Jupiter Winter

Willie The Wounded Healer

2011-06-24T17:39:00.000-07:00

Read this today;

“I’ve spent my whole life trying to get over having had Nikki for a mother, and I have to say that from day one after she died, I liked having a dead mother more then an impossible one. I prayed to forgive her but I didn’t – for staying in a fever dream of a marriage, for fanatically pushing her children to achieve, for letting herself go from great beauty to hugely overweight women in dowdy clothes and a gloppy mask of make up. It wasn’t black and white: I really loved her, and took great care of her, and was proud of some of the heroic things she had done with her life. She had put herself through law school, fought the great good fights for justice and civil rights, marched against the war in Vietnam. But she was like someone who had broken my leg, and my leg had healed badly, and I would limp forever.”

I couldn’t pretend she hadn’t done extensive damage- that’s called denial. But I wanted to dance anyway, even with a limp. – Anne Lamont: Plan B Further Thoughts On Faith.

This story reminds me of Willie, from Watts Power House Church. I remember one day Willie stopped me on my walk through the Imperial Courts housing projects, the community where all of the drama of his life had played out over the last 60 years (or so). And, almost as if he couldn’t help himself he began describing those pictures that he carried with him, one drama after another, of what it was like to grow up a young black man in the 70’s and 80’s on Grape Street and 112^th. as his community enveloped him in a lifestyle that ended up making it one of the most notorious gang communities in the recent history of the United States.

My storyteller inhabited a thin and bony frame, with visible muscle strains all over his neck and arms from living with multiple sclerosis for the last ten years. And, even though it was clear that the twinge he experienced when he spoke was paining him, it was clear he loved speaking every strained word, entrusting me with his biography, as if I was some kind of living will.

I especially loved the tale of the first time he got arrested. “I was too stupid to be a good criminal when I was young,” he said smiling, “ every one of my friends was selling drugs, all the time, and when I decided to go ahead and try it for myself, I was such a fresh daisy, the first person I tried to sell it to was some-kinda rookie undercover cop. Shoot, I bet he got a promotion too.” Where I was from, no one had a funny story about how they went to jail for selling crack, needless to say I was in stiches. I realize now, he was inviting me into his wonderful world by showing me his wounds. Tale after tale of lost loved ones, all revolving around the planet sized grief that he wore so openly, steaming from growing up in a violent neighborhood and having to make difficult decisions to survive. Stories that did not seem to need any verification from an outside source, because they were not told for his benefit but for mine.

Willie wasn’t just my unofficial greeter to the neighborhood. After his conversion four years earlier, he made it his mission to be a grandfather to all who would let him. And, who better. His spirit was so gentle, so disarming. You just simply could not walk past him without being enveloped in his spirit of “we shall overcome” that reverberated from his every gesture, as if the spirit of his ancestors were speaking through every belabored motion and word. Upon his request, I saw some of the most intimidating men I have ever laid eyes on bend over and hug his fragile body. He knew, better then most, that for just that moment, there was no better man then he, to temporarily fill the void left by the absence of a loving male figure in their lives.

No one could argue with his attitude, for many it was one of the clearest examples of what the transformative work of the Holy Sprit can do in a person’s life. As a man, he was literally the walking wounded, and yet he woke up every Sunday mourning ready to dance. A few triumphant hand-claps from Willie in a worship service and no matter how bad the music was- you knew that God was close.

He couldn’t cover up his wounds, even if he wanted to, and during the times when the pain was so great he couldn’t take care of himself, people in the community considered it a privilege to give back to him in a small way, what he gave in such large helpings.

For me, Willie became a picture of what Christians look like at their best. Wounded priests; people with scars and scrapes from a life lived trying to love in dark places. Risky folks who are willing to unwrap their bandages and expose the places on their body that still nag and cripple them, in order to say with all earnestness, two of the most healing words that can be spoken in the English language; “me too.” One of the reasons I believe Willie is still on this earth today, is that even with all that muscle dystrophy, he is still not tired of dancing with Jesus. Each mourning he puts out his hand, and they are on their way, Willie and Jesus dancing through the projects unafraid to look silly, and for anyone whose paying attention, it becomes impossible to not be swept away in it.

May we, as leaders, risking that we will look ridiculous, knowing that we might limp forever, never grow weary of extending our hand, and in so doing say once again, many I have this dance, knowing that nothing would delight God more then to let others watch us, as we step all over His toes trying to follow His lead.

Commisioning

2011-02-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

What of our blueprints?

When all heavens voices

are all like ribbons descending

with no time for all of life’s enticing strands.

Just cinch one as it breezes in

and twist it into a jump rope

make the green earth on this blue planet a hop scotch

practice the children’s art of

scribbling out life’s struggles with Crayola crayons.

After all, that’s all you are asked

Learn from Bill and John

“Trip the light fantastic”

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, dance

You are also called to

Swing to the song of the God of less demands

Grandfather

2011-02-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Crooked bent and beat up old man
lost behind a tobacco cloud
will your remorse ever find a companion
or is the anesthesia of the clock enough
bending your mind with the ticking hands
in the slow swivel of the stop watch.
You need a friend
someone to sway in that rocking chair to your right
in that regular pace you love.
To ask the gods in the night of your last breath
what does an old man get for all his sin's
except death?

E E Cummings // I have found what you are like

2011-02-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

i have found what you are like
the rain,

      (Who feathers frightened fields
with the superior dust-of-sleep. wields

easily the pale club of the wind
and swirled justly souls of flower strike

the air in utterable coolness

deeds of green thrilling light
                           with thinned

newfragile yellows

                lurch and.press

-in the woods
             which
                   stutter
                         and

                            sing

And the coolness of your smile is
stirringofbirds between my arms;but
i should rather than anything
have(almost when hugeness will shut
quietly)almost,
              your kiss

Killing Flies Redux

2011-02-01T13:53:00.001-08:00

When I was a boy, I cried in a widow sill.

My ominous story I needed to tell
my right eye was frantically searching the darkened drive way,
but the left was entranced by a spinning, spiders, spell
and with my winking invitation that anthropomorphic bug began to weave a web of trouble out of my weeping sway.

That arachnid danced under the crawling night lite loom,
and the long shadows from picture frames,
it sashayed with the buzz from the television in the next room,
and mummies of me awoke in their tomb,
ready to play pernicious games.

Pushpin, staple, thumbtack; a list,
sick for the impish play,
as my right eye that once yearned for the street-light mist,
went bloodshot- with the surgical twists,
as I herd their squeamish bray

After the last one hobbled home,
back to the larva from which he came,
when my fiend was fed with their wingless grown,
it was true again that I was all a-lone,
and like the spider, felt sane.

Killing Flies

2011-01-28T12:15:00.001-08:00

When I was a boy, I cried in a widow sill

With one eye transfixed on the drive way,

And the other on the spiders spell,

That amassed all emotion from my seizuring sway.

The crawling night lite loom

And the long shadows from picture frames

And the buzz of television in the next room

As mummies of me awoke in the tomb

Ready to play pernicious games

Hammer, Tack, Nail; a list

And soon there was no more play

Wish I could have just slumped into the mist

But I clenched tightly with the fingers twist

As I heard the demons bray

Before the last one hobbled home

And back to the larva from which he came

And after I had fed my fiend with their wingless grown

It was true again that I was all a-lone

And like the spider, felt sane.

For My Brother Who Prays That All This Information Will Become Knowledge

2011-01-27T19:31:00.000-08:00

Too Brandon Brown,

May we one day share with our Church Father Sir Thomas Moore, by having the Wikipedia link "Polymath"

Off I fly, careering far
In chase of Pollys, prettier far
Than any of their namesakes are
—The Polymaths and Polyhistors,
Polyglots and all their sisters.

(Amen)

Empirical Hope

2011-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

I had never been a best man, when I met Keith in an old abandoned school building in Watts L.A. And, on the Detroit street corner where this dauntingly large man had learned to make his way in the world, it was an unspoken truth that only “weak men” turned in their “player’s card,” and settled for just one woman.

I think we “hit it off” because we were both trying to act like someone new, secretly hoping that we would magnificently transform into this “other person.” The first step in our new role was to run from our old ones. I was one of those quasi-Tolstoyan- Malibu white boys - in the hood, who wanted to, like Bonnie Price Billy, “take my lessons from what’s poor.” And as for Keith, well as he put it “I just cannot, never, for no reason, go back to Pomona.”

The best thing about Keith was his girlfriend of seven years, Virginia. She was truly a grown up “Annie.” She had semi-golden blond hair that only exacerbated the protruding dark roots at the top of her head, and a drug damaged face that had been warmed by the fires of hell on more than one occasion. It had truly been a “hard nock life“ for this playful, yet guarded 52 year-old. Terribly poor, abused her whole life, Virginia turned to crystal meth to fill in the blank spaces of her mind that swelled up with trauma when she was sober. When Virginia walked into the doors of our Church plant, on the corner of Grape Street and 127,^th she couldn’t just leach off the system one more time. She had to say thank you to whomever was providing the free medical and dental care she so desperately needed and so rarely received.

When she finally found Pastor Todd, everything changed. After a short fifteen-minute conversation she was down on her knees, crying out for salvation.

It’s hard to tell what it was about Virginia’s prayer that found favor with God. Too tell you the truth, I watched the whole thing go down, and I doubted whether this humble act was really going to make a difference. At our church it was a regular occurrence, to see drug addicts, gang members, and booze-hounds, come to the alter and ask God for deliverance. We would make plans to meet them later that week and all too often “surprise, surprise,” they were usually drunk, gang-bangin, or high when we showed up.

This kind of thing was awfully disheartening for me. I had come to Watts to jolt myself out of my thankless, suburban, Christian apathy. For a long time I had been praying for God to reach down, and take away personal demon’s, (or at least provide the strength to perform a self exorcism) with no felt response from the “big guy in the sky.” These visits had become a confirmation of my own spiritual stagnation. So many broken people defeated by sin, repeated a prayer for deliverance, with no change.

“Will you be my best man,” changed all that.

Keith and Virginia, after three months of attending Watts Power House Church, had approached Pastor Todd in secret and asked to be baptized. (I have a theory that it took three months of nagging from Virginia to get Keith to warm up to the idea). Pastor Todd was delighted, but when he went to bed that night he herd from God, (In a way I think only Pastors who live in the most dangerous parts of the world can) and told Keith and Virginia the next day his message from on high. They were to be married, before they were to be baptized.

At the time I was the only other male working at the church, so I was the natural (and only) choice to stand beside this terribly courageous man as he entered into covenant with his Wife and with his God, all on the same day.

And as Virginia walked down the aisle in a simple white gown with flowers in her hair, more beautiful than any bride; ever, it cast a net of hope in the transforming work of God that only an authentic encounter with heaven crashing into earth can set. And, praise God, we were all swept away in it.

Bark

2011-01-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

You who made the trees, what do you know of me?
I see the intricate leaves
and how the wind sings delicate  songs
   as it dances
   through the branches
but my song is more brittle than that oak
   the cracking
   strum after strum
   stroke after stroke
Oh Sovereign do you know me?
   there is no song from my limbs as they are breaking
   broke.

Blue Valentine

2011-01-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

Love
a fire cracker
   heart ache
in the joining
   and rejoing
can it find me where I am going
   Year
   after
   year
or do we all just meet in the crossing
this bridge
   has no guard
For the keeping of my heart

Mind Travel

2010-12-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

My dreams get on air planes
they love the lusty affair of travel
they return
and i marvel

at the Alaskan mountains
under the heat lamp of summer
where young men glissade down snow caps
and boys mine for gold in streams too clear to see
the reflection of their ros'ed cheeks and unbridled coats

at the rich black hands of Zambia
that are wedded to the soil
raised in the air on a sunday
as if quoting from proverbs with every finger that points to heaven

at the sea of my home
where cliffs arch themselves like mothers
cradling all hope and mystery in their arms

yet, my dreams never stay in these places
and i wish they could
because they are not housed by me either
there so misunderstood

2010-11-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

“There is within the human mind, and indeed by natural instinct, an awareness of divinity. This we take to be beyond controversy. To prevent anyone from taking refuge in the pretense of ignorance, God himself has implanted in all men a certain understanding of his divine majesty. . . . Men of sound judgment will always be sure that a sense of divinity which can never be effaced is engraved upon men’s minds. Indeed, the perversity of the impious, who though they struggle furiously are unable to extricate themselves from the fear of God, is abundant testimony that this conviction, namely, that there is some God, is naturally inborn in all, and is fixed deep within, as it were in the very marrow.”

from John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion

(Really want this to be true but not sure)

Ships

2010-11-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

As the ships dock
their wires cross
they tangle toward infinity
and all the greatness of one ship
looses its divinity

But snip after snip
the wires uncross
And the lusty explorer says
"for all is not lost!"

Yet out of safe harbor
it tips its last

And other men see
he need the sea not
but the fleet of ships
that had him tied up in knots.

2010-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

"poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world"-Shelley

Licorice Designs

2010-11-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Through the rivers of my mind,
you chime, you chime, you chime a thousand times.
But, all the bells and whistles and licorice designs
cannot quell this fiendish tickle,
that not one thought of me has dampened you optimistic mind.

Though it's early evening
and you preach "there's time" "there's time"
tis this seasons greeting
that I am left so far behind.

2010-11-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

Love be used.

It's there swirling,

popping in my brain like a thousand lightning bugs at midnight.

Can't just shrug this one off,

all thats not risked is lost.

Love be used.

Poem from Watts Journal

2010-11-11T19:52:00.000-08:00

Sweet siren lullaby,
another young man to die,
stand by, stand by;
Wasn't me, no need to cry.

Sweet siren lullaby,
another dark night sigh,
and yet tonight ill close my eyes;
And sleep will come from the serenade of the sweet siren lullaby.

A Poem For Systematic 3

2010-11-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Grace you’re an idol too?

Oh how the hearts of the reformers desired you

For others

So they made orders

And crossed boarders

Converting foreign brothers

Yet, year after year there preaching

Has translated to the heavy yoke of speaking

“Grace alone”

No man on his own merit

And if your minds cannot bear it

No access to Christ's throne

Oh Grace, how not to despise you?

Only with blessed assurance that no doctrine can realize you.

Oh How I've Met You!

2010-11-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

Your spirit spills out in all the right places,
it travels angled to perfection,
seeping deep into my life,
in a dampening for the ages!

Your presence comes in a kaleidoscope of colors,
it inspires singular ambition for the sacrifice it might take to earn you repeatedly,
day after day, forsaking all others.

Yet, this prompting is only grace,
Oh how i've met you!
Gods great gift,
better than all mans wages!

Cry to Him for transformation

2010-09-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

Real writing lives in secret. It lurks in shadows. It is by nature reclusive because its too raw, too scattered. It rambles like a thousand homeless voices on skid row.

Certainly not all of my journal entries read this way, but i can't help but wonder if the frantic pages, that come off more like a copy of the bible and a bottle of Jim Beam, in the same shopping cart with a rickety wheel, are way more honest than the entries in perfect cursive that are still dressed in a polo t shirt, projecting a hint of Ralph lauren cologne into the air, at brunch after Church.

Scribbled prayers speak volumes. Pit Prayers, gargled and unintelligible to the outside world. Emotions boiling over into notebook pages, buried in mahogany desks.

These are the writings that have always been "best" for me, because they mark tipping points, compulsive thoughts that fall to the page and burst like distant meteors meeting in space, colliding into ruble.

They are my expressions of the solid sentiment of insanity, that lives underneath piles of pretentious loose dirt, forcing my heart to indulge no further, to seek help outside of myself. To cry out to God.

They are my Psalm 88

1 O LORD, the God who saves me, day and night I cry out before you.
2 May my prayer come before you; turn your ear to my cry.
3 For my soul is full of trouble and my life draws near the grave. [c]
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like a man without strength.
5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more,who are cut off from your care.
6 You have put me in the lowest pit, in the darkest depths.
7 Your wrath lies heavily upon me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves.   Selah
8 You have taken from me my closest friends and have made me repulsive to them. I am confined and cannot escape;
9 my eyes are dim with grief. I call to you, O LORD, every day;  I spread out my hands to you.
10 Do you show your wonders to the dead?Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?   Selah
11 Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction
12 Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?
13 But I cry to you for help, O LORD;  in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14 Why, O LORD, do you reject me  and hide your face from me?
15 From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.
16 Your wrath has swept over me;your terrors have destroyed me.
17 All day long they surround me like a flood;they have completely engulfed me.
18 You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;the darkness is my closest friend.

LA

2010-09-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Journal Day 1: Kevin Haah

L.A. is a city where the rich and poor literally live on top of each other. Only the rich can afford the loft houses that fill out the new gentrified skyline. Only the poor live in the luminous shadows that cascade down from the same modern architectural marvels. The young yuppies, educated on the upper west side, have come to make their dent in the fast paced, out sourced, business and banking markets that prop up the city’s economy. Encouraged by a revitalized downtown, and a pod of new housing complexes, bars, and restaurants, all designed to entice the business men and women who previously saw no other option then to commute from the suburbs. It’s not just the lack of housing that moved the youthful sophisticated elite to Pasadena, and Santa Monica. For many downtown L.A. is the end of the line. Dropped off by cabs and vans, with fevers and open wounds, 6th and San Pedro holds the one of the largest conglomerations of homeless men and women in nation.
Kevin Haah’s parish is downtown where this pile up is most apparent. City Church (where he pastors) seats the rich and poor next to each other in the pews. Justice is not the end goal for economic injustice, reconciliation is the true goal, and this is the testimony of Kevin Haah’s congregation. The rich and the poor need to know each other, if only so they wont see a category of people to avoid on the street as they walk past, but a person.
Kevin humanized the area of skid row for me. He spoke of its assets. The various missions, where great transformation is taking place, and how the spiritual richness that flows from such an environment is palpable. This is the kind of perspective that changes things, that fertilizes roses that are so desperate to grow out of the concrete.

half thoughts

2009-10-21T17:00:00.001-07:00

^{Luke 9:46} And an argument arose among them as to which of them might be the greatest! (Twice) Pray (Read again).

Does your mind play the endless game of compare and contrast.

Last week I went down to this Church in Hollywood, and after we went to get lunch at the famers market, and I don’t know how much you guys know about Hollywood, but there is a fairly unique crowd of people that show up, down there. So we go and we get our taco’s or what ever, and just sit and watch. And as these people walk by, all my mind wants to do is categories them.

Hippy, hipster, well dressed, in rags, dreadlocks, mullet, bowl cut, bad sweater, ,,strange socks; crock guy, uggs girl, skinny jeans, must be a poet because he’s wearing a (baret,) Foreigner, man in Capri’s, woman in fishnets, Metallica shirt, amazing beard, too much chest hair, fake rolex, and the list goes on and on.

And obviously no one in high school struggles with this but… my mind is this labeling machine, and most days this just seems quite normal, just go through the exercise never questioning,…. Ill out you here, and you go there, because that’s where I like you, and when I want this I go here, and when I want that I go here… and on and on and on.

But on occasion something will happen that will kind of stick a wrench in the machine, slow it down for a second , and in this moment of hesitation I will take a birds eye view on my behavior

And as we kept walking this past Sunday, we made it to a fancier part of town, and outside of this swanky bar that smelled of cologne,

there was this just desperate looking homeless man sitting on the curb, inches away from this bright red Ferrari, parked out front ,,, and all of a sudden my mind didn’t want to label any more, it didn’t want to call one success and the other one failure. It wanted to call into question the whole process.

And it made me begin to wonder, at the core of me do I see people as …art, or as pawns.

(I feel like most of my sermons are more confessions, but the truth is that I make people frozen figures, I place people into categories, then say that I am better than these categories, and thus define my success by the trail of people that are behind me…. It kind of like, standing in a long line,,, and after a while the only thing that makes you feel better about spending you time in this long stupid group of people, is the people behind you , that are even dumber than you because they are behind. ….I mean this sounds dumb, but I would say most of the time this is how I operate. It doesn’t matter what it is I need to win.

Or perhaps you see the art. You recognize that the man that owns the Ferrari, needs that hurting homeless man, just as much as that hurting homeless man needs that man with the Ferrari….(if nothing else just do give him a ride in) lol…

Bonheoffer puts speaks of it this way, “In every Christian community depends on whether each individual is an indispensible link in a chain.”

These two men will never succeed as humans until they succeed together.

…… I remember when I was getting ready to graduate from college I was pretty sure I had this whole “Christian Ministry” thing figured out. And so I planned this trip to stay at an Orphanage in Tanzania Africa ,so I could save the world, and when I got there the first young man I met was named Kevin, Kevin was extremely interested in American culture and for survival reasons I needed to get to know the Tanzanian way of life pretty quick, so we began to do this cultural exchange where I would take him to town and show him how to use the internet, and he would take me to the river and show me how to hand wash my clothes…. And I remember one day we were taking the Dala dala, which is the public transportation system in Tanzania, and literally they are 15 passenger vans, with 35 people in them, well they cost like fifty cents to ride, and I remember getting off the bus one day into town, and Kevin the poor Orphan Boy, with not a cent to his name, looked up at me with a smile, and told me that the man who collects the money had forgotten to take that fifty cents Momma Lynn, the owner of the orphanage I stayed at had given him. And I remember walking down the street with these boys from Africa, and feeling pretty good about myself, and what I was doing and I passed by this beggar, and I remember he had numbed hands, and I remember thinking “I already have my ministry here with these boys, I don’t want to take the time to stop now, and I just as that thought popped up into my brain, Kevin turned reached down into his pocket and gave that poor beggar the only 50 cents he had to his name. And I knew right then, that Kevin had done Ministry in a way, I never had.

He lived Luke 20:45-21:4

[21:1] As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. [2] He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. [3] "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. [4] All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

We may have money in our pockets But the truth is we are poor too, we are lonely from hurting others to get to the top. We are listless and tired from comparing our lives with those around us,

And so my prayer for us, is that we will start to give out of our poverty. To in the recognition of our blaring loneliness, we would seek out the threads of hospitality, and kindness that arise in unexpected moments, and give them we have nothing left to live on.

Jesus Responds to this Argument, (that I read at the beginning) between the disciples , with this statement from Luke 9 :48 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. ⁴⁸Then he 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."

Prayer (God make us the least, God make us the least, May we experience your mercy, no longer let Judgment rule in our lives. Move us to the places down below with the lowly and the needy, because that is where you first found us) Amen.

Or quote Bonheoffer Once a man has experienced the mercy of God in his life he will henceforth aspire only to serve. The proud throne of the judge no longer lures him; he wants to be down below with the lowly and the needy, because that is where God found him.

I was just walking with my friend today at lunch, and she was telling me about her Job as a Nanny and she said it was fun, but her kids all they want to do is play freeze tag, She said she tries to convince them that other games are fun, but every day, all she wants is freeze tag, and it reminded me of this quote,

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."

People are art, break down the barriers, that is where freedom lies, in the ability to not live in judgment, but to ope your arms, to make room in for your circle at lunch who you don’t, like, who bugs you, who always antagonizes you…

God will be constantly crossing our path and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among the thieves, perhaps reading the bible. When we do that we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that, not our way, but Gods must be done.

Genuine spirtual authority is to be found only where the ministry of hearing, helping, bearing, and proclaiming is carried out.

As ministers of the Gospel we are too desperate to offer something to prove our worth, that wenever listen.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." ~Isaiah 52.7 ESV

this actually might be worth reading

2009-10-20T02:12:00.000-07:00

In the Gospel of Mark the Holy spirit is presented in an assortment of modes. Rather than trying to pin down the one role of the Holy Spirit, Mark's recount might be better apprehended by recognizing the plurality of roles this divine fountainhead operates in.

In the midst of Marks gospel, is an instrument for a new kind of baptism, a force descending from heaven like a dove, a guide leading the Son of God to the wilderness, a teacher inspiring the tongue of David and the DIsciples, and a kingdom resource that is always accessible for the disciples if they only could possess the strength to pull back the veil of the flesh. Though seemingly different on the surface, the key to comprehension and cohesion for Marks Holy Spirit is in commonality of purpose.

The Holy Spirit is always understood as an agent of change marked by its power to move God's plan forward, toward the reconciliation of all things.

Mark makes it quite clear that the Holy Spirit is not a device easily controlled, or subject to human manipulation. Christ's teaching holds the Holy Spirit with particular reverence, portraying a life lacking this Spirit as the most devastating of misadventures.

Its importance is also highlighted by Johns promise that it will be the element that Jesus will baptize his followers with. Such a baptism seems to beg the question, what does it mean to be baptized by the Holy spirit,? A question that is seldom addressed in Marks portrayal of Jesus verbal ministry, but far more often presented as a a gift of power that comes and goes based solely on divine will. Leaving the reader no choice but to recognize its attributes of mystery and sacred authority.

Created in the wake of Jesus public ministry, is emotion inspired by the extraordinary. Marks characterization of Christ's audience overwhelmed with amazement and fear, seems to stem naturally from His ability to do the miraculous, teach with authority, and intimately commune with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. This Nazarite leaves no middle road. His words cut like a sword.

This truth is highlighted with frequency in Mark's narrative. He seems to Position Christ's audience as the sympathetic characters, placed carefully to cue the reader on appropriate responses to Christ's ministry. If Mark's gospel were the taping of a sit com, the reaction of his audience would serve as the neon sign, flashing "awe," "amazement," "fear" or "trembling" as the show progresses. Even in passages where the disciples seem to be limited by their fear to engage more fully into Christ's intentions or teachings, only serve to highlight an overarching disposition of reverence and natural inadequacy that flows from encountering God on earth.

When surveying sin and forgiveness in the Gospel of Mark, we see a unique relationship develop between the terms. In todays packaged and marketable Christianity, acceptance of sin and the resulting God given forgiveness is taken for granted. For Mark it seems to be less clear cut, sin, can be a label for a group of people, dependent upon our own ability to forgive, and is in one infamous passage (Mark 3:29) lacking its partner forgiveness.

Mark accentuates Christ's discourse on sin and forgiveness by contrasting it with the scope of the Pharisees. To them He was the chief blasphemer, claiming a status reserved for God alone, a role that would never be fulfilled, according to their dogma, by a man who was the friend of sinners. With great irony this label intern, is heaped upon these same men by Jesus during the great betrayal scene in the Garden of Gethsemane. The irony penned by Mark here, seems to flesh out Christ's teaching that all shall be judged by their ability to forgive. Those that label and dismiss will one day too be labeled and dismissed.

Gospels notes 1

2009-09-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

Thompson

Gospels

September 29^th 2009

1) The importance of the Gospels as witness to Jesus

a) How do they testify?

b) Jesus never wrote anything down

i) (Not like Paul, we can know his personality because of what he wrote, up and downs, fears excitements etc.)

ii) The role of the Epistles and Acts; there is a reflection of Christ but not a report. Things like his disposition of Humility, rather than a description of a healing miracle.

Jesus Birth (Before 4 BC) Paul’s Letters (AD 48-65) Four Gospels (AD 65-90)

i) Many of the Epistles predate the Gospels. (The Gospels do an incredible job of retaining the actual stories and encounters that Christ had, resisting the temptation to appease a heavily Gentile audience, who would not have related to the ceremonial and ritual Jewish acts present in the text. )

ii) The reflection of Christ present in the Epistles is attributed to the Risen Christ. The Jesus who speaks, and continues to speak.

iii) Jesus is not reducible to his historical past. The Epistles of the progress of Christ’s interaction, a historical Jesus is just simply not enough.

2) Acts

a) Agraphon- Something Jesus spoke that is not recorded in the Gospels

b) “It is more blessed to give than to receive” Acts 20:35 (This is the only recorded phrase of Jesus that does not appear in the Gospels)

i) The Koran and other religious books that incorporate depictions of Jesus often that arrive from extraGospel sources

3) Non-Canonical sources of information

a) There is a surprisingly small amount of info about Christ, considering his impact on the world, in the historical writings of his time and subsequent years .

i) Pliny- governor of Bithyhia, to Emperor Trajan. “And they sang hymns of Christ as that of God”

(1) Had a low view of Christian’s as hard headed and superstitious

ii) Suetonius, The Lives of 12 Cesar’s Spoke of a “disturbance at the instigation of Chrestos” (A possible substitute name for Christ, a name often associated with slaves)

iii) Tacitus, Annals 15.44 – record of Nero’s blaming of the Christian’s for Roman fires. 1^st significant persecution. Christian’s were misunderstood and not considered of great importance to the Roman’s. Jesus is dead, now we need to stamp out this movement who are reflective of his name. There is no evidence of a consideration of Jesus teachings as of value.

iv) Josephus (Jewish source)

(1) Antiquities of Jews Chronicles the First Jewish war as a general against the Romans, realizes he is going to lose and swaps side, eventually becoming the Jewish historian for the Romans.

(2) See Antiquities 18:63-64

(a) Less on Jesus than on John the Baptist

(b) Described Pontius Pilate as insensitive to Jewish law, Jewish ‘sedition’ was not a threat= Josephus main apologetic.

(c) Rabbinic sources speak little of Jesus - all are from very late sources and speak of him as a Sorcerer. See Sanhedrin 43a

4) Apocryphal Gospels

a) Old testament Apocrypha is upheld in the Roman catholic, Anglican, E. Orthodox tradition, and are of greater substance than the New testament Apocryphal texts, protestants do not accept either because, the organizers of the scriptures decided that no text that is written in Greek should be inserted into the Old testament books of the bible. No one upholds the validity of the Apocryphal Gospels because they lack the insertion of any new substance to the original gospels, they were also written much latter than the other Gospels, and seem to have stunted views on women in ministry, divided self spirituality, among others. Thus it is not seen as normative for faith.

i) The Gospels provide what is normative for faith, but how did they decided what’s normative for Gospels? Circular “The rule of faith.”

ii) Gospels of Thomas, Jesus secret twin. A record of Jesus phrases, seem to put him in a unique light, why did someone think these stories of the young indiscriminate Jesus, wielding power in dangerous ways, would benefit the name of Jesus?

Christian Marketing ideas

2009-09-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

Pre Seminary ideas on how I will create the grassiest of grass roots (pure grass), progressive, avant-garde, breakthrough, cutting edge, bohemian-isto, Church Plant; this side of Pluto (the fictional planet).

1. The first book will be entitled "Finding Your Spiritual Sugar Momma" -Thoughts on why Women are way better at Public Pulpit Oration then men, and how to meet one, force her into submission, steal her ideas and become the next Ravi Zacariahs.

-This book will be hand carved into compost so that once you've enjoyed, you can grow some killer squash. Compost will really reduce your personal impact, and people will know the insane depth of your eco-conscious ethics, because after reading you will smell like a complete turd factory.

2. Every service will begin with a picture of a malnourished Somalian infant, on the biggest flat screen ever invented.

3. All preaching will be brought to you via twitter

-I will be texting in while hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, fulling up on Pete's Coffe, and doing my daily centering prayer.

4. Our Missions statement will be "The Church that plays with titles"

5. I will be holding a banjo in all public appearances, making sure to never look directly into any camera.

6. All twitter texts will be instantly signed, translated, and podcast. (and thus available for a small fee)

-more to come later

malnourished Somalia

2009-08-18T00:30:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to options, and it hurts people both near and far. I flirt with the margin between convention and wilderness,(using them both to maintain comfort) and it makes me indistinguishable. I am constantly in need of prayer,yet my mind sits idle, lazy, pessimistic. I have a deep distaste for the American dream, and yet I practice it daily. My love is far to conditional and limited, only for those who seem likable or have sacrificed drastically for my well being. I never know how to tell people about Jesus, and his role in my life, with out trying to make my story sound like it is the plot to a straight to video Disney movie. The failure is deep. The insecurity real. Yet such a list is only important because there is a better way to live. God I always tell you to give, but this time I just want to be open. I just want to be real and ready.

to those who feel the ache of wanderlust

2009-08-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

Walt Whitman said it best if you have time to read.

COME, my tan-faced children,
Follow well in order, get your weapons ready;
Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edged axes? Pioneers! O pioneers!

2
For we cannot tarry here,
We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of danger,
We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend, Pioneers! O pioneers!

3
O you youths, western youths,
So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride and friendship,
Plain I see you, western youths, see you tramping with the foremost, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

4
Have the elder races halted?
Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied, over there beyond the seas?
We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and the lesson, Pioneers! O pioneers!

5
All the past we leave behind;
We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, Pioneers! O pioneers!

6
We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways, Pioneers! O pioneers!

7
We primeval forests felling,
We the rivers stemming, vexing we, and piercing deep the mines within;
We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving, Pioneers! O pioneers!

8
Colorado men are we,
From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and the high plateaus,
From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting trail we come, Pioneers! O pioneers!

9
From Nebraska, from Arkansas,
Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the continental blood intervein’d;
All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all the Northern, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

10
O resistless, restless race!
O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender love for all!
O I mourn and yet exult—I am rapt with love for all, Pioneers! O pioneers!

11
Raise the mighty mother mistress,
Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starry mistress, (bend your heads all,)
Raise the fang’d and warlike mistress, stern, impassive, weapon’d mistress, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

12
See, my children, resolute children,
By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield or falter,
Ages back in ghostly millions, frowning there behind us urging, Pioneers! O pioneers!

13
On and on, the compact ranks,
With accessions ever waiting, with the places of the dead quickly fill’d,
Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and never stopping, Pioneers! O pioneers!

14
O to die advancing on!
Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hour come?
Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the gap is fill’d, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

15
All the pulses of the world,
Falling in, they beat for us, with the western movement beat;
Holding single or together, steady moving, to the front, all for us, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

16
Life’s involv’d and varied pageants,
All the forms and shows, all the workmen at their work,
All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with their slaves, Pioneers! O pioneers!

17
All the hapless silent lovers,
All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous and the wicked,
All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the dying, Pioneers! O pioneers!

18
I too with my soul and body,
We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way,
Through these shores, amid the shadows, with the apparitions pressing, Pioneers! O
pioneers!

19

Lo! the darting bowling orb!
Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns and planets,
All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams, Pioneers! O pioneers!

20
These are of us, they are with us,
All for primal needed work, while the followers there in embryo wait behind,
We to-day’s procession heading, we the route for travel clearing, Pioneers! O pioneers!

21
O you daughters of the west!
O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers and you wives!
Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move united, Pioneers! O pioneers!

22
Minstrels latent on the prairies!
(Shrouded bards of other lands! you may sleep—you have done your work;)
Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and tramp amid us, Pioneers! O pioneers!

23
Not for delectations sweet;
Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the studious;
Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame enjoyment, Pioneers! O pioneers!

24
Do the feasters gluttonous feast?
Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock’d and bolted doors?
Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the ground, Pioneers! O pioneers!

25
Has the night descended?
Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discouraged, nodding on our way?
Yet a passing hour I yield you, in your tracks to pause oblivious, Pioneers! O pioneers!

26
Till with sound of trumpet,
Far, far off the day-break call—hark! how loud and clear I hear it wind;
Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to your places, Pioneers! O pioneers.

World Impact

2009-07-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and supporters,

It is with great exspectation and deep sadness that I write this final letter to you. This past year living and ministering with the urban poor of Los Angeles has been a true education. Growing up in the suburban church context and also attending Christian school for the majority of my life, I have herd the words of a Christian spoken many times. I believe this year, what I have seen is how these words from our Bibles become flesh in a community of people. My greatest example has been Watts Power House Church. A place on Sunday mourning, where young, old, rich, poor, white, Hispanic, and black can all come together in peace to worship God. It is truly a place where the lion and the lamb can sleep side by side. I know the great diversity of charectures I have had the privlidge of befriending, and the life they have shared with me this year, will be carried deep inside me for the rest of my life.

Currently I am spending the summer with four other interns from World Impact, in close community. Our plan is spend the next two months giving the kids and young adults of the Imperial Courts housing project all the love we can muster. Through camp, Bible club, youth group, and sports ministry we hope to give of ourself's with sencerity and joy.

As i prepare to cross the finish line and get ready to spend the next year working towards a Masters in Divinity at Fuller Theological Seminary, I hope that you will join with me in prayer for new Kingdom workers, to come to the city and continue to love and cherish the incredible congregation of Watts Power House Church.

One of the deepest joys for a person who has become a disciple of Jesus Christ is to take hold of the fact that he has becomes eternally useful. God not only heals and restores, but once he has set our feet upon the rock, he also equips and leads people into his divine purpose for the world. There have been times of great failure this year, as well as moments of unspeakable joy, and at the end of one leg of a journey all one can do is trust in Gods employmnet. Taking rest in the truth that no matter how torn and tattered our sails might be, that the spirit of the living God will continue to fill them with wind, and lead us away from the dock, to some uncharted waters. As I go forth, I am so thankful for the journey, so thankful for the people, so thankful for your support!

May The Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Intern Devotional

2009-06-13T16:41:00.001-07:00

Monday Devotional Outline

Community

Week 1: Jesus Prayer for Community- John 17:20-26 Kelsey
20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
“If we do not have peace then we have forgotten that we belong to each other” –Mother Teresa

Week 2: Community in the Early Church- Acts 2:42-47
“42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
“Being a Christian is about choosing Jesus and doing something daring with your life. that's what so many have done throughout history - taken up beautiful vocations not just for the sake of adventure but because the Gospel is a call to live in beautiful ways. When you surround yourself with other people that are risking their lives and loving deeply, it rubs off on you.”-Shane Caliborne

Week 3: A glimpse at Gods Community-Galatians 3:26-29
26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” MLK Jr.

Week 4: A Burden Sharing Community- Galatians 6:1-5
1Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, 5for each one should carry his own load.
“If we are never obliged to relieve others burdens, except when we can do it without burdening ourselves, then how do we bear our neighbors burdens when we bear no burden at all?”
-Jonathan Edwards
Week 5: Leaders in Gods Community- 1Peter 9-12 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” -G.K. Chesterton
Week 6: The Table Community- Luke 22: Peter 14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." 17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." 19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him." 23They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. 24Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The Eucharist involves more than just receiving; it also involves satisfying the hunger of Christ. He says, ‘ Come to Me.’ He is hungry for souls.”-Mother Teresa

Exegetical paper in progress

2009-06-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Ephesians 4:11-16 is all about equipment. One of the deepest joys for a person who has become a disciple of Jesus Christ is that he becomes eternally useful. God not only heals and restores, but once he has set our feet upon the rock, he also equips and leads people into his divine purpose of ushering in the Kingdom of God. This passage makes it clear that we are not only to understand what God has done for the church in Christ by His saving her but what He saved her for. Christ has infused those who follow after him with a particular skills set, and has tailored his people for a variety of gifts that were set into place in order to draw Men unto Him. The presence or absence of the gifts and stamina taught by Paul to the Church at Ephesis in this letter very well might be a good litmus test for a healthy modern Church. (Does it have apostles? prophets? evangelists? pastors? Teachers?)

Upon examining the entire breath of this letter, one discovers that Paul has gone to considerable length to express with clarity the salvation of the Church. Ephsisians 2 :8 puts it like this "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." Instructions like this would serve to provide the adhesive for this multi cultural (helenistic and jewish) Church in Ephesis. A Church that was established by the apostle Paul who is writing this particular instruction from a Roman Jail cell. Paul addresses hostility, division, and self-interest more than any other topic in the letter, leading many scholars to believe that his primary concern was not doctrinal, but behavioral, yet the reader uncovers another layer of meaning in turning from chapter three to four.
By adding a doctrinal instruction in verse 11-14 Paul takes his instruction to a deeper level of connection. Building from a base level Unity created by Christ sacrafice on the cross, ("If Christ was sacrificed for your sake, be like him and be in submission to one another") to a Unity that stems from diversity. The Ephesian believers seems to have won many Gentiles to the faith. They were converts from a Hellenistic environment of mystery religions, magic, astrology, etc. They feared evil spirits and weren't sure about Christ's relationship to these forces. They also needed encouragement to adopt a lifestyle worthy of Christianity. Such a variety of perspectives needed to be corralled, but unique to the work of the holy spirit, Paul does not deny the diversity of Gods people, instead he harnesses it by pointing out the varying yet specific jobs and duties that a follower of Christ should find identity in. Letting these new believers know that they are purchased yet free, unified yet unique.
today.
Viewing this intruction of the

Thomas Merton -Seeds

2009-06-02T12:58:00.000-07:00

A reflection on the man of Thomas Merton, -A Reformed Heathen, and genius Catholic Monk.

"His reasoning was really quite simple: if bourgeois civilization was failing, then leave it; if the West had become blind to is spiritual heritage, then reclaim it: and if poverty and obscurity were the price one had to pay in order to live a life in accordance with conscience, then wholeheartedly embrace them and never look back."\

Just read

"All sin starts from the assumption that my false self, the self that exists only in my ego centric desires, is the fundamental reality to life, which everything else in the universe is ordered. Thus I use up my life in the desire for pleasures and thirst for experiences, for power, for honor, knowledge, and love to clothe this self and construct its nothingness into something objectively real. And I wind exsperiences around myself and cover myself with pleasures and glory like bandages in order to make myself perceptible to myself and the world, as if I were an invisible body that could only become visible when something visible covered its surface."-Merton.

just need this somewhere

2009-05-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Every Great Gift deserves a great response
Love, Love, Love,
(One might find this cliché, but I believe the most remarkable people on earth, are not people who have brand new revolutionary ideas, there the ones who can make the truths that we all learned in kindergarten alive in the fullest way possible)

Example - Share- Mother Teresa,
-Equality MLK, Ghandi
- Forgiveness Nelson Mandela

By a show of hands, If you had to pick your family members, and you had two choices
Family 1 Family 2
Dad: Tom Cruse Dad: Abraham Lincoln
Mom: Brittany Spears Mom: Mother Teresa Sister: Miley Cyrus Brother: MLK

The difference between positive and negative attention.
(Were all looking for love, just some of us aren’t looking in the right places)

Love starts with a risk
-Vaughn Story/streaking story/2 minutes of free expression/ now he is 23 And the CEO of Acirfa

http://www.abikes.org/
-plenty of us are making the transition from one kid of attention to the other. _

Guys the truth is I am an unlikely candidate to be giving this little chat. I grew up in Malibu, I went to Oaks Christian a rich private school, etc. I have at many times embraced a selfish attitude with the things I have been given, and at your age I was the chief of all complainers.

Jr. High Fire
I used to spend half my life complaining about school when I was your guys age. I remember when I was in seventh grade there was huge fire that was being blown towards my Jr. High, and we were all evacuated to the blacktop, and you could literally see huge flames consuming the hill right next to where we were, and firefighters fighting with all they had to keep the fire from destroying my middle school. As the ashes stared to rain on as, I remember saying a prayer, Dear God its peter, I know I don’t always get this right, but please send those flames and this direction and cancel school for a while. _Unfortunately for Jr. High Peter the school did not burn down that day.

Guys I have seen the lifestyle of the rich up close, I have herd the complaining, I have seen the problems they face, and the truth is its all fiction. And the truth is most of us here in America, we are all so amazingly blessed, you could say spoiled by God, if your in to things like that.

-Lets think of it this way “How much money could someone pay you for your taste buds?” Hands? Foot? Eye sight?
And yet every day we complain, we see life as a choir, we choose anger over love.

Albert Einstein once said: "There are two ways of looking at the world — either you see nothing as a miracle or you see everything as a miracle."

I say all this to you because it is only when I realized my life is a gift, that I understood that every great gift deserves a great response.

Dodger game proposal, when that guy gets down on his knee and pulls that rock out, what is everyone looking at, (all our eyes are fixated on her face) How will she respond. The last time I saw this, the girl had the most genuine smile I had ever seen, and tears just started streaming down her face, such a reaction makes one know with out needing any words spoken, that we are all in the presence of true love.

When I began to understand my life is a gift, that I was living a miracle, I began to feel the great desire to use the gifts I had been blessed with. My life truly had purpose and meaning for the first time, and what better place to give than to the people who need it most. To the people who truly have a right to complain, and seem to do so less often then those of us who have no right.

The first place I decided to give to was an Orphanage in Tanzania Africa.

http://www.lightinafrica.org/
HIV/ AIDs is killing young men and women in Tanzania Africa in dramatic numbers, I could give you crazy statistics, but for me non of those statistics didn’t hit home until I was carrying little orphan baby Frankie in my Arms to the medical clinic, handing him over to the doctor, and then sitting in the waiting room, for an hour, hoping against hope that his mother HIV virus would not have been transferred into his young helpless body, and then the bad news, a real life tragedy being placed in your arms.
-Its hard to complain after that.
Mirinai Story

-Kids lined up around the block for food.
-Blood tanzanite.

Maybe for you this whole thing seems a long way off, in some other country etc., and in some ways it was like that for me, that was until I started living and working in Downtown LA and met kids like Franklin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-_SWUtRx-8

Tell a little of where franklin is at.

What are your solutions for Franklin,
House building trip with Fraklin, “I have been given so much”
If he can get it why cant we?
What have you been given?
How can you Respond?

Johanathan

2009-05-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

In these past couple of weeks, as we have been reflecting on the book of revelation as a church , I have been struck by the simple truth that “we are all born into a battle. ” The truth that a long time before you and I were around, one of Gods angles fell from grace, and is now Hell bent on making us do the same. Twisting every good thing that God gave us into some manipulation of the truth, some over indulgence, that sneaking into our heads early in the mourning and fills them with despair. A devil who is lulling us to sleep when there is a war going on outside.
Or As the scripture says in Ephesians 6:12 “12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Perhaps at times you feel ill equipped for such an opponent,,,, perhaps your greatest reluctance to go to war is the sheer force that seems just on the other side of the mountian.

The Good new is that we are not the first of Gods people to know this struggle.

We are not the only generation that knows what it is like to be “Born into a battle”

In fact our brother Jonathan knew such battles quite well.

If you will turn with me to Samuel 14:1-23

But first I want to just set the stage of this story by reading to you from chapter 13:22-23
-Ok so before we go any further, we have discovered that the only two people in the whole army who have any kind of weapon are the King- Saul and his son Jonathan.

What a cool story, I feel like I can just see little Jewish boys getting tucked in at night, and asking there dad to tell them a bed time story, and there Father telling him about how “once there was this evil King named Saul, and God had told him to fight these wicked men, known as the Philistines, but these Philistines were many and they were gigantic, ruthless warriors, and Saul only had one sword, so instead of having faith in God to be strong even though his army looked weak compared to the gruesome Philistines, Saul decided to park his army underneath a pomegranate tree in the shade where it was safe and easy. But Jonathan knew that when God tells you to do something you do it , so
Jonathan, who with one sword, and a loyal friend attacked the entire Philistine army by himself. And the most amazing thing happened. God honored Jonathan’s courage and gave him power to attack brutal Philistine army by himself and because of his great courage he managed to inspire the rest of the Israelites to fight and to win.!

I believe that young boy would have gone to bed that night having learned one important lesson, “That if we are obedient to God, there is power.”

When I told this story to one of the boys at bible club, and trying to get to the main point asked how such a story from the bible could apply to his life, and he told me, that if God can give Johnathan the power to attack the Philistines, he can give me the power to rely on God when my mom drinks,
that when she drinks and all the darkness of the devil seems to be crowded into their small house, like Johnathan he can pray to a God who is listening, a God who can protect him.

Isn’t it true that all of us have a Philistine to stand up to in our life.

Perhaps today you are wery from battle and the power of the devil seems too stoung, and this fear has pushed you underneath the pomegranate tree. Perhaps it seems easier for us today to wait forever, and never face our daemons. But I believe today God is inviting his people into something greater.

We are all born into a battle but some of us are not fighting… and God today is asking us to once again engage our enemy.

He is asking us to take our sword, (holding up the bible) and face him head on!

Will you pray with me

Dear God
These stories in some ways seem so far away, like fairly tales from some far off land, yet in many ways written into our very DNA. Lord we recognize the Philistines in our own lives, the places where before lacked the strength to fight, and we ask now that you would inspire us to step out. And like Jonathan, To Fight and thus infuse us with your power as we obey your commands. Amen

prayer letter easter

2009-05-12T08:36:00.001-07:00

In this letter my goal is to give you a glimpse into one of the scriptures that I have been praying and meditating on this month. As I unpack its implications I hope that it will provide a glimpse into how God is working here, and grow prayer in the process. It is so nice to know that when I have forgotten to pray with the kind of vigor I would desire of myself, I have team support. Thank you!
This season in the city has been marked by resurrection. As Christian brothers and sisters, working to love and give of our selves in authentic and selfless ways to our community we have been struck this season, by the words of the apostle Paul who writes to the church at Corinth “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (Corinthians 15:17-20) Paul makes it clear, that if Christ did not indeed get tortured and die on a dark Friday, get buried behind a huge stone on Saturday, and then when all hope seemed to have vanished from the earth; rose up early Sunday mourning rolled that stone away and concurred death, then all Christian action is futile.
We have felt the mysterious prompt of God, that the power to love, (in the truest sense of the word) is only accessible because Christ did indeed rise from the dead. This resurrection is the beam of victory breaking through the dark could of despair that so often hovers over the city. This light provides the courage needed to carry on, when we are startled from our sleep by the sounds of rapid gun fire ringing out into the night, the energy to continue to reach out to young men and women who seem to show up at the church just to get a kick out of seeing the interns squirm, and the nerve to recognize that even though we feel terribly inadequate and undeserving, Christ has reached down and touched the sin that at times seemed to concur all other truths about who we were, and used it to reach out to others.
Because Christ rose from the grave; we too rise from our loneliness to provide hospitality, and we too can celebrate even when it seems as though despair has won the day, so we too can sing along with the saints “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
Amen, God Bless

back to real posts

2009-04-18T13:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been reflecting on some of the more savage books of the bible. One of my best friend Jake and I's favorite past time in church, is stop listening to the precher, and point out some of the most insane statements of cannibalism, genocide, spite,in the pew bible, that are there for all to read.
I had this one liberal Hebrew Prophets teacher, at APU for a summer class, that liked to take our time away from the beach and pool, to show us all the worst parts of the bible. He would leave us with no light at the end of the tunnel. He had a PHD in theology, and he didn't believe that the modern western form of church was an appropriate way to gather and worship God. (I always wanted to ask him why he lived here then). Needless to say after taking his class I was a lot better at the aforementioned game with Jake. (Ok so have to admit I got a C in his class, it was summer,((i cant believe they let me into Fuller lol))
This class, though a huge pain, did a work in my intellectual faith that I would not suspect. I became a middle position. Going to Christian high school, college, and Church my whole life, I had witnessed how Christians often make Gods out of Certainty, and now I had met one who had made his out of doubt. I remember how refreshing the debate was. I actually stayed a whole 1/2 hour after class once debating him about his views on what he believed were the core principals of the faith. (He even convinced me that i needed to learn Hebrew and Greek.)He was a really smart guy, but you could tell his intelligence had some hurt behind it. He even told us in class that "he loved to point out the messiness of the bible," which I think is great, if we don't leave the value behind.

A quick reading of Lamentations will convince you that Certainty is not a requirement for faith. It confronts the reader with the horror of destitution. Its the kind of writing that is only inspired by watching your city, family and friends ransacked, bloody, gone forever.(Can you imagine Jeremiah, in a cave writing this down after watching the Chaldeans destroy Jerusalem) Yet amidst this work of deep struggle and anguish with God, comes this chunk of scripture that says it all,
"Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."

25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.

28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the LORD has laid it on him.

29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.

30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.

31 For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.

32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men."

When we consider the mosaic of Gods people, genuine believers we see that faith, anguish, hope, frustration, doubt, joy etc are all present at the same time. The bible has no problem with the resulting contradictions, so why should we.

2009-03-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

1. The Holy Scriptures are of essential importance to all Christian believers. My faith is invested in the truth that Holy God infused the writers of the Old and New Testament. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). God has revealed Himself in His book. And when I read the words of my Bible, I am reading the words that came out of the very mouth of God. It formulates the meaning and purpose behind everything the believer does, and conversely exposes the meaninglessness of human action that misses the mark. The inerrant truth of the scriptures is vital, because it binds us to obedience and submission to everything it teaches. Romans 2:13 expounds on this point by saying “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” The bible sets all parameters for the believer. I hold the protestant belief in Sola Scriptura, that the bible alone defines truth. The bible contains all knowledge pertinent to salvation and holiness. This concept is not a denial of other governing elements to Christian belief, however it does demand that all other authorities are subsidiary to, and corrected by the words of scripture. The bible is the final authority on faith and practice.

2. The methodology that I am most familiar; with regard to theological interpretation, is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. This method has four key elements, listed in order of the degree of importance. First and foremost is scripture, the core of the Christian faith. The best place to go in order to understand God's word is directly to the source. The bible by itself can and does provide all a seeker needs in order to understand and accept salvation. Secondly, the word of God is reveled through tradition. The Church has two millennia of history. There are generations upon generations of theologians, who in both word and deed have lived and interpreted the Word. Their precedent is to be trusted over whatever the current ebb or flow of the Church might be. The third process is the logical act of reasoning. Rational thinking and sensible interpretation, are crucial elements to understanding any writ, and should be applied most diligently to the Scripture. Finally, the fourth method is experience. A Christian’s personal and communal interaction with his surrounding world will shed light upon the scripture. After careful analysis of the Bible a believer should be able to understand it through his own relationships and ministry.

3. The trinity is an essential element and mystery to the Christian believer. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy spirit are thee persons in one God head. These three elements of God have separate modes of interaction with the world, but they commune as one. (John 10:30) Each element of the trinity is present simultaneously, but has exerted itself with particular emphasis at different times through out human history. God the Father, is the main figure in the Hebrew bible (Old Testament), interacting most directly with the Hebrew prophets and people. Jesus, main role in the scripture comes in the New Testament, as Gods son, the fulfillment of the Hebrew Prophetic testimony of the coming messiah. Jesus then leaves his disciples with the third element of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, which becomes the main God figure throughout the Pentateuch and on through modernity. All three beings are still active figures in achieving shalom, the restoration and wholeness of the world. This three fold element to God is essential in understanding personal and collective salvation and sanctification. God as the central creator, Jesus as the final messianic sacrifice and the Holy Spirit as the power of God present in the believer.

4. It is crucial to understand that Christ died on the cross at Calvary, so that we might live and move and have our being. It is vital to believe that he died so that we might be saved from our sin, and on the third day he rose again. Thus defeating death and exposing the world to the victory over sin that is available through a personal relationship with the Him. Jesus is the son of God, who took on flesh and blood, had his body broken, suffered and died so that we might be saved by means of atonement for our sin. Jesus provides salvation, and right standing with God. Jesus is the fullest representation of Gods love for us on earth. (1: John 4-9) Just as he did with the disciples, Jesus invites each believer to deny himself take up his cross and follow Him. This pursuit provides the meaning for which all humanity exists; He is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible's prophetic words about the coming messiah, who would be Lord over all. (Isaiah 53) This is made clear to Mary in the gospel of Luke, "and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. One not built upon earthly might and force, but with the authority that comes from sacrifice. He did not lead a military coo, to over throw the oppressive Roman military, (like many might expect a King to do), instead he got down on his knees and washed his disciples feet, taught us to pray for our enemies, and suffered a brutal death on a cross.( A total expression of His ultimate love for the human race, Matthew 20:28) Everyday it is our great Joy and challenge to live life, prayerfully imitating our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

5. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God. Jesus said, "I am going to sit at the right hand of my father and when I do I will send a helper to you." Christians believe that the "helper" Jesus was referring to was the Holy Spirit. Young believers should be invited to share there faith, and trust that the Holy Spirit leads people to a relationship with Jesus and fuels his ability to live a Christian life. The Holy Spirit is present in every true Christian, each one being His temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16) There are specific attributes to this spirit, and it can be identified in a person by its fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. The Holy Spirit is of equal importance to God the Father, and Jesus the son. After his resurrection Jesus told his disciples that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives different gifts to Christ followers, including gifts of ministry, teaching, giving, leadership, and mercy. (Romans 12:6-8) Christians believe that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is enhanced over time by exposure to the written word of God and by the experience of leading a Christian life. We further believe that the Fruit of the Holy Spirit consists of products of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit such as wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.

6. Each and every human on earth has sinned and fallen short of Gods idea for right behavior. In the bible it says that the wages of sin is death. This means that we all deserve to die. The Good news, however is that God sent his son Jesus to die for us. The free gift of God is eternal life for all who believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sin. Jesus story didn't just end at his death on the cross, on the third day he rose from the grave, and defeated death. If you understand that you are a sinner in need of a savior, and are willing to put your faith in Jesus death and resurrection, then you are freely saved by the grace of God. This saving grace, can and will transform the way you live your life. This free gift of love is the power that you need in order to live the lifestyle of a Christian. A lifestyle that requires every believer to turn from their old life of sin, and live a life dedicated to living out the Words of God that are made clear in the Bible.

7. To understand how Christ atoned for our sins. A Christ follower must first understand a scriptural definition of atonement. This word is used in scripture to encapsulate the central idea of the Gospel, namely the death of Christ through which the sinner is reconciled to God, and restored to His favor. In the Hebrew Bible, the atonement is associated with man’s sin. God commanded Israel to set aside one day each year, the tenth day of the seventh month, which He called “the day of atonement.”(Leviticus 16:29-30) The focus of a "day of atonement" centered on making a grain or animal sacrifice to God for the sins of the Jewish household. God had said, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that make an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11). These sacrifices were merely an indicator of what was to come. The Hebrew Prophets pointed to a messiah, who would be the final sacrifice. Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. The love and mercy of God are infinite and matchless; still the penalty for sin must be paid. Thus it was, in the eternal past, before the foundation of the world, which God determined and planned, that atonement should be provided for His fallen creatures who would be deceived by Satan. If no plan of atonement had been proposed and done by God, all would be hopeless for mankind. Thus from the counsel of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it was decreed that one should come and offer Himself as a Divine Substitute in the sinner’s place. This necessitated the Substitute taking upon Himself a human body. The eternal Son of God was that Substitute. And so “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John l:14) He then suffered and died, in order to “make all things new.”(Revelations 21:5)

8. Grace is the undeserved favor of God. It is the pure expression of Gods love given with out merit, because of the fallen nature of humanity. There are certain inclinations of the Flesh that simply cannot be rectified through human ambition, no matter how great a particular follower of Christ might be, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Thus, Gods gifts to mankind of life, creation, and salvation come unmerited. These gifts are the enabler of all Christian progress. They allow us to develop, improve and grow into the likeness of Christ. It is by God's Grace therefore, that salvation is granted to man, on the condition that we put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and believe that Jesus is from God, Jesus is the Messiah and that his death on the cross has the power to take away our sins, thus making us blameless in the sight of God. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in the fact that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again on the third day. (1 Corinthians 15:3. ) Acceptance of grace allows one to become a child of God. This spirit of adoption is the focal point for all authentic belief and action done in the name of Christ. (Gal 1:15)

9. Justification is the exchange that occurs upon the very moment when a sinner puts their faith in Jesus Christ. There once marred and disfigured appearance before God, is transposed with the pure and spotless appearance of the Lamb of God. This substitution is not earned, and its result is eternal life with God. It is based completely on Jesus death on the cross. (1Peter 2:24) It is revealed by faith alone. (Eph 2:8-9) There is nothing one can do in order to deserve or attain this justification; it is simply a gift from God. Therefore like Romans 5:1 says "we are justified by faith."
Sanctification is God working in a believer to produce an increase in Christ like personage. It requires the believer to participate in Gods work of the restoration and the returning of all things to his desired wholeness. This means submitting to Gods will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to become more Godly. (Gal 5:22-23)
Justification is an instantaneous transaction that takes place upon a faithful acceptance of Jesus into a sinners life, sanctification is the ongoing refining process of discipleship. Justification cannot be earned, and sanctification will never be perfect in the current human state.

10. Church is the place where Christians gather to become a cloud of witnesses. It does not have to be in a building; it is simply when a group of believers gather to discuss the word of God and to worship Him. It consists of all those who join themselves to a profession of faith and gathering together to know and serve the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. The Church is the bride of Christ. (Eph 5:25-27) The Church is all people who believe in Christ all over the earth, composed of all people who are called out for the sake of Christ and his purposes. Thus it has two main functions, (discussed above) it is both a grouping of local believers at a certain time and place, and the chosen people of God throughout the entire world. As a body, the ultimate purpose for the Christian Church is to bring glory to Jesus Christ, to engage our bridegroom, and express our devotion to him, both in word and deed. The first churches in Acts, were small house gatherings centered on prayer. They held all things in common and were marked by their giving to the poor and needy in their community. These churches were the small mustard seed, which eventually grew into the millions of believers that the Christian Church is now recognized by. These gatherings represent the most authentic form of “Church” that has existed throughout history, and set the bar for all Christian congregations everywhere. The awesome promise of God is “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matt. 18:20)

11. There is no such thing as a solo Christian; all who put their faith in Christ must be expressing that in community with other believers. That community is the Church. It does not necessarily have to look like the institutionalized version of Church that is commonly attended in America. Many people both Christians and secular have experienced disapproval and/or disappointment with the modern modes of Church. The imperfection of the Church is a reality that stems from the truth that God did not come for the healthy but for the sick. As followers of Christ we are continuously failing in our quest to become more like Jesus, thus we must never give up on one another. It must become our mission to be the change we wish to see within the Church, to foster hope and victory, even in the midst of fallen humanities dark reality. Christians are commanded to bear each others burdens, such a commandment is impossible to fulfill in isolation. No one man or woman has a strangle hold on the truth, and God has given us community so that we might maintain humility and love for the Imago Dei (image of God) that is in every human. "Growth in Christ" happens when we meet to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24) or "sharpen" each other (proverbs 27:7). It does not have to be in a church building on Sunday morning. We have a responsibility to do all we can to locate other believers and get together with them. We may need to start something on our own and do our best to help people around us get right with God, so we can grow from there.

12. The best way to grow up new converts in the city, so that they might become leaders in the Church, is discipleship. Jesus commands us that before we choose to follow him we must first “count the cost” (Luke 14:25-35). A decision to follow Him for the first disciples meant leaving home and never looking back. A disciple in the city needs to be open and receptive to the word of Christ. Once he has received the word be must then become a duplicator of it. This would require the leader to incorporate daily disciplines that allow them to grow in their walk with Christ. They must routinely study His Word and spend time alone with Him in prayer. They should become a member of a Bible-teaching church fellowship. They must be routinely meeting in accountability with others, confessing sin and giving encouragement. They should participate in ministry and meet the needs of other believers, through evangelism and social ministry. “He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons" (Mark 3:14, 15) Jesus relationship with his disciples proceeded his commandments, this relationship is critical in all ministry, we must become and train others to become good receptacles of Gods love and grace that he pours indiscriminately upon all of us. The encounter with the Holy Spirit that will result through this acceptance will be the main source of strength and guidance for a new pastor.

13. A missionary is someone who fulfills the great commission (Matthew 28:8-20), one who is sent out into the world to do the charitable work of Christ. All those who bear the name of Christ are called to be missionaries. It should be every Christian’s goal to reach the unreached, regardless of race, class, gender, age, social class etc. Just as God the Father sent his son Jesus, and Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into his disciples, so those who believe are sent to share the good new of Jesus Christ. Jesus left the ultimate comfort zone of heaven, seated at the right hand of the father, came down to the earth, suffered, died and then entered into Glory. This mission is the fundamental life source of the Church. Believers are not commanded to congregate once a week and echo truths to one another so that they might keep them exclusive and safe, they are called to seek the lost and reconcile them with their creator. In order to do so we must muster the creativity and courage, guided by the Spirit, to find ways of articulating and embodying the gospel. Ways that draw upon our own stories and cultural resources, while remaining faithful to the witness of Scripture. This Mission does not stop at conversion, but must focus heavily on discipleship, creating Christian Co Opts who collectively become his witnesses to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8) Once we receive the transformational love of Christ, we become his ambassador; speaking, loving, and growing the Kingdom on His behalf. Mission can be defined as the spark that ignites all genuine Christian growth. It is only by the believer’s pursuit of the lost that we can see his own understanding of the gift that he has received in Christ. For to know Christ and his power and to keep it tucked away in private is an inexcusable constipation of belief. All purpose and truth steams from this idea of Mission, Christ life and teachings defines the human action that has eternal value, and what action results in destruction. It is the great joy of all believers to step in line with the spirits work of the reconciliation of all things, and thus infuse their existence with meaning and truth.

14. The Bible indicates that the demons are fallen angels who along with Satan rebelled against God. Satan and his demons now look to destroy and deceive all those who follow and worship God. (Revelation 12:9) These demons are described as unclean spirits.(Mark 1:27) Demons are spiritual beings but they can appear in physical form.(2 Corinthians 11:14-15). These demons are enemies of God, but they are defeated enemies. Greater is He who is in us, than those who are in the world (1John 4:4). Scripture speaks repeatedly of good and bad angels moving about unseen but also as interacting with living people at different times, even to the point of evil spirits actually possessing people dwelling within them and controlling them (Mark 5). The four Gospels and the Book of Acts are filled with many incidents of demon possession and of good angels appearing and aiding believers. Angels, both good and bad, can cause unusual natural and supernatural phenomenon to occur (Job 1-2). Scripture speaks repeatedly of Satan being the father of lies and a deceiver and that he also can disguise himself as an angel of light, Likewise, those who follow him, whether human or otherwise, do the same (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). The main source of release from the power of Satan is through salvation through the believing of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Acts 19). A Christian has victory over darkness through our Lord Jesus Christ, a clear understanding of demonology will calm our fears relating to demons, keep us watchful, and remind us to stay close to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because He has sent the Holy Spirit to live in our hearts and “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world” (1John 4:4). The eventual fate of daemons is eternal existence in the lake of fire. They are doomed to a life of separation from God, to perpetuate hopelessness, and destructive actions of meaninglessness.

15. Confessions by St. Augustine, has been a recent enlightening read. Written A.D. 397, The Confessions are a history of the young Augustine's severe struggle to overcome his extravagant ways and achieve a life of spiritual grace. Augustine has a unique ability to communicate the universal principles of his conversion with vigor. His truths shed brilliant light onto the human condition. Augustine wrote “When all of me clings to you, there will be no more sorrow or toil for me, but you will bring my life to life, filling it with you. For I am not yet filled with you, since you draw up what you fill while I weigh myself down with delights I should regret and regrets that should delight me, confused about which will prevail.” Such a perspective has been the balm of truth, which has allowed me to understand the state of the human condition as it pertains to the fallen nature of man. It has inspired me to take inventory of my own walk with Christ. To discover those places that I am inclined to fill myself up with things other than Christ, and to recognize the source of anguish that they are. It also reminds me that separate from Christ I have the ability to achieve nothing of meaning, and that my confusion about what is right, will always be present in this world, and that the only solid rock a man can stand on is the Word of God. It inspires a sense of anticipation as well, that one day our loose finger pinch on the gospel will become a full hands grasp. That to the degree that we continue to grow in our ability to deny ourselves and take up the cross of Christ, is the degree that we will experience wholeness in the present.

2009-03-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

Church is the place where Christians gather to become a cloud of witnesses. It does not have to be in a building, it is simply when a group of believers gather to discuss the word of God and to worship Him. It consists of all those who join themselves to a profession of faith and gathering together to know and serve the Head of the Church, Jesus Christ. The Church is the bride of Christ. (Eph 5:25-27) The Church is all people who believe in Christ all over the earth. Comprised of all people who are called out for the sake of Christ and his purposes. Thus it has two main functions, (discussed above) it is both a grouping of local believers at a certain time and place, and the chosen people of God throughout the entire world. As a body, the ultimate purpose for the Christian Church is to bring glory to Jesus Christ. To engage our bridegroom, and express our devotion to him, both in word and deed. There is no such thing as a solo Christian, all who put their faith in Christ must be expressing that in community with other believers. That community is the Church.

2009-03-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Justification is the exchange that occurs upon the very moment when a sinner puts their faith in Jesus Christ. There once marred and disfigured appearance before God, is transposed with the pure and spotless lamb of God. This substitution is not earned, and its result is eternal life with God. It is based completely on Jesus death on the cross. (1Peter 2:24) It is revealed by faith alone. (Eph 2:8-9) There is nothing one can do in order to deserve or attain this justification, it is simply a gift from God. Therefore like Romans 5:1 says "we are justified by faith."

Sanctification is God working in a believer to produce an increase in Christ like personage. It requires the believer to partisipate in Gods work of the restoration and returning of all things back to his desired wholeness. This means submitting to Gods will, resisting sin, seeking holiness, and working to become more Godly. (Gal 5:22-23)

Justification is an instantaneous transaction that takes place upon a faithful acceptance of Jesus into a sinners life, sanctification is the ongoing refining process of discipleship. Justification cannot be earned, and sanctification will never be perfect in the current human state.

2009-03-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Grace is the undeserved favor of God. It is the pure exspression of Gods love given with out merit, because of the fallen nature of humanity. There are certain inclinations of the Flesh that simply cannot be rectified through human ambition. No matter how great a particular follower of Christ might be, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Thus Gods gifts to mankind of life, creation, and salvation come unmerited. These gifts are the enabler of all Christian progress. They allow us to develop, improve and grow into the likeness of Christ. It is by God's Grace therefore, that salvation is granted to man, on the condition that we put our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and believe that Jesus is from God, Jesus is the Messiah and that his death on the cross has the power to take away our sins, thus making us blameless in the sight of God.Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in the fact that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. ( 1 Corinthians 15:3. ) Acceptance of grace allows one to become a child of God. This spirit of adoption, is the focal point for all authentic belief and action done in the name of Christ. (Gal 1:15)

2009-03-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

To understand how Christ atoned for our sins. A Christ follower must first understand a scriptural definition of atonement. This word is used in scripture to encapsulate the central idea of the Gospel, namely the death of Christ through which the sinner is reconciled to God, restored to His favor. In the Hebrew Bible, the atonement is associated with man’s sin. God commanded Israel to set aside one day each year, the tenth day of the seventh month, which He called “the day of atonement.”(Leviticus 16:29-30) The focus of a "day of atonement" centered around making a grain or animal sacrifice to God for the sins of the Jewish household. God had said, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11) These sacrafices were merely an indicator of what was to come. The Hebrew Prophets pointed to a messiah, who would be the final sacrafice. Jesus is the fufillmet of this prophecy. The love and mercy of God are infinite and matchless, still the penalty for sin must be paid. Thus it was, in the eternal past, before the foundation of the world, that God determined and planned that atonement should be provided for His fallen creatures who would be deceived by Satan. If no plan of atonement had been proposed and perpetuated by the Godhead, all would be hopeless for mankind. And so, in the counsels of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it was decreed that One should come and offer Himself as a Divine Substitute in the sinner’s place. This necessitated the Substitute taking upon Himself a human body. The eternal Son of God was that Substitute. And so “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John l:14). “God was manifest in the flesh” (I Timothy 3:16). “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself”

2009-03-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

Each and every human on earth has sinned and fallen short of Gods idea for right behavior. In the bible it says that the wages of sin is death. This means that we all deserve to die. The Good news, however is that God sent his son Jesus to pay that penalty for us. The free gift of God is eternal life for all who believe that Jesus died on the cross for his sin. Jesus story didn't Just end at his death on the cross, on the third day he rose from the grave, and concurred death. If you understand that you are a sinner in need of a savior, and are willing to put your faith in Jesus death and resurrection, then you are freely saved by the grace of God. This saving grace, can and will transform the way you live your life. This free gift of love, is the power that you need in order to live the lifestyle of a Christian. A lifestyle that requires everybeliever to turn from their old life of sin, and live a life dedicated to living out the Words of God that are made clear in the Bible.

2009-03-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Holy Spirit, is the spirit of God. Jesus said, "I am going to sit at the right hand of my father and when I do I will send a helper to you." Christians believe that the "helper" Jesus was referring to was the Holy Spirit. Young believers should be invited to share there faith, and trust that the Holy Spirit leads people to a relationship with Jesus and fuels his ability to live a Christian life. The Holy Spirit is present in every true Christian, each one being His temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16) There are specific attributes to this spirit, and it can be identified in a person by its fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. The Holy Spirit is of equal importance to God the Father, and Jesus the son. After his resurrection Jesus told his disciples that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives different gifts to Christ followers, including gifts of ministry, teaching, giving, leadership, and mercy. (Romans 12:6-8) Christians believe that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is enhanced over time by exposure to the written word of God and by the experience of leading a Christian life. They further believe that the Fruit of the Holy Spirit consists of products of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: "wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord."

2009-03-10T22:27:00.000-07:00

It is crucial to understand that Christ died on the cross at Calvary, so that we might live and move and have our being. It is crucial to understand that he died so that we might be saved from our sin, and on the third day he rose again. Thus defeating death and exposing the world to the victory over sin that is available through a personal relationship with Him. Jesus is the son of God, who took on flesh and blood, had his body broken, suffered and died so that we might be saved by means of atonement for our sin. Jesus provides salvation, and right standing with God. Jesus is the fullest representation of Gods love for us on earth. (1:John 4:9) Just as he did with the disciples, Jesus invites each believer to deny himself take up his cross and follow Him. This pursuit provides the meaning for which all humnaity exisits He is the fufillment of the Hebrew Bible's prophetic words about the coming messiah, who would be Lord over all. (Isaiah 53) This is made clear to Mary in the gospel of Luke, "and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Jesus came to usher in a new kingdom. One not built upon earthly might and force, but with the authority that comes from sacrifice. He did not lead a military coo, to over throw the opressive Roman military, (like many might exspect a King to do), instead he got down on his knees and washed his disciples feet, taught us to pray for our enemies, and suffered a brutal death on a cross. A total expression of His ultimate love for the human race. (Matthew 20:28) Everyday it is our great Joy and challenge to live life, prayerfully dedicated to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

2009-03-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

The trinity is a essential element and mystery to the Christian believer. God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy spirit are thee persons in one God head. These three elements of God, have seperate modes of interaction with the world, and believers but they commune as one. (John 10:30) Each element of the trinity is present simultaneously, but has exerted itself with particular emphasis at different times through out human history. God the Father, is the main figure in the hebrew bible (Old Testament), interacting most directly with the Hebrew prophets and people. Jesus, main role in the scripture comes in the New Testament, as Gods son, the fufilment of the Hebrew Prophetic testimony of the coming messiah. Jesus then leaves his disciples with the third element of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, which becomes the main God figure throughout the pentateuch and on through modernity. All three beings are still active figures in achieving shalom, or restoration and wholeness for the world. This three fold element to God is essential in understanding personal and collective salvation and sanctification. God as the central creator, Jesus as the final messianic sacrafice and the holy spirit as the power of God present in the believer.

2009-03-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

The methodology that I am most familiar; with regard to theological interpretation, is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. This method has four key elements, listed in order of the degree of importance. First and foremost is scripture, the core of the Christian faith. The best place to go in order to understand God's word, is directly to the source. The bible by itself can and does provide all a seeker needs in order to understand and accept salvation. Secondly, the word of God is reveled through tradition. The Church has two millennia of history. There are generations upon generations of theologians, who in both word and deed have lived and interpreted the Word. There precident is to be trusted over whatever the current ebb or flow of the Church might be. The third process, is the logical act of reasoning. Rational thinking and sensible interpretation, are crucial elements to understanding any writ, and should be applied most diligently to the Scripture. Finally, the fourth method is experience. A Christians personal and communal interaction with his surrounding world, will shed light upon the scripture. After carful analysis of the Bible a believer should be able to understand it through his own realtionships and ministry.

cap

2009-03-05T13:52:00.001-08:00

World Impact Doctrinal Assessment

!. The Holy Scriptures are of essential importance to all Christian believers. My faith is invested in the truth that Holy God infused the writers of the Old Testament Cannon and the New Testament. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). God has revealed Himself in His book. And when I read the words of my Bible, I am reading the words that came out of the very mouth of God. It formulates the meaning and purpose behind everything the believer does, and conversely exposes the meaninglessness of human action that misses the mark. The inerrant truth of the scriptures is vital, because it binds us to obedience and submission to everything it teaches. Romans 2:13 expounds on this point by saying “For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” The bible sets all parameters for the believer. I hold the protestant belief in Sola Scriptura, that the bible alone defines truth. The bible contains all knowledge pertinent to salvation and holiness. This concept is not a denial of other governing elements to Christian belief, however it does demand that all other authorities are subsidiary to, and corrected by the words of scripture. The bible is the final authority on faith and practice.

2009-02-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

Greetings! We continue to work away here in the city. I believe the theme for this month has been discipleship. Sometime in the early 80's Keith Phillips (the director of World Impact) decided to shift the entire mission of his organization. After two decades doing evangelism, he discovered that many of the same children who attended his bible clubs, publically recieved christ, and got baptized, were the same young men who were selling drugs on the street, and regulating gang turf. Distraught, he turned to the very passage that started him on his mission all those years ago. Revelation came after realizing that the great commission did not require believers to simply preach the Gospel, but to "go and make disciples of all nations."
Due to our continueous need for rescue, it is easy to call on God as our savior, but once he has " set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand" it then falls on the believer to make him Lord of our lives as well. This is precisely what is going on in my life as well as the two young men I am currently discipleing. Daryl and Robert are cousins who accepted Christ at the Oaks winter retreat. We have been meeting weekly since, trying to understand what being a Christian is all about.

ignore just emailing myself

2009-01-08T17:58:00.001-08:00

The story of my faith is one marked by relationship, and as with every good love affair, there are bends and twist, devastating failures and moments of unspeakable joy. The lord first took a hold of my life during infancy, as Pastor Dave Worth held me in his arms, and whipped holy water over my brow. He asked the congregation to raise me in the ways of their Lord and savior Jesus Christ. There acceptance of this commissioning, resulted in spiritual mothers, fathers, brother and sisters that revealed to me the gift of salvation.
My first touch from the lord came through the hands of my mother and father, as they hugged and kissed me, as they sacrificed for their boy. My mother started teaching first grade, on my first day of kindergarten at Lupin Hill Elementary school. Every Tuesday evening she would load the mini van full of neighborhood kids, swing by the local McDonald’s, and buy everyone ice crème cones before dropping us off at Malibu Presbyterian church bible club. My Father who grew up wishing his father would have taken an active role in his youth, crafted his schedule around Jr. league basketball games, and nightly bed time readings, so that he wouldn’t miss a moment of mine. Being a criminal defense attorney, he fostered a deep sense of justice in me, on the mission’s trips he led for Malibu Presbyterian Church, by taking me inside Mexican prisons before I was old enough to be afraid. Their dramatic dedication to my spiritual upbringing became the roots of my growth in the lord.

The fruit of these roots, would not come for many years however. Mostly what I remember about attending church as a child is the complaining. The cheesy plays, and stern Sunday school teachers, didn’t mesh well with my desire to watch countless hours of television.
This continued until I met Keenan Barber. With a youth group of ten, and a mother who brought half of its members every week, it was hard to fade to the back round at youth group. Keenan, who just lost his job at a local marketing firm, decided to take the position of youth pastor, at the time probably out of necessity more than calling. This made him nothing but honest from day one. He trusted us with his burdens, and used relationship and encouragement to disclose the deeper truth of our lives. He used his own personal missteps and learning adventures to interpret the truth that we walked only because of the grace and forgiveness of the Lord and Savior of all Jesus Christ. He taught us that a Christian on his knees has way more authority and purpose than whatever else the world had to offer. Weeks spent on missions trips, became the most fulfilling ventures of my life, giving me a taste of the kind of work that brings the kingdom of God to earth.

and the only response that can flow is gratitude and service. Christ used Keenan to put me in my first ministry roles. He
Keenan had just lost his job at a local marketing firm, and become the interim Youth Pastor. His earnestness from day one endeared us all. He taught us that a Christian on his knees, has way more authority than anyone who demands it. He exposed us to a world outside of Malibu. Where for the first time, as I feed the hungry, clothed the naked, and visited the prisoner, in places like Baja Mexico, I met Jesus face to face. I began to feel my heart break for the things that break the heart of my savior. The lord’s grace was revealed in the acknowledgement of my undeserving privilege. Weeks spent on missions trips, became the most fulfilling ventures of my life, giving me a taste of the kind of work that brings the kingdom of God to earth.

something in need to pass through the internet

2008-12-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

The story of my faith is one marked by relationship, and as with every good love affair, there are bends and twist, devastating failures and moments of unspeakable joy. My father has over the years recounted for me, his admiration for the earnestness of my earliest child hood prayers. This report is overshadowed, in my mind by a fairly normal suburban up bringing, but more than anything I owe my faith to these kinds of moments. My mother who became a first grade teacher, on my first day of kindergarden at lupin hill elementary school, and every Tuesday evening would load the mini van full of neighborhood kids, swing by the local mcdonald’s, and buy everyone ice crème cones before dropping us off at Malibu Presbyterian church bible club. My dad who would foster his deep sense of justice in me, by reading and paraphrasing classics like Les Miserables, until as a boy I faded into sleep. My first exsperinces with my savior, are a result of his spirit inhabiting Mom and Dads hands and feet, as they hugged and kissed me, as they sacrificed for their children.
The recognition of this gift would not come for years. Mostly what I remember about attending church as a child is the complaining. The cheesy plays, and stern Sunday school teachers, didn’t mesh well with my desire to watch countless hours of television.
This dispostition remained until my first day of high school. Keenan Barber became the High school youth pastor on my first day of 9th grade. With a youth group of ten, and a mother who brought half of its members every week, it was hard to fade to the back round, an art I had mastered at my big public Jr. High school. Keenan had just lost his job at a local marketing firm, and become the interim Youth Pastor, for lack of a better idea. His earnestness from day one endeared us all. He taught us that a Christain on his knees, has way more authority than anyone who demands it. He exposed us to a world ouside of Malibu. Where for the first time, as I feed the hugry, clothed the naked, and visited the prisoner, in places like Baja Mexico, I met Jesus face to face. I began to feel my heart break for the things that break the heart of my savior. The lord’s grace was revealed in the acknowledgement of my undeserving privlidge. Weeks spent on missions trips, became the most fulfilling veutures of my life. Giving me a taste of the kind of work that brought the kingdom of God to earth. My best friends to this day, were those who discovered Gods dream to put this broken world back together again in those communites.

Prayer letter December

2008-12-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

Hello again from World Impact. Perhaps, the best way to inform you of the issues and needs of our community, in order to refine and direct your prayers, is to give you a glimpse into my own dialog with God.
In Luke 4 and 5 we see Jesus’ public ministry expanding. Crowds begin to follow him. Multitudes come to hear him. The sick come out in droves to be healed by him. He gives himself to all of these people. He touches, heals and blesses them. But this will take its toll on him. And even Jesus must stop, from time to time, to be renewed. Luke 5:16 tell’s us one of the keys to Jesus’ ministry, “As often as possible Jesus withdrew to out-of-the-way places for prayer.” (The Message)
My ministry is obviously less intense than the work described above, but I still find times of quiet reflection with God to be essential to my labor in Watts and South Central. Focused prayer can often be a struggle for me, but as I retreat to quiet and beautiful places I feel God reminding me of his great love and grace that has covered my missteps, and a subtle prod to pray for the world outside my window.
In such moments I pray for a fragmented city to become whole. I pray that God would deliver us from the temptation to let issues of race, social class, and temperament create division. That He would give us his eyes. That we would see each other as the beloved creation of a loving father, unified in humanity and plight.
I petition God to reconstruct families. Often as we minister to the children of the Watts community, we find children who are broken and angry. Kids who have learned to fight in order to get what they want. These behaviors have not dropped out of thin air. They are a result of some seriously broken family situations, and I am convinced that change will only come when the Mothers and Fathers of our community believe in their ability to love and be loved.
Finally I pray for the safety of my friends. I have great affection for many of the children and adults I have shared life with here, and often as I drop them off at their house or project, I wonder what the next week will have in store for them. I can’t begin to put myself in their place, navigating gang ridden playgrounds and sidewalks, trying to avoid the pressures and calls of their friends and neighbors who have chosen to intimidate and kill to get what they want.
Perhaps this inspires some ideas for your own prayers. Lets beseech God with fervor and expectation, because our savior Jesus said, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7: 8-10)
It was so great to see many of you over the holiday season! Thank you for the love and encouragement! What a spiritual family God has blessed me with! Praise God from whom all blessing flow!

Sincerely Pete

2008-12-26T22:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRfoVc3zCa4

If u have not herd of Rob Bell, this dude, is what excites me about the Church

2008-12-26T22:41:00.000-08:00

Just read Donald Millers Blog, he is good, check him out. http://donmilleris.com/

Thought from my hike today

2008-12-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

Moses was a hiker. He traveled up and down Mt. Horeb many many times, and as he set out up the mountain, he had to be wrought with and anxiety and unease; all those misteps of his people, and the conviction to notice. . his spirit to seek would be honored. There he met God and recieved a game plan for a lost and desperate people. The message that he he recieved that day must have come with the kind of audacious truth and cosmic importance, that swept in a wind of authority and peace that only raw reality presupposes. These commandments, these parameters of morality, would become the wedding vows, from the lips of Yahweh to the heart to those willing to submit and become the chosen. Moses was shinning on his discent. Moses was a hiker.
Jesus was too. Harboring the same broken heart as his forefather he decided to climb a mountian. Jesus, however was not on a solo mission. He was the first to the top, but he wasnt there long befor the disciples acieved accent. When they did, he began to expound on the law, teaching and preaching with charetureisitc light and authority. This "sermon on the mount" became a fresh look at an anchient vow. Leaving no disciple with out the quite understading that they too got to be in the presence of God, and will once again have his anointing.

fuller application rough draft

2008-12-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

I am a lost and wretched sinner, yet my Lord and savior continues to invite me into his mysterious ministry of renewal, reconciliation, and repentance. An opportunity to further my understanding of the Gospel, and how to acutely apply it, through Fuller Theological Seminary, would serve to more fully equip my zeal for increasing the Kingdom of God on earth. I have felt the baffling touch of God in my life, and I recognize my only response is to repent and re-gift. God has positioned a desire in my heart for a deeper consideration of his bride, the Church. I have felt his spirit commune with this divine institution in awe inspiring and potent ways, yet I too have witnessed the great brokenness and depravity that can result from the maltreatment of such power. I acknowledge that to inherit the rich history of the Church, I must scrutinize its record and practice, study Greek and Hebrew, so that I might interpret the pages of my bible with integrity and precision, and promote my fervor for preaching and teaching so that I might refine my ability to communicate Gods love and hope to a destitute and lonely world. Further maturity of these qualities, and many others, is what is accessible at your School of Divinity, and so I seek enrollment, in order to employ my time to the exploration of Gods call in my life to become a pastor.
Currently I am realizing my ardor for ministry through World impact. A Christian mission’s organization dedicated to ministering God's love in the inner city of Los Angeles. My function in this undertaking, takes place at Watts Power House Church, where along side, two full time missionary families, I seek to minister to the Men, Woman and Children of the Imperial Courts projects. A community infamous for its gang stigma and participation in the Watts riots of 1965 and 1992. Work in this environment has given me an on the spot education, I never could have anticipated. The people that inhabit the maze of powder blue concrete boxes, adjacent to our church, are some of the most charismatic and charming folks, I have ever met. Sharing with me a world of authentic community I never felt in the suburban world of gated communities and SUV’s. It is such a blessing to be in a church were needs are shared so openly.
With such authentic requests comes a longing in my heart for more tools of solution, the kind of church programs and shepherding skills that target the source of the need. To be able to offer new and refreshing words of hope, to people who have been battered down by the weight of entrenched sin, and broken promises.
I believe that these kinds of solutions will only come through further knowledge of Gods word and method in the Church. The complexity of the issues of the city deserves an astronomical amount of attention. It has put inside me angst to inquire and reflect with wiser and more experienced Christian teachers. Not in order to find all the right answers, but in order to do everything I can to be the firmed and refined hands and feet of our God and King Jesus Christ.

2008-12-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

About 3 and a half years ago, I was hitting a really cliche place in college. Steaming primarily from a modern philosophy class I was pledging my semester to. First, because it was luminous and difficult. Secondly, because it was revealing a whole new way to process and think. Raised in fairly homogenous Christian schools, the world of Marx, Rousseau, and Nietzsche was strangely compelling and empowering. Men who if nothing else can be credited for challenging norms, and moving people in ways most of us can't even imagine. There words, as translated trough my teacher and some helpful commentaries, had the force of the kind of art, that revealed and obliterated some of the bias I was harboring unwittingly.

As expected, it had a dramatic effect on my spiritual journey at the time. Taking up debates, with anyone who would seem even slightly smug in their truth claims. With my verbal passion came identity; a unique place. I felt the ideas, which I first viewed as merely academic, create bitterness toward what I viewed as pandemic complacency at my Christian University. This bitterness toward my brothers and sisters, began an ache in my heart.

Don't get me wrong in the labeling. I never wanted to wear a green train conductor hat and organize a military coo, in fact this is exactly the kind of preconception that had been built up in my mind, but with a bit of panning with open mindedness, I believe one might come up with some nuggets of biblical truth in his work. The most obvious being, his view of a common economy, and the empowerment of the working class poor. The Early church was a radical community, that had all things in common. Where all members contributed to a common pot, and then distributed to those who had need. What's funny about the bible to me is it sounds a whole lot more like Communism (in purely its idealistic sense) than capitalism.

This idea only seems contrary to the church, when the church looks a lot more like rival corporations, than brothers and sisters. Now the obvious evil for Marx, has come by the means to achieve those ends. Violent action will forever be the most unoriginal and destructive of philosophies, but the Church gives life to such atrocity by starving the congregants the revolutionary community they were intended for. At least Marx had the courage to challenge social norms. Perhaps his ideals are so compelling precisely because they are so closely aligned with gospel. The best lies are always disguised by outer layers of truth.

...More on Rousseau and Niezche later

Journal 07

2008-12-15T22:42:00.000-08:00

Father God, would you rummage through life with me. I am spilt out all over the place, but today I wish to invest in you. Lord throw away my yesterdays and steal my tomorrows. Inject me into your vein. Be with me every pitiful step of the way. I need you desperately, mark me by your wild, majestic, love. Steal my tongue, deliver me, rebuild my daily ruble. Send peace to my war torn heart. I praise you today Father for your blessing, your love opens up new worlds to me.

Christmas Party

2008-12-11T22:59:00.000-08:00

unite with us!

let the soft light employ!

band the flickering wicks!

all sorrow is vanity

utter the hymn on your lips,

can u feel the unspeakable Joy?

again we trust, again we trust.

Prayer

2008-12-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

Lord Jesus, help me to remember that I am not God. Most of all, help me to find fufillment in being your creature.

The genius of simple

2008-12-10T19:42:00.000-08:00

Propaganda makes up our minds for us, but in such a way that it leaves us the sense of pride and satisfaction of men who have made up their own minds. And in the last analysis, propaganda achieves this effect because we want it to. This is one of the few real pleasures left to modern man: this illusion that he is thinking for himself when, in fact, someone else is doing his thinking for him. -Thomas Merton

What in the media today doesn't qualify as propaganda. The world of spin, and sales dominates practically every outlet. Im so tired of feeling incomplete. Im so sick of the subtle prods, "you will never be attractive unless," "This is what love looks like," etc. I can't even stand the sub culture it produces. Your young, you know its all crap, so buy American Apparel. (know who's in your tribe, by the slightly better than thrift quality of their clothing) Let the world know Globalism is crap, by buying a ten dollar pair of socks. Why is it attractive to be seduced by it all, why is a well kept man such a priority? What is so great about men and woman dressing and living whole heartedly domesticated.

Even as I express my perspective I know its already a category in all our minds, perhaps a subtle label of lazyness comes to mind, or a disassociation based on radicalism, or youth, but I believe the only way we will feel a lightening of yoke, (a freedom from the great pressure that comes with being young and having nothing to show for it, in a worldly sense) is if we inherit a new perspective.

Many who don't fully understand the answer, recognize the problem. I believe all modern genius stems from reductionism. Maybe Rousseau nailed it. Maybe the cure for our incessant confusion, is a dispelling of the myth that we can build towers to God. That we can achieve enough, to win a wife, to win life. Maybe God just wants to be recognized as the giver. Maybe if we simplify, we will start to understand that we have no idea how things grow apart from God. Why do I so frequently dismiss Gods gifts. Why do I doubt, that He gives generously. Why do I automatically believe, when I get special attention from somebody, that somehow I deserve it?

Why does my incredible distaste for these things never quite concur the attraction. Thus leaving me a life of limbo. I guess its all a refining process.

2008-12-09T22:06:00.001-08:00

I think were obsessed with doing things right, and our obsession with doing things right illustrates our bad theology, it demonstrates our desire for redemption outside of Christ. -Donald Miller

A star in the starting

2008-12-09T21:05:00.000-08:00

This site was created, because I love dragons (but only because they create great courage in the knights who slay them.)
I have been living in downtown L.A. for the last 4 months (my first post college job, doing inner city missions work for World Impact) and in that time, it seems as though I have experienced many dog years inside my head. This cavernous journey, has sprouted some unique loves, and some adjunct failures, all of which I wish to chronicle and express in some form to the outside world.
The thoughts on this blog will be netted in some middle area, between the desperation carved into my journal and my awkward toothy smile, upon first hand sake. That place where I start to feel comfortable enough to get preachy. I recognize my bias, my context, and my pride, and I declare nothing final. I write merely because I am plagued by ideas, opinions and frustrations.
I have decided to explore any post college loneliness pro actively. I have made a full commitment to purity, simplicity, and prayer here in the city. And even though I fail at all three, I intend to stay committed to them, for better or worse. I hope that writing will serve as a trusty companion, on my journey with self discipline. In so I become both fire breathing dragon and knight in shinning armor. I fight a battle against my own flesh, and hope to concur it by meeting it out in the open. (Or at least like a prepubescent gamer on cyberspace)
Either way what i need to say today, will never be the same as tomorrow, and so let this be an introduction to my fragmented experiences. Peters blog of half thoughts, and gray areas.