Chris Bishop

I have a huge stack of reading right now on my desk. I am reading one right now called “Unlearning Church”. I the first chapter Michael Slaughter is talking about what thing the church has as a “radical product”. He says that

revolutionary people are this product of the church.

Now this sounds great!! Especially as today is election day…woot. We are going to flex our voting muscles and have a voice. We are going to vote in a way that we think would be best for our faith, the country, the world and all of creation.

However, what happens when people don’t show up to the voting booth? Your views aren’t counted, or worse nothing happens. Even worse is that you can’t complain when things go your way because you didn’t vote.

Now turning back to Slaughter’s comment. What if the church just sits in the chairs, but doesn’t act upon the message. The church needs to be in the streets voicing, revitalizing and causing a revolution.

What are we doing to live our faith rather than just being culturally Christian?

I think that this is one of the best articles that i have read in a long time.  It is just a reminder of the importance of reading.  I think that i feel most in the groove and pleased with the ministry that i am doing when I am really attacking a couple of books when i am at home. 

When work seems to overwhelm me and my books take a back seat i feel less productive.  So I encourage you to pick up a book

Training in the Art of Reading | YouthMinistry.com

Most youth directors I have met are frustrated…

…frustrated that their churches seem stuck in “the way it’s always been done,”
…frustrated that the wheels of the church grind so slowly forward,
…frustrated about feeling stuck, powerless to bring about any real change.

But the few youth leaders I’ve met who know how to catalyze and navigate strategic change tend to have one odd quality in common: They are readers.

I found a copy of “The Live Bible” at borders the other day.  This is the new bible put out by Group that took a couple of years to compile because of all of the pictures, poems, thoughts, and art submitted by young people.  The pages of this Bible are littered with their work and it is really neat.  I am really enjoying it.  I preached from it last weekend at the Saturday service.  It is a New Living Translation, which seems accessible to most of my youth.

It is very neat.  I want to pass it around to some youth to get their take on it.  also i would love to do something like this for our ministry.  Having kids share their stuff throughout the year and then make like a photo book or something.  Sweetness…

I began to really read Chap Clark and Kara Powell’s book Deep Justice in a Shallow world tonight.  I think that this is a text that is a long time coming.  I am excited to turn the pages of this challenging text.  This book is formatted like their previous book Deep ministry in a shallow world.  It provides a great way to highlight the good, seek God’s will and look to scripture, tradition, reason and experience.  This is something that love to see as a good Methodist Pastor.  Anytime the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is broken out my heart smiles.  Check this one out if you are looking to connect your kids with an understanding of service that goes beyond a couple of programs to living a justice filled lifestyle.

I feel like there are some things in life that cross our paths multiple times for a reason. Maybe it is to make amends with a friend that we have wronged, perhaps it is a song that reminds of of our heritage, and others cross our paths because we need to listen again to what they are saying to us.

This book, Messy Spirituality,is one of those things that seems to resurface time and time again throughout the churning chop of my comings and goings. Every time I revisit this wonderful book I find something new. As if the message was hiding for me within the pages waiting for this time to be the time I discover yet another layer in the insight of Mike Yaconelli. Read the rest of this entry »