Old Blog Content

Combining My Journals

Scott Bane — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:28:28 +0000

Some of you know that I have been keeping (well, "keeping" is an overstatement) two separate web journals for some time now. The ridiculousness of this idea has finally dawned on me... I know, I am slow to catch on, but don't forget that I'm from Indiana. Anyway, here is the full content (entries and comments) from coastlandblog.com. Coastlandblog has now been decommissioned, but I might write something in this category from time to time, on this site. With that in mind, I've added a "CoastlandBlog Archive" section and an "RSS" subscription button to the sidebar.

If you see something in here that impacts you or inspires a comment, I'll certainly still see it and will be glad to engage in the dialogue.

Peace.

Thinking About Evangelism

Scott Bane — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:01:37 +0000

“One thing that Christians and non-Christians have in common is that they are both very uncomfortable with evangelism.” I am not sure who gets credit for that quote, but it is a good one. Most of my experience with evangelism confirms that notion. For me, it has often been awkward and unfruitful. That was just my end of it! Think about how uncomfortable my “targets” must have felt. My experience over the past year and half, living an Outflow life and practicing Servant Evangelism has created such a drastic shift in that paradigm that I cannot help but get excited about sharing it...

The Kingdom of God is Like... Another South Africa Update

Scott Bane — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 20:06:24 +0000

Still in South Africa, this update covers the second and third phases of my trip: Easter camp, Jeffrey's Bay and Knysna. I hope you enjoy the news and the pics... God is up to something in South Africa!

News from South Africa

Scott Bane — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 07:34:04 +0000

As some of you know, I'm in South Africa talking to churches about living Outward-Focused, Outflow lives. It has been amazing so far! This article is an update about the Johannesburg leg of my trip and includes a couple pictures "from the field." Enjoy!

Thank God for MTV!

Scott Bane — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:53:31 +0000

MTV leads the way in Reality TV. They invented the idea a bunch of years ago with a show that is still on the air, The Real World. One of their newest innovations is a reality show called, Juvies. I’m not a big fan of reality TV but this one really captured my attention. Sheryl and I had it on last night. I was stunned to discover that this show is recorded literally blocks from where I lived for 15 years! Any one reading this from Northwest Indiana will instantly recognize the abbreviation, LCJC, Lake County Juvenile Center. Can you believe that? MTV saw fit to film a show about juvenile delinquents in my old hometown...

What Do You Make of This?

Scott Bane — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:41:45 +0000

Since we're moving to Florida very soon, I stay current on stuff that is happening in the news down there. I came across this mind-blowing story out of Pensacola...

For those of you who didn't click the link - here's the skinny: A church that operates a coffee shop/music venue was in trouble with its landlord because of complaints about the loud music. So much trouble, I guess, that they need to move. Who should come to the rescue...? A local strip-club and its owner! No kidding... the strip club sold tickets to a benefit concert and all proceeds were going to the church, to help them get a new location for their coffee shop and music venue. I know what the Bible says about "the wealth of the wicked," but have you ever heard of anything like this before? I haven't.

I know this is going to be a polarizing issue in the church-at-large. There will be lots of people questioning the "integrity" of this church if they have such a friendly relationship with a nudie-bar. I have very little details about this story or the church in question... nothing more than I read in the little news item. For that reason, I'm not getting on either side. But here's what I am thinking:

Jesus was attacked by the Pharisees because he hung around with "well-known and notorious sinners" (see Luke 15:1-2). Here we have a pastor who can actually utter the phrase, "My friend, the strip-club owner." Based on that, surface level information alone, I'm convicted!

Again, I don't know exactly what to think about this specific situation, but it sure is interesting! I know I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus that could have a "well-known sinner" as a friend. Those who are well have no need of a physician, right?

Transformation: Thinking about Thomas

Scott Bane — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 02:36:44 +0000

As I think about Transformation, I'm thinking about Josh and Thomas. When I was in college, I had a friend named Josh Redfield. His dad was a Lutheran Pastor in the Minneapolis area, and Josh was my teammate, an All-American point guard on our basketball team. I’m not sure how he first met him, but Josh befriended a homeless guy named Thomas...

Consecration (Praying from the Spleen Part 4)

Scott Bane — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:13:13 +0000

Consecration is the healing portion of the process. We Recognize the ugliness of our behavior or our attitude and we immediately want to distance ourselves from it. We hate what we see and we’re sure God hates it too. The mistake we often make is in trying to go about fixing things then and there. We want to work our way back. It’s like we think we can skip from Recognition to Transformation by the power of our own religious self-discipline. I really think that God wants to do all the changing within us. He’s not looking for us to “work on it.” He just wants us to come running home, flawed and messed up as we are. When we get there, he’ll wrap his arms around us and the healing tears will begin to flow.

Praying from the Spleen (Part 3)

Scott Bane — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 17:45:03 +0000

Why has gut-level honesty with God been so elusive to me? I didn't realize how religious and "stuck" my life of prayer had become until some deep and well-hidden issues were final allowed to surface in my life. Several years ago I started teaching a 3-step process of spiritual development. I knew at the time that what I was teaching was "true," but it's only now through some real experience that I'm beginning to understand it. Here are the three stops I would describe on the "path" toward changing and growing spiritually...

Praying from the Spleen (Part 2)

Scott Bane — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:29:52 +0000

Praying from the spleen has totally revolutionized the way I go about making those next steps toward growing spiritually. My prayers used to start at the level of my achievement. In other words, I know I’m not as mean as I used to be, I’m a lot more understanding now. I’m a much better teacher and communicator too. So, Lord, if you could help me add to this pile of achievement, I’ll grow to the “next level.” Our expectation then becomes that God will add to our tool kit or place some more maturity on top of the pile we’ve already been collecting. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus introduces us to a guy who prays like that...