Have You Seen Anything?

In the church, evangelism is a big deal. Well... at least the idea of evangelism. It's one of those big church words we like to throw around about sharing our great message with the world, but we don't always do a great job actually doing what we're talking about. So we've come up with classes and sermons and books to teach us how to evangelize. I get invitations and ads from conferences promising to make my students better evangelists by giving them the best techniques for sharing Christ and teaching them to make the most of every opportunity to tell someone about Jesus.

But all this makes me wonder... I'll grant that there's sometimes a deficiency in our outreach. But I'm not sure the problem is a 'how to' kind of problem. I don't know that the issue is understanding better methods and procedures for telling people what Jesus has done. Maybe the issue is actually seeing Jesus do something.

If you had to testify in court about events to which you were an eyewitness, would you need to go to a witnessing seminar? If you ask me about my children, I don't have to consult a parenting manual to be able to talk about them. If you ask me about a recent trip I took or my roofing project, I don't go to a seminar to learn how to tell you what happened. I don't need to because I was there, in the middle of what was going on.

May we learn to see with eyes that recognize Jesus on the move. May we see the Wind blowing and recognize its origin so definitively that we'll set set our sails to be moved ourselves. May we find ourselves living His story, full of experiences worth sharing. May we experience Jesus so compellingly that we recognize that we know someone worth talking about...

Formative Experience

"The heart will gravitate toward whatever offers adventure and significance." [from Joiner/Neiuwhof in Parenting Beyond Your Capacity: Connect Your Family to a Wider Community (The Orange Series)]

I really appreciated this book's overall approach to parenting, but this quote really stood out to me. Our primary responsibility as parents isn't just to keep our kids safe and cozy and above the influence of a cold, hard world. It's to lead our families to tell a story so great that people want to know Who wrote it. If we don't foster experiences that really matter, our kids will look for them somewhere else.

These experiences of "adventure and significance" help to form a faith that is deep enough to share. They lead kids to the realization that God can accomplish something meaningful through them. They lead them to tell the compelling story of God's restorative, redemptive work in them and in the world.

I'm curious, as a father and a youth minister... I'm always trying to create experiences that are formative for the faith of the young people I'm with (those who are 'mine' and those who are not). What experiences have been most formative for your faith? Are there ways we could work together to craft some similar experiences for another generation?

Coming Soon

We previewed the movie "I Am" today in staff meeting and I thought I'd post the trailer here, as well.  We'll be hosting the movie at WestWay a couple times in October.

Audio - Believe a Better Story

This is a pretty low quality mp3 file, so if it's indistinguishable, it may not be here long.  We'll see how this goes.
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EDIT: I can't figure out how to get the embedded file to NOT automatically begin upon page load, so I'm replacing it with this link to the mp3 to avoid annoying everyone who visits my page for the next several months until this post is off the front page. Sorry for the extra click my coding ineptitude will cause you, but at least you won't have to hear me stutter through the opening lines every time you come here to read a new post...

Message Delivered: "Believe a Better Story"

This isn't a transcript, but this is the message from yesterday. I'll try to post some audio if anyone would like it, but for those who can't stand the sound of my voice... read this in whatever voice you'd prefer.
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I was struck last week by the number of runners in the half-marathon who, most people would assume would not be running. There was one finisher who was 73 years old - and she finished about a half an hour before I did! Not that I'm the swiftest distance runner out there, but she's 73! I think the biggest thing that keeps people from running a long distance is that they believe a story in which they can't run a long distance. As Donald Miller suggests, we become the character in the story we believe about ourselves.

We believe a lot of bad stories. Unloved and unwanted... Too fat, too short... Not smart enough, not fast enough, not talented enough... Too old, too young... We need to believe a better story. I don't mean some kind of self-help, believe and achieve type of thing: I mean that we need to believe God's story and overcome every obstacle in the way of living His story.

I had a student who walked into our youth ministry one night and sat down in the back row, bringing in a 'cloud' that changed the atmosphere of the whole room. I had no idea who she was or why she'd come - she didn't really seem connected with any of the other students, and every time I tried to get to talk with her she was out the door by the time I got to the back of the room. As it turned out, she was believing a story that started with an abusive father leaving the family. In her story, she was rejected, unloved, and worthless. One of my greatest joys in youth ministry was watching God reveal a better story to this girl - His girl. In God's story, she found out, she is invaluable!

Some bad stories we sometimes believe:
"I don't have what it takes."
"No one cares, but if I sleep with him, he will."
"I'm too old, I can't relate to those young people anymore."
"I'm retired - I already did my work"

If you find yourself buying into these stories, you need to believe a better story. Simon was a guy who was invited into a better story. Early in the gospel of Matthew, Simon was just a fisherman. Passed up by the Rabbis, Simon took on the family trade and spent his days throwing nets into the sea and smelling like fish... until the son of a carpenter invited him into a better story. Simon took Jesus' invitation and lived a better story. He saw the miracles of Jesus, the healings, heard the teaching first-hand, and saw the love in Jesus' eyes up close. He even walked on water! Peter lived a better story.

In Mt. 16, the story got even better. "Who do you say I am?" "You are the Messiah, the son of the living God." In this moment, Jesus opens a new chapter in His story for Simon. He gave Simon a new name, and invited him into the story of His unstoppable church. The church that even the gates of hell would not overcome. We, the church today, need to believe a better story. Just like individuals, sometimes churches settle for less:

"We're just a small family in a small town... can't expect too much from that."
"We have to keep youth ministry separate from adults and leave it to 'the experts'"
"The Pastor's in charge."
"We're big enough."
"Other churches in town are our competition."
"We've been hurt too badly to fully recover."
"Our best days are in the past."

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, there was a church that believed a better story. All they wanted was to reach people for Christ and no obstacle was too big to tackle. They weren't afraid to try things that other churches wouldn't try for fear of abandoning convention. The result of this was that the people of the church were excited about sharing Jesus with other people. They loved to bring their friends and neighbors... even the kids loved being a part of what was going on in this church. It was an exciting time. But as more friends came, and more neighbors came, another obstacle came up - a big one. It was an obstacle that had stopped many churches in their tracks: the building was hindering ministry to the community.

The church had pulled together to show Jesus to the community, and it was working. They'd stretched resources and rearranged service schedules to accommodate more people, but the facilities were simply maxed out. So in 1994, the church removed that obstacle with the purchase and renovation of an old lumber yard and a relocation. They continued to grow, and in 2004 a new auditorium was built that would facilitate their continued efforts to reach the community.

That room is the room in which we meet every week. That church was the Church at Bryant, which was given the name WestWay when they relocated. That's our story. But I'm afraid we've lost a little of the clarity to the story. Our vision can get a little fuzzy due to a creeping internal focus that leaves us dissatisfied when things don't go our way. People have left the church for unshared reasons, and some of those reasons remain unshared because they don't feel like anyone's listening anyway. We need to believe a better story. Don't believe that your leaders don't care. Don't believe that none of us are listening. Don't believe that this church belongs to anyone other than Jesus Christ.

In the book of Acts, we find the early Christians believing a better story. The Spirit of God was on a mission to establish the church, and despite all odds and obstacles, the church thrived. Through the last several chapters of Acts, we see a man joining that same mission. Paul was not going to be stopped. He had bought into the story of Jesus with every fiber of his being and was going to deliver the message of God's Kingdom in every place in which he could step foot! He was accosted, arrested, imprisoned... Paul was challenged and beaten and left for dead... Snake-bit, shipwrecked and shackled... and yet, he proclaimed God's Kingdom still.

The final words of the book of Acts tell us that Paul was telling everyone of the Kingdom "with all boldness and without hindrance." No obstacle would hinder him from living a better story.
That is the unstoppable mission in which we have a place.
That is the Kingdom we proclaim.
That is the story we need to believe.

God is not finished with His church. Though obstacles have arisen - and many more will...
Be a people who believe a better story: His story about His unstoppable church.

Believe a Better Story

As I've been preparing to speak Sunday at WestWay, I'm finding a problem. I want to move people to believe a better story (His story) about their lives, but I often find myself believing the wrong story, too. In the story that seems to be my default, I am a small, shrinking voice - easy to ignore, easy to brush by, easy to forget. Though I may have something important to say, in my story, no one listens. The moment I finish speaking, my words tumble through the sandy hills and deserts, unheard. In my story, I'm out on a limb alone, wondering if I should be there, but with no real mentors to have helped me decide upon which branch to climb.

What a stupid story!

When I believe that, I fail to believe His story as it's been played out in my life's history. I fail to believe He really loves me, not for whatever performance I may be turning in, but because I am His image bearing creation. When I choose my story over His, I forget that He has chosen me to be adopted into His family, and gifted me with something to share with that family. I short-change the men and women and friends and students and starry nights and books through which He's called to me and led me.

In His story, I am loved beyond all rationality.  In His story, I have been gifted and equipped to strengthen the Body of Christ. In His story, He's worked through me to draw lives into His Life and to help churches proceed with His mission. It's really a much more compelling story! I'm so thankful to God for the roles He's allowed me to live in His story, and grateful for the way He's using this time in my life to remind me that He's still writing!

Feverishly Planning or Asking for Help?

"But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help." (in Isaiah 20)

Isaiah had been shown how deeply Jerusalem was in trouble. Beaten down and defenseless... destroyed with little hope of repair... But the people seemed to be resourceful: tearing down their own houses to get stone to fortify the city walls...  building a new reservoir in a more secure location...

But Isaiah knew these plans would ultimately do little to stave off the judgement of God. Their plans may have seemed wise, but they hadn't asked God what He wanted. They certainly had some strong thinking behind their decisions. But it wasn't God's thinking. As God called for remorse, the people celebrated mere survival.

God desires more for His people (still today) than just scraping by. He doesn't want to see His church just limping along happy to have kept the doors open one more day. I wonder if we need to be a little less like Jerusalem... Less confident in our strategies and more trusting in His power to accomplish His mission? I'm not suggesting we don't need to be smart and creative in how we serve, but only that our creative solutions are utterly useless unless they are rooted in Him...

This plays out on many levels:

As graduation approaches, I wonder if my students are making feverish plans without asking for God's help? What am I doing to lead them to ask? Are they connected with people like you who can do the same?

In the life of the church, is our first response to trouble prayer or strategy? Are we working on anything big enough to require us to ask God for His help? Do we rely too heavily on our own strategic thinking? What will we do if His help comes in a form that doesn't fit our plan?

In my own life, have I planned my way out of what God wanted in the first place? Do I need to be backtracking to rediscover what He really wants? When faced with problems, am I consistently seeking God's solutions or just coming up with my own?

May we seek His help. It's His mission in the first place and only His power and love can accomplish it. If we aren't desperately in need of His help, we're probably not on His mission.

Not Called to Normal

In Isaiah 20, a scene unfolds that must have been shocking - it certainly would cause a commotion today! Isaiah decided to walk around for 3 years "stripped and barefoot." Some commentaries give a little dignity back to Isaiah with the suggestion that the Hebrew term meant that he was in his underwear. I'm not a Hebrew scholar, and there's really no need to debate this here, so I'll have to admit he may have been naked, or he may have been walking around in his underoos... but either way, it's a little weird. Why on Earth would a prophet of God, tasked with delivering a message to the people of God, be out in public in either condition?

Simple answer: He obeyed. God specifically told Isaiah to strip down, ditch the Teva's, and prepare for the scorn of pretty much everyone he'd encounter in the next 3 years.

It sort of reminds me of God's request to Hosea: "Go and marry a prostitute..."

"Umm... Did I hear that right, God? Did you just say 'prostitute'? You do know what those are, right? "

"Yeah, I know, Hosea, but I need to tell my people something and I want your help. Oh, and by the way, some of her children will be born to you from other men."

"So Hosea married Gomer..." He actually obeyed! A completely unreasonable request by any man's standards - to choose a woman who you KNOW will not be faithful to you. Yet, Hosea did exactly as God requested. We need to remember, this was the beginning of Hosea's news delivery job for God - "When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea..." There was no precedent for this. Prophecy 101 at Jerusalem U. didn't cover this kind of thing! There was no leadership model that showed Hosea how this was going to work out. Just a seemingly insane command!
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I wonder when we began to think that all that God would ever request of us would make sense? We want to obey God when He tells us to "go to church" and show up for Sunday school... Even when He tells us to "love our neighbor" and be nice to the people in class. We like to obey when He asks us to give as much as we can comfortably give and to play fair. That stuff all makes sense to us.

But what about when He asks for it all? What about when Jesus tells us to eat his flesh and drink his blood? (Don't worry, that sounded crazy in the first century, too.) What do we do when He asks us to give a car to a neighbor without one? When He asks us to fast in a way that means something more than 'fish on Fridays'?

Why do we think every request God makes of us will make sense? I wonder what we miss (or the people we should be sharing light with miss) when rationality is a condition of our obedience - if we only obey God when it makes sense?

Prepare to be surprised! God has not called you to normal.

Let's (Not) Play Twister...

I just read this article from youthworker.com about the importance of teaching our kids to know what the Bible actually says - not what we would like it to say. It's tempting to sometimes soften the message for younger groups. We may rationalize that they're too young to handle the sharp edges of Scripture... The article offers the examples of John and David as a couple exhibits of the danger this presents. I wonder, what is the damage being done? Are they subtly learning to twist Scripture to make it say what they want it to say?

If you teach - teach the truth.
If you teach kids - teach them how to handle the truth even when it's uncomfortable.

Some Roots of Confidence

As Paul was writing what we have preserved as the book of 2 Timothy, he was suffering. He was in chains; locked up like a criminal though he'd committed no real crime. And He was ok with that. He was willing to go through anything if it meant people would understand the truth of who Jesus is and what only He can do in our lives. That sort of willingness to suffer is a mark of confidence in Christ, but where does that kind of confidence come from?

1.1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will. Paul recognized his calling. He wasn't an apostle by his own choice, but by the will of God. How often do we settle for an occupation/career that is less about what God wants and more about paying the bills? That's not to say that one job is Godly and another is not - only that whatever your job is, you are called to make disciples. Whether you're a straight C student or a Rhodes scholar, a plumber, a pastor, or a number cruncher, by God's will you are a disciple maker. How's that going for you?

1.7 God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. Paul could withstand anything for the sake of Jesus because He knew He'd been given the Spirit of Jesus! The same Spirit promised to us. When I rely on myself, I can become timid and afraid. Chains scare me. But when I remember to rely on the Spirit of God living within me, what is there to fear?

1.12 I know the one in whom I trust, and am sure that He is able... Paul knew He was doing what God wanted done and that the results were up to Him. Even though he was stuck under arrest, even though most of his companions had walked away from him, Paul had confidence because he was trusting in Someone who is unshakable. He was simply doing his part in God's mission.

2.9 But the word of God cannot be chained. The message of Jesus' resurrection and His power to rescue humanity from death is an unstoppable message. Paul knew this. He knew He was a part of something much larger than some little upstart cult - this message He was preaching was the very word of God, a Word that cannot be tied down. (Perhaps, this is why it is so important for us to do everything we can to get to know Jesus as He's revealed to us in Scripture.)

Paul's confidence was rooted in an undeniable calling, a powerful and loving Spirit within Him, a sense of playing his role in a mission for which God is responsible, and an eternal message that cannot be stopped. In a day when economic and political realities offer little solid footing, may we lean back into these roots that served Paul so well. May we echo Paul:

I've been called by God.
I've been given His Spirit.
I am on a mission that will not fail.
I have a message that will not be stopped.

Thinking about Joel...

"Pass the awful story down from generation to generation."

The last bit of the Jewish nation was facing devastation as God spoke to them through Joel. Everything they knew of their way of life was being stripped away as they inched ever nearer to a destruction they were powerless to stop - a destruction justly brought by God Himself. It may have been a punishment deserved, but God was not eager for the judgment. Over and over again throughout the Old Testament writings, we find Him patiently reminding His people of all He'd done; every trial through which He'd led, and every danger from which He'd rescued.

And so, again, God opens a door of escape. "Turn to me now, while there is time! Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don't tear your clothing in your grief; instead, tear your hearts." It wasn't just an outward change that God was asking for, He desired the very heart of His people.

He still does.

"I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike." What a turnaround! In response to genuine contrition, not only does God offer back all that they have lost, He also promises His own Spirit. Once again, an "awful story" redeemed by gracious and merciful God.

May His grace and mercy continue to break through calloused hearts as they are given fully to Him. May His Spirit continue to inspire His people to dream dreams that only He can bring to fulfillment. And May we lean completely on His presence for every breath we breathe.

"I want you to know God"

I've heard it said that you can cover up a lot of problems with a little success. A growing ministry can easily assume everything is okay and ignore issues that will become big problems in the future. But what happens when the proverbial wheels fall off? At some point, the cracks WILL show themselves... what then? I had a great reminder this morning to make sure I'm not focused on the less important at the expense of the MOST important. If my ministry to students ever becomes about anything other than knowing God, I've missed the point of His calling me to lead it - even if it looks successful. If our churches are more interested in people showing up than in people knowing God, then we're failing at a critical level - even if lots of people are showing up. Like the priests in ancient Israel, if we're in love with our procedures more than with the Person, we're leading in the wrong direction.

"You refuse to know me... You will be destroyed, for you refuse to understand." Hosea's warnings to the people of Israel, and specifically the religious leaders of Israel, are still good for us to hear today. How often do we put ourselves in peril because we ignore what God is trying to bring to mind? How often do we "refuse to understand" what He is doing? One of the ways we do this looks a lot like the idolatry of the Israelites. We may not make little statues of gold and silver and wood - but I wonder how often our religious duty takes the place of God as the object of our worship. How often do we "go to church" out of a sense of obligation? How often do we "leave church" on Sunday disappointed at the sub-par entertainment value of the morning? Are we so enamored with the stand-up, sit-down routine that we miss the point: knowing God?

"I want you to be merciful; I don't want your sacrifices. I want you to know God; that's more important than burnt offerings." Much of what was happening in Israel's worship was simply "following the rules" - offer the appropriate sacrifice at the appropriate time. But that's not what God wanted. He wanted a people who would know Him and be identified with Him and extend to others the kind of mercy He'd shown them.. That's still what He wants today. He's not concerned with perfect attendance records at all major church functions. He'll be ok if you don't make it to the annual Horseshoe Tournament/Quilting Bee/Pie Bazaar (or whatever other event you're feeling guilted into attending)... He wants you to know Him.

The destruction that Hosea warned Israel about wasn't coming because they didn't follow the right rituals, it was coming because they'd fallen in love with their rituals at the expense of the God who'd rescued and loved them. "They have forgotten their Maker." I pray that will not be true of the church today.

Comparing Israel to a wife who'd left her husband to be a whore, God looked forward to the day when once again "the people will follow the Lord" and when He would call to His people and "bring them home again." Even when we are faithless, He looks forward to bringing us home; to bringing us into His presence where we can know Him most fully. Maybe it's time to follow His instructions from Psalm 46 - "Be still and know that I am God."

Live. Listen. Obey.

I've been reading through Abraham's story the past couple days. If someone wanted to make up a perfect figurehead for the launch of a religion, Abraham would not be it. His life was full of contradiction. I know it's usually David, with the whole Bathsheba incident/cover-up and the "man after God's own heart" moniker, that gets played up as the example of living on both ends of the field - but I don't think he has much on Abraham.

He was so faithful to God that he left his homeland at God's request, with only a vague direction regarding where he was going. "I'll tell you when you get there." was good enough for Abram to go. He trusted God so much that when he and his nephew, Lot, needed to separate their 'tribes', he let Lot have the first choice of land - putting all his hope in God to provide for him in whatever option was left. He was such an honorable man that he refused the spoils of a victory over the kings who'd captured Lot and his family - not allowing any man to lay claim to a future prosperity that Abram knew was coming.

But he also pimped out his wife into royal harems twice, once to Pharaoh in Egypt ("Say you're my sister, so I'll be treated well... and my life will be spared...") and once to King Abimelech in Gerar. Now, I understand you couldn't just say no to royalty, but Abraham wasn't trusting God in these moments of fear. After God promised him descendants, he and Sarah ran out of patience - she gave him her servant Hagar to take care of the child bearing duties. Bigamy wasn't unheard of in that time/place, but it also wasn't God's ideal. Once Hagar became pregnant, he essentially "gave her back" to a very jealous Sarah and allowed Sarah to mistreat her to the point where Hagar fled. Nice guy!

I'm not bringing this up to disparage Abraham, by any means. But this type of contradiction makes me think, and gives me hope ('cause I screw up sometimes, too). When Abraham wisely sent his servant back to his homeland to find a wife for Isaac, there was some fear in the servant as he made his promise to follow Abraham's instructions: "What if I can't find a young woman to come back with me?" Abraham's answer reveals the ledger that reconciles the many contradictions of his life: "The Lord, in whose presence I have walked... will make your mission successful."

Abraham lived with God. He recognized His presence. 

He listened to God. He recognized His voice.

He obeyed God. He recognized His control over results.

A couple observations I glean from all this:

- Idolizing leaders is dangerous. Don't worship great leaders - follow them as they follow Christ and worship Him alone. If my hope was in Abraham, and I had just read Genesis 12-25 for the first time, I would be seriously disillusioned right now!

- Fear causes really good people to do really stupid things. Abraham slipped up the most when he was most fearful of men. If God called you into the uncertainty, it is a great time to remember to be certain about Him. "Don't fear the fog."

- Being a leader has a lot more to do with God than it has to do with me. Seriously, what does a person have to do to disqualify themselves from leadership in God's scheme? He is at work and is working through those who will live with Him, listen to Him, and obey Him.

Teach What Matters

Several years ago, when I was packing up my office in Auburn to move to Scottsbluff, several of my students were hanging out, helping me load books in boxes and transfer files and get the room cleared out and ready for Eli to work his magic. (Eli subsequently lost the territory to the church secretary and got stuck in a closet somewhere, but that's a whole other story!) While I wasn't looking, these students put a bunch of sticky notes in places where I'd find them later. For the first 6 months in my new office, I was finding little notes of thanks and encouragement and "Surprise!" notes all over the place.

I hadn't found any for a while, but I just found another one! It may be the best one yet. Tucked into the back of the book of Romans (in a translation I apparently haven't been using lately) was a little sticky note with a simple question:

"What does the Bible say?"

Glad to know that something that matters stuck with them. What I teach only matters if it's a reflection of what God has already said. What I say only matters when my words dance to the rhythm of His Word. It's too easy in youth ministry to become "the answer man" - instead, I want to direct students to dig into God's word for themselves. That way, I'm making disciples, not dependents.

Thanks for the reminder, guys. Keep digging into what matters most.

Heard of Advent Conspiracy?

Some great stuff over at Advent Conspiracy. If you haven't heard of this, do the world a favor and spend a few minutes at their site. See what happens. Christmas CAN still change the world.

Did God Use up all His 'Stuff'?

I've been thinking about a question I read on twitter from Perry Noble last night: "WHAT IF this past 2,000 years of the church was merely the foundation to set up what God REALLY wants to do?" At first glance, this question got my imagination going. It reminds me that God is still at work. I RT'd the statement and some concerns have been raised... thought this would be a good time to unpack the question a little bit.

I don't think this question is meant to diminish the importance of what God has already done, but to make us realize the potential of the things to come. Sometimes we live as if God has used up all his "best stuff" already. Like he used up all his mojo on raising the dead and healing lepers and Pentecost...

But what if He didn't? What if He's still powerful enough to do things that we can't explain? What if He's still invading reality to do what He wants to do - whether it's "possible" or not? What might we be missing by living as if the "good part" is over and now we're just waiting for the finale? (The finale IS pretty awesome by the way!)

I wonder if this was, at least in part, the mentality of many Jews when Jesus invaded their reality? "Well, God did some awesome things back at Creation and causing that giant flood and parting the Sea to get our people out of Egypt and the Jordon to get them into Canaan... He was pretty awesome back in the day, but we haven't heard from Him for a few hundred years, so He must be resting now." I wonder if that mentality was part of what caused them to miss Jesus.

Moses even had this kind of thinking on at least one occasion. In Numbers 11, the people were grumbling about the manna. They'd had enough of the desert and were taking it out on Moses. God assured him that meat was coming - more meat than they could stand. Moses looked around at all the people and wondered aloud to God how on earth he was supposed to feed all these people meat.

"Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?"

The Lord answered Moses, "Is the Lord's arm too short?" Moses, don't you think I'm powerful enough to do what I said I will do?

So back to the question, then: "WHAT IF this past 2,000 years of the church was merely the foundation to set up what God REALLY wants to do?" Isn't the church of 2009 more than just a holding tank until God decides to be awesome again? Are we living our lives in a way that allows us to see God at work? Do we expect Him to be active in our world today?

When I started this blog several years ago, I chose the name 'theoquest' to call to mind the continual journey toward God that I want my life to be. I added the tagline "because God is still writing history". I don't think God's done yet - I don't think we're in some perpetual Day 7 where God is just resting. I don't think the church is a fixed entity, fully functional and completely mature.

Jesus said that He was building a church over which even the gates of hell wouldn't stand. As I look at the world today, mabye it's just the negativity of the news, but it's easier to see a whole lot more hell than heaven. Maybe what God really wants is to see His church bringing His Kingdom into the world instead of waiting for Him to end it.

Origins Labs

Today was the Origins Labs day - kind of pre-conference workshops ahead of Catalyst tomorrow and Friday. It was a good and challenging day, begun by a great time with Erwin McManus in the openning session. It was awesome.

Starting with Acts 17 (when Paul was in Athens), he talked about how there is a first space, which we create for ourselves - a place where we're comfortable. The second space, as I understand it, is sort of a common space, where we work together and live together with others. The third space is a space into which we will only be invited into by others based on our authenticity and ability to engage in meaningful conversation. People really are willing to enter in to spiritual conversation - but if Jesus isn't the overwhelming reality of our lives, why would they want to talk to us about him?

Some questions I jotted down as he spoke:
-Are we pretending to touch Athens, while merely living in the synagogue? Are we creating 1st Spaces that are exclusive to those who are like us?
-Are we teaching people to engage in conversation, or are we just talking to each other about nothing?
-Is Jesus the overwhelming reality of my life?
-Are we afraid of the second place so much that we've created first spaces to protect ourselves?

McManus had a great comment when talking about the question of how to get the church to engage culture? "What did you do to disengage it?"

In the closing session, he made the statement that "All the material you need to help someone else find God is already within them." I really love that thought. God wants us to find Him, so He causes us to seek. My job isn't to teach the right set of facts, or even inspire (or coerce) the right actions - it is to reach into young lives and help people discover where God already is in their story (& where they fit into His).

Some other meaningful phrases and thoughts from the labs with Dave Gibbons and Mark Batterson (I'll try to unpack later)
-Honor the past; fuel the fringe. (I really feel the tension in this one from Dave Gibbons, whose book I will be buying before we leave.)
-The greatest miracles of life often happen in transitional times. What are the 'hybrids' God is calling us to create?
-Leaders are fathers. It's critical to really see people (with insight of the Holy Spirit) and affirm their unique destiny. There's no plug-and-play option for discipleship.
-I need to foster an "everything is experimental" mentality in my ministry. (Do we really need things to be 'established'?)
-Pray for the "unexplainable and uncontrollable".
-Create a culture of positivity.
-Sometimes the most spiritual thing we can do is to keep going even though it's tough, so "try" longer than the opposition tries or circumstances last.
-God brings us ideas/dreams/vision even when the math doesn't add up. Is the God we serve big enough to bring them about anyway?
-"You'll never be more than 80% sure."
-What is one next step I need to take and who will push me to follow through?
-Live with a holy expectation that God can invade my reality at any time. This was from Mark Batterson, but it really echoes back to Erwin's thoughts about Jesus being the overwhelming reality of our lives.

It was great (and just the beginning). Too much more to write about now.
(+ the awesomeness of Chick-Fil-A with bacon, pepperjack, and Polynesian sauce).

Wow.

There is still a lot to process and I don't have time since I'm leaving tonight to head to California for Catalyst West Coast, but let's just say right now for the record that the weekend of Spring Thing was awesome.

Rain, flood, and frozen paint!
Tech issues
2:00 AM Wal-Mart Run

The weekend wasn't smooth or polished, but God was all over it - moving His people further into His action.

"And if you're not getting this call into God's action - Don't come back." (I gotta check the file for the exact quote, but that was pretty much it & it was pretty much awesome.) One Time Blind did a great job - from the construction call to the top of the Bluff, it was awesome getting to know you guys.

Mike Sander and the band from Norton did a great job going beyond playing music into leading worship. It was a gift to have you guys with us. Mike, if you ever want to start Mike&Mike's Traveling Improv Show - I want my name on the playbill! That was way too much fun (anyone have video?).

Ok, checked the quote from Kat. Read it, then go to work.
"If you're still able to get up and come here and be here; then God has amazing things for you. If you're not teaching someone... why aren't you? If you leave here today and you are not doing something, if you are not called to action - then don't come back."

Why else would we?

What are we chasing?

I read a great quote on Mark Batterson's blog this morning (the specific post was from last week): "The impact God has planned for us doesn't occur when we're pursuing impact. It occurs when we're pursuing God."

I don't think any church sets out to NOT have an impact on the world. No leadership team I know of sits around and says, "Ok, guys, how can we make sure that we're not making a difference in the community around us?" But I do think that it's easy to get sidetracked by good strategy and wise thinking - tricked into pursuing impact instead of pursuing God Himself. Just because we can devise a means to an end doesn't mean it's the right end. "Seek first the kingdom of God..." Everything else flows out of that.

Our team of leaders have been talking about issues of membership and what it means to belong to the body of Christ here at WestWay. I appreciate the thoughts Batterson shares at the beginning of his post about inviting people into the dreams God has for their congregation, and being a "shareholder in everything we're called to do" - being part of the church is about God impacting the world.

We are called to pursue Him.

May we do so with abandon.

Summarize...

I got a link to this video in an e-mail from Joe, our children's pastor. This is a great idea, but more than that - it's a great statement of what God's doing in the lives of the church where this was filmed. How would you summarize your self/life in just a few words??? What would be your "cardboard testimony"?