Am I reaching?

As I have been thinking about "church" and it's approach to "evangelism" there is a word that I think helps perpetuate the idea of the attractional model. When you surf several sites for churches you can usually see in their mission statement that they want to "reach" people for Christ. While this is not bad in of itself but where is the church standing when they are reaching? They are standing on the only thing they know, the building (this coming from my own personal experience I don't want to indict the entire church). Have you ever tried to reach for something just beyond your grasp? You will eventually fall and poke your eye out if you hit something sharp. The easiest way to "reach" it is to move towards it. The idea of "reaching" communicates to me that we aren't living with the people, we aren't connected, we aren't in the world. If we were in the world there would be no reaching, there would be hugging, High-fiving, saying "excuse me" because you just bump into a future disciple, or hey man, "why do these weights have to be so heavy?" to a guy at the gym. Simple. Simple. Simple. No program, no leader, no book to read on how to become a contagious Christian, you just live. I don't think I am reaching but possibly leaning. Well enough moaning for now. I promise the next post will have a positive tone, I am just in a funk right now.

Here I Go Again

Are any you tired of having someone in charge of you? Does anybody out there enjoy a heirachal leadership structure in the church? If so why? I have an unholy dissatisfaction with it and I have talked long enough about it so i decided to keep a positive attitude and hold out hope. I was holding out hope that our church could be different when it came to structure which I believed in turn could help be the vehicle to turn our narcissitic church into a Kingdom minded church. But to no avail that idea was squashed to smitherings last night. I have to say I am not suprised but there is no hope for me in this structure or idea of church. Is this selfish? It hurts me to see the bride this way. I am not being opened minded enough, sticking to my guns enough? I dunno but all i know is it is painful and it totally sucks. Why?! I feel like crying, i feel like yelling, i feel like punching something. I wrote up a little article comparing an incarnational approach to church (life) versus an attractional model hoping this would open up some dialog amongst the elders. Thanks goodness i never mailed it out to them and position myself as a heritic. I love the elders, even though i really don't know them which is odd if they are supposed to shepherds of the congregation and staff. If they can't shepherd the staff then they can't shepherd the congregation. I know a couple of them have a deep desire for change but have been outnumbered so they lose. Is there always wisdom in numbers? Look at the tower of babel! Horsechschitka! I want to be part of something that plants, does a little watering and then watch our glorious holy God grow and multiply his Kingdom. I want simplicity, I want to love, I want to be Jesus. I know this can take place in a typical church structure but it ain't working for me. I am just broken and depressed seeking wisdom and patience. Please let me know what you think.

Oww My Face!

I have what you would call a very model like face, so it is very very valuable almost irreplaceable. Okay, i think i might be stretching the truth, okay I could be a model for farm and fleet or some construction clothing apparell or possibly a harley catalog. Anyway my face seems to be a natural magnet for pain when i am enjoying certain activities like mountain biking or my newest thing: racketball. First I was riding my bike and saw a jump, worked up the courage and hit it way too fast and did a extreme face plant. It ripped the skin away from the bottom of my nose, my mouth was full of dirt and blood, my inner lip was caked with that beautiful peoria dirt. When i stood up my buddies thought all my teeth were knocked out and it pretty much felt like it. Lesson learned. Don't jump because you are old and break easy!

This morning I invited Aaron to play racketball with my brother and myself. Well when you have 3 people who really aren't that good at racketball on the same court pounding the little rubber ball it lends itself to pain. It was inevitable that someone was going to get hit. Guess who got hit. That's right, it was me and my farm and fleet face! I noticed something approaching my eyeball at the speed of sound and did my best matrix move to get out of the way but alas it struck me with ginormous force. I hit the ground a little stunned and reached up to feel if my eye was still in it's proper place. Whew...I can still see. I got up determined to make them pay for the definite attempt on my life. I played the rest of the games with the gusto. I was like the michael jordan of the racketball court making amazing shot after amazing shot. Okay maybe I was like the Micheal J. Fox of the racket ball court. I did win but it wasn't pretty like my face. It was injured but it made it through, so now i can make it to my next shoot.(that is what us models call a photo shoot). Look for me in the summer catalog modeling the carhart shorts and work n sport boots. How is your face today? It is hurting me! hahaha

Wal-mart parking lot = church?

Last night I met some guys at applebees to talk about the Kingdom. In order to get to Applebees I had to traverse my way through Wal-mart's dreaded labyrinth of a parking lot. It was 8:00 p.m. and the days collection of shopping carts were everywhere. I am not kidding when i say there where at least 100 shopping carts piled up against curbs, trees, dogs, elephants, little children still buckled in(all can be purchased at our "super" Wal-mart). Why do people leave their carts any ole place except where they are supposed to be? Are people so lazy that they can't walk 50 yards to put a cart back? Is it the idea that the cart is no longer useful? Is it because they see other people doing so it justifies the lack of care and focus to bring the cart back to the cart parking garage? When I saw all the carts, I saw a bunch of churches. People leave the church, kicking it to the curb because it is no longer useful. Are we so lazy that we don't want to follow the calling of God? Are we fearful of what might happen when we put Christ back at the head and focus on advancing the Kingdom and not growing the church? I don't know I am just rambling. But it seems to me that the lack of kingdom focus and "this is how it has happens" attitude is one sure way to kick the church to the curb. It was just a weird sight to see such outright laziness and disregard for the obvious! Put the damn cart back in it's proper place. Put Christ back at the head and focus on the Kingdom! I need to quit consuming and start planting. Bye the way Wal-mart sucks!

Just a Thought

Well it has been a week since Jude was born. It has yet to sink into my thick skull that we have another potential (praying everyday) citizen of the Kingdom. When I look at him I am amazed at the total reliance on mom and dad, it is humbling. It's also a punch in the face. You see i then gaze over at my beautiful daughter who is an angel but has times of total rebellion. She is almost two. She is still innocent but not as innocent as Jude. She has had almost two years in this world and it has not taken long for rebellion to rise within her. Here comes the punch, bam! I've had 21 years without the Lord to develop a great life of rebellion and then I met Jesus and almost ten years later I'm still struggling with many of the same things. I just hope that through discipline and the Holy Spirit, He can foster a greater dependence on the Father. It would be nice to look through the eyes of jude or even the Madster for a day and see the joy she is expresses, the deep love she shows her parents, and the care that she expresses for Jude. The simplicity of their lives is profound. I desire that same type of simplicity for the church, loving, caring, expressing joy and grace to the world. I am hungry, I am thirsty, i guess it is just time to do it. Have the faith that God will take care of me, like i take care of my family. Pretty simple, right? But it is extremely difficult to drop what you know and head out on the journey. All I know is, I want my kids to be a citizen in the Kingdom and not just a kid in a youth group. I want them to focus on the King and serving him in the Kingdom for them to be sold out to him and not be constrained by the "church". Well enough whining. By the way I will try and post some pics of the fam soon. I am going to break down and pay for picture hosting here at blogger.

New Baby

Our newestbaby entered the world Tuesday at 8:18 p.m. We have given him the name: Jude Thomas Fountain. He weighed in at a small 5lbs 15oz and was 19" long. He has huge feet and hands. We love him and his big sister is doing a fine job so far. I will blog a little later concerning Jude and Maddie. God is good and faithful beyond our wildest imagination. Peace.

Beautiful

Since, then, you have been rasied with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seatd at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col. 3.1-4

Can you say influence?

Man I am the man when it comes to influencing people and redundancy (look at the opening of the sentence) I mean looky here
my best friend Aaron Guske finally joined the ranks of blogging. I am excited that two of my comrades in this crazy journey together are now letting the world in on their insane minds. I am looking forward to hearing from them as you should as well. Check them out. My friendship with these two guys have helped shaped and is shaping my understanding of the Kingdom, props to my brothers.