The Antioch Movement

by The RevNo Comments
This Sunday we shared with our community at Grace Chapel that God is calling us to follow Him to Ypsilanti, MI. It’s been a two year process of God pushing, pulling, and prodding. We have had to look, listen, live, and learn. Ever since we joined the staff of CRU I have been dreaming about a movement in a college town that mobilized the whole community. Now, God has opened the way for us to engage in this dream. What would it look like for representatives of Jesus to live together in community and invite people far from God to join them? Hopefully, The Antioch Movement. In Acts 11 we meet the church at Antioch. It goes like this, Those who had been scattered by the persecution triggered by Stephen’s death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, but they were still only speaking and dealing with their fellow Jews. Then some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene who had come to Antioch...
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A Story About Grace

by The RevNo Comments
“Hey Dad, why do some kids at school have ashes on their foreheads?” the kids asked. “It’s a Catholic symbol for Ash Wednesday, the day before Lent.” I responded. “What’s Lent?” That’s a great question. I went on to explain what Lent is and the response quite honestly shocked me. “We need to give something up!” Libby, our eight year old daughter gave up chocolate. Little did we know this decision was about to transform a life. My wife, Amy, and I are not legalists or traditionalists. We buck against kind of traditionalism and legalism. If you say we “have” to do something, odds are we won’t. Up until our kids wanted to participate in a Lenten fast it never really crossed our minds to do so. I have been so impressed at the faithfulness of my little family. Lent has been pretty well kept in our home and that’s saying something. However, one day at a party Libby wanted chocolate. Everyone else was having chocolate, but she...
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A Lesson

by The RevNo Comments
The quote below intrigues me. I think that this kind of “serial disruption” is required by churches. We must keep on “re-planting” ourselves. If we don’t then we become stale and lose our saltiness. The church needs to keep looking to the future and not allowing any sacred cows to keep us from being on mission. emergentfutures: “The lesson here is that a company that disrupts does not necessarily survive. Long term survival depends on the ability for serial disruption. Serial disruption is an uncomfortable state for an organization to exist in. As the story above shows, disruptions are usually enabled by “desperate” necessity. Desperation is not something management is trained to aspire for.” — The parable of Nintendo — Horace Dediu and Dirk Schmidt via Asymco (via paperbits) ...
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Ethan’s Essay — MLB Breaking Barriers National Essay Contest

by The RevNo Comments
Hi, my name is Ethan and I learned in school that Jackie Robinson lived his life by nine values and used them to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. This is a story about a time that I used those same values to overcome a barrier in my life. At my school football got banned because some kids weren’t playing safely. I was very mad. It seemed unjust. I went back to my house that night to talk about it with my family. My father suggested a petition. At the time, I didn’t know what a petition was. So I asked. He explained that a petition is like a letter stating what I think should happen. It also should have signatures of the people who think the same as me. I decided to do it, but I was anxious. I couldn’t believe what I was on the verge of doing. When I woke up the next morning, my dad was still sleeping,...
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Blue Like Jazz…

by The RevNo Comments
One day in the spring of 2002 I returned home from a long day on campus. I was in the midst of my first year as campus director at Illinois State University with CRU. I was tired. In my mailbox was a little package and inside was a book entitled, Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. I hadn’t ordered this book, it just arrived. The next day I sat outside a coffee shop and read. I kept reading. I kept reading. I finished the book in one sitting. I read it again. What I discovered afresh in Blue Like Jazz was clear call to gospel living. I realized that I had become more about convincing people of a worldview and winning an argument than I was about introducing them to Jesus. This book re-introduced me to radical grace. God used it to change my life. The gospel stopped being “Jesus and…” and became a clear call to Jesus himself. Legalism quickly became a thing of the past and in the pages...
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Once Upon A Time…

by The RevNo Comments
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rga4rp4j5TY?wmode=transparent] via youtube.com Fairy Tales which are glimpses into our cultural psyche. They paint pictures of deeper bits of reality. ABC’s Once Upon a Time paints an interesting picture: The town of Storybrooke is under a curse. The people there do not know who they really are because of the curse. There is one woman and a little boy who know the truth. The woman, the Evil Queen is doing everything in her power to conceal the truth. The little boy, proclaims the truth about the curse and the people’s real identities. The town thinks him crazy. My 10 year old son said, “Dad, this is just like the gospel.” Indeed it is son, indeed it is. ...
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The Young, Restless, and Re…uh…formed…

by The RevNo Comments
At the end of every year people write their evaluation blog posts. Kevin DeYoung has produced his where he critiques the Young, Resltess, and Reformed (YRR) “movement”. I want to take a moment and give my own critique. I would encourage you to read his post to get a bit of background and also take note of his helpful suggestions. I think Kevin is correct in his critiques. I would however add one and that is of dogmatic clarity. I think Kevin might argue that he holds to a similar critique when he argues for folks to go deeper into their ecclesiastical traditions. I am arguing here for something a bit deeper and more specific. Whenever conversations about YRR come up there are three terms that are used almost interchangably: Evangelical, Calvinist, and Reformed. It’s as if to be truly Evangelical one must be a Calvinist and to be a Calvinist means that you are Reformed. These words actually h old specific meanings...
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I Know Him!

by The RevNo Comments
There aren’t many Christmas movies as good as Elf. It’s hilarious and it is also poignant. Like most other Christmas movies related to Santa Claus the issue at the center is belief, or the lack thereof. One of the best moments is when Buddy finds ou that Santa is coming to the Mall… [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyCfRHumHU?wmode=transparent] This scene has been in my mind for a few days now. I keep thinking about it’s illustrative purposes for me as a follower of Jesus. Buddy’s excitement is overwhelming and full of passion. It is clear that he loves Santa and that he desperately wants others to know him too. Look what happens when he finds out that the real Santa isn’t at the mall… [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY4bUP48RE8?wmode=transparent] These two clips paint a picture that ought to challenge us as Jesus followers. We do not know an omniscient, legalistic, elf. We know the God of the universe. We know the King of kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah 9:6 describes...
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