Teen Service

So, for those of you who have been reading Scott's blogs, I feel the need to warn you that this will be considerably less deep but perhaps will help paint a better picture of where the teen ministry is moving and shaking in the Metro (do we still use this term?) region.

Yesterday, the teens of the westside and the eastside gathered in the band room at the international school to have their inaugural ALL teen service. It was so inspiring to see teens really serving one another (special props to Jake Tacher who can lead an incredible song!) and helping each other to worship God and think about our relationship with God in new ways. From our very own westside Bible Talk Elody Adjibly shared (alongside Stephen Hertogs) for communion. She talked about the blessings that God has really given her by taking her out of the Ivory Coast before a war broke out to live in America with a completely new family. She talked of the temptation for all of us to really forget about the things we've been rescued from. I think that is a touching lesson for all of us, as Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 1:9 "But if anyone does not have them [being Godly qualities in increasing measure], he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins." I have really appreciated Elody's leadership in the teens this past year, her openness and ability to express her needs has helped me learn to be a better teen worker. Seeing her do communion was one of those moments where as a teen worker you just beam with pride. (I meant to post a picture of her while she had her moment on the stage, but my camera batteries died right before that. Hopefully you enjoy pictures of other teens serving instead).

Mack Strong preached for the teens about the healing at the pool in John 5. Mack's preaching is always impacting and sparked many great conversations with the teen girls from the westside. Hopefully, we can have more opportunities to gather together and really help each other worship God, there's something about learning from your peers that sticks with you a while.

One thing you can be comforted in is that I believe the teen ministry is truly moving and shaking.

Holy Ground

Most of you are aware that my son Stephen is a senior at (the academically brutal) Lakeside School and is getting ready to fly the coop for college. I think he has been ready for this for awhile and that's normal. He's at the 11th hour of needing to decide which college. As much as his thoughts have been consumed with this decision, mine have been consumed with comprehending the meaning of the last 18 years: certainly a sea change is happening. Maybe I can write more on that later this summer as the fall of 2007 and the spring of his college life simultaneously come nigh.

For now I will say simply that his mother, his sister, and I will miss him. What a difference he has made to our lives. Life has been harder, funnier, more blessed, more challenging, more interesting, more refining, and plain better because of him.

With these and other such things on my mind, I found myself yesterday afternoon up in Factoria to meet with the men who help me make decisions for the Eastside ministry: Greg Tacher, Greg Brumly, and Bruce Pflaumer. After the meeting, I had a chance to drive up to the two Somerset houses we used to live in. The first is directly across from Somerset Elementary and we followed the Eleazers (who led the Seattle church in the mid-90's) in renting it. That house had no view, but you could go out your front door and stand in the street and see all of downtown Seattle and sometimes the Olympic Mountains. It was quite a sight but you had to be aware of cars that might run over you. I remember we would sometimes wake up at night because people were marauding around the elementary school grounds--it's hard to imagine that Somerset could have delinquets, right? I also remember buying my little kids bicycles at Christmas and riding around with them at Somerset grounds, which have now changed completely--what a school renovation! We played catch and shot baskets on those grounds.

That's what I was remembering yesterday as I sat parked by the school and looking over the amazing growth of the japanese maple (James I know that's acer!) that graced our front yard.

Then I drove down to the house we owned and lived in for four years on SE 46th Street. There are too many amazing memories to list here, but we had good fires, good holidays, good barbecues, and good 3-point contests there. My kids could walk to school and they did, but to less delight than their parents. I read to 9 year old Stephen and 7 year old Ariel every night and assured them whenever necessary that if any monsters or bad people ever tried to hurt them I would terrorize such foes, beat them senseless, and tear them limb from limb. They believed me because I meant it.

I meant it yesterday in my car driving slowly around Somerset, which felt like holy ground.

Teams & Executives

I was reading an analysis of Federalist 67-77, ascribed to Alexander Hamilton, in which he asserts and defends the need for a national executive (the President), as opposed to simply relying on a legislature for national leadership. I did not know that under the Articles of Confederation that preceded the Constitution there apparently was no executive.

Hamilton highlighted an interesting fundamental difference between the two in function: a legislature is given to deliberation which is appropriate and an executive is given to action which is also appropriate.

Any group or organization needs both. Leaders who charge forth without any sense of discussion, consensus-building, or deliberation eventually wear out the mature. Group members who only deliberate and never make a decision to act wear themselves out as well.

I have found a third trait at work: when a group gets too large, opinions actually stop rather than proliferate. Bible talks I have led (or staff groups, etc.) with 4-6 people produce remarkable innovative thinking; but when the room is full of people--10-15--it's difficult to speak up more than once in an hour or so!

Television can be good

Do you watch too much TV? My kids and I were talking about this last night. We tend to watch a lot of sports, some news, in the evenings between some working projects and phone calls. As we discussed it, it became clear to me that their only experience of Mom and Dad is that we are generally "at home," dinner-izing, cleaning up, helping with any school needs they might have (less and less, since they now do work we have forgotten how to do), making calls, perhaps a study or counseling appointment on a Thur eve here and there, plus midweek. They do see us "going out" with disciples and with outreach on Fri/Sat/Sun, but weeknights we tend to look like homebodies.

But when you are raising a family, you have to be "at home." So the question is, what do you do at home? Some of us are game-players. Some love to read. Others like TV/movies.

I think it's easy to "pick on " television. It's an easy target. But if you watch good programming--good drama (good v. evil), news, yes some PBS, etc.--it's just as educational and inspiring as people spending hours listening to the radio in my parents' generation. What you watch matters. Otherwise, we might as well say, "you read too much at home," or "you cook too much," or "you listen to the radio too much," or "you sew too much."

Perhaps I blog too much.

Take a stand for life

What I wrote the Seattle Times today regarding their unfortunate editorial view:

"Editor, the Times:

Your April 25th opinion perpetuates two common fallacies regarding the abortion debate. First, your third paragraph ("this 5-4 decision...push legislatures to tighten...") seems to be warning us that legislatures, rather than courts, might well shape abortion policy down the road. Golly, we can't have that! Of course, that is exactly what citizens should want. We want the voice of the people, not the voice of an oligarchy, making our laws. The only exception to this occurs when legislation takes away the rights of the people--(slaves were deprived of life in order to extend the liberties of slave-owners); ironically, our current abortion laws take away the life of the defenseless so that we might extend the liberty of the mother. Seems like a weird trade to me.

Second, your next-to-last paragraph sets up a straw man to win nods from the cheap seats: that "doctors know better than courts". Just like courts know better than the electorate--which, uh, includes doctors?? So which is it today? In fact, law and court have made doctor moral-know-how on the issue irrelevant. It is silly and elitist to think that doctors (or courts) "know better" than the rest of us on the strictly moral (not medical) question that always undergirds this conflict."

Lighting Candles

I was reading again. This time, an article by a University of Chicago law professor about the challenges faced by "human rights advocates" on today's global stage. The prof noted that during the cold war, we in the West tended to assume that global citizens all longed for "human rights" but were simply suppressed by authoritarian regimes. Since that time, however, many of these regimes have embraced some form of liberal democracy, but this has not been followed by an attendant change in human rights values. It turns out that countries have other views about such rights that don't necessarily conform to Western Enlightenment ideals. China, for example, while striving slowly for greater freedom, doesn't seem to trust the level of "freedom" we enjoy here--they have different values about authority, family, and the like.

The point: it's hard to control it. Probably impossible. Even high-volume cries about human rights can't make populations embrace it. They have to figure it out the "hard way." In the meantime, western progressive democracies can, as Churchill said, "light a candle" rather than "curse the darkness." In other words, go set an example.

In the churches this is and will continue to be true. We can't guarantee outcomes in other congregations--souls saved, high levels of maturity, etc. We can talk about it, spur each other on--all to some effect. But the most important thing we can do in Seattle is simply set an example. That's true congregationally, and even in each Bible Talk.

Who's willing to step up?

Scott Green - 4/20/2007

I was reading a Peggy Noonan column on the online Wall Street Journal this morning about Virginia Tech and responsibility. I usually start the post-devotional morning (not at 4:30am, I’m afraid, like Darin Ford!!) by reading newspapers for 30 minutes—I recommend the headlines from both the WSJ and the New York Times; they make a good comparison.

Anyway, Noonan was commenting on the Va Tech counseling services—how the director seemed committed to making America’s worst mass murderer a victim instead of a perpetrator (perhaps I am over-interpreting both the director and Ms. Noonan): we, the government, the school, the community didn’t "reach out" enough to a "troubled" person. We didn’t have a good enough "safety net."

Of course there is some truth to this—we can always do "more." Who couldn’t admit the need to "serve more," "do better," or "work harder at parenting"? There’s always room for improvement.
But there’s an even heavier truth to admit: unless we’re literally an irrational, incoherent, confused lunatic (think schizophrenics and psychotics), we—not the government, not even our parents—are ultimately and mostly responsible for becoming, being, and indulging the heart of a "hater." Every human being, in the end, is responsible for the maintenance of his or her heart: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23). A darkened heart can become the wellspring of death, as it did on Monday.

Sympathy is a good thing but responsibility is a more empowering thing. When Dorothy found out how to get back to Kansas, the Scarecrow said, "I should have thought of it for you!" To which the good witch responded, "No, she had to figure it out for herself."

Make sure you guard your heart.

Jay Kelly - 4/16 - 4/18

Carol and I and the girls are on the plane home from a Spring break visit to my parents’ house in Florida. It was mostly a time of relaxation and refreshment. One highlight of our trip was yesterday’s worship service with the Orlando Church of Christ. We walked in looking for old friends and found Kristin and Cyndy Hessell right away. They were members of the City Sector of the Seattle Church for years and years before making the Orlando Church their spiritual home. Kristin and Cyndy send their love to all of you , especially the singles. Eddie Francis, an Orlando Church elder, preached a great lesson on proper respect for authority. Lunch after church was a blast with Dennis and Lorna Heide, old ministry friends from Denver and LA days.

Boarding this flight I asked the stewardess what kind of plane it was (my dad, a retired airline pilot, always asks me and I never know, because I never care). She said, "OLD, I wish we were on one that wasn’t THIS old." I’m thinking maybe that wasn’t a wise response, but she looked like she’s been doing this job 15 years too long so I acted like it was normal for her to share her concern with a paying passenger. Just before we take off there is an abrupt stop and the pilot announces that some of the flaps aren’t working correctly and we have to spend 10 minutes with maintenance. Three hours later he says, "well, folks, they’re just spoiler flaps and we’d only need those to stop when landing in snow and ice, so we’re going to go ahead without them. It’s nothing to concern yourselves with." Then he says, "we also noticed that we were 2,000 pounds short on fuel for this trip, so after they finish filling us up we’ll be on our way. During the 3 hr tarmac stop I see two men walk to the bathroom with guns visible on their belts. I’m thinking that air marshals should hide their guns so that the evil terrorists don’t know who to kill first with their nail files and shampoo bombs. Later I see the criminal in cuffs, leather straps and chains sitting in the back seat between them and feel much better about the gunmen doing their jobs. You can’t make this stuff up. We felt like we were on the set of a sitcom. We prayed, we flew, we landed and we’re thanking God for our return to Seattle, a city with no snow or ice on its runways.

Scott Green - 4/18/2007

I found out two weeks ago that I’ve been accepted to the Masters program in Marriage and Family Therapy at Seattle Pacific University. Classes start on a part-time basis this September and continue for almost three years.
Why go back to school? I have three reasons. First, I do believe the church needs a licensed therapist. We have so many marriages and families in the church that it makes sense for at least one staff person to make this academic investment. Second, I’d like to be in a position to augment the Family Dynamics Training courses with progressive knowledge of my own—can we tailor the program or broaden it in a way that increases the marriage tools we have and better reaches out to the world? Third, building my own counseling practice over time gives the church options—what if disciples feel I’m brain-dead for the ministry at 60? (Well, I hope not!) Or what if there’s a need in China or Hong Kong someday that doesn’t exactly translate into a full-time ministry position? Being a competent therapist gives us all some flexibility in the long run.

Don’t worry. I still love being an Evangelist. It’s a calling and a passion. I just want to hopefully add a whole wing of good teaching to the church in this vital area.

When I was in my 20’s, I just wanted to get through the college courses and materials. Now, I really want to know it. Pray for me (and Stephen!) going off to college this fall.

Scott Green - 4/15/2007

Like everyone, I heard today with a heavy heart about the murders in Blacksburg Virginia. The last I heard there were 31 victims, most of them students. I’m from Virginia and have been to the campus of Virginia Tech. Two of my best H.S. friends went to college there.

Two things are on my mind right now about this hellish reality. First, where was the killer the day I visited campus? My 1979 visit was fine, but I’m sure today, someone died on that campus that shouldn’t have even been there. I need to count my blessings for the life I have and how long I’ve lived. Our lives are but a mist, a vapor, and every day is precious and full of grace. We are mortal, short-lived, fragile, and closer to death than we usually comprehend.

Second, I noted that the news media, as usual, lacked the vocabulary to comprehend what had happened. They call these murders "a tragedy." On this terrible day, I’d like to say that "Romeo and Juliet" is a tragedy. Or Hurricane Katrina. Or the flooding, this past winter, of some of our members’ homes. But the intentional, ruthless murder of 31 innocent young people at Virginia Tech is much more than just "tragic." It’s sinful. It’s an outrage. I marvel that we spend so much time in this country being "outraged" about all kinds of questionable political matters, but when it comes to sin, the cat’s got our tongue.

These poor kids were murdered. Sin, as Romans 1 predicts, gave birth to death. And as the news media speculates now, ad nauseam, about what excuses "drove" the murderer, may we be a people of greater conviction that Jesus had it right: "don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean…for from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts…" (Mark 7:18-21)

Scott Green - 4/13/2007

This past Monday-Wednesday I had the honor of traveling to Washington D.C. to co-host (with Baltimore’s Douglas Arthur) a small conference devoted to the spiritual art and calling of "Church Building." The third annual Church Builders’ Workshop convened near Dulles airport in the town of Reston Virginia, where we heard tremendous lessons from elders, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries.

Two things smacked me upside the head: Fred Faller’s treatment of "spiritual gifts" as delineated in 1 Corinthians 12, and Mike Fontenot’s closing speech about the relationship of the preached word to our faith. I think these two issues are HUGE right now for the Seattle church.

Fred pointed out that identifying and using our God-given gifts for the body of Christ and for the lost help us live zealous lives for Jesus. If we don’t know what our gifts are, or if we neglect to use them for God, we tend to feel a little lost as a Christian, and drift into being spectators instead of players on the field of life.
I think my "gifts" are these: I’m a good motivator, strategic thinker, communicator, listener, and counselor. I’m not bad at volleyball.

Readers: are you using your gifts for the body and for the lost? If not, why not? I predict that when you dedicate yourself to this proposition, you will find incredible fulfillment as a disciple. You will have found "your calling" in the spiritual realms, and your role as a personal missionary for Jesus will be a great joy to you, not a burden.
So let’s do it! I am recommitting myself to these very things, and starting this Sunday, I will call every group in the Seattle church to do likewise. When we all give our gifts, the church will look like Christmas

Scott Green - 4/12/2007

Yesterday was my 47th birthday. I found out that sports radio KJR announcer Mitch Levy has the same birthday—he was moaning on the air about turning 40 and what a serious problem he was having with that. Mitch, it’s worse than you think: the birthdays keep coming anyway! We think we have a crisis with "Global Warming," but here’s a really inconvenient truth: we have an epidemic of Global Aging.

What is the point of aging? And of disease? Why did God construct or alter (post-Eden?) the material universe in this way so that we each mature physically, but then undergo a slow decline that, with louder and louder peals of anatomical mishap, heralds our eventual departure from this world?

We know from Romans 1 that God made the surrounding world to illustrate his spiritual nature and our spiritual nature "so that men are without excuse." Is aging an advertisement? Perhaps sleep is meant to truly remind us daily of the reality of death and resurrection. Perhaps aging is meant to relentlessly remind us that we are fragile, that without God we deteriorate, and that judgment day is on its way.

What an upbeat birthday message! But I am thinking that’s the point—each birthday is a message about the gift of life and the gift of eternal life.

Jay Kelly - 3/29/2007

High point/low point is a fun family tradition at our dinner table. Today had both highs and lows for sure. Breakfast with an old friend, Ron Schulz was full of great conversation and warmth. The Chelan Café is where we always meet to catch up. Didn’t have my usual Chelan Café French toast as I was going from a late breakfast to an early lunch with Marc Melino. Periodic lunches with Marc are always very encouraging. We have more in common than anyone would ever guess.

A few afternoon hours of office work followed by dinner with Carol and the girls. All four of us can enjoy dinners together more often now that the basketball season is over for Paige and Chandler. Love that they’re such gifted athletes, hate what eight practices and two games can do to our weekly schedule.

The low point of the day was a serious road rage incident on the way to mid-week. The downtown bicyclist seemed to come out of nowhere and did not accept my apology for not having seen him. I was consumed with anger, sinned in a variety of ways and it was very ugly. I pulled up to mid-week feeling totally defeated. I confessed to Charles Robison and Scott Lewis the embarrassing details before things got started and felt a little relief. I have imagined this guy coming to church as one of your visitors and walking out when he sees I’m the minister.

After mid-week Scott and Lisa Lewis and I met with all the Single Bible Talk Leaders for discipleship group over at the Lewis’ house. This was another high point. We talked about the future of our ministry and how to reach out effectively to all the singles around us every day. Ever since our two-night getaway with the Singles Leaders in Port Ludlow four months ago I feel so much closer to everyone in our group (See pics). We are an odd combination of souls from all over life’s map, but we’re forging a family, we love each other and we’re determined to save as many as possible.

Jay kelly - 3/27/2007

Woke up tired, but happy from the late night d-group fun. Kids to school, time with God at Rite Aid and off to the Greens’ house for staff meeting. This week is our administrative meeting. We have great fellowship over bagels and coffee. Scott starts the meeting off with a new twist. Instead of the usual good news sharing we are encouraged to share a conviction that will spur the others on. Marcus opens with a prayer and we have a great time of sharing. Next we spend hours going around the room reporting on our various responsibilities and upcoming events. Alex Whitaker and Daren Overstreet have obviously caught a bug of some kind. They’re pushing through, but are really sick. Appreciate their hearts to not miss the meeting even when it’s really hard to be there.

A late lunch with Scott Green afterward is our tradition. Usually Daren comes too, but he’s getting worse and heads home.

Carol and I pick up Paige at West Seattle High on the way home. At 4:30 pick up Chandler from volleyball practice. Homework, chores, they I take Chandler to Washington Middle School for her orchestra concert.

Late dinner at 9:30 when we get home. Finally, Carol and I get the kids to bed and have a little time together to unwind, pray and go to sleep.

Jay Kelly - 3/26/2007

Great day today. Didn’t get up for a 4am QT and workout like Darin Ford probably did. Amen to that. Mondays are always a welcomed break from our weekends on the run. Dropped Chandler off at school at 7:35. Hit 7 Eleven for Pop Tarts and a Big Gulp (Diet Coke, not Pepsi) and went to my quiet time spot in the Rite Aid parking lot. The view of Puget Sound and the Olympics from the corner of this parking lot amazes and inspires me. I have a couple of readings to do in my 365 Chronological Bible to get caught up to today’s date. Lots to pray for including Lynne and Linda’s cancer, BMW driving single-guy converts, Seattle, South Sound and all of the NW churches. Back home Carol is having her time with God in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea as is her custom.

I run to the dump to get the junk I’ve been carrying around for days out of my pickup while Carol pays bills. We have our Discipleship Time at Pho Than Brothers Vietnamese Restaurant for lunch and plan out the week. We talk about how things are going for the ministry and the kids. We reflect on a GREAT marriage retreat in Bellingham and fuss over the details of the retreat budget. Thought we broke even, but the marrieds drank three times the gallons of coffee we’d budgeted for and now we’re over budget.

Monday is also DP times with Paige and Chandler. We haven’t always kept our commitment to this but recent family drama has humbled us and called us back to faithfulness with our Sunday night family devotionals and Monday afternoon DP times with the kids. I had Paige last Monday, so today is my time with Chandler. She had a better plan than me, so we went with hers. We baked cookies, studied John chapter 3 and read the first chapter of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. We had a great talk and time of prayer. This was one of our best DP times ever.

At 7pm Carol and I met at Paul and Shelli Martin’s house for a Discipleship Group birthday party for Tina Robison. Todd and Casey Schoepflin, Scott and Lisa Lewis, Charles and Tina Robison, the Martins and Carol and I make up our Westside Marrieds D-Group. One birthday tradition is for each of us to pick a special song and Shelli burns the CD for them. We gathered in the Martins family room and took turns introducing our songs for Tina. Mine was "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman. It was one of our best CDs yet. We could market the D-Group Anthology CD set and finance our church buildings. After snacks, drinks and music we went back in time at the local roller rink; it was adult night. We skated for hours and crammed into the photo booth at closing time (sadly, Todd and Casey had to go early to relieve their babysitter and missed the photo op.). I felt like I was in Jr. High all over again in Jersey. Roller skating is like riding a bike no moderno roller blades for us. It all came back to some of us. Tina was the best by far. She always surprises our group with hidden talents that come out at random times. Go Trampolina!

Got home much later than usual, but happy that we made another great D-group memory and encouraged OLD Trampolina.

At Ford - 3/24/2007

One of our greatest desires is to have an impact in our neighborhood. When we moved into our neighborhood, we made it our goal to build friendships with all of our neighbors. Last summer, we had neighborhood parties together, fun summer activities with our kids and cul-de-sac barbeques. One of our neighbors just sold their house and moved to the Midwest and we had a going away dinner party for them.

This week, we invited our newest neighbors to dinner. We heard about their lives and we were excited to start building a friendship with them. I also had one of our neighbors over who is a new mom and we were able to share "new baby" stories. I have been meeting so many new moms that I am now inspired to start a "New Mom’s Group". This will be a great way for me to reach out to my new friends with the help of some of the stay-at-home moms in the North.
I just started teaching the Keys Class at the North Women’s midweek services. This week we did the study on Seeking God. As I prepared for the class, Darin and I were reminded of how God set the times and places for us so "perhaps" we will reach out for Him (Acts 17). Who is God putting in your path so He can use you to impact their life? Having this scripture on our hearts this week has really helped us be more aware of all those who are hurting around us.

Darin Ford - 3/20/2007

Usually, my morning starts between 4:30am and 5am. I have my quiet time and then I go to the gym for an hour workout. Some days, I have my quiet time after I workout at Starbucks. I am back home by 7am in time to get my son ready for his day while my wife, At, gets our daughter ready. Then I am out again by 9am for class if I don’t have an appointment before that. (I am taking a class at Edmonds Community College to complete some classes I need in order to pursue a Masters in Music.) This hour long class usually starts at 10:30am. This week is a little different because I am off of school. It is Spring Break! I am glad to be off (at least from classes!) for two weeks
This morning started very much the same way. I was up at 4:30am, had my quiet time and then went to the gym. My time at the gym was encouraging. I ran into a "gym buddy" I have been reaching out to and after a brief discussion, he told me he had made the decision to start studying the bible. I am looking forward to our first study.
The rest of the day was spent tying up loose ends. I spent all morning at Harbor Pointe Middle School where the North meets for services once a month to clear out the storage room. They were making changes and needed us to pick up our items as soon as possible. I was home by 1:00pm for a quick lunch and then did some work on our upcoming Easter Service. At 3pm, I left for an appointment. That day At did some much needed work on our upcoming Singles Retreat. It was a day full of phone calls and research on the internet. By the end of the day, she found a great location for our retreat and has already started working on the contract with the facility. She wanted to get a head start on planning the retreat so that we could invite the Singles from other Northwest Churches and give them the time needed to make necessary arrangements to be there. We have had numerous phone calls from Singles letting us know they would love to be a part of our Singles Retreats here. After my appointment, it was back to the house where I took over being with the kids for an hour while At did a bible study with Shannon. She has been studying for a few weeks with At and the singles sisters. After her study, we put the kids to bed and had Bible Talk. Our Bible Talk is made up of the campus students and some singles in the North. (There is another singles bible talk in the North besides this one). It is a great group. After bible talk, we did some work on an article we are writing for the web page.

We are generally exhausted at the end of our days but it is a "good kind" of exhaustion. When you are meeting with people and studying the bible with friends, it is worth it and a blessing to be a part of impacting the lives of those around you.

Darin Ford - 3/19/2007

This past weekend was a great weekend. The marriage retreat was incredible. Jay and Carol did a great job planning the entire weekend. It was great to connect with couples that AT and I had not connected with in a while. The fellowship was deep and real – the class content was practical and relatable and gave us a lot to think about in our marriage. Attending a marriage retreat keeps you humble and inspires you to keep working on making your marriage great.

During one of the class sessions, Bruce Williams (Bruce and his wife Robyn from LA were our speakers at the retreat) made the point that we need to appreciate the differences that exist between us and our spouses. I realized I had allowed some of the things that attracted me to At in the beginning to become annoying. So I decided to repent!! Why do some of the things that attracted you to your spouse in the beginning become annoying years later? Do we become too comfortable? Do we get lazy?

On Saturday night, AT and I were able to talk about what had impacted us so far in the classes. Sometimes we leave retreats feeling like we need to change everything and then we get overwhelmed and change nothing. So, we decided to change one thing. We had a great time talking about how we would make our marriage even better.
Mondays are a day of rest for us. In the morning, I had my “Starbucks time” with Nicholas (my 20-month old son). I have two Starbucks times with him a week and have been doing so since he was a week old. This is my time to bond with him. This morning as we walked in the doors at our regular Starbucks location, Nicholas was greeted by his fan club – the Starbucks employees. Nicholas has really had an impact on them.

In the afternoon, Nicholas, Hazel (my 5 week old daughter) and I spent time together while At went grocery shopping. Later on, AT and I had our discipling time, we made plans for the week and talked about some future ideas for the North Sector.

Daren Overstreet - 3/14/2007

My first job after gradutating from the University of Washington was a draftsperson at a local engineering firm. A draftsperson spends at least eight hours a day in front of a computer, drawing architectural plans that include thousands of small details. When immersed in a project, it was common to look up at the clock and realize my eyes were fixed on my computer screen for hours. After roughly eight months at this job, I found my eyesight was being affected. I could see clearly directly in front of me, but when trying to focus on something far away, it got blurry. In fact, I was becoming near sighted! I quickly rushed to the eye doctor, who confirmed my experience. His solution? As you work in such small details on your computer, you have to get in the habit of lifting your eyes every 15 minutes or so, and focusing on something down the hall from your office. Doing this will keep your vision healthy, able to clearly see things both near and far away. It reminds me of daily life in the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday was a full day of meetings, phone calls, and e-mail correspondence. In the middle of such a routine, I can get bogged down in the details of life and ministry. While this is to be expected, there is the risk of only focusing on what is immediately ahead of me. I can easily develop clear vision for the immediate (here and now) demands of life, while the bigger picture (future) gets blurred.

My last meeting of the day yesterday made me pause and reflect on my future: our Marriage Dynamics class. We have heard people rave about, enthusiastically proclaiming it the best invesement they’ve ever made in their marriage! We sent three couples to faclitator training last October, and just began our first class here in the South Sound. One of the first admonishments was very wise: don’t get bogged down in the details of the homework and significant investment of time; see the big picture of a healthy marriage that lasts well into the future!

How often do we stop and reflect on our actions in the present? The details of work can consume our minds. Has anyone else out there felt yourself going from one small, immediate crisis to another in your role as a parent? Have you become fixated on the consistent, small "duties" as a disciple? We’ll never get around this experience – it is life. However, by lifting our eyes periodically to whats ahead of us can help us to direct our steps and prioritize our duties instead of just being busy. So as you go about your day, every once in a while, stop, pause and ask yourself some questions:
1. Is this the most important thing to be doing right now?
2. Even thought this task seems hard now, is it building for the future?

Daren Overstreet - 3/12/07 A Day of Rest

Monday is usually a day to rest from a very busy weekend. Yesterday was full and productive. We had a great worship service in the South Sound, followed by a Bible Talk Leaders meeting. We shared good news, updated spring plans, talked a little about ministry strategy, then celebrated the birthdays of Daryl Wallace and Bruce Gullickson – both tireless servants of the church. After a quick stop by the house, we headed to David and Noemi Garvida’s house for dinner. They live in a beautiful new home in Lacey (designed by a very spiritual architect) for one of the most incredible dinners I’ve ever experienced. We enjoyed the time with several friends, and our kids always look forward to being together. Finally, we headed back to our house for a men’s core group leadership meeting. We discussed our relationships, prayed, and talked deeply about how to grow closer as we build God’s church here.
Today it was important to spend time with Karla, plan our week ahead. Since it is my day off, I took the time to get a bit done around the house. I mowed the lawn, planted a rose bush, we cleaned the house, then took Ellie out to lunch. After lunch we picked up the boys from school (with spring report cards in hand!). We promptly read the report cards, and then headed to ice cream to celebrate their good reports. God has blessed us with three wonderful kids. Life is certainly busy, but very rewarding.

Monday night was our Families Bible Talk. We discussed the issue of spiritual growth out of 1 Peter. It was followed by food, fellowship, and a time devoted to planning our progressive dinner. It is less than two weeks away, but we are all excited about it. Every couple has one goal: bring one other couple to this evangelistic dinner. We have decided it is important to be very strategic in our outreach. There are busy schedules, lots of kids, and limited time together. By planning one major event (with minor ones scattered in) per quarter, we feel we will sow seed that God will blossom in 2007.

Alex Whitaker - 3/8/2007

One day more. What a morning. Two of the campus interns came by this morning for breakfast and help with planning the campus calendar. We all had breakfast together, then talked through the plans for the next few months. Thank goodness for Megan and Landon. They both work so hard for the Lord and don't ask or receive much credit. Danni came up with a great Devo plan for the spring, so I submitted to her ideas. Actually, it was really easy because her plan was alot better than mine. She and Megan came up with ideas that incorporated practical fellowship and lots of interaction. My plan was not quite as interactive.

This afternoon I had three Bible studies. One of them was really disappointing because the guy we studied with wanted to look deeper into the commentary than he did into the word of God. After about 45 min it became obvious his heart was closed to the Truth (for now). But what was more discouraging was I felt I could have done a better job listening to him. Well, none of us is perfect, and that's where God's grace steps in, especially for the disciples. We are never perfect when we study with people, and its important to realize we are not the reason someone becomes a Christian or doesn't; yet, we realize we can further extend God's grace. In that study, I don't know how much I extended grace, but I did point out truth and clarity in the scripture, and vague ambiguous duplicitous language in the commentary. Sometimes, people just don't respond.

One great study I had today was with a frat guy who was best friends with a brother in our ministry. This guy has such a kind and light hearted personality, I can see him making it. He had a great response to sin and we set up time on Staurday to study again.

Tonight our BT is meeting at Pie Cora's NYC style pizza. I can't wait. I love NY Pizza, not the fake stuff. NY Pizza has to be made by someone from NY (or at least a New Yorker needs to own it). If not, it's not NY pizza, it's pizza from wherever that person is from. For the record, Pie Cora's is owned by a a guy from NY, and the pizza shows it.

Marcus Wallace - 3/7/ 2006 "I Can't Feel My Legs"

Although I agreed to lift weights with my friend (the same guy who I studied the bible with yesterday) early this morning, I should have known that “me lighting weights” and “him lifting weights” were two very different things. I am a skinny man who probably weighs 150 pounds if I were soaked to bone with water while Branden is a well-built former starting running back at Princeton University who weighs about 220 pounds. Oh and did I mention that he also played semi-pro football over in Germany. Lifting weights for him is about as naturally as breathing is for me. After picking him up at 6:00 am (yes, it was extremely early) this morning, my friend, Branden, started me out on a workout routine that worked muscles in my legs and parts of my body that I didn’t know existed.

After some light warm-up stretches, we did lounges down a 50-yard track three times. To say that I was hurting was an understatement. The crazy thing was that Branden did all three sets of lounges down the track as if they were easy and he even carried two dumbbells weighing 25 pounds a piece in each hand as he lounged through each set. The only thing I carried in my hands was my dignity and humility because after doing such an exercise both these character traits of mine were gone. After the first set of lounges, I thought I was going to die. Somehow I made it through. After finishing the exercise I thought we were done for the day but then came the bouncy ball-hip exercise. The goal of this exercise is too move a bouncy-ball underneath your body by only using your ankles and your hips. One starts off this exercise by lying on their back with their ankles pointed to the wall over the ball. They then force the ball to move with their ankles by making a 90 degree angle with their body. Branden once again did this exercise as if he invented it while I couldn’t even do one set of the exercise correctly. It was so pathetic! Thankfully after this, we finished up with some lighter exercises that were easier for me to do. However as a result of a lower body workout with Branden: I felt like I could no longer feel my legs. Pray for me and for my legs to be able to move tomorrow.

After working out with the Incredible Hulk, oops I mean my friend, Branden, I took a short nap and then went over to Pierce College to have a “Seeking God” bible study with a friend of mine. The study went great and my friend says he wants to seek after a relationship with God! Amen! When the study was over, I then went out to lunch with my friend Ryan Novak who a member of the Singles ministry in Tacoma. We went to McDonalds (I know they are not the healthiest food around but boy are they good) and talked about what strengths and weaknesses we saw in each others characters. Ryan encouraged me by saying that to him I was a leader who did a good job of leading the Singles/Teens/Campus groups in Tacoma but that he has felt that I am a bit too structured in my decision-making as it related to leadership. I felt grateful for his input because he reminded me that I need to be more open to thinking outside the box and not be so technocratic as a leader.
Following lunch I went home, made some phone calls, and then met with my co-leader, Marquia Verrett, to discuss the Teen ministry. Marquia and I lead the Teen ministry here in Tacoma and we usually talk about how things are going with the group every other week. After our meeting, I then went to our church’s weekly Midweek Service. Daren Overstreet (Evangelist of the South Sound Church of Christ and my boss, I mean great, wonderful, awesome, and patient boss if he is reading this) led us in a great devotional about how we as disciples of Christ always need to think of things in our lives that need to be changed to be more like Jesus. Using John 15, he challenged us just as Jesus did that we need to be constantly pruned in order to be effective servants for God. After listening to him speak, I discovered that the areas of my life that need to be pruned the most were the following: 1) Leadership—prune shying away from confronting others (especially other leaders) on pertinent spiritual issues, 2) Faithlessness—prune my lack of faith of what God can do as it relates to evangelism, 3) Patience—prune my lack of patience to see God produce fruit and also learn how to be more patient with my fiancée, Naomi, 4) Purity—prune away my double standard about absolute purity regardless of my up-incoming wedding this June. How about you, what needs to be pruned in your life? Well that’s it for my day. I may not be able to feel my legs but thank God that even though I am sinner, he still loves and cares for me. This is something that I must never forget.

Ryan Flynn - 3/6/2007 What Better Time?

It is funny to me where inspiration sometimes comes from. Today was one of those days. I think it was the 65+ degree weather and that for some reason today I spent a lot of time driving (But what is better than driving on a gorgeous Seattle day?). I drove to a Bible study at 7:30 this morning at Seattle University, drove home, drove Steve Chin and Jeff Wong to the airport, drove out to staff at the Mercer Island Community Center, and finally rushed home to make an afternoon Bible study at UW.

With all this driving came plenty of time with the windows down and my music as loud as tolerable (except with Steve and Jeff). For some reason I decided to listen to Rage Against the Machine today. I don’t know why; not really one of my favorite bands, and maybe not the best driving music either (Road Rage?), but whatever… it got me inspired for my day.

On one song, that probably has no spiritual message intended, and instead a political one that I probably didn’t even catch, the instruments cut away, to add effect I guess, and a raspy but emphatic voice whispers,
It has to start somewhereIt has to start sometime. What better place than here. What better time than now.
I don’t know if they coined this phrase, or who did, but it stuck with me. In a strange way I think that this would be the heart God wants me to have; a heart of initiative, not to look for someone else to step up, but at myself as a gap-filler, a heart of passion and even a heart of revolution.

I wonder if Jesus felt some of the same in Luke chapter 4 as He began His ministry in His hometown. I wonder if He felt a bit like, “It’s time to start, it starts right here, and it starts with me!” After all, He did get baptized and then leave to be tempted for 40 days by Satan. I think He was about ready to get going with things, don’t you?
It is a breakthrough point in Jesus’ ministry, an investment point, a point where He puts himself all-in. I admire His courage here, and I always wonder what it was like when He was drug out to the edge of that hill. I wonder if He thought it was the end, that He screwed it up and it was all over. It’s possible. Mostly, I wonder what it felt like as He “walked right through the crowd and went on His way.” What were His thoughts? Was He calm, cool, and collected? It kind of seems like it. Among all of His thoughts, there must have been one that said, “Well, it’s started!”

Alex Whitaker - 3/16/2007

Morning: Some days just start off incredible. I don't know what it is about sunny days in Seattle, but they feel ten times better than anywhere else in the world. Ryan and I are doin a Bible study with Dave, a student from S.U. Dave's been studying the Bible with us for about a month now since Ashley Fontelerra met him and invited him to Church. All I can say about him is that he has one of the most humble and sincere hearts of anyone I've ever met. I am so surprised sometimes of how much work God has done on people's hearts before you meet them. It reminds me that God is always working and the Holy Spirit is working even when we aren't.

Staff meeting was great. We met at the Mercer Island Community Center and discussed the recent NW leadership conference and plans for our ministries. Honestly, I have a hard time sitting through meetings. As a staff officer in the Army I had to go to 3 staff meetings a week; however, our staff meetings are much better because you are with best friends and have one of the best leaders, Scott Green, directing the discussion. Staff was great. Afterwards, some of us met together for lunch to plan for the upcoming teen camp.

Evening: This was a light evening. Danielle had a Bible study at the house at 9pm, so I set up a meeting with our RSI visualization team. 4 students have volunteered to use their talents to put together inspirational videos for the church. They are very creative and artistic and came up with more ideas in 45 minutes than I could generate in a week. It reminded me about talents and gifts, we all have them, yet I don't know if we all use them to build up the Church. Sitting with the Viz team made me realize our Church is filled with talented people who may not know how to use their particular gifts for the Kingdom. Note to self: ask more people about their gifts and how they want to use them for God!

Marcus Wallace - 3/5/2007

I woke up this Monday morning much like other Monday mornings wondering which campus I would spend the majority of my time at today. Here in Tacoma I usually visit five different college campuses—University of Washington (Tacoma), Pacific Lutheran University, University of Puget Sound, Pierce College, Tacoma Community College—during my week. Instead of a having one main campus with 20 to 40,000 students similar to the University of Washington (Seattle), the city of Tacoma university environment is comprised of these five schools with each having about 2,000 students a piece.

After much debating in my mind, I decided to go Pierce College which is located a little outside of the city of Tacoma in Lakewood. After parking my car on campus, I found a secluded place to pray before going on campus. I prayed for God to bless our campus ministry with many studies and to lead me to people who were open to hearing the gospel. After I got done praying, I made my way to the campus library to have a quiet-time and to plan my appointments for the week. However as I was on my way to library, I saw an opportunity to share with someone who I have wanted to reach out to for some time. The guy I shared my faith with is extremely influential on campus and is an officer for the student government at Pierce. Although at first I was somewhat afraid, I stopped him, encouraged him on the great job that the student government has been doing in putting on activities during the winter, and told him about the convictions of our campus ministry. He seemed surprised by my boldness to just strike up a conversation with him but after talking for a while, he gave me his number and we both agreed that we would hang out sometime and talk more about spiritual things. I was glad that God gave me the strength to open my mouth. Sharing my faith is never easy but I know that it is necessary help a lost and hurting world (especially in the campus ministry). How about you? Are you active in sharing your faith? If so, keep sharing. If not, repent and share with someone tomorrow. The world needs to be shared with.

After finishing my quiet-time and planning time, I left Pierce College and went to Fred Meyer to do some food shopping for myself and buy some drinks for our campus bible discussion group on Thursday. After this I went home, ate some lunch and watched the show "Pardon the Interruption (PTI)" on ESPN. This show is definitely one my favorites! After the show, I went to Federal Way to have a bible study with a teenager in the church who wants to become a Christian. We did a study about the dangers of spending too much time with friends who don’t want to follow God. I could tell that he was challenged but also inspired that he could do it if he relied on God.

I went back to Tacoma and picked up my beautiful fiancée for our bi-monthly appointment for marriage counseling with Daren and Karla Overstreet. I look forward to this time for the spiritual training that the Overstreets provide and the amazing food that Karla makes. Mmm! Mmm! That woman sure knows how to cook! Naomi and I then dashed off to attend a Singles, Campus, and Teen ministry Bible talk Leaders meeting. We usually get together with this leadership group once every two weeks to talk about bible studies and how to better lead these groups in the church. I was fired up hear that there is a woman in the Singles ministry who is close to getting baptized and that there are 10 bible studies combined currently going on out of the three ministries. Our goal this year to see a harvest of souls saved in the city of Tacoma. But now that I think about it, isn’t that always our goal as disciples? I know it should be.

We rushed back to my house to meet with the campus ministry to watch the TV shows “24” and “Heroes.” We absolutely love these two shows and can’t wait to see all the twists that take place from one episode to the next. And with that, that was the end of my day.

Alex Whitaker - 3/3/2007

Morning: Today is supposed to be a day to rest and get organized. I find that when I spend some extra time planning and getting my personal life in order, I'm more productive and available throughout the week.

Noon: Danni and I took the family for a walk around Greenlake this afternoon. We prayed together like we haven't done for some time. I don't know what it is exactly, but I know I feel something trying to keep me from praying. Most of the time, Satan accuses me with the following lies: God doesn't hear you. You are a hyporcrite. You don't really love Him. So today, we fought through all that and prayed. It was a real prayer and moved me to tears. I prayed about my relationship with my father, my sins and burdens and the week to come. Afterwards, we got ice cream and headed home.

Evening: After dinner, we had a family devo on joy. Danni read Psalm 95 as our theme scripture. Afterwards, we sang and just played his new guitar (Thanks Grandma). Then the kids went to bed while Danni and I stayed up planning our week and making follow up calls. I worked on a dating article and we watched a show about a family with 16 kids. We were pretty inspired because the couples kids were so well behaved and everyone was so joyful. Their family reminded me of the scripture in Ephesians that says each part does it's work. Danni and I thought about God's plan for family. Are smaller families a social decision or a spiritual one? The parents looked happy, but very tired.

Scott Green - 3/3/2007 "How the Church Grows"

I noted yesterday that Lynne and I had just flown back from Sacramento—the 2007 Northwest Leaders Retreat hosted by the local church there. Actually, the entire Seattle and Tacoma staffs were there, along with leaders from Vancouver B.C., Calgary, Edmonton, Spokane, Rogue Valley, Ore., Boise, Missoula, and Anchorage. Together, we call ourselves the “Northwest family of churches.” While each congregation is self-responsible, we cooperate with one another in basic ways because we recognize we aren’t self-sufficient. The same interdependence we see within a congregation is something needed between congregations.

In that spirit, we met under the theme, “All By Itself?” Our time together featured a deep and stimulating discussion of Christian Schwarz’ book, “Natural Church Development,” more discussions on gift differentiation within congregations and within our NW leadership circle, and needed doses of free fellowship time. We welcomed new leaders to the group: Jake Jensen, Chris and Joy Weeks from Missoula, and Ed (I’m forgetting his last name!) from Edmonton (he is the new campus minister).

I just can’t say enough about the blossoming unity of this group. This was easily the very best time we’ve ever had together—as the Psalms say, truly “how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” We spent the first session in confession: what were our leadership and personal needs? What did we hope to obtain from the time together? That night, we met with the Sacramento church, led by Drew and Kathy Nitchoff. We each shared with that congregation what God was doing in our cities and we feasted on the musical leadership of Jon Augustine!
Thursday, we had our book and gifts discussions. The unity in that room on issues of maturity and missions was so inspiring. We all want to see our congregations grow in numbers, in depth of insight, in maturity, and in joy. We seemed to have no defenses with each other and were truly able to “spur one another on.” We made decisions on when to meet together and how to use our collective resources—especially in using M&M to start or revive campus ministries all over the NW—to strengthen one another.

The Schwarz book addresses head-on the paradoxes of church growth we’ve all been trying to better understand these past few years—I wish I could’ve gotten my hands on this when it was written in 1996! The crux of the conundrum is this—churches that get addicted to “quantity goals” tend to lose their way and joy over time (“did we make our quota this year?” Yecch!), and yet, at the same time, clearly the Gospels and Acts unapologetically highlight a tale of quantity growth. How do we keep our zeal for advancing the gospel (which will include being measured in numbers) in our cities and regions without falling into a “numbers motivation?” I agree with Schwarz’ prescription: 1) Goal-setting is crucial, but we need “quality goals,” far more than quantity goals, and these quality goals must resonate to the individual Christian servant; when we sow with quality, quantity victories (souls saved, for example) will come as God’s miracle as well. 2) We should observe quantity indicators not as “goals,” but as indicators of what lies beneath in the congregation; 3) We may pray for Acts-like quantity victories (“God, let us see thousands baptized here”) but only God brings increase—we must stay concerned with the quality things we can each do to sow and water, being truly happy each day with doing our part.

Mark 4 tells the tale of the “growing seed,” and teaches us that the seed grows “all by itself.” And yet the farmer has a concrete role, doesn’t he? Let’s fulfill our roles, and God will be His own miracle grow.

Scott Green - 3/2/2007 "A Week in the Life"

Lynne and I returned this evening from Sacramento, where we attended the ’07 Northwest Leaders Retreat. More on that specifically tomorrow.

The retreat was the best we’ve ever had. But I always find such spiritual excursions away from Seattle bring a subsequent challenge—how do I pick up the pieces of my trashed Seattle ministry schedule? It’s hard to “make it up.”

“Schedule?” you ask. “Don’t ministers just write sermons?” The schedule I keep in Seattle is pretty delicate, actually, and each day and each hour are an investment in the church’s future. Let me illustrate—here’s my typical weekly schedule (with approximate hours in parentheses) here in Seattle:

Monday: (half-day)

• Collaborate with Lynne re any Teen, Staff, or Eastside ideas we have for these ministries/update any problems
• that need solving (1.5 hours)
• Strategic & Creative Thinking for the overall SCC (just me—1.5 hours)
• Lesson Prep for Staff Meeting or Budget Review (1 hr.)
• Staff Meeting Administrative Agenda (1 hr.)
• Email & return phone calls (1 hr.)

Total: about 6 hours

Staff Meeting and/or individual staff training/discipling times (6 hrs.)

Debriefing from my notes of these meetings (thinking through “what next” because of the meeting decisions—1 hr.)

Northwest churches’ phone calls and emails (1 hr.)

Kingdom/International phone calls and emails (1 hr.)

Return local phone calls (1/2 hr.)

Total: about 9-10 hours

Wednesday:

• Weekly organizing with calendar—are my appointments/tasks in alignment with my overall goals? (2 hrs.) \
• Study—Bible, other books, newspapers & articles from the web (5 hrs.)
• Teen Ministry Thinking, memos and meeting preparation (1.5 hrs.)
• Teen Worker Midweek (2 hrs.)
  

Total: about 10 hours

Thursday:

• Teen Ministry follow-up memo (1/2 hr.)
• Writing (web articles, like this one—2 hrs.)
• Sermon Think & Write (2 hrs.)
• Studies with Seekers (4 hrs.)
• Marriage Counseling for SCC members (2 hrs.)
• Email and phone call return (1 hr.)
  

TOTAL: About 11 hours

Friday:

• UW/Whitakers’ DP Time (1.5 hrs.)
• Studies or UW appointments (2.5 hrs.)
• Eastside Core Group DP Time (2.5 hrs.)
• Email & phone call return (1 hr.)

Total: about 7.5 hours (I take lunch off with my wife on Fridays!)

Saturday: Sermon Editing—about 2 hrs. Rest of day is Off!

Sunday: (half-day)

• Sermon Practice (1 hr.)
• Church—Sermon itself (3 hrs. Just kidding. About 35-40 min.)
• BTL appointments and/or BTL meeting in rotating ministries (2.5 hrs.)
  

Total: about 4 hours
The Week: around 50 hours.

As you may imagine, it’s tough to “turn the ministry off,” each day. Often phone calls, emergency needs and the like impinge on the evening/family times. That’s okay by me; if doctors can do it, so can I. I don’t consider leading my bible talk “work,” nor my daily devotions, so I don’t include them here.
When the McCunes arrive to lead the Eastside this summer, my schedule will change significantly—more UW appointments and more time for strategic thinking. Lynne and I will be able to “travel” within the greater SCC more—preaching and teaching in the North, City, Eastside, and Tacoma, and hopefully this will have a unifying and inspirational impact on our ministry direction.

The other interesting development will be “becoming an empty-nester” in the next two years, when both my kids will be off to college. That will open up just about every evening to do good ministry work! My work hours will be off the charts but I think this will be energizing, not tiring. Stay tuned…

Scott Green - 3/1/2007 "Really, really important things"

If sports aren’t important to you, skip down a paragraph or two.

Sonics won handily last night after begin blown off the court by San Antonio the game before. Is there anything smoother than a Ray Allen jump shot? I think he’s the best pure shooter in the game. When the Sonics play poorly, I get angry—why is that? I don’t know any of the players, and the game fades from memory quickly. I think age brings out the coach in Dads (teens would probably use a different word, like “nag”). I want to say to the Sonics—and I want them to write it on their doorposts, and to talk about it when they get up and when they walk along the road, you get the idea—basketball requires a prime directive (or two): get to the rim. In fact, I would say we should just change the name of the sport completely and call it “Get to the Rim-Ball.” Either drive to the basket or get it in the low post—that’s it! Do it EVERY time. When the defense comes out, GO AROUND THAT PLAYER and get to the rim. If the defense (finally) collapses in, THEN you’ve got easy three’s.

The second directive is “MOVE.” Move the ball (pass it quickly); move your body (“move without the ball”). No standing around.

And now, in the words of the supercilious Chris Van Dyke, on to “more important things.” Don’t you love the oblivious condescension? Can you imagine someone starting an anti-Seattle Arts Museum organization with that name? Yes, schools are important, and perhaps in a certain time frame the most important priority. But isn’t it hard to categorically say, no matter what, that “schools are really important, but sports (or arts) are not important by comparison?” Ask an artist or athlete that question. Was Chris Van Dyke a teacher by any chance, or just a frustrated middle school athlete (like me)?

And now on to really important things—see how easy it is to migrate to the Third Soil? I can get caught up in a welter of “concerns”: the drama of sports—here today, gone tomorrow—and in the priorities of social services, schools, etc.—also here today, gone tomorrow. There’s so much opinion out there but I think I can safely offer this: keeping your eyes on the eternal prize gives the best perspective. Someday we will all stand before Jesus and we will all give an account of our lives. What investments will matter to us on that day? Our education? Our house? A family vacation? A promotion? Not feeling well? A remodeling project? (Wait, that one’s actually part of Hell!)

These are the only things that will matter: eternal things. Your relationship with Jehovah and Jesus. Your faithfulness to Truth (read the Scriptures and meditate on them). Your relationships with your family and with Christians. These are what endure, forever and ever. I picture heaven being an ongoing outdoor festival in Bavaria with Jesus—amazing fellowship, amazing sights, and amazing beer. If we get a little bored, we move the party to Hawaii.
What’s your vision of heaven? Keep it firmly in your sights.

Scott Green - 2/27/2007

Sunday was what the early Christians called “The Lord’s Day,” and as one speaker reminded us during communion, the remembrance of Christ on that day is something God’s children have done for about 100,000 times now (over 2000 years). If you do anything that many times, how do you keep it “fresh?” Winning the lottery that many times might get old. Yesterday’s speaker made a great point: you keep it fresh by an updated response. The cross is only as relevant as your willingness and decision to respond this week.

How will I respond, specifically? I have to think more about it.

But Sunday was a great day. I felt called to preach on “How the Kingdom Grows—Are You Blooming?” based on the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. Most of us have applied that parable to the time in our lives when we were lost—what kind of soil were we when approached with the gospel? But yesterday I wanted the Christians to think about “what kind of soil am I?” in reference to “blooming,” to being fruitful in such a way that our lives produce a crop in this world: men and women brought to faith in God in part by what we do and say. Didn’t get any boos yesterday from this message, amen.

I thought it was interesting that at the end of the parable Jesus says, that we can produce a crop, “100, 60, or 30 times what was sown.” The descending order of numbers got my attention, and seemed ironic, sort of like reporting, “the pep rally was attended by 1000’s, possibly even 100’s!”

Our family lunched at home and I tried to take a nap. I failed. So I got up and did the logical thing: I ran four miles. We had a family meeting, then, and prayed together and then watched the Oscars. I think we were mostly pulling for Little Miss Sunshine because of that little girl Olive. We filled out our ballots and bet 5 bucks a person to the family pool. Stephen won the pool, which is really shocking since he never watches movies.

Speaking of gambling, do you know where the Bible prohibits it?

I have said something untrue in today’s entry—do you know what it is?

By tomorrow I’ll get better at blogging and what I write will get more interesting.