Is there one way to Heaven?

In a service on Christmas day, our worship pastor made a comment about Jesus being the only way to Heaven. The claim was a little more direct than we usually make, but I thought it was well in the appropriate bounds for a Christian worship gathering. I knew there was a Muslim man attending our service to watch his son perform in our service. I remember glancing his way to see his reaction and I was surprised to see him clapping. Even more so, he came up to me after service to tell me how much he enjoyed worshipping with us and to thank me for mentoring his son.

That's not the first surprise. The people who were offended by the claim were from our congregation. This week, these two youtube videos are assigned viewing in my Contemporary Cultures class at Fuller. 

What do you think of these? Is there one way to Heaven or are there multiple ways? Has Oprah gone off the deep end here? How would you respond to these women?

I'm pretty conservative in my beliefs, but I'd like to know what you think. 

I want to be missional.

I've been a way a while because of work and school, but I have been reading a lot and I'm ready to start posting again. This one is longer than usual, but it encapsulates what I've been chewing on and wrestling with in my life and calling. I hope you enjoy!


The missional church is incarnational, not attractional, in its ecclesiology. By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather, the missional church disassembles itself and seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don’t yet know him.

The missional church is messianic, not dualistic, in its spirituality. That is, it adopts the worldview of Jesus the Messiah, rather than that of the Greco-Roman empire. Instead of seeing the world as divided between the sacred (religious) and profane (nonreligious), like Christ it sees the world and God’s place in it as more holistic and integrated.

The missional church adopts an apostolic, rather than a hierarchical, mode of leadership. By apostolic we mean a mode of leadership that recognizes the fivefold model detailed by Paul in Ephesians 4. It abandons the triangular hierarchies of the traditional church and embraces a biblical, flat-leadership community that unleashes the gifts of evangelism, apostleship, and prophecy, as well as the currently popular pastoral and teaching gifts.

Frost, Michael; Hirsch, Alan (2001-01-01). Shaping of Things to Come, The (Kindle Locations 346-356). Baker Book Group. Kindle Edition.

How to be a man part II

Here's the presentation from tonight's talk to our guys. I'm highlighting some concepts as road markers for them to look at as they pass on to manhood. The presentation will make more sense along with my talk, so it may seem a bit abstract.

How To Be a Man Part II on Prezi

Awake

     A week ago I was awakened to the wonderful world of records. My friend bough me a real record player on craig's list and the first album I've ever known is U2's "The Unforgettable Fire." I know our Fuller Seminary rapid reading instructions tell us that music impairs us from reading well, and  know the instructions are correct. Some habits are hard to break, but I'm glad I didn't. 

     While reading Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership I find myself repeatedly setting the book down because the lyrics and tones of the songs intersect perfectly with what I'm reading. It is too much of what my soul needs to be a coincidence. The album's title just hit me! "The Unforgettable Fire!!!"

     Rock and Roll may not be your cup of tea, but I thought I'd share my experience because I feel like I'm so good at sharing the struggles I have, especially with my friends in ministry and at Fuller. At times I fear I'm too honest. The image manager inside my soul kicks in and I wonder if everyone thinks I'm a "downer." These past two weeks have seen major times of renewal in my family, professional, and soul life. 

• Marie and I are finding "the new normal" with two kids instead of one.
• Conflict and Crisis at work doesn't take the emotional toll on me like it used to. 
• I'm having personal time with God more regularly again. I even dusted off my personal rule of life (from my first Fuller class) and set up a reminder for the doc to automatically pop up in my outlook calendar at the appropriate intervals. My soul is feeding for the first time in a long while.

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