Searching For God Knows What

I just finished reading Searching For God Knows What, by Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz. I really enjoyed Blue Like Jazz, but Searching For God Knows What was even better. Donald Miller has a wonderful way of telling stories that some how or other end up illuminating what it means to follow Christ in a new and deeper way.

Example:

In Chapter 10: The Gospel of Jesus: It Never Was A Formula:

Miller writes on page 153:

Each year I teach a class on the gospel and culture at a small Bible college back East. This year I asked the students to list the precepts a person would need to understand in order to become a Christian. I stoood at the white board and they called out ideas: Man was sinful by nature; sin separates us from God; Jesus died for our sins; we could accept Jesus into our hearts (after some thought, students were not able to explain exactly what they meant by this, only saying it was a kind of interaction in which a person agrees Jesus is the Son of God), and so on. Then looking at the board, I bean to ask some questions about these almost universally accepted ideas. I asked if a person could believe all these ideas were true and yet not be a Christian. I told them my friend Matt, for instance, believed all these ideas and yet would never claim to be a person who knows Jesus or much less follows Him. The students conceeded that, in fact, a person could know and even believe all the concepts on the board and yet not be a Christian....

We sat together and looked at the board for several minutes until we conceeded we eren't going to come up with the missing element. I then erased the board and asked the class a different question: What ideas would a guy need to agree with or what steps would a guy need to take in order to fall in love with a girl?

Miller then goes on to talk about how our relationship with God isn't dictated by a checklist, but rather by a love relationship with the Lord. Why do we break down salvation into 4 Spiritual Laws, or the bridge or wheel diagrams? When we do that we oversimplify a dynamic love relationship with God that follows more along the lines of a man and a woman falling in love. Miller's illustrations are brilliant and highlight the difference in belief paradigms between the emerging generations and those who preceeded them.

I'll post more examples in the following days. But, for now, I recommend you go to your bookstore and purchase Searching For God Knows What.

On Being Gay Friendly

Thanks to Steve McCoy and his Emerging SBC Leaders Blog for linking out to this Baptist Press article. It has started a lot of discussion on his website. I like the article and the discussion it has started among my friends in the blogosphere. It brings up a lot of issues about how we show God's love to those who live lives far different from ours. In case you haven't seen it yet please read it and let me know your thoughts.

It's All A Matter of Perspective

I received the following E-mail from a friend of mine. I thought it was good enough to copy here:

A lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address! A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email. Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his> mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:

To: My Loving Wife> Subject: I've Arrived> Date: October 16, 2004

I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now, and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was. P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!

Wow, what a shock!

StudentLife Camp

Sorry about the light posting, but I just returned from StudentLife Camp last week at Windermere Conference Center at Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Camp has changed a lot since I was a camper. StudentLife has the camp process down pat. It was a grat time of spiritual growth for the 50 students we took and for each of us sponsors. It was a wonderful time to reflect, rededicate lives, and start anew on serving Christ. I made some good friendships with students and fellow sponsors and was able to teach a daily Bible Study and Prayer Gathering. The weather was unbearable hot and humid, but it cooled off for the bus ride home. To all my students out there who I had a chance to work with, Go Blue Team!

The Age Division at The SBC

I have been reading lots of posts lately by and about the young leaders at the Southern Baptist Convention feeling like they don't have a voice. Two of the best are Steve McCoy's and Adam Feldman's.

I think a little too much emphasis is placed on the whole age thing. I know the 20 and 30 somethings are finding positions of leadership in SBC churches, but are frustrated that they are not being offered positions of leadership at the SBC. The young leaders are frustrated that their voice is not being heard. I can understand their frustration, but I think the issue goes deeper than age. The emerging church isn't about age, or worship style, but rather about a difference in worldview. My question would not be where are the young leaders in the SBC leadership? But, where are the emerging leaders in the SBC leadership?

It shouldn't be looked at as an old versus young division, but a worldview division. I am probably looking at the issue from the wrong perspective, but when I hear the young leaders asking that type of question I also have to ask, where are the middle aged leaders in the emerging church? I know they are there, but I don't think they are taken seriously by either the SBC leadership or the young leaders in the emerging church. It seems like the lines are being drawn around an age division, when I believe they should be drawn around a worldview division. I guess I get a little sensitive when a person in their late 40s with an emergent worldview like me doesn't fit into either camp. I side with the emergent camp, but age shouldn't be the overriding issue in this battle.

Back Flips Off the Diving Board

Sometimes we make it so hard to trust what our heavenly Father tells us to do.

My family camps in our camping trailer most of the summer at a Christian campground about an hour away called Lake Williamson Christian Center. It is a wonderful campground, and the headquarters of the Illinois Disctrict of the Assemblies of God church, we discovered when I served as a camp counselor there for our church's kids kamp. During the summer I split time staying at home and making the 1 hour commute between camp and work a couple of days per week. The campground has an outdoor pool and last year my daughter learned to do forward summersaults off the diving board. This year she started working on back flips. She is absolutely fearless. And I am convicted about my fears every time I see her do a back flip. When she was learning to do a back flip she would asks me, "Dad, what to do next"? And I would tell her to jump in feet first a couple of times and then do a back dive and move on to the back flip. That lasted for about 5 minutes and now she can't be stopped. She trusted each and every word of mine, like I really knew what I was talking about.

I clearly hear the Lord's direction in my life, but unlike my daughter I let myself get caught up in the ramifications of doing what the Lord wants me to do. How will it affect my life, my family, my work? I long for those simple days of childhood where if you did what your parents asked you to do they would cover for you. I guess I'll just have to trust the Lord as if He knows what He is talking about.

Blogging from Virginia

I am on the last of 3 trips in 6 weeks. I am tired of being gone from home, happy that my travels are over for a few months, and eager to make it home tomorrow. I spent this week in Norfolk, Virginia, which is one of my favorite towns. I attended the Air Force's Installation Mapping and Visualization Council meeting and visited Langley Air Force Base.

While I was at Langley I ran into one of my best friends from Korea, Marcy, and her husband Nate. I was so happy to see them and they were very good short-notice hosts. Marcy cooked us a very tasty dinner at their beautiful house on Monday night and we went out on Tuesday night to the Cheesecake Factory in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach has really rebuilt the area since the last time I was here about 6 years ago. March and Nate are such a wonderful couple that walk deeply with the Lord. Thank you for the hospitality. You are both great reflections of Jesus.

Our New Family Addition

We broke down and added a new member to our family. Wyatt is a 14 pound Black Lab puppy that we fell in love with on Monday. He is so cute!



Here's his brothers and sisters at Siever's Kennels in Meppen, Illinois. It was a hard to take Wyatt away from his family. This picture was taken last week, so we don't know which one he is in this picture. They are all so beautiful.

Are" Baptist" and "Biblical" Synonyms?

Thanks to Adam Feldman for linking to this great article by Ed Stetzer. Ed beings up some points that many traditional Baptists might find tough to think through, but need to be sorted out if we will have a future impact on today's generation. The article is located here. Link.

Here's a sample:

It’s interesting. As a denomination we’ve spent more than two decades telling young leaders that we must take the Bible seriously. Should we be surprised that they do? When younger leaders question some long-held traditions, we should not be surprised -- they are the result of the theological resurgence.

Blogging From Florida

Well, I am on leg 2 of my current travels. I am in Panama City, Florida at Tyndall Air Force Base. Man, its hot and humid (93 degrees, 83% humidity). When I talked to my wife today she said St Louis was in the 70s and dry. She also mentioned that the weather back home is perfect and you're not here to enjoy it (a direct hit to the heart).

I've been observing an Air Force exercise called SILVER FLAG where we learn how to deploy to overseas locations we haven't been to before. As you can imagine computer mapping and visualization can be a great help when trying to plan to beddown troops, equipment, and aircraft in new places. There is lots of opportunity for us to build our business for us in this area.

Panama City seems to be a fairly nice town, but it is too hot and humid for me. The beaches are nice, the traffic doesn't seem too bad, and tonight I had the best Burrito I have ever had at Moe's Southwestern Grill.

Tomorrow I'm off to Ft Walton Beach, Florida to do some relationship building with my counterparts at Air Force Special Operations Command.

I'll be home on Friday and stay around for a week and then off on leg three to Norfolk, Virginia for the Air Force's Installation Mapping and Visualization Council Meeting.