Creative Communication

Spent this afternoon in a workshop with Mark Batterson from National Community Church.  NCC is a very innovative church doing a great job on a number of fronts.  I appreciate their desire to unleash the God-given creativity of the church.

We talked about creative communication, both internally and externally.  Lots of good info which I will post soon.

Missing my family…

 

Exponential

Sitting in Orlando, getting ready to head over to the exponential conference.  Four of us drove through the night last night, with great conversation ranging from church planting, to Dwight from The Office, to all things missional, to Jack Handy’s Deep Thoughts.

Looking forward to the shot in the arm that always comes from being around a crowd of missionally-minded people.  Also looking forward to learning from a number of guys who have already done it and done it well.  I plan to update as the conference goes on.

Who was Lesslie Newbigin?

Lesslie Newbigin was a British missionary to India.  His teachings and writings have been very influential on many, and that influence seems to continue to grow.  His reflections on the relation of the church and the gospel to the culture have been particularly helpful to me.  Some of his writings include:

• The Open Secret:  an introduction to the theology of mission
• Foolishness to the Greeks
• The Gospel in a Pluralist Society
• The Good Shepherd

For more info on Newbigin, go to www.newbigin.net or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesslie_Newbigin.  For the continuation of his thinking and work, see www.gocn.org

The Good Shepherd 3

From chapter 4 of Lesslie Newbigin’s The Good Shepherd, on “Leading the Church’s Worship”:

• We are made for God.  To worship God with heart and soul and mind and strength is the highest exercise of all our powers.
• Christian worship is the corporate response of all Christ’s people to what God has done for the world through Jesus Christ.
• …true Christian worship is an offering on behalf of the whole of mankind.  The Church as a whole is called to be God’s holy priesthood for all of the human family.  It should never become a self-enclosed community shut off from the rest of mankind.  This means, for example, that in our worhsip we should try to offer up to God all that is best in the art and music and thought of the world around us.  All of it belongs to God, and all of it should be offered to God in our solemn acts of worship.
• Christian worship is a testimony to the reality of the living God in the midst of a world which does not know him, and it is a protection against false and unworthy ideas of him.
• The action of the Eucharist is the most simple and profound form of testimony to what God has done for the world in Jesus Christ.
• Christian worship is a protection for those who take part in it against the false standards and convictions of the world.  To be drawn week after week into this act of adoration and self-giving to the living Lord who is revealed to us in Jesus Christ is itself the most powerful possible antiseptic against the infection of worldliness.

The Good Shepherd 2

Chapter 3 of Newbigin’s The Good Shepherd is one of the best chapters I’ve ever read in any book.  It is titled “Preaching Christ,” and in 5 short pages gives a fantastic challenge to those who preach.  A few highlights:

• Flesh is just flesh, but if it is quickened by the Spirit, then it gives life.  Words are just words, but if they are quickened by the Spirit they give life.  The words of Jesus are words that give life.
• (The) life-giving word of God is the power by which the Church lives.  The Church is created and constantly renewed by the word of God.
• We have to preach Christ.  That is really our only business in the pulpit.
• The reason why preaching has a central place in the life of the Christian Church is that the word of God to men is Jesus Christ, and he has to be put before men.  He has to be put before men again and again in his flesh, in the concrete reality of his manhood – his life, his words, his deeds, above all his death and resurrection.  That is our business as preachers.  From whatever part of the Bible we take our text, the business of the sermon is to bring the hearers face to face with Jesus Christ as he really is.
• We have to preach Christ as Savior and as Lord, both as the one who helps and delivers and comforts us, and as the one who has the right to absolute rule over our lives.
• We are called to preach Christ, and preaching Christ means preaching him both as Savior and Lord.  It means that people go out from the church not merely comforted with the assurance that they are saved, and not merely crushed by the unbearable knowledge that they are sinners, but rather re-enlisted in Christ’s army as fighters for the rule of God in this world.  This means that they are liberated from care about their own salvation in order to be totally at his service for the world’s salvation.

Tax Day

For the record, we had our taxes done a long time ago.  However, due to employer error [delete sarcastic comment about poor business practices of non-profit Christian ministry organizations], I found myself heading to the post office at the airport last night around 8.30 pm. 

It was interesting to observe how the USPS handled the late-night crowds.  Clearly they had planned ahead.  Most of the employees were helpful and in a good mood.  But the lesson for the night was this: 

great planning + poor communication = great frustration

in line for 25 minutes to get near the post office

 

helpful police officer directing me into parking lot.  But it was the wrong parking lot (this was for people who just wanted to drop off their taxes, but didn’t need stamps.  I needed stamps.  Oh, and from this post office parking lot, you can’t get into the post office!).

 

friendly postal worker taking tax envelopes (but only if they’re already stamped.  Since the helpful police officer directed me into this line, without communicating any alternatives, I had to wait here for another chance to find my way to where I needed to go.)

 

the correct parking lot, finally.  Here you wait until someone finishes their business in the post office and vacates a parking space.  Again, a helpful police officer directing traffic (he communicated well himself, though there was no signage.)

 

the line inside the post office.  I opted for the self-pay machine line, which turned out to be the correct choice (slightly faster).

 

the obligatory news channel cameraman filming the madness.  Many people still waiting to get into the post office complex, as I was leaving around 10 pm.

 

All in all, not as bad as it could be.  The USPS could help themselves out with some better signage and directions – traffic would have been lighter, lines would have moved faster, and people would have been happier. 

Great systems need great communication to achieve great results!

The Good Shepherd

I’ve just begun Lesslie Newbigin’s book The Good Shepherd, short meditations on Christian ministry.  Here’s a quote to get started (more on Newbigin later).

Speaking of ministry in a world of change:

A church which is merely trying to keep up-to-date is much more pathetic and ridiculous than a church which is merely clinging to the past.

And:

…we can never, never cling to the past – however precious it may be.  …we are always ready to face the loss of old securities, the obliteration of old landmarks, the shaking of old certainties – knowing that, if we hold fast to Jesus, we shall be led on to better securities, deeper certainties, richer experiences of God’s grace.

Family Pics

Here’s a few recent family shots: 

preaching

Until ikon medina is up and running regularly, I don’t have a whole lot of opportunities to preach (which I love to do).  Since a few of you have mentioned your interest in my preaching, here’s one place you can download or listen to a recent sermon:  http://www.trinitysermons.com/sermons/.  This sermon, while not particularly about church planting, gives some of the foundational thinking that is forming our approach to starting this new church in Medina.

EFCA District Conference

In starting ikon medina, we’ve partnered with the Evangelical Free Church of America.  This weekend is the Allegheny District conference, held at Cornerstone Community Church in Mayfield Hts. (my old stomping grounds from a few years ago).  Heading to the conference reminds me of how God used my time at the district conference last year as a confirmation of the direction he was sending us in.  I left the conference and called Janeen to say, “I’m convinced we’re doing the right thing at the right time with the right people.”  I continue to be convinced of that.

One of the huge partners we have had in this venture is Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Amherst, OH.  Trinity has brought me on staff 2 days each week, while supporting financially our church planting efforts in Medina (40 mi. away).  They’ve been extremely generous and flexible, allowing us to do what’s necessary to work on the church plant.  I’m very grateful for the way God has used them in the beginning stages of ikon medina.

The Moving Report

Saturday was the big move.  With the help of many friends in Columbus, as well as relatives from the Medina area, we were able to move fairly quickly, and in just one trip.  To all who were involved:  “THANK YOU!”

To wax philosophical for a moment, I don’t feel that I’m all that attached to my stuff (with the definite exception of my books), but there sure is a lot of it.  You can’t help but wonder about how deeply immersed you are in a consumer culture when you can actually pack a trailer and a 26-ft. U-Haul full with all your junk.

We’re excited to get settled into Medina, and to dig into our community.  It was exciting to find that our neighbors 2 doors down have a couple of boys near our boys’ ages.  They’ve been out playing together almost every day so far. 

A few more boxes to unpack, and a few sets of shelves for my books, and we’ll be good to go…