"An extreme preoccupation with knowing God's will may indicate that I am too concerned with myself." Dallas Willard
Where are the disciples in the New Testament racked with angst attempting to discover the will of God for their lives?
Crickets, crickets, crickets.
Perhaps it could be argued Acts 15's church council debating the inclusion of the Gentiles is one instance of the believers seeking to know and discover God's will but really that debate and decision was more about biblical interpretation than it was about "what God wanted": he had clearly wanted the Gentiles included in the Church because they had received the Holy Spirit in the same way the Jews had (Acts 15:12).
I just LOVE this quote from Dallas Willard on this topic. Man i wish i had written that.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and My Leadership Heresy
“I did try to found a little heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.”
I believe in a certain leadership heresy which gets me into trouble every now and again.
It is that an organization's vision/mission/purpose statement, as a statement of the "preferred future" that it is pursuing should include the 1 or 2 major metrics that guides their operation. So for a church for example i think that their vision statement should include the size they want to grow to in terms of # of disciples and the date they want to achieve that by. For a social service agency I think it should include the number of clients they serve a week and the # of community partners they develop. For example:
XYZ Baptist Church glorifies God by discipling 200 people by 2015.
ABC Agency exists to serve the social, economic and health needs of 10000 clients per week amongst the urban poor of Rockatown by developing 25 strategic funding and service partnerships by 2020.
Whenever i propose this idea in meetings with boards and other leaders it is nearly universally panned for confusing goals with vision.
BUT if vision is the statement of a preferred future that the organization is trying to bring about through its activities how can it not include at least SOME kind of measurable item or items? Numbers give teeth. Numbers challenge. Numbers have a kind of "Gulp.. we better get serious about this" kind of influence over teams. Numbers also give a horizon where vision/mission/purpose and goals need to be revised, revisited and re-imagined. What is so wrong with all that?
BUT if vision is the statement of a preferred future that the organization is trying to bring about through its activities how can it not include at least SOME kind of measurable item or items? Numbers give teeth. Numbers challenge. Numbers have a kind of "Gulp.. we better get serious about this" kind of influence over teams. Numbers also give a horizon where vision/mission/purpose and goals need to be revised, revisited and re-imagined. What is so wrong with all that?
But then again maybe this is just my "little heresy" which i hope one day might become orthodoxy out there.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and the Sammy Yatim Shooting
Here is 20 minutes old footage of a protest outside Toronto Police Service 14 Division tonight in response to the police shooting of Syrian-Canadian Sammy Yatim over the weekend on a TTC streetcar.
Other on-the-scene videos (which you can go find yourself, i won't post it here out of reverence for Sammy's life) show Sammy in the streetcar and police repeatedly telling him to put his knife down. After a verbal altercation you see and hear 3 shots then another 6 shots and finally a taser discharge before 5 officers enter the streetcar to apprehend Mr. Yatim. The young Syrian-Canadian died in hospital a short time later.
The "memorial" that protesters painted at the scene of the shooting.
Other on-the-scene videos (which you can go find yourself, i won't post it here out of reverence for Sammy's life) show Sammy in the streetcar and police repeatedly telling him to put his knife down. After a verbal altercation you see and hear 3 shots then another 6 shots and finally a taser discharge before 5 officers enter the streetcar to apprehend Mr. Yatim. The young Syrian-Canadian died in hospital a short time later.
The "memorial" that protesters painted at the scene of the shooting.
Some of his friends had these shirts on....
Pastor Jacob Birch and Disturbing Trends in Missions
Updated - September 23rd 2013
Yesterday while the biggest issue at my church was who did and didn't get to do announcements - seriously - 81 Pakistani Christians were blown up by 2 suicide bombers in Peshawar, Pakistan as a reprisal they claimed for US drone attacks.
I think that North American Chrisitans need to adopt a policy similar to the informal policy of the Israelis. An IDF solider was killed by a sniper in Hebron on Saturday. Within hours PM Benjamin Netanyahu announced that a building previously emptied by the IDF of its illegally squanting Jewish settlers would now be opened up to legal Jewish settlement. You snipe our soldiers, we will build homes. The PM said, “Those who attempt to uproot us from the city of our forefathers will achieve the opposite effect. We will continue on one hand to fight terror and to harm terrorists and on the other hand to strengthen settlements.”
IN the same way North American Christians should adopt a policy of 2 for 1. For every 1 Christian killed for their faith in places like Pakistan, we should send in 2 missionaries. We have the money (see below). WE have the people wanting to go. What we lack is the will. Pray that the Lord will strengthen us.
While there are lots and lots of trends in world missions to be excited about and hopeful for, here are 5 trends that i find - as a pastor in a "missionary" denomination - very disturbing based on a July 25th article in Christianity Today:
#1 - That the United States continues to be the largest missionary RECEIVING country in the world. In 2010 the USA RECEIVED 32,400 missionaries.
#2 - That the unreached of the world continue to go largely unreached. The Top 10 most-un-reached countries have 73% of all the un-reached people in the world and yet received only 9% of the missionaries sent.
#3 - That missionaries still overwhelmingly go to countries that already have large and growing Christian movements. What are the numbers? 34% of the total number of missionaries sent worldwide go to 9 countries that have collectively only 3.5% of the world's un-reached peoples. For example warm, tropical, little, peaceful Samoa receives 1 Christian missionary for every 3 non-Christians whereas harsh, difficult, fractious Pakistan receives 1 for every 272,000 non-Christians.
#4 - That ON MY WATCH the Christian church is forecast to grow only .1% in the 50 years from 1970 to 2020.
#5 - That 60% of the Christian church lives in the global south but only have 17% of the total financial resources available to them. Furthermore fewer than 1 in 500 Christian foreign missionaries work among the urban-poor (in the slums) of our world's burgeoning cities (page 85).
Pastor Jacob Birch and the 1st Badminton Brawl You've Ever Watched
Given that this brawl took place in Canada, i guess that is 2nd best. The only way it would have been better is if the two teams scrapping it out would have been Canada versus Russia. My fav move is the way the one player picks up that chair while running full speed and throws it ... classic WWE.
Pastor Jacob Birch and the 3 Most and 3 Least Bike-Unfriendly Places on his 2013 Vacation
The three most bike friendly places i found while putting on over 700 km in two weeks of vacation ride are:
1. Bike to Go - Rehoboth Beach, DE
With both 1 page and more detailed bike trail maps Bike to Go was a great resource all week for local information about this definitely bike-friendly locale. The $55 a piece rental for cruiser bike was steep... but the bikes worked well and it was a no-hassle arrangement all the way around.
2. Lewes, DE
With miles of bike trails, a great bike shop, 10 blocks of historic "Old Lewes" to cycle through AND a WWII submarine watchtower you could actually climb, Lewes is a great place to vacation on your bike.
3. Harwich Road, Chatham-Kent, ON... it is NOT paved.
1. Bike to Go - Rehoboth Beach, DE
With both 1 page and more detailed bike trail maps Bike to Go was a great resource all week for local information about this definitely bike-friendly locale. The $55 a piece rental for cruiser bike was steep... but the bikes worked well and it was a no-hassle arrangement all the way around.
2. Lewes, DE
With miles of bike trails, a great bike shop, 10 blocks of historic "Old Lewes" to cycle through AND a WWII submarine watchtower you could actually climb, Lewes is a great place to vacation on your bike.
3. Rondeau Provincial Park, ON
With lots of paved VERY FLAT roads criss crossing this sand bar jutting out into Lake Erie Rondeau Provincial Park is a great "after dinner" cycling destination. Cruise around, look for deer, try not to get a deer tick on you. Outstanding sunsets over the bay-side boardwalk.
The three least bike-friendly places i found on my vacation were:
1. Anywhere on Kent Road 15. Most of the 100+kms i did on this road did not even have a white edge line... the asphalt simply crumbed off into the gravel.
2. Blenheim, Ontario - Its to-the-curb, head-in, angled parking is great for drivers but super dangerous for cyclists. You come up on them too-fast as they can't - due to the angle - look far enough behind and beside them to see you coming. Be very tentative through there.
Pastor Jacob Birch and His thoughts on the renewal of the Peace Process
Again Israel has been lured into a peace process in the hope of turning their enemies into partners. Talking with people who's starting point is your disappearance seems like a fool's errand at best. Past "peace processes" have largely centred on Israel giving up at the bargaining table land it won on the battlefield (usually in a war initiated by an Arab state). It halved its total land mass for peace with Egypt and gave up Mt. Sinai, oil, untold millions of acres land on which to settle its burgeoning population. Land it won when Egypt invaded it, not the other way around. It has taken a while but now what does Israel face on its southern border? An Sunni Isalmist state who's military is funded by the United States. It gave up "land for peace" with Lebanon unilaterally withdrawing from its positions on the Litani River. What does Israel face up north? A failed terrorist state run by Iran's Al Quds force backing Hezbollah. Israel was within shelling distance of Damacus at the end of the Yom Kippur War. In return for withdrawing to its 1967 lines what does Israel now face on its north-eastern border? After years of relative quiet, Israel now faces what their Minister of Defense calls the worlds most potent assemblage of Isalmist terrorist organizations ever in the failed state of Syria. What is the macro message? That trusting in their Arab "partners" to keep end of the bargain is a fools errand at best and a genocidal nightmare at worst. What will the cost be this time? So far it has cost the releasing 104 prisoners in stages as the process proceeds. Let's hope that is all that Isareli's give away this time at the bargaining table.
You can read the Open Letter Bibi sent to all Israeli citizens earlier today here.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and a Passage for Vacation
Mark 6:31
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and a 15 yr old with a cheap, easy test for cancer
What were you doing at 15? I know what i was doing... and it wasn't developing a test for pancreatic cancer that is 168 times faster, 26,000 times less expensive and over 400 times more sensitive than the current test.
#hopefortheworld
Pastor Jacob Birch and a Prayer for The Overwhelmed
You in overwhelm right now? Try reading, reciting, memorizing and praying Psalm 13. With all due respect but just being honest David was a bit of a "drama-queen". His highs were very high. His lows were very low as evidenced here in Psalm 13... "Will you forget me forever?". Isn't that way we feel some times? Seeing our enemies as perpetually victorious (vs 2)... seeing our only option as victory or death (vs 3)... thinking that everyone is talking about you and rejoicing over your struggles (vs 4). That's what happens to our minds and emotions when life has us down or the Lord's hand is upon us in chastening judgement.
Yet it was Andrew Murray who wrote "Grace never asks what it does not give, so the Father never asks what we cannot do." (119, The Secret of God's Presence).
And so even in our "drama queen" moments what would David have us remember? What he remembers... that our responsibility is to "trust in His unfailing love". Why? Because time and again in situations just like these that have us so wound up "God has been good to me" before and we know He will be good to us again. Amen?
Yet it was Andrew Murray who wrote "Grace never asks what it does not give, so the Father never asks what we cannot do." (119, The Secret of God's Presence).
And so even in our "drama queen" moments what would David have us remember? What he remembers... that our responsibility is to "trust in His unfailing love". Why? Because time and again in situations just like these that have us so wound up "God has been good to me" before and we know He will be good to us again. Amen?
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and 5 Tests for your Proposed New Church Name
Renaming your church?
Going to embrace a Missional Name like Elevate? A geographical name like Church at the Hill? Or doing an "old school" theological rebranding of your church to something like Holy Spirit Church of Hyde Park?
Do these 5 name tests on each proposed name.
Rank each name from 1 to 5 where 1 is "total failure" and 5 is "outstanding".
- Uniqueness Test - Is there another church/organization with that name or something close enough to it to confuse? It is attention grabbing?
- 1st Sentence Test - “Good morning and welcome to ____________. We are so glad to have you here this morning.” Can you stand to hear the new youth pastor shorten the name to your first descriptor and repeat it every Sunday for the 2.5 years he is there?
- Tied-to-the-Vision Test - Does it embody a significant aspect of our stated Vision using language, visual or tone?
- URL Test - Can the name have a preferred URL? Search Engine Optimization possibilities? Any internet search threats from word associations or word plays? (is porn going to appear if people search your church name?)
- Branding Test - Can just about every ministry in the church be “branded” with the first descriptor of your new name? Think: Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, Virgin Music, Virgin [insert business unit here]
Pastor Jacob Birch and His Top 11 of the 83 Best Church Logos
The fantastic site churchrelevance.com has a page with 83 of their favourite church logos of 2012. Below are my favourite 10 off their page of 83. I would add my brother's church Liquid to their list as well. Make it my Top 11 of 84.
Love the hand/skyline graphic
Wonderfully updated version of a VERY ancient representation of Christ's followers.
A church named after a wrestler with a logo that looks like a beer commercial.
I love me the "movement" in most of these logos. The cross/tap = genius
Any church that has their own logo getting crushed by its own walls... outstanding.
The implied movement here... so elegant. Such a strong, unusual BUT simple, simple graphic.
Why don't more evangelical churches have Jesus in their name?
That C could be put on EVERYTHING in EVERY COLOUR.
The movement of the blood er paint dripping down the logo... they got me interested.
I was Presbyterian, so this church's obvious embracing of what they call themselves " in house" and making it logo speaks volumes about their courage and identity strength. Can't you hear the new youth pastor saying some Sunday morning: "Welcome to Burbank Pres everyone!"
The Bethlehem Cross plus John Piper's teaching.
Not just because it is my bro's church... it has a VERY strong, simple visual element and it implies movement. Things i love in a logo.
Pastor Jacob Birch and Camp Mini Yo We Girls Week 1 MidWeek Video Report
Camp sure has changed since i was a kid. A midweek video report?
Can you find Daisy in the 1st row in the 1st main montage?
Can you find Daisy in the 1st row in the 1st main montage?
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Re-Updated - Pastor Jacob Birch and The "Something" That is Wrong with Niagara
Update - September 12th 2013
Ephesians 4:32
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Original Post - July 9th 2013
A while back a truly horrific article was published in the Niagara Falls Review. Its 2nd sentence contains the assertion that "something is amiss" in Niagara.It went on to detail that 11% of Niagarians over the age of 20 ATTEMPT suicide every year. That is nearly double the 5.9% of Ontarians that try to end their lives every year.
In April CNN and Foxnews carried live coverage of the NRPS and the OPP talking a man back off the ledge at Table Rock just above the Horseshoe Falls.
Today a man tried to run his car into the Niagara Gorge right by the Niagara AeroCar Tourist Attraction.
Bodies are regularly found in the river, most of them never reported. In fact the team at Niagara Helicopters supposedly makes a run every morning before they begin taking up tourists to check the whirlpool and lower Niagara River for bodies and body parts.
With this week being the American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide's Week to End Suicide campaign AND it also coinciding with the observed uptick in suicides here in Niagara Falls each fall, i thought i would include here 3 or 4 of the best @afspnational tweets of the week.
In America there are 2 suicides for every 1 homicide. In Canada in 2011 there are 598 homicides and 3,500 suicides... 5 times as many people take their own life in Canada as have it taken from them.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Original Post - July 9th 2013
A while back a truly horrific article was published in the Niagara Falls Review. Its 2nd sentence contains the assertion that "something is amiss" in Niagara.It went on to detail that 11% of Niagarians over the age of 20 ATTEMPT suicide every year. That is nearly double the 5.9% of Ontarians that try to end their lives every year.
In April CNN and Foxnews carried live coverage of the NRPS and the OPP talking a man back off the ledge at Table Rock just above the Horseshoe Falls.
Today a man tried to run his car into the Niagara Gorge right by the Niagara AeroCar Tourist Attraction.
Bodies are regularly found in the river, most of them never reported. In fact the team at Niagara Helicopters supposedly makes a run every morning before they begin taking up tourists to check the whirlpool and lower Niagara River for bodies and body parts.
Re-Updated - Pastor Jacob Birch and Love in Motion Pre-Registration Jersey with Map of Tentative Route
I am pre-registering for Love In Motion 2014 and in doing so will receive this jersey! Register by July 31st and you can receive this jersey as well. Registering costs $100.
Here is the Love In Motion preliminary route. All i can say is WOW am i excited! 8 days. A ride on the Che Chemmung Ferry. Lake Superior Provincial Park. Starting in Wawa. Pray for us!
View Driving directions to Bramalea Alliance Church, Brampton, ON, Canada in a larger map
Received my Love-In-Motion jersey in the mail yesterday. It is the special pre-registration training jersey. Can't wait to get out there training hard in it.
Pastor Jacob Birch and David's Prayer for Preachers
Psalm 141
8 But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord;
in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
from the snares they have laid for me.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.
1 I call to you, Lord, come quickly to me;
hear me when I call to you.
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
hear me when I call to you.
2 May my prayer be set before you like incense;
may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.
3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.
keep watch over the door of my lips.
4 Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat their delicacies.
5 Let a righteous man strike me—that is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.
let him rebuke me—that is oil on my head.
My head will not refuse it,
for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.
6 Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs,
and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
7 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”
and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.
7 They will say, “As one plows and breaks up the earth,
so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”
in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
9 Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers,
from the snares they have laid for me.
10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by in safety.
Pastor Jacob Birch and What to do when convicted of your sin by the Holy Spirit
So one of the first purposeful instructions Jesus' gives about the Holy Spirit, is that the HS will be sent to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgement.
So when you "feel" the conviction of the HS for your sins and your sinfulness what should you do?
Just about the best passage i can think of - and also one of the most beautiful (especially in the King James) - is Isaiah 1:2-20 which i have included below. Read my comments in blue below for notes on the passage and then down below are the 6 things you should do when under conviction (and 1 you shouldn't).
Monday, July 8, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and Truth in My Days Apologetics Conference coming to Niagara Falls
Interesting topics for sure. I am familiar with the lead plenary session speaker Dr. John Tors. I worked at and he attended the same church for a while in the mid '90s.
It is being held at the $100,000,000 - thats right - federal government built (thank you Honourable Rob Nicholson) Scotiabank Convention Centre... so come see your tax dollars at work.
Pastor Jacob Birch and Seats at Keith Harris Field for Carleton Football
We bought our season tickets for the Return Raven's Football... have you bought yours?
Pastor Jacob Birch and Orphan Embryos
Its rare to hear or read pro-life sermons or statements from Evangelicals in Canada any more. I mean with Canadian hospitals, clinics, doctors and women killing nearly 95,000 children a year i suppose it really isn't a big deal. Canadians kill 28 babies for 100 that are born alive. Think about that.
And now - as evidence of slippery slope arguments made years and years ago - we are faced with a new horror. Frozen children - embryos conceived in the lab for couples wanting to have a baby by invetro-fertilization - are either going to be killed or experimented on. Some already have. Some already have without the consent of their parents.
In one sense Dr. Leader is true. Having abandoned the "life begins at conception ethical framework" found in the Bible and in the Judeao-Christian tradition our country was founded on we have no way to ethically stop the moral slide down the slippery slope on this "what is life and when does it start?" question.
In a deeper sense however Dr. Leader is very very wrong. We DO have an ethical framework that governs all sorts of criminal and legal activities but for political purposes has been removed from the area of abortion because it infringes on the sexual freedoms of Canadians. That framework lies behind why it is stilll illegal for me to steal Dr. Leader's BMW. It lies behind why it is still against the law to lie under oath in court or to a representative of the Crown. That framework even lies behind gay marriage... even if that marriage is between two men or two women, it is still defined as a union between two committed life-long legally bound together companions... an idea that comes from the Bible, at least partially.
So Dr. Leader we DO have an ethical framework for which to judge these cases. It is the teachings of the Old and New Testaments on the importance of life beginning at conception and its inherent sacredness. But because requiring sexually permissive Baby Boomers to have the children they conceived was considered too great a burden on their freedom, Pierre Elliot Trudeau opened the door to abortion-on-demand in 1969 and the Supreme Court kicked it right in in 1988.
When Dr. Leader's BMW has more protection under the law than 1000s of unborn Canadians frozen awaiting either their annihilation or experimentation... something is deeply, deeply wrong in Canada.
But will the Church of Christ and its members say or do anything about this situation? Remember what Edmund Burke said "All that is required for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
And now - as evidence of slippery slope arguments made years and years ago - we are faced with a new horror. Frozen children - embryos conceived in the lab for couples wanting to have a baby by invetro-fertilization - are either going to be killed or experimented on. Some already have. Some already have without the consent of their parents.
Much courage to Tom Blackwell of the National Post for writing about this brave new wrinkle in the ongoing holocaust of the unborn. (Since the Supreme Court's striking down of the Criminal Code restrictions on abortion in R vs. Morgentaler 2.5 million Canadian children have been killed). Most telling in his article is the total absence of any statement from any identifiable faith group. I don't know whether it was because Mr. Blackwell couldn't get someone to respond or didn't bother to ask. Both are perhaps telling.
I will address just one of many, many horrendous realities Mr. Blackwell details about this situation. I won't deal with the medical professionals that call these children a "valuable scientific and clinical resource". I also won't talk too much about the mom who admitted that allowing her frozen child to be experimented on would be "worse than abortion". What was it to allow them to be frozen in perpetuity in the first place?
I will address the comment of fertility physician Dr. Art Leader who when discussing the lack of legislation from either the federal or provincial governments on this issue said "It is anywhere from disappointing to disgusting that we don't have an ethical framework. Neither level of government really wants to touch this with a 10-foot-pole."
In one sense Dr. Leader is true. Having abandoned the "life begins at conception ethical framework" found in the Bible and in the Judeao-Christian tradition our country was founded on we have no way to ethically stop the moral slide down the slippery slope on this "what is life and when does it start?" question.
In a deeper sense however Dr. Leader is very very wrong. We DO have an ethical framework that governs all sorts of criminal and legal activities but for political purposes has been removed from the area of abortion because it infringes on the sexual freedoms of Canadians. That framework lies behind why it is stilll illegal for me to steal Dr. Leader's BMW. It lies behind why it is still against the law to lie under oath in court or to a representative of the Crown. That framework even lies behind gay marriage... even if that marriage is between two men or two women, it is still defined as a union between two committed life-long legally bound together companions... an idea that comes from the Bible, at least partially.
So Dr. Leader we DO have an ethical framework for which to judge these cases. It is the teachings of the Old and New Testaments on the importance of life beginning at conception and its inherent sacredness. But because requiring sexually permissive Baby Boomers to have the children they conceived was considered too great a burden on their freedom, Pierre Elliot Trudeau opened the door to abortion-on-demand in 1969 and the Supreme Court kicked it right in in 1988.
When Dr. Leader's BMW has more protection under the law than 1000s of unborn Canadians frozen awaiting either their annihilation or experimentation... something is deeply, deeply wrong in Canada.
But will the Church of Christ and its members say or do anything about this situation? Remember what Edmund Burke said "All that is required for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and Thoughts about Vertical Church by James MacDonald
Far be it from me to suggest an edit to the best selling and church-changing book Vertical Church by Dr. James MacDonald. But i will anyway.
My suggestion is that between the Ichabod and the Unashamed Adoration chapter Dr. MacDonald should add a chapter entitled "What Modifies is What Motivates", in my humble opinion.
As i have read and re-read and digested the book for consumption by our people at Glengate Alliance Church this summer it seems that is a truth which I could greatly benefit from James' more fully treatment of.
What invigorates and animates James' teaching and the Harvest movement is not the verbs Adoration, Preaching, Witness and Prayer... but rather their modifiers which bring the power of focus to those actions: Unashamed Adoration, Unapologetic Preaching, Unafraid Witness and Unceasing Prayer. Those terms and their implications set "the culture" for the actions (Preaching, Witnessing, etc) to take place in.
And as we are learning about leadership... setting the culture (what is and what success be defined by) is the most important long term endeavour of a leader.
The chapter I envision for James' to write would be one making the case - in general - that churches need to get specific not as much about their verbs but about their adjectives.
Who doesn't believe that their church should preach? witness? worship? and prayer? I mean come on.
The important contribution that James' makes is the tone-setting, culture defining modifiers. But most churches want to settle for the doing the right thing (Preaching), instead of doing things right (Unapologetic Preaching).
The fact that they are "negative" is also very attractive to me. My preaching prof said that one aspect which is often under-rated in preaching is having a clear idea of "who the enemy is" about any particular passage/theme/idea you are preaching.
Setting out to say that our adoration should be unashamed immediately defines both what our worship should be like and who the "enemy" is: Ashamed worship... worship that is ashamed of our God or ashamed of ourselves therefore prone to think more of what others will think of us than what God thinks of us.
So great work Dr. MacDonald and know that your ministry highly valued by this fellow Canadian.
My suggestion is that between the Ichabod and the Unashamed Adoration chapter Dr. MacDonald should add a chapter entitled "What Modifies is What Motivates", in my humble opinion.
As i have read and re-read and digested the book for consumption by our people at Glengate Alliance Church this summer it seems that is a truth which I could greatly benefit from James' more fully treatment of.
What invigorates and animates James' teaching and the Harvest movement is not the verbs Adoration, Preaching, Witness and Prayer... but rather their modifiers which bring the power of focus to those actions: Unashamed Adoration, Unapologetic Preaching, Unafraid Witness and Unceasing Prayer. Those terms and their implications set "the culture" for the actions (Preaching, Witnessing, etc) to take place in.
And as we are learning about leadership... setting the culture (what is and what success be defined by) is the most important long term endeavour of a leader.
The chapter I envision for James' to write would be one making the case - in general - that churches need to get specific not as much about their verbs but about their adjectives.
Who doesn't believe that their church should preach? witness? worship? and prayer? I mean come on.
The important contribution that James' makes is the tone-setting, culture defining modifiers. But most churches want to settle for the doing the right thing (Preaching), instead of doing things right (Unapologetic Preaching).
The fact that they are "negative" is also very attractive to me. My preaching prof said that one aspect which is often under-rated in preaching is having a clear idea of "who the enemy is" about any particular passage/theme/idea you are preaching.
Setting out to say that our adoration should be unashamed immediately defines both what our worship should be like and who the "enemy" is: Ashamed worship... worship that is ashamed of our God or ashamed of ourselves therefore prone to think more of what others will think of us than what God thinks of us.
So great work Dr. MacDonald and know that your ministry highly valued by this fellow Canadian.
Pastor Jacob Birch and Community Garden Lesson #1
New Canadian and New Gardener weeding.
Community Gardening: A Family Affair
Dark Leaf Basil.
The 1st lesson I have learned from being involved in serving our community through a Community Garden is that lawns are a waste.
Lawn's waste the most precious terrestrial resource church's have... their volunteer's time. Especially in this epoch of church history, well manicured lawns are not the "draw" or the sign that this is a "welcoming church" that we like to believe them to be. Especially to younger people. They see them as a sign that you care a lot about your community image without a thought for the needs of those around you... they wonder... will you care for me and my family or just care that we are coming to your church?
So tear up a corner of your lot this fall. Put some stakes around it. And get ready to start your community garden in the late winter/early spring of 2014.
Isaiah 40:7-8
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.
A helpful reminder from Isaiah that as beautiful as all these are and as important as we all deem ourselves to be... God and His Word are of ultimate value and true longevity.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and the ABEL Level UP Summer Institute 2013 at YorkU
So Heather is presenting at the ABEL Level Up Summer Institute this August at York University. She will be presenting her research on gamification's impact on private piano instruction. Follow her @heatherjsbirch on Twitter or go to the conference by visiting here.
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