Cussing evangelist

Check out this cussing evangelist I bet he gives Mark Driscoll a run for his money!

Vacation time

Its that time of year again. Vacation. I wont be on the blog as much but I will make a commitment to come back with pictures. THis year will be a little different as we will be in cleveland and orlando visiting friends and family. Kaydon will finally see the other side of the family in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Orlando will be especially fun as we will be seeing one of Yvette's best friends Amy Ramos who is having a baby boy real soon. Amy works for Campus Crusade For Christ and so we will be hanging out with a lot of "crusaders" (a name change is way overdue) while we stay at the Wycliffe guest house. I feel like I'm going to catch the missionary bug. Wait after going to Ethiopia eight times I think I already caught it:)

I am Sylar

As I am trying to figure out who I am/becoming in this new context of pastoring Sylar from Heroes is struggling to figure out who he is after all that shape shifting. Anybody familiar with code switching can feel his pain? Maybe it isn't as bad as waking up with a different face and an extra tooth but it does leave you disoriented.

Pastor on the fringe

I have always wondered why I have had a missionary heart while having the gifts of pastoring and teaching. I used to think maybe I was supposed to pastor and care for missionaries overseas. Maybe that is in the cards for the future but I feel right now I am in the zone as a pastor of the fringe. I think this is a great need as we see ourselves in a Western culture that is secular and becoming increasingly unchurched. I used to think pastoring was for those who are heavily churched. It made me think of rural areas where people have been Christians for over four generations. Now I see my call as a pastor in a much different light. Now I see it as a call to pastor the unchurched, the returning back to church, and the recently churched. What does this mean in practical terms?

1) It means as a pastor of a multiethnic church I must deal with and address the issues that are pertinent to a global context and not just the Amerikkkan evangelical context. Issues like being racially sinned against, veneration of ancestors, spirits are going to be a part of that most definitely.

2) It also means that I deal with gender issues as we have many women in leadership. It's going to take a lot of sensitivity, insight, and listening and openness to change in ministry plans and preaching to a female audience.

3) It means that I have to keep my eye out for not only those who are unreached but for those who are forgotten. The issues that are forgotten or never thought about are the hardest to keep an eye out for but two that I am working on right now are: marijuana use and homosexuality. What do we do about these issues that are currently on voting ballots? Does anyone have any resources to recommend or any theological perspective besides "they are wrong"?

Emerging church panel discussion and diversity

Has anyone seen the Emerging church panel discussion that was done in Dallas at the Christian Book Expo about a week ago? Here it is if you haven't seen it

For what it's worth I have been watching this emerging church conversation from a distance and also feel like I have participated in it as our church exhibits some of those qualities. In some ways I feel as if we go beyond the typical emerging/emergent church in the area of two things:

Our multiethnic diversity. I don't know how to express this in a way that people understand except when we gather the phrase that comes to my mind is "The United Nations goes to church" I think that is being done in other parts of the US and the world so I would not claim that we have a monopoly on it but I will say that if we are going to go forward and remove ourselves from the traps of culturally constructed evangelical Christianity we have to include the non white ethnic voices and also go beyond theology as a white discourse. A hard thing to do after 500-600 years of slavery and colonialism. As I watch the discussion and look over the blogosphere there are not that many non white voices represented in the emerging conversation. I think this is a fundamental flaw with this whole emerging/emergent movement.javascript:void(0)

Our gender diversity. This is not to say that I as a male do not struggle with this issue but I know that as a church we promote women in leadership and I wish to do it on a larger scale. There is something that the body of Christ is missing if we have as Jamie Wilson one of the Vineyard pastors says "half the team on the bench". This is a new direction for me even though it is not a new direction for our church. I think it has to start with the leadership and clearly from looking at this panel discussion not only is it all white but it is all male. Let's get a diversity of voices to sit at the table and then we can talk about doing church and theology in the postmodern world.

The Sphinx of Pasadena

The class I am taking this quarter is called "The African Roots of Black Theology". Besides being taught by one of the best professors at Fuller, Ralph Watkins, it also is full of meaty content. I mean this stuff is good enough to sop up with a biscuit!

We have been reading some thick stuff on the African origins of civilization and how that has influenced the Judeo Christian tradition and how white culturally constructed Christianity has not recognized and even rejected this very notion because of racism. Alot of the key texts we have been reading have centered around Egyptian religion and mythology and how that influenced the Judeo Christian as well as the Greco Roman traditions. One of the things that has remained mysterious is the great statue in Thebes known as the Sphinx. This statue is Negroid in features and has been reported to have originated in Ethiopia. The funny thing is I was waling on Madison ave behind Fuller and there are two statues in front of the Scottish Rite Cathedral that are Sphinxes but with Caucasian features complete with ankhs (Egyptian crosses) and everything. What does it all mean?

The Day after Easter

The nerves. The jitters. The expectation. The climactic finale. No it wasn't a broadway musical or an american idol performance. No it was my first Easter service. It is amazing how much I was geeked up. I think its because if followers of Jesus have a day to claim it is Resurrection Day. The one thing that I realize in the aftermath of it all is that when it comes down to it Resurrection Day does not end. Every day can be Resurrection Day when we are connected to the living Christ. This past Sunday was full of wonderful suprises....kids performing a song....a spoken word poem about the women witnesses of the Resurrection.....Easter dinner with family....a zebra, baby pigs, goats, ducks, and a camel in the middle of Compton but nothing could be more amazing than Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That's how I'm living the day after Easter.

Check out the words of a poem written by our very own Emily Feng

WHO AM I
I AM.
I AM A WOMAN.
I AM THAT WOMAN OF HIGH PLACES AND ALWAYS TRAVELED WITH MORE THAN 7 SUITCASES ( SHE EVEN HAS COLLECTIONS OF GOLDEN FLOWER VASES?)
I AM
I AM THAT WOMAN WHO GAVE UP MY JEWELS, DIAMONDS AND EXPENSIVE SHOES
ABANDONED ALL THE RULES SO I CAN FOLLOW YOU (PROVIDE FOR YOU)

WHO AM I?

I AM
I AM A WOMAN.
I AM THAT WOMAN WITH SEVEN DEMONS IN MY FLESH
TORMENTING MY SOUL AS IF THEY WERE PLANNING TO EAT ME FRESH

I AM
I AM THAT WOMAN YOU CAME TO SET ME FREE,
FREE OF SHADOWS IN THE DARK NIGHTS THAT HAUNTED ME,
FREE OF THE VOICES AND WHISPERS THAT SHIVERED MY BODY,
FREE OF THE ROTTEN SMELL SEEPING OUT OF MY PORES,
(HE SPOKE TO THE SPIRITS AND SAID, “NO MORE”)

WHO AM I?

I AM
I AM A WOMAN.
I AM THAT WOMAN WHO WORRIED FOR MY CHILDREN
WILL THEY EVER BE SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF HIS KINGDOM
(SHE SURE DID NOT KNOW WHAT SHE WAS ASKING FOR)

I AM
I AM THAT WOMAN WHO FAILED TO COMPREHEND
WHAT IT MEANS WHEN YOU SAID YOU WILL BE DEAD AND RISEN AGAIN
(THE POWER OF YOUR RESURRECTION)

WHO AM I?

I AM
I AM A WOMAN
I AM THAT WOMAN WHO WITNESSED YOUR ANGUISHED ON THE CROSS
YOUR BLOOD DRIPPING FROM THE NAILS HAVE MY HOPE AND FAITH ALL ROBBED
(SHE DID NOT KNOW MY DEATH WAS THE COST)
I AM
I AM THAT WOMAN WHO IS LOST AND CONFUSED
YOU SAID YOU WERE THE MESSIAH THAT HAD COME TO MY RESCUE
(I SAY, WAIT ON ME, MY LOVE, WILL YOUR HEART REFUSE?)

FOR I AM.
I AM
I AM THE ARTIST WHO COLLECTS YOUR TEARS TO PAINT RAINBOWS IN THE SKIES,

I AM THE MUSICIAN WHO ASKS THE MORNING STARS TO SING WHEN THE DARKNESS IN YOUR HEART RESIDES

I AM THE MOTHER WHO GAVE BIRTH TO HOT WHITE CHOCOLATE MOCHA WITH MARSHAMALLOWS ON A WINTER STORMY NIGHT

I AM THE LOVER WHO MESSAGES YOUR SOUL AFTER THE TWO LONG HOURS OF TRAFFICJAM ON THE 405 ,

IN FACT, I SANG WITH YOU WHILE YOU LISTENED TO THE RADIO
SINGING:
(THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU, NO ONE ELSE CAN TOUCH MY HEART LIKE YOU DO.)

I AM THE CHEERLEADER WHO YOU ARE MY ULTIMATE FAN AND I DANCED TO THE RHYTHM OF YOUR LIFE
(IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BEAUTY, I AM WILLING TO BE YOUR BEAST.)

I AM ARIEL IN THE LITTLE MERMAID, OUT OF MY DEEP LOVE AND ADORATION, I AM WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE.

I AM THE PILLOW AFTER YOUR HEARTACHE, FOR YOU TO HUG, PUNCH, PUT YOUR HEAD UNDER TO HIDE

I AM THE BEAUTICIAN WHO STUDIES WHAT COLOR HAIR AND SKIN COMPLEXTION GOES BEST WITH YOUR EYES

I AM THE PERSONAL SHOPPER WHO KNOWS YOUR CURVES, ROLLS AND WAISTLINE, IN FACT THEY WERE MINE TO DESIGN.

FOR I AM
THE ADVOCATE, THE ALMIGHTY, ALPHA AND OMEGA
THE BLESSED, THE BRIDEGROOM, BEGINNING AND THE END
THE CHRIST, THE CREATOR, THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE
THE LION THE LAMB AND THE LORD OF ALL LORDS
WHO AM I?, YOU ASK.
I AM
I AM

Good Friday, Soul Food, and the current Economic Crisis

Today is Good Friday. Some may say what is so good about it. I think they have valid reason to question the goodness of this Friday or any day but...I beg to differ. This Friday is uniquely good because of what was done on a hill in Palestine over two thousand years ago. Something that was not clean cut and pristine but something that was gruesome and bloody. The scene of one of the most violent murders and executions not because of the actual acts of torture or what we have seen from the Mel Gibson movie but because this was the murder and execution of the Son of God.

This bloody scene
Far from being innocent
Has sentenced me
Guilty as charged
A wooden stake
A blood stained crossbar
Seen from the past
Back to the future
Through ghetto alleyways
Lonely lynching trees
Hateful glances
Turned to second chances
Two thieves on each side
Represent you and I
The mob goes wild
Thirsty for blood
Shouting crucify him
He is somebody's child
This bloody scene
At Golgotha
Place of the skull

There is something about this day when we choose to remember it that evokes dirtiness and at the same time cleansing. It brings up images of the most violent waste and yet we the followers of Christ choose to see redemption. In the same way my ancestors chose to take the slops and scraps that were given to them because they were seen as less than nothing and they chose to see redemption. Although they were given these scraps of unwanted food and animal parts because their oppressors saw them as dirty they cleansed themselves by redeeming what was given to them and affirming their own humanity. They were given scraps and the things that no one wanted and they made soul food.

Hamhocks
Black eyed peas
Collard Greens
Soul Food
A kind word
A roaring laughter
A welcoming smile
Soul Food
A rugged cross
An empty tomb
A risen Christ
Soul Food

In these days and times where many are losing their jobs and we watch the stock prices plummet. Where even folks in Beverly Hills are taking their jewelry to the pawn shop so that they can get by. Let's remember the cross. Let's remember redemption. Let's remember that no matter what slops and scraps life throws at us we can either choose to see the negative or look at the plan of God which is always redemption. That's why today is Good Friday :)

So you're a pastor now?

Well this is the end of the first week being the "senior" pastor" (I still don't like how that sounds) and I feel energized and refreshed and at the same time dead dog tired. After meeting with interns, working on the sermon, meeting with one of our resident artists Matthias Thornton Bivens otherwise known as Matt Bivens, Sending out emails about the service, baptism, follow up materials and numerous other miscellaneous things, a phone meeting with our kids director/set up person/bulletin printer, preaching Sunday morning and the korean birthday party for the one year old son of two of our worship leaders plus.....watching Kaydon, reading for my African Roots of Black Theology Class, Mccormick and Shmicks with Yvette, trips to the bank, the thrift store, and Burlington Coat Factory....I am tired.

Now mind you this was not all in one day and there was a whole day where I sat around in my pj's, watched a movie, played with my son and had my bottle of guiness for the night. So I do keep it balanced.

All this to say that this was actually a pretty tame week when I think about what is to come and I am ready to throw my hands up and scream for the rest of the rollercoaster ride! Life is good ;)