imagining how the church can reorient around mission

I love the book which this excerpt comes from. It is by Cole Arthur Riley and is entitled, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation and the Stories That Make Us.

“Perhaps the more superior we believe ourselves to be to creation, the less like God we become. But if we embrace shalom – the idea that everything is suspended in a delicate balance between the atoms that make me and the tree and the bird and the sky – if we embrace the beauty of all creation, we find our own beauty magnified. And what is shalom but dignity stretched out like a blanket over the cosmos?” read more

By now, most people have seen Will Smith slapping Chris Rock live at the Oscars. I am gonna be super slow to throw too many stones this morning. I can honestly say that I relate to Will Smith and Chris Rock.

I have spoken words that I thought were just funny but hurt someone else. I think I even did in a sermon yesterday…all for the sake of turning a joke. Attempting to be funny is, at times, risky business. I don’t think, however, I have ever spoken them about someone else’s wife though. read more

I read an article this last week in which the author stated with the utmost confidence (read hubris) what will happen to the church “next.” Really?

Here are some clues as to what to focus on regardless of what happens next… read more

I read a lot of white men giving advice about what it takes to be a leader in today’s church. To say I haven’t found help from these men would be a lie.

However, as one of those white men, IMHO, one of the key elements that is rarely mentioned in the lists of leadership advice is the need to respectfully listen to, learn from, and be led by people different than me – in particular women and people of color. read more

10 things I fiercely loved when 2021 started and still did as it ended. These are very meta, so I can copy and paste them for 2022, as well.

1. Robi – I am afraid I have grown to love her to the point that life would not make sense without her. I know that sounds a bit co-dependent-ish. So, be it. read more

Just what’s on my mind this morning.

I have been trying to get my head around the question: what are the qualifiers American Christians are willing to employ regarding the universal commandment to love your neighbor. read more

Immanuel Church, the church I help lead, is an apostolic, church planting community (its leadership has planted 10 churches incubated in the Pacific Northwest, along with years of international urban church planting experience). In collaboration with our denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, Pacific Northwest Church Planting, and Whitworth University’s OCE, we have developed a hands-on leadership residency to equip and resource people in real-time on how to plant justice-oriented, missional, incarnationally formed churches. We are a laboratory for learning and after completing the Leadership Residency, we have multiple funding streams available. If you are interested in planting, in particular a woman or a person of color, we have a couple of positions currently available in our Residency program.

If you are interested let us know at the bottom of this page – www.immanuelspokane.org/mission

I have been trying to discern what God has been saying to me in the last few weeks.

 You see, as if 2020 has not been challenging enough with a global pandemic that has befallen us, plus the death of two very good friends, both to the ravages of cancer and each dying without a natural way to grieve and give them honor, but several weeks ago now it was discovered that my heart was not getting enough blood. I don’t feel like it’s important to go through all the details, but suffice it to say that two out of the three main arteries that are suppling my heart are not OK. One is completely blocked, and another is mostly blocked. In technical language, that’s really bad. The upshot? I will be undergoing multiple bypass surgery this coming Monday. Yikes. read more

It was a sunny, breezy, end-of-summer day eight years ago when I stepped foot on Whitworth’s campus for the first time as a student. I remember like it was yesterday the confidence I had as I waltzed around campus with my nerdy lanyard–student ID card in full view for all to see. I don’t want to be unnecessarily hard on myself, but I do remember feeling like I was pretty cool already, like I was going to take this university by storm. Just like high school, I was going to get all the jobs and leadership positions, make a ton of friends, do all the right things, and you can bet I was going to stuff my calendar full of all the right activities. (Yikes!)

I would run into friends around campus, and at times I’d find myself sort of bragging about how busy I was. A full plate and a growing resume of success, however small, were badges of honor. I think I was a little blind to the love around me, and of course, I was also blind to the suffering around me. I was living in to a twisted theology that said I was loved only when I really proved myself. Busyness and a good reputation were my idols, and the unsustainable approval from my community replaced the unconditional love of God. read more

"Rigor without encounter is legalism and death. Encounter without rigor leads to an emotionalism or worse, duplicity."