Disclaimer: Some of these films that I am recommending are rated R, so if you are sensitive to certain words or themes, these films may not be suitable for you.

We are all in Memphis this week and that means going to the theater (my mother-in-law always gives us movie passes for Christmas). Today, I saw two films. My eyes hurt a little, but I thought this would be a good time to briefly highlight the best films I’ve seen this past year, in no particular order.

1. “Up”: I saw this film over the summer at the Flat Rock Cinema. The first 10 minutes of the film made me cry. I am amazed at the creative and compelling story telling that the folks at Pixar have. The director of “Up”, Peter Docter, is a follower of Jesus, and his direction is not in your face, but he paints such a wonderful picture of what a good marriage is to look like. I hope I grow old with my bride and love her as much as the old man in this film.

2. “500 Days of Summer”: I saw this film on my birthday with Amy and some friends. It was fun and playful and hard to watch at times because of how the main guy character is treated by the main gal character. Great to see Joseph Gordon Levitt in this film about a 20-something single guy looking for the woman to love. He thinks that person is Summer, played by Zoey Dechanel, who works in the same office as him. This film has great insight into the dating world of those who are trying to find that special someone.

3. “District 9″: I also saw this film on my birthday by myself in Hendo. This is a great sci-fi film about Aliens that have landed in Johannesburg, South Africa (an obvious connection to Apartheid). Really good story-line and awesome special effects.

4. “The Hurt Locker”: This film is set in Baghdad in 2004. It follows a three man team of American soldiers who disarm roadside bombs planted by the insurgents. It was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the same woman who directed 1991’s “Point Break”, so you know this film is gonna have action. All kidding aside, “The Hurt Locker” was a really intelligent film and gave me a new respect for our soldiers fighting overseas.

5. “Up In The Air”: This was the first film I saw today. It is rated R, so I am just giving you a heads up. This film is about a man (George Clooney) who flies 322 days out of the year and works for a company that fires people. He is a Termination Facilitator. Earlier this Fall, I read Tim Keller’s “Counterfeit Gods” and this film is all about Clooney’s character turning “good things into ultimate things”. He has a goal in mind of flying 10 million miles and because of that goal, he has carved out a life of isolation and no relational commitments, including his own sisters. One of his co-workers calls him out on this lifestyle that he has chosen. When he finally meets his goal of flying 10 million miles, he realizes that his life is really empty and that he has been building his identity on an idol, a practical savior, a counterfeit god, that ultimately leaves his life empty and without purpose. A great commentary on how our culture runs after the false gods of success, money, career, and reputation. Again, not that these things are evil in themselves, but they become evil when we look to them as ultimate things that we build our hopes and identities upon. Only in the gospel can we have true purpose and hope.

Honorable Mention:

“Avatar”: This is the other film that I saw today. In the words of one of Amy’s friends, “visually spectacular and theologically horrifying”. This is a film where the whole time I am wondering, “How did they do that.” However, it’s not difficult to see James Cameron’s overt message of Pantheism, the belief that equates God with nature. Read a review of Cameron’s theological agenda in “Avatar” here.

Great article in today’s USA Today on the fast growing trend of multi-site churches. You can read it here. I pastor a church like this, Grace Foothills. We call our model the OCMC, “one church, multiple congregations”. We are one of three sites of Grace Community Church. One site is in Mills River, the other in Hendersonville, and ours is in Tryon. The leadership of Grace decided about three years ago that instead of growing up in one huge place, they would grow out instead. Our goal is to saturate Western North Carolina with gospel-centered and culturally relevant churches. Multi-site is the best and the least expensive way to do this. Another benefit of structuring new church plants like this is the relational component. I meet with the other teaching pastors and staff throughout the week as we collaborate in ministry together. As a younger pastor at 39, this is a huge draw for me.

Here is a video that was done last month on the multi-site model at Grace.

Last night I saw The Hurt Locker at the Tryon Theater. Needless to say, I have a new respect for those fighting in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is the trailer.

Read it here.

“The heart of most religions is good advice, good techniques, good programs, good ideas, and good support systems. These drive us deeper into ourselves, to find our inner light, inner goodness, inner voice, or inner resources.

Nothing new can be found inside of us. There is no inner rescuer deep in my soul; I just hear echoes of my own voice telling me all sorts of crazy things to numb my sense of fear, anxiety, and boredom, the origins of which I cannot truly identify.

But the heart of Christianity is Good News. It comes not as a task for us to fulfill, a mission for us to accomplish, a game plan for us to follow with the help of life coaches, but as a report that someone else has already fulfilled, accomplished, followed, and achieved everything for us.”

—Michael Horton, The Gospel-Driven Life (Grand Rapids, MI; Baker Books, 2009), 20.

Well, I took about a month off from the blog. Not sure why. I have been struggling lately, so maybe that is why. I have been struggling with believing the gospel in my own heart for the past month or so, but I am slowly coming around. Tonight was very encouraging. I was at an elders meeting at Grace and those guys are really awesome. I have been on staff with three different churches over the past 14 years and I have been around some elders and thought, “This guy is called to shepherd my heart?” Well, I don’t think that of these men at Grace. They have genuine and authentic hearts for their peeps. We prayed for a family from Grace Foothills that is dealing with a medical issue. That was encouraging for us to pray for them. I led that time in prayer and anointed the man with oil as laid out in James 5. I have no real point to this post other than just saying I can go to bed tonight knowing the love of Jesus for me and my family and that He has called me to work in a very special place at Grace. Thank you, Jesus.

As always, here is some music that I have been listening to that also helps my heart and mind. The last one is for the people that I offended in my sermon this past Sunday.

Here’s a video of Ed Welch on the curriculum, Crossroads: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Addiction (which is available both as a study guide and as a facilitator’s handbook):

Here’s a description:

Every one of us is a potential addict. In a pressure-filled world, the prospect of instant escape can be exhilarating. No matter the object–drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, or sex, just to name a few–addictions lure us. They extend the promise of pleasure. In the end, they deliver emptiness, death, and destruction. What began as an escape from the hassles of life becomes a form of bondage. Addiction is a voluntary slavery. Change doesn’t come easily. But change is possible!

Crossroads was designed as a group study for those struggling with addiction. These ten steps, presented in author Ed Welch’s trademark direct, no-nonsense style, provide a biblical framework for change. Welch is a wise and loving partner who walks beside readers on their journey to freedom. Along the way, they will learn to recognize the patterns of addiction, to choose wisdom over foolish desires, and to cling to the hope they have in Jesus, who sets captives free. The path away from addiction has been laid by a God who is full of surprises, who faithfully pursues those enslaved even though they have deliberately avoided him.

See also Welch’s larger book, Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave: Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel.

In light of the past three sermons that I have preached at Grace Foothills (and this week’s as well), these thoughts by John Piper are very helpful in our understanding that the prosperity gospel (or as I referenced it as “Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”) is a false gospel that is masquerading in many American churches.

We’ve been back in reality now for two weeks and are so humbled and grateful to Make a Wish for their generosity to us for giving us such an extravagant gift of a week in Orlando. Hmmmm, kinda reminds me of the gospel, God’s extravagant grace to us in the Person and Work of Jesus. Anywho, here is a brief video of our trip. Enjoy!

Bono is the “Billy Graham” of musicians. The gospel is preached throughout this whole concert.

Today is a special day. As you know we have been through a lot with my son’s Luke colon over the past year and half. Through a wild series of events, we applied with Make a Wish and today, we are flying to Disney World for the week. Pretty amazing. We are yet again humbled and grateful again for what the Lord gives us. I amy not be able to blog much this week, but you never know! The pic above is Amy and the boys in the limo that picked us up this morning at our home at 5:15 am!

I picked up a book last week by Jared Wilson called “Your Jesus is Too Safe”. It’s one of the many books on my night stand (also reading Donald Miller’s new book and a book by Lauren Winner called “Real Sex”).

Jared Wilson is a Pastor in a Southern church and writes a compelling post on his blog about being missional in the Bible Belt. You can read it here.

I found this brief article today by Tim Keller called “The Gospel is the Key to Change”. If you’ve read Keller’s stuff, this won’t be new, but man, is it good to be reminded of the centrality of the gospel. My heart needs it everyday. How about you?

First, Martin Luther’s Hymn adapted from Psalm 130, “From the Depths of Woe”.

And some other tunes that the Lord is using in me this week…

This past Sunday, I preached a sermon on pursuing deep and authentic relationships driven by the gospel, namely that God pursues us as friends even all the while we were His enemies. The sermon was a little long and could have been so much longer because there is so much to say about the topic. I kept thinking of all kinds of other illustrations from some of my favorites films. I would like to post a scene from Good Will Hunting, but let’s just say there are some colorful words used that may deem that clip inappropriate for The Stewart Blog. So I chose this one instead.

Well, it has been a unique month. After we returned from a week of vacation, we moved into a new house here in Tryon. During that process and for the next two weeks, I got really sick. High fever, my gums were hurting, my stomach felt full, so I had no appetite. In the end, I checked myself in to the ER (for the first time in my life) and after all kinds of tests and x-rays, they pretty much said that everything looked ok internally. But I was still in lots of pain and couldn’t eat. I went to my Doc in Hendo and after talking about what I do for a living and the transition of moving, she said, “Honey, you are dealing with stress and anxiety.” This was such a surprise to me because I am about as laid back as you can get, but stress is a tricky thing. Our bodies can only handle so much. After a few meds she prescribed to me, I am feeling back to normal, eating cookies and milk and such. I believe I lost about 15 pounds in the aftermath of all of that and have noticed my wife making double takes as I walk by.

Today, we just got back from another trip to Winston for more tests on Luke’s colon. The Docs were very encouraged at what they saw and seem to think that there are parts of Luke’s colon that are functioning. This is huge news because it means that they will most likely reattach his colon to his small intestine within the year and see how the plumbing works. We are so thankful for all of you who have been praying for us and Luke throughout this process which has been going on over a year now. God is good.

As we were driving home today, I was listening to my Ipod and was encouraged by these songs. Music is a powerful thing that the Lord uses in my life to remember His grace and beauty. Hope they are an encouragement to you as well.

Well, I am lying in bed with a fever the day before we are moving into our new home. Bummer. So, here is a blog post from McKay Caston, a fellow church planter in Georgia. Enjoy.

Thanks to Jon Huggins for lending me a wonderful book entitiled, Total Church: A Reshaping Around Gospel and Community, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, along with their companion volume/workbook, The Gospel-Centered Church. One line this morning that recharged my heart was this: “Union with Christ (ie, full, legal and relational acceptance by God) is not the goal of sprituality; it is the foundation of spirituality.” In other words, it is not the person who strives to be accepted (justified) who becomes spiritually mature. The person who becomes spiritually mature is the one who believes that he already is fully accepted by grace alone through the imputed righteousness of Jesus alone. So the foundation for growing more mature as a Christian is a continuous confidence in the grace-promises of God in the gospel. Or as the Apostle Peter says, the reason why I do not grow is because I forget that I have been cleansed from my sins (2 Peter 1:9). I believe, help my unbelief.

I am on vacation this week and will be moving all next week (we bought a house!!!), so my blogging will be scarce. Just wanted to give a heads up to the six or so faithful readers of The Stewart Blog. I love you guys.

From the Grace Foothills website:
We’ll be taking about a six week break from 2 Corinthians this summer to study stories from the life of the Old Testament prophet, Elijah. As we walk through 1 Kings 17-19, we’ll discover inspiration, encouragement and also a challenge to move into the lives of others. Although there are vast differences between this period of ancient history and that of the apostle Paul or our own day, our prayer is that we will see the same God, the same story of salvation, hope and grace overarching it all.

To grasp a deeper understanding of Elijah and his historical context read this Introduction to 1 Kings from the ESV Study Bible: 1Kings.pdf

I was seven years old when Elvis died. I remember my Mom crying as she was listening to one of his records. She did the same thing one day in December of 1980 when John Lennon was gunned down by an out of mind fan. Music is so powerful and the musicians and artists that make music have a power that is kind of scary when you think about it.

I remember watching “Motown 25″ on a May night in 1983. I was with my Mom and my older brother, Norm. We watched in amazement at the moves of Michael Jackson. His feet barely touched the floor. We knew that night that something entirely different was coming down the pipeline. As a child of MTV, I followed Michael Jackson’s career just like every other teenager living in the 1980’s.

And then the 1990’s came and Michael started to look a little weird. I was still liking the music though. But then things got very weird. It was difficult to watch. It was kinda like watching Elvis perform in the mid-1970’s when everyone knew he must’ve been abusing not only drugs, but food as well.

Someone told me this week that Michael Jackson’s father called him “big nose” when he was a kid. Then you look at the difference between his face in the 1970’s and the late 1990’s and into the 2000’s. Something tells me that Michael was looking for his father’s approval and he never received it, even after he became the biggest pop star ever. That got me thinking about how we relate to God sometimes. How often do we strive to win the Heavenly Father’s approval by our own self efforts and self reliance. I am more like Michael Jackson in that aspect. That is the screen saver of my heart. I continually forget that I already have the Father’s approval because of what Christ has done for me. His perfect life. His sacrificial death. For me. Credited to my account. The smile of the Father is on me because of Christ. I don’t believe Michael Jackson ever knew that for himself, but I could be wrong.

Say what you may about how jacked up and messed up he was. I still watch these videos through the eyes of a 13 year old kid growing up in Charlotte and I am still amazed.

And a few covers and other clips from Michael Jackson’s influence in pop culture:

Many of the readers of this blog know that I am the Pastor of Grace Foothills, a new congregation of Grace Community Church. We’ve been at it for just over a year now (our first service in the Tryon Theater was in March 2008). It has just occurred to me that Grace Foothills is a church for the un-churched, the de-churched, and the over-churched.

When we were dreaming of planting a new church in Polk County, we wanted to plant a church where believers could bring their unbelieving friends to church and their unbelieving friends would not be freaked out or made to feel uncomfortable during the service. Grace is a “seeker-sensible” church where folks, no matter where they are on the faith spectrum, can sit and process the worship service without the distractions of confusing Christian jargon. The music and the message are relevant to our culture and the goal of the message is to encourage the believer with the gospel and to challenge the unbeliever with the gospel. Both believers and unbelievers are in need of the gospel. Thus, Grace is a church for the un-churched. Someone who has no church background can walk in and comprehend what is being said and what is being lived out.

We also wanted to plant a church for the over-churched. Many churches run on the fuel of programs. Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Sunday night church, Wednesday night suppers, choir practice, youth groups, VBS, Christian Karate, etc. All of that wears me out. What happens when churches operate under that kind of structure is that everyone, especially the staff, gets tired and they lose sight of the mission of the church that Jesus gave the church, to be a window of grace to the community that the church is in. Grace is a place that is intentionally low on programs. There are just a few things that we do: Sunday morning worship service, Community groups during the school year, discipleship classes in eight to ten week blocks, youth group and random events (we brought U2 to the Tryon Theater this past Spring). Thus, Grace is a church for the over-churched.

In the South, the majority of folks grew up in the church in some way or another. I grew up in a non-Christian home in Charlotte, but we still attended church. There is a huge population of folks who grew up in the church, but as they grew older they left the church all together. These folks are the de-churched. Grace is a church for the de-churched. Matt Chandler, a church re-planter in Dallas, explains the de-churched in this clip from the Advance Conference which myself and a few others attended in Durham a few weeks ago:

Our hope is that Grace Foothills would be a gospel-centered church (focusing on the Person and Work of Jesus and the welcoming heart of God through Christ and the Holy Spirit) and that Grace Foothills would be a blessing to the community, whether someone is un-churched, de-churched, or over-churched.

I posted the audio a few weeks ago from the Advance Conference that me and 4 of my friends attended in Durham. Now the videos are available by clicking here.

As you walk through the doors of the Tryon Theater on a Sunday morning, you will smell good coffee and hear an eclectic mix of music. Before the service begins at 10:30, you can hear an acoustic blend of musicians who are singing about truth and beauty. Some are asking questions that only the gospel can answer. Truth and beauty can be seen all over and we are saying, “Listen, there’s Jesus, there’s the gospel in that song.” Here is a sampling of what may be heard before tomorrow’s service at Grace Foothills.

This month’s cover article in CT by Tim Stafford, “How Tim Keller Found Manhattan”

Audio from the Advance Conference is online. Listen to it by clicking here. Also, photos from the Advance Conference by clicking here.

Vintage 21, an Acts 29 churchplant in downtown Raleigh, created these videos on how wrong our perceptions of Jesus really are. These videos do not make fun of Jesus, rather they make fun of how we perceive Jesus to be.

Well, day one at the Advance Conference is over. I am sitting here in our hotel room watching Conan O’brien, reflecting on all the cool things we heard today. I am here in Durham with 4 of my friends from Grace Foothills. This conference is all about God’s love for the local church and how the local church can resurge by looking at Jesus and being on mission for Jesus. The gospel is the center of what God is up to in the church and when a church has no gospel centrality, it ceases being a church and becomes a museum, country club, or a boneyard.

Today we heard from Mark Driscoll, Tyler Jones, Bryan Chapel, and Matt Chandler. All of their talks will be online soon and when they are, I will post the link in this blog.

This Thursday I am going to a conference in Durham with five folks form Grace Foothills. I am pumped. Some of the speakers will be John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Bryan Chapel. Click here for more info.

I don’t know if you know who Penn and Teller are, but they are famous magicians who have been around since the 1980’s. They are known for their use of humor in their shows. These guys on a regular basis make fun of and mock guys like David Copperfield. In October of 1991, I was in New York City with a group of students from ASU and a few of us went to see Penn and Teller’s off Broadway show called, “Penn and Teller Rot In Hell” (don’t really know why that was the name of the show). During the intermission, Penn and Teller came into the audience to invite a few folks to be in their next routine. I was one of the folks they chose and I along with other audience members were in a routine called “Mofo, the Psychic Gorilla”. After the show, they hung out with folks in the lobby of the theater and they signed my program (in the photo below).

Why am I telling all of this? Because Penn is an atheist and he is a very well versed atheist. Recently, a man went to their show and gave Penn a Bible and he was touched by this man’s goodness and authenticity. There are many in the church who need to follow this man’s example. Here is Penn’s response below.

“Lord, you have placed me in your church as an overseer and pastor. You see how unfit I am to administer this great and difficult office. Had I previously been without help from you, I would have ruined everything long ago. Therefore I call upon you. I gladly offer my mouth and heart to your service. I would teach the people and I would continue to learn. To this end I shall meditate diligently on your Word. Use me, dear Lord, as your instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I were to continue alone, I would quickly ruin everything. Amen.”

–Martin Luther