By Josh Weidmann on Thursday, April 26, 2007 10:52 PM

We are a society of secrets

We say things we do not mean

We think things we do not say

 

We are a society of secrets

We wear honesty as a neck tie

We act out lies that end up our noose

 

We are a society of secrets

We front load our words with kindness

We back stab our friends with bitterness

 

We are a society of secrets

We are striving for perfection

We are destined for destruction

 

We are a society of secrets

We speak in spite of the very bond the binds us

We are silenced when our club of liars rejects us

 

Disband the society of secrets

Disperse the circle of lies

Discard what he said or she said

 

We must be a gathering of grace

We must have a bond of peace

We must be the body of Christ

By Josh Weidmann on Saturday, April 21, 2007 9:03 PM

I think I’m going to name my first child, “Procrastinating.” Yes, in fact I think that makes a nice name. People will most likely call him “Pro” for a nickname. Others will think this means that he is really good at something or perhaps a kid with great aptitude to be in professional sports. Little will they know that his name actually is “Procrastinating” because his Dad wanted to continually remind himself of his great desire to not have his kid turn out like him and push off the important things in life for the momentary things.

I have a bad habit of throwing priorities out the window. There are things I know I must do but those somehow always seem to find second place to the things I want to do. Perhaps I like to do only what feels good or is desired by me rather than things that are good for me (and others) even if they are hard to do.

Take for example – school. Yes, studying (no matter the subject) has always been a challenge for me. I’ve lacked the desire to pursue studies since kindergarten and the growth of the discipline of study n my life has been stunted.

But there is nothing like identifying the weak areas in your life – and not working on them to make them stronger – but allowing Christ to be seen as strong within your weakness. Sure, I could work really hard on becoming a better student and spend countless hours of effort to strengthen this weak area of my life. OR I could simply rely more on Christ to work in my life. This would, in the end, bring more glory to Him than if I just tried harder myself.

This week I preached about the passage in John 9:1-3.

John 9:1-3 – “As He passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, “It was not this man that sinned, or His parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

How great is the ending of what Christ said? It is awesome. He basically said that it was in this guys weakness “the works of God might be displayed.” So rather than pushing off what I don’t like to do or am just not good at, I complete things with the understanding that it is an area of my life where God’s works can be displayed.

Now I’m kind of changing my mind… maybe I’ll call my first born “Do It Now And Display The Works Of God.” Is that too long? What will his preschool teacher think when I take him on the first day and she says, “What’s your name little boy?” and he replies in a firm yet childish voice, “My name is, ‘Do It Now And Display The Works Of God.” Oh man, that could be good. And then I’ll say, you can just call him, “DINADTWOG Weidmann.”

Alright… enough blog posting… back to homework.  

By Josh Weidmann on Saturday, April 14, 2007 11:10 AM

Being a kid born in the early 80’s and giving my life to Christ at the age of four, I’ve seen my fair share of trends in Christianity. The last two decades have been a time of puberty for Church. In the 80’s and 90’s followers of Jesus have tried to identify what it means to be biblical yet relevant. Like a preadolescent teen, Christianity has tried to figure out how to act among a mature crowd or culture; we’ve struggled understand why our left arm seems to be longer than our right; and why is it that when we speak we occasionally will have a squeaky and inconsistent tone.

In my junior high days the rave of Christianity on a popular level was the break through of Christian Contemporary Music. I must have spent countless hours at concerts hearing songs like “Friends are Friends forever” (Michael W. Smith), “Saddle Up Your Horses” (Steven Curtis Chapman), “Jesus is Still Alright with Me” (DC Talk) and attending concerts like Carmen: R.I.O.T and conferences like Promise keepers with my Dad.

In high school Christians continued to ride the wave of CCM but started to gather people in large areas and stadiums. This was not a new thing, evangelist like Billy Graham had been doing it for decades, but in the mid 90’s it had a whole new appeal. It seemed the motto of popular Christianity at that time was ‘The bigger the better.” My last year of high school, after the columbine tragedy, I too longed to gather Christians in the largest numbers we could. I also had the opportunity to speak at some of these large gatherings like DC/LA, a meeting at the mall in Washington D.C., Acquire the Fire, and other large denominational gatherings. The bigger the crowd, the cooler the video, the more pyrotechnics, and the more famous the band the better we thought an event was. Believers over the last two decades (particularly in the youth movement) have tried to be as flashy and MTVish as possible in order to make our message more relevant.

Isn’t the gospel of Jesus Christ relevant already? Why did we keep trying to repackage it?

In a conversation with my friend, Ihor, yesterday I confirmed an observation I’ve been noticing for the last few years. That is that Christianity is trying to be cool by not being cool. If you think about it, you’ll notice that we’ve swung from over programmed and produced events to gatherings made up of nothing more than a few canned lights and a poorly put together power point – and for we did it on purpose. And if you think of what the end consumer Christian is eating up, it consists of a diet of things like Velvet Elvis, Blue Like Jazz and books that bear some synonym of “Confession” in the title. This is vastly different from the run away best sellers of the 90’s like the Left Behind series. We’ve gone from desiring entertainment and encouragement to longing for vulnerability and authenticity.

Now don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think this is all bad. Believe me, one of my greatest hopes for us as believers is that we will have an unquenchable desire for honesty with others and with God (hence the name of my ministry, Honest to God). But let’s not fool ourselves to think we’ve arrived at an authentic Christianity when we see it being used a tool of relevant rather than a tool for transformation. There are some out there that are speaking authentically in short films, in sermons, in print, on blogs and in small events - but are missing it biblically. They are getting things off their chest and even getting others to agree with the load of grudges they are now openly displaying but are forgetting to replace what those things with biblical truth.

While the growing pains of Christianity have been varying and rather frequent, let’s not be discouraged by them. Rather let’s learn from them and strive to move from this place, not merely to create another trend, but to banish trite attempts to be relevant. I dare to believe that if we just love Jesus genuinely and we will see Christ affect our lives and the lives around us more joyous than any CCM song can sing of, more numerous than any stadium can hold, and more vast than any internet site can reach.

By Josh Weidmann on Friday, April 13, 2007 5:22 PM

Today it was painful to wake up. I drove from Chicago to Ohio last night and didn’t get in until 2 am. Needless to say, the knock on my room door by my friend to wake me came all too early. I easily could’ve slept for a few more hours.

I drove here to witness and help out my good friend from Moody that is getting married this weekend. Today we spent most of the time moving his stuff and her stuff into their new apartment. Now with swollen fingers and a throbbing back we’ve finished our task that their new life together is ready to begin.

It’s crazy to me how many of my friends are getting married. I was told that when I got to this age that I’d be taken back by the number of marriages and people having kids. I knew that stage was coming, but I’m not sure I was ready for it to be here. I love watching all those that I care so much about now joining their lives together with that “Perfect someone” who now completes them.

This week I preached on the “Goodness of God” at our midweek service. This little jaunt to Ohio is a great reminder of His goodness. Not only does God allow us to taste if true joy in our relationship with Him, but He blesses us with His goodness in our relationship with others. Here’s to God’s goodness in Marriage!

…Now off to get the groom fitted and out for some fun to celebrate his transition from singleness to matrimony. Wooo hooo!

By Josh Weidmann on Monday, April 02, 2007 6:03 PM

Living in the city of Chicago you can find many different ways to get around but one of the main means of transportation is flagging down a cab. A friend of mine has experience many meaningful cab rides as she talks with the drivers of all different nationalities. After riding with them and sharing the gospel she saw a need for greater spread of the gospel in the mission field of cabs in Chicago.

With the help of Roger Basick, Producer of Honest to God Radio, they have been producing a gospel presentation CD project that will have over 35 different languages giving a brief testimony as well as a call to salvation. This project will be entitled “Manna” and will be distributed by Moody Bible Institute.

Let’s use this project as a tool to reach those who we need to share the gospel, but can’t because of a language barrier. You may not be able to speak to their language, but God can. This project is going to be a phenomenal tool to reach souls of many different nationalities. It doesn’t release until later this year, but when it does, order one or two and carry them with you. Hand them out when taking a cab, ordering a Greek Gyro or a polish hotdog. I’ll post more information about it when it releases. In the meantime, if you want to know more about this project, read this article on Moody’s website.