On the door of my Wittenberg

Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed on Off QUEUE and facebook, in honor of the beginning of the reformation that began 492 years ago under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary at Wittenberg.  Wherefore he requested that those who are unable to be present and debate orally, may do so online (at least that’s what he would say today).

In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. The church is not a neighborhood social club.
2. “Christian” is not an adjective.
3. “They” will only change the world if you won’t.
4. The U.S. is a mission field.
5. Tradition is not Gospel.
6. God does not conform to my reasoning.
7. Being in the majority does not mean I’m right.
8. I don’t have to convince anyone of or defend God to anyone – He’s got that under control.
9. A pastor’s message is not “good” if it doesn’t strengthen your stance or change your direction.

   9.5.   Luther, Calvin & Wesley were three men with great convictions many years ago.  Where are those kind of men today?

 

Binge Thinking (part 5)

And then finally, Andy Stanley returned to the stage to conclude the conference with a discussion that may have been the most applicable session as I continue in this leadership journey that I seem to be on.  Andy formed the foundation of his talk around the idea that healthy people will not stay in unhealthy environments.  And that the way we create a healthy culture is through trust.  He used the illustration that often there is a gap between what we expect people to do and what they actually do.  How we fill those gaps will create the type of culture we live in.  We can choose to believe the best or assume the worst.  He took those ideas and tweaked them out a bit, but that was the gist of his talk.

There were three quotes that Andy used during his talk that are worth repeating:

“The moment you feel the need to tightly manage someone, you might have made a hiring mistake.” – Jim Collins.

“Teams use trust as currency.  If it is in short supply, then the team is poor.  If trust abounds, the members of the team have purchase power with each other to access each other’s gifts, talents, energy, creativity, and love.  The development of trust, then, becomes a significant leadership strategy.”  Reggie McNeal

“The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I’m certain that as I continue in leadership, these ideas will remain prominent in how I operate.

There were a couple of other things that took place at Catalyst that are worth watching on YouTube.

The first was Professor Spash who belly-flopped into a world record from 35 feet in the air into just under 12 inches of water.  Watch it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNciDWfOszM

And the second was when a guy who had been sponsored through Compassion was introduced to his sponsor for the first time.  I’m told there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as this took place.  Watch it here:  http://vimeo.com/7072300 (it’s worth waiting for the download – if your’s is slow)

 

Binge Thinking (part 4)

Like the last post, this one is going to be stretched over several speakers from Catalyst.

Priscilla Shirer got up the second day and got the blood pumping.  She pointed out that sometimes it’s time to get excited about the treasure we already have.  She charged us to “Act Immediately, Act Fearlessly, and Acknowledge the Presence of God”.  And then using the story of Joshua 3 where the people are waiting to cross the Jordan, she told us to “Act today, like God’s going to move tomorrow.”

Dave Ramsey used a formula to gain momentum.  And I, being the only person I know that actually recognizes the uses of Algebra in my daily workings, loved his use of the formula.

Focused Intensity (GOD) = Momentum
Time

That’s Focused Intensity over Time, multiplied by God equals momentum.

Dave then clarified some of those terms and how they effect our perception.  First, that when we have momentum, we look better than we are.  And that momentum is created, it does not randomly occur.  Focus was defined as when I can’t see anything except what I’m looking at.  And finally, Dave pointed out that focus can be lost because of fear and/or greed.

For me, this was a great session in light of where we are with Ascension Worship.  It’s grown unbelievably over the past two years.  But as I look back I see the focused intensity that has persisted over time.  I see how God has taken the little we’ve generated, multiplied and blessed it and it has generated a momentum that has been unmistakable to our team.

Louie Giglio was the next speaker that I heard because we took the opportunity to beat the rush and left for lunch a little early.  Louie, being in a transitional point in his life pointed out that we’re holding the door for the next generation to run through.  I wrote next to this statement that this is the job of Ascension Worship.  We have the core value of being a resource to the local church that ignites a fire within that context.  We may be holding the door for the next generation of leaders, but we’re also providing that transitional culture between old and new.

Louie continued with a quote from Thomas Merton “Your life is shaped by the end you’re living for.  You are made in the image of what you desire.”  He pointed out that Christ had said that he did what He saw the Father doing.  And He said what He heard the Father saying.  We as imitators of Christ should be doing and saying the same.  Then Louie closed out with a statement that I loved and needed to hear in a time where it seems there are more dying and failing churches apparent than ever before.  He said, the church rests on Him.  We’ve got a competent, perfect head leading this thing.  He’s got it under control.

- more to come -

 

Binge Thinking (part 3)

I’m gonna hit on several speakers this time that all had little nuggets that stuck with me.  Shane Hipps, a former advertising guy for Porsche hit on the idea that the medium is the message.  That what you use to package up your message may say more than what you are really trying to say. 

Rob Bell talked about the 10 commandments and how the first 9 are all externally visible, but the 10^th (coveting) is a reward for not doing the first 9.  Because when you do the first 9, you won’t want the life anyone else has. 

Tony Dungy quoted Reggie McNeal in saying “Sometimes we get so busy in what we’re building that we lose sight of what we’re becoming.”  And he went on to talk about one of my favorite stories, Nehemiah 4:13-14:

So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

But what I had never noticed was that Nehemiah, a leader in the process of rebuilding a safe place for God’s chosen people to live and worship God, positions the people on the wall as families and commands them to fight for your neighbors, kids, spouses and community.  I tend to take my spot on the wall and let my family remain behind the wall – which seems counter productive when I write it down, but goes without notice in daily decisions. 

Matt Chandler made a few statements that are worth repeating.  First, that every bit of hesitancy in obedience to God is Him beckoning you towards deeper water with Him.  In other words, when we pull back from where He’s leading, we’re pulling back from going somewhere new with Him.  Matt challenged us to play our part well in this life.  And then challenged us to be faithful and not get caught up in the historical silliness that captures so many people’s attention.

- more to come -

 

Binge Thinking (part 2)

Malcolm Gladwell followed Andy Stanley and stepped on stage and seemed to speak directly to one of the areas of my life.  Malcolm was one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2005 and is a staff writer for the New Yorker Magazine since 1996.  He hit the ground running with the topic of “Miscalibration”.  Coming from an electronics background where calibration is the key to everything, miscalibration caught my attention.

Malcolm defined miscalibration as thinking you know more than you do.  He went on to cite some study that was done where it was expected that the more information you provided to a professional counselor, the more accurate diagnosis the counselor could provide.  Makes sense to me, but that was not the case.  When given just a little info, the counselor would make an adequate diagnosis.  When given a little more info, the counselor would make a little better diagnosis, but be more confident they he/she was correct.  When given more info or all of the info, the counselor’s diagnosis would return to the same level as when they had just a little bit, but the counselor would be even more confident that he/she was correct.  The study concluded that because of the overconfidence of the counselors, more or complete information did not produce better diagnosis.

During the session, it was recognized that mistakes are made by all of us.  And that we can understand incompetence when people are operating outside of their specialties.  The point was that overconfidence is scary.  We look to experts to guide our decisions.  We trust our nation to a team of confident leaders.  We trust our finances to a group of confident leaders.  We trust our churches to confident pastors.  At what point do we quit looking at the confidence of men and revert to the humility of being honest enough to say “I don’t know”?  Malcolm listed a few signs of overconfidence, but the only one that I wrote down was refusing to listen to others. 

He finished his discussion with two conclusions.  First, while we are trapped by our overconfidence, the world around us can change and we may never notice.  And secondly, finishing with a majority may not equal victory.  I look around and wonder if we’re so confident in our direction that we’ve accumulated a majority but have missed the change that God was trying to instill…

- more to come -

 

Binge Thinking (part 1)

Last week, I made what has become an annual trip to the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta.  In describing the conference to first time attendees, I compare it to taking a drink from a fire hydrant.  There is so much information packed into such a short amount of time, it’s often overwhelming so you grab what you can and hope that you can remember and apply those key ideas. 

This year was no less amazing compared to my previous experiences, but in going back over my notes, there wasn’t that one speaker that just blew me out of the water or created that “ah-ha” moment.  Don’t get me wrong, the speakers were top-notch, al people that I have heard before and would love to hear again.  And they each brought new ideas and perspectives from what I’ve heard before.  And my notes show that there were several points that I needed to hear, just not that big moment like a couple of years ago when Craig Groeschel talked about “Practical Atheism”.  But regardless of whether they were huge moments for me at that time – or not, these are the things that I’ve been thinking about since leaving Catalyst…

Andy Stanley opened the conference, titled “On Your Mark”, with a little statement and clarification.  He questioned “What man is a man who doesn’t leave the world better?”  That, in and of itself, is something that as a mid-west boy growing up I was taught foundationally.  If I was borrowing something from someone, I was taught to give it back in better condition than what I got it in.  So, I resonated with this opening thought and once again, I was engaged in the Catalyst conversation.  Andy took that idea and took it a step farther though.  He clarified that that desire, to leave things better, is God’s thumbprint on our lives.  I don’t know that I had recognized that as being God’s thumbprint. 

He followed that discussion by tying it into the conference theme and pointed out that as leaders we’re trying to leave our mark on the things we touch.  But that we won’t recognize our greatest mark until long after you’ve left it.  So, even though we may be trying to make that big impact, it may be years later that we turn around and point back to today as being the time that we left our greatest mark on this world. 

- more to follow -

 

End Homophobia

A few weeks ago, I joined a cause on facebook titled “End Homophobia”.  As expected, this generated several quips, comments and I’m sure a few raised eyebrows.  And to start off, I can somewhat understand how people that have become so insulated within church doctrine and have removed themselves from the popular culture could be disturbed by the apparent jumping of a pastor on the bandwagon of the homosexual community.  But…. what caught me off guard has been the absolute certainty and piety that has come with these comments.  So, instead of lying back and allowing wondering minds to wander, I figured I’d address this head on. 

I am happily married to my wife of 17 years and am not gay, nor have any inclination of the sort.  Those close to me over the past couple of years know that I’ve been struggling and searching for God’s stance on homosexuality.  At first read of that sentence, many of you will jump up and whole-heartedly claim that there is no question as to what God would say – I’ll address you in a minute.  Some of you may have already stopped reading, because the last thing you want to read is another walk down the Biblical road that ends in beating you up, kicking you out or questioning your sincerity.  I’m going to do my best not to do any of the above and sincerely ask that you continue reading.  But, if you do continue reading, please read to the end, because if you stop in the middle, you may miss my point.

I grew up in the church.  I grew up thinking that homosexuality was a sin.  And as AIDS became prevalent in America, homosexuality moved from a sin to THE sin.  It’s not one of the big 10, but it would most definitely be number 11 or maybe 7.1 if you place it as a sub-category of “You shall not commit adultery.”  And I really didn’t have any problems with that, until I took some time to become friends with some people that are gay.  All of a sudden, my theories and theologies in the homosexual community gained life and names; faces and friendships were added to the equation.  It was slightly before this time that I also realized that my knowledge of Scripture came more from what I had grown up being told instead of what I actually understood or had gained through personal study and allowing God to reveal himself to me.

So, I began struggling with “What does the Bible say about homosexuality?”, “What does God’s character suggest about my actions and reactions to the homosexual community in my world?”, and “What kind of an example did Jesus and/or the Disciples provide for dealing with homosexuals?”  And to date, I’ll say, I don’t have it figured out.  What I have come to believe is this:

1)      The Bible makes several statements about homosexuality in most translations (Gen. 19:5–8; Lev. 18:22,; 20:13; Rom. 1:26, 27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10).

2)      There are a number of growing scholars that will refute each of these verses as being used out of context when trying to relate the original Hebrew or Greek to a homosexual reference.  Probably the most concise version that I’ve found is located at http://www.soulfoodministry.org/docs/English/NotASin.htm.  This does not reference anyone from Oxford, but it resonates with the same or similar conclusions that they have used to create their 3^rd Edition of the Oxford Annotated Bible that affirms homosexuality. 

3)      The same sentiment towards homosexuals today has been used in the past to keep women subservient to men and slaves as property; neither of which is commonly condoned or accepted today.  Just a few generations ago (and still in some back-woods areas) the Bible was used to justify slavery in America.  But if you were to try to pull that off today in most areas, you would get laughed or beaten out of town.  What changed? 

So, as a pastor and novice Biblical student, I feel at a disadvantage when trying to read others opinions and conclusions on the controversial meaning of homosexuality in today’s Biblical text as both sides of the issue seem to be so passionate that their stance and interpretation is correct that they may be allowing their emotions to govern their discernment.  Whom should I trust?

So, I choose to look at the example Jesus set forth in His time on Earth.  In John 8, where Jesus encounters the woman who has been caught in an adulterous encounter (reminder – she’s caught in one of the big 10 that God gave to Moses) he has a significant reaction.  He says after pointing out that there’s no one left to condemn her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” Notice that the other people involved left unable to condemn her because they were not without sin in their own lives.  Jesus didn’t condemn her, even with the right to do so, but didn’t affirm her stance either – because He was very clear that what she was doing was a sin.  Remember this is the same Jesus whose ministry seemed to contradict everything that the religious leaders of that time thought to be the doctrinally sound stance of their day. 

I’m not certain that homosexuality is a sin and I’m not certain it’s not.  What I am sure of, is that it’s not my job to bring condemnation on someone who is homosexual.  Likewise, I’m certain that I am to love my neighbor (homosexual or heterosexual) as myself and am to reflect the love of Christ to the community around me. 

What I’m also aware of, is that as a pastor, I have a responsibility to my calling and God to shepherd a flock consistent with the Biblical narrative.  And it’s those areas that I’m struggling with most now.  Does my responsibility change when the person is an affirming follower of Christ and engaging in a sinful activity vs. someone who does not affirm to follow the same teaching and is engaged in the same activity?  I believe there is a difference.  But there is a stigma attached to homosexuality (if it is a sin) that makes this issue different than say gluttony, adultery or gossip (all of which are sins); all of which are prevalent in nearly any church in America.  I can’t imagine someone starting a cause “End Glutton-phobia”.  If there was one, would anyone question why I would join said cause?  I think not.  There’s no stigma attached. 

My hope in joining the “End Homophobia” cause is to see the church and culture come together where we love each other, in spite of our differences, understandings, presuppositions, doctrines and beliefs.  If homosexuality is a sin, there is a much greater chance that the Holy Spirit will point that out to my gay friends if I exhibit the love of Christ instead of the condemnation of religion.  And then maybe, if I have opened the doors of friendship, I will offer an environment that is safe enough to talk through what it means to follow Christ.  If it’s not a sin, maybe God wants to use my gay friends to make that abundantly clear to me.  Either way, if I put homosexuals on an island to be kept away from, I’ll never have an impact and neither will I be impacted.  Neither of which sounds like the message Jesus gave in the parable of the talents in Matthew. 

 

Catalyst 2008

So, I’ve been processing my experience at Catalyst a couple of weeks ago. For those of you that don’t know what Catalyst is, it’s a leadership conference, held over two days that is kind of like pulling up a stool and taking a long drink from a fire hydrant; way too much information in too short of an amount of time. Despite what Mountain Dew or Starbucks might suggest, there comes a point where even caffeine won’t keep you alert.

Last year, I left Catalyst feeling like I had been beat up from the time I got there until the time I left. It seemed that every speaker had looked into my story and was going to target their message on one of the areas in which I come up short. This year, not so much. There were several speakers that I gleaned a great deal from, but only one seemed to be having a conversation with me instead of making suggestions at me.

Steven Furtick, a young pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte used a story from 1 Kings to rock my world. The story comes from chapter 18 where Elijah says to Ahab, go get something to eat and drink because it’s about to rain. Off goes Ahab and Elijah heads up to the top of the mountain. Elijah sends his servant off to look towards the sea for rain. Six times the servant comes back and says there’s nothing on the horizon. But on the seventh time, he comes back and tells Elijah that there’s a cloud on the horizon about the size of a man’s fist. Steven’s point was that between the time of God’s promise and the payoff there is a painful process. It would have been easy for Elijah to not believe it was going to rain. It would have been easy for him to be discouraged by not seeing the rain coming. It would have been easy to give up when the only cloud in sight was one the size of a fist. But he didn’t. He waited and didn’t lose sight of the promise that God had given.

Steven’s personal story is pretty amazing and well documented online. That in conjunction with Elijah’s story left me wondering what promises I had bailed on before God was done. So I’m watching the horizon… looking for the smallest of clouds…

 

A Very Sad Day…

Today is the culmination of a very sad few days in our home. After four years of health problems, we put Bogey Fudd Foster down today. It was as peaceful and painless as could be imagined for him, but the collective heart of my family is broken and missing our friend. He’ll be greatly missed…

 

Looking for a good read?

Finally, I’ve finished Tony Jones’ book, “The New Christians” and am a few chapters into Mark Driscoll’s book “Vintage Jesus”. What a contrast! “The New Christians” posed chapter after chapter of questions, comments, ideas and interpretations as to what it means to follow Christ. “Vintage Jesus” has begun reading like a dogmatic text with the Driscoll gravy of indignation spread over top. Don’t get me wrong, I love Driscoll’s style and the way he speaks from such an absolute stance. I’m just not sure that I can stand up and be as confident about whom God is, when the more I get to know Him, the more I realize how little I really know.

If “Vintage Jesus” is on the far right of the Christian perspective (which is where I would put it), then “The New Christians” is equally as far to the left. I believe both books are valid expressions of our faith journey and I’m finding that the two in contrast have helped me struggle with the tension of my own faith in our current culture. If you’re looking for something to challenge you in defining your Christian influence within your community, pick up these two books and lock yourself in a room for a few days. Then come up for air and begin chewing on the topics they present. Or, if you live near hurricane alley, pick them up for the next time you lose power for a couple of days…