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stream of consciousness

Friday Stream of Consciousness – 37

July 13, 2012 — 3 Comments

Here are some things I’m thinking about this Friday morning:

  • Emily and I spent this week in Orlando getting a few days of rest, and enjoying the spiritual renewal provided by the North American Christian Convention.
  • Christian Churches have thrived over the past twenty years or so for a number of reasons. One is their ability to stay in fellowship with and even support those interested in doing things differently. They don’t typically cut off their change agents–even if they can’t allow their change agents to change their existing contexts. They’re happy to help them start a new church, change roles, find a church where God can use their vision–as long as it’s biblical. As a result, their fellowship remains strong and they’ve hung onto a lot of entrepreneurial leaders that might have otherwise left to pursue what they believe is God’s call on their life.
  • The Lead Minister is given more ability to lead the operational side of the church in Christian Churches than their cousin fellowship–Churches of Christ. This helps grow churches and expands ministerial tenures. I’ve said a lot on this in other posts, so I’ll just mention it again here.
  • There is an obvious culture of sharing and lack of competition. They genuinely want to see one another succeed. Colleges, churches, etc., root for each other and in many cases, proactively help one another meet goals. God blesses this sort of Kingdom mentality. One can only imagine what might get done of Christianity in general functioned this way.
  • The MLB All-Star Game proved once again real baseball is played in the National League.
  • I remain surprised at how many parents think good parents are those who de-emphasize their marriage for the sake of giving their children all the “opportunities” for extracurricular activity.
  • What if international travel and/or short-term missions were required as a part of seminary training? The value of travel in the development of people is substantial. I know Jesus never traveled very far from His home, however, the Great Commission and Paul’s missionary journeys should point us toward the obvious–staying close to home isn’t intended to be paradigmatic. Spending time in other parts of the world broadens our worldview, expands comfort with diversity, and reminds us that the Kingdom is bigger than our church, hometown, state, or country. God is redeeming all creation.
  • I agree the U.S. Olympic team’s uniforms should have been made in America, but the sanctimonious condemnation from Congress has been laid on a bit thick. This isn’t the first time it’s happened, and suggesting the American team’s uniforms should be burned doesn’t seem very patriotic, and probably doesn’t help our relationship with China either.
  • Let me encourage you to check out Leadership Network’s app Leadia on IPad or IPhone. It provides interactive leadership growth tools. The app is free, some content must be purchased.
  • Thought provoking stuff on keeping our physical bodies in good shape from Gary Thomas in his recent book, Every Body Matters: “The curse of today is that so many Christians equate bodily sins with sexual sins. The only possible bodily sin, in their minds, is related to lust. If they’re not sinning sexually, they believe these verses don’t apply to them. The contemporary age of the church is the only generation that has believed this.”

What’s on your mind this Friday morning?

In Church Growth, Church Strategy, Current Affairs, Generosity, Leadership, Productivity, Sports , , , , ,
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stream of consciousness

Friday Stream of Consciousness – 36

July 6, 2012 — 2 Comments

Here are some things I’m thinking about this Friday morning:

  • The blog format I use received an update this week. So, this iteration of the blog is in Beta for the next week or two. It would be a blessing for me to hear your thoughts on formatting as we go.
  • Funny story in San Diego at the downtown fireworks show: they accidentally let off all the fireworks at the same time the whole show lasted only about 20 seconds.
  • I’ve seldom met an eldership who believes they are too high-control, and seldom met a preacher who feels they have enough freedom. I also perceive that most elderships believe their preacher to be semi-competent or relatively incompetent. Preachers tend to view themselves as highly or even omni-competent. There is a correlation between these views of self and others. We control for two primary reasons: our own emotional baggage or fear of what might happen if we didn’t control.
  • The Lakers should be arrested for grand-theft Nash.
  • I looked at the course evaluations for the course I taught at Pepperdine earlier this summer. It was the first class I’d ever taught, so I was actually mildly nervous to read them. I’m used to criticism of my preaching, leadership, writing, etc. However, it’s interesting how opening up a new area of life to criticism makes one feel. I was pleasantly surprised at how gracious the reviews were.
  • I have no problem with competitive eating–as long as we’re sticking with hot dogs. To the guys who slam bowls of mayonnaise–that’s just gnarly.
  • I’ve had a bronchial cold for 2 weeks running now. Intellectual exercise–would you rather have the stomach flu for 4-5 days or bronchitis for 3 weeks? I’ll take the stomach flu.
  • If given a choice of flying one airline the rest of my life, I’ll take Southwest. Nicer people, cheaper tickets without baggage fees, and on-time arrivals.
  • The North American Christian Convention is this coming week in Orlando, Florida. Anyone who can get there should attend. You can follow @gotonacc on Twitter for live updates. I’ve gone every year since 2006, and still hold out hope for full reconciliation between Independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.
  • The biggest difference today between Churches of Christ and Christian Churches today is far different from 1906. The big difference now isn’t music style. It’s ministry style.
  • It’s still hard to beat a good monster home run. Thanks for this 485-footer, Cameron Maybin.

What’s on your mind this Friday?

In Church Strategy, Current Affairs, Leadership, Personal, Spiritual Formation, Sports , , , , , , ,
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After Cincinnati – Reflections on NACC 2011

July 9, 2011 — 3 Comments

Cincinnati2 This past week I took a trip to the North American Christian Convention–the largest annual gathering of the Independent Christian Churches. I've written before, even recently, about my belief that the sectarianism that still separates Churches of Christ and Christian Churches is a sin we need to repent of. Thus, I won't reiterate this conviction here other than to say it's time more church leaders and congregations step forward and say so…then take some concrete steps in unity's direction. I was glad to see a number of people from acappella Churches of Christ present. Next year's NACC is in Orlando, Florida. I hope you'll consider attending.

Here are some reflections on the week:

  • Dudley Rutherford did an outstanding job organizing the week. There weren't a lot of visible hiccups anywhere, and the quality of the week in nearly every aspect was exceptional.
  • The praise portions of the sessions were ridiculously awesome and powerful. I loved seeing ethnic and age diversity on stage. The musical and spiritual giftedness of those leading worship was an immense blessing to me.
  • I thought this year's preaching was stronger than in year's past. In particular, I enjoyed hearing Dave Stone, Jeff Vines. Francis Chan and Jeff Walling are always great to hear.
  • There was a clear emphasis on increasing ethnic diversity in churches. As many of you know, this is a passion of mine, and the call at the convention was given with both grace and conviction.

Apart from those observations on the convention, I love attending the NACC because it's a great glimpse into the differences between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ that go beyond the simple issue of instrumental worship.

In particular, there are three emphases that I believe have led to the Christian Churches' renewal and rapid growth over the past several years: 

  1. Reverence for growth. Christian Churches are much less suspicious of large and growing churches and view growth as something to aspire to. Even right now, some of my brethren are immediately thinking their growth must be shallow or at the cost of depth or doctrine. Not so, and, my point exactly. Churches suspicious of growth will not aspire to it and won't achieve it.
  2. Emphasis on Planting Churches that will Grow. Christian Churches are church-planting machines. They also plant with an emphasis on evangelistic growth. Domestic church planting is now in their DNA the way foreign missions has historically beeis in the DNA of Churches of Christ.
  3. Culture of Collaboration. Churches and organizations tend not to view one another as competitors, but as partners. They collaborate, help one another accomplish one another's goals, and share knowledge openly. Churches and colleges, for instance, have a more symbiotic relationship than in Churches of Christ. This is because of a palpable mentality of abundance, rather than scarcity.

There remain areas in which Churches of Christ are stronger than Christian Churches–and these are observable at our gatherings. This is just one more reason greater unity would be a blessing. The strength found in partnership is really powerful. Strength in isolation isn't very strong.

In Christianity, Current Affairs, Leadership, Personal Writings, Religion , , ,
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5 Years Later – Are we More Unified?

June 29, 2011 — 14 Comments

Biblepassing 5 years ago tonight (June 29, 2006) Jeff Walling and Dave Stone exchanged bibles at the North American Christian Convention in an expression of acceptance between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Jeff was clear that he couldn’t speak for everyone in Churches of Christ, but could speak for himself and many others in regretting past divisions and desiring deeper unity and fellowship in the days ahead. I said, “Amen,” from the 5th row. I still say “Amen,” from San Diego.

I have been blessed beyond belief by my fellowship and increased partnership with Christian Churches over the last several years. I have learned a truckload about leadership, cooperation between churches, vision and passion for God from Christian Churches–those who I had been wrongly separated from spiritually for things that pale in importance to Christian unity.

In 2006, I was preaching at Highland Oaks in Dallas and joined the unity efforts to make 2006 a year of intentional reunion. Not mergers. Reunions. Acceptance. That year, against some fairly strong headwinds, we accelerated support of common mission efforts, planting churches together, writing books together. I joined the Continuation Committee of the North American Christian Convention and began attending and supporting events on both “sides of the keyboard.” Many others did the same. Though it meant taking a few shots, it was so worth it. God was pleased.

That was 2006.

This is 2011.

Here’s the question: 5 years later, are we more unified? I don’t think we are any less unified. However, I think we are only slightly more unified. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ are reaching across the keyboard more and more in mostly inconspicuous ways because they know they should, but stay inconspicuous about it for fear of reprisal. I’m thankful for this. Inconspicuous is better than non-existent.

However, 5 years later, I do believe our fervor for the endeavor has waned a bit. I don’t believe passion for unity has ebbed in the heart of Jesus–the One who prayed for it. So, I would like to call everyone within shouting distance of this humble blog to reconsider concrete ways to stand up for Christian unity.

New Vintage Church (the new church plant where I serve) is staffed by CofC lifers, incorporated as a Church of Christ and has partnered with Kairos Church Planting Support (affiliated with Churches of Christ). Simultaneously, we worship in the evenings at the facility of an Independent Christian Church, have received financial support from both Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, and make use of instruments in worship. We will support events, ministries and institutions affiliated with both Churches of Christ and Christian Churches.

I have said numerous times on this blog that Churches of Christ would do well to see what they can learn from Christian Churches–who continue to grow rapidly and exhibit greater church health than Churches of Christ on the whole. We have much to learn from one another if we are willing to do the difficult work of committing ourselves to Christian unity. Here I’m referring to real unity–the kind that embraces estranged Sisters and Brothers as true, equal family–born out in practice. As an aside, this work needs to be done racially, as well.

Though we’ve made huge strides, sectarianism remains one of the banes of Churches of Christ. This has been highlighted for me in the experience of starting New Vintage. For some, New Vintage Church’s willingness to embrace Christian Churches and employ ministry methods uncommon within Churches of Christ means we are no longer part of Churches of Christ. In fact, this decision was made by some quite quickly and without discussion. Here’s my question:

Who gets to make that decision?

In the end, it doesn’t matter.

Actually, I realize it does matter to some. Just not to God. If anything, what matters to God is that His people continue to divide and exclude rather than loving one another as He would have them to. I love my heritage and it’s traditions deeply…always will. However, where there is a fork in the road between those traditions and Christ’s teachings on unity, the choice of which direction one should take is clear.

New Vintage Church is a non-denominational Church of Christ rooted theologically in the Christ revealed in Scripture and rooted ancestrally in the Restoration Movement. Thus, we stand united fully with both Churches of Christ and Christian Churches in loving God, loving others, and reaching the lost. Why? Because God cares less about labels or whether worship music is instrumental/acappella than He does about Christian unity, love for others, and witness to His Son. In fact, I’m quite sure we are not authorized by Jesus to divide over the matters we have–and we will be held to account for our division.

Let me offer again: Unity is a really, really big deal to Jesus. Whether a Church of Christ or Christian Church, all who claim the name of Christ must make much of unity as well. If we do, Jesus will be pleased, and our witness will impactful. If we remain more committed to our tribes than His Cause, we shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for God to bless our efforts.

Let’s love one another with the genuine love of Christ–for God’s glory and the sake of the world. As the Lord Himself said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 

Question: What strides, forward or backward, have you observed between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ? Why do you think Churches of Christ continue to stay distant from Christian Churches? How do we overcome those barriers?

In Christianity, Current Affairs, Leadership, New Vintage Church, Personal Writings, Religion , , , , ,
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Live from Indy

July 7, 2010 — 6 Comments

I first came to the North American Christian Convention in 2006, to support the unity effort between Christian Churches and Churches of Christ on the 100th anniversary of the unofficial split of those two fellowships in 1906. I have come back every year since, in part because the program is quality, and I now have many friends in Christian Churches that I miss if I don't see them. 

Given my heritage in Churches of Christ and enjoyment of our people and gatherings…I wish we could get together more. We could learn a lot from one another. Churches of Christ can learn a ton about leadership, innovation, and the abundance mentality. Christian Churches could benefit from Churches of Christ in a number of ways as well.

We should get together more…on purpose.

Question: Why don't we? Really. Why shouldn't we?

In Leadership , , , ,
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