Tyler Braun's Blog, page 27
February 13, 2014
Finding Hope in an Irresistible God
I’ve always been fond of the doctrine of irresistible grace, also sometimes referred to as efficacious grace. The case for this belief or understanding within Christianity is usually connected to John 6:65 when Jesus has just told the disciples some of them didn’t truly believe. He follows that statement by saying, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them” (NIV).
A typical definition for irresistible grace would go something like this:
Those who come...
February 11, 2014
Who is Art For? You or Others?
Maybe the title of the post poses the question in terms too exclusive, but there’s a lot of me-first propaganda out there for creatives to grab a hold of.
When I published my first book a year a half ago, I never would have imagined that the subject of creativity and art would become a dominant theme in publishing in the subsequent 18 months. I titled the last chapter of my book “Creativity,” using that theme to capture how I felt it meant to live the Christian life in a way that honors Christ...
February 6, 2014
Pointing Fingers As People Walk Out the Back Door
Pastors are weary of what they call “the back door”—the people who leave without saying anything, giving the pastor no idea of why. The back door is one reason church life is difficult. People who you have given your life for sometimes leave at the drop of a hat.
I’ve seen something interesting happen online in the past few weeks. Recently Relevant Magazine featured an article on really bad reasons to leave church. As a pastor, I agreed with the article. As someone who knows people who have le...
February 4, 2014
Different Than We Imagined
Recently I’ve been studying books on the subject of heaven. Books such asHeavenby Randy Alcorn,Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright, andHeaven is a Place on Earthby Michael Wittmer.
One of the overwhelming themes from all of these works is that heaven is not some immaterial place in the sky where the souls of Christians float to following their death or the return of Jesus. Heaven is a physical place, including the resurrection of physical bodies, on earth.
The ramifications from this are numerous,...
January 30, 2014
A Top Heavy Life (or Why Bloggers Quit and Pastors Burnout)
I’ve watched Deadliest Catch on Discovery Channel off and on since it started almost a decade ago. Partially because Rose and I have a family friend on the show, and partially because I like to imagine whether I could withstand the difficulty of the job.
Just about every season there is an ice storm that comes in a flash. These massive boats, carrying literal tons of metal on their deck can become extremely top heavy. It’s a normal scene when men are climbing on top of mounds of crab pots, chi...
January 28, 2014
A Short Guide to Cultural Engagement in the Pacific Northwest
A little over a decade ago every pastor in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho embraced the new moniker of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) being the least churched region in the USA. It was a battle cry, a call to arms of cultural engagement for Christians living in the area.
Now when you walk into churches, especially within urban PNW settings, you can see the mark the culture has left on the church. Many other regions have studied Portland, Seattle, and its churches, to see what changes they have made...
January 23, 2014
Teaching Isn’t About Giving Answers
I hate the idea of becoming Mr. Pastor Answer Man. A guy approached me recently after I gave a sermon: “I’m struggling with what you shared. I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do now.”
Inside I’m screaming, “It’s not my job to give you the answer.” But thankfully I’ve developed a filter that didn’t exist when I was 18, and said instead, “Let the Holy Spirit do His work in you. If you seek, He will pave the way.”
I think one of the reasons pastors are some of the least respected people in A...
January 21, 2014
When My Church Teaches Me About Worship
6 months ago a woman in her seventies at my church stopped me in the lobby at the end of the morning gatherings. She had tears in her eyes, as she usually does. My dad says people get softer as they get older. She’s a great example of that.
“Tyler, I have to tell you. I’ve been doing this worship in church thing for over 50 years. You’re the best worship leader I’ve ever worshiped with.”
Floored. Astounded. Shocked.
What do you say to that?
“Wow, thanks so much. That’s probably the best complimen...
January 16, 2014
The Kind of Relevance That Actually Makes a Difference
Spend time in conversation with just about any Christian and the importance of relevance is bound to come up. Years ago I was at a church where relevance was one of the key areas of focus when it came to ministry.
And before you start throwing stones at how awful that is, consider the other options, irrelevance. What’s worse: trying to be relevant and failing, or just being irrelevant?
I don’t think being relevant is the problem.
It’s how we get there.
A few months ago I helped launch a couples g...
January 14, 2014
The Danger of Recognition
I follow over 1,000 people on Twitter, and a good amount of those people I would describe as friends. Sure, we’ve likely never met face to face, but I put enough effort to engage conversations with them, that I sense that I know them. I could pick them out of a crowd, and sit down for a long dialogue over coffee with each of them.
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When I moved back to my hometown 17 months ago many people who I had limited interaction with during my teenage years assumed I knew them. Maybe it was too hard to...
