KevinStoverBlog.com

Wow, what a day today has been. This morning the library internet went down. The whole thing. Thankfully there weren’t many patrons here, but I got calls from almost everybody that works in an office. Some of the people I didn’t even know, until they needed something fixed. So, to take my mind off the fact that I’ve been up to my eyeballs in server problems, I’m going to talk a little bit about the writings of our old friend, the Apostle Paul.

From what we can gather, the Apostle Paul was born somewhere near the city of Tarsus, which is in modern day Turkey. While both his parents were presumably Jewish, his father performed some sort of service for the Roman Empire. No one knows exactly what this service consisted of, but it was enough to garner Roman Citizenship for himself and for his son. Even though his father was employed by Rome, the family tried to maintain their Jewish heritage. To this end, Saul (who would later become Paul) was sent to study with the most popular Jewish Rabbi of his day, Gamaliel. As Saul was studying, he became a member of a growing religious movement within Judaism. The Pharisees were a group of reiligous devotees who’s members were a cross section of society. Unlike the priests and others who made up the Sanhedrien, anyone could become a Pharisee. It was not limited to certain bloodlines or families. This group stressed a return to a literal interpretation of the Bible, particularly the first five books (The Torah, or Pentateuch). Joining with the Pharisaic movement at some point in his early adult life, Saul became an expert at the Levitical laws of the old testament and the strict interpretation of the Pharisees.

Paul’s ministry would be impacted by both his Roman and Jewish heritage. In Acts 22:25, for instance, he asks: “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?” Taken aback, the soldier immediately stops the punishment. The Greco-Roman influence on Paul doesn’t stop at legalities. When he approaches the philosophers in Athens (Acts 17), he is able to discuss philosophy as if he is one of them. While the Holy Spirit did help Paul in his speech at the Areopagus , he was able to “witness” to these people because he had studied how they thought.

So, which was more important? Paul’s “religious” upbringing, or his “secular”? Was it better that he knew all of the books of the Bible, or that he knew the ins and outs of the latest philosophy? The truth is that each aspect of Paul is important. He was able to reach the religious crowd because of his religious background. He was also able to reach the “secular” world because of his “secular” background. What makes you who you are? Were you raised in church? Do you know a lot about sports? God doesn’t want us to forget our “secular” heritage in favor of our “religious” upbringing, or vise versa. He has equipped us to reach certain people, and if we ignore this combination of talents, experiences and desires, we won’t reach everyone God intends.

For those of us that aren’t Jewish, aren’t you glad that Paul had that “secular” understanding that let him minister to the gentiles?

Who has God equipped you to reach? And, more importantly: Who are you reaching?

So, it’s back again. No, I’m not talking about that winged messenger of love, Cupid, I’m talking about our next preview service. This Sunday, February 18th we’ll be taking over the Premiere Theatre’s Mega Screen again. Since I became executive pastor, these things just seem to be coming sooner and sooner. I spent all day today on the phone confirming that people were actually going to show up (well, to work anyway) and making other arrangements. It looks to be a very exciting day. We already have a few new elements in place that should add a lot to our guest’s experience. One of these is the playing of music videos and a countdown on the theatre’s lobby televisions. What are some of the small things you do to make your guest’s visit special?

Well, since James‘ last post was about how and why he gets destroyed at Halo2, let me tell you a little bit about why he doesn’t have an overall losing record. (We may even be able to find some leadership truth in there somewhere, although no promises.) Here’s the normal scenario:

James and I hook up the xbox to his freakin’ sweet 32in lcd tv. (HD, yeah, we’ve got that). We boot up the Xbox Live and usually begin with a few regular “team slayer” games. “Team slayer” is a game type in Halo2 in which two teams of four battle to see which team can accumulate 50 kills first. After we get a little warmed up, we switch over to our favourite game type called “double team”. As the name suggests, this is game pits two teams of two against each other in various game types. Sometimes it may be “slayer”, in which case you try to get 30 kills before the enemy team, or it may be an objective based game where you try to capture the enemy flag or plant a bomb. This is our favourite game type because it pits the two of us against only two other competitors. We don’t have to worry about all those other people shooting at us.

The question is, if James is so bad at Halo2, why don’t we lose every game we play? Well, the first is that the matchmaking system in Halo2 tries to keep you with people of comparable skill. The second is that I don’t suck as bad as he does. I can do all of the things that he can’t. In fact, I can usually watch his screen and mine at the same time. I can be in the middle of a fire-fight and warn him that someone is trying to sneak up behind him. What can I say, it’s a gift. (Now, I don’t think it’s a spiritual gift, but who knows?). I’m also always trying to tell James which weapons to use depending on his situation.

James knows that if he wants to win, he needs to surround himself with people who make up for his weaknesses. I am good at the things he isn’t and vise-versa. Well, what that really means is that James is good at throwing grenades, while I am probably the worst grenade thrower I know. James has the ability to put grenades into an exact location, sometimes even from across the map. Because I know he can do this, sometimes I randomly shout “grenade” at him to get him to unleash his awesome abilities. We compliment each other. If you are a leader, surround yourself with people who have gifts where you are lacking. I told you I’d try to find a good lesson about leadership in here.

Now, as if there was need to further prove my geekdom, I give you this picture:

Yep. That’s me playing some Halo2. Well, if I could actually put myself into the game. That hat would probably have to go though, it doesn’t provide much of an armour bonus.

HALO 2 CHALLENGE:

Well, in closing I would like to take this time to openly challenge any church pastor/leader to a game (or games) of Halo2. The rules are simple: James and myself versus you and any other church leader of your choosing. No ringers please. If you’re interested, leave a comment and we’ll make arrangements. That is if you aren’t too scared. Craig, if you’re reading this, don’t be a scaredy cat. I know how much you hate cats. Step up to the plate. Verge vs Swerve. The people want to see it. What’s up for grabs? Bragging rights of course, and maybe a cool trophy to put on your blog.

Has your boss ever asked you to do anything that is “out of your scope”? In other words, something that isn’t in your job description? If there’s anything that I’ve learned over my short pastoral career, it’s that when you become a pastor, people expect EVERYTHING to be in your job description. Now, there’s nothing wrong with stretching yourself, or wearing many different kinds of hats, but sometimes this can stretch a pastor too thin. In many traditional models of church leadership pastors burn out very quickly. This is because they do everything within the church. Printing, copying, studying, preparing messages, counseling, teaching, visiting, performing weddings, funerals, etc. None of these are “out of the job description” for a pastor necessarily, but expecting one or two people to be able to do everything within a church is ridiculous. In my new role of executive pastor I’ve been given the task of making sure that everything is ready for Sunday mornings, and for the church to grow and become what it should be. Without having people to work with, I could never get all of this accomplished. If I had to put the music together, rehearse it and perform it (for one thing, it would be awful), it would never get done. If I had to prepare the children’s church message, puppet skits and organize children’s church meetings every week, I’d kill myself. The point is simply that pastors can’t be pastors without other people within the church doing what God has called them to do. How can we “oversee” the functioning of the church if we are doing all the functioning?

If you are a church leader, how do you find the skills and abilities of those within your body and plug them into the operation of the church on a weekly basis? How do you keep them on task and purpose? If we all share our insights, we can focus more time on what matters: people.

A big thanks to all those at LifePoint who make my job easier by doing what God has called them to do!

Some small-time pastor named Craig Groeschel put up a post on his blog Swerve about the same subject. You should check it out.

In my last post, I talked about the in service we had today the Library. One of the most amazing things I noticed was how opposed some people were to viewing the patrons of the library as “customers”. Now, mostly these were the employees that had been at the Library forever. What is their perception of our patrons? Well, not really much more than people mooching off a free service. Basically the idea is “Where else are they going to go?” What is the point of making sure we provide good customer service if we have a monopoly on the market? What some people fail to realize is that the Library does have competition. Book stores, online movie rental companies, even online book rental companies all offer portions of Library services, albeit with a fee.

As long as these workers view patrons in this light, they will never feel compelled to deliver the customer service experience which brings people back. Something that is extremely important to a corporation supported by those same people. How much better would the patron’s visit to the Library be if each employee viewed them as important customers?

The church can be susceptible to the same incorrect perceptions. If we think that our guests are going to come just because we have no competition, we’re fooling ourselves. We are in competition, not with other churches, but with everything else going on in our guest’s life. Likewise, they aren’t going to show up just because “we’re there”. We aren’t the only game in town on Sunday mornings, it’s very easy to just stay at the church of the fuzzy comforter. Let’s not make the same mistakes; let’s make sure our perceptions of our guests are accurate.

As some people know, I work at our local public library as the head of IT. It’s not a bad job, and it definitely pays the bills. Right now I’m on a break in our “in-service” day. What’s an in-service day? Well, that’s just a fancy way of saying free food if you come and listen to a lecture about customer service. Well, that’s what it normally means. Today has been a surprisingly refreshing experience with staff training. When I first heard that we were having someone come to teach us about customer service, I admit was a little skeptical. Ok, I was really skeptical, and probably a little bit antagonistic. I mean, I have spent the last few years of my life learning about marketing and customer service in an attempt to make LifePoint as effective as possible. Who was this guy to tell me about how to serve customers? Sheesh. But, I’m glad to say that attitude was definitely the wrong one. The session this morning was anything but boring; while I didn’t really gather any “new” insights, it was a fun time and helps to re-enforce some things I already knew. I’ll put some more up later today, but for now I’m going to go get some of that free lunch.

P.S. the company is called Think and Do.

So, that’s what I would look like if I were a Giant M&M. Suprisingly, that looks a lot like me. Especially when I wear glasses and not contacts. Why’d I waste the time it took to customize an M&M look a like? Because I could. Becomeanmm.com is part of a promotion by M&M which also features a commercial of people “becoming” M&Ms while they watch a movie, walk the dog and do other regular stuff. The site ties in with the commercial in allowing people to create their very own M&M, all the while building up love for the brand. You can customize until the cows come home, even put your M&Mself© (Copyright coming soon…Mars, call me) into a movie or game.

What’s the point of all of this candy coated goodness? M&Ms aren’t just for snacking, they fit into every area of your life. You identify with them, especially if you are one of them. Wouldn’t it be great if churches could do that? Create a value product and connect it with the real world. Help people identify themselves with God and his family. Maybe we could make a website so that people could see what they would look like if they became Christians,just like M&M’s.

If we could, I bet they’d find they don’t really look a lot different than they do now, just like that M&M looks a lot like me.

Ok, so I have to put a disclaimer on this blog. If you are easily offended, please do not read this blog. I warned you, so please don’t get angry with me and want to burn me as a heretic if you don’t like what you read. Thanks. P.S. there really isn’t a show entitled: “When Christians Attack” I just thought it was funny. Sorry if you came to this blog under false pretenses.

You know what really makes me mad? (You probably don’t, but don’t worry, that’s just a rhetorical question) Christians whose idea of being like Christ is boycotting things. Now, apart from the relatively ineffectiveness of boycotting, the part that really fries my bacon are the reasons Christians give for not shopping at a particular store. Here’s a list of some recent Christian boycotts:

• Disney World. Reason? Days for Homosexuals.
• Ford Motor Company. Reason? Supporting Homosexual and Lesbian rights.
• Target. Reason? Wouldn’t say “Merry Christmas”. But, in the boycotter’s defense, they are called “Target”.
• Wal-Mart. Reason? You Guessed it. They support Homosexual and Lesbian rights.
• CVS Pharmacy. Reason? Now, I know you’re thinking “they support Homosexual and Lesbian rights”…but, actually..well..yeah, it is in a round about way. They stopped supporting the Boy scouts because they don’t allow Homosexuals. They don’t allow Lesbians either, but that’s just gender-based discrimination.

Mmm…I can’t put my finger on it, but I swear there’s a pattern there somewhere. Oh, yeah. It seems that all Christian boycotts revolve around Homosexuality or Christmas. Are those really the only evil things in the world?? I mean, if you are going to boycott Wal-Mart, do so because of illegal labor practices, or the maintenance of oppressive regimes in third-world countries to support our own materialistic desires, not because they spend their money on helping Homosexual groups. It’s their money. They can spend it however they want. And since when do we expect non-Christians to act like Christians? They don’t share the Christian world-view, so of course they are going to think we are wackos. More importantly, what kind of picture does this paint of Christ? Every time one of our stupid boycotts makes the news, we lose touch a little more with the very people we are trying to reach. God didn’t call us to boycott things or to lobby for legislation; he called us to make the world a better place. To actually, physically go out into the world and be his hands and feet. Not through petty arguing, or complaining or forcing others to live in a certain way, but by showing his love to others through kindness and being servants. Jesus said: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

When will the world really see Jesus? When Christians lay down their lives to truly serve others.

Hello everybody out there in internet land. I just installed Office 2007 and decided to try and publish this post from Word. Let’s see if it works!

Update ( <1 minute later): Wow, not only does it work for posting, but I can also edit old posts and manage my entire blog from Word ‘07. I suggest you look at the tutorial I found on using Word 2007 and WordPress. From what I’ve read online, Word ‘07 is also compatible with other popular blogging software.

Well, this is probably going to be the last post in the series about good ole’ Q. If you look in the category of history stuff, you’ll see the previous posts about the origins of the gospels. We’ve talked a little bit about the textual history and evidence for each of them, and now we we’ll to try to pull all of it together into a nice little conclusion. So, here goes.

Mark was probably the first of the canonical gospels written, probably in about c.64 A.D. Matthew and Luke followed, with John being the procrastinator and coming in last. Mark, Matthew and Luke are so similar in places, it seems like a common source for them is impossible to dismiss. What are the implications of this “original” source? Not much really. Some scholars have speculated that the theology of the synoptics is radically different from John. I would disagree. They would also say that John represents a later Christological tradition than the source of the synoptics. This is also false. It has been proven (see previous post on John) that the gospel of John existed in at least the late first century A.D. (c. 80-90). Now, if you are calling about 30 years after the composition of Mark “later” then, yeah, I suppose it’s a “later” tradition.

The idea that Jesus’ followers believed he was “God” is at the heart of Christianity, and isn’t an add-on to Jesus’ “real life”. There is even a secular, Roman history of Christians calling Jesus “God”. In a letter to the Emperor Trajan, Pliny the younger (three points if you can figure out why he is called “the younger” and who “the elder is”, just leave a comment if you figure it out) tells a story of persecuting Christians in Asia Minor in the early 2nd century (c.125 A.D.). In the course of examining some “Christians” he finds, among many things, that they worship Christ as “God”. Interesting that from a secular source we would have Christians described worshipping Jesus as “God” only a few decades after the gospel of John had been penned.

Yep, sounds a lot like a later tradition to me

In the long run, it really doesn’t matter if the gospels came from an earlier “source” document. The truth is, the writers of the gospels didn’t think that these “early” documents were adequate, or they didn’t know about them. We have to remember that it took a long time for writings to be copied and dispersed. One of the reasons we have four gospels is that they were written for specific people and locales. Luke actually tells us that he uses earlier sources in his introduction. His gospel was part one of a letter to a specific person. Does that make it an epistle and not a gospel? In other words, the fact that the writers used other documents as a “guide” doesn’t discount inspiration.

Well, I think we’ll save that incorrigible apostle Paul for another series of posts. I think our next historical topic will be the impact of heresy on the formation of Christianity. Don’t worry, it’s a lot more interesting than it sounds.