All of those things are great, but I love seeing churches giving back to other churches. We’re not in competition. We’ve all got the same goal. Why not help each other out?
Exactly. We all act sometimes like getting to heaven entails climbing on the prone bodies of vanquished brethren. No LOL.
As one who benefited from free youth ministry from Lifechurch.tv as a cash-strapped youth pastor, I have a special place in my heart for churches and organizations that are able to get beyond factionism and HELP others.
The Urhobos are a proud people that inhabit the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. Compared to other ethnic groups, it would not be considered one of the biggest.
I’m a little biased, but few peoples come close to matching the Urhobo propensity for hard work and resourcefulness. Some of my happiest memories was splitting time between Warri and Ethiope areas. remembering the palm fruit bushels, green forest and rubber plantations still warms my heart. Fresh fish for DAYS. Starch and ogwho soup. Ukhodo. Pepper soup. Oh my…
As with just about every tribal group in Africa, the Urhobos have intricate mores that match the language. from the foods, to the attire, to familial restrictions… all the way to the mode of greeting elders. When greeting an elder you’ll see most people of Urhobo heritage will perform a subtle bend of the knee while standing and utter “Miguo” as a sign of respect. Miguo is what is said as a form of gratitude as well.
What the term truly means (and what was lost on me till I was a teen) is something that opens up a whole lot of thought for me. During truly intricate events, when a person of Urhobo heritage is saluting an elder, they will kneel as a form of respect while saying the word. And that gives an idea of the true meaning of the word.
It means ”I’m on my knees.”
Taking this further, I am working on applying this to my personal walk with God. How cool would it be if, in EVERYTHING I do, I approach it with a spirit of Miguo? In His service. In supplication. In my actions as a husband, and father, and pastor, and coach. On my knees in COMPLETE worship, less of self and more of GOD. Reflecting the love of Jesus.
The funny thing about preparation is that even when we do all that we are supposed to do, the unexpected can still happen. It’s why we have safety nets in circuses, guard rails on the highway and expensive insurance premiums.
And even then, things can still go wrong.
Check out Illinois Eisenhower Junior High’s Andrew Pawelczyk. He’s playing cymbals, an is able to get a couple strokes in prior to an equipment malfunction.
The strap came off, causing a funny extra and off-beat clash with the floor.
I’m no saint, I literally hollered with mirth at seeing the shock and consternation on his face when the mishap occurred. But I was also inspired by the way he gathered his composure, and his ad-hoc show of respect. Simply awesome. I don’t know that I’d be as composed as Andrew now. I absolutely love how he picked himself up, faced the flag, and showed everyone how to deal with adversity.
Have to love the other elements of the video: the uncanny focusing right before the break, the unsubtle giggling of the bass drummer, the smile from the director. They all highlight the overall coolness of the clip.
Yes, I know… there are worse things hat can happen than a dropped cymbal at junior high concert. Still, I’d like to point out that in that moment of time, there probably wasn’t anything worse than dropping a cymbal at a junior high concert for a cymbalist at a junior high concert.
Hats off to young Mr Pawelczyk, and showing us that in the right hands, lemons ALWAYS become lemonade. Can’t stand this kid for being truly, truly awesome.
Cool stuff. Numbers are not everything, but on the optimistic side, I do believe attitudes are changing. We attend a church that is fairly multiracial, but one thing I do appreciate is that it feels natural. I am always cynical of forced behavior. Church diversity is a noble goal, but when we focus on loving God, and loving people, most things should fall in place.
I do understand that comfort sometimes a dictates a different reality, and forced assimilation ends up being mostly empty. Still, I believe that nothing is more beautiful than a body of believers that are open to blessing and being blessed by others regardless of exterior.
[Featured image courtesy of DryHundredFear via Flickr Creative Commons]
Every now and then, I’ll catch myself telling people about stuff stored in my “boot” or asking people to open my “bonnet.” In public, too.
Gas is for cooking, while petrol is what you want for your car. I never drove LHD, but accelerators mostly trump gas pedals. And kids shouldn’t be lacing up cleats on the field to play soccer. Rubbish. They should be dusting off their boots to play football on the pitch.
Subtle differences, but enough to cause confusion. Communicating effectively can be a difficult endeavor.
When we design our church programs, it helps to have a focus, or the outreach may fall flat. With so much attention attached to experiences, we live in times were people don’t even try to sit through music they don’t like; they poke their heads in, turn around and walk out.
As much as it helps to be fluent in many types of communicative methods, I sometimes wonder if tacit specialization is not more profitable. Specific to churches and the people we are trying to reach… should church leaders fish with large nets (with potentially large holes) or use smaller, tighter nets, while graciously extending help to other fishers?
I don’t think is nothing wrong with focusing on a diverse, all-encompassing demographic; some churches do it very well, and nothing is cooler than seeing a diverse body in worship. But for many ministry teams, there is an opportunity cost associated with limited resources.
Here are some interesting thoughts from Gabe Taviano with regards to diversity in the church.
With so much wrong in the world, why do we have so much time to criticize each other for such simple things? It’s not to say that Christians are always above reproach, but we spend the majority of our time trying to tear one another down, if not with politics then by denominational discord.
One of my favorite songs is Manifesto by City Harmonic. It’s not a typical worship song, but the message contained therein resonates with me deeply.
Ever had a song that you heard or time or two, but never really cottoned to? That’s how Manifesto was for me. Loved it, but never really, well, dwelled on it. Something about the way the AWESOME worship crew led by Brian Witham (one of the HUMBLEST, coolest cats I know, for real) did the song a few weeks back allowed me to connect in worship. I literally broke down. This song voices the strength I feel (or should feel) as a child of the Most High.
We believe in the one true God!
We believe in Father, Spirit, Son,
We believe that good has won…
These words get me E.V.E.R.Y. S.I.N.G.L.E T.I.M.E. Do I truly live like I believe in the “the one true God, or do I allow fear and timidness freeze me? Do I believe that God completes me? Do I believe He wants nothing but good for me, or do I trust in my own “knowledege?”
Am I able to say “Amen” to this? All the time?
We are free: He died and lives again!
We will be a people FREE from sin!
We’ll be free — a kingdom with no end…
I feel this. Again, it challenges me. When I say this — when I sing it in worship, do I really get this statement, or do I take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted? Do I accept that freedom, or do I seeming negate it by allowing the enemy to tie me down?
One of my favorite daily activities is to check the Amazon Android Free App of the Day. I’ve gotten some great stuff too.
But, it does come at a slight price. I have to keep the Android AppStore app on my device. Also, the apps in Amazon’s environment tend to get updated later than the same ones in the official Google Play store. But… they are free. Amazon has a business model, and it seems to work (I definitely purchase more).
We all love freebies. Even when they’re not really free.
I’m thinking about God’s grace right now. So cool to be able to enjoy something unearned, and yet completely free. It flies in the face of everything conventionally religious. It’s just there. It is so hard to grasp by the human mind, but so awesome to behold.
I pray God allows me to continually learn to reflect the same in my dealings with others.
![cliff1066 via Wikimedia Commons]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UrhoboMask.jpg){kind=link}