How's the race

Powerful image in church yesterday about an Olympic runner who pulled up with a hamstring injury while running the race and his dad hopped over the wall and helped him to the finish line while the grandstands erupted in ovation. The challenge to us was how we are running the race. Here's a few thoughts:



Some are running the race well
-They are running to, by and for God. They have a very simple mindset, and it is obedience, no matter the cost.

Some are running the wrong race
-So many are running a race...its just going to the wrong places, emphasizing the wrong passions and ultimately leading to destruction (insert here: lemmings?!)

Some aren't running at all
It is amazing how many folks are debilitated by life. They have some how concluded that there is nothing particular to live for or run toward and so they simply exist until they cease to. The minute you begin to live without passion or purpose is the minute everything in you starts to die.

Some are running with one leg shorter than the other.
Running in circles isn't particularly rewarding...yet we do it all the time...finding ourselves learning the same lessons over and over because we refuse t follow God as He beckons us to deeper waters. I like the definition of insanity that I've heard numerous times...Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

So, you got your running shoes on?

bracket busters

If memory serves me correctly, all four number one seeds reached the final four last year. I had a friend who said that the girl who won their office pool was an intern who simply picked the better seed to win in every match up. It was fairly predictable.

So this year, Kansas, the overall number one gets knocked off by Northern Iowa, a 9 seed in round 2. Syracuse gets beat by Butler, a 5 seed, and Kentucky just got ousted by number 2 West Virginia.

If Baylor upset Duke tomorrow, the final four would be either two fives or a five and a six on one side and a two and a three on the other.

I think it's safe to say no one will have that exact bracket. I am a little upset. I did a bracket with Chippewa golf club, which the winner gets a free membership for April and May. I have West Virginia winning it all. I am one of 5 guys in the thing to have WVU as the champ and the top 3 get pretty nice prizes...Unfortunately, it looks like I would be 5th out of those 5. So at this point, the brackets are all but firewood kindling. It's time to enjoy the homestretch and get over my pity party.

They don't call it Madness for nothin'.

How many final four teams will you have guessed right?

Parenting 101

Pete Wilson has a pretty helpful synopsis of proper parenting. Go here.

Hot, Sexy Monogamy

Had a sacred moment at church a few Sundays ago. There was a contemplative prayer journey that Shaina's dad organized for people to draw closer to God during Lent.

We were divided into groups and I was paired with an older lady from the congregation. The groups began their journey at different stations and rotated through. We happened to be a group behind this lady's husband, so they did the station one step before us.

One of the stations was focused on thanksgiving. It was a creative station that allowed participants to write or draw on a huge expanse of paper all the things that we thanked God for.

We walked in and before we began writing and drawing our own, we glanced at what those before us had done. My cojourner put her hand down on one of the bulletpoint writings and paused...then went on to sit and make her own list. After she moved past it, I noticed it was her husband's and he had put "the second love of my life behind Jesus Christ ________" and then put her name down.

50 years of marriage and they still have the hots for each other. That's what I pray for in Shaina and I's relationship...that we not just simply get to 50 years because we're both too stubborn to do anything else, but because Christ has been our first love and we have sought to live His way and by His provision. Hot, Sexy, Monogamy. God designed. God approved.

What is the one key to success in your marriage?

Windy City

Shaina and I stole away for a long weekend to Chicago. Here's a quick recap:

The United Center is a neat place. We followed LeBron and the Cavs to Chi town to watch them take on the Bulls. Without actually knowing it, we got to participate in their St. Patty's day festivities (even though it was March 19.) We got their early, so I got pictures of the Jordan statue and all their 1990's banners. As for the game...Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Luol Deng sat out injured and the Cavs played down to their competition. It was actually a lousy game, but the Cavs pulled it out. The United Center is not as entertaining as the Q atmosphere, although Benny the Bull is way more entertaining than Moondog.

We went to La Duce, an Italian Restaurant within a mile of the United Center. It was really good, with a quiet, intimate atmosphere.

Saturday, we went to Shedd aquarium. The downer is that Friday, it was sunny and 65. Saturday it was 30 with sleet, snow and rain. The original plan was that we could walk to every location from our downtown hotel. We decided to give it a shot, and it was the poorest decision of the weekend. It was probably a mile and a half of treachery. There is definitely a reason Chicago is called the Windy City. The aquarium was fun...saw some interesting creatures...watched a 4d portion of Planet Earth and saw a show called Fantasea that featured Beluga Whales, Whitesided Dolphins and a few penguins.

Saturday Night we went to the Chicago Symphony Center and watched Mitsuko Uchida play-conduct 2 Mozart concerti. She was fantastic.

Sunday morning we went to Willow Creek Chicago, a branch of Willow Creek located in the heart of the city. It was neat to worship in the Auditorium Theatre and hear the message from Bill Hybels. After church we went to Giordano's and had our first ever Deep Dish, Chicago Style pizza. It was really good.

It's madness!

That time of year again. Here's my expert picks for the final four. Pick them and you will go far.

Ohio State...Their road to get there is tough...through OK ST, Georgetown and Kansas (presumably). But its a dangerous thing to bet against Evan Turner. If Lighty and Bufford play their part and they get any help from Deibler and Lauderdale, they will have their dancin' shoes on in the Final Four.

Syracuse...Not too worried about Onuaku. Love the problems they create by playing a zone. Teams will have a short window to prep for this defense. Advantage Cuse. Little worried about the guard play for these guys...They live and die with Rautins on the perimeter.

Kentucky...Talk about a style class if they meet up with Wisconsin! That game could honestly go either way...I'm not big on Wisconsin, but their style of play is precisely what could beat Kentucky. Still, athleticism, size, and tenacity from the three diaper dandies should see them through to the Final Four.

The fourth is a tough one. In my opinion, Duke has by far the easiest region...but I'm still not sold on the Blue Devils. Here's a bizarre sleeper pick: 5 seed Texas A&M...Not even sure I've seen a game of theirs, but they could very easily play a 12 seed, a 13 seed (or a hobbling Purdue team) and then match up with Duke in Houston, a virtual home game.

Syracuse and Kentucky advance to the finals and Kentucky's athleticism trumps Syracuse's zone.

Share your winnings with me.

The Disney Conspiracy

In case you were wondering...the lemmings shown here are actually catapulted off the cliff by a turntable.

FYI, lemmings do migrate over small bodies of water to populate new areas...but not the arctic sea.

crazy week

Monday: meeting at noon. message prep for tomorrow. Take dinner to Shaina at work. Play in Monday Night basketball League. Get home around 10:30

Tuesday: more message prep. Travel to Baldwin Wallace to speak at their Cru gathering on the topic of Heaven. This begins at 9:00 so I won't be home until around midnight.

Wednesday: Prep for important meeting/staff meeting/important meeting/guys night out with the church (dinner with a Cavs legend then to the Cavs-Pacers game!). Probably home around 10:30 or 11:00

Thursday: Prep for pre marital counseling session/meet with mentor/ pack for weekend/ have pre-marital counseling session. Get home around 9:00.

Friday morning: Shaina and I leave for Chicago.

There's nothing like a storm before the calm.

Really hold to this Rick Warren Leadership maxim:

Divert Daily
Withdraw Weekly
Quit Quarterly
Abandon Annually

Good leaders are good at letting others lead so that they can be refreshed and renewed. I'm not there yet. I need extended time apart to pray and discern...just not going to be in March. Really excited to go with Shaina and quit quarterly. We've never been to Chicago and we let our birthdays and Christmas be focused on saving for this trip. Can't wait!

offensive preaching

Sometimes preaching with conviction hurts.

Not every sermon is going to be a feel good made for tv moment.

Sometimes people will be offended. Sometimes you will receive the cold shoulder.

This isn't new. Jesus taught on difficult things and sometimes the people left. Sometimes the crowds thinned.

This might have been the first time that this happened to me on any level today. There was very little affirmation and to be quite honest, I loved it.

Now preachers can take this one of two ways. They can think that what they've preached was ineffective and so people don't have anything positive to say, or they can think that conviction is taking place. And if the prayer and preparation have been put into the message and you know that God has stirred the message in you, then the latter option may indeed be true.

The preacher must comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It's what Jesus did.

Yet the preacher only aims the gun, the Holy Spirit pulls the trigger.

Sometimes when we're honoring the text...we will have to be offensive...because sometimes that's precisely what the scripture demands.

Same ol' enemy. Same ol' tricks

For the last four weeks of Lent, Shaina and I are reading a chapter a day from Matthew (28 chapters in 28 days.) Today was Matthew 4, the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

The enemy uses three tactics in trying to seduce Jesus into disqualifying himself from the role God sent him to fulfill...Surprisingly, Satan's strategies haven't changed much in 2000 years.

1. Turn stones into bread. Jesus was fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. Without a doubt, the basic need for food was very real to him. The heart of this temptation is "Will God meet my needs?" This is a question that plagues us today. We actually think that we have alot to do with food being on the table, money being in the bank, and a roof being over our head. Seldom do we remember that the God who made us is the God who provided manna in the wilderness for his people. The reason many choose not to tithe is because they do not trust God more than they trust their own abilities. The question here is whether God is trustworthy and when we show by our actions that He is not, we sin against the Most High God.

2. "If you are the Son of God..." Satan tries to call into question Jesus' identity. The same is true for us. We want to trade in the New Creation that we have become because of Christ, to maintain 'status' in our old creation way of life. At the root of many sins is the question of whether what God said has happened in my life is really what has happened. People search for meaning, identity, popularity all their lives, and when we seek to find ourselves in any way other than losing ourselves, we betray the God who formed us in the womb.

3."All the kingdoms of the world I will give to you if you bow down and worship me."
So much of this life is about the power game. Satan offers Jesus reign over all the earth, if he will simply renounce his God and worship Satan instead. Perhaps the biggest fear (and greatest sin?) is that we fear the loss of control. We so desperately want authority, say-so, control, power, prestige, that we try to make the king of kings bow down to our reign, our will and our desires. The question of whether God is sovereign haunts us. Because if He is indeed sovereign, we then are not, and must yield to His higher purposes. So many believe that they can sit on the throne of their lives and bring God along for the ride, for genie-in-the-bottle type blessings. So few will actually bow down to the king of kings and place their jobs, their families, their status,their country, their money, their identity and their very lives at the throne of the Almighty God.


Satan is who He has always been, he operates as he has always operated. But our God is who He has always been and He operates as he has always opereated. So it boils down to the challenge that Joshua presented to us at the end of his life. "CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE...AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD."

Whats on your iTUNES?

The Passion 2010: Awakening CD is fabulous. Just released yesterday. These will be the songs of the church in the next decade. Absolutely love it.

What are you bumpin from your boombox today?

Thought for the day

"I don't have a problem with tradition. Tradition is the living faith of those who have died. My problem is with Traditionalism, which is the dead faith of those now living." -Chuck Swindoll

At some point we have to be willing to crucify 'the way we've always done it'. When we are willing to go here...there's no telling what God might bring to life.

Again...sometimes normal...sometimes 'the way things are'...sometimes 'the way its always been' is insanity.

What thing, approach, ministry, method, meeting, mindset,sacred cow, practice or style does your church need to nail to the cross?

Sometimes Normal is Insanity

I am getting ready to preach this coming Sunday, and one of the key points that will be made from the text is that sometimes what the world deems acceptable or preferred behavior...sometimes what the majority is doing...sometimes the status quo...is insanity.

Here's a good example.



"Wide is the road to destruction, and many enter through it." Mt 7:13.

Divine Dining

Our mission teams wanted a more practical approach to fundraising this year, so we came up with something called Divine Dining. It is essentially a supper club where we have a menu that people sign up for meals and then the first Saturday of every month, the mission teams get together and assemble all the meals. Every menu option is freezable which makes it convenient for those days that you just don't have time or energy to cook.

It has been a fairly successful approach to fundraising and has simultaneously blessed families. One cool feature is that you can anonymously purchase meals for a family in need and we'll deliver them as a gift from the church. It has been neat to see how this has developed.

Anyways, if you have any interest in supporting our mission teams in Wadsworth, Cleveland, Iowa, NYC and Kenya, we could definitely use your help. I'd be glad to send a menu for April!

Dream Catchers

Great math from Mark Batterson:

Doing – Dreaming = Waste of Energy
Dreaming – Doing = Disobedience
Dreaming + Doing = Exponential Kingdom Impact

We've got to make sure our doing is motivated by God-ordained dreaming. But we also need to make sure our dreams get done.

Which of these equations describes your church/ministry?

Are you Ready to RISE?

Can't tell you how excited I am for the Good Friday Young Adult service RISE that is coming up on April 2. It has been neat to see all the pieces fall into place and I am really amped up for what God will do in our midst that night. Hope you can make it out!

What: RISE: a young adult worship gathering
When: April 2, 2010 @ 9:00 p.m.
Where: Wadsworth United Methodist Church
Why: Because our God is not dead, He's surely alive.

Spread the Word! You can find the event on facebook as well!

Happy Magical Floss Day

It's time again...for the event that only happens twice a year. It's Ben's trip to the Dentist. And as always, to commemorate that day, I do the twice a year ritual of Magical Floss Day. See, rather than flossing everyday like the dentist suggests I do, I save up and go all out with a twice a year flossing of epic proportions. My logic may seem suspect to you, but if I just hope long and hard enough, the Magic Floss Fairy comes and removes plaque and tartar build up just in time for my dentist visit.

Hopefully she comes to visit between now and 2:45 or the same routine I go through every other dentist visit will take place again...(as follows)

"Have you been flossing more than last time we talked"

"Well, if I did, we wouldn't have much to talk about when I came to visit."

"Well, if you don't, you'll have gums similar to those of a 60 year old when you're 30."

"Touche."

Should we hop off board the Disciple Ship?

I am becoming increasingly concerned with how our churches define discipleship. I wonder how we measure whether discipleship is taking place...Here are some possibilities.

1. The Do-a-ton-and-hope Method.

Many churches are inundated with programs. The thought is that if we offer a variety of options, we'll reach a variety of people and the programs magically turn people into disciples. This is filled with good intentions (we all know where good intentions lead right?) The problem is that we create a consumer mindset for people...and they think that its all about them and their needs, preferences, and desires. But authentic discipleship gets followers of Jesus to need, preference and desire God.


2. The Nickels and Noses Approach

If giving is up and attendance is up, then discipleship must be up. While I don't want to discredit these as signs of a thriving church, I also don't want to suggest that we can pay and attend our way into the Kingdom. Showing up and putting a penny in the plate does not exempt you from obedience to the King.

3. The Information Overload Operation

One of the more common approaches is to get people to study the Bible and I am one hundred percent on board with this...but the problem I'm seeing is that people read the Bible and have no inclination to pursue obedience to what it says. So they can memorize the scripture...identify important Greek words in the Scripture...tell you the socio-historical and rhetorical contexts that surround the Scripture...but rarely do they actually obey the Scripture...Sometimes the last thing we need in our churches is another Bible Study or another sermon. Sometimes we just need people who obey.

4. The 30 Minute Sermon to fill me up, sustain me and change me Mindset

For many, discipleship depth is as deep as a 30 minute message each Sunday can take us. Your pastor is not responsible for your closeness to God! The verse doesn't say "Have your pastor draw you near to God and God will draw near to you." It says (You!)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

So does one of these models hit home or represent your church? Is there another faulty discipleship model going on in your church/ministry?

Tomorrow I'll throw out something that is stirring in my church.