Coffeespoons

Kids' Story

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:35:00 +0000

Kadie and I checked the kids out of school early today and took them to the Toy Story double feature. When Toy Story came out in 1995, Scooter had not quite been born and Skeeter was still a couple of years away. (Squealer was almost a decade away!) So watching the films today was the first time any of the kids had seen them on the big screen. I remembered enjoying the films, but not connecting to them in the same way I did this afternoon.

Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are each stories about the tremendous brevity of childhood. The key plot elements of both films involve the affections of children being transferred from childlike things to more grownup things. Apparently this will even be moreso the case in Toy Story 3 as Andy goes off to college.

As I watched our three kids watch the movie, complete with their matching 3-D glasses, I was reminded again of the tremendous blessing that each of them are. And how quickly the days pass.

Anyone still out there??

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:55:00 +0000

With all apologies to Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback, here’s 10 things I think I think.

I think I’ve been a bit lax in blogging as of late. Time has a way of getting occupied. I plan to remedy this oversight.

I think that I’m continuing the intentional interim work at Pecan Grove Baptist. Work has gone slowly, but we had a breakthrough service a few Wednesday nights ago. Well worth its own blog entry. But the three hours on the road every Sunday is starting to wear a bit thin.

I think I haven’t been watching enough movies. The last movie I saw was Rocky which I introduced the girls to. Many comments about life in the mid-1970’s.

I think the family has struggled health-wise a bit. Scooter came down with the swine flu this week, so our house has been in lock down mode. Kadie thinks that she and I have already had it. (We both had some respiratory issues this week).

I think that the university is dealing with record enrollment (no doubt do to the economic downturn), but fortunately, we’ve faced severe budget cuts so we’ve had far less faculty to teach all the new students.

I’ve been doing some fiction reading lately, catching up on the Patrick O’Brien novels. There’s 21 of them and I’m down one with 20 left to go.

I think I like my iPhone. Right now I’m taking advantage of a new audiobook rental program of my local library. I think after a few weeks it disappears from your iPod…or something. I’m listening to The Accidental Billionaires about the founding of Facebook.

I think Tony Romo’s best days may be behind him. Fortunately the Rangers provided a distraction by playing meaningful games into September for the first time in a decade.

I think I’ve been using Facebook and email to communicate with church members moreso than ever before.

I think I am in desperate need of a ski vacation in a couple of months.

Blessed are the Peace Makers

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:43:00 +0000

This would be one of the more offensive Bumper Stickers I've ever seen It was on a truck I passed right down the street from our house.

Church Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Statistics, as they say, are a lot like bikinis. What they show is important, and what they hide is even more important.

The same could be said for church minutes.

I’ve spent a great deal of time in the last few weeks working through the minutes from the past nine years of business meetings at Pecan Grove. They show the barest outline of the conflicts and confrontations which have shaped the community of faith during this decade.

Reading church minutes is up there with reading food labels and graduate papers as pastimes that induce narcolepsy. But going through the minutes with the Transition Team has added a lot of background and color and texture to the minutes. (As well as filling in the gaps!).

The record of the minutes don’t lie. They allow us to pinpoint different times when various conflicts began. Reading through the minutes, we’ve seen the missteps emerge in black and white. What also tend to emerge are patterns for dealing with conflict and disagreements. At times these patterns play out and repeat over decades.

So reading minutes are a dull, dreary process…but a process that can be quite revealing.

...Summer Daze...

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:38:00 +0000

I’ve been watching a lot of baseball lately, due no doubt to the impressive pitching performance of the Rangers this season. Skeeter has been watching a lot with me and learning a bit about the game. And it can be a confusing game. Recently, after a Ranger scored from third, she asked “Was that a Death Run?” I was stunned for a few seconds before remembering a previous conversation. “No, it’s called a suicide squeeze.”

We took a five day vacation to San Antonio and traveled with two other couples. We had much fun, but I was outvoted on two significant issues. We didn’t have a single Mexican meal there and we didn’t go see the Alamo. It reminded me again why we normally vacation alone.

I signed up for extra classes this summer. The result was that I taught classes all summer and thus reduced my days off to about two weeks over the summer break. Part of the reason I got into teaching was to get summers off. Of course that was before kids’ college funds.

Scooter has had a time consuming job this summer and it’s wearing on her. She baby sat one of Squealer’s friends for eight hours every day all summer long and is worn out from chasing them all around. I’m secretly (and not so secretly) amused every time the Girl or Squealer says to her “I’m bored.”

Pecan Grove continues with Transition Team meetings on a weekly basis. It’s going well, I think, but slowly. Many conversations, many different points of view. We continue to pray for breakthroughs in some of these unresolved issues.

FPU is going well at Pecan Grove. Recently one guy (who’s in financial difficulty) roared out of the church parking lot in his 08 fire engine red Mustang. One of the coordinators for the class said in his slow southern drawl. “Dave’ll tell him to sell the car.” Indeed.

A triple wammy next week as Scooter starts High School, Skeeter Middle School, and Squealer begins the first grade. I took Scooter to her high school orientation (at my own alma mater) this week and found the rising nostalgia a bit overwhelming. I can’t believe my daughter is entering her freshman year of high school.

Facebook has taken over more of my life and crowding out a bit of blog time. Perhaps that will change as we start school on the 24th. We’ll see.

Dirty Words and Squealer

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Squealer: “Dad, is butt lick a bad word?”

I sat frozen as I considered my six year old’s query. We’re pretty old school (read “legalistic”) with profanity in our household. The word “butt” is verboten (verbutten?) in our home, even moreso if you append it to the term “lick” (or any other verb for that matter).

Me: “Son, where did you hear that word?”

Squealer: “I don’t know.”

Me: “Did you hear it at school?” (“Objection, your honor. The prosecution is leading the witness!”)

Squealer: “I don’t know. I think I heard it at school.”

I think he affirmed school as the origin because it’s the middle of summer and that’s a pretty safe place for the blame to rest. I was puzzling this through when he repeated his question.

“Daaaaad! IS BUTTLICK A BAD WORD?!” he slowly, and forcefully repeated.

Me: “Yes, son, you know it is. We don’t say the word butt, we certainly don’t say it as a combination with another word. Butt is a bad word, so we don’t say words that have butt in them.”

Squeaer: (after thinking for a few seconds) “We can’t say the word butler?” he asked incredulously.

FPU Explosion

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:56:00 +0000

We’ve had a bit of an explosion at Pecan Grove, and I couldn’t be happier.

In one of our listening groups from a couple of months ago, A church member mentioned a quote often associated with Dave Ramsey. (As you may recall, our family has benefitted from following his financial program). This church member indicated that Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (FPU) had greatly blessed their family and he had been interested in getting it started at the church. In fact, he had received a bonus recently and would be happy to purchase the Leader’s Kit and donate it to the church.

I asked him if he would like to teach it and he replied that he’d never taught anything in the church before. But after a few weeks of thought and prayer, he consented. In the overall scheme of things, I thought that this would be another Bible study that might reach a dozen people or so. I brought it up with the church council and suggested that the church pay a scholarship of $50 to help defray the $100 charge for those who wished to participate in the study. They quickly agreed and we set a day for Financial Peace University to start.

And then it exploded.

We moved the study to Sunday evening because not many could participate on Wednesday nights. First 10 couples signed up, then 20, then 30. And now we’re ordering more kits to get us up to 40. Each kit represents a family unit; that is, either a couple or a single. So we have about 70 people in the church going through it. In addition, we’ve had a half dozen families from the community choose to participate. Almost three fourths of our Sunday School attendance will be taking the class. We were going to run it concurrent to our evening worship service, but only 2 people who normally attend were NOT going to be taking FPU. So were are running it during the evening service and the two agreed to help with child care.

The credit crisis and general anxiety about the economy are no doubt factors in its popularity. We’ve had a couple of business plants in our community shut down and several church members are jobless. The chance to pay off debt and to establish an emergency fund looks pretty attractive right now. All in all, the church is excited about this opportunity to be engaged in a common task, and to offer something for the community.

Our transition team discussed the FPU class this past Sunday and think that it could be an important opportunity for the church to work together on a focused financial goal without conflict. That would be an important accomplishment and something that the church has struggled with achieving before.

(photo above was taken last night during FPU)

Facebook

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:31:00 +0000

As a four week old newbie in the area of Facebook, I’ve enjoyed exploring the new medium. PC World creates an amusing (and accurate) taxonomy for the basic 12 types of FB status updates. (And don’t you like my subtle display of street cred to use the abbreviation FB instead of writing out Facebook?) My only addition to the taxonomy would be one distinct to the Christian subculture: Prayer Requests.

Christians are definitely into Facebooking (more street cred) prayer requests. Are there others out there I'm missing?

Transition Team Agenda

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:07:00 +0000

Working with Pecan Grove, we’ve identified disunity as one of the key points we need to address. While there are always several issues pertaining to disunity in the church, we are going to focus initially on one. In several of the listening groups, I heard about a fairly unhealthy process that has developed in various church committees at Pecan Grove. In some instances, before committees would meet, several members would get together and caucus about what the group should decide. Then when the entire committee met, the group would push through its agenda.

When the committee would present this to the church as a recommendation, some members would disavow this proposal and it became an issue of contention. I had several people express concern that certain members of the Transition Team would coordinate their activities to place the process in jeopardy.

Frankly, I possess neither the necessary skill, nor the time, to investigate each of these claims. But I can encourage the Transition Team (and the church) to try a few different things to address the underlying problem of disunity.

First, as a Transition Team we will talk about this concern. My hope is that by putting the issue on the table, it will lead the group to police itself and hold itself accountable. I shared that we can certainly adopt that method of decision making if everyone is comfortable with the process of caucusing as small groups before we meet. Needless to say, the committee rejected that conclusion.

Second, we’re going to focus on Transparency. The group will share freely with one another of course, but also with the church as a whole. We will keep the entire church informed as to our deliberations. We’ve opted to use a variety of settings (deacons meetings, Sunday school classes, business meetings, Sunday morning services) and a variety of individuals on the committee to make frequent reports to the church.

Third, we will attempt to model trust. With each person on the committee reporting to the groups that they represent ,my hope is that this will give members in the church confidence in the process.

Transparency --> Trust --> Unity

Selcting the Transition Team (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:45:00 +0000

And he was not alone. I had feedback from other members concerned that some folks who sought to undermine the previous pastor were now on the Transition Team. This meant that some of the “troublemakers” were now in a position to be involved in leading the church through the interim process. In addition, they feared that some in these different Transition Team members would get together before our meetings and then lead the process according to their own whims. The end result is that there would be no changes in the church.

I responded to these concerns in a couple of ways:

First, in the process of organizing the Transition Team and making sure that all groups were represented, I could’ve made some mistakes. Perhaps there were some people on the Team who should not be. With prayers and numerous requests for divine wisdom, I’ve tried to make sure that every member of the Transition Team was appropriate.

Second, I noted that the people about whom they were most concerned had each received overwhelming support from the congregation through their vote totals. They might be manipulative so and so’s, but they still represented a significant portion of the church.

Third, I would ask the concerned member if they felt that they had representation on the committee. In every case, the answer was affirmative. I’ve then reiterated that my number one goal in assembling the committee was to ensure fair representation.

Fourth, I’ve tried to encourage them that if there is anyone seeking to undermine the process, I’d rather have them close by. I want to stay in dialogue with those who have been a source of trouble in the past.

Lastly, whenever a small group is intensely focused on accomplishing a task, and is open to the Lord’s direction, I think that there is a possibility that God will transform them through his work. It is my hope that the experience of participating on the Transition Team will change each of us in this process.

I finished each of the conversations by summarizing my underlying optimism about the process by saying: “If the entrenched powers in the church didn’t see the need for change, then I wouldn’t be standing here today.” That’s exactly why I’m optimistic about the church’s desire for change.

SBC Impact

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:10:00 +0000

SBC Impact has foolishly allowed me another post on their site. Go their to read about the four tiers.

Selecting the Transition Team (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:40:00 +0000

Little activity here at Coffeespoons lately and I wanted to write a few posts about the constitution of the Transition Team. For the composition of the team, my basic goal is to have representatives from every major group within the congregation. One of my primary jobs during my first two months at Pecan Grove was to find out what the groups in the church were.
I shared with them ahead of time the process for the composition of the Transition Team.

The process would be as follows:

First, I asked the congregation to nominate five people for the Transition Team. I asked them to request permission from the person before they nominated them. I shared with them that this person needed to be someone with whom they would trust the future of the church. The criterion should be “If you were going into the hospital, this person is one whom you would call and ask them for their prayers.”

Second, after these nominations were made, I sat down with the personnel committee and we tabulated the results. We then selected ten members for the Transition Team based on two factors: number of votes received and diversity of representation. We did NOT pick the top ten vote recipients. To do so would’ve left certain groups in the church unrepresented on the committee. The Personnel Committee assisted me in the composition of the committee.

We spent about two weeks on this process.

The following Sunday morning after the vote was taken, I presented the transition team to the church. As I announced their names, I had them come up before the congregation. I then invited the church to come up and pray over these women and men whom they had entrusted with the future of their church.

The service was meaningful and moving. I saw some people pray for members of the team that I knew they disagreed with. It was in this service that I genuinely felt the church was united in their desire to take their first major step through this interim process.

So as I began to move to the back of the church to shake people’s hands as they departed, it came as some surprise to me when an angry church member blocked my path. He could barely contain his rage as he said through whispered clenched teeth:

“How could you put some of THOSE PEOPLE on this committee?!”

Web Site Story

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:44:00 +0000

If the musical West Side Story were retold today in a world of social networking, what would it look like?

View here

I share their dislike of evite and I too am all about Pandora. Still not Twittering, however...

Fish Anecdote

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:09:00 +0000

Me (during a lecture): “Take for example, the peach shirt I’m wearing...”

Him (interrupting): “Dr. Taran, that’s not peach, its salmon.”

Me: “What?”

Him:”That shirt isn’t the color peach, it’s salmon.”

Me: “…I guess that explains why I’ve had the urge to flop up the stairs all day today.”

End of the Year Party

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:00:00 +0000

In the chaos of Squealer’s end of the year kindergarten party, Bruce caught my eye. His oversized build and beefy hands indicated a comfort level more accustomed to working outside rather than in. I joined him on the periphery of activity as one of the few fathers there for the school day party. Kadie walked up and introduced herself. She asked who he was married to and he mumbled a self-conscious reply that he wasn’t married.

We were saved from an uncomfortable silence by the announcement that the kids were going to scrap book some pictures that the teacher had taken throughout the year. The parents huddled around large pieces of construction paper and began putting titles, photographs, and stencils in their proper places on the paper. Since I had the camera (and Kadie has the artistic skills) I stood back and observed. My eyes and attention returned to Bruce.

Bruce was looking over his daughter’s shoulder and working on getting the “Kindergarten 2008-2009” title centered in the middle of the page. He then carefully stretched four strips of tape over each corner and said “Ok, now, umm…let’s get some of the pictures in place” he said hesitantly. As the only father at the table of moms, he looked clearly out of his element.

“That’s not right!”

My gaze shifted to a large, older woman standing next to Bruce. She was apparently a grandmother who was forced into the background as her daughter helped her grand-daughter. She was also the one who had made the beautiful end of the year cake for the class and obviously had an artistic gift. I’m unsure whether she was talking to Bruce’s daughter or to Bruce himself.

“You see, that’s double sticky tape. You don’t put it on the corners of the paper!”
Bruce looked confused. “But you have to tape the title in the middle of the page” he said, uncertainly.

“Here, let me show you” she said as she carefully peeled the tape off the paper. She then folded the tape back on itself and placed the tape behind the title so that the tape didn’t show at all. “There, that’s right, don’t you like that better?” Bruce’s daughter nodded hesitantly.
The large older woman then said (to herself as much as to anyone else) “Now, let’s see what’s next.”

Over the next half hour, Bruce stood off to the side while this woman worked on his daughter’s page. As they created an impressive work of scrap book art, Bruce was pushed closer to the periphery. He seemed tortured the whole time. His body language indicated that he desperately wanted to work with his daughter on the project, but he realized that the work would be much more beautiful if he continued to allow the woman to help.

My heart ached as I watched all this. Most single parents I know and think about are single women raising kids on their own. But few things can be tougher emotionally than for a single father to raise a daughter on his own. The emotional distance is so vast.

After the party I shook Bruce’s hand and told him that I hoped our kids were in the same class again next year. I’d love to get to know him better.

More Listening Groups

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Listening groups continue on at Pecan Grove Baptist. As I’ve shared previously, I’m attempting to get a feel for the where the church is by dialoguing with the major groups in the church. I’ve met with several of the Sunday school classes and had four open sessions where anyone could attend. Last night (for three hours!) I met with the staff for the first time and got their take on the current state of the church. I had several questions to ask them, but I quickly discerned that my job was simply to listen. I had the impression that no one had asked them for their thoughts on the direction of the church for awhile and they were full of thoughts and impressions. They had also not had a staff meeting in several months, so they were also sharing with one another the recent frustrations that they had seen in the church.

I’m having a few more meetings to finish out the listening phase of the IIM. I’ve got one meeting with a key member who has left the church. My purpose is not to convince him to come back, but rather to talk to him about the circumstances surrounding the recent conflict the church’s life.

I also think it’s important to have the view of a few outsiders. With that in mind, I’m also going to sit down with the other main Baptist pastor in town and get his thoughts on Pecan Grove. For another outsider’s perspective, I will be meeting with the Director of Missions for the association to discuss the church. Finally, I have contacted the former pastor and he has agreed to spend some time with me to help me gain additional insight into his eight years of ministry at Pecan Grove.

Several positive things have come out of these conversations and the stories I’m hearing are remarkable consistent. One reason I think that the church is essentially in good shape is that every group has agreed on what the primary problems are. The interesting part will come next as we start to turn our attention to solutions.

God Doesn't like Puns

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Bart Ehrman is a scholar in the field of Textual Criticism at Duke University. Unlike most academics, he has a compelling life story. He was raised in a conservative home and attended Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College. He then went to Princeton to study under the great Bruce Metzger. Through his studies of textual criticism, he began to seriously reconsider his faith. He has now decided that his views on textual criticism have made it impossible to continue believing in the historicity of the words of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels. He is a gifted writer and possesses a quality rare among academics, the ability to write for a popular audience.

His most recent work is entitled Jesus, Interrupted and argues that the New Testament writings that we have are not representative of what Jesus actually said. For an academic review of his works (seriously challenging Ehrman’s conclusions) see Ben Witherington’s evaluation here and here. For a more popular review (and more witty) see Steve Colbert here:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bart Ehrman

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

Experiencing the Spirit

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 03:29:00 +0000

I haven't had a chance to review this book, but here is the most recent work by Henry Blackaby

The first Christians “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6) shaking the gates of hell even in the face of severe persecution. The result: People all around “were filled with wonder and amazement” (Acts 3:10).Why don't Christians today have the same impact?

God’s Holy Spirit is ready to answer that for us in an awesome way, as Henry Blackaby and his son Mel Blackaby make clear in Experiencing the Spirit. You’ll see how the proof of the Spirit’s presence is our awareness of God’s personal assignments for us, plus our supernatural enablement to carry out those assignments. You’ll find essential clarification on the difference between natural talents and spiritual gifts. You’ll explore the dynamics of being filled with the Spirit through intimate relationship with Him, committed obedience, and radical departure from sin.

Instead of considering what you can do for God with your abilities and talents, you’ll be encouraged here to seek what God wants to do through you supernaturally by His Spirit, empowering you beyond your personal competence and capacities. Release the Holy Spirit’s work at the very core of your experience of the Christian life.

Drop me an email if you would like a copy.

Time Out!

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:45:00 +0000

Today's post concerns sabbatical leaves and is over at SBC Impact!, a real blog.

Film Montage

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:51:00 +0000

I've shared before my affinity for the medium of film. Here's the best film montage I know. It is called 100 Years of Film and I saw this on TCM several years ago. It has recently popped up on YouTube (as all things eventually do). Enjoy!

And after 100 years, few images are as haunting as the initial shot from Edison's Kinetoscope.
(For a cheat sheet, see the list of films here.)

Best Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:09:00 +0000

I was helping my brother-in-law Sully install some new venetian blinds this weekend. We were hard at work, measuring, drilling, and hanging, when his six year old daughter Grace walked into the room clutching a piece of paper.

“Daddy, I have a list of my bestest friends.”

“Mmmm-hmmm” Sully responded through lips pursed closed around a pair of screws.

She read carefully: “Here are my best friends: God, Jesus, Mommy, Daddy, Scooter, Skeeter, and Squealer.”

“Run that by me again, Pea?” Sully said, never taking his eyes off the window.

I said: “God, Jesus, Mommy, Daddy, Scooter, Skeeter, Squealer!” Grace replied with some degree of aggravation. Then she stomped out of the room.

As she left, Sully turned to me and said “Isn’t that just like a good Southern Baptist, leaving the Holy Spirit off a list of your best friends.”

Conduct

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:44:00 +0000

For just the second time this semester, Squealer is on the verge of getting straight A’s in conduct for a week of class. Every day the kids in his kindergarten get a grade for behavior. Squealer demolishes spelling tests, crushes his math work, and blitzes his geography. But conduct is his kryptonite and an ongoing challenge. He has a list of five rules for class behavior and can recite them when prompted. He struggles the most with the rules “Control yourself” and “Be quiet at appropriate times.” Every time they violate one of the rules, they drop a letter grade.

To try to encourage good behavior, we’ve decided that a week’s worth of A’s gets him a present, a dollar, and a trip to Baskin Robbin’s Ice Cream. But we’ve only had to pay out once this school year, and it remains an elusive goal. So we gave him an extra encouraging hug this morning before he got on his bus and reminded him of what’s on the line. He nodded soberly. He knows what’s at stake today.

So Kadie and I will busy ourselves with our daily routines, but keep one eye on the clock looking forward to when he gets home on the bus.

All creation waits in expectation.

Engaging God's World: a (brief) Review

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:26:00 +0000

Cornelius Plantinga is the president of Calvin Theological Seminary and a systematic theologian. His work Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living was suggested to me by Mister Ginger a few weeks ago. I recommend it most highly.

Plantinga divides his work into five sections: Longing and Hope, Creation, the Fall, Redemption, and Vocation in the Kingdom of God. His work details the Gospel narrative and how it interacts with the life of the mind. Plantinga is that rare theologian who can in language that actual people can understand. He carefully offers a well reasoned world view that sees the world as it truly is: made good, yet fallen. This keeps him between the twin falsities of pantheism (Creation is God) and Gnosticism (Creation is Evil). This book is an excellent work for college students (or anyone else) with curious minds about this world that God has created.

The Christian Life and Academics

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:52:00 +0000

I’m preparing an address to a Christian group on campus tomorrow evening. The topic given to me was Academics as a form of Worship. I think the direction I will take is that education is a necessary and vital part of Discipleship. I would appreciate any feedback.

Matthew 22:37 -“ Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your MIND.”

Why should a Christian engage in education?

1. Creation bears the testimony of its Maker. Learning about this world carries out our responsibility to be good stewards of it.

2. Studying the writings of atheists like Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud provide a pugnacious and pungent critique of Christianity. And we need to take seriously critiques against our faith. In general, the Christian community does a poor job of looking critically at ourselves.

3. The Bible teaches us that it is not only acceptable, but necessary to ask God the question “WHY?” Habakkuk, Job, Jeremiah, the Psalmist, and even Jesus didn't hesitate to ask God why. Neither should we. (But that doesn't mean we'll get an answer. We might get something better.)

These are the barebones of the lecture. Any thoughts?

Sing, Sing, Sing

noreply@blogger.com (Taran) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:50:00 +0000

My fondness for music goes back to my earliest days. I recall riding along in the car as a child, listening transfixed to Piano Man by Billy Joel. I also remember my father grading papers with the radio tuned to NPR, listening to classical music in all of its thunderous glory. I drank deeply of contemporary Christian music throughout high school. Steve Taylor, Phil Keaggy, Rich Mullins, as well as Amy Grant, Randy Stonehill, and Michael Card played the soundtrack of my life. Hip Hop and Country were two genres I could never embrace, even rappers and cowboys filtered through the Christian subculture which targeted sanitized versions of their music towards me and my friends.

I’m unsure when the change happened, sometime around my early twenties. I think one motivating force was a new movie. When Harry Met Sally was a tremendous film of course, but the music that gave the movie life introduced me to a whole new world that I have never successfully escaped. Big Band and swing music have been a part of my life ever since.

Glen Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Connick, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong have all made a substantial impression on me. The sheer joy and fun that these musicians are able to convey through their music has always downloaded directly into my soul. One of my absolute favorite songs is Sing, Sing, Sing. When done well, it is an instrumental performance that dares you to sit still while you experience it.

In this version by Benny Goodman’s band, watch the sheer exuberance of the drummer, the great Gene Krupa. Such music is, simply, inspired. I suspect that when we get to heaven, there will be as many songs performed from the Cotton Club as there are from the Baptist Hymnal.