God Isn’t Gamey Written on July 8, 2009, by admin.

Reposted from internetmonk.com

….this is awesome!

God Isn’t Gamey: My New Hot Button
July 7, 2009 at 12:18 am

I’ve got a new hot button. I experienced it this week and I think it’s best to warn the general public that until I make some progress in sanctification, pushing this button could result in an ugly scene.

(Before I say this, I know there are a bunch of books on this subject and I’ve read some of them. I could just recommend a good book, but I need to get this off my chest.)

My new hot button is “You need to pray until you find God’s will.”

First of all, I believe in God, and I believe he has a will. I believe God sovereignly runs the universe pretty much like the Westminister/Second London Confessions say, though I have absolutely no idea what that means other than God is in control in a way I can’t understand and am not capable of understanding. (My brain is too small.) It’s an assertion, and as much as I know God only in Jesus, it’s a comfort.

Frankly, when Capon says that God runs the world through “Holy Luck,” like a guy with a card trick that’s amazing to you but no big deal to him, that works for me. Capon believes that things don’t look like there’s a plan, but that’s the beauty of the way God has chosen to run the universe. He’s there in plain sight where you can’t see him.

Secondly, I believe God’s will encompass my life. In the same way, I don’t believe I am going to get much specific insight into that. It’s an assertion, and as much as it comes to me packaged as Jesus, it’s as I said, a comfort.

I know that when tragedy or sudden blessing strike, my belief in God’s sovereign control is a comfort. When my mom had a stroke and died in 14 hours, I was resting in God’s hands and praying the same for her. When I got a book deal, I believe it was God’s time. I’ll give him thanks.

But here’s the thing- I am really, really, really tired of being told to “find” God’s will.

I have no idea what most people mean when they say “find” and I don’t believe they do either.

Let’s run the perspective list:

1. What God declares and commands in scripture is, when rightly understood, his will. I’m fine with that. That’s why I preach the Bible and live my life by it. But I also know there is a lot of life that is a mystery to me, I don’t care how much Bible I stuff in my head.

I’m not impressed by people who demonstrate that they have a verse to turn any tragedy into an opportunity to say “God is doing this.” I prefer to see a tragedy as a tragedy. I’m not saying God is less in control. I’m not going atheist or blaming God, but he’s running the show and he allows tragedy. He doesn’t say, “Now show me you’ve trained yourself to say otherwise.” That’s sad. Maybe even sick.

My human instinct is to see terrible things as terrible. I don’t have any theological response to not trust those feelings and say “Oh, but God is really using this.” He is. He does. But my part is to start with, “This is terrible and people are hurting/suffering.”

2. What God communicates and allows through providence. I’m alive in Ky in 2009. I’m at a school. I have a family. I’m an American. I have an income. I have certain gifts and certain opportunities. God sent them. God allows them. Again, I’m not making a show of believing this. It’s how God unfolds life in time. His story. I’m a character. I don’t try to understand the author. (See Stranger Than Fiction to get that picture.)

3. What God communicates through those with authority over me and/or by means of trusted people in my world. Same as above.

4. What God communicates by his Spirit to me in mystical ways. Now we’re getting close to the issue. I know God does this, but I am really through playing the game of seeking for God to do it or expecting God to do it because some Christians think it’s obviously the way to go. I’ll pray. I’ll ask. I’ll ask others to pray. I’ll be still and listen. I’ll evaluate impressions. I’ll try to discern God’s voices.

But this is not a game I am going to play with God. I’m not cooperating with what amounts to saying “God is toying with us to see what we’ll do.” If God wants to say something to me, no game is necessary. And I am not required to demonstrate my desperation to know God’s will to know it. There may be places in my journey I need to be before God’s will unfolds, but God isn’t being gamey. He’s not playing hide and seek. He isn’t constantly dangling guidance in front of me like bait.

If this makes sense, I reject the idea that God requires some superior effort on my part to be mystical in order to communicate his will to me.

5. What God communicates by signs, miracles and answered prayers. You don’t want me decoding these things. Years ago, our house caught on fire, and a noise outside- totally unrelated- woke me up and got me in the hallway where I saw the fire. That noise saved our lives and our house. It’s a miraculous providence. I have no idea what it “means,” however, beyond what it is. If you hear me saying it meant we were supposed to leave or stay or paint the house pink, I’m just rattling on. No one has that information and I don’t want to go to a church that believes they have it.

I do not want anyone trying to get me on board with anything using miracles as a method. If God is that gamey, I don’t want to play. My dog can talk to me if necessary. I’ll listen.

Now the real deal comes down to this, and I’ll use a real life example. Let’s say I make enough money writing over the next 2-4 years that I could work part time, my wife could work part time, and we wouldn’t have to be where we are doing what we’re doing. So it could be stay or go.

God’s will? Stand by.

I don’t think he cares. And if he does, he can let me know without me acting like he’s an alien sending coded messages.

I can serve him either here or elsewhere. I can serve him anyplace. I can be faithful wherever. I’m free, within the boundaries of following Jesus, loving God, loving neighbor and using my gifts and talents, to serve God wherever I believe is the best place for me. There is a process, but I can trust myself as a reliable means of knowing God’s will. Not perfect, but not to be ignored in favor of “signs.”

I don’t need a sign, or a vision or a voice. I may or may not get a nudge. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think God is hiding his will. I don’t think I am supposed to ignore “normal” factors in determining where God wants me. I believe that if God has a place for me I don’t know about- like being Andrew Marin’s bodyguard- then Andrew will call and talk to me about it.

I can go to school. I can sell programs at the ball park. I can write. I can teach. I can preach or be an associate. I can counsel. I can do a lot of things. And I don’t believe I have to torment myself or anyone else about that.

When it seems right to me and my family, when I’m in a place to be responsible, obedient, submissive and faithful, I can love God and do as I please.

That’s the button. Thanks for listening.

Posted via email from Reeves,’s posterous

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20 years….OMG! Written on July 1, 2009, by admin.

20 year anniversary!

this is for my beautiful bride

20 Kisses

a kiss sealed Love’s destiny

another kiss carried young lovers out to sea

a babe was found kissed by the crests of a storm

tempest tossed lovers now kissing a shore

a new chapter’s kissed entries enter a tome

a script, a sanctuary for kisses to roam

another babe, a son, kissing was all around
kissing gets easier every year when the beauty is so profound
new storms rise to blow the kisses away
a kiss so radiant will never gray, not even halfway
beyond the storm clouds two new stars kiss the night
joyous we meet, kissing in flight
the landscape is moving, a kiss holds tears
a new ship is boarded we kiss despite fears
freedom and sun, a kiss wild and undone
kisses heal one by one
hours are few but a kiss holds time
kissing, we’re kissing with many a dime!
epic kisses, legendary fire
20 kisses deep, unlimited desire

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The Weight May Not Be A Sin: A Thought On Hebrews 12:1 Written on June 29, 2009, by admin.

REPRINT FROM: internetmonk.com

internetmonk.com - …dispatches from the post-evangelical wilderness

The Weight May Not Be A Sin: A Thought On Hebrews 12:1
June 27, 2009 at 10:01 pm

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The central insight I’m going to be bringing in my Sunday morning sermon tomorrow at the local Baptist church is an optional reading of Hebrews 12:1. Specifically, I want to suggest this: the “weight” that holds us back in the “race” is not always a “sin” as specifically defined by scripture.

Someone could legitimately say that “weight” and “sin” are a parallelism, and I would agree, but the parallelism may be because of the effect of hindering our ongoing life as a follower of Jesus.

There is no doubt that we are called to lay aside, i.e. repent of, sin. I would contend that we are admonished, with just as much authority, to lay aside whatever may hinder us that is not a matter of repenting of sin, but of giving up what is not necessary, what distracts us and what makes it difficult to carry out the calling and mission of the church.

It is interesting that we will give our preachers permission to preach against sin, but do they have permission to preach about the “weight” we insist on carrying?

The traditions? The methodologies? The cultural assumptions? The expected and accepted calendar? The attitudes toward personal evangelism? The attitudes towards money, comfort and personal investment?

The role of family? The expectations of significant others? The pattern of denominational methodology? The role of the church itself? The role of its leaders?

It strikes me as incredibly relevant to the current situation that we not just ask, if the mission hindered by gossip, but that we ask if the mission is hindered by exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it.

This occurred to me at Advance ‘09 when a speaker who shall remain nameless, but who likes to eat chicken wings, suggested that some churches needed to cancel Sunday School. The air temporarily vanished from the room. The speaker looked impishly provocative and I immediately got the point: he wasn’t suggesting you abandon Bible study or small groups, but what if the fact that your entire small group program is a dress up affair in a church building on Sunday morning is ONE of the reasons you aren’t doing the basics of your church’s mission?

What if your WAY of doing church is a weight. Not a sin.

What if your way of living the Christian life is too comfortable, too predictable, too safe and too “in the niche” of a tradition that answers all your questions?

What if your schedule is so full of things that aren’t sinful that you can’t do anything new this week for the Kingdom? What if your life at church is so full you already know everything you are ever going to do for Jesus? What if your life is so full of your current friends you could never make a new one?

What if you are investing so much in what is good that you can’t sacrifice or joyfully give away money for the Kingdom?

What if your good life, good morals, good witness are the reason you don’t have a life of discipleship filled with risk, impact and Kingdom adventures?

What if your problem isn’t the sin that clings so closely, but the weights you are so easily and comfortably carrying around in order to be a “good Christian?”

Posted via email from Reeves,’s posterous

Perry Rocks! Written on June 19, 2009, by admin.

From PerryNoble.com

16 Questions That Will Help Us Make It In Ministry - Part Nine

Posted: 03 Jun 2009 04:49 AM PDT

9. Do I Realize There Will Be Opposition?

In Matthew 10.16-18 Jesus is very clear that when preach the Gospel and lead under His direction we will face opposition.

I once heard a good friend that if you are not experiencing opposition from the devil, it probably means that you and him are walking in the same direction.

I was very surprised early on in my ministry at the opposition that I faced. I could not believe people would oppose what I clearly felt God had called me to do. Until…I began to read the Gospels and understand that Jesus was opposed on numerous occasions and actually told people that if they were going to follow Him that they would experience the same.

The enemy loves to work through things like distraction and discouragement…and if you as a leader are called into ministry then these two things (distraction and discouragement) are major weapons in His arsenal. We must strive to keep our eyes on Jesus and receive our encouragement from His word because the stakes are too high to give up just because some blogger doesn’t like what we are doing.

EVERYONE in the Scriptures who accomplished ANYTHING significant for the Kingdom was opposed…but it was their willingness to stay with the vision and not cave to opposition, that made the difference and changed the game for the Kingdom!

Posted via email from Reeves,’s posterous

Pagan Poetry? Written on June 17, 2009, by admin.

What is Sacred? What about nonChristian =
poetry?

This is a great quote from the Resurgence =
blog:

“What
if, for instance, Paul thought that under no circumstances would he ever
pollute his mind with pagan poetry? Well then, he wouldn’t have had =
sermon
material to work with when he spoke on Mars Hill in Acts 17. =
“

http://theresurgence.com/johnson_thoughts-on-music-for-the-media-g=
orged-part5

We are
created in the image of God. We create as our Father creates. =
Don’t judge
another’s craft without realizing the true source of that =
person’s
ability and their potential.

-RR

What do Sacred Cow results look like? Written on June 5, 2009, by admin.

The Scared Cow is not a church; we cannot rely on church-like results. The Sacred Cow is a relational/incarnational mission. Relationaly - its all about the Christians we disciple, and the new people we meet and letting the Holy Spirit minister (we don’t preach or proselytize). Incarnational - we step out of the light & into the darkness. We are the light of Christ that should reach to those dying and blind in the dark. As God became human to reach humanity, we must become all things to all men that they might be saved.
One of the fruits of our mission is trust. Our formula for evangelism is: time + proximity = trust. We believe trust is one of the seeds of salvation. Trust allows another to validify the Jesus they see in us. Another fruit is discipleship. Our current study is WDJD: What did Jesus do? I want to do what Jesus did, and to help others do it too.
We do not have the same scorecard:
Reggie McNeal’s ‘new scorecard’ idea is the point (and subtitle) of his recent book, Missional Renaissance
He suggests a change in the scorecard for church leadership, according to McNeal. Here’s how he says it in the book:

“The missional expression of the church will require new metrics to measure its vitality. The current scorecard for the North American church is tied to the definitions of church as a place and church as a vendor of religious goods and services.” Missional Renaissance, p. 37-38

And to make his point that missional is the future of the church, McNeal concludes his opening chapter with these words:

“The missional renaissance reflects the church’s response in a time of remarkable manifestation of the kingdom. Those who miss it will find themselves on the other side of a divide that renders them irrelevant to the movement of God in the world. Those who engage it will find themselves at the intersection of God’s redemptive mission and the world he loves so much he was willing to die for it.” Missional Renaissance, p. 17

Another good missional scorecard idea:
Dan Sheffield
http://sheffield.typepad.com/dansheffield/2009/05/do-we-need-a-missional-scorecard.html
from Newbigin:

1. It will be a community of praise.
….
3. It will be a community that is deeply involved in the concerns of its neighbourhood. the local congregation must be perceived in its own neighbourhood as a place from which good news overflows into good action.
4. It will be a community where men and women are prepared for and sustained in the exercise of their priesthood in the world. The church gathers every Sunday to renew its participation in Christ’s priesthood. But the exercise of this priesthood is not within the walls of the church, but in the daily business of our lives in the world.
……

Cheers! Ross

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Is it OK For a Christian to Drink Alcohol? Written on June 3, 2009, by admin.

Alcohol Links:

Is it OK For a Christian to Drink Alcohol? - Perry Noble

http://pilgrims-pub.blogspot.com/

http://fromthepew.blogspot.com/2007/03/christian-liberty-giving-offense-and_30.html

“Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to.” -Martin Luther in a letter to Jerome Weller, 1530

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Not Yet… Written on May 30, 2009, by admin.

Wait! Sacred Cow is not until Thursday night @ 6:30 > Leons in Longview.

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Who is the Sacred Cow? Written on May 27, 2009, by admin.

I am blown away by God’s grace! I am thankful that God chose me for this season of missions. I am not worthy; I am an ADD, odd( I heard an Amen on that one), eccentric, moody, procrastinating screw-up….yep, a wretch like me. I am also thankful for all the support from my wife, our friends, family, and church. I am especially thankful to Grace Creek, our home church. When we were led to start the bar mission, we purposefully kept it separate from our home church; we knew that the nature of the mission would be controversial and misunderstood. As this is Karen and I’s first personal and public ministry, please pray for us! Over a year ago the Lord had renewed His call to ministry for us, and we are being led to minister outside the church walls. The Sacred Cow has been both controversial and misunderstood. We have been controversial because we drink alcohol in a public bar; we have been misunderstood due to the unique nature of the Lord’s ministry. The uniqueness of the mission is it’s transparency. Whenever we go to the bar, we are not ‘undercover’ or covert Christians - we are ourselves; we are Christians who are upfront about our purpose at the bar (Beer & Bible), and open about our lives, whether its about faith, fear, or alcohol. This is a true relational mission that requires more than a church invite or a track; we realize that the investment of our lives is our sacrifice. Please continue to pray for us!
Thanks to our fellow Sacred Cows that meet with us for Bible study; we are currently studying the acts of Jesus in the Gospel of John. For those that are over 21 & don’t have a problem with alcohol, come join us at Leon’s this Thursday @ 6:30pm. For those that are not comfortable with Christians drinking alcohol at a bar, don’t worry, we drink in moderation and we never let anyone drink and drive. As for our ‘Christian witness’ being tainted by drinking in public - we drink in a bar, and it would be offensive and divisional to not drink in front of our new friends. In fact, I would never want them to think of us as superior than they, like,”Oh, they think they are better than us”. This adventure is a mission in progress; we are trying to follow the Spirit’s lead and the Biblical way.

"True Wine" Litho

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Third Place Missions? Written on May 19, 2009, by admin.

Third Place Missions?

Sacred Cow: Beer & Bible is a ‘third place’ mission. Here is a great explanation from Michael Frost; he is the author/co-author of Exiles , the Shaping of Things to Come , ReJesus ……

Smulo: In Exiles you have an engaging discussion of Third Places with examples of what they look like in different places in America and Australia. Can you explain what Third Places are for those who aren’t familiar with this term, and how they might be relevant to Christians?

Frost: The term ‘third place’ comes from Ray Oldenburg’s book, The Great, Good Place, which is a sociological analysis of the cultural landscape of the US. Oldenburg contends that Americans orient their lives around three broad ‘places’ in their worlds. The first place is the home or neighborhood. The second place is the workplace. And the third place is that public space where we interact with others at a significant level over core issues. He explains that in the past the bowling alley or the pool hall, the beauty parlor and the mothers’ group, have been traditional third places. In fact, the sub-title of his book is “Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and other Hangouts at the Heart of Community”. It’s his contention that such third places are disappearing across America and that American culture is the poorer for it. Taking Oldenburg’s ideas, missional thinkers are now routinely talking about Third Place Mission – that is, the commitment by Christians to spend significant time in coffee houses, bars, sporting teams, and other affinity groups in order to be ‘salt and light’ to our community. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If fewer and fewer people are coming to church services to explore faith issues, and we know that we need to go to them, where else would we go, but to third places where meaningful interaction is expected and appreciated? The big problem for us is that for most Christians church is their third place and Oldenburg suggests that none of us have time for four meaningful places in our lives. To create space for followers of Jesus to infiltrate our communities by entering into third places, we need to completely recalibrate how we see church and mission operating.

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