photo phresh: a good look at Beth

No more delays, it is time to post some photographs of Beth at 6 months pregnant.

These photos are not a joke, they are not taken of Beth a month ago, she really is at the 6 month mark (hard to believe, I know).

Here we go:

So, let’s all give an extra special round of applause for an extra special “thank you” to Mama K for the “It’s a Girl” shirt (notice that the “a” is a “female” sign – clever).

Teaser: not only did Beth receive a special gift from Mama K, but so did the little one.  

Not to be out done by Beth, Lee will soon be making a special appearance on the blog (sometime this weekend) to model the little one’s gift.

Stay tuned…

6 months in: what you’ve all been waiting for

Beth and I got together with a well respected videographer and producer to film a special video for all our friends and family.

There has been an outcry for “BELLY PICTURES, BELLY PICTURES!” and, finally, we have obliged your demands.

Enjoy!

A special thanks from us to Michael Scott for taking the time to edit and produce this sweet little gem of a film.

Look for “6 Months Pregnant: The Full Length Version” coming to film festivals in early 2009.

In all seriousness, we hope you enjoyed the video and you can be looking forward to our posting some photographs of Beth in the next day or two.

Stay tuned.

death by love: and it begins

Earlier this month my great friend (and brand new father) Matt Pitts surprised me with a package containing what is, for me, the most highly anticipated book of the year – no other book even comes close.

Pittsy knows me well, not only did he hook me up with Mark Driscoll’s Death by Love: Letters from the Cross, but he also went above and beyond to write a note inside the front cover (which is tremendously meaningful to me).

When I called him to tell him how much I appreciated the gift, I told Pittsy that my plan was to blog my way through the book as I read it.

My goal in posting the “death by love” blogs to come is not to provide a boring summary of the book (I would much rather leave that to some other blogger out there); rather, my goal is to whet your appetite to pick this book up and read it for yourself.

Translation = there won’t be any chapter outlines, long summations, or massive block quotes. I want to point you to the book and encourage to pick it up and read it for yourself.

Let’s get started:

I think this book may be the most theologically and pastorally significant book of the year (I am tempted to say “the decade”)

Why?

Death by Love is all about the gospel – the multifaceted beauty of the gospel as it applies to dirty, gritty, angst-filled, painful reality.

What does the gospel mean when you have been raped? When your father abused you?

What does believing in Christ’s death by love mean for a child molester? If your mother has terminal cancer?

How does the gospel bring salvation to the demon oppressed? to men and women trapped in the world of (viewing and participating in) pornography?

What does the gospel mean to you?

As Mark Driscoll says at the close of the preface, my “prayer is that this book (or series of posts) will be intensely practical in nature, pastoral in tone, theological in depth, biblical in content, and worshipful in consequence.”

And, as Pittsy said in the front cover of my copy of Death by Love, “May you grow in your love for Christ and the church for which he died as you read.”

in the news: Schuller split

the Schullers: Robert H & son, Robert A.

In my daily review of the news I stumbled across an interesting story.

Evidently, this weekend Robert H. Schuller, well known pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, announced that his son, Robert A.Schuller, was being removed from leadership of CC’s “Hour of Power” television ministry.

In making the announcement, the elder Schuller cited “different ideas as to the direction and the vision for this ministry (‘Hour of Power’) as we move into the future”.

This statement, not surprisingly, grabbed my attention.  It is one of those statements that manages to leave you feeling that you know what’s going on when, in fact, you don’t.

So I did a little more digging and found and article in the Los Angeles Times that gets a bit closer to the meaning of “different ideas” for ‘Hour of Power’ – the entire article is worth reading, but here is the part I found most insightful:

Schuller built his worldwide ministry over a half century on the psychology of positive thinking and appealing to people turned off by the formality of traditional faiths. In contrast, his son’s sermons have been full of direct references to the Bible.

“I was called to start a mission, not a church,” Schuller told his audience Sunday. “There is a difference. . . . You don’t try to preach . . . what is sin and what isn’t sin. A mission is a place where you ask nonbelievers to come and find faith and hope and feel love. We’re a mission first, a church second.”

Now, I am in no position to speak with any authority when it comes to the differences between the two Schullers, not having heard either of them preach more than once or twice in passing.  

I cannot speak to the faithfulness of either man when it comes to their adherence to the biblical gospel, but I find it intriguing that the elder Schuller seems desirous that his “mission” be a place “where you ask nonbelievers to come and find faith and hope and feel love”, yet – according the this journalist’s  interpretation  - preaching from the scriptures does not line up with the elder Schuller’s understanding of “faith”, “hope”, or “love”.

If this article is right and the difference between the two men is preaching from the scripture, I got to ask myself, “what’s the point?”

What’s the point of gathering a group of people together in a massive marvel of church architecture to gush intangible feelings of faith, hope, and love that have no clearly defined meaning?  What is the benefit? Why even waste the time? 

If that is the kind of faith, hope, and love coming out of the Crystal Cathedral, then that place is nothing more than a Crystal Tomb, adorned in whitewash.

We need faith, hope, and love that are rooted in Jesus Christ’s death in our place.  

We need faith in his sacrifice.

We need the hope that comes from his glorious resurrection from death.

We need love that is inseparable from 1 John 4: 9-11: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

 

***Editorial Addition: Tuesday morning my Google Reader delivered an outstanding article on the Schuller Split with additional helpful research and insight, so if you want to know more check out Al Mohler’s article “So Much for Possibility Thinking” at his blog, www.albertmohler.com.

***Editorial Note:  Let me be clear that this article has several holes in it, that it provides helpful insight into the nature of the “differences” between the two Schullers, but it is far from conclusive.  

Unfortunately, the language of the Christian subculture is not clearly defined and it is especially prone to misuse by media outlets.  Having recognized this, I want to be clear that my thoughts above are made conditionally, and should not be read as an outright and definite condemnation of the Crystal Cathedral.

re:source updated

Just in case you were wondering, I figured out how to convert the audio of my sermon on Discipleship recorded at my church, City Fellowship Church, here in Jackson.

It is available now on the re:source page. 

I still don’t have the right software to edit the file, so the sermon portion of the recording picks up at the 16:30 mark.

I welcome your feedback, so if you give it a listen, I would love to hear what you have to say – so leave a comment, send an email, or tell me about it next time you see me.

Enjoy!

spotlight: Grace Elisabeth Pitts

Matt and Sarah Pitts posted the first shots of their beautiful daughter over at their blog.

Here is the teaser photograph to get you to go check out their blog and get a close up shot of little Gracie (who really is a beautiful little baby):

Sarah, Matt, and little Gracie

happy birthday Gracie! happy birth day Sarah!

Mark your calendars! Grace Elisabeth Pitts has arrived!

At a little after 6pm this evening, Sarah and Matt Pitts – our best of friends – welcomed their daughter into this world.

She was a tiny little baby, only 21 inches and merely 8 pounds, 15 ounces, born with dark brown hair.

We are really excited for the Pitts, especially for Sarah – she was ready to have her little one in her arms and out of her body.

And, as excited as we are about the birth, we are even more excited that our daughter’s best friend for life was born today! Take good notes Gracie, you are going to have to give our daughter the heads up on a lot of things.

my best friend is having a baby – today!

I finally got the call this morning at 9:30 that my best friend is in labor and Lord-willing, will deliver her daughter sometime today, possibly early tomorrow morning.

I have been anticipating this phone call for so long. In fact, everytime she has called within the past two weeks I have expected for it to be “the call.” So of course, in order to alleviate my anxiety, we decided her first words to me before any conversation could proceed need to be, “Hey I am not in labor.”

Well this morning, after two missed calls (I can’t believe I missed the calls) she graciously persisted and called Lee’s phone.

I answer, and she says in a quiet, pained voice, “Hey what are you doing?”

Before I could answer or ask any questions, the next thing I know I am talking to Matt, her husband, because she is having a contraction.

He informs me they are in fact headed to the hospital. I could sense the excitement in Matt’s voice, while still being calm and collected for the sake of his wife.

Soon after he passed the phone to Sarah.

She explained the contractions started this morning at around 4am and that currently they were about 4 minutes apart and about a minute in length. They were on their way to the hospital.

We agreed to hang up as soon as her next contraction started. Needless to say, we did not get to talk much longer.

Please pray for her and Matt and for sweet Grace Elisabeth Pitts. Today could be her birthday!

We cannot wait to meet her. I trust Matt and Sarah will raise a beautiful sweet godly daughter.

Matt, Sarah and Gracie (a very tiny Gracie)

You can check out their blog at http://mattandsarahpitts.blogspot.com/

I believe they will be trying to post updates as the delivery progresses.

now introducing: Joe Garner

 

No need to mince words – if you enjoy music and value a healthy marriage between thought provoking lyrics and well crafted music, you have to give Joe Garner a listen.

Here is a description of Joe’s music, specifically his EP “Mourning Birds”:

Recorded at a mountain studio in east Tennessee and released independently, Garner’s is a sound definitely grown from the ground. Earthy, honest and plaintive; Mourning Birds beckons back to the folk ballads of a simpler time and at the same time casts a shadow of unease on its own mirth.

Compiled with a handful of friends giving sparse and simple accompaniment to his guitar, Garner’s first effort includes six tracks that display the enigmatic range of moods that make this burgeoning songwriter and storyteller a haunted soul not soon forgotten.

Son to a life-long and road-weary Country ‘n’ Western picker, Garner comes by his music honest. While not too concerned with slaying the forefathers of his genre or recreating the wagon wheel, Joe Garner has been able to move in and inhabit the best sensibilities of a songwriting once known as Country Music, but upon its exit from the country now labeled ‘Roots’.

May his roots grow deeper; we’ll sit and listen.

They have.  His roots keep growing and his music keeps maturing, as you will soon discover when you head over to Joe’s MySpace page and listen to his new song, “Coat of Arms“.

(click that link, don’t wait, check it now before you forget or get distracted – you won’t regret it)

spotlight: a Peek at Germany

Our wonderful friends Kev and Beck Peek had the amazing opportunity to backpack through Europe for a couple of weeks in late September.  

We know Kev & Beck from our College Station days and after the Peeks moved to Louisville for school, Becky and Beth worked together in Louisville.  Between the work, school, and Monday Night Dinner connections, the Peeks and Wilsons managed to become close, dear friends.

Beck has recently started catching up with her blogging, updating friends and family on the “Viva Europa Opportunity 2008″ at their blog, A Peek at the Peeks.  

The second day of the great adventure, the Peeks had the sobering privilege of visiting a place that I think everyone who is able to visit Europe should go to … but I will let Beck explain:

Day two was spent at Dachau Concentration Camp.

We had visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC during the spring, which was a very moving & well-designed museum. But actually being on the grounds of where these terrible things took place was sobering. We couldn’t help but be reminded of the depravity of man (not just the Nazis but all of us) and how in need we all are of a savior in Christ.

This picture is of the entrance gate to the camp. It says “Work Shall Set You Free.”

It was an exhortation to the prisoners to work hard in hopes of earning their release but ended up just serving as a tantalizing mockery.

Beck’s commentary on her visit to Dachau reminds me of one of my favorite songs by Sufjan Stevens, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.”  

In this haunting/chilling/disturbing song, Steven sings about Illinois’ most infamous serial killer.  The bulk of the song provide some of the details of Gacy’s childhood and also his crimes.

As you listen to the song for the first time, it is about the time that you realize what Stevens is singing about that you shudder and think, “why is this a song?”, that the song’s final lyrics are sung:

And in my best behavior 
I am really just like him 
Look beneath the floorboards 
For the secrets I have hid

The song is, ultimately, an expose of a sinner’s heart – a disturbing illustration of Jesus’ hard teaching in the Sermon on the Mount:

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Stevens directs his listeners’ attention to the atrocious actions of John Wayne Gacy, not to glorify Gacy, or to excuse him, but the remind us that our hearts are guilty, too.  

Beck, thanks for recognizing that even in a place where the most horrific of horrific acts took place, that we cannot justify our own sin.  

Praise God that “the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15).

 

***Editorial Note: For the sake of clarity, in Matthew 5, Jesus is not making the statement that murder and harsh words are equally evil.  He is speaking to a people who pride themselves on keeping the letter of the Law (“Do not murder”), thinking that they are righteous because there is no blood on their hands, but they have missed the spirit of the Law.  According to the spirit of the Law, they are guilty for hating and reviling.

Recognizing our own sinfulness, our own guilt and unrighteousness according to the spirit of the Law, is an imperative.  

It must be noted (due to the sensitivity of subject matter included in this post) that drawing attention to our violation of the spirit of the Law by considering egregious violations of the letter of the Law, does in no way diminish the horrific nature of Gacy’s crimes or the indefensible atrocities committed against the Jewish people by Nazi Germany.