5 things I dig about Jesus...

I was tagged by Matt. I already hate the question... maybe it's just the dig part. It sounds way to cool, hip, consumer Christian for me.... but I do love Jesus as God and as Man and am in utter awe of his life and death and resurrection. So here is my five:

1. He loved people. (Jn 11:33-35)
2. He was strong. (Lk 19:45)
3. He was a genius story-teller. (Mark 4)
4. He elevated women. (Lk 10:38-42)
5. He gave horrible people a chance. (Lk 19:5)

I'm tagging:
Craig
Peep
Stef
Mike
Josh

OK boys... step it up for me. Let's put Jesus center stage and shine the light on him.

Doc says it's a girl !!!!

We're at 20 weeks with Baby Burkle #3. Caden thought it was boy... Griffey thought it was a girl... but the doctors vote won... it's a girl.

Christine is taking the news OK... after crying for joy... then calling all her friends... then staying up all night figuring out how make a nursery as pink as possible (seriously)... she has settled back down to a normal routine.

We are excited and wanted to share your joy with you. Now back to the name book for some girl names.

Don't be stupid!

Get discernment. Ha... like it is that easy. But let me point you to where you can get a FREE LUNCH.

You can now download the New Attitude 2007 Conference which tackled discernment.

You can expect clear, strong bible teaching from some great men of God. I commend their work to you. I am currently listening through it... and appreciate the challenge.

Saying Goodbye

I've heard that behind every good book, there is a twisted mind... I'm not sure if that applies but I thought I would throw it out.

I'm working through how to say good-bye this week. I posted here about my friend... mentor... and co-pastor... Denny. Right now he is just a few doors down from my office and the door is always open. We will often have a running conversation... that carries throughout a whole week. It's a blast!

But next Monday... that office will be vacant. So I'm working through how to say good-bye. Anyway... here is how I'm trying to do it.

Remember: I think it is important to look back and remember how someone has impacted you. Remember the victories. Remember the obstacles overcome. Remember the fun times and the growing that you've done together. Tell the stories. Look at the pictures. Let the emotions of those experience flood back and enjoy. There is no wasted time... only opportunities to grow and learn. Remembering helps me to redeem the time.

Grieve: When you say good-bye it is natural to feel sad about the loss. Anytime that we lose something or someone that we are fond of... it hurts... and that is OK. So I allow my feelings of sorrow to bubble to the surface and get out. I like to tell the person that I will miss them and what they have meant to me... that is part of grieving... identifying and naming the loss.

Pray: This helps me to turn the situation over to God... it helps me come to a holy closure of the event. I turn my grief over to the Lord. And I ask God to bless and lead whoever is leaving. That way I can see their leaving... more as a going... and can join in the joy and excitement of what God has in store for them.

God, Thank you for bringing Denny & Carol across my path. Thank you for their investment in my life and their example of following you. Now I pray that you will shine the light brightly before them and prepare them for the exciting new beginning you have in store for them. Amen

"...every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."
SuperSonic, "Closing Time"

I'm PG...

While my boy Stef and pally John are both G's... watchout Mom's and Dad's... I'm a screaming PG. Due to 4 mentions of death and one of sex.

Andfter my upcoming post about a friend who died shortly after having sex with a drug dealer... I'm sure I'll be firmly planted in PG-13 land (oooops.... I think I'm already there).

Is Heaven a Carnival?

Yesterday I took my boys to meet their cousin at a FREE carnival. You could say that my boys were in heaven. They bounced... quite literally... from ride to ride with unbounded excitement. I now understand what the phrase "jumping for joy" looks like. I'm certain it was coined by the father of a 4-year old at a carnival.

You know sometimes I think we tend to think of heaven as a bit of free carnival. It is a place where we hope that we can enjoy our favorite people, our favorite foods and our favorite entertainment.... forever. But that type of heaven is all about us.

And now... we are simply looking in on the FREE carnival... quite sad... just waiting for the whole eternity thing to get started.

But as I read Jesus I get an entirely different view of the good news (aka gospel) of the kingdom. One of longest collections of Jesus kingdom teachings is in Matthew 5-7.

When reading here you find Jesus describing how citizens of his kingdom should live... now. He talks about normal life (like: lust, retaliation, loving enemies, praying, judging others, and the golden rule) but life lived in a righteous way. It is almost as if he is describing a world or a society that is perfect and just and good. A redeemed world.

Jesus call to repentance is not a ticket to an eternal carnival but a call to live like we are citizens of the perfect world that will one day come. So we are not just waiting for redemption we are working out redemption. Heaven is not an otherworldly free carnival... it is a whole new world where everything is in order. A redeemed world.

Boys to Men

When do boys become men?

How do boys become men?

I've got the questions but I could some help on the answers... and I'm profoundly interested because I am responsible for helping 2 boys become men.

But I think one of the rites of passage along the way has to do with haircuts.... the summer buzz. So on our recent family vacation to Florida I coaxed my wife into letting her babies become boys. And with a $10 pair of clippers we initiated them into boydom with their first summer buzz... a close #2 shave.... and wala... the journey to manhood has begun.

Are their any rites of passage for the boys-to-men journey that you have experienced growing up or will experience with your boys? I'm all ears.

What do you value?

A seminary friend of mine... Duce... aka "The Ambassador"...is part of the rap group the Cross Movement... and is a pastor at Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. I recently came across the church's core values music video. That's right... I said music video because it is a rap video... performed by some of the Cross Movement guys.

I first heard of CM in the mid-90's and was immediately intrigued not only by their hot sound but by their theologically informed lyrics.

What I love about what Duce is doing is that he realizes that the gospel is not just about redeeming individuals but about redeeming culture. You could say he is calling his urban/rap culture to reform to repent and to return to Christ. He doesn't preach about the sin of rap... he preaches about sin through rap.

His incarnational approach to ministry is right on... and to that I give Duce a Vanilla Ice "Word to your mutha!".



So from the looks of it... the core values of Epiphany Fellowship are... Commitment... Community... Culturally Relevant... Conversion... Christo-Centrism... but I'm just a suburban white kid, so something might have been lost in translation. Peace Out!

I got the Blues

The mailman brought the official news yesterday…. Denny… my friend… mentor… partner… encourager…. cheerleader… dreamer… fellow pastor… is leaving our church. And while I’m inspired that he is chasing daylight in response to God’s call… I’ve got the blues today…. because I will miss him. So I hit play on my Keb’ Mo playlist today… and now I’ll reflect on what I’ll miss about Denny.

His wisdom: I have spent hundreds of hours one-on-one with him over the past three years peppering him with questions about church, life, ministry, fathering, husbanding… everything. He has given me sage, biblical advice learned through 31 years of ministry and 54 years of life. He always answered his cell phone, and his door was always open.

His presence: He was always present in the moment. He was always interested in what I wanted to talk about and really cared for me. I remember when he visited us in the hospital after Griffin was born. He walked in the room as Griffin was turning blue from choking on milk. The nurse rushed in and cleared Griffin’s throat and whisked him away. Denny sensed our panic… and in response he comforted us, hugged us and prayed with us. After he left, my non-Christian father-in-law (who had witnessed the entire event) commented, “When I think of what Jesus would be like today… I think he would be just like Denny.” I agree.

His questions: Denny was fun because he seemed to have more questions about Church than he had answers. Not that he didn’t have answers… but he wasn’t afraid of questioning things about church. He invited questions and was willing to question how we do church, how we don’t do church, what makes us tick and what should make us tick. His questions led him to be open to new ideas and new answers. He constantly read new books and had some new insight.

His vision: Denny was a dreamer. I tend to think he is a bit like Gordon MacKenzie in “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”. It was like church weighed him down from freely flying as he dreamed. He dreamed about what the church could be…. could try… should try… And he invited others to dream with him. And sometimes he allowed your dreams to take center-stage…. His dream didn’t always have to win. His vision allowed him to think and re-think church with a great degree of hope and risk and willingness to try new things.

His support: He really cared about what I was doing and he wanted me to succeed. He helped me rename my ministry and he showed up to my big events. He prepped me before them and called afterwards to debrief. He lifted my spirits when they were down and put the small things into a bigger perspective. His support more than once filled up my cup.

God puts lots of twists and turns in our life. I thank God that he allowed me to have the joy of working under and along side a man like Denny for the past 3 years. I will dreadfully miss his daily presence in our office but I hope that our relationship will continue on… wherever our futures take us.

Red Paint

I had a moment yesterday... that I am now referring to as a red paint moment. You have had one... I'm sure. Here's how it happened.

It all started with the idea to put our boys into the same room to make way for the upcoming baby. Such a move must require some sort of painting (right guys). So the plan became relayed to me from my lovely wife that we must tear down the wallpaper on the east wall and we must paint it red. OK so far. She rips down the paper... we pick up with paint... OK so far.

So yesterday I get home and, with work clothes still on, I help her load a few items into the car. I accidentally bumped into the can... it topples... top of can pops off... and 1 gallon of red paint pours out onto the garage floor. Now this is not good... but it could be worse. So for the next hour I drop all my plans and clean up the red paint.

That my friends is a red paint moment. It is when something unplanned happened that requires you to stop all your doing and to clean up the mess. There is no other way around a red paint moment. These won't kill and often don't seriously hurt you... but they require immediate action and often involve the learning of a life lesson.

I've experience all sorts of red paint moments that have taught me lots of lessons:

...like when 2 guys sat down with me to talk about something they saw in my life... red paint.
...like when my wife shared her loneliness during my first year of grad school... red paint.
...or right after college when my credit card was rejected for overdraft... red paint.

Do you have any share-able red paint moments? I've come to realize that red can go with just about anything and the lessons learned are a valuable part of the life we've been given.

VBS ROCKS!

I got an inside look at our Vacation Bible School this week... in two new ways... first, my two boys participated for the first time every... and second, my wife and I taught (first-graders) for the first time ever. (Griffin - frowning in the picture - did warm up to the idea after the first day).

Vacation Bible School is the biggest thing that our church does... so I thought I'd unpack a few thoughts as to why this thing blows up every summer:

buzz...Our VBS has created a buzz on our side of town. It is because they execute every year and kids (and parents love it). Months in advance people start getting VBS-crazy.... it never fails. They have perfected the art of creating buzz.

focus... They stay on their task. Make a 1-week program that will teach the bible to kids (4yrs-6th grade) in a creative, fun and
memorable way. That's it. They know their goal and they stick to it.

creativity... They do the most creative things every year to engage kids (and parents). There live drama is hilarious. Our boys favorite part this year was when "Mulligan" fell into the waterfall (yah they had a real waterfall in the set) while looking for his butterfly net. Every year they outdo themselves in drama, music, games, snacks. This year they ran a carnival at church on the Sunday after... to get families to come to church that day. Cotton Candy anyone?

basics... They keep the program simple and stick to they basics. At one level it like every other boring vbs: songs, bible lessons, memory verses, games, drama not too mention the weekly missionary offering. But at the same time it is on steroids... it is big and bright and loud and .... you get the idea.

loyalty... They create brand loyalty. Each kid leaves with a CD singing the songs and a t-shirt (covered in signatures from the week) that reminds them of the best week of their summer. Kids want to come back... and bring friends. They are kid-tested, mother-approved.

Check out some pics.

Good Friends

We all need good friends. You know the type that are with you through thick and thin. They want the best for you but don't expect the world from you. They are on your side. They are in your corner. They put up with your quirks and they help you to round off your rough edges. Thank God I've got some of those in my life.

On our way back from vacation in Florida we visited such friends, the Keevers (Jeremy, Kelly, Calahan & Harper) in Greenville, SC. We met the Keevers in our first week at Dallas Seminary 6 years ago. We became fast friends and even joined their Spiritual Formation Group.

Our friendship was forged through the co-misery of tough seminary years and the challenges of adjusting to post-seminary life and new churches. But even though we hadn't seen them in 4 years... we picked up right where we left off.

Since our Dallas days we've collectively added 3 1/2 kids to the litter, but much is the same. Jeremy serves as Directional Pastor to Students at Grace Church, a position that took him 2 years to land after seminary. We enjoyed the sweet tea and southern hospitality.

Is your church relevant?

Here is Ed Stetzer, author of Breaking the Missional Code, addressing the Southern Baptist Convention last week. I saw it over on Steve McKoy's blog.

Get Rich Quick

Okay... I might be looking at an offer that I can't refuse... but I need your help. I would really like to get rich... and if I can do it quickly... all the better.

I did not get e-mail by the "son of the deposed prime ministry of Nigeria"... but I did get a "formal business offer" from Mr. Jonny Okonkwo, the Chief Accountant of a Nigerian Oil Exploration company.

He asked me to help them move a small portion of a $15mil omission in their 2006 books from a Nigerian bank to a local bank in my area. He has assured (in his e-mail) that this is legal according to Nigeria Laws of Money Laundering.... at least we're keeping it legal. He has even received approval from his Bank Manager to transfer the funds to a foreign account (in the States).

I don't see anything close to a pyramid in this scheme... so I think I'm okay... anyone want in on the deal? Here comes early retirement.

caution grumpy

I walked in on Monday morning to an email with the title "Caution Grumpy". I was taken back abit by someone who had the audacity to send me an email with such a title... but to my relief it was just spam.

But it got me thinking about some of the things that make me grumpy:
... no clean undershirts in the morning,
... when the sink gets clogged,
... my son dropping his full cup of chocolate milk, in the morning
... my song poking me in the face at 6:30 am asking for "donuts for breakfast"

I'm generally a nice guy... but in the morning... the fewer bumps in the road the better.

Leap of Faith

On our recent family vacation in Florida... the boys got their first taste of the joy of jumping into the pool. I'm not sure who was more excited... them or me. It is fun to see them take on new challenges and take previously unconquered land.

Excellent Meetings

If I'm talking staff/team/business meetings does the phrase "excellent meeting" seem like an oxymoron? Depending on your experience or your situation it might.

So today I found myself watching a video journal of recent staff meeting at Fellowship Church. And they may be lying through their teeth about how good their staff is (we are all liars to a degree)... but here is their regular team meeting agenda:

*What is...
*Delegation...
*What if...
*Investigation...

What secrets to excellent team meetings have you found? I'm all ears...

I'm Back

I'm breaking my blog fast. I had the shakes the first few days of vacation... but when I realized that we only had dial-in access on an ancient laptop I embraced my vacation from keeping you updated on me.

While I was gone: In short we had a great time. I enjoyed the chance to be away from work, our normal routine, our normal sites and our normal responsibilities. It was great to rest, to play, to read and to really give myself the freedom to relax. For me that means forgetting about the stress, the pressure, the expectations, the things left undone... back home.

And in that state of mind I have freedom to think new thoughts... to dream new dreams or to pick back up long forgotten ones. So I hope to share some of those with you along with some new family pics in the weeks ahead.

Upon my return: I walked in to 80 e-mails (I'm really depressed it is only in the double digits) and I flipped ahead 10 days in my planner. Do you know what it is like to flip over 10 blank days in a planner? I'm partly relieved and partly grieved. If it is not in the planner... did it really happen?

My wife and I are teaching first graders this week in our church's vacation bible school. As "Crocodile Clay" ("Croc" for short).... I'm an Amazon River guide who is guiding kids into the fun of Creation Science. Today in just 25 fun-filled minutes I debunked Evolution... I'm good. And you should hear my Australian accent... g'day.