AIDS Walk OKC

AIDS WALK is a fund-raiser to support the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in our community. The 2008 AIDS WALK will begin at the Myriad Botanical Gardens located in downtown Oklahoma City on Sunday, October 5, 2008. Registration and entertainment begin at 12:30 p.m.; Opening ceremonies and Step-off at 2:00 p.m; Closing ceremonies at 3:00 p.m.

We’ll be on the lawn to the Southwest of the of the Crystal Bridge with signs that say, “Love Walks”. There will be a pretty large group gathered from multiple gatherings. You’ll see Skyline, Mars Hill, and our gang from The Paseo Gathering.

Contact us if you have any questions at all.

Find out more information at The Meetup Page and The Official AIDS Walk OKC website.

Hope to see you all there!

Fight injustice daily

Psalm 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Reading this verse today was a great reminder on how much God cares about justice. He is the God who hates injustice and rewards those who will fight poverty and injustice with eternal life in the Kingdom he is building.

It also reminded me of a post Bob Roberts Jr. did a while back. He asked the question: “So, why do we refuse to obey God and serve others and come together to touch every hurting person and need?”. In effect asking why we as Christians seem to not care about injustice as much as our Leader does.

1. We’re greedy - we want all our stuff for ourselves. Can we as Americans, having been blessed so much, think we can keep hoarding and God not judge us?

2. We’re lazy - we’re forever hoping someone else will do it. We love to kick back.

3. We’re busy - our priorities generally don’t involve those outside our immediate family, friends, or co-workers.

4. We’ve been cold hearted for so long - we think we will continue to get away with it. Hopefully we will ignore it, and just not think about it.

So, when will Christians start doing it?

1. When we are broken over the sin in our life and fall in love with God. When this happens, it sets the stage for God breaking our heart for others less fortunate.

2. When we begin to not just give our money, but our time and expertise and even use our jobs to be a blessing to others.

3. When we put God and others before our own self-interest and desires, like Jesus did us.

4. When we come together to work with others that also want to make a difference. It will require the body, not a lone ranger.

This week, really pray about how you can be a person of action, then do it!

-Rex Barrett
image via christianmeichtry

I’m over being emergent

The term “The Emerging Church” is getting me in trouble, I might stop using the word. As I’ve gone through a pretty serious transition in my life I get questions like, “do you still believe in Jesus?”, “do you think all of the Bible is true?”, “you do believe God made everything and evolution is of the devil, right?”. The questions have been interesting and the answers have been fun to give!

I believe many of the questions I get are related to guys labeled as “emergent” saying shocking statements. The term has been used to describe everyone from Mark Driscoll to Rob Bell even Brian McLaren. They are all so different but still labeled emergent? The only words I think applies to all of them are “white dudes”.

Dan Kimball is the guy who wrote the book on the emergent movement way back in 2003. I’ll let him communicate what I’m trying to say as he does a much better job of it!

Although I am finding that the term [emerging church] has become so broad now and so confusing, it is very important to know that I am not by any means stopping being involved and pursuing the heart and mission of what the term “emerging church” originally meant. At least in how I was personally using it when I wrote the book 6 years ago.

I can’t defend or even explain theologically what is now known broadly as “the emerging church” anymore, because it has developed into so many significantly different theological strands. Some I strongly would disagree with.

And that is my point friends… It is impossible to judge the theology of a person (me) deemed emergent based on other people deemed emergent. The way to find out what a person believes is to make the call, send an email or chat over some coffee. Personally, I’d welcome the contact.

special thanks to neue ministry & Out of Ur for inspiration

-Rex Barrett
image via tonx

Election year pandering

Well, the election season is still upon us. It seems like we’ve been gearing up for the presidential coronation for a couple of years now. Just like Christmas merchandise arriving earlier and earlier, the candidates are hitting the scenes much too early for my comfort.

A few weeks ago I posted about Barack Obama’s plea for the evangelical vote. I mentioned some of the ideas his campaign was tossing around. The ideas have become realized and now you can get your very own “Believers for Barack” gear. They have created a website for “people of faith” to check out, http://faith.barackobama.com.

It is shocking that in modern American politics the Democrat is the one making the play for the Christian right. We are so used to the Republican reaching out, the Republican being vocal about faith, but this year is very different. One candidate is very public about his faith the other is quiet, the roles have been reversed.

I’m not saying that McCain will lose the conservative vote, but I am saying that there is some play in the numbers. As I said in a recent blog post:

In 2004 President Bush got a whopping 78% of the evangelical vote. Right now McCain is hovering at about 60%. Obama is being aggressive for that final 40%. He’s starting an outreach program that incorporates service projects and shilling at Christian concerts.

On the front page of “People of Faith for Obama” you have comments like this:

Barack Obama is a committed Christian and believes the people of all faiths have a place in American public life. Through an unprecedented grassroots effort, the Obama campaign is working with thousands of you to build an America rooted in compassion and a government that, in Barack’s words, ‘reconciles the beliefs of each with the good of all.’

I’m not asking for McCain to show me his tattoo of a Christian fish by any means. I would like to see a bit more pandering from Mr. McCain (read that sentence with a bit of sarcasm). The pandering I’m after is in the form of chotchkies… Give me buttons, placards and yard signs! Obama has them, why can’t you give them to me too?

-Rex Barrett
image via ilmungo

Being a sticky church

We all want to see new churches succeed, we all want to see people getting reached by Jesus’ gospel of love. I want to pull back the curtain a bit though and explain to you how “mega church leaders of today” are training future church planters and why I think we need to do things differently.

I’ve had several opportunities to go to these training events now, and with our new endeavor in the Paseo of Oklahoma City, have had a bit of an opportunity to live it out.

First we might want to define church planting, it is simply the act of starting a new church in a community. Of course there are hundreds of models on how to get the church started and growing. The most popular one is pretty simple, I’ll paraphrase quite a bit to keep the post brief. One gather friends, raise tons of money, keep gathering new friends, keep raising tons of money, gather friends, do a direct mail bomb to thousands of people, and then spend all of the money on a huge launch and hope tons of people show!

There is a lot of good being done in the church planting realm, I love the gathering friends portion of growing a new church. I’m concerned though with the amount of money being blasted into these launches. Hundreds of people might show up on the launch date but then interest wanes as the church just can’t seem to match the momentum, the high bar, set at the very first service.

A new book by Larry Osborne entitled “Sticky Church” discusses this method just a bit and it really resonated with me.  (quotes below via church marketing sucks)

The answer to becoming a sticky church, suggests Osborne, is through sermon-based small groups… We’re spending way too much time on getting people in the doors of our churches.

Osborne is not apposed to marketing and advertising, but what he learned when he started at North Coast was they were acting more like the new restaurant that opened strong and closed weak. The restaurant got a packed house for their grand opening, but they forgot to train the servers or pay attention to food quality. Few came back to visit because the experience didn’t live up to the expectation.

So Osborne decided to stop trying to grow the size of North Coast and instead focused on growing the people already a part of North Coast. The result, as they learned year-after-year, and in spite of their growing size, was that more people came and more people stayed because they focused on making disciples, not filling seats.

I pray that we, as church attenders, would stick to the church God placed us in. I ask that we would all be active participants in reaching our communities for Christ.

I pray that the pastors reading this blog might see the value in building disciples more than filling seats and having huge numbers. Don’t fret, disciples will multiply, not always in the way you envisioned it though!

-Rex Barrett
image via xeeliz

Crosstown Church: Sept. Prayer Mission

Crosstown, a church plant in downtown OKC, is hosting a “prayer mission” on September 30th from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm. They will meet at Myriad Gardens and begin to pray for God’s peace to be spread through our city.

Please consider joining them as they work with a network of other believers to impact Oklahoma City for Jesus Christ. Find out more information by contacting Ben Janssen and check out Ben’s website, From Christian Legalism to Christian Hedonism. 

-Rex Barrett
image via marrngtn (Manuel)

McCain vs Obama vs Third Party

My wife just laughed at me. I mimicked her giggle and asked what was so funny. She didn’t answer… I just told my wife for the first time who I was voting for.

You see, there are people out there who think that my frustration with John McCain publicly must mean I’m for the other candidate. I want to be clear, I am not endorsing Barack Obama. I admire both men, each of them have good ideas. Each of them care deeply about our country. Why else would they put up with the public scrutiny and negative attacks? They are masochists if you ask me. Shoot, all I did was run for state representative and I’m still an emotional wreck.

Both candidates are offering solutions to what they perceive the problems of America to be. To demonize one guy and raise the other to sainthood is a moral failure and a logical failure.

So, here we go. I will not vote for either candidate. This is Rex Barrett talking, not the staff of ProjectOKC, they fall on all sides. I have determined that the only solution to this personal dilemma I’m facing is to write in the only one I know capable of turning this world around.

You might think I’m stupid for my answer, but we Oklahomans don’t have a third party option. Thanks a lot for a fair ballot initiative Oklahoma politicians. The Libertarian can’t be on the ticket, so I’ve decided who I’ll vote for.

I’m writing it in… Jesus for President.

-Rex Barrett
image via DJOtaku

Winding down summer

I stepped out my front door this morning into a surprising and refreshing wall of cool crispness. Momentary excitement coursed through my mind… “Surely it’s too soon,” I muttered. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help crack a smile at the thought. With anticipation, I inhaled deeply, the fresh frosty air icing my lungs. With my lungs at capacity, I pursed my lips and as if blowing out a candle exhaled with expectation. The billowing vapor cloud leaving my mouth was exactly I what I was looking for. After all, seeing one’s breath can mean only one thing…

Christmas is coming!

-Luke Barrett
image via Zach Schwoebel

leaderman or servant leader

Today I will be going for the unheard of triple re-post. What I mean is, Anne Jackson stole this from brant hansen’s blog and I, in turn, stole it from her blog. Be sure to hit their links up so they know we all care. Plus you’ll find great info on their sites.

The truths of these points hit me deeply. I want to be one who serves and loves others but sometimes mistakes “Servant Leader” with “LeaderMan”, the guy who can do it all.  Lord, please help us to really care about your people, our brothers and sisters.

—-

LeaderMan: Wants a platform on which to say something

Servant Leader: Has something to say

—-

LeaderMan: You almost feel you know his family, because he’s your Leader

Servant Leader: You allow him to influence you, because you know his family

—-

LeaderMan: Wants you to know he’s a Leader

Servant Leader: You’re not sure he knows he’s a leader

—-

LeaderMan: Loves the idea of the Gospel, and the idea of The Church

Servant Leader: Loves God and the actual individual people God brings across his path

—-

LeaderMan: A great speaker, but self-described as, “Not really a people person.”

Servant Leader: Makes himself a people person

—-

LeaderMan: Helps you find where God is leading you in his organization

Servant Leader: Helps you find where God is leading you

—-

LeaderMan: Gets together with you to talk about his vision

Servant Leader: Just gets together with you

—-

LeaderMan: Resents “sheep stealing”

Servant Leader: Doesn’t get the “stealing” part, since he doesn’t own anyone to begin with

—-

LeaderMan: Wants the right people on the bus

Servant Leader: Wants to find the right bus for you, and sit next to you on it

—-

LeaderMan: Shows you a flow chart

Servant Leader: Shows you his whole heart

—-

LeaderMan: A visionary who knows what the future looks like

Servant Leader: Knows what your kitchen looks like

—-

LeaderMan: If it’s worth doing, it worth doing with excellence

Servant Leader: Not exactly sure how to even calculate “worth doing”

—-

LeaderMan: Talks about confronting one another in love

Servant Leader: Actually confronts you in love

—-

LeaderMan: Impressed by success and successful people

Servant Leader: Impressed by faithfulness

—-

LeaderMan: Invests time in you, if you are “key people”

Servant Leader: Wastes time with you

—-

LeaderMan: Reveals sins of his past

Servant Leader: Reveals sins of his present

—-

LeaderMan: Gives you things to do

Servant Leader: Gives you freedom

—-

LeaderMan: Leads because of official position

Servant Leader: Leads in spite of position

—-

LeaderMan: Deep down, threatened by other Leaders

Servant Leader: Has nothing to lose

-Rex Barrett
image via

God’s peace in life’s storms

I’ve been reading the book of Philippians over the past day or two. Talk about someone who went through it all. Paul experienced more persecution and anxiety in one day than most of us will experience in a lifetime. Despite that, Paul wrote to encourage followers of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but when life gets to me I tend to want to focus on the problem and worry. But worry is simply faith turned inside out. If you can worry, you can have faith.

In any case, here’s Paul who has every right to be anxious and concerned but instead of worrying about himself, he is encouraging others! It is clear that he sees life from such a different perspective. He is so soaked in the long term perspective of the Kingdom of God that his life’s purpose is for Christ. And while many fear death, Paul optimistically says he’d get to be with Christ if he died.

As someone who has experienced anxiety, I just continue to pray that I can get a fraction of Paul’s awesome and peaceful worldview.

This is some beautiful Scripture:

Philippians 4
4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

It would be one thing for some random guy to say that. Sure, it’s still the Truth. But Paul’s background makes his statements just amazing. He went through hell on earth and maintains that life is only worth living if it is for Christ.

We will experience life’s storms. Use Paul’s example and God’s Words to give you the proper perspective in times of trouble.

-Luke Barrett
image via Stuck in Customs

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