Leaning Forward

We're not manufacturing golf balls

Golf ball manufacturing is an exact science. The engineers have to design it for accuracy, flight, distance, and spin. In production, the object is to crank them out, one after the other, by the millions, with digital precision. They are supposed to be the same. Duplicates. Even a slight difference between them will earn them a place in the XXXXX brand. 

Of course, we're not manufacturing golf balls, and our system of church planting, or even disciple-making, is not geared to precise exactness. What the world doesn't need now is a new batch of average churches, and certainly not copies of what we call disciples these days. And, this may be the glitch in the multiplication process now. Too many of our programs and systems are machined to produce cookie cutter models, disciples and churches like the ones we already have. It may be the reason so many of the younger cohorts take a pass on traditional church. It's often about fit. These young individualists, often new believers, just don't fit into the cookie cutter expectations of many churches. Also, many of the new congregations are forming alliances apart from the usual denominational affiliations because of the same issue. Most often, they are not your grand-mother's church, as they say, are are shunned because of it. Sad.

Spiritual giftedness and personal individuality define each believer. If there is any resemblance between us it is through the spiritual gene-pool of Christ, in whose image we are being formed. Common confession and practice usually groups us with like-thinking believers. But, we're not stamped out in a machine shop and should not be the same beyond the belief systems and practices that unite us. We're the body of Christ. Each one of us is a member. So, we're different. We must celebrate this diversity and praise Him that we're not exactly the same.

In the same way, context gives each congregation a unique look. There's a Great Commission similarity to our thing but not a reproduced sameness. The object of church planting isn't to send a miniature model of my church to the community over there, but to birth a new congregation with the spiritual DNA of that particular area. We shouldn't be cloning ourselves in a new people group. Any resemblance we have with the new church plants should be simply the result of having the same Father.

God has given us the joy of partnering with two church plants in the past few years. Living Creek Church with Pastor Jeff Price, and Restoration Church with Pastor Adam Spurlock are touching two local communities with a mission that is fresh and new and shaped to people groups that we have not and could not reach. In the planting process we tried not to re-create Northwood Baptist Church in those locations. We celebrated their uniqueness and thanked God that they are influencing their areas in ways that we could not. Each day I thank God for Jeff and Adam, and a whole list of church planting pioneers who are communicating the old, old story in new ways and new places. It is a thrilling partnership that jazzes me just thinking about it.

This is all to say that we're not manufacturing golf balls. Churches and denominations must remove our rigid production standards so that the resemblance of Christ can be the standard of new believers and congregations, and not the imprint of us.

Right now, and this is hard, the world doesn't need more us us. It needs more of Him.

SYNC '13

OK, I'm on the program and am expected by the management to hype the conference. So, here it is, my two bits about SYNC '13, to be held at Charleston Southern University April 18-19. To review the schedule and reserve places for your church staff, ministry cohorts, and all the people that live in your neighborhood you can go here.

Here's what I love about this conference. I'm in it. No, that isn't it, really. Actually, I'm the cheap break-out filler, the local guy at no cost. I mean, I'm not going to fly into Charleston from North Charleston, will probably sleep in my own bed that night, and will eat my cereal and sandwiches at home in between break-out sessions. So, to keep the break-out at an even number, they invite the cheap local guy who won't have any travel expenses and who'll pay them for the opportunity of hanging with such a crew of fresh talent. Touch me!

This conference is a plus because Charleston Southern University is on the front edge of collgeiate movement beyond the campus, has a heart for churches, especially those in South Carolina, and has an eye for people that can teach us church people a thing or two. Well, yes, they have facilities to host such an event, and have access to leading edge church people that can ooze some information to the rest of us. 

To sit under theses guys is a learning opportunity that I relish. OK, I know who's the senior adult representative in the group and that I'm supposed to bleed some ancient wisdom into the works. But, to learn from Reggie McNeal, Alvin Reid, Pete Wilson, and Jon Davis pushes all the right buttons in my learning grid. To worship with Phil Wickam and Mark Powers injects some anticipation into the program. All meaning that Dr. Rick Brewer and staff have prepared something I'm looking forward to.

That our universities are stepping up to this role is a dream. South Carolina Baptists are indeed blessed to partner with three premier universities. Each of them has touched my life in special ways. Being the cheap break-out filler means that we're close to the CSU campus and have gotten to know the faculty, staff, administration, and many of the students up close. As a Trustee of CSU, I have been honored to learn more of the vision and plans behind the schools great success. What is more, in a galaxy far away, light years in the past, I attended Anderson University one summer school session. My nephew Josh Williams graduated from Anderson. My neice Mollie Williams is a student at Anderson right now. Then, to top it all off, my mother and father met at North Greenville College in 1947. My brother Mike and sister-in-law Sally are both NGU grads. These schools are part and parcel of this life.

They are genuine assets to our Kingdom assignment and should play a greater role in making disciples in our state. To be part of this conference for the second time is a real thrill. Thanks CSU and Rick Brewer for the privilege.

Now, church friends. There's not a greater opportuniity for a quality conference at a lower price, right here in our own state. So, check out the information at the CSU site and reserve your places right now. Bring your whole congregation, or your high- school graduating class, or the members of your sewing circle. It's a real deal.

You'll learn something, be inspired, and realize that the reason the cost is so low is because they use cheap break-out fillers to make the conference schedule balance.

Know what I mean? 

It's in the hands

My grandmother never worked for the Pentagon. She never commanded front line troops. Nor was she a child psychologist. But, she knew something all of them knew: idle hands are the devils work shop. She taught me and all my cousins the art of industry, the value of work, and the trip wires of idleness. Church strategists could learn a thing or two from wise old people like her.

Hands tell a lot about a person. Chewed nails, rough skin, nicotine stained fingers, the intricate decorations of a nice manicure, callouses, smooth lotion pampered hands, dis-located joints, and the bent angles of arthritis, all speak of the ways our hands reflect life. We talk with them, gesture with them, love with them, pet with them, play sports with them, recreate with them, and serve with them. Or, do nothing with them. Unoccupied, they pose the threat my grandmother warned us about: letting our vacant minds send them messages of mischief. Idle hands sometimes mean trouble.

Several years ago a retired Army Colonel explained an interesting dynamic about the deployment of military troops in wartime. He said front line soldiers are alert and constantly on point. Lives depend on their precise performance. So, generally, they do their jobs, eat their meals, occupy their fox holes, stand their guard or watch, without complaint or serious inter-personal conflict. By comparison, personnel in rear areas grouse about the food, the living conditions, and the smelly grunt in the next cot. He made it clear it's what grandma said about idle hands. 

OK, so sophisticated moderns fear idleness like the plague and today we all know how to either stay busy, or give the appearance of staying busy. Busy-ness has taken the place of business in many work environments, resulting in flagging production statistics, drooping manufacturing numbers, and a basically sluggish marketplace. Oh yes, and churches with plenty of activity and little mission. 

And, according to many church strategists, enough internal conflict to insure loss of mission. The learned professionals of church leadership and administration simply confirm grandma wisdom, played out in a larger church setting: idle hands are the devils work shop. So, as a result, the mission shifts to maintenance issues---keeping the rules and regs up-to-date, polishing the floors, making sure the staff logs in their hours correctly each day, crunching the numbers, purchasing new pads for the pews, and lots of other busy work to justify even being there.

Jesus never flinched when talking about mission. He told them the day was short, the night was coming, and they should be about the Father's business with a sense of urgency that kept them occupied. Occupied till He returns again. He made sure they knew the mission---that is, making disciples---and he gave them the back-drop under which thay mission could happen---as they were going. He taught them and showed them how to care for other people along the way, and how to deal with the internal bumps that happened as they served together. 

The author of Hebrews wrote this advice: "Therefore, strengthen your tired hands..." (Hebrews 12:12). Now, he could have used metaphorical language to address their hard lives as they faced persecution, endured discipline from the Father, or dealt with the demands of living in difficult times. Or, he could actually have encouraged them to prepare more urgently for the mission, for using their hands in fulfilling the assignment Jesus had given them.

You see, it's in the hands, the mission. And, I'm praying He'll find us busy pursuing the mission of making disciples with the hands He has given us.

Now versus what...then?

Church people flinched when Flip Wilson talked about the Church of What's Happening Now, back in 1974. It was an irreverent poke at black church culture then. Most church leaders frowned from ear to ear at such a humorous caricature of something as holy as the church in America. Many of us today wish there was a church of what's happening now in most of our own neighborhoods.

Contemporary isn't a bad word, you know. Its not a worship style, mode of dress, type of music, or a language. It simply means now. Trouble is, the contemporary church in these United States is typically the church of whats happening then. If you want to get specific about the "then" part, you'll just have to decide which decade most defines the process of the church. "Then" is that block of time in which they are stuck. Reggie McNeal used to say something about most churches being stuck in the 1950s, and if the '50s ever return, they're ready. Amen, and amen!  

Well, the traditionalists have co-opted the word "contemporary" and turned it into the dark force, so to speak, of the current spiritual landscape. For me, it is more descriptive of process than product of a local congregation. Truly contemporary churches aren't necessarily sporting a modern veneer or chic persona. Instead, they are usually mission oriented bodies that have been stripped of organizational layers previously designed to inhibit action. Usually they are staffed with decision makers who have been empowered to serve and act. They know how to get things done in efficient, biblical ways. Most often they're not mired in legalese or church-speak. No, they major in plain talk and are organized for obedience. That is, obedience to Christ and not some list of religious rules designed to keep mission within controlled boundaries. Ooops! The control word. Careful!!!

Theological truth under girds the mission of contemporary churches. Maybe I'm a sixty three year old odd wad, but my faith isn't what it was fifty years ago. Sure, the fine people in those early congregations provided a foundation for faith and a model upon which to construct a disciples life. But, they taught me that personal faith was fresh and vibrant, an every changing reality in life as my inner man is renewed day by day. They also taught me the unchanging nature of the Good News and how the truth of Jesus altered every cultural movement in history. Those lessons also involved some teaching about old wineskins and how the really good wine will wear them out.  

You'd have to have your head sewed to the basement carpet to miss the seismic shifts in American culture over even the past year. So, faith doesn't run and hide from that stuff. Jesus has overcome the world and is building a church that can withstand even the assaults of a totally secular world-view. Yes, we cling to the truth of Scripture, affirm sound doctrine and insist on it's teaching. But, we don't have to hide in a cave and dream of then, when culture knew its place.

Your church better get contemporary, and I mean that in the best sense of the word, or it will become passe, that is, unnecessary. When that happens, you can turn the church sign into a grave marker, and put the "then" date after the dash. It will help you and others remember "then", the day it died.

Me. I want to be a member of a church of whats happening right now! Glory!

The speed of taut

So, life is fast. Ask the techies to talk about the speed of thought, what is now considered an old paradigm of velocity. It's a quantum world and any body who owns a smart phone knows how to rate download times. 4G is winning.

And, then there's the institutional church. Stuck somewhere is the '50's, church leaders usually talk about committees, quarterly meetings, annual sessions, and get back to you next week. Truth is, Left Behind, the series about the rapture of the church by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, may be more descriptive of the church in relation to the culture that the church is supposed to be influencing. We're not disconnected. We're "left behind".

So, while the rest of life is paced by exponentials, algorithems, differentials and hundreds of new expressions of speed, the church still moves at the speed of taut. You know, the tightly stretched, rigid, tense and unyielding movement that is barely discerned. So, the church and culture thing is no longer a simple disconnect. Today, it is more a matter of distance. The world is moving on and the church is somewhere back there in the dust.

This is somewhat puzzling, especially when you read the church on the front lines of culture and life in the first century. In a highly structured society, with clearly drawn social, economic, gender, racial, and religious class lines, there was His church, in the afterglow of His teachings, crossing lines and setting new paradigms of order. When they encountered a problem, the leaders conferred and settled issues as soon as their travel and communications systems permitted. You can note in close study that they were never hindered by the tautness of their organization. They were never slowed by a cumbersome instututional apparatus, at least not at first. Only later was a human organizational chart superimposed over the church.

One of the things I love about contemporary church planting is the streamlined structure that most often defines their internal process. Yes, there are accountability systems and ways to insure ethical standards over administration of His church. But, trust and responsibility under gird the organizational infra-structure, mentoring and empowerment, and use of the Body image of 1 Corinthians. As a result, they often exhibit fluid movement, rapid response, and interaction with a world moving faster and faster with each day.

Then, there is the church, and most denominations too, poking along at the speed of taut. By the time we've studied, deliberated, analyzed, and voted on the urgent issues facing our lost world, the issues have changed and we're back there wondering what was wrong with our buggy whips. So, while we're scratching our heads about declining revenues and plateaued churches, and down-ward momentum, we'd better find the accelerator and get this thing moving. The world won't wait on the church  moving at the speed of taut. He may not either. 

Take a few minutes and scroll through the Acts. From chapter 10 on there is a rapid shift as the message of the Gospel traveled from Jerusalem to Rome. Over and over we read phrases like "...when they heard this..." (11:18), "...the report about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem..." (11:22), and many others that expressed the urgency of their mission, the speed at which they fulfilled their work.

The result? "God's message flourised and multiplied" (12:24), and "So the churches were strengthened in the faith and were increased in number daily" (16:5), and "In this way the Lord's message flourished and prevailed" (19:20).

It's a world of urgent need. The church must ramp things up some and bring to it the only answer that can impact it! Not, BTW, at the speed of taut.

Who can ASCEND?

For the last four Sundays we've been experiencing the ASCEND CAMPAIGN, and the truth of Scripture that formed the basis of our study. Three major biblical events have taken place at Mt. Moriah---Abraham offered Isaac; King David made sacrifice when he purchased the threshing floor of Ornan the Jeusite; and, Solomon laid the cornerstone of the first temple on that very site. Sometime in the future, the third temple will constructed there, and the Lord's sanctuary will be defiled by the man of lawlessness. It is an incredible place in redemptive history. One lesson involves the way God can use a place for His purposes in history. We've asked each week: what can God do with a small place then there is a generation willing to GO UP with Him? What can God do with our little few acres if we are willing to go with God to the next level?

Psalm 24:3-6 asks the question, "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob." It is an important question, and especially so for the Jewish nation. Th Israelites people, even to this day, talk about the pilgrimage that can take them UP to Jerusalem.

Jewish people around the world dream of making "aliyah", that is, going up to Jerusalem. Since nation-hood in 1948, more than 3,000,000 Jews have returned to their homeland under the invitation to GO UP, OR ASCEND. Each week hundreds and thousands more arrive to at least visit the land of Abraham. Many go their to die and be buried in the Promised Land.

Isaiah's vision involved GOING UP! "...many eoples will come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord..." (Isaiah 2:3). The final verse of the Hebrew Bible, 2 Chronicles 36:23 offers the invitation, "Whoever among you of His people may go up, and may the Lord his God be with him". It is the precious desire of every Jewish person to go to that land, the land of promise. That is why the Jewish nation is referred to as the "am ha eretz", the people of the land.

In the Revelation there is another invitation. "After this I looked, and there is heaven was an open door. The first voice that I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this" (Rev. 4:1). It is the invitation to be issued at the end of all things, the final notes of human history, the invitation to us to GO UP.

Who can ASCEND to that special place. The ones He invites and are obey.

What a thrilling vision of that place. What a joy for His people.

Rejoice and be glad!

Odds are

Who makes the most money from the Super Bowl cash cow? Teams? Players? Networks? Advertisers? Coaches? Performers? Well, I suppose they all do well. It's one of those times when winning may be incidental to the show. But, the talking heads, who take home a nice paycheck too, are saying the bookies will win this round. They're taking odds on everything. Odds are they'll win big!

So, will Alicia Keys botch the words to the National Anthem? Las Vegas is betting she will. They're also taking bets on how long it will take her to sing through her rendition. Will the Harbaugh bros shake hands, embrace, bump butts, or go over and under? You can lay down some bills on every option. How long will the handshake take? Twenty seconds??? They're taking bets on that one too. Which team will win the coin toss? How many times will Jack Harbaugh be shown by the TV cameras? Et ct.

Last year Las Vegas totaled $93.89 million in Super Bowl betting. With the economy down a little they're only expecting + or - $90.5 million this year. But, variety is the spice this year, the actual number of betting categories from which the gamblers can choose.You can put a few dollars on how many Tweets will be sent per second during the game, or who President Obama will pick to win. The betting world is betting huge bucks on America's tendency to bet on just about any kind of contest. No doubt they're right. 

And, that's one of the problems I have with professional sports. Honestly, I could care less who wins the Super Bowl or any professional fotball game, for that matter. Yes, I used to be a die-hard Redskins fan back in the day. But, that was before the football became incidental to the side-show, when a team was a team, players belonged to a team, and marching bands were the half-time show. Yes, I'm a throw back. But, the cash has taken off some of the lustre. Today, it's what the show is about. The game can be boring, and often is, as long as the commercials are witty and entertaining, and the stage show has enough skin and smoke. Fireworks help too. The game itself is of little consequence. And, that's a problem for this purist. 

So, when it comes to most sports, I'll take the college variety. Yes, the spreads are still there, and revenues still drive the machinery. But, odds are, the games do at least mean something beyond the sports line. At least the student body, alumni, and players families care about the game and outcomes, and they're not wagering every week on which threads of the game ball will be torn at the end of the quarter.

Odds are there's going to be tons of cash riding on this one. No matter who wins.

Call it. Heads or tails.

Church 2013: customer service

OK, you're right. The church isn't a business and shouldn't be governed by secular business models. As a result, ideas about customer service don't apply to His church. It's His church, after all, and should be organized and administered to serve Him. All al of God's people said, GMAB! (Go here if you don't know GMAB)

Like it or not, however, shuttered churches often forgot who they had been commissioned to serve. Boarded windows and closed doors are testify to the rest of us the need to clarify service issues.

A number of years back I attended a customer service seminar led by some of the fine leaders at Chick-Fil-A.  Say what you will about them, they know something about service. Their success as a company derives in part from strong corporate values that bleed into every aspect of their product of their delivery system. At the root is a deep desire to serve their customer base. They invest much in discovering how best to provide their unique products to the people who walk into their outlets.

Jesus set the tone for a serving church when he announced, "For even the Son of Man did not come to tbe served, but to serve, and to give His life---a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). To many of the religious people it was a scandalous statement, a King or Messiah intent on serving. Yet, He further clarified the service ideal when He said, " Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6), "He replied, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel..." (Matthew 15:24), and "For the Son of Man has come to save the lost..." (Matthew 18:11).

Shuttered churches most often have forgotten the assignment Jesus gave His church, "As you are going, make disciples of all nations..." (paraphrase of Matthew 28:19). Clearly, Jesus meant the ministries of the church to be focused on people beyond the church doors and the property line. The customer service error happens when the congregation devotes it's energy and resources to internal maintenance issues.

Being internally focused is really the issue. So many churches are on life-support that survival becomes the mission. However, many congregations discover a new longing for life when they reach this triage stage, and they re-connect with the world around them. So, we can call it a customer service problem. Essentially, however, it's about mission. More than we'd like to admit they end up as shuttered churches because they chose to service the wrong group.

I'm thinking of one church in particular. I'll not name it. It's locale is predictable: a busy intersection; a declining urban industrial area; one of our three largest cities. For thirty years the congregation has aged and grown smaller. They could no longer maintain their facility and began to close parts of it. Then, one day, a couple of the ladies noticed the homeless so visible on the street corners and side-walks around them. So, they started feeding them. A new pastor with a call to urban people was assigned to the congregation. Today, even in this poor, continually declining area, they have found new life. They are touching lives and are growing. Vibrancy has returned. They have re-charted their future, now energized by faith and hope. All because they started serving the people around them. 

Jesus honored the church at Philadelphia in the seven letters of revelation. They had "kept My word, have not denied My name" and performed good works. So, he "placed before you and open door that no one is able to close" (Rev. 3:8). He was directing these faithful saints outward. It is a profound glimpse into Christ's heart for the church. It challenges us to be sure we know the service area He sent us to serve.   

Shuttered churches may have gotten this wrong. And the images of chained doors and boarded windows is testimony to that sad fact.