idiot pastors

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x55yaw_church-sign_news

gas prices

this is not a blog complaining about gas prices. i am concerned in the turn that it has taken the last 5 years. when i was in college gas ran around $1.30. i could fill up between $12-15. that would last me almost a month in college. i did not have to drive that much in college. i chose when it was important to drive. i had friends that would drive from one side of the campus to the other because they thought it was easier. i chose to walk. iwu is not that big of a campus and i try not to be that lazy.

today i drive 8.5 each way back and forth to work. i also drive anywhere between 20-100 miles during the work day in which i am reimbursed $.45/mile. we live about 11 miles from our church and about the same from our closest friends in the area. jenny drives about 4 miles to work at the most. overall we drive about 300 miles a week. the overwhelming majority for work/church.

a lot of people are complaining about gas prices. the ones i see complaining most are driving big trucks and suv's. gas is all about choosing what is important and what you can live with or without. america is starting to see there entertainment funds go down.

i remember going over to canada every now and then over the years and noticing that gas always cost quite a bit more. i always wondered about this and today i looked up gas prices around the world. after reading this i was quite thankful for the $3.81/gallon that i paid for this morning.

Belgium $8.84
Canada 4.73
Italy 7.20
Israel 7.30
Turkey 10.13
UK 8.18

but there were also countries that paid hardly anything

venezuela $.17
saudi arabia .45
kuwait .78
iran .33

what is the difference? these countries produce quite a bit of oil. i believe the united states needs to start using our gasoline.

for more gas prices around the world check out these sites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_usage_and_pricing
http://fabulously40.com/article/2171/Price-of-gas-from-around-the-world/

a bit political

obama is very optimistic. he thinks that if he is voted in as president he will be able to change how politics are done. he says it all with a smile, good mannerisms and an upbeat positive attitude.

i just cant help to think that i heard these same things as i was a student at indiana wesleyan. i enjoyed my time there. the profs we very upbeat and optimistic. they were challenging us to be world changers. and we as students believed we could.

we did not know however what we were getting into. i am now four and a half years removed from iwu. i have done some amazing things in ministry and enjoyed the time. but i cant help to feel a bit disappointed at times.

i almost begin to wonder if we vote in obama if we will end up feeling the same way. he has told us that he can bring change to washington. but what if he doesnt. in four years will we feel a bit disappointed.

every candidate for president has promised something while running but there has been many broken promises. the one that sticks out in my mind is bush, sr with his line "no new taxes." we all know how that worked out for us.

i wonder what would happen if candidates just came out and told us the truth.

"i cannot promise change, but this is what i will do to try to see it happen."
"i will work on trying to pass this bill, but it will probably be turned down in congress."
"life for you will change only when you act to bring about change."

but he or she probably wouldnt be voted in.

the rock (stars) cries out

i am not sure how many of you saw the idol gives back, i did not. however i did here about it. many people have commented how nice it was to here them sing a worship song. others have commented on the changing of the name Jesus to Shepherd. other then it sounding pretty nice with the quality sounding solos by my two favorites on the show. yes i have favorites. with the writers strike and not much to choose i have actually watched american idol for the first time in however many seasons.

the inquiry that i have to ask about was that song worship?

i cannot speak of the hearts of the people on american idol. some of them might be very solid believers of Christ and have a great relationship with Him. if that is the case then it could be considered worship.

and for the christians who might have been watching them sing it could have been a worship experience.

what i am wondering is did the unbelievers singing or watching this performance actually worship?

can there be worship with unbelief? what is worship in spirit and truth?

defending the weak

today as i was working i was listening to erwin mcmanus. he was discussing how early on in the marriage that he fought with his wife on the topic of pacifism vs war. he was a new christian at the time and would always come to the same conclusion that Jesus would not where a sword. his wife however grew up with a world war ii veteran for a father.

one night when mcmanus and some friends were going out for the evening he witness this lady being dragged by a guy with her hair. he was being very forceful. in this highly populated area with everyone watching and no one doing a thing he decided he would. so using force he stopped the guy from hurting the woman.

he went home that night to tell his wife he was no longer a pacifist. he realized that there was a time for using force. there are many people today that cannot stand up for themselves. they are taken advantage of in everyway imaginable. some of these wars can be fought without weapons. but we are supposed to stand up for the weak and unprotected.

my friend brandon wrote in his blog this weak this quote by mlk jr. "you not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him." you can read the rest here www.runningcautiously.blogspot.com

when war is fueled by hate is a topic for another blog. but a war fueled by the protection of innocent lives is another story for me. you will not see me carrying a weapon. but hopefully in all the "wars of life" that i fight it is not done through hate or despite but for defending those who cannot defend themselves.

keeping the innovators

Innovation today is at a high; tomorrow innovation will be a new high. In other words change is happening quickly. In the last few years we have gone from the simple iPod to the iPod Video and today we have the iPhone. This has brought a major change to Apple, Inc. The iPod brought about iTunes, which has brought a new industry to the company. Apple has been able to do something that a lot of churches have not been able to do, incorporate new ideas to move the company forward.
There are many innovative leaders today. Jason is 28 and is serving at his fourth church. He has done some amazing things at each of his churches. I also think of Ben who is 27 and is one of the most talented young pastors I know. He has put a lot of time and energy into the ministry. He comes home exhausted and worn out and does it again the next day. Churches can learn a lot from these Pastors, but what can churches do to help them?
A young assistant pastor went to his Senior Pastor and told him he felt like he had to resign. He felt led to make movies that would lead people to Christ. The Senior Pastor asked, Why not do that within our church? This was the start of the movie Facing the Giants. What would happen if more churches would receive pastors ideas like this?
Churches need to 1. Encourage people in their efforts. The church board voted to bring them on staff and now needs to help develop them. 2. Volunteer to be involved in a ministry position. Pastors are overworked because they are filling roles that can and should be filled by others in the congregation. 3. Understand that “New ideas are usually germinated from a sincere desire to see a church increase or improve its ministry” 4. Give them time to be creative and implement them. You cannot change them from being an innovative leader. You have a choice of letting them create or snuffing the passion because they no longer have the time. When this happens, you will more often say goodbye. 5. Send them to conferences to spark their creativity even more. This will give them opportunities to spark their creativity.
If you do these things I will not guarantee success. Every church is not meant to make movies. But when a church focuses on innovation you might end up with the churches version of the iPod, something that might change your church for future generations to come.

cant wait