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Ministry Growers

2007-12-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

This blog has been retired for some time, but for anyone still subscribing I have a new blog as part of a project at work. It's called The Plow. Let me know what you think. I would love some help starting conversations in the comments, and expanding on what I'm writing about. The goal is to give glory to God through design.

Identity Site

2007-06-06T13:11:00.000-07:00

This blog is dead.
To contact Mike Anderson or find out more go to mikeyanderson.com

Mike Anderson

2007-05-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

You can contact Mike Anderson on this identity page.

Brooding

2007-02-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

Pay attention, this will be beneficial.

Yesterday we visited the idea of Christian brooding-that is chewing a piece of scripture to the bone. Today we will take a piece of scripture and practice brooding. My hope is that you will try it, and God will move through it.

Let's look at Mark 16:15 for the next couple days. Read this scripture a couple times. You get the face value of this sentence almost immediately. It's like eating ribs: you get most of the meat on the first bite, but there is so much more to enjoy when you chew that rib to the dry bone.

Let's chew on this scripture

Look at this word "he". I know we're all ADD, but look at it. He... is Christ- our God is speaking. Read this verse emphasizing "HE". Christ says...

Then let's pick the word "go". Read the scripture through, speaking it out loud or in your head. Christ says GO!. Let that sink in, saying it over and over. Your God says "go". So then you ask the question "Where am I going?"

We'll continue brooding over this for the rest of the week.

Christian Brooding

2007-02-24T16:29:00.001-08:00

I hate memorizing scripture... better said; I hated memorizing scripture because it felt hollow and routine. It was like eating broccoli that my mother insisted was good for me- so I choked it down. Jesus called the Pharisees "white washed tombs" because their acts appear perfect but they are dead inside, this is how I felt every time I sat there with a note card trying to beat the words through my thick skull.

Enter CHRISTIAN BROODING: I was introduced to BROODING by J.I Packer in his book 'Prayer'.

Brooding is taking a bit of scripture and repeating it over and over in ones mind. Not mindlessly, but trying to juice out every bit of meaning in any given passage.

Follow along this week to learn more about Christian brooding.

Friday Photos

2007-01-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

The new Graphe is out!

2007-01-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

Download the newest Graphe today!

Late Late Night

2006-12-14T03:30:00.000-08:00

I made a bad mistake today...

I woke up this morning and had a Red Bull that I was given yesterday from a friend. Then after school I met with some people at Tony's coffee and had one of there amazing lattes. The final blow came when I was invited to dinner on campus, where I had 3 glasses of Pepsi.

1 Red Bull + 1 Latte + 3 Pepsi = Up all night

I just listened to Piper's annual Advent Poem which is beautiful as always.

I don't know what's wrong with me. It's approaching 4 o'clock and I better try to get to sleep so that I can teach some Geometry in the morning!

New GRAPHE!

2006-12-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

The December issue of Graphe is hot of the presses, and making its way around Bellingham. Happy reading!

I'm Engaged

2006-12-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

This is Jen. I haven't introduced her much on the blog, however today I have some extra special news. Jen is now my Fiancee! I am so excited- Jen it the most wonderful person I've ever met. See that smile above, that is what first attracted me to her, as times past I've grown more in love with her compassionate character and brave ability to call me on my sin. I love Jen.
Here is the ring I got her. We decided to go with platinum and sapphires because of the ethical problems with diamonds.
Here she is. I'm looking forward to a full life of chasing after God with Jen.

Friday Photos

2006-12-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

Tony's coffee in Bellingham makes a beautiful cup of coffee.
Fairhaven was all red before the snow came this week.

Friday Photos

2006-11-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

These are a couple weeks old now... I haven't been out shooting because the rains been blowing in sideways here in Bellingham.
Both of these were shot at Boulevard Park, near my house in Fairhaven. I live in the best location on planet Earth.

Me and Nacho- Sketch Buddies

2006-11-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

I was watching Nacho Libre the other night and realized this movie is just a cheap rip-off biography of my life.
Here's Nacho drawing in his sketchbook during a sermon. I thought this was amazing.
Here are some of my old sketches. As of late I've been taking notes of the sermons at Oikos Fellowship, but I think I will return to my sketchbook this Sunday!

What Does Calling mean?

2006-11-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

"And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." Romans 8:30

Are we called like a teenage girl on the phone?

Is God lonely, and he's calling hoping that you'll pick up, and humor him?

Like you're a dog?
Is he whistling, hoping that he's trained you well enough to come?

Or like Jesus raising Lazarus, the dead man?

Tomorrow I'm leading a Bible study on the idea of predestination. My faith has exploded with growth through knowing that when I was dead, I was raised and my sin forgiven. All by the hand of God. Having been predestined I can live the most free life on earth. I can lean on my God.

Have you ever seen the movie 'Big Fish'? In the movie, a young boy sees into the future and discovers how he will die. Once he knows his ending, he is scared of nothing, because he knows he can overcome anything else.

Well, I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives within me! Praise God for that!

Be Praying for Jim

2006-11-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

Jim is a great friend and brother who has been on mission in South East Asia for a while now. God brought him into my life at a critical time a few years ago to push me in my faith. I am so thankful for him and the spiritual example he's setting for so many overseas.
He thinks he beat my tortuga picture.

Friday Photo

2006-11-10T00:07:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of Tortuga, he's the fastest tortoise in the world.

Simplicity

2006-11-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

I hold the conviction that we (Christians) unnecessarily complicate many details of our faith, while oversimplifying other meaningfully messy doctrines. Why must 1000 plus page non-illustrated theology books be the standard, while personal salvation is often simplified to a prayer made during an emotional moment?

I believe that the Bible speaks in parables and metaphors because the pursuit of knowing about God is for everyone, and not just well educated white males with enough time and money to wade through thousands of pages of very plainly written text. I’ve met so many people that are unnecessarily intimidated, and have given up on understanding “theological matters”.

After reading “The Laws of Simplicity” by John Maeda, I’ve realized that we have to look at everything we do as Christians and ask;

“How can we subtract the obvious and add the meaningful?”

The Ten Laws of Simplicity

Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Organize: Organization makes a system of many seem fewer.
Time: Savings in time fell like simplicity.
Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler.
Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is defiantly not peripheral.
Emotion: More emotions are better than less.
Trust: In simplicity we trust.
Failure: Some things can never be made simple.
The One: Simplicity s about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Ideas

2006-11-06T21:33:00.000-08:00

I've been working on some cool ideas lately. I'm putting together a single sheet that has all of the information that a person would need about Oikos on the front side. I've also been bouncing some ideas around about a new website that will be used as the information hub of Oikos. This is going to be a project for 2007, but it looks promising!

We've also mashed together a pretty sweet workflow for Graphe using Basecamp, and Google docs.

NEW GRAPHE!

2006-11-06T21:07:00.000-08:00

DOWNLOAD THE NEWEST GRAPHE!

What is Graphe?
It is a magazine to give glory to God by telling the stories of lives changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What's happening with the Graphe crew?
I am so thankful for the brothers and sisters that God has brought together at Oikos. I love seeing a handful of writers reach deep down in their souls each month to ask the question "What is God doing?"

Above All Earthly Powers

2006-10-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

These were Jacked Directly From Kevin Cawley

These links are from this years Desiring God Conference:

David Wells
The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Justin Taylor, John Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll
A Conversation with the Pastors

Voddie Baucham
The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World

Tim Keller
The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World

Mark Driscoll
The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World

Justin Taylor, Voddie Baucham, John Piper, D. A. Carson, David Wells
Speaker Panel
D. A. Carson

The Supremacy of Christ and Love in a Postmodern World
John Piper

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World
Read | Listen

NEW GRAPHE!

2006-10-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

Graphe is hot off the presses and can be found in several locations around Bellingham and RIGHT HERE!DOWNLOAD IT!

5 Characteristics of a Missional Church

2006-09-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

From the work "Missional Church", edited by Darrell Gruder...

A Missional Ecclesiology is...

Biblical The call and model of the Church must be built only on the foundation of scripture.
Historical When a new way of doing church presents itself, we must be conscientious of past and current ways of doing church to understand heresy or idolatry that may arrive.
Contextual The gospel of Christ is always seen through the lens of culture. The way we present and live the gospel must be designed with context in mind, thus allowing the people to focus on Christ.
Eschatological The church needs to know that God is working through them to carry out his redemptive plan.
Practiced Ecclesiology must drive the Church's action. As a called body of people our conviction and passion for Christ's glory must force sanctification on all of our works.

More on the missional church from 9marks ministries.

Mike, Where Have You Been?

2006-09-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

This has been the big push week for everything that is on my plate. Here's what I've been doing.

The Graphe team finished this months issue, which is being printed as I type. (Check back Monday to download) (Download Last Months Issue)

The small group leaders at Oikos are trained and the groups are starting to take shape.

At work the project I've been part of (Ministry Growers) for the last few months is nearing completiong.

Acts 29 Bootcamp: San Diego

2006-09-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This post is directly jacked from Pete Williamson, and very helpful.

In case you ever wondered what sort of things go on at an A29 church planting bootcamp, I give you the links to the audio from the most recent one in San Diego, hosted by the fine fellows of Kaleo Church. Here’s the lineup:

Main Sessions
Workshops
- Drew Goodmanson - Technology and Mission (audio coming soon)
- David Fandey - Don’t Go It Alone
- Scott Thomas - Replanting a Missional Church
- Daniel Montgomery - The Gospel-centered Mess
- Brian Thomas - Missional Worship: The Fuel that Ignites a Passion for God’s Glory

There’s a whole lot more over at Drew’s blog - go check it out.

Systematic Theology: Adoption and Sanctification

2006-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Every Saturday morning I get up with the sun to talk systematic theology with some of my bros from Oikos. We've been wading through a couple chapters at a time for quite some time now, and I think it has been very helpful to round out my theological corners.

Here are some images of my notes:

New Sermon Sketch

2006-09-07T19:01:00.001-07:00

Graphe is Out!

2006-09-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

Graphe is here! DOWNLOAD IT NOW!
This is our best work yet, and we are excited with the progression each month.

Feathers For Arrows by Spurgeon

2006-09-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

Google has built a website that allows you to search for full out of copyright books in PDF format. There are some treasures to be found here.

Last night I spent time thinking and praying through this notebook of Charles Spurgeon's. He compiled hundreds of illustrations that are great to meditate on. They help my heart connect with my God!

This is a great resource- If you find any pearls, let me know.

A few peaks at this months Graphe

2006-09-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Graphe is a magazine created by the people of Oikos Fellowship to share the stories of what God is doing in Bellingham. The eBook should be up Sunday after the printed version is handed out. So check back this weekend, or add this to your RSS feed reader.

This Month
Strong Roots- A look at the need for deep faith in our community, and how we can learn from the third world
Children at War- A reflection on how God used the books 'Children at War' in the hearts of people at Oikos
Movie Review- Tsotsi
Spiritual Depression- Fantastic overview

Advice to Pastors: How to Help Your People Be More Satisfied in God

2006-09-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

From John Piper via theresurgence.com

This is a fantastic-must-read-and-post-on-the-wall article

Love God will all your heart and soul and mind and strength in the presence of other people. It is contagious.
Love other people from the power of God's grace. That is, show them the beauty of Christ through his love for them in the way you love them.
Tell stories about those who were ravished by the beauty and glory of God. It seems that true narratives of peoples' experience with the worth of God are very awakening.
Describe God's value—his treasure—in lavish terms.
Teach the people how to pray for the transformation of their own hearts, that is, teach them how to pray with the psalmists, "Incline my heart to Thy testimonies and not to getting gain."
Model for the people extended meditation and reflection on the word of God. Most people do not know how to take a word or phrase or sentence of scripture, commit it to memory and roll it over again and again in their mind and look at it from different sides and ask many questions about it and apply it to different aspects of their life and think of analogies of it in their mind. But it's precisely in this cogitating that the juices in the fruit begin to flow down and awaken the taste buds of the soul.
Show the people how to find specific, particular promises in the Bible to savor. When Paul says in Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing . . .", he is pointing out that joy and peace rise up as we trust in God's precious and very great promises. So people need to do more specific searching for promises and then hold them in their minds and dwell on them as they go through the day.
Pray for your people that their hearts would be softened and made tender and more susceptible to the beauty of Christ.
Help your people to turn off the television. Few things in our culture are more spiritually numbing than the television. Even the so-called "good" shows are by and large banal and low-minded and anything but cultivating of a rich, deep capacity to enjoy God. And when you add to that the barrage of suggestive advertisements that accompany virtually every program, I do not wonder why so many of our professing Christians are spiritually incapable of experiencing high thoughts and deep emotions.
Point the people to God-centered biography. The struggles and the triumphs of Christians who have known the glory and greatness of God are very engaging and awakening.
Show the people how to transpose their joys in natural things into joy in God. Here's what I mean. Even the most joyless person seems to have one or two things in their lives that make them happy. It might be their family. It might be the night sky in the north woods. It might be fishing. Help them to make a transposition, that is, to take the line of music called "joy" in their soul and transpose it up from the natural to the supernatural by an act of faith in God as the one who created the family or the night sky or the fishing. Help them see that all the things that are truly delightful in this world, which awaken pleasures in their hearts, are gifts of God and are reflections of his character and his goodness. If they are capable of delighting in natural things, then by the grace of the Holy Spirit they may be capable of transposing those very joys into a higher key and thus discovering joy in God.
Call the people for confession and renunciation of plaguing sins that make them feel inauthentic and block true affection for God.
Teach them about the necessity and value of suffering in the Christian life and how it is not worth comparing to the glory to be revealed.

Ben Folds - Jesusland

2006-08-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ben Folds has a new song & video called Jesusland. In the spirit of Jesus Camp I can again see why Christians are looked at so horribly. We need to know as missionaries that this is the way that much of the culture sees us.

New Graphe In Final Edits

2006-08-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Oikos Sermon Sketch

2006-08-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

James Chapter 3 Sermon by Pastor Pete Williamson at Oikos Fellowship, a church in Bellingham, WA

QUOTE

2006-08-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

This quote has got me thinking- what is theology? We can try to express the fullness of God through words on a page or verbally- yet that knowledge is incomplete. It is one way of describing God, however it falls short of conveying the beauty, splendor, and wrath of who God truely is.

I think a more accurate and more clunky quote would be:
"Art should be theology for the right brain"
I would love to see artists who love Christ be as diehard about proclaiming who God is through their art as Systematic Theologians are through their logic and writing.

2006-08-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

Jesus Camp

2006-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

A New Film Called 'Jesus Camp'

I can't imagine how crazy some Christians would seem if I weren't a Christian.

CHECK IT OUT

LINK vox pop

2006-08-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

I'm headed to the mountains for a bachelors weekend for my friend Jeff. He's getting married next weekend, and I'm pretty dang excited for him!

I'll be out until Monday-

2006-08-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

At Oikos, the whole church meets every Wednesday night to eat, talk, and study the Word. Tonight we looked back on where God has taken this randomly assembled Church. We've doubled in number of people, yet more importantly, I believe we've quadrupled in spiritual depth. I heard several of my closest brothers and sisters explain what God has done in their lives. Incredible. I see and praise God for the work he's done to redeem all of our hearts.

This got me thinking, why don't I ask people more often:
"What has God done in your life lately?"

ASK THE QUESTION, and praise God for the answer.

2006-08-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's awkward to go up to a stranger and tell them about an invisible God who died for them.

It's awkward to tell a room full of people that they are in danger of hell.

It's awkward to confess your darkest sins to a brother.

It's awkward to tell a person that they're wrong.

It's awkward to challenge a persons theology.

It's awkward to cry in public.

It's awkward to preach the Word, when you know your own sin.

"The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort." FROM SETH GODIN.

This is a great thought that I'm positive applies to our lives as missionaries- we must blow through the awkward-ness that we face everyday.

2006-08-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

I upgraded to the new blogger beta. This ugly bar got slapped on the top of the page. If anyone knows how to get rid of this will you leave a comment or shoot me an email?

Graphe

2006-08-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to hear how God is working through the people and pages of Graphe. I've had some great conversations with people from the Graphe team, and I am amazed at how writing and designing have pushed our faith.

It was also a great to get this compliment from Tony Reinke on this blog entry.

Please pray that Graphe would continue to confront us, and more importantly confront the people of Bellingham with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Alpha Males

2006-08-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

This year God tilled the soil of my heart with the preaching of Matt Chandler (Village Church). Matt is a young, passionate, successful, pastor who God has placed on a national pedestal only to publicly humiliate by his inability to rest in God.

Matt Chandler doesn’t have what it takes to lead a Church of 3,000 people, and by God's grace Matt will be the first to tell you that. Earlier this year he crashed from over-work and insane church growth, only to see the distance that has grown between his heart and God. Yet, God is miraculously moving despite Matt to bring the Gospel to the white washed wall of Dallas, Texas.

I thank God that he has brought Matt through this testing of faith to minister to my soul. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to talk with Matt at an Acts 29 regional meeting, and I have been both humbled and encouraged that he has shared his struggle with so many of us young men that are seeking to serve God and plant churches. His talk, ‘Gravity’, at this years Resurgence conference is the most concise way I’ve yet heard to say ‘YOU FREAKING NEED GOD!’ and His warning to alpha Males on his new blog is a word that many of us young aggressive dudes need to hear before we suffocate our souls.

Organizing Knowledge

2006-08-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a way to organize and manipulate my ideas and notes so that I can return to them and easily review what I've been learning. Paper notebooks are linear, ideas can't be physically manipulated, and they aren't searchable.

I've begun to use Curio. It allows me to see my notes, manipulate them on the page, organize, print to pdf, and archive.

As I compile more notes I will publish a PDF with notes of all of the ideas I've been chewing on.

If you're a Mac User try it out.

Idea From the Latest Graphe

2006-08-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

This month we introduced a new section in Graphe (above) , in which we have writers go out and ask a bunch of people questions regarding Christianity, faith, and world view. Preliminary reports show that this has been a very good way to get comfortable talking to people about God.

When I was being discipled by Campus Christian Fellowship at Western Washington University, they gave us homework assignments to go ask people questions about God. I would encourage any Christian to do this.

I am so pleased to see God turning his people at Oikos into missionaries. Watch out Bellingham the Kingdom of God is at hand!

Systematic Theology: Election

2006-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

From Grudem Chapter 32

When I say predestination two things generally set in; fear or pride. Many are scared that predestination makes them a robot, while others (generally middle class white dudes with too much time and not enough social skills (me)) get puffed up with pride because they can crush any Arminian weakling arguments with their sack full of verses.

Predestination, and more importantly election should point give you comfort, turn you in praise toward God, and encourage you to get out an preach the gospel.

Comfort-
If you are repentant and have turned to God as your king, it means that God has called you, brought you to repentance, and promises to bring you through until death at which time you will be fully reconciled with him. (Romans 8:29-30)

Point Us To Praise God-
God created us to enjoy him, which will always result in praise. Truly grasping God's action in moving through our will to bring us to him, will necessarily result in giving him a crazy amount of praise! (though I continue to grasp this more and more in small pieces) God saved us to enjoy and praise him! (Ephesians 1:5-6)

Encourage Us To Preach The Gospel-
If we understand that God has called people, we have to go find them and tell them about the God has chosen them. Paul spends his life evangelizing through the Middle East at break neck speeds trying to find all of those of which God has softened their hearts. (2 Tim. 2:10)

Praise God for predestination!
PS If you have a hard time with this, look up the verses!!! Don't take my word for it.

Sacred Spaces

2006-08-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Imago Dei Church in Portland is in the process of a huge campaign to 'recall, reclaim, and bring new life in every place' . They are pulling together dozens of groups, with hundreds of volunteers to redeem parts of Portland, Oregon. From restoring parks and sidewalks to jump starting non-profits in the area, Imago Dei is embodying Christ to the people of Portland. I am very excited to see how God will use this to redeem the city of Portland.

New Image Campaign (satire)

2006-08-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

CLICK TO LISTEN

In order to be hip to the jive, and attract awesome gen-MTV-ers we’re pumping up the tunes at Oikos Fellowship. Pete Williamson (aka P-Willy) will speak to those cool cats.

We’re like hyper-Relevant!

DOWNLOAD

New Graphe E-zine

2006-08-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Graphe is a magazine produced by the people of Oikos Fellowship that exists to communicate the glory of God by telling stories of lives changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm amazed at how God is pulling together this Graphe team, I am watching all of us grow in Christ as we are challenged to look around us and see what God is doing.

DOWNLOAD IT!

Pride = Stupid?

2006-08-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Pride is idiotic, it shows that you're really not that smart.

Let's think of a sailboat. You're standing at the bow, you're in control... right? No! No way! You don't control the wind, or the waves. You just do the best you can with what you're given.

Likewise, I have nothing to be proud of. I didn't decide where I was born or the family that birthed me. I didn't create my body or my brain. I exist in a place and time, I was created totally apart from my own power.

Instead, we should enjoy and worship God as we sail through this life. Sometimes the wind may suck and other times you may be cruising, but remember- find joy in God wherever he puts you, and give worship to him.

Sermon Notes

2006-08-02T22:06:00.000-07:00

These are the sermon notes from last Sundays sermon at Oikos Fellowship. Great sermon Pete!
This is what hit me- If we understand grace, we know that our actions (or works) don't make us a Christian. Rather, it is that we are first a Christian and understand the grace of God, that we can't hold back the love to do God's work on earth!

GET ON MISSION!

The Man I Met Today

2006-08-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Today I met a man who was blind, deaf, and wheel chair bound. His caretaker is a friend of mine, she took is frail old hands and signed him my name. He then shook my hand, and held it to his cheek. A soft distant smile came on his face as he spoke to me through the hands of my friend.

What a privelege! What a parable! This is how we are spiritually. WITHOUT CHRIST WE ARE SPIRITUALLY BLIND AND DEAF. We cannot sense the absolute glory of God. Even if we are Christians we only see the faintness of his glory.

I often wonder how men like John Piper or Jonathan Edwards can speak of God as if he is so near. I can't see him like they do, God is so blurry sometimes, so far away. It's often hard that I don't see God like they do. I'm reminded today by this beautiful old man, that I need to spend more time before God, signing in my little language the best I can. I may still be partially spiritually blind and deaf, but I long to spend that time getting to know my savior... So I'm off to read my Bible.

Hating the Poor

2006-07-30T20:19:00.000-07:00

This morning at Oikos Fellowship, Pastor Peter preached on the end of James chapter 1... Read it! It says that the way you treat the poor will reveal your heart towards God.

On the topic, Las Vegas outlawed feeding homeless people.

Thanks Kevin

2006-07-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

There will be no sermon sketch this week, as I'm sitting in the sun in Maui and absent from Oikos Fellowship. But, the good news is our brother and fellow blogger Kevin Cawley is preaching at Oikos, and I'm bummed I don't get to be there. Thanks Kevin, you're the man

To make up for no sermon sketch, here is a sketch from last summer.

Get on Mission!

2006-07-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

This is a Sunday reminder to start living your faith. If you are a Christian, you are necessarily a missionary.
Reflection: I've been on vacation for over a week with my girl friends family, and I've only talked about the Gospel with two people this whole week. Jen (my girl friend) and a guy at a cocktail party.
It's terribly spiritually draining...
I leave to go back to Bellingham tomorrow. Maui is incredible, but Bellingham is home. When I get home I will be working on the next Graphe with the awesome Graphe team, digging into systematic theology, and be back in community at Oikos Fellowship!

Study Style

2006-07-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

Have you ever led a Bible study? Maybe it went on for months and you felt it was unpointed and always takes longer than you thought to get any point across. Teaching takes patients and love no matter what, but this is a great resource to help guide the flow of any Bible study. You can plan and study for hours, but unless you know where you want the people in the study to be, and plan backwards you could be walking your little flock in circles.

Introducing the Delta Model for small groups:

This method is used to teach Mars Hill Bible study leaders, I'll be using it as a guide from now on.
READ IT!!!!

Acts 29 Orlando Bootcamp Audio

2006-07-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Every time a bootcamp happens I download the audio, load up my iPod, and listen to them all maybe 5 times. I listen to my iPod everywhere I go. I here at least 10 hours of sermons a week while driving, at work, running, etc. Go download the newest audio from the Orlando boot camp.

More on why you ought to get an iPod from pastorhacks.net

CNN on the Church

2006-07-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Mosaic Church was spotlighted on CNN... Makes sure you watch the very last segment in which the anchors discuss church. They are giving some advice to 'old school churches'.Check the video out.

Religion on the Internet

2006-07-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

The internet is a buzz with talk about religion. They have found many of the world religions with asinine 'plots' and point out videos that show how stupid they really are.

Question: How can we as missionaries look at this situation and bring the redemption of the Gospel of Christ to the world's spoiled view of religion?

Thoughts: We need internet nerds, chatroom junkies, video makers and the like that can break into this growing segment of the culture and explain why Christ is all!

These are videos of Mormonism that people on digg.com have been talking about today.

Creative Class

2006-07-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

I've been wading through The Creative Class, by Richard Florida.

Thesis: The social and economic markets in the United States are transitioning towards a desperate need for highly creative and mobile individuals. These people flock to urban centers with like minded creatives, thus cities and culture must either adjust to attract these future leaders or face irrelevancy.

Mission Idea: What should the churches response to this? I would propose that it should be this: We should be careful as missionaries not to idolize the values of the creative class, and simultaneously understanding this cultural trend, contextualizing the Gospel to them.

We, especially the emerging/Acts 29/missional dudes need to watch ourselves because we have a proclivity to identify with the creative class, we must remember that we are subjects of God's Kingdom, not any earthly class.

Change of name

2006-07-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

Dirty was just a stupid name. I had a ton of people coming to my site looking for "dirty drawings". Plus, I'm sure it keeps some people from viewing my site in the first place. The new title is m!ssion. We need to be excited that God has sent us out as the messengers of his great news! That's why I've included the exclamation point. We need to be excited!

One book added, two taken away

2006-07-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Humility by CJ Mahaney is an absolute must read for absolutley anyone. I'm a proud guy, and I need to continually be reminded how completely foolish I am.

Re!Imagine by Tom Peters is an amazing read. This book is a shotgun blast of ideas all over the board. Read this book at the same time as humility. Peters is a great thinker but is very proud of his pride! His energy and passion for all he does is contagious.

I'm beginning The Rise of the Creative Class. We'll see how it goes.

Sermon Sketch

2006-07-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here is last weeks sermon sketch from Oikos Fellowship (church in Bellingham, WA). Today I attended a catholic mass in Maui. The Homily was far to short to do a complete drawing, but the content was very good. The entire service the content of the songs, prayers, and homily were very missional, but there was zero passion from the preist, hence zero passion from the congregation.

Missional versus Evengelistic

2006-07-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Tim Keller on missional versus evangelistic
from the Above all Earthly Things Conference

Evangelistic-
Generally defined as a department within the church that brings people in. The 'evangelistic' model is disembodied and assumes a Christian worldview.

Missional-
Every action of the church assumes the people are far removed from a "Christian" understanding of the world, the individuals are on a mission as a church to go out into the world and embody their faith and values in any context.

Aloha

2006-07-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

I got a very awesome opportunity to come to Hawaii. So I'm here, and it is beautiful. I am going to be reading a ton out by the pool, and hopefully I'll get a chance to deal out some thoughts.

Raising Children of Character

2006-07-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

A few nuggets of wisdom from CJ Mahaney in 'Humility'.

Modeling must always precede teaching- Your kids are little parrots, they will be rough photocopies of yourself.

Ask them what true greatness is. They will be taught that greatness is in self glorification by the culture. Teach them early and often that greatness is in selflessness and worship of the great God!

Teach your kids about those you admire, people of character that they may emulate.

Don't celebrate anything more than godly character in your children. If you cheer louder for your sports team than your child worshipping God, you've modeled exceptionally poor values.

Teach your children to serve whenever possible.

Realize that your children are not yours, but God's. He has chosen you to stewart them. Raise them fearfully of the God who holds you accountable for his babies.

RUBBER MEETS ROAD IDEA: At the next work party have a lesson for the kids about serving, and then compile some tasks that they can help with. It would be freakin' great to see kids learn to serve.

Great Marriage!

2006-07-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

Wife's response after being questioned if she was angry about the death of her husband:

"Dave deserved hell for his sins, just like you and me , and yet God in His mercy, forgave him because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dave is going to heaven," she said. "How could I be angry at God for taking him to heaven?"
Humility, CJ Mahaney, pp. 151

I hope for a marriage like this!

Systematic Theology: The Offices of Christ

2006-07-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Christ is prophet, priest, and king

Prophet- Prophets are men called by God to be the mouth piece of God to the world. All whom prophecy of the coming power of God's glory which will redeem everything! Jesus is the culminating prophet, who is able to testify firsthand of the Kingdom which he is laying the foundation for. The New Testament tends away from calling Christ a prophet because he is proclaiming the truth first hand as the one acting on his own words.

Priest- Jesus Christ the high priest offers the ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins of a rebellious people. It is Christ that bridges the large distance between ourselves and God, and it is Christ who intercedes. Pleading with the father for his people.

King- Christ's kingly glory echoes through out creation it is the destination of all of God's work. Creation finds it's place in worship of the only true and perfect God. And God will get his deserved glory either through the praise of his people, or the crushing of all who oppose him! God's glory is what you were created to enjoy.

Therefore, let us then go as Christians, or little Christ's to be prophets, priests, and find joy in the King. Let us praise God, as we proclaim God's true glory though the Word, and seek to sacrifice and intercede for our neighbor.

2006-07-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

After moving into my new house, I am without internet. Truly wireless. I love it! When I come home I have a quite room, full of books, a Bible, and a new prayer corner. Without entertainment being pumped into my house, I have a sanctuary.

Quiet, we need quiet. Everything is so noisy. Do your soul a favor, and take some time to be in silence before God. Tonight I read a chapter of Systematic Theology, finished Mahaney's humility, and am looking forward to praying through 1 Peter. Praise God for quiet!

New Graphe E-zine

2006-07-06T05:01:00.000-07:00

The new Graphe is out! This is a magazine that is produced by the community of Oikos Fellowship to proclaim how God is at work around us. Give it a read!

How long would it take to fulfill the Great Commission?

2006-07-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

In the Great Commission Jesus said "Go forth and make disciples of all nations..."

How long would that take? There are 6.5 billion people on earth. That's 6,500,000,000 people. We've been given an assignment- disciple them all. This may seem like an insane huge task, however I think we have way to small a view of what God has done.

Jesus set the precedent by making disciples, and then sending his disciples to make disciples. If today you took that calling seriously and began investing in the lives of just two people, and each of them were faithful after that to call two more to discipleship, how many generations of discipling must take place?

33. That's it, just 33 iterations of discipling and the whole world could be discipled. If you figure that it will take one to two years for each person to grow in faith, that would take only the first half of some ones life time. Call two people to be discipled!

Creativity

2006-06-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

I've heard it said that we ought to be creative because we were made in the image of the Creator. I couldn't agree more. Rob Campbell has done a very good job of blazing the trail of bringing the congregation into the sermon by several creative means. He humbly claims that he is not a strong artist, but he fails to recognize that he has some incredibly creative ideas. This is the most essential step, which many self proclaimed artists fail to have.
Rob, keep rockin' it with more ways for the audience to connect!

Sermon

2006-06-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I got the opportunity to preach at Oikos Fellowship in Bellingham, WA. The Scripture text was 2 Peter 1:3-11, titled Spiritual Depth.

LISTEN

I have a voice

2006-06-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

So- This is weird. After all of these years of talking, some one finally listened.

I am the quote of the week on a large mathematics website.

I was cited in a doctoral paper.

I have a top ranking soccer team (maybe not by the time you read this).

Personal Update

2006-06-20T17:57:00.000-07:00

My posting has been irregular because my life is changing around a ton right now. I've gotten a job as a graphic designer. If you give me a few weeks I'll get back in the groove.

Other good news- my World Cup team has been kicking some tail. I was at number 9 out of more than a thousand people. Let's hope Italy beats Czech and US beats Ghana!I'm giving the sermon at Oikos Fellowship for the next two Sundays. This is what I'm currently investing my time into. I will start some postings on the idea of a Church community have spiritual depth and breadth. Meaning that people must have a deep and abiding love for Christ individually (depth) and the body must also work together to spread the Gospel (breadth). The first week I be in 2 Peter chapter 1.

The Design of Graphe is also getting started again. We're moving up to a 12 pager now!

Lots of other ideas are brewing. Check back.

Custom Mouspad

2006-06-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

At work, I've been working with some huge files in Photoshop to make some large banners. As I've been waiting 15 plus minutes for some of these files to open and save I made a custom mouse pad. Check it out.

Invisible Children

2006-06-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

After a night of tearful praying at Oikos tonight about our apathy towards God's glory and our neighbors needs, I came across this video.

It hit my heart. Tonight reminds me that God has already beaten sin and death.
'Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread...'

I can't wait for God's kingdom. I hate how sin is killing us. As God's people we need to get off our butts and live out our faith.

LINK

The need for challenge

2006-06-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the last meeting of our community group before the Oikos all church studies begin. We talked about what God has done in our lives in the last year. Everyone had God turn them in a 180 in the last 9 months, which is incredible. As we talked more about it, the common variable was that it was the first time in their lives that they've been confronted with the unapologetic Word of God both in the community group and when Pastor Pete preaches on Sundays. Which makes me so happy. The American church is watered down, it affirms people, giving them no reason to need God or the Church.
An article was recently published in the Washington Post about how the Church is just pushing dudes away. I believe the problem is much deeper than men not coming to church. I think a majority of the women who do attend those churches have hearts that are distant from God. How are we as missionaries for Christ going to make guys and girls know that they need God? We're going to need to preach the whole Word of God including the not so happy parts.

LINK from Anthony Bradley

This Week in Systematic Theology: The Person of Christ

2006-06-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

Systematic Theology- The person of Christ

Another week, another summation of a chapter from Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

Paragraph
God came to earth as Jesus, the son, to die and redeem his creation. Fully God, yet mysteriously fully human, he was born from a virgin mother and was raised like any other child; experiencing pain, and temptation to sin. Christ conquered man’s curse from sin to death and hell. Living a life free of sin, thus being the perfect man and the perfection of god at the same time. His death on the cross broke the curse to atone for the sin of his people.

Sentence
Christ came to earth as fully God and fully man, experiencing temptation like a man yet as God lived a sinless life, unjustly dying as the perfect sacrifice to atone for the sin of all of his people.

eBible.com

2006-06-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

eBible.com is a web2.0 Bible reference program. I just got 3 beta invites. The first three people to email me get them.

Semon Sketch: June 4

2006-06-06T23:58:00.000-07:00

I've been lame and haven't posted sermon sketches in a while. Here is this weeks on James Chapter 1 preached by Pete Williamson. Download the sermon.

Hate

2006-06-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

I asked the question earlier this week:
What do you hate?

Well, last night at community group we listened to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This past week I've been confronted with my own pride, and this sermon has magnified my understanding of my total corruption. I've realized that I don't really hate evil. I don't hate the things that challenge God as king.

Graphe is Out!

2006-06-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Da da da da daaaaa! The new Graphe.

(blogger is being lame and not taking my images, that's why these posts are plain)

Memory

2006-06-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

Think you have a bad memory- think again. The human brain stores in some form nearly all of the information it ever encounters. Your memory isn't the culprit, it's your storage system of those memories. As a missionary or pastor you have a million things that are essential to remember. You need to recognize people from the congregation, spend time memorizing scripture, and memorizing your thoughts as you study for a sermon. This website has a fantastic collection of ways to understand and build your memory. Investing a little time in this may save hundreds of hours of memorizing things.

LINK

The next Billy Graham?

2006-06-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

The Reformissionary pointed to an article in the Chicago Sun Times about Rob Bell of Mars Hill Church in Michigan. It discusses the unique approaches they're using to present the gospel to our culture. Whatever you think about his ministry, he sure is telling a lot of people about Jesus.

Email

2006-06-03T13:31:00.000-07:00

I've added my email to the right bar. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

Also...
Add this site to your RSS reader.

Sometimes...

2006-06-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Some times reading Systematic Theology feels like...

Question: What do you hate?

2006-06-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

What do you hate?
Let's talk about what we hate. I think it will tell us a lot about what we love.

Pride

2006-06-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

"Pride is contending for supremacy with God" from CJ Mahaney's Humility

How are you fighting God out of your life. Where do you seek to glorify yourself rather than God? Today when you spend time in quiet, meditate on the areas that you are fighting God for supremacy.

I am a proud guy. I pray for you and myself that God will reach into our chests and pull our pride hardened hearts out, then soften them with humility.

The Covenants Between God and Man

2006-06-02T16:20:00.000-07:00

Systematic Theology-
As I work through Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology, I will summarize my thoughts. I try to write a one paragraph and one sentence summary of the general message of each chapter. It requires me to sift through the message to find the root meaning of the chapter. Enjoy!

One paragraph summary-
Gods relationship to man has been defined by specific requirements and promises, called covenants. A covenant is an unchangeable, divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship. God's first covenant with Adam was to be fruitful and multiply filling the whole earth. As man sinned and failed to obey the covenant, Gods covenants with man took on a new form, they were to reconcile his people to himself. This culminated in the ultimate covenant in which Christ died so that his people would be fully reconciled to their creator. This new covenant bought by the blood of God is the ultimate and eternal covenant.

One sentence summary-
God, in his infinite mercy and wisdom, has proclaimed covenants of redemption for his people, thus doing the work to bring his chosen people back into proper relationship with their maker.

Be the best listener

2006-06-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

The best teachers are the best listeners.
How can you prepare somebody for the future when you don't know where they've been? It's imperative, as missionaries, to listen to people around us. Be inquisitive and ask everybody around you questions.

Broad Questions:
What do people know?
What do they long for?
What do they value?
What do they hate?

Listening

2006-06-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

I talk too much. I imagine a majority of the people reading this blog (including myself) are Christian dudes who think they are very intelligent and let everyone know it.

We need to start to quit talking and start listening.

Follow these steps:
1. Find a person, preferably someone you don't know well.
2. Ask them a probing question.
3. Shut up, and listen

If you try this comment on what happened.

Challenge of the day: Silence

2006-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

In a Seattle Times article Mark Driscoll reflects on the noisiness of modern life. We ought to be like Jesus and retreat to the quiet places to spend time in silence with our Lord.

"For God alone oh my soul wait in silence, for my hope is from Him."

"We" Preaching

2006-05-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

Robert Campbell wrote an interesting post on what he dubs "we" preaching. Here is a guiding quote:

ÂThe expositor must teach his audience the meaning of the text intended by its author and understood by its original recipients.Â He goes on to add, ÂA major precaution to observe is not to preach exegetical data from the pulpitÂ he must explain the text in a way that is interesting and understandable to people."

The American Dream

2006-05-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Most of us settle into a pattern of comfort and never push to live life to its fullest. As missionaries we ought to realize two things about this.

For the most part, the American people that we are sent by God to bless are stuck in a cycle of living someone else's dream.
We need to realize that God is calling us to something totally different from the American dream. We need to steep in the scriptures and pray that God would mould a vision and dream for life that makes the American dream look silly.

LINK(Gappingvoid)

Humility: CJ Mahaney

2006-05-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'm in the second chapter of Humility, by CJ Mahaney. The knife in my heart is starting to get more uncomfortable as I'm confronted with what a proud jerk I am.
Here's a glance at what I'm talking about:

" "...he's a modest little man who has a good deal to be modest about" [~Winston Churchill to an opponent.]

The last part of that remark is an accurate description of me-though I can't say I'm humble, I certainly have much to be humble about! My general ineptness is well know to all who have even a casual acquaintance with me, and that's no exaggeration.
If you were to speak to any of my friends, they would confirm how I continually surprise them with fresh discoveries of my inadequacies." - Mahaney pp. 25

Go ask the people you really know what's wrong with you. I challenge you. Ask your wife/husband, best friend, pastor, whomever.

Systematic Theology: Sin

2006-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

Reflections on Grudem's Systematic Theology: SIN
(note: there's no pictures for this one because it's a bad idea to do a Google image search for sin.)

Definition: Sin is a failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature.

Many define sin as selfishness. This is unsatisfactory because the Bible does not define it this way. As well many false religions have selfless followers, think guys blowing themselves up for Islam. Such a definition of sin would implicate God as a sinner because he operates for His own glory.

Define sin the way the Bible does:
Sin is lawlessness. (1 John 3:4)
Sin is the failure to conform to the law of God. Sin is directly contrary to the plans and glory of God.

Pastor Pete of Oikos Fellowship, a church in Bellingham, defined sin once as an inertia away from God. Being a math/physics guy I thought this was meaningful. We are going away from God and with out something turning us back towards him we will continue in our ways.

Original sin was the breaking of Gods law because Eve thought that she could evaluate the situation in the garden better than God and his law.

Sin is irrational. It makes no sense to go against the creator God who can and will win for his own glory at all cost.

God counts all people guilty because of Adams sin. (Romans 5:12-21)

If we think it is unfair to be counted guilty with Adam, how can we think it is acceptable to be counted righteous with Christ is the second Adam, who redeems the creation.

The inherited sin from Adam does not mean that all people are as bad as they could possibly be. Rather they are separated from God, which at any distance is infinitely wrong.

We are born dead, blind, hopeless, unbelieving...

All men are guilty before God. (Read the argument in Romans 1:18-3:20)

We dont know what God is going to do with children that die before they can confess belief in Christ. What we do know is that we have a God that is graceful beyond measure, and we can trust that what he does is just and best.

Are there degrees to sin?
All sins make us infinitely guilty before God. But it seems that those who teach are held to a higher standard. Which should put some fear into all of us missionaries, who by nature are teaching and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sin does not change our legal standing before God. We have been adopted already.

The unforgivable sin: If you are afraid youve committed it, and are seeking Christ. It seems that you couldnt have committed it according to Grudem.

Questions: (Feel free to answer these questions in the comment section)
How does this relational imputation of sin from Adam point toward Gods purpose in building defined relationships amongst all people?
Many categorize themselves as Christians, yet are unconverted and have a false sense of hope. What makes a Christian?
Why would God justify sinners?

Systematic Theology

2006-05-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

Each week I read a chapter or two from Grudem's Systematic Theology. In an effort to chew on it a little more deeply, I'm going to try to share my notes with y'all. Tell me what you think. I would like to hear some feedback. My notes are not going to be comprehensive, more along the lines of things to think about in relation to systematic theology.

These things are so important for us as missionaries to understand. I was talking to a guy the other day who has been deathly afraid that he has committed the unforgivable sin talked about in Hebrews. Unless I have my systematic theology down, I will have a hard time pushing people with questions like this toward Christ. So you I'll be the mama eagle and you be the babies. I'll pre-chew this stuff for you and you can be fed.

Prosperity Praise

2006-05-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I will go channel surfing through the Bible channels, and I come across some true crap. I disgusts me how pastors can get away with the money grubbing that they do. Check out this parody, which seems like it could actually be on TBN.

LINK Challies

Driscoll Controversy Roundup

2006-05-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, has recently published a book called Confessions of a Reformission Rev. Driscoll life seems to be scattered with foot in mouth moments, and many in the blogosphere are calling all kinds of fouls on this new book.

I'm about half way through the book, and I understand why many think that Driscoll's communication is unnecessarily crass. However, the punches that some Christian's are throwing are outrageous (read the comments). It's no wonder we as Christian's are viewed as the worlds most judgmental people. There is no Christian leader on earth that doesn't have some other Christian believing them to be a heretic.

We ought to take a lesson from Paul, who while he had many false teachers pointing fingers at him, declared that all he cares about is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached. Let's begin to forgive as we've been forgiven, and preach Christ like we mean it.

LINK Boar's Head Tavern, Reformissionary

Robust-ed Living

2006-05-24T16:04:00.000-07:00

Pat Robertson has a new fitness shake out, called robust living, and he's claiming that it has made him the world's strongest man (well, he says he can leg press 2,000 pounds).

I really want to believe him. I would love to see the holy-roller lift that kind of weight. I've always thought he looked somewhat like Yoda. Maybe he was using the force?

LINK KaleoBill, Cawley