mind wanderings of a crazy romanian

While driving today to work, I heard an incredible song which poses some challenging questions and gives an incredible answer. It also reminded me of a question a friend of mine asked once: "If your church shut down, would the city notice?"

Here's the song ("We are a cathedral of people" by Downhere)

If they shut down the churches, where would you go?
If they melted all the stained-glass windows
Replaced every sanctuary with a condo, where would you go?

If they burned every Bible, what would you know?
If they tore your marked-up pages, how would you grow?
And declared your devotion to be criminal, what would you know?

When they throw you in prison, what will you do?
When they hate you for the things that you know are true
They can tear down this temple, but they can't touch you.

We are a cathedral made of people
In a kingdom that the eye can't see
We're a house, we are the bride
Where God's Spirit lives inside
And nothing ever could stand against her.

I am a big proponent of media in the church culture. It's in my blood. It's what I do for a living. It's what drives me. I love creating. I love being able to take an idea or a concept and make it happen.

I also believe that many (if not most) churches have not kept up with the world around them and have become, in ways, obsolete to those they are trying to reach. What would we think of McDonald's, for example, if they only did radio ads these days? Or what if Nike only did newspaper ads? Even our President has embraced technology in an unprecedented way. I wonder what would have happened if the church would not have embraced the printing press? I wonder what would have happened if the church would not have embraced the piano and organ (an instrument found in bars at the time of its introduction in the church)? I wonder...

The world we live in changes at a fast pace. Technology changes at an insane pace. As the church, we have two choices: 1) Keep up with it and make sure the message stays the same, but the "box" it comes in is different, or 2) Get left behind.
At the same time, the Holy Spirit does NOT need drums. Or PowerPoint. Or Facebook. Or Twitter. Or millions of dollars spent on building and screens and media. He can do just fine without all these things. The power of our message is in the One who sent it, not in the things we may surround it with. However, if we can reach just one more by utilizing media and technology, then I say let's do it. I love what Paul said: "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some."
Still, this has been and will be an ongoing battle. The battle over the differences in worship styles, methods and what is and what is not "churchy" is as old as the world. It's what caused the first murder to take place (remember the story of Abel and Cain?). It was a difference over worship style. It still causes problems today and many churches have split because of it.

In the end, we must be faithful to what God has called US to do – whether other churches will follow suit makes no difference. Our goal should be to glorify God by all means possible and make sure that those who are not yet His will come to know Him. By all means...

As 2008 rolled into 2009, I caught myself sitting on a cushy chair, downstairs in our friends’ house in South Carolina, thinking about the new year. It was about 2 AM and I was reflecting on my relationship with Christ. How was it this past year? What do I want it to look like in the next year? Oddly enough, a song kept coming to mind and I ended up humming it inside my head for days. The second part of the chorus says:

"Baby come back, you can blame it all on me,
I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you."

It was in that moment, through this strange song, that I realized that I cannot function apart from God. I can try (and He knows I’ve done it so many times), but I will fail (miserably) every time. I want my life to count, I want my life to make a difference, I want my life to matter. But I cannot do it apart from Christ.

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

So, we have this nifty little Advent countown calendar that our kids love. They look forward to opening the little boxes every morning and adding another piece to the scene. Today, while walking through the kitchen I started laughing. This is the current setup:

For some reason, a phrase popped in my head the other day. I knew it was part of a verse, but couldn't remember the exact reference (so I looked it up). Luke 10:20: "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Interesting. Interesting context, as well.

Honestly, if I were able to deal with demons and they be subject to me, I would consider that to be pretty cool. Freaky, but cool. Yet, Jesus said that we should not be excited about this very (radical) ability. We should be excited that our names were written in the Book of Life. This seems to be a common theme in Jesus' teaching, as well. One chapter earlier (9:60), Jesus said some rather harsh words to a man eager to follow Him: "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." That's harsh, bold, extreme, radical, and whatever other adjective you'd like to insert here. Jesus seems pretty serious about us sharing the Gospel. Yet, most of us (myself totally included) don't do it as much as we should. Or just... don't. Sad, but true. Jesus is clear in that proclaiming the Kingdom should supercede anything and everything in our life. It should trump anything, to the point of leaving those we love behind, if need be.

Is sharing the Gospel really that important? Yes, it is, and I'm glad God is dealing with me right now about this very issue. I hope and pray that this little spark will ignite a passion in my heart for lost souls in such a way that it will consume me, day and night.

I was reading this morning through the Gospel of Mark, and God smacked me upside the head. I have been so busy lately, doing so much, that my time with Him has not been as it should be. Then, I get to Mark 13:32-37. The last words Jesus said in that section were: "And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake." Do I live my life expecting Jesus to come back? Do I even think about that? Do I even care? I get so busy, so wrapped up in life, in work, in family, in me, in church, that most day I don't even give Jesus' return a thought...

I can’t think of a more appropriate first post on this new blog than to recount the events of this past weekend. There were a couple of words that kept coming back to our minds and were on our lips throughout the events which took place: “Wow” and “amazing.” Truth be told, we were lost for words most times. Why? Let me backtrack for a minute.

We bought our house the year before we got married. It was our first home and we were extatic. I lived there and worked on it before we married and then enjoyed owning our own little place, together as newlyweds. Soon thereafter, problems started coming up. Water leaked downstairs when storms came through, necessitating carpet replacement twice, redoing the walls and finally shelling out almost ten grand to get it waterproofed. Among other issues with the house (then again, she’s 30 years old), one of the biggest was the roof/chimney area. Turns out the roof was improperly installed, causing water to enter the walls, destroying our chimney box, siding, eaves, floor joists and a host of other things around the back door. The floor in the kitchen began to sink. The thought of having to replace the roof, rebuild the chimney box, jack the floor up, redo a good portion of the back of the house, fix the deck, and the cost associated with all this sent our heads spinning.

About two-three weeks ago, during Sunday School (PG-13 “Parental Godliness”), I barely mentioned that our house was in need of repair. Before we knew it, tons of people had offered to help, our phone started ringing, our e-mail box was flooded with messages, and we were blown away. The church responded. It was the kind of response we had read in Acts about. Then, this past weekend, an entire army of people showed up and worked on our house. We laughed, we cried, we stood there in silence, we were amazed. It was beyond our wildest imagination. It was… the church in action. We had a roof (and labor!) donated. We had people who we did not know and who didn’t even know us show up to help. What truly blew me away was the fact that at least two guys (that I know of) there are currently in danger of losing their own home. And yet, they sacrificed their weekend to come work on our house. I get teary-eyed every time I think about that. Even though these words are not even close to being enough, here’s a big THANK YOU to all who have come by to help us out.

God showed up. God showed out. God showed off. God did what only God can do.

We’re currently going through a “DEVOTED” series at Crosspoint. It seems that Crosspointers are taking it seriously… The church is not a building. This is what the DEVOTED church looks like: