Monday Meanderings, 04/21/08

Around the web this week…

       + There was quite a stir when American Idol used the Christian worship song “Shout to the Lord” two nights in a row.  Some wondered about the appropriateness or the motive. Others celebrated like Paul, “some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will…what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.” (Phil. 1:15, 18)  As always, Bob Kauflin of Worship Matters (who arranged the hymn “Like a River Glorious” that we sang last Sunday), has a thoughtful response.

       + When I was first in youth ministry, one of the icebreaker games we would, play (in the dark ages before video games and DVD”s) was “Mad Libs”. These were stories with blanks for verbs, nouns and adjectives. The object was to come up with the wildest words possible, with no idea of the storyline or context.  The resulting stories are strange-and  hilarious. This week marked the 50^th anniversary of Mad Libs.  You can find more here (for children) and here.

        + David Wells, theology professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary consistently offers some of the most thoughtful and Biblical analysis of American evangelicalism available anywhere. You may not agree with all his conclusions or preferences, but he will make you clarify your own. His quartet of books (No Place for Truth, God in the Wasteland, Losing Our Virtue and Above All Earthly Pow’rs) is an astounding achievement, developed over 12 years– and worth working through. His latest book is The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth Lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World. Here is an interesting interview with Wells, part 1 and part 2.  

        + The new movie Expelled opened last weekend.  It shows how the idea of intelligent design, which posits that the complexity of creation must point to a singular and cohesive intelligence behind it all, is brutally fought by many proponents of the theory of evolution in academia.  Now, this is not a movie that defends creationism. But it may be a movie that would provide an interesting bridge to a conversation with those outside the faith. There are reviews and commentary here, here, here and much less positively, here.  You can see Expelled in Lexington at Regal Hamburg, AmStar at Brannon Crossing and Movies 8 at Lexington Green. 

      + There may be no more glorious piece of classical music (or any music for that matter) than Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Rich Copley has an interesting appreciation here, including excerpts of performances.

    + I know I’m about a year late, but I just saw End of the Spear, the movie about the martyrdom of 5 missionaries in Ecuador in 1956 and the resulting ministry of grace and reconciliation expressed to the same tribe by their widows and children. It’s a truly remarkable story of the power of Jesus’ mercy to change the most hardened hearts.     

 

You Are Held in God’s Hand

 Be encouraged today by this excerpt from a message by Louie Giglio:

 

Tuesday Travelings ( Because I’m Late for Monday Meanderings)

          + Do you have an older teenager or young single adult in your world?  You might want to point them to the Boundless Show, a new podcast from the people at Focus on the Family who developed the popular Boundless magazine and webzine.  Reviews, interviews, music, issues, culture and more are discussed there.  A great resource for encouraging young people in their walk with Christ.

          + The Church of Oprah strikes again with its syncretistic, new age, everybody’s on the same path to fulfillment doctrine.  Oprah and her latest guru, Eckhart Tolle, are teaching Tolle’s book in an on-line class. It’s new age, Buddhist-lite, American-individualism discipleship and indoctrination of the worst sort.  Listen carefully to the following dialogue with a woman trying to reconcile her Christian beliefs with what Oprah is teaching.  Behold heresy!  (Note what is opened to us when we elevate what we “feel” over the solid truth of God-revealed doctrine.)

 

         + And now to another religious force in the world.  While it may not be in the headlines every day, Islamic terrorism is still a major force in the world.  It is closely tied to the idea of Islamization-the increasing pressure on non-Islamic cultures to adapt to Islamic demands.  We have just seen the tip of the iceberg here with things like a college in Michigan (I think) being forced to broadcast Islamic prayer calls from their bell tower and the controversy over a Florida woman who refused to remove her veil for a driver’s license photo.  In Europe, the pressure is much more intense.  Geert Wilders is a Dutch filmmaker who is anti-Islamist and has received numerous death threats for telling the truth about radical Islamic intentions.  His recent movie “Fitna” records the source of jihadist teachings and how some have lived them out-including the 9/11 attacks here in the US.   While the 17-minute movie has been removed from many sites under threat, you can still view it here.  (Warning: the movie does show some disturbing images of terrorist acts.)

          + The great Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon was once asked the secret of his power in preaching. His response?  ‘My people pray for me.”  He knew his dependence on the prayers of the people for God’s Word to come alive in power each week.  A pastor reflects on what it means to “Pray for Those Who Preach.”  I know that I, too, long to be covered in prayer for preaching (and other things) each week.

 

Lessons from Mr. Wildcat

 Bill Keightley died this week.

            If you’re not a lifelong University of Kentucky basketball fan, that probably doesn’t faze you.  But for the Big Blue nation, this has been a week of unprecedented mourning that culminated in a memorial at the Rupp Arena center court that had the feel of a state funeral attended by thousands.  

Why? Mr. Keightley was not a coach or a player for UK. He was the equipment manager. You know, the guy who washes uniforms, issues shoes and socks, makes sure the basketballs are ready for practice, packs bags for away games.  So, how in the world does an equipment manager arouse this sort of emotion and rank this sort of send-off?

You could say it was longevity. Bill Keightley left his job as a postman in 1960 and served as UK’s equipment manager for 48 seasons.  He worked with 6 coaches-Adolph Rupp, Joe Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie.  He was on the bench for 57% of the games UK has played in its 105 year history-1,113 of them ending in the win column.

Maybe you could say it was the fact that Mr. Keightley was a living connection to the history of UK basketball. He was courtside for the big games that most fans remember. He knew the coaches and the players across the years-many of whom become icons across the state. He transcended generations of fans.

You could say that Mr. Keightley was so beloved because he was in the place the average Big Blue fan longs to be-up close and personal with the ‘Cats. He was an ordinary guy from Lawrenceburg who was in the locker room, at the practices, at all the games - home, away and for all the tournaments, at both Memorial Coliseum & Rupp Arena, and even at Wildcat Lodge.  He “bled Blue”, as we say here. He lived for that bouncing ball, and was fond of saying that his favorite team was “Kentucky and whoever is playing Louisville.”

You could say all of that, and still not get to the heart of the outpouring for Bill Keightley.  He was mostly loved for the man that he was.  Every person who spoke about Mr. Bill mentioned the same sorts of things.  He was staunchly committed to his family.  He was always joyful and ready for a good day.  He greeted people with a smile and hug, with enthusiasm like he hadn’t seen them for years-even if he had seen them the night before! 

Bill had an enormous capacity for friendship.  Coach Hall said, “I always called him my best friend; but then all of you called him best friend, too.” He treated the farmer from west Kentucky the same way he treated the big contributors and celebrities he often met. 

Every coach called him the best recruiter UK has had.  Prospective players and their families always spent time with Bill Keightly and walked away knowing they would be loved at UK.  Coaches from other sports, like tennis and volleyball, brought their recruits for a visit, too! 

Mr. Keightley loved his work-and did it with consistent excellence for half a century.  He showed up early, stayed late and did whatever it took to get the job done. Though he had dozens of student trainers on staff, Bill always took it on himself to pack every player’s bag for every road trip, just to make sure everything was there.

He was a wise father figure to trainers, athletes and coaches.  Always ready to listen and to give perspective.  Jeff Shepard, a former UK player, said, that equipment manager meant that Mr. Keightly “equipped us for life.”  He was quick to give unconditional love and encouragement-especially after a tough practice with a scowling coach!  Dozens of Bill’s boys showed up at the memorial-still ready to walk through walls for him.

There are lots of lessons we can learn from Bill Keightley: be yourself, love everybody the same, be a good friend, work with excellence, demonstrate loyalty, never forget your roots. But Bill’s best lesson was the theme of his life: be a servant and find a way to make others great. Coach Gillispie said, “There’s never been a greater assist man in the history of anything.  He’s been the greatest assist man to all of us.”

In his first year,, Coach Rick Pitino moved Mr. Keightley from the end of the bench to the head of the bench. He sat in the first seat on the bench-right next to the head coach.  Pitino said it was where he belonged as the heart of the Kentucky basketball program.

Reminds me of another One who told a story about seats of honor:

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 14:7-11)

Jesus also said that the “first shall be last…and the last shall be first.”  The judgment of heaven tends to reverse the pattern of earth. There’s value in a servant’s heart and action that extends so much further than what we can see.

 It was true for Bill Keightley-and it is true for those of us who remain.

 

 

 

Monday Meanderings, 11/12/07

Weird and somewhat interesting stuff from the web and other places this week….

       + Ever get frustrated with not knowing what to do next?  Or that you’re not equipped to handle a social situation?  Or overwhelmed with the details of moving to the next stage of your life?  Then you might want to call Allison Storr.  She is a personal manager. “Her clients, all of them men, pay monthly fees of $4,000 to $10,000 to have her be their personal decider in nearly all things lifestyle-related.” I can’t decide if this is a about conspicuous consumption, the perils of materialism and the pace of life-or just plain old childish selfishness.

       + John Coleman, a meteorologist in San Diego and a founder of the Weather Channel begins this fascinating commentary on global warming with this bracing claim: “It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM.”  Later, he calls the global warming theory “bad science” and says, “I am incensed by the incredible media glamour, the politically correct silliness and rude dismal of counter arguments by the high priest of Global Warming.” Interesting.

       + The buzz over The Golden Compass movie (an adaptation of atheist children’s author Philip Pullman’s book, starring Nicole Kidman) continues to build.  It’s going to be helpful to carefully read and consider reviews and viewpoints over the next few weeks.  So, check out a CT commentary here,  and The Atlantic Monthly’s piece here,   

       + Quote to ponder.  Poet and author Wilfrid Sheed, wrote of the lessons learned on living with cancer, lessons like discovering the joys of no-frills living or  accepting the loss of what you once thought essential.  He wrote of coming to greet each day and-here it comes- being “head over heels in love with daylight.”

 

Going Glocal in a Shrinking World

For the past decade or so, it has become clear that our planet is shrinking.  Not that it’s going on some sort of cosmic diet, so that the circumference of the equator is not as far around.  The planet is shrinking in that distances and connections (both perceived and actual) between people in various parts of the globe have increasingly shortened.

Thomas Friedman got at this idea in his best-selling book The World is Flat.  He argues that the rise of technology (especially the Internet), multi-national corporations, inter-dependent national economies and even aspects of culture like music, movies and clothing have drawn the world much closer together. There’s just not as much difference between a person in Stockholm and San Diego, in London or Little Rock, in Mombasa and Milwaukee as there used to be. Add to that the ease of travel and the vast numbers of people from other nations moving to the US, and you suddenly realize that the world is not so much “out there” and it is “right here.”

We are not unaffected by that in Lexington.  As a city with a major university brimming with students from other nations, and near a significant outpost of a  major international corporation like Toyota, we see the impact of globalization every day.  It’s part of the fabric of our life.

There are enormous challenges and opportunities to living in a time like ours—and not just for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and students.  What does all of this have to do Christ-followers?  How does a Christian disciple look at it? 

The rise of a so-called global community has huge implications for the idea of missions—of bringing more and more people to “know and treasure Jesus above all things.”  Every day, we deal with ideas, people, cultures and more from all sorts of global perspectives. Unlike any Christians in the past 2000+ years, we regularly deal with people from the ends of the earth. 

So, look at a shrinking world.  Now, listen to Jesus: “Go and make disciples of all nations….repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in Christ’s name to all nations…. you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Matt.28:19, Lk. 24:47, Acts 1:  Do you see the glorious opportunity the Lord has given us to bring a world to a relationship with Jesus that will change their lives now and forever?!

This month, we will focus on our call and opportunity to change the world by sharing Jesus with all peoples.  Our theme is “Going Glocal” ( and no, that’s not a misprint.)  We are all missionaries – in both a global and local sense.  To the nations and right here in Lexington.  Therefore, we are on a glocal mission! 

We’ll be focusing on four aspects of our calling—praying (for the mission and with missionaries), giving (to our Glocal Impact Missions offering), growing (in our understanding and awareness) and going (becoming personally, actively involved in missions).  Be looking for more information on all of these very soon.

Yes, the world is getting smaller. In God’s sovereign wisdom, all that does is bring the people of the world closer to us so we can love them, serve them, tell them about a Jesus Who loves them enough to cross the chasm between heaven and earth to die and being them life.  What a joy!

I love being your pastor and being on mission with you!

 

Monday Meanderings, 11/5/07

 Some stuff I noticed this week on a journey around the web….

 

+ A group of prominent evangelicals (including Russell Moore of Southern, Denny Burke, John Franke, and Michael Horton) have a discussion of Evangelicalism Today. It’s a fascinating look at some different definitions of an evangelical, as well as the twists and turns, maturity and failures of the movement over the past 50 years or so.  There are some rather obvious observations, including Burk’s contention that “evangelicalism has shifted away from its doctrinal distinctives and has increasingly become more of a market brand than a doctrinal flag”. But most compelling to me was Horton’s assertion  that the evangelical movement is “obsessed with its own relevance” to the point of wanting respect from the culture as much as wanting to reach non-Christians.  That’s tough to swallow.

+ “In God’s Name” is a very detailed analysis in The Economist that examines the increasingly important role of religion in global politics, conflict, economy, public life and culture. It is from a non-US American viewpoint which is important to grasp. It also takes into account insights from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. I love how they set the tone for the article: “This special report is an attempt to tease out these conflicts. It comes with three health warnings. First, many numbers in religion are dodgy: most churches inflate their support and many governments do not record religion in their censuses (in Nigeria the best source is health records). Second, in a field where many believers claim to know all the answers, it poses mainly questions. And lastly, given the emotion the subject arouses, the chances are that some of what follows will offend you.”  Worth the read.  

+ I know it’s a week late (after Reformation Day), but this interview with Alistair McGrath over his recent book on Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: the Protestant Revolution is really interesting.

 

+ And now for something completely different. Seth Godin is a business and marketing guru who has a fascinating perspective on creativity and making an impact with your brand or product. His observations on “Changing the Game” made me wonder how we can shift people’s default perceptions about Jesus, the church and the gospel.

 

Treasuring Jesus

  For the past few months, as part of my devotions, I’ve been meditating on  small portions of a book called Heaven On Earth, by the Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks. This morning, I was in a section in which he insisted that knowledge about Jesus should be a heart-affecting knowledge, that “doth wonderfully endear Christ and the things of Christ to the soul.”  Listen and drink deeply:          

             ‘My heart is taken with Christ, it is raised and ravished with His love; my soul is burning, my soul is beating towards Christ. Oh, none but Christ, none but Christ!  I cannot live in myself, I cannot live in my duties, I cannot live in external privileges, I cannot live in outward mercies, I cannot live in common providences; I can only live in Christ, who is my life, my love, my joy, my crown, my all in all.  Oh, the hearing of Christ affects me, the seeing of Christ affects me, the taste of Christ affects me, the glimmerings of Christ affect me.  The more I come to know Him in His natures, in His names, in His offices, in His discoveries, in His appearances, in His beauties, the more I find my heart and affections to prize Christ, to run after Christ, to be affected with Christ, and to be wonderfully endeared to Christ.

            ‘God forbid that I should glory in anything, save in Christ Jesus.’ Oh, God forbid that my heart should be affected or taken with anything in comparison of Christ.  The more I know Him, the more I like Him; the more I know Him, the more I love Him; the more I know Him, the more I desire Him; the more I know Him, the more my heart is knit unto Him.  His beauty is taking, His love is ravishing, His goodness is drawing, His manifestations are enticing, His person is enamoring.  His lovely looks please me, His pleasant voice delights me, His precious Spirit comforts me, His holy Word rules me and these things make Christ to be a heaven to me.

            Our church’s mission is “to lead all people to know and treasure Jesus above all things.”  This is what we’re aiming for-in our own hearts first, and then in the hearts of people from Lexington to the nations.

 

Gratitude for D. James Kennedy

      Word came today that Dr. D. James Kennedy –pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, author, broadcaster, educator and unrelenting culture warrior –has died after a long illness.  While I could not wholly agree with his later views on Christians, government and public faith, I am indebted (as many are) to his commitment to the gospel and to the Evangelism Explosion model of sharing faith with others.

       In the early 1980’s, Southern Baptists put out an evangelism  program called CWT (Continuing Witness Training), which was a blatant, ”Baptist-ized” rip-off of  the Presbyterian-rooted EE.  Somehow, I became aware of the connection and ended up studying the two together.  It was my first introduction to conversational evangelism and to gospel-saturated thinking with spiritually lost people (rather than church program-saturated thinking). For years, those exploratory questions (ie, ‘If you were to die tonight…?”) helped me transition conversations to spiritual matters. 

        Dr. Kennedy’s passion for lost people caught fire with his intellect and resulted in the EE training manual.  Eventually that spark spilled over onto me– and to people in 200+ other nations around the globe.  Across the years, communication and cultural changes have made other approaches to gospel communication necessary.  But because of EE, there will be people from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” around the throne. I think it is his greatest Kingdom contribution.

       You can read a good summary of Dr. Kennedy’s life here and get more detailed tribute here.

        In one message, Dr. Kennedy stated how he wanted people to respond on news of his death: “Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”

 

Wonder Takes Time: Evangelism and the Sequel World

             In a couple of weeks, Disney-Pixar Studios will release their latest animated feature film.  Ratatouille (pronounced rat-a-too-ee) will follow Toy Story, Shrek, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles  and Cars as movies that are far more than mere cartoons; they are marvels of computer-driven animation technology with scripts that  bring laughter to adults and children alike. 

            But this time there are a couple of unique marketing challenges for the Disney-Pixar folks that have led them to develop an all-day marketing blitz,  a 90-second spot on the American Idol final show, and many product tie-ins designed to draw people to view a 9 ½ minute preview on the Disney web site.  First, Ratatouille is about a rodent in the kitchen of a Paris restaurant who wants to be a chef there.  So, there is an “ick’ factor to overcome because in most people’s minds, a rat and a kitchen are an unlikely pairing. (Even though some note that Disney has done quite well for itself in the rodent –read ‘Mouse’– category!) But even more problematic is that fact that Disney-Pixar has sunk a ton of money into an original, big-budget film at a time when movie-goers are demonstrating their preference for what NY Times reporter Michael Cieply called “repeat performances of known commodities like Spider Man, Shrek, and Pirates of the Caribbean”, not to mention Rocky, Die Hard, and the Bourne movies.

            In other words, people prefer sequels. Cieply notes that “originality is a dying value in the blockbuster end of the movie business.”  In the past 5 years, only 20% of films that grossed over $200 million in US ticket sales were original in content, rather than a sequel or adaptation of a pre-existing book. In the 1990’s, original work scored twice that.   

            With $150 million already invested in Ratatouille, director Brad Bird and the studio are under pressure to create a certain buzz along the way so that people will be willing to plunk down $8 to watch the antics of a rat in a kitchen. They must find a way to capture people’s attention, make the story seem compelling– and then deliver on what they promise. And do all of that in a world where people are shying away from the hard work of thinking about a new story with new characters.

            How?  Listen carefully to director Bird: “Wonder takes time.  You don’t rush wonder.  You have to coax the audience toward you a little bit.”  They will introduce Ratatouille a little at a time, and bring people along with them into a new world.

            In that exact same world, evangelical Christians (like us) are desperate for people to see Jesus Christ as He is and encounter His gospel.  Jesus is more real than any imaginary character; his message is more important than any movie script. But we continue to struggle with capturing people’s attention and making the gospel seem compelling for their lives – which means they never get the opportunity to see if Jesus will deliver on all He promises.  That struggle shows up in our “market share”: as population increases, the percentage of Christians stays stagnant or declines.

Why?  We have not yet grasped what movie-makers know. People no longer want original; they want sequels.  If you have something original, you have to work extremely hard to merely gain an initial hearing.  And here’s what we evangelicals have been struggling to admit: for most contemporary Americans, especially those aged 35 and under, the gospel message is something entirely original.  Oh, they think they know it –but it is buried under layers of persistent societal images of those “Jesus people” as political-social conservatives who are on television a lot and are always campaigning against something.  They assume what they see on tv is the gospel.  But most of those people have never heard the gospel in a way they can understand.  The story of Jesus—His identity, teachings, miracles, character, substitutionary death, resurrection and reign—is an unknown.  Most have no frame of reference by which to process any of this because in their minds, their life and Jesus is an unlikely pairing.  Besides, they are already committed to a sequel in their mind; they want to deal with something that tracks with what they already know or believe.  So, asking one question about religious preference and then spitting out a rapid-fire recitation of Biblical truth before asking for an immediate up or down response about may no longer be an effective evangelism tool. That’s sort of like asking people to give a review for a movie they’ve never seen—only the stakes are so much higher. 

How can we reach people like that? Listen to Brad Bird again: “Wonder takes time. You don’t rush wonder.  You have to coax the audience toward you a little bit.”  We want people to fall in wonder with Jesus and His gospel.  That’s why we call it amazing grace. But that takes precious time. So, we meet people where they are, not where we want them to end up.  We listen well to their story—their hurts, longings, joys, dreams.  We have conversations and find ways to bring the Jesus story right next door to theirs.  We show them how all of life—headlines and heartaches, family life and work-life, fears and joys– is designed to make sense only in reference to Jesus. We serve their needs—even if it costs us dearly and hurts. We communicate the gospel slowly, one truth at a time—and faithfully live it out before their eyes.

And all along the way, we trust the Holy Spirit to coax them towards Jesus a little bit.  You know how the Bible describes that? Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” (John 6:44) Evangelism simply means we partner with God in wooing people towards Him – no matter how long it takes, how many conversations we have or questions we answer or explanations we give or prayers we pray.

Why? We want far-from-God people to see—and be drawn to– something truly original. To see Jesus—and themselves– in a way they never have before.  To trust Him for something new, for “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; all things are made new.” (2 Cor. 5:17) You see, when one new life in Jesus opens in front of the world, it is a blockbuster that causes the heavens to roar with angel cheers, saints’ applause– and the laughter of Jesus from the throne.