MarkO's church bureaucracy award of the month

Side Discussion: Does your church use the Robert's Rules of Order more than God's Holy Word?

great moment with my son Graeme a couple days ago. We were sitting on the sofa looking out the front window. The sun was hitting the red and yellow leaves on the trees. I had Robert Randolph and The Family Band playing. We were just sitting there. Then the song "soul refreshing" came on - priceless. That's what made me think of all this. Graeme was cuddled into my lap and my arms were wrapped around him. Every once and a while he'd just sigh. I would too. Keep in mind that he's two. We sat there for 25min just looking out the window and listening to the music. Just being with each other. Itsn't pretty obivous where I'm going with this? How much time have I had my soul refreshed by the Father lately? I feel instep with the Spirit lately, but I haven't made time to slow down and bask. Have you? Take a walk around the block this afternoon. Pick up a leaf or a rock or anything on the ground and consider the work of His fingers. Look out the window for a while. Just be with God sometime today. If we are about a deep, quality relationship with God, lets be those people today.

I just found this and thought some of you would like to see too. Relevant Magazine has added something to their sweet site. Relevant TV. Check it.

Here is a post from Ryan Bolger, I've linked to him before. This is sort of related to the Saddleback discussion on church services a few posts ago.

"The church person cannot 'guess' what the seeker wants, undoubtedly getting it wrong. What Christians need to do is create meaningful worship through bringing their very own lives to God. Worship must reflect the culture of the community that is currently part of the church, not replicate current worship CDs, nor 1980s soft rock, nor 18th century hymns. Instead of mimicking other church cultures, the community collectively brings their own idiosyncratic ways of life to God, whatever they may be." LINK

Goerge Barna my have just done something really big for emergent churches by releasing his new book Revolution. To me Barna represents an epitome of the modern era: numbers, facts, quanity. So when someone like that says things are changing/need to change. To me that will help validate this type of discussion in the eyes of those who are specpitcle about the cutural and need for missional shift in ministry. He has some great things to say on his site also.

I grew up on Michigan lake many years ago, in a time when TV was black & white, with 2 channels only, or 3 channels if the wind was blowing from the south and if the aluminum foil on the antenna was shaped just right. Having no PC or Ipod, video games or other time stealers, many a day I sat on the end of the dock and watched the blue gill fish in the lake.

Their world was pretty predictable. Warm tepid water in summer, clear cold water in winter. An underwater world of blues, greens and black. All Michigan lake fish are colored about the same as their world. They all eat a steady diet of small bugs, other fish & small slimy things on hooks. Using a line and hook, I caught them on bread, pieces of cheese and old bologna.

This past summer, I was on a pier in Hawaii (Waikiki Beach, to be exact) watching fish while my wife shopped. Kids were fishing off the pier and an old lady with an English accent and large bag of bread crumbs created an eating frenzy of fish. Suddenly, I was hit by !!!!......( multiple choice)
A flash of insight
Holy Spirit wisdom
Gas from my lunch

Hawaiian fish live in a totally different world than do Michigan fish.

Hawaiian fish have brilliant neon colored glow in the dark colors: blazing reds, blinding yellows, electric blues, etc. Their world is coral reefs of similar colors. They live in between crashing waves riding over the reefs and in the up & downs of the tides. Their world is in constant flux, nothing staying the same but always moving, always changing.

Yet, these Hawaiian fish can be caught on a hook just like Michigan fish and even with old bread or pieces of bologna.

Hence the PoMo reflections:
Our world has changed from the one I grew up in. As much as I might long for it, it is gone or at least trapped on channel 36, “TV Land”.

Our world today is like the reefs of Hawaii.

Christ still attracts people but we have to account for the changes people are in, in order to attract them.


Oh, the analogies could go on but please, somebody else pick up on this.
Dave.

This weekend is the the ChOG in MI Christian Leadership Convention. I am leading a conference on what we've been talking about. I was hoping it would be more of a conversation. That means I'm callin on you that can to come. This isn't me alone, so please come and converse. I have some pics that I want to throw up on a screen. If you have anything that is a visual depiction of our conversation email me it. I'll be posting a couple things later in the week.