Donations for the Timothy Blakeney Family

Due to the large volume of requests to assist the Blakeney family in their recovery, some of his closest friends have put together the Tim Blakeney Family Fund. Missio Dei Church is sponsoring this fund so that donations can be streamlined and it doesn't become a financial nightmare for Tim and Bonnie at tax time. All donations are tax deductible. There are three ways to donate:

You can write a check to Missio Dei Church with a note in the memo that reads, "Tim Blakeney Family Fund," and address the envelope to Missio Dei Church, 797 Haywood Rd. suite 002, Asheville, NC 28806.

You can click the "donate" button on this weblog to make a secure online donation to the Tim Blakeney Family Fund. This button affords two options. Option 1 is to pay through your own Pay Pal account. Option 2 is to use a credit card and work through Pay Pal's secure online payment form.

We really appreciate your thoughts, prayers and gifts. Tim and Bonnie are still unaware of this fund, so let's keep a lid on that as long as possible. We'd like to present them one large check within a few weeks from all their loving friends and neigbors.

UPDATE!!! - A blog has been established to keep current on Tim's recovery. You can go to www.timblakeneyfamily.org
and make donations from that site as well.

Our dear friend, Tim

For those of you who don't yet know, yesterday, our worship leader, elder candidate and a great personal friend, Timothy Blakeney was struck by lightening. He was coaching his varsity soccer team through a practice on a relatively clear day after school when a sudden and very stray lightening bolt struck. All the players were on the ground and in the aftermath, Tim and the team's captain, Alex Holbein did not get up.

The original reports were that Alex was revived on the scene and nobody was releasing information on Tim's condition. Sadly this was terribly wrong. Both were taken to the local hospital where Tim was treated and where tragically, Alex was pronounced dead. I spent a good amount of time with my friend and while he was physically in a great amount of pain, the emotional trauma of hearing the news about the loss of his student was inexplicable.

Tim was released this morning and needs to get his rest. He is still incredibly sore. Apparently, lightening strikes cause every muscle in the body to contract causing the whole body to be sore. His phyiscal recovery is very certain, though it will be a few days before he's on his feet. The emotional recovery is going to take a considerable amount of time.

We are lining up some meals for the family, but they need some time to be alone and would rather wait for visitors when Tim, Bonnie, and Todd can enjoy the company. Please pray for the Holbein family, Oakbrook Prep School, and for Tim. I hurt deeply for my friend. This is all so very sad.

The "Next Blog" Button

A friend of mine informed me that when he clicked on the "Next Blog" button in the navigation bar at the top of the blogspot page, that objectional and offensive content stared him in the face. The "Next Blog" button randomly takes you to another blog. I have looked into this and am in somewhat of an ethical dilemna.

Removing the "Next Blog" button, as far as I can tell is not possible. In order to remove it, I would have to remove the enitre navigation bar. However, it would violate the agreement with Google to remove the navigation bar from the blog. I am requesting that Google fix the problem as I certainly didn't agree to link my blog to some of the trash that is so prevalant in cyberspace.

I strongly urge you to not use the "Next Blog" button for any reason. The potential for risk far exceeds any benefit. If and when Google acts, I am not sure it would be safe practice to randomly surf through various blogs.

They Like Jesus, but not the Church

This is a review from a book that I read a few months back, but I thought it would be helpful to resurrect it for all of you.

Kimball does a good job of grappling with the way the church is percieved in culture. Too often, he is overly apologetic for the things he says, which quite often are not as biting as the apology makes them seem. For example, he profusely apologizes for calling pastors, "weaklings." I wouldn't think to apologize for this and would probably choose a more colorful vocabulary to describe these guys. Sometimes it is the thing to do to grab someone's attention. Paul did this in his letter to the Galatian false teachers (i.e. consider Gal. 5:12, "I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!").

The book does what it sets out to do, which is to explore and expose how people feel about Jesus and the Church. People are oftened turned off to methods used in the church rather than the Gospel. A lot of guys get excited about this as a sort of freedom to radically change methods in the church. Unfortunately, the result is a lot of guys motivated by methods and new ways of doing church trying to start new congregations. The problem is that when our motivation to start a church is anything besides the Gospel and the glorification of Jesus Christ, we are actually starting immature religious clubs at best and cults at worst.

The answer to our culture's criticism of methods and culture is to measure it against the truth of the Gospel. Some things that are done in the name of Jesus are no longer culturally relevant and even offensive, but because they are NOT intrinsicly tied to the Gospel, we can change those methods. An example of this would be door to door sales (I mean visitation). In generations past, it was an effective way of disseminating the Gospel story to a culture that by and large recieved it. No longer is this method effective in all cultural situations. Our calling is to prayerfully reflect on new ways of pointing out man's greatest need; a right relationship with God through the death and resurrection of our sinless Savior Jesus.

When we celebrate our style or method of doing this, we celebrate something other than Gospel transformation and we dishonor God. This could be the celebration of old methods or new. If your congregation gets really excited about the rockin' music or the casual atmosphere or the bible version you use or anything other than the risen and ruling Christ, you may be a part of a religious club, and not a church. You may be an offense to God and not the aroma of Christ to a dark and dead culture. Our desire at Missio Dei Church is to be a people called out of culture that lives and proclaims the good news of a restored relationship to God and each other to our city. So much more could be said, but that's all for now.

Best Kids Bible Ever

I spent many years as a family pastor looking for good resources to give to parents who wanted to teach their kids the Bible. If you've ever rummaged through the kids section of Christian book stores, you've probably already realized that there is not much to offer in this vain. The shelves are full of poorly illustrated children's bibles whose main applications are "be nice," and "use God to get what you want" (not surprising since many of the adult bestsellers are identical). My ambition was to one day be involved with the writing of a children's bible that would be worth reading to kids to point out to them the Gospel of Jesus.

I no longer have this ambition because author Sally Lloyd-Jones published the "Jesus Storybook Bible." This book is fantastic. It presents the Bible as a cohesive story with Jesus as the hero and main character and wonderfully ties in the redemptive historical perspective of God's kingdom that is central to understanding Scripture. In her retelling of the Biblical stories, Lloyd-Jones emphasizes faith in God who keeps His promises to redeem mankind instead of emphasizing rule keeping Christianity that is faithless and dead. The beautiful prose and illustrations have kept my three-year-old captivated and made his little prayer life more vibrant. Consider the following exerpt:

"You see, God knew, however high they reached, however hard they tried, people could never get back to heaven by themselves. People didn't need a staircase; they needed a Rescuer. Because the way back to heaven wasn't a staircase; it was a Person.
People could never reach up to Heaven, so Heaven would have to come down to them.
And, one day, it would" (from the closing of the story about the tower in Babel from Genesis 11).

I highly recommend this resource to anyone with kids and have jokingly mentioned to my wife that I may begin preaching out of this book.

Better Parties

For my 30th birthday, my wife thought it would be a good idea to make a big deal about it. I couldn't complain because I love birthdays. I love the celebration of the gift of life (and a great life at that) to such an undeserving schmo like myself. So Shannon rented out the top floor of Barley's Taproom and invited about 45 of our friends. The deal was this: for a flat rate, you get great pizza and an open bar, as well as multiple pool tables, dart boards, and foosball (even though the foosball was coin operated).

This was by far, the best birthday I've had. My last milestone birthday (age 21) was spent on top of Mt. Elbert in Colorado held up with one of my closest buddies in a snow and lightening storm about 1500ft. from the 14,000ft. summit. I wasn't sure I was going to make it back down. This birthday was spent watching people enjoy themselves and talk about God, life, and everything else.

Thanks especially to my God who lavishes upon me good things, to my wife who worked hard to make all of this happend and to my beloved friends who came out and celebrated the gift of life with me.

Terribly Frustrated

So the stubbornness of the older folks at the dying church has been frustrating for Missio Dei and for me personally. After our proposal was submitted and negotiations began, the deal continually went South. We got to the place where we were willing to alter the worship gathering time for our 55 adults plus kids for their 15 people, but in the end, they gave us a definitive "no" on any use of their building. What is so frustrating is that their main reason for holding out is "we've been doing it this way for 40 years and aren't about to change now," a death sentence for anyone claiming to follow Jesus. If the Gospel of Christ is not the motivation for everything and anything you do, not only are you in danger of leading people to dead end roads, but also you really cease to be a church that is faithful to Jesus. You are more akin to a religious country club that takes in people that accommodate to your standards.

On a slightly funnier note, I had to correct my three-year old on a drive back to the house from being out for the evening. I mentioned that we would be going home and having ice cream and he asked, "What game are we going to play while Mommy fixes our ice cream?" So apparently, I have been setting a bad example (or a good example if your a chauvinist pig), because we have daddy play time from 5:30 - 6:30 while my wife cooks dinner. He assumed that we get to play while Mommy does all the food prep. This just goes to prove that you are always teaching, even when you don't realize that you're teaching.