I love you very much, but I am sorry I’ve not posted to you very much lately. You are still the blog-light of my life, I have just been busy. soon i will return to you in full faithfulness.

xoxoxoxox

matt

I’m pretty sure you don’t want to miss these:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26427589@N04/sets/72157605776529195/detail/

I had a great get away last weekend. Misha’s mom encouraged us to get away before the next baby comes in July… easy advice to follow! We talked to the fields and got the key to stay at their place in Leucadia. Our friend Courtney agreed to watch Max (6), Marc (5), and Morgan (>1).

It was the right time to get away…after 4 long weeks of ministry…and Misha has been so tired lately (pregnancy will do this, I hear), that it was really good to get away.

It was fun to eat out, sleep in, watch a lot of movies, talk more than we normally do, and shop. The cool thing was that we also go to eat without kids, sleep without kids, watch movies without kids, talk without the kids, and shop without the kids. I managed to go for two walks, but they weren’t as long as I’ve been doing, and they were on level ground…

Of course, this was also a great time to reflect…although I didn’t reflect as much as I wanted. I had one of those profound moments where I made a simple connection, but this connection has eluded me for years. I’ve been wondering what the word for “negative hope” would be…dread came close, but didn’t seem right. Anyhow, I wasn’t sure what the opposite of hope was, other than “hopelessness.” That wasn’t very satisfying. Then it came to me: fear, that’s the opposite of hope. Anyhow, like I said: a SIMPLE CONNECTION…but something that’s been beyond my understanding.

So, at one of our meals, I asked Misha if she thought we were on track, and if there was anything we needed to change.

That’s one of those “hold your breath” moments… because the safe and comfortable and predictable patterns of relating to one another are so EASY to maintain… and, if I thought there was anything to change I would have said so…however, I asked the open ended question incase I’ve been missing some clues…

The consensus at the table was that things were looking really good. We love who are boys are becoming. Life is tiring right now, but it’s not out of control. I’d like to keep getting better with my fat larded ness.

As we were talking, we decided to change up our date nights and make them a tiny bit more focused. We’re going to be more intentional about having spiritual conversations. As a starting point each week, we’re going to talk about what we’re reading in scripture.

hope you had a great weekend!

mattmcgill

the last two days were very strange… I started writing about it half way through, but couldn’t finish… I’m glad I didn’t…

I visited three churches, their cities: Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Solvang. I met some really great people, and I came face to face with some _crazy_ church politics. I’ll write more about it later.

Oh yea, I’m writing this blog on my new computer. It’s a Dell XPS (desktop). My friend at integrity computer concepts gave me some great advice and ordered the machine for me. If you need some computer help, ask him first! http://www.integritycomputerconcepts.com

It’s only Tuesday, but I feel like it’s been the longest week of my life. Nothing bad has happened, but it still feels long.

I’ve finished most of my thinking about what it means to test God. I’d like to find the time to post the scriptures I studied and the conclusions I found. It seems to me, speaking biblically, testing God means doubting his presence or power after a clear demonstration of his power. For the Israelites, they tested God at Massah after being delivered from Egypt. In Deut, they were warned not to test God AFTER they received the promise land (a clear demonstration of God’s power). When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, he didn’t want to test God after his baptism where he hear God’s voice from heaven. One can presume that when John the Baptist sent disciples to see if Jesus was the messiah wasn’t testing God because Jesus didn’t say he was testing God. Nor did Jesus say Thomas was testing God when he doubted. The line between testing God and legitimate doubt seems to be a line that is very personal and difficult to discern from the outside. Anyhow, I wrote all of this without my notes, and this is supposed to be the short version…

I am headed to the LOMPOC area tomorrow and Thursday to talk to some churches that may be interested in being a regional campus. Merging with another church is something that is TOTALLY NEW for us…so I’m excited. I’m not going to sell saddleback, so that’s a good thing, since I hate selling anything. (as greg vujnov) Perhaps I’m communist.

Speaking of communism, I made a joke about all the regionals having the same graphics look, that I wanted it to be totally communist and give no choices. Only Tom Holladay laughed, out of the 11 guys in the room. That tells you how smart he is.

Tonight I ordered a new book to read: SMART WORLD. I hope it’s good. I will try to let you know either way. I really want to buy a Kindle. I think the readers of this blog should donate something to help me buy it. (not kidding, sort of.)

On my Amazon home page, this is what it suggested for me to buy: "Release Your Wild Side with Animal Print Apparel" … women’s clothing. Just who do they think they are dealing with here? the Mish is a force of nature, no mere animal or creature.

Many of you haven’t voted on my poll, which means you are evil and uncaring.

love,

matt

today max has his physical for flag football, and then we’re getting together at the coach’s house to get on the same page.

this afternoon, I’m going to my old coach’s house for a THS football reunion deal.

I’m looking forward to both events…strange they are happening on the same day.

It’s been a few days since the structure changes happened at saddleback, and the excitement hasn’t faded for me yet. after talking some with one of my friends, i was coming to the conclusion that I don’t think I’ve been this excited for ministry for years…

someone else asked, what do you think are the biggest challenges you’ll (as a leadership team) will face? I didn’t have a very coherent answer at the time, and I probably still don’t…but, for starters:

We face a new ministry context. we’re all in way over our heads…we’re new to this game and thinking about ministry on this level of influence and complexity…now, saying this isn’t particularly insightful: this is what Rick was going for when he chose to make this shift: he wanted to switch from the experienced, founding pastors to a new group. duh, of course this is different for us!

We face biblical standards for relating to one another. It’s a difficult thing to live in community the way Christ demonstrated and commanded. Rick said we would be evaluated on our love for one another, ability to maintain integrity in confidentiality, and our humility. These things don’t just happen, even for mature believers who have been walking with Jesus for a long time.

We face huge and challenging projects. The current top priorities are mind-blowing: budget (short term), 10×10 vision (long term)…

We face the unknown. Being new to the table means there’s a lot we don’t know about. "Expect the unexpected" comes to mind… (and then I wonder if it was a speech writer who created that and didn’t remember the law of non contradiction). I’d rather say "expect the possibility of the unexpected," but that’s not clever or memorable (just accurate).

We face the dangerous temptation that follows blessing. We’ve been entrusted with a huge responsibility, and honestly, it’s humbling…now. However, every human alive has the ability to forget the works and wonders of God, and move toward self-reliance. Pride is a universal problem among people. This is all over scripture (see nearly any part of the history of Israel). Rick has said that few people handle power well… you only have to look as far as your homeowners association to see this truth.

Anyhow, I’m sure there’s a ton of challenges we face…and all of this is simply my perspective, I’m sure I’m missing a lot.

In the essential things, absolutely nothing whatsoever is changing. God calls us to be faithful with what he has entrusted to us. We walk by faith and live in obedience (living up to what we have already attained). We leave behind worry because we’re not the Creator and the Author of life. My ministry tomorrow is nothing more than preparation for eternity, just like the ministry of my yesterday.

mattmcgill

RATING: five out of five hi-fives
EMOTION: satirical sarcastic silliness 

OK. So I never really was the cool kid or cool boy or man. Therefore, I was never into weezer, other than I liked their songs on the radio.

However, for whatever reason, I decided I needed to check this puppy out.

I was delighted. It is wonderful. I like the tunes, well put together. Seems very tight and precise and intentional. the words are great, so totally and completely funny. like the kind of funny i envy, and I’m not one to envy much.

The greatest man whoever lived was tremendous. Pork and beans is very xlent. Miss Sweeney was disturbing, but still funny in it’s own way. Heart songs was great because you walk down memory lane and feel like you get a picture into who influenced these dudes…also makes me wonder if they really liked any of those songs and that it’s really a list of what they didn’t like…although there’s no textual evidence for this understanding.

I liked this so much, I’m afraid to check out their other records incase they aren’t that good.

WOW. big changes today. I definitely need some time to think things through, but here’s the big picture:

Rick Warren and the elders of the church have made some significant structure changes.

First off, the elder team has been redefined to include Pastors who have been at Saddleback for more than 15 years: Glen Kruen, Tom Holladay, Rick Muchow, John Baker, Steve Rutenbar, and Doug Fields. There primary role is twofold: (a) to mentor other leaders on staff, and (b) make sure the pastors management team stays true to the biblical purposes, beliefs, vision, values, and culture. The elders aren’t supervisors, they are mentors and keepers of what it means to follow scripture and be Saddleback.

Second, the pastors management team includes the base pastors and a few others:

001 Erik Reese (Community and Crowd)
101 Tommy Hilliker (Congregation)
201 Buddy Owens (Committed)
301 Pat Giraldin (Core)
401 Brian Harper (Commissioned)
Church Operations Bill Crane
Small Groups Steve Gladen
Chief of Staff David Chrzan
Regional Campuses Matt McGill

What motivated RW to make these changes? One of Saddleback’s values is that the implementers are the decision makers. (he said he learned that from someone years ago, but I don’t remember who that was.)

In short, what’s our role? To manage the affairs of the church. To trouble shoot problems. To ensure that the biblical purposes are fulfilled locally with the people God has entrusted to us.

Rick called today historical, for he turned over the management of the church from the founding pastors to the next group of leaders.

HERE’S WHAT WE WILL BE EVALUATED ON

#1. Our LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER. Our leadership isn’t about promoting ourselves and our ministries, it’s about thinking about the whole. Our responsibility is to model love for one another to the rest of the staff.

#2. Our CONFIDENTIALITY. All kinds of leadership has confidentiality, another way to say this is discernment. Still another way to say this is not to gossip. Real life is really messy, let’s not make it worse by talking about things we ought not to.

#3 Our HUMILITY. All leaders are learners, and it takes humility to learn from others. It takes humility to accept advice. Each of us are expected to select a mentor, and we ought to talk to them regularly.

#4 10×10 Goals. This is a while other post…

OUR CURRENT PROJECTS

#1 Allocate the church budget for the 2008-2009 FY.

#2 Streamline HR.

#3 10×10 Projects.

these days I’m reading Deuteronomy and stopped on Deuteronomy 6:16, where Moses says not to test God in the midst of talking about obedience to God’s commands. In this passage, it seems as if testing God means not following his law.

This passage was cross referenced with Exodus 17:2, where the Israelites complained to Moses and asked for water. Testing God here is defined as saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

That didn’t seem like such a bad thing to say. Why would that be considered a "test" and not just simple doubts like John the B or Thomas after the resurrection. Also, look to Jeremiah 2:8.

Now, Ex 17 does mention that they tested God and quarreled with one another, so maybe that’s the difference between testing God and doubting or disobeying.

Of course, in one of his temptations, Jesus resisted with the reason, "don’t test God." I have some questions about that, but will wait until I do further study.

speaking sculpturally, what does it mean to test God? I’m not looking for a clever statement that sounds good in a message, but specifically what the Bible has to say.