Praying real simple

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...

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!

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...

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:

1. Decentralization--things don't just happen with one leader or in one place
2. Segmentation--things may look different in different places but they share similar values
3. 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!

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:

1. 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.
2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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.
   

5. 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:

1. Slow down
1. 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.
2. Open up

1. 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.

3. Count the cost

1. 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

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...

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.