The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Francis Chan.  Maybe you’ve seen him at a Passion conference, or watched his sermons online.  Or, you may have read Crazy Love.  [If you haven't, please take advantage of a few links...]

Chan’s latest book, Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect for the Holy Spirit has been on repeat in my mind.  I haven’t removed it from my ‘now reading’ section on the blog, as I am reading it again for the second time.  Sometimes I tend to gloss overs sections of a book, and I need to go back to read again so I can soak it all in.

The above video is from the book’s DVD Study Guide.  I thought I’d share it with you all.  The cartoon depicts the condition of many American churches.  It’s interesting to me how a “children’s story” can speak so much clearer to me than other things.  Perhaps it’s that whole ‘innocence like a child‘ thing that Jesus was talking about.  Take a look…

What are your thoughts?  Do you find yourself trying to move the big red tractor?

This post is inspired by Tyler Braun.  He discussed the question of theologically-sound lyrics in worship music today.  If you weren’t in that discussion and would like to be, go to

Attention all worship leaders/pastors/creative arts directors, etc. :

Are you writing songs for your church?  If not, why?

I love a lot of the current worship music that’s out there just as much as the next person.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using that to lead worship in your corporate worship setting.  And sure, not everyone can necessarily write songs.  But, my challenge to us all is this:  Write songs for your church.

We’re worshipers first, worship leaders second.  God is a creator, not a duplicator.  He’s making all things new, and He’s certainly doing unique things in different churches all over the world.  Besides, think about some of the songs you lead your congregation with now.  Where were they birthed?  Most of the time in the local church. Think about the song, “The Heart of Worship” by Matt Redman.  I’m sure a lot of you know the story behind it–totally unique to their church at the time, and now being sung all around the world.

I’m a big proponent of writing songs to use in a corporate worship setting.  One crucial thing I think one needs when doing this is a trusted friend, be it a pastor, another worship leader, mentor, etc. that you can bounce these songs off of.  I’ve tried to send any song I’ve written to my former pastor who lives in Indiana.  I ask him to critique every lyric, as I want to make sure the message of the song is Biblical.

What is God doing in your community of believers? Perhaps there’s a theme/phrase of a sermon series that your church is really holding on to, or a particular scripture that could inspire songs of praise.  I’m not saying that we throw out everything that we sing, but let’s allow ourselves to listen to that stirring in our souls.  And let that stirring bring forth worship.

So, are you writing songs for your church? If so, I’d love to hear your process.

Click over to Read the entire article.  Essentially, a judge ruled that feeding the homeless at a place of worship can be banned by city ordinance.  That ruling means that CrossRoads United Methodist Church in Phoenix can no longer feed the poor on its campus.  The judge stated that the church had a long history of feeding the “poor in poor neighborhoods” but the use of this property to feed the poor bused in from another place was different. The church was classified as a charity dining hall, and a charity dining hall cannot feed the poor in a residential area.  

The decision follows an incident between two homeless men in which one was stabbed with an ice pick in the leg.  Neighbors define the incident as a confirmation that the neighborhood, which is fairly affluent by the way, is deteriorating due to the environment and lack of safety.  One neighbor is quoted by saying, “It’s very inappropriate to allow that kind of demographic to go there for one meal.”

Now I know that people want their kids to be safe.  I won’t deny that.  But, I think the root issues here are fear and pride.  I’ve been guilty of it myself before.  However, I don’t think Jesus ever had a permit to do any of the things he did while on earth.  And he calls us to do the same.  This situation reminded me of a quote by C.S. Lewis in The Problem with Pain….perhaps we should substitute the word “prostitutes” with “homeless.”

“Prostitutes are in no danger of finding their present life so satisfactory that they cannot turn to God: the proud, the avaricious, the self-righteous, are in that danger.”

What are your thoughts?  Is this a fair ruling?

image: sam