sex

I know of two other Christian zinsters in the world. One of them sent me her latest project earlier this week. I really enjoy her stuff; her theology is not always the best, but she's artistic about it and I get inspired.

And she wrote this great article about sex. I wasn't really excited about it because sex was for some reason a hot topic this summer. Brian Zahnd talked about it for a few days, LifeChurch.tv talked about it for a few weeks ... I assumed I'd heard the Christian response to the issues of sex and didn't really need to hear them again. This article, though, was wonderful. Half-way through it I'm thinking, "How I wish someone would have told me this ten years ago."

She started talking about how the media influences our perceptions of what sex should be and how we conform our body images, etc etc. Ya ya ya. Then she started talking about how, as Christians, we only put it off until marriage ... and then we jump on the misconceptions-about-sex bandwagon.

Some of the issues that have been burned into the western brain:
1. Sex is always other-worldly, euphoric AND mind-blowing.
2. If you have sex that is not all of the above, you have just fallen victim to a tragedy comparable to the death of a child.
2. You ALWAYS want to have sex.
3. If someone doesn't want to have sex with you, it's because there is something wrong with you.

She writes about how this is what Americans are taught, and most Christians just ignore it until they get married. She goes on to plead with the reader that sex is just another part of life, and we really need to knock it off the pedestal it has been given. The sentence that encouraged the lament quoted above was something like, "Sometimes sex is great, sometimes its mediocre, and sometimes it is just bad."

Imagine how free our young people would be if they could go into marriage knowing that, hey, sometimes it's just not that and that's okay. They probably wouldn't believe it initially, but I'm guessing the first time it happened they'd be comforted to remember that bit of wisdom.

She went on to talk about how okay it is and a little bit about a woman's hormones. Apparently by about the second (I think) week of a woman's cycle, she is producing a lot of progesterine. This is a time when it will seem, for no apparent reason, that she is just not interested. Husbands, it's not you - it's the progesterine. (You can try to rebuke the progesterine if you want ...)

I thought it was good, so there you have it. I also thought it was amazing that a woman would have the boldness to just come out and say, "Hey, sometimes sex is bad." Or that her husband would be bold enough to let her ... either way. Imagine the effect we could have on a generation of young people if we would just get over ourselves and talk candidly about "the marriage bed" all the time. Imagine a generation of Christian teenagers growing up with a well-rounded opinion of sex. Weird.

YouVersion

Whoa. LifeChurch.tv launched YouVersion Beta last night. It calls itself a "revolutionary online Bible that enables community and collaboration like never before." I might concur.

Unlike other online Bible resources, this one is your Bible online. You create an account (which is more simple than most websites that want you to create an account), so everything you do is saved. You can star and tag passages and verses, and you can keep an on-line journal that only you can see.

My favorite part is the "Community" tab. You can select a passage and share your thoughts in simple text, or post a link to an external site, image, or video. When I click on Psalm 139:14, for example, I get links to two videos and a note by Matthew Henry.

There are some quirks that look like they need ironing out. The "My Version" tab doesn't seem to be working yet, and the filter options on each tab are in a color that makes them really hard to read. My computer at the office is not the fastest, but this program is moving really slowly. And, this may be my computer, but the links in the upper right-hand corner don't seem to go anywhere at all.

The KJV comes up by default, but if you click on the translation you can change it. There are a half-dozen options available.

All in all - pretty stinkin' nifty.

bored

I'm anxious for something. I don't know what, and I don't think it matters.

I'm anxious for anything.

A vacation. A thunderstorm. Maybe a bass guitar. A house, or at least a clean apartment. The proverbial light to go on inside a teenager. Any teenager. My brother's salvation, a silk screening project, a song to come out of me. A new tshirt or a fresh dose of spiritual passion - sometimes it's hard to say. A miracle, breakthrough, something artistic. A new kitchen table.

I think I'm feeling artistic and spiritually thirsty at the same time and it's frustrating because both are generally veiled and constipated, at least initially, efforts for me, because while I long to do both I also seem to inherently know that I'll never do either well enough to feel satisfied with my efforts, so I put off starting both, distracting myself with thunderstorms and bass guitars and 45-cent tshirts, futilely browsing kitchen tables and run-on sentences. Eternity whispers to me and I distract myself with life.

I have become my own sermon illustration.

Which should be a comforting idea because I know how the sermon ends, but I don't know if I can get there. I know this is theologically incorrect and is about to make me sound like a spiritual toddler, but I don't feel like I love God enough. Or like I don't love Him the right way. You needn't refute me via comments, because I know what you're going to say, but that's what grips my heart lately. I read Psalms or listen to these amazing, modern worship songs and I just know I don't love God like that. I want to, but I've tried every path I know to get there I feel like I keep getting lost.

Sometimes it scares me; sometimes I just get anxious.

build your church

Pastor Conrad Lowe spoke at the closing session of our conference yesterday. It was the perfect way to close out a day dedicated to the process of building a ministry facility, and a message that every church leader needs to hear once in a while.

He talked about building the Church in and through the process of constructing a church building. He mentioned three, in order, that a ministry leader - namely pastors - need to build:

1. The Church in your heart
2. The Church in your home
3. The Church in your community

He insisted on prioritizing them and repeated the order over and over again. Two comments that really stuck out about this:

- He described standing in front of a congregation at a worship service and knowing that your family in the front row knows what kind of Christian you are because they see you live it day after day.

- "How can you build the Church in your community if you can't keep your family together?"

Some of the more technical, possibly less inspiring, notes from the day will be blogged here througout the week.

conference.

I'm at a spiffy conference in Bolingbrook - in a church my boss designed. Sweet. If you're interested at all in church facilities, or creating relevant ministry I'll be blogging my notes from the sessions here. In the meantime, this is a funny video that Bill Couchenour used to illustrate the emerging generation.

i love proverbs?

I love how the Lord never answers prayer the way you expect Him to.

Lately I've been asking for wisdom. God says if you need it, and you ask, He gives it liberally. I definately need it. I don't know how to minister to teenagers. I don't know how to lead a worship team, and there's a lot about being a wife that I'm still pretty terrible at.

At the same time, all of the above are so much on my heart that it hurts often times. I pray and I pray for the Lord to move on behalf of my teenagers, on my behalf, and for my husband ... but I know there are situations and seasons that I need to grow in and through. I know the Lord is not going to do it all for me all the time. So I need wisdom: abundant wisdom.

So do you know what He did? He set my heart toward Proverbs. I was never inclined to spend much time in Proverbs. For a half-dozen reasons it was never on my Bible favorites list. Recently, though, I can't get enough of it. I'm on my second read through it, and planning the third and fourth. It's color-coded; there are coding symbols in the margins. I love it. It's weird, but it's an answer to prayer.

a picture is worth a thousand longing sighs

Okay, so the blogs have been weak lately, I know. I've been busy. One more link to something else and I'll get caught up with actually posting good substance of my own (maybe even later today). In the meantime, if you need inspiration (or good desktop images) go here: Landscapes With a Soul.

Some examples:

abort73

I like Abort73 - it's no secret. If you're on Facebook, I've probably tried to recruit you.

Founder and director Michael Spielman has put together a compelling booklet (that sounds like a contradiction: "compelling booklet") called A Biblical Mandate to Do Something About Abortion. The title kind of says it all.

You can buy it on their website or, true to Abort73-loves-freedom-of-information form, you can download a PDF of the entire thing ("entire," it's 32 half-pages) here. I read it. It's pretty good. Some excerpts:

"We know it's happening; we know it's bad; but we seem content to remain as uninformed as possible, as if a general ignorance on the subject will somehow clear us of moral responsibility."

"The Old Testament accounts of child sacrifice give us as close a parallell to abortion as anything we'll find in Scripture. Though the nature of the idols has changed, the sacrifice is virutally the same. The false gods of today are not Molech or Baal, but wealth, freedom, and autonomy."

"With all of the lobbying, all of the rallying, and all of the petitioning, why do legislative efforts continue to fail? The fact is, most people just don't care about abortion. ... They don't care because they don't know. ... It [abortion] has never stood the test of full-disclosure, nor could it."

So if you want to know more, check out their website. I've never seen a website with so much information on it - but at the same time it's very organized and not one of those websites you get lost in.

hip-hop culture and the church

Jeff Johnson spoke at the Q Conference this past spring on the church and hip-hop culture. I just found this video. Good stuff. It's almost 10 minutes long, so get a fresh cup of coffee and lean back for a minute:

worshipping

Thanks to everyone who was praying for the See You at the Pole rally last night. It went really well.

There were about 130 kids there, and a handful who were excited about worship. We got some of them jumping and most of them clapping. We ended with How Great is Our God, and everyone who wasn't engaged for the first five songs got into it. From the first line Athena and I quit singing because you could hardly hear us over the crowd anyway. Sweet. The last chorus we let them sing all by themselves and it was amazing. What moves God's heart more than a room full of teenagers singing, "How great is our God?" I don't know.

And I was so impressed with our team (as were a couple other youth pastors who were there, from what I understand). Most of the crowd was at least attentive, but I never felt our team get discouraged or annoyed or anything. Everyone had fun, played well, and really gave their all.

Best of all the Holy Spirit found our worship worthy to breathe on, and His presence was electric by the end. I'm praying, now, that students will remember that and not write Him off. Below are a couple shots Marianne took.

Connor and Tim Dwyer

How Great is Our God (and me and Timothy - at least our heads - in the back)

enthroned

I've had Psalm 22:3 stuck in my head for days. It's a strange thing to have a scripture verse stuck in your head 'cause it's not like it has a musical hook to it or anything ... well, I suppose some do, but not this one.

But You are holy,
Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

Pretty basic, and one that a lot of people know. I've been thinking about it, though, almost against my will. This, again, may be one of those posts where everyone goes, "Duh," but I think it's because the subject requires more meditation than reading.

1. If you start at verse one, verses three through five seem totally out of place. Most of Psalm 22 is David having one of those, "the world's against me and I can't find You" moments. In verse two he talks about how he's in trouble and God isn't listening, but ... It's as though David, in the midst of his complaining, has this revelation ... "But ..."

2. If this one, single verse were to repeat over and over and over again in your head, you'd start to wonder at how it seems to contradict itself, all ten words of it. How do you go from "You are holy" to "enthroned in the praises of Israel?" Why on earth would a holy God have so much to do with the worship of weak, broken people? (Love.)

3. "Enthroned." Some translations use "sit" or "inhabit," but I was listening to a sermon the other day wherein the speaker has done her research and gives the definition of the original word used. I wish I could quote it, but all I remember is "sit - as to govern." "Enthroned" is a good word.

Enthroned for goodness' sake. Think about that. God's going, "Yes, I want to set up My government and My authority and My kingdom on the earth, and it will happen when you worship Me." He sits on His throne, He takes His place as King of kings and Lord of lords, He establishes His authority, He rules when we ("spiritual Israel") worship Him. Not when we sing songs and hold our hands in the air - when we worship.

So (if I can just go ahead and give the exhortation this Friday morning), if we need God to move in our lives, we worship. If we need His authority over a situation, we worship. If we want to see His will be done in our families, our communities, our schools, we worship. Yes, we pray, give, fast ... but He takes up His position of ultimate authority in our lives when we worship.

Which is why - just a thought - every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord when He comes back. His return will inspire the whole earth to worship Him for who He is, and He will take up His position of ultimate authority over the whole earth.

new from barna

The Barna Group released the results of a new study this week in an update titled: Survey Reveals Challenges Faced by Young People. The researchers didn't survey young people, though, they surveyed parents. If there was a reason for that strategy it wasn't revealed.

"When asked to identify the most significant or challenging issues facing their teenagers, parents listed ..."

1. Peer pressure (42%)
2. Performance in school (16%)
3. Substance abuse (16%)

Keep in mind these are not the three most significant or challenging issues facing teenagers, these are what parents - who identify themselves as Christians - believe are the three most significant or challenging issues facing their teenagers. It would be interesting to survey the teenagers and see how well the parents did.

What really struck me was the bottom of the list: "Challenges related to their teen's faith were listed by only 3% (of) parents." Christian parents.

Christian parents (of teenagers) believe that while things like peer pressure, substance abuse, behavioral issues, values development, attitude and media use are "significant or challenging issues," but at the same time do not think that their children's faiths are being challenged.

You know what I'm going to say, so I'll keep it short: lukewarm, define faith, doer of the word, WEAK SAUCE, no role models, and bad teaching.

How much more compelling can the call to children's and youth minsitry be? If the Church doesn't confront a generation being raised on Burger King-faith, what will the next one look like?

you will be redirected as fast as you can click

I'm completely wired right now because I had two cups of coffee on a completely empty stomach. An all-I've-eaten-in-the-past-24-hours-is-a-slice-of-pizza empty stomach. Yowza.

I've been running into a bunch of good blogs lately, and I'm just too intimidated (and I have a lot to do otherwise) to post on my own right now, so I'm going to link instead. Pardon the run-on sentence.

Pastor Craig Groeschel has a great blog called Swerve. Craig pastors LifeChurch.tv and I like his blog more and more every time I read it. He does some great series'. Right now he's on three of five things to give up so you can "go up." Good stuff for church leadership types ... which is most of you.

Church Marketing Sucks is one of my favorite blogs too. Guest blogger David Zimmerman started a series yesterday called Church from a Visitor's Perspective. Yesterday was one of nine; I'm looking forward to that one too.

They also run a Church Marketing Lab on Flickr, where people post images of what they're working on for their next sermon series/summer outreach shirts/etc. and people suggest and encourage. It's pretty cool, and very inspiring.

And just this morning I found digital.leadnet.org. It's a blog dedicated to "using technology to mulitply the church's impact." Some of it is conceptual, some of it is completely practical. It's good. If you know any pastors that need to be drop-kicked into the 21st century, you might avoid drop-kicking them because that's not nice and send them this link. I don't know any myself, but I know they're out there.

I need to go find something to put in my stomach.

prayer request

Happy Monday. I just wanted to post a quick prayer request.

Background: See You at the Pole is coming up on the 26th. It's one morning a year that all the Christian kids in our public school systems get together before classes start (at the flag pole) to pray.

This Sunday evening, the 16th, EV Free in Crystal Lake is hosting a See You at the Pole rally. About a dozen youth groups in the area will come together to prepare. We worship together and break the students up according to schools so they can talk about logistics. Pretty spiffy.

This year, our Switch worship team is going to lead worship. We're really excited, but I really want it to be more than a "gig" for our team. There will be between 200 and 300 students assembled, many of whom do not go to Spirit-filled churches/youth ministries, or - from what I understand - get excited about worship. My vision for this thing is that our team goes in humility and meekness and the Spirit of God that we can lead them into His presence ... many of them for the first time.

So anyone who can remember us in prayer, please do. Pray our team will be led of the Spirit. Pray the Lord will prepare hearts to meet Him. Pray for expectancy. Pray for awakenings, rededications, encouragement, enthusiasm and encounter. Thanks.

broken lives

Fellowship Church in Texas (well, they're everywhere but headquarters is in Texas) is starting a sermon series this weekend called ineed2change. True to form, they have been doing a stunning job of promoting it. The center of their phenominal marketing job is a the website that all the fliers, billboards, iron-ons, etc. point to:

ineed2change.com

The website is pretty spiffy. There's a countdown running and videos promoting the series. You can send e-vites directly from the home page, or download banners and such to put on your own website.

There's also a small text box that will allow you, in 140 characters, to express what you would like to change in your life. Below that is a virtual Post-It pad with testimonies.

"I want to find patience in my life, enjoy my children more and treat my husband more lovingly."

You can click "View more changes" and load a page full of notes that can be moved around to read.

"I need to fill the emptiness."

"I need to change the way I look at myself, and try to see what my friends and family see."

Then, if you click on "View All" you get a new browser window.

"I want to be in-LOVE with my husband again!"

"I need to control my addictions."

"I need to love myself for me."

"I need to stop messing with a married man."

"I had what I now realize was an inappropriate online friendship. I would like to be a better husband and repair the hurt in my marriage."

The bottom of the page reads, "page 1 of 38 (50 per page)." When I saw that I almost cried. That represents 1900 people who have logged on to reveal the brokenness in their lives ... since August 17th.

Some of them aren't painful - some of them express a need to get organized - but most of them hurt, and most of them are urgent.

Will you take five minutes in the next couple of days to pray for Pastor Ed Young and the campus pastors who will be facilitating this weekend? So many lives need the restoration that only One can offer ...

into the fray

This was published in May by InterVaristy Press. Has anyone heard of this?

I admit, when I saw it I cringed. This kind of debate makes me restless, because I don't really see the point. (Which is strange anyway, because I'm very argumentative by nature.) Faith comes by hearing, right? And hearing by the word of God, so it's not leading people to Christ. I understand the threat one could argue it poses to Christianity, but many will be deceived, "if possible, even the elect." Weak, un-rooted faith will eventually be uprooted. Maybe that's pessimistic, but ...

Anyway I cringed when I saw this, but then I read a little about the author, "Alister McGrath ... [is] ideal to evaluate Dawkin's ideas. Once an atheist himself, he gained a doctorate in molecular biophysics before going on to become a leading Christian theologian." (Then I cringed again when I watched the interview with Alister on a Canadian teevee show. "Leading Christian theologian" might be generous - or misleading. He's not a man of great faith.)

Then I read some of the reviews:

"Addressing the conclusions of The God Delusion point by point with the devastating insight of a molecular biologist turned theologian, Alister McGrath dismantles the argument that science should lead to atheism, and demonstrates instead that Dawkins has abandoned his much-cherished rationality to embrace an embittered manifesto of dogmatic atheist fundamentalism."

- Francis Collins, Director of the Human Genome Project

"The God Delusion makes me embarassed to be an atheist, and the McGraths show why."

- Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosphy and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science Florida State University

I admit I'm interested, but still too afraid to throw my heart into the debate. Just reading these reviews I can feel my old nature trying to gain a foothold: it's Us verses Them, it's about being Right, Dawkins is your enemy. I have to remember Love, remember I "do not wrestle against flesh and blood," and remember to pray for Dawkins. I was once an embittered, insecure atheist too.

times they are a changin'

Countless authors and sociologists point to the 1950's as America's greatest time for community and personal happiness. I wonder if part of my musing from Friday could be solved by bringing back some of these stunning, educational videos.

Cool, modern stuff, as I flip through the latest issue of Relevant:

I dig Abort73 anyway, but if you go here during the month of September you can get one of their shirts for $8. They're the unisex ones (which is why I'm abstaining), but if you're down for that ... or if you're a guy ... it's a great deal.

Randomshirts.com is pretty hilarious and surprisingly clean. They're affiliated with Shane and Shane somehow and have some cool Christian shirts too, also for a good deal. Check out the posters too.

The Life Straw is a nine-inch, plastic "straw" that "turns almost any surface water into drinking water" by filtering out harmful bacteria. I'm not kidding.

Feed Just One is a ministry associated with Feed My Starving Children that accepts donations in any amount because they can provide food to the hungry all over the world for just $0.04/meal.

If you're not satisfied with your current options for trendy, Christian clothing, etc. you can try the Twice Born store.

silent solidarity