Searching for Meaning and Purpose...

___________________________________________________________ "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:        Wonderful Counselor                      Mighty God,                              Everlasting Father,                                          Prince of Peace ."  Isaiah 9.6 (NLT) ___________________________________________________________ This is the so familiar Advent refrain. But in its familiarity we forget what it really means! Think back to Moses or Jacob in their encounters with God: they made a singular request that related to the belief structure of the day. Both asked, "What is your name?" Perhaps because they wanted power ove...

Have you ever read a book and felt like it had been specifically written just for you, just for right now? I just finished Steering Through Chaos by Scott Wilson, and it is that kind of book! Some of the principles are familiar to someone who seems to continually be in churches that are transitioning, but some of the things he says are new, fresh, and extremely timely. Right now we're in the process of trying to revitalize a church in decline because they had been comfortable with the way they had done things and not put any thought towards the future. In fact, there was so little forward thought that the building itself is falling apart (in many cases, very literally!) because nothing had been done to change it since the '60's. Now, as their youth and worship pastor, I find myself in the middle of the transitional process as one of the major reasons we are transitioning is the contemporary service I head! If that service wasn't growing there would be no need to ...

Here's my thought: why do we try to do so much alone when we can do so much more together? I look at all the synergy (yes, I stole the corporate buzz word) created through the ministerial alliance and youth ministerial alliance here in El Dorado, and I am floored. There is more potential and, most importantly, willingness here to be the Church than to be a church. Just looking at what there is between the churches is incredible: we're looking at adding other churches into our after school program to make it a larger endeavor and help more kids have a safe place to go to and get help with school work. At the same time we're planning other events that none of us could pull off alone (like a kicking New Years party) and it rocks! Why then do so many churches behave instead as if they were the only ones in the world that mattered? Is it a deep seeded denominational fight? Or is it the theological differences (like infant or immersion baptism, predestination or free choice,...

I really like this idea: the current generation (Gen Y, iGen, whatever title you give it) is moving towards real change not just talk. Their focus isn't necessarily on themselves. In fact, I would say there is a concerted movement to focus on others! After the CORE (Dan Jessup was awesome and I think my students soaked up quite a bit) I am totally stoked about finding something we can DO (note: that means the students finding something not Matt) to change the world. Right now one thing is we're "adopting Grannies" from Vintage Place (isn't the name great? Doesn't sound like the normal nursing home, it's vintage, not old!). That is as simple as talking to them once every other month or so, baking cookies, making cards, just investing ourselves in their lives! And it makes a huge difference for the people we talk to. They might not have anyone visit them regularly, but my students do! However, I think there is SO much more we could do (in fact, it...