American Idol Goes to Church

April 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment

American Idol rarely surprises me anymore. I’ve now watched 3 seasons in their entirety (guilty pleasure, anyone?) and they’ve all basically followed the same formula. But this week’s episodes managed to provide a double shock. If you’re not a watcher of the show, the first surprise probably won’t be of interest to you. I was surprised to see Michael Johns exit when he did. Poor choice in neckwear aside (a cravat? really?), I liked the guy. Not a great performer, but a great singer.

The second surprise was that anyone who happened to turn on the end of Wednesday night’s episode might have thought they had accidentally stumbled onto one of those infomercials for praise music. Part of every results show is a group-sing from the contestants, usually one that pertains to that week’s theme. These are usually painful to watch. Case in point: this hokey version of “9 to 5″ on the week when Dolly Parton was a mentor to the contestants. They actually line dance. Te-hee.

Anyhow. The group song for this week was…(wait for it)…”Shout to the Lord!” Yes, that “Shout to the Lord.” I never in a million years saw that one coming. They actually sang a praise song! Now, I didn’t get to see Wednesday night’s performance because my DVR cut off before the ending. But you can check it out here. Notice they edited the lyrics to make them less overtly Christian, leaving out the name Jesus.

But last night (for result’s night part 2) they sang an unedited version. Check it out by clicking here:

So what do y’all think? What do you make of this? I hope you’ll leave a comment. I have a lot that I can say about this, but I want to hear what you have to say. How do you react to hearing one of “our” songs on American Idol? My initial response is to say “Hmm. Cool.” But there’s more. For now I hope you’ll watch the video and chime in. If you don’t, you’ll be forced to listen to me prattle on about it. And aren’t you tired of hearing from me? (Please don’t vote me off.)

Posted by Robert | Filed Under Blog 
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Teen Movie Night

April 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

April 18, 2008
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

 

Teens come join us for another great time at Teen Movie Night hosted by Mike Piselli.  Movie information to follow.

Posted by NCOC | Filed Under Events, News 
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Men’s Game Night

April 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

April 19, 2008
7:00 pmto9:00 pm

 

Join us for a Game Night on April 19th at 7 p.m. Come ready to play with a snack to share. For more info see Tim Zane.

Posted by NCOC | Filed Under Events, News 

Be Fruitful

April 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

So how does Jesus change lives? I hope to get a glimpse of it in the coming weeks. We will be following Jesus—listening to him teach and watching him work. We will hear him invite his followers to change; we will see him change lives.

This week, I want to start at the end—the end of a life changed by Jesus. Among the different metaphors Jesus uses to describe this kind of life is the metaphor of fruit. Jesus says that, when it’s all said and done, His followers will be known because they bear fruit and that it’s good fruit. What does he mean? We’ll talk about that this morning. In the meantime, for your reading enjoyment, I thought I’d give you a little bit of useless fruit information from our friends over at wikipedia.com.

• Botanically speaking, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas, corn, beans and peppers are all fruit.
• Botanically speaking, raspberries and blackberries are not actually berries, but tomatoes and avocados are.
• According to superstition in the UK, it’s unwise to pick blackberries after 9/29, because after this date they’ve been claimed by the devil.
• The apple originated in Central Asia in regions including modern-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
• Bananas and oranges both originated in Southeast Asia.
• Alexander the Great is credited with the “discovery” of dwarf apples in Asia Minor and bananas in India.
• According to mythology, an apple is the indirect cause of the Trojan War.
• Despite popular misconception, Genesis doesn’t say that the “forbidden fruit” is an apple. Perhaps the idea arose from the fact that, in Latin, the words for apple and evil are the same in the plural (mala).
• In a number of languages, the orange is known as “the Chinese apple.”
• The navel orange was first grown in the 19th century at a Brazilian monastery.
• The world’s leading producer of fresh fruit is India, followed by Vietnam.
• The world’s leading producer of tropical fruit is the Philippines.
• The difference between jam and jelly is that, in jelly preparation, the fruit pulp is filtered out.

Now that you’re ready to go on Jeopardy, let’s look at what really matters. What does Jesus mean when talks about fruit? And how fruitful are you and I? And what must we do to bear fruit? Thanks for joining us for worship.

Posted by Robert | Filed Under Articles 
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Bar the Exits?

April 4, 2008 | 3 Comments

The most recent issue of The Christian Chronicle, contains an excellent editorial by Bobby Ross, Jr. He’s commenting on a survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. (If you have time to kill, follow the link and check out all of the interesting surveys, polls, and descriptions of American religious life.) In particular he comments on a finding from the US Religious Landscape Survey that says about 44% of Americans have changed religions from the one in which they were raised (if they were raised in one at all).

That means that nearly half of the American public will change their religious affiliation at some point in their lifetime. He notes that Churches of Christ are not exempt from this. A recent survey conducted by the Harding Center for Church Growth estimates that only 60% of those who grew up in the Churches of Christ remain with the CoC into adulthood. Further, he astutely asserts that, if we were to investigate the numbers of people who have changed churches rather than denominations, the number would sky rocket.

So how do we react to this? Ross notes two reactions. I can identify with both of them.

One possible response is worry, anger and blame. He has a quote from a minister who attributes the shifts in membership to a younger generation that is short on commitment and tall on selfishness. They leave because they are looking for whatever scratches their particular itch.

I hate to say that I understand this impulse all too well. As a minister, I worry far too much about people coming and going. I especially take it personally whenever someone leaves our church to go to another local church.  I wonder why they choose “that” church over our church. What does that church have that we don’t? In my worst moments I get defensive. I tell myself that “those people” don’t know how to commit.

Let me be clear. I don’t like this reaction. I try not to worry about it too much, because I think that, for me at least, it’s just part of being me—occasionally insecure and defensive.  It’s become a good opportunity for honest, confessional prayer.

I prefer the other response that Ross points to. He includes a quote from Jeff Foster that is worth repeating:

People, by and large, are starved for a faith that is genuine and relational-based rather than institutional and traditional…People want to know Christ, not simply know about Christ.

Wow. He’s right. My best response—one that comes through God’s grace—is to remember what truly matters. It’s not our job to get more members. It’s not our job to create institutional loyalty. It’s not our mission to build the “Church of Christ.” It is our rather important task to introduce people to Jesus, and, as difficult as it may be for someone as neurotic as myself, let God worry about numbers and transfers.

After all, our mission is “Changing Lives through Jesus,” not “Engineering Brand Loyalty.” I wonder what would happen if we were to take Jesus’ advice and “Seek first his Kingdom” (Matthew 6:33).

Posted by Robert | Filed Under Blog 
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