Missional

Webber & Story

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I really enjoyed Robert Webber's article in the Spring 2006 Criswell Theological Review: "Narrating the World Once Again: A Case for an Ancient-Future Faith."  If you get a chance and can find a copy of the CTR, read it.  My "tight" evangelical readers may shiver at all the uses of the word "story" or "narrative," but hey, our existence and ministry is rooted in, concerning, and continuing The Story.  So there. :) 

A couple of quotes...

I want to articulate three very specific paths for the Emerging church to follow in order to restore the ancient biblical and historical narrative from which to minister in a post Christian world: 1) deconstruct the current accommodation of ministry to the cultural narrative, 2) recover the story-formed nature of the good news, and 3) re-situate ministry in the divine narrative. (p 16)

Evangelicalism is so thoroughly conditioned by the culture in which it seeks to minister, that it has the appearance of the commonplace.  It has become what people want to hear, not what it is that God wants to say and do.  This indictment of evangelical Christianity--that it is culturally conditioned--is only the surface problem.  The deeper problem is that by allowing itself to become conditioned by the "surface culture," it missed the point of the deeper cultural crisis.  This crisis is that our world has become storyless.  There is no unified story that gives meaning to life and history.  Everything has been reduced to "my" story.  But there is no universal story in which my story is situated. (p 19)

The task of the next generation of leaders is to disassociate themselves from the culturally conditioned practices of the evangelical church, and recover the divine narrative in which all ministry is situated. (p 20)

Living in Woodstock, IL

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I've started a new blog.  Yeah I know, but it's not what you think.  I've started this blog to bless and encourage the blessing of my city.  It's called Living in Woodstock, IL and it's all about life in Woodstock (go figure).  Actually, it's a non-political, non-advertisement, and completely pro-Woodstock, IL site that intends to spark conversation about and enjoyment of our city.

It's really just about my experiences (personal and family).  I'm not really sure how it will work, IF it will work, or what exactly it will become in the days ahead.  But I figured it was worth a try.

So check it out and let me know what you think.  But please, don't comment there.  That's for locals and Woodstock lovers only.  Thanks.

McCoy Missional Learning Center

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A couple of weeks ago I found the sign up date for kid's baseball this summer here in Woodstock for my two oldest boys.  So yesterday I loaded them up in the car and headed to Sports Authority to buy some real baseball gloves.  After getting a good fit and taking a few minutes to soak up the smell of leather, we grabbed three gloves (one for each of the boys and one for me).  We also bought a couple of regulation baseballs.

We came home and de-tagged, went outside and started to play catch.  At that moment I realized I have never taught anyone to play catch with gloves that catch and balls that can hurt.  My kids are all experts at wiffle ball and Nerf stuff.  But this is the real deal.

So we formed a triangle, I told them to hold their gloves out face up, and I started under-handing the ball to them.  They missed most of the first 20 throws, but every time one would catch the ball it was a triumph.  Then they progressively started catching more, and more.  All the while I was also teaching them the proper way to throw by pushing off with their right leg while shifting their weight over their left.

Dsc_0001 Then just before it was time to come inside for the night I decided to toss the ball a little too close to my oldest son's face.  He missed the ball, but the ball didn't miss him.  It popped him on the lower lip which was punctured by his lower teeth drawing plenty of blood, a swollen lip, and a few tears (his upper teeth fell out naturally, I didn't throw it that hard!).

After comforting my son and putting the kids to bed 30 minutes later I realized that the hour I spent playing baseball with my boys wasn't just a great time with my kids, or just a proud moment as a dad.  That would have been enough.  But it was also an hour of training at the McCoy Missional Learning Center (MMLC). 

I'm teaching my kids how to do something they can love that will put them on teams with other kids, and those kids have families, and some of those families don't have Jesus.  And the only physical distance between us and them can be bridged by "Play ball" and "Batter up" and "Atta boy" and "That's my son, at third base.  Which one is yours?" and "Good to meet you.  We'll see you at next week's game."

Don Miller Interview

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Donald Miller is interviewed at Out of Ur: "Donald Miller Isn't Hip."  A clip...

You've said that the church "uses love as a commodity." What do you mean?

Miller: We sometimes take a Darwinian approach with love—if we are against somebody's ideas, we starve them out. If we disagree with somebody's political ideas, or sexual identity, we just don't "pay" them. We refuse to "condone the behavior" by offering any love.

This approach has created a Christian culture that is completely unaware what the greater culture thinks of us. We don't interact with people who don't validate our ideas. There is nothing revolutionary here. This mindset is hardly a breath of fresh air to a world that uses the exact same kinds of techniques.

Seattle: Thursday

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Okay, it's VERY late.  So this will be very short.  I may expand on some stuff later, and I don't claim to be able to make sense of stuff so late.

Smokin' guns, Tim Keller just rocked.  I'll explain this talk a bit, but the rest will be brief. 

Keller's third and last session was up first this morning, "Doing Justice."  Geez.  A friend said it was the highlight of the conference.  It certainly was one of the most important talks I've ever heard on ministry.  Keller described injustice as that which damages the fabric of shalom.  Shalom is the way things ought to be.  When the body is healthy, it has shalom.  All bits and pieces are harmonious.  So with culture, as the bits and pieces do well together, there is cultural/city/neighborhood shalom.  But when that fabric is damaged (as it always and often is) then we do justice, or reweave shalom.

Keller said that power has to be given to others if we are going to do anything good.  Our job is to enable flourishing.  We are born in certain circumstances we didn't look to be in.  People haven't asked to be where they are.  And Christians should give away power to those who don't have it as the work of justice.  Keller said that biblical righteousness is about being willing to disadvantage yourself for the advantage of the community.  His question for us: Does your city rejoice that your church is there?  If they don't then we aren't working justice.

Matt Chandler of The Village Church of Dallas was next.  I first heard Matt in Dallas last summer at Acts29, and he was great.  But today, it may have been the most important message I've heard.  I said Darrin Patrick's message was really good for me, and Matt's was like picking up where Darrin left off and pressing even harder toward Jesus.  I wrote in my notes: "I would gladly let Matt start again and say it all over again."  It was that good.

Eric Mason talked about reaching the hip-hop generation.  Good, solid stuff.  We heard a couple of rap songs.  Very interesting on contextualization.

Mark Driscoll batted clean-up by talking about the Gospel, the Cross, and mostly about penal substitution.  It was a "hot" talk, and he was pretty fired up.  Good, biblical stuff.

Last things...We were able to hang at the Driscoll house for 1 1/2 hours tonight with about a dozen other guys.  The conference audio should be online in a couple of weeks.  And please pray for our trip back.  We fly out at 2:30 central time.  It has been a great, great trip but we really miss our kids.

Seattle: Wednesday

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Mars Hill Values

What a great day in Seattle.  The temp was nice, the sun was out, and day two of the the Reform & Resurge conference was fantastic.  I'll go speaker by speaker with a few brief (it's really late and I'm really tired) comments.  All quotes are as exact as can be after trying to understand my fast and sloppy writing.  You may not understand the context of something, but consider yourself blessed for what you do understand. :)

First up, the second and final session taught by Ed Stetzer.  Much came from his new book Breaking the Missional Code (see Driscoll's new interview with Stetzer about his new books).  I won't give all the info, including a couple sets of lists.  But I will say the first list includes 10 shifts for moving people toward culture and the second includes steps to understanding culture.  Good stuff.  He also gave good advice on how to get beyond demographics in knowing culture. 

Josh Harris followed Stetzer and talked about a "humble orthodoxy."  It was very good.  I've heard Josh speak before and I always learn much from him.  He taught from 2 Timothy 2:14-26, 1. Teach the truth faithfully, 2. Live the truth faithfully, and 3. Represent the truth humbly. 

Quotes: "We are to avoid controversy that distracts people from the gospel."  "Living Truth becomes a living lie when we don't embody it ourselves."  "You should be suspicious when the voice in your head says, 'You don't need counsel on this decision.'"

Tim Keller gave the other two messages of the day.  The first was on "Being the Church in Our Culture."  He provided a paper/article for the talk.  Here's his six-fold model for the church relating to culture.  They can read as one sentence.

1. More Christians living long-term in cities
2. ...With a better understanding of the gospel
3. ...Living as dynamic counter-cultures in the city
4. ...Integrating their faith and their work
5. ...Radically committed to the good of the city as a whole
6. ...Contextualizing the Gospel message

Quotes: "Christians are to be alternate cities in every city."  "People in our churches need to understand the theological meaning of ordinary work." "We are taught how to raise up church leaders, not culture leaders."  "Christians are supposed to live in the city as a counter-culture, but are not supposed to take power."  "Unless you are radically like [the culture] and radically unlike [the culture], they are going to shrug."

Keller's second talk was on "Preaching the Gospel."  He said you can understand the Bible diachronically (through the story) or synchronically (topically).  Some new evangelicals try to focus on the former, older evangelicals on the latter, but both are needed.  He focused on the Gospel as the agent of change in both unbelievers and believers as it tears down our idols and leaves us with Jesus.

Dsc_0023 Both talks by Keller were excellent and well received.  I was able to ask about suburban/rural incarnational ministry during QnA, since he focused on urban ministry.  I was also able to talk with him after the last session.  He speaks again in the morning.

I had the chance to meet Mark Horne and Dan Cruver today, and shared lunch with several friends I mentioned yesterday plus Drew Goodmanson.  Drew is a great guy and an elder at Kaleo in San Diego who knows more about the internet than the founder, Al Gore.  I had a nice chat today with Shaun Garman of Red Sea Church in Portland.  Shaun is a godly young pastor who we first met at the Acts29 conference in Dallas last year.  I also had a brief 'hello, love your books' with Donald Miller after he showed up for Keller's first talk.

I've met several guys who recognized me from this blog and decided to say 'hi.'  I love making these sorts of connections, and many of these guys seem to find my blog because they are looking for Tim Keller resources.  One of those guys is Darren Larson from Wheaton, IL.  He only lives an hour from me but we meet for the first time in Seattle.  Strange world.  Check out his blog.

I failed to mention yesterday that I talked for some time with Scott Thomas, who has been the Acts29 replanting guy and is now heading up the whole dealio.  Very cool for everyone because Scott is a great guy.  He always listens like you are the most important guy in the world and has great penetrating questions and insights.  We hope to talk more with him tomorrow.  Read a great "replanting" article by Scott.

FYI, I believe the conference audio and video will be available for free at some point on the Resurgence site.  How cool is that?

Seattle: Tuesday

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The Reform & Resurge conference is on full force.  Three speakers today.  First was Darrin Patrick of The Journey Church in St. Louis.  Darrin is an SBC'r and a church planter with Acts29.  His talk was just perfect for me, exactly what I needed. 

He said that your biggest challenge in ministry is yourself.  He used James 1:1-4 to talk about how those who walk with God will be a mess because God wants to build our character through trials.  The process of going through trials is painful, but we need to focus on the product of trails not the pain of trails.  Why would we want to avoid trials when it's the trigger to God's power?

The second speaker was Anthony Bradley.  I didn't like it.  Seemed like a good guy with something to say, but he didn't get it out. 

The third speaker was Ed Stetzer, the church planting and church researcher with NAMB.  Great missional stuff.  He used Acts 17 to make four points.  1. Acknowledge spiritual questions in culture,  2. Understand culture, 3. Acknowledge the positive and rebuke the negative inside the culture, and 4. Proclaim Christ. 

Stetzer said that the HOW of ministry must be determined by the WHO, WHERE, and WHEN of culture, but that the church is currently answering questions that no one in the culture is asking.  The church has then become a culture in itself.  But what the church needs is to hold two truths in tension, that we mus be contending for the faith (Jude 3) and contextualizing by becoming all things to all men (1 Cor. 9). 

Great quote: "Preaching against culture is like preaching against somebody's house.  It's just where they live."

Second great quote: "The stumbling block of the cross has too often been replaced by the stumbling block of the church."  Most people aren't being recruited by other religions, they are being repelled by ours.

Today I was able to sit with Kevin Cawley and Brian Brown.  We had some discussion after the day ended with Kevin, Brian, Bruce Chant, Bill Streger, and Pete Williamson.  I also met a handful of other bloggers and blog readers.

Sidenote: I'm reading and planning to blog-review Stetzer's new book Breaking the Missional Code soon.  The book is about how Tom Hanks finds the code for missional theology in the glow of Thomas Kinkade paintings.  Okay, not really. But it's very good so far. 

Dsc_0033 For lunch we had it catered by a local barbeque restaurant, Porter's Place.  Wow, was it good.  We were told to be sure to "meet the man."  So we saw a guy who we figured was "the man" and asked if he was.  He said no but went and got "the man."  "The man" is no man, but one of the most powerful hot sauces I've ever experienced (and I've experienced a couple of very hot ones).   That's "the man" that I tasted a drop of on the toothpick (see pic).  Literally burned my mouth and made my eyes water for 15 minutes or more. 

Tomorrow, more Ed, Josh Harris (who I met tonight at the hotel), and Tim Keller.  It's gonna rock.  For now, the donger need sleep.  G'nite.  Oh!  And be sure to keep up with my Seattle pictures.

Seattle: Monday

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Space Needle in the Clouds

We ate breakfast this morning at Cafe Minnie's.  Omelets the size of your head.  Sheesh.  Then we took a trip to the top of the Space Needle.  Beautiful day, beautiful view.   To See, Look Away

Click on the pictures for a larger version, and take a peek at my other Seattle pics.

Reform & Resurge begins in the morning.  Hopefully we can meet up with a few of you tonight.  We are in the Holiday Inn, Room 204.  Give our room a call, or email me.

Reading, Reforming & Resuring

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My wife and I leave this weekend for the Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle.  It's should be a spectacular time.  If you are going and want to make sure we connect, please email me and we can swap cell numbers (pastorsteve [at] gmail [dot] com). 

StetzerI'm also digging into Breaking the Missional Code by Ed Stetzer & David Putman.  Anything Stetzer writes should be recommended reading for all missional guys.  I would imagine it will also be excellent for anyone who needs to understand the missional concept, like anyone with "Baptist" in their church name.  Hehe, c'mon, that was funny.

I hope to come back from Seattle with some great pictures, the experience of drinking a mocha at the original Starbucks, Spirit-led insights to rock my face off, and Tim Keller's Sharpie'd signature on my arm (so I can have it tattooed in later). 

Okay, I'll settle for the first three.

Alternate Cities & Cultures

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Once in cities, Christians should be a dynamic counterculture.  It is not enough for Christians to simply live as individuals in the city.  They must life as a particular kind of community.  Jesus told his disciples that they were "a city on a hill" that showed God's glory to the world (Matt. 5:14-16).  Christians are called to be an alternative city within every earthly city, and alternate human culture within every human culture, to show how sex, money, and power can be used in nondestructive ways.

Tim Keller in "A New Kind of Urban Christian," Christianity Today, May 2006, p. 38.

Theopraxis: Theology of the Suburbs

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Scott Berkhimer of Theopraxis and MereMission is in suburban Philadelphia.  He has written a series of posts on "A Theology of the Suburbs."  I've been enjoying his thoughts and felt I should provide a central location for these links here.  He offers no specific titles, so I will offer a very brief identifier for each post.

Part 1: Pursuit of Happiness; Part 2: Choice & Imagination;
Part 3: Economic Influence; Part 4: Rootlessness;
Summary: Restatement; Part 5: Race & Ethos 1;
Part 6: Race & Ethos 2; Part 7: Imago Dei & Sabbath Keeping;
Part 8: Shaping Imaginations; Part 9: Simplicity & Generosity
Part 10: Hospitality & Eucharist;  Part 11: Suburbs & Gospel

What Culture War Does to Warriors

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CT Online: Furrowed Brows Inc.  According to the article, the culture war's biggest casualties may be Christian joy and hope.  A blurb...

There was violence and disintegration in the day ofJesus, too. Jesus was hardly shy about confronting the patterns of sin in his culture—though he was consistently harder on the pious than he was on the pagans.

But everywhere Jesus went, life blossomed. The sick were healed, lepers were touched, daughters and sons were plucked from the mouth of the grave. Jesus left behind him a trail of leaps and laughter, reunited families, and terrific wine, as well as dumbfounded synagogue leaders, uneasy monarchs, and sleepless procurators. His witness against violence, amidst a culture in rebellion against the good, was neither withdrawal nor war. It was simply life: abundant, just, generous life. And, ultimately, a willingness to let the enemies of life do their worst, confident that even death could not extinguish the abundant life of God.

Quotes from The Missional Leader

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Missional_leader_1I'm reading The Missional Leader by Roxburgh and Romanuk.  If I stopped reading now (not yet halfway through), it's still one of the most important books I've read in the last couple of years.  I'm sure much of that is because of where I am in ministry and the things I need to think about for my local church.  And I don't agree with everything, but I can't say enough about what this book is working in my life and ministry.  Here are a few short quotes...

A missional church is a community of God's people who live into the imagination that they are, by their very nature, God's missionary people living as a demonstration of what God plans to do in and for all of creation in Jesus Christ. (p. xv)

Missional leadership is about creating and environment within which the people of God in a particular location may thrive. (p. 6)

Today, we give up on congregations that we declare are out of touch with the culture.  We run to big, successful places with marquee-name leaders to find out how to be successful.  In so doing we are going in exactly the opposite direction from everything we see in the Biblical narratives.  We have forgotten that God's future often emerges in the most inauspicious places.  If we let our imagination be informed by this realization, it will be obvious that we need to lead in ways that are different from those of a CEO, an entrepreneur, a super leader with a wonderful plan for the congregation's life.  Instead we need leaders with the capacity to cultivate an environment that releases the missional imagination of the people of God. (p. 21)