Here is an update on Ted Haggard. Excuse me if I remain skeptical. Haggard reminds me of Brett Favre – doesn’t know when it’s time to quit causing other people so much pain. Am I retired? Am I not retired? Should I preach? Should I not preach? Ted is keeping himself in the news, and that is what is bad for him and bad for the church. There is a way to experience redemptive healing quietly, meaningfully, authentically without an insistence that the old way of being in the public eye continue. Ted’s way of handling this is forcing churches, “friends”, ministries, etc., to say things they don’t want to say and shouldn’t have to say. There really are times to “just go away.” Ted’s response to all of this sends me a signal that the old patterns may still remain. No, I am not referring to sex, drugs (and let’s throw rock ‘n roll in there just to be safe). It’s the desire to be first, important and the ability to divorce the role I play from who I am.
Ted can never make the money he used to make by doing what he used to do. He probably will not be able to sustain that lifestyle in the secular world either. HBO documentaries, Oprah appearances, etc., won’t get him what he wants, though for a time he will be in the spotlight again. Makes me wonder about how any of us can handle the “hidden” life. This is the life that God can lead us into – the life of no fame, no importance, no leadership. It is the life of silence and servanthood. Our flesh so resists this that it is humanly impossible to do. Being paid attention to is a drug, and once you’ve mainlined it, nothing else seems to do. Just ask aging sport’s stars. John the Baptist faced it when the ministry of Jesus began to replace John’s status and public influence. His response? “He must increase and I must decrease.” I mean, who really says that? I don’t think I have met the leader who takes up that cross.
There are times when our usefulness is over at one level and God asks us to serve Him at another level and in another way. Are we open?
I heard this on TV today. Says it just right as the government now becomes the biggest player in our future economy. Put on your crash helmets and tighten your seat belts.
Mark Driscoll’s sermons are mostly too racy to post on GodTube, the evangelical Christian “family friendly” video-posting Web site. With titles like “Biblical Oral Sex” and “Pleasuring Your Spouse,” his clips do not stand a chance against the site’s content filters. No matter: YouTube is where Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, would rather be. Unsuspecting sinners who type in popular keywords may suddenly find themselves face to face with a husky-voiced preacher in a black skateboarder’s jacket and skull T-shirt. An “Under 17 Requires Adult Permission” warning flashes before the video cuts to evening services at Mars Hill, where an anonymous audience member has just text-messaged a question to the screen onstage: “Pastor Mark, is masturbation a valid form of birth control?”
Driscoll doesn’t miss a beat: “I had one guy quote Ecclesiastes 9:10, which says, ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.’ ” The audience bursts out laughing. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes, I said “watch.” This is an animation of the growth of Wal-Marts across the USA. Feel the energy. Think of the church!!! Click here. Thanks, YS Marko. Yeh, I know, most everything makes me think of Jesus. I can’t figure out if I am just that spiritual or classically OCD.
Of course, doing anything means change any opinion, fudge on any doctrine, turn a blind eye to any behavior…just so long as you come to church. And in the long run you have a “will do anything” but “believes in nothing” pastor.
