The last few months of ministry have been pretty hard. Seeing people go through their hardest days (even watching them or their loved one's die) really tests your faith, really makes you wonder if Jesus is up there like He said He would be, praying for us. Over the past several months, our small church has dealt with death, loss, and pain in ways that don't give a 26 year old pastor much of a chance. Unless Jesus really is who He said He is.
Of course, many would tell you (or me) that the institutional church is a lost cause and I should turn my attention to better 'forms' of church or better ways to spend my time. Interestingly (or I might say 'comically'), one author has even suggested that teeing it up and playing 18 holes with a buddy is now a 'revolutionary' (his title, not mine) way of doing church. Actually, white dudes have been teeing it up to skip church for about a hundred years now.
Through the past few months, I've seen our church do out best to rally around a widow, provide food for sick families, and give (what little...oh do I mean little...) money away to people who needed heat, food or medicine. But as I said, as much as I loved our church, it has been a really hard time.
The first five months of this year were a list of unanswered prayers, and literally I began to think praying was about as worthwhile as slamming my head against a wall. At least when you slam your head against the wall you see progress.
Then God broke His silence, and what He did has changed me (yet again), and it will change you if you listen...
Our little church began this year praying for more meeting space, and God has answered that prayer in a way none of us expected. Frankly, I thought I already knew the answer to the prayer, that God would open the door for us to meet in our local elementary school. I was literally two days from setting up the meeting with the superintendent, when we got a call out of nowhere from the pastor of a church down the road. He offered up use of their building for our church, which was a great idea. Not surprisingly (to me at the time) that became one more unanswered prayer, as their church voted down the idea of us sharing the building.
I was crushed. I went to prayer, more angry than anything, and at that moment God answered me for the first time in several months. He showed me two things. First, the church made the right decision for telling us no, because the proposal was a bad one (can't get into it...but it really was...). Second, we had been asking this questions all along, 'What is best for the Oasis Church?' instead of 'What is the best for the kingdom of God?'
At this point I called the pastor of the church and told him I thought God wanted our two churches to become one. In hindsight, that was probably crazy, but I felt God had clearly told me to do that.
Why was it crazy? The church's name I called is Old Union. The only other church I know with the word 'Old' in it was Old Paths Baptist Church. That church set up shop next to our campus ministry on campus one day with pictures of aborted fetuses. We had cookies.
I think the IU students liked the cookies more.
But it's not like we took a straw poll.
Anyway, the church is full of mostly older folks, whereas our church is full of younger folks. Our tastes our different, music styles different, preaching styles a bit different, ministry style different, but we have one thing in common that really matters.
We like to light stuff on fire and eat.
Seriously, we have Jesus in common, and over the past few weeks I have gotten to see people that have followed Jesus longer than I have been alive, and they have got to hear from a 26 year old pastor who has a church with 4 people younger than him that all want to be pastors too. They fire me up. And we have fired them up. Listen, I'm not trying to say its going to be perfect, but I know God is going to move, and its going to remind me that even though people will get sick, die, struggle, and do things that hurt other people, behind it all is a God who loves us more than we will ever understand.
Honestly, I don't know what is going to happen in the days to come. Here is what I can tell you. Jesus still saves people. He still loves His church. I still cannot believe how stupid I was in college, when I whined, complained, and was bitter against the church.
Perhaps worst of all I thought that I was getting closer to the real 'Jesus' by whining about His church. I thought I really cared about the poor, the Gospel, or about getting things right (or at least better than those evil Republican Christians), but in reality I was just a self-righteous dude who thought he was better than everyone else. But just like I would have words (and even a punch) if a guy thought he could come into my house and make fun of my bride, Jesus had enough of me ripping on His Bride (the Church). I still remember he told me to shutup and go for a week of CIY with the church that I ripped on. That week changed me and even though I got to play drums for two days at CIY (which was something I had always wanted to do really badly...) I actually would have rather spent that time with the students.
That week God showed me what I was. I was that fat guy at sporting events that couldn't run if someone was chasing him, screaming at worldclass athletes to get their head out of their netherregions. I was that guy, yelling at pastors, elders, and leaders who were in the game, doing their best to love people and share the Gospel with them.
I'm in the game now and its hard. Some times people are difficult to love, God sometimes doesn't answer prayer, you watch people die, you watch them go through sickness, you watch them fight depression, you watch them sin in ways that tear your heart in two, but behind it all is this God who knew how difficult people would be and knew how hard life was, and yet He still went to His cross, thinking His life was not too great a price to pay for His bride.
So this Sunday two churches will become one. It will probably not be called what one of our students called it, 'The New Oasis Union - Old.' It will still be Old Union Church and the youth group will be Oasis Student Ministries. But it will really just be the Church.
And there is nothing else I could imagine giving my life too...
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Good News for People Who Think God Still Saves People (and especially for people who still the think the Church is what God uses to save people)...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
I Met Ben Stein...During 'How To Catch A Predator'
My second office is Starbucks for three reasons.
First, they have great coffee and I believe pump caffeine into the oxygen (sort of like going to the Casino in Peoria...you go at 2 am dead tired and when you get in the boat suddenly you are wide awake...) so I get a ton of work done while I'm there.
Second, it is the place Jesus will visit first when He comes back (to get some lemon loaf) and so I'm hoping I'll be there when He walks in the door.
Third, lot's of really interesting things happen there. From the one guy who tried to get me to stop being a Christian with some rehashed Bart Ehrman quotes to the guy who once asked me (when I had headphones on listening to music no less..), 'When do you find you are at your weakest as a Christian?' Now that's an ice breaker.
But nothing more interesting has happened than when a man walked through the door and immediately started flirting with the barista behind the counter. He had a very slow and monotonous voice, making the obvious flirting even more creepy for a man clearly in his 60s to be dropping his game with an 18 year old Starbucks barista.
I looked for cameras thinking this was more like 'How to Catch a Predator' than 'An Afternoon to get some work done at Starbucks.'
The flirting continued and then I noticed the man looked eerily like Ben Stein. His voice sounded like Ben Stein. But the thing that gave it away was the fact that he was wearing tennis shoes with his suit. This was Ben Stein, the host of one of my favorite game shows ever, 'Win Ben Stein's Money,' an actor in one of the best movies ever, 'Ferris Bueller,' and the salesman of the best product for itchy eyes ever, 'Clear Eyes.'
The Starbucks workers and myself were a bit starstruck, took some pictures, and this made the creepiness feeling subside a bit, but he was clearly flirting with the girl. He left to go to Purdue (In hindsight, the fact that he went to Purdue should have proved the creepiness factor) to give a speech, and I was hoping the Ben Stein escapade was over. It wasn't.
His driver called the Starbucks to ask if she would be there after his speech. He came back to see her later.
I didn't give the episode any more thoughts for several weeks, until one of the girls Misty works with at Starbucks told me that Ben Stein had blogged about the encounter in the American Spectator, a notable conservative online magazine (that should give conservatives a good name!). We googled it, and sure enough, there it was and we read about it. I am not going to post the exact things he said, but to say the least, what he wrote wasn't just Michael Jackson creepy, it was O.J. creepy.
Ladies, if you see Ben Stein coming towards you, run. Guys, if you see Ben Stein coming towards your lady, run.
At Ben Stein.
To tackle him.
First, they have great coffee and I believe pump caffeine into the oxygen (sort of like going to the Casino in Peoria...you go at 2 am dead tired and when you get in the boat suddenly you are wide awake...) so I get a ton of work done while I'm there.
Second, it is the place Jesus will visit first when He comes back (to get some lemon loaf) and so I'm hoping I'll be there when He walks in the door.
Third, lot's of really interesting things happen there. From the one guy who tried to get me to stop being a Christian with some rehashed Bart Ehrman quotes to the guy who once asked me (when I had headphones on listening to music no less..), 'When do you find you are at your weakest as a Christian?' Now that's an ice breaker.
But nothing more interesting has happened than when a man walked through the door and immediately started flirting with the barista behind the counter. He had a very slow and monotonous voice, making the obvious flirting even more creepy for a man clearly in his 60s to be dropping his game with an 18 year old Starbucks barista.
I looked for cameras thinking this was more like 'How to Catch a Predator' than 'An Afternoon to get some work done at Starbucks.'
The flirting continued and then I noticed the man looked eerily like Ben Stein. His voice sounded like Ben Stein. But the thing that gave it away was the fact that he was wearing tennis shoes with his suit. This was Ben Stein, the host of one of my favorite game shows ever, 'Win Ben Stein's Money,' an actor in one of the best movies ever, 'Ferris Bueller,' and the salesman of the best product for itchy eyes ever, 'Clear Eyes.'
The Starbucks workers and myself were a bit starstruck, took some pictures, and this made the creepiness feeling subside a bit, but he was clearly flirting with the girl. He left to go to Purdue (In hindsight, the fact that he went to Purdue should have proved the creepiness factor) to give a speech, and I was hoping the Ben Stein escapade was over. It wasn't.
His driver called the Starbucks to ask if she would be there after his speech. He came back to see her later.
I didn't give the episode any more thoughts for several weeks, until one of the girls Misty works with at Starbucks told me that Ben Stein had blogged about the encounter in the American Spectator, a notable conservative online magazine (that should give conservatives a good name!). We googled it, and sure enough, there it was and we read about it. I am not going to post the exact things he said, but to say the least, what he wrote wasn't just Michael Jackson creepy, it was O.J. creepy.
Ladies, if you see Ben Stein coming towards you, run. Guys, if you see Ben Stein coming towards your lady, run.
At Ben Stein.
To tackle him.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Why I'll Die A Pastor
Over the past few days, I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on how I ended up becoming a pastor. The reason for this is because as of this month I have been a pastor for five years. I know that is about as exciting as an IU basketball game these days, but there is a reason why this matters to me and why I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on it.
The reason I have reflected on this is because four out of five pastors quit the ministry forever before they get to five years.
If that isn't scary enough, the way I got my first job in ministry should have just about guaranteed my failure. At that point in my life I was pretty burned out on church. I had grown up in a youth ministry that I loved and I wanted to do that sort of thing for my life. So when I got to Bible College, I immediately hooked up with the church most like my youth ministry, so I could begin on the path to mega-church youth leadership, speaking at conferences, and being the 'cool' pastor, like my own youth minister.
That dream flamed out pretty quickly. I found myself increasingly frustrated with the church, and soon became a Bible College student training for ministry that didn't go to church on Sundays. The height of hypocrisy, patheticness, and I would also add...unmanliness.
I began asking God what He wanted me to do in light of the patheticness of His church, and He told me to get a job as a youth pastor, part time on the weekends. Seems like a weird plan in hindsight.
At first, I figured He needed me to a pastor, since I was so gifted and blessed (I seriously thought that). On the surface of things, the church I got the job at should have further frustrated my perspective on the church, yet it didn't. The preaching wasn't really my cup of tea, the music wasn't my style, everyone loved Illinois basketball and Bruce Weber (Gross!!!), and my personal favorite part, the kids tried to get me to quit for my first couple months. I love them to death now, but they would frequently, cuss, throw random dance parties, throw things at me and each other right in the middle of Sunday School. The church had no small groups to offer me and it did not intellectually satisfy me. If this was God's plan to make me fall in love with the church, He apparently didn't know what He was doing...
Yet I fell head over heels.
The preaching began to be convicting, I learned to worship Jesus and not music, and the kids there became my calling. Don't get me wrong, I failed miserably and had no clue what I was doing, but God did His work, and He made me a pastor. He just asked me to be faithful with whatever He put on my plate.
Because of that, I thought I'd share a few reasons why I'll be a pastor till the day they put me in a box six feet under...
(1) Jesus - When I was busy ranting about the church's sinfulness, I conveniently neglected my own. I was so angry about other's sins I had successfully not only casted the first stone, but threw they whole dang quarry at the church. It was at this time I began to understand how deeply sinful I was. I realized there had been a number of sins in my past I had committed and never really repented of. I was broken, and praise God I didn't get an Eight Fold Path or Five Pillars to correct myself, but a God who humbly served me (as pathetic as I was) and saved me.
(2) People - I have so many stories from being a pastor that will live with me forever. A couple favorites. Not too long ago we were sitting down with the youth group and spending some time hanging out. We have this kid, Nooner, in our youth group that is proof that God creates everyone uniquely (He once said, 'Careful guys, I'm a cuddler.'). He is awesome, his own man, hilarious and strangely, wants to be a pastor himself one day. One day we were talking and Nooner was trying to tell me something about this other girl in our ministry, Miranda. He was having trouble getting his point across and finally he said..."We have Interpersonal Relations!!!" Turns out that is not about 'relations' (come on this is a family program) but there is a class at WeBo called 'Interpersonal Relations.'
Back in Illinois I decided to teach through Ezekiel and I knew there was one passage that would get to the kids (in a funny way). In a part of Ezekiel, God tells Ezekiel to sort of act out a sermon, and Ezekiel has to bake bread over...poop. One of my favorite people ever, Ian, a sophomore at the time said, 'You mean...he made butt bread?' Butt bread. Theological Genius.
(3) God Saves People and I get a front row seat - When God grabs someone by the heart, they are never the same. I have seen God save so many people, families, and situations that I could never imagine someone not believing in God.
(4) The Church - I am getting ready to teach Revelation to a group of high school students, which is sort of like teaching Chaos Theory to wombats. But when you get into the book, its not about time tables for the end of the world, but rather about God and His church. There is a beautiful passage in Revelation 12-13 that you should read if you get the chance. It says there that the church has conquered Satan because of the blood of the Lamb. This is really fascinating.
Satan is called the accuser. As a pastor, I hear constantly of people who think they are worthless, pathetic, terrible, and should just die. Satan has been accusing. I mean how many people do you that think they are totally worthless? Or maybe that's you? I can tell you that is not God saying that.
Revelation then says God has kicked Satan out of heaven, meaning he can no longer accuse us. Why not? He has no grounds any longer, because of the blood of the lamb. In the past he could say, 'Well God, look at this Tim Spanburg fella...What a guy this is, and a pastor no less, what a hypocrite.' But when God looks at me, He sees Jesus, not my sin because the blood of the lamb has conquered Satan. And when Satan has accused me, I have no response but 'Guilty as charged. In fact, I'm far worse than that.' But praise Jesus the basis of my relationship with God is not my morality but Jesus' cross.
Talk about a message for people who think they are worthless, and I get to share it with people all the time, which means I pastor a lot of people that are messed up, which is why I fell in love with the church, because it is the one place in the world where you can tell people they no matter how jacked up they have made their lives, I am not going to give them a To-Do List in order to pay for their sins. Rather, I offer them Jesus. Talk about hope for those who have none.
I remembered how smart I was when I realized this, that the church isn't perfect because Christianity is a message that connects with broken people, rather than people who have their lives perfectly together.
Did I mention one of my greatest sins is pride?
I was talking with a friend of mine earlier tonight who joked about how if we did seminary together I could be smarter than him in another class.
Did I mention one of my greatest sins is pride?
Anyway, I asked him how he was doing, just hoping he was faithful. I hoped he still loved the church and Jesus both, since he is probably nearing his five years and chances are he was probably burned out too. He was loving his job as a youth pastor and all was great. I told him I was glad because I didn't want him to be burned out on the church. Then he said something so radical. He told me that people that burn out on the church never really understood what the church is in the first place, that the church is full of broken people who Jesus has saved and yet is still working on.
He figured that out long before I did. But I'm glad its better late, than never.
(5) The Goal of My Life Is Faithfulness - I don't want to be cool, hip, trendy, smart, theological, or any of that. I just want to be faithful to Jesus. Whatever he asks me to do. Wherever he asks me to go. I just want to be faithful. No more, no less. More than anything, I look forward to the day when I'll close my eyes and open them to Jesus. I know I can't be worthy of bearing His name, but He gives it to me anyway.
How could I quit on that boss?
The reason I have reflected on this is because four out of five pastors quit the ministry forever before they get to five years.
If that isn't scary enough, the way I got my first job in ministry should have just about guaranteed my failure. At that point in my life I was pretty burned out on church. I had grown up in a youth ministry that I loved and I wanted to do that sort of thing for my life. So when I got to Bible College, I immediately hooked up with the church most like my youth ministry, so I could begin on the path to mega-church youth leadership, speaking at conferences, and being the 'cool' pastor, like my own youth minister.
That dream flamed out pretty quickly. I found myself increasingly frustrated with the church, and soon became a Bible College student training for ministry that didn't go to church on Sundays. The height of hypocrisy, patheticness, and I would also add...unmanliness.
I began asking God what He wanted me to do in light of the patheticness of His church, and He told me to get a job as a youth pastor, part time on the weekends. Seems like a weird plan in hindsight.
At first, I figured He needed me to a pastor, since I was so gifted and blessed (I seriously thought that). On the surface of things, the church I got the job at should have further frustrated my perspective on the church, yet it didn't. The preaching wasn't really my cup of tea, the music wasn't my style, everyone loved Illinois basketball and Bruce Weber (Gross!!!), and my personal favorite part, the kids tried to get me to quit for my first couple months. I love them to death now, but they would frequently, cuss, throw random dance parties, throw things at me and each other right in the middle of Sunday School. The church had no small groups to offer me and it did not intellectually satisfy me. If this was God's plan to make me fall in love with the church, He apparently didn't know what He was doing...
Yet I fell head over heels.
The preaching began to be convicting, I learned to worship Jesus and not music, and the kids there became my calling. Don't get me wrong, I failed miserably and had no clue what I was doing, but God did His work, and He made me a pastor. He just asked me to be faithful with whatever He put on my plate.
Because of that, I thought I'd share a few reasons why I'll be a pastor till the day they put me in a box six feet under...
(1) Jesus - When I was busy ranting about the church's sinfulness, I conveniently neglected my own. I was so angry about other's sins I had successfully not only casted the first stone, but threw they whole dang quarry at the church. It was at this time I began to understand how deeply sinful I was. I realized there had been a number of sins in my past I had committed and never really repented of. I was broken, and praise God I didn't get an Eight Fold Path or Five Pillars to correct myself, but a God who humbly served me (as pathetic as I was) and saved me.
(2) People - I have so many stories from being a pastor that will live with me forever. A couple favorites. Not too long ago we were sitting down with the youth group and spending some time hanging out. We have this kid, Nooner, in our youth group that is proof that God creates everyone uniquely (He once said, 'Careful guys, I'm a cuddler.'). He is awesome, his own man, hilarious and strangely, wants to be a pastor himself one day. One day we were talking and Nooner was trying to tell me something about this other girl in our ministry, Miranda. He was having trouble getting his point across and finally he said..."We have Interpersonal Relations!!!" Turns out that is not about 'relations' (come on this is a family program) but there is a class at WeBo called 'Interpersonal Relations.'
Back in Illinois I decided to teach through Ezekiel and I knew there was one passage that would get to the kids (in a funny way). In a part of Ezekiel, God tells Ezekiel to sort of act out a sermon, and Ezekiel has to bake bread over...poop. One of my favorite people ever, Ian, a sophomore at the time said, 'You mean...he made butt bread?' Butt bread. Theological Genius.
(3) God Saves People and I get a front row seat - When God grabs someone by the heart, they are never the same. I have seen God save so many people, families, and situations that I could never imagine someone not believing in God.
(4) The Church - I am getting ready to teach Revelation to a group of high school students, which is sort of like teaching Chaos Theory to wombats. But when you get into the book, its not about time tables for the end of the world, but rather about God and His church. There is a beautiful passage in Revelation 12-13 that you should read if you get the chance. It says there that the church has conquered Satan because of the blood of the Lamb. This is really fascinating.
Satan is called the accuser. As a pastor, I hear constantly of people who think they are worthless, pathetic, terrible, and should just die. Satan has been accusing. I mean how many people do you that think they are totally worthless? Or maybe that's you? I can tell you that is not God saying that.
Revelation then says God has kicked Satan out of heaven, meaning he can no longer accuse us. Why not? He has no grounds any longer, because of the blood of the lamb. In the past he could say, 'Well God, look at this Tim Spanburg fella...What a guy this is, and a pastor no less, what a hypocrite.' But when God looks at me, He sees Jesus, not my sin because the blood of the lamb has conquered Satan. And when Satan has accused me, I have no response but 'Guilty as charged. In fact, I'm far worse than that.' But praise Jesus the basis of my relationship with God is not my morality but Jesus' cross.
Talk about a message for people who think they are worthless, and I get to share it with people all the time, which means I pastor a lot of people that are messed up, which is why I fell in love with the church, because it is the one place in the world where you can tell people they no matter how jacked up they have made their lives, I am not going to give them a To-Do List in order to pay for their sins. Rather, I offer them Jesus. Talk about hope for those who have none.
I remembered how smart I was when I realized this, that the church isn't perfect because Christianity is a message that connects with broken people, rather than people who have their lives perfectly together.
Did I mention one of my greatest sins is pride?
I was talking with a friend of mine earlier tonight who joked about how if we did seminary together I could be smarter than him in another class.
Did I mention one of my greatest sins is pride?
Anyway, I asked him how he was doing, just hoping he was faithful. I hoped he still loved the church and Jesus both, since he is probably nearing his five years and chances are he was probably burned out too. He was loving his job as a youth pastor and all was great. I told him I was glad because I didn't want him to be burned out on the church. Then he said something so radical. He told me that people that burn out on the church never really understood what the church is in the first place, that the church is full of broken people who Jesus has saved and yet is still working on.
He figured that out long before I did. But I'm glad its better late, than never.
(5) The Goal of My Life Is Faithfulness - I don't want to be cool, hip, trendy, smart, theological, or any of that. I just want to be faithful to Jesus. Whatever he asks me to do. Wherever he asks me to go. I just want to be faithful. No more, no less. More than anything, I look forward to the day when I'll close my eyes and open them to Jesus. I know I can't be worthy of bearing His name, but He gives it to me anyway.
How could I quit on that boss?
Friday, November 14, 2008
old pastors who have free therapy by yelling at junior highers...
A few weeks ago I spoke at a seminar on world religions at my old junior high. To say the least, it was an interesting experience. There were several conclusions that I drew from the time, so I thought I'd share them...
(1) I hate white dudes who are really proud of their religion. Young, old, or middle-aged, white dudes can be so dang arrogant about their faiths. We must have bred the self-righteous gene into ourselves, because in working with the black church in Indianapolis, I didn't find the dudes so dang proud of themselves. Another name for the seminar I was at could have been 'An Hour...wait no two hours because we can't shut up!!...On Religions Tolerance.' The only humble guys in there where two Buddhists who had the impossible task of explaining of their religion in 15 minutes. When the Buddhist guys were done, someone they had brought along who couldn't be more proud of himself, grabbed the mic. He threw about 3 shots at Christianity and how we always tell lies about Buddhists and then sat down. If you are white, and a dude...you're not as smart as you think you are (I know...I am one.)
(2) Explaining Buddhism in 15 minutes oscillates between comedy, depression, and sleep. My favorite line in the speech was 'The Buddha had lots of dancing girls around him...' Great line for a bunch of 7th grade boys. I would repeat what was said, but I don't remember because Buddhism is boring...
(3) Christian preachers are not the only religious leaders who are unable to shut their traps. The Buddhists guys took up nearly 40 minutes (we were asked to do 15...). The Hindu lady took around 35 minutes. The Jewish guy took 20 minutes. The first Christian pastor (more on this wonderful dude in a second...) took 15 and I got 5 minutes...
(4) I can't understand why Christians want to be more 'Eastern' in their approach to religion. Eastern religions are so dang confusing, at times downright contradictory (sorry I'm crazy enough to believe in western logic...), and always so confusing not a 7th grader in the room understood what the heck they were talking about. If a religion cannot be summed up so the simplest of people can understand it, then what you have is religion for the super-spiritual. Salvation only comes to those smart enough to 'get it.' The other guys could not sum up their religion succinctly, but for me it was no problem. I told the kids Christianity can be summed up like this... 'You are so flawed Jesus had to die for you. But Jesus loves you so much He was glad to die for you.' (thanks Tim Keller for that quote). A kid can get that, which is maybe why Christianity is the only religion you see kids actively involved in from the beginning.
(5) Old pastors should be sent off in a canoe like the eskimos. So now let me explain my status update on facebook from a few days ago...You know, about how I think old pastors who yell at junior highers because someone called them a communist is simultaneous hilarious and sad. When it was time for the Christians to speak we had about 20 minutes between the two of us. I know I could cut mine short, and in the tradition of wisdom literature I deferred to the older pastor for the first cut at explaining Christianity. Here is how he began his speech: "The last time I spoke at a school, I promised I would never do it again, because when I got finished...someone called me a COMMUNIST!!!' The word communist sounded like Satan himself had taken over the microphone, or that some kid was playing with the mic trying to sound really scary. I have about three issues with that. First, no seventh grader knows what a dang communist is. Second, yelling at kids as therapy is not so good. Third, I am pretty sure the guy is a communist...
(6) Religion is the most toxic thing in existence. Every other dude except me essentially said this, 'If you do these certain things...you will be saved.' The Pharisees never seem to die. That is probably what I would have said in the past. But it was cool just to get up there and let those kids know no matter how jacked up their lives are, their salvation has no basis in their morality. That in Jesus' death we don't have to earn our way back to God. As a pastor, I can say that is the only message that has any traction in people's life. I certainly have a healthy respect for people in other religions, so I am not demeaning them. But morality as the focus of religion leads to one thing...self-righteousness. It's why so many people couldn't walk into a church today. Because self-righteous Christians are convinced of their own cleanliness that they don't want to be dirtied by messy people. There is one quote that I'll end with, that has grabbed my mind and has me thinking like never before...
"Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did."
(1) I hate white dudes who are really proud of their religion. Young, old, or middle-aged, white dudes can be so dang arrogant about their faiths. We must have bred the self-righteous gene into ourselves, because in working with the black church in Indianapolis, I didn't find the dudes so dang proud of themselves. Another name for the seminar I was at could have been 'An Hour...wait no two hours because we can't shut up!!...On Religions Tolerance.' The only humble guys in there where two Buddhists who had the impossible task of explaining of their religion in 15 minutes. When the Buddhist guys were done, someone they had brought along who couldn't be more proud of himself, grabbed the mic. He threw about 3 shots at Christianity and how we always tell lies about Buddhists and then sat down. If you are white, and a dude...you're not as smart as you think you are (I know...I am one.)
(2) Explaining Buddhism in 15 minutes oscillates between comedy, depression, and sleep. My favorite line in the speech was 'The Buddha had lots of dancing girls around him...' Great line for a bunch of 7th grade boys. I would repeat what was said, but I don't remember because Buddhism is boring...
(3) Christian preachers are not the only religious leaders who are unable to shut their traps. The Buddhists guys took up nearly 40 minutes (we were asked to do 15...). The Hindu lady took around 35 minutes. The Jewish guy took 20 minutes. The first Christian pastor (more on this wonderful dude in a second...) took 15 and I got 5 minutes...
(4) I can't understand why Christians want to be more 'Eastern' in their approach to religion. Eastern religions are so dang confusing, at times downright contradictory (sorry I'm crazy enough to believe in western logic...), and always so confusing not a 7th grader in the room understood what the heck they were talking about. If a religion cannot be summed up so the simplest of people can understand it, then what you have is religion for the super-spiritual. Salvation only comes to those smart enough to 'get it.' The other guys could not sum up their religion succinctly, but for me it was no problem. I told the kids Christianity can be summed up like this... 'You are so flawed Jesus had to die for you. But Jesus loves you so much He was glad to die for you.' (thanks Tim Keller for that quote). A kid can get that, which is maybe why Christianity is the only religion you see kids actively involved in from the beginning.
(5) Old pastors should be sent off in a canoe like the eskimos. So now let me explain my status update on facebook from a few days ago...You know, about how I think old pastors who yell at junior highers because someone called them a communist is simultaneous hilarious and sad. When it was time for the Christians to speak we had about 20 minutes between the two of us. I know I could cut mine short, and in the tradition of wisdom literature I deferred to the older pastor for the first cut at explaining Christianity. Here is how he began his speech: "The last time I spoke at a school, I promised I would never do it again, because when I got finished...someone called me a COMMUNIST!!!' The word communist sounded like Satan himself had taken over the microphone, or that some kid was playing with the mic trying to sound really scary. I have about three issues with that. First, no seventh grader knows what a dang communist is. Second, yelling at kids as therapy is not so good. Third, I am pretty sure the guy is a communist...
(6) Religion is the most toxic thing in existence. Every other dude except me essentially said this, 'If you do these certain things...you will be saved.' The Pharisees never seem to die. That is probably what I would have said in the past. But it was cool just to get up there and let those kids know no matter how jacked up their lives are, their salvation has no basis in their morality. That in Jesus' death we don't have to earn our way back to God. As a pastor, I can say that is the only message that has any traction in people's life. I certainly have a healthy respect for people in other religions, so I am not demeaning them. But morality as the focus of religion leads to one thing...self-righteousness. It's why so many people couldn't walk into a church today. Because self-righteous Christians are convinced of their own cleanliness that they don't want to be dirtied by messy people. There is one quote that I'll end with, that has grabbed my mind and has me thinking like never before...
"Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did."
Monday, July 09, 2007
The Church and the City
I am reading a book, which would make the high school junior version of myself absolutely sick. What would make it even more sick is this a book that has footnotes so long they need their own pages in the back of the book. Plus, the book as appendices. Appendices. I have come a long way.
The book is called Bowling Alone and is a sociological look at America, especially the fact that Americans have largely withdrawn from a once active to society to retreat to their televisions and self-entertaining meccas (a.k.a. their homes...). We don't need churches, community centers or politics because we have movies, television and video games. As a result the last 60 years has seen a gradual to exponential decrease in Americans involvement in society.
I don't really want to get into that. What I want to get into is the fact that the places that have most seen this effect have been the cities, especially the parts of the cities that suburbanite kids like to call the 'ghetto.' Here is what the sociologist William Julius Wilson in his book THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED had to say:
"The basic thesis is not that ghetto culture went unchecked following the removal of high-income families in the inner city, but that the removal of these families made it more to sustain the basic institutions in the inner city (including churches, stores, schools, recreational facilities, etc.) in the face of prolonged joblessness."
In other words, the Church basically ran like an economy. They saw the difficulties coming with increased racial desegregation, increased unskilled job workers into the community, and of course the dreaded public school problems. The Church then moved out to the Suburbs where they could have huge budgets, bigger buildings, and senior pastors could speak at conferences and write books while the city is basically left behind to the drug dealers, apathetic parents, and schools without a prayer not because they lack funds but because there is no social capital driving the enterprise.
Translation: The Church bailed on the city.
Now the result is clear: The Church is not only one of the most segregated places in America, but also the Church's place in the city has been lost. And this is not just in the poorer places of the city, but the places where culture is made.
So why blog this? It's simple. The Church needs to repent and go back to the city. People need to consider moving back to the city and bring with them their passion for good education, good politics, and a good God. All this produces social capital that will in turn change communities.
The problem with this is there are no book deals to be had, no money to be made, no fame to be grown, just hopefully one day a church of a hundred or so multiethnic people who love Jesus, love each other and embody the Kingdom.
Yep its crazy, and its the vision my life is slowly being turned over to...
The book is called Bowling Alone and is a sociological look at America, especially the fact that Americans have largely withdrawn from a once active to society to retreat to their televisions and self-entertaining meccas (a.k.a. their homes...). We don't need churches, community centers or politics because we have movies, television and video games. As a result the last 60 years has seen a gradual to exponential decrease in Americans involvement in society.
I don't really want to get into that. What I want to get into is the fact that the places that have most seen this effect have been the cities, especially the parts of the cities that suburbanite kids like to call the 'ghetto.' Here is what the sociologist William Julius Wilson in his book THE TRULY DISADVANTAGED had to say:
"The basic thesis is not that ghetto culture went unchecked following the removal of high-income families in the inner city, but that the removal of these families made it more to sustain the basic institutions in the inner city (including churches, stores, schools, recreational facilities, etc.) in the face of prolonged joblessness."
In other words, the Church basically ran like an economy. They saw the difficulties coming with increased racial desegregation, increased unskilled job workers into the community, and of course the dreaded public school problems. The Church then moved out to the Suburbs where they could have huge budgets, bigger buildings, and senior pastors could speak at conferences and write books while the city is basically left behind to the drug dealers, apathetic parents, and schools without a prayer not because they lack funds but because there is no social capital driving the enterprise.
Translation: The Church bailed on the city.
Now the result is clear: The Church is not only one of the most segregated places in America, but also the Church's place in the city has been lost. And this is not just in the poorer places of the city, but the places where culture is made.
So why blog this? It's simple. The Church needs to repent and go back to the city. People need to consider moving back to the city and bring with them their passion for good education, good politics, and a good God. All this produces social capital that will in turn change communities.
The problem with this is there are no book deals to be had, no money to be made, no fame to be grown, just hopefully one day a church of a hundred or so multiethnic people who love Jesus, love each other and embody the Kingdom.
Yep its crazy, and its the vision my life is slowly being turned over to...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
some vacation thoughts...
So I am on vacation with the family. It has been a great time here, reminding me of the fact that no matter how many books I read, I am still the family idiot. Even though my mom is making a strong run for that title (as you will see in the following words), I still have a firm claim to it, proven by the fact that my dad bought me socks because I constantly wear his, my mom still insists on doing my laundry, and that I am constantly chided for the fact that I wear the same red shorts every night.
If they weren't so dang comfortable, this would not be an issue. But Nike has fold gold in their Elite series shorts, and I have to say that they feel pretty dang good.
But that is besides the main gist of this post, which is to pass on some bits of wisdom to people. Vacation slows you down, forces you to evaluate, and above all, it really points you to what's important. So here are five things I think are really important...
5. Golf is a game for stuck up dudes. I am glad I play golf, and get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but playing here in Hilton Head reminds me of the time that I played in junior tournaments and mommy's would go around keeping their child's score and the kid had spent more money on his golf clubs than I did on my college education.
4. I have set myself up for a life of frustration. I want to be a pastor the rest of my life, where people apparently think that they are free to call you out an anything. I play golf, which is dang expensive and frustrating. To this day I have said more cuss words on the golf course than in the rest of my life x100. And last, I route for the Cubs. That needs no explanation.
3. So many people love being single so they can get rich, go to bars, get drunk, and do whatever they want. That is so disappointing. I have been reading through Nehemiah in some personal study, and there is one chapter where Nehemiah lists some dudes and all their sons down through the generations. One dude had 3,000 sons through several generations. That is amazing. Right now I am being cheap and saving money so I can adopt kids and have a big family. So one day if God adds a book of the Bible I can maybe I have 'the Sons of Spanburg, 3,000' over the course of the next 200 years.
Either that or I need to start going to the Vogue.
2. It is so easy not to do anything worthwhile with your life. Right now I preach sermons, lead a church, love a girlfriend, and take care of a spoiled 2 year old dachshund. But when I came out of college I wanted to end poverty and start a Christian health care system. I know this sounds crazy, but hospitals used to be free because Christians priests (pastors) started them. I know those sound more like the goals of Miss America than a dude who watches too much baseball and eats too much meat, but I am not satisfied. Vacation gives you time to remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing. It's so easy just to cash paycheck and look forward to tomorrow, forgetting what God is calling you to today.
1. Dudes should never wear pink pants or shorts or shirts. Apparently dudes need another copy of that memo. If I had a nickel for every dude (excuse me, but guy, because guys who were pink deserve to be called neither dude and especially not man) that I have seen wearing either a pink shirt or shorts that I would be building The Oasis Church a new building with a golf course and a Starbucks. I mean, pink. Pink! Those dudes need to be given a steak, football tickets, and a picture of Bruce Willis to remind them everyday of how great it is to be a man. Being a man means the only pink we ever see is clothing we buy for our significant others. I do not care who first decided dudes could or should wear pink, but that guy should immediately be forced into an Ultimate Fighting octagon, where he either has his manhood beaten back into him or he finds his manhood via various martial arts...
If they weren't so dang comfortable, this would not be an issue. But Nike has fold gold in their Elite series shorts, and I have to say that they feel pretty dang good.
But that is besides the main gist of this post, which is to pass on some bits of wisdom to people. Vacation slows you down, forces you to evaluate, and above all, it really points you to what's important. So here are five things I think are really important...
5. Golf is a game for stuck up dudes. I am glad I play golf, and get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but playing here in Hilton Head reminds me of the time that I played in junior tournaments and mommy's would go around keeping their child's score and the kid had spent more money on his golf clubs than I did on my college education.
4. I have set myself up for a life of frustration. I want to be a pastor the rest of my life, where people apparently think that they are free to call you out an anything. I play golf, which is dang expensive and frustrating. To this day I have said more cuss words on the golf course than in the rest of my life x100. And last, I route for the Cubs. That needs no explanation.
3. So many people love being single so they can get rich, go to bars, get drunk, and do whatever they want. That is so disappointing. I have been reading through Nehemiah in some personal study, and there is one chapter where Nehemiah lists some dudes and all their sons down through the generations. One dude had 3,000 sons through several generations. That is amazing. Right now I am being cheap and saving money so I can adopt kids and have a big family. So one day if God adds a book of the Bible I can maybe I have 'the Sons of Spanburg, 3,000' over the course of the next 200 years.
Either that or I need to start going to the Vogue.
2. It is so easy not to do anything worthwhile with your life. Right now I preach sermons, lead a church, love a girlfriend, and take care of a spoiled 2 year old dachshund. But when I came out of college I wanted to end poverty and start a Christian health care system. I know this sounds crazy, but hospitals used to be free because Christians priests (pastors) started them. I know those sound more like the goals of Miss America than a dude who watches too much baseball and eats too much meat, but I am not satisfied. Vacation gives you time to remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing. It's so easy just to cash paycheck and look forward to tomorrow, forgetting what God is calling you to today.
1. Dudes should never wear pink pants or shorts or shirts. Apparently dudes need another copy of that memo. If I had a nickel for every dude (excuse me, but guy, because guys who were pink deserve to be called neither dude and especially not man) that I have seen wearing either a pink shirt or shorts that I would be building The Oasis Church a new building with a golf course and a Starbucks. I mean, pink. Pink! Those dudes need to be given a steak, football tickets, and a picture of Bruce Willis to remind them everyday of how great it is to be a man. Being a man means the only pink we ever see is clothing we buy for our significant others. I do not care who first decided dudes could or should wear pink, but that guy should immediately be forced into an Ultimate Fighting octagon, where he either has his manhood beaten back into him or he finds his manhood via various martial arts...
Friday, April 13, 2007
dudes, swords, and authorized punching
After an extremely long blogging hiatus, I am breaking the silence with something I have been thinking about a lot lately. Should Christians fight? I know the passage about 'turning the other cheek,' I know how Jesus could have invoked violence to come off the cross but He didn't, and I know that we are supposed to be peacemakers, not warmakers.
Having said that, I listened to a sermon yesterday where a pastor was proud his son punched another kid. Why did he do this? Because the other kid was picking on this pastor's son's little sister. The son told him to stop, and if he didn't, the kid was going to get a punch in the face. The kid didn't stop, and so the pastor's son, a PK nonetheless, punched this other kid in the face.
The parent of the kid who's face got jacked was obviously upset (probably more because it was her son that got punched, rather than did the punching) and wanted to know what this pastor was going to do about it. So, the pastor talked to his son, found out what happened, and when he learned this kid was pushing his daughter down, picking on her, and calling her names, then the pastor was OK with what his son did.
That was shocking to me. But the more I think about it, the more I like it.
Many PK's really don't like the church and Christians because they have to be something they don't want to be...perfect. But when it comes to pastor's sons, I think its much different. I think the church expects them to be feminine, moreso than anything else. After all, most pastors are feminie. Pastors are expected to be soft, gentle, and caring. You know, the very thing you would not expect to find in uh...you know...a DUDE!
This does not mean pastors shouldn't be that way, but I think in raising my sons, I am going to teach them that defending themselves, their sisters, and their mom is noble. That dudes don't just go looking for a fight, but we do defend the defenseless, either by words or by actions.
I remember when I was like 8 years old, and I heard my mom talking about how there were these dudes at Lafayette Square Mall who were waiting under cars, and then slashing women's ankles so they could steal the car and the women could not run them down. It was obviously effective.
Becuase of this, my mom was afraid to go to Lafayette Square Mall, and as I heard this, I immediately spoke up and promised to protect her, that she would be safe as long as I was around. I'll take on knife carrying dudes for my mom anyday. Anyway, for the next few months everytime we would go anywhere I would always check under the car. I would not let my mom see me, but I would do it nonetheless.
Even at 8 years old I was ready to fight and defend. Dudes are like that. Sons are like that. Its a shame the Church still thinks of Jesus as a weak, effeminate man, rather than a strong Savior that laid down his life because it was necessary for our forgiveness, not because he wanted us to become weak, effeminate men.
So what I am doing to change this? Three Words: Jack Bauer Ministry...
Having said that, I listened to a sermon yesterday where a pastor was proud his son punched another kid. Why did he do this? Because the other kid was picking on this pastor's son's little sister. The son told him to stop, and if he didn't, the kid was going to get a punch in the face. The kid didn't stop, and so the pastor's son, a PK nonetheless, punched this other kid in the face.
The parent of the kid who's face got jacked was obviously upset (probably more because it was her son that got punched, rather than did the punching) and wanted to know what this pastor was going to do about it. So, the pastor talked to his son, found out what happened, and when he learned this kid was pushing his daughter down, picking on her, and calling her names, then the pastor was OK with what his son did.
That was shocking to me. But the more I think about it, the more I like it.
Many PK's really don't like the church and Christians because they have to be something they don't want to be...perfect. But when it comes to pastor's sons, I think its much different. I think the church expects them to be feminine, moreso than anything else. After all, most pastors are feminie. Pastors are expected to be soft, gentle, and caring. You know, the very thing you would not expect to find in uh...you know...a DUDE!
This does not mean pastors shouldn't be that way, but I think in raising my sons, I am going to teach them that defending themselves, their sisters, and their mom is noble. That dudes don't just go looking for a fight, but we do defend the defenseless, either by words or by actions.
I remember when I was like 8 years old, and I heard my mom talking about how there were these dudes at Lafayette Square Mall who were waiting under cars, and then slashing women's ankles so they could steal the car and the women could not run them down. It was obviously effective.
Becuase of this, my mom was afraid to go to Lafayette Square Mall, and as I heard this, I immediately spoke up and promised to protect her, that she would be safe as long as I was around. I'll take on knife carrying dudes for my mom anyday. Anyway, for the next few months everytime we would go anywhere I would always check under the car. I would not let my mom see me, but I would do it nonetheless.
Even at 8 years old I was ready to fight and defend. Dudes are like that. Sons are like that. Its a shame the Church still thinks of Jesus as a weak, effeminate man, rather than a strong Savior that laid down his life because it was necessary for our forgiveness, not because he wanted us to become weak, effeminate men.
So what I am doing to change this? Three Words: Jack Bauer Ministry...
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