Montana has been a very interesting and overall very good experience for me.  First of all, this place is gorgeous.  I will miss the terrain of Big Sky Country.  However, in the midst of living in one the prettiest places in the U.S., I lived with troubled teens from a very wide variety of backgrounds, supervising and counseling them.  These young men (indeed that is the goal, and the majority of our students are almost adults) have been a handful.  I hope that by the things I have taught them about Christ, forgiveness, being the first to make things right, and that by insisting steadily and gently on truth life is much better for them.  I have shown them how to take a few steps, and when I leave Missoula on August 12 or 13th, will leave contact info but hand them over to the Lord to help them stay on  “the path of the righteous [which] is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day”(Prov. 4:8).

I know that I am best suited for ministry within a church, and that is what I think about most often. Volunteering at Shec‘s  youth ministry has been tons of fun, and it made me miss being in the student ministry game terribly. That combined with CCC having such great students, volunteers, parents, supportive members, and fellow staff members(this is such a quality team!) made the choice to go back pretty easy.  I am extremely grateful for Shec and the good people I have met there.  They have welcomed the strangest stranger

I will be leaving Missoula early on the 13th of August for the beginning of my seminary studies at George Fox Evangelical Seminary in Portland, OR and my cousin’s wedding.  From there, I am embarking on a road trip (yes, another cross country drive in a VW!) and visiting friends along the way.  I will post a predicted itinerary soon.

Montana, farewell.

Indiana, get ready.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

In late February, Ed tweeted about having some books available for bloggers to review.  I had him send me Becky Garrison‘s “The New Atheist Crusaders and Thier Unholy Grail: The Misguided Quest to Destroy Your Faith.”  The point was for me was to read and review in on my blog, and I imagine that it was supposed to happen faster, but here goes.

I didn’t know much about Becky before reading this book.  After reading the book, I am glad that has changed.  Why? Because she is smart, witty, confessional, and has a deep love for Jesus Christ.  By the title of the book, you can expect it to be a defense of faith against the “enemy” pop-academic atheists or agnostics like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and people who contribute to blogs like “Why Won’t God Heal Amputees?”.  She has something to say to these people, while remaining sensitive to the sincere questioning and seeking going on by most people.

A main point of the book is that you cannot disprove the existence of God by the bad behavior of those who claim his name.  This bring the believer and unbeliever alike into the stark reality that not all who claim the name Christian have really considered what it means to follow Jesus Christ with not only thier minds but also their lives.  Garrison asks the same consideration from both those “in” and “out” of the faith: read the New Testament and consider the God that is there.  Then, ask yourself if this is what you follow.  If you want to follow this God, leave the rest behind.

I really was hesistant to read this work becasue I have been caught in the crossfire of those who have been wronged by churched Christians and those who are still finding grace in that context despite of the pain that comes through those within the instituions.  At any rate, once you catch a glimpse of the ugliness coming from both sides of the culture wars, a book with this title tends to repel you.  After all, the proverbs warn “Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.”  How many times have I wanted to “defend the faith”, when I could have been following Jesus by loving others instead?

However, this book seems to be more about encouraging us to join in God’s mysterious salvation and favor through a life lived with and in Christ instead of proving once and for all that aetheism sucks.  Since the church is also a great love of mine, I would like to provide this quote from Garrison as a conclusion:

As we all seek what it means to be the church in the twenty-first century, I’d love to take the New Atheists along for the ride. Maybe then they will see that we’re not black-and-white, cookie cutter, stereotypical Christians.  Rather, we’re a living, breathing body that, despite our earthly infirmities, seeks to be the embodiment of Christ here on earth.

Thanks Becky! I am better for reading it!

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

But for those of us that have been given the grace of noticing God’s redemptive work in our lives and all creation even, the fact that Jesus walks on water should be nothing.  Perhaps the greatest miracle in life is the warming of human hearts, whose fires are prone to be stifled by the worries and troubles of this world.

When Jesus calls his 12 closest disciples (students, followers, life-coachees), he asks these two brothers who were fishing to leave what they were doing and follow Him.  He says something peculiar: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

So I am trying to learn the art of fly fishing.  The interesting thing about fly fishing is that you try and “match the hatch” or use flies that look like the ones that are hatching from the river or that are landing on it.  Sometimes when you pick our which fly you want, it may not look exactly like the fly you want.  However, from the fish’s perspective it may look exactly what you need.

So the glorious moment comes when fish strike the fly.  The rise to the surface to grab it, sometimes breaking the plane of the top of the water.  In the most dramatic and exciting cases they will leap completely out of the water.  Glorious.

Sometimes when God’s grace is presented to people, we think that it will happen like when we are fishing on top of the water, expecting people to be completely hungry for God’s grace and jump out of their lives into a new life in faith.  When that happens, it is glorious.  However, when the world is a muddy river, the best and prettiest fly on top of the water will not always be seen.

However, Simon Peter and Andrew were fishing with nets on the sea of Galilee.  It seems that Jesus’ and the disciples way of fishing meant going deep into the unknown with nets.  Like the days after Pentecost when the “Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved”, it seems that results come from when people imitate Jesus, who risked everything to dive into our world to save us from our sins, and then risked everything again by putting a handful of broken people in charge of taking God’s message, love, grace to the world and forming His people, the Church.  Wow.

Now with the power that raised Christ from the dead working in us, may we seek to do his will.  Let us who have been walking on top of the water by faith consider holding onto life on top of the water something to keep for ourselves.  Let us dive deep into the unknown and dare to love people where they are and show them the top of the water, being pulled up with them in the inescapable clutches of God grace.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

I haven’t blogged in a bit.  It’s hard to get back in the habit.

Update:

1) there is some cool discussion happening over at Adam’s blog with ex-christians and a few of us youth pastory types.

2) We have seen several students begin to follow Christ recently!

3) I’ve been fishing, either with tremendous success or tremendous failure.

4) Tatango is sweet.

5) I started writing a book.  If you are the type of person that thinks about the direction of the American church/the holisitic Gospel/evangelism as social justice and social justice as evangelism, you should talk to me as I write.

6) I’ve been teaching a high school small group on Genesis, reading up on interpretations of Revelation, and letting Jesus ruin my life as I know it by reading Luke-Acts.

7) I’ve discovered the glory that is “The Bible Experience” by Zondervan.  They hired a bunch of celebrities to read the Bible….finally I have a better way of hearing it as the story I should hear it as. It’s fresh, legit, and true; Word (of mouth) of God.

That’s the Q&D. I’ll posting.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWilLZ

This past election, our votes canceled each other’s out.  He might not see why I don’t think fiscal de-regulation is a great idea and why the appalling stance of many the Democratic party are enough to make me vote towards the right.  I might not see why he doesn’t see that the free market has never really been free and consistently is controlled by people who take advantage of well-intentioned people and that the policies of the far right have most likely been an indirect cause of abortion and poverty, unproductive violence, and diminished quality of life for many.  Either way, we both have our points, and respectfully allow each other to continue find truth somewhere between, under, or beyond the arguments.  I even listen to Rush with him sometimes.  At the end of the day, our thoughts about government matter little because it is the Church’s task to declare and live out righteous and just living.  With us?

Sunday at lunch dad told me that he thought I really should read Ted Nugent’s “Ted, White, and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto.“  I had picked it up for a few minutes in a book store a few months ago and made a snap decision after about 5 pages or so that I thought it would have little productive to say.  Anyway, I like be challenged and enjoy challenging others, and really do appreciate my father’s wisdom, especially because he has had 21+ years of law enforcement experience, a lifetime of pursuing faith, and a sucessful business career that I have not. So, I proposed that we trade books.  I am reading “Ted, White, and Blue” and he is reading / listening to Rob Bell and Don Golden’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile.”

I have found very good thoughts and points in both, and disagree sharply with some of both books.  Manifestos are statements of beliefs, so you can expect people to differ.  However, I want to highlight a great paragraph from “Ted, White, and Blue.”

God gave man a soul; a powerful, instinctual moral and intellectual True North compass that completely differenciates us from all other living creatures. Animals stomp, kill, and and eat each other, even thier own, in primal instinct to survive. Man has the power of reason, calculation, dreaming, and a thought process the choose to do good, not just for himself, but for the predictable benefit of family, fellow man, and the good earth. Respecting the the gift of life and the power of responsible choice, man can pursue happiness while being a positive force for all things When man seeks to benefit from wrong choices, at the expense of others and the environment, he has lost his soul. His misdeeds will eventually catch up with him.  (page 39 Chapter titled “If I Were Presdient”).

The political right and left should take a this paragraph and do an examination of conscience.  Ted won some respect points from me.

Anyway, please pray for the Spirit to be our teacher and guide as dad and I wade through these thoughful and incredibly nuanced books.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

The meal has been served, the cup and bread were given as signs of a new covenant.  Jesus confers (gives) the Kingdom to this group of young men.  To (Simon) Peter, who he told that he was going to be the rock on which Christ’s church is built (Matt 16:18), he said (Luke 22:31-34):

31“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you^[a] as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

33But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

The footnote in my bible tells me that the “you” in verse 31 is plural, so it should read “Satan has asked to sift y’all”.  Satan had asked to sift the group like wheat.  Indeed, the group was shaken and Judas, who had given into evil was separated from the group for good.

Another interesting thing about being sifted is that is separates groups into individual parts.  This group of young followers of Jesus had become a clump that was closely bonded.  Sifting would have been a painful breaking apart of the group.

During that sift, Peter (the Rock on which Christ had chosen to build the Church) even denies Jesus just as Jesus told him.  The disciples are broken apart, and the leader of the group denies Christ 3 times!

Sift.

When Christ restores Peter, he gives him the task of taking care of the church and feeding the his sheep. It may not be obvious to us, but it is so much easier to feed the sheep if they are together!!  The disciples had been sifted, broken apart, and painful separated from each other.

Today, Christians all over the world are broken apart. Some will not have anything to do with each other. There is one true God and all of us who trust and live Him belong the same family.  There are no Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, EV Free, Methodist, Reformed, Non- or Inter- Denominational churches but one (1) body of Christ that spans the globe and time. It is time to be one.

If you are following Christ, listen carefully. God builds his church by bringing together that which Satan has broken apart. That is the rock that this house is built on.

Jesus, pray for our faith that we may not fall. Bring us together for your sake.  Take the sifted and baked with us how you wish. Teach us to strengthen our brothers and sisters as we turn back to you.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

p.s. Did you hear about the guy that fell in the sifter last week?

He is fine.

In their own words(www.streets.org):

Our Mission

To make Jesus known on the streets among men involved in sexual exploitation.

Our Purpose

To provide hope in Christ for men involved in sexual exploitation by developing ministries of evangelization, transformation, and education.

• Evangelization: Following Christ’s example by modeling His character and compassion on the streets.
• Transformation: Providing assistance and support during transition away from street life.
• Education: Building an awareness of the needs of men involved in prostitution and equipping the Body of Christ to respond.

I visited this ministry with as a part of a group of senior Christian Ed. majors from Taylor University about a year ago.  We participated in an “Immersion Night” where we spent time in gay bars, clubs, and on the streets getting to know people.  I can truly say that that night has changed the way I approach homosexuality and how I talk about gay people or use the term gay.

Emmaus loves people.  They speak the truth, but also provide very real resources to help people in need.  My time spent there that night retaught me that if we preach against a sin, we must be able to offer hope for the victims of that condition and maybe set aside the questions about how volitional or not it may have been for their lives to come to that place.  The decision that matters is the step towards God and recovery found in Christ’s love.

Also, Emmaus has made it easy and safe to give online using donate.net.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillz

While I have already written about the reasons for the cost of health care and the way to reduce them, I want to show you a place that takes principles from the earliest expressions of the Kingdom and puts them into actual practice today.

Christian Healthcare Ministries is an organization that acts in a similar way as insurance companies do, but its goal is to help the members (and not the executives). From their website:

Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM) is an affordable, faith-based solution for Christians to rising health care costs and expensive health insurance policies. We are a nationwide group of Christian individuals and families united to voluntarily share each other’s medical bills. In the past 15 years alone, members of this non-profit ministry have shared more than $450 million in healthcare costs.

If you want to give without being a “member” you have to send a check (to be honest it is a pain to me–Paypal is always good). If you are interested in being a member, it is worth your time to check our what they offer and think about how this can help you and others.

Its funny how the other day I was explaining the difference between socialism and the “communalism” de[pre?]scribed in Acts 2 and we were struggling to imagine what it looks like when Christians today pool their resources to help each other.

Hope you check it out and get creative with your love.

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ

The article also challenges the ideal of family.  It implies that the family is more of a means to and end (support for activity with the C(c)hurch) than an end (insular place of rest to be gaurded).  Something to chew on there.

To me it comes down to this: whether married or single celibate are you living your life for the glory of God?

May the Lord’s will be done,

CWillZ