Update your links, folks! I’m moving the blog to a Wordpress site.

I’ve been wanting to be able to blog from my iPhone and with adding a few other things, it just makes more sense to have it hosted by a mother-site for now.

So, head over to chrishull.wordpress.com for all my bloggedy goodness. Or, if you just want to continue reading my crap. Either way, it’s the same stuff.

Again, that’s http://chrishull.wordpress.com

Go, read, comment…

I just finished read “Eyes Wide Open” the latest book by Jud Wilhite. Jud is senior pastor of Central Christian Fellowship, Las Vegas. Lorana and I had the opportunity to meet him last October at the Deadly Viper Shindig after Catalyst one evening.

The subtitle of the book is “See and Live the Real You.” I must admit that I had the song parody going through my head: “Will the real Chris Hull please stand up, please stand up, please stand up…” Where do I find the real me?

Well, this book lays out the path and gives me direction.

If you are aware of Jud Wilhite then you know that he majors on grace. Grace to the extent of one of his previous books titled “Uncensored Grace”. No matter who we are or what we’ve done, Jud reminds us that God extends his grace to us and after we’ve accepted it, we are free of judgement.

Going further down the path, we are led to get away from seeing ourselves as in a mirror. We are instead supposed to get to know God and how we are made in his image. This leads us to seeing ourselves with his eyes and getting rid of the masks that we use to hide ourselves.

Jud continues, discussing themes of community and restoration of the world. We are all called to become the church to a world that needs us so much.

One of the things that I liked so much about the book was Jud’s use of real stories to illustrate his point. These were stories of well known people and stories of those that we may have never heard of otherwise. The stories remind me that this path is possible to follow. Although the lives of those walking it are often messy and filled with trials, God is always there in the midst.

Like I said, I just finished it, but I already feel like going back to the front of the book and starting all over. I need this message.

and, how I hate you…

I’m cleaning out my Reader subscriptions. You’d think I’d be going through and cleaning out all of the blogs that aren’t updated very much, but no, I’m keeping those. I still have hope and want to nurture them, just to see if they might grow in the future. You know who you are… I want you to write more. Just because you don’t write enough, I refuse to walk away.

What I’m taking out are the blogs that are updated frequently, but are more time killers than substance. Humor blogs like the “Overheard” blogs. They gotta go. I can end up with 50 entries from them in a very short time if I don’t keep up. Wading through them on my iPhone, just to get to the ones I really want to read, is becoming tiresome. I have so many blogs that I want to read daily. They are important to me because they make me think. They fuel the fires of my imagination. They put ideas into my head. Those are the ones that I want to read.

Now, I have a question that is occurring to me. The blogs that I go to first are friends and family, naturally, but after that, there is a trend. I love reading spiritual ones that challenge me but this trend goes another direction. Maybe in upcoming posts, I’ll start pimping some of my favorites.

I’m finding myself reading a lot of marketing blogs. Sure, I’m in sales, but that’s not really the same.

Another area that I keep going to is food service blogs. If I run across a chef or server blog, I subscribe and indulge.

God, Branding, and Restaurants… odd mixture?

What direction does your blog habit take you?

I’m going to confess something that I don’t like about myself. It’s also something that I’m having a little bit of a tough time dealing with. It’s a thought process that keeps going on in my head, even though I want it out.

Here it is: I keep worrying that I’m going to a plastic church.

Andy Stanley is not the cause of these thoughts. As a communicator, I believe that he is unparalleled. God has worked through him to reach my heart and to change things within me that went unaltered for four decades of church going. Andy is constantly being used by God to bring truth into our lives. So often, things that I know I’ve heard before are reinterpreted and shown to me in a completely different manner. No, my pastor is not the problem.

I’ve thought through this a lot lately. Why do I feel like things aren’t real?

As I ponder all of this, one idea keeps emerging. All my life, I have been told that this kind of church isn’t what God wants.

I’ve mostly gone to small to medium sized independent Baptist churches. As Lorana and I were telling our story to our small group, I joked that they were the kind of churches that thought Southern Baptists were way too liberal. I’ve told my bride stories and experiences that just left her shaking her head in wonder. I remember a thought that I read once, that people in churches spend far more time on the things that separate them from other churches and not nearly enough on the things that bind us together.

I’ve been a part of that. I’ve heard and parroted that mega-churches must be watering down their message to attract that many people. “They make it too easy for sinners to be comfortable in church. If sinners are comfortable coming to your church, something is wrong.” Yeah, I’ve really heard that line.

I’ve had plenty of time to stand or sit in the church hallway of NPCC, waiting for Lorana to get done working in Resources. I’ve watched people stream by on their way out of church. Singles, couples, families… I’ve seen them all. Some dress to be seen. Some chatter loudly with their friends as they’re leaving. I wonder as I observe, “What did the message mean to you? What did you learn today that will be carried throughout your week?”

My upbringing wants to point out all these people who are obviously fake. They came to church for the social aspect. They came to be seen or because NPCC is THE church to go to in this area. They are comfortable sitting in the service, enjoying the atmosphere, and then going on their way, done with church for a week.

My brain keeps saying “FAKE, FAKE, FAKE!”

Then, I remember that it is by design. Our church service is like the foyer of your home. Strangers can make it that far. It’s the first level of your welcome to them. We provide a way to get to know them just a little. The people who want more end up in environments that are more like your living room. It’s a place to get to know each other better and to learn more about them and have them learn more about you and your God.

Then, life is lived in the kitchen. It’s where the real talking is done. Family, crisis, sin, hurt… all these come out in kitchen talks. These are our small groups. This is where Lorana and I will do life with our friends from NPCC. It is where we are open, needy, begging for God to work. People in our small group have been so open and so caring. There is not a single plastic person there. It does no good to be fake, it only harms yourself. We look forward to living, learning, and growing with the people who will care for us so much. Last week, Lorana posted a prayer request, and we got an out-pouring of love from them.

This is a more real church than I have ever known.

Sure, I’d like to be famous and make lots of money. It would be so cool for people to be lined up, out the door, waiting for me to sign my name or scribble a note for them in a book that I had written. Would my works last, though? Would they stand the test of time? I know that this blog hasn’t changed lives.

I want what I do to be appreciated, yes, but more than that, I want to make a difference somewhere.

My story has not always been pretty, but it is a story of grace. I want that to be the message. If nothing else happens, I want for those who hear me or read what I write to be aware of the great changes that have come about in my life.

There should be tears of pain and joy.

A great longing for something better should be sparked.

I want hope to grow.

Throughout my lifetime and beyond, I want to have an impact on lives. Decades and centuries may go by and no one may remember Chris Hull. But if I have done that… if the Kingdom of Heaven has advanced because of what God has done through me, I’m ok with it.