My heart is beating so loudly in the areas of injustice! It’s a rather uncomfortable sound but I think it’s about time. I used to have a long laundry list of passions that I’m coming to realize God didn’t really give a rip about. His list is short:

“Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow. ” Isaiah 1:17

Ok…I haven’t read the book below yet but man does it look dang intriguing! I’m half scared of how it will challenge me to live. Check out this excerpt from the book The Dangerous Act of Worship by Mark Labberton:

“Worship exposes our cultural and even
spiritual complacency toward a world of suffering and injustice. In Jesus
Christ, we are called into a new kind of living. Through the grace of worship,
God applies the necessary antidote to what we assume is merely
human—our selfishness. Worship sets us free from ourselves to be free for
God and God’s purposes in the world. The dangerous act of worshiping
God in Jesus Christ necessarily draws us into the heart of God and sends
us out to embody it, especially toward the poor, the forgotten and the oppressed.
All of this is what matters most and is most at stake in worship.
So what’s the problem? The church is asleep. Not dead. Not necessarily
having trouble breathing. But asleep. This puts everything that matters
at stake: God’s purposes in the church and in the world.”

Mark will be a featured speaker at Lakeview Church as we host Seminars 4 Worship August 6th and 7th. It could be dangerous…n

In about a week, my home church Lakeview Church,will open for Hillsong London as a part of Seminars 4 Worship. (Yes I did throw a bunch of names out at you; I’m diggin this link button:)

In some circles, Hillsong Church, which is the parent church of the London gang, gets a bum rap. People say they’re a prosperity church, a bless me club and you know what, they’re probably right.

You see, I’m sure there are people at Hills who would fit the profile of the negative comments I listed above. But not many. From everything that I’ve seen and heard, both first hand and true second, this is a church that exists to make God known and serve the hurting people of the world. They are “blessed to be a blessing” and they know it.

In a quick email exchange with Hills London worship leaders, the only real topic we discussed was worship and justice; how to express Christ to the world through so much more than song. How to meet the tangible needs of the hurting people around us. Friends, that’s not a bless me club…that’s a bless you club. Hope I can get in it someday…n

My wife did it again.

As tball coaches of our local YMCA, we always get the calls when rain outs occur.  Today was a wash.  Yesterdays thunderstorms have wrecked the field.  Usually not a big deal.  Parents are cool with it and we just move on.  However, this time, one of our players was devastated.

You see his grandmother just died recently and his grandfather had flown all the way from Kansas just to see him play tball.  And it’s rained out. That sucks.  Too bad.  Wish there was something we could do.

But that’s not the end of the story.  My wife got on the horn and organized a mock game just for this kid so that grandpa could see his grandson play.  Only my wife would think of that.  Ephesians 5:2 tells us that Christ was never cautious with His love but extravagant.  That’s my wife.

That grandpa will never forget this…

Coffee. So wonderful in the morning. Such an evil temptress at night. Got me again!

So I sit and wonder “who will ever read this?” and how will word get out?? Will they learn that coffee at night just makes you need more coffee in the morning to help you wake up due to lack of sleep from the coffee at night?  I smell a conspiracy.

Yes, I know decaf would solve this issue and I would be sleeping soundly but gheez, then I would miss messing around with this blogging stuff!

I’ve always loved the quote that “an unexamined life is not worth living.” If that’s true, then to fully live, to really lay hold of each day, one has to open themselves up to a somewhat painful process. I’m coming to realize that intense examination CANNOT just be me and the Creator of the Universe. I let myself off the hook too often in that scenario. It has to come from multiple sources. God weighs the motives of the heart and exposes the hidden desires deep within but others in community can help refine the process in an amazingly tangible way. Thus the reason for blogging.

I’m on a journey, desperately trying not to drown in the culture around me but determined not to be sucked into the religiosity that permeates so many others that work in the local church. You see, I’m a pastor. Yeah, I know. I’m sure there are now many of you that just finished the traditional rolling of the eyes that usually accompanies the previous statement. I agree…to a degree, and I desire to see a change. I’m beginning to see the errors of my own thinking, the lameness of my own agendas and the emptiness of my own accomplishments. I roll my own eyes…at myself.

BUT, the more I get absorbed in the life that Jesus talks about, the more I hear His heartbeat for the poor, the hurting; in general the world around me and I just want to serve. The more I get absorbed into the timeless teachings of the Bible, the more I realize that I’ve been cautious with my love and Christ calls me to extravagance. The more I get absorbed in Him, the more unabsorbed I get in me. Bout time

I’m developing a website called www.getabsorbed.com that will challenge us to examine what we are absorbing. Is it simply culture? Religion? Christ? How does the church get outta the holdover mentality and get absorbed into the true life of love that Jesus constantly calls us to?

Let the worldwide refinement of those concepts begin…here. Now.