God wants us to build, that we may grow, and he wants us to grow, right? Now, get back to work!

I wonder if the visions God is sending us wouldn’t be seen more clearly if our buildings were not blocking the view? It is amazing to me how these "visions" so consistently arise to take a town or a city for Christ and yet the city continues to spiral into spiritual decay long after the building is operational. It is amazing how many visions there are over buildings and how few there are over the carelessness or mismanagement of church funds.

But the drumbeat of the American church goes on while theological amnesia continues to set in. For no where in the New Testament do we find expectations, commands or even an opinion as to where those in Christ should assemble. No where do we read of Peter urging for larger building space to be secured to hold the onrush of Jewish converts, or of Paul begging the Gentiles to erect coliseum-sized structures to hold the swelling ranks of new Gentile believers.

What do we find in the Scriptures? We find that we are told how we should individually assemble: frequently, sincerely and in Christ’s name (Matt. 18:20, Acts 2:46) and we find that we are told that we should support those who preach the Gospel (2 Cor. 9:6-15). But it seems that while we wrestle with the extra-biblical "where" we have tossed aside the biblical "how" and "why" that is so critical to our faith.

From brokenmessenger.com

"Each famous author of antiquity whom I recover places a new offence and another cause of dishonour to the charge of earlier generations, who, not satisfied with their own disgraceful barrenness, permitted the fruit of other minds, and the writings that their ancestors had produced by toil and application, to perish through insufferable neglect. Although they had nothing of their own to hand down to those who were to come after, they robbed posterity of its ancestral heritage." — Petrarch (1304-1374)

This quote captures my state of mind as I browse through a Christian bookstore.

1. Coffee brewed from beans roasted on my back porch. So far I've had great results with a hot air popcorn popper and Costa Rican and Ethiopian green beans from Lola Savannah in Houston.

2. Energy drinks like Monster and Rockstar. These are made from mostly carbonated sugar water and citric acid and Marketing, I know.

3. My favorite beers are from Real Ale Brewing in Blanco, Texas, Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, and Guinness in Dublin.

4. My favorite wines are from Becker Vineyards in Fredericksburg, Texas (especially the Iconoclast Cabernet and the Vigonier), and Rubicon Estate in California (especially the Coppola Rosso and Bianco).

5. Somehow I acquired a taste for sparkling water. I'll drink just about any kind so I usually choose the cheapest I can find that is bottled in glass... Gerolsteiner, San Pellegrino, Apollinaris. I've stopped buying Perrier since I read an article about how arrogant and demanding the union workers in the bottling plant behave.

6. Coca-cola. The most successful cross-cultural missionaries in the worldly sense... and guess what, it tastes great.

-- Bono at the Willow Creek Leadership Summitt.