Now that I have been out of Seminary for about four months, I am beginning to get some perspective on what I learned and how useful it is for life and ministry. I am sure this perspective will continue to mature and develop, but below is something my wife and I were talking about the other day…

Most seminary programs place a high emphasis on learning the Biblical languages of Greek and Hebrew. The theory is that knowing Greek and Hebrew will aid the student in understanding the text better, and therefore, being able to teach it better. It is for this reason I studied them, even though learning languages has always been a struggle for me. In seminary, I easily spent just as much time on my Hebrew and Greek classes as I did on all my other classes combined. On an average night, I would spend 4-6 hours on homework, and usually, 3-4 of these were on learning Greek or Hebrew.

The question for me now is whether knowing such languages will actually prove helpful for understanding the Biblical text? I think to some degree it has. But given the wide variety of good English translations, the vast availability of Greek and Hebrew study tools (both in book and digital format), and the large number of good commentaries that have been written, I expect that knowing Greek and Hebrew is not going to be super beneficial to me personally. I will most likely use it in my studies, but one thing learning Greek and Hebrew taught me is that unless you are an expert, using Greek and Hebrew is rather dangerous. Since I will never be a Greek and Hebrew expert, I must tread lightly when using the languages in my study.

One other thing I have become convinced of in using Greek and Hebrew is that a pastor must almost never use Greek and Hebrew in his public teaching. This gives the impression to those listening that unless they know Greek and Hebrew, they cannot truly understand Scripture. Today, Greek and Hebrew is like Latin was in the Middle Ages. They are the languages of the Bible scholars and have effectively taken the Bible out of the hands of the “laity,” requiring them to go to the trained “clergy” for proper interpretation. The teacher or pastor who frequently says “…now in the Greek (or Hebrew)…” is taking the Bible away from the people.

I do, of course, think that language studies should be a part of every seminary education. However, if I am looking to be a better teacher of Scripture, I think that languages like Spanish, Chinese, and Hindi might be better than Greek and Hebrew. If one purpose of seminary is to help prepare students to “go into all the world and preach the gospel” it seems that learning the languages of “all the world” might better prepare us to do that then learning dead languages that nobody speaks any longer.

What do you think?

Here is the timeline for my music-listening preferences:

Birth-Jr. High: Only Christian music
Jr. High-High School: Mostly “Secular” music
College-Pastoral Ministry: Mostly Christian music, Some country music
2005-2008: No music at all
June 2008-Present: Mostly Secular music

Generally, when I made the switch from Christian to secular music, it was because the Christian music sounded so fake and empty. Most Christian music seemed to be about happy feelings and happy lives and how great God is and how awesome is His name. Also, there were those breathless love songs to Jesus, which always made me squirm. Oh, and the songs about fountains and tides of blood, creeped me out a bit. So I would switch to “secular” music where people sang about the issues and feelings I was actually dealing with in my mind, heart, and life.

But then some Christian would come along and tell me that “secular” music was evil, and I needed to repent and only listen to Godly music which didn’t tempt me to sleep around, take drugs, and kill cops. So I would trash all my secular albums, and go back to the Christian stuff.

Finally, about three years ago, I just gave it all up. I couldn’t, as a “good Christian,” listen to the secular stuff, and for the most part, I didn’t like listening to the Christian stuff. So I just didn’t listen to anything.

Then I read some books and talked with some people (like my pastor, Stephen Hammond) and realized that there should be no real division between “sacred” and “secular.” This is an artificial, man-made division to help some Christians feel self-righteous and holier-than-thou. Anything that is well done, whether music, art, cooking, or working, is a testimony to the goodness and creativity of God.

So I started listening to secular music again, and realized why I enjoyed it so much. Christian artists (with the exception of groups like Casting Crowns) seem to suffer from the illusion that since God is so great, when we come to Jesus, life becomes grand and all our problems disappear. Everybody knows this is hogwash, but nobody wants to admit it. “Secular” artists do not try to hide the fact that this world and all our relationships are messed up. Instead, they lay things out the way they are, and often, they dream about something better, about the way things could be…if only things were different.

As an example, check out the lyrics to one my current favorite songs. It’s from the song by Nickelback called “Savin’ Me”

Prison gates won’t open up for me
On these hands and knees I’m crawlin’
Oh, I reach for you
Well I’m terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can’t hold my soul in
All I need is you
Come please I’m callin’
And oh I scream for you
Hurry I’m fallin’, I’m fallin’

Chorus: Show me what it’s like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I’ll show you what I can be
Say it for me
Say it to me
And I’ll leave this life behind me
Say it if it’s worth saving me

Heaven’s gates won’t open up for me
With these broken wings I’m fallin’
And all I see is you
These city walls ain’t got no love for me
I’m on the ledge of the eighteenth story
And oh I scream for you
Come please I’m callin’
And all I need from you
Hurry I’m fallin’, I’m fallin’

Also from Nickleback, here are the lyrics from their song entitled “If Everyone Cared”:

And as we lie beneath the stars
We realize how small we are
If they could love like you and me
Imagine what the world could be.

If everyone cared and nobody cried
If everyone loved and nobody lied
If everyone shared and swallowed their pride
Then we’d see the day when nobody died
When nobody died…

These lyrics are not exactly perfect in their theology, but who says they should be? What they reveal is a heart longing for forgiveness, redemption, and a world set straight. Such songs create amazing bridges with other people to talk about what Jesus offers the world.

So the next time you are in your car driving to work or the grocery store, try flipping to a “secular” station. As you listen to what they are singing about, you will begin to learn and understand what people are feeling and longing for. See if your heart doesn’t begin to break.

P.S. I have also recently enjoyed songs by Coldplay (“Viva la Vida”) and The Fray (“How to Save a Life”). If you know other songs I might like, mention them in the comments below.

As I drive around Dallas with my job, I get to see a lot of churches. Dallas, in case you didn’t know, is the mega-church capital of the world. There are more mega-churches here than in any other place in the world. One street I drove down the other day had four mega-churches within half a mile, two on each side of the road. Of course, in a town with lots of mega-churches, there are also a lot of non-mega-churches. So there are a lot of churches.

But whether a church is mega or not, I love to read the “signage.” I’m not only talking about the reader boards in the parking lot, the banners draped across the buildings, and the posters plastered along the fence, but also the way the building and grounds are kept and maintained. All of these things say something to the person driving by, and I often try to imagine how these things are perceived by someone who is not a Christian.

I’ve come to believe that most of us Christians are marooned on an island. We have so cut ourselves off from the world, that we have become isolated. And what happens to someone who becomes isolated from everybody else? Like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, people who are in isolation start talking to themselves.

I think the same thing has happened to most churches. Most church buildings, in my opinion, are designed for the people who already attend there, not for the people who do not yet attend. We’re talking to ourselves. Most sermon series and Vacation Bible School ideas seem to be designed for people who already know the Bible and want to follow it. Even churches that try to be “seeker friendly” come across as somewhat disconnected from reality to the average Joe and Mary.

Try this little experiment to see for yourself: As you pull up into your church parking lot tomorrow morning, try to absolutely clear your mind of everything you know about God, the Bible, church, Christianity, and Sunday Services. Try to put yourself in the mind frame of some guy who was out drinking beers with his buddies last night, and is coming to church just to appease his wife. He knows nothing about God or the Bible, nor does he really want to know. Instead, he’d like to be home putting more beer in the fridge so he has plenty for the football game. 

How does this guy view your church building? How does he view all the people at the door who want to shake his hand, but nobody else in church really seems to care that he’s there…except the pastor, who just came up and hugged him? On the other hand, does he really want people to know he’s there? What does he think about the music, with people waving their arms and crying? And what about that prayer time, with all the requests for God to “bless the outreach” (what is outreach?) and “be with Joe” (How is that going to happen?). Then comes the sermon, with Pastor Hug-a-Lot talking about how God wants to hug you and wipe away your tears. Finally, the “service” (though no one really served anything) ends with passing a plate for tips and everybody holding hands while the pastor “sends them out into the world.”

I know that all of this is a bit of an exaggeration, but the truth is that most churches are like alien worlds to most non-Christians. Even if you go to a church where the service is “primarily for believers” the average Christian in your church  probably speaks and behaves rather strangely for the average non-Christian. Many Christians probably think this is what it means to be “in the world but not of it” but I tend to think most of our behavior is neither in the world nor of it. Nobody, as far as I can tell from the Gospels, ever rolled their eyes at Jesus. Instead, everybody (except for the religious people) wanted to hang out with Him.

I think we can have that effect on people too…but we are first going to have to make sure we are “in the world.” And the only way I know of to do that is to begin making genuine friendships with people who are not of our church, not for the purpose of converting them, but just to be friends. Unless and until we do this, we will probably find it next to impossible to see church through their eyes and hear what is said through their ears. Until this happens, we’re marooned on an island, talking to ourselves.

As many of you know, I am interested in church planting. I am currently attending a relatively new church plant in Arlington, TX, and hope to be involved in more church planting efforts in the future. Some of my favorite conferences and favorite books are related to church planting.

Many of you who read my blog are also interested in church planting, and so I want to introduce you to a friend of mine, Nathan Laughlin (and his wife Amy), who is heading to Vancouver, BC next year to plant a network of churches called “Open Circle.” What they are doing is so simple anybody can do it, so innovative it is exciting to think about the possibilities, and so missional it could change the face of church planting.  

Go check out out his site at opencirclevillage.org, listen to his podcast, read the blog. Who knows? Maybe you can start an Open Circle in your own neighborhood!

On my drive home from work tonight, I realized that I am watching my life with great interest. I feel like I am on some sort of great adventure, and I have no idea where things will end up. Earlier today, I saw a bumper sticker that read, “I have no idea where I am going.” I laughed, because that is how I feel.

Some days I feel a bit like God has “benched me.” Other days, I feel like only now, am I finally “in the game.”

If you had told me one year ago that after graduation from seminary, I would be cleaning carpets for 70 hours per week, I would have said you were crazy. If I had made a numbered list of all the possible careers I wanted to do, carpet cleaning would have been dead last. And the crazy thing is that I kind of enjoy it! But that is not the only thing that intrigues me about where God is taking me. Whereas I used to read 3-4 books per week, I am now lucky to read 3-4 pages per week. Whereas I used to spend hours every day on in-depth research and study of Scripture, I now barely get time to simply read it. I used to preach three times per week. So far, I haven’t preached in over two months.

But guess what? I now personally talk about Jesus with way more people per week than I did per year when I was doing all that reading and studying and preaching (which doesn’t really count).

So I’m watching my life. I don’t have a 10-step plan of how to get where I want to see myself go. I’m just trying to listen to God and follow His leading. And right now, He wants me to clean carpets. I’m not fully sure why. But I like what He is doing, and how He is answering my prayer to bend His will “to break, blow, burn, and make me new” (see previous post on “My Life Prayer“).

My family and I spent the day at the lake recently (It’s been about 100 degrees for over a month now!), and as part of the day’s events, we built a sand castle. Allow me to brag about my construction skills. The sand castle was amazing, complete with walls, turrets, gates, flags, a moat, and even a cannon with little cannon balls.

When we were nearly done, Selah asked “Can we come back and play with this castle next week?”

“No,” I replied. “Someone will probably come along and knock it down.”

“Why?” she asked.

My wife chimed in, “Because that’s the nature of sand castles. We build them to enjoy building them, and then leave them for others to look at before they knock them down.” 

Selah, not at all upset by this information, said, “Well, we better build a good one then, so that they enjoy looking at it before they knock it down.” 

That, I think, is my new philosophy to life and mission. Everything I do in life will probably be knocked down once I am gone. In fact, it seems that some people are trying to knock me down before I even get the first wall built. So the best I can do is build in such a way to (1) enjoy the process of building, and (2) build so that someone enjoys looking at what I build before it is destroyed.

I figure that if God wants my life work to outlast me, that’s up to Him. Attempting to build something for myself when God is not behind it is like trying to protect sand castles against the tide.