Darren B.’s Neighborhood

Kingdom Culture

What are the values of God’s kingdom that should be evident in God’s people?  How do these values relate to God’s mission to the world?

Phil Wagler does the church a good service with his attempt to answer these questions in his book – Kingdom Culture. He does not sugar-coat or idealize the trendy words of “missional” and “Kingdom” in his book. As someone who is an avid reader of church ministry books, especially those that have that outward/God on mission perspective, Kingdom Culture gave me an excellent practical theology of what it means to be the church on mission from God. And yet it didn’t at all seem like I was reading a theology book! Throughout the book the authour gives excellent word pictures and stories that illustrates the Kingdom culture that the church should be living and producing with followers of Jesus.

He divides the book into four main declarations of missional culture. Each is ably backed by sound orthodox doctrine. The four are: 1) No one gets left behind,2) our leaders lead, 3)I am a disciple of Jesus and I contribute and 4) we exist for the world our Lord came to save.

As Wagler says in his introduction, the church must be mindful that we must not overemphasize church practice over the soundness of God’s truth. And yet the authour does emphasize that the church must live and practice the ethos of Gods Kingdom. Another very helpful component of the book is the “toolbox” at the end of each of the four sections that have helped their own people understand and grow, many of which can be adapted to one’s own context.

While Phil Wagler’s ministry context may be rural small town Ontario (Kingsfield Churches), I found very few instances throughout the book that what he wrote didn’t also apply to urban Canadian churches and communities. This is a timely book for Canadian churches of all stripes and sizes, urban and rural, especially for those who want to make a Kingdom impact in their community.

Here is an interview with Phil that helps frame the book. Go to our product page and you can read the first chapter.

My friend Jim Tice said this about the book: "A marvelous read! Phil spins a story well and effectively passes on the vision for missional churches. I've read the book twice as I reflected on what he had to say. His is a practical book that would go well with a group considering how to be more missionally active. As well, I have found the author to be an excellent presenter of this material in person to churches." -- Jim Tice Christian Comedian & Pastor of Discipleship, www.jimtice.ca

So, I've been using my Typepad account instead of VOX, and whenever I come back over this way I have shit loads of spam comments to delete. Surely, VOX, if you delete a spam account, it should automatically delete all of the spam comments they've left as well?

This Changes Everything

I have been reflecting on the Willow Grouplife conference from October 24^th that was broadcast widely across North America. The Small Groups Network helped sponsor and host a site. Throughout the one day event there were some great insights and presentations from the speakers. Here are my best take-away’s from this years event.

Dave Anderson (Church of the Open Door) and Heather Zempel (National Community Church) spoke convincingly on why we need to be authentic and embrace the fact that life is messy. To me – they were the strongest voices at the event. With Dave you felt that there is no real purpose for meeting together as Christians in small groups if you are not going to be real and authentic. For real change to occur 3 components are needed: authenticity, courage and grace. That second component of courage is rarely spoken of, yet if not for leaders or an individual member who takes the risk, becomes courageous and shares their brokenness with others – how will we see authenticity spread and grace bestowed?

This was the first time I have heard Heather Zempel at length. What a dynamo! She is very earthy – most everyone could identify with her. She began her talk illustrating from her earlier life in research – she went to pig farm to do some research and pig pooh became a humourous link through the rest of the day – very funny! Her point was made though – You can’t stop the stink from pigs. Ie – People are sinful – they can’t help but create mess in their lives – so let’s admit it with others in our group! She went on to say that God will write His story in the mess, and that mess can be the bi-product of growth. I resonated with this theme, because it’s so true. When is it when most people (Christians or not) are most open to God’s voice? Not when things are going good, but when there is pain and life is a mess! She went on to give very helpful suggestions on how we can deal with messes that become evident in our group.

Mindy Caliguire spoke on leading from a healthy soul. This is an area that I believe churches need to pay more attention to. She spoke on how leaders can experience burnout, lack of fruitfulness and spiritual vitality. Leaders need to be leading from the overflow that comes out of their relationship with God, when leaders don’t – they can find themselves experiencing what Mindy calls – a collapse of the soul. She illustrated this well with a flow chart diagram charting the well being of the soul vs. the speed of life. When the pace of life overtakes our soul life, we can easily become disconnected to God and the life He breathes into us. She challenged us to slow the pace of life to a level that connect with God – living a life at “Godspeed”. Mindy has authored a number of books that can help leaders discern new ways to re-connect with God. Discovering Soul Care, Simplicity, Spiritual Friendship, Soul Searching.

Throughout the day – the theme of understanding that our flawed lives can be the new perfect way (God’s provision of grace) to grow ourselves and others in Christ was my biggest takeway! 

You may watch some of the post-event questions that were asked of the presenters at youtube.com/willowgrouplife

So.

I checked my e-mail for school a few minutes ago because my Ecology Instructor called me and asked me to respond to her e-mail asap.

As we didn't give her our phone numbers, she had to call the school to get it...(I'm suprized they gave it to her, actually)

But, I checked it and now am extremely frustrated. We had the choice to go solo on this group project and I chose to go solo because my class is nothing but cocky PSEO students and lazy students. Grrrr.

But this is what her e-mail said:

Of course, I'm going to agree to this. Of course this guy is going to take advantage of me and try to ride on my magic carpet of intelligence..lol. This does not make me happy. Any suggestions on how to make this as painful as possible?

Dammit.

Most of you know I'm currently working on my college education. Some of you know that I'm a science major. A few of you know that I love to read and write. My mom doesn't understand why that isn't my major. The biggest reason why it isn't? It's easy. It's easy to read a great book. It's easy for me to write an A paper. (I wrote a 3 page paper a half-hour before it was due and recieved an A). While there are some aspects of college writing that I struggle with..ie.  STRUCTURE is a MoFo for me..I can still do it fairly well. It's not..well...it's not HARD. Science is HARD. I have to really buckle down and study for science. Part of why I love it so is because it doesn't come easy...I have to work for it..but I thoroughly enjoy it. More specifically, cellular or microbiology. *And it only has a little bit to do with my first microbiology class and the instructor..yes..he was my PBF and I won't deny it any longer. YUM*

So, in order to fulfill college requirements, I have to take Comp II. Not a problem. Comp I was a breeze, my environmental literature, and ethics classes were full of papers..so I've got this in the bag..right? WRONG!

The instructor wants 5 paragraph ESSAYS. I'm used to writing 5 page papers, which of course include intro, body, and conclusion paragraphs..but I can WRITE. I'm flamboozled by this. He also told us we could make stuff up, we didn't have to cite sources, but to make sure it was believable. What is this??

So we've had 3 "essays" so far. I'm used to getting A's on my papers, with the occasional B. The three essays I've handed in? The first one was a low B..almost a C..the second paper..C..and the 3rd I haven't recieved back yet. But, while in conference with the instructor...which I've done twice..the first time he told me I had a bad attitude because I told him I felt he was teaching things we learned in 9th grade English class. The second conference we had about my second paper..which I forwarded to my Comp I instructor who LOVED my paper...and my current instructor recommended I get a writing tutor.

What. The. Fuck.

Bitch, I write for the College Newspaper which you have to submit work and then be accepted to join) I have 2 recurring COLUMNS in the newspaper. I've won writing contests (in high school, but still).

Then I take a deep breath, calm down, run home and grab my file with every paper I've ever written in college and head to the ACE tutor lab to speak with the writing tutors. Maybe he's right. Maybe I'm not as good as I believe I am.

I share my story with the writing department in the lab. I show him my "portfolio". We talk about writing, structure, rules, voice, expression, etc. We talked for over an hour. By the time I left, I left with a JOB as a FUCKING WRITING TUTOR. Not a work study position, but I was HIRED by the COLLEGE. You're reading the blog of the ACE lab's newest Intro the Writing, Intro to Reading, and Comp I tutor. Making over ten bucks an hour. To tutor.

Oh, and in conclusion...I totally win. And YOU lose.

And BTW - I have special permission to test the fuck outta your class.

Yes, my oldest son has H1N1. We found out 2 days after he said he wanted to get the vaccine. What started out as a viral lung infection became the dreaded H1N1. Chase had RSV when he was a baby and has had several bouts with brochitis in his short life. We were so worried that it would become fatal. Like any other mother, once I found out he had it..the news coverage information just wasn't enough, so I googled and WebMD'd that shit until my fingers grew numb. I found out some good news, ie. the fatality rate of H1N1 is only .02%, whereas the regular flu has a fatality rate of .1%. Even though more people have died of it this year than the regular flu - it's because the infection rate it higher. But I'll leave the statistics alone for now. What I knew for sure - we had to keep Chase out of the hospital..because that's almost like a death sentence for H1N1.

Like the flu, there's really not a lot the doctor can do for the H1N1. You basically have to let it run it's course. The doctor said if Chase started having trouble breathing to bring him to the ER..which I was positive would wind up happening because of his health history and his lungs were already compromised.

At then it happened...

I come upstairs after doing laundry to find him alseep on the couch. I'm glad he's resting. I walk over to him to feel his forehead to make sure his fever is still down...and his lips are blue. I check his fingers and the tips are blue. Inside, I'm screaming no. No. NO!. He is breathing, I check. But he's not getting enough oxygen...his levels are low...this is it..we've got to go. I calmly wrap him in his blanket, heft him up into my arms, grab my keys, walk to the car while calling 911 to let them know we are on the way. He doesn't feel as heavy as he did yesterday..is he leaving me already? I've been scared before, in fact, I've been terrified. But nothing I've ever experienced comes close to what this feels like. I can't breathe...I can't breathe.

Chase moans and says his stomach hurts. I tell him, I know baby, we're on the way to the doctor, he'll make you feel better. But I wonder, am I lying to him? Am I making a promise that will be broken through no fault of my own?

I think I know why my stomach hurts, Mom. He whispers. Oh God, I think..does he know? Does he know what this means? He's always been smart, abnormally so sometimes. Why do you think your stomach hurts? I ask him.

**

**

Because I ate all that blue sugar.

**

**

My heart, brain, and stomach stutter. What?!

You did what? What did you eat?

I ate the blue sugar candy from the candy bowl.

I grab his hand, look more closely at his blue oxygen-deprived fingertips..and sure enough...it's that blue colored sugar.

I burst into a combination of tears and laughter, redailing 911 to tell them the situation is not nearly as deadly as I originally believed..and that Chase is certainly feeling better since he was able to eat and keep down candy.

But in a couple years, the situation will be deadly. Because I will be kicking his ass repeatedly for this.

Oct. 18

• A man, his wife and two children were out for a walk when a great dane-cross dragging a chain ran toward them, barking and growling. The man placed himself between the dog and the stroller that contained his 1-year-old child, and the dog bit him through his jeans, breaking the skin and causing contusions. A woman came out and tried to pull the dog away, but had a hard time controlling the dog. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment, and the dog was quarantined and classified under ordinance as a “potentially dangerous dog.”

• A man reported an odd occurrence from the previous night. He said he was out on Wadena County Road 30 when he saw a bright blue light in the sky. The man said it was approximately 30-40 yards up, and the light completely surrounded his pickup. The man said he didn’t believe it was a UFO, but wanted to report it just in case.

A rapid great dane and an odd blue light. The world is coming to an end.

Again, these were taken from the Police Scanner article in the local paper.