New Hope@Worship 29 Mar 2009

Yes,it's Tuesday and I'm finally getting around to Sunday's recap. :)

The fifth Sunday of the 40 day preparation for Easter (AKA Lent) continued this week. An incredibly challenging passage of Scripture combined with a strong sense of urgency on my part and came together to bring us to the presence of God. I used a video before and after the message (Christ Daughtry - "What About Now?" and Steven Curtis Chapman "What Now?"), so there shouldn't have been any question where I felt the Holy Spirit was guiding us.

It really helped me to immerse myself in that passage each and every day. Added a lot of time, but was so worth it.

The musical part of our worship was:

Your Grace Is Enough
How Great Is Our God
Amazed (Lord I'm Amazed) (with a very sweet and special solo by Celeste)

Come Just As You Are



Some of the comments I received and the chatter I heard after were very encouraging. If a group of people seriously pursued God's heart-work... wow.

Exactly

We need churches with strong social ties that extend well beyond the boundaries of their buildings and families into neighborhoods and the city. In short, we need more Missional Communities not Programmed Sunday Events. HT - Church Planting Novice

The Happiness Paradox - John Ortberg

The Gospel and the Happiness Paradox | LeadershipJournal.net

It struck me that the traditional expression of the gospel I heard growing up fell into a similar trap. There was not much serious thought about the true nature of heaven. (If you've been avoiding God all your life, would you want to be in heaven? It appears that God will be very hard to avoid there.)

Maybe the "if you were to die tonight" version of the gospel falls victim to the happiness paradox. If "heaven" is understood as "ultimate happiness," then I can seek to obtain it while remaining trapped in my self-centeredness. If "heaven" is understood as the eternal pleasure factory, then obtaining it has no intrinsic relationship to transformation, therefore no intrinsic relationship to discipleship.

But if the gospel really is the announcement of the availability, through Jesus, of the "with-God life," then things begin to fall into place. Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is the power to live the with-God life from one moment to the next. Heaven is not a pleasure factory that an angry God chooses to shut some people out of because they don't pass a theology test; it is a community of servanthood that can only be enjoyed by a certain kind of character.

I think Ortberg is really on to something.

The classic exposition of the message has missed the point. It's not about the destination - it's about the journey with Jesus and becoming more like him. If you are not on the way with Jesus, you would not enjoy heaven at all. This life is used by a loving God to prepare us for better. But not better in a self-centered sense. Better in that we are becoming more like Jesus.

Living On Mission

A quote from Ed Stezer about the barriers we face in energizing the next great generation.

The unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings are also twofold. First, many are trying to await the renewal of the Church. Their hope is to show up one Sunday and it will suddenly be different—more missional, more externally focused, more compassionate. The problem: It won’t, unless they are willing to lead the way by serving in the church to which they are committed.

The second barrier is that the culture they face is farther from the Gospel than any other in American history. The young adults and families today have grown up without a mooring to biblical truth, and young Christians now have to begin at the beginning. They were raised to present five-point Gospel outlines, and it is not working very often. Instead, they must describe God in Genesis 1 and then Colossians 1. They will need to share about the freedom God offers first from Ecclesiastes and then Galatians. What I am trying to say is that twenty- and thirtysomethings must recognize the distance their culture is away from the cross and be prepared to work in soil that is dry and parched.

Ed in my opinion is the finest missional thinker the SBC has produced. He's right on target here. Those of us who are boomers have to consciously be working every day not just to help the church grow into her clothes (see Col 3:12), but invest in the lives of our fellow disciples who are in their 20s and 30s. That investment means not just helping them see what we see, but working diligently to learn from them too.

Maybe if Ed and others keep writing and speaking, our churches and their leadership will wake up and realize the truth of his words. Here's the thing - we have the best story to tell ever. The narrative of God's Big Story is compelling in itself. We can tell our stories of what He has done for us personally, without having to remember whether we were on point one or four. We can share out of the cohesiveness of His Word just how wide and how deep His love truly is. We can show up and project God's compassion into the lives of the people we live around and with. We can live in Spirit and in Truth. And we can make an eternal difference!

I get excited just thinking about all the tools we possess today to connect with people. I visited a teenager in the ER yesterday. We were talking and then I noticed that they now have TV's in the ER. A commercial for "Rock band" came on, and he asked me when our church's next game night was. "We ought to have it twice a month!"

How did game night get started? Some of our leadership decided that we needed more face time with our youth and college aged members and their friends. So we looked for a way to do that and came up with game night. It began with board games and then grew to include a full LAN network real-time strategy ring as well. Then last month we rolled in the Wii and the Rock Band setup. We had kids galore. They had a great time, and so did the adults. Another point of entry. Another front porch experience. We're earning trust and hopefully opening the door for more later.

Come on friends, look for ways to use what you already have in ways you never have. If there are few opportunities for recreation where you are, then create some. We have to start building the bridge from our end and we have to do it with younger followers of Jesus alongside us.

It's AD 30 All Over Again

Reggie McNeal is one of those rare folks who came from the typical SBC background and is able to step out and look around and see where God is working. His book "The Present Future" is a required read. This talk should be.

What Is God's Plan For the Church?

What is God's plan to PROVE His love for an AIDS orphan?

What is God's plan to PROVE His love for a lonely widow?

What is God's plan to PROVE His love to a new mother who's baby is dying of malnutrition?

What is God's plan to PROVE His love to the AIDS sufferer, in his final days?

Answer: We are.

...and there is no Plan B. Ward Broehm

"Let me go with you because..."

I have become convinced that people do not become fully devoted, disciple-making followers of Christ through the excellency of man-made programs. Churches may grow in number through their professional worship team, their seamless organization chart, their savvy marketing, and their cultural relevance. But I believe something more powerful is at work when we see a person who has never known God become acquainted with a faith community, become a regular participant in that community, become a believer, and then become a fully-devoted disciple. I believe that when that progression takes place it is because that person has looked upon a community of Christ-followers, become overwhelmed with the reality of God in their midst, and cried out, "Let me go with you because I have heard, and seen, and felt that God is with you!"

Bill Huffhine

It is this velcro that builds the Kingdom of God. Those who are held together by the Spirit of God working within them and within their relationships become the entrance to the Kingdom for others who then call others to come and die to self with them.

Lots of people have a dream church - right size, right posture, right location. Bill has articulated mine - oh to be part of such a gathering of souls. It is what I'm working for at New Hope.

On Poverty

We are the first generation that really can do something about the kind of “stupid” poverty that sees children dying of hunger in a world of plenty or mothers dying for lack of a 20-cent drug that we take for granted. We have the science, we have the resources, what we don’t seem to have is the will. This is an opportunity to show what America stands for.

Bono in Tom Davis’ Red Letters


I think there's hope rising in churches all over America. We are beginning to realize that we have been selfish and self centered and are rich and increased with goods. I pray that this Christmas season brings new opportunities to carry the Life into a dark world.

Your Kingdom Come, Lord!

Great quote

“So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does.”-
Oswald Chambers

Can You Reach Seekers and Be Missional?

One of the great concerns as I lead our folks out from the mother ship and into those strange new worlds of our neighborhoods, the offices, and the places we live is whether or not the emphasis on pushing the main thing away from the Sunday morning gathering and into everyday life will decrease our effectiveness at reaching seekers.

Yes, I do lose sleep over things like this.

My however many years I have left mission is to reach people for Christ. If I'm not seeing our church being more effective in that, no matter how many disciples we have becoming more mature, we've missed the point.

So I look for people who are successfully pulling off both and shamelessly steal from their ideas. Here, Bob Roberts Jr. gives great insight into pulling it off. Read the article. Print it out and give it to your leadership. Put his ideas into practice along with your own.

Then write me and tell me what they are so I can steal them too.

I'll Know It When I See It

One of the challenges those of us who are working to be missional followers of Christ and who are trying to lead our churches to be more missional is how to explain what it would look like. I've had the questions asked of me "what does a missional Christian look like?"

Well, here's a great explanation through the use of Images

Read through the word pictures and see if it doesn't help.

HT: Missional Images

The Church On the Corner

The Church on the Corner | Love Your Neighbour

The key to evangelism is to create lots of opportunities for Christians to ‘rub off’ on those around them. “A woman came and did her community service sentence with the trust and she became a Christian. Her friend saw the change in her and she also became a Christian. One of them works for the trust now, and the first woman’s extended family is also coming to church.”





“Our dream,” says Russell, “is to be as much a part of the community as the corner dairy. A corner Dairy is an integral part of any community. It is a place that would be missed if it were to shut down and it meets a need in the area. Also, there is nothing mystical about a dairy, it is a normal and accepted part of life. This is what church should be, a normal and accepted part of life that meets people where they are at and at their individual level.”

Hmmm... church on the corner...

BTW, the "corner dairy" would be the local 7-11 or Tom Thumb in our culture.

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Like A Bear Fed By Tourists

Ed Stetzer gets it.

Today, the church is like a bear fed by tourists. It's lost its natural ability.

We need to share Christ in meaningful ways without just inviting people to a congregational event. I can just suggest one brief idea: let's get that back by starting where people are, listening to them, building a relationship, telling them about Jesus, sharing with them the story of redemption, and bringing them to a bloody cross and an empty tomb.
Ed Stetzer

HT: Catalyst

Counting Conversations

Counting the Conversations

The last few days, I've had an opportunity I seldom get - a chance to slow down. One of the things you realize pretty quickly as a pastor is that there is more to do than you can lay your hands on, and more beyond that you'd like to do. One of the skills necessary then is to be able to decide what absolutely has to happen each week, and how you can best accomplish that. Then you let everything else fall into place after.

One of the convictions I orient everything I do around is the idea that we are to be intentional about helping people find Jesus, and equally as serious about teaching them how to follow Him. So when I read this quote from the movie "Big Kahuna" it made me take a minute to think.

Phil Cooper (In the "Big Kahuna") : It doesn't matter whether you're selling Jesus or Buddha or civil rights or 'How to Make Money in Real Estate With No Money Down.' That doesn't make you a human being; it makes you a marketing rep. If you want to talk to somebody honestly, as a human being, ask him about his kids. Find out what his dreams are - just to find out, for no other reason. Because as soon as you lay your hands on a conversation to steer it, it's not a conversation anymore; it's a pitch. And you're not a human being; you're a marketing rep.

One of my goals for this year is to really accelerate the process of our folks working within their existing networks rather than forcing things. It's become apparent as I've counted off the various ways of evangelism that the most effective evangelist is the person who is asked to tell about Jesus. It happens more than we think, but almost never happens the first time we meet someone.

And as "Phil Cooper" points out above, unless you have an invitation, it's a sales call.

Having made thousands of those, even from the perspective of a salesman who wanted his clients to prosper so that my company would too, it's still about selling something. We don't "sell" Jesus, we share what He has done for us with the hope that the person we care about might decide to love Him too.

So how do we measure success in the effort?

After thinking about it for the last week or so, I think we have to help people discover their networks, equip them to always be prepared to give an answer, and count conversations. Not like a salesperson counts sales leads, but like a human being counts their friends. If I inquire about a person's kids, or their mother whose ill, and gain the opportunity to say "can we do anything? Would it be okay if my family prays for them?", then we've had a countable conversation. If a person says "I wonder why we are here on earth," and we can help them with a discussion of purpose and God's plan, again, we've had success. We have to remember that salvation is God's work, and we are just His instruments.

Each of us working within the networks of family, coworkers, friends and neighbors should have multiple opportunities weekly to be ambassadors for Jesus. Sharing when we come together of how God is opening doors for us will be contagious. Contagious Christians. Sounds like a plan.