Near and Far Faith

Just wanted to say hey to whoever you are in Mumbai that visited Tuckerhibbs.com. There's big "Hoo-Raa" from inside me that Tuckerhibbs.com gets hit worldwide. I know it's no big deal, but to you in Mumbai, India, you rock for visiting my page for 37 seconds and clicking 2 times!! (google analytics is awesome) In the slight case that it was some of my YWAMer compadres, miss ya' and love ya!

This is my two-year old. She is independent and often looks at me like I'm the inexperienced one. She is Rory.

I see God...

...In the lyrics of th Dixie Chicks song "Easy Silence" that mimics the way God moves sometimes in my life:
And I come to find a refuge in the Easy silence that you make for me It's okay when there's nothing more to say to me And the peaceful quiet you create for me And the way you keep the world at bay for me The way you keep the world at bay

...In the Father who struggles with the fear of not finding work, but smiles at the chance to spend more time with his kids

...In the music of the Cranberries that match my mood

...In the search for a house to call our own and in the specifics he's put on our hearts so we can be "picky" but patiently confident

...In the way my daughter loves her new "big girl" underwear (curious george style)

...In the timing of life - nothing is without his touch and happens precisely when He means it to

...In the way Tate smiles so easy at everyone

I'm looking for God more and finding Him.

Today's my 28th birthday and I had this really cool thought that made getting a little older a little more exciting. See, I have this gorgeous, thoughtful, and wildly intelligent wife and I can't wait until I've spent more time together with her than I have without her. I spent 21 years without her. I'm really looking forward to my 42nd birthday.

In my last post I talked about terminology and I got some personal clarification on that today. I was listening to a podcast called "Practically Speaking" - it's an interview from North Point Church in Georgia (Andy Stanley's the head pastor) and in part 3 they're talking about focus. Here's the idea: by creating a brand for your ministry, whether that be students or Sunday service, you create an idea in the minds of people. That idea is who you are when people think of you. It's your brand. Look at the picture above. It's universal for the same product. Just that picture brings to mind for me a very specific taste. I like Coke, but on a really hot, sweaty day, no thanks. Coke has planted itself in my mind.

Focus. If we can define who we are - focus on what God's made us to be - life would be very different. I'm talking hot day here and hot day in Sacramento different. We'd admit that we aren't good at everything, but a lot of churches try to be good at everything. Let's face it, more happy people means financial stability. Focusing means saying no. I'm learning this on a personal level. If I can focus on what I'm good at and say no to what I'm not, my schedule would be liberated, my mind would be less cluttered. Think about it: what if you had two things to worry about - be a creative friend, and don't be lazy at work. That's it. How freeing would that be. And think about it this way... what if we all focused on the SAME things when it came to a church. I'm not talking global church, I'm talking right here. What if all our gifts, radical, different, and passionate, were all trying to accomplish the same thing?

At Carpenter's, we're focusing on 4 things. That's it. And we're going to do them excellently. "Excellently" meaning that people are going to come to Jesus because of them. Come this Sunday and hear what they are.

Last Tuesday we baptized six students at Ignite. Baptism always brings me to tears (that doesn't make me weak, it makes me alive). We called that nights "Plunge" and talked about fear - fear driving our decision rather than God. I was again impressed by one of our V-Staff that shared after the baptism on the benefit of small groups. God has a way of tying the theme of Ignite together from start to finish even when I have put my thoughts elsewhere. I had asked this V-Staff to share for a few minutes because we received an encouraging email from her earlier in the week about her Jr. High girls SG and how the students were tying in the message from Sunday into their lesson in their SG. She talked about going deep and most of the time when she had heard people talk about "going deeper" they meant something mystical. Oh, we'd never step up to that word, but think about it. Many times "deeper" means a feeling of inferiority - of feeling small next to a great... well, it should be "God" there, but I think it's more times than not, "Preacher".

I have been truly challenged lately in the area of going deeper. Really, what we're talking about is discipleship, and it never comes to our mind that that burden lies on us. We hurl it on the leaders of our church to make us feel as though we are part of something so big that we just don't even get it. We make it about feelings, as we usually do, and thus we have a severely lame faith, only focusing on ourselves and that feeling. The challenge that I've been feeling is not only a personal one, but one of public responsibility.

First, it's our fault. Not feeling deep in your faith? Then you're not plugging into The Source (how's that for mystical). Milk to meat right? Let's (myself included) grow up and stop blaming God and His authority figures for our own laziness. The offspring of this mindset of "feed me 'til I'm full" is an attitude that is not fully devoted. An attitude that says to God "I'll be here Sunday and act pretty smart and religious, but as for the rest of my life you can kiss my rear!" Ok - totally stole that from Perry. Check him our at perrynoble.com.

Second, we need to stop pretending like we have our own separate culture that you need to be part of. We need to talk like regular people. I know this is a bit anal, but I've been censoring my language and removing words we only use in church. Why talk different in church especially if we're attempting to reach people that, for the most part, hate it? I've been asking myself, "If i wasn't a church goer, would I know what you're talking about?" I heard a Gospel presentation at a wedding recently and asked that question. I had to shamefully admit that it was so unclear that it was like a football play from a different team and I would've been left smeared by the opponent.

I don't use "big church words" anymore. I don't use "youth" - it's condescending. I don't use phrases like "washed in the blood". Don't get me wrong, I know and love the concepts, but we can put a little more effort in and say it in plain language. I also use The Message as my primary Bible (oh here come the emails). That's right - the primary Bible I use is The Message Remix 2.0. Here's why: If Jesus were on earth today, I believe that's how He would communicate with us. On top of that, it helps me break those cultural lines that we've created.

That's going deeper.