Just had to show it

When you get anxious

This is what I do to release the pressure and tough memories.

Friends

Mark and Justin are not friends, but then they become friends, then they work at Motorworks! Dreams can come true.

Attitudes

Wisdom

Man, I haven't blogged for a very long time. Not on foulorfair.com, nor here.

Christy had her wisdom teeth out on Tuesday. She's doing okay, the swelling isn't too bad. She has the whole week of from work so she's at home watching Wimbledon. Please pray for her that it doesn't affect her body too much and that she can have an enjoyable 4th. We will be heading up to her parent's place this weekend in Alexandria. It was an enjoyable 4th last year and should be fun.

I'll try and blog more. I may include a nice clip of another Braves minor league coach blowing up on an ump. Sure, let's include that. Here you go:

Vocabulary

This has been YouthWorks training week so I have been really busy over the last few weeks. Everything we have been working towards is now beginning. Phew...now I get to focus on some summer projects.

But something has been swimming in my head concerning vocabulary. We are constantly limiting and expanding our vocabulary and ideas. Let's look at a few examples. If you are someone who loves music, your expressions and teachers are typically musicians. Musicians are 20-35 year olds who are just getting starting in life. They are typically either singing about something ridiculous, some struggles they are going through, something they love or hate, or about their bling and some girls on the dance floor. This can quickly shape someone's reality and thus their vocabulary. On the other hand, listening to no music whatsoever can limit someone's vocabulary. It may not allow someone to understand people's plights or share in their joys with them (as well as not envy their bling).

I was reflecting on Christian music. If you listen to popular Christian music it typically does not do a good enough job of helping you relate to the biblical imagery it sings about. Someone's God-experience is now very popular and Christian's try and imagine themselves singing that experience instead of evaluating their own. I do not know an answer for this. I know a lot of us love, and miss, great worship times and events with other believers. But it is very difficult nowadays to make worship songs guide others toward God if the vocabulary isn't the same used by that believer. If the vocabulary is from 2,000 years ago it is very difficult to make it relevant and draw a connection. Christians have to do a much better job with our songs if we are going to market it and say "here is Christianity." Six possible modern metaphors for the kingdom of God by Brian McLaren which can expand our vocabulary are: the dance of God, the revolution of God, the mission of God, the party of God, the network of God and the dance of God. I am still searching for a web site who lists them clearly...

If all that you read are self help books, then you miss out on the vocabulary of the unknown, of that which is greater than you. If all that you read are novels, then you miss out on some great history and understanding of the world. Not understanding history truly limits vocabulary. If you do not seek to understand genetics as a Christian and what that debate means to the Church today then we do not understand the vocabulary of the upcoming generations. If we make them try to understand ours without a need to understand why, we will fail over and over.

Please, please, read, view, listen to or experience something different. A person is what they are and what they are not. You are what you allow yourself to be and what you limit. Remember, no one can take away your freedom. You are made in the image of an almighty Creator, completely free and bound to be like no man. Stop making God in your image and allow God's people to be made in God's image. (I don't know where that came from but I'm going to leave it) Let's begin to shape our vocabulary in a handy way that can give some good light to those who need it.

I tore up this tape...

youtube won't let anyone embed it, so you'll have to go to the site...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxdFLtU1Cg

Foulorfair.com

Okay. So Chris Susi and I started up a baseball blog, www.foulorfair.com. I've been putting my baseball thoughts into it, but with work being so busy, I haven't had a ton of thoughts about much else. Eventually I'll settle down and get back to doing more on this one. But I wanted to let you know about the other site. It's already being linked to by other major baseball blogs so that's pretty sweet. But it has a long ways to go. Enjoy.

Forever

I was just listening to Shane and Shane's I Miss You, and was thinking on the words:

"Oh, I miss You so
The feel of forever
Oh, that taste I know
It hurts to remember"

Do you know what it's like to feel "forever?" Or maybe it helps to think of the idea of feeling like you are in forever? It's very different than your day to day feeling (even though the idea of a believer is to live in the "forever" world consistently). Life is different when you're viewing things through a worldview of eternality (I made up that word). Petty things don't matter as much. Your idea of who God truly is begins to expand and the idea of God having a will and a purpose makes a little more sense. Creation seems to be a little more beautiful and people begin to gain meaning again.

Sometimes it's painful to look back on what you have "lost," especially spiritually. But I always take heart in this: not everyone is able to look back and recognize it. That is the first step, so take joy that you've made it that far. Now you have to take the second step on your own, seeking God for the forever more than the now.

Flo Rida

Low, low, low, low



More worth watching at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9YslsI4CU.

True HR King

Taken from talkingchop.com, which took it from I had a hammer: the Hank Aaron story.

Since Major League Baseball didn't extend any further south than Cincinnati, St. Louis and Washington DC at the time, the south had become a hot bed for minor league baseball. As a sign of the times, the southern minor leagues would fight integration tooth and nail. Many teams played in cities with laws that explicitly prohibited mixed race play. Teams would refuse the assignments of African-American players from their big league counterparts. One league even attempted to ban an entire franchise for willingly fielding African-American players. Hankaaron6_medium

The Braves sent Hank Aaron to their minor league boot camp in Waycross, Georgia. Here, the players lived in integrated barracks, not unlike the Army. Occasionally, there would be a bus to take players into town so that they could run errands and do laundry. On one occasion, Aaron missed the bus back to the barracks and had to return on foot. It was a long walk in the dark and it proved to be a harrowing experience upon his return. There was a fence to get on the grounds and then a long road to the barracks. Aaron decided it would be easier to cut through the woods. When he came out of the woods, a security guard spotted him and began shooting. Fortunately, he would make it into the barracks without getting shot.

Aaron was assigned to the Braves Jacksonville team coming out of camp where he would play for a manager named Ben Geraghty. Aaron, along with his teammates Horace Garner and Felix Mantilla were going to be integrating the South Atlantic League (along with two players on the Savannah ball club). Their manager wanted them on his team, but he also wanted them to know what they would be up against. During the season, he would make a point of visiting them wherever they were staying and would often eat with them when they couldn't eat with the rest of the team. They knew it wouldn't be easy, but the young players were glad to know their manager was on their side.

It wouldn't be easy. They knew that they weren't just playing for themselves. They were setting the stage for other players of their race to join the league down the road. They were expected to hold their tongues no matter what was screamed at them. They were expected to keep their cool if pitchers on opposing teams threw at them. They were expected to be saints in a world of sinners.

At ballparks all over the South, the Jacksonville team was drawing large crowds. The "black section" in each park was full to cheer the African-American players, and the white sections were full just to see the spectacle. This could have led to a disaster. After being hit by a pitch in Macon, Mantilla started to rush the mound but was quickly restrained by teammates. First white fans began spilling onto the field in anger, followed by the African-American fans. If not for the police, it is conceivable that a race riot would have taken place.

Aaron, Mantilla and Garner would suffer indignities at every turn. The fans would throw rocks at them. They were insulted with every racist slur known to man. White fans would throw black cats on the field. Aaron was chased through the streets of Phenix City, Alabama by a group of white guys. Even worse, they would receive death threats, often threatening to shoot them from the stands. At no point could they relax at the ballpark. Their only possible revenge was to play the game well and that they did.

Aaron would be selected to play in the league's All-Star Game. Rumor had it that Georgia Governor Herman Talmadge was going to block him from playing. Aaron would be spiked in the last game before the All-Star Game and it became a moot point. No black player would make the All-Star team that year. Still, Aaron would lead his team into the playoffs. One white fan would greet the team after they clinched their spot in the playoffs with "I just wanted to let you n*****s know you played a helluva game."

When it was over, Aaron knew he was a survivor. He had taken everything that could be thrown at him and thrived as a ballplayer. He saw that he and his teammates had slowly won over many of the fans in the league during the season. It has been said that Aaron might have been the catalyst for Jacksonville to become a more racially tolerant city. "I'm not sure I've ever done anything more important" was Aaron's response.

Flames

Hi Nikki, this is Mike

If your face doesn't cringe during this you probably didn't hear it (may need to turn volume up a tad).

Baseball Season Approaches

It's been a long time since I've blogged, so I thought I'd start back softly. Excited for Sunday's Braves vs Phillies also.

God's Smuggler, by Brother Andrew

The following is an excerpt from the book. Brother Andrew is a Dutch lad who is at a missionary training school in Scotland.

"During the first few weeks, however, something kept happening that bothered me. At mealtimes the students would frequently discuss inadequate funds. Sometimes after a whole night in prayer for a certain need, half of the request would be granted, or three-quarters…The Bible said that we were workers in God’s vineyard. Was this the way the Lord of the vineyard paid His hired men?

One night I went out for a long solitary walk. On several occasions students had warned me not to “go into Patrick.” Patrick was the slum at the bottom of our hill. It was, they said, the home of addicts, drunks, thieves, even murderers, and walking its streets was unsafe….Before I had gone five blocks I was accosted two times by beggars. I gave them all the money I had in my pocket and watched as they moved without pretense toward the nearest pub. I knew that thee drifters, begging in the streets of the Glasgow slums, would receive a better income than the missionaries-in-training at the top of the hill.

I could not understand why this bothered me so. Was I greedy? I didn’t think so. We had always been poor, and I had never worried about it. What was it then?

And suddenly, walking back up the hill toward the school, I had my answer.

At the chocolate factory I trusted Mr. Ringers to pay me in full and on time. Surely I said to myself, if an ordinary factory worker could be financially secure, so could one of God’s workers.

I turned through the gate at the school. Above me was the reminder “Have Faith In God.”

That was it! It wasn’t that I needed the security of a certain amount of money, it was that I needed the security of a relationship.

I walked up the crunchy pebblewalk feeling more and more certain that I was on the verge of something exciting. The school was asleep and quiet. I tiptoed upstairs and sat by the bedroom window looking out over Glasgow. If I were going to give my life as a servant of the King, I had to know that King. What was He like? In what way could I trust Him? In the same way I trusted a set of impersonal laws? Or could I trust Him as a living leader, as a very present commander in battle? The question was central. Because if He were a King in name only, I would rather go back to the chocolate factory. I would remain a Christian, but I would know that my religion was only a set of principles, excellent and to be followed, but hardly demanding devotion.

Suppose on the other hand that I were to discover God to be a Person, in the sense that He communicated and cared and loved and led. That was something quite different. That was the kind of King I would follow into any battle."

Welcome Moscow!

Welcome to whoever checked out my blog in Moscow!

I am able to view where viewers are coming from, and this is the first one from Asia. I have had one from India, but it must have not been interesting enough. Anyway, welcome Moscow.

Shine Like Stars

If you have never seen U2's Rattle and Hum DVD, I would take an hour and a half, make some hot cocoa and a warm fire, and sit down with the kids and watch it. Or if you're single, maybe just microwave some chicken nuggets and sit on your bed and check it out. There is a playlist of all of the songs that take you through the DVD, fantastic. I highly recommend it.

Multiplicity

And I'm not talking about the movie with Michael Keaton.

It is possible that our model of ministry is still based on a model presented to us over a thousand years ago. Think about that. At that time one man went to God for us (the priest). Martin Luther rediscovered the importance of the "priesthood of all believers," we can all go to God, we don't need someone to do it for us. Yet, our ministry model looks the same (show a sermon on TV and it's possible for me not to know if it's Roman Catholic or Protestant, except maybe the clothes give it away). We still have a person (pastor) going to God for us each week. She/he does the work beforehand, as the professional, and then prays for us and then presents the Word for us and blesses us at the end. For some reason this particular person is way more important during a community time than the rest (remember, she/he is the professional).

Two main things come to mind. First, the New Testament does not have the word "pastor" in it. God never calls a "pastor" in the New Testament. But God does call "pastors" (Eph 4:11). And actually of that list, pastors is number four in importance. (What happened to the first three is a discussion for another time.) But why take the number four of the list and make that the top of today's Christian hierarchy? Very interesting historical progression...but to keep the blog short, I'll continue. The church has done a much better job and not making today's head pastor have to have all the tools in the toolbag. They are now surrounded by more associate pastors, which is fantastic, but I feel as if the process needs to continue. How? Great question (let's blog about it!). Possibly having the church name more pastors (they don't have to be paid, do they?). Naming someone's gift is not a bad thing, and they don't have to be called Pastor Bob or anything, just a noticing of gifts is awesome enough. Maybe CEO pastors, who have just an once of pastoring or shepharding ability, should not be called pastors. They could have another title, and allow the church to reclaim the meaning of the word pastor. I'll continue to my next thought...

If the church has only one person up front, only one person "speaking for God" typically each week, one who is able to go to God for us (at least communally...when was the last time you were asked to pray for your congregation publically?), then how is the world supposed to believe in our Trinity? Three people in unison, three who are one in purpose and power. If we can't see past presenting one and showing a unity among ourselves, how is it possible that we represent a unified God? We are what we do and what we don't do. We need to recognize the gifts among us and let each know how important they are to the body. Pastoring is only one aspect of what's important. Thoughts?

Small

It's a huge world, but a truly postmodern church may begin to draw a lot of people. But it must remain small for the sake of community. It should either be physically small or have some sense of smallness about it.

I am a big fan of tables at church. Tables are built to get people into a small circle with one another. Usually this happens with family, friends or co-workers, but at church they allow you to engage with all sorts of people you never would have before.

I recall my first time at a church that had tables in the sanctuary. The middle of the sanctuary was rows of chairs but the sides were lined with tables, 4 on each side I believe. There was a family at our table (Mike and I), and we were able to meet all of them and even get to know the two little girls a little bit during the service. Discussion time was held at the table. Jokes were laughed at together. Worship was done in such a way you were conscious of these newcomers into your little realm. At the end when we were pulling out of the parking lot, the two little girls waived at Mike and I, 23 year old single males who typically never would have gotten to know a family there. Maybe eventually through some special event, but not regularly.

Tables naturally, by their nature, set you up for more success when it comes to community. It does not take a table to make that community happen, but it is a handy natural facilitator. It helps to keep things small.

Small groups are the other obvious way to keep things small when a community comes together. Other ideas will be listed this weekend, but does anyone have any more ways to keep things small?

Apples, apples, who wants some apples?

Thank you Kristi for that catchy title.


Our internet has been down at home so I wasn't able to post this weekend. I could have made a special coffee shop trip or something, but, well I didn't. So we begin again.

I just wanted to talk about macs for a sec. At my work I support PCs and Macs. In the last few years, I have purchased maybe 15 new PCs and there have been maybe 3 mac purchases. I support roughly 70 PCs and 8 macs. Guess how many times I've had to get the PC parts fixed? (bad screen, CD-ROM, memory, hard drive crashed, etc). I would say maybe 2? I believe the same number applies to the macs.

Macs are not immune from having failing pieces! In fact, from my experience, they are more likely to!

Yesterday I spend over an hour replacing a CD-ROM on a MacBook, over an hour! On a PC it takes 2 minutes. Unreal. An employee here had her personal macbook hard drive crash after 4 months I believe, everything lost. I just wanted to let everyone know that macs are not perfect, they are not amazing. If you are going to buy one, buy as much Applecare as you can!

That being said, Christy and my next computer will probably be a Mac.

Open Minded

This weekend Christy and I went up to Fargo for a day to visit her brother Mitch. We had a romantic night with them at the bowling alley, a movie and then midnight pizza. Back to an effective postmodern church...

This may be one of the most difficult ones to picture. Bear with me.

An effective postmodern church does not depend on doctrine as its unifying theme. At the core must be one doctrine, to love Jesus, and after that everyone must love one another in all of their differences. This will easy for some and very difficult for others. I am suggesting that the same church allows someone to talk about why homosexuality is wrong and the another time someone else is allowed to share about whey they think it's okay. Many voices, one God (I had a book called that once).

I was at a church in town called Solomon's Porch. I met a man through the 5-10 minutes greeting time and began a discussion with him on why he was at this church. He said that he had been going there for a few months and that this was the only church that "let him believe" how he believed. I thought "Is this possible? A church let someone do this?" Not only could he believe differently (what's the big deal you ask), the church let him share his varying doctrine and discussed it with him. A discussion. Open dialogue. Today's church is looking for dialogue, not another parent. People aren't going to believe "because they should" like a 12 year old in Sunday School anymore, they have very serious questions that the church has failed to answer for them. Genetics. Evolution. Theodicy, or the problem of evil. The depths of the atom, the reaches of the universe. We need some serious dialogue.

Do you believe its possible for a church to have people who believe in remarriage with those who do not? Can those who believe in predestination worship next to Free Willy? (just made that up) Can those who read the Book of Prayer daily help the guy who raises his hands every song move to a new home? I think it can happen, it is happening. Thank God, it's about time.


This is not a knock on doctrine, I believe it is a step to make doctrine understood and ultimately more intimate with those in the church. Thoughts?

Not music driven

There are too many pieces to a church service that people have to pick through in finding a church. I constantly hear (and say myself) "Oh the teaching is so good there, but I don't like the music," or vice versa. We pick or don't pick our community so often based on musical tastes. Is this even close to where we should be as God's hand to the earth? Are we crazy? But no, it's about us. We make it about us. Christy and I have been looking at a church lately and I don't want to go there because I don't want to sit through the music for 30 minutes but I like the teaching. I have this inner battle about it.

But the truth is community should not exist around a show. Anyone here a member of the Stomp community or the Cats community? (You would be if tradition and God had a thing to do with it) The worship experience is much more than music. I do not want someone's words of a time 6 years ago when he was effected by God in such in such a way to be my expression at that moment. Songs are meant to inspire and be a guide (and often a teacher), but they are not the worship experience. Musical talent at a local church should not dictate a church's growth. I often even wonder if we should have music because of the division it often brings. If a major goal of the church is unity ("May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.") then this should matter to us. But it's such an effective tool at times, I have to believe music is important for community worship at times, not every time.

And please read Susi's post in the previous post, right on. I can not focus for a second while someone is playing behind the prayer. It's the one time in the service where we allow the Bible or message to speak to us and to challenge and change us, and then there is soothing music behind it. Can we let God change us please! Reminds me of David playing to sooth Saul, but there are times when God doesn't want us to be soothed at that moment.

Phew, longer one (and I deleted like half of it to keep it shorter).

Climax

(Reminder: My goal is for this to be a dialogue. If you have any comments, thoughts, rebukes, please post, thanks. Also there are those who need get your mind out of the gutter concerning the post title...you know who you are)

Whether you know it or not today's service is set up for a climax. In the Roman Catholic church, the climax is the Eucharist/Lord's supper/Communion. That is it, that's what it's all about, partaking of the bread and the wine. The typical climax of the protestant church is the sermon. Ever heard "God, bless the words of the pastor, may they come from you?" Let's be honest for a second, everyone that God calls is not a good speaker. If the words are from God then God sounds like a bumbling idiot sometimes. We have made our climax someone speaking for 35 minutes (while the average attention span, due to television, is around 17 1/2 minutes or something).

I believe a postmodern church's climax should not be sitting around listening to someone speak (see Engaging post from yesterday). The climax of the true church is communion with God. This may take place around the Eucharist, but it needs to take place in other forms. Meeting with God is the number one thing a community of believers can do (not feeding the poor, although I believe that desire is a natural bi-product of knowing God). This may include silence, this may include confession, this may include public prayer, or reading of Scripture, there are a number of things that this could look like. But I tell you this, give me 3 minutes of serious connecting with God each week with my community and you'll probably have a faithful church member.

I'll cut this one short too and save the other piece for tomorrow.

Engaging

As mentioned on an earlier post, I will be mentioning a number of things that I believe will be crucial for the postmodern church.

The first, and in no particular order, is that it has to be engaging. Today's church does not engage its constituents (members, crowd). It is more of a program or a show than a community. As someone whose struggled with a "call" in his life, I can tell you that I've never felt called to be in drama. Today's church is set up like a Greco-Roman amphitheater. To take the style of an ancient amphitheater and decide "Hey, this will be the best possible scenario for an engaging community" is to deceive ourselves. Long gone should be the day where you come to a church community and hide in the back. Long gone should be the time where you don't know the person sitting next to you or their family. There should be interaction with everyone, because, here is the idea, YOU MATTER. If you come to church, it matters. People should miss you when you are not there because you bring something unique to the table and that's important! Never let anyone tell you likewise. Today's church should engage your head and your heart. It's time to stop being professional showmen and professional pray-ers and time to start being professionally honest.

The church today needs to set itself so that it is engaging by nature. The engagement that exists in a small group is the engagement that we're talking about. The connection. The interest. You're understanding of the Native American woman next to you and her past and you help her and she helps you. The way we meet needs to change, the approach we bring needs to change. When someone leaves a church community meeting, they need to typically think "I could not have missed today, thank you God." Trust me, that can happen.

This one has been a bit of rambling and I want to preach now. I'll stop here and continue on tomorrow.

Upcoming...

For the next week or so I'm going to be blogging about some of the things that I believe are critical for the Church's success in our time. Not only do we have your typical generational gaps to deal with but you add in a paradigm shift and you have a church that doesn't fit the identity of it's members. It's like going to a baseball game listening to the organ and wondering if they'll still play those same songs in 100 years when kids won't even know what an organ is. We are going to need some changes, not tweaks (as is the generational gap custom), and some beliefs that we will need to hold dear. I hope to present a number of possible beliefs for the church. My hope is that people will respond with comments and questions that will allow for a running dialogue. I also hope that this spurns your relationship with God and belief that a relative community of believers is possible, even inevitable. May God bless this time.

Dental Visit

"Why is this happening to me?"

Lamar and Arnold Poindexter

Do you believe in evolution?

Classic Plots

They should redo great plots for television shows like this...

Vikings

So here I am watching Superstars of Dance thinking "I haven't updated my blog in a long time." So I'm here to update it.

We went to the Vikings game today. God bless Tarvaris Jackson but if he's brought back next year Brad Childress needs to be let go. There are certain people, Doug Flutie types, who don't have to be amazing but can manage a team at QB. Jackson does not have that ability. It was very fun though. And I'm excited about the Falcons next season, they can only get better!