Charlie Wear’s Notes

I was happy to attend the first Verge Conference this year. Missional Communities are the new buzzword for churches. Megachurches and minichurches are interested in discovering what it means to be organic and missional. I was happy to be in a place where I could meet Tony and Felicity Dale and hear Neil Cole speak. For me, the few conference days were one of those “aha!” times when knowledge and inspiration come together to give clear future direction.

Everyone Gets to Play by John Wimber

One of the take-aways from the conference was the way that one of John Wimber’s one-liners has infiltrated common usage. More than one speaker when describing the missional community proclaimed boldly “Everyone Gets to Play!” By the way, this is the title of a book of Wimber’s writings compiled by his pastor-church planter daughter-in-law, Christy Wimber. Now, I have some experience in the Vineyard. And I think I know what John was saying when he said it. I also think I have some insight into what he was not saying!

Let’s take a side trip into what “Everyone Gets To Play” means in children’s sports. This is the concept that has every player participate in the game, no matter their skill level. It means that every player will get a certain amount of playing time in the soccer game, or a certain number of at-bats and in the field in the little league game. It does not mean: “Everyone Gets to Play Goalie! or Everyone Gets to Play Pitcher!”

In the church, everyone does NOT get to play Preacher, or Pastor, or Worship Leader! Recently I started attending the church services of a congregation that is, in a sense, restarting. The first week the Pastor proclaimed something like: “We want to release you to follow your [ministry] destiny and dreams!” My inner-Pharisee replied, “No, I don’t think so, Pastor, because my destiny is to preach for the next six weeks to your congregation, and I don’t think you want to release me to follow that dream!”

You see, in a baseball game, there is only one pitcher, in a football game only one quarterback, and in a soccer game only one goalie. Even though Wimber’s statement was a game-changer in the church circles he influenced, it didn’t actually change the game that was being played. I do believe that when Wimber first became a Christian he “got into the ministry.” He was a soul-winner for sure before he ever went on the staff of a church. He was doing Jesus’s stuff, the stuff he was allowed to do by his denomination, 24-7. He hadn’t yet started playing the “church” game, I don’t think.

For people like Wimber, those who aren’t consumers but those who are full participants in the way of Jesus, there is no amount of money, power, fame or position that motivates them to do Jesus’s stuff. They do it because they understand that it is the gospel in action. I wish I could say that I have grasped this concept for many years, but I only have kind-of figured it out in the last couple of months. I am a minister of Jesus. No, I am no longer a paid clergyman. But I am “a person acting as the agent or instrument of another.” [dictionary.com]

Understanding this has made a huge difference in my life. My clients are my ministry. Each one a gift from God. I found myself comforting a client whose 90 yr. old mother had recently died, praying for a client’s low back pain to be healed and asking God to help my clients keep their home. Now John Wimber figured this out early, and the church noticed and made him a paid clergyman!

Paul didn’t say “Everyone Gets to Play,” he said, we “are the body of Christ” each one of us is a part of it. Being part of a body is not a game we play. Paul’s approach to describing the body, did not leave any room for “special” parts of the body. A close reading of the New Testament does not reveal a clergy-laity distinction and implies that ordinary people were engaged in extraordinary exploits in advancing the gospel.

Over the years I have learned that in the “church game” not everyone gets to play. However, recently I have seen that in the real life that comes from Jesus, we are all invited to be players to the max!

Matthew 9:35-38: Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

My good friend Scott Bane is starting a church in Indiana. He has a great post about some lost diapers and compassion. It reminded me of a time that God’s compassion moved me to pray for a city. Here is a dangerous prayer: “Lord, show me those around me that I can help today and move me with your compassion.”

Scott Bane and I are talking about what it means to be a disciple and the art of disciple-making. Our conversation springs from our dissatisfaction with the general state of discipleship in our own lives and in what we can see in the Christian sub-culture.

So, we have started by beginning to list the traits of a disciple. We’ve got two so far and here they are:
A Disciple of Jesus:
1. Abandons all other pursuits to follow Jesus.
2. Listens to the Holy Spirit and obeys.

This is just our beginning, but I would be happy to hear what you think…

I was in my 20s when I first prayed the sinner’s prayer. It was a fluke really. Raised in a denomination that was more about believing in doctrines and refraining from sinful practices, I had been baptized at the age of 13. I certainly believed that I was a member in good standing of my denomination. I was active serving in my church. Our church was big on performance and not so big on assurance of salvation.

So when I found myself on an airplane flight to Washington, DC, I was honestly unable to answer the pointed questions of my seatmate about my eternal destiny. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think I needed to be "born again." But the persistence of my neighbor, and honestly, the desire for some peace and quiet on the rest of the trip, caused me to go along with him and pray the "sinner’s prayer." "Good," I though, "I got that out of the way."

The "decision" I made on that plane flight wasn’t really that deep or that committed. With no follow-up care my discipleship quotient didn’t go up very much. I have had many more decision points to bring me to my current place on my "journey." But I still remember that first "sinner’s prayer."

Years later I was discipled by John Wimber. Now, this discipling was not the one on one or small group kind of mentoring that people need. I had become interested in church growth and was visiting the Vineyard in Anaheim regularly on Sunday nights. The bookstore had lots of recordings of conferences and teaches by Wimber and piece by piece I bought the entire inventory and listened to hours of John Wimber’s teaching. One of his sayings that came through from time to time was, "I want to grow up before I grow old." Another was, "Sometimes you need to be born again, again."

These days the sinner’s prayer has fallen out of favor with some folks I know in the emerging church. They have rightly criticized the reduction of the gospel to praying a prayer to insure heavenly reward without making the commitment to discipleship and obedience that is so clearly taught in the Bible. They talk about spiritual disciplines and transformation. I don’t know what they would say to a crowd gathered in a stadium if asked to preach the gospel, but I am pretty sure they wouldn’t think it was a good idea to have an altar call.

Really, the first altar call was on the day of Pentecost when Peter told the gathered crowd, "Repent." A large group of people decided to accept and follow Jesus that day and they were immediately (if you can read between the words) assimilated into a newly formed body of believers, fellowshiping, praying and learning to follow Jesus.

As I watched Greg Laurie closing the memorial service for his son Christopher, I was strangely moved by his altar call. And once again I prayed that sinner’s prayer along with Greg. You see, even for an old man, from time to time I need to be born again, again.

I used to say that I learned my philosophy of ministry from "The Gambler." You’ve got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em…etc. This was more about knowing when "God" was in something, and when he is, holding firm. When God isn’t moving, "Get out of Dodge!."

Now I have another metaphor to add. I learned it from the World Poker Tour. It’s this concept: "All-In." I think one of the main components of being a disciple of Jesus is an "All-In" attitude, laying it all on the line for Jesus. This doesn’t mean that we always win, contrary to the "happy-happy, joy-joy" attitude of some ministries. It just means following Jesus and obeying his commands is a big commitment that happens 24-7.

I had a thought this morning as I was awakening. Churches aren’t making "All-In" Christ-followers. All of the systems of most churches aim to make something else entirely. I have more to come on this subject, but I will save it for later.

I’ve been around ministry long enough to be nostalgic for things that happened in the past, have you? One time I was part of a small group that used to feed homeless people on Saturdays in a park. Now, we were the kind of group that believed it is better to seek forgiveness than to get permission, so we were set up on a Saturday afternoon underneath a covered pavilion. We had been doing this for awhile and had developed a reputation for providing some very good food.

This particular weekend was rainy. I know, very unusual for Southern California. As one of the leaders of the group I began to panic when I saw that about 300 people had lined up. We had igloo coolers full of stew and chili and lots of other good stuff, but I was sure there was not enough food. I was in the serving line ladling out some outstanding potato based stew with big chunks of meat. I had been at it for some time.

Here’s the way it worked. The guest would hand me their bowl, I would lift the cover just enough to scoop my ladle into the stew. Out would come the steaming stew. It wasn’t long before I noticed that every time I ladled out a serving there was a large chunk of meat in it. This seemed unusual. I mean, I should have missed once in a while, right?

I opened up the lid and noticed I had used up about 40% of the contents. I stirred the contents and was not able to come up with pounds of meat. Fewer than 40% of our guests had been served, so I had reason for concern, but I commented to one of my fellow servers, "Wow, this is the meatiest stew I have ever served."

The line continued processing. I continued ladling. The meat continued plopping into the bowls. I didn’t lift the lid again until every one had been served. When I did lift it, there was still about 20% of the stew remaining.

Not only did we serve that overflow crowd. We sent the leftovers to a shelter for abused women and 24 more adults had food that Saturday. It wasn’t loaves and fishes, but our entire group was convinced that God had multiplied the food and fed those people that afternoon. As we sat around a restaurant table afterwards sharing our experience, we couldn’t keep from smiling and shaking our heads. The New Testament had come alive in our own lives! Wow…

I was reminded of this story as I read a post on my friend Scott Bane’s site. He is planting a church in northwest Indiana. As I looked at his post I realized that he is living through his "good old days" right now. And then, as I thought about Scott and his family, the Holy Spirit quickened in my heart that he has some more "good old days" for me to live in…Wow!

I find it especially hard when stuff is happening to kids. I stumbled across this post by my friend Stephen Shields about the upcoming surgery for his daughter Skye and her ongoing kidney issues. I know that I was totally freaked out when my son Benjamin was scheduled for an outpatient hernia repair. I am not sure even how to pray when I hear about situations like Skye’s. Maybe it is simple enough just to say, "O God, be with them, heal her."

I heard about a friend who was rushed to the hospital by ambulance last Friday. It was two days after the fact and she was home and recovering. These are the lives of folks that are living in the already and the not yet of the kingdom of God, where we are redeemed and yet still subject to disease and trials. Somehow, however, our faith helps us cope with these trials, and that has to be a good thing.