Missional Living

Clear the stage

Jan 16th 2006

By: tom cottar

2 comments

We’re doing it wrong. Worship is not about lights and bands and cool clothes and songs that make me feel good.

Consider the words of Ross King:

Clear the stage
and set the sound and lights ablaze
if that’s the measure you must take
to crush the idols.

Check the pews
and all the decorations, too
and tell the congregations few,
then have revival.

Tell your friends
that this is where the party ends,
until you’re broken for your sins
you can’t be social.

Seek the lord
and wait for what he has in store
and know that great is your reward
and just be hopeful.

You can sing all you want to,
Yes you can sing all you want to,
You can sing all you want to and still get it wrong.
Worship is more than a song.

Take a break
from all the plans that you have made
and sit at home alone and wait
for God to whisper.

Beg Him please
to open up his mouth and speak
and pray for real upon your knees
until they blister.

Shine a light
on every corner of your life
until the pride and lust and lies
are in the open.

Then read the Word
and put to test the things you’ve heard
until your heart and soul is stirred
and rocked and broken.

You can sing all you want to,
Yes you can sing all you want to,
You can sing all you want to and still get it wrong.
Worship is more than a song.

Anything I put before my God is an idol.
Anything I want with all my heart is an idol
Anything I can’t stop thinking of is an idol.
Anything that I give all my love is an idol.
We must not worship something that’s not even worth it.
Clear the stage.
Make some space
For the One who deserves it.

I can sing all I want to,
Yes I can sing all I want to.
I can sing all I want to and still get it wrong.

Uncategorized
Pat Robertson At It Again

Jan 15th 2006

By: tom cottar

1 comment

PAT ROBERTSON: SATAN CAUSED CHENEY’S SHORTNESS OF BREATH
Devil Laid Veep Low, Evangelist Says
One week after claiming that God had caused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s massive stroke, the Reverend Pat Robertson today said that Satan had given Vice President Dick Cheney the shortness of breath that resulted in his brief hospitalization on Monday.
“Vice President Cheney is dedicated to defeating the evildoers in Iraq, and that angered the evilest doer of all, Satan,” Rev. Robertson said on today’s edition of his religious talk show, “The 700 Club.”
Rev. Robertson pointed out, however, that four hours after Satan sent Mr. Cheney to the hospital, the vice president was released because “God made him better.”
He also extended his best wishes for a fast recovery to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was involved over the weekend in what the evangelist called “a motorcycle accident that I’m pretty sure was caused by Satan.”
According to Re. Robertson, after he heard that Gov. Schwarzenegger’s motorcycle had crashed with a car, “My first thought was that the car had been driven either by Satan or maybe by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.”
Mr. Schwarzenegger suffered only minor injuries, Rev. Robertson said, proving that “try as he might, Satan is no match for a Republican.”
A spokesman for Gov. Schwarzenegger offered no comment on Rev. Robertson’s comments, but said that the fifteen stitches the governor had received on his lip had made him “even more difficult to understand than before.”
Elsewhere, experts said that weeks before the avian flu reaches the United States, counterfeit knockoffs of the avian flu would be available across China.

*disclaimer: the above is a parody, and is not really true as far as we can tell…but, then again, it’s Pat. There’s still time…

Uncategorized
The Evan Has Landed

Jan 15th 2006

By: tom cottar

No comments

Welcome to my newest nephew, and the newest male of the Cottar tribe, Evan Alexander. You can get the full story here.

Uncategorized
Mea Culpa

Jan 14th 2006

By: tom cottar

2 comments
My last post was Christmas Day. Apologies to those of you who kept checking in here and finding nothing but the smell of stale air. But here’s a little explanation:
1. My ministry associate is no longer working with me. He’s moved on to follow God’s will elsewhere. It’s made things doubly busy for me around the church.
2. I’ve jumped into lead positions with not one, but TWO worship bands as of this month. What was I thinking? Crazy-busy, but wonderful to spend time worshiping with such talented, God-loving people. A great blessing.
3. I’ve gotten back on my workout regime after the holiday hiatus. Running 3 miles almost every day and spending an hour lifting weights 3 days a week is great, but it also eats away daylight. (Or moonlight, as sometimes is the case.)
4. My oldest, now 5, has started a winter soccer league. That knocks out Tuesday nights and a few more hours on Saturdays.
5. Our ministry has brought in a new media guru. Another blessing! But, another time-related aspect in my schedule.
6. I’ve gotten lazy. Especially since my home PC is back to a freakin’ dial-up connection. It takes forever to get anything uploaded and I just don’t have the patience. Besides, when I’m at home I try really hard to be AT HOME: playing with the boys, being with my wife, etc. Dial-up is a thorn in a lot of sides.
Having said all that, things are beginning to return to normal [whatever that is] and you can look for regular posts to return. Beginning now. There’s a lot happening in our world. Exciting things around the corner in our ministry. Turmoil in the IMB and the White House.

Pray for me. For our students. For our parents. For our worship teams.

And pray that SBC will offer DSL in my neighborhood before I go postal…
Uncategorized
The Messiah Is Come!

Dec 25th 2005

By: tom cottar

No comments

Merry Christmas!

(Don’t fret over the ‘Happy Holidays’ war….ugh. Did you know that the word ‘holiday’ is just Old English slang for ‘holy day’? )

The Real Story here.

Uncategorized
Grandma’s Revenge

Dec 15th 2005

By: tom cottar

4 comments

Remember that little holiday song?

Grandma got run over by a reindeer…
coming home from 0ur house Christmas Eve…

Well this year, it seems it’s open season on Rudolph in Orlando. Good ol’ Rudy has been shot and hung, ready to be field dressed.

Funny and sad. Mostly funny.

Here’s the whole story.

(Thanks, Steve!)

Uncategorized
Out of Control…

Dec 9th 2005

By: tom cottar

5 comments

One of my all-time favorite thinkers/writers/protagonists is Len Sweet. If you’re not familiar with him…shame, shame. I’ve only heard him speak once in my life, but it was full of grace, wisdom, and brotherhood.

I stumbled across this on his site today. A lot to chew on, I know. (I wonder what would happen if we dropped the BF&M statement from our church polity and added the Magna Charta of Trust below…

I am part of the Church of the Out-of-Control.

I once was a control junkie, but now am an Out-of-Control Disciple. I’ve given up my control to God. I trust and obey the Spirit. I’ve jumped off the fence, I’ve stepped over the line, I’ve pulled out all the stops. There’s no turning back, looking around, slowing down, backing away, letting up, or shutting up. It’s life Against the Odds, Outside the Box, Over the Wall, the game of life played Without Goal Lines other than “Thy Will Be Done . . . .”I am not here to please the dominant culture. I live to please my Lord and Savior. My spiritual taste-buds have graduated from fizz to froth to Fire and Ice. Sometimes I’m called to sharpen the cutting edge, and sometimes to blunt the cutting edge.

Don’t give me that old-time religion. Don’t give me that new-time religion. Give me that all-time religion that’s as hard as rock and as soft as snow.I’ve stopped trying to make life work, and started trying to make life sing. I am finished with second-hand sensations, third-rate dreams, low-risk high-rise trades and goose-stepping, flag-waving crusades. I no longer live by and for anything but everything God-breathed, Christ-centered, and Spirit-driven.I can’t be bought by any personalities or perks, positions or prizes. I won’t give up, though I may give in . . . to openness of mind, humbleness of heart, and generosity of spirit. In the face of adversity no longer will I hang in there. I will stand in there, I will run in there, I will pray in there, I will sacrifice in there, I will endure in there — in fact I will do everything in there but hang. My face is upward, my feet are forward, my eyes are focused, my way is cloudy, my knees are worn, my seat uncreased, my heart burdened, my spirit light, my road narrow, my mission wide.I won’t be seduced by popularity, traduced by criticism, travestied by hypocrisy or trivialized by mediocrity.

I am organized religion’s best friend and worst nightmare. I won’t back down, slow down, shut down, or let down until I’m preached out, teached out, healed out or hauled out of God’s mission in the world entrusted to members of the Church of the Out-of-Control . . . to unbind the confined, whether they’re the downtrodden or the upscale, the overlooked or the underrepresented.My fundamental identity is as a disciple of Jesus — but even more, as a disciple of Jesus who lives in Christ, who doesn’t walk through history simply “in his steps,” but seeks to travel more deeply IN HIS SPIRIT.Until he comes again or calls me home, you can find me filling not killing time so that one day he will pick me out in the lineup of the ages as one of his own. And then . . . it will be worth it all . . . to hear these words, the most precious words I can ever hear:
“Well done, thou good and faithful…Out-of-Control Disciple.”

I know, I know. “There’s no doctrine in there anywhere.” Or is there?

…my thoughts: Sign me up. It’s the Revolution I’ve been looking for.
…your thoughts?

Uncategorized
A Tale of Two Egos

Dec 6th 2005

By: tom cottar

9 comments

I’m not sure which is worse. The latest from Pat Robertson or the latest from Joel Osteen.

Thoughts?

Uncategorized
Spiritual Insomnia

Dec 6th 2005

By: tom cottar

4 comments

I couldn’t sleep last night. After speaking at our local winter FCA rally, I got home late. My mind was still buzzing at 1:30 this morning when I finally went to bed. After tossing until almost 3am, I dozed off… until 6:30. That happens to me a lot.

So my mind wandered into Fight Club, a movie I’ve seen at least a hundred times, and the I Ching of my life (next to the Scripture). “When you have insomnia, nothing is real. Everything is a copy…of a copy…of a copy.” So states Ed Norton’s character in the movie. BTW, his character’s name is never revealed in the movie…he is Everyman.

Basic truth: Every one of us was born an original. From our fingerprint down to our DNA, there is no one else exactly like any other one of us. We are each remarkably and wonderfully made. You were born an original.

But most of us will die a poor, pathetic copy. Society’s relentless pursuit of squeezing us into a mold never quits. We look like everyone else. Talk like everyone else. Work the same jobs, eat the same food, desire the same stupid gadgets as everyone else. Color inside the lines. Walk single file. Don’t make waves.

The problem is that we were created to be a receptacle of the Divine. To be ordinary is to be only ‘more of the same’. As a human made in God’s image, my being screams out against this with every pore. To be ‘just another one of those’ is deadening agony to me. It has actually driven some people to their death. But it was never God’s intention for you and I to be a copy of anything…except Christ.

Each of us wants to be extraordinary. We were built to count for something. Anything. Placed in a specific context to count in ways that no one else does. That is our destiny.

So what happened?
Climbing the spiritual mountain is sometimes exhausting. The fact is that very few people will ever climb a (real or spiritual) mountain. Most of us will drive or ride up to the top, get out, and take some nice pictures to show our friends. Spiritually, it’s not much different. We don’t want to pay the price to ‘climb’ when we can just ride our way to the Summit.

By the way, you can’t get ‘Summit quality’ gear at the mall. That’s also true spiritually.

And, if you’re going to climb, you need a partner to hold the rope. A copy (who rides his way up just to take pictures)

Thoughts?

Uncategorized
Jesus Loves Pornstars

Nov 28th 2005

By: tom cottar

2 comments

That’s the mantra of Craig and Mike at xxxchurch.com. Their site offers free internet accountability software (x3 watch) and is promoted as the #1 Christian Porn Site. You won’t find pornography, but support and encouragement for those who struggle with it.

I met these guys a couple of years ago in Dallas, to preview their independant film/documentary. The film, titled Missionary Positions, gives a behind the scenes look at the porn industry and the ministry they and their wives have begun in trying to be a light to a very dark world.

Their latest project, The Trinity Project, has been the journey of helping a former porn star find a way out of the industry, and a way into mainstream life to support here daughter and get an education and job. It’s amazing. Read about it here.

Why has it taken us so long to begin to reach into that world with the grace and love of Christ? Oh, we’ve been making picket signs, shaking our Bibles, and screaming that our God hates porn….but when do we get around to forming authentic relationships with those who are trapped in spiritual darkness for the sake of making disciples.

Whatever your take on their ministry, I’d encourage you to do a few things:

First, pray for Mike, Craig, and xxxchurch. Someone needs to go to that world. If it ain’t you, then it better be somebody.

Second, download the x3 Watch accountability software. I dare you. If for no other reason than to show your family you value them too much to let porn ruin your house. It happens in the best of families and no one is immune.

Uncategorized

Chat line is open

Name

Cancel

Make sure that you can see yourself.

Click "Allow" if prompted.

Tip: Wear headphones for better audio

Cancel

You're on the air!

Video chat is open in another browser window or tab.

Video Chat Hidden

You were disconnected. Please check your internet connection and refresh to join.

- <
- 1
- …
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- …
- 62
- >

Missional Living

Clear the stage

Pat Robertson At It Again

The Evan Has Landed

Mea Culpa

The Messiah Is Come!

Grandma’s Revenge

Out of Control…

A Tale of Two Egos

Spiritual Insomnia

Jesus Loves Pornstars

recent tweets

Blogroll

books I'd love to write

books I've burned or spurned

currently reading

human fuel

I get by with a little help from...

music that kicks

spirit fuel

Categories

look around

Tags