Luis Palau Article

Willamette Week, a rather "liberal" paper in Portland, published an article (here) on the Luis Palau ministries. LP is where Allan works as the multimedia producer. The article is already stirring up a lot of controversial discussion in the comments. I was impressed, though, with its message, and more importantly, with the level of integrity and heart revealed by the Palau team. Congrats guys!

Catalyst & Culture

Earlier this week our family hosted L.V., a great guy from Catalyst, an organization which focuses on developing the next generation of church leaders. L.V. has been traveling around the country, spreading the Catalyst vision (and for those of you vanagon lovers, you must check out his sweet ride!) These are some observations he has developed about Portland, based on his time with many of our city's great church leaders, including Rick McKinley of Imago Dei.

* Individualistic Spirituality - the people that settled in Oregon made it to the END of the Oregon Trail - they traveled the furthest, beat the odds, and did it themselves. They settled as far away from the east coast as possible. The real spirituality of the great northwest is found in it's beauty - nature, wilderness, all that is before the eyes. "I don't have to conform to what everyone else is doing...I don't WANT to conform."

* "There's no verse for this one..." - no formulas or standard answers for people here. Some crazy stories and questions from people that would shock the "southern baptist culture."

* Time Tested - not interested in the fad or pop culture of church. If it doesn't stand the test of time and lead to real spiritual transformation then it's rejected. Must be real, and real is identified by long term impact. Are you willing to to share your life along with your message?

* Patient - a culture that is not anxious or reactive to getting caught up in "what's next."

* Church planters beware - your "model" created in a strategy room will NOT work here. Success is organic and often looks very different than what is initially planned.

* Rick, is the northwest a spiritually dark place? "Well, I don't know what 'dark' is. I mean, if you think about silicone enhancements, fake tans, fancy cars, and empty commitments to discipleship, well, then, that's dark to me. These people know where they are and that they don't like church or Jesus. The greatest hindrance to the church is the unconverted converted."

What do you think? Are his observations on track for Portland?

---

Update: Here is the rest of LV's article highlighting his Portland visit.

When Are You Coming For a Visit?

CNN and Travel & Leisure Magazine received over 600,000 votes on their "America's Favorites" poll. On this day of bright sun and 78 degrees, it's not hard to see that here is what they found:

Quality of Life & Visitor Experience (Overall)

1 Portland, Oregon
2 Charleston
3 Austin
4 Honolulu
5 Minneapolis/St. Paul
6 San Diego
7 Santa Fe
8 Denver
9 Seattle
10 San Francisco
11 San Antonio
12 Nashville
13 Chicago
14 Phoenix/Scottsdale
15 Boston
16 Washington, D.C.
17 Miami
18 Orlando
19 New Orleans
20 New York
21 Philadelphia
22 Las Vegas
23 Dallas/Fort Worth
24 Atlanta
25 Los Angeles

Based on: Noteworthy neighborhoods, Skyline/views, Public parks and access to the outdoors, Cleanliness, Public transportation and pedestrian friendliness, Traffic, Safety, Weather, Peace and quiet, Affordability, People-watching, Environmental awareness

Represent

Portland's own Donald Miller led the closing benediction at the Democratic National Convention last night. When asked by Christianity Today why he agreed to participate, Donald replied, "Somebody calls you and asks you to pray, you do."

Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.

We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.

We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.

Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.

Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.

Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.

Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.

Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.

We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.

A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.

Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.

Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.

Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.

And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.

Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.

Let Him be our example.

Amen.

The Making of Super-fans

As I was driving to pick up the kids after school I heard a commercial highlighting that tonight was the Blazers' last game of the season. One of my lesser noble life goals is to get Trailblazer season tickets; I could not let this season go by without entering the pearly gates of the Rose Garden at least once! When I suggested it to the kids, Trinity responded appropriately: We have to go! We just have to go! Being quite early, we played outside in the freezing cold for 90 minutes before joining the mass entrance. Up to the very, very tip-top row we went, but no complaining from any of us! When we found ourselves down 8-5, Trinity became rather despondent: Mom, we're gonna lose. I just know it. Thankfully, a fortune teller she is not. It was a great game, with the Blazers up by fifteen when we left at the start of the fourth quarter (already way past bedtime). The best part of the evening was passing on the joy of this Portland tradition. I remember the '77 championship and my brothers' room adorned with Blazer paraphernalia. Now my kids, thanks to fan appreciation night, have their own Blazer posters to put up. We talked about the importance of home court advantage and the sixth man (we also discussed the importance of dancing appropriately, unlike the Blazer Dancers!) It was great seeing Trinity raise her arms and yell with each three-pointer. I laughed as people four rows up looked back to see if there was a bald-eagle screeching in the rafters - Nope, that's just Fiona screaming for joy like everyone else. Connor's biggest concerns of the evening were that the blimp couldn't throw things to us because we were too high up. Some day we'll be in range, buddy. Someday.

The Great Rose City

This morning's hottest New York Times online article is titled 36 Hours in Portland, Ore. Our city looks like so much fun! What a great way to spend a weekend sometime. Of course, they would need to add "9:30 a.m. Sunday: worship services at PUMP Church of Christ" to really get the full experience.