Lord willing, I want to be an agent of change

I am working through Nate Larkin's book, Samson and the Pirate Monks: Calling Men to Authentic Brotherhood, and got this quote from a review of the book:

"In the course of its evolution, the church has managed to shed many of its original qualities. Two of these are the devotion to truth and the brotherhood of all men, which often appear to have been replaced by the devotion to keeping up appearances and competitive piety."

I'm not going to harp on what has been inserted into the church, because I could do that all day. I'd like to help bring back the original qualities, especially the brotherhood of all men. I need it.

Quotes to read every few weeks

Daniel Spoto, in speaking of Francis of Assisi - "Stories of saints too often describe them as essentially perfect, always pious, suffering without complaint, ever clear about their commitment and destiny. How much more credible and moving are the accounts of those who endured struggles to remain true to their beliefs. Whatever one takes it to mean, saintliness is not a position one attains or state of life one achieves, the way one is called a doctor after receiving a medical certificate. However we chose to discuss it, holiness is certainly a lifelong process, and genuine saints probably never think about it. Their energies are directed toward God, not toward a consideration of their own merits or excellence. Most of all, their lives proclaim to the world the existence of a reality that transcends it."

Henri Nouwen

When we are ready to die at any moment, we also are ready to live at any moment." - Henry Nouwen

Can you really argue with success?

This is a great parable told by the Internet Monk about church growth and the "new" church that is modeled by the likes of Joel Osteen and co.:

“A Parable for our Seeker-Sensitive, Purpose-Driven, Church Growth Oriented Friends”
Make sure you read the comments after the parable as well, they are just as interesting.

News about Ted Haggard (immorality), Randy and Paula White (divorce), and Juanita Bynum (domestic abuse in her 3rd marriage) have got the blogosphere talking again about the prosperity gospel-- more importantly, the failures and dangers of the message.

It's hard to argue with success. It's hard to argue to people that Joel Osteen has issues when his membership is above 15,000. It's hard to argue with Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland when they own multiple luxury cars, personal aircraft, and STILL have large followings. It's not like these guys are like Robert Tilton or Peter Popoff. The only difference to me is that the others haven't been caught yet......

UPDATE: I'm not saying Osteen and Hinn use radio transmissions or have committed physical fraud. I'm just saying that nothing has happened to critically injure their efforts as has happened to Tilton and Co.

I guess I am just tired with the idea that God is an investment strategy with a guaranteed return on investment and that material and physical success is guaranteed to me when Scripture is so clear that storms and troubles will come. On top of that, why do we teach people to strive for riches when Jesus makes it clear that rich people will have a VERY difficult time getting to heaven?

I saw an anonymous commenter say that the prosperity message is primarily broadcast through the power of "The Balaam Network". I googled the phrase, wondering if this was some wacked-out group. Then it finally hit me......

He was referring to TBN.

That's a conversation starter if I ever heard one.

Barna on struggles- not good news

clipped from www.ministrytodaymag.com "Many of the same people who claim that their faith is very important to them and that they are absolutely committed to Christianity also say that they face no spiritual challenges in life,” Barna says. "Americans focus on what they consider to be the most important matters; faith maturity is not one of them.” So how do we avoid fostering a faith that only knows how to drive one way down Easy Street? It's beginning to sound like a broken record (check out our previous blog), but it's as simple as relationship. Person-to-person ministry that challenges an individual and, at times, even gets in his or her face with biblical truth. "Ministry is most effective when it addresses the specific needs of each person on a one-to-one or few-to-one basis," Barna says, echoing the point. "The data underscore the importance of people knowing and ministering to each other in a very direct and personal way, recognizing the uniqueness of every person and their journey."

C.S. Lewis and conceit

Quote provided by inwardoutward.org....

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org By C. S. Lewis When I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and wouldn�t go to the churches and Gospel Halls; I disliked very much their hymns which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren�t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. Source: Surprised By Joy

Looking for answers again......an old problem

Scot McKnight quoted an author that stated something that sounds like it was written last week:

“Hostile to the church, friendly to Jesus Christ.” These words describe large numbers of people, especially young people, today. They are opposed to anything which savors of institutionalism. They detest the establishment and its entrenched privileges. And they reject the church — not without some justification — because they regard it as impossibly corrupted by such evils.

That sounds very 2005ish; but it's older. How old?
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Try 1958!

The author? John Stott, Basic Christianity.

But here's the questions I have:

1. Is the church impossibly corrupted?
2. Does the church deserve another chance?
3. If we abandon the institutional church, will the thing we create in it's place get institutionalized as well?

Hmm..

Looking for answers...Nooma series with Rob Bell

Henri Nouwen on substituting love

I am beginning to think that every new Christian should read Nouwen....he is climbing up there with C.S. Lewis in my opinion as essential Christian thinkers. This Nouwen quote is courtesy of inward/outward.

clipped from www.inwardoutward.org What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life…. The long painful history of the Church is the history of people ever and again tempted to choose power over love, control over the cross, being a leader over being led…. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love.

Emerging Wednesday- motives for evangelism?

clipped from www.jesuscreed.org First motive: evangelism; secondary and apparent motive: helping out. Some see through the thin skin of that secondary motive and think they’ve been used or had. There are two possibilities here as I see them: either one does everything for a chance to evangelize or one sees all acts of kindness “a new kind of evangelism” or “the goodness of the gospel itself.” Let’s add a third: do all things with the hope that one can evangelize but waiting patiently for that chance. Let me suggest something and it comes from this Christian conviction: God redeems in Christ and our vocation is to live in that story of Jesus by performance and proclamation.

Emerging Wednesday- burnout

I have never been a big fan of the "Superman Pastor." While attending college preparing for ministry, I vowed I would never let myself experience burnout and would never try to run my own show and do everything. While I think a little age and maturity have shown me that avoiding that may be harder than you think (passionate people have a hard time holding themselves back), I still think that if you as a pastor can remember a few key points, you're well on your way:

1. The pastor isn't supposed to do it all. I'm not a C. Peter Wagner follower, but one book he wrote, Pastors & Prophets, makes a really good point: pastors shouldn't and can't wear all the spiritual hats in a body. He/she is not supposed to be the pastor/teacher/apostle/prophet/elder/evangelist/caregiver. It will kill them to try to do it all.

2. Some pastors are bad at doing anything other than pastoring. Let's be clear: a pastor is someone that fosters relationships and communes with others in fellowship through life. They comfort, guide, and share with others and serve them. That doesn't make them a good preacher or speaker, though, and that's part of the problem. Some pastors need to get out of the pulpit, and some preachers need to just teach and let someone else run the church. We have titled people as "pastor" when they aren't, and we have asked pastors to be things they are not.

The paradigm problem is that the "pastor" is in charge, and only he can be the mouthpiece of what God wants to say on Sunday, and that's not healthy. Why? Because I don't think the pastor can hear EVERYTHING God is saying and I don't think one man can convey that message to the right people at the right time.

I was fortunate in 2005-2006 to work in a church where the head man was willing to share his pulpit, and all the leaders rotated and shared the pulpit. Some were better than others, and sometimes I wished someone would skip their turn, and sometimes I thought someone had something going and should go a few weeks in a row. But the overall beauty was that the congregation got to see the hearts of their entire leadership, and the church experienced the Word of God and the heart of God from different perspectives, different voices, and different styles. It was refreshing!

The problem is that if the "pastor" is relieved of the majority of preaching, then what are you paying him for? The idea would be that he is more free to pursue community development, counseling, relationship building and visitation. But how can you measure that? Will logs have to be kept? Would he have to report his minutes? The reason I bring this up is because tithers will want to know where there money is going. I don't like that, but it's going to be an issue.

I'm going to ramble more on this later....

In other news, the Cubs are 0-1. Surprised?

An atheist's experience

This is a quote from an atheist that visited 30 churches to study what impressions they would leave him with. Look at what he was left with....

clipped from www.internetmonk.com Clearly, most churches have aligned themselves against non-religious people. By adopting this stance, Christians have turned off the people I would think they want to connect with. The combative stance I’ve observed is an approach that causes people to become apathetic—and even antagonistic—toward religion as a whole. Many evangelical pastors seem to perceive just about everything to be a threat against Christianity. Evolution is a threat. Gay marriage is a threat. A swear word uttered accidentally on television is a threat. Democrats are a threat. I don’t see how any of these things pose a threat against Christianity. If someone disagrees with you about politics or social issues or the matter of origins, isn’t that just democracy and free speech in action? Why do Christians feel so threatened? You need to spread the message of Christianity—the message being what Christianity stands for—loving each other, helping the people around you. Those are things everyone can get on board with.

Emerging Wednesday- a sad definition

What is a Christian? This clip is from Ryan Wiksell's blog, asking not what we Christians would define ourselves as, but what we may have allowed the world to define us as. Read on....

clipped from www.thecoredowntown.com Christian: (n) An adherent to the western religious paradigm known as Christianity, identified by numerous cultural indicators, including: mandatory attendance at weekly religious performances, neat and tidy appearance, chipper attitude, straight-ticket Republican loyalty, big house less than 25 years old in an excellent school district, well-dressed and well-behaved children, homogenous circle of friends, SUV or minivan ownership, abstention from alcohol, tobacco and crude speech, upwardly mobile, and others of the like. Common usage: “I can’t let my family find out that my boyfriend got me pregnant; they’re Christians.” “I don’t want to work Sundays anymore; Christians are the worst tippers.” “Christians think that they can start a war, and God is always on their side.” (Source: The Non-Christian Worldview Dictionary.)

Emerging Wednesday- theology by Bono

Bono from U2 recevied an award from the NAACP for his Red campaign, and had this to say about God and the poor:

"Whatever thoughts we have about God, who He is or even if God exists, most will agree that God has a special place for the poor. The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected her child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble of the cries that we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor. And God is with us, if we are with them."

The quote is even more striking because he pointed it directly at the church, specifically "those in the church who sit in judgment". Ouch. What does it say to the world when Bono is making more sense to them than the church is?

Emerging Wednesday- what it heresy? apostasy? schism?

Just about everyone throws around words without knowing what they really mean-- especially religious folks. In reading all about the emerging movement, and theology in general, it's amazing how quickly the words heretic, apostasy, and schism are so commonly invoked. But what do they mean? Well, here you go.

clipped from kenn.typepad.com

APOSTASY, the most grievous of the three, is a complete and utter rejection of the faith (“denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ”). That is clearly not the aim or purpose of the emergent church movement as I read them.

SCHISM means separating from the universal Church because of unwillingness to be constrained by unity. I think the emergent movement might be guilty on this count, but so is Calvary Chapel, and most of the Christian church. More on that some other time.

HERESY is an intentional or rejection of an essential element of the faith as outlined in the three creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, Athanasian) embraced by all four streams of the universal Church (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Anglican). False doctrine and heresy are synonyms.

Emerging Wednesday- inerrancy, Amazing Grace, and choice sermons

A movie called Amazing Grace is coming out on the 23rd. It stars Ioan Gruffud as William Wilberforce, the British Parliament member who helped end slavery in the British Empire decades before America abolished it. Early reviews I have read are promising, and the trailer looks good. I intend to see it in theaters and support it. Oh, there's some connection the the song Amazing Grace as well, if you hadn't already figured that out. For those out there that want a total surprise, I won't say what the connection is.

Tagged onto the movie's release is a movement to have as many churches as possible sing Amazing Grace on Sunday, Feb. 18th. While there may some PR here to promote the movie, the website for this (http://www.amazinggracesunday.com) talks quite a bit about the resurgence of the slave trade in some parts of the world. I might just add our house church to the list....

While attending Lee University, one of my favorite chapel speakers was Rev. Joe Novenson, pastor of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church near Chattanooga, TN. He is an amazing teacher that presented the gospel in a humble yet powerful way that still captures my spirit. I was pleased to discover that many of his recent sermons are available as mp3's on the church site for free. In a day where many pastors are charging $20-30 for sermon sets (something that REALLY bothers me when the price is exorbitant), it is refreshing to see someone of great anointing and talent willing to share it freely.

Now here's the one that'll get somebody mad- I am studying this whole topic of biblical inerrancy. Since I was raised in rather fundamentalist circles, believing in an inerrant text is kind of a given, so it was never discussed. I have been reading some excellent posts from internetmonk.com on the subject and am encouraged for one reason: you can still believe the bible is true even though it may not be inerrant. Most fundalmentalists will say that if the bible is not inerrant, then you:

1. Can't take the bible as true anymore.
2. You are claiming that God made mistakes, which he can't do.
3. You doubt the Spirit's ability to rightly inspire the authors of the text, or the authors' ability to hear it correctly.

In all areas of faith, Christians are always willing to concede that no matter how anointed a person is, or how much God uses them, they will still make mistakes and that's just part of the result of a perfect God communicating through an imperfect man. But when it comes to Scripture, that argument is completely dismissed and somehow that fraternity of bible authors managed to get everything correct down to the last punctuation mark. We always talk about how God can overcome our failing and still get his message across, but that doesn't apply to Scripture.

I'll be talking about this alot in the near future because I really want to understand both sides. I am starting with an intertmonk recommended series by Chris Tilling.

Emerging Wednesday- Jason Clark's polar views

Jason Clark is one of the links I permanently keep on the blog for his insight and wisdom in the emerging conversation. He was one of the first blogs I ran into when searching out emerging resources and read him daily.

Plug complete.

Jason posted back in January about 2 "poles" of emerging ideas that exist. I will not recap the whole thing here, but go check it out because it is worth a read. His basic presentation is that there are 2 kinds of emerging Christians; the "post/anti-church" crowd, who is ready to abandon the traditional brick-and-mortar institution, because it is so far gone it is not worth saving. That's the "a" side. The "b" side is more reconciliatory, and willing to labor within the church to foster change. Jason talks about finding a middle ground between the two, as both have their advantages and flaws. Again, I'll let Jason's blog (and the great comments on the entry) speak for itself.

I'll soon be writing about my "emerging polarity" and where I might be heading.

Women in ministry?

I won't get heavily into this debate, because I don't have the energy at the moment. If you want to get some interesting reading on the topic, check out Scot McKnight's blog-- he has been posting about women in ministry over the last few weeks.

I want to share this article that Scot references in one of his posts from The Dallas Morning News. Southwestern Baptist Seminary recently fired a female professor who was a graduate of the seminary and was hired by the seminary to teach Hebrew. But the university fired her because she is a woman, and a woman cannot teach a man according to the seminary and Baptist theology in general. They claim a "lapse" in practice of their beliefs as a reason why they hired her in the first place.

Apparently, this is also causing serious debate amongst Baptists as well, because the central argument is whether or not Pauline texts regarding men's and women's positions in ministry refer to the office of pastors only (thus a woman can't pastor a man) or also includes teachers as well. SBC pastor Wade Burleson gives a great argument about it on his blog. I don't know much about Wade, but apparently his quest to get to the bottom of the professor's firing is becoming quite nasty, and the seminary is even beginning to accuse him of slander, but then refuses to release previously public meeting records that would prove Burleson's claims. Doesn't sound very Christian to me.......

I'm still digesting the article, so I will hold my position....for now.

The Ministry Report: Play Money

The Ministry Report: Play Money

An article from Ministry Today about money among ministers. I have seen this exact thing before and heard these exact same lines as well. Uggh...

The Ministry Report: The Devil in Burma

The Ministry Report: The Devil in Burma

A report about Christian persecution in Burma. I run across these often, but this one struck me for some reason, so I wanted to share for prayer.