Read This: Triumph of the City

Mind = blown.

Someone has finally articulated all of the things that city-lovers and city-dwellers have felt to be true.

Red Bowl

http://www.gracepoint.org/redbowl

Of Discipleship

I posed the question to my College gang last Sunday night:

"Who are you discipling?"

Like, if Jesus left us asking us to make disciples (that Great Commission thing), that meant that he really wanted us to make disciples. Like a rabbi did. Training people in the Way.

So why don't we do that? And why, when it actually happens, is it so haphazard?

Jesus walked up to dudes and just straight asked them. "Hey, follow me?"

Do we lack the confidence that we'll actually be leading people in the right direction? Or are we so proud as to think that we don't have to ask...that people will just flock to us? And when did relational, rabbinical instruction get morphed into large-scale teaching via microphone and video projector?

If I picked three guys that I felt like I needed to lead, do you think they would agree to follow me? To challenge me and learn with and from me? Would I stick with them when they flake out or buck up? Would I spend years with them, know them for who they really are, and love them for who they're not?

And then what would I even do with them? Book study? Weekly meals? Rabbi Jesus spent 24/7 with his posse. I would get a couple hours a week? And a few reTweets from Twitter?

We've lost discipleship.

And yet I challenge my college students to lead, to teach, to disciple...

...without having hard evidence in my own life of true rabbinical discipleship.

I guess we march on, figuring it out together. What does discipleship look like in 2011 America?

Kindle-ings: Evangelism as Radical

"Kindle-ings" is a title given to posts that come from my reading. I will post excerpts here that provoke thought, require reflection, or simply amuse. From my Kindle to you, I hope they kindle something worthy of our time.

"Evangelism is the most basic and radical ministry possible to a human being. This is true not because the spiritual is more important than the physical, but because the eternal is more important than the temporal."

From Generous Justice by Timothy Keller

Beautiful Things

Sometimes you just have to share Truth.

Uncommon Gift: Wall-Jumpers and World-Changers

From 1/30/2011.

Uncommon Gift from Grace Point Church on Vimeo.

Faster Than a Speeding Yaris

I mentioned my Saturday neighborhood bicycle adventure in this space yesterday. What I didn't mention is just how much fun it is to be faster than cars.

What?!?

Well, the distance from Jefferson High School to Chris Madrids Hamburgers is about 2 1/2 miles. I rode my hipster, single speed bike and Stef drove our (hipster, single speed) Toyota Yaris. And I beat her there. I puffed up a bit, seeing as how I would probably join the Tour de France after this incredible display of cycling prowess, but I left it at that.

Besides, I was pretty sure that she just couldn't get Bella buckled in the car seat or something and that gave me the victory.

Then, something magical happened after lunch.

I beat her home. I beat her home, locked my bike up in the shed, and came out to greet her as she pulled up.

Boom. Truth bomb. So, in theory, it would be faster for the people in the picture above to hook the Yaris to the back of the bicycle and let it do the pulling.

Well, maybe that is taking it a bit too far, but...

...I'll see about looking into that Tour de France thing after all.