Notes from the Trail

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Justin Taylor said this at the recent Na Conference in response to why it’s important to read and study perspectives from before our own time:

I think if we try to—to use Na’s term—“reinvent the wheel”, if we try to come up with a new doctrine, if we’re not learning from those before us, it’s the ultimate act of arrogance. Because it tends to be our default position to assume that the Holy Spirit is starting his work with us and we forget that he’s been working for 2,000 years and beyond. He’s been instructing his people. And it’s just utterly foolish and arrogant to think that we can start from scratch or that we’re not building upon previous generations.

You can read the script from his conference here.

I’d be interested in knowing my my regular readers and lurkers…. and be honest, folks. Who was the last “dead guy” Christian you read? (besides the Bible).

If you’re intrigued, a great (and free) place to start is at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

We got back this afternoon around 4:00 from our weekend at Beech Springs Baptist Camp near El Dorado. It was a fantastically relaxing weekend spent with some of our dearest friends - our Journey Church family. This was our second year at Family Camp, and it was full of laughter, games, kids, more laughter, about 37 bike wrecks, crying, more laughter, kids, and late-night coffee with Spades, Speed Scrabble and Settlers.

I wanted to lob this entry out to let you know that more is coming. But in the meantime, we’re baaaack. You can also check my Flickr account for pix of FC07.

Ouch, ouch, and ha! That was my reaction to reading a recent diatribe about church growth from one website. His initial thought was:

If church sucks, people don’t invite others. They don’t think “Man, my friends have got to be here for this!” They think “Well, I might as well keep going here.”

Included in his list are things like:

• Stop preaching crappy sermons.
• Quit acting like such a fruit up there.
• They’re supposed to be announcements, not Chinese water torture.

I think the list could also be titled “Church Growth Thoughts from the Pews.” I know of several folks in our group who would be that honest. Thanks to Todd for first mentioning it.

I love being forced to think outside the box by others. There are some conferences and gatherings where you just know that’s going to happen. As one attempts to be used by God to shepherd His people, I think it’s first vitally important to be a personal, passionate seeker of God on your own. After that, it’s vitally important to submit your ideas, dreams and thinking to others in contexts of discussion, humility and grace.

Q seems to be just that kind of opportunity. And I missed it. Groan. I didn’t even know about it, until I read some notes from a speaker over at churchrelevance.com. Detailing just four points, it was enough to send me out onto the porch with my Bible, Moleskine, pen and eager heart to think, pray, read, and write.

Here’s the four elements of “missional imagination” taken from churchrelevance.com:

1. Strong Leadership
   You need strong leaders, who can allow people to create while still leaving space for God to knock on the door. Leaders need humility and should not try to be a celebrity.
2. Transformed Disciples
   It is not about church but movement. We can grow big churches full of undiscipled disciples, but they will not transform culture. Create a movement of transformed disciples. Truly transformed disciples don’t need permission or a program to reach people. They are a movement of God to release on the city.
3. Imagine What God Can Do in Your Context
   Imagine what the Kingdom of God would look like expressed through the gifts, talents, and passions of these transformed disciples. Don’t leverage people’s skills for your goals. It is not in our hands to control but to cultivate.
4. Conspire with Other Leaders
   For example, Imago Dei Community (expect a blog entry on this church in my web ministry series soon) collaborated with other churches to create the Advent Conspiracy and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to aid the global water crisis.

Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert has an entry about his normal day’s routine. I’m inspired and hope to create something similar soon. Check it out.

His conclusion? To be a cartoonist, you need:

1. Banana
2. Diet Coke
3. Cat
4. Computer with Wacom 21UX monitor