Sneak Peek...

I turned in the second edit of my book to Standard Publishing last week. It is tentatively titled The Basiped Chronicles: The Long Night. Before that, we were calling it A Tale of Two Kingdoms. Regardless of what we call it, here is a small snippet of the first chapter. I can't share much of it online, but it's been such a part of what I have been doing lately, I wanted to share a little. It hasn't been finally edited yet, so even this will likely change some:

A flaming arrow buzzed through his gray stringy beard, barely missing his jugular. Head down and eyes closed, the old man sprinted through the darkening forest. His enemies pursued him on both sides. Guided by an inner quiet force, he blindly hurdled fallen logs and ducked his head just inches beneath low hanging tree limbs. The fiery darts assaulted him from all directions, embedding themselves into the outlying pines and firs as he sprinted past them.

Another flaming arrow reflected off the tail of his patched brown overcoat as if it were made of iron. The man sprinted faster, squeezing his eyelids tightly together as he ran.

He mumbled to himself as he flew along, “C’mon….c’mon. Get here already. I can’t hold on much longer.”

That’s when he heard it.

Tha-thud. Tha-thud. Tha-thud.

The sound grew louder and closer from behind him as he ran.

Tha-thud. Tha-thud. Tha-thud.

The man slowed to a jog. He opened his eyes for the first time in about an hour, turned to face his oncoming deliverer and smiled. As he turned he saw exactly what he had hoped for: his master, the warrior Prince of his Mountain Kingdom, barreling full force on horseback in his direction.

As the Prince drew near, the old man noticed fresh wounds on his master’s hands and arms. Bulging sweaty biceps bore the bloody slices of the enemy’s sword. Even his enormous white stead was wounded in the battle, with several simmering arrows still embedded in her hindquarters. The Prince wore plate mail battle armor, leather gloves and a plated helmet with an iron faceguard hiding his thick brown beard and long hair. He held his double-edged sword, called The Dunamas, in his right hand and the reins of the stallion in his left.

The old man stood mesmerized by his Prince’s approaching glory as another flaming arrow buzzed over his head. It wasn’t until the Prince said the man’s name that he again became aware of his surroundings.

“Pops!” the Prince yelled. He slid his sword in his scabbard and reached out his hand as his horse snorted. She sprinted at full speed toward the man. “Grab hold of my hand!” the Prince yelled.

Pops extended his hand. With one motion, the Prince snagged his friend and yanked him up to the rear of the horse. She never slowed her gallop.

“Hold on,” the Prince warned.

“Ho, Justice! Ho!” the Prince ordered his warhorse to halt and she promptly obeyed.

He intently surveyed the silent dark forest from her back. Then he screamed into the blackness, “Come out! Face your enemy and stop hiding like cowards!” At first nothing happened, but after a few moments the leaves and bushes began to rustle on either side of them.

“C’mon, come out now and show yourself,” the Prince spoke as if he were coaxing a housecat from its hiding place. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared in front of the Prince’s horse and to his right. A tall and menacing creature emerged, so black that he blended in with the night sky. He held a smoldering arrow at his side that lit up his right arm and thigh.

“Basiped?” he blurted.

“No,” said the Prince. “I am not. But I am their guardian.”

The dark figure snorted and kicked. He spat and muttered in an ugly unknown language. He lifted his flaming arrow, attached it to his bow and aimed straight for the Prince’s heart. Pops ducked behind the Prince in fear. With a twang, the arrow shot at the Prince. He quickly drew his sword, and sliced the arrow into two shards inches in front of his face. In a flash, the Prince dismounted and rushed his attacker. He suddenly beheaded his enemy with one arcing slice from The Dunamas.

more to come in March of 2010...

Greenlight.

Three years ago I wrote a screenplay. It took me about three weeks. Three years later, we're making it into a movie. It has been a loooong process, but I'm excited to announce that we will be shooting Hitting the Nuts this August in Cincinnati.

I've saved up enough vacation time to take off three weeks from VCC to make it happen. Friends are coming in from LA, Las Vegas, NY and Chicago to fill out the cast and crew. I couldn't think of a better way to spend my summer vacation this year. The idea of "chasing dreams" gets a lot of lip service out there, but for those who have done it...the chase can get very long and hard. That was the case with Nuts. I've always been excited to tell the story, but it was a long and sometimes frustrating journey to get it to this point. Now the easy part - making a movie.

If you'd like to help out during the shoot, we are looking for some background actors (extras) for day shoots between Aug 10-29. Email our Assistant Producer, Missy Whitis, at missy@housethatjackbuilt.org to get on the list.

I'm sure I'll have more things come up where people can help out as we get closer. I'll post things on here, facebook and twitter as they come up.

A special thanks to those of you who have been supportive over the last three years. It means a lot.

proof we went on vacation

A Decade

A decade ago I woke up, took a shower and got ready to go to work. I put on cargo shorts and a green t-shirt. (I've never really had to dress up to go to work.) As I was getting ready to leave I noticed that Debbie was sitting up in bed. She was having "funny pains in her back." Being a master of logic, I put a few things together and took her to the hospital to be checked out. Turns out my intuitions were correct. She was in labor. By the end of the that day, I was a dad. My young wife was a mom. And Elijah Christopher Douglas was our son.

We are celebrating today by getting a tour of the US Capitol Building. (He seems excited, though he is afraid we will just "look at a bunch of people typing." I'm a little worried be may be right.) He has requested California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. We're about as far away from California as you can get in the USA, but I think we have found one here.

All said, the last decade has been the best yet in my life. Happy birthday, Eli. Six more of these and your driving. Eight more and your graduating. Eleven more and your buying me a beer. But let's not rush to those birthdays. My personal experience is that ten can be even better than those if you give it a chance. We have 365 days of being ten years old together. I couldn't love you more or be more happy to be your dad.

Dollar Car Wash Spreads...

Check out this local news story from River Valley Community Church in Mishewaka, Indiana...

Discuss:

Just posted this on twitter and facebook. Looking for your thoughts:

what are the real american idols? what do we ultimately respect, honor, trust? who/what completely controls our lives? - what do we trust?

Wanna Pray?

I remember sitting down with a notebook about seven years ago and brainstorming everything I'd like to do over the next decade. I wrote things down like "I'd like to be a pastor, filmmaker and author." It seemed so exciting back then to dream about a multi-layered career path that involved many different forms of storytelling. It seemed rather pie in the sky though.

Flash forward to this week and I'm fighting off TMJ, migraines and acne because I'm secretly stressed over all my little ventures. My body tells me when I'm stressed. I rarely feel much different emotionally, but when I start getting strange pains and ailments I know what's going down. It's funny how dreams realized can turn into stress. I'm helping to lead a beautiful church. I'm in the final stages of editing my first book and working to finalize financing on a movie project I've been trying to make for three years. All my dreams came churning up in one month. It's great...and strangely stressful. There's nothing worse than someone who complains when they get want they want. I'm really not complaining at all. Just confessing. If you a person who does that prayer thing, I could use a little supernatural help on all fronts this month - maintaining creativity, integrity and passion in the midst of a busy season. I have a meeting this week to try to wrap up investors for the film project. I'm beyond ready to actually tell that story instead of talking about telling it. I've saved up three weeks vacation to film it in August and just pray that God works it all out to get the green light.

In the mean time, I'm speaking again this weekend at VCC on idol worship. Pray that it comes together. I've also been working today on our August series at church - trying to find the right angle to teach around the issues of being a people who invite, include, and practice hospitality. These are wonderful tasks to be entrusted with. If you could, ask Father to give me a little extra wisdom, energy and clarity this week....and a little less pain in my right jaw.

Loving Each Other as Missional Strategy

This weekend at The Vineyard I wrapped up our series on the Nicene Creed with the idea that theological study is virtually useless without an honest expression of love. I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss something that I didn't have time to unpack in the message.

I used the entirety of John 13 as a primary text. I'd like to point out these verses in particular:

34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (Jesus in John 13:34-35, NIV)

Here is an explicit statement of strategy from Jesus to his disciples regarding the expansion of the Kingdom. It is my hunch that many of us tend to miss this strategic mandate on two different levels.

The first is a blatant disregard for primacy of love in our faith. We read these verses but we really don't believe that Jesus is accurate on this point. We explore and invent a myriad of strategies other than love to try to show the world that we are on Jesus' team. It is not by our knowledge that all men will know we are with Jesus. Not our power or our ideas or cultural awareness. It's not our worship style or ecclesial construct. It's love. Love is what "outsiders" to our faith notice first and foremost about true followers of Jesus.

The second dangerous oversight for us in this passage is missing whom Jesus says is the receiver of our love. He tells us to love one another. In loving one another we create a community so dynamic and countercultural that "all men" will look toward us in amazement full of wonder and intrigue. Our missional strategy is to love each other so rightly and radically that those outside of the faith will long to be invited into it.

At The Vineyard our mission statement is to love the people of Cincinnati into a relationship with Jesus Christ and to give away to the world all that God has given us. I love that mission. It creates an outward focused church with a laser focus on the people of our city. Our mission truly lived out creates selfless missionaries fully devoted to Jesus and the Kingdom.

Here's the rub though: we cannot love the world until and unless we first love each other. If we are not careful, we could become outward focused in practice without the base of a true servant community. That would be the ultimate bait and switch: we'll love you until you are one of us, then when you want in, the love stops.

Another way to say it is this - truly loving your family, your small group and your close Kingdom friends is a form (perhaps the most fundamental form) of evangelism. One genuine Christian community addicted to love and selflessness is the greatest advertisement there is for the gospel of Christ. Precisely because most people innately know such a community cannot be sustained within normal depraved people. Something supernatural must be going on when broken people genuinely love one another deeply without agenda. Loving other disciples is a central part of what it means to live an outward focused life.

This in no way lessens our resolve to love those outside of our community. To say so is paramount to saying that if I choose to love my wife more deeply I must therefore love my children less. There is no fear of scarcity in agape love. The more we love each other, the more we will love the world. As the love between Father, Son and Spirit flows from their very essence outside of themselves and onto all humanity, so our love for one another spills onto the world around us.

If you have ten minutes, read this ancient letter on the same subject...

Raven Run - Discussion?

I watched this ESPN Outside the Lines report twice today. For some reason it is really captivating me. I find myself going through a lot of different emotions as I watch it. Part of me feels bad for the guy...and I don't know why. Part of me is highly impressed, maybe even jealous of him. This story is full of statements about persistence, community, and the human condition. I'd love to see your thoughts in the comment section.

Steve Fuller

I used to say that Steve was my best friend whom I had never met. Now we have officially socialized twice in the real world, so I'll say he is my best friend I have only seen twice in my life. My take on Steve is that he is a good guy trying to become a better guy. I see him as a struggler aware of his struggles. He's on a journey now where he is visiting different churches and places of worship for 52 straight weeks. The Cincinnati underground newspaper, Cin Weekly, did a cover article on him this week.

You can check out that article by clicking here.

Or head straight over to Steve's blog by clicking here.

Reflections on Vineyard USA Leadership Conference

Dave Workman and I spent the entire week in Galveston for the bi-annual gathering of leaders in the Vineyard Movement. I have several thoughts that are unformulated. This blog may help me formulate them...or it may just ramble on and on. Read at your own risk.

1. Thought: Everyone needs a tribe.

The Vineyard Movement was the first people group that I encountered (long before I was a part of it) who identified themselves as a "spiritual tribe." My earliest Vineyard contacts were the guys over at Vineyard Central - Kevin Rains and Dave Nixon. I remember them using tribal language vs. denominational language back in the 1990's. Something about that appealed to me. My original spiritual tribe is the independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. I've struggled personally in that I'm not sure where I belong in my original tribe. I rejected some of my tribe's tenants, but never felt like I officially "left" it. (I don't even know if that is possible.) At the same time, I wasn't a very good tribe member. I had no desire to change my tribe - just to change me. The more I changed the less I felt like them, so the less I interacted. But...I miss them. Seeing everyone at the Vineyard Conference embrace and laugh reminded me of all the relationships form my past that seem paused in 1995. Like all my good Catholic friends who are now protestant, I feel that tension that I am now the product of both my old tribe and my new one. I don't think about it much, but it is always there. It creates a feeling of spiritual homelessness and rootlessness at times. The Vineyard Movement is my new tribe. It's exciting, but also a little exhausting to think about taking the time to be engrafted into a new people. (I'm not speaking of VCC - I feel fully accepted at my church. It's the larger movement that I feel a little lost in.)

On a larger scale, I feel like many people my age and younger who have been part of historically younger movements like the Vineyard or the emerging church or even Willow/Saddleback will begin to feel rootless. The older we get the more we will see that all of our reforming and re-inventing and rethinking led us away from being engrafted into a deeply historical family. Movements like the Vineyard and Willowback are at a place where the next generation of leaders must emerge. It will be hard for the innovators to let go. The emerging/emergent tribes will also hit this wall in the decades to come. (I was an early innovator in this "tribe" but grew less interested in maintaining the effort to influence others as I was seeking something deeper in my own life. I remember the youthful enthusiasm and excitement and passion in our early discussions with Leadership Network in the mid-nineties. My prayer for my friends who remained as influencers is that they will hand over influence to the next generation sooner than later.)

Ultimately I see myself as trans-tribal. Truth be told I feel as connected to the international improv or acting community as I do any church tribe. I was very engrafted into the the simple/organic/house church tribe for many years. Those guys and gals are sill amazing friends, but again I moved on. This is the rebel pilgrim in me I suppose. Always moving on...(see the previous post), but moving on at some point feels exhausting and perhaps even neurotic. I'm happy to be a Vineyardite. I hope I grow roots here for a long time.

2. Thought: Kingdom Theology

I'm noticing that many streams and tribes of the faith are beginning to find common ground around the centrality of the Kingdom of God in the Christian message. The Vineyard was a Kingdom movement from early on. It was the Kingdom language on the Vineyard USA and VCC websites that most significantly attracted me to my current post. (That and Dave's persona and the few dozen miracles that got me here.) Historically, the Vineyard has brought the Holy Spirit power and naturally supernatural elements of the Kingdom where it has gone. The movement generally found a way to be supernatural without being showy or gratuitous. This both appeals to me and stretches me. (I was raised a cessationalist but never fully bought into that. I approach it all with hopeful wonder and a little skepticism. When the Kingdom comes, anything can happen...)

However, I came to the same Kingdom theology through academicians like Dallas Willard, Stanley Hauerwas, Will Willimon, Hans Kung, N.T. Wright and John Howard Yoder. This was less about miracles and more about the real socio-political rule of Jesus the King. Signs and wonders actually became less important to me as I began to see the social, economic and relational impact of the Kingdom coming.

The Neo-Reformed tribe is also swimming in the Kingdom stream. I've learned a lot for people like Tim Keller. I love his stuff on the Kingdom coming as a new city from God.

(An aside - I just realized that maybe the fact that my influencers above are Methodist, Mennonite, Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, Pentecostal and Quaker have something to do with my rootlessness :)

All this Kingdom centrality gives me hope that God is doing something in the realm of the American church. What if the streams continue to merge into Holy Spirit directed unity on Kingdom issues? What if signs and wonders meet socio-econo-political reformation under Jesus? What if the post-liberals and post-conservatives find common ground in the coming Kingdom? It is exciting to think about. It may be what God is doing in post-Christendom America. I'm not sure the Kingdom would fully come along side Christendom anyway.

3. Last Thought for today: Children Matter.

Wess Stafford, the director of Compassion International, spoke the last day of the conference. He broke my heart. It's been a long time since a speaker really broke me. I'm going to read his book, Too Small to Ignore when I get it next week. His story is amazing and his voice needs to be heard as loudly within the Kingdom minded churches as it has been elsewhere. I'll post a review after I read his book.

I may have more to say later, but this concludes our therapy session. Thanks for listening. Send the bill to Humana.

Moving On vs. Pushing Through

Sometimes life is about moving on. Sometimes it is about pushing through. I find it incredibly difficult to know the difference.

Let's take your favorite high school sport. Most kids start little league or pee wee football thinking that they could possibly grow up to play in the pros. The vast majority of them will not make it. Many of them will be good. They may be the star of their high school team or even get a college scholarship. Very few will completely fulfill their professional dreams though. That's OK. It is hard to see someone who was the starting quarterback in high school still trying to recapture their glory days a few decades later. We want to scream, "move on!"

Then, of course, there are those great American stories of perseverance. The Reds have a new third basement this week, Adam Rosales. He's a classic old-timey charlie hustle kind of player. His minor league teammates even gave him the nickname, "Pete Rose-alas" because he sprints to first on walks and plays with Pete's inspiring passion. He was told countless times by his own coaches that he would never make it to the majors, but he kept at it and here he is. He persevered instead of moving on. That's inspiring.

The problem is that we never hear the stories (there are millions) of people who chased a dream and failed miserably. For instance, no matter how much I may want to play for the Reds, I never will. They make Disney movies about thirty-somethings quitting their jobs and becoming professional athletes, but that isn't real life. (OK, those movies are based on real life, but that even underscores the point. Every time an old guy does the impossible they get Mark Wahlberg or Dennis Quaid signed on and throw millions at a film to inspire us all again...and to sell tickets and popcorn.)

The point is this...if guys like Adam Rosales or the real guys those movies were based on (Vince Papale and Jim Morris) gave up, how lame would their story have been? On the flip side, you still want to shake your neighbor to death when he starts to tell you that he'd be starting for the Yankees if they'd just give him a chance. These are extreme examples of real life dilemmas that we all face: when do you move on? when do you push through?

I thought I had moved on once. I really believed that I had given the vocational pastor thing a solid run. I was finished. I took a new career and started chasing the next dream. Then I found out five years later that I was only really taking a break. Here I am again. Now many of my new dilemmas stem from that second career that was left somewhat unfinished. I'm a member of the Screen Actor's Guild, but I had stopped paying my dues when I moved here. There aren't a lot of SAG jobs in Cincinnati anyway. Plus, I have to turn down most of the real auditions I get here because I have a real job now and they don't work well with my schedule. I'm not a working actor anymore. That's OK. But I had to do some soul searching this week. SAG sent me a friendly letter telling me to pay up by May 1 or kiss my membership goodbye. It's very difficult to get into SAG and even harder to get back in when they dispose of you. "Moving on" would mean no more SAG roles in my future, or possibly paying thousands of dollars to get back in someday.

I had decided to "move on" and not be that guy who lives in the past. I have no desire to move back to LA and do that drill again. I want to do my job here for a long time. I'm happy here and it feels right. But I just couldn't do it. I paid up at the last minute. Now I'm officially a professional actor who makes no money acting - at least for another year. Maybe it's just too hard to let something that was such a part of me die. Maybe it says something about me that I couldn't turn in my card. Maybe I am that guy. Crap.

Or maybe it will all integrate. Maybe I'll produce my own SAG movies here in Cincinnati and it will all make sense. Maybe I'll get to play Middle Age Guy #4 in the next blockbuster movie that comes to town. Maybe I need to hold onto it because that part of my story informs and shapes this part of my story. Maybe.

I'm just saying it's complicated. My hunch is that we all have something that complicated in our lives.

Gonna go watch the Reds beat the Pirates now. Adam Rosales just popped up to center. Poor kid. He'll never make it.

Can a scientist believe in the resurrection?

As a follow up to this week's teaching at The Vineyard, I submit a lecture by N.T. Wright. Click at your own risk. You'll need your thinking cap and an hour to burn. The first man to speak isn't Wright. You can skip the first five minutes of introduction to get to the lecture if you'd like:

N.T. Wright Lecture on the Resurrection.

Who is God?

FPU Endorsement

Debbie and I began Financial Peace University (Dave Ramsey) back in January. We just finished the last of the thirteen weeks today. There was a time in my life when I would not have been in the state of mind to embrace something like FPU. Ramsey is great at what he does, but he's not exactly my preferred style of teacher. I'm also hardwired to react negatively to any "system" that claims to change your life. No system works all the time and sometimes systems used improperly can cause more hard than good. To top it off, I have a hunch that Dave Ramsey and myself may have different political and theological positions on more than a few issues.

That said, I was ready to submit to someone - anyone - who could take some of the fear, frustration and guess work out of my personal finances. After five years of freelance income, three major relocations and more than our share of financial instability, we knew it was time to get back on track. I decided to go into Ramsey's classes with a posture of submission. I would do whatever he told me, even if I disagreed with it, for thirteen weeks. I could do anything for three months. And today is the day I am allowed to stop submitting to him. But I won't. Submitting to his common sense financial worldview has already changed our lives and improved our marriage. Over the last 13 weeks we have reduced our consumer debt, including our car loans, by more than 20%. We've established an emergency savings account, pre-paid for this summer's vacation, and reduced our monthly utility and grocery bills by almost 50%. The amazing thing is that I already knew how to do all of those things. Submitting to this process was the key. I learned a lot for sure, but I knew how to do the basics - budget, save, plan. I just wasn't really doing what I already knew how to do.

It's made me realize that I have spent most of my adult life not committing to systems because I see the flaws in them. That generally doesn't really work for me. I end up alone and frustrated. When it comes to being more disciplined it probably starts with submission. Seems like you can't be a disciple until you submit. That's what I really learned in FPU...

Real Hollywood Ending

You know all those trite sports movies that end with the underdog becoming the star of the team...

Next at VCC: The Creed

Then Jesus said to them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all—he is the greatest."
"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."
"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "for whoever is not against you is for you." (Luke 9:48-50, NIV)



Jesus was scolding the other eleven disciples for their immaturity and power grabbing, but John’s thoughts were elsewhere. He impatiently held his tongue waiting for Jesus to finish speaking. He had a secret. A big, fat, juicy I-have-to-tell-this-right-now kind of secret. At the exact moment Jesus finished his statement with the words, “...he is the greatest,” John squealed:

“We saw an imposter today!”

The other disciples snapped their eyes back in his direction. A few of them – those who had been with him earlier - nodded in agreement. Jesus furrowed his brow, staring back at the secret-teller.

“Just a while ago,” John continued. “Over near the Temple. He was driving out demons!”

Jesus raised both eyebrows, projecting a silent, “so what?”

John leaned in and whispered back to protect his master’s reputation, “he was doing it...in your name.”

The other disciples mumbled. In Jesus’ name? Somebody we don’t even know? Somebody other than us is pretending to know Jesus? It was unheard of.

“So what did you do?” asked Jesus.

“We tried to stop him,” confessed John. “I told him straight up that he wasn’t one of us, so he wasn’t allowed to do anything in your name....but he just kept doing it...”

“And it worked,” interrupted one of the others, collaborating.

Jesus scanned their faces. What did he know in that moment? How many times over the next decade would they encounter renegades throwing Jesus’ name about in the strangest of ways? How many future petty debates would tempt them away from their real mission? How many territorial distractions lay dormant in the present waiting to overtake them in the future? Jesus knew that his disciples would have real enemies who would want them silenced, humiliated and killed. Some strange Jesus-follower doing different, but effective, ministry was not the real enemy. Not even close.

“Don’t stop him,” Jesus said. They looked back at him with those ever-present masks of confusion on their faces. “If they are not against you,” Jesus continued, “then they are for you.”

It was this same secret-teller, John, who would record these words of Jesus in his gospel:

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:34-35, NLT)

Did you catch the secret plan to prove to the world that we are with Jesus? Those outside the Kingdom will know Jesus by the love that believers have for other believers. No territories. No divisions. No mini-kingdoms. Just radical love for the ones who also love Jesus, even and especially the ones who aren’t exactly “with us.”

About 300 years after John wrote those words, St. Augustine is credited with this statement: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.” That unity mantra has passed through the lips of many Christian reformers over the previous sixteen centuries. But what are these essential things that demand unity? What are the most basic of truths recorded in Scripture that make us, for lack a better way of saying it, Christian?

Early in the history of the Christian movement, church leaders gathered from all over the world over the span of several generations to reach agreement on these essential beliefs. Through the years we have seen dramatic rifts and divisions in the Christian faith on the non-essentials, but through it all the essentials have managed to remain, more or less, the essentials. We battle over some of the words here and there, but it is these truths--these ideals--these realities that unify us. They are recorded in the Bible, written on our hearts, and summarized by our earliest church fathers in the Creed:

We believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
We believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried and on the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

The Vineyard will launch a new six-week series on April 18/19 called The Creed. We’ll look at those beliefs that form us--God as Father, Son and Spirit, the church, communion of the saints, forgiveness of sin, resurrection and everlasting life. For those of us new to the journey, this series will set a foundation for all that is to follow in our walk with God. For the rest of us, looking at the Creed will help us continue to reset our faith as we strive toward that which is perfect--true love for God and the people around us.

Like John in the story above, we have a tendency to focus on those around us who love God differently than we do. We focus on our dissimilarities and disagreements at the expense of the essential things. Like John, we focus on the distractions more than Jesus. Perhaps if John had actually heard Jesus say, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all--he is the greatest,” he would have kept his secret to himself.

Join us each weekend after Easter in a spirit of unity, love and humility as we study the essential things of our faith in The Creed.

Finishing.

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. -John 19:28-30

Jesus finishes. Good Friday shows us many things. One thing it shows us about the character of Jesus is that he is willing to finish what he starts. This season of my life is a season of finishing some things I've started. There is always some death associated in finishing.

I love starting things more than anything in the world. I love new ideas, new challenges, blank pages and visionary dreams. I like thinking that being created in God's images means we are all destined to become little creators. We can make amazing things out of nothing. Simply by willing it, we can create new stories or books or movies or artwork or buildings or businesses or nations. I love new beginnings.

I also love having finished things. I love reading the last page of a massive book and knowing it has been slain. As a producer, I love it when the film is on a DVD sitting on a shelf or when the play ends with a final bow. There's something incredibly satisfying about being finished.

Here's what I don't love: finishing. Every project I have ever started has had a moment when I want to give up. Even the smallest of projects. I mowed my lawn yesterday and 3/4 of the way through I really wanted to quit. If I go for a three mile run, I will want to quit after two. Whenever I speak on the weekends at VCC, I hit a moment in the preparation where I wish that I could just fast forward and not have to actually finish. I can't imagine it coming together, but I have to push on and finish. I'm editing my first book right now and everything in me wants to just snap my fingers and jump to the day when it is already complete and printed. I don't want to do the hard work of fixing it. Finishing is always hard for me. I've been "finishing" one particular film project for over two years now. I wrote the script in two weeks. That was the easy part. Finishing is hard.

All of my little projects are nothing compared to what Jesus had to finish on the cross. Part of me hates to even draw the comparison, but seeing him as a finisher is what helps me finish my little things. Especially when I remember that Jesus did not always want to finish. He asked the Father for permission to bypass the cross:

Going a little farther, Jesus fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."

The Father willed the plan finished and Jesus obeyed even when he didn't fell like it. That's what Good Friday is about. Jesus finishing God's agenda. I want to someday be known as a finisher as much as I am known as a starter. I want to be more like Jesus. Yesterday was my thirty-sixth birthday. Sunday is the twenty-eighth anniversary of the day my family entered the Kingdom. I'm praying that this next year of my life is the year I learn to what it means to obediently finish assignments the way Jesus did.

Eli's Day

Today was a good day in spite of the mid-afternoon April snow shower and the Reds losing on opening day. Today was all about Eli Boyd. We slept in (ok...that part was really about me) and then headed out on a twelve hour road trip. It began at the Waffle House in Monroe. He liked the bacon, but not the chocolate chip waffle. (The rest of my day included a constant stomachache. I think I've had my last Waffle House breakfast for a while.)

From there it was off to COSI in downtown Columbus. He had been when he was four years old while visiting my parents, but couldn't remember it. We actually had a coupon and both of us got in for less than $15. That was a heck of a value. I've been to my share of children's science museums around the country and COSI might be the best. I grew up going there on school field trips every year. It's in a new (and better) building now, but there's something about seeing your kid experience the same things that you did at the same age. He had a good time.

From there we headed over to Easton and ate at one of Eli's favorite restaurants, California Pizza Kitchen. There isn't one near our house. He thought they were only in California, so he was very excited when we pulled in.

His last request was a stop at Target where he spent every allowance dollar to his name on a big lego kit. It took him twenty minutes to decide which one to get. He takes the purchase of legos very seriously. I popped for Airheads at the checkout line. (He has terrible taste in candy.) He slept all the way home. When he was little he always slept in the car, but rarely does anymore. It seemed right somehow. We had several great talks throughout the day about God and life. Nothing major happened, but I have a feeling that neither of us will ever forget today.

Treasures and Worries

I just posted the Bible Study on Matthew 6:19-34 here.

Get your Q City on...

We have an improv show this friday night. Here are the stats:

WHEN:
Friday, April 3rd
8-10 pm
(doors open at 7:30, come early for the best seats)

WHERE:
Ballet Tech Cincinnati
6543 Montgomery Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45213
513-841-2822

HOW MUCH:
$5 per person at the door

God as Father

Just posted a study on Matthew 6:1-18 over on the bible study blog.

Punch Drunk Love.

I've been a little melancholy lately as I watch my boys grow up. I had an altercation with my neighbor's son's friends this week. They're about 16 or 17. They were drunk and hanging out in the middle of the street. As I turned the corner to pull into our subdivision I nearly hit one of them. He yelled back calling me an ass---. In my rear view mirror I could see him calling me back, evidently wanting a fight. I avoid conflict. But this is my next door neighbor's "guest" calling me out of my car at 8:00 on a Saturday night. I put the car in reverse and went back to talk to him. The brave kid got in his car and closed the door. My neighbor kid apologized for him and said, "he's just really drunk." It was in that moment that I found myself trapped in between two worlds. I remembered all my buddies from high school who would drink every Saturday night in ninth and tenth grade...many of them began to get drunk at lunch everyday our senior year. But as quickly as I had that thought, I saw my kids' eyes in those teenagers. Eli is only six years younger than these kids. I'm almost twenty years older than them. I'm starting to see life through my kids' eyes more than my own these days.

I came inside and told my kids what happened. They couldn't believe it.

"Kids were drinking? Alcohol? Isn't that illegal?"

We talked about it some. It struck me that it will only be a few short years until my kids will be sitting in a car in some neighborhood with their friends. Who knows if what I say in this moment will affect their behavior in that one? I didn't drink in high school primarily because I was a religious Pharisee in the making. I did rebel in other areas though. I rebelled even more as an adult. Everyone rebels. Lots of my buddies who partied all through high school seem to have turned out just fine, though some are junkies and alcoholics now. I'm not sure what I am saying except that I hope my kids let me walk this stuff out with them as much as is possible.

I went to bed last night with a heavy heart. I thought about how life unmercilessly grinds forward. I can't keep my kids at nine and seven. Truth be told, I'd hit the pause button and stay here for a while if I could. I didn't really thrive in the baby stage and I'm scared to death of puberty. This is the sweet spot, and it's just like me to get sad because of how happy I am. I'm an emotional mess that way.

Last night something happened that doesn't often happen anymore. Eli got up in the middle of the night and asked to sleep in our bed. It's been months since he's done that. He snuggled in between us and instantly fell asleep. About an hour later, Aidan came in with the same request. Our queen size bed doesn't hold the four of us, but there was no way I was letting that moment slip away. I had a terrible night's sleep, but it was just what I needed. I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

Kingdom Snapshots.

Just posted week four of seven of the Sermon on the Mount virtual Bible study. Check it out here if you're interested.

Why Patrick Matters

Were I to make a top ten list of "rebel pilgrims" St. Patrick would certainly make the cut. He was in many ways a rebel against the Roman church structure - his missional mandate from God was often getting him in trouble with the church system half a world away in Rome. He was also clearly rebelling against the traditional religion and beliefs of the Irish people...being the first to introduce them to the story of Jesus. Beyond that, he was also a pilgrim - a wandering foreigner in a strange country. As you may know, Patrick was not Irish at all. He was from Wales and taken as a slave to Ireland. At an early age he escaped his captors and found his way back home, only to be called by God to return to Ireland in a dream. He went back to Ireland immediately as a missionary, never to return home.

Patrick only has two small written documents that have survived. Here is a short piece from A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus:

"I am Patrick, yes a sinner and indeed untaught; yet I am established here in Ireland where I profess myself bishop. I am certain in my heart that all that I am, I have received from God. So I live among barbarous tribes, a stranger and exile for the love of God...If I have any worth, it is to live my life for God so as to teach these peoples; even though some of them look down on me...

Could I have come to Ireland without thought of God, merely in my own interest? Who was it made me come? For here I am a prisoner of the Spirit so that I may not see any of my family. Can it be out of the kindness of my heart that I carry out such a labor of mercy on a people who once captured me when they wrecked my father's house and carried off his servants? In short, I am a slave in Christ to this faraway people for the indescribable glory of everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ our Lord."

Countless myths and legends surround this man. Some may even be accurate...but what we know without doubt is that he was a missionary consumed with the story of Jesus and his love for a people who first hated him. We could do worse on his day then to ask God for that same sort of love and passion for the city we call home.

Improv is timeless...sort of.

Last night the Q City Players (my local improv troupe) played a retirement home. I was going to blog all about it, but Chris Day beat me to it...so why duplicate the cyber effort? We should probably start conserving the internet and save some of it for our grandkids anyway.



Check out Chris' post here.

Project-ed.

I got some stuff going on. It didn't really hit me until this week. I've been rather consumed with launching Reset and the Virtual Bible Study over the last few weeks. Now that those are in full swing, I can see what looms on the horizon. Honestly, it's all exciting stuff.

1. The Road to Emmaus, PA. We have been negotiating a contract with a sales agent in Los Angeles for a few months now to represent this film to distributors. We signed the contract this week and I'm looking forward to see where it ends up. There are three stages to making a film: conception/script - production - distribution. Each stage can take months or years. I think I enjoy the process so much because each stage is a different challenge. (As it turns out, I have a film in each stage right now, because...)

2. VCC 2010 Film Project. The follow-up to The Road to Emmaus, PA will be a narrative film written by Brad Wise. The script is written and we are revising it now. It's a comedy with a big heart and a true message. It will be the biggest project we've done to date as a church. As producer, I've begun looking for alternative ways to fund the project outside of the VCC ministry budget, but it will be a VCC production that we will connect with a teaching series in late 2010. We'll also be seeking distribution for the project on a wider scale.

3. On the personal front, I've had a poker-themed comedy film in various stages of pre-production since I was living in California. At one point, it had grown to a bigger Hollywood movie with name actors attached, but I've recently decided to finish it at a lower budget this summer. The working title has been "Hitting the Nuts: The True Story of the Scott County Series of Poker," but that may change. It is a "mockumentary" (Spinal Tap, Best in Show, etc.) surrounding the underground poker world in rural southern Indiana. I'm producing it through my production company, Rebel Pilgrim Productions. My plan is to shoot it on my summer vacation here locally and in Indiana. We just need a few more pieces to come together over the next several months.

4. Throw my book project in the mix and I've got plenty to think about. (I just received my notes back from the content editor this week.) I have about three weeks to get a revision back to the publisher. I have some decisions to make about the story and characters based upon their initial feedback.

This is all good stuff. I am in no way complaining. The strangest part is that I don't feel especially "busy" these days, just appropriately busy. I am committed to working on church projects on church time and personal projects on personal time. It's amazing to know that making films like Emmaus and the 2010 movie are part of my church job. What a blessing. It's also just like God to let my do some other exciting things in my other time. At some point about a decade ago, I asked God to let me build a career out of telling stories. I thought back then that I'd became an actor or writer or producer or maybe even a teaching pastor. Turns out, he made me all of them. I think maybe that's redemption. That's the way God answers genuine prayers. He starts immediately, but it takes us about ten years to see that he has been in the process of answering them the whole time.

Covenant of Salt, Light and the Problem with Rules

I just posted the week three study on the Sermon on the Mount on the virtual Bible Study blog...

Reset is spreading!

Everyone is getting into RESET. Secretary of State Clinton tried to give a symbolic gift to her Russian counterpart. Turns out they put the Russian word for "overcharge" instead of "reset" on the button. Seems like that's something someone should have been able to figure out. Either way, we all need to reset from time to time.

Brother, Can you Spare a Denarius?

I'm speaking this weekend for the third week of RESET from Luke 20:20-26:

Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

He saw through their duplicity and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"

"Caesar's," they replied.

He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

I got to thinking. I need me a denarius. I wasn't sure what I would do with it if I had one, but how cool would it be to have an actual coin dating back to the time of Jesus? I put the word out on twitter and facebook on Tuesday and people around the world started looking for the coin for me. (They aren't super hard to find - just hard to find on my budget which is near nothing.) They gave me some solid leads, but we didn't get one. I tried a few bids on e-bay, but then decided that there was a good chance we wouldn't get it here on time for the weekend even if we won the auction. Plus it was getting a little pricy.

So today I willed myself a denarius. I started calling coin dealers around the country and asking them to give me a $150-200 historical artifact for free. It only took me three calls to find a well-educated, Jesus-following Roman coin dealer named Guy Clark. Guy patiently took the time to educate me on the exact coin I was looking for. (Turns out there are only two options that the Luke 20 passage could refer to - The Augustus Denarius or the Tiberius Denarius. He also told me that based on archaeological finds in Judea, it would be more likely that Jesus would have been shown the Augustus coin.)

We tried to work out a deal to buy the coin, but the more we talked the more he opened up about his faith and his passion around his career/hobby. By the end he agreed to send me the coin for a week if I would just pay for shipping both ways. I humbly accepted. So, VCC is getting an Augustus Denarius dating to the early first century for $17.50 this weekend. I'm pretty excited about that.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it...

This isn't our coin, but it will look something like this:



Now, here's what I need from you. The next time you are in the market to buy an ancient artifact, support my friend Guy at www.ancient-art.com.

Discipleship and The Beatitudes

I just posted week two of the virtual Bible Study on facebook and at www.facebookbiblestudy.blogspot.com. I get 24 hours grace on typo's because it is 2:00 a.m.

No Line on the Horizon

Once upon a time there was a rock band. Not just any rock band, but one of those rock bands who defines a generation. Like all rock bands, they grew older. At the time in their lives when most other rockers would try to recapture their youth and do nostalgic reunion tours , this rock band did the unthinkable. They became brilliant practical theologians:

Reset Resources

After speaking this weekend at VCC for the second week of Reset I had more requests than normal for the resources that I mentioned in my lesson. We give away free New Testaments at The Vineyard and many people took those this weekend. Our bookstore also let me know that we nearly sold out of Bibles. They've never had such a "run" on people coming in buying a Bible for the first time. I took this as a positive sign since I didn't suggest that people immediately go Bible shopping in the bookstore. It seemed to be a natural reaction to the challenge to look at the gospels as the earliest and most reliable manuscripts recording the life and message of Jesus.

I use the website http://www.biblegateway.com daily. It contains several free versions of the Bible online. I tend to default to the New International Version in part because I've always used it and in part because I find it a fair balance between conversational writing and accurate scholarship. Of late, I have also been drawn to the English Standard Version for the same reasons. I do, unlike many theologians, recommend reading The Message or The New Living Bible along with the other versions. These are paraphrased versions written with a strong desire to be culturally relevant. The good thing about them is that they are easier for most people to understand. The dangerous part is that they are paraphrases of an author or collection of authors, not necessarily direct translations of the ancient texts. It's sort of like watching the Coen Brohters' Oh Brother, Where art Thou? to learn about Homer's The Odyssey, on which it was based. It's good to get the feel for what is going on, but if you want to know Homer you should read a direct translations. (And if you really want to know Homer you should learn to read ancient Greek...)

Beyond the Bible itself many people asked about Dr. Greg Boyd's books after seeing him speak on the video. I have read many of his articles and listened to his podcasts, but haven't read many of his books. To learn more from Boyd on the subject matter of belief in Jesus I would recommend one of these two books: Lord or Legend?: Wrestling with the Jesus Dilemma or Letters from a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles With His Father's Questions About Christianity

Other people asked how to learn more about the historical background of the New Testament as they read the book of Luke. There are, of course, countless commentaries on Luke written from every point of view imaginable. Many times having a commentary can distract us from the text itself. That said, I think without someone challenging our modern assumptions we can read things into the Biblical text that are not there at all. My current favorite commentaries for non-academicians are N.T. Wright's "For Everyone" series. I'd recommend picking up Wright's Luke for Everyone

I've been devouring Wright this year...I've either read or started reading five of his books. I loved Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. He was recently interviewed on The Colbert Report:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bishop N.T. Wright

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Joke of the Day
Stand-Up Comedy

Will this fix it?

I just changed the title of a past blog post and all of my posts disappeared on my blog. It's only seven years of my life, so I'm not too worried. I'm sort of hoping that this new post will make them all magically come back. If not, I'm officially depressed.

Got an Idea?

I just arrived home from a two-day retreat with four others planning the 2009-2010 (August - August) teaching calendar for The Vineyard. For better or worse, I now know what we plan on teaching 18 months from now. Some things always change, but most stay the same. I believe that the Holy Spirit has a way of leading us when we take the time to listen. To me, it has been a lifelong curiosity as to why sometimes he leads years in advance and sometimes he waits until the moment of. It's made me realize that they best way to lead a spiritual community is a rather simple formula:

1. Pray (with others when possible.)
2. Plan (with others when possible.)
3. Pray again.
4. Be willing to scrap the plan.
5. Do the plan if it still exists.
6. Repeat as needed.

Dave, Garry, Jim, Kent and I spent the last two days doing a lot of 1, 2, and 3. Now it's time to start working it out. I'm excited about where VCC is headed overall, and now I'm even a little more excited to see the plan for the next year start to unfold. The way I'm wired, I'm also excited to see what parts will be scrapped by a Holy Spirit inspired last minute Hail Mary. (Yes, I just used a football analogy stolen from a spiritual practice to make a spiritual analogy.)

New things excite me. Always have. I don't like change in some areas of my life. (I always order yellow chicken curry at a six with steamed rice at Lemongrass, for instance. I always think I'll get something different, but I don't.) That said, nothing excites me more than a new idea becoming a reality.

Reset was just one idea generated in this same meeting this time last year. On the way back from our retreat today we saw two billboards advertising Reset from two different churches. It wasn't until I got home that it hit me how much one idea can cause a chain reaction that leads to actual results and a common vision.


Sharing our Reset idea with our friends at Crossroads and asking them to lead us in the implementation of it caused it to grow into what it is today. New ideas are most powerful when they are fearlessly given away...sometimes that's the hardest part of having an idea - letting others have it, change it and make it better. But it's almost always worth it.

I'm also excited about the new web-based Bible study looking at Matthew 5-7. It launched this week and if you'd like to join us, just head on over at this link. I'm happy to give it away as well.

So, here's to ideas, blowing them up and giving them to those who can do more with them than you can.

Facebook/Blogger Bible Study Launched!

I just posted the first week's "virtual" Bible Study at www.facebookbiblestudy.blogspot.com.

Do you want to know what it is?

I've alway been a little into conspiracy theories. The grassy knoll, Roswell, the Steelers purposely breaking Carson Palmer's leg in 2005, etc. I've found that you are culturally allowed to be interested in conspiracy theories and alternate realities so long as you don't fully believe them. It's acceptable to watch UFO specials on the Discovery Channel during a bout of insomnia so long as you don't come to work the next day convinced that we are not alone in the universe.

We all have those people in our lives who believe everything is a conspiracy. I don't have enough faith in people to believe in too many conspiracies. I don't believe that lots of people can keep the same big secret all the way to their graves. At the end of the day, I tend to fall in line and "think normally." Maybe there are aliens out there, but I don't think the government is hiding them in New Mexico. Maybe it wasn't just Lee Harvey Oswald, but he probably had something to do with it. I'm pretty sure 9-11 had more to do with Osama bin Laden than Dick Cheney. You see where I'm going with this...

Now, here's the thing. Though in some regards I am a very normal thinker, I am also the ultimate conspiracy theorist. When it comes to the bigger than big questions of life, I think we have all pretty much been duped. I think we think upside down. What is real, we think is unreal. What is counterfeit, we think is legit. We functionally live our lives with an upside down belief structure. We are dizzy and lost - drunk on what we have come to call "reality."

When it comes to Jesus, many of us (myself included) probably still don't really get him. We've hippie-ized, American-ized, politicized, modernized, suburbanized, mythicized, and sanitized him so much that we've turned him into the opposite of who he was. The Bible has a word for that sort of creation - an anti-Christ.

Jesus came to throw our assumptions on their heads. He called us to live a life that requires we believe in conspiracies. We have to believe that God himself is conspiring against the fallen and evil powers of this world or we will never be able to understand anything Jesus taught us.

We're launching RESET this weekend at VCC. Let's be brave enough to start over. Brave enough to realize that all of us have assumptions about Jesus passed down to us by our culture and our families. Let's push the reset button (take the red pill) and see what happens.



"Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Hit the RESET button on Jesus.

I'm very excited about the journey that everyone at VCC will be going on over the next six weeks. We will be studying Jesus and fearlessly looking beyond our personal and cultural preconceptions of who he was (and is) and what his agenda was (and is). THe learning process will be threefold: 1.) Teaching in the weekend Celebrations, 2.) Going through a daily study guide which everyone will receive this weekend, and 3.) Meeting together in a weekly Reset small group.

We are doing this along with about fifty partner churches in the tri-state area. That may be the most exciting part...a little taste of practical unity in a typically compartmentalized world.

If you are in the Cincinnati Metro and would like to jump on board, check out the information on joining a group here.

Here's a little video teaser of what the journey will be like:

Tuba Wolf Just Dropped

Here's a President's Day math problem for you:

B-wise + C-day + Nothing to do on a Thursday Night = ?

Give up?

Here's the answer:

Facebook Bible Study Update

In less than two days, we've had over 150 people sign up from all around the USA, as well as Canada, Ireland, Wales, India, Panama and Nigeria. The students come from all backgrounds: people of different faiths, confessed agnostics and several pastors from different Christian denominations. A few people asked if they could still join if they do not own a Bible. (The answer is yes, we will be using all free web based media including online Bible sites.)

I'm excited to lead the study of the "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7 focusing on Jesus and the Kingdom. My desire is not to get as many people as possible involved, but I would like to let people know about it so that those genuinely interested can join in. If you'd like the html code to use the link below for your blog or website feel free to email me. (My address is on the right sidebar of this blog.) I'm not smart enough to post the html code here without it formatting into the logo.

Study starts Ash Wednesday, February 25 and runs through the season of Lent, concluding Easter week. To join click the icon below and ask to become friends with "Bible Study" then send a FB message to confirm.

Mark Driscoll on CNN

A few months ago my old buddy Chris Seay was on CNN and I posted his interview here. Today another old friend of mine was on CNN. Mark Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. We don't agree on everything, but we spent a lot of time together when we were both very young struggling church planters. His heart for Jesus and people is genuine. Here he is talking about sex with D.L. Hughley. It is just a pastor being interviewed on CNN, but I guess I should say you may not want to watch it with the kids unless you are ready to explain a few new words.



Mark also has a new e-book called Porn-Again Christian that you can check out for free if you want.

Facebook Bible Study Launching

I mentioned a while ago that I would be leading a Facebook Bible Study. I've decided to teach a six-week study on Matthew 5-7 with an emphasis on the Kingdom of God and the visionary ideals of Jesus. It will correspond with Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25 and concluding the week of Easter. It may be a rough technical ride at first, but we will get the bugs worked out as we go.

If you want to join, you'll need to join facebook if you haven't yet. Then ask to become friends with BIBLE STUDY at this link: FB Bible Study

Here is the covenant you will be asked to agree to if you sign on:

The FB Bible Study Covenant:

1. We understand that the study is facilitated by a Christian, thus making the study unavoidably biased toward a confessional Christian worldview.

2. Having that understanding, we welcome anyone of any faith or tradition (Christian or non-Christian) to participate.

3. We come from every imaginable religious and spiritual background and desire to study the same Scriptures at the same time because we desire unity and mutual respect. We vow to respect everyone, even those with whom we disagree.

4. We vow to be completely civilized - among other things, this means no harsh or course language on the wall, no proselytizing toward our own faith, church or opinion, and no mean spirited interactions. There are plenty of places on the web for that. This just isn't one of them.

5. We agree that each study will be taught by a qualified Christian teacher/spiritual director. Joining the study is a vow to submit to and learn from the director; and, to do the work he or she assigns. (Think of it like taking a college class without the fees.) The primary covenantal relationship entered is between student and teacher. Each study has one and only one teacher. This is a learning environment, not simply a discussion group.

6. We agree that anyone may voluntarily leave a study or the group at anytime without shame.

7. We expect approximately 1-3 hours/week of independent guided study. We commit to the work and will voluntarily drop the study if we cannot make time for it.

una mas

Center City Collision Videos

Here are a few of the viral spots we did for Center City Collision, Kevin Rains' body shop in Norwood.

On Being Home

The phrase "rebel pilgrim" came out of a time in my life about a decade ago when I was looking for a simple way to express my emerging worldview. The "rebel" part of it stems from the idea that we (those of us now engrafted in the story of Yhwh and Israel through Christ) are, in fact, rebelling against the "normal" order of the world. We are revolutionaries, often standing against very popular and seemingly good ideals that make the world "work" better. In fact, we rebel against many perfectly sane and practical ideals because of our conviction that the created world is moving toward full redemption. We rebel because we do not settle for sane and practical when "thy Kingdom come" is still on the table.

But this post isn't really about being rebels, but about being pilgrims. We are the people of the journey - wanderers with a destination in mind. We are rebelling as we march through the eschaton (last days). The journey of our people began in the Garden, but the last days of our journey began at Golgotha. Since then we have been without a home, and yet paradoxically also with one. Like Israel with the mobile Tabernacle on what they viewed as an eschatological pilgrimage, the house of God goes with us as we move toward the time when the Temple replaces our tent - when God's presence is rooted in our homeland. It is my view that Israel was allowed to live this metaphor for us in the real hours and minutes of history so that we could more fully grasp the better day that is coming - the day when we not only know in part, but in full.

All of this creates an interesting understanding of the idea of home. I believe that our home is to come, yet there are tastes of home here and now. We build, or more accurately, the Trinitarian God builds our home as we go. Our pilgrimage itself is our home, but a better, more real home than this one awaits. I can grasp that we are not fully home as a people, but as an individual it is harder to believe in practice. I want to have a home - to settle - to turn my Tabernacle into a stone building, but I cannot afford such heresies because my people don't settle here. (I should say that I am coming to see more clearly that it is perhaps more dangerous to settle in a time or mentality than in a place. My redemptive theology is emerging to begin to see that God makes good of all things. i.e. matter matters to God a lot more than I used to realize. I have a hunch that the stuff of this world will be around in the fulfillment of all things, but that is another topic for another day. Just to say that perhaps it is more accurate to say we should not settle for the "now" vs. not settling for the "here.")

All this mental regurgitation stems from my recent trip back "home." Deb and I were in Las Vegas for a few days and arrived back in Ohio late last night. It was a good trip. We were able to see lots of friends whom we miss very deeply. I also miss the topography and the city itself tremendously. The mountains and blue sky and neon buzz. I was overwhelmed with sentimentality for most of the trip. It was strange to be back in the city that I knew so well after spending the last four years in two new places. Every street, almost every building, held a memory from ten years of life lived in one city. It was emotionally overwhelming, yet the city itself (along with our friends) had changed a little. Not much - just a little. The city sported a few new buildings with a slightly less fearless vibe. More than in Ohio, you can physically feel the uncertainty of the economy in Las Vegas. My friends were the same people but a little older with older children a few more gray hairs. Both they and the city I called home for most of my adult life had both done the unthinkable - they had continued to exist without me.

I was struck with a subtle sadness as I realized that Las Vegas wasn't exactly home anymore. To be honest, maybe it never was. Maybe rebel pilgrims don't have homes the way others do. The "home" that I desire Las Vegas to be is too lofty of a thing to ask of any city or community. As we came "home" to Cincinnati last night, it was with fresh eyes. This is home now...and it isn't. It is as much home as Las Vegas was from 1995-2005, or as Southern California was for a few years. It's as much home as Columbus was in high school or Russell, Kentucky was when I was a little kid. All of these places are my homes...and all those places are still there. Some of the people I love are still there in those places. But the "now" is not there - my old "now" I mean. The "now" has passed. The truth is, the closest we ever get to a real home in the eschaton is where we live right "now." Home (the Tabernacle kind of not-yet-home) is where the grace of Yhwh lets you pilgrimage today. So in a very real and tangible and joyous way, Cincinnati is now home.

But I cannot settle here any more than I can settle anywhere else. (Again, I used the word "here" but mean "now." Argh. I'm starting to write like an academician.) Home is where (and when) Yhwh reigns fully. At times He reigns in part and those are the times I taste my future home like a nibble of filet mignon on an hors devours platter. But the entire feast is coming - it has been coming since the Cross and Easter and it comes closer every day. And if we can grasp it, it is true to say that The Resurrected One is bringing it to us more than we are traveling toward it. He is coming from our future home with eternal home at his disposal. As St. John might say, a new heaven and a new earth are on a collision course until the day heaven slams fully into our current "now" creating, for the first time ever, our true home out of the broken stuff of our pilgrimage:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Revelation 21:1-3

Our journey started in a Garden and the last days of it started at Golgotha...but here we see where it ends: at home, in God's repurposed City.

QCP - Best of Cincinnati?

Looks like our little improv troupe is on the official list for best comedian or comedy troupe in Cincinnati. If you want to vote for us, just click here. Scroll down to the ""Out and About" section and click on "best comedian or troupe."

Improvable Situations

The Q City players have three shows in February. Two Valentines Day Eve shows (6 pm and 7:30 pm) on Friday, Feb. 13 at Riley's Restaurant in beautiful Springdale, Ohio. Seating is limited and a fancy dinner is included in the price of the tickets. You must reserve seats in advance by calling Riley's at 513-771-3361. TIx are 25 bones.

For those of you who like your improv cheaper with no fixings, we have a show Friday, Feb. 20. I just got word that the venue is changing for that show, so I'll keep you posted.

You've been warned.

Endorsing Facebook

Myspace is creepy. When I was working as an actor I pretty much had to have a myspace page because there were some casting directors, producers and fellow actors who used it. I still have a page, but check it less and less often.

I was hesitant to join Facebook, because I assumed it was pretty much the same thing. After a year or so, I have decided that Facebook is a great resource for a guy like me. It's the perfect thing for an introvert who is still curious about his friends around the world. It takes a lot for me to pick up the phone and calls someone to "check in." My wife does this several times a day with her family and friends. To be honest, I think Debbie and my parents are the only people I have ever called in my entire life without having a real reason. I hate the phone. I've always loved e-mails and have been a loyal blogger for seven years now. The www gives me that tiny bit of extra space that I need to be a social being. As a pastor of a big church, it's also proving to be a good way to communicate back and forth with fellow VCC'ers. The house church guy in me can get a little overwhelmed wanting to know everyone at VCC, but knowing that it's all but impossible. I've probably "met" as many people in my church via Facebook as I have after the weekend Celebrations.

Facebook is to social networking what Google was to information searching. It's hard to remember the web before google perfected the search engine, but it wasn't nearly so connected as it is now. This post is nothing more than an acknowledgement that i have gulped the FB Kool-aid and firmly believe that it is changing the way people will communicate in the years to come. I'll be using it more and more to communicate with people who may have reason to care about things I care about. For VCC'ers, I plan on starting a FB Bible Study in the coming months...still thinking through how it would work in practicum, so send over any thoughts you might have. What sort of web based Bible study would interest you? How can we use FB as a tool to think out of the box in terms of learning, discussion, prayer, etc.

Here are some links for those of you who facebook:

Become my Facebook Friend.
Official Facebook page for The Vineyard.
Join the Q City Players Facebook fan page for info on upcoming improv shows. (This is my Cincy-based improv "garage band")

Now for a short disclaimer: I don't "poke" or "throw snowballs" or take compatibility tests on Facebook...that's just silly.