In this morning's Bible study we ended up discussing church size and following our leaders. Later in the day I heard someone on the radio say that you can tell a leader by looking behind him. Does he have any followers? By this definition, Christ was and is quite a leader. In a smaller way, so is our Senior Pastor, Bil Cornelius.
I like the group of guys at the bible study this morning. If they have a question, they ask it. It sounded a couple of times like they were questioning our leadership, but I thought about it at the time and thought, "no, they are just digging, getting some questions answered." And it made everyone think. One of the things we discussed was, does this new initiative for BCTV, Bil Cornelius TV, mean that Bil is breaking out of Bay Area Fellowship, or if he's becoming self-centered. Not to give away the ending, but the conclusion was: No.
Because Pastor Bil is quite often under attack, and most often those attacks are by other Christians (remember the song "Jesus was a Capricorn" by Kris Kristofferson?), I'm going to defend him here, though Bil is definitely one of the men in the world who needs not my feeble defense. Also, I have spoken to Bil only politely and quickly; I don't know him personally. But, I've seen him enough both while he is in front of the congregation and around smaller groups of the congregation. I think he's the real thing.
Bil has one of the toughest jobs I've ever heard of. Imagine being at the grocery store and having people examine your cart for "sins." Or, if your car breaks down near a liquor store; or if you are in line for a movie. What movie? In line at Barnes & Noble. What book? I could do without the scrutiny, personally, though I'm sure Bil doesn't worry too much about it. He's likely as squeaky clean as he seems.
Bil is calling it BCTV because research has shown that people latch onto a personality, not a company. That's why it's "Kobe Bryant and the Lakers take on Lebron James and the Cavs!" and not "Lakers vs. Cavs!" That's why authors put their name on it, not "written by ABC Company, Ltd." It's not the "Tonight Show" it's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" -- and water cooler talk drops everything but the last name. "Did you hear what Leno said last night?" People, not churches, talk. Bil talks, not Bay Area's building. So, if he wants to call it BCTV, fine with me. If he's teaching from the Bible and leading people to Christ and wanted to call it Pancakes and Pickles TV I couldn't care less.
My heart knows this most because Bil does the right thing, not the easy thing. It would be easier, and he would take less criticism, if he would have just called it Bay Area Fellowship TV. But, if the research is right, people wouldn't latch on as hard, wouldn't listen as close; and people wouldn't be saved in the numbers Bil -- and we whom he is leading -- believe they will. Bil isn't taking the easy way out. I would have. You bet I would have. But that's why when you look behind me, my group of followers is much smaller than Bil's. I'm okay with this. Bil was called to take on this criticism, to stand with courage in this way. I have my calling, and it is different.
I am a follower of Bil, but only because I believe Bil is led by God. If I didn't believe that, I would be the first one outta here. Well, not the first one. Bay Area's members are convinced and convicted. There would be a lot of people out of here if we didn't believe and trust Bil. I'm not worried about that scenario. And, uh, in Kristofferson's words, if you need someone to frown on, help yourself to me. It'd be a lot easier for you.
I am a member of Bay Area Fellowship, but these are my own thoughts, written on my own computer. They don't represent any official viewpoint.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
DG.12.16
It was an absolutely beautiful day under God's perfectly blue sky. Just a hint of wind, but the perfect temp (while the sun remained up) and good companionship. We hit a round with another newbie, Will this time. On his 7th hole, Will outscored me, holing a 4 to my 5. Twas my humble contribution to Will's self-esteem and confidence. Probably he'll be a champion one day due to my sacrifice.
Steve and I arrived early. Steve goes to 1st Methodist and spotted a group of kids from the youth ministry there. It was good to see them out, playing football and having fun. They aren't perfect angels, and they'll probably make a lot of mistakes in their lives. But, I know that I spent too many pretty Sunday afternoons during my 17th year driving around and doing stupid stuff. It was good to see that these kids have a better foundation than that. Here's to hoping that foundation props up good families led by these soon-to-be men.
We played 9 and Steve had to leave, but the rest stuck around for 9 more and we took on a couple more players, a college-aged guy and what might have been his girlfriend, or soon-to-be, perhaps. Nice pair. It's great to see women out playing, too. I think that's a healthy sign for disc golf. Sports completely dominated by men end up fizzling or becoming so testerone-laden and competitive they lose all sense of "sport." Behind our group were two older women, too, playing together. They appeared to be new to the sport, but from the neighborhood. That's awesome to see. If the locals are using the park for d.g., it will be there for a long time.
I'm not sure who this week's champ is, as we stopped keeping score as to not intimidate any new players. But Aaron played pretty well so I'll call him this week's champion. We couldn't fit the huge, solid-gold imaginary trophy into the back of his F150, though, so we left it at the park.
Steve and I arrived early. Steve goes to 1st Methodist and spotted a group of kids from the youth ministry there. It was good to see them out, playing football and having fun. They aren't perfect angels, and they'll probably make a lot of mistakes in their lives. But, I know that I spent too many pretty Sunday afternoons during my 17th year driving around and doing stupid stuff. It was good to see that these kids have a better foundation than that. Here's to hoping that foundation props up good families led by these soon-to-be men.
We played 9 and Steve had to leave, but the rest stuck around for 9 more and we took on a couple more players, a college-aged guy and what might have been his girlfriend, or soon-to-be, perhaps. Nice pair. It's great to see women out playing, too. I think that's a healthy sign for disc golf. Sports completely dominated by men end up fizzling or becoming so testerone-laden and competitive they lose all sense of "sport." Behind our group were two older women, too, playing together. They appeared to be new to the sport, but from the neighborhood. That's awesome to see. If the locals are using the park for d.g., it will be there for a long time.
I'm not sure who this week's champ is, as we stopped keeping score as to not intimidate any new players. But Aaron played pretty well so I'll call him this week's champion. We couldn't fit the huge, solid-gold imaginary trophy into the back of his F150, though, so we left it at the park.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
DG.12.09
Big weekend at BAF, with The MoB reaching a bunch of new men. We had signup sheets in the church bulletin and ended up with around 75 people completing them. Check the MoB web site for more details, and to sign up on the newsletter if you haven't already.
DG.12.09.07 was great -- a bit windy, but fun. Last time for Paul, who is hitting the road and part of his military tour of America. Godspeed, Paul. He and I commiserated about the difficulties in trying to adopt from the foster-care system in America. You'd think it'd be a lot easier. It's not. If you have a heart like Paul's, or Paul's friend Brandon, then it breaks when you are sitting, waiting, wishing.
In addition to Paul and I, we had Aaron and Mike, our newbie de jour and who took his first par on his 11th hole. I probably disc golfed 11 times (for a full 18 each time) before I had a par. I guess that just means our group teaches well? I don't know, but we aren't inviting Mike back until he vows to play worse.
Good times. Largely because Bruce wasn't around, I took the solid gold, room-sized imaginary trophy home. Woohoo!
Videos from today (from my phone):
DG.12.09.07 was great -- a bit windy, but fun. Last time for Paul, who is hitting the road and part of his military tour of America. Godspeed, Paul. He and I commiserated about the difficulties in trying to adopt from the foster-care system in America. You'd think it'd be a lot easier. It's not. If you have a heart like Paul's, or Paul's friend Brandon, then it breaks when you are sitting, waiting, wishing.
In addition to Paul and I, we had Aaron and Mike, our newbie de jour and who took his first par on his 11th hole. I probably disc golfed 11 times (for a full 18 each time) before I had a par. I guess that just means our group teaches well? I don't know, but we aren't inviting Mike back until he vows to play worse.
Good times. Largely because Bruce wasn't around, I took the solid gold, room-sized imaginary trophy home. Woohoo!
Videos from today (from my phone):
Friday, December 7, 2007
Get Involved
This weekend is the Men of Bay Area Fellowship (MOB) push for more men to join up and take up the fight for more husbands, fathers, boyfriends, sons ... men like just us, B.C.; Before Christ. If you have been to a MOB group (Disc Golf, one of the morning Bible studies, the Tuesday fellowship meetings, paint ball, or other), please join us by getting a MOB t-shirt at the bookstore at church and be ready to answer questions from guys. There will be some information in the bulletin as well as during the service.
Also, if you haven't already, go to http://godmademen.com join the Newsletter (under "Mailing List"). Just give your email and you'll be updated with MOB happenings.
Also, if you haven't already, go to http://godmademen.com join the Newsletter (under "Mailing List"). Just give your email and you'll be updated with MOB happenings.
The Blogging Wall
My wife and I both hit the Blogging Wall about the same time. We both got busy and with Thanksgiving, plus a family trip right after... it was hard to keep up.
Since Nov 5th we've only had one official meeting, with Bruce the only one to show through the snippy weather. He won again, easily. We're meeting again this Sunday, 3:30p at Lamar park.
Since Nov 5th we've only had one official meeting, with Bruce the only one to show through the snippy weather. He won again, easily. We're meeting again this Sunday, 3:30p at Lamar park.
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