Two years ago, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a fascinating piece for the New Yorker on how Rick Warren built his ministry.

Reading it, I found myself both dismayed and impressed. Warren does not shy from asking his congregation for money, but he seems to actually put that money to good use.

In the wake of the extraordinary success of "The Purpose-Driven Life," Warren says, he underwent a period of soul-searching. He had suddenly been given enormous wealth and influence and he did not know what he was supposed to do with it. "God led me to Psalm 72, which is Solomon's prayer for more influence," Warren says. "It sounds pretty selfish. Solomon is already the wisest and wealthiest man in the world. He's the King of Israel at the apex of its glory. And in that psalm he says, 'God, I want you to make me more powerful and influential.' It looks selfish until he says, 'So that the King may support the widow and orphan, care for the poor, defend the defenseless, speak up for the immigrant, the foreigner, be a friend to those in prison.' Out of that psalm, God said to me that the purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence. That changed my life. I had to repent. I said, I'm sorry, widows and orphans have not been on my radar. I live in Orange County. I live in the Saddleback Valley, which is all gated communities. There aren't any homeless people around. They are thirteen miles away, in Santa Ana, not here." He gestured toward the rolling green hills outside. "I started reading through Scripture. I said, How did I miss the two thousand verses on the poor in the Bible? So I said, I will use whatever affluence and influence that you give me to help those who are marginalized."

Perhaps I'm succumbing to the cult of Rick Warren, but after reading this article, I'm kind of on board with the guy.  While I find myself cringe at the thought of him telling his congregation they need to give more money, and while there is a certain convenience to finding the one Bible verse that tells you, you need to be MORE wealthy and powerful, Rick Warren does appear to be using his influence to benefit others. And that's a good thing.

(Oh, and off topic, but I found this article on Rick Warren via an article Gladwell wrote on ketchup. It is the definitive work on ketchup, and one of the best essays I've ever read. )

I've been critiquing City Bible Church's month long sermon series titled The Gift. Last week we (they) covered the Gift of Love and this week I had the pleasure of listening to a sermon on the Gift of Peace given by Marc Estes.

I have been hoping all along to hear about the Gospel (truth) of Jesus Christ…but I'm coming to realize that CBC has no idea what that is.

I'll try to sum up "The Gift of Peace" according to Marc Estes. Marc started by telling you what a "Gift" was (basic recap of Frank's sermon from last week) and then told you that Baby Jesus was a gift of peace. Marc says that there are 3 things you need to do to make a gift worth anything: 1 - Receive 2 - Unwrap 3 - Apply to your life. His example was this: If someone gives you a box full of cash and you take it but don't open it, then it doesn't do you any good. You have to unwrap the box and apply the money to your life (I have no idea how to "apply money to your life", but my guess is that you put it in the bank). He than said that Jesus wants to give you Peace and all you have to do is receive it.

Apparently, all you need is Jesus in your life and you will find Peace…and not just a partial peace, but a full and complete peace that nothing from this world can penetrate. Marc then read a bunch of scriptures that talk about God wanting you to have Peace. Are you curious what you have to do to get this "peace" in your life? I was, and this is what Marc said you need to do to get this Peace:

Receive. Unwrap. Apply.

Yup, that is it…just Receive the gift of peace, un-wrap that gift of peace and apply that gift to your life. It's so simple. Once again we have another CBC sermon where I'm left saying ???????. Those are some very generic directions. What does that mean? Specifically, how do we Receive, Unwrap, and Apply?

I wish I hadn't asked. Marc ended the sermon with an alter call where he basically told everyone that if they don't have Peace in their life than all they need to do is come down to the alter and ask Jesus into their hearts. It's as if the "Sinner's Prayer" is a magic spell.

I don't know how in the world Marc can say the things he said…I certainly hope he doesn't actually believe them. I have known far too many Great, Godly, Christian Men and Women who did NOT have peace in their life at all times (consider Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane: Mark 26:38). It isn't that easy.

Marc, what do you say to the Christian woman whose spent her whole life living for God along side her Godly husband…who has an unfortunate accident and dies…leaving her alone…

Is there something wrong with her, if she doesn't feel peace?

Let me tell you my thoughts on Peace and Jesus. The peace that comes from knowing Jesus helps when you fully understand that everything (and I mean everything) that happens in this world is ordained (or allowed) by God. The good, the bad, and the in-between all happen with God's permission. The devil can NOT interfere with God's plans for this life. Sometimes, there will be stresses that come into your life. Sickness and Death are two real buggers that can interfere with your Peace, and as much as we may say "God you are in control" it doesn't bring immediate peace, necessarily. Peace from Jesus, in my mind, means accepting that God is in control of all the crap that this life has to offer…there is peace in that.

I'm so tired of CBC teaching that God will solve all your problems. "Just ask Him into your heart children, and he will take over the controls of your life…just trust in Him and he will take care of your problems". "If you are feeling down, just run into His arms and He will hug you and take away your pain".

Maybe….or maybe not.

Let' be REAL for a moment. God set up some simple rules that apply to life. And within those rules are rewards and consequences. Sin has a negative effect on this this world, and sin doesn't just effect the sinner, it can effect those around them even more so.

What happens when people expect God to magically cure all their problems? They get angry at Him when it doesn't happen. Life is Life, people. It isn't going to be easy. Jesus is a good friend, but He isn't a genie in a bottle.

I thought about emailing this to Marc, but I'm quite certain if I did he would just tell me that I completely misunderstood what he was saying. The truth is, I heard him loud and clear. (Marc did spend 10 seconds saying that your life needs to line up with the Bible and God's will in your life and that sometimes when bad things happen it is because God is just trying to get our attention… but his basic theme was that if you are a good Christian you will have perfect peace in your life.)

I say, that although God CAN miraculously take all the stresses away from your life, chances are good that He won't. Do not be discouraged if you are going through a rough time. Again, Life is Life.

My faith in Jesus helps remove the fear of dying, but it doesn't take away my fear of death. If something were to happen to my wife or any of my children I would HURT for a very long time. There would be many nights of pain, stress, anguish…and that would be ok. It wouldn't mean that I am a lousy Christian and it wouldn't mean that God is a liar. Because of Sin we have Death and because of Death we have Pain…this is the life that we have to live in…and it's OK.

Feel free to hurt, feel free to cry, and feel free to know that despite all you are going through God sent His son to earth to pay the price for you sins.

Romans 5:1-8

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 2through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

 3And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;

 4and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;

 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.

 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

There is a great article in The Daily World today discussing Doug Cotton's return to the Harbor.

From the paper:

Doug Cotton, the former pastor of Christian Life Fellowship in Central Park, will help launch a Harbor branch of a huge Kirkland-based church next month.

It will be called Harbor City Church, with the first services scheduled for Sept. 30.

Using financial resources from The City Church, which has a regular weekly attendance of 7,000, according to Anderson, Cotton has leased the former Alexander Young Elementary School at the foot of Scammel Hill.

The Aberdeen School District is charging the church $3,000 a month, according to Tom Laufmann, finance director for the district. It’s an 11-month lease that starts in September and ends on July 31, 2008. The church will have an option to renew and it will pay all utilities.

I encourage you to read the whole article, it confirms a lot of what has been said in the comments of this blog.

I would also like to thank all our readers, because you were partly responsible for tipping off the reporter to Doug Cottons' return.

From the article:

The Daily World learned about Cotton’s affiliation with the new church through calls from readers and a blog entry at www.citybusinesschurch.org.

We also received an email from the reporter thanking us for the blog entry that led him to write this follow up story.

Well done, readers, well done.

Which future New York City Pastor is still living in Portland Oregon because his home loan fell through for his house in NYC?

This is for "And I'm not picking on love, cause I don't think Friendship exists either"

As I am sure I have mentioned before, when we first started this blog (December 2004) I had a meeting with a certain pastor from City Bible Church, we will call him Pastor X. During my meeting with this pastor he mentioned to me that he would "Take a bullet for Frank Damazio" and that he would additionally "Take a bullet for City Bible Church". Now, at the time, I was curious why he was so interested in dying for SPFD and CBC, but never mentioned dying for Jesus, The Gospel, or even The Word of God for that matter…seems like his priorities were a little mixed up.

Anyway, last night (during an 11 hour drive back from Lake Tahoe) I spent some time thinking about this comment a little more. I was struck with a  picture of Pastor X arriving at the Pearly Gates after having just taken a bullet for Frank (not sure who was shooting at him, but somehow Pastor X managed to get in the way). Here is the imagined conversation that I pictured:

Pastor X: (just outside of Heaven, pushing his way through a rather long line) "Out of my way, V.I.P. coming through."

Archangel Gabriel: "Excuse me, sir…can I help you?"

Pastor X: "Why yes. I'm looking for the V.I.P. section?"

Archangel Gabriel: "V.I.P.?"

Pastor X: "Yes, don't you have a section for V.I.P. members here?"

Archangel Gabriel: "Well…according to John 3:16 the whole world is V.I.P., so you'll just have to wait like everyone else."

Pastor X: "No, no, no. I'm Pastor X. I just took a bullet for Frank Damazio…look it up in that book there…you'll see"

Archangel Gabriel: "Frank Damazio, huh?" (flipping though the Book of Life) "Hmmnnn…let me see… I have a Hank Dafazio, but I don't see any Frank…"

Pastor X: "Don't be ridiculous…of course he's in there, he practically wrote that book. You know him…Frank Damazio…of City Bible Church…in Portland, OR"

Archangel Gabriel: "Oh, you're with City Bible Church? Why didn't you just say so? You belong in that line over there marked LoF."

Pastor X: "LoF?…is that VIP?"

Archangel Gabriel: "No. It's Lake of Fire."

That was much funnier at four this morning while driving through Roseburg, but at least it's a start. I'll see if I can pick up the pace around here a little bit.

…well, almost.

The New York City Caravan will soon be leaving Portland, en route to New York City, to establish a new church in Manhattan. (Though I suspect most of them will then promptly leave Manhattan to live in Jersey). 

Senior Pastor Ed Schefter explains:

The team is set to leave on July 28th and 29th, and furious packing is under way.  The Schefter home and Eternity offices are set up temporarily, and all getting loaded that weekend, along with the belongings of Joy Seif, JR Nunez, Mike and Julie Grubbs, Marian Morton, Delilah Tate, and Camesha Christie.

Yeah, you read that correctly. My cousin Marion is one of the founding members of the church. This, of course, makes me feel a little guilty for mocking the whole ridiculous enterprise. But, eh, well, that's kind of how my family roles.

Anywhoo, here's the NYC travel itinerary:

We will be taking the central route right through the middle of the country, and driving through ID, UT, WY, NE, IO, IL, OH, PA, and NJ, to finally arrive in NYC by Sunday, August 5th. Anyone know of anything fun to do in Wyoming?  What about Nebraska?

Uh, no. I did this trip four years ago driving from Portland to DC, and it took me exactly two and a half days, because, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do in between.  If anything, it gave me a new found distaste for middle America. 

Who said it? Let's test your City Business Church Blog knowledge. The following is a list of actual quotes from actual people. No matter how ridiculous they may sound, I assure you we did not make them up. Can you guess who said them?

Here is the list of people to choose from:

Doug Lasit, Frank Damazio, Judah Smith, Rick Snow, My Wife, Ed Schefter, or Marc Estes.

Note: some people have more than one quote on this page. If you are having trouble figuring it out; click the link and it will take you to where we blogged about it.

"I have sex all the time." -  Who said it?

"I tithe for Protection; I give offerings for Progression" -  Who said it?

"I love Poo" -  Who said it?

"I just think it would be wise, if we would stop, stand in the gap, build a hedge and turn the tide. Can I hear an amen." -  Who said it?

"I enjoy the feeling of cascading water on my naked body"-  Who said it?

"Most people wouldn't like my coffee, they would think it was oil. And I proceed to tell them its the Holy Oil of Yashua"-  Who said it?

"He (God) is literally looking, in the American Church especially, for people He can trust with thousands, millions, maybe even billions of dollars over the course of your lifetime" -  Who said it?

"Forgive me, I can not pray to God naked"-  Who said it?

"All good giving hurts." -  Who said it?

"I came up with the concept for ‘Eternity,'" -  Who said it?

"Baths freak me out because there's no like suction" -  Who said it?

"I'm proud to be a Morton." -  Who said it?

"I want to set the record straight. I am having more fun then you are." -  Who said it?

"If you don't tithe at least 10% of every check you get, then you put a cap on God. God simply can not bless you. He is powerless to bless you." -  Who said it?

Larry Taylor sends in the following request:

Just to let you know for anyone who is interested, I am looking for good personal uplifting stories for my new website. I am also looking for quality links, entertaining links, great schools, books, anything on the topic of “Spiritual Formation.” My pub is called, “Spirit Formation Today Online” and the address is:

www.Spiritformation.org

Thanks. LT

If you have a fun story or something you think might interest Larry, please send it his way.

 For those wondering just exactly how big a pain in the ass City Business Church is:

When Googling the following names, here is where our little website pops up:

City Bible Church - 9

Frank Damazio - 6

Marc Estes - 4

Jack Louman - 1

Ken Malmin - 2

Doug Lasit -  6

Dougie Lasit - 1

I'm not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed…it's taken 2 long years of CBC bashing to work our way to the front page of all these searches…of course, at this point, I can't help but think we've made our point…I guess what they say is true, we really don't have much of a life.

Good Times, Good Times.

I just got this email from someone who recently found the blog:

I was scouring the net to find out where Judah Smith got his theological training from. Do you know where he went to school/seminary?

Does anyone know the answer to this question. I ask because I find that most of the pastors and elders at City BibleChurch/City Church are uneducated, meaning they don't have a college degree from an accredited institution.