soccer champion

The outcome of Justin's soccer weekend was this: two games on Saturday, both wins, 4-0 and 3-0. Justin even scored one of the goals, and was instrumental in the scoring of at least three others. He is an outstanding passer, and no, I'm not saying that because I'm dad. He really has an ability to see the field better than most kids his age. But it wasn't just a few who played well, which is the norm, they all played an amazing game. I think they stunned the first team, who was the #1 team in the San Pedro area. So much for my last post that said they struggle on defense.

The stage was set for the rematch with a team that had beaten us in the seeding part of the tournament, and lo and behold, it was the peanut butter team (see Jan. 19 post for more details). They had the game on Sunday morning, which left me out. It's the first game I've missed all year, and it was quite difficult. I got updates throughout the game from Traci, the final score was sent through text message. The outcome, after a tie at the end, and two 5 minute overtimes, Justin's team won, 3-2. That makes them the #1 team in our area, made up of 5 or 6 different regions. It was an incredible ending to a memorable season.

Soccer and peanut butter

Justin's soccer team has gone on to regional playoffs after winning the North Torrance league. His team, the Green Agents, are quite an offensive power, but lack some on defense. One of the teams last week had some special play that the coach signaled the team to run when he said, "peanut butter." I noticed he had called it several times. I also noticed that his team got injured alot. The kids counted at least seven times one of the other team got injured, going down, forcing the coach to go out and check on him. One kid sure seemed to get hurt alot, I think he went down three times or more.

Someone began to link the two events, the "peanut butter" play, to the injuries. The person deduced that the "peanut butter" play was "someone get injured." We outplayed them, but ended the game in a tie, 1-1 because we simply ran out of time. The clock keeps running, even though a kid is hurt. Take 2-3 minutes off the clock every time there's an injury, and almost half the game is gone. Our coach protested, but we don't know the outcome yet. We do play this Saturday at 8AM. Hopefully there's no "peanut butter" play, and our kids play to their potential. If so, we'll be going into the semi-finals of this region!

Change is hard work

This is something I had copied a few years ago from a Christian web site.

For Centuries, people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth. Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all times and surely he could not be wrong. All it would have taken was for one brave person to take two objects, one heavy and one light, and drop them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one steeped forward until nearly 2000 years after Aristotle’s death. In 1589,Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the leaning Tower of Pisa . Then he went to the top and pushed of a ten-pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same time. But the power of belief in the conventional wisdom was so strong that the professors denied what they had seen. They continued to say Aristotle was right, reinforcing the observation by Niccolo Machiavelli in his book, The Prince, that: “there is nothing more difficult to take hand, more perilous to conduct, or more certain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of the new order of things.”

I can't top that last quote from Machiavelli!

Church Growth

This is an interesting insight on church growth:

Study: Growing Churches Have More Men and Drums

Churches with rising attendance numbers have a lot in common with one another - a lot more than denomination, location, or even theological approach. According to a new study, success stories often involve men, drums, a joyful environment, and a concerted effort not to be too "reverent."

That’s the conclusion of a December report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, a nonprofit research group at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn. While most US churches continue to be predominantly of one race and to count more women than men in their pews, the HIRR survey of almost 900 congregations found growth is most likely when:

• A church is multiracial.
• Men make up at least 60 percent of regular participants.
• Leaders describe worship as “slightly to not at all” reverent.
• Drums or percussion are always used in worship.
Such innovations make churches exciting places to be, says report author Kirk Hadaway. It also explains why atypical churches, which are prone to innovate, often lead the pack in growth, he adds.

“If it’s not uplifting, interesting, provoking ... it’s perfectly acceptable in American society to not go [to church] anymore,” says Mr. Hadaway, director of research for the Episcopal Church USA. “Churches that are providing a more uplifting worship experience and community are those that are growing. And those that do it well are not typical anymore.”

For many congregations, learning to grow is a matter of survival. Six mainline denominations, all of which have been losing members for 40 years, saw worship attendance figures drop by as much as 12 percent between 1999 and 2004, according to a November report from the Presbyterian Church (USA). The United Methodist Church (UMC) lost about 34,000 weekly worshipers, or 1 percent, from 2004 to 2005.

Adventure and Change

We need to sacrifice the stability of the past in order to reach the opportunities of the future.

Change: In essence, over the course of time, the drive for self-preservation overwhelms the desire for true growth. The Second Coming of the Church, George Barna p. 46

Churches are notorious for keeping the status quo. Status quo is boring, dull, and lacks any creativity. And besides, it is making the church of Jesus increasingly irrelevant. Jesus is anything but irrelevant, and we need to show that.

Change quotes

My favorite Spanish proverb:

The dogs do bark, but the caravan moves on.

"Change" Quotes

I've been reading "Small is the New Big" by Seth Godin. I really get a kick out of his thoughts and writings, entertaining, sometimes funny, great observations and very thought provoking. Here is one of his quotes on change, and change is one of my favorite subjects.

Competent people resist change. Why? Because change threatens to make them less competent. And competent people like being competent. That's who they are, and soemtimes that's all they've got. No wonder they're not in a hurry to rock the boat.

Seth's observations could so easily apply to a church. We keep doing the same thing because we're competent, never mind that the world is constantly changing, and we're not keeping up. The church's message of the good news of Jesus doesn't change, but how we present has to change. Why is the church, serving a God called "Creator" so uncreative and slow to change?

Jesus is the Reason

I haven't taken the time to put this on the blog for Christmas, and now Christmas is over. But even with Christmas being done, this is worth the read. My kids bless me.

Bryson made a card for Santa Claus that we put by his cookies on Christmas Eve. On the front he has a picture he drew of Santa, the stockings and chimney and a tree that has some ornaments on it and says, “Jesus” and “Joy”. At the top he has “from Bryson.” Inside the card, though, has his message in 1st grade writing:
“Dear Santa thank you for working hard for us. Thank you for the toys. But we still know that Jesus is the reason for seasons.”
He skips down in the card and finishes with “Happy Birthday Jesus are (our) God.” He is my theologian. I think he has an understanding of the Scriptures and the message of Jesus that are beyond his years. Kids are often better at understanding truth than adults are.