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Noel wrote about our day yesterday, here it is.

Yesterday I had two experiences that I thought were worth sharing.

Dan and I went to Grand Rapids to see the premiere of a play called Seven Passages: The Stories of Gay Christians at Actors’ Theatre. Here’s the Writer / Director’s description of the play:

“We are not all ONE in our opinions. We are not even two or three. As a group we are a motley mix, with a common goal - telling these stories with justice in a good piece of theatre.”
-Director Stephanie Sandberg

Basically, the play is the result of a hundred or so interviews with gay and lesbian people and their interaction with Christianity throughout their lives. It was a powerful play because the script was entirely comprised of the content of these interviews.

They told their stories and incorporated passages of Scripture that address homosexuality. While I don’t agree with the interpretation that was put forward on these passages, one thing really struck me: putting the Scripture next to the individual stories humanized the whole issue of homosexuality. That piece was very well done.

After the play and a short discussion time, Dan and I got a chance to sit down and have a beer with someone who is very closely connected to the show. She shared with us that they had invited over 600 different churches and Christian organizations to come view the premiere.

One of the most common responses she got from churches was “hate mail.”

This was from churches.

Then, she shared with us her own personal story and how she was publicly shamed by a clergy member during a church service when she was in high school. She has never been back. I’m sure the “hate mail” she received really made her want to give church another chance.

It struck me that this play, in many ways, was the gay and lesbian community reaching out to the church to start a dialog.

And the church’s response was “hate mail.”

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So, it’s 2:20 and my body thinks that it’s 11:20, so I don’t want to sleep for another 40 minutes or so. A good time to update you about my adventures to the Pacific NW.

Saturday:

7am- Melissa dropped me off at the airport. No hassles traveling that day at all.

Noon (Pacific)- Arrived in Seattle, met up with Suz, Jeremy and Ben and we ate at a nearby alehouse. Good turkey and a nice glass of Moose Drool

Afternoon- We drove around Seattle and ate at a place that Bill Gates stopped at one time called Teriyaki Plus. .

Sunday-
9am- Jeremy and I went to the Shoreline campus of Mars Hill while Ben caught up on sleep. The campus there is a video venue campus and it seemed to work really well. There were probably three hundred people there, the music was good and you forgot you were watching a video after about 2 minutes. Interesting concept.
2pm- We pick up Brandon from SeaTac and take him to Teriyaki Plus.
6pm- We go back to Mars Hill, this time the Ballard Campus. The music was awesome, the Red Letter band played. Very cool, innovative, theologically solid stuff. Mark Driscoll spoke about how he like anger.

Monday
10am-First workshop with Joe Day, a guy I’ve been emailing a little bit. The topic was Songwriting and it was good.
2pm-Second session “Creating Missional Worship Bands” it was a good talk, but it really wasn’t what the title suggested. The title should have been “organizing you bands.” Some decent stuff nonetheless.
4pm-We ate at Brouwer’s Cafe which also happens to have an amazing beer selection.
7pm-Driscoll spoke on the idolatry of worship. I hope they post this up as an mp3. I will link.
8pm-My mom calls and tells me she’s engaged! Woo hoo mom! (and Ron)…

Ok, well I’m getting sleepy, so I will update the update more tomorrow or when I get more time. I will also be writing an in depth review of the conference when I get the chance.

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You never know who you are going to run into at an airport. So, I’m walking off my plane in Chicago and a girl stops me and says “Dan, right?” It turns out she and I had worked at camp together about 10 years ago. I asked her what she’s doing and she told me that she’s living in Chicago as a makeup artist. She asked what I am up to and when I told her that I’m a pastor, she said “good, I need to talk to a pastor, I’m an atheist now, do you have email?”

I handed her my card. I hope she emails me.

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I’m at the Continuous Worship Conference in Seattle with Ben, Brandon and Jeremy. Mark Driscoll spoke last night and I like this quote about idol worship:

Children are a blessing from the Lord, but they make a bad God.

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Our worship band “Ish” is now on itunes.

Please help us out by either buying the tracks or by leaving a customer review if you already have it.

Thanks!

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We just got back Sunday from the weekend retreat at Timber Wolf Lake.  It was an awesome weekend worshiping with a bunch of mature, on fire Christ followers.   Our band had a good time getting away and getting to know each other a bit better too.

And James Granger did an awesome job teaching over the course of the weekend.  He taught out of Ephesians and ask the critical question “do you trust Jesus.”  It’s such a simple question but the implications are huge.  If I trust Jesus then some pretty important things will follow (James didn’t really teach on this, but his question made me think):

If you trust Jesus you will…

1. Take him at His Word.

2. Believe that he is with us.

3. Have a hope for future glory.

4. Live a sacrificial life with abandon.

5. Be less inclined to think selfishly about life.

6. Not be afraid of people or confrontation.

7. With love others more than yourself.

8. Will become a good worker for the Gospel.

These are off the top of my head.  Do you have any to add?

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My wife wanted me to post this. I guess Trader Joe’s ask for location requests and if we get enough people who want one in Lansing, we might just have the opportunity to have access to Three Buck Chuck. Just fill out this form.

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… of chances to capitalize on some pretty sweet current events like such as, Miss Teen S. Carolina and the Larry Craig fiasco. Oh well, it would have just been some links to videos and random speculation on my behalf and probably wouldn’t have been worth reading. September is one of the more busy times this year too at Riverview what with about 600 students back here from summer break and everyone else returning from their cottages. I’m leading worship this weekend at Young Life Camp this weekend and then next weekend Suz and I are headed to Seattle and Vancouver for a worship conference and to visit Scott and Tami. Exciting.

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