can we trust the Scriptures? (guest blogger "Winston Smith")

Yesterday I introduced "Winston Smith" to you all. It's a pseudonym of course for a good buddy of mine. You can read the intro HERE. (& I even have a pic of him today like I promised yesterday.) I will also say that "Winston" is one of the smartest dudes I know... and he writes like it, so there is a certain level of HIGHER speech in this blog post than are in most of the ones you might read by me. A lot of you might love this and find it a welcomed break from my usual writing style.

Below is what he has written and I hope you will enjoy it. These are his thoughts he's laying open for us. [emphasis is mine] Read them and interact with them in the comments section.

Dear reader,

My intent over the summer has been to better understand the nature of the Bible and to process my understanding on “paper.” I have done this by reading much and conversing much (with myself and my dad who happens to be a pastor) and praying much. Below is a snippet from my processing. I admit that my views of all things are finite and are set in a “hermeneutical spiral”: a dialectical continuous process where movement of understanding is from thesis to antithesis to synthesis. I do not claim perfect understanding, as I am prone to error, misinterpretation, and finitude. So take what I have written for what it is worth, and any insight you might offer is welcomed; even if you want to call me a hellish child I would be grateful because then at least I will know that I am on the right track.

Here I begin:

I confess with the body of faithful witnesses in the now-times and in past-times that the Scriptures are true, that is, they are trustworthy and authoritative. They will not lead the seeker-of-truth into error because the Scriptures, I believe, are infallible. They are infallible in such a way that the intention and teaching of the biblical authors and editors does not lead one into theological untruth or falsehood, but rather into the way of true life and the true knowledge of the Son of God by the Spirit who gives birth to the regenerative man. So also I confess the Scriptures are divine and human. They are divine because the Spirit of God who, carrying out the will of the Father, administered his all-encompassing supervision over the text so that the witness in the pages are trustworthy testimony to God the Truth. It is this reality that encompasses and energizes the life of all faith and life of all that truly exists.

For the reason that the Bible is also a human book, that is, it has the stamp of humanness on each page, I cannot accept that the Scriptures are an exact replication of the mind of God to the degree that everything the Scriptures teach is without need of judicious interpretation and wise discernment with what has been revealed in the past. God has accommodated himself to the fallible and finite languages, and thus minds of humanity. I, nor anyone else, can say that everything revealed in ancient Scripture is fully and completely understood (even understandable) as to its historicity, namely its precision, actuality, and factuality of past events such as Jonah and the whale. The possibility of the truth of the events recorded in the book of Jonah is valid (assuming your view of nature is not a sort of natural determinism) and must be considered, but the study of ancient literature and its techniques to convey truth in “untrue” stories and human tendency to embellish past events must also be considered. Though, one must also consider the fact that either way the authority of text and the truth of the text do not change if the fulcrum of opinion swings to the non-historical end of its historical factuality and actuality. The motives for the opinion’s swing of the fulcrum must also be considered.

Because the Scriptures are also divine, to the believer and Holy Spirit-convicted hearer and doer of the word the texts are not simply “another-collection-of-religious-sayings” suspect to human doubt and skepticism, though one may in their heart look upon the text with suspicion. No, rather, the believer and Holy Spirit-convicted hearer and doer approaches the text while appropriating a spirit of humility and obedience and faith in the heart, eyes, and ears.

Those words of Scripture being written down by men and inspired by the Spirit of God are of a different kind. The difference, I believe, is that those responsible for penning the text were faithful not only in their place in history, but in their heavenly view of reality. They were faithful to God toward what they knew was real and true as revealed in their own movements of faith upheld by the graces of true faith flowing from the Spirit of God. The inspiration of the authors cannot mean (in my opinion) the authors volition and intellectual capacities were set aside so that the Holy Spirit could “write” the text without consideration of the personality, social conditioning, political and religious allegiances of the authors' places in the historic timetable. Only modern man with his drive for a sort of Cartesian knowledge seeks for certainty in facts, evidences, and data that the Biblical text is true in the sense that it is “precise” and “without error” in all matters to which it speaks, including historical and scientific knowledge.

Modern man rummages the fields of knowledge in this way: “If the Biblical text speaks to scientific scenarios (even indirectly or implicitly), and is found in error, such as a flat earth or a tri-tiered universe, then the entire corpus of texts must be unworthy of authority because it spoke erroneously of one of the most fundamental truths of the nature of the earth and the universe. Surely if the Scriptures are inspired and God knows everything, then God would know the earth was round and he would tell us so.” This is the irrational fruit of a skepticism produced by an unfortunate tree called rationalism. The only purpose this need for certain certitude appears (from my viewpoint) to be the need to remove the most precious component of religious belief, namely faith, and replace it with illusive notions of scientific and/or historic certainty. My intention is not to negate the positive abilities of biblical criticism or historicism, but to negate the modern assumptions that an ancient text (even if it is inspired) must speak to modern epistemological allegiances. Why do we think our rationalism and scientism and historicism must be the judge of eternal truth? The Holy Spirit is capable of employing the errant and finite minds of both author and interpreter of the text and to lead them from error into true testimony about the Creating-Loving-Redeeming-Retributive God. God accommodates our finitude and fallibility.

Here I end.

There is more. Hope you learned something and gained a better perspective of what it means to trust the authority of the Bible.

What do you think about what "Winston" wrote about the Scriptures?

WHAT DO YOU AGREE WITH OR DISAGREE WITH?

guest blogger intro (pseudonym)

If you remember it is "Guest Blog Week" here on renown. There were 2 awesome posts with Kris Hassanpour's thoughts on the gospel which you can read HERE and HERE.

Today I am very proud and honored to introduce you to a good friend of mine who happens to be brilliant. His name is... well... he actually requested that I not use his name. He'll be an anonymous guest blogger.

So, I'm giving him a pseudonym. We'll call this friend of mine "Winston Smith".
A pseudonym is simply a fictitious name authors sometimes use. I learned about this when I was a teenager reading & devouring everything I could get my hands on from my favorite author = Stephen King. I was reading up all his books & then I discovered Richard Bachman. He was King's pseudonym. He even had a pic, a wife, and King wrote several books with his name to throw people off the trail. but of course he didn't really exist. he was fictitious. pretty cool. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a pic for Winston Smith?

I don't even want to say how I know this friend out of respect for his anonymity. I will say that I have known him for several years, but have become much better friends in the last couple years. We have similar thoughts on many things & love to talk about God & life, etc... when we get the chance.

I love to read this guy's thoughts as often as he writes, so now it's my privilege to have you read his thoughts as well. The next blog post will be his & it's his "Thoughts on Scripture." I hope you enjoy.

missing Ridge (but swimming with dolphins)

That's right. I am missing Ridge Church today for only the 2nd time... EVER. For only the 2nd time since we launched this baby almost 2 years ago. (Really less than 1 year ago since we launched every Sunday morning.)

It feels kind of weird. Not being at Ridge this morning. I want to be there. I wish I were gonna be there. We're opening with a killer cover that I pitched to Rusty a while back. I told him it would be money to go with this talk in our "5 Things God Uses to Grow Your Faith" series. I don't think I'm spoiling anything because probably no one will read this before the band rocks it in a few hours morning (or if you do read it then maybe it will encourage you to show up and check it out @ 11AM...) - So, the opener is Typical by the one & only Mute Math! So bummed I'll miss it. I'm singing along though... ("cuz I KNOW THERE'S got to be another level, SOME WHERE closer to the other side AND I'M feelin' like it's now or never... CAN I BREAK THE SPELL... of the typical?")

& The Upstreet team is presenting something pretty cool tomorrow to all the k-5th grade kids... how to enter into a relationship with Jesus. it will be an awesome day. Wish I could be there. + only 2 more weeks until we kick off our brand new student service...

BUT, lots of wise men have told me that you can't truly have a vacation & a relaxing sabbath that will recharge you emotionally, physically, & spiritually unless you're totally away from your work... including not being there on Sunday.

So, I think I've succeeded pretty well in not working since we've been here on Seabrook. I miss Ridge today & I feel a little out of place not being there, but I'm confident everything will go down awesomely with the amazing volunteer team, so I won't have any worries.
I definitely enjoyed sleeping in & not getting up @ 5am!

We have been out to the beach here @ Seabrook almost every day! And every day we've been to the beach we've seen dolphins! It's been pretty awesome.

In fact, one day (all my days run together here, so I can't really remember which day) I SWAM WITH 2 DOLPHINS FOR ABOUT A HALF HOUR!!! It was unbelievable, so I don't even expect you to believe me. I wish we had the camera on the beach that day.
Crystal and I were walking romantically along the beach & she saw 2 of them kind of playing swimming along the shoreline. They were going about the same speed as us, so we walked and watched them for about 10 minutes. They were SO CLOSE to the shore! So Crystal was like, "why don't you go out there and try to touch one?" & I was like "OK."
I swam with them for a LONG time. I was crazy tired by the time we got back to the villa! I didn't actually get to touch one, but they were swimming all around me & I was close enough to touch them a few times. 2 times one of them almost SMACKED ME IN THE FACE WITH ITS TAIL!!! Not to be mean, it was just playing & doing flips, etc... It was wild. It was so close that it splashed water all over me those 2 times it did that! Really really fun.

We love Seabrook. It's so beautiful & secluded. Hardly anyone here. We basically have the beach & pool to ourselves. Awesome villa with a beautiful view off the deck. While spending time with Jesus out there on the deck I've also been reading Richard Foster's Devotional Classics from Renovare, which has sweet excerpts from about 100 famous dead guys from all eras.

I've actually been able to read a good bit too. Almost finished with Think Orange by Reggie Joiner. It is THE manifesto for Family Ministry. (Almost 300 pages & brand new.) I highly recommend it & it is definitely causing me to do a lot of rethinking about our family ministries @ Ridge.
+ Crystal is trying to suck me into this whole Harry Potter phenomenon, so I'm like 100 pages into the 1st book. Seriously, this lady is a pretty amazing author!
For some light reading (lol) on the beach I've been into Karl Barth's Humanity of God.

So Seabrook is the perfect balance because of all I just said above with the seclusion & the beauty & the swimming with wild dolphins, BUT Charleston is just 30 minutes aways with tons of stuff going down there. We didn't leave downtown last night til around 1AM. good times. good restaurants. pretty cool place.
So, this vacation spot kind of has the best of both worlds.

And I'm enjoying this relaxing sabbath with my wife for a few more days... peace!

Thoughts on the Gospel: Part 2 (Guest Blogger - Kris Hassanpour)

You need to read part 1 HERE 1st!
You can also read my intro of Kris (this guest blogger author) HERE.

OK, now for Part 2 of Kris' thoughts on the Gospel... [emphasis is mine]

REWORKING A DEFINITION AND EXPLANATION OF THE GOSPEL
**a work in progress**

Definition:
The gospel is the message of reconciliation for all people and of all things to God though Christ (2 Cor 5:19).

Some Points to Consider:
The typical version of the gospel previously mentioned has not completely failed the church. It has produced a realization of the truth for many and in many cases it has presented itself in the form of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. For that, I am grateful since I became a follower of Christ through a similar presentation of the gospel.
I might only urge that, along with the presentation of sin-wrath-cross-heaven, we include God's intention to restore all things to their original intention. This means that a re-worked presentation of the gospel might actually start with creation and end at restoration (new heaven and new earth) and include the themes of sin-wrath-cross-heaven. Even teaching that one can go to heaven when he dies fails to mention that there remains a renewal of their body and life on earth. Believers who die are ushered into the presence of the Lord; however, they are also awaiting the day when all things will be restored - including their former bodies and their former life on earth. Both of these things (our bodies and our earthly existence) are not destroyed but renewed. Salvation is not being rescued from these things but the beginning of God's work in renewing them! We should not view either of these things as insignificant. We are obligated to take care of our bodies in a way consistent with temple of God imagery in scripture; and, we are obligated to create a community of faith within the community at large in a way that is consistent with God's initial plan for mankind in the Garden of Eden and man's reflection of the Tri-unity of God (unity in diversity). Ordinary life in thankfulness to God having received Jesus Christ as King is extremely glorifying to God.

Going to heaven when we die isn't our final resting place. God will ultimately renew our bodies and restore the earth to its original sinless, deathless condition. We will once again inhabit the new heavens and the new earth in our new bodies. In other words, we should not view life on earth as meaningless or insignificant or even temporary. It is a reflection of what our future lives will be like on the new earth (what life will be like "in heaven", as though we will live forever outside of our bodies and outside of the earthly realm). We are joined with God in his mission to renew much more than the human soul. Once we are saved, we are expected to recreate the kind of community that was intended in the first place (garden of Eden) through the church. This is is the purpose of the gospel and mission of the church.

Presentation:
1) God was happy to create the world and everything was very good.
2) Man was given responsibilities that pertain to ordinary life - work, care for animals, care for the land, care for wife, care for God's command, etc. Man was also expected to live in relationship with God and in harmony with each other (reflecting the unity in plurality of the Tri-unity of God).
3) Because of sin, death/corruption entered into the world; and consequently, sin and death are passed from Adam and Eve down to every man and woman.
4) The sin, death, injustice, evil, apathy, inconsideration of others, etc. that we see in our world is a result of the Fall. Ultimately, sin is any deviation from man's initial responsibilities in the Garden and is the disfiguration of God's image in us (e.g., from community to individualism). It is precisely what Paul refers to as the corruption we see in nature and mankind. This disobedience/rebellion of man has resulted in God's rejection/wrath in this life and the next when we face him for judgment.
5) But God has been progressively revealing himself and his plan to recreate and renew all things. His final and truest revelation/representation of Himself is Jesus Christ (the very image of God). Jesus Christ is God in human form. He represents not only the saving of our souls in his death and resurrection, but the value of ordinary life by his life of righteousness among us before his 3-year stint in ministry. His perfect life, his death, and his resurrection provide for us the satisfaction of God's wrath and the reconciliation of God himself.
6) Faith in Jesus Christ places us in favorable standing with God through Jesus Christ and teaches us the way of life that best glorifies God - an ordinary one, in dependence upon him with thanksgiving and in community with others in unity. Teaching others this way of life is making disciples (which is what Christ actually commissioned us to do) and churches are formed as any number of these disciples gather for worship.


***Those are Kris' raw thoughts. & we would love to know what you think. Remember, these thoughts are a "work in progress" & I know he would love the discussion!

SO, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PART 1 OR PART 2?
WHAT DO YOU LIKE OR DISLIKE?
WHERE DO YOU AGREE WITH KRIS AND DISAGREE WITH HIM?

Thoughts on the Gospel (guest blogger – Kris Hassanpour)

As you can read HERE guest bloggers will be posting some awesome thoughts for you to read here on renown while I’m away on vacation! You can read my intro for Kris Hassanpour (today’s author) HERE. He also made renown’s 2nd ever “Quotes of the Week”. You can read that HERE.

***[This article will be published in 2 parts. Today is part 1 & tomorrow will be part 2. Everything below is Kris’ writing. only the emphasis below is mine.]

A TYPICAL UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLANATION OF THE GOSPEL
Definition:
The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:1-4).
Presentation:
Are you 100% sure that you will go to heaven when you die? Well the Bible says you can know for sure! Would you like for me to show you?
FIRST THE BAD NEWS:
You will face a judgment after you die.
You will not fare well at this judgment because you are a sinner.
God's wrath will punish all sinners and they will go to Hell.
NOW THE GOOD NEWS:
BUT, God has already punished Jesus Christ for your sins.
Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day.
God will accept you into heaven on the basis of your faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you do not want to go to Hell when you die, but want to go to Heaven when you die:
1) Admit to God (agree with him) that you are a sinner.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ died in your place for your sins.
3) Confess Jesus as your Savior to God in prayer.

Some Points to Consider:
In this model, the gospel and salvation focus on the next life (after you die) and our final destination (Heaven or Hell). No one will argue that our final destination is a minor issue; however, this "plan of salvation" initially fails to mention the significance of the gospel in this life and its effects on this world. Also, in an almost Gnostic sense, this kind of dualism pictures our bodies and this wicked world as the place where evil resides and only the spirit can be redeemed. Thus, you might typically hear statements reflecting disinterest in the physical needs or injustices of the world and an interest only in the soul of man or only in "spiritual" matters.

This version of the gospel shapes theology as well as worldview in many ways. Several examples might be:
1) The gospel message of salvation pertains to one's eternal destination - whether he goes to Heaven or Hell when he dies - not necessarily focused on this present world and his relationship to its restoration/renewal. A common understanding is that after salvation our relationship with the world will become strained at best and life-transformation generally refers to our disassociation with the world... Cultural renewal, social justice, artistic creativity and ways that humans engage each other or engage society as a whole are secondary to pursuing the spiritual good, which of course is the saving of their souls and the consequent rejection of all they once enjoyed along with everyone with whom they enjoyed it. They pride themselves in no longer hanging out in the places they used to hang out in and in no longer hanging out with the people they used to hang out with... Neither of which are what the gospel calls us to do. Right doctrine with Wrong action probably means that this understanding of the Right doctrine is inadequate in some way. I might suggest it lacks the balance given in scripture to proclaim the message along with living it out in the context of community.

2) The gospel message of salvation pertains to our spiritual existence not our physical existence. Since the bodies we live in are tainted with sin and will not entirely be renewed until Christ returns for us, some have taken this to mean that our physical existence is only useful or glorifying to God when it takes on spiritual significance. Meals, vacations, sports, movies, music, home lawn care, washing your vehicles, buying a jet-ski are all considered a waste of time if no spiritual significance is given them, i.e., coupled with a bible study, used as a venue to pass out tracts, “Christian” music, “Christian” coffee houses, “Christian” martial arts, etc.

3) The scriptures indicate that the same gospel that saves us is the one by which we live. That being the case, it is possible to be saved by hearing a gospel that focuses on what happens after death and consequently view this life as a spring board into eternity - what really matters. The philosophy is that since the things of this world will be burned up, we should invest very little energy into our culture, society, hobbies, interests, occupations, families, water for thirsty children in Africa, and other seemingly trivial or temporary pursuits. We somehow imagine our heavenly existence to be quite different than our earthly experience, and as a result we place little to no value on temporary needs of others and pretend that it is possible to meet their spiritual needs without them. It is possible to lead them through the gospel presentation outlined above and get them to agree with you, but not possible to show them the true nature of God in Christ without both the proclamational and missional aspects of the gospel. How will they really understand that God wants a relationship with them? Not when we offer them a tidy presentation of the gospel and leave when they are uninterested. If God wants a relationship with them, then so must we (we are his ambassadors. what they know of God is what they see in us). The gospel message of love, hope, forgiveness and acceptance are all found in the expression of the gospel lived out in the context of our neighborhoods and marketplaces. We proclaim the gospel message to those with whom we live and we live as missionaries among them building relationships and sharing the gospel until a community of faith is built around us. This community we may appropriately and biblically refer to as a church.

- by Kris Hassanpour

***So, WHAT DO YOU THINK?
LET’S HAVE SOME DISCUSSION!

Obviously, Part 1 is the 1st side of Kris’ thoughts… our former incomplete view of the gospel. Make sure you check in tomorrow to read Part 2 and what Kris will propose as a more proper view of the gospel.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! 4 years...

4 years ago today I married my beautiful bride, Crystal. I can't believe it's been 4 years already! They have been an awesome 4 years together.

Going downtown Charleston tonight to celebrate & have a nice dinner... maybe a sunset cruise later in the week.

Thanks Crystal for being the best wife I can ever imagine and for being my best friend. I fall more in love with you all the time. I love spending my life with you. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY babygirl... I love you.

1st guest blogger intro

As I said in the last post HERE I will be on vacation in Seabrook Island for 10 days celebrating 4 years of marriage with my beautiful bride! Therefore I've got guest bloggers lined up each day.

The 1st post will be by a good friend of mine = Kris Hassanpour. Kris is awesome and loves having some crazy fun. He lived in a sweet trailer park when I was in college in Florida and I can remember hanging out over there with some other friends living the life. Actually it was really good times after Hurricane Ivan when his whole trailer park flooded and his stuff was floating down the road like a river! I remember sneaking over there after curfew to watch Saw (the 1st one) & stuff like that...

He's married to Joanne and they have a son named Braylon.

Kris recently got his Master's degree in theology from seminary & he lives & works in Virginia Beach. He is fluent in sign language & does some sweet work with that + ministers with an Acts 29 church plant in that VA Beach area.

Kris & I have bonded because we both have the same passion for God's fame to be spread to everyone and everywhere. We've had some really awesome talks over the past few years about life and ministry. I count him as a great friend & I look forward to you reading his stuff.

*Disclaimer for ALL guest blogs = my disclaimer could really be the same as for my "Quotes of the Week" series. (You can read that disclaimer HERE.)
The disclaimer is that I support all of these guest bloggers that will be appearing here on renown over the next 10 days & we're totally on the same team! but that doesn't mean I necessarily agree with them in everything. In fact, I DO NOT agree with these guys about everything. That'd be weird if I did. In fact, I may not agree with everything they write in their guest blogs... but I'm posting it anyway because I think they're worthy to be read.

So, read them, enjoy them, disagree with them, comment on them... let's start some conversation about them! They're going to be awesome & I would love for us all to discuss them together!

vacation! (sabbath, loving my wife, reading, Jesus, surfing)

Maybe that title doesn't completely make sense to you? Not to me. I am going on VACATION tomorrow!!! my heart is racing just thinking about it.

I will be the first to admit that I have been running at an unsustainable pace lately! A few weeks of 18 hour + work days and mix in a week of camp with teenagers + a few weddings & bachelor parties with NO SLEEP for 3 days = will really wear you out. Plus working 5 jobs at one time (& only 1 that you're truly passionate about) doesn't help create sustainable paces either. But I knew it was only for a season. I worked hard & after working for 5-6 more hours tonight & then tomorrow morning's staff meeting we are off to vacation. And I don't feel 1 bit guilty for going away for 10 days! I've worked hard to be able to enjoy it (spelled = "not work while on vacation") and I'm gonna. I work hard & I play hard... & I rest hard. I'm going to have a true 10 day sabbath.

I'm going to turn my phone off and not answer emails or even read them (unless I happen to feel like it). We're going to Seabrook Island, a really beautiful and secluded place. It's fairly exclusive and a place that's much too expensive for us to stay... but I've been playing some "hardball dave ramsey negotiating" & landed a place for just under half the usual rent price! I love Seabrook. It's amazing.

The subtitle for this blog (the part in parentheses) is basically my only agenda for this vacation.
Sabbath - REST. Relax. Renew. Sleep in. Sleep more than 5 hours per night! don't work. [If you care to read any of my more spiritual thoughts on Sabbath (furious rest) just click HERE.]
Love my wife - I'm gonna be a crazy awesome & romantic husband the next 10 days. I'm gonna rock my wife's world. I'm gonna be the husband I should be all the time, but have sucked at the last few weeks because of my stupid unsustainable pace. This week is our 4th anniversary (august 5th!) & I'm gonna make it an amazing week for her!
Reading - that's vacation for me. It's one of my fav things to do. No pressure, just reading to learn... it's for fun for me. I'll probably take at least 25 books. That's just the way I roll. I won't read them all of course. I'll actually probably type a lot of notes from some recently read books. *You can see all the books I've read recently and the ones I'm currently reading (& probably taking on vacation) over the the right side of this site.
Jesus - The ocean is probably the most "spiritually connecting" environment in the world for me. I could sit out on the sand and just stare at God's glorious ocean for hours. I like to do it in the evening when it's cool & not many people are around because I like to sing and worship God at the top of my lungs. I raise my hands and pump my fists and dance. Sometimes when people are around they stay far away. So I prefer no one to be around for their sake. I could care less honestly. Sometimes the charismatic in me comes out and I get really crazy for Jesus. I'm begging Jesus to fill me up these 10 days... for another year of loving Him, my wife, and people. I'll journal a lot & talk to him a lot. And He'll talk back to me. Audibly would be really cool!
Surfing - Yep. taking my board back to the beach for the 1st time in many years... maybe the 1st time since my knee surgeries? Even though it's the east coast I've just gotta get back out there... Now I've just gotta figure out how to fit the surf board in our Ford Focus along with 2 borrowed bikes!

Anyway, that was a little explanation of the full title. I already told you I will NOT be working the next 10 days. I've got another 6 hours or so to put in tonight and I'll wrap everything up. Then a short staff meeting & I'm out. (This will be only the 2nd Sunday ever I will be missing in Ridge Church's history! The 1st was about 18 months ago. I'll miss it, but they will rock on without me.) Another website I write articles for daily for money - I won't be writing for either... I wrote them all ahead of time for 10 days. I'm even not planning to write here on renown for the 10 days I'm gone!
***And this is where the good part for you comes in! = GUEST BLOGGERS BABY!!!

Yep, I've got some awesome guest bloggers who have written some awesome stuff for renown & for your enjoyment. I'm setting up their articles to post automatically throughout our vacation for your reading, entertainment, intellectual, conversational enjoyment! So, read them and leave LOTS of comments. Get some discussion going about what they've written. They have all warned me that what they wrote will be CONTROVERSIAL! & I know you all love that kind of stuff.

the day before each of their guest blogs appear, I will post a short intro/bio of each guest blogger to help you get to know them better!. All of these guys are great friends of mine & have been encouraging to me & great people in my life... so I hope their articles are great for your life too.

So even though I'm on vacation you are going to want to check in here at renown each day. In fact, my number of daily readers will probably go up because what these guys have to say is probably way better, deeper, smarter, and "more spiritual" than my mumbo jumbo... I hope you all enjoy! I know I'll enjoy my vacation!

Impasse (love & racism)

what do you think?

ethan is a married man!

WHOOOO! I can't believe it, but my best friend (other than my wife) for the past 8 years is finally a married man!!! So let me say publicly here on the renown blog = CONGRATULATIONS TO ETHAN!!! A great man & I have no doubt he will be a great husband to Ashley. You did good Eth! I'm honored to be your friend and to have the privilege to celebrate the awesome occasion with you!

*In case you're interested you can still check out all the excitement from Ethan's bachelor weekend & wedding from this past weekend on Twitter! As the Best Man I took on myself the duty of creating a Twitter hashtag (#) just for Ethan's wedding. So, to follow the action simply search #ethanswedding & you can see all the Tweets from last weekend!

It was a pretty crazy weekend for me. I got in to Raleigh some time in the middle of the night Thursday night/Friday morning from Big Stuf camp with our kids from Ridge. (Read more about that HERE, HERE, & HERE.)

But I was up early Friday morning to hook up Ethan's Bachelor Weekend Golf Tourney @ the Crossings in Raleigh. 2 of my best friends - Caleb & Jim + their wives were just across the hall from me & Crystal at the hotel. We got some breakfast together and then took off to the tournament.
It was a "Captain's Choice" tourney which meant each foursome was on a team trying to win the whole thing. I was in Ethan's group along with his Dad & some other guy that wasn't very good (haha, jk). We actually WON the whole tournament at 6 under! I haven't played golf since I was 17, so I wasn't all that into it, just there to support Ethan.

On the back 9 he added asked me to hook him up! As the Best Man he wanted me to give him 1 sex tip on each hole on the back 9! I had already given him every sex book I've read and I thought imparted all my sex knowledge to him after he got engaged... but I loaded him up with another 9 tips. The funniest part was when he was talking about Tip #2 on the 11th hole & the drink cart girl was standing right behind him. She started laughing. haha... I couldn't tell if Ethan was embarrassed or not?

I also JACKED a house with one of my tee shots. I mean KILLED the thing. It was hilarious. I tweeted about it of course (& hashtagged it = #ethanswedding)

The whole weekend was awesome times hanging out with some of my best friends that I really don't get to see that much like Jim, Caleb, Ed (haven't seen in 4 years!), both Ethan's bros., Stephen, + getting to meet & hang out with some new friends. Anytime you get this crowd together it's "INTERESTING"! Picking up the tuxes was an adventure for sure. I guess we were quite entertaining as all the employees came out to simply watch & laugh at us.

The Rehearsal Dinner was at a really pimp place! It was sick & the food was amazing! (Thanks Mike & Sandy!) Then there was a really awesome time where everyone stood up & said good stuff about Ethan & Ashley. pretty cool.

But of course we were ready to get out of there for the bachelor party! I planned that bad boy & it was a 2-parter. Part 1 was 9pm-1AM & Part 2 was 1AM-7AM. Fun times!
Ethan had to wear a "Bachelor Crown" everywhere we went (as you see pictured). There was also "the List" of crazy and embarrassing stuff Ethan had to do throughout the night out on the town. Unfortunately, to keep from incriminating or embarrassing Ethan I won't talk much more about it... except to say that he's starting off marriage right by not doing stuff he thought his soon-to-be-wife would be mad at.

At one stop of the bachelor party this drunk guy jumped into play pool with us! (He looked just like my friend Jeff Abernethy, btw!) The only reason we let him play was because Ethan wanted the shirt off his back... & he was really funny... in a sad sort of way.
Then there was the other drunk guy who was laughing so hard he knocked over a whole line of beer bottles. As he was awkwardly scrambling to pick them back up he looked at Caleb & said = "I'm sorry, was that your beer I spilled?" Without missing a beat Caleb said "No, that was my grandma's!"
The guy looked at him with a straight face and said "What's she look like?" Then went on to laugh & say he was just kidding. Pretty funny.

We ended up back at our gracious host's house around 2AMish... AJax! Right before we rolled into his place we stopped and got some 5 hour energy shots. Of course driving around all night with like 10-12 other married guys, you know what Ethan was asking about & you know what we were all telling him about! Well, there was one of those conversations taking place that was OUT THERE for sure & I won't go into it at all right now in an attempt to at least keep this blog PG-13... But during that conversation, Jim got pretty adamant (as we were waiting in line at the gas station for our 5hour shots) and said "I will NEVER do... (the thing we had been talking about)." Without knowing what we were talking about a biker dude in the other line turned to Jim and pointed his finger at him & said "Never say never." HAHA! Definitely quote of the night.

Back @ AJax's bachelor pad, Ethan wanted nothing more than to have a big game of poker with his best friends in the world, so we hooked it up for a game that lasted about 4 hours. I think AJax actually took home all our $ because he beat us all pretty bad. Going "all in" on an offsuited 10 & 4 to take the final guy down.
During the night we were also rocking some Guitar Hero World Tour & Fifa '09 on the big screen.

By 7AM we were done. Me, Jim, & Caleb went back to our hotel & crashed. (& btw, don't feel sorry for our 3 wives - they were having fun together all night without us and all the next morning out at the pool while we slept.) My wife woke me up @ like 11:30 reminding me of all the wedding crap I needed to do. So, I got a shower & then Erin (Caleb's wife & pimp hair stylist pro) was gracious enough to hook me up with a free haircut. I jotted down some thoughts for the best man toast & then we rolled out to go to the wedding spot.

On the way we stopped for lunch. This experience turned into somewhat of a fiasco. I had some breakfast muffins on the dashboard for later, but when Caleb took off they flew everywhere. We went to the Wendy's drive through & I was calling Ethan to see if he needed food. I was cheering for him getting married in just a few hours on the phone & apparently the Wendy's drive through minimum wage guy didn't like it, so we bounced out of line & went over to Sonic. While ordering there Jim was in the car behind us and started beeping his horn to be funny. Caleb made some comment about the jerk behind us & the lady taking our order said she would just make him wait a long time. Haha, she had no idea we knew him. She said something like "I hate impatient jerks like that."

I honestly wasn't even all that hungry, but I was CRAVING one of their huge 44oz. ICE WATERs!!! I couldn't wait. I got it in my hand & was ready to dive in as we pulled out. Then the tragic happened! Caleb turned weird & I spilled the ENTIRE 440z big gulp ice water all over my shorts! I had to take them off really fast (freezing cold). They were drenched, so I showed up to the wedding site in my boxers. No biggie because my tux was in Jim's car. I was just gonna throw those pants on real fast. Until Jim realized he left his tux at the hotel & took off like a bat out of hell... with me & Caleb's tuxes in going with him! So, I just hung out in my boxers for a while! I'm not posting any pics of that, but I think the wedding photographer guy got a lot.

The site was PIMP! The little log cabin all us groomsmen got ready in was pretty sweet. And then me & Ethan just chilled in there for like an hour. Eating some of the spread they left for us. He was so confident & relaxed. It was awesome. He was excited. He couldn't wait to marry his bride. It was beautiful. Ethan's pastor, JD, showed up and hung out with us the last 15 minutes.

The wedding itself was awesome! It was also like 150 degrees which kind of sucked. Sweat was literally dripping and running off everyone. Especially crazy Andrew. it was crazy hot.
When Ashley came down the aisle, Ethan got the biggest smile on his face I've ever seen him have & he was straight mezmerized by her. It was so cool. He was amazed at his bride.
Ethan & Ashley wrote their own vows & I thought that was awesome. Beautiful. I think at 2 points during the ceremony I teared up... I'm not ashamed to say it.

I was actually so into watching Ethan & Ashley that I guess the flower girl got stung by a bee, ran off the stage, & then later came back up on the stage & I had NO IDEA about any of it! where was I?

Definitely fun times at the reception. Dancing was a lot of fun! Ethan had been waiting for months to do the dance tunnel line thing like at the end of the movie Hitch. We rocked it well I think. Of course we had fun with the Cupid Shuffle & Cha Cha slide + some Boom Boom Pow & other fun stuff. We stuck Ethan in the middle of a mosh pit more than a few times. (I think that's a "litote" I just used.)

I got to see & hang out with tons of my best friends all night long as we danced til we couldn't dance anymore. We all were really sweaty. I definitely downed about 5 8oz Prime Rib Steaks! that's like 40 ounces. I was killin' it with that horse radish sauce... so good!

Again I just wanna wish Ethan & Ashley a great & long happy marriage together! Like the great philosophers and theologians the Beatles said - "All you need is love." Their marriage is starting off centered on Jesus... they've got everything they need. I couldn't be happier for them!

Driscoll deleted from Facebook!

I just saw @PastorMark's latest Tweet & it simply says - "Removed from Facebook". I was like WHAT? So, I clicked the link.

Over at The Resurgence, they wrote a short blog about it which you can read HERE. This is a short snippet from the post:
"In recent years, Facebook has become a great way for me to connect with folks from all over the world. This week, without warning or explanation, my Facebook page was removed by their team. So when we figure out what is going on, we will let you know..."

I remember that Driscoll was actually one of my very first friends on Facebook. I thought it was very gracious of him to accept me even though we had only met 1 time ever & I was shocked that he would remember me. But later I found out I think he was just accepting everyone because he quickly passed the 5,000 friend barrier!
*You didn't know that? Yeah, you're not allowed to have more than 5,000 friends on Facebook! [Funny thing is that my own Dad is almost there! He's at 4K! AND, today is his birthday also, so quick shout out to my awesome Dad! Happy B-day!!! He's like 40 or something, haha.]
So, he had to open a Fan Page. Then everyone started becoming a fan of Mark Driscoll.

Apparently that Fan Page is what Facebook deleted. I think he said there were like 35K peeps on it! Crazy.

I'm sure there are already tons of theories floating around about it. My guess is that the Southern Baptists finally took over the world & their 1st order of business was to exterminate Mark Driscoll... haha!
(You can read why I think that HERE.) Maybe next on the list for them will be Satan or somebody like that?

church giving away their "church" (building)

Don't worry, I'm going to blog all about my boy Ethan's wedding this weekend very soon (probably tomorrow or even tonight!) But for now I have SO MUCH to catch up on I'm just going to repost this from Carlos Whitaker's blog that I follow. You can read it on his site HERE. Catalyst even picked it up and you can read their post on it HERE.

"This is Rolling Hills Baptist Church, Fayetteville, GA’s web banner on their website www.wheresthesteeple.org
Not the sexiest thing we have ever seen.
And you know what?
Who cares?

Rolling Hills Baptist Church, Fayetteville, GA
Their building and property is worth over 1.1 million dollars.
The church has a nice facility that is almost paid off.
The church owes less than one hundred thousand dollars.
The church has 1 million in equity.
The church has many families who have lost their homes and jobs.
The community is one that could use resources and money to help families in need.
The pastor and his congregation have decided to sell the church building and property to take care of his members and put roofs over peoples heads instead of their own on Sunday.

On October 5, 2008, the members of Rolling Hills voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining GOD in His redemptive work by selling her buildings and property, and using the proceeds to increase ministry and mission efforts in our community and beyond.

They are looking to lease a movie theater or something after the property sells.
Other churches have offered their facilities.
This is the church at work.
Pastor Frank is my new local church hero.
Bravo to you for doing what you most would never do.
Bravo for you for following in obedience.
May God bless you and your church richly.

This is the most backwardly beautiful thing I have seen a church do in a while.
I can only imagine what could happen if this became a trend.
Thoughts?
Los"

All that above in italics & quotes was straight from Carlos' post.

I think what this church did is REALLY awesome + kingdom & Jesus minded. What do you think?

Big Stuf 09 - Day 3

Day 3 @ Big Stuf was awesome! (You can read about Day 1 HERE & Day 2 HERE).

The day kicked off with the 1st session around 9:30 = with the Daraja Children's Choir! It's all connected to the 410 Bridge which is an awesome ministry out of Big Stuf to advance the Kingdom of God in Kenya... (You may have seen it before over on the right of this blog.)
They are always awesome and always rock the hearts of the kids (& mine).

Big Stuf always partners with Compassion as well (which you all know I am ALL ABOUT!) & specifically targets children in Kenya! AMAZINGLY cool that one of our students from Ridge so far has adopted a Compassion child this week. He is 6 years old and his name is Marco (& no his last name isn't "Polo"... I can't really spell his last name or else I would write it on here.)
Hundreds of kids have been sponsored by these students and that puts a big smile on God's face!

I ran into Andy Stanley here @ camp. He was asking me all about Ridge and what God is up to & had some encouraging words for us. He knew some behind the scenes stuff about our church and was asking me about all that. And he asked how our kids were liking camp, etc... & I said "great since you talked about sex for 45 minutes..." just kidding, I didn't tell them that.
Later he bumped into Crystal & talked with her for like 20 minutes at Starbucks. Pretty cool, brilliant, HUMBLE, and great guy!

Speaking of Andy, he spoke at the night session & it was all about the Cross! It was powerful. Our kids were definitely affected by it. HUNDREDS of teens stood up to let everyone know that they were for the 1st time declaring they were all out going to follow Jesus with their lives.

I learned a valuable lesson as well. Pizza, middle school girls, middle school guys, being at the beach, a long day of fun & trying to have a group discussion about the cross will only work for about 10 minutes... after that it's all over. Learn something new every day I guess.
Day 3 was a great day for sure.

Big Stuf 09 - Day 2

Day 2 (Tuesday) @ Big Stuf 09 was awesome! (you can read Day 1 HERE.)

We kicked off the day with a little free breakfast from the hotel. The breakfast room looked out at the ocean, so that's always cool.

Our 1st session of the morning kicked off the way every session @ Big Stuf always kicks off... EVERY TIME... (after some kind of fun video or song)... MR. BIG STUF makes his entrance to officially begin. And his entrance always includes throwing out probably 20-40 Big Stuf frisbees into the audience while the band plays and sings the old Jean Knight song - Mr. Big Stuff... & of course Mr. Big Stuf is none other than Lanny Donoho, the creator of Big Stuf Camps (& also from North Point Community Church).

The Fee Band led us in more amazing worship during both our morning & evening session on Day 2. In fact... at night Lanny had to cut it off because he said "the people who work at the arena need to strap the roof down before all of you blow it right off during worship the next few nights." It was cool times. Kids are really lifting their hearts up to God and just going after it.

Perry Noble (Newspring) spoke in the morning session. He is one hilarious redneck! He told us all the story of how he ate tacos in the 6th grade right before the sit-ups test in P.E. & then the prettiest girl in school held his feet. On the 3rd sit-up he farted right in her face and "parted her hair". That's not good. Kids were rolling of course.(Then right after the session we went to lunch & ate tacos... of course we were all thinking of Perry!)

Perry presented the gospel during his talk & by my guess around 150-200 kids stood up and said they wanted to make the decision to follow Jesus and trust Him with their lives! Really awesome! crazy party in heaven that was kicked off right then! The angels were going crazy!

After lunch we all headed for the beach for a few hours of free time. they guys played some football & body surfed in the waves. The girls mainly chilled on the sand & @ the pool. When we all got tired we ended up back at the hotel rocking some Guitar Hero World Tour...

We carved out some Quiet Time for the students before dinner. we all went out to the beach & sat in the shade before sunset. Big Stuf provides some awesome Quiet Time stuff for every student.

Andy Stanley (one of our teaching pastors @ Ridge and lead pastor of NPCC) definitely didn't disappoint in the night session. He brought it with an awesome sex talk from 1 Corinthians 6:15-20. Bottom Line = "honor God with your body" REAL frank & relevant for the kids...not like the sex stuff we heard around church when we were growing up.
So, immediately after that talk our group from Ridge got to have some fun discussions about Andy's talk. good honest stuff.

I think some guys ordered a cheesesteak @ 2:30 in the morning? anyway, great 2nd day. Looking forward to more awesome stuff today & fun on the beach!