18 September, 2009
· Filed under Book
I heard Dave Gibbons speak at the Leadership Summit a few weeks ago, and I thought his talk was so engaging that I bought The Monkey and The Fish for my Kindle while he was speaking. Nevertheless, school and other complications caused me to put the book on hold for a while. But I got around to it this week and finished it quickly. Dave presents a compelling case for Third Culture Leadership, and the book does a great job of expanding on the ideas he presented at TLS. I would highly recommend it for almost anyone interested in the future of the church. Some of the more memorable ideas to me were:
Those who follow Jesus embody fluidity, adaptation, and collaboration.
If there’s one quality that matters most to the fate of the church in the twenty-first century, it’s adaptability.
Today, we cannot separate the what from the how, the message from the method. The issue is not just sharing our message but becoming the message. The form is just as important as the content. If the medium doesn’t match the message, the message is incongruous.
…the church historically has proven slow to embrace necessary change and to adapt to ethnic, sociological, and cultural shifts. It’s like we know we’re unhealthy but we don’t want to go to the doctor to take care of the problem.
what’s becoming clear to me is that the more adaptive we are to the Holy Spirit and to diverse people groups and settings, the more we reflect who Jesus is
Look at who speaks at the conferences. How many times have you seen a pastor of twenty-five people speak at the main plenary session at a pastor’s conference?
I’m convinced we need new metrics, new ways to measure and define success — for our own sake and for the sake of the people we’re trying to reach with God’s love.
One of the many things that’s so striking about this, as Rob Bell points out, is that we often talk to people about believing in Jesus, having faith in Jesus. But how about turning that around: Jesus believes in you. Jesus has faith in you. The Rabbi of rabbis thinks we can become like him!
25 August, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
The Altitude Ski Trip with First Baptist Church returns in 2009 with an unbelievable trip to Winter Park, Colorado.
Imagine this: as soon as you finish your finals, you are immediately whisked away to Winter Park's premier ski-in/ski-out condominiums on a bus with your closest friends. Amid the fresh snow and brand-new trails, could there be a better way to start Christmas break?
A $100 Deposit is due by OCTOBER 1. We need at least 30 deposits paid by OCTOER 1 for the trip to make so reserve your spot today!
The total trip price is $540 and includes:
- Roundtrip Bus Ride
- 3 Nights of Lodging at Iron Horse Resort
- 3 Days of Skiing
- Ski Rentals (Snowboards are $30 extra)
- All Meals on the Mountain
- Altitude 2009 Hoodie
- Other Surprises!
Sign up HERE.
23 August, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
Tomorrow is a cataclysmic day in the life of the Stapper household. Emma turns 5 and I start another semester in grad school. I can't believe that Emma is that old, and I also can't believe I'm starting another year of school. I wish I could push pause on the little girl growing up, while I fast forward on this education process.
When I was younger, the best part of the new school year pretty much revolved around buying 2 things: a new backpack and new shoes. Both items set the tone for your school year. If you picked the right Jansport pack and the perfect Nikes, then life would be good. Unfortunately, the newness of both purchases wore off rather quickly. Soon enough you were just in the boring rhythm of school.
I'm doing my best to be optimistic about another school year beginning. There's stuff to be learned, people to meet, and hopefully a chance to connect with God in some new way. What are you looking forward to this year?
8 April, 2009
· Filed under Teaching
This morning has been totally different and out of routine for me. Caed woke up around 3:30AM, which is always nice. I left with Kyle at 6:45AM to go to Dallas for the morning, and so right now I’m sitting in Uptown at a Starbucks on McKinney. My Bible reading was in Exodus 1 today, and there were a few highlights that caught my attention.
Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt. verse 8
This is one of my favorite verses in the Bible. It reminds me of the ebb and flow of life and the lesson that our faith usually puts us in opposition to the power structure, and rarely in line with it.
“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” verses 9-10
The new king uses fear of the possibility to convince a nation to act. I don’t feel that you have to read into that very much without being convicted as an American. Our leaders are excellent at reminding us to be afraid of the “What If…”
But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread verse 12
The Egyptians begin the long lesson that the people of God will always conquer the ways of man.
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” So God was kind to the midwives… verses 19-20
The midwives deceive Pharaoh and Go is pleased with them. I really don’t know what to make of that.
God listened to their groanings. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw what was going on with Israel. God understood. chapter 2, verses 24-25 from the message
Many years pass between the injustice of the infanticide and God’s movement. You could easily ask why God took so long (the Psalmist often seems stuck on this question). But the better lesson might be to know that God listens, God remembers, God sees, and God understands. He is not bound by our time, and he acts in a manner that is outside of our comprehension, but God listens, God remembers, God sees, and God understands.
7 April, 2009
· Filed under life
That’s the data from my run last night (compliments of Nike+). I have really been trying to up the ante on my exercise lately, and yesterday was a test to see how the process was going. I have yet to lose any weight, and I don’t think I look different. But my overarching goal has been to increase my fitness level and stop wheezing when I carry Caedmon up the stairs to bed. So I went running before dinner last night….
And I was thoroughly happy. The data may not show it, but I was able to keep a much better pace than usual, and I ran for longer than I normally do as well. The four major dips in the workout are the times I was climbing the hill on the Cain Center track. I wasn’t nearly as tired when I got home. It was a big boost of encouragement to keep swimming, hitting the elliptical, and lifting weights.
It’s not all that impressive, but it’s a start.
30 March, 2009
· Filed under life
I can try and act normal most of the time, but eventually my obsessive-compulsive tendencies are going to come out. For the past few weeks, I’ve started giving in to my need for a daily routine. Truth be told, routine makes me feel better and healthier and happier. My days have looked somewhat like this:
- Wake up, make coffee
- Water / Check on the garden
- Work out at the Cain Center
- Go to work
- Read news, facebook updates, twitter
- If it’s early in the week – get ready for Wednesday, late in the week – prepare for Sunday
- Come home around 5
- Play with kiddos, make dinner
- Catch up on TV with Erin (newest guilty pleasure: Dancing with the stars)
- Do my best to get to bed before 10:30
It’s not glamourous, but routine makes me better. There are always some changes, however if I have a plan, I find I can get a lot more done. Here’s to living intentionally!
12 March, 2009
· Filed under church, links
It’s a little tricky, but you can watch the two main session from the Unleash Conference with Perry Noble at NewSpring. Click on the “On-Demand” button, and then choose Unleash 2009. From there, choose early or late, and you will be on your way. Both are great talks from Perry.
11 March, 2009
· Filed under Reading
Opening the Kindle package is akin to unveiling an iPod or MacBook Pro. The perforated side of the box says “Once upon a time…” and the packaging inside has a cool Harry Potter at the Library feel. And the sucker is thin….seriously thin. Otherworldly thin. I was able to do a little reading while I sat in the doctor’s office, and they hype is spot on. The first two books I purchased were: Three Cups of Tea and Blue Parakeet. If I could go back in time, I would have held out for Flickering Pixels until I bought the Kindle because that just seems like a natural fit.
9 March, 2009
· Filed under Music
That’s the set design for U2’s new tour to support No Line on The Horizon. The band will be going to outdoor venues to incorporate a new 360 degree stage. Bono said this to MTVNews: “Every tour you’ve ever been to outdoors, you just see a big stack of speakers on the left, a big stack of speakers on the right and then this little stage.” Anyone you’ve ever seen outdoors [always sets up that same way], and why is that?” he continued. “The engineering is the way it is, ’cause unlike being at Madison Square Garden or an indoor venue, you can’t hang things. We’ve sorted this out. We have some magic, and we’ve got some beautiful objects we’re going to take around the world, and we’re inside that object. We’re hanging from that object, and it frees up those seats behind the stage. They may be the best seats.” Only four North American dates have been anounced and they are not anywhere near Dallas, but more should be on the way.
8 March, 2009
· Filed under Fun, links
Check out this blog that highlights a bunch of superpowers that would be totally useless. The drawings and descriptions are great. Here are a few of my favorites.
SUPERUSELESS SUPERPOWER: Healing Punch
Float like a butterfly and sting like the bedside manner of Mother Teresa. As a superhero, sometimes you have to resort to violence. Too bad your ferocious fists instantly heal the damage you inflict. Whereas most punches would deliver a crushing Ivan Drago-like knockout. Yours leave your opponent feeling amazingly refreshed and rejuvenated. At least until he counters with an uppercut to your esophagus.
SUPERUSELESS SUPERPOWER: ∞-ray vision.
Go from 20/20 to 20/plenty with this seemingly amazing gift of sight. But here’s the catch. Your see-throughiness is infinite and not at your discretion.
So, perhaps you are seeking out survivors in a collapsed mineshaft. Scanning through the wreckage with your ∞-ray eyes, you see through the rock pile. Then through the coal. The trapped miner’s clothes. His skin. His capillaries. His kidney. His bones. Back through his skin. Dirt. The upper mantle. Magma. The lower mantle. The outer core. The inner core. Again the outer core. The lower and upper mantles. Fossilized raptor dung. More dirt. A rice paddy in Miryang. A cumulus cloud. The Ozone layer. The Stratosphere. The Exosphere. Outer Space. A meteorite. The Orion Nebula. The Twin Quasar. Et cetera.
In short, by seeing through everything you will essentially never see anything.
(ht to marko)
