History in the Making

Tubecasting

Al Gore is launching his new TV network ~ Current TV ~ this week. It looks like a video version of podcasting... a compilation of homemade videos and documentaries. Each of the videos will feature a load bar on-screen that indicates how much time is left in the program ~ just like an MPEG. Actually looks pretty neat.

Lakewood

Before church, I caught this morning's broadcast of Lakewood's premiere service in the new arena. Unbelievable sight.

Rumble over Rob

Gary Lamb pointed out that the buzz over Rob Bell's book has reached epic proportions. The comments on Amazon's 'reviewers' page are ferocious. [read them here]

An Idea for Podcasting...

Once folks start producing some interesting podcasts, I could see a dedicated station on XM or Sirius satellite radio... all podcasts... all the time. I confess... I did spend about an hour last week in the car listening to old recordings from Lyndon B. Johnson's White House phone conversations on C-Span radio.

What to do with Rob Bell...

I've discovered that Velvet Elvis is essentially the textual version of every Nooma video he's produced. But this point [in his book, page 132] left me sleepless last night...

One account in the book of Matthew says that Jesus was talking to his disciples at Caesarea Philippi... Caesarea Philippi was the world center of the goat god, Pan. People came from all over the world to worship this god. There is a cliff with a giant crack in it that the followers of Pan believed was the place where the spirits from hell would come and go from the earth. The crack was called the Gates of Hell. They built a temple for Pan there and then a court next to it where people would engage in sexul acts with goats during the Pan worship festivals.

And Jesus is there with his disciples. As good Jewish boys, they never would have gone to this place before. It is twenty-six miles from Galilee, where Jesus and his disciples are from....

He tells them at Caesarea Philippi that upon this rock he is going to build his new witnessing community, and the Gates of Hell won't be able to stop it. He is essentially saying that those kinds of people - the ones with the goats - are going to join the Jesus movement, and it will be unstoppable....

Whaaa!? Either every other interpretation I've heard [or preached] of "the rock passage" is waaaay off base... which would mean that Rob is exceptionally brilliant to pick-up on the true meaning of this passage, and all of us have a lot to learn from him... or Rob's modus operandi to look at Scripture through an entirely Jewish lens is creating blindspots in his biblical view.

Either way, ground-shaking perspectives like this one [and there are plenty others] call for us to decide what we will do with Rob Bell... Jury's still out.

Velvet Elvis

Continuing to read Rob Bell's book... He tells the amazing story of how Mars Hill Bible Church got started in Grand Rapids, Michigan. No marketing. No buzz. No sign out front. No intentionality... 1,000 people turn out for the first service. Several weeks later, 2,000 on average. 10,000 just a few years later. Some people experience Acts. Some are waiting for the wind...

Great Story

Last year, we held a baptism at Great Falls Park ~ a beautiful event where an entire small group took the plunge.

The guy on the right in this photo was simply attending the event for his friend Jamie (on the left). He wasn't a Christian and, in fact, turns out, he had a lot of negative stuff going on in his life.

Witnessing this experience started a chain of events that God used to soften his heart. And now one year later, he is now attending History Church... recently accepted Christ as his Savior... joined a small group... started serving on the media team... and will be baptized this Sunday night at History Church.

Podcasting

The new wave of podcasting makes me feel like I'm back in the 1980s with rock radio again. Cheesy DJs introducing Jon Bon Jovi...

Goings-on

Last night, Ainsley and I hosted our first small group of the summer B "semester" and had a great turn-out. Our small group has turned into a bit of a college & career ministry, with mostly young 20-somethings in it. Now that our church's base of families has grown, it gives us a lot of joy to reach young adults ~ I know many churches struggle with this.

I'm headed to Tyson's Corner today to meet with a good friend who used to be a judge in Texas and is now trying to find a ministry niche in Washington DC. He's got a big heart and a southern drawl, but has a passion for reaching folks on Capitol Hill.

Ainsley's out with a bunch of Moms this morning for their weekly get-together. They're going to a Gymboree-sponsored play event and then Caribou Coffee for chit-chat. Ainsley's a tough cookie ~ she's been trying to get a Moms ministry started for months, but is just now developing some big-Mo.

Guy Witnesses Accident

If you've got time to listen to this, it's a hilarious account on someone's voicemail from a guy who witnessed an accident on the road. [Listen here]

Catalyst Tickets Arrived

I'm really excited about this year's Catalyst conference ~ this is, by far, the best line-up of speakers I've seen in 3 years of attending. I've got 5 other guys going with me this year, and we're looking forward to a great experience.

I'd love to meet-up with some other bloggers on this trip ~ wonder if any are going. Hmmm.

500 Friends to Starbucks

It's official ~ this fall, we're taking 500 people to Starbucks for coffee. Today, Matt and I purchased 500 gift cards worth $3 a piece and some handy invite cards from Outreach marketing ["design when you're short on time"] to foster more relational evangelism in History Church. We'll give them out to our folks approaching Labor Day for a little push into fall.

Rob Bell's New Book

I'm reading Rob Bell's new book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, which features a pretty hip cover and format ~ it goes along with the signature style he's developed for his Nooma video series. In this book, Bell sets out to deconstruct Christian theology and expose the traditional props we've erected over the centuries for our 'version' of the faith. He asks a lot of provocative questions, but half-way through, I'm having trouble finding the application. I prefer books that have some sort of practical outlet. However, Rob is an amazing teacher and knows how to bridge even the most obscure parts of the Old Testament to the Gospels with extraordinary ease.

Sunday

Jodi and Amanda [roommates at UVA] hosting our welcome table.
The Kruses brought a moon bounce to Sunday School with them ~ on weekend rental for a birthday party for their little girls. The kids loved it!
Oak Hill Elementary

Walking Man

Wyatt really loves sticks.

Unusual Day

Today was the most unusual Sunday I've ever experienced. I've been fighting some kind of sickness for the past three days, but covered it up pretty well with DayQuil. Five minutes into the message, I got feverish and felt my world spinning. I couldn't put logical ideas together very well anyway, so I thought it better to abort mission than risk passing out... Fortunately, I had planned to include someone's testimony, so I invited him up early and got off the stage. John Ortberg once joked that he fainted so often in his early years as a pastor that crowds gathered just for the spectacle. Happens to the best of them I guess... Needless to say, we won't be posting audio from this week's message. =)

Good to Great Parenting

I don't plan to preach on parenting at History for a long time ~ I don't think a pastor with young children has earned the right to be heard in that area. (We'll have to import experienced speakers on that topic.) But when I do, I'm going to talk about Good to Great Parenting. In Jim Collins' book, he talks about Level 5 leaders, who subjugate their ego to the company's overall performance. We need Level 5 parents who will do the same for their children.

If I've learned anything as a pastor, it's that people's biggest struggles are rooted in their relationship with their parents. In our small group last semester, half the room admitted that they couldn't address God as "Father" in prayer because of the bad experiences they had with their earthly fathers.

A family friend of ours with a young daughter divorced the father, remarried another man, and had a baby with him. The first daughter, now 9 years old, is filled with rage toward the new baby because of how her family unit was torn apart.

In our Herndon apartment, I watched a couple (two business executives) have a new baby and immediately put her in childcare while the mom went back to work. Regardless of what the daycare marketing brochure says, that baby will spend most of her days untouched in a corner swing... all for what?

Most of the time, it's for our goals, our aspirations, our dreams. And that's Level 1 parenting.

Men of Faith

One of our leaders has been gone for several weeks on vacation and other business, but his heart remains home at History. He and his wife recently lost a baby that had to be delivered after his death. They're an amazing couple. He sent the other four of us this e-mail this morning, and I thought I'd share it here because it moved me to tears...

Brothers, this past Sunday we buried Benjamin.  It was not an easy thing for the family & extended family.  It did however give us a sense of conclusion.  Not that we will ever get over losing a son.  Lots of tears.  I personally laid his small casket in the ground and it about crushed me, but it was something I needed to do..  Please continue to pray as we grieve. 

Also... pray as this coming Sunday Becky and I speak to all the youth up here.  Ages 10 - 20. It is youth Sunday and we are the main speakers.  Although there are several hundred that attend the church up here,,, it doesn't compare to History ... we miss CHURCH ... and how it should be...as it is at History...

Gentlemen, stay forcused on God, Family, then Ministry... Ben,, that means Your relationship with HIM, your Wife and Son, then History Church......and don't let those that have crazy negitive thoughts get to you.  Just listen lovingly, and direct them to the church next door where they can get involve in some sort of puppet ministry.

(Inside humor: he always jokes about people who want to start puppet ministries in church.) I'm so blessed to have guys like this on the leadership team. They're great men of faith, well ordered in their priorities, and not afraid to weep on each others' shoulders...

Chronicles

Regal Theaters told me they could offer us a pre-screening of Narnia, if we bought-out the largest theater at usual ticket price - 350 seats in our case. If we did a post- or release screening, they could offer us a showing anytime for per-ticket price for a small theater. Hmmm...

I was worried "they" would treat Narnia the same way they handled Passion of the Christ. Cheesy marketing; MegaChurch endoresements and so on. Sure enough, Narnia materials were featured on the front page of this month's Outreach Magazine. Argh!

I wasn't going to say it, but...

Great post about Lakewood [here]. Link via Bill.