Current reads:
-”The Divine Commodity” by Skye Jethani. Jethani has been a church planter and is now editor of Leadership Journal, a magazine of Christianity Today. In this book, he discusses how consumerism has shaped the church in recent years and how ministers have strayed from their calling in their attempt to woo the masses.

-”Furious Longing for God” by Brennan Manning. Manning’s writing about God’s love for his children is without equal. His book, “The Ragamuffin Gospel”, was a life-transforming experience for me.

Future Reads:
-”The Blue Parakeet” by Scot McKnight
-”Organic Church” by Neil Cole
-”Re-Jesus” by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost
-”How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins
-”Presentation Zen” by Garr Reynolds
-”Slide:ology” by Nancy Duarte

Reading helps me continue to dream and imagine. My imagination and dreaming are connected to starting new projects and staying motivated everyday. Future posts to come later in the summer with my thoughts on these future and current reads.

If you are a reader, let me know what you are reading.

Last week, I spent all day everyday working out of my passion and strengths. I got to work with others and create experiences for students and adult leaders to connect with God and their own stories.
I was reminded that I need “new” ideas and “new” experiences to keep me excited about my work. When all I do is find myself plugging away in the same stuff week after week, part of who I am atrophies and I get bored. I was reminded of my responsibility to imagine and dream and create. No one else is responsible for that but me.
However, it can make all the difference in the world when it happens.
I am working on a new project for one of the areas of ministry I oversee. Just the idea of something new has me excited and optimistic. Dreaming up this new idea and seeing it becoming reality helps me bring my best to my job. I need to remember what this does for me. It makes all the difference in the world.
-Scott

I am joining over 200 jr high and high school students in Big Bear, California this week for North Phoenix’s camp, but I will be twittering our camp experience.

Follow the action on Twitter at www.twitter.com/namedcamp09.

Also, you can check out pictures, videos of our daily escapades at www.npbc.org/ministry and then click on the green “Named Camp” link. Also, you will be able to watch our nightly services via streaming video on the same site.

And I may get one or two posts in next week on here.
-Scott

It’s summer and what does that mean?  I am not sure about you, but for me it means – graduations (including my own – SCORE!), weddings, unexpected funerals, parties, birthdays (including my own – DOUBLE SCORE), summer camps, bbq’s, pool time, and an overall different pace from the rest of the year.

In a couple of these experiences that I listed above, I have listened to others speak and a couple of their phrases – more like soundbites – are rolling around in my head.  First, someone I heard recently describing a camp experience talked about his conviction that “you become like the God you worship.  If you worship an angry bitter God, you become angry and bitter.  If you worship a God of love and compassion, then you become generous and forgiving.”  Second, I was at a graduation today and the main speaker shared about how Christians fight over the Lord’s Supper/Communion/Eucharist.  He was speaking to a diverse crowd theologically and denominationally.  He said “this is not the table of our school or Presbyterians or Pentecostals or Methodists or Baptist; this is the Lord’s table.  We could bicker about the presence or lack of ‘real presence’ here, but the greatest question is how did you and I come to be invited by God to eat of this bread and drink of this cup?”

Now, you may be saying at this point, Savage, have you nothing else to do with your time? Well, yes and no.  Yes, I am blogging while waiting for a computer to finish a project which I cannot make go faster.  No, I am captivated by strange ideas that others bat away like an annoying fly or mosquito. The first idea challenged me to consider if I have limited who God is and began to fashion him in my image.  I am also challenged to consider if I am as open to God continuing to transform me as I have led myself to believe I really am.  The second idea reminds me that I can play theological ping pong, but at the end of the day, if I have lost my sense of wonder about how I am a loved created child of God that Jesus came to redeem and restore, then I need to go on a search to rediscover my imagination and wonder.

I probably ask too many questions and reassess things that have already been established, but I am constantly aware of my own ability to deceive myself, to be more vulnerable than I would like to admit.  I read the story of a pastor whose blog I read a couple of times a month.  He resigned his role as pastor of that church – a church he planted this decade, and his resignation came on the heels of his admission to an affair with his assistant.  My first thoughts were “Ugh” and “Bleh” – you know that disgusting sick to your stomach feeling…and then I realized that I am just as vulnerable as this man.

I hope I continue to slow down long enough to chew on what I hear and what sticks with me, the stuff that challenges me to stay on my toes, to continue to grow.  I want to finish this race called life and I don’t want the trajectory of my life to be de-railed because I got lazy or conceited.

-Savage

Yup, today is the big day.  25 years ago today, I was born in Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada.  My dad skipped Sunday morning services and his pastoral and preaching role to welcome me into the world.  It was a great Sunday!

I laughed yesterday when I was on the phone with a married couple that partner with me in serving in North Phoenix’s Thrive College Ministry.  They were heading out last night to have dinner to celebrate their 25th anniversary.  So funny that I was born the day after their wedding.  I am not sure who felt that more – me feeling so young or them feeling so…nevermind!

So, to commemorate this moment, I decided to make a top 10 list of things I am thankful for at 25…

5) I am thankful to be working in a job that allows me to utilize my strengths and express my passions on a daily basis.

4) I am thankful to have a community of people moving in a similar direction with me…Crash (on a smaller, more intimate level) and North Phoenix (on a larger level)…I have so many incredible friends – who are INCREDIBLY diverse – and they have so much confidence in me.  I love sharing life with you all!

3) A generous and loving family…a family member emailed me today to let me know they would like to support any residual costs from my last three years in grad school…WOW! moment…my family’s participation in my ordination (especially my dad) was incredible…

2) An amazing wife who loves me and appreciates me for who I am…Dani has never forced me to be something I am not, in fact she has reminded me when I start abandoning who I was when she first met me…wild hair, crazy, and ridiculous…I love you!

1) The chance to be a part of what God is doing in Central Phoenix and around the world…the fact that I am reconciled and connected to God through Jesus is amazing enough…but the fact that Holy Spirit is working in and through me…that’s mind-blowing…

Glad you are here with us on the journey.  Looking forward to moving forward with you on this journey!

-Scott

For the first post in this series, click here.

If you are going to start something new (a new project, a presentation, new business venture, etc), I think there are some important things to consider.

3. You gotta know WHERE your focus is.  My focus in writing talks is not the building I will be standing in or the campus I will be on.  My thoughts go to other places – office buildings, neighborhoods, gathering points, coffee shops, restaurants.  I am seeking to craft a message that will be played out in the lives of people OUT there, away from Bethany Home and Central (where my community gathers on Sundays).  Because of that, I regularly keep pictures of those places close to me.  I am also working with some friends who are great photographers to place those kind of images in our space on Sundays that reset our focus during the experience.

4. You gotta know WHAT – this is the goal this is what we are aiming at.  Maybe this is a restatement of an earlier point, but in terms of my creation process for a talk/presentation, this cannot be overstated.  How many times have you heard a sermon that was more like 3 sermons crammed into 35 minutes?  Or seen someone try to run through 70 text-based PowerPoint slides in 20 minutes?  Or read a paper or email that could have been 1/3 of its actual length?  Most of do not do focus and brevity well, but choosing a single goal helps to focus us.  That’s why I do my best to pick a big idea that I want people to remember and integrate into their lives through my talk and our study of the Scriptures.  I often find that I have two or three big ideas – so that means writing two or three talks or deciding to write one talk and save the other two for later.

5. You gotta know that IT IS NOT REAL YET – allow the possibility to fuel you.  I often get very excited about the potential of applying a talk or presentation or project in my life and the lives of others who will share in that moment.  The experience’s ability to transcend and go beyond a moment thrills me.  This normally happens in the opposite way.  I often think that the possibility has been lost because I have been a poor communicator or my presentation has not lived up to my expectation.  Then, I find that others had a completely different experience and while I felt defeated, they experienced a success.  Either way, my dream is not real until I DO it.  And the possibility fuels my passion and imagination.

This is just how I work through approaching an idea or request to present on a certain topic.  But I think we all need to consider these kind of things as we discern what we are supposed to do with our lives and gifts in time with the kind of challenges that this year and summer hold.

One final post later this weekend!

-Scott

I have been thinking about how I put together my talks for Crash. And I think the process I work through would be one that could challenge and encourage people in other areas and fields. So, this will be a series of shorter posts.

1. I think about WHO. I feel that I write the best talks with names and faces in mind. I am putting together a collage of frames and pictures in my office on the wall I face at my desk. These are the people I am committed to serving alongside, the people I am praying would become followers of Jesus, the people I love. If you are going to begin something or create something, it is always good to have an idea of WHO your audience is. I used to write a lot differently. I wrote to be controversial and rebellious and raucous – I was writing for my friends. Now, I know that there are people in the room who are giving church one more chance or who are asking some pretty big questions about who Jesus is. I want to be as inclusive as possible in my language and assume that there are people in the room who do not know where 1 Kings is.

(1a. In my field, there is another WHO I am writing for – that I am accountable to. I believe that my talks are just as much statements of worship as the songs my friend Dave writes. So, please know that I consider God to be part of my who and I strongly recommend that you add God to your WHO as well. I am tempted to say “this goes without saying”, but NOTHING goes without saying. There are talks that I look back on and I am not sure if I would want to dialogue with my WHO about the message after it was over).

2. I think about WHY. I reflect on success stories. The lives of people who have put this kind of message into practice in their life or the lives of people who have experienced the kind of thing that I am talking about. I think about why this message matters or why application of it will impact something. I think back to my WHO and make sure this message (that means a lot to me) will have consequences in lives of others that hear it and apply it.

(see you tomorrow and saturday for more thoughts)

-Scott

First, we introduced a new song entitled “Desert Song”, performed by Hillsong United from their recently released album,   “A_CROSS // The_EARTH: Tear Down the Walls”.  Check out the video below.

Second, we showed a video from The Work of the People, which included a remix of the classic hymn, “The Solid Rock”, and a paraphrase of John 17 from Zondervan’s project in partnership with Chris Seay entitled “The Voice”.  Check out that video here.

Third, I used a new presentation software from Prezi.com.  My presentation is available for your viewing here.

Fourth, the podcast should be available here sometime Tuesday, June 2nd, or on iTunes (search: “Crash at North Phoenix”).

-Scott