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THOUGHTS & HIGHLIGHTS ON THE Q EVENT DAY 3e #QIDEAS

May 18, 2010 By 3 Comments
I know it’s taken a while to post these but the content is free so …
Day 3 at Q was a quick one.
There were some presentations I was really looking forward to.
Among them was:
The Humanity of the Robot – Rosalind Picard
Show me another ministry conference that talks about this (aside from an apocalyptic warning of AI)
Rosalind explained the reasoning of building machines with emotional intelligence
“We definitely need to create robots that help us. Especially for those who have emotional and mental challenges.”
We are giving computers mechanisms that perform emotion like functions
They do not give a machine feelings that we have.
She told us to beware of the semantis
What scientist says – “Machines are now being give internal signaling” – What press writes – “Machines have feelings!”
How can you give machines emotion? That’s the last thing that separates people from machines!?”
Scientists do not yet see any way to give robots: Feelings (including moral sense), Consciousness experience, Soul, Spirit, Juice of life, Free will – free choice …
But what if we could build a robot that was just like a human?  And her time was up.
—-
Colaborating in Community – Charles Lee
Charles also gave an excellent presentation.  Great ideas and he’s one of those people whose enthusiastic energy is not annoying but instead, contagious.
You should check out his website Ideation and follow him on twitter.  (And he loves the Yankees so you know he is a good person).
Here were some of the notes:
The more time we spend with collaborators, implementation will finally take place.
As much as you love ideas, you must love implementation.
For some, their pride gets in the way of collaboration.
Social media is powerful when it is social. – Crowd is smarter than one.
Internet flattened the world.
if you openly share, the speed of which implementation takes place increase exponentially.
Nurture ideas.
Listening – strategy (to allow wisdom to come from people, the street, as oppose to the boardroom)
“I have postured my life to connect with people.”
Lee said more, and when I clean my notes and post them.
Loved it though, inspired by it, hope to be altered by it.
——
Bonhoeffer – Eric Metaxas
He is the author of biographes on William Wilberforce and now one on Deitrcich Bonhoeffer.  NYC metro people will know him from Socrates in the City events he hosts. One coming in 2 weeks.
Sadly, Eric was only given 9 minutes.  Eric is absolutely brilliant and so fun to listen to.  (He also presented when Q came to NYC.  (Kinda weird, he was presenting when my wife Susan sent me the text saying, “Just spoke with birth mom – she wants us to adopt her baby!!!”  I’ll never forget it, Mextas was presenting, Rebecah Lyons was sitting to my left, Chris Huertz was sitting behind me at my table (he doesn’t know who I am but he’s a bystander to the story) and there was a choir of angels that appeared and sang the Hallelujah chorus.  I don’t think anyone remembers that but it’s my blog – that’s what I saw ;-)  And yeah, all this came to mind again as Eric shared about Bonhoeffer.
But if you do the Lost style flash back here in the Chicago timeline, Eric also said:
That Bonhoeffer warned against religionless Christianity
Eric asked, what does it look like to be a Christian today?
DB lived in such obedience to God that it just sings
God wants us to integrate.
God can’t be fooled by the fig leaf
—–
Social Activism - Antonio Carlos Costa
Antonio is a pastor/activist from Brazil.  It was incredible to listen to Antonio.  We hear so much of the growth of the church in the global south, it was sobering to hear the challenges they face.  Another example of the church’s resilience when pushed to the brink.
He said that  violence is the most serious problem facing Brazil
For every 100000 people:
in Italy 1 dies
in Chile 1.7 die
in US 5.5 die
in Rio 40 die
We have corrupt police and very violent criminals.
What does it mean to be faithful to the Christian gospel in such a  context marked by so much injustice and violence?
Faith without works is dead  - we need love.
The fight for human life is a result of human love.
Obstacles in Brazil
Brazil does not have a culture of popular participation
Evangelicals lack credibility
No historical reference for the human rights movement
Pluralistic worldviews
Recent practices
Press
In response they have used the power of images, utilized social media and have done so with integrity.  They pursue matters of that deal with public safety.
We are confident that if our speech has was just riddle with evangelical vocabulary, we would only taking today instead of the four walls of our church
——
I had to leave after this presentation and missed one from Wayne Gordon – Renewing the City (he’s from Portland where Q will be next year) and one by Jon Tyson (church planter in NYC and all around good guy) – Advancing the Common Good.  I hope to catch them online when they become available.
Filed Under: Conferences/Events

Thoughts & Highlights on the Q Event Day 2 #qideas

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Q Conference
Day 2

What better way to open the first morning presentation than with …

Recovering the Ancient Practices – Phyllis Tickle
“In the busyness of life today, many Christians lose sight of the disciplines, or practices, that keep them grounded.”
As always, she is awesome.
Some favorite lines – “Jesus tells us to fast – why? Because it makes us feel bad – lol.
(Fasting reminds us of our mortality. Fasting draws us in to, our energy wanes and we are confronted by the truth. It is an opportunity for us to meet the Kingdom.)
It’s only when I am confronted my citizenship that I can understand the Kingdom.
There is a rhythm of life and fixed hour prayer is a way of hinging our day on the worship of God. She mentioned an iPhone app. I think it was this one.
Of all the disciplines, she believed that fixed hour prayer is the most important.
She quoted a rabbi that said, it’s the prayers you say, not the ones you don’t that God really cares about. (That actually does help in not turning into a guilt-ridden ritual).
Of the disciplines, sabbath keeping and fixed hour prayer have been difficult for me. I found this convicting and helpful.
I like what she said about “Pilgrimages” – you take all of you and your expenses and go. One of the things contemporary christianity lacks is transcendence -
we can do so with music, literature, but true transcendence a pilgrimage.

Observing the Sabbath – Matthew Sleeth
Q must have got some feedback that asked for more spiritual formation.
Are today’s believers meant to keep the Sabbath?
I liked Matthew’s idea of 24-6 (as opposed to 24-7).
Sabbath not saved by man. – We are not to save the Sabbath – The Sabbath is to save us.
5000 Years of debate of what is work – Rest “figure out what’s work for you and don’t do it.” (Matthew’s wife)
if you keep sabbath for life – you added 11 years with the Lord.
We spent the last minute and change in silence (a tithe of the presentation to sabbath. Cool idea).

Overcoming the Faith and Science Divide – Alister McGrath
I love the faith and science discussion.
In addition to encouraging everyone to engage the sciences, he also encouraged to familiarize ourselves with the views and arguments that argued against faith (like Dawkins’ God Delusion and other new atheists). Lucky for me, I like these books (they strengthen your faith).
One of the reasons why they new atheists are angry. Because they believed that religious belief would have died out within the last 40 hours. “When I read Dawkins, I cannot help but feel nostalgic, that’s the way I used to be as well.” – haha
Encourage – we need scientists to up their game. – They need support.
Think of how we can support scientists from the church.

Don’t Eat the Food – Sean Womack
A very powerful and emotional presentation. It’s nice to see that cutting edge thought is not just confined to stats and ideas.
Forgiveness is cutting edge.
Sean revealed that he had been let go by Wal Mart for having an affair with his boss.
After separated for 3 months from his wife and 3 children, she forgave him. She told him, “I am not just praying for you, I’m battling for you.”
Don’t eat the food (of the world) – Jesus said eat my flesh.
The last 3 years have been difficult
H addressed his wife, – thanks for battling for me, thanks for banging on the gates of hell and demanding your husband back. Every morning I wake up, I wake up next to grace.
I guess I walked away thinking, may God spare us from such an experience but it was beautiful to see the power of love and forgiveness.

Resetting a Creative Economy – Richard Florida
One of my favorite presentations of the event.
“Every human being is creative.”
Florida doesn’t believe we are in a recession but instead in need of a reset – a raw emotional reset.
He looked at other time periods including just before the Industrial Revolution.
He would argue that our creative energy is that makes us human and binds us together.
We have created a new kind of economy that harnesses the human mind – that’s the easy part.
We are moving into a new of post-materialism.
We use to ask what you do for a living, now we ask where do you live?
Being in a place that you love. – in community – Whose Your City? (example used was Jack White from Detroit, now living in Nashville but I didn’t want to stand up and correct Florida in front of everyone. I understood his point. But I had to chuckle now because of the irony of White living in Nashville. Or is it irony?
It’s the place we live that will create meaning
There was a lot I liked about the end, because I see a strong connection with where we live and “Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.

Responding to Our Fatherhood Crisis – Roland Warren
As a new father, as a youth pastor, and as one who sees the state of fatherhood in crisis, I was really looking forward to this presentation.
“The concept of the heavenly father is a Christian idea.But this is an anathema for someone who didn’t grow up with a father (or had a bad one).”
“You fix the fathers you fix the church,you fix the fathers you fix the community ”
I really enjoyed the presentation but was hoping for a little more. I am sure Roland had plenty more to say but again, it’s tough because of the time restraint.
I should google him and see what else he has.

——————-
There was a panel discussion on adoption and orphans
John Sowers – Mentoring project
Esther Fleece – Focus on the family
Marc Andrews – Bethany Christian Services
Jason L -

127,000 legal orphans
300,000 churches
“Wait No More” program
icareaboutorphans.org

500,000 kids in the foster care system
countless age out – turn 18

As adoptive parents, this is obviously something that is important to us. As I was listening, it dawned on me that although Susan and I had been asked numerous times about adoption, we do not know anyone who has adopted since we have two years ago. This caused me to think that perhaps I ought to do my part in creating more awareness to the need.

———————
Discover the Rescued with Soledad O’Brien | CNN and Jonathan Olinger | Discover The Journey
The 7.0 earthquake in Haiti devastated millions of lives. Compassion-fatigued American’s have become over saturated. The natural questions ensue. Can Haiti change? Is there hope for Haiti’s most vulnerable children? Through the power of a documentary platform, the lives of two Haitian orphans are elevated and their stories told. CNN Correspondent Soledad O’Brien and Discover The Journey’s Jonathan Olinger open the world’s eyes to the complexities of caring for children in the midst of one of the greatest disasters the world has ever seen.

In short, Jonathan was shooting a documentary and then the earthquake happened. If I have the story right, Soledad became involved just after flying down to cover the aftermath of the quake and then connected with Jonathan’s story. Gabe interviewed them both and this was the most beautiful and my favorite part of the interview:

Gabe – How do you handle all the suffering?
Soledad – I cry a lot but I channel it through my vehicle.
Once you get numb to human suffering, that’s the beginning of the end …

The documentary this past Saturday night but I was unable to watch it. I am trying to obtain a copy or if it’s online somewhere. Seems worth watching.

——————–

I’ll post separately on Conversations on Being a Heretic. It was Scot McKnight interviewing Brian McLaren. It was great, too short, and grateful that both are brothers of mine in the Lord.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events, Culture, The Church

Thoughts & Highlights on the Q Event Day 1 #qideas

May 6, 2010 By 2 Comments

This is my third year at Q and this gathering has been the most helpful to me. Being a youth pastor, you’d think it would be something like youth specialties (whom I love). Having attended emergent gatherings, willow creek leadership simulcasts, and numerous other events, I have found Q to be somewhat unique. To put it simply, there are channels of conversation that I simply do not have access to. After 10 years of ministry, being in conversation with other pastors, following periodicals like Christianity Today, and being online, you can stay pretty in tune with what’s going on in the “ministry world”. While Q puts out many elements of church ministry, they also pull a wealth of conversation from the other 6 channels of culture (Education, Political, Business, Media, Government, and the Arts).  The idea is to bring the 7 channels together and engage by asking questions and creating conversations relevant to the Gospel.

In previous years, the Q Conference was held in Atlanta, New York City, Austin and this year was Chicago’s turn. Gabe and friends pick great venues in city centers that are rich in culture. This year was the Lyric Civic Opera House.

From the website, “Q educates church and cultural leaders on their role and opportunity to embody the Gospel in public life.  We believe that exposure to old and new ideas is the best way to stimulate imagination for ways the Gospel can be expressed within our cultural context.”

That’s my best explanation for what Q is.  You can read more of the history of Gabe Lyons and the Fermi Project here.

I may use Evan’s idea from the NT Wright conference, and attach my notes soon but I need to clean them up. In a few months www.qideas.com will actually post the presentations online, I hope you watch them for yourself.

Some personal thoughts, notes and sentiments as I attended Q:

Who Attends Q?
I love when a conference reveals who is in the room.
Would have appreciated if the ethnicity stat was mentioned.
Like most of these events, it’s a pretty white room. A very small percentage of minorities. In fact, there may have been more non-Anglo presenters then actual attenders (I write that as a compliment to the Fermi Leadership). It’s not the fault of anyone, I’m just saying …
Btw, it was cool that i wasn’t the only Egyptian in the room (salem alek Victor).
Surprised more people aren’t into e-readers.
There were a lot of liars in the room too. I mean all these people saying they are on twitter and the hashtag only had like 30 people. Probably bc there was only one open wifi network.

The Decline of Christian America by – David Aikman
Excellent presentation.
Appreicated the mention of the Newsweek article “The End of Christian America by Meacham”. I remember reading that.
Couldn’t agree more with the average nominal Christian has terrible misunderstandings of Christianity.
I confess that I get tired of the Barna stats. Surprised he didn’t use more of Kinnaman or Christian Smith’s research.
Appreciated the Chinese church comparisons.
Couldn’t agree more about the intelligencia – gatekeepers wake up, it’s time communicate with the tehno-generation.
Didn’t really “learn” anything but there was only 18 minutes, it’s an excellent start to the conference
“Time to get our faith out of rigor mortis and bring alive the faith that changed us”

———-

The Both/And of the Gospel by Tim Keller
While I thought Tim Keel did an amazing job at discussing the Gospel at last year’s Q in Austin (you can watch it here), Keller was the perfect choice for this presentation. To me, it feels like Q is still a pretty conservative room. I think I could still feel the sentiment in some pastors’ minds, “Keep your missional hands off my gospel”.
“Like it or not – justification and justice are joined at the hip” – justice people who are separating themselves from justification by faith are neglecting a powerful and important tradition.
Justification by faith leads to justice – justice leads to God
If you claimed that you are justified by faith you must demonstrate justice.
When Tim Keller is talking about taking care of the poor (which is not new for him and many other traditional types), the traditional church will respond more. I think I heard someone think, “Crap, now Keller is reading that Shane Claiborne guy.” Either that or the BIble.

———-

Q has a series of 3 minute promotions. They’re like commercials and plugs for new ministries. Many of them are excellent and worth paying attention to.
Halogen TV. is worth checking out.

———-

The Next Christians – Gabe Lyons
“Instead of being offended by what we encounter in our world, we must be provoked to get involved.”
Liked the letter to Diogentus -
Provoked by the line “People don’t care about all people, just most of the people.” – ouch.
Was moved by the story of their first born being born with down-syndrome. They created a campaign of what this child can look like. They put these wonderful materials in doctors’ offices and offered help for others. Beautiful.
Money quote – * I think what the soul is to the body is what we as christians can be in the world

———-

The Future of Education – Sajan George
The problem with education is that we assume this linear pipeline from K-12, they will
somehow all be ready for the adult workplace – amen.
Sajan speaks at breakneck speeds. He needs to be a 36 min. presentation in the future – he’s that good and has that much material.
That and someone that is taking notes needs to take control of his clicking speed through the presentation. If you have ever been to a U2 show when they bombard you with milisecond images and words, that’s how Sajan’s presentation feels, only without the Claw Stage and no sunglasses.
“We need a new standard of teachers that are better.”
it is not a funding problem
it is not just a human capital problem
it is a design problem
The Gospel must motivate us to act.
Called for a more technology-enabled student centric school.
Longitudinal data systems that help how we monitor students
Common core international standards “what we teach”
Excellent quote – “History has shown whenever the gospel is embraced, the future is always beautiful.”
Loved it!

———-

Evolution of a Voice – Bryan Coley
Excellent presentation that this blog post won’t do justice towards. I cannot wait to watch this presentation again.
He used a linear chart to show how particular voices used culture to speak. In this case, movies.
So, the evolution of the African-American voice in movies in the 1960′s where they were referenced (the, “Hey That’s Me” voice) to movies that said, “Hear Me” in subculture classics “Shaft”.
Eventually there is a tipping point between the sub-culture and main stream and for Black Americans it was “The Color Purple”.
Mainstream movies emerge in the 80′s that say, “I’m just like you” and examples of these movies were Eddie Murphy classics (white movies with black men), shows like the Cosby Show, and eventually there is a cultural impact, in this case the 90′s with the voice that says, “I’m like you but you’re different”. An example would be Boyz in the Hood.
The new millennium brought a new voice that said, “I am without you” that was diversified and integrated. Examples are Tyler Perry movies, movies like Hitch with Will Smith and Morggan Freeman who plays God and a president.
Today we have a black president – it was a brilliant connection.
He did the same with movies that represented gay culture and Christian culture.
He quoted a movie producer that made this comment after the success of “Blindside”, ” I would put more Christians on screen but I want to see Christians stop portraying themselves as perfect.”
Bryan concluded his time by saying, It is more important to present a Christian as a human. In this next phase – tell the truth.”

———-

Being Provoked to Engage – Joe Saxton
Jo did an incredible job on this presentation -
Leaders need to be challenged to engage when provoked instead of withdrawing from problems (young leaders need to learn this, older need to be reminded).
We need to choose to be the rescue team.
Jo defined enormous life problems as “cultural earthquakes” – very timely.
The needs in responding to cultural earthquakes are compassion, community, a connecting story, and a compass.
She then put a picture of her, her sister and her foster mother and asked, “Would you have found me in the rubble?” Because she was lost and buried in it and needed a great deal of help. It was a brilliant turn in the presentation – instead of presenting as the hero, she presented as the rescued, who in turn committed to rescue others.  I was moved, she was brilliant.
She asked that we challenge our current paradigms.
Are we leaving 60 percent of American under the rubble by the way we do church?
“We don’t need to be afraid, we need to be the rescue team.”
weare3dm.com

———-

Did Jesus Preach the Gospel? – Scot McKnight
While visiting South Africa, Scot asked his guide what he thought when he visited the States.
The guide said everywhere he went, everything was the same. The media has taken over, and have made everything the same place
Everyplace becomes no place – When no place becomes every place every sacred place becomes no place – loved it.
When all words mean the same thing, no words mean anything?
Is this true when applied to the word gospel?
Did Jesus preach the gospel?
The text has disappeared under the interpretation – Nietzsche
Told a story about a pastor he bumped into at an airport. Scot asked him if Jesus knew the gospel. Because the pastor only understood the gospel as crucified for sins and resurrection, he argued that Jesus could not know the gospel.
Scot replied with one of the best lines of the conferences, “Too bad for Jesus, He was born on the wrong side of the cross.”
We as evangelicals created a personal salvation culture at the expense of the gospel.
who is in, who is out
We have lost the meaning of the gospel
When all words mean personal salvation, no words mean anything
According to paul and the herald the story of israel as coming to climax with Jesus the Messiah as Lord.
To herald the story of Jesus the Messiah
See my notes for the rest – it was excellent.

———-
Saving Marriage Before It Starts – Mark Regnerus
Christianity Today readers may remember this article .
It has become culturally difficult to delay sex until marriage
Thesis – Price of sex has dropped to an all-time low
1. men want sex more than women
2. all sex within a community is connected with a community
She has something of value, he doesn’t. – women (mostly) don’t pay for sex.
When does sex start in a relationship (unmarried, 18-23)
It starts when she decides that it does.
The price of sex is set by women, it is often negotiated by men
She may charge (no sex until you give me a complete promise at the altar to commit to me for the rest of your life) can she get that today?
92 percent of people have sex before marriage.
Today we find ourselves winking at sex and having to justify getting married
Reasons why couples are getting married later.
1. why we are getting married later
2. men’s decreasing cost of sex
3. shifting nature of labor market
4. availability of high speed digital porn – least influential
5. women’s success
When the price of sex is so low, they will delay marriage
The message becomes what you do when the best years of your life is over.
Excellent topic – very helpful for my ministry. I went to his talk-back session and while I want to push back on a few things (he tends to shift most of the responsibility to women), his thesis is helfpul.

That evening, there was a panel discussion on Scripture with Alister  McGrath, Brian McLaren, Father Dempsey Rosales-Acosta and Tim  Keller.  It is heavy in context so to debrief in this space would be  inadequate but I will say it was an excellent discussion.  There were  parts that I was not able to connect with and parts that I cheered  (sometimes said by the same person).  I look forward in listening to  this conversation again.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events, Culture

NT WRIGHT AT WHEATON CONFERENCE NOTES POST 2

April 21, 2010 By 1 Comment

Sorry it has taken a while to post the second half of this post (and there’s so much more to do), but it seems some of my drafts got lost. I must not have uploaded them properly to WordPress.

Here are my notes from the second half of NT Wright’s first lecture (Friday night 4.16.10). Read at your own risk though, I may not have heard it all correctly and he is a bit of a wordsmith so keep that in mind. This is for the skimmers who don’t have time to listen to the complete audio. This is also intended for newbies who are curious about NT Wright’s work but have not been able to read much. I suggest that you read a few books of his before passing a verdict.
Enjoy.

—–

It’s the western church that he has invented another Jesus and put it on top of the cannon.
(A Non-canonical Jesus)

The Traditional Church has invented Jesus’ and substitute of the cannon

When we read the canonical gospels (all 4, he inserted. For those who don’t get that, Jesus and the Victory of God only uses the Synoptics, Matthew, Mark & Luke) they are not through the identity of Jesus but through Jesus’ inauguration of the Kingdom of God.
The message bringer has been screened out the inaugural of God’s kingdom – forgetting what he was saying heaven on earth as it is in heaven.

The cannon was trying to say this (the inaugural of the Kingdom)

The Gospel does not say Jesus is divine, though He is. They are saying Jesus is bringing the kingdom. (This part confused me a bit and will need to re-listen and try to understand. Confusing bc I thought it was both. Of course I would, I love plurality).
His humanness was his Jewishness.
He mentioned that the Council of Chalcedon de-Judahizing (he tends to make up words) Jesus and Israel.

Jesus is Israel’s God coming to his kingdom and to his world.
Much more powerful than simply saying Jesus is God.
(he did miracles, said great things. … reading through the Bible you will see many people doing amazing things but it does not mean they are God. They may not be divine).

We need to retrieve the canonical Jesus of Israel.

It matters because this stuff actually happened once.
If you don’t have the historical rootedeness , you will turn the message of Jesus into your own version of the truth – how you can have a particular spirituality.

We shrink the story of God and of Israel

We shrink the power of the cross (or the kingdom).
Many churches are kingdom churches but don’t know what the cross is there for.
And many churches that are cross churches that don’t know what the kingdom is there for.
Some people say odd things about Jesus like,
“What a shame his career was cut short .. he was a roll with that stuff.” haha

Some atonement theologies do not affirm the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

It’s not that Jesus was just walking around doing stuff aimlessly and the evangelists were the brilliant theologians adding value and brilliance to it.
Jesus was the brilliant innovator, the disciples were the witnesses doing their best to describe it. Anything else should be counter-intuitive.

Jesus is both sovereign and vulnerable.
There is not directly the proof of Jesus.
It first demonstrates that He is Israel’s Messiah.
Do not short circuit the Israel dimension
Which means his death is the messianic death
He was doing the messianic thing that had enslaved Israel

Resurrection means a new creation.
Jesus is raised bodily from the dead, therefore he is the Messiah, therefore God’s new creation has been launched.
It is not that we just have a future heaven.
Jesus has been raised from the dead, a new creation has begun, and therefore we have a job to do (proclamation).

When Jesus wanted to convey the Kingdom he didn’t give them a theory, he gave them a meal.

Frustration with Barth is that he does not allow any natural theology.
It only works in a closed charm system. No point of contact outside of it.
No point of connection with reality.
Thus, Paul should have even bothered with the Areopagus (Acts 17)

We need to be transformed by the resurrected Jesus
There is an epistemological bridge
For Thomas
For Peter. Each time he asks Peter if he loves him, he uses a lesser intimate word. Jesus comes to Peter on his level.
For us.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events, Theology

NT Wright at Wheaton Conference Notes Post 1

April 17, 2010 By 2 Comments

As mentioned on my here and on my Facebook page, i have the good fortune of being at the Wheaton Theology Conference. This year’s focus is the theology of NT Wright and he has been joined by his friends (llike Richard Hays, Syliva Keesmat, Brian Walsjh and many more) to share, add, critique and discuss on great theological matters. It would take an enormous amount of time to summarize all of today’s comments so this post will just focus on tonight’s session which was entitled: “Jesus and the People of God: Whence and Whither Historical Jesus Studies and the Life of the Church”

He began by picking up from an earlier conversation that stated it is better to engage in the historic theological study of Jesus than not to. He then added that we as a church have been content to live with a split level of reality and that has led to a split level view of Jesus. He mentioned the work of Rudolf Bultmann and while he sharply disagreed, he enjoyed reading him. But one thing was for sure it is/was time to get back to genuine history.

What so many people like about the great theolgians is that they can inspire and discuss great theology and the great ones can make it pastoral. He mentioned that it used to be said, that it is not enough that we know who Jesus is the Savior but is he the Savior for you and me? Tonight he wanted to reverse that thought and say that it wasn’t enough that Jesus was the savior for you and me but further, who is Jesus and what he really come here to do.

Recalling his undergraduate and seminary days, he mentioned that he studied under numerous theologians who were on the one extreme and really did not believe in the historical Jesus.
They taight their students/seminarianas that Jesus could not have said this or that. Many clergy either turned off their mind and just preached a very simple gospel (which is better than nothing) and others conveyed these dangerous and terrible ideas to their congregations and asked them to help reconstruct bits and pieces of Jesus. Quoting Gazeman(?), he said, We must do the history of theology otherwise the church can be deceived.” Even more brilliant was the line from Calvin – “The human mind is a constant machine of creating idols.” This also led to the result of the Nazi’s Jesus. German theologians started creating a theology for the state, created a non-Jewish Jesus, and the bible represented their ideologies.

Oddly enough, he revaled that one of the biggest things that got him interested in the Historical Jesus literature was Jesus Christ Superstar – 1971. He was fascinated and everone in the room (like 1500) tried to picture Tom Wright not just watching JCS but loving it!! Who would have thought but it’s a good story. But this eld to the first time that he asked the question what was Jesus actually thinking about? Before considering that, he saw Jesus more like a super-natual root.

It’s a false dichotomy to go behind the text and reconstruct it and assemble a Jesus that

Not a private individual who hid away from the world. It’s not a form of gnosticism. It’s creational theology – God is coming to rescue and create it!

More later.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events, Theology

Why Go to Conferences?

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I’ve been known to attend a few conferences in my day. A couple of friends have a variety of nicknames for that – “conference junky”, “gathering groupie”, “event addict” and “brilliant mind” (the last one does not remember saying it but I’m pretty sure that’s what was said or thought, whatever). Truth is, I do try to attend live events as time and responsibility allow. Some of these events are provided for my our church and a number of them, i pay out of my own pocket. Fortunately most lectures are free and now even some events are becoming free. Like the Transform East Coast Gathering that will be in DC May 1 and 2 or Lusanne’s 12 Conversations that will be in NYC this Thursday. (There are other dates and other cities, you should check them out).

I worked with someone who explained to me that attending conferences was “just part of the fake show of everything, even in the church ministry world.” He continued, “You go, tell everybody how big your church is, they tell you that their church is bigger, they say what exciting things God is doing and then you need to keep up so you exaggerate about how exciting your ministry is … I stopped going to these stupid things.” While we all know there is truth in that (regardless of vocation), I am so glad I did not heed the advice. It could be because I attend better events ;-)

I’ll admit that I get awestruck. Yes, I did tweet that I shared an elevator with Dallas Willard (and if I get my picture taken with NT Wright again, I’ll show that off too. He’s like the Derek Jeter of theology you know). People chase down actors, rock stars, and various celebrities, I get excited over Bible nerds – I’m comfortable with that. Truth is, most of these people are really down to earth. I have found pastors of mid-size churches (not ours, he’s awesome) to carry bigger egos than some of these men and women who speak to thousands and have best selling books. But that’s another story.

For me, I want to listen to speakers, pastors, writers, theologians, and various other personalties. Some of these minds are discussing some of the most important topics of the day. Some of them are engaged in some cutting edge ideas and contexts. Some of their words have been life-changing. I will never forget listening to Mike Yaconelli say, “You always get what you get when you do what you always do.” It’ not because he passed away three days after I heard him say that, I wrote that down the second after he said it. I’ll also never forget some of moments on our seminary retreats with Andy Crouch, Larry Walker and Brian McLaren. Then there are personal encounters that won’t be mentioned because of name-dropping is a sin in these parts ;-) But there is something incredible when someone you admire gives you advice regarding your ministry and you leave the conversation knowing there was a very real possibility that they really cared about you and what they told you.

Further, I want to gather with like-minded people and hear their stories, share mine, and leave encouraged, inspired, and maybe even encourage someone else (dare I say). Though I certainly know there can be a snobbiness and a consumer mentality at some of these gatherings, you also get to bump into some truly amazing people. It’s hard to keep in touch with people and build life-long relationships (although Facebook has made things easier), but for me, it’s so good to sit next to a fellow youth pastor who believes in the importance of communicating good theology to teenagers. It’s good to sit next to another pastor that understands that our self-absorption is in part, contributing to some terrible global crisis.

Anyway, conferences, lectures, and other gatherings have proven to be a very good thing for my soul, marriage and family, and ministry. I look forward to future gatherings and maybe even meeting you there. It’s not become a normal occurrence to say or be told, “Hey, I follow you on Twitter…”

Next for me is the NT Wright Conference in Wheaton and Q in Chicago. Aside from connecting in O’Hare, I’ve never been to the great land of Sufjan (Come on Feel the IlliNoise!).  This month, I’ll be there twice. Looking forward to it.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events

Reflecting on the Ecclessia Gathering One Month Later – The Results Do Not Depend On Us – Post 3

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One of the main themes that Dallas kept reminding us was in the simple statement, “The results do not depend on us”. It could have been my imagination but it seemed that every time he made an allusion to that, the room winced. I did because that line has a spiritual older cousin – the “Give it to God” cliche. Only it isn’t a cliche when Willard mentions it.

Shane Hipps said something similar regarding his preaching during one of his presentations at Poets, Prophets and Preachers in Grand Rapids last year. He preaches it, leaves the words and doesn’t think about them the rest of the afternoon. From the illustration he wanted to use (“Forget about it”), the awkward wording (“Don’t regret about it), the key line that he had been waiting all week to say (“Well there’s next week”). He said he is allowing himself to enjoy the freedom of releasing the message and allowing the Spirit and hearts to work.

I, of course, find it compelling to feel that way.

The results-problem is not a new thought for anyone. I know I have spent a lot of time throughout my 10 years of ministry dwelling on this very point. How do I release it without getting lazy? How do I care without caring so much? Was Jesus not disheartened when the crowds rejected His words or was the line “He who has ears, let him hear” really enough to release Him from the results?

I remember hearing an older, well-season pastor say to me, “If the people didn’t like Jesus’ sermons, I’m not going to feel bad if they don’t like mine”. I thought, “Well you should because I’ve heard you preach – the sermons suck.” But instead I said something like, “People don’t tell you negative feedback because they are afraid of you. So yeah technically, you are not focused on the results.” Then I ran because I knew I was much faster than he was. Kidding, kidding sorta …

There is a skeptical nature that I have towards Dallas’ words. We all know of a church that enables its pastors because he’s getting people down the aisle or he’s getting the new education wing built or whatever result justifies inappropriate behavior. Missional pastors who try to avoid these types of standards tend to focus on subjective matters like feedback that reflects actions of a transformed heart or the support of a others-centered project. These are arguably our altar calls and education wings. I’m not saying this is wrong, I am just looking in the mirror and finding the obstructions in my vision.

If I being completely honest, my cynicism can even be directed to a personal hero like Dallas. “It’s easy to say that you the results do not not depend on us when you are a sought after speaker and your publisher worries if the book doesn’t sell 50,000 copies. You worry about which speaking engagements to reject, I worry that “my audience” won’t come back next week.”

Further, this post can easily get into the unfair standards that pastors are often judged (as I just demonstrated three short paragraphs ago ;-). But this is precisely what Willard’s wisdom is offering to help. Realizing the results do not depend on us as pastors becomes an issue of submission and trust in the Holy Spirit. How do we prevent from becoming lazy and unattached? My best answer is as we live Spirit-led lives following Jesus, we live faithfully to the calling we have received. While this does not mean that one should allow themselves to be abused by the church, it does confirm that we are intentionally focused on living a life that prioritizes pleasing the Father over people.

So, as it is true for all of us in our various vocations, callings and walks of life – may the Lord judge us with justice and mercy as we walk humbly before Him.

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Reflective

Reflecting on the Ecclessia Gathering One Month Later – Post 2- Willard and Discipleship

March 22, 2010 By 1 Comment

As mentioned in post 1, like so many, I have a high regard for Dallas Willard. How an 74 year old man refreshes these words to a 33 year old is amazing to me. Yeah, he’s on a high pedestal for me (and many others) but it’s not without good reason. As I have been processing this throughout Lent, the themes of Discipleship and Evangelism have repeatedly come up in my church community, seminary to some extent, and in my own mind. Discipleship is a term I have always been endeared to. I am sure I have said numerous times, “We need disciples, not just converts.” which depending on the attitude towards Evangelism can also sound like, “We don’t need anymore new Christians until we fix the old bad ones.” Perhaps that is a bit overstated but you get the picture.

Once in a job interview, I was asked to define discipleship. I said something like, “Christian Discipleship is the Spirit-led, lifelong process of following and becoming more like Jesus to give glory to the Father.” I threw her off at Spirit-led. I think my next response was, “No I do not think anyone would accuse of being “charismatic” in worship expression sense.” The next question was, “What is your discipleship program in your youth ministry look like?” I went on to explain that incorporating the themes of worship, learning, serving and creating community in youth ministry is discipleship. She asked, “Yeah but what program do you use?”. By then I knew i wouldn’t get the job.

When I listen to Dallas talk, I regret that I am not able to recreate his holistic (overused term) approach of terms like discipleship and evangelism to the scope of the Christian life. What does my/our evangelism program look like? Given my aversion to “programs” (Evangelism Explosion!), I hope it’s the practice of living and proclaiming the gospel in our everyday life. Indeed, sometimes it’s overt and sometimes it isn’t. It’s interesting to examine Jesus in the Gospels – like John 6 is very overt (“I am the bread of life …”, many left) & John 8′s woman caught in adultery (“Go and leave your life of sin”) or even more, John 9′s healing of the blind man, (“Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam”).

Umm, where are the altar calls? Why aren’t Peter and John singing, “I Surrender All”? How about a pledge card so someone call follow up or something? Is that really “evangelism” – just going around helpin’ & healin’ people? Hmmm.

The question of “What is the Gospel and its lower case younger sibling, “What is the gospel” (maybe more on that another time) are questions and thoughts that have occupied a lot of thought and conversations, including my senior pastor. I continue to be grateful that we serve together as bring our own emphases to such important the conversations. One thing that was renewed to me at Ecclessia is that these conversations need to be more in the forefront of my ministry.

Part 3 is about not relying on ourselves and the work of the Holy Spirit. Should have it posted later this week. As always, thanks for reading.

Filed Under: Christianity, Conferences/Events, Reflective

Reflecting on the Ecclessia Gathering 1 Month Later – Post 1

March 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A month ago, I attended the Ecclessia Gathering in Chevy Chase Maryland. While I had heard about it for a few years, it was my first time there and was grateful that a good friend made it possible for me to attend.
However, the timing was especially terrible for me. I had just returned from our Sr. High Winter Retreat (which went very well), was missing my family (who are fabulous) and was still recovering from my stolen Macbook and various other complications (which is life). I went for two reasons, as much as I missed my wife and kids, I needed a few days away, and two, Dallas Willard.

Like probably everyone at Ecclessia, The Divine Conspiracy was life-altering for me. What New Kind of Christian and Postmodern Youth Ministry was for me in my mid-twenties, Divine … was for me in my college years. I’d say now that God used New Kind and PYM to “save” me in ministry and that He used DC to save my understanding of Jesus and thus, my theology.

Divine Conspiracy came at an important time for me. It was further aided by the preaching of Pastor Mark at the Grace Church in Lynchburg, VA. He referenced Willard and Foster a lot and I am pretty sure the entire church was reading them as part of his influence. I remember leaving Grace naively thinking, “Yeah, churches read the same books as their pastors.” Uhh no, not so much. Now I think he should lead a conference on that – lol. Anyway, Willard is the man.

But he doesn’t act like the man and that’s why he’s the man. He’s a tender older gentleman in his mid-seventies, speaks lowly, slowly and sincerely. He doesn’t speak with a lot of persona but you tune in because the content of his message his anchored in wisdom. You also can’t help but listen to him and think, “His grandkids must love him.”

I’ve been looking over my notes as part of my Lenten reflections and am in the process of reflecting longer on the notes I take from conferences, school of course, and life in general and here are a few observations that have either remained in my mind or have been difficult to dismiss a month later.

In addition to Dallas, there was another pair of main presenters and they were the incredible couple, Bob & Mary Hopkins. They are considered to be the pioneers of church planting of the last 30 years in Europe. To quote from the conference program, their project Fresh Expressions “is an Anglican church-sanction movement that encourages new forms of church for a fast changing world …” creative expressions were very helpful for me. While it is true everywhere, being in the northeast, I think all of us need to reimagine different expressions of church-life.

Here’s a few things that I really appreciated:
“God so loved the world that He acted.” – Have we as a Church acted enough? When we have acted, how have we done in terms of the Kingdom? And probably my best question is “Have I acted goldy  Have we as a community acted God-like?”  Most of us know that this is only possible through the work of the Holy Spirit, which brings up another set of questions, among them simply, “Are we Spirit-led Christians or just people who call themselves Christian?”

I’ve also been trying to consider the “4 Spaces of Belonging”
Intimate space – accountability
Personal space – small groups (you thought I was going to write “personal one on one time with God didn’t you?)
Social space – mid-size community
Public space – celebration

I’m still working on these but find myself thinking a lot about them in relation to my current ministry.

Reading the culture and finding gospel connections. Know your gospel …

I hope to post on Willard’s and others’ thoughts later this week.  In the meantime, you can check out what other pastor-bloggers wrote here.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events, Reflective

Reflecting on Don Miller's Million Miles Book Tour in NYC

October 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Last night Tim Nye and I headed into the city to catch Don Miller on his A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life book tour.  It was quite an evening.  Heading into the city during rush-hour, I  skillfully weaved in and out of the traffic, dodging cabbies, flying across bridges, darting through tunnels, I made record time to the address I put into the GPS.  Unfortunately I ended up on the wrong borough (Don’t ask, it was the stupid GPS.)  But as fate would have it, Don Miller waited for us as we arrived during the intermission between him and Susan Isaacs (we heard she was very funny).

While I have always been a bit unsettled by “Christian celebrity”, I find Don to not have let his success get the best of him.  It did bother me that there was a charge for the book tour but I’m guessing that’s a publisher trying to recoup costs.  And in fairness, him and his team are traveling for 3 months.  All in all, I do like the concept of the book tour.  While I’m probably less inclined to pay money to hear most authors, I guess Don is among those I would.  In any case, I do appreciate these moments as they often help me appreciate the book more. It was a great night.  I’m glad I went.  I even bought the book again and asked Don to write a note to my wife who was too pregnant to attend.  In fact, she’s too pregnant to travel, sit, sleep, eat, breath but baby boy is coming Monday. It’s foreordained. Btw, my few moments with Don was very warm.

Here are the notes I took. I offer them with two bits of encouragement

1. Pick up the book.  He’s a gifted writer with sharp insights regarding life.  With gifted story-telling, humor, and short chapters, Don may be the only reason for you to ever consider going into a Christian bookstore.  If that sort of thing frightens you, his books are sold at every Barnes & Noble, Borders and of course, Amazon.com.  This was his first book in three years.  Though he is under contract, he told the story of how he told his publisher that he needed to change his life in order to write a better story.  Initially they weren’t happy with him then but I’m sure they are now.

2. If he comes to your city, you should check him out.  Click here for the rest of his tour schedule.

———-

What makes a good story is what’s good in life.  What makes a story meaningful is what’s meaningful in life.

He attended a Robert McKee seminar on story.  It’s like a bootcamp for novelists, screen-writers, anyone trying to learn what makes a good story.

Story has to have a narrative context to make sense. There is no stoppage to tell the moral of the story (like how we do on Sundays).

One of the key features of a good story is that it contains a character that wants something that has to overcome conflict to get it.

It takes a special charcater to do it.

He/she “must save a cat”.  meaning must do something worthy for us to like him.
Example: The most recent Rocky movie.  There is nothing that is going to move an audience if he simply wins the fight.  In fact, we may perceive a movie about that has selfish.  But we care about the outcome of the movie because we like the character, Rocky.  We have journey with him through the conflict of losing Adrian, helping others like a single mom and her troubled son.  We’ve witnessed him adopt a dog, an ugly dog and eventually he has won us over. (Miller said all of this as a point of reference, as opposed to Citizen Kane.  Most people have either seen Rocky or know the basic plot line.)

A character is only what they do.
Not what they want to do, who they they think they are.  You can’t see a character’s dreams and ambitions, you only get to see what they are doing (what’s told to you) in the story. It’s based on actions.

In a story you have to show it.  Like when Rocky drives the single mother home.  The scene has an element of sexual tension and as he walks her up to her door, he leans over …. and changes out the light bulb that had gone out.  This does not advance the plot nor helps him win the fight but makes for a better character and which leads to a more beautiful story.

The character has to want something.  Has to desire something.

We are programmed into thinking that there is not supposed to be conflict in life.
We are often told conflict isn’t supposed to exist.  It’s the result of the fall but this is not true.
Consider Genesis 2, there is conflict.
The conflict is that God says that Adam was lonely.
He is feeling emotions he does not want to feel.
And God creates Eve.

Where do we get this message that there is not supposed to be conflict in life?
Often Jesus becomes a product that is going to complete our lives and get rid of all conflict.
Don does this funny bit about a Christian infomercial with Paul and another with Peter.  Repeating it in a blog post will not do it justice.  The medium is the message you know ;-)

We long for climax.

But the climax is not Jesus.
Climax is not Conversion as advertised.  It’s not encountering Jesus.
The Act III Climax is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb
We are in the middle of Act II.

When you are scared of something, you will encounter beauty.
Don tells the story of meeting his dad for the first time. In fact it was a bit awkward because he had just written a book about growing up without a dad. It was a moving story of pain and forgiveness.

He told another about bike-riding across the country (for Blood: Water Mission) and being at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
There he is inspired by Victor Frankl.  Having been captured in a concentration camp and witnessed the death of his family, he encourages his fellow suicidal prisoners to continue living for the sake of meaning.  “If you could desire to starve yourself or to be beaten to death, instead of taking your own life, then you would tell the world for generations the account of the evil that we have suffered.”

Freud says that we live for the sake of pleasure.
But it’s those like Frankl who are right – It’s meaning we need.
We turn to pleasure when we cannot find meaning.  We turn to pleasure to numb ourselves.

The challenge in life is to tell better stories with our lives.

Find better better desires, no one can stop you from creating life.

Filed Under: Conferences/Events Tagged With: ,
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