The Wake-up Call
Categories: changing mindsets, church, My Story
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.
…And We’re Back…
Categories: fun, What the heck was THAT?
Yes…The Wild One and I just got back from three fabulous days in Eureka Springs, in celebration of Valentine’s Day.
No…I’m not going to tell you anymore about it.
Happy V-Day. Talk to you tomorrow.
What to do while I am gone
Categories: fun
I’ll be offline for the next few days. The Wild One and I are going out of town. I know this might be devastating for the thousands dozens several of you who have become addicted to this blog; so I’ve come up with a little homework for you–just a few things that would be good for you to do to pass the time while I am away…
- If you haven’t yet done so, please read my blog postings “What Is Church? A Personal History” and “What Is Church? part 2”. These are a test excerpt from a book I’m working on. Feel free to read and leave comments on either or both entries.
What Is Church? part 2
Categories: Broken machine, changing mindsets, church, food for thought
This is the rest of the chapter from the book I’m working on, “I Grew Up In Church”. (If you missed the first installment, click here to read it.) This excerpt is copyrighted material, so please do not copy it without my permission. Any comments are welcome.
When Jesus said “church”, He meant only one thing. It was really, really simple. “Church” was the collective group of people who believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and chose to live in that truth and put their trust in Him.
Just for laughs
Categories: fun
Take a look at this guy just for laughs…does a spot-on Dubya. One of the best impressionists I’ve seen in awhile. Enjoy!
Missing the point, and finding it again
Categories: changing mindsets, church, My Story
Unlike some, I didn’t go into house church all that willingly; I didn’t go because I was running away from the “system”. I actually went sort of kicking and screaming.
Allow me to ‘splain.
An Uncomfortable Realization
Categories: fun, Meanderings (look it up), What the heck was THAT?
In the events that have unfolded in the past couple of weeks, I’ve been forced to face an uncomfortable realization about myself:
I’m a freakin’ hypocondriac.
For your consideration, I submit the following points as evidence:
- Within five minutes of someone around me declaring he/she has a sore throat…I become very aware of a slight hint of a scratch in my throat.
- Within a few minutes of someone telling me that they have a stomach virus…I become very aware of a slight hint of a scratch in my throat. (What the heck? That’s not even the right symptom!)
What is "church"? A personal history…
Categories: changing mindsets, My Story
Below is an excerpt from a book I am working on called “I Grew Up in Church.” The content below is copyrighted, so please don’t copy it without my permission. However, I’d value any comments or feedback you have about the material–from content to writing style, whatever you’d like to say. Enjoy.My earliest memory of church was at a little Episcopal Church called St. Joseph’s. I don’t know how old I was, exactly. I think it must have been missions week or something, because the memory I have is of being chosen to stand in front of the church holding one of those globe coin banks. I don’t remember whether anyone put any money in it. I just remember standing there looking at all the grown-ups looking back at me and smiling the way grown-ups do whenever little kids do something cute in church. I wondered what I was doing to get all this attention.
The only other thing I remember about St. Joseph’s was the priest, a big jolly man named Father Al. I never understood why his name was Father Al and not Joseph, since it was Joseph’s church. Father Al was over at my house a lot when I was little, and stayed friends with my mom long after we left that church. I didn’t know at the time why he came over so much, but now I know he was helping my mom cope with my dad leaving us.
Top 5 Bands or Artists that Either Are Major Influences on Me, or That Have Captured My Attention Recently
Many, many of my readers have been asking me, “Jeff, your amazingly awesome pictures from the GodConversation are so amazingly awesome…what are your musical influences? What music do you like? What music moves you?? Please tell us!” (Oh, wait…maybe I dreamed that last night. Oh, well.)
Anyhow, since this is my blog, I write what I want to. And today I want to write about music. And the fact that Kat just happens to be doing “Music Monday” on her blog has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Christian: Noun or Adjective?
Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, Meanderings (look it up), Rantings
Hmmm…something going through my head lately. Something I read in Velvet Elvis (which I finished by the way–no further heresies to report). But in the book, Rob Bell remarked on something that I found interesting, and am still chewing on and grappling with….
The word “Christian” was not intended to be used as an adjective.
In Scripture, it is always a noun, referring to a person who follows Christ.