Rick Warren's Plea...

For those of you who haven't heard, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church just south of Los Angeles wrote a letter to his congregation letting them know that due to the recession and the church reaching out to help the 10% of its members who had lost their jobs (this is a church of 20,000), they were going to end the year with a $900K deficit. He asked for everyone to pitch in and cover the deficit. By New Year's Eve they had raised $2.4M. See the full story here.

I'm trying to process how I feel about this. Terra Nova runs lean. We do not have any extra cash. We have very generous members who are the best in the world. I am truly blessed to have a community like the people of Terra Nova!

My emotions are mixed as I read this story. I am familiar enough with Rick Warren to know that he is a godly, honorable man for whom I have tremendous respect. I am not a "mega-church-basher." I know that a lot of what Saddleback does is tremendous and benefits not just its members but the poor around the world.

I am also a bit discouraged as a church-planter. I can't imagine starting this decade with a surplus. I probably need to repent a bit for my jealousy of Saddleback. I am so proud of Terra Nova. Today we reviewed some of things we saw God do in 2009. My only reaction is WOW! TN was really generous and willing to serve in amazing ways. I have no room to be jealous! They are going to have to run me out of town before I will leave Terra Nova. No amount of money could lure me away from this community!

Maybe reading this article ultimately reminded me how wonderful my church community really is. I hope it reminds you how blessed you are (or can be!).

Under the Mercy (and very content!)
Jason

Warren to Pray at Inauguration

Rick Warren will be praying at the Inauguration. I'm sure he is taking some major heat from Evangelicals (and I know Obama is taking heat from the gay & lesbian community!). If anyone cares, I say "Go for it, Rick!" & "Kudos to you Pres. Elect Obama!" Let's raise the conversation in this country from the hate-mongering and idiotic, overly simplistic TV spots to a true dialogue of intelligent people about the norms and mores of a culture and what that means.

I'm sure I will never be invited to anything at the White House, but if I was, I would be honored to serve whomever was in office.

I have a lot to say about the "gay issue" but not yet. The bottom line of the whole thing is that Jesus loved the prostitutes and tax collectors and simple fishermen. He was offended by the religious men. Maybe we "Evangelicals" think a bit too highly of ourselves.