Immersion

At Finding Life Church, one of our 7 core values is what we call immersion. We use a little catch phrase to go along with it in order to define what that means in our context... "People find Jesus through relationship." Of all our core values, this is my favorite. This is what makes Finding Life Church Distinct. This is my answer to people who ask, "Why do we need another church?" or, "what's different about this church than any of the other ones?"

We value immersion!!!

So, I am in the middle of a series at FLC, where I am preaching the core values. The series is titled, "Influence flows from intentionality: Becoming a values living church." My next sermon will be on the value of immersion, so naturally I have been doing a lot of thinking, and contemplating this value. What does it mean? What does it look like? I have always told myself that Immersion is something you do... You go, immerse yourself into something or someone that you value, for the sake of real impact. Now i am not so sure that's what it is.

Immersion is not something you do, it is something you are. The real definition of Immersions, or at least the kind I want to adapt personally and see the people of Finding Life Church grab a hold of is much bigger than that. it is much more radical. It is much more risky. Ultimately, it is much more life changing.

Immersion is really about 5 things, and i think, if one of them is missing, then the potential for impact, is smashed.

Leaving: Going where people are. replacing some personal or christian activities with ones that place you smack dab in the middle of culture.

Typically, in the church we see leaving as going over seas on a short-term missions trip, or venturing down town for a saturday afternoon to volunteer at the local shelter. These are great things, please don't misunderstand me, but these are not what leaving is all about in the conversation on Immersions. Leaving is about altering your life, re-positioning your life, and re-tooling your pursuits so that you are in fact a part of culture. Maybe you are wondering why I am explaining something as obvious as this. Well, I guess it's because in the church we have gotten so good, and expended lots of energy on keeping ourselves separate from culture. We have Bible studies in the homes of Christians that only include Christians, we have pot luck dinners, board meetings, and planning sessions. We have worship services and sunday school classes. The truth is, any church worth it's salt, will have something for you to fill your life with every night of the week. If it's a really good church, it will facilitate a complete and total separation from culture. We can very easily find ourselves in what has become knows as, "The Christian Bubble." It's safe their, our kids are only around other good kids, we don't have be around people that think, look, and act different than we do. Then on occasion we will step out of that bubble and reach out, but keep in mind, we will be heading right back that bubble as soon as possible. Spending too much time out of it after all, might be bad for us, we might be sucked into the world, and all that it propagates. No, the bubble is much safer.

At this point if you are not picking up my sarcasm, then you should probably quit reading, if you have sensed it, please understand my desire is not to offend, but to clarify.

There is a problem, and our wrong understanding of what it means to, "GO," is that problem.

Jesus modeled something totally different than that. He took intentional wrong turns, entered into unwelcoming cities, in order to relate with people who society, especially within the church would have deemed, "Undesirable." When asked why, he simply said, because these are the people I came for. This is why I exist. My life is intentionally positioned right smack dab in the middle of culture, because I came to love the world.

So where are we on this, how do we change it? How do we, "position our lives," in the middle of culture.

The answer, slowly begin replacing christian, or personal activities, with ones that put you where people are. If you like to work out at home with a video, don't stop working out, go get a gym membership, and start working out with people. If you have a Bible study with a bunch of friends, leave the safety of the church building, or home, and take it to a local starbucks.

The first step, and by the way, it is only a first step, is to start re-positioning your life so that you have a natural connection with the world.

Imagine if the church, was more intent on bringing the grace of God into the market place, than we are with making sure our kids have the "right," to pray in school. Or petition the congressman to keep the 10 commandments posted on the walls of the local court house. We can be the incarnation of Jesus in the darkest places of this world, it begins with re-orienting ourselves with that world we have neglected for so many years.

To be continued...

Turning 30... (Part II)

After posting about turning 30 last week, I continued to reflect on some of those thoughts, so I figured it is only right to continue the conversation here as well.

I began to realize that the biggest trap, and greatest enemy of true incarnational living is mediocre, earthly kingdom success. Let me clarify.

In part one I made the reference to the people at my 3oth birthday party, and that the lack of non-church people was staggering. I have in essence become someone who doesn't have any close friends who are outside the church. I realized in my continued reflection the real reason why, is that I have become happy with where God has me. I have become comfortable with the current impact I am having.

I have lots and lots of un churched friends, I pray daily for those people, and go out of my way to love, and relate with them on their terms. I have seen countless people being drawn to the feet of the savior through those relationships.

This is the trap! I am comfortable with a very earthly kind of impact.

What I think God is calling me to goes beyond simply, pursuing unchurched folks for the sake of making them churched. If that is the goal, that is a sad, short sighted pursuit. What God is calling me to, is to so invest, live among, listen to and pray for everyone I come in contact with, that they become people I love because we have a close intimate connection. This is the stream in which God has the opportunity to speak into a persons heart.

When I choose to intentionally love, bless, connect with, pray for and serve the people God places right in front of me, I create a breeding ground for the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people. This kind of impact is lasting, this kind of impact doesn't end here, it is a living, multiplying entity, that can in fact reach to the ends of the earth.

This is the new focus of my life. People find Jesus through real, no strings attached, loving, connected relationship. This is the model we get from Christ, this is a powerful pursuit.

So, birthday parties, can be a great gauge of my success that accomplishing this mission. If I am in fact building a lifestyle that centers around people, and connectedness to the world with the love and grace of Christ, with no strings attached, those closest to me will include all types of people. You don't have to be a christian to connect with me in real relationship. We are connected in our pursuit of God, of truth, of what's real. We are connected in our desperate, and common need for real relationship.

Turning 30...

I turned 30 last month. That's right, the beginning of the end, it's all down hill, I'll never be young again right? As much as I want to believe that isn't true, my world is telling me otherwise.

I am a father of an 8 year old girl, which means shows like Hannah Montana, Phinneas and Pherb, Kid vs. Kat, and many others are staples in my house. Especially on snow days.

Today is a snow day, and though it's been almost a month since that dark, end of the world day, a day I thought I had moved on from, one of these shows made me realize maybe I'm not as, "Ok," with this whole turning 30 thing as I thought.

The show is Wizards of Waverly place. It's a show about a family of Wizards that are trying to assimilate into normal western society by putting aside magic so as to, fit in. The star of the show, Alex, the fast talking, often disrespectful, and always sassy teenage girl that I am allowing my 8 year old to idolize, is sitting on the the stoop of her parents restaurant, talking. It is the end of the show, and as always, the writers are half heartedly attempting to redeem the show by making tagging a generic, "Moral of the story," lesson to excuse the flurry of value-less dialogue that has just flooded the minds of our future.

I still have no idea what the show was about, but I remember them Alex saying to her friend something like this, "That won't happen until we are really old, like 30!"

Thanks Alex, I thought I was over this 30 thing, and you re-exposed the wound that I had covered up with a band-aid. I began to reflect once more on what it means to turn 30.

I had a 30th birthday party this year with lots of friends, good food, drinks, and conversation. They sang happy birthday to me, and I ate lots of my favorite dessert, banana cream pie.

It was a great time, all except one glaring problem. At least it was glaring to me, and this glaring problem will always characterize for me, my 30th birthday. It is in fact the exposure of a fairly enormous failure in my life. That's right, my birthday party exposed to me, I huge problem with the way I am living my life.

I am a pastor... I am a pastor of a church plant... I am a pastor of a church plant that claims to be a gospel teaching, gospel living, outward focused ministry, and as I looked around the room at all the good friends that surrounded me, I was struck by a very problematic reality. They were all... Christians.

All of my good friends are christians. Now, I know what you are thinking, what's wrong with that? Isn't that natural? You gravitate toward people like you right?

All those things are true, but the reality for me, at this stage of my life, is that I want to believe God is using me to impact the kingdom. How is that even possible if all I do is surround myself with people who are already part of it? Maybe more problematic is the fact that I am attempting to lead others into a lifestyle of living the gospel in our world, and apparently, I am not doing it myself?

I guess what this fateful day really brings to light is the reality that as the "Church," we have really missed the mark, we have allowed our focus to move from what matters most. We have become so selfish in our understanding of evangelism, that we have actually convinced ourselves that we are being effective at spreading the gospel, without actually befriending people.

The gospel is to be lived, not preached. My life is a walking vessel for the love and grace of God, how can that vessel be effective in the world from a distance?

The biggest crime is that this empathetic, from a distance, throw some money, and maybe a prayer or two at it approach to the gospel has left the world believing that's who God is, when in fact, Jesus was, "The Friend of sinners."

I am thankful for this wake up call, and pray that the next time I have a birthday party, this revelation from God will show as life change, and be evident in the crowd that is there to celebrate with me.

Christmas...

I have some very scattered thoughts tonight, so this might not come out in any sort of readable form, but i am going to write anyway...

It's been a long couple of days, and yet it seems as though it went by in an instant. It seems like 10 minutes ago that I was counting down the days to Christmas, and now I sit in a leather arm chair at my in-laws, kids in bed, mom and dad winding down, glass of New Castle on the coffee table and Christmas is just an hour and half away from simply being another memory in my ever dwindling vault of Christmas memories.

I am 30 this year, and that in and of itself makes a guy start to think, and take stock of his life. Sure, if you are an over 30 reader you are smirking right now, but venture back for a moment and try to remember what it felt like for you.

I ask myself questions like, have I done enough? Am I who I want to be? Has my existence made a mark on the landscape of humanity?

That last question is really my big one. I realize tonight that I am small, very small, almost meaningless on the grand canvas of the creative timeline of humanity. At the same time, really all I want to know in this moment is that my life will make a mark, something larger than the but print, and moisture ring I am currently leaving. Isn't that what we all want? To know that our lives meant something, changed someone, made a mark?

I don't know, I guess I am just struck by the reality that the things our world and culture tell us are worth pursuing, just might be the very things that are keeping me from really living. I guess what I am most saddened by on this Christmas night is the fact that the pursuits my Christian culture have placed in front of me and so many others are at best simply distracting me from living a life full of real impact and lasting influence.

Things like knowledge, degrees and experience are the things that most people in my position are measure by.

Instead, I would like to be measured by relationships, love, character, passion, heart, grace, justice, mercy, and all of the things that my savior, Jesus Christ measures me on.

If God really valued those things, would he have room in His heart for something as meaningless as a diploma?

All I know is that on this night some 3000 years ago, God decided to place the hope of the world on some very tiny shoulders. The God of the universe in the flesh did not come as a giant, king, or debutant. He came as a small, humble, yet loving, merciful, meek, and sacrificial man. That is who I want to be, That is what I want the next decade of my life to be measured by.

Thank you Jesus for being my living example. I want to imitate you and be the grace of God lived out in flesh as I walk with those who so desperately seek that hope

Influence flows from intentionality

I want to have influence in this world. People ask me all the time why I decided to plant a church, and most of the time my answer is the same... "I'm not sure." You might wonder how a guy can get into something as exhausting as church planting not knowing why. Well, it's not that I don't have my reasons for church planting, it's that church planting, like anything in life is full of challenges that almost daily cause me to question why I do what I do. That is why I have to boil it down the the simplest, most clearly defined reason for my existence.

I want to have influence

I want to have the kind of influence that lasts past today, past my life, past the existence of this world. I want my influence to have some form impact hat last for eternity. That is why I do what I do.

More and more I have been thinking about how to make that happen. Is it about having the right church programs, going to the right place, or being with the right people? Some would say all of those things are important, I however have decided that the extent of my influence will be connected to the extent of my intentionality.

Things don't happen by themselves, they don't happen organically when it comes to real life influence, they come out of intentional living. If I want to be the kind of person that has lasting impact, I have to be intentional about the way I live. for example...

If my goal in life is to be the best guitar player in the world, it will not happen by thinking positive thoughts, or talking to lots of great guitar players, it won't even happen by listening to a lot of great music. It will happen by me deciding what it takes to achieve my goal, and intentionally pursing those things for the balance of my life. I need to know what I am after, and I need to sacrifice everything for the sake of becoming the kind of person that will be that objective.

I have grown weary of church movements that have come to the conclusion that we will have an eternal impact simply by relating with people. If we set out with our ultimate end being relating with people we will become what? Really good networkers, with lots of friends who have lots of great conversation. We will not have eternal kingdom impact unless we decide to be intentional about it.

So what are your core values? What are you living for? Do they support the mission you have for your life? If not, that's where it begins. So many of us live life by accident. Life with Christ is about being intentional about the things God cares most about. When we look at the life of Christ we see the kind of singular focus that we are called to in pursuit of a life worth living.

So what you ask is worth living for....

Intimacy with Jesus, and passion for the Kingdom of God.

It begins and ends there.