Mind Dump

*My oldest son turned 16 today. I am very proud of the young man he is becoming. God has blessed him with so many opportunities. I am convicted of taking him for granted and not praying for him (and my other two fantastic children) that God would continue to do for him what was said of Josiah, "your heart has been kept tender."

*Sunday was great. It just had one of those vibes to where you could tell the Holy Spirit was noticeable.

*It was great to see people make amends with the church and get traction in their walk w/Christ.

*Sunday School was fantastic. I love the fact that we have people who don't mindlessly tow the traditional line when it comes to cultural issues. I don't think Jerry Falwell would always enjoy our class and with due respect to Bill O'Reiley we aren't culture warriors.

*It amazes me that without fail when we have an Evangelism Explosion Class during the week we get a visitor(s) on the weekend. Rarely is it anyone we have visited. If we miss a class, that weekend we won't have any visitors. God loves to bless the Great Commission!

*Monday my oldest son got his driving permit. 16 years have passed so fast. Nevertheless, you raise them to have a life of their own. Driving is one of the milestones.

*I scare myself. This week I checked out Giving by Bill Clinton. What's even scarier is I have found some good food for thought. I have developed a curiosity in the Grameen Bank which is mentioned in the book. It is a micro-financing approach for the very poorest of people.

I have really gotten into Project X from webserials.com (not live link).
What I find interesting about this is the small scale. A 5 minute chunk posted every week. I love the way this kind of platform illustrates a democratic leaning. No longer do corporations have a strangle hold on everything public. Music, film and even churches are experiencing a second life by embracing the indie, democratic, non-corporate opportunities that have arisen.

*I'm officially a geek. I have done the freebie grade of Classmates.com. With the exception of one or two people I have not seen any of my classmates since I walked out of Millard High School Gym May 30th 1986 (which was my 18th birthday) on graduation night.
Here is a response to my bio on Classmates that mentions the former feather haired, head banger is now a gray haired pastor...
"Wow your profile shocked me (LOL). In a good way though still trying to picture you standing up there delivering the Sunday Sermon. Who would of thought..."


*It's been a good few days.

Wow.

If only all classical music was like this...


Here's the original eruption...



insane.

Disclaimer: Keep in mind this blog is personal. It is not the preachers blog. It is not the Baptist blog. It is a small corner of a very small mind.

Baaaccckkk in the Saddle

For all the Air Supply, Jackson Browne fans of the late 70s (hang your head in shame) Back in the Saddle was a killer Aerosmith song. Obviously that was before they were members of AARP. So after month long hiatus I am ready to post a few more thoughts.

Random Thoughts...
*I must be turning into a woman. I am enjoying Sugarland's song 'Stay'.

*Great Sunday service. We had guests- some first timers some returning. It is amazing how God keeps sending them.

*Totally pumped about this Thursday (Nov 15th). Lisa and I are going to Lexington (where she lived when we met) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our first date. Our first date consisted of her asking me (a hotly contested issue in the Duty home) to a Sing-spiraiton @ Ashland Ave. Baptist Church. I was hooked then and have been for the last 20 years.

*Learning from the 'Art of Woo.' No this doesn't have anything to do with being alone with my wife in Lexington. It is the art of persuasion (not manipulation). For you readers who are leaders I highly recommend it.

Wow!!

This is great.

I know people will debate it ad infinitum but I can see Jesus doing this. Oh wait! He pretty much did do this in Mark 2! Let's not even talk about 2!

If the link doesn't work go to vinceantonucci.com and read the post 'More from the Bar'.

Monday Mind Dump

Cool Quote..."There's nothing like a trail of blood to help you find your way back home." ~ Nikki Sixx

Always amazes me...God always sends people to visit AFBC when we are involved in E.E.

Who would have guessed? I think people are actually enjoying the Sun AM messages on giving. I am enjoying preaching them.

Doulos Church. Cool name for a hip new church. I ought to trademark it in advance. Doulos means 'voluntary slave'. That's how Paul refers to himself in Romans and other places.

Chris Daughtry's song, 'Crashed' makes me remember my encounter with the power of the Gospel 20 years ago. "I didn't know I was going down...then I crashed into You (Jesus = my interpretation)...like a runaway train, Your Will consumes me, I can't walk away."

I love common grace. C.G. is where God exhibits Himself through the everyday 'non-religious' experiences. Romans 1 refers to this in relation to nature. In the absence of C.G. you only have a caricature, a shadow of the God of the Bible.

Vision

As a leader I find myself in a position to constantly think from a position of vision. What do I want to lead? How do I feel I should lead? Where am I trying to go? How will we get there? What will it look like when we arrive?

There are some quotes that float around the edges of my thinking on leadership.

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell. I wish to run a rescue mission a yard from Hell." CT Studd. That sounds cavalier, but it feels right.

I really like in Acts 11 where the new to town, founders of the Antioch church in essence said,
"I don't know if these Greeks can be saved, but let's take Jesus to them and see."

I did have one pastor friend quote a pastor he spoke to as defining ministry as "seeing that people keep coming to church." ~ If the context is winning = keeping everyone here 'here' I wouldn't sign off on that.

What should be the vision of church?

Homelessness = Driving Force for Ministry

One of the great pleasures in ministry for me right now is my attempts to reach out to the homeless/inner city around 5th street in Covington.

Each week I spend about 3-5 hours hanging out at the Covington Library where the homeless, addicted and jobless often congregate. The thing that makes this attempt @ ministry different is you have to earn your way into their world. These people are often socially backward and distrusting.

So, I go where they go, dress as they dress, no matter how hungry I may get I don't eat because they don't eat and try to meet them as they are where they are. So far it's been like fishing. There's a lot of waiting and watching.

How does this translate into a driving force for ministry? I believe you have to know your culture and enter your culture to truly earn the opportunity to minister. With the inner city people you watch people eat out of garbage cans, talk to themselves and listen to language that you won't hear during Sunday School. You end up shaking hands with men who have ground in dirt in every pore on their body or talking to guys who are getting publicly intoxicated. You don't approve of the sin. You don't participate in the sin. You just can't get to the sinner unless you get around his sin.

Much of modern day culture is unable to be approved by Christians. Nevertheless, just as you cannot remove the offense of the Cross as a part of the Gospel, you can't remove the messiness of dealing with sinners when trying to reach them with the Gospel. The idea that we can dart out of 'Camp Christian' quickly do something for Jesus and dart right back in behind the walls and moats of the Christian castle is both illogical and unbiblical.

We get one life to do something exciting and daring for the Gospel. The challenge must be taken up.

Jesus, "Be in the world (culture) but not of the world (don't let the sin of the culture overcome you.)"