Copeland: In Motion

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One of my new favorite CD's is In Motion by Copeland.  Emo, sorta.  Rock, kinda.  Pop, a little bit.  Harmony laden, emotion provoking, gentle but not cheesy.  Brilliant vocals.  I love it.

Reviews:

PopMatters

The true power of In Motion -- and the primary reason it is so solid -- lies in Copeland's ability to drag the listener along the gauntlet of their emotions with them.

The Trades

It's tough to write a summary of an album like In Motion without sounding like they paid me to say it. But I absolutely love this album. ...It combines so many emotions into those songs; some may even be clichéd, but Copeland manages to put such a novel spin on them that they sound fresh and romantic. ...Many of the songs could be considered almost progressive indie. The guitars, when they appear on the album, are some of the best I've heard in a while. Aaron Marsh's voice is beyond underrated, and it's such a shame. He absolutely invigorates this album. In a sentence, you need to add Copeland's In Motion to your CD collection. I've been reviewing some awesome albums lately, but Copeland has managed to jump to the head of the pack. A well-deserved, and tough to achieve A+ for them.

Hollywood Jesus

Copeland’s In Motion wants to put its hands on love to hold it, define it, and put a name there for all to see.

AbsolutePunk

...those actively searching for a band that can stalk your veins like a ghost … will probably find one of their new favorite bands.

Paybacks Are Hell

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Img_1534_300I know what "paybacks are hell" means when someone has done something to you and you are going to "pay them back" for it.  I don't quite get it in the context of a local church sign, as seen in my hometown of Pontiac, IL.

Could it mean that God is like that kid in high school who took something we did very personally, so they give us a beat down later?  Hmmm...

Acts29: My Take

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Sorry for the delay on getting up a recap of the week in Dallas.  Man, I'm tired.

Img_1509_300First of all, this conference/boot camp was (to me) not primarily about church planting or church renewal.  It was about the gospel.  It was the most Christocentric event I've ever attended.  Hard to describe unless you go and experience it yourself.

The guys and wives we met were all great.  We are so pumped to gain some good relationships with young pastors who more concerned for the fame of Christ than methods and personal ambition.  We alsoImg_1521_300 met some other bloggers and blog readers, like Michael Foster and Scott Michael Ringo and their wives. 

We heard from Ed Stetzer, Matt Chandler, Mark Moore, Darrin Patrick, and Mark Driscoll.  All sessions were great, but the final one on perseverance was Driscoll1life-changing.

Overall, we feel a bit overwhelmed with the boot camp and what we learned.  But we are very thankful for the opportunity to learn it and be challenged, not just in ministryImg_1523_300 but in our hearts as followers of Jesus.

The kids did great at the grandparents for three days.  No major problems or broken bones.  They loved it, and it makes it so much easier to leave when we know they won't freak out.

McKinley: Core Group

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On the plane to Texas last week I read Rick McKinley's article, "Leading the Calling and Conversion of Your Core Group."  The article is intended for church planters, but it's also helpful for pastors and other church leaders. 

I hope pastors realize that church planting resources are not just for church planters.  All churches should be planting churches.  But even more, the "base jumping" faith of planters is contagious.  We need it. 

2nd Chance Lance

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Oh geez, let's not Michael Jordan this thing to death.  Lance Armstrong took 6 whole weeks to reconsider his retirement. 

While I'm absolutely enjoying my time as a retired athlete with Sheryland the kids, the recent smear campaign out of France has awoken my competitive side. I'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances, but I will no longer rule it out.

The motive, it seems, is revenge against the French (at least French officials and labs and such).  Listen, it better not be.  If he does ride again, my prediction (write it down folks), is that some crazed French fan will sabotage Lance on the road by throwing something at him or pushing him down, etc. 

Would he win, barring an incident?  Yep, I don't see any reason to doubt he would.  But the Alps and Pyrenees might not be the hardest part of the course.  It might be a stick in his spokes.

Acts29 Boot Camp: Day 1

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Made it to Texas without incident.  Our flights arrived early, room and rental car are great, and the heat is Texas sized (96ish today).  The first evening of the boot camp included two good talks by Ed Stetzer and Mark Driscoll is up to bat the first two talks tomorrow.  All is well and I'm very tired.  I'll try to post some tomorrow.

Acts29 in Dallas

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The Acts29 Boot Camp in Dallas is this week, Tuesday through Thursday.  Molly and I will be going.  An Acts29 pastor who is also SBC tried to get me to the boot camp in St. Louis months ago, but I couldn't make it.  Strangely we are able to make the longer trip to Dallas, and the Lord has provided to get us there.

We are leaving tomorrow (Monday) for my parent's house to drop off the four kids.  Then very early on Tuesday we head to the Bloomington, IL airport to get on a plane for Chicago, short layover, then to Dallas by the afternoon.  We hope to meet up and hang out with old friends from our time in Colorado when we were first married.  Chad is a pastor near Dallas now.

We are excited about the trip and to dig in more concerning church planting and church replanting.

I hope to be online regularly, but not nearly as much as normal.  I'll try to update what we are doing and hearing.  Maybe a pic or two as well.

Piper Takes the Plunge

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Pip_bapt_no_3Every once in a while someone very prominent and respected and influential does something that drums up a lot of discussion which will change some minds while causing others to reject it.  That honor at the moment goes to John Piper and the elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The elders at BBC are proposing amendments to the constitution and by-laws of BBC, as explained in this online "Fresh Words" article...

The central issue at stake is: How should we define the membership of the church? That is, what degree of biblical understanding and agreement should a person have in order to belong to a local church? Or to put it another way: Should the door to membership in the local church be roughly the same size as the door to the universal church? If so, what is the basic set of beliefs that a person should be willing to affirm—or at least not deny—in order to give good evidence that he is born again into the family of God and a follower of Christ?

After more than three years of study and prayer and discussion of this issue, the Council of Elders believes that membership requirements at Bethlehem should move toward being roughly the same as the requirements for membership in the universal body of Christ. That is, we have come to the conclusion that it is seriously questionable to say to a person who gives good evidence of being a true Christian and who wants to join Bethlehem: you may not join.

This conclusion raises problems of consistency for our present Constitution and By-Laws and our present church Affirmation of Faith and Church Covenant. These documents hold up some less than essential beliefs that must be affirmed in order to be a member at Bethlehem. Thus the door to membership at Bethlehem at the present time is significantly narrower than the door to membership in the universal body of Christ. The elders believe this should be changed because of how serious it is to exclude in principle any truly born-again lover of Christ from membership in the local church.

The most obvious change this involves is allowing the possibility that a person may become a member who has not been baptized by immersion as a believer but who regards the baptismal ritual he received in infancy not as regenerating, but nevertheless (as with most Presbyterians) in such a way that it would violate his conscience to be baptized as a believer. The elders are proposing that under certain conditions such persons be admitted to full membership.

One of the reasons we feel the freedom to move in this direction is that in December, 2003 the church mandated that the Elders themselves must heartily affirm the Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith. This document has raised the doctrinal bar of the eldership at Bethlehem significantly. It is thoroughly and biblically Reformed and baptistic. In other words, the elders of the church may not believe, teach, or practice any other form of baptism as legitimate than believer’s baptism by immersion. All the elders gladly and firmly embrace paragraph 12.3 of the Elder Affirmation of faith:

We believe that baptism is an ordinance of the Lord by which those who have repented and come to faith express their union with Christ in His death and resurrection, by being immersed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the door to the eldership has gotten significantly narrower in the last two years because of the doctrinal rigor demanded by the BBC Elder Affirmation of Faith. Therefore, we believe that the doctrinal faithfulness—including the biblical teaching and practice of believer’s baptism by immersion—is firmly protected by the doctrinal requirements put on the eldership of the church.

Wow.  Hard to believe a Baptist church would do this.  <sarcasm>We've always done it the other way.</sarcasm>  Honestly, I don't like the idea but I'm always willing to rethink the way it's always been done for a more biblical way.  Hang-ups of tradition are always hard to find.

I already don't like his explanation, the whole universal vs. local mentality.  I'd rather hear, 'The NT local churches would have done it this way and here are my reasons why.'  Hopefully the 80 page document that is supposed to come online soon will help.

I would love to get everyone's take on this, and specifically baptists.

Mayhem

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Of all the horrible things happening in the wake of Katrina, the latest is mayhem and chaos.  While the water is no longer rising, tensions are. 

As an American who is used to having a policeman stop by within 5 minutes if someone suspicious is around, New Orleans must be going through something nearly unthinkable for many of us as a sense of lawlessness abounds.

Update
Update 2 - updating page on latest info

Worried About My Anxiety

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Gas_299_cropI was late for a meeting this morning and couldn't get gas when it was $2.79. 

Now it's $2.99.  I know the gas prices have been rising for a few years, but today was the first day I felt anxious about them.  And the last few weeks are the first time in my life I remember shifting plans because of gas prices.  Hurricane Katrina, gas prices, terrorism, Iraq war...it's a lot to think about right now. 

On top of all this, Wendy's didn't have salt packets because the manager forgot to order more.

Chicago Trip: Sequel

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Img_1440_400We took the kids into Chicago one more time to go to the Museum of Science and Industry and return to Millennium Park where they have taken the tent off "The Bean." It really is a remarkable sight.  If you ever get to downtown Chicago, don't miss it

Watch the short video of our trip.

Grace Takes the Breath Away

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Doug Wilson, pastor of Christ Church, author of many books, and prolific blogger at Blog and Mablog writes this tremendous post on Sunday...

Although we are a Christian people, we still have a tendency to hidefrom the sheer goodness of the gospel. One of the ways we have of doing this is to turn the word sinner into a technical theological one, meaning that no one is perfect, and despite this, any one can call on God through Christ. All of which is quite proper and correct.

But let us be more specific. We are gathered here in the name of Jesus Christ. As an assembly this size, we may say that we are not just here under the general term sinners-we are here as adulterers, thieves, liars, blasphemers, procurers of abortions, biters, devourers, Sabbath-breakers, committers of incest, Pharisees, homosexuals, pedophiles, cheats, jerks and creeps. Not only are such biographical items present here, we may safely say this sanctuary is crammed with them.

Now here is the good news. When it comes to receiving you in Jesus Christ, God is absolutely uninterested in whether such things have occurred. If one did not occur, then a bunch of the others did. But God couldn't care less. Let me restate the key phrase that makes this such good news. Through what Jesus has done for us, God is absolutely uninterested in that part of your history.

Grace takes the breath away. As the Corinthians heard it, "Such were some of you." But the safety-minded rush into to make this message safe for religious consumption-such were some of you. And rightly understood, this is quite proper, and so St. Paul himself emphasizes it. But the safety-minded don't emphasize the same way Paul did.

We are God's saints, holy and beloved. As such, we must always remember the ground of this, which is the biography of Jesus Christ, our good news. As for our biographies, every one of them has a host of pretty grimy chapters, which God found to be so boring that He skipped over them. Absolutely uninterested.

(HT: iMonk via BHT)