Playground in Winter

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I was out taking pictures today and found a playground.  It was in a neighborhood with tons of kids but the cold dry air kept them hostage in their homes.  I imagine that on warmer days this playground is filled with laughter, screams and audible joy.  Kids run from tower to tower pretending to be princesses and knights and ship captains and superheroes.  Soccer moms and stay at home dads fill the benches with one eye on their children and the other on the latest novel or text from a friend.  This is a place that was made for life.

Today the vacant swings were swaying slowly in the frigid breeze.  The sandbox contained lonely buckets and shovels without little hands to guide them.  The slide had and icy pools of half-melted snow resting at its base.  There was no laughter or joy or barely a sound at all.  Only the soft footsteps and clicks of a camera from a shivering photographer.  This playground was empty of the life that it longs for.

This hillside oasis was created for a specific purpose.  Yet, every November or December that meaning fades away and hibernates until a time when the sun shines again.  Its almost as if it ceases to breathe for months at a time until, just at the right moment, its life comings coursing back into its veins.  As the sun and temperature rise, children return to fill its lungs with the breath that it has missed for so many days.  It has a reason to exist again.

In my life there have been many times when my purpose has escaped me.  I lay dormant for days or weeks or months, ceasing to remember to breath in and then out again.  Like this playground I was created for something and when I lose my way I forget why I am here in the first place.  But my Creator calls me out of my hibernation.  He reminds me that I was created to have life.  Jesus said, "I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full."  Jesus came so that I may live the life God created me to live.  I am to be used for other's joy and laughter.  I am to be a facilitator of life.  I was created to help other's realize who they were made to be.  My life has meaning.

So it is for you as well.

My son the spiritual advisor.

I am learning a ton everyday about my relationship with God.  When you work at a church its difficult to cultivate a real relationship with your Creator.  I think its because you spend so much time trying to come up with clever ways to "sell" your "product" to the "customer" that you forget a relationship with God isn't a product at all.  I imagine it would be something like getting tired of eating the food at the fast food joint where you work.  No matter how much you loved a Big Mac Value Meal before you starting working at McD's, it starts to get a little old having to slap them on trays all day.  (I know God's not a burger but just play along...)

The last few years I've felt like a victim of working at my favorite fast food restaurant.  I had this incredible passion for God when I first started but somewhere along the way everything just started to leave a bad taste in my mouth.  I'm not blaming the church, or my pastor or any of the people I worked with...I just didn't take the time to keep that relationship fresh.  It's my own stupid fault.

Lately I have had a lot of time to sit around, read, write and mostly just think.  (I lost my job a month or so ago)  I have a lot of thoughts about whether I really believe in God.  Or more specifically the God that I pushed so strongly in my most recent profession.  I have thought about what it would mean to actually interact with a God that is all those things that I have told people He is: loving, kind, caring, compassionate, just, right, unexplainable, etc, etc, etc.  

With all that free time one really cool side effect is you get to spend a lot of time at home, with your family.  Mine consists of my beautiful wife of 6+ years and a little 21 month old bundle of energy named Ryan.  No matter how much you want to see the glass half empty you look at what you have at home and you can only think of how great life actually is.  It's really beautiful.

I tell you this because my son has been teaching me so much about God lately...weird right?  A 21 month old teaching his dad about spirituality is not all that promising for my maturity but it is what it is.  

When I first lost my job my wife and I went "church shopping" and wound up at a big church here in the area.  Due to some issues with the children's ministry that night, we ended up in the lobby for a few minutes as the service started.  The music kicked in and the leader began singing.  Because this church is so big, the leaders tend to write their own music for the services, which is great for the church members, not so great for me.  I was standing in the lobby, holding my son, watching the words roll across the screen. I was just trying to get a feel for the song when I heard the most beautiful noise I have ever heard.  It wasn't really words or on-key notes or really even what most would consider singing, but it was beautiful nonetheless.  As you might guess, it was my then 20 month old singing along with music that he had never heard before.  He didn't know the words, or the tune or the music leader or the style but he knew how to use his voice.  It was like a ray of light was shining directly on his head while he sang.  If I could bottle that moment it would surely sustain me for the rest of my life.  It instantly melted my heart.

I know what you're thinking "another message about how we should sing uninhibited to God". I mean, it goes without saying that God loves it when we sing His praises no matter what it is we sound like.  The Bible says that we should make a "Loud (joyful) noise to the LORD".  We have heard this a million times and probably could stand to hear it once more.  We have even heard Psalm 40 (if only the U2 version) where it talks about singing a new song unto the Lord.  It is a popular message we hear when the pastor wants the congregation to sing louder or with more passion.  But that's not where I am going.

Standing there in a concrete and metal lobby staring at a flat screen tv I learned something even more profound about God than any of those (really important) messages.  When I think back on that evening I don't remember loving my son any more or less in that moment than any other in his life.  Sure, he made me happy in that moment and he makes me frustrated or fearful in others.  But in that moment, and every other moment, there existed a love for him that I couldn't turn off if I tried.  I love his voice, his face, his dance moves, the way he says "toot nacks" (fruit snacks) and everything else about him.  I love his existence.  He pooped on my chest once while I was playing with him and I even loved him then.

If God is a daddy (abba), as the New Testament explains, He must feel the same way about me.  No matter what I do, good or bad, He loves me the same.  He is filled with an overwhelming joy when I sing or dance or laugh or love.  He is filled with compassion when I am hurting and disappointment when I run from Him.  He wants me to come close even when I don't want to.  He longs for me to crawl into His lap and lay down my head.  No matter how I change there is always a constant: His love.  I can not deserve it or turn it off.  I can only find little ways to reciprocate it the best ways I know how.  

So here I am...I recently got laid off from my favorite fast food place and my  21 month old son is teaching me how to fall in love with the food again.  Let's walk up to the counter, order a number 1 and chow down.

Organic Church

I am reading a book right now called "Reimagining Church" by Frank Viola.  With almost every sentence Viola challenges the ideas I have about what a church should be.  Some of the concepts he presents are a little out there but I think that is what he is going for.  He wants to push you into thinking outside of the American mega-church box that you have grown up believing in.

One particular sentence that I have been chewing on these past couple days is especially challenging.  Viola boldly states, "The first century church meeting was primarily a believer's meeting...While sometimes unbelievers were present, they were not the focus of the meeting." (51).  

I have to admit that this statement rocks my entire world.  Everything I grew up thinking and learning about church services was that their primary focus was to reach lost people.  In college I was taught about churches who were phenomenal at making new people feel comfortable and not out of place.  I have worked at churches that strived to be as non-confrontational as possible as not to offend the visitor.  Offering times were apologized for, the Lord's Supper was a introspective self-evaluation time and the pastor would never preach a deep sermon because it wouldn't be understood by the non-Christian walking in off the street.  But is this what church services are supposed to be?

I know that some of this sounds a little "old school" Christianity.  This is the stuff that traditionalists have been saying for years (probably for completely different reasons).  Those of us who fancied ourselves as "contemporary" or "hip" or "relevant" would be quick to point out how close minded their objections were and how these pastors were afraid of change.  We justified by saying, "If the Great Commission is one of the last things Jesus said on earth then we should do everything short of sin to get people to come to our churches."  This included creating media heavy services that attract an MTV generation, turning prayer into an acronym (A.C.T.S.) to make it easier to do and giving away gifts (sometimes a iPod, car or family vacation) to those who show up to our churches for the first time.  When it came to attracting people to our church, as long as we aren't giving away beer or showing porn on the screen then it was no holds barred.

Is this really what God had in mind for His physical representation on earth?  Viola points out that Jesus' intention for the Great Commission was that those who followed Him would go out (into their homes, workplaces, communities, etc.) and tell/show people what a life of following Jesus was all about.  Jesus' evangelism model was not to build massive boxes where we could store all the little Jesus-freaks.  Jesus knew that people would believe He was real and life changing when they saw and heard the life-change in others.  Jesus believed in one-on-one, or at the very least, small groups of people being taught by a mature follower.  (See: Jesus and the 12 disciples)

God knows that the life He has called us to is hard, impossible even.  That is why He designed church services to be places of refuge for those who are committed to living out this intensely difficult calling.  Services are meetings where believers could join together and talk about life as it relates to living out an impossible dream.  This would be a place where joy, suffering, encouragement, pain and all those emotions in between could be shared among friends.  This is the kind of place where people miss each other if they go days, let alone weeks without seeing each other.

Here an exercise to get you and me thinking:

Step 1: Throw out the picture in your mind of what a church service is supposed to be. (Admittedly harder to do than type)  

Step 2: Read 1 Corinthians 11-14. 

Step 3: Contemplate whether Paul was talking to a "Seeker church" or a church full of passionate (if a little misdirected) Jesus followers.  I don't think He could get away with being that harsh and direct to people who didn't even know what it meant to be a Christian...but read it and decide for yourself.

The idea is that "evangelism" happens by Jesus followers having authentic relationships with their friends.  It doesn't happen by some pastor on stage delivering a comical-tear-jerker of a sermon and then hoping that new believers get involved enough in the church programs to take their spirituality to the next level.

There is lots to unpack here but I will wrap it up for now.  I am sure that this will be a recurring theme over the next few weeks and months.  

Grace and peace.

Demographics

It's not the most exciting bedtime reading but it's interesting to see what's going on in the place where we want to start a church. Here are some sites that paint a decent picture of the need:

Growth Coming at a Break Neck Pace
Church Affiliation in Charleston County
Charleston City is the 67th fastest growing city in the nation

I am noticing that most of the churches in Charleston and the Metro Area are older and more traditional in nature. There are a few non-denominational churches in the area and one really big church in North Charleston. Other than that it looks like a new church in Charleston could make a lot of sense. We'll see.

Lying awake

I am lying in my bed at about 12:30 am. I can't go to sleep. I think
constantly about the possibility of planting a church. I have been
talking to friends about it. I have also been talking to some people
who have already taken the plunge. They tell me how hard it is and
how I should think twice about doing it. What they don't know is that
this only makes me more excited. I don't know what of is about me that
makes me want to take on the biggest challenges I can think of.

A pastor once told me that church planting is where good people go to
die. Maybe I am stupid or a non-conformist or just like to prove
people wrong but hearing him say this in my head gets my blood pumping.

I have been reading some statistics on Charleston and they are mind
blowing. I will probably put some up soon but one I particular blew my
mind...

In the year 2000, a study was done of the church affiliation of
everyone in Charleston County. Not including people who belonged to
traditionally African American churches there were 300,000 people
accounted for. Of these 300,000 people, 50,000 claimed to be part of
an Evangelical church. Of those 50K, about 3900 claim to be a part of
an independant or non-denominational church. And the most staggering
figure is that 177,000 people consider themselves a not a part of a
church at all. Wow!

Since 2000, a non-denominational church in North Charleston has grown
quickly. However, with the most generous numbers it might change those
numbers by 10-20 thousand. That means there are still a whole bunch of
people in Chucktown who are missing out on a relationship with their
Creator.

God wants more people worshipping Him in Charleston. He deserves more
glory. I want to help bring it to Him.

"Direct Competition"

I posted today on a discussion board asking about the area of Charleston, SC. I was looking for some advice on an area of Charleston that would be more conducive to the style of church that I would be interested in creating. I posted something about relevant music, media and teaching and how this would be an important part of the church.  I just wanted to let people know the type of person that would come to the church I am creating in my brain.

Within a few hours I received a post that stated:

"You should come visit (big church in the area) before you take the plunge. They would be "direct competition"...(This church) has a huge following in the area, with satellite "campuses" all over the Charleston area."

I began to think about what this poster was saying.  "Direct competition".  Seriously?  It reminded me of my favorite coffee place where I live now.  They are independent, eclectic, less about profit and more about creating a place in their community for people to connect and relax.  As soon as my little coffee place started seeing success a Starbuck's franchise popped up right across the street.  That is "direct competition".  It's a part of living in a free market economy.  I'm not happy about it but I get it.  The job of the big corporation is to grab market share at all costs.  At the end of the day all the corporation cares about is how much money its stockholders stuff in their pockets.

But a church?  I don't think this is the way Jesus intended churches to view each other...as "direct competition".  I don't care that there is a bigger church down the road with expensive lights and a nice sound system.  It doesn't bother me.  When I look at demographics from the Charleston area I notice one obvious fact: No matter how many churches there are, there aren't enough!!!!  50% of the people in the area don't even claim a church, not including those who do and only go to church every once in a long while.

Churches were not ever intended to be in competition with each other.  But when you grow up in a society that teaches you free market economics before it teaches you how to tie your shoes that is what you get.  Competition.  Even in the church.  You see it all the time when a church subtly says how much better they are than the other churches.  Or when your pastor scoffs when you mention that little storefront church down the street.  

I didn't sign up to participate in free market churchonomics.  I didn't dedicate my life to serving God just to create a "one-stop shop" where every Christian can get all of their needs met in an hour a week.  Churches should be diverse in who they are reaching.  They should find their niche and embrace it.  I want to work together with the churches in my area.  I want everyone in my community to know that The Church is bigger than any church.  I want them to know that God gets glory from all of his followers not just the ones who go to the nicer or bigger or hipper churches.  Biblically speaking, Christianity was started as a movement of people who weren't rich, or accepted, or up and coming in the world.  Isn't it about time the church reflected that a little?

God help me be a facilitator of cooperation and support.  Please heal the church from its infatuation with our free market economy.  Protect me from selfishness and small mindedness when it comes to how churches should operate.  You are worthy of glory and honor from all of Your creation.

In the beginning...

In college my friends and I would get together and talk about our experiences growing up in church.  This wasn't too uncommon since we were all going to a Christian school and were there to learn how to work in a church.  We would talk about how the music at our church stunk or how the preacher was really boring or how bug of hypocrites the congregants were.  We were in school because we were excited to make a difference in the world and we thought the church was a good place to do that. We thought the "idea" of church was good...you know, a place where all people are accepted and people pitch in to help each other out, all the while doing it for someone bigger than themselves (God).  This was a beautiful idea.  This was the idea that Jesus himself talked about in the Holy Scriptures.

The problem was that the churches we knew weren't anything like what we thought Jesus was talking about.  Sure, my church had some things right and some things wrong, just like all the rest.  But at the gut level something just wasn't right.  So we began to dream about what it would be like to start a church together.  This would be a place where people were authentic about their lives.  A place were people loved each other no matter their background or who they were friends with.  A place were the poor weren't looked down on because they didn't have "enough" and the rich weren't outcast because they had "too much".  People would show up on a regular basis longing to be more connected to their Creator.  Of course, the music and teaching would be good because no body wants to have to pretend to have a good time while they are there.  All of these ideas (and so many more) were chatted about in a smelly dorm room on a small hill in Cincinnati.

Those ideas laid there in the room next to unwashed clothes and bags of Doritos for months.  The sad thing is they never made it off that floor.  We all had good intentions but as we talked we knew that the world doesn't work that way.  Everyone knows that there aren't a lot of independently wealthy fat cats looking to throw money at a church run by five oversleeping, unprepared and undereducated college guys.  When it was time most of us left college, bottled up our dreams and looked for steady jobs in established churches.

I couldn't let those dreams end up at the bottom of the clothes hamper never to be seen again. Even though its been 9 years since those conversations, somehow I manage to dream those same dreams on a weekly basis.  I've worked at 3 established churches since those days and for some reason I still have those ideas in my head.  So right now I am letting them out.  

Over the next few months I am going to boldly lay out how I think God wants to use me to plant a new church in downtown Charleston, SC.  I have lots to say and  I am sure this post leads to tons of questions both from you and from me.  Many of these questions I don't have the answers for....yet.  I won't pretend to have a fully developed plan or even a undeveloped plan. That is what this blog will become over the next few months.  

Here's what I do know: God is calling me and maybe I've been ignoring it for a while.  Or maybe I have followed the exact path He has laid before me.  Either way, I know I am on the edge of something huge.  So starting now I am pulling my dreams off the dorm room floor and asking God to show me what He wants.