After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt”

 

1Kings 12:28

 Observation: This was a really bad call.

Application:

• Great wisdom and care is needed when choosing who we will listen to and who we allow to influence us
• We, the people need to remember that our leaders are fallible and fallen. We must look to God’s Word to assess thier leadership. We should submit to those whom God has placed over us until (unless) they start preaching heresy.
• We need to know our bibles in order to be wise enough to spot heresy!
• No church government structure / hierarchy is perfect, but some might be better than others. I reckon it would generally be a good thing that a leader has to consult others before doing something major. A one man leadership can be a dangerous thing……. but then, it all depends on your advisers! Also, sometimes a church government system simply ties up with red tape any possibility of progress.  

Hi, it’s great to be a part of this awesome blog.

Thanks Blaise.

As I have never blogged before this may be way off, but I would like to share something that happened to me recently.

I was on a forum the other day and a post caught my attention and really made me aware of how were are on mission here and now. The thread was to do with a type of push bike but the subject changed, as they do, and one post really caught my attention.
Below is the post and it’s strikes me what reaction people have towards religion and God.
Also, how it is a constant struggle to communicate the difference with out pointing out bluntly (ie. you end up somewhere very hot for a very long time) what comes from not accepting Christ as your saviour.

 What one man calls indoctrination, another man calls education. One man’s god is God, another man’s god is Science. One could argue that the religious person is brought up with an understanding or an insight into a reality that the pagan lacks.I don’t think science is seen by any scientists as some proxy god.

Science is all about disproving things. Science involves critical thinking. It’s about creating hypotheses then working hard to disprove them.

Religion is about belief, an unquestioning belief in the existence of some supernatural omniscient being. A being used to explain the world we live in.  It is a fallback for those that are unable to question.

500 years ago the Catholic church believed and expected their “followers” to believe that the earth was the center of the universe.
Why? because of faith, an unquestioning belief. Those that decented from this world view were pilloried.
Copernicus came along and suggested that in fact the sun is the center of the universe and that other celestial objects in fact orbit the sun.
He was able to back this up with science. Needles to say the church was outraged.
Does the catholic church still hold on to this earth centered model of the universe? of course not, the scientific evidence is too overwhelming.

This is typical of the type of thinking that pervades the religious.

The examples are endless.

How do you explain to a sub Saharan African that having intercourse with a 2 year old child will not rid him of HIV when the local shaman/religious authority pushes this thinking?

Science and education is the only way to rid the world of this type of garbage.

Religion is poisonous and it infects the minds of too many people. It is not science.

I just have to add that yes we are all indoctrinated to some degree and the amount of indoctrination we receive can often be linked to our education.  I dare say a child educated in a Pakistani madrassa would be considered more indoctrinated than say a child educated in a public high school in London. Religion plays a large part in this as does the media, the culture and  type of government in power.

For me the best place to be educated would be in a comprehensive/ co-educational/ non-secular institution in a country where there is a free and open media that is rather diversified, where religion plays but a minor role in politics and where science is valued and funded well.

 

 

 

I was astonished when I read this for a number of reasons.

But before I had a chance to post a reply this was posted.

Im not religious.

Religion and the institutionalised church sucks. Lets not get that crap confused with Christianity. Christianity is a relationship with God.
 

It just occured to me that  this little cycling forum was being used as a mission field.  I thought this was a good post and left it at that.

I’ve personally found this 18th point from Mark Driscoll’s assessment of the Sydney Anglican Diocese to be the most challenging, provocative and emotionally charged point. He is actually asking us a question, which is probably the best thing he could do because in the end we will only change what WE believe is in need of reformation – not so much what M.D. thinks. We need to own the problem for ourselves.

It is also a very generalised bunch of categories. I reckon it’s complex because although I may possibly think (haven’t decided yet) that we are a museum, that doesn’t mean that everything within the whole SydAng identity is in this state. Some of my best friends and most respected mentors work within the system as ministers etc. I suppose we are talking more about the structure. You can have very GOOD men and women working in a structure that is museum like.

I’ll have to come back to this as lunch time is over….. back to work.

Mark Driscoll’s 18 point critique of Sydney Anglicanism

(Theses notes are from Gordon Cheng’s blog)

This is a full and comprehensive set of notes from Mark Driscoll’s visit to Sydney late in 2008. I’d love to know what you think about ANY of the points he raises.

Personally, I found (upon watching the DVD) that Pastor Mark ‘gave voice’ to a number of feelings which I hadn’t realised were so strong within me. I found it quite liberating and went on to do a lot of thinking, bible reading and soul searching, all of which has been a profoundly positive experience.

1. The Bible guys are not the missional guys, which leads to proud irrelevance. What can happen is that we believe that if our theological systems are faithful, then we will be fruitful.

2. Your culture struggles with a lack of entrepreneurialism. 2 things are wrong here. One is socialism. The other is the influence of Great Britain. They are the main migrant group in Australia, they are not entrepreneurial. Aussie culture is not very entrepreneurial, as a result. The concept of socialism means that we fail to prune what we should. We are sending resources to poor churches and poor pastors, on the grounds of social equality. We are not sending resources to new buds.

3. There is a lack of reward based on merit within denominations. You are rewarded for tenure, not fruit. There needs to be a system that a man can be demoted or even taken out of the ministry for reasons other than things to do with money or sexual impropriety. Jobs should not be guaranteed, just because a person spent four years in a college.

4. Australian men are immature.. Christian Australian men are immature. Lack of entrepreneurialism, systems which discourage initiative. The average Australian male lives with his mother until 25, he is married at 32, and delays the taking of responsibility as long as possible. Denominational systems encourage this immaturity. Training begins at age 28 in our denominations. What if a young man wants to get married young, plant churches, have families—there is no way that our denominations allow this. The longer you delay responsibility, the longer you delay manhood. The indefinite Peter Pan lifestyle. That is a sin. Jesus Christ had atoned for the sins of the world by the time most pastors take up their first associate pastorship. There are churches in the US with megachurches run by men in their 30s. You don’t have them here, so you fly them in to give talks.

5. Church planting is not welcome. Sydney is one of the weakest cities I have visited with regard to church planting. With church planting, the skill sets needed are different, and institutions here don’t appreciate them. There are few independents, because of socialism. There is not widespread opportunity for men to start new things. This leaves a terrible dilemma. Work through the system, and either destroy it or blend in. Both are bad options. MD has had 300 people come up to him and say they want to plant churches but they can’t.

6. You suffer from tall poppy syndrome. You need to work this into your preaching and teaching so that people see that the tall poppy sydrome is a sin. Thinking that 1000 people in church is a high-water mark is unhealthy. The culture generally chops down people who rise up, and the church does the same. That’s a sin. My church gives 10% to plant churches, 1.2 million dollars this year.

7.The preaching here lacks three things: apologetics, mission and application. Apologetics means anticipating and answering the objections of those who are listening. If you do this it will encourage people to bring friends, and it will train them. Second, your preaching lacks mission. What are we here to do? Thirdly, your preaching lacks application for the church as a whole and for individuals. It is not just enough to give doctrine. Paul tells Timothy to watch life and doctrine. Application is where you connect them.

8. Many of you are afraid of the Holy Spirit. Your trinity is Father, Son and Holy Bible. Because you are too reactionary against prosperity doctrine, you have reacted badly against all things charismatic. Holy Spirit calls people into ministry and empowers people for ministry. You don’t have to be charismatic. But you should at least be a little bit charismatic, and worship God with more than your mind. Pentecostals plant churches, care for the poor, and sing well, and they are more fervourous in their service for God. What I have found is that the word charismatic means different things in different places. Here it means prosperity, bizarreness. In London, it means you’re not liberal. Don’t get hung up on the terminology. There is a fear about the Holy Spirit, there is an uncertainty about the Holy Spirit. Do you love the Holy Spirit? Jesus says the Holy Spirit is a he, not an it. The Holy Spirit is sent to anoint the church for her ministry. Ministry is not possible without Holy Spirit. Do you love the Holy Spirit? This in part is leading to the lack of entrepreneurialism and innovation, because if it is not written down, it is not trusted.

9. Many of you are Anglican. The parish system works for some, but not all. The parish system was built for when people lived in community. But today, less than half of the people who live in this city own their own home. So they are mobile, and network online. In addition people have 3 places; 3 place they work, the place they live, and the place they play. The parish system says lets draw boundaries and stay here. But all your people are going to move, and they all have 3 places. People no longer organize themselves by geography but by affinity. The concept was invented before cars. The parish system makes church planting very hard. The senior overseer can deny it if they feel threatened by it or if they have a different churchmanship.

10. Denominations are built on a paradigm that young men don’t understand. Denominations are built on control. Young men operate by influence. Control systems: we control your wage, we control your work place, etc. Young men don’t understand these systems. Some young men are disrespectful and need to be rebuked. Other people are not disrespectful, just don’t understand control, they understand influence. Which operates up close, through teaching, rebuke, instruction, example. The old culture is of control, the newer economy is of influence. Young men will find new ways to avoid the system, working alongside it so as to be influenced but not in it, so as to not be controlled by it.

11. There is a propensity to call the trained rather than train the called. Ultimately it is God the Holy Spirit who calls people to ministry. There should be an innate sense of desire. “If anyone desires…” (1 Tim) Moore College: the 4 years of residency only works for some, not for all. 4 years with insufficient practical experience leads to idealism and a tendency to criticize others who are doing something. People are writing papers to criticize those who are doing something, and this gives them the false impression that they are doing something. I planted my first church at the age of 25, and by God’s grace I finished my theological education last year. You learn as you do, because that is when you are most teachable.

12. All leaders are undershepherds under Christ: prophets, priests, and kings. Prophets. Priests love hospital visiting, small groups. Kings love control and systems. There is a shortage in Sydney of Prophets and Kings. The system discourages kings because it doesn’t allow people to set up their own systems and structures.

[GC note: I believe MD is using the categories 'prophet, priest and king' as 3 broad categories of leadership style exemplified by Christ, rather than in any strict theological sense. That was the vibe, anyway.]

13. There is a lack of missiologists; people who discern what is going on in the culture, find the idols so that the missionaries can be found and deployed. What there are plenty of are theologians. They are incredibly important. They defend truths. Missiologists put the truths into practise. Penal substitutionary atonement can get nailed down, NT Wright can get nailed up—and lots of people still don’t know Jesus.

14. There is a proclivity to try and raise ministers before making them husbands and fathers. This is about the immaturity of Australian men. Many people delay marriage and children in order to go to college. But if people are shepherding their little flock of home, then you test them to see whether they can be elders of the church. So much of ministry deals with marriage, sex, gender, responsibility and children. Being a husband and a father trains you more for ministry than any college. To love, to serve, to evangelise, to disciple, to endure, to organize. You should really press young men to take responsibility earlier to be good husbands and fathers. Once they have some success at that If they do this in the wrong order, then their priorities, I fear, will be God ministry wife children. But it should be God wife children ministry.

15. There is the doing of evangelism but not mission. But does the church see itself as the primary evangelistic tool that God has used to reach the city? It is not good enough to just go and share the faith, as important as this is. The church needs to use every means at its discretion to reach its culture. What does a faithful missionary of the gospel look like in Melbourne/Perth/Brisbane/Sydney? Start a new church from nothing. Churches need to be missional.

16. There’s a lot of number 2 guys in number one slots. Number 2 guys are not bad guys, they are just not good number one guys. Number one guys are teachers, leaders, innovators; but because of the system of tenure, number 2 guys stay in number 1 slots. Number 2 guys in number 1 slots need to step back like John the Baptist with Jesus. It requires humility, a devotion to see all things, all means, for the salvation of some. When a number 2 guy is in a number 1 slot, a church will survive but it will not multiply, and so there is no sense of necessity to do anything with any haste.

17. There is not a great sense of urgency. Cultural values, not biblical values.

18. Movements have become institutions and museums. A movement is where God does what he always does, only more so. Greater sense of urgency. Puritans. Methodists. Charismatics. Not all movements are good. Every movement has its strengths and weaknesses. Young people are the key. I’m an old guy, but around here I’m a young guy. The puritans were roundly criticized for just being children. Jonathon Edwards, 19 years old. D.L. Moody was 21. Charles Haddon Spurgeon was 19. Billy Graham was 19. Statistically it takes 25 years or more to build a megachurch. If you don’t even give the leader the keys until he’s 40, he’ll run out of gas before he gets there.

Humility—young men don’t have it. So God moves to plan B, which is humiliation.

In movements, there are converts. They are marked not just by birth but by new birth. New movements include church planting. What happens next with a movement is that supporting organizations come along to support it. Theological colleges, publishing houses, recording houses, hymnody. Usually movements come into existence when there is new technology.

Protestant Reformation came into being with printing press. Billy Graham comes along when there is electricity, radio. Now, the invention of the internet has changed everything. Because the old systems were built on control, and now there is no control. Communication is instant, permanent, global. You can communicate to the world. That changes everything. People spend more time looking at a screen than at a human being. New technology provides new opportunity. MD’s sermons get downloaded over 10 million times a year. That’s crazy. We could never have a meeting with 10 million people, we’d call it a country. The person who comes at the head of the movement puts the movement into words, but is generally not appreciated until they are dead.

Over time the movement becomes an organization. The organization becomes an institution dedicated to preserving the institution of a prior movement. Institutions are marked by a fear of failure, a preservation of accomplished wins, founders, friends, those with tenured leadership take their place at the table. Eventually the young people realize it is too crowded and leave and start their own thing. The older people feel a sense of disdain; the younger people leave because there is no room for them.

Movement→Organization-→Institution→Museum. A museum exists to preserve the memory of the good days.
What are you? Do the most innovative, exciting, aggressive men want to become part of what you represent? Or do they want to walk alongside and be influenced.

What we need? Pruning, pruning, pruning.

5 things which we can go off track with.
1. Doctrinally. We allow false teachers and bad doctrine.
2. Relationally. The people in leadership really love each other and want to work together, so they don’t want to walk away because they feel they would betray. So there is eventually no room at the table
3. Control: Too much or too little. Too much means too many hoops, doctrinally, organizationally. Or too little, and false teachers etc. come in.
4. Pride. ‘Not invented here’ syndrome. We don’t do it or consider it unless it was invented by someone on our team.
5. A movement gets off course when it fails to honour either its founders or its future. Some will honour their founder by just doing exactly what they said. Some will honour future by dismantling things in order to innovate. We must do both—faithfully serve.

Another new church in a similar tradition to Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) is The Village Church in Texas. The lead preacher is a young guy named Matt Chandler. I haven’t heard much but what I did hear (from an mp3 sermon) was very good.

I find it very exciting that God is doing a new thing with these new independent churches in the U.S.

The media is labeling them as “The New Calvinism”. 

Matt Chandler preaches exegetically, verse by verse and they turn people away b/c they can’t fit them in the building (holds 725). They are growing and have a building project on the go to cater for larger numbers.

Check the church out here

this is blair reminding you that the Masquerade show on January 13th will be Any Given Moment’s final show together. Through the past month or so it was my realization as well as the rest of the members that we could no longer continue together as a group in the state we were in.

Due to internal problems with the band as well as other situations, the band was forced to break up.

All i ask is that for any of you who have ever supported us in any way, whether by buying a shirt, one of our cds, paying to come to one of our shows, coming to one of our shows, listening to us on myspace or purevolume, talking to us in person, any of our close friends, anyone who knew mike, and all of you who are reading this, to come to one of these last two shows.

I know we can get in a last hurrah, and an awesome last show. please come support us.

January 13 at the Masquerade.
with Joshua’s Ghost, Silent Wars, and Typhoid Mary
7PM
$6

Buy a ticket from any of us, any time, message our myspace, or call us, just come help us have one last awesome show. I thank everyone one of you for everything you have done for us in the past 3-4 years since me and mike started this band.
—————
As for me, since I’m sure you all are wondering…

I will definately not be giving up music, and hopefully will try and get another project started up soon, though i will be taking a break from the “scene” (gay).

However, i plan to be able to devote more time to the youth and volunteering at churches in the gwinnett area. More important than any music i have ever made is the love of my Savior, Jesus Christ, who Mike and I both began this band for, and i will be pursuing that full-time. Mike’s life and tragic death is such a pure and wonderful story about the grace, love, and plans of God that it simply cannot be lost and forgotten with just the seperation of this band.

Sugar Hill United Methodist off of Highway 20 across from MOG Ford, has a youth service every sunday night at 6:30 that i lead worship at and occasionally speak (read: “message” or “sermon”), and i would love to see any of you there.

Seriously though, i am really excited for my future music endeavors and want you guys to keep a look out for them. I love you all and thank you so much for the support and time you have given this band from its inception with mike and i (and richard lyons, brad morgan, and ryan luce) to its finishing point on January 13th. please come out and give us an awesome going away show.

Love you all,
Blair Johnson

I’m not a fan of evangilism in the traditional American Church sense. Not only is it awkward, but it also comes off as rude and warlike a lot of times. Well the church that my parents attend (atleast until this weekend when they move to Woodstock) had a “Walk thru Bethlehem”, which they have done every year for the past 8 years or so, this year being the last one. Everyone at the church volunteers and dresses up, acts, and all this other stuff and recreates “Bethlehem” and Jesus’ birth. Its a really cool thing, and its really interesting. I had never volunteered to do anything, as acting and dressing up and standing out in 20 degree temperatures while quoting lines really isnt my thing at all, but this year I volunteered to work in the Evangilism tent, which is where we preach to the people who came through and walk them through the sinners prayer and so forth, all of which i am not really a fan of. The general outline of what we had to say was nothing like i think should have been said, and i ended up putting a different twist on it. Somehow, whoever had written the outline missed the very important point of LOVE being the reason God sent his Son, so I added that. Overall, i ended up liking it, i dont think i came off as rude and scripted as some of the others did to me. Anyways, I would say that if you have the chance tonight, go check it out, not for the evangilism part, but for the interesting reenactment, its really cool.

Its a Shadowbrook Baptist Church in Suwanee, GA, and starts at 5:00 tonight and goes till 11:00 or so. Check it out.

yes, I admit that the last blog I wrote was a little…. sketchy? out of sink? nonsensical?

I was riding a high, I was completely ecstatic and emotional and all of these other words that I can’t think of right now. Sunday, I was privileged to be able to speak at the youth service, Qara, at the church I volunteer at in Sugar Hill. Its Sugar Hill UMC, and my main duty there is leading worship for that service, but as I’ve been led to be a ‘Youth Pastor’ of sorts, I felt it was time to step my foot into the warm waters of giving sermons. Summed up, I was able to give the message Sunday night, and it was freaking awesome. I was there, for what I thought was to teach and touch some kids, and I hope to God I was able to do that, but I ended up teaching myself and being touched by God when I didn’t expect for either to happen. It was my first time speaking in front of that many people, so I was a little shaky, though not as nervous as I thought I would be, I was quite repetitive. What can I say though, for a first time, I only stumbled over three words/phrases, and I’ll only get better at public speaking the more I do it.

God’s been opening up some awesome doors for me, and He’s opened up my eyes quite a good bit recently. It just goes to show that the more you seek after Him and to learn from Him, the more He will teach you and the more He will show himself to you.

Honestly, I’m purely ecstatic. Praise God for giving me the ability to do things that 2 years ago I would have thought were crazy.

As I said in my last dysfunctional blog, by the end of the week I should have a typed copy of it up on here so that you can read it if you weren’t there. As well, me and the Dresdow will be making a ‘Qara Myspace’ as well as a podcast soon, although by soon, I might mean in a month. Bear with us.

Let me show you what He has done for me,

Blair

sometimes God works in ways i couldnt imagine. I hope some kids got touched by God this evening, as much as i did.

Weird thinking that two years ago this time i would have never imagined i would end up in this place doing these things, with these people around me.

yes, i was a tad bit repetitive. but ill get better the more i do it. God willing, that will be often. Let me show you what He has done for me. Praise him for giving me this gift and this goal.

ill type the message out word for word so i can put it on here for you people to read later this week when i get the cd. as well, me and the dresdow are thinking of making a Qara myspace, as well as a podcast, and hopefully that will work out and be pretty cool.

some guys named james and james came up to me afterwards and were talking to me, there were both around 30 years old, and gave me some awesome encouragement. One of the guys prayed over me, and it was definately a humbling experience to know that i can serve and teach others, even that much older than me.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

this coming sunday November 5 will be my first attempt at sharing my brain and what i would like to call “God-given wisdom” (though there will always be someone to debate that), with others and i will be doing so at Sugar Hill Methodist Church in Gwinnett, Georgia at 6:15-6:30pm. Its a service called Qara and should be pretty eventful. If you’re in the area I would be overjoyed to have you check it out and show your support as I’m sure I’ll be mighty nervous and whatnot.

As well, I’ve realized just how much I need to start reading lately. There’s so much to learn and so much to gain. Its unfortunate i have such a demanding job, but as hours are dropping off, I hopefully will have a lot of time to read this winter season.

Moral of the story is: come to SHUMC this Sunday, November 5, and enjoy.

Last night I was listening to 750AM talk radio, cause lately I guess I’ve gotten increasingly old, and am turning in to my Pops, so I listen to talk shows all the time, and I heard one of the absolute most profound, as well as, I believe, completely correct, statements I have heard in a long, long time.

I believe it was Sean Hannity, from his AM radio show, but don’t quote me on that, because I am not sure. He was talking about the Amish school shooting that happened recently and how yesterday was the burial of some of the girls that had been killed. He said that the only reason the Amish school shooting, or the recent shootings in Colorado, and anything of a human of the sort. is because the devil has been allowed in to America. And not just he explained it as not “God’s punishing us now” but he continued with something like this:

“The only reason many of these things have happened is because the devil has been allowed into America. God, the Almighty, has been taken out of the churches, taken out of the schools, taken out of the government, taken out of the media, take out of the movies, and taken out of the homes of America. And the devil has been allowed in.”

I thought this was an extraordinarily profound statement to make, especially from someone in the media, where you never hear a positive thing about Christianity EVER.

“GOD has been taken out of the churches.”

Of the churches? Isn’t that where God should be most prevalent? Obviously there is something wrong with our culture, or our society, or us as human beings, when even in the Christian churches, there is no God to be found…

When the church focuses more on the politics, the budget, the number of attendees, or why their denomination is better than the next, instead of on the message of the Love of Christ, then the devil has been allowed in. And if the church doesn’t grow a backbone, and quit changing itself to fit the world, and set the bar for other things such as the schools, the media, and so forth, then we as a society will continue on this steady decline to a complete moral suicide. We will destroy ourselves if we continue to allow the devil to make himself a home in America.

————

edit: This as well is unbelievable: That in a country where there is no forgiveness, and no sorrow, only contempt after tragedies such as these, half of the 75 people showed up for the Amish school SHOOTER’s funeral, were….. AMISH.

The unconditional love these people have for everyone, no matter the crime, no matter the sin, no matter the hurt and pain and suffering, is that of which i could only pray God would bless me with.