Sex Offenders in the Pew

Just read a great article at Christianity Today about churches and sex offenders, but it is 7 pages long so I have put some of the key excerpts up here. As N.T. Wright says, every society has one unforgivable sin, and as the article pointed out, many would argue that in our culture, that sin is the sexual abuse of children. Fortunately, Jesus accepts all of us as we are, unconditionally. But that is hardly a license for stupidity or worse. If this is an issue (and a reality) that matters to you, I hope you find this useful. For the rest of us, I think these excerpts do a lot to shine some light on an often misunderstood issue. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

Sex Offenders in the Pew

When the prison chaplain asked Craig, a sex offender, if he was willing to accept Christ as his Savior, he answered with a question: "Would Christ accept me?"

I love audio book downloads from my library

So I recently discovered that I can download audio books from my local library's web site, and guess what, I like it a lot!

For quite a while now, whenever I go on a trip I try and bring an audio book or two. This last time, I decided to look into whether there were downloads available and if they could be transferred to my mp3 player. They were, and I did.

I like to learn, I don't like to physically read. With audio books you can do simple multitasking while enjoying the latest non-fiction or an ancient classic. Plus it's fast, they don't stop the way you or I tend to do when we are actually reading.

Look at this list I have listened to in just the past few weeks. There is no way I could read all these books, but via audio downloads...

• War and Peace - by Tolstoy (just started)
  
• Hearing God's Voice - by Blackaby
• Beyond Band of Brothers – The War Memoirs of Major Winters. – by Winters
• The Problem of Pain – by C.S. Lewis
• God's Politics - Why the right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it. - by Wallis
• Conspiracy of Fools - The rise and fall of Enron - by Eichenwald
• Three Cups of Tea – One mans mission to start schools in Afghanistan. – by Mortenson
• Legacy of Ashes - The history of the CIA - by Weiner
• Dispatches from the Edge - A Memoir - by Anderson Cooper

(Someone should really pay me for this post, a blatant advertisement.)

Calling and Convictions

I'm in this on-line church planting class called Missio which approaches things from a "missional" perspective. (yes that over-used word again, I know)

Here are my answers to a recent assignment.

1) What is your best understanding to date of what you sense God is asking you to 'be' and 'do?'

I feel called to create communities that worship Christ, love each other, and make the world a better place through tangible acts of service. I still wonder about the extent to which I should do this vocationally. I'm glad my current calling allows me to "work" part time in a way that is highly integrated. I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now, but will I always be a "pastor"? I don't know.

2) What are your top 3-5 conviction statements (Zer0 page 9 worksheet)?

• The world as we know it is not acceptable!
• We need to calibrate our actions for change. We need to operate in a sustainable emergency mode.

• Knowing Christ is paramount.

• Sustainability is paramount
  

• No one lives in a bubble, our actions are interrelated.

• The autonomy and conscience of individuals must be respected.
• In other words, disagree with out being disagreeable. We need to have convictions, but we need to learn to see things from other peoples perspective as well. In theology and politics, people somehow impute "sin" on people that don't see things their way. Pastors in particular have the potential to do great harm in this respect. I want to create a community where people are free to question the status-quo, including my personal convictions, but in a loving and respectful way. No doubt this is a reaction to dogmatic leaders, a problem I see in the missional community as much as anywhere.
  

• An improved Christian understanding of calling, particularly as it concerns vocation, has the potential to radically change the world for the better.
• From a macro perspective, I see governments and non-profits (including the organized "church") as givens when it comes to eradicating suffering. (that's not entirely true, but bear with me.) Google's motto: "Don't be evil", the philanthropy of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, these are examples of a force that if radically multiplied, could substantially improve the quality of life for millions. Therefore, empowering Christians to take ownership of their vocation, and see it as more than just a way to pay the bills, is something I am very passionate about.

• Sin warps the ability of individuals to completely know "the truth". Therefore we ought to operate with a great deal of humility.

• Critical thinking is paramount.

3) How does your understanding of your calling connect or disconnect from your primary convictions (from question 2 above)?

For the most part it connects. I'm very comfortable with where I'm at right now as it relates to my sense of calling. However sometimes I wonder if I couldn't do more good if I was involved in a for-profit (i.e. sustainable) enterprise that also uniquely contributed to making the world a better place, and then sought to join with others in a faith community, possibly taking on some leadership roles, but without the pros and cons of a salary.

Free Graphic Design

So I'm working on creating a graphic, and/or having someone else do it. Seeing what's out there, getting ideas.

Not surprisingly I have come across some pretty good sites. A lot of them are making things available for free. How do they do that? Several ways. One is for the artists to raise support, so the artists are creative design "missionaries". Another is for the web site to be a common ground for artists to post their work, so anyone and everyone can give and take. And a final option I am seeing is big churches posting their own material on the web, giving it away.

Here is where I found a lot of this stuff
ChurchRelevance
Free Church Graphics and Resources Toolbox

And here are some that I personally found useful.
Muddy River Media
CreativeMYK
OPEN

On CreativeMYK I was able to post a want add, looking for someone to design a logo for us, and in less than a day I have gotten two responses.