So here's the real stinker: I trash the Rangers yesterday and they respond with a win! Great! I put the final touches on tonight's sermon (a full blown immersion into the missional paradigm) and feel it to be a real treasure! But when I return to MLB.com's Gameday feature, I see Juan Dominguez trashed in the bottom of the 10th.
Rangers lose, 3-2. As Adam Morris has pointed out, the Rangers are now closer to last place than first place.
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Tomorrow, my great friend and mentor, Rick Northen and I will make the five-hour journey to Oklahoma City to watch the Rangers AAA affiliate, the Oklahoma Redhawks. The trip is a generous gift from Tony Ross, a new member of our church family, who wished to convey his thanksgiving for our ministry in a special way. Tony has a relative in the media in Oklahoma City and she has hooked us up with second-row seats and a free dinner in a restaurant adjacent to the stadium.
I'm excited about my first game at Bricktown. I've been to and through the stadium during the winter and the architecture and setting seem really promising for a neat atmosphere.
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It really hit me today as I was tying up loose ends on tonight's message that I have been saturated in the missional paradigm during the last three months. Hammering out a sermon to define and describe what "missional" is and means was cheese, what with Dallas Willard, Lesslie Newbiggin, Reggie McNeal, Brian McLaren, et al dancing in my head.
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As for missional resources among churches of Christ, let me point you to Salt and Light Resources. The articles and projects on Salt and Light are wonderfully done and extremely insightful. Also, I strongly suggest you visit their recommended readings link if you are interested in more insight into the missional church paradigm.
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The shame of it all is even speaking of "missional" as if it were a new discovery. Perhaps the drift away from the church being missionally minded was brought about by the less taxing, less demanding "Come" approach to church. I still submit that Jesus Christ remains the only qualified candidate to invite others to "Come." Our task in the contemporary church is to "Go" -- to leave places of safety and security with little demands for those nooks and crannies of adventure in the world where God is clearly at work. Those adventures of faith -- the adventure of partnering with God where He is at work -- are so frightening, yet so rewarding!
My prayer is that the missional church paradigm will reinvigorate our churches so those seeking spirituality in our current cultural context will find a treasure trove in the exalted Christ and what He has to offer.
