Integrating Missionally

At the age of eighteen, Alex and Brett Harris wrote Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations—and launched a movement that would change a generation. Young people around the world were ready to be inspired, ready to move beyond complacency, ready to rebel against society’s low expectations.

Now the highly anticipated companion book, Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are, answers the questions Alex and Brett have received from thousands of teens on their worldwide conference tour and popular online community: How do I get started? What hard things does God want me to do? How do I keep from getting discouraged or burned out? What is the best way to inspire others?

Filled with stories and insights from Alex, Brett, and other real-life rebelutionaries, Start Here is a powerful and practical guide for young people who are ready to take the next step and blast past apathy. Let the rebelution continue.

Go here for ordering options!

Author Bio:
Alex and Brett Harris are the coauthors of the best-selling book Do Hard Things, which they wrote at age eighteen. Today the twins speak regularly to audiences of thousands on The Rebelution Tour, maintain a hugely popular online presence through their blog, TheRebelution.com, and have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and in the New York Times. Raised in Portland, Oregon, the brothers currently attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia.

Disclaimer: This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Be-ing or Do-ing

Americans talk and write endlessly about what the church needs to becoming, what the church must do ot be effective. The perceived failures of the church are analyzed and reforming strategies prescribed. The church is understood almost exclusively in terms of function – what we can see. If we can’t see it, it doesn’t exist. Everything is viewed through the lens of pragmatism. Church is an instrument that we have been given to bring about whatever Christ commanded us to do. Church is a staging ground for getting people motivated to continue Christ’s work.

This way of thinking – church as a human activity to be measured by human expectations – is pursued unthinkingly. The huge reality of God already at work in all the operations of the Trinity is benched on the sideline while we call timeout, huddle together with our heads bowed, and figure out a strategy by which we can compensate for God’s regrettable retreat into invisibility. This dead wrong., and it is responsible for no end of shallowness and experimentation in trying to achieve success and relevance and effectiveness that people can see. Statistics provide the basic vocabulary for keeping score. Programs provide the game plan. This way of going about things has done and continues to do immeasurable damage to the American Church.

This way of understanding church is very, very American and very, very wrong. We can no more understand church functionally than we can understand Jesus functionally. We have to submit ourselves to the revelation and receive church as the gift of Christ as he embodies himself in this world. Paul tells us that Christ is the head of a body, and the body is church. Head and body are one thing.

“Ontology” is a word that can get us past this clutter of functionalism. Ontology has to do with being. An ontological understanding of church has to do with what it is, not what it does. And what it is is far wider, deeper, higher than anything it does, or anything we can take charge of or manipulate. The Singapore theologian Simon Chan puts his finger on our persistent misunderstanding of the church as instrumental, as pragmatic, when he writes, “When it comes to understanding the church, sociology takes over.” The being-ness of church is what we are dealing with. Church is not something that we cobble together to do something for God. It is the “fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:23) working comprehensively with and for us.

Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ

Popularity: 3% [?]

I came across this idea inadvertently. As a pastor, a couple of mornings per week I make my way to a local restaurant for breakfast. I would also take a book and read or do some studying there when all was quiet. I got to know all the wait staff and management. I also do this a couple of times a week at a local cafe where I would go have a late lunch, and sit, study, read and chat with the staff and ownership. I never really told the what I did intentionally. However, by the work I was doing and the books I was reading and the conversations we had, they figured out I was a pastor. Soon, I noticed something that just sort of happened. I became the pastor to those businesses. They would sit down and talk and share their problems, ask questions, and seek counsel. At Christmas time, I brought a bucket of gifts to them that included gift cards, homemade treats, and other things.

Your church can do this as well. You can adopt a business or businesses. You may, for example, adopt a large store like Home Depot or Lowes. Have your small groups adopt different departments in that store: one could adopt the paint department, another the electrical department and still another the lighting department. The small groups could get to know the people in those departments. Then they could write notes or even give gifts on holidays or special days. Imagine an employee walking into work with a group of folks from one of your small groups throwing a surprise birthday party for them! There is something about making a person feel special for both you and the person.

Or, another twist of this idea would be to adopt several stores on main street or in a strip mall. Those mom and pop stores that are crucial to most town’s main street could be adopted by your small groups. Shop there, get to know the people there, and bless them. Work with them to set up a special shopping day where your church provides food (snacks, hotdogs, etc) and fun and then stores have special sales. You could even do the advertising for them.

If you have sharp business people in your church, they can volunteer their time to work with the mom and pop stores which are generally owned by entrepreneurs who are learning business practices through trial and error. That ministry would be invaluable.

In doing this, you are blessing the business(es) on multiple levels. You are building foot traffic for sales so you are helping the business. This is IMPORTANT! You are providing them with FREE consulting services and promotions which many small businesses need. You are blessing the employees and owners. You are blessing, either directly or indirectly, the community. And you are building a positive reputation in the community.

Popularity: 6% [?]

My friend Todd Littleton mentioned to me the blog of a good friend of his, Rick Davis, who pastors in Texas. Reading his blog recently, he noted how he had opened up his free bedroom for ministers who needed to get away and be ministered to. They had pastors and staff in from other parts of the country and gave them a free place to get away and dialogue with another pastor or sleep or just read. It was a place of refuge.

In a time when ministers are struggling financially because their churches are struggling, a (almost) free getaway is worth more than gold. In a world where pastors are wondering if they should stay in ministry, wisdom and perspective from other ministers is invaluable. For some ministers, they just need a place to get away and sleep and be restored.

Taking Rick’s challenge, I want to offer my spare bedroom and home library to ministers who can make their way to Delaware. Philadelphia or Baltimore are the closest airports and I can pick you up if you need me to do so. You can come and sleep, or we can sit and talk shop, or you can just read or write or whatever you need to do. Bring your wife if you would like. My wife and I don’t have much, but we will offer you what we do have. We understand the stress of ministry, the financial issues, and the need to just have someone love on us. We are willing to help.

If you need such a refuge, please contact me. We will help as best as we can.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I grew up in North Alabama, a mere hour from the city that built the rockets that put men on the moon and the Space Shuttle into orbit. I had a dream of being an astronaut. As a kid, I had a telescope with which I could view the stars. I also had a blue astronaut outfit that I wore quite a bit. I was even the flight director on a shuttle simulator during a week of the very first Space Camp. I love the stars.

Recently, a well known evangelical writer offered to talk with those who pastor small churches if they sent him a direct message on twitter. He would call them and talk with them about their ministry. I know this writer. He has planted churches and pastored them, been a teacher and denominational employee. However, it has been quite a while since he has pastored a small church. The thought came to me: can someone who hasn’t pastored a small church in more than a decade give advice and suggestions to someone who is currently pastoring a small church? That question led me to another: Why do we clamor for the opinions of celebrity leaders and large church pastors? Why do we chase after the stars?

1. May of us want to be like these celebrities.

The morning I met Bob Roberts, of Northwood Church in Keller, TX and Glocalnet, I told someone that Bob Roberts was the Southern Baptist I wanted to be. And I meant it. I saw what he was doing and wanted to do it in Delaware. I wanted the impact he was having. I wanted to influence as he was influencing.

Unfortunately, so many of us, especially younger pastors, don’t really know who we are yet. So we want to be someone else. We want to do what they do, and go where they go and say what they say. We even wear what they wear (remember all the pastor wearing Hawaiian shirts after coming back from a Rick Warren conference?) We don’t know how to be who we are. More on this in a moment.

2. We think they are successful. We want to be successful so we model ourselves after people we deem successful.

Yet many ministers have a flawed understanding of success. Here is why.

1. We are numbers-oriented. We have adopted a CEO-based concept of success. We see things in terms of statistics. It is what we celebrate. Because we celebrate numbers, that becomes what we measure. It is a closed loop system where the output, numbers, becomes the basis for inputs, which then reinforce the output. Large church pastors then have credibility based on the standard definition of success.

2. We are a pragmatic people. We desperately want to know what works, regardless of the context. Any idea we can try to grow our numbers is a welcomed addition to our ministry arsenal. If we are honest, there are even times when we look for ideas because we haven’t done the hard work to come up with our own ideas or haven’t spent the time listening to God to give us His ideas.

I was watching a video of Len Sweet speaking recently. He gave some concepts and ideas about an topic he was asked to speak on. During the question and answer time, Len was asked to walk through his thoughts and tell how they can be practically applied. Len is an architect kind of thinker. Architects design, contractors implement. That is not to say that Len can’t implement, just that he is at his best, I think, as an architect. What Len wanted to see happen, I believe, is for each of the folks in the conference to take the ideas and determine their own ways to implement those ideas. Our pragmatic mindset, however, often means we don’t do the hard work of thinking for ourselves.

Why we should limit our star-gazing?

1. In some matters of practical ministry, current perspective colors past success. What I mean by this is that what we do in the present can distort our view what we did in the past.

Our mind is a funny thing. Studies show that even after a short period of time, we have a distorted view of what actually happened. The pioneer cognitive psychologist, Ulric Neisser, examined people’s memories of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger at two different times in the people’s lives – the day after and several years later. While most of the subjects stated that their memories of what they were doing that day were clear, in many instances the memory at the later date was dramatically different than the memory reported the day after the tragedy. [1]

What we think we did in the past may, in fact, be completely different that what we actually did. So when a pastor recounts how they implemented a plan or process, if they do not have specific recall and specific notes as well as others who walked through the process with them that confirm what was done, that leader may not be recounting correctly.

In addition, they may be looking through current “successes” and seeing actions from the past that didn’t happen. In doing so they are viewing the past through the present which will create a distorted understanding of the past. Therefore, we have to be careful at the value we place on the practices and processes of those we elevate to star status.

2. Each person is unique. You can’t replicate what someone has done because you are not that person. You do not have the same gifts and talents as that person. Simply trying to replicate what someone else has done could be disastrous. In addition, the experiences that form and shape each person are unique. I remember reading (or hearing) John Maxwell say one time that when has people come up to him and mention that they want to do what he does, he makes a bold statement. He says, “Are you willing to go through what I have gone through to do what I do?” The reason we can do what we do is because we have gone through what we have gone through. And that will be different for everyone.

3. The context is unique. The context that you live and minister and serve in is unique from the context the celebrity lives and serves in or lived and served in. Context in ministry is crucial to doing ministry.

So how do we gaze at the stars and not try to become the stars we see?

1. Learn to be who you were designed and purposed to be. That takes time. That takes dealing with the pain and struggles God has allowed in your life. Discover who you are, not who other people are.If you can do that, then…

2. Learn concepts and ideas instead of merely embracing the pragmatics of ministry. When I read books on ministry now, I read for concept, not for details. Concepts are transferable, details are not. Many ministry books are descriptive, not prescriptive in nature, yet the descriptive concepts are turned into prescriptive truths. The same is true for conferences. We need to be aware of that.

3. Read opposing views, particularly fair, gracious, and loving critics. When I was in college, I had a guy disciple me who was a youth pastor. We were talking about salvation one day, and I mentioned that I had picked up a book by John McArthur called “The Gospel According to Jesus”. He told me something I will never forget. He said, “You need to read an opposing view, discover both sides of the argument and then make your own determination.” So I did. And I was better for it. If you can get multiple perspectives, then that helps you place each person, each star you see, in a more realistic position. They are not on a pedestal nor are they in a tomb. They are who they are and do what they do and while you appreciate what they do, you do not elevate them to an improper position just below Jesus or the apostles.

4. Find a coach, not a model. A coach helps you discover your own ideas. A model is something you imitate.

NOTES:
1. Eugene Winograd and Ulric Neisser, Affect and Accuracy in Recall: Studies Of “Flashbulb” Memories, Emory Symposia in Cognition; 4 (Cambridge ; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 9-10.

Popularity: 18% [?]