My Rally Cry

I wonder what all contributes to impact which choruses make it into mainstream church and which ones are left for other contexts. For example, Passion-Jesus Lover of My Soul has a very similar theme to For the Sake of the Call, but Passion's the only one I've sung in church. For the Sake of the Call is my rally cry...

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call

Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure
Was Jesus had called to them
He said "come follow Me" and they came
With reckless abandon, they came

Empty nets lying there at the water's edge
Told a story that few could believe
And none could explain
How some crazy fisherman agreed to go where Jesus went
With no thought to what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name
And they answered...

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call
The sake of the call

Drawn like the rivers are drawn to the sea
There's no turning back, for the water cannot help but flow
Once we hear the Savior's call, we'll follow wherever He leads
Because of the love He has shown
And because He has called us to go
We will answer...

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die

Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who called
And if we believe we'll obey

We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die for the sake of the call
For the sake of the call

A Bird's Nest with a Cauldron

From the first pictures I saw of the Bird's Nest in Beijing, I wondered where the Olympic cauldron was though I didn't hear any commentators talking about it. When it appeared just in time, I wondered what went on behind the scenes and found this article.

Now I wonder if they had a backup plan if anything had failed.

A walker on my birthday

It seemed ideal, Missions Fest Lancaster and the Wings of Freedom tour were both scheduled for August 23-24 coinciding with my birthday. A weekend an airplane dreamer would love.

That all changed Friday morning when Dad inexplicably fell while at his daily day services program. With Dad's self-confidence to stand, let alone walk shattered and his right hip bruised, the weekend plans were altered. Fortunately, Dad's injuries aren't any more serious. Full of irony, on my birthday, Beth bought a walker!

I could never have predicted that this would've been the way I'd celebrate this birthday, but I enjoyed today in spite of it being God's plan for the day and not mine.

Four-fold Franciscan Blessing

One of the speakers at a conference I attended recently concluded his challenge with the following Franciscan blessing that I wanted to keep on file (I use my blog as a personal filing cabinet in addition to other uses).


May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.

May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.

May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.

May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really CAN make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God's grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.

And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.

AMEN.

Leaving talents on the shelf

I have a sincere question for which I am truly requesting your interaction. The question is, can you recall or find any scriptural foundation or an illustration from The Bible that supports leaving identified and known God-given talents/abilities/gifts on the shelf for a period of time?



There's profound evidence supporting the opposite of that question, that God strongly endorses the use of talents, and Christian leaders among many others, highly promote that range of thinking. If God's blessed with you a set of skills, even spiritual gifts, He's given them to you for a purpose and for them to be exercised. Not exercising said gifts, in many cases, could be classified as quenching the Spirit. Scriptural support for this line of reasoning can include the parable of the talents among others. Scripturally, it's solid. From a human perspective, it's a logical thought process that, frankly, stokes the soul.



God gave you the gifts to use them. Orient your life around them, leverage your spiritual gifts the way God has put them in your life.



The popularity of the notion raised the question in my mind as I don't recall hearing anyone else explore the opposite line of thinking. Is there any evidence in scripture that God equipped one of his children with multiple gifts which for some period of time intentionally remained on the shelf? And I'm not talking about undeveloped gifts, I recognize that God may have blessed an individual with a gift that has yet to show itself or be exercised. I'm talking about an identified gift/talent/ability that produced fruit that is conscientiously limited, shelved for a set period of time. Can you think of any scripture that would support such gift sabbaticals?


Even though I know my readers don't usually chose to comment I'm asking you this one time to step out of your comfort zone. I'd really appreciate your interaction by leaving a response, comment or answer to the question. I thank you in advance for your participation.

Olympic predictions

The TiVo is set and will soon be overloaded with Olympic coverage, even though we've dropped Cable TV. I'll leave you with two simple predictions...

1. Watch Spain during these Summer Olympic Games. Matt Laurer mentioned it during the coverage of the opening ceremonies, Spain's been on a roll this summer and it wouldn't surprise me if their success continues.

2. Though it won't occur during the next 14 days, I'll state now that I will be surprised if Rio de Janeiro isn't awarded the 2016 Summer Games.

Enjoy the games!

Drinking from a fire hose

I didn't realize it but Wednesday night of this week I managed to fit my mouth around a fire hose. That was a feat in and of itself. Mid-morning Thursday, someone snuck in and turned the thing on and it's remained on for two straight days. Whether actual water or figuratively for information, I have a lot to process.

For starters, there appears to be a movement of the Spirit that exceeds that which I've witnessed in my three-and-a-half plus decades on this planet. I've made such statements previously, that I sense God doing things I've never seen before. I do not write these words flippantly.

In several conversations with key individuals I've come to respect, admire and have sought to emulate a theme rapidly emerged today. To a person, each shared, without my prompting, collaboration, that their hearts and minds were being stirred in ways they were still trying to understand and comprehend. I too felt it.

When I correlate these conversations with people of influence with the resources God has placed in the storehouse of Grace Church, I believe we are on the cusp of seeing a calling of God unfurled.

Are we ready? Am I ready?

Decorating the children's wing

Since visiting churches during our trip to Creative08 that was hosted by Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX, we've been talking and planning to redecorate the children's wing. The concept is a Noah's Ark theme with murals on the walls and identifying each room with a different animal. Each room would then have the animal at the door so each room is easily identifiable from the hallway.

Up until this week, we've been thinking of these concepts being applied in a Disney-esque style. Think The Lion King.

That was, until this week.

I had an epiphany that we're presented with an opportunity to go where few churches have likely gone before, based on the inherent creativity at Grace combined with the number of hunters. Instead of the flashy, commercially-over done Disney style, why not use the real thing, taxidermy-ed giraffes, monkeys, hyenas and the like adorning the children's wing hallway like an Elk Lodge or something?

:)

Don't let our teens survive re-entry

Sunday, our teens return from the Momentum Youth Conference. Like the many camp and spiritual emphasis weeks of my youth, they too will likely be coming off of a week of intense spiritual highs and will face the challenge of not riding the pendulum in the other direction. In that vein I found Josh Griffin's post today thought provoking in regards to ways we can engage our teens at Grace Church. While several of his ideas revolve around the weekend worship services, what if you applied them to your ABF, future small group or even your social groups (have families over for pizza, include the teens, and as part of the conversation, ask the teens questions about what they're learning, dreaming, etc.).

Let's not let the teens merely survive their return from Momentum, let's help them excel and keep moving closer to Christ!

Keep Up Momentum

It's not too late to keep up with the annual Youth conference, Momentum. Doug's blogging from Cedarville, OH on the Grace Student Ministries Blog.

Gym Renovations - No longer tracking the day

Though I regret I don't have any visual documentation, the floor has been glued down this week. Yesterday the subcontractors spent the day preparing the templates for the line painting and when you enter the building you can tell that the painting has been completed over the last 12-16 hours; the fumes are rather intense.

From what I understand, in addition to what will now be a full, regulation sized basketball court (it wasn't apparent at first glance, but the old court was a few feet short of a regulation sized basektball court), the floor will also be lined with two side-by-side volleyball courts and a center volleyball court.

It's unclear whether there will also be lines marking a tennis court, AWANA circle, badminton, water polo, indoor track/field, NASCAR short track, four square, Olympic-sized swimming lanes, crabwalk... okay, time to get back to work.

Bikes and Cadillacs

I've been tracking the 2008 edition of the Tour de France and wondered recently, when professional bike riders take a beach vacation, do they enjoy riding bikes with their family on the boardwalk or is the thought of getting in the saddle again repulsive?

On a completely different note my day today has consisted of finalizing the June 30 financial reports and searching the internet for a 1959 Cadillac... all official church business. Seriously, if it all comes together it'll make more sense come September.

Forget Church Softball, Grace Church Should Field a Football Team

While Manheim Central's football team has suffered through some "delayed successes" over the past two years (I know better than to use the slump word in these parts), the Warwick football program has been over-achieving. Several of the Warwick players regularly attend Grace. With that kind of talent, maybe we should enter a church football league instead of a softball league.

In fact, Warwick's feature running back was interviewed by LNPNews' Jeffrey Reinhart recently and featured on Reinhart's blog today.

Having trouble getting teenagers to talk to you? I do. But everytime Eric checks me out at Bombergers, I ask him about football. How's he training over the summer, when does pre-season camp start, or how I saw parts of the game on TV. I try to find something they're interested in and suprisingly find them very engaging in return.

Outdoor Worship

Photo courtesy of Tim Reedy

I just came in from the worship service outside under the tent. Recognizing that I was able to sit where I wanted, able to find a seat that would be in the shade throughout the service, able to locate myself on the edge of the tent to catch the breeze as it blew across the soccer field... acknowledging that I didn't have to preach for 30+ minutes or lead in singing... taking into account that it was the first service which started at 9 before the intensity of the day's sun had started to take hold... it was actually very delightful to be outside this morning. And it got me thinking that there are a lot of advantages to holding worship outdoors:

1. Anyone who has a complaint about the temperature, need not bother voicing such complaint on their Connections Card, for man has nothing to do nor any control over the day's temp.

2. Anyone who has a complaint about the lighting, too dark, dim, bright or otherwise, need to not take the time to voice their concern for it's beyond our control.

3. The electric bill of a church with regular outdoor services would be much lower than an indoor facility.

4. The cost of a tent as compared to the cost of bricks and mortar is much less of an expenditure.

5. It's almost impossible to run out of room in an exterior environment, so space is less of an issue.

6. Those neighbors who've never been in our facility to see what it is we all show up for every Sunday, got a firsthand taste of what it's like. In many ways, you could classify today as an informal, non-threatening evangelistic tool.

Of any church I know, I think Grace would be crazy enough to attempt a year-round outdoor service. Dress cooly in summer, dress warmly in winter. Think of the amount of resources that could be diverted toward other aspects of our ministry. Seasonly, we would embody Scripture as the Hot & Heaven Bound during the summers and the Frozen Chosen during the winters. Being in the controlled environment of a building affords many comforts, but this morning exposed some of the things we give up for those comforts.

Appointment Cancellations/Schedule Flexibility

I'm on a roll of late, in the span of two weeks, I've had three appointments postponed due to emergencies. Fortunately, all of the meeting topics were non-urgent making rescheduling easy and pain free.

I was to meet with someone to work on some items related to the addition of a third worship service, but a day or so before the meeting, I was notified that their father passed away unexpectedly and the meeting would have to be rescheduled.

My Dad was to have a Dr appointment yesterday, but the office called to reschedule because the Doctor had been in surgery most of the day throwing his appointment schedule all out of whack.

I was to have a meeting about health insurance this morning, but that got postponed yesterday because the father of the guy we were to meet with had a heart attack this week.

Three separate cancellations from three different contexts caught my attention and seemed noteworthy. One of the things I appreciate about church work, is the freedom we have in a life perspective. Our day to day work is important, but I'd much rather each of these individuals spend time with the loved ones in the midst of crisis than still maintain an appointment to discuss building signage or health plans. And though they're simply handling the logistic of cancelling an appointment, they don't realize they're activating a prayer line. Nothing outstanding about that, just a quick prayer as I think of them and what they might be experiencing. We'll eventually make up the appointments and keep the work of the church moving forward, signs, health plans and all.

Gym Renovations - Day 11

Thankfully, the glue arrived this morning and plans were already in place for Sunday's worship services to be held outdoors as there's no way the gym could be usable this Sunday.

The tent is up on the soccer field and the chairs are being set up this morning, all in preparation for the worship services on Sunday. Bottles of water will be available for hydrating.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the property, the sidewalk was extended from Fellowship Hall around to the Young Chapel entrances this week where previously you had to walk in the driveway.

Gym Renovations - Day 9

The flooring material arrived from Colorado on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the glue didn't arrive with the rolls of flooring, so the project's been in a holding pattern for the past two days and I don't have any pictoral documentation.

Gym Renovations - Day 8

DAY EIGHT

Flashing and holes for the volleyball net standards were drilled into the cement. Whereas formerly two volleyball courts were side-by-side, a center volleyball court in the middle of the gym is being added with the new floor.

Gym Renovations - Days 6 & 7

Following the Genesis example, on the sixth day, we rested and on the seventh, we worshipped.

Gym Renovations - Day 5

DAY FIVE

The floor was swept and vacuumed as best as possible before setting up the chairs for Sunday's worship services. As many discovered, there was still a lot of residual glue dust left on the floor.

Several people thought the cement floor looked beautiful and thought it was the finished product. I guess that reveals how bad the carpet looked.