Impel Retreat 2007 Photos

from Kit House & Alicia Gunn

Warning: Egos of Kit & Jon May Soon Blow Through the Roof

The word is out about What Is the Point?! This week the Christian County Headliner published a profile of our own Kit and Jon and their What Is the Point? podcast.

Here's a bit to get you started:

It seems like everything these days is going high tech from music to lunch menus, and now even churches. Two members of the Life Point Church in Ozark have helped take their church to the next tech savvy level by producing a podcast each week.

Church members Jonathan Goings and Kit House star in and produce the weekly variety podcast from Goings' home.

A podcast is similar to a radio broadcast, but with one catch--it's never broadcast. Musicians, talk show hosts or anyone can record a segment and then upload it to the iTunes Web site on the Internet where anyone worldwide can download it, much like any song.

Full Article

Too Busy to Serve?

If you’ve ever had a to-do list show up on your refrigerator, you probably thought one of two things: “I wonder how my spouse/parent/roommate lost his/her to-do list and how it ended up on the refrigerator?” (This is what you thought if you were unwittingly on the verge of apartment hunting) or “I’d better chose one of these to work on before someone chooses for me.”

Last weekend, our church published its servant guide again. It’s a brief document that outlines all the fun ways to get involved with the church, like explaining the book of Job to college students or cleaning Saran Wrap and lip gloss off your car. The servant guide is a little subtler, while I am a little more honest. I’m on church service like ants on Pixie Stix (I’m also on Pixie Stix like ants on Pixie Stix). Teaching? Sounds fun! Leading a community group? I’ll help! Writing and recording? I’ll try it! In fact, I’m the worst at overextending myself. But this isn’t about me – it’s about you.

People are busy. At least, American people are. If I ask you what your daily commute to work is and you say “15 or 30 minutes,” you’re probably not that busy. If you say “21 minutes with lights, traffic, cops, and God willing,” you’re a busy person. Most people I know fall into the latter category. And in such a busy culture, a church that actually prints a guide for committing time to service must have some big brass bells in its steeple.

I’ve struggled with the amount of time I give in service to my church, and here’s what I’ve decided. If I don’t want to do it, I’m not going to do it. If I sign up to wrangle preteens for 3 hours a week and I hate it (which I don’t, but we’re speaking hypothetically here), what I’m really doing is contributing to hypocrisy in the church. I’m really building a Kingdom of Kit, not a Kingdom of Heaven. I’m really wasting my time. I think of Jesus saying “Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and still looks back isn’t fit for service in God’s Kingdom.” (Luke 9:62)

But if I agree to teach VBS for four straight nights and I find joy in that, even though I have to inhale dinner and essentially work 12-hour days for 8-hour pay, then I feel like the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand. I have a picture from VBS by my work computer right now: Five students, one teacher, and me. In the picture, I’m tired, I’m soaking wet from a water fight, and I’m happy. My life is meaningful in that picture.

If you’re thinking about serving at you’re church, whether that church is LifePoint or First Methodist Kalamazoo, I encourage you to check out Lane’s sermon from August 26 on LifePoint’s website. Consider the cost, consider the value, and act accordingly.

--Kit

Episode II Music

• Sometimes By Step—Rich Mullins (Kit House pick)
• Lonely Moon—Mark Heard (Kit House pick)
• Blueberry Hill—Bruce Cockburn (Kit House pick)
• All Summer Long—The Beach Boys (Kit House pick)
• Phantom Limb—The Shins (Kit House pick)
• Three More Days—Ray LaMontagne (Jon Goings pick)
  There's desperation in Ray's voice that would hint at a desire to return to something he loves.
• Your 8th Birthday—Cloud Cult (Jon Goings pick)
  My 8th birthday was nothing like this. I don't remember what it was like, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't anything like this. Great song though.
• Fallen—Vib Gyor (Jon Goings pick)
  This band has some serious potential. I'm very excited to hear what they have in store for us.
• +81—Deerhoof (Jon Goings pick)
  Sometimes it's supposed to be fun.
• Stop Ou Encore—Plastic Bertrand (Jon Goings pick)
  If this song doesn't do it for you then you really need to go down to Lake Springfield and bathe yourself 7 times.

Who Is Kit House?

To understand "Internet Sensation Kit," you really need to meet "Preteen Bible Camper Kit." You might remember me if we ever shared a cabin. I showed up for all activities on-time and I convinced myself that everything was fun, even the hat-making crafts and the unity-building games. When mischief was involved, I was nowhere to be found. I knew only a little about the world outside of my cabin and meeting space, and I knew it from the stories of the ne'redowells who had disappeared for long stretches during unsupervised time. I was outgoing, but also pensive and moody, and I tended to be alone at least an hour every day. I wore T-shirts with a fake Nike logo that said "Air Jesus." I wanted to distinguish myself from my peers in every inconsequential matter, but I didn't influence my peers in many weighty issues.

Now I do not desire to be the opposite of who I was, but I certainly recognize the limitations of Kit circa 1993. I am still pensive and moody, and I enjoy a good game of "Human Knots." However, "churchianity" has less of a hold on my life now, and I strive to live for Christ rather than a catchphrase. I also don't have the T-shirt anymore, but I might consider wearing one for the sake of comedy.

Episode I Music

• Shut Us Down—Lindsey Buckingham (Chris Austin pick)
• Savin' Me—Nickelback (Chris Austin pick)
• Send Me On My Way—Rusted Root (Chris Austin pick)
• Summer Love—Justin Timberlake (Chris Austin pick)
• Jesus Walks—Kanye West (Jon Goings pick)
  This song reminds me that it seems we can rap about anything except fo' Jesus.
• The Small Print—Muse (Jon Goings pick)
  Who or what is your muse?
• Can't You See—The Marshall Tucker Band (Jon Goings pick)
  Did you need a practical (yet poetical) application of Matthew 5:29? Well here it is.
• Into the Ocean—Blue October (Kit House pick)
• Mysteries—Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs (Kit House pick)
• Because—The Beatles (Kit House pick)