I’m very proud of her…
My daughter sings in church on Easter…
Church
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May 012009
Mar 222009
Don’t tell anyone but I really like the TV series, Heroes. Of all the heroes, however, I think my favorite is Hiro Nakamora (don’t know if I spelled that right). He’s the Japanese guy who can bend time and space and is a mean samarai sword fighter. I think he is currently without his powers in the series’ timeline, but he still follows his “Hero” philosophy.
I have had a few heroes during my life. Of course, the problem with having people for heroes is that they are people. One of my heroes was John Wimber. Of course, it was helpful that I did not personally know John. I only knew him through his writing, recordings, videos and live preaching. Unfortunately I have been acquainted with a number of people who knew John in his “life-size” version. My interactions with them sort of caused John to become a little less of a hero in my eyes. He’s still up there, but I know a little too much about him, I think.
One of my heroes is a guy named Steve Sjogren. Even though I have gotten to know him a little more up close and personal in the last few years, and he is more life-size than he was before, believe me, I have a great deal of admiration for him. Against great odds he started a church really small and grew it really big by making kindness a necessary part of his DNA and the DNA of his church. After suffering a seriously disabling medical accident he has come back to continue to make contributions in spreading the kindness of God around the world.
I have other heroes, some who are nearby and some who are further away, some who are younger and some who are older, some who are acquaintances and friends, some who are my family and some who are strangers. I remember one of the most heroic things my father ever did. He cared for his mother as she lay bedridden by a debilitating illness over her last months. I really admire him for that.
I guess that being a little more seasoned can cause a person to understand that all humanity is flawed. It is when we struggle against our flaws and persevere in attempting to go above our “normal” humanity that our true “heroism” emerges. One of my mentors used to say “I want to grow up before I grow old.” I think part of the meaning of that statement is learning to accept ourselves, flaws and all, as much as we are willing to accept others.
Still, we really like it when our heroes are larger than life, don’t we?
Open the doors and see all the people
Church
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Mar 142009
I was raised in church. Every week my Mom would get me dressed in my little suit and take me to the Cradle Roll, or The Primary, or The Juniors. It was a small church and our classes were small. We had bible races, where we would look up the verse the teacher called out as quickly as we could. I was a star in the bible race. We would sing songs. The universal, Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, For the Bible Tells Me So. We used hand motions and said, “This is the Church, This is the Steeple, Open the Doors and See All the People.”
Church was great. If you lived by the rules, then you were “in,” part of the “remnant,” assured of a place in heaven. Unfortunately, when I was pushing thirty, the church of my youth and I had a parting of the ways. For about ten years I wandered in the wilderness, until a creative pastor started a church designed to reach out to people like me, “back-slidden” baby boomers. The church he started was creative and contemporary and gracious, and the next thing you know, I was “all up in it,” leading worship, serving as a small group leader, on the church council and eventually executive pastor.
This Is The Church
As a youngster growing up I was taught that being a member of the church, serving in the church, attending church, giving tithe to the church, were the minimum prerequisites for salvation. Being kicked out of the church was a very bad thing, for now your “membership” and therefore your standing with God was in jeopardy. When I was kicked out, because of my divorce with my first wife, it was a devastating blow to my sense of who I was. I was no longer a member of The Church, welcome to attend services and serve the congregation.
It was such a relief when Pastor Dan, the founder of that new church plant, said that we could all be members, even if we had been divorced. Now I could be a part of The Church again.
This is the Steeple
Years later I watched John Wimber’s video testimony (I’m a Fool for Christ, Who’s Fool are you?) as he described his first visit to “church.” It was hilarious. In addition to describing his experience, I thought that John was trying to say that “church” was strange. It seemed to me that John was trying to say that the Vineyard was a different kind of church, and I think he wanted it to be. I think John was trying to say that if we can get outside of our stained-glass sanctuaries and meet people halfway with contemporary music and a supernaturally natural approach to ministry that a new generation could be reached.
Something about the lack of a steeple made the Vineyard very attractive to my baby boomer consciousness and it was only a few years after my first exposure to Wimber and his teachings that I accidentally became a Vineyard pastor for a few years. Now, nearly 15 years later, I am learning a new reality.
See All The People
As a former pastor who closed his church about ten years ago, I have experienced another ten years in the “churchless” wilderness. I am not saying that I have not visited a number of churches, looking for one that would feel like home, because I have. I have struggled mightily to overcome the notion that was ingrained in my childish psyche that if I was not a “member” of a church I was not part of God’s family. I have tried to understand there might be a difference between “following Jesus” and being a “church member.” I am still struggling with these questions.
These days I am thinking about “the people,” not only those like myself who have been a part of “church” and are no longer a part of it, but also those who have never been a part of church, and don’t know or care about ever being a part of it.
The Apostle Paul said, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14,15, The Message)
I believe we need a new understanding of “church,” one that is not limited by the number of fingers that show when we open our hands. We need to “see all the people,” those inside church walls, yes, but also those outside of the church’s walls. We need to get outside our man-made boxes and limitations and see what God sees, not church buildings or steeples, but people.
We need to take the message of the apostle Peter to heart and become “living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house.” (1Peter 2:5, Contemporary English Version) This new spiritual house needs to overcome the bad reputation that we have given Jesus. The reputation that he and his followers are judgmental and, in some cases, hateful. We need to “Live such good lives among [those around us] that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1Peter 2:12 NIV)
Whether we are emerging, or missional, transformational, incarnational, ancient-future, neo-monastic, or liturgical, it seems that we need to make a commitment to “seeing all the people” in the way that God sees them and loving them in the way that God loves them. Now that is a spiritual house I would like to be a part of.
Feb 242009
Bob Hyatt has an excellent post about the Death of Preaching. There is a lot to think about there.
When I was preaching on a regular basis (for about three years, 1995-1998) I had a different take on the problems with preaching. I think I did a fairly competent job, but I didn’t see much fruit from the activity. If I preached on morality, then immorality abounded. If I preached on stewardship and serving, then volunteers quit and giving went down.
If you think about it, the act of preaching is pretty unique in today’s methods of “information-sharing.” Where else do you go, other than a political rally, where it is your intention to sit and listen to one person speak? I know it happens in school assemblies where attendance is required, but where else?
So, I guess I am not so worried about the death of preaching. There is a possibility that with the death of preaching we might see the rise of something that might have greater impact in the lives of congregations and individual believers.
I was only half-kidding last week when I talked with Next-Wave editor, Scott Bane, about this month’s tenth anniversary issue of Next-Wave. The cover story for the issue is a Ten Year Retrospective on the Emerging Church by Stephen Shields. If you have read Stephen’s writing in the past, you know that he is an excellent journalist, fair and comprehensive with the material he is covering. His articles is based on interviews with several people who have been writing and speaking about the emerging church for nearly all of the ten years that Next-Wave has been publishing.
Anyway, I remember saying something like this to Scott: “Maybe this should be the last issue of Next-Wave. It’s been ten years, and maybe it is time to call it a day.” In reading some of the comments on the internet about Stephen’s article I ran across some who wondered if there would be a ten-year retrospective on the “missional” church one of these days?
I must confess. To me, “emerging,” and “missional,” when applied to church all seem like the same thing. You see we started out writing about postmodern, then emerging became a word of choice. It wasn’t long before there were other words showing up, like missional, transformational and incarnational. Every once in a while more ancient terms like monastic or liturgical would sneak in.
For me, the whole Next-Wave enterprise has been about evangelizing rising generations. It has not been about deconstruction, or relativism. These were terms I knew nothing about when I first talked to Rogier Bos about starting Next-Wave. At the time I was talking about something called Gen-X, you know the folks who are now mostly heading rapidly into their 40s?
A little anecdote about the term missional. When I first began hearing the term used by practitioners (that is, people who were assembling groups of people into churches), I made the mistake of asking, “What is missional?” After about 5 paragraphs of explanation, I still don’t think I understood what he was talking about. (Sorry it wasn’t a woman that I was asking, but you can be darn sure that I am aware that there are plenty of women out there who could give me a better explanation today.) I asked “What is the mission?” Another 5 paragraphs.
I am trying to get simpler in my old age. I use the terms emerging, missional, and sometimes emergent, to try and communicate something. But what I am really talking about, in every context, is all about “following Jesus.” Learning how to do this in my own life and learning how to help others, including my children and grandchildren, seems pretty important to me.
My main mentor used to describe himself as a “fat man trying to get to heaven.” He also used to say “I want to grow up before I grow old.” I might modify his sentiments slightly, but it is still all about following Jesus isn’t it?
A thirst for the exotic
Church, Church Starting, Following Jesus
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Oct 282008
I’ll admit it, I have a thirst for the exotic, at least when it comes to spiritual things. I’ve always had an inquisitive mind. Now, I have a very thirsty spirit. I was greatly intrigued when friends and acquaintances began to talk about the "Lakeland Outpouring." I’ve lived through a couple of these outpourings in the past, although I avoided being chewed up and spit out by them.
One of my friends experienced an almost complete remission of MS symptoms as a result of "Lakeland-inspired" prayer. While I found Todd Bentley’s shouts of "Bam" to be excessively theatric, her remission of symptoms is a good thing.
As a student of all things church for nearly twenty years now, I am most interested in how Christianity transfers from generation to generation. It seems there is a grasping, and a releasing that occurs with each generation.
Baby boomers are getting to the place where they should at least be thinking about releasing. However, it seems that they are hanging on to the leadership reins with as much vigor as their predecessors. In fact, a recent example is the Hour of Power ministry and Robert Schuller I and II (although this is more like a builder v. boomer struggle). Apparently, in this instance the 82 yr. old elder Schuller was not happy with the direction Robert II was taking the Hour of Power. He had a different idea. When they couldn’t reconcile their visions, the younger got displaced.
These inter-generational and transitional leadship situations sure can get messy. Here is one of the primary rules that should be followed in every instance: If you are the founding pastor and you are "turning over the ministry" to another leader, graciously and kindly MOVE AWAY. Don’t entertain the complaints of those who don’t like your successor. Don’t be tempted to come back in and save the ministry. Let the next generation of leadership make it on their own two feet, at least their failure will be their own.
Uh, what does this have to do with the exotic? Well I have been talking with a friend who is starting a church for some months now. We were both involved in a recent church plant that imploded after three months, or so, of public church services. When most people think about starting a church all of the conversation centers around starting a "church service." The second area of discussion is usually about target audience. Somewhere fifth or sixth on the list we might start talking about "discipleship."
My friend has been very careful to focus on the first step for any leader, calling. Then he has listened carefully to the Holy Spirit about how and when and where to get started. We have both wished in our heart of hearts to be part of something where egos were set aside, people were fully-devoted followers of Jesus, and a community is formed to impact a city with an emphasis of calling Christians to what I have heard called "deep discipleship."
Over the months as we have talked and listened to the Spirit and theorized, I fear my thirst for the exotic may have taken our conversations in a direction that leads more directly to some kind of missionary-monastery than a church. Most people are not going to join or be part of a monastery. They mostly want their mission field to be their own family. It is too big a step to call people to "run a mission, a yard from the gates of hell."
Lately my friend has been thinking he should start a church service. When he mentioned it to me the other day, I only paused a little bit (the exotic ministry thoughts whirling through my brain), and then agreed, this is probably a Holy Spirit inspiration. I look forward to seeing how God will work these thoughts out in the weeks and months to come.
Sep 152008
I wish I lived in Lakeland, Florida so that I could attend Chris Elrod’s church. See the video below to see how he prepares during setup in the YMCA gym on Sunday mornings…
When Evangelism is your job…
Church
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Jul 032008
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about, among other things, church leadership in large churches. We were talking about the difficulties of keeping the evangelism flame alive in a large church. I said something like, "When Evangelism is your job, you are in trouble."
I think the same could be said about being a preacher, worship leader, or other paid staff member of a large church. So many influences come into play when you get your paycheck as a result of being successful in an endeavor that is primarily an activity of the Holy Spirit or it’s influence in our lives. And, for God’s sake, what do you do when everything you used to do in your "job" stops working?
Of course, there is plenty of information out there on the subject "Why Evangelism Doesn’t Work," and I think it is fair to say that the entire process has become much more difficult, at least in the North American culture I live in. For those of us who are not "professional" evangelists, preachers, etc., let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would breathe new life into the work of those who make their living from these endeavors. Burnout is inevitable, fresh infilling is a necessity.
3 is too many?
Church
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Jun 132008
Okay, you have got to check out this article (via Todd Hunter’s new ministry website 3isenough.org)…the author simply loves his small group!
Rick Warren’s secret to church growth…
Church
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Jun 022008
Okay, this is just too good, via MondayMorningInsights…:
