by blogging of course. Help me out. Who is the church and why does the church exist? no surfacy stuff here...its theology class...give me the deep profound stuff.

Dear Romeo Crennel II

We have a long week off since we had a Thursday game followed by a Monday game. Would you mind resigning now? It's not that I think you're a bad person. I just think its time for the Bill Cowher era to begin. Your in game coaching is about at the peewee football level. Even at the end of the game, when it seemed like it was over, I'm pretty sure we had two timeouts left with 50 seconds. They run the ball and we call timeouts and theres a real shot that they at least have to fun a fourth down play or punt it to the ever dangerous Josh Cribbs. That's just a small in game example.

Just put the letter of resignation on my desk and know that you have my best wishes for your next job. I'm sure you'll inherit the good fortunes of ex Cleveland coaches and win championships somewhere. (See Belichek, Cowher, Charlie Manuel, etc.)

Your friend,
Ben

This is for the EDGE folks!

If you attend WUMC, don't watch this!

Good Article on whether to vote...too late obviously, but worth reading.

What's your reaction to President Obama?

80's Tribute Week 5

Guitar playing should take place in more varied places then it does currently. I have yet to see guitar players on the wing of an airplane, or rockin' out in the midst of lifesize carnival beings. It truly is a travesty. Way to go Roxette!

Bible Cliff Notes

For those who want the big picture...sort of

IT IS FINISHED

A week of Midterms, pizza organizing, one cracked bumper, one messed up wheelwell, cold quesadillas, burying dead dogs, murdering pastors, and managing mystery is in the books.

I have literally been on my feet since 7 a.m. and we just got home at 10:45. My wife nearly singlehandedly served 140 people dinner.

People had fun, were well fed and some of them didn't figure out the murderer so all in all it was a good night...the week wasn't half bad either.

Church in the A.M. and then unplugging my phone and relaxing and really owning my sabbath.

Thanks to this guy for the clutch technical services.

Thanks to Larry and Mindy Penrod, the Wallets and the Edge folk for busting your butts to get us out of their before 10:30. I'm proud of you and thankful for you.

I'm out.

MISSIO DEI part deux

So a few weeks ago I asked for 5 words or less what the Mission of God was in the world. It seems that either the readers don't know, don't care or are theologically timid. Paul was the only one to offer any possibilities. You can read the post here.

I think the answer is pretty simple, but I hadn't really thought about it before.

Some may have posed that it was Salvation. God came to seek and to save the lost. That is his mission. I think this is a byproduct of a larger mission.

Some may say that it is to make Disciples of all Nations. I think again that this is a byproduct of a larger mission. Missions and Evangelism are important...but not God's ultimate mission.

The reason I hesitate to say that either of those are the ultimate aim of God, or even the redemptive movement at the cross, is that they center on us humans. We are the created creatures...not the Creator.

So, my proposal for the ultimate Missio Dei is that He would be magnified and lifted high by his creation. WORSHIP is the ultimate aim. It's the people of God reflecting their creator. There is a reason that the scriptures allude to every knee bowing and every tongue confessing...because Worship is the ultimate aim. Worship is the only proper response of those who have been saved (salvation) and Missions and Evangelism are most appropriate and effective when they are done out of the overflow of worshipping God. Worship fuels missions. And things like missions and evangelism are secondary in nature because they will not be around forever. Indeed, the only thing that we can participate in now that will last for eternity is Worship.

So...1) Do you agree with this? 2) Does your worship (individually and corporately) reflect this most essential divine truth?