Are You Called To Start A Church?

Ok, here's my theory. Well, maybe it is not a theory so much as something I've observed several times and extrapolate to broader application (Yeah, that's a theory, right?). Here goes:

If you sit down and talk to people in their mid 20's who grew up going to church, you will find that for many, they at some point stopped going to chruch. Mosst of these will tell you that one of the main reasons they stopped was that they just didn't seem to fit, or that their seemed a lack of something real going on there and so they stopped, no anouncement, no declaration, they just stopped going. And if you ask them, the problem wasn't God, it wasn't Jesus. The probem was church -- even if they couldn't really explain what exactly it was. And, they felt a little guilty about it. Some of the these people are back at church, some arn't.

But, for ever one of these church disatisfied but not God disatisfied people, there are 15 or so others in thier sphere of influance, people who they grew up in church with, who had a similar experience, but were not so thoughtful about where the problem lay, instead they chucked it all -- God, Jesus, church. The put them all in the no or I don't know catagory. And they are not back in church.

That's my theory, this 1-15 ratio. People who are disatisfied with church but not God and people who are less thoughtful who have chucked the whole thing.

The theory gives rise to a call: While none of these 15 would go with you to church, they'd all come to your house -- if your one of the 1's (even on a regular basis) to share a meal, share concerns, share prayer requests, and even share questions about the Word, written and incarnate.

Church

So We Tried To Stop Them

This morning I was reading in Luke 9 the sad, sadly funny and completely contemporary exchange where John comes up to Jesus to excitedly tell him the great thing he had done for the cause: "I saw people doing kingdom work, but they weren't part of our team, so I stopped them." The bible merely says that Jesus told John not to stop them, because if they are not against us they are for us -- you've all heard the quote. But I wonder what his expression was, or what else was going through his head. I think that maybe he looked at John like I look at my dog when he gets all tangled up in his leash. He does it time and time again, and it is so stupid, but I love him and untangle him.

This week I heard about a controversy at a church we are close to. They are having a conference with the subtitle "Are Science and Faith Compatible?" I did not know that that question was still up in the air, but that is another post. The point of this is the controversy -- hostility and threats from the church, threats to resign membership and more. The young pastor who was put in charge of the conference at the last minute and has received dozens of hostile e-mails, said, "This was supposed to be an event to bring non-Christians to and now I'm afraid our members are going to picket."

So, you ask, what is this huge controversy? One of the speakers believes in an old earth (and our church's official position -- if we even have one -- is a new earth, literal 24 hour day creation and all). And so, we are allowing someone to speak on a Wednesday night who does not believe exactly as the church does (even though he is not speaking on anything related to old/new earth!) And so he must be stopped, the conference must be stopped.

One exchange took place at the end of one of the largest (hundreds of folks) Sunday school classes. One of the lay leaders loudly telling others that he had resigned his membership because "(the senior pastor) lied to me, he said we would never have anybody in the pulpit who did not believe that the bible is the infallible word of God." This over a guy who believes that God might have created the earth in days that were longer than 24 hours. Now, that issue for me, I don't really care. God created it and that is a wonderful thing. But the hostility that has in this case risen to the surface -- we will stop the work of the kingdom if it is not done by people who are with us -- it's really sad.

This story is merely the dirty laundry of one unnamed church (it could be many church's), but it is a symptom of the inward, inbred, nature of so many communities of faith. Jesus started his ministry proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was among the people of his day and that he must go and proclaim that good news. Well, the Kingdom of God is still among us, and now we are charged to proclaim that good news. When we stop those who are doing Kingdom work, or we fight against those doing Kingdom work, or gossip about or look down our noses at those doing Kingdom work, because they are not part of our particular tribe, stripe or group we are quite frankly working against God's kingdom, rather than for it.

I guess that's all I have to say about it. Let's all look for opportunities to partner with someone who is doing Kingdom work -- maybe they don't even know they are doing kingdom work.

What a head scratcher it will be for them when you tell them.

Where Has Civility Gone?

So, I try not to post on dialysis days -- the mind just doesn't work well and the energy level too low and the quality suffers. But, this short post could not wait -- WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS DISTURBING CONTENT.

After dialysis today, my family made a stop at the always pleasant Costco. While there . . . to put it delicately . . nature called. I opened the door and . . . ok, I'll just say it, some animal of a human being had peed all over the seat. Apparently he could not use a urinal and upon his choice to use a stall could not be bothered to lift up the seat -- even with his foot. "What an animal," I said out loud.

Dumbfounded, I told my tale of broken humanity to Kelly upon my exit. Her response? "I don't want to hear about this, put it on your blog."

Done and done.

This means war! Are you a part of it or not?

Last night we watched Jesus Camp.

It was really uncomforable -- on so many levels. It made me so sad. If you have seen it you will know what I mean. It made me sad to see Ted Haggard talking about purity (In no means do I mean to trash him, it was sadness I felt, not condemnation). A short post today, mostly just quotes from the film (they make me sad to type them)

- If you don't open your mouth, the Holy Spirit can't talk.
- I don't need to tell you that we are in a war against culture. . . and we will win.
- Galileo made the right choice by giving up science for Christ.
- Whenever I meet a non-Christian, my soul feels yucky.
- We can't have phony sinners in the army of God.
- This means war! Are you a part of it or not?

The saddest thing about the movie is that maybe once or twice the Christians mentioned Jesus, instead repeatedly it said that Satan is after you, fight Satan, fight against the Godless, fight against the culture.

Now, I know the movie has an agenda, but if you have not seen it, you should -- especially if you are a follower of Jesus.

Virginia Tech Wound

I recieved this from my friend Lainie:

Our trip to Tech was very sobering... we felt such a
blanket as we turned off the highway and onto the
campus. Not of looming darkness, but of the severity
and sorrow of these senseless murders. My first
thought was, "This is the aftermath of a war zone." I
sensed it so strongly. I have never lived in a war zone,
but it must feel like this... beyond words...

The mood was as expected... still, like a blanket of
grief. It was moving to be on the very grounds of this
horror, see the memorial and walk right up to the
police barricade saying "Crime Scene... Do Not Pass."
There was overwhelming concern and intercession
that was so evident by the writings, flowers, candles,
etc...

And witnessing these expressions caused me to feel
so very proud of the immense care and solidarity we
as a "people" showed the Tech family. I sensed a true
oneness. We discretely poured a full bottle of olive oil
on the grounds there. We sat and cried and hung our
heads in disbelief. I believe we were truly "with" them,
and represented each of you and others who could not
be there in body.

Then we met up with four Tech students there and
had lunch in Owens dining hall. They seemed to want
to talk of light-hearted things. They talked of the
week a bit, but mostly wanted to keep the talk light.
We told them how much everyone loved them and how
helpless we all felt... wishing there was more we could
do.

Daniel asked them what message could we bring back
to others not in the Tech family. They said that
prayers were the only thing they could use. Many of
the other "well-meaning" things people did and said
were really not useful to them.

We told them we could understand that, and that we
would pass on this message that they continue to
need prayer, desperately! It will be much later, after
the shock has worn off a bit, that many questions,
nightmares and struggles will begin. So please don't
let the time-lapse stop our prayers for them.

Families are just beginning to experience their loss.
One friend wrote me of a detail that deeply affected
her police friend at the Crime Scene. Please allow me
to share this "scene" so we can get another picture of
the terrible horror these loved ones have experienced
starting early Monday when they heard of the
shootings...

"My hometown in VA is only 45 minutes from
Blacksburg. A high school friend of mine is on the VA
State Police. He was involved in photographing one of
the classroom crime scenes after the massacre. He
said it was horrible seeing those students, but the
worst part was that the entire time he was in that
room, all of their cell phones were ringing non-stop. It
broke his heart to know that they were calls from
loved ones desperate for them to answer. "

Those "unanswered calls" launched the horror that
began for these families. Please, let's keep these dear
people in our hearts and prayers this month and
weeks to come.

33 People Gunned Down

Today, a psycho gunned down more than thirty people at Virginia Tech University.

What to say? Nothing. Why does this type of thing happen? I heard President Bush pray that the families of those effected receive comfort "from a loving God." And I pray the same thing, because there is no hope of any sort of real comfort outside of God, because comfort in this situation is not natural.

But when I heard the quote, I thought how many people's first reaction will be, "loving God?" "How could a loving God allow this to happen in the first place." An age old question, a good question. And I think one that we in the western world who follow Jesus are less equipped to answer than others -- because of our comfortable Christianity. We live in a society where often the answer to the question, what does a Christian look like, is a person who drives a nice navy blue SUV with a fish on the back for each kid in the family, and goes to church.

What did a Christian look like in the early church? The bible tells us it looks like people who followed Jesus despite the fact that it meant their houses might be destroyed, their possessions taken, their livelihood jeopardized, and their life threatened or snuffed out. And so when tragedy happened, whether natural of man-made, it was the attitude of the Christians that made no sense. They were the first to care for the sick and jailed, filled with joy even as their stuff was being pillaged.

If the Church looked more like that today, if the church loved that way today -- even when the sky is falling, what different question might the people who the sky fell on ask?

Downtown Missional Communities

My buddy Rex and I drove down towards San Diego to meet a guy named Steve Denney. Steve is a church planter from Reno who moved to San Diego to gather communities of Jesus followers. His church is called CityWalk and it is currently three communities that meet in homes in Downtown San Diego.

As I listened to Steve's story, it had several points in common with others who I have seen God use to grow His church in areas where it does not really exist:

1. Humility
2. Holding form loosely
3. Developing relationship with no ulterior motives
4. A servant's attitude
5. A learner's attitude
6. Not outcome or time-frame driven

What has developed in these communities, like those of other friends who have done likewise, are gatherings of Jesus followers -- expressions of church -- comprised of people who to a large degree had previously never attended church.

In a day where most church growth is transfer growth resulting from people shopping for a "better fit," that is not only refreshing, but obedient to Jesus' charge to go and make disciples.

God of Disorder

I got this great Jacques Ellul quote on the Church from Steve Addison's blog. He apparently got it from Alan Hirsch. Regardless it's origin, had to post it here, because its a great quote.

No doubt some will reply that God is not a God of disorder, incoherence, or arbitrariness, but a God of order. Of course he is.

Unfortunately the whole of the Old Testament shows us that God’s order is not that which we conceive and desire. God’s order is not organization and institution (cf. the difference between judges and kings). It is not the same in every time and place. It is not a matter of repetition and habit. On the contrary, it resides in the fact that it constantly posits something new, a new beginning. Our God is a God of beginnings. There is in him no redundancy or circularity.

Thus, if his church wants to be faithful to his revelation, it will be completely mobile, fluid, renascent, bubbling, creative, inventive, adventurous, and imaginative. It will never be perennial, and can never be organized or institutionalized. If the gates of death are not going to prevail against it, this is not because it is a good, solid, well organized fortress, but because it is alive; it is Life that is, as mobile, changing, and surprising as life. If it becomes a powerful fortified organization, it is because death has prevailed.

He Was Dead - - - And Then He Wasn't

God came down to earth in the form of a man, and taught us with both his words and his deeds, taught us that he didn’t come to bring a religion, but a relationship. And the religious people didn’t want to hear that – they had their rules you know. The religious people had the power, they could control people’s actions and people’s money, but Jesus wasn’t so much interested in that, no he was not so much interested in their religious power structure and rules. Instead, he was interested in life, life to be filled to the fullest, overflowing, life that would be filled with joy even in hardship, life that was only found in following him, eternal life. And so they murdered him. They tortured him, they humiliated him and then they murdered him. And there he lay, dead; for 3 full days. A dead body, decaying;

Jesus was dead.

And then he wasn’t.

He was dead, and then he wasn’t.

Amazing Grace

The kids are on Easter break this week, so we had a family movie day -- and a trip to In-N-Out Burgers -- mmmmmmmmm.

Kelly and I choose the movie -- Amazing Grace. While it didn't have the pace of 300 (or 12.5 for that matter) it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie that was visually pleasing and thought provoking. Some thoughts:

1. How often the right thing is considered out of the question because of the financial consequences.

2. How something as despicable as owning other human beings and the indiscriminate de-dehumanization and death inherit therein (and other heinous things) can become so ingrained in the culture that the opposition to the practice is the voice that is "unreasonable."

3. How the human heart is evil to the core, and each one of us has a blindness to the own evil within us.

The two best lines in the movie:

1. Equiano, the former slave shows the large brand on his chest and says, "They do this to let you know you no longer belong to God, but to a man."

2. The aged and now blind John Newton broken and repentant over the 20,0000 "ghosts" of slaves that haunt him says, "I know two things: one that I am a great sinner and two that Christ is a great Saviour."

Ain't that the truth!

An Interesting Switchfoot Night

In December, never figuring that I'd be on dialysis, I ordered 6 tickets to one of my favorite bands, Switchfoot. The concert was last night at SOMA -- a club in San Diego. The date of the concert coincided or maybe I should say collided with my dialysis schedule. So, I arranged early dialysis so I could come home and take a two hour nap before we left.

Wow, did I underestimate the draining effect that this stuff has on me. Despite the two hour nap, the concert (standing room only and ending at 11:30pm) was one of the hardest things I ever did. It was a great concert, but the pain and fatigue was almost impossible to take. Yet as I listened and watched from a great position, my weakness led me to repeated thanksgivings to God for his goodness. I was weak, almost passed out twice, but was there with the love of my life and best friend Kelly who kept me going -- and making what would have been a miserable night watching my favorite band, a good night. Ok, if you are interested, here is is the Switchfoot SOMA playlist from last night:

1. Stars
2. Oh Gravity!
3. Gone
4. We Are One Tonight
5. Chem 6A
6. This is Your Life
7. lonely Nation
8. Daisy
9. Learning To Breath
10. Ammunition
11. American Dream
12. 4:12
13. Sorrow (Bad Religion Cover)
14. A Song Made Up For San Diego
15. On Fire
16. Faust, Midas, and Myself
17. Dirty Second Hands
18. The Shadow Proves The Sunshine
19. Awakening
20. Meant To Live

And Two Encores:

1. Only Hope
2. Dare You To Move

Surgery, traffic ticket and sermon

Ok, so I am trying to set up a time to get together with a guy, Steve, who plants churches in downtown San Diego. In trying to find a day to get together, I told him that I had surgery tomorrow and next week needed to work on my Easter sermon as well as defend a friend in a traffic trial. He replied, "In my world, surgery, speeding tickets and sermons make for a good blog." So, here goes.

The surgery was just canceled, which is a good thing. A wonderful and gracious woman has volunteered to donate one of her kidney's to me! I convinced my doctors to allow me to continue dialysis through my "tubes" and we would fast track the testing and reconsider the surgery if something doesn't work out. Today's dialysis was fairly non-eventful.

I have another friend, I will call him Bill to avoid any embarrassment. "Bill" has a mess of speeding tickets (and other varieties as well). He had let them all slide for a while and was going to show up at court and just say "what do I owe." I told him that this approach, while good with one ticket, can get you in jail when you have many and many of those are old. I also thought it would be a hoot to fight one of them -- which I thought winnable. The trial is next Friday. Should be fun, but have to study speed trap radar law. And, then on Sunday, I preach at the joint service of the San Diego Taiwanese Presbyterian church -- it will be a blast.

Hmmm. I guess it doesn't make such an interesting blog after all. Go figure.

Food to the Poor and Preaching to the Ears

Just got back from our monthly food distribution at the Silverwood Apartments. Located in a multi-square block area that has the fastest growing poverty rate int the state of California. Last year, our missional community of teen-agers adopted this complex -- at least to the extent that once a month we buy a car load of food at the San Diego food bank and then provide a box full of food to our "neighbors." We don't actively evangelize, no tracks or requirement to listen to us to get food (evangelize is our ultimate purpose, not our ulterior motive). Today a man asked, "why are you doing this?" "We love Jesus," I said, "Jesus said to love our neighbors, and you are our neighbors." It's fun -- even causes some of the kids to dance. After we are done, we take the kids to Dairy Queen for a nice soft serve cone. It's all a good time.

On another front, we are finally up and running, on the internet thanks to my friend Tu Nguyen. I preach each Sunday at a congregation called The Underground. It's the English speaking congregation of a Taiwanese church. My goal, to help them (and me) to realize the Kingdom of God as a reality here and now; as an already and not yet reality. And then, to help them discover what the ramifications of that are in every area of their life. Right now we are in a series called Journeying With Jesus from the book of Luke. Give a listen if you like.

Bad Dialysis Day

Ok, so many people ask what dialysis is like (some ask what it is). So, I decided I would give a quick description. I have tubes that were surgically tunneled through my skin for about 8 inches and come out my chest (with an in and an out). The other end goes into my carotid artery. The nice folks at the dialysis unit hook a tube (in and out) to me and then start a pump which pumps out 500ml per minute of my blood. The tubing takes my blood to a filter which is about two or three inches wide and 15 inches long. And for 3 hours my blood is cleaned as it flows through the filter and mixes with a chemical water. And since my kidneys don't work, I can't expel liquids in the "natural" way, so any quantity of liquid I drank over the past several days is somehow leached from my cells in the process. Ok, that is the how.

Today was a really bad day on dialysis. I was going to write something else (I thought about it earlier in the day but cannot remember it now). My blood pressure crashed 86/59 and I passed out for a moment, covered in sweat. But the worst was the cramping -- always a possibility at dialysis. First my big toe turned awkwardly away from my foot -- all of it's own accord. Then the entire foot and calf on my left leg cramped up. Then the middle of my back. The nurse had to pump saline into my body, which meant that I did not get off enough water weight, and will have to take more off next time. It was no fun. All but the cramping and blood pressure crash are three time a week experiences.

Hope I don't sound grumpy -- you asked.

Now, as I sit here, two hours later, my ears are ringing, my thoughts not clear, I'm light headed and dizzy. I'm also very grumpy -- I seem to be that way after each treatment until I go to bed.

Put Away Anger

“But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”(Col 3:8)

First off, by and large, I did not experience the feeling of indwelling anger today: Lord I'm not angry, help me to be not angry.

So, I'm at the gym (which I used to love, but on dialysis its not much fun) which I now force myself to do three times a week, and as usual listening to a sermon. Who to choose: Rob Bell, Francis Chan, Erwin McManus, and a bunch of others. I picked a favorite who had been out of the playlist for a while, the ever reliable John Piper. He talked on bitterness and putting aside anger.

I know God doesn't want me angry and I know I don't like being angry. I actually don't mind being angry when something makes me angry -- no, I don't like the state of being, where my being is angry. Piper challenged that it is a lack of faith, a lack of belief in God's promises. Yeah, that seems true. So, I determined to wake each day with the first words off my lips a request that God take away my anger and replace it with his peace.

And similar to the dad in John's gospel, I will each morning say I'm not angry -- help me to not be angry.

I'm Back

Ok, so I have not been posting -- last post New Years Eve. So, I am going to post once a day for a week and see if I develop better habits.

So, since the last post, I have gone on dialysis, which I must do every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Frankly, it sucks. But, there are people out there that have it far worse than me to be sure. I have found that during this season, I have been angry. I walk around at about a 7 on the scale of 1-10. I don't think about being angry - in fact most often I don't feel angry. But, if 10 is blow-up, then I know I'm at 7 or so because I can get really ticked off at really small things. I think the anger is caused by the lack of control that I feel having to be on dialysis. Today, during church, before I got up to preach, while I prayed for those there to participate I thought "I'm also mad that i don't think it's fair that I'm on dialysis again, that my kidneys failed for a third time. And I think that's right -- I don't think it's fair.

And that kind of freaks me out because I am the first guy to counsel people that fairness is not really up for argument. We all really deserve instant destruction, but by God's grace we have life and breath and everything else. Also, as I said above, lots of people are worse off. So, intellectually, it doesn't make sense with what I believe, or what I say I believe.

Yeah, I think I am angry because I don't think it's fair for me to be on dialysis again. Wow, who would have thought. Something to think, and pray, about.

New Year's Eve Reflections

It's but an hour and a half before the start of the new year, so I thought I would write a few words.

It's actually a strange and somewhat confusing time as we transition from this current calendar year into the next.

You see, my kidneys began to fad in a rather dramatic fashion in the beginning of December. Lot's of uncertainty as you can imagine. God is doing amazing things in our ministry and opening a lot of doors. I'm scheduled to go to Seattle for my first class at Bakke in 6 days -- unless their is marked improvement in the next several days, it will have to be postponed.

I'm convinced that the best explaination for what even the experts say is mostly unprecedented is that spiritual forces are at work and attacking what God has brought about. I read an interesting post on Sam Metcalf's blog that very much resonated with me and my experience. Read it here.

Many many people around the world are praying for healing. Like many people, though a followr of Jesus, the whole healing thing was not in my experiential paradigm. God has begun to change that in the last 6 months and has understandably excellerated this even more so in the past 15 days.

So, praying that God will chose to heal me, for his name sake, for his glory. If not, I pray that he will be glorified in whatever the outcome.

Thanks for praying with me and for me.

Peace

Pick Up Your Mat

I love to sit around and talk about what needs to be done in the Church—what followers of Jesus should be doing to bless their communities and incarnate Christ to those who do not know him. Yeah, one of my favorite things is to get together with a group of friends and talk about what it looks like to really follow Him. I know a lot of people like me too.

It is humbling to know that God has changed my heart over the years and allowed me to see His heart for the poor in a more real way. Several months ago, I wrote to our ministry team, “[we] stand at the precipice of unprecedented times. In the past, people with spiritual inklings would turn to a Christian church; now they are turning elsewhere. More and more it seems people need to be drawn to Jesus before they will ever set foot in a church – they must see Jesus lived out in our work and in our families.” I believe those words with every fiber of my being. But, for so long, they have been just that, words.

As I said, I know a lot of people like me too, people who find it real easy – even entertaining and enjoyable -- to sit and talk and complain or encourage, all while paralyzed by fear or the unknown from doing anything. So why do I just sit there? Why am I paralyzed? The answer, although not pretty, is pretty simple: lack of faith.

Jesus’ response, when he saw the guy paralyzed for decades but unable to get to the healing waters, was to ask him “do you want to be healed?” The guy told Jesus all the reasons why he had not been able to get to the water, why he had been sitting on his mat for so long. Jesus almost didn’t seem concerned about the legitimately valid excuses – I mean the guy was physically paralyzed. Instead, He said to him “pick up your matt and walk,” and immediately the man did just that, and was no longer paralyzed.

I think I hear Jesus saying that to me and people like me. “Quit sitting there paralyzed, pick up your mat and walk.” And, I’m pretty convinced that when we do that, it will be our faith that makes us well, and not just us, but the world around us, as the light that will begin to emanate from us is seen in the darkness and brokenness of paralyzed peoples lives.

It’s time to pick up our mats and stop being paralyzed.

Smitty, bang that gong!

Ok, so there is this kind of stupid little video out there called "Smitty -- Filled with the spirit. You can see it here.

Watch the video and then do a google search. I'm serious, do it. You would think this funny (even funnier when you consider that it is actually a saddleback thing) little video, was a direct attack on the divinity of Christ!

A lot of people have spent a lot of time denouncing this as something from the devil himself.

It makes me so sad that when the world hears from Christ’s bride these days, all they hear is what we are against — and usually with a bitter and angry tone. Maybe, kind of like a banging gong?

Church or Kingdom

The Church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it’s in the church business rather than the Kingdom business.

Church people are concerned with church activities and religious behavior. Kingdom people are concerned with kingdom activities - all human behavior visible and invisible.

Kingdom people see human affairs as saturated with spiritual meaning and kingdom significance.

Kingdom people seek first the kingdom of God and its justice. Church people often put church work above concerns for justice, mercy and truth.

Church people think about how to get people into the church. Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world.

Church people worry that the world might change the church. Kingdom people work to see that the church changes the world.

When people put the church ahead of the kingdom, they settle for the status quo and their own kind of people. When they catch a vision of the kingdom of God, their sights shift outside the walls of the church to the lost and the needy; they see the life and work of the church from the perspective of the kingdom.

If the church has one great need it is this: To be set free for the kingdom of God.