An Apologetic for Why We’re Don’t Want Pews in our Church Plant
October 31, 2006
Dan Kimball is spot-on in this article:
We position people on Sunday mornings in the posture of spectators, and then wonder why they act like spectators. Selah.
An Interesting Perspective this Halloween
October 31, 2006
Comes from my friend Matt Hall, who has a concern about the “hell houses” that seem to be all the rage as “evangelism tools” used by evangelical churches these days:
I must admit, I concur with his concern.
The Patrician Who was Almost President
October 31, 2006
Everybody says dumb stuff from time to time. Rush Limbaugh put his foot in his mouth vis a vis Michael J. Fox last week (and it isn’t the first time for the Large One). Rosie O’Donnell did the same a few weeks back, likening her fear of evangelicals to her fear of al-Qaeda. Asinine, of course, but neither remark merited comment on this here blog. Both Limbaugh and O’Donnell are celebrities, commentators on the news. Name a person in their position who hasn’t said something dumb, and I’ll show you a 
person who hasn’t been in their position very long.
But it’s a different story when it comes to a man who is an elected official, particularly one who came within a whisker of being the Most Powerful Man in the World. His name is John Kerry, and from his patrician perch, he cannot bring himself to see the incredible affront he inflicted yesterday upon our troops, when he told a group of college students,
“You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
I did search for the context of his quote, and couldn’t find it, but unless it is being pulled terribly out of context, it would seem to stand on its own. Kerry, with his characteristic lack of any sense of propriety, came back swinging today, attacking the administration for misconstruing his remarks. His words have the clear effect of digging the hole deeper and deeper, making his reprehensible remarks (effectively, “if you’re lazy and stupid, you go to Iraq—because you’re out of other options which you’d have if only you were educated and hard-working”) even worse than they already were.
You may not like George W. Bush; I get it. I’ve said before that I can understand a bit of that sentiment. But when the Patrician Kerry says these kinds of things, it makes me glad all over again that America was spared four years of his condescension from the presidency.
UPDATE: Interesting the spin of the news networks. Fox and Friends, as you might expect, had a lot to say about the patrician’s remarks, mostly critical. O’Reilly, last evening, talked about it with two Democrat strategists, both of whom shrugged it off for the most part, but did seem to admit that it wasn’t the smartest thing Kerry had ever said. CNN this morning, on the other hand, ran a story about what the joke was actually supposed to be, and acted as though this was the absolute, gospel truth—even though their source was Kerry’s staff. One wonders if that staff didn’t have to scramble to word carefully the supposed-to-be-joke, after the fact. The lady on CNN said, effectively, “boy, this is sure a lot of hullabaloo over one misspoken word”, indicating that a.) she accepted hook, line, and sinker the Democrat “explanation”—and how many of us think that she’d have nearly so easily accepted an explanation by a conservative under the same circumstances, and b.) she really missed a key point anyway, which is that even if it is true that Kerry’s words were meant to be a joke slamming the prez—and if so, boy, he really misspoke, more than CNN’s “one word”—he could have so easily explained himself, without resorting to the “I make no apologies” response. If he had said, “you know, what I said sure came out wrong, and sounded badly toward the troops; I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that the troops were not smart or hard-working people, but rather I meant it as a joke about the president’s failed policy blahblahblah”, then this whole dustup would have been over before it started. But no, Lerch came off as a clunky pol, to such a degree that some Democrats cancelled him from campaigning with him.
And so DailyKos and all the mindless far-lefties can pooh-pooh this all they want, but when Dem politicians shut Kerry down, it’s pretty obvious that he stepped in it on this one…
FURTHER UPDATE: Kerry finally gets it and does the honorable thing. Even an elitist will listen if enough voices (Senate candidates Jim Webb and Jon Tester, and Senators Mary Landrieu and Mrs. Bill Clinton) call him on it.
FINAL UPDATE: Too funny not to publish…
Corrs Video of the Week: A Long and Winding Road
October 28, 2006
The Corrs’ take on a mellow classic, with Sharon bringing beautiful violin harmonies to bear on the subject!
A Dish Best Served COLD…
October 28, 2006
Revenge, that is.
I became a baseball fan during the 1968 World Series. I arbitrarily chose to root for the St. Louis Cardinals. Bob Gibson. Steve Carlton. Lou Brock. Tim McCarver. Curt Flood. Mike Shannon.
But the Detroit Tigers got a performance for the ages out of Mickey Lolich, and the Cards blew a 3-1 game lead to fall in seven. It’s been 38 long years since that implosion began a string for me of rooting for the losing team most of the time in the World Series. The first time a team I wanted to win the Series actually won it was the 1979 Pirates, and I really didn’t even like them. My Cardinals won it in 1982, then were robbed of it in 1985 (Todd Worrell won the race to the bag. End of story.). The Twins won it over the Cards in ’87, because the AL had home-field advantage that year (the home team went 7-0 in that series). Then the strike year of 1994 effectively ruined baseball for me; I’m really not nearly the fan I used to be.
Except when the Cardinals are in the Series. They got swept in ’04 by the Red Sox—but hey, it was hard to even get upset about that happening.
But the Tigers? 38 years is a long time, but revenge is a dish best served cold, and it sure tastes sweet this October evening…
Leaving Mercer, Installment Two
October 26, 2006
I must have sounded like a broken record. Last week, that is, as I began to go over our church’s pictorial directory with the man who will be presented, this coming Sunday, as the candidate for interim pastor there. We went down the list of people one-by-one, so that I could give him pertinent information on each family/individual in our church. I caught myself about halfway through; I realized that I was ending just about every summary with the same line (or a variation thereof): “they’re a great family”. And the thing is, I meant it, too; it just came out naturally.
See, I have been pretty blessed to have pastored Fellowship Community E Free Church of Mercer, PA for the past 13+ years. We truly have some wonderful folks, and many, many great people have passed through our doors over the years. Even those who have left, have left for the most part on good terms. I am so blessed, and I appreciate those friends so much. Leaving wasn’t easy, by any means, but I guess that’s the way it ought to be, right?
Leaving Mercer, Installment One
October 22, 2006
Life has been a zoo recently, what with preparing to leave Mercer for a new ministry. I want to chronicle my thoughts in a series of several posts; hopefully, I can get back into the swing soon here (though I leave for Georgia tomorrow morning, so all bets are off). This post isn’t going to be particularly creative as to writing style, but hopefully it’ll make up for it by being quite heartfelt.
Last Tuesday, I attended my final meeting of the western PA Pastors’ Gathering of the EFCA. I have gotten pretty close to several of these brothers over the last several years, and leaving was more emotional than I thought it would be. These guys have been my sounding board, my support system, my encouragers and wise counsel for the last several years, and I will miss them tremendously, and so in Installment One, a brief word about/to each of them:
To Rich, who was the first pastor in the EFCA to make contact with me and welcome me—and who has been my chief tormentor in the district for a long time, even though he left the EFCA several years back: we’ve razzed each other mercilously through the years, but even though we’ve not connected much recently, I’ve always known you were there, just an hour away. I will miss you, brother.
To Eric, who has been an inspiration and source of real encouragement, many thanks. You are a great brother and friend, and I appreciate your integrity and your ministry.
To Jack, sorry that just about the time we were getting to know one another and become good friends, I had to up and leave. I’m really glad you’re in the EFCA; you fit, buddy, you fit well, and I hope that you’ll find in the EFCA a home for the rest of your ministry.
To Jeff, when I think of the term “pastor”, I think of you. Your heart for people is evident; your humility and kindness are a real challenge to brash and prideful me. Thank you for the many, many ways you have been an encouragement to me through these 13+ years.
To Mark, faithful blog reader, you’re a good friend with great enthusiasm for ministry, a good heart, and a real humility that will serve you well as you minister. You’re not in the easiest field in the harvest; stay faithful, friend!
To Jack and Jim and Jim and Jeff and Jeff and Matt (our district seriously lacks imagination when it comes the names of its pastors) and Bill and the rest, you’ve each played a role in my life that I’m grateful for and will remember fondly. Thank you.
And finally, to Matt, who has become my best buddy in the Allegheny District: you are a true friend, a great partner in ministry, a guy with a great heart and a great mind and a great wife and…I could go on and on. I’ll miss seeing you on a monthly basis. I’m just glad for the advent of the internet and email so that we can keep in touch. And I’m holding you to your offer to be a roomie in Minneapolis next June. Thanks, man.
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
