Jim and Casper's Church Visit #4: Willow Creek (Part One)

It's been a little while since the last church visit, but there's a reason for that. Next week, I will actually be at the fourth church that Jim and Casper visit and talk about in their book "Jim and Casper Go To Church." That church is Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois (a Chicago suburb) and I will be there for an worship arts conference. I went last year and thought it was pretty good, but this year I'm really excited because of the main speakers (and the Wednesday morning worship band - that would be David Crowder). I have not been at a church service there, however - and there is an opportunity during the conference to go to their Wednesday night "believer" service. Which is an interesting discussion point in the first place. What is the purpose of having two separate services for a church? According to Willow Creek, the weekend services are "seeker-sensitive", which means essentially that they are designed for those who aren't churchgoers. Thus, the music, message, dramas, etc. will all be seeker-sensitive and will be relatable (or is the right word relevant) to those who are seeking God for perhaps the first time. The Wednesday night service is for those who are already churchgoers and who perhaps want something a little deeper message-wise, more worship, etc.

An interesting strategy, and it seems to be working at Willow, but it begs a couple of questions:

- It seems that when you look at NT passages that are related to ecclesiology (church structure, mission and instruction), you would be hard pressed to find anything that talks about having two separate church meetings: one for the unbeliever, and one for the believer. In fact, there are a few passages that describe the impact that having everyone together for worship has on someone who does not know Christ (1 Corinthians 14 being one of those passages). I agree with Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost that Christology should determine our mission, and then our mission should determine how our church is structured and operates. With what we know of who Jesus is and what he did while he was here on earth (although you have to factor in the concept that while he was here on earth, his "mission" was mostly to the Jewish people, and that he commissioned his disciples in Acts 1:8 to expand that mission to the Gentiles), and then letting that determine our own mission, would that mean a church structure based on Christology and missiology would produce two separate services for two "target audiences"?

- Secondly, something I've really been thinking about is something that I've been reading in an incredible book by Hirsch called "The Forgotten Ways". Does right thinking produce right behavior? Does the dispensing of information produce change? Let me quote from the book:

"If our starting point is old thinking and old behavior in a person or church, and we see it as our task to change that situation, taking the Hellenistic approach will mean that we provide information through books and classrooms, to try and get the person/church to a new way of thinking, and hopefully from there to a new way of acting. The problem is that by merely addressing intellectual aspects of a person, we fail to be able to change behavior. The assumption in Hellenistic thinking is that if people get the right ideas, they will simply change their behavior. The Hellenistic approach therefore can be characterized as an attempt to try to think our way into a new way of acting. Both experience and history show the fallacy of such thinking. And it certainly does not make disciples. All we do is change the way a person thinks; the problem is that his or her behaviors remain largely unaffected."

This concept of the Hellenistic approach to change vs. the Hebraic approach to change is definitely a huge topic for another post (or five), but this is why I brought it up: it seems like one of the reasons to separate your church into two target audiences (seeker and believer) would be because you subscribe to this Hellenistic approach to change (which would be right thinking leads to right acting which leads to change). Because you want to produce a different change in your seeker audience (changing from someone who has not accepted Jesus to someone who has) than your believer audience (continual change/transformation to become more like Christ), you separate them so that the different information processed (through sermons, music, and the arts) will produce the correct needed "change" in the person.

However, if you subscribe to the Hebraic approach to change (right acting leads to right thinking which leads to change), then you would want both groups of people, seeker and believer, in the same room, in the same setting, because your believers would be the example you would want the seekers to follow. And as those seekers saw the "right behavior" demonstrated in the lives of the believers (hopefully through more than just sitting in a worship service, i.e. relationship building/mentoring/modeling), this would produce lasting change.

I hope this makes sense. I'm not sure if this is exactly the way I was planning on this post to go, but it really has opened up some thoughts within my own head. Hopefully yours as well.

The next part of visit #4 will be posted during the conference, after I have had the opportunity to actually experience a worship service at Willow.

Brian McLaren on the "Worship Industry"

The video below is really good - Brian McLaren talks about worship, art, propaganda and more. Even if you think McLaren is a bad, bad man (I don't), his words on worship should at least make you think. I especially like what he has to say about worship leaders, since I am one. And I agree that there is a pressure there to please people at church with what I do every week. There's a line somewhere between experiencing God and making sure people are there with you doing the same. Anyway, check out the video. If you can't see the video, go here to see it.

On The Move by Bono

As if I didn't have enough reading material to last a couple of months (at least), I picked up a book called On The Move today. It's by Bono from U2 of course, and it's actually some of the remarks that he made at the National Prayer Breakfast this past year (I think, it may have been the year before that). You can watch all of what he said here.

All proceeds of the sale of this book go to the One Campaign, which makes it a worthy purchase. (I almost put "in my book" at the end of that sentence, but that would have been silly.)

What I'm Reading and Listening To

Just in case you don't look at the sidebar of my blog, I wanted to let you know that I've finally updated it after several months.

Just in case you still won't look at the sidebar, here is the music I'm listening to and what I'm reading. By the way, in case you didn't know, I read a lot of books at the same time. I don't know why. I just do.

What I'm reading:

Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversation About Faith, Churches, and Well-meaning Christians
- I've read through it, but I'm still blogging on each chapter. I'll get back to it, don't worry.

The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church
- The author of this book (Alan Hirsch) co-authored a favorite book of mine called The Shaping Of Things To Come. So far this book is really good. It's one of those books where you read a few pages, and then you have to close the book and chew on what you read for awhile.

The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus
- I love Brennan Manning's books. All of them. I started reading them when I was in college (The Ragamuffin Gospel and The Signature Of Jesus), and have continued to buy his books as he comes out with a new one. It's a lot easier to swallow the concept of grace from someone who was a priest, squandered away everything on alcohol, and then sobered up and started writing about grace.

Simple Church: Returning to God's Process for Making Disciples
- Simple church. Who would have thunk it? This is something that I've been thinking about for at least a year, the idea that less is actually more, and that when you have a million things going on in your church, it doesn't necessarily mean your church is growing. It just means the church is really busy. It's better to do a few things well then to do several things really poorly.

The Passionate Church
- This book is written by a couple of pastors at a church in Arizona that was really close geographically to the church that planted a church that I worked at. I love their concept of "LifeShapes". Perhaps I'll blog about this book next.

Your God Is Too Safe
- Get this book. Now. I'm serious. This is like the twentieth time for me in reading this book.


What I'm listening to:

9
- Damien Rice. Nothing like an acoustic playing Irishman, in my book. His songs, in the words of Chris Elliott from Groundhog Day, "move me, man."

Sam's Town
- I didn't really listen to The Killers's first CD (Hot Fuss), but this CD is great. It's kind of like Bruce Springsteen and M83 getting together. Okay, not exactly. But it's good.

Twilight
- Future of Forestry is a worship band out of San Diego. They are really good. Buy this CD. And if you live in the Cincinnati/Dayton OH area, go to the FoF concert at The Garage at the end of August!

The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Of Me
- Listening to this right now. Thanks Pat for introducing me to this CD. It makes me happy. (and sad. and mad.)

All of the Above
- This is the first Hillsong United CD to be recorded in studio, and I'm not sure if I like that. It has some good songs, however. We're doing "Take Me To The Cross" on Sunday. When I say "we", I mean "me", because it will be just me on acoustic this Sunday.

A Beautiful Lie
- I really like this band (30 Seconds To Mars). Sure, it has that actor guy Jared Leto in it. But they are good. I only wish my daughter would like more than just one of their songs, though, because I have to hear that song (From Yesterday) at least ten times a day.

Neon Bible
- I actually like this Arcade Fire CD better than their first one. And that's quite an achievement, because I really like their first one.

EDIT: I also just purchased The Fountain Soundtrack. Amazing. Truly, amazing.


Well, that's about it. Comments? Questions about my sanity? Let me know.

American Idol

Not a big fan. At all. I haven't watched any night of any season, although last night my brother-in-law showed me a couple of the songs from the finale.

But, I was surprised to hear of all of the Christian connections that some of the top twelve finalists have. From GMA contests to songwriting, I was surprised. As for Paula Abdul's strange behavior (although I heard she was sick or something), not surprised.

---

On Wednesday night, Jordin Sparks, who is just three years removed from winning the Spotlight Overall title at the GMA Academy in D.C. event, was crowned this year's "American Idol" in front of a live audience of 4,000 in the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, and the 30 million people who were watching on FOX. A record 74 million votes were cast to determine Sparks as the winner over Blake Lewis. And in a storybook ending that could only be appreciated by those involved in the Christian/gospel music community, Sparks, a 17-year-old from Glendale, Ariz., capped the evening by performing "This Is My Now," the winning song in the "American Idol" songwriter competition, which was co-written by veteran Christian artist/songwriter Scott Krippayne. The GMA has followed Sparks' journey, along with several other contestants, during an "American Idol" season that seemed to be filled with Christian/gospel music connections. Besides winning at GMA Academy in D.C. in 2004, Sparks also competed at GMA Music in the Rockies that summer where she placed second in the Southern Gospel vocal category. She also befriended Michael W. Smith and family and traveled as a singer with his Christmastime tour. When she became a finalist for "American Idol," she included her GMA Academy win as one of her proudest moments in her life. Sparks was not alone among the Top 10 "American Idol" finalists with such ties to he GMA. Chris Sligh also competed at GMA Music in the Rockies, placing first in the Pop-Adult Contemporary/Inspirational song category in 2003. He also served as the worship pastor at his South Carolina church, the same position held by Phil Stacey at his church in Jacksonville, Fla. There also was Melinda Doolittle, from Brentwood, Tenn., a long-time background vocalist for many Christian/gospel artists, never betraying her own powerful vocal skills. Even LaKisha Jones, while having no "professional" ties to Christian/gospel music, often declared her love for it and the influence it had on her life. So, while only Sparks won the title of "American Idol," all five of the finalists that GMA followed throughout the competition returned for Wednesday's finale, all five will participate on the "American Idol" tour this summer and all will most likely be offered the opportunity to record their own projects. As the winner, Sparks is already confirmed to sign a recording contract with Sony/BMG. In addition to Krippayne's song, which he wrote with his pastor and friend Jeff Peabody and is already among the top downloads on iTunes, Wednesday's finale featured an on-stage reunion of BeBe and CeCe Winans, who joined Doolittle, one of their former back-up singers, for an electrifying performance of "Hold Up The Light." The finale also served as a reunion of sorts for previous seasons' winners and finalists with Mandisa and George Huff among the many in attendance.

Great Quote on Pastor Professionalism

"Pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry. The mentality is not the mentality of the prophet. It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry. Brothers, we are not professionals! We are outcast. We are aliens and exiles in the world (1 Pet. 2:11)...You cannot professionalize the love for His appearing without killing it. And it is being killed."

- John Piper, as quoted in "The Passionate Church"

Element - Re:flect (05/20/07)

Here are some pictures from the latest Element worship service we had. We did a prayer labyrinth, and I think it turned out really great.

Jim and Casper's Church Visit #3: Mosaic

Before we begin, I need to tell you: I'm a big fan of Erwin McManus and his books. An Unstoppable Force is probably in my top ten "Emerging Church" books. If Mosaic was around when I was in college in Southern California, I would have most definitely wanted to go and be part of an artist community like that. I'm excited because I get to hear him speak this summer.

Mosaic has several locations I believe, but their main "facility" is actually the Mayan Theater, a bar.

I thought it was very interesting to get an atheist's perspective on how they feel when they tell a Christian that they don't believe the same as them. At first, Casper describes it as having a different poker hand than what everyone else at the table is expecting, but then later changes it to what it would feel like if everyone thought he was a man, when actually they find out that he's a woman disguised as a man. At Mosaic, it actually wasn't a big deal, in fact the person that he told actually went and got the man himself, McManus. I thought it was cool that this "celebrity" pastor actually was available to talk. In my experience, when you have celebrity pastors or pastors of large megachurches, they are pretty much unavailable to the general public. I think part of it is because there is no way in a large church that this one person can meet everyone, know everyone's name, or be friends with everyone in the church. But I also think, and this is just an opinion, that when someone gets that well-known or famous or whatever, that a huge distance begins to separate them from the common people, and that in some cases, this pastor actually begins to think that they are better or more spiritual or whatever than everyone else. It was good to see that McManus is not that way.

However, it was interesting that Casper's perspective was that he really wasn't listening to him during the conversation (which was an interesting one, with a discussion about whether an atheist has a belief system or not and whether Casper would understand what's taking place because he was an atheist) but rather trying to control the conversation. This made me pause and really think about the conversations I have with people, especially at church. Do I try to control the conversation, or am I generally trying to listen to what people have to say? I remember hearing someone say once that most of the time when we are talking to people, we aren't really listening to what they have to say, we're thinking about what we want to say next.

I thought that Casper's comments about Mosaic's offering time was really profound, and I want to include it here (along with Jim's comments):

"It was both laid back and insistent. First, I thought it might not be coming. After all, these are mostly kids here with little cash. But he did it with an unusual approach."

I wasn't sure what had been unusual about the offering at Mosaic. "What did you think was unusual about it?"

"Well, he said that for those of us just visiting today, we didn't have to give anything. Then he said that the congregation only gives because they love Jesus and this church. I wondered what that implies then about those of us who didn't give: We don't love Jesus? We don't like this church? Although it seemed so lackadaisical, I think it was actually one of the most aggressive solicitations yet."

It can be dangerous to equate someone's love for God with how or what they give. Perhaps a person gives to the church, but also gives to outside organizations because they feel that those outside organizations do a better job of distributing the money to the poor and needy. Perhaps a person would give to a church but because of things that have happened in their life, they just don't have the resources available to do so. Of course you could counter with the idea that if someone gives to God first, that they will always be blessed financially. I know that has happened to people, but I also know people who have given financially and have been essentially screwed financially because of it. What was the difference? Their lack of faith? Their heart? I don't think it has to do with their love for God.

Anyway, this was an interesting chapter. I would really like to visit Mosaic. I think it would be kind of like the Element worship service that we put together every other month at my church, except probably a lot better and even more artistic.

"Psst...President Putin...here's a breath mint for you."

After 80 years, the Russian Orthodox Church reunited, bringing together factions torn apart by communism. You can read the article here.

If these two groups of Christians can be united, what does that say for churches who split and stay apart over the color of carpet in the worship center or the way communion is served or worship styles or whatever?

And we wonder why they call it the Idiot Box...

I love my T.V. shows as much as the next person (those shows would be Lost, 24, Heroes and The Office), but these statistics were rather disturbing to me. A recent America Online poll revealed these statistics:

77% of Americans can name the Seven Dwarfs,
24% can name two Supreme Court Justices.

60% identified Homer as the father of Bart Simpson,
21% could name one of Homer's epic Greek poems.

73% could name all Three Stooges,
42% could name all three branches of government.

60% knew Krypton was Superman's home planet,
37% knew Mercury was the closest planet to the sun.

23% could name Taylor Hicks as the last winner of American Idol,
11% could name Samuel Alito as the last Supreme Court justice to be confirmed.

Jim and Casper's Church Visit #2: The Dream Center

I had never heard of the second church that Jim and Casper visited, although I remember studying in some class in college (which I graduated from fourteen years ago sometime this month - yikes) the founder of The Dream Center (also known as Angelus Temple), Aimee Semple McPherson as well as the Azusa Street revivals. I had no idea that this McPherson person had that large of a congregation, but it's still going strong.

This chapter brings up several interesting questions, in my opinion. The first question is "How much money that comes into a church should go towards things for the church, and how much money should go to impact the community?" Matt Casper seems to struggle in this chapter; on one hand, he loves the fact that the Dream Center used a lot of its offerings to start programs for the poor and needy in Los Angeles. On the other hand, he bemoans the fact that obviously a lot of money was spent on what seems (to an unchurched mind) to be frivolous items, like a camera crane and fog machines and stuff. I thought it was interesting that Casper struggled with these items, because most churches would think that the opposite is true: that to really reach the unchurched person in America today who is used to high quality "entertainment", that you have to spend oodles of money to try and imitate high quality, at least the best you can. I personally think this is an incorrect viewpoint for a church to have. I'm not sure that the average unchurched person really cares about all the bells and whistles that churches try to copy - I think they care more about how they are treated when they are at church and if anything is authentic and relevant to their lives. It also reminds me of a statement I heard when I was a youth minister: if you win someone with , that's how you have to keep them. If your ministry is all about entertainment and that makes someone join your church, then that's what you will continue to have to do in order to keep them at your church.

Another interesting question that is brought up in my mind in this chapter is the balance between what I call orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right behavior). There is a lot about Pentacostalism that I don't agree with, although I am probably closer to the center than most people like me who have grown up in the Christian Church movement when it comes to the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts. There are things about The Dream Center that I certainly don't agree with theologically. And I'm a little creeped out by the founder and some of her stunts. Yet they are serving the poor and needy in their community. They are doing what Jesus has called us all to do - and yet some of their theology is kind of whacked. What's more important? Is it more important to know all the right things (or at least think you know all the right things) yet not really act upon what you know, or is it more important to act, even though you may be kind of wrong theologically? To me, Matthew 25 and the parable of the sheep and goats goes a long way to answer the question for me, but I still struggle with this.

The last question that I have is found at the very end of the chapter, where Casper talks about the good and bad of the message. He liked the message (it was Father's Day) because he felt that it was very applicable for him, since he was a Father. But he didn't like the "on cue" emotionalism that was displayed by the minister at the appropriate times. I've always wondered what is more important: the substance of the message or the delivery of the message? I still don't know, but from what I remember, this area is discussed some more in the upcoming chapters.

Jim And Casper's Church Visit #1: Saddleback

If you don't understand what the title means, look down at the post below this one - it should help explain. I want to encourage everyone to buy the book "Jim And Casper Go To Church" - it is a refreshing perspective on churches and what we should be focusing on. Now, on with chapter one!

I thought it was interesting that the first church that Jim and Casper visit together was Saddleback. This church is kind of the poster child these days (along with Willow Creek) for the megachurch movement that has swept North American Christianity. It seems like everywhere you go, new megachurches are popping up. Even in places as obscure as Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.

The reason I bring up Idaho is because my wife's uncle and his wife attend a megachurch there. This particular church got its beginnings less than ten years ago, and this Easter they had over 12,000 people in attendance. More about them when Willow Creek comes up (fourth chapter I believe), because I want to look at the whole megachurch explosion.

I have been to Saddleback twice, both times for conferences. The first time I went, I was a youth minister at my homechurch in Colorado (presently at 3,500 attenders, which makes it a megachurch), and our entire staff went to the Purpose Driven Conference, which is essentially what Saddleback is most known for - and of course they're also known for their pastor Rick Warren and his affinity for wearing Hawaiian shirts. The purpose-driven church idea really has revolutionized the church - for good and for bad. The good is that it has given churches both big and small a structure that they can organize their ministry and mission around. The bad is that churches take the concept and make it their own without adapting it to their own demographic and culture, despite Rick Warren saying not to do so. I swear I've heard of churches that have adopted the Purpose-Driven style so "religiously", that even the senior ministers of those churches started wearing Hawaiian shirts. Scary.

The second time I went to Saddleback was for a worship conference, which I enjoyed because Saddleback is in Southern California, and since I miss the ocean (went to school out there), it gave me a lot of opportunities to reconnect with the ocean and the beach. The conference was pretty good as well.

Anyway, let's go back to Jim and Casper's visit. I thought it was very humorous that they talked about the "gauntlet" of happy greeters, because that was my very first impression. They do the exact same thing at their conferences, which made me wonder: 1) Why do pastors and church staff members need to be greeted seventeen times from the parking lot to Saddleback's front door when we're just attending a conference, and 2) Do these people have regular jobs? I mean, it was like a Thursday morning and there were people greeting. As a visitor attending Saddleback for the first time, I'm not sure I would want to be greeted by that many happy faces before getting into the worship service. When I have attended churches for the first time, I have wanted to just blend in and sneak into the door. Maybe it's just my personality or something.

I also thought it was interesting about what Jim and Casper had to say about the music at Saddleback, and this is what I want to focus on. As a worship minister, when I go to a different church, I naturally grade the music and the worship style. I wish I could just sit or stand there and enjoy the music and connect with God through the worship, but I just can't. Every once in awhile I have the opportunity to go to another church in the Dayton area, and I find myself rating the music with the same type of rating that Jim and Casper used to rate the different aspects of their experience at Saddleback (and the other churches). Here is a sample of my rating of other churches I have visited (this should be interesting, I'll star out some of the letters so you don't know what church it is, wink wink):

Sou**roo* - I gave them a 2 out of 5 when I visited them, because although I felt the worship band did pretty well musically, I felt that the worship leaders (there was a guy and a girl who alternated) were trying to be someone they really weren't style-wise (they seemed to be K-Love type worship leaders trying to be more edgy.)

**ngha*sburg - I went at a bad time because it was right before Christmas, and they had this guest worship performer-type person who sounded a lot like James Taylor, and since I don't like James Taylor, I tuned out. So a N/A out of 5 I guess.

Dayton *ine*a*d - 1 out of 5. I didn't know the songs, the worship leader was off key most of the time. Yeah, I can be cruel sometimes.

A**x - 4.5 out of 5. I liked them a lot. I think style-wise, they were the closest to our style, the band was tight, and I knew the songs.

When I went to Saddleback, I had some of the same observations as Jim and Casper regarding the music. Although it was very professionally done, it seemed too slick, too produced.

But here's the thing: Saddleback has a specific target audience. They are primarily targeting the Boomer upper-class business professional, and so it makes sense I guess that the worship style is very slick, very professional, very structured. It also makes sense why I wouldn't prefer it, because I'm not their target. Which brings us to another issue - is it right to have a target audience? (Not an issue to discuss today, however.)

Music is one of those things that is deeply personal to everyone. Churches fight all the time about worship styles and worship preferences. However, I think that Jim and Casper really hit on the main issue of worship: is it authentic and real, or is it showy? I'm not sure if that's an issue with the older generations, but I'm pretty sure that's a huge issue with my generation and the emerging generations who are younger than me. Here are a couple of quotes from this chapter about worship/music that resonated with me:

- "It's awesome. I can see Nick Lachey from here. Well, it's not really Jessica Simpson's ex, but the guy singing looks an awful lot like him."

- "That should attract people, right?" "Maybe people who like American Idol. I mean, don't get me wrong. I see the entertainment value, but when it comes to music, I like it pure. Too much polish and you lose the heartfelt power, you lose the soul of the music, and you're not gonna move anyone."

- "And the lyrics? 'Hope Changes Everything?' What does that mean? Hope changes nothing except your own feelings. Action changes everything."

We showed a video this past Sunday that pretty much encapsulated everything I ever want to say about worship. You can preview it here. It's hard to not be a critic of music when it comes to style, but I think we should be critical when it comes to authenticity and heartfeltness (if that's a word). Saddleback has the performance part down. The question is: how do you combine performance with authenticity in front of 10,000 people?

Jim and Casper Go To Church

I bought this little book the other day, and I'm really excited about reading it. It's called (as the title above suggests) "Jim and Casper Go To Church". It's about a believer and an atheist who decide to visit churches around North America and write about their experiences and perspectives on what they witnessed. I've read the first three chapters, and it's been very intriguing reading, especially considering that two of the three are really big names in churches these days: Saddleback Church and Mosaic.

I would like to talk about a certain aspect of each chapter, but before I start down that road, let me give you a few excerpts from the introduction that I thought were interesting:

- "In spite of my desire for people to encounter Jesus, I spent most of my time functioning as a moral policeman."

- "I was so busy chasing the elusive Three B's of pastoral success (buildings, budgets, and butts in the seats) that I hardly had time to focus on anything else. In fact, I outright ignored the people that Jesus himself primarily came to connect with - the people Jesus misses the most."

- "Too often, conversations we have about our beliefs are too much like debates, and we spend our time looking for chinks in the conversational armor, spaces where we can insert an argument or launch a rejoinder."

- "Generally speaking, ordinary Christians don't like arguing their friends into becoming Christians. It just doesn't feel right. To be sure, we buy the books and really do want someone doing this kind of work. But the idea that we should demand a verdict from non-Christians seems like an approach a lawyer would take - and you know how people feel like lawyers. Ordinary Christians like me know that when you start defending the faith, you also start losing your friends."

Why Oh Why?

If you have never heard of Fred Phelps and his hate-mongering, be very very happy. For the rest of us who cringe every time there is a major tragedy in this country, knowing that Phelps and his band of idiots will be picketing funerals and spreading their unholy view of a God who hates anyone who does not agree with them, it's a sad day indeed.

If you want a visual example of the hate that Phelps spreads, watch the video off of Zach's blog. It will make you appreciate the original song so much more.

I have never listened...

to a Drew Marshall radio show, but after he appeared on some religious T.V. show and kind of ripped them and then talked about how he didn't really like "churchianity" and religious t.v. shows, I might start listening to his show.

Saying #7: Everything

Saying Seven: Everything

After Jesus drank the wine, he said, "Everything is done!" He bowed his head and died.
John 19:30

That's all folks! Show's over! Let's clear the area, please, nothing left to see. Jesus has left the building.

(Who'd have thought it would come to this? History colliding with mystery.)

In the beginning was the Word and the Word is now sentenced. Full stop. Close quotes. New paragraph.

Whatever "everything" is, "everything" is now complete. Things seen, things unseen. Everything that was started has finished. Every beginning has found its loose end, all thoughts have been taken to their logical conclusion. And any others.

At this moment, on this day, we have seen it all.

God bows his head respectfully and dies.

Everything dies.

Life dies.

Death dies.

Everything is done...

... except love.

Only love is not done.

Only love will not die.


To see the flash animation, go here.

Saying #6: Anger

Saying Six: Anger

Jesus shouted, "Father, I put myself in your hands!" Then he died.
Luke 23:46

He's not beaten, even when he's defeated.

Abandoned, desperate, parched, dying... but still, with his final breath, angry at the gulf between the way things are and the way things might be. Shouting at the invisible.

Forget gentle Jesus, if you ever remembered him. What can you do but shout when you see the distance between the way things are and the way things might be - and find yourself being strung from one side to the other?

Howling your prayers. Yelling your psalms. Life screaming at death, hope screaming at cynicism. If you can't shout at God, who can you shout at?

And if you think that your decibels can climb across the unknown, can be heard by Love and that Love will answer, then you jump. And fall into darkness. Trusting only the hands of the unseen, the hands of mercy, the hands that always made everything from nothing. Always do, always will.

What other hands dare you fall into?

Perhaps we are not abandoned. Perhaps we are not beaten, even when we are defeated.

Go here to see the flash animation.

Saying #5: Thirst

Saying Five: Thirst

Jesus knew that he had now finished his work. And in order to make the Scriptures come true, he said, "I am thirsty!"
John 19:28

Everybody is dying for a drink. None of us can survive without it.

We live on a blue planet holding 326 million cubic miles of water, each of those a gigantic overflowing cup holding more than a trillion gallons.

Our bodies are mainly made of water and without it we shrivel up and cease to be. Our life runs dry.

But water is not the only thing that brings us life. Each of us is thirsty for something more, something else, refreshment to transcend our physical needs, to sustain us way down deep inside..

Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, he had said. But now even this spring of life is drying up.

Sweating, struggling to breathe, bent over and bleeding.

Thirstier than he has ever been.

Because we are all dying of thirst.


To see the flash animation of this saying, go here.

Saying #4: Godforsaken

Saying Four: Godforsaken

Then about that time Jesus shouted, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you deserted me?"
Mark 15:34

Not a word we use very often: Godforsaken. Is there a time and place when even God has had enough of us, when even the immortal invisible needs to take some personal time.

Was God now hiding from Jesus... or was it just that Jesus lost sight of God? When it feels like that, what’s the difference?

And if you believe that Jesus, somehow, was also God, this is a kind of self-abandonment - God taking leave of himself, forgetting himself. A kind of madness.

As darkness falls, confusion rises. Voices nearby drop away, disappear. Spectators lose interest. Now just the silent sound of hearts breaking, hope evaporating.

"Hello?" No reply.

"Anyone there?" Nothing answers.

Just you and nothing. Forsaken.

Jesus Christ abandoned to his fate in the middle of history. Foolishness. The mad epicentre of all things. Losing it. Always losing it. You have to lose your life in order to find it. He had said.


Go here to see the flash animation.

Saying #3: Others

Saying Three: Others

When Jesus saw his mother and his favourite disciple with her, he said to his mother, "This man is now your son." Then he said to the disciple, "She is now your mother."
John 19:26-27

What was his mother thinking? Watching her son dying, slowly, by degrees.

"I wish it had never come to this"?
"I wish I could wake from this nightmare"?
"I wish I'd never had him"?

And what about the favourite follower? What’s the point of being a disciple when there’s no master? So much for being in the inner circle, when the circle is being bent and broken before you. So much for being special when all your hopes and dreams are being drained of life in front of your very eyes.

And what were the onlookers thinking? The ones whose curiosity had slowed them down to a halt, to check out this first century car-crash? Event-seekers, intrigued by what the small crowd were looking at over there on Skull Hill, what was going through their minds? Interesting piece of action by the looks of it, always good to get the news firsthand. Nothing like fresh gossip to add a bit of kudos.

Which of us knows what any of the rest of us is really thinking? We can barely read our own minds, let alone those of others. None of us can predict the significance of any of our moments. None of us knows the role we are playing in the invisible grand narrative.

Take the squaddies, dicing for a dying man's clothes, salivating at the market resale value. Ringside seats for the cosmic drama... but too busy living to notice.

We only know for sure what Jesus was thinking of. He was thinking of others. As usual.


To see the flash animation of this, go here.

The Lookout

I don't get a chance to see too many movies - at least movies on the big screen, so I have to pick and choose carefully. Unless I'm with the "brotherhood of the four" (Chad, Seth, Jeff when he's in town, Dave, Mike), when we tend to watch really silly movies together.

I'm excited about a movie coming out today, called The Lookout. It stars Joseph Gorden-Leavett, who is probably best known as the kid on Third Rock From The Sun - but he's actually a very talented young actor. The last movie I saw him in was one of my favorites from last year, Brick.

Anyway, this movie is about a former hockey player who has an accident and has trouble remembering things (sounds kind of like another favorite movie of mine, Memento). He gets recruited to be The Lookout (hence the name) of a bank heist. I'm sure things go wrong, they tend to do so in movies. Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber) and Isla Fischer (Wedding Crashers and right now the girlfriend of Borat, also known as Sacha Baron Cohen) also star. It looks really good.

To see more information, and the theatrical trailer, go here.

Just an observation from Sunday, and I don't really...

have a theory about it, and I'm not even sure if I can come up with anything more than a brief paragraph about it, but I thought it was very interesting Sunday morning when the senior minister of the church I work at had all the guys who were firstborn sons stand up, and a huge majority of the guys in the congregation stood up.

Interesting.

Saying #2: Remember

Saying Two: Remember

Then the criminal said to Jesus, "Remember me when you come into power!" Jesus replied, "I promise that today you will be with me in paradise."
Luke 23:43

Talk about a death-bed conversion! What a chancer! Hanging, said Dr Johnson, wonderfully concentrates the mind and this is one concentrated criminal.

Life has come into focus.

Deep inside, something is finally understood.

He doesn't join the soldiers in humiliating the broken God on the cross next door. After a life spent trying to be noticed, to be someone, he knows he is about to be no one, to be forgotten for good. A dying fly, swatted onto the floor of history.

Yet some mysterious instinct tells him that maybe if this one life on the next cross will notice him, will remember him... he will never be forgotten again. How did he know that weakness and vulnerability are invisibly tied to strength, to another kind of power?

You will be with me today, in a place of unimaginable harmony, a place where this strange passage called life will be known for what it is, a place we sometimes called paradise. You will be with me today, says Jesus Christ, as if there was no doubt about it, as if we can take him at his word.

When we remember someone, we give them extra life. When Jesus Christ remembers us, we can never be forgotten again.

Go here to see the flash animation of this saying.

Saying #1: Forgive

Saying One: Forgive

When the soldiers came to the place called "The Skull" they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus. Jesus said, "Father, forgive these people! They don't know what they're doing."
Luke 23:34

Who decided on the order? Which of the soldiers thought Jesus would look best in the middle? Maybe the two criminals, caught red-handed on their last job, had fallen out with each other. Perhaps the only way to shut them up was to put the quiet guy with the messiah complex in between.

Soldiers, thieves, spectators, those hammering in the nails, those gasping at the visual spectacle: no one in this first Easter scene knows quite what they are doing. Forgive them, says Jesus, as the nails bite, forgive them. They don't get it.

Of all the low-life rogues to find the long arm of the law thumping down on their shoulders, these two nobodies get to hang right in the middle of history. They had never lived with Jesus, like Peter or Mary or Judas. Instead they get to die with him. No chance to give him their lives. Only their deaths.

Which of us aren't as thick as thieves until Jesus Christ enters our field of vision. All of us watching, gasping, averting our eyes, wishing these weren't real nails, that this had not been our shift, hoping we can put this behind us, can move on. Trying to find our words. Not quite sure what we are doing. Not knowing we could ask for forgiveness. Not knowing someone else has.


To see a nifty flash animation of this saying, go here.

The Seven Sayings Of Jesus On The Cross

So, I finally upgraded my blogger account to Google - I've been holding out for a long time, but today I thought "What the heck."

I found this really neat resource while I was looking for Element resources. It's very timely - since it deals with the death of Jesus on the cross. Over the next several posts, I'm going to share with you the text from this resource, as well as link you to a pretty neat flash file for each one.

Or you can go here and check it all out for yourself.

Ennio Morricone

I didn't get a chance to watch much of the Academy Awards this year (and as a matter of fact, they are still on), but one segment of the show I made sure to watch. The Lifetime Achievement Oscar was given this year to a film composer, that in my opinion, ranks among the best. His name is Ennio Morricone. He has composed film scores to hundreds of movies - 506, to be exact (according to imdb.com)! Holy cow, that is a lot of movies.

He has composed some very familiar scores - who can forget the score from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with the whistle? And who can forget the score for The Untouchables, especially the scene with the baby carriage falling down the stairs? However, the movie that is my favorite of his is the movie called The Mission. This movie is in my top ten of all time movies, and I absolutely love the sweeping score that he composed for this movie. Complete with tribal sounds and choirs, this is a soundtrack that everyone in my opinion must have. And if you haven't seen the movie, rent it. It stars Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons (with early acting roles by Aidan Quinn and Liam Neeson), and is about Jesuit missionaries who convert a South American tribe to Christ. It's extemely powerful and will leave you speechless at the end.

So, cheers to Ennio Morricone - you deserve the Oscar.

Significant Sacrifice

This is the second year of me participating in Lent. Even though I grew up Catholic, we were non-church going Catholics, so we never participated in Lent. In fact, the first time I remember seeing someone with ashes on their forehead was when I was a youth minister at my home church in Colorado, and one of the parents had it on their forehead. I had no idea what it was.

Last year I gave up caffeine, and this year I'm attempting to do the same. I love Boston Stoker (last year, I think it was Starbucks), so this is going to be a difficult time for me. This year, I also have a cause that I'm going to give the money I save on coffee to: LifeWater International, which is an organization that "demonstrates Jesus' love by working with people in developing countries to improve their quality of life through accessing, using and maintaining safe water." They have a program called Significant Sacrifice, where you donate the money that you saved by giving up something for Lent to help save lives through clean water. I found this organization through working on last week's Element, which was canceled due to weather and me being sick. At the time, I was disappointed, but it looks like there was at least one reason for me getting ready for an Element that didn't happen.

By the way, if you want a 40 day Lent devotional, leave a comment and I'll send it to you, courtesy of an online friend of mine.

Bob Roberts On 9 Things He's Learning And Unlearning

I thought that this article was really good from the latest Leadership Magazine. The theme of the entire magazine is on Missional Christianity, which obviously seemed interesting to me. Anyway, a missional leader named Bob Roberts (wasn't that the name of that movie where Tim Robbins plays a politician? Anyway...) talks in the magazine about 9 things he's learning and unlearning. They resonated deep within me, so I thought I would share them:

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I'm learning...that mission begins with Christolaogy not ecclesiology. Following Jesus leads us to mission, which leads to churches gathering.

I'm unlearning...my assumption that starting churches naturally leads to mission. It doesn't. Churches default to self-focus unless a commitment to be like Jesus in the world comes first.

I'm learning...that being glocal means decentralizing power, decision making, information, al of it. The kingdom of God means ministry opportunities are available to almost everyone.

I'm unlearning...the American church's traditional focus on a super-star speaker, worship leader, educator, and shepherd, which serves mainly to attract spectators rather than igniting the power of everyone else.

I'm learning...that we serve not to convert but because we have been converted. We serve because Christ has changed us and made us servants to people who are hurting and lost.

I'm unlearning...the assumption that "Christian" is defined primarily as acknowledging a moment of conversion. Becoming a follower of Jesus depends on what happens after that.

I'm learning...to love people, which means to see them healed, educated, and given the same opportunities that we have.

I'm unlearning...that the Christian faith is all about heaven. I believe the church has denied the future by just waiting for the Second Coming. We need a story that includes the future.

I'm learning...the kingdom will be established not by human power or entertainment, but by realizing God's concern for humanity and the whole of society.

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On Using Your Own Fork

I thought this was a great article on the Relevant Magazine website. Could be a good goal for Southwest Church in the coming years - to help people use their own fork in order to feed themselves and not rely solely on the Sunday morning service to get their fill of God's Word!

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Recently, I dialogued with someone who shared with me of their plan to find a new church. This person felt that he could no longer attend our church because he was not “being fed.” Due to the fact that I have heard these words countless times before, it got me wondering, “What does that actually mean? Why are there so many Christians out there leaving their churches because they are spiritually starving?” Am I missing something?

The writer of Hebrews boldly confronts the church by saying, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:11-14, TNIV).

My son is two years old and is moving into the “I want to be a big boy” phase very rapidly. We’re working on potty training right now. What fun! But as we were teaching my son how to eat—how to chew his food, how to use a fork, why we don’t throw the green beans, we eat them—without question, the most difficult task my wife and I faced was getting him to the point where he fed himself. He would devour a mouthful of mac & cheese, but we had to put it on the fork and put it in his mouth. This wasn’t really going to help him in the long run. After all, if you can’t feed yourself, you starve.

Considering this, it makes me wonder: Could it be that so many get to this place of feeling they’re not “being fed” be due to the fact that we haven’t taught them well enough how to feed themselves? Should we have new classes in church like Feeding: 101 and Using Your Own Fork? Seriously. Should it be reduced to this? Or could it also be that there are many who never get beyond the contentment and complacency of having someone else feeding them? Doing the work for them? Surviving on milk?

Acts 2 is a description of the early Church. Luke tells us that the people “devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42, TNIV). Somewhere very early in the journey these people went from “being fed” to doing the feeding. They may have continued to be taught, led, fed, discipled and cultivated, but they also began to teach, lead, feed, cultivate and make disciples. And I believe they also figured something else out: if I’m not serving—putting my gifts to use—then I’ll eventually wind up starving. The cup gets full and has to be poured out. Otherwise, it cannot be filled again.

Most often, it seems that those who feel they are not “being fed” are the ones who have failed to feed anyone else. After all, Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist, washed His disciples feet and told them, “This is what it looks like to follow me.”

It seems to me that if someone has “counted the costs” as Jesus tells us to in Luke 14, and we understand that we must “take up our cross”—something no one else can do for us—then there has to be a point when we begin taking responsibility for our walk. There must come a day when we pick up our own fork and begin to feed ourselves.

I am not saying that we have no need for listening to sermons, hearing God’s word taught and proclaimed or attending Bible study. These are tools that we have as the Church—His Body—that assist us in our walk. In fact, these tools actually further the point. If you’re attending a church where the Word of God is being accurately proclaimed, where the Bible is being taught, where the fellowship of the believers is present, where the Body of Christ is being the Church and still, somehow, you’re not being fed … could it be you just haven’t learned to use your own fork?

Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (Ephesians 3:17-18, TNIV). “Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise” (Colossians 3:16, NLT). He says that the Church should “equip God’s people to do His work and build up the Church … until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord” (Ephesians 4:12-13, NLT). Paul makes references in Colossians, Philippians and elsewhere about being “mature” in our faith. Are you striving for this? Are you straining to receive the prize? Or are you still wanting someone else to feed you?

It’s like I tell my son, “If you want to be a big boy, you’ve got to pick up your fork.” If you feel like you’re not “being fed,” I encourage you to wrap a towel around your waist, wash someone else’s feet and pour your life out into someone else. I bet you’ll start feeling full real soon!

by Brian Mayfield

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Amazing Grace Sunday

This Sunday has been designated as Amazing Grace Sunday - next week there's a movie that's going to be released, so I thought when I first heard about this that it was just to promote the movie. It's so much more.

The movie Amazing Grace follows the story of William Wilberforce, and English parliamentary member who sought throughout his political career to abolish the slave trade policies of England. He was mentored by an old preacher named John Newton - who not so coincidentally penned the hymn "Amazing Grace". Newton's story is amazing in itself, I would encourage you to go to this site to see more about his life.

Amazing Grace Sunday has a twofold purpose - to inform people about the incredible story of Wilberforce and Newton, but to also remind us all that slavery is alive and well in the world. There are two basic forms of slavery that exist today: forced labor and prostitution. There are things that we can do, things I would encourage you to do. Go to the Amazing Change Website and read more about what happens in the world today, and what you can do to help abolish slavery in the world.

As a reminder, here's Micah 6:8 -

8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Favorite Quotes #1

I have two full journals of quotes I've collected over the years. Here are a few of my favorites:

- God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. His goal is not to pamper us physically but perfect us spiritually. {Paul W. Powell}

- In America, Christians pray for the burden of suffering to be lifted from their backs. In the rest of the world, Christians pray for stronger backs so they can bear their suffering. It's why we look away from the bag lady on the street and to the displays in store windows. Why we prefer going to the movies instead of to hospitals and nursing homes. {Dave Dravecky}

- The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. {Richard Foster}

- Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself. {Leo Tolstoy}

- A man prayed and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized tht prayer is listening. {Soren Kierkegaard}

- We don't need fasten your seat belt signs in our pews because we no longer fly. We're like a group of geese attending meetings every Sunday where we talk passionately about flying and then get up and walk home. {Tim Hansel}

- Come near to the holy men and women of the past and you will soon feel the heat of their desire after God. They mourned for Him, they prayed and wrestled and sought for Him day and night, in season and out, and when they had found him the finding was all the sweeter for the long seeking. {A.W. Tozer}

- Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God, with all the moments of pain and joy, despair and hope, at the disposal of those who want to join this search but do not know how. {Henri Nouwen}

- A faith that moves mountains is a faith that expands horizons. It does not bring us into a smaller world full of easy answers, but into a larger one where there is room for wonder. {Rich Mullins}

- The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him." {Henry Varley}

- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and continuity. {Martin Luther King, Jr.}

- Saints become saints by somehow clinging to the stubborn conviction that God deserves our trust, even when it looks like the world is caving in. {Philip Yancey}

- Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God idea, not God himself. {Unamuno y Jugo}

- I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, abut because by it I see everything else. {C.S. Lewis}

- Life without Jesus is like a dry garden baking in the sun. It is foolish to want anything that conflicts with Jesus. What can the world give you without Jesus? His absence is hell, his presence, paradise. {Thomas a Kempis}

- He is no fool who agives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. {Jim Elliot}

- My dear Jesus, my Savior, is so deeply written in my heart, that I feel confident, that if my heart were to be cut open and chopped to pieces, the name of Jesus would be found on every piece. {Ignatius}

- Some Christians haven't even attempted to think about whether or not they would die for Jesus because they haven't really been living for Him. {D.C. Talk}

- It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church. We should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may awake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return. {Annie Dillard}

- The Christian leadership of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her vulnerable self...It is not a leadership of power and control, baut a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest. {Henri Nouwen}

- Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes - the rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. {Elizabeth Barrett Browning}

- The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. {Brennan Manning}

More to come later.

Re:Focus

Element
Sunday, February 18th
7:00 p.m.
The Garage 1919

As of right now I have no idea what's in store for next Sunday night - but I'm excited to see how God moves as we re:focus and worship Him.

Postevangelism? If this is the definition, sign me up!

"I no longer believe in evangelism. To be postevangelistic is to live our lives in Christ without a strategy but with the compassion and the servant posture of Jesus Christ. We do not do evangelism or have a mission. The Holy Spirit is the evangelist, and the mission belongs to God. What we do is simply live our lives publicly as a community in the way of Jesus Christ, and when people inquire as to why we live this way, we share with them an account of the hope within us. We are to love one another, and that creates its own attraction. Taking care of the sick and the needy creates all the evangelism we need."

- Karen Ward (quote from the book Emerging Churches by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger

Online Prayer Labyrinth

While I was searching for some ideas for this coming Sunday - the last Sunday of our message series on prayer - I came across a very cool website that has an online labyrinth of prayer activities that you can do/experience. I am going to attempt to go through all of them this week - the one that I stumbled across was #10 in the labyrinth, where you can light a virtual candle and pray for someone.

Go here and check out this great prayer resource.

Re:Generation

Next month, we will be starting up Element again. Although there have been some changes, and I have no idea who is left to participate and help (besides a few), I'm still excited about it. I've decided to go with the theme for the entire year called "Re:Generation". This post is to help explain a little as to what that means.

Re:generation is a wordplay that has kind of stuck with me for about 7 years or so. There was a youth ministry in Colorado called "re:generation ministries", and I've liked the idea since. Two thoughts:

1. Regeneration is a real word. If you look it up in the dictionary (or in this case dictionary.com), it's defined in this way: "Spiritual or moral revival or rebirth." Over the last few months, this idea of a spiritual rebirth or revival has really resonated with me. (Hence the title of this blog - "vita renavatio", or "life reborn")

2. When you start thinking about the "re" part of "re:generation", you begin to realize that there are a lot of interesting words that begin with those two letters, words that have real spiritual significance: reformation, reunion, revival, restoration, repentance, and one of my favorites, revolution.

This year in Element, we are going to take a look at a number of these re words and figure out what it takes to be a generation of people called by God in the world and in the time we live in. Here is the schedule for the first three months:

February 18 - Re:Focus

March 11 - Re:flect

April 15 - Re:volution

If you've been to Element, you know that each one has been different, and you never know what to expect. This will continue with the Element gatherings of 2007. A great passage for those who attend Element, who I'm beginning to call the Re:Generation (regardless of age):

3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ?
Who may stand in his holy place?

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false. [a]

5 He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Savior.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, O God of Jacob. [b]
Selah

Psalm 24:3-6

(By the way, the Japanese symbols on the guy's hand on the graphic does mean something. A Buddy Jesus doll to whomever can guess what it means. Hint: It's an Re word.)

Five Short But Life-Changing Prayers

Search me.

Break me.

Stretch me.

Lead me.

Use me.

What If?

I love the T.V. show 24. Absolutely love it. Season 6 is looking like another incredible day in the life of Jack Bauer. This season has raised some very interesting questions in my own head concerning terrorism and the United States' right to respond. Then I read a fantastic article in The Christian Century that asks the question, "What if?" What if President Bush and the rest of the leaders of our country responded differently to the 9/11 attacks in New York and The Pentagon? Just reading the made-up Presidential address gave me goosebumps, and made me wonder what would have happened if we responded in this way:

My fellow Americans: We have been hit. The attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon have damaged every one of us. We are filled with anger and rage, for in 200 years our country has never experienced such an attack from the outside.

So everything in us cries out for revenge. Should we give in to this cry? It would be the easier way. And I am sure you would support me if I mobilized our troops to hunt down the terrorists and those who helped them wherever they are hiding.

But I propose to take another route. It may baffle you—even infuriate you—at first hearing. But I ask that you consider it with care.

The assaults have shown us something we needed to know: we are vulnerable. Yes, we are an open country. We are a nation linked to other nations around the globe. Therefore, strangers can come into our country. They can hijack airplanes and steer them into high-rise buildings. Of course, we can improve our security measures. But the fact of our grave vulnerability remains.

The experience of this immense cruelty is, at the moment of such great suffering, also our moment of truth about the vulnerability that we share with others. For we can now empathize with other people who live through civil wars for years and even decades. We can now grasp how people feel when their cities have been bombed into heaps of smoking ashes. (And sometimes those bombs are ones that we have built and delivered.) All this we can now feel with a special intensity.

What follows from this kind of knowledge that we have bought with so much grief? Should we try to close this window of vulnerability? To do that would turn our country into a prison. It would betray a heritage that we need to honor at all costs, namely, that we live as a free people in a free land. And we intend to keep it that way.

So we say to the world: We will try to learn from this bitter lesson. There is no special status for the United States. We are, together with all other peoples, guests on this planet, finite and mortal beings who are connected to each other, dependent on one another.

Therefore, we must not regard our "American way of life" as a privilege to be defended at any cost against the rest of the world, but rather, we must maintain it in such a way that it can become a way of life for other peoples as well, if they so wish. A way that respects the variety of cultures and religions. A way to protect the rights of all peoples.

We are stunned by the hatred that reveals itself in these attacks. But we need to see the causes that enabled it to grow. We need to find possibilities to decontaminate the conditions that have contributed to the planning and execution of these heinous crimes.

This implies the acknowledgment—and this may well be the hardest task I ask of you today—that our vulnerability is also an expression of our failure to meet peoples in other parts of the world as honest brokers for their needs. We need to accept our share in the injustices that are causing so much suffering. The evil is not simply out there; it is also with us and within us.

For a long time we have held onto our sense of national innocence. But it now lies buried under the rubble of the Twin Towers in New York.

Why do I suggest this turn?

Not because we have suddenly become cowards, but because we have gained the insight that our security is linked to the security of all peoples, and that our peace is connected to their peace. The freedom we cherish so much cannot be had without their freedom.

Many of you will say in anger that we have lost our nerve, that we are capitulating to the terrorists.

That is not the case.

America remains the most powerful nation in the world. But we are powerful enough to admit our vulnerability. We are sovereign enough to take this unprecedented turn. And thus we are not allowing the terrorists to dictate our response.

Does this mean that we let them get away with their crimes? By no means! They are murderers, and so they must be brought to an international court. We are calling on all the peoples around the globe, who so overwhelmingly share in our suffering, to assist us in identifying and prosecuting the assassins and their supporters.

Since we have good reason to suspect that they are members of the Islamic religion, we are calling on Muslim lawyers to assist us. A fatwa by Muslim spiritual leaders would clarify that such crimes are incompatible with the spirit of Islam. Muslim experts could help us in setting up an international court to which we will surely bring our claims and proofs.

Terrorism is one of the great plagues of our time. We do not pretend to be able to eradicate it, least of all by waging a war against it. Because evil—and terrorism is evil—will not disappear from the face of the earth because we wish it away. It will stay with us as a threat and a temptation because it is in all of us.

This is a bitter day. Let us turn it into a day of truth and honesty.

What I ask of you today is a burdensome task, certainly heaviest for the families whose loved ones have lost their lives. But I am convinced that this is the only way to liberate ourselves and others from the vicious cycle of violence and counterviolence.

God bless America!

Although I did say my next post was going to try to answer some of the questions that I raised in my last post, I think that this article helps in my coming to understand what "love your enemies" really means.

Love To The Third Degree (Part One)

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to participate in a pretty cool service at our church. It was the New Year's Eve service, and the senior minister was out of town, so we decided to do something different. We took the theme "Love God. Love Others." and developed a service based on the theme. We had the four people besides the senior minister who are on the leadership team each take one of the areas we are to love God with: our heart, our soul, our strength and our mind. And at the end, I talked about loving our neighbor as ourselves. I thought it was a great way to look at Luke 10 - we interspersed each devotional with music and video stuff.

But we didn't cover another area of love - one I didn't think about until the next day.

Loving God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind is a tough thing to do. To consciously devote our time to loving God in these ways is tough! And then, to realize that we are not to exist for ourselves, that we (both individually and the church) are called to exist for others - well, in the culture we live in today, that's a really really tough thing to do.

Jesus takes it even further, however. (As he's known to do) In Matthew 5, he tells us this:

43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (NIV)

We are commanded to love our enemies. What does that mean? And is it even possible in today's time? Who are our enemies? I guess you could make a case that Muslims are our enemies, at least the jihadist Muslims, because they want to wipe Christianity off the face of the earth. But what does it mean to love them? Does it mean I'm supposed to go to Libya and try to hug all the Muslims I can find?

And what about enemies here in America? Who are my enemies? Is an enemy someone who disagrees with me? Is it someone at church who rubs me the wrong way whenever I come into contact with them?

Chuck Swindoll, in his book Simple Faith, talks about this passage of Scripture: “In my opinion, Jesus’ words recorded in Matt.
5:38-48, are among the most unusual He ever uttered. The strange-sounding advice not only cuts cross-grain against our human nature, it also represents the antithesis of the advice most Americans are given. Nevertheless, His words are wise and His way is right. If we will only give them a chance, we will discover how true and – yes, once again – how simple His advice really is.”

Again, what does it mean to love an enemy? Does it mean I agree with their behavior towards me? Do I allow them to continue to trample on me?

As you can see, I bring up more questions than answers right now. My next post will be a feeble attempt to try and answer some of these questions.

When Good Men Do Nothing

I know I've shown this picture before, but I added a caption to it. This will be a daily reminder for me this coming year of what's really important.

The Present Future, Chapter 3 (Part Two)

As I've mentioned before, McNeal doesn't mince words when it comes to what needs to be done in the North American church in order for it to survive and thrive in today's culture.

The first paragraph under the Tough Question category in this chapter hit me like a ton of bricks:

"If you are a church leader, be aware that when you head down this road toward developing a missionary force, you are going to do some significant soul-searching and ministry reprioritization. Your church budget may shrink. Your church calendar may get less crowded. You many not have as many meetings. You will lose control of the church ministry. You are going to be challenged not only to release ministry, you are also going to be challenged to release members from churchianity, to quit gauging their spiritual maturity by how much they "support the church." You may see them less, but you will exponentially increase your impact on their lives and your impact on the community where your church is located."

McNeal then tells a story of how he was commissioned to do some strategic planning for large churches, and when he mentioned the idea of impacting the community, he was met with blank stares. These pastors were expecting him to solve the problems within their own church - to help them develop strategies to get people to do church work. He adds, "This is what life in the church bubble can do to you. It shrink-wraps your vision down to the size of your church."

McNeal then goes into some more of what I call "church jargon" about what the problem is, which I won't bore you with but will instead very succinctly explain what he, as well as what Frost and Hirsch describe in their book The Shaping Of Things To Come, means. The church for too long has used the following formula to determine the focus and mission of the church:

ecclesiology ---> mission

In other words, churches start out with what they want their church to look like, what they want their services to look like, what they want Sunday morning programming to look like - and then their view of ecclesiology then determines the mission of the church. It's similar to what I posted back in the day (which I was surprised to find on a couple other blogs, since it really wasn't my idea, it was Dan Kimball's thought), which you can find here.

Here's what really should happen:

christology ---> missiology ---> ecclesiology

We first start out with looking at what Jesus did while he was here and what he taught his disciples. This then helps us develop our mission, which then helps us develop our view of church - based on the mission that Christ has given us.

This brings us to what I talk about in the other Kimball-inspired post, which you can find here.

Let's continue on with McNeal:

After the intellectual gobblety-gook, his suggestion is this: to release members to become missionaries, you have to do two things - create a culture informed by missiology and create venues where people can practice being missionaries.

He gives some examples, and then says this:

"These ministry efforts are not add-on things to do but are part of a community orientation that is fundamental to the church's mission. Releasing people to be missionaries will turn your congregation inside out. It will help people and families integrate their lives around their sense of mission by reducing the compartmentalization that plagues them. Rather than trying to attract people's leftover energies (after work, school, family and so on), release them to find and give expression to their missionary calling. Then watch the energy flow! The key is to have a practice of saying "yes" to people's ideas about ways to be on mission."

This paragraph reminds me of one of the first illustrations I read concerning the emerging church movement that really interested me and re-energized me. It was in an article by Christianity Today about the Emergent Church. In my next post, I will explain this illustration; this post is long enough.

The Present Future, Chapter 3 (Part One)

Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself. I remember, it seems like many moons ago, posting about the book The Present Future, about how much I liked it and how the next several posts would be devoted to it. And now, several posts later, I'm finally making good on that declaration. Silly me.

Anyway, in case you have forgotten the first two chapters (I have), here is the basic theme of each chapter.

Chapter 1 dealt with the current church culture in North America, and how it is collapsing. The idea that "if we just do church better, people will come" doesn't work anymore. Well, let me rephrase that. If our mission is to reach unchurched people, just because we have better or more programs, a snazzier sound system, a more talented worship band, and culturally-appealing messages doesn't mean that "they will come". As McNeal says, a non-Christian isn't waking up on a Sunday morning thinking "What church out there can I bless with my presence?" They're not thinking about church at all. Just because we dig deeper in the hole we have already dug, it doesn't mean we'll find something. We might be digging in the wrong hole. We need to step back, examine what we're doing, and see if our mission - based on who we really are reaching and what really is taking place in our churches - is really our mission. As McNeal says, we need to recapture the mission of the church. "The movement Jesus initiated had power because it had at its core a personal life-transforming experience." Is the church of today more interested in getting more butts in the seats, or is it more interested in seeing transformed lives?

Chapter 2 dealt with the Church Growth movement, which has been happening in America since the 1970's. There are some good things about the church growth movement, and some bad things about it. As it has been noted by Barna and other research groups, the highest percentage of growth that a megachurch experiences is through people who are already Christians who are just transferring membership from a smaller church that doesn't meet their needs to a larger congregation that meets their needs in every way. This doesn't necessarily mean that the mission of these larger churches is to "steal sheep" from other churches, it's just a reality that happens. Again, McNeal hits on the reality that by doing things better, adding more programs, adding more staff, and putting more money into ministries within the church doesn't necessarily mean that life transformation is happening, or that the mission of the church to reach unchurched populations within its community is being fulfilled. The rest of his chapter deals with some of the same things I brought up this Sunday at church - does the Church have a reputation of loving others? Does the Church - and everything within the church (money, resources, gifted people) - exist for itself, or does it exist for the community and the world around it? As McNeal says, "This is what it's going to take to gain a hearing for the gospel in the streets of the 21st century - the smell of cleaning solution, dirty fces, obvious acts of servanthood."

So, now we are on to chapter 3, titled "A New Reformation: Releasing God's People".

The main idea behind this chapter is that for the Church to not just survive but thrive in the 21st century in the America, we need to decentralize ministry, get rid of the hierarchical structure of leadership within the church, and free up the people within our churches to be able to do ministry. This chapter exposes a major fallacy within the American Church: that the only "venue" that people can use their gifts, talents and resources is the church itself. Most of the giftedness training and recruiting is primarily to fill spots within the church itself. "Ministers have waged an enduring campaign to convince the laity to support church efforts with energy, prayer, time, talent and money." The wrong question in this chapter, according to McNeal is "How Do We Turn Members Into Ministers?" There are a couple of reasons why this is the wrong question.

First, getting all those church holes filled continues to be a more difficult proposition for staff members. McNeal attributes this to the idea that these staff members "don't get it." They view the recruitment difficulties as a motivational issue, which it's not. The problem is that there is a shift in how people decide how they will spend their lives, and "working for" an institution, whether it be a job, church or civic organizations is becoming less and less of an interest in people's lives. If the mission of an organization fails to capture the interest of someone, they will just move on.

Secondly, turning members into ministers isn't motivating for people, because honestly people really don't want to be "ministers" if it means doing what people perceive ministers these days doing. As McNeal says, "On the one hand, when they see ministers being where the action is, helping people, turning lives around, partnering with God's work in the world, they line up. On othe other hand, too many church members view clergy as professional ministers who have been cranked out by the church industry to manage church stuff. They have not been exposed to church leaders who are leaders of a movement. Instead they are familiar only with institutional managers."

The tough question is this: "How Do We Turn Members Into Missionaries?" Which we will talk about in part 2.