Adios!

Seven years?! That's the longest Leslie and I have ever lived in the same house in either of our lives. It has been a tremendous seven years, too. God called us to seminary in 2001, provided a house, a means of income during school, several great learning opportunities on different church staffs, and he called us out of the SBC and into the PCA. Not to mention my graduation from seminary. My parents have been here for the last 3 or 4 years, living just 12 minutes away. That has been a luxury we haven't had since we were married! Back then my parents lived in Germany and hers in Hawaii, while we were in Tennessee. God has been so good to us, including this latest move. We leave for a wonderful job in a great city, and the church has already been so welcoming and is taking great care of us.

So we leave with mixed emotions. Glad to be going where we're going to do what we'll be doing, but sad to leave behind great friends and family and a place that has been home longer than anywhere else. Thanks to all those that have been a part of the last seven years. Keep in touch!

A Time for Broken Clubs

I broke my first golf club this past week while playing golf with Hal. I was in some tall grass behind some trees and had to chop the ball hard to get it to shoot through and out onto the fairway. Unfortunately, my follow-through was a bit more substantial than I expected and my rented Taylormade 4 Iron wrapped around a tree. This potentially round-ruining incident turned out to only cost me a few dollars in the end. In the meantime I could only laugh. My ball ended up sitting pretty in the middle of the fairway, so at least it wasn't a complete loss.

Home in Time to Move

This is just a quick update. We're back from our reunion trip to Florida. We had a great time catching up with family. I think my cousin-in-law's post summed it up very well. Tomorrow we begin a four day process of packing and loading and driving to Nashville. If all goes well we should be in Nashville by Thursday night and receive our household goods by the end of the weekend or first thing next week. We expect a stressful week and appreciate your prayers. We'll be a bit out of sorts as far as net reading and posting for a week or two. See you on the other side!

Turkiye Wins!!!

If you aren't following Euro 2008, you are missing some fantastic soccer! Turkey just came from behind 2-nil to win 3-2 with two late goals followed by a red card shown to their keeper, leaving them a man down for the last two minutes of play. They now finish the group #2 and pass through to the next round where they will play Croatia. The first half was dominated by the Czechs, whose defense was solid, taking them into halftime with a 1-0 lead. They came back in the second with a second goal, certainly leaving Turkey for dead. But the momentum changed quickly with the Turks pressing shot after shot. With 5 minutes left in regulation Turkey scored their second goal, tying the game up. The discussion turned to penalty kicks to provide an equalizer, but Turkey struck again within minutes, taking them ahead by one, where they remained until the whistle. Wow! Great match! The only remaining issue is the red card shown to Turkish keeper, Volkan in the last moments of the game. For some inconceivable reason the Turkish keeper, Volkan, shoved a Czech player who (as you can imagine) played it up quite a bit, falling and rolling over. So Volkan will not be available for the Turks' match against Croatia.

Blog Reading Efficiency (or A Cry for Help)

OK. I blog. And the rant that follows is too ironic, I get that. But I'm going to say it anyway because it's true. And I need your help. The fact is, that no responsible and productive member of society can possibly read all the great blogs out there. And by "great" I mean well-read and influential. By "great" I mean the "what did you think of the latest post on abcdef today?" kind of "oh, I assumed you had read it" sort of "doesn't everybody read it?" kind of great. The fact is, despite posting with fair regularity on my own blog, I just haven't paid much attention to the blogosphere. And, perhaps to the shame of those that call themselves my friends, I can't muster the motivation to even care that much. But, in returning to the web after the 36th GA, I decided to see what the buzz was on the events of this week. It was then that I realized that I didn't know where to begin reading! I follow half a dozen friends' blogs. Only 3 are Presbyterian and none of them have even commented on GA. So I am issuing a

CRY FOR HELP

Please post in the comments section of this post what you believe to be the top three must-read PCA blogs. Yep...I said PCA. I'm tired of reading famous reformed baptist blogs (read: Tim Challies...no offense intended Tim). If you can't come up with three PCA blogs (or OPC or any other reformed and Presbyterian denomination), then let's at least stick with reformed and covenantal and not baptist (no offense Gunny). I'm not a baptist hater. It's just that I'm trying to immerse myself right now. And since I've come out of a baptist context, every time I read a reformed baptist blog it feels like this hand from the deep trying to pull me back into that world. I'm trying to get something different. Any help?

36th GA on the Books

Another GA has passed. Just a very quick recap. Paul Kooistra served as moderator. And if I kept track properly, I believe all the Overtures Committee's recommendations were passed by the Assembly.

Of interest were overtures to amend the BCO with regard to membership. None of these passed. Also receiving much attention was an overture (#9) to appoint a study committee on the question of women serving as deacons. The committee recommended that no study committee be formed, noting that the BCO is very clear on the subject, and that any problems should be addressed through overtures to amend or by way of reference.

There was a minority report from the overtures committee on Overture 9 spoken to on the floor by Bryan Chapell. Although discussion made it clear the report had support the minority report was rejected in favor of making the committee's recommendation the main motion. After another period of discussion the recommendation was approved by a clear majority, not requiring a count. Thus the PCA has declined to form a study committee on this issue. I have to say...after sitting through the overtures committee's hours worth of discussion as well as the full discussion on the floor of Assembly, I am very encouraged by our rules. Regardless of your position on the issue of women in diaconal ministry, if you had been in the discussions, I think you would have been proud of your elders. I have no doubt that in the coming days and weeks the blogosphere will debate the decision of the Assembly. I hope that if you participate you will temper your remarks regarding the process and the men that were involved.

I also want to say that I LOVE General Assembly. Seeing old friends and watching the charitable interaction between our fathers and brothers is incredibly encouraging. I believe next year is in Orlando. I can't wait!

The Beautiful Game

I know most Americans just don't get the appeal of football (ie - soccer). This post is not an attempt to change your mind. However, for those that already get it, I've added a new section in the right hand column. Scroll don't a bit and you'll see what I've done. It can be tough for us American's to keep it all straight. There seem to be more Cups being contested...some national, some club, some here, some there. Even if you understand it, it can be hard to keep up. With the list I've put together, I'm hoping to provide you with three things. First, the title of the contest with a link to its web page. Second, a brief description of who generally participates and how often. And third, where they are in competition. Some of these things take several years (like World Cup), others are contested every year (like the Champion's League). I follow World Cup, EUFA (European national and club cups), the English Premier League (England's top 20 teams), and the FA Cup. Between the months of August and May that's a lot of football. Fox Soccer Net broadcasts much of it. ESPN, et al broadcast a bit as well. If you have questions, send them my way and I'll try to answer them. Otherwise wikipedia does a decent job of lining it all out. By the way, Euro 2008 began today. It's being broadcast on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN Classic and ABC. Go here to find the schedule and listings. Enjoy!

Shepherds or CEOs?

The comparison is not new. Nor is the point one which has only recently been made by many within the church and especially among pastors. Even on this blog I have made it clear in posts past that I am no fan of the bigger better faster model of the church. We not only need to be changing what we are doing and how we are doing it, but we need to be careful about the words we use to describe it. When we speak of "branding" a ministry or "retooling" our "programming" we have implicitly imbibed not only the language but even the thought patterns of Wall Street and Madison Avenue. Christianity Today has recently published a wonderful little article that touches on our approach to leadership in the church which also tangentially addresses the language we use to describe our work. So many have heard the Shepherd vs CEO comparison and have nodded knowingly about the need to be more like a shepherd, and yet so few are engaging in the hard work of tending a flock instead of attending shareholder meetings. When will we stop fretting over numbers? When will we stop evaluating ministry success by the size of their arena?

If you are serious about being a shepherd, begin thinking like a shepherd and using terminology more consistent with shepherding. We tend and we feed. And what is that food that we are to feed our sheep? Christ! Moralism, while it tastes good in your mouth, does little to fill a belly. Permissiveness and enabling may keep the sheep content for now, but since they are effectively leading themselves, they will end up feeding on the wrong things, drinking from contaminated springs, and bedding down among wolves. Shepherds mend. Shepherds chastise. Shepherds sing over their flock. Shepherds answer to the owner of the sheep. And when the owner calls a shepherd, he does not call him to provide quality programming for the sheep. He does not require of the shepherd a long-range plan for peak efficiency. He does not speak to the shepherd of "metrics". He asks, "Do you love me?" And if you will answer yes, his response is "Feed my sheep."