Weekly Wrap (28/04)

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

How can the church respond to the tragic Boston Marathon bombing? Ed Stetzer and Adam Mabry provide some great ideas and shares what the local church did and are continuing to do, to support the people of Boston post the attack.

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Confessions of a Pastor Who Used to be More Reformed Than Jesus - Ed Stetzer writes an interesting article about a pastor who used to be more reformed than Jesus, called Danny Slavich.

We Should Shine Bright In The Darkness - "Churches are not peddlers of Christian goods and services; we are cells of subversion and transformation. We're not just opening our doors and hoping for a good turnout; we're opening our lives to show off the glory of our Savior by the way we live together, by the way we serve together, by the way we reach out in Jesus' name together." Another great article from Ed Stetzer.

Should We Always Expect God to Heal? - "My answer is somewhat simple, but then again, maybe not so. Here’s how I answer the question: We should expect God to do what will bring God the most glory." Aaron Armstrong writes a thoughtful take on the hot topic of God and physical healing.

Autopsy of a Deceased Church - "I worked with the church for three weeks. The problems were obvious; the solutions were difficult." Thom Rainer writes a reflective piece on his time working with a church that was slowly on the decline.

Can a Dying Church Find Life? - A follow-up blog post to Autopsy of a Deceased Church from Thom Rainer. This is well worth checking out!
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Thought for the day...

""How can we expect to live with God in heaven if we love not to live with him on earth?"

— John Mason

Vice Verses

by Joel Hawting | @jhawting

I love the band Switchfoot. They have been a band that have been a part of my Christian journey throughout my teen and now mid-twenties years. I was introduced to one of their more recent songs called 'Vice Verses' by my Bible College lecturer this term. If you didn't know Switchfoot and only heard Vice Verses, you could very easily view Switchfoot as being a very negative, depressive, and even pessimistic band. However, they are anything but. They are arguably one of the most talented and creative Christian bands and have been for years now, writing positive and passionate songs about living life to the full for God's glory.

Jon Foreman - lead singer of Switchfoot - offers insight into what the song Vice Verses is about in his interview with Scott Firestone:

"I mean, your weakness is your strength and your strength is your weakness. You know, a kid grows up in a family with a lot of cash, and suddenly that becomes his curse as well as his blessing. Another kid, maybe across the border in Tijuana, has nothing and he has everything. [Some of those kids] have a hope and a joy that a spoiled rich kid north of the border can't possess, you know? That analogy plays out in other ways—a girl who's incredibly good-looking will be cursed with that all her life unless she learns there's more to her life."

"When I look at culture, I see we have so many gifts given to us that allow us to be lazy. I've heard it said that any culture that makes ease its goal has already begun its demise—I can't think of any nation where this would more relevant that my own. The United States has become the culture of comfort—growth, strength, and beauty are not things that come from comfort. They are refined qualities that are brought to the surface often by pain or trial."

Chad Butler - Switchfoot's Drummer - in a video accessible here, explains his view of Vice Verses:

"Vice Verses has become, rolling down the window and looking around and noticing the highs and the lows... this life is short and there are so many things that we miss along the way. There's joy, there's pain, there's good and bad happening around us all the time and... coming to grips with that and living in the tension... to me that's Vice Verses."

Jon Foreman sums up their intent in penning their thoughts on the song Vice Verses:

"It's not meant to be a dark morbid thought; it's more of a thought that, while we're here, while we still have breathe, I want to make it count."

Amen to that. Let's live and experience life - throughout the many mountain-top experiences and the valley troughs - living with Jesus. While we have breathe let's live life and make it count for God.