McLaren and CTU

One of the classes I get to teach every so often at Colorado Tecnhical University is HIST 210 (World History and Culture) and we spend the first couple of classes detailing humanity’s transition from a hunting/gathering societal structure to one that is primarily based on agriculture. It’s the transition to agriculture that spawns off division of labor, towns and cities, social classes, and the accumulation of wealth. Regardless of the society that we look at- Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India- this same societal pattern develops. As societies make the move to agriculture, all of these byproducts come with it. McLaren writes in The Story We Find Ourselves In that Cain and Abel is a story that reveals this conflict. Cain, the son who made the move to agriculture, kills Abel, who remains in his more primitive pastoral job of caring for the flocks (interestingly, God is pleased with Abel’s offering and not Cain’s). McLaren then writes on page 81 “eventually, the subsistence agriculturalists kill their pastoralist brothers. And eventually, the subsistence agriculturalists create surpluses, and they acquire greater and greater wealth, and primitive economies develop. And with economies come first towns and then cities. And with cities, people begin to feel more independent . . .”. I was fascinated by this writing because it is essence what we cover in our history and culture class, and you see it in every culture that develops. Truly, the story we find ourselves in.

We Are that Someone Else

We were with the Johansons and Amos at Bert’s house last night to do some yard work as part of Wednesday Night Service. Bert is a wheel-chair bound woman who lives alone with her six dogs. An 8 year old neighbor boy named Jacob appears to help her around the house. We got connected with Bert through Workers on Wheels and signed up to do some yard work- mowing, trimming, clipping bushes, etc. I had ran by Bert’s house on Tuesday to check it out to see how much work we’d be in for and at first glance it didn’t appear too rough. When we got there last night I had failed to take into account the second backyard- where the grass and the weeds were over 2 feet tall! So Amos got to working on the lawn, James and I and our sons Riley and Jamison trimmed and pulled weeds in the front. It was a fun night and I got a first hand look at how interesting and challenging it can be to engage my 5 year old son Riley in this whole idea of serving. It be a challenge to get him to pick up his toys, so helping him understand why we would help someone we had just met that night provided a valuable opportunity. As we were working, I asked if Riley could see that Bert was in a wheelchair. He said yes. I shared how that meant she couldn’t do what we were doing by herself. And then my son said what I say almost every day of my life: someone else can help her. And I shared that tonight, we are that someone else. As corny as it seems, we then reviewed the memory verse (Matthew 5:16) we’ve been working on from Hillcrest’s Family Time Guide right there in the lawn with his made up actions and everything. He was a typical 5 year old boy after that- some work, some play, lots of activity, but that moment captures the essence of why we are doing what we are doing. I am not a great parent by any means. I mess up all the time and I pray that the effects aren’t too rough on my boys. But for a moment last night, I was caught up in the perfect union of why we set out to do this- serving others, with others, and living out the scriptures the best that we can.

Defining Success

Our 2nd Wednesday night service is tonight and I think our numbers will level off a bit tonight. Some who participated last week aren’t signed up, some have already asked to be taken off for one reason or the other, and I am sure some just won’t make it over tonight. It will be interesting to see what happens as the service begins to settle in as a normal part of Hillcrest. Will it lose some luster and level off? Will it slowly pick up momentum? Will it remain somewhat the same? Reflecting on numbers and McNeal's idea that the scorecards have changed, I’ve asked myself how much of my own psyche is based on the fact that the service is starting off relatively well. If it hadn’t done well, how well would I be doing? It still would have been the right decision, but would it have felt like the right decision? Do numbers always validate one’s efforts, or is participating in the kingdom greater than just a stat sheet? I tend to love numbers- they are clean, they are easy, they don’t lie and they don’t mislead. But so much of the story of the kingdom, the work we find ourselves in, is more than just numbers. If Hillcrest hadn’t won an Angel in Adoption award, if the thank you notes from the community weren't coming in, if offerings were down, if no new folks were hearing of Hillcrest, would we still be doing the right thing? I believe these questions are good gut check questions for me personally. It was just two summers ago that we as a staff went through a vote of affirmation, that people were up in arms over programmatic and systematic changes, that we were fighting over the role of women in ministry, etc. It was just months ago that we were living week to week on offerings, wondering if we’d have jobs the next month, and yet still convinced that it was the right thing to do. One of the things we live by is that we try to the right thing, regardless of consequences. The right things don't change and can't always be measured.

Baby Steps

In The Present Future, Reggie McNeal writes "a missionary church culture will need to begin keeping score on things different from what we measure now. These may include how many ministry initiatives we are establishing in the streets, how many volunteers we are releasing into local and global mission projects aimed at community transformation, how many congregations are starting to reach different populations, how many church activities target people who aren't here yet . . ." (67). We launched our Wednesday Night service two nights ago and it was an anxious and exciting evening. Here are some of our inital scorecard results:

• 190- $10 HyVee cards given out to Hillcrest's neighbors
• 100- volunteers that went out into the Sioux Falls community on Wednesday Night
• 80- teacher kits packed and delivered for Cleveland's teachers
• 60- meals served at the St Francis House
• 25- infants and toddlers who were being cared for while their parents were serving
• 7- meals and 7 desserts cooked at Hillcrest's kitchen
• 1- broken foot as one of our volunteers fell of a ladder while painting

These are just some of the results from what was a fun first service.

Serving and being served

Tomorrow our faith community embarks on a new adventure as we will scatter across the city and engage in various serving projects. Hillcrest is pretty excited about this as we have the better part of two years teaching on the importance of loving others and now we, as a church, get to put that into action. A few weeks ago I finished Making Room and was struck by a couple of things in relation to Hillcrest's new endeavor. The first thought was how uncomfortable providing hospitality can be and how some of us would rather do the cooking and cleaning for the guests than we would to actually share a meal with the poor. This is so true of me. I know the very few times that I have been in those situations- be it inner city LA or at the Sioux Falls banquet, my preferred style is to keep working rather than to eat a meal with one of the guests. The author claims that a meal is the great equalizer because everyone needs to eat and that when we sit down and enjoy a meal together our socio-economic differences are erased. I was convicted because even though I can participate in some good works of bringing the kingdom down closer to earth, I often miss out on the relational step of simply connecting with another human being. The author concludes that the final great equalizer is that each of us is created in the image of God and so to see a person in need is to see a person that God created to be in need.

The definition of literal

As I am continuing to read A New Kind of Christian, I am really struck by the parts on the bible. On page 71, McLaren writes “Fortunately, evangelicals don’t. . . justify killing infidels, even though Moses ordered the faithful to do so in Exodus. They don’t practice polygamy, even though David and Solomon did. They don’t recommend dashing the infants of their enemies against stones, as one of the Psalms celebrated. No, they have a grid of decency that keeps them from applying the Bible literally in these situations. But they seem generally unaware of this grid; they think they rigorously apply the Bible literally, and no one is as faithful as they are. Their grid is like their own retina- they see by it, so they can’t see it.” I am sure that to some it seems like heresy; that the teaching represents a false teaching that must be attacked and dissected for all of its weaknesses. But McLaren goes onto a masterful job outlining both ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ arguments for Scripture and in it reveals a major weakness of mine which is interpreting scripture through my overarching biases.

For instance, a week or so ago I was reading the last part of 1 Corinthians 14 and it deals with tongues and prophecy- two gifts my faith tradition is somewhat uncomfortable with. In this chapter Paul lays out the ‘ground rules’ for these gifts and reiterates the idea that tongues need an interpretation. I’ve always held onto this as my trump card in the debate as if to say look, I’m all for tongues as long as there is interpretation. I’ve believed that verse to be literally true. And yet later on in the chapter, Paul instructs women to be silent in church and that if they want to ask questions, they can essentially ask their husbands when they go home. And I’ve always contextualized that passage because it doesn’t fit my paradigm. I’m as guilty of the Christians who do that sort of thing with other causes. And so I need to continue to check my biases and judgments. Doesn’t mean I’m wrong on women, but it does mean I need to examine my biases against tongues.

Recapping the week

It's been quite a week.

• First, a great story from my hometown newspaper (The Forum, Fargo, ND; you may need to register to access the article) about what one church is doing for the community (I attended this church as a high school student).
• Second, the community of Hillcrest was up to some neat things in our community. On Wednesday, we joined Cleveland Elementary's staff for lunch and to present them with some monies for their mobile computer labs. On Thursday Hillcrest was notified that it is South Dakota's recipient of an Angel in Adoption award. Some great moments for our community.
  

Finally, a great post with thoughts from Mark Batterson that encourage us to keep everything in perspective (my favorite quote: "if you do the right things for the wrong reasons in the Kingdom of God, it doesn't count).

Good problem to have

Hillcrest is a week away from our first Wednesday Night Service (the idea is that our church will serve out in the community every Wednesday evening. And by church we mean everyone- children, students, and adults. And by every Wednesday everning we mean every Wednesday evening, meaning there's no more midweek programs except for this one). My personal range of thoughts and emotions about this service has come full circle. About a month ago, I was internally worried that this thing would flop, that I would botch the communication of it, that people who weren’t in the know would be upset, and that we might open a can of worms that would lead to other issues that would get us off the path. All of that changed within the last couple of weeks as Pastor Doug has delivered tremendous messages not only clearly communicating the Wednesday Night Service, but further defining the nature and direction of Hillcrest (we were reminded of the importance of continually to clearly and publicly communicate who we are as a church when Aaron and Shauna were here). So after Doug's messages, there is a positive buzz about the service and most of the spots (104 to date) are filled for our first one on the 20th- which has now led to a completely different set of issues that I am internally dealing with. With the response I now worry if we won’t have enough to do, if people will end up standing around, if our community partners aren’t prepared for us or botch it for us, etc. I understand how highly critical or negative these thoughts are and yet I am continuing to pray for God’s work through all of this and that this service continues to lead us and our community closer to Jesus.

I’ve begun to read McLaren’s New Kind of Christian this morning and can tell I’m going to like the book. I’ve read more of McLaren’s recent stuff (Secret Message of Jesus, Everything Must Change, etc) and kind of missed on his new kind of Christian trilogy. I’m reading it partly to join a conversation that will probably be close to finishing once I am done with the book and partly to continue to read from different angles that affirm my own thoughts and perspective and also challenge me as well. It promised to be an interesting and engaging read.

I also read the first part of 1 Corinthians 15 this morning and am amazed at the time and detail that Paul spends on the resurrection, basically claiming that if the resurrection has not happened, our faith is worthless (apparently there was some local issue concerning the actual nature of the resurrection of the body not realizing that if our bodies aren’t resurrected, than Christ’s can’t be resurrected either and than our faith is done, kind of a snowball effect). It’s an important point because as much time as we like to spend on Jesus’ crucifixion and the penalty paid for our sins (the bad part, the part that elevates the guilt in our life) we sometimes overlook or take for granted the idea that Jesus rose from the dead, (the hopeful part that is supposed to give us hope and grant us permission to live a different kind of life on this earth).

The Purpose of Church

I finished Buying In this morning and was surprised to see some material concerning Rick Warren towards the latter part of the book. Walker is struck by Warren's contetion that "it's not about you" when in fact Walker has been arguing throughout the book that at least from a business perspective, it is in fact very much about you. No surprise that a marketing expert and a church leader (though himself also a marketing expert) are on different sides here. What is interesting is Walker's positive handling of Warren and his perspective. Walker is well aware of businesses that raid the Christian market looking for ideas to sell to this large market and yet is impressed that what Warren offers is something distinctively different. Walker writes "you can take or leave the belief system that Rick Warren is pushing, but you have to concede it really is a belief system. In fact, it's a beleif system that calls on people- and gets people- to tithe and volunteer, to sacrifice money and time, for the benefit of others who aren't participants in it. While he has advanced a critique of contemproary culture as overly individualistic, part of the key to his success has been an ability to offer an alternative" (251). That alternative is what separates churches and faith communities from other entities- the idea that you can belong to something where the primary purpose and benefit falls onto those outside of the community.

Warren's track record backs up the claim that he (and many other churches) do seek to provide an aleternative. Check out this post concerning a great overview of where the church is headed; click here for probably the most interesting engagement between a church and a political campaign in recent memory. And lest we think that Warren just happens to be another person seeking to make a (exubirant) profit off of the faith community, it's helpful to remember that Warren is a reverse tither (lives off of 10% of his income and gives 90% away) and does not take a salary from Saddleback.

It ain't easy being green . . .

I'll admit that I am a latecomer to the green movement. Our first 'green' product was a household cleaner and a bathroom cleaner from our local HyVee. The two products totaled $10, about $8 more than I spend on those products combined! We thought we would do our part and hop on the bandwagon quickly realizing our budget didn't have enough green to be green . . . until Clorox rolled out its 'green works' line. Sold at Wal Mart and at a price we could live with, it was suddenly easier and cheaper to be green. Clorox and Wal Mart allowed me to both save money and do my part to save the environment- exciting.

As I Continue to read Walker’s Buying In, he makes an interesting assertion concerning the whole eco-friendly movement and whether or not branding green is working for companies or not. He cites data that reveals most consumers see themselves as being eco-friendly and wanting to purchase goods that minimize their environmental footprint. He also writes about many companies jumping on the bandwagon, whether it’s being more eco-friendly, more dedicated to social causes and global causes (volunteering in the community, working towards solving a health crisis like AIDS, minimizing the use of unjust labor practices, etc). What Walker really begins to get it at is how mixed at best consumers’ behavior really is on this. While Walker cites polls that 70% of Americans would choose a greener product if offered, and 65% would do so if it meant paying more, he also cites a Yale study with this conclusion: “the opportunity to appear altruistic by committing to a charitable act in a prior task serves as a license to subsequently make (the subjects) relatively more likely to choose a luxury item” (222). While most of us want to be more environmentally friendly, more conscientious of the decisions our purchases have on the environment and on other people, the reality is that many times our behavior at best is mixed and inconsistent, at least until the price comes down.

It is interesting that the same truth holds true in my own life as a follower of Jesus. I say that I want to be a better parent who shows more grace towards my boys and invest more time with them. I want to be a person who serves others, who learns to do right, who defends the poor and the orphaned and the under-resourced. I want to be a better husband who loves my wife unconditionally, who sacrifices for her best interest, who continues to pursue her. I want to be a part of a faith community who loves others people unconditionally, who gives time and money even when we have little to give, who partners with others in the community to balance the socio-economic scales. The problem with these ‘I want to be’ statements unfortunately is my behavior, because the price of these values won't become cheaper. When I measure my own life against these benchmarks, I realize the inconsistency and the hypocrisy. And yet, it serves as powerful motivation to keep going, to keep aligning my life with what I believe and making the tough choices to do that. The same holds true for our church- making the tough choices to align our actions with our values.

The Christian Left?

Brian McLaren publicly announced his support of Barack Obama in a recent blog post. Now there may be some in the evangelical community who interpret this development as further proof that McLaren is part of the Christian 'left' (if there is such a thing). What I find interesting is that this is also evidence of the fundamental changes happening within evangelical Christianity. While neither candidate's message perfectly aligns with what one might call a Christian platform (again, if there is such a thing), events such as McLaren's support suggest that younger evangelicals have different priorities when it comes to the issues than. While politicans will seek to leverage those priorities into votes come November, the momentum behind these priorities suggests that there are opporunities for churches to become involved in their communities and love people as Jesus loved. Churches in a North Carolina town are doing that despite a tougher economy, and a little closer to home, a local Sioux Falls church is participating in the fun as well.

PBR Me . . .

As I continue to read Rob Walker's Buying In and look for connections to my work and life in a local church, I am struck by the resurgence of Pabst Blue Ribbon that he outlines in the book. Walker documents that Pabst Blue Ribbon was on its way out as a beer until it picked up a unique and passionate following in Portland by various sub-cultures. He found that this group and others were taking the Pabst brand and defining it the way they wanted. What was interesting is that Pabst was content (probably even thrilled) to allow this to happen (this is contrast with the story Walker tells of Timberland boots, long known to be a comfortable working boot, whose popularity was rising in the urban hip-hop culture leading the owner of Timberland to wonder what he ought to do to protect his brand). Pabst could not have predicted or even solicited this type of arrangement or success. What was most interesting to me were some of the things that Pabst decided not to do in light of their rising fame: they decided not to bring on Kid Rock as a spokesman (though the relationship seemed to have been a perfect fit), decided against mainstream advertising, and decided not to sponsor extreme sports events like the X-games.

I find it telling that while obviously the decisions we make our important, some of the things we decide not to do can be just as important. And while that's a fairly basic leadership axiom, it's a truth that we've experienced over and over again at Hillcrest. In the past few years, we’ve made many decisions not to do some things:

• not having Sunday School


• not allowing advertising or promotional materials within church property for a group campaigning for a state law against abortion


• not endorsing a local ministry that is widely supported by other churches.

Our reasons for these 'non-decisions' are multiple and outside the scope of this post. What we continue to work towards is what we feel the type of church we want to become, and what decisions and 'non-decisions' we believe will take us there.