Olympics qualifying & Kairos member !!

Monday night (June 30) & Tuesday night (July 1st) — Kairos’ very own Peter Marshall will be swimming to qualify for the summer Beijing Olympics, in the 100-meter backstroke !!!

Here is a picture of Peter (in the middle) – when he won the 50m backstroke World championship in Manchester, England a couple of months back.

So, if you have any time — stop by Kairos tonight – in the upper room, or if you are out of state reading this — try to watch this (on the USA network) & scream, shout & lose your voice cheering Peter on.

missional church stuff…

Some of you know much more about the term ‘missional’ than I do, and for some of you it is a new term.
So for all of us, here are a few quick definitions, links and quotes (& a video) :

Those with a missional perspective no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point for those outside the church. The missional church is more concerned about sending the people in the church out among the people of the world, rather than getting the people of the world in among the people of the church. Others have described this distinction as a challenge to “go and be” as opposed to “come and see.”
Missional churches see their primary function as one of actively moving into a community to embody and enflesh the word, deed and life of Jesus into every nook and cranny. Eugene Peterson’s “incarnational” rendering of John 1:14 in the Message paraphrase illustrates this well when it states, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”

Definition of Attractional – “using buildings, technologies, gifts, leadership…to proclaim the gospel.”
Definition of Incarnational – “Christians living out the gospel in their cultural context like Jesus who tabernacled among us.”
Darrin Patrick

“It’s not that you ought not be attractive. Christianity ought to be attractive, but its about one’s missionary stance in regard to the culture. Attractional is an approach that says ‘Come to us.’” – Alan Hirsch

voice of the day

Creativity is a way of living life, no matter what our vocation, or how we earn our living.
- Madeline L’Engle Walking on Water

blog promo

A good friend of mine back in the Twin Cities has a blog – that I think would be well worth your time to visit. His name is Josh & he is a theologian and an intellectual (dont hold that against him though, because he is a great guy – -who loves to laugh, and has a huge heart for the world)

anyway — the name of his blog is Into the Flip Side

…and what the blog is about :
“Every 5 seconds a child dies of hunger. As Christians we have been instructed by Jesus to give. I want to draw attention to all that is happening in this world and compare it against what God says we as Christians should be doing. I also want to explore the implications for my own family and life and for all of us who are children of Christ.”

And he answered them, “whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” esv Luke 3:11

a must-read article !!!

There has been much talk recently on what is the gospel.

The Gospel in All its Forms
Like God, the gospel is both one and more than that.

…is a great article by Tim Keller on his attempt to answer the questions of
- what is the gospel?
- why does there seem to be a tension between Jesus’ gospel, and emphasis on the kingdom, and Paul’s emphasis on justification?
- why do individual and corporate aspects of the gospel not live in easy harmony with one another today?

Read the article — it challenged me, and made me run to the word to understand these things in a much deeper way.

Here is Keller’s summing up of the gospel:
“If I had to put this outline in a single statement, I might do it like this:
‘Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.’

voice of the day

“I would say about individuals: an individual dies when he ceases to be surprised. What keeps me alive — spiritually, emotionally, intellectually — is my ability to be surprised. I say, I take nothing for granted. I am surprised every morning that I see the sun shine again. When I see an act of evil, I am not accommodated — I don’t accommodate myself to the violence that goes on everywhere. I’m still surprised. That’s why I’m against it; why I can fight against it. We must learn how to be surprised, not to adjust ourselves. I am the most maladjusted person in society.” Abraham Joshua Heschel

airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras

When I was pastoring a church in Minneapolis, called the Rock for a number of years, we took a few missions trips to the capital of Honduras — Tegucigalpa. The trips themselves were always amazing, but the airport we would land at (Toncontin International Airport) has to be the scariest landing that a person could go through. A matter of fact, every time we would land, everybody on the plane would spontaneously clap (like our lives were spared yet another time).

Well, I was perusing the LA Times the other day and came across
this sad article.

This from the article –brought back a lot of memories of flying into Honduras:
“There have been calls for years to replace aging Toncontin International Airport, whose short runway, outdated navigation equipment and neighboring hills make it one of the world’s more dangerous international airports.
The airport was built on the southern edge of hilly Tegucigalpa in 1948 with a runway less than 5,300 feet.
The altitude of about 3,300 feet forces pilots to use more runway on landings and takeoffs. And because of the hills, pilots have to make an unusually steep approach.”

Taking Their Faith, but Not Their Politics, to the People

Interesting article in the NY Times about faith, and politics. It is actually similar (but not exactly) — to a group that I would like to start out here in L.A. at a coffee shop. I will let you know when I get it off of the ground.

“Southern Baptists, as a rule, do not drink. But once a month, young congregants of the Journey, a Baptist church here, and their friends get together in the back room of a sprawling brew pub called the Schlafly Bottleworks to talk about the big questions: President Bush, faith and war, the meaning of life, and “what’s wrong with religion.”