OK, for everyone interested in the Postmodern conversation as it relates to church, here's a pretty cool take. At least it's good for conversation. The article is excerpted in Leadership magazine but it's posted here in it's entirety, at CT online. OK, I'm doing this on Deur's MAC, so stuff is different and harder and I have no idea how to make that a hyperlink. Hopefully that hyperlink works. At any rate, here's a quote:
So, PPMs [proponents of postmodern ministry], let's make a deal. I'll stop saying "seeker sensitive" if you stop saying "ancient/future." I'll declare a moratorium on modernism if you'll declare "nomo pomo." Let us hasten the day McLaren longs for, when "we can use ministry and gospel and neighbors and grace and other words we love, never needing to use the 'p-word' again."
posted by Steve 5:47 PM
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Sunday went really well with three services back to back. It was just fun to play with a band. I'll probably get more opportunity to do that at Watermark. Mike Morgan said that they're well stocked on keyboardists (of course, they're literally a dime a dozen) but he'll work me into the rotation. That's fine by me. I just don't want to be the worst one in the rotation. But that's just my pride talking.
Last night my wife woke me at like 2:30 in the morning. She invited me to join in her insomnia which has been a constant in the second half of this pregnancy it seems. I politely listened to what she had to say, went to the bathroom and then tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, she made me start thiking about things so I couldn't get back to sleep. And sleep is never a problem for me. So we ended up having a nice little conversation until like 4 or 4:30. That's just wrong! But the stress of everything going on is pretty real, I guess.
posted by Steve 9:30 AM
The house inspection went really well yesterday. It was a beautiful and the inspector really didn't have a whole lot negative to point out. I was pretty pumped about that since I was expecting the worst -- the seamy underbelly of a seemingly nice house. If I don't set up an alternate page to veiw photos I took, I'll start posting them here one by one.
I've been reading TONS of small group/cell group books lately. The most recent is Ted Haggard's Dog Training, Fly Fishing, & Sharing Christ. It's an excellent little book describing something that's worked really well for this particular church, time, location. They had tried to convert into a cell church twice with very little success. And now, this small group system that they've developed is based on free market capitalism, basically. In other words, provide an atmosphere for leaders to create groups around common interests (affinity groups) and use regular life in those groups to make disciples. It's pretty straight forward philosophically. As Americans we automatically understand and readily respond to the freedom that a free market provides with competition, entrepreneurial spirit/innovation, and therefore a growing economy. And so far it's stacked up very well against most other economic models. So why not equip and train leaders to be spiritual leaders in the process of allowing them to experiment and create the kind of groups that they want to be a part of?
That's my summary of the book, and my personality readily resonates with this style, as well as my cultural predispositions. I've got tons of mixed thoughts on it though. And ultimately, my desire for Watermark is that something new, original and indigenous arises from Grand Haven and it's surrounding area culture. There's nothing absolutely new or original anywhere, but something that has grown out of it's own context and hasn't been superimposed on it. Something that the Spirit has room to create with this given culture. In short, I'm dreaming and praying about what this may look like, to be able to cast a vision for this culture/community. I think my biggest road block to that right now, though, is simply that I'm hear in Auburn Hills only commuting over there one day a week. I think I'm going to have to be content will giving all of this time so that we can get over there, settle in and become truly a part of Grand Haven and Watermark.
I've got a wedding rehearsal tonight and the wedding tomorrow. I'm going to have to start packing some time soon. Days are going way to fast. But they're good exciting days.
posted by Steve 10:33 AM
Tuesday, June 17, 2003
HEY, my good friend John Lane just started blogging! Look at me, Alan, I'm getting people to blog. John's the one who pastes entire articles in my comment section. He's a great guy whom I love, he's a bit cynical (the polite way of saying he's got a stick up his butt), he's smart, he's funny, and he's lucky to be married to Jill. He probably won't live up to all of that on his blog, but if he's himself (you'll probably get the polished politician side of him) you'll know and love him too.
posted by Steve 5:09 PM
We went up to Clarkston last night so I could practice a song with my nephew's worship band. We're going to be at my "home church" this weekend... the church I grew up in where I was a Pastor's Kid for the first 15 years of my life. They've got three services. The first is "traditional," the second could be labeled "contemporary," and the third one is pushing the contemporary label towards "gen X" but I wouldn't give it that label yet. Because, you know, these labels are completely infallible and one size fits all. So my definition of these labels are not your definition. But you know what? Your definition doesn't really matter right now because this is my blog and therefore my labels. (I don't know, I'm just feeling feisty right now.)
At any rate, I've been given a time slot to share a little about what's going on in our lives, but I wanted to do this song too for several reasons. 1) The first time Jess and I heard it was a couple of weeks ago in Grand Haven and it just absolutely fit our situation. The chorus says: "For I know not what tomorrow my bring. But you'll bring me there. You'll take me where you want me to be." 2) It's written by the guy whose going to be the worship leader for Watermark, Mike Morgan. So I think it will be perfect to introduce people to something that's original/indigenous to Watermark and plus it summarizes our story. So for the third service we'll play it with the youth band and for the second service we'll play it with their usual worship band (my brother happens to be the worship leader, which is a plus), and for the first service I'll do a little unplugged set, by myself. That should cater to all three styles. It should be a lot of fun. I never get to play with a band, so I'm REALLY looking forward to that. Playing with a band covers up how not very good I am on the piano. Now if I could get a mic that makes me sound like somebody else famous who makes a lot of money singing....
posted by Steve 4:01 PM
Monday, June 16, 2003
The post below I wrote last night, but my dial-up AOL from home wouldn't let me post it. It kept timing out. LAME!
They accepted our offer with a couple of modifications. We accepted that so we're being faxed the paper work to sign. Hopefully we'll be able to get an inspection this Thursday while we're over there and then if everything goes smoothly we should be able to close by July 14. We're praying that God would work something out so that it goes much faster than that, which would in fact be a miracle. But we'll see how it all plays out.
posted by Steve 3:18 PM
Tomorrow morning our realtor, Jen, will be submitting our bid on a house. We should know by tomorrow afternoon if it's been accepted. We have less than 24 hours before we commit ourselves to a 30 year debt. As a couple, we've miraculously accumulated two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree without incurring ANY debt -- one huge God thing among many. So outside of paying my parents back for the cars we've bought, this will be HUGE! I know, everyone's largest debt is a house. I'm not really worried about the debt. It's the homeownership responsibilities that will be interesting. I'm feeling like it's about time to order that entire Time/Life do it yourself home repair set. Maybe I'll finally learn to use all my wife's power tools.
Hey, Steve Deur started a blog!! My friend and now leader, head entrepreneur of Watermark, has left his watermark on the internet. Check out DEURTY here, or over there on the sidebar ----->. It's already waaaay too spiritual for me, but you know, he's a church planter. That's all these people know how to talk about.
Friends and other people, lend me your opinions. I'm thinking about getting my Palm m500 fixed, which will probably run me in the vicinity of $125-150. OR, I could just upgrade to say an m515 for around $200. OR maybe there's something else out there that I should consider looking into to organize my life. What do you think?
OH, for Father's Day my family took me out to Salsa's Cantina. It's a nice little Mexican place where kids eat free on Sundays. WOO HOO! And Spencer made me some sort of wrist band/bracelet out of paper and pipe cleaners. I'm told it shoots things and will protect me from other people shooting me. He's a regular McGuyver at four years old!
Jess and I got back from Grand Haven this morning, at 12:30am. We had dropped the boys at Grandma and Grampa Thompson's on Wednesday and drove the WTM (white trash mobile) over. It gets twice the gas mileage that our gasaholic minivan gets. We spent the night with our new realtor and her husband, Jen and Chris VanHoeken (pronounced: van-heck-in). In case you're wondering, there's lots of dutch people on that side of the state and they brought Calvin with them. Anywho, we had a great time getting to know them, and then Jen showed us 15 houses on Thursday. It was like easter egg hunting, only for houses, and you don't get to eat them. There are three that are distinct possibilities, one that both of us really like with only a couple of downsides that we'll have to work around. So we'll see how this all works out. Both of us are just in disbelief that God is allowing us to be homeowners. Keep in mind that as of yet, I don't know what job I'll be working over there, and we don't have any idea how much money God is going to send our way in support. And yet somehow -- LEGALLY -- we've just been approved for a mortgage and will more than likely be buying a house sometime soon. That just amazes me.
I got a chance to share all of this stuff with my dental hygienist today and she was blown away. She's someone I see every six months, but she's always been very inquisitive about God, and very open with what's going on in her life. So it was fun to tell her about all the stuff that God is making happen in our lives. I gave her life changing possibilities and she cleaned my teeth and told me to floss more regularly. It worked out well.
posted by Steve 12:52 PM
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
Washtenaw Country Club is a very nice golf course. They even made us tuck in our shirts! It was a beautiful day, hovering around 80 and so was my golf score. OK, maybe not that last part. But I was really happy with a 91. Dan didn't bring his best game, but I'll say nothing more than that since he threatened to silence me on the way off the golf course. [It's all between brothers -- it goes nowhere!] We skipped out on the tour afterwards trying to sell Dan membership, and all of us went downtown Ann Arbor for some ribs. Mmmmmmm, ribs.
We celebrated my Mom and Dad's 52nd anniversary on Sunday by going to Macarroni Grill. Jessica made me split the Tuscony Ribeye with her and I was not disappointed. That was some good steak! CONGRATS, Dad and Mom!
Monday I started calling people that I had sent out letters to, filling them in on our big move and leap of faith. Letter, I can write...I like writing. But calling people I hadn't talked to in a while felt a lot more like I had my hand out and I didn't enjoy that AT ALL! But Steve Deur reminded me that I'm giving people an opportunity to participate in something really awesome that God is doing, and people want to be a part of stuff like this. So I try to take that perspective. Really, the best part about doing all of this is just catching up with people again, especially people we haven't heard from in a long time. So that's cool.
Here's a promise that's obviously to anyone and everyone who truly trust our Father. But it felt directed specifically at us when we came across it. It's Hebrew 13:5 from the Amplified Version.
Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]
That's a pretty huge promise, is it not? So what am I worried about? Nothing. No, really... nothing!
posted by Steve 5:01 PM
Friday, June 06, 2003
I got back from Grand Haven today around 2:00. We had a good group last night. As an ice-breaker we did a little truth or dare without the dare. That’s a good way to get things rolling.
We got this e-mail from Julie Zeller on Thursday morning that she had sent at 3:30 AM! She told us that her water just broke and she was looking up stuff on the internet about it. Since she wasn’t having contractions she told Tim to go back to bed and not worry about it. 6:00 rolls around and all of the sudden she’s contracting hard and fast. No problem since the hospital’s like 3 blocks away, but they got there and the baby was out by 7:30. That’s the nice fast way of doing it. Welcome to the world Samuel Timothy Zeller! I’ll go with Sammy Z.
I dropped in to see them on my way back home. Holland’s not exactly on the way, but there’s no way Jess was letting me come home without the body pillow she sleeps with which I forgot last week when we were there.
I also have to give some “shout outs.” (I’m breaking in my new slang.) Props to the Lake Orion Mr. Muffler. A friend of mine, John Michalik, recommended this place for my muffler. And below you’ve read how the original job they did kind of fell apart. I went back on Thursday morning and evidently they had just missed one weld. It was a five minute fix, but a considerable amount of time and miles out of my way. BUT, they were extremely apologetic and they even threw in a free oil change. In case you’re wondering, Mr. Muffler doesn’t do oil changes. But they did one for me, and that was cool. So thanks to Dirk and the crew. Dirk’s like the nicest guy I’ve ever met in the automotive service industry. The second nicest is Chuck from Al Dean’s. Mechanics aren’t known for their PR skills, so it’s great when you get a guy with both talents.
Props also to the guy at Radio Shack in Grand Haven this morning. My cell phone died and I didn’t have my re-charger with me. Jess had left two messages on my phone and I was in the middle of canceling my 11:00 lunch date with Aaron when it died and I was passing this strip mall. So I pulled in and asked him (sorry, I didn’t get his name) if I could plug in and make a call. So he goes and opens a new box, plugs me in and tells me to just leave it on the counter when I was done. I’m pretty sure just about anyone else would have made me buy it. But I made like 3 or 4 phone calls in the middle of Radio Shack and it was a life saver!
I just had to recognize these outstanding displays of customer service. If you ever get a chance to frequent one of these fine establishments, I’d recommend it. As a matter of fact, tell them, “Steve, sent me.” They won’t have a clue what that means, but that would cool.
Golf tomorrow with Dan, the man, Reznick… free golf… Washtenaw Country Club… ooooooh, yeah!
From the news... evidently David Beckham was shopping in a store in Beverly Hills and asked the owner or store keeper to close the store down while he shopped so that he could shop in peace. For those of you who just asked, "who's David Beckham," most Americans would ask the same question, and evidently the store manager did too. As one of the most renouned soccer (football) players in the world, and also married to Posh Spice, he expected to be mobbed with fans shopping in Hollywood. Evidently, he's not familiar with American ways of doing things. First of all, no one cares about soccer, especially international players and leagues. It may be the most popular sport in the world, but we've got our own sports, our own culture and we don't import anyone else's. Secondly, even if he was famous, so is every other person in East L.A. Join the crowd. I actually happen to love soccer, but I still find this funny.
You may recall me blogging about a friend of mine who can't seem to beat his addictions even though he's a follower of Jesus. That was back on March 17 when he was checking into a rehab. Tonight I finally got to visit him in jail. Just FYI, it's very difficult to dealing with the Oakland County chaplain's office. At any rate, he's doing time for being an idiot. I know, that's not a prosecutable offense, but that's the jist of it. I love this guy, and he's got HUGE potential. I KNOW God is working in him. I just pray that this will be the occassion of his freedom -- ironically, in prison. He was looking at a seven year sentence, but somehow ended up with 75 days in the hole, 90 in rehab, and then a 6 month probation. He's lucky.
As a welcome for my first visit to this particular prison facility, I received a bonus frisk. Something about being the 100th customer...that day. Either that or my shoes kept setting off the metal detector. Speaking of bonuses, we finally splurged and decided to get my exhaust problem fixed on our white trash mobile. Mr. Muffler was kind enough to only charge me $95 to weld the exhaust pipe back onto the flex pipe. It was strange being able to hear other noises, like the radio, while driving. But then I hit a bump on the way to the prison and all of the sudden I had my tricked out roadster again. Maybe they'll just replace the whole exhaust system without charging me any more.
posted by Steve 11:35 PM
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
I'll spare you the weekend rundown. It was the usual busy seeing all sorts of people.
Here's what I've been amazed at... friends and family stepping up big time to support us without us even having asked yet! It's been like a huge confirmation for us that this is a God thing to see Him already providing for us through these people. I'm humbled and amazed.
We just stuck our first letter in the mail today. WARNING! One coming to your mailbox soon! No, it's all good. The plan is just to let everyone know what we're doing and why we're so excited about it. Then ask if they'll prayerfully consider adopting us for a year or two, and then never ask again. But, of course, we'll send out monthly newsletters to fill people in on what's going on in Grand Haven. And if they really want to know what's happening, they'll check out this site.
I head over to Grand Haven on Thursday. Jess has lined up some houses and apartments she wants me to look at and then we're starting our first group that night. During June we're calling it our Turbo Group. Basically, it's going to be training people who plan on leading groups how to do it, but by doing it...practicing it. It's pretty funny, but basically we have to untrain people how to BE the church in the everyday and from house to house as opposed to doing church on Sundays and whatever other "church activities" one is involved in. This is especially true on the west coast of MI, our state Bible belt.
The other thing I have to comment on is food (to give you insight into the succes of my Body for Life). Saturday we had some AWESOME nachos at the Lawtons. You know I'm going to work on reproducing that experience. Plus we stayed late into the night hanging with them and the Perkins. Then Sunday I grilled up some Brats and sauteed onions, mushrooms and jalapenos on my grill's side burner. Throw some mustard on dog with a side of Doritos and Dr. Pepper and you've pretty much got one of my most exciting eating experiences. I'm banking on all of that feasting, banqueting, and partying that Jesus refers to in the future Kingdom as being not so metaphorical.
posted by Steve 11:35 AM
