Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Great staff party last night! The white elephant thing is always fun with that group. Counting spouses, there were thirty one of us there last night. The gifts ranged from a wall hanging of an old boro to a Santa Christmas ornament that everyone fought for. I ended up with a lego racing car and Sheryl ended up with cook books--another fought for item!

I am definitely in the holiday spirit! We will have Sheryl's parents and my mom at our house this year. So fun! We're counting down the days now until Mom moves. I know so many of you in Abilene will be sad to see her go. I am sad to see her leave Abilene. But--my excitement for her being here certainly outweighs it. What it means is that all you friends who've been promising to come see us in Nashville will finally have to make good on your promise!

We've just been in a discussion about how to create head room here over the next couple of years. Ultimately, it will mean going back to the dreaded 3 services. YUCK. One idea is to have a Sat night service. We could do all sorts of neat things there. We've had it before, but this would be more of a permanent thing--at least until we get to our new place. Can someone just wake me up when the "Reach" campaign is over? While I am mostly on board now with the move, the campaign is still bothersome to me. My brother-in-law told me that their church in Arkansas is doing the same thing...except theirs is called "Realize the Dream" or something like that. Did I totally screw it up, Chris? It all has that same "slick" feel to me. It's no secret I have felt that way here. God works in spite of us--thankfully. No one needs that more than I do.

It seems like it's always either Wednesday or Sunday. Sheryl and I joke about that around the house--it seriously does seem like that. It's Wednesday again--that means loooong days and long nights. Rehearsal tonight is aimed at music. We need it. It will be nice to have a 3 hour music rehearsal.

I'm headed over to John Catchings in a minute. John is one of our very accomplished artists here at the Creek. We're all proud of him. Just about any Christian music CD you pick up will have his name on it as the cellist. He's played for the Symphony, on Letterman and Leno, with Michael Card for MANY years, and is just a great man of God. He's selling his keyboard and I am hoping to buy it for the Creek. So--off to test it out! Have a great day, everyone!

Feliz Navidad. Noche de paz and all that.

11 comments:

CL said...

Brandon,

I totally agree with you on the campaign thing, we are in campaign mode as well and this Sunday is our "Victory Sunday" and while I am excited I have really struggled with it for many reasons, one such you mentioned. I guess it is a neccesary evil. I just wish that for just a moment rather than having to prod people in their giving and trying to think of creative ways to give, people would just say, "Hey, there's a need - we need to pray, sacrifice and make something happen," isn't giving a part of discipleship? OK, I'm done. Anyway, God bless you guys as your reach for your goals (no pun intended).

Brandon Scott Thomas said...

thanks, CL. What church are you going to? It's funny..a couple of the guys on staff and I have said almost the same words verbatim. Jesus talked more about money than anything else. Probably because he knew how likely we are to serve it.

My friend was having a conversation with a guy from his church yesterday (the friend is on staff there). They were discussing the youth minister position they were looking to fill. The guy said... "you know, someone who won't wear flipflops, who won't stir up controversy and who gets along with everyone."

My friend replied, "Sounds to me like Jesus couldn't get hired here." He wore flip flops stirred up controversy with the religious people and loved people deeply but wasn't afraid to say the hard things.

Don't know why I took that tangential road, but anyway--sometimes it seems to me that we are so like a business that we've allowed our churches to become commercial. Kingdom language, in those scenarios, often offends and is mostly disliked.

May our churches not be like that. AND--if they are, may we allow the grace of God and power of the cross to transform us!

Steven J Bruce said...

Brandon-

I totally get you about the campaign thing. We recently finished one for our Worship Center called "Now is the Time". I was a bit out of my element with the whole thing; but looking back on it, I do see how we were able to keep something that seemed very "corporate", very "spiritual". When our campaign company called for Sunday worship gatherings that centered around the campaign; I was nervous how that would go. But by God's grace, it turned into a wonderful time to use testimonies and the like from members about how God had blessed them through giving and how they had been blessed through recieving. I had everyone from teens to the elderly share, and it really helped set the tone for the whole thing. Anyway, enough rambling...I just wanted to let you know I totally understand your feelings.

Beaner said...

We are a society that "earns a living" and "earns our keep" We "pay" for our food, our cars, our hobbies. And, of course, we have to "pay" for a church building (or do we?). Anyway, since most of us know that we don't "earn" our salvation, nor do we "pay" for it, I think we get hung up on the idea that money is ours & how much does of it does God really NEED anyway? But Jesus seemed to need the support of some women - AND they supported him "out of their own means" (Luke 8:1-3) so maybe instead of all the references about how God doesn't NEED our money & that during the offering we're just giving back a "token" gift, maybe we should think that He really DOES need our money to do His work here.
And, just to spark it up a little, what if we DID have to pay for our salvation? How much would we be willing to spend? How much money would you spend to "save" your co-worker or neighbor? Anyway, that's just my ramblings for the day. Had a root-canal yesterday & I'm a little cranky today!

Beaner said...

We are a society that "earns a living" and "earns our keep" We "pay" for our food, our cars, our hobbies. And, of course, we have to "pay" for a church building (or do we?). Anyway, since most of us know that we don't "earn" our salvation, nor do we "pay" for it, I think we get hung up on the idea that money is ours & how much does of it does God really NEED anyway? But Jesus seemed to need the support of some women - AND they supported him "out of their own means" (Luke 8:1-3) so maybe instead of all the references about how God doesn't NEED our money & that during the offering we're just giving back a "token" gift, maybe we should think that He really DOES need our money to do His work here.
And, just to spark it up a little, what if we DID have to pay for our salvation? How much would we be willing to spend? How much money would you spend to "save" your co-worker or neighbor? Anyway, that's just my ramblings for the day. Had a root-canal yesterday & I'm a little cranky today!

Anonymous said...

Why is a consulting company necessary for this kind of thing? That doesn't make sense to me. Shouldn't the church leadership just direct such things? Frankly, the campaign was intended to be inclusive and all about unity and it turned out to be rather divisive and cause hurt feelings on many fronts for many reasons. I agree that the church should just be presented a need and be willing to give without all the "slick" stuff trying to induce giving. Well, I for one hope that we can quit staring at our navels soon and get on with being uplifting and ministering (like this past Sunday was, very awesome).

Anonymous said...

One of the things that bothers me about our building campaign at OC is the huge amount of money being spent and how lavish the facility will be. Here's a quote from a pastor in California defending their posh facilities:
"We are trying to make a big, beautiful impression upon the affluent non-religious American who is riding by on this busy freeway."(one of the rationalizations used for the choice of our location)..."Suppose we had given this money to the poor? What would we have today? We would still have hungry, poor people and God would not have this tremendous base of operations which He is using to inspire people to become more successful, more affluent, more generous, more genuinely unselfish in their giving of themselves."
Granted, no one at OC is making such ridiculous rationalizations, but some of it has an eerily familiar ring to it.
JDS

Anonymous said...

"I guess it is a neccesary evil. "

God forgive us when we use language like that to describe the body of Christ's activities. I dare anyone to illustrate a "nececessary evil" being condoned in the Bible.

May we repent for our western rationalizations.

Anonymous said...

Since you opened the can of worms BST...

I am not sure I have encountered any activity at OC that has caused such divisiveness and resentments as the current campaign. It is just hard to see the wisdom behind such a tact.

I never thought I would dislike attending services at OC.

Fajita said...

Yes, our Campaign is called "Realize the Dream." (Did you notice I capitalized the word 'campaign?') It's financial goals number in the millions. I wrestle with it. Yes, I'm contributing money to the thing. I believe in vision and supporting the vision so long as I support the vision. Sounds circular, but hey, if I am going to be here I am going to support the vision, the leadership, and the direction of the church unless I find it impossible to do so. I refuse to just stay and whine. If all I am to the church is a whiner, I gotta go. When I can't support the vision, I need to find another one...in another place. However, getting caught in the I'm-going-to-find-the-perfect-church syndrome can be spiritually suffocating as well. I am not sold out to the way they are doing it here, but I am supporting it. On the other hand, I am not sold out to the Church Marketing Sucks crowd either. Bottom line, I do believe our leaders are making the choices that make sense to them in line with their abundance of prayer.

Doug Pagitt's book "Reimagining Spiritual Formation" is a terrific book on church life. At least the first several chapters are. I assume the rest of the book will carry its weight. I'll let you know when I'm done with it.

God be with you and the future of Otter Creek. May He be Immanuel in spite of what seems to be Church Inc.

Keith Brenton said...

I've had a much-needed change of heart about big churches, campaigns to raise up big buildings as a home to them, and how big God is. I ran up against 1 Chronicles 29. Please see my post
Thanks by giving.