My Writings. My Thoughts.

a changing of the guard…my new chacos

// July 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

for camp I got a new pai of sandles becuse my others were days from breaking. I am going to summer camp with5th and 6th graders on sunday so I better get to breaking them in.

Battered Bibles

// July 1st, 2009 // No Comments » // Random, Uncategorized, music

I Found this post the other day on Mike Slaughter’s blog.  I really thought that it was awesome.  Kind of thought provoking.  I guess that is because in the past two weeks we have has 4 funerals.  What are some of the ways you remember or find out about people after they have departed from this world? Now, go pull out those Bibles and mark ‘em up

Yesterday
I went to the Memorial celebration for Karen Smith’s stepfather, John
Young. The pastor used John’s Bible for the readings. He noted how worn
it was and read from passages that John had marked. He pointed out
notes that had been written in the margins. “I always ask to see a
person’s Bible before I preach their funeral,” the pastor stated. “It
reveals everything about their life.”
Check out his blog for more mikeslaughter.com: blog

A Biker Gang

// June 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Ministry, Youth, fun

mumc bikersWe went biking yesterday with a group from the church and I think we counted about 35 people that came out for the event.  It was a really great time and I think everyone had fun meeting some new faces.  We stopped in Harpers Ferry for ice cream and some time to talk.  At one point we were blocking the street and a park police officer turned on his siren to get us to move :-) kind of fun.   I think that this was a definite winner and we are going to have to do it again. 

Theological Spring cleaning

// June 28th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

    image Katie and I have been cleaning and rearranging the house for the better part of 2 weeks now.  I think that if the dog was gone and Eden had been shipped off to a grandparent’s house we could have gotten things taken care of in about 2 days.  Yet as it stands we switched Eden’s room and the office, have been cleaning out downstairs and in between young adult gatherings I have been trying to minimize and throw away or give to Good Will all that I can.

     In the meantime, I have a book on my desk called Secondhand Jesus: Trading Rumors of God for a Firsthand Faith

   It is all about reclaiming the first hand faith though some of the secondhand myths that we encounter.  I have been thinking about the ways that we hone in and shape out our theology.  What are the ways that we break down the walls of our current thinking and refine a more “living and active faith?”  I think through reading and having conversations with people who we may not agree with can be a healthy endeavor. Or maybe experiencing nature in a new way.  Well continue your journey…  :-)

Discernment…

// June 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

How would our lives and our faith be different it finding God’s will was like using a magic 8 ball?  Would it mean more or less to us knowing all we have to do is shake a velvet covered Jesus and wish upon a star.  As hard as it often is I truly believe that the long road of discernment creates a heart for seeking God.  Would you like it to be easier?
Putting all of this aside my first reaction to seeing this “gem” was,”After all of the preaching and teaching we have done on discernment this past year and all I needed to do was buy one of these little guys…man i totally missed the boat.”
ANSWER ME JESUS

Wiser than an ordinary magic 8 ball!

Accept Answer Me Jesus into your life today and the rewards will be everlasting. Jesus offers 20 different answers to help you choose the righteous path. Ask a question and turn him over the answer you seek magically appears. Your personal Jesus will respond with wisdom such as “Have faith”, “Yes my child”, or “Sinner”. So next time you are pondering one of life’s many dilemmas find out what Jesus would do and repent no more!

Over 11 inches tall and 4 inches wide. Lovely flocked velvet finish.

This Week in Tweets

// June 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Random

  • thank goodness for order history and printable online recipts… :-) otherwise finance wouldn’t be happy with me #
  • i have seen like 14 cars with bumper stickers with the pope’s face on them today…wonder if that is a perk to the job(holy merch rights) #
  • Pulled off 4 more tees from the screen and it isn’t even 6:30 yet #
  • Retweeting @PastorChaney: There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.” #
  • today I am finding that faith is trusting in that which we cannot immediately see #
  • learning quite a bit about the kind of pastor i am this week #
  • biking on the road today.hope nothing breaks, well except for my brakes #
  • woot the weel has been rebuild. piclin her up now #
  • katie’s VBS is over and it was AWESOME #
  • reading beside a napping daughter :-) #
  • Finished “Deliberate Simplicity” and was looking for a punch at the end that didn’t come on to “Secondhand Jesus” #
  • praying for a call for the question #
  • starting farthers day #
  • night night #

Anwsers without a question…

// June 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Ministry, Youth

    
Through some of the reading that I have been engaged in I came across a great question.   I have been wondering what the church is doing right and what we are missing the boat on.  Also in the equation would be the the preservation of what it central and critical to the nature and mission of the church.  What are some of the irreducibles of the church that we should never “water down” because of the risk of being unfaithful to our call as the poeple of God.  I know that there would be some things that would differ on this list depending on things like theology and understanding of mission… Continue Reading

Can transformation truly come about from the mainline?

// June 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized




salem

Originally uploaded by pastorchrisbishop

So I have been reading a number of texts about the next great stage of the church and what it needs to do to reach the people who have been hurt, alienated or just think that it is irrelevant to their lives.
Throughout the text there are buzz words like relational, organic, small group model…and the list goes on.
A number of the recent reads are all about simplifying Church. While there are a number of great ideas in the text (tough some I don’t agree with on the theological level) I can see how they are moving in powerful ways. But I have yet to come across a text what will look long and hard about transformation in a mainline congregation (Methodist, episcopal, Lutheran…).
All of these ideas are a ground up church plant/start that allow a great deal of identity to be formed from the onset. So what are the churches who desperately want to be welcoming to the lost group to do? Do we just pray about it (seems we are historically good at prayer with little action if we want to deny something with saying “no”)? Do we send $$ to make it happen somewhere else? How do we IMPLEMENT these emergent teaching into our congregation?
Dianna Buttler Bass gets to the a bit in her book “Church for the rest of us,” but i would like to see it one more step to the practical learning.
Truly my thoughts are that we need to bring youth worship to “Big Church.” But how to do that in an established mainline without splitting and fracturing the congregation is my question now?
Perhaps this is more of a rant, but I really think that there has to be some other ways and I have not found them yet. Any help would be great

Vintage truth

// June 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

I has a conversation with a friend the other day and she reminded me about these great videos from vintage21.com they are suppose to be funny.  there are a satirical look at the way that some people see Jesus, the church and all of that jazz.  I had watched them a long time ago but they are a really lighthearted way keep us in perspective sometimes. Anyway take a look there are 4 total i think just have fun with them…
do you think that this is how others see the church? How can we change this?

screen therapy

// June 17th, 2009 // No Comments » // Uncategorized




screen therapy

Originally uploaded by pastorchrisbishop

i have screened 16 tees today and there are more on the way… i am totally exctied because this is becoming theraputic for me. today my day began with screening 4 and then doing a funeral then katie’s bible school then 12 shirts. Tomorrow is an exact replay of today…shirts, funeral, vbs, more shirts…woot loving it

« Older Entries