I am a child of God. That is my true identity.
It's not that we don't believe that is true.
We just have a hard time taking the hand that is held out to us.
***
Be honest enough to ask the right questions, yes, the ones that make you squirm.
***
Unexpected adventure.
The turnoffs are there for evangelistic purposes...Roadside Redemption.
3)))Empower an evangelistic leader within your church. Mountain ministry. Ebb and flow. Pacific Northwest vs. the Rockies. Peer to the pastor. Accosted with the Gospel...a spiritual terrorist. Don't just put their name in the bulletin. Meet with them, pray, work with them and build them up so that they feel ready to move forward. 4)))Turn them loose on the congregation. 5)))Rally a team of specialists. 6)))Unleash a variety of outreach ministries and events. This is where it gets fun...but don't jump here too early. Maybe it's not your thing...but it might be someone else's. And, if those things aren't your thing, then what is your thing? 'Do you like that music?' 'No, but I like the people that like that music.'
We expect people to go out and share their faith, but we don't train them how first. You don't put on a pair of roller blades and get shoved out in the parking lot. Even pilots start in flight simulators before they have our bodies in a plane that they are responsible for.
We live in a culture that is militated against the things we are here to talk about.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Music In the Missional Church
Meaningful musical experiences outside the church.
Climbing a mountain singing a song
Being in a band with friends
Writing a song with a friend
Looking into eyes that see words forming melodies of life eyes that see music forming. He sees so much more that what any of us do...He can't see us, but he understands us...he knows us. He tells stories and paints pictures. Goth makeup and black clothes that he's never seen. They were singing it like no one was watching. Like the last song they'd ever get to sing. He can't see the smiles, see the tears, see the standing ovation.
Hearing voices singing hymns from memory.
You hear the average anthem and the average praise song, you associate them with the "innoculations" that we've heard in the Bible...Lion King and the circle of life - we relate to this. We have to sing versus what we wish we were singing.
The idea of preaching at a wedding versus preaching at a funeral...hope versus celebration, that which we want to happen that might not, that which has happened, the story of a life lived...telling our stories versus telling someone else.
Side by side (we don't have a barrel of money)...walkin' along, singin' a song, The whole song is the gospel. It's about what we're looking for...we see what we're looking for. New languages to sing the gospel. 3000 church leaders understood it for the first time. Who are we talking to? We're so stuck in what we "should" be doing.
We have to have music in every conceivable musical language. Pipe organ and drums together...why do the two have to be mutually exclusive? Honoring the heritage but bravely using something new.
What would happen if when we sang one of the old great hymns, if we told a story about the hymn...what it meant to our Grandpa, Pairing music with story.
The girl that slept around and did drugs. Did alcohol. Led mom's sons astray. But then I went to a christian rock concert and heard a song. With drums. Grandma, will you listen to that song? with drums in church? will you let me share it with you?
I come to the garden alone. I hated that song. 1989... a pastor from China who was put in prison for his faith...my job is to shovel out the cesspool. I was there by myself. I can sing as loud as I want. I only know one christian song, I COME TO THE GARDEN ALONE...and the cesspool becomes my garden. I have to respond to the story. I don't have a choice. 5000 of us sing...and 5000 of us have tears in our eyes. We have to respond. We've heard the story.
Every church has people that speak country, jazz, folk music...what happens if you read the pentecost story, preach a pentecost sermon, and you do the hymn of the day 'the answer my friend is blowing in the wind' and the old hippie who knew they were going to change the world hears that song and recounts stories about their time in jail...you have hooked them.
Trinity Sunday - the comforter who has come. One is the loneliest number...wow. Holy Crap. We're not alone. we need to be able to speak many musical languages. Music therapy.
I brought you this dinner because I believe that God wants us to love each other...goodnight. That was all.
The man who pounds on the strings of the piano...The keys are too limiting.
It's dangerous to have the services split. the traditional for the old folks, the contemporary for the families, a 20 something service, but we're tearing apart the fabric of the church. What would happen if you told your jazz musicians that they should do one piece, a blues piece, about being alone. Combine the things. the jazz musicians get to hear Handel singing the blues, and Handel gets to hear the jazz musicians singing the blues.
If I start praying with a song...maybe someone else will sing and pray along.
Climbing a mountain singing a song
Being in a band with friends
Writing a song with a friend
Looking into eyes that see words forming melodies of life eyes that see music forming. He sees so much more that what any of us do...He can't see us, but he understands us...he knows us. He tells stories and paints pictures. Goth makeup and black clothes that he's never seen. They were singing it like no one was watching. Like the last song they'd ever get to sing. He can't see the smiles, see the tears, see the standing ovation.
Hearing voices singing hymns from memory.
You hear the average anthem and the average praise song, you associate them with the "innoculations" that we've heard in the Bible...Lion King and the circle of life - we relate to this. We have to sing versus what we wish we were singing.
The idea of preaching at a wedding versus preaching at a funeral...hope versus celebration, that which we want to happen that might not, that which has happened, the story of a life lived...telling our stories versus telling someone else.
Side by side (we don't have a barrel of money)...walkin' along, singin' a song, The whole song is the gospel. It's about what we're looking for...we see what we're looking for. New languages to sing the gospel. 3000 church leaders understood it for the first time. Who are we talking to? We're so stuck in what we "should" be doing.
We have to have music in every conceivable musical language. Pipe organ and drums together...why do the two have to be mutually exclusive? Honoring the heritage but bravely using something new.
What would happen if when we sang one of the old great hymns, if we told a story about the hymn...what it meant to our Grandpa, Pairing music with story.
The girl that slept around and did drugs. Did alcohol. Led mom's sons astray. But then I went to a christian rock concert and heard a song. With drums. Grandma, will you listen to that song? with drums in church? will you let me share it with you?
I come to the garden alone. I hated that song. 1989... a pastor from China who was put in prison for his faith...my job is to shovel out the cesspool. I was there by myself. I can sing as loud as I want. I only know one christian song, I COME TO THE GARDEN ALONE...and the cesspool becomes my garden. I have to respond to the story. I don't have a choice. 5000 of us sing...and 5000 of us have tears in our eyes. We have to respond. We've heard the story.
Every church has people that speak country, jazz, folk music...what happens if you read the pentecost story, preach a pentecost sermon, and you do the hymn of the day 'the answer my friend is blowing in the wind' and the old hippie who knew they were going to change the world hears that song and recounts stories about their time in jail...you have hooked them.
Trinity Sunday - the comforter who has come. One is the loneliest number...wow. Holy Crap. We're not alone. we need to be able to speak many musical languages. Music therapy.
I brought you this dinner because I believe that God wants us to love each other...goodnight. That was all.
The man who pounds on the strings of the piano...The keys are too limiting.
It's dangerous to have the services split. the traditional for the old folks, the contemporary for the families, a 20 something service, but we're tearing apart the fabric of the church. What would happen if you told your jazz musicians that they should do one piece, a blues piece, about being alone. Combine the things. the jazz musicians get to hear Handel singing the blues, and Handel gets to hear the jazz musicians singing the blues.
If I start praying with a song...maybe someone else will sing and pray along.
The Church Is....We Are...
The Dead Sea. No movement, no rainfall. Nothing flowing in, nothing flowing out. Stagnation. The Jordan River. Flowing. Fresh. Teeming with life. This is a better picture of what the church can be like. Discipleship is not just retraining the same old people. It is reaching out. The church as an outpost for the Gospel.Stages - - 1)))Live an evangelistic life. Live it. But I'm not gifted in this. Roughly 5-10 percent would say that they are, but even they don't want to admit it because of the stereotypes that are then bestowed upon them. The Bible is not multiple choice. The Bible is an all of the above. We don't get to pick whether we are going to be a missional church, an outreach church, a contemporary church, a good eating church... I have no special gift, but there are some things I do to try and live out what I have been called to do...let me show you. And we were blown away. You can go out and mess up - - and God might use it anyway. So...what do we do? How do we grow our heart that is four sizes too small? I haven't 'so loved the world' enough to even take care of my neighbor lately. What we become as leaders is what our church is likely to become. We must reflect what we want others to be. A)))Passages. Go to the Bible, find what fires you up. How do we let the word of God dwell in us richly? How do we see through chapter and verse eyes? Hebrews 13:2. Luke 16 - Lazarus. Luke 15 - the Lost - that which is missing. John 4 - the woman at the well. B)))Partner. Who is in your life, that when you are around them, they fire you up to reach for the people on the outside? Amy. Logan. Jeff. Katie. C)))Person. We have to get out of the labratory (lavratory?) and get out on the field. HMMMMmmm... there's a story here... who should we be looking for...to...at...walking with...reaching out to... It would revolutionize our churches if we all had someone that we loved who was far from the Gospel. D)))Prayer. E)))Person.
2)))Once you have been instilled with the desire to evangelize, reach out to those around you and do the same to them. Re-instill the vision, teach others what it means to have that adventure. Pray about it. Focus others. Attack on every front. Do what it takes. This isn't just something we're doing for the month of July. It has to be an ongoing thing. The man tiling the floor behind the friend's desk that you're trying to convert heard the message you thought was for someone else. This is a whole new thing...ricochet evangelism.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
You Can't Do It All Yourself...
"We like to be needed. And we become overconfident in our ability. But we're not God...we're finite." We are crack(ed) pots. I spent a couple hours this afternoon in transit to and at the Apple Store at the Southdale Mall in Edina. It turns out if you stop a computer mid-update, it's basically like giving the poor thing a lobotomy. No organization can rise any higher than its leaders Leaders rarely surround themselves with other leaders...mostly because we don't want to share the spotlight. No leader has ever suffered because his followers were strong. Most people don't do what's expected, they do what's inspected. People will do what they see you do.
I am not omnicompetent.
When I stepped back, my church stepped up.
We have to get the wrong people off the bus, the right people on, and everybody in their right seats.
Sometimes we have to release people and let them go...lovingly. Sometimes they're not going to be happy about it.
Six goals...one for each area of their lives. It took work...but it was necessary. They knew I was taking an interest in their lives.
***
Pachabel's Canon - I wanted to do this by myself...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
