I was just reading this on akingdomspace.com and thought it was a fitting description of what we will be doing Sundays at the beach.

"the word "praise" means to publicly acknowledge. Praise is not praise unless it is shared or made public. It is also something that we do to each other, not to God. The word "Hallelujah" means 'Hey you, go ahead and publicly acknowlege Yahweh."

Here's something else I've been chewing on:

"The soul of a church is a gathered people whose reason for gathering is Jesus. The Pearl of Great Price is Jesus in the midst of his people. The church is a people who gather because they want to know Jesus in a deeper way" - Gordon Cosby

You mean it's not about me and what is good for me, or how I get fed? Waaa waaaa

Nope Guess not!

There is a good discussion about the Gospel of the Kingdom started by my man Todd Hunter on the Ooze message board. You must register, then go to 'General Discussion'.

We read this Psalm before worshipping on the beach this morning:

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it.
The world and all its people belong to him.
For he laid the earth's foundation on the seas
and built it on the ocean depths. - Psalm 24:1,2

Sometimes all the questions and discussion just need to bow the knee to the Maker of All Things.

Mark and I went to see the Big Unit pitch against the Marlins last night. He made them look like the Flounders. This guys throws a 87 mile per hour CHANGE-UP. Baseball is a great sport, especially for people watching. This guy in front of me took his 6-year-old son to get beers three different times. "Daddy, can I have a Bud Light?" The guy behind me was a Yankees fan which is all too common at a Marlins game. Everybody down here is either from New York or has relatives in New York (or just likes the Yankees). Remember Seinfeld's parents? I live 20 minutes from 'Del Boca Vista". Also, with 2 outs in the 9th inning some dude ran onto the field, down the third base line and touched home plate. No sign, no particular reason, just drunk I guess. But then, he does something really stupid - he decides to run right into the Marlin's dugout. Immediately 5 or 6 very frustrated Marlins players take the guy down. I mean, body-slam on concrete. At least he could have been naked or carrying some poster like "$5.75 for beer? - Baseball is the Man!"

Quick story on my meditation time. To help, I was using the old quaker tradition called "centering down" referenced by Foster in Celebration of Discipline. After, some time I suddenly realized that the majority of my thoughts that I was giving to the Lord in order to clear my mind for more of him, were about work and business stuff. When I realized this I felt God said loud and clear "you don't provide for you I PROVIDE FOR YOU."

Point well taken!

I am constantly amazed at how uncomfortable I am at being still. We got rid of the "stupid box" several years ago, so having long stretches of silence has become a nice way of life. Fruitful and energizing, yet just like any discipline, there will come a time that it will lose the original effectiveness. Now I can't imagine having TV again, but I have found that I can very easily fill up all of my silent spaces with doing,doing doing. Mom stuff, work stuff, house stuff, stuff stuff. Anything to stay away from the hardest thing of all. Just Being before God. SO I find myself starting over so to speak. Once, being silent was challenging. I had to work up to it. Mike and I had to make radical changes in our lifestyles in order to pay in to the discipleship account. It has been wonderful, but now God is leading me into another difficult thing. Deeper and more extended times of meditation (on the one and only Creator). I am almost groaning on the inside, but past experience on my inward journey has proven that hard things bring wonderful closeness and intimacy with God. So here is the plan. (10 min a day at the very beginning, no thinking, no praying, no getting a bottle for the baby, no starting the day mentally before I even step out of the bed, just quietly waiting and being with the one that knows me better than I know myself) Knowing myself, it will be incredibly challenging, to train my mind. I love our weekly gatherings that begin with 20 min. of silence/meditation. It is good practice, but just like going to the gym once a week does little good when you are training for a marathon, so does one dose of meditation once a week. I have a deep desire to be honest and moldable before Him. Ask me on how I am doing on Sunday :)

We have now joined akingdomspace blogging team. Andrew Jones has put together a 'mass-blogging' effort of people and communities to "track what God is doing around the world through the voices of the storytellers." Soon, we will be able to post directly to that site (akingdomspace.org) and it will have a link to our blog as well. So, keep posting guys!

Shout out to Kevin Rains at Vineyard Central in Cincinnati. Thanks for linking our blog. I think Kevin was at Church of the Savior when I was there last summer. I seem to remember someone saying, "Those guys are doing a house churching / communial living / monkish thing and they're Vineyard." Intrigued, I've been keeping track of their progress at: Vineyard Central.

There is part of me that hopes to be like them someday, but in our way if you know what I mean.

Kevin's blog is: Blah, Blah, Blog.

Here's an idea for some subversive advertising. We've been thinking of a way to get the word out about whatischurch.com in the W. Palm area. The newspaper publishes a free public service announcement section for churches on Friday. Here's two examples of what we're going to submit:

We're also thinking of:

Jesus was a subversive.
America, Bless God.
"The Kingdom of God is among you." - Jesus
Pray with your eyes open.
God doesn't live in a building.
Church needs to get out more.
"Following Jesus doesn't get you where you want to go. It gets you where Jesus wants you to go." - Eugene Peterson

Let me know if you have more ideas.

A friend of mine sent me an email the other day grieving over the shallow nature of relationships in church and the inability for most Christians to experience authentic community. Here's my response. It's a little long, but I think it hits a chord we've been trying to get at.

"I think you're right on the nose concerning the shallow relationships we experience in church and elsewhere. Getting beneath the tough exterior of people's existence is a little like mining for diamonds with a toothpick. We've been going at this 'missional community' thing (or at least pointed in that direction) for 8 months now and we're finally arriving at some real gems.

I'm finding that the tools most valuable to uncovering God's missional communities are things like time, patience, and the slow, constant pressure of the Spirit drawing us into further apprenticeship to Jesus. Remember the movie "The Shawshank Redemption?" Tim Robbins' character escaped prison using only a tiny sculpting tool. He did not use explosives or incite a riot (which would draw lots of attention and failure could mean death). He did not decide to escape and then make a quick, unplanned attempt the next day (which would increase considerably his chance of failure). But, he also did not throw himself on the 'mercies' of the parole board hoping (wishfully) to be released early. Instead, he chose a path the required the one thing he had plenty of...time. Patience is not a wimpy virtue, it is a subversive weapon. It can destroy enemies that seem overwhelmingly massive and strong, and it will go undetected. If we are determined to find "freedom from our sinful self-life," individually and corporately, then we must determine to stick it out with Jesus for the long haul. Our prisons of addiction, greed, lust, anger, etc. are more impenetrable than Alcatraz ever was. But as ones who are determining to submit our entire life to the kingdom of God, we have the advantage of time, each other, and the Creator of the Universe. Pretty cool, huh?"

I just started reading Dallas Willard's new book, Renovation of the Heart. It's all about spiritual formation, or actually, transformation. I think it's going to be really good, considering what I read in the preface:

"For our Christian groups and their leaders...there is a simple, straighforward way in which congregations of Jesus' people can, without exception, fulfill his call to be an ecclesia, his "called out" ones: a touch point between heaven and earth, where the healing of the Cross and the Resurrection can save the lost and grow the saved into the fullness of human beings in Christ. No special facilities, programs, talents, or techniques are required. It doesn't even require a budget. Just faithfulness to the process of spiritual formation in Christlikeness exposed in the Scriptures and in the lives of his "peculiar people" through the ages."

Here's a thought. Institutions are naturally self-serving. When churches look at themselves as institutions - meaning that people (you, me, or the Pastor) may come and go, but Such-and-Such Church will be here - the result is a corporate identity that may or may not reflect what it's members actually look like. The structure of a church exists only to serve the people and context in which it is placed. That's why I like the language "missional community". It actively demonstrates why a church exists - for the sake of a community and for sake of the world - not for the sake of itself.

Hey folks, my computer is in the shop so I'm checking the blog over at my Dad-in-law's office. I feel like I'm missing a limb. Len Sweet wasn't kidding us about being 'cyborgian'.

Last night was our second meeting centered on getting quiet before God. Last time we focused somewhat on the question "What have you created us for?" This time we continued that conversation, in silence before God, with another question of what we really intend regarding our discipleship to Jesus. I feel like the last year and a half has been a big interruption in the gentle song my life had become. I am so grateful (now) to continually have my existing patterns and intentions called into question and at the same time not have my traditional spiritual/religious crutches to lean upon. I've pretty much got God--in his word, through his people, through the Spirit, and creation--and very little else that is familiar to me--and it's okay! It's better than okay. I'm becoming a foreigner here. Hopefully, I'm also becoming more at home with God. I believe we all are. Thank you, Father, for coming down here.

Tonight while we were being silent during community prayer, God showed me a picture of an empty suit of armor being buried in the sand, and then someone running off in the other direction in a loin cloth. It was an image of the "David and Goliath" story. He then went on to explain how David did not fit into Saul's armor, but Saul in Saul's armor was one mean dude that you would not want to meet in battle. This really helped me understand what we are doing as a church compared to churches set in a more modern context. The old church armor does not fit us, so we are going to a position in the battle that will be uniquely suited for us with the weapons and abilities we have so far. But the men in suits of armor are doing an awesome job of winning the battle on their front (the modern context). Obviously the battle is shifting towards us but they are wrapping it up and driving things our way. I really got the whole team concept thing tonight. It helped me deal with conflicting emotions about what church is supposed to be and what is so visible in the world. The last thing I want to do is place judgement on our awesome brothers and sisters in the battle along with us.

Praise God who is the Great Captain of our faith!!!!

This is an article by my friend Rob in St. Louis. I think he nails something that we've been talking about - how to be "connection" oriented instead of "conversion" oriented. I particularly enjoyed how he pinpointed Christian's 'fear' of the world. Good stuff.

Parable of The Microbrew - Part II

Yesterday was a banner day of sorts. Our incorporation kicked in - Vineyard Church of Palm Beach Gardens Inc. Also, I got a call from AVC (Association of Vineyard Churches) recognizing our existence. Below is our "Specific Purpose" as stated in our Articles of Incorporation. I usually don't make a big deal about mission / vision statements and start posting them on a wall somewhere. But, this one is pretty good...

"To increasingly include and involve people in the rule and reign of God by proclaiming the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through every available means, and particularly through the formation of diverse communities of people who are committed to being and making authentic followers of Jesus"