A Word from Phyllis

The Future of the Emerging Church
Are we experiencing the next Reformation of Christianity?

Conversations about the future of the emerging church can be overheard at conferences, seminaries, chat rooms, or anywhere church leaders congregate. Does the movement have legs? Does it represent a passing trend or a new Reformation? Not long ago we sat down with author/scholar/editor Phyllis Tickle to discuss the subject. Tickle, a feisty Episcopalian from Tennessee with an intellect matched only by her sense of humor, has served as a religion editor for Publishers Weekly and has written over two dozen books. Her three-volume prayer manual, The Divine Hours, has renewed the discipline of fixed-hour prayer for Christians in many traditions.

What do you see happening to Christianity in the twenty-first century?
Many people have observed a five hundred year cycle in western history—a period of upheaval followed by a period of settling down, then codification, and then upheaval again because we do not like to be codified. So, about every five hundred years the church feels compelled to have a giant rummage sale, and we’re in one of those periods now.

The Reformation was about five hundred years ago. Five hundred before that you hit the Great Schism. Five hundred more was the fall of Rome and the beginning of monasticism. Five hundred before that you hit the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, and five hundred before that was the end of the age of judges and the beginning of the dynasty.

So, how is the current upheaval different from what the church has experienced before?
For the first time we’ve done it in an age of media where we are historically informed and we can perceive the pattern, and for the first time we’ve had the ability to talk to each other, to be self-conscious about what is happening, and be somewhat intentional. This is very exhilarating.

We have a huge responsibility because of what we know. We are seeing the start of a post-Protestant and post-denominational era. Just as Protestantism took the hegemony from Roman Catholicism and Roman Catholicism from the East at the Great Schism, so the emerging church is now taking hegemony from Protestantism.

But would you place the emerging church with Evangelicalism, or it is something else?
No, it’s not evangelicalism. American religion has four, pretty much equally divided, quadrants. Evangelicalism is one of them, charismatic Pentecostalism is another, the old mainline or social just Christians is a third quadrant, and then the liturgicals. And where the quadrants meet in the center there’s a vortex like a whirlpool and they are blending.

So, much of the political energy is evangelical. There’s no question about that. Much of the religious energy is Pentecostal, but that’s combined with the strong ballast of social consciousness and of applied gospel that comes out of the mainline. And into the mix comes the liturgical traditions with the great gifts of the heritage of the church.

And the emerging church is bringing these different elements of the church back together.
The problem has been that since the Reformation belief for most of the people has gone north to the head. The emergents, supposedly, are saying it needs to go south to the heart. I don’t think it needs to go south at all. I think it needs to meet somewhere in the strength of the life—mind, heart, spirit and strength. Belief needs to be incarnated.

The response for the emergents has been to incarnate their beliefs right in their own neighborhoods—and that’s wonderful. They want to live where they worship, that’s great. The problem is that the emerging church does not have enough organization within itself to get beyond the sound of its own voice. Each little cohort is very limited in its impact.

So, how can the emerging church expand its impact?
Right now we’re beginning to see it organizing. It is institutionalizing. We’re building the next model which in five hundred years will be thrown away. But nonetheless, the emerging church has got to find some way to reach out in a coherent and effective way beyond itself.

Starfish vs. the Spider

I just read this on a blog that I'm reading - very intruiging and some stuff that I've thought about more than once. Decentralized movements... OM was definitely one, let me know what you think. Here's the link to the book on Amazon,

http://www.amazon.com/Starfish-Spider-Unstoppable-Leaderless-Organizations/dp/1591841437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195674364&sr=1-1



I'm reading a fascinating book that someone recently recommended to me. It is NOT a Christian book. It's a book about an emerging business model written by a couple of Stanford grads, which makes it all the more frustrating. Why is it that the world sometimes recognizes what God is up to far sooner than most believers do? Our religious institution were consistently on the wrong side of creation of democracy, the fight to abolish slavery, the struggle for civil rights and respecting the rights of women, and here's just another example of how they are caught in older forms the world is even reconsidering.

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations describes almost exactly (with one major flaw to be discussed later) how I understand the nature of the early church and what I see to be true in the body of Christ as it functions today in the world. Now, I'm not talking about organized religion here, but people who really have a heart for God and his work in the world.

The spider represents traditional organizations with CEOs, hierarchical structures and heavy top-down management. If you cut off the head of a spider it dies. The starfish, however, represents decentralized communities that are far more effective and resilient. If you cut off the leg of a starfish, it will just grow a new one, and the leg itself will grow into another starfish. The starfish has no centralized brain, it is a system of neural networks that work together.

Granted the subtitle is a bit misleading. The authors aren't really talking about leaderless organizations, but decentralized ones. Citing examples like Alcoholics Anonymous, Craigslist, Wikipedia, eMule, and others, they describe the power of individuals working together in ways that create incredible resources with surprising results:

This book is about what happens when on one is in charge. It's about what happens when there's no hierarchy. You'd think there would be disorder, even chaos. But in many arenas, alack of traditional leadership is giving rise to powerful groups that are turning industry and society upside down. (p. 5)

These starfish communities have tremendous power because they are not bogged down by the needs of an institution that compromise the values of the community itself. The contributions of the individuals who share a common passion are having far more impact than conventional institutional models. These communities prize relationship, engender trust, and pursue a purpose that transcends financial reward. One of the best discussions in this book is how leadership functions in these communities. They are not managers, but catalysts to ignite a passion in others and help them live it out. What the authors describe for a catalyst comes a close to the teachings of Jesus and the examples of the apostles in the New Testament as anything I've read before. They work behind the scenes, empower others, help people connect in circles of relationships, and never try to ensure that everything is orderly and certain. And what's best, they never want to be in charge themselves, knowing how to work themselves out of the picture as others flourish.

They are much better at being agents of change than guardians of tradition. Catalysts do well in situations that call for radical change and creative thinking. They bring innovation, but they are likely to create a certain amount of chaos and ambiguity. Put them in a structured environment and they might suffocate. But let them dream, and they will thrive. (p. 131)

The Starfish and the Spider discusses the unique power of the Internet to allow these kinds of starfish communities to flourish. And, yes, these people are motivated by their self-interest. Imagine these decentralized communities, however, where people are functioning in the interest of Jesus himself. What this business model leaves out, of course, is the place of Jesus as the sole Head of his church that can never be destroyed. Imagine how the body of Christ could arise in our day if we experienced the power of these decentralized communities as people who are all listening and responding to him.

The world is now discovering the power of decentralized organizations in a way that we could have been living for 2000 years. I'm sure many believers did in those past generations, but unfortunately the powers of religion have always gravitated toward heavily authoritarian, centralized models as a means to amass riches and power. I love that so many of us are now discovering a different approach to life as the body of Christ that liberates us from the repressive institutions that destroy people to the freedom to demonstrate who he truly is in the world.

If that's your passion, this book will show you just how powerfully it can happen. And if the business world can do it without Jesus, how much more powerful would it be for a community of people to live and work together like that who have surrendered their lives to Someone far greater than themselves. Maybe it’s time more of us embraced a new way of seeing the community of believers and how they can function in the world.

Laptop for Every Child

Check out this link for a gift to give to the world. www.laptopgiving.org If you donate before November 26th you not only give one to a child in a developing nation but you will also receive one for your own child. We are blessed to be a blessing!

The Muslim diaspora

If you want to go, many don't!

If you think you should go, many won't

If you have to go, many can't

Ex Cathedra

You said go, and I say no

You said believe and I just don't know

You said come and I just want to stay

I feel so stuck in this space today.

Speak Ex Cathedra over my soul

Speak all you want to into my whole

Speak Ex Cathedra into my me

Speak as you can do without bound'ry

I'm stuck here today

I just want to stay

but you're building a bridge

Over my bay

And my tears will stop on the day we walk

You'll Speak Ex Cathedra; I'll listen, I won't talk

www.nathanbsmith.blogspot.com

Greetings from Chicago! I have been out of touch lately because of some problems with my blog. I have named it www.nathanbsmith.blogspot.com and no longer www.nathanbarrett7.blogspot.com. I am sorry with the delay but there was something wrong with the forwarding configuration so I've had to revise. The other address that will bring you to this page is www.nathanbsmith.com. I will be posting much more often now that I have fixed the problem but it won't be because of travel since I am in Chicago now and will be here for some time. Currently I am again at school studying for my Master's of Divinity and working on my second year. I look forward to this next 2 1/2 years to finish and am incredibly thankful for how God has provided as I have come back in faith and have not spent a single dime of my own on books or tuition and the LORD has provided a living situation with my aunt and uncle for free as long as I am in school. He again provides faithfully. I am tentatively involved very heavily in my studies and will be going home for Christmas after not being home for 1 1/2 years. My nieces and nephew will be there with Darrell and Kelsie, sister and brother-in-law. I will get to see all of my friends from home and will also spend some time with Phil and Ruth Nellis in Seattle when I fly in as well as be able to connect with T.J. and Heidi Hahn who are ministering in Oregon. I look forward to what's ahead and am thankful to the LORD for this time of slowing down and refueling for the journey with my studies. Blessings!

Be my everything...

Be a mentor with selflessness

Be my famous friend

Be my idolatry

Be my closest most genuine perfectly loyal and gracious companion

Be my never wrong parent of perfection

Be my other half that takes responsibility for my faults

Be my lover without consequences

Be my immediacy

Be my depth and longing for authenticity

Be the one who I fantasize would die for me

Be on time

Be mine

Be my eulogy

Be my everything

Not sure what is happening!

There is something wrong with my web address so if you are having trouble accessing this page, it is still active but not doing so well.

lamenting the Pain

the Loss

honoring the Unspoken

the Confusion

speaking my Peace to the Past

unable to bring it Home

but it ain't home without It

Babysitter for an adult

Does God intend to "confirm" our directions in life


Or does God affirm our decisions about direction in life


Consider the coincidences of your day, the omens that speak


Do they guide you? Do they confirm? Do they lead you?


Or are they like the signs of weather - sometimes yes it will rain


Sometimes it looks as if it will but we don't see a drop fall


An omen is ominous, yet not always indicative - how do we listen?


We listen as the farmer listens to the weatherman and the weather.


Nothing is for sure but all is possible, so live in tension


At the same time, let go of "confirmations" and turn to "affirmations"


This brings you and I from "certainty" to "assurance"


Ask yourself, which provides more security and then ask yourself,


"Which do you really want?"

To be faithful and unambitious

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star:
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned:
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No Scar?
Yes, as the master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound? No Scar?

-Amy Carmichael

Glory Rush

My two years are finished and I’m broken and ready to be molded. I’m discovering that doing what I’ve done was to find Jesus. The whole earth is filled with His glory – we are glory miners – we go off into the far reaches of the world searching out the riches of his glory that He has deposited in areas untouched by the shoes of Kingdom carriers. The glory revealed in a new language intimating itself for the first time with the Words of Living Water flowing from the pages of Scripture, the glory revealed when a culture receives the Gospel for the first time and sheds light on the deeper meaning of what God wants revealed of Himself that He has planted in that people group – and so many more revelations. There is so much glitter in God’s glory that we are called to discover and playing it safe is no longer an option – God’s not playing games with us. I found God yet I missed Him altogether while I was out there. I’m coming home to discover Him anew and see His heart for the nations from my native shores. It’s always about intimacy and basically – if God is calling us out there – it is to discover Him in the midst of the lives that He allows us to touch. With that leading our mission vision we are called forth. It is not just the Glory of God that leads us forth, it is the desire of the Glory of God that leads us forth, the knowledge that we have access to it – that it can be displayed, His presence in our presence, that we open the channel of our hearts for Him to proclaim it and awaken it wherever it may be. Will we access it if we do not go – yes but limited, always remembering that we don't want to be held back to the better by the best – we push forward to mine the depths of God’s glory as it fills (already has filled) the earth, in nature, culture, language, growing narratives, untold stories of hope that are poised to spring forth from the lives of broken nations and people. Is this true of our life, do we go to see hope – I believe so, because if we come from a world where hope isn’t needed and drive our hearts to a place where hope would be the air to breathe – we live in the midst and mess of Kingdom miners. The Kaleidoscope of the Kingdom possibilities is innumerable. We are called to create space for creativity to spring forth amidst disappointment continually – it is the very nature of the Gospel to proclaim hope through Jesus in the place of no hope and to really promise that God can be found. His glory leads us on. I hope it does for me and you. Blessings!

"Do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try call them to where you are, as beautiful as that place may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place neither you nor they have been before." - Vincent Donovan

"Holy Holy Holy is the LORD Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory!" -Isaiah

DMZ

Last month, myself and a Northern Irish fried, Che, made our way to the DMZ. Our host was Jeung Hyeun, a friend from before. We prayed as we looked over the no man's land that gave way to the sprawling North Korean landscape. We prayed for reconciliation and an end to the division and for the Church in North Korea. As we stood in the train station bordering the two countries, Che pointed up towards the idealic sign over and above the guard's stance "To Pyeongyang" - the place where the revival that swept the Korean peninsula exactly 100 years ago took place. Now South Korea remains the 10 strongest economy in the world, has 6 of the ten largest churches in the world including the largest and sends out more missionaries per capita than any other nation on the planet. God has written a special story for the southern region of Korea. We hope for the same in the north where persecution rages on, where brothers and sisters are still imprisoned, beaten and killed for their belief in Jesus. The world has their eyes bent on North Korea. Google Earth has been used much lately to peer into this impossible nation from a bird's eye view. I can only believe that God overlooks this country with a broken heart and desire to see the removal of the dividing wall of hostility that still remains.

We had the amazing privilege of hiking down into a shaft that was dug underneath the DMZ by the North Koreans, one of 5 they have found and this one was only 56 km from Seoul. It was told that 30,000 men could be moved through this tunnel in an hour had it reached Seoul. Peace between brothers and sisters almost seems more difficult than between strangers. We can hope and pray that what happened at the Olympics when the North and South marched in together will move into the reality of these two nations divided that were never meant to know division and that this region of the DMZ will no longer exist, except for as a reminder of what it can cost a nation to be divided.

FREE JOHN PIPER BOOK!

If you would like to receive a free book by John Piper, please visit, www.georgeverwer.com and watch his latest YouTube posting or just email him and ask for it at george@verwer.om.org and let him know you visited his website.

Red Dot Reminder

I just talked to a 21 year old, who helped organize Teen Street about an incident that he was challenged in through last year’s event. Though he was part of the leadership team this year, last year he was a coach for a net of teens. All were asked to put a red mark on their id card to remind them that God will and wants to use them. After Teen Street, he was heading out to share the Gospel with an evangelism team. Some Hindu fanatics found out what he was doing and took all his evangelistic literature (book of hope), beat him and then took his i.d. card – the same i.d. card that had the red dot on it, the same dot that Hindu ladies put on their forehead (for marriage or religious identification). The reason they took the id card was so that he couldn’t go to the police and complain. The police would ask for his id card and if he didn’t have it, then they wouldn’t listen. As a result, he went on to do the evangelism that he started out to do with his friends. In the evening they found out that the same fanatics were looking for him with his id card and as he saw them and saw them holding his id card, the red dot stood out on his card and he was reminded of the reason it was there – that God would use him.

Teenagers Rock

Well, I've just finished a packed week of youth ministry with Indian teenagers here in India. The incredible thing is that most of them, though they left today, won't be home until tomorrow or the next day. They've all traveled by train and some trips will take 48 hours, others less. It is amazing how much of an impact this week has had on them. It isn't surprising though as I remember also being very challenged and actually having some of my biggest changes and most important decisions made at events like this. One such event was when I was 17. I remember listening to the youth speaker talk about how at the age of 17, he needed to decide to walk with Jesus full tilt or live a minimal commitment or none at all. It was a decision that he and other friends had made and it really changed his direction. It seems like changes in our lives really do happen because of decisions. It seems they go hand in hand. This week, the topic was metamorphosis - the transformation of a butterfly. Not a very cool topic you might think, for teenagers, but the lessons connected with how transformation actually happens in our lives very well. The analogy of an egg forming into a caterpillar, then a cocoon and then into a beautiful butterfly really drew a great picture of what happens in our lives in order for us to transform. At the end, they were encouraged to fly by taking leaps that involve risk, but risk that allowed them to leave their comfort zones and embrace the life God had called them into. One teenage friend came out for prayer at the beginning of the week and asked for prayer as his loneliness had become such a difficult issue. Another was dealing with not feeling he was good enough - that he just didn't measure up. Many others had hurts, issues and challenges that were just like the teenagers that I had spent time with in Canada. It seems that the emerging global youth culture that is spreading all over the world has some distinct commonalities, things that are shared by them because of media, technology, clothing but also the common experience of being a teenager. What does that mean? As I discussed with Dan Potter (he and his wife lead teen street, www.teenstreet.om.org or www.duzie.com , all over the world) what youth need all over the world, it came out that they need

1. Significant Service,

2. Meaningful Responsibility,

3. Marinated and consistent mentoring,

4. Belonging (a place or a person, etc...)

5. A Secure zone for foolishness to be unwound

There are many other things that they need, but as a basis for doing ministry among them and seeing lasting change and the perseverance to make it through some of the most difficult years of their life. I don't miss what teenagehood was like for me. It is not easy and we just have to accept that. But if we can provide all of these things along with correct and contextualized Bible teaching and interaction as well as opportunities for them to interact with Christ personally and emotionally, a difference can be made. More and more teenagers around the world are going to share a common culture through English, the internet, music, clothing and the culture that culminates from all of those things. Dan Potter said that many people in Asian and Eastern countries look at their youth and see them becoming more and more Western. He made a very interesting comment though that because of postmodernism, Western teenagers and young people are becoming more and more Eastern in their thinking. I think that is true as the mindset here in India is very closely related to postmodernism. So, are the two worlds converging and what is happening in the generation that is coming up? There is a culture that exists all over the world that is distinct. It doesn't have borders, or a specific language. It doesn't have presidents though it has many influencers. It is the youth culture and being cool is where the power lies. Being cool is having influence without power being given to you. So it can come and go, just like that, but the one thing they respect and long for is Jesus. Not the idea, but the person. They all want Him, if they could only know who He is - they would want Him. That is what the five principles allow us to do for them. To give them who He is. Indian, American, Dutch, Brazilian, Sudanese, etc... all teenagers want Jesus and they are beginning to recognize him more and more in the same ways, no matter what country they are from. The difficulty in this is that many of the countries in the world don't know about this emerging culture or what to do with it. Teen Street has joined that effort and yet what they are doing is only a drop in the bucket compared to the need. But the hope that comes with them is worth every soul that is saved and every young person that commits to not walking away from Jesus, whether they be an Italian or an Indian.

Pipe Dreams

Yesterday, I visited Pipe Village. Pipe Village? What is that? Well as the rural villages don't provide enough work during certain parts of the year, many of the people have come into the city to work at this Cement Pipe factory. Because they have a home in the village, but they have to live near the factory, they have decided to take up residence next to the factory in the old discarded cement pipes. Their homes have become pipes with add-ons. The abject poverty and low wages just doesn't allow them the ability to have normal living conditions.

When I arrived I saw row upon row of new pipes within the factory walls. Then as we neared the village, the scenery looked almost exactly the same, save the brick walls that had been constructed to close off the end of these pipes. There was a row of smaller pipes all lying down parallel to each other with another parallel row opposite them. In the middle was a path from which you could reach the front of each pipe home. It looked just like a suburb street in Chicago - with similar style houses all lining the street and garage doors that matched each other. In this situation though - the people simply lived in pipes.

Some of the children attend our Dalit Education Centers and are being educated in English while learning Math, Science, Socials, etc... One of them will be attending our youth event. She actually was my translator as I taught the children two of my favorite songs, "Making Melody" and "The Ducks go by..." After the songs, I told them the story of David and Goliath and how God could use even the smallest among them to do great things for Him if they trusted in the fact that God was capable to do it through them. I then handed out chocolates to each of them and took some pictures of which they were very eager to see the results. Before the children's program though I had the opportunity to meet with a 23 year old diabetic man who lives with his mother while she works in the factory. He became depressed because of his inability to have energy to work and the prospects of a bleak and maybe short future. He decided to burn himself to death because of this hopelessness but luckily, someone helped to dowse the flames and he was saved. I asked him about what gives him hope now. He told me that it was the fact that he had some land and planned on cultivating it back in his village, as well as the opportunity he had to get married once he was better. "Will he get better?" I thought, when all they can afford is rice for their food with some spices on the side. Rice is the cause of many cases of diabetes here, but I've learned that it is so difficult for the people to afford something more nutritious among other reasons for eating too much rice. Mainly people are just hungry and need to eat, so it is difficult to give them a vision of what it means to eat healthy. I've encountered this in all my travels throughout India. Diabetes is a huge issue here it seems, because of the continuous diet of rice, as it is the most affordable.

I told him that I hate hopelessness and love hope and asked if I could pray for him. "What to do?" as many Indians say. So, I prayed for him and asked God for healing, for marriage, that he would be able to cultivate his land in the village and that he would be able to look to God for all of these things. He's come to believe in Christ, but continues being discipled as he still holds to some Hindu gods, as is normal in this polytheistic culture of many gods. Jesus just becomes an addition.

As I was leaving the village, this healthy and beautiful child was waiting playing outside the home and was very enthusiastic about my camera. Hygiene is poor as many of the children were coughing from the cement dust and particles, as well as just poor sewage and many of the other problems that are associated with slum dwellings.

The OMers working in this village have some projects they are working on. Thus far they have started a school in the village where not only the children are coming, but also their mothers. The teacher is receiving $100 a month to teach them throughout the week as well as running a Bible club. They want to enlarge the space for their school as well as start a candle-making business. There is no electricity so the children don't have a lot of daylight to do their homework when they get home from school during the winter and the candles would be very helpful for the entire community. They could earn an income as well as have a source of light in the evenings. I was really blessed to hang out with the people for an afternoon and to see the faces of the children. People are people no matter where you go in the world - they need food, shelter, water, security and love. These ones were no different.

As a result of this work, many have come to Jesus and are giving themselves to understanding Scripture and becoming literate so that they can read the Bible and other books. A few Churches have started there as the teacher's husband who started this work 10 years ago, pastors in the different homes and locations. They receive regular prayer and Bible teaching.

If you would like to stand alongside these workers in Pipe Village to invest in a transformational effort that is building the kingdom in pipes, please visit this website, https://usa.om.org/GiveOnline/ and select this option, "Give to support OM's ministry through a particular country/field" and then choose India as the country and write in the comments section that the gift is designated for the "Pipe Village project in Hyderabad" (this link is only for the US so if you are from another country, please visit, www.om.org and look for your country profile and through that you can give to the OM office there with the same designation type). If you would like to designate your gift even more precisely, ie. for the teacher's salary, for hygeine, for school supplies, for the Candle making project, for the Church ministry, etc... please also fill that in. Any gift amount is needed and appreciated.

Please pray for the man that burned himself - that he would continue to have hope in the midst of some obvious despair and that God would heal him of diabetes so that He can recognize God as the only one worth worshipping. Pray as well with me for the education, health and transformation of these families and that they would take the Gospel back to their village, over 80 kms away. Also pray for my translator and her family that they wouldn't try to marry her off too soon and would allow her to pursue her dreams. Pray also for a deep and spiritual impact on her heart as she attends this life changing youth event, something she's never seen before. Pray that she would wholeheartedly commit her life to Jesus and allow Him to meet her needs and lead her on under His gentle hand.

As you pray for her, know that a difference is being made all within one generation. My translator was only 13 or 14 and she knows Telegu but her mother tongue is actually another tribal language. She also speaks English and is learning Hindi at school. She's at the top of her class and we're excited that she will be joining us for our Teen Street event this week (www.teenstreet.om.org). Her dream is to be a doctor. Some would see her predicament and say, "that's only a pipe dream". I guess they would be right if we could only look through natural eyes. Her family is illiterate, uneducated, extremely poor, from a village and a low caste and they need the dowry that she could secure for them if she was married young. It is a "pipe dream", a dream birthed from a new hope and a from a heart that is beginning to really know who the God of Scripture truly is and what He's capable of. The work that God is doing through this transformational ministry in her village and through our school is changing her home and her life. It's giving her hope and dreams. The entire trajectory of a simple village girl's life will be able to transform her family, her future and allow her to participate in building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth - A hope, a Kingdom and a dream given to her as she grew up on the inside of a pipe.

persistent thoughts of procrastination

Recently, I receieved an email from a friend that loves making films. He and I met at Bible school. We then ran into each other in the Bahamas. I was on an OM ship and he was making a film with a film team form Moody. We chatted about vision and film ideas, always recognizing its incredible ability to move, motivate and change. I just received an email from him that I want to share with you, Here it is...

well i cant wait to get together with you. i wanna share a quick story with you. in the beginning of this year, i was driving home from a great conversation with a buddy. we talked about christianity and what it looks like. we talked about the laziness and what is has become. driving home i realized i was a hypocrite...see...i was afraid to be a real christian. i didnt wanna deal with the whole faith thing. i just wanted to do what everyone else did and kinda pray for stuffso i decided i was gonna be a christian that day. i drove home and told God:"Lord, im sick of being normal. i wanna do crazy stuff like what you did through people like moses and paul. you created me with a desire to make movies so here it is. i dont know if thats what you want me to do, but im gona dedicated myself FULL TIME to that. i dont know where the money is coming or where im headed, but thats gonna be my number one priority."that day i decided to drop everything i was doing,"ministries", work, etc...no money i get home and get an email from the pastor of xxxchurch"you got any more video ideas?"within that hour, we communicated some more, i ended up having a ticket to vegas to film for them at a convention.i come back home with a 15k check and a pretty nice cameraall that to say, i understand the power of willing hearts and sincere faith

I also just had a conversation with a man from Sweden today about his ministry to encourage, coordinate and support youth ministry initiatives around the globe. So many countries are looking to the west to understand youth ministry. We have to understand that we can't assume youth ministry exists in every country. It is primarily a North American thing. Even many Churches in Europe are just now catching. (This is very general) So this man and his team have a huge job ahead of them as well as massive opportunities. One things we discussed though was, the passion that youth have and how, even though it is lacking in wisdom and experience, it is still zeal and something that should not be discouraged in light of an older person's experience or "wisdom" Ray Vander Laan (www.followtherabbi.com) believes that the disciples themselves were mostly teenagers as young as one being 14 or 15. That would mean that Jesus as a 30 year old had chosen to give his precious three year ministry to these insignificant and unlearned youth. Not only were they young, they weren't the cream of the crop intellectually as many of them were sent back to the family business as apprentices, meaning that they hadn't made the cut to be a respected and prestigious scribe or Pharisee. Yet, we know what they did - they transformed the globe and turned the whole world upside down with what Christ gave them in those three years. What did He give them? - Himself. I really believe it is essential to also realize when He gave Himself to them and why.

I have come to be a 28 year old who loves Jesus but is very lazy about his faith. I am seeing that the passion I had as a teenager has waned considerably as my knowledge and wisdom have grown. I know that this is normal, but is it right?

The Eagles sing of Desperado losing his feelings because of his effort to stimulate them - leaving him sterilized by his own apprehension of gratuitous pleasure and the ensuing "security". "It seems to me some fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the ones you can't get...Freedom, oh freedom, that's just some people talking, your prison is walking through this world all alone...you're losing all your highs and lows, ain't if funny how the feeling goes away...it may be raining but there's a rainbow above you, you better let somebody love you, let somebody love you, you better let somebody love you, before it's too late"

My pastor in Chicago talked about how Worship is a responsive and formative participation in the timeless worship of God that is happening in Heaven right now and has happened for centuries. He taught that it is here that we should form our emotions towards God and in so doing our emotions are formed correctly towards our earthly relationships. As a teenager, we experience a flood of emotions and they are wonderful and miserable all at the same time. What place does this stage in our development have in maturing us into the fullness of who we are called to be - holy (pursuing wholeness) as He is Holy (fully whole and complete, lacking nothing). I believe that teenagers are given the privilege of experiencing these emotions as a teaser for what is possible if the individual pursues a life separated for God's purposes. We are called to participate in the formation of what we so freely and naturally experience as teens in the ensuing portion of the rest of our life. I have seen this in my relationship as well with God - He has given me a taste of His goodness to allow me to see what is possible with Him only to be brought back to reality. I believe this is the same thing that happens in massive and sweeping revivals. Should they tarry or should they compel us to a lifestyle of obedience and love that will shape and form a space for these visitations of God's Spirit. Is God into teasing people? I think so - He wants us to taste what Heaven is like and what is possible with Him so that we will never forget what our lives can be oriented towards - deep intimacy with the Godhead and the fulness of what maturity from Heaven on Earth looks like. If I don't know what it is possible I won't reach for it.

Many drug users, sexually ilicit people, drunkards, relationship chasers, career mongers, etc... are looking to recreate something, a feeling, a sensation, a sense of belonging, a moment of influence or power, something they encountered as a teenager. They want this to come back and to "happen" to them - to be acted upon. What God offers is not recreating a memory of pleasure or satisfaction and belonging, but He is calling us forward to sit at the table and feast on what we only tasted as a young teen. What does this require? Simply obedience, submitting to the process that God has laid out for you and receiving freely from His hand. Christ has said that is more blessed to give than to receive, but as Christians we find it much more difficult to trule receive than to give. When I share the Gospel at times, I pull a larger than normal bill out of my wallet and hand it to the person in the midst of the conversation - to their awkward dismay of course. I tell them, this awkwardness and unwillingness to receive this money is because your automatic response is that you haven't done anything for it, so why should you receive it. This is why many don't receive the gift of salvation either. They end up taking it but not without trying to give it back a couple of times. This is the awkwardness of the Gospel but it is also the awkwardness of sanctification/growing in our journey with Jesus. I haven't found another answer other than obedience and receiving. To participate is to obey, so it isn't only about waiting on your couch in prayer and hoping He'll drop "it" into your lap.

As Sam did, follow your desires and if that means leaving behined what gives you security. Leave it, it's worthless and it will only suck the abundant life you can have out of you. We need a new generation of passionate people to do this but we also need the many generations of "wise" people to re-engage the passion - not to relive a memory that tasted good, but to engage and participate - to create a story that will draw others in and challenge them beyond their secure borders. Follow this story,

Imagine a family with a young teenage girl who is dating a 16 year old guy. Dad doesn't approve, but the family keeps on living life. The dad expresses frustration to Donald Miller who says in response, "What your daughter is telling you is that this 16-year-old guy's story is better than your story!" The dad is a bit taken back and offended. He returns home . . . thinks . . . prays . . . and takes action. He researches something to improve his (and his family's) story. Gathering his family in a room he says, "I want us to raise $25,000 for an orphanage to be built! the family is shocked (mainly because they're not used to thinking and acting on such an unselfish non-entertainment based way). The family gathers behind dad. The daughter says, "I can get on MySpace and raise some money."
. . . 3 weeks later the daughter breaks up with the boyfriend. Why? Dad gave his daughter a more compelling story to be part of.

So as my friend recounted, he had discovered that the life he was leading was not heading towards the impossible, only the possible. Is it wrong to want a lasting legacy - you can't have one unless you leave pieces of yourself all over the place, mainly in the hearts of people that God has put in your path to love well. How do you love well? Simply by living the way God created you to live, with your desires in obedience to Him in His Word and with the willingness to do so in the face of impossibilities and lack of securities. Walter Bruegemann talks about how the Isrealites were a very difficult people to govern by the Romans because they always believed in their coming Messiah and that no matter how strong the Romans were, the Messiah was stronger and would sweep them away - why, because the God that promised the Messiah was stronger. Their vision of who God is and was had a much larger context and reach than the Romans ever had and they knew they just had to wait for Him to come and He would do the impossible as He had done so many times before. Though miseducated in their concept of what the Messiah would be, they understood who God was and as Christians we are called to the same expectant apprehension of the impossible.

But as in my friend's case, it may require walking away from what has been only possible. It may require the realization that there is so much more to be had than the teasers we experienced as teenagers - that we only tasted that the LORD was good so that He could call us to feast with Him at the table of abundance in His unbroken presence. That is Heaven, yet we are called to this "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." We are called to the impossible! Paul talks of this whole process in Ephesians,

"My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit - not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength - that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in . And I ask that with both feet planted firmly on love, you'll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.
God can do anything you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in you wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us...You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.
But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
'He climbed the high mountain
He captured the enemy and seized the booty
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.'
It's true, is it not, that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to the highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive in Christ.
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love - like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

The purpose of the impossible is to call us forward without our own strength. It is in that encounter wherein we discover our intimate bond with the One who provides not only with the provision to accomplish the impossible but with His presence as well. Moses pleaded for this presence as God told Him to lead the people out of Egypt by Himself and God stayed. Jacob wrestled for this blessing all night and clung to the cloak until He received it. So I end with 5 things that I'm afraid of in my "old age".

Patience
Persistence
Prayer
Pain
Passion

Though I'm afraid of what they require of me, when I submit to them, I submit to all that is Christ and what follows is God's

Presence and Power

“…[spirituality] is not concerned with any transcendence of the natural order, but with the redemption of fallen creation: God in the incarnation, reveals himself within the world of time and space. For the Christian, spirituality is concerned not with emancipation from the limitations imposed by nature and society, but with their transformation.”

-Andrew Wright

Sovereignty + Goodness = Mother's Day

In an Email to Stephanie after Mother's Day...

>Thank you for your thoughts on mother’s day and my mom. It sounds like your mom had a really special day. Something really cool happened with my mom and I and Lonnie. I had tried to send her flowers but it didn’t work and I got behind on the task. Then I was trying to connect to skype last night to call her and was having trouble. I figured some things out though and was able to get it working. I didn’t get through to them at home in Canada, so I thought I’d call Lonnie in Chicago. He answered and we started talking after not talking for forever. As we talked he told me that our mom was actually on her way to Norway with our Grandma and some Aunts and Uncles and that they were actually in Chicago getting ready to go to the airport. Then he suggested that we try and conference call them so I entered in the number on skype (www.skype.com) for my aunt's house from my location here in Hyderabad, India and pressed the conference option. Immediately it picked up the number and began to ring at my aunt’s house. I couldn’t believe it. Our Aunt Sherry picked up the phone and then handed it over to our mom and there we were having a conference call with my mother on mother’s day, a first for our family. Lonnie and I chatted with her, fought with each other a little bit on the phone, she scolded us and we relented. Then we began our goodbyes and prayed for her and as we finished we could hear her voice cracking up a bit as she sniffled. It was special but it still wasn’t as good as if we were there, albeit that it wasn’t possible. The other thing was that I had tried to buy her flowers at the Lillooet flower shop to have them delivered to her on mother’s day at our house. I tried once and it didn’t work and then I kept putting it off and then when Lonnie told me that they were actually in Chicago on their way to Norway, I thought to myself – thank you LORD. So Steph, as I put this all together, I’m thinking, “this is a pretty good reason to believe not only in God’s sovereignty but also that his sovereignty is for the display of His goodness and grace towards us”. I couldn’t believe that by chance we were able to connect via skype and then that I hadn’t spent money on flowers that would have waited for her for weeks at our home in Lillooet. That’s because it wasn’t chance. God was setting things up and letting us know that it was Him. I thanked Him and in my prayer for my mom, we honored Him for sussing everything out. I think that God definitely takes care of us as children but also as forgetful bachelors too.