Our podcast is up and running!

Check out our new sermon podcast here. I am excited at the possibilities this type of ministry tool brings to our church. Tell your family and friends to check it out. We should be up and available at I-Tunes in the next week or so. In addition, the message will be available each week on our website.

Green, Green, Green

God is calling us to becoming a “Green” church with “Green” households by the end of 2008. Here are some cold, hard facts about how not being “Green” in America is affecting God’s world.

Facts:
-Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour!
- A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
- Paper products make up 40% of all trash. That can all be recycled!
- Only about 30% of paper, trash, and food waste is recycled.
- Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups that cannot decomposed or be recycled
- All soda cans are made from aluminum. Each American uses about 400 cans a year. If aluminum is recycled, 95% less energy is used than if it were made from scratch
-About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material!
-The highest point in Ohio is a literally a garbage dump that is now called Mount Rumpke
-reprinted from http://www.dosomething.org/

Our “Green” Committee will be working hard over the next few months to help us understand how we can recycle and help God’s planet. I hope all of you are open to ways we can help this beautiful world God has given us dominion over. Please let me know the ways that you are currenlty recycling so that we can all learn from each other.

Stay tuned for: practical ways to recycle

First Cup Coffee House in Redford!

I am so excited that we now have a cool, organic coffee house in Redford Township. It will be a great place for us to meet to discuss faith and life in a "Solomon's Porch" kind of way. More to follow.

Things to celebrate!

We had an awesome weekend at St. John's. First, we had 36 people come out Saturday night for our first Family Movie Night . Then our Sunday school got off to a great start with nine children in attendance! Third, we have eight people signed up to go to the Thrivent Habitiat Build this Saturday. I am so excited about what God is doing in and through our church.

Bible vs. Cell Phone

This is something to make you go…hmmm….where is my Bible?

One of the blog’s I listen to is by author Len Sweet. It is called Napkin Scribbles. Each week he takes a different topic and spends a few minutes talking about it. This week he really spoke to me. It compared carrying a Cell Phone (which most of us do) to carrying a Bible. He wonders out loud what it would be like if we treated our Bible like our cell phone.

Sweet asks:

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to kids as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
What if we upgraded it to get the latest version?

Did you feel as convicted as I did?

Nobel Prize for Al Gore

Al Gore and his documentary on global warming have been awarded the Nobel Prize. Do you think our showing An Inconvenient Truth at church last Sunday night sealed this recognition:)?

How would Jesus address critical issues of today?

I am reading Brian McLaren's new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crisis, and a Revolution of Hope. In it he invites us to journey with him as he imagines what would happen:

• if people of faith moved beyond political polarization and a few hot-button issues to the deeper questions nobody is asking.
• if the world's leading nations spent less on weapons and more on peace-making, poverty-alleviation, and creation-care.
• if a renewed understanding of Jesus and his message sparked a profound spiritual awakening in a global movement of faith, hope, and love.
• if we believed that God's will really could be done on earth and not just in heaven.

McLaren sets forth a new agenda for being a person of faith. One is left to wonder if the vision that he believes Jesus is directing us to engage in the issues really possible? Are we ready to move past old disagreements theologically or politically and look at deeper, more difficult questions? How can we move toward peace and engagement in tough social issues facing us? What will be the catalyst toward the spiritual awakening he writes about? What do you think about all this? Are books like this necessary? More about this book to come in future posts.

I'm back

Friends:
I am back in the Motor City after a refreshing week at the Glorieta Retreat Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico praying, playing and engaging in conversations about the Emergent Church . I’m finding myself drawn into the Emergent Church movement more and more and look forward to discovering how we can incorporate some of the basics into the life of St. John’s as we continue to discover and figure out how God is leading us.

We had an excellent turnout for our first Faith in Film series last Sunday night. We watched An Inconvenient Truth and followed it with an inspiring group discussion about how God is calling us to react to the issue of global warming. The most valuable lesson was the acknowledgment that we are all play a role in the crisis and all have the opportunity to make changes and become part of the solution. A small committee agreed to begin meeting to address how St. John’s can become more “green”.

I am excited to announce the re-start of Sunday school on October 21st at 10:30 am. We look forward to building this program over time and sharing God’s message of love and hope during our normal worship time to children in a unique way. If you are planning on joining us that day or know anyone who could receive a special invitation please let me know ASAP.

Last Sunday we began to take a look at how God may be calling us to engage in a new way of thinking about our faith lives using the GPCJ philosophy. For those of you who could not make it last week the philosophy encourages us in the following ways.

By the end of 2008 we will focus on these four areas as we live out our faith walk-

G-God-we will concentrate on worshiping together, learning of God’s love for us and sharing with others that God’s love includes them as well.

P-People-we will make efforts to remain connected to those closest to us and take risks engaging in those relationships may have become strained or lost.

C-Calling-we will be open to how God may be calling us to acting on our faith in new and different ways.

J-Joy-we will identify the things in our life that bring us joy and be intentional about making time in our lives for them.

View from the foothills of the Rockies

I am spending a few days at the Emergent Village Gathering in Glorieta, New Mexico, just outside of Santa Fe. It has been a beautiful place to relax, connect and try new things. The past two mornings I participated in a yoga class and I am sore! Yoga feels so good and I hope to continue it after I return to Detroit tomorrow.
I have learned a great deal about the Emergent Church movement these last few days through presentations, conversations and group discussions. I cannot wait to unpack what this learning will mean in the months and years to come at St. John's-stay tuned.

Volunteer for St. John's Habitat day

Have you ever thought about volunteering but did not know exactly what you wanted to do? Do you like to participate in events that make a difference? Are you someone who can commit to things if and only if they make it into your calendar? I am pleased to announce that we just confirmed our first day to work at the Thrivent Habitat House in Pontiac, Michigan. On Saturday, October 27th we will be on site making a difference from 8am to 4pm. If you have never volunteered at Habitat before I encourage you to consider joining us that day. If you have previous Habitat experience you know the great things they do revitalizing communities one home and family at a time. You can volunteer online at Habitat or call St. John's at 313-538-2660. There are plenty of jobs at the site or you may want to help us prepare and serve lunch on site that day for 25-30 people. Let me know how you can make a difference that day ASAP.

Good News!

We just hammered out the details to launch an education hour for children starting Sunday, October 21st. The curriculum is awesome and I am excited about being able to offer something for children again. Check out the information at our web site here. This is an exciting time in the redevelopment of our church.