Are you a Craigslist addict? We tease someone in our family of almost being one. It’s hard to press her too much on it when she gets all the good deals.

For example, a woman sold someone a brand new IPOD her ex-boyfriend gave her as a make-up gift. It was brand new, sealed in the box and at a cheap price. I guess the ex did a lot more damage than an IPOD could buy. She even left the card he sent her inside the package. Ouch. There’s more. Along with the IPOD the woman sold the same someone a $100 ITunes gift card (it was part of the original “I really messed up” gift) for $50. Who said breaking up is hard to do?

I loaded someone’s purchase into our ITunes account. We don’t usually buy too much from ITunes; to have a balance over $100 was quite impressive. So, I started searching. I kept searching. I’m still searching.

Maybe I’m more frugal than I realize, but I couldn’t figure out what to waste money buy off of ITunes. Why didn’t anyone tell me you can rent movie from ITunes? Not that I would, but I’m sure that’s making someone a lot of money. Perhaps I just need to expand my horizons just a little.

I’m open for suggestions. Someone thought we could purchase movies. We’ll probably do that, too. In the meantime someone, let’s get a feel for what kind of music (or whatever) our visitors are most interested in. Leave your suggestions as a comment.

ITunes here we come! Stay blessed…john

The latest edition of our newsletter is finished. Well, it's copied and almost ready to be mailed. In the meantime you get a chance to see it first.

Tell me what you think about the wish list. Stay blessed...john

I have been doing a little Oak Haven church history research. As the longest meeting religious organization in Irving, Oak Haven can trace its roots to a non-denominational Sunday school class meeting under a brush arbor in the 1880s. It’s a great story with, I think, modern ecumenical implications. Oak Haven started as that first group then formed into Hawk’s Chapel Methodist Church. In the 1930s the church changed its name to Union Bower Methodist Church and eventually, after moving to its current location in 1961, changed its name to Oak Haven Methodist Church. Of course, there are a lot of details missing from this meager account. After all, this wasn’t meant to be a 7-9 page paper written for a United Methodist history class (or, this wasn’t THE 7-9 page….).

I would love to help fill in some blanks in Oak Haven’s historical records. That is an item I am putting on the “Pastor’s Wish List” in this month’s church newsletter—a update historical record of the church. A lot needs to be filled in about those early days, but just as much, and maybe even a lot more, needs to be put together from the time of the final move (1961) up until today. We sort of dropped off our record keeping skills. There is a discussion I would like to have with some of the members that remember when “Oak Haven” came to be.

An obvious consideration to have when forming a building project is how many people will be using the facility. The church opted to construct a two-story education building followed by either a sanctuary or gymnasium (with additional meeting space) depending on the specific needs of the congregation.

What’s interesting to me is the thought behind the project. The city of Irving experienced substantial growth in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Oak Haven and other churches as well saw some of that growth in swelling of their membership statistics. In fact, in planning for the new building project, it was estimated the membership would either be as low as 800 or as high as 1,000 (the building committee eventually planned for 900). In either scenario that would have been a more than 100% increase in membership!

If you know Oak Haven you know what's wrong with this picture.  Any guesses?

The conversation I would love to have is this: What happened? We never had that many people and neither the sanctuary nor gymnasium was ever built. That may read negative, but if you know me you know it’s not. It seems to me there could be a lot of learning taken away from that conversation.

Would we look to the pastors? Would we look at who moved away? Were there issues that came about? Did we realize having that many people wasn’t a good idea? What happened? You tell me.

Stay blessed…john

I have had this CD for a while, but somehow missed this song. Actually, the album version includes a full accompaniment. While it's an awesome song on piano, the lyrics are what make this an incredible song.  Here are the lyrics:

The cruelest world
The coldest heart
The deepest wound
The endless dark
The lonely ache
The burning tears
The bitter nights
The wasted years

Life breaks and falls apart
But we know these are
Places where grace is soon to be so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed

For every choice that led to shame
And all the love that never came
For every vow that someone broke
And every lie that gave up hope
We live in the shadow of the fall
But the cross says these are all
Places where grace is soon to be so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But when anything that's shattered is laid before the Lord
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed

Places where grace is soon to be so amazing
It may be unfulfilled
It may be unrestored
But you never know the miracle the Father has in store
Just watch and see
It will not be
Just watch and see
It will not be unredeemed

Click here to watch the video.



What do you think? Stay blessed...john

Oh, this is a great song with some strong lyrics.  Have you heard of The Michael Gungor Band?  I'll confess I only have one album from them, the latest one.  It is called Ancient Skies. 

One of the songs from the album is entitled White Man.  Watch the video below (or by clicking here).  The lyrics are printed below the video.  Read them.  What do you think?  I would love to hear your ideas!

God is not a man
God is not a white man
God is not a man sitting on a cloud

God cannot be bought
God will not be boxed in
God will not be owned by religion

But God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone
God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone

God is not a man
God is not an old man
God does not belong to Republicans
God is not a flag
Not even American
And God does not depend on a government

But God is good, God is good, and He loves everyone
God is good, God is good, and He loves everyone

Atheists and Charlatans and Communists and Lesbians
And even old Pat Robertson, oh God He loves us all
Catholic or Protestant, Terrorist or President
Everybody, everybody, love, love, love, love, love

Oh, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Yeah, I say God is love, God is love, and He loves everyone
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
Stop the hating, please just stop the hating now cause God is love
Oh, whoa, la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la

Anybody else see a possible contradiction?  What do you think? Stay blessed...john

This is how you know your audience is into your presentation.




How much does this apply to sermons? Maybe that's why churches want pews--to "at least" make sure everyone is awake. Maybe we’re not giving people a chance to be more interested if they can’t lean back just a little.

Over the last six weeks or so I've tried to communicate to our congregation in many ways that the weekly sermon is only one facet of our worship service. What's more is it isn't even the most important part of our service. Please don't misunderstand my point.

Interpreting scripture is a very important aspect of our faith. However, any sermon of mine (or anyone) that is even remotely sound, practical, good or beneficial means nothing if the listeners do not do something with it. Food is supposed to provide energy for life, for living life. Likewise, sermons help give what is necessary for understanding God’s word to live out our lives as disciples.

Our life is a journey. Consider these words from Charles Wesley's famous hymn Love Divine, All Love's Excelling:

Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.

I love the third line, "end of faith, as its beginning..." That conveys journey. In other words, when we come to faith we have somewhere to go. What is the "end of faith?" It is our perfection--our Wesleyan understanding of perfection. Many people think perfection means not sinning.  That is incorrect, and a topic that needs to be saved for another post.  So, how do we get there (perfection)? First, we trust that God will bring us there. Second, we have to figure where God is leading us. Our sermons are a way to do that; of course, it is only one way among others.

So, the sermon is not the most important part of our service. How you respond to the sermon is what is most important. When you hear a sermon it is designed to prompt you to something. It is not just to teach (though that is important and there are plenty of opportunities to do that). You can learn a lot by your own reading. I did.  Oh, how wise G.I. Joe was.  He taught us that knowing is "half the battle." 

You heard a good sermon.  Great. Exciting. I am glad. Now what?  This Sunday, then, do your best to sit up in your pew (or pew equivalent). Remember that the sermon is a tool to interpret God’s Word to prompt God’s people, of which you are, towards faithful service. Respond to what God is calling you to.

And God’s people said…

Stay blessed…john

+graphic link