Family Archives - Page 3 of 7

.: the CLIMAX of pseudo-life…

May 31, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

Wasted.

Wasted. That’s the post-bellum of the pseudo-conquest. That’s the after-taste of pseudo-love.

In a recent TED talk, respected psychologist and Stanford professor, Philip Zimbardo, presented his assertion that pornography and video game addictions are (at this very moment) re-wiring the mental, sexual, educational, and social desires of an entire generation of men. The self-stated goal of his 4-minute talk was not to present solutions, but to shock his listeners into action. He followed this talk with a digitally-formatted TED book, which seeks to delve deeper into gaming addiction and porn addiction. In both publications (the talk and the book), his intention is not to deal with the morality of porn and gaming, but to present his research on how this is re-wiring manhood and our society as a contextual whole.

Russell Moore, recently published his thoughts on Zimbardo’s research in an article on the DesiringGod blog entitled, “Fake Love, Fake War: Why So Many Men Are Addicted to Internet Porn and Video Games“.

After reading Moore’s article and watching the TED talk, I decided to prioritize reading Zimbardo’s book yesterday for two reasons::

ONE… I am raising two men who are continually being forced to deal with social, mental, sexual, and educational realities of the world in which we live, breathe, move, and love.

TWO… I shepherd men who are living pseudo-lives in constant contrast to a life completely engaged in the world in which we live, breathe, move, and love.

I believe that every sunrise, every sunset, every breath, every heartbeat, every moment is an invitation to live my life completely engaged.

I preached this core belief this past Sunday… but I strive to live this core belief in the messy reality of my life every sunrise, every sunset, every breath, every heartbeat, every moment, every day.

I believe that men are intended to reject the pseudo-life by receiving the invitation to live completely.

The etymology for the prefix “pseudo” in the English language finds it’s root in the Greek:: pseudos. Pseudos is false. Pseudos is virtual. Pseudos is the exchange of truth, reality, a life engaged… for the fake, the lie, a life wasted.

Wasted.

Wasted. That’s the post-bellum of the pseudo-conquest. That’s the after-taste of pseudo-love.

And after all this… I wonder::
What’s the climax of a pseudo-life?

.: returning to Haiti…

May 29, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

On January the 12th of 2010, while Amanda and I were celebrating her birthday, the Republic of Haiti experienced a catastrophic earthquake. The quake occurred only two days after the public launch of Remedy Church, and compelled our young church to gain global perspective in a way that we couldn’t have anticipated. After several months of researching potential partnerships with NGO’s who were working in Haiti, we connected with Chris Marlow and his organization (Help One Now) that was working to engage the global orphan crisis and global poverty through sustainable efforts.

From that first conversation with Marlow in June of 2010 through today, Remedy Church has been blessed with the opportunity to dig two water wells, creatively partner with Pastor Gaetan’s orphanage and church, support a Haitian teacher, and fund one of our Remedy Covenant Partners as a missionary alongside Help One Now.

In July of 2011, Wayne Witzke and I travelled to Haiti with Chris Marlow to meet our Haitian friends and partners, and explore the next steps for our partnership with Help One Now. Over the past three years, I have prayed for an opportunity to travel back to Haiti with my wife.

That opportunity has finally arrived.

I will be returning to Haiti in July of 2014.

Amanda and I will be traveling with a team of Covenant Partners from Remedy Church. This will be our first team to send to Haiti. We will be supporting (financially and physically) Haitian builders in the building of a solid home for a local Haitian family who own the property and will inhabit the home once it has been completed. We will also be doing some CPR training, photography work, and a couple of other futuring projects while we are on the ground.

I am overjoyed that I will see my friends in Haiti again soon.

And I can’t wait to introduce them to my wife… and a few of the amazingly generous people from Remedy who have sent love, prayers, and support since 2010.

.: Summer Lovin…

May 17, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

It’s time for some “summer lovin”!

(and I’m not talking about Sandra Dee and Danny Zucco)

Remedy Church has decided to consecrate this summer as a season dedicated to practicing the habits of heart and life which were exemplified by the earliest followers of Jesus the King. Throughout the Book of Acts, Luke has granted us glimpses into the disciplines of character within the first-century church.

Character is the product of consistent behavior…

In Acts 4, Luke tells us that these first followers of Jesus gathered together and lived in a transformative community that was defined by habits of heart and life. This is how Luke illustrated the narrative this new community was living::

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
+ Acts 2:44-47 (NIV)

and again a few stories later…

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.
+ Acts 4:32-35 (NIV)

In these passages, and in the many stories that follow, Luke describes the early followers of Jesus as messy people who made mistakes, often doubted, and even had massive fights… but he also ensures that we see the beauty of their character on display as they reflected the love of God to the world in which they lived.

This new community that claimed Jesus as their rightful King practiced the habits of love, prayer, proclamation, service, celebration, and sacrifice.

If we desire to reflect the same transformed character of heart and life, these disciplines and habits should also be practiced in our lives::

+ we LOVE
+ we PRAY
+ we PROCLAIM
+ we SERVE
+ we CELEBRATE
+ we SACRIFICE

Therefore, as we announced this past Sunday in our morning and night worship gatherings, Remedy Church has consecrated the Summer of 2014 as a season dedicated to practicing the communal and personal habits of life and heart transformation that we have seen in the Book of Acts.

Here are the dates for our “Summer of Love” 2014 tour…

+ Night of Worship:: May 30th @ 7pm
+ Fifth Sunday Serve:: June 29th @ 10am-3pm
+ DowntownSBY History Hunt:: July 4th (all day)
+ Beach Baptism:: July 19th @ Assateague (more details forthcoming)
+ City Picnic:: August 16th (more details forthcoming)
+ Night of Worship:: August 29th @ 7pm

(read more here)

.: that time i QUIT…

May 8, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

August of 2010 was when it happened.

After over a decade working in churches in Oklahoma, Texas, and Maryland… I was planting Remedy Church in Salisbury, MD.

And I was exhausted.

As the founding pastor and primary leader in a new people-oriented organization, I was asking much of myself… and so were the people I was shepherding. So I did the dumbest and wisest thing I could imagine::

I quit.

For 30 days, I quit leading.

Stopped working on the organization.

Stopped tweaking the strategies and models of teaching, fund-raising, discipling, creating, mentoring, making, counseling, producing, visioneering, and leading.

Trusted the men and women who were leading with me.

Trusted the God who asked me to trust Him to begin with.

Started working on my heart, my character, my motives, my emotional baggage, my health, my goals, my wounds, and my hopes for the future.

Started BEing before GOing and DOing.

A decade of ignoring Sabbath rest… a decade of believing that I was created to make and produce and do… a decade of rarely saying “no”… a decade of accumulating skills and words and names and titles and hopes without pausing long enough to reflect on what that all might mean… a decade of living without healthy rhythms brought me to that place.

I had ignored the rhythms of my life for so long that I had to go into total detox mode.

Detox is never fun.

Nor should it be. We are addicts to so much.

I was addicted to performance. I was addicted to winning. I was addicted to the perceptions and affirmations of others. I was addicted to myself.

Taking a sabbatical was what I needed… but that month of “rest” wasn’t the utopia I imagined. It wasn’t anything like the heaven I hoped for… but it was the heaven I needed.

After two full weeks of sabbatical… I recorded the following confessional prayer in my journal where I was keeping careful notes of my sabbatical journey. It took me two weeks to finally and truly reach a place of desperation and vulnerability before God where I could actually write the words I had been dwelling upon for months::

The beautiful thing about reaching a point of desperation and vulnerability is the potential for hope and restoration and growth from that point moving forward. My journal from that 30 days in August of 2010 displays a process of radical re-alignment. It was much needed.

Weekly I set Monday aside as a day of obedience, remembrance, Sabbath. It’s a day when I give myself permission to quit. It’s a day when I am not the founding elder or lead storyteller among the wonderful people of Remedy Church. It’s a day when I am not a catalyst in the city in which I’ve been planted.

Monday is a day when I am Ryan Von Weaver. Beloved follower of Jesus the King. Son of a Weaver. Husband of Amanda Dawn. Father of two Weavers.

In the Old and New Testament Scriptures, healthy rhythms aren’t a suggestion for a happier life and more productivity… they are a command to be obeyed.

May you learn to Sabbath (as I am still learning) with the Lord of the Sabbath.

.: building a “City for the People”…

May 7, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

I was reminded about the beauty of collaboration and dreaming in concert with others while watching Rance and his new friend build a “city for the people” (as Rance so poignantly called it) together this morning.

Both of these little men approached the Lego table in the Wicomico Public Library’s #DowntownSBY branch with their own ideas for the proper way to build. And they were both ready to express those opinions and dreams for the city. Neither child had any doubt that their personal vision for the city was valuable or worth being heard. And neither one was too shy to move forward with his hope to bring that vision into reality.

During the hour they built together, I heard phrases that we often hear in our city conversations about the planning, development, and building in the urban epicenter of our Downtown Salisbury. As I’ve said in the past:: Downtown Salisbury belongs to everyone.

Here are a few phrases that I recorded while Rance and his friend were dreaming and building together::

RE:: City Planning…

This is a great place for a street. Can you help me build the street? I’m already building a house here… but we really need a street that’s safe for the people.

RE:: Collaboration…

Oh dude! Why are you talking so loud? This is the library. We need to speak quietly. And why are you talking so much? Let’s build with our hands.

RE:: City Evolution…

The city is done! Wait… is a city ever done? Because the city is for the people who live and take care of it. It shouldn’t be done, should it, Dadda?

No. Rance is correct. A five-year-old’s wisdom should be heard and remembered.

Our city is ever-evolving.

The culture is ever-changing.

And it is (and ever will be) a city for the people who call that city their home.

As we dream and plan for the future of our urban core… May we be wise enough to remember the lessons we learned together as five-year-olds at the Lego tables.

.: Welcome to the Renaissance…

April 26, 2014 by Ryan Weaver Leave a Comment

(a version of this article was published in the Salisbury Daily Times on Saturday, April the 26th of 2014)

In Isaiah 58, the prophet addressed the people of Israel who were then living in exile among the nations. The prophet’s message to the sons and daughters of Abraham was a challenge to become an integral element of the social, agricultural, architectural, and economic welfare of the cities in which they had been replanted. Isaiah wrote the following::

Your people will rebuild the old cities that are now in ruins;
you will rebuild their foundations.
You will be known for repairing the broken places
and for rebuilding the roads and houses.
(Isaiah 58:12 NCV)

My family and the people of Remedy Church believe that Isaiah the prophet’s words are a beautiful commission to us today… and we believe that this challenge extends beyond us to our neighbors as well. We are not interested in solo-projects and individual achievements. We desire to be humble participants in a larger movement.

Over the past three years, I have relocated the church that I co-shepherd (Remedy Church), the small business that my wife owns and operates (MandaWeaver Photography), and my family home from the North-side of Salisbury to Downtown Salisbury. And we are not the only people making moves like these. Downtown Salisbury is a wonderful place to live, play, study, worship, and work.

The years we spent living and working on the North-side of Salisbury were extremely valuable to us because they helped us develop our vision as a people who desire to echo Isaiah’s words in the context of Salisbury’s urban center. The outer edges of Salisbury are important… but Downtown is truly and historically the indispensable urban epicenter.

Downtown Salisbury is vital to the social, agricultural, architectural, and economic welfare of our city because it is the one area of our city that belongs to EVERYONE. When we declare our Downtown as a sacred space for everyone, we benefit every citizen in our city.

Downtown Salisbury is vital to the social, agricultural, architectural, and economic welfare of the the entire Eastern Shore as well, because Salisbury is the “Crossroads of Delmarva”. When we invest in the broken places of our Downtown, we are making a place-based investment that impacts all of Delmarva:: every family in our county, every neighboring community and city, every business located on our peninsula, and every citizen that calls the Eastern Shore home.

No matter where we may live… this Downtown belongs to each of us. This is our city to rebuild by restoring the broken social foundations, reclaiming the sacred spaces, and repairing the broken places. It is my unshakable opinion, that what we are experiencing in Downtown Salisbury is more than redevelopment, reinvestment, and revitalization. This is nothing short of a renaissance.

Welcome to our Salisbury Renaissance.

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