I don’t think I will ever get over how things that may seem negative can be turned into positives. I’ve experienced some things that have been very disappointing recently. It’s always when I put my faith in others, but luckily I am not measured by their actions and closed mindedness. People can do their best to make themselves look better by taking things out of context and slinging them back at me, but I don’t care. For me, it is all about the test of time. Who will still be standing because of the truth in their words and actions? It’s not about what others think, but more about how true I can stay to who I am and what I am supposed to do.

In the end, no matter what people say, often they are selfish at heart and when I can no longer contribute to something they lash out or just distance themselves. It feels like there was never any respect for my contribution–no acknowledgment of thanks–just disappointment in how they handle themselves.

I’ve been asked several times by people if I have been disappointed at the small numbers of people that have attended our public preview services for Revolution Church Sacramento. Since the preview services were more for our benefit in helping to get unified in vision, participate in something like One Prayer that showed unity within the body of Christ, and letting people know we were more than just a conversation in someone’s living room, I am not disappointed at all. Others may have been disappointed, but their perspective would be out of context of what I expected from our time together in June. For me, the truly disappointing thing has been when others have been there for me when I was giving of my time and talents to help them, but left me cold when I wasn’t there for them. I guess I’m more saddened than disappointed, but disappointment is a by-product of putting our faith in others based on present circumstances when it is inevitable that some will just end up showing themselves to be fair weather friends.

As I was thinking about this post, I decided to look for some quotes on the topic of disappointment. It turns out they were just what I needed and I hope that they help you have a new perspective on disappointing times and situations as well:

• “The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” –Robert Kiyosaki
• “Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it.” –Eliza Tabor
• “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “People look at you and me to see what they are supposed to be. And, if we don’t disappoint them, maybe, just maybe, they won’t disappoint us.” –Walt Disney
• “One’s best success comes after their greatest disappointments.” –Henry Ward Beecher

Through it all, we will never please everybody and trying to do so will lead not just to disappointment, but also to frustration and failure. We should always hope for the best in others, but know that there will be times when we let our expectations get in the way. In the end, disappointments are a fact of life and as the quotes above indicate, can be used to make us better and stronger. After going through some disappointments recently, I’m greatly anticipating some success as I position myself with where and whom God calls me.

Tags: disappointment

I’m working through some things with someone and in the back of my mind I really feel like the timing is such that he is needing to know Christ. Maybe even knowing that I am in ministry, this person could be subconsciously (or consciously) seeking me out to walk him through coming to understand life with Christ. He has eluded to attributes in my character and my giving nature as things he would like to see within himself, but just can’t seem to get there due to anxiety and fear. It’s almost like a scene scripted from the Matrix where he is Neo and it’s time to make the choice–which pill will he accept?

As I think about the situation I am presented with and what this person is saying, I have to step back and realize that it isn’t a time for Christianeze. It wasn’t my citation of Bible verses that caused him to see me as a giving person. It wasn’t my public prayer that showed him my strength in times of adversity. It was me just being me and him seeing who I am that brought this about.

I need to consider that while God is the Creator of the universe and has all power and authority to do anything–that we can do all things with Christ who gives us strength–this may be a case where some medication could be the best way to intervene. Maybe just listening to him speak and letting him work through the emotions of anxiety could be the best way to begin.

It’s so easy to throw the Bible at him and tell him that he is feeling this way because he has a God shaped hole in his heart that only God can fill. I could ask him if I could pray for him in his presence. Too often I think we as Christians resort to this as our first line of action. We fail to use our gift of listening and compassion to help go through the messy times that we are faced with as humans. We try to immediately put our trust in God by pointing to him and then running away hoping he will just impose his will immediately and then we can celebrate the victory without getting our hands dirty. In the end we can come across as cold and programmed rather than loving and compassionate. God didn’t become the answer to  our lives until we were in a place when we could listen and realize God was there for us. We can’t just name drop Jesus and then flee believing that Christ will supernaturally become like a psychologist and have a spiritual dialog with others. Are we propaganda machines? Are we like car salespeople trying to get people to come into our showroom, only to turn them over to Christ the closer and stand back and watch him do everything?

In this situation I am going to be who God created me to be and seek to be compassionate and understanding. I am going to trust that God is ordaining this time and that his gospel will be made known. However, I am going to trust that one of his purposes for me was to be in situations like this and be patient, trusting that he wants to work through me, rather than without me. Trusting that in God’s master plan I don’t have the burden of setting a goal to lead other people to recite the sinner’s prayer. I will trust Christ that he will give me wisdom, patience, humbleness and the strength to be there for this person and let him know he is more than a statistic in my baptismal. That as God knew the number of hairs on this person’s head and knows his name, that he will lead me and let Christ shine as he fades me into the background. The process is beginning with prayer and through that I know God will reveal how to proceed as he softens this persons heart and draws him closer into his presence.

Well, it’s actually 1:15am Monday morning, June 29th. Our dinner fellowship overflowed into the next day! It was a lot of fun and some of us seemed as if we didn’t want to conclude it. Here are my thoughts:

• There is something intrinsic to small churches that I am really enjoying. Having a chance to be more-relaxed and knowing everyone by name makes it feel more like what I feel church should be like. As you all know, I don’t believe church should be a destination. Revolution Church Sacramento does not feel like a destination, but more like a starting point.
• I was blessed to know that I look like one of the Muppets (watch my facebook page for pictures). Can you guess which one?
• I realized that when people gather together in the right spirit, that even being subjected to a room that is literally 90 degrees it doesn’t have to affect one’s mood. Some of us had been in the building for 3 hours before our service started and the worship team was under hot spot lights and everyone really seemed to enjoy being there together. It was one of those experience I will always remember and reflect upon.
• Our friends from Xaris Church led worship tonight and it was really amazing. Enjoyed the change of pace with the fuller, edgier sound. These guys helped me out for the last youth ministry praise & worship night I led on Friday, led worship at Xaris Church Sunday morning and then came out to help us Sunday night. The Xaris team is always ready to help us out and I am forever indebted to them. We closed things out with some loud, worshipful singing! Thanks to Danny Lo, Carter Hom, Bryant Hom, Galen and Brad for their service tonight. You are permanently etched into the history of Revolution Church and we honored to have you be a part of preview services!
• When someone’s mind is somewhere else it really can be obvious.
• Wasn’t sure how well a last minute revision to the message in order to look at the life and death of Michael Jackson from the perspective of salvation rather than idolizing & memorializing him would be received. Got some great, positive feedback so I’m encouraged that it was the leading of the Lord and that he was pleased.
• I didn’t find out until 11:30pm that I read a Scripture verse in my message while another Scripture verse was displayed on the screen.
• Numbers of people in attendance do not indicate the health of a church. I’m not just saying that because we have intentionally started small. This month has been a valuable time of learning, observing and discernment.
• I must do my best to not use Christian language as I continue to reach out to our city.
• When living life as the church, it’s not about hierarchy or orderly service…it transcends all of that when people care about each other and truly enjoy being in their presence.
• There is no one like our God! For greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still be done in this city.
• As introverted as I am, I have learned to really appreciate and enjoy opportunities to meet new people and value the stories each of us have.
• I don’t know if I am ever going to not cringe watching myself speak on video.
• Had the subject of coordinating an arts program to give back to the community through the gifted worship musicians we have been blessed with at Revolution Church so far. Need to give that some more thought!
• Thankful for all of the prayers of all of my friends that have stood with us all month to see the start of Revolution Church become a reality. Together we are strong and without our friends and prayer partners none of this would have been possible God does call his people to pray so that he may respond. God really did respond in some amazing ways. It may take some time for it to be realized by some of those that connected with us, but some powerful and wonderful things happened this June and I will never be the same as a result.
• Relived some memories of my junior year of high school doing the moonwalk with my classmates. It was Michael Jackson that first introduced it in 1983 and it will forever be a part of pop culture.
• Everyone in the world, regardless of age or ethnicity seems to know of Michael Jackson. Imagine the day when everyone in the world, regardless of age or ethnicity comes to know Christ as Lord!
• Annette & Gary may quit their day jobs to become comedians…they were that hilarious tonight.
• Grateful for LifeChurch.tv and all that has happened as a result of One Prayer 2009! To have the blessing to listen to Jentezen Franklin, Francis Chan and Steven Furtick with less than 20 people attendance just couldn’t happen any other way. We were tremendously blessed and one day I hope to see us at Revolution Church be able to give back in some way as well.
• Lots left to think about, but going to wait until our team gets together and sorts through our public preview service experience and how we’ll look as we move forward in the coming month.

Tags: sunday night reflections

Living life online has its positives and negatives. I think transparency is a big part of what will cause people outside of the faith to realize that Christians are still people just like they are. Knowing we struggle with things even though we profess to know Christ (Just as the Apostle Paul did) helps others see we are not hypocritical–it just makes us human. However, the transparency and openness online lets others think they know you. It lets others have information that they may use against you.

Writing open thoughts in a public forum such as this blog is quite different than posting something anonymously. My name and persona is attached to every blog I post. I’ve felt that being who I am online as I am in-person would help bless others and let them get to know my thoughts even though we may never meet face-to-face. Additionally, blogging tends to be therapeutic for me. I get to write out my thoughts and hope that by sharing them it may encourage someone else or let them know some of my pain as a warning to not do as I have done.

The negatives of living life online have begun to make me a little weary. Fortunately, I have yet to find anyone that has sent a negative remark to me on any of my blog posts, and some of what I post could easily be considered controversial. Through grace I have escaped a lot of things that could discourage me through being open and honest in my writing. Today am I beginning to question whether much of what I write is just becoming noise in the blogosphere. I’m wondering if trying to post every day, or at least 4-5 times per week makes sense any more. Heck, even this post is me being public in something that probably didn’t need to be made public.

I’ve decided to scale back a bit on my blog. It’s something I told myself I was going to do earlier this year. Rather than write out thoughts that may just add to the clutter and noise (see Kem Meyer, I am trying to be faithful to your brand) I’ve changed my perspective and am going to start a personal journal. It goes against a previous post I made here, but it just feels like the right thing to do now. In the past, the more I engaged in the better I could think and see through a lot of stuff. The more transparent I was, the more people could see me as being real or relevant. However, at this point in my ministry, I feel I need to step back from a few things and this blog will be one of those things. Less frequency and more focus means less clutter, less noise. Writing thoughts in a personal journal still offers the therapeutic benefit without the risk and hazards of being online so much and thus not lending to all of the noise that already exists.

I’m going through a lot of transition and change and I feel as if God is directing me through a narrow, blind curve on my life’s journey. If I get distracted by everything I see along the side of the road, I will veer off course and crash. If I focus on the road in front of me it is a little unsettling to not be able to see ahead of the curve. However, this is where I am and it is for a reason. It is time to shed some things that have been important in order to be more faithful to ministry and to my family. I can’t do everything that time allows and I won’t do things for the sake of making others happy.

Repeat after me: Less clutter, less noise. Less clutter, less noise. Less clutter, less noise. I promise this time.

Tags: less clutter, less noise

Do you know Jesus as your personal savior? If you don’t, won’t you take time to invite him into your life now?

How do you think most people in society would respond to that question? If you’ve been asked it before, you probably didn’t receive it favorably. If you’ve asked the question before, the conversation probably came to a halt shortly thereafter. Do you know why? In a nutshell, it’s because it comes across as if you are either selling something like Amway, or you are being asked to buy into something, such as Amway.

Amway is a huge, global company. Funny thing about it is that it really isn’t about a product. It’s about getting people that will go out and tell others about how lucrative it can be and teaching them how to get others to do the same thing. It’s not the product, but the sales pitch that is king. It all sounds so corny, but there is no mistaking that it has been effective for some people. As successful as Amway has been, there is a huge stigma associated with it. When someone comes up to us and starts to pitch Amway we immediately try to find out if they are Amway salespeople and then do our best to flee the conversation. In the past, Amway representatives have gone to using deceit in order to make their pitches. They won’t outright say it’s Amway they are selling and are evasive in order to get you to take the next step. However, regardless of the tactics, we all have our idea of what Amway is and how it infringes on our time and why we would never be interested in it. Thousands of people make millions of dollars per year promoting Amway, yet we won’t even give it 15 minutes of our time. You know I’m right!

Now, think about how we approach evangelism of our faith. The way we “invite” people into a conversation with an agenda of getting them to make a commitment to seek the Lord. How we put our faith in hoping we can somehow give a polished enough presentation that others will be able to make a commitment to a grandiose god without any substance. We tout him as the answer to everything in a world that isn’t looking. We ask the question hundreds of times hoping that we will be invited to the top producers banquet in heaven someday.

What if you asked someone to accept Christ as Lord and they agreed–dropped to their knees and prayed right on the spot. Success, right? Well, when you present Christ as if you were presenting Amway, it is only temporary success that has no eternal impact. Imagine being the Amway salesperson getting someone else to sign on the dotted line and committing to sell it for you. When they are unsure of what they are doing, lack confidence because they weren’t really given much truth, and get beaten down from rejection, they will stop selling Amway as they no longer see any benefit. In the end, it was just a bunch of hype. We preach salvation so people won’t go to hell, yet when hell is no longer real to them their salvation becomes irrelevant.

Gregory Boyd has a chapter in The Myth Of A Christian Religion titled The REVOLT Against SECULARISM. In it, he describes this style of evangelism as a sales pitch:

We can be saved–which these people think means we won’t go to hell–simply by reciting this magical confession. We’re basically purchasing fire insurance with a magical prayer.

Boyd goes on to explain that Webster’s Dictionary defines a lord as: one who has power and authority over others. Therefore, when someone confesses that Jesus is their Lord, they should be confessing that Jesus has power and authority over them. Boyd claims that if someone confesses Christ as their Lord, yet does not submit to his power and authority, then they are contradicting themselves. He says it’s as if they are saying they are a married bachelor or a round square. Pastor Boyd affirms:

No wonder Jesus asked, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things that I say?”

The simple truth is that when the Bible promises us that if we confess Jesus as Lord we will be saved, it’s not telling us how to get cheap fire insurance by reciting a magical salvation formula. Rather, it’s stipulating what kind of relationship we need to have with Jesus to participate in the healing and wholeness of God’s reign. This relationship, by definition, must be one of submission. We are saved when we authentically surrender our life to Christ, enthroning him as Lord.

Once the confession of Christ as Lord is made, it starts a journey of being in submission to his power and authority. It’s a journey because we have to look at the long-term significance of an eternity with Christ, yet we can only do so one step at a time. Boyd describes it by saying “Our lives are nothing more than a series of present moments strung together. The only thing that is real is now.” How true that is!

How can we profess Christ as the magical answer to the world’s problems if we Christians live our lives filled with problems ourselves? Don’t you know that the world sees us as hypocritical, brainwashed and judgmental people? If we did, why would we live our lives outside of Christ yet feel the need to invite others into a life with Christ?

We must learn that the world around is a secular one. Gregory Boyd explains that the word secular comes from a Latin word saeculum, which means “the present world.” That a secular worldview is one that focuses on the present physical world and ignores or rejects the spiritual realm. If this is truly the world we live in (and it is!) then we must learn how to be more relevant in our actions and words. We must come to understand that it’s not about heaven or hell, but it’s about the beauty of a kingdom that puts other people ahead of ourselves and trusts in a Lord with power and authority. That we can have a relationship with this Lord and be in his presence every second of every day. To know that he is actually calling us on a journey with him in an imperfect world that can be made perfect through his reign. We are to seek first the kingdom of God, not just a desire to be in heaven instead of hell. Just as God wants a relationship with you, he calls us to seek a relationship with others. We should look upon people with love and kindness rather than prospects for a sales pitch. We should seek to explain to them the truth and the daily struggles that go along with our relationship with Christ, rather than churn people out as disciples of a well-orchestrated sales pitch machine.

God is definitely asking us to share his love and describe our life with him to others. He is actively working through you and I in this world so that he may be made known to it. However, please don’t take this to be an agenda. Don’t be cliche. Know that it’s about much more than words…it requires action based on our submission to Christ. We must take the time to listen to his direction, discern what needs to be done, and trust that his power and authority will be made known to those that we come in contact with. God isn’t the CEO of Amway and he shouldn’t be reduced to a sales pitch. Boyd closes the chapter by writing:

As we grow in our capacity to live under the reign of God moment-by-moment, we increasingly manifest the beauty of his ever-present love while revolting against the ugly secularism that afflicts or world.

This is the heart of the Kingdom of God

This is the heart of the revolution we’ve been invited to participate in.

Viva la revolution!

Tags: evangelism, gregory boyd, the myth of a christian religion