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10. Buy a stronger whip.
9. Change riders.
8. Declare, "This is the way we have always ridden this horse."
7. Appoint a team to revive the dead horse.
6. Ignore the dead horse...What dead horse?
5. Create a training session to improve your riding skills.
4. Outsource contractors to ride the dead horse.
3. Appoint a committee to study the dead horse.
2. Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
1. Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.

(anonymous, found in Get Out of Your Own Way)

One of the things my pastor said when growing up is that love conquers pretty much anything. I must have been pretty young when he said it, but it's probably one of those statements that shaped me. He said that people can be angry at you and you might make a lot of mistakes, but ultimately if you love them it usually wins out.

I think he might have got that idea from the Bible: "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."

Sometimes love makes you look soft. But it's actually tough, an act of the will, to love when you don't feel like it, especially with friends when you have the option not to love. You can just walk away and be done with each other. It's not like you're stuck. You can choose not to love.

Today I'm learning that love has its limits. Maybe that's why love has to be patient. I am frustrated today, but I hope that my former pastor was right. I hope that love eventually covers all the junk and the mess in which we sometimes find ourselves when nothing else seems to work.

Charlene and the kids are away visiting in Philadelphia visiting Char's sister and her new baby, and the house is QUIET. Man, I'm not used to this.

Today is Charlene's birthday and I should be cutting the cake or something right now. Instead I'm watching dogs sleep and making myself some Madras Chicken. I'm learning it's a lot more fun to be the one traveling, which is my normal mode, rather than the one left behind.

Did I mention the house is quiet? By the way, anyone want a sleeping dog? Or two?

As a follow-up to Dr. Eugene River's challenge to Toronto last year, local ministries are sponsoring a conference called At Risk: Bringing Hope to Hurting Youth, featuring Dr. Scott Larson.

Who should come? Anyone who wants to make a lasting difference in a hurting youth's life, whether you are a grandparent, parent, guardian, relative, youth worker, volunteer, social worker, teacher, principal, or concerned adult.

I'm up to page 120 or so, plus some 25 pages at the back (appendixes, bibliography). I'm feeling pretty good about my thesis work. Of course it doesn't matter what I think; I'll be curious to see what my thesis advisor thinks. I'll know pretty soon.

It's been nice to be away and focused and to have access to a great library...but I miss home.

Speaking of which, I'll be home tomorrow night. We debated but thought it would be too much to to go Cultivate on Saturday, which is too bad. But I want to see Charlene and the kids.

I was flipping through Bill Hull's latest book last night - Choose the Life: Exploring a Faith that Embraces Discipleship. This quote jumped out at me:

The myth of competence is the idea that we will outgrow our weaknesses, difficult sins, fears, and disappointments. We will reach a place of spiritual competence where we have it together. It's a myth because that time never comes; in fact our dependence on God grows as we become more like Jesus. Brokenness is living life in the light of that reality.

More to come from this book. Free resources on the book are available here. Thanks to Naomi for recommending this book.

From Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender:

Here is God's leadership model: he chooses fools to live foolishly in order to reveal the economy of heaven, which reverses and inverts the wisdom of this world. He calls us to brokenness, not performance; to relationships, not commotion; to grace, not success. It is no wonder that this kind of leadership is neither spoken of nor admired in our business schools or even our seminaries.

I fly out tonight to spend a few days on campus writing my thesis. I don't know what my goal will be this week: maybe another 50 pages?

Last year's Leadership Summit filled me with all kinds of hope. In the past, Willow Creek's Summits have been more about building great institutions with heroic leadership and great strategy. While that isn't all bad, I think it reflects more of a North American approach to church than a Kingdom one. The Kingdom is counter-cultural and not about building sleek organizations.

Last year gave me hope because they seemed to be less about building brands and more about Kingdom stuff - a pastor from South Africa, a single mother who moved into the poorest part of Detroit, stuff like that. Maybe, I thought, things are changing.

I think things are changing. Hybels has caught a vision for social justice, for instance. But maybe things need to change more.

Yesterday I heard that the parable of the weeds from Matthew 13 is about getting rid of the enemies of church growth in your church. No mention of Jesus' explanation of the parable, which is completely different, or that Jesus explained that we shouldn't go trying to pull out the weeds. No matter what Jesus said! Pull out the weeds that are preventing your church from growing. Your church can grow by a thousand in the coming year. You have to believe and it will happen. Pull those weeds!

To which I reply: more positive church growth thinking isn't likely to get us where we need to go in a post-Christendom culture. The answers are harder, maybe a bit more theological, maybe a little bit more Kingdom and a little less human strategy and brilliance.

I am not trying to criticize Willow here - they are brothers and sisters, and I get caught up in this as much as anyone. But if the church growth movement is going to transform culture, where is the evidence of that over the past twenty or thirty years? Books like Selling Out the Church? help us ask good questions about church marketing and other modern approaches to doing church.

I can't help but thinking sometime that we need to stop looking within the North America for guidance on how to be the church in these days.

I am really not trying to slam Willow. I am grateful for them. They have enormous influence and I pray that God uses it. And I do not want to be the one to argue for bad leadership instead of good leadership.

But what we really need may not be more lessons on leadership, but more discernment about the forces that are shaping the church that have nothing to do with the Kingdom. That is the kind of leadership we need at such a time as this.

If you are reading this, you are invited to attend a seminar I'm doing as part of my D.Min. program. It would be fun to have you there, and I'd love to get your ideas. Here's the scoop:

Theocentric Preaching

A Practical Seminar for Pastors

Most preachers understand that good preaching connects with people’s needs. While addressing people’s needs is good, there is a corresponding danger: to make the sermon about us rather than about God. A desire to be relevant can lead to anthropocentric sermons that provide answers to life’s dilemmas, meet the questions, issues, and needs of the moment, but miss the bigger picture.

Join us for a seminar that will explore how to preach theocentrically. We’ll cover:

• What is theocentric preaching?
• What is the difference between theocentric and anthropocentric preaching?
• Why should we preach theocentrically?
• How does a preacher prepare theocentric sermons that are relevant?

Tuesday, September 19th

9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Richview Baptist Church

(1548 Kipling Avenue, Etobicoke, ON)

Cost: $10 (includes lunch)

RSVP 
info@richview.org or 416-247-8701

From World Vision Canada - Events:

We are excited to invite you to the World Vision One Life Experience, a 3,000-square foot interactive audio tour through an African village. Each visitor will experience what life is like in the life of one of four children affected by HIV and AIDS.The tour is free and takes approximately 30 minutes. Parental discretion is advised.

August 12 - 18 Toronto, Ontario
8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
University Ave. and Adelaide St.

Countless hours of reading have now made their way into my literature review for my thesis, which is now DONE. My thesis is at 82 pages so far, and about to head into chapter three. Tomorrow I do a quick proofread and then mail this rough draft to my thesis advisor, but tonight I relax.

One more hurdle down.

Even though I've been writing my thesis, I've technically been on vacation this past week. That means that I was off duty at church this morning.

We ended up at Bramalea Baptist for the early service followed by an outdoor baptism. Ian Campbell spoke, and annoyed me by preaching on the same passage as I did a few weeks ago, only better. I love listening to Ian speak.

It feels good to have a Sunday off, to go somewhere, and not be in charge of anything. It feels especially good to go somewhere where like Bramalea where God seems to be at work.

I'm on day four of writing my thesis, and right on target, having completed 37 draft pages as of last night. By the time I go to work next week, I hope to be up to page 70 or so.

Whenever I meet authors, I'm struck with how, well, average they are. No offense to authors. It's just a fact.

Now I know the secret to writing longer pieces. Once you have something to say, there's only one other secret: sit down and actually write. Getting and keeping your body in a chair and actually writing seems to be an important part of the writing process. Who knew? That's something I've never tried before.

As long as you're okay with editing (don't forget what Ann Lamott said about cruddy first drafts), that appears to be the secret to writing.

I was struck yesterday as I re-read N.T. Wright's The Last Word on the importance of something that's in danger of being lost in today's models of church leadership:

The Western church has for some generations allowed a dangerous "separation of powers," according to which scripture is taught by professional academics while the church is run by clergy who, with noble exceptions, rely on secondhand and increasingly outdated understandings of scripture itself...The result is not only a deep impoverishment, but a creeping or even galloping bureaucratization, as church leaders engage in displacement activities, hoping to do through committees, filing cabinets and legal constraints what they should be doing through prayerful, powerful biblical preaching, teaching and pastoral work...

The church of the first three centuries would hardly have recognized the models of Christian leadership into which we, at least in the modern western churches, seem to have slipped without noticing...The various crises in the Western church of our day - decline in numbers and resources, moral dilemmas, internal division, failure to present the gospel coherently to a new generation - all these and more should drive us to pray for scripture to be given its head once more; for teachers and preachers who can open the Bible in the power of the Spirit, to give the church the energy and direction it needs for its mission and to renew in it its love for God; and, above all, for God's word to do it's work in the world...

I've been enjoying an old book I got for my birthday last week. It's Ward Lock & Co's London Illustrated Guide Book, dated from World War II. I'm learning lots of new things. For instance, how to dress in London:

DRESS - Visitors from abroad desirous of doing in London as Londoners do may welcome a hint or two under this head, though great latitude is allowed, and all varieties of costume may be seen in the streets. For formal calls and social events of importance a black morning coat and silk hat are de rigueur, but City and business men are usually content with lounge suits, and soft felt hats and "bowlers" are generally worn. Evening dress is usual when dining at high-class restaurants, and is compulsory for those who desire to dance (this does not, of course, apply to dance teas). At theatres, evening dress is nearly always worn in the boxes and stalls, and generally in the dress circle.

And I couldn't believe it when I read this paragraph:

POLICE - Although a large proportion of the offenses committed in the United Kingdom take place within the borders of London, a comparatively small number of policemen is found sufficient to protect its inhabitants from the Ishmaelites whose hands are against every man.

Ishmaelites?

And I'm only to page 33. Fascinating stuff and a good reminder of how much the world has changed in a relatively short time.