The K.U.-Mangino Situation

Those of us in Kansas have watched Mark Mangino turn a laughable K.U. football program in to one of the better ones in the nation. This year the team has hit a rough patch for sure.

Now some players and parents are complaining about Mangino's tactics. Indeed, it appears the coach has made some inappropriate comments and poked his finger in to the chest of some of his players...but....come on!!! Are we witnessing the biggest generation of wimps ever?

Parents should let their sons grow up.

The players should learn how to become men.

ESPN.com - Mangino defends his tactics, program: "Mangino defends his tactics, program
ESPN.com news services

Kansas coach Mark Mangino defended himself and the Jayhawks football program on Thursday, speaking on Sports Radio 610 in Kansas City.

Mangino, who is faced with allegations of verbal abuse and inappropriate physical contact against players, pointed to the team's success on the field and high graduation rates.

'We are sending kids out into the world prepared,' Mangino told the radio station. 'But I can't do the work of some parents, what they should have done before [the players] got to me. Some of these guys are bitter, they are bitter and [the allegations] are about that.

'There are some things that happen for 18 years of their lives that I can't change in four years of college. Can't do it. Can't change their behaviors, can't change their attitudes.'

Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins has launched an investigation into Mangino allegedly grabbing, yelling at and putting his finger in the chest of a player who had been laughing during a walkthrough or practice prior to the Colorado game on Oct. 17, two people briefed on the situation told ESPN's Joe Schad on Tuesday night. The Kansas City Star identified the player as senior linebacker Arist Wright.

Since then, several former Kansas players come forward with allegations of verbal abuse.
'There are people who want to embarrass the program for their 15 minutes of fame,' Mangino told the radio station.

Mangino's team started the season 5-0 but has since lost five straight heading into a game at No. 3 Texas on Saturday"

A Christmas Carol 2009- a movie worth seeing and contemplating

I just took my boys to see the latest rendition of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I admit being skeptical about Jim "Ace Ventura" Carrey providing the character and voice for Scrooge.

The movie was done so well! Carrey was terrific. It was very true to the book and Disney spared us of their modernizing shenanigans.

I love this classic by Charles Dickens. I quibble with it's lack of Christocentricity and a potentially misleading premise about what makes a person right with God -by good deeds (works). Dickens was a waffling Anglican, it's difficult to pinpoint his theology. A Christmas Carol considered theologically or doctrinally is deficient. A Christmas Carol as a lesson in the danger of idolizing money, the importance of compassion, generosity, and benevolence it is excellent. Further, A Christmas Carol provides a vivid wake up call about the brevity of life.

To be clear, a person cannot be right with God by showing kindness to people or simply being "good". We can only be made right with God by faith in Christ (and His finished work on the Cross in our stead). When we are brought in to union with Christ by faith, we are new creatures and good works will certainly follow, but the order of this transformation is important to note. In the character of Ebenezer Scrooge one might be left to think God will judge us by how many good deeds we do then determine if we get in to heaven or are doomed to wander in a tortrous eternity like Jacob Marley. If that's how it works, we're all scrooged (pardon the play on words!). None of us have done more good deeds than bad, none of us. Only the righteousness of Christ, which is ours by faith, meets the requirements of our Holy God. I'll even say it's unrealistic to think someone as vile, selfish, and heartless as Scrooge could experience such an apparently lifelong turn around without the regneration of the Holy Spirit that comes with a vital relationship to Christ. (read Titus 3:5-7 and Galatians 1-2 for clarity on this important point)

A Christmas Carol is valuable and classic, but don't miss it's deficiencies.

Go see it. It's worth it. It provided excellent fodder for discussion between my boys and I.

Warning: it is an intense movie dealing bluntly and graphically with the coldness and finality of death. I probably shouldn't have taken my 7 year old son Jordan, the images were pretty vivid and scary to him.

KC Wizards 2009 Highlights

I'm a KC Wizards season ticket holder, I love going to the games. This season was somewhat disappointing as the Wizards missed the playoffs for the first time in the last three seasons.

MLS is improving quality every year and is currently structured for genuine parity between the clubs (with the exception of L.A. who the league seems bent on making a powerhouse). I'm not sure the Wizards have the right personnel to improve too much next year and being a year and a half away from a soccer specific stadium means no major additions coming soon. Peter Vermes took over the coaching duties mid season and will have an entire pre-season to get the team ready so who knows what will happen. They were only about 3 wins out of a playoff spot.

Nevertheless, here's a nice compilation of the season highlights for 2009.

Mountain Oysters...Yum!

Nathan and I are hunting down in SE Kansas. One of the great corollaries to our hunting escapades is staying with our dear friends, the Blythes.

LeeBelle can cook some good grub, not the least of which is the latest batch of "Mountain Oysters"- fresh "picked" today!!! I like mine with ketchup (0f course) and some diet coke to wash 'em down.

Herd Management by Reepicheep continues

I harvested another doe this morning. Wackin' and stackin' is fun!!

After I arrowed the doe, I had a great encounter with a large, mature deer. I took too long to decide if I wanted to take him, then realized (after he was out of a clear shooting lane) that I made a mistake. He was old and gnarly. His rack was very wide, 7 main heavy points with lots of "junk" around the bases. Easily a 250 pound deer. I should have shot.

I'll be hunting hard between Nov. 9 and Thanksgiving. I hope I'll get another chance at a big boy!

For real?

In a new category of "Things you'll never see at Redeemer" I just read this on the Aquila Report:

Churches Going to the Dogs
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 14:25

LOS ANGELES - (AP) To attract new members, the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles has turned God's house into a doghouse for one service each Sunday.

The 30-minute "Canines at Covenant" worship service features individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Tom Eggebeen, says many Christians love their pets as much as human family members, but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God. Eggebeen believes, "When we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that."

Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, says she has heard of half-a-dozen other congregations that hold dog-friendly worship services, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

World Champions

Unless you live under a rock, you know the Yankees have won their 27th World Championship.

Time to Hunt

November is the greatest and best month of the year. I have almost 2 weeks of vacation coming up and I'm trying to spend as many mornings in a tree stand as possible.

Harvested a nice doe this morning.

Making the best of it

Here's a great clip where Castleton is playing away and scores a nice goal. There are no fans to cheer, so what do you do? Check it out:

Two Passions

I can't get out to hunt again until Tuesday morning so I took a break from sermon prep to get some practice in. This picture reveals two specific things I am passionate about this time of year!!

Texas Football

Football is religion in Texas. After a recent loss to a mediocre Texas A&M team, Coach Mike Leach of Texas Tech lashed out at his players for not listening to the coaches.

Get a load of who Leach blames for the Red Raiders miserable play!!!!

Best Reformation Celebration Costume(s)

We had our annual "Reformation Celebration" at church last night. There were many excellent, creative, and elaborate costumes devised and worn.

My favorite, however, was very simple, yet profound. Here are the Branson kids wearing shirts that capture Luther's historic statement at Worms-

Reformation Day

Today we remember Martin Luther's posting of the 95 protests against the Roman Church in 1517.

The above picture is Luther's "trial" at Worms. Below is the 2003 rendering of the same in a decent movie about Luther. A funny little story about this movie- when it came out a bunch of us Redeemer guys went to see it, 10 or so of us. The theater was relatively empty, but when Luther made his final stand as depicted below, we all stood in unison and cheered as though Rocky had just knocked out Apollo Creed. Great stuff!



Also, there has been a great discussion going on under my earlier post. Check it out here. It will give you a good picture of the main differences between Roman Catholicism and Reformed Christianity.

Vulture v. Windmill

I can't figure out how/why someone was filming this-

Excellent Post concerning "returning" to Rome and Sola Scriptura

Pastor Jay Bennett's blog alerted me to a very insightful critique of Francis Beckwith's recent book about his "return" to the Roman Catholic Church from a Baptist/Evangelical affiliation (he was president of Evangelical Theological Society). It deals with the matter of Sola Scriptura that is so often discussed here. A sample excerpt from the Guy Davies post:

Increasingly Beckwith struggled with the Protestant teaching of sola scriptura, finding the Catholic teaching where God reveals himself through Holy Scripture and the traditions of the Church more appealing. Of course, if Church teaching is a source of continuing revelation alongside Scripture, then it doesn't matter that certain Catholic dogmas can't be found in the Bible. On that basis the primacy of the Pope, purgatory, the Marian doctrines and so on may be accepted simply as the authoritative dogmas of the Church. The fact that they have no evident biblical foundation is besides the point. The Church has infallibly pronounced that these dogmas must be accepted by the faithful and that's that. However, it might be objected that Beckwith has not properly understood what the Reformers meant by sola scriptura. He seems to have had a rather biblicist understanding of the doctrine that excludes the role of the church as reader and teacher of Holy Scripture. By sola scriptura, the Reformers did not mean to separate the Bible from the Church. Rather they insisted that the Holy Spirit speaking in Scripture is the supreme authority in the Church. The Church has ministerial authority to interpret and bear witness to the message of the Bible, but the Church and her traditions remain under the critical authority of God's written Word. The Church may restate the teaching of Scripture using other than biblical language in order to make its message plain, but she cannot add to God's self-revelation in Holy Scripture.

New Cross at Redeemer

Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

There were several parts of the new sanctuary design that were saved for future generations to add. Eventually we would love to see beautiful stained glass added and a pipe organ placed in a balcony from which the choir could sing. Another element that was planned for but not immediately placed was a cross. As God’s providence would have it, a specially designated gift was given to provide a cross for the sanctuary. It is a simple Celtic design that brings a sense of completion to the sanctuary.

An empty cross is a symbol of Christ’s finished, redemptive work, plain and simple. The cross is not a symbol of Jesus Himself, but rather what He did for us. The cross is not an object to be worshiped or otherwise venerated in any way. Early Reformed churches removed crucifixes (crosses with Jesus being crucified) from sanctuaries in the 16th century because of their misuse. Many Reformed folk still object to a cross in a worship area. I respect such a conviction, but don't personally share it. Now, some 500 years after the Reformation, without the same idolatrous Roman baggage, the symbol of the empty cross serves as a reminder and declaration of what we believe and is affirmed in the Apostle’s Creed - “Who (Jesus) was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried”.

May the whole of Redeemer’s worship space help us to reflect upon the holiness and grace of our God, for His glory alone.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Sarah's song for "Mr. B"

I had the distinct pleasure to officiate the wedding of my little brother in law Brett yesterday.

I started dating Shari when Brett was nine years old. It's been a total thrill to watch him grow physically and spiritually over these past 17 plus years. Brett began teaching at our school, Westminster Christian Academy, four years ago. Three years ago a lovely, sweet, godly woman named Sarah came to teach also. Long story short, they fell in love and got married Saturday.

During the ceremony Sarah surprised Brett with a cute little song about how they met and what she looks forward to. "Mr B." is what the students call Brett, it's shorter than Mr. Busenitz.



Needless to say, we are ecstatic that God has brought Brett and Sarah together.