Important?

Here's a dose of reality for you.

Something less than Church

What have we done to the church? What was intended to be an earth shaking movement of eternal consequence has been reduced to an event planning corporation of marginal consequence. Jesus described his church as something that the gates of hell could not stop.

In Jesus’ mind, hell cannot stop her.

Everything stops my church. Budget constraints, competition with other churches, lack of people-power, etc. It seems that the local manifestation of the church of which I am a part is a far cry from “all hell can’t stop you now.”

It seems as though the church was a wonderful thing when Jesus first pitched the idea to his followers.

“We are going to change the world, people, we are part of an emerging kingdom that is going to change the way that the universe operates. Hold on, it is going to be one hell of a ride!”

Wooo hoooo!

It is just so different now.

I preach therefore I preach

I am a pastor of a small church. I do a lot of things in my week, really…a lot. The thing I do best and the thing I like to do most is communicating the message of the Bible. I love this aspect of “pastoring.” It drives me, fuels me, changes me. People around me seem to think that I communicate well. Teachers, colleagues, mentors have all affirmed that this is my gift. What I was made to do.

Why do I spend so little time actually doing it?

It seems like most weeks are filled with things I have to endure in order to do the thing God made me to do.

I wonder if this is bad stewardship.

Team Fortress 2

I will admit it. I like video games. My wife and I bought a GameCube with some of our wedding money (that was six years ago). For those of you out there who also enjoy video games you will be familiar with the disappointment that comes from buying and playing an over-hyped game. The ads looked good, the box was cool, the screen shots appealing…but the game play stunk. It LOOKED good, but was kinda boring.

Such is NOT the case with Team Fortress 2. It is quite possibly the most entertaining FPS I have ever played. And I’ve played a bunch.