Thursday. The day it all starts to come together. We've chosen and practiced the music. I've sought and found the text or theme for this Sunday's worship and am deeply involved with it. We're past the Wednesday night speed bump and on the downhill glide. In fact I'm "off" tomorrow. And yet here I sit still trying to figure out a better way to communicate Sunday's message.
Someone asked me this week, "David, it seems like you spend a lot of time trying to find another way to do things. Is that right?" There's no way I can answer that except in the affirmative. Whether things are going great or not so great, I am constantly evaluating what I see and hear and casting a net to try and find a way to do more myself and more importantly - see our church family do more - and BE MORE - like Jesus.
I am not satisfied. I am not content. Can I celebrate our successes? Sure.
But there are so many who do not know Jesus. And we aren't reaching them as often as we could - as we should. We're not loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds. We're not taking care of the widows and orphans. We're not getting enough done.
That's what drives me.
I was thinking this week how to explain how I got to this place in time. How could I get someone to understand the lens I see the church and the world through. The only way I think might work would be to give them a stack of books that have touched my heart. So here they are. Read these and maybe you'll see what the world looks like from here.
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Jesus Creed - Scot McKnight
More Ready Than You Realize - Brian McLaren
The Irresistible Revolution - Shaine Claiborne
Red Letters (Living A Faith That Bleeds) - Tom Davis
Simple Church - Thom Rainer, Eric Geiger
The Present Future - Reggie McNeal
Crazy Love - Francis Chan
Searching For God Knows What - Donald Miller
unChristian - Kinnaman & Lyons
They Love Jesus, But Not the Church - Dan Kimball
That'll get you started.
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