andrewsikora.com

Moving

2006-05-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have made your way to this page it's probably because you have bookmarked my blogspot address. I've moved over to wordpress for a few reasons, mostly because I like the fact that I can categorize my posts and it's a lot more user friendly (me being the user and being html illiterate).

At any rate, you can get to it by going to andrewsikora.com. Please go regularly and post as many comments as possible because I feel validated by them.

Thanks.

How Am I Not Myself?

2006-05-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

If you've ever seen the movie I Heart Huckabees you know that this question plays a central role in the way that the main characters discover what is actually real about the lives that they live. Every now and then I'll throw this question into a conversation with a wink and a nod and those in the room who have seen the movie will laugh for a second, but the conversation continues because obviously it's not a real question, it's not like I'm looking for a real answer.

Tonight I want to tell you how I'm not myself.

I lead this really complicated life that finds me being at least 3 different people in different situations. If you're reading this you probably know that I work for a church, and if there's anywhere that you would expect someone to be 100% it would be church, but the thing that you aren't factoring in when you think that way is how a church actually works. Depending on the type of church most of the time you only really know about 50% of the people who are in leadership. Why?

Because if you really got to know us you'd run.

Well, that's probably not true, if you got to know us you'd probably stop beating yourself up and we'd probably all be able to finally speak freely.

You see when I'm at work I have to tow the company line. Support ideas and only give feedback when I'm asked directly so as to not upset all that God is "doing". When I am with my other associate staff members I'm not really able to be myself because if I really let what I thought or how I felt come through there's a chance that I'd cause some sort of division, and if that's what happens when I talk to the people on staff there's no way I can ever talk to those in the church about these things because the fall out would only be worse.

Here's the really sad part, when you're not really yourself in 80% of your life it makes it extremely difficult to be honest in the other 20% of your life. If you spend most of your week trying to figure out what you can and can't say, what emotions you can and can't express it makes it difficult to really just cut loose when you're with someone you can trust, like your wife or friends from out of town for instance (just for instance, I'm not talking from personal experience or anything...)

If you ask me this is really bad news.

Why? Because I don't think we were meant to live divided lives.

I've been reading this great book called The Gospel According to Moses, and in the second or third chapter the author talks about a prayer called the shema that the Jews would pray every day, the start of which comes from Deut 6. I haven't been able to get much passed the beginning of the prayer either which starts like this...

Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

I think it's important for us to realize that the Lord is One. He's not two or three. He's not different things in different circumstances. He is one.

Now the author goes much deeper with this idea and what it means theologically, but I think I've figured out how I am not myself through the beginning of the shema. If I am made in God's image and I spend my entire life split. If who I am over here is not who I am over there then I am divided. I am not one, and this is not good, it causes much distress.

And why do I allow myself to be split? To protect myself? To protect another's wrong doing? To give people what they want? There is no freedom in that. There is no abundance in that kind of living.

Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.

What's New at Social Truth

2006-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

Matt and I have been really tearing through the headlines lately. Every day I'm going to try and update all that we're talking about over at socialTruth.com!
"Women not welcome in Men's Sports":: This week Keith Hernandez and Wimbledon both said they think men are the superior gender.
"Chernobyl horror remembered":: It's been 20 years since Chernobyl, and the effects are still being felt.
"Fox News anchor takes White House job":: Finally, a fair and balanced perspective from the white house.
"Bush takes aim at rising gasoline prices":: Finally, fair and balanced gas prices (not really).

Thinking while Sleeping

2006-04-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

Work has been so busy as of late (not in a bad way, just in a busy way), so today my friend Bryan and I went for a little stroll through the church's parking lot and ended up standing at the top of a huge mound of dirt that was being moved to put in more parking and an exit road. Standing there, looking at the big yellow construction vehicles hard at work we caught up on all that had been taking place in our lives as of late (most of which were what was going on at work) and we talked about what we do when we're exhausted. We both agreed that when we're tired we end up just shutting down, but the funny thing was that we both had different definitions of what it meant for us to shut down.

When I shut down I don't want to do anything that requires any kind of thought. No reading, no writing, no phone calls, nothing. I just want to sit on my couch and watch reruns. That's not how Bryan does it, he said that when he's exhausted he reads a bunch, plays guitar and writes all sorts of things.

So maybe I'm missing out. I wonder what would happen if I started trying to use my brain when I was tired. Maybe I would feel more refreshed or renewed or something. I'm going to try and do things that require some thought when I'm tired and see what happens.

Isn't It Funny...

2006-04-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

How easily I forget about my blog?

I know that you are probably one of the few who are stopping by on a daily basis to see if there is anything new happening in my life. The funny thing is there's so much that goes on in a normal week that I forget to update, or I just don't feel like I can muster the mental strength to get it done. It got me thinking about busyness.

It seems that people either can't motivate themselves to do a darn thing or they can't stop doing stuff. I think that I find myself firmly in both camps. There are days that there is so much going on that I don't even have time to check your blog, and then there are days when all I do is waste time, not really accomplishing much of anything.

I wonder how I find balance? Is it even possible to live a balanced life, or maybe the better question is, do I have some sort of false view of what I think balance is.

All this to say, I think I'm going to always be a failure at posting on this blog, and all I can say to you is that I will try and be a little less of a failure.

Have a great day, hope to see you soon.

2006-03-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

The phrase that people always use when something breaks down is, “How can they put a man on the moon and they still can’t make a good (insert: hair dryer, waffle iron, etc.)?!

I think maybe it’s time we just accepted the fact that putting a man on the moon wasn’t that hard.

(taken from "Bits of Life" by Aaron Donley from Burnside Writers Collective)

My Idol

2006-03-14T21:18:00.000-08:00

From the first day that Taylor showed up on American Idol I've loved him. I can't tell you how much it makes me smile every time he's on the show. His voice is so amazing and his dance moves are so spectacularly bad that you know they are 100% legit and not rehearsed.

Please oh please oh please America, do this one thing for me and I will never ask you for another thing... please vote for Taylor to be the American Idol. If you don't I don't know if I could ever believe in America again.

Yesterday...

2006-03-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

I was at Panera meeting a LifeGroup leader for lunch and I got up to get a refill on my Doctor Pepper. Of course there was about a million people trying to pick up their orders as well as fill their little cups with the sweet nectar of soda. There was this one old guy in front of me who motioned for me to go ahead of him, so of course I did because I really needed some more D.P. While I was filling my cup I heard him tell a few more people to go ahead of him. Someone said, "oh know, you go on." He said, "no, I'm retired. I've got all the time in the world, you people are all in a hurry, so go right ahead."

I'm not retired, in fact I'm soooooo far from it, but come on, isn't this perspective fresh? When I live like I've got all the time in the world I'm able to put others ahead of me. This old guy had already quit his job, there was nothing that he felt like he still had to do, and therefore he could put others first. It's pretty awesome to have an old retired guy remind me that I'm already dead, and since I'm already dead, there's nothing that I'm in a hurry to do.

Go ahead, I'm dead. It's no longer I who live, but it's Christ who lives in me.

booya!

New Friends

2006-03-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

I would like to introduce you to some of my friends that I just added links to. Take some time and check them out.

Jonny Rice:: It's kind of weird that I left him off the list originally. I'm not sure why that is, but now he's getting a nice shout out. Jonny and I went to school together and worked at camp together, but most importantly he's my brother's roomy (you can read from their ridiculous blog here, you won't regret it). Jonny's a smart cookie and a great writer. Take some time to enjoy.

Matt Kitchen:: Matt's the guy who thought up most of socialTruth and is just using me for my good looks and killer personality. We're in the same LifeGroup and are becoming better friends each day (yes, this is Mr. Rogers Neighborhood).

Ryan James:: I've never met Ryan James, but I like him. He has connections with 707 and designed their current web page, and the redesign that will be launching soon. He's spent some time with Relevant (mostly designs things there, like their webpage and some nice sports cars for the launch of RelevantCars). He's on the move to the great state of Maryland, and more than anything I think he's a pretty awesome guy. Check out some of his thoughts and art over at eskimoNation

SocialTruth 1

2006-03-13T20:38:00.000-08:00

We've "officially" launched socialTruth.com. If you were lucky enough to see the pilot you know that we (Andy Sikora & Matt Kitchen) might just be the two most engaging personalities around.

It's more than just about us though. We want your thoughts and input. You can register, tell us what you think about what we're talking about, vote in our weekly poll and tell us where you see truth in society.

Head on over to socialtruth.com and join in the fun. Check it out, we're taking over the world.

Running in The Rain

2006-03-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Today was the first real "spring" day here in the Cleveland area. We had a lot of rain at times, but the temperature was near 70 for a good portion of the day. It just so happened that I had scheduled to meet my friend Zach for a run. There's a great park about 5 minutes away that has an amazing trail that runs for over 50 miles. So we started running with partly cloudy skies, 65 degrees, and a strong wind. Half way through the run a light sprinkle started. With about a mile to go the rain and wind was so strong that neither of us could see more than 3 feet in front of us and the rain was hitting us so hard that you could hear it smack off the others body. It was truly the worst weather I've ever run in.

Oh yeah... and I loved it.

The Snapshot

2006-03-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

When trying to make the decision of whether or not Meri and I should move to Cleveland a friend of mine told me that most people tend to make decisions based on the 2 or 3 most recent snapshots of their life. That no one really thinks about the past and almost nobody really looks to the future, but instead they look only at yesterday, today and tomorrow.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how young I am. I'm only 26 years old.

I work with this guy named Dale, an amazing man of God, who's 53 years old. Yesterday he and his wife celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary. As he shared about their anniversary celebration I was reminded again how young I am. He talked about who they were when they first got married and who they are now. How they had been through so much. Dale's 30 years older than me. He and his wife have been married 10 times as long as Meri and I.

There's so much time left.

I am constantly freaking out about the 3 snapshots that I'm looking at. I look at the picture of yesterday, I see the picture of tomorrow, and I start freaking out about how "slow" things seem to be going today. I've been living an adult life for 4 years (which if we're being honest is longer than I've ever done anything in my life) and will probably be doing it for at least 40 or 50 more years.

There are so many snapshots yet to be developed. It's OK that I haven't become everything that God has called me to be. It's just fine that my circle of influence isn't huge. It really is a good thing that I'm still getting to know my wife, and maybe even a better thing to realize I'm just starting to get to know myself.

I just need to chill the heck out, enjoy the snapshots, and live.

socialTruth.com Pilot Episode

2006-02-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

I warned you that this was coming, and it has arrived. Jump on the bandwagon before there's no room left for you. Head on over to socialTruth.com, register and voice your opinions RIGHT NOW!

Ok... you can do it right after you watch the first episode.

What Does This Say About Me

2006-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful night at 707. Over 30 people connected to a LifeGroup at Access and Dan preached a great sermon on faith.

I however feel compelled to talk about this.

Instead of going out with people to further grow in community, I came straight home to watch the season finale of Dancing With the Stars. (this may be a problem... if it weren't for the next paragraph)

I can't believe that Jerry Rice made it to the finals and Stacey Keibler did not. She was robbed and the show now has no legitamacy in my mind

(oh my gosh... did i just put that on my blog?)

Missing Out

2006-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my friend Dean this afternoon as we were getting ready for all that happens on a Sunday night here at 707. Our conversation had been centered on a few different topics of spiritual significance and towards the end I made this statement basically about stepping out in faith.

"There are things that I know that I should be doing or things that I know I should be giving up, you know the extra things, the things that aren't required but would lead to deeper insight and clarity about what God is doing, and for some reason I always convince myself that they're not necessary. That I shouldn't give these things up or start doing these other things because they're just too hard. The worst part is I talk constantly about a lack of clarity and understanding. Maybe if I would just obey these things would be found."

Happy Birthday Brother!

2006-02-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my brother Jake's birthday. He's 24 years old today, which means he's as close to 30 as he is to 18. This is only the second year that I wasn't able to hang out with Jake on (or around) his birthday. It's weird what happens when we grow up and move on to different places. I did send him some peroggi's and a Bob Dylan DVD that I'm sure will more than take my place.

Since I couldn't be there this year I'm posting a picture that I'm going to make believe was taken this weekend (even though it was taken during a wonderful weekend in November!)

*thelongbrake strikes back

2006-02-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

My buddy Josh has become quite the writter.

If you haven't made thelongbrake.com one of your daily internet stops you really should. Josh's insight into things of God in the regular every day can be both encouraging and convicting, and to be honest, always right on.

Today, as I was waking up from a late afternoon nap, Josh gave me a call from the middle of Tenessee to tell me that he had gotten one of his articles published on RelevantMagazine.com. It's really a great read and has a sweet drawing of him done by our buddy Anna Melcon (which you see up top).

Take a minute to slow down and read about the beauty of suffering.

SocialTruth.com

2006-02-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

A while back I posted about actually moving on some ideas that I have and one of them included an idea that I was exploring with my friend Matt Kitchen. I must say that almost all of the leg work has been done by Matt as he is the technological genius with very little input from me as we set some plans into place. After traveling down a road that looked good and realizing we didn't like where it was heading we tweaked our plans a bit and are just about ready to launch socialtruth.com!

We post and comment on stories popular in the news. Twice a month we'll pick the stories that are our favorite and tape a show that you'll be able to watch on the internet (and possibly download the audio so you can take it on the road with you...). The best part is, Matt's made it an interactive wonderland. You can register, post to the forums, sound off in reply to our posts, call in on a voice mail line in response to things you see on the show or e-mail us what you're thinking about.

We're taping our first episode this Friday, but everything else is up and running. Come over for a sneak peak and join in the fun. That way you can say "I was a member of socialtruth.com before it was the most popular site on the old world wide web."

Things Not to Eat...

2006-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a list of things not to consume around midnight on Sundays when you need to go to work in the morning
1. Two Mountain Dews
2. An Applebees side salad
3. The Chicken Quesadea Deluxe at Applebees
4. Anything else at Applebees.
5. The equivalent of 3 chocolate chip blondies (although shaped just like 1, 3xbigger)
6. A large glass of milk.

Why?

Because of the horrible noises my stomach is making when I should be going to bed.

Pray for Katie

2006-02-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight Meri and I were doing dishes after an amazing meatloaf dinner (made by Meri) and I asked my wife a tough question.

Me: Did you hear that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes might be breaking up?
Meri: Yeah...
Me: Do you ever hope that they do for Katie Holmes' sake?
Meri: Yeah...
Me: Do you think that the rest of America hopes that for Katie too?
Meri: Probably.

It got me thinking. If everyone in America would just pray for Katie Holmes, maybe she'd be able to return to the land of the normal.

In a weirder question. Am I the only person who ever thinks that I should pray for celebrities? It's strange I'm sure, but in a world where we know more about the lives of celebrities than I do about the people I'm closest to I feel compelled to pray for them when I hear they have an alcohol problem, they loose an obscene amount of wieght, or they get engaged to a seemingly crazy person.

Ok... maybe I'm sorry I asked.

LOL!

2006-02-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

There's almost nothing that will make me laugh out loud when I'm sitting in a room by myself... but of course by saying "almost nothing" you can imagine that what follows will be me talking about things that do make me laugh out loud.

I absolutely love The Office, My Name is Earl, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report.

All four of these shows are absolutely brilliant (with The Office & Colbert being at the top of the pack) but to be honest none of them can hold a candle to what may be the FUNNIEST, SMARTEST, BEST television to ever grace the air waves...

My friend Nate and I watched the Season (possibly series) finale this past week and I don't know that I've seen a better two hours of television.

But thanks to things like Skating With Celebrities, The Loop, Free Ride, and Prison Break Fox has decided that Arrested Development will be know more.

Look at us Michael crying like a bunch of girls

Unfolding is Metal

2006-02-14T21:15:00.000-08:00

My friend Ty is in a band called The Unfolding. Their new record dropped today, and of course I think that you should buy it. Why? Well there are multiple reasons...
1. Ty is amazing, and he's rocking the synth
2. Brian designed the artwork through his alter ego Fun With Robots
3. It's metal... but in the best ways.

You can listen to some of it over at their myspace page, and check them out when they come to a city near you.

whew... that was some long retreat

2006-02-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

So... if anyone ever does come back here I want to personally apologize for my month long absence. I hit the slopes up in New York at the 707 ski retreat and it was impossible for me to quit snowboarding.

That of course is not what happened. Here's a list of things that may have contributed to my lack of posting... please comment with your vote

*I was discouraged by my green template and so embarrassed that I just gave up for a
bit.
*Things really heated up at work, including an opportunity to preach on Super Bowl Sunday.
*In all honesty I had nothing interesting to say
*This always happens to Andy, he has no ability to post regularly

I do want to make this blog an active webpage. I'm going to talk with my one friend who said they could help me make my blog pretty, and hopefully we can do something cool.

But of course, what's cooler than this beautiful green color.

Ski Retreat

2006-01-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

I have the sweet opportunity to teach on the 707 ski retreat. It's funny because I struggled for days trying to come up what it was that God wanted me to teach on. I honestly started about 5 different talks (which somehow is becoming the norm in my preperation), and landed on something entirely different.

I don't know how it is that God uses me to speak into people's lives. I know it has nothing to do with me, which is a very good thing, but quite often I forget this very important fact. Last night as I lay in bed trying to sleep, freaking out about what in the world I was going to teach on I finally shut up enough to hear what I've known and always said, that nothing I do is dependant on me. I mean sure I must be obedient to what God has commanded of me, but that's it. God is solely responsible for all that goes on between Himself and the others on the trip. This is truly a good thing.

I forget so easily all that God has already done and all that I don't have to do because of it.

Happiness

2006-01-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I forget that happiness is based on what's happening in the moment. It's all about what I have or don't have, how I feel or don't feel, who I'm with or not with. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of being happy for sure, but I base my understanding of how good my life is going based on happy I am (basically am I getting my way).

Somehow last night during the 8.30 service at 707 something Dan said pretty much punched me in the brain. The best part is I can't remember what he said, but it started me down this line of thinking where I began to wonder how I could become so focused on whether or not I was getting my way.

I think that most Christians deal with the problem of being unhappy by claiming that they're learning to be content. It seems to me that this line of thinking might be totally bull. From my understanding, content means that you're ok with what you have, but it's pretty hard for me to believe that there are many people who don't get what they want and are ok with that.

I wonder if being content is not a byproduct of something way bigger than that. Last night while Dan was talking I began to wonder what it means to have the joy of the Lord. I'm pretty sure that if you have the joy of the Lord, like the apostles do after they get the stuffing beat out of them, it's much easier to be content with whatever you have.

All that to say I'm pretty sure that most of my complaining, dissatisfaction, unhappiness and self consciousness would probably dissipate the greater this joy is in my life.

In the Zone

2006-01-15T09:49:00.000-08:00

The older I get the more I realize that everyone doubts themselves to some degree or another. All of my life I have doubted that I could do the things that I wanted to do. Some of those doubts have been overcome by years or experiences, others have only been cemented by years or experiences. There are however those things that I wish I could do, that I feel like I should do or that I know I can do but fear keeps me from stepping out and actually doing it.

As of late in Christian culture it has become chic to identify our wounds and link them to what keeps a person from moving into what they were always meant to be. I hear people all the time talking about reclaiming their femininity or understanding what it means to be a real man, and all of this seems like it's making an impact in these people's lives, but for me I don't know if it has much to do with me being male or not. I think that for me I hide because I don't want to give people the opportunity to see me for who I'm afraid I might be, so I live in the comfort zone that I've built around me.

Life in this comfort zone really doesn't offer much. Sure, I don't have to worry about you thinking that what I'm putting out there is sub par or lame. There's no way that you can hurt my feelings by being honest about what you think because I'm confident about every piece you see of me in the comfort zone, but there's still all those things that I think I should/could/can do that I try to ignore.

In all my years in ministry the passage that I've preached the most is out of 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul says that if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. I believe this has far reaching implications, I'm just starting to realize how far these implications might go. Like, since I'm new I don't have to live in fear. In fact, since I'm new doing all these things that I'm apparently made for, that beat in my chest is what I have to do.

So I'm doing some things that I've been kind of afraid to do in the past. I've wanted to write (on more than a blog) for a couple of years, and so I'm doing it. I'm also hanging out with a friend talking and planning ways that we can use media and technology for purposes we've not yet seen.

Sure these things aren't really new ideas in the grand scheme of the world, but they are things that in the past I would have avoided because there was no guarantee that the results would make me look good, they in fact have the possibility of doing the exact opposite.

The strangest part is it feels pretty good to not be in my comfort zone. Almost better.

Help

2006-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I went to change something in my template and lost all that I had done to create what was created here. If you are reading this and you know how to manipulate html and would love to help me make my blog look cool please do e-mail me and we could negotiate something that would make me look cooler in exchange for friendship.

Real Reality

2006-01-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

It's official, reality tv is dead.

I remember reading about Survivor's debut in the Boston airport right before my senior year of college. The article explained this new trend in television would put people in really REAL situations where they would compete for money. Following the initial "contest" reality shows came the docu-reality shows and then the prankster reality shows.

I'll admit that I've been a sucker for reality TV in the past watching almost every show at one time and never missing certain shows like American Idol, Amazing Race, The Apprentice, and Survivor.

MTV started with all their celebrity based reality shows after the Osborns took off. So we had Jessica & Nick, Ashlee Simpson, and vh1's Surreal Life. Then this happened...

I was watching this show called There and Back about one of the dudes from O-Town now that O-Town is dead. Apparently they didn't make much money (or he wasted it all) and now there's this show about a twenty-something strugling musician who lives with his pregenant girlfriend in her mom's house. In the first show the plot line was that he didn't want to live with his "mom" anymore, he's ruined his credit and so he went to a job interview (for 10 hours a week which of course was a "crappy" job) and he ended up getting handed a check by his record company so they could move into a house.

I'm not sure about you but I know a lot of 20-something who want to move out of their parents house but don't want to get a real job and just sit around waiting for someone to hand them a big check to make their wildest dreams come true.

I mean it's reality, but seriously, does it need to be on tv?

I say no. Kristi disagrees (not on her blog, just in person).

Oh... If I Just Had a Shotgun

2006-01-10T12:22:00.000-08:00

CNN.com - Grizzly bear hunting debated - Jan 10, 2006

Apparently there's a big debate over whether or not it's a good idea to start hunting these guys...

In other news, google desktop has ruined my life.

Consider This A Warning

2006-01-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

beware of the tyrannoKARAS rex... because he's a predator

The Internet:: Where Free Time is Wasted

2006-01-07T17:16:00.000-08:00

*longbrake get's real about suffering
Miguel Tejada doesn't want to be traded (for now)
Brian McLaren speaks for Jesus (b/c Robertson takes weekends off, just kidding)
Spiritual Warfare + Pong = Hours of Excitement
Donald Miller's 13 Paradigm Shifts from Doing Ministry in a pagan Setting

Revolution?

2006-01-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

I recently finished reading George Barna's book Revolution and there is a lot to say about what I read, and so much more to be said in the future. Barna's main contention is that the local church is doing a pretty horrible job at producing disciples and there is a remenant of believers who believe that there is a better way to be the Church than what they are finding within the walls of the full service churches they've been attending for years. They aren't leaving for any one destination, but for multiple destinations created to fill the void left by going to your average seeker sensitive/purpose driven church (you can read a quick explaination of the study here).

There have been multiple books written focused on what is to come for the church (see Present Future and The Shaping of Things to Come) but never by such an influential player as Barna. I remember hearing Barna quoted all the way back in middle school. His findings have fueled tons of church initiatives and Josh McDowell campaigns, and now he is telling the world that the local church isn't all it's cracked up to be.

What's even more interesting to me is that Barna doesn't just say that the church is in trouble, he says that the new alternatives (namely house churches and other forms of community that provide more opportunity to be the church than to go to church) are doing a better job at creating disciples than the church, and he's all for it (which might mean he's lost his mind)

In what has to be the most shocking few pages of the book where Barna basically throws Bill Hybles under the bus, here's the quote from pg 30

The point here is simply to recognize that if we place all our hope in the local church, it is a misplaced hope. Many well-intentioned pastors promote this perspective by proclaiming, "The local church is the hope of the world." Like most advertising slogans, this notion is emotionally appealing. The trouble is, the sentiment is not biblical. Jesus and Jesus alone, is the hope of the world. The local church is one mechanism that can be instrumental in bring us closer to Him and helping us to be more like Him. But as the research data clearly show, church are not doing the job. If the local church is the hope of the wolrd, the the world has no hope.

When I lived in Fort Wayne I saw what Barna is predicting taking place. It seemed like everyday I heard of another house church meeting somewhere in the city. Some of these groups were linked together, others under the authority of a local body, and some a communal island, but they were all doing things that local churches wouldn't even consider because they didn't fit into the "model" that they were pursuing. When talking to a friend involved in a rich community group about what Barna had to say, he said that if he had to choose between "Sunday Morning" and "community" he'd have absolutely no problem choosing "community"

As could be expected this book is not sitting well with some church leaders throughout the country. I was told that John Piper had some things to say about it during one of his talks at Passion (although I'm not sure what he had to say, I could guess). I think most people who love their church (especially those who are paid by their church) will believe that this kind of movement would destroy the church. Barna shares a story at the end of the book where a veteran pastor tells him that "the local church is God's Plan" and "God needs no plan B."

If Barna is right it means that the landscape of the American church will be changing greatly whether pastors like it or not. The question I think most churches will be forced to ask is what part do they play in the revolution? Do they embrace it, reject it or ignore it? Will they decide before it's too late?

There's more to say about this, but it will have to wait.

New Years Resolutions

2005-12-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

Taken directly from ABC's Dick Clark's Rock'n Eve

Marysol Castro to a bunch of NYC Police Officers

Marysol:: What's your resolution?
Cop 1:: To work out and loose weight
Marysol:: Loose some weight (patting the cops gut)
Cop 1:: (grimace)
Marysol:: What about you? (to cop 2)
Cop 2:: umm... to pray everyday for world peace
Marysol:: (looking directly into the camera) I like world peace.

Apparently Marysol has lived at some point in history where she has had the opportunity to experience World Peace or it's the name of her alcoholic beverage of choice and she looked at the camera so someone out there could get her little inside joke.

Man it's a good thing that New Year's Eve isn't WAAAAAAAY over rated or else I'd feel super lame for watching Dick Clark's Rock'n Eve.

It's the Hap - Happiest Season of All

2005-12-30T18:09:00.000-08:00

I would have to say that this Christmas has been one of the most enjoyable "adult" Christmas's I've had so far and honestly, it's really for no reason at all. We had a wonderful time with both sets of families as well as some very successful driving experiences. Here are some highlights...

Christmas with the Sikora's
Meri and I arrived in Bryan early on Christams Eve, and by early I mean 1.30am. Christmas Eve was wonderful for multiple reasons. There was a great deal of sitting around and watching football early in the day, an awkward church service, and a little party that my parents throw every year.

The real fun started Christmas morning. We were awakened by the amazing sounds of Jake jumping and singing outside of our door at 6.58am. We exchanged gifts for Jake gave mom and dad the jackpot of all presents...

this idea came straight from heavenlyimages.com (this could clearly be called a rip off)

In what may become a new yearly tradition, Jake beat my dad in what might have been the slowest footrace in human history.

The rest of the day consisted of Pac-Man, Steak and Lobster, lying on the floor, and watching Bewitched the movie.

Christmas with the Teodori's
We arrived in Richmond on Monday evening and had a wonderful dinner with Meri's family. It's always so much fun to go and visit the Teodori's because they're so much fun to talk and laugh with. After dinner we exchanged gifts with Meri's family and the big winner of the evening had to be the automatic tape measure that we gave Mr. T.

Tuesday most of Meri's family drove up to DC to look for wedding dresses for Tiffany. Which brings us to what has to be the most magical Wednesday in the history of the year. Every year the Teodori's have a family football game in the front yard. For the past 4 years I have participated, and for the past 4 years I have lost. Mr. T is a football mastermind, and is always able to come up with amazing plays that absolutely no one can stop. This year was different though. For the first time EVER I was able to lead our team to victory, with what had to have been the most amazing TD catch that front yard had ever seen (or not). Sure you could say that our extra player was the thing that made all the difference, but I would say "I don't want to talk about that, I'm too busy celebrating my, err..., our victory."

We celebrated the win with a sweet little shopping spree at Stony Point courtesy of Mrs. T. and an awesome dinner at Topeka's courtesy of Mr. T. The night ended with a rousing game of Apples to Apples that may be the only board game that doesn't make me want to rip the skin off my face.

Back Home
This Sunday I'm preaching again at 707, so today I spent most of the day on the couch working on this Sunday's message. It's strange that as the LifeGroups Pastor I've never really talked about community, so this week I'm going to focus on what true community looks like.

What's amazing is I have ZERO plans until Sunday at 6.30pm. I can't tell you how amazing this is, given the fact that I feel like it's been quite some time since I have had a break with nothing to do. It's true I've been off for the last week, but during that week I drove over 1500 miles, participated in various family events, and worked out a sermon for Sunday. I'm not complaining, but every once in awhile a guy just needs to sit on the couch and watch 3 football games back to back in their entirety.

Hope you have a wonderful New Years Eve, if you need me I'll be on my couch.

Poor Rip

2005-12-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Is anyone else concerned about how long it's taking Rip Hamilton's bones to heal? I mean hasn't it been over 2 years since he broke his face?

Pedro is Dead

2005-12-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

As I surfed through my regular stops on the web tonight I came across a sad news item on BuzzGrinder.com. Apparently Pedro the Lion has called it quits. TW Walsh, who was the lesser known second member of Pedro the Lion for the last 3 years decided that he needed to grow up and get a real job, and David Bazan decided that Pedro just wasn't Pedro without TW. More on that in a minute, but here are some quotes from an interview that was posted on TW's homepage...

q: why did you leave pedro the lion?
a: the answer is complicated, but a significant factor is that i was finding it hard to support my family with the sporadic income that being a professional musician on this level provided. the amount of travel required(100+ days a year) was difficult for me and my family to sustain. there were also creative and interpersonal variables in the equation, so it was more of a combination of things rather than "simple economics". there are many things about being in pedro the lion that i loved, and i will miss them.

and...

q: why did you have to break up the band, yoko?
a: i didn't break up the band. running a small, creative business like this can be very stressful, especially when friendships are on the line. it was no longer working, and strains within the band had already hurt people close to me. so, i decided to take my life in a different direction. i would actually prefer if dave continued on using the name pedro the lion for his musical projects, but he has decided not to. please don't hold it against me. i left the band so that dave and i could continue being friends. i hope you understand.

q: do you hate dave?
a: no, we are going bowling tonight, in fact.

q: does dave hate you?
a: only when i forget to put the toilet seat down.

I think it's strange that David Bazan wouldn't want to continue using the name Pedro the Lion. I remember buying the first EP back in the day and then hearing that everyone had quit except Dave and thinking, "wow, one guy is a whole band. That's weird." If I'm not mistaken, he recorded a bunch of his records without anyone else playing on them.

Part of me wonders if Bazan's just tired of the Pedro the Lion legacy. He was every somewhat cynical Christian's favorite, even making appearances in CCM towards the end of the 90's. Dusty told me about some real horrible conversations that Bazan had with some of his Christian brothers at Cornerstone where Bazan basically was berated by everyone who wanted to know why he had to use the swears so much. My guess is he'll shave his beard, start tanning, buy a drum machine and tour under the name Steven the Tiger so he can start a new.

Never fear though, Bazan will continue to make music according to some guy named Bob on this message board who seems to know.

A New Home

2005-12-27T21:20:00.000-08:00

This shall be my world wide dwelling. I will shower the earth with somewhat original thought and witty insight, and you will love it.