Loving, Learning, and Leading

Take My Order Today, I decided to go to a chinese restaurant that is just a few minutes from my home. I have always been a sucker for the small, hole-in-the-wall restaurants as you can often find a diamond in the rough. Today's experience in that restaurant was a brief but insightful experience. The entire experience goes like this: I walked into the restaurant The smell of fried rice and soy sauce filled the air Pictures of tantalizing dishes were featured on the walls and the overhead menu I waited 5 minutes, but no one was seen I left That's the real story. I kept looking for someone to appear and say "May I help you" and I knew what I wanted because of ample time looking at the pictures and the menu. There was no one seen in the back, the stove had been on, but was now empty. Multiple "Hellos" were not responded to. Just plain empty. How frustrating, because I was hungry and I knew what I wanted. God began to remind me of those who are hungry and...

Cultural Concerns of Manhood Sometimes, I forget that all of our perspectives are heaviliy influenced by culture, personal experience, and context. I know that this sound quite naive, but sometimes we all can not understand why others can not see things the same way that we see things. This past weekend, New Hope Free Methodist in Rochester, NY, hosted a men's breakfasat where 22 men gathered to encourage one another. The topic for the morning is "What qualities define authentic manhood". What ensued was a wonderful conversation where we analyzed the character of Jesus and applied his life and mission towards our very culturally influenced concept of masculinity. What struck me in this small, multi-cultural gathering was the ease in which some people easily responded to this question and contrastingly, how difficult it was for others to even understand the question. The question was meant to have the participants understand how their concept of masculinity deeply sha...

Simple, Small, and Subtle Free Methodist Bishop Matt Thomas described the ideal urban ministry as simple, small, and subtle at the Free Methodist Urban Fellowship conference this past week. He pointed out that this is in total oppostion to our approach to urban ministry where everything is big, complex, and loud. His words reasonated within my spirit this week. His extensive experiences with cities across the world revealed that the ministries that were simple in structure (did a few things well), small in size (a few people ministering to a few people), and subtle (begining relational and not programatically). These approaches have a radical, but not reckless approach towards ministering to those in city. Instead of going to a place and trying to raise funds for a church plant, the focus is on reaching people and developing communities around a relatively simple set of core processes. This is the message of books such as "Simple church" by Thom Ranier, or "Deliber...

The Coward Conspiracy Today, I read in the Rochester Democrat-Chronicle the front page story of the domestic homicide of a Ms. Rivera. Who had apparently warned her family of the threats and violence that she had been living with for over one year prior to her murder. Many advised her to be careful and probably encouraged her to end the relationship in light of his proclivity towards violence. Headlines like these are no longer strange or uncommon. The battering of pop singer Rihanna by teen icon Chris Brown made news, but barely two month later, they are regularly seen together. Celebrities such as Oprah have made public statements, urging Rihanna to leave this toxic, and potentially life threatening relationship. Jackson Katz, in his wonderfully provocative book "The Macho Paradox", asks why domestic violence in all of its ugly shades, is considered a "women's issue". Women are certainly the victims and their is also true that pathological co-dependent behavio...

Overcoming the Noise Last week, I participated in a spinning class at the local Bally's fitness center. For those of you who are not familiar with a spinning class, it is a room filled with stationary bikes, that is led by a slightly sadistic teacher who pushes you to different types of pedaling. The result is 45 minutes of pain, sweat, and swearing not to eat another cheeseburger! During the class, I noticed that the instructor was about 7 feet from me, but I had trouble listening to her instruction. If you have ever been to a class like this, you know that there is music blaring in the background and the sounds of the machines themselves. However, to compensate for this, she was wearing a state of the art microphone. Despite the crystal clear quality of her voice through the microphone, I found myself watching other riders because I was missing her instructions. As I thought about this, I began to realize that this was a lesson on our spiritual fitness. You see, some...

How would Jesus Drive? Today, I spent one hour and fifteen minutes driving my children to school this morning due to difficult winter weather in Rochester, NY. When you are sitting in traffic, you have time to think of a whole bunch of things, most which have no significance. I began to think about the WWJD slogan that was revitalized in the past decade. I was thinking about how would Jesus drive. As a human incarnation of the Godhead, He would, of course, drive perfectly. However, I was asking myself "what does perfect driving look like". Afterall, its not just limited to the right speeds, and obeying traffic laws, but the intent and motivations would also be in line with the purposes of God. So, I was thinking that perfect driving would also be related to the destination and the purposes of that destination. In other words, if God is love and Jesus is a incarnation of God, made flesh, driving would be a means to love. So if the destination itself was to do somet...

Implications of "24" I have been excited about the return of "24" to the weekly TV line up. My family and I became addicted to this intense show about 3 years ago when someone purchased the first season on DVD. I have been thinking about the character of Jack Bauer. He is an American Heroe. We watch him because he is a reflection of what we think we need. He, like all superheroes, are an extension of our sense of justice and manifestation of our ethos. When Jack begins to kill, maim, and torture, we justify his actions in the name of defending the safety of America. I watch, like millions of others, as he does "whatever he has to" to get at the evil villains who are seeking to destroy America. We rarely hear their story. The villains never have the privilege of being humanized. Some may say that this is a simple extension of the dehumanization that occurs with violence, but I think it is because it is more comforting to kill those without families...