Bell to well

Some futurists and cultural observers are positing the demise of the familiar Bell Curve which charts normal distribution and the ascendency of what is being called the Well Curve. Some have said that this only happens in times of great social upheaval and transition.

In modern times it was a given that there was a large middle and smaller extremes. The middle class was the norm, with the very rich and very poor at the fringes- smaller in number.

The theory of the well curve assumes that the middle has been slowly disappearing, and the extremes are on the rise. This is hard to argue with when you consider the evidence in education (achievers and dropouts), economics (rich and poor), technology (small and big), politics (liberal and conservative). There are examples in almost every aspect of life.

I heard Leonard Sweet touch on this at a conference last year and was intrigued. I looked for signs of this phenomenon in church life and the news. I am seeing more evidence as time goes on. The megachurch movement is an example. It seems we are seeing rises in large churches which value diversity and excellence, and also in small and house churches which value community. The "plain vanilla" church with little to distinguish itself, is becoming less attractive. I spoke with a seasoned ministry pioneer recently about a church plant in a certain community and he said the only thing that would work would be something that had "an edge to it". That's the edge of the well curve as I see it.

It seems this is already affecting our churches as we have some folks who are very involved in our mission, and others stay aloof and merely attned on Sunday. Some churches are doing away with membership, while others are raising the bar or providing options for membership.

Perhaps this explains the difficulty many churches are having with maintaining a viable Sunday School. It is based on a premise that everyone wants the same thing on Sunday morning. Vanilla is no longer the preferred flavor- everyone wants a custom flavor.

I think this is something to watch in the days ahead. There may be adjustments we need to make to maintain our "edge". I think Jesus lived there!

Changing bulbs

Changing bulbs

It seemed like a radical idea. Last week we decided to transition all of the incandescent light bulbs in our home to the new earth-friendly CFL bulbs. I am not under the delusion that this will somehow "save the planet", but they last ten years and use 1/4 the power. I can live with that!
I was able to get a great deal on a whole bunch of them on Ebay. We changed every bulb in the house for under $35. I should recover those costs in a little over a year. After that, it's all gravy! I am more than willing to have others consider me environmentally responsible, but I must confess that my real motivation was capitalistic!
The question my kids and wife had was "will they be as bright as the old bulbs?" As I installed the first few new bulbs, I got a little nervous. They were definitely not as bright as the old ones. In fact, they were downright dim! Instead of being praised for such a responsible carbon-neutral decision, I would now be mocked for my foolhardy scheme. Oh the shame.
But alas, I soon noticed that the bulbs were brightening. In fact, they were clearly brighter than the old incandescents, and my fear turned to brimming pride. My daughter came out of the bathroom and said, "I can see myself in the mirror better than before!" Case closed.
You see, the new bulbs start out slow, but after less than a minute they warm up and outperform the old bulbs easily. We are now bathing in cheaper, stronger light, and we won't have to change bulbs for another decade!
Now for the metaphor.
We are in the midst of a huge shift in our culture, and in how the church functions and fulfills its mission in the world, especially here in America. There are many of our colleagues who fail to see how to make the necessary changes to transition their flocks. They are used to the yellow incandescent glow, and cannot imagine trying something new.
I must admit that initially the results of the changes we are making (Penn Del C3, attractional to missional, corporate to apostolic) look a little dim. My belief is that we are in the warming period. The full glow will not be seen for some years, but I am certain it will come if we stay on course. We must continue to change to stay on course. It's fluid.
I sense God's hand in it, and His pleasure as I let go of my tried and true formulae and grab a hold of His mighty coattails for a free ride into the light. I sense it when I share what God is doing and saying with a group of pastors. They either lean forward and their eyes light up, or they look away, fearing what the changes might mean for them and their church.
We were promised boldness when the spirit came upon us. Lord, deliver us from fear, and propel us with missionary zeal to embrace your change. These are radical days and they call for radical measures. I don't care to bask in the afterglow of dying embers when the Lord is starting a new fire. (sorry, I guess I switched metaphors there :))

Conflict = Intimacy

I listened to Nancy Ortberg at the Catalyst Labs in Atlanta a few weeks ago. Her workshop was titled "Authentic Leadership" and was good, but one sentence became defining for me this past week. "Conflict is the only way to intimacy." I was intrigued by it at the time, but it has come to embody so much of what we have been through for nine years.
I am not drawn to categorical statements like this one. I tend to see things in shades of gray rather than black and white. "Conflict can't be the only way to intimacy," I thought, there must be some other paths. There may be, but we experienced the power of conflict in a leadership meeting last week and it did bring us to the place of intimacy. And there are other applications as well.
The first and most obvious reality here is that the determinate conflict of the cross produced the ultimate opportunity for intimacy for the entire human race- any who will respond. The battle raged in the twisted and bloodied body of the Savior and broke a course for us to enjoy the real and awesome, intimate and personal presence of the Father.
Likewise, a birthing mother emerges from the grueling battle to tenderly embrace the little one in the epitomic act of intimacy. Without her struggle there would be stillbirth. Her conflict forces life out of her and into the child. We pray for her in the struggle, and celebrate with her in motherhood.
I am testing this truth in other places too. As I enter the conflict of my 50th winter, with all it's winds and bitterness, I do so anticipating the tender quiet walks in the warming spring air that will inevitably be possible on the other side. The conflict helps me appreciate the peace and growth that will surely come.
Our church is located in an old coal mining culture that has made an art out of conflict. Our church family has been through some major battles in the past 25 years, and some casualties have fallen. Having weathered some conflicts here myself in the past nine years I have wondered if anything good can ever come from the splits and quarrels that have sometimes divided us. Now I have some hope that we can transition into a culture of peace and close realtionship, modeled by our leadership, if we will learn to allow the conflict to create intimacy.

Disturb me Lord

Craig Groeschel of LIFECHURCH.tv made reference to an old prayer by Sir Francis Drake while speaking at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta last week. It's good...

Disturb me, Lord, when my dreams come true, only because I dreamed too small.

Disturb me when I arrive safely, only because I sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb me when the things I have gained cause me to lose my thirst for more of You.

Disturb me when I have acquired success, only to lose my desire for excellence.

Disturb me when I give up too soon and settle too far short of the goals You have set for my life.

Sir Francis Drake

Catalyst Labs stimulate and challenge

The annual Catalyst Conference here in Atlanta is always preceded by what are called Catalyst Labs. These are workshops with amazing speakers (last year I got to meet Eugene Peterson among others) and I find it more helpful and exciting than the arena event which attracts 11,000 people. Here is a bit of my experience. Click here for Catalyst site

First of all Catalyst Lab speakers included Mark Batterson, Chris Seay, Matt Chandler (he was great), David Batstone, Leonard Sweet, Ron Martoia, Jud Wilhite, Nancy Ortberg, Reggie McNeal, Tim Elmore, Brad Powell, Ed Stetzer, Gabe Lyons, Rick McKinley, Shane Claiborne and many more.

I am always alone when I come here so it can be hard because I am a social creature. I long for discussion and fellowship but have to be satisfied with information and inspiration. Fortunately, as we were waiting to enter the venue for the evening session on Wednesday I asked the man next to me where he was from. "Newfoundland" he said. I was thrilled because we have a lady in our church from Newfoundland. But it got better because he was from the Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland, serving as their Secretary/Treasurer. Turns out he had no transportation to and from his hotel, so I had a spirit-filled buddy for the next two days!

I love this conference because of the diversity, not just in subject matter, but also in terms of attendees. There is also a sense of expectancy and excellence that I rarely find elsewhere. A man named Reggie Joiner always opens with a Pre-Lab session, and he is very creative. He shared is views on ministry and used ten words to characterize the transitions we need to make in the coming years.

• From focus on Students to focus on Leaders. We need to begin to see those who sit in our classes as potential leaders being trained for ministry instead of mere pupils being filled with our great wisdom.
• From Content to Experience. It's the difference between a classroom and an apprenticeship. We must flesh things out and show how the scripture works in the real world.
• From Production to Relationship. People are more important than the show we perform each week.
• From Age-focused to Family-focused. We must stop dividing families during the church ministry time and give parents tools to share their faith with their most important mission field- their children.
• From Growth to Service. We must mobilize to serve a broken world and leave the growth to God.
  Reggie Joiner is head of RETHINK, and is worth listening to.
  

I love Leonard Sweet's brilliance. He is a futurist and is always thinking in terms of what is next. His job seems to be to prepare and warn the church so we can be more effective and not miss the waves of change that come like continuous ripples, faster and faster it seems. He explained how the classic bell curve with it's large middle and diminished ends has been replaced by the "well curve" with almost no middle and large ends. We see it in economics (the diminishing "middle class"), politics becoming polarized, and even in the church where we have mostly large or small churches, but very few medium sized churches. He encouraged us to build bridges between the ends, because that's what Jesus would do. He also called us to be MRI- Missional, Relational and Incarnational. Leonard Sweet

I came away from the Labs with many good ideas, but more importantly I am reconsidering the way we do things at Mountainside. I can see more clearly where we ought to be going and how we might get there. All I ask of a conference or gathering these days is two simple things. I need to be inspired to give my life more fully and purely to the cause of Christ, and some effective and meaningful ways to motivate others to do that with me.

A Little Company

Anyone who has been involved with church planting on any level knows what a gargantuan task it is to plant and grow a young church. The handbooks for how to do it are as the sands of the sea, but the multiplicity of contexts for this missionary work makes them only marginally useful.

Likewise with church transformation. The task of taking a church from stagnation to genuine life is herculean at the least. A bit of simple and sound advice and encouragement according to Biblical patterns is welcome indeed.

I found such help in the timeworn and humble pages of Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary and it has helped clarify my vision. Here is what good Brother Henry said in his commentary on Acts Chapters 1:12-14:

"A little company united in love, exemplary in their conduct, fervent in prayer, and wisely zealous to promote the cause of Christ, are likely to increase rapidly."

Volumes spoken, few words employed

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Tenured bigots in ivory towers

George Barna recently revealed that things are worse than we thought. Young people have a very low opinion of evangelical Christianity. Barnasurvey

Barna's revelations regarding evangelicals' abysmal reputation among the young is bolstered by the fact that a recent study found similar views are held by most college faculty members."In a recently released scientific survey of 1,269 faculty members across 712 different colleges and universities, 53 percent of respondents admitted to harboring unfavorable feelings toward evangelicals." This study was not funded by a group of right wing group of "nutjobs", but by a Jewish group looking for anti-semitism! The study found that faculty harbor ill feelings toward Jews only 3% of the time.see complete article at Thefire

Most of us have known that strong anti-Christian sentiment exists in the ivory towers of academia, but now there is proof. College campuses remain a chief battleground for the hearts and minds of our most precious commodity- the young.

Another example comes from my alma mater, Lehigh University in Bethlehem. This now secular campus was founded on Christian principles, but their most promoted project for 2008 is a week-long religious seminar taught personally by the Dalai Lama! In addition, all incoming freshmen were required to read the Dalai Lama's autobiography. Though alumni fight bravely to restore some vestige of her proud Christian heritage, hope grows ever more dim.

There are implications for our evangelistic efforts in the months and years ahead. We have yet to see any "method" for reaching the young rise to the top of the heap, but there is hope. Fervent prayer, coupled with strategic evangelistic efforts by persevering saints will win them one at a time. Commitment to a creative, humble and power-filled presentation of the Gospel is ground zero.

He should have stayed home?

Sometimes we go to church and it's just church, nothing remarkable happens, but it's still good. Then there are other times when the day at church impacts someone very deeply, sometimes it impacts all of us very deeply. The awesome part for me is that, as pastor, I get to be in the middle of it.

We had a missionary today. His name is Jeff Friedman and his calling is to the Jews of the world. He traveled almost three hours after sundown on Saturday night after observing Yom Kippur in Philadelphia to arrive here in our little coal town.

When he showed up early for Sunday school and started setting up I asked him how things were going. He said things were okay, as he struggled to piece together his display which had somehow come unglued.

Then it happened. He said that yesterday, Yom Kippur, his mother-in-law had died. I immediately thought to myself "what is this man doing here?" So I asked him why he did not call and cancel. He explained that his wife was already in Alabama where the funeral will be held, and that he would be going with his children tomorrow. His mother-in-law was a believer so there was a certain amount of peace, but you could see the weight upon him.

As the day unfolded it became more and more clear that, although it was counterintuitive, Jeff Friedman belonged with us today. We are in the middle of our missions emphasis and his message was very timely and something we needed to hear. But Jeff Friedman needed to be in our church because God wanted to bless us by allowing us to bless and comfort him. The blessings just kept coming.

Ours is not a wealthy church, but this is an old coal mining town and our people are known to respond to genuine urgent needs. We normally take a benevolence offering on the third Sunday of the month. Today the Lord led me to receive this offering for Jeff Friedman and his family as I sensed that the financial burden for six people to fly to Alabama and back would be very heavy. The people responded as I knew they would and we raised enough to pay for several plane tickets. But there was more.

As I spoke about the offering I watched as this dear brother put his head in his hands and wept. You see, he was fulfilling an obligation, maybe by rote, by coming to our church, but I think he was a little surprised that God showed up too. But there was more.

After service I spoke to the elders about the possibility of taking Jeff on for monthly support. I mentioned a monthly amount but they thought it was too low. So Jeff left with not only a cash gift, but healthy monthly support too. But there was more.

I was able to give him several gift items including a book from my library, and he also got a few "Pentecostal handshakes". But there was more.

At the Chinese buffet restaurant after service we filled him up real good and he was getting ready to leave. Just then our Sunday school superintendent walked in and called me to the side. She asked if it would be all right if the Sunday school gave an offering to Jeff Friedman. I said amen, but noticed that she gave him two checks not one.

During the Sunday school hour at the beginning of the day Jeff Friedman told our people that God blesses those who bless the Jewish people. It was so easy to bless this man today. The Lord has already blessed us back by knowing that we eased our brothers burden, and made his trial a bit easier.

Next time I'm thinking about staying home I hope I remember Jeff Friedman.

I wish I could describe Him

James 1:17 (MSG)
Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.


This past Friday and Saturday I was in Baltimore with a group of our men.
It was exhilarating with amazing worship with 1500 other men raising their voices with all they had.
As good as the speakers were I became distracted early on because of something God showed me. It was very quick, and I could easily have missed it.
It was during the first worship time we had on Friday night. I was a bit tired, with some stray thoughts about responsibilities and worries.
Suddenly there was an image in my mind of Jesus not as a man, or on the cross, or as the one we read about doing great things in the Bible. I had a picture of Jesus as the best of everything- as the one who is incapable of failure, or of letting anyone down in any way. I had a picture of Jesus as someone I could totally trust and I really had the faith to trust Him to do anything.
This Jesus so surpassed anything I had ever known before, that there was no comparison. I have known Jesus for 27 years, but it was as though I just met Him. It was as if I had been following a 2 dimensional Jesus, and now He was suddenly 3D!

I saw Him as a perfect Father. I had a great dad who was more concerned about me than I was about myself. He did everything he could to help and guide me in life. No one could ask for a better dad.
But as big a man as my dad was, he had human flaws and weaknesses. I saw Jesus as a dad with not a single flaw. His advice always on target and delivered in the right way.
I saw Him as a perfect friend. One who understands what you mean and always loves you no matter what. He is a friend you never need to explain things to, He already understands, and gives perfect advice. He is never two-faced, and never unduly critical.
He is the perfect brother. A friend is good, but a brother is born for adversity. When the going gets rough blood is thicker than water. Jesus is the friend who sticks closer than a brother.

I think the world is looking for a Jesus like that, and I am grateful the Lord pulled the veil away for me for just a moment.

A man named JB Phillips wrote a book many years ago entitled “Your God is too small.” In it he details a number of false images that we have of God that hinder us from really knowing Him in deep relationship. Unless we clear our mind and spirit of false images and ideas of who Jesus is we can never see Him for who He is.

-He is not a cosmic cop or a killjoy, or a wimp

-He is a friend and companion and rescuer, and provider

He is a perfect friend, Father and brother

-He is huge and there are no words in the English language I can use to describe Him adequately.

He is the Heart of Gold that this generation has been seeking for so long.

Have You Ever Given Yourself Completely to Anything?

Life is pretty dull until you find your passion- the thing you were made to do, and the thing you would do for free for the rest of your life if you could. Very few people ever find it because they never give themselves to it without reservation. They want the fulfillment that comes with finding their passion, but they don’t want to get in too deep. It’s about commitment.

Watching the Winter Olympics from Italy last month I was a little startled at the sharp explosions of emotion when victory or defeat became apparent. Tears flowed in most cases whether the athlete won or lost. It was like a dam bursting, and there was no self control. Amazing, isn’t it that these paragons of self control, who could put any of us to shame in the area of discipline, should erupt in uncontrollable tears as soon as the climactic moment was reached. Why?

I think the answer lies in the level of commitment and life energy these folks have invested in their pursuit of greatness. They have dropped absolutely everything, and given themselves over to chasing a dream. It has ruled their sleep habits, diet, relationships, employment, thought life and much more for a very long time. When the end is reached there is nothing left to do but let it all gush out!

If you have never given yourself completely to anything, then you can only watch and wonder what they really feel. So it is with God. How few ever give themselves completely to the only One who deserves complete devotion. They write books about the ones who do.

Abraham was asked to leave his home and kinsmen, Moses was asked to confront the most powerful man in the world, Paul was struck blind and told to align himself with those who was in the midst of destroying. Jesus willingly hung His sinless body on a wooden cross to have the life sucked right out of Him.

Giving yourself completely to one thing provides the sense of purpose that we all need. It takes faith to commit so completely. Imagine the gush that will take place when we finish our course....and see Him face to face......

Grace Trumps Karma

We live in unusual times. I watched the National Prayer Breakfast from Washington on Thursday and the keynote speaker was Bono from the rock group U2. Faith and I were privileged to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in 1996 and it is an elegant affair. Bono held them spellbound with his talk of redemption, and love, and his crusade for the eradication of AIDS and world poverty.

There is something that Bono said in a recent book about his life that struck a real chord and I want to share it with you. He said, speaking of His need for Christ that “we’ve moved out of the realm of Karma and into one of grace.”
I was fascinated that he used a term like Karma, which is a crucial doctrine of both Hinduism and Buddhism, to present a contrast in terms of his relationship to Christ. I began to do some research and learned that some 1.5 billion people on this planet, primarily in Asia, believe in Karma as a foundational fact of life. It is rooted in their culture and they believe in it like you and I believe that the sun rises everyday.
So what is Karma as understood in Buddhism and Hinduism? Simply stated it is
“the force generated by a person's actions...to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person's next existence” (transmigration has to do with the soul transferring to another body after death-kind of like recycling)

Now while we do not believe in karma we do have a similar doctrine in Christianity known as "the law of reaping and sowing"
Galatians 6:7 (NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Every Christian should understand this principle- that our actions in this life will affect our circumstances now and for eternity. The difference lies in the fact that we do not believe in reincarnation- we are not reborn in different forms in order to either be punished or rewarded for our previous life.
Those who believe in karma believe that if you had good karma in the previous life you will be reborn into a higher form of life. For those who had bad karma, it follows you into the next life and you suffer for it.
Karma is a basic doctrine of almost one quarter of the worlds population. This accounts for a great deal of suffering worldwide because in such a culture relieving suffering is wrong since in so doing you are interfering with their karma, and you make it impossible for them to pay off their bad karma and be reincarnated in a better state. Suffering is redemption.
Grace trumps karma because Jesus taught us to alleviate suffering, and to show compassion on the poor and needy. Mother Teresa spent her life sharing the love of Christ with people who were under the devilish spell of karma. She stunned their world with such love. She lived out what Jesus said…
And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you,
inasmuch as you did it to one of the least these My brethren, you did
it to Me.' Matthew 25:40
But even more important than relieving suffering is providing forgiveness and washing away all my sins. I do not have to reap what I have sown, and for the Hindu and the Buddhist, he does not have to live with the Bad Karma that his religion places on him like a noose.
It’s GRACE and It’s Amazing

In What's So Amazing about Grace?, Philip Yancey recounts this story about C. S. Lewis: During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.
The debate went on for some time until C. S. Lewis wandered into the room. "What's the rumpus about?" he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace." After some discussion, the conferees had to agree. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.

Ephes. 2:8-9 NASB "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."

Why the Silence?

Silence is sometimes a welcome friend, but can be a mortal enemy too. When I need to get away from the noise and traffic of the day I look forward to some peace and quiet. Young parents know how they long for a NAP!
But for those who have felt the pain of loneliness and loss, the silence is deafening. Familiar voices are no more heard, and the need for human-produced noise is overwhelming.
When we look on the God-side we see that silence is not uncommon. The Lord will sometimes seem to turn a deaf ear even to His own. But God's silence is not arbitrary, it is very deliberate, and intended to produce a response in us. The silence that we interpret as "God does not care" is more like "I'll answer you on my terms and in my time." Maybe we are not ready to accept what He will say!
William Barclay says that the silence in heaven for one half hour in Revelation 8:1 occurs so that Heaven can listen to the prayers of the saints as they waft upward. Imagine all heaven bending low to hear your prayers. What will they hear? Will they hear anything at all? What would you do if you had God's ear for a half hour? You already do!
Why not take one hour this week and sit alone with God- no Bible, no special thoughts or requests and just listen to Him speaking to your heart. If you make it through this solitary, silent hour you will discover some things about yourself that you never suspected.

GOODGROUND

observations from another place....