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Introduction To The House of Carr
Introduction To The House of Carr

Emphasizing Urban Living

One of the goals we set for Echo this year is to press our people into "owning" their city. Cincinnati is an amazing place and, the more we realize it, the more we'll make a difference here. Tonight I attended the Walnut Hills Area Council for the first time [it's been on my "to-do list" but I didn't check it off until now]. Our neighborhood has made the news in the past month because of a bar shooting and a major drug bust. The Cincinnati Police were present at the meeting to reassure the council that they were doing their best to make it a safe community. It should be noted that they've accomplished this: all areas of crime are significantly lower this year than the last five years.

After the meeting quite a few people came up to introduce themselves to me, encouraged that we had started a church in the area. One couple, who have lived in the area more than twenty years, made the following statement, "if only people knew all the good that happens in this community, they'd have a different impression of Walnut Hills." And it's the truth. But good news doesn't make the news. So I guess it's our job to spread that gospel.

This has been on my mind this evening because I've had a great week talking to people about our city. There are many people out there who, like Kelly and me, are passionate about its future and our investing themselves here; they're not buying into gloom and doom that people spread about our inner city but are enthusiastic about what lies ahead.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: you should be here. You're missing out on a lot of good stuff.

*Related note: Check out this article from the New York Times about the misery connected to suburban flight.

Passing In The Night

Still not feeling great this week. For the second consecutive year an Ohio State National Championship loss coincided with personal illness to make life miserable. As a result, I don't feel much like typing but I have to get some stuff down before I get too far removed. Sunday was an interesting day.

I started a new Sunday morning gig this week. For the past four months or so I was the interim worship leader at my home church. It was great to spend time around old friends who have seen me grow up, but it was time to force them to find a more permanent replacement. It just so happened that an door opened to give me an exit.

Franklin Chapel is a church in Clermont County [New Richmond, to be exact], about 20 miles up river from downtown, where I preached a few months in college. Eventually I'll elaborate on my relationship with this church, but they happened to contact me a month ago asking if I'd come in and preach for them part-time. So I was excited to get things started there this week. Sunday morning service was a little empty.

There were seven people. Including me.

The church has been around for over 150 years and now they're clinging to life. I'm going to preach through April and then we'll reevaluate what needs to happen there. I'm sure I'll have some interesting experiences to share here throughout the months to come.

Then, Sunday night, the gathering at Echo was a look back at 2007 while looking forward to 2008. It was crazy as we had many of our "regulars" still gone but we had about ten visitors. We even had eight kids, more than we've ever had. The dynamic of the room was different as I spoke, but I always get enthusiastic when talking about our vision for Echo, so it was a very good time. After the gathering, we had a food/fellowship time and didn't get home until 9:30.

At the end of the day I was exhausted, but I was energized because of our night at Echo.

As difficult as it has been starting a new church, it is always exciting. We understand that we're always near extinction so we have to be determined to make things happen. Sunday night there was a great vibe at Echo. I'm starting to feel the momentum building, realizing that our hard work is paying off. Sunday morning, at Franklin Chapel, was entirely different. There was a desperation present. The people are beat down, and are looking for anything to get them excited.

Ironically, it wasn't too long ago that there were only seven people at Echo, but we were going forward instead of reverse.

I guess what I'm saying is that I just had a sincere appreciation on Sunday night, after my morning experience, for how far we've come as a church. We're still making mistakes, we haven't experienced considerable growth, but we're released to do an important, exciting ministry that is still new. I'm not sure if Echo will last 150 years, but if it does I pray that it continues to be an exciting place to be.

One of the saddest things to witness is a dying church.

But one of the most exciting things to see is a church beginning to roll.

Quick Political Observation

I was under the weather today, and didn't feel like writing when I have a lot on my mind. Watching the results tonight, it played out just like I suspected it would last week. McCain took New Hampshire and Hillary edged out Obama on the Democratic side. The thing to note is that Hillary is already being called the Comeback Kid [a'la Bill Clinton] and she didn't comeback from anything. New Hampshire was Hillary's to lose and she did what she was supposed to do- finish first. What changed the perspective was the polling in the past two days that showed Obama had a huge lead in NH. The media annointed him the clear victor and was predicting a walk to the nomination. Clinton's camp was gripping earlier today, possibly faced with packing in, and now feels inspired by this victory. Obviously the polling was way off here.

So if it were not for the bad polling, this would still be somewhat of a loss for Clinton. Obama finished a close second, which still should be disturbing to Hillary's camp. But they'll spin this as new momentum, and the media will let her have it.

I ask: did the media create a [false] Obama frenzy that will eventually hurt his candidacy? Quite possibly.

Mmmmm, Crow.

I must cry now. The Buckeyes got spanked again. Another year of disrespect. I'll break it down later. I don't have the heart to do so right now. The Buckeyes were not BCS championship worthy, but all the top teams lost twice this year, putting OSU there by default. The youth of the offense was a liability, but the defense didn't answer in the first half. Again the coaching staff could not answer what was put before them.

Regardless, it was bad. I don't know what else to say.

Breaking News . . .

Ohio State will beat LSU for the National Championship. I'm putting it out there now so there can be no doubt. I've watched LSU play about five or six times this year. They are an incredibly talented team, but are probably less talented then they were last year. Ironically, I had watched Florida play the same amount last year and didn't think they'd be as tough against OSU last year [Urban Meyer out-coached Tressel, so OSU lost]. But I was nervous before last year's game. This year: not so much. I told my friend Alex at the beginning of the year that this would be a great year for LSU, even though they weren't as talented as they had been in the past. The schedule was perfect for them to advance to the National Championship game, with playing their toughest SEC opponents at home. Of course, they blew two games, and could have lost five this year. And if it weren't for both West Virginia and Missouri losing the last weekend of the year, they would've blown it. Fortunately, the strength of their conference made them the media darling and they were the two-loss team of choice.

As for the Buckeyes, people observed a pathetic year in the Big Ten and labeled them "the chief of the losers." True they played a weak non-conference [as the SEC did] but they were in control of every game they played in except one. Still, they were called the "Suckeyes" and left for dead. Even though they're the #1 ranked team, they're underdogs at LSU on the neutral field.

The one constant about college football players is that they buy into the hype; when they hear that they're the best thing since sliced bread, they'll buy in. LSU has heard for over a month how Ohio State is nothing. One LSU player said that they were "without a doubt" much faster than the Buckeyes. The Superdome will be purple and yellow and they think they'll waltz to victory.

But OSU's defense is very solid while the LSU offense can struggle. It will come down to whether or not the Buckeyes can put points on the board. OSU's quarterback is young, but he has a lot of weapons. If Todd Boeckman can keep from turning the ball over, they'll score a plenty.

For a year now the Buckeyes have had to hear about their inadequacies. Monday night is their shot at redemption. The Buckeyes will be National Champs, and Les Miles will wish he had gone to Michigan because he'll take the blame.

Gettin' Political

I loves me some politicin'. So let me objective breakdown last night's Iowa Caucus. What did we learn? Pretty much nothing.

Pundits like to spin the results into something more than they are but the Caucus rules are confusing, especially on the Democratic side; so the result isn't an accurate measurement of how things will go. Nor can you look towards New Hampshire primary as a litmus test. Sure, NH has picked its share of Presidents, but in the last twelve years they also picked Paul Tsongas, Pat Buchanan and John McCain. Bill Clinton was dead in the water after New Hampshire in 1992 and still was a two termer. If you really want to see where the rubber meets the road, wait till South Carolina.

I will say that things looked the best last night for Huckabee. One pundit noted that the reason Huckabee was heads and shoulders above the rest is that he knew how to tell a joke; all other Republican candidates seem to come across as rather robotic. Huckabee has a Reagan-esque style not found in either of the Bush presidents. He's becoming a bigger character as things move forward. And you can attribute it all to a few classic remarks in a debate. Well, that and those Chuck Norris commercials.

Things looked the worst for Giuliani, who finished dead last. Remember when he was the sure-fire Republican nomination? Now he's MIA. Giuliani barely campaigned in Iowa but coming in behind Ron Paul, finishing dead last, certainly didn't help his street cred. McCain will win in New Hampshire, but I think Huckabee takes the south and wins the Republican nomination.

The Democratic side is still too close to call. Hillary took it on the chin yesterday but she will win in New Hampshire. The margin of victory will be critical. If Obama keeps it close, then he has a real chance to get the nomination. The same goes with Edwards. He'll take South Carolina for sure, so it'll probably come down to the Super Tuesday showdown between the three of them. It's critical for Hillary, however, to win in NH, and if possible, to win big. If she loses there next week, she's a goner.

I'm still holding firm that the Democrats win the White House with anyone but Hillary. She's still too polarizing. As likable as Huckabee is, I'm not sure he can take Obama. Maybe Edwards.

When you don't really care who wins, this can be really fun. You should try it sometime.

Don't Drown Your Food

The past few weeks I've been thinking about this PSA from the 1980's telling kids not to abuse condiments [I guess it was epidemic then]. Everyone I asked couldn't remember it. Do you remember this? And if so, what was the point? Later I remembered . . . why I've been thinking about this PSA. Kaelyn has been watching Kelly and I eat and now needs to dip here food whenever the opportunity presents itself. Tonight she dipped her carrot in salsa. So I guess we're teaching her to drown her food. Tragic.

Webiwork

Multitasked while watching football the last couple of days to get some work done on the interwebs. First I gave Kelly's blog a face-lift. She likes it, and I think it works well too. Took me longer than it should have, but I got it done just after watching the ball drop last night [some New Year's, huh?].

And today I finally shut down my House of Carr website. I hadn't updated it in six months, so hardly anyone was checking it out anyway. I started it as our family website while I was still using Blogger and wanted the option of multiple pages. Since I switched my blog over to Wordpress, I get everything I need out of it, so maintaining two websites is meaningless. Now on the toolbar above I have a page for Kelly and Kaelyn, added links to my media, and will continue to add things as time permits. The houseofcarr.com URL now points to my blog. I'm going to hold onto the address and evaluate whether or not I want to renew it later.

So look around if you like.

Best of Beit [2007 Year In Review]

I was looking through the posts I made on the blog this past year. I averaged about one post per day in 2007. While there were many one liners and links, sometimes I wrote a little substance. Here's some stuff that either sparked opinion, was a major event of the year or was, in my humble opinion, just good stuff. Among other things I . . . Reviewed Ohio State's loss to Florida in the National Championship [football, not basketball].

Predicted the Catch Phrase of 2007.

Unpacked The Secret [Parts 1, 2, 3].

Went Back To School without Rodney Dangerfield.

Spanked Kaelyn.

Affirmed the awesomeness of soccer.

Went to the Amish Creation Museum.

Noted my desire for the iPod Touch months before it was released [and was finally gifted one last week].

Predicted Narron's firing.

Didn't get pregnant.

Resisted vehicular manslaughter.

Did not view p0rn.

Endured a horrible Bengals' season.

Did not deflate my wife's lung.

As Sinatra would say, it was a very good year. Enjoy your New Year, kiddies!

Understanding Old Testament Wrath

What do I teach on Sunday nights? Well, basically the Bible. But I thought I'd let you know what I taught earlier this evening. Currently I'm teaching through the Old Testament books of 1&2 Samuel. 1 Samuel 15 details the God-ordered genocide of the Amalekite people. Not a very seeker-sensitive, "God is love" message to teach about. There are usually a few different ways Christians handle a text like this: you can ignore it, you can explain it away is irrelevant to modern life or you can accept it and then ignore it.

My approach is to take it and rub it in people's faces.

You see, I'm of the opinion that if I'm going to embrace Christianity, I should take it for all it is, not just what I prefer it would be. Ironically, King Saul, who disobeys God's command in 1 Samuel 15, took the "what I prefer" route. He decided to accept God's commands as far as it was convenient to him which led him towards self-idolization and, eventually, contributes to his downfall.

So back to the Amalekite genocide, it's tough for people to synchronize these kind of texts with Christianity. In researching the topic this week I read one person dismiss this story stating, “The writers of the Old Testament often use their medium as polemic to justify ungodly things.” In short, they think Old Testament writers made up the narratives to make themselves look holy while committing this slaughter. Such people arrive at this conclusion because they believe it conflicts with the message of Jesus. Therefore, they assert, the Old Testament texts are contrived because they object with what Jesus said.

That's all well and good except that Jesus himself believed the Old Testament to be true [for examples of this, reference Matthew 5:18, Matthew 15:6, and John 10:35]. If you truly follow Jesus' teachings, you are forced to wrestle with what to do with these texts. It is not easily explained as Old Testament = God of Wrath, New Testament = God of Love.

So was God just ticked off and felt like opening a can off whoop *** on people? Well, it's more complicated than this. Understanding the history of the Amalekites, who tried to annihilate the Israelites, is a good starting point. Understanding that war in the Ancient Near East was primarily waged in order to gain plunder and God commanded that they take none also helps to understand this. And even understanding the strict, unparalleled guidelines found in the Torah that dictated how war was to be waged is critical. But the most important principle to observe here is this: God’s character is consistent thoughout history but the manner by which he unleashes both His holiness and His wrath varies.

While some assume that the wrath of God declined from Old Testament days until now, this is not the case. The ultimate refutation of this is hell. Hell would be the unequalled unleashing of the wrath of God which would be realized at the end of the world. So the greatest example of his wrath has yet to occur.

So you can't pull out 1 Samuel 15 and let it stand alone in order to critique Christianity because it fits within the scope of the Biblical narrative. There are numerous instances throughout the Bible where God unleashes his wrath on his own people. And therein lies the heart of the Christian message: all of us humans actually deserve the wrath of God, but by his grace we are enabled to avoid it.

This is why I love teaching through the Bible chapter-by-chapter: it forces me to deal with topics I would normally skip over. If I choose to avoid certain texts because they're difficult or unpleasant I'm cheating myself out of the opportunity to really grapple with my faith.

The podcast of this teaching will be up in the next week or so. I go much more in depth than I did here, so if you want to see where I went with this.

"My Daddy"

They say its my birthday. It's your birthday too if you're Tiger Woods, Lebron James, or Matt Lauer. Closer to home, there's my brother-in-law Scott, Lexi Eddy, Ashley Keene, and Shane Hively. The one thing about the era of Myspace and Facebook is that you can't really hide your birthday. I received more emails today about it than I ever had. I'm not sure I can remember a Sunday birthday since I've been in the ministry; I'm sure it's happened, but I have no memory of it. The thing about being a minister is that Sunday is a work day. I'm not complaining, but it's tough to absorb things when you're moving constantly. I've never been a big birthday person anyway. I was telling my mom today that she should really get the attention since she was the one who did all the work so I can celebrate today.

But my day was great. We had lunch with my parents and my grandmother. My sister's kids in Indianapolis serenaded my voicemail. I had a great time teaching tonight at church, with everyone back from Christmas. Kaelyn was wonderful all day [well, at least around me]. She's taken to referring to me as "my daddy." It sounds funny, but I love it. Everything she did today made me smile. Kelly was awesome as usual, making me wonder how I ended up with her in the first place.

Speaking of first place . . . I arrived home the FANTASY FOOTBALL CHAMPION! When I left for church this afternoon I was down fifty points, but came home with the lead. Props to Chad Johnson and Clinton Portis who had huge days making it happen.

So overall I'm feeling good. Not quite sure I feel 32. But after reading Entertainment Weekly this afternoon, I discovered that Fergie [of Kids Incorporated, Black Eyed Peas and "London Bridge" fame] is also 32. I've decided that I look better than her. Disagree if you must.

I was born. Horray for me.

The Final Day

Wrapping up the Fantasy Football year, hoping I can make a miracle comeback and win the championship. I am 29 points down to Chris Elrod going into the final weekend. This isn't an impossible deficit to overcome, but with so many meaningless games, and few important ones, you have to be selective about who you hitch your wagon to. So when you're stat watching tomorrow afternoon, hope for big numbers from these guys. QB: Drew Brees, New Orleans

RB: Clinton Portis, Washington

RB: LenDale White, Tennessee

WR/RB: Santana Moss, Washington

WR: Chad Johnson, Cincinnati

WR: Donald Driver,

TE: Antonio Gates, San Diego

K: Shayne Graham, Cincinnati

D/ST: San Diego Chargers

Messed Up

Regular blogging will return soon, but this story is so ridiculous that I felt obligated to link to it now. In an effort to win some Hannah Montana tickets in a contest, a mother helped her six-year old daughter write an essay that began, "My daddy died this year in Iraq." Problem: her dad did not die in Iraq this year. 

The mother responded with the classic, "We did the essay and that's what we did to win . . . we did whatever we could do to win."

Well, then, I guess it's OK.

With mommy displaying such fine morals, I'm sure the daughter will turn out just fine.

Merry Christmas

I'm not sure Cops has filmed in Lewiston, Idaho, but there's probably not much to see there, especially when crimes are solved by reading the paper. Recently a wallet-snatcher might have avoided getting arrested, if he wasn't featured on the front page of the local newspaper. Michael Millhouse was painting a "Merry Christmas" sign and was lucky enough to get his picture taken for the paper. But Millhouse had also stolen a wallet and was caught on a surveillance camera. The pictures appeared right next to each other on the front page of the paper. Click here for a PDF version of the paper. 

If convicted, the guy could get five years in prison. Brilliant.

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A Friend of Ours

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In today's Enquirer you can find a story on Christ's Community Church in Price Hill. It's a unique organization of house churches that meets on the westside. We at Echo have quite a few connections with them: worked/went to Israel with Ken and they helped us with our Adopt-A-Family last year. They're a great group of people. For those readers who aren't familiar with the un-institutionalized church, this is an informative read.