Kingdom Come!

Who’s the Boss?

2011-07-11T16:54:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it seems that everybody wants to be the boss.
The Boss. The the person in charge. The visionary. The guy who calls the shots. The person who has the right to say, “My way or the Highway!”
Scary.
So I came across this contrast of “bossiness” and “leadership.”

The boss drives people; the leader coaches them.
The boss depends on authority; the leader on good will.
The boss inspires fear; the leader inspires enthusiasm.
The boss says 'I'; the leader says 'we.'
The boss fixes the blame for the breakdown; the leader fixes the breakdown.
The boss knows how it is done; the leader shows how.
The boss says 'go'; the leader says 'let's go!'
H. Gordon Selfridge 1864-1947, American-British retail magnate

Why God Thinks He Can Use You

2011-06-27T06:33:00.001-05:00

God is active in the earth today! And He wants to use everybody, everywhere to advance His Kingdom and do good! And God wants to use you!
WHY GOD WANTS TO USE YOU helps you understand both the "whys" and the "hows" of your usefulness in God's Big Mission!

So go ahead order your copy now amzn.to/ghatcher or www.bit.ly/whygodthinks

You know you want to!

Celebrate the Jesus Movement!!!

2011-06-19T07:55:00.001-05:00

The Alternative Jesus: Psychedelic Christ

My friend Andrew Jones reminds me that 40 years ago this week, Time Magazine explored the phenomena known as the Jesus Movement.
It's amazing that it's been 40 years! And yep - as much as you could be in Valdosta GA - Phyllis and I along with some other great folks were right in the middle of it! Jesus was being exposed as the radical, loving, saving Lord that He is and the Holy Spirit was energizing and sending us out to make disciples, begin churches and live life in Jesus Name.
40 years!

Simple Solid Faith

2011-05-20T09:02:00.004-05:00

There’s a lot of chatter about Bible things.

Rob Bell comes out with a book that purportedly brings into question where there is a real hell. (Haven’t actually read the book, so I can’t say what he in fact said… but Bashir’s interview kinda nails it I think.)

And then Stephen Hawking - who makes no claim to being a follower of Jesus - has said last week that there is no heaven. (Sounds like we’re trapped in the lyrics of a John Lennon song. Sigh.) But actually Hawking is saying there is no God. Nothing new for Hawking. He’s been making anti-God noise since at least 1988.

And now on Saturday May 21^st, the destruction of planet earth is to begin with the Rapture of Jesus followers. A guy with money and influence is making noise about the destruction of the world and the catching away of Believers.

This all makes it extremely sticky for those of us who hold a high view of Scripture to keep our heads high and not look like a bunch of reactionary kooks. Or at least I find it difficult. I hate being bunched together with a bunch of embarrassing people.

And my main reason of difficulty is that I see Rob Bell and Harold Camping as brothers; part of the big Church family. Maybe they’re like the loony uncle or loser can’t-get-it-together cousin that you’re embarrassed by or concerned for, but nonetheless members of the family so you don’t want to say anything disparaging about them. Hey! They’re family. In some weird and sad way so are Rob and Harold and their loud and obnoxious followers.

For me the heaven/hell issue is a no-brainer. Because I put my faith in the literal really-happened life-death-resurrection-ascension of Jesus of Nazareth and accept that He’s not a myth, but the actual incarnate born-of-a-virgin Son of God and Messiah, I’m good. And for me it’s not about proof and Twenty-first century science trumping ancient texts. It’s a faith thing. I was needy and I put my faith in the saving acts of Jesus the Messiah. I’ve believed on a deep level that what the Bible says and the Creeds echo is true and worthy of my total devotion.

Simple. But complicated.

But then again when is faith not both simple and complicated in the same moment? Mark Twain said something like this, “Faith is believing what you know ain’t true.” But true faith is believing something that might not be provable in a time/space world with three dimensional limitations.

And true faith is as real as it can be. True faith is about spiritual things experienced in spiritual ways. Not very scientific, not very provable, but nonetheless very real.

And the Rapture/Doomsday scenario? I’m confident that this same Jesus that was taken up in the clouds will return in the same way. Someday, when we least expect it, but yet deeply long for it, Jesus shall return.

So, am I ready for Rapture, Heaven or Hell? Well, yes. I have placed my trust in the good news of Jesus that we find in the Gospels and was proclaimed by the Apostles and accepted by the early Church. I’m not ashamed of it; I’ve bet my life on it! I can say with the Apostle Paul, “Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”

My faith is simple but solid. I don’t have all the answers, but I’m confident with what I have. And I love Jesus with a genuine devotion and passion.

There. I said it,

What Shakespeare Knew

2011-04-12T06:33:00.002-05:00

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar Act 4, scene 3, 218–224

The Awesome Responsibility: Thinking, Speaking, Acting in the Name of Jesus

2011-03-23T09:14:00.001-05:00

Henri J.M. Nouwen (In the Name of Jesus, 1989 pp 65-68) says,

"…Most Christian leaders today raise psychological or sociological questions even though they frame them in scriptural terms. Real theological thinking, which is thinking with the mind of Christ, is hard to find in the practice of ministry. Without solid theological reflection, future leaders will be little more than pseudo-psychologists, pseudo-sociologists, pseudo-social workers. They will think of themselves as enablers, facilitators, role models, father or mother figures, big brothers or big sisters, and so on, and join the countless men and women who make a living by trying to help their fellow human beings to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday living.

"But that has little to do with Christian leadership because the Christian leader thinks, speaks, and acts in the name of Jesus, who came to free humanity from the power of death and open the way to eternal life. To be such a leader it is essential to be able to discern from moment to moment how God acts in human history. . .

". . . In short they have to say "no" to the secular world and proclaim in unambiguous terms that the incarnation of God's Word, through whom all things came into being, has made even the smallest even in human history into Kairos, that is an opportunity to be deeper led into the heart of Christ."

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 7

2011-03-19T15:51:00.001-05:00

How does this happen?

How do you get past 1st or 2nd generation??

The process of each week’s session – this is a TRAINING process

First 1/3
- pastoral care,
- worship,
- accountability (review and encourage),
- Vision-casting
  - How did you obey the lesson last week?
  - Who are you sharing with? Who has believed?
  - When are you training them in the same process?
  - As trainers training trainers
Second 1/3
- New Lesson (enough biblical content to obey)
Last 1/3
- Practice & Prayer (Confidence to obey & train others and goal-setting with commissioning)
  - practice the lesson
    - it’s not what you know but what you actually do…
  - set goals and pray for them

Remember the Goal…

Build a trainer, not just a listener…ask questions that get you the desired result: training trainers who train
Don’t ask, just tell…

====================

The Four Calls:

There are 4 calls we should listen for daily…

Up – from heaven
- the call to go
- Isaiah – who will go and whom shall I send?
Down – from down below
- Lazarus and the rich man
- Relatives calling out from hell asking for a witness to give news…
Outside
- Paul’s Macedonian call
- when I hear a spiritual call from an individual’s conversation
Inside
- listening to my own spirit that tells me where to go…

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 6

2011-03-17T05:59:00.001-05:00

Beginning the final day of drinking from the fire hose at the Globe (Missions) Network Summit in Germany…

Whew! Just trying to listen, participate and type is pretty exhausting! So these notes are not comprehensive, but more what I can do in the midst of a lot of discussion, examples and introspection…

And – you know me – I’m reticent to make evangelism into a program that in any way dehumanizes or institutionalizes individuals. Or that somehow makes them into objects or trophies. Can’t stand that! Just can’t stand that! And I hope these notes don’t give the idea that that’s what we’re trying to do. No! God forbid! Programs don’t impact people. Love and concern impact people. It’s about dying, lost people who have found life, reaching out to others to share that life! This is about helping people experience the grace of God through Jesus Christ. It’s not about cookie-cutter programs, but about principles and methods to disciple nations. It’s about a biblical response to the world’s lostness. And “lostness” is something we all know something about. Losing our way. Walking in a fog. Living without purpose or direction – whether for a moment, a month or a lifetime. Lostness. And separated from the loving interaction of a Heavenly Father…

Anyway, here we go again….

We begin the day with worship and prayer. Prayer and intercession especially for Libya and those who are caught/involved in the conflict in Benghazi.

We ask each other (in Chinese tradition), “Have you eaten? What has God fed you? How will you obey what God has told you? Who will you tell?” And it’s interesting as we talk, how God continues to speak to each of us in quiet and intimate ways. I’m reminded that Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.”

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Practical Steps in CPM

CPM Best Practice – Training for Trainers (T4T)

Emphasis on training others so they will train others… 2TI 2:2

There are 4 questions that Prevent Christians

What do I say?
- personal testimony – what God has done for you
Who do I say it to?
- It’s God’s will for you to win your family
  - make a list of 5 people with whom you are to share
- Biblical illustrations:
  - Noah,
  - Cornelius,
  - Rahab (offered salvation to her, but she insisted on having it for her family),
  - Lot (maybe if he’d have been a better witness he might not have lost his wife),
  - Philippian jailer,
  - Gaderine demoniac (sent home by Jesus to tell his family)
What makes you think I’ll do this?
- Peer accountability – giving reports of what has been done
- People do not meet expectations, they meet inspections.
- Accountability is holding people accountable for what they said they would do in the way they said they would do it. Two kinds of airlines: those who crash and those who do not. The difference is inspections. Those who have inspections of the work done, don’t crash. Those airlines that rely only on the mechanics looking over their own work, crash. People don’t meet expectations, they only meet inspections.
What do I do if the say yes to Jesus?

teaching others how to hear, obey and follow

Presuppositions

There is a kind of person Jesus uses
1. person of prayer
2. person who hears the 4 calls
  1. up
  2. down
  3. outward
  4. inward
3. who thanks God in all that comes
4. person who see only 2 kinds of people –
  1. those who need evangelizing,
  2. those who need evangelism training
There are persons of peace scattered throughout society
1. the only way to find them is to evangelize them
Everyone can participate in evangelism and CP but not everyone will do it…
1. so train every Christian but continue with do-ers of the Word,not just hearers only
The most effective evangelism comes from someone who knows you and loves you
1. it is God's plan for the good news to flow through families
Though everyone can participate in evangelism & church planting, some are uniquely gifted.
1. these are called "Super-Spreaders"

Creating a CPM Ethos

Just Do It!!
Church planting is not rocket science or brain surgery! (or even rocket surgery or brain science)
It is a great joy to win someone to Christ…
It is a greater joy to plant a church…
It is the greatest joy to train someone else to plant a church!

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 5

2011-03-16T23:47:00.001-05:00

In Most Church Planting Movements (where there is rapid multiplication of believers)

Insulation from traditional believers – to prevent meltdown…
- traditional believers have traditions that might hinder growth
- traditional believers have extra-biblical requirements
- traditional believers have different values
  - often concerned for heresy… but heresy usually comes from those who are not involved in evangelism
- What will you do to protect the new believers from the old believers??
  - limit foreign teams… who need translation
  - meet in different places…
  - confront those who would cause dissention or confusion
- (often beginning something new is easier than attempting to bring renewal)
Persons of Peace
- People, prepared by God, who are open to hearing the Gospel and who will take the Gospel to others in their Oikos or community (LUK 10:1-12).
- Persons who function as bridges in the CP processes
- Used to reach their own “oikos”
- “They came; they brought their whole family. We did not empower them. They left.”
- Can they be a Cyrus? And still be a Person of Peace?
High Cost for following Christ
- we value that which is costly…
- there is a high cost for fully following Jesus
- we are commanded to pray for those who are persecuted
Bold fearless faith
- Act 4:29-31 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Family-based Conversion Patterns
- “group them, then win them”
- groups of people come to faith
- patterns of group dynamics
Rapid training of new believers
- “Before you put your head on the pillow, tell your closest people what has happen to you…”
- How would you rapidly train new believers?
  - meet as often as possible… “When do we meet next?”
  - to keep accountable in basic – SOT
  - always meet in a group
  - pray together
  - who God is… what He’s done for them… what was attractive for you to come to Christ
  - time – not done rapidly – quells the fire
  - equip to tell their story and empowered to tell
worship in the heart language
- believers desire to worship in the language of their heart
divine signs and wonders
- When God shows up…
On-the-job Leadership Training
- learn a little… do a little… learn a little… do a little…learn a little… do a little…
Missionaries suffered
- Satan attacks “lostness” at a personal level
- must have strong intercession
- intense spiritual warfare…

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 4

2011-03-16T23:41:00.001-05:00

We continue to learn about patterns of Church Planting Movements…

Make Disciples of all Nations

What is the purpose of our lives?

MAT 5:13-16 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (NIV)

Why does God send us into the world?

MAT 9:36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (NIV)

2PE 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (NIV)

What does our Resurrected Lord call us to do?

MAT 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (NIV)

===============

2TI 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. (NIV)

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 3

2011-03-16T23:31:00.001-05:00

Beginning the second full day of CPM training in Hamminkeln, Germany…

After a time of worship and prayer…

We begin by asking each other, “How has God fed you most recently?” And then, “How will you obey?” Germans, Americans, Kenyans, Scots asking each other the questions…

The disciples rejoined Jesus at the well and they asked “Have you eaten?” And Jesus replied, “I have food that you don’t know about.”

Genesis 11:31 - 12:3 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran. The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (NIV)

Hebrews 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (NIV)

Contrast between Terah – who set out for one place but stopped along the way – and Abram who became the Father of the Faithful. Often God tells us what we must leave behind before you can be effective. God spoke to Abram to leave behind:

His country
- some missionaries leave, but never “leave,” instead they create a “little home-country” to remain comfortable… comfort is the enemy of change
His people
- traditions and culture
- leave room for new deep intimate relationships… if you remain attached to everyone back home (hours on internet, SKYPE, FaceBook with home folks) leaves little emotional energy for NEW relationships
- developing new friendships is s Gospel thing
His family
- in Abram’s time it was the family that cared for you, defended you and provided for you
- God was calling on Abram to shift his dependence to God from his family systems

God told Abram to follow Him and He would lead him to where God wants him to go. It’s a matter of trust in a moment by moment relationship. God promises blessings for those who bless Abram and curses for those who curse Abram.

We must always ask ourselves, are we still on track with God? Have we left those hindering things behind as we move forward with God in His plan for us.

==================

Looking at Jesus’ commands for sending out others…

Matthew 10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. (NIV)

Matthew 10:5-10 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep. (NIV)

Luke 9:1-6 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: "Take nothing for the journey – no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. (NIV)

Luke 10:1-12 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (NIV)

From the instructions of Jesus…

Do’s

Pray for harvesters
go 2x2
when you enter the house bring peace to the house
stay in the house that welcomes you
go to every town
heal the sick, cast out demons
look for a son of peace
eat what’s in front of you
preach the Kingdom
shake the dust from your feet

Don’t

don’t take purse, sandals
don’t go from house to house
don’t greet others
warning and shake the dust
go to Gentiles/Samaritans
go needy and God will take care of you

Jesus gives very specific instructions to disciples (the 12, the 72) Pray that God will raise up harvesters from the field. Bring peace those who receive you – go prepared spiritually to call on God to demonstrate His power, love and compassion to solve whatever problem is found.

Jesus says to the disciples, when you don’t find the person of peace, move on. Often we spend too much time attempting to persuade those who are non-receptive to spend the time with those God has prepared.

When you find the Person of Peace, stop looking and moving around and stay with them. Start modeling, assisting, watching and preparing to leave.

Acts 10… longest story in the Book of Acts: the story of Cornelius. God prepares Cornelius and then prepares Peter. (Working with persons of peace mean that you do not evangelize only single people but their families.) When we go, God has already prepared people. Our job is not to persuade, but to find those God has already prepared.

Jesus is interested in entire households and family groups not just in individuals.

Universal Issues:

Person of peace – placed by God – is a universal aspect of church-planting where the Gospel isn’t. God has prepared someone to receive the Gospel.
Not everyone is called upon to be a church-planter. But everyone is called to make disciples.
God intends that all people, all generations, all cultures to have a local expression of the Body of Christ.
“Harvesters” bring to faith those who are in their spheres of influence.

It’s simple: the intention is to start a church and you search for the man of peace, and if you do not find him either stay there and become the man of peace or move on and find the man of peace elsewhere.

More later..

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 2

2011-03-16T05:15:00.001-05:00

We continue to sit together with men and women from around the world who are cross-cultural workers with Globe Europe and Globe International listening to Bill Smith teach about Church Planting Movements (CPM).

…As cross-cultural workers, it’s all about about God and Him holding everything in His hand. Boldness engenders boldness in others. Bold people generate bold disciples. God is not concerned about longevity in one place as much as the number of people who are touched and reached.

There are principles that apply, but we must apply them so that they work. Methods are adaptable but principles remain true.

Sometimes missionaries can learn more from those to whom he ministers adding to what he knows already.

Be willing to use smaller groups to reach more people because you are willing to work with those who are adaptable. We are all brothers together, but we work with those who desire to change and be culturally adaptability. To do CPM, there will be a loss of friends and those who do not want to make necessary changes. We must be open to learn from the ones we go to and it takes generations for us to overcome this.

The goal is not anything other than or less than reaching people with the Gospel and having them come into relationship with Jesus Christ. More important to find the person of peace than to preserve a work permit or country access.

Principle: when we get people into the the Word, they learn, not what we want to to teach others, but what God wants to teach them. In studying the Scriptures, we learn what God wants us to learn. And what God considers important.

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In every Church Planting Movements: (this are descriptive of movements)

Extraordinary prayer –
1. much fervent prayer for lost people, usually by name; not prayer for self, or church, or family, but for salvation for people they know…
2. new believers now pray for their friends and relatives
Abundant Evangelism –
1. many people hear the Gospel
2. M2E – mouth to ear
3. sow abundantly, reap abundantly
  1. the more who hear, the more believe
  2. typically more people will not come to Christ today who do not hear the Gospel today
  3. someone takes personal spiritual responsibility for the people group
4. Frog Churches v Gecko Churches
  1. Frogs wait for bugs to come to them – I make a lot of noise, have a long tongue and if anyone comes near, I’ll reach out to him… (attractional)
  2. Geckos blend in and go out into the world looking for the bugs… (missional)
5. Resources are in the harvest
Intentional Planting of Reproducing Churches –
1. “Intentional” – without intentionality ministries (humanitarian, medical, children) will not actually plant churches.
  1. You get what you aim for…
  2. church = group of people committed together to do what God wants us – individually and corporately – to do
  3. multiplying churches
2. “Reproducing” – intentionally reproducing
  1. “Cuban baseball churches” – devotion before baseball game; when someone shows interest they go home with them and give gospel to whole family
  2. “Horse Church” vs. “Mule Church” – difference is in reproduction; one can reproduce and one cannot
The Authority of God’s Word –
1. The missionaries/church-planters are not to be the authority, but the Word of God… (The Great Omission – Steve Saint)
2. Where the Word of God is not the authority, there is usually no CPM.
Local Leadership
1. Local people lead…
2. The resources are in the harvest… next year’s best local evangelist in your area is not even a believer today
3. They took the opportunities to lead
4. They learn to depend on each other – finding our own resources locally. Avoid financial dependency
Lay Leadership
1. God will use ordinary people to do His will. Key word: ordinary
2. Keep “church” simple so that “ordinary” people can “do it”
3. Not extra-biblical requirements for leadership
  1. education
  2. ordination
  3. gender
  4. “not everybody can do this”
    1. baptism
    2. communion
4. There is a need for critical mass for churches to exist – some cultures is determined by security issues nor necessarily sociological issues
5. (Personal concern… that gift-driven ministry if recognized, taught and encouraged would simplify the process of leadership)
House Churches
1. Meeting wherever there is a place to meet
2. Not in a dedicated single-purpose building
3. Not tied financially to a building
4. Advantages:
  1. interaction – participation – trust
  2. flexibility
  3. accountability
  4. more secure in persecution
  5. can put expenses toward missions
5. DNA must be not about “smallness” or getting out of the institution but about moving towards addressing a lost world
Churches Planting Churches
1. Not professional church-planters doing their job
2. if it requires someone from the outside then it will never become a movement
3. Congregations take responsibility for churching a region
Rapid Reproduction
1. What is “rapid?” Nothing set in stone.
  1. Some churches go “rapid” – reproducing – in as little as 7 months
2. Rabbit Churches and Elephant Churches
  1. rabbit can reproduce 4 mo. after birth with 7 offspring – second
  2. elephant can reproduce after 22 years with 2 year gestation
Healthy Churches

Learning about Church Planting Movements

2011-03-15T05:54:00.001-05:00

Beginning to blog today somewhat live from the Globe Europe headquarters in Hamminkeln Germany. Bill Smith is teaching about church planting movements (CPM).

We began last evening with discussions of definitions of a CPM. And parts of that definition include:

Rapidly multiplying reproduction movement of indigenous churches
Not funded from the outside
Founded on prayer and intercession
Led primarily by “laity”
Reproducing exponentially as the Good News of Jesus spreads

In the book of Acts – and in CPMs – wherever someone believed the Gospel 1) they told other 2) some believed and some did not 3) those who did not believe persecute those believe 4) those believe are bold.

This morning we begin with prayer and worship.

And now Bill Smith begins teaching and impacting. (These are short-hand notes… not complete)

Emphasis on principles not on techniques/methods.

In China – a rapidly multiplying CPM – the traditional greeting is “Have you eaten yet?” Chinese Believers have turned it into “What has God fed you today?” And then to ask, “Have you obeyed yet today?” “Who are you telling?”

Principle: In places where churches are multiplying rapidly, individual Believers take responsibility for hearing God speak and sharing that with others… The message3s are often given collectively and given the question of how will you obey.

The opposite is where paid leadership has responsibility to hear from God and take care of that. The ordinary church-member only prays, pays and gets out of the way.

Principle: nothing stops… what others say is remembered and given to others. In a non-reproducing movement we remember what we say, not others. In CPM, we care most that people hear and then pass it on.

Question – will we obey what we hear God say, and then pass it on to others? Based on the Priesthood of the Believer. The opposite says that only holy people do holy things only in holy places. Very exclusive.

Book of Acts – beginning with maybe 500 Believers in one place,

Peter –> Barnabas –> Paul –> Timothy –> Epaphrus –> @ Colose –> Nympha @ Laodocea

Principle: transferrable multipliable discipleship… a disciple who is not discipling is not really a disciple… must believe God is giving you key persons in order to multiply – train many, but disciple those who will continue with you and who will train others. Sometimes the “person of peace” is one with a negative influence transformed – such as the Woman at the Well (JOH 4) who was the message-bearer where a whole village believed.

“The most successful are not those with the most disciples, but disciplers are those who can trace the linage for many generations of disciple-makers.” Legacy is important.

What do we see in the Book of Acts -

Discpling others who disciple others
Faith and patience to disciple others
Colossians 2:1 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. (NIV)
It is possible to make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples…

The Mission Frontiers article: Hindu CPMs – MAWL: Model (do those things that new believers could also do; non-sophisticated things) – Assist (assist others as they did) – Watch (as others do this) – Leave… the apostolic model.

After leaving – Paul

Prayed for those whom he left
Sent others
Left coaches
Visited
“Leave” is not “abandonment”

God honors our faith – for a church, for a region, for a movement. Often our faith is too small.

Do we set the pattern of self-correcting from the Word of God rather than through the latest preacher passing through? And can we trust God to work through new Believers and to release them to do what God has called them to do? The Word of God is the authority rather than strong personalities and authoritarian people.

Issues of confusion of control and accountability… biblical local-level accountability through group interaction about character, moral or life-issues. Correction of life-issues has been passed on about how to deal with moral and life issues.

Spiritual Principle: wherever there are new lambs, there will be wolves. So we learn ahead of time how we deal with wolves in the church, outside of the church… “Leave” is not “abandonment” Paul left his disciples behind but they remained in his heart.

Who do you tell?

Principle: Most new Believers have the most joy and enthusiasm the first few days of their salvation. If told that as a new believer, they are the doorway of salvation to the family… tell those you love before you go to bed…

More later…

Soul Surfer Official Trailer

2011-02-04T07:52:00.000-06:00

Thinking about “Spiritual Fathering”

2011-01-06T07:01:00.001-06:00

Spiritual fathering is an interesting topic. Something many groups are hot about.
So I want to have a limited go at it…again.
Spiritual fathering is not necessarily :

A “relationship” that can be recruited. Perhaps the very word “relationship” is totally overused and therefore begins to lose meaning. We have a relationship with our bank, our doctor (who might remember our name, or not; [he did read the chart before he came in the room]), our employer, our paperboy, our next-door neighbor, our spouse and Dr. Phil. Relationship describes a sense of “connection” that exists on some level for a period of time. (My bank advertises itself as “The Relationship People.” Right.)

Like any genuine relationship, spiritual fathering is multifaceted – emotional, spiritual and physical. There is an emotional bond between spiritual parents and those they father. It is either the result of “spiritual birthing” (when someone leads someone to the Lord and disciples them to maturity) or “spiritual adoption” (when someone chooses – or are chosen by – a spiritual “parent”). It seems to me that there is a great deal of confusion about the “fathering” connection.
My friend Henry Orombi, current Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, told me he hardly knew his father. Henry grew up in a polygamist household as the youngest son of his father’s third wife. He was a “son” but basically had no “relationship” to his father. I think Henry said he was one of seventeen children. He was one of a group who bore the bloodline and the image and even the DNA of his father, but he had no quality relationship with him. He said to me that he grew up never really knowing his father although they lived on the same compound.

Spiritually I believe this happens also. I know groups and networks of churches who claim the same DNA, but who have people on their roster of “sons” just as names and ministries. No real “relationship,” or heart-felt (opps, subjective!) sense of connectedness.

Can we confuse pastoring with fathering? Are they the same thing? What about “apostolic fathers” – in the 21^st century sense – what is their role?

Any overbearing authoritative male relationship. Just because someone critiques your life, your motives and your choices, and just because he “hits it” so often that it’s scary doesn’t mean he’s you spiritual father. Just because he’s a powerful, controlling and opinionated church leader does not qualify him as your spiritual father.
About big names and religious politics. Often people like to give you their pedigree to impress and give credence to their words or ministry. (I guess they feel it’s like they’re selling a horse and they want you to know that there is a derby winner in their bloodline. They might look like a nag, but there’s a Seattle Slew in there somewhere.) And of course they have biblical precedence for doing this – the whole generational Abraham, Isaac and Jacob concept. It’s not about big-guys, big-names, big-ministries needing to father little guys. Little guys can and should be fathers, too. And pedigrees are not really that important. It is the relationship after all.
The cure-all relationship. There are other relationships in the church. A few years ago in our NoBrand Retreat, we spend time discussing the need for every man to have three levels of masculine relationships: father (elder) relationships, peer (brother) relationships and disciple (son) relationships. All are necessary for a balanced and dynamic spiritual life. When we only have one level, we get unbalanced and do not mature beyond a certain level.

Spiritual Fathering should be:

Both spiritual and emotional. It is a “felt” bond between father and child. It is genuine because it is spiritual.
On-going. But with varying levels and dependencies.
Fulfilling and challenging. Not debilitating and overbearing. Spiritual fathers are not about controlling another person or using them for their own agenda. True spiritual fathers are not about co-opting their “children’s” dreams, visions or spiritual gifts for their own use. They’re not about what can I get from this person, but much more about what can I give to this person in order for them to experience their own fulfillment and place in God’s Big Story…
A validating and confirming relationship that sets the course for your life. I am blessed that I know who my spiritual father actually is. So here’s my linage (filled with spiritual Seattle Slews and Sea Biscuits):
- My spiritual father – Jimmy Smith
  - He retired as associate pastor at New Covenant Church in Valdosta after various ministry "incarnations". He was the youth guy at Northside Baptist in Valdosta when I was in college and God invaded my life…
  - Jimmy awakened vision and passion in me and set me on a course of seeking and knowing God…
  - Jimmy affirmed me as a “man of God” – though young, untried and ignorant…
- My discipler – Joe Glenn Smith
  - He is different form my father. He took me to another level in maturity. I worked for him, pastored storefront/cell church with him and learned from him as I served him…
  - Joe Glenn taught me discipline me through discipleship. Phyllis and I were with him and his family almost every day. We did things together – some spiritual, many not. We traveled together. We had time together – laughing and crying. He taught me how to dig into the Word and how to hear the Spirit..
- My pastor/apostle – LA Joiner
  - We’ve walked together for years through thick and thin…
  - LA has taught me grace, commitment and transparency…
  - LA affirmed me in ministry and released me into an expanding ministry…
A vision-enhancing relationship.
- I think a true fathering relationship is chaordic in nature…Chaordic is a word invented by Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa. He says this:
  - Chaordic… Any self-organizing, self governing, adaptive, nonlinear, complex organism, organization, community or system, whether physical, biological or social, the behavior of which harmoniously blends characteristics of both chaos and order…

“Leader presumes follower. Follower presumes choice. One who is coerced to the purposes, objectives, or preferences of another is not a follower in any true sense of the word, but an object of manipulation. Nor is the relationship materially altered if both parties voluntarily accept the dominance of one by the other. A true leader cannot be bound to lead. A true follower cannot be bound to follow. The moment they are bound they are no longer leader or follower. If the behavior of either is compelled, whether by force, economic necessity, or contractual arrangement, the relationship is altered to one of superior/subordinate, manager/employee, master/servant, or owner/slave. All such relationships are materially different from leader/follower.”

This has gotten way too long. More later… maybe.

Red flags of fear

2011-01-02T08:35:00.000-06:00

We live in a fear-driven world. And the opposite of fear is faith.

Politicians and news media are in a love-affair with Fear. They love to tell us what to be afraid of day in and day out.

What are we told to be afraid of:

North Korea
Taliban
Democrats
Republicans
Left-wing
Gays
Homophobes
Recession
Climate change
Liberals
AIDS
Right-wing
Foreclosure
Conservatives
Muslims
Inflation
Water
Banks
Terrorists
Fundamentalists
Fox News
CNN
Personal fears… fear of failure, fear of exposure

I think we live in a world of fear.

Even in the Church. Fear eats our faith like a kid eats chocolates. Like a hungry hound licks his bowl. Like those South American fish in a feeding frenzy.

What are we afraid of? Mostly everything it seems. Seems we are afraid of the world in which we live. All the "isms" eat our lunch and cause us fear: terrorism, secularism, fundamentalism, globalism, pluralism.

We are weak in theology, belief-systems, world-views and therefore afraid of challenges. Comfort in thinking and believing and experience makes us weak when we are challenged. Our theology teaches us how to deal with guilt, but not with shame. Or with fear. We are afraid that someone will die. And as I once told my daughter, "There are worse things than death..."

Living in fear is worse than death. Living afraid is harder than dying. Constant emotional and mental fear is bad. Debilitating. So many things to be afraid of... so little time.

Unfortunately, we in the West are often part of an fear-driven church. (Some church leaders base their whole ministry on fear! Yikes!) And the church is not supposed to be that way. Hey! we’re a “faith-based” and faith-driven entity. Or we’re supposed to be!

The world around is is driven by fear of the possibility. For example, a few weeks ago I sat in a hotel room and watched the news media go crazy after a story came up about unexploded parcel bombs.

The opposite of “faith” is not “doubt” – it’s “fear.”

But faith has to be grounded in something that is genuine and real. Faith can’t be grounded in the concept of faith or the possibility of God. Real faith must be tied to a certainty of hope.

Sometimes, we preach fear by telling people about the result of their sin without giving room for the Holy Spirit to present a Savior.

When there is a red flag of fear, there is a an opportunity to rally faith! Yes! bad stuff will happen. People will get sick, lose jobs, experience loss. Bad stuff happens. But we serve a loving and caring God. And faith is often counter-intuitive. Faith is often believing for the best in spite of the ever-looming worst.

Mark Twain said something like this: “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” But I say: No! Faith is believing what you know in a way beyond sensual understanding is so, in spite of what the situation and circumstances and news commentators say!

When there is a red flag of fear, there is a an opportunity to rally faith! Real faith is tied to the certainty of a real Jesus and the reality of His redemption, His Presence and His care.

And yes, I’m talking to you… and to me.

Leading to make leaders…

2010-12-30T10:08:00.000-06:00

Just read today:

If you Google “leadership development” you get 7.5 million results. If you search on Amazon you get over 65,800 books. Type in “leadership development” into YouTube and you have access to over 5,000 videos.

We live in a leadership crisis. Who can lead a nation out of war, when the war is against unseen foes who are not as concerned about taking “territory” as they are about taking “minds?” Who can lead selflessly when most people have such great deeply ingrained self-interests? And what does real 21st Century leadership look like anyway?

And how do you develop leaders?

In the Church we have a leadership crisis too. Or maybe it’s a “follow-ship” crisis – depending on where you stand. There is a great divide in the minds of many between those “in leadership” and those – who by definition – are “out of leadership.” So for many, “leadership” is an elite status. Which causes problems when we think in terms of “priesthood of the Believer” – which is a very NT concept. But all that is another story. (I’m writing about this “Man Up the Mountain” idea in my in-process book which will come out sometime before Jesus returns. I hope.)

Maybe it’s because many “in leadership” have sold their birthright/inheritance as leaders for a “mess of pottage.” Moving from being a spiritual leader actively engaged in God’s Mission and the spiritual formation of others to become CEO of “Church Inc.” – the purveyor of religious goods and services – has left many “leaders” stranded, alone and hungry while the church – those “out of leadership” – is stymied, impotent and weak.

Perhaps the CEO mentality came into play when churches set up boards to meet 501c3 non-profit requirements. Perhaps it’s about power. Perhaps it’s about management of multi-million dollar empires that include bank accounts, property, investments, electricity bills, staff salaries, retirement fund, Social Security and legal parking lot sizes. Nonetheless, it’s there and can present a problem when attempting to be “spiritual.”

Leadership is always a hot-button topic when I comes to church, but leadership is indeed biblical. Even if “leading” means leading people who are told to follow the Holy Spirit on their own…

Some years ago while teaching on another subject at a seminary in Cairo, Egypt (where there was no concept of managing a "church parking lot”), I was asked if “leadership” is even a biblical concept, since we are all “priests.” My reply was to look at a passage from Hebrews:

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (Heb 13:17 KJV)

I said we can call them an assortment of things: rulers, watchmen or accountants. But I said, “I choose the word “leaders” as a sort of 20th Century compromise.” Sorta like the NIV does.

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb 13:17 NIV)

In his letter to the Romans, Paul says that leadership (proistemi) is a gift (charisma):

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. (Ro 12:6-9 NIV)

Here Paul gives a grocery list of all sorts of things he characterizes as charismata – grace gifts who by Christ have been formed into a Body:

Prophesying
Serving
Teaching
Encouraging
Contributing
Leadership
Giving mercy

Here the definition is one who “stands before” and is to be received by grace, exercised in faith evidenced by governing diligently (spoude).

From my vantage point there are at least three types of leadership:

Positional – a matter of title, position, placement or hiring that give the privilege of speaking, ruling and decision-making
Relational – a matter of developed relationships that give authority to speak and lead
Spiritual – a gift from God

Each of these function in the church. Each of these are useful and some are culturally defined.

The latest definition that I’ve found is from Ken Blanchard’s Leading at a Higher Level:

Leadership is the capacity to influence others by unleashing their power and potential for the greater good.

It sounds like a Bible-kind of leadership and carries the idea of empowerment with it.

So here’s my brief take:

Leadership is a biblical concept and the kind of leadership given is very important… both to the People of God and to God Himself.
Church leadership must be shaped by the values of the Christ and not completely shaped by the culture.
Leading is part of a gift mix acquired by grace.
Leadership is about keeping watch of people’s souls not about position.

The Greek word used here means to stay awake – to be sleepless – and results in giving an account of that watchfulness either with joy or grief…

Jesus is the example. Anyway you cut it. And if you read the Gospels looking carefully at Jesus’ leadership style, it might mess up the whole CEO mentality.

More later… maybe.

Chasing the dream…

2010-12-21T08:00:00.003-06:00

Nick and Laura Rousey are great kids - out there chasing the dream! His: to serve God by playing the PGA and provide for his family. Laura's: to serve God, have a family and home and teach 8th grade kids English.

And the cool thing is that Laura has laid aside some of her have-a-family, own-a-house dream

Nick and Laura Rousey – chasing the dream and remaining faithful!

s to allow Nick to pursue his dream of professional golf. As this video shows, pro golf is not all glitz and glamour. Often, more guts than glory!

And when school’s in, Laura’s home doing a job, making a paycheck while Nick’s on the tour. Big old sacrifice here for both of them!

Nick and Laura were in our “Flipping Through Philippians” study earlier this year and I was able to hear their dreams and hope and disappointments.

But they are the kind of folks who are worthy of of our prayers. The Hooter’s Tour is possibly not the most godly atmosphere. Probably not like sitting in a “Flipping Through Philippians” Bible study. But Nick talks about remaining faithful to God (and Laura) and being a true witness to his peers as he travels and plays. He’s told me of real-life conversations with other golfers that bring tears to my eyes.

Nick and Laura are my kinda 21st Century heroes. Serving Jesus in the real world driven by a passion that they consider a gift from God.

So, how about you and me? Are we driven by a passion from God? Are we "sideliners" in the game of life? Are we willing to sacrifice for our dream?

My prayer for Nick and Laura is that they win it all and give all the credit to a great and mighty Jesus!

Randomness

2010-12-20T16:28:00.001-06:00

Lots of stuff going on in my head this last week before Christmas. So in no particular order, here goes:

Reading The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson. It is about innovation and creativity and was suggested by Alan Hirsch. I’ve enjoyed reading over the thoughts and ideas. If you like Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Tipping Point) and Seth Godin (Tribes) you’ll like this. You can get a free e-book here.
I was impressed at a whole line of people at the GIVING KIOSK at Harvest Church this Sunday. Harvest meets in the Rave Theater before the movies begin and having the kiosk in the lobby looks pretty normal. One of the dilemmas of 21st Century church is the fact that people carry neither cash nor checks but use debit and credit cards for almost all transactions. (Debit card transactions account for $37.9 billion or 35% of all non-cash transactions – 13% more than checks.) It was cool to see people lined up to GIVE!
Following the message I heard yesterday, I was re-reading a blog post I did from January - Epiphany 2010 - about the Magi. I think it’s worth a read even now at Christmas 2010. You can go here to read it. I think the Magi are real indicators that God is active among all peoples and that we must share the Gospel at all times with all people.
I have learned that if you unload the bottom rack of the dishwasher FIRST, you won’t have water from the bottom of cups dripping into the spoons. It seems that I’ve been doing this manly task more often recently than in the past. So, always in a learning mode (smile), this is what I’ve learned. And as a teacher, it’s just one of those things that I thought needed passing on. (I know all women everywhere already knew this. Don’t mock.)
I enjoy listening to Pandora.com. It is a wonderful listening experience. Right now I’m grooving to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus but earlier have listened to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, New Orleans Jazz and worship music.
Globe’s Institute for Global Ministry (IGM) starts 4 January and this year we will have several virtual campuses.

Idolatry and Discipleship...

2010-12-11T01:02:00.030-06:00

My good friends Bill and Imbi Kinnon (who happen to be Canadian, but please don't hold that against them, or envy them - whichever the case may be) have this video interview with Chris Wright. It's part of a larger work on leadership that's currently being edited. I look forward to seeing the whole thing!

Chris Wright is my new hero. His books The Mission of God and The Mission of God's People are fantastic and give language to what I know to be true. He seems to be a real down-to-earth guy with an understanding of God's Heart and Mission. Here Chris Wright repeats what I have said over and over and over. (So much so that people assume I'm a one-trick pony!) And that is: we need to - we must - we have to MAKE DISCIPLES. The "transfer of the Faith" requires intentionality of investment in others.

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21 NIV)

Confronting Idols & Making Disciples from Bill Kinnon on Vimeo.

Tim Keller talks about Counterfeit Gods...

2010-12-10T09:40:00.002-06:00

Introduction to Counterfeit Gods from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Reggie McNeal completes several sentences about missional church... (love this guy!)

2010-11-28T09:11:00.000-06:00

Evidential Christianity: We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard…

2010-11-22T07:11:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, Phyllis and I were at New Covenant Church in Valdosta GA. My good friend Randy Stephen spoke briefly from the following passage chronicling the growth of the early Church.

I was reminded of the power of Evidential Christianity – faith that demands an explanation. It is this kind of faith – and God’s gracious response – that makes following Jesus so irresistible.

This is the follow-up story to Peter and John bringing healing in Jesus’ Name to a lame beggar after citing physical poverty but freely giving what they had – a deep and genuine faith in the resurrected Christ.

(Acts 4:7-22) They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is "'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone. ' Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old. (NIV)

Of course, when Christianity becomes mere religion – observing rituals devoid of meaning – and/or mere morality – doing right things just for the sake of being right – then we might not have much to talk about. Having not seen anything or heard any Good News, we might just have to be silent.

Evidential Christianity cries out for explanation!

Hermeneutics… 10 Commandments (Can you say hermeneutics??)

2010-11-09T11:20:00.001-06:00

My friend Skye Jethani (I quote – with his permission - big chunks from his book The Divine Commodity in my book Why God Thinks He Can Use You. That makes us close, right?) just did a cool Ten Commandments of Hermeneutics… Worth reading and thinking about.

10 Commandments of Scripture Interpretation

My (Skye Jethani) simple guidelines for engaging the Bible and avoiding unhelpful controversy.

I. You shall not make for yourself an idol out of Scripture.
This is a particular temptation among evangelicals who hold a very high view of Scripture. We forget that our highest calling is not to have a relationship with the Bible but with Jesus Christ of whom the Bible testifies. (John 5:39)
II. You shall honor the Scriptures as sufficient.
We have a common temptation to get “behind the text” or discover what “really happened.” While archeology and other disciplines are incredibly important, we must not forget that what God has given in the Scriptures is enough for life and faith.
III. You shall remember the metanarrative and keep it wholly.
In my experience more Christians can recap the meta-narrative of the Star Wars saga than can recap the biblical meta-narrative. It’s not enough to know the stories and events in the Bible. We must know how they fit together to tell a single story.
IV. You shall honor the Church as the recipient and the guardian of the Scriptures.
The books and letters in the Bible, with a few exceptions, were not written to individuals but to communities of believers. We must be careful not to read everything through the lenses of Western individualism. And we are wise to listen to how Christians in ages past have understood the teachings of Scripture.
V. You shall not neglect the context.
Proof texting (finding verses to make your point), isolating (removing a text from its surrounding material), and synchronizing (taking different gospel accounts of the same event and smashing them together) are all ways of abusing the text and landing on bad interpretations.
VI. You shall not ask questions the text does not want to answer.
Almost every nasty debate about Scripture results from forcing answers from the text it never intended to answer. Debates about creation in Genesis 1 and 2 fall into this category as do most other scientific issues. Avoid a “morbid interest in controversial questions” (1 Tim 6:4).
VII. You shall embrace both the form and content of Scripture as inspired by God.
When teaching the Bible we often retain the content or message but give little attention to the genre or style of the text. We lose something when we teach narrative as didactic truth, or when we ignore the poetic structure and beauty of a Psalm. And there’s a reason God said “You shall not murder” rather than “You will love life.” Do we see that?
VIII. You shall study Scripture for wisdom and not merely knowledge, and never for pride.
I’m really impressed that you’ve memorized 400 verses and took first prize in your Bible Quiz league. Not quit being such a jerk. (1 Cor. 8:1)
IX. You shall exegete your culture and not merely the Scriptures.
The goal is not merely to understand what the Bible said to those who live centuries ago, but hear it anew today. Proper teaching requires that we bring the Word of God into our world and help people feel the gravity and beauty of it for their lives and context.
X. You shall remember that the simplest interpretation is usually, but not always, correct.
There is no Bible Code! And if you have to do all kinds of contortions with Scripture to get it to fit into your theological framework, you’re probably guilty of something bad. Paradoxes abound in Scripture. If your theology doesn’t allow for that kind of ambiguity and mystery I suggest you try Deism.

What are you going to do about the Holy Spirit?

2010-10-28T07:51:00.001-05:00

It all started with coffee with a pastor friend. He is the leader of a seeker-friendly church meeting in an active movie theater. They are looking to serve twenty/thirty-somethings who are unchurched and reluctant to go to a church building. Hence, meeting in a cinema. When second service is over at 11:15, you have to rush out because they're selling tickets to the movies and the smell of popcorn is tantalizing . The church continues to draw several hundred people, and there are new people coming to Christ who have a very checkered church background, if a church background at all.

So my question was this: "What are you going to do about the Holy Spirit?" And by that I was concerned that there was no real place for new Believers to be introduced to the power and majesty and beauty of the Holy Spirit and His gifts. The church has semester community groups that attempt to move Believers into community and each one has a flavor. But there's not one that moves toward baptism in the Holy Spirit as an experience.

And I understand this. In our church world there is so much hullabaloo about the Holy Spirit and who He is that it often looks and sounds like a circus. You can turn on the TV and whoa! you can witness first-hand extremes - in teaching and practice - concerning the Holy Spirit. And from a TV screen (no matter how big), it can look and sound rather bizarre.

So, Pastor Bobby looked at me and said, "Why don't you help us? Why don't you develop a two day retreat where teaching is about the Holy Spirit? And we could do it a couple of times a year. And maybe some other churches like ours could have you come and do it for them..."

So Phyllis and I put together The Encounter Weekend - around ten hours of teaching about the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Lordship of Christ, and praying in the Spirit.

We began on Friday night and continue on Saturday with Subway sandwiches for lunch together and time in the afternoon for prayer and "giving room" for the Holy Spirit to touch people. We charged ten dollars to cover lunch and some handouts.

Phyllis and I, Scott and Carolyn Ongalo and Brian Hassett did our first Encounter Weekend last week. Brian led worship and Scott and Carolyn were both intercessors and ministers. It was a great time as gently the Holy Spirit ministered to those present.

Angel - one of the participants wrote:

Pastor Bobby, I just wanted to give praise and thanks to Glenn and Phyllis for doing the Encounter Weekend at the Annex. I learned so much about "The Power of Forgiveness" and "Who is the Holy Spirit?" which helps me to draw closer to Him as I continue to grow spiritually in my walk. It's amazing how you thirst for the Truth when you're there. I wasn't really expecting to learn so much, however, as we were opening our Bibles and reading scriptures from the Old Testament to the New, and reading prophesies and what the Bible says about being Baptized in the Spirit, it's funny but I thought I'd be totally overwhelmed, but instead, I got it... I understood, it wasn't weird or mind boggling... it was the TRUTH. Anyhow, I just wanted to thank the Hatcher's for doing the class. $10 was too cheap... it was worth at least $125. :)

Few things thrill me more than when someone "get's it!" Just plain get's it - and then decides to walk in that truth.

Pastor Bobby says he wants people to go from being seekers to Spirit-empowered followers of Jesus. And we're excited and blessed to use the gifts and experiences the Lord has given us to help make it happen.

It's kinda what we live for in our "people development" lives...

You can quote me on this...

2010-10-09T11:17:00.001-05:00

We’ve been told we are limited by what we don’t know – our ignorance.
They were wrong.
We are not limited by what we don’t know, only by what we know.
Or think we know.

As soon as we think we know, we stop searching and that knowledge becomes a wall; a wall to keep in what we know and a wall to keep out new information…

The President Talks of his faith...

2010-09-29T08:21:00.004-05:00

The President said recently that he was a Christian by choice rather than by heritage and culture.

Now I know that this will set some of my good friends on fire, because they wonder how you can have some of the policies this President has and still be a Christian. But when I read the NY Times report (excerpted below) President Obama says the same thing that most Christians are supposed to say. Or actually he says it better. He's not talking about heaven and hell, good works or abominations but about personal sinfulness, God’s grace, caring for others and salvation. Sounds like he’s talking about my Jesus.

Here’s some of what the NYT says:

But the religion question was perhaps the most revealing for the president – and also perhaps the most welcome, given that polls show that the public appears confused about his religion, with some 18 percent of Americans believing, erroneously, that he is Muslim.

“I’m a Christian by choice,” the president said. “My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead. Being my brothers and sisters’ keeper, treating others as they would treat me, and I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful and we’re flawed and we make mistakes and we achieve salvation through the grace of God.”

We live in a complicated world. It’s a world where Christianity is a matter of intellectually giving credence to the right things. Presidents, politics and culture seem to complicate things. You’d think following Jesus would be clear. Bill Clinton claimed to have been born again as a boy in a tent-meeting. George W. Bush claimed to have become a transformed Methodist after being an alcoholic partier. They both had their moments when we wondered, and some are still wondering.

My concern is that whether the President says it, a TV preacher says it or the guy next to me in church says it - being a Christian is more than just ticking off the right beliefs. It’s more than fast-forwarding to the bottom of a software installation and ticking “I accept.”

Being a Christian is an ongoing supernatural experience of continual transformation. Being a Christian is living supernaturally from internal motivations of love and sacrifice because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, guiding us and assisting us in living beyond ourselves and not for ourselves.

I am follower of Jesus by choice, but also by encounter. When I supernaturally encountered Jesus by the Holy Spirit in college, He changed my life, my direction, my allegiance, my motivations. Some in “one fell swoop” but most in increments of choosing and letting go. Some things almost forty years later, I still struggle with. Some things pop up like an uninvited obscene relative and I have to – by the grace and power of God – deal with them. Some things are long gone.

Honest to God Christianity moves from head to heart to hands and feet. Transformed thought to transformed motives to redemptive actions. I encounter, I believe, I act.

Living supernaturally natural in a blood and guts world is a feat only God would expect of us! But then again He supplies the ability.

My new word...

2010-09-14T06:53:00.001-05:00

quo·tid·i·an [kwoh-tid-ee-uhn]

– adjective

1. daily: a quotidian report.

2. usual or customary; everyday: quotidian needs.

3. ordinary; commonplace: paintings of no more than quotidian artistry.

4. (of a fever, ague, etc.) characterized by paroxysms that recur daily.

– noun

5. something recurring daily.

6. a quotidian fever or ague.

Origin:
1300–50; < L quotīdiānus, cottīdiānus daily, equiv. to cottīdi ( ē )every day (adv.) ( *quot ( t ) ī a locative form akin to quot however many occur, every + diē, abl. of diēs day; cf. meridian) + -ānus -an; r. ME cotidien < OF < L, as above

— Related forms

quo·tid·i·an·ly, adverb

quo·tid·i·an·ness, noun

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010

And now to see it used in a sentence...

"Spirituality now wanders from sex to drugs to art to revolution to violence —whatever seems to promise deliverance from the quotidian."

Mason Cooley (whoever he is...)

Change is good! You go first!

2010-09-04T07:59:00.001-05:00

Eddie Hammett says, “Change values before you change structures.”

But obviously he doesn’t understand. It’s easier to change structures. It’s easier to make new packaging than new contents. It’s easier to talk about change while continuing to hold the same values. It’s hard to have a value-change.

Because values are descriptive rather than prescriptive. “Values” really describes behavior. What we value will determine how we spend our talent, time and treasure. What we value will be reflected in the way we live our lives. Check out how much time you spend with your wife and family and you’ll see your family values. Look at how much you give to world missions – really give (look at the checkbook!) – and you can see how much you value the Great Commission! Look at what you do with your “leisure time” and you will see you values. If you live with a TGIF mentality, how much do you value your job?

We think we are in a time of great structural change, but I’m not so sure about the value change. And in spite of all our chatter about change and the need for change, because we don’t know how to change our values, I’m not sure we know how to change anything for long.

Maybe more later…

WWJD about the Mosque in NYC?

2010-09-01T01:41:00.002-05:00

For weeks and weeks I've listened to people say a lot of things about the "Ground Zero Mosque" and have been appalled and troubled by the comments.

Newspeople write and say things to make controversy; it's their job. Politicians basically "make hay while the sun shines" politically by making the Mosque an issue and getting their names in headlines . And the American people, with confused patriotism coupled with 9/11 insult and injury, fumble to know how to respond.

Some of the chatter is fuzzy-headed, some is ignorant and some is just wrong. Freedom is always a scary thing, whether it's of speech, religion or the press.

And it seems that many Christians are confused, too. I'm not sure most of us know enough about Islam or Christianity, history or the Constitution to say much. But of course we do. Opinions are supposedly cheap.

And there is the Onion Article, that is a satire about a man who knows all he needs to know about Muslims. Funny and sad -- as satire should always be. And of course there could be similar articles about Jesus, the Bible, Christianity, forgiveness, joy and peace. Closed minds are everywhere. We are limited, not by what we don't know, but by what we think we know.

So instead of me adding my two-cents-worth, I thought I'd paste the thoughts of Leighton Ford, a true Christian Statesman who pretty much echoes my heart about the issue.

Jesus and the Mosque, Leighton Ford

On a shelf at home I have a copy of Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road, the story of the Syrian-born writer Mazhar Mallouhi. As a young man who grew up in a Muslim family he had a profound spiritual hunger, read widely, learned of Jesus in the Bible, and became a follower of Christ while remaining loyal to his Muslim culture.

His novels are read by millions in the Middle East. Through them he has sought to bridge misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians.

In the book is a photo of him in the famous Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo, sitting with a group of Muslims as they read the Gospels together. It is his custom to say, “I am a follower of Christ. Here is what Jesus said. Tell me honestly, do you think I am living as Jesus said I should?”

I thought of Mallouhi’s question during the heated dispute over the location of a Muslim mosque and community center near Ground Zero in New York. Among the voices being raised – some harsh with anger, some deep with indignation about rights – I wonder if the missing voice is that of Jesus?

If I were a Muslim I might want to claim rights, but also want my leaders to consider whether another location would work and help to heal some deep hurts. But I am not a Muslim. Those issues are for the Muslim community to decide.
What I need to ask is: what does Jesus say to us who say we follow him?

Suppose we, like Mallouhi, sat down with some Muslims in the new community center, and read with them some of the words of Jesus, words like “Do good to those who hate you.” That could apply to radical terrorists who want to blow us up. So how can it not apply to Muslim neighbors who are living among us?
Many years ago my late friend J. Christy Wilson was pastor of the first ever Christian church in Kabul, Afghanistan. Through the good offices of President Eisenhower permission was granted to build the church, attended by Christian expatriates.

The time came when the Afghan authorities revoked permission and announced they would knock the church down. When the bulldozers arrived what did the church people there do? Served tea to the workers who were pulling down their church building!

They were living out a central tenet of our Christian faith – that we are “saved by grace” – God’s grace freely given in Jesus Christ – and they showed grace.
How can we do that? I hope the churches and the Christ followers in New York can figure it out. Perhaps delivering a cool drink to the workers who will build the center? After all Paul went so far as to write (and this was about enemies, not neighbors) “If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.”

Does this mean we naively accept real evil? Not at all. I understand the rage that 9/11 stirred. Force is often needed to protect the innocent. But ultimately I have to follow Jesus as Paul did when the apostle admonished us to “overcome evil with good.”

What does the love of Christ compel me to do? Perhaps, whether in New York or Charlotte, to extend a little more grace – actually a whole lot more. Wouldn’t that be the best witness we could make right now?

A little more grace, seems to be the Jesus way. Not easy and kinda messy, because nothing's cut and dried. But who said following Jesus would be?

What happens when you just get stuck?

2010-08-30T09:44:00.002-05:00

Last summer, I was in western Kenya. Outside Eldoret, it had been raining after a long dry season so there was deep red Kenya mud everywhere. We were following our host to his home, when suddenly he turned off the paved road across a steep muddy ditch with out a bridge or culvert. I attempted to follow, but without his momentum, my van just began to spin. The harder I revved, the faster the wheels turned and the more the mud flew. But try as I might, I just got deeper in the mire.

I revved; I tried; I gunned it. But we didn’t go forward.

And I’m a good driver. I know how to get out of mud. I know how to cross ditches. I know how, because not only have I done it many times before, I’ve helped others through the same predicament.

Sometimes people – good people, honest people, visionary people – end up spinning their proverbial tires and getting nowhere.

They are stuck. The more they try to go forward, the more energy they exert, the more frustrated they become. They just aren’t moving. What is supposed to work just isn’t working. The way it’s supposed to be, just doesn’t happen, so they end up caught in mire – not of their own making, but a mire nonetheless.

Here are some ideas of how to get unstuck:

Take some time to silence your mind… sometimes thought patterns are whacky when you get frustrated…
Reevaluate your approach to the situations you are in...
Listen to new ideas in your head and heart that might move you forward...
Get a strategic outsider to listen to your dreams…

Coaching is about moving people forward, not just about getting the wheels spinning. The coach is the strategic outsider who comes with a new set of eyes and ears – not to tell the “stuck-ee” what to do and not to analyze why they are stuck, but to help them realize a way forward. The immovable person knows how he got there, he wants a way forward! And the coach makes it his job to see that he does!

Coaching is not about getting the wheels spinning. Most anybody can do that. Coaching is about providing better traction to ideas that the “stuck-ee” has already. A coach helps the one who is stuck to rethink and move forward.

Ministry is living the dream...

2010-08-25T04:42:00.000-05:00

What We Feel is Not Who We Are...

2010-08-20T12:21:00.001-05:00

“Our emotional lives move up and down constantly. Sometimes we experience great mood swings: from excitement to depression, from joy to sorrow, from inner harmony to inner chaos. A little event, a word from someone, a disappointment in work, many things can trigger such mood swings. Mostly we have little control over these changes. It seems that they happen to us rather than being created by us.

Thus it is important to know that our emotional life is not the same as our spiritual life. Our spiritual life is the life of the Spirit of God within us. As we feel our emotions shift we must connect our spirits with the Spirit of God and remind ourselves that what we feel is not who we are. We are and remain, whatever our moods, God’s beloved children.” - Henri Nouwen

(thanks JR Woodward)

“How do you restore a Golden Boy?”

2010-08-08T01:59:00.002-05:00

My question of the day seems to be: “How do you restore a Golden Boy?” I’m not sure why this particular question at this particular time, but these are some thoughts…

What is a “Golden Boy?” A Golden Boy is someone who has great expectations of achievement placed on him by others and/or himself. A Golden Boy “shines” – you can just see him in a crowd! – He excels academically, cosmetically, athletically or spiritually. Most times, he is an awesome combo of several (if not all!) these characteristics. He is expected to do great things, has all the right background, grooming, breaks and connections. He is destined – so it seems – to excel.

Golden Boys – and Girls for that matter – seemed to live a charmed life. They have all the right stuff. Everyone expects them to do well. They are high school senior class superlatives, college fraternity presidents and football stars. They are photogenic, charismatic and gifted. They are the ones who marry their sweethearts, rise to the top and are known as “born leaders.” In their “world of choice” they make the right moves, know the right people and communicate with fire and passion.

You know these people. Maybe you’re one of them.

So what happens when a Golden Boy never seems to get out of the chute? What happens when a Golden Boy doesn’t live up to expectations – both of himself and others? What happens when a Golden Boy becomes an “Also Ran,” never quite living up to expectations?

Or what happens when he comes out like gangbusters but fails to launch, only faltering and sputtering, never really finding himself, his course or his mark? What happens if marriages fail, finances falter and careers get off-track?

Or if he fails repeatedly? What happens if he has moral failures? Not just once but over and over?

How does he get back to where he once was – in potential and performance? Seems to me that on-ramps to success are harder to find in our world than before. And I don’t see room for many second chances. But there have to be some.

So as I meditated and thought on this question of the day - “How do you restore a Golden Boy?” this story from the life of Elisha came to mind:

(2 Kings 6:1-7) The company of the prophets said to Elisha, "Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live." And he said, "Go." Then one of them said, "Won't you please come with your servants?" "I will," Elisha replied. And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!" The man of God asked, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. "Lift it out," he said. Then the man reached out his hand and took it. (NIV)

As leaders, whether in our family, our home, our workplace or our church, part of our job is in restoration and reconciliation. Cleaning up messes and putting things to right. So here are my thoughts on getting Golden Boys to the right place – or at least to an on-ramp…

Evaluate Relational Connections –
- It is important that connections be made and maintained. The relationships that we have are part of God’s networking way. He brings people together for His purposes. If there are tarnished Golden Boys in your relational network, I can almost bet that you are there as part of their redirection and restoration.
  - Elisha was more than just a prophet in this story. He was more of a mentor, companion and a coach. (It appeared that the “company of the prophets” wanted him around – even on a supply run for the new digs. Just wanted – it seems – to hang out with him.)
- If relationships are broken – assist them in mending them and restoring them.
- People assist people to get where they are going in their personal journey.
Ask the right questions without rebuke, reserving judgment –
- As a strategic outsider (Elisha didn’t lose the axhead; he was not part of that story… although he was nearby, he we not part of the loss), don’t give instructions, but ask the right questions:
  - What was the last thing you did when you sensed the edge, the sense of achievement, the sense of God’s favor?
  - When was the last time you sensed that you had the edge?
  - What would having the edge look like in your life today?
  - What steps could you make to restore the edge?
Help lead them toward Repentance –
- In an “I’m-Good-Without-God-World”, it seems hard for people to repent.
  - “Since I’m good – and probably “Golden” – it must be someone else’s fault that I’m not succeeding.” Repentance is a hard sell to Golden Boys – even failed and tarnished.
  - Repentance requires ownership of the deeds, attitudes and motives that led to their demise. What happened actually happened because of something. Probably not random acts of the universe. Probably.
  - You cannot repent of something that’s someone else’s fault. Just can’t.
- How does one really repent, besides just saying I’m sorry?
  - Go back to the place where you lost the axhead – the edge, the sense of achievement, the sense of God’s favor…
  - Sometimes this is an actual place, but at least a real set of circumstances…
  - Sometimes there is a genuine need for restitution…
Help lead them toward the goal –
- When Golden Boys actually lose, it’s often a whole new experience for them.
- It is hard to focus on moving forward when maintaining is such an effort.
Look for a miracle…
- Floating axheads do happen, but not everyday
- The right stick in the hands of the right man cast into the right river at the right place at the right time can make iron float.
- There is a “window of opportunity” for floating axheads
- The time for reaching out his hand and taking it is limited
- Getting the edge, getting back on the on-ramp are often about getting the hindrance – whether internal or external – out of the way and moving forward…
The right coach can help Golden Boys become golden once again.

The Hoodie of Leadership...

2010-08-04T04:26:00.002-05:00

Phyllis and I were with a large group of teens doing a tourist sight-see of a Scottish castle. It was an amazing edifice over-looking the Firth, furnished with everything authentic and ancient. The paintings, artwork, guns and swords on the wall were authentic and the antique carpet on the floor was the real-deal-meal.

Ronnie, the Scottish tour guide, took us from century to century as we went from room to room. One of the young ladies in the group - I'll call her Mary - was feeling sick, so as the tour moved from room to room she either sat on the floor or found a seat in the corner. And usually she lagged behind in the group last to leave a room. As we moved from a small sitting room to another, all of a sudden her sickness intensified, she doubled over and began to throw up. One of the young student leaders - we'll call him Joseph - immediately took off his nice, white designer hoodie and shoved it in front of Mary. And she vomited and vomited and vomited. Others were involved finding plastic bags and holding the hoodie while Mary was sick.

Mary felt better and could now smile; the tour continued; the workers in the Scottish castle scurried to clean Mary's accident off zillion dollar antique wool carpet and Joseph dumped his hoodie in the trash.

Afterwards, I took Joseph aside and I commended him on his leadership. I said to him, "You demonstrated a true leadership ability because your actions were: Immediate, Decisive and Sacrificial. When you are a leader, you have responsibilities 24/7 and as you carry out that responsibility, you acquire greater authority. And as a Christian leader, you want to walk in God's authority."

And that's the way leadership has to always be:

Immediate

Crisis can't wait for the leader to lead.
True leaders must be able to think on their feet and take immediate action. I think that's why you have to "pray early" so that you are spiritually ready for the day. Leadership requires immediate action, so prior meditation and heart preparation is necessary to make quick decisions. Our days come at us from 360 degrees at the speed of life. Leaders can respond with immediacy.
One of my friends described his pastor: "He might not have always been right, but he was seldom in doubt." In other words he was able to take immediate action.

Decisive

Crisis can't be sorted out in a committee.
Somebody has to make a decision. A leader is the one who decides. Leaders carry responsibility. Break that down - responsibility: the ability to respond.
The ability to decide under extremely demanding circumstances is the mark of a leader. Decision making in the comfortable quiet is one thing, but being decisive "under fire" is another.

Sacrificial

There is a price to be paid for leading.
Costly decisions are part of leading. Not decisions that just cost everyone else - anybody can make those. Costly decisions and extreme actions that are personally expensive is one of the hallmarks of Christian leadership. True Christian leadership shows others the way through personal sacrifice.

Joseph did that. He thought on his feet and saved Mary a lot of embarrassment and the castle a big clean-up. In the process, he lost a great hoodie. But in my book, he's on his way to a great life of serving God and His People.

Anyway, he bought a new "Scotland" hoodie when we got to Glasgow. And that hoodie now has a cool story to accompany it.

(I've changed up the names so as not to embarrass anyone who might be sensitive.)

What would make St Columba happy?

2010-07-26T00:27:00.001-05:00

Last week, we were in Edinburgh, Scotland just sight seeing.

Coming out of the train station, we walked over to the park on Princes Street. I looked up at the statue of David Livingston and grinning at Phyllis I said, "Dr. Livingston, I presume."

Silly. But David Livingston is kind of a hero for all missionaries, isn't he? He went to Africa and in his very 19th Century way took the Gospel to the "Dark Continent." He forsook all to take Good News to the heart of a continent. Most folks don't remember him - probably not even Scots - by he was led by his convictions to be a world changer.

But I think the most fun I had in Edinburgh was a conversation with an older Scottish gent at St Columba's Free Church on Victoria Street in the very heart of Edinburgh. The building was built in 1845 in the middle of The Great Disruption that saw congregations break away from the Church of Scotland. But the congregation still exists and according to my friend has about 140 people present each Sunday for the worship service.

But here's the inside success story: most of the congregants are students from all over the world who have come to Edinburgh to study. Although churches around the corner - older and with a longer history - have closed and are now tourist information centers and pubs, St Columba's continues filled with noisy enthusiastic students mingling with old bright-eyed Scots. And in the beautiful sanctuary flanking an ornate (and I mean ornate!) carved pulpit, there are video screens for songs and Scripture.

"The problem with having so many students," my friend continued, "Is that we have a new congregation every three years. But we hope they take something they get from us with them."

My tour-guide friend, who has been attending this church for over 40 years following his move from Lewis Island up North, says they are beginning discussion about planting another congregation in another part of the city.

St Columba would be proud. I'm just saying.

Feeling God's Pleasure...

2010-07-21T10:27:00.001-05:00

We are still in Scotland...

Saturday we attended the Loch Lomand Highland Games at Balloch, Scotland. It was a great day of fun and real Scottish cross-cultural experience. These were real Scots participating in Scottish heritage not Scottish-wanna-bes. (Although a friend of mine says: There are two kinds of people in the world - Scots and those who wish they were)

There were lots of people, a lot of mud (it rains a lot in Scotland) and bagpipe music filled the air as multiple bands played and practiced in all directions.

The games were mostly held in a relatively flat area called The Arena. It was an elliptical area cordoned off from the general area by sectional metal barriers. The Arena itself was then divided into sections: to the left was an area where numerous Pipe Bands (bagpipes and drums) were judged in competition. They all sounded great to me! They marched into the Arena playing; they circled around the bass drum and played a selection or two and then they marched out playing.

To the right of the Arena there was an athletic competition area where kilted big-muscled men tossed the caber, threw the hammer, put the shot and wrestled. There was an international championship being decided in some sort of heavyweight division. Around it all was a track where competitions of bicycle races alternated with foot races.

As I stood leaning on the rail, the astonishing sounds of bagpipes and drums filling the air, a light muck of Scottish mud beneath my feet and an oatmeal biscuit (cookie) in my pocket left from lunch, I heard the loudspeaker say in a thick Scottish brogue, "Ready, set..." and then the crack of the starter's pistol shot! In my mind I was taken back to a scene in the movie Chariots of Fire.

It was at Highland Games like the one we were attending, where Eric Liddle, wrestling with his call to cross-cultural missions says, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."

And I'm concerned that many people never actually feel God's pleasure in anything they do. I'm concerned that for many church is a drudgery, their job a dulling necessity, their family a boring reality and feeling God's pleasure something for others. Perhaps something of a religious mythology, but not for them.

Many Believers feel only that "falling short" kinda feeling and miss out on the pleasure side. And I'm pretty sure that it's because they've never known how to feel God's pleasure. They've never known how because they were never told that they should and could expect to please God.

And I know it's only a movie and a sanitized rendition of history, but the best line in the movie is when Eric says, "When I run I feel His pleasure." What a powerful testimony of grace. Now, I've never run far enough or well enough to feel His pleasure in running. But I can say that often when I speak and often when I challenge others to greatness and when I engage others in worldview-shifting conversation, I feel His pleasure. It's that deep, deep sense that God is pleased with me. And of course, when I feel that pleasure, I am humbled. I sense that somehow, what I've done has pleased God.

But it also feels good. Really really good to sense His pleasure.

Anyway, while I stood there in Balloch amid all the grandeur of Scottish culture, I was reminded of a Scotsman who felt God's pleasure and was challenged to make sure that others felt and understood it too.

So go ahead, indulge yourself. Do something that pleases God. Enjoy.

Conversation about the family business...

2010-07-09T07:31:00.000-05:00

I'm grieved when I hear people talk about God as if He were some distant immovable object to be assaulted by our prayers until He somehow, yet unwillingly, changes His position. Sort of some celestial rock/blob that must be moved.

I'm pretty sure that prayer is supposed to be an intimate conversation among shareholders in the family business. The Father's business - as it's been explained to me - is the expansion of His influence of blessings and reconciliation in the world. We call it The Kingdom, since that is the space where what God the Father wants done is actually done. The "bottom line" of the Kingdom business ledger is in several columns: People Blessed, Lives Changed, People Healed, Dreams Revived, New Partnerships Floated, etc.

We spend time chatting in our daily quiet time. I drink coffee and read from The Book - The Family Story. Reading The Book helps me understand how the family related to their world and circumstances in the past. I read how my ancestor David sang songs to the Father. I read how my spiritual relative Isaiah listened to the the Father and knew how Jesus was coming to suffer as a servant both for The Family and also for those who were not family-members.

My elder brother, whom I love and admire paid a big price for the business to open up a new market in the earth. He flung open the doors! He is my example. He listened to what Father said and watched what Father did and followed Father's instruction to a "T." Great results, but at a great price.

Because of what Jesus did, I am part of the family today. I was born of the Spirit and adopted in all at the same time.

And when Father and I chat, as the son responsible for a small part of the business/Kingdom, I make requests that are useful to the part for which I have responsibility. I express needs. I express hopes. I express aspirations. I ask The Father show me where he wants me to go. I ask Him to assist me in getting there and ask Him to talk to those I'm going to be with before hand so that we're on the same page.

Often He reminds me of places, people and ideas we have previously discussed. (I forget things He says! And things written in The Book! Yikes! Why is that? How dumb...) I ask Him to open doors - that only He can open - so that I might walk through them. I ask Him to help me network with the people He's chatting with already. I ask Him to guide me with His Father-presence wherever I am and whatever I'm doing. And I remind Him that I'm working to do this for Him and not for me.

Because He is my Father and we work together and because I love Him, I serve Him. I want to be useful to Him and His personal desires as well as the business goals we have. I do labor, I do work, but not as some employee or servant. I labor as a son with a vested interest in the business. When I succeed, the business succeeds; when the business succeeds, I am successful.

I attempt to anticipate His wants and desires in advance. Not because I'm afraid of His wrath, but because I my only real fear is that I might displease Him with an attitude, motive or action.

Prayer is about a chat, an on-going conversation about the things that are on my heart and the things that are on His heart.

How to walk on the edge and not fall over…

2010-07-06T06:03:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine recently grieved over the falling away of several prime leaders who had chosen – in his words – to walk “too close to the edge”. Therefore, he lamented, we must walk safely and not get “too close to the edge.”

He knows that when we fall we take a lot of people with us.

True. So true. So how do we walk on the edge safely? But first, should we actually “walk on the edge?”

Jesus walked on the edge. We are called to follow Jesus. So if we’re following Jesus – at least in theory – we should be on the edge.

And Jesus was out among sinners. And sinners sin and often congregate to sin with other sinners. So if we follow Jesus, we will find ourselves among sinners sinning. And of course unless we are very strong and intentional, we will find that we are tempted to sin as well.

Since we all have a heritage of sinning, it’s hard to break the habits, mind-set and frustrations that sin has produced. And for most of us we have specific areas where sin is easiest and most prevalent. Some things are tempting for some and other things are tempting for others. But we’re all tempted. And we are weak and vulnerable.

Actually, we need edge-walkers. A lot of edge-walkers! We in the church need some people to take a new perspective and get on the edge. But so often we require edge-walkers to be loners and self-supported. They lack relational safety nets and consequently fall over the edge.

So how do we walk on the edge safely? Here are some ideas:

Maintain a core of quality relationships.
- We all know that it’s all about relationships, but maintaining them requires intentionality. Real relationships of quality and trust don’t just happen. Even those relationships we consider “born in heaven” require care and feeding. (Someone should write a book – “The Care and feeding of Relationships”)
- Many people feel that they have quality relationships, but really they have relationships of convenience.
  - A relationship of convenience is one that requires little and cost nothing.
  - A relationship of convenience is about fun and not about growth. (Quality relationships can have an element of fun, but they at their core are about growth.)
- A quality relationship is one of mutual respect that requires escalating transparency and honesty.
- A quality relationship says, "Show me and I will follow. Ask me and I will tell you. Confide in me and I will listen. Expect of me and I will deliver."
- The core of quality relationships most often contain some the strategic outsiders who can speak into our lives for correction and adjustment.
Make yourself accountable.

Accountability relationships are ones you make yourself. No one can actually make you accountable to them. By saying “I’d like you to question my motives and actions” you open yourself up for true change.
Accountability is a nasty word for some. They see it as “jot and tittle” bean-counting of actions. They have a bad history of “accountability” and accountability groups. But accountability means allowing others accessibility to our actions and our hearts. And in our hearts are our motives and attitudes. To be accountable is to be vulnerable on a level that is often uncomfortable.

Know your limitations.

Few people are willing to acknowledge that they even have limitations, much less have a genuine knowledge of what they are.
If greed is a problem, then stay away from it. If drunkenness is a temptation, then avoid drinking. If glamour and “spotlight” are temptations, then don’t go there emotionally, physically or mentally. When one says, “I’m not strong enough to go into a strip club to evangelize” they’re not displaying weakness, they’re displaying wisdom. They’re displaying a self-knowledge that allows them to give of themselves without compromising themselves.
Knowledge and acknowledgement of limitations helps set vision and give focus.

Know your strengths and use them to manage your weaknesses.

While weaknesses are often glaring, strengths are often subtle.
Most people spend eons and tons of energy attempting to turn weakness into strengths. Mostly can’t be done. But when we recognize our strengths and our weaknesses, we are able to use the things we are strong in to manage the things we are weak in.
Use your strengths to manage your weaknesses.

We as God’s church need to find ways to support those who walk on the edge so that they don’t fall over. And we need to acknowledge that their particular brand of edge-walking might be God’s best for them – even if it’s not for us.

And walking on the edge is not really an option. But a mandate.

Travel in the 21st century is always a trip...

2010-07-04T15:25:00.002-05:00

So I woke up this morning in Scotland...

Travel in the 21st century is always a trip. We started in Pensacola on a flight filled (to overflowing) with young Marines and Sailors. A noisy boisterous bunch on weekend liberty and headed to connections in Atlanta. And, the plane gets grounded. It had flow in from Atlanta with warning lights because of some engine problems. So after an hour delay they grounded it.

Unhappy Marines. Unhappy Sailors. But light at the end of the tunnel! A spend-the-night-in-Pensacola-Delta flight arrived and they decided to put us on it. The Marines and Sailors are happy, but still a little up set that they will miss the connections taking them home - as one guy said - to where "mama has dinner on the table."

But the pilot comes out and says, "Guys, I'm the pilot of this craft and I feel your pain. I'm 21 years in the Marines and I want you guys to get where you need to be. So I'm authorizing my copilot to fly 'at the speed of heat." I'm telling him as soon as the tower gives us the okay, that he's gonna fly it like he stole it and get us into Atlanta! Semper fi!"

So we took off with the echoing Hoo-Ha's and cheers hanging in the air! And made it to Atlanta in less than half and hour.

Travel in the 21st century is always a trip.

Comfort + Convenience + Safety = Consumer

2010-06-29T09:50:00.001-05:00

Just some random thoughts this Tuesday...

Last night, Michael, my new son-in-law (who by the way is now out of warranty since he and Jane have been married for 90+days... can't be returned for full refund) and Jane were coming over for dinner and a movie. So I fired up the grill, plopped on the beef and set about to prep the fresh squash for grilling.

And as I watched, the bright yellow flames went south! Yep, out of gas, something I knew was coming. Phyllis had sorta prophesied it. So leaving the meat on the grill (it has a cover) I grabbed the extra tank and headed to the mile-away Tom Thumb convenience store. I'd just been there an hour before renting Invictus at the Redbox. But I wheeled in, popped inside, swiped my debit card, exchanged my empty Blue Rhino tank for a filled one and was back home and grilling again in 15 - maybe even 10 - minutes.

Wham-bam. Thank you mam.

I - as the consummate consumer - adore the whole quick-quick process: bottled gas, a movie, close by, in-and-out and while there I could have gotten whatever else I've ever needed. Even better than Wal-Mart or Lowe's, because at Wal-Mart or Lowe's it would have taken me almost half and hour just to go through the process to get the Blue Rhino exchanged. And Lowe's doesn't have a Redbox.

(And I know all sorts of people are talking about this regarding church, but I can't seem to resist shooting myself in the foot, so here goes...)

So there you have it: CONVENIENCE, COMFORT, SAFETY. All the things I rant against in Church and in Missions.

Many folks look for church like they look for a Tom Thumb store:

Convenient
Nearby
Good parking
In-and-out
Easy access
Variety of products -

Blue Rhino for the dad's grill,
Redbox for the family entertainment,
Chips and salsa inside

Somewhat friendly personnel who at least know how to unlock the secure area where the Blue Rhino gas tanks are stored and work the cash register

And of course, me being me, asks the question (about church, not Tom Thumb): "Where's the Cross? Where's the sacrifice? Where's the Mission?"

Now, don't get me wrong: I love having the convenience of a Tom Thumb near my house, with the mail delivered to my front door and Publix and Winn-Dixie and CVS and Wal-Mart all really close. And I like my electricity working all the time and clean water from the tap. When I have a choice between convenience and inconvenience, I choose convenience. Hands down. No contest.

But when I think about Gospel, and Kingdom, and Mission, I think of costs not convenience; cost in terms of money, time, sweat, effort, skin and blood.

And not just mine but Jesus'.

I cry when I hear people answer the question "What did you learn most while you were on your missions trip?" and they answer, "How really blessed we are" with an undertone of "and I'm not ever going back."

Does it take inconvenience in our lives and poverty and lack in the lives of others for us to see our blessings?

(OK Hatcher, suck it up and shut up!)

My heroes are those who count the cost and walk away from all the coolness and the comfort of our world and accept the challenges and pain of the rest of the world. And they do it, not for the adventure of two weeks in a novel setting, but for the Gospel for a long inconvenient time. They go accepting the frustration and time-consumption as part of the "Go-package" of being sent by God on His Mission.

These heroes look like Jesus to me.

I know, I'll shut up and stop by Tom Thumb on my way home.

So I guess the world's worst blogger must start again...

2010-06-27T06:25:00.004-05:00

Jane, my lovely married daughter asked why I didn't blog any more. (Actually I was shocked that she had been reading it and perhaps was missing it. But then again, as newly-weds, they don't have a tv, so that might be why she'd read my blog...) But, I guess it's because I do a lot of other things -- Twitter, FaceBook, teach, train, coach (and my coaching website has a blog page www.eikonassociates.com), write books (!) - so that I don't appear to have the time.

But there's not a place I actually "speak" my mind in a forum for response. There's not a place that I can actually "put it out there" so that folks know where I am - in the moment.

So I guess I'll begin blogging again... maybe it'll be interesting. But no promises.

Just so you know... Today I'm ministering at Harvest Church Pensacola at 8:30 and 10:00 AM. It's live-streamed at www.harvestpensacola.com

So what do you think?

2010-03-01T12:02:00.001-06:00

Seems to me that this is how we think... And how we act. Of course, doesn't sound too New Testament to me. But then what do I know?

The Book is here!

2010-02-17T20:32:00.001-06:00

My book - Why God Thinks He Can Use You - is here!!!

After - as my friend Ken Cline says - "a decade" of waiting and writing, my book is here and available. And needless to say, I'm a little pumped and a whole lot relieved. (I hesitate to say - I've made this mistakes about writing before and been sorely chastened! Sorely! - but I'll say it anyway) It has been like birthing a baby to get these thoughts on paper/screen even though I teach these particular concepts often.

In fact, I taught this course at Globe's IGM in Pensacola and at IGO's IGM in Mobile just recently. And I love helping others discover how they show up best and hoe they are created to serve God.

So, give a look here and buy it, read it, apply it and let's change the world!

So how far apart are God and Creation?

2010-02-02T09:15:00.005-06:00

Tom Wright. Wow, what can you say about him? Some folks (mostly some of my Reformed friends who are in the John Piper Fan Club) don't like him and think he's wimp because he sorta demotes Paul to a lower status than Jesus. (Go figure.) But me, unashamedly I can say he's one of my theological heroes. He's probably one of the very best thinkers around today. He's intelligent, kind and articulate. He loves Jesus! Not is some kinda schmaltzy prom-song way, but in a devoted I-will-follow-Him way. I got to hang out with him a few years ago in the UK and he's really nice, witty and eats normal food. In this clip, he really helps us think about adjusting our lenses.

Give a look...

Thinking of how to steal second...

2010-01-28T08:47:00.002-06:00

Neil Cole says a lot...

...I don’t know how it happened, but sometime in history we bought into a theology of safe. We think that we should do what is safe, for ourselves, for our families, and for our churches. In fact, we are convinced that anything that is unsafe must be outside of God’s will and is thoroughly un-American and un-Christian. A theology of safe is put in place as a defensive measure to avoid death. This leads us right down the path of self-preservation.

We often approach church and ministry with a theology of SAFE.

Safe is…

Self-preservation = our mission
Avoidance of the world and risk = wisdom
Financial security = responsible faith
Education = maturity

Does that not describe many of the churches, denominations or ministries you have encountered?

I'm convinced that we need to rethink how we take the Gospel to our worlds. (I use the world "worlds" on purpose, because we each have our own "world" of interactions, relationships and influence.) We need to rethink security and what it means to follow Christ into the world.

Jesus - by His Spirit - is already active in the world. Active among your neighbors, among the guys hanging on the street corner, among the folks at WalMart or SubWay or Starbucks. Our task is to risk a little, ,get out of the comfort zone and not be so blooming safe!

We've worked hard at not just being SAFE!

After all, you can't steal second with your foot on first!

How Big is Your Book?: Haiti, Pat Robertson and Religion in America

2010-01-24T08:27:00.001-06:00

Jeffrey Weiss writes in Politics Daily some really interesting observations about how very important religion is in America today. He quotes The Daily Show's Jon Stewart's reply to Pat Robertson as follows:

"Out of all the things you could draw on from your religion to bring comfort to a devastated people and region? Look how big your book is! 'The Lord is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those who are crushed in spirit. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. From the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.'

"That almost sounds like it's about a f**** earthquake!"

Stewart, a Jew with no affection for Pat Robertson's style of religion or politics - quotes from Isaiah and the Psalms. You can read the entire article - well worth the read - here.

I'm amazed at who quotes comfort in times of unexplainable events. And of course my question for me is, "Am I bringing comfort, controversy or criticism?"

Love speaks comfort.

NEEDED SHORT-TERM HAITI RELIEF WORKERS 21-26 January

2010-01-21T14:38:00.001-06:00

We have a small window of opportunity (21-26 January) for DOCTORS, NURSES, and CONSTRUCTION WORKERS to spend a few days in Haiti with Globe Missionaries Keith and Cindy Lashbrook assisting in relief work among displaced Haitian people. They expect over 2000 refugees from Port au Prince arriving in their area and need assistance.

Free flights from Ft. Lauderdale to Haiti for the next 6 days – 6 flights per day. Workers must get passage to Ft. Lauderdale, but the relief flight is without charge. The stay is short, but impact can be great.

Call Globe International at 850.453.3453 for further details.

It's a funny world...

2010-01-14T09:16:00.002-06:00

Maybe it's just me, but it's a funny world when:

people can go from being elected governors of various states -(governor! for Pete's sake!) overseeing other people's lives, responsible for executing laws, stewards of public trust, etc. to becoming news commentators and interviewers and no one seems to see that as a "step down" and somehow compromising. Seems to be no disjuncture in our minds between "leading" and "commentating." I can't imagine Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill having a prime-time complain and harass show. But maybe - if they'd had the technology. Or needed the money. Or needed to remain in the spotlight for future ventures... (hummm)
it becomes news-worthy who comes on TV at 11:30 at night. These guys get paid chunks of money to make jokes, act a wee bit stupid, be irreverent and ingrain themselves in American culture. In the grand scheme of things, does it matter? And then the late night personalities get paid to diss and deride their bosses for making decisions they don't like. I know it's all about status and cash, but it seems so petty in the real world. And it seems inane to allow TV personalities to deride their employers. Just so you know: Real people can't do that in real life. Not and still get paid.
someone who doesn't really get "organic church" can say as a movement it's dead.
Angelina and Brad can give a million dollars to Haiti relief - snap! - just like that.
we can be in the middle of a two-front war and we can expect life and the economy to continue in a "business as usual" way. A war costs money and probably needs a level of public and personal sacrifice to actually be won.
gasoline prices fluctuate wildly and no one seems to know why. Or if they know, they ain't telling.
that Fiat now has controlling interest in Chrysler. Fiat! When was the last time you knew anybody who owned - ok, ever even saw - a Fiat! At least when it was Daimler/Benz we though something good could actually happen. But Fiat has some nice smaller cars in Europe. Can't imagine small 2 1/2 seat Chryslers, somehow.
we lose the plot... we lose the story... we lose the mission and yet wonder why we're frustrated

The mission is the focus... lose it and you're lost.

2010-01-04T18:07:00.001-06:00

In everything the focus must be the mission. you lose sight of the mission and you lose sight of everything and get into big-time trouble.

I personally get concerned when we as born-again, Spirit-filled, Bible-espousing people forget the mission. As I say in the book (coming soon to a website near you!) Why God Thinks He Can Use You, if you lose the story - God's Story, our story - you lose the mission!

Peggy Noonan in the New York times article reminds of this here.

Maybe the most worrying trend the past 10 years can be found in this phrase: "They forgot the mission." So many great American institutions—institutions that every day help hold us together—acted as if they had forgotten their mission, forgotten what they were about, what their role and purpose was, what they existed to do. You, as you read, can probably think of an institution that has forgotten its reason for being. Maybe it's the one you're part of.

We saw an example this week with the federal government, which whatever else it does has a few very essential missions to perform that only it can perform, such as maintaining the national defense. Our federal government now does 10 million things, many of them not so well. Its attention is scattered. It loses sight of the essentials, which is part of the reason underpants bombers wind up on airplanes.

Wall Street the past 10 years truly and profoundly lost sight of its mission. It exists to be the citadel of American finance. Its job is to grow and invest and enrich, thereby making the jobs possible that help family exist.

Wall Street has a civic purpose. But it must always do its job with an eye to prudence, because a big part of its job is to provide a secure and grounded economic footing for the nation. But throughout the '00s Wall Street's leaders gave themselves over to one thing, and that was looking out, always, for No. 1. And they knew how to define No. 1. It wasn't the country, and it wasn't even the company. They'd crater companies, parachute out, and brag about it later.

If there was one damning and utterly illustrative quote that captured Wall Street in the past 10 years it was that of Charles Prince, CEO of Citigroup, in July 2007. Worrying investment trends were beginning to emerge, but why slow down? He told The New York Times, "As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance." This from a banker, a leader, a citizen, a man responsible for a community.

Later in the article, she talks about Congress losing the mission as well as the Catholic Church.

So, begin the new year with finding your story and consequently your place in God's Mission! It's not that hard - but if you lose it, you're lost.

Thinking about "change..."

2010-01-03T09:40:00.001-06:00

Next few days I will post some thought provoking quotes...

"The epicenter of global Christianity has shifted dramatically in the past 10 years. While American faith seems to be simmering on low, or cooling off completely, spiritual fervor is reaching a boiling point in places like Jakarta, Bangalore, Nairobi, Bogota and Sao Paulo. The church in the developing world is now setting the pace, and we have so much to learn from them."
J. Lee Grady, editor, Charisma Magazine

What do you think? What can we learn from the church in the developing world? What can we learn form listening to the missionaries that taught them? (Shameless plug for guys like me...)

Dave Barry's year in review: 2009... California, in a move apparently intended to evade creditors, has its name legally changed to "South Oregon.''

2010-01-01T16:05:00.001-06:00

(I copied this whole article from The Miami Herald. It's long and I hope I'm not prosecuted for this, but it is entirely TOO FUNNY for anyone to miss!!)

It was a year of Hope -- at first in the sense of ``I feel hopeful!'' and later in the sense of ``I hope this year ends soon!''

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting "business as usual,'' finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it.

To be sure, it was a year that saw plenty of bad news. But in almost every instance, there was offsetting good news:

BAD NEWS: The economy remained critically weak, with rising unemployment, a severely depressed real-estate market, the near-collapse of the domestic automobile industry and the steep decline of the dollar.

GOOD NEWS: Windows 7 sucked less than Vista.

BAD NEWS: The downward spiral of the newspaper industry continued, resulting in the firings of thousands of experienced reporters and an apparently permanent deterioration in the quality of American journalism.

GOOD NEWS: A lot more people were tweeting.

BAD NEWS: Ominous problems loomed abroad as -- among other difficulties -- the Afghanistan war went sour, and Iran threatened to plunge the Middle East and beyond into nuclear war.

GOOD NEWS: They finally got Roman Polanski.

In short, it was a year that we will be happy to put behind us. But before we do, let's swallow our anti-nausea medication and take one last look back, starting with. . . .

JANUARY

...during which history is made in Washington, D.C., where a crowd estimated by the Congressional Estimating Office at 217 billion people gathers to watch Barack Obama be inaugurated as the first American president ever to come after George W. Bush. There is a minor glitch in the ceremony when Chief Justice John Roberts, attempting to administer the oath of office, becomes confused and instead reads the side-effect warnings for his decongestant pills, causing the new president to swear that he will consult his physician if he experiences a sudden loss of sensation in his feet. President Obama then delivers an upbeat inaugural address, ushering in a new era of cooperation, civility and bipartisanship in a galaxy far, far away. Here on Earth everything stays much the same.

The No. 1 item on the agenda is fixing the economy, so the new administration immediately sets about the daunting task of trying to nominate somebody -- anybody -- to a high-level government post who actually remembered to pay his or her taxes. Among those who forgot this pesky chore is Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, who sheepishly admits that he failed to pay $35,000 in federal self-employment taxes. He says that the error was a result of his using TurboTax, which he also blames for his involvement in an eight-state spree of bank robberies. He is confirmed after the Obama administration explains that it inherited the U.S. Tax Code from the Bush administration.

Elsewhere in politics, a team of specially trained wildlife agents equipped with nets and tranquilizer darts manages, after a six-hour struggle, to remove Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office. He is transported to an undisclosed swamp, where he is released into the wild and quickly bonds with the native ferret population.

On a more upbeat note, the nation finds a new hero in US Airways Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who, in an astonishing feat of aviation, manages to land a US Airways flight safely in the Hudson River after it loses power shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia. Incredibly, all 155 people on board survive, although they are immediately taken hostage by Somali pirates.

In entertainment news, an unemployed California mother of six uses in-vitro fertilization to give birth to eight more children, an achievement that immediately catapults her to a celebrity status equivalent to that of a minor Kardashian sister. But even this joyous event is not enough to cheer up a nation worried about the worsening economy, which becomes so badin . . .

FEBRUARY

...that Congress passes, without reading it, and without actually finishing writing it, a stimulus package totaling $787 billion. The money is immediately turned over to American taxpayers so they can use it to stimulate the economy.

No! What a crazy idea THAT would be! The money is to be doled out over the next decade or so by members of Congress on projects deemed vital by members of Congress, such as constructing buildings that will be named after members of Congress. This will stimulate the economy by creating millions of jobs, according to estimates provided by the Congressional Estimating Office's Magical Estimating 8-Ball.

Despite this heroic effort, the economy continues to stumble. General Motors, which has sold only one car in the past year -- a Buick LaCrosse mistakenly purchased by an 87-year-old man who thought he was buying a power scooter -- announces a new four-part business plan, consisting of (1) dealership closings; (2) factory shutdowns;(3) worker layoffs; and (4) traveling backward through time to 1955.

The stock market hits its lowest level since 1997; this is hailed as a great investment opportunity by all the financial wizards who failed to let us know last year that the market was going to tank. California goes bankrupt and is forced to raise $800 million by pawning Angelina Jolie.

The Obama administration's confirmation woes continue as Tom Daschle is forced to withdraw as nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services following the disclosure that he, too, failed to pay all of his federal taxes. He blames this oversight on the fact that his tax returns were prepared by Treasury Secretary Geithner.

The Academy Awards are a triumph for Slumdog Millionaire, which wins eight Oscars, only to have them stolen by Somali pirates.

In sports, the Pittsburgh Steelers win the Super Bowl, defeating some team in a game that we have all completely forgotten. Michael Phelps is suspended from competitive swimming following publication of a photograph clearly showing that he has gills. Baseball star Alex Rodriguez admits that from 2001 through 2003 he used steroids, which he claims he got from Treasury Secretary Geithner.

And speaking of shocking disclosures, in...

MARCH

...an angry nation learns that the giant insurance company AIG, which received $170 billion in taxpayer bailouts and posted a $61 billion loss, is paying executive bonuses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This news shocks and outrages President Obama and members of Congress, who happen to be the very people who passed the legislation that authorized both the bailouts and the bonuses, but of course they did that during a crisis and thus had no time to find out what the hell they were voting for.

To correct this situation, some congresspersons propose a 90 percent tax on the bonuses, followed by beheadings, followed by the passage of tough new financial legislation that nobody in Congress will read or understand.

In other economic news, the CEO of GM resigns under pressure from the White House, which notes that it inherited the automobile crisis from the Bush administration. GM is now essentially a subsidiary of the federal government, which promises to use its legendary business and marketing savvy to get the crippled auto giant back on its feet, starting with an exciting new lineup of cars such as the Chevrolet Consensus, a ``green'' car featuring a compressed-soybean chassis, the world's first engine powered entirely by dew, and a 14,500-page owner's manual, accompanied by nearly 6,000 pages of amendments.

Businessman Bernard Madoff pleads guilty to bilking investors out of $65 billion in a Ponzi scheme, forcing the Obama administration to withdraw his nomination for secretary of commerce.

The annual observance of Earth Hour is observed with one hour of symbolic energy conservation as hundreds of millions of non-essential lights and appliances are turned off. And that's just in Al Gore's house.

In sports and entertainment news, former NFL great Lawrence Taylor, appearing on Dancing With the Stars, accidentally rips off his partner's arms during the cha-cha competition. The judges award Taylor 453 points out of a possible 30, citing his ``energy'' and ``proximity.''

Abroad, North Korea, in what many observers view as a deliberate act of provocation, calls Domino's and, posing as the United States, orders 23 million pizzas delivered to Japan.

International problems continue to dominate in...

APRIL

...as leaders of the world's powers, looking for a way out of the worsening world economic crisis, gather in London for the G-20 summit, which ends abruptly in a violent argument over the bill for the welcoming dinner. A short while later, in what many economists see as a troubling development, the International Monetary Fund moves into a refrigerator carton.

In other international bad news, North Korea launches a test missile that experts say is capable of hitting Hawaii, based on the fact that it actually hits Hawaii. The United States swiftly pledges to issue a strongly worded condemnation containing ``even stronger words than last time.''

On the domestic front, the struggling Chrysler Corp. declares bankruptcy, but its CEO confidently predicts that the company will come back ``bigger, better and stronger than ever'' thanks to its 2010 product line, spearheaded by the all-new Dodge Despair.

The big health story in April is the rapid spread of swine flu, a dangerous new virus strain developed by the makers of Purell. Public anxiety over the flu increases when Vice President Joe Biden, demonstrating his gift for emitting statements, declares on the Today show that he would not recommend traveling by commercial airplane or subway. A short while later, White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs assures reporters that he is ``not aware of any `Vice President Joe Biden.' ''

In another embarrassment for the White House, New York is temporarily thrown into a panic when Air Force One flies low over Manhattan for a publicity photo shoot. Responding to widespread criticism, Gibbs notes that President Obama inherited Air Force One from the Bush administration.

On a more positive note, an American ship captain is dramatically rescued from Somali pirates by a team of Navy SEAL sharpshooters, who are immediately hired by Dancing With the Stars to assist with the judging of Lawrence Taylor.

Speaking of drama, in...

MAY

...the finale of American Idol produces a shocking outcome that sends shock waves of shock reverberating around the planet when the winner turns out to be -- incredibly -- that guy singer, whatshisname, despite the fact that the overwhelming favorite was that OTHER guy singer. Congress vows to hold hearings after reports surface that, of the nearly 100 million votes, 73 million were phoned in by ACORN.

But the big political drama takes place in Washington, where David Souter announces that he is retiring from the Supreme Court because he is tired of getting noogies from Chief Justice Roberts. To replace Souter, President Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor, setting off the traditional Washington performance of Konfirmation Kabuki, in which the Democrats portray the nominee as basically a cross between Abraham Lincoln and the Virgin Mary, and the Republicans portray her more as Ursula the Sea Witch with a law degree. Sotomayor will eventually be confirmed, but only after undergoing the traditional Senate Judiciary Committee hazing ritual, during which she must talk for four straight days without expressing an opinion.

In crippled U.S. auto giant news, General Motors announces a new business plan under which it will fire everybody but Howie Long, who will continue to make what GM calls ``some of the most popular commercials on the market.'' Meanwhile Chrysler, looking to the future, invests $114 million in an Amway distributorship.

On the international-tension front, a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss possible sanctions against North Korea is forced to adjourn hastily when the council chamber is penetrated by a missile.

In sports, Helio Castroneves wins the Indianapolis 500, although his victory is somewhat tainted by the fact that all 32 of the other cars were hijacked by Somali pirates. Major League Baseball suspends Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez for 50 games after his urine sample explodes.

But all of these stories suddenly seem unimportant in...

JUNE

...when pop superstar Michael Jackson dies, setting off an orgy of frowny-face TV-newsperson fake somberness the likes of which has not been seen since the Princess Diana Grief-a-Palooza. At one point experts estimate that the major networks are using the word the word ``icon'' a combined total of 850 times per hour. Larry King devotes several weeks to in-depth coverage of this story, during which he conducts what is believed to be the first-ever in-casket interview; this triumph is marred only slightly by the fact that the venerable TV personality apparently believes he is talking to Bette Midler.

On the economic front, California is caught on videotape attempting to shoplift 17,000 taxpayers from Nevada. General Motors files for bankruptcy and announces a new sales strategy under which it will go around at night leaving cars in people's driveways, then sprinting away.

In political news, the Minnesota Supreme Court, clearly exhausted by months of legal wrangling, declares Al Franken the winner of American Idol. Meanwhile the governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, goes missing for six days; his spokesperson tells the press that the governor is ``hiking the Appalachian trail,'' which turns out to be a slang term meaning ``engaging in acts of an explicitly non-gubernatorial nature with a woman in Argentina.'' The state legislature ultimately considers impeaching Sanford, but changes its mind upon discovering that the lieutenant governor, who got into office through some slick legal maneuvering when nobody was paying attention, is Eliot Spitzer.

Political news continues to dominate in...

JULY

...when Sarah Palin unexpectedly announces that she will not complete her term as elected governor of Alaska, explaining, in a prepared statement, that she has a hair appointment. Asked by reporters if she plans to seek the Republican presidential nomination, she replies, ``You leave my personal life out of this.'' Elsewhere in state politics, the FBI arrests pretty much every elected official in New Jersey on suspicion of being New Jersey elected officials.

On Independence Day the nation takes a welcome break from its worries to celebrate in traditional fashion with barbecues, parades and -- as night falls -- spectacular aerial North Korean missile detonations.

In government news, top Washington thinkers, looking for a way to goose the economy along, come up with the ``Cash for Clunkers'' program, under which the federal government provides a financial inducement for people to take functional cars, which are mostly American-made, to car dealers, who deliberately destroy these cars and sell the people new replacement cars, which are mostly foreign-made. This program, which was budgeted for $1 billion, ends up costing $3 billion and is halted after a month. The administration declares that it has been a huge success, which everybody understands to mean that it will never, ever be repeated. With this mission accomplished, the top Washington thinkers are free to train all of their brainpower on the nation's health-care system.

President Obama becomes embroiled in controversy when, commenting on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley, he states that the police "acted stupidly.'' This comment angers many in the law-enforcement community, as the president discovers the next day when his motorcade is cited for more than 3,000 moving violations. To resolve the situation, the president invites both Gates and Crowley to the White House for a "beer summit,'' which is described later by White House spokesperson Gibbs as "very amicable'' except for some "minor tasering.''

Speaking of conflict, in...

AUGUST

...President Obama, in the first serious test of his presidency, announces that he will send U.S. troops to rescue Democratic members of Congress pinned down in town hall meetings by constituents firing hostile questions concerning the administration's health-care plan, which turns out not to be wildly popular outside of the immediate Capitol Hill area. The president dismisses concerns that his health-care agenda is in trouble, observing that "there's something about August going into September where everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up.'' White House spokesperson Gibbs explains that the "vast majority'' of the wee-wee was inherited from the Bush administration.

In foreign affairs, former president Bill Clinton goes to North Korea to secure the release of two detained American journalists who purely by coincidence happen to be women. Fidel Castro, after nearly a year out of the public eye, appears on the popular Cuban television show Bailando con Cadáveres ("Dancing With Corpses'').

California, in a move apparently intended to evade creditors, has its name legally changed to "South Oregon.''

In an alarming technological development, hackers shut down Twitter, leaving a desperate and suddenly vulnerable America with no way to find out what the Kardashian sisters are having for lunch. The Federal Emergency Management Agency urges the nation to ``remain calm'' and ``use Facebook if you can.'' Twitter service is eventually restored, but most of the estimated 875 million thoughts that went untweeted during the outage will never be recovered, making it the nation's worst social-networking disaster ever.

Speaking of disruptions,in...

SEPTEMBER

...President Obama, speaking on health care before a joint session of Congress, is rudely interrupted by Kanye West, who grabs the microphone and declares that Beyoncé has a better health-care plan. No, wait, sorry: The president is rudely interrupted by Republican congressperson Joe Wilson, who shouts ``You lie!'' Wilson later apologizes for his breach of congressional etiquette, saying, "I should have just mooned him.''

With public support for the administration's health-care plan continuing to slip, the president orders U.S. troops into Fox News, then goes on a media blitz, appearing, in a three-day span, on Meet the Press, Face the Nation, Meet the Nation, Face the Press, Press Your Face Against the Nation, Letterman, Leno, Judge Judy, Iron Chef and Dog the Bounty Hunter. The president also delivers a back-to-school speech to the nation's students, telling them to work hard and get a good education. Fortunately, thanks to the vigilance of the talk-radio community, many parents realize that this is some kind of secret socialist code message and are able to prevent their children from being exposed to it.

In international news, Iran shocks the world by revealing the existence of a previously secret uranium enrichment facility. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists that the uranium will be used only for ``parties.'' United Nations nuclear inspectors note, however, that ``Mahmoud Ahmadinejad'' can be rearranged to spell "Had Jammed a Humanoid'' and "Hounded a Jihad Mamma.''

On the international-finance front, leaders of the world's economic powers gather for the G-20 summit meeting in Pittsburgh, where, in a rare display of unity, they vote unanimously to fire whoever is responsible for selecting their meeting sites.

Speaking of questionable site selection, in...

OCTOBER

...the International Olympic Committee meets in Copenhagen to choose whether Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo or Madrid will host the 2016 summer games. Chicago is considered a strong candidate, but despite personal appeals for the city from President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Richard Daley, Oprah Winfrey and the late Al Capone, the committee -- in an unexpected decision -- votes to hold the games in Pyongyang, North Korea. The head of the IOC insists that the decision was ``made freely and without coercion,'' adding, ``for the love of God please abort the launch.''

On a happier note for the White House, President Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize, narrowly edging out Beyoncé.

In the Middle East, hopes for peace soar when Iran announces that it will allow U.N. inspectors to visit its nuclear-enrichment facility. Hopes plunge soon after when the inspectors report that they were taken to what appears to be a hastily abandoned kebab stand with a hand-painted sign that says "NUCLEAR ENRICHMENT,'' as well as what the inspectors describe as "numerous health-code violations.''

In Afghanistan, U.N. investigators raise questions about the recent national election, noting that a third of the votes cast for President Hamid Karzai came from Palm Beach County.

On the celebrity front, a remorseful David Letterman confesses to his stunned audience that he has been hiking the Appalachian Trail with female staff members.

But the big story in October, the story that grips the nation the way a dog grips a rancid squirrel, is the mesmerizing drama of a silver balloon racing through the blue skies above central Colorado, desperately pursued by police, aviation and rescue personnel who have been led to believe that the balloon contains O.J. Simpson.

No, that would have been great, but the authorities in fact have been led to believe that the balloon contains 6-year-old Falcon Heene, the son of exactly the kind of parents you would expect to name a child "Falcon.'' It quickly becomes clear that the boy is not in the balloon, and the whole thing is a hoax perpetrated by attention-seeking reality-show-wannabe idiots. In other words, nothing really happened, so naturally the media go into a weeklong Category 5 frenzy so intensive that Larry King is forced to temporarily interrupt his ongoing postmortem coverage of the Michael Jackson funeral.

Speaking of attention-seeking reality-show-wannabe idiots,in...

NOVEMBER

...a Washington couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, penetrate heavy security and enter the White House, a feat that Joe Biden has yet to manage. As details of the incident emerge, an embarrassed Secret Service is forced to admit that not only did the couple crash a state dinner, but they also met and shook hands with the president, and they "may have served briefly in the cabinet.''

In other White House news, the president, in a much-debated post-Thanksgiving decision, announces that he is sending U.S. troops into the electronics departments of 1,400 Best Buy stores to prevent Black Friday shoppers from killing each other over flat-screen TVs. Hours later the president withdraws the troops, calling the situation "hopeless.'' Press Secretary Gibbs notes that the president inherited Black Friday from the Bush administration.

Attorney General Eric Holder announces that, to maintain the principle of due legal process, alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried in federal court in New York City, but as a precaution, "he will be executed first.''

In sports, the New York Yankees, after an eight-year drought, purchase the World Series. But the month's big sports story involves Tiger Woods, who, plagued by tabloid reports that he has been hiking the Appalachian trail with a nightclub hostess, is injured in a bizarre late-night incident near his Florida home when his SUV is attacked by golf-club-wielding Somali pirates.

In science news:

• The Large Hadron Collider is restarted after a 14-month delay caused by squirrels stealing the particles.

• Elated NASA scientists announce that they have discovered ice on the moon, although their excitement fades when they calculate that getting it back to Earth will cost $185 million per cube.

• Researchers from MIT and Harvard announce that they have sequenced the genome of a horse. They are arrested when police discover that "sequencing the genome'' is the scientific slang equivalent of "hiking the Appalachian trail.''

In a troubling economic development, the U.S. dollar, for the first time in history, falls below the lentil.

Speaking of troubling, in...

DECEMBER

...President Obama, after weeks of pondering what to do about the pesky war situation he inherited, announces a decision -- widely viewed as a compromise -- in which he will send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but will name their mission "Operation Gentle Butterfly.''

On the economic front, the nation's unemployment rate remains stubbornly high as it becomes clear that the $787 billion stimulus package has created a total of only eight jobs, all in the field of highway-construction flagperson. Looking for solutions, the president hosts a White House ``jobs summit'' attended by political, business and labor leaders, as well as 23 Portuguese tourists who got lost while trying to visit the Washington Monument and somehow penetrated White House security. Meanwhile, in what is believed to be the largest Craigslist transaction ever, California sells San Diego to Mexico.

On the environmental front, Copenhagen hosts a massive international conference aimed at halting manmade global warming, attended by thousands of delegates who flew to Denmark on magical carbon-free unicorns.

In the Middle East, U.N. nuclear inspectors become suspicious when Iran attempts to ship to Israel, via UPS, a large crate labeled "HARMLESS ITEMS -- DELIVER BEFORE TIMER REACHES 00:00.''

There are other troubling year-end developments:

• In a setback for U.S. interests in Central America, voters in Honduras elect, as their new president, Rod Blagojevich.

• The International Space Station is taken over by Somali pirates.

• In sports, roughly 40 percent of the U.S. bimbo population announces that it has at one time or another hiked the Appalachian Trail with Tiger Woods.

Also, as the year draws to a close, the Centers for Disease Control releases an urgent bulletin warning of a new, fast-spreading epidemic consisting of severe, and in some cases life-threatening, arm infections caused by ``people constantly sneezing into their elbow pits.''

But despite all the gloomy news, the holiday season brings at least temporary relief to a troubled nation -- especially the children, millions of whom go to sleep on Christmas Eve with visions of Santa in his reindeer-powered sleigh flying high overhead, spreading joy around the world.

With a North Korean missile flying right behind.

Try not to think about it. And happy New Year.

Yikes! Yuck! or Yippee! ...ramblings about Seasons - mine and the Church's

2009-12-26T11:28:00.001-06:00

I was thinking this morning about some things I don’t know a lot about. Which is not difficult since I know a lot about so little and so little about a lot. But I was thinking about seasons – both in life and in our journey with God.

I guess what got me thinking was the season in our lives with children. Zach, off pursuing his own life’s journey and career in Northern Virginia, is his own man and at 29 is making his own way. Consequently, he was not in Valdosta, Georgia or Pensacola, Florida for Christmas. And in his 29 years, this is only the second one where he was not with Phyllis and me. Even when he was in university in the States and we were in Cyprus, we always sacrificed, scrimped and saved and were together. We either flew him to Cyprus, or (after Jane was here in the States) flew to Valdosta.

It was odd not having him here. There was a certain hole in my heart. Can’t really explain it.

And then there’s Jane. She and Mike are engaged and will be married 27 March 2010. So we spent Christmas Eve and Day together in Pensacola, Florida where we sometimes live (another story, right?) and where Mike and Jane have jobs. So because of holiday schedules, we stayed in Pensacola. Adding Mike is indication of a new season. A good addition, but a new ingredient. (Sorry - i mix metaphors.)

Lots of food, fun, festivity, movies, church services, carols, communion and more food. A new season in our lives. (Should I say Yikes! or Yuck! or Yippee! Yikes! conveys surprise while Yuck! conveys displeasure and Yippee! conveys excitement… okay this morning it’s a mixture of all.)

So here’s the tie-in (and what I was thinking through in my devotional time)…

In the medieval church, which was always about seasons, feasts and festivals, Advent and Christmas began a new season. Advent (beginning the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day) is about hope and anticipation. Christmas and the following days are about celebration and incarnation. Christ has come! Emmanuel! God is with us!

But then begins another season (correct me if I’m wrong) which culminates with Candlemas on 2 February. This celebrates with lots of lights (candles!) the presentation of Jesus at the Temple described in LUKE 2:22-38. It’s kind of a “missions thing,” because it uses candles to celebrate Jesus as the “light to the Gentiles.” (LUK 2:32). Jesus and Gentiles!

And in the middle of this season – the journey from Christmas (manger/Bethlehem) to Candlemas, (Temple/Jerusalem) – comes Epiphany (6 January) a feast day marking the visit of the Wise Men (Magi) to the Christ Child. The word “epiphany” means “to make known” or “to reveal” revelation and the element tying the two celebrations together is “revelation.”

At Christmas, Jesus is revealed as the Word in human form! Word become flesh (JOH 1:14) tabernacle-ing among us. That’s incarnation. But then in the midst of this is revelation to the Gentiles – the Magi – and Simeon and Anna at the Temple.

And I’m pretty sure that Joseph and Mary were a little overwhelmed at the new Season they were entering in their simple village life.

To everything there is a season:

Advent (anticipation)

Christmas (birth/incarnation/celebration)

Epiphany (gifts/revelation)

Candlemas (light/recognition/celebration)

So I ramble on. Seasons are important, I guess.

But right now, I’m celebratin’, anticipatin’, working and believing to be incarnatin’ the grand Revelation of God with us! Jesus Himself!

Looking for greater gifts and revelation in 2010!

Thinking about God's people at Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:40:00.001-06:00

At Christmastime we have a lot to fill our minds: family, friends and festivity. But for me, I like to reflect on the goodness of God and faithfulness of God’s People.

Phyllis and I have served God all our married lives. We’ve received His grace and have poured it out into the lives of others for all these years, literally all over the world. Our children have known nothing but lives of ministry and missions. I gave up on fame, fortune and financial security years ago and was privileged instead to follow God and depend on Him and His People to supply our needs. And he has! Through you, His redeemed and beloved people!

We could never have done what we have done – and continue to do – without the loving encouragement, thoughtful prayers and sacrificial gifts of visionary friends and family like you. There are no monuments to be found for what we’ve done. The storefront church we served has once again become just that – a store; the house between the fraternity houses is now a parking lot and the Bible school we served in Kenya has no plaque or photo or no memorial hall. Our "monument" – hopefully – is in the lives, hearts and lifestyles of people somehow remolded and equipped to live a life joyously in the face of God, living His destiny day by day.

So right here and right now, I want to say thanks! Thanks for what you’ve done in giving to us and allowing us to be your extension to others. Thanks for giving money – that could have been spent otherwise – so that we could minister in the far corners of the world to leaders, church-planters, pastors and devoted Jesus-followers. We continue to succeed in our dream and the passion of our heart because of you and your faithfulness!

Don’t stop praying and believing! And please don't stop giving. Although we have an office at Globe International, we are not salaried; we are still dependent on God's people and their gifts.

My hair might be white, but the passion of my heart remains! We will train and equip another generation to do what we’ve done! They’ll do it better, go father and have greater impact, because of you and your faithful gifts!

Merry Christmas!

(Oh yeah, if you want to give even now, click on the donate button to the right and it will allow us do the things God has for us in 2010! And there is a lot in store!)

Getting Ready for the New Year

2009-12-19T09:00:00.004-06:00

Oh, fiddle dee dee!

2009-12-18T07:57:00.001-06:00

December has been a very exciting month for me and it’s not even Christmas, yet.

On 5 December, I was awarded an honorary doctorate! Yes, now I’m “Dr. Glenn!” I was honored by Midwest Seminary with a Doctor of Divinity degree for the work in ministry, church development and missions that I’ve been involved in all in various and sundry places in world for the last thirty-odd years.

I was quite taken aback when my friend Dr. James Graham, who sits on the governing board of Midwest Seminary, asked if I would be interested in such a thing. I was concerned and a little embarrassed since I have friends who are getting their PhD after years of study and writing, and here I was getting a DD without a thesis. But as Dr. Eddy Brown awarded the degree, he reminded both me and the audience that this was not a gift, but an honor, given because Midwest Seminary recognized the work of my life. I was humbled. Very humbled!

You see every time I began to embark on degrees and other kinds of learning, I was always detoured by God. Really. When I was set on the denominational track, I had a charismatic experience that detoured (derailed!) my move toward denominational seminary. Then of course I was led to stop my college education just shy of diploma and study with a discipler on a day-to-day basis.

And then every time I tried to do something more educationally, I never could get “final clearance” from the Lord. It seemed that He would say, “Learn by doing, so that you can teach others.” I tried to obey. But there were times I had to fight envy of those who had letters after their name…

But recently I read this:

A young theologian named Fiddle

Refused to accept his degree

"It's bad enough being named Fiddle,

Without being Fiddle, D.D."

Once when I was lamenting my lack of scholastic attainment to my dear Jesus-following friend Dr. Willa Valencia (who at the time was Head of the English Department at Valdosta State University) assured me it was okay not to have. “Degrees are obtained by reading books,” she reminded me. “So just read everything you can and learn everything that’s in them.” And I have and continue to do that. Books and the learning curve I experience through them keep me thirsty to know and understand more!

Speaking of books, I’ve just sent in the final draft of Why God Thinks He Can Use You to the publisher. This is the book accompanying the teaching that I do in IGM and have done all over the world. I hope it will be ready for purchase in late January.

I attempted to write it in July of 2008 but failed miserably. This year, I took the month of August and did little else but write. Almost every day I’d spend 6-8 hours in the “cave” of my small study in Valdosta writing. It was a powerful experience. Then Susan Sumner, Linda Sparks and Phyllis took copies and helped me rewrite it in a more flowing and concise way. Phyllis especially refused to allow me to not rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. She pressed me to keep moving forward and to not settle for postponement.

So now the publisher has the final draft and I hope to have it ready for sale and distribution in January or February. It will be available from the Eikon Associates website (www.eikonassociates.com ), the Globe International website (www.gme.org) or Amazon.com. When it’s ready I’ll give out a shout! Probably a very loud one! (Watch for Why God... - not there yet.)

This week I did a short half-hour interview regarding coaching for a local TV show called FYI. Here, I talked about coaching and how that can impact a person’s life by assisting them to remove obstacles and get traction in moving toward their vision. And I answered questions about Why God Thinks He Can Use You. I was able to talk about God’s purpose to use everybody all the time everywhere for His purpose and plan and about our unique place in everything God is doing in the earth! It will air sometime after the first of 2010. Brandi Gottleib made the interview very easy asking great questions and helping things flow. But she kept calling me Dr. Hatcher. It was a little weird.

So now you can call me Coach Glenn, the author, DD! But smile if you do. It’s a little weird.

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

2009-11-19T06:18:00.004-06:00

Shane Claiborn shows up in the most unusual places... among the poor, among the disenfranchised, among the homeless, in the pages of Esquire...

Here is his apology to the non-believers for not being more like Jesus! Click here to see the article...

What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

Moving at breakneck speed...

2009-11-18T07:56:00.001-06:00

So you thought you understood all this social media stuff... wow!

Who is equal to such a task?

2009-11-17T09:09:00.001-06:00

A few Thursdays ago, Phyllis and I were on the road late in the evening. It was the day of the Ft Hood shootings and we were unsure of what was going on. So instead of listening to good praise or jazz or 60's music on our satellite radio, we tuned in CNN for four hours on the interstate. It kept me awake while Phyllis dozed and helped me get a grasp of what was happening in Texas.

Now a few weeks later most of us are still unsure of why this happened, but the ideas of terrorism and Islamic jihad, fatwa and Muslim extremism keep floating around. The shooter was a Muslim and we know how Muslims are, right?

So I've begun to think about all the Muslims I know. Most American Christians don't know a Muslim. They might have neighbors who are Muslims, but they probably don't know them, have never been in their homes or had them in their homes. But that's no big deal. Most American Christians don't know the Methodists or Catholics that live down the street. (Not that Methodists or Catholics are not Christians… you know what I mean.)

But I know Muslims.

I know Muslims because I lived in the Middle East and in Africa. And the "kinds" of Muslims are as diverse as there are "Christians." All shapes, sizes, theological interpretations and extremes. I know Muslims who did the hajj (the expected at least once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca) several times but were totally secular otherwise eating pork, never attending mosque and hanging out with infidels – Christians – on a regular basis. I know some Muslims that are "cultural Muslims" in that they have no sense of religion, but because they were born in an Islamic family in an Islamic country they are in their minds Muslims. And I know some very devout praying-five-times-a-day and to the mosque on Friday Muslims. And I know even a few radical Muslims who despise Americans and Christians – in that order.

But I also know some Christians. And I know that they run the gamut of beliefs and practices. I know some fundamentalists who are more American than Christian and are angry about everything. I know some liberal thinkers that embrace Islam as another possibility to know god. And I know folks all in between these extremes.

Some of my friends use King James Bibles exclusively; everything else is just a perversion. Some are addicted to New American Standard, but without the passion of the KJV only folks. I know Christians who speak in tongues and believe that those who don't are running on 3 cylinders. And I know those who see glossolalia as totally demonic. And even some who think it's a psychotic condition of people who are one brick short of a load.

Christians – like Muslims – come in all shapes and sizes.

And I know church people who when it comes to Muslims, want to nuke-em-til-they-glow and let God sort out the remains.

And my concern is that we as followers of Jesus must do our best to look and smell like Jesus. In my thinking that's what it really means to be a follower of Jesus: modeling our lifestyle and philosophy of life after Him, His Words and example.

Paul writes to the church at Corinth: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? (2Co 2:14-16)

The big challenge is in understanding who we are as Christ's ambassadors and walking it out in love and humility. Our life is found in being the sent people of God and living our "sentness" in compassion and mercy smelling like Jesus everywhere all the time.

And like Paul I ask, "Who is up to this task? "

What about Jesus and culture?

2009-11-16T09:30:00.001-06:00

My friend and former student, Bill Fiesser wrote me,

“Hey Glenn had a thought today and wanted your opinion. If another culture calls God by a different name but is taught access to that God comes through His son Jesus is that a disservice to the people of that culture?”

I answered:

Bill, if I understand your question – and I’d really like to hear your thoughts and what provoked the question – whenever we bring the good news of Jesus into a culture, we actually do honor to the people there. Especially when we do it right by being culturally sensitive.

In different languages god has a different “name.” But his attributes and personality can be very different along with his names. Zeus and the plethora of Greek gods are very different from the creator God of the Bible. Kali – a Hindu deity – is very different from the merciful divinity we see in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So we can say all gods are not created equal! (I’m not saying god is created… you know what I mean!)

And almost every culture and religion has a supreme Creator. I was once in India and was asked, “Where does God live?” And in this question my host (who had a whole “temple” of gods in the corner of the room) was asking where the Creator God resided.

And every culture – even our “home culture” – contains parts of the good, the bad and the ugly! Some vestige in culture is derived from the imago dei – image of God – other elements are purely demonic and some are just neutral and pragmatic.

The Gospel is not about someone named “Jesus” and someone named “God.” He can be called Yesua, Yesu or Jesus. And even the “name” “God” is an English word from the German word, from the Indo-European word from the Hebrew word… So the terminology is not as important as the relationship and the story. In the Gospel of Jesus, we bring the news of a superabundant loving God who bridges a gap between Creator and creation by becoming a man. We bring honor and dignity to the society by giving a story of God’s redemption of His world.

We serve people, families and cultures when we bring the story of Jesus. We do them a disservice when we hold good things to ourselves and don’t share.

Make sense?

Coupla Things…

2009-11-02T07:31:00.001-06:00

Last night, Phyllis and I were in a "Newcomers" meeting at the church of which we've become a part. It's a pretty unique church in it's philosophy of ministry – turning seekers into servants – and it actually meets in a multiplex movie theater. The theater begins selling tickets and showing the movies at 11:30, so we're in and out for two services beginning at 8:30. When you come in, you're assaulted by popcorn smells and huge posters of the current movies that are playing. (Recently we met in the theater playing "Zombieland" daily except when we were there, and a few months before the children's church met in the "Drag Me to Hell" theater. Irony.)

But we were at the Newcomer Café last night and I found it interesting to hear the new folks explain how they came to the church and what they found "attractive" after they came. The majority of the newbies came because they found the church in the internet. That's right, they moved to town, Googled "churches" and came to the one in the Rave Theater. One couple with two small children did begin attending because they saw the portable sign on the road between the Starbucks and the new Buffalo Wings place. And since they were late for the Lutheran church said, "We can make it on time here," so they wheeled in and stayed.

But I'm pretty amazed at how many people found the church through the internet. They found the church through Google!

Now our church has a rocking interactive website complete with audio messages, etc. But it is a true sign of the times, that developing a website for churches is important. And tell the truth, most church websites are outdated and pretty – can I say this out loud? – crappy. They don't tell much and because they don't get many hits are low on the Google search totem poll. One of the leaders whipped out her iPhone and right in the meeting Googled churches in our fair city and sure enough, number one in the search was our very church.

Churches don't have great websites mainly because they're expensive, not just to set up, but to maintain and keep current. But I'm just saying, if you want to let people find you, do a good website.

Of course a good way to get people to a church meeting is to actually be out among people. Like at work or school or Starbucks and develop a relationship and invite them. One newbie had actually done that, inviting a young Catholic classmate (who sat behind me yesterday morning and cried during worship) to come with her. She kept saying last night, "It was just awesome. I've never been in anything like this before."

Also, there is a neat article here regarding the amazing impact of social networking, both online and otherwise.

I'm convinced that although we attempt to think linear with things happening in 1-2-3's, real life happens in "systems." Networks develop into tribes which develop systems that interact with each other. Somehow we're all just learning and getting our heads around the idea that life and church and community's not just about cause-and-effect proceeding like a line of dominoes painstakingly set up and then tapped by a finger, it's about complicated relationships that intertwine and become networks and systems.

The universe is made up of interacting individuals, families, social groups who cause things to happen. Influence is important. According to the article, it seems to work with obesity and other "norms" for networks. When we as salt and light truly influence for good, it goes beyond where we are for at least four degrees, too.

Also, this weekend I read Donald Miller's latest book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Pages 189-206 are some of the best marriage advice I've ever read. Don (whom I think is still single) is transparent and profound as he explores in these two chapters the mystery of human relationships. I read these chapters out loud to Phyllis and Jane last night. The hardback price is worth it for just these seventeen pages alone.

I wish I wrote as well as Donald…

Why I can’t follow you any more…

2009-10-30T08:12:00.001-05:00

Recently, I spent some time with some guys talking about where they are in life and what they want for themselves. And from their leaders.

None of them liked where they were both in life and in the church-situation in which they found themselves. They felt they had given their "best years" (although they weren't ancient) for naught. And they carried a sense of pain associated with those who were leading them. Although they were not a happy lot, they were honest but not angry; they were hurt but not spiteful. They expressed why they would "move on" if they could. (But most felt they couldn't because of financial and family obligations.) So here's a list of some of their thoughts regarding their leaders…

Why I can't follow you any more:

You never communicate with me. Sometimes, you communicate at me and sometimes you communicate to me, but you never really with me. I get the email, the Twitters and the FB updates. I get the memos and even attend the meetings where we discuss The Vision, but you never communicate with me. Or hear my heart. Or want my input. You see me – I think – as a staff member and therefore a hireling. I know, you are The Man With The Vision, but I have one too. I sense that you see my value – rather than being intrinsic and God-given – as derived from my ability to carry out your vision.
You speak of me with honor, but fail to utilize me or my gifts. At first, I thought that was really cool, when you referred to me as a great part of the team and bragged about what a great "find" I was. But now, even though you still speak of me that way, you never let me do what I'm here to do. You've somehow made me a fake. You've extolled my virtues without letting me use my gifts. I feel empty and shallow, and I think it's because you say one thing about me, but won't let me play it out in real-time, in real life. I think the greatest honor would be to trust me to do what God has gifted me to do.
You hang out with the wrong people. And I know when I say this you'll take on that messianic mantle that you have (sorry about being so blunt) and say, 'Jesus was known for the 'wrong people' He hung out with,' but that's not what I mean. You hang out with a bunch of self-centered ego-centric types who use you and your influence to further their own cause and feather their own nest. These guys are sub-par. And they like to use you, your name and position. You need to spend some time with the no-names like me. You need to hang with the up-and-coming who aren't even on the horizon yet. They could benefit from what you have and who you are. But nobody would know it for twenty years, so you'd probably not get anything from them.
Sometimes, you're running on fumes, and don't know it. You can't keep referring back to what you've done and what you've accomplished and still get me to follow you. Sure you were successful. But you rode the success fueled by the times. It's a new day and what worked then, won't work now. And you know, no matter how many times you say 'The Gospel is timeless,' it won't make it relevant to the situation. Just because Gospel flannel boards worked in the '50's doesn't mean they'll work now.

Listening to these guys broke my heart. They're leaders looking to be lead. They're looking for someone to care enough to mold them and help them fulfill their God assigned destiny.

I'm afraid they are not the minority.

People Development

2009-10-29T07:29:00.001-05:00

I'm in the people development business.

So, Tim wants to start an organic church. And I want to coach him on getting the values right before he begin the "seen" work. Values are what drive the vision. Most of us have wrong values having not done the hard internal work of what we really think is important. I know, I know! We all think we have the right values: family, Bible, church, etc. But really, values are those things we actually DO. We might say we value "family", but in reality – since we spend no time with them – is that really a "value?" So, my job is really help Tim think through these things. I don't give him the right values. I help him discover what ideas and actions he really holds dear. These are his true values.

David wants to reenter pastoral ministry. And he's been out for a while and church reentry is kinda like the space shuttle coming back into the earth's atmosphere – full of heat and danger. David left ministry, not because of moral failure or the usual "get out of ministry" cards, he just burned out. Crashed and burned after watching things fall apart time and time again. But there is a genuine Gift in his life. A God-given difference-making Gift. A Gift that still troubles him and keeps him awake at night. I want to help him re-engineer his vision and then look for space as a middle-aged man in the church world.

Eric wants to overcome addiction. That should be enough to say, except he's a Jesus-follower who knows all the right answers and has been through all the right calisthenics, but still feels condemned and trapped. I want to see him move forward. Counseling hasn't helped. I want to coach him forward.

Tom wants to hear God speak. There is an obstacle. I'm helping him by coaching him around it.

Nathan & Ken want to survive. They're not yet in the victory mode. And you must survive before you can thrive. Making a difference can take a toll and I want to help them move from where they are to where they want to be.

Bobby wants to send people all over the world. He needs a little help.

Matt wants to be sent as a missionary. And he needs to go, he's got much to give.

I must help them all! That's what I do. We once called it ministry, but now "ministry" is mostly about preaching and self-promotion. (Mostly) That's why I see myself in People Development. My gifts and call are not to be expended on myself, but to help develop others.

I'm just saying...

Thinking about Grief

2009-10-21T06:18:00.004-05:00

Sunday I spoke at Harvest Church here in Pensacola. I was the third part of a four part series called "Leaving the House fo Blues" dealing with emotions. My part was to address grief and grieving.

You can listen here: http://tinyurl.com/ykt2rho

He's Bacccccck

2009-10-13T06:31:00.001-05:00

Been away!

July, Phyllis and I were in Nicaragua for most of the month with the Globe NextStep Missions Training School. What a great bunch of folks to be with!! Then in August we were in Valdosta, Georgia where I was "holed up" in my study (lovingly dubbed "The Cave" - although it's nice) doing some writing. And in September, we traveled to East Africa ministering and visiting old friends in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. I was in the bush with church-planting pastors, in big cities with passionate Jesus-loving entrepreneurs and with heart-driven missionaries.

So, we've been away.

But there are about a million things in my heart and mind that I want to share with you. Now I just need the time to actually do it. Blog it. Write it.

I need to talk/write about what I see in the church and what I see in the Kingdom. And what I sense in the Spirit. Good things as well as troubling.

We live in both the best of times and the worst of times! Wow, wow and wow!

Praying real simple

2009-08-26T04:38:00.001-05:00

My friend Mary Corbin has a ministry called His Hands. It's about taking a small group of underprivileged kids and giving them Jesus. Real simple, uncomplicated, non-institutional. Mary awesomely relates to these kids and does things with them to show them Jesus' love.

So yesterday she wrote the following:

I'm teaching the His Hands kids about prayer at Bible Club this month. Yesterday, we talked how Jesus told us to pray simply, and we looked at the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. We went through Jesus' example of prayer line by line, discussing what it meant, and then they were given the assignment to put it into their own words, to apply it their lives and make it into their own prayer. Then we read a few out loud, and I had chills! Here are a few of the boys' prayers:

Shun:
God you are great.
Whatever you want I will do
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us what we need today.
Please forgive our sins
as we forgive people who have wronged us.
Help us in situations not to be tempted,
and get us away from the devil.

Jamal:
Dear Magnificent God,
Your kingdom come,
Your will we will do, in Heaven and Earth.
Give us the things we need to survive,
Forgive us our sins,
As we forgive people who have sinned against us.
Help us not to get into situations that we will be tempted.
Lead us from bad to good, Amen.

Chris:
Lord, you're good!
Your kingdom on earth, you can make it happen!
I will do anything the Lord wants me to do.
Give us what we need,
Forgive us for all our sins.
We also forgive other people.
Lead us to where we need to go in our lives,
Take the bad away from me,
And bring in the Holy Spirit.

Praying real simple connects us to God's heart!

Pray for me and my job...

2009-08-23T07:38:00.003-05:00

Several months ago, I wrote the following post. In a recent conversation, someone asked me about it, so I went back and reread it myself and thought, well maybe if I re-post, it can help clarify what I'm doing and why I do it... as if anybody (other than the asking person) really wants to know.

----------------------------------------------------

I know my job. Well, sorta.

I know that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I’m not just influenced by Him. I don’t think he was a just a great guy who did cool miracles a long time ago. I don’t think he’s a great philosopher or teacher. He is God. In the flesh with a body. God.

And I follow him. Intentionally.

I follow – attempt to understand, internalize and live out – his teaching, his lifestyle, his commands and his mission. I want to be like Jesus in everything I do. As much as a middle-aged white American born in the South, educated publicly through the ‘60’s can be, I want to live like Jesus. As much as someone who was not born of a virgin or announced by angels can, I want to follow Jesus and live like him.

This is not just some idealistic try-as-hard-as-you-can-and-fail kinda thing. Following Jesus is made possible because he has supernaturally and mysteriously put his spirit – the Holy Spirit – in me. And he lives in me 24/7/365. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just show up on Sunday at 11. Or when I invite him. Or in my worship time. He’s resident in me. In fact I’m his home as an individual and we – as the church – corporately are his temple.

And I listen to Jesus’ internal voice through the Spirit and I follow him. And I’m imperfect both in the hearing and in the following, but I am committed to both. Fearfully and completely committed to both.

His call on my life is to train others to do the same. As I follow Jesus supernaturally by his Spirit, I train and coach others to do so too.

My job is to shape others to follow him in his mission worldwide and to assist leaders and churches in re-missioning!

Re-missioning is the act of moving the Church back into the Mission of God. And what is the mission of God, the missio dei?

The mission of God is about redeeming creation, not just sending a select few to eternal bliss. The mission of God is about people living out their refection of God Himself in character, love, mercy and grace. The missio dei is to redeem men and women so profoundly that they seek justice for others and give mercy liberally, resulting in all creation singing and rejoicing at its arrival!

Chris Wright says, “Fundamentally, our mission… means our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.” (The Mission of God, p.23)

So where have we been if not on the missio dei? Here are some ideas… we’ve been:

Chasing revival…
Caught up in personalities…
Angry that the North American culture has changed…
Reading the Bible with a cut-and-paste mentality…
Putting “missions” into an open-once-a-year closet…
Looking for political answers from political parties to life/spiritual questions…
Trivializing cross-cultural missions by making it something done by youth groups and carpenters…
Subtly believing that the leadership model of GM is better than the leadership model of Jesus…
Talking about “relationship” but meaning something else…
Wondering why we can’t attract more people…
Forgetting that the message is The King and the Kingdom not heaven…
Believing that bigger is better…
Singing prom songs to Jesus and forgetting that true love is about action more than hand-raising…
Forgetting that the “world” acts like the “world” because it is the “world”…

The greatness of a church is not determined by how many people attend, but by how many are sent! Re-missioning is not simply rejoicing about how many people attend our ministry, but how many people we have equipped for ministry.

Re-missioning causes us to reconsider that it’s not how many people minister inside the church (staff, etc.), but how many minister outside the church in their own unique “mission field.” Sometimes, we’ve been about helping people become more whole themselves – and that is not wrong – but re-missioning is about helping people bring more wholeness to their world. (i.e. justice, healing, relief)

We are the sent people of God, on a mission with him. We’re not angry; we’re not looking for a fight; we’re not afraid. We are on mission with God. He’s active in the world. And we are supposed to be with him in that mission.

We are gathered to send and sent to gather.

I know my job. Help me O Lord to find a way to live it out! In my own life and then somehow to develop it in the life of others.

Pray for me!

Absent!

2009-08-19T14:52:00.001-05:00

I have bunches of things I want to write about!

Bunches of ideas, bunches of thoughts, a whole bunch of experiences (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, NextStep, Globe, Valdosta!) and I want to write about them. But I'm concentrating on writing the book "WHY GOD THINKS HE CAN USE YOU" and quite frankly that - along with the fact that my daughter is getting married (did I get to mention JANE IS GETTING MARRIED??) - takes all my time, energy and resolve!

So, sometime in the near future, I want to actually BLOG again.

Life is good, because God is awesome! But it's also complicated!

On Movements...

2009-06-24T08:31:00.001-05:00

I read the following this morning on Felicity Dale's blog. As usual Felicity has done her homework and has given some great insights...

Characteristics of a Movement

For two or more years now, I have been having regular conversations with a group of women--all leaders, strategists in the Kingdom. Our conversation today was on the subject of movements. What characterizes a movement? (Examples of movements today would include the GLBT (gay/lesbian etc.) movement and the New Age movement.)

Here are some things we came up with:

It generates momentum, feeds passion, attracting and uniting people with like passions

People start doing similar things because of their shared values

Usually there is a quick change in a relatively short amount of time—the concept of the tipping point

There is a change in change public perception, law—even changing culture

There are people who are change agents/catalysts (either one person or a group or an amalgam of different people at the grassroots)

There needs to be a climate for change that either exists or is set by the catalysts

A movement can last for a short or long time—often depending on how the movement was generated (e.g. Hitler and the Nazi movement was thankfully a short-lived movement)

An appetite and energy for change often begins with younger people

They are often a reaction to the status quo--hence persecution may follow

There are three structural components to a movement:

Decentralization--things don't just happen with one leader or in one place

Segmentation--things may look different in different places but they share similar values

Interconnection--those involved in the movement are able to connect together

Are we part of a movement?

In the beginning of my Christian Jesus-following experience, we were part of a very unique, amazing Holy Spirit birthed movement. It had no real "head" but only "change agents." It was filled with passion, momentum and grace! It flowed from people into people and brought transformation. It was great!

But it caramelized - got very sweet and solid - institutionalized and bogged down.

But anybody who ever tasted "the movement" has never been the same and longs for that sense again.

If you think you aren't... you are already toast!

2009-06-08T21:25:00.002-05:00

Geoff Surratt wrote the following true but scary blog:

An open letter to pastors

This weekend Gary Lamb, one of the more popular pastors in the social networking world, admitted that he has been in an ongoing affair with his assistant. Following the direction of his church Overseers he resigned from the church he planted five years ago effective immediately. The damage his actions caused will continue for many years in the lives of hundreds of people. I do not know Gary personally but I have followed him on Twitter for the past year and have read his blog occasionally. I have no comment on his specific situation other than to say I am praying for his family, his church, the woman he has been involved with and for Gary.

I do, however, want to comment on pastors shipwrecking their lives and the lives of their families. I have been involved in ministry all of my life, the past 27 as a staff member or pastor at three different churches, and I have seen stories like Gary's over and over. The details vary, but the end result is the same; total devastation. The key question is not what happened, but rather how can we avoid the same fate. Here are some random thoughts:

If you think you aren't vulnerable, you are already toast
I had a counseling professor in college who said that the pastors who are in the most danger of a moral shipwreck are the ones who think it will never happen to them. If you think you are too honest, too faithful, or too transparent to ever be involved in an affair you are skating on very thin ice. David never thought he'd sleep with Bathsheba until he saw her naked; then he couldn't think of anything else. You can steal money, you can get involved in pornography, you can cheat on your spouse, and you can lie to your family. Every day of our lives we have to remind ourselves we are vulnerable to complete moral failure.
If you think you can burn the candle at both ends, you are already toast
There are no super humans in ministry. When I read twitters of pastors who get up at 4:00 a.m. every day, who work seven days a week, who counsel people at night and on their "day off", I know that they are headed for a fall. God took a day off when he was creating the world, Jesus took a beach trip to Tyre and Sidon (Mark 7:24) during his ministry. Unless you know something God doesn't know you are headed for a major fall without regular downtime
If you think you can do ministry without accountability, you are already toast
The only "conversation" I ever had with Gary Lamb was a Twitter exchange over the importance of an accountability group. Gary felt that the Overseers of his church provided all the accountability he needed. My contention is that we need people who are face-to-face with us on a regular basis, who know our wives and our assistants, who can ask us the really tough questions. I don't know if the Overseers provided that for Gary or if a local group would have prevented his fall, but I do know that I need that kind of scrutiny in my life.
If you think you don't need safeguards, you are already toast
Filters on internet access, never handling cash for the church, never meeting with someone of the opposite sex alone, letting others have access to your email; these are such a pain and to be honest I don't always have all of them active in my life. The reality is that safeguards will not keep you from doing what you have already decided to do, but they can give you enough margin to change your mind before you act.
If you think it's about you, you are already toast
Failure begins with ego. When you begin to think that success is because you are smart, funny, talented, cool or a 100 other adjectives and not simply because God is God and has chosen to bless you; you are headed down a very dangerous path. When you being to think the ministry will crumble without you and that you have to work 24/7 to make it happen you are headed toward destruction. When you think the rules stop applying to you and you can cut corners and you are above it you are on a crash course for disaster.

As ministers we are in a marathon. If you do not pay attention to the danger signs along the way you will crash before the finish line. Your crash may be a spectacular moral failure like Gary's, it may be the slow destruction of your marriage, or it may be the rotting of your soul; but Satan will use ministry to destroy you. And God will not say to you in Heaven, "Too bad about your family, but awesome job building a great big church. Fist bump, dude."

Three things every pastor needs to do:

Slow down

You will not change the world today and tomorrow isn't looking good either. There is plenty of time to hang with your wife, play with your kids, play golf, relax. God was at work long before you showed up and He will be at work long after you are gone. You cannot live on adrenaline all of the time. You cannot be pumped up about every weekend. If you live that way for an extended time you will crash.

Open up

You need someone in your life who knows you inside and out; someone who will ask the hard questions and know when you are ducking the answers. It is difficult as a pastor to find someone you can be truly honest with, but it is essential that you find that person. Another pastor who does not attend your church might be ideal.

Count the cost

Every time you are tempted to break a rule, to cut a corner, to go somewhere you shouldn't go consider what it will cost you when it all comes to light. What is going to happen when your wife finds out? How will she feel? What will it do to your children? What will this do to your church? How will it feel to write a letter like Gary had to write?

You don't wake up one day and decide to shipwreck your life. You do it one stupid decision at a time. As someone who has seen this happen again and again and again I am begging you to take action today because it will happen to you.

Rabbits and Elephants

2009-06-08T06:16:00.001-05:00

I'm reading Tony & Felicity Dale's new book "The Rabbit and the Elephant: Why Small is the New Big for Today's Church ." I'm excited about it for several reasons:

It's very readable
It's giving background as well as "how-to's" regarding Simple Church
It is a well marketed book so many people will have access and get on with the task of bringing people into fellowship both with God through Jesus Christ and with one another.
They sent me a pre-pub, so it was free.

And I am constantly reminded that I spend entirely too much money on books. I am as thirsty for knowledge and better understanding today as I was when I was 18! I want to know everything about everything! And especially about God's Kingdom and His church and about His Word!

One of my big concerns as we teach people to go and plant "rabbit churches," is that because we come from "elephant churches" whatever we plant starts growing a trunk! And cumbersome, "big-ole churches" don't reproduce very well or offer more than a place to attend and assume the position of spectator.

Spectators are nice if you are the performer. But of you are the equipper, spectators just get in the way!

I read this...

2009-06-05T15:46:00.001-05:00

Bill Easum writes:

Dan Kimball just finished his coaching session for 21st Century Strategies. His message - We shouldn't ask people to join the church; we should ask them to join a mission. His membership class teaches what does it mean to be serving on mission. He then lays hands on every new participant who has gone through the membership class. They each will say what mission they are on and they lay hands on them and commission them to be a missionary in their backyard and workplace and networks.

The church should be a sending church and a training center for local missionaries. It’s a shame that we understand sending missionaries to a foreign field but we fail to understand that all Christians are “sent” into the world. That is the primary reason for salvation. We are saved to serve. We are redeem to share the good news. Like Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing.

When was the last time you blessed someone by your presence or story?

As the "sent people of God," we have to determine not IF we are sent, but rather to whom we are sent...

And of course, if we will actually go.

I like this...

2009-05-31T22:09:00.001-05:00

Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA says:

MISSIONAL

The church was never meant to be withdrawn, isolated or exist only to meet its own needs. Instead, the church is to be in the world, but not of the world (John 17). Being “missional” means that we will exist for the sake of inviting others into Kingdom living and eternal life. Vintage Faith doesn’t have a missions department; it is mission.

“..you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - Acts 1:8

To grow our MISSION:

We will take the commands of Jesus seriously and do whatever it takes to see others experience the Kingdom of God and the good news of Jesus

We will remain pure and holy, yet never disconnecting from the culture around us

We will passionately strive to see those who have rejected the Christian faith experience the light and love of Jesus through us

We will see missions as holistic -- both local and global and involved in social justice issues

We will continue to develop the Abbey Coffee, Art and Music Lounge as an art gallery, coffeehouse, and music venue in order to be a positive light in the area

I like this...

2009-05-27T01:53:00.000-05:00

Somehow I recently found this as a values statement at Wayfarer in Spartanburg, SC.

Christ before Christianity
… because following a person is different than fitting in to an institution

Rhythm before Regimen
… because greatness must be inspired before it can be managed

Wrestle before Settle
… because easy is not always best

Go before Know
… because sometimes the Promised Land is only visible as you begin to walk

We before Me
…because I may be good but we are better

I'm anxious to see how it is worked out in the church life!

Could you read (and be impacted by) a book when the author's name is straight out of Star Wars?

2009-05-25T09:46:00.002-05:00

I am reading with great relish Skye Jethani's The Divine Commodity. I am reading it with relish and a consumptive attitude even though the subtitle is "Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity." The irony of it all!

And I find it a great and wonderful read, not because it challenges me, not because it confounds me and not because it causes me to think. Mainly I am enthralled by it because it affirms all that I know and believe about the mystery and wonder of the Church.

And my lament over where we find ourselves today.

One of the quotes that I keep reading over and over:

The influence of consumerism has led us to confuse institutions for people, means for mission, and programs for the Spirit's power. (p.103)

(I should have written that! Or maybe I did somewhere else. Or what I said was really close!)

I am so concerned about the whole reification process in the church over the last 50+ years. The church rather than being mysteriously a united body of different parts joined spiritually to the Head - Christ Himself - has become a lumbering institution of programs and attractional strategies that somehow are supposed to induce spirituality.

"Come. Sit. Watch. Listen. Give. It will make you spiritual."

But then if skipping hell "making heaven our home" and getting our great Care-giver in the sky to meet out needs (read that "wants")becomes the goal, what else can we expect?

Forgive me. But read the book.

Everybody gets to play!

2009-05-25T09:35:00.002-05:00

Recently spoke at Harvest Church in Pensacola, FL on "Everybody Gets's to Play." (click on Focus series) The audio begins with an interview with Bill and Chris Robinson (IGM graduates '08) who have now gone to be with the Lord... in Costa Rica!

It was a quick look at why everybody gets to play, more than a how everybody get's to play.

It was a fun morning...

I finished by giving these points:

If in deed everybody gets to play – including me…

Everything I do must agree with the Mission of Jesus…Redeem (REDEMPTION)... Reconcile (RECONCILLIATION)... Restore (RESTORATION)

My ultimate intent must be to "Glorify God – reflect who He is – and to benefit others..."

Somewhere there must be a certain element of sacrifice? The laying down of our life...

I must play as a disciple…

Playing involves a certain amount of faith…

Does my part agree with the Kingdom Principle? (Lordship of Jesus, Kingdom of God)

Is may part bigger than me and mine? Are the results long-term or short-term?

Between the BIG THINGS that I cannot do, and the SMALL THINGS that I will not do, there is the possibility that I will actually do nothing…

So, everybody gets to play! Will we? Can we?

Matt Carter talks about the challenge of missional small groups in the big-old-church setting

2009-05-22T09:29:00.001-05:00

THE SHOW - for May 19, 2009 - Guest Matt Carter from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

About coaching...

2009-05-18T13:46:00.002-05:00

Posted some coaching stuff at Eikon Associates...

So what is Spiritual Maturity?

2009-05-12T12:28:00.002-05:00

I have moved a posting from Facebook here so we can perhaps discuss things better...

I began by saying:

I'd be interested in how you define "Spiritual Maturity." For years - in a pre-consumer, or at least quasi-consumer world - I said it's when you produce more than you consume... But I'm not sure that's adequate...
But look at the research...

Many Churchgoers and Faith Leaders Struggle to Define Spiritual Maturity

Casey Corbin May 11 Good to think about. I emailed it out to get other's thinking about it too and get their responses.

George Alexander May 11 I know it's not a complete answer, and I can object to it too, but I find it helpful, just the same, to define maturity as the balance of knowing the word and implementing/doing the word. If "knowing" is along the horizontal axis and "doing" is up the vertical, then maturity is the 45 degree line. By that definition, someone who is saved a short... Read More time and lives it can be more "mature" than someone who's saved a while, knows a lot, but isn't a "doer" of it. Such a person typically feels mature because of knowledge, but in reality is just old!

This brings up many things that a wrong with the way we do our faith...

Here are some of my thoughts...

Spiritual maturity is not a place you arrive nor a state that you achieve. Spiritual maturity is being at the place you should be in your spiritual journey. You can't get ahead of yourself (interesting picture in my head!) but you can certainly lag behind where you should be in the journey.

The immature look for a stopping point, a summit, a place to camp. But the truly mature - though often tempted to slow down and even stop - see the whole of life as a dangerous, intriguing but amazingly fulfilling journey into self-knowledge reflected in their knowledge of God.

And "knowledge" in a Bible sense is not about something known in theory, but something known through experience. You can't grow spiritually by reading about it. The "reading" tells us what to expect as we step our. The "reading" helps us to "understand" but does not actually give us the "knowing" that we see as maturity. Maturity comes from stepping out in faith to experience God's direction, purpose and life. As George says, it's about both "knowing" and "doing."

Many of us are content with knowing about spiritual things, but have never experienced them.

Sometimes we equate "spiritual maturity" with "holiness." But more and more I understand "holiness" not as a state of being, but an act and understanding of "mission." To make something "holy" in a NT sense, is to set it apart for a special use. We are made holy by the blood of Jesus, and consequently set apart for his purposes. (I also see "righteousness" as a "relationship" word... but that's another story...)

And sometimes we see "spiritual maturity" in terms sanctification, the process by which our justification is worked out in our lives. But if we're not careful, we begin to think linear and lose the great mystery of sanctification - God interacting in our lives!

Just some thoughts. Certainly not exhaustive. But enough to open up for discussion.

Where have all the Fathers gone? Long time passing...

2009-04-29T09:50:00.001-05:00

My friend James Graham spoke at Globe's IGM last night on SPIRITUAL PARENTING and DISCIPLE-MAKING! It was a powerful time!

He said:

WE HAVE A CHOICE – WE CAN BE A MANAGER OR WE CAN BE A PARENT. There are certain promises a spiritual parent makes. WE HAVE A CHOICE –

WE CAN BE A MANAGER with

Focus on performance
Focus on behavior
No emotional connection.
No permanent investment.
No true transparency.

OR WE CAN BE A PARENT, saying and demonstrating.

You can trust me
I'll believe the best about you.
I'll be there for you.
I'll share my life with you.
I'll tell you the truth.

So, the world (and the Church!) cries out for some really savvy, loving, forgiving, kind and compassionate DISCIPLE-MAKERS who see themselves as true spiritual fathers and mothers!

It's not about control but true growth and wholeness!

Really.

Apostle to the Cage Fighters...

2009-04-28T05:31:00.000-05:00

I continue a dialogue with Eric, the Apostle to the Cage Fighters... He said earlier:

"...I would trust my life and the life of my family to my tribe before I let the church anywhere near them! Why? The tribe holds loyalty as a virtue above all else. And I know that if I was gone and something happened on my farm, it would be the fighters not the church that would come to help my wife and kids."

He writes me here again...

Hey Glenn,

Just to prove my point…

Got a call a couple of days ago from a promoter in another state. He offered me the fight of a life time for a little guy like me (not to mention it will pay for my next two mission trips).

I signed the contract and several of my church friends are upset with me about it being in a casino. After a conversation with a church friend that one of my unbelieving fighter friends was in on, I was down. The conversation went like this:

Church friend: "God would not approve of you fighting or being in a casino."

Fighter friend’s response: "I have seen Eric in many different situations and he is always talking about Jesus. I think – knowing the people that will be there that night – it is the very place Eric needs to be."

You see it was the tribe that protected me. I am slowly winning these guys. We now spend about 15 minutes reading about the battles in the Old Testament before practice. That is a huge step.

By the way please pray for me on the 12th of June. If I win it means nearly a half years salary in one night…

Whatta ya gonna do with people like this? (smile)

Pray for me and my job...

2009-04-27T12:21:00.001-05:00

I know my job. Well, sorta.

And I follow him. Intentionally.

His call on my life is to train others to do the same. As I follow Jesus supernaturally by his Spirit, I train and coach others to do so too.

My job is to shape others to follow him in his mission worldwide and to assist leaders and churches in re-missioning!

Re-missioning is the act of moving the Church back into the Mission of God. And what is the mission of God, the missio dei?

So where have we been if not on the missio dei? Here are some ideas… we’ve been:

Chasing revival…
Caught up in personalities…
Angry that the North American culture has changed…
Reading the Bible with a cut-and-paste mentality…
Putting “missions” into an open-once-a-year closet…
Looking for political answers from political parties to life/spiritual questions…
Trivializing cross-cultural missions by making it something done by youth groups and carpenters…
Subtly believing that the leadership model of GM is better than the leadership model of Jesus…
Talking about “relationship” but meaning something else…
Wondering why we can’t attract more people…
Forgetting that the message is The King and the Kingdom not heaven…
Believing that bigger is better…
Singing prom songs to Jesus and forgetting that true love is about action more than hand-raising…
Forgetting that the “world” acts like the “world” because it is the “world”…

We are gathered to send and sent to gather.

I know my job. Help me O Lord to find a way to live it out! In my own life and then somehow to develop it in the life of others.

Pray for me!

Oswald Chambers speaks truth...

2009-04-24T07:46:00.001-05:00

I've read My Utmost for His Highest on and off for 30+ years. Somehow Oswald Chambers (DeLynn Hoover calls him Ozzy!) seems to nail it - on the right day, at the right time.

Give a look:

THE WARNING AGAINST WANTONING

"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you." Luke 10:20

As Christian workers, worldliness is not our snare, sin is not our snare, but spiritual wantoning is, viz.: taking the pattern and print of the religious age we live in, making eyes at spiritual success. Never court anything other than the approval of God, go "without the camp, bearing His reproach." Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have the commercial view - so many souls saved and sanctified, thank God, now it is all right. Our work begins where God's grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God's sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God. One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and that will be God's witness to us as workers. God brings us to a standard of life by His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that standard in others.

Unless the worker lives a life hidden with Christ in God, he is apt to become an irritating dictator instead of an indwelling disciple. Many of us are dictators, we dictate to people and to meetings. Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever Our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced it with an "IF," never with an emphatic assertion - "You must." Discipleship carries an option with it.

Answering Terry & Mary

2009-04-23T11:12:00.000-05:00

Terry & Mary, here goes...
The difficulties of the past came from a "command and control," top-down model... Wisdom and vision (and hence authority) were seen as belonging to a few and their job was to dispense it as they saw fit... It was the model we knew, the way we were taught.

Very OT... The problem: reading the NT with OT eyes and OT mental template... but again, if that's what you know, that's what you do.

It led to those "in authority" not really being answerable - in reality - to anybody. Hey they were God's man, and when you're on the top of the pyramid, where do ya go for wisdom? (I know, theoretically to God, but we're all going there, right?)

Jesus - His life, death, resurrection, ascension - made a difference.

The NT model is more about every Believer hearing the Spirit as an indwelling, influencing part of their lives so that a corporate vision "bubbles up" among people walking together. Not very "top-down" but more "all-level-at-the-foot-of-

the-cross" thinking. And being answerable becomes a heart attitude of listening to those more mature, more knowledgeable and having better insight.

It becomes a big problem for those of us who are into commanding and controlling... (sigh)

Discipleship happens as we hear God and teach others to hear the Spirit for themselves and to walk out what they hear in faith. And Jesus teaches us to listen to others with humble ears. And we trust them to actually hear.

Ok, ok... all this is just off the top of my head and I'm not sure FB is the place to air this... I'll post this on my blog and we can discuss there... Please hold all flame-throwers at bay...

Brave new - or is it old? - thinking...

2009-04-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

I know you've all read these things... they're old, but just in case you didn't...

End of Christian America here. As if it ever was. Maybe the headline should read: MISSION FIELD ARRIVES IN AMERICA ALTHOUGH IT NEVER LEFT! (Please don't hate me or throw things at me!)

Ed Stetzer in an interview with Biola Magazine says:

"I think there's some discomfort with the modern evangelical machine that has produced a catered, franchise, packaged Christianity that is pretty neat and freeze-dried. I think people are looking for something that is more transformational, more organic, and missional has become that which people rally to. There are other people using other words -- like "externally focused" -- which are describing similar ideas."

Sound familiar? Could be the Lord speaking to your heart, huh?

Also, some amazing ideas about morality... namely "emotionally-learned" morals here in the NY Times article by David Brooks. He says:

The rise and now dominance of this emotional approach to morality is an epochal change. It challenges all sorts of traditions. It challenges the bookish way philosophy is conceived by most people. It challenges the Talmudic tradition, with its hyper-rational scrutiny of texts. It challenges the new atheists, who see themselves involved in a war of reason against faith and who have an unwarranted faith in the power of pure reason and in the purity of their own reasoning.

Could "emotionally-learned" parts of our lives be the spiritual parts? The imago dei? That deep, deep untouched and mostly unexplored parts of us that touches God and reaches out to Him?

You know me... I'm thinking "yes."

I see these "developments" as a sign that God is at work. That He's always been at work and that He wants us - the Church - in partnership with Him in His Work.

A Tale of Two Plows...

2009-04-17T05:10:00.000-05:00

This morning I was thinking of two stories in the Bible – one OT, one NT. And I don’t usually mix stories like that but they came to mind.

One is found in Luke 9:61-62:

Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (NIV)

Here is a pretty typical response to God’s radical Call – in whatever fashion you want to view it: “I’m willing and I want to, but give me some time so I can take care of pressing issues, social customs, family matters and internal necessities.”

And then there is the response of Elisha found in the OT:

1Kings 19:19-21 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"
So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant. (NIV)

Both these guys respond to The Plow and the Call. Both “calls” were to service in the Kingdom. And both reply the same way; the human way.

And the human way is not the wrong way, but often the only way we know. But the “human way” needs to be processed in such a way that the results are obedient faith! Obedient faith. And radical faith requires a radical obedience.

To my knowledge, the NT guy from Luke 9 (and parallel in Matthew 8) never shows back up. He leaves without returning. His backward glance destroyed his ability to put his hand on the plow as forward movement for Kingdom service.

But Elisha, destroys the plow and the oxen, turns it into a big going-away party and attaches himself to the Man of God, Elijah. And becomes the heir to God's move initiated through Elijah! Complete with a double portion!

So my concern - both for myself and this generation - is how will we respond to the Call to follow Jesus on His big mission of taking the Gospel to the whole world.

Let's have a party - burning all out attachments (yikes!) - and go for it! Maybe we'll have a double portion too.

My friend the Cage Fighter...

2009-04-16T05:01:00.000-05:00

Received 31 March 2009 following a presentation to a group of leaders…

I’ve changed a few grammatical things and removed some identifying references, but otherwise this is how it came…

********************

Good morning Glenn,

On my way home I was giving thought to the “tribe idea” that you talked about at the conference. I have been calling this “brotherhood,” but it is in essence the same thing.

With this in mind, I began to think of my tribe: “Cage Fighters.” Why do we get together and why do we train so hard and what event are we looking to have happen to fulfill us? And why is it important? The answers I found perplex me and I thought that I would share them.

One: Why do we get together? I told my friend on the way home that I would trust my life and the life of my family to my tribe before I let the church anywhere near them! Why? The tribe holds loyalty as a virtue above all else. And I know that if I was gone and something happened on my farm, it would be the fighters not the church that would come to help my wife and kids. (Note: only one of about 20 of us are saved besides myself.)

Two: What are we looking to have happen? I asked the tribe this when I got home this last week and I was surprised and thrilled at the answer. We all want to be in an epic fight – one that leaves us spent, beaten, battered and broken but yet we win against overwhelming odds. That is why it is no real loss to lose to someone that is better then you as we are always trying to fight someone more skilled then ourselves. It is also why many fighters won’t even count a victory over an underling in the craft. Odd, I know, but it is my tribe! Why is this important? It allowed me to share Jesus with them based on their ideas of virtues. I understand that we should learn mercy, love, kindness but we must first come to Christ before we can be made in His image.

In my tribe, these are the most important things: courage, loyalty, strength, HONOR, and respect. I have been wrestling with conforming to the image of the acceptable church and holding these values. (Someday if we have lots of time we can talk about that!) Holding these values, seems to be in conflict with the church of today for us fighters, so we just push Jesus aside with the church as weak, cowardly, un-loyal, without honor and un-respectful. I – and you – know that this is not the whole picture; I’m just telling you how we view things. Why is this important? Well I got a revelation on the way home. (I guess this is my “one for the year…”)

This tribe is my mission field. I love these guys and understand them. Last Monday one of them told me that I break all the stereotypes of Christians. I took it as a compliment. Understanding my tribe and why and what brings us together gives me the road to reach them. So after two days of practice with them I have made sure to talk about the (for lack of a better word) “warrior aspect” of Jesus: how He fought, how He struggled and how He overcame in the battle. In just two practices we have made great moves in their lives. Travis talked to me after class and said, “I have hope now I did not have because there is a fight worth fighting.” I was amazed all he needed to hear was that Jesus was like him and he was willing to listen. I’m amazed…..

I get a lot of flack for cage fighting and the craziest questions like, “Would Jesus punch someone in the face?” I’ve always wanted to answer, “If it was a deacon… Yes.” But haven’t yet.

But my tribe is slowly coming to Jesus because I live were they do, speak the way they do and love them the way Jesus does.

I just wanted you to see that your “tribe talk” at conference encouraged me to stay with the tribe. Sometimes we get a lot of flack for looking at things differently but you are a blessing to me. Any thoughts would be great…

Welcome your comments...

Just when we thought we had a corner on spirituality...

2009-04-15T03:58:00.000-05:00

While recently speaking to a group of ministry leaders, I mentioned that we - the church in North America - spent two decades fighting against "secular humanism." And we trained a generation to defend God, Christianity, the Gospel and the church against the evil foe -- as if God or the Gospel needed defending.

But, now, I said, everyone believes themselves to be spiritual beings. They see themselves as spiritual and connected to God apart from church and "organized religion." You can see my post about that here. Ed Stetzer - the Baptist guy who is everywhere and head research dude with Lifeway says:

"...73 percent of unchurched twentysomethings consider themselves "spiritual" and would like to know more about "God or a higher supreme being." This is 11 percent higher than among unchurched individuals who are 30 years old and older. They are also significantly more likely to attend church or a small group than older, unchurched generations."

You can read and listen to Ed here and read more here. (I'm not necessarily hawking Ed's book, but hey! he agrees with me! What can I say? (big grin))

Tomorrow, I want to share a letter from a pomo guy about his Jesus walk and his tribe...

Just thinking...

2009-04-14T15:13:00.002-05:00

Coupla things...

This morning a friend of mine who teaches English to a particular group of Saudi Muslim guys here in the States called me. "Yesterday," he said, "They asked me to explain to them about Easter! So today I'm explaining Easter to them!" "Wow, I said, "The Lord sure lays them out for you doesn't He?" So we talked for a few more minutes and I'm grinning from ear-to-ear! "They'll be very curious about Easter because Islam teaches that Jesus didn't really die on the cross, but rather just sort of 'swooned.' And then there'll be questions all about Easter eggs and all that. You'll have to explain that..." "That I can handle," he replied. "They're Wahabist (a sect of Islam like Osama bin Laden) so they will understand all the peripherals in Islam..." Whoa! And this guy's calling me! I'm humbled and pumped as God is doing some cool things!
I'm planning a trip to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda in September for Phyllis and I. It'll be a teaching/ministry trip initiated by my friend David Finke in Dar es Salam. His father, Bill and I did some teaching a bunch of years back about reproductive church planting and a group of guys took it to heart, and now we're going to visit a group of churches in the bush in Tanzania. I also hope to visit Manna Bible Institute in Nairobi and maybe even get to Kampala for a few days. I'm praying and working hard to put together the funds to take Phyllis along.
I keep thinking about stuff I'd like to do weekend seminars about here in the USA:

Building on Your Strengths
They Ain't the Same: The Leadership/Manager Team
Building Leadership Teams God's Way
Disciple-making and Spiritual Children
Developing a Scorecard for Missions

What's Leonard saying to the church?

2009-04-10T09:16:00.001-05:00

I've been listening to Leonard Sweet's newest book So Beautiful. (You can download it free here.)

I say I've been listening, because that's pretty much a new experience for me. I don't "listen to books," I read books. And when I read books, I take notes. Or highlight. Or underline. And this proves that I am a product of my time. I'm literate - I read and remember through writing.

And I'm listening to So Beautiful little-by-little on my iPod docked to the radio in my bathroom while I shave. (Okay probably TMI! Sorry...) But as I listen to some unknown person read Len Sweet, I keep wanting to stop everything, get a piece of paper and write things down.

(Personally, this might be the most important book Len's done since Soulsunami and Soul Salsa. (Although, he does crank em out...) And he dedicates this book to Alan Hirsch citing him as a big influence on his thinking. So there you go. And he's saying things I've been saying for a long time, like Church is missional, relational and incarnational. I said that myself. Must be listening to the same Spirit. (smile))

In missions we teach about "orality," and speak about "oral learners." They are those who learn best through hearing not by reading. They learn through stories, rather than through literacy. Some cultures are "pre-literate" in that they have no written language and their traditions, values and virtues are passed on through story-telling, dance and drama.

And orality is also a characteristic of post-literate societies like the pomo (an I use that word with great caution, but I still use it) world we find ourselves in.

Stories - good stories - also engage our emotions as much as our minds. Good stories develop our insights and moral understanding. I've often said Jesus was not so much of a great preacher as he was a great story-teller. Just think about the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son. Great stories!

Mostly in preaching we uses stories as illustrations, but Jesus and great story-tellers tell stories not just to illustrate, but as stand-alone teachings. They don't need explanations, they allow the hearers to understand the story and apply it themselves. Think of when you heard an Aesop fable or a Joel Chandler Harris Uncle Remus story. Made you think. Made you remember. Taught you something.

So for me, I'm listening to Leonard Sweet. I'm hoping he's as good a story-teller as he is a writer. I'm listening...

Talking Pomo Like an expert... (sigh)

2009-04-07T10:58:00.001-05:00

Phyllis and I had a whale of a day a few weeks ago with James Graham and the guys of Global Fellowship.

We drove over in the storm - rain, hail, thunder - to Mobile, Alabama to the International Gospel Outreach Headquarters and I spoke for hours and hours regarding my journey into the post-modern world. (And I'm pretty sure that everyone there felt like it was hours and hours of Glenn Hatcher drivel... but hey! they invited me to do this! (smile))

You can see the PowerPoint presentation here.

I warned them that I was not an expert, but a student. A student of culture - that's me! (So even what I say below is not - I repeat! - not because I am or even think I am an expert on postmodernity!)

I was expecting a group of old guys (like myself) who were baffled by the cultural and ministry paradigm shifts in which they found themselves. But there was a group of young people there who listened, took notes and shook their heads knowingly. They got it, 'cause I was talking about them. Maybe even explaining themselves to themselves.

You see, spirituality is the new gig. The new paradigm. The way we've always said it was! Seems like everybody says they are spiritual. The church spent two decades fighting against "secular humanism" only to see it evaporate like a rain puddle on a hot summer day. We fought against humanism by defining ourselves as spiritual, but we have a hard time head-to-head with alternative spiritualities when everyone else defines themselves as being spiritual as well. That's a "missionary thing," not a pastor/church thing, right?

But today, few people define themselves as atheists. People today define themselves as spiritual and speak openly about their spiritual journey. Just ask them! The problem is they see us as being merely "religious" and not truly "spiritual." Can we argue? Being "religious" means we are "churchy" and "churchy" is not about connecting with God. That's being spiritual; and churchy is being involved in church stuff. Make sense?

And many define their spirituality according to their particular tribe.

Tribal thinking is a big part of postmodern thinking. There are many tribes -- surfers, skaters, bikers, in-liners, runners, rock climbers, music-heads, geeks. Just look around! Each tribe (which in another era we would have called a sub-culture) has it's own language, way of dress, hierarchy, values, virtues and spirituality. Ask a surfer and he'll tell you he's in touch with God when he catches the perfect wave. Ask a skater (this refers to a skate board rider... in case you're wondering) and he/she will tell you he/she feels close to God - has a spiritual experience - when they are skating. Or ask a crotch-rocket guy, or a cyclist and they'll tell you the same thing: "I feel spiritual and experience God when I do my thing."

As I unpacked the whole tribal mentality of pomo spirituality, Katie, one of the young ones sitting on the front row, asked this question: "Don't these tribes just see us Christians as another tribe attempting to compete with their tribe?"

She nailed it!

In the new world of America - just like in Europe or Asia or Africa or the Middle East - the church and Christianity is seen as just a competing spirituality among many. It's like the Hebrews in the OT, serving Yahweh among the Amelekites and the Hittites! Competing spiritualities: competing realities, competing rituals and belief-systems. All side-by-side. Amazing new world. It's not just Islam and Buddhism, etc. Now it's everywhere, all the time.

Actually, I had a blast being there and teaching!

But having a blast is not enough. Understanding competing spiritualities is not enough. I want to be able to impact some other tribals and tribes with the trans-tribal wonder and amazement of Jesus and the Gospel of the Kingdom.

It's not enough to understand the world. Lenin said it something like this, "Philosophers have explained the world. Now we must change the world."

Echoes of Jesus...

Bring it on!

2009-04-03T17:41:00.001-05:00

My Seabeck buddy Brad Sargent is beginning a new series here to begin discussing CULTURES AND KINGDOM.

He'll be talking about:

What is culture?
What is “cultural capital” that is possessed by a cultural group and then passed on to their next generations?
How does cultural capital differ from a paradigm?
What types of cultures are there - what frameworks can we use to understand the range of cultures?
How do sets of cultures relate with each other?
What is the ideal “Kingdom Culture”?
If all gatherings of disciples are moving in that direction, are we supposed to end up looking the same? If not, what areas is it legitimate in which to differ?
How do Christian cultures relate with local cultures?
How SHOULD (and shouldn’t) Christian Cultures Relate with Local Cultures?
How do cultures tend to move or change over time, whether due to unintentional change or intentional transition?
What makes the difference between mere change and intentional transformation?
What are key types of trajectories, in local cultures and Christian cultures moving toward Kingdom Culture?
How do subcultures/alternative cultures form? How do virtual cultures form?
How has your thinking about cultural formation changed since you first started writing on the subject in the 1990s?
How could cultures relate with one another in the Kingdom?
How SHOULD Christian cultures relate in Kingdom Culture?
What are potential issues in the “Futures of Cultures”?

As a missiologist kinda-guy (and hey! in the real world of 2009 we've all gotta be missiologists thinking like missionaries... even pastors!) I'm excited to hear Brad's thinking!

The changing world...

2009-03-27T09:20:00.001-05:00

Stop Twittering and walk...

2009-03-24T14:59:00.001-05:00

Let me confess my unfinished reads...

2009-03-20T08:39:00.001-05:00

These are some books I've begun (or at least scanned) and that I need to either begin again or at least pick up where I stopped and finish:

The Subversion of Christianity -- Jacques Ellul (profound, but I keep laying it down. Don't know why...)
Mission-shaped Church -- Mission-Shaped Church working Group (UK) (bought in Cambridge some years back but keep trying to get through it...)
Community and Growth -- Jean Vanier (I just found my treasured, dog-eared, printed-in-India-in-1983 copy! And I am so excited!)
The Reason for God -- Timothy Keller
Transforming Mission -- Bosch (for me this is more of a text/reference book that a real read..)
Church Planting -- Stuart Murray
Maps of Time -- David Christian
The Mission of God -- Timothy Wright
Organic Leadership -- Neal Cole
Missional Renaissance -- Reggie McNeal (this one I'm taking on a trip so I can read it... I preordered it and for some reason haven't been able to jump in...)

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen the present unfinished reading list.

I feel better. Confession is good for the soul.

Somewhere, somehow, like whatever, I discovered Taylor Mali and liked him

2009-03-19T05:11:00.000-05:00

Totally like whatever, you know?
By Taylor Mali

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Restoration of the fallen: Read this bit today... before you need it

2009-03-18T16:11:00.001-05:00

My Seabeck buddy Brad does two very excellent posts regarding restoration of Christ-followers. The first one is here and the second regarding restoration of church leadership is here. Please read them both.

In the 21st Century church-world where we can't quite understand post-salvation grace, on-going redemption, from-the-heart-repentance and Biblical restoration, we need to hear Brad's heart.

And follow his example and advice.

It seems to me that we either make this restoration thing too hard or too easy. And it usually depends on the notoriety of the sinner as to how we make it.

Read what he says and give me a shout.

Religious truths...

2009-03-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

Four Religious Truths...

During these serious times, people of all faiths should remember these four religious truths:

1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.

2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.

4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters.

How radical is your rad?

2009-03-06T04:42:00.000-06:00

I don't like the word "radical."

Especially when you apply it to church and Christians. It usually means that a person and/or group has some extreme (and I even hesitate to use the word "extreme" for the same reason) characteristic quirk or practice. When we say, "Man he/she/they are really radical!" We usually mean something is odd, over the top, bizarre or even a wee bit goofy.

Although the word originally meant "retuning to the root," somehow "radical" has come to mean something strange about a person or group.

Usually some "radical" thing is an aberration that is by that particular group considered "going back to the root."

Maybe like prayer. Like praying 24/7. Okay, what could be wrong with prayer? We all need to pray more. And if a little prayer is good then a lot of prayer must be great, right? So if someone could pray 24/7/365 then he'd be wonderful. And then you could get bunches of people praying for long periods of time and that would be like, say... heaven.

Or would it?

Is the goal of our lives to pray heaven down? Or to get things here to be like there by simply praying? Probably not. Prayer is about getting quiet with God, giving Him the burdens of our heart and listening to His heart. Prayer is a burden exchange. I exchange my crappy death-ridden burdens for His life-giving burdens. And my experience is that when He speaks to us, He does so expecting us to actually act on what He says.

So should I pray for 2 hours and act out in my world what He said to me for an additional 2 hours?

Bringing heaven to earth means getting out and being Kingdom change-agents in the real world, doing real things in real time.

I look at the OT Bible guys - the non-prophet, non-priest, non-kingly types - and they had real jobs in a real world. Daniel for example lived out a secular job (in administration) in a pagan world (Babylon! for pity's sake) serving a godless king. Oh, he prayed, but on his own time. And yes he served God, but he did so by serving in the location where God had placed him.

(I know, we're now all kings and priests, but don't push it...)

Prayer results in acts. Just like faith results in works. It's not about believing the right stuff (although believing the right stuff is superior to believing the wrong stuff! Don't get me wrong...) it's about doing the right stuff in faith. Faith always leads to action.

Prayer always leads to obedience.

Get quiet. Get clean. Pour our your cares. Listen to God. get up and obey.

Right where you are. For the good of those to whom God has sent you to serve. God is glorified when you and I serve Him by helping others.

And that's radical.

JER 29:4-7 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."(NIV)

Thinking about "coaching"

2009-03-04T05:12:00.000-06:00

This week, I complete certification requirements as a Leadership Coach.

So what exactly is coaching and why in the world is Glenn Hatcher involved in this?

For me personally it is a tool for my ministry toolbox. Coaching is not about getting a whistle and cap. (smile) It's not about being a rah-rah on the sidelines. Nope. Coaches bring a process of discovery into the lives of those they coach. Coaches help people who are "stuck" in some important place in their lives to move forward.

Coaching is not counseling. Counseling is usually about something in the past messing with things in the present. So a good counselor helps get those things dealt with - maybe even repaired - so that the present can be better. But coaching is concerned not about repair, but about movement forward. Coaching is about getting past obstacles and blockages in forward movement.

And life is about some sense of progress.

Coaching as a Jesus follower is a bigger adventure. It's kinda like triangulation with the Holy Spirit. He speaks to the coach; He speaks to the person being coached and we all rejoice at the revelation. The coach just helps the process.

But professional leadership coaching has very high educational and ethical guidelines. I'm certified through an extensive learning process presented by an approved and registered organization with the International Coach Federation (ICF). This is good for me

Here is a CNN article about coaching that explains a little about coaching.

And I'm pretty pumped about the whole thing. I can see how I can help some folks move forward in their lives, relationships and ministry.

I'm up for coaching church-planters, missionaries and missionary candidates, church leaders and folks looking for progress in their lives. I'm already coaching a few pastors and educators who are looking for change in their approach to life and ministry.

Getting stumped and stuck happens. It just does. But you don't have to stay there!

Kingdom Come!

Who’s the Boss?

Why God Thinks He Can Use You

Celebrate the Jesus Movement!!!

Simple Solid Faith

There’s a lot of chatter about Bible things.

What Shakespeare Knew

There is a tide in the affairs of men.

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat,

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose our ventures.

The Awesome Responsibility: Thinking, Speaking, Acting in the Name of Jesus

Henri J.M. Nouwen (In the Name of Jesus, 1989 pp 65-68) says,

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 7

How does this happen?

How do you get past 1st or 2nd generation??

The process of each week’s session – this is a TRAINING process

First 1/3

pastoral care,

worship,

accountability (review and encourage),

Vision-casting

How did you obey the lesson last week?

Who are you sharing with? Who has believed?

When are you training them in the same process?

As trainers training trainers

Second 1/3

New Lesson (enough biblical content to obey)

Last 1/3

Practice & Prayer (Confidence to obey & train others and goal-setting with commissioning)

practice the lesson

it’s not what you know but what you actually do…

set goals and pray for them

Remember the Goal…

====================

The Four Calls:

There are 4 calls we should listen for daily…

Up – from heaven

Down – from down below

Outside

Inside

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 6

Beginning the final day of drinking from the fire hose at the Globe (Missions) Network Summit in Germany…

Practical Steps in CPM

CPM Best Practice – Training for Trainers (T4T)

What do I say?

Who do I say it to?

What makes you think I’ll do this?

What do I do if the say yes to Jesus?

Presuppositions

There is a kind of person Jesus uses

There are persons of peace scattered throughout society

Everyone can participate in evangelism and CP but not everyone will do it…

The most effective evangelism comes from someone who knows you and loves you

Though everyone can participate in evangelism & church planting, some are uniquely gifted.

Creating a CPM Ethos

Learning about Church Planting Movements Part 5

In Most Church Planting Movements (where there is rapid multiplication of believers)

Insulation from traditional believers – to prevent meltdown…

Persons of Peace

High Cost for following Christ

Bold fearless faith

Family-based Conversion Patterns

Rapid training of new believers

worship in the heart language

divine signs and wonders

On-the-job Leadership Training

Missionaries suffered