On Mission in Davenport

I don’t write enough. I really don’t. I actually write blog posts in my head. Mostly amazing Pulitzer Prize winning stuff but it never gets put down on paper. Such is life with 3 little kids and a demanding job. I want to write more. I really do. Just not enough to actually write more. Sometimes you just have to do it.

That brings us to mission. Maybe I’ll leave that a small “m” so I don’t have to engage in these broad questions in my mind as to the exact scope of the mission. Are we participating in a larger renewal of all creation or are we just fulfilling the Great Commission? I’ll leave that for another time. This is what I do know. We love Saint Ambrose University. If you don’t know it’s a small Catholic Liberal Arts University that just happens to be a couple of blocks from our home here in Davenport, Iowa.

We are called there. Called to love and serve and pour ourselves out for the benefit of it’s almost 4,000 students and several hundred staff. It’s a good thing. We are trying to find out just how we can impact the place and last night took our small “Fighting Bees Missional Community” on a little mission to the campus. It was a chilly fall night and there were few students on Campus. We walked and prayed for those in the individual dorms and for the faculty in their offices. We prayed that God would give us the opportunity to love many and call them to a life giving relationship with Him. We prayed that the University would be a blessing to those students and to our community. We prayed that Jesus would be made much of in that place. We prayed that God would allow us to make much of Him. It was a good time. As I walked by the dorms I couldn’t help but think that at that moment there were collegians in their rooms that didn’t have any community that loved them and had no clue that the God of the universe loved them. There are freshman there that are disconnected from everything they’ve ever known and are in despair. It breaks my heart.

This is how we do it. We pray and then we pray and then we pray some more. While we are praying we go, we go by ourselves, we go in small groups, and we go as a large group. Where do we go? We go to where the students of Saint Ambrose are. We go where they study, drink coffee, eat, and recreate. What do we do when we get there? We love them and engage them with the Story. We tell them that there’s a problem. The problem is pervasive in our world. It is pervasive in us. It is is unavoidable and it pollutes everything around us. We let them know that the problem has been dealt with. The icons that are all around them represent not just a concept and are not just symbols of morality. There’s a real person behind them and He’s done the most amazing thing. He’s made a way back. Back to where? Back to a place where we might live and breath as we were designed in relationship with our Creator. Through Christ we can be assured that all sad things are coming untrue. All the pain, all the hurt, and all the evil will not endure. This isn’t just the Story, it’s our story. We are a continuing thread of His good work.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”-Romans 10:14, 15

As if Born unto You

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
–Romans 8:15

Adoption is obviously a big part of our life. Our upcoming adoption of Ethan and Haddon has me thinking about some of the implications of the event. One of the fun things is the court hearing. It’s somewhat ceremonial. We have already been certified and the boys have already been severed from their biological families. There is a very cool part of the court hearing. The judge goes through all the paperwork and asks a couple of questions and then makes his statement that is entered into the record and concludes it with the phrase “as if born unto you.” With that the hearing is concluded and it’s time to take pictures. I’ve attached a picture from Paige’s hearing. It was a wonderful moment.

At the Festival we all get to be a part of a huge adoption ceremony. I have no doubt that God, the Righteous Judge, will pronounce that many, based on Christ’s finished work, are now sons and daughters. It will be as though He pronounces that they are His children “as if born unto Him.” It’s a wonderful thing that God is not only the Righteous Judge but also the loving Daddy. There are three great implications of God’s adoption that are worth contemplating.
1. We now have a Daddy that loves us greatly and who has promised to protect and provide for us for now and all time.
2. We have an older brother in Jesus that not only bore our sin that we might live but also serves as the example for us to follow. In following in His footsteps we can truly live as God intended us to live.
3. We now have many brothers and sisters across all cultures and eras. Like all big families there are lots of crazy aunts and uncles but isn’t it great that all the barriers that divide people are broken down by being a part of God’s family.

I look forward to and am honored that I get to be a part of God’s adoption ceremony at Tempe Town Lake on March 19-20. Even more so that I get to share it with such talented team made up of my brothers and sisters.

Tags: adoption, cityfest

Season of Service

One of the great benefits of my job at the CityFest is that I get to hear all the stories of how God is working through the Season of Service to bless our city. It’s even better when I get to participate in these things. This past saturday 60 volunteers from Camelback Bible, Whitton Ave. Bible, & Redemption Church(Arcadia) combined forces with 40 students and staff members from Camelback High School to serve their community. We were able to help some people who had code violations but were unable to clean up their properties and also did some alleyway clean up and graffiti busting as well. Those that were helped were incredibly blessed and encouraged by the help that was provided.

That’s not even the best part. This is the third time we’ve come along side our community to bless them. The first was the during the education impact day last year when we blessed the Creighton schools by cleaning up and painting their schools. After that we blessed Camelback High School by doing a food drive for their in school food pantry as well as packaged 20,000 meals for Haiti. Many of the students there this past Saturday have been involved with all three of our efforts and been blessed by them. The partnerships that have been forged are strong and the staff and students know that their local churches are here to bless them. Lord willing, this Season of Service will become Years of Service and even Decades of Service.

Tags: CBC, cityfest, redemption church, season of service, whitton ave. bible church

2011 Top Tens about Moving

We are well into the process of planning a move from our longtime home in Arizona to my childhood home of the Quad Cities(Western Iowa, Eastern Illinois) most likely in April/May of next year. I thought I’d come up with a convenient list of the top ten reasons to move and the top ten reasons while moving will be a bummer.

Top 10 Reasons to Move:

1. There are no construction jobs in Phoenix.

2. The majority of my family live there.

3. Seasons.

4. Really good food like Harris Pizza, Jim’s Ribs, Maid-Rite, & the Iowa Machine Shed.

5. Hunting with my brothers.

6. Great ministry opportunities.

7. Affordable living.

8. My Mom can babysit.

9. August days don’t have a high of 115.

10. Fall is an amazing time of year in the Mississippi River Valley.

Top 10 Reasons it will be a bummer to move:

1. We will miss all our great

friends at Camelback

Bible and Praxis(now Redemption Church).

2. It’s nice to wear shorts in December.

3. Most of Susan’s family is here.

4. You can’t get really good Mexican food in the midwest. Check out Ajo Al’s.

5. All our great friends at our Sunday hang out Over Easy.

6. We are a 6 hour car ride from Disneyland.

7. Arizona State Football

8. Susan has lived here her whole life and I’ve lived here for almost 25 years.

9. Driving in the snow is no fun.

10. Hanging out with Uncle Kenny & Aunt Eva at their cabin in Mund’s Park.

Tags: Employment, Moving, Quad Cities

Love Came Down

Christmas is coming like a freight train and I’ve done a good job of inoculating my kids from the Santa craze. Both of the older ones actively let everyone know that Santa is just pretend. Paige even went so far as to tell a server at a restaurant that “Jesus is God’s greatest gift to us.” I didn’t even have to prompt her. This was in addition to the standard Santa’s a fake schtick. I’m certainly in the running for Christian Dad of the Year but I really want my kids to get the significance of Christmas. I’ve been thinking a lot about how do I relate to them the magnitude of events that we celebrate on this little holiday we call Christmas. Here’s what I want my kids to get. LOVE CAME DOWN. That’s it. If they understand these three words in their proper context they will understand everything they need to about Christmas. Let me explain what I mean.

LOVE

Jesus’ birth marks the Emmanuel moment of history. That is, God had chosen to, or pleased to, dwell with men. God chose to dwell among us. Now we’ve all heard the scripture that says “God is Love.”(1 JN 4:8) and I’ll admit that I’ve had a hard time really understanding what it means. One of the reasons I think it’s so hard is that we often to attempt to speak of God as Love in terms of human representations of love. It’s like describing a beautiful girl by talking about her shadow. It just doesn’t do her justice to use a derivative of her presence to describe her beauty. In the same sense, it’s difficult to understand this God of Love using the activity of His creatures. It is, however, useful to me to understand that the real selfless love that we sometimes see exhibited by people refers back to this God that is Love. Jesus doesn’t merely personify love. He is Love. Anything that we call love should be compared to Jesus who broke into history to rescue a people from themselves for Himself.

CAME

Jesus’ birth happened in history. Our calendars rightly use Jesus’ birth as the dividing line in history. Of course, cynics would say that he was really born in 3 BC(BCE if you are really a cynic) and probably born in August. I get all that but think about how our calendars work. History is divided into the time before Christ came and the years of His reign. It has been rightly said that Christ’s birth is the hinge of all of history. Not only did He come at a point in time but He also came a great distance.

DOWN

Jesus’ incarnation is the greatest condescension in all of history. Can you imagine the God that spoke the universe into being with a word being born in a stinky stable to an unwed teenage mom? I can’t even imagine him coming under the best of circumstances but he did. Phillipians 2:7 says that Jesus made himself “nothing.” That’s putting it lightly. Mike Rowe never did a dirty job like this.

So this Christmas season beyond all the flashing lights and wonderful things it is my prayer that my children understand what Christmas means. It’s my prayer for you too. Be blessed knowing that LOVE CAME DOWN.

Tags: Christmas, Kids, Love, Santa, True Meaning

David Fincher’s True North

“I remember the experience of being there when he breathed his last breath. It was incredibly profound. When you lose someone who helped form you in lots of ways, who is your ‘true north’, you lose the barometer of your life. You’re no longer trying to please someone, or you’re no longer reacting against something. In many ways, you’re truly alone.” -David Fincher

“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” -Jesus

I recently saw the above quote by David Fincher on IMDB.com. Fincher has directed more than a few thought provoking movies including FIGHT CLUB, THE GAME, & SEVEN. His films are visually innovative and he is one of the few directors that I’d pay to see any movie that he directed. His quote is in reference to death of his father. I totally understand his feelings having watched my own stepfather slip away into the abyss. Without getting too preachy I also know something of Jesus and his promise to always be with us. I’ve experienced His presence and can have confidence that I will never be lacking in a “true north.” That’s a good thing in a world that seems to be more out of control each day.

Tags: barometer, david fincher, jesus, movie, quotes, true north

The Bible as a Morality Play

Yesterday I got to help in the nursery at church. Nothing like a couple of hours with a bunch of 3 years to make you reflect. I must admit that I mostly dislike children’s lesson plans for Sunday School programs. It all seems to be a morality play. It plays into the worst stereotypes that people have about the Christian Faith. Yesterday the lesson was about the fall and the whole point of the story was that it was bad that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and that we (the kids, that is) should obey our moms and dads. Certainly, I’d like my kids to obey me but is that all there is? Isn’t there a way to connect the vast divide that was created by this act disobedience to the Father’s great love for us and his immediate push to reconcile us through his Son. You get the picture.

Here’s my solution. If your children’s ministry sucks go buy a box of the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. She’s done an amazing job of bringing out the richness of the text and connecting God’s redemptive purposes to it. I’m going to stop ranting now but if you have children or even if you don’t go and buy this book. It’s amazingly good.

Tags: bible, children, jesus

Severance

I just realized that I had yet to put up an update on our boys. Their biological parents had their rights severed late last month. Now the boys are wards of the state and there are only a few more hurdles and they will be available for us to adopt. There was some mix up with the baby and the biological father’s name was left off the birth certificate. So they now have to put an ad in a local paper for a John Doe that may have had “relations” with the biological mother sometime around the New Years of 2009. No kidding. Nothing ever comes from these things but it will be a few more months until we can make the adoption complete. Right now we are hoping for the official adoption to be in April of next year.

We’d appreciate and covet your prayers for us through this. It’s been a great comfort to us to know that many of you have been praying for us. The next few months are going to be busy for us. We have sold our house and are renting an apartment for the next 6 months. It’s too soon to comment but we are already thinking about what’s next for us and our family.

Tags: severance

Rick Warren and “Angry Calvinists”

This week is full of controversy in the blogospere and it’s been making me think a lot about “doing” ministry. Motivations and methods have been at the forefront of my thoughts. We are in the early stages of planning a possible big life change. It started me thinking outside the box about ministry. Here’s my big question. What do you do if you move to a place that lacks any discernable presence of believers who are both mission orientated in mindset and reformed in theology? I asked Acts 29 guy Darrin Patrick about this and his response to this lack of churches from our team was “plant one.” Of course, his new book is titled “Church Planter” so how could answer anything but still, Could I? Could we? Should we? Am I equipped, gifted, and called? I don’t really know the final answer but I’m seeking wise counsel. Certainly, I’ve been the recipient of some of the best non-seminary theological traing and I can teach and am reasonably effective doing so. But am I called? This is even further clouded by the fact that I’m persona non-grata with the local Acts 29 church planting guru. It’s a long story and not fit for public consumption.

I’m getting off topic though. I’m starting to notice the nuts and bolts of “doing” ministry more and more. Thinking, plotting, scheming. What would work in our context? How might we be effective ministers of the Gospel? Both where we are at and where we might be heading. Still straying but I’m coming back right now. This weekend is the annual Desiring God National Conference. It’s like the Haji for reformed Christians. John Piper’s church in Minneapolis puts it on and it’s usually a who’s who of our little sect. Sure there are other conferences but this is one, along with Ligionier’s conferences, are really the old timers in the reformed world. This year they brought in Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren. If you don’t know Warren you should come out of the rock that you’ve been living under. He’s the Purpose Driven Life guy. There’s not a whole lot I like about that book but overall I think Warren is a good guy who truly desires to see God Glorified. Do I agree with all his methods? Not even close. When you see him on national media outlets like Larry King Live, amongst others, he’s often vague even on issues that Scripture is clear about. In other more “christian” settings he seems to become crystal clear. Enough with the critisicm though. The point is that this guy clearly loves Jesus and wants to see him Glorified in our world. That’s the bottom line.

So Rick Warren, gets asked to come to John Piper’s Desiring God conference and the “truly” Reformed hitmen in the blogosphere go nuts. I mean they are ready to go crazy over the whole deal. Since the announcement there’s been a slow building critiscm of him and of Piper leading up to his talk on Friday night. There’s been a steady stream of chum put into the water in anticipation. Warren regretfully wasn’t able to appear in person and had to do a videotape presentation due to some family issues and by all accounts was rather non-controversial. Except, that wasn’t good enough for some of the “angry calvinists” as some of these guys have been dubbed. There was quite the twitter fest attacking Warren. So much so that Ed Stetzer posted the following tweet:

Disappointed to see the trolls out during the @RickWarren #DGNC message. Get a new “ministry.”#TiredOfAngryCalvinists

This got Stetzer both a lot of retweets from fans and a lot of rebukes from the “Angry Calvinists.” Normally I’d find it all fascinating if not for the fact that there seems to be a clear lack of love. The “Angry Calvinist” will argue all day that love isn’t tolerance and that they must stand on the truth that is God’s Word. Hey, Rick Warren might just be a heretic. They are wrong, of course, but don’t let that stop them. Some folks use these guys jerky behavior as a reason to reject reformed theology. I think that’s poppycock. That’s like the old Gandhi quote saying he likes Jesus but not his followers. Deal with the reality of Jesus, Mr Gandhi not his followers. Rabbit trail again. Back to Rick Warren. What I admire about Rick Warren is that he gets one of the most important things about doing ministry. He gets that the world is a dying place desperately needing Christ and the Life he brings. Even better, he’s committed to bringing Christ to the World. Imperfectly, yes. Sometimes poorly, but he gets it. How many of us “Angry Calvinists” don’t even take our exalted Christ to the world? Somehow we run this get hospital called the church and only invite the healthy to come into it. It’s like having the only taco stand for 1,000 miles and telling starving people they need shirts and shoes for service knowing full well that our gift shop is the only place in town with shirts and shoes to wear. Ok, that analogy is getting way out of control but you get where I’m going. Go into this world, love the people in it, serve them like Jesus served them, and proclaim the richness of His Grace to us. Call them into the hospital to be made well or the taco stand to get a belly full of taco goodness. Why don’t we get this? Warren totally gets this and for that I totally respect the guy. Sure, I groan at some of the stuff he says. Whatever path my life and ministry takes I’d be more effective and pleasing to my Lord if I was a bit more like Rick Warrent and a bit less like my “Angry Calvinist” friends.

There’s a lukewarm review of Warren’s talk over at the Gospel Coalition blog HERE. I think it’s accurate even if it might be a bit clinical.

One last thing. XIANITY is my favorite guy on twitter and he had the best tweet concerning the whole affair. This hits the nail on the head:

CONFERENCES: Upset that @RickWarren wasn’t there in person, angry Calvinists spend hours arguing with LCD projector. #DGNC

The Hearing

The court hearing went as expected today. Neither boys parents showed up and the case plan was indeed changed to severance and adoption. This is great news. Over the next 90 days there will be several more hearings and a trial to complete the process. Obviously nothing is complete yet but this is a huge step in the process. There are two things that I wanted to share.

First, the boys great grandmother and aunt were at the hearing. Great Grandma is perhaps in her mid 70s. Small and frail she grabbed Susan at the end and asked to talk to her. Susan freaked out a bit and said she had to go. The CPS worker also told us that legally she had no right to information about the case. In retrospect both Susan and I had wished that we had interacted more with her. She had requested the boys be placed with her but her home was deemed unfit due to all kinds of unseemly stuff. Putting all that aside she obviously is someone that was hurting and seeing her flesh and blood separated from her family. Even though we can’t speak much of the boys, I hope she comes to the next hearing. I want her to know that they are doing great and that they are loved by us and all of you. This brings us to the aunt. She would be an attractive young lady if not for the fact that she has sores on her face and weighs about 90 pounds. She looks like a model for one of those meth billboards you see around town. It’s gruesome and heartbreaking. My eyes are full of tears as I’m praying that God would deliver her from this drug and the death sentence that it brings.

In our home we’ve started talking about adoption. We have always been open with Paige about her adoption. We frequently talk about the reality that God brought us together for His Glory as a forever family. We also talk about the nature of adoption and that our family is a picture of God’s adoption of us through his Son. Ethan, Paige, and I started talking adoption by looking at pictures of Paige’s adoption day photos. We talked about Ethan and Bubba’s day and what a great day that will be. We also talked about names. Bubba’s name will be Mark Haddon. Mark after my brother and Haddon in tribute to 19th Century Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon. We will call him Haddon. Ethan is still under discussion. We want him to be involved with the process. Susan likes Ethan James(my middle name) and calling him EJ. He also thinks this is really cool. I like Scott Ethan. We’ll see where it goes. Feel free to suggest names.

Here’s a fun photo from Paige’s day. We hope to have a complementary one for the boys in early 2011.

Tags: adoption, Court, drug addiction, sin