I did a personality profile a couple of weeks ago, and it was good. I don’t mean the responses were good, though - for the most part - they were. I mean that the test was good. Most personality profiles, at least the ones I’ve taken, can only pick up the traits that you like, and only see the person you present in your answers. But this one got more.

There are parts of my personality that I don’t really like. They’re the ones I battle against day by day. Sometimes I win, sometimes I don’t. And, if I can help it, I don’t display those traits. Some of them I didn’t even recognize well enough to articulate. But this test did. (continue reading…)

Today, while I was working, my wife started at the beginning - “In the beginning…” She opened Genesis and read through chapter 20. She said she realized how little emphasis was put on the Old Testament when she was growing up in the church, and she doesn’t want to follow that same path with our kids. As I think about it, even though I feel like I know a good bit about the OT, I should know more. We are the New Testament church, but the Old Testament is our history. (continue reading…)

In all likelihood today will be the day I find out my future in ministry. The committee for the Canadian church that I visited for an interview a few months ago is meeting tonight, planning to make a final decision. That’s going to make this a fairly long day for my wife and I, but we’ve decided to turn it into a makeshift mini-vigil that we’ll call: The Mini-Vigil. Creative, isn’t it?. We’ll be talking and reading and praying through the day for the committee members, the congregation there, and for ourselves. Of course, our selfish hope is that we are called there, but we know that God wills what He wills, and what he chooses will be best for all of us.Through out the day I’ll be posting what I’ve read and what I am thinking, mainly for an outlet, but also for input. So if you think of something you’d like to share, please do.

This morning I sat down at the window in our apartment and chose a Bible off of the bookshelf, which was open to Ezekiel 47:1-12:

The River From the Temple

The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?”

Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

We would also be grateful if any of you could take just a moment - even just a few seconds - to lift one of the committee members up in prayer. They have the task of seeking God’s will for the congregation, and the responsibility for that merits some intercession: R, JB, P, D, JW, E, L, and N (initials only, of course).

November has been a rare month for me, in that I’ve just finished my fourth book in 3 weeks. This time around it’s Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger. The premise is this, “After hundreds of consultations with local churches and a significant research project, we have concluded that church leaders need to simplify.” They acknowledge the rise of simplicity in business from Apple to Southwest Airlines. Then they discuss how they came to their conclusion.

The book is based on a survey of “vibrant” and “comparison” churches. If you choose, you can read that as “growing” and “stagnant or dying”. The authors compared the survey data and it’s pretty striking. The results showed that the vibrant churches were much more simple than the others. “The difference was so big that the probability of the results occuring with one church by chance is less than one in 1000.” Statistically, the results are “highly significant.”

Before any charts or graphs make their appearance, we see profiles of two churches that Rainer and Geiger have consulted with. This, to me, was the part that convinced me most that they had found something significant; not because they’re great storytellers, but because I’ve seen a copy of their complex church in action. (continue reading…)

We got back today from our first international trip as a family, up to Ontario, Canada. We were visiting a local Church of Christ to see if God is calling us to serve there. Everything went smoothly, and we had a great time.

My wife and, obviously, my son, have never been to Canada. I am the lone continental traveler in the family, having visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls as a 5-year-old. It’s just like I remember it…only from a higher perspective. But this was my first trip beyond the border. (continue reading…)

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