coloring

Music Transcends and Unites

Dave Matthews and Trey Anastasio of Phish traveled to Senegal, and this video is an off-the-cuff jam session with the Baobab Orchestra.  I don't speak the same language as the members of Baobab, but I can still be moved by the beauty of the music.  If you know this song, it is obvious how each person brings their own flavor which in turn changes the whole feel of the song.  It becomes something even more powerful.  Maybe we need a few more jam sessions in church.

If you want to watch the entire song, check it out here.

Randomness

• Tally, the pastor of Focal Point Church, is in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
• Julie almost has a blog.  Her photos are excellent, so I have posted one here.  I encourage everyone to leave a comment, just a little nudge to help her take the plunge.
• Casey has turned Laney's garage sale idea into an entire series for EpicKids.  The theme revolves around kids being world changers and making a global impact.  She asked the kids for ideas to incorporate into the series.  I think June will be an amazing month for our kids.
• Last night's leadership meeting (or should I say conversation) was excellent.  I have never felt more confident about our leaders or the direction that we are heading.  Church planting has been the hardest thing we have ever done.  It's been more challenging than I thought it would be, and I thought it would be difficult.  It has taken much longer to get to this point than I expected.
• I am really craving a road trip...to just get in the car and drive not knowing where we will be eating or sleeping or what amazing sights we will see.

Long but Funny Title

Vince Antonucci has just written his first book; it's called I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt.  Robb will be reading an advanced copy this month and posting his comments on my blog.

Vince is the pastor of Forefront Church, and Forefront was a great help to us when we planted Epic.  They are a kingdom-minded church and were not threatened by our presence.  Instead, they asked how they could help us.  They staffed our children's ministry one week and went so far as to open their computer files and say take what you need.  Their children's director (at the time) and I shared creative ideas and resources.  We didn't have a church staff or even a team of volunteers, so this small gesture helped me to feel like I was part of a team.

First Impressions & Misconceptions, pt. 2

If you missed part 1, you can read it here.

Church planters agonize over choosing a name.  A name says so much about who we are or want to become.  People will definitely have a positive or a negative first impression based on the name of the church plant, and it can influence whether or not somebody will give our church a chance.  However, there is a larger issue at work determining whether people will walk through our doors.  It's the impression people formulate based on word-of-mouth about our church in the community.  What are people saying about us?  Are they even talking about us at all?  It is important that newcomers feel welcomed and valued when they step through the doors of our church, but the true first impression happened before they even decided to attend.

From This Morning

Eugene Peterson's intro to the book of Jeremiah:

"Jeremiah's life and Jeremiah's book are a single piece.  He wrote what he lived, he lived what he wrote.  There is no dissonance between his life and his book.  Some people write better than they live; others live better than they write.  Jeremiah, writing or living, was the same Jeremiah."

Robb shared this in church this morning.  (I think we could have just ended right there.)  Do I live as well as I write?  Probably not, but I am striving. 

First Impressions & Misconceptions

My name is Shaula.  If you are wondering how to pronounce it, think "Shaula like Paula."  People have a lot of misconceptions about me based on my name.  If someone hasn't met me but only heard my name, they are often surprised to meet a white girl.  Many have assumed my name is of African origin.

Actually, the origin of my name is Arabic.  When I meet someone who hails from the Middle East, I get a lot of questions about my name and my family heritage.  They are usually disappointed to find out that I have no connections whatsoever to their homeland.  Then I usually get questions about what Shaula means because they know it sounds Arabic.

Well, before I tell you the meaning of my name, I should tell you what Shaula is...besides me.  It's the name of a star - not a celebrity star but a celestial star.  It's the 21st brighest star, and it can be found in the constellation scorpio.  Shaula means "the sting" or the "raised tail" referring of course to the scorpio.  My husband is probably nodding in agreement that sting would be a good definition for me. 

There are those rare people that know Shaula is a star, so they invariably ask me if my parents were hippies.  They have this free-love commune image of my family.  The honest truth is that my mom met somebody named Shaula in high school.  She thought it was pretty.  End of story.  I didn't know the meaning of my name until one of my college suitemates took an astronomy class.

I'll post part 2 later about how this relates to church.

Kids, Cash, and Africa

We have a "no garage sale" policy at our house.  We don't sell our old and discarded items for cash.  We believe in giving things away.  We don't have a lot of money, but we can be generous with our possessions.  It's a value that we have been trying to teach our children.  Laney has an entrepreneurial spirit and sees garage sales as a way to earn some dough, so she has been frustrated by the moratorium on yard sales.  Tonight she had a different idea.  A yard sale that benefits children in Africa.  She is praying about how much she should give and brainstorming ways to get other people interested in helping others.  I love to see children understand the heart of God and lead others to follow.

Transforming Our City

We want the community, the city, to be better as a result of our presence.  We should be making a positive impact and people should be able to feel the difference that a group of Christ-followers can create in a community.  We have added a new component:  partnering with the city to achieve transformation.  Somebody (not me) came up with the brilliant idea to contact the city, to share our heart with them, and to offer to serve the city where there was a need.  We have now partnered with a city organization that puts us in touch with homeowners that are low-income and need home repairs.  The best part is that the city does a lot of legwork, and they pay for all the necessary materials.  What a perfect partnership for a group of people that have a passion to serve but not a lot of financial resources!

Trying Not to Soapbox

I have read several bloggers write about the importance of reading as a means of improving oneself, however it seems that nonfiction is the only thing mentioned as a viable tool for gaining knowledge.  There seems to be an anti-fiction mentality; an idea that fiction is beneath the leader who seeks knowledge.  Fiction enhances my self-education in a different but very important way than nonfiction. 

• I believe the two literary forms work hand-in-hand.  While the nonfiction book engages me cerebrally, the fiction book takes that knowledge and connects it to my emotions and my spirit.  For example, I can read a book that tells me how to be a better leader, but I am fueled by a new passion when I read a book about a great leader.
• Fiction allows me the opportunity to wear somebody else's skin for 300 pages or so.  I walk away with a new-found understanding and respect for people that are different than me.  It could be learning about another culture, or it could be people with a different set of beliefs than me.  All in all, it enhances my ability to love others and not be quick to judgment.
• Themes found in fiction are spiritual at the core and ripe for discussion or personal reflection.  Themes include:  sacrifice, redemption, intimacy, grace, forgiveness, love, meaning, etc. 
• Reading fiction enhances my personal creativity.  It allows my mind to work in a different capacity.
• At the core of it all, fiction is story, and Christ-followers are storytellers - sharing our personal story with those around us.

I rotate reading fiction and nonfiction books.  If you want to add some fiction to your reading list, here are the last three books I have read:  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd, and The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

 

True Colors

While sitting at the beach today, I noticed that the sand appears to be a caramel color.  It's a bit deceptive though because when I looked closely at the sand on my feet, I noticed that the sand is comprised of no less than five different shades.

I think we are a lot like the sand.  From a distance we can have one appearance, but when we allow someone to get up close and really know us, they can see all the nuances of color that make us unique.  The problem is sometimes we are uncomfortable with people seeing certain shades of our personality.