Back in February, I started work on my next writing project.  I actually have several ideas for three or four books, but this one jumped out at me from nowhere.  I spent a month on it, and have been derailed since the first week of March.  I got to produce a video for my old boss on her Haiti trip, and work morphed into a world of insanity (in a good way).  As of early Tuesday morning (when I wrote this post), I'm back at it.  I don't know if I can make my deadline of mid-November, but I'm going to try.  So stay tuned...

Our office is closed on Monday due to the Easter holiday weekend.  That means a three day weekend for me.  No big plans, except for a cook out  at our place Monday night.  In the meantime, I'm going to do some reflecting on this most important of weekends to Christians--the weekend of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.  I realize how high, deep, and wide the grace of God is more each day.  I'm humbled and grateful for it.

Have a good Easter weekend.  See you back here next week.  And if you're going to church on Easter, here's a few clips from Jim Gaffigan to prepare you:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k_9mXpNdgU]

The Easter stuff is from 1:19-1:46 in the clip below.  But the whole thing is funny.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJAxRVeKnTE]

For ten years--an entire decade--I've considered myself a church planter.  I planted a church in VA back in '01.  We replanted the church in '02.  We reconfigured the church and thus re-replanted the church in '07, except we planted a network of two churches that quickly expanded to three.  I've talked about church planting.  I've posted about church planting.  I've passionately discussed and debated church planting for nearly one-third of my life.  Now, at the end of that decade, I think I've come to a conclusion that changes absolutely everything.  It will change how I view myself.  It will change how I view the church.  It will change how I approach life and deal with people.

I'm no longer a church planter.

To those of you who've read this blog for awhile, it's no secret that I've become very uncomfortable with the way many churches are planted in our country and culture.  I'm very uncomfortable with it both from a practical and a biblical point-of-view.  Practically, it takes so much money, time, effort and "scaffolding" to hold up a traditionally planted church and it's structure.  It also is very tough to both replicate and multiply such a structure.  I almost think its impossible to do so.  Biblically speaking, the command to plant church is not found anywhere.  We've simply assumed it to be true.  We've equated making disciples with planting churches.  I now believe that's totally backwards.  We're not to plant churches in order to make disciples.  We make disciples, which result in churches sprouting and taking root.

Even so, I considered myself a church planter until very, very recently.  I read a post my wonderful wife wrote last week.  In it, she stated, "...God moved us away from church planting."  I was taken aback at first.  Then I thought about it.  She was right (as usual).

I still think my gifts are in the apostolic/evangelistic (i.e. I start new things).  My hospice job, however, has revealed to me that I've got a lot of pastoral gifting in me that I never knew I had.  The last year has been very interesting, to say the least.

It is my goal to point people to Jesus and help them to follow him, and then help them to help others do the same.  If that happens, churches will sprout.  More disciples will be made.  More churches will sprout.  Leaders will emerge.  God will move.  The kingdom will invade the darkness of this world.  Jesus will be glorified.

I'm not a church planter.
I'm a disciple maker.
This really changes everything.

I've recently struggled with a mild bout of depression.  Several weeks ago, a name from long ago surfaced in a conversation.  This person had been at some particular event, and all that was said was, "So-and-so was there."  No big deal, right?  Satan went to work.  Years ago, I had a falling out with this person.  It resulted in some resentment and bitterness on both our parts before we set aside our pride and patched things up.  I haven't thought one negative thing about that person since that time, but Satan drudged up that falling out and whispered a lie into my ear.

"Everything you've ever done has failed."

I know this isn't true by any stretch of the imagination.  Have their been failures?  Absolutely.  Sin, strained relationships, even healthy mistakes have been part of my past (as they have for all of us).  But Satan took one incident and, for a few days, turned it into a suck fest.  For a few days, I believed his lie.  I believed the church I planted in VA was a failure, that I was a terrible husband, and that my parenting skills were crap.  I wondered if I could have done anything differently to avoid the conflicts from my past.  I even wondered if I could have prevented the death of a close friend who helped me plant that church by not inviting him along for the ride in the first place.  All lies that were birthed from that first lie.  And Satan, for a few days, succeeded in dragging me down by getting me to believe the first one.

I have a friend who preaches at a big church back in VA.  He served as my mentor for the last year or so that I was there.  He did a lot of counseling for the people in his congregation, and told me there was one question he asked every person that got to the root of their problems:  What lie has Satan gotten you to believe?  When a person could truthfully answer that question, it opened up the door for the Holy Spirit to start gutting the heart of sin, bitterness, fear, shame, and regret.  

Scripture calls Satan the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren.  The first instance we know of that he falsely accused someone was Job.  In the presence of God, Satan accused Job of false piousness, saying that Job would indeed lose faith if everything was taken from him.  Although banned from God's presence, Satan still accuses us falsely.  He whispers those lies we believe into our ears.  If our guard is down, we'll believe him.  And the guilt from the past will come flooding back.  Fortunately, Jesus has already defeated Satan through His death and resurrection.  And that's the truth that brought me out of my funk (God using my wonderful, dear, sweet, smokin' hot wife to remind me of that foundational truth).

What lies has Satan succeeded in getting you to believe?  That you're not good enough?  That you're unworthy of God's grace?  That you're a serial screw up?  That you're unlovable, even by God?  If you're a follower of Jesus, ask yourself that foundational question:  what lie has Satan gotten me to believe?  Get another Christian friend to help you sort through those things.  And never, ever forget that Jesus has forever defeated that bastard.  Jesus has crushed Satan's head--and a head shot is a kill shot.  His death and resurrection dealt a death blow to Satan.  

And that's a truth we can believe.

I've got an extremely busy week coming up, but I've got it covered with posts for each day dealing with a trend I've been thinking about recently.  So come back tomorrow.  And I hope your NCAA bracket turned out better than mind did.

Clearing the Muddy Waters

So if we've made such a mess of missional, what's the solution?

Here's the best definition I've seen for what missional is so far:  living on mission with Jesus.  I like that definition, because it correctly implies that being missional isn't about how we "do" church, but implies a way of living 24/7/365.  As much as I like that definition, I think it can be even simpler, because "living on mission with Jesus" can still be construed so many ways (the "social" and "proclamational" camps could both lay claim to that definition).  So what does it mean to be missional?

One word:  obedience.

Look what Jesus says in John 15:1-14,

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command."

Missional vs. Attractional

The greatest debate concerning being missional is whether or not it is the best way to grow a church, specifically grow a church quickly and having it reach megachurch status (having 2,000+ attenders), since that's what many church leaders lust for.  Is it the best way to grow a church, or is using a more attractional method the best way?

It depends.  If you want a large church quickly, attractional is certainly the way to go.  Raise a boatload of money, spend a ton on targeted advertising (specifically to middle class white suburbanites, because they have money for offerings), deliver a dynamite show with "relevant" music and "relevant" teaching, and you'll have a good chance at "launching large" and "growing quickly" and "overusing quotation marks" in your blog posts.

Yet, many studies have shown that while attractional churches grow in size, they don't always grow better disciples... unless disciples of Jesus show up on Sundays, give money, and attend a small group, and maybe serve for an hour at the homeless shelter.  I know this isn't always the case, but it is for many churches.

Here's the thing... I think our focus is so far off that we're not even hitting the outer ring of the target.  We've become so obsessed with growing bigger churches that we've forgotten the fact that Jesus didn't tell us to grow bigger churches. He called us to make disciples.

Which is the crux of what missional is all about.  But with all the definitions and opinions on what missional is or isn't, how do we make heads or tails of it?  

Tomorrow, I'll try to clear the muddy waters with what I think missional is.  As the title of these posts indicate, we've made it way too complex.  More on that tomorrow.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the current hot trend in the American church:  being missional.  Oceans of ink have been spilled on what it means for a church to be missional, for Christians to be missional, and if being missional is the best way for churches to gain new members.  After all that thinking, I've come to a conclusion:

I have a headache.

Why do we insist on making things so difficult and complex?  So many "experts" have their own thoughts and opinions on what missional is and isn't that someone unfamiliar with the term would actually be dumber after reading just a few blog posts or books.  Besides, the only people I hear discussing (debating is more like it) the concept of being missional are talking heads and professional  Christians.  I have yet to hear any rank-and-file Christian start a conversation by saying, "So I'm wondering how I can be more missional..."  If that's the case, then those of us who are leaders either haven't been doing our job, or we're missing something.

I'll post more about this tomorrow.  In the meantime, what's your take on missional?

Psalm 144

Fifteen centuries ago, the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War.  It is the oldest, most read, and most used treatise on war ever composed.  It has been used by Napoleon, Mao Zedong, and Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  It's contents have also influenced the business and legal worlds.  It is mandatory reading for many Japanese executives.  The basic message of the book (at least what I've gleaned so far):  be prepared for any situation, and be ready to react to changing conditions.

Christianity has a lot of black marks on its history.  The crusades of the Middle Ages and other acts of violence carried out in the name of God (and wrongly so) have turned many people off to the true message of Jesus.

And yet, the Bible does show God as being a God of war (and we're not talking about the video games).

Psalm 144 was written by a military man who was facing an enemy.  Look what he says in the opening verses of Psalm 144 (you may recognize this as the Psalm quoted by actor Barry Pepper in his role of Jackson the sniper in Saving Private Ryan):

Blessed be the Lord , my rock,
Who trains my hands for war,
And my fingers for battle; 

My lovingkindness and my fortress,
My stronghold and my deliverer,
My shield and He in whom I take refuge,
Who subdues my people under me.

When this was written, the ancient nation of Israel was indeed involved in many military conflicts.  Israel's greatest king, David, was known as both a man after God's own heart and a man of blood.  He spent much of his reign defending Israel from the attacks of Israel's enemies.  The author of this Psalm depended upon God for mercy, for protection, and for deliverance from his enemies.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century.  Someone looking at American Christianity would thing God is all about safety, comfort, and security.  The Bible authors, however, portray the faith much differently.  We are at war, but not against flesh and blood people or political causes.  The Bible says our war is spiritual.  We're under attack, not from smart bombs or napalm, but from Satan.  His arsenal of temptation is powerful.  We must rely on God's mercy, protection, and deliverance as we wage spiritual war.  It is both an offensive and defensive battle.  We must be involved in a faith community, reading and meditating on the Bible, and praying.  We must take risks with our faith, never being satisfied with our current level of spiritual maturity.  The reason?  The enemy will never stop with his attacks.

Are we schooled in the art of spiritual war?
Are we prepared for battle?
Are we fighting the good fight?

Thanks to my bearded buddy Trevor, I signed up for Postling, a site that allows you to manage all your social media stuff from one sight.  You can update your Twitter, Facebook, blog, and other stuff all from one site instead of jumping from page to page.  Check it out and take it for a spin.