Wayward Son

Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo. I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.

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Church as Business (part 1–A Rose By Any Other Name)

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Categories: church, food for thought

Looking back at the deconstruction I’ve gone through over the past 10 years or so, I smile just a little at how progressive I used to think I was early on. 🙂

If you’ve known anything of my story, you know that we began the church in Tulsa after the institutional pattern, which was all we knew–and it morphed into a house church. That entire process was such a learning experience, and it showed me so many inconsistencies as we continually struggled with the tension between what we wanted the church to be, and what we had to do to keep it afloat.

This is a preview of Church as Business (part 1–A Rose By Any Other Name). Read the full post (653 words, 2 images, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

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What I’d Do Differently (excerpt)

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up)

As a side note before sharing this excerpt…among the many, many things that have been happening with (to?) me lately is that last month I was invited to join the board of Communitas Collective, an online community for the disenfranchised, and another place where I contribute blog-wise. CC is also undergoing some exciting changes, the most recent of which is combining the three blogs into one, now called “The Collective Blog.” I encourage you to go check out the site, and continue to check back as more changes take place in the next few weeks. I’m privileged to be part of what is happening at CC.

Meanwhile, I know that this is cheating (kind of), but while I’m still digging out from my move, here’s an excerpt from my recent contribution to CC. We’ll try to get back on track in the next couple of days….

This is a preview of What I’d Do Differently (excerpt). Read the full post (401 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

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We Have Done Made It to Denver-ly (A Short Story in Three Chapters, or Maybe Four)

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Categories: My Story, Rantings, what I did today

Cyberspace is once again available to me, and I’m enjoying my first morning as a Denver resident at a nearby coffee shop before hitting my looong list of things to do to get settled. But here, for your amazement amusement, is the story of our trip.

CHAPTER 1: The Turbulent Take-off

This is a preview of We Have Done Made It to Denver-ly (A Short Story in Three Chapters, or Maybe Four). Read the full post (1131 words, 1 image, estimated 4:31 mins reading time)

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A Song I Made Up About Moving to Denver

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Categories: What the heck was THAT?

The Director thinks this sounds a bit like a TV theme song he once heard.
You’d think I wouldn’t have time to come up with this kind of crap…but…here ya go…

Come and listen to a story ’bout a man named Jeff
Did a house church ’til there weren’t nobody left
Then one day he was writin’ in his blog
When big ideas start a-swirlin’ thru the fog
(Dreams, that is. Brainstorms. Downloads.)

This is a preview of A Song I Made Up About Moving to Denver. Read the full post (128 words, 2 images, estimated 31 secs reading time)

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Lifetime Heroes: Don and Kay

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Categories: lifetime heroes

My friendship with Don and Kay has always seemed to me to be somewhat of an anomaly–not because they aren’t great people (because they are–otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about them!), but because I guess I’ve never really understood what drew them to get involved with us in the first place. When I first met Don, he was an older, well-established pastor of a larger Assembly of God church here town, and was involved with his denomination on the regional level. I was pastoring a church in my home, and fostering a progressive worship style that probably wouldn’t have gone over well in his circles. He was a friendly acquaintance, and I always liked him; I just didn’t see that we shared very much in common. And our paths didn’t cross all that frequently.

This is a preview of Lifetime Heroes: Don and Kay. Read the full post (1053 words, 1 image, estimated 4:13 mins reading time)

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How I Feel (part 2)

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Categories: random stuff, What the heck was THAT?

Holy crap–we’re moving to Denver in FIVE DAYS???

What in the world have I gotten myself into?

How am I going to get everything done? What if our stuff doesn’t sell? What if I can’t find work when I get there?

How am I going to get everything done? (Wait…did I just say that?) What if I forget something?

What if I forget something?

What if I sell something and then realize maybe I shouldn’t have sold it? Like yesterday?

Have you noticed that I’m in so much turmoil that every sentence I write has a question mark?

This is a preview of How I Feel (part 2). Read the full post (101 words, 1 image, estimated 24 secs reading time)

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How I Feel

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Categories: random stuff

Omigosh! I’m moving to Denver in FIVE DAYS!

Today is my last day at the flower shop! Woohoo! I can’t believe it’s going by so fast!

I’m so excited! I’m can’t wait to get settled in our new place and start finding my way around! I can’t wait to meet new people! What an adventure!

[pause for breath]

I can’t wait to see what God’s going to do!! It’s got me so pumped, I am putting exclamation points at the end of every sentence!

Look…I did it again!

And there too!!! (Wow…that was a good one!)

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Permanent link to this post (97 words, 1 image, estimated 23 secs reading time)

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Story

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up)

Last week, I was in a phone conversation with some friends in Denver, and I was sharing some of our desires for enabling and nurturing creative community…and in comparing notes, one of my friends began sharing of his long-standing interest in the power of storytelling, and how he wanted to see that form of creativity encouraged, especially in young people–to see Christ’s love revealed in our ability to write and create stories.

Jesus used the art of story quite a bit to convey the truths He wanted people to learn. We call them “parables.” But lots of stories aren’t fiction. In fact, the Bible is filled with story–the drama, comedy, tragedy and triumph in the lives of real people. And through these narratives, God reveals Himself.

This is a preview of Story. Read the full post (1371 words, 2 images, estimated 5:29 mins reading time)

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An Interview With Myself on the Occasion of My FIVE HUNDREDTH POST

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Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?

Last summer, I interviewed myself on the occasion of my two hundredth blog post, and it was so popular (especially with me) that I simply had to invite myself back to celebrate post 500. Here is the conversation I had with myself…

Q: Good to have you back, Jeff. Congratulations on 500 posts!
A: Good to be back, Jeff. How have you been?

Q: I’ll ask the questions, okay?
A: Fine. Shoot.

Q: Can you believe you have written 500 posts in a year and a half?
A: Nope.

This is a preview of An Interview With Myself on the Occasion of My FIVE HUNDREDTH POST. Read the full post (995 words, 1 image, estimated 3:59 mins reading time)
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