Category: The Barbarian Way

Well, my life long learner has kicked in again and I will be starting a new adventure this summer. I have been accepted into the Doctor of Ministry program at Bethel Seminary. I will be in the spiritual formation tract. My main focus will be looking at the use of Web 2.0 technology (ie this blog) to foster spiritual formation for both digital natives (those who have grown up with personal computers, etc) and digital immigrants (those of us who grew up with slide rules and $100 calculators that only did basic math).

The focus of my studies is something I am calling The Barbarian’s Call. It is an outflow of the barbarian sheep/ stupid sheep blog postings back in January. The web site is up, but there isn’t a lot there yet.

There are at least 4 components that I will be exploring in relation to the The Barbarian’s Call: love, community, courage & strength, and engagement.

I haven’t decided if I will lead a duel bloggers life or simply move all my blogging to the new site. We will have to wait and see about that.

I am off to the the Wind City, Chicago. Took the train down, what a relaxing way to travel, no lines at the station, no fighting with traffic, having time to read, sleep, and ponder life as we went along. One of the things I did was watch again the movie Amazing Grace. It is the story of William Wilberforce, an Englishman in the House of Lords who work to abolish the English slave trade.

Two things that struck me as I watched. First, was the fact that Wilberforce did not “find God” but rather that God found him. Relating to a sermon by Erwin McManus (listened to that on the train ride down also), God was putting His finger prints on Wilberforce. God was stirring a passion in his soul so strong he could not escape it. William then spent the next 10-11 years giving voice to the voiceless, speaking for the slaves who had no voice. He was in fact putting his finger prints all over them. Second, Wilberforce stood firm against astronomical odds. He leaned into fears, stood in the center of God’s will and fought for what he knew to be right.

Has God been stirring a passion in you? Have you taken the time to listen to God to see how he is speaking to you? Have you asked God to stir something within you? Are you willing to allow God to put His fingerprints all over you and then in turn be God’s hands and feet by putting your fingerprints all over someone else? Are you willing to engage the world, to make one small part better so that the whole can become a little better? It could be dangerous, it will be exciting. You might even call it barbaric!

I know that God is stirring something in my, but I can’t put my finger on it quite yet. I know the components, love, courage, community, and engagement. I know it has to do will to with being a barbarian. Stay tuned for more related to this…

I responded to a post from the blog by Eagle Brook Church Men’s Pastor Josh Kesler with regards to a stupid sheep he saw. He ask me to follow up so here with go with my first thoughts.

In his illustration Josh talked about this poor stupid sheep whose head got stuck in a fence trying to reach something better. Great illustration and 100% right. It goes along with the current sermon series at the church also. I looked at it from a slightly different perspective. As you may or may not know we can all look at an event and come away with sightly or even vastly different perceptions of the event (what a great movie theme, oh wait it is coming out in a week or two).

My vantage point is influenced by my recent rereading and discussion around the book The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. You see in Josh’s illustration I didn’t see a stupid sheep looking for something better, no what I saw as a barbarian sheep looking to break out the conformity of the pen and do something greater. You see we can be that barbarian sheep, we can step out of the confines and safety of the “our pen” (what every your pen is) and serve God in a great an mighty way. You see it is not about us, rather it is about doing the will of God regardless of the danger, regardless of the sacrifice, regardless of the cost. What did Jesus say, come and follow me when it is convenient, after the big game, when you have a spare moment? No Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow. Don’t ask questions, don’t make excuses, simple follow me. I would love to say that this is who I am, 100% on board, but that would be a lie. It is something I am working towards, something that I believe in. You see I would rather be know for how I serve God and others, that for what I know.