Friday, September 28, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Found a Church
Hey Everybody,
Hope you all are well. We're doing just fine in Chi - although we miss Colorado. It's great here, but Colorado still feels like home at the moment. Which is ironic, because the sale of our house closes in just a few days. We left great community in Colorado with our friends and the church. It takes awhile to build that. Pinecrest WT - I sure miss playing/serving with you. Hope you guys are still rockin.
Pondering our move and missing home, it reminds me that we're all just sojourners here for a short time. Home is Heaven. I always feel a bit of tension and restlessness when I move to a new place, because I do so much to make it feel like home, yet it never totally feels like home. You know what I mean.
We went to a good church last weekend - Park Community Chuch (www.parkcommunitychurch.org), in the north part of the city. Kinda big, but the preaching was biblical, the music was God-focused and authentic, and they are very community focused. We're going to land there. I offered my saxophone to the worship team - we'll see how that goes.
Josh
Hope you all are well. We're doing just fine in Chi - although we miss Colorado. It's great here, but Colorado still feels like home at the moment. Which is ironic, because the sale of our house closes in just a few days. We left great community in Colorado with our friends and the church. It takes awhile to build that. Pinecrest WT - I sure miss playing/serving with you. Hope you guys are still rockin.
Pondering our move and missing home, it reminds me that we're all just sojourners here for a short time. Home is Heaven. I always feel a bit of tension and restlessness when I move to a new place, because I do so much to make it feel like home, yet it never totally feels like home. You know what I mean.
We went to a good church last weekend - Park Community Chuch (www.parkcommunitychurch.org), in the north part of the city. Kinda big, but the preaching was biblical, the music was God-focused and authentic, and they are very community focused. We're going to land there. I offered my saxophone to the worship team - we'll see how that goes.
Josh
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Looking for a Church
Last weekend, we continued our church search by attending Willow Creek’s Chicago satellite campus. It was basically an opposite experience from the first church we attended since moving to Chicago, which was the prior week, when we went to a non-denominational congregation of less than 100 meeting in a small rented space. Since I had a leadership role in a small start-up church (Pinecrest, beginning 2001), I was quite familiar with the whole scene. What I was encouraged by, and what I saw as probably the greatest strength of this church, was that it had a preacher that believed in the Word of God. He wasn’t preaching to many people, his church had very few programs or structures in place, and his music ministry (which is typically viewed as the most important factor by visitors, especially in a young, small church) had a long way to go, but one could clearly see that he was relying on no other power than that of the Holy Spirit working through the Holy Word. He wasn’t a particularly impressive man, and I actually found his voice kind of annoying (maybe it was just the thick Chicago accent). But, because he simply preached the Word, none of that really mattered. His preaching was expository – not that biblical, Spirit-filled preaching always has to be expository, but it’s much easier to bend Scripture to fit one’s own agenda when preaching topically. But his preaching was expository, and it was convicting, instructive, encouraging and hopeful.
Willow Creek’s city section was in a very nice, big, ornate auditorium in downtown Chicago. The music was very polished and the musicians seemed to all be at the professional or semi-professional level. They had great A/V equipment and the service went off perfectly. Yet, the preaching, which was piped in from Willow’s main campus in Barrington, was extremely topical, and Heidi and I both came away feeling that the Scripture supported the message, not the other way around. Not that the talk wasn’t good – it was helpful and fairly encouraging. It was meant to deal with the tough question of “If there is a god, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?” And the preacher seemed to do a pretty good job in a half hour with such a difficult subject. But it seemed like more of a seminar than a sermon. I came away feeling a little better about having some resolution to that question, but I didn’t come away any closer to God or more like Him as a result of being changed by His Word. There was a lot of talk of God’s goodness, love, grace and mercy, but no discussion of the believer’s responsibility and no conviction of sin. The preacher used Scripture to support his points, but they were passages taken out of context.
The willow/saddleback/seeker sensitive topic is one that has been widely discussed, documented and debated. I continue to believe that the way you evangelize and grow the church is by building into believers, equipping them to be the points of ministry throughout the community. I believe this is the model laid out in the Bible. As opposed to making the service the product by which seeking consumers are drawn into the kingdom. But can’t we be seeker sensitive with our services while also having strong biblical teaching and close fellowship, all under the overarching and primary purpose of glorifying God through corporate worship? Yes, absolutely; that’s what I believe we should do. But that’s vastly different than creating a seeker-targeted product on Sunday mornings.
Willow Creek’s city section was in a very nice, big, ornate auditorium in downtown Chicago. The music was very polished and the musicians seemed to all be at the professional or semi-professional level. They had great A/V equipment and the service went off perfectly. Yet, the preaching, which was piped in from Willow’s main campus in Barrington, was extremely topical, and Heidi and I both came away feeling that the Scripture supported the message, not the other way around. Not that the talk wasn’t good – it was helpful and fairly encouraging. It was meant to deal with the tough question of “If there is a god, why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?” And the preacher seemed to do a pretty good job in a half hour with such a difficult subject. But it seemed like more of a seminar than a sermon. I came away feeling a little better about having some resolution to that question, but I didn’t come away any closer to God or more like Him as a result of being changed by His Word. There was a lot of talk of God’s goodness, love, grace and mercy, but no discussion of the believer’s responsibility and no conviction of sin. The preacher used Scripture to support his points, but they were passages taken out of context.
The willow/saddleback/seeker sensitive topic is one that has been widely discussed, documented and debated. I continue to believe that the way you evangelize and grow the church is by building into believers, equipping them to be the points of ministry throughout the community. I believe this is the model laid out in the Bible. As opposed to making the service the product by which seeking consumers are drawn into the kingdom. But can’t we be seeker sensitive with our services while also having strong biblical teaching and close fellowship, all under the overarching and primary purpose of glorifying God through corporate worship? Yes, absolutely; that’s what I believe we should do. But that’s vastly different than creating a seeker-targeted product on Sunday mornings.
Monday, September 17, 2007
The MBA so far
The MBA so far is simply overwhelming. Classes haven't even started yet, but already there are so many little areas of this thing to manage - career stuff, bidding for classes (very complicated at Chicago), leadership class (called LEAD), social networking, various events, etc. Not to mention just trying to get accustomed to a new home and city.
Anyway, I think the greatest thing about this journey so far has been the people I've met, and particularly the diversity. As do many other top business schools, Chicago intentionally builds a class with people from all over the world with various different backgrounds. This year's class represents 53 countries. A few nights ago, during our leadership retreat in Wisconsin, I went to dinner with a few guys from Israel that I had recently met. During dinner, a guy who looked middle-eastern came and sat at the table and began talking with us. It turns out, he's from Tehran, Iran. He and the guys from Israel talked politics and relations for about an hour, and it was a fascinating and sometimes heated discussion. In the end, the three of them chose to focus on what they had in common, which is that they all just wanted to live their lives in peace and acheive professional success.
Another friend of mine is from Quatar, and I learned more in a 20-minute conversation from him about the middle east than I've learned in all my reading on the subject. Another guy I have been spending time with is from Ethopia. We haven't had particularly deep conversation yet, but I'm looking forward to getting his thoughts on the plight of Africa.
Of course, after dropping $90k in tuition, the topic on all our minds is the fate of the economy and the job market over the next few years, but that's for another post.
Anyway, I think the greatest thing about this journey so far has been the people I've met, and particularly the diversity. As do many other top business schools, Chicago intentionally builds a class with people from all over the world with various different backgrounds. This year's class represents 53 countries. A few nights ago, during our leadership retreat in Wisconsin, I went to dinner with a few guys from Israel that I had recently met. During dinner, a guy who looked middle-eastern came and sat at the table and began talking with us. It turns out, he's from Tehran, Iran. He and the guys from Israel talked politics and relations for about an hour, and it was a fascinating and sometimes heated discussion. In the end, the three of them chose to focus on what they had in common, which is that they all just wanted to live their lives in peace and acheive professional success.
Another friend of mine is from Quatar, and I learned more in a 20-minute conversation from him about the middle east than I've learned in all my reading on the subject. Another guy I have been spending time with is from Ethopia. We haven't had particularly deep conversation yet, but I'm looking forward to getting his thoughts on the plight of Africa.
Of course, after dropping $90k in tuition, the topic on all our minds is the fate of the economy and the job market over the next few years, but that's for another post.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
A Day in the Life (of Heidi)
So how does one spend a typical day in Chicago? Well, for me, a new transplant to the Windy City, this is how:
I set the alarm for 5:45am in anticipation of a leisurely run, but when it went off, I looked outside and saw that it was still a little dark, and thereby convinced myself to stay safely in bed until 6:15am. Then I convinced myself (after hitting the snooze until 6:25) that it’s probably light enough by now and if I hurried, I could probably squeeze in a little run. So out the door by 06:49am, iPod in hand, and I headed for the lake. The cool breeze coerced me into greeting the morning with a smile, sunglasses free, because of the light grey cloud covering. As I ran towards the Adler Planetarium, I noted the names of the pricey yachts, things like, My Chips or Tool ‘N Around. Eyeing one grey- haired gentleman that was out polishing a particularly large craft with the moniker, Mahalo, I thought, “Who owns these things anyway, and why can’t I go on a ride with them?”
Then after my 34 minute loop run out to the Planetarium and back, I quickly got dressed and walked about 5 minutes to the closest EL red line station. (Why do they all smell like pee?) When I got on, I felt very “commuter-like” as I held on to the poll (because there were no seats available) with my umbrella sticking out of my shoulder bag.
After about a 10-minute train ride, I had another 5 minute walk to my hospital. I walked by Pottery Barn, Banana Republic, Borders, and Niketown before turning left at the MAC store to get to my building. How financially dangerous it might be to work along the Magnificent Mile?…. I had a full day of orientation, which further solidified my confidence that I am now an employee of the best hospital in Chicago (Northwestern Memorial Hospital), to which I hope I can bring great enthusiasm and ideas.
On my way home, I stopped at Watertower Place (a mall), to pick up a shirt for Josh… but I did have the willpower to resist Starbucks!
After my commute home, I called some friends, and started dinner for the resident business student who should be returning home soon.
So, that was a day in the life of this new Chicagoan…
This past week included trips to the Chicago Art Museum and the Field Museum, as well as a taking in a White Sox game and hosting a Bears game party at our house (they lost, Rex Grossman was pitiful). Next weekend we have a semi-formal event for Josh’s school at Shedd Aquarium.
Hmm, maybe I’m starting to like this place….
Heidi
I set the alarm for 5:45am in anticipation of a leisurely run, but when it went off, I looked outside and saw that it was still a little dark, and thereby convinced myself to stay safely in bed until 6:15am. Then I convinced myself (after hitting the snooze until 6:25) that it’s probably light enough by now and if I hurried, I could probably squeeze in a little run. So out the door by 06:49am, iPod in hand, and I headed for the lake. The cool breeze coerced me into greeting the morning with a smile, sunglasses free, because of the light grey cloud covering. As I ran towards the Adler Planetarium, I noted the names of the pricey yachts, things like, My Chips or Tool ‘N Around. Eyeing one grey- haired gentleman that was out polishing a particularly large craft with the moniker, Mahalo, I thought, “Who owns these things anyway, and why can’t I go on a ride with them?”
Then after my 34 minute loop run out to the Planetarium and back, I quickly got dressed and walked about 5 minutes to the closest EL red line station. (Why do they all smell like pee?) When I got on, I felt very “commuter-like” as I held on to the poll (because there were no seats available) with my umbrella sticking out of my shoulder bag.
After about a 10-minute train ride, I had another 5 minute walk to my hospital. I walked by Pottery Barn, Banana Republic, Borders, and Niketown before turning left at the MAC store to get to my building. How financially dangerous it might be to work along the Magnificent Mile?…. I had a full day of orientation, which further solidified my confidence that I am now an employee of the best hospital in Chicago (Northwestern Memorial Hospital), to which I hope I can bring great enthusiasm and ideas.
On my way home, I stopped at Watertower Place (a mall), to pick up a shirt for Josh… but I did have the willpower to resist Starbucks!
After my commute home, I called some friends, and started dinner for the resident business student who should be returning home soon.
So, that was a day in the life of this new Chicagoan…
This past week included trips to the Chicago Art Museum and the Field Museum, as well as a taking in a White Sox game and hosting a Bears game party at our house (they lost, Rex Grossman was pitiful). Next weekend we have a semi-formal event for Josh’s school at Shedd Aquarium.
Hmm, maybe I’m starting to like this place….
Heidi
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Chicago (by Heidi)
Chicago, and particularly our little slice of it, the South Loop, like anyplace has good and bad aspects. Here are a few of my thoughts on what they are from my perspective….
The Good:
1. Great running trail by the lake! It follows the lake along the city for miles, its paved, and where I go, it feels safe. I decided it was ok to put my MACE away after I saw more mothers and children and cops than potential muggers.
2. Lots to do. There is so much culture, so many festivals and activities that one would never have to be bored. …and a lot of the activities don’t have to cost money if you go on the right day, (e.g. there are lots of free museum days throughout the year).
3. Lots of shopping. Too much. Good thing we don’t have a lot of extra space to put stuff in our apartment, that makes me not want to buy anything.
4. Our neighborhood’s proximity to everything. Soldier field and three major museums are literally a 10 minute walk away.
5. Public transportation. So easy and cheaper than gas, I love it.
The Kind of Rough:
1. Segregation. We recently found out that Chicago is known for being really segregated. Many people seem to “stick with their own kind,” meaning own color. Sometimes that feels like people who aren’t my race don’t want to talk to me, and a few times have even seemed rude. I was surprised by that.
2. Too many people. You have to time when you do things to avoid the mad amounts of individuals trying to do the same thing you want to do at the same time. Like, I learned last week, don’t try to go to the only grocery store around for miles (Jewel Osco) at 5:30pm, when everyone is getting off work, you won’t find parking!
3. Prices. Taxes are over 9% downtown on the shopping. That’s a lot! It seems like everything in the grocery store is at least a dollar more than I am used to.
4. Nice neighborhoods can be in the middle of Shadesville. Near us, there are beautiful million dollar brownstone town homes that are only a few streets over from the ghetto. It’s kind of bizarre, but you just kind of learn which directions not to go.
If nothing else, our new experience has open our eyes, and I like that. I don’t like to get really comfortable in white, suburbia and not realize what’s going on in the rest of the world. This is good for me, for us, and I am sure there is lots more to learn in the coming months.
The Good:
1. Great running trail by the lake! It follows the lake along the city for miles, its paved, and where I go, it feels safe. I decided it was ok to put my MACE away after I saw more mothers and children and cops than potential muggers.
2. Lots to do. There is so much culture, so many festivals and activities that one would never have to be bored. …and a lot of the activities don’t have to cost money if you go on the right day, (e.g. there are lots of free museum days throughout the year).
3. Lots of shopping. Too much. Good thing we don’t have a lot of extra space to put stuff in our apartment, that makes me not want to buy anything.
4. Our neighborhood’s proximity to everything. Soldier field and three major museums are literally a 10 minute walk away.
5. Public transportation. So easy and cheaper than gas, I love it.
The Kind of Rough:
1. Segregation. We recently found out that Chicago is known for being really segregated. Many people seem to “stick with their own kind,” meaning own color. Sometimes that feels like people who aren’t my race don’t want to talk to me, and a few times have even seemed rude. I was surprised by that.
2. Too many people. You have to time when you do things to avoid the mad amounts of individuals trying to do the same thing you want to do at the same time. Like, I learned last week, don’t try to go to the only grocery store around for miles (Jewel Osco) at 5:30pm, when everyone is getting off work, you won’t find parking!
3. Prices. Taxes are over 9% downtown on the shopping. That’s a lot! It seems like everything in the grocery store is at least a dollar more than I am used to.
4. Nice neighborhoods can be in the middle of Shadesville. Near us, there are beautiful million dollar brownstone town homes that are only a few streets over from the ghetto. It’s kind of bizarre, but you just kind of learn which directions not to go.
If nothing else, our new experience has open our eyes, and I like that. I don’t like to get really comfortable in white, suburbia and not realize what’s going on in the rest of the world. This is good for me, for us, and I am sure there is lots more to learn in the coming months.
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