imagining how the church can reorient around mission

Years ago, I was having a weekly breakfast with a group of pastors who led downtown churches in my city (that is what pastors do, right? Eat!). One of them I became exceptionally fond of. He was nearing retirement and I found his insights particularly insightful. On one occasion, I asked him if he had any wisdom he’d like to pass on to me (I was one of the young ones then). He said if he were to do it all over again he’d sell the church buildings. Firm, resolute…unflinching…sell em all! He felt like they stole focus from the “main
thing” he was trying to accomplish.

That was years ago now and in my nearly 30 years of pastoring I have
heard his words echo in the back of my mind at many crossroads. In those years, I have rarely pastored a community with a “church building.” We’ve rented a few, but to truly occupy, none…until now. God has graciously seen fit to loan us one. I say graciously because it was not what we were looking for. We simply were seeking to embed our community in a specific location. For us, it was the north central part of Spokane. We all sensed this was where we were to put down roots. read more

I came across this today and felt like posting it, particuuarly as our country continues in its warring posture and stands on the precipice of another engagement.

We call a poor man “Lord” and in his name determine friends and enemies on the basis of who has oil for us. read more

Incarnating the Gospel

What does it mean to incarnate the Gospel? Observing God’s love toward humanity best captures the idea of incarnation. It is actualized by God taking on human flesh and lovingly drawing near to His creation. As a matter of fact, in John 1 it is articulated by verse 14, which says, “The Word became flesh and
made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and
only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Literally, it means God came near, even moving into the neighborhood. read more

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him (enthroned) at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to
come.” Ephesians 1:18-21

In the 1^st chapter of Ephesians there is a remarkable passage that talks about power.  In
particular, it refers  to the type of power that Christian’s possess as a result of their union with Jesus. I guess the question for me is what is that power? What does it look like? The text is emphatic; it is spectacular. As a matter of fact, Paul uses four different words, synonyms, to describe how dynamic that power is. What it is compared to in the text is the power that raised Christ from the dead and enthroned Him as King. That’s significant power (as I wrote that last sentence, my voice unsurprisingly deepened and got louder like Moses in the movie, “The Ten Commandments”)!!! read more

I awoke this morning
to two very different bits of news.

The first was on CNN
about another senseless and seemingly random murder…this time in my own city. We’ve finally made the top story on CNN. Unfortunately, it was for
reprehensible reasons. Two teens beat a World War II vet to death yesterday
not far from my home. An 88-year-old man! This is immediately on the heels of
the similar senseless shooting of an Australian youth living and going to
school in Oklahoma by 3 other teens, apparently because they were “bored.” Although,
there does seem to be some race motive behind that act. Many in Australian at
this point are measuring whether coming to the U.S. is a reasonable venture
because of fear of this type of violence. There is even gestures of a “Boycott”
of the U.S. read more

What is required to do good theology (when I say theology, I am
referring to thinking or studying about God and His relation to the world)?

Surely, there is required an interest or curiousity in the subject (God). One also
needs a certain level of discipline and rigor to stay with important ideas. I
could also throw in aptitude, time, access to resources, etc. read more

Welcome back to my dead-ish blog. I fell off the blogging grid
awhile back and have had a tough time climbing back on. Hopefully I can
maintain some rhythm as we approach fall. 

What brought me out of the blog black-hole? Exciting Mission
activity! read more

Christian author and philosopher, Dallas Willard died yesterday. A sad and glorious passage. I think he was probably one of the most influential authors that I had read in my Christian life. I was recounting to a friend today that with Newbigin and Ladd, Willard informed my ideas about the Kingdom of God the most (if you haven’t read The Divine Conspiracy, you should – it’s in my top 10 books). He had a keen mind and a tender heart.

As a result of his passing, I’ve been thinking a great deal about death. I know, morbid, right? There seems to be a coinciding trend within the prevailing culture and the Christian church to both fear death and resisted it all cost. That makes a bit of sense. Naturally, we resist death. In fact, we resist pain of any sort. Several years ago when my
father passed away I witnessed his body straining toward life at all cost. Literally, his outer extremities shut down so that his vital organs could stay alive. It was a stunning realization that we are built to live. I must admit my own fear of pain and death. I am a bit of a baby when it comes to pain. When I am hurt or ill I want to be pampered and coddled. Pain and dying are not easy friends. read more

I've been writing the last couple of weeks about the discipline of listening. I must again admit that I'm a novice at this discipline.

This week I've been trying to put into practice the spiritual discipline of “Indifference.” “Indifference” doesn't mean anything like “I don't care” or “It doesn't make any difference to me,” but has more to do with the idea of holding things lightly. As Ruth Haley Barton puts it, read more