I Met a Godly Man Today...

I had a pretty intense day today. I traveled down to Pittsburgh with a couple of ServErie colleagues to visit a ministry called Hosanna Industries, Inc. It was an eye-opening visit. The organization basically used a similar concept that we used for TARGET (a program back in the mid 90's that we did through the youth ministry at Grace to rehab homes of needy families in Erie) but they do it a 365 days a year. They do construction projects throughout the city for poor and needy families.

They now have a campus that houses a dormatory for up to 60 volunteers, warehouses for equipment, trucks, tractors, supplies, a training center for basic construction skills, a staff housing area, office complex, etc. The ministry began in 1990 by a man named Donn - who was a pastor at the time.

I knew as soon as we joined him at the table that he was a Jesus follower in the true sense - he took all of Jesus very seriously. He had plumbed the depths of faith and obedience - it was all over his face, it was in his voice, his soul was out in front of his words. I learned some stuff in the 2 1/2 hours we spent with him. Here's some of it:

1. Big dreams often start very small - in the last 18 years - this organization has done over $26 million worth of construction. It started with Donn driving around town stopping at run-down homes and knocking to see how he might help. No strategic plan, no org chart...

2. The key to the success of any organization is deep love and trust among its leaders- he repeated often that the difficult ministry times always involved a breakdown of relationship among the team. But the love of the team and their love of the mission is what keeps him going.

3. Even really godly leaders struggle with criticizm - a huge downer in ministry is when you pour yourself into what you think Jesus has called you to do and what you think is the right thing to do - and Christians criticize. It happens to him regularly and when it does he wants to quit.

4. You can tell alot about a person by what makes them cry. Three times during our conversation Donn came to tears. Once when he was talking about Jesus and his love for the poor, and twice when he was talking about the love and community that exists among his core team. Too many people only come to tears about themselves.

5. I like smart people. I've known this for a while - but I love to be around bright shining bulbs. It challenges me and puts me into "learner mode" - I just begin firing questions and writing furiously. Donn is not only a great servant -but he's really smart.

6. Even really godly leaders can have messed up families - Donn was honest about basically working 80-90 hours per week for the last 18 years and that it has been unhealthy. It's had a negative affect on his wife and kids. Ministry can be intoxicating and addictive - and before long all kinds of stuff can appear to be more important than family - and then before you know it your kids are gone and you've missed the whole thing.

7. Sometimes our hands and feet should do all the talking - some people go into the business of serving the poor with the expectation that they will lead a goodly number of them to salvation - many times, just serving them is enough. Leave the heart-changing business to God.

8. Being taken advantage of is part of what we signed up for as Christians - following the savior that we follow - we should know that we will never insulate ourselves from beging scammed, abused, and taken advantage of. There were a number of jobs that Donn walked away from in the end knowing that he had been scammed. They try to not let it happen but when it does it's in God's hands - they seek no retribution.

9. Jesus loves the poor - Donn never mentioned this one time - but it bled through in every comment he made, every breath he took, and rang true in my spirit just being near him.

10. I have an affinity for older guys who smoke pipes - after lunch Donn took out his pipe - lit it - took a robust draw on it - and kept talking - man did that thing smell good! It also somehow added to the mystique of the moment. CS Lewis, a hero of mine, also smoked a pipe. I've never owned a pipe - never smoked a pipe - maybe I'll have to run out and get me a corncob pipe and some tobaccee. (please don't send me hate mail about how christians shouldn't smoke and how I shouldn't be advocating it here on this blog - I know all that - I'm just sayin...)

It was quite a day - some debriefing is in order.

I wasn't ready for this picture

Ayden and Luke, originally uploaded by dereksanford.

OK - this is Ayden - my three year old daughter. The latest love of my life. And yes, that's just her cousin Luke helping her navigate the bustling crowds of people at Waldameer. And yes, you can call me an overprotective father. But seriously, I had a vision into the future 12 years from now to my 15 year-old Ayden holding hands with a boy. But future boyfriends beware. You'll not only have a jealousy-crazed father to deal with but a 22 year-old Caleb and 18 year-old Chase.

Just try it you punk...don't even think about it...whoever you are...even though you're only 3 years old right now and would have to be advanced enough to be able to read... well...anything...let alone this blog post....I'm just saying...be very careful.

95%

Just read a great quote from Hybels, "95% commitment to Christ is 5% short."

Being a Better Dad

Pastor's kids are sitting ducks. It's a perfect storm really. Pastor's are busy - but all kinds of dads are busy in other kinds of work - what makes Pastor's kids such a target? Well I have a couple thoughts.

• Pastoring is a people business, so any time other people come before family it feel's like dad is choosing them over us. Could cause some bitterness against other people.
• Pastoring is a church business, so any time the church comes before family it feels like dad is choosing the church over us. Could cause some bitterness against the church.
• Pastoring is a God business, so any time God-stuff comes before family it feels like dad is choosing God-stuff over us. Could cause some bitterness against God.

That's a confusing deal for kids. For a kid whose dad is a businessman - and is busy and neglectful and all that stuff - the kid might get mad at his dad and his dad's business - but that anger and bitterness doesn't necessarily get wrapped up into God and the church and weighty stuff like that. On top of it - I do believe that Spiritual Leaders are subject to a unique spiritual attack.

So all that to say, I had a question ringing in my ears all of Father's Day. "How can I be a better dad?" It is one of my most important roles as a human being, and I'm all about self-evaluation, so I wanted to ponder the question.

Instead of trying to come up with crap on my own - I decided to ask my two oldest kids (got the idea from Mark Batterson) So I asked them- "How can I be a better dad to you guys? What are the things that I'm not doing so well that I can get better at? What do you guys need more of from me that you're not getting right now?" They both really took the question seriously - they pondered and considered - they spend several minutes in quiet thought. Here's what they came up with:

Chase - "there is nothing I can really think of...one thing I thought of... but it's what a bad person would say." I said, "nothing is bad to say right now Chase - everything is fair game - tell me what you're thinking." He said, "I'm just thinking about more money and more stuff - but friends don't like rich people who don't share their stuff." I said, "that's true Chase - it's important to share our stuff." Then he said, "I would like to have you help me build a small house - we could design it together and you could teach me how to build it." Sounds like a good plan (what I resisted saying is "designing and building houses is your mom's department - ask her!")

Caleb - "there is nothing dad - you're an awesome dad. Out of all the dad's of all my friends - there is no one else's dad that I think does a better job than you."

It was encouraging but I think I still need to keep asking the question - because I know there are a lot of things that I need to do better.

Here are a couple of good fatherhood ideas that I've run across lately - one from Mark Batterson's blog and one from Tim Steven's blog.

What area of your life do you find it hardest to self-evaluate?

Looking for a good online Bible reading resource?

This one is fairly interesting - you can subscribe to the "read the bible in a year" blog that updates you every day on what the readings are for that day. It also has a spot for you to read, highlight, and journal in any version of the bible that you choose. You can also post comments, questions, interpretations, applications etc. in an interactive section. Pretty interesting. I like the look and practicality of this deal. I won't ever use something like this exclusively because I like the feel and smell of books too much. But this is a cool on-the-go resource and a great option for people who do most of their reading/writing at the computer.

Vacation Was Great

I had a great time off. Worked hard on some houses with Kim in the beginning and then did landscaping, yard work, built a swing set, etc. at our place. We also went to Waldameer and Water World on one day. It was really fun. It was an incredbily hot week to be working outside (90's everyday) but I loved every minute of it.

We had a big neighborhood cookout the other night with about 10 couples and their kids. It was great to get to know people better. There is a new family moving in to the house across from us and we got to meet them the other night which was really cool. They have kids near the ages of ours so we're stoked about that. There was so much food left over from that party that we offered to host everyone at our house the next night to consume all the leftovers. So we had a two-night-in-a-row cookout. It was pretty cool. We have some great neighbors.

The kids got off of school yesterday and are incredibly pumped for the summer. They had their report cards - and are by far the best and brightest in their respective classes. No other kids are even close to their level of achievement academically, socially, spiritually (OK - I'm a bit biased!)

A Few Thoughts as I Begin Vacation

I haven't posted for a while - sorry. Last week was a bit of a blur getting ready for vacation, plus a volunteer appreciation night, lots of serverie stuff, and preparing for a weekend of teaching. Anyway -today was my first day of vacation and it was great- helped Kim finish up a house she has been working on. She actually finished two houses in this last week and is semi-retired for the summer. She has asked for a pedicure for her birthday (this Thursday) which is a good sign that she's actually serious about taking some time off! My wife is the most amazing woman I know.

Anyway here are some brief thoughts that I considered posting about this past week but didn't have time to (lots of church related stuff - beware!):

1. We have the most amazing volunteers at Grace. We celebrated their faithfulness this past Wednesday night. They carried us through the biggest transition Grace has ever experienced. Nearly 450 people have served at Grace this past year. That's a staggering number.

2. There is not one county in the USA with a greater percentage of "churched" people than it had ten years ago.

3. There are 6 million less people going to church in the United States than were going to church in 2000. We're losing ground. It's time for the church to step up and get serious about her mission - and also get our heads around the fact that people are more fascinated than ever with Jesus but are less than compelled by the church.

4. Reggie McNeal's teaching on the Missional Church from the MBC Annual meetings are rocking my world. I've never gotten much into his books - but he has some profound things to say about the current and future state of the church.

5. I have been reading the "Evangelical Manifesto" that was published last month (I know - sounds scary right?) Anyway- I was very impressed. There are a couple of parts that I need to re-read because there were a few red flags at first pass, but by and large I think it does a fine job of re-defining evangelicalism which has been grossly misunderstood and misrepresented in recent years. Grace would definitely be qaulified as an "evangelical" church. I would encourage any Grace attender to read it (they also have a cliff notes version at the website)

6. I'm reading this book by David Bivins. It's very good - dives into the context of Jesus' life and teaching - a subject that I've been very fascinated by in recent months.

7. I just read I Am Legend (I know it's a little different than Jesus in his Jewish context) but it was just for fun. Nothing like a 1954 science fiction novel about vampires to get the heart thumping. I saw the movie and was really intrigued by the "last man on earth" concept. Holy smokes - the book is nothing like the movie. There are very few similarities. The movie was happy and gay compared with the book. I guess they tried to film some parts more like the book -but audiences hated it so they caved...

8. If you don't know Mars Hill church out in Seattle and Mark Driscoll - you should. The guy is a throwback preacher - but young and hip and all that stuff too. He has a great site called The Resurgence that has some great ministry content on it. They post videos from their conferences for free which is a great gift to other ministry leaders.

That's enough for now. Going golfing with my pops tomorrow and looking forward to it.

Two Challenges

I sent an email to our staff last week. Got some words of apprecation - so I thought I'd share it with all of you. I gave them two quick words of challenge as we head into the holiday weekend.

1. What are you going to do with a day off? Next week we have Monday off as a holiday. I think we have to be as intentional about our rest as we are about our work. So what are your plans for a) family, b) God, c) personal refreshment d) blessing others in your neighborhood or sphere of influence, during your quick day of reprieve. I know it sounds weird, but I was actually challenged in prayer last night about being intentional with Monday. So I'm actually praying about what God wants me to do with that day - I'm sure it will have something to do with a, b, c, or d.

2. What are you doing with your Economic Stimulus check? I'm not going to pretend that the best thing for all of us to do is give it to the church (although, we could sure use it!). But there is a "best thing" for you to do with yours. My challenge is to make it a matter of prayer as to what that "best thing" is. The question is, "what should we do with windfalls?" Unfortunately there is no generic answer. But I bet if you asked God, "What should I do with this particular windfall?" That He would be faithful to give you some direction.

Hope you have an amazing holiday weekend and a day of reprieve next week.

Ayden Didn't Quite Get the Miracle Right

So we were talking last night about what the kids were learning both from School and from Sunday School lately. Ayden (our 3 year old daughter) got very excited to tell what she had learned in Sunday School. She got very animated and started taking deep inhales between each phrase. She kind of missed the point of the punchline of the big miracle though. Her story went something like this:

Kim - so tell us about what you're learning Ayden...

Ayden - well all the guys with Jesus (deep breath) they got in a boat and sailed way way way (deep breath) way way way out into the water.

Kim - really - and then what happened?

Ayden - then a huge rain came... and thunder... and lightning (deep breath) and the waves were so big they almost covered the boat.

Kim - wow! then what?

Ayden - then Jesus came out (deep breath) and he got in the boat with his guys

Kim - oh man - then he must have done something pretty great next!

Ayden - yeah (deep breath) next he let the boat drift right into the storm (very deep breath like she had just finished the story)

Kim - didn't something happen after that?

Ayden - (somewhat annoyed) yeah....we had a snack.

We Saw Prince Caspian

Took the boys to see Prince Caspian amidst an absolutely crazy weekend. It was really good - captivating. Here are some random thoughts about the movie:

1. the setting was beautiful - some of the scenes, especially the children sailing back into Narnia, were just breathtaking.

2. the acting was way better this time around.

3. it was really violent - a lot of battle scenes. Chase handled it, but was pretty scared at some points.

4. the brief scene with Jadis (the white witch) was one of my favorites, both because it was so visually captivating, and because it did such a great job of painting the picture of the reality of temptation - especially the temptation of success at any cost. All the characters were drawn to it - except Edmund of course who had seen the results of giving in to that kind of temptation.

5. Maybe the best acting of the whole thing was done by the man who played Trumpkin the dwarf - he was awesome.

6. I haven't checked back in my book yet -but I think there was a scene added that wasn't in the book. Peter led an ill-advised and under-prepared attack on the Telarmine castle - it seemed out of character for Peter and a little out of place in the story. I wonder if it was supposed to be a political commentary on our current situation. If so - I didn't appreciate it's insertion into this storyline.

7. Susan's character was cheapened a bit by a weird little flirtatious thing that went throughout the movie with Caspian - I don't remember the Jr. High melodrama from the book either - but I could be wrong.

8. Reepicheep the mouse was hilarious and a very endearing part of the story. I laughed out loud at several spots in the movie as I did in the books. He also plays a really funny role in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

9. Aslan was somewhat absent - but was in the book too. His relationship with Lucy wasn't as developed in the movie - but I'm aware that not everything can make the final cut.

10. I definitely thought that there was a softening of any spiritual themes througout. Which may explain why Walden and Disney didn't do the big marketing push to Christian audiences and churches this time around.

Overall it was very good and worth the admission price. I don't want to be one of those weirdos that always says, "the book was soooo much better," but, the book was so much better...

Leadership and Prince Caspian

I'm pretty pumped to see Prince Caspian this weekend. I am a huge CS Lewis fan. His books have influenced my thinking more than any others except the Bible. I have literally waited since my childhood for these books to be made into movies - and I'm excited that it's happening while my kids are little so that I can enjoy it with them. I absolutely love the story in Prince Caspian - it is my second favorite to Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe in the Narnia series. The best line in the book and one of my favorite leadership quotes is:

"He (Aslan) led them to the right of the dancing trees - whether they were still dancing nobody knew, for Lucy had her eyes on the Lion and the rest had their eyes on Lucy."

All Christian leaders would be wise to heed the example of Lucy. If there are those that have their eyes fixed on you as the leader - you had darned well better have your eyes fixed on the Lion...whether the trees around you are dancing or not.

Back and Forth With Will

Will's comment on my last post got deleted the other day for some reason, so I wanted to share an email exchange between Will and I with you that clarifies the meal on the beach thing and some good back and forth about the details of scripture...

From Will:
First, I very much agree that the meal on the beach is an "echo" of the Last Supper. Regarding John not reporting Jesus's blessing of the meal. I've just assumed that he did bless it & it is unreported. I'm pretty sure that John doesn't report him blessing the Passover meal either. He (John) just reads to me as more of a "to the point" kind of writer. I'm just wondering what, in your experience, makes that stand out. I'm thinking that maybe I'm missing something.

From Derek:
You absolutely could be right - it may have just been an omission by John - something that he didn't consider important enough to report - a detail that he simply left out, etc. The other gospel writers include the returning of thanks at the Passover meal but it's true that John does not.

However, John does include the returning of thanks by Jesus at the feeding of the 5000 in John 6:11 "Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish." My point is certainly not to create a mountain out of a theological molehill - or to try to make scripture say something that it doesn't. My goal in noticing details like this and reporting them is to try to encourage others to foster a closer reading of the scriptures.

Too often people just do their duty of reading the bible, but I love to read it by putting myself in the scenario and asking all kinds of questions of the text and try to notice little details like this and ponder them. Simply that holy imagination that I talk about in class. But that being said, I also would never build a belief system or theology on any of these unsupported observations - just a way to help people to ponder scriptures from a slightly different angle.

When Jesus Didn't Pray Before Dinner

I don't know what your pre-meal prayers are like. At different life stages and in different settings, I've experienced the "God is great, God is good..." variety. I've also done the "Bless us oh Lord in these Thy gifts which we are about to..." thing as well. Sometimes in recent days one of the kids will want to pray before dinner and the younger two tend to simply go through each item and thank God for it. They do this while looking around the table at each item and just naming it. They include butter, and pepper, and utensils - everything! I love it - I think it is a beautiful and simple reminder that God deserves credit for everything. His provision for his children is wonderful.

Before communion at the staff retreat this past week, I shared some insights from the story of Peter's restoration in John 21. I'm convinced that this encounter with Jesus was hand-crafted for Peter and was filled with a bunch of flashback moments for him. One of the details that I found interesting was that there were significant similarities between the breakfast on the beach that Jesus served in John 21 and the last time the disciples had eaten with Jesus at the Last Supper. Especially the verbiage used in verse 13 to talk about the serving of the meal, "Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise with the fish." Sounds like the Last Supper minus the wine.

But there is another noticeable difference in the two scenes. On the beach Jesus didn't return thanks before serving the meal like he did in the upper room. My hunch is that Jesus was already taking on his glorified form - he was "fully God" at this point and no longer "fully man." He didn't need to ask "a blessing" - his hands on the bread and his presence at the meal was "the blessing."

Any other theories out there about why Jesus may not have said his prayers on the beach?

Little Boys, Forts, and Jesus as the Light of the World

Yesterday afternoon was awesome. I decided to set aside research and planning that I needed to be doing for the staff retreat this week, and spend a few hours with the boys. They've got a fort started in our back yard - so we worked hard on the fort for quite a while. It's Caleb's design and Chase's manpower - wait until you see it when it's done - gonna be pretty cool.

I was taken back to my childhood big time. I loved forts. For a kid - a fort represents your spot. It's the place to get away to. The place where you're quite sure no one will ever find you. It's safe ... it's yours. In the midst of all the hard work - we took a popsicle break. And as we were sitting there admiring our work - I was remembering the Feast of Tabernacles that the Israelites celebrated (don't ask my how these things pop into my head).

So I started telling the boys about it. There was an 8 day festival that the Jews celebrated - and during that period people left their homes and lived in booths formed of the branches of trees (just like their fort) out in the sreets of Jerusalem. The booths reminded them about the wilderness wanderings and how God had provided so miraculously for his people.

So I had my boys imagine what it would be like to take their fort to downtown Erie and live in it for 8 days (sounded like a nightmare to me but they thought it would be cool.) And what it must have been like to have been delivered out of Egypt and wandering in the desert led only by God. You would be pretty dependent upon God, you would really need to trust that He knew what He was doing.

And in Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles if you were to walk down the street through the city at night - you would also see that each of these little booths or forts was adorned with a lamp. Each family in each booth would light their lamps at night to symbolize God’s leading as the pillar of fire by night during their wanderings. (I hope that this detail didn't give my boys any ideas because we could be left without a woods in our backyard if they take this lamp thing too seriously).

Anyway, at the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, all the lamps were extinguished, and the city returned to normal. And it was at the conclusion of this festival (just after all the lights had been extinguished) that Jesus offered these words from John 8:12, “I am the light of the world – he who follows me will never walk in darkness.” Jesus was cleverly applying all the symbolism of the pillar of fire to himself. He was claiming to be God. The God who led his people out of slavery and into deliverance. Jesus was demanding to be followed in the same way that the Israelites followed the pillar of fire. He's the one providing the light after all - how else would one know where to go in the dark?

It was fun to talk with the boys in the midst of our little project about how important it is to follow Jesus wherever he takes us because it will always be the best adventure of all.

Fun Night for Grown Ups

Tomorrow night is going to be awesome. The last Meta Cafe was a great night for adults to get out of the house and get with some other folks and just have a blast at Grace - here are the details:

Friday, May 2 from 8pm-12am: coffee, drinks, and snacks for sale, free wireless internet, games, Rock Band, Wii Sports, and volleyball.

Meta Cafe is a great place to come either on your own or with a group. Come on out and meet some new people.

Visit here for updated information.

PLEASE NOTE: Meta Cafe is for those 18yrs and older only. Leave your kids (if you have them) with a babysitter and come on out. I'll be coming out after football practice...

Musings Big and Small

It's been a while since I posted - so I thought I would do a quick mind dump.

1. Tonight was the final night of the pre-marriage class that's been meeting for the last 8 weeks. We had 5 couples at our house for dinner and our last session together. It was cool and a very neat and diverse group of people.
2. Al and I met today to review some of the work that I did last week on vision and goals - I'm excited to take it to the next level of specificity after listening to his input today.
3. 2 weeks down and 3 to go of my Essential Jesus follow-up class on Sunday mornings. The first two weeks have been absolutely awesome. It's been a continuation of the intensity of the series. And it's cool to be in a room with people who are passionate about studying and following Jesus.
4. I'm getting ready for a 24 hour staff getaway next Tuesday/Wednesday. Our staff is amazing and it is a privilege to lead them. The time will be rich with God stuff, planning, and fun.
5. Kim and I have decided to give away our entire Economic Stimulus check. We wrote a check this week that more than gave it away to a worthy cause through Grace. Piper has some awesome thoughts on it here.
6. ServErie kicks off to the church this weekend. It is going to be so amazing to see our church unleashed in our community! Teams have been meeting almost daily in some form or fashion for the last couple weeks to get ready. That intensity will continue for a while till we're up and running!
7. Aaron starts tomorrow at Grace. He will bring a level of excellence to our campus and retail ministries like we've never known. Thank you God for Diane who served so capably in the meantime - what a tremendous blessing she has been.
8. Caleb's first football game for the new session is this Saturday night at the Golf Dome at FFSP. Should be fun - we're playing the best team in the league in the first game so it will be a true test. (yes I'm coaching again...for better or worse).
9. That's enought for now...

The Hotel

This place is really nice. It's a Renaissance Hotel - I have some pics below. I'm having a difficult time with the wireless - so I've been wresting with my computer all morning. Anyway -Larry speaks in about 25 minutes so I'm going to leaving to video tape him in a minute. Please pray if you read this soon. But before I left I wanted to leave you with some pics of our home for three days.


















Yes - that is a TV screen in our bathroom mirror


















The view from our room.






















TV - and really nice setup for business travelers. Happy Thursday.

Really Emotional

I don't know why - but the moment the first note was played in the main session this morning I got really emotional. I'm not a total conference-junkie-weirdo either. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why. I think maybe because I have kids and looking around at a room full of really faithful people, many of whom have really crappy realities in their home churches (ie. lack of resources, lack of ideas and momentum, lack of support from senior leadership, etc) and yet they are so passionate about reaching kids. I could see it in their faces as I looked around. And I'm so thankful for Larry and his leadership and the tons of committed volunteers at Grace who work with our kids...

My kids.

Some of them total strangers who have given something up to shape the course of history through our next generation of leaders. I was really inspired - I'll admit it. A couple of random thoughts.

• Larry and I argued about the presence of puppets. I was sure that they would have a presence at this conference - he tried to convince me that Children's Ministry has "moved beyond puppets" - I'll let you ask him what started the conference - the very first bit of the very first session!
• 2 Instances of hand motions also made it in to the first session (don't doubt me again Larry)
• The new Willow is ridiculous (this deserves a seperate post)
• Larry got a gift bag at the hotel from Willow for being one of the speakers - in it was an i-pod shuffle with Willow's logo on it ... c'mon seriously...
• Our trip out here was hilarious (ask about the convenience store bathroom break...)
• We took a little I-80 detour (all right a big one - but I'm spinning it that it wasn't that big!)
• Our hotel is amazing (I'll post some pics in another post too) but here was our conversation as we were driving up to this palatial architectural wonder:

Derek - look at this place, man

Larry - this can't be right

Derek - it is - this is the place - you're bigtime

Larry - shut up this isn't right

Derek - you're bigtime man - just accept it

Larry - stop saying that - what's going on?

Derek - I said you're bigtime -that's what's going on

Larry - I hate you

(Larry gets out of the car -goes into the 4 story open lobby to register - comes back out to the car - white as a ghost.)

Derek - What's wrong

Larry -You'll never believe what was playing over the PA in the lobby...

Derek - what?

Larry - "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel

Derek - ...told ya.

Off To Chicago

This afternoon I'm heading to Chicago with Larry. He's leading a workshop (Session A on Thursday) at Willow Creek's Conspire Children's Ministry Conference. To speak at Willow is a great and well-deserved honor for him and for Grace. He has had an impact on Children's ministry in America over the last number of years and I'm very proud of the role he's played in furthering the cause of Christ by challenging, and encouraging, innovating with Children's Leaders from around the country through his writing.

I will be there for support and mutual learning. I will also be working from there just for a change of scenery. I'll be in on his session and will probably catch another session or two at the conference - but once the puppets and hand-motions-to-all-the-worship-songs starts... I'm out. We're leaving today at about 1:00 and driving out to Chicago together will be back on Friday evening sometime. It will be a great opportunity to spend some quality time with my friend and colleague. Last time we ventured out like this (driving to Erie from State College) - we had to pull over a couple of times because the laughter got so raucus and the driver could no longer see clearly enough to stay on the road. I think we're more mature now so that shouldn't be a problem (yeah right).

Anyway - I'll be blogging from Chicago this week - I'm bringing my camera to keep you updated on the happenings - I'll try to get some shots of the dark underbelly of the Progressive Protestant Mecca known as Willow Creek.

By the way - I need to include a quote from an email that Larry sent to our spouses and secretaries about some details of our trip that really offended me seeing how I'm a law-abiding and slow-driving citizen. He said..."Here's where Derek and I will be staying. We're driving so no flight numbers to track. The downside of driving is that there's a 75% chance Derek will return with a suspended licence. "

More on that later. Adios.

Sermon Series Leftovers 3: Jesus Had a Weird Accent

In week 2 I was talking about Jesus as Rabbi and what it meant to follow him. I had to leave out a couple of really interesting points that should have disqualified Jesus from becoming the history-altering rabbi that he was.

1. He didn’t go to the right schools. In John 7:14-15, about the middle of the festival Jesus went up to the temple and began to teach. The leaders were amazed saying “How does this Man have such learning when He has never been taught?” Now, what do they mean by that, that? It means he had probably never been to rabbi school. There was an education system where rabbis were made in that day. The Apostle Paul came up in that system. Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel who was recognized as one of the great rabbis in the first century. Jesus didn’t have a diploma like Paul did. He didn’t have those credentials.

2. He had a crazy accent. Jesus didn’t come from the right place. He did not come from a center of education. Remember when Peter was in the middle of denying Jesus three times— and kept saying, "I don’t know Him. I don’t know his followers. I'm not associated with Jesus in any way." Do you remember what gave Peter away? His accent gave him away. A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for even the way you talk gives you away.” (Matthew 26:73)

At this point they were in Jerusalem, down in the southern part. But Peter and Jesus and the boys are from Galilee. And it seems that people from Galilee spoke with an accent. In fact the Galilean accent was considered so jarring to the ear that they weren't even allowed to pronounce the benediction at the end of a service in a synagogue because that crazy accent was considered so uneducated and ugly.

That's why it's so funny to see every movie about Jesus - because he always has a very distinguished British accent. But the truth is, he did not sound like an Oxford guy. He sounded like a NASCAR guy or a New York cabbie (not exactly a picture of brilliance - which is really ironic in light of my last post). He didn't sound like what a world-changing rabbi was supposed to sound like. Wrong family, wrong accent, wrong school, no diploma, and no credentials. And yet his teachings took people's breath away and ultimately changed the world. No one’s teaching has ever affected the human race like the teachings of Jesus.

Even though his accent sounded weird.