To my favorite:

Once again you are shouldering more than your share. There are three very demanding boys (hopefully) sleeping right now...and you're likely cuddling at least one of them - if by cuddling we mean there are feet in your face, ribs, back, neck, knees...

Then there's the other demanding boy who is once again on the road.

I got spoiled to laying down next to you for two straight weeks, even if it was for just a couple hours at a time. After nearly ten years of marriage, I'm just plain spoiled to being near you...

Lot's of people are impressed by you, but I will always be your biggest fan. You are my favorite.

I hope you sleep well tonight and that the boys let you sleep late - like 6:30 or 7!

Love,

Me

The Traveling Companion: final episode

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

After two great weeks, my time in class is over (until my FINAL class in January!), so this will be my final installment of "the traveling companion." Processing through these ideas with other leaders has been enriching. It has been particularly helpful to listen in on the comments between folks in more established contexts as they have begun to wrestle with how to help their congregation cultivate a missional identity. I often think through these concepts from the perspective of a someone forming new communities and planting new churches. However, the reality is that even when dealing with people with no background in church attendance there is still baggage to address and an intimidating process of change to undergo. The concerns and struggles that my friends and colleagues expressed has been extremely helpful as I think about our context...which is different, but perhaps not so different.

Today we engaged in an exercise meant to help us think through the emotional response a congregation has when deep level change is being considered. We were split into teams and blindfolded and then given a tent to set up. If you've ever had to set up a tent in the dark, which I have on several occasions (mostly due to my own poor planning and goofing off), you know that it is not always an easy task.

I've set up many tents in my life and have a good idea of the different types that are out there. I knew, as soon as we were told what we'd be doing that I had the information and experience to get this job done - maybe even blindfolded. There was a moment, when I first pulled the tent out of the bag (blindfolded) that I was nervous about being able to identify all the pieces and get them lined up correctly. I can imagine this response in a congregation that has been being prepared to shift toward a missional identity.

There is usually a period of instruction, through classes, book studies and a sermon series that takes place before any actual changes are suggested. In addition, churches may also conduct experiments and pilot programs to begin introducing people to the actual practice and to determine contextual nuances that must be considered.

However, as changes begin to be implemented on a larger scale, anxiety is common. There is that moment when you realize that, even with prior knowledge and preparation, we can't always see how everything is playing out or even know our final destination as we begin.

After that initial fear subsided in our little tent-making activity, a new anxiety began to threaten to settle in. My teammates knew that I've done a lot of camping and were expecting (in my mind anyway) for me to give them clear direction and an accurate information. What if the thing I thought was the tent's footprint (a piece of material shaped like the bottom of the tent to protect it from rocks and whatnot) was actually something else? What if we got halfway "finished" and we discovered that I'd been steering us wrong? How foolish would I look if Dr. Heath, who was observing the teams could see that the thing I was confidently describing was something entirely different?

From a leadership perspective, I know this feeling all to well. Whether we want it to be so or not, often people look to leaders to have a clear understanding of the change they're undertaking - especially if that leader has spent time cultivating in their own life what they're attempting to do with others. But the reality is, when we start congregational change (or a new endeavor with any group), we're all blindfolded to one degree or another. We are all experiencing many of the same limitations, regardless of prior learning or preparation.

Thankfully something my friend Dwight Robarts taught me several years ago was ringing in my head. "If you are going to be an effective leader, you need to strive to be a non-anxious presence." Each of us on the team played important roles in laying the tent out and lining everything up appropriately. My job wasn't to do all the work, it was to help the other teammates succeed in their respective tasks and not do anything to add to the anxiety of the situation. Over time our tent came together and, though it took a little longer, ended up pretty much the way it would have if we'd started without blindfolds.

We don't have to eliminate all the obstacles to our progress. If we will work together as a team, showing grace and patience with each other along the way, we can sort through our shortcomings in process.

The reality was that we weren't setting up camp for the night, it wasn't about to rain...it didn't really matter that the tent came together perfectly in quick fashion. The value and purpose for our class was found in the actual process of setting up the tent together.

Alan Hirsch refers to this as communitas - the process of journey through a shared struggle - and it is quite powerful. Perhaps, as leaders we need to remember this truth above many others. It isn't JUST our transition into a more missionally minded people that is important, the process itself - though sometimes painful and terrifying - can be a formative and transformative experience.

I pray that God will grant me the wisdom to resist the temptation to let the end result become more important to me than the experience of shared life with my community along the way.

Thank you Elaine, Develous, Sandy, Marci, Bev, John and Todd for being my community of co-teachers and co-learners these past two weeks. May God continue to richly bless you all.

The Traveling Companion: episode 8

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

How is it with your soul?

This question represents the entire curriculum for an experience in early Methodism referred to as "class meetings." A small group of folks would gather regularly and each in turn would respond to this question. In our contemporary culture obsessed with information and "stuff" we may be tempted to respond that such a gathering would be a total waste of valuable time. If we're going to get people together shouldn't we try to get more accomplished? After all, people are busy, you know.

And such a response would be a huge mistake.

My friend and ministry coach, Anthony Parker, asks me questions like this regularly in our coaching sessions. To be totally honest, I have mixed responses to the question. At times I just don't want to get into it. Maybe I'm a little embarrassed about how it is with my soul. Perhaps the emotions are too raw and I'm not sure how well I can manage talking about it. Sometimes I know that opening that can of worms will take up all of our time and there are other things I (wrongly) feel are more pressing.

But to continue with my confession, even when I choose not to give full honest disclosure on how it is with my soul, I know that I'm short-changing myself. There are a lot of things that I don't know, but I have learned this much: it takes courage to stand up to my ego and address my brokenness, and when I lack that courage, every aspect of my life suffers.

I would not be surprised to learn that most people aren't as damaged or neurotic as I am, but I would be shocked if it came out that we don't all need to take the care of our souls more seriously. I am convinced that a regular time to gather in the name of Jesus to honestly assess how it is with our souls and deeply listen to how it is with others'; to engage in a time of confession, testimony and prayer within community would be more beneficial than many of the intricately designed and information heavy curriculums and programs we often implement.

The Traveling Companion: episode 7

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

I knew exactly what he was going to ask me. It was bedtime and I was home, so the question was inevitable. The boy with the huge blue eyes and big gap where his two front teeth should be reached up and grabbed my face with both hands. "Daddy...magic TV?"

For the past year or so Conner, Micah and I have been on a journey with two young boys named Steve and Crazy. Steve is very tall and Crazy is very, well...crazy. They live in a special house. In this house there are lots of rooms and in each room there are lots of tv's. There are big tv's and small tv's. Black-and-white tv's, color tv's and rainbow tv's. There are rectangle tv's and round tv's. There are flat tv's and fat tv's. There are tv's that hang on the wall and tv's that sit on a table. But there is one tv more special than all the others. In fact, you could say that its a magic tv. You can't find this tv if you're looking for it...and actually, you can only find this tv if you aren't looking for anything at all. But, whenever you watch this tv you find yourself inside the story. (Micah named this unchanging part of the story, "the commercial." Conner loves it and Micah always wants to skip it and get to the good part.)

Each night Steve and Crazy watch a show - sometimes its a cartoon that Conner and Micah enjoy, like Phineas and Ferb, the Backyardigans or even the Smurfs (yep, our boys know about the Smurfs). Sometimes its a show about dinosaurs, ninja's, jungles, outer space or a combination of several. And each time Steve and Crazy must help the characters in the show finish the episode. Sometimes things go wrong, sometimes things are just plain silly. We never know what's going to happen (seriously, I make it up as I go).

Crazy never says anything that makes sense - he is crazy after all. Micah usually has some random statement that he wants Crazy to say...and since it doesn't make any sense its usually pretty easy to fit it in!

These stories can be exhausting...how many different plot lines can a guy come up with after all? But I keep telling them because Conner and Micah truly love Steve and Crazy. Sometimes I get Conner to tell the story and I'm always amazed at how he already understands that a story has a beginning followed by some sort of crisis with twists that don't get resolved until the end. Micah hasn't been willing to tell any stories yet, but he has completely outlined several plots for me...

It had been a while since I read it last, so last night I looked back over Roxburgh's book The Missional Leader in preparation for our class discussions today. I'd forgotten just how good of a book it is - if you are a church leader considering ways to encourage your church to take seriously the call to actively live as the missionary people of God in your community, I highly recommend this book.

One of the passages I'd previously highlighted grabbed my attention. In it the author is describing the value and purpose of narrative in forming community.

A narrative has several characteristics. It comprises a story that is moving somewhere; it gives a social group a story that tells where it is going and what the group will look like when it arrives. There is purpose and quest within the narrative calling a group in a specific direction and toward a particular goal...Because narrative creates and sustains social community, it's the glue, the atmosphere of all social life. The key to innovating missional community is formation of a people within a specific memory and narrative. - The Missional Leader, 70-71.

I love that first bit - it comprises a story that is moving somewhere. I remember as a grad student at ACU and while preaching in New Orleans I was a part of several discussions about "narrative preaching." There are a number of folks who have a low view of the idea because they see it as "watered down." I was convinced then and remain so that this is primarily due to 1) bad examples of the narrative style and 2) misperceptions of the purpose and function.

For those that don't know distinctions between preaching styles, the traditional approach that many of us grew up hearing was expository preaching - the preacher takes a text of Scripture and "expounds" or teaches through it. Intro, 3 points, a poem and an invitation was typically the week-in-week-out format, at least in our Church of Christ circles.

Changing anything, even the format for your sermon delivery, usually results in a spike in the corporate blood pressure of a congregation. So when some preachers began telling stories with no acronyms or "that leads me to my next point" many people began to fear that the Bible was no longer being preached. And sometimes they were right.

Narrative preaching or proper use of narrative in general, is not meant to be merely the telling of entertaining or warm fuzzy stories. That isn't to say narratives aren't entertaining - in fact good storytelling is at the heart of most things that are truly entertaining.

However, a good narrative sermon tells a story that is moving (and moving us) somewhere. It connects with something lodged deep within us and by drawing it out, draws us into the story in such a way that we suddenly look around and realize we are no longer in the same place we began. Many of the great truths in scripture are revealed through powerful narrative and we, as the people of the Story are invited to find our place in that Story with each fresh retelling or rereading.

And this Story we find ourselves in is a grand epic that is greater than any of the stories that our culture attempts to lure us into.

Stories, even silly stories like the Magic TV, shape us and teach us about reality. They help us form our identity and make sense of things which at first glance seem like chaos.

When it comes to inspiring a community to begin moving together toward some goal beyond passive consumerism, story isn't the whole answer, but it plays an important role. If we want to call people to something bigger than themselves, we will do well to become better storytellers.

Often Steve and Crazy do things in a way that would seem strange to many people. They model for Conner and Micah a radical new way of living. This weekend I witnessed something in my boys and I wonder if it is directly attributable to the stories of a guy that is tall and a guy that is, well...crazy.

The boys and I went and played putt-putt for the first time. When we were finished we went into the nickel arcade (50 cents for half an hour of fun? I can do that!) Several of the games gave tickets - the kind you can trade in for cheap junk when you're done. We didn't really have enough to get anything so I suggested that maybe there were other boys and girls there who could use them more than us. I didn't really expect the response. Micah, my 4 year old, immediately began tearing off groups of 6 or 7 tickets and asking other kids if they would like them. "I want to make sure everyone gets some, Dad." Conner gave some to a couple guys and took the time to explain that yes, he wanted the tickets, but we didn't have that many and this way they could get an even cooler prize.

My kids are awesome. I think this story makes Jesus smile...and its a story that is definitely moving me somewhere.

The Traveling Companion: episode 6

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

Today was a good day...

I went on a field trip.

Its been a while, and in some ways it was reminiscent of my days of youth ministry (which are mostly positive memories!) All but one person in our class piled into a suburban to head out on a tour of some tremendous missional community development endeavors around Dallas. The remaining classmate followed behind in her car...well she tried to follow anyway. We didn’t exactly follow a logical path all the time, but that’s how journeys are, right?

Though I was terrified for everyone’s safety (yes, dear reader, even yours) at several points riding down I-35 with the Reverend James (just kidding...but seriously), it was good to have those brief moments of connection that inevitably accompany a road-trip - even a brief one.

Parts of the field trip made me a little sad - specifically I began missing the relational connections that we were forming with the community lunches we shared with Harvest House. But then I began thinking about the great things that are happening in Shenandoah - great things that we were blessed to play an early role in, but which have now taken off and flourished as a locally led and driven phenomenon.

I enjoyed seeing places like the Romero House and Christ Foundry - sacred places that I have heard about in stories but wanted to see with my own eyes. I have great hope and anticipation for the development of greater collaboration between our two movements.

But the really exciting part of the day for me were the conversations with new friends who are beginning to passionately explore ways in which the missional life can infect their own established church contexts (sorry Marci, I know you don’t like the virus language, but I find it incredibly appropriate!)

I listened as leaders began to adapt and even start over in their project proposal to incorporate the kingdom focused values we’ve been discussing. I hope and pray that under their leadership these bands of Christ’s disciples will witness radical transformation in their lives and in their neighborhoods and communities. I pray that God will bring them into contact with the spiritually confused sojourners that have been longing for someone walk alongside them in their search for meaning and significance. I beg our Father to throw open the floodgates of the kingdom and allow a fresh experience of vitality to sweep through the streets of their hometowns.

And I pray the same for ours.

Perhaps this is the most significant development in my own spiritual formation to date. I found myself just as excited - and in some ways, even more so - about what God may be planning to do in these other communities as I am for what I know is happening and will happen in our own.

Today I quote with hope and joy the lines from psalm 70, which have often been my cry of despair...O Lord come quickly to help us!

the Traveling Companion: episode 5

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

Swimming Lessons

We made it to the end of week 1 in our class. I've really enjoyed this conversations and I'm looking forward to next week. On Monday and Tuesday I'll have an additional seminar in the mornings as I present and refine my topic proposal for the D. Min. project - I am VERY excited about that. As part of my general research and also just something we've been planning to do for a while now, Chris and I are going to be launching the missionalmonks podcast (it will be hosted at christjourneylife.com) where we periodically interview different missional and monastic thinkers and practitioners. Elaine Heath has agreed to be our first experiment...er, I mean, interview. We have the second interview lined up already...how's that for being on the ball?

Throughout this week we've been talking about the power of metaphor for connecting with culture. Anyone who knows me well is aware of my love for metaphors. I drive Rachel crazy because they're usually much more complex than what I unpack for others...but she gets the unabridged explanation!

Something happened last week that I've been thinking about as a great metaphor for leadership development, so I thought I'd share it here tonight.

The boys just finished their two-week stint in swim lessons and I think all three made some great progress. It was pretty amazing to witness the transformation of Josiah from a frightened 2 year old to a water-happy swimming fiend.

The big boys had their swim lessons first - with Conner and his class on one side of the pool and Micah and his class on the other. After the big boys were through, Josiah and Rachel had a "Mommy and Me" class, that only had one other mother-son pair (and they were only there a few days). So typically Jo-Jo received the undivided attention of Rachel AND the swim instructor - who just happened to be Micah's teacher too.

Once Josiah got comfortable with his little puddle jumpers lifejacket he discovered that he could pretty much swim all over the place on his own. I was shocked on the Saturday after their first week when we went to Ron and Debbie's to swim and he just took off and jumped in all by himself!

JoJo had a great environment to learn and develop confidence. He had a great life jacket that did most of the hard work for him, and during his lessons, Rachel and the instructor were right there the whole time. But, as can happen, his confidence quickly outdistanced his ability and we had an...event.

One day, as the big boys were preparing for their swim lesson, Josiah saw his instructor in the pool and took off running and jumped right in the swimming pool...with no life jacket. Rachel had seen it coming and was right behind him, but suffice it to say, the life jacket is still very much responsible for Josiah's buoyancy!

When equipping and developing leaders it is great to have experienced guides "in the pool" with them; teaching in the pool rather than in a classroom. This gives the new leader a chance to immediately try out what they're learning in a safe and structured, but still very real environment.

All spiritual leaders, new or not, need the buoyancy of a life jacket. It is the power of the Holy Spirit which keeps us afloat and does most of the hard work. Supported by the Spirit the leader is able to kick, paddle and move about with confidence.

Occasionally we take off running toward the pool with our life jacket still tucked away with our towel and goggles and we quickly find ourselves sinking in the same waters which had previously seemed so easy to navigate. What makes matters worse, this same over enthusiasm and confidence can lead us to forget the value of a community of guides and family that watch out for us and even pull us up when we get in over our heads.

Assurance of our freedom and the confidence to jump in make the call to leadership exciting and sometimes even fun. But make no mistake, the fun stops when we are suddenly alone, without a life jacket in deep waters. And we're a lot like Josiah - in this pool even the shallow end is over our heads.

Josiah learned how much he needs his lifejacket. I hope I have the same wisdom to realize how foolish it would be to rely on my own skill, rather than trust in the tireless flotation that is my most basic and fundamental promise of safety. May we as leaders also remember how much we need a community surrounding us.

Swimming alone is a recipe for disaster.

The Traveling Companion: episode 4

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

I really like my boys’ names. I know, I better, right? But really, I do. Each of their names are significant and meaningful. All of our boys carry the Wells family name, which of course I was proud to pass on to them, but that isn’t the extent of it.

Conner is Rachel’s mother’s maiden name. With the recent passing of MeeMaw and PeePaw - people who were not only formative in the lives of Rachel and her family, but also in my own life and that of our boys - I am so proud that my oldest son will carry their mark in a special way for the rest of his life. His middle name, Allan, is my middle name as well. Its strange, I didn’t like that name as a kid, but now I feel much differently about it.

Micah was a great prophet and I have always loved the passage in Micah 6:8

“ He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

This was made all the more important to us when we learned that it was PeePaw’s favorite verse as well. Micah’s middle name, Eason, is my mother’s maiden name. I think its pretty cool that our boys have imbedded in their identity a reminder that all families are examples of God’s reconciling work of uniting people who were previously strangers.

Josiah was a good king...I hope that our little assassin will also use his powers for good! In Israel’s history there are very kings that come across well in Scripture and Josiah was one of them. I hope that my son, a child of the king, will follow in the footsteps of his namesake (except for the ill-advised battle against the Egyptian army...). His middle name, Christopher, is also my little brother’s middle name - a name which I had the honor of choosing for Adam too. (Actually I think it was more my stubborn insistence and a mother’s relenting, but that’s another story!)

Naming has always carried great significance - both relationally and often prophetically. Today in class we watched a movie - The Secret Life of Bees - and there is a powerful scene where a community bestows a new name on a young lady who has experienced a long and difficult journey toward healing and redemption. The naming not only signifies new life and a new chapter in her story, but it also communicates her acceptance into the community...into the family.

Look at the number of times in Scripture that God gives someone a new name - Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, Saul to Paul just to name some of the big ones. In each case this is about more than just a new driver’s license. Rachel took my name when we were married, signifying that no longer did we represent two separate clans, but were now one family. This name she accepted as her own was one that was offered to me when my own Dad adopted me into his family. None of these situations were insignificant.

The giving or changing of a name is a change of life. It is new life. And that is part of what makes community so powerful. Even if we don’t legally change someone’s name, a commitment to devoted community bestows new identity. When we choose to throw in our lot with a people something significant occurs. In our society it is all too common to devalue this incredibly sacred decision. Abba Antony said, “Wherever you find yourself, do not easily leave there.” I believe that it is time for us to reclaim the value of stability and choosing to remain connected to a community, to embrace and live into our name.

As a society we are lonely and scurry around busily searching for meaning and significance. If we will slow down and invest in the people around us we may find that God has been waiting to use those broken and flawed people to teach us precisely what we’ve been searching for.

The Traveling Companion: episode 3

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

My oldest son talked my wife into letting him get a mohawk...and then he looked mohawks up on wikipedia and learned that they're named after an American Indian tribe, are typically associated with warriors and apparently a really old cave man body was discovered at some point with the same haircut. That's what my son does when he gets excited about something, he learns everything he can about it. But it doesn't stop there - he internalizes and personalizes what he learns. He didn't just learn about mohawks, he got his mother to cut his hair that way.

I wish that more of us were like my son. He doesn't fall into the trap of paralysis by analysis. He's just as obsessive as I am (which brings me no small measure of pride) and will literally sit for hours on end reading things like an encyclopedia, fact book or his beloved world atlas. But then he devises games using the books and wants everyone to play with him; he shares what he learns with everyone else and creates different ways to put his newfound information into practice. (he even has a "learn something every day" blog - you should check out his post on mohawks).

Today we spent a good deal of time discussing different ways to introduce missional ecclesiology to a church, as well as potential contexts for connecting with non-Christians in missional ways. I've been thinking a lot about my own experiences with folks in both Mandeville and Burleson, as well as different churches and groups that have asked me to talk about this stuff with them.

Perhaps this is part of the whole "faith like a child" thing that Jesus talked about. We often talk about childlike faith in terms of innocence or simplicity. But maybe it is that wide-eyed desire to learn and grow and immediately apply what we discover. But just as with the question of salt loosing its saltiness, I wonder how do we regain our youthful excitement about and expectation for growth when its faded?

I've seen God break through these barriers in people's lives - including my own - I know for a fact that it can happen. It can happen in stubborn 20-somethings and it can happen in stubborn 60-somethings. I'm learning to embrace the mystery of how the Spirit breaks down these walls and I'm becoming more and more comfortable in my own helplessness. I am not an expert here to fix a congregation's problems or fix a spiritually confused sojourner. I am, as a wise friend says, simply one hungry beggar sharing bread with others.

The Traveling Companion: episode 2

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

It is so easy to forget how often Jesus withdrew to a solitary place. It is hard to remember that much of his time was spent walking from one town to the next, in conversation with a handful of friends or sitting at a table conversing with extremely interesting people. We remember the miracles. We remember the loaves and fishes. We remember the Sermon on the Mount. But we forget the wedding. We forget the nap in a boat. We forget the disappearing act that happened just before the walking on water. We remember the sweat-drops of blood but forget the garden.

It is so easy to forget how often Jesus gave away ministry. We forget the disciples being sent out, we forget the woman running to tell her friends, “Come see the man who told me everything I’ve ever done!” We forget that Jesus said, “It will be better for you if I go.” We forget that he said, “You will do greater things.” We forget that he said “Go and make disciples.”

It is so easy to forget that Jesus changed people’s lives because he was in their lives. He was typically around the hurting and broken people when he healed them. He could say he loved the poor, because he knew the poor. He could say he loved the sick because he touched their arms. He could say he loved the weak, oppressed and overlooked because that’s precisely the world he was born into. Its so easy to forget that sitting around talking about the poor or the kingdom or the gospel doesn’t mean that we’re inherently involved in those things. But Jesus was. Its easy to forget that we weren’t called to start a religion in his honor, but to live as he lived.

Its easy to forget that without me, the sun stays in orbit, the birds sing and the rain falls. Its easy to forget that I’m not God. Its easy to forget that those who frustrate us by saying, “I’ll be poured out for others, just not too much,” are still loved by God. Its easy to forget that the pastor who forgets to say, “I’ll be poured out for others, just not too much” is already loved by God. We don’t have to become a self-inflicted martyr to impress our Creator.

Its so easy to forget. And that is precisely why we must remember.

We must remember that Jesus announced, "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand!" We must remember because there are people on our block, just down the street or in the next office who have no idea that Jesus is even now creating and unleashing a new kingdom for them to experience joy and fulfillment beyond measure.

We must remember because Jesus taught us to pray, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We must remember, because it wouldn’t be an appropriate prayer if Jesus didn’t already know it could happen at some level.

We must remember because we cannot hope to lead and participate in a missional expression of faith - that is as a church joining our missionary God in the ministry of reconciliation - if we can't remember that God is God and we are not.

Its so easy to forget and that is why we must remember.

The Traveling Companion: episode 1

I just started my next to last class for my D.Min at Perkins - Spiritual Leadership in Missional Churches. One of our assignments is to keep a journal during the 2 weeks of class. I decided to blog mine...

MONDAY, JUNE 14

When I came to Perkins I expected to have to recontextualize most of my course content. I felt good about the program but didn’t really expect that a mainstream denomination school would really understand my very not-mainstream church planting context. I was okay with that because I just didn’t imagine many advanced programs (yet) would be much different and the folks at Perkins seemed generally excited to have a missional church planter in the program. Last semester’s efforts at digging deeper into the new monasticism have been deeply transformational for me, Rachel and the Chappotins...nobody is able to know me and not experience what I’m experiencing!

And now I’m in a class with 6 other folks and a great professor exploring spiritual leadership in missional churches!!! I didn’t expect to find any classes this tailored to our experience in pioneering new mistakes!

Today was a good start. We began with a spiritual formation exercise in which we fleshed out a metaphor for leadership development using the image of a mountain range. I want to unpack what I drew.

But first, I also want to mention a quote that grabbed my attention. In an interview describing her departure from “professional ministry” Barbara Brown Taylor was asked if doubt played a role in her decision. She said that doubt caused her to poke and pry at her beliefs and issues of faith, and whenever something toppled over she knew that was an idol. Wow! Just last night, Rachel and I were talking about the misconception that doubt is the enemy of faith. I told her that I believe it is fear, not doubt, which is the true enemy of faith. Barbara Brown Taylor beautifully described why doubt is not the enemy.

But back to the mountain metaphor:

Early on as we attempted to lead other leaders up this mountain (a metaphor we’ve used explicitly) we tried to get people to pack appropriately. In reality all of us, myself very much included were trying to carry too much luggage up this steep terrain. Our packs were loaded to capacity and in addition to that 80 lbs many of us were also carrying an extra duffel bag, toiletry bag, computer bags, printer/fax/copier combos, kayaks, hairdryers, stuffed animals, televisions, an Xbox and a 30 volume leather bound commentary set from 1950.

Eventually as we tried to readjust our packs we began to realize that 1) we’d simply overpacked. Some stuff was good, we just couldn’t carry it all - we’d have to distribute the load amongst the group and share resources. Also 2) some stuff just didn’t translate well in the new terrain. It didn’t make sense to try to carry some of the heavy programming stuff that seemed so essential at base camp.

But trying to get everyone to be willing to let go of their teddy bears and comfort blankets was just too much. We simply had to get to climbing and then give people permission to drop their extra stuff along the trail when they got tired of carrying it.

When that point came, however, sadly some of our traveling companions decided they’d rather turn back to base camp rather than part with their extra gear. We’ve met other travelers along the path. We’ve met some along the way who grew too tired to continue and are even now sitting on a rock just off the path, too tired to continue but not sure they can find their way back down the mountain...or that they’d even like what they returned to if they did.

We’ve encountered some who decided they’d traveled far enough and erected a chapel with a nice view of the scenery where they could sing about mountain climbing...with their packs and hiking boots sitting in a neat pile outside.

Truth be told, that was a tempting option for a while. But we’re climbing again.

We catch glimpses of other hikers up ahead - some even seem to have balanced their loads. One of our greatest temptations now is to resist the urge to pick up the extra gear they’ve discarded.

We’re also meeting lonely hikers who are woefully under-equipped and facing great peril by traveling alone. We’re inviting them to experience the safety of climbing with a group. Some have had some bad experiences with mountain climbing expedition groups - some got stuck in the chapels we passed along the way and don’t want to do that again. But we find that as we share food and shelter they often begin to realize that a community on journey together can indeed be a great thing.

I don’t know what the top of this mountain will look like, I don’t even know what lies over the next ridge, I just know that I’m being drawn upward and the scenery is more amazing each morning.

No Simple Matter

How will you search for something when you don’t in the least know what it is? How on earth are you going to set up something you don’t know as the object of your search? To put it another way, even if you come right up against it, how will you know that what you have found is the thing you didn’t know?*

I had just finished teaching a class on reading the Bible...a class that excited me and which I felt had gone quite well. Among other things, we’d been talking about the issues that arise when something is translated from one language to another. Idioms like “The kids were climbing the walls,” can be confusing if they are translated word for word without awareness of the intent.

When I saw the elderly man approaching I knew it was going to be interesting. His opening line was priceless. Without so much as a grunted greeting he fired his first shot across the bow: “You know what your problem is?”

There are so many possible responses to that question, none of which seemed promising. Has anything good ever come from a conversation that started with those words? I wasn’t getting out of this conversation, so I played along, “You mean you’ve narrowed it down to one?”

“You’ve lost the simplicity of the Gospel.”

There’s another one of those statements that just hangs there.

A year or so later the same man came up to me on a Sunday morning and said, “That was the best sermon you’ve preached yet. I’ve heard over 10,000 sermons in my life. So, I can say that one was pretty good. But last week’s was undoubtedly the worst sermon I have ever heard in my life.”

Now, I don’t think he can honestly make such a claim...he slept through at least half a dozen of my sermons during that first year, any one of which could have been worse than this particular message.

But I digress...Back to idea of simplicity.

It seems to be a commonly accepted truth that faith should be simple. Lately I’ve been thinking more about this assumption. Are we sure that’s where we want to hang our hats?

Adam and Eve struggled to get it. The Patriarchs struggled. Israel struggled. The disciples struggled. The Christians in Corinth, Galatia...even Jerusalem struggled to grasp the calling and the significance of faith. The Church throughout the last 20 centuries seems to have struggled with it as well. And yet, somehow today, its simple.

Last year I read a book which discusses the education process for architectural design students. There is a period in the beginning, before they’ve discovered what it means to “think architecturally” when the whole process is mysterious and confusing. The master designers who are there to coach and teach them cannot explain how to think this way. Textbooks can’t teach it, lectures can’t capture it. The only way to learn it is to do it - which leads to the paradox in the quote from Plato: “How will you search for something when you don’t in the least know what it is?”

I’ve found a similar process occurs with the process of learning to “listen to God,” particularly within the context of Scripture. We’re good at analyzing the text, but being quiet and listening is difficult.

The discovery process is necessary and it is simple in that the skill and ability is developed through experience rather than complicated algorithms, equations or memorization of data. However, it is no simple matter precisely because it must be experienced to be learned.

To learn to listen requires us to actually quiet our inner monologue; learning to think architecturally requires one to begin thinking in precisely the way they are seeking to learn. The same experience is undoubtedly true in many areas of life. Those proficiencies we seek to acquire - if we desire to become practitioners - must be cultivated. Structurally and programmatically this is simple...but this is no simple matter.

There are basic competencies which must be mastered - one does not refuse to study the language, history, theory and mechanics of architectural design if they seek to become an architect. Beyond that student must have a grasp of geometry and physics. These things must be learned, there are no short cuts. Yet, mastering the science does not in any way guarantee that one will become a great architect. The art and the science work in harmony with one another. The choice to ignore either is a choice to fail in the endeavor.

Some will point out that there are gifted architects who apprenticed under a master rather than attending “school.” Do we really think that such an apprenticeship is any less of an education process? The basics are still taught - perhaps much more effectively and often over a longer period of time - the difference is that they are not approached in the same manner.

To be sure, where God is concerned, one does not need a degree to enter the Kingdom - it is true that many with degrees find it difficult to experience the Kingdom life they’ve spent so much time studying.

There is a simplicity to the gospel that is filled with depth and profound beauty specifically because of its uncluttered nature. Yet, like the Genesis 1 and 2 accounts of creation which depict God as both the Transcendent Other and the Immanent Creator, the life of faith is at once profoundly simple and incredibly complex. The simplicity invites us to enter in, though we are lacking in every way and the complexity invites us to continue exploring the depths of this indescribable mystery. How wonderful is that?! Simple enough to appreciate and embrace and yet complex enough to be worth a lifetime of exploration!

In Acts 8 we find a story of an Ethiopian official who is reading the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit sends Philip to this man and upon hearing the man reading from the prophet he asks, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian’s response is informative. “How can I unless someone explains it to me?”

Some have mistakenly assumed that this meant he wasn’t able to understand the words themselves - he couldn’t read the Hebrew (or more likely the Greek as the Septuagint was widely read during this time). But the text itself shows that the man understood the words he was puzzled by the meaning. “Tell me please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?”

It is okay to have teachers. It isn’t contrary to the Gospel to suggest that there are things we need to learn. Its even okay to admit that some of those things are not easy to grasp on the first pass. At least those things seem okay for the people described in the stories of scripture.

AND YET, the message IS simple. The message is a clear call of hope for those who have come to fear that hope is a myth. The good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. The reign of Christ is going to be a completely different experience from the tyrannical reigns of human empires. In this empire you have a role to play. You are not a spectator - that position has been eliminated.

There are great depths to this message, great complexity in the universe, great mystery to be explored in faith. There will always be need for learning, study and yes, even teachers. Perhaps our greatest mistake is not thinking that faith is complex, but failing to realize that the complexity is a part of the simple beauty.

The “simple truth” is that we have plenty of adventure ahead of us. We’ll never finish our investigation, never map out the limits of this kingdom. So there is no expectation that we grasp everything before diving in.

Yes, this part is simple. Those who have heard the good news that a new life is available are a part of the team that is sent to participate, anticipate and invite others to do the same.

There is much to learn and we have our whole lives to learn it. That doesn’t mean we can sit around waiting to be taught and doing nothing. Do you have a story? Have you encountered the hope of the gospel? If you have been baptized then you have been ordained and commissioned. So go! Make disciples! No one expects you to have all the answers...NONE OF US have all the answers!

We don’t have to obtain a diploma but neither should we dismiss the value and contribution of those who have. We can embrace the simplicity of the gospel while still appreciating the beautifully complex mystery.

Whether simple or complex, neither option is fully explored in a classroom nor in the pages of a book - ANY book. Life in the kingdom is meant to be lived, experienced and embraced.

Who cares if you have memorized scripture only to let it sit in your gut with last night’s roast beef? If you have embraced the “simplicity of the gospel” so that you can look down your nose at others without offering hope to anyone...what have you really embraced?

The converse is true as well. If you have spent years - decades even - studying the most intricate details of history, language and cultural context and still haven’t learned how to be a neighbor...what have you learned?

Just this week someone asked me, “So, is there room for introverts in the kingdom of God?”

I sure hope so, because I’m one of them.

There is plenty room for extroverts and introverts in the kingdom, but - at the risk of sounding too harsh - I’m beginning to wonder if there is room for cowards.

That seems to be where the problem lies. We don’t require an extroverted personality that leads us to mix and mingle with everyone. But, we must have the courage and conviction to live out the hope we have, prepared to give an answer to those who ask. There are no position openings for “anonymous disciple,” or “passive consumer.”

Some will say, “I’m not looking for all that stuff. I just want to hear a good sermon and go on my way.” For those looking for a faith that will simply provide quality education and wholesome entertainment for their children combined with a weekly uplifting concert and relevant message for them - with little or no expectation that anything substantial is going to change... For those who are looking for a simple Bible study but are not willing to put what they find into practice or share it with others... For those who want to add religious goods and services to the list of things they need for a satisfying life... For those who see little need to count the cost or pick up a cross... For those who think that burying your bag of gold/talent in the ground and waiting for the master to return is a good idea... For those who just want to be an inactive player on God’s team and go to heaven some day to reap a great reward... It may be that you’ve lost the simplicity of the Gospel.

Take heart because many of us, including the heroes of our faith recorded in scripture, share this struggle.

* This question from Plato’s, The Meno is quoted in Donald Schon’s, Educating the Reflective Practitioner.

The Wisdom of a 6 Year Old

I got one of "those" calls from Rachel the other day. Our conversation went something like this:

You may need to talk to your son.

Uh oh. What happened?

Well, Conner came up to me and said, "Mom, I've noticed that most people have 2 grandmas and 2 grandpas because their mommy has a mommy and daddy and so does their daddy." That's right Conner. "But if a brother and sister get married, their kids will only have one grandma and one grandpa."

Hahaha! What did you say?

I said, well God actually made us so that we are supposed to marry people that aren't in our family. In fact, if a brother and sister get married their babies will be very sick when they are born. Conner said, "why would God do that?" Well mister preacher man, why would God do that?

I thought for a second and said, Well, I think that this makes sure that we, like God, are always committed to new creation. People who are strangers in this generation will be family in the next.

That satisfied everyone for the moment and we hung up. But after a few moments I realized just how amazing this little tidbit really is.

This is actually more evidence of the missional nature of our God. Even within our families we are not meant to be satisfied with community as we presently experience it. And I realized how appropriate this is for churches as well. Your church family, no matter how great and seemingly complete it is, is not meant to merely grow through new birth (baptizing our children). If we are not committed to seeing new people join our family then the next generation of children will be impoverished genetically - perhaps to the point of being "sick" as Rachel pointed out.

I'd never thought about evangelism and missional connection in quite these terms but once again, my son the theologian has helped me dig a little deeper.

Behold! I Stand at the Door and Knock.

You don’t know. I don’t either. Nobody does.

We never know what significance a given interaction with another person is going to have. A seemingly random question, a chance meeting, a minor tidbit of common experience...and without warning the mundane becomes noticeably not mundane.

Or maybe it doesn’t. Perhaps we never notice the moment of significance. Maybe we go through the rest of our lives without any awareness of what took place. The event which catalyses someone’s decision to pursue a new career, propose to that special someone or reorder everything in order to follow Jesus faithfully could happen under the cover of darkness...just as Jesus’ birth.

And sadly the moment that someone walks away from their marriage, falls off the wagon, gives up their investigation of Christ or walks away from the faith of their childhood can happen in just the same way.

.....

Over the past few years I’ve had to learn to deal with rejection. Since being laid off in 2005 I have lost count of the number of search committees that have been kind enough to point out my faults and flaws...or just tell me they liked the other guy better. Then I started fundraising. That’s been fun too. Its kinda amazing how many different ways the human being can say no.

Now I’m a roofer, often going door to door asking people to trust me to rip the top off of their house. Occasionally they also say no. Maybe, just because this is all so fun, I'll get another part-time job as a census taker...

Needless to say, I’ve learned to deal with rejection. And yet it still bothers me when people are unnecessarily rude about it.

Recently I had a whole new experience. We’ve been working in the wake of hail storms for the past few weeks...and so have a million other roofers. Many homeowners have had 10 or literally even 20 different contractors knock on their door. When you’re number 17 they are often at the end of their patience. I understand.

Adam and I have decided to take a different approach. We are working as roofing contractors to support our mission work...maybe churches affected by the storms up here would be interested to know that.

So we’ve spent time mapping out churches in the area and try to visit around 20 each day. Some are small and don’t have anyone at the building during the day, so we leave our information and move on. Some tell us that they have contractors they work with but they will pass on our information to those who make the decisions. Some are actually very glad we’ve come by and begin making plans to connect us to the right people for further conversation. But there has been a disturbingly high number of others.

For some reason there are those who meet us at the door with a scowl and, even after hearing who we are and why we are there, dismiss us rudely. Then there was the guy who dismissively cut me off and said, “we are a large, established church. Our decision makers would never agree to sit down and listen to a... cold call.” He said this as though we were standing there getting leprosy on his nice furniture.

One secretary told me through the intercom that the pastor wasn’t in and she didn’t feel like getting up to come to the door, I could just leave my information in the mailbox and someone would get it eventually (that’s a quote). Another lady, I’m not kidding, put her hand over her eyes like a 2 year-old convinced that we wouldn’t be able to see her and refused to acknowledge the guys who stood at her door and knocked.

To put it bluntly, I’ve been extremely disappointed to see first hand evidence of Barna’s research which shows that Christians are not statistically different from the rest of society in most categories. (If you are unaware of these findings, check out www.barna.org and use the search bar to check out articles on a number of depressing studies...)

If you want to stick a Christian fish bumper sticker on your car, don’t cut people off in traffic. If you want to put a “God Bless This House” doormat a few feet away from your church’s bible study sign in your yard, don’t stand in that same yard and yell obscenities at your spouse. And if you are going to put a sign outside of a building that says words like “Christian” or “Church” then consider carefully the way you treat the people who come through your doors...assuming you have any doors that are unlocked for people to come through.

Scripture is clear that we, as citizens of a new kingdom, are to receive people - strangers and even enemies - with hospitality. In so doing we receive Christ in the same way. Then there’s the somewhat cryptic passage in Hebrews 13:2 that warns us we may have already “entertained angels without knowing it.”

We never know what effect a seemingly mundane conversation can have. Yesterday, we had a great conversation with a lady at a Lutheran Church. She didn’t seem all that interested in talking about roofing, but when she learned about my role as a church planter with a missional/incarnation interest she perked up. She was very excited to learn about my work at SMU. She commented how amazing it was that God brought us in at that time on that day because she was struggling with how to have these conversations with her mainline established church, and then asked if I'd be willing to come by some time and talk with her whole staff. If she’d dismissed us as so many others have done she’d never have known our common interest and passion nor the possible benefit of our interaction.

What a shame it will be if someone who has been asking questions about Jesus walks away because a person refuses to have even a moment of interaction to learn who they are! Likewise it is sad that some will likely form negative views of Jesus because someone who could have simply said, “No thanks,” chose instead to withhold basic respect.

I’ve had plenty of experience entering a church building as a minister, or sometimes as a Sunday morning visitor with family in tow. Today I have stood at the door and knocked as a dreaded “cold caller” and more than once received a very different sort of (un)welcome.

I can't help but keep asking, "What if it wasn't me? What if it was one of my non-Christian friends that I've prayed for and for whom I've spent so many hours pouring myself out? To what extent would this rude, self-satisfied person have just undermined our message of love and grace?"

Though I was certainly annoyed by these interactions, this isn’t a post about the mean people who hurt my feelings. This is about considering the implications of the labels we choose to accept. This is about welcoming strangers because hospitality is a central expression of the kingdom we proclaim. It is about recognizing that the seemingly insignificant conversation in which we have the chance to engage could be much more meaningful than we are able to see at the time.

And just FYI, I can still see you when you are hiding behind your hand.