What If Starbucks Marketed like a Modern Church.

This video uses a heavy dose of sarcasm, exaggeration and makes me cringe alot, but somehow I find a shred of truth in its portrayal of how the modern contemporary church comes across as inauthentic, bait-and-switchy, unrelational and over the top in its use of cliche's.

Watch at your own risk.

Why I Lean Anabaptist

I'm not a denominational guy. I've always had issues with the whole concept of denominations. Still there's always been something about the Anabaptist movement that's tickled my ears. It wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I even heard about the Anabaptists. When I was in college I studied the Reformation but my Prof seemed to gloss over the Anabaptist movement that birthed during the same time in church history. I always found it curious why he barely mentioned them, so back then I began to investigate on my own. I dove into a book called "The Reformers and their Stepchildren" by Leonard Verdui and another titled "Anabaptists and the Sword" by James M. Stayer. I came to understand why my Reformed professor didn't talk much about the Anabaptist's. Reformers in the 16th Century violently persecuted them. The Protestant Reformers under Zwingli were the first to persecute the Anabaptists using torture and executions. True to their convictions from what Jesus modeled, the Anabaptist responded with nonviolence.

I'm not a fan of all the paths the Anabaptist movement has wandered down. Nor do I embrace in entirety their ecclesiology. Still I’m convinced a good chunk of the principles of Anabaptist's offer something to a growing segment of culture that is burnt out on religion and is suspicious of the evangelical church world. Personally, I think that the Anabaptist movement offers a counter-story to the negative aspects of Christianity that have dominated most churches and Christian institutions. Non-Christians associate Christianity with power, greed, control, personal piety, and being-in-bed with political parties – but Anabaptist's seem to have a better story to tell!

Here are some of the values that resonate deeply with me that come out of the Anabaptist tradition.

1. Jesus is our example, friend, redeemer and Lord – Jesus didn't just come to save us but he came to show us how to live. His earthly life is a template for a life actively submitting to His Lordship.

2. Holiness is greater love - The Sermon on the Mount is the great manifesto for what a holy life begins to look like and it looks like serious, selfless, God-honoring love.

3. Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation – Jesus is the interpretive lens that the Old and New Testament are to be understood through. The character and actions of God must be comprehended first by looking at Jesus.

3. The Cross is primarily seen as victory over Satan and death (Christus Victor) and secondarily understood as the consequence for our sin (Penal Substitution) - Jesus came to bind up the strong man and free us to follow him. The Cross is less about God's anger towards humans but more about God's relentless pursuit to reclaim humanity by doing battle with the enemy on the cross.

4. The frequent association with power poisons the nature of the church - status, wealth and force distort the witness of the body of Christ. Abstaining from voting for political candidates is a practice in solidarity. Effecting change from positions of power might seem most impactful but Jesus modeled the surrender of power to capture hearts.

5. Who you identify with is extremely important - Jesus risked his reputation with the religious to identify with the poor and suffering of our world. The church should carefully consider how they are identified and perceived by outsiders to the religious establishment.

6. Churches are called to create communities of mutual respect and mature love first, before orthodoxy and order - truth and doctrine are important but they are not necessarily the signs of spiritual health. How we relate with one another is the first and most important sign the Holy Spirit is among us. In an age of individualism, Anabaptists model a communal faith that fosters authentic relationships and the value of the whole body.

7. Spirituality and economics are inter-connected – In an age of consumerism, Jesus calls us to a simple life that leads to generosity with our time and money.

8. Peace is at the heart of the gospel – Nonviolence, as modeled by Jesus, is evidence of the good news of the kingdom. The believer must not use forcible resistance to wrongdoers, nor wield the sword.

9. The Kingdom is Now - Jesus resurrection launched the movement of the Kingdom of God on earth. Heaven is not some off distant place we go to when we die. Jesus is building His Kingdom here and now. Will we work for him? So be careful about giving you loyalty to any other power structure or empire.

There is a lot more to the Anabaptist way but these are a few of the things that I can get behind. Maybe I lean a little more Anabaptist than I do anything else.

P.S. There is a fairly new book out titled "The Naked Anabaptist" by Stuart Murray if your interested in finding out more.

The Inorganic Church

I have to be honest, I’m totally late and groggy when it comes to organic food. My wife’s is adamantly organic in our food choices and for the most part I haven’t really cared. Often times when it comes to food for me, ignorance is bliss. The other night we cuddled up and watched a short documentary on PBS called the “Botany of Desire.” The show highlighted the practices of genetically engineered potatoes that are created to meet the demands of french fry suppliers in America. It attempted to explain the unintended consequences of speeding up the process of growing potatoes. After thinking about the documentary a bit I realized I’m adamantly organic but in a very different arena. When it comes to the building and growing of a church community I get a bit bothered by the “genetic engineering” taking place on a large scale.

1.To launch a church “Big” many try to engineer numerical growth by appealing to immediate gratification. This is done using overstatements about what God’s doing. I just received marketing material for a church plant that hasn’t even launched yet and their marketing already says a “significant movement of God” is happening. I find this inauthentic and an attempt to engineer excitement. This kind of speech really turns off the post-christian who is looking for transparent, no cliche, around-the-table, earthy community. The pursuit of doing things in culturally "big" ways has had unintended consequences on the DNA of average Christians. What most see as "big" really isn't what God sees as big; new building campaigns vs invasive home hospitality, thousands of dollars raised for big missional impact vs spending your hard earned time with real live needy people, preaching that produces altar call decisions for Christ vs living missionally amongst your neighbors while realizing evangelism takes a long, long time.

2. To make people feel God is blessing "our" church leaders, lean on the engineering of dynamic musical worship. From one of the fastest growing evangelical churches their website touts “come experience worship that will leave you speechless,” “God show’s up and leaves us in awe.” This kind of engineering declares what God feels like when he shows up. But this American interpretation of how God shows up unintentionally creates addicts for visible blessing they can see on a Sunday. But Post-Christians are aching and longing for a God who shows up without fanfare and promotional slogans. Funny thing, that’s exactly how God showed up when He finally came to earth in Jesus; vulnerable, humble and relational. Why not stick with this approach?

3. To grow people spiritually, churches attempt to engineer discipleship through expert run programs. Efficiency has replaced effectiveness. We’ve created a corporate Wall Street like church. In businesses, it’s about moving people from A to B as fast as possible, but has nothing to do with making people. Typically we have one charismatic guy with the vision and a culture of volunteerism to help that one guy get his vision accomplished. It’s the genius with a 1000 helpers. So while churches may claim to have “leadership or discipleship development programs,” what they really have are “volunteer pipelines” that are run by managers. Many churches are organizationally efficient, but aren’t affecting the lives of people the way in which Jesus imagined an organic family would. Living breathing people are formed in the context of shared life. The more we share life, counsel, time, truth and trust together in close proximity the more our Jesus-way rubs off on each other. Maybe in the engineered discipleship mode we run the campus well but don't create apprentices of Jesus. We’re keeping the machine of the church running but doing practically nothing to move the Kingdom into the cracks and crevices of our neighborhoods.

For me, staying disciplined to organic church practices is tough. Everything and everyone seems to be screaming for a quick return, a loud impact and an emotionally unbelievable experience you can brag about. I do not want the demand to drive how Axiom Church farms. I am convinced the engineering techniques the church unquestionably applies has created pew sitters that live their spiritual life through vicarious means. We’ve created producers instead of gardeners.

What Community is Not

Community is a buzz word. It stirs up good vibes when you think about it. Maybe memories of the late 90’s show “Friends” come to mind. From my experience in establishing intentional communities over the years I'm convinced that friendship is not strong enough to glue community together.

I find hints of the idealism that “community is where everybody is friends” most the time I poke around peoples views of community. It does seem natural to import our best feelings about what friendship offers onto our expectations of Christian community. Its natural but it’s not appropriate.

Friendship is built on affinity.    I don’t know about you but I like to hang out with people that I have enough things in common with. I enjoy friendship with people who are in similar stages of life that I’m in; its natural. I like to relax with people that read the stuff I read and are entertained by the stuff I'm entertained by. Here is an awkward personal example of how friendship is built on affinity. I hate Ultimate Fighting or Mixed Martial Arts , I loathe it. I have various reasons for my visceral disgust for the sport (maybe that’s a blog for another time). I’ll be honest I have a hard time enjoying someone’s company that that wants to watch and talk about that stuff.  I do think functionally that is how friendship works and that’s O.K.

Community is not about affinity. In the first century a male Jewish worshiper would enter the synagogue and recite these words “I’m glad I’m not a Gentile dog and I’m glad I’m not a woman.” So imagine you are in the early church and Paul says emphatically that under Lordship of Jesus there is no “Jew, Gentile, Male, Female, Slave or Free.” (Galatians 3) This was a shocking cultural rearrangement for everyone. The New Testament community did not have personal preferences and "likes" as their rallying point. The new Kingdom community was a mash up of people who culturally would never hang out with each other. They had very little in common. Their community was not forged and glued together by friendship. Friendship is picky and selective. Friendship is about investing time into people who you have a certain amount of chemistry with.

Community's built on Friendship won't make it.  I see this community vs friendship clash sabotaging people’s ability to commit and be loyal to community all the time. I think the voices in our head say “I need to be with people in my stage of life”, “there’s nobody like me.” So we download these emotional wants into our ideals and expectations when interacting with a living, breathing Christian community. Please don't hear an overstatement, I do think that doing the long hard work of loving in community eventually leads to the formation of friendships. Still, looking at community through the lens of friendship will create serious disillusionment.  It’s these very confused ideals about what community should offer that inevitably creates unnecessary disappointment and departure.  Friendship is not strong enough to hold community together under the weight of diversity and normal relational conflict.

Ultimately, taking our cues from friendship about what community should look like pushes us inward.          
I’ve observed that it makes us a bit narcissistic, becoming hyper sensitive to how our personal needs aren't being met. It then becomes really hard to shake the obsessiveness of feeling“these people don’t understand me.” I watched this gradual ego-oriented construct begins to dominate interactions.  It creates a distancing from people we perceive are not like us and don't understand us. Eventually every nugget of grace given to us from someone in our community seems to fall into an emotional black-hole. This domino effect all begins with importing our ideals and expectations from friendship into the landscape of community.

Incarnation vs Status

We all have in us a desire to measure our spiritual health. The apostle Paul says we all desire law; some sort of litmus test for ourselves. It feeds us what we feel we need; “See I’m doing, see I’m arriving, see I measure up, see I’m climbing, and see me compared to them.” Its popular to talk about being the church instead of going to church. But what does that truly mean and how is that fleshed out ? I’ll tell you one thing it certainly will collide with, our yearning to measure our spiritual achievements. There is a drive in all modern Christians to “Attain Status"

"I go to church on Sunday’s while they sleep in and watch TV."
"I’m a Sunday school teacher."
"I’m on the worship team."
"I lead a program in the church."

The current institutional church has elevated these types of roles and many others like them as achievements in spiritual growth. In a weird way they have become sign posts for us that indeed “We're really doing church now”.

Status is a position that we climb towards that once attained feeds us a sense of internal pride, strength and security. In church planting models these opportunities for status (disguised as service) are waived around for people to latch onto in order to grow the church. “who will be responsible for chairs, kids program, worship, promotion?” But this paradigm has fundamentally handicapped the people of God from actually being the church. These ladders to climb do not teach people to be missionaries.

In a truly missional church teaching people that "Everyday Incarnation” is what Jesus envisioned as church is an uphill battle. Weaning people off of “Attaining Status” and onto “Everyday Incarnation” is a cultural and personal clash for most of us. The mode of Jesus entering into the brokenness of our world using the tools of; conversation, hospitality, peace-making, invitation, active listening, feasting, interactive teaching and eye-contact to share the message of the Kingdom of God has significant implications on us as church-goers. We need to reorder our priorities, lists and commitments because of Jesus incarnation. There are direct implications on our sense of private space and time. We need to echo the movements of Jesus.

For example I sometimes hear in our missional church “I don’t feel like I’m doing anything or I’m not doing anything for the church”.

So my response often is:
"Have you had someone in your neighborhood over for dinner lately?"

"Have you served someone in the church community that has a physical or emotional need?"

"Have you offered to take a shut-in grocery shopping or given a bottled water to the homeless man on the corner or offered to babysit a single mom’s kids?"

"Have you had a cup of coffee with someone to converse about the study from this week?"

Everyday incarnation takes intentionality. When we break down the tower of going to church and attaining status we can then see what's really pressing in the Kingdom of God. Interacting with people that are in our circles of influence with Gospel intentionality is more like church than we can imagine. When this is done as an extension of a committed community of Jesus-followers, the church is awake and alive. This is how to be the church; the living body of Christ in the world, in the neighborhood and amongst other believers.

How We Are Defined

Most of us know the feeling of exhilaration when we are part of a large group united against a common enemy. There’s a certain energy elicited. It’s exhilarating. There is a certain “high” we feel as we all have something to fight against. It is always easier to unite a community around a common enemy than cultivate goals together that will create a preferred future. This is a personality of cultures – it’s incredibly easy to organize a people against a common enemy. This modus-operandi has infiltrated the church. As an organized church we’ve been increasingly defining ourselves over-and-against others. We have made it our mission to make the central focus of being a Christian; what we are against.

This dynamic however has a shelf life and the current church has not seemed to figure it out. The church consistently attempts to define itself by what it’s against. We cannot lead a community this way without constantly keeping the threat of the “others” preeminent. If we somehow don’t have enemies, then we must invent them or else the community will have nothing to get excited about. This kind of church culture works off an antagonistic energy. The continual enmity is fatiguing. It does not give life. It does not nurture spiritual transformation (Love is... 1 Corinthians 13). It has nothing at its core to hold us together.

American politics is full of this dynamic. I fear in these last few years that evangelicalism is showing signs of behaving in these same ways. I fear the church of my upbringing, the church that I love is picking up bad behaviors from our political environment. We are often taught our beliefs as the means to differentiate ourselves from those who don’t believe. We learn our theology of “being Christian” by who (or what) we are against. We find our sense of ego or status because of what we don't do. The world is watching as we become predictably defensive, argumentative and alarmist. Within the church we are making "enemies" and "heretics" out of anybody that does not talk like us and think like us.

What I believe is the gravest result in all the shouting back and forth; is the loss in what it truly means to follow Jesus and what it means to live for His present Kingdom. The story of God (what He is authoring on this earth) is all but a lost plot for most church goers. They don’t know what to tether their lives to. With all the clutter and noise we generate about what we're against, we don’t know what our King Jesus is for. I’m willing to bet that the world around us can guess what we hate and dislike but will probably have a hard time identify who and what we LOVE. This generation needs to see and hear a strong dose of the “fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). I contend we need discerning and passionate churches that intentionally reclaim our identity as people “for” something greater, higher, deeper, more costly and more compelling.

Look Again

I hate facing myself, not literally in the mirror although that is becoming a less attractive experience everyday. I mean bumping into myself. It happens when you least expect it and it often happens when you are trying to accomplish something significant. You begin to see that you’ve got stuff clanking around in your heart that you really haven’t given too much direct attention to. You come to the realization that to take on this new challenge, jump into a new project, pioneer something new or in my case step out in faith you have to face yourself. I’m in the infancy stages of planting a Jesus-focused, community-driven, urban-loving church. When I swallowed hard earlier this year, decided to trust God and began this new work I thought it was purely a faith decision; kind of nebulous and general spiritually in what I had to overcome. I still tell people that to be a part of what God is compelling us to do in the city of Syracuse you must take a step of faith but there is something much scarier that ends up jumping in front of you… yourself.

Dormant issues hide around the corner in your mind and leap out to threaten and sabotage your desire to be part of something bigger than yourself. There are blockages I’m learning, that go deeper than having enough faith. Here are some issues that attach (I’m sure there are more) to us overtime and then resurface at the prospect of going all in on planting a missional church. They probably are worth investigating and bringing out into the daylight.

1. Unrealistic Expectations – you begin to realize that maybe you’ve assembled a list of impossible demands on a church. You are afraid of being disappointed again. You don’t know how to lay down your expectations and enter in open handed and open minded. Is it possible that I’m extremely cynical and impossible to please?

2. Have it My Way – maybe you’ve seen that your desire to start a new church is rooted in making a church for yourself and people like you. Wanting to build a church that I like, wanting to finally do church the way I’ve always wanted it. Very me centered and utopian.

3. I’ll Show Them – potentially you’ve been hurt and damaged from a previous church experience and now you’ve got an ax to grind. In the back of your little mind you entertain thoughts that you’ll prove you were right and they were wrong for treating you so unfairly.

4. Fear of Others – you realize you love to talk about how important community is but you are discovering that you may not really like it. You see how invasive it is, that you can’t hide and you've got to come clean with who you are. Your space is invaded. Your considering that maybe distance and hiding is a better option.

5. Giving Up Stuff – you’re not extremely happy about your current church life but at least you’re comfortable getting to do what you want to do when you want to do it. The idea of sacrificing to build a church is not looking like so much fun anymore. "You mean I can’t have my dream house, I have to make new friendships, I’ve got to live on the cheap, I’ve got to give stuff up?"

6. I’ve Gotta Cold – you start to feel like you may not be any healthier than the people you will be leading. You don’t really do the missional life now with those in your circle of influence, you don’t do selfless community well and you have become spiritually apathetic with your own spiritual disciplines. How can I lead in a church plant?

7. I’m a Copycat – I haven’t really wrestled down the intricacies of how to build a healthy church. I thought that what my town needed was a church like the one I’m a fan of, that sells it study materials and makes there sermons available for download. I’ve read some blogs and listened to some podcasts and would like to copy what they are doing. “You mean we can't do it just like them?”

8. Finally Some Power – The idea of having power and being in charge of something significant attracts you the most. The concept of service doesn’t have as much appeal. You’ve wanted to be at the top of the food chain for a while and now this could be your chance.

Part of the process of birthing a new work in a new place is that God will graciously and carefully show us personally what ambitions need to be looked at again, wrestled out and laid down.

Which one resonates the most with you?

Simplicity

So I’m a rookie-practicing church planter. I’ve been a pastor in different settings and cities for the last 14 years but starting a church out of nothing certainly makes me feel like I’m in a different ball game all together. Even though I’m wet behind the ears as an official church planter there are some core values that I’ve stood on over the years to create a trajectory of spiritual vitality. With all the ministry fads and tools that have been waved under my nose I’ve always pursued loyalty to the principle of simplicity. One of our church community’s early non-negotiables is simplicity. I recently told another pastor “I don’t know much but I know it will stay simple.”

This issue of simplicity is even more sensitive with the “dechurched” - (those who likely have a significant affinity towards Jesus Christ but for some reason have found current expressions of church irrelevant to their everyday life) and “unchurched”- (their only understanding of church is from a distance; TV preachers, politics, best-selling books and maybe family history). As an insider to the church world, I perceive we’ve projected an image that church is complicated; growing in Christ is a set of complicated classes, caring for our neighbors requires a complicated approach, getting on board with the churches mission is a complicated membership process and community is a complicated program to sign up for.

Simplicity is always under assault. I remember when I first began songwriting I would hear a great song on the radio and hear all these cool sounds, beats, breakdowns, guitar licks and vocal acrobatics. I then felt like I had to somehow mash them into every song I was working on. What I ended up with was always a wannabee song that wasn’t memorable or moving, even though I included all those slick components. Then when I was 23 at a songwriters session in Nashville I heard a hero of mine, John Foreman say “obsess over the melody, forget the other stuff, push away all the bells and whistles and stick with a simple and strong melody” That statement changed and simplified my songwriting permanently.

Most churches function like a songwriter throwing everything they can into the mix of their church hoping that it comes out making a beautiful noise. The end result is often that people are busy in programs, money is spent on ministry stuff, Christian cliques are championed but the core of who we are and where we are headed is lost in the clutter. Jesus, Missionality, and Community often get relegated to a corner with all the complication.

The honest reality is some people are drawn to simplicity and others are turned off by it. I have a suspicion that some are looking for fresh air in their church life. I was so jazzed recently when I overhead someone say “I just want a large dose of Jesus, a community to share my life with and a mission to pour my heart into.” Now that’s simple but not stupid. Contrast that with those who might be turned off by simplicity looking for: a great worship band, a captivating preacher, an exciting children’s ministry, a cool building, a woman’s ministry, a men’s ministry, an active single’s ministry and a counseling ministry. I’ve ministered in these buffet settings; the drift that happens is slow and steady. It becomes seriously difficult to keep the vision front, center and accessible.

I believe that simplicity in our church expression might eventually be birthed out of necessity. I foresee that potentially the economic recession might prevent us from offering so many program options, with great facilities staffed by numerous paid professional pastors. It might force us to permanently widdle down church ministry to the lean essentials.

I’m not advocating for sloppy, boring or mediocre church. I’m advocating for pushing back the millions of program options and instead intentionally developing, excelling at and funneling people towards the essentials. More is not always better or always healthier.

When I spent time in Kenya I bumped into a growing and vibrant brand of Christianity that genuinely shocked me when I encountered it. Now I’m sure there is a temptation to not see anything transferable from a 3rd world culture like theirs but I wouldn’t want to be so arrogant as too brush them off as spiritually underdeveloped. It was their intense focus on worshiping Jesus, developing families and sharing the hope of Christ with neighboring tribes that dominated their gathering. A young and frail indigenous pastor in Kenya glared at me and said “we’d rather not have your U.S.A shopping center church, you could probably learn a bit from us.” I think he was right... keep it simple.

What Does It Mean To Be Human?

What does it mean to be human? I used to think that the more human I was the more sinful I was. My definition of being human was closely associated with sinfulness and rebellion against God. To be human was not a good thing. Being human equaled being “fleshly” or “worldly”. I think that is why so often preachers like to emphasis the Holiness of God more than the Incarnation of God in Jesus. Here is the question; do we become more holy the less human we become?

My answer… no. Humanity was and is God’s idea. There is a mysterious splendor in the concept of being truly human, this is what I believe Jesus precisely portrays and declares with his life, being and teachings. Jesus was and is the definition of what it means to be fully human. Jesus is God’s original thought of what it looks like to be in the flesh. Jesus reclaimed the fully human life that affirmed a new sense of identity and dependence on God. It was stated from his own mouth that “I do nothing except for what the Father does (Matt 27:50)”, “as I am loved by the Father so I love you (John 20:17).” and “the Father has sent me (John 15:5).” These are powerful identity markers; declarative statements of how Jesus sees himself. Jesus self-awareness of what made him fully human is completely on display. Jesus operational mode was; intense inner connectedness to the truth that he was loved by the Father, sent into the world by the Father and given direction by the Father. Jesus sense of self is God-centered not self-centered.

The enemy of this world wants to convince us that to be fully human or “fully you” is to be self-made, consumed with stuff for yourself, independent, grasping at control over your life and utterly concerned with how people perceive you. This was the trickery in the Garden of Eden. God’s rule about not eating from the tree had little to do with “just obey me”. It was more about God’s intention that humanity find their source of self, fulfillment, provision, vocation and governance in Him alone.  Instead Satan told the fattest ugliest lie, “to be human is to be self-reliant and independent of God”.

Jesus did not come to eradicate us but to call us out to a new way of being human.  Jesus inaugurated the beginning of an ever increasing way to be you. Despite a lot of church publicity it doesn’t come from the rejection of pleasure or self denial; this only leads to guilt, condemnation and legalism. What Jesus is doing is challenging us to “remain in him” as he remained in his Father (John 15). According John 15 this is how our lives will start to bust forth fruit as it was intended to.

Our humanity needs to be recalibrated under the Leadership and Lordship of Jesus. It is when we willingly submit our lives to his loving care, sense of commission in the circles around us and directives to make choices as He would, that our lives make sense and bear much fruit. This what I believe Romans 13:14 means when it says “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  This is a new way to work, relate, spend, and live. To stay under Jesus governance, direction, and love is a constant tweaking, refocusing and realignment. When you live life from this place you know and feel and potentially might say out loud “so this is what it’s like to be fully human."


(A.D.D moment here but this is why we need connected Christian community so bad, to show us a mirror and nudge us back under Jesus love and rule, because we slide out of this place of self-awareness so easily on our own).

Two good books to read that touch on this are Abba's Child by Brennon Manning and The Great Omission by Dallas Willard.

Leading From a Still Soul

Leadership is often viewed by the masses as an opportunity to move people in a certain direction or to accomplish a certain task with a group. The end goal is often about being productive. Within the church that productivity translates into equipping people to do the work of the ministry. As a leader inside the organized church for the last decade there is a sly temptation upon my soul. You see, being a visionary and a strategist I want to see us climb mountains, grow stuff, step over blockades and mission new frontiers but the temptation to lead and respond from a dark place in my soul is always there.

With people comes opposition, negative feedback, vision confusion, obstinate attitudes, slowness in retention and straight up personal critique. These often feel like arrows at our identity, our mission, our calling and our leadership proficiency. So the natural tendency is to steamroll over people who voice concern or to demonize them in our mind as “against us”. It’s easy to see people who slow us down or call our methods into question as obstacles in the way of the mission.

That’s why I’m slightly (emphasis on slightly) uncomfortable with using the war motif in association with doing ministry. There is a lot of pontificating going on in literature that frames ministry in battle terms. If we are honest this approach appeals to baseline impulses in us to defend ourselves and respond out of anxiety and anger.

Leadership challenges offer souls sessions or clear opportunities to face our real selves and to navigate why we are triggered by opposition, feedback, confusion, questions, and critique. It is convenient to blame, shame, get defensive, become argumentative and squash the reasoning and case presented to us by a brother or sister in Christ. The dark place in our soul screams “they are rejecting you,” “your incompetent,” “your useless,” “your better than them,” “no one understands you,” and “they’re not with you”. These emotions, thoughts and knee jerk reactions then become part of the self-concept and the “lens” through which we lead others. It leads to all kinds of gross misinterpretations and assumptions. Inconsequentially it becomes very hard to hold onto high caliber leaders and to woo people to follow you into unknown kingdom territories.

Leading out of stillness is a spiritual discipline and a probably the most important homework for a pastor/leader to press into.

A Key Issue in the Church of the Future.

Check out this short but great little article on Multi Ethnic Churches.
The Theology of Multi-Ethnic Church | Out of Ur | Conversations for Ministry Leaders

The America we live is quickly becoming and is a mash up country of different cultures. How do we build a kingdom community where ethnic preferences collide. Does one ethnicity have a trump card? This has great implications on worship styles, leadership approaches and family structures. To me the most obvious effect of ethnic diversity is on what kind of hermeneutic we use when reading the scriptures.

It's important to understand that around the globe people read very differently; they interpret, apply and ask different questions than white westerners do. Truth is defined differently around the globe and the globe is at our doorstep. In the West we are Rationalist, asking "can we argue this, then it must be true", in the North of the globe they are often Pragmatics asking "will this work, then it must be true", in the East they are Renewalists asking will it bring change, then it must be true" and in the South they are Communalists asking "is it good for all us, then it must be true". The American church of the future will have very different challenges if it wants to be hospitable in its mission to the cultures around us.

Clearing Space for the Gospel: Part 1

The gospel needs room, room to breathe. We don’t realize it sometimes but we can gradually suffocate the gospel’s power in our lives and in our church communities. It happens ever so slowly. The centrality of what Jesus Christ did, began, said and accomplished can be scootched to the perimeter of our spiritual life without us being aware of it. In my assessment I don’t think we intentionally take something that is at the center of our lives and move it aggressively to the back corner of our lives. In most cases something else subtly begins to take center stage and whatever was there before finds that it doesn’t have space anymore and so vacates the center. In the next few blogs I want to briefly converse about 3 different agendas (politics, moralism and pragmatism) that end up crowding out the power and life of the Gospel in a church or in an individual life.

For this post let’s look at political agendas.
There is an interesting back story to Judas the betrayer. Judas was a rich man and an active member of the Zealot Political Party of the Jews. This political party was advocating for the forceful removal of the Romans out of Israel. This Zealot Party believed that when the trumpet sounded and the Messiah returned to reclaim His thrown He would over throw Rome in an epic battle. Zealot’s where known for carrying their sword with them at all times to be ready for the Jewish take back that the Messiah would begin. So here is Judas following Jesus around for three years, listening to His every teaching about the coming kingdom. What Judas and the majority of the disciples where hoping and expecting Jesus to do, was over throw the Roman Empire for the glory of God and the reinstallment of the Chosen People to their rightful place. Judas wasn’t only expecting and preparing for this, his theology was fused with his political fire. Hence the problem when Jesus refused to be a political leader. Jesus gradually aired out His agenda to inaugurate and establish a different type of kingdom that was supernatural. Judas was let down. He felt tricked and then we know how the rest of the story goes.

This is a perfect example of a political agenda crowding out the real gospel. Let me get practical and pointed about the application. I know and meet many believers who are wrapped up in the current political environment. They see that every twist, every news flash, every law passed or not passed somehow has grave implications for Christianity in America. Be careful. Jesus agenda is not our earthly agenda. His approach, strategy and kingdom way is not glued nor tied to the political landscape. When we look at Jesus tactic of bringing about his beautiful and glorious kingdom it’s quite backwards. Instead of a power-over move, what I mean by that is; instead of getting a position or leverage that comes with authority or gaining a louder voice in the culture, Jesus went the route of power-under; sacrifice, humility, and fierce servant love (Phil 2:1-11). That is a completely different politic. Kingdoms of the world seek to acquire and exercise power-over others, whereas Jesus incarnated and demonstrated a kingdom that advances by exercising power-under people.

Let me reign in my A.D.D. and get back to the original point about the gospel slowly being crowded out. When we become ravenous, amped up and are searching for any political breakthrough we may not realize it but the true, undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ gets less attention, thought, treasuring and in turn, less of a role in our life. Whenever we get too close to any political or national ideology, it is disastrous for the church and for the clarity of what God is all about. The Gospel becomes no longer central. You see the Gospel needs room to breathe, no competition in its sole position in our hearts, lives and churches. It requires us to clear out space.

For deeper reading on this check > "The Jesus Driven Life" by Michael Hardin & "Myth of a Christian Nation" by Gregory Boyd

Church is for Lovers*

You know, I do things now I’d never have done just because of love. I hate emptying the dish washer and reloading it. I hate shoveling the driveway, I d rather just ram through it with my car. I don’t dig working on a garden when I don’t like vegetables much. I’m not a big fan of spontaneous gift giving. But you know what I love my gal. I do stuff just because I’m in love with her and she loves me back intensely. I must reciprocate. We do crazy things for love.

Why should we live for God, make choices in alignment with the scriptures, pursue inner purity, outer morality and sacrificial service to others? I think it should be anchored in LOVE. I remember that slogan “fear God” that was popular a few years ago and made its way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers and billboards. I’m not a big fan of that kind of motivation. That “wake up church, God is not happy with you, a spanking is coming your way” language seems to scratch that itch we have for hard speech, but I’m not sure it does God’s character justice. It is true that God is dangerous and not the kind of deity you mess with, you ignore and play hypocrite with… all very true but not inherently a good motivator. We are motivated by love. We do crazy things for love. We go-to-town to change things because of fierce love. I believe this is part of our design, our “image of God”. God put that powerful love switch in our circuit board. Satan surely takes advantage of that switch and diverts us to love lesser gods more and believe we really need their love in return to survive. But it’s always a love thing. We need to do less teaching on getting right with God out of sheer obedience and more teaching about how ravenous, bold, perfect, sacrificial and selfless God’s love is for us through Jesus. This is no wimpy doctrine. It’s not about wonderfully romantic thoughts God has about us all day long. It’s about a God who defies sanity and logic. Take a look at the book of Hosea, it wrecks my wiring every time I read it. How can God love us like that? How can He pursue me when I’m bowing down to lesser things? How can He love me so consistently when my inner motives are twisted up in selfishness and envy? Why does He want me when I like me more than I like Him? Well the supernatural answers is... that’s who God is. The more I marinate in and remember God’s Holy Love, I am moved to love him back emotionally but also actively. In Luke 7 we see human love expressed to God in the story of Jesus' feet being anointed with tears and perfume by a humble woman. It’s not some cheap romance or soap opera love. This kind of love has some grit and follow-through. It took me some time several years ago to shake off using my desire to not disappoint God as my fuel for obedience and replacing it with a Calvary-soaked love instead. That’s why I think the church should be known as place filled with lovers.


*"Church is for Lovers" is one of the chapters in my forthcoming book "Do or Die: Surviving the Faith."

Tiger Woods

When the news about Tiger's affairs first came out months ago, honestly I thought “what a loser”. But today I watched his apology and actually felt grief for him. During that apology I had to take back my words, seeing the reality of temptation upon that guy. That kind of temptation is something I cannot fathom. I teach students all the time about the value of wise boundaries. I state how we often embrace the foolish lie that we are strong enough to will our selves not to sin. We are not that strong. I’m not sure if I could hold up under the pressure of temptation that surrounded Tiger Woods. It really isn’t a matter of will power or brute resistance. We can all drown in temptation. You don’t get to a point where you’re churched enough or holy enough to walk effortlessly in the midst of temptation like that. So wisdom says run… run like H.E double hockey sticks!

I was bored with God*.

When I grew up I heard a lot about Jesus as Savior. I heard good preaching on how badly I needed to be saved from my own sin and choices. The scenario was often laid out well; there was an obvious disparity between an empty teenager and a Perfect God. The sole picture that began to form in my head was this strong Jesus, a grand super hero who came to earth sacrificially to rescue me. It’s what I told my unsaved friends about and it is a profound and pivotal truth.

When I attended a Bible College at 19, I found myself around a lot of bored Christians. Ya see they were already saved (at least they thought they were), and there wasn’t much else to do other they keep out of trouble and make sure to do your morning devotions. I began to wonder, “Is this all there is?”. I was a freshman and a bored Christian, that didn’t want to be bored. I began to feel I was only getting half the story, half the message, maybe even half the gospel. You know I didn’t have much else to talk about other than my own personal pursuit of holiness. Was there something greater, bigger, and more compelling about what Jesus did, other than just what he rescued me from? Was I rescued for something? My unsettledness began with my investigation of the nation of Israel’s plight in the Old Testament. Why was God so frustrated with them, was it only because they were immoral and worshiping false gods? Did God gather them for the sole reason that they were to be a bragging point for purity and exclusive faithfulness to Him? I began to see that God actually had fuller dreams and plans for this gathering of people.

In my sophomore year in 1998, I read this bothersome book by Darrell L. Gudar titled “Missional Church: A Vision for The Gospel and Our Culture.” A couple of chapters in that book seriously messed me up. I remember a specific moment at school, sitting on the floor in the back of the library basement with the florescent lights flickering over head, crying and having an epiphany that God was way more than a “Super Hero God”. I began to realize I was a Christian Narcissist. I started to wonder what I was supposed to do about this. How was I supposed to live out of this bigger Gospel, this larger epic?

Fast forward and now the clearest reality in the center of my existence is that the same God who rescued me, now has a big supernatural project he’s calling me to, calling us all to...its stink’n huge. God is up to something extremely subversive, backwards and quietly powerful on this planet. I guess I’ve been trying to drag teenagers with me on this mission ever since.

More of Good Questions*

I’m working though a chapter in my book called Good Questions. It’s born out of spending years with young people, as well parents within the church walls and finding a consistent fear that is deep within us of asking questions when it comes to matters of faith, spirituality and following Jesus. It’s almost as if there is an unsaid agreement in our Christian culture that everything is already figured out or nailed down, so we just need to get down to applying it. It pervades our Christian discipleship programs, teaching series and best sellers that we should listen to our teachers, acknowledge our need to change and then download the given information. I’m not sure this is a good exercise, I’m not sure this leads to genuine transformation. It seems potentially we’ve been asking young people to take their genuine questions and sweep them under the carpet until there is a mound in the living room of their life, that ends up creating a disillusionment they don’t know how to get around. The predicament we are in is one of ownership; ownership of the bond, the interaction, the bumpiness, the mystery, humility and joy in having a relationship with a Glorious God we cannot physically see and touch. This is why I am drawn to the writings of C.S Lewis and more recently David Dark. Both of these authors blast through clichés in order to lay hold of a deeper more saturated trust in Christ. Trust me; young people have questions they just don’t know if they are allowed to ask them. What do you think?


"Good Questions" is a chapter in my forthcoming book "Do or Die: Surviving the Faith."

Good Questions

"Lord, what on earth is going on?" That's what the Psalmist in the 9th chapter seems to be clawing for. In this Psalm, David's deep anxious curiosity leads him to ask God... what's up? "What's up with your rule of righteousness and the evil choices of men, how do they coexist?" Psalm 9 asks classic hard questions: "God, do you know what is happening down here? Will you get involved? Will right eventually triumph?

I really believe intimacy with God is birthed at the collision point of an authentic question and the turmoil in asking it of God. I find that I'm constantly asking questions? "Why is that leader still standing tall, why is that little girl left without parents, why do you make me wait while others are moving ahead, why am I so broke?" I don't always get the answer I want but at least I'm getting nearer to God. I'm have a strong suspicion that David progressively earned that infamous title "a man after God's own heart" because he kept turning to God to ask good questions.