I´m working from an impossibly slow computer here in Costa Rica, but that´s life here.  (I´m not complaining just making the point that blog updates aren´t going to be regular.)

For now I´ll ask you to consider one point of interest.  When you talk to someone returning from a mission trip you can ask them if they had fun. But the answer is usually easy - yes.  Try this question: How did you trip change you?  Not only is it more meaningful but you will learn something new.  It also communicates to the returning missionary that you are intersted and care.

If you don´t really want to know how the trip was just ask if it was fun.

By the way, 4-10ft surf is almost alway fun…

Last week I was apart of two conversations about homosexuality. Both essentially said: “we’re gay and love your church. We want to worship here but need to know if they are welcome / accepted.” Many of you might be interested in how I answered.

My first response was to say, we love you and are happy that you feel comfortable worshiping with us. (I tried to be realistic and remind them that not everyone may react the way I did.)

At some point in the conversation I asked a similar question. How much acceptance is enough? In other words, is it enough to accept you (worship together in love) but not agree with your sexual lifestyle?

Time will how well the conversation went.

Do you want to hear more about my thoughts on the subject? Do you need clarification? Join the conversation…

Please feel free to leave an anonymous comment. I’ll add more controversy (I’m mean fun discussion, later.

After reading my last post about acceptance, consider responding with scripture. You don’t have to but it would add further depth to the conversation. Also, not everyone is comfortable leaving comments, especially on a topic like this. I’d encourage you to try anyway. After all, this thread is about acceptance.

Acceptance and belonging are huge factors for people. We are big on acceptance here at the church and want to continue to help people feel loved no matter what. But I’ve been challenged on this lately.

Twice in three days I’ve been approached by people who identify themselves as homosexual. They report loving our church and feel good about worshiping with us, but have a big question. Are we willing to really accept them? They report that most churches aren’t willing to “accept” openly homosexual people.

I have a clear answer in mind. But how would you answer it? (This should be fun.)

I’ve been preparing for Sunday and considering this question. What are you worried about?

There is the story of Mary and Martha. Martha was worried over the details of the dinner and Mary was concerned about the conversation.

Matthew 6:33 says to seek first the kingdom and everything else will be taken care of.

I know this to be true but I don’t believe it - really. I worry and focus on everything else but Jesus.

I worry about numbers, money, and feeling good (and more). Maybe the problem is not satisfying these “needs” but worrying about the wrong things.

What are you worried about?

this is a hot topic for me.  sometimes people ask me about our vision for ministry and half of the answer is very easy.  i look at what other churches do and do the opposite. it may sound bad or condemning of other ministry but it’s not intended.

ask the average “man on the street” and he will tell you that church, sermon, and christian are all negative terms.  it’s not hard to understand why.

this is my short list of the stereotypes that do us more harm than good.

• The church is full of hypocrites.
• All they want is my money.
• Christians are close minded.
• Guilt and manipulation are the main tools for a Pastor.

half the vision for a growing church is breaking this mindset.

what would you add to that list?

Believe it or not I’ve got this shirt in my closet. I’m too chicken to wear it though, given my position etc. But isn’t it interesting that there is a market for this kind of stuff, why? (Again this image is tame compared to some other stuff you can buy.)

That last post created some great feedback, thanks.  I love the discussion which is why I value the contrary opinions and negative comments.  We need more conversation. Speaking of which…

Its obvious that generous Christ followers don’t have any problem with healthy preaching on finances. The problem is, how do you teach through this vital issue to people who are over sensitive about it?  They are the ones who need it most. (Jesus was okay with people walking away and I should be too.)  My point is different.

I want to change the stereotypes associated with church. The big one is money.  Most people have so few good examples of a healthy church. They tend to be sensitive to the money sermons because they’ve seen to much spiritual manipulation with greed and guilt.

I used to have this sticker that said, Church Makes God Look Stupid. I want to help change that.

Help me create a list. What are some ways that churches hurt God’s reputation?

I love getting feedback from people, good and bad. A wise man once said, as a preacher “you are never as good as people say you are. But you are never as bad as they say you are either.”

I was excited to get some negative feedback today - anonymously, typed, via snail mail. It was a response to my sermons lately and their relation to money. By the way, in two and a half years this was the first series we’ve done that related to finances.

It said “I wish you’d stop discussing it (money) in service and get back to teaching the scriptures. “

I think maybe they missed something. I’m sure they didn’t know that Jesus used money to relate to people in a high percentage of his teaching. I used several of his stories to teach. So did I do the right thing or wrong thing?

Another quote was, “The song that said ‘give, give, give’ was very, very, very annoying.”

I’m sure it was. But was it because of the musical quality or the message? If it was bad guitar playing etc write to Drew. If it was the message blame Jesus. In Luke 14:33 he said, “so you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own”.

With all the grace I can muster please take note that… (this is scripture).

You can’t imagine how sensitive I am about teaching this stuff. I have worked hard to avoid the sterotypes that come with churches and money. At the same, time I am confident that what I said was truth and done with grace.

In the end, I know it wasn’t that great, but it wasn’t that bad either…

Worry doesn’t help anybody but maybe a blog is a good way to at least express it and let it go.

I’m worried about the hesitation of people to engage or connect. Not commenting on a blog is meaningless, sure.  When you get 60 hits and 0 comments it probably means you have a bad blog.

But then I consider the last few Sunday’s.  When you see over 600 people each week and ask for people to turn in a card indicating participation - and only get 10% back, it makes you wonder.

Do we have a communication problem or a commitment problem? Or both? Maybe it’s a leadership issue? If no one is following, you aren’t leading.

I tend to move to fast anyway, maybe that’s it…