The importance of training others

“…and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” (2 Tim 2:2)

Paul’s wise counsel to Timothy is applicable on many levels, and has a multitude of benefits. A few that I will mention today:

It about the message, not the messenger. Paul was a good example of this, not being jealous of others who gained renown preaching the gospel, but rather simply rejoicing that the gospel was proclaimed. Pride will tempt us to want to be “the guy” - the teacher and leader that people remember and look to. But what is of primary importance isn’t us, but is the gospel that gets preached. When we practice entrusting to faithful men, we are shedding a few of the (multitudinous) opportunities for pride.

The message must carry on after us. Paul himself knew that his days on the earth were short. To have his most effective ministry, he needed not only to preach to unbelievers, but also to teach the teachers who would reach the following generation. I have heard it said that your effectiveness as a parent isn’t shown as much in how your children turn out as in how your grandchildren turn out. For Paul’s spiritual grandchildren to be vibrant and mature Christians, he needed to make sure his spiritual children were well-trained.

You can’t do it all on your own. This is the big temptation for me, and was the initial thought that prompted this post. Just because you (or I) have the skills to do the task yourself doesn’t mean you should be the one to always do it. There is far more work to do than any one of us can handle. Finding and training others who can both assist and replace you is essential in maintaining health, sanity, and the healthy operation of any ministry.

Putting my talents to some profit

Pretty much ever since my brother Andrew and his fiancee Heather set a date for the wedding this summer Becky has been in full-on planning mode for the trip. It’ll be a bit of an adventure and all, taking the girls on their first airplane ride and going cross-country to Washington for a week. We’re going to make a week-long vacation out of it; we’ll have a few days with the family for the wedding, but we want to get out to see the ocean, too, and will try to take a day to see Seattle and hopefully Matt (my old college roommate) and his wife Abbie.

So when I say full-on planning mode, well, that doesn’t capture the half of it. Becky is a ridiculous crazy good planner. She first scoped out the airfares and after a few days settled on the best option of price, schedule, and dates. With that in place, she sketched out an itinerary for the 8 days of the trip - fly in, go to the ocean, then head up towards the wedding, then hit Seattle for a couple days on the way out. With that planned, she started researching places to stay near the ocean. If she could find true Oceanfront, she’d be thrilled. [There is a point to this story, just be patient.]

She found a place called the Oceanfront Lighthouse Resort that has some pretty nice “oceanfront” condos, at least as far as we could tell from the website. The website is pretty scary - obviously someone’s side project, just enough to make do. Then inspiration struck - why, I asked Becky, don’t I contact the resort and see if they’d like to trade a website overhaul for a couple nights’ stay? A few emails later I had agreed to create a prototype so that they could make a decision. Half-a-dozen hours of weekend webdesign later I had a prototype complete and emailed off. (And Geof: thanks for allowing shell access. Makes it a ton easier to edit stuff live.)

Last night I talked on the phone with the manager of the resort for a while. The end result: we now have reservations for a complimentary two-night stay in an oceanfront condo. And I have probably another 5 or 6 hours of work to complete and setup the new website. Sure, if I were a professional designer I’d get a better hourly rate, but for a couple afternoons of design work, well, I’ll do the trade.

If I design too many more websites I need to think about setting up a design homepage to see if I can attract a little more business. After doing so many (worthy) freebies, these paying gigs are kinda fun!

Rich Mullins' A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band

If there was ever a “perfect” album to come out of the (largely mediocre) world of CCM, Rich Mullins’ A Liturgy, a Legacy, and a Ragamuffin Band was it. (Are the ‘A’s supposed to be capitalized? It looks funny either way.) This album is fifteen (fifteen!) years old this year, and yet still sounds as fresh and vital as when it was released. If you’re not familiar with the album, let me give you an overview. (If you are familiar with the album, you won’t mind the refresher at all.)

Split into two halves, the first half is the splendid Liturgy. Here In America is the Introit, or entrance. It is followed by the stunning text of (Isaiah) 52:10, the hymn of praise recognizing the beauty of creation called The Color Green, the supplicant’s prayer Hold Me Jesus, the bold restatement of the (Apostle’s) Creed, and Peace, helpfully subtitled A Communion Blessing from St. Joseph’s Square. Each song in itself is excellent, and as a set they reach the level of masterpiece. When, in Peace, Rich starts the first two verses with this juxtaposition

Though we’re strangers, still I love you
I love you more than your mask
And you know you have to trust this to be true
And I know that’s much to ask…
…

And though I love you, still we’re strangers
Prisoners in these lonely hearts
And though our blindness separates us
Still a light shines in the dark…

We understand immediately the tension of the Christian fellowship - bound by the love of Christ, and yet so frustratingly driven apart by our sinful humanity. It’s beautiful stuff from beginning to end.

The second half is the Legacy: a reflection on life. It starts with the upbeat instrumental 78 Eatonwood Green, then moves into the challenge of being like Jesus (Hard), the challenge of living life away from family (I’ll Carry On), a child’s wonder at Christmas (You Gotta Get Up), the challenge and frustration of the world we live in (Mark Heard’s How To Grow Up Big and Strong), and finally the most beautiful picture you’ll ever hear painted of the tension of living in a country you love while simultaneously looking forward to the heavenly home (Land of my Sojurn).

Nobody tells you when you get born here
How much you’re going to love it and how you’ll never belong here
So I’ll call you my country, but I’ll be longing for my home
And I wish that I could take you there with me…

And the Ragamuffin Band? Well, they sound fantastic. From Rich’s clear piano and the cymbals mirroring the ocean’s crashing in Here In America, to the mellow electric guitar and fantastic drum fills in Peace, to the dulcimer driving Land of my Sojurn, the album has an organic acoustic sound that rightfully has become the inspiration for a younger generation of musicians. My first inclination is to say that it is lightning in a bottle, that it’ll never be captured that way again. But then I listen to the guitars of Andrew Peterson and Andy Osenga, the piano of Ben Shive, and the percussion of Todd Bragg and Garrett Buell, and I will instead be thankful that the musical and songwriting heritage of Rich Mullins has indeed carried on.

If for some reason you don’t already own this album, you can buy it at Amazon.

A study in personalities, or, Mom was right

My mom has mentioned more than once how she enjoys seeing our girls’ personalities as they get bigger and start to really develop. She sees Laura as having more of my personality: quiet, methodical, the classic introverted engineer. (Poor kid!) Addie, on the other hand, is the more ornery outgoing one, much like my brother Ryan. I knew I more or less agreed with Mom, but saw it very clearly last night.

We showed up at church around 5 pm to get ready for Wednesday night dinner (which we were serving). The daycare kids who occupy our basement after school were just getting ready to leave. Of course Laura and Addie wanted to play with them, and for a few minutes both of them did. But it was only a couple minutes later that Laura started feeling overwhelmed by the group of noisy kids, and she retreated into the kitchen with us. She was much happier just hanging out there where it was quiet.

But Addie? She was wearing a necklace of gold plastic beads that she got from a parade this summer; it has a big gold plastic disc pendant that advertises a local bank. Since the kids didn’t know her name, they saw the bling and started calling her “hip-hop baby”. She spent the next 10+ minutes chasing them around, teasing them, ducking into the kitchen where they weren’t allowed, only to then poke her head out, get them to scream, chase after them a bit… All the more hilarious because she’s not yet 2 and they were all between 8 and 10.

Parenting is so much fun.

Wait, it's Monday?

Weekends are going to look a little bit different now that we’re having church on Saturday night. Something to get used to. This weekend was actually pretty great; a phone call from my sister saying “hey, we’re bored, can we come visit this afternoon?” changed our direction pretty quickly. So the folks and Rebecca came down in time for church on Saturday night and then hung around on Sunday until late afternoon. It was great to see them and hang out.

Saturday night went well down at Imago Christi - certainly better than the first week. Sermon was tighter, music was more together, adding Dave Paris on the guitar with the worship team was a big plus. Picking a song for the meditation after the sermon continues to be a challenge - it’s just hard to know what the right song will be until I hear the message. Saturday night I wanted to use the song “Jesus, Name above all Names”, but the 70’s style of the original song was turning me off to it. So for the last five minutes of the sermon I worked out a new tune in my head, and then sang it. It actually sounded pretty good. I should go write it down while I still remember it. :-)

Watched a bunch of football yesterday and was surprised and disappointed to see the Colts lose to the Chargers; not so surprised or disappointed to see the Cowboys lose. I’m gonna have to cheer for the Packers from here on out. There has to be somebody who can beat the Patriots.

Well, that’s your weekend update from Iowa. It’s now Monday morning and there’s work to be done.

Bullet points for a Wednesday

  • Just realized I never gave you all any feedback on the first service at Imago Christi. It went pretty well - had 60 in attendance. Music was OK, though I starting singing the wrong verse of one hymn at one point, which threw everybody off. :-(
  • Just started my new book list for 2008. You can find the link on the sidebar. Only one book on it so far.
  • I have resolved to not get any more books from the library until I read through the pile that’s next to my bed. It has grown to where it won’t fit under the lip of the bedside table any more - must be 15 books there. They’re good things that I want to read, I just keep preempting them with newer stuff from the library. Gotta whittle that pile down.
  • Just heard that Andrew Peterson will be doing a concert in Cedar Rapids the day after my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! Hey Andrew and Heather, when will you be back in the area for spring break? Want to come down to CR?
  • Speaking of Andrew and Heather, we’ve been plotting (well, Becky’s been plotting) our trip to WA this summer for the wedding. It’s looking like fun.
  • Next note on the wedding: I’m gonna have to buy a suit. I haven’t owned a suit in years. The blazer I wore during college hasn’t fit me through the shoulders since probably 2000.
  • It’s harder than it should be to remember that the Saturday night service at Imago wasn’t a one-time event. I’ve got to plan music for this Saturday… should do that today.

Creating the routine

The biggest adjustment this week in preparing for the Saturday night service is starting to think of it as a weekly routine. We’ve done other one-time events down there in the past, and it would be quite easy to think of last Saturday’s service as just another one-time event. Except that it’s not - I need to get music planned, get the worship team lined up and ready to go, get the lyrics prepared for the bulletin, all the usual tasks… again this week.

One thing I think would help in this regard is setting a regular schedule throughout the week for my planning and preparation. Something like this:

Saturday night: worship service.

Sunday: prepare sermon recording for website, listen to it again and evaluate.

Monday: make sure the website is updated for the week.

Tuesday: choose music for the following week and email to worship team.

Thursday: prepare bulletin.

Saturday: practice with the WT and do the service.

Repeat.

I think it might work. However it happens, I sure need a routine.

D-Day Timeline

Saturday was the big day - first service at Imago Christi! A timeline of the day:

7:30 am: Wake up after sleeping in. Feels good. Making mental lists of what I need to remember for the service.

9:45 am: Everyone is fed and dressed. Making a couple final tweaks to the bulletin.

9:55 am: Headed to Noelridge to print the bulletin and pick up the drums.

10:30 am: Setting out 2008 giving envelopes for Noelridge while the bulletins print.

10:50 am: Loading congas, microphones, mic stands, and a small podium into the van.

12:10 pm: Girls are taking a nap, Becky and I are watching Heroes. Almost done with Season One.

12:30 pm: Nate calls and wants to know when we can meet so he can drop off the sound equipment. Any time before 3:30 will work for him.

1:15 pm: Meet Nate at Imago. Set up speakers, amp, adjust the EQ.

1:45 pm: Heading back home.

3:15 pm: Leaving to pick up Andre and head to Imago for worship team practice.

3:30 pm: Made it to Imago, setting up microphones and the keyboard. How will we arrange all this stuff on the stage?

4:00 pm: Finally ready to practice the music. Getting a nasty hum from the passive pickup in Morgan’s guitar.

5:00 pm: We’re as practiced as we’re going to be. Plugging in the iPod. Andrew Peterson will provide background music until the service starts.

5:15 pm: Changing into my ilikeandy.com t-shirt and a jacket.

5:30 pm: Service starting. Must be about 50 people here.

5:35 pm: We’re up. Music starts. People are clapping on the first song. Woohoo!

5:39 pm: This second song is a mess. Timing is off, and I messed up the lyrics to the second verse. Not my A game. Grrrr.

5:50 pm: Music set is done. Still pondering what song to use as the musical meditation at the end of the service.

6:40 pm: Richard has finally wrapped up the sermon. Taking mental notes to give him a review later. I’ve decided on a song.

6:50 pm: First service is over, and we survived. Thank God. Heading down for a fellowship time.

7:15 pm: Tearing down sound equipment. Fortunately we have a closet where we can store it there at the church.

7:45 pm: Everything is torn down and put away. Now to lug those congas back out to the car so we can use ’em at Noelridge in the morning.

8:10 pm: Home. Exhausted. Putting the girls to bed.

8:30 pm: Watching the last three episodes of Season One of Heroes. Pretty good ending.

It's a big day

We’ve been working towards this for over a year now, and tonight it comes to pass: the first service at our downtown Cedar Rapids church plant, Imago Christi at Central Park. I think we’re to the point where we’ve planned about as much as we can; now we just have to go for it and trust God to see us through. This is the point where the butterflies set in.

Pray for us today that we would be effective, and above all else, that God would be glorified.

(5:30 pm if you’re in CR and want to come!)

2007 in Books: Chris's Reading in Review

One year ago I decided that my blog was the must useful place to keep my reading list, and that proved to be a good choice. I’ve tried keeping reading lists in the past, but was never consistent in recording. This year, though, I managed to record each book and a couple sentences of synopsis and review. I don’t do much in the way of Top 10 lists, but this seems like one place where I have enough data at hand to make a year-end summary. So here goes.

Total books read: 85. Total fiction: 68. Total non-fiction: 17. Total re-reads: 1.

The one notable series for this year was Harry Potter. I managed to resist the series until this year, but finally decided it was time to give them a try. I was glad I did; they were some very entertaining reads. I started Book 1 on July 11 and finished Book 7 on August 23, and managed to sneak six other books in during that six weeks as well!

A look at my non-fiction stuff betrays my interest in history and science, with a dabbling in music. No real surprises, I guess.

My Top 5 non-fiction reads of the year, in no particular order:

My top 8 fiction reads, again in no particular order (I was going to list 10, but couldn’t find two more that lived up to the standards of these 8):

  • Variable Star - Robert Heinlein & Spider Robinson. The title character goes on a “galactic bender”… yeah, and it’s a great story.
  • Sun of Suns (Virga, Book 1) - Karl Schroeder. Schroeder manages to create a very believable, imaginative world for his story. I’ve got book 2 sitting in my to-read pile right now. Can’t wait.
  • In War Times - Kathleen Ann Goonan. Goonan combines time travel, jazz, and World War II in a way that blows my mind. Easily my favorite non-series book of the year.
  • The Children of Húrin - J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien does the classic epic better than anyone else.
  • Magic Street - Orson Scott Card. Card has a gift for storytelling and imagination. This novel weaves some of the plot and ideas of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into a delightful modern fantasy.
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) - J. K. Rowling. I promised myself I’d only include one HP book in this list, and it had to be this one. It caps off the series brilliantly.
  • Overclocked: Stories of the Future Present - Cory Doctorow. Most of the sci-fi short stories I’ve read up to this point have been older; it’s fun to read something written recently - the current-ness of the technology and ideas makes them even more believable and frightening.
  • The Road - Cormac McCarthy. No, I didn’t read this one because Oprah recommended it. Andrew Peterson recommended it, too! :-) Chilling, spare, and yet ultimately hopeful.

Apparently I am a sci-fi nerd. It’s not that all I read is sci-fi… I guess those just stick out the most to me.

I’ll start a new list for 2008 once I finish my first book. Gotta see how my reading preferences change from year to year.