the smallest peace

Love works, criticism is lazy.

2012-01-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

Love is the thing that motivates the heart of God toward us. That love is executed through the church. So when mistakes are made, the proper way to handle it, is in love. When we fall God responds in love, when other's don't live up to our (unfair) expectations, love will change the entire dynamic.

Any other motivation is slap in the grace of God. (including getting your opinion heard and being right) Jesus was right but He didn't allow that to get in the way of redemption. He denied His "rights" to appeal, His "rights" to be heard, His "right" to be respected; to esteem others.

If that attribute is being reflected in you, consider yourself the 10% of the church that get's it.

-These and other truths brought to you by. . . the Bible, now in Technicolor!

the Devil is in the generalities and the details...

Grace vs. Us

2012-01-21T09:59:00.001-07:00

The sooner we accept our ineptitude, the sooner grace changes us.

The problem in the modern leadership paradigm that we’ve created with our modern "spectacular rock-show exhibition seeker obsessive church-plant megastar media whore-of-a-ministry" model (whew) is that even though we place an immensely weighted emphasis on the gospel (which is wholly good) we also place more and more onus on our abilities and others.

If you took away all the pretense and all the glamour of your church experience could you stand to be exposed to a small room of 20 people studying and discussing the bible on its own merits and personal revelation? There is NO ability in us that transforms others, no value in our expertise; it is grace alone that changes men! Anything else is a demi-idol that threatens the true work of the gospel in men’s hearts.

We cannot partially rely on grace.

rePost from RESURGENCE:

2012-01-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

from: Brad House

I have recently noticed a trend of churches giving up on the notion that community is an essential component of church life.

Many are deciding that community is an optional experience that is helpful but not elemental to being a healthy disciple of Jesus. I think this is a significant mistake. There is no biblical support for personal, autonomous Christianity. If we want to truly make disciples who advance the gospel, we must not only see the importance of community, but we must understand it to be essential to the church.

Community is a gift of God’s grace and essential for the Christian life. Community is not a peripheral ministry. Our communities should be the most palpable expression of the gospel within the church. As culture reflects the values of its citizens, Community Groups reflect the values of the church.

If our church does not place a high value on community, then we are already disconnected from the gospel convictions related to community.

My experience has been that most churches consider community a value, but many have a hard time living out that value in a way that is visible and recognizable. The church is constantly pulled to do so many things that it can be easy to neglect or devalue Community Groups within the sea of programs churches provide.

Breathing Life Back into Your Small Group

If, however, we are going to breathe life back into the community of the church and see it function as God designed, we need to start thinking differently. Social justice, overseas missions, youth programs, food banks, sports ministries, and so on are acceptable programs, but they are not the center of God’s mission. They are support tools through which a gospel-saturated community can intentionally engage the world.

If we put all our energy into the tangential and neglect the center, we have no fertile ground where people can land and grow. I have heard such tangential ministries described as a funnel, drawing people into the church as they swirl toward the center. Ignoring the visual similarity to being flushed, the problem with a funnel is that it has a hole in the center.

Similarly, this has also been my experience when we neglect building the body of Christ. In order to breathe life back into your small group ministry, you must have a clear sense of its value and importance to your church.
You cannot hope to gain momentum and life in such a ministry while simultaneously marginalizing it through resource allocation or ministry dilution. Elevating Community Groups to the proper (and balanced) level of significance is critical

You are the Movement

2012-01-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

my new blog idea =/<140 words

People often get the wrong impression when i say things like "we are building toward a movement", or "I don't want a ministry I want a movement." I'm guilty of a lot of things; one of my primary vices is saying the same things continuously with little (or no) exposition.

Yeah, it's shutterstock, So What?

What is this "movement" I'm so apt to throw around in casual conversation? Well, of course we want a lasting/impacting community that is authentic, spirit-led, and reproducible, but the intent of movement (as far as I’m concerned) is not organizational, it is explicitly individual and ever-increasing in measure. I want to see movement in singular hearts that ignites faith into action and action into deeper faith. Make no mistake, there is no reproducible system that is not first individually transformative and gradually tested.

That is all.

Looking back - thinking ahead - living now

2011-11-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

Caught in Wash - Dry - Rinse - Repeat

Itoften feels like everything in our lives demands our attention. We areconstantly in a flux of self-doubt or self-conceit and the smallestcircumstance pulls us deeper in both extremes. Nostalgia plays a big part inthe disappointment that we often feel about our lack of involvement or thewinding down of excitement in our lives. Fear of the future is another point ofcontention that drains us of the courage and fortitude to make a sound andlasting impact in our respective communities. There is a better way, we weremade for “more than living”.

Thereare plenty of things in my past I’m not proud of and there are even more lostopportunities than I can count, but if I allowed those things to dictate mydestiny I would accomplish nothing from here on out. In the same way, dread ofnot accomplishing anything worthwhile hinders my ability to functionaccordingly in the immediate.

Sowhat do we do?

Weconsider all things in the past gone, the only thing the past provides isperspective; everyday is different and poses new challenges so what could wepossibly gain from filling ourselves with sorrow over things that are “over”. I’mnot saying get over it because that is shallow, simplistic, and in a lot ofcases not the best answer. Don’t “get over it”, but allow it to be over. Confrontit, let it settle, recognize that the past is a part of you but it isn’t all ofyou unless you allow it to be.

Inthe same way we must step into the present with fresh eyes; recognizethere is no ideal future we can plan for. It doesn’t exist, there are only thedecisions we make right now. I’m always interested in the promises that peoplemake to God because they often involve things that we have little to no controlover. Behavior is not entirely under our jurisdiction it’s more a matter ofself-release than self-control.

AllowGod to be God and have jurisdiction over the past where he works, the future hehas prepared and the right now where he draws you into relationship with hisSpirit.

6 Things I Want to Give Away

2011-11-19T08:12:00.001-07:00

Had aninteresting meeting with the transit “Family/Student Ministries” team thisweek. (Lots of really innovative plans coming through, btw.) A question wasasked on a specific level that I want to ask on a broad level. Namely: “Whatare 5 or 6 things you want to pour into others that will be meaningful for therest of their lives?” On a student level this makes sense because you have afew years of consistent teaching, so it naturally follows that we should focuson a few specific things. In the young adult world this also makes sense. Butthe thing that got my brain fixated on this idea was the application on thosewe “do life” with. I asked myself a similar question in theSHIFT, but I think Imay have asked too little too late. These things should probably be consideredbefore we are preparing to leave.

My listformed pretty quickly, and now I know to start implementing these insights intothe conversation a lot earlier and with more purpose.

Godisn't about church, God is about us as individuals.
Thereis no substitution for fellowship and accountability
Personaldevotion trumps collective devotion (every time)
CSLewis knows what he's talkin about
We are all called to "go"and "make disciples" (refusal to do so is a blatant disobedience)
Relationshipsare God’s way of training you to be more like Jesus.

2011-11-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

In our sad and clenching attempts to follow God, we so oftendestroy the very vibrant life and people he came to save.

You see it in churches where guilt and obligation continueto be the driving force of ministry – from smiling but utterly broken group leaders, tosweat drenched parking attendants. From tenured Sunday school teachers to emptyoffering plates. We must get out of this “made up” mess of “doing church”.

This isn’t my soap box, my concerns lie somewhere else entirely, but this is simple application. The Gospel is a deep exciting life of adventure andactualization. There is nothing stale or empty about it. I’m not questioningwhether people are saved I’m questioning whether or not they realize what thatmeans. . .

Simply put: much of the modern church is ill equipped toserve the world and make disciples because we have become full of programs and agendasand empty of life giving power.

Activity cannot substitute incimacy. #DrawClose everything else will takecare of itself.

the Holy Catholic Church. . . (Not that one, the other one)

2011-08-07T08:31:00.004-06:00

We are a united people. Our cause and purpose is all the same. We have a reliance on each citizen and an accountability that reinstates that reliance.

We are United at all times. It is a natural inclination to reject the interdependence that fuels all of Christianity, but we must grasp and come to terms with the overwhelming responsibility of standing and falling together. I know the initial reaction to this unity principle is "if they fail then they did it on their own" or even worse "They made those decisions, they deserve what they get!" Holy God, are we saved for such a disgusting spiritual state as the modern church portrays?!?

Here's an example: I recently found out that an old friend got divorced. Apparently there were problems in the relationship for years. For a little background, this friend was a beaming example of what meant to be "radically saved"; his experience literally built my theology of God's power to change everything in a life. Knowing that God had moved so mightily in this couples lives, I was brought to instant brokenness for them. Understand that i wasn't disappointed that they brought yet another failed marriage into the forefront of the minds of unbelievers, nor was I critical of their disregard of Jesus' clear teaching that the Father hates divorce. No, my immediate concern was how have I [and by extension the entire church] failed them. I saw them both once a year for the past 8 years, did I go out of my way to connect with them, to pray with or for them, to give my heart to them. I love them both and when they fail, I fail.

When you fail I don't want to know so I can condemn you. I need to know because we are "the body of Christ". We fail together and we will rise the same, friend! In the same way, when you triumph I don't want to puff you up or put you on a pedestal. I desperately want to share in victory because the risen Christ has made the difference for us.

There isn't an option here, if you are united with Christ you are united to His people. We can't afford to keep doing it any other way.

Curiosity killed the cat, God brought the cat from death to life. . .

2011-07-13T17:27:00.001-06:00

I feel the need to define what it is to be “missional” from a purely one-sided and personal viewpoint. Usually when we talk about missional attitudes or missional paradigms, the discussion leans heavily on the church as a whole and where we hope every disciple ends up (or at least a large community within). But today I just want to say what is pouring out of my heart as it applies to me.

I have inside of me an ever-increasing desire to see God move. And to be perfectly honest it’s 50% selfish ambition, 50% inspired. I’ve lived a life in service to a King, I’ve seen His power manifest through great movements and through the unexpected (maybe even mundane) events of everyday life. These experiences have continually brought me back to a place where I fully admit that I have no idea what He’s up to. And still I seek out His Hand. Now, it’s not my intention to wax poetic, on the contrary, I fully intend to show the practical application of this internal compass.

While I’m under no constraint or obligation to see God “do His thing”, I’m drawn to it. I’m always curious about what He is doing in the lives of others. Not in this monumentally overshadowing (often fictional) thing we’ve affectionately term a “calling”. No, I want to know what He is doing inside of others. For some it may be ministry but in most cases it’s a simple lesson that can be easily explained by open and honest communication. This is where community comes in. If I have truly connected with someone, this process is as natural as commenting on the weather. And I get excited about this stuff. To be more precise I get fueled by this “day-to-day” acting out of what God is doing in us. When I turn the spotlight around and place it on myself in this context I can see God doing the same type of thing in me. He’s teaching me (seemingly) simple lessons by the experiences I go through. In some cases I get it right away and move on to the next, at other [full disclosure=most]times I wrestle with the validity or truth of the thing that God is trying to reveal to me.

Now what does all that have to do with missional. Well, seeing the hand of God move in my own individual life (regardless of the enormity or commonality) births a greater desire to actively give myself to the community God has placed me in, which in turn fuels my passion to promote the Gospel which, of course, compels me to seek out the lost, to heal the broken, give to the poor, and love people. To me missional is this life lived toward others, giving myself away for the promotion of the Gospel. And not the Gospel as a formula, but as a redemptive story lived out by anyone turning away from darkness and embracing the light in any capacity.

That’s how I see it today, it will likely evolve. I’m curious about what it looks like in the actual lives of others.

A Calling Falling. . .

2011-07-13T17:06:00.001-06:00

I don’t want to be unfair to those people who feel genuinely “called” to a specific task in the Kingdom. But often when we refer to a “calling” we really mean “the thing we ought to do”. While I fully believe that God has a path laid out for each of us; we are not called to a path we are called to Christ. Put another way Christ is our goal, our milestone, and foundation of the journey (put simpler still He “is the way the truth and the life”). Those things we should be doing are simply ways of getting to him, but even in those there is failure and dependence. In those areas His grace brings the Goal to us.

I feel like the more we over-emphasize the calling the more we exempt people from the things they ought to be doing regardless of calling. This is what brings on responses like:

“I care about missions, but I’m not called to missions.”

Really? Seriously?!? You're not called to make disciples and give yourself away? My only floored response to that backwards materialistic [reason i rant in the first place] mentality is, “When did Jesus call you to watch TV 4 hours a day, or buy your fourth vehicle? And yet you still manage to accomplish those tasks, hmmm?"

James 4:17 is a serious indictment against this attitude. Mistaking a calling for a ministry or a position is one of the leading causes of apathy and slothfulness in our modern churchscape. We must cry out, make clear, and teach sensibly that the Gospel frees us from seeking position and status and releases us to do His will and not please men.

The Call to Christ is foremost; everything else is fluxing between what we should do and what we were each individually created to do.

The Big 3

2011-07-13T16:35:00.001-06:00

Mission – Vision – Strategy

“The founding of a movement should be organic.”

A valid statement, for sure, but a little muddy when it comes to the specifics. These are three general ingredients to address on the road to building community. Not 3 steps, or 3 must haves. These pieces will be confronted in the natural process of acting on the call to Christ in you, however, if we define and shape these ideas beforehand, I believe we will be in a receptive position that recognizes and acts on their approach.

Mission – the specific thing we will accomplish (example: Bring salvation to the unchurched population) Vision – what God gives us to accomplish mission (example: the direction and leading of the Holy Spirit) Strategy –the plan we apply to the vision to accomplish mission (example: draw ppl to community serve others and weekly small groups)

They may be consecutive in application but they are definitely not consecutive in conception. Sometimes God births a vision that draws you to a mission, sometimes you get mission and nothing else, I’m my case I responded to an opportunity to develop strategy and out of that process I found a mission to invest in and God started to grow a vision in me. If starting the movement or being a catalyst to community or change is in your heart, knowing these may be extremely beneficial.

We should not become so tied to any of the three that we get them confused with each other or the bigger picture of what God is trying to do in us. We should re-approach them at common intervals to see if we are still “in step” with what God actually wants.

I have friends who experienced deep (even tragic) loss that pulled them away from ministry. At the time failure is all anyone could see, but I can say with confidence that the plan of God isn’t predictable and many times the immediate struggle is necessary to get to the place where the right mission can be accomplished effectively.

The Kids Are Not All Right. . .

2011-06-19T21:52:00.001-06:00

A Starting Point

I believe we are facing a crucial time in history; a time that will be defined by the very act and focus of the modern church. Much like the Reformation and the Great American Awakening, the course of our societal norms will be shifted in the current generations’ response to the Gospel. As postmodernism phases into the next wave of skepticism or anti-authoritarianism, the unified body of Christ in its traditional form stands at the gates of spiritual awareness and knowledge; ready to bring in or close off the oncoming seekers of truth. There are many issues that go along with this “gatekeeper” role and, I believe, the church as a whole is going to have to bear a more intentional burden of welcoming, training, and sending out the next wave of reluctant converts.

If we are to be effective in this new dynamic there are some communal practices that must be revised and adopted. There are modes of worship that will be adjusted and there are styles of teaching that will shake many of our traditional “senses”. But the end result will be an embracive Christianity that becomes more than a refuge for the old and fearful, more than a retreat for those abandoning a sinking ship (the world), and more than a moralistic daycare for the too-young-to-know-better. This new Christianity will stand for Christ and advance the gospel in ways that previous generations never imagined (and, disappointingly, never attempted). The church has an obligation to evaluate and restructure its priorities to accomplish this providential and awesome task.

There are four ways I believe that will make the difference when it comes to engaging the current youth paradigm. They are: making Connections, presenting Community, providing Challenge, and becoming Catalysts. [In true minister fashion alliteration is the best form of presenting concepts (Craddock, 1985)] As a program these ideals are lacking but as a baseline for reconsidering or confirming our current models they have enormous potential. It will be up to youth leaders and those that have a heart for what God might do with a generation completely given to the gospel to present these notions to congregations across the world. There are already small pockets already doing so. Reggie Joiner, Andy Stanley, and Brian Haynes are some gleaming examples of moving away from compartmentalized ministry groupings and into a more collaborative and unified pool of experiences that draw congregations into the lives of children, teenager, and young adults alike.(Haynes, 2009)

Making Connections

I could never be blamed for brevity, my writing style is overly conversational, but it goes back to my years in youth ministry. I learned quickly that relating to youth meant literally having a “relationship with youth”. We must connect on a deeper-than-acknowledgement level with children. Think “family”. We are not simply content to know our brothers/sisters/parents/children/cousins (well maybe cousins) exist; we also want to know their aspirations and fears so that we can invest ourselves into their potential. That’s what children and young adults so desperately need from their peers and mentors; they must be validated by relationship and not mere association. The church has miserably attempted to associate with the youth culture while completely missing many opportunities to become part of their story. (Robbins, 2004)

Connections come in many forms; one of the cautions in making connections is attempting to strategize for numbers. There is nothing implicitly wrong with increasing numbers but the second a teenager feels that their value is diminished or manipulated, they will shut down and likely have a negative impact by the rapid fire microcosm of “word-of-mouth” advertisement. Our focus will have to be individually granted, this means larger youth teams and more relational training. Thankfully there have been amazing strides in these areas from Youth training seminars () to entire textbooks on the subject.

Presenting Community

After we’ve become a part of their story it is vital that we become attractional in “our story”. This requires a more directive approach on the part of the local body of Christ. We must get back to being community (tribal?) minded. (Hogan, 2011) The bible teaches that we were made to glorify God “together” as the church not alone as rigid individuals (Ephesians 3:20-4:12). The New Testament paradigm wasn’t a matter of influence and ability but more an astonishingly simple application of being there for each other in everything no matter what. Kids need to see this as a reality of church. Postmodernism has destroyed the illusion that the church is a benefit to society as a whole, it is up to the congregations of today to retake the mantle that the Holy Spirit lit in that small group of believers in Jerusalem that became the model of change and unification over the next millennia.

Community isn’t about being “touchy feely” or ignoring critical issues. It’s about doing life together! Sharing in the joys and struggle’s of one another. This is a dynamic that a teenager is less likely to abandon in their college years (Kinnaman & Lyons, 2011). Community is a venue for revitalizing all aspects of church life not only youth, as a congregation becomes more unified and interpersonal, the experience of Christian living becomes emboldened by the power of the Holy Spirit in individual lives. Often through accountability and the mentorship/discipleship processes. (Barna, 2011)

Providing Challenge

This dynamic is the simplest to teach and the hardest to implement. Challenge involves the deeply committed aspect of our spiritual lives. In its simplest form it is a matter for devotionals. Study and meditation are foundational principles in challenging new (and old) Christians. As it applies to youth there are areas where we, as the church, can belittle and even patronize people. We must be careful not to oversimplify the Call of God and His purpose in the lives of people. We can’t force this mentality into the life of children but it is a severe mistake to not promote and emulate the spiritual disciplines (prayer, meditation, reading, fasting, fellowship, etc.). (Root, 2007)Challenge is a rite of passage (especially among young males). Creating a sense of healthy pride in accomplishment can be an intentional and spiritual experience. It is our job as leaders and Christians to create and allow that experience to take place in the individual lives of youth. This may take great patience and one-on-one attention, but the end result is integral to continual growth into the college and career ages.

Becoming Catalysts

It is vital that youth leaders and workers understand the interconnected relationship of the lager Christian body and the youth programs within that body. This interrelation can then be easily bridged into the life of young people taking hold of personal relationships in Christ. It’s easy to follow the catch-phrase perspective of youth being the “church of tomorrow”, but a shift needs to be made to the church of right now. Musically inclined youth should be encouraged to worship freely (in their own modes without too many restrictions), while astute youth should be allowed to lead or teach in certain capacities; realizing it is never too early to bring kids into the process of reaching out to others in love. God desires to have an impact in elementary schools and in corporations, treating children like they’re roles are diminished is no way to prepare them for the hardship and sacrifice of the Christian life.

There is no guarantee that these processes alone will solidify or reinvigorate any youth program; however, carefully considering their implications and application within established or considered models is a step in the right direction. We must take the business of discipling youth more intentionally. There is little room for complacency if we are to be impactful in the generations present in our congregations today. I’m reminded of a simple adage from a prominent contemporary pastor, “Everybody ends up somewhere but few people end up somewhere on purpose”. (Groeshel, 2006) It is the church’s’ responsibility as a whole to put that purpose within reach of students.

Extended Offers. . .

2011-06-19T16:31:00.000-06:00

Extending relationship is what brought me into the faith.

I believe it is what Jesus gave to the disciples and what they in turn used to build that world-changing church in the first century.

The family of God should welcome, encourage, build-up, be there for, and challenge us throughout our spiritual lives.

Salvation is not the only thing that we offer people.

We offer them our lives along with Christ's life.

We get to be a part of what God is doing on the Earth today.

If that doesn't get you pumped then you don't get the Vision!

Modern Contrasts . . . Tribes (pt4)

2011-06-09T15:40:00.001-06:00

Recently entertaining some thoughts on tribe. . . foundational post here.

Islam is right in that it embraces tribal identity and all it's requirements. But in that embrace of an ultimate good there is a rejection of an equal good; namely, progress.

Western society has embraced progress (some would say idolized) at the same level, and rejected tribe (more appropriatley, in this context, communal accountability).

Why couldn't these two things grow together? In the simplest frame, it is a matter of lazyness. Progress is easy when not "weighted" with ethical constraint (think abortion), the reverse is just as true. Tribalism is easier to manage in the familial and simplistic narrative of the dark ages but when applied to an increasingly wider scope its influence is constantly challenged in a way that undermines shaky (or, in most cases, false) authority.

To do both well requires a tremendous amount of energy and focus. So much that both societies have chosen the easy route.

A proper Christian worldview requires the application and development of both. Progress and tribe are complimenting characteristics of God's redemptive narrative. The church is still figuring this out. Be patient with us as we wander. . .

Church beSchmirch

2011-06-06T13:20:00.000-06:00

I’m reading “Think Orange” by Reggie Joiner and came across this train of thought:

“Multiple expressions of the church are important in communicating God’s story to a diverse culture.

Some leaders suggest

that institutional churches can never be relational.
that traditional churches can never be relevant,
that megachurches can never be intimate,
that attractional churches are not missional,
that missional churches don’t draw people,
that emergent churches never teach anything substantial,
that seeker churches don’t have depth, and
that organic churches don’t have any direction.”

[he goes on]

“I hope whatever version of church you are leading (or for those of you who are organic, whatever nonversion of church you are not leading), that you are willing to rethink. . .”

Just thought you might enjoy that.

The Devils in the Details . . . in general

2011-05-24T22:04:00.004-06:00

let's all be honest for a second.

Love is the thing that motivates the heart of God toward us. that love is executed through us as the church. When mistakes are made, in light of this truth, the proper way to handle it is in love. When we fall God responds in love, when other's don't live up to our (unfair) expectations, love will change the entire dynamic.

Any other motivation is a slap in the grace of God. (that includes getting your opinion heard and being right) Jesus was right but He didn't allow that to get in the way of redemption. He denied His "rights" to appeal, His "rights" to be heard, His "right" to be respected. All to lift others up.

If that attribute is being reflected in your life, consider yourself the 10% of the church that get's it.

these and other truths brought to you by. . . the Bible, now in Technicolor!

Missional Schmishinal. . .

2011-05-19T15:54:00.001-06:00

Lots of stuff to process today, I’m currently wrapping my head around (sounds better than “reading”, huh) Alan Hirsch and the Brother’s Ferguson. Of course, the overall modernist approach to ministry is the missional model, but how in the world do we bring this idea to pass in our time? It’s difficult to place a model that works, especially in the more “doctrinated” circles that exist. So what are we to do? My first response is, “Start asking the questions.” Now is literally the time to put ourselves to the test. Are we seeing any redemptive change in society? Put another way: Is the power of redemption impacting us, those around us, and the world we interact with?

Now that’s where we start, here are some thoughts that are helping me build a framework (mindset) toward action.

-Small group –What’s the point? Jesus modeled building, pouring into, doing life with (whatever else ya wanna call it), 12 guys (there were others but they were all an extension of this initial troupe). Are we finding like minded, appropriate to our station, “others” to grow with? Or are we just going through the motions of intimacy with none of the investment, pain, and true joy of intimacy

-The New Testament does not solidify or ordain an official “form” of church; allowing Christianity to integration into all levels of society and become diverse enough to build a host of traditions without apostasy or ridicule. This may mean that what works for some will not work for all, and what works for most shouldn’t be pushed to all. “I became all things, to all men, that I might save some.”.

-I’m not looking/begging/trying/working/teaching for church growth (if that’s all I wanted there are proven models to get there). No, on the contrary (anti-growth), we are investing in impact. Impact in my personal life, impact in our faith communities, and impact in the social structure. That’s where the gospel matters, that’s where God wants to bring His power to save.

-There will be a point when we have to take a side between two subtly opposing mentalities that garner two opposing approaches and results.

(1) I must do the best I can in spite of the evil that surrounds me and hopefully God can start to bring change and “fix” the problems here.

(2) God placed me here with intent and purpose, orchestrated the circumstances and needs around me in such a way that would allow His glory and love to be fully given to the redemptive purposes of Jesus Christ.

I’m aware that in this context, with these words, it’s easy to pick which one we should believe, but just below the surface is the subtlety that so easily lulls us into inaction and “church routine. One is a stance that says “there isn’t much we can do”; the other says “only we can do it”!

There is more, so much more. . .

You. . .

2011-05-16T16:06:00.001-06:00

This is dedicated to C.H. Banks, a poet.

Louder than my voice, You have spoken in me
Deeper than my longing, You have sprung eternal
Beyond my foresight, You are prophesying to me
After all my reason, You are unimaginable (and speaking unimaginable things)

Before my expectation, You've exceeded what is conceivable
In the most secret place, You consume me completely
And deep calls out to deep

Above a kingdom's reach, Your reign overcomes
Beneath the meaning of existence, Your laws dictate reality
At the moment of seeking, You have sought and found
Greater than my strength, You uphold the infinite (and I within it more carefully)

In the fulfillment of time, You are waiting
With the wisdom of the ages, Your ways are everlasting
And deep calls out to deep, whispering your fullness:

"If there is faith, You are believed."
"If there is hope, You are looked upon."
"If there is love, You are reflected."

The Regenerate Soul. . . [ Conviction ]

2011-05-15T11:24:00.002-06:00

I wanted to (briefly) touch on some key concepts I believe are vital to an authentic growing relationship in Christ. These are not foundational truths, nor are they doctrinal; they are merely noticeable differences between salvation and regeneration. There are those of us who do not feel specifically challenged with day to day level of gospel-centric teaching in our lives; these concepts are for us to wrestle through. Take it at face value for what it’s worth (or not).

I’ll Tag these regenerate so the ongoing posts can be easily tracked.

#13: Convictional Repentance-

- Our repentance must always be a response to the burden He brings, no man can give you conviction it comes in self-examination, human’s can create shame or guilt in you, but only the Voice can bring true conviction.

- The Holy Spirit is grieved by all things that separate you and God. These things are not always sin; they are often good things competing with our devotional life toward Him and the relationship He draws us to.

- This call to deeper fellowship w/ the Holy Spirit is dependent on His leading. Others facilitate this level of repentance by encouraging our relationship alone, our piety and our personal devotion should not come into play until we hear the Voice of God. In the community Jesus is trying to build no one gets “called out”, but everyone gets “called”.

o There are things we are all called to and other things that are specific. Some are Samson, some Job, some are John, some Paul, most are Ananias, few are David, but all are called. Finding the difference is the key to personal devotion and patience with others.

That wasn’t so bad, I’m really looking forward to rolling these out.

Just Enough is Not Enough. . .

2011-05-10T19:24:00.007-06:00

Are we ready for this. . . it's been sitting on the back-burner for little too long:

it's not enough that we have passion, passion fades;
it's not enough that we give; we haven't even struggled unto death yet.
it's not enough that we love and live; we must be a people that are more than called, more than intercessors, more than conquerers;

He is seeking us out, pursuing our inner lives. If we are going to find Him at work in this day we must understand this principle:

"We are the vessels of the Living GOD, and His desire is to pour His Love, His Passion, His power into our lives; not so we can say "Gee He sure is a good God" but more so that the overwhelming, yolk-destroying, bondage breaking, truth revealing, Spirit of the Living God can have what He wants: which is the salvation of the lost, the return of the prodigals, the restoration of all broken things."

The passion that is mustered up in us at retreats or annual conferences or even Sunday morning, while it may be genuine, is still mostly us. When will we see that we must decrease so that He can increase. He doesn't want you to "get involved" in the movement; He wants to be the movement, the revolution, and for the most part He wants us to open our lives up and let Him pour more in. We run out of steam (often on the last lap) but His power not only sustains, like the old evangelists used to say, "He quickens us". (leonard ravenhill, get on it people) The passion that comes from God can't be found in expository teaching (you know that's what i'm into) it can't be paid for at "Passion International's Give Away the Spirit Rally Coming Fall 2011" (I know, right?). He must be sought day and night, on our knees and if you're already on knees then on our faces, humbling ourselves, emptying it all out, letting go of the guilt and agendas of men, embracing what Job said in the end "i was talking about things i knew nothing about, things far too full of wonder for me." The LORD desires to surround us with wonder that is too much for us to accomplish. Bigger than us is what He wants to reveal to the nations. He is bigger than our strategies/programs, our ideas, our fears, and our ambitions. There is so much more, He is so much more. . .

We Grow, We Regress. . .

2011-05-09T12:47:00.005-06:00

So today I blog my sermon notes, which is different for me cause my filter during church is usually absorbing stuff from the Holy Spirit “for me”. But Last week’s sermon from Pastor Randy was phenomenal, and deserves an overview.

This is a powerful statement: (btw, I love the idea that the word “powerful” evokes, it literally means full of power, flippin genious)

“Once you stop listening to people, it’s only a matter of time before you stop listening to God”

There is a slippery slope we risk in closing off others, God desires us to be open, yeah we’re gonna get hurt, but more importantly we’ll be available when the Holy Spirit brings those who truly need us.Here’s the dandy, that’s not even the point of the message; that was an aside (crazy right?)

There are four stages that Christians grow through, the trick is to continue growing through them and not to get stuck without maturing.

These four stages are: Give Me, Use Me, Search Me, and Take Me.

Give Me –

- A selfish motive for self preservation

- This stage, while a necessary starting point, can be a trap

- Involves the immature state of desiring and seeking all rights perceivably owed to the receiver

Use Me –

- A selfish motive for self promotion

- This place helps us understand the work involved in growing while babying us with praise and notoriety

- Moves us into a phase where being noticed is as important as the work itself. In the faith it’s expecting promotion along with performance. Paul teaches that we move on beyond our glories and our failures into what God wants to do right now. Jesus teaches that the full reward for our good work is experienced in praise, if we are praised by men we are paid in full, if we go unnoticed and God gets the credit He repays us Himself. (this isn’t an injunction against being noticed but instead a surety that being noticed isn’t something worth getting hung up on)

- Moving beyond this point requires great sacrifice and self denial infringing on our “rights”. This death-to-self is violent, the old-man will not go silently, he is a fighter (his life is at stake)

- God is overly-concerned with our character and inconsiderate of our comfort (he will do whatever it takes to build you, His desire is a passionate and genuine relationship)

o You don’t get passionate by passivity

o You don’t get genuine by going the easy way

Search me –

- The first step into a selfless motive of self-examination

- Growing up involves seeking God’s opinion about us and setting our won opinion aside. Self examination is necessary but ultimately untrustworthy (Psalm 139:23,24) this level of maturity leads to the crucifixion of our pride, and a continual place of Brokenness where we share in Christ’s glory and suffering (Romans 8)

- True repentance is born in this stage

- Blame will not work here, blame will hinder [bring to a stop!] the process God is bringing me through

Take Me –

- Loss-of-self motive that affirms God’s sanctification process in us

- A secret is found in having the knowledge and right of royalty and still taking on the place of a servant. Do not lift me up, give me the strength to lift others.

- The complete abdication of self is a life altering state of awareness

- At this place God becomes more than a force to be “reckoned” with, and steps into the place of Master.

- Another secret (I know I need to stop calling them secrets, I’m working on it) the advance of ministry (my ministry) begins in this place. No matter the age or level of training, our submittal in this phase automatically brings us the weight of ministry

Leadership: a review

2011-04-20T18:36:00.002-06:00

The New Church Leadership: A Downward Trend

Thomas Hogan

April 6, 2011

On Developing Lasting Leadership:

In the faith community over the last decade, a shift has grown toward communal living. Not in the strict sense of monastic living or moving to a compound outside of the city, but on a subtler plane resembling growing with others in a close knit, open minded and authentic way. As this transition has exploded in the postmodern Christian church and proven effective in reaching an ever skeptical generation, the church has been forced to question “older models” and modes of growth. This has led to countless books being written in the last few years of how to manage what has been coined as the “Missional Movement”. Building and sustaining long-lasting and invested leadership has become increasingly difficult in missional minded communities over the last several years. Youth and young-adult leaders alike have attempted to embrace this generation with its many quirks but have found it extremely hard to cultivate a sense of deep rooted commitment to a specific long-term purpose or set of goals. This in turn has made large growth and successful programs but not necessarily long lasting ones due to lack of focus on growing leaders. The obvious reasons are easy enough to assess, however, there are nuanced behaviors and attitudes heavily contributing to a lack of leader growth in current missional minded community focused churches.

There are many factors that contribute to this problem. From the outside looking in, the apparent growth in the missional trend seems like a natural high end of the church recruitment cycle, but a better perspective can be seen below the surface of the churches modern landscape. (Barna, 2009) The “Jesus Movement” of the late 60s early 70s culture had a lot of the same conditions that exist today, including: civil unrest, a deep mistrust of authority, declining employment (leading to an unengaged/unoccupied demographic of young people), and finally a spiritually starved sub-set that desired an alternative outlet of expression. The opportunity was the same but the end-result was far different, so why couldn’t that movement gain traction?. At this point a certain perspective must be defined carefully before proceeding. There are two Christian “churches” that weave the tale of church history; they are the “Church as-it-is” and the “transitory Church that challenges old ways and traditions”. Both are valid from a theological standpoint, but differ largely in their approach and appeal. During the hippy procession the status-quo church along with the still young, still deeply conservative movement against that status were completely unwilling to validate or assimilate the “Jesus Movement”. Those small circles of influence were unable to garner support and encouragement and ultimately died out or “grew out of it”. The case is different today mainly because of the interconnected disillusionment of postmodernism. It was easy to feel the energy created in small communities 40 years ago, but the potential impact was veiled from the larger culture. Today we have a far more effective network and view of discontent. That recent tide bubbled over into what eventually became the “Emerging church” and “Emergent movement” approaches to the future of the church. Both of which proposed a reworking of current practices (with the emergent movement pushing a more deconstructionist approach). And this time, the larger church was ready to listen (maybe not change but definitely listen).

Out of this “come let us reason together” atmosphere grew what came to be known as “seeker friendly churches”, and here is where the initial problem of leadership growth comes in. There is a base assumption among many sub-pastorate church leaders that all followers really need is the right amount of dedication coupled with the right amount of guidance and one has the making of a potential leader. There is another perception that is equally detrimental and that is focusing on and promoting natural giftedness. A common tendency of leaders is to identify who the crowd is gravitating around and assess that individual for possible mentorship. These assumptions, without adequate assessment, can lead quickly to dysfunctional personal and professional growth. These faults in the leadership approach have highly contributed to the rate of invested leadership decline in missional communities. The first assumption leads to an immediate result of not making the pool of potential leaders wide enough and the second makes that pool contagiously (relationally and figuratively) shallow. The effect can be a lack of leaders; over-burdened with the weight of progress and unprepared for furthering the ministry because of resource and/or personal inadequacies; or it could create incredibly selfish leaders who refuse to build other leaders that may infringe on their own influence/authority. Of Course, many have learned where to strike a balance somewhere between the two, but the argument here is that the approach is flawed long before it is applied. Either way new approaches may need to be considered.

Building a lasting impactful community can be hard enough without the added pressure of developing leaders to cultivate and populate the movement. So what can be done to fix this trend? Perhaps it’s time to start asking these questions before the movement becomes unsustainable from the base. To be sure there are vast reaching implications if gotten wrong. Many leaders have taken this task head on. Leaders like Stephen Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church who holds leadership workshops on communal movements. His counterparts, Pastors Matt Chandler and Mark Driscoll work on similar lines to help train and equip potential leaders and church planters. The goal being to create a counterbalance as momentum grows that dissipates some of the discontent that caused the movement to begin. This time using a networked and connected base to troubleshoot these larger issues from within in much of the same way it was presented, by using social networks and small group discussions in a very grass roots way across the country. (Stetzer, 2009) It remains to be seen what the outcome of these recent movements will mean for the larger Christian church on a global scale, but as of now the fastest growing area of Christianity is also the least equipped to lead itself into the future.

References

Barna Group, Ltd. (2009, December 7). Report examines the state of mainline protestant churches. Retrieved from http://www.barna.org/leadership-articles/323-report-examines-the-state-of-mainline-protestant-churches

Stetzer, E. (2009, January 19). State of church planting. Retrieved from http://www.edstetzer.com/2009/01/state-of-church-planting.html

The New Way of Becoming Bold(er). . . "Discipline pt.3"

2011-04-17T10:57:00.002-06:00

This is the third blog wrapping up this topic, here are the previous sections: Part 1, Part 2

So what is spiritual discipline?

In simple terms the disciplines are – practices built on principle applied practically to our daily lives. (like the alliteration, I learned that in 8th grade English class and every pastor known to man. Thanks Mr. Bradford.)

An example of this would be:

-principle- Tim. 3:15-17 you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

-practice- I read the bible consistently

-applied practically- Daily bible reading with the purpose of revelation and the expectancy of something being deposited in me that will not only make me a stronger Christian but a better human.

That would be reading the bible, a very important discipline, and the list goes on and on, I don't have time to get into journaling, critical thinking, fellowship, serving others, fasting, offering, worship, questioning everything, love, etc. etc, you get the point.

Now everything in the mature Christian life is a discipline. And it would be impossible for me (or anyone else) to tell you which ones you need to work on the most. The whole point of this text is to get you to start pouring these things into your life, to start asking yourself the hard questions of faith.

It is all so much but so worth it. Start finding the things in your life that need it and apply discipline to them (hint: everything requires discipline, from how you spend your money to your sleeping schedule, God has a purpose and will for it, it's our job to find it).

These things are what give you the authority and power to reach the lost, encourage the weak, feed the hungry, accept the outcast, challenge the faithful, and be the church. When we get to this place together, falling back won't be an option because your faith will be at a place where mature belief sustains your relationship with God. Weakness swallowed up in power (1 Corinthians 15:54). Instead of relying on people and your circumstances to pull you through life, you'll be the one others rely on to encourage them. But you'll never get to that place without spiritual discipline.

You have to start considering this now, and thinking on this level. This isn't the type of thing that you put off until you're "ready" or "mature enough" because until you devote yourself to this purpose you will never mature spiritually. It's all about devotion, committing to something. God's judgment lies in our motive, it hinges on what you are committing yourself to. Are you committing yourself to this world and its obligations? It's system of greed and strife, self-motivation and lust? Or can you want what God wants. Can you commit to His standards, not a pastor's or your friend's, but His discipline? His motives. The long-lasting effects of that kind of faith are evident in lives like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, AW Tozer, Moody, and Thomas Aquinas. These people got it, that discipline isn't something that others can force on you to get you closer to God, these things are what you place on yourself to get others closer to God. To “know Him, and make Him known.”

Community can fail (perspectives)

2011-04-01T14:59:00.001-06:00

So here's some of the incredible input and advice that others had to back up and give insight into this idea (thanks everyone that helped me organize the background of this):

-it's God's community and He's in charge.

-It doesn't matter if you're seeking community, that's awesome and you'll find it if you are. The real purpose of community is not to seek it, it's to seek others and bring them into it so “Authentic” community goes to the individual, out of love, and draws them back in. Unless God (only Him) has called them away, then “authentic” community encourages them, prays over them and sends them out with blessing, and remains available to support and strengthen them in God's call.

-A bigger point of community is not to be sought out, but to go and seek others.

The thing about community is that it’s like a living organism. Sometimes it's running full speed, adrenaline pumping and all. Other times, it's in recovery mode (pacing itself, trying to stabilize). So it expands and contracts like everything else in nature. [Beautiful picture made through wisdom]

Discipleship [as applied in community] really just depends on how God's Spirit moves people. Despite our best efforts [or motives, or intentions], God is bigger than this issue and will bring about good fruit in community.

- I am (or "we are") not really the linchpin(s)[.e. the ones holding this thing together]. Community is much larger than little ole' me [or us]. It’s not up to us to hold it together, it’s up to us to hear God and apply His voice to the conversation and climate that He is weaving.

-This "fall" is not necessarily a bad thing. We define "success" differently than Jesus did in terms of what a successful community looks like. If Jesus' community was successful (which I believe it was), then we must admit that a truly successful community is one that falls apart from time to time. It is one where every time it gets too big (or ineffective), Jesus (the Gospel) pulls a few weeds, or even uproots some of the stronger plants (to move them to a larger garden). On the outside this looks like a complete failure (accident), I know. But we couldn't have stopped it if we knew it was coming years prior to the crumbling. In fact, if we could, I'm not so sure it would even be a good thing. As we have said in our community (about dying ministries), "let the dying horse die!"

- People do community (and accountability) for the wrong reasons all the time. In fact, we as leaders often fail (depending on the week). It doesn't seem helpful to insist that everyone always have the right motives when seeking (or returning to community, or seeking accountability). It seems more helpful to talk about those reasons once they’re "in" (or back in). Again, our motives are constantly changing colors and deceiving us. Let us not judge the motives of others too harshly, but instead simply be glad for their participation / return.

-My heart goes out to community everywhere ‘cause it's a hard call. The weight of ministry and relationships is heavy and without a team to bare those burdens it's even tougher.

- Sure it'll look different, but that's ok if it does. God is going to do what He's done for thousands of years and His will is going to prevail. As hard as it is to watch it change and even fall apart, the most loving thing I can do for the community I gave everything to is to step out of God's way when He calls me out and let him work on those hearts. That doesn't mean that on a personal level I abandon them all together. I still love them, but I love them too much to continue protecting them from what God expects of them.

Community can fail, Community never fails

2011-03-25T10:18:00.005-06:00

This is a collaborative exercise, needed input from community outside of my immediate influence to accurately go into this. . . enjoy.

I’m gonna be brutally honest and let you into my world for a second. I have no idea what to do specifically about this subject; it’s seemingly unavoidable and unnerving at the same time. Those of you that have shared in faith with me know that the last several years of my life have been about promoting, building, and sustaining COMMUNITY. There are many great blogs about it that go far deeper into its meaning and value within the body than I have time to, but what I want to talk about is a little more specific. I want to talk about the cycle, and even more pointed than that I wanna get into the thick of:

“when community starts to fall”.

Now the intricate balance we have learned to strike in leadership is one of growing with people but allowing people to grow outside of your influence also. [Another blog entirely involves growing with people you lead instead of just leading people, but another time-] This is no simple task because inevitably you will have a follower that gets into something so detrimental to their development that you feel that not stepping in is almost promoting sin, but it must be done. If people are not believed in and encouraged to great faith they will always struggle in “little faith”. We never want to see people fail but it’s the price that is paid to make them truly succeed. Now take that a step further, there are ministries and discipleships and a myriad of other things that we pour ourselves into that will eventually fade. The impact on individuals may never be fully realized (good or bad, eternal or temporary) but the first inclination is to step back in and revitalize the movement. I don’t know every step to take but my first impression is. . . NO! Stop. Think about our desires and the call of God. He called you away for a purpose, I know it’s hard, but the movement isn’t yours, it’s the Spirit of God moving in them. There are no bailouts in the Kingdom, a thing stands and falls on the Will of God alone. Of course good stewardship is necessary and should be duly encouraged, but we must allow things to run their course. It’s just as likely that things need to be destroyed to give birth to the next thing God wants to do.

Now I’m probably going to get some push back from this and that’s okay but something that is so incredibly lacking today is the true faith that comes through persevering. People make mistakes and as light or drastic as it appears, those mistakes have consequences. There is a natural cycle in the church; from youth programs to leadership and this experience is universal. Excitement swells, connections are made, influence becomes standard, critical mass is reached, the people revolt, leadership freaks out, there becomes a new norm and from there we either rebuild from nearly scratch or get called away. Now there are many more factors that come into play and the more community reliant a movement becomes the less likely the winding down takes hold and the easier to notice problems and address them with personal devotion/attention. The point is that we must allow leaders to lead, they will always need mentorship, the people will always need a new thing to rally for, but it’s our responsibility as leaders to give everyone the room to grow. God has a lot of puzzle pieces to order, we each have our call, be obedient to the ministry you are called to “Right Now” and avoid the trap of being disappointed about what cannot be sustained. Community will be rebuilt, attacked from a different angle, and flourish through the attack. God is faithful, His way is perfect.

Once again it’s hard to fully gauge this because my view of Community has come into such focus over the last few years, but we will work through this, and as churches become more aware of the filter of community I’m sure we’ll all have some better approaches, but for now trust in what God can and will do through our people. I’m interested in the thoughts of others who have seen vast community decline or change in the last few years, what are your thoughts, opinions, and warnings?

The Old Way of Becoming You(sless). . . "Discipline pt.2"

2011-03-23T04:19:00.003-06:00

So in "part 1" i introduced the overall need for discipline, here we go into the effects of discipline (and the lack), here goes. . .

I can't overstate how easy and commonplace it is to fool ourselves into comfort and ease. You may have an intense love of God in your life today. But it's easy for Lewis and Company to equate that feeling and security with "falling in Love" with Jesus. And that's a good thing; I love to see people excited about loving God and being forgiven, full of wonder and expectancy. The problem comes when we expect this to be a constant in our spiritual lives. That expectancy is soon turned to disappointment; first with our own lives and second with the Christians surrounding us. And then what happens to your faith?

I believe that it goes one of three ways, and keep in mind this is all after getting saved, these are positions taken in the church, not outside:

1. Mundane Christianity— the most common alternative to living the abounding and fruitful way you think a Christian should. Most people in this category are often happy on the outside, still attending church many even becoming leaders themselves, but in their inner lives they have accepted that lifelessness and sin are simply the "way it is" and are too afraid of damnation to leave the boundaries of faith and too afraid of their own inadequacy and unbelief to challenge their faith to a higher level.

2. Muted Christianity—fairly common. This is when someone gives up on the power and purpose of God altogether. These people usually view Christianity as "a harness for the young and comfort for the old". They may wander in to a service once or twice a year to maybe rekindle that once magical feeling of knowing God. Then it's back to real life without Christ and his constant weight on the conscience.

3. Motive Christianity—rare, very rare. This is where a person starts building something that overcomes the ups and downs of their feelings and seeks the permanent joy of being daily challenged to live in the place God has called them. They may experience problems or turmoil but nothing moves them outside of sacrificial living and servanthood.

Many people in the faith (especially young ones 30 and below) say, "mundane and muted? That would never happen to my relationship with God".

Pay close attention to what I'm about to say: If you do not start to build a lasting impenetrable faith now in your own hearts and lives, it will most assuredly and without notice happen to you. Like I said before it's rare to get to motive Christianity after faith runs out. If you don't start wrapping your minds around spiritual discipline you will have little if nothing to hold on to when the feeling goes away. And be assured the feeling goes away. For many it happens after the excitement and accountability of youth groups for more critical thinkers it's earlier and for some it's later in life. Whenever it happens you can see it in the distance, a little blurry and faint at first. Maybe you're already getting tired of the church because (1)it's not living up to your expectations or (2) your not living up to God's standards. I'll tell you now the secret to getting past this. PRESS IN!

That's usually the beginning, you might start feeling like you don't belong with this people /- press in. Possibly it's too hard and not worth it. Wouldn't it be nice to just be like the world, free of restrictions and discipline /- press in. Now is the time to really find out who God is and what He wants from you, you can't slow down, you can't stop /- press in. The race isn't for the quick but to who those who endure /-press in.

Ink and Islands. . . Tribes (pt1)

2011-03-21T14:40:00.002-06:00

We are Tribe.

A tribal people, sects and offshoots from an original kingdom. Unlike states who rely on order, status, and direct oversight, many of us from the faith have chosen a tribal right. It is a curious thing that often leads to tension and misunderstanding but the payoff is infinite freedom in this tribal community. I, myself, am part of a Pentecostal tribe, we tried charismatic for awhile but it lacked a clear enough definition, so we’ve reverted to the old name. I love my tribe, for all it’s faults and admitted problems it is the place I feel the most “at home”. Something a lot of people don’t get about tribalism is the structure, so my intent is to open up some of the picture I see when looking at this from the inside. I’m sure from the outside there is a completely different view (you’ll have to find one of them for that).

First of all let me go into what forms a tribe then we’ll look at some parabolic shared history. First off you’ll have to revert to an eastern mindset (some would say Hebraic) and think Kingdom. This is a hard concept for westerners to grasp, it actually has a lot to do with why the mainstream Christian church is so susceptible to corruption and division based on corruption, lack of biblical perspective of Authority. You often get asked dumb questions not based on reality, people like to say things like, “It’s not okay to break the law, right, but what about when the law contradicts God? “ that’s an interesting philosophical point but a straw man none-the-less. The solution comes in understanding where authority originates and where it filters through. It’s pretty simple at its basis, but becomes more and more complex when you attempt to pick it apart. Tribes come from people who are unwilling to bend to the “exact doctrine” of the state. There are a lot of intricate details in that sentence that should be delved into, but not now so on to the quick:

We have a King, who established a Kingdom, and then invited refugees, brigands, turn-coats, and simple people into its fertile borders. In this Newfound Kingdom one edict was sent down, “You will swear allegiance to the King before and above all else, His word is Law, He is the Lord of life, and you are subject to His Will.” Based on this edict we established homes, built communities, and began to flourish. Someone decided along the way (due mainly to the size of our estates) that some general rules should be set out (you know for order and good conduct). [Now this is the sleight of hand that established the Christian brand of tribalism; notice here how thin the line that is drawn becomes a chasm.] Most agreed to these rules and those who did not simply left these lands. The Kingdom was huge in those days, there was plenty of room and more than enough space to allow everyone to live and grow in the direction they saw fit.

I’ll get back to that story some day but you can sorta see where it’s all going I think. So now you have today. We are many tribes in the same Kingdom, most tribes are pretty close and intermix pretty well, (some notsomuch) but we advance, we grow and shrink, we change and revert. I love this, love the whole thing, there is great freedom here. I’ll be honest there have been wars, people lost and hurt but most transitions are safe, I have learned to respect my fellow citizens even when their systems seem contrary to common sense. We make the difference in this world as we embrace the purpose of the King. We are a tribal people.

The Old Way of Becoming New. . . "Discipline pt.1"

2011-03-18T04:41:00.002-06:00

Spiritual Discipline—the thing that upholds a relationship with Almighty God

Many people want a reason, asking, "Why should I focus on this? Isn't my relationship enough to carry out my faith for the rest of my life? Are you saying I'm not Committed to God because I don't adhere to your standards of holiness and stupid rules?"

That's quite the litany of questions but nonetheless they represent the hostility and attitude of a generation that wants to see God but hasn't seen value placed on discipline and standards by the previous generations. Their most notable examples are leaders and spokesmen failing to uphold spiritual discipline or, to the other extreme, enforcing standards that seem to only weigh down and restrict the excitement and hunger they have to see a "new thing".

My answer to these questions:

Yes you may be committed to God, but are you committed to the power of God to save. [Have you learned to hide flesh behind Spirit and the sacrifice of the cross? to not allow yourself to shine through, but instead the living Christ?] Paul says two things are at the forefront of his relationship with the father and those are "to know Him and make Him known". I would go as far as saying that these things are twofold much like faith and works. Proving one is purposeless and powerless without the other. So if you are banking on knowing him without making him known then your faith is not only purposeless (although it might save you) but furthermore quite literally infinitely selfish. How can you claim to serve and love a loving God, merrily living your life in a cruise liner of blessing while watching the world drown in the tides?

I don't think God hands out his best to be squandered on a faith like that. The opposite is also noticeable. We have all been witness (or involved) in a marketing strategy to convert souls and get people into church by a seemingly scripted "oh looky here, isn't our pastor dynamic, or wasn't that worship intense" mentality of making Him known, but not going the extra mile to know Him. This is what the world sees the most of, a way of capitalizing on the fear of death and unimportance to boost church attendance and Sunday morning offerings. [I, by no means, am implying that you have this attitude but that's how they see it nonetheless]. But what if instead of seeing us as superspiritual leaders and evangelists they saw our drive and focus and wondered at our devotion, marveled at our willingness to give, or, heaven forbid, asked about our lifestyle? That's the place where I want to be - Making Him known because I know Him.

Things never change. . . people do.

2011-03-13T04:45:00.000-06:00

yes God created one love for us, but love is different than we think

we often think it's some big, fateful, monumentally predestinal thing, and that's not what it is. it's a choice. me and my wife had a long discussion about this a couple of weeks [years] ago, how love isn't an emotion, or an aspiration, or even a force, it's a choice.

we narrowed it down to be defined the same way belief or hope plays itself out in our lives. God gives you the capability of perfectly loving one person, or imperfectly loving more than one person, and once you find someone who is willing to surrender their hearts to God first and you second then you commit the "God given" ability to love to that ONE person.

Of course we have a hard time reconciling why God condoned polygamy in the old testament and eventually changed His mind, but it took a while to see that He never changed, culture changed, interpretation changed, but His standard was always One Love given wholly not chopped up into pieces and rationed out. (Mark 10:6, Matt. 19:4)

anyway. . .
a lot of times what people do is trick themselves and/or others into love for the sake of love itself. that's as silly as believing in God or Mohammed or Joseph Smith or his holiness the FSM simply for the sole purpose of having something to believe in, we have to evaluate and often wrestle with what we choose to put our faith in, the same is true of love.

i hadn't really articulated it in writing it seemed a lot more complicated than that on the phone.

well that's the way i see it, love is choice that can be made perfect like any right choice can.

love and peace
-thomas

The Act of Acting. . . aka the "myth of natural devotion"

2011-03-12T09:45:00.001-07:00

Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes, Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).

True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.

-Chambers

He did it again. there is no natural. a lot of us have a natural affinity for the things of God and we take such deep advantage of this gift and eventually believe the deceipt that this has something to do with spiritual power but all and all it's not the acolades or abilities but total surrender in the "other" places where we are weak, where we are desperate, where we are vulnerable. That's God's measure of surrender for us, not in our obedience to the call but our surrender to everything else.

To be more precise the "educated, mature christian" thinks himself fairly capable of being close to God and (almost without thinking) defends the eternally secure position of devotion. We think ourselves worthy of some credit, our walk has been tested, our character intact, and our failures swept under the rug, we think ourselves in some ways almost commendable, but "the trap lies in wait for those most unawares". We are never farther from God than when we lose account of our desperate need of mercy and grace and we are never closer than when the complete gulf of his holiness and our filth is blatantly on display before us and the world. I have friends who have fallen fast and hard, shaming themselves and the gospel they so willingly proclaimed, and in a way that fall is the thing that saved them, it proved God's grace isn't for the quick or the talented or even the adequately equipped, His grace is for fallen man, period, whatever place, whatever circumstance, his grace cuts through the B.S. of our pretenses and our excuses and our disbelief and rescues us from ourselves.

This is the God i fell in love with, not the one who is impressed with my theology or the god of false hope, but the God who sees me for what i truly am and loves me. and it's not in spite of myself it's because of my self. The reason i called this blog the smallest peace was this very idea. that christianity isn't the sum of it's parts as a whole, it truly is the smallest piece. The piece that sees value and worth in unmerrited brigands and bandits (i.e. humanity). We don't make a mockery of the gospel when we fail, we make a mockery of the smallest truth (and the most relevant one) when we succeed and think it has anything to do with us.

Emergent Vs. Mainstream. . .

2011-03-07T16:38:00.004-07:00

    The emergent church has caught a lot of flak lately from mainstream (and in some cases not-so-mainstream) Christianity. A good friend and respected spiritual leader in my life recently called Emergent a cult. While i agree that some of the more outspoken and noticeable members of the emergent movement lean toward irrational and contradictory statements of faith, there is room for open and honest deconstruction (theoretical and symbolic not literal[that comes later]) of modern Christianity and more precisely the role of the Christian Church within a modern society. i'm not about tearing down tradition, but Jesus is. I don't hold to any creed over that of personal revelation through careful study and application of Biblical text and teaching. however, having said that, i value well thought out theology, I desire to have a more concrete faith and the Emergent following is too free flowing for my taste. I get where they are coming from and i believe the approach to be necessary for reform and ultimately solid direction in this present age.

    The truth is, if we took off the emergent label, our values, systems, and even complaints are mostly shared. I've been "saved" since i was 13 and the church's obsession with hierarchy and ineffectual efforts to be meaningful in the daily community life, not to mention the horrible job of public relations we have endured, are problems that laypeople, pastors, youth, regional, and national leaders have been struggling with for my entire spiritual journey. The denial and need for answers along with Mainstream Christiany's (MC) inability to answer them is a clear interval for birthing this "movement". It would be different if MC was making headway or if that "Old Time Religion" were still "good enough for me", but the fact remains that out of every 100 new converts only 30 (give or take, thanks Barna) will be lifelong followers of Christ and out of that 30 only 9 will find what we might consider the deeper faith. Most will be tempted or goaded away by other pursuits only to come back to the faith later in life after the whims of youthful desire have died away. Some will be destroyed and broken by the church herself, and still others will simply be unimpressed and disillusioned by the lack of challenge and depth that the church has to offer.

    You can see where the problem lies even without a clear or feasible solution. The church cannot attain the vibrant life it once enjoyed by following the patterns and trends of the last 40 years of spiritual practice or last 200 years of dogmatic arrogance. At the same time pandering to social or generational relevance is not the way either, and although some have hijacked the bandwagon (so to speak) of the Emergent faith to look and act this way, the same can be said about mainstream Christianity. There are crazies on every side of the Christian faith. Every creed deals with this. Lashing out is not the answer, there was a time that Catholicism was the center and the fringe and reformers were harshly treated with persecution that started in name calling and ended in demonizing. MC is on rocky ground and needs to treat the center with more dignity and the fringe with more grace. There are some things that we can learn from this new thing and some things that need to be condemned before infecting new converts with animosity or unfounded cinicism. It seems to me, after sharing in the faith with some of these communities that they understand this dynamic better than we do. The emergent leaders are especially careful and aware of the fact that todays fringe eventually becomes the center itself. Personal Growth, Spiritual Hunger, And Relational Faith are end goals we can all agree on, lets do our best to ingrain those traits into our own congregations instead of overly concerning ourselves with who's evangelism is truer or whose methods are more Christ-centered.

The truth is we are all seekers, let us seek.

the road to brokenness . . .

2011-03-07T16:17:00.000-07:00

. . . the real attack comes when things get slow and monotonous, when training and dedication seem like they haven't yet or are not quite paying off. that is the time that intensity is needed.

I've been running pretty intensely (in the physical) for this fitness assessment I have coming up and i can tell you that during a 5k there is a specific point where you look at your feet and wonder "Why am I doing this, is this really going to help, i could just lighten up and i'll get to the same place, right?" that is the precise moment that gutting up and pushing harder becomes the key to success.

in the same way all of my friends who have "fallen" or experienced devastating defeat in their lives are self-admittedly the ones who gave up for just a little bit. their intentions were usually noble, "everyone needs rest", "it's just not fun anymore", "I'm tired of not getting anywhere" "man, this chick is worth it". But the Christian Walk is a daily fight, if this reality isn't accessed and lived in early on, you will never be prepared for this journey. spirituality isn't something that "comes naturally" (that's why it's called "Supernatural") ask a monk how long enlightenment takes, find a shaman who isn't ready to sacrifice.

Christians are easily overly concerned with other's salvation and less focused with our own, but the opposite is necessary to effectively be "in Christ". Phil. 2:12, Matt. 24:13

Failure to Launch. . .

2010-09-07T14:17:00.002-06:00

I always caution the new enthusiastic believer to take time to fall in Love with the Living Christ, to literally be "selfish" with that time. You only get one chance to fall in love with Him (IMHO), and that's at the beginning of the relationship. Allow me to elaborate. I know there are open objections to this train of thought, mostly leaning on the side of "what do you mean 'one chance', anyone can fall in love with jesus at any time?" True, anyone can fall in love with Him anytime, but there is something special at the beginning of a relationship where you get to be lost in someone else's life. That singular instant doesn't last forever, soon there comes relational difficulties, frustrations, obligations, maintenance, and endless distractions. He spent three years face to face with the disciples showing them how to live in God relationaly and not religiously. He allowed them to make mistakes and forgave tem and built them up, just like falling in love, out of that simple devotion came the most powerful change the world has ever seen, the creation of romantisicm falls on the shoulders of the christian church. look for romance for the sake of romance before Christ; you can literally count the epics on one hand but soon after the Christos it becomes the central theme of all story. It's because up until then God was trying to groom a child but In christ he Woo's a bride. and the response to that wooing changes the world.

Take the time, before ministry, before obligation, before failure to just love Him. If His purposes and example revolve around relationship and the building of that relationship we MUST commit to that development, not the act of service but the reality of falling in love.

a letter to an unconcerned heart

2010-02-19T11:58:00.001-07:00

majestic is his forgiveness. . .

my dear friend, CS Lewis said, "we need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed".

If his words are true (and most of them are) we suffer from an awkward case of seeking instruction and avoiding remembrance. We seem to have a genuine disdain for tradition, which is fine if you know the reality that sits behind the tradition, literally extracting the truth from tradition. Some people do this fine, and in doing so find an even deeper more powerful meaning in the text, or in the practice of faith. Most of us are not that person, we "give up" on the faith at the exact moment when it matters to have faith, not when we are impressionable youth who think we can change the world but when we are on the cusp of manhood finding that God wasn't trying to change the world through us instead he was attempting to change us, and not to reconcile us to the world or better explain him to the earth but to reconcile us (insert your name here) to himself. He wants our hearts, not our brilliance (which you have no lacking of, bruce said so himself) or our wit and humor, he doesn't even want our feeble attempts to appease him (really shameful attempts actually). He wants us, not a tithe or a law or a commitment, he wants our hearts and it's no secret that he is relentless.

It's actually kinda funny that we so effortlessly and consistently say things like, "i wanna give you my heart" or "my heart is yours God", because the fact is we don't even hold that much sway over our ever wandering hearts to begin with. The real miracle and "good news" isn't that we can feebly offer broken hearts to God our Father and he accepts them, its the reverse; God offers us his mighty, fully healing, fully self-sustained heart to us to be trodded, spat, and relied upon. That is the beauty of God, not that I am cleasned but that he cleanses me. it's the heart of the gospel that God meets me, even pursues me, wherever i roam without glancing back at what is lost or given or sacrficed in the process.

theSHIFTing

2010-01-15T08:21:00.000-07:00

Matthew 11, Psalm 9 thru 12, Genesis 7 thru 12

This is my first blog mentioning theSHIFT, which is the whole reason I started this blog anyway. Last night was theFirst step in Pursuit, which is the Community Group I'm leading. theGroup is unique in that we're tackling a really strong subject that is a little over my head. The first study was about theChase. We basically discussed that in our "pursuit" of God we bump in to this dilemma of realizing that it's us that is actually being pursued. The discussion (with 14 people) was amazingly engaging for the first night, so much so that some of my points were unnecassary or overlooked but I wanted to go over them in detail here.

First it's important to note that the dynamic of theChase is entirely applicable to our whole journey with God in Christ. When we take steps toward Him in anything, bible reading, fellowship, devotion, etc.; we must realize (as Paul does) that in us is very little good in and of itself, and the real miracle of Christ in us is that He is the God magnet that pulls us back to our creator.Think about that it's completely relieving to know that it no longer matters that i "work" to impress God but instead we, through the Spirit, "live" for Him. (Galations 2:19-21)

19-21What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Another interesting part of theChase is the way it affects us. If we realize that it truly is the God of reality that is chasing us it gives us this crazy ability to trust that we're going to be okay. We won't be without trouble, but we should be without fear.

If He is pursuing us there is a likelihood that we're playing this peculiar game of Hide & Seek with Him. We hide behind a lot of things, (we had good teachers, Gen. 1-3) fear of man, trying to impress people, "religious" duties, unworthiness, the list goes way on. he is still seeking us out, and it is only when we expose ourselves and come out in the open "neked and ashamed" that He can start the mending process, if we refuse to do this the consequence may be that we never become fully capable of relationship and that's a sad thing.

- anyway thos are some main points i may have glazed over last night, stay tuned for next weeks update, this whole thing is completely crazy.

Prayer. . .

2010-01-13T11:17:00.002-07:00

John 20-21 // Joel 3 // Mathew 1-9

   There has been a deep burning desire (a new thing in my heart) for prayer. I'm going through a lot of things in my life right now, unsure of numerous circumstances in and outside of my control. But this desire is deeper than that.

   When I was young we had prayer meeting every Monday night. We would show up (bare in mind I was 14 years old at this time) and pray. These were prayer warriors. My pastor, the worship leader, several other servants, and NO youth (if they did come they hung out in the foyer until their parents were finished). I never had this mysterious desire to pray that everyone talks about, but I was taught the value and principle, so I did it anyway (unintentionally learning how to pray as worship*).

   Now, in my older life, with: more responsibilities, higher stakes, more failures [fewer successes], and the looming threat of ineffectiveness, I long for those days. The feeling comes suddenly and I find myself questioning Eli asking whether next time I should say "Speak Lord, for your servant hears" (1 Sammy 3:11).

   I had a conversation with Curtis Wilson where the man of God asked me "What is prayer, is it something more than talking to God?" The answer (which I couldn't come up with until several hours later) is unequivocally No. Talking to God is what everyone does. Atheists do it, Buddhists and Pagans do it. The writer of Job says even the devil does it. I can easily conclude that Christians talking to God is a rather simplistic thing lacking power if not purpose. If we were honest with ourselves we would see that this low-level spiritual activity of "talking to God" is (other than shear acknowledgement) completely self motivated.

   The answer is in Samuel. It says that Sammy ministered to the Lord day and night. To minister, in the literal sense, meaning "to give". Prayer is Giving (worship, meditation, bible reading, journaling; spiritual disciplines in general are giving). If something isn't taken out of us in these practices then we are fooling ourselves into a false sense of accomplishment**. I'm not saying that you must exhaust yourself in prayer [although . . .?], nor do I believe talking to God as a negative thing, I do it all the time, but I can't settle for the good when I'm called to greatness. When Paul says he prays without ceasing, I think he's paralleling his theme of pouring his life out as a drink offering.

   I remember praying until I couldn't pray anymore. Can I challenge myself to commit to that kind of prayer again? Not to bring back some old glory but to seek the new one. If I know His strength overshadows my weakness, my lack can be swallowed up in power. This is a fight with my self; my relationship wants me to talk to God, of course this pleases my flesh (even my conscience), making God more like me and demanding little in the vein of sacrifice. In contrast to "giving in prayer" where my spirit man is forced to rise up and endure the heavy weight of deep, insightful, and purposeful prayer, along with the weakness of my faith to give in to other pursuits. Hence "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much", where do you think the "fervent" part comes in?

* There is something to be said about prayer as worship as well, but not now.

** That's not to say that we don't also receive something in these practices, but as the principle stands, power is in the giving, not the taking.

In Preparation

2010-01-09T08:57:00.002-07:00

so here are some rudementary things I say all the stinkin time. it helps to get this stuff out of the way before you get to know me.

the most valuable thing I have to offer is this truth – Those who endure to the end, so shall the same be saved. –not the smartest, not the most spiritually adept, not the one who sees miracles or talks to angels, not even the one who knows the bible front to back, only those that endure.

Hurt is the highest place.

God's way is perfect, not fun, not secure, not even good sometimes, but perfect.

brokenness, that's my thing.

Longsuffering is about suffering for a long time.

A life of sacrifice, of giving and not taking.

God creates in us, through pain, triumph, and the journey, this beautiful kind of broken.

Be a minimalist, but not too much.

He builds from the bottom up not the top down, it actually makes sense.

We are building Community.

CS Lewis says ". . ."

Spiritual Discipline

2010-01-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

I know you guys completely expect this from me but. . .

. . . the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

We can only do it for moments at first. But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the difference between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through. …

When He said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is
hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder – in fact, it is impossible.”

Thanks Clive.

In this "new" year I hope we are seeking this place, not power, or position, or even ministry for that matter, but to truly be waking up seeking the will of the Father, practicing His presence and desiring His communion. I don't make resolutions but I'm committing myself to persevere in this area of my life, will you join me in seeking His will for the day before the other desires of life start crowding everything that matters (from the largest to the smallest piece) out.