Hypothetically Church

Let's play a little hypothetical Monday afternoon:

Imagine with me... a group of people, mostly in their mid to late 20's, living in the same apartment complex near the hospital where most of them work. There are a handful of single med students, several newlywed couples, a few widows & widowers, and even a couple families with young children (though, their apartments are getting a bit crowded so one of them may be moving out soon to a place with a yard where their kids can play).

It's not a huge complex, so they see each other often, and there seem to be several running conversations in the group that are always picked up and left off as they pass in the hall and hang out in the lobby. These people know each other really well. It's not uncommon at all to see one of the younger set helping out the older folks by carrying groceries or doing whatever else may be needed. The youngest kids talk excitedly about the grandmas and grandpas they have in the building, and if you had to guess, you'd probably think they really were family. And they are... just not in the way that has anything to do with genetics or legal agreements.

I go to church in their neighborhood, and have visited their building a couple times. When Bill got sick and had to retire from his work in the hospital's ER, they threw him one of the coolest retirement parties I've seen. It was amazing to see people whose lives Bill had saved or whose broken arms he'd set get together and talk about what a difference he'd made to each of them. He never stopped at just the basic care they'd expected. The apartment crew, as I've come to call them, also went way above and beyond to celebrate Bill's work over the years. The extra mile seems to be a pattern for all of them.

These people really seem to love each other, too. They don't just live in the same space, they genuinely and excessively care about the well being of each one in their community. Several times a week, all of them who can get there will share a meal together in the courtyard (or the lobby when it's cold), and no one ever eats alone.  I was surprised at one visit to hear them talking about some Bible passages they'd read lately, and how it motivated them to love even others outside their community the same way they loved each other. They've taken the word neighbor to a whole new level...

My neighborhood's not like that, so I pressed them once about what the difference was. They said the difference was that they'd each committed to loving Jesus, loving others, and doing the things Jesus said to do - which I thought was kind of odd because most of them hardly ever go to church. I asked why they don't go to church and they said they'd each chosen to work Sunday morning shifts so that other people could go if they wanted to. They did point out that they had been taking turns leading devotions in the lobby every morning before the kids had to be at school, and they'd built a prayer wall in one of the halls where they'd post stuff to pray about with each other. They showed me the board, full of notes from just about every one in the building.

As I visited yesterday, one note in particular really hit me. It was from Jake, one of the boys who may be moving soon. He only asked for two things:

• That they could find a house big enough for the whole family. By the picture he drew with the note, I could tell 'family' didn't just mean his brother and parents!
• That moving to a house didn't mean they'd have to stop helping at the homeless shelter the 'family' had started around the corner from their building.

Leaving the apartments, I noticed our church building just down the block. The parking lot was empty and I knew the doors would be locked, but I walked down anyway and sat down on the steps for a bit. I couldn't help but wondering about myself and all my friends that get together here every Sunday. We talk about Bible passages and sing songs telling God how awesome He is and how much we love Him. We pray together and some of us chat a little bit after services. But then we all go home and mostly don't see much of each other until next Sunday. I think we're trying to love Jesus in all of this, but the more time I spend with those people in the apartment building down the street, the more I wonder if we might be missing something.

Why is our group called 'church' but theirs is not?

----------
Just a quick, non-hypothetical point: This is not about the guy who claims to be worshiping God in nature because he'd rather go golfing on Sunday mornings. It's not about Justin Bieber saying he doesn't have to go to church because somebody else just religiously goes to church to go to church (more perspective on that here from Scot McKnight & Dan Kimball). It's about the essence of church. When you strip everything away that's superfluous in the church, what's still there? I know this apartment dwelling group is fictitious. But the question remains: should it be?

Catalyst Labs Dumping Off Place

Only 5 sessions into Catalyst Dallas, through the pre-labs, and I've already been wrecked. Maybe I was damaged to begin with, but I don't remember this much inner wrestling this soon into the previous two Catalyst's I've been too. It probably more a reflection of my own spiritual-mental state at the moment than anything Catalyst's done different but it felt different today somehow. Or maybe it's the abscence of Grumpy Jim and a bumpy ride in a rented Mustang... or the acute Rodd deficiency our group is currently experiencing.

Scot McKnight opened the first session talking about the need for us to "paint the leaves" (ref. to Tolkien's "Leaf By Niggle"), to paint the small, insignificant details of our dreams and leave the significance to Jesus. As he talked about the way Jesus' parables subvert our grandiosity, our values, our plans... this was the first point where I found myself slammed to the mat. How often do I miss the details of God's dream for my life because I'm too busy trying to see the whole tree? What are the dreams I'm painting in the Kingdom?

Since I'm so deeply saturated in the hip-hop culture (cough-cough), I was excited to go to Lecrae's lab in the next session (no joke about that part, the guy is pretty awesome). His message was to engage your city, love your city, and work to bring about redemption and rehabilitation. I loved how he began his lab by saying he wasn't going to rap, he isn't a great speaker, and he isn't very entertaining without a beat track. His lab, however was deeply reflective of Acts 17 and the idea of Paul being "provoked in His Spirit." He didn't just walk away disgusted with the sin he saw, but sought to redeem and rehabilitate - to reconcile and push back the darkness.

In the midst of what has kind of been a dry time for me, I almost opted for a safer alternative during the next lab session, but ultimately went to Jon Acuff's lab talking about his new book Quitter. He talked about "closing the gap between your day job and your dream job." I love youth ministry, and the last year has seen some huge strides with a number of my students, and I'm really excited to see what God is going to do with them/us next... but I've had to face a pretty large gap between my day job and my dream job recently. He talked about defining your dream as the first step to closing that gap, and I probably haven't done that very well to this point (or maybe I have and not admitting it is a way to let myself off the hook). Dreaming is a process of recover, not just discovery: What have I done that I loved? What passion have I lost? Just as Acuff's humor had me laughing, I found myself on the mat again, choke slammed by the thought that "maybe the desert road is a gift from a loving Father." I'm tired of being patient. Thankfully, his next statement was that wrestling with God is a sign of intimacy - you can't wrestle from a distance.

Pete Wilson's lab was on transformational leadership and focused on Joshua's faithful reliance on God even when it didn't seem to make sense. He talked about how transformational leadership always requires more than you have, requires you to avoid the path of least resistance, requires God sized obedience not me sized solutions, and always relies on God promises (not on answers). I loved the thought that "every opportunity has an expiration date" and missing out will often cost more than messing up. So stop playing it safe, stop hiding, and choose to be with God.

The theme of hiding was one that stood out to me today. In several instances, I found myself being challenged - How am I hiding? Why don't I just trust and do what He's telling me to do? Am I still consecrated to Jesus, or am I just doing what I've been doing for the last 12 years because I'm comfortable with it? This last thought of consecration was the crux of Mark Batterson's message in the last session, which had me thinking back to the first Catalyst Lab I attended two years ago in Los Angeles. Then, he seemed to ditch his notes in response to God's prompting to talk about Numbers 11, where God miraculously provided what His grumbling people really didn't deserve. It was a great session that I still remember vividly. After 2 years of simmering, the message to live in a place of complete dependence on a God who is big enough to do what He says He will do was just as convicting and encouraging.

I just wonder if I'll even be able to get up off the mat tomorrow...

Sticks & Chisels 1.4

Aggregate is a pretty versatile word. Noun, adjective, verb. Aggregate hits the cycle. Aggregate is like a Swiss Army knife of a word - maybe not the one with everything, but at least the one with the micro scissors and a the toothpick in the side. Aggregate has a lot going for it. According to our friends at Merriam-Webster to aggregate is to collect or gather into a mass or whole.

One of my favorite apps so far in my iPad experimentation, flipboard, is essentially an aggregator of selected RSS, twitter, & facebook feeds. I like how it takes a lot of information, photos, videos, articles, etc. and puts them all into one magazine-like digital space. It occurs to me that we're all aggregators - we all gather information, experiences, people, and stuff. Every day, something new is brought into the cluster of my life (and yours). I want to make sure that whatever the raw material is that I'm gathering, I am also faithfully caring for whatever God has seen fit to allow into my life.

• What have you been aggregating lately? What kinds of people and attitudes have you been gathering & clustering around you and influencing? 
• Into what have you been aggregated? What bodies or groups are you a part of that are influencing you? 
• What kinds of ideas are you aggregating (and curating)?

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!
............................
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.

A Frozen Walk with an Affirming Father

I need affirmation. Maybe I'm not internally motivated enough, maybe my confidence is not what it should be, but I need to hear how I'm doing from someone else's perspective. I settle sometimes for other people's perceptions, but what I really need is the affirmation of my Father. You do, too. There is a question in all of us that begs to be answered with God's "Well done. Come enter into my rest."

Last night after all the students had gone home, all the lights were shut off and the doors were locked, I headed home feeling as good as I've felt for a long time. The question we covered in our series last night dealt with the mystery of the Trinity - how can God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit be three and be one? The simple truth is I don't know how, but the question brought me to wonder again. If we stop wondering about God, we may begin to think we know all we need to know about Him - and that's a dangerous place to be.

God knows us more intimately than we can fathom, and He wants us to know Him more deeply as well. He is not merely a far-off overlord watching from a distance - He became one of us! He is not just an amazing teacher or caring humanitarian that used to live in the Middle East - He is THE creative power living inside of us!

I went for a walk late last night after I got home. Just a short walk - it was well below zero (about 20 below Celsius for my Canadian friends). Being that cold, there weren't too many dogs out barking, only a few vehicles passing by, and the more sane of our local species tucked away in their warm homes. It was incredibly still - a moment of rest. If anyone noticed me out there, they may have only seen some dope out wandering around in the cold, but I saw more. Fascinated by the God who made the cold, dry snow crunch beneath every step, who made every star I could see and every one I couldn't, and who drew out the longest-burning meteorite I've ever seen... I saw God.

It was as if He spread out His canvas for me to see and said "Look... I'm still here." And though I know there is much I can and should be doing better, it was a moment of affirmation. A reminder that I'm being obedient, and a nudge to keep being so. The designer of the Denver Art Museum, Daniel Libeskind said of the building "I hope the building has an openness that everyone can fill with their own imagination." I was reminded last night, in a frozen moment of clarity, that my life needs to have an openness, too. An openness to the mysteries of God. I hope my life has an openness that God can fill with His imagination. I pray yours does, too...

Final Speaker at Catalyst West - Perry Noble

First, let me just say that the lineup at Catalyst West was the best group of speakers I've ever seen at any one place/time.  Every speaker at each session had some important things to say and did so very well.  One of the highlights was Perry Noble, the last speaker of the week.  He was a huge encouragement as he laid out a call to endure in the face of discomfort and pain.  You Can Do This.  It was sort of a run to the Gospel truth with a NASCAR foot to the floor.  It was a great way to end the week.

"The size of the vision God will give me is directly related to the amount of pain and discomfort I am willing to endure."  The thing about these conferences is they can be overwhelming.  You go and hear the exciting things God is doing through some pretty incredible leaders.  But you know you're going home to people that weren't there - and you're not going to be able to fully explain to them what happened.  It can be frustrating to have such an infusion of encouragement and energy only to go home and get doused with the wet blanket of budgets, short-sighted plans, lack of commitment... There can be a let down a few weeks or even days after getting home.

Perry talked about Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones to tell a better ending to the post-conference story.  He talked about how dryness leads to desperation for God and how God takes us through pain to show His provision (another one of those recurring themes for me all week).  Even when things are dry - we need to trust Him.

Ezekiel knew that only God could account for the right answer to the situation He'd brought him into.  He needed to believe (and did believe, as evidenced by his actions) that God could do hwat God wanted to do.  "You alone know."  So when God told him to call the dry bones to life, that's exactly what he did.  There was a vision put into Ezekiel's mind of dead bones returning to life, so He obeyed what God told him to do (even though it made no sense).  We need to "consistently obey Jesus and be ready for God to move.

He interjected the question here, "What would you attempt for God if you knew it couldn't fail?"  What vision is He planting in our lives that we need to believe He can do?  Are we courageous enough to act?

He finished with the thought that we need to Honor Him.  God doesn't need us sitting around waiting for Him to zap people into submission to Him.  We need to not only take the first steps toward our vision, but we need to finish what we start.  We need to see through to completion the vision God places within us and understand that He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..."

After several days and a number of posts, I'm tempted to say that wraps up my Catalyst musings, but... I think we all know better don't we???

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).

Where's My Future?

Sitting in the kitchen today, my youngest son stopped whatever he was playing (he lives inside his own head, so we're never quite sure where he is) and asked me "Dad, where is my future going to be?" I may not be the most observant father on the planet, but when a teachable moment walks up and smacks me in the face like that, I usually notice!

"Where is my future going to be?" At first I thought he was maybe asking a Heaven or Hell type question. "Does Jesus love me/Am I OK with God" type of thing. Quickly I realized he wasn't thinking about anything post-mortem, but about his life here and now (which is pretty much what you get with any 5 year old). It's easy to tell where we've been or to tell someone where they are now, but there's no wall map that says "You will be here." What is a 5 year old concept of the future anyway?

I told him it was wherever he makes it. Every choice we make shapes our future. Had I made different choices throughout the years, I'd be living in a very different present than the one I'm in now. A person can really get messed up with the "What if I'd just..." queries of life (I've spent way too much time in the land of second guessing), but at 5 years old I love this question.

"Where is my future going to be?" It's like the beginning of a book. That first sentence eliminates all but a handful of options. Before that first sentence, the book could go anywhere, but as soon as it begins - the field narrows. With each decision of our lives, the field narrows. The book is being written. This makes every choice more weighty than we may have thought it was yesterday. We have to decide where we want our future to be and make the decisions that shape the world around us to create that future...

Where do you want your future to be? Are you choosing to go there?

At the Crossroads 1.4

Jeremiah had a lot of bad news to deliver - and people don't like to hear bad news. He had to warn people that the way they were living was going to end in their destruction. People didn't want to hear it. They just wanted to live their lives their own way and be left alone.

But Jeremiah had no choice. His relationship with God was deep enough that he couldn't just sit by and watch his nation be destroyed by their own choices. He cared enough about his countrymen that he delivered the messages God gave to him - even at a high personal cost.

In Jer. 26, things had escalated to the point that the crowd to which Jeremiah was preaching became a mob that was ready to take his life. Still he held on to the truth. All he had to do was offer some promise of peace (like so many other false prophets were doing) and he would have been spared. Just go with the flow, and the people would have let him be.

But as the crowd called for his death, and some royal officials arrived to "hold court", he would not let go of the truth. You see, Jeremiah had 'stood at the crossroads' and found the ancient way. He'd determined to walk in it - in obedience to God no matter what. So now he says to the court, "I'm at your mercy - do whatever you think is best. But... if you kill me, you kill an innocent man. I didn't say any of this on my own. God sent me and told me what to say."

Despite the objections of 'the priests and prophets', the court lets Jeremiah go. Finally, it seems, someone had believed him. Even some of the leaders got it. They remembered another prophet who had truthfully delivered news of impending destruction. Hezekiah, the king then, listened and prayed for mercy from God. And God spared the people of that time because they heard Him.

We need to decide what we'll do with the message of God today. Will we listen? Will we obey? Or will we ignore His Words to us? God has plans to care for us, not abandon us. But if we won't listen to His plans, we'll miss out on His future.

So "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it..."

See you at the crossroads.

Don't Give Up...

Some people call me patient. Some have credited me with perseverance and even longsuffering. The truth may be, however, that I'm just too stubborn to know when to quit!

Whatever the correct viewpoint of that issue, I do think we could all use a little more tenacity. The attitude of "This is what we're here for, and we will not quit." I remember as a kid, whenever we signed up for something like a sport or ongoing activity... we were in it until 'it' was done. I loved playing football as a kid. I was little and quick and hard to tackle. So my freshman year, I went out for football. 'Little and quick' becomes 'small and easy to throw around' when you strap on a helmet and half your bodyweight in pads. As a wide reciever with a team that threw about 6 passes all year, I didn't enjoy football. Not even a little. It wasn't fun anymore, and it was a lot of work. But I signed on to play and quitting wasn't an option, so I had to stick it out until the end of the season. I was rewarded with a grand total of 1 reception for about 45 yards (the only ball thrown to me all year - a 4 yard slant with about 40 yards of "run for your life" tacked on at the end).

Too many people have learned to quit when things get hard. If life is all about you being happy, and something is more work than it's worth? Quit. Your relationship is a mess? Quit. Your boss is a jerk? Quit. School is too hard? Hey you're old enough now, just quit. (You can go to work for someone else's jerky boss, because they just quit, too and said boss has an opening!)

Even in the church, there can be the thinking that if something is too difficult, it must not be what God wants. Because, God always opens the door, ya know... or at least a window. He paves the way ahead of us to accomplish what we want, right? The truth is that sometimes, God closes the door, boards up the window, latches the deadbolt and says, "Come on in." Jesus didn't tell people it was going to be easy to follow him. He told them it was going to be hard. He told them they'd be hated. And he said, "Follow me".

Have you ever noticed in Psalm 23 that as David is following God's guidance on the "right paths/ paths of righteousness" he ends up walking through "the valley of the shadow of death" to a table that God had prepared for him right in the middle of those who would kill him? Following God isn't safe. It isn't easy. It demands that we don't quit.

Two recent "little things" have been very encouraging to me in the last week in areas where I was pretty much ready to quit:

I haven't done really well with this blog lately. I don't feel the freedom to say what I really want to say, so I just haven't said much of anything. I'd really like this blog to serve as a catalyst for conversation, but that hasn't always seemed to happen. So, I've kind of just let the blog slide under the pile of 'stuff to do' lately, wondering if it's worth the effort. An anonymous comment last week about a difference that something I'd written several months ago (thanks google) had made in someone's life reminded me that sometimes you just don't know what God's going to do with your offering - you just need to give it.

Another ministry opportunity that had felt more draining than useful lately is the radio show that I do once a month - "The Cutting Edge". The station (KCMI) desired to have a show on Saturday nights that would be an outreach to area teens - playing music that's a little more 'spicy' than their general fare. Several area youth ministers come in with a few students and run the station for a few hours, rotating each week. With input from various sources, the station asked us (actually I think the only one they really had to tell was me) to tone down the tenor of the music (i.e. no more hardcore on "The Cutting Edge"). I don't like hardcore, but I know a lot of the teens in the area that we'd like to reach do. This was/is frustrating to me, and coupled with a wonder about whether or not anyone was really listenning - I was ready to quit. But last Saturday night was one of the best nights for me at the show in the year and a half that we've done it. I spent a few hours hanging out in the studio with 3 great kids (even though they begged for a Veggie Tales song), played a lot of good music, and had a lot of callers.

I guess all of this is just to say "Don't give up." You can't see the end yet, and if you quit, you'll never know.

Action

"...eventually you have to stop thinking about it, dreaming about it, imagining it, hoping, scheming, planning, or even praying, and you have to actually do something. You have to act. You have to execute. You have to step into the real world and bring the change that you can only see through the eyes of faith." -from Erwin McManus' Wide Awake

I've always been a bit of a dreamer. I can see things better than they are. But sometimes I feel powerless to move them from what is to what could be. Lately, I've seen a lot of what could be happening but isn't - a lot of potential lying dormant. But instead of creatively leading forward, I've been frustrated into cynicism.

One of my favorite concepts in physics is the transformation of potential energy into kinetic energy. An object sitting around has potential energy. Even though it's just there, not accomplishing anything, there is potential energy. It's measurable. But it's only potential. The energy is not useful until it's made kinetic - until it's set in motion. Our dreams of a better future are like that. Unless we set them in motion, they are worthless to the world. Set something in motion today.

A dream deferred eventually becomes a weed of despair instead of the seed of hope God planted.

A Long Obedience...

I decided a couple weeks ago to fast from books in order to spend more time reading the Bible. A lot of my students would welcome that kind of opportunity (at least the no books part), but for me, it really is a sacrifice. I've been re-reading a book we're using for a teaching series to keep it fresh for lessons, but that's it as far as recent book consumption. I still read some periodicals online and off, but no books. I've decided to focus my reading time on Scripture instead, which is technically a book (or at least a library) but I guess I put it in a separate category from other books I typically read (you know, the whole divine authorship thing really does warrant some special consideration!).

Anyway, none of that is really the point, so I should probably get to it!

I was reading (in an allowable ministry periodical) a book review of Eugene Peterson's "A Long Obedience In the Same Direction" (which is not against my 'no books' fast) and came across a statement that raised a great question: "Spritually speaking in the church, are we living more as tourists or pilgrims?"

A tourist is there for enjoyment, so when things get rough, he goes home (or moves on to another 'tour' somewhere else). The pilgrim determines where he is headed and keeps going, even when doing so is obviously going to be painful and difficult. In my ministry, I want to know where God is leading and go there with determination.

Even right now, I have a pretty good idea of how God is leading our student ministry. But Satan keeps reminding me how tough it will be to overcome the obstacles on the way to where we are going. The tourist in me says, "Find an easier way. Keep the kids happy and occupied and the parents will be pleased and I can keep my job... Don't push too hard ~ they're just kids." (Yes, Dave it is still your 14 year old voice I hear in my head every time the 'just kids' phrase comes up...) But the pilgrim knows that whatever diversion I can concoct to make my path a little more smooth is only going to end in us not getting to the right destination. As these two wrestle within me, may God provide strength for whatever lies ahead in the journey.

"A Long Obedience..." will go on my reading list... but not yet. For now, though, I'll be spending some time with the subject matter of the book, The Psalms of Ascent (Psalm 120-134) May these songs encourage us to stay the course in the difficult legs of our journey.

What are we doing?

I recently read this book by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper called "Jim & Casper Go to Church". Jim is a former pastor/author/house painter, while his friend Casper is an atheist. They went to church together to try to evaluate what is going on today in the American church.

While the opinions they offer are only snapshots of single moments in the lives of the congregations they visited, there were enough common elements to their visits to make me take notice. Those of us in ministry very rarely attend another church as a visitor. Because of that, I think we often lose the sense of how what we are doing in our gatherings is seen by those who are visiting. Casper's perspectives on some of what many in America see as the best of the best churches is very eye opening.

He often asks Jim a question that I think everyone serving in any type of church leadership capacity should ask themselves from time to time: "Is this what Jesus told you guys to do?" Both in large and small churches, from big budgets to small ones, Casper wondered if what was going on in Sunday morning services was really what Jesus was all about. Are "worship services" really reflecting the heart of our Savior? Is the way we "do church" really helping people learn to "be the church"?

"When Opportunity Roars..."

I finished reading Mark Batterson's "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day" recently. The book recounts the Biblical story of Benaiah, mighty warrior/lion chaser/bodyguard/military commander. The gist is that Benaiah seized an incredible opportunity that most sane people would have run from - he chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day, killed it, and was greatly rewarded in life as a result. Instead of running from difficult circumstances and seeking safety at all costs, we can learn "how to survive and thrive when opportunity roars" - the subtitle of the book.

One part of the book that really stuck out for me (besides the title) was the chapter on "Unlearning Your Fears". Batterson pointed to psychiatric research suggesting the only two fears that are inate to man are the fear of falling and of loud noises. Every other phobia is learned - AND can be UNlearned.

Lion Chasers (those who are able to turn difficult circumstances into rewarding experiences) have learned to face their fears. The key to this unlearning is to have a renewed mind, retooled into the mind of Christ (which is brought about through a consistent diet of Scripture). When I find my security and my very identity in Him, what is there to fear? When I know that I am acting on His thoughts and dreams, what circumstances can shake my resolve?

I like books that ask "what if?" questions. This is one of those books.

"What if the life you really want, and the future God wants for you, is hiding right now in your biggest problem, your worst failure... your greatest fear?"

Failure?

I've noticed I am really affected by "how things go" on a typical Wednesday night. Some nights just click and I go home with a ton of energy. My wife says she can tell how things went by my demeanor. I can't even go to bed for a while until the excitement wears off. Other nights, I get home exhausted.

Tonight was one of those nights. Things just didn't go very well. Lots of new students and "the group" wasn't really doing much to welcome them. Kids' attention scattered everywhere. I left out a song from the projection program (kind of hard for them to sing a new song when they can't even read the words). Didn't speak well enough to keep their attention. Clean up kids didn't/couldn't stick around.

Maybe I beat myself up a bit, but it just didn't go that well and I was feeling pretty down. When everyone was gone I plugged my Zune into the sound system and started to vacuum the room. Lots of popcorn and chips on the floor (no spilled drinks, though - a little silver lining for the night). As I finished cleaning the floor and put the vacuum away, I was reflecting on all of this and just how unhealthy it is - for me, my family, the ministry itself. I turned off all the lights and sat in the still room to pray and think about it. As I prayed, an awesome song called "Only You" from David Crowder played. It's really about how it's only God that matters. As I offered myself up to God I was reminded of how success/results/impact is really in His hands not mine. I need to be reminded of that often.

Maybe you do, too. So don't forget. Ours is the responsibility to respond in faith to His Voice. His is to accomplish what only He can.

Deadly Viper

"Character isn't a destination, but a journey towards becoming a more whole, fulfilled, and healthy person."

Recently finished reading a fun, but challenging book called Deadly Viper Character Assasins by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite. Basically the book is a warning to pay attention to your character before the Assasins tear you up. An essential part of being a person of integrity that can stand up under attack is to have someone fighting with you. Mike and Jud have made a commitment to fight for each other - to help the other maintain his own honor.

That kind of relationship is something all of us need, and sadly, few of us have. We may have a lot of business associates, work buddies, or just 'the guys' - but how many of us have real friends who know us well enough to see when we're slipping and love us enough to tell us so? How many of us will dare to be real enough with someone else that we allow them to see the cracks in our lives and the wounds in our souls?

The warning in Deadly Viper is that to fail to do exactly that will likely lead to catastrophic failure of your character. Don't go there. Find someone to help you maintain your integrity. The hope of the book is grace. As much as it is a warning to watch out for life's common pitfalls, it is also an offer of a chance to climb out of the muck you may have found yourself in. Grace. Mistakes. More grace...

I'll probably come back to some of the topics of the book in further blogs, but for now, check out the Deadly Viper Site for more, and get a couple copies of the book for you and a good friend and start today to build the character you need to survive.

Great Idea!

Found this on the CCT page. This club was started when someone put some feet on their faith. Living with less, so I can give more - great idea!

You Can't Cancel Church.

Last year a bunch of people I know and interact with online were all upset about some churches "canceling church" in order for families to be home with their families on Christmas morning. Others have lamented how some congregations "cancel church" on the Sunday night of the Super Bowl. Well, the issue has come up again...

A church in KY has forgone its normal Sunday morning schedule in order for the whole congregation to go to a special screening of Evan Almighty. Now, I haven't seen the movie yet, so my comments have a limited perspective on why or why not seeing this movie together could be a good idea.

But here is one thing I do know. There is nothing we can do to 'cancel' church (or 'skip' it for that matter). The church isn't the place we meet on Sunday morning. It's not the sitting around and the singing of songs and the hearing of sermons. The church is the Body of Christ, alive and serving in the world today. And that cannot be canceled.

I'm not saying that our weekly gathering to worship together is not important to the life of the Body. But if that one gathering (or two...) is the full extent of our worship, then we are only weakly gathering (and I'd hesitate to call that worship). If we can't break from the routine for something a little out of the ordinary once in a while, then are we holding to tradition, or is tradition strangling us?

Be Led to Lead

I just finished reading again a book that was suggested in connection with my last class. I don't read books more than once very often, but I was looking for a quote to use in my last paper and got wrapped up in the book and wanted to soak it in again. It's "In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership" from Henri Nouwen - a brief book sharing some lessons learned as Nouwen moved from a Harvard professorship to a community for mentally handicapped people called Daybreak. (For more about Nouwen, check out this website from Wil Hernandez - who incidentally was the teacher for my class.)

He points out a lack of spiritual depth in much of Christian leadership today and blames the pursuit of relevance, popularity, and power (though his description of relevance is a bit different than I'd always thought of relevance) and prescribes prayer, confession/repentance, and theological reflection. He ends "with the image of the leader with outstretched hands, who chooses a life of downward mobility. It is the image of the praying leader, the vulnerable leader, and the trusting leader. May that image fill your hearts with hope, courage, and confidence..."

He uses Jesus' comments to Peter about being led where you do not wish to go to draw this picture of servant leadership. Really made me think of my own image of leadership. How I've defined it for myself and what I've aimed for as a leader. I've got to say, I've allowed myself to be distracted by managing things ("Don't mess up.") to the point of no longer being led and leading.

But it's risky to be led by Jesus. If we're going to be able to lead the emerging generation to have any depth of relationship to God whatsoever - it's a risk some of us must take.

Trust

“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I [Paul] am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.” (Acts 20:22)

“Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, ‘Come, let’s go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf…’” (1 Samuel 14:6)

I wonder if we require too many details of God’s plan before we’ll take action…
I wonder if we desire too much of a safety net before we’ll allow the Spirit to move us…
I wonder if we insist on knowing at the expense of trusting our Father…
I wonder if we follow directions instead of following Jesus…

Maybe it’s just me. I’ve been challenged lately to pay more attention to the Spirit of Christ in my life. But maybe it’s not just me. Maybe Satan has made it very easy for all of us to become complacent in our spirituality – to reduce our relationship with God to one of attendance and apathy.

Don’t allow him to do that to you. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) Walk with Him today. Don’t allow the fear of uncertainty to shackle you. Trust the Spirit that God has placed within you.

Maybe an uncomfortable thought, I know… but if you only follow what you already understand, you’ll only go where you’re already able to get to.