A Blog From A Friend...

The follwing I cannot take credit for...
It was written by a friend on a different blog site, but it is so insightful, I wanted as many people to read it as possible. So without further adieu... here is
A Not So Clandestined Meeting
So today I had a very interesting and tragic meeting with a group of local church leaders. Nine churches were represented in a group of 15 people. The purpose of this meeting of the minds was to address the issue of churches dying on the heels of a local church closing its doors. It seemed well intentioned and I was very interested to see what sorts of things were going to be discussed and what kind of outcome a meeting like this would have.
Not a whole lot was actually discussed. We spent most of the time introducing ourselves and talking about what we were doing. Forgive me but when you tell me we are going to a brainstorming meeting to see what we can do as a community to stop our local churches from closing their doors I’m not keen to spend an hour hearing about how you came to settle at your current church or how many kids you have. When it came time to actually throw about ideas instead we bantered about possible meanings and feelings about the word “transformation.”
Now here is the part where I spoke up. Oh you know, if you read this blog then you know how I am and I am not one to gently lay it on the table. I talked about a radical transformation of a church in Canada called Connexus Community Church. The church went from three very traditional presbyterian churches each with their own property and congregations and converged into one body. They sold all their property and started meeting in a school gym. Now they are meeting in a movie theater, holding multiple services, and experiencing amazing growth and very radical transformation. The room was silent and then immediately someone responded saying that what they got out of what I was saying is that we need to focus on small things and let God turn it into something big. I was dumbfounded! Here I am talking about three churches merging into one church, selling all their property, and instead of building another building they decided to meet permanently in movie theaters. Does that sound like they were doing something small to you? I was speechless and even laughed a bit at the absurdity of that statement. It gets better.
At one point one of the pastors spoke up and said that their church leadership was committed to growth and their entire plan of action was to commit to pray fervently for church growth. Now I am in no way saying that they were wrong in fact it should be the very first step. But for them it was the first and last. They mentioned that two people had joined the church recently since their resolve to pray for church growth and at some point another church leader raved about how much growth that was. They were juiced up and excited over two people! I stifled a snicker and basically sat on my thumbs the rest of the meeting. I was yet again speechless. But then again I had a lot to say.
One plus to the evening was there was discussion of attending Catalyst Conference in Atlanta Georgia. Whether or not anyone will go is anyone’s guess and if I was betting money I wouldn’t put my money on very many. They seemed somewhat apathetic about the conference and I yet again decided speak up and plug the conference and its merits before I was interrupted to close the meeting in prayer. Not before it was mentioned that this was just “one” conference and of course it “didn’t have all the answers,” and “if this one doesn’t work we’ll just go to another one.” What confidence and arrogance these people have. Here we are talking about a conference staffed by some of the biggest names in church growth in the world today and we’re giving it a side-glance like you would walking by a pastry in a window.
We ended the meeting in prayer and I and another member of my church made our way out the door. It was a lot less stodgy than I had expected but my expectations weren’t entirely off. When we should be pleading with God and sweating blood and tears trying to eek out a plan of action for our churches we’re sipping our tea and talking about when we’ll meet next month. I don’t ever expect this group to do anything substantial. For something to really take place its going to take much more than small thinking and wishful prayer. We need radical action, transformation of our systems and ways of thinking and doing things, and above all the humility and wisdom to seek out those who do know what they are doing and to get help. We’ll see many more churches close and very possibly several of these churches represented in this meeting. And even then there may be little we can do to save them. It takes real leaders and a people who are willing to change. I don’t see that in this group. It also takes a strong undercurrent of young leaders and I (27 yrs old) was probably the youngest of that group by at least 20 years if not more.
I’ll end this with a small list (you knew I couldn’t resist) of ideas that came up throughout this meeting. I’ll let you be the judge and feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
1.A church plant for the poor. (The comment was that there were many services to the poor such as soup kitchens and such but no place for them to worship. Funny though, why not just invite them to our churches? I’m sure glad to have them at mine.)
2.Community church developments inside nursing homes. (My thought was that most of the churches represented basically WERE nursing homes. Just put up some beds and a few nurses and they’d be set. Or just uproot one of them to a local nursing home on Sunday. Trust me the congregation would love it and would get a meal and a nap to boot.)
3.A new church plant. (Nothing more than that was said really. My thoughts are...do we really need another church?)
4.Pray for growth. (I mentioned this one. The lack of effort on our part seems to stand out to me the most)
5.Going to Catalyst (or other conferences. I would vote to go to Drive but most likely they’ll end up going to some goofy conference put on by the already failing presbyterian church simply because its only a few miles away)
I am so glad for the leadership and vision of my church. Though they have their moments they are light years ahead of these guys in their thinking and in their vision for what they want their church to be. Thank you guys so much for not being like these people.

A 4th of July Declaration

Another 4th of July is just around the corner. I remember fondly some of those wonderful Independence Day celebrations over the years and I bet you can too. Years of grilling burgers, dogs, and chicken, lots of watermelons or home made ice cream. We enjoyed activities such as swimming, going to the beach, golfing with the guys, or just being with friends. The day always culminated with the effort to watch fireworks. Sometimes it rained, sometimes it didn’t. The fourth of July makes me think about our country, but it also makes me think about freedom, as a country and as an individual.
Today I want to talk about something related to independence… the opposite, dependence. I was with a couple of Seniors recently and we were talking about the value of being able to go and do when and where we want. There is an independence that we slowly discover as we grow up and come of age. We all remember the thrill of getting behind the wheel of a car by ourselves for the very first time. From that point on it was a series of breaking free from moving out on our own to getting married… there was great independence.
For most of us, our adult lives have been lived as independent people. We are free to a great degree to live as we please. I think that God created us that way. We have always had freedom of choice, even though that didn’t work out too well in Eden. God never intended us to be zombie-like creatures whom God simply commands to do as He says.
The truth is… we are creatures whose lives are a “catch 22” or a paradox. Our country takes pride in its freedoms. Indeed, we like to think of ourselves as “independent.” But nothing could be further from the truth. We are more like fish in an aquarium. We are utterly dependent upon God whether we recognize it or not or even like it or not. God has always been the eternal parent and we have always been the children. We have never really been independent, even though we think we are. Our dependence upon God ranges from the very breath you are inhaling as you read this, to the offer for Christ to live in you daily, to the salvation you are welcomed into at the end of your life. In light of this truth, it might be a good idea to create “A Declaration of Dependence” with God if you haven’t already done so. Why? Because, at some point, you will realize dependence upon God is a fact of life. You will realize this because you are a human being who has already or will eventually have big problems. And the only solution to life’s big problems will be found in going to a loving God who wants to be there to help you solve or cope with life’s biggest problems. Author Jim Cymbala writes in his book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, “Prayer cannot truly be taught… it has to be born out of a whole environment of felt need.” In other words, when you need God, and you will, then you will find a way to pray! It’s like all those movies that put the person in peril and as a last resort they look up to the sky and say something like, “God, I know I don’t usually do this, but now… I need …” What? They couldn’t handle it all by themselves? Neither can you or I. Do yourself a favor and don’t wait until the chips are down to have a relationship with God. Declare your dependence today and make this a truly freeing holiday to remember. Let’s look at Jesus’ humanly existence here on earth. He prayed regularly and claimed utter dependence on the Father. If Jesus did that, who are we not to? I Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” I think this must be the scripture my Grandmother she was thinking about when she told me, “Pray in good times and bad.”

Bound To Be Cool

Let’s be honest for a moment. How much of our life has been spent in pursuit of trying to be “cool?” I look back at the years spent as a kid, teen, and adult and I have to say that there has been a good amount of time spent on trying to be cool.
My kids, and likely your kids too, probably think you’re not cool at all. If you would just let them do everything they want then… nahhh. Even then they wouldn’t see you as cool… you’re just too old. What is cool changes from year to year doesn’t it? Cool has been ducktails, penny loafers, bell bottom jeans, pet rocks, peace signs, Members Only jackets, Walkman, jogging, parachute pants, and all those various things that seemed so important at that particular time.
Maybe cool began with questions like, “How do I look?” or “How do I sound?” and “How do other people see me?” These questions have been with people since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden (Why do you think they both grabbed fig leaves?). For most of us chasing cool started with self awareness. I am not sure when the day comes when real self awareness begins for most, but it has to be sometime in childhood but likely after the first few grades. Little kids don’t really worry too much about being cool… they just like what they like and let you know it. But, at some point, it is imperative to be known as either good at something, respected for something, or at least viewed by others as someone to reckon with in some way. It may be just being known for trying to BE cool (remember Fonzie, aka.”The Fonz” from the TV show Happy Days).
Usually chasing cool is of no real consequence, but we might run into the problem of trying to be “too cool.” A few years back, if you remember, Camel cigarettes used the cartoon character Joe Cool in its ads. I really don’t think too many adults past 30 see a teenager smoking and think, “that’s so cool”, but I suspect that’s often why most teens start smoking. Brad Paisley’s hit song “Online” told us that a certain fellow logged onto his computer and suddenly “lost weight, grew hair, developed six-pack abs, and got cooler online.” Again, it’s not too cool to be such a liar… or at least that un-self aware.
But the one place I think the one place to definitely stop chasing cool is with God. In fact, those who chased cool in Jesus’ day were generally the people he saw as most offensive. They were the people who had to look, act, and speak in ways that simply created a mask of their real selves. These were Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, men throwing stones, and the like. Jesus called people accountable who held onto tradition and ritual above the needs of people. Being “a fool” for Christ, was probably seen as pretty un-cool. But I think that my favorite Jesus description of un-cool is in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. Jesus says the Father saw his son far away and “ran” to him. This is an act that would have been very un-cool. Basically the Father pulled his robe up around his mid section and ran. What an embarrassing sight! Yet, this is how God loves us. Enough to rush to us with no worry about how it looks or what others might think. Thus, we should never be bound by worrying about the same stuff in order to get with God. Passionate worship, lively singing, whatever… if you can be free to glorify God you will never ever worry about being “cool” at church. Never let it bind you up in such a way as to hinder your giving God glory. God wants the real you and God wants you to be focused on… well… God, and not on how you might look to anyone else. 1 Corinthians 4:10 tells us, “We are fools for Christ…” that is, if we aren’t bound trying to be cool. Be real… and that will be cool with God. Until next time, Blessings!

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