Authenticity in the Church

Pretty interesting conversation this morning about authenticity.  With all the churches out there using this as a catch phrase it begs the question:  Is authenticity a good thing in the church?  Hear me out.  True;  authenticity in your relationship with God is no doubt desirable and should be the goal.  However,  when it comes to the authenticity of a gathering that is made up of self serving consumers….  Is an environment that’s “authentic” for us, actually a healthy environment?   The point is; our authenticity is a very ugly thing.

Which proves our need for Christ right?!  Yes,  but you can’t argue that our search for authenticity hasn’t become self serving.  thoughts?

Luke’s Gospel

Pretty cool

Vacation & Visiting Churches

Getting settled back in after the trip to the beach.  Had a great time, got refreshed and ready to role.  Just a little update on the recovery.  I’m still unable to eat anything I want,  only soft foods. I go back to the dr on Thursday, and hopefully he’ll clear me for a little more at that time.  My lower lip and most of my chin are still numb.  I am starting to get some tingling here and there in my chin I think that’s a good sign.

The church visiting process has become really interesting to me lately.  I’ve started thinking about how long it’s been since I’ve been an “outsider”.  It’s funny that I’ve caught myself talking about different churches and my preferences with other people a lot.  I realized how easy it must be for a person to use their objections with each church to never go at all.   I’ve felt convicted about the fact that I’ve spent so much time and energy trying to make someone feel comfortable to come to church.  Don’t get me wrong,  I think that can be a good thing;  but in reality there’s always going to be something a person doesn’t like or at least is not “how they would do it”.  Maybe only former church staff people think like that, I’m not sure.   The point is ,  it seems like we should be saying something that cuts through our “preferences” and speaks to the fact that we should just plug in.  In the end,  will it matter where? What is it that could cut through all that noise and communicate something clearly that says “it’s not about you”.  Looks like we’re back to the Gospel.

Where we’re going

It’s been 5 years since I visited another church on a Sunday morning.  The last two weeks have been surreal.  A few people have asked what we’re going to do or where we’re gonna go.  All I know is I can’t be hands off too much longer;  already starting to get the itch to teach again or lead worship.  Having my jaw locked down has definitely turned out to be a good thing during this transition.  If I could talk as much as normal it would be much more painful for all parties I’m sure.  I’ve learned how good it can be to not speak many times,  and now I feel stupid for talking as much as I have in the past.  There have definitely been a few times I’ve wanted to in the past few weeks,  but chose not to because of discomfort.  Anyway all I can say for sure at this point about where we are going is;   to the beach!  Starting this weekend we’ll be doing the big Wingo family beach trip.  Myself Kass and the kids along with Mom , Dad ,  brother and sister in-law are taking a trip to the beach for a week.  It should be interesting;  The normal routine of my Dad talking about where he wants to go eat each night because “that’s where the locals go”  is always entertianing.  Also pretty sure I’ll have to fight my brother at some point.  Hopefully he’ll restrain from punching me in the jaw for now  We leave this Saturday and have a wedding to attend on the way, I’ll do periodic tweets and blog post.

This and That

I haven’t been posting much lately. Had a lot of stuff going on.  The jaw surgery has been a long recovery and honestly I haven’t felt like writing much. The recovery has also conincided with the closing of Skyline.   At this point, I can only share just a few thoughts. I know I ‘ll have much more to say as time passes.  I think I’m going to do a series of post on the experience in the coming weeks or months.  Working in ministry for 6yrs prior,  now pales in comparison to the experience of helping plant a church, work there for 4 yrs, and then see it’s time come to a close.  At this point I’m so grateful for the journey God has allowed me to go on and the invaluable things I’ve learned through being able to view things from different perspectives.  There are 5 or 6 others that could write books along with me I know.   I just don’t have the words right now; More on those people later…

For Every Man

You might get your feelings hurt. I did;  and I’m eternally greatful

De-churched

Setting the Sail

Yesterday on my drive home I was listening to a Q & A session from the Advance 09 conference that was recently held the first of this month in Durham, NC.   The panel included the likes of John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer and so on…  Anywho,  during the discussion the question came up of how, if at all, can pastors/ministers help foster a true revival or move of God in their church.  In other words,  is there anything the leadership can do that will cause a move of God to take place in their church.  I really liked Driscoll’s response to the question.  He said  “you can set the sails but you can’t make the wind blow”.  This in and of itself is a pretty common sense statement,  but it sparked another thought in me.  I thought about how many times we in leadership neglect setting the sails and “preparing the ship” for sailing because we’re too busy trying to make our own wind. Do you get what I’m saying?   I don’t mean that we’re necessarily trying to play God or pull on people’s emotions, I’m just saying that we become completely in gulfed in God moving in a certain way because we’ve done these certain things.  It’s obvious then how we can become so discouraged when things don’t progress as we think they should.  Just a reminder to myself to always due dilegence and pray that God………….

Father Son Retreat

We have a retreat scheduled for tonight and all day Saturday for the Dad’s and young men at Skyline.  This will be the 3rd year in a row we’ve done this I believe, maybe 4th.  Should be a great time.  I’ll try to post some pics of some of the stuff going on if I have cell reception.  If you wanna join us, let me know and I’ll give you all the info.  Or you can just be at Skyline at  4:30 to ride or follow the convoy.

My apologies

Sorry for the lack of post lately.  Been at the hospital the last few days with my son.  He’s still there and we’re waiting to see if he gets to go home today.  He had a minor cut on his finger that got infected and swelled.  He began to run fever etc… hence the trip to the emergency room.  They’ve been giving him antibiotics by IV the last 2 days,  and things have improved greatly.  No more fever,  he’s pretty much himself,  but his finger is still swollen and little red.  Hopefully he’ll go home today with a prescription for an oral antibiotic.  I left the hospital last night to speak at our new Sunday night service at Skyline.   I think it went pretty well for the first time.  It’s going to be experimental; as we’re approaching ministry to young people differently than we ever have.  Come next week if you can.  I’ll keep all up to date on Brey’s condition.  Later