1 month

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sleepy girl

Christmas Gifts, Part 3

For those of you that didn't notice, I recently created two Amazon wish-lists for myself—in case you're looking for stocking stuffers. You can find those on the sidebar. Pay no attention to the order the books are in... unless I get around to prioritizing them.

But just so you know, the authors on those lists I'm most interested in right now: Dostoevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Schaeffer, Rand, Van Til, Schlossberg, Blamires.

I'd also be happy to take recommendations. Just drop a note in the comments.

Papa's kiddos

Fatface and Fathead, as they are affectionately called.

My Own Book Club: November

I finished a lot of books this month. Here's what I read, and here are some of my thoughts:

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table - Thomas Mallory, ed. Sidney Lanier (for fun)

An antiquated abridgement of La Morte D'Arthur. Good fun getting into the medieval mind. I would have rather have read the real thing, though.

The Butler Did It - P.G. Wodehouse (for fun)

A delivery and receiving room book. A rollickin' good time. I've decided I like Wodehouse, and wouldn't mind reading more.

Preaching & Preachers - Martyn Lloyd-Jones (for class)

Excellent. Another book for every preacher.

Amusing Ourselves to Death - Neil Postman (for fun)

Wow whatabook. This is one of those books that shows you the man behind the curtain. Should be required reading for everyone. Seriously. Go buy it.

Winterflight - Joseph Bayly (for fun)

A prophetic novel written by my pastor's father in the late 70s about what he foresaw as the inevitable consequences of Roe v. Wade—you know, universal health care, government mandated abortion, infanticide, death panels, that sort of thing. It's not great fiction (as far as the writing goes), but it sure is compelling.

Words to Winners of Souls - Horatius Bonar (for class)

An excellent and concise summary of the heart of pastoral ministry.

Christmas Gifts, Part 2

A few more considerations for those of you interested in buying gifts for the kids:

1. We need books. Bad. As in, Mama and Papa cringe every time Peter brings us a book to read because we have them all memorized. For our sake, check out the Amazon link on the left-hand column. Amanda's picked out some books that we think would be nice. Keep in mind that the books aren't at all in order of preference on the list.

2. Kid's Music. Peter's just getting to an age where this can get really fun. Amanda has added some children's cds to the same Amazon Wish-List mentioned above. Don't overlook those.

3. Cloth Diapers. A few weeks ago, Amanda wrote about her obsession with these things. If you're interested in nursing strange obsessions and helping weird would-be-hippies save some serious cash at the same time, she's created a registry at The Little Seedling. Just go to http://www.treecitydiapers.com/store/go/registries/, and enter "Amanda Mentzel" into the registry.

4. $$$. For those of you who remember, I opened an account for Peter last year (Read about that here). For those of you who care, the selected fund has given us a 12.5% return so far. Not bad in this climate, eh? If you're interested in contributing, send me an email or give me a call. I'll start a similar account for Lucy, too.

Christmas Gifts, Part 1

For those of you that may be interested in Peter's toy interests as we approach Christmas, here is our assessment of a few of Peter's favorite things.

Peter's Top 10 Favorite Toys (of all-time)

10. Rings. You know, rings. The kind you stack on a stick.

9. The Barn. Its a little barn with animals and other stuffs.

8. George & Frank. A stuffed monkey and a stuffed turtle. We like to pretend they're Kong and Godzilla.

7. The Stick. The child's multi-tool, brought back from Mississippi. Popular uses: Sword, baseball bat, gun, magic wand, etc.

6. Tractor. A John Deere tractor he scoots around on.

5. Blocks. All kinds. He's okay with building, but prefers destroying Papa's feats of engineering genius.

4. Cars, Trucks, Busses, Planes. Loves the stuff.

3. Giant Tonka Truck. Awesome toy. He carts things around, bangs into walls and furniture, etc.

2. Balls. All kinds—and we do have all kinds.

1. Puppy. A stuffed animal he sleeps with and takes pretty much everywhere.

I don't think he's going to be much interested in new stuffed animals. The puppy is pretty much king, and he serves a very specific function. George and Frank have been on their way out for awhile. So have the rings.

As far as the stick goes, take this bit of insight from G.K. Chesterton:

Cast your eye round the room in which you sit, and select some three or four things that have been with man almost since his beginning; which at least we hear of early in the centuries and often among the tribes. Let me suppose that you see a knife on the table, a stick in the corner, or a fire on the hearth. About each of these you will notice one speciality; that not one of them is special. Each of these ancestral things is a universal thing; made to supply many different needs; and while tottering pedants nose about to find the cause and origin of some old custom, the truth is that it had fifty causes or a hundred origins. The knife is meant to cut wood, to cut cheese, to cut pencils, to cut throats; for a myriad ingenious or innocent human objects. The stick is meant partly to hold a man up, partly to knock a man down; partly to point with like a finger-post, partly to balance with like a balancing pole, partly to trifle with like a cigarette, partly to kill with like a club of a giant; it is a crutch and a cudgel; an elongated finger and an extra leg. The case is the same, of course, with the fire; about which the strangest modern views have arisen. A queer fancy seems to be current that a fire exists to warm people. It exists to warm people, to light their darkness, to raise their spirits, to toast their muffins, to air their rooms, to cook their chestnuts, to tell stories to their children, to make checkered shadows on their walls, to boil their hurried kettles, and to be the red heart of a man's house and that hearth for which, as the great heathens said, a man should die.

Now it is the great mark of our modernity that people are always proposing substitutes for these old things; and these substitutes always answer one purpose where the old thing answered ten.

Of course, that's not to belittle specialized tools. I wouldn't want my doctor to use the same knife to perform heart surgery as he does to butter his bread (unless he has the strange habit of using scalpels at the dinner table). But it is in praise of the "general." And we find it helpful to transfer the thinking over to toys. Sticks are good toys because they can be whatever they need to be to make the game work—and they can be transformed in an instant. So one good question to ask about a toy is, "How many different awesome things can a little boy transform this into?"

As far as little girls go... well... I have no idea. Just don't make her into too much of a pretty princess, okay?

A true hand-me-down

Anyone guess who previously owned this sweatshirt?

p.s. The diapers I mentioned a couple weeks ago are now on sale. Don't know what I'm talking about? Look here.

First bath at home

ClearNote Fellowship

Since most of our readership is friends and family—who else would want to look at an endless stream of pictures of our kids?—I thought some of you might be interested in finding out a bit more about what Amanda and I have been doing for the past 2-3 years.

Most of you (I hope) know that I've been attending the ClearNote Pastors College. Most of you (probably) have no idea what that is. And even if you think you know, you might be a bit hesitant to check it out.

ClearNote Pastors College is a relatively new training institute for pastors. It's a ministry of ClearNote Fellowship, an umbrella organization (you might think of it like a denomination) that seeks to unite like-minded churches in an effort to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ through church-planting, missions, and resources (books, conferences, music, etc.).

The great thing about CNPC is that it operates in the context of a local church—Church of the Good Shepherd in Bloomington, IN. That means the training can never be purely academic, because the academic training takes place in the context of the trenches of pastoral ministry.

Because of my work at ClearNote Pastors College, I've had the opportunity to help found ClearNote Campus Fellowship (CNCF) at Indiana University. The goal of CNCF is similar to the goal of the pastors college—to reconnect a vital ministry to the lifeline of the local church.

When I was a student at IU, I was actively involved in Campus Crusade for Christ.  However, as I began to grow in my faith, I began to see more and more my own need to be connected to a local church—where I could break out of my 20something bubble and be involved with families, children, and old folks. The more I grew in understanding of the importance of the local church, the more grieved I became over how many of my friends seemed to think being involved in campus ministries were an adequate substitute for the church. A supplement, sure, but never a substitute.

CNCF, then, is an attempt to bring the two together. It is a campus ministry that is based out of a local church (again, Church of the Good Shepherd). We bring the same benefits of any other campus ministry—we're active on campus, we have bible studies, large-group meetings, retreats, etc.—but we maintain a vital connection with our church. We encourage all of our students to attend worship services and Sunday School, to get involved in serving the church, attending small groups, and to become members.

Over the past 2 and a half years, CNCF has grown from 8-10 students to around 60. Nearly all of our students are actively involved in campus ministry and in the life of our church. They are members, they attend small groups, they serve in the nursery, sing in the choir, teach Sunday School, play with the worship band, and much more. God has richly blessed the work.

I took over as Campus Director of CNCF in the Fall of 2008 after Joseph Bayly, a dear friend of ours, graduated from CNPC and began making plans to plant a church in Indianapolis.

Like all non-profit organizations, ClearNote Fellowship and ClearNote Pastors College are largely funded by the donations of private individuals. And like all campus ministers, my work is largely funded by donations from private individuals and a part time job.

As we approach the holidays, would you consider helping to support these vital ministries financially? If so, you can find out more by visiting the "Support Us" section of the ClearNote Fellowship website, or email me at "jacob[dot]mentzel[at]gmail[dot]com."

Peter & Lucy: A Suite

My first attempt at a real video. Enjoy: