Thank You Mr. Piper

John Piper,

I want to thank you and God for your passion for Jesus. You have nothing to envy; you give away your money, you adopt children when you could retire in Palm Springs, you don’t buy the coolest clothes, you’re not young, you don’t even own a tv.

But—Christ’s glory radiates out of your life with more intensity than I’ve ever seen. When I saw you speak at Text and Context, I knew how big our God is.

Thank You John Piper.

~Mike Anderson

p.s. check out this motion graphic of John Piper on the prosperity gospel from MotionHouse

Inbred Faith part 3

I have a confession. A few years ago I’d listened to every sermon Mark Driscoll had ever recorded. I have nothing but great things to say about Mark and Mars Hill, but I could tell my faith was growing very inbred when I started referring to sin as “jacked up” and talking about wussy guys that wear lemon yellow and ride on tandem bikes together (see photo above).

I have broadened the preachers that I listen to on a fairly regular basis. Here’s an comprehensive list of pastors that I have a ton of respect and gratitude towards:

John Piper
Tim Keller
Mark Driscoll
Pete Williamson
CJ Mahaney
Matt Chandler

Inbred Faith Part 1
Inbred Faith Part 2

Stay Cool With God!

I just saw this picture and had to share it. Wow, what can I say? God and candy, who would have thought. Now before we get all bent out of shape about how dare the church do such a thing, I have to say it was not a church. This wonderful sugary mix was crafted by the Oriental Trading Company. Lets learn from this, candy should just be candy, and God is God. We need to always beware that we are not trying to make a buck off of God. I think Jesus had some words on this.

HT: A Little Leaven

It’s the Sin Stupid: part 2 of Cross Pollination

In the second part of our series on cross pollination I want to share with you how reading about Bill Clinton has helped me be a more repentant man (I know, that sounds difficult). Let me tell you the whole story:

When you’re reading a well written book, an author can get you to believe some really nutty stuff. It’s the same reason that Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons can be so convincing. This is why it’s so important to be a discerning reader. One method I find helpful to keep my mind discerning is to read several books at a time.

So I am reading ‘Made to Stick‘ and ‘Outgrowing the Ingrown Church‘ at the same time. One story about Bill Clinton’s campaign for president really stuck to my brain… Clinton cared so much about the issues that he was drilling all of his positions on all of the issues. James Carville, Clinton’s adviser, stepped in a gave him a very important nugget of wisdom—people can’t process everything at once, you need to boil it down for them. The resulting saying is , “It’s the economy, stupid!” People understood.

In the other book I’m reading, the author explains that the gospel can solve any problem, because the real problem in the world is sin. I often times blame problems on miscommunication, being tired, upbringing, etc. But the problem is sin, especially my sin.

When I mixed these two ideas together, I got the resulting phrase… “It’s the sin, stupid!”

This has been so helpful. When something happens at work that I don’t like… “It’s the sin, stupid!”

When I’m ticked at my wife… “It’s the sin stupid!”

When I get angry at the current political scene… “It’s the sin, stupid!”

Humility for the Humble

Humility is something I am always struggling with, and I am sure I am not the only one. Here are six amazing points John Piper made on the Desiring God blog that everyone needs to read. Make sure you also check out the original post for scripture references.

1. Humility begins with a sense of subordination to God in Christ.
2. Humility does not feel a right to better treatment than Jesus got.
3. Humility asserts truth not to bolster ego with control or with triumphs in debate, but as service to Christ and love to the adversary.
4. Humility knows it is dependent on grace for all knowing and believing.
5. Humility knows it is fallible, and so considers criticism and learns from it; but also knows that God has made provision for human conviction and that he calls us to persuade others.
6. Humility is to believe in the heart and confess with the lips that our life is like a vapor, and that God decides when we die, and that God governs all our accomplishments.

Inbred Faith part 1

You’ve heard the joke about the inbred redneck who’s cousin is also his mother… Well, your ideas may be just as dysfunctional. Theological inbreeding is running rampant. It seems that people that emphasize theology can become mean and self-righteous. People who focus on innovation or church growth tend to stray away from the true God presented in scripture. Charismatics egg each other on to crazier ‘gifts’. Emergent people focus on being different etc.

I want to give a shout out to Ben Arment with his whiteboard sessions. He’s bringing together eight leaders from very different circles of influence.

It’s the same reason that when you were a kid you thought the home school kids were weird. They don’t get any outside commentary on where they are going and end up 100 miles off course. Everyone thinks they’re right. Otherwise they wouldn’t think that way. So I will spend the next week talking about ‘cross pollination’ of ideas. To be specific, I believe that you must be firmly rooted in the Bible, and seek out a vast number of ideas that you weight against the scriptures with prayer and discernment.

Must See: Money Money Money (bling)

I just got home from a budget and planning meeting at church, full of prayer, and deep concern over wise use of the money trusted to us. What is the first thing I see, this video on the front page of Digg. Disclaimer, if you’re easily offended don’t bother.

Where does your ministry fit?

Life-long church shoppers and grumpy conservative old men have pulled the Church apart—each side passing down an inbred faith that doesn’t seem to stack up well to the Bible. I find it necessary to express my hatred for poor pastoring with a venn diagram. I needed a tool just un-human enough to get my point across… the venn diagram works perfectly. I want to see churches preach the entire Bible.

Read and judge yourself, and what categories your church’s preaching fits in.

Stop Preaching Only What People Like
The church is not Burger King, and it’s not supposed to be ‘your way’. Churches in this area don’t care much about being faithful. When this church goes to the Bible they explain why what the scripture says doesn’t pertain to them. Whether it be monotheism, objective truth, homosexuality, male eldership, evolution, etc. The only person that can twist scripture more than this group is a certain serpent.

You’re Okay!
Health, Wealth, and Prosperity! It sounds so good until you read the Bible. You can’t have you’re best life now without a new life. It’s easy to slip into this category while trying to be ‘relevant’. You begin thinking “This might offend someone” or “I don’t want to be churchy”. If you consider your church a great marketing church, you may want to take a step back a few times a month and think about this. Am I sacrificing the truth of the scripture so that people will like me or my church?

Quit Being Normal.
I grew up in this church, and you probably did too. A bunch of middle class people thinking happy thoughts, and sprinkling god here and there. No apparent life change, no calling to repentance, no warning to non-believers. I am inclined to believe that this is the result of pastors not living and breathing the Bible. Please, I beg you with all sincerity preach the whole Bible, not just the easy parts that people like to hear.

The Kingdom of God is Coming!
These churches are few and far between, but change the world. They preach the Gospel of both grace and fear of God. Sin and salvation. Heartfelt holiness and outward focused mission. We all want to be in this church, but we can’t seem to lead the flock here. It’s hard work and will require sacrifice, but it’s what every church is called to.

You’re Mean.
I’ve had a ton of run-ins lately with people that reach out to the world (with a stick in their hand and a scowl on their face). These are the grumpy old people that remember when they walked 6 miles up hill to school—both ways. And they liked it. Honestly though people need to hear about God’s grace, because as you know so well… We are sinners. We we’re born in sin, and have no hope without Christ. Please. Please. Please. Tell them. Tell them Christ died for them, and they have hope.

What do you think? Are there any other venn diagrams that would help us think through our actions, and focus the Church?

Using Sin to attract Sinners

Seems like all I talk about is lust now, but here I go again. I recently saw this art on the CMS Flickr Pool, and had some strong reactions towards it. To me the church has been going down the path of using sin, or images of sin to attract sinners. I myself do not like this trend, but want to open this up for discussion. Now to be very clear I do not want this to be a bashing session on every other church. I would like to know other ways that we can address these issues, porn, sex, money, ect. without glorifying them in art. Or reasons why you feel this is the right approach.

Here are some examples:

XXX Church goes to porn conventions to pass out bibles. They go straight to the source and love the sinner without glorifying the sin.

LifeChurch.tv did satan’s Sex Ed. They used video, billboards and print to hit the issue in a comical yet effective way.

Mars Hill Seattle had their Ask Anything series that allowed members to text in questions on sex and get biblical answers.

My First Shot at Motion Graphics

I just got Final Cut Pro, and am jazzed about Motion. Have you seen great motion graphics? Check some great ones out here and here. My first try looks like a toddler with crayons compared to the more polished versions, but it’s a start.

My First Motion Graphic from Mike on Vimeo.

There are great opportunities to teach and preach the gospel through motion graphics, because it combines words and pictures in an amazing way. I would love to see some one make a motion graphic about why Jesus is their king. Does anyone have any ideas they would like to see happen with motion graphics?

_________________________

Here’s another great site for motion graphics.
Mars Hill uses cg for their “Rebels Guide to Joy” Series Here.
Also this info graphic from Elevation Church—pretty cool example of how to use.