- church notes: we started a new series on the books of James and Colossians this sunday...we'll spend several weeks trying to integrate the teaching of these two books (there's a lot there and it's been really exciting to work on this with chip!) check out the podcasts each week...
- also, my small group is getting going again...we're going to read "Sex God" by Rob Bell...i'm exciting to see what comes out of reading this together.
- i got a job with the rec center supervising soccer league games and keeping score of softball games...easy and good money!
- i started reading eugene peterson's newest book: "The Jesus Way: a Conversation on the Ways that Jesus is the Way." The intro is worth the price of the whole book...with his new theology series, eugene is rapidly moving up the list of favorite authors...here are the first five sentences:
"This is a conversation on the spirituality of the ways we go about following Jesus, the Way. The ways Jesus goes about loving and saving the world are personal: nothing disembodied, nothing abstract, nothing impersonal. Incarnate, flesh and blood, relational, particular, local. The ways employed in our North American culture are conspicuously impersonal: programs, organizations, teachniques, general guidelines, information detatched from place. In matters of ways and means, the vocabulary of numbers is preferred over names, ideologies crowd out ideas, the grey fog of abstraction absorbs the sharp particularities of the recognizable face and the familiar street."
and it only get better from there...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
05459
the big news of the week is that CTK-Durango now has an office...headquarters if you will. aside from the benefits of simply having a space to do some work (that is not a coffee shop), the building we are in has a number of perks...from high speed internet access (included in the rent), to common areas shared by each individual office, to a beautiful deck right outside our door, to an landlord who cares about giving back to the community, to monthly office parties and plenty of opportunities to interact with the other tenants there are a lot of reasons to be excited about this space. not only do we have a reasonably priced place to work and call home, but this space really fits into our vision of integrating ourselves into good things already going on in our community. plus we're right on main street!
here are some pictures...
the front door...
where all the magic happens...
view from our window...
...our address is:
CTK Community Church
1075 Man Ave. Ste. 210
Durango, CO 81301
so send us a postcard or something!
here are some pictures...
the front door...
where all the magic happens...
view from our window...
...our address is:
CTK Community Church
1075 Man Ave. Ste. 210
Durango, CO 81301
so send us a postcard or something!
Monday, April 23, 2007
05359
- our first sunday at the rec center was a success (check out the new podcast to hear more). we revisited our purpose and vision and also looked into the future which was a lot of fun...there are a few things to work out with this new spot (they locked the doors on us!) but i think it's going to be a great place for us to worship. we also had two first time visitors which is always exciting. here's a picture to give you a little idea of what it looks like...
- chip, jenn, and i are going to be in california (salinas) may 3-6 to meet with and thank those of you who have been supporting us this last year. we are going to have a meeting at SVCC may 4th at 7 pm, so if you're in the area come check it out. i've been working on a video that we'll show at that meeting to give a glimpse into our church and life in durango and it's been really cool to hear the stories people have to tell...God's been doing some cool things in our little community.
- other thoughts...watch the movie "Saint Ralph". i just saw it for the second time this weekend with my friens seth and i love it...it's sligthly irreverent, but very inspirational...it's funny and true, and that makes any work of art great.
- i've also overtaken first place in my fantasy baseball league...i don't think my team has really done that well yet, so i'm not sure how to evaluate this early season success...but hey, i'm not going to complain!
peace
- chip, jenn, and i are going to be in california (salinas) may 3-6 to meet with and thank those of you who have been supporting us this last year. we are going to have a meeting at SVCC may 4th at 7 pm, so if you're in the area come check it out. i've been working on a video that we'll show at that meeting to give a glimpse into our church and life in durango and it's been really cool to hear the stories people have to tell...God's been doing some cool things in our little community.
- other thoughts...watch the movie "Saint Ralph". i just saw it for the second time this weekend with my friens seth and i love it...it's sligthly irreverent, but very inspirational...it's funny and true, and that makes any work of art great.
- i've also overtaken first place in my fantasy baseball league...i don't think my team has really done that well yet, so i'm not sure how to evaluate this early season success...but hey, i'm not going to complain!
peace
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
05159
some easter weekend thoughts...
...our easter worship service at the manna house was great. we're really grateful we got to meet there this weekend. some pictures are included at the end of this post...next week we're having a worship fiesta and then it's on the to the rec center!
...thanks to my friend april all i listen to now is this guy, rocky votolato...he's amazing...
...on the topic of music, derek webb (formerly of caedmon's call), has a new album coming out in may...he's become a bit of a controversial figure and even if i don't always like the musical direction he chooses he is a very compelling voice for justice in the music world...i'm sure you'll hear more about this from me after the album comes out...
...i started reading this book called "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, How Crammed Closests, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place." this book is in the style of malcom gladwell (The Tipping Point) and steven johnson (Emergence and Everything Bad is Good for You)....i love these kinds of books and this one in particular is fun because i've not often been praised for my organization skills. the basic premise of the book is that most systems actually function better and with greater health when there is a certain amount of mess or randomness in the system. there is ample evidence by the authors that the highly organized, "clean desk", neat freak is actually quite inefficient. i'm only about a third of the way through so i may have more to say about this later, but it's quite thought provoking so far...
...my fantasy baseball team is in third place after one week, and this is with pujols off to a slow start and several players not available due to the weather problems that are cancelling a lot of games...i like where i'm at so far...
peace!
...our easter worship service at the manna house was great. we're really grateful we got to meet there this weekend. some pictures are included at the end of this post...next week we're having a worship fiesta and then it's on the to the rec center!
...thanks to my friend april all i listen to now is this guy, rocky votolato...he's amazing...
...on the topic of music, derek webb (formerly of caedmon's call), has a new album coming out in may...he's become a bit of a controversial figure and even if i don't always like the musical direction he chooses he is a very compelling voice for justice in the music world...i'm sure you'll hear more about this from me after the album comes out...
...i started reading this book called "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder, How Crammed Closests, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place." this book is in the style of malcom gladwell (The Tipping Point) and steven johnson (Emergence and Everything Bad is Good for You)....i love these kinds of books and this one in particular is fun because i've not often been praised for my organization skills. the basic premise of the book is that most systems actually function better and with greater health when there is a certain amount of mess or randomness in the system. there is ample evidence by the authors that the highly organized, "clean desk", neat freak is actually quite inefficient. i'm only about a third of the way through so i may have more to say about this later, but it's quite thought provoking so far...
...my fantasy baseball team is in third place after one week, and this is with pujols off to a slow start and several players not available due to the weather problems that are cancelling a lot of games...i like where i'm at so far...
peace!
Sunday, April 01, 2007
05059
- baseball season has begun!
- well, the pickles era is officially over...i’ll definitely miss that place...it was fun and worked well for this early chapter of our story. but, on to new things!!
- i’ve been able to read two books this week, and this is a good thing. i read The Road by Cormac McCarthy (I started reading it before Oprah named it her book of the month...just so you know). i don’t want to give too much away for those who want to read it, but it took me about 100 pages to figure out what was going on and then it ripped me apart at the end. stick with it and it will be worth the effort.
- i also read Dan Kimball’s new book: They Like Jesus But Not the Church. i’m always interested to see what Dan has to say as i’ve been influenced directly by his ministry. the impact of many books is often determined by the timing and context of the reading of the book. there was not a lot of new information in this book (especially if you’ve been reading any of the emerging church stuff over the last five years), but it was good for me to read right now. i found it inspiring and also affirming of what we are doing here in durango.
the point of the book is really to look at the culture and examine why so many young people (the 18-35 demographic) are not coming to church. however, there is an interesting (but minor) section of the book where he looks at a disturbing trend with young leaders. dan mentions research and conversations he’s had with young leaders who have become frustrated by being relegated to “generational ministries” and feel like they have little or no influence in the church setting and therefore have left church ministry for para-church ministries, non-profit organizations, and other careers where they feel they can use their gifts and have influence on a larger scale. i’ve read a lot of books that say “young leaders need a voice,” but then leave it at that. dan, though, examines historical trends (showing how significant movements have been started by young people from the disciples, to john wesley, to bill hybels) and current cultural trends (showing how businesses are tapping into young people for hot “ideas” and how much of the cutting edge work being done in film, music, and fiction is being done by the young demographic) to put some weight behind his statement. his conclusion is that not only is the church losing future leaders it is falling way behind in terms of the “economy of ideas.”
certainly every generation feels slighted and has desired more influence, but the fact remains that many young leaders don’t see the church as appealing an option for influencing and utilizing gifting as they do alternative careers and organizations. and i know this is true because i’ve experienced it and seen many of my peers experience it as well. it is really kind of a bummer. so thank you dan, for putting something behind your “give young leaders a voice” plea.
- last, but by no means least, check out the new podcast episode (there’s a guest star appearance you won’t want to miss) =)
- well, the pickles era is officially over...i’ll definitely miss that place...it was fun and worked well for this early chapter of our story. but, on to new things!!
- i’ve been able to read two books this week, and this is a good thing. i read The Road by Cormac McCarthy (I started reading it before Oprah named it her book of the month...just so you know). i don’t want to give too much away for those who want to read it, but it took me about 100 pages to figure out what was going on and then it ripped me apart at the end. stick with it and it will be worth the effort.
- i also read Dan Kimball’s new book: They Like Jesus But Not the Church. i’m always interested to see what Dan has to say as i’ve been influenced directly by his ministry. the impact of many books is often determined by the timing and context of the reading of the book. there was not a lot of new information in this book (especially if you’ve been reading any of the emerging church stuff over the last five years), but it was good for me to read right now. i found it inspiring and also affirming of what we are doing here in durango.
the point of the book is really to look at the culture and examine why so many young people (the 18-35 demographic) are not coming to church. however, there is an interesting (but minor) section of the book where he looks at a disturbing trend with young leaders. dan mentions research and conversations he’s had with young leaders who have become frustrated by being relegated to “generational ministries” and feel like they have little or no influence in the church setting and therefore have left church ministry for para-church ministries, non-profit organizations, and other careers where they feel they can use their gifts and have influence on a larger scale. i’ve read a lot of books that say “young leaders need a voice,” but then leave it at that. dan, though, examines historical trends (showing how significant movements have been started by young people from the disciples, to john wesley, to bill hybels) and current cultural trends (showing how businesses are tapping into young people for hot “ideas” and how much of the cutting edge work being done in film, music, and fiction is being done by the young demographic) to put some weight behind his statement. his conclusion is that not only is the church losing future leaders it is falling way behind in terms of the “economy of ideas.”
certainly every generation feels slighted and has desired more influence, but the fact remains that many young leaders don’t see the church as appealing an option for influencing and utilizing gifting as they do alternative careers and organizations. and i know this is true because i’ve experienced it and seen many of my peers experience it as well. it is really kind of a bummer. so thank you dan, for putting something behind your “give young leaders a voice” plea.
- last, but by no means least, check out the new podcast episode (there’s a guest star appearance you won’t want to miss) =)
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