What Is The “.tv” In FreedomRidge.tv?

I’ve had people ask me this question, and wonder aloud if it means “televangelist” or if we were a new TV channel in town. “.tv” is a domain extension that was actually introduced in 1996. It comes from the country of Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean. Several small islands have entered the business of TLDs as a way of generating money for their economy. For instance, “.cc” comes from the Cocos Islands and “.ac” come from the Ascension Islands. The “.tv” extension can be used for any type of website, and is becoming increasingly popular.

We chose “.tv” for a couple reasons. One, it makes people ask weird questions and we get to talk to them. And two, in the future we are going to have a lot of video content; so it will fit even more then.

Pop Goes The Church – #2

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church by Tim Stevens (TS) with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

When I saw the title for chapter 2, “Lost In Translation,” I thought I’d be able to breeze right through it. I knew from the title what it was about, and I have tried and I think succeeded in removing most forms of Christianese from my vocabulary. I can speak it if I need to (although there are some words I don’t even understand), but most of the time I speak in the language of the “common man.” I’m multi-lingual.  (Update: see my comment to this post below.)

But TS went a little deeper than just Christianese and approached the topic of filters, which makes perfect sense. Because of our past, our upbringing, our different life experiences, we all see life through different filters. And this one can be a little trickier because as Christians we need to communicate knowing the hearers wear filters and WE wear filters.

“The Curse Of Knowledge” (p46) is a principle that says once you learn something it is hard for us to imagine life without knowing it. When you become familiar with the Bible it is easy to let that affect your word choices. TS says, “Speaking the right language is more than the words that are spoken. It is about context, timing, previous experiences, and culture.”

Check out John Voelz’s blog post about Christianese and taking things out of context.

I recently visited a church that is from a denomination I am not real familiar with and had a style of service that was foreign to me. I felt like a fish out of water. I didn’t know when to stand, when to sit, when to read, when to do anything (except look at my watch, which I did quite often). Everyone else was fine, because they were used to it. I was weirded out because I didn’t know what in the world was going on. I’m glad I was there, though, because it helped me be more sensitive to those “out of the loop.”

Chapter 3 is called “Why Pop Culture Is So Popular.” Pop culture is popular because it is all around us. Personally, I don’t put celebrities up on a pedestal just because they are celebrities. I didn’t watch the OJ trial; when Brittany or Lindsay or Paris are on the TV, I turn the channel. Tom Cruise is probably a nice guy. Oprah drives me nuts.

TS recently expanded on this chapter on his blog. You can read his thoughts here.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Chapter 4 looks like it has some good stuff in it that I can’t wait to comment on.

An Observation About Encouragement

I recently came across this great post about encouragement. I copied it below, or you can see it in the original form here …

Pardon me for a moment while I make a pointed observation:

I have never met an over-encouraged pastor.
It’s almost an oxymoron. Almost all are walking-wounded. Bitten by their own sheep.

It has always boggled my mind when someone who has never undertook the tremendous physical, mental & spiritual challenge of planting a church criticizes a church planter. That takes a lot of gumption, y’know?

Likewise, it has always astounded me when someone who has never pastored a church criticizes their pastor. I think Paul said something about this in 1 Timothy 1.6-7.

It would be like me trying to tell my primary physician he’s doing everything wrong while he’s trying to treat me. Ludicrous & judgmental, right?

Further, it has also always struck me as audacious when seminary students criticize pastors. This is like a first-year med student walking up to a tenured brain surgeon with years of mettle and experience and saying, “Hey Doc, I’ll take the scalpel here. I obviously have a steadier arm having been watching from the sidelines. You can scrub out.”

My point? Your pastor doesn’t need your criticisms & judgments, trust me. He needs your prayers and loud encouragements.

Allow me to go a step further with this observation: If you have a long critical email/blog post/phone call that you can’t wait to use to get your pastor’s attention, read Hebrews 13.17-18 first. And then if you’re still feeling moved to speak, watch Session 2 from Unleash (unpacks Heb 13.17 perfectly).

Bottom-line: It’s hard to create something beautiful with a sledgehammer. Criticize by creating. Trust that the true Senior Pastor (1 Peter 5) is consuming
& guiding your local pastor’s heart – the workman already approved.

Heath Ledger As “The Joker”

I haven’t seen Heath Ledger in a lot of movies, but I really liked him in The Patriot. I actually own that movie on DVD. Then Heath went and acted in the movie about some cowboys out West. I never saw that movie, never wanted to see it, and never will see it, but I know enough about it to know what the movie is about. Needless to say, I was disappointed in Heath and haven’t been able to watch The Patriot since then.

I went today to see The Dark Knight where Heath plays Batman’s nemesis “The Joker”, hoping that he would redeem himself in my eyes. He did a fantastic job. He was creeping me out in some scenes and was very believable as the insane, sadistic, madman.

I think I might just be able to get out my “The Patriot” DVD again.  (UPDATE: I thought he was GREAT in A Knight’s Tale.)

The Life Of A Church Planter

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

-(From the Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 in the New Testament.)

My Bible Journey – Philemon

Philemon is a short book in the Bible, but is jam packed with good stuff. Let me set this up … It was written by Paul to a guy named Philemon who was living in a town called Colossae. Paul and Philemon had a mutual acquaintance, Onesimus. Onesimus was a slave of Philemon’s who ran away and met up with Paul in Rome while Paul was under house arrest. Under Paul’s teaching, Onesimus became a Christian.

Now Paul had this teaching that says (Ephesians 6:5), “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” So after Onesimus becomes a Christian it is natural that he should go back and make amends with his earthly master that he had wronged. Understandably, Onesimus is a little hesitant to do this so Paul sends a letter on ahead to soften up Philemon and let him know what is going on in Onesimus’ life.

Here’s some great lines that Paul wrote to Philemon: v6, “I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ.” v8-9, “That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you.” v17-19, “So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it. And I won’t mention that you owe me your very soul!“

Do you detect any truthful sarcasm there? I think it’s great the way Paul is approaching it, and Philemon really has no choice but to accept Onesimus back as an equal and a brother.

Here’s what all this means to us; this story is a great word picture of God’s redemption plan for us. Philemon represents God, Paul represents Jesus, and Onesimus is you. You have wronged God and ran away, but when you meet up with Jesus He goes to God on your behalf and says “If he has wronged you in any way, charge it to me. I will repay it.” Jesus acts as your mediator to smooth things over between you and God. And as a result God accepts us as children into His family. We no longer need to run or hide in fear, but can confidently approach God because of the love of Jesus.

Pretty cool, huh? If you aren’t livin’ the Jesus life, I encourage you to come on over. There’s plenty of room in God’s family.

Spike In Attacks Against Egyptian Coptic Christians

Groups Organize Demonstrations to Protest the Attacks

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that a recent increase in attacks against Egypt’s Coptic Christians has prompted various Christian groups to organize demonstrations condemning fanatic Muslims engaging in these attacks and the officials of the Egyptian government who have failed to protect Christians against such attacks.

This spike in attacks has resulted in the death of four Christians, the destruction of several churches, the kidnapping of four Christians, and the ransacking of their properties:

• Four Egyptian Christians were gunned down when a jewelry shop belonging to one of them was attacked by two masked men. No one has yet been arrested for this attack that took place on May 28, 2008.

• On May 31, sixty well-armed Muslims assaulted the historic Abu Fana monastery near Minya. Besides causing damage to the property of the 4th century monastery, the fundamentalist Muslims kidnapped three monks and one Coptic farmer during the attack. The monks were tortured and pressured to convert to Islam. They refused and were eventually released, but the Coptic farmer is still missing.

• On June 20, Muslim fundamentalists carried out large scale attacks on Christians in the village of al-Nazla. Cars, homes and businesses belonging to Coptic Christians were ransacked and the windows of a Coptic church shattered. The attack was the result of a rumor circulating that a Christian woman who converted to Islam was abducted by her Christian family.

This rise in attacks against Christians in Egypt is being fueled by the growth of the radical Wahhabi Islam propagated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Wahhabi Islam is highly intolerant towards Christians and other minorities and encourages violence against them.

Though the attacks against Christians are perpetrated by fanatic Muslims, the officials of the government of Egypt have at times failed to prevent the attacks when they could. In most cases, after the attacks occur, the police fail to bring the perpetrators to justice. The perpetrators are therefore encouraged to carry out further attacks with impunity.

Enraged over the widespread attacks and the failure of the Egyptian government to protect its Christian minority, various Christian organizations are planning to hold demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and New York City. International Christian Union and American Coptic Association are organizing a demonstration in Washington, D.C., which will be held in front of the White House on Wednesday, July 16 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Another demonstration, being organized by the Voice of the Copts in New York City, will be held in front of the United Nations and Egyptian Consulate in New York on Wednesday, July 23 at 12:00 pm.

ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Darara Gubo, said, “Egypt has an international obligation to protect its Christian minority against attacks by fanatic Muslims. Egyptian authorities must carry out their obligations by prosecuting the perpetrators of such attacks.”

ICC calls upon those concerned about religious freedom for Egypt’s Christian minority to join the rallies in Washington, D.C. and New York City. By attending these rallies Christians will get the opportunity to highlight the plight of their brothers and sisters in Egypt.

You can also call the Egyptian embassy in your country. Please politely ask the Egyptian embassy officials to protect Christians against attacks.

Egyptian Embassies

Country		Phone		Fax		Email
USA		202-895-5400		202-244-4319		Embassy@egyptembassy.net
Canada		613-234-4931		(613) 234-4398		egyptemb@sympatico.ca, egypt4931@rogers.com
UK		020-7499-2401 / 499 3304		020-7491-1542		info@egpressoffice.com
Australia		(61 2) 9281-4844		612-9281-4344		info@egypt.org.au
Germany		030-477-5470		030-477-1049		Embassy@egyptian-embassy.de

###

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

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The Freedom Ridge Personality In 24 Words Or Less

Yesterday we talked a little bit about what our weekend services will look like. Although I don’t know a single descriptive term, I want to fill you in on our personality because that will have a direct effect on our services. Again, I don’t know a single descriptive term to describe our personality.

Here’s what I envision when I see Freedom Ridge … we are going to be a church for people who don’t like church, so that means we’re gonna do things differently. Our format will be different; as soon as we can swing it we will be video intensive. We will have man-on-the-street interviews, video illustrations, and I will probably even teach some of the points of my lesson by video (so it will be on-the-scene illustrations, but I wouldn’t do this every week.)

The lessons will be Bible-based, concise, and practical; that means you will get something on Sunday that you can use in your life on Monday.

As far as music, we will be guitar driven. I am not opposed to using today’s culture to make a point (look at Jesus’ parables), so if there is a good secular song that will fit the theme for the day, the band will play it. The style of the band will be rockish. I’m especially praying for a couple electric guitar players that can really rock out. Again, I don’t want us to be the typical mellow-sounding-contemporary-church-worship-team that you’d normally expect.

Weekend services are just one part of Freedom Ridge. One trait that I want us to really be known for is community service. We will serve in a variety of ways with no strings attached purely because God loves people and so do we. If we ever disappeared for whatever reason, I want the community to miss us.

So if I had to boil it down to 24 words, I would say, “Freedom Ridge will be an externally focused and practical church that hits people where they live using culturally relevant means to fulfill our mission.”

Sound like something you might like to be involved in?? Let me know. We’re developing our launch team right now!

What Style of Service Will Freedom Ridge Have?

People ask me all the time what type of service Freedom Ridge is going to have. It is kind of a tricky question to answer in just one or two descriptive words, not because I don’t know what we will be like. I can see it very clearly in my mind. It is because I don’t know what “term” to use.

“Traditional” means you have a choir, perhaps dressed in robes sitting either on the stage or to one side of the stage. An organ and piano plays the songs while everyone sings verses 1, 2, 3 & 5 of hymn #472. There is nothing wrong with this, but we are definitely not going to be traditional.

“Contemporary” means you don’t have a choir, but you have somewhere between 3 and 12 people on the stage each with their own microphone singing what is affectionately called “praise & worship” songs with the words on a screen. You usually have drums, maybe a couple guitars, and definitely a keyboard. Throw in a casually dressed speaker, maybe an occasional drama, and you’ve got yourself a contemporary church service. I think contemporary is the new traditional. We are not going to be contemporary.

The other terms that people use to describe church services are “emerging” and “emergent.” Honestly, I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around what these mean. I could be wrong, but it seems that those who subscribe to this train of thought are re imagining what church is supposed to be and are tired of the way that modern churches are doing things, so they are going back to the way church was done 2000 years ago. I understand the premise, but it seems they are not going back to the true authentic church of 2000 years ago, but are only going back about 500 years. It is not to say they are traditional, because they are not.

To oversimplify it, it has something to do with incense, you can maybe sit on couches instead of pew or chairs, there’s some chants or group readings, you can visit a prayer or confession station, the service is more conversational, and there are definitely candles. We are not going to be emergent, although during our services some people may raise their ignited lighters as the band is rocking out a song to God.

So what type of service is Freedom Ridge going to have? Maybe conmergent. Maybe emergeporary. Maybe something else. We’re not going to be Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or Mars Hill, or LifeChurch, or Lakewood Church, but we will be Freedom Ridge. We’ll take what we can learn from other successful churches, apply it to our setting here, and not worry about fitting in some sort of box. Boxes are too restrictive anyway.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll give you a little insight into what we’ll be like.

Pop Goes The Church – #1

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

And we’re off … The author, Tim Stevens (henceforth known as TS), asks a couple good questions in the introduction that really stuck out to me. “Where is the church known more by what they do than by what they say?” (p16) and “Would your community be any different if your church ceased to exist?” (p17). I think if most churches are honest, they would have to say the community would not miss them if they disappeared. This is what scares me about launching Freedom Ridge … my decisions now and the DNA that is implanted into Freedom Ridge will have a direct effect on our personality and community involvement for years. I have said even before arriving in Ames that I want us to be doers and not just talkers, so this book already has me hooked by page 16.

I love the title of chapter 1: “Molly, your church sucks!” I think I’ve been to Molly’s church. TS quotes U2’s Bono (p24) who said in 2006, “I never had a problem with Christ. But, uh, Christians were a bit of a problem for me.” I know exactly what he means. The reason for this is because there is really no discernible difference between Christians and those who aren’t Christians. To help make the point, TS quotes a survey from the book unChristian that says “Christians are known as hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, homophobic, sheltered, too political, and judgmental” (p24). OUCH … but sooo true.

Don’t you think if we (Christians) put our money where our mouth is, or lined our life up by what we say we believe, that it would help others (those who aren’t Christians) see the difference Jesus makes in your life?? We’ve got a long way to go, and you can’t really blame those who aren’t Christians, because we Christians screw things up so much and get in the way. I’m a pastor, and there are a lot of Christians I don’t like (but that is a post for another day.)

TS makes the point that people are becoming more spiritual but are less apt to attend church. That is because “thousands of churches have made boring an art form” (p30) so most people see church as irrelevant. As a result, we need to engage the culture and remember that the church is supposed to reach out. We need to show how the Bible is relevant and can make a difference in people’s lives, but we need to do so in an honest, sincere way. Respect the fact that everyone is on a spiritual journey … we’re all at different places … and don’t be judgmental because someone isn’t as far along as you are.

TS ends the chapter saying, “If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting what we have always gotten – and I am not satisfied with that” (p40). Ditto, my friend.

Our House For Sale

I have shared with you about our house in Houston that is for sale. It has been on the market since the first of December, and to date we have received ZERO offers. We have been living in the Ames area, paying the mortgage and utilities and homeowner association fees for a house we are not even living in. Needless to say it has not been easy OR fun. Now we are even having to pay for someone to mow the yard! It’s driving me nuts.

Our realtor is having an open house on Saturday, July 12, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PLEASE pray now and during that time that someone will show up, love the house, and buy the house from us. We are ready to be done with it and get on with life here.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

What Kind Of Life Do You Want?

When we were younger and growing up we had a pretty good idea of what our happy life would look like. But then as we grow up and grow older, the responsibilities come, reality sets in, and life throws us curve ball after curve ball. I can remember playing whiffle ball and kick ball as a kid in our yard wanting my parents to call me “Jack” and hoping it would never end. Life was good.

Life is a series of choices that we make. We cannot control everything that life throws at us, but one thing we can control is how we choose to respond to the situation. Make the right choice (respond the right way) and life goes a little better. Make the wrong choice (respond in a destructive way) and you heap more troubles onto yourself.

At Freedom Ridge all of our lessons will be Bible based and will be done in such a way to provide you with practical life changing information. We can’t and won’t make your life choices for you, but we will provide you with the tools so you can make wise choices. Then you can turn around and share what you’ve learned with all your friends. It’s a win win for everyone!

4th of July Update

Ames had a pretty big 4th of July celebration going on all day yesterday. At the Bandshell Park there was a small carnival for the kids, concerts were going on just about all day, and a lot of vendors were set up there selling tons of different things. This is where we were, but we were giving away free popcorn as well as inviting people to enter a drawing for a free $100 gas card.

Our first priority was to meet some people and do something nice for them. In that respect, I think the day was a big success. We passed out over 1100 bags of free popcorn, and had 293 people enter the drawing for the gas card. I don’t know how many cards we passed out, but it was A LOT.

Here is a picture of our booth …

Several times we would have people lined up 15 deep waiting on their bag of popcorn. The popcorn popper just wouldn’t keep up with the demand sometimes. This picture doesn’t show the line because when there was a line we were too busy to take pictures.

I got to meet a lot of neat people. One of them was none other than Abraham Lincoln. I asked him if he would like to come to Freedom Ridge, but he started droning on about “four score and seven years ago” and how he really hates going to the theater, so I just casually backed away and busied myself with popcorn bags.

It was a tiring but very fun day. The weather was absolutely PERFECT. I’m glad we were able to take part in the day’s activities and I look forward to Freedom Ridge making a positive contribution to the Ames area. Ames is a great place, and we are glad to be here!

Speak Up for Imprisoned Chinese Christian

Chinese Officials Ignore their own Laws by Holding Bookstore Owner without Charges

The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has learned that the owner of a Christian bookstore near the Olympic Village in Beijing is being illegally held in an undisclosed location by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials who charge only that the prominent house church leader is a “dangerous religious element.”

Shi Weihan, a leader, publisher, and father of two daughters, has been held for three months, a month longer than legally permitted, without formal charges or a court hearing and has only been allowed one visit with his attorney. Arrested on March 19, Weihan was expected to finally stand trial two weeks ago, but the PSB has stated that any action on the case will be delayed indefinitely.

Police have been overly interested in Weihan and his legally operated bookstore near the Olympic Village since November of last year when they initially arrested him on charges of “illegal business practices,” but were forced to release him in January for lack of sufficient evidence. The timing of his re-arrest and illegal detention remains suspicious in light of the recent crackdown on Chinese house church leaders and other suspected “dissidents,” especially given the proximity of Weihan’s bookstore to the Olympic stage in Beijing.

Concern is mounting over Weihan’s health as he struggles with diabetes and police have provided no indication that he is receiving any sort of medication. During the only visit afforded to his attorney, Zhang Xingshui, Weihan was described as having lost a significant amount of weight and as exhibiting signs of what officials called an “allergic reaction,” though the same symptoms are also common in diabetics who do not have the necessary diet or medication.

Despite his health and the illegal conditions of his detention, the PSB is refusing to allow his family or attorney to see him, citing a “complex case” as the only explanation for their ongoing investigations and delays in processing.

While it seems that China’s government is attempting to sweep this “dissident” under the rug, Weihan has been described by countless friends and business acquaintances as a “model citizen of China,” claiming that his patriotism inspired them to greater love for their homeland. Weihan is also said to have sacrificially served the poor and minority children in rural communities, and now he and his family are in need of others to speak on their behalf.

ICC is joining Open Doors USA and China Aid Association in speaking up for Shi Weihan. Would you join us and contact your Chinese embassy to voice your concern over this case? Politely tell the embassy officials that you believe that Shi Weihan should be given regular access to his attorney to ensure that he is fairly represented, that his family should be allowed the right to visit and bring his diabetic medication, and that steps should be taken to ensure that he is given a fair and speedy trial.

Chinese Embassies:

Country	Phone	Fax	Email
USA	202-328-2500	202-588-9760	chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Canada	613-789-3434	613-789-1911	chinaemb_ca@mfa.gov.cn
UK	020-72994049	020-76365578	press@chinese-embassy.org.uk
Australia	0061-2-62734780	0061-2-62735848	chinaemb_au@mfa.gov.cn