RockTheDesert

Watercooler Wednesday - Pop Goes The Church

This post is part of Watercooler Wednesday, a creative think-tank which gathers weekly for conversation at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog. Check out Randy's latest WCW post HERE.

I had a lot of time to read while traveling to and from Romania last week. I could hardly stop reading my brand new ESV New Testament. I love this version. I underlined tons of scripture that I had memorized or was familiar with.

I also was able to read "Pop Goes The Church" by Tim Stevens, from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. If you go to the Pop Goes The Church website, you can read Chapter 4 - A Tale of Five Churches. Basically, Tim lists a set of five choices which every church has about how to deal with pop culture surrounding our churches: 1. Condemn; 2. Separate; 3. Embrace; 4. Ignore; 5. Leverage.

You probably don't even need to read Chapter 4 to determine the answers to these  questions:

• Which one of these choices describes your church's response to pop culture?
• How about your own personal response to pop culture...do you imitate pop culture, or are you creating culture?

Take a minute right now to check out Tim's "Leading Smart" blog. It's one my top 5. He posted an article recently called "Why Pop Culture Is No Longer Popular" which in some ways seems to refute the premise of his own book. Great post and lots of good comments.

WCW - Crazy Love

It's Watercooler Wednesday - time to assemble the creative brain trust once again around the watercooler at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog - join me and many others at the cooler today - and check out this week's WCW post by Randy Elrod HERE! And to make it more fun, leave comments at all the blogs you visit!!

I just finished reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Loved it, underlined it, reading it again! It's an interactive read, meaning that Francis has included cool videos on his website designed to correspond to every chapter in the book. The website also contains an excerpt from the book - actually, all of Chapter One! Oh, and check out this interview with Francis. While I was cruising through the website, I noticed Francis has a new video blog - lots of fun stuff on there - this is one creative dude! Actually, he's the founding pastor and a teaching pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA. I followed several links on the church website and discovered Just Stop And Think and Echo Prayer. What a cool church!!! They are creating culture like crazy (no pun intended)!! From their "building project" (an amphitheater instead of a building) to their Bible college to their local and global ministries, they are "doing church" driven by Crazy Love...

"She Reads" Cold Tangerines

"I believe in a life of celebration. I believe that the world we wake up to every day is filled to the brim with deep, aching love, and also with hatred and sadness. And I know which one of those I want to win in the end. I want to celebrate in the face of despair, dance when all we see on the horizon is doom. I know that Death knocks at our doors and comes far too early for far too many of us, but when he comes for me, I want to be full-tilt, wide-open, caught in the very act of life."

Just a short from excerpt from "Cold Tangerines" (page 231) to whet your appetite. For an audio sample of this excerpt plus a little bit more, click HERE.

This book can be read all at once. Or one chapter at a time. Or random chapters at a time, not necessarily in sequential order. It is raw and honest, funny and self-deprecating, beautiful and celebratory, and deeply satisfying.

Shauna Niequist is a masterful storyteller, with vibrant metaphors weaving personal stories and experiences together into a compelling, life-giving tapestry of real life. Check out her blog for more stories, pics, great links and three full chapters from the book!

Our newly formed book club, "She Reads", is reading "Cold Tangerines" in May and will meet for discussion, snacks & beverages on Thursday, May 29 at 6:30pm. For directions/RSVP, click HERE.

WCW - Bookworm

Today is Watercooler Wednesday - this post, along with many others from creative bloggers across the planet, can be found at Randy Elrod's Ethos blog today. If you are looking for a great daily blog to read, add this one to your RSS reader and enjoy the creative, thought-provoking, artistic posts that are the trademarks of Ethos! Randy's WCW post today is about his favorite book of all time.

I was a bookworm growing up. I even started a library for the neighborhood kids in the treehouse in our backyard! Yes I did create those little checkout cards in paper sleeves inside of each book cover. I guess I don't have a favorite book. I've got tons of favorites. I've got multiple favorite series of books. Don't even get me started on all the Reader's Digest Condensed Books I've read - believe me - there are 100's!! Reading is a feast for the imagination. Well-chosen words crafted into dangerously true sentences have the power to transport is backward and forward in time, awaken long-forgotten memories, and stimulate our longing for creativity, purpose, and abundant life! By the way, is there a better word for abundant - it has such a churchy connotation. Maybe overflowing?

I went to the public library for the first time in years yesterday. I've decided to start paying my children to read books. It's not that they don't like reading, it's just that, well, they LOVE guitar hero, rock band, starcraft, and medal of honor. Trading one love for another is not my goal necessarily, but I really want to add some balance, some sense of words on a page being meaningful and rich and potentially life-changing, and a way to broaden their view of the past, present and future. OK, all that to say, Scottsdale has a beautiful library, totally interactive, well-organized, well-staffed, and well-stocked. While waiting for my offspring to painstakingly select some books, I managed to find a huge stack of books for myself as well. I was drawn to these three books:   "The Savior," by Eugene Drucker (of Emerson String Quartet fame); "I Heard That Song Before," by Mary Higgins Clark; and "Mozart's Sister," by Rita Charbonnier. Maybe one of these will become a favorite!

Reading

I love to read. Growing up I loved to read. I would spend hours each day being lost in the world of Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Joy Sparton, Rosamund Du Jardin...the list is really endless. I still have a lot of books from childhood and I've saved just about every book from my own children's childhood. I also have a nice-sized collection of Reader's Digest condensed books - I've read most of them - some I've read and re-read several times. But, lately, it seems like it is more and more difficult to carve out time for reading. Simply sitting down to read seems lazy, non-urgent, almost sinful. I tend to read for a short while right when I get in bed. But I find my mind wandering, not settling down, not focusing on the words on the pages. I read a phrase then spend 10 minutes daydreaming myself into a totally different world and topic and when I reluctantly pull back into the present, I've got to find my place in the book, backtrack a little to get some context, then go forward 'til the next daydreaming episode. Eventually, I wake up with my head on the book, glasses still on, and I put the book on the nightstand, vowing to try again the next night.

I'm hoping to re-capture this enjoyable pastime from my childhood in the coming months. It's a part of my creative self that has been dormant for far too long.

Cold Tangerines

I just finished reading an amazing book by Shauna Niequist called "Cold Tangerines". It is a collection of essays that is real and raw and all about everyday life. I bought my copy at Barnes and Noble. You can also find it at Shauna's website www.shaunaniequist.com.

Destiny

Right now I'm reading a really great book by Erwin McManus called Soul Cravings. (Check out the link on the LH side of the page.) The book is written like a journal with main topics containing a lot of journal entries under each one. In "Destiny" entry 7, Erwin writes, "We all hear voices in our heads and have visions erupting out of our brains that disrupt our daily routine and beg us to tear ourselves away from the mundane of life. Something stirs deeply within us, calling us out, inviting us to pursue and discover that which we do not know. All of us are called to a place we have not been. Our lives were always intended to be journeys into the unknown. The invitation is both personal and mystical. No one else may fully understand what you are being called to. You may not even fully understand. The path you must walk may appear to others as strange or unreasonable, but you know there's more going on than meets the eye....God calls us out of the life we have known and calls us to a life we have never imagined...The signs are all around you, but even more the signs are all within you. Your soul is being pulled forward. You are being called to a God whose voice your ears have never heard. You are having visions of a life you could not possibly create alone. You are no longer satisfied with where you are, and now you are on a quest for where you do not know. You were created not to live in the past, but to create the future. Your soul craves to become, and you will never be satisfied with less."

This passage is very timely. It has been simmering inside of me all day. I've read tons of inspirational books and quotes over the years, heard plenty of life-changing, charge up the hill messages, been stirred to action by powerful lyrics and prayers from saints, but today, I am deeply moved and profoundly inspired to become...that's it...to become...you know, that process by which we abandon our pride, raise our hands to the sky and surrender to the One who became in order for us to be able to become. I'm ready to not just say it but to do it. It's bigger than I can control or manage. So it won't be me calling the shots. I'm done with that. It's time to live and breathe and move and trust and love and be loved and, well, become...

Crazy People

I'm starting to realize that we might be crazy. A special kind of crazy. I remember hearing Erwin McManus speak at a leadership conference and he talked about how missionaries need to be crazy in order to spend their entire life passionately devoted to the cause. I believe this message eventually became his book "The Barbarian Way." He definitely has a point. Lately Dan has been telling people about his new passion in life and how he's leaving his job and evangelizing Africa. He tends to get this look of shock, then disbelief (because, after all, he is a great jokester), then amazement, then the bullying starts or the dismissal and uncomfortable subject change. Very few people have truly understood what it is God is calling him to do. I have to admit that at first I couldn't fully understand. I wanted to understand. I understood intellectually, but I couldn't feel it. I could see the look in his eyes and the fire in his belly was undeniable, but I didn't have the same conviction. But God knew I needed to experience Africa for myself. And I needed to hear Him say 'go.' Not because Dan is going or because of any other reason except that God said 'go.'

We know another couple, actually are related to them. They are also crazy. They are the ones who started all this missionary business within the family. Ray & Mary Berryman. They are constantly travelling the globe, taking every single opportunity possible to share the Gospel with anyone who will listen. And people definitely are listening. They've had the chance to meet heads of state in lots of countries. They've dined with multi-millionaires and with paupers. They've eaten things that shouldn't even be spoken of. They've slept at the Ritz and they've slept under the stars in Africa. They don't do this for themselves. They do it because God also said 'go.' And because of their example and encouragement and prayers, we are headed down a similar path.

Here's an excerpt from their prayer letter for their trip to Spain this coming weekend. Whether you're a prayer warrior or not, I know they would appreciate as much prayer as possible for this outreach.

Mary and I will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain this Thursday, April 12, 2007 to conduct a leadership outreach mission there. We will be working with the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ to reach and disciple top leaders there in Spain. A number of executive outreach meetings and interviews with key leaders have been scheduled, and we will be sharing with them how they can achieve true success in their businesses and in their lives through having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and applying integrity in all they do.    In this once religious Catholic nation, most of the population is now secular and have little interest in hearing about Christianity. However, people are desperately searching for meaning in life at this time as they see unrest and Islam knocking at their door. This sets the stage to have people become more open to seek solutions to their current state of affairs, resulting in a more friendly reception of biblical truths.   This is our first outreach to the leadership in Spain and we are hoping that the hearts of the people will be open to the truths that can transform their nation...As a follow up to these meetings, the new believers and seekers will be connected with existing Christian leaders there to help provide fellowship and discipleship of those that are interested in learning more...

I feel fine

I have a collection of books. They take up 5 bookcases in my living room. Not to mention the stacks on tabletops, nightstands, and the fully loaded shelves in the office.  Some are favorites from childhood. Nancy Drew, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Trixie Belden. Some are favorites that I read to my kids. The Big Hungry Bear, The Little Red Caboose, Quick As A Cricket. Some are favorites that I read when I was first a homemaker/mom like pretty much everything by Emilie Barnes & Liz Curtis Higgs.  Of course I've got an entire bookcase devoted to Readers Digest condensed books. They are beautiful and I've read every one of them. Some of them multiple times. Then there are all the books on creativity and leadership. Loads of those. Then the occasional random purchase at Barnes & Noble - some how-to books among those. Then of course the big beautiful cookbooks authored by the Food Network chefs. And then there's books-on-CD from christianaudio.com. But lately, I've been trying to find something to read that's different. True, inspiring stories of courage and hope. These are few and far between on my shelves because I've always tended to be a little (maybe a lot) cynical about these "feel good" "everyone's a winner" type of stories. Now it seems like I'm discovering new emotions I never knew existed. Just last week I watched a whole Oprah special and actually cried. Several times. While these feelings are uncomfortable, I feel like I'm being softened from the inside out for a purpose greater than I can understand right now. Part of this is a conspiracy on the part of Randy Shoulders and the ultra-huggy Fellowship North members. It's getting easier to feel and share authentic feelings and to give and receive hugs. Quite a different season of life but one that I'm realizing is a necessary part of my growth as a person. So to all you sentimental huggers out there, thanks for letting me join you. And just know that if you see me reading a book and crying I'm feeling fine, just fine.