Imagine... Right Brain Preaching

I just came across an article by Batterson that relates imagination with preaching. He suggests that effective communication needs to be imaginative and "whole brain" (as opposed to left-brain only logical oratory).

There's a great quote of Thomas Moore in the article: "It's my conviction that slight shifts in imagination have more impact on living than major efforts at change." (I've been asked to speak at a New Years Eve party/retreat about the difference between real change and empty promises - I'll definitely be using that.)

Anyone who preaches would do well to check out the article.

While I'm making suggestions, Andy Stanley's book, Communicating for a Change, is another helpful look at the art involved in the crafting and delivery of transformational preaching.

"Eyes of a Child" sermon via wordle

Just for fun, I put the text of my sermon notes in @ wordle.net and this is how it turned out. (You may have to click on it to get a decent size view.)

Producers 2

"Making Donuts" follow up #2

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives."
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A couple years ago, I was feeling like lots of stuff was bottled up inside me that wanted out. I thought painting might be a good outlet/release. I'm the kind of person who can't draw a straight line without a ruler and art as it's usually thought of has never been my forte. A wood planter I made in 8th Grade ended up as a pencil holder - but that was better than the clay pottery bowl that became grandpa's ashtray/coin cup. (Don't ask.)

I'm not sure I've ever really painted anything, so I'm not sure where the desire to paint was coming from. My mom made me do fingerpaints with my brother once, but I'm way too tactilly defensive for that I guess. Seriously, have you felt that stuff squishing between your digits? And for some reason, the fingerpaint smell has always made me gag. So naturally, with my newfound desire to paint and a little Christmas money I bought a paint set and a couple brushes and some little canvas boards to start out with.

I still haven't painted anything. The set is in the woefully misnomered 'work'shop in our back yard. Sad.

How often do we bottle up the creativity God's placed within us?

A friend of mine who is the worship leader here at WestWay recently uncorked. He's an insanely gifted musician and has been leading worship about 10 years or so. Actually, I remember him playing drums for worship back when churches didn't allow drums... a bit more than 10 years ago! So he collaborated with some friends with the equipment & talent to pull the project together, and released a CD of music he's written for worship over that time. It's fun to hear people commenting on how they've enjoyed or been touched by what he's allowed to bubble up. (You can hear some of Shane's music here and buy the CD as well.) When we release the God given creativity within us, He is producing tools that will benefit those around us.

Got a CD in you? A painting? Books or stories?

What is it that's building pressure?

Let it out.

Pay attention...

This has been a pretty crappy summer. Kids were sick, LuAnn got sick, the basement flooded, LuAnn got E.Coli (went septic and had blood pressure low enough to scrape the pavement) and a kidney stone, my race car got wrecked... and it's not even August yet! It seems like every time one thing gets better, something else is smashed to pieces. It's been really discouraging.

I had to miss Jr. High camp alltogether and most of High School camp. By last Wednesday, LuAnn was feeling enough better that I went up for the last full day of camp. The worship time was very encouraging (thanks Adam - who is, by the way, soon leaving for the planting of Whitewater Christian Church and would be a great recipient of some of your mission-giving budget). I was struck by how my level of intimacy with God has suffered over the past couple years and how that's affected everything else in my life. My ministry is weaker, my inner life is pretty 'scattered', my ability to develop deeper connections with students has deteriorated...

After coming home from camp, about a dozen of us got up Saturday morning and left for Denver to go to Heavenfest. I'll try to post more about this later, but to sum it all up - it was awesome! More than a typical music festival, it was a time of artful worship. Over 12,000 people there, with 70 some bands, but what mattered most was that the 1 God was there.

After this great weekend, I was trying to distill some thoughts for a short newsletter article this morning. Here's the summary of what I've been chewing on this weekend:

Have you ever forgotten that God still speaks? It’s easy to become so preoccupied with the everyday activity of life that we forget to pay attention to God. When we simply meander through life from one task to the next, we miss the real details of life… we miss God.

Like me, maybe you need to be reminded that God is still speaking. He’s still desiring to commune with us. Maybe you need to get out of the habits that are deafening you to the Voice that created you. Maybe, like me, you need to form new habits that heighten your perception of God – that draw your attention to Him.

Thank God for His patience with us. His grace and mercy continue, even when we’re too busy to notice. Stop. Notice. Listen.

Being Known

I've not posted much of anything lately. And the little bit that I have written here recently has been way on the 'lighter' side of content ~ I mean, "greener" bombs??? Come on...

It's not that I haven't had anything to say. I've actually had quite a few things that I wanted to write about lately (working with a summer intern, fixing my race car, visiting the art gallery, reading Dostoyevsky, new music, moments with students...). But whenever I begin to actually put the words together, I find myself insanely filtering what I want to say. Then I decide this distilled, nuetralized (or is neutered?) version of what's on my mind isn't really worth saying anyway. So I delete it and move on to something else.

(I'm fighting with myself right now even ~ finish the post or filter it then scrap it? I'll keep going and see what happens...)

I think this may just be a part of my tendency to question everything - especially myself. In that case, I'll just keep digging for answers, writing and deleting my way along. But it also may be some fear of something outside of me, looking into the part of me I put on display, and deciding they don't like what they see. When I started this blog, I was feeling pretty secure. I knew if anyone had a problem with what they found here, we could deal with it together. I had a confidence in what I had to say, even when difficult issues led me to say things I knew people didn't want to hear. I was known. I knew myself and felt like I was on firm enough footing to defend if I needed to.

I feel like all of that is missing now. I'm not known. I don't want to say what people who don't know me don't want to hear. (We're not very nice to people we don't know when they say things we don't want to hear, are we?) I feel like Jeremiah maybe, with a message to deliver that I don't really want to. But he couldn't keep it in, and I'm sure I can't either...

Not that I'm trying to stifle the message of God for the sake of my own security. Or maybe that's exactly what it is. Maybe I know deep inside that the masses of consumer christians don't want to hear the call to create and produce something in keeping with the faith they claim. Maybe I know within my soul that the herds will always value conformity above true beauty. Maybe I've just been listenning to too much Coldplay...

BiteBack Benefit

Our talent show to raise money for Compassion's BiteBack program went pretty well last night. We raised just over $600. I was a little disappointed that we didn't have more of an audience, but this is the first time we've done anything like this. Maybe word will get out about how good it was and next time, we'll have more interest. The students did a really good job.

We had everything from pole vaulting to "A Whole New World" to a "Popular" song/skit to dance to train building (which was a favorite of the kids in the crowd) to video editing & several piano solos... We even had a McDonald's drive through for a few minutes! The two students who had the most stage time ended up leading the "vote count" with Teresa (dance, rap, piano, & vocals) just edging out Sam (piano, jokes, & MC). Thanks to every student who shared a talent and to those in the audience who generously "voted".

I was stressed with a number of last minute switches and glitches on the computer, but in the end, over 60 kids will soon be protected from malaria, so it was well worth it. We made a difference. And that was the point.
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On a personal level, if you'd like to make even more of a difference to one child in particular, check out the link in my sidebar to sponsor a child through Compassion's child sponsorship.

Amazing Visual

This is just pretty much amazing!



You can see more about Stephen Wiltshire at his site, including a gallery of his other work.