K2: One Church - Two Warehouses

Today K2 opened the White Building; coinciding with our 4th year anniversary. The service was absolutely amazing. Dave gave a great message detailing where we have come from and where he believes God is taking us next.

The music could not have been better. Growing up with 2 hour charismatic song services has soured me on church singing, but K2 has been slowly bringing me back around. This morning, they had this cool blend of three choruses, each being led by a different song leader. Along with that, each chorus had its own lighting and video look. The effect was truly awesome! Even song Scrooges like me were shouting "Hallelujah!"

So starting next week, K2 will be doing two identical services simultaneously - one in the red warehouse and one in the white warehouse. Services are at 9:30 and 11:30.

K2 Times Two!

This Sunday will be the fourth anniversary of K2 the Church here in Salt Lake City. We will be opening "the White Building" which will be a second sanctuary on the site, allowing us to do two services simultaneously. Hopefully soon, the staff and volunteers in the white building will be moving to the southern end of the Salt Lake Valley to start the first of many K2 campuses and church plants.

The picture to the right was taken on my phone. I was 20 plus feet up on a scissor lift helping to install lights in the white building. I don't usually think of myself as being afraid of heights, but I was having to control my sense of the willies. Jason assured me that the lift was completely safe, which he proved by shaking it! ;)

I missed the debate tonight due to a South Campus meeting. I am highly looking forward to it. I caught a short moment of it, and both candidates seemed to be conducting themselves well. I hope the entire debate followed the tone of that brief portion I saw.

Compare the Veeps

I agree with the point that Brook made in a previous comment section that, regardless of who takes the presidency, we are getting an upgrade. I believe Obama to have a greater vision for the future, but I can find things to like about McCain.

However, on the VP side, beside the fact that I would disagree with Sarah Palin on a lot -I feel she is out of her element. The very real possibility that McCain would leave her holding the reigns at some point during his term is quite unnerving. Here are videos of Biden and Palin in interviews.



Joe Biden on Real Time with Bill Maher

Body Worlds in Salt Lake City

I was fortunate to be on the receiving end of a free pass for the Body Worlds exhibit that is near Library Square downtown. If you have not seen it before, it is a "museum" of the human body - actual human bodies. The bodies have been preserved and every level of the anatomy is to be seen.

If you go, I suggest you spend a little time people watching. It was interesting to observe the varied reactions. The medical students who prattled off a lot of 25 dollar words. The parents desperately trying to enrich their children; but the children don't want to read the signs they just want to move on to the next body. The giggling adolescents pointing at the sex organs. The middle aged woman softly weeping over a preserved 30 wk old baby. The solitary old man staring into the eyes of the lifeless body before him... time slowing to a crawl. I wondered if he was considering the remainder of his days.

For myself, I was impressed by the complexity of the human body. It was a wonder to see. I could never accept that it formed purely by chance.

I also felt a sense of sterility. The part of me that loves to hear and tell stories wanted to hear the stories of the people who once possessed these bodies. I wanted to see pictures of them from their life. Who were they? Who loved them? Whom did they love? What had they seen in life and what did they learn? I suppose there are legal and practical reasons for anonymity. I wonder if any others who saw the exhibit shared my questions?

Random Thoughts and Happenings

Over the summer, my neighborhood Relief Society offered to put together supply packets for the entire 6th grade at my school. This was a wonderful blessing to our students as well as the teachers. I stopped by my local ward this morning to drop off the thank-you letters that the students and my fellow teachers had written to the ladies of the Relief Society. I want to thank them again for spreading life to those around them.

Since I had no responsibilities at church this morning I decided to visit one of the churches near my house. There are 3 churches that meet in the local Megaplex. As you enter the theater, there are signs directing you to the varied congregations that meet there. If one wanted to church shop, this would be a quick way to see a few very quickly.

I think they are on to something by accident that might work very well on purpose. There are 20 theaters in the Megaplex. Imagine if you had all different traditions sharing a common building, but meeting in their separate sanctuaries to celebrate their varied traditions each Sunday. Pentecostals, Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, Independents, etc.... all meeting under the same roof. After service, everyone could meet in the food court to have lunch together and talk about what was shared that day. During the week, there would be opportunity to easily attend each others bible studies. Service and charitable ministries would benefit from the combined efforts of everyone who shared the building.

Just thinking out loud...

I went to the Pentecostal service at the Megaplex. Though it wasn't my style, there was one part I appreciated much more than I thought I would have. After worship they asked anyone who would like prayer to come forward. They anointed the person with oil and then the pastor and a number of others gathered around, laid hands on them, and earnestly prayed for them. I was touched by this and I believe God was there.

I think I saw so much dysfunctional Pentecostalism when I was younger that I have thrown out the baby with the bath water in many ways. It was nice to have a good experience with something from my roots.

On another topic...

My daughter and I have been cast in a local production of Peter Pan. Kathryn has been in two previous productions under the director, but I am a newbie. I mostly saw this as a chance to do something with my daughter, but I am also finding it to be a lot of fun. I had my first major rehearsal the other night and had a really good time. My older brother has done a fair amount of acting, and I now see what the draw has been. Community develops in theater.

Blessings and Peace to all!

Bias Tips the Scales

I started Bible Quizzing when I was 14. Somewhere in my early 20's I switched from quizzer to coach and quizmaster. The quizmaster is the person who asks the questions that the three teams jump on. He or she also makes judgment calls. Questions are constructed word for word out of the scripture like so:

Q: When did God speak to our forefathers through the prophets?

A: In the past

However, answers do not have to be word perfect, so there is often debate as to what constitutes a right or a wrong answer. Quizzers have the opportunity to debate these nuances with the quizmaster - to defend or contest a given answer.

Looking back, it is interesting to me that when I was a quizzer, most issues were black and white. Quizmasters were, from my perspective, either dead on or out of their minds on particular judgments. Good calls were the ones that I agreed with, bad calls were those with which I did not. The personal convenience of that pattern never occurred to me. I was often puzzled by quizmasters who spent so much time considering a ruling on something that was OBVIOUSLY so clear.

My perspective changed once I started quizmastering. I spent time weighing out the various arguments. I could often give a measure of validation to both sides of the debate. Sometimes I would have to throw a question out because I felt I could not make a fair call otherwise. At that point, the captains of the opposing teams would often roll their eyes... convinced that I could not be more wrong.

What had happened to the certainty I had as a quizzer? Where had the clarity gone?

It went away with my biases. Now that I was no longer advancing or defending a position, I had lost my vested interest. Being on a "side" created a natural imbalance in my mental scales... something that is difficult to recognize while you are on a side.

This makes me wonder where else in my life I see clarity where there is none. Where else do my vested interests push the scale to an outcome that does not exist for someone outside the equation? Through experience I have learned to recognize some of my biases and I try to compensate for them; but how many lurk beneath the surface, silently altering my view to create something that is not completely accurate?

I thought this video of the varying commentary on Michelle Obama's convention speech is a good example of biases coloring the view of the same occurrence.

A Better Republican Convention

In a better universe, the Republican convention would have went this way...


HT: MetaCatholic

Seriously though, I have watched dozens of these kinds of videos over the past few months, and it always amazes me the time someone must have put in to sift though all of the necessary parts to make a video like this (these people obviously do not have kids). Youtube has spawned a new kind of video comedy.

Hope Explored by Brian McLaren

In this video, Brian talks about his reaction to 9/11.



HT Emergent Village

Not flirting anymore...

It is always interesting to me that many Christians get uncomfortable if you emphasize the love of God too much. They always want to toss in a "but".

Yes, God loves you but there is justice. Yes, God loves you but have you repented? Yes, God loves you but what about your sin?

Yes, but... Yes, but... Yes, but...

My boss always bristles in a staff meeting when someone says "Yes, but". She says the but nullifies the Yes. It is an oxymoron.

I have been flirting with Universalism over the past few years. Universalism believes in the complete reconciliation of God and man. As Julian of Norwich said in the 14th century “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well…” Somewhere along the way Universalism ceased to be a flirtation. It became a truth I see throughout scripture.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Notice the two events here? Reconciliation and Salvation. I always saw them as the same thing, so why is Paul separating the two? I believe it is because we are reconciled. Period. So what is Salvation? I believe it is the process of becoming like Him.

Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full".

Peter said that we are to work out our salvation. That verse never made sense to me earlier in my faith. Why did I need to work out a gift? I see now that I do not have to. The gift is reconciliation! AND God wants to gift us again by re-making us into the likeness of his Son.

God's love for me does not depend on me. His acceptance truly is unconditional. Now I am invited to move on in Him.

This makes sense to every parent. You want your child to become all they can. You want them to love and be loved. What could they do to make you turn away?

Not a thing.......

That doesn't mean we will not discipline or be disappointed with our children.... but turn away?

Never!

The Father of the prodigal eagerly awaits the return of the son.

Bart Campolo reminds us that 1 Cor. 13 is not a passage about romantic love. It is a passage about GOD! According to 1st John, God IS love! So let's read 1 Cor. 13 as it describes God.

• God is patient
• God is kind
• God does not envy
• God does not boast
• God is not proud
• God is not rude
• God is not self-seeking
• God is not easily angered
• God keeps no record of wrongs
• God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
• God always protects
• God always trusts
• God always hopes
• God always perseveres

• God NEVER fails

But.....

Nope, the but just doesn't fit.

Palin quote sours everything else she might say..

At the RNC, Sarah Palin said her experience as "a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

I will try to stay open minded, but it is getting hard. This quote was such an unfair, unkind, and horrid thing to say to the many, many of us who work in the inner-city with those who are struggling or have lost hope (and most of those workers are volunteers or working for peanuts). How dare she??!! Her attitude is an example of why I rarely vote Republican anymore.

Jon Stewart Slam Dunks!

Never try to have a civil conversation with someone who is strictly partisan. As I talked to a frothing conservative recently, I acknowledged that Democrats can be full of crap. He bought that, but refused to acknowledge that Republicans can likewise be full of crap. No, no, no... Republicans don't need to embellish he said, all they have to do is bring light to the inconsistencies of Democrats. Hmmmmm..... Well, the staff with Jon Stewart put Republican words through the $h!T tester and came up with a shovelful.

There's a New Blog in Town

My older brother has decided to start committing his thoughts to the world of zeros and ones. His resume' is very eclectic - educated at a South African university while pastoring a church with his wife in Hong Kong, missionary in the Philippines, and he ran for US congress. He and his family recently moved to northeast China to work at an international school.

You can always count on his views to be well thought out, while maintaining a willingness to consider things from a new angle. Stop by and leave a comment at http://www.stevehackman.blogspot.com/

** Correction: Steve wrote me today and he was laughing because he has never even been to the Philippines. Turns out it was Malaysia back when he was with YWAM. Heh! :) It is easy to get mixed up because it seems like everyone I knew at that time in my life was doing missions work somewhere.