bob.blog

The Nines

I'll be hosting the Nines conference here at the Bob.Blog on Sept 9th!

You can register and get more info here: thenines.leadnet.org

The Nines from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

Janie at the Mission

Famous Follower!

Why pastors?

"We are there for one reason and one reason only: to preach and to pray (the two primary modes of our address). We are there to focus the overflowing, cascading energies of joy, sorrow, delight, or appreciation, if only for a moment but for as long as we are able, on God. We are there to say 'God' personally, to say his name clearly, distinctly, unapologetically, in proclamations and in prayers. We are there to say it without hemming and hawing, without throat clearing and without shuffling, without propagandizing, proselytizing, or manipulating. We have no other task. We are not needed to add to what is there. We are required only to say the name: Father, Son, Holy Ghost. 

All men and women hunger for God. The hunger is masked and misinterpreted in many ways, but it is always there. Everyone is on the verge of crying out “My Lord and my God!” but the cry is drowned out by doubts or defiance, muffled by the dull ache of their routines, masked by their cozy accommodations with mediocrity. Then something happens — a word, an event, a dream — and there is a push toward awareness of an incredible Grace, a dazzling Desire, a defiant Hope, a courageous Faithfulness. But awareness, as such, is not enough. Untended, it trickles into religious sentimentalism or romantic blubbering. Or, worse, it hardens into patriotic hubris or pharisaic snobbery. 

The pastor is there to nudge the awareness past subjectivities and ideologies into the open and say 'God.'"

-Eugene Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant

Gary Numan makes me feel...

... as though that Tambourine is a symbol of all my existential angst and regret. 

(Awesomest. Tambourine. Solo. Ever.) 

For you Portlanders, Burlap to Cashmere

Burlap to Cashmere will be playing a benefit concert for Visible Grace, a local non-profit working to start a children's home and school in Kenya, August 14 at 7pm in the Fellowship Hall at Sunset Pres.

Tickets are $15, $17 at the door, you can order your tickets online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/72567

Pastor Hack: The Kindle App

I'm all for sharing the wealth. 

So, when I discovered that books I was downloading on my iPhone Kindle app were also showing up on the iPhone I had given to one of my co-pastors at Evergreen, I realized I had stumbled on a cheap way to share books and resources among a small group, like a church staff. 

Amazon's terms of service allow for up to SIX Kindles or iPhone Kindle apps to be registered to a particular account. This means that books bought on that account will show up across those iPhones/Kindles. 

Sweet. Now, for $10 bucks, I can buy a book for our whole staff. And while they can't buy/download books on the Kindle App, Barnes and Noble has just come out with a competing app/service- so if there's something they really want on their phone, it's available. 

Nice. 

And, even fun, as you can send samples of books you think they should read to individual staff member's iPhones. I'm telling you- that one is going to give me HOURS of fun all by itself. :)

Do we claim to have ALL the answers?

Some random thoughts swirling in my head as I clean the kitchen (my regular Saturday/Mindless Task rundown)...

Does Evergreen claim to have "all the answers"? 

No- not by a long shot. 

These thoughts are stirred maybe in part by my recent posts on Video Venues and such- I probably need to point out every once in awhile that we don't feel we have stumbled on the One True Model™ for doing church. 

But mainly I'm thinking through various conversations, some facebook posts, some comments... just some things I feel like I want to say at this point. 

No- we don't have all the answers. And that means some things and it doesn't mean some other things. 

What does it mean?

It means we have a sense of epistemological humility (epistemology: a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. humility: the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc.). It means that even when we do make claims about truth, we are careful, humble and respectful as we do so, knowing that we are subjective humans who quite often misunderstand things. It means we do our best to make room for questions, for those who are doubting or unsure and to truly journey beside them as they ask. It means we show patience and love to those who aren't where we are at and do our best to continue to learn alongside them. It means we make room in every gathering for multiple voices to be heard alongside the one leading the discussion, for questions to be asked and even for people to disagree. I feel in that, we are somewhat rare...

What doesn't it mean?