Staying in the Black

Everyone’s looking to save money these days. It all adds up.  Here’s some things we’re doing lately to save cash:

• We almost never use our gas heat, we have heaters in most rooms.  It works surprising well and is definitely cheaper than propane.
• We have a gas oven too, and I can’t remember the last time we used it. We have a small electric convection oven that works great for pretty much everything.
• Sandwiches for lunch! We finally bought my wife a snazzy lunchbox so she doesn’t have to eat out for lunch so much; it adds up. Plus it’s generally healthier.

What kind of things are you doing to keep in the black these days?

Why Mark Driscoll Matters

You may or may not have heard of Mark Driscoll. Some of you probably saw him last night on Nightline.

He’s known for being a hipster pastor who drinks, cusses, talks about sex, and oh yeah, he’s a Calvinist.

What?

Yeah, as you can guess even if you’re not familiar, Mark tends to stir up a bit of controversy from time to time.  He’s has his lovers and haters like anyone. (Hate the game, don’t hate the pastor . . . sorry)

But either way, he does matter.

Mark Driscoll represents an combo of two things in my generation that in many ways defines our beliefs.  You see, my generation tends to have no patience for things that feel like a waste of time-tradition, politics, rules for rules sake. Because of this we are oft maligned as a no beliefs generation.

But we also yearn for seriousness, truth, belief, faith, story; we want a faith that isn’t easily tossed aside or just connected to cultural values.  We want beliefs that mean what they say.

This is what many churches have missed and why Mark Driscoll is important. You see, the simply “seeker sensitive” style churches miss something for my generation in the same way that over-traditional churches do.  They seem too simple, not serious enough.

My generation wants to live a big life, rock out, and have big beliefs. We want a church that isn’t afraid to take us all in, be real, and let it all hang out; we also want a church that treats us like adults, says what it means, and gives weighty issues a chance.

Whether you like Mark or not, there is a reason he reaches thousands in Seattle-one of the least Christian cities in America.

My generation is looking for something more.

No one likes us . . . now what?

I talked yesterday about something that really eats at me. Christians are increasingly seen as UnChristian.

There are at least two discussions to be had here.  One is does it really matter.  The other is what do we do about it?  I’m trying to be positive this year so I’m starting with the second one.

The first thing that comes to mind to me is something I’ve talked about before.  We need to stop fighting–stop fighting the “sinners,” stop fighting the culture war.  Here’s the deal: the culture war is over and we lost.  Culture doesn’t happen in a win or lose fight, it happens through communication, community, influence, and change.

At some point Christians stopped influencing culture and decided to fight it.  We failed.  It was a stupid fight to get into in the first place.

So stop fighting.

That doesn’t mean give up.  It means find a way to be a part of culture, to influence it.

For me that means being friends will people from all walks.  And that means friendship for friendships sake, not as an “in” to invite them to church.  Of course we want them to come to Christ, but I’ve seen too many people stop being friends with someone because they decided “they will never change their sinful ways.”  That isn’t our decision,  and people see through our fake friend veneer when we do this.

Christ called us to love all others through everything.  It’s time to get over ourselves.

(And by the way, it does work.  In all surveys the vast majority of people came to Christ through a relationship, usually a long term one.  Some of the favorite “hit and run” methods, tracts and media, combined account for about 1/2 a percent of conversions.)

Do you think we can handle real community?