"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:27 ESV)

Last weekend, January 27-28, Harbor Church and Christ the King Church had the pleasure of having Sam Poe come from Tacoma Washington to teach on Chronological Bible Storying (CBS). Sam has had great results using this method to teach the Bible to oral learners all around the world, including in the USA.

Prior to the story being told, Sam established some ground rules in regards to the telling of the story and the discussion to take place after. Once setting into place these rules, Sam began to tell the story of Cain and Abel from Genesis 4. For the record I was rather skeptical as to how well CBS would work, but right from the start I was hooked into the story. As the story unfolded, Sam kept me, and the rest of the group, engaged with what he was saying without adding to or elaborating the story.

Upon finishing the story Sam asked simple questions to get the group talking such as:

What does this story tell us about God?

How do you relate to the story?

Is there any area of confusion?

By asking pointed questions, after establishing the ground rules, I was amazed at how simple of a method CBS is. What was even more surprising to me was the amount of knowledge that I was able to retain in such a short period of time. I am incredibly encouraged to see how the Lord could use CBS to lay a solid a foundation for equipping disciples to make disciples here is the USA.

Prior to Sam’s coming, I was encouraged by church leadership to read Avery T. Willis Jr. and Mark Snowden’s book, Truth that Sticks: How to Communicate Velcro Truth in a Teflon World. This book gives helpful insight into the shift within the USA from a country of literate learns to oral learners.

I have been listening to Sports Talk radio frequently as I do every year during Patriots season. On the local sports radio/tv networks, other talk radio and nationally there is more and more talk about Tebowing or the Tebow phenomenon. Tebowing is known as the act of bowing down after a touchdown or big play praying, giving Glory to God.

Some background

For those not familiar with Tim Tebow, he is a professional football player for the Denver Broncos and a Christian. Tebow is a gifted athlete that won the Heisman trophy in 2007 as an underclassmen (An award for being voted the best Collegiate Football player given each year). Tebow is a quarterback that has starred by breaking records at every level he has played starting in high school, and college. Usually a college Heisman quarterback is drafted very, very high in the National Football League draft (NFL draft), the top 2 or 3 picks. Tim won the Heisman in his sophomore year the first player to ever be selected as an underclassmen (freshman or sophomore). Although Tim was selected in the first round (2010) it was very late in the first round (25th) for a quarterback of his accolades. The Denver Broncos used Tebow as a back up quarterback, until an injury to the starter forced the Broncos to play. Tim, since playing for the Broncos has won 7 games to one loss. All won by last minute heroics by Tebow. The one loss came after Tim came into the game for the injured starter and had a comeback that almost won that game. Tebow is usually sub optimal through most of the game and then makes a “miraculous” comeback late in the game to win.

Although I am doubtful that God cares much about the winning and losing of football games, it is a cool analogy of a man of deep faith overcoming inadequacies in strength, character, or skill. In football terms Tebow’s passing would measure up to David the Shepard boy (small and weak), but in the end he is able to quiet his detractors and slay the Giant, through his faith in the living God of Israel. God uses the weak and strengthens them for his purpose, not that Tim Tebow is weak in a physical or spiritual sense.

Is this a new phenomenon?

Now many players in the NFL are Christians, after games many players from both teams kneel at center field and pray together. But Tebowing is a phenomenon that has caused conversation both in sports and elsewhere. As an example, I had lunch with Ian and asked him about his thoughts on Tebowing, Ian had heard of it but didn’t know what it meant. In addition to kneeling to pray after big plays, Tim also in every interview, acknowledges his Savior Jesus Christ before saying anything else in the interview. The conversation usually is polarizing, one side in admiration for Tebow and his faith, while others are “turned off” by Tebow. Those who don’t understand Tim Tebow’s faith or are turned off by it make light of Tebow’s performance as Divine and God being a Bronco, the Denver Press hailing him the “Mile High Messiah”. I have heard Tebow being criticized as a hypocrite, or arrogant, some saying ”that God doesn’t choose sides in football”. To that I have only heard Tim give praise to his Savior deflecting Glory to God and teammates and off himself. If it sounds like he is boasting, maybe it is explained in 1Corinthians: 31 Therefore, as it is written “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord”. What I find fascinating is the polarization of reactions to Tebow and Tebow’s faith. A former Denver Quarterback, Jake Plummer was quoted as saying ““Tebow, regardless of whether I wish he’d just shut up after a game and go hug his teammates, I think he’s a winner and I respect that about him,” Plummer said. “I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ then I think I’ll like him a little better. I don’t hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every single time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.”

Our response

With this I am brought to 2 Corithians 2:15-16: "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?"

As I listen to these two very diverse reactions I cannot think of anything but this passage.

My favorite team, the New England Patriots travels to play the Denver Broncos this Sunday December 18th and Tim Tebow, who came off another last minute come from behind win yesterday. I am going to be rooting wholeheartedly for the Patriots to win this football game, but I am grateful to Tebow for professing his faith so openly and boastfully in Christ and not of his own doing, giving all the Glory to his Savior. Other athletes make acknowledgements like pointing Heavenward after home runs or kneel in the end zone after touchdowns before this, much like Tebow does. But these acts have brought nowhere near the exposure to faith as Tebowing has. I heard that Tebowing is now officially a word, rivaling Obamamania in its speed to become a word, 2 months.

This weekend’s game should be fun. Go Pats. God Bless Tim Tebow. Pray for Tim Tebow to be protected, to put on his Armor of God, the enemy would love to see him fall, not on the football field but in his faith while on this very visible stage.

Last week I read an interesting blog that I wanted to share with you all from Relevant magazine.  The blog is below - please leave your thoughts at the end of the blog!

Is your church too cool?

How a pursuit of relevance can undermine authentic community.

People sometimes assume that because I’m a progressive 30-year-old who enjoys Mumford and Sons and has no children, I must want a super-hip church—you know, the kind that’s called “Thrive” or “Be,” and which boasts “an awesome worship experience,” a fair-trade coffee bar, its own iPhone app and a pastor who looks like a Jonas brother.

While none of these features are inherently wrong (and can of course be used by good people to do good things), these days I find myself longing for a church with a cool factor of about 0. That’s right. I want a church that includes fussy kids, old liturgy, bad sound, weird congregants and—brace yourself—painfully amateur “special music” now and then.Why?Well, for one thing, when the Gospel story is accompanied by a fog machine and light show, I always get this creeped-out feeling like someone’s trying to sell me something. It’s as though we’re all compensating for the fact that Christianity’s not good enough to stand on its own so we’re adding snacks. But more importantly, I want to be part of an uncool church because I want to be part of a community that shares the reputation of Jesus. Like it or not, Jesus’ favorite people in the world were not cool. They were mostly sinners, misfits, outcasts, weirdos, poor people, sick people and crazy people.

Embracing the Distractions

Cool congregations can get so wrapped up in the “performance” of church that they forget to actually be the Church, a phenomenon painfully illustrated by the story of the child with cerebral palsy who was escorted from an Easter service for being a “distraction.” Really?It seems to me this congregation was distracted long before this little boy showed up. In their self-proclaimed quest for “an explosive, phenomenal movement of God—something you have to see to believe,” they missed Jesus when He was right under their nose. Was the paralytic man lowered from the rooftop in the middle of a sermon a distraction? Was the Canaanite woman who harassed Jesus and His disciples about healing her daughter a distraction? Were the blind men from Jericho who annoyed the crowd with their relentless cries a distraction? Jesus didn’t think so. In fact, He seemed to think they were the point.

Jesus taught us that when we throw a banquet or a party, our invitation list should include “the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.” So why do our church marketing teams target the young, the hip, the healthy and the resourced?

We Are All Uncool

In Bossypants, Tina Fey describes working for the YMCA in Chicago soon after graduating from college. This particular YMCA included, “a great mix of high-end yuppie fitness facility, a wonderful community resource for families and an old-school residence for disenfranchised men.” Fey shares a host of funny stories about working the front desk. One such story involves one of the residents forgetting to take his meds, bumping into a young mom on her way to a workout session and saying something wildly inappropriate. Fey writes: “The young mother was beside herself. That’s the kind of trouble you get when diverse groups of people actually cross paths with one another. That’s why many of the worst things in the world happen in and around Starbucks bathrooms.”Church can be a lot like the YMCA—or a Starbucks bathroom. We have one place for the uncool people—our ministries—and another place for the cool people—our church services. When we actually bump into one another, things can get “awkward,” so we try to avoid it. The truth is we’re all guilty of thinking we’re too cool for the least of these. Our elitism shows up when we forbid others from contributing art and music because we deem it unworthy of glorifying God, or when we scoot our family an extra foot or two down the pew when the guy with Asperger's sits down. Having helped start a church, I remember hoping our hip guests wouldn’t be turned off by our less-than-hip guests. For a second I forgot that in church, of all places, those distinctions should disappear.Some of us wear our brokenness on the inside, others on the outside. But we’re all broken. We’re all uncool. We’re all in need of a Savior. So let’s have some distracting church services—the kind where Jesus would fit right in.

Rachel Held Evans is the author of Evolving in Monkey Town: How A Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions (Zondervan, 2010). She blogs at http://rachelheldevans.com.

I am really happy to be home from another great weekend at Celebration Northeast.  CNE has become something of an annual favorite for me. From the worship to the teaching and the presence of God, it was an all-around great weekend!

Worship

For the past couple of years I've had the joy of putting together the music team that serves over the weekend.  I loved serving with Jordan and Lissy Dillon. Pheebs and I had the joy of hosting them overnight beforehand. It's so great to meet people from 'distant lands' (aka Missouri) who have a strong passion for Jesus and His great work. I thought they led our times of worship really well.

It's something of a given that I love the drumming/music side of it. Another real joy for me was having Pat 'heavy hitter' Kilbourn play during a couple of the sessions. He adds a different flavor. I love how he hits hard (and sometimes soft) for Gods glory. Not to mention his killer double bass skills. At one point during a breakdown he threw in one of his fantastically outrageous fills. I thought his playing spoke magnificently of Gods extravagance. So that really spoke to me.

Teaching

The teaching was another highlight. Ian Ashby was right on the money, urging us to 'go for the Spirit', particularly the baptism of the Spirit. Why is it that in our culture this is so hard to emphasize? John Lanferman was thoroughly engaging as per usual, talking about Gods surprising and sudden works and reminding us that God desires to break into areas of our lives that are stinky and tomb-like. He exhorted us to 'hold fast to what we believe'. It was great.

One more thing. It's also fantastic to get the chance to speak with people from other Newfrontiers churches in our region. Particularly the folks from Pennsylvania. Gods work is much bigger than any one church!

Hearing from God

The abiding memory from this weekend will be, for me, sensing Gods conviction regarding getting too settled where I am. I am so susceptible to losing my focus amongst possessions, career and other distractions. I can't deny that Ralph and Tara Leo's call to remember the unreached people groups hit home with considerable force as well.

So. God speaks, and He did so very clearly at Celebration Northeast this year.  What was your favorite part?  Leave your thoughts below!