charlieDEAN’S Blog

Okay, I saw this last year and resisted, and then I’ve seen them circulating this year, and I couldn’t resist!

The boys got elfed!   Meanwhile, I got scrooged!

• This is fun…Animator vs. Animation
• Brandon’s post reflecting on Seth’s post is insightful…and true!
• There has been a ton of reaction to Willow Creek’s Reveal study.  Tim Stevens does a great job of recapping all the junk, and giving some links.
• Almost every day, The Dilbert Blog cracks me up!

So, we had our first meeting last night.

About 30 of us met at the Slettens (plus 12 children).  I talked about the idea that when you put an acorn in the ground, you know that you’ll get an oak tree, but you can’t know exactly what that oak tree will look like.  But you do know the seed.  So I passed out acorns to everyone and then talked about “seed thoughts.”  So here’s the first…

“Imago Dei Church exists to be a community of people learning together what it means to follow Jesus and inviting others to join us in the quest.”

I remember in high school before a soccer match or baseball game (not-so-much basketball as I did a lot of bench-warming), I’d get excited and nervous at the same time…

That’s how I feel today.

Tonight we have our first Imago meeting.  We’re talking to people who are serious about committing to making Imago a reality.  It’s funny…I know everyone in the room…many are my friends…and yet I’m nervous.  And at the same time, I’m pumped!  It’s kind of fun!  I haven’t had this kind of feeling in a long time.

By the way, if you’re not on the Imago mailing list…or didn’t see the facebook announcement and you’re in a place where you are considering seriously being a part of Imago, email me.

Okay…I’ll admit I was at Soldier Field on Sunday when the Broncos suffered a humiliating overtime loss to the hapless Chicago Bears.  While it was a great game, full of action, the outcome was less than I desired.

However, it was my first experience watching a game from a skybox, which is a pretty sweet deal for around $18,000 for a single game (22 tickets + 5 parking passes).  Anyway here’s a pic:

(it’s coffee)

Jennifer and I knew nothing about this movie walking into it Saturday night.  I only knew Steve Carell was in it…I had no idea what it was about, I think I saw one preview, once, and I couldn’t remember it.  The Potters told us it was good.  We trust the Potters, so we went.

This is probably the best movie I’ve seen in a long time!  Laugh-out-loud funny one minute, the next minute you’re next to tears.  It was beautiful and good.  The time flew by!  I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD to watch it again.

Great movie!

Well, this week, Imago becomes much more of a reality.  We are looking in the mail for our 501(3)c designation, which should be coming this week.  Once we get that, we can open a bank account, take donations, puchase a computer, etc.

The other thing that is happening is that on Thursday night we are having a meeting of the potential “core team” or “plant team.”  I’m going to lay out the vision, values, some ideas about strategy, and structure.

Along with that I’m teaching Wednesday night at New Community, doing some late-night premarital counseling and having a small group party tonight.  It’s a full week.

After the meeting on Thursday, I’ll begin talking about some of the mission, values & strategies here…but I want those people to hear it first.

I don’t usually do this…but here’s my prayer of Thanksgiving…

Father, I don’t know if it’s age or if it’s maturity or exactly what it is — but it seems with each passing year I grow ever more brimming with eager expectation of this day — Thanksgiving Day — that we slow down, and set aside a whole day to thank you.  I have so much to be thankful for…and while so may see these as cliches, to me everyone is so full of meaning:

For my wife of 11 years, my teammate, my partner, my parenting cohort…for my children — for each of their uniquenesses and challenges — for their laughs and kisses and hugs and neverending questions.  For my family – my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews — I can’t imagine a more ideal family.  For my friends…I have such a rich life because of the people I get to spend time with — my small group, my coworkers, partners in ministry all over the country —  my neighbors.  For all the materiel blessings — for a better house than I deserve, for cars that run, for heat in the winter and A/C in the summer!  For the direction of my career — for Imago — for all the ways that you’ve been leading me along, even when I’ve accused you of ignoring me!  For your unfailing love.

For all this and more…I’m quieted and deeply thankful.

one last note: as part of my Thanksgiving observation, I’m “off the grid” today: no emails, no facebook, no blog, no internet.  catch ya later!

My mom was telling me about a conversation she had with someone (maybe it was something she heard on T.V….I’m not really sure).  Anyway, this person was talking about their family gathering for Thanksgiving and everyone shows up 1/2 hour before the meal and leaves 1/2 hour after.  And we — my mom & I — were discussin how unsatisfactory this would be for us — that Thanksgiving is supposed to be a slow-down day of enjoying each other — cooking together, eating together, laughing together, taking money from my brother in poker…

It makes me sad when it appears that so many people have reduced Thanksgiving to eating turkey.

I was thinking about all this as I was helping Jennifer set the table tonight.  She was tying napkins, and I was getting the china out and I was thinking about why I go through all the effort (we’re hosting 20 tomorrow…12 adults eating at the “big” table, 4 boys eating at a card table & 4 little ones napping) and why we even bother to put out the china…

And for me — getting out the best stuff is a symbol — it’s a symbol of how God has provided so much — that I have so much to be thankful for — and I oughtta go out of my way to celebrate that fact.  A dry turkey sandwhich on a paper plate, just doesn’t say “celebration” like going all out.

So, this year…we’re going all out…because God has been so good!

Okay…so for several years, I’ve had this idea for a name in my head…I’ve loved it…thinking, “this is a great concept in Scripture, that isn’t talked about all that much.  It would be a cool name for a church.”  And then…a couple of years ago this guy wrote a book, and in it he talked about his church…a lot.  And then, largely because of the cult-status of his book in Christian circles, his church and his pastor have become quite famous as well.

But, after talking about it, living with it, kicking it around, we decided to use the name anyway…after all, that other church is 2052 miles away, and frankly nothing in church is truly creative, and really — at this point it’s a juggernaut that can’t be stopped, even if I really wanted to….

So, we’ll be calling our community IMAGO DEI.  You may have some questions:

Isn’t that the name of Donald Miller’s church?

Yes….I think I just covered that, although in a vague manner intending to create interest and drama.

Is that like another language or something?

Yes it is.  It’s Latin.  It means “image of God.”  As in Genesis 1:27…”and in the imago dei he created him, male and female he created them.” 

What are you trying to communicate with this name?

Without getting long-winded — and stealing thunder from future teachings, I think that this is the central idea in the Bible — that God created us in his image — that sin damaged that image — that Jesus died to repair that image — and that being a Christian is the process of being made back into the image of God — that God will complete.

So what are you actually going to call it?  Like, how does that work in everyday language?

So far, I’ve been using it in different ways.  Like I find myself just saying “imago”  when I’m around my friends…but as I’ve started thinking about an internet presence, I’ve started thinking in terms of ”imagodeipeoria” or something like that– we’ll see how it evolves.

It sounds old-fashioned or something.

That’s kinda the point.  We want to be modern and relevant and all that, but at the same time, Christianity isn’t something new…we want to connect to ancient practices — we think the title kind of insinuates that.

Well, won’t it be hard for people to remember your name and come to your church?

Maybe.  But you know, I kind of think that church names aren’t really the most important thing about a church…in fact, in my humble opinion, they’re not that imporant at all.  What’s more important is the ethos of the place — the values, the chemistry, the feel, the heart…however you want to say it…so that’s going to be the subject of the next series of posts…