Breakout Chruches, by Thom S. Rainer

Based on the coporate mega-hit, Good to Great, this book follows the travels of 13 churches who went through dry times and came out ahead. While I am naturally adverse to using coporate business books as church growth material, I tried to approcah this book with an open mind, especially after hearing what the notorious Jeremy Gange had to say about it.

The book is a research report more than a prescription on how to grow your church. The research group of doctrinal students under Thom Rainer interviewed thousands of churches and 13 breakout churches looking for common themes. The 13 churches chosen had to fit certain criteria, including keeping the same senior pastor through the dry time into the breakout times. I thought that was awesome, b/c it gave hope to pastors to stay where they are and not be constantly looking for greener (easier) pastures somewhere else.

So, I would pick up the book if you are a church leader, or want to support your church leadership in moving from good to great.

There were, of course, a couple of things that didn't sit well with me. The biggest problem I had was with the statement that good was a sin if we are called to great. I just don't see that as I look at the Scriptures. It sounds really motivational and all, but is it real? So, this book is not the gospel for me, but it is encouraging in a John Maxwell kind of way...

Just a tool.

I'm nothing, hear me, nothing but a tool;
If God wants to use me I just say cool.
I'm not a ballonhead who thinks he's on the rise,
If you're thinking that then, pop, yo, surprise.

D-Boy

I woke up this morning, prayed, visited the lab at the doctor's to give blood, drank coffee, read Nick's blog, and went on with my day.

Little did I know that this morning God would be working in a man's heart to call the church, ask to talk to a pastor. Without going into personal details, this man has suffered some personal loss and came in to my office, prayed and became a Christian. It was unbelievable. I basically just sat there and watched the Holy Spirit enter a man. I ministered by offering kleenex, telling him how amazing God is, told Him about the story of the prodigal son, and hugged him.

no one has ever taught me how to share the gospel in the story of the prodigal son, it just came out because it just lives inside of me.

It's awesome to just be a part of God's redemptive plan.

Midnight Maruaders

So Saturday morning I woke up and found that the youth house (which I like to call the cave, in recognition of the saints who meet in the catacombs before us) was broken into on Friday night. Thieves made off with ~$1500-$2000 worth of music and AV kit. If you've ever been robbed from from a B&E you know that feeling of violation that you want revenge for. I find myself having to remind myself that the best life for me does not include revenge. In any way.

I think practicing the Jesus Prayer over the last while will help me through this. It really helps to turn my focus from myself to the reality of the God-world.

It's still annoying that people would steal from us. At least that's how I feel; they didn't really steal from us, they stole for themselves, trying their best to get their best life possible.

So the question I find myself asking is this: Do I love the people who stole from the youth house?

It's convicting.

Crap! I'm not postmodern!

Like everyone else that circles the emerging church blogs, I have taken the Theological Worldview test. Originally seen at the Dead YP site, I ended up Roman/Catholic and Weslyan. I'm cool with that. I have never prayed to Mary or the saints though, so that part of the quiz is a little off. Whatever.

Alright -

You scored as Roman Catholic. You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 75% Roman Catholic 75% Emergent/Postmodern 71% Neo orthodox 57% Fundamentalist 50% Classical Liberal 39% Modern Liberal 36% Reformed Evangelical 32% Charismatic/Pentecostal 32% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Authentic Sin

I wish we would stop referring to Christians as "sinners who are forgiven." I wish we would see the calling of being holy, separate as a way of life. Following Jesus instead of natural tendencies.

I am prompted to this wish by a few factors, reading the ooze.com forum boards about an article on slacker-leadership, my own blog post on cussing last( two weeks?) week, and feeling a growing distinction between those who live for and against Jesus. I don't work hard to classify people into Christian/not-Christian, but I do point out obvious traits that work for/against a person, or myself, being whole in all aspects.

It seems the current buzz-words of "real" and "authentic" are being thrown around in conjunction with sin. For example, it's considered real, by one forum poster, when people around a church swear and drop the "f-bomb" about once a week. That line of thinking says that those who don't swear are not real. That just doesn't line up with Scripture. Romans is clear that we should not go on sinning just so that the grace of "realness" abounds.

I dare say that "authenticity" and "realness" may be the false gods of our time. They are very good attributes, but they are not to be worshipped. Why should they be the measure of a Christian or a church? Of course, this coming from someone who really values an insistence on reality, I am not advocating for the fake church.

I am advocating for God's people to be holy and allow that holiness to be the "authentic" reality in their lives.

inVert

I'm planning for this weekend's culmination retreat for the inVert spiritual formation class. We're taking the 7 students on a weekend adventure with the focus on Discovering your LifeCalling through Spiritual Disciplines.

We're introducing the Daily Office, Sacred Reading, The Jesus Prayer and Spiritual Gifts, your SHAPE, your life missions statement. It should be an interesting weekend.

I also feel incredibly underqualified to lead this weekend. But, that seems to be a good theme for my life right now, I guess.

Miami Heat

So the Heat lost last night - it was really their own fault. Detroit kept them from putting the perverbial (props to Ricky B.) nail in the coffin.

So it's time for us Sahq fans to rest up and hope that Shaq has another great season in him. For the Heat, this offseason they need to:

> Figure out Zo's plans for next year
> Get a back-up playmaking point gaurd
> Figure out why Dooling takes those crazy shots
> Give Dwyane Wade a raise

New Links -

I've added a bunch of new links on the side column - Nick (thinking padre) and Jason, who I went to school with, Kimball, Mark O, also.

Cool blogs that resonate with me.

There are also some Albany blogs in there for the local love. REPRESENT!!

Anyways - today I am breaking a bit of a blogfast I guess - after a trip to Canada, a wedding and announcing my wife and I's new preganancy ----

It's busy season, but I have some heated blogs brewing that should come out soon.

Why do we swear?

Recently I've been thinking through swearwords. It's seeming to be a hot issue in my context right now. Students in the ministry often ask me, "Is it ok for a Christian to swear?" To which I wonder - what kind of a jacked up question is that?

There are several blogs out there that talk about variuos levels of swearing, from the god understands view to the there's swearwords in the Bible view. And there is a whole myspace blog (which will remain linkless) that is becoming dedicated to showing how much you can love Jesus and swear too....I put it under the God understands category too though.

While those explanations may be fine and good to others - it just doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't see how swearing helps you to be a better person.

And isn't that the point - that the way of Jesus is better? In the past few months I have been becoming more spiritual, more disciplined and I have become a strong believer in impulse control. What is the impulse reaction? And is it controlled or does it control.

I think for many potty-mouths the deeper question is what is controlling? Are there moments of loss of control, sure - but God doesn't want to understand - he wants to transform.

So, bluntly, swearing is stupid. Plain stupid. Whether or not it is a sin is a useless waste of time arguement - people who disagree with me can feel free to flame me on myspace, though. Swearing doesn't help your faith, so I'm not going to waste my time with it.

Welcome to the Family

And you thought your family had problems.

It had to happen...

This past weekend our church received our monthly regional Christian newspapers that sit in the office waiting room where people pretend to read them, but this one had quite the interesting article. The paper has had a couple of mentions of the emerging church movement, mostly observational, and they have finally published one in outright opposition to the emerging church. Titled, 'Emerging church' wrongly defines our faith, it is written by a woman named Deborah Dumbrowski.

The article is not a very strong arguement and relies heavily on words like "aligns himself with" and "is associated with" to put together a weak link of emergind chruch leaders. At one point, the article condemns Rick Warren for teaching after a yoga workshop - like he had authority in the schedule of a convention he was speaking at. So, it's ridiculous. Unfortunately, the article is not yet online, but hopefully will be, because I imagine it will generate some buzz.

However, the greater disappointment comes in the fact that the emerging church really has to work hard to get some decent criticism. The
American church, in varying degree, seems to be attacking the "emergents" in the traditional American way (if you don't understand it - kill it or enslave it).

Dumbrowski owns a small publishing company called Lighthouse Trails Publishing but has a separate research site designed to fight contemplative spirituality as a bridge to other religions.

So you can check it out and decide for yourself. Comment here if you'd like, I'll be busy doing my lectio divinia tonight, though....

Lambs Among Wolves

A couple weeks ago, I gave the teaching at our church - on youth, missions, sheep and the church.

It was a presentation of sorts on this summer's trip to Vancouver to become and serve the people of Vancouver.

The teaching was called, "Lambs Among Wolves", a phrase I totally plagarized from Jesus. so much ups to JC -

Anyways, you can listen to the teaching and talk about it here -

J@<><

Why Benedict

Figuring out a pope's name is rough - but I really don't think it gives the pope any street cred that he chooses his own nickname. But, how much street cred does a pope actually need?

Check this out: Why "Benedict"? (Keith Olbermann)

Big Question:

Who has more street cred, the pope or you?

Dangerous Wonder, Michael Yaconelli

Last night I blasted through Dangerous Wonder by Mike Yaconelli in preparation for Sunday's worship gatherings. You need to get this book into your hands.

Yaconelli is one of the most influential people in my life. His views on life and following Christ and youth ministry helped to form me and build me into the (hopefully) dangerous youth pastor that I am today. He passed away before I ever met him in an auto accident around the Oregon/California border. He might be the only person who I never met whose death brought tears to my eyes.

He was an excellent man and his influence lives on. You can visit his online memorial, hosted by Youth Specialties.

In the tradition of the reOrientation, here are some memorable and influential quotes from the book.

"I want a lifetime of holy moments. Every day I want to be in dangerous proximity to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning andis filled with adventure, wonder, risk and danger. I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry."

"...children's questions are more than a request for information. Their questions are an act of affection, of communion, and of trusting."

"The trouble with children is they believe you."

"...in the process of socializing our children to follow the rules, do we rob them of the discernment needed to know when to follow rules and when to break them?"

And finally, quoting Will Willimon,

Just when I get my church all sorted out,
sheep from the goats, saved from the damned,
hopeless from the hopeful, somebody makes a move,
gets out of focus, cuts loose, and I see why
Jesus never wrote systematic theology.
So you and I can give thanks that the locus of
Christian thinking appears to be shifting from
North America and northern Europe
where people write rules and obey them,
to places like Africa and Latin America

where people still know how to dance.

Benedict 16

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has been selected by the Roman Catholic church as the new pope. - CNN

And we were all looking for a black latin american?




Just a few hours ago the cardinals elected the new pope. Many who read this blog don't give a rip, but I do. I think the last pope was a great guy to advance the kingdom of God, following a couple popes who had more struggles. Even as I struggle through some catholic doctrines, I think the catholic/orthodox/protestant convergence/healing that is occuring after ~1000 years of splitting is a really good thing.

A big question, thanks to Andrew Jones, has to be what does the catholic church do to engage the future?

ATF reflections

Here's some links to variuos reflections on Acquire the Fire on the weekend - and if you are an Albany HS'er be sure to check this thread on the Driven Forums.

Joyce

Fizzox

Brooke

Theresa

Add link to your in the comments if you've got'em!

Acquire the Fire

This past weekend I led the group up to PDX for a weekend Acquire the Fire conference.

ATF is run by Teen Mania ministries, and they do advertise the snot out of their products, but the weekend is the best I can get in the pacific northwest.

So it was a super weekend and many kids made new or renewed commitments to following Christ.

I don't have time know but I will post some links to reflections from students. Or, if you were there, then post your links in the comments here.

out like American Idol -

Church Marketing Sucks

Chruch Marketing Sucks is a website that is dedicated to making fun of churches that have spasm marketing campaigns. It is a major error the American church makes, mistaking evangelism and marketing for each other. It isn't even a site that says marketing is bad, it just points out how bad churches are at marketing.

I have blogged about this before, Christian Marketing Machine is Killing Kids, and I feel pretty passionate about it all.

So the quest for the reorienting church and Christian is, "How do we improve marketing while improving witness?" And, "What is the difference between the two?" And, "What are the results of bad marketing and/or bad witness?"

The Great Commission

After further reflection, I think the last post was a bit of a rant, but I am revisiting this thought day after day. I was reading last night, a book that I will definitely post on, and it asked the question, "how are postmoderns to fulfill the gospel?" And I couldn't help but deconstruct that thinking into asking why the word fulfill is used? I think the emerging church and its leaders must ask some big questions about the great commission, especially in light of the reforming of the gospel and re-understanding of salvation.


Is the great commission a task or a way of life? Are we to "do", "be", or something else with the great commission?

Will the great commission ever end, or will it continue in eternity?

I contend that the GC is a way of life. The kingdom of God is now and we are to be disciples. Disciples who make other disciples. Sorry, no mention of converts there. But, beyond this, if I beleive that the GC calls us to a lifestyle of making disciples, then I have to believe that this kind of activity goes on for eternity in heaven/new earth.


So, as a way of life, and not as a task, the GC will not be the prevailing theme of the emerging church, yet disciples, and converts (and yes that word is problematic also) will become.

So, go ahead and take it off your church letterhead, because no body is going to care about your task anymore. Just help people become

The Commission

What has become known as the Great Comission or, in Sonlife circles, the Everyday Comission does not need to be fulfilled.

I spent last night reading and working thorugh Robert Colemans' The Master Plan of Evanagelsim and grew increasingly concerned that modern American Christianity see Matthew 28:18-20 as something to be fulfilled.

It is, I believe, way closer to the truth to see Matthew 28:18-20 as a way to live. The goal is not world evangelism. World evangelism comes when people are living GC lifestyles. World evangelism is a by-product, not the goal. The goal is holy living (has anyone else noticed how Wesleyan I am becoming?). Connection to God. Repentance. Obedience.

So, people, please stop witnessing to people with hopes that Christ will come back if we just tell everyone about Jesus. That's stupid.

Just live. And be the witness. People don't need another prescription plan, they need to see Jesus - so ask yourself the question, as I am, where is Jesus seen in you?