Provocations

Troubling Times?

When we face times in our lives when God seems to be silent what will be our response? Will we question the goodness? Will we question even his existence of God? Martin Luther offered in alternative in what he called simply "the theology of the cross." Do you want to know God? Do you want to know whether he loves you? Do you want to know whether he is willing to intervene in the affairs of this world on your behalf? Look at the cross.

It was there at the cross that God made known his love for the world. It was there at the cross that he made provision for sin. It was there at the cross he made access to himself available. It was there at the cross he reached out to you and to me.

Rob Bell and Love Wins

You can not be connected to twitter and blog posts over the weekend to have not picked up on the Rob Bell controversy regarding his new soon to be released book Love Wins. In fact, it made it on the front page of the CNN website this morning. I felt insecure enough about myself that to not comment would make me irrelevant.

Unfortunately for me, most of what need to be said has been said and way to much that should not have been said has been said. Bottom line from my perspective: Bell's teaser video was great for its purpose. If you have not personally dealt with the questions he asks, I wonder if you have thought deeply about the issues. If you have not had others ask you the questions he asks, I wonder if you have any non-christian friends or friends outside one theological construct. The brilliant thing about what Bell did is that he did not answer the questions. He proposed them - admittedly in a provocative way.

Some who blogged about the book have apparently read pieces of it. However, they read only the pieces they were sent. Do not underestimate the marketing wisdom regarding what they were given by the publisher. Anyway, some of those individuals claim that what they read places Bell in the camp of a universalist and a heretic. I have not seen direct documentation supporting their claims and more directly they, nor I, have yet read the whole book. 

It might do well for us all to remember two things: 1) currently most of us do not know what Bell believes because we have not read his book; 2) there are more views of hell espoused by students through church history than the eternal torment and universalist view. Various views of conditional mortality and annhilationism come readily to mind.

This will be an explosive discussion. It is also one of great importance and interest in our culture. Many other discussions in the popular context often bore me - this one has my attention because I know it has the attention of those I minister to and reach out to. Most of them will never buy or read Bell's book but they are asking the questions. 

Yes, I will be buying the book. After that perhaps I will be able to comment on Rob Bell's views. In the meantime, I pray for love and truth to win!

#Exponential Workshop: Dave Gibbons

During the session 3 workshop at Exponential I joined the conversation with Dave Gibbons titled Creating Church Movements and Networks. A lot of territory was covered since again this was an interactive session. Some of the discussion had little to do with the publicized topic but that was less Dave's issue than the direction of the questions.

Here are a few statements that were worth putting on a wall plaque in order to keep them fresh in our minds:

1. Think movement of the Holy Spirit rather than movement of the masses.

2. Think mustard seed. Plant the small seed and let the Holy Spirit cause the growth.

3. Pain is the furnace of transformation. Develop a theology of discomfort. 

4. You are arrogant if you believe you have everything in your church to adequately equip and mature your people for a lifetime.

5. Are we in tune to what the Spirit is doing? Do we respond to what God brings across our paths and join him in it or is it a distraction to what our "big" plans are?

That is enough for now, Dave. I think I will now go sit in the corner with my thumb in my mouth rocking back and forth. I am sure I will snap out of it before I need to preach on Sunday.

Exponential Main Session #3 - Blanchard and Chandler

Now that I have settled back into things here in the Pacific Northwest I am spending some time reviewing my notes from #exponential. I notice I do not have a lot of notes from the session with Ken Blanchard and Matt Chandler. It was not because of lack of interest but perhaps due to being captured by their thoughts.

Blanchard was fabulous. I have read his books but never heard him speak. He shared his testimony of coming to faith in Jesus around 50 years old after he discovered that everything he believed and taught about leadership Jesus did. 

He had so much good practical wisdom on leadership I found myself sitting back and soaking it in. He talked about the importance of a leaders setting vision and direction. He also emphasized the need for developing habits that sustain a servant leadership lifestyle including solitude, prayer, study of God's word and being connected in a small group.

My favorite statement was his definition of what he called "seagull leadership": people who fly around making a lot of noise and then dump on everyone and fly away." Classic!

I have never personally met Matt Chandler but when he I saw him at the conference it was as though I was seeing a good friend. I, like many others, have been praying for Matt as he has been going through a struggle with brain cancer.

His message was on 2 Corinthians 3:18. He did a great job of pointing us to the truth of the passage. We become more like Jesus as we behold Jesus. He then explained how we behold Jesus. He took a number of side tracks which would not have been appreciated by some of my seminary profs. However, it is hardly a distraction when the preacher has substance. Matt Chandler has substance.

Exponential Breakout Session: Culture Making and the Local Church

Attended the breakout session Cultural Making and the Local Church with Mark Batterson and Matt Chandler at Exponential. Love these two guys. There was an emphasis throughout this session of helping people engage their sphere's of influence. There was a lot of ground covered in this session since it was an open mic questions and answer format. A couple of takeaways.

Matt commented on how to engage culture without compromising the gospel: "Do what we can where we can for the glory of God and the good of man." He brought out the idea of his church encouraging missional engagement teams who shared a common vocation and gathered to brainstorm how to use those vocations for the glory of God and the good of man. An example included policeman and firefighters who gathered for such discussions. They formed a mission team to go to an under resourced area of the world and work with them on developing their ability to respond to emergency situations. I love this since it focuses on people using what they are already trained to do for an expanded ministry. It is also not depended on the staff of a church to accomplish but is put into the hands of everyone.

Mark made a great comment in dealing with setting the DNA of a church and seeing significant ministry accomplished through the church. He stated, "We overestimated what we can do in 2 years and underestimate what we can do in 10 years." It is important for us all to keep the long-term in view.

It was great to hear Mark say that he wanted to be called Captain Obvious. Much of what he shares he says should be plain an obvious from reading the Scriptures but we still need to be reminded of them and return to them. This protects us from doing what we do so well - complicating Christianity.

A final note of appreciation for these guys. To hear them respond to questions with Scripture is encouraging. That type of ease with the Bible only comes from spending many hours saturating one's mind with the truths of Scripture. Their ability to not just speak of concepts but quote texts provided a depth and power to their responses.

Exponential Day 1 - Main Sessions

The first day of Exponential has come and gone. Over the next two days I will post some of my thoughts on the main sessions, breakout sessions and other interactions. Perhaps this is therapeutic for me but hopefully I can share with you some of this experience.

Day one encouraged me but in unexpected ways. I have been reminded that principles that sustain a church plant resonate in the hallways and the pulpits of any vibrant church. Perhaps churches loose momentum because we often loose sight of these principles.

The two keynote speakers today, Mark Batterson and louie Giglio, brought it from God's word. Mark spoke from Numbers 22 (Balaam and his ass). Two statements caught my attention. First he stated, "God is more concerned about who you're becoming than where you're going." This is a great reminder especially for those considering life and ministry transitions.

Second, "Thank God that sometimes he gets in the way to show us the way." For those of us who are highly goal driven and convinced we know where we are going, this often leads to great frustration rather than praise.

Louie did what he always does for me - he encouraged my heart and reminded me how to live and minister for the renown of Christ's name. He brought so many nuggets of truth I can hardly cover them all here. His central challenge was to keep our minds focused on a few simple things. The Apostles had three things when they started: 1) the teachings of Jesus; 2) they witnessed the resurrection; 3) the power of the Spirit. 

We also have these three things and they must be central in our ministry. In speaking of the resurrection he emphasized not only the knowledge of Christ's resurrection but the experience of our own - being transferred from death to life.

As others have stated, if these two messages were all I got for the price of admission, it is enough. More to come.  

Exponential Conference

I am in Orlando Florida this week for Exponential 10. Exponential is a conference coordinated by the Exponential Network focused on church planting, church planting movements and church planting networks. It is the largest church planting conference on the planet. After being here, I realize that is not just hype. There are a ton of people. At one point the registration was 3,000. I have not heard the final numbers but I would expect it is more than that.

I am here with my wife Ali, Nathan Hansen and his wife Rona. Our goal is to gather as much information on church planting and church planting networks as possible to bring back to SCC for as we seek fo fulfill our regional vision of partnering with others to plant healthy reproducing churches throughout the Pacific Northwest.

What we get as a bonus is personal challenge and encouragement for our current ministries and hearts. Pray for us this week. Pray for our kids as we are away as well. I am sure if this conference is something important then there will be attacks from the enemy to distract us. Believe me we have already been dealing with some.

God Centered Joy

As a church we are exploring what it means to Worship Fully as part of the Advent Conspiracy. At the risk of being called a hack, I want to share an excerpt from Pastor and Theologian John Piper. What do you think about his perspective?

"The Bible teaches that the best and final gift of God is the enjoyment of God. In place of this we have turned the love of God into a divine endorsement of our delight in being made much of...

"We are willing to be God-centered, it seems, as long as God is man-centered.

"No one goes to the Grand Canyon or to the Rockies to increase his self-esteem. That is not what happens in front of massive deeps and majestic heights. But we do go there for joy. So there is a witness in us that soul-health and great happiness come not from beholding a great self, but a great splendor.

"The Bible teaches that the final ground of our joy is seeing and savoring the personal greatness of God in Christ...

"Over and over the Bible leads us to define God's love as His doing whatever he must do --- even at the cost of His Son--- so that sinners like us can see and savor His grace forever...The goal of God's love in sending Christ is not to make much of us, but to free us from bondage to mirrors, so that we can enjoy making much of Him forever." (John Piper, "Glad about Glory?" World Jan./Feb. 2002, p.81)

Advent Conspiracy

How did Jesus celebrate Christmas? An interesting twist on how to view Christmas. This Christmas are you (am I) willing to go against the consumer focused mentality of our culture? During these times finances are tight because we all - banks, car companies, congress, and the average citizen - have adopted a credit to get it mentality. Let's change our focus by joining the Advent Conspiracy: Worship Fully...Spend Less...Give More...Love All. Check out the conspiracy at www.adventconspiracy.org .

John Owen and Slavery to Sin

A comment worth reflecting on was given by John Owen, a theologian in the 1600's, as he described his greatest challenge in ministry: "persuading non-Christians that they were slaves to sin and persuading Christians that they were not."