Meet Shaun King, serial entrepreneur for Jesus

My sense is the story of Shaun King is just in it’s earliest chapters but already it’s worth telling. I first met him four years ago when he came to us to be assessed for church planting. His dream was to plant in inner city Atlanta where he grew up. The first thing that set him apart was that he had a powerful death to life testimony. Our assessment team unanimously recommended him but I think it’s fair to say we wondered if he was a right fit for our system. No doubt in our minds that he’d succeed but perhaps there was the thought that our system would stifle him. Months later, via his magic with social media and the grace of God, he became our largest launch to date, over 600 on his first Sunday at Courageous Church.

Those of us who played even a small part in that beemed with pride. His success gave him leaway to buck the system a bit… I remember he riled our feathers when he noted publicly our meetings were too white and the speakers on our platforms were all white. A few years after that smoke cleared I can report our meetings are less white.

Shaun is a social media specialist and he raised massive amount of money for Haiti and got thousands of tents sent there. In the earliest days he somehow directed search and rescue efforts via Twitter from his home in Atlanta – no kidding, U.S. relief ships were following his leads to hurting people, doctors in the US were being directed to specific people in specific places. Shaun appeared on many national news and morning shows. There is a similar story to tell about his work helping the Atlanta Flood Victims. Those of us who’ve been following him on Facebook and Twitter grew to look forward to his updates loving how he just said what needed to be said. Things like; “Note to Donors: Please do not donate your dirty draws & bras. I will have a scientist from GA Tech run a DNA scan & twitter your name.”

In March of this year he felt led to make a radical shift in his church. He announced in a few weeks he’d preach his last sermon at the church. It wasn’t because he was leaving the church. It was because he was changing his church and focusing on three causes instead of church just being about pulling off Sunday morning services.  I’ll repost his comments here because they are worth reading.

Currently, the overwhelming percentage of our time, energy, skills, budget, and creativity are spent preparing for Sunday morning services, getting people to our Sunday services, and getting them to volunteer for our Sunday morning services.  I love what we do on Sunday morning. I love preaching and it is one of my primary gifts.  I love our worship team, our breakfast, our volunteers.  Our church is growing.

However, 5 things have convinced me that this extreme emphasis on Sunday morning is not the will of God for our church.

1. Our city is falling apart in painful ways that break God’s heart.  Atlanta is now the nation’s hub for child sex trafficking.  We have one of the highest teen incarceration rates in the nation.  Our education system in Atlanta is beyond broken.  In the face of these things, the church continues to preach and sing, but kids keep getting sold to perverts for sex.

If James 1:27 is true and “Authentic faith in the eyes of God is caring for widows and orphans” then I declare that our church will have authentic faith and have hands and feet that address these issues.  Right now, our church, like most American churches, as Rick Warren said “Is one big mouth”.

2. As I read the Gospels and see Jesus, I am increasingly stumped how we determined sermons and songs are what makes us most like Him.   I am not saying we do away with them, but we preach and sing too much and serve and love in radical ways far too little.  The answer is not to add love on top of the sermons and songs, but to decrease the sermons and songs and increase the service and love to create a balance that looks like the life of Jesus.

3. This week I was able to meet with a personal hero of mine and he said something to me that was shocking.  One of the best preachers in the world, he leads one of the largest churches in the country.  He told me, “At this point in my life I have preached thousands of sermons and I am not even sure what they mean to God, but nothing makes me feel more alive and like I am nailing God’s will like caring for foster children.  I can point my finger in the Bible and say yes – this is what God wants.”

For me, I do not want to wait another twenty years to come to this conclusion.  I do not want to wait until our entire church is built around my sermons (as it is becoming) and then conclude that it may or may not be what most honors God.  I’d rather go for it now.

4. Anybody that ever heard the vision of Courageous Church before we launched in January of 2009, knows that our vision was to never become a Sunday morning machine, but this is what we have become and we do it well.  A real temptation exists to keep chugging along, do it like other churches do it, and try to forget the original vision of Courageous Church to take bold leaps of faith to bring about real change in peoples lives, in our city and in the world.

Most of our time is now spent thinking about the arrangement of chairs, the execution of payroll, the brightness of the lights, the printing of the announcements, the lyrics on the screens, the pitch from the mics, and in the midst of all of this – I confess that people have been hurt in the process.  We created a church to love God and love people and in the busy-ness of it all – people that we cared about were neglected and forgotten. I won’t do it this way another day.

5. I feel like this is what God wants for Courageous Church.

Rather than meet weekly on Sunday mornings, Shaun broke things down into three discipleship groups that met around three causes; child trafficking, education and caring for widows. The Cause Groups would meet twice a month, the entire church would re-gather once a month for a Festival.

In all my years of church planting and training church planters I have said a thousand times, we don’t build churches on or around a cause – we build a church on Jesus. For sure this is what Shaun was seeking to do. Even so, Shaun is spot on when it comes to pointing out (what I’ve been calling) the theotainment model of the mega-church today is probably not what Jesus wanted us to build. I’ve long maintained that the church is a community and that causes are the domain of the parachurch. Shaun makes me rethink that.

In case you are wondering, Shaun’s experiment didn’t work. He faced perhaps the roughest summer of his life as his church sought to transition into these uncharted waters. Last month Shaun announced that since the bulk of the families in the church wanted to return to the traditional model, he would transition himself out of leadership. Here’s part of what he had to say in his announcement:

I thank God that I am not stepping down in shame or scandal, but it is clear that God is calling Rai and I to take our family in a direction that is just significantly different than what most in the church are asking for.  Over the past 6 months I have taken Courageous Church down a difficult, counter-cultural road in an earnest attempt at building true disciples.  It’s been rough.  All but a few families are now yearning to go back to a traditional Sunday focused system and I am sure that I am not the person to lead you there.

Those of us who assess church planters know it’s often more insightful to talk to the guys wife if you want the real scoop. Here’s what Shaun’s wife Rai had to say about leaving Courageous Church. You’ll have a hard time finding anything more honest about being a pastors/church planters wife. My o my o my o my, it’s the perfect thing to read here on this last day of “Pastor Appreciation Month.” Made me wonder what my wife would write if someone asked her honest feelings about the state of the church.

The last couple months Shaun’s been writing about giving away everything he owns, 1000 books, his new ipad, his bed…. everything. This is the first time I’ve ever voiced this but I’ll say it here, every serious follower of Jesus would do well to walk away from everything they own at least once to follow Jesus. I’ve given away my retirement three times and gobs of other things and dollars and certainly there was a time when I had nothing that wouldn’t fit in my car, but never have I walked away from everything. I do believe these are days to live a wartime lifestyle - living only on what we need and giving the rest where it’s most needed.

Shaun wrote a fascinating article on when a leader loses his mojo. He likens himself to Obama in that regard – at the top of his game just a couple years ago, now a fog has set in and it’s better to pull over if you can’t see where you are going.

Don’t think for a moment Shaun now lacks vision. After living his entire life in inner city Atlanta, this week he drove his family to California where they will live for an undetermined period of time before he and a team move to Africa – the suffering in Somalia has gripped his heart. And he’s climbing the worlds seven great mountains of need. Check that out here TellTheMountainToMove. You can read his next steps here.

C. Peter Wagner statement on the New Apostolic Reformation

THE NEW APOSTOLIC REFORMATION
An Update
 
C. Peter Wagner, Ph.D.
 
            Surprisingly, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has recently become a topic of discussion in the political media. I noticed some mention of it in connection with Sarah Palin’s run for Vice-President, but I considered it relatively insignificant.

John Stott: Don’t look at me, look at Christ

John Stott’s repeated exhortation when preaching was “Don’t look at me, look at Christ.” Every preacher, song leader and musician needs to write that phrase in the margin of their message notes and chord sheets every weekend. People ought to walk away with His name on their lips, not yours.

In his new little book “It’s not business, it’s personal” Bob Sorge writes about how ministers and musicians get in between Jesus and his Bride the Church. In a chapter called “Scoring with the Bride” he addresses ministers and musicians who feed off her praise and seek out her affections. Imagine if you were asked to serve my bride and you were teasing her affections off of ME and on to YOU. No doubt, Jesus our Bridegroom God has an issue with those who steal away the affections of his Bride.

Bob Sorge says many times he walks away from speaking and prays: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, and deliver me from this tendency to present myself in such a way that the Bride takes notice of me and my service to her. After I’ve spent an evening with your Bride, I don’t want my name to be on her lips. I want her talking about You.”

Can we get away from these platform-driven performances and smoke shows where the clamor in the hallways is “wow, that guy always hits a homerun.” Same with music ministry as people leave going… “wow, what a voice, I hope she puts that on CD.”

Dog Days: How to Persevere in Extended Seasons

Those living here in the upper midwest can identify with extended seasons— today is April 20 and it snowed a couple days ago. Many here want it to warm up because it has been cold long enough. I’m a four season guy with fall being my favorite season. Living where it’s hot year round sounds horrible to me. People visit us here in South Dakota and comment on the nasty weather and I tell them it’ll change tomorrow because it always does. I like short seasons and get discouraged in extended seasons.

An extended season is a period of time that extends beyond the point in which you thought it should end. Surely you can relate to things taking longer than anticipated. Surely you can relate to thinking you’d be further along than you are right now.

Psalm 40:17 says “O my God, do not delay.” This is one of the great cries of the Bible… How long O Lord? How long?  On occasion I joke how God is never late but that he sure misses a million opportunities to be early.  Frankly I wonder sometimes if God isn’t waiting on us more often than we are waiting on him. When we look back, as the saying goes, time seems to fly. However when we are in the moment, the dog days seem to drag on. This post is about doing the dog days well.

The phrase “dog days” actually goes back to the Graeco-Roman period. Plato used the Latin term diēs caniculārēs or dog days. The ancients noticed the hot weather and associated it with the star Sirius (prominent in July and August). The Sirius star, dog star, is the basis for the Canis Major Constellation (Large Dog). The Romans sacrificed a dog to appease the rage of Sirius. Wikipedia tells us the dog daies were “believed to be a time when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad and all creatures became languid, causing man burning fevers, hysterics and phrensies.”

Today we know that when winter drags on, or summer seems forever, there aren’t gods to appease. However there is much that God is developing in us during these extended seasons which are common both to the spiritual life of an individual and church community.

Extended seasons can be brutal on us as we wrestle through 1) discontentment, 2) unmet expectations, 3) impatience, 4) a sick heart from deferred hope, 5) doubts about ourselves, doubts about God and his Promises, 6) apathy and 7) faith that wanes. Extended seasons are times when 8 ) negativity and criticism creep in and we more easily turn on one another.

James 1:3-4 says “Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.” As much as we might wish an extended season would end, it is important that what God is doing in us is completed. Galatians 6:9 says “Don’t weary in well doing for we will reap a harvest in due season if we do not give up.” We can forfeit all God has for us when we don’t stay the course. In Matthew 25:5, the Bridegroom was a long time coming and those waiting became drowsy and fell asleep. Extended seasons are times when all can be lost.

The Bible really offers no insight into how to fast forward through a season that drags on and on. However, there is much in the Word of God on how to persevere through extended seasons. Here are a few thoughts…

Seasons are pregnant, don’t abort them. When we study times and seasons in the Word of God we find ourselves sorting through chronos and kairos time. Chronos is time measured by a clock or calendar. Kairos times are those seasons when God breaks in. When I say “seasons are pregnant” I’m referring to how the Bible speaks of “the fullness of time.” An extended season is a gestation period for what God is producing in us. An extended season is actually a mercy as God gives us additional moments to come into maturity.

Romans 5:3-5 says “Perseverance produces character, character produces hope.” The point is that these times produce something– something is coming forth from these times making it worthwhile to persevere. There is character development needed before we move into the next season. It’s too late to lay a foundation after the building is built. There is no turning the clock back later making now the time to develop godly character.

Boycotting winter is an exercise in futility as it changes nothing. In an extended season, stay out of futility. Futility is something that is incapable of producing a result. The Bible talks about the “futility of their years” and “futile thinking” (Ephesians 4:17). Extended seasons can be productive seasons if our focus is right.

A Severe Mercy in the passing of ARC’s Apostle… Billy Hornsby 1949-2011

Last night at 9:44pm, Billy Hornsby met Jesus. Big win for him and major major loss for so many of us who’ve known him as friend, mentor and father and as the pioneer and founder of our church planting movement – Association of Related Churches.  In 2010, a melanoma cancerous growth on his foot spread to his spine and in January of this year it went to his brain.

Seacoast’s Geoff Surratt had this to say: @GeoffSurratt If you want to know what it means to leave a legacy, search “Billy Hornsby” on Twitter//such an amazing man

If you do that, and on Facebook, you’ll see the likes of people all over the world honoring him – from Brian Houston of Hillsong Australia to Larry Stockstill of Bethany to Rick Warren of Saddleback to John Maxwell of EQUIP. Mostly what you’ll find are church planters like me from all over the world saying things like what my friend Dominic Suazo said… @billyhornsby I will always remember you my friend. You believed in me when others didn’t. You changed my life. This is a common sentiment from many who Billy has helped become the leaders in some of today’s most successful and fastest growing life-giving churches… @billyhornsby believed in me during a dark time in my life. From a variety of ecclesiastical streams now flow prayers and concern like this… Much love to my ARC friends on the passing of their Apostle.  Interesting choice of words and spot on.

Billy took me into his family and that means he considered me a son, he introduced me to everyone he knows and taught me something unknown in denominational accountability systems… spiritual fathering that is based on relationships and love. He made time for me, invited me and my wife into his home, on hunts, on trips – he visited us here in our home and church. And I do actually think he wanted to come see me more than just the fact that I could introduce him to a rising cloud of South Dakota pheasants. A great memory is Thanksgiving a handful of years ago when he and son-in-law Pastor Chris Hodges came up to hunt – we got hammered by a snowstorm and ended up stranded in the Kelly Inn in Mitchell. The power went out that night so Billy’s C-PAP machine wouldn’t work. All that meant the three of us just talked and dreamed and encouraged each other – the ARC Assessment process was birthed that night.

I appreciate Billy believing in my Momentum book and writing for it and getting copies to everyone in the ARC church planting network. He handed out my books at our Church Planting Roundtables. He trusted me to establish the assessment structure ARC uses to discern who God is leading to plant future ARC churches. Billy asked me to meet up with him in Pensacola to help start the Globe School of Ministry, and he asked me many times to help him write books and articles. He introduced me to people who are today my closest friends, even opening up doors for me in Europe where Billy was the European coordinator for EQUIP’s Million Leader Mandate.  Billy would even call when he was out speaking and ask me to fax him my thoughts as if I were speaking in that venue.  I did, and I’m not sure he used them- but wow does that make one feel valued. On occasion when we needed it, he and Charlene sent my wife flowers, coffee gift packages, and took us to great restaurants. He ministered to me and invited me to be with him in Birmingham after my mom died. In part he helped fill a dad-gap in my life after my dad died. A full-blood cajun, Billy taught me how to, pardon me, “suck some heads” and gobble down jambalaya and savor beignets. He rarely spoke without first telling a Boudreaux and Thibodeaux joke – we already know the mantle on that is now fully on Pastor Chris. I have a great memory of Billy picking up my guitar and making my daughter blush by singing her a country music song.  He was actually very good and could have easily put out a CD.

I’ll be honest now, in the last few years I know Billy struggled with my political and pro-life involvements.  In 2007 he called me at 6:30 in the morning and told me God gave him a scripture and a word for me and he’s been up praying for me since 4am. I thanked him for letting me sleep a couple more hours. He said God gave him Deuteronomy 11:24 where God said… “Every place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from the desert of Lebanon, and from the Euphrates River to the Western Sea. No one will be able to stand against you.”

Billy said he felt God was saying to me… I’ll give you all this territory, and with relative ease, but the relative ease part of this promise is only good as long you as you stay within the borders of the territory I’m giving you – he said… notice God was giving him territory within established boundaries – i.e. from the Euphrates to the Western Sea. Billy said he fears the pummeling I’ve taken in my pro-life and political involvements may be due to those areas not being within the borders of “my territory.”  His admonition was to get with God and discern my borders.  Kristen and I felt like we did that and obviously, I’m pretty involved politically. I think about this a lot. Maybe Billy felt like I made a choice between more involvement in ARC which he was asking for and the “political way.” Even so, when I ran for Congress he was very supportive and wrote… this all amazes me. (When I get home I’ll dig out his exact statement of support.)

Eight weeks ago ARC and Church of the Highlands put this tribute together to honor him. I regret big-time that I was too busy in the legislature at that time to contribute to this tribute when I was asked – the request got buried at that time along with other stuff. I’ll look for a link of a message he gave here at Church at the Gate on relating to people in a life-giving way – it was vintage Billy Hornsby and it still has life-life-life on it and his life anointing all over it.  His most recent book is hot off the press and you can read his comments on that here or you can buy a copy here.  Here is a brief statement from Pastor Chris referring to arrangements for the memorial service at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham.

We are praying for Charlene, Pastor Chris Hodges and of course his wife Tammy, and his other daughters and grandkids and all the ARC staff and Lead Team. Billy and Charlene have been in love since childhood and they shared the most amazing marriage I’ve ever witnessed. When my dad died before my terminally-ill mom died I said it was a C.S. Lewis style “Severe Mercy” that God took him first as his last conversation with me included the statement… “I can’t bear to lose your mom, I’m addicted to her.”  Charlene has also had numerous recent bouts with cancer (she’s been healed of it many times over many years but again is struggling – here is a precious youtube clip where they are talking about all this together) and Kristen and I have wondered many times what Billy will do without her.  Again it seems a severe mercy to me that God took him first.

I really look forward to being in Baton Rouge in a couple weeks for our annual family reunion – and you are invited! – surely this will be a great time to celebrate a great life.

Do you suppose Billy is right now talking with Noah about how to really build an ARC that God will use to save the world?

UPDATE 1: A memorial service to celebrate Billy’s life will be held at Church of the Highlands on Monday, March 28, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. CDT. In lieu of flowers we are asking that donations in Billy Hornsby’s name be made to the Association of Related Churches (ARC), www.arcchurches.com, a non-profit ministry which trains, resources and supports church planters.

UPDATE 2: ARC just put up some pics and video clips of Billy.

UPDATE 3: This is a must see and well worth the 13 minutes of time it takes to watch it… Billy’s last public appearance and message to us all.

 

Grounded: Timely Exposition of the Life & Letters of Peter the Rock

This weekend, January 2, I am excited to begin a series I have been working on for some time. Here’s a preview…

To a young person, grounded for life sounds like harsh punishment. Those who go a bit further in life know how important it is to be grounded. More and more, even in the church, people are tossed about by every wind and wave—following feelings, fads and chasing after fringe unorthodoxies.

Simon, Cephas and Petros are Aramaic and Greek names that all mean the same thing… rock or stone. And all three of these are names for the disciple (and later apostle) known today as Peter. Frankly, it’s an interesting name for one who, at least in his early years, was anything but a picture of stability. His over-eagerness, immaturity and mistakes make him the disciple with whom we can most easily empathize. Yet he became a rock during the foundational period of the church and the initial wave of tribulation that came against the followers of Christ. Each of the four gospels, as well as the book of Acts, set forth his life as a witness to us. His letters, 1 & 2 Peter, comprise exhortations for us as “living stones” to be grounded, especially in anticipation of the end times.

The first weeks and months of a New Year are key times to get grounded which is why Pastor Steve is focusing in this season on the theme grounded—based on the life and letters of Peter the Rock. In a weekend message series that is at the same time both a character study and a book study, it will become clear why Jesus said: “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” – Matthew 16:18

New book: The Spirit of Adoption

Last week I was excited to get an advance copy of a new book written by my friends Randy and Kelsey Bohlender, The Spirit of Adoption: Winning the Battle for the Children.  The book is now in and can be ordered here.  A group study guide is in the works.

Randy and Kelsey have shared the adoption message a couple times in our church and each time they’ve come, people adopt more children, and people give lots of money for others to adopt more children. Kristen and I are delighted to see that they have taken the time to put, in book form, the anointing they walk in so strongly… the Spirit of Adoption.  They make the case that, as the positive alternative to abortion, “adoption is the next frontier for those who call themselves pro-life.” As a couple who has devoted years to contending for the plight of the unborn, the Bohlender’s have noticed… “while the church has been highly vocal in it’s opposition to abortion, it has largely failed to think about what it means if we get our way.”

“If we overturned Roe v. Wade tomorrow, what would happen to those 4500 babies born each day?“

The Bohlender’s are asking, will “the Church step up to the task of caring for the orphan, the cast off ones, the unwanted…. the harder question was would we?”  When Kristen and I first met Randy and Kelsey a few years ago, God did something in my heart… I had to repent of my increasingly frequent empty nest fantasies. (We have two kids lefts at home, a junior and a senior in high school.) Kristen and I enrolled in foster parenting that next fall and took an unwed mom and new baby into our home. I’m sure that’s just the beginning.

Lou Engle’s zeal for LIFE oozes in the foreword he wrote for this book.  He sets the book in the broader context of what God is doing raising up a new army of rescuers. He comments on how the Bohlender’s own adoption story is “off the charts.” That story is woven throughout the book and if you haven’t heard it yet it alone is worth the price of the book.

The Spirit of Adoption is a crash course in one of the central burdens God is laying on the church in this hour. The Bohlender’s make the case Biblically that the nearer we get to the end of the age – wars, earthquakes, and judgments that kill masses of people – “this will lead to a huge number of orphans wandering the face of the earth, looking for a home.”

Equally sobering are the chapters where the Bohlender’s alert us to the others that are vying for the unwanted children of the world – the sex trade and the homosexual community. The mandate of God for the church to step up to the plate comes through loud and clear in these pages. There is an open challenge here for lawyers, social workers, doctors, and others to join forces to make adoptions happen. The reality of the high cost of adoption, and not just the financial cost, is addressed.

And, those of you who still have no true grasp of the fact that YOU are adopted into God’s family will see that matter is settled in this book – the Great Finalization… “for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Romans 8:14-15)

Randy blogs here and has a recent post on adoption here.  He and Kelsey founded the Zoe Foundation which promotes adoption as a positive alternative to abortion.  They have seven kids (3 adopted) and are intercessory missionaries at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.

Praising mother nature for the oil spill dissipation

Been busy- so, this is a week late and my friend Father Timothy Fountain beat me to the punch. I’ve noted several times on my other blog that we are praying for God’s mercy in the Gulf with regard to the oil spill. This is the jist of the prayer I’ve posted a couple times already and have been praying publicly and privately:

We are praying fervently that God would have mercy on us in relation to the BP oil spill in the Gulf; specifically that he’d release wisdom to plug the leak and creative technologies to clean it up, and that he’d expose what he needs to expose right now in our hearts and especially in our corporate and national leaders.

Now the New York Times reports the oil spill is vanishing fast. Apparently God has been answering our prayers in a way far beyond what we can ask or imagine. One of the main causes of the dissipation is the presence of oil eating bacteria in the Gulf water. In response to that news Father Tim posts…  “Dare I say that lots of people have been praying?“  In the comment string following Father Tim’s post, our yet unbelieving far far left of center friend Cory at Madville Times writes… “Tim, is that headline saying what I think it’s saying?“  Father Tim responds in part in this way:

Cory – people of faith will consider unexpected improvement a blessing and an answer to prayer. Favorable natural phenomena and successful human effort are not ignored – in fact they are the primary means through which God would be understood to answer prayer in most faith traditions.

Cory thanked him and noted that was the thoughtful answer he was looking for. Here was my contribution to the discussion:

Tim – You beat me to it on this post. I’ve been busy, but not to busy to notice all those who are now praising mother nature, micro-bacteria and the tiniest members of the ecosystem! And who can we thank for that perfectly ordered natural healing design? That’s right… Darwin! O wait, he’s dead.  I lack the blind faith the evolutionists possess… and I chuckle when people praise the ecosystem instead of the one who ordered it perfectly. I can’t even look at a tiny little bird without thinking of the stunning foolishness of those who swallow the dangerous delusion that it is a product of uber-billions of years of unguided random mutations. [It's dangerous because the ideology devalues human life and holocausts and genocide have been the historical result of the deception that some are more human than others - and that only the more fit should be allowed to survive. And, teaching it to kids communicates they are accidental, just the next random mutation, and we have no intrinsic value. Cory will likely take these words and try to make a campaign issue out of them for me. I think we ought to teach evolution as one of the theories explaining origins and point out it's both unproven and flawed.]

I am grateful for the legislators in LA who, painfully aware of the arrogant emptiness of the ideas of man, had the humility and wisdom to ask for Divine Aid.  [It would now be appropriate for a Louisiana legislator to call for a Day of Thanksgiving in gratitude to God for saving us from ourselves. If it's appropriate for us to bestow our gratitude and honor any earthly scientist for their great contribution, it's appropriate to thank and give due honor to the Grand Architect of the Universe for having the foresight to hardwire the creation to heal itself. Too bad he didn't think to hardwire the universe to also deal with human Co2 emissions Perhaps Al Gore will save us there.]

…Though this nation deserves no favors from heaven, we continue to pray God’s mercy on every living thing in the Gulf. And we pledge to better steward the wonders of his creation.

Had God prompted a scientist somewhere to solve this problem I would have been praising God while the world bestowed awards and honors on the man. Surely God wearies of the boasting of man. These micro-members of the ecosystem have risen up as one of the little mercies of God and ironically, as simple as they are, they are presently confounding the wise. That too is evidence God is behind this dissipation. [Don't think for a moment that this God who knows when every sparrow falls to the ground has no concern for the masses of oil-covered pelicans.]

All week I’ve been focused on the notion of “little mercies.” In terms of the millions of gallons of oil disappearing I’m not really sure this qualifies as a “little” mercy. But it seems appropriate to designate oil-eating, micro-bacteria as a little mercy.

A couple passages of Scripture come to mind. There is the story Jesus told of the ten being healed of leprosy and only one returning to give thanks. Maybe the others were praising natural processes. What I like to show people are the dangers of ingratitude and how big a deal this is to God when we boast in ourselves.  In the oft-quoted Romans 1:21-25 passage about the iniquity in the world, few notice how fundamental ingratitude was the issue and not iniquity. It was because of ingratitude that God turned the world over to it’s own destructive course:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

When the military honor guard officer handed me the flag that draped my father’s coffin, he looked me in the eye and said with these words… “On behalf of a grateful nation…“  For sure our nation is filled with gratitude for those who give their life in service of their country. But beyond that, I’m not sure it’s true we are a grateful nation any more.

One other thought… recently I dropped a quote elsewhere on this blog regarding how American Christianity has digressed to nothing more than a “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In light of that, it’s no surprise that most church leaders are silent on these kinds of topics. As they have resorted to offering popular therapy over unpopular theology, they’ve digressed into deism and no longer have a theology of a God who acts or personally intervenes in our world today.

Has the a-word controversy vanished?

I’ve posted here numerous times how brutal it was only 5-7 years ago to be an evangelical who uttered the notion that there are “apostles” today. Though there is just as much (or more) Scriptural justification to capitalize “Apostle” today as there is to capitalize “Pastor,” I’ve always been careful to use the term in the lower case so as to not exasperate the controversy.  However, people always seemed to miss that little detail.

Regarding my commentary on the “Pastoral Epistles” (Obtainable Destiny, Creation House, 2004), Dr. C. Peter Wagner mentioned me on page 78 of his book “Apostles Today” saying: “To my knowledge, the first biblical commentary that treats these epistles as apostolic rather than pastoral is Obtainable Destiny by Steve Hickey.”  While I thanked Peter for the plug, I also ducked.

But today I delight to see example after example of major evangelical church planting and mission organizations talking openly about apostolic work, apostolic teams, apostolic networks, the apostolic gifts, sending (aka apostolos), our apostolic mission, apostolic church planting.  This pic is from my recent copy of Mission Frontiers which some of you know is THE main (and strategic) evangelical missiological publication which comes from the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, CA.

You may have to squint, but the text at the bottom says: “Apostolos is a conference for apostolic young people who have already committed to expanding God’s Kingdom at the frontiers…“

There is no more fitting, or Biblical, term for this frontline work of establishing kingdom outposts where there previously were none. We are all comfortable with the terms “home missionary” and “church planter” though you won’t find “missionary” or “church planter” in your concordance, or “theologian“! ((Ha! Got to love my friend Peter Wagner for his “Goodbye Theologians” article.))

The peaceable part of me wants to say let’s just do the work and stop straining gnats regarding what it’s called. However, I do think it’s critical frontline workers again recapture their identity/role/function with regard to their apostolic gifting. I’ve written elsewhere how three “apostles” entering a region must send icy chills up the spine of our fiery Adversary. I can’t imagine news of three new “pastors” in the area would be much of a threat or cause much trembling in the realms of darkness.

The shift away from Theo-tainment and Commercial Worship

At our ARC All Access Conference in Baton Rouge in May, I heard Priscilla Shirer describe how “Christianity began in Palestine as a fellowship – a relationship. It then moved to Greece where it became a philosophy – a way to think. It moved to Rome where it became an institution – a place to go. It moved to Europe where it became a culture – a way of life. It moved to America where it became an enterprise – a business.” Perhaps you’ll agree that is painfully true.

Considering, you can imagine my delight to see this month’s cover article in Worship Leader magazine which focuses on the shift “away from commercial worship.” Though the article doesn’t come right out and define it, I think I like the term. I’d venture to say commercial worship is worship we package and sell to spectators sitting in audiences. Commercial worship is performance and not so much encounter, entering in, beholding, or even so much as participation.

As I was writing the first draft of this article this morning, a tweet came in from church growth expert Ed Stetzer (tweets from Ed come multiple times a day as he’s typically on location from the variety of church leader meetings and conferences across the nation that he is invited to address week after week). His most recent tweet reads: “Cool Stage, Nice Logo, Smokin’ Band.  Must be a denominational conference.” I don’t interpret his tweet as any sort of dig at denominations, but see it more as an observation from one who frequents all the “camps” noting how commercial worship is now the norm nationwide.  Thinking positively I thank God we are giving God our best in worship, that all the arts are being redeemed and that all flavors of churches are experiencing life-giving dynamic worship.  Yet, I’m reminded of a comment from Allen Hood at the Onething ’08 conference… “Jesus did not die so you could worship at a synchronistic shrine.”

Worshipping at a synchronistic shrine

If you are unfamiliar with the term syncretism, it’s a missiological term used to describe the over-contextualization of the Gospel… when we embrace and adopt so much of a culture that we inadvertently dilute and lose the Gospel.

I first encountered a syncretistic shrine in the mid-80′s as a youth pastor taking my youth group to a Stryper concert. Only a few years before, I was a lost soul, deep into the rock and roll occult world myself (I’m even in some of the footage in the old Hells Bells video on the dangers of the occult and rock and roll.) I vividly remember being at that Stryper concert seeing the smoke, the band dressed in torn black clothing, wearing dark make-up on their eyes and pale/corpse-like make-up on their faces, gyrating in front of red lights which were pulsating like a heart from behind to the beat of the drum. The lyrics were unintelligible though I knew they were “Christian.”  I remember thinking – Yikes – this is no different than what I was just delivered from – aren’t we supposed to avoid even the appearance of evil?

To be clear, I’m not in any way concerned about the appearance of evil as I write today about this shift away from commercial worship, and I take no issue with lights and smoke. The purpose of me recalling that story was to illustrate the extreme of the synchronistic shrines that have crept into Christian worship in America. I’m suggesting we rethink how it is that our worship services aren’t looking much different than concerts these days.

Lucifer loves to divert our worship

The first thing the Bible tells us about Lucifer is not that he is powerful but rather that he is crafty and subtle.  We know from Isaiah that he was a musician in heaven before he envied the attention God was getting (Ezekiel 28:13, Isaiah 14:11 – his very being was made up of instruments from the day God created him). His sole aim today is to divert worship off of Jesus. My assessment is that he works more to divert our worship off Jesus than he does to distract us from the Word. If Lucifer can control the atmosphere in a room by diverting worship he thereby diminishes the ability of the congregation to be open to the Word and encounter the presence of God. God inhabits the praises of his people (those who “come before him with singing”) and to the degree our adversary can control the atmosphere in the room through subtle shifts in the dynamics of our worship focus, he can quench the presence of God.

A few days ago a friend of mine posted an article on his blog that used the word “theo-tainment” in the title to refer to how much of the American church amounts to not much more than entertaining people with God each week. The article states: “The modern idea of a church, or ecclesiology, is that church exists as a venue to attract the lost through dynamic programs, performers and events – the more dynamic the better.” It’s amazing how far we’ve come from the days of the early church where it was supernatural signs and wonders and deeds of compassion that turned the heads of the lost toward Jesus. There is a great longing in me to fully shift back in that direction.

An expensive succession of cheap light and smoke shows

Recently, I was ashamed to visit with an unbeliever who actually told me she sits back, shakes her head and watches with great interest the expensive succession of light and smoke shows the large churches in her city promote in an effort to attract her attention. As she spoke I was praying, Forgive us Jesus.

Later that same day a friend of mine told me he visited a church that previous Sunday that was literally “rockin” as people came in – he said the band was playing “Rockin’ Robin” and people were in the aisles, swaying, clappin’ and enjoyin’ the music. Then he reports they were greeted, seated for the worship set as the band performed a couple of Christian songs, throughout which no one stood, no one sung along and they clapped when it was over. As he was talking I was praying, “Forgive us Jesus that we’d dance to Rockin’ Robin but not even rise to praise your Name.” Lucifer had to just love the worship service that day!

More therapy than theology

Sociologist Dr. Christian Smith reports his conclusions from a study detailed in his Soul Searching book… “we suggest that the defacto dominant religion (in the contemporary US) is what we might call moralistic therapeutic deism. This of course has very little to do with historical orthodox Christianity.” This indeed has been the trend: Sunday’s are more about therapy than theology.  By “theology” I do not mean to suggest we need return to dry dogmas.  By “theology” I mean the fervent pursuit of the knowledge and person of the Living God. By “therapy” I’m suggesting many churches today only offer people shallow inspirations that help them get through another week, tips on how to have a better marriage and manage their depression and money better. There is no deliverance, victory or true freedom in the context of Theo-tainment and Commercial Worship.

Beholding “His Terrible Beauty“

This morning my wife read to me Psalm 96:4 from The Message: “His terrible beauty makes the gods look cheap.”  Though extremely expensive to pull off, commercial worship is cheap. A worship leader’s job is to get out of the way and lead people to behold “his terrible beauty.” Those who behold Him become worshippers.  The greater revelation we have of Jesus the louder we sing, the more extravagant and less dignified we are before him.

The prophet Amos spoke of the time when God says: “I cannot stand your assemblies… though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.” (Amos 4:21-24) The prophet continues with an exhortation to loose the justice stream of God from heaven to the earth and Amos ends with a line about God raising the fallen tabernacle of David at the end of the age (9:11).

God did not say he would raise up Moses tabernacle or Solomon’s Temple, he liked David’s tabernacle best.  The difference between David’s tabernacle and the others is that David’s tabernacle didn’t have a veil that separated God from his people. It was more intimate.  And, David appointed and paid for 288 prophetic singers and over 4000 musicians to minister before the Lord full-time… “to make petition, to give thanks and to praise the Lord” day and night (1 Chronicles 15:1-17:27). That Davidic night and day prayer continued for several decades and God loved it so much he said he will raise up David’s fallen tent again here in the last generation. If there is to be a major shift in the worship of the church it must be in the direction of intimate and sustained worship and prayer, continually keeping the fire on the altar hot, “it must not go out.” (Leviticus 6:13)

The number one thing I’ve found to counteract commercial worship is to disciple musicians. It’s been my observation in days past that the musicians have not been expected to rise to the standards of piety, heart holiness and wholehearted devotion we expect of others who minister. One of the reasons I sent my son to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City is because they are cranking out a hundreds of musicians right now but firmly stating: “IHOP is called ‘the singing seminary’ – we don’t buy into the nonsense that musicians don’t do the Bible.’” Their main focus is on raising up musicians who “eat the scroll,” cultivate and enjoy intimacy with God, and behold the “terrible beauty of God.”

The next battle in the worship wars?

As a pastor who survived the first round of worship wars a couple decades ago – hymns vs choruses, organs vs guitars – I’d suggest we are entering into a new phase of worship wars – commercial worship vs encounters where we behold his “terrible beauty.”  We started to make that shift a decade ago in our church and I still speak of this in each new member class… how a “win” for us used to be pulling off a great service and how a “win” is now a God-encounter.  A great service and a God-encounter are not the same thing. What it takes to entertain people and what it takes to attract God are very different things. It’s a tough choice for pastors to make but I encourage them to make it knowing that the presence of God is what changes lives and attracts the lost, not stunning performances.

A little book that helped us, and is still helping us, navigate through these tensions is “Following the River: A Vision for Corporate Worship” by Bob Sorge. Sorge writes about the great difference between Levites leading worship and band members just playing through set lists as they would at any other gig.

What I’ve written here I’ve written with some awareness that it might ruffle some feathers. A few years ago I opened my mouth in similar fashion and spoke publicly against “Christian” screamo bands suggesting that one couldn’t scream angrily under the anointing of God. I offended some of the younger generation in our fellowship. And so this article has been brewing in my spirit for some time and honestly I hesitated to write it because my heart is not to provoke an argument. Even so, I sense an obligation to stir and provoke people to go to deeper levels of adoring Jesus and beholding his “terrible beauty.”

On the one hand, no one should presume to judge the worship preferences or styles of music enjoyed by any one else and an article such as this could very well be interpreted as such and result in raised defenses. On the other hand, those such as myself who are called to plan worship experiences for people week after week need to talk honestly about what we are doing.

Testimony of the Trailblazers

This summer we are focusing on some of the heroes of the Christian Faith—men and women who have been faithful witnesses for Christ in their generation. The Book of Revelation says testimonies pack power to overcome adversaries and the Book of Hebrews teaches how all ages are encouraged on by the example of those in the Great Cloud of Witnesses.

Each Wednesday evening in a special mid-week service, we will introduce one of the trailblazers of the faith and set forth the distinctives of their contribution to the Kingdom of God. You’ll meet people like Amy Carmichael, Rees Howell, George Muller, Watchman Nee, Smith Wigglesworth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and, among others, revivalists and patriot pastors from our nation’s past. On Sundays, I will be basing my messages on the testimonies of key Biblical trailblazers like Joseph, Caleb, Gideon, Josiah, Deborah, John the Baptist and Anna.

More importantly, you will be challenged to be bold with your testimony throughout the week as God gives you occasion and to live as an example knowing others are following closely.

A sabbatical following the footsteps of Jesus, the Reformers and Paul

A couple weeks ago I had breakfast with my pastor friend of many years here in town, Jim Hoogeveen of Heartland Community Church.  Jim was just a few days away from departing on a summer long sabbatical which starts in Egypt, (pic: up “Mt. Sinai”), then he’ll follow the footsteps of Paul, Jesus and end the summer doing what I did last summer – submerging himself in the world of the Reformers/Europe. It’ll be his first time in Israel – I told him from my experience, he’ll never look at the Bible the same again after being right there where it all went down. ((I don’t remember exactly but I think Jim started Heartland the same time we started/ ’94 - we both met in those early years in a new church planters think tank we had going in town.)) 

Pastor Jim was fortunate to be a recipient of a Lilly Foundation grant which is a National Clergy Renewal Program. 1500 pastors a month leave the ministry and the Lilly Foundation is trying to refresh God’s laborers so they cross the finish line.

I really look forward to following his travels, reflections and experiences and invite you to do the same – guaranteed we’ll learn something. Pray he and Lois are safe, and that they are refreshed. You can follow his travels here, be sure to scroll all the way back and catch the posts he’s already put up.  He and Lois will end the summer with family celebrating their 40th anniversary.

Kristen and I have a couple nice pics from a decade or so back of us on camels in deserts – no better place to be if you want a God encounter! Ha! (Our camel was a two-seater though.)