Dreams Unlocked

Top 8 Movies of 2009

2009-12-21T13:14:00.000-08:00

As you can see from the title, I have a top 8 list, instead of a top 10 list - this is largely due to the fact that I simply had less time this year to go to movies due to an increased work load.

So here they are:

1. Up - The best movie of the year is yet another Pixar triumph. I think history will look back and see the Pixar team as the primary story tellers of our time. This film will motivate you to pursue your dreams, no matter your age, as the central protagonist does.

2. Precious - I just saw this film last week. The film centers around a teenage girl growing up in Harlem enduring a life of horrific abuse by both father and mother. She is transfered to a special school, and under a kind teacher and social worker, she starts to believe in herself again. This film never stoops to sappy hallmark movie of the week cliches. There are several difficult scenes to watch, but is an important film to open up those areas of our heart that we tend to cauterize through willful ignorance of the hurting around us.

3. District 9 - Perhaps the most original film on the list. This film is about how South Africa deals with the arrival of extra terrestrial beings. This is a film that is about how we treat the "other" in our midst. The choice of South Africa as the setting is particularly interesting.

4. Hurt Locker - A film about an Iraqi soldier who deactivates live bombs gives us a first hand look at the pressures that the men and women serving in Iraq and Afganistan are facing. The best recent depiction of how being in the extra-ordinary context of warfare affects the human psyche and soul.

5. Star Trek - The franchise is reborn! As an avid trekker, I was a bit nervous about this "prequel", giving us a young Kirk and Spock. But, my fears were laid to rest as J.J. Abrams brilliantly gives us the most entertaining Star Trek film ever. (Also - I was pleased to see Ben Cross, who portrayed runner Harold Abrams in Chariots of Fire, return to the big screen).

6. Anvil! The Story of Anvil - This unlikely entry is about the Canadian rock band Anvil, who for some reason didn't reach the heights of success as their peers, The Scorpion, Bon Jovi and Guns and Roses. Revered by other rock greats and their faithful fans, the band never seems to get a break. The movie covers their Spinal Tap like tour of Europe where they miss trains and play for crowds of 12 people at times, and the recording of their latest album. But its the bond between lead singer and guitarist that gives this film its heart. (Profanity and some sexual content may deter some viewers - like my parents).

7. The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) -An amazing film by one of the most interesting directors around -Michael Haneke (Cache). Saw it at the Vancouver FIlm Festival, and it is a true film fest. type movie - black and white with subtitles! Strange events in a German Village lead to a truly troubling discovery.

8. A Serious Man - The latest offering from the Cown brothers is probably their least accessible film to date. A man searching for answers discovers that religion is of no use. A rather cheeky slap in the face of religion, but entertaining none-the-less.

Movies that would probably be on this list if I had seen them: Up in the Air, Avatar, Invictus.

Not Dead Yet

2009-11-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

Foolin' around

Ok - so I'm still blogging. I'm going to try to keep to at least a weekly entry. I used to be every other day, but I think those days are long gone.

I took Adam to a b-day party to this kids indoor playground called Koko's. There were about 6 birthday parties happening simultaneously. It was unreal. It also confirmed the fact that I could never run a day-care.

Had a nice time chatting with the parents of the birthday girl. They go to our church and are both RCMP officers which makes me feel quite secure - another job I am pretty sure I could not do.

I find it very fascinating how God creates people so differently - we are all created to pursue a vocation, and if we try to do something that is outside of the calling, we tend to feel frustrated and unfulfilled.

I think of what some of my friends do:

-pediatric dentist

-lawyer

-window glazer

-small business owner

-welder

And I realize that I simply could not do anything else with my life, apart from what I do right now. There is no dream job that I am waiting for - I already landed it. I love preaching, I love studying the Bible, I love visiting people at critical junctures of their life: births, weddings, funerals - what a privilege - what an honor.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I am where I am supposed to be, and for that I am grateful

The End?

2009-11-10T21:58:00.001-08:00

Well, I'm sad to say but my blogging career might be winding down.

I'm finding I have less and less time to write on here - and with Twitter I can give fast updates and opinions throughout the day.

I feels kind of weird if I just let this thing go - I've been blogging since May 2005.

I'll wait a bit - maybe I'll have a change of heart and start typing again.

U2 and I (Part 2)

2009-11-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

Well, after that amazing encounter with Bono, the next time I would hear U2 would be in Mumbai India. I was living in India when their next album came out: All That You Can't Leave Behind.

I saw the video for Beautiful Day on tv in India. I think I ended up buying the album in Canada, though. This album marked a new era of creative excellence for the band. They toured that year and I saw them twice - once in Vancouver and once in Minneapolis.

I went to Vancouver with Felicia - our seats were behind the stage, which wasn't so hot - great show nonetheless.

Minneapolis was awesome - drove down with a bunch of guys from Saskatchewan. We lined up for rush seating on the floor. We had our sleeping bag and camped out at 8 in the morning - we were about 50th in line.

I have to say that staff at the arena were incredible. As the time got closer, they let the first 50 people into a small pub, and then into the arena - we ran and secured front row spots, right under where Adam Clayton would be. It was unbelievable to be that close to them! What a great show, and a great trip too.

After that album and tour, would come another incredible meeting with Bono. My brother was getting married to a girl from Dublin, so my whole family went there for the wedding. It was a dream come true! I had a whole U2 tour planned, but no one wanted to go except for Felicia who was almost 8 mths. pregnant at the time.

We first went to their offices - a security guard informed us that the band would be at their studio a little further away. We got to the studio - it was in an industrial part of Dublin with really nothing around it. There was no one there - we waited a bit and then a VW Jetta pulled up. A guy got out and we asked if the band would be by - he said come back at night. Turns out he is the manager of the studio and Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum tech. and has worked on every album U2 has put out.

So, after that we went and saw Bono's house which was cool. We went out for Chinese food with my folks - it was now quite late - about 10 PM and it was raining, and I thought of heading back - but Felicia insisted we go, as this would be my last chance at getting to meet them. So, we trekked back.

By now there were about 10-30 people from all over the world milling around. The entire band was inside and we were the first few people to hear the songs from their next album - How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

After about an hour, the garage doors went up and a Mercedes came out - it was Adam Clayton - he slowed down and waved at everyone.

The next one out was Larry Mullen Jr. driving a very old Mercedes. He did not slow down, but sped past everyone.

I walked to the side of the studio, which overlooks a body of water and saw Bono come out the back with the guy we had made it earlier. I ran back to tell everyone he was coming.

A blue Maserati pulled out, scraping the curb. Bono drove up to us, got out and said "Howdy, folks". He spent almost an hour posing for pics and signing autographs for us!

Here's my conversation:

Me: Good day from Vancouver, Bono.

Bono - A good day in Vancouver it is! (He also wrote this on The Joshua Tree album that I got him to sign).

Me: Eugene Peterson says hi!

Bono: How do you know Eugene?

Me: He was my prof. at Regent College.

Bono: You're kidding me! You won't believe what that man's scholarship has meant in my life.

Later as he was leaving, I said "God bless you Bono - not just for your music, but all the good you are doing in the world!"

He said - Well if you know Eugene, then I'm sure you're doing some good as well!

At this point, Bono let a couple fans in his car and then announced he had room for 2 more. I turned to my friend from Dublin - it was his birthday that day! And I indicated for him to enjoy the greatest birthday gift he will ever get! And with that, I missed my chance to be driven by Bono!

It was pretty much one of the most amazing moments of my life - way more meaningful then the first time.

I ended up seeing them once on this tour - but I did get to be in a video shoot for the song "City of BLinding Lights" - that was pretty cool. This time, I again lined up early in the morning and Felicia and I were second row - I got some awesome pics from this show.

This past Wednesday I saw them once again with Felicia. It was at BC Place. We had floor tickets, but because I now have a job that keeps me pretty busy, I was unable to line up earlier - we got there just as the opening band was starting. I was surprised that we were actually quite close to the stage, and had a direct sight-line to the stage. It was the best U2 concert I had ever been to.

I already have tickets for the Edmonton concert, and plan on lining up early to secure front row seats again. I will most likely see them in Seattle as well.

So, as you can see, my life has really been formed by this amazing band from Ireland. U2 has opened up the world to me - without them, I doubt I would have heard or have even cared about a lot of the great social injustices of the day: drop the debt, Burma, fighting AIDS in Africa and so on.

Their music transcends a mere art form. They have soul. We all sat on the couch tonight and watched some of Rattle&Hum - it was so cool to explain to Adam who all the band members are. Adam has agreed that on the next tour he will be old enough to go. Sophia might still be a bit too you - she'll probably be about 6.

So, that's a summary of what U2 has meant to me over the years - from the War album to last Wednesday, they have been a pretty big part of my life, and will certainly continue to be.

U2 and I (Part 1)

2009-10-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

U2 circa. 1991.

I have never written an entire blog on U2 before so here goes.

I first heard of U2 when I was 13. An older kid in youth group told me about this Christian band that were really big. I bought the War album on vinyl and liked it - especially "40".

I started buying more of their music and in high-school I gained a quick reputation as being the "U2" guy.

By this time I was collecting a lot of boot-lef albums and buying every magazine or book about this band.

Side-note --> In high-school, was also the first time I used U2 songs for class assignements. I used Sunday Bloody Sunday in Grade 10 english - have no memory of what the assignment was. I would again use the Robbie Robertson song featuring U2, "Sweet Fire of Love", for a grade 12 assignment.

I have since used U2 songs in my undergrad and graduate schools for assignments, and also in sermons that I have since preached.

In grade 10, I remember borrowing 5$ from someone to buy the Rolling Stone magazine that first featured U2 on the cover, bolding calling them the band of the 80's.

When my Dad got a cd player, the first cd I got was Joshua Tree.

In grade 12, U2 came to Vancouver and there was a train going from Saskatoon to Vancouver called the "U2-choo-choo". I couldn't convince my parents to let me go.

Next year U2 released a feature film called "Rattle and Hum". I drove my little sister, little brother and another friend to go see it. It was awesome.

U2 didn't do much until they released Achtung Baby in 1991. This was a dramatic shift for the band with a new image and sound which was quite different from anything that had gone before.

Just like Joshua Tree, they once again played Vancouver - this time I was able to convince my parents to let me go. So, I jetted off to Vancouver with my friend Warren. Our original plan for tickets didn't work out, so I had my first experience with a scalper. Our seats were beside the stage. At one point I wandered down to the main floor. I reached the cat walk just as Bono was walking on it - I didn't realize this was the first of a handful of encounters where Bono and I would be sharing the same breathing space. I was soon bumped back to my seat by a security guard.

After Achtung Baby, U2 released a couple of weak albums: Zooropa and Pop. Both had one or two good songs, but their departure in image and message ended up with them losing a few long time plans.

I saw them twice on the PopMart tour, once in Vancouver and once in Edmonton. The Vancouver show was pretty good, but I was high in the upper level and the sound was horrible. You felt like there was something going on, but that you weren't a part of it. It was still a great thrill to see them live again, though.

The day after became a day I would never forget. I was having a late brunch with a friend from InterVarsity at Sophie's Cosmic Cafe in Kitsilano. As we were eating, we noticed a security guard walked through. I mentioned that someone famous must be around. My friend said, its probably for him. I looked back, there was a guy in a suit, sunglasses and an ear-piece - he didn't look like anyone famous, then I looked at the table in front of him and directly across from me and it was Bono!!!!

After regaining the ability to breathe, I tore off a piece of my paper table mat and boldly walked to his table and asked for an autograph. Here's the conversation:

Me: Excuse me Bono, could I have your autograph?

Bono: Uh, I normally don't sign while I'm sitting, but I'll make it fast.

Me: Thanks, That was a great show last night - I've been a fan since I was 13.

Bono: Well, you'd better stay 13, then!

Me: Thank you so much!

Bono also wrote "stay 13" on the paper - which is framed with a picture of him and sitting in my office.

My next post will continue my U2 odyssey, including the 2nd encounter with Bono where he offered to give me a ride into downtown Dublin, and why I declined!

How Twitter Killed My Blogging

2009-10-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

I've been on Twitter for awhile now. I have to confess, I really like it - I don't know why, but I like the ability to give a quick snap-shot of what I am up to.

And what I have realized is that my blogging has suffered dramatically. I think it is because I feel I don't need to give an extended analysis of stuff, I have given a brief update about earlier.

I've been feeling a little ambivalent about this blog lately.

When I got into blogging 5 years ago, I felt like I was entering this whole other universes, and that if you were a young emerging type leader you HAD to have a blog, and more importantly your blog needed to be linked up with this whole other network of emergent bloggers - alas my little blog never really scaled such heights.

But, the bloom is off the blogging rose for me now, and recently I feel as if my life has gotten a bit busier to keep it up.

But then again, I do enjoy opining on all matters from music to faith to coffee, so maybe the blog will live to see another day.

Its midnight and I'm in the basement office tidying up some stuff. Church was good today. Mike Todd spoke. Mike is an interesting fella and a much better blogger than I am! Mike spoke on Christianity and politics, and was very thoughtful and challenging - heard nothing but positives after.

We had a couple of friends from our old church plant over for lunch (they visited HMCC today). That was fun. After lunch I went to buy some component that our new wii needed. Yep, the Ninans have finally entered the 90's by buying a game console. We only have the game that it came with, but its all we need for now - I am coveting the beatles rock band or guitar hero 5. A trip to Seattle and a Canadian dollar at par should provide in the near future.

I visited a local sbux and tried a pumpkin spice latte which was quite tasty. Cracked open a new book - actually an old book - almost 1000 years old: Little Flowers of St. Francis - should be pretty good.

Came home and played wii with the boy for about an hour.

Felicia and I watched "Sunshine Cleaning" tonight which is a cute, touching little movie.

And that's it - that's all she wrote for October 18 2009.

How Thinking Changed How I Write Sermons

2009-09-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

What I do after thinking.

I am a preaching pastor. I preach almost every Sunday - I probably preach a 25-35 minute sermon 45 times a year.

To get a sermon to go that long, it is usually 8-12 pages long in 12 pt. font., plus any extra quotes that are photo-copied and reading the actual biblical text.

When I first started preaching I did A LOT of preliminary academic study, prior to just sitting down and writing the sermon.

What that means is I would read the actual text several times in about 5 different bible translations: ESV, NRSV, TNIV, NLT and The Message. I would also read it in the original language - I am better at Greek than Hebrew.

I have noticed something change in the last couple of months. I still do the preliminary study - consulting commentaries, etc. But, now, I find that I spend a lot of time just thinking.... and thinking and thinking.

That is, I just play around with ideas in my head, revisit them and think about them some more.

Thinking - sounds pretty simple, but it just might be the most under used tool for most people.

Obama says he spends up to an hour a day thinking. Some C.E.O's I have read say that the most important thing they do is taking time out to think.

Bill Gates takes 2 weeks a year and goes to a cabin and..... thinks.

I wonder if the rapid fire barrage of pop media and high tech life has robbed of the capability to think well? When most of us spend most of our waking hours in front of a screen of some sort, perhaps it has.

About a month ago, I found I was thinking about a sermon about the story in Mark 2 of the 4 guys who lower their paralyzed friend through a roof to get him to Jesus. I thought about it all week, read it several times and then sat down and wrote the entire sermon in 2 hours in one sitting. I revised it a couple of times the next day and practiced it once. And it was a pretty good sermon - one in which some of the concepts will form my ministry for quite some time.

It has been quite interesting to see this transition take place in my professional life. My sermons still take quite a long time to write, but the way I spend my time has shifted somewhat.

Perhaps - the time I take out to sit quietly and think and pray opens up more room for the Holy Spirit to interact with my mind. Whereas, before I spent a lot of time filling up my mind with academic insights into the text - maybe now the Holy Spirit can go a little deeper into my mind and soul, by-passing the mere intellect.

This is all pretty speculative, but maybe I'm on to something. I would love to hear others thoughts on what I have written.

Ricky Gervais' Philosophy of Life

2009-09-14T21:21:00.001-07:00

I really hope everyone enjoys the film and keeps an open mind. I believe in peace on Earth, and good will to all men. I do as I would be done by, and believe that forgiveness is one of the greatest virtues. I just don't believe I will be rewarded for it in heaven. That's all.

Note - Gervais is an atheist.

What I Have Learned

2009-09-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

Adam watching cotton candy at the PNE.

This Sunday I am preaching a sermon called "What I have Learned" - based on what I have learned in the first year as pastor of this church. Basically, I have learned that people are needy, you will get hurt and that God is sovereign.

I am using 2 Cor. 1:3-11 as the lens for looking at these themes.

The passage explicates the comfort God gives, the suffering we will endure as his disciples and the hope that contextualizes our experiences.

My Dad is in town, which is cool - Adam and Sophia are having a great time!

Other news - Zondervan will no longer be publishing their updated version of the New International Version bible, the "Todays New International Version". This is disappointing - I have used the TNIV since its publication for both personal devotions and for public preaching since its publication.

This particular translation uses gender neutral terms when referring to people. Example - God created humankind in his image - instead of - God created man in his image.

As you might expect, this generated all kinds of controversy by conservative types - I had thought the furor had died down, so I was quite surprised when the publisher announced this week they are going to stop publishing it.

Which leaves me in a quandry - I would like to keep preaching from it, but also want to preach from a translation that I can encourage others in my church to get if they like. I like the English Standard Version which one of my former profs spear headed. It has more archaic language, but is a more literal translation.

Or maybe I will just preach in Greek and Hebrew from now on.

More Work

2009-08-27T22:42:00.000-07:00

I have to confess - I am getting way more work done in the new office - it is far away from the life of the house, that I actually feel like I am away - except for when Adam and Sophia come running in here to attack me.

I worked all day prepping for a leadership retreat for our elders this Saturday.

I am presenting a lot of the ideas found in Jim Collin's book: Good to Great. This is a book that I have known about for a long time, and finally got around to reading recently. I wish I had read it earlier - it is excellent.

Collins is very popular among pastors for the practical wisdom he has in leading organizations well.

Felicia has set up a baby monitor in my office, so that I can hear either Sophia or Adam from the downstairs office. Half the time it sounds like the aliens from Signs are trying to talk to me. I usually have it turned off - but don't tell her that.

New Office

2009-08-25T23:41:00.000-07:00

Working in my office at First Baptist - about 3-4 yrs. ago.

Slowly moving in - I have a new desk and chair, both IKEA. 2 book shelves are up - we need to build one more. And then I need to move all the books in.

Offices I have had:

First Alliance Church in Calgary: a desk and chair in a sort of open area, next to the children's pastors office. I also used empty offices of pastors who were on vacations - including the senior pastor's office - which was huge and had a fire place.

First Baptist Church Vancouver - had a office in the "youth house" behind the church.

-had another office inside the actual church building - it was pretty nice.

1250 Granville - our first apt. in Vancouver - had a tiny little office that overlooked busy granville street.

950 Cambie St. - beautiful office with floor to ceiling glass windows on the 26th floor overlooking yaletown

2 Spruce Court - nice office near the front door of the first house we lived in in Port Moody

Right now - I work at a small desk in our rather large bedroom - its ok, but the inability to grab a book when I need it kind of sucks.

Eventually, I'm sure our church will rent some sort of office space in Port Moody, and I can set up an off-site office.

My Dad had a really small cramped office at University Hospital in Saskatoon. In Regina, he had a bigger office, but it had no name on it - nobody would know it was an office, walking by.

Back

2009-08-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

Finally slowly getting back in the swing of things, after the time away. A couple of guys and myself moved a bunch of stuff out of the school that our church has met in for the past 9 years. It was kind of weird. I'm really looking forward to the move to the theatre.

It is centrally located in Port Moody - in the same building as City Hall, in fact.

My health issue - I have touched briefly in past tweets and facebook status' and maybe even on here about a health issue I have been dealing with - Since February I have been having very bad sinus pain - I've gone on 3 rounds of antibiotics and an x-ray.

Today I saw an ENT specialist and his over eager resident. The diagnosis is.... nothing. There is nothing medically wrong with me. He said it's just stress. I guess that's good news - but I'm not sure how to treat it - green tea while listening to Enya?

He said good diet, exercise, plenty of rest should all help, and Advil. So basically that's it - stress.

I don't feel I have an excess of stress compared to other people - I have a stable job, a nice family, lots of friends, great extended family.

The only stress I could think of is the occasional blurt of stress happening in someone else's life that spills over into mu life, virtue of my job as a pastor. I always thought I worked out a lot of this stress by running and taking regular time off - guess that's not enough. Maybe I've been stuffing some stress down and now its popping up in a physical form.

Anyways, I'm going to pray about it and try to relax.

Other stuff - finished a lengthy N.T. Wright book on the New Testament which was very good. Also finally finished Good to Great which is more great than good.

Saw the Kings of Leon in concert - rocking good show.

Adam's b-day party coming up this Saturday - it has a pirate theme. I'm going to dress up like Keith Richards and stumble around mumbling. Should be fun.

Vacation Post

2009-08-05T22:27:00.000-07:00

It's late at night - I'm listening to Bat For Lashes. We left last Thursday on our summer vacation. 1 week of holidays so far.

1st day - Travelled to Kelowna and stayed with some friends who were renting a lake front house. It was very beautiful there, and we met there 7mth. old twins who were very cute.

Then a long long drive from Kelowna to Calgary. Stayed at a nice hotel in downtown Calgary right next to the Bow River.

I interned at a large church in Calgary in 1993 - that short time was one of the most positive ministry experiences of my life - made many great friends through that time. Went back to that church - First Alliance. It has now supersized to about 3000 in weekly attendance in a beautiful new facility in the south of Calgary. It was truly one of the most unbelievable church buildings I had ever seen. I didn't see many of my older friends as many were away.

We made a day trip to the Tyrell Museum of Paleontlogy - which actually planned our trip to Calgary for the sole purpose of going to this dinosaur museum. It is really quite something, and Adam really loved it.

After Calgary, we drove to Canmore and met up with my brother and his wife, my sister and her family and my parents. We try to pull off one of these reunions every couple of years. Our last one was Christmas 2007 in San Diego.

So far, we have hiked, wandrwed around the town of Banff and dipped in the Banff Hot Springs. Today is Felicia and I's anniversery so we had dinner out.

Other events include canoeing in Lake Lousie, high tea at the Chateau Lake Louise, hiking Sulphur Mountain and maybe going to a local church on Sunday.

The whole dream wraps up Monday morning. We are staying in a large vacation home that we rented - it is really big with a lot of nice amenities, hot tub, sauna, etc.

I was hoping to get more reading done (I brought 9 books!), but we've been playing too much to crack open a book. Vacation is going well.

In The Line Of Fire

2009-07-23T22:59:00.000-07:00

Ready, Aim......

When you are a preaching pastor, you are in the public eye. Every week you stand up in front of a group of people - it could be 10 or it could be 10 000.

Because of who you are and what you stand for, your life is scrutinized and analyzed. People watch how you treat them, they watch what movies you go to, and what places you go to.

And people are needy - some people are very very needy - like needy for professional help. These types of people have unprocessed hurt, frustration and anger in their lives. And, these types of people tend to take out their hurt on pastors.

I think this is because people know pastors won't return in kind - because we are supposed to be imitators of Christ who never struck back. And that is true - not just pastors, but all Christians are not supposed to strike back at those who hurt us.

We want to. We want to throw the hurt right back at the person who hurt us. But, Jesus guides us and shows us that just like Him, it is possible to actually absorb the hurt of the other person.

In time, we gain the wisdom and insight to see that the person who is trying to hurt us, is actually tied up in all kinds of pain themselves. And that fact should help dull their jousts at us.

I write this, because in the past year, I have encountered rabid attacks from some people. Hurtful words, and people who end up leaving because I didn't do or say something the way they would have liked.

I would be lying if I said these words and actions of others didn't hurt. Of course they hurt - sometimes deeply, sometimes to the point where I can't sleep at night, or even worse I lash out at Felicia over something minor.

I remember what my former professor and friend, Stan Grenz told me: "Every time you encounter criticism, analyze it, see if there is any truth in it, take the truth out and learn from it. Also, always always - look at the source."

Wise words. And words that everyone needs to take to heart, because we live in a fallen world full of men and women whose particular wounding makes them lash out at innocent bystanders.

So, when you face criticism, the best response is usually no response - look at Jesus. He just stood before his accusers and let the accusations fly.

Focus on the Core

2009-07-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest hurts a pastor can experience is when someone leaves their church. It is hard to not take it personally.

Over the past year we have had people come and go from our church. A couple that was involved in ministry at our church, have just recently left and are attending another church.

I was a little bummed about this, until I talked to another leader. He told me to not worry about it - this will happen - people will leave and people will be inconsistent.

But - in every church there will be a core of believers who will be heavily involved, who will give of their talents, time and resources towards the missions of the church. These are the people that pastors need to focus on.

There are a lot of people in our church that are sort of on the fringes - they are not very consistent in their attendance, they are not in home groups, they are not very involved and they probably don't tithe.

Now - these are good people, and are most likely followers of Christ, and would call our church their home church.

For a long time I was stressed about how to get these people more involved and more committed - what could I do to make church more desirable for them? I finally realized that I don't need to worry about that - I simply need to be consistent in my work, provide opportunities for people to plug in - but it will ultimately be up to them, wether they make any moves towards commitment and consistency.

In the mean time, I have an incredible core of believers in our church - many of whom are becoming very close friends to Felicia and I. It is towards this group, I need to devote as much time as I can, encouraging them, praying for them, helping them develop their gifts for the expansion of the Kingdom.

This discovery has been very liberating for me.

I should add that the other group pastors should be devoting a lot of time to are those friends that they have that are outside of the faith - this is a bit harder, as it is very difficult to develop friendships outside of the church. And it is here that pastors need to be very intentional. Things I have done are volunteering at the Vancouver Film Festival, joining a running club, and right now I volunteer at a local thrift store that raises money for programs for the poor in Port Moody.

So, that's another thing I have learned in this past year of ministry out here.

On Leadership

2009-07-11T00:45:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday and this Sunday, I am not preaching. This is the first 2 Sundays in a row that I have not preached at church. I asked our elders board if I could have the first 2 weeks of July to do some thinking, praying and reading about the church. Primarily I had 2 goals:

1. Plan out all my sermons from Sept. 2009 - August 2010 - I have a good start on that, although there might still be a couple of changes to the preaching schedule.

2. Do some studying and thinking around the whole area of leadership and management, in regards to leading the church.

I have been reading books on leadership and management, and solicited some friends recommendations for leadership books. The 2 books that seemed to lead everyone's lists were:

In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen and

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Incidentally you couldn't find 2 more different books! Nouwen is one of the authors I have read the most of, and I have read this particular book twice already - it is quite short and can easily be read in a few hours.

Good to Great is one of those books that have been on my radar for several years, but I never got around to reading. Last month I was at a friends house admiring their newborn son. I glanced over their book-shelf and noticed 2 copies of Good to Great. I asked, why they had 2, they said both had been gifts.

I then bluntly asked if I could have one! They said sure. So, I finally cracked it this week - man, I wish I had read this book much much earlier! The book is the compilation of a 15 yr. study of companies that had really taken off, while other companies in their same field stayed stagnant or actually declined. Collins and his team of researchers wanted to find out what the difference was.

This book is very easy to read - I started it yesterday, and will probably finish it tomorrow. His discoveries are very insightful, wise and practical. I am toying whether or not I will have the elders board read through it this year. I think instead, I might just present some of the findings over a leadership weekend away.

One thing I have discovered this past year is that leadership and management are both delicate art forms. Leadership can be learned, but a lot of it is inherent - you either have certain gifts in this area or you don't.

I have always felt I have had a gift of leadership - I have held student gov't postions from elementary school through to grad. school. But, I am finding that the art of management is basically having above par people skills, in navigating the intricacies of managing people.

Leadership is casting vision, and gathering a strong core who will rally around that vision, and then discipline themselves to get the job done. Managing is the daily grind of working towards the vision.

Anyways, its been a productive 2 weeks, and I am looking forward to preaching again next Sunday.

The Baby

2009-07-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hats that Adam and Sophia made at Golden Spike Days at Rocky Point Park today.

Adam loves his.

Listening to the new Coldplay son, "Glass of Water" - It's awesome. I'm still pretty buzzed by that concert last week.

Felicia is having a baby. Unplanned, but not unwanted. I was pretty shocked when she told me, but have now warmed up to the idea of having a third little one running around, and running my life. I come from a family of 3, and it is fun having more than one sibling. I'm pretty sure Adam and Sophia will prove to be good older brother and sister. Adam will keep Sophia from poking the baby's eyes out or trying to break his or her arm.

I have a couple of weeks where I am not preaching - I have planned out all my sermons from Sept. 2009 - Aug. 2010 which is pretty cool. Now I am going to re-format oops - Sophie is crying.

Ok - changed her diaper, and her shirt - it was soaked with sweat, put some cream on her exczema, had a brief talk on the greco-roman hellenized world of first century judaism wherein the early church was formed in..... and now she's asleep.

Now I am going to re-format our leadership team - any books or resources on how to have an efficient eldership structure in churches, please send them my way.

Been really hot around here lately. Looking forward to buying a bike (mine got stolen). I think I am going to buy a used bike on craigslist, for the same reason I will always buy a used car - chepaer, and apart from the smell, I can't really tell the dif. from a new one.

Still Listening to Snow Patrol

2009-06-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

Sophie leads the way.

I had this super long post about this church in Kentucky that hosted a "bring your guns to church day". But, the post got too long and convoluted and sorted of imploded in on itself.

Thus, you have this post instead.

I spoke at Trinity Western this past weekend to a Mar Thoma Youth Conference. It went really well - really enjoyed my time with them.

Preached on the Holy Spirit this Sunday - I said most Christians treat the Holy Spirit like the weird uncle you try to avoid at family reunions - he's family and all, you just don't really want him to do anything weird.

Someone mentioned to me at how rare sermons on the Spirit are in evangelical churches. That struck me as quite odd. Maybe we are over reacting to charismatic excesses. Personally, I hope our church has more manifestations of the Spirits presence in our congregation: healing, words of knowledge, etc.

I have seen first hand the destruction of the excesses. But, still the dry intellectualism isn't really getting the world attracted about our faith.

I am on a 2 week study leave, which basically means, I have 2 Sundays where I am not preaching. I haven't had 2 Sundays off in a row since starting last year. (By the way - tomorrow will be one full year as pastor of this church).

I plan on doing some strategic planning around our leadership structure, and also try to map out all my sermons for the coming Sept - August time line. Right now, I am thinking the following:

UnChristian series: a 6 week series in the fall focusing on 6 of the biggest objections that 20somethings have towards Christianity.

Old Testament Series: Leviticus

Advent Series

6 week whole church series in January - home groups will all do the same curriculum and I will preach on it on Sundays

Gospel Focus - maybe Matthew - life of Jesus

Lent Series

I suspect that the series on Leviticus might be 1-2 months, and the series on Matthew could go on for a long period of time.

I'm really looking forward to charting these all out, and doing some preliminary work on each series, and possibly even each sermon as well.

Prayer Request

2009-06-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

I am speaking at this conference tomorrow:

http://www.bornagainidentity2009.com/

I finished writing my message on Tuesday, and am going over it one last time. There will be a few hundred south asian young adults there from up and down the west coast - from California to BC.

I am excited about the opportunity to speak to this group.

Please pray that the Spirit empowers my words.

My friend on the plane

2009-06-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Walking Together.

My post today is part of a larger initiative of more than 50 bloggers all sharing their thoughts on how to ‘bridge the gap’. You can check out the other links at: http://www.btgproject.blogspot.com/

Ten years ago I was flying back to Vancouver from Saskatoon. I started chatting with my seat mate. I was reading a book on spirituality by M. Scott Peck, so we also started to discuss spirituality.

I asked him if he had a religious background. He said "Yes, I was raised fundamentalist." I was quite taken aback by his response. As we kept talking we discovered that we had attended the same evangelical churches at different times in Saskatoon. He said in college, he abandoned his faith and the church and has never looked back..... until now. He said in the past few months he had felt like he was missing out on something due to the lack of any kind of faith in his life.

As the plane began to land, we exchanged contact information and promised to be in touch. A week later I went for coffee with him in the westend part of downtown Vancouver. He was an artist, so he invited me to first meet him in his home studio to see some of his work. His art was very good.

We headed to a local Starbucks and kept talking. I explained to him my own faith journey and where I was at in terms of my beliefs in Christ and the church. He shared a bit more of his story, and the abruptly blurted out, "But.... I'm gay!"

I said "Ok. But your sexuality is only a part of who you are. I don't think it defines you completely, does it." He said, "No." At this point he related his journey towards the acceptance of his homosexuality. He was currently single and feeling lonely.

It was time to wrap up, and we promised to meet again, and he even expressed interest in attending a worship service sometime. As we were leaving, he stopped me and asked me, : "Why are you so open to keep talking to me? Most Christians I know would have ended our conversation when I brought up my sexuality, but you have just sat here and listened to my story."

I responded that Jesus never had any criteria for who he would meet with, so why should I have pre-requisites for the people I will have coffee with. He was quiet as we left the shop together.

What my encounter with my friend taught me is that people on both sides of this dialogue are not really engaging other human beings. Instead we are engaging with media caricatures of each other. Evangelicals think the gay rights lobby are a bunch of rabid promiscuous people who want to recruit our kids. The gay rights lobby thinks all evangelicals are a bunch of narrow minded bigots who want to sweep them back into the closet.

But, it is not until we actually engage one another IN PERSON, will true dialogue and understanding be possible. My hope by my post today is that people on both sides will seek out a friend on the other side of the debate. And have no prior "conversion" agenda - simply enter into a relationship with the hope of understanding one another's perspective.

Who know? Maybe you will make a friend among a group of people you had written off a long time ago as the "enemy."

(Note - I lost touch with my buddy after a few months of meeting together. But I trust he is staying true to his own spiritual journey, and moving closer to discovering his place as the beloved of God.)

New friend

2009-06-19T23:09:00.001-07:00

Check out Jason Boyle. He's another blogger that I have started reading on a regular basis. I think most of you will like him. He is a thoughtful young Christian thinker and writer.

http://blog.jasonboyett.com/

Also Beth Malena wrote an awesome post on dealing with our confusing relationship to money:

http://bethblogever.blogspot.com/

"Father"

2009-06-17T00:20:00.001-07:00

Sermon notes and Starbucks.

Fathers day is this Sunday. I've recently been thinking about why Catholic priests are called "father". I think it is because pastoring is a lot like parenting. From my vantage point, I see a lot of mini squabbles taking place between people, and sometimes I have to try to keep the big happy dysfunctional family from either imploding or exploding.

Most "fights" I am not directly involved in - I just observe, and offer counsel if asked. It is the toughest part of my job, trying to be empathetic and sympathetic to people who are processing their own hurts, by attacking or hurting others.

But then, I also get the joy of baptizing people and walking alongside them as they wrestle with their faith. I also have the awesome privilege of opening up the Word of God on a regular basis, and helping a community journey through what its implications are. And for those things I am grateful.

Good day today overall - had a meeting with a couple of other pastors about some minstry opportunities during the coming olympics. Then I did some admin. and then took Sophia for a walk to a nearby playground.

Adam and I

2009-06-16T01:49:00.000-07:00

Possibly my favorite pic of Adam and I. We are playing some game on the internet at a resort while on holiday. I look grumpy, but I wasn't. I really like Adam's expression and the way he is so relaxed.

Aaaah - that funny little kid - always makes my day!

The book I'm reading

2009-06-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

A fragment of the gospel of John.

I read a lot - like all the time, all kinds of books. Every once in awhile, I like to tackle a book that is difficult - like academically hard. Well, I've found one: "Scripture's Doctrine and Theology's Bible" is a collection of academic papers that came out of a conference held at St. Andrews College in St. Andrews Scotland (the school my brother presently teaches at).

So, they collected a bunch of New Testament heavy weights to chat about how the church formed their current doctrine by what is written in the New Testament. Karl Barth and Albert Schweitzer get dissected, along w. a bunch of other major dudes. The book is quite a challenge, but I am enjoying it as it reminds me of many times at Regent College, when I would be in the library battling it out with some book that made no sense at all, but then clarity comes, and I feel happy.

We are still at the resort - we head back tomorrow (told you it was a short trip). It was really a perfect day today, spent time on the beach, napped, Adam and I played mini-golf and then Felicia and I had a nice meal at the restaurant in the resort.

I guess everyone is buzzing about the new iphone. With the new iphone, I guess my current iphone is now old. Now, the new iphone's biggest draws are 3 meg. video camera, faster operating system and ...... a compass.

Hey, apple - I don't need a compass on my phone. I have my own compass which I carry around w. my protractor and epi-pen. And I carry these items in my fanny pack, along w. my lunch sometimes.

I love Pixar (and I can see the ocean from wher I'm sitting)

2009-06-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Adam and I went to see Up! last weekend. I started to think back to all the Pixar films I have loved over the years. Here they are in chronological order:

Toy Story

Toy Story 2

Finding Nemo

Incredibles

Ratatouille

Wall-E

Up until Up!, Nemo was my favorite. It was Adam's favorite movie for a long time, and is currently Sophia's favorite. So, I have seen/heard it in the background of my life quite a few times, as it has been played over and over in our home.

I liked Nemo because there were several grand themes that were part of the story:

the quest of a father to be reconciled to his son, sending him on a Ulyssian journey

the wounded hero (Nemo has a small fin)

the gift of companionship to meet life's battles (Dory helps Marlin find Nemo)

There are many more grand life themes in this film. But Up! seems to go a bit further, in its challenge to carve out an adventure in the life we have been given, and that nothing in life need be wasted. The characters are great, the animation is great and the story is great. I have really not been so moved by a film in a long time.

I don't know how Pixar keeps doing it - they just keep churning out, not good, but GREAT films. They haven't made a lot of films, but the ones they do make are of the highest quality - pure entertainment without the need to be vulgar or violent.

In other news, the fam and I are currently staying at a resort on a beach in Parksville, on Vancouver Island. I think I mentioned that we have been in a vice of pressure for about the past 2 months, and just needed a break - this is a mini holiday in a beautiful spot. We walked on the beach and the kids discovered crabs, clams and shells. Tomorrow, Felicia and I are going for dinner at the resort - this place supplies baby-sitters which is pretty awesome.

Time to de-compress.