Categotry Archives: food for thought

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How I Got Saved While Watching a Televangelist on TV, and How This Does Not Contradict My Previous Post

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

Yes, it’s true. My conversion experience occured when I was nine years old, watching a televangelist named Rex Humbard on Sunday morning television, waiting for my mom to get ready for church. And yes, it did change me, and yes, it stuck. 🙂 It was a genuine conversion to Christ.

But that’s not really what this post is about. Because the truth is, I don’t remember one word of the message that Rex preached that morning. And it wasn’t anything he said that convinced me I needed to be saved. Looking back, the convincing happened before that moment, and the TV show was just the vehicle to guide me the rest of the way. And that’s what this post is about.

This is a preview of How I Got Saved While Watching a Televangelist on TV, and How This Does Not Contradict My Previous Post. Read the full post (770 words, 2 images, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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Over-marketing the Watered-Down Version

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Categories: changing mindsets, evangelism, food for thought

In times of “economic downturn”, there’s an annoying little trick that manufacturers like to do. Maybe you’ve noticed it when you go the grocery store. The prices of certain items go up, but the size or quantity of the same items go down.

That’s right–you are paying more money for less stuff.

I even heard that some olive oil manufacturers are planning to dilute the oil they sell you.

Now, I know the purpose behind this is usually to try and keep costs down so they don’t have to drive the prices way up. But when it happens, it’s still hard not to feel like you are being ripped off.

This is a preview of Over-marketing the Watered-Down Version. Read the full post (1094 words, 1 image, estimated 4:23 mins reading time)

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Teaching Our Children to Live (or, "Barb Asks An Intelligent Question")

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Categories: food for thought, life, The Director

Commenting on my recent post “Confessions of a Recovering Self-Righteous, Legalistic, Judgmental Hypocrite (part 1)”, the following question was posed by Barb:

“Jeff, in all that you write I would love for you to address this question. How then are you teaching your son to live. It would seem that Christianity and struggling with, “compulsive and sinful behaviors in secret,” sets our sons up for this kind of feeling of continual failure. How do we instruct and encourage our sons so they don’t have to endure what we did with the guilt and shame following us continually? I’ve never heard anyone address this from a guilt free stance of grace. How do you do this without making the addictions that we have seem not important?”

This is a preview of Teaching Our Children to Live (or, "Barb Asks An Intelligent Question"). Read the full post (1488 words, 2 images, estimated 5:57 mins reading time)

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Confessions of a Recovering Self-Righteous, Judgmental, Legalistic Hypocrite (part 2)

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

(Part 1 here.)

As I mentioned in my previous post, my propensity for being legalistic and judgmental formed in my youth–a toxic cocktail consisting of equal parts overactive conscience, inflated sense of responsibility, overachiever mentality, impossible self-imposed expectations, and incredible guilt for failing to meet said expectations.

This is a preview of Confessions of a Recovering Self-Righteous, Judgmental, Legalistic Hypocrite (part 2). Read the full post (877 words, 1 image, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

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Confessions of a Recovering Self-Righteous, Legalistic, Judgmental Hypocrite (part 1)

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

Geesh, do I gotta? After reading that title back, I’m not really sure I want to write this post after all…

…

Oh…all right. 🙂

One thing I’ve grappled with for most of my life, and especially as a youngster, is an overactive sense of conscience. I’m a lot better than I used to be, but there was a time when I couldn’t do anything without second-guessing my own motives and assuming the worst of myself. The only explanation I can come up with as to why I was this way is that as a kid growing up in a broken home, I developed a warped sense of responsibility and became an overachiever. At any rate–I had high standards for myself, and I beat myself up with guilt when I failed to meet those standards. I had a deep desire to be “good” (which isn’t a bad thing), but I tormented myself when I wasn’t.

This is a preview of Confessions of a Recovering Self-Righteous, Legalistic, Judgmental Hypocrite (part 1). Read the full post (749 words, 1 image, estimated 3:0 mins reading time)

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Thoughts on Revolution, and Choosing Life

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Categories: food for thought, movies

Yesterday, I saw the movie Revolutionary Road. If you haven’t seen it yet, I won’t give too many details so as not to spoil it for you; and a bit of caution–there is adult content in it, and it is NOT for children.

But I have to tell you that it was one of the most thought-provoking, powerful, intelligent statements about living life that I have seen in a movie.

This is a preview of Thoughts on Revolution, and Choosing Life. Read the full post (726 words, 1 image, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

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Ironic Thought of the Day

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Categories: food for thought

When the church was born, she was a subversive, revolutionary movement of sold-out Christ-followers, whose chief desire was to fulfill the mission of Christ and reveal the kingdom of God, whose greatest source of persecution was from an establishment called the Roman Empire.

Today, there is a similar subversive, revolutionary movement of sold-out Christ-followers, whose chief desire is to fulfill the mission of Christ and reveal the kingdom of God, whose greatest source of persecution is from an establishment called…the church.

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True Confessions About Church

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

Can we tawlk? (That’s “talk” in Brooklynese.)

I’ve come to a rather interesting, embarrassing and disturbing realization about all my years growing up in institutional church. In spending much of my childhood, and most of my adult life, inside the walls of churches…in gaining favor in church circles…in becoming a leader in church…in having a burgeoning ministry “career”…

…I never really liked church services.

Gasp!

It’s true. Oh, I enjoyed it enough when I had something to do; I enjoyed playing the piano, leading worship, doing “my thing”. And I truly love to experience God’s presence, especially in the context of worship. Those parts are great.

But sitting through the church meeting itself? Never really did it for me.

This is a preview of True Confessions About Church. Read the full post (821 words, 2 images, estimated 3:17 mins reading time)

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Why When I Say the Church Is an Organism, I’m Not Just Being Hip

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

You ought to have seen me when I was in high school. Perhaps, someday when I’m healed up and less vain, I’ll post my graduation picture here (or maybe just when I stop being lazy and scan the dang photo).

Anyway, when I was in high school, my hair was styled 10 years out of date, shaped like a wavy sort of afro, and my nose was this huge thin triangle thing that was too big for my face. I was also skinny as a rail, so if I turned sideways, my protruding nose was approximately 80% of my profile. Oh, and starting my senior year, I wore a razor thin moustache that looked like I’d just drunk a glass of dirt. (Hey, it was the best I could do at the time.)

This is a preview of Why When I Say the Church Is an Organism, I’m Not Just Being Hip. Read the full post (919 words, 2 images, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

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God In Our Image

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Categories: food for thought

In this post from last year, I commented that an infinite God uses a wide range of metaphors in Scripture to describe Himself to finite man. For example, sometimes He describes Himself as a Father, sometimes as a Bridegroom, sometimes as a Judge. But because every metaphor breaks down at some point, we need all of the metaphors to get a balanced understanding of the infinite nature of God. If we get too fixated on one or two of the metaphors, our picture of God will become warped.

This is a preview of God In Our Image. Read the full post (1224 words, 1 image, estimated 4:54 mins reading time)
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