my preaching confusion

I recently had the opportunity to preach and was once again reminded that it is hard and difficult and that I know nothing, but it has forced me to wrestle with the purpose of preaching. I know it is a gift to be used to edify the body.  But how does that practically play out?  Is our preaching to transform individual Christians in order that they would look differently which would inadvertently affect the body? Is it primarily preaching to the body as a whole and how the truth affects the way we as a local expression of the body of Christ conduct ourselves? What is the aim or application of our preaching? Is it individual application, community application, a mixture of both, is it for vision casting?

These are the questions I have asked myself often lately and I don’t have the answers.  It appears from the state of our churches that they both despise and breed a consumeristic mentality of shopping for the favorite flavor of preaching that it is about individual Christians.  If this is the case, then it borders on self-help psychology engaging you as an individual to make you a better Christian so everyone reaps the benefit, but the primary focus is the individual believer.  

This doesn’t sit well with me, since individual Christianity is seen nowhere in the Bible. The Bible talks about the fact the Christ came to establish a church, a people who would follow Him. It speaks of the church as His bride, His body, and the means by which he restores and redeems the world.  The gospel calls individually, but it calls into a body, and the epistles (which are most commonly preached) are primarily addressing certain situations within a church body. If the Bible tends to address Christians as a part of a group then our preaching can’t focus solely on the individual.

If it is just about the individual, then why do we need a local body?  I’ll just pop in my favorite podcast if I’m not going to get a contextualized message and in that case, why am I going to church? I know church isn’t primarily preaching, but let’s be honest, it’s the primary focus of our Sundays, let’s not kid ourselves.

It seems to me that our preaching has a 3-fold reach in regards to focus and application. It seems that each message has an individual application in how we view God, a community application that explains to the body how this message affects the local church they sit in and informs the strategy or theology of their vision and then finally how it affects the way Christians live in and engage a secular society that doesn’t agree with them.

These are my thoughts, but I do not feel that this is how it is typically accomplished, which makes me wonder if I’m wrong and if I’ve constructed something out of preaching that should be carried out in other ways in the body.  I don’t have the complete answer, but I want to know the right answer.

In the end, I’m honestly confused and obviously frustrated and so I ask you, what is the purpose of preaching? Who is it for and what is it supposed to do?

Derek Webb Stockholm Syndrome Update

Above is the latest picture to be released from the Dallas, TX Stockholm Syndrome artifacts. This is an old picture from the race track in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

My suspicions are that these are being released in the order of his tour dates in the future. The Dallas people received Derek Webb tickets.

Want the Derek Webb Songs?

They are available for download on this blog.

Also, here’s the latest clue:

Which happens to be the Reunion Tower in Dallas, TX. Special thanks to The Wussows for assisting me with the Dallas Architecture. Dallas people get ready for new instructions via paradise is a parking lot. You’ll know when to look by following @ssyndrome.

Derek Webb update: New Song

Time for you to get familiar with twitter especially by following ssyndrome.  If you check out the latest tweets, they follow the format of email #2 on his website revealing  a new secret code that will let you get a new song. The new song is Freddie, Please.

You will ultimately get it from going to Paradise is a parking lot. But I’ll let you figure out the code. That leaves us with 3 songs and a lot of stems that build a fourth song.

And yes, I’m still obsessed with figuring all this stuff out and hope they come to Austin with the artifacts…

Derek Webb update

The Raleigh Stockholm Syndrome artifacts have been found and contained this picture of Martin Castle in Lexington, Kentucky.

Lexington’s not too far from Southern Seminary in Louisville where I’m sure a plethora of Derek Webb fans exist, so get ready to go get the artifacts.

Derek Webb: More than you “need to” know

Here’s an update on Stockholm Syndrome if you haven’t been following on twitter.

A new movie can be found by clicking “need to” on Derek Webb’s website, which takes you to this image and website:

The 3rd and 14th bars are links to 2 movies. The 3rd bar was released a while ago, linked from the word “all” on Derek’s site. The movie appears to be someone driving on a road and you hear “The end is the beginning is the end” and contains morse code that some have said reads “BNA 07/03/09″. BNA is the code for Nashville International Airport and is also the first city an artifact was placed. Maybe that means it will end where it all began…

The newest video is on the 14th bar, simple.mov also contains morse code and says “it’s simple”. Some have interpreted the morse code to read “6PM, GPS TO FOLLOW”. Good luck figuring out what that means.

The latest artifacts were found in Vienna, VA and contained this picture:

This statue is outside the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, NC. This could be the next city for the artifacts. It also contained 5 new stems. If you’ve downloaded all of them, put them in this order (as read from Patty Hearst’s wikipedia page):

On February

the 19-

year-old

California

apartment

she shared

urban

group called

to swap

members

failed,

family

to every

needy

an operation

an estimated

$400

million.

the immediate

donation

of $6

of food to the

After the distribution

quality.

(In a

tape recording

press,

that her father

could have done

better.)

on an audiotape

that she had

joined

(inspired

Tamara

Che

wielding

while robbing

in San

Francisco

That’s the latest that I know, anyone know anything else?

Stockholm Syndrome update

Quick update regarding stockholm syndrome. The .wav files that are found at paradise is a parking lot are titled with words from a wikipedia article about Patty Hearst, who is a famous case of Stockholm Syndrome…

If you put them in order, even though some of the words are missing, you can tell they flow together as a song.  Pretty cool.

Deciphering Derek Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome

I mentioned in my post the other day that Derek Webb’s new CD is being released through a series of artifacts, tweets from twitter, coded emails, and hidden websites.  I’ve been trying to follow it from the beginning and here’s what I’ve found and seen so far that will help you and maybe help all of us DW fans to hear his CD soon.

2 Songs have been released

The first song I found was The Spirit vs. Kick-Drum. Here’s how you get it:

Go to Derek Webb’s website where there are 2 emails. In email #1 click on the word trouble, it’s a hyperlink to a Relevant Magazine Article. In the first sentence of the article, there are 3 words in quotations, “controvery”, “having”  & “label”.

In the 2nd email, the word r_eal is a hyperlink to a website that asks you to submit something. Submit those 3 words one at a time in order and you are able to download a zip file that contains the song and a text file. The text file says 10-2-4 (more on this below).

The 2nd song is Heaven. It’s a little easier to get Heaven. If you donate $1 to Paste Magazine’s “Save Paste” Campaign you can get the song Heaven (Pre-Mix).

Artifacts?

In the 2nd email on DW’s website there are words throughout with underscores. If you take the letter after the underscore, you get “paradise is a parking lot”, which is where Derek is releasing “stems”. Stems are these zip files that contain 5 .wav files of 2 seconds of a song. Some of the zip files contain clues.

One of the first clues I saw was with the song Spirit vs. Kick-drum, a text file that said 10-2-4. Which if you google 10-2-4 you get an explanation about Dr. Pepper, the greatest drink on planet earth. Where is the Dr. Pepper museum? Waco, Tx which was the 3rd location for the artifact.

The Decatur, GA zip file contains this picture

If you google guitar statue, one of the results is this statue at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, WA, which was the next location for the Stockholm Syndrome artifacts. In the Seattle zip file was this picture:

Turns out if you google, queen holding her crown, you can find out that this is a statue of Queen Charlotte in Charlotte, NC at the Charlotte International Airport. The next artifacts were found there.

The charlotte, nc zip file contained 2 pictures that didn’t appear to indicate a location, but their titles, 38.908818, -77.253542 are longitude and latitude for Washington, D.C. which I believe to be the next location for the artifacts.

If you follow twitter, information is revealed by following ssyndrome. This isn’t all the information, but this is at least a start. I haven’t figured out how to put all the 2 second .wavs together to make a song of anything, but maybe other people can provide more insights. There are movies and pictures out there and other info.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do, I’m hoping it ends up it Austin at some point.

Anyone have any more clues?

Derek Webb Stockholm Syndrome

Derek Webb got his start as a part of Caedmon’s Call before going solo a few years ago. He is passionate about Jesus and his lyrics often sting as you listen to them because he is a bit of a prophet to the American Christian church. He often reveals our sinful tendency to abuse Christianity for our own benefit instead of exalting Christ and His gospel of redemption and restoration.

His latest CD is Stockholm Syndrome and it’s been controversial. Apparently his lyrics are too strong to be labeled Christian, or so we are to be led to believe. He’s made the release a treasure hunt, using his website to display coded emails that give you the song Spirit vs. Kick-drum, which is awesome if you’ve listened to it. He has placed “artifacts” in various cities that look like the image above that point to the next city, check paradise is a parking lot for your secret clues. It’s an awesome way to build buzz over a CD release and DW fans are quite anxious for it’s release.

I’ll post again soon to track the progress of Derek’s album and show you how to decipher the code to find the next city.

Below are the lyrics to the other song that has been released, titled Heaven.

I was killed in a shopping cart.

Turned upside down and left for dead

I saw a clown try to speak to me

As I floated over him.

 

I found my way to a familiar place

I swear I’ve been some time before

I would have thought it was the marketplace

But I could not find the door

 

Oh I have been to heaven

And I have walked the streets

Cause I couldn’t find the hand to hold

To keep me on my feet

 

So paradise is a parking lot

A spot up front is your reward

All the rest walk down streets of gold

To the house they could afford

 

I got lost in swelling crowd

And I could not afford to eat

You only have what you came in with

So I’m living on the street

 

Oh I have been to heaven

And I found no relief

Cause I couldn’t find the hand to hold

To keep me on my feet

 

I heard Jesus Christ was there

He had a car that’s bulletproof

That way everyone is safe

From the man who tells the truth

 

Oh I have been to heaven

And I have walked the streets

But I couldn’t find a hand to hold

To keep me on my feet

 

I couldn’t find a hand to hold

To keep me on my feet

That’s Heaven off of Derek Webb’s Stockholm Syndrome. What do you think it means for you? For the church in America?

It’s Summertime!

It’s officially summertime as the baby pool and water balloons have become a staple in the Gentrified backyard. A water fight usually results and Calvin so far has been completely unphased by his brother’s insistence on soaking him first. It’s a blast and we will be spending a ton of time at the neighborhood pool with all the local Wells Branchites.

This should be a fun-filled and action packed summer. We get to welcome a new addition to the Engstrom family, my Aunt Gladys is moving to the Austin area from Kansas (she was dying for those 100-degree June-August days), Calvin turns 1, we’ll be traveling to visit family and friends in Houston, Amber and I will vacation without the boys to Boston and New York City in July. It should be an awesome summer.

It’s been a while since we’ve posted a blog, so here’s brief update on the boys.

What is Eli up to?

Eli is almost potty trained, he only wears a diaper for going to sleep at night, and he’s been pretty awesome. After a lot of trial and error, we figured he wouldn’t always tell us, so we make it a point to take him to the restroom about once an hour until he gets into the habit himself. He’s very proud of his underwear (as you can see in the picture), even though he’s almost too skinny for them to stay on.

He’ll be 3 in 3 months, which is insane for me to think about it. We’re going to try and put him in swim lessons this summer and he’ll also start a couple of days of school this fall.

He has a few OCD tendencies as he insists on getting certain things done or certain things in specific places before he can move on to anything else. He’s a great talker, tries his best to sing and loves to flirt with the ladies (I don’t know who he got that from…probably Amber’s side…)

What is Calvin up to?

Calvin is 11 months now. He’s walking and trying to talk/sing like his brother. He says phrases like “No way!”, “That way!”, “Mommy”, & “Dada”. He’s trying to learn animal sounds, but apparently believes every animal makes the same noise. The lion roars and so does the cow…

He continues to eat everything he can find, but lately has become more particular about the food he eats for lunch and dinner. Not sure how you can eat sand and then be particular about real food, but to each his own.

He hates taking a bath without his brother; he gets completely mad about it until Eli joins him and begins tormenting him by showering him with as much water as possible.

I’m hoping to post some videos of the boys and the family soon.