core values

3-3-3

3-3-3

Question: What is more important than a good question? Answer: An important quote about the importance of good questions! What do you think of these? “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.” – James Thurber “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” – Eugene Ionesco “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” – Naguib Mahfouz “There are no right answers to wrong questions.” – Ursula K. LeGuin Let me be honest, this whole series has been in response to two questions I found in Dallas Willard’s book, The Great Omission. He wrote: “Since making disciples is the main task of the church, every church ought to be able to answer two questions: What is our plan for making disciples? Is our plan working?” Now, the

Let’s Close with Prayer

Let’s Close with Prayer

I don’t know if this is true or not (and frankly, it sounds suspicious). And I can’t give proper credit to whoever this story comes from because I have no idea who that might be. Nevertheless, it is a good story. Apparently, a new club that featured exotic dancers was nearing its grand opening. Half-a-mile down the road was a very active church that was deeply concerned about the influence this club would have on their community if it opened. And so, they began to hold regular prayer meetings to pray against the club. One week before the club opened officially, they decided it would be wise to conduct a prayer walk around the building site, both as a form of prayer and of protest. Their march even made the news. Interestingly, two days after the club opened, lightning struck the building and the club burned to the ground. The

Engagingly Relevant

Engagingly Relevant

Who towers above all the other saints in antiquity? Who holds the highest spot of spirituality in the ancient world? Without a doubt, it has to be Simeon Stylites. Simeon was born in the Turkish province of Adana which, in 395 AD, was part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Before he was 16 years old, he entered monastic life; and he took to it with reckless abandon. In fact, he embraced the austere lifestyle with such fervor and passion that the other monks judged him to be unfit for community life, and they dismissed him from the monastery. But who needs a monastery to practice solitude and silence when you have a hut in the desert. For the next year and a half, Simeon enjoyed a life of quiet seclusion in search of a special spirituality highlighted by going without food or drink for the 40 days of Lent (people

Let’s Be Authentic

Let’s Be Authentic

Let me be totally transparent and honest: I do not like the trend where young people today wear their pajamas to work or to school. Yes, I am old, but in my opinion, pajamas were designed for the bedroom and not for public consumption. Plus, if your clothes are so uncomfortable that you feel the need to replace them with pajamas, the solution is not to restock your closet with nightwear, but to go out in your big boy and girl pants and purchase some comfortable clothes. There are thousands of options on display in all your local retail centers. Pajamas are for inside your own house (and that’s a concession; I would prefer to restrict pajama use to the bedroom in case someone drops by unexpectedly) and not for street use. And let’s all agree here: that is the way it has always been! Pajamas are for sleeping in;

Some Things Go Together

Some Things Go Together

Some things go together. For instance, consider these sayings: You could have knocked me over with a feather. These hemorrhoids are a real pain. He’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I can read him like the back of my hand. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, some things don’t go together. Take, for instance, these misguided comments: You could have knocked me over with a fender. These hemorrhoids are a real pain in the neck. He’s a wolf in cheap clothing. I can read him like the back of my book. It’s like looking for a needle in a hayride. Some things go together and some things don’t. Sometimes, the connection is obvious. Sometimes, it isn’t. Take last week’s core strength, for instance: “We are called to grow.” Now, as core strengths go, it is rather straightforward and uncontroversial. If there was any doubt, 2 Peter

How to Overcome Impossible Odds

How to Overcome Impossible Odds

I think we would all agree that the emu, Australia’s unofficial national bird, is a national treasure. Yes, they cannot fly, but they are the second-largest bird in the world and are either adorably ugly or weirdly cute. However, Australians have not always been fond of the emu and with good reason. Emus can be quite the pest. Free-roaming herds of emus have been known to invade farms, eat any and everything they can find and trample the rest into the dirt. And in the 1930’s, this was a real problem. To meet a country-wide food shortage, the government subsidized hundreds of new farms along the western coast. The smell of fresh crops must have lofted to the interior of the country because the next thing anyone knew, 20,000 emus had decided to pack up all their belongings, leave the inland regions and journey west. For them, the smell of

Not a Core Strength

Not a Core Strength

Let’s play two truths and a lie. Here we go: I was told by my first-grade teacher that I would never be a good reader. I was told by a superior that I had a lazy tongue and should reconsider my career. I was told by one of my high-school teachers that I was the worst speller he had ever seen. So, which one is the lie? Okay, I lied. All three are true (one I proved mistaken, but the other two were significantly on target—but you will have to guess which is which). Okay, new game. After learning about what these people said to me, which one comment do you and I have in common? Does it concern poor reading, poor speaking, or poor spelling? Okay, I lied. It was a trick question. We don’t have any of these specific criticisms in common. What we do have in common is that someone is routinely saying negative

How to Win the War

How to Win the War

How do you win a war? You might think that the answer is found in a superior army, a greater air force and a better navy. Or maybe advanced weapons turn the tide or perhaps its financial resources that win the day? None of your answers are even close to the truth! To discover the secret of successful warfare, you need to embrace the Liechtenstein strategy. In 1866, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia went to war. Liechtenstein allied themselves with Austria and sent 80 soldiers to tilt the war in their favor. The Austrians deployed these soldiers to guard a key highway between Austria and Italy (Italy was a Prussian pawn). One month and eight days later, the war ended (!), and the Liechtenstein army returned home to world applause. Not only was no one wounded or injured during the campaign, but while they left with 80

If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going. . . .

If You Don’t Know Where You Are Going. . . .

One of my favorite episodes in the old TV series, The X-Files, was aptly named “Humbug.” The plot was easy enough to follow. The agents are called to investigate a strange murder in a Florida town inhabited by sideshow performers. And while the whodunit is fun (was it the Fiji Mermaid, the Dog-Faced Boy or one of the other people from the town?), the real story (at least for me) focused on one of the sideshow characters named Dr. Blockhead. Now, Dr. Blockhead was in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment by any means possible. One of the key scenes is when Scully found him torturing himself by being suspended by large hooks that ripped away at his flesh. When he saw that Scully could not grasp what he was doing, he explained: “It's a variation of a Native American sun dance ritual. I suspend myself by these hooks, and the pain

How Can I Look It Up When I Can’t Spell It?

How Can I Look It Up When I Can’t Spell It?

True story. My parents had a friend who had made several bad life choices, and things were not looking up; but he had figured out a sure-fire solution to change that. Back in the day, if you were not a good speller, you were sunk. There was only one course of action: If you didn’t know how to spell a word, you had to look it up in the dictionary. But to many, that only added insult to injury: If you didn’t know how to spell it, how could you find it in a dictionary? Our friend had a solution. He created a dictionary of misspelled words. He figured out every possible way a word could be misspelled, wrote those words down phonetically and then put them in his own dictionary. It took years to put it together, but he figured it would sell like hätˌkākes. Unfortunately, right before he

Happy New Eyes to You, Two

Happy New Eyes to You, Two

Here’s the truth: the world is a dark place, especially when it’s night. Most years, when I went to visit our teachers in Asia, I stayed in the nearby hotel. It was very convenient, except on the nights when fights broke out in the next room or when parties broke out next door or when toxic fumes filled the building. Other than that, it was great. But then a more convenient option arose. Chris and Debbie had an apartment in the same complex as our teachers, and their tenant had moved out. So, for the two weeks I was there, I moved in! Now later, I was informed that what I was doing was technically “illegal” because all foreigners are “required” to stay in hotels; but as I read the Bible, it is only illegal if there is a verse against it (?). So, I stayed in Chris and Debbie’s

State of the Ministry 2016

State of the Ministry 2016

As we celebrate the 14th anniversary of our church, it is a good time to reflect on God's blessings of where we've been, where we are and also to consider the challenge from God's Word (Galatians 6:9-10) for where we are going in the year ahead. To hear the accompanying "Out on a Limn" and to learn more about this part of our worship, click here: