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The Same Jesus?

The other day I stumbled upon a youtube video of a man street evangelizing. The man had engaged three males and the man doing the evangelizing was telling the three men that Jesus was coming and unless they repent they will be judged and go to hell. I am sure we have all seen people holding up signs and maybe you have had a one on one experience like these three men.
Not to long ago I was out with a friend walking down a street when a woman came up to me and handed me a track. The track explained that God created the world, then man sinned then Jesus came so that we can go to heaven and eventually God will come and judge the world and then destroy it. The woman did not say a word to me she just continued on passing out her tracks with bad theology to other people on the street.
As I try to study Jesus and attempt to understand the Jesus way, I have a hard time with people who claim to be Christians that are standing on street corners telling people that they are going to hell, or walking down streets passing out literature that tries to tell me in ten little pages who God is and what he is going to do to me if I don't believe. It makes me wonder, if we believe in the same Jesus?
These forms of ministry are more about exerting power over someone rather than showing the love, mercy and justice of Jesus. We often find Jesus with the lowest of the low the outcast of the day, women, children, prostitutes, tax collectors, the sick, and the poor. When Jesus is with these people he is not preaching at them he is participating in life with them. He is not condemning them but in the process of restoring them. In Acts we find that the early church was not preaching turn or burn, but telling people their testimony and letting the Holy Spirit do the rest. If we believe that God is in the process of restoring us, and all of creation through resurrection, then we should ultimately be more concerned with the process of building community with the people around us believer and nonbeliever. It is the Holy Spirit that will do the work through us. Through our relationships through the way we conduct business, through the way we talk, through the way we treat one another, through our testimony for what Christ has done in us and through us.
If our view of salvation is simply decisions then we are missing the glory and fullness of God. Ministry has to be about forming and developing communities that reflect the majesty and wonder of who God is. Communities that are for helping the poor, healing the sick, loving the outcast, giving value to the devalued, embracing the single parent, bringing justice where there is injustice, better reflects who God is, more than any track or person on a corner preaching judgment.

Here and Now

I love this time of year! September is just around the corner, it’s always a time for a fresh start, a new beginning. School is about to start, a long baseball season is coming down to the wire, college football is on the brink of a new season, and the worship time is about to change for our church! I can’t help but be excited for what is to come. We can all look back on our lives and think of moments when we have been excited for the future, or an event that is about to take place. But in all the excitement I often forget about the present, and because I often find myself looking ahead I sometimes don’t fully enjoy what God is doing in the present.
When Jesus walked this earth the people of God who were looking for him missed him because they were not concerned with the present. They discounted Jesus because they had built up in their mind what the future for God’s people was supposed to be. They had a future glory in mind but did not realize glory had arrived.
As Christians today we find ourselves looking to the future for Christ to return and bring glory, but we fail to see Christ here and now and what he is doing through his people. God is moving in the present among us and through us. We are not waiting for the kingdom to come but we are in the process of building it now. Faith Community Church of the Nazarene is not going to wait for the kingdom but actively engage in the building of the kingdom through service, teaching, worship, feeding the poor, healing the sick, and loving our enemies.

Water

This Sunday we will be doing baptisms at Faith Community. Baptism is an outward visible statement to the church that one has committed their life to Christ, and that they are a new creation through Christ. Being immersed into water, and then coming up out of the water represents Christ dying for our sins and then being resurrected on the third day. This also represents our future resurrection. As N.T. Wright would say, life after life after death.
I grew up in the Friends tradition where baptism was not practiced regularly. In the Friends tradition baptism happens through the Holy Spirit. In Mathew 28:18-19 Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit..." In 1 Corinthians 12:13 "For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body-weather Jews nor Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink." Scripture seems to point us in a direction that baptism has nothing to do with water but has everything do with the Holy Spirit living in us and through us.
So why baptize with water? I think it is important that as believers our lives be a testamony for what Christ has done. Water baptism is a great outward sign and is a very physical visual way of showing the community ones commitment to Christ, however ultimately our testament to our baptism is what the Holy Spirit does through us and living free from bondage and death. Our testimony is not that we are baptized with water, but that through Christ we are set free.

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My Computer

I have recently noticed how much I use my computer and how valuable it is to my work. My Mac Book Pro has a 320GB hard drive with 4GB of ram and a 2.16ghz processor. On an average week I will use my laptop to edit video, edit photos, record audio, work on the church website, run guitar effects using Mainstage and of course blogging. I love the versatility of my computer. The best part about my laptop is using it for running my keyboards and guitars for worship on Sunday.
I have an 88 key full weighted M-Audio keyboard that functions as a controller. Through the power of Mainstage it gives the keyboard player in the band the ability to create any sound desired. Another great use for Mainstage is running my guitar rig through it. I usually run my electric guitar into my Line 6 floor Pod into an Alesis firewire to a tube preamp to my MBP and into my Line 6 AMP. Oh what power! I have so many options for sounds and tones. I wish I had a whole day where I could just sit in front of my rig and play and create fun sounds.
I am always worried for the day my computer crashes. I back all my stuff up at home onto a hard drive but the thought of loosing the functionality of my laptop scares me.

I can't stand listening to Rodger Lodge on AM830. Go back to hosting dating game shows.

I spend about 10 hours a week in traffic

In traffic on the 210

Woke up at 5:45, updated the church website, ate oatmeal, now I'm off to pasadena

I'm sitting on trafgic on the 210.

I am sitting at my desk, drinking sparklets water

Follow Me for a Week

Heat

What is the point of having the air on if it isn't blowing cold air?

Kingdom

How often do we fail to see the movement of Christ in our lives? As Christians we tend to have this position that Christ came and that he is coming again. What about now? In Mathew chapter 28:18 Jesus says "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Jesus is telling us don't worry I'm the authority in this world. Do we truly believe that Christ is Lord of all right now? Then Jesus follows up this statement with "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations..." If we truly believe that Christ has come and conquered death, he is here with us now as the true ruler of this good world that he created, and we are participating with him in the building of his kingdom, why do fail to recognize Christ in our everyday lives as the true ruler of this world? We get so caught up in what we hear and see in this world that seemingly has endless problems, but fail to act as people who believe that Christ is Lord and ruler of all.

How should we respond to this world in such a state? We are to practice justice and mercy and act in love. We are to serve the poor, feed the hungry, help the helpless, love the drug addicted, care for the sick and the list goes on and on. This is what the kingdom of God should look like. The kingdom of God is not in a far off place that one day we will get to, it is here and now and we get to help bring it into this world.

Maybe we fail to see Christ in everything because we are not fully participating with him in the building of his kingdom?

Blogging just got a little more cool. I can now blog from my phone!

Everyday Sunday

Church on Sunday is not just something I do, but it's at the core of who I am. I grew up in a family that attended church every Sunday. There was never a Sunday where my parents said, lets just stay home and have family time, because church was family time. As a child growing up I would have thought it to be strange to talk to someone who didn't go to church. What else would a person do on Sunday morning?

Working in a church setting for about seven years, I have noticed the lack of commitment among church goers. Church has become something that can be tossed to the side for anything that may get in the way. I know for a fact that if I was not actively involved in church I would not be the person I am today. It's through the life long relationships I have built over the years of going to church that have molded my walk with Christ.

As Christians we must understand that it's through community that we are held accountable and grow in our walk with the lord. The church is made up of people and without committed people the church can't function as the church should in this world of hurting people. The church is not just a place or a secret club meeting, it's not a watering hole or a good looking worship leader, it's not a preacher with a message. The church should be a movement of Christians that can't sit quietly or be contained in a building. I think the church movement is soft right now because of it's lack of committed people. We want to proclaim to the world that Jesus Christ has conquered death and he is the true Lord of this world but the church can't be the church with people who choose to only be apart of the church when it is convenient for them. Imagine a relationship with someone who only wanted to be part time friends or part time husband and wife. The marriage of Christ to his church is so powerful because it implies commitment. We know that Christ is committed to us, but are we truly committed to him?

To My Fans

So everyone in the blogging world has been asking me why I put my left shoe on first. The answer can't be summed up in a single blog post. It has been rumored on many blogs that the name of my blog derives from my political views. This I say to you is just not true. My political views tend to dance in the middle. Some have said that I get the title of my blog because I am left handed. Again this is a lie. I am very right handed. There is not a whole lot I can do with my left hand. The fact of the matter is that I put my left shoe on first because of habit. I know this is not the answer my fans were hoping for. Many of you readers out there were hoping that I put my left shoe on first because I am making a stance against hunger or aids in Africa or because I want a greener world or maybe you thought I was wanting change to come to America. Unfortunately none of this true. I put my left shoe on first because it comes natural.

A Great Weekend

This was a fun weekend. My weekend started on Friday night playing softball with my church team. It was a lot of fun even though we got killed. On Saturday Sarah and I had a relaxing morning just hanging out around the house. Saturday afternoon we went to the Tavis home to celebrate Monty's graduation. It was a great time of celebration and great fellowship. After the party Sarah, Rowan and I went to the Angel game. What a great game. It was great sitting with friends from church taking in a Angel game and watching Tori Hunter hit three home runs in one game. On Sunday I got up real early to get some work done at church before worship team rehearsal. I enjoy my early Sunday mornings, not so much the early part but getting prepared for Sunday morning is a great part of my week. We had a great service! We honored all our graduates and had a great time of worship and teaching. Sunday afternoon Sarah and I went to my parents house to celebrate Sarah's birthday. We had great sea food pasta, bread and an delicious Ice cream cookie cake. Just to top it off the Lakers won!

You are Here!

Welcome to my blog! This is my first blog and hopefully it wont be my last. The last few weeks I have been redesigning the church website for my church (www.fcnaz.org). My goal with site was to make it a place where the church members can better connect with the staff through out the week using the gift of technology. The new site now has a photo page, a podcast and a link to the staff blogs. Our Congregation can now download pictures from events for their own personal use. I love using facebook and other forms of technology that draw people together. I hope this blog will be a place where members of Faith Community and people out in blog land can discuss anything and everything. Let the Blogging begin!