Church

We kicked off a new series last weekend at Mountainview entitled "The Passionate Life of MRS GREN."  MRS GREN is an acronym taken from the world of biology.  It represents the seven vital signs of life: Movement Respiration Sensitivity Growth Reproduction Excretion Nutrition In our first message, Jim reminded us that spiritual maturity happens when we choose to move.  Without movement, we begin to experience muscle loss and grow stagnate.  The same happens to our spiritual muscles when we refuse to move. One of the biblical stories he shared was when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 13 and 14).  After hundreds of years of being in bondage, they are finally on the threshold of freedom.  And what do they do when they encounter their first obstacle?  They want to return to bondage.  To what is familiar. As Jim said, sometimes we are tempted to return to what…

I love Twitter.  I love coffee.  And I love meeting folks who are using their skills and experiences to make a practical difference in people's lives. A few weeks back, I met the executive director of Belay Enterprises (Jim Reiner) via Twitter.  Belay is the parent organization of Bud's Warehouse, a non-profit home improvement thrift store that uses employment to help transform people's lives.  Jim lives right around the corner from where I work and we were able to meet for coffee.  Three things I enjoy: Twitter, coffee, and spiritual entrepreneurs. Well, just this morning I get a Tweet from a fellow in Chicago who had met Jim a month or so ago.  The URL of his site intrigued me: www.ihaveabean.com.  Here's the opening paragraph when you visit their site: "We believe in fresh coffee and fresh starts. Our Specialty Grade coffee is roasted fresh daily in small batches so…

This post is from a friend of mine who preaches for a church in San Francisco.  It was on his Facebook page: Some time ago one of our girls was asked “what does your Dad do?” She replied: “He is a preacher; he sits in his office and talks on the phone or drives around a lot and makes speeches.” John Wayne had a line about would be cowboys ... “they are all boots and no cows.” A title claimed or awarded is not earned until the work has been done, the lives have been changed and the peace is won. I love the John Wayne line about cowboys ... all boots and no cows.

From a recent NY Times op-ed piece: "A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs." Source. I wonder what implications this has for the church world?

Whenever Jim (our senior pastor at Mountainview) speaks, I handle the "turn and greet" as well as the communion meditation.  He does the same when I speak. Rather than go up to the stage, I usually settle on the third or fourth step.  Not usually a problem.  Except for this Sunday.  After I finished the communion meditation at the 8:20 service, I prayed and then began walking down the steps to the front row of seats.  All was good until I missed the next step and lost my balance and began tumbling towards the floor.  My first thought was, "I'm going head-first into the seats." Landing on one leg, I hopped twice and regained my balance, just in time to sit down.  Nothing graceful about it. After communion was finished and it was time to collect the offering, I resumed my spot on the fourth step and said, "It's bad…