ricky

It's been a while since I've posted. Last weekend I taught and did the music, so it was pretty much the Dan Price show, which is good that that's not a regular thing! But it seemed to go pretty ok.

I haven't been sleeping very well becuase of the muggyness, but today is cooler, so I'm looking forward to bed tonight.

I also just sold the church's Fender American Strat which was a good guitar, but not best suited for my needs. So I went to Elderly today and bought a Rickenbacker 330 in Jet Glo (black with white pickguard.

Emerging Oi!

Here is in interesting article written by the leaders of the Austrailian emerging church in response to critique of the US Emerging church. They are trying to distance themselves in a way. What do you think?

Edit: ok the paper is back

Poker

Ride the wave folks. Played poker at our place last night and it was good times. We had a bunch of newbies there from people's work and school. We've been talking lately about letting this be a place where people can get connected in a "safe" place. It's pretty cool. Hold 'em poker is the biggest trend in the country right now, we even had some decent first conversations with some of the guys, and I think most of them will be back. Pretty cool. Oh and I won $11.

Stack

I guess maybe we need to get him some Legos!

Our Pet Kid

Jaden a couple weeks ago

Olders and Youngers

There is an obvious distance in the lives of many olders and youngers who are Christ followers. Some of this is just age, some of this is culture and some of it is sin. There are very few olders who are taking the initiative to really "teach faithful men" who will pass the message of the gospel on to other faithful men. At the same time there is much cynicsm coming from youngers, which, to be honest seems to lack kindness and self-control that mark the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, there is a time for confrontation, yes there is time where rebuke is the most loving thing to give, but I'm afraid we justify slander all too often through this.

This from Christi Avant in Baptist Press news, she helps a church in NYC, funded by SBC churches, to reach out to the artistic community there.

“I have caught a dangerous trend arising in my generation, which "loves Christ but not the church."

Not all of this is our fault. We are crying out for our elders to step back and allow us to step up. We are crying out for them to fund relevant college ministries even though most of us cannot drop as much as they can in the offering plate.

However, we are crying out immaturely, like a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum in a grocery store.

Abandoning or "taking a break from" church is neither the right thing to do, nor is it any kind of solution to the problem.”

We need more stories like that of Rick at our church who joined a band just to get involved with younger's lives. Or of a group of men who meet weekly with a bunch of guys. This kind of relationship is all too often lacking, in our church and probably most others. We need the youngers to sit and converse with these olders also. I need to.

Here is a really interesting article that Barna put out about "passing the baton." It's a really interesting read.

Then go and listen to Noel's Message on this topic.

download

Here's an interesting interview with Jeff Tweedy about art and the internet.

If You Care

I updated some songs on my music page. I added some things to "Bungee" which I had fun with. I also added a song that Corey and recorded last year, it's "Pushes and Shoves." Just go to "My Music" under my links.

Rest and Priority

It's interesting reading some in Leviticus about the "year of Jubilee." They rested the land, they freed their slaves, they forgave debts, they rested. It seems that there is much emphasis on rest in the Bible. There is a holy day of rest, holy years, holy weeks, where people stopped working to honor God and to rest. Even God rested. It's not something that comes too easy for most people these days. Some might argue that with the amount of lazy, uncommitted people around today, that we rest way too much. But I would say that most people are still busy with their material pleasures and passions even if they are not working. It's easy to get caught up either way. The hard thing is that since we are not under the law to observe the Sabbath, we can ignore the principle of rest altogether.

I don't know if this relates at all but I'm somewhat concerned about priorities, in my life and in others. We are so busy, that good things are sometimes taking so much time in our lives that we don't make time for the Best things. I know in my life over the past year I've had little contact with those outside the church even though I've been "busy." I think that outreach is super important and as a Christ Follower, I really want to see God work in my life and hopefully bless others, but my comfort sometimes gets in the way. So I'm doing something about it with some of my friends. We are taking one day a week and intentionally going out to meet people. No tracts, no bridge outline (although this can effectively explain part of the Gospel in some well in some cultures), but probably beers, maybe some music. Hopefully conversation. I don't have much to offer in myself, but my hope is that somehow Christ will be revealed to people. I don't write this to brag about what we are doing, but more to kick myself in the butt as accountability. I need to get uncomfortable.

Cars, The New Curse

My dad used to always say that cars have replaced the curse that God put on the ground, since most of us aren't farmers anymore. Anyway, I have a feeling my car is going to need a new clutch soon, but the past couple of days it has been shaking at high speeds, I thought I needed a balence, so I took it into the tire place. The dude at the desk started taking my information down and a young guy, who I didn't recognize came up to him and whisped in his ear "hook him up, he works at my church." And then he walked away. Turns out when they looked at the tires, they found that they were dangerously bald on the inside (I guess it's been about 50k since I had new tires). But they still hooked me up with four tires for about $160 tax included out the door. Pretty sweet deal, especially since money's a bit tight this month.

Summer

So it's a busy summer to say the least. This past weekend Chaz and Nicole got married, which is very cool. But that also means that Nicole is obviously not living with us anymore (sad). We'll miss her, especially Jaden, but it's a good catch for Chaz, I mean how many brides do you know who buy their husbands a Rickenbacker 360 Fireglow? Not many.

Sunday after leading worship at church, I took a nap until 5pm! Crazy, then we went to Josh and Kelly's and watched Coach Carter, ok movie, but good friends and yes, I drank a chocolate martini, but only because Josh did too...

This weekend I'm in Dan Eaton's wedding and am excited about that, we are going to stay two nights up north, and maybe catch a wine tasting on the way back home. Should be fun. Sorry I haven't posted anything with much substance, too dang busy.

The "Show Me" State

I just got back from the Ozarks with Noel, Paul and Steve. We attended the annual Pastor's conference for GCAC. It was really encouraging to hear the different stories from different men who have been following God and are planting churches. There's so much more to say, but since we got up at 4am this morning to catch our flight, I need to get to bed.