So, this past week has been crazy.  With CW we were able to rent a room at what used to be a RIT Music and well, the room was not in good shape and was not painted.  So on Wednesday a group of us started to paint the room, as we started to paint we noticed paneling that needed to come off the wall.  Of course we didn’t get the room all painted the first night, so then Thursday we came back, finished painting and then decided to paint and frame a screen on the wall.  Friday was the Good Friday service that was amazing.  Then on Sunday we had our Easter service, all in all it was a crazy weekened, yet those are the moments that I live for.  Great things were done and greater things are still to come in this city.

As some of you might know, about a year and a half ago, Natalie and I started to attend a church called CrossWinds.  As time went on, we got more and more involved, eventually I heard Jesus call me to being a church planter.  Talk about something to rock one’s boat and well, one’s world.  So through the course of some events we moved out to Wyoming, MI…to the place that God had called us.  It was about 4 months ago that we moved out here.  

To be honest, a first, while I loved where we lived, it didn’t feel like home.  However over the past month this place has slowly become my town, my home.  Natalie and I have a park that we love to go to and walk, we have a Seven Eleven that we like to go to.  We have a store that we buy our groceries at, they are putting a Sonic in near us and most importantly we have found a donut shop that is “ours.”  So while this town is way different than where I grew up, this is my town and I love it and long for the glory of Jesus to be known amoungst the people that live here, in my town.

Partnerships are so important.  Have you noticed that in life?  I know that I am not the first one to say that but hopefully I have a perspective on them that you have not heard of.  Now partnerships can be formal or informal, in this age partnerships can be very fluid.  If you are from the church world you might know that denominations are falling to the wayside while networks are taking over.  The great thing about networks is that every one that is involved can choose to be in or out, so the people that are there, want to be there.  Another thing that is nice is that a group can be a part of multiple networks.  There are many benefits from these partnerships, one being that you can partner with people who have a common goal, now every person in this group may not completely agree.  In the church setting, a group of churches may want to reach the youth in the area so they partner, however these groups may disagree on some of their theology, yet can work together for the same purpose.

Now if you are in the business world you might be involved with partnerships, again some of them may be formal or others may be informal.  Where I work we are involved in some informal partnerships and some formal partnerships.  We are involved in some professional and tax associations of like minded people.  Now again the companies may not agree on everything and how to do it, yet they have the same purpose.

Both churches and businesses have mainly the same reason for being involved in partnerships.  To partner with others that have the same purpose and to make it easier for people to find somebody that has the same purpose that the partnership has.

In this world, if you are not partnered with others, you are bound to fail, while it may have worked in the past to be the lone wolf type of person, it does not work in a world that is so connected.  With the advent of being able to communicate to the other side of the world in seconds, if one wants to be successful they must be connected to others that have the same purpose as them.  So, who are you partnered with?

So officially Twitter and doing taxes has killed my desire blog.  If I have a thought I then write it on Twitter, all the while I may be thinking “I should blog this,” then when I get home and go to blog it, I have no inspiration to blog that anymore.  So what has Twitter and the act of twittering done to your blog?

So I have a new look for new start to this blog.  I want to blog more about this topic about being a missionary is like plowing a field of rocks.  So look forward to that post coming this weekend.  So come back later on to read my thoughts on that topic.

When I started out this blog I did not intend it to become what it has.  I wanted this blog to be about what was going on in my life and about ministry and the combination of those two things.

So what really happened?  Well somehow it turned into a blog that just complains about things and in fact mocks things.  Well I still think that what I said is true, it was just a waste of time, mine and yours.

To those that have read or continue to read thanks for reading and sorry that I have wasted our time, complaining about crap.  Who cares about Slice of Laodicea, or what Ken Silva thinks about my blog,  to be honest the emergent church will continue doing what it will and slowly die off and the fundies will still be no fun

That leaves me with what to do with this blog.  I don’t want to close it (I think)… rather I want to change the direction of the blog to where it is supposed to be.  So here is to a new future about Jesus, ministry, my life and how those all intertwine.  So in the wise words of Scott Thomas “I’m bored with it all and my neighbor needs Jesus.”  Cause the city that God has put me in needs Jesus and God has called me to be a part of that movement.

“I love my classic car” said the guy.  ”Do you want to see a picture of my pride and joy,” he asked.  ”Yeah I would like to see a picture,” I replied.  Out comes a card that had a picture like the one above and on the back it said I was going to hell and I was like “Wow, thank you sir for handing me this card, now I shall believe in this Jesus.”  Ok that is not what I said at the end, however I was handed a tract at work this past week.  Maybe it is just me, however it annoys me when Christians hand out tracts.  It has happened to me twice while at work.  It is so impersonal, so very rude and just plain tacky.  So the next time some guy asks me if I want to see their pride and joy, I should say “only if I can punch you in the face afterwards.”  Give me a break Mr. Pride and Joy guy.

…IT WOULD BE BETTER TO BE ATTACKED BY A PITBULL THAN BE EMERGENT:  (aka, why being emergent is stupid)

5.)  Why be kosher unless you are Jewish?

4.)  Universalism is doesn’t make sense.

3.)  One can preach the Gospel AND help people.

2.)  Didn’t the Methodist try the social gospel and become irrelevant?

And the top reason why it would be better to be attacked by a pit bull than be emergent is…

1.)  Jesus is a better savior than any Rabbi or other “deity”.

Additional reason that was a comment on my FB status: You can see the damage from the pit bull.

And those are the reasons why a person shouldn’t be emergent.  The end.

URGENT UPDATE ON CAGE FIGHT:  It looks like the cage fight of Poopemerges v. Slice has been postponed, due to it being picked up by ESPM, they want to show it on Saturday January 31st.  Poopemerges was a little sad about it being postponed and being shown on ESPM “I just fear that somehow I might lose to a female and that would be bad, especially with it being on ESPM.”  Well we will keep you informed to the smack talk going on between the two.  To those fans out there that worry about the ref being bribed don’t worry.  Contend Earnestly has been put in a box so that he can study to be  5 pointer.

This just in the author of Poopemerges and the author of Slice of Laodicea got so mad at each other that they decided to meet and have a cage fight Monday January 26th.  When asked about the cage fight Poop said “I normally don’t fight females, but when she attacked Mark Driscoll, it was on.  I have no problem taking her out and then kicking her until she bleeds.”  What is one to say to that and after he said that to me, he started to foam from the mouth.  

So I went to talk to  Slice and she was like “I am not afraid of the Poop man, I will play dirty and hide some chains in the cage and use them on him.”  When asked why she would bend the rules and do something so haneous she said “Well I hope that I can beat up on Poop so much that he can’t preach or have a man crush on the Driscoll guy anymore.”  Well how could we expect Slice to be any more honorable than that?

When asked about the possiblity of foul play the ref for the cage fight Contend Earnestly said “I am going to be on the lookout for foul play and while I am a four pointer and may miss out on some things I plan on being on top of this match and watch out for some cheap shots from Slice.”

I promise to keep you up to date as this fight nears.  Hopefully this will be a cage fight for the ages.