Comments for Forward Progress

Comment on Weekends Are For Kids by Rob Tims

Rob Tims — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:51:52 +0000

70 is pretty dang fast.

Comment on Fridays Are For One Question by Becky

Becky — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:37:34 +0000

Starbucks next to Cinnabon.

Comment on Fridays Are For One Question by Bob

Bob — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:38:48 +0000

Smoked sausage with BBQ sauce, carmelizing on my grill!

Comment on Fridays Are For One Question by Mother Runner

Mother Runner — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:20:09 +0000

Me too CarrieZ! Even @ 13 & 9 I love the smell of their head’s

Comment on Fridays Are For One Question by CarrieZ

CarrieZ — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:33:19 +0000

Are you asking about airport smells ONLY, or no?

If not, then I would say my sleeping daughters’ hair freshly washed with lavender-vanilla baby shampoo.

Comment on The New FBC Dallas by Mark

Mark — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:45:21 +0000

I would rather see them spend a chunk of their money on building a shelter for the 6500 or so homeless people who live in Dallas. How about job creation? Yes, yes, yes, I know, people need Jesus. And they do. But they need not only spiritual healing but physical, financial, and emotional healing as well. I say raise up the poor and hungry first and when that’s done, build your buildings.

Comment on Fridays Are For One Question by Amy Wright

Amy Wright — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:58:52 +0000

Since we fly Southwest and usually end up with a layover at Love Field, I’d have to say that Cinnabon is the best smell. The only other choices are McDonald’s or Chili’s. But I’ve never really thought too much about it. I think that the stench of McD’s sticks out to me more than the pleasant aroma of Cinnabon.

Comment on Why the Dallas Cowboys Are Like the Church by Rod Pitts

Rod Pitts — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:50:02 +0000

Wake up Church! Stop trying to make your ‘church’ (building) look like a Six Flags over Jesus and making people comfortable – and focus on teaching and discipling those in the ‘church’ so they can go out of the ‘church’ to share Christ with people. And then maybe those people will come to your ‘church’. To be honest with you, if a homeless person walked up to a ‘church’ with a huge, fancy new building, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t walk in. They probably won’t feel welcome. They’ll feel out of place and judged. I’m not talking about FBC – Dallas. I’m talking about all the megachurches out there trying to make people comfortable in the ‘church’. *end of rant*

Watch this video, especially at the 3:50 mark:

Comment on The New FBC Dallas by Jay

Jay — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:55:33 +0000

just a couple of thoughts -
what does Paul say? Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial? That comes to my mind here. That’s great if that want to construct a beautiful edifice to go along with the “temples of commerce” in downtown Dallas. But, is it beneficial?

It’s not really my aesthetic. Doesn’t really appeal to me. I can sympathize with the fact that they’re trying to ‘be relevant’ and make the gospel relevant, but it seems like this is an overcompensation in the wrong direction to the nth degree.

The ‘Worship Center’ looked depressing – it’s like they wanted to build a state of the art auditorium but wanted it to look church-like, kind of, but it just ends up being awkward and big. It didn’t seem sacred. It did seem passe and kitsch.

The video is pretentious and a little offensive. I appreciate that they want the buildings to “do” so much (embody the message, communicate the primacy of the cross), but the narrator pitches it as if the only way to proclaim the cross of Christ is to hop on board with this program.

That was a gem of a moment when the narrator said, “. . . literally going up to a higher place . . .” as the pretend people rode the escalator to the second floor entrance of the “Worship Center.”

Deep within me, this seems to be what is wrong with American (and Western) Christianity (evangelicalism). We farm out mission and force ginormous buildings do the work of going to the harvest.

It all seems so fake. It seems like something that wouldn’t be able to make the journey to the high country in Lewis’ Great Divorce, something that couldn’t bear the weight of glory.

Comment on The New FBC Dallas by Why the Dallas Cowboys Are Like the Church « Forward Progress

Why the Dallas Cowboys Are Like the Church « Forward Progress — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:48:12 +0000

[...] Yesterday I posted about the $130 million building campaign of a church that is, ironically, in the same city where the Cowboys play. Maybe it’s a Texas thing, but these things feel very similar to me. Regarding the same building campaign, fellow-blogger Jared Wilson had this to say: What is at stake is what church is. In the building Q&A linked above, we find this gem: “[T]he glass walls have an evangelistic effect: people walking by have a view in from the street and feel drawn in.” [...]