A Blog by Jason Salamun

I’m a sucker for “Best-of” lists and thought I’d share my top 9 things of 2009. This list isn’t so much about what was released in 2009 but things I enjoyed in 2009.

The categories are books, films, and music and I’m giving a brief review of each.

Favorite 9 Books I Read in 2009
Crazy Love by Francis Chan // A call to live what you believe.
Matthew by Stanley Hauerwas // Opened my eyes to Matthew’s message of discipleship.
Total Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester // Greatly shaped my ecclesiology.
ReJesus by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost // Jesus…untamed.
Deep Church by Jim Belcher // Explored the tension I’ve been living in with regards to church.
Traveling Light by Eugene Peterson // Unpacked the freedom in Galatians.
Missional Rennaissance by Reggie McNeal // Handbook for the missional church.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott // Writing advice from one of the best.
So Beautiful by Leonard Sweet // It’s like Sweet intercepted the pass of the current church culture and went the other way for a score.

Favorite 9 Albums I Listened to in 2009
Leonard Cohen: Live in London // Most played album in my rotation
The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You // Like modern-day Buddy Holly songs.
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme // I discovered jazz this year & this is my fav.
Derek Webb: Stockholm Syndrome // Too honest for Christian radio.
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion // Beautifully weird and melodic.
The Welcome Wagon: Welcome to the Welcome Wagon // Simple and Sufjanesque.
Elvis Presley: From Elvis in Memphis // It’s not just a classic album, it’s an experience.
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone // Bold singing of story songs.
Monsters of Folks: Self-Titled // Indie supergroup that doesn’t sound like it. (That’s a good thing).

Favorite 9 Films I Watched in 2009
Gran Torino // Eastwood’s performance is powerful.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button // Unique storyline that’s hard to pull off.
Where the Wild Things Are // Light-hearted & serious at the same time. My kids liked it.
District 9 // A mirror for our society in the form of an alien flick.
Seven Pounds // Stories of sacrifice still resonate.
Taken // Tapped into the desire for justice and outrage of injustice.
Slumdog Millionaire // Left me speechless which is hard to do.
Zombieland // Funniest movie I saw this year.
Star Trek // Summer blockbuster without the cheese.

What are your favorite things of 09?

From The Message by Eugene Peterson (Luke 2:1-20):

About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David’s town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God’s angel stood among them and God’s glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David’s town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you’re to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.”

At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God’s praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. “Let’s get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us.” They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they’d been told!

Merry Christmas Friends!

David Fitch shares Ten Things Anyone Who Joins In a Twenty-First Century Missional Church Plant Should Not Expect. Here’s part of the post I found interesting. Give it a read to explore the rest.

Fitch writes:

1.) Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kid’s needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect however a richer life than you could have ever imagined.

2.) Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.

3.) Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church Body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.

4.) Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.

5.) Should not expect a raucous “lights out” youth program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids “pumped up,” all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.

6.) Should not expect to always “feel good,”or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.

7.) Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with “the life you’ve always wanted” if you will just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.

8.) Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church from 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people’s lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.

9.) Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.

10.) Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

O AND BY THE WAY Should not expect that community comes to you. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some “effort”and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you are hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of “being the Body” in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing and praying together.

This past weekend, Project Church put on a great event called Santa’s Workshop at a local elementary school here in Rapid City. It was an amazing time!

The needs of the kids at this school is so big but you know what’s bigger?  The heart of our church.  I was so, so proud of them for pouring themselves out.  For bringing color to a world full of gray as we like to say. In all, 175 kids & adults participated in the festivities.  Many of us heard stories that both warmed our hearts and broke them.

I’m reminded that the church has legs to move and arms to hug.  That’s the kind of community that’s being formed in the wet cement of our new church plant.  All driven by hearts that are being changed by the gospel.  It’s something beautiful.

Here are some highlights from the event.

On Saturday, Project Church is putting on a school event called “Santa’s Workshop.”

(See Below)

We strongly believe that we are to bring and be good news.

So we’re hoping to build some relational bridges with folks at the school.

Potentially 600 students and stories.

Even more parents and staff.

We’ve heard several heart-breaking stories from teachers about some kids at this school.

A small sample of many.

These stories need to be changed.

Jesus showed us the way to change a story is to enter a story.

Hence the Incarnation which we celebrate this Christmas season.

So we are following his great example.

We can’t make all the stories better.

I wish we could.

But perhaps we can make a few better.

And a few is better than none.

Ultimately, our hope is that they meet the One who puts all the pieces back together.

Who is good news in a world that’s not.

Who makes all things new.

That’s why we enter the story.

Love travels on relational highways.

That’s the wonder of incarnation.

That’s the way of Jesus.

Affections are a tidal wave.

They curl up into great heights of bliss and in a moment come crashing down.

This is the wave I have been riding for a while now.

How easily I forget Habakkuk 3:18, “I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

I too often misplace my affections into fumbling hands.

Rather than resting them in the God of my salvation.

Someone had stolen my affections.

And that someone was me.

It’s time to return them to their rightful owner.

The shift to missional church as explained in Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer and Dave Putman:

From programs to processes

From demographics to discernment

From models to missions

From attractional to incarnational

From uniformity to diversity

From professional to passionate

From seating to sending

From decisions to disciples

From additional to exponential

From monuments to movements

Why is it important for a Christian to attend church?

Think about it.

A little more.

Have an answer?

Got a verse?

Getting a twitch from memories of the fundamentalist church you once attended?

Are you going back to reread the question?

Is there anything wrong with the wording of the question?

How you reply to the question of why you attend says a lot about your view of the church.

You see, people who attend a church gathering do so for different reasons.

Some attend out of religious duty.

Some attend to get their spiritual fix.

Some attend because they were drug there by another.

Some attend to see a good show.

All are the wrong reasons.

Why?

Because they reduce the church into something she’s not.

The church is so much more.

I’m a pastor, but I’m not a a fuddy duddy.

I know there are times when it’s not possible to be present.

But I do believe we should make an effort.

Why?

Because the church is not a show, place, ritual, or fix.

We are a family.

When your family gathers, you go.

Why?

Because you love them.

They’re your family.

It doesn’t matter if you meet in a house or in a cathedral.

The church is a place where strangers become friends and friends become family.

Because of Jesus.

We are a family of the forgiven.

When we gather, it’s not the same without all your family.

It’s like an empty seat at the dinner table.

You are missed.

You see, it’s not so much what you get from them, but what you can give to them.

What can you give?

Yourself.

No one is like you.

Your smile. Your words. Your presence. Your gifting.

What makes a church gathering compelling is not just music, lights, and shiny things.

It’s the people who are a part of it…

Not just attending it.

We need one another.

That includes you.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25