Awaken Thoughts

Erwin McManus on Leadership @ Awaken 2008 Day Two.

There are a lot of great churches out there that are reaching people like Mary and Martha and Peter in the Scriptures, but there aren’t enough which reach out to Dionysius and Damaris (Acts 17). It’s better to be alienated by the Christian world if that is what it takes to reach the alienated.

Filed under: Awaken, Creativity, Erwin McManus, Innovation, Mosaic

Awaken Thoughts

Mark Batterson on Leadership @ Awaken 2008 Day One.

Too often we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. We stop doing ministry out of creativity but out of memory. Faith is the willingness to look foolish. God seems to use the people willing to look foolish the most. R.T. Kendall — “The greatest opposition to what God is doing today comes from those who were on the cutting edge of what God was doing yesterday.”

Filed under: Awaken, Creativity, Innovators, Mark Batterson, Mosaic

The Big 10

For starters, could you even list the 10 commandments?

I get lost after listing about three. It’s just never been something I’ve concerned myself with, but this weekend I heard a reference that I had never considered concerning the big tablets so I thought I’d look them up. Turns out there are more than ten imperative statements in Exodus, and different religions / denominations divide the commandments up differently (you learn something new everyday).

Here is the list that I’m most familiar with.

I – You shall have no other gods before Me.

II – You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the water below.

III – You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

IV – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

V – Honor your father and your mother.

VI – You shall not murder.

VII – You shall not commit adultery.

VIII – You shall not steal.

IX – You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

X – You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, wife, male servant, female servant, ox, donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

The reference I heard this weekend was by Erwin McManus while watching a DVD of Ethos 2006. He said that most of the world looks at the ten commandments as this ceiling of being righteous, when in reality it is simply a base level marker of being human. To do less than these would be considered less than human. I don’t know why I’ve never thought about it in those terms.

And now for a little lighter diversion, here is a great short video by Coudal Partners where one man breaks all ten commandments before breakfast.

Filed under: God, Humanity, Mosaic, Religion, Ten Commandments

PFP Reviewed: Introduction

Peppermint-Filled Piñatas
Introduction: The Art of Woo
Overcoming the Christian Stereotype

A negative Christian stereotype is prevalent and spreading, and we’ve helped cause this by being judgmental, irrelevant, mean, and hypocritical. Too often we just prove to the world that we have nothing more to offer than they are already experiencing. As a result, more and more people see Christianity as part of their past rather than as a guiding force for their future.

Eric wonders what we are currently doing or not doing that will cause us to feel ashamed in the future, and calls us to be part of the solution in our divided world rather than part of the problem. To live a life that embraces the people that Christians generally love to hate. To be agents of change.

This is something I have been trying to do myself for a few years now. I have re-examined my entire world view and have started building it again from the ground up. When people think of a Christian, something always pops into their head, and it’s usually not genuine love for others. My goal is to paint a new picture for our culture about what it really means to be a Christ follower.

What are some ways you’re trying to change our image?

Filed under: Books, Change Agents, Diversity, Eric Bryant, Friendship, Love, Mosaic, Peppermint-Filled Piñatas, Reviews, Sterotypes, Tolerance

Peppermint-Filled Piñatas

There’s nothing more exciting than receiving a book in the mail that you’ve been wanting to read for a few months now. Oh wait, there is. It’s freaking awesome when that book was sent to you by the author himself, with a personalized message on the inside flap. Yeah, that pretty much rocks!

And to top it all off, it’s a book by Eric Bryant, who serves as an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at Mosaic in Los Angeles, alongside my man Erwin McManus.

The book is called Peppermint-Filled Piñatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love, and needless to say, you’re going to be hearing a lot about this book in the coming weeks. I’ve decided to forgo the typical full review after reading the book, and instead review each chapter as I go. Hopefully that will generate a little more discussion along the way.

Here are the chapters we have to look forward to:

Introduction: The Art of Woo
Overcoming the Christian Stereotype

1. Curry Favor
Winning People and Influencing Friends

2. Bounce Houses in the Neighborhood
Getting off the Couch to Make Friends

3. Peppermint-Filled Piñatas
Partying to Expand Our Influence

4. A Fellowship of Freaks
Finding a Common Cause to Create Community

5. Uncivil War
Proving That God Is Real

6. White Men Can Jump (Just Not as High)
Seeing Past Stereotypes

7. The Untouchables
Learning to See Those We Overlook

8. Compassionate Conservatives and Loving Liberals
Reaching across the Ideological Aisle

9. Lots of Sex in the City
Engaging Others in a Post-Sexual Revolution World

10. The Mosque Next Door
Building Relationships with the Religious

Conclusion: Apathetics Anonymous
Activating Personal Change

You ready to join me?

Filed under: Books, Eric Bryant, Erwin McManus, Faith, Hope, Love, Mosaic, Peppermint-Filled Piñatas

Eric Bryant

Eric Bryant serves as an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at Mosaic in Los Angeles. A sought-after speaker, Eric is one of the co-authors of The Uprising Experience, a workbook developed for Promise Keepers based on Erwin McManus’ book Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul, and has written several articles for Group and Relevant Leader magazines. His book, Peppermint-Filled Piñatas: Breaking Through Tolerance and Embracing Love, was published with Zondervan in June 2007.

Do the Mud Puppy a favor and head over to his website or his blog and sign up for his newsletter. At the appropriate prompt tell them that I referred you and maybe I can win a little prize!

You’ll be hearing a lot more about Eric on this blog in the coming days. I’ve joined a team to help him spread the word about Peppermint-Filled Piñatas. I can’t wait!

Filed under: Books, Eric Bryant, Erwin McManus, Mosaic, Newsletters

Better Together

Together we make a better community. In the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to see the good in people shine through when normally I’d see only the negative. I’ve been able to find things that are great in people and have seen where in my life those things were lacking. Seeing how we all fit together is a really nice way to live. Instead of focusing on each others faults, we should focus on their strengths and try to incorporate them into our own lives.

I’ve mentioned several times how much I like Erwin McManus and his church Mosaic. Here is a little blurb about how why they are called Mosaic.

We are a community of followers of Jesus Christ, committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope. The name of our community comes from the diversity of our members and from the symbolism of a broken and fragmented humanity which can become a work of beauty under the artful hands of God. We welcome people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey. Come to Mosaic, and discover how all the pieces can fit together!

Isn’t that a cool concept? Isn’t that a cool theory? To think that we are all broken shards of glass individually, but under the direction of God, we can be seen as something beautiful when we are used together… especially when light shines through us…

Filed under: Christian Life, Erwin McManus, Mosaic