Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

I am going to try and keep everyone informed of the doings at Annual Conference this week. Annual Conference (for those playing along at home who don't know) is three things: 1. - It is the official name of a group of United Methodist Churches within a given geographical area. For Oklahoma, all of Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Annual Conference. 2. - It is the official rule making body for that region. So the Oklahoma Annual Conference makes the rules for the Oklahoma Annual Conference. 3. - It is the annual gathering of clergy (preacher types) and laity (real people types) where we decide on how we will conduct business within the Oklahoma Annual Conference for the coming year. Clear as mud, I know. But this week is Annual Conference. Our tradition is to begin on Memorial Day weekend. In the past we began work on Sunday. Recently we have only had a worship service on Sunday night and registration on Sunday afternoon. That means Monday is the first official work day. We begin Annual Con...

The news is now reporting that pop culture icon Paris Hilton will have her outrageously long and inappropriate (can we add cruel and unusual) sentence of 45 days for probation violation reduced by half. And get this. It is being reduced for good behavior. Rant point #1 - Where was the good behavior when she was stopped for alcohol related reckless driving? She decided to get blitzed and get behind the wheel of a car. She was not capable of making good judgment. Rant point #2 - Where was the good behavior when she violated probation by getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while having a suspended license? Obviously Miss Hilton does not understand that when the government who issues a driver's license suspends that license you don't get to change it. She was not capable of making good judgment in this instance either. Rant point #3 - Why, oh why, would she listen to her PRESS agent's advice on her legal situation? Might it not have been a better idea to call her lawyer (on h...

Read this article from ABC news GPS Used to Reach Transplant Recipient Police Use Cell-Tracking Technology to Find Transplant Patient in Time for Surgery The Associated Press Technology is a beautiful thing....sometimes. I announced Sunday that I would be out of town this week for a meeting The meeting was held at Canyon Camp , the Oklahoma Annual Conference owned camp outside of Hinton. The camp was a brainstorming event for a conference camp model. It was a small group that was meeting in the Lodge at the Camp. I left about 4:10 Wednesday afternoon. Unfortunately I was below E on the gas gauge so I had to make a stop at QT. I was leaving when I realized I had left my cell phone and sunglasses at home. Turn around time (luckily I was still in Claremore). With cell phone in its holster and glasses on my head, I started again (4:25). Getting into Tulsa I noticed that there were storm clouds gathering. I flipped over to News 9's radio broadcast and heard that there wasn't anythin...

Beliefnet.com has a quiz called the Belief-O-Matic. You are asked a series of questions. You provide the answer as close to your personally held beliefs and to rank how important that belief is. Based on your answers, it compares your beliefs (as you have presented them) with their database of religious beliefs. This goes beyond the scope of just what flavor of Christian you are. This compares your answers among all world religions. Here are my results. 1. Orthodox Quaker (100%) 2. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (93%) 3. Eastern Orthodox (92%) 4. Roman Catholic (92%) 5. Seventh Day Adventist (91%) 6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (89%) 7. Hinduism (69%) 8. Liberal Quakers (69%) 9. Bahá'í Faith (65%) 10. Orthodox Judaism (65%) 11. Sikhism (65%) 12. Islam (57%) 13. Unitarian Universalism (56%) 14. Reform Judaism (54%) 15. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (49%) 16. Jehovah's Witness (44%) 17. Jainism (42%) 18. Maha...

Last night the family went out to eat with friends. Lisa had tried a new restaurant and wanted me to try it. Los Cabos is a new TexMex place in Broken Arrow. It is located next door to Bass Pro. It's a big restaurant with lots of seating. They have a patio room that looks over the pond. There are supposedly tortilla chip loving fish in the pond that you can feed. The menu was heavily weighted with enchiladas and fajitas. You can get tacos, tamales, and burritos as well. Price wise the supper menu was a little pricey for Mexican. Dinners start out at 8.99 and go up to about 11.99. Steaks and ribs run even higher. I went with a combination platter with three types of enchiladas (cheese, beef, and chicken fajita). I wasn't greatly impressed. The flavor was not as filled out as I like. It seemed to be missing something. It had a blandness quality that disrupted the entire dish. Lisa enjoys the chicken fajita enchilada and is overly protective of it. She wouldn't even consider s...

Yesterday's sermon spoke deeply to some. I had some great feedback from folks. Thank you all for being receptive. I admit that part of the passion behind yesterday's sermon was frustration with the growing level of broken relationships in the church because of offense (real and received/perceived). But someone challenged me on something that I said. Let me start by saying that I do not mind people challenging me if they don't agree with something. I don't even mind if you go so far as to say, "You are wrong, buddy." Just let me know how you came to your position. That way I won't take offense. For those who didn't have the benefit of yesterday's sermon, here is the nutshell version. TEXT: Matthew 18:15-18 TITLE: Confronting Offensive Behavior I started by relating the week's events regarding the Imus/Rutgers news blitz. No matter where you turned, every news source was fixated on this incident. So I wrestled with why this bugged me. It came dow...

When I was in seminary, I read a book that had a deep and profound impact on me. Well, two really cause I did read the Bible. But the book I'm talking about was a novel. I typically will not read "Christian" fiction. I haven't found too many overtly Christian novels stimulating. But this one was very engaging. I began reading it one morning and only got of the couch to go to the bathroom and to walk down to the corner store for something to eat. I finished it in 10 hours. It was an exciting and very addictive read. The book is A Skeleton In God's Closet by Paul L. Maier. The premise of the book is the discovery of solid proof that Jesus was not resurrected but stayed dead. It also explores the reaction to the discovery. And also how the man responsible for the discovery handles the consequences. I picked the book up off the shelf again this week. It's going to be my weekend read. I like reading it around Easter. But the book puts forward a very important ques...

I do not hide the fact that I do not approve of organized athletic activities for youth and children. I have my own demons to blame for some of it. But as I watch the growth of organized programs, I see the life, fun, and passion for athletic activities being sucked out and replaced with rigid professionalism. The latest victim - infield chatter. You know the traditional chatter - "Hey batt-a-batt-a-batt-a, swiiing batta." Occasionally you'd hear things about a pitcher's arm. Most times it is to intimidate the batter into swinging poorly or get the pitcher riled so they can't pitch with accuracy. But here is an article from the Cincinnati Enquirer: The Knothole Club of Greater Cincinnati has decided to eliminate "chatter." Unless the chatter is "positive" and directed at your own team. You can't say "We want a pitcher, not an underwear stitcher!" unless, maybe, you grew up in a culture that idolizes underwear stitchers. Standings ...

I have preached on worldview. It is the lens or lenses through which each one of us understands and responds to the circumstances in our lives. I believe that Christians should have a worldview that is heavily weighted toward a biblical understanding of God as revealed through Jesus Christ. And that our response to the world should be patterned as much as possible after the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. As a way of discovering how you may view the world, I would present this blog quiz. What is posted here is my results. I will interpret at the end. But you can also find your own theological worldview by following the link. You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan . You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called ...

I promised my wife a blog post for her birthday. I know. What every woman wants from her husband. This one is different. Lisa has a dream to sing publicly. Not in church. But on stage in front of folks. So I heard about an opportunity to spread those wings. And told her about open auditions for the Tulsa Driller's baseball teams. Not to play baseball. But to sing the National Anthem before the game. So on her birthday, Lisa auditioned for the talent scout to sing the National Anthem. And like a good husband, I'm posting it for the world to see. Lisa did a good job. Of course, she didn't believe me. But after 1 1/2 hours of hearing the National Anthem sung in some very interesting ways, I will never hear the National Anthem the same way again.

Sunday was my oldest son's birthday. His party was on Saturday. We had family and friends together to celebrate. One of the events the "boys" did on Friday was touring the J.M. Davis Museum. This museum is home to 20,000 guns. It is mind-blowing to see the variety of guns that has been collected over the years. This picture shows (poorly) the old and the new. The long rifle type weapon on bottom is from the 1600's. The smaller boxy weapon is from the last 20 years. This is an example of the beauty that was crafted into one of the old flintlock rifles from the 19oo's. This happens to be a double barrel version. One of my favorites, a customized holster and belt rig. This is a Buck Rogers pistol from the limited toy gun collection. And from the strange and bizarre collections: A hammer gun used to (according to the identification card) kill a cow. The head of the hammer has three barrels and chambers. When the hammer comes down on the cow's head, the rounds disc...

There are days when something will strike me in such a way that it's like someone turns the light on in a darkened room. Earlier this week was just such a situation. I have done many funerals so far in my ministry. In fact, I love doing funerals. There is something very rewarding about speaking about a person's life and celebrating who they have been in this life. This funeral was for an extraordinary person. A giving and kind person who respected life. This man was of the Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw has named them. He was born in the first decade of the last century. In fact, he was born during the First World War. When the time came to serve the call of the country during the Second World War, this man went off to serve. His task was to put aircraft back together after the bombing and fighter raids into Germany. He wasn't a combat veteran. But he saw the horrors of war. He didn't talk about his experiences very often. He was very humble about the medals and cit...