November 21, 2006 

Why Jesus Couldn't Be A Pastor

Perry Noble just wrote a great blog post on Seven Reasons Why Jesus Could Not Have Been A Pastor In Many Churches... It resonates well with a postmodern, apostolic view of the pastoral role. Enjoy!

November 14, 2006 

the golden years & keifer sutherland

i’m off today – so i was watching some tv. i stumbled on a show on VH1 [can’t remember the name] with kiefer sutherland as a road manager for a new band called rocco laDuca & the burden. he’s traveling with them to get their name out there in anticipation of their album release [it’s out now]. their music is pretty good. lots of blues-y funk. but my thought isn’t about the music, it’s more about kiefer sutherland.

this guy doesn’t seem content to ride the fame of his show and live the life of a wealthy celebrity. though i’m sure he does plenty of that. he’s in the streets of London passing out free tickets to a concert that no one, at first, seems to want to go to; freezing his but off in the process.

so then i started thinking about the idea of retirement. this conversation actually began in atlanta, ga. when i was at catalyst in oct. we were spending some time with family of the guy i was with and we ended up talking about another guy that had just retired and was feeling unfulfilled just lying on a beach in the caribbean [i’d like to try that for just a little bit].

point, point...ah yes

i think we’d all cop to an in-born desire to make a difference in the world – no matter our age. but there is an undercurrent that there comes a day when your productive days are behind you and you just need to drift into the sunset. although retirement/investment commercials are more recently about doing something different with your life and starting a new chapter.

i think there could be some real interesting thinking/teaching/preaching on the idea that Christ-followers, in their later years have the opportunity to do some big things for Christ and His church.

maybe there’s already some stuff out there that i’m not aware of, but i just think this whole topic of retirement & the kingdom of God is an interesting one. retirement & those conversations fly in the face of what Jesus told His people to be about.

by the way, the guy on the caribbean beach – not happy with his retirement – decided to partner with a friend, bought a closed-down k-mart in the atlanta area and renovated it into a church. they opened in oct. high on the arts & use of the local body to create a place to meet God. atlanta is nice this time of year isn't it??

 

Reactive Christianity

In Mark Batterson's latest book, he posed a question that resonated with me, and got me to thinking:

"Is anybody else tired of reactive Christianity that is more known for what it's against than what it's for?" (In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day)

I think in many churches (mine included) there's a tendency towards an ethos of reaction rather than proaction. As Ron said at GA, I think a lot of this comes from an ecclesiology built on doxology. When there's an "Alamo" mentality in the church, it becomes very defensive and reactive... fighting to preserve what it thinks is ecclesiological paradise. Unfortunately, this is what the unchurched sees as judgmentalism and vindictiveness towards those who see things differently.

In my observation, missional mindsets are what drive innovation and creativity in the church... Mission-driven churches can't stay in the Alamo, because they've realized the Alamo isn't where the mission is fulfilled. The churches that are thinking outside of the box and doing innovative/creative ministry are the churches that are wholeheartedly devoted to and driven by mission. They know exactly what they're about and they're willing to experiment and try new and innovative things to get it done.... If their mission is to "make disciples", they then ask the question, "how can we do that best?". And through a balance of Biblical and cultural exegesis they begin to try new things and go places that may have never been seen before by the church.

I think one of the major ethos transitions when we talk about transitioning from doxology to missiology is reactive ethos to a proactive ethos. Instead of pushing against something, the church begins to push towards something. Mission motivates action, and puts reactions into the background.

A major part of leadership is about helping the church realize that not only is the Alamo undefendable, in reality, there never was an Alamo to begin with.

November 10, 2006 

MI.GA.2006.3

If I missed something you contributors out there please edit. Just notate your edit, so we can see who's pitching in.

Session 2 with Ron Martoia - Q & A

Q:What did you mean by Excile, Exodus, and Preistly?

A: He reviewed that we preached the gospel mostly through the preistly story not the whole gospel story that's told in the old testiment. [Frankly I didn't write many notes here because it was review to me.] He spoke for quite a while on that, then I think someone did a follow up questions that gave him clarity on what the first guy asked.

Then he talked about encoding and decoding. We may be speaking the same words, but not really talking about the same things, or coming away with the same meaning. It's like having a conversation with someone from the UK and you don't have any idea what they just said. That can play a significant part in all this. [I can't wait to listen to the CDs, I know I missed a lot here.]

Q:If we find ourselves in the Know >>> Do model of spiritual formation how do we transition to the Knowing >>> Seeing >>> Sensing >>> Doing way of formation? [I asked that brilliant question.]

A: He told a story about being at the check out lane of a store. There was this mom with two out of control kids. {You've been there! Maybe they're your kids :) } All Ron could think of was "Get control of your kids lady!" "I wanted to get her a brochure on a parenting seminar." When she was leaving she turned to Ron and said "Thanks for being so patient with me and my kids. My husband and their dad left us last night." So Ron's perception of her and the kids immediately cahnged. He wanted to give her a brochure at first {Know >>> Do}, But then he Knew something different >>> He Saw why they were acting that way >>> he Sensed that they needed help/love >>> He wanted to Do something for them.

Bring about things into the walk/formation about how people see people. How Jesus see's people.

"Spirituality is seeing."

Q: Tell us about the process of shifting DNA.

A: 1. Start by honing in on missional victories.
2. Read the Bible again for the first time. Ask questions about what was really being said.
Work on the encoding >>> decoding thing. [Like a convo with someone from the UK.]
Zachious: What did Jesus say? What was it like in his culture to tlak to a tax collector?
What would it have been like to eat with that guy? At his house????

Observation said in the mic: Extreme Makeover saves people from problems, only to make them into materialistic consumers, with bigger bills and up keep costs.

What are the top 5 needs of your county? What indiginous things that work? [what a good missionary does.]

Do you have to be a commited volunteer or pillar in your church to help the community? Does everyone that volunteers for Extreme Makeover know Jesus?

Randy 's Personal note spured by that statement: Is our high school trip to Mexico just for committed kids? It has been in the past, but I'm not sure anymore.

November 09, 2006 

From the guys at Odyssey

THIS post has to do with what we've been talking about. How so you ask? Read away my freind. Let me just say S A R, may have something to do with it.

Chris and Alan have a different perspective then most of us around "here." I have grown to appreciate that angle on life, faith and the church. [Those wacky Presbyterians. :) ]

November 05, 2006 

MI.GA.2006

My computer fragged and I lost this brilliant post that I've been writting for 30 min. It's sunday afternoon and I've got to be back to the office soon so I'm not going to replicate the former post.

We had a great General Assembly of the Church of God in Michigan. Ron Martoia was really challenging to all of us. Our conversation is seeing some fruit guys! Three years ago when Nate and I did a conferance about church and culture we got blank looks and no conversation. That was not the atmosphere in the room at GA. I will be posting my notes here in a series so we can unpack them more. If I've left soemthing out you other contributors make sure to edit the post. You write down something brilliant only to miss another brilliant thought. I will be getting the CDs of the sessions and interjecting some things that I missed.

I'm really glad I'm in Michigan right now guys! I think this will give us some common language to talk about change now. A couple pastors on staff with me mentioned that we should go on a retreat to talk about it. NICE! So look forward to that.

November 01, 2006 

an artistic cultural intpretation

not that i am any great writter, but i just finished a piece for our church newsletter on the clash of culture and arts and their use in the church. but it got me wondering about the use of the arts in church and how we need to be willing to tap into places of people's existance that we ARE missing...

Why do the arts matter? Is it important that we participate in culture? Is there a connection to God when art happens?

Here’s a thought on the arts from C.S.Lewis & why the arts matter, To see with other eyes, imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts as well as our own.

In other words, when someone creates something in the arts it allows us to enter a place in our hearts and minds and souls that we may have not been able to go on our own.

But immediately, when we begin to talk about culture and the arts our minds tend to go to negative places. We are tempted to think of all the things that have gone wrong with the arts & the way art has been mis-used. And to be fair, art has been mis-used & there’s been plenty that has gone wrong. But our response, at times, has been to withdrawal and push back from the table. So the conversation & development of the arts has gone on, for the most part, without many Christian voices.

mistakes to the cultural interaction? - do tell...

1 – we discourage our children from pursuing careers in creative spaces

The worry from the parent’s seat is that our kids will become the “starving artist.” True or False? The truth is that 1/3 of the nation’s economy comes from the arts field. The arts have become every bit as stable as medicine, law…name the field and there’s money to be made. It is becoming very important that we encourage students with artistic abilities to pursue the development of those gifts. Did you know that Anderson University has a very accomplished Art Dept. with a fantastic glass blowing studio? It’s true! If the church, God’s church, is going to have an impact on the culture that surrounds us Christ-followers need to get back to the table of cultural definement. And that means that Christ-followers need to pursue the gifts of creativity and arts that God has placed in their lives. And we parents need to encourage that!

2 – we only champion prescriptive art

Another way of saying this is that we like art that shows the world the way we wish it was. We like to see a world that doesn’t have hunger and war & clean water issues. So when a movie is made about the civil war in Rowanda we turn the channel. When Christian organizations promote the ability to bring clean water to places that have none through well-made documentary-style film making we shut down inside. Something inside of us grows cold. That needs to change.


The Biblical character Nehemiah looks at the world that he lives in and prays a prayer that shows the heart of one moved by God. You can check the specific prayer in ch.1, but here’s the essence…Nehemiah sees the world as it is, and then he sees the world as it could/should be. And the tension between the two weighs so much on his shoulders that his heart is broken by what’s going on. And he cries out to God and says “I want to change what’s happening here! You God, and You alone can help me do that!”

He didn’t say, “Well, this stinks. I suppose I’ll just stay in my little hut and ignore what’s happening.” Or he didn’t say, “Let me write a little check to pay for some new stuff and I’ll see ya later.” He took an active roll in changing the culture around him.


Here’s the short of the cultural discussion for this month – when we allow ourselves to”
see with other eyes, imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts” we open the world up beyond our front door and see new things. Things that make God happy, that we may have never seen before. Things that make God sad & angry; & again – things that we may never have seen.


So the challenge here in this first installment of the cultural discussion is this:

Are we willing to encourage those with artistic gifts to pursue the development of those gifts; without saying discouraging things under our breath?

AND are we willing to take a more open-minded look at the culture without turning away from the things that make us uncomfortable? I’m not referring to taking in the things that are mis-uses of art. But are we taking in art at all?

God is speaking through the arts all the time, are we listening?

much of the info. here comes from time spent with Erik Lokkesmoe who hosts a web resource called brewing culture

– another great web resource for the arts and what Christ-followers are doing about it is art within

In The Beginging

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Who's Migrating

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