UnChristian :: Get Saved!

I’m working on this week’s sermon on the apparent lack of sincerity that is experienced by most young adults when it comes to common evangelism techniques (the study shows that we are viewed in the same light as the door to door Mormon missionaries – yikes).

One of the problems the authors point out is our obsession with the moment of conversion and this NT Wright quote from his John for Everyone commentary makes an excellent point.

To think that this moment itself is the center of what it means to be a Christian, as though what God wanted was simply to give people a single wonderful spiritual experience to be remembered ever afterwards with a warm glow is a bit like someone framing their birth certificate, hanging it on the wall, and insisting on showing it to everyone who comes into the house.  What matters for most purposes is not that once upon a time you were born – though of course sometimes it matters that you can prove when and where you were born.  What matters is that you are alive now, and that your present life, day by day and moment by moment, is showing evidence of health and strength and purpose. – NT Wright

UnChristian :: Judgemental

A decade or so ago, when television evangelists right and left seemed to be falling by the wayside, I spoke at a denominational meeting of mainline pastors.  Before I was on, the mater of ceremonies said something like this to the audience:  We must distance ourselves from the likes of Jim Bakker.  Men like this have disgraced the church, and we must make it clear to our people that we are not like that.”

His words infuriated me, which explains why I started with words to this effect:  “the Difference between Jim Bakker and the rest of us is that they haven’t found out about the rest of u yet.  This is no time to distance ourselves from Jim Bakker, but to acknowledge that what was in him is in us all.  The line that separates good from evil does not separate one group of people from another, but runs right down the middle of each of us.  Each of us has a dark side –and if the truth were known, each of us would have to run away and hide.”

I am not suggesting that we are all adulterers, liars, and embezzlers.  All I’m saying is that there is enough evil in the best of us and enough good in the worst of us that it behooves us to not look down on others.  -Tony Campolo :: Adventures in Missing the Point

Why I Like 707

707 was great tonight…  for lots of reasons.

We’re currently in between series and we had our friend John David Geib come and share on what it means to have Christ living in us, that was great, but that’s not really what I want to talk about.

I arrived tonight a little after 4pm and my friend Curtis came in early.  Curtis is a “volunteer” who wants to help people understand the whole story of the Gospel.  He’s been working in his free time to develop a Theology Lab we hope to offer in the coming months.  We had a good chat about what he’s learning and how he’s putting things together.

At 4.30 we headed up to a little prayer time for everyone who is participating in the service (mostly the band and tech crew).  This week the circle was three times as large as usual because we had our second “drum circle.”  Essentially we had over a dozen extra drummers playing with our regular worship band.  I watched/listened to their rehearsal and it was so great to see the way they gelled and eventually led the congregation into a great time of worship.

At 6 a whole group of LifeGroup Leaders and other 707ers who recently returned from a mission trip got together to pray for our people, our ministry and the lost.  The room was full when I walked by.

We had team dinner for everyone involved in the service at 6.30.  We shoved about 50 people into a room and ate stir-fry and pizza (killer combo, right?).  As everyone finished their food we ended in prayer and headed up for worship.

Here’s why I loved tonight. I wasn’t responsible for any of it.  It’s easy to think that somehow “you” are the glue that holds things together, but in truth I’m not.

The 707 team is amazing.  Dean has vision for our community groups and how they can connect outside of Sunday’s to encourage each other and reach out to their neighborhoods.  He’s held that vision out and slowly but surely we see that vision emerging.  That 6pm prayer meeting is a part of that.  Amber and Sarah have done so much leg work in building relationships and you can see people connecting more and more each week.

Bryan Karas is a genius.  He has vision for leading people in worship and works hard to accomplish that.  His vision is wider than just a band on a stage, he wants to break down the barrier that creates an “us” and “them” mentality.  He tries to think of worship experiences that include people that wouldn’t normally be “on stage” and bring them into the experience.

Every week Tina prepares a meal so that our teams can eat together and connect in a meaningful way before we get started.  She makes incredible food (which is hard to do when you’re preparing for 30 plus people every week) and is resourceful when a wrench gets thrown in the system.

Curtis is just a guy who connected with our ministry and has a deep passion to see people grow.  There’s nothing in it for him.  He’s not getting paid.  He just cares.

There are many more stories like this.  It’s what makes our ministry what it is.  On nights when I don’t have much to do in an official capacity it’s a blessing to get to see how God is at work in the people He’s gathered together and to know that people’s lives are being changed through this ministry.

Why We Don’t Lead

The only thing hold you back is your own fear…  What people are afraid of isn’t failure.  It’s blame.  Criticism.

We choose not to be remarkable because we’re worried about criticism.  We hesitate to create innovative movies, launch new human resource initiatives, design a menu that makes diners take notice, or give an audacious sermon because we’re worried, deep down, that someone will hate it and call us on it.

Fear of criticism is a powerful deterrent because the criticism doesn’t actually have to occur for the fear to set in.  Watch a few people get criticized for being innovative, and it’s pretty easy to convince yourself that the very same thing will happen to you if you’re not careful.

Seth Godin :: Tribes

Christianity Shrinking & Looking Elsewhere

I’ve made a list of things I want to blog about and hope to get to them over the next few weeks.  This is the first item on the list.

No doubt you’ve heard the “surprising” statistics that less people in America would identify themselves as Christians in 2009 than in 1990.  The actual percentage drop was fifteen from 90% to today’s 75%.  The same research pointed out that “evangelical” groups were growing while mainline involvement has dropped off.

Two things surprised me about this research, and really it has nothing to do with the research itself.  First, it is surprising that so many people were surprised by these findings.  The fact that 20 years ago 90% of Americans claimed Christianity as their religion and even today the 75% really is nothing more than an answer to “what kind of funeral would you like to have?”  It’s not as if 90% of Americans were in church every Sunday during the 90’s and what I think we see is that more people are ok with admitting that they really don’t care about religion.

The second surprise is really the way that American Christians react to this kind of research.  As with the findings of the Unchristian study done as a collaboration between Barna and Fermi, American Christians don’t like to hear that people don’t view them favorably or worse yet don’t want to be affiliated with them, so instead of accepting the research they deny the validity of it to give themselves permission not to deal with it.  This of course is a fatal flaw of any organization and will eventually lead to it’s downfall (could that be one of the reasons the numbers are dropping?).

Let’s just be honest, there are countless reasons that it’s hard to be connected to American Christianity (I won’t go into them because to be so critical in this format really isn’t helpful) and if Jesus hadn’t changed my life and given me reason to keep living as well as my desire to see people connect with Jesus in the same way I might have second thoughts too.  Jesus is the whole reason I think the Church still has a chance in America.

Which leads me to the “what should we do?” section of this post.

For years pastors of evangelical churches have been looking to successful churches for ideas, strategy and insight on how to reach out to their community and grow their churches.  I have been a part of three church staffs and at each church we have spent time reading books from North Point, Willow Creek, Saddle Back and many more churches.  I have found these books to be very very helpful in my understanding of ministry and even in specific ministry programming,  but I wonder if the time has come for us to look elsewhere for insight.

The American landscape is changing and slowly but surely we are slipping into a post-Christendom culture (larger metorpolitan areas will get there before the more rural areas, but we are more connected now than ever before).  I think that instead of looking soley to churches that are learning how to traverse this new territory at the same time as we are we need to look to people who have been at this for some time.

In the past year I have had the opportunity to read small amounts from European pastors and thinkers who have been living in a post-Christendom landscape for some time.  They have had to learn to deal with holding a lower spot in society and the negative opinions that come with committing their entire lives to following Jesus.  I believe that now is the time for us to embrace these brothers and sisters and learn from what they have learned and what they are doing.  This will take some humility on our part since American evangelicals have often thought there was nothing to learn from churches smaller than theirs and it takes humility to hear people poke holes in the strategies and methods we have held onto for so long, even if those strategies and methods are what got us here.

Some of the best leaders from outside the states I would encourage pastors and leaders to learn from are Alan Hirsch, Stuart Murray (his two books on post-Christendom culture are brilliant) and the guys from The Crowded House (Tim Chester & Steve Timmis & their book Total Church).  If you know more, by all means throw some links in the comments section (there are many American’s already doing this too, so you could add them in as well).

Here’s the truth, for far too long we’ve looked for the killer app/silver bullet to reach people and grow churches.  If we could have the right program or slogan or marketing peice we were sure that we would be ale to find success, and to be fair that will probably still work in most places, but it won’t combat the problems that all this new research is showing us.  If we want to reach people that don’t care or worse hate people like us we’re going to have to go to work.  We’re going to have to understand the culture in a new way.  We’re going to have to wrestle with the hows and whys and tackle the reality of our position within culture from a realistic starting point and not our own inflated idea of how people see us.

The good news is Jesus rose from the dead.  Death has been defeated and the same power that rose Christ from the dead is alive and at work in you, me and the Church at large.  We just might need that more today than we (in our lifetime, not in the history of the church) ever have before.

Grow or Die

In my “Culture and System Change” class we’ve been discussing growing organizations and the long-term impact that growth can have on the organization.  In this week’s discussion the quesiton was asked  What are the implications of ‘”Grow or die?’”  This was my response…

I have heard this statement before, and in churches I have worked for this was a mantra of sorts.  To some extent this statement is true, but what interested me as I read Prof. Myers chapter on growth was that our church often takes the Large Lump approach to growth that almost always results in death as opposed to the piecemeal approach that actually yields long-term growth.

I think the real question is what’s the focus of the “grow or die” statement? Is it life, the opposite of death, or is it growth? For too many it seems that the appeal of growth is what drives them and they don’t factor in the long-term results of the kind of growth they are pursuing.

When you think about growth, what comes to mind

Hard Work

Walk with me through a few scenes from my last week…

Tuesday:: January 13, 2009
Meri, Brad and I are sitting in our living room watching one terrible audition after another on the new season of American Idol.  As the judges would break the “surprising” news to these would be Idols they would exit the room in utter dismay.  Each would handle their disappointment differently, but the common message from almost every rejected contestant was “How can this be?  I’ve worked so hard!  I want this so bad!  This has to happen!

Saturday Afternoon :: January 16, 2009
Meri and I finally go to see Slumdog Millionaire, and it’s wonderful for hundreds of reasons.  In the end you realize the moral of the story is to never let go of the dream, and if you devote your life to that dream it will come true.

Saturday Evening :: January 16, 2009
I’m back in my living room again watching a great documentary on steroid use in sports called Bigger, Stronger, Faster*.  The primary focus is on three brothers who all had big dreams of being strong athletic muscular men.  One is winning local power lifting competitions  and another is trying to break into the world of professional wrestling.  The third brother is holding down a 9-5 at a Gold’s Gym.  Why’s the third just working at a gym?  He refuses to take steroids.  Throughout the movie you see what lengths these brothers will go to in order to realize the “dream” that they have for their life and ultimately the toll it takes on the rest of their life.

Tuesday :: January 20, 2009
I’m in my car outside the gym listening to the local news updates following the Inauguration of Barrak Obama.  They’re interviewing an African-American student from one of the local universities and he basically said “now I know that if I put my mind to it and work hard I too can become president of the United States.”

All of this has left me thinking about dreaming big and working hard.  The truth is if you work hard there’s a good shot you’re going to do alright for yourself, but the chances of you becoming a pro-wrestler/national power-lifting champion/THE American Idol/President of the United States are extremely limited.

I have heard people from the generation that comes before me talk about the “sense of entitlement” that the next generation seems to have, but I wonder how much of that comes from the fact that they have told us over and over again that we can have/be/do anything we want.  That’s just not true, is it?  The truth is you can devote your whole life to a dream and it might not come true.  The truth is you can devote your whole life to one specific skill set and you still may not be the best in the world (heck, you might not even be the best in your neighborhood).

So, what’s the answer?

I think we have to tell a better story.  The idea that you can do and be and have everything that you could ever want is a good story, but it really just appeals to our simplest desires.  The desire to be the best.  The desire to be number one.  The desire to get what I want.

What if we told our kids stories of making a difference?

What if we told each other stories of belonging?

What if we lived for stories of the Kingdom?

Can you imagine how much different your thoughts of success would have been if all of your life your parents said things like, “if you work really hard and put all of your heart in it God will use you to accomplish his will here on earth.”  Instead of being hugely disappointed by not becoming a pro-wrestler/national power-lifting champion/THE American Idol/President of the United States we’d be looking for ways that the Kingdom of God was expanding all around us.

So, what kind of stories are you telling/believing/living?

2008 in Review :: Music

Somehow I didn’t care enough to update this blog with any real content over the month of December, but I still wanted to put up my year end lists.  I’ll have books, podcasts, TV & movies eventually.

She & Him // Volume One – Remember that girl from Elf that Will Ferrell sneaks in to hear singing in the shower?  This is her first record along with a brilliant indie rock songwriter named M.Ward.  It’s got a

Death Cab for Cutie // Narrow Stairs – I know that most would say this is not Death Cab’s finest record, and I’d agree with that, but once I got over my fear that they were turning into a jam band I found myself really enjoying this record.

Sigur Ros // Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust – This is another Sigur Ros record.  If you don’t own any of their music you’re missing out.  Go… buy this record.

Charile Hall // The Bright Sadness – There is no doubt that this is the most artistic worship record that I heard all year.  My friend Brian Hopkins hooked me up with a copy in October and it took a few weeks to give it a listen, but as I sat with it for the first listen it connected to my heart and I found myself going back to it over and over again.

Jon Foreman // The Seasons EPs – I have long been a fan of Switchfoot, although I haven’t bought either of their past two records, but these 4 eps by Jon Foreman were the most played records of the year for me.  With each record written with the feel of it’s given season there is an introspective feel to each one of these records.

Bryan Karas // Cambridge Songs – Bryan Karas is the worship leader at 707 and is an incredibly gifted musician.  He finally put together a cd of his music and all the proceeds are going to a micro-finance group called The Reckoning.  Not only is it a good cause, it’s an incredibly worshipful and honest record.  Do yourself a favor and pick this up.

The Welcome Wagon // Welcome to the Wagon – I heard about this record via Bob Hyatt’s twitter.  He said something about it being produced by Sufjan and I hopped directly on emusic to pick it up.  Turns out it’s a couple with the Husband being a graduate of Princeton Seminary and pastor in Brooklyn.  The music and lyrics are good for the soul and it almost

Bon Iver // For Emma, Forever Ago – I know this makes me like everyone else.  I don’t care, this is a great record.  Everyone should own it and listen to it over and over.  It’s great in all seasons and gets better every time I hear it, plus he played with 3 drummers on Letterman…  that’s so cool.

God’s Missional People

The social shape of Israel was an integral part of what God has called them into existence for. God’s message of redemption through Israel was not just verbal, it was visible and tangible. They the medium were part of the message. It would be as they lived out the quality of national and social life demanded by the law, with it’s great cause of freedom, justice, love and compassion, that they would function as God’s holy priesthood, as a nation among the nations for the nations.
Chris Wright

Settling

The truth is no matter how hard we try things will never settle down… and that’s a good thing.

I just finished reading Surfing the Edge of Chaos for one of my classes and one of the key principles the book is built upon is that whenever an organism or organization moves to a place of equilibrium (balance/rest) that organism or organization is in danger of death or defeat.  However, when the heat is turned up and the organism or organization has to fight for survival it creates an opportunity to reach it’s highest potential.

When you stop and think about it for a minute you can see how this is true.  Think of the times in your life when the pressure was on, when you had to figure out how you were going to make it even through the next day.  I would guess that those were the times in your life that you grew the most because you didn’t really have a choice.

The problem is most of us aren’t living for growth but for comfort.  So many of us fight through the hard times hoping that one-day we’d find the rest we so richly deserve.  What does that rest/balance/stability normally result in?  At best we loose the edge that got us here and at worst we get old and fat and worry more about what’s happening on our favorite TV shows than anything else.

Life will never settle down.  Not for me, you, our church, your business or my community group.  Instead of fighting to get through it we should fight to become all we can as we work through whatever life sends our way.