And so I took a deep breath and walked right in…

Howard sat quietly in his dimly lit office, flanked by a row of angry businessmen. The smell of fresh brewed Starbucks coffee filled the air. "I hate the smell of Christians" I muttered to myself. Clearly no one was happy to see me.

As I approached the desk they began to mock me. "You don't tithe, because you suck at math" one yelled. "Quick, what's 10% of minimum wage" another shouted. I couldn't help but feel like Carman in "Witch's Invitation".

As I sat down the businessmen began to surround me, the whole time they were chanting "C-B-C – Give to me, C-B-C – Give to me". I was spooked. The chanting grew louder. "C-B-C – You owe me, C-B-C – You owe me"  I didn't really understand what it all meant, but it didn't matter they were inching closer and closer.

I wasn't sure what to do next when suddenly everything went dark…I could still hear voices but wasn't able to see a thing. Something had been placed over my head. It smelled familiar, but I couldn't quite place it… wait a minute, I thought, it's a tithe bucket. They've covered my head with a tithe bucket.

I leaped to my feet only to be tackled to the ground. They began to tie my hands with a rope, I tried to struggle free but it was a three fold cord, which not even the Power Team could break. I felt like my life was coming to an end when out of nowhere I heard a voice speak.

"Untie Him"

As I looked up something shone brightly in my eyes. It was a man… wearing a purple suit.

"Howard?" I asked unknowingly, "Is it really you"?  

Saying nothing he reached down, extended his hand and picked me up. I've never felt more compassion in all my life.

"My son" he said, "Today you are…

Ok, I've got nothing else. I'm only making up a story because I don't think most of you will be excited to hear how my meeting with Howard really went. I'll tell you anyway.

Howard impressed me.

It was clear from the very beginning that he had no hidden agendas. All he wanted was to know why I was so upset. He didn't want to condemn me for this blog. He didn't want to threaten or scare me. He just wanted to help.

Do you know how refreshing that is?

There's a bit of timing to it all. I've been feeling for some time now that my attacks on CBC have served their purpose and that it is time to move on. During the meeting I was able to air my frustrations with CBC. Howard and I don't see eye to eye on every issue but it doesn't matter. He's got a good heart and he truly seems to care. I don't care what church you're in, it's hard to find a person like that.

We talked about tithe, Forward Together, CCLI, and "the affair". Through it all he was reasonable and understanding. I like that in a man.  

In the end, did Howard change my opinion about CBC? Am I now a CBC'er believer?

No, but I think he was able to help me move on. I'm not saying I"ll never write another post about CBC, but I am saying that it helps to know at least one pastor cares.

There's a time to judge intention and there's a time to judge action… Howard's intentions are pure. I can only hope that the rest of the elders listen to him.

Howard Rachinski, you have made a friend out of me.

-Johnpaul

PS. I like the purple suit.

I like dramatic titles.

There were no agenda's, no manipulation, and very little B.S…. the odds were against us.

When Howard and I first agreed to meet I couldn't help but wonder what we would talk about. I had thought the only reason we were meeting was because we each called the others bluff. It was like a game of chicken, which one would back out first?

I boldly announced on my blog that I was willing to meet with any pastor from CBC who would be willing to talk. He quickly fired back an "I'll meet if you'll meet" comment.

I responded saying "Anytime anyplace" to which he countered "I'm available on Tuesday". He had me cornered; fine 2:00pm on Tuesday.  The date was set.

I've never been to the CCLI campus before, it's quite lovely. I arrived 20 minutes early, and slowly drove around back searching for the gallows I was sure they were building. When I couldn't find any, I was convinced they were going to bury me in the walls of their newly remodeled office… never to blog again.

I walked in, acting confident as usual, made small talk with the receptionist and waited to see my fate. How many pastors would they send to battle  me? 8? 10? All of them? My heart raced anxiously.

Suddenly, I got the call. "Howard will see you now"  

Great, Howard and his army of businessmen. "Why did I come alone?" I thought.

Dropping to my knees I began to panic, "Catalyst!!!" I screamed. The receptionist just smirked.  

Hmmmnnn, I thought, not quite the reaction I was hoping for…. "Adrian!!!!"  I cried.

Still nothing.

Apparently this was not a laughing matter. Rising to my feet I dusted myself off, looked her dead in the eye and said "Lead me to my destiny" (I'm making all this up).

Slowly, the door to Howard's office opened. With one quick prayer, I took a deep breath and walked right in…

 JohnPaul (is JP your preference?),

Thank you so much for your email. I just got back from Nashville this afternoon and am now in the joys of "catch up".

First of all, I want you to know how I appreciate the wording of your email to me.  I can see that you have thoughtfully and clearly shared your heart and perspective on those 7 points.  I didn't take any "offense" to your comments – and hopefully that's a good start to our communication!!! J

Would you like to get together and talk about this?  I'm not even sure if you are in Portland anymore, but would be open to getting together if you would like.

RE: you posting your letter – that is fine with me.  Thank you for asking me beforehand!!!

May I give just some "general" comments to your points that, perhaps, can be cultivated with future email? 

A "Preamble"…It is certainly a challenge to quantify "belief", "fact" and "Truth" (with a capital "T", denoting that there may be "truths" separate and distinct from "Truth").  "Belief" seems to be an outflow from "opinion" which many times may be formulated through experience.  Unfortunately, experience is not necessarily equated with fact.  And, belief does not necessarily generate action.  Conviction generates action.

Then, there is the outworking of Truth, which may or may not be connected at all with our process of "belief".

For example, my sister died of cancer at the age of 39.  The Bible seems to embrace "healing" as a doctrinal outworking of Christ's work on the cross.  However, my "experience" with my sister was that of "non-healing".  To confound and confuse me further, I have also experienced "healing". But it was my "non-healing" experience that entrenched me in a spiritual/mental/emotional dilemma.  How do I therefore integrate "belief", "fact" and "Truth"?

How do I find the simplicity on the other side of complexity?  How do I embrace "Truth"?

I have said all this because all your points began with – "I believe…"  So, it becomes somewhat of a challenge to dissect, discern and provide dissertation on "belief" versus "fact" versus "Truth".  It would be easy for me to comment my "belief" (which is also the outflow of my "opinion").  But, I'm not sure what could be accomplished, as it could be an exercise in futility trying to convince differing opinions to "convert"…

My apologies for this preamble…  I shall try to communicate on each point in subsequent "journals"  J

• 1. "I believe that City Bible Church is more focused on City Bible Church then on anything else. In other words I think CBC is self centered. The Forward Together campaign is a prime example, in it you have 4 steps of which none are focused on reaching the lost. Sure, a nicer looking building,a new building on the West Side, and advertising the CBC name could attract the lost but to me it sounds more like expanding the Kingdom of City Bible then the Kingdom of God."

 Without arguing about the comment regarding "focus and self-centeredness", may I provide some comment to your statement regarding "Forward Together" – "…4 steps of which none are focused on reaching the lost…"  As you know a "text" without a "context" is a "pretext".  Our Objective is the Great Commission.  Forward Together is not our Objective – it is our Strategy.  A Strategy is game plan that enables an objective to be obtained.  

Is there only one Strategy that a church could apply?  Ahhh…Therein lies the conflict of the ages since the Early Church began.  Of course, there is not just one Strategy for the church.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Strategies that can be implemented – encapsulating an extremely broad range of philosophies from "Assisi" to "Dominion Mandate".   

 It would be somewhat obtuse to think that CBC has the "right" or "only" Strategy.  We don't.  But we do "believe" we have the right Strategy for CBC – which we "believe" will enable us to accomplish the Objective of the Great Commission.  Is it a "perfect" Strategy?  NO…Hopefully our journey will enable it to be "perfected"…

 As to the "lost" question, perhaps it would be more appropriate to determine whether CBC is "reaching the lost" by assessing the outcomes of its Strategy.  And, if this was done, perhaps it would be discovered that there have been many hundreds of lives positively impacted with the love of Christ that enabled them to make that "Great Commission" decision.

 Can CBC do better?  Absolutely!!!  Can I do better?  Without a doubt!!!  It's a little bit like Schindler's List, at the end, where he agonizes over not having done more.

 Some may not feel comfortable with CBC's Strategy and may feel more comfortable with another Strategy.  That is wonderful!!!  But whether it be by fire or water…"Eternity Play shock" or "Neighborhood love", let's keep our eyes on the Objective.  One of the working relationships I have cultivated is with a very prominent Hollywood influence that has had a Christ encounter.  His words to me were, "I want to spend the rest of my life making it extremely difficult for anybody to go to hell".  Sometimes our wording doesn't convey our intentions.  However, let's agree we definitely need to stay focused on the Objective.

 You are certainly entitled not to participate in "Forward Together" – and, maybe for all the "right" reasons.  But, keep in mind, Forward Together is not an Objective – it is a Strategy.

 Herein ends my brief "epistle" to point #1.  Feel free to post it, if you want.

 Thanks, JP, for allowing me to hear your heart and for allowing me to start sharing mine.  Hopefully, this will be positive, productive and a step in being real!

Hopefully…more to come!

Blessings,

Howard Rachinski

Sources close to City Bible have confirmed that Larry Asplund will no longer be teaching at PBC. He is moving on to a "new assignment".  This is all the information I have for now, but I will let you know if I hear more.

And is it just me, or has PBC become a glorified "internship" program?

JP and I have a general rule that whenever an elder at City Bible posts a comment we throw that comment on the front of our blog. It gives us something to talk about and proves once again that the pastors still read us. (I’m as shocked as anyone).

And this morning our dear friend Larry Asplund broke his long silence and commented on the blog, noting my decision to ban Financial Blessings. 

Here’s what he said:

That’s the thing about satire, isn’t. It eventually comes back around like a boomerang and bites you in the butt.

I’ll be honest, I am not sure his point here. But I do not think it is positive. And you know what, no biggie. We criticize his church, he criticizes us. Fair deal. I am just kind of surprised he chose this issue on which to comment. I mean we did blog for a couple of weeks when City Bible fired two of his colleagues. But I guess he was like, "Whatever."

But we silence his protege F.B., and Asplund’s got to be heard.  

Fair enough though. Mr. Asplund, you are welcome to comment anytime.

So my 20 year-old brother Joel is upset that he continually gets lumped in with JP and I with regards to this blog. He says he rarely reads the blog and only finds about 1/3 of the posts actually entertaining.  But if he’s going to get blamed for the blog, then he wants to post something. And as usual, that posting is in reference to Doug Lasit.

So with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, Joel has ripped off You Might Be a Redneck and instead offers,

You Might Be a Dougie If:

• You think the Three Wise Men are Grande, Tall, and Venti.
• You think WWJD stands for We Will Judge Dem.
• You ever upgraded your coffee for Christ.
• You think the French named their coins after Frank.
• Your favorite band is the Gen Unleashed Worship Band.
• You were in the room when they decided to to paint the boobs a silicone color.
• Your mom is the only reason you are married.
• You think the Rapture was the new name for CBC’s coffee shop.
• You voted for ATM’s in the church

Becuase I know Doug reads the blog, let me close by saying, "We kid because we care, we kid because we care."

Howard Rachinski commented on the blog disputing my claim that he hired an "investigator". I want to give him a chance to make his point.

Dear Justin & JP,

This is Howard Rachinski (really). It has come to my attention you have "informed" your fellow bloggers that I have hired an "investigator". In addition, a few of your bloggers apparently have found it a real delight to take some "shots" at me. How delightful…So…to set the record straight and to help all your fans from getting ulcers, I thought it best to "blog in"…First of all, I have not "hired a PI". In fact, I think that’s totally hilarious!!! Whatever could you have been thinking of???

I feel rather sorry that you had to compromise your perspective by spreading such a blatant lie. So, for all those "Howard" haters out there…you are out of luck. I haven’t done any such thing. And, Henri, you should know better than that!!!

Secondly, to help pacify all those cries of outrage for that "hideous relative connection", my wife’s father and Donna Lasit’s grandmother are "brother & sister". Oh perish the thought… I can’t imagine what all your "outcriers" will do when they discover that we are all related…to Noah…to Adam…Please don’t have a heart attack.

Thirdly, dear JiminyCricket, ficm, and other "anonymous" contributors, please don’t lose any more sleep over my clothes, my hair or my choral conducting. Did that make you really feel better to "diss" me or CCLI? You don’t even know me. You don’t even know my company. You don’t even know how many homes and families we have helped. But, I guess you must have really felt better, huh???

Finally, Justin and JP. I’m surprised. I was one of your "supporters" through Temple Christian, through basketball – giving you encouragement where possible. I’m surprised…because you could help cultivate positive changes…you could make a difference…you could help…So…I’ll keep encouraging you to do so…If you, JP or any of your other "contributors" want to talk…let me know…But, please, don’t stoop to the lowest possible level of irascibility.You guys are so much better than that!!!

The person Howard hired may not have been a "private investigator", but I stand by claim that Howard hired someone to research and investigate JP and I.

Also, I’ve got nothing against Howard Rachinski. I don’t really know him. I did play basketball with his son and he was a pretty cool guy.

Update 1/24: To thank Howard for offering his opinion, I would like to give his company Songtouch a plug. Last year, when someone told me Howard was starting an online music company for Christian Artists, I remember thinking, "Genius! Why didn’t I think of that." There’s a reason Howard is successful and it isn’t his fancy coat-of-many-colors suit.

I received several emails and comments about Marc Estes’s last sermon. And while I listened to it, I found it rather dull and fell asleep. However a couple of our reader’s actually paid attention to what Marc said. And as usual, they have some insight:

Non Dude writes:

Sorry to interupt but Mark Estes sunday sermon was, get this, "Has the Grinch Stolen Your Christmas". First of four Christmas sermons, the next three PF will "preach".

The grinch was spotted on Rocky Butte and has apparantly stolen a "mega" churches christmas.

I did not know that Estes could do a Howard Dean impersonation 9min 45sec. citybiblechurch.org -media link.

I learned that the twelve days of christmas song is coded with christian truth ( Jesus is the partridge in the pear tree ? what?) and candy canes were early christian tracts, wow?

there was some good stuff about what Jesus has done , but at the end everyone stood up and read these grinchville (ie blogsite) stompers, declarations of faith about how THEY CHOOSE to be better christmas christians.

nice, tis the season to be happy.

Anna writes:

This decision not to have church is just another symptom of the CBC image. The image is: white people with lots of money — that’s why the sermon Sunday was about pausing during all the activities and shopping to remember the true meaning of Christmas. It was so nicely culturally relevant with the film clip of the Grinch and all. All of us rich white people felt truly admonished.

The image is: white people with happy families opening Christmas presents around the tree, carols in the background, turkey in the oven, eggnog in the fridge.

Since that is the image, it would be a shame to spoil it by having to go to church. Never mind that there are lonely people with no family. Never mind that there are many older people and ethnic cultures who celebrate Christmas Day by worshipping in church, no matter what day it falls on.

The image continues: Church must be a production — lights, cameras, flash and plasma screens! It wouldn’t be the proper image to have a small quiet service with a piano and a guitar, a short sermon and a prayer. No children’s ministry necessary, just keep the kids with you since it’s a short remembrance of Jesus. That kind of thing would just not be church, now would it?

I know they would protest that the big production is the week before Christmas. But aren’t they just contradicting their own message of laying aside the "Christmas frenzy" to remember the simplicity of the Gospel?

The NYT picked up on Anna’s theme. Here’s their article from today’s newspaper.

When Christmas falls on Sunday, Mega churches take the day off.

Best Quote:

"What about the people in society without strong family connections? The elderly, single people a long distance from family, or people who are simply lonely and for whom church and prayers would be a significant part of their day?"

During my seven or eight years at City Bible, I have heard probably three sermons that actually stuck with me, and two of them were by Ken Malmin. (The other sermon was given by an Irish gentleman, whose name I forget.)

So when I was checking the pastoral speaking list today, and saw Ken Malmin’s name listed as the speaker for September 18. I downloaded that baby onto my ipod and listened while walking to work.

He didn’t dissapoint.

Ken was taking over for Pastor Frank who was speaking at a conference in England. (Sharing the good new of "how to charge for parking" I imagine). In the wake of Katrina and in the shadow’s of 9/11, it was Ken’s job to explain why bad things happen. His answer: sin. Ken didn’t elaborate on what type of sin, other than to say that sin is what separates us from God and that is what makes our world a difficult place to live.

However, he then begins to explain how we as Christians are supposed to behave in turbulent troubled times. His advice: Trust God and Help Others.

And this is why I appreciate Ken. He gets it. Its not a show with him. He’s not trying to impress the audience with his knowledge of theology or his new car or where he gets his coffee. He simply shares from his heart, and so when a hardened ex-City Bible member is listening to the sermon, he actually hears an excellent message and not just something to mock.