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Beers, Booty-Shaking, and Jesus?

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

This is a guest post by Nicole Unice.

I have a confession to make. I like pop music.

And not just the Miley Cyrus, High School Musical flavor. I like the beat thumping, chorus humming, and—dare I say it—booty-shaking kind. There it is. I am a woman in my early 30s, with three children and a minivan. I run a Christian counseling practice and a women’s ministry. People look to me for soul direction and depth, and in my spare time, I like to dance around and get low, low, low.

The best part? I think that’s OK with Jesus.

My senior pastor plays tennis on a team with my husband’s co-worker. Last week, the team finished a game and had some beers in a cooler. One of them offered my pastor a beer and (gasp!) he took it. Later, the co-worker told my husband that he cringed because his teammate must not have known he was offering a beer to a pastor. The co-worker reported. “Wow, I was surprised he had a beer with us. That’s cool.” (more…)

Tags: beer, defy, Deviant, God, Guest Post, Jesus, nicole unice, pop music, religion
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Finding the Answer v. Being the Answer

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

This is a guest post by Andy Whisenant.

I love to read. (I guess it helps that I work at a bookstore.) It feeds my addiction.

If you walk into any bookstore and head to the Christian book section, you’ll likely find,

A wide assortment of fiction titles (most of which are westerns or ones that take place in a Mennonite community).
Several books guaranteeing you that God’s desire for your life is to be rich and happy all the time.
A few books from authors that claim that they have unlocked the secret to knowing when the world is going to end.

Another group of books you’ll likely find includes books all about finding God’s will for your life, complete with formulas and fill-in-the-blanks. It’s all tied up really well in a nice package with a cool cover and a catchy title.

Finding the Formula

For a long time, I thought that was how I was going to find out God’s will for my life. (more…)

Tags: andy whisenant, answers, God, Guest Post, Jesus, Scripture
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Re-Thinking Our Views

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

This is a guest post by Sam Mahlstadt.

Have you ever noticed some in the millennial generation are bent on bringing about change to their fields of interest, while maintaining fixed beliefs that actually work against the change they wish to see?

I have a theory: We don’t actually want things to change.

Seriously. Because if things change, we have to learn new systems and alter the way we work.

This effects many different areas in society, but I see it especially in the church.

Young, talented, entrepreneurial Christians with a desire to see the church become a creative expression of Christ’s love for the world, but not committed to change their mindset in order to make their ideas a reality. What’s missing is a belief that we can make a difference from right where we are. Anyone, at any time, can spark change. However, becoming a catalyst for change is difficult, and requires a sacrifice of comfort. Most people will give up on an idea, because even though they want things to change, they don’t really want to give anything up for it.

Trust me, we need your voice. We need your ideas. We need your innovation. If we are going to see the local church become a creative, compassionate and powerful force in our communities, we need you to think differently about yourself. Re-think your views and jump in. We are waiting.

What are you waiting for?

Tags: Guest Post, millienials, sam mahlstadt
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Ostriches

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

This is a guest post by Michael Meggison. Interested in contributing your voice to BeDeviant.com? Find the details here.

He was a man about to grab the next rung on success’ ladder but it looked like the ladder had teeth. When he rushed into the Road Show Video, it was me behind the counter.

Could I please help him?

It was hard to catch what all he was saying.

His wife and their four-year-old little girl; I-80; Was it on the news yet?

Life flight. Iowa City.

He’d lost their ATM card. Three hours away.

He’d run out of gas on his way to get across the state to get to them.

Could I please help him?

I could feel the shock he was in–like the blizzard slaps on our way home from our own Iowa City bad news.

No bone marrow transplant would take.

Pop and I passed my flask back and forth—staring out into the fat white missiles coming straight for us, momma cracking not funny jokes in the back.

This would be her last year, the man they said should know said.

(She beat him by one month to the day

We were right next to the Kelly’s Texaco on 63rd Street south of Grand.

I could see what I guessed was his car aimed at the street next to the pump: colorless-crappy and apparently on fumes.

My heart went out to him.

I had a young niece. I could probably…

If I couldn’t, he understood but man, if I could…

He took my number and address and thanked me profusely and God blessed me and I reached into my pocket and I gave him $80.

A lot.

As I watched him streak back to his car–I felt really good. I was really proud of myself at a time, when, for me, that was the exception of how I felt about me.

It didn’t occur to me until later that he didn’t put any gas in the car.

Maybe fifteen minutes later the South Side Road Show manager rang in to warn me to look out for a confidence man telling some boohoo story about his family and life flight. He’d taken them for thirty-five.

I miss the whole Road Show gang—they were very kind to a lonely Megs—Glenny, God Bless You!

It was my decision. It was my money.

I never saw him again. But I do remember him.

He preyed on something still alive and hopeful in me.

My heart wasn’t just a funky lonely hole and his short con only cost me $80 to show that to me at a time when I really needed to see it.

Sure, I felt stupid and foolish: I had been taken. But every time I’ve looked back at it—I admire me in that moment.

I see me the way my Father sees me. He likes me. He thinks a lot of me.

Bill Johnson said in a sermon I heard recently that we can’t afford to think lesser thoughts of ourselves than heaven thinks.

I’d back-slidden right down to raw spinal-tap fluid—but I believe in heaven sitting next to Jesus–the One who knows me better than I do–on the best of reel: that scene at Road Show Video when I got conned out of $80 American shows up.

I bet there are some of those moments where you blew it and someone abused you in some light—but your heart was right.

So—be blessed by it. Share it, if you’re led.

Ostriches do put their heads in the sand.

But ostrich farmers say they do it in search of something to eat.

Tags: bill johnson, con, Guest Post, michael meggison, ostriches
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What Not Going to Church Taught Me About Church

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

This is a guest post from Ryan Johnston. Interested in contributing your voice to BeDeviant.com? Check out the details here.

“Unconform.” You’re right, it’s not a word…..yet.

Usually, the word should be nonconformity, but in the church it is the rare case that there is nonconformity. If anything, we have conformity.

Which is why we need to unconform.

The church seems to be all about conformity

You can only go to church on a certain day, at a certain time.
You have to worship God in a church-nowhere else.
We’ll sing certain songs, the service will go in a certain order, and you better not mess up the order or God won’t love you anymore.
You have to begin and end at a certain time, if you’re outside those boundaries then God won’t be present.
I hope you’re dressed up, because God won’t accept those wearing t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops, or anything else that doesn’t conform to the dress code. And don’t ask what the dress code is, you’re just supposed to know.

Well, that sums up most churches I’ve been to anyway. And, I have to admit, it’s hard to not think that way when you’ve done it your whole life.

(more…)

Tags: Guest Post, house church, ryan johnston
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One Thing

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

This is a guest post from Kyle Reed. Interested in contributing to BeDeviant.com? Check out the details here.

Did you know that when you search the word “Diets” on Google 19,500, 000 pages return? Seems more then enough info for you to find what you are looking for. In a world saturated by information, often times it can be overwhelming rather then useful.

Shane Hipps in his book Flickering Pixels says: “If we are not alert, the info age may stunt our growth and create a permanent puberty of the mind.” With so much information out there, where do you begin?

(more…)

Tags: contributor, Guest Post, kyle reed
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The Case for the Mediocre Pastor?

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

This is a guest post by Brad Herndon. Interested in contributing to BeDeviant.com? Check out the details here.

Lately when I’ve asked people about growing churches with strong leaders that I want to hear more about, the phrase “cult of personality” seems to be popping up more than it used to (always preceded by “it’s a little bit” as if to cushion the criticism).

Some personality-driven churches I can recognize a mile away (LED billboards with the pastor’s face lit up = dead giveaway), but less obvious ones make me wonder, is the problem with leaders, or is it in our skepticism of them?

We leave and criticize churches whose leaders don’t lead, but we’re uncomfortable with church leaders (especially those down the street from us) who lead with strength and charisma.

We love and download Andy Stanley, John Piper, Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll, Bill Hybels, Erwin McManus, Craig Groeschel (insert your favorite pastor-crush here)—all of whom are great lead pastors with big personalities and bigger churches—but when a new church comes on the scene with a dynamic leader, why do we tend to say “it’s a little bit of a cult of personality.”

Just wondering, where’s the balance?

Tags: brad herndon, Church, mediocre, personality
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Just Us Girls – Finding God in the Chatter

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

This is a guest post from Nicole Unice. Interested in contributing to BeDeviant.com? Check out the details here.

Last Friday evening, a casual outdoor party in my neighborhood culminated with a half-dozen girls sprawled across my living room. As they compared splits and talked about the upcoming school year, I held skinny feet in the air as each attempted the perfect handstand. I remarked to the gaggle that I thought I could still break out a split if not for the dress I was wearing. A lanky blond with hair as long and straight as her nine-year-old legs leaned into me, whispering conspiratorially: “Oh go ahead, it’s just us girls.”

Just us girls. The living room could hardly contain the beauty, joy, and potential of those women in the making. I marveled at being invited to witness such life.

I love being part of a generation that esteems women like never before and passes that on to these girls. Women have reached new heights of success in every arena. The world is a better place because of our achievement and innovation. Yet often our complex nature and this broken world crash together like the girls falling out of their handstands. We are all head bumps and soul bruises.

I wonder what will become of those free-spirited females as their lives expand beyond the cul-de-sac and elementary school, when the world’s messages threaten their joy. My night with the girls gave me reason to pause and think about what voices they’ll hear as they become women:

Work a job that fulfills, raise kids that behave, and save time to perfect your tennis stroke and keep your hair highlights bright.
Talk intelligently about politics, literature, social causes–and the cover headlines of US magazine.
Embrace your maturity with grace while slathering on anti-aging cream and spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars achieving the natural look.
Be a great lover to your husband and devoted to your family, but stay “hot” and maintain your own bank account, just in case.
And if you are under 21? Well, then, you should know how to create a nonprofit, letter in three sports, and toss around sex as casually as the next fashion.
Under 18? Know the square root of 121, the calories in the yogurt you ate for breakfast, and remember “self first” so that you don’t get hurt by anyone else.
And no matter your age, maintain hundreds of casual relationships and deny the truth that you feel lonelier and less known then ever before.

On one level, we don’t believe the voices. We recognize that they are superficial, unrealistic. But our exposure to our ambivalent culture affects us deeply, creating in us confusion about how we are to live.

In the noise of this crowd, we owe it to our mothers, our daughters, sisters and friends to seek the voice of truth—the voice of God. Where is God’s voice and what—if anything—does he have to say to women?

As Christian leaders, we want to believe that God speaks into this mess, but sometimes it’s hard for even us to pick out the real gems of truth in the costume jewelry of our society.

So how do we do it? How do we point women toward the voice of God in today’s culture? When a woman, steeped in these cultural messages, walks into your church or social event for the first time, what do you think she’s looking for—and how do we provide it?

Tags: God, women
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Comfort vs. Character

Friday, January 8th, 2010

This is a guest post by Kevin Eagle. Are you interested in contributing to BeDeviant.com? Check out the details here.

I’ve tried in all my geeky wisdom to get my wife to use an RSS reader to aggregate all of the blogs that she is now following, but much to my chagrin, she still insists on reading each one individually. Well, the fact of the matter is, I don’t really care, because she still shares good stuff with me from time to time.

Case in point, we were sitting in front of the TV on Saturday night and she speaks up to say that I needed to read the blog post of one of her favorite bloggers (http://www.mycharmingkids.net) from that day.

Well this morning, I finally got around to it, and one sentence struck me as profound. “God cares about my character, not my comfort.” (from http://tinyurl.com/yawoob)

I’ve written recently about my lack of focus and uncertainty about the potential for 2010. What’s really going on is that there are so many things in my life that I’m uncertain about right now, I’m swimming in the “what ifs” and continually asking “what should I do?”

I’m very uncomfortable right now…with questions about my ministry, with questions about my career choice and direction, with questions about my finances, with questions about my family life. But this one statement made me stop and think, God wants me to be uncomfortable, because that’s when I can trust him most, and that is when I have the opportunity to build on my character. God cares more about my character than my comfort because comfort is a human attribute, a human longing, a human emotion.

Character is who I really am, and who I really am reflects who God created me to be and reveals the ways in which I am created in His image.

So my response? Worship and praise! Praise God for my discomfort! I worship Him with my disconcerted life by obedience and my quest for His perfect will. He is shaping me through these experiences, because I certainly can’t shape myself to perfect all aspects of my life.

So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you. ~1 Peter 4:19~

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath! ~Psalm 104:33~