World Speed Record For Bad Day

Learning how to be the "stay at home--while working in an office--and driving Hummer tours" Dad is definitely presenting it's challenges. I love the time I spend with the kids. Piper and I, in particular, are getting to hang out a lot in the office--days full of coloring pictures, picnics on the floor, and designing tiaras on the My Little Pony website.

This morning, however, was not fun. I've been having trouble getting Oscar to school by 8am. Today I was stressed out because we didn't have any groceries, so I was sending the boy to school with no lunch (of course I was going to bring him one later). On the way down the hill, we stopped to help our neighbor who was broken down on the side of the road. This set us back a little, but we made our way to Starbucks (did I mention we didn't have any breakfast food either?). With school only a mile away and only two minutes late, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I pulled up in front of the school ready to get on with the day only to find a police car stopped behind me with his lights on. Admittedly, I was driving 30mph in what I thought was a 25mph zone, however, kind officer Murphy informed me that during school hours the limit is 20mph putting me a heinous 10mph over the legal limit. The officer was kind enough to let me walk Oscar to his classroom while he wrote me up.

Needless to say, this took all my emotional energy and coping skills to manage myself--not to mention meriting the all-time speed record for ruining a day before 8am (actually, it says 802am on my ticket)!

What you win them with...

This flyer was stuffed in my front door this morning.

It may not be completely clear in the pictures, but it is a flyer advertising a competition at a local church to win a gameboy. It's not clear if this is for children or anyone, but the idea is that if you show up and do well in the competition, you will win a video game. My favorite part is where it says you get 10 points for wearing church clothes!

I do have a point (besides just thrashing on the flyer). This is what people who equate numbers of attenders with church success call a "growth engine". A growth engine is an event or series of programs designed to get people in the door of a church in hopes of netting new attenders, and therefore, new Christians. I have two problems with growth engines (besides the silly corporate terminology birthed out of businesses trying to sell stuff):

1) "What you win them with is what you win them to" Ironically, I think I got that phrase from the same organization that taught me about growth engines. The idea (in a church context) is that the methods you reach people with are the same things they will look to later for their continued spiritual growth. In this case, people who show up to win a gamebooy with their church clothes (10 points) and their neighbor (30 points) are going to see church as a competition. How do you explain to "Jonny Gameboy" that salvation is a free gift through Jesus and we don't have to accumulate points to win his grace? Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't have the world's largest banana split at Sunday School. All I'm saying is that is not a good evangelism tool.

2) My second problem with this growth engine tactic is that, besides the name of the church (which I tried to black out), you wouldn't know that this is a church event. There is nothing on this flyer indicating the ultimate purpose for getting these kids to show up, which to me, is and underhanded and basically dishonest way of getting people to church. This church, in my opinion, has shown their greatest priority to be getting people to show up, followed closely by illustrating the church as a place to earn points for great prizes, and somewhere after all that (my guess is at the end of the campaign when the kids will get bonus points for bringing their parents to church) Jesus.

This may seem petty and mean to you. You might be thinking that I am a bitter and jealous guy (probably some disgruntled pastor who can't get more than 30 people to show up to his worship services). You might think I'm being a little hard on a church who is just trying to reach out to their community. Well, Jesus' harshest words always seemed to be reserved for church people who's priorities were out of whack, and somehow, Jesus managed to have kids all over him and, as far as I know, never gave away a gameboy in his life. It seems to me that his authentic love for them was somehow attractive--to everyone.

Stuff I See Everyday...

I recently got to snap a bunch of pictures on the trails around here. Enjoy!

We're Expanding!

For quite some time now, we've had a small contingent of people commuting from Farmington, NM (about an hour) to CTK Durango. A couple months back, I started a small group that met in one of the families' homes during the week. We've come to the point where they are really beginning to share their experiences and love for God with the people around them in Farmington...the only problem is it is a lot to ask someone to drive an hour with you to worship. So, starting in the middle of September, we are going to evolve our small group in Farmington into a Cafe-level worship center. We're going to meet in a Spa/Billiards shop (I'll get pictures, but for now imagine a building that totally beats Pickles in the character department!). Part of this transition will mean advertising the new location, starting about three more small groups in Farmington, and me teaching there on Wednesdays in addition to Sundays in Durango.

Of course I'm excited about the prospect of becoming more available to people in Farmington, but the greatest thing about this new development are the people who are chomping at the bit to reach out to their community. I am really enjoying the process of them taking ownership and running full speed with this!

On a personal note, things are heating up a little at home looking toward the fall. Jenn starts teaching on the 15th of this month (August) and the kids start school the week after that. I will be shuttling kids around to their various schools and classes. Jenn is a little anxious about getting back in the classroom after about six years and I am still trying to squeeze another six to eight weeks out of this tour season with the Hummer (oh, and start a new CTK campus in Farmington). We are looking forward to some much needed help from family and friends as well as some good old fashioned godly grace as we navigate this next season!