Acorns from Oakes

"It occurred to me that…there was finally the first Christian who opened that book and read, “He was..."

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:37:08 -0400

“It occurred to me that…there was finally the first Christian who opened that book and read, “He was a tender shoot that grew out of dry ground.” There was a scripture that came alive for the first time to one person, and when they saw, “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter” – nowhere in the margins of the scrolls had there been a picture of Calvary painted – but there was the first Christian for the first time who looked at Isaiah 53, and dropped it and threw up their hands and said, “Oh, my God!” And they rushed to the church and they said, “Pick up your book!” and read Isaiah 53. And for the first time, in a prophetic community, the scripture was brought clear in the light of Calvary.”

- Stan Mitchell, pastor of Gracepointe Nashville, in second message (7/17/11) from sermon series entitled The Bible.

"Excessive routine is the enemy of intelligence. Exposing yourself to the same types of input over..."

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:59:34 -0400

“Excessive routine is the enemy of intelligence. Exposing yourself to the same types of input over and over again won’t help you grow. You’ll merely satisfy your mind’s expectations instead of pushing it to form new patterns.”

- Steve Pavlina in Personal Development for Smart People

Principles

Wed, 11 May 2011 21:58:09 -0400

Brendan Greeley gets it way wrong in an article in the most recent Bloomberg Businessweek. In the first lines of the article entitled “Why Bin Laden Lost,” Greeley states:

The most successful organizing principle the world has ever known is a simple guarantee that we can buy and do things that have no point greater than the satisfaction of our own happiness.

Really? In the entire history of the world, Greeley latches on to a phrase from the Declaration of Independence - “the pursuit of happiness” - and asserts that it is the secret of success! Never mind the pursuit is less than 400 years old and not necessarily doing so well right now.

I suppose we shouldn’t be shocked that someone stated it outright, but my jaw dropped nonetheless. Don’t buy it! Don’t buy what Greeley’s selling! The most successful organizing principle in the world was stated most succinctly 2,000 years ago:

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

1 > 20,000

Sun, 08 May 2011 21:23:02 -0400

Larry Brooks has created one of the best blogs for writers at storyfix. In a recent post entitled “Suffering Is Optional” he says this:

If you can’t describe your story in one compelling sentence, you probably can’t write it in 20,000 compelling sentences, either. Why? Because to write a story successfully, you need to be in complete command of what the story is about, at its highest level of intention and focus.

Reminded me of Blake Snyder’s advice to screenwriters in Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need:

And concentrate on writing one sentence. One line

Because if you can learn how to tell me “What is it?” better, faster, and with more creativity, you’ll keep me interested. And incidentally, by doing so before you start writing your script, you’ll make the story better, too.

One thought, one line, one point. Where did we ever get the idea that as writers, communicators, teachers, and preachers we need to cover multiple points in long, drawn out presentations?

After nearly two decades being in front of people weekly, I’m learning more each day the truth of Brooks’s words: If you can’t tell it in one sentence, you can’t tell it in 20,000.

"The task of the Church is to get on with implementing the victory of the cross; and if we grasped..."

Thu, 05 May 2011 19:25:00 -0400

“The task of the Church is to get on with implementing the victory of the cross; and if we grasped that vision and lived by it, we would be able at last to address some of the problems in the Church and the world that loom so large and seem so intractable.”

- N.T. Wright in Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship, p. 22.

My favorite 2010 albums

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:22:56 -0500

Here are my favorite albums released in 2010:

7. The Band Perry - The Band Perry - This album had to make the list since the father of the band members is our pediatrician. Kimberly, Reid, and Neil Perry have called Greeneville home for nearly the last decade, and in 2010 they started getting national recognition for a song Kimberly wrote called “If I Die Young.” It’s the best song on the album, but my favorite is “Independence.”

6. Backatown - Trombone Shorty - I had never heard of Trombone Shorty until 2010, when this album was released. I listened to the samples on iTunes, and knew immediately this would be a winner. A fast-paced, loud jazz album with just a few vocals thrown in, I found myself searching for Trombone Shorty clips on YouTube (like this one in which he takes Wynton Marsalis on in a trumpet competition at The House of Blues) in order to get better acquainted with the artist. Best track: “Hurricane Season.”

5. A Beautiful Exchange - Hillsong Live - I don’t know if this would have made the list were it not for a single track: “Like Incense/Sometimes By Step.” Brooke Ligertwood (formerly Brooke Fraser) wrote verses and used Rich Mullins’ chorus to make a gorgeous modern anthem for the church. Sometimes I will put my earphones on, set this song on repeat on my iPod, and lose myself.

4. Beautiful Things - Gungor - After John Mark McMillan (see below), Gungor is my favorite current worship singer/songwriter. Fresh lyrics with arresting melodies. Favorite song: “Dry Bones” with an honorable mention to “Call Me Out.”

3. Tonight - Tobymac - This album ranks this high not necessarily because it’s good, but just because it’s fun. “Funky Jesus Music” wins my vote for funnest song of the year. Great, clean grooves.

2. The Medicine - John Mark McMillan - By far the best worship album of the last few years, not because it contains the best version of “How He Loves” (by the writer and composer of the most popular worship song of the past five years), but rather because it’s different than everything else that has come down the pipe. I read somewhere that McMillan is as popular in Charlotte clubs as he is in churches. His songs are that raw and honest. And absolutely great. Favorite song (besides “How He Loves”): tie between “Dress Us Up” and “Death in His Grave” and “Skeleton Bones.”

1. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum - By far, the album I listened to most during the year. No sophomore slump for this group - in fact, they improved their sound. Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott sound nearly always understated, yet it works to near perfection. “Need You Now” got all the attention, but in my opinion “Hello World” is the top song on the disc, a powerful anthem to gratefulness and honor for life and the creator of life.

"Jesus’ vision of God’s kingdom…grew directly out of his knowledge and love of..."

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:37:29 -0500

“Jesus’ vision of God’s kingdom…grew directly out of his knowledge and love of Israel’s God as the God of generous grace and astonishing, powerful, healing love. This was the God whose life-giving power flowed through him to heal; this was the God to whose kingdom he was committed.”

- Tom Wright commenting on Luke 10:1-16 in Luke for Everyone

"Until we come to terms with WAR as the context of our days we will not understand life. We will..."

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 23:04:24 -0400

“Until we come to terms with WAR as the context of our days we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God’s intentions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God.”

- John Eldredge in Waking the Dead (p. 17)

Photo

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 22:07:23 -0400

"Often, I’m afraid, the church is a place where preachers preach not out of their depths but out of..."

Thu, 04 Nov 2010 19:18:13 -0400

“Often, I’m afraid, the church is a place where preachers preach not out of their depths but out of their shallows, and who, when they try to show forth the great transforming truths of the faith that once set the world on its ear, speak not out of the experience of those truths in their own lives but speak instead like American tourists abroad who believe that if only they say the hallowed old words often enough and forcibly enough, everybody will be bound to understand whether they know the language or not.”

- Frederick Buechner in A Room Called Remember, p. 123.

1700 years later, the Church is still a boat

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:01:09 -0400

Received my Fall 2010 copy of The City (a publication of Houston Baptist University) in the mail today. The first page contained this passage from one of Augustine’s sermons:

Meanwhile the boat carrying the disciples – that is The Church – is rocking and shaking amid the storms of temptation, while the adverse wind rages on. That is to say, her enemy The Devil strives to keep the wind from claming down. But greater is He who is persistent on our behalf, for amid the vicissitudes of our life He gives us confidence. He comes to us and strengthens us, so we are not jostled in the boat and tossed overboard. For although the boat is thrown into disorder, it is still a boat. It alone carries the disciples and receives Christ. It is in danger indeed on the water, but there would be certain death without it. Therefore stay inside the boat and call upon God! When all good advice fails and the rudder is useless and the spread of the sails presents more of a danger than an advantage, when all human help and strength have been abandoned, the only recourse left for the sailors is to cry out to God. Therefore will He who helps those who are sailing to reach port safely abandon His Church and prevent her from arriving in peace and tranquility? What really has to be guarded against is the boat going off course and turning back. This happens when people give up hope of heavenly rewards, and turn under the distorting pull of greed to things that can be seen but pass away. You see, people who are being troubled and tempted by their passions, and yet keep their sights on the realities of the inner life, do not despair like that, but pray for their offenses to be forgiven and remain determined to win through and sail across the rage and fury of the sea. (“The Boat & The Church” from Sermon 75 of The Homilies of Saint Augustine of Hippo, likely delivered in Carthage circa 395) [emphasis mine]

Stephen Hawking's Grand Design

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:21:31 -0400

So, Stephen Hawking’s new book The Grand Design was released three weeks ago, and it is currently #10 on the Amazon.com bestsellers list. That’s remarkable, considering the majority of Americans cannot even comprehend the book’s premise, as stated in the Amazon review:

In The Grand Design we explain why, according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence, or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. We question the conventional concept of reality, posing instead a “model-dependent” theory of reality. We discuss how the laws of our particular universe are extraordinarily finely tuned so as to allow for our existence, and show why quantum theory predicts the multiverse—the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. And we assess M-Theory, an explanation of the laws governing the multiverse, and the only viable candidate for a complete “theory of everything.” As we promise in our opening chapter, unlike the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life given in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the answer we provide in The Grand Design is not, simply, “42.”

Wow. Just wow - “every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously.”

"If I eat and am not eaten, it will seem that God is in me, but I am not yet in God."

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 18:56:12 -0400

“If I eat and am not eaten, it will seem that God is in me, but I am not yet in God.””

- St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Commentary on the Song of Songs, 71:5

"Question of the Day: How do I know when I am transformed? Paul uses a wonderful and telling phrase:..."

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:27:00 -0400

“

Question of the Day: How do I know when I am transformed?

Paul uses a wonderful and telling phrase: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). It is a radically different sense of self that he is trying to describe. Until I have come to that realization myself, I have not been transformed, spiritually speaking.

Contemplative prayer draws us to our True Self, who we are “hidden with Christ in God” as Paul says in Colossians 3:3. This is the only self that actually exists. We came forth from God and our deepest DNA is divine. We are not human beings trying to become spiritual; we are already spiritual beings and the profound question is always, “What does it mean to be human?” I believe that is why Jesus came as a human being and consistently called himself a “son of man” more than the Son of God.

”

- Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation for July 26, 2010 - Adapted from Contemplative Prayer (CD)

"Yes, a man is a dangerous thing. So is a scalpel. It can wound or it can save your life. You..."

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 12:06:33 -0400

“Yes, a man is a dangerous thing. So is a scalpel. It can wound or it can save your life. You don’t make it safe by making it dull; you put it in the hands of someone who knows what he’s doing.”

- John Eldredge in Wild at Heart

"If people who had never heard of Jesus visited these churches, they’d have to conclude that Jesus’..."

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:41:52 -0400

““If people who had never heard of Jesus visited these churches, they’d have to conclude that Jesus’ number one priority was that Christians invest the very best of their energy and their money into putting on a … church event. Is this what Jesus told you guys to do?””

- Matt Casper, atheist, after visiting numerous churches with Jim Henderson - as documented in Jim & Casper Go to Church

What does ministry look like? (An open letter to Bible college students in America)

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:45:00 -0400

It’s been common over the past few decades for ministry in America to be passed along as standardized and generally non-pliable. The result has been cookie-cutter churches and cookie-cutter ministries following cookie-cutter patterns for growth – growth generally measured by counting how many people gather at specified meeting times

For decades, and even centuries, the prevailing religious culture has rewarded conformity with promotion while punishing innovation by marginalization. But even a casual journey through the Scriptures reveals that many of the men and women who did great things for God were marginalized by the majority. They were marginalized not because their work was ineffective, but because it didn’t look like what the prevailing minds thought it should look like.

Joseph had no pattern. Joseph was an insider in a pagan culture with no outside contacts for decades. His brothers wrote him off, yet he maintained integrity and faithfulness to his God, and became the saving agent for his generation. And he did all of it without a blueprint. Until Joseph, nobody knew what it looked like.

Philip was the first follower of Christ to actually follow Christ’s footsteps, taking the message to Samaria. As a result, Peter and John were sent in a delegation to confirm that Samaritans could actually take part in the kingdom of God. Meanwhile, Philip was already on the move, today enlightening the heart of an Ethiopian, tomorrow 25 miles up the road entering another town. Is it any wonder he fathered the only prophetesses mentioned in Acts?

Philip received a vision from God which looked distinctively different than the vision most of the other disciples had received. Peter considered himself cutting edge when he visited Cornelius, but he was actually light years behind Philip. Peter could walk into Cornelius’ house a little more confidently because of the picture Philip had painted.

Paul’s transforming vision of Jesus created a ministry that spread the message across the Roman Empire. None of the other disciples had imagined that possibility. They couldn’t fathom what that would look like. But Paul received the vision and acted on it. In Acts 15, Paul’s frustration is almost tangible as the disciples debate what conversion should look like. For Paul, the issue wasn’t theoretical – he’d been so busy carrying out the vision, he didn’t have time to stop and judge whether God was doing it properly. What does conversion look like? Paul knew it when he saw it.

And don’t forget: Jesus was so far outside the imagination and expectations of his own people that they rejected him with the ultimate rejection, handing him over to a pagan world to suffer one of the cruelest forms of capital punishment ever invented.

I recently watched a debate in which a highly-respected ranking official of a religious organization couldn’t engage in meaningful dialogue with those who held different doctrinal positions. Incapable of dialogue, he was reduced to reading talking points which had been prepared beforehand.

God didn’t create us and call us to recite talking points.

I listened as another organizational leader recently preached a rallying sermon by knocking off doctrinal points which were trademarks of his organization. The problem? Love didn’t make the list. Love – the lead-off hitter for both of the great commandments. Love – the apex of Paul’s triangle of what really matters.

Since hearing that sermon months ago, I’ve repeatedly pondered why love wouldn’t make the cut as a trademark of a denomination. The best I can come up with is that many people don’t know what love looks like, at least not enough to describe it accurately in a sermon. Since love is immeasurable, it’s relegated to an assumed status.

But Jesus never assumed love. He proclaimed love, demanded love. And John, the beloved disciple, decided it was possible to picture love – look at Jesus on the cross. That’s love, John wrote, the greatest love. That’s what love looks like. It took a long time for the disciples – John included – to realize that. But once they got it, it transformed their lives and their ministries.

What does your calling look like? What does it mean to do ministry in your setting – as a librarian, or a nurse, or a computer technician, or an actor, or a licensed minister?

What does ministry look like in Los Angeles? What does it look like in Boise or rural Ohio or suburban Philadelphia? The answer: there is no man-made pattern. God alone holds the pattern, the vision, and he desires to pour it into the hearts of his followers, those whom he has delegated to be his ambassadors in declaring the message.

Joel’s prophecy in chapter two wasn’t a recipe for revival. It was a promise, and an unnerving one at that. “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28-29, NIV). That’s not a pattern. That’s a wind that blows wherever it wants to blow, leading those who will be led to uncharted territories.

Someone has stated the best ways of doing ministry have not yet been discovered. God has called and chosen you to do something magnificent (see Ephesians 2:10). What does that look like?

Please, for the sake of the next generation, don’t let anyone convince you that there’s a pattern which has to be followed. Trust God’s Spirit to open your eyes.

"Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing - its disciples. Your church is only as..."

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:51:51 -0400

“Ultimately, each church will be evaluated by only one thing - its disciples. Your church is only as good as her disciples. It does not matter how good your praise, preaching, programs, or property are; if your disciples are passive, needy, consumeristic, and not radically obedient, your church is not good.”

- Neil Cole in Search & Rescue: Becoming a Disciple Who Makes a Difference, p. 185.

Why don't churches have mechanics on staff?

Wed, 19 May 2010 23:40:08 -0400

In my random thoughts today, I was thinking about churches that have multiple staff positions and minister to hundreds or thousands of people weekly. I began wondering why such churches don’t have a mechanic (or mechanics) on staff. Perhaps some do, and I just haven’t heard of it, but it’s likely that most don’t.

Why not?

I’ve heard hundreds of church staff titles, from lead pastor to administrative assistant to media specialist to director of social events. And it seems that the majority of positions are created with a primary purpose that points inward rather than outward.

Think about it. Religious leaders generally don’t create missional positions. Many churches have multiple staff positions allotted for the sole purpose of ensuring the Sunday service or services are as professional and current as possible. Musicians practice for days. Developers create Hollywood-worthy content just to introduce the pastor’s message. Assistants fill out paperwork and plan retreats.

And all the while, some of the biggest needs of the community are neglected.

What if some church some where decided to scrap the funny and hip video presentations, and instead decided to open a garage with three or four mechanics on staff, offering oil changes, tire rotations, brakes, and other minor or even major vehicle repairs? With oil changes going for $35 or more these days, and brakes costing in excess of $200, think of the cash a church could put back into the pockets of single moms, low-income families, and elderly couples, just to mention a few.

That would be a ministry that’s missional at the core. Think about the impact on a congregation’s understanding of what it means to be salt and light in the community.

Over the last few decades, few churches have thought like that. My hope is that over the next decade, more leaders choose to think like that, and positions like mechanic, lawn service provider, and outside maintenance minister become common.

What other ways might there be to create innovative staff positions in churches which engage unbelievers in significant ways, rather than provide more and more comfort to the saved?

Let’s think about it some more. Drop me a message at chroak@aol.com.

Dan Heath: How to Find Bright Spots. Originally posted on the...

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:14:19 -0400

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Dan Heath: How to Find Bright Spots. Originally posted on the Fast Company website, May 12, 2010. Props to Dan for including Hall and Oates as the “superstars at the top!”