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In preparation for the Abandoned: Worship as Life seminar this Saturday, September 29, I am going to be posting some interviews of the speakers throughout the week. Stay tuned…
Yesterday, I had the privilege to speak with Shaun Groves who will be with us on Saturday. As you will hear, Shaun is a great guy who is deeply insightful and hilarious to boot. I hope you’ll take the time to listen.
Cooper walks up to Margo with a Batman mask on and marker caps on incisors as to portray fangs. Otherwise known as Batcula.
Cooper: Margo, what do you think?
Margo: It’s gorgeous!
Cooper: Don’t you mean evil?
“I remember when
I remember
I remember when
I lost my mind
There was something
So pleasant about that place
Even your emotions
Have an echo
In so much spaceAnd when you’re out there
Without care
Yeah, I was out of touch
But it wasn’t because
I didn’t know enough
I just knew too muchDoes that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Does that make me crazy?
Probably”-”Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley
Tomorrow will begin one the craziest times I’ve ever attempted in my adult life…
1) School starts at Missouri Baptist University – where I’ve been since July. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I am the Worship Arts Coordinator for the new Worship Arts major offered at MBU.
This fall, I am overseeing one class called Worship Performance Workshop where students will be responsible for putting together a multi-sensory worship experience from start to finish.
The majority of my school time this fall though will be directing the ministry group SpiritWing. They already have many concerts booked on the weekends. They are a talented group of kids with tender hearts for ministry. I’m excited to see the impact they will have this year…
2) Tomorrow begins my first semester of master’s level work at Liberty Theological Seminary. I am pursuing a Masters of Arts in Theological Studies through distance learning. But here’s the kicker: I am taking 18 hours in all.
Most people say that 9 hours of master’s level studies is considered full-time. I guess this would be considered crazy sick-time.
The reason for the ambition is that to teach at MBU, I have to complete 18 hours of master’s work. This would allow me to teach in the Spring 08 semester. Your prayers would be welcome…
3) I am beginning a intensive church planting training program with the Acts 29 Network and The Journey in September with other folks like myself – full-time job, married. It is like an internship, but not.
This will be a bi-monthly training session with the pastors from The Journey. Somewhere down the road, God has called me to plant a church. I’m getting a head start this September…
4) My wife and I adjust to four kids. All under the age of 6. And the two oldest being homeschooled.
Whew…
Everett Cole Andrews
Born August 9, 2007
8:13 p.m.
7 lb. 15 oz.
19 3/5 in.
Welcome to our world bub!
We love you so much!
Kind’ve sounds like a novel doesn’t it?
It’s 10:55 p.m. and we are on call from 4:30 a.m. tomorrow for the induction of Everett Cole Andrews. And by induction, I don’t mean the act or process of coming into office. I mean my wife giving birth to our fourth child.
Yes, the Andrews quiver grows tomorrow by one. Everett will join his brother Cooper [5] and sisters, Margo [4] and Sloan [1] in making our lives that much more rich.
Pray for my wife and pray for the doctors and nurses taking care of her and the baby. We have been blessed with three beautiful healthy chidren – I don’t take it for granted – and our prayer is the same for Everett.
I’ll share with you soon the particulars…
Today is my daughter, Margo’s, fourth birthday. We will celebrate via the Dora experience – cake, plates, napkins, cups, tablecloth. Vamanos!
I love you so much Margo! You are one passionate, beautiful, expressive sweetheart – you take after your mother.
God, thank you for blessing me with such an amazing daughter. I thank you for the year of life that is behind her and I cover her in prayer for the next year of here life. Give me wisdom as a father to give boundaries when necessary, to love her in a way only a father can, and to continue to shepherd her soul towards You. Amen.
One of the perks of being a father is watching an inordinate amount of cartoons with your children. In many ways, you get to be a kid with your kids.
Tonight, while watching the Cartoon Network with my two oldest and their cousin, I saw the best yet: The Bionic Stooges. As in the Three Stooges, yet bionic. Who would have thunk it?
The Robonic Stooges was an animated series developed by Norman Maurer and Hanna-Barbera Productions which originally aired as a segment on The Skatebirds on CBS in 1977. In January 1978, the show was given its own timeslot on CBS and ran for 16 episodes (at 30 minutes each).
In the episodes, the Three Stooges are made into cyborgs and become secret agents. They fight crime with their special bionic powers and are given assignments from Agent 000. Hilarious!
Though I’ve about hit my limit with Dora, Blue’s Clues, and Lazy Town, the random cartoons on Boom and Cartoon Network make it worth it all…
Tonight, my family and I – my wife and our 3 children who are all under 5 – went down the road to an interesting spot to view some 4th of July fireworks. A spot that has an intriguing history.
Back in the late 90′s, St. Louis’ Lambert Airport was promised a lucrative contract with a major airline. And with this deal, Lambert would need to expand – extra runways and concourses, etc. So they bought out some land southwest of their facility which in turn meant that neighborhoods, churches, businesses, etc. in that area would need to be demolished and folks would have to relocate.
Well, the contract didn’t meet it desired expectations. Lambert did a partial expansion [although in February of this year, the city announced plans to continue the expansion]. And acres and acres of land now sit empty as thousands of people had to leave.
The Riverfront Times stated in 2002 that over 1925 homes were demolished and in January of this year, the USA Today reported that ,” … the runway displaced 6,000 residents of suburban Bridgeton from their homes. And John Krekeler, one of 16 Lambert airport commissioners, estimates that only 5% of flights at Lambert use the new runway.”
So today, only a few empty houses and a church remain. A veritable ‘ghost town’ in the middle of a major metropolitan city. But in the very back of this ‘ghost town’ sits a park that is a part of the Bridgeton park system. The park still has a certain level of maintenance. And even though there is virtually nothing around it, I think it was made for a night like tonight.
I saw – no joke – probably 20-25 major fireworks displays west down the I-40 corridor – St. Charles, St. Peters, O’Fallon, Lake St. Louis, Wentzville, etc. – north up the I-270 corridor – Bridgeton, Florrisant, Ferguson, etc. – and northwest into Elsberry, Louisiana, etc. Our kids were mesmerized. And so were their parents.
And there were other families there. Ones that I’m sure remember when this community was a fledgling neighborhood. Now all that’s left are empty lots and the occasional home whose windows are broken and shrubs are overgrown.
As we drove out of the ‘ghost town,’ I couldn’t help but think of all the people who were uprooted from these neighborhoods for nothing. They are now scattered all over St. Louis and St. Charles counties. The band director at my church and his family used to live in one of the neighborhoods. They now live in St. Charles.
But I was also reminded as my family and I left the park that home isn’t a structure. Home truly is where the heart resides. And as I looked at my exhausted kids in the rear view mirror and my pregnant wife to the right of me, I realized no one can take your home from you.
Even if they take your house from you.
It is hard to fathom sometimes I am a dad. Just 6 years ago, I was newly married, pursuing a record deal in Nashvegas, and taking care of a miniature rat terrier puppy named Bebo. I know, what a corny name for a dog….
As I type this tonight, I am listening to my wife talk on the phone to her sister in Iowa – who just gave birth to her first – giving her tips for recovery. I’m looking down at my wife’s stomach and she is great with child with our fourth. Yes, our fourth…
So yesterday for Father’s Day, my wife and I took our three kids to a local mall. We ate lunch at one of daddy’s favorite spots. Our lunches are filled with trying to keep our kids sitting in their chairs, not spilling their drinks or eating the crayons and occasional three-word sentence to each other while we scarf our food. In the old days, Holly and I would have had a peaceful meal filled with much conversation and a normal eating pace.
Next it was off to the bathrooms – to take care of business. My son decided he needed to to really go – if you know what I mean. We are at the stage where daddy still needs to check to make sure one’s hiney is clean. It wasn’t. In the old days, I’m outta there in 2 minutes…
Next, I took the kids to a sports outfitters store called Cabelas. But it’s not because I’m a sportsman. No, it was for the tortoises. And all the stuffed animals you could think of and then some. We even saw an albino catfish and we shot some cork guns. In the old days, I wouldn’t step a foot into this outdoor wonderland…
Finally, we ended up at an indoor playground where the other fathers had stopped for a reprieve. My youngest daughter – 1 year-old – decides to be bold and slide down the 10-foot version in this mall. I saw my life and hers flash before my eyes. She was fine. In the old days, I would have laughed at the 6-foot men having to maneuver in and out the playground equipment to keep up with their kid and went on the video game store.
Father’s Day has become such an amazing thing. In many ways, it’s as much about my kids as it is about me.
You see, in the old days, I wasn’t a father.
And the funny thing is, living in the here and now, getting ready for my fourth baby in August, I wouldn’t trade those old days for a thing.
Except maybe having to wipe hinies…
David Bosch .::. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission
Dan Kimball .::. The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations
Tim Chester/Steve Timmis .::. Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community
Alan Hirsch .::. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
John Piper .::. Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
