One side effect of pursuing excellence in church production is that common Christians become spectators who can contribute a percentage of their income to keep things going, but little more. We have raised the bar on how church is done so high that few believe they could ever do it themselves. The dark side of this endeavor is that we have lowered the bar of what it means to be a Christian so that simply showing up to the weekly one hour event with some regularity and a check book is all it takes.
My goal in life is to reverse this. I want to lower the bar of how church is done so that anyone can do it, and raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple so that they will do it.
I will never forget meeting with an organic church made up of high school students. As we were all singing praises to the Lord I felt His pleasure. I asked the students to share the biggest church they had ever been to. Southern California has many mega-churches. Several were mentioned, ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 attendees.
“I think Satan is more intimidated by this little church of 15 kids than by any of those Godzilla-sized churches,” I said. They all snickered and looked around the room at one another with smiles, thinking that the old man had finally lost his mind.
I then showed them why I thought this way. I asked, “How many of you think you could start a church like one of those mega-churches?” No one raised a hand. I then asked, “How many of you think you could start a church like this one?” All raised their hands. The snickering stopped. It was one of those holy moments in life that are hard to forget. I then asked them to look around the room at all the raised hands, and I said, “I assure you, Satan is terrified by this. And he should be!”
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
A True Seeker Service
In most churches today we expect the lost to come to us. In the Bible, God is always the Seeker going after those who are lost. He pursued Adam in a garden and Moses in a desert. He pulled Jonah off the bottom of the sea and Peter off the top. Jesus found Matthew in an office and Paul out on the road.
God became a man and entered the world through a birth canal just like the rest of us. He chose to come to us on our turf, rather then expecting us to rise to His. Jesus preached everywhere that the kingdom of God has come near. He came to seek and to save the lost, and He now invites us to join Him.
If you want to reach this world for Christ you are going to have to learn to sit in the smoking section.
Many ask: “How can we make the church more attractive to the lost?” If we start down this path we unintentionally leave our true path: Letting people see how attractive Jesus is! It’s all about Jesus…not us. In a sense, for every step we take toward impressing people with our own strengths we move further from letting them become impressed with His.
God always prefers to reveal Himself in weak things rather strong. It is the simple vessels that often reveal God’s glory more then having to find Him in the midst of laser lights and fog machines. The curiosity of a child’s question; the embrace of a loving grandmother; the accepting handshake of a good friend; the smile of a proud father; the warmth of a soft shoulder to cry on—these are the things that reveal God’s character more than any sermon.
Love for one another is a powerful ingredient in transforming the world, but sitting in an auditorium listening to a preacher talk about it is not as powerful as being able to see it and taste it first hand. A “neighbor nudge” for two minutes on Sunday morning is not enough.
“If Jesus were on earth you’d find him in a gay bar in San Francisco. He’d be with people suffering from AIDS. These are the new lepers. If you want to find out where Jesus would be hanging out it’ll always be with the lepers.”
—Bono
God became a man and entered the world through a birth canal just like the rest of us. He chose to come to us on our turf, rather then expecting us to rise to His. Jesus preached everywhere that the kingdom of God has come near. He came to seek and to save the lost, and He now invites us to join Him.
If you want to reach this world for Christ you are going to have to learn to sit in the smoking section.
Many ask: “How can we make the church more attractive to the lost?” If we start down this path we unintentionally leave our true path: Letting people see how attractive Jesus is! It’s all about Jesus…not us. In a sense, for every step we take toward impressing people with our own strengths we move further from letting them become impressed with His.
God always prefers to reveal Himself in weak things rather strong. It is the simple vessels that often reveal God’s glory more then having to find Him in the midst of laser lights and fog machines. The curiosity of a child’s question; the embrace of a loving grandmother; the accepting handshake of a good friend; the smile of a proud father; the warmth of a soft shoulder to cry on—these are the things that reveal God’s character more than any sermon.
Love for one another is a powerful ingredient in transforming the world, but sitting in an auditorium listening to a preacher talk about it is not as powerful as being able to see it and taste it first hand. A “neighbor nudge” for two minutes on Sunday morning is not enough.
“If Jesus were on earth you’d find him in a gay bar in San Francisco. He’d be with people suffering from AIDS. These are the new lepers. If you want to find out where Jesus would be hanging out it’ll always be with the lepers.”
—Bono
Blogging Again
Well, as we approach a new year I figure it is time to get serious about a few things. I started working out again. I might as well try blogging again. I remember when I started journaling 20+ years ago it took a few starts to get rolling, but I have now journaled every day for almost 20 years, perhaps blogging can be the same. Here goes...
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Starfish and the Spider
The book The Starfish and the Spider, by Brafman and Beckstrom, is awesome. It is a serious look at decentralized organizations versus centralized ones. It is a compelling message that needs to be heard today by everyone. I am, of course, in the spiritual world of the church, and to be honest, we should be leading the way in a decentralized movement.
These two authors articulate well, with many profound examples, how powerful we can be if we choose to decentralize rather than keep everything organized around a CEO/Board of directors/Pastor.
For those who are invested in God's kingdom, you must read this book. We should all be connected to the Head, that is Jesus, and He shouldbe leading a decentralized movement to the ends of the earth, but often we control what we have no business taking responsibility for.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Lately...
It has been a while. I am probably not going to be one of those regular bloggers. But as long as I don't fel like a failure when weeks go past without an update, I can continue with this.
I finished my next book! It is going to be published by Baker Books. I am too close to it now to be able to tell if it is any good. I hope it is.
I have been hard at work on it, which might explain some of my absence from this blog.
My Lakers are in the playoffs, but not expected to go very far. But there is always hope!
I finished my next book! It is going to be published by Baker Books. I am too close to it now to be able to tell if it is any good. I hope it is.
I have been hard at work on it, which might explain some of my absence from this blog.
My Lakers are in the playoffs, but not expected to go very far. But there is always hope!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Living in the "now"
As I get older (notice I did not say more mature) I am still discovering characteristics about myself. Oh sure, they are not new, they were always there, but I never realized how influential they were in my life or how others do not necessarily have the same viewpoints.
One such characteristic is that I live in the "now". Oh sure, I can plan for the future and even set goals. In fact, part of my calling in life is to always be thinking of the future and how to change things for the better when we get there. But as a person I am very much in the present tense. The past? What's that? In fact, I can't even judge time that has past. When I recall an event that happened in the recent past, I usually can't tell without a calendar whether or not it was a month ago, two months ago or half a year. Seriously, that is not an easy thing for me to do.
At first I thought this was a memory problem. But the truth is, my memory of what took place is complete, it is how long ago it took place that is lost. The tracking of time's passage is not easy for me.
Of note is the fact that I journal every day. I have stacks of completed journals tucked away in my office. But I never read them unless I am specifically trying to track something down. How silly is that? I miss out on some of the best value in journalling. But I am so in the moment that I am more concerned with writing today's entry then reading any of yesterday's. I tell myself that some day in the future I should plan a whole weekend to read past journals and see what God has done...but of course that is something for the future and I never really go there much either.
Relationships are also affected by this characteristic. The people I am with in the moment are so real and special to me, but if we are apart for a while I am not good at keeping in touch with them. I think that may hurt people because we are so close in the now and then distant later. But I have to say, they are still just as special in my heart and mind, and when we are together in the now again, for my part, we will not be any less connected.
I am sure this characteristic has benefits, but I am also aware that it has its dark side.
What is really hitting me hard, though, is how much it is entrenched in who I am and how hard it is for me to be anything else. I am in the present and cannot be in the future or the past. The present is where I will stay.
If I can live for Jesus in the present, then I guess I will also live for him in the future. If I can love my wife and kids in the present, I am pretty much assured I will love them in the future as well. Living in the past does not promise such rewards, at least I don't think it does, I wouldn't actually know...I've never been there (or if I ever was...I don't remember it).
One such characteristic is that I live in the "now". Oh sure, I can plan for the future and even set goals. In fact, part of my calling in life is to always be thinking of the future and how to change things for the better when we get there. But as a person I am very much in the present tense. The past? What's that? In fact, I can't even judge time that has past. When I recall an event that happened in the recent past, I usually can't tell without a calendar whether or not it was a month ago, two months ago or half a year. Seriously, that is not an easy thing for me to do.
At first I thought this was a memory problem. But the truth is, my memory of what took place is complete, it is how long ago it took place that is lost. The tracking of time's passage is not easy for me.
Of note is the fact that I journal every day. I have stacks of completed journals tucked away in my office. But I never read them unless I am specifically trying to track something down. How silly is that? I miss out on some of the best value in journalling. But I am so in the moment that I am more concerned with writing today's entry then reading any of yesterday's. I tell myself that some day in the future I should plan a whole weekend to read past journals and see what God has done...but of course that is something for the future and I never really go there much either.
Relationships are also affected by this characteristic. The people I am with in the moment are so real and special to me, but if we are apart for a while I am not good at keeping in touch with them. I think that may hurt people because we are so close in the now and then distant later. But I have to say, they are still just as special in my heart and mind, and when we are together in the now again, for my part, we will not be any less connected.
I am sure this characteristic has benefits, but I am also aware that it has its dark side.
What is really hitting me hard, though, is how much it is entrenched in who I am and how hard it is for me to be anything else. I am in the present and cannot be in the future or the past. The present is where I will stay.
If I can live for Jesus in the present, then I guess I will also live for him in the future. If I can love my wife and kids in the present, I am pretty much assured I will love them in the future as well. Living in the past does not promise such rewards, at least I don't think it does, I wouldn't actually know...I've never been there (or if I ever was...I don't remember it).
Monday, January 15, 2007
Reggie is the man!
I spent the weekend in South Carolina with Reggie McNeal and a couple hundred Southern Baptist staff pastors and their wives. Reggie is great! I am so glad that he is able to come to our conference at the end of the month. His thoughts and heart are so much like all of our CMA family. During the conference he spoke about changes that are rapidly coming on the church landscape and told the audience that they would all have to choose whether or not they are with the move of God or going to continue obsolete and on the sidelines.
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