Buzzard Blog

The Gospel Coalition: Bay Area. Regional Conference May 30th.

For the past few months I've been working with some guys to form The Gospel Coalition: Bay Area, a local chapter of The Gospel Coalition. This Saturday, May 30th, from 9am-Noon, we're holding our first official gathering at Central Peninsula Church. This Regional Conference is devoted to a series of addresses, small group discussion, and relationship building--all driven by the theme: Gospel-Centered Ministry in the Bay Area.

All Bay Area church leaders are warmly invited to attend (anyone who has any type of staff or lay leadership role in a Bay Area church). In preparation, we're asking all who attend to be familiar with The Gospel Coalition Foundation Documents.

I'm looking forward to watching what God does with this little grassroots gospel group we're forming.

Bay Area people, spread the word and join us this Saturday. Non-Bay Area readers, spread the word and pray for us.

Cost: nothing
(free coffee and bagels will be provided)

Directions: Central Peninsula Church 1005 Shell Blvd Foster City, CA 94404

How to Register: Don't, just show up at 9am on May 30th.

SCHEDULE:

Session 1: What is Gospel-Centered Ministry? Justin Buzzard and Mark Mitchell
   
Small Group Table Discussion

Session 2: Why Gospel-Centered Ministry? Travis Marsh

Small Group Table Discussion

Session 3: How to Build Gospel-Centered Ministry? Jeff Louie

Small Group Table Discussion

Session 4: Panel Discussion/Q&A

PS. See D.A. Carson's recent interview with CT about TGC and his mention of TGC: Bay Area.

Memorizing Scripture

My former pastor in Santa Barbara taught me to memorize Scripture, especially as part of my preaching of Scripture. On average I memorize the text of one out of every three sermons I preach. I've been doing this for three years now and this habit has proved immensely helpful for me and the congregation in "getting" the text. There's a striking power in the memorized Word, especially as the speaker is able to emote the text.

So, I appreciated today's interview by JT with Max McLean. Here's an excerpt and what looks like a great book by Max:

Do you have any counsel for those who want to grow in their ability to memorize Scripture and to retell it with integrity and creativity?

That’s an interesting question because my friend Warren Bird and I have written a book entitled, Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture, that will be published by Zondervan this fall. It does not deal with my major theatrical productions but how churches can elevate the scripture reading to a central moment in the worship experience. Of course integrity and creativity are key elements of the process.

As for memorizing scripture, it works best for me if memorization is a byproduct of meditation. Certainly it is an objective to memorize the text. But the act of memorizing the text can be hollow if it is not a result of deep meditation. When I actively interact and engage with a text there is a conversation going on between the words I’m looking at on a page and my heart and soul. Of course that is the primary way the Holy Spirit works in our lives. The result is that the text starts speaking to me. As a result I find myself knowing the words of the text and how they fit together very well. The final act of memorizing becomes much easier.

Of course to keep it in your heart and head requires that you revisit that text regularly or you might lose it. When I’m doing a presentation and I go "dry" or forget my place, I usually stop and say to the audience something like, "You know when you hide God’s word in your heart, sometimes you can’t find it!" I usually get a pretty big laugh after that. They start to think, “Oh, he’s human after all.”

A Pastor's Prayer

"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, Lectures on Genesis. Quoted by Derek Tidball, Builders & Fools: Leadership the Bible Way p. 6

Love, Not Self-Protection

This week I've been preparing to preach 1 Corinthians 13. On Sunday I'll be using this great, well known quote from C.S. Lewis.

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."

Happy Birthday Taylor Buzzard!

Happy 29th Birthday Taylor, from your 3 Buzzard boys. We love you.

Tullian Tchividjian Talks, Buzzard Eats

A few weeks ago at The Gospel Coalition conference I enjoyed eating lunch with Tullian Tchividjian (see the new CT profile) and some other dudes. Tullian is a great guy. Today a friend on Facebook pointed out that the brief interview Resurgence did with Tullian at the table has me eating a hamburger in the background. Oops. I thought I was out of camera view.

Tullian Tchividjian from The Resurgence on Vimeo.

Saturday Shot

-Buzzard Boys enjoying a favorite spot of ours in the Bay Area

18 Minutes with Kent Hughes

A few months ago at our CPC Men's Retreat I conducted an 18 minute interview with Kent Hughes. In the interview Kent sketches his life story and answers questions about his favorite book of the Bible, the gospel, cabin building, book recommendations, and being a godly man in 2009.

Download Buzzard Hughes Interview 2009

A Quest For More: 17 Big Ideas & Final Questions

It's been several weeks since I finished Paul Tripp's stimulating book, A Quest For More: Living for something bigger than you. I found it helpful how Tripp stated the big idea (he calls it "the bottom line") of each chapter at the outset of each chapter and finished each chapter with a "final question."

Below are both the 17 big ideas and the 17 final questions of the 18 chapter book (above is the table of contents). It's worth your time to work through this list. It's worth your time to work through the whole book.

1. You were created to be part of something big. What is the big thing that you are living for right now?

2. Sin causes us to talk about more, but to settle for less. What is the "less" that tends to capture your attention?

3. Since sin has damaged everything, God calls us to be concerned about everything. Have you treated the size of God's grace as if it were no longer than the size of your personal concerns?

4. Each of our lives is shaped by the war between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of self. What earth-bound treasures and anxiety-bound needs tend to control you and your responses to life?

5. You and I are always being civilized and civilizing others into the culture of some kind of kingdom. In what ways do you try to get the people around you to follow the rules of your kingdom of self?

6. The most dangerous thing about the kingdom of self is how easily it masquerades as the kingdom of God. In your everyday life right now, where are you telling yourself that you are living for God when you are really living for yourself?

7. Sin causes all of us to shrink the size of our lives to the size of our lives. Has the energy of your life been expended in the narrow world of personal wants, needs, and concerns?

8. Big kingdom living mean living with Christ at the center of everything I think, desire, say, and do. What tend to compete with Christ for the center of your world?

9. In calling us to die, Christ is actually rescuing us from death and giving us real life. In your everyday situations and relationships, where are you finding it hard to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Christ?

10. At street level, big kingdom living is Jesus-focused living. What is the focus of your life's energies and intentions?

11. This side of eternity, there should be a dissatisfaction in all of us with the way things are. What are the things that make you groan?

12. God calls us to the vertically interactive lifestyle of living in moment-by-moment harmony with him. Where in your life are you tempted to write your own music rather than making harmonious music with the king?

13. Big kingdom living is all about the humility of seeking forgiveness and the grace of granting it. Do you find joy in the liberating lifestyle of seeking forgiveness?

14. Life in the kingdom of God is like waiting for the love of your life to return. Where in your life are the "other lovers" that compete with your love for Christ?

15. Jesus calls us to offer him everything so that we can be free from the things that have a hold on us. Whose kingdom are you making sacrifices for right now?

16. Life in the big kingdom is all about being good and angry. Right now, where do you live every day, whose kingdom does your anger serve?

17. True hope, the kind that will never disappoint, is never hope in a thing, but hope in a person.

    Where do you tend to look for daily hope?

SENT, Luke 4:42-5:11

My sermon from Sunday:

SENT. Luke 4:42-5:11. A message on evangelism.