Saturday, December 31, 2005
What To Do With Your Extra Second
Apparently we get an extra second this year [a leap second], because the earth is slowing down. I decided to use my extra second to hold down my favorite key on the keyboard, the left bracket. Here comes one second of pure enjoyment:

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[

Man, now that's what I call living! Good times . . .

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
yet another musing of steve-o @ 7:24:00 PM   1 comments
Happy Birthday, Sis!
Here's to the gal I always shared my birthday glory with, my sister Becky. She's twenty-five years-old today. She married to a great guy [a fellow pastor] and has been blessed with two beautiful kids. Life has been kind. Love you, Becky!
yet another musing of steve-o @ 4:07:00 PM   0 comments
Toby Mac
Congrats to Scott and Robyn Duebber, whose son Toby arrived into the world on December 28th. If Toby's a good boy, I just might let him date my daughter . . . in eighteen years. Scott wrote about the experience on his blog.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 4:04:00 PM   1 comments
Friday, December 30, 2005
Love You Mucho
For the second time since Steve has had his blog, I am taking control. The last time was for mean-spirited wishes after a certain UK vs. UC basketball game. But this time I take over to wish Steve a very happy 30th birthday.

Hey babe. How can I best wish you a happy birthday? I thought this would be the best card to give you -- you in your blog-happy world these days! I want you to read how much you mean to me.

What can I say about the man I've seen you become? I enjoyed meeting you, dating you, and marrying you in your 20s. What a decade, just in the years I've seen you experience! But it's also been a time of growth for you. I've seen God work on your heart to make you into the man you are today. I've grown to love you more and more through the years.

You've always been passionate about life and God's work. But that passion has matured over the years as you've allowed God to move and you've stepped out of the way to let Him lead, even though it's required patience. This year in particular has been such a blessing for me to watch you follow God in ways you've never stepped out in faith before. And I'm so happy to be here with you on the journey. I've loved learning to become a minister alongside you.

You've got so much to look forward to as you begin this new decade. You'll be a dad soon -- how cool that will be!? I can't wait to see you in action! I know you'll be great! And you'll see Echo Church grow and continue to accomplish God's purposes. And you'll even get to start off your 30th year with a trip to Vegas! Woo hoo! : )

There's no one I'd rather spend time with than you. You make me laugh, and we have so much fun together. I can't thank God enough for creating you and introducing you into the world 30 years ago. I'm so glad I get to spend the rest of life with you!

OK. Enough mushiness for today. People reading this might get a little nauseous by this point! : )
So thanks, everyone, for bearing with me on this. But I wanted a little public declaration so that everyone can see how proud I am to be Steve's wife.

Love you, babe. You're a twentysomething no longer. But that's OK. Thirty on you is pretty hot! : )

Kelly
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:50:00 PM   1 comments
30 on 30
Taking a twist off a line from Van Halen's Hot For Teacher,

"I don't feel thirty."

As I close the door on my twenties, I have to salute a good decade. In the past ten years, a lot has happened in my life:

I graduated from both college and seminary.
I started playing golf.
I used the internet/email for the first time.
I water-skied for the first time.
I asked Kelly to marry me.
I got ordained.
We got married.
I took my first plane ride.
I started my first full-time job.
I held four different ministries.
I lived in six different locations.
I owned four different cars.
I captained a regional champion soccer team.
I coached two years of collegiate soccer.
I performed my first wedding and first funeral.
We bought our first house.
We bought our first new car.
I taught about God over 200 times, not including any Sunday School classes I taught.
I visited four countries on three different continents.
I became an uncle.
I was published in national magazines and local newspapers.
I started a new church.

It's easy to remember these good times, forgetting all the bad stuff that happened during this decade of my life. I don't fear my thirties, as I have much to look forward to [fatherhood, for one]. It's just another decade to do a bunch of new stuff.

I say, "Bring it on."
yet another musing of steve-o @ 2:38:00 PM   1 comments
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Surprise, Surprise!
So Kelly tells me, "You're having a birthday party tonight."

Cool. She had been selling me this whole "let's just you and me spend your birthday together" bit, which I bought hook, line, and sinker. So she pulled one over on me. Good move, babe. It wasn't a full surprise party, more of an "open house" type party but I had no idea who was showing up. So whenever someone knocked at the door, it was like "Let's Make A Deal." It was just a small gathering of folks, but a great way to spend the night before my birthday. We probably told way too many stories from ten years ago.

Kelly had everyone bring a 2-liter of Diet Cherry Coke, so I have enough to last me at least a week. So not only will I turn 30, but I'll have something to drown my sorrows with.

So in under an hour, I'll leave my twenties in the dust. C'est La Vie, third decade on earth. Bring on number four.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 11:08:00 PM   1 comments
Insult To Injury
In an article describing the extravagant birthday party thrown for LeBron James, the following quote was included:

"James' birthday is Dec. 30, a date he shares with golfer Tiger Woods, who like James had a rapid rise to superstardom."

Once again, I get no shout-out. Tiger and I were born on the exact same date, while LeBron came along nine years later. At what point are these guys going to finally acknowledge that they're still trying to live up to my life accomplishments? Sad, guys. Just sad.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:17:00 AM   2 comments
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Who Am I?
The countdown at the bottom of this page testifies that there's a little over 24 hours before I turn thirty. I'm sure in the next couple of days I'll wax on about where I've been these past three decades and where I plan on going, but one thing I'm going to have to deal with is that little bio in the column to the right. Just in case you're blind [I'm not sure whether or not the Braille version of my blog has this text printed] this is what it says:

A homegrown Cincinnati boy [westside!] who loves his mama, good music, and living life, I've been blessed to find the most phenomenal woman in the world and somehow convince her to be my wife. I'm on a lifelong journey with God and welcome people to join me along the way. I’m almost a jock, because I play and watch a slew of sports- from soccer to golf to basketball to softball [yeah, I’ve officially given up]. I’m almost a geek because I own an I-Book and read books by dead authors who get no love. I’m almost a musician because I’m a hack guitarist and sing harmony with the radio in my car. I’m almost thirty because . . . um, well . . . I’m almost thirty. I’m self-centered, egotistical, and insecure. I’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. I’ll keep you posted.

So shortly I'll no longer be "almost thirty" so it's time for a re-draft.

Although it's a pain, I actually enjoy crafting this bio. However dreadful it is, I'm forced to describe how I perceive myself . . . or at least how I want you to think that I perceive myself. Either way, it's a good exercise, one that I'll put some thought to.

So my challenge to you is for you to describe yourself. Who are you? What makes you tick? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are you passionate about? Try it and let me know what you figure out.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:03:00 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
New Photos Up
Kay and Ann gave me this bib for our little girl. It was an all University of Kentucky Christmas as my southern in-laws initiated the campaign to insure that our daughter will be a UK fan. You see, if you're a "True Blue" Wildcats fan, you're said to "bleed blue." Apparently our baby will vomit blue. Notice the vomitous expression I already have on my face in this picture.

This and other picts are now online on my updated Flickr page. Hope you enjoy them.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 6:22:00 PM   2 comments
Saying Good-bye
I spent the better part of my day helping some friends pack-up for their move. John and JoLynn Handel [along with their children: Hayden, Holten, and Halena] are relocating from Mason to Sioux City, Iowa. Unfortunately, they had to move at the end of December but God couldn't have provided better moving weather. It must be said that they have more crap than anyone I know, but they also have a great group of friends who care about them so much that they volunteered the day to load the moving trucks [yes, "trucks" plural]. It was great to see a bunch of friends from Christ's Church that we haven't seen in awhile.

John and JoLynn have been nothing but supportive of Kelly and I since we first met them. It was a huge blessing to have them in our lives and we'll miss not having them here. If their were more people in the world like the Handels, no one would ever be unloved.

Godspeed, Handel family. We'll pray God's blessings on your family, but also that he'll bring you back to us soon.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 6:11:00 PM   0 comments
Monday, December 26, 2005
The Holidays Roll On
Well, a lot has happened in the past week- so much so that I'm not sure I'll be able to record it all. We had an awesome time in Lexington, celebrating Christmas with Kelly's family. We made it back to Cincy late on Christmas Eve, going to church yesterday with my parents and spending the day with them. Not all the family was able to make it then, so we're going to have another Christmas celebration Friday night on my birthday.

That leaves Kelly and me with this week off and only a few things to get done. Today we did . . . well, absolutely nothing. But with all these holidays left to celebrate, can you really blame us? Both Kwanzaa and [C]Hanukkah began this week and, of course, today is Boxing Day. Sure, no one in the U.S. celebrates Boxing Day [it's mostly a British holiday] but you gotta try. I chose to celebrate by watching English Premier League soccer.

So even though we have nothing to do, it should be a big week. With all this going on, I'm a little too tired to type. I'll try again later.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:42:00 PM   0 comments
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Christ Is Born!
Good times . . .
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:29:00 PM   1 comments
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Rejoice.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Author Unknown
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:11:00 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Barbara Walters Heaven Special
More on this tomorrow, but I must ask tonight:

When was the election for president of the evangelicals?

I never received a ballot.

I know I wouldn't have voted for Ted Haggard.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:45:00 PM   2 comments
Church This Sunday?
Up until now I've avoided the whole canceling church services on Christmas controversy. For those of you unfamiliar with the topic, welcome back to the United States. You can read up on it here.

Perhaps I've waited to comment because Echo isn't gathering on Christmas. As a small church plant that meets in the evening, it was a no-brainer. Almost all of our regulars will be attending someplace else on Sunday morning and the church whose building we rent isn't meeting on Christmas either. This means the heat will be off so no, we're not meeting. But if, by the next time Christmas falls on a Sunday, we have Sunday morning gatherings I guarantee we'll meet.

But I really think the reason I've waited to say anything is because of the people involved. There are a lot of good Christian people on both sides of this issue, people with whom I'll be spending all eternity so I'm reluctant to call them out. But this is such a big debate within the Christian community that we really need to honestly evaluate it and draw some conclusions.

There are a lot of excuses being given for canceling services on Christmas. Some are silly, such as "Jesus wasn't really born on Christmas Day, so it doesn't matter if we celebrate on that day." To that I respond, "of course he wasn't, but what does that have to do with the price of Spam?" The date of Easter fluctuates every year because of the Jewish calendar but you never hear anyone advocating not meeting then. Another excuse that makes little sense to me, is that "the Bible doesn't command that we have to worship on Sundays so we're free to worship God any day we want." I can agree with the first part of the statement but there's no overall consistency. If we don't have to meet on Sundays then why do it all the other 51 weeks each year. If you're going to use this argument, then you should change your weekly gatherings to Tuesdays.

While some excuses sound lame, others appear to be more legitimate, such as "we're taking the day off to let our volunteers and regular attenders spend time with families." But really, I think this might be the worst excuse of them all. Too often in pulpits today, pastors are making unbiblical claims on the importance of family. I'll admit that family is important, but I fear that some churches are advocating worshipping families above all else. Rather than elevating families Jesus claimed that He would cause families divisiveness; and he wasn't too warm with his own skeptical family. Is church really hindering our families' relationships? If so, maybe we need to reevaluate how we're doing things.

What I'm really hearing from these churches that are canceling is this:
1) Our services are so complicated to pull off that we need a slew of volunteers to make them happen.
2a) Many volunteers don't want to have to work [volunteer] on Christmas.
2b) Because these volunteers work all year round, they deserve a weekend off.
3) Christmas is the perfect day to cancel and make everyone happy.

If our services have become so complicated that we can't function without hundreds of volunteers, then maybe we need to reapproach how we do church. Not to go medieval on the megachurches here, but if you can't have just one Sunday without elaborate kids programs and high tech audio/video then what are you truly about?

And if you really need to cancel some weekend to give volunteers a break, why not do it in April? Or in September? August is a slow month, so why not shut 'er down to prep for a busy fall? I'm just saying that if you're going to use these arguments, show some consistency. There are plenty of other Sundays when you can call off services.

While we can't buy into these excuses for canceling, I question the motives of some on the other side of these issue. Some Christians loudly and publicly criticized these canceling churches, going as far to use the media to criticize these churches. That's more offensive than canceling in the first place. They should at least have the decency to keep the controversy "in house."

Plus these overtly pious "we're-meeting-on-Christmas-because-we're-righteous" Christians need to get a life. We're not on a sacramental system where you get a gold star for perfect attendance. These people probably need to evaluate exactly why they show up for services.

The saddest thing about this whole controversy is the embarrassment this issue brought upon the church. Josh Harris, of the Kissed Dating Goodbye fame and who pastors a church in Maryland, rescinded his decision to cancel their Sunday services. He admitted that his original decision was a mistake. Jon Weece of Southland Christian in Lexington spent an entire sermon a couple weeks ago just to defend their decision not to meet on Christmas. The intense media scrutiny about these cancelings [concerning a topic that the media couldn't care less about] has overshadowed all the good things these churches are doing for the kingdom of God in America. Shame on us, church leaders, for putting Christ's church in this position.

Is all this worth taking one Sunday off? I don't think so.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:22:00 AM   3 comments
Monday, December 19, 2005
With or Without Me
I think I figured out why I was up at 4:00 in the morning:

I was coming down with something.

I was feeling horrible on Sunday morning, but managed to preach out at Amelia. By the end of the sermon, I needed to leave. Kelly drove us home and I crashed on the couch. I felt nauseous as my temperature started rising throughout the afternoon. And, not to give you too much information, but I threw-up yesterday as well. Yes, my 10-year reign at the top finally came to an end.

So because of this virus I missed our Echo gathering last night. It really killed me not to be there. I knew that, eventually, I'd miss one of our services but never imagined it would come this early. I seriously thought about going [despite my 102 degree temperature] but I didn't want to risk getting everyone else sick just so I could keep my perfect attendance record. I actually find it comforting that things went on without me there. It's nice when you realize that the church can get along when you're not present.

Hopefully I can get over this thing soon. I don't like the thought of being sick on Christmas.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 3:12:00 PM   1 comments
Sunday, December 18, 2005
4am
I am awake.

It is 4:00 in the morning.

I usually see 4am only once a day.

But here I am.

Wish I were asleep.

But I'm not.

I tried to read, thinking that would put me to sleep.

No dice.

Wonder where that expression came from.

"Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all . . . "

That's the song that was in my head as I was lying in bed.

But I don't smoke cigarettes.

And I haven't watched Captain Kangaroo in years.

Which armed service was Captain Kangaroo in, anyway?

I bet it was the Coast Guard.

Maybe I should play Solitaire.

But I don't have it on my laptop, so I can't do that.

I still have to wake up this morning.

Preaching tomorrow morning, leading worship tomorrow night.

Or I guess I should say THIS morning and TOnight.

I should really get some sleep.

Just wanted to share.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 3:54:00 AM   2 comments
Friday, December 16, 2005
You're . . . A Jerk!
With the last episode of the Apprentice last night, my reality TV season is officially over. Survivor and The Amazing Race are the other shows I watch regularly.

Since no one really watches the Apprentice anymore, I feel irrelevant posting about it, but I really need to since I've been fuming since it ended last night. This season was, what I liked to call, "The Season of The Dopes." It was by far the weakest field of contestants since Trump first started saying the "You're Fired" like white suburbanites drop "Fo' Shizzle." Because of this, the coronation of Randall as the winner started since week one. But, then again, is it really a privilege to win an ugly contest?

So it was between Randall and Rebecca. Randall screwed up his last task, a softball game, but was able to spin it as a success. Rebecca did a great job with her event but raised no money for her charity since the tight-you-know-whats at Yahoo felt bad about asking rich people for money [you had to watch it to understand]. It was close, but Randall was announced the winner. Shocker.

But here's where it got good. As Randall is celebrating as if he accomplished something really amazing, Trump calls him back to the boardroom table. Trump asks Randall if he should give Rebecca a job too, since she is a high caliber candidate. And Randall squirts out some dumb explanation that he shouldn't give her a job because the show is "The Apprentice" singular and not "The Apprenticies" plural. I think he made that last word up.

So given the opportunity to be a gentleman and help some one else out, at no expense to himself mind you, Randall was afraid of sharing the spotlight and screwed over Rebecca. That was so not cool. The whole season I tolerated Randall even though I think he was overhyped, but now I need not tolerate him anymore. This guy, as Tom Cruise would say, is a jerk. There's no recovery. He cares about one person: the guy looking back at him in the mirror.

It was a great lesson on character. You knew Trump was holding this surprise card up his sleeve, so Randall had no idea this was coming. When asked to make this snap decision, he had no opportunity to think it over. It was an impulse choice that reflected the kind of person he was. And his true self came out. That person isn't someone I'd want working in my organization. Trump should have fired him on the spot. But it's The Don we're talking about here, so Randall stays.

Congrats there, Randall. You might have won the big prize but you also won the boobie prize.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:46:00 AM   1 comments
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Blurry Vision
Vision statements.

Every company has one, as I'm pretty sure it's now law for all organizations in the United States today.

I was cleaning around the dining room at Panera this afternoon and overheard some graduate marketing students analyzing companies' vision statements. They were so impressed with the way some company waxed eloquently about how they value people over profit yada, yada, yada. I wanted to stop over and tell them that whoever wrote that was full of crap, but I didn't. I was wearing an apron while throwing away someone's half-eaten sandwich; I don't think they would've taken me seriously.

I'm not a big fan of vision statements. I checked online to see what Panera's vision statement is. I guess it's sad that I'm an employee and don't know it, but this is the closest thing I found:

We are bakers of bread. We are fresh from the oven. We are a symbol of warmth and welcome. We are a simple pleasure, honest and genuine. We are a life story told over dinner. We are a long lunch with an old friend. We are your weekday morning ritual. We are the soft doughy insides and the crunchy crust. We are the kindest gesture of neighbors. We are home. We are family. We are friends. We are Panera.

Now isn't that special? As I visualize this vision statement in my mind, it looks like this:


Cute, huh? I want to cuddle Panera and listen to it purr in my lap.

But the reality of it is, vision statements are hardly ever a true reflection of your organization. Especially corporations who have but one measure of success: money. Despite the best efforts of executives to pay consultants to develop these elaborate statements, they're useless. It's all for show. The vision statement might be sweet little kitten, but in my mind, the company actually resembles this:

This company will eat my lap and purr after it has ripped my body into tiny little pieces. *Not an intended reference to Aslan or Disney's marketing techniques.

Don't misunderstand me here: I'm not trying to dump on corporations for making money. There's nothing wrong with turning a profit; that's the American way. It's how you stay in business. But why do they have to create bogus vision statements to dupe people into thinking that money isn't the main thing? Corporations can sued for false advertising but are untouchable when it comes to false vision statements. They're just dumb.

Now let me bring this discussion into the realm I am most familiar with. In the late 80's/early 90's churches started to buy into the vision statement trend. Every church and their grandmother were forming committees and spending months hashing out word-for-word how best to present themselves. Then they had huge unveilings, spending weeks of sermons to explain their new statements. Does it make a difference? I'm doubtful.

At Echo we have what could be deemed a vision statement. It's less a statement and more a motto: "resonating the Voice of God throughout the city and to the ends of the earth." I'm not sure that qualifies as a vision statement; it's just stating of the obvious. I think the only reason we came up with it is to try to get money from church planting groups [and that didn't work]. It does have a nice sound to it, you think?

FRIENDS, HERE'S MY POINT: Your organization is defined by how it actually is and not by a vision statement. You are what you are. If you're all about money, it will show through regardless how smoothly the vision statement rolls off one's tongue. And if you really care about people, they'll know and you won't need a statement to keep you focused. We focus too much about vision statements when we need to open our eyes and see what's really there.

My prayer for Echo is that we might be all about Jesus. I want us to be so much about Christ that when people visualize our church, that they think of Him. Now that's a picture I can't wait to see.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 2:56:00 PM   1 comments
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
iTune Out
Microsoft has announced a new collaboration with Viacom, the parent company of the MTV networks, to start a new online music service called Urge. Seen as an opportunity to battle the Apple/iTunes stronghold, Viacom predicts it will be able to grab the attention of some of the 165 million consumers that watch their networks.

The move by Microsoft is reactionary. Gates and company are trying to break a stronghold that they haven't been able to scathe. I know there are a lot of Apple haters out there, but you gotta admire what Apple has done to the music industry, forcing Microsoft to partner with Viacom. iTunes is so popular because of the iPod player. Apple ventured into an untapped market and it'll be difficult for anyone to touch them.

My prediction: Urge will fail.

And here are two reasons as to why it'll fail:

1) iPod Incompatibility. If you started an online music service, don't you think you'd make your service accessible to as many people as possible? The iPod is the number one digital media player, and Urge's downloads won't work with it. Brilliant.

2) MTV's programming. What's the biggest gripe about MTV? They don't play music anymore. And the only music they do play is teeny-bopper crap. I think Microsoft is giving Viacom a little too much credit here. Sure they'll market it until every other commercial on their networks is for Urge, but I just don't see it helping.

But here's how it could succeed:

Price slashing. If they reduced the price of downloads to make it more affordable than iTunes, then this could work. But the music industry won't let them. So we're back to square one.

Another win for Apple. Microsoft has to try harder.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 3:45:00 PM   2 comments
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Strange Bedfellows Revisited
Tim over at The Blurred Brain had some thoughts about my Narnia post. While I can understand [and even agree with] some of the points he made, I'm not sure that he fully understood the main thrust of my posting. So allow me to take another wack at it here. I'm going to try to explain what I think he thinks I was thinking . . . or something like that.

What I think Tim's point is:
We need to support/encourage good Christian art, lest we lose it all together.

My response:
I agree. We should put our money where our mouths are and support high-quality, wholesome art [such as Narnia and Lord of The Rings]. If we don't, we shouldn't complain when all Hollywood produces is crap. I'm with Tim here.

My continued qualm:
What role should the church play in this? I'm all for individual Christians using word of mouth to spread positive reviews. I'm even for pastors making recommendations of movies in the pulpit. But do we need to have our churches publicly endorse films? You might not think there is a difference between individual and pastor support verses church support, but I think there is.

When churches allow themselves to be an extension of a studio's marketing campaign, who's using whom? Sure, we might "get what we want" when it comes to quality media, but are we selling ourselves out? Connect the dots: Disney owns ABC who produces Desperate Housewives. You see any churches encouraging parishioners [twice in two days, YES!] to join a "Gospel According To Wisteria Lane" Bible Study? Despite never have seeing Housewives, I don't have a problem with this. But I doubt Zondervan has such a Bible study in the works.

Regardless of the good intentions of the artists, studios have but one use for churches: to make them money. Sad, but true. We just need to accept it.

My desire:
Not that we Christians merely react to culture, but transform it. The late Bob Briner wrote a book called Roaring Lambs [how about that for an Aslan connection?] in which he encouraged believers to avoid the Christian sub-culture, step out and make a difference in the "secular" world. It's a good read and coincides with this conversation.

Your thoughts? Let us know.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:01:00 PM   5 comments
Monday, December 12, 2005
Yikes! [theologically speaking]
Bear with me, friends, as I feel the need to wade into a pool of theological debate.

Years ago I started reading books about the impact postmodern thought is having on society and how that effects the way we spread the message of Christ. It's been an enlightening journey as I have learned a lot about philosophy, theology, and people in general. About two years ago, Kelly and I attended the second ever Emergent Convention, sponsored by Youth Specialties. Emergent was a group of younger evangelical Christians who were proclaiming the need to try new things to reach out to the changing culture for Christ. Seemed like our kind of people. While at the convention, we encountered some crazy/wack stuff: spitting into jars, yoga, and bicycle labyrinths all done in the name of experiential faith.

Even though this stuff was a doobie short of a Dead concert, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I've met so many weird conservative Christians that I had to grant some latitude to those on the other side of the tracks. But what I couldn't accept was some of the theology that began to "emerge" from the Emergent folk. For instance, some there have begun to propose that there is no literal hell. I find this hard to swallow. As a Christian, I believe Jesus was/is God and was/is perfect. And Jesus believed in hell [example: Matthew 5:22-30, 10:28, 23:33]. Therefore I believe in hell. Sure, hell isn't popular, but you have to teach it as being Biblical.

Well it's getting worse with Emergent, as their most press release has me ready to dismiss them altogether. This month they announced a dialogue with Jewish leaders [Synagogue 3000] concerning the possibilities of elevating social justice issues among their groups. I'm all for friendly relations between Jews and Christians but, I swear, this press release makes it sound like were all on the same side. Check out this quote from an Emergent leader about the collaboration:

"As emerging Christian leaders have been pushing through the polarities of left and right in an effort to find a new, third way, we've been desperate to find partners for that quest. It's with great joy and promise that we partner with the leaders of S3K to talk about the future and God's Kingdom."

You might not be disturbed by this, so I'll explain why I am. Not to sound like Captain Obvious here, but the difference between Christians and Jews is a belief that Jesus of Nazareth was Messiah. Yeah, this one little fact has cause somewhat of a rift between our two faiths for about 2,000 years. Because of Jesus, we view things differently. When we as Christians elevate the cause social justice [or any cause for that matter] higher than that of the teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, we are missing the point of why we follow Jesus in the first place. Detractors cite Jesus ministry of needs as the reason we should aim for social justice, but the main reason Jesus came was the cross . . . so that people could be saved from hell . . . which isn't important if you don't think it exists . . . which frees up plenty of time to work for social justice.

I'm just saying that this move by the Emergent group might just be the thing that causes a new break off group of people who are interested in understanding the changing culture but are interested in clinging to Biblical values.

But in response to this, I must utter a YIKES!
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:33:00 PM   1 comments
Strange Bedfellows
One of my favorite Simpson's episode is one where the church is destroyed. Reverend Lovejoy, facing the fact that there isn't enough money to rebuild the church, takes the advice of a marketing expert to seek corporate sponsorships for the church. The result is money changers in the lobby and a homily by The Noid.

Fortunately, in these my post-megachurch days, I was able to avoid the church mass-marketing campaign that Disney created for the new Narnia movie. Following in the footsteps of The Passion Of The Christ, Disney partnered with Outreach Marketing to get churches to encourage their parishioners [love that word] to go see the movie. Churches throughout the country participated, renting out theaters and preaching sermon series about the movie based on C.S. Lewis' literary masterpiece. It seemed like a win-win situation.

I hate to break ranks here, but I find it frightening that churches are now consistently partnering with movie studios to market movies to their congregation. It all started innocently enough with The Passion of The Christ. This opportunity presented itself and churches everywhere embraced it. I mean, it was a movie all about Jesus' death. Why wouldn't churches be into it? One pastor went as far to proclaim it "one of the greatest evangelistic tools in modern day history." While many would claim this partnership a success, I think we need to objectively evaluate how all these marketing efforts movie payed off. Were masses won to Christ because of this movie? Not that I remember. But the one undeniable success was the take at the box office: Mel Gibson The Passion grossed over $600 million worldwide.

To be fair, Gibson produced The Passion with an independent production company, fronting his own money see it become a reality. It was a major risk. I honestly don't believe that Gibson did it for money's sake. Fast forward to today as multiple movie studios are trying to follow The Passion path. But there are some major differences between marketing of The Passion and Narnia. First, The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe was made by a major movie studio. Also, there was some major money on the film. Disney dropped over $250 million to make and market the flick, compared to Gibson's $45 million for The Passion.

And is it just me, or does anyone find it ironic that the producers of this film embraced by Christians everywhere is the same conglomerate that Southern Baptists voted to boycott eight years ago? Interesting . . .

Friends, let's not fool ourselves here: ultimately these movies aren't about faith, it's about business. The purpose of a motion picture is not to be faithful to a book, nor is it to proselytize. The purpose of a movie is to make money. I highly doubt that the movie adaptation of Wardrobe would've been created had it not been for the highly successful Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter franchises. This quote from a Yahoo News article explained it all, "Disney's fantasy came true with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The film debuted as the top weekend film with $65.6 million." The only sacred verse that rules Hollywood is found in the gospel according to Jerry Maguire, spoken by Brother Rod Tidwell: "Show Me The Money."

I'm not saying that churches shouldn't use movies as an opportunity to illustrate and teach Biblical concepts; we should be all about using culture for good. But it seems icky to me that churches work for the studios and do marketing for them. We pastors need to be careful what we peddle to our people, and avoid the Noid.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 4:44:00 PM   3 comments
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Quick Weekend Recap
Thoughts from my weekend:
  • Got home early Friday afternoon as the snow kept people home. Kelly was able to work at home, so I brought home Chipotle and some videos from Blockbuster. Watched Fantastic Four [not so fantastic] and Mr and Mrs Smith [better than I thought it would be].
  • Woke up at 4:30 Friday morning to pack 1,300 bagels for a marathon. Got paid extra for it, so it was worth the lost sleep. I made it back home by 7:00, but I couldn't get back to sleep.
  • Went to see The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe at the Levee. I thought it was a great flick. I've read stuff by some hardcore Narnia fans that didn't think it was good enough, but it was rather enjoyable. I don't think they'll be able to do any sequels because none of the other six books is as good as the first. But money talks, so it'll happen.
  • While at the Levee we saw Ryan Cabrera [a.k.a Ashlee Simpson's old boyfriend] there with KISS 107FM. Scott had some great thoughts about this guy's jettison to fame here on his blog. I cracked up that there were only like forty teeny-boppers there. Poor Ryan.
  • Watched UK play horrible basketball against IU, followed by UC playing some great basketball against Vandy. At least one person in the Carr household was happy with their team on Saturday night.
  • Preached out at Amelia this morning from Luke 2. I felt bad that it wasn't my best stuff, but when you preach out of the Bible, at least God's words are good. Plus I used four pictures from our Israel trip and, once again, justified the expense.
  • Nervously watched the Bengals almost blow the game this afternoon, suffering through two phone calls from my old college roommate Aaron Levering, a Browns fan who thought this was his day. Sorry Aaron.
  • Taught tonight at Echo [God Remembered from Genesis 8&9] and then went to Buffalo Wings afterward. I enjoyed our community's worship service but felt a certain worship-like experience in the music at BW's with music by U2, Van Morrison, and En Vogue. I need to do some karaoke soon.
Overall, this was a good weekend. As Brett Michaels would say, "It don't get better than this."
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:23:00 PM   0 comments
Whew!
Good thing the Bengals didn't have a let down after the Pittsburgh game [sarcasm implied]. Way to almost lose to Cleveland. Bob Bratkowski's offensive play calling is maddening. He's coordinator of the number one offense in the NFL and seems to hinder them from victory. This might not be the year to go all the way, but it's the best we've had here in Cincy.

Sure a win's a win, but this one was ugly.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 4:01:00 PM   0 comments
Friday, December 09, 2005
A Theological Mulligan
Here's my theological musing for a Friday evening. Feel free to skip it if it's not your flavor.

The snow kept people away from Panera today, which left us with some down time at work. I got into a conversation about faith with a girl who works there. Alisa is a nursing student with a good sense of humor. She was raised Catholic, so she was asking me about what kind of church I ministered to. After I explained it to her she said, "I'm sorry to inform you this, but you know that because you're not Catholic you're going to hell." She was totally joking with me, and I got a good laugh about it. She admitted after being raised in the Catholic church, she is now turned off to churches of all kinds. Unfortunately it would take a long time for her return to a faith that she could very much use in her life.

It's sad to see all these bitter Catholics, but I'm always running into them. A few days ago I posted about the Roman Catholic church and their distorted view of Jesus' mother Mary. I'm not trying to dump here, but I ran into another story that shows some flaws in their teachings. As I was listening to the NPR Religion Podcast this week, they reported a story out of Rome that the Catholic church might be repealing their doctrine on limbo. No, this has nothing to do with the lowering of a pole so people can maneuver their bodies underneath. Sorry if this disappoints.

Limbo was a belief developed in medieval times by Catholic theologians to explain what happened to the souls of good people who died before Jesus lived. But more relevant than that, being "in limbo" describes the state of infants who passed away before they were baptized. Catholics hold to the belief of original sin- that all human beings inherit the guilt of sin committed by Adam in the garden of Eden. Believing that it is necessary to be baptized to receive forgiveness from those sins, Catholics practice infant baptism a few days after a baby's birth. If a baby dies before he/she can be baptized, the baby cannot go to heaven or hell, so it is in limbo- a sterile middle ground. I would envision it as the waiting room of your doctor's office, but I've never been there so don't hold me to that.

So now advisors of the pope are recommending that they abolish limbo and come up with a better explanation of what happens to these babies. The problem I have with this is that it conflicts with the Catholic Church's doctrine of infallibility. Catholicism teaches that the church is incapable of being wrong. This is why the sex-abuse scandal has been so damaging to the state of Catholicism: because they were undeniably wrong.

I swear I'm not trying to kick a guy when he's down, but this is another place where Catholicism is messed up. There's an important lesson to be learned here: leave room for do-overs. I don't object to the Catholic Church admitting that they want a second chance at some of their theology. I actually love that. It's refreshing to be able to admit that you don't have everything figured out [hence a core value of Echo being "mystery"]. But Catholicism left no wiggle room for being wrong. When you start off claiming infallibility, you've got nowhere else to go. So when something doesn't click the bar gets lower and lower until you're scraping your butt off the floor.

Here's where I stand on the subject: the church is comprised of flawed people therefore the church is flawed. It always has been, and it always will be. Our job is to admit that we're a work in progress and not feel the pressure to know everything about everything. To be fair, it's not only the Catholic Church that has made this error. But that's a whole 'nother post.

So congrats Pope Benedict, no longer must babies be forced to do the limbo rock. What a relief.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 5:05:00 PM   3 comments
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Making Friends
We lived in Landen for three years and met six of our neighbors. Ironically, we finally met the people who lived directly behind us three weeks before we moved out.

So as we made our urban transition to start Echo, we decided to make a concerted effort to meet the people who lived around us. I suggested to Kelly that we should have a condo "get-to-know-each-other" party so we could connect with our new neighbors. That's about as far as I took it. Kelly, however, was passionate about making this dream a reality. She printed up flyers and taped them to the doors of everyone who lived in our complex, inviting them over tonight for a get together. She put a 7-9pm window on there, to give people a flexible opportunity to stop in. About 7:15 we were sitting on our couch alone, resigned to the fact that we would have to eat all the chocolate-chip cookies Kelly made ourselves.

But then there was a knock at the door.

The girls who live next door stopped in. I thought to myself, "at least there are two people here," and then there was another knock at the door. And fifteen minutes after that there was another. By the end of the night there were eight of us. Of course, everyone was single but Kelly and me, but I think we do a good job of not letting our married status be obnoxious. We had a great time of talking about our condos [they all have the same basic layout] and finding out a little bit more about each other. We had a great night. I'm sure we'll get together again sometime soon.

I'm so proud of my wife for getting this to happen. In things like this, I'm all talk and no action. I come up with some good ideas that I too often leave by the wayside. But Kelly came through. When we picked up and moved into the city, we knew we would have to meet people one-by-one and make a difference through relationships. We might have just started some of those relationships tonight.

Good job, wife. If only I were more like you.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:33:00 PM   2 comments
Broken Arm Alert
Not half an hour into the ten o'clock news on Fox 19 and they can't stop congratulating themselves for predicting this snow storm. Come on, people, it's not like you cured cancer. You checked out your Doppler radar and told people what it said. And the fact that it snowed in Kansas City yesterday might have tipped you off that a storm was coming, but what do I know?
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:28:00 PM   0 comments
Frozen Rain
yet another musing of steve-o @ 3:57:00 PM   0 comments
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Revelation 13:18
I can't make-up stuff like this. This week at work has been one huge illustration file.

So this lady, a priest and a nun walk in this morning [you see, that sentence right there would be the beginning of a great joke all by itself, but it really happened]. By the way, I didn't call them "Father" or "Sister." I just don't like doing that. Why would I call the priest that? I reserve that title for Ken Carr and God. Not that my dad is God but, as Luke Skywalker asserted, "You're not my father," and . . . well, you get my point.

Anyway, they placed an order, one that I don't think I ever entered in before: two bagels and three coffees. I type their order into the computer and begin saying, "Your order comes to . . . " and then, as I look down on my cash register screen, I'm horrified. It reads:

$6.66

Yes friends, the cost of the priest and the nun's order was the mark of the beast.

So now I'm in a pickle. I always pronounce the order sans dollars and cents. So if the order came to $7.77 I would say, "Seven seventy-seven." I don't want to tell the clergy that their meal is fit for Damien. By the way, the movie The Omen always used to freak me out. That guy stuck under the ice still gives me the heebee-geebees. And while I'm there, you can't talk priests/Satan movies without The Exorcist. But once again, I digress.

So I cough and spit out " . . . um, that'll be six DOLLARS and sixty . . . six CENTS" [the words in bold were the ones I emphasized]. I don't think they noticed, but I did. Good thing I was there to save them.

And no, we weren't serving pea soup for lunch today.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 3:36:00 PM   0 comments
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Even Sadder
The news hit the wire tonight. It looks like Sean Casey is no longer a Cincinnati Red.

Apparently Casey has been traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for 26-year old left-handed pitcher Dave Williams. If there's anything the Reds desperately need, it's pitching.

I don't think I've been this sad about a Reds player being moved since Paul O'Neil was traded to Yankees. I had a chance to meet Casey in the leukemia ward at Children's Hospital during his rookie year. His was very gracious, willing to sacrifice his time to make a difference in people's lives. I was impressed with him as a man, and also as a ball player.

Thanks for seven great years, Sean. You will surely be missed.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:07:00 PM   1 comments
Sad But True
Let's say that you live to be the ripe old age of 100. We'll even bump that up a year: let's say you live to be 101. What would you want to do on your birthday, perhaps your last, before you die? Maybe visit an exotic location, have a huge birthday party, or even get a tattoo.

Well, a Canadian woman who turned 101 this week had but one wish for her 101st birthday:

Caress the mullet of a hockey player.

I wish I could make this stuff up, but I can't. Here's a link to the ESPN story. Lilian Hosking received her wish as she got to meet Edmonton Oiler Ryan Smyth and touch his glorious Canadian Neck Warmer.

Now that's what I call living.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:54:00 PM   0 comments
Just wondering . . .
How is it that, no matter how restricting religious speech becomes in America, every December a little boy clutching a blanket is allowed to recite the Biblical account of Jesus' birth on national television?

I wonder if Linus grew up to be a preacher . . .
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:40:00 PM   1 comments
Monday, December 05, 2005
Yet Another True Story
Panera always has bread samples out. If you wonder how I keep from eating food all day, I watch people go at the samples. The best are the people who make a special trip into the store, grab a handful of samples and leave. When it was slow a couple weeks ago, I watched a person come in the store, get a few samples and leave. They were driving a new Mercedes Benz. I guess that's how you afford it: leech off samples and bank your food money.

I digress.

Today a mother came in with her kid. She made a b-line for the samples and came to a sudden stop. It was as if our three-cheese bread had attacked her.

She frantically yelled out to me, "Is this your cheese bread?"

I calmly responded, "Yes it is, ma'am."

Half-stunned she replied, "Well it's a good thing I asked then. He's allergic"

Puzzled I asked, "Isn't it labeled there on that card?" [note: that's why we have to label all our samples, in addition to posting a disclaimer on them, so no one dies by the bearclaws].

And the woman responded, "Yeah it was labeled, but I wasn't sure."

I'm still a little confused as to what this woman was thinking. If the boy was allergic to cheese, and it looked like cheese bread, and it was labeled cheese bread, wouldn't you assume that it was, in fact, cheese bread? I could understand if it was labeled "sourdough" and she thought it was cheese bread that she might be unsure. But everything pointed to it being cheese. Are you getting this? It made absolutely no sense at all.

The only thing I can figure out is that she was crazy. I think I'm going to suggest more cheese bread samples tomorrow.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 7:16:00 PM   0 comments
Change The Channel
If I have to watch one more promo of "Daisy Does America" on TBS, I'll shoot my eye out. I could care less that Courtney/David Cox/Arquette produced it. I liked it better the first time when it was called "The Daily Show."
yet another musing of steve-o @ 7:03:00 PM   0 comments
Sunday, December 04, 2005
The Bengals and Me
Is this the day that the Bengals finally step up and get it done? Watching a game with me is an exhausting exercise [ask Kelly], so I wanted you to have the opportunity to see what it's like. I've decided to do a real time update of today's game against Pittsburgh.

12:50pm- Pre-game show. Boomer Esiason picks the Bengals to win. I used to wear a Boomer baseball hat back when the Bengals were good. Maybe I need to get a set of Chad Johnson gold teeth. My mood: chipper.

1:00pm- Kickoff. Totally optimistic that the Bengals will get it done. My mood: upbeat.

1:20pm- Steelers touchdown. WHY, WHY DOES OUR DEFENSE SUCK SO BAD? If Jerome Bettis could've played the Bengals every game, he would've been Jim Brown. My mood: angry.

1:30pm- Touchdown, Bengals! Good catch, TJ! Our defense might suck, but at least our offense rocks! My mood: relieved.

1:40pm- Steelers Touchdown. It's just not going to happen. OUR DEFENSE SUCKS TOO MUCH!! My mood: angry again.

1:52pm- Touchdown, Bengals! Good offensive sequence [again]. But can the defense respond??? My mood: somewhat calm.

2:00pm- Bengals Interception! I guess they were listening. Those are the kind of big plays we need to win this thing. I think Ben Roethlisberger's hand might be bothering him. My mood: happy.

2:07pm- Touchdown, Bengals! Houshmandzadeh's second. Roethlisberger and Houshmandzadeh? What kind of spelling test is this? My mood: happier still.

2:15pm- Bengals Fumble Recovery! That's two defensive takeaways. But they're still not stopping the Steelers. Of course the offense went three and out, but we'll see if they win the field position battle. My mood: mellow.

2:30pm- Steelers Field Goal. Halftime score: Bengals 21, Steelers 17. Thirty more minutes of football to go. My mood: somewhat reserved.

2:50pm- Bengals Field Goal. Good drive to start the second half. It still is going to come down to the defense making a stop. How about a three-and-out, defense? My mood: gotta pee.

2:56pm- Steelers Touchdown. And Hines Ward does the Ickey Shuffle. OH, NO HE DI-N'T! IS HE SERIOUS? They will pay. You wait and see. Don't mess with the Shuffle. My mood: vindictive. And as I finish typing that last sentence, Tab Perry runs the kickoff to the Steeler two-yard line. And then Rudi Johnson scores the Touchdown, Bengals. Thanks for the mojo, Hines. My mood: justified.

3:17pm- Bengals Interception! Deltha O'Neal returns it just short of midfield. They are doing everything they need to do to win this game. Unfortunately, another three-and-out by the offense. But remember that battle for field position. And where has Chad Johnson been this half? It's your time! My mood: reservedly optimistic.

3:26pm- Bengals Defense Steps Up! It's the fourth quarter and Pittsburgh fumbles the ball three times in the same drive. We need the offense to score here and they can start up the bus [not Bettis, the real bus]. I predict the Chad touchdown pass. My mood: pumped up.

3:41pm- Bengals Interception! Odell Thurman is Rookie-of-the-Year! Now it's the offense that's stagnant. How about a touchdown? ["Paging Chad . . . "] My mood: hyperactive.

3:46pm- Touchdown, Bengals! Wrong Johnson. I meant, Rudi! A two touchdown lead with six minutes left . . . this game is over. The Bengals are going to win the division. My mood: incredibly confident.

3:55pm- Steelers Touchdown. Well, I didn't know the Bengals would play the prevent defense that drive. Fortunately there's only three minutes left. My mood: not quite as confident as eleven minutes ago.

4:05pm- Two minute Warning. Steelers have the ball, but are shooting themselves in the foot. A touchdown ties the game up. My mood: anxious.

4:09pm- Bengals sack! Steelers take a timeout. Next play brings up fourth down and thirteen yards to go. My mood: kill me, please.

4:12pm- Bengals sack! GAME OVER! Bengals are 9-3. My mood: smug.

What's left to say? Oh, yeah . . .

WHO-DEY!
yet another musing of steve-o @ 1:23:00 PM   6 comments
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Live From Lexington
I had mentioned earlier in the week that Kelly was going to get to go to the UK basketball game today against North Carolina. I really didn't want for her to have to drive all the way down and back all by herself, so I decided to drive her down. Kel was a little worried that I wouldn't find enough to keep busy while they were at the game, but I knew it wouldn't be any problem. So last night I checked to see where there was a Panera in town, and I found one.

Yes, on my day off I'm spending the day in a Panera.

Come on people, refillable coffee and fountain drinks, free Wi-fi, it can't get much better. You wonder why I wanted to work there in the first place. I've been able to get a lot of church work done, finishing up tomorrow's Power Point and working on my sermon for tomorrow morning at Amelia. All the while I'm able to check up on the UK score to see when I'll need to meet up with Kel [at half-time, North Carolina is up by twelve].

Just a quick observation: this Panera is WAY nicer than the one I work at. Makes the one in Hyde Park look like a dump. Everything is newer looking here, from machinery, to decor, to the layout. I'm not sure that I want to go back in on Monday.

Despite the Wildcats playing, this place is absolutely packed. I guess not everyone here in town are basketball fans. So I'm camped out in a corner of the restaurant, listening to iTunes, sipping my coffee. And Kelly was worried I'd find something to do.

By the way, I've used the bathroom three times in two-and-a-half hours. Just thought you should know.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 1:16:00 PM   3 comments
Friday, December 02, 2005
About Success
I like to watch ABC's 20/20 on Friday nights, which probably testifies to the fact that I'm officially uninteresting because I'm in watching TV instead of out having a good time. Tonight they broadcast a show called, "The New Rich: Secrets, Strategies and What You Can Learn." Two stories from the episode stuck out to me.

First, the report about Costco and their CEO Jim Sinegal. Sinegal founded the company in 1983. Costco went from zero to $3 billion in sales in six years. He's done a phenomenal job of spurring the company onto success. One contributing factor to Costco's success is product simplicity. Costco only shelves about 4,000 products compared to Wal-Mart's 100,000 items. Another factor is employee loyalty. They pay their employees an average of $17 an hour, which leads to the lowest employee turnover in the industry. But perhaps the most effective asset the company has in their CEO.

Sinegal is a blue-collar-type guy who visits hundreds of stores each year. Despite having a skyrocketing company, he accepts only a $350,000 salary, a fraction of what other CEOs make. His employment contract is one page, and says that Sinegal could be terminated if he isn't getting the job done. He truly believes in Costco and will do whatever it takes to see it succeed.

The only people critical of the company is Wall Street. Investors think that Costco could make greater profits if they didn't pay their employees so much. But this is an area where Sinegal is unwavering. He understands that taking care of his employees will take Costco a lot further than a little more money now.

The other story I enjoyed was that of Jeff Skoll, founder of eBay. The billioniare who started the company with a friend in the mid-1990's now has more money than he knows what to do with. It would be understandable if he flushed money into meaningless escapades, but Skoll has donated huge amounts of money into charitable organizations trying to make a positive impact in the world. He's all about philanthropy

Just a few of my observations on principles to apply:

1) Simplicity
Why try to do too much? We've started Echo Church to be as simple as possible. Right now we have two foci: the worship gathering and prayer meeting. Sure, as the years go by we'll have to add additional structures, but I hope we're always avoid becoming too diversified in what we try to do. The more complicated you make your operation, the more things that can get screwed up. Costco has figured this out with their products. Oh, and eBay is a billion dollar organization and only has a little over 8,000 employees.

2) Loyalty
You can't build established success by using people; you have to invest in them and want them to succeed as well. When you invest in people, you create something that will last long after you're gone.

3) Down-to-Earth Leadership
The days from leading from on high is over. People want a leader they can relate to. That's why I think blogging is transforming the way we view leadership [related article here]. Followers don't care if their leader has some foibles as long as he/she is down to earth.

4) The Goal
With both these leaders, money is not necessarily their goal. The world is full of people who have figured out how to make money. But can money really buy happiness [don't answer]. I honestly believe that those who set out to build something significant will find that the money will take care of itself.

Whether it's a business or a church you're building, there's some good stuff here. Check out the articles above for more.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 10:43:00 PM   1 comments
There's Something About Mary
This is what it sounds like . . . when Mary cries.

Yep friends, the virgin mother is at it again. This time it's in Sacramento as a Mary Statue seems to be spewing tears of blood. I remember that there was a Mary appearance in northern Kentucky back in the 1990's, but we've never met.

Growing up on Cincinnati's westside, I'm rather familiar with Roman Catholicism. Conversations about Catholicism are usually polarizing: either you love it or you hate it. As for me, I'm sorta lukewarm. I think that the Catholic Church [capital "c"] has gotten a bad rap among Protestants. Those who "went the way of Martin Luther" like to cite the atrocities committed throughout the Catholicism's history, but we neglect to admit that it's also our history. Don't discriminate and ignore all the good in this world that Catholicism has brought. Just drive through the city past all the hospitals and social services with "Saint," "Mother" and "Lady" in their titles. And there are even some sacraments that we evangelical types have neglected [see "confession"], that might be useful to growth in the Christian community.

But one thing I just cannot stomach is their deification of Mary. A poor interpretation of the birth narrative of Jesus in Luke resulted in Catholicism elevating Mary to a status that is unhealthy. While I'm not sure their Mary theology absolves any of the positives that come from the Catholic Church, I know it doesn't help.

During this time of year we focus on the birth of Christ, accomplished through a young girl [most likely Mary was in her early teens when Jesus was born]. Her faithfulness to the Lord at such a young age is admirable. Imagine the blessings awarded her in all that her eyes were allowed to see in her son. Isn't it enough to appreciate that and let her be a normal woman who was used by God?

My advice for Sacramento: Johnson and Johnson Baby Shampoo. That should fix up that statue.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:25:00 PM   2 comments
Thursday, December 01, 2005
True Story
A lady walks into Panera this morning, inquiring about our bacon and egg souffles.

"Do these things keep well?" she asked.

"For a day or so they do," I replied.

Her response: "Then wrap one up. My dog would love one."

Yes, friends. She wanted a souflee for her dog. And then she asked a great follow up question:

"Do you think it will stay warm in my car?"

Hmmmm. That's a tough one. True, it was 32 degrees outside, but I was so dumbfounded at our earlier dialogue that I think I told her it would indeed stay warm. The nagging thought that I still have about our conversation twelve hours later has nothing to do with her internal thermometer. I'm still wondering about her dog's dietary habits.

Did the lady really think the dog cared what she fed it? Did she really need to drop $3 and get her canine some higher-quality cuisine? Call me crazy, but I think Puppy Chow is cheaper.

Don't call PETA on me, but IT'S A DOG FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! A dog will eat it's own vomit . . . nay, it's own feeces, if allowed. He sniffs one area and licks another. Would Fido really care whether or not his souffle was warm enough?

And that's all I have to say about that.
yet another musing of steve-o @ 9:33:00 PM   3 comments

Here Am I


steve-o
Cincinnati, Ohio

I am disciple. I am husband. I am father. I am pastor. I am friend. I am Cincinnatian. I am westside. I am thirty [plus five]. I am what I am. I am Spartacus.

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