LifeChurch.tv on the Grid?

I'm just counting the seconds until I get a tweet announcing that Terry, Bobby and the guys at LifeChurch.tv have a campus linked to "the Grid" complete with holographic images of participants... and... smell-o-vision.

This will seriously change everything.

Kingdom and Generational Mindset

In church planting I've found a severe lack of vision.

When I say "vision" I'm not saying that there are a lack of vision or mission 'statements' ... everyone has one... it's a trend. What I'm talking about is the lack of Generational Vision and Kingdom Vision. Many of our churches never reproduce and never lead anyone to Christ. The vision for most of our churches is self-preservation. There are a few (less than 10% of churches that reproduce) but even then many of those new churches only think about how to get 100 people in a room.

To me it seems that a vision that comes from God would align with God's agenda, not just ours.
God's agenda is world-wide and multi-generational (100 years from now).

I have to interject here and confess. When we launched our church I was a victim of this mentality. It wasn't until I saw what a church looked like when getting a crowd in a room was the primary goal. It looked good from the outside (and I was encouraged by our success early on) but the attitude of that church wasn't concerned with generations to come. The people of our church weren't even thinking about 10 years from that moment. It was ugly and I knew it wasn't what God wanted.

Well, back to Generational and Kingdom vision.

I think its vital that we consider what we are building for the long haul and for the big picture. In some areas one large church could effectively reach a community through extension ministries but in other places it will take hundreds of smaller churches to have that same effect. The key is for our churches to consider our part in the greater work as opposed to believing that our work IS the greater work.

Thinking Generational and Kingdom will lead us to ask "God, what do you want for these people of this generation of this location in context with what you're doing around the world and among generations? How can I join you in drawing them to you?" This is opposed to what I hear far too often "God, show me how to draw people to our particular church service." I'm so guilty of the second type of prayer. I've been repenting.

When we ask God how HE wants to church a city/state/nation/world the answer may come back that we aren't to be the main draw at the moment but rather we are to spend time investing in others who are doing the work. Have we ever considered that we're blessed for the moment in order to be a blessing to something God is doing right now somewhere else that needs the resources more than we do?

When we ask God how HE wants to church a city/state/nation/world we may find that part of that answer involves giving sacrificially for a work God is doing at the moment somewhere else.

I once heard a story about West Ridge Church in Dallas, GA (outside of ATL). As I recall the story Brian Bloye, the planting Pastor had come back from a foreign mission trip and he felt impressed by God to give a very significant amount of money to this ministry overseas. As he prayed he felt God telling him to give away a large sum of money to this ministry. The amount would nearly wipe out the bank account of this fledgling church. Brain went to the staff (many of whom weren't paid to be on staff at this point) and shared what God impressed on his heart. The staff agreed and the check was sent. That is Kingdom thinking with a Generational Mindset. What dominated his frontal lobe was for a people far away who couldn't pay WestRidge back. Generations of people would be blessed for this gift. Ultimately West Ridge was blessed many times over for this act of obedience.

Making this principle personal I've been thinking about my own life. I'm richly blessed. Honestly. I'm a guy who (as a kid) stood in line for government cheese in a neighborhood of Baltimore City where today bulldozers are demolishing the projects because crime is so bad the only way to fix it is to start over.

As I sit approaching my 30th birthday on June 5th I think at how far God has brought me. If I am to think for myself I will focus on praising God for what I've been given up until now and spend the rest of my existence trying to make my son's life better than my own. That will be good for one family... mine. I'd consider that a waste.

Did God bring me out of poverty just so I can look out for my family line or did God bring me out so that I can bring others out? Did God bring me out of spiritual poverty so that I can celebrate my own victory and then spend my life debating theology or did God bring me out of spiritual poverty so that I could join Him in bringing others out? Kingdom and Generational.

Friends... as we work and serve in our ministry areas I have to ask. Do we have a generational mindset? Is our passion to fill up our particular ministries or is it to change cities/states/nations and generations?

Church planters: Are you planting a church or are you trying to join God in churching a city, a state, a nation? Are you thinking about the here and now or do you have a generational and kingdom mindset? I'm just asking.

My Local Church Visit

This morning I visited a local near-mega church (runs about 1600). I hadn't actually been to a Sunday service there before although I had been there for various youth ministry functions when I was a YP. Sadly, after my visit today, I will likely return any time soon.

I'll try to give some bad, good and optimism.

Some of the Lowlights:

Parking- They overlap services so the earlier service people are leaving and I'm trying to park... makes for fun in the lot when no one is helping the situation and the services aren't spread out very far apart.

Directions- While there were people periodically spread out holding bulletins they were not trained to talk to me. I come in carrying my son and I was truly confused. It is an old-time building with lots of painted cinder block and small hallways.

Signage- Along with not having people positioned to give directions I could find no signage. While everyone there apparently knew each other I felt like the 3rd wheel on a bicycle. I almost felt like I was the one with the problem for having to interrupt someones conversation to find out where to go. It wasn't like this was a huge lobby either... this was like a maze. Apparently the regulars knew exactly where they were... I'm not a regular.

Children's Check In- Sweet lady running a very inefficient operation. When you have to find a passer by to walk a parent down 4 hallways to get to a kids room... that's not a good sign.

Music- The songs were from the early 90's but were actually made to sound older... much older. Something like 7 up front singers, a mini-orchestra and about 100 people in the choir. The mix was bad so all I could here was the lead singer (who had to stare at the back wall to read the lyrics... booo). Another thing... if you're going to sing "I could sing of your love forever" make sure your people raise their hands when the song says so... or dance when they get to "dance with joy like we're dancing now".

Dress- While most of the up front people seem to have recently gotten a copy of Purpose Driven Church, the rest of the congregation looked like they were obligated to dress 'up'. I'm cool if it fits the community profile... but honestly I didn't get that sense... it just seemed kinda forced. Like that's what is 'expected' there. I wouldn't be comfortable... and I don't mind throwing on a tie.

Message- Today's talk was alright... the content was good but way too much time on stories about stories. For instance he spent time talking about commercials and describing them... I have an idea... how about we show the commercial? Wow.... then we could get the point and move on.... but instead he had to rush in the scripture notes in the last 10 minutes to get wrapped up.

WHAT I DID LIKE:

Signs of Outreach- I could tell that they were trying to get their people to think about the community more. The bulletin had a few opportunities coming up for some outreach.

Instructions for Members- This church is looking for a Senior Pastor right now. I like how the Associate Pastor instructed the crowd. He basically said that the elders don't give a rip about your opinion unless it was made after you got right with God and prayed. (Those are my words but I got the point.)

Friendly- When I say friendly I mean from the stage. The people were so-so but I could tell the staff seemed to be a friendly group. The only thing was that I wasn't a target for the humor. That didn't bother me though because the humor is directed at this demographic and I didn't fit. I was younger.

This place will have a new Pastor in a few months (based on what I understood about where they are right now in the process). I wouldn't be good for this job. I don't know who in their right mind would want this job unless they got a lot of concessions about future changes. I read over the job description online and it seemed like they want Superman to come in and do nothing but let them continue to be comfy. It's sad because they have a ton of potential if the right leader were able to lead.

Hopefully they will get someone they can trust who will be able to make this church rock again. I feel kinda bad for this congregation because they've been through a few different Pastors recently. I pray God's best on them and their future. Our community needs them to be a strong church again. There are lots of people who need Christ and this place could become a good place to reach them if the new Pastor has a vision and permission to do so.

The Light AND Salt pt 2

So (as I was asking)... do elections mater? Do our communities matter? Do policies which affect those we're claiming to love with the love of Jesus matter?

Elections happen to matter because the "church" is a collective of people made in God's image and we're supposed to love our neighbors. If my neighbors are being shot up on the street corners or if 64% of my "neighbors" are not getting an education... I'd say everything that affects that reality should matter. But instead we insulate and isolate ourselves from the realities of people's lives.

It should matter if we care about our fellow man. It should matter that we care about every aspect of what makes a person's life livable. I say it matters unless we throw out half of our bible. Are elections alone the solution? No. Are politicians to be compared with a savior? No. Are pulpits to be used as campaign platforms? No. But should we as Christians be involved in any and every avenue in society we can use to bring about the change we pray for? Yes.

Government, Business, Athletics, Music... all of it can and should be an opportunity to spread the hope and message of Christ that we proclaim on Sundays. It is my faith that tells me that the entirety of my being is to be surrendered to the truth of scripture. The OT law is filled with concern for the poor, for punishing criminals, for hygiene and health. God the father OBVIOUSLY cares about these things because they affect people MADE IN HIS IMAGE. Our entire communities should be transformed when disciples are unleashed to make a difference in their world (with or without an organized church campaign).

My concern is that the church here in the West continues to live under voluntary segregation from the people we're trying to reach. Our music and some presentation in our best churches has come a long way but we have a way to go. I believe the average person in the auditorium still needs to understand that we have to get to a point where we are broken for the people in our communities. That is incarnational ministry. This is one of the most amazing aspects of Christ... "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." ~John 1:14

So it is that I have a hard time understanding how the modern church views our role as only to preach salvation for when we die but little transformation in the communities in which we live.
I went on a 'mission trip' in NYC in July of 2001 just before 9/11. The trip was already arranged before I came on staff so I inherited the experience. Effectively the ministry was 400 white teens invading NYC for a week to "preach the gospel". Our assignment every day was to go to a different borough of the city and try to cold-turkey evangelize the 'lost'. Can you see the picture? Groups of 30 white kids getting off of the subway and walking into Harlem to tell them that their lives would be all better if they'd read a piece of paper and pray a prayer. Then we'd all walk back to the subway and make our way back to a nice hotel across from Madison Square Garden while the people we were 'ministering to' remained in the same communities hearing the same gun shots and their kids played in the same glass and drug infested playgrounds. That's ultimately what we do when we focus solely on the verbal aspect of the gospel and ignore the communities around us and the avenues under which we could make a difference.

What about where our 'neighbors' live? Will their kids have any food? Will they be the victim of a drive-by shooting? Will a husband beat his wife? Are the children receiving an education? Does anyone care? Are the systems set up to help or hurt our communities? Maybe not where you are from... but where I'm from these are realities. I bet where you're from there are policies that hurt people as well. Our cities (and rural communities) are falling apart folks. If we care, everything matters. Every action, addiction or behavior that causes people to experience hell on earth should be confronted. Jesus matters. His Salvation and his Kingdom matters.

We were taught to pray "Your Kingdom Come" but we act like "Your Kingdom can Wait."

Please understand, I am not preaching a social gospel. I'm preaching the gospel of Jesus being carried out with every breath by every follower of Christ. If our people could see that "church" isn't a place or activity... but truly the people of God on earth, they'd see that the tracts they are leaving cannot be read because in places like Baltimore kids don't get educated and most adults have a 9th grade education. If our people were taught to allow Jesus to work through varied avenues in society they'd see that when a kid goes to bed hungry or hurting they find it pretty hard to believe in Jesus. When a kid is afraid of going to school where is Jesus? When there is domestic violence in the home or drugs in the neighborhood... how can they see Jesus?

Shouldn't they be able to see Jesus in us? If Jesus flipped out over tables in the temple because people allowed it to become a den of thieves... I wonder what he'd think about His church becoming a silent partner in the drug trade or poverty or political corruption. I wonder if in His eyes it is noble to ignore the avenues of social networks that already exist.

Maybe all that matters is growing a huge church and seeing people accept Christ but what if the church was the starting point to seeing cities transformed by what the gospel does to a people when the Holy Spirit is present in hundreds or thousands of people all at one time?
Ohh yeah... we saw what happened in Acts...

I think if we were to commission the layperson as a missionary within their social network (government, job, kids sports, etc.) that we'd start to see transformation which makes an environment more conducive for people to see the effects of the gospel on a society. I also think this type of transformational living would cause a lot more of the world to ask what our hope is all about.

"15But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." ~1 Peter 3:15-16

Why do I care? Why am I so passionate about this?

I suppose at the end of the day I just sincerely hope we don't continue to react to the previous generation or the social gospel theology... but find the middle ground where the people of Jesus take the message of Jesus with them into every avenue of their lives and see their community transformed as a result of having a very real and very doctrinally sound relationship with the living God.

Its Light AND Salt

I guess I'm different. I suppose I don't think normally. Maybe its where I come from. Maybe its where I'm going. I could be behind the times of what is considered 'cool' or I could be ahead of the times in what is considered right. I don't know.

What I do know is that I have an undying passion to see the people created in the image of God fall in love with their Father in Heaven. In the same breath I also care about those same people and their lives before and after that moment when they encounter Jesus.

I grew up in the public housing projects of O'Donnell Heights in Baltimore City. Without going into great detail here I can assure you that I've been one of the few who have been fortunate enough to escape the chains of poverty.

The second disclosure is that I attended Liberty University. At Liberty I observed first hand the back story of Dr. Jerry Falwell. While many of my current peers run from association of his involvement with public policy, I run to it. I run to it because I know more than the 30 second news media portrayal. Dr. Falwell started out like many ambitious young Pastors today. He focused on the gospel and meeting needs out of his church. Eventually (with this in mind) he began to see a bigger picture. He started to see that we are called to have both a salt and light ministry. We are to be the light by preaching Jesus and we're to be the salt by changing our communities. In the book of James we see that there is a connection between what we say and what we do. What we do does not save us but it's pretty tough to claim we are of Christ if we don't act like it.

14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:14-17

In an effort to be both salt and light on a while new level Dr. Falwell decided that he'd take the gospel (both salt and light) into the public arena in every way possible. In America, one of those places is by participating in government and public policy discussions.

I must say that right now I'm concerned with us in Christendom. It seems each generation of great Christian leaders reacts toward the perceived mistakes of the prior. Even among the Protestants we've divided and sub-divided so much we have to celebrate the world over when God's leaders are actually able to cooperate to teach the gospel. I rejoice with my friends and am pumped about the unity but it breaks my heart that we are just now setting the tone for cooperation within the church.

Lately I've observed a trend that Pastors believe they must be either for social involvement OR they are for the gospel. It's a line that I don't see it in scripture. It appears that this is reactionary behavior to a straw-man argument.

The present-day premise appears to be that churches are "too involved" in politics and they need to get back to their first love in Jesus. While I concede that SOME churches have a history of being more of a campaign headquarters than an avenue for people to meet Jesus I believe the reaction is way overboard. The reality is that our hope and salvation is noticed when we actually do something with it. When people are transformed by the power of Jesus Christ it is the churches responsibility to teach what Jesus commanded. We are supposed to make disciples by teaching them to obey the commands of Jesus. Salvation is assured once and for all at the moment that person believes but the trend is to stop with that. As a consequence many churches sit in communities where the people of God are only noticed as being slow drivers on Sundays and tax burdens on communities.

It is my contention that our churches and the church leaders should do something to help the conditions of the least of these via every method available. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. In fact a better illustration is that we have two legs to walk... instead we seem to be hopping.

The answer to community involvement which most of us have been trained to point towards is to do a hit-and-run event put on by the church leadership. The church organizes a big day, does something cool and then fades to black and we return to our normally scheduled Sunday morning.

On the other hand we have churches that have 1,000 ministries run by the same 2 people. The churches are small because the church preaches a social gospel. To these folks Jesus isn't the risen savior so much as an example of a meek UN worker. Neither approach is working.

I guess when I read my bible I see that the church mattered in its community. Paul gave out instructions for the church to care for the widows, Paul taught the family to meet needs in their own family first, etc. The church actually benefited the communities in which they lived because the star of the show was the disciple.

Bob Roberts pointed this out last week at the conference I attended. He said that in the East the church is secondary to the disciple. People are told about Jesus and to give their WHOLE LIVES to Him so the church is formed from people who have been transformed. As a result entire communities are being changed because the gospel isn't dependant on a rock star Pastor or cool service. The gospel is born into all of the people and the idea of loving their neighbor and serving humanity come right along next to receiving Christ as Lord and Savior. It's such the norm that an argument about whether Christians should "be involved in society" is a foolish conversation. We really have screwed up the whole "in" but not "of" discussion.

I read a story today from a new friend in Baltimore. Here is an excerpt:

"It became a reality tonight that the gangs really are moving into our territory, the only thing we can do is educate ourselves, our kids and pray. Next week we are having a gang talk with our kids, not something we want to do, but something we MUST do. A few weeks ago one of our officers said to me, "Make sure that you are your staff are wearing the right colors, if you're not it could be bad." The sad part, it's true.

I ask for you to join me in prayer for my kids, that they'd stand apart, that they'd be called out to share Jesus with the people around them, for protection from the world and the horrible ways of it, from Satan’s attacks, from drugs, gangs, poverty etc. I love each and everyone of them and as I begin to think about the summer and how violence becomes more of an issue as the weather gets warmer, my heart breaks for them, I pray that they'll be hedges of angels around each and everyone of them."

Also yesterday I read several articles about education among our nation's cities. To say that the findings are troubling would be a pathetic understatement.

"Slightly more than a third of students in Baltimore schools graduate from high school, compared with 82 percent of students in the surrounding counties, according to the report.

That difference is the greatest for any city in the nation, the report says. Baltimore's suburban counties have graduation rates well above the national average, and the city has the fourth-lowest rate, the group found."

So with these things in mind... do elections mater?

Part 2 coming in a future post.

Brilliant and Bravo

Kinetic Church in Charlotte, NC is led by Pastor Dave Milan. They had their church trailer stolen about a month ago. I absolutely LOVE what they did with this experience. They didn't whine or cry (well maybe at first)... what they did is going to touch a lot of lives at the end of the day and I believe will be the milepost where God decided to pour himself out to this gathering in ways not before seen.

Check out this video... I love it. Bravo!

Spring Cleaning

Tonight I did a little cleaning on the site. Over the next few months I anticipate a lot of activity here and into the future. I'll be using the blog a lot more in relation to what God has in store for us.

If you're on a reader, feel free to stop by. If you don't know what a feed reader is... I want to make life easy for you. Click that link to the right that says "Subscribe in a Reader". You can also drop yoru email in that form and get updates emailed to you.

I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you.

Praying for a Mentor

I'm at a strange place right now. I'm without a true mentor. I'm a mentor to others but I am without one or two for myself. I'd like to see that change so I'm praying for a mentor.

As I reflect back on where I've been and look forward to where I am compelled to go I realize that now is a pivotal moment. I'm about to embark on the greatest part of my journey to date without that trainer in my ear reminding me to eat right, look out for the left hook and to stay focused.

When I was a kid I always ran with guys 3-4 years older than I. When we'd run the streets or play ball or go to parties I always had people looking after me. These guys would watch to keep me in line as well as protect me against problems I may not knew I was walking into.

As a teen I was mentored in Christ by a man who took hours upon hours each week to study God's word and teach me verse by verse what God's word meant. I didn't know that I was being taught exegeticaly but I did know that I was learning who God was and how I could go to him through the reading of the scriptures.

In college I found several mentors. I had a few mentors who were my elders by only a year or two. I had a few mentors who were associated with the University. During most of my sophomore year a VP of the school met with me once a week and had me bring her coffee and a donut on Mondays at 7 a.m. just before she kicked my rear about keeping up with my studies. I had mentors in my ministry roles who focused in on those areas and I had mentors in life who (while they may not have known it) modeled for me the type of man I should become if I wanted to honor God.

When I was a Youth Pastor for the first time I had a man I respected in the ministry really act like a major league aspirin and it kinda set me back. Instead of mentoring me he chose to blame everyone but himself for any shortfalls and as a young guy fresh out of undergrad I took a beating emotionally. At my next stop in ministry I was open to mentorship but found that no one around was far enough ahead to handle it. In Maxwell's terms I found myself hampered by the Law of the Lid. The lid I was under wasn't high enough for me to grow. I was cramped.

In the last few years I've had a mentor or two on paper as assigned by denominational leaders. None have been sufficient for what I need. So I've tended to rely on reading others (blogs, books, tweets) and picking up the phone to call my peers from time to time. While it's been great to talk shop I haven't had that mentor-type of person in my life recently.

Over the last year generically and the last few months specifically I have found clarity to that mission I will be giving the rest of my life to. While I've been doing one aspect of it for the last few years I think I'm finally ready to gear up and tackle the monster head on. It's going to take everything that's in me but that's why God is doing what he's doing.

So at the end of the day I wanted you to know that I'm praying for a top-notch mentor or mentors. I'd love to have you pray for that with me.

Another Example...

...of why I don't respect Christians ignorant of government and public policy. I commend this kids' Pastor for being there with and for him.


Student gets failing grade because of the Cross

Propositional Truth and the Inner City

I've been blogging on a pretty consistent pace over the last 5 years. During that time I've not delved too much into the whole propositional truth discussion frankly because it doesn't excite me too much. Many of my suburban educated friends in the church world get pumped about the debate but I've tended to consider the discussion pretty non-germane to my life. Do I have a decent understanding of the framework of the non-conversation conversation? Yeah. Do I think both sides understand each other? Not really.

This week however I was reminded of one place even my pomo friends would probably agree that propositional truth is active or at least worthwhile... the inner city. When I talk of inner-city I'm not speaking of very educated white people who grew up in the 'burbs and just purchased a renovated warehouse-condo. I'm speaking about the people for whom the church has all but ignored.

Let me share a little story to help you appreciate where I'm coming from:
My best friend and I made a trip to my childhood home of Baltimore about 6 months ago. This was the second trip we've made together but the first where I'd introduce him to Mr. Don. Mr. Don is the man God used to bring me to faith in Christ. Mr. Don filled the role of mentor and Sunday School teacher from the time I was 13 until about 17yrs old.

After my friend and I drove away from Mr. Don's home and that visit my friend said that he wouldn't have pictured that a guy like Mr. Don would have made such an impact on the guy he knows as Tally.

Why did he feel that way? Propositional truth.

Now that I'm educated and have been around the block I don't often let people get away with half-baked statements. I most certainly don't follow people who appear to be confident but make no logical sense to what they are saying. Unfortunately this type of yapping is what most of the world sees as "propositional truth". Most of my educated peers look to a truth statement and ask "In every case would this be true?" Most of the time they come to the conclusion that what is being proposed only works within a certain framework but not within every framework. So it is that the educated among my generation (and the uneducated for that matter) are able to hold two or three opposing views at the same time. Contradiction is embraced and the need to logically connect opposing belief systems doesn't exist.

Now back to the point of my post. I'm aware of one place where propositional truths still work pretty well. The Inner City.

This past week when I checked out some great ministry being done in the heart of Baltimore I observed it everywhere... Propositional truth in action. Some of that 'truth' was not much more than old-school phrases we've all heard. The phrase itself may be theologically shaky but the point is there.

For instance... a phrase we've all heard "This is the house of God".

A student tossed a piece of candy wrapper to the side and I heard the Pastor say to him "Clean up your mess son... you can dirty up your house but we're not going to do that to the house of God."

The boy went and cleaned up his mess. Life moved on. If you think about it, propositional truth works in an environment where the power of the gun and the mighty dollar do most of the talking. The use of the phrase "God's house" is one that marks off 'turf'. People in the city get that concept. Is it 100% accurate? No. But does it matter? No.

Do you want to know another reason why the propositional statement works among the roughest groups of people? The narrative. Yes, a narrative. The same Pastor who stood on a propositional truth statement also has a relationship with his community. He loves the people and they know it. They know it when their mom picks up food from the church basement once a week or when they see the Pastor give medicine to a drug addict. There is a beautiful narrative at work that isn't written in propositional truth statements. The propositional truth is backed with the narrative and they lead to an amazing marriage where a middle-aged white man is able to walk up and down the city block ministering to the poorest among us.

To my friends on both sides of this discussion I urge you... quit talking theory and live in practice. My propositional truth friends... it means nothing if you don't back it up with a story of love. Go love someone, don't just tell them. My friends on the other side of the discussion, go love someone and come back writing poems about it... it doesn't matter to me... just get the truth of the gospel to the people who need it most.