THIS BLOG HAS MOVED!

Thanks to everyone who has visited this address once or many times over the last couple of years. You may click here to visit my new blog address.

I am switching blog sites for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to consolidate into one site three different uses for a blog: personal writing, downloads for courses I teach at SLCC, and also resources for worship ministry. Typepad allows me to do that in a simpler fashion than Blogger does. Second, Typepad allows me to upload files and is generally more user-friendly than blogger. For a small monthly fee I have a good deal of server storage space, and a lot more features available.

I think you'll find the new blog site generally more useful. It's the same web address except that it's "typepad" instead of "blogspot". The new site certainly has a lot more features, and will still feature the same witty observations from Prof Sanders! This will be the last post on this site, so direct your browsers to profsanders.typepad.com.

This blogspot site will remain active for a while, so fee free to browse through old posts if you'd like. I encourage you to check out the new site as well.

Yay! Jesus is Alive!

I think I mentioned in a previous post that we usually read a Bible story to Ben when we put him to bed. We have nearly gone through his Children's Bible, and a few days ago I had read the story about Jesus' death and resurrection. It's really fun to tell the story to a kid and see their reaction for the first time. (It's probably not the first time since the nursery at church does Bible stories and activities every week, but it's the first time I've told him these stories.)

Last night he wanted to hear the story about the "big rock" again, meaning the stone that was rolled away from the tomb. We went through the part about them killing Jesus and Ben had lots of questions about that. Then he gets really excited when we turn to the page with the angel and the big rock in front of the empty tomb. After reading that page, we put our fists in the air and shout, "Yay! Jesus is alive!"

It's a real treat for us to go through these stories with Ben and experience them for the first time through his eyes. It's such a familiar story that it's hard to forget how...well, exciting and life-changing it is.

Over Christmas break I moved my office at home from one room to another. On the wall above my desk I have a large print of my favorite picture: "Welcome Home" by Danny Hahlbohm. The quality of this image of not very good, but you can click on it to see a bigger version:

This image helps me remember that life is short, and one day my earthly life will be over. When I pass on I will wake up in the presence of Jesus. That helps me have perspective about what is important and what is not. It helps me focus my energy. Above all, it means I can have joy in a world that constantly tears us down, tempts us and wants to steal our joy. We have every reason to be joyful.

Yay! Jesus is alive!

Election Reflections

As of this writing, John McCain and Hillary Clinton have just won the New Hampshire primary. You may not follow politics or be all that interested in the process leading up the general election in November, but I find the process really fascinating. Despite which candidate you prefer, there are a few insights we can gain when we look at the election hooplah. Here are a few random thoughts:

1. The importance of communion skills. In the last two elections it was Bush vs. John Kerry and Bush vs. Gore. Of those three, Gore is probably the best communicator (I hate to admit it). I don't recall much about Kerry, but Bush is NOT a good communicator. I love the fact that he's Christian, he's a good leader, he's a very moral person, etc. but his oral presentation skills are not that great. On the other hand, we've seen in this election two very gifted communicators: Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama. I am simply in awe of Huckabee's gift at communication, and although I disagree with Obama's politics, you can't deny he has a certain charisma about him.

There is a strong connection between the charisma and communication skills of a pastor and the growth of his church, on a strictly human scale. It's not the only important quality, or even the most important, but the bottom line is that if you can't communicate, people won't follow you. The same is true in any kind of job or position.

2. The hunger for change. People are clearly fed up with the mess in Washington and are ready for new leadership and fresh ideas. Obama's surge in the polls and his win last week in the Iowa caucus is a demonstration that the country is ready for something different.

3. The importance of geography. On the other hand, Clinton's win tonight in the NH primary shows us that people have very different views in different parts of the country. NH has different sensibilities than Iowa. We see this in church work sometimes when a staff member comes from a different part of the country and struggles to fit into a new setting where people think differently. The beauty of America is that there are all kinds of different regions, yet we are still "the United States."

4. Upstarts vs. the establishment. This does necessarily boil down to a "young vs. old" thing. For instance, John McCain is in his 70's yet he won the NH primary tonight on the Republican side. I think he's the oldest candidate on either side, yet he's really kind of a rebel and outsider to typical Washington politics. I find it really fascinating that Mike Huckabee won the Iowa primary while Mitt Romney spent about 20 times more money there, yet still lost. He came out of nowhere and rose to the top tier of Republican candidates, not based on money or power, but in spite of it. Americans still love the underdog story, which is why so many people want to see Obama stick it to Clinton, who is definitely "the establishment."

I just started reading a really interesting book that takes on this type of theme in the church world: "Who Stole My Church" by Gordon MacDonald. It just came out.

5. Experience vs. change. The race between Clinton and Obama for the lead among Democrats has been about Clinton's "experience" vs. Obama's perceived ability to bring about real change. One could argue that Clinton's experience is somewhat limited (and it is, since being the First Lady doesn't give you a day's worth of experience actually being the President), but the issue is how Americans have seemingly put a smaller value on experience. In fact, they seem to agree that political experience is actually a detriment, not an asset.

This argument has important ramifications for ministry. When hiring a candidate for a ministry position, do you want someone who has a particular kind of experience, or someone with fresh and exciting, yet untested ideas? It's a good question, and one any search committee should discuss.

6. Negative vs. positive politics. I have been pretty impressed with the way Huckabee and Obama have run what you would call "classy" campaigns, at least by Washington standards. Instead of tearing down the other candidates, they have focused on what they bring to the table, and how they can shape the future. This is a really refreshing turn from all the negativity we see during election time. Even if neither of these two men are your candidate of choice, you have to give them credit for avoiding a lot of the negativity of some of the other candidates.

House Church

You know how when someone in your family gets sick, everyone gets it? That has been our family this weekend. A few days ago Melanie began to have some aches, pains and a sore throat, and by the next day I had it as well. (Thankfully, Ben hasn't shown any symptoms yet.) The doctor says it's strep throat, but who knows for sure. At any rate, we didn't attend church services this morning because we're still contagious.

So we decided to have our own service. There were still in our jammies around noon, sitting on the couch with Ben. We read a story about the Last Supper out of his Children's Bible, prayed and took communion (with crackers and apple juice). Even though it lasted all of 5 minutes, it was really meaningful because we had the chance to explain to Ben what communion is all about.

I'm sure there are many mistakes we make as parents, but one habit we've established is reading the Bible and praying with Ben every day. Usually, it's right before he goes to bed, but on a day like this we just "had church" at home. And it makes me wonder if there's something more we can do, even at his young age, to help teach him the basics of the Christian faith in a way he can understand. I wonder how we can help him understand the concept of tithing at 3 years old.

I'm really impressed when I look at the Old Testament patriarchs and I see them leading their families in acts of worship such as building altars and giving offerings. I wonder why so many Christian families forsake this concept--what seems so biblically basic--and leave it up to "the ministry professionals" to educate their kids about the faith. Even if a child (or a teenager) is in a Sunday morning service, a Sunday school class, an a mid-week study of some kind, that's only a few hours a week being exposed to Christian teaching. Does anyone really believe that alone is significant?

In a way, I'm thankful that we were forced to stay home this morning because it reminded of the importance of regular family worship. In addition to what we already do, I hope God will help us to practice creative and meaningful worship in our home. Even more so, I hope other Christian parents will do the same. There are so many negative forces working against kids today, and I believe Christian education and training should begin in the home, not just left to church programming.

I should point out that the Children's and Student Ministries at our church are really great, but they can't do it alone. Too many parents do nothing of spiritual value in their homes and place the entire burden of discipleship training on the local church. That is unfair and unbiblical. You wouldn't go to a buffet on Sunday and expect to be nourished for the next seven days. So why do so many parents take the same approach with spiritual training in the home?

Review: No Country for Old Men

I'm back at the blog after a hiatus of sorts due to a heavy workload the first part of December. Thanks for tuning back in.

One of the things I look forward to the most about Christmas break each year is the opportunity to see a few movies guilt-free. (You know, without feeling like there are a lot of classes to prepare, papers to grade, or what not.) I've seen three in the past week--Charlie Wilson's War, National Treasure 2 and No Country for Old Men. Of those three, the final one is by far the most effecting. The other two were entertaining, but have not stuck around in my head the way this one has.

I've only seen two other movies by the Coen brothers: The Ladykillers (which was definitely a waste of time) an O Brother, Where Are Thou (which was terrific, and features one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time, and for good reason). Since I don't have much to compare it to in terms of their other directing efforts, I'll judge the movie on its own merits.

The plot is fairly basic: Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin, in a career-defining role) is a slightly dumber than average West Texan, and while out hunting he stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong, complete with several bodies, a truck full of drugs and a suitcase with $2 million. He takes the money but makes a poor decision in returning to the crime scene later that night. A group of Mexicans find him and try to hunt him down. They also send after him Anton Chigurh (played by Javier Bardem, in another career-defining role), a ruthless killing machine whose weapon of choice is not a pistol or rifle, but a cattle stun gun attached to an air compressor. The rest of the movie involves Llewelyn trying to evade Chigurh, and the cast of characters who become involved, including Llewelyn's wife Carla Jean (Kelly McDonald, who I never would have guessed was Irish based on her excellent fake Texan accent) and Ed Tom Bell, the sheriff (in an amazing performance by Tommy Lee Jones). I realized later that Tommy Lee Jones' character both opens and closes the film, almost like a bookend.

I know the plot sounds a bit strange and violent, but the violence is actually much less than I expected. What makes the movie great is several things. First is the acting and dialogue. The movie is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthly, and although I haven't read it I understand that passages from the movie are taken directly from the novel. I can't recall the last time I experienced character dialogue that was so well-written and delivered, particularly through Tommy Lee Jones' and Javier Bardem's characters. There is a great scene near the middle where Anton (Bardem) goes into a little store in the middle of nowhere and begins the challenge the owner, an older man who doesn't have a clue who he's dealing with. Anton is a man with no virtue--pure evil--but he decides who he kills (some of the time) with the flip of a coin...and asks his victims to call it. If his would-be victims live, it's by pure luck, not by mercy. I absolutely love the dialogue exchange in this scene as the two men get into a word game that really makes no sense, but that's not the point.

Second, and more importantly, is the underlying theme. This is really a nihilistic sort of movie, meaning basically that evil in the world lives on, and there is nothing we can do about it. Of course, I disagree with the theme on a philosophical level because it doesn't square with the Christian faith, but the filmmakers have put on screen a villian completely on par with Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vadar. Actually, I never thought Darth Vadar was that scary because his costume just looks dumb. But Anton Chigurh, that's another story. Here is a portrayal of a man with no conscience, no mercy, no compassion--only the desire to impose his will upon those who get in his way.

I would highly recommend the movie to anyone who likes well-made movies and great acting. It's not an entertaining movie per se, but it's a great film. It does take its time telling the story, and afterwards I realized there is no traditional music score to speak of, but this only adds to the sparseness (much like the Texas landscape that is featured so prominently). All the loose ends are not tied up, and it doesn't dumb down the plot to the lowest common denominator--I'm looking at you, National Treasure 2--but that's a good thing in my book. I predict it will win a trophy or two at the Oscars.

The Making of a Book, Part 2

Here is a brief update. Several weeks ago a publishing company hosted a luncheon for professors at SLCC. Several of us attended, and the purpose of the lunch was for them to tell us about new books they are doing, as well as solicit any book or writing projects we might have. Turns out it was a great opportunity to meet their executive editor, who I happened to sit next to at lunch. (I'm not sure how acceptable it is in this process to name the publisher or the people involved this early, so I'll leave it out for now. There are only two publishing companies associated with the Christian Church/Churches of Christ, so you have a 50/50 chance.)

I sent an email to the editor a couple of weeks ago about a book idea for a new series they're doing called "Caring for the Flock." The series is centered around issues of pastoral care for the church. They are small books (120 pages, max) and are meant to be very practical and readable for church leaders of all kinds. Editors are very busy people, and I hadn't heard anything back yet, so I gave him a call to follow up. I don't know if I was breaking some kind of subtle protocol by calling directly instead of waiting for an email response, but at least at this point I can claim ignorance.

My book idea is the 2nd one I mentioned in the first post - not the one on worship leaders in the Bible, although I still want to do that one. This project will be tentatively called "Living and Leading Worship," and will look at worship leading from a pastoral care perspective. The thesis of the book at this point is the greatest act of pastoral care is modeling and leading authentic biblical worship. When it comes down to it, the most important thing a minister or other church leader can do (or parent, for that matter) is to be a true worship and inspire others to do the same. Worship is the only thing we will do in eternity.

When I spoke to the editor, he seemed genuinely interested in the idea and said I was the only one who had brought up the idea of doing a book on worship for this series. We agreed I would send an official book proposal around the first of February. This isn't the book I thought I would be working on first, but I am confident that this is God's timing and purpose, so I am really grateful for the possibility. So over the next couple of months I'll be working hard on the proposal and then see what happens!

The Entertainer

Here is a short video featuring our constant source of entertainment. We like to call him Benjamin.