Christian Defaults

I’ve served as the co-director of the college ministry at our church for a few years now and as we’ve tried to implement the vision of our church, I’ve noticed that there seem to be Christian Defaults that believers who have been involved in church continue to return to whether they recognize it or not.

Two of the Defaults I’ve noticed include:

Church is a 1 or 2-day event

I started attending church when I was 13 and it consisted of Sunday morning Sunday school and a church service and a Wednesday night youth gathering. This was my understanding and I believe the predominant understanding of church for most youth in a church growing up. As an adult it looks similar just substitute youth gathering for small group.

These events aren’t bad, but as a result of this understanding of church, Christianity often gets compartmentalized to these events and success in Christianity can be defined by mere attendance.

In contrast, the bible speaks of the church as a people in perpetual community, living in close proximity in an effort to serve together and care for one another as often as possible. This understanding doesn’t allow for Christianity to be compartmentalized but to invade every aspect of your life. Success then becomes a little less clear because it is based on encouragement, serving and caring for one another as habits rather than events.

Small Group is a Bible Study to attend, not participate

The idea of small groups that meet weekly is a move towards a greater understanding of Christianity calling people to live in community, but often results in a bible study with 1-2 teachers and 10-15 listeners. Similar to a Sunday school environment but usually spread throughout the week.

These bible studies are really effective at growing in knowledge of the bible, being involved in people’s lives to care for one another and usually involve prayer as well as accountability to holiness. The downside is that it typically fails to embrace an understanding of Christianity in terms of its mission to expand faith to others and to serve those who believe differently in the world around us.

It often becomes a stagnant community that is no longer inviting, when Christian community in the bible was always inviting and always looking for ways to serve others who believed differently.

Changing Christian Defaults

Our church and many others have started to ask the questions about how Jesus’ redemptive works redefines these defaults in an effort to correct their deficiencies. It even involved the invention of new cool Christian word (missional). Our church redefines small groups as Missional Communities to convey the message that Christians living in community should also actively be engaging and serving the world around them that believes and lives differently.

In this shift, I have begun to wonder what defaults we might be setting for future Christians in their understanding of church. Will the pendulum shift swing to create new defaults with other distortions of Christianity?

Do see these Christian defaults as well? What other Christian defaults do you see? How should the church respond to those?

Our Year in Pictures, Part 2

Here’s a continuation of yesterday’s post. Here are more pictures from this past year.

Eli was potty trained this year, but learned quickly the multiple uses for underwear and discipled his brother.

We also discovered 1st Saturday’s Home Depot Kids Workshops. It’s free for everyone and it’s a great family activity. He’s already learned from tv that real carpenters work without their shirt…

This month we discovered that couch pillows are best used for forts.

In July, Amber and I along with 5 of our friends visited Boston and New York for a week long vacation and trip to get familiar with church planting in Boston. It was an amazing time and we got to meet with amazing people.

Calvin joyfully inherited his Red Sox fandom.

Before the water restrictions kicked in we loved visiting the triangle fountains.

And we got a tiny gumball machine for the boys. It was a huge hit.

Eli turned 3 in September and we celebrated with cake for breakfast

Which Calvin loved…

Because he likes to party in a tuxedo t-shirt

Eli started preschool as well.

Poor Handy Manny didn’t have a chance…

October was crazy for us, but we found time to visit the pumpkin patch in Elgin with our friends. As you can see the boys loved it…

We also visited another pumpkin patch, because you really can’t visit too many of those…

For Halloween, Eli first wanted to be a tiger, but settled on a skunk…

Calvin loved Halloween…

Those are the pictures through October. I hope you enjoyed them. After Christmas, I’ll post the November and December pictures.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Our Year in Pictures, Part 1

This weekend we went back through our pictures this past year and found some absolutely great photos. Hope you enjoy.

We kicked off 2009 in Houston with our friends and family, the boys stayed home with GranGran and Papa and partied the night away.

Calvin has changed so much from a cute 6 month old to a crazy 18-month old.

Look at this baby face…

The whole fam at the Houston zoo back in January

Later in January, we made a trip to Washington, D.C. to be with the family as Amber’s Nana, Marie, went to be with Jesus. She was an amazing woman and is definitely missed. It was good to be with the family and the boys enjoyed being in a place that had snow.

Eli wore his first suit proclaiming “I’m a meeting guy”. He apparently has seen me attend a few meetings…

And Calvin refused to crawl until he could walk, meaning he would hold our fingers to walk.

We were also able to enjoy Hawaii again this year with the Robinsons. Calvin enjoyed eating sand and rocks…

Eli loved the sand and the pool, but didn’t care for the ocean so much…

They must have enjoyed themselves because they were exhausted for the 12 hour flight home.

The boys have started playing together a lot more, especially once Eli figured out Calvin’s head doubles as a drum.

But Calvin remains just a cute and happy kid

We spent Easter in Pennsylvania with the boys great-grandparents.  The second picture is NoNo, Amber’s grandfather Tercizio, who also passed away this last year. A former principal in New York and great father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, he is missed.

With May brought the record setting Texas heat that eclipsed 100 for 68+ days. Lots of backyard pool and neighborhood pool time.

We celebrated Calvin’s 1st birthday with a backyard bash and he thoroughly enjoyed his cake.

With June, also comes great minor league baseball at the Dell Diamond

And Chick-Fil-A dress like a Cow Day

And apparently wear your hair like a rockstar day

There’s part 1. Yes it was mostly our children, but Part 2 will include more family photos as well. Look for that tomorrow.

Fall Review, Part 2

Here’s a continuation of our Fall Review, Part 1 is here.

Halloween

This October, we visited the pumpkin patch in Elgin and Terrytown to make sure we got the best pictures and the best pumpkin for carving for Halloween. At the beginning of October Eli wanted to be a tiger and wanted Calvin to be a leopard, special thanks to Kung Fu Panda. We found great costumes for both of them that they wore most of the month, Calvin’s was really a dalmation but is looked close enough to a white leopard for Eli.

Then the week before Halloween, Eli wanted to be a skunk because they are stinky. Obviously. So my gracious wife went and bought black sweats and a black hoodie and sowed white fur on them making him a skunk.

We joined a Wild Thing and a Max from Where the Wild Things Are, our SWAT team neighbors, and a 6′6″ Oompa Loompa with a 18-month old mini-me Oompa Loompa and Dora the Explorer as we celebrated Halloween over at the Lopez’s. It was awesome and pictures are sure to follow…

November is for house work…apparently

November we took care of some much needed work around the house that I avoided in October for my PE Exam. Eli was able to pretend our back yard was a jungle thanks to the 2.5′ high grass. So we took care of the backyard, I replaced a garbage disposal (special thanks to Michael Swanson), we painted the trim on the house and the front door.

Needless to say, I feel infinitely more manly.

Turkey Day!

We had the blessing of hosting Thanksgiving at our house again and welcomed my Aunt Gladys and our good friend D to join both of our families at our house as we celebrated the last year together. It was incredibly delicious.

That night, Amber and I went to the A&M-Texas game in College Station. It was one of the most exciting games to see in person despite the disappointing result.

The only good thing to result from the Aggie defeat was that Colt McCoy’s dominance of what was formerly know as the Aggie Defense basically guaranteed my win in our College Fantasy Football League and the trophy now resides proudly in my house where it belongs.

Eli Started School!

This past fall, Eli started attending a local preschool. He’s doing great at school and talks about his friends and even a little crush he has. He’s talking marriage and rings, so he’s definitely girl crazy which is half-hilarious and half-scary for what the future will bring…

We’ve also stumbled upon a great kid’s leaning website, Starfall, that has great interactive learning games online. It was recommended by our teacher friends and it’s been awesome.

Finally Alive

Amber also concluded the class she assisted in teaching at our church called Finally Alive. The class is based on the book by John Piper that you can download from their website. Amber described it as one of the best and most refreshing books she’s ever read. It has helped explain how people are saved by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ alone and clearly articulates God’s work in our salvation.

It’s a great read for those who may be interested.

Headed toward Christmas

It’s Christmas time and we’ve been enjoying various holiday activities from getting and decorating a Christmas Tree (live and from Home Depot), walking around the neighborhood looking at lights, ice skating, even taking in a hockey game (I’ll admit, I’m now a fan) and listening to an overdose of Christmas music.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed catching up on a lot of our life. The plan is to post pictures sometime soon.

Fall Review, Part 1

Well, I haven’t posted in about 3 months. Let me catch you up on all that has gone on (my excuses for not blogging).

College Ministry

August and September are always incredibly busy around churches, but especially busy for college ministry as the new school year starts and ministry begins anew. This year our leadership team added Tyler David as a college resident. He brings fresh passion and ideas to our team as my good friend Todd Engstrom transitioned out of college ministry to continue benefitting the church as Pastor of Missional Communities.

Transitions amongst a team are always difficult, but God has been faithful to grant us unity and help us work together well. This past semester has been amazing to watch God move through students to see a number of their fellow students come to believe in Jesus and begin following Him with their lives.

Testmasters PE Exam Review Course

At the end of September and through most of October, I started preparing for Professional Engineer’s exam. It’s an 8-hour exam that I must pass to become a professional engineer and be responsible for stamping plans as final and become liable to get sued (woohoo!).

To prepare for this exam, my company pays (reimburses when I pass) for a Testmasters review course. The review course consisted of 3 consecutive weekends (Thurs-Sun) of class all day long. So I would work Mon-Wed and have class in San Antonio from Thurs-Sun. Needless to say, it was trying for all around the Gentry home. But I got through it and took my PE exam on October 23. I’ll find out the results around Christmas time because it takes 60+ days to process a scantron apparently.

New Braunfels – My Spiritual Birthplace

One benefit of going to San Antonio on weekends was staying with and reconnecting with old friends. Kimo Aleman and Justin Smith are two guys I met working at T Bar M Christian Sports Camp and they opened their homes for me to stay closer to San Antonio for the review course. It was quite refreshing to catch up with old friends and here about what God is doing in their lives.

While I was there, I went to visit T Bar M. It’s my spiritual birthplace. At that camp when I was 13, I was praying to God when I felt Him asking me to give Him my life and to follow Him forever. I could no longer take the label of Christian, but only live it at camp, God wanted my whole life.

So I went back and it was completely empty since it’s not the summer and I enjoyed just walking around and remembering God’s work in my life through the many summers there as a camper, an all-star (work crew), and a counselor. If you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to remember often God’s work throughout your life. It’s quite refreshing.

BYX Retreat – A preaching first…

The weekend before my PE Exam, I spent in the middle of nowhere Texas, 2 hours west of San Antonio with the Christian faternity BYX chapter from A&M. They asked me to be their speaker and I spoke 4 times in 2 days. It was one of the first opportunities I’ve had to preach and especially to preach that much. My topics were the following:

1. Knowing and Enjoying the Gospel – It is often assumed Christians know the gospel, but knowing isn’t enough. You only give your life to things you enjoy. The gospel is most enjoyable and deserves your life.
2. Gospel Repentance – When we recognize sin, we either ignore it or beat ourselves up over it. We rarely acknowledge our wickedness, get to the root of why we do it and then embrace the work of Jesus on the cross and in the ressurection to give us forgiveness and victory.
3. Gospel-led Community – Fighting for your brother’s love for Jesus as much as your own.
4. Gospel-led Mission – The gospel saves us to send us out on mission. If we aren’t evangelizing, we don’t believe the gospel.

It was an amazing time with a good group of guys from A&M including my brother-in-law, Dan. I loved it and God did great things.

To be continued…with pictures…

Well, I caught you up through October. Next time, I’ll include some pictures of the family and finish the fall review. Probably next week some time…or in 3 months…

Toll Roads|The Benefits

We just tackled the arguments against, but what are the benefits?

Economic Growth

Dallas has reported that toll roads have brought in $80 billion to the local economy. How is this bad for anyone? Every city in America would love to see that kind of increase. It’s attractive to companies to place their headquarters or major office in these cities because their employees can easily live in the area of the city they want and commute quickly to their job.

Development tends to follow roads, again look at 183A and you’ll find a number of developments that may have happened anyways, but are more attractive to developers to do immediately. Development equals jobs, new home construction and sales which seem to be something pointed to often of late as an indicator of a thriving or falling economy.

Time saves money

The entire reason they exist is that people would be willing to pay money to not sit in traffic and if you asked me on the right day, I’d do the same on I-35. Toll roads get people moving to their destination quicker and relieve traffic even for free roads. So even if you choose not to pay for it, you’re benefitting because of less traffic on the road you are used to driving. Toll roads are also constructed faster than typical state highway construction meaning solutions to traffic come faster. Faster construction saves money too.

Toll roads enhance the transportation network of any major city while benefitting all involved. People who fight against them are usually fighting development at the end of the day and developments will find a way to come to an area with or without the road. If you don’t believe me, look at New Braunfels along SH 46.

So there you have it. Better for everyone. I know you are all convinced.

Toll Roads|Better for everyone, Part 3

The last 2 days, we’ve discussed why Toll Roads are better for everyone. Here’s the last myth and then we’ll discuss some benefits.

Myth # 3: Why not raise the Gas Tax? That will solve the budget shortfall.

The third misunderstanding and a suggested alternative to the others where people say just raise the gas tax either a certain amount or a percentage of the current gas price. This actually puts the burden onto the poor forcing them to pay more for roads when they could drive on an updated version of their current road for free with less traffic since people will take the toll road to save time. Besides, why would you want to give more money to a state agency who has proved it can’t manage a budget, even double counting $1 billion?

The 2^nd half of the third misunderstanding is the gas tax is currently being pulled to serve other agencies within the government minimizing the effect of the gas tax anyways. In addition, rising right-of-way land costs & construction costs add to the burden on the current and any future additional gas tax. If you want this changed, contact your local states representative. Last session legislation proposed changes, but it was voted down and you’ll have to wait ‘til 2011 for it to be addressed again. Until the gas tax is used only for roads, this option should not be considered.

Toll roads actually benefit the gas tax because additional access, roadway construction and every aspect of that construction gets paid for by the toll road financing, which removes the burden from the gas tax freeing up that money for other roads. In essence, it’s as if the gas tax was increased as a result because it’s ability to effect change has been increased as the burden has been removed from it.

So those are the three myths of toll roads and later today, I’ll point out a few major benefits.

Toll Roads|Better for everyone, Part 2

Yesterday I started an explanation of why I think toll roads are good for everyone. The myth we tackled yesterday was that it was double taxation. You are NOT paying twice to drive a toll road. Let’s move on before the a Anti-Toll Party hunts me down.

Myth # 2: It puts an added burden on the poor.

The second myth is they put an added burden on the poor or don’t provide the poor access. This frankly doesn’t make any sense.

Legislation currently doesn’t allow for existing roads to be converted to toll-only roadways, which means current roads would become upgraded frontage roads with tolled main lanes or new tolls roads would be constructed where none exist that typically include frontage roads (see 183A here in Austin). It doesn’t change the poor’s access, and actually improves what they currently drive on while decreasing the traffic along free frontage roads. 

Now I agree that sometimes those lights along the roads seem to be timed terribly which a conspiracy theorist can say is by design to get people to take the toll road, but I think it just shows poor work done by the City in timing the lights, especially the one at Toll Road Loop 1 and Howard Ln. It’s horrendous. And by the way, your city designs the majority of the traffic signal timing, we can’t fully blame TxDOT for that.

The 2^nd half of this myth doesn’t follow as well since the poor can choose whether or not to drive the main lanes and pay the tolls. It’s designed to be a choice payment. You pay it if you want to, but don’t have to. Studies have shown that the majority of toll users are in the upper echelon of money-makers, so the case could be made that the burden falls upon the rich who choose to take it, but they are much less fun to defend and fight for.

How does the poor benefit?

No additional money is required of them except what they choose to pay.

The existing roads they use become upgraded roadways as a result and traffic decreases along their daily commute.

Their access is actually upgraded as a result.

Toll Roads|Better for everyone, Part 1

There are quite a few people who might disagree with me on this, but toll roads are better for everyone. Most of those people live in Austin which is the last of the major Texas cities to jump on the toll road bandwagon, but in the end will likely have the most toll roads per capita of any of the Texas cities.

How are toll roads better for everyone? The next few days I’ll tackle a few of the myths in an attempt to inform people about toll roads. I’m a transportation engineer, so I do have a stake in this fight which may be seen as a bias, but I’m not making any of this stuff up, this is my understanding of the situation.

There are three common misunderstandings regarding toll roads.

Myth # 1: It’s Double Taxation! I’m paying twice for a road!

The first myth is double taxation, that you are paying twice to use the road. That’s assuming the gas tax pays for the toll road, which it doesn’t. Even the TxDOT-run toll roads are funded by large loans from banks and grants from the federal government. They don’t come out of either the state or federal tax. The toll you pay is to pay back the financing money and interest required for construction and pays for maintenance. It has nothing to do with the gas tax.

Your gas tax was designed and intended to pay for free TxDOT roadways, which are Interstates, State Highways, some FM and RM roads. It doesn’t always play out like that as it is often used for other agencies at the state which continues to decrease the amount for roads. The gas tax in Texas totals to 38.4 cents/gallon of gasoline, which includes 18.4 cpg to the federal government and 20 cpg to the state. It hasn’t changed since 1991 despite rising prices of construction.

Your county property tax assists the county in paying for county roadways and a portion of the sales tax collected within the city limits pays for city public works and roadways. State sales tax is 8.25 cents on the dollar, the state collects that sales tax and then remits 2 cents of it back to Austin. 1 cent to the city, 1 cent to Capital Metro to ruin public transportation (sarcasm).

So the common idea that Toll Roads are double taxation and you are paying twice just isn’t a reality. The money actually goes into the roadway itself and additional roads and is more guaranteed to improve transportation locally in the long run than the gas tax itself.

Come back tomorrow for more…

iPhone Pictures

In July we made the plunge into the iPhone generation and have  enjoyed it immensely. Amber takes some amazing pictures of the family with her iPhone. Here are few she has captured.

Eli loves the pool and this picture shows his best superman pose as he jumps in the baby pool. Awesome!

For Eli’s Birthday, we blew up a bunch of balloons and placed them outside his door. He loved them.

Over Labor Day Weekend, we drove to Georgetown to see my Aunt Gladys’ house and had dinner at Monument Cafe. Here’s a picture of me and the boys outside the cafe.

Chick-Fil-A Wear a Cow Costume Day – Check out Calvin.