SLOW AS ICE...BERG

da ose

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0000

I am currently wearing what Nicky lovingly refers to as my panty hose, or support hose. A few months ago I was at my Dr. and she noticed my varicose veins on my leg. I told her I have had them for years. She decided to refer me to a specialist. When I went to see this specialist he prescribed support stocking for my left leg. I am starting to develop ulcers on my leg and because I am young I am getting away with it, but I won’t forever. I am supposed to wear them every day now.

On my way home I stopped in the place that he recommended for me, it was a prosthetics and orthotics store. I walked in and immediately felt out of place, there were a couple old ladies getting walkers fixed, there were a bunch of old man scooter’s lined up and a whole bunch of other things that I identify with old age...canes, walkers, blue hair and of course...support hose.

I got fitted for my hose and she told me that I would need to get a custom-made one. For the records she asked me how old I was, my response was, "too young to have a compression stocking!" Well, she measured me up and I was on my way home.

I got in the car and phoned Nicky, when I told her that I would need to have my compression stocking custom made, she replied, "what? can't you go to the big and tall girl store?" Sometimes she knows just what to say to make me feel better about myself.

A few weeks later I got a call saying that my stocking was in. As you can imagine, I was filled with excitement at the wonderful news. I went to get it and try it on. The stocking fitter girl (is that really a profession?) helped me put it on and told me some things about maintaining it etc. I have to wear a little silk sock and these fancy grippy rubber gloves while putting it on so that they don't tear. At this point I am feeling sorry for myself and concerned that this support hose will somehow affect my manliness.

To reassure me she told me that some men have trouble with the hose staying up because it slides on their leg hair. In the end my stocking fitter girl did make me feel better by stating these wonderful words:

"...but you won't have a problem with this (hose staying up) because you have muscular thighs."

She's right...I don't have that problem.

The Medium is the Message

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:18:00 +0000

I am a Christian, I love Jesus deeply, and according to my church I believe all the right things. Sometimes I wonder though, if what I say and what I do are connected. Sure, I am a Pastor and I have made some choices to do what I think Jesus would want me to do, but does my faith and my action truly interact?

I read this morning in Frost and Hirsch's book that the medium is the message and as that applies to the Christian life, our actions are the message. Do my actions in my everyday existence communicate what Jesus means to me? I think all to often the answer is no...instead of communicating what Jesus means to me, my actions all too often communicate that I am selfish.

Do you want to be with the kids right now? No, I'd rather watch TV. Do you care about the poor? No, I really want a new iPhone (or laptop, or car, or house, or kitchen, or book, etc.). Do you care about people in your community that are hurting? No, I don't take time to be with them, I have too many other things going on.

Lord, I want my medium to be the message.

Problems with Passion

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:52:00 +0000

I often look at passion as a negative thing. I hear things like this...I got in an argument and I got passionate and it got me in trouble...I got caught in a moment of passion, and now she's pregnant, we didn't mean for that to happen...I better be quiet now because or my passion is going to get me in trouble.

What if we looked at passion differently? What if we noticed that the problem was not so much our passion, but our direction. Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch write about this in their book The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church (this book is excellent if you love dreaming about the church, and what it could be - I will probably post more about it over the next while), they say that, "Passion is only evil when it remains in the directionless state, when it refuses to be subject to holy direction, when it will not accept the direction that leads toward God."

This is a beautiful picture of passion. The Church is often known to be a place where passion is to be suppressed and often not even talked about, but really the Church should be about directing our passions to the holy. Even our passions about sex? Yes. Even our passions about driving fast cars? Why not.

Let's allow ourselves passion, but let's point it in the the right direction, a holy direction.

Is it OK to Get Paid to be a Christian?

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:10:00 +0000

I am a Christian...I believe in a dude named Jesus and I try to live my life like him...I am also a Pastor, which basically to me means that I get paid to...believe in a dude named Jesus and try to live my life like him.

I am increasingly uncomfortable with that idea. I often wonder if it cheapens my christianity, or if it makes who I am unauthentic.

I remember when I volunteered to work with young people I would often say things like this to the young people, "I just believe in this so much, I really love you guys, I don't get paid to be here, I do it because I truly care." I can't say that any more. I do believe that I do it because I love it, and I can't imagine doing anything else.

I guess I just want to be authentic in my beliefs and in sacrificing for those beliefs...I am not sure how I do that in the situation I am in.

Does it Surprise us When Homeless People do Something Good?

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:11:00 +0000

There was a story that caught my attention a little while back in my city. At first I was happy about the story because it isn't often that homeless people are painted in a positive light. Here is an excerpt from the story:

Faron Hall, 44, was given a medal of valour by Mayor Sam Katz at a ceremony not far from the riverbank where Hall often sleeps. Hall saw a boy fall into the river last weekend and dove into the chilly, fast-moving water to pull him ashore. Now the man who has been homeless for about seven years has become the talk of the town.

I was excited to see that people would see that homeless people have heart, courage and respect for their fellow man. However, when I saw the same thing on the national news a few days later, as the story seemed to take off around the country I began to wonder...is it really that surprising to us? Is it so shocking that people who live on the street care about people?

In the time I have spent around homeless people that is the thing that sticks out to me more than anything. People who live on the street or in poverty tend to be more generous and caring about one another than anyone else I have ever met.

Reminds me of a sign I saw at a church I was driving by one day:

Poverty is a problem
Riches is not the answer

Jackhammer

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:47:00 +0000

We are renovating our upstairs bathroom...so I am going to jackhammer in my basement...makes sense to me. It definitely is something I don't get to do everyday:

Church

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:40:00 +0000

I work at a church, I have attended a church my whole life and if I were completely honest I love church (probably a bit of a love/hate). I am scheduled to preach on March 29th and I was thinking about speaking about the church. However, I am not sure that I completely understand what church was intended to be, in fact, I think there are many times when I think that I have completely misunderstood what church is supposed to be about.

Sometimes church seems to be misunderstood, sometimes people within the church do not represent it well, sometimes the way it is set up just does not work, sometimes the church does not seem to be at all close to what it should be...

I have some thoughts on these questions, but I am more interested in yours.

...but what is church supposed be? What is it that church is supposed to accomplish? What is it that church is doing well? What is it that church is not doing well? Why is it that church is misunderstood? What can be changed about the way it is set up?

I am curious about your thoughts on this. What has been your experience with church...what do you like? What don't you like? What would your dream church look like?

I See People

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Seeing people is at the same time simple and difficult. I remember when I preached a sermon about 1 1/2 years ago. I spoke on the story of the good samaritan and talked about how we should learn from the people we normally look down on (those on the margins - for me...the homeless). I remember that someone talked to me afterward and challenged me on it. He said he knows a lot of people in the inner-city who are not good people at all, in fact they do a lot of evil things. What are we supposed to learn from them? At the time I said that the evil things are not what we are to learn from them, but that we can find some good. I have always felt uneasy about that conversation because I did not think I answered well.

At the end of Tim Huff's book, Bent Hope, Steve Bell writes a Benediction. In it he says that Tim has an innate ablility to really see people. Not their problems and tragedies, not their lies, not the external decoys, but truly see who they are and that they are a person of value. That is really what I meant in my sermon 1 1/2 years ago, but did not really know it. That is how I hope to live. I hope to be someone who really sees people, I want to see my children, I want to see my wife, I want to see the people I (or most people) usually don't notice, and especially don't see.

So, you would think that this would be fresh on my mind as I went to volunteer at an inner city - drop-in mainly frequented by homeless adults this past week. I was there with a few people from our church. I met George (name changed) who I talked to for a long time. He told me all about his beliefs, his hopes, his dreams...many of which I thought were really wrong, but did not know how to respond to. As we were driving home after the evening, some of the people in my car were telling me about their experiences and the joy they took in really connecting with people. They didn't see drunk, or homeless, or unemployed people, they truly saw people, and were filled with love. I, on the other hand, told them about George and said, "I just didn't know how to counsel him."

This morning as I thought about George some more, I read Acts where it talks about Peter and John walking into the temple to pray...
"Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. ³When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. ⁴Peter looked straight at him, as did John. (Acts 2:2-4)" They saw him, they looked straight at him and truly saw this man, this man who everyone passed by his whole life. I realized that I had only seen George's problems, his "wrong theology," his misunderstandings, I wished that I could go back and truly see George.

Going back to my conversation about my sermon, I wish I could have been wise enough to say, "It is not about what people do or the kind of things you can learn from them, but moreso it is about seeing past the problems, the evil, the garbage, the facades and looking straight into their eyes and actually seeing them."

I hope to look to see more often.

Brett Favre Rookie Card

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:06:00 +0000

3 years ago Ben received a prize from his preschool teacher. It was a small bag full of a number of little things. There were little toys and trinkets, but the thing that immediately caught my attention was an unopened pack of Score Football Cards from 1991. I couldn't figure out why the pre-school teacher would be giving these unopened packages of football cards away. I cracked them open to see what was inside, it was a collection mainly of unknown (to me) football players.

There was one that caught my attention, it was a Brett Favre rookie card. One of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game! I couldn't believe it. Ben took the other cards and played with them and eventually they were all worn out and in the garbage. But I took Brett Favre and placed him on my bedside table thinking I might have my children's college fund right there.

Brett sat there and sat there, through the time I spilled a cup of water all over my bedside table, shoved under whatever I happened to put on this table. It collected much dust, and a few minor nicks and bends. A few weeks ago I didn't have a bookmark and stuck Brett into my book. Now I use him all the time in this way, I am sure Brett "college fund" Favre really enjoys being used as a bookmark.

So I thought I would advertise here, anyone want a Brett Favre rookie card? Mint...ish condition. I just discovered that there is one on eBay being sold for $5...probably not in as good condition as the one I have. I'll take the first $1000 offer.

My Work Against Homelessness

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:34:00 +0000

I have been thinking quite a lot about homelessness (over the last two years especially) and have come to all kinds of conclusions about myself and the things that I (and the church) need to do in order to help people who are in that situation. I have been involved in a few organizations who work with homeless people and met with many people to discuss what I/we should be doing to help.

I finally discovered something very important that I can do right now. I am reading this book called Bent Hope which is a really interesting read. The author is a Youth Worker who works with young people who live on the streets in Toronto. He walks the streets and hangs out with them and helps when he can. He basically just tells the stories of his encounters with people and talks a little bit about what he has learned from them. I am loving it!

So, I know what I am supposed to do to help homelessness. In his book, pretty much everyone he encounters he mentions how they come from a family situation that is very messy...abusive, broken, hurting, manipulative, etc. My conclusion is this. One thing that I can do to fight homelessness is to be a good Father and husband. If my kids grow up in a home that they experience real love, then they will not have to experience homelessness.

My fight against homelessness has taken a bit of a different angle, but I believe it is incredibly important. I realize that this does not solve the whole issue of homelessness, but I know that it could for three little kids that I care a lot about!

Jesus for President

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:12:00 +0000

I got Jesus for President for Christmas and I really enjoyed reading it. Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw really have inspired me to think more creatively when it comes to politics. It was very interesting to read it during the inauguration of Barack Obama and seeing the hope that people put in him. It would seem that a lot of people really look to Obama as a savior of some sort. Of course there are many others who look at him as something much different than a savior as well.

This book argues that Christians should not put their hope in any sort of politician or political system but that Jesus really is the only Savior that we can truly put our hope in. Living like Jesus is the way we are political. Christian's started out as being anti-empire when Rome would have nothing to do with them. Everyone was forced to say "Caesar is lord," but this was the time that Christians took their lives into their hands and instead said, "Jesus is Lord!"

I think that so many times it seems that Christians think that voting a certain way is their Christian act or duty, but really our Christian act or duty has so much more to do with what we do ourselves as opposed to how we vote.

Our Christian act or duty is to help those in need, supporting them and helping them in the hard times. Our Christian act or duty is to show mercy to one another (a different kind of justice). Our Christian act or duty is to pursue justice for the oppressed. Not vote for someone who does these things, but do them ourselves. We put our hopes in Presidents and Kings, but God did not even want that kind of structure for his people, he wants us to see him as our president, and follow after him.

I think the next time I vote (which is generally every few months in Canada) I will write in who I really want to vote for...Jesus.

You Know You are as Old as Trevor When...

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:00:00 +0000

After shaving you go to wipe shaving cream from your hair near the temples and it doesn't come off, because it is grey hair
You remember life before computers
The computers you first used were measured in kilobytes (Commodore Vic 20)
You used to actually "dial" the phone
You played Pong when it first came out
You love 80s music
You used to be able to beat teenagers at most sports, and now you have to cheat to do it
You know you are not cool...and you really don't care (in fact you embrace your lack of coolness with bad jokes and purposefully wearing "bad clothes")
5 years seems like a short period of time
Your sports heroes who you are sure just came into the league are retiring
You are turning 35 today

"My" Youth

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 04:39:00 +0000

I have been a youth pastor at Winnipeg Evangelical Free Church now for nearly 5 years. This means a few things, but one of the things it means to me is that the people who were in Grade 7 (the grade our churches youth ministry starts at) when I came to this Church are now in Grade 12, the poor kids have only had me as a youth pastor. Apart from feeling sorry for them, I also have a sense of "fatherly(ish?)" pride in who they are as people.

There are ups and downs in being a youth pastor, the ups come when I get to see young people making good choices in their life, the downs come when I see them making choices that have long-lasting negative impacts on their lives. There are many of each of these.

A couple weeks ago was a big up...the youth were in charge of the whole service at our church. This meant that they ran everything from ushering, to speaking, to singing, to sound and tech stuff. I know that these young people are talented passionate people, but it really gave me a sense of pride to have other people see it as well. I am so proud to see the people they have become...I know that I am a very small part in making that happen...but I am proud nonetheless that they are so great in spite of my weaknesses.

It's Cold Here in Winnipeg

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:31:00 +0000

So I got up yesterday morning and stepped out into the cold. I thought to myself, "boy, it's really cold out here today." I hop in the car and drive to church. My route takes me past the Royal Canadian Mint where they have a screen that shows videos and the time and temperature. I glance at the screen just as the temperature flashes onto the screen. The screen tells me that it is -572 degrees celsius in Winnipeg...I began to be very thankful that my car had started.

Your Prominence Does not Give You Your Significance

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:18:00 +0000

This title is a paraphrase of the great theologian and social commentator, former basketball player Chris Webber (I can't remember the exact line but this is pretty close), in the pre-game show of an NBA game today.

So true Chris! We often remember (and we should) the stellar contributions to society that people like Martin Luther King have given us. However, it is so true that a man like Martin Luther King Jr. only exists because of the "significance" of other people, the people that he rightly recognizes in his own immortal "dream" speech:

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of

you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the

veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Each person who came to hear that speech and had been through so much was just as important or significant as Martin Luther King Jr. himself.

Each of us has the ability to have great significance, in fact I believe God created us to do just that. What is your significance?

Hey, by the way, has anyone noticed the USA is inaugurating their first African-American President tomorrow? I think that those people who went home "to the slums and ghettos" actually did have a very significant impact on the history of the most prominent country in the world.

Am I Growing Up?

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:31:00 +0000

I was thinking back a bit on my life...there are many things that I regret, many things I wish would change. I think about deep things, really crucial things to the survival of my family and my own well-being. Things like, growing a beard, or driving fast, or watching football, or eating more than I should.

You see I used to grow a beard more or less by accident. I never shaved more than once a week, and I can pretty much grow a beard in that amount of time. So, sometimes I would shave, and sometimes I would trim. Now I shave probably on average about 2-3 times per week, and try to appear somewhat put together on occasion.

I used to drive fast and win any race I was having at any cost (sometimes the cost was quite high). The other day I was driving next to Nicky and I pulled out to pass her, got to 10 over the speed limit and slowed down because I was worried I might get a ticket. I feel a bit Granny about that.

I used to watch NFL Football on TV no matter what else was going on. Today we had company for lunch and I missed the first half of one game and then hung out with my kids and missed a bunch of another...and this is the conference finals!

I used to eat more than I should and think of it as a competition...oh yeah, I still do that.

My Pastor is God

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:56:00 +0000

I have seen a disturbance in the holy water. People come to the altar to worship, but who are they worshipping. I heard a story recently from another youth pastor (thanks Jon).

There was a young boy who decided to become a Christian, and give his life to Jesus. He was very excited to tell people and one of the first he wanted to tell was the worship pastor. He walked up to him and excitedly said, "I gave my life to you today!" The pastor was a little taken aback, "do you mean you gave your life to Jesus today?" "Yeah, that's what I said, I gave my life to you." The worship pastor was a little confused and asked, "son, do you think I am Jesus?" "Well, you are aren't you?" the boy said, "I mean...we sing to you every Sunday."

This is a somewhat humorous (although disturbing) misunderstanding. But, I think I have seen this type of confused worship in many ways. Churches grow because people like the preaching, or because the worship pastor is so great, and I don't really think that is why churches should grow. I don't think most pastors set out trying to make their church grow because of them, they set out to make followers of Jesus and their personality winds up drawing people in.

You see this in some of the huge mega-churches like Saddleback, where people are drawn in by Rick Warren, or Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) or Bethlehem Baptist (John Piper) or Mars Hill Bible Church (Rob Bell) or Lakewood Church (Joel Osteen). But you also see it to a smaller degree in other churches. Many people in our church would say they come to our church because of our pastor. I am not saying this to be critical of these Pastors or of their churches, I am just observing a phenomenon in our culture.

This type of understanding of leadership can be dangerous and misleading, because people begin to put their pastor too close to God and sometimes those pastors do not represent God very well, and most of us have a problem with power.

I wonder if it's time for churches to be more clear about where the leadership of their community comes from. In some way we need to

communicate that Christ is the head of the church (Eph. 5:23). I think it comes from a more communal approach to leadership. This is necessary, but needs a grass-roots movement that is much more difficult to embrace and live. But difficulty should not be a motivating factor.

What DO you know?

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Nicky was asking Owen (our 3 year old) a bunch of questions. He kept answering, "I don know, I don know, I don know." Finally Nicky said, "well, what DO you know?"

Owen's answer was well rounded and thought out...

"I know...nothing is impossible with God, I know...how to talk, I know...how to fart."

Apparently he knows three very important things.

Jesus was 33 When he Was Crucified

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Our Sr. Pastor mentioned in his sermon a while back that Jesus was 33 when he died. I guess it struck a real cord with me because I am still thinking about it, I guess the fact that I am 34 has something to do with it. I wonder at the things he accomplished, things that have had some staying power (2.1 Billion people claim to be his follower).

This has stirred me to reflect on my life, what have I accomplished in my 34 years? As I think about that I realize that the things that I pursue as "great things" are not very much like what Jesus considered to be great. Jesus didn't start any programs, he only spoke to crowds that gathered around him naturally (he didn't do any advertising). Jesus wasn't a dynamic personality, people were drawn to him because of who he was, not because he was a great leader, or a powerful person. The only group he formed was a group that just kind of wandered around with him seemingly aimlessly. He avoided crowds, had a quiet personality and what he considered great were things like meekness, mercy, peacemaking, the persecuted, hardly the makings of what I think of as great accomplishments.

I think I need to rethink what greatness looks like, and start being more like Jesus.

Entering the Mac World

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Mac's are cool, PC's are not. People who own them are also cooler than those who do not. You can usually tell who is an owner of a Mac before you even ask them. They probably meet at least 4 of the following 7 criteria:

dress a little more on the granola side of things
drink organic coffee
drive a diesel jetta and may even run it on veggie oil (or a prius, or perhaps ride a vespa)
they probably are involved in some sort of social justice cause
politically, they lean to the left
they are vegetarian
very interested in a wide variety of little known musicians

I probably fit one of the above criteria, and I don't really think of myself as a "cool" person. However I did decide to purchase a MacBook. I am very excited to be typing this post on my new laptop right now.

I recently noticed that this series of ads has little to do with the product itself. Really what these commercials are trying to communicate is, "Mac is cool, PC is not." This is an attitude I try to teach young people not to have, but now I have bought into it. I am starting to feel guilty...ooooh, but this thing just works so cool. I have never had a laptop before, now I have a new MacBook. Who cares about my own ethics!

What We Missed out on In Jr High

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:01:00 +0000

Mark Oestreicher posted a really great part of a book that he is writing about Middle Schoolers. He and I must be a similar age, because I really identify with this stuff. Makes me feel old when I think about all that has happened in my lifetime. Enjoy the list...

scott rubin and i need a little help from you for our middle school
ministry book. in the “middle school culture” chapter, we have a list of things
that didn’t exist when we were in middle school (well, at least when i was in
middle school, in the mid-70s). here’s what we have:
- Cell phones
- The internet (meaning, websites and buying stuff online and everything
else that is so completely normal today)
- Text Messages
- IM
- Hybrid Cars
- Social Networking
- “Friends with benefits”
- “Bi-Curious”
- Cable TV
- Digital Video Recording (or TiVo)
- Mp3s and downloadable music
- DVDs
- Hi-Def
- Satellite Radio
- Xboxes and Wiis and other amazing gaming systems (“Pong” was introduced
when I, Marko, was a young teen, and “Space Invaders” had just showed up in the
commons of a local community college).
- Email
- Spam (the email variety – we had the stuff in the can, made of
humans).
- Any kind of camera, video or still, that didn’t need developing.
- Cordless phones
- In-ear headphones
- Ringtones
- Call waiting
- iChat or other video conferencing
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- an African American president and a female Secretary of State- Airport
Security (and National Security levels, and Terrorist threats)
- Internet porn
- snowboards and wakeboards
- rollerblades
- Starbucks
- Viagra
- Plastic Pop Bottles
- X Games
- Energy Drinks
- Home Theaters (?)
- The Simpsons, Spongebob, American Idol and a host of other dependable TV
staples
- Reality TV
- Crack Cocaine
- Minivans
- GPS
- Disposable Cameras
- Disposable Contacts
- Abortion Pill
- Doppler Radar
- Space Shuttle
- USA Today
- HIV
- Paintball and Airsoft
- Laser Tag
- ESPN
- iPods
- MTV (could be in the “started and faded away” list…)
- DNA fingerprinting
- Artificial Heart
- Fantasy Sports Teams (which are still lame)
- Cloning animals
- The SuperBowl as a kind of National Holiday (I’m reaching)
- Cutting (?)
- “Walkman” came & went — remember that!
- Suitcases with wheels on the bottom (seriously …. Nobody had em!)
- most piercings… Besides ears…
- McDonalds Playlands

this second list is things that didn’t exist when we were in middle school,
then came on the scene in a major way, and have already faded:
- Fax
machines
- CDs (seriously – who buys CDs anymore? They’re the betamax cartridge of
this generation.)
- Video tapes
- Internet chat rooms
- Really, we could put email on this list, since teenagers don’t use email
anymore, except to communicate with parents or teachers.
- Music videos played on MTV
- The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
- The Walkman (pre-mp3 cassette and CD players)

what are we missing?? would love to hear as many additional ideas as you
have…

What is Missional?

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:18:00 +0000

Over the last few years I have been really thinking about the church, is it what God wants it to be? What is it that should change? What is it that should not change? As I have done this I have explored the concepts that emergent village explores, reading books by Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, and others. A lot of what they have to say, really connects with me, but I have always been left with a feeling of uneasiness in many ways.

I have kept reading them and enjoying their thoughts, but lately I have become more and more interested in the church/christian concept that is called Missional. Over the last few years I have heard missional talked about quite a bit, and have often wondered what it meant, but never took the time to really look into it. A few months back I decided to check out some definitions. When I clicked on friends of missional I was really blown away! The definition of a missional community fit so well with the thoughts that I have had about the church lately. This mindset makes so much sense to me. Here is a part of what really struck me as a definition of a missional church:

"Jesus told us to go into all the world and be his ambassadors, but many churches today have inadvertently changed the "go and be" command to a "come and see" appeal. We have grown attached to buildings, programs, staff and a wide variety of goods and services designed to attract and entertain people.
"Missional is a helpful term used to describe what happens when you and I replace the "come to us" invitations with a "go to them" life. A life where "the way of Jesus" informs and radically transforms our existence to one wholly focused on sacrificially living for him and others and where we adopt a missionary stance in relation to our culture. It speaks of the very nature of the Jesus follower."

A little while later I got to meet Jamie Arpin-Ricci because my friend Phil asked me to help share as part of his teaching at a Discipleship Training School. Jamie has thought a lot about missional and is really living it (in fact his blog is called missional.blog.com). A little while later I connected with Gord Sawatzky (a passionate missionary from our church who has become a bit of a mentor) who said he had been reading a book by Alan Hirsch that really inspired and challenged him to live differently.

I am starting to think that someone might be trying to say something to me...

Too Many Clothes

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:02:00 +0000

About a year ago, I read Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and I remember being so overwhelmed with all the things I felt I needed to change in my life. At that point I made a decision to take one thing from each book that I read. I couldn't handle more than that.

A few weeks back I finished reading Ronald Sider's book, Rich Christians in an Age of Poverty. I once again could have been overwhelmed, but I decided to take one thing, (I might cheat and take a few) here is the thing I am taking from this book.

Sider talks a lot about living more simply and giving more to help the poor (especially giving to micro loan organizations), he mentions in his book that he thinks that most of the people reading the book could go 2 years without buying new clothes. I have decided to take the challenge (many people I know, especially the youth from my church, are thinking - hasn't he done that the last 15 years already?). Regardless, here are the items in my closet that I am starting out with.

Shirts

1 hoody
6 long sleeve shirts
2 sweaters
5 short-sleeved button up shirts
12 long-sleeved button up shirts
18 T-shirts or polo shirts

Pants:

4 Jeans
2 Cargo Pants
3 Casual Pants
4 Shorts
3 Swim Trunks

3 Suits and 1 Coat

44 Shirts! FORTY FOUR SHIRTS, am I serious?! I don't know if that is normal, but it is sickening to me. I really don't think of myself as being concerned about fashion, but somehow I have obtained XLIV shirts! Especially button-up shirts, I don't even like dressing up! I will not see new clothes for the next 2 years.

Anyone want to join me? Or at least let me know how many shirts you have just to see if I am a freak (or a pack rat) or not.

Ben is a Good Spellr

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:51:00 +0000

Our oldest son, Ben (Grade 2) has been doing spelling tests every Friday for the past few months. He is really great at spelling and always gets 6 out of 6, or at worst 5 out of 6. It is fun to see him do so well at it. His teacher always gives the class 5 words that are 2 to 4 letters long and then the 6th word is a longer word like "surprise" or "spectacular."

One Friday Ben came home without his test, so we asked him how he did, he said he got 5 out of 6. Nicky said, "that's great!" and asked which one he got wrong, "did you mess up on beautiful?" "Nope," he says, "I spelled 'us' wrong." "Oh...how did you spell it?" "I spelled it a-s-s."

True story.

Are Confession and Repentance Important? 2

trevor.berg@wefc.net (roverT) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:44:00 +0000

I posted a few weeks ago about Rob Bell and Don Golden's book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians. I really appreciated Jearim's comments (on my Facebook) about confession and the scripture that he used was very inspiring to me.

I finished reading the book a while ago and really appreciated it. I realized that the whole idea of confession and repentance are extremely important to Rob, and that in fact may be one of the main points of the book. The whole book is about how followers of God throughout Biblical history have fallen into exile because they choose not to cry out to him, and when they do, God rescues them from that exile.

This is near the end of the book:

...in exile we can slip into despair,

or we can reimagine everything.

Confession.

Repentance.

A fresh start.

A clean
slate.

We cry out in our exile and God hears us and we experience
rebirth. (p. 174)

According to my understing of the book the difference is that compared to what I have learned there is a deeper understanding of what repentance means. Sometimes we get this idea that confession and repentance are just about praying the right words to God and then we receive his forgiveness. This book is saying that it is much deeper than that. How we live proves our confession is true, repentance is the action that follows the confession.

The book talks specifically about how we as North American Christians are living in a world where we have an overabundance and many in our world do not have enough. How can we call ourselves Christians and allow for this to happen?