intermittent bright ideas

On September 1, 2008 my family gathered on our front lawn in Anderson Indiana for a monumental event in our lives. We prayed a short prayer for what was about to take place, and we pounded a For Sale sign in the yard.

Around noon or so on Monday, April 30th, 2012…I handed off the keys to new homeowners. 44 months, almost to the day.

Was that our plan? Well…not exactly. In fact it couldn’t be further from any plans we had in mind.

We had experienced a tremendous 16 year season of ministry and had come through the emotional decision to uproot and jump headfirst into a new arena for us, one that had ministry potential and the opportunity to continue to pour into the lives of others. Whether we’re all that good at it or not, we felt like we were supposed to be doing this very thing with our lives. Adding to that, we firmly believed we could immerse ourselves in this new environment and our kids could thrive. Though we don’t always get everything right, that part of the choice has been validated. We did what we were feeling led to do, and God has honored the decision, time and time again.

A big door was opened and we stepped through the threshold. But there was still had a door that needed to be closed and put behind us. I don’t want to overstate our particular dilemma, or compare it to any number of more significant hurdles that people face in life. I have many in my life who deal with cancer and other illnesses. I have friends who have buried loved ones, some their own children. Many others who have endured any number of tragedies in their lives. Never would I put our 3 1/2 year house journey in the same category, and many of those situations have helped me keep perspective throughout the whole ordeal. Or at least try.

I won’t get into all of the drama of our rollercoaster experience with this house. But the basic synopsis that many people face right now has been our reality: a buyer’s market in a depressed home market in a city in middle America where all of the jobs have moved elsewhere. So not many are looking for a house to start with. And because there are a glut of homes for sale, buyers can be as picky as they want to be. And I don’t blame them at all. So when the right people finally do find you, which seems miraculous in an of itself, you can’t lose them.

I fondly remember sitting in a fishing boat for many hours with my dad and grandpa and any number of different people. The one thing I remember my dad explaining to me was that once a fish gets on the hook, you have to do whatever you can to keep it on the hook. Set the hook, reel it in. Of course, sometimes the fish got off the hook.

Maybe that analogy is a stretch, but I thought of that fishing advice off and on during the last month as we experienced a good bit of emotion, hoping this was the one, hoping we wouldn’t lose it (we had one right up to the edge of the boat many months ago….long before we drastically lowered the asking price…and we lost it).  This time had to be different. Our sanity was at stake, and financially I was beginning to run out of rabbits to pull from hats.

I always said that God would get involved when He wanted to. Sure, I expected that to happen a lot sooner. But I suppose we were getting by. We were managing. We were coping. And maybe that’s the rub…a lot of ‘we.’ It was starting to become obvious that ‘we’ weren’t going to be managing, getting by, and coping much longer. So along comes a couple, and in particular a wife and a mother, who fell in love with our place. I don’t know them well. I do know they have a daughter who is both Autistic and has Cerebral Palsy. A mom who thought our house, with some alterations, would be the ideal place for that little girl to thrive. Call it what you want. I prefer to think of it as God’s timing. My timing was a lot different. His has molded me to trust Him more, and put the right family in our home.

My plans? Well, I never expected to have to take my checkbook to sell my house. I didn’t expect to borrow money so I could sell and get out of home-related debt. I certainly didn’t expect the roller coaster of emotions and frustration that bubbled up from time to time. But I never changed my expectation of God.

(Another perspective moment. In a moment of commiserating about what selling was costing me, this conversation happened at the closing table.)
Realtor: Would you like to know my record for a check written by a seller to sell his house at closing?
Me: Hmmm…I’m guessing this is going to make me feel better, isn’t it?
Realtor: 90 grand.

Perspective indeed.

Stumbled across this stunning time-lapse video. Highlights the bigness of our God. Still surprises me that people think this just all happened by chance. Watch and enjoy.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/35396305″>Yosemite HD</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/projectyose”>Project Yosemite</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

By now you’ve undoubtedly heard the news  regarding Invisible Children’s founder Jason Russell.

Like many, I’ve watched with fascination as this story has played out over the past week and a half regarding the film Kony 2012. And I’ve read a lot about the controversy surrounding the film and Invisible Children. In fact, the night it ‘hit the fan’ we hosted an IC team and did a screening of the film. (Though a small pitch for sponsorship and/or buying a T shirt was made, the night was not about money as some assume IC is all about. It was about awareness, plain & simple).

None of that makes me a spokesman or even an apologist for Invisible Children. They have answered all of the criticisms and have attempted to clear up some of the bad information and misunderstandings about their mission. If you’ve read and heard the criticism, it would help to take a moment and read their response.

Just a couple of general thoughts:

1-These guys aren’t an overnight flash in the pan group that just emerged from nowhere looking to make a buck. They’ve been around a while, and I saw their original film several years ago and found it to be a worthy cause. The Kony 2012 project, their latest effort, was a well crafted plan to make Kony a household name, i.e. Hussein, Bin Laden, etc. Yep, it seemed to work, and social media and marketing experts are all slobbering over the facts, figures & approach. In fact, Obama himself watched the video after his own daughter saw it on Facebook and made him watch it.

2-To avoid criticism is to do nothing, say nothing, and to be nothing. Got a cause that you’re passionate about? Some injustice that you want to try to right in the world? Guess what – not everybody will like your idea, approach, or methodology. The IC folks know this pretty well. I’ve read a lot of blogs written by apparent experts in everything from what non-profit CEO’s should be paid to expert 20-year-old bloggers who apparently know everything there is to know about central African politics. But if we paid attention to the central message of IC, the whole thing was to raise awareness, engage the culture shapers and policy makers who tend to make things happen, and find some ways to stop this guy. It’s not about violence, money, oil found in Uganda, or any of the myriad of things that many have suggested.

3 – Invisible Children is an organization run by fallible humans, and last time I checked that includes pretty much all of us (though my man crush on Peyton Manning suggests, minus a bum neck, he might be perfect). Today, Jason Russell came unglued. No idea why, but he and some of his activities today managed to trend on Twitter. Interesting, since that was a big part of their Kony awareness strategy in the first place. Russell’s arrest today doesn’t change the fact that IC has done many good things, and that Kony is now a household name.

4 – Russell could use our prayers it seems, along with a host of other high-limelight people who are making efforts for the greater good. Right now, he’s getting blasted in the press and on Twitter. That will blow over. But the atrocities that he was trying to stop haven’t gone away.

5 – I’ve spent the bulk of my adult life encouraging students to make a difference in the world, and I don’t plan to stop. I suppose that’s why IC interests me so much – there is an underlying faith component to their beginnings, one that they don’t necessarily tout as key to their mission. I assume that’s part of a strategy to give them access to a broader audience, and though it bothers some of my Christian evangelical crowd, I’m not bothered by it. Regardless, would I like to see young men and women have a passion and holy discontent about the condition of the world and find ways to make it a better place? Yep. Because I’m a believer that there are more Jason Russell’s out there who have a unique combination of talents and passion to not just talk about making a difference in the world, but to actually make it happen.

So, can we pray for Jason and whatever seems to be going on in his personal world? He’s got too much good to offer to cast him off as a failure.

BTW, Donald Miller has a nice short note that you should read, too. And he’s a real writer…

I finally did it.

I visited with a personal trainer today.

Over the course of time, I’ve managed to get myself so far out of shape that I may have created a couple of new shapes. To say that it affects me would be an understatement. It has kept me from being who I want to be, is contributing to all sorts of health related issues, and at times has me worried about the future… or lack thereof.

So enough is enough. I’ve gotten myself into this mess, and I even have a gym I can visit anytime I want, free of charge! And yet for whatever reason, well, here I am catching my breath from typing. (OK, so not really… but you get the picture).

Our small town is privileged to have a small gym that’s run by a guy named Bob and his wife. They don’t run the typical gym that I’ve visited before, where everyone is in a zone on their headphones and doing their own thing. No, Bob is ‘involved’ with everyone who’s in the room. My first visit with him, he’s hands on, teaching, explaining, leading by example. All the while yelling across the room encouragement to another client, and telling yet another client what they should do next. Very motivational indeed. 

What got me to Bob? He gets results. I’ve seen it in a number of friends, and it’s obvious in Bob’s family. They practice what they preach. And after an initial visit to show me the ropes and then give me time to think about whether I want to proceed, I feel like I’ve been there! (Granted, my workout of late has become non-existent. Though I do a mean curl when putting the footrest of the recliner back in place!) 

My intention is to go for it. Everything to gain, nothing to lose. Except maybe some lb’s and pant sizes.

But my question is this. Personal trainers have been around for awhile now, and many utilize their services. So if we’re open to a personal trainer for our physical health, what about for our spiritual health? Someone to get in our face when needed, to encourage, motivate, model, etc? If many of us were honest, we’ve probably had those people in our lives along the way. Perhaps there were times when we didn’t really like that person, or thought about quitting. But in the end we wouldn’t be who we are today without their involvement in our lives.

So, who’s in a position to provide some personal ‘spiritual training’ for you? Who has done that for you, and when is the last time you said thanks? And lastly, who is in your life that you can offer some one-on-one training?

So a Facebook acquaintance of mine posted that he didn’t really get the recent David

Crowder Band music and didn’t understand all of the to-do about all things Crowder (my paraphrase of his words).

WHAT?

Well, in his defense, he is an Indiana University basketball fan, so of course he’s not hooked up quite right. A couple of decades of woeful underachievement might have blurred his judgment a bit. But to each his own, and he’s entitled to his opinion…even if he has totally lost his marbles.

In our friendly banter, he mentioned (this is my loose translation of his quote) that “Crowder hasn’t provided any corporate worship songs for several albums.” Well, that might be true, although he certainly hit a home run by covering a song from a little-known singer-songwriter named John Mark McMillan that put it in churches around the world. The weirdly controversial switch from ‘sloppy wet kiss’ to ‘transcendant kiss’ made that song accessible and doable to every church from 1^st Baptist to Axis and to every ‘come as you are we’ve got a coffee bar’ church that ends its title with an ‘e’ (Crosspointe, etc). Or the song Like A Lion, which might make it into some churches (though a Crowder song, it may have only been on the Passion CD and not a Crowder release). So that’s something.

But what about intention? I don’t know all of Crowder’s thinking, though I know he’s very much about music that helps the listener worship. But does it have to be perfect or ideal for a corporate worship gathering to qualify as good music, or even worship music? Certainly the Tomlin’s of the world are churching out songs that are being used everywhere (but I wish Chris would write them a bit lower…the Key of Tomlin is a stretch for most of us), so there are plenty of artists who are developing corporate worship resources.

I’m somewhat refreshed that Crowder came along to provide something a little different in the Christian music industry. You could always count on DC*B stuff to be creative, quirky, sometimes funny, and always God-centered. Sometimes simple and beautiful, other times driving and powerful. Not to mention the eclectic styles that come and go on a typical Crowder release (the newest release is all over the map musically, which I find genius). And as much as I find it refreshing, I am also sad that it’s coming to an end (great article in Christianity Today).

For me, I can worship on a personal level to all sorts of music, and Crowder has been one of the foremost artists who, when it’s time to zone out with the headphones or go for a long drive, his music is in my rotation. Sure, I enjoy a lot of other artists, and Hillsong United, Jesus Culture, Elevation Worship, Lincoln Brewster, Redman, Tomlin, Stanfill, and others have created some great corporate worship music. But I’m thankful for Crowder, Gungor, McMillon, and a host of other creatives out there who aren’t afraid to take risks and push the envelope musically. They don’t seem to follow a formula.  They may not sell as many CD’s or hit #1 on iTunes (though Crowder is doing that even as I type these words…ahead of Snow Patrol and Adele…) or get in the K-Love rotation. But they are unique, incredibly skilled artists who craft some special worship environments both live and on disc.

I think the Creator of us all deserves at least that much.

Below is Crowder’s final song at his concert last week. It’s a beautiful and appropriate song of worship, the first song on his first CD. Enjoy. And thanks to Crowder and friends for using your incredible gifts. You will be missed.

For a number of years, I have enjoyed the resources that come from the Passion conferences and the 268generation.com group. Those include the teaching of Louie Giglio and many worship artists like Chris Tomlin, Charlie Hall, Matt Redman, David Crowder and Kristian Stanfill. Always great stuff.

I had never really had the occasion to attend one of their conferences. Mostly because of time (you can’t go to every conference after all…as fun as that could be). However, the role of campus minister now gives me a perfect excuse to attend this tremendous event.

Actually, not sure ‘tremendous’ is the right word. And I’m not entirely sure how best to describe what took place last week in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. So here are some highlights…in no particular order.

Worship
I fully expected the worship to be an amazing, participatory/experiential environment. I’ve been a part of worship led by most of the people involved, and knew it would be powerful. I wasn’t prepared for the emotion that 45,000 unreserved worshipping college students would generate. And the emotion it generated in me. Just awe-inspiring, well done, and God centered. There were a few special moments that I am so glad I could experience. One of those was Tomlin leading his ‘world version’ of How Great Is Our God (watch it here), and the late-night Hillsong United event, particularly the song With Everything (watch it here). For what it’s worth, both of those along with other Passion nuggets managed to trend on Twitter for some time, both from attendees and the thousands watching online.

Teaching
Again, I had heard all of these folks before (Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, and Christine Caine). But they were all just terrific, and I walked away looking forward to the recordings so I could listen again.

Do Something Now
Passion has long had an ‘action step’ or two during its conferences. This year, we were all encouraged to bring socks and a towel that would be distributed to homeless shelters throughout Atlanta.  There were literally mountains of towels and socks piled in the convention center. Last count was 156,000 pair, along with 36,000 towels.

The bigger giving component of the week was a push to raise $1 million dollars to go toward 6 different organizations that are fighting human trafficking. While we have been largely unaware, slavery worldwide has grown to a point where it’s bigger today than any time in human history. Some 27 million people around the world are slaves. Some forced labor, many in the sex trafficking ‘industry’. There are a number of groups that are making inroads to fight this, and Passion identified a few they planned to partner with ( A21, International Justice Mission and others … complete list found here).

Imagine our surprise when we not only hit $1 million dollars, but actually reached over $2.5 million. After a sizeable gift from a couple who were inspired by the whole thing, to the tune of 500K, the final total given at end of conference was $3,066,670. Contributions are still coming in, and Passion has added even more organizations to their list who are fighting modern day slavery. All that to say…..WOW! Not to mention, a bucket was never passed – you had to go stand in line just to give. (Interesting note: CNN, located next door to the Georgia Dome, has evidently done a fair amount of coverage of human trafficking in the past year. They also aired a story about the Passion conference and it’s Do Something Now component. Watch it here.)

The conference culminated with 45,000 of us outside in the plaza between the Georgia Dome and Phillips Arena for a midnight candlelight time of prayer. A giant sculpture of a hand was erected throughout the conference and turned into a stunning piece of art that could be seen from different parts of Atlanta. Items that decorated the sculpture were some of the top items made by forced labor around the world (a great website to learn more about what those items are, things we use every day without even considering who made them, can be found at www.slaveryfootprint.org.  It’s a bit haunting but go there…).

Crowder
OK, so this is totally self-serving, but The David Crowder Band has been one of my favorites since they’ve been around, and their final performance was the opening night of Passion (though they led worship later in the week). I have to admit it was bittersweet to watch the walk off the stage. What am I saying…nothing sweet about it at all! I just love their approach, creativity, and passion that they have brought to the Christian music scene. You can criticize the Christian music industry for its jiffy-pop, second-rate sound and feel…that’s easy to do. But not so with DCB. They brought something special and didn’t seem to follow a formula. It was especially nice when Giglio brought the out for a final thank you, and I might have shed a tear. I thought it was special that they did All I Can Say as their official final song – one of my favorites, the opening track on their first release (see a video of their Passion rendition here). I know I am not alone, but I will miss you. David, if you’re out there, thanks.

Students
To say I’m inspired and encouraged about the future of the Church would be an understatement. Of course I only know the 25 or so students who attended with me. If every group in the Dome was made up of the quality of students we have, then wow – look out! And I have a hunch there are some real movers & shakers in this generation that will not only fix some of the messes we’ve made, but make radical changes in our world and its many injustices. My only regret: there are too many students I know who didn’t go who I wish could have been in that environment. Next year, we take more…

Photos: most of the pics were found from the twitterverse, taken by a number of different people and passed around.  

 

I’ve been in ministry for awhile now. I suppose I can say long enough to realize I’m not really an expert in anything (been through that phase already). But I’ve been at ministry long enough to look back and see that I’ve had a number of definitions of success along the way.

Undoubtedly, my first metrics of success were all about numbers. As a youth pastor, numbers seemed to matter. They meant you were good at what you did. That you were on to something. That you were paying attention to youth culture and knew how to respond and ‘reach’ students. But numbers also meant job security.

Each year our church would have Graduate Sunday. We brought up all of the students from our ministry who were graduating from high school, applauded them, gave them a gift of some sort that they probably never used, and tried to let them know we were in their corner & praying for them. And the more students who where there and came up front….the better the youth pastor looked. I fondly recall the year we had 27 graduates, most of which were active participants in our youth ministry. And the accolades of people in the church went straight to the head of the youth pastor (uh…me). That, my friends, was success.

After awhile, the numbers thing wears off. And it’s quickly replaced by ‘guest teacher’ syndrome. Nothing says success like picking up the phone and accepting a myriad of speaking engagements. Seminars, retreats, Sunday sermon slots, you name it. After all, they only invite ‘successful’ people to those sorts of opportunities. Right?

Fortunately my definition of success has changed again in the past couple of years. Interestingly enough, it took 20+ years of ministry to see this in the rearview mirror. And on top of that, I needed Facebook’s help to see it clearly.

I joined the social media bandwagon somewhat reluctantly. My teenage sons were using it, and I mostly made fun of it. But once I logged on, 20 years of ministry connections came flooding my way. And as I started to reconnect with former students, the roller coaster of joy and disappointment came too.

Some students were knocking it out the park doing incredible things. And others had followed paths that just knocked the wind out of me. A handful don’t want to ‘friend’ me at all – I assume because they know I’ll disapprove, call them out, or they are embarrassed (none of which I’ve ever done, btw).

So what does this all have to do with my new definition of success? And how does it shape my thoughts about what makes a ministry successful? Best word I have for it is ‘Faithfulness.’ Are we building ministry cultures that give students a ‘long-haul’ faith? A faith that weathers storms? A faith that doesn’t waiver through adversity? A faith built on the tenets of God’s story that isn’t wishy-washy and able to be steered off course? Trust me, if I had it to do over again, I would do it all very differently.

Ultimately, God doesn’t call us to big numbers, prestige, or notoriety (though admittedly some seem to be given all of that and have the pressure of managing it). But I believe God DOES call each of us to faithfulness. Regardless of the size of our tribe, or whether we’re ever published, asked to speak, or even quoted. And I contend the He calls all of us who work with students to create a ministry culture where faithfulness is the measure of success.

Sure, it helps to have a large rearview mirror – I can see a lot more clearly now than I could then. But how should this new look at success affect my ministry approach from here forward?

I’ve been going to Catalyst for a number of years, a 2-day conference designed for ‘young’ Christian leaders held in Atlanta. The list of Christian hipster types that are part of the program is long – many of those folks that I follow on Twitter or whose blogs I frequent are all there (though my theory is the bulk of them huddle up together in their green room areas, while the rest of us common folk hang with one another). Regardless, Catalyst is something I look forward to attending and usually get a lot from. Great worship. Great speakers. And though it’s now a bit crowded (the arena they’ve used for the past number of years is kinda tight imho), once the lights go down and it starts, it’s a great place to be.

I did have to miss a couple of years due to 1) ministry convention funds cut while still on staff at the church, and 2) even fewer funds in my current role. Biggest stumbling block was simply scheduling – our big Homecoming weekend has been the same time as Catalyst for the past couple of years.

But this year, the planets aligned beautifully, and I could attend. Here are some quotes and thoughts about this year’s terrific event.

• “Who’s opinion matters way too much to you? Is your appetite for praise unhealthy? Are you committed to people or things that God didn’t call you to?” – Mark Driscoll
• “Right now, if God decided to make His presence known, isn’t that all that would matter?” – Francis Chan
• “The signature of mediocrity is not unwillingness to change, innovate or grow, although those will certainly spell disaster for an organization.  ”The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency”- Jim Collins
• “You can’t shut it all out…but…you can’t take it all on.” – Andy Stanley
•  ”Our job is to help crazy [people] “out there,” not work side-by-side with them “in here.” – Dave Ramsey

Was treated to this earlier this summer. I enjoy it a great deal. No idea why…

…he’s actually writing some pretty insightful ideas. I grabbed my old Perspectives on the World Christian Movement book off of the shelf tonight as I headed to a Missions meeting, knowing that I had plenty of underlined & highlighted material for a meeting kick-off thought. Came across this great chapter from Let The Nations Be Glad by Piper. He begins with a paradigm-altering description of Missions and worship:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is ove, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides for ever.

I wonder why some people love missions. Sure, most because they believe that lost people matter – wherever they are home or abroad. Some might like the adventure. I’m convinced some I’ve met along the way didn’t fit too well in the ‘institutional church’ as we know it, and found freedom (and less accountability) in a faraway land. And some of us on this side of the pond like it just because we think that if its important to God, it should be important to us.

But Piper’s definition couldn’t be further from any of that. His contention is that God wants worshippers. If we are infatuated with God, we can’t help but want others to share that affection. Which ultimately leads to worship. And that ultimately leads me to the question: am I so infatuated with God that I desperately want others to know him the same way?