Okay, so yesterday I know I talked about thinking before complaining and while this is going to sound like a justification please, understand that it isn’t. I KNOW that there are MANY, MANY folks in the world who do not have the opportunity to attend church all around the world. I feel for them, and I pray that their situation changes, as for me though, I’ve made an observation and I have to talk about it.

Why the HECK do we do church at 10:30am on a Sunday morning…or for some of us even EARLIER!?

First of all, who said we had to do church on Sunday?

Secondly, who in the world thought that doing it in the morning was a good idea!?

I’ve talked to many people who have stated that they would be more likely to consider attending a church if they didn’t have to wake up so damn early on a weekend to do it! A significant number of church leaders will say that it’s a discipline thing, and talk about the sabbath and how if it was really important to the person they would do it. Some would even go as far to say that folks aren’t right spiritually if they consider not going to church simply because of the day and time.

I’ve got news for you, I love my church, I love my church family (most of them anyway), I love my pastor (heck he is like my best friend and a mentor) but, I have a REALLY hard time getting up in time to make it to church by 10:30 in the morning. For me, it is the fact that I work until 1:15am and don’t usually make it in to bed until 2:00am so in order to get up in time to get ready for not only church but work later in the day, by showering/shaving and getting my dinner prepared it is simply not feasible for me. I try…believe me I try but, my attempts are almost always futile. Our church also spends a lot of time reaching the folks that most churches tend to forget about. A significant number of those individuals are involved in nightlife activities and I feel that this is one area that we have really failed in our efforts to reach out to them. How the heck are we suppose to show folks we love them if we make it nearly impossible to do so? The bottom line is NORMAL folks aren’t up before 12pm on the weekends. (ok, so you’re not abnormal if you’re up before noon maybe, just a bit weird)

Besides, isn’t Sunday the declared Sabbath day in the church? If we’re suppose to do jack on the Sabbath we’re lacking significantly in the category! I think some of the people that attend at least my church work a heck of a lot harder on Sunday’s than they do the rest of the week. (I know…I’ve been to their places of business during the week :-))

I know that there is a bit of a humorous tone in this post but hear me out…I think this whole Church on Sunday morning thing is more of a hindrance to ministry than anything else. Throw discipline out the window because the reality is you can be the most disciplined human being on earth but the weekend is the weekend and those are the two days that your body has been programmed to relax.

We need to seriously reconsider this 10:30 am on Sunday mornings crap because I think it’s causing us to really miss the mark.

But, what do I know?

(Ok, so that’s a pretty cheesy title)

Today, was the first preview service for Element, Tampa’s newest church plant headed up by my friend, Bobby Triplett.

Obviously, given the fact that this was the very first corporate gathering of the church there were a few snags, nothing that can’t be fixed. Overall, it was quite the gathering. Number one, the church can’t afford chairs yet, so picture, if you will 145 folks in lawn chairs, yoga balls, and picnic blankets spread out across a 5,000 square foot dimly-lit concrete floor. Then picture all 145 of those folks crying out to their creator and catching the vision of what Element Church is. It was quite the site to see.

I approached this day with a bit of trepidation. You see, Bobby and I had talked a very long time ago about the vision that God cast in him to plant this church, and what this church would be and how it would change the City of Tampa. Initially, without little thought or even an ounce of prayer I jumped on board and said “heck yes, lets do this thing!” Then, Bob brought in this guy Chris to speak to us one Monday night at Revolution (which was at the time, what I considered my church, and the ministry that Bobby was leading). For those of you that have never had the opportunity to meet him, Chris Elrod is essentially, in my opinion someone who is deeply rooted in his faith and not afraid to bring a message if he feels led by the spirit to do so. That particular night, he brought a message and I begin questioning where and what my purpose in Element was to be. In the end, I really felt like I needed to take a time out and eventually told Bobby that I wouldn’t have a part in what he was doing.

That was about 7 or 8 months ago. Through the past 7 or 8 months I have been wandering around aimlessly looking for a sense of purpose and direction. I have spent countless hours praying and literally arguing with God about what it is He wants me to do and where it is He wants me to be. You see, I’m a judgmental bastard, as are most human beings. With me though it’s not judging the clothes someone wears or the car they drive, it’s judging their character. I tare people a part and insanely over-analyze who they are and what their intentions are. (It’s a horrible character flaw that I am working diligently on overcoming) This was such a case. In talking with folks well before Element came to be I was feeling like a lot of people were involved simply because it was the cool thing to do. As, we all know I really HATE jumping on the cool train. I felt like, the intentions of a lot of the folks involved didn’t properly align with the vision that God had cast in Bobby, and subsequently he cast for Element. I was allowing my judgment of those around me to get in the way of a vision that I have stood behind, and fully supported since the beginning.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Kenny and I are talking, I had been considering the idea of getting involved in Element, solely because all my other ideas had crashed and burned and I was having a hard time finding a church family to be a part of that accepted me for who I was. I began praying about my place in the world, in the city, in my job and in God’s kingdom. I really felt as if there was a reason for me to be a part of Element church and despite my every inclination to resist I gave in. I began helping work on Element’s new space in the Clair Mel area of Tampa. What I saw really set me back. The other people there, the people pouring their sweat, their time and their lives in making this vision a reality, didn’t have false intentions. They were there for the same reason I was. They BELIEVED in and EMBRACED the vision that Bobby had been given for Element. It was quite frankly, God’s way of saying: “Hey you idiot, I TOLD YOU SO!” <-- Yes, even God says I told you so.

This morning was amazing, and it really blew me away. Perched in what over the years has become my "home" in churches ,the sound booth, high above the 145 folks who were in attendance for Element's first preview gathering I realized that a lot more folks than I initially believed were in this because they believe in and embrace the vision too.

I honestly, have found (well I knew it was there all along) a place where I can do me, and whereby doing me I can impact the world around me.

Even though, Element is not about me, and it's really not about anyone except for God, I am happy to be a part of a family, that while containing people I certainly don't care for, can put away it's differences and vivaciously live out the vision that is Element Church.

Tampa, get ready for a movement that is truly unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. (I hope)

…I’ve managed to have a decision made for me, as far as my new church home is concerned.

Over the last several months I’ve spent a significant amount of time wrestling with this decision. I’ve argued (yes ARGUED) with God on multiple occasions, even making it known that He’s not exactly as smart as people make Him out to be. I posted a couple weeks ago about how I’ve been struggling with trying to figure all this crap out.

Needless to say, from that post forward, to about a week ago I have been in one fight after another with God about the subject. Basically, I’m going to do what I should have been doing all along, and that is be a part of Element, which is the church that Bobby is planting here in Tampa. It’s also basically the church that “Revolution,” the ministry that I considered my church for about 2 years has grown in to. I’ve learned (well not really, because I pretty much knew it already) that despite every inkling in me to not be, I am one of the most judgmental human beings I know. I listened to God in the beginning, grabbed on to the vision He cast in Bobby and ran with it, only to let the judgmental bastard in me get the best of me and let me believe that I couldn’t be involved because too many people were doing it just so they could hop on the “cool train.” (That damn train, I hope it derails eventually)

Anyway, long story short, the immature side of me has spun around in circles, fought off the direction of God, as well as, several significant spiritual leaders in my life for the last several months when I knew the answer from the beginning.

STILL though, I demanded some type of confirmation, and I received it today. I spent 5.5 hours hanging out at where Element will be meeting putting furniture together, cleaning up construction mess, helping hang crap and a variety of other chores before the first preview service this Sunday. I did all of that along side some incredible individuals, people who really are on board with the vision God has cast in Bobby. I realized today that those who aren’t really on board with the mission will eventually be phased out by the large number of folks who are. I’m proud to be serving the Tampa Bay community along side these great folks who are running with the same vision that I’ve decided to run with.

This whole post is flaky, but it’s coming from deep inside me. I don’t know that I could illustrate properly the struggle that I’ve had over the last several months about all this. I do know though that I’ve come out on the other end and while I’m still uncertain of the results, I’m going to go with them. I have absolutely NO IDEA, why God feels the need for me to be involved in all of this, but I’m going to do it in spite of myself. Element is going to do some crazy shizz in the Tampa area, and why my God, who knows just how screwed up of an individual I am wants me to be apart of that, I’ll never know. What I do know is that Element will be my church home, and I’ll do whatever it is I’m told to do to ensure the vision that God has cast in Bobby is carried out.

It’ll be a journey for sure, but after today I’m quite happy going on that journey with my fellow journeyers.

Recently my “church”, which happened to be a ministry of another church decided to up and go plant themselves as an official church.

Now, I know what you’re thinking…”So you’re now going to actually be a part of an official church.”

Well no, I’m not. You see, initially I was, but the more I actually sought the guidance of the one who I allow to make those decisions for me, the more I realized I was not doing what He wanted me to do. So, I decided not to move along with my “church.”
Since then my life has been turned upside down. I started attending a Catholic Church, which wasn’t too weird as I had been studying Catholicism for several months (I’ve actually studied quite a few other religions), the folks who I consider deep spiritual mentors had recently converted back to Catholicism, I made a new friend who was Catholic and I took all this to be a sign that perhaps this was the route I was suppose to take. Despite numerous prayers, and not (to my recollection and understanding) receiving any guidance from the one who makes those decisions for me. I rode with it. Well, after awhile, I started to realize that perhaps there were signs and He was telling me this wasn’t the right route to be taking. Needless, to say I haven’t been to a church in well over a month.

So now I have a plethora of thoughts running through my head:

• Have I allowed myself to become attached to the idea of Church? Why?!?
• Why is it that my “church” which for the most part was several other folks “church” have to go and screw with things. For instance, I loved the fact that I could spend my weekends (the only days of the week where the normal grind allows me to) sleeping in, and still get fed spiritually at 8pm Monday night. Why does that have to change!?!?
• Who on Earth made this mandate that “church” has to happen at 10:30 am on Sunday morning? Like seriously, I know good and well that there are many pastors out there who would be perfectly content with church at 8pm on Tuesday night. Yet, many do nothing about it. WHY THE HECK IS SO RIDICULOUSLY EARLY ON A WEEKEND MORNING THE STANDARD!?!?!?!
• Why do I feel like the majority of people who have went along with this idea of being a “real church” doing so just because of the trend factor involved?
• Why have I told myself that God doesn’t want me to be a part of this church, even though I know different? Furthermore, why is God allowing me to take his name in vain to convince everyone that my refusal to step on the “cool kids train” is His idea? Why is it that I have found it ok to lie, when I know damn well the only logical reason I have come up with for not wanting to be a part of this incredible thing is because I feel that so many are involved for the wrong reasons!?
• Why the heck am I so judgmental!?!?!?!?!?!?
• Why the heck can I not find a single place where I can just do me? (Not even my “church” that is now becoming a “real church” that I’m not…at least for right now…going to have anything to do with)

My friend Crystal had a live prayer meeting a few nights back, and I asked for her and those in attendance to pray specifically for my situation, and ever since, God has really been kicking me in the butt. Mainly about the taking His name in vain (which I guess answers one of the questions up top), but also about being so dang judgmental and actually do what He’s telling me to do.

Yet…I’m finding that I am very afraid of doing what He is telling me to do.
The thing is, I truly believe in the mission and vision that my friend, who happens to be the pastor of this church that I have been trying desperately to not be a part of, has been given. I believe in the reach that this vision/mission is going to attain. I believe that most folks involved in the process of helping carry out that vision/mission are doing so because they too truly believe in it too. Unfortunately I believe there are others who are simply there because of the cool factor, and for whatever reason I have let that piss me off to no end. I’ve let it jade my opinion of a friend who has done nothing but support me, and who I hold in high regard. I’ve let it jade my opinion of the folks he has prayerfully decided to help him carry out that mission. Worst of all, I’ve let it encompass a great portion of my life. Essentially I’ve wasted a lot of time being a selfish bastard who will not listen to God, because I’m way to judgmental. The sad thing is, while I know I’m overly judgmental (which given that fact that none of us really have any right to judge any sort of judgment is overly judgmental), I also know that I am right in many cases. (And for those sticklers out there…being right means I can prove it)

That’s why I’m so damned confused.

I know what I’m suppose to do, yet I don’t do it. I do what I’m not suppose to do instead, in an attempt to make even more excuses for what I am actually suppose to be doing.

In the end it boils down to me wanting a place where I can do me. Sadly, the one place where I feel like that might be possible, the one place where God has told me He’s making it possible, is the one place I fear it’s not possible.

Pray please. For me, I am so stinkin conflicted, it is driving me nuts. I’m in the stage of just listening now, so maybe if some of you talk to God for me, perhaps He’ll find a way to sucker punch me in to believing what He has to say.

My (blogging) friend Anne has been in the Dominican Republic with her church.

She’s issued quite the world changing challenge. She’s even upping the ante and providing a little incentive too. Go check out Flowerdust.net NOW…to see what I’m talking about.

The latest edition of the Unobjective Intelligence podcast (The Will Young show) is ready for your listening pleasure.

This week I discuss:

• Medical Tourism and why it bothers me so much.
• Why book smarts aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
• A campaign update.

As always if there is something you’d like to hear please shoot me an e-mail.

You can download it using Apple’s iTune’s using the link on the right, or for those who don’t use itunes, simply click the button that says ‘RSS Podcast’ and download the latest episode.

Enjoy and have a great week!

Recently a church that I am loosely affiliated with started a social network service. Initially I joined in part to keep in touch with people who, since the beginning of this church’s whole ‘planting process’ have seemingly forgot I exist, merely because I’ve chosen to not be fully involved in the church. Of course, and with little surprise to me most of them have still forgotten I exist even while I am a part of their “social network.” I’ve had to tell myself the folks who haven’t kept in touch do not matter, and be content with the few that have (who coincidently, have actually kept in touch outside of the realm of the social network, if that says anything).

It has been very interesting to me to see the ghetto that this church has created through their social-network. They have in many ways, whether intentionally or not isolated themselves from that which is reality. To me this is somewhat expected since the church is in the birthing stage, and the network is being used primarily as their bulletin in many ways. It’s going to be interesting to see how this social network service develops and adapts as the church develops and adapts.

I have a few concerns about a church sponsoring a social network.

First, let me just say that I’m an strong advocate of open forums that entice discussion and the exchange of ideas. I believe that any society that list the freedom of speech and expression as the first amendment to their constitution demands a certain level of open discussion in all arenas. So you would think then, that I’d advocate a church sponsored social network site for the sole purpose of it’s ability to provide an open forum for the church and the community to hold discussion. However, in my experience in dealing with Christians, or the church I’ve found that open discussion is not something that the church is entirely too comfortable with. Actually, in all truthfulness I’ve found that the church is not very open to discussion at all in most instances. So, I feel that if a church is going to sponsor a social network service then they need to be clear on the fact that it is going to in part be used to create an open forum for civilized discourse and discussion, not just talking about your favorite movie, restaurant, book or Christian musician. The church has to understand that this forum has to exist for the community outside the church to be able to create discourse and discussion too, and has to respond appropriately to that discourse and discussion. They have to realize that discussion is not limited to the social network sites bulletin boards, or forums. On occasion a member of the site may post a blog entry, or make a change to their profile page that might create discussion. The church has to be prepared for this, and respond in a manner that’s not confrontational, or assume that the party inciting the discussion is making an attempt at confrontation either. I can tell you, as a member of the community served by the church whose social networking site I’m a part of they have not been prepared for discourse or discussion. It’s almost as if they thought they were creating themselves a fantasy land to talk about stuff that is really insignificant. Sure, they’ve got threads on their forums for prayers and praises and needs of members of the church and community, but conversation outside of the realm of “church talk” is sort of unheard of.

That brings me to my second point. There would be no problem with just having “church talk” on your social network site, if you marketed it as simply a virtual fellowship hall. This particular church certainly doesn’t market their social network service as that, and I’m fairly certain the leadership of the church does not want it to be that. Take for instance this scenario: I’ve been engaged in conversation with an individual based on a blog entry they wrote (of which I do not have permission to reproduce, so please do not ask for it). This particular individual made a statement that I felt needed to have some sort of concrete evidence. It was, in my opinion, a very loaded, over generalized, judgmental statement about a topic that I had a vague understanding of. So, to better understand the topic I asked for some sort of research or evidence to back up their statement. Well, good night folks, you’d think I asked the individual to step outside so I could kick their ass, at least that is what they’d have you to believe. It turned into a mud-slinging contest, and for a moment, I thought I was on a campaign trail. I was not harassing, rude, insulting or derogatory in my requests. Nor was I any of those things in the many comments that followed my initial request. I simply wanted information that backed up what the individual was saying. They eventually provided some evidence, most of which wouldn’t even be considered valid in even a high-school research paper, but I digress. However, they didn’t provide those resources until they took a few personal jabs at me, including calling my manhood in to question and referring to me as a coward. The individual did eventually apologize however, I’m sure if you ask them they’d tell you that I’m no different then the six girls who beat up the girl in Polk County then posted it online for the world to see. All because I wanted what many of you have asked me for in the past: PROOF. The point of all that was that the individual assumed that I was making an attempt at some sort of confrontation. I would assume that they thought since we were both part of a church sponsored social network service that holding intelligent, civil discourse that wasn’t some how related to God, Jesus, the Bible, or the Church was inappropriate. My conversation, the words that I typed, and the thoughts that I provided were all well within the social network service terms of service and in my opinion well within the two paragraph blurb on the main page about why the church created their social network service.

Which swings me into my third concern. If the intent of your social network site is to be a virtual fellowship hall, or church lobby then there will be a need for an extensive terms of service notice as well as, policing. Quite frankly I’m a HUGE fan of social networking services. I am probably connected to the majority of the services that are readily available. I comply to each services terms of service, and expect those who use the service with me to do the same. If a blurb that states “We’re here to connect, and share about yada yada yada” is all you are planning to use to guide the use of your network, then there will be folks who will come along and push the boundaries. You must clearly define what those boundaries are or you can not be surprised when they’re pushed to the limit or if they are even crossed.

In closing, I have a feeling that as a result of this latest incident I’m probably going to be asked to not use the network any more. Which won’t bother me that much, since like I said the entire reason I’m a part of it has sort of been in vain.

I’m interested in what you think though.

• Do you think that churches should have social network services? What about corporations? As that seems to be the latest trend in the business world too.
• What should a church or corporations social network service terms of service look like? What are some key elements you’d be sure to include in it?
• What would you do for the folks in your church who do not have internet access, thus eliminating their ability to be a part of this vital part of your ministry?
• What other feedback do you have to provide on this subject?

If you’re uncomfortable commenting publicly please feel free to shoot me a line at will|at|willyoungband|dot|com, as I am really interested in what your opinion is on this subject.

Kenny has been for the last several weeks doing some extensive research on the origins of this “new” revival taking place in Lakeland that has been named The Florida Outpouring.

He has posted Part One of a 4 part series that will put in as simple of terms possible the origins, the people behind, as well as some other interesting information as it relates to the Florida Outpouring. His research has been exhaustive, and everything he is writing is completely factual. PLEASE NOTE: His series is not an opinion piece, it is strictly factual information that he is passing along so that you may be better informed of what this “revival” really is all about.

What’s your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Roman Catholic You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Roman Catholic 89% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 64% Neo orthodox 64% Emergent/Postmodern 61% Classical Liberal 54% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Modern Liberal 43% Fundamentalist 39% Reformed Evangelical 36%

I vaguely remember taking this quiz a long time ago, and the results were Emergent/Postmodern then Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan and Roman Catholic came in 3rd. I saw Bobby had posted the results of his quiz on his blog so I decided to do it again. Of course this is not in anyway scientific, I mean answering a bunch of statements with varying levels of agreeableness or disagreeableness is going to inevitably mean that the results are going to be skewed to your current belief system. Then again, perhaps it is a fairly accurate representation of who you are.

It’s fairly safe to assume that my recent revelations while studying Catholicism, and attending Catholic mass have probably led to it’s moving up on the list. It’s also VERY safe to say that the same studies combined with insightful wisdom from various sources have led to Emergent/Postmodern theology moving down the list.

Anyway, just thought I’d share that, because it made me grin.

**UPDATE*** At 11 am this morning search parties located the aircraft that Dr. Pollock was flying in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Pastor Pollock, and his 13 year old son Preston did not survive the crash. Please be praying for the entire Pollock family, as well as the Bell Shoals Baptist Church family, and the community it serves.

If you remember please be in prayer for the Bell Shoals Baptist Church community here in Brandon, Florida.

Apparently there pastor was headed to a conference in Texas, with a stop in North Carolina. He was flying his own plane with his 13 year old son on board, and he never made it to Texas, after departing North Carolina at around 4 in the morning Monday.

Search parties have been organized, and everything is being done to locate the 2 men.

Bell Shoals is a rather predominant church in the Brandon/Bloomingdale community, Kenny and I have several friends who are in one form or another affiliated with the church and I can only imagine what they are going through right now.

So if you remember, please pray.

Thanks!