Undo Jesus

Words escape me. Good luck with that, friend.

Quizz'd

I was sick yesterday with some kinda stomach bug or whatnot. So I spent a few hours trying to ignore my nausea and splitting headache by mindlessly surfing the 'Net. I managed to kill a few minutes by taking some o' those nerdy little online quiz whatamajig things. Let the good times roll.

This one is supposed to tell you what your evangelical worldview is. The results are in. It reads a little like a fortune cookie, but apparently I am Reformed Evangelical:

You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 82% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 71% Neo orthodox 68% Fundamentalist 61% Emergent/Postmodern 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 29% Modern Liberal 25% Roman Catholic 18% Classical Liberal 4%

Here's the evangelical worldview quiz. But the fun didn't stop there; I took another one to see if I was Chalcedon compliant. Very revealing:

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 100% Pelagianism 33% Monophysitism 33% Apollanarian 17% Nestorianism 17% Monarchianism 0% Adoptionist 0% Arianism 0% Docetism 0% Gnosticism 0% Albigensianism 0% Modalism 0% Socinianism 0% Donatism 0% Are you a heretic? Take the quiz.

You should definitely take those quizzes too. You know... so I can label you. And so you won't call me a nerd.

[HT: Barabbas, Monergism]

XXX Church

"Here's some bad news for your marketing efforts: You lost your domain and a porn site snatched it up. Too bad you just handed out fliers at the local Apple Harvest Day with the old site--now sending lots of unexpecting potential visitors to a porn site. Doh.

True story. It happened to Hope Community Church in Dover, N.H. The mix-up happened when the church was switching Internet service providers and the ISP that sold the url admitted fault..."

[HT: Church Marketing Sucks]

Show Me the Money

"Every year we gaze enviously at the lists of the richest people in world, wondering what it would be like to have that sort of cash. But where would you sit on one of those lists? Here's your chance to find out." - Global Rich List

Click the link above to see where your salary falls on the global scale. If it's anywhere close to accurate, prepare to be surpised... and grateful.

[HT: The Point]

Woman King

Earlier this year, in June, the Episcopal Church voted Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori as the first female leader of the entire church. She will now be the presiding bishop at the National Cathedral in Washington, becoming the first female priest to lead a national church in the nearly 500-year-old Anglican Communion.

I have some concerns about that alone, and many of you may agree or disagree with me on those matters (complementarianism or egalitarianism). However, my main concern is this church leader's view of the Gospel. From a Time magazine interview with Ms. Jefferts-Schori:

Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven? We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine. But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to put God in an awfully small box.

That's a very politically correct attempt not to offend anyone with the Gospel; Ms. Jefferts-Schori's answer regarding this Gospel presents Christ merely as a means (among others, she infers) to an end. In reality, we need not assume anything about how God saves people, for God has already made it clear that salvation is in Christ alone.

DROVE '06

I hit the road last week to hit up the DRIVE ’06 conference at Andy Stanley’s church just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Turns out, I liked it a lot. I would have to say I liked it as much as the Desiring God conference, but in a different way. Let me explain.

What the DG conference was for straight-up quality theology, DRIVE was for the practical how-to side of church organization, structure, and production. Stanley and crew were basically hosting the conference on this premise – “We don’t have it all figured it out, but for our church in this area, here is how we got where we are.”

North Point Community Church was founded about ten years ago with a desire to reach and influence the surrounding community by utilizing what they call “irresistible environments” – relevant media and production that centers on the message of Christianity. Today, NPCC itself has about 15,000 members in addition to two nearby plants and a growing number of strategic partnerships across the U.S. Regardless of your thoughts on megachurches, corporate structure within the church, and whether or not NPCC waters down the message, there is no question that these guys are reaching and impacting the Atlanta area and beyond. The DRIVE conference focused on the underlying leadership structure, systems and principals that have allowed them to accomplish and sustain this.

Here are just a couple things I took away from the conference and will be thinking about:

• God works through organized systems. NPCC and other churches with a high emphasis on production, structure and strategy are often accused of being “too corporate” because they utilize “secular business strategies” in reaching people. Andy made a great point, though (my paraphrase) - “Corporations like McDonald’s and Coke have reached their ‘great commission’ - they’re everywhere. …The multiplication table is not in the Bible. That does not mean it is not true, not useful, or ‘secular.’” Their leadership structure is clear and straightforward. Everyone knows exactly who they report to, what is expected of them, and what their specific role is as it pertains to the whole. This type of organizational leadership structure is an admited weak point for my own church. It was refreshing to see it in action.
  
• Don’t underestimate the value of relevant production. These guys utilize media production better than any church I’ve ever seen. I personally like videos, lighting, visuals, graphics and such used in worship services. On a much smaller level, I use them in my own ministry, and would like to use them more. But I’ve definitely seen them used and overused in ways that are distracting and self-defeating (and probably done so myself). These guys put a lot of time, effort and money into creating a solid production - an immersive environment - from beginning to end, and from what I saw, every single element pointed to and supported the message or teaching for each particular session. It wasn’t just a big show; by the time you got to the message, you were completely drawn in. My paraphrase of Andy on this point – “In this area, our church is competing with golf courses and movie theaters. We place a high value on excellent production because by doing so, we give the type of people we are trying to reach a reason to listen to our message.”
  

Those are just a couple things I found particularly interesting and thoughtworthy. For a more complete review of DRIVE '06, head over to TonyMorganLive - he has five posts of smart things Andy said.

DRIVE '06

Got to Hotlanta late last night for the DRIVE '06 conference at North Point Community Church; Andy Stanley and his dad Charles will be the keynotes. A friend went last year and invited me along this year, saying it was prolly one of the best practical "how-to" conferences he'd been to. From the DRIVE '06 website:

This year at drive, we are going to pop the hood and take a look at some of the not-so-glamorous but important aspects of church life. Stuff like, your decision-making processes, meeting structures, staffing, budgeting, and volunteer development. The Monday through Friday stuff -- the stuff that gets churches into trouble if it isn't managed well.

Ought to be interesting.

Letter from Ted Haggard

For anyone following the news surrounding the fall of evangelical leader Ted Haggard, Between Two Worlds has posted public letters that Mr. Haggard and his wife asked be read to their congregation.

Redeem

"Redeem the culture" is becoming more and more the cry of Christianity today. Scott McClellan over at Igniter Media wrote a quick blurb on the subject, citing Johnny Cash's cover of Trent Reznor's Hurt as a perfect example.

Cash recorded a cover of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” and released it on the album American IV -The Man Comes Around. The music video that followed was amazing. Footage of Cash, humbled by age and illness, sitting alone with his guitar or at the head of a banquet table, is interspersed with footage of Cash as a younger man, loved ones he lost along the way (or would soon lose), and images of Christ.

Trent Reznor’s lyrics (except for one omitted obscenity) were redeemed by the voice, imagery, faith, and life of Johnny Cash. For what its worth, the music industry responded. Artists from Bono to Justin Timberlake declared the video the most powerfully moving work the music video medium had ever produced.

While I believe that one day culture (music, values, art, relationships, etc.) will be fully redeemed/recreated, “Hurt” seems to be the perfect example of how followers of Christ can begin redeeming culture in the present. I wonder what would happen if we would follow Mr. Cash’s example by getting knee-deep in culture and redeeming it from within.