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On page 274 of The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard writes in regards to Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 7:13-27:

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

I’ve posted some of my thoughts on the missional church here on this blog. It’s something that I am very opinionated on and something that I believe God is placing upon the hearts of his people in various forms. It’s nothing new as it really has its roots in the Acts 2 church of the first century. It’s people gathering together to share in fellowship and to encourage each other, listen to teachings of the gospel, partake in a meal together, and give everything they have to those that have need. Through these actions, God adds to their number daily those that were being saved. It’s such a beautiful illustration of what the church was meant to be and I am so excited to see what God is doing through his church today!

Rather than try to explain more, let me point to you and unbelievably thorough and educational link that JR Woodward shared on his Dream Awakener blog:

http://jrwoodward.net/2008/11/a-primer-on-todays-missional-church/

Click it and prepare to be blessed.

When I was feeling lost and hopeless, I shared my struggle with my friend David Meysembourg through a message on facebook. Once I hit the “send” button I felt a little odd. Why did I burden my busy friend with my stupid situation? I know what ministry and church planting calls me to sacrifice and work through, so I feel like such a dummy for crying on his shoulder. It was an impulse thing I did, that had I thought more about it, I probably would have never even written that message. Well, instead of just telling me to keep my chin up and hang in there, he replied with an awesome prayer that was so amazing that I was humbled and convicted. It was if this prayer had so much power that I could not even get myself to speak this to my God without fear that he would call me out for coming before him without believing it with all of my heart and soul. I was in a pretty dark place and God knew it.

As I am seeking God for where he will order my steps to go next, I am focusing on getting to a place where this prayer can have the meaning that God wants it to have from my heart to his ear. As I share this prayer with you, I pray that God may use this prayer to speak powerfully to where you are at and to have you present yourself before God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of God:

God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking. You know when I leave and when I get back; I’m never out of your sight. You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence. I look behind me and you’re there, then up ahead and you’re there, too— your reassuring presence, coming and going.

This is too much, too wonderful— I can’t take it all in!

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? to be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting!

Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light! It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb. I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration—what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful! God, I’ll never comprehend them! I couldn’t even begin to count them— any more than I could count the sand of the sea.

Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you! And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!

And you murderers—out of here!— all the men and women who belittle you, God, infatuated with cheap god-imitations.

See how I hate those who hate you, God, see how I loathe all this godless arrogance; I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!

Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about; See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Lord, we lift this psalm to you in Jesus’ name, amen.

Father, thank you for caring for me so much that you would send this powerful prayer to me through the blessing I know as David Meysembourg. What a great friend who is there for me whenever I call–a friend that inspires me and encourages me to trust in you and to live the life you’ve called me to live, whether it be in the church, the board room, or a classroom. My life belongs to you and I pray that I may have the humility and faithfulness to let you use me in your way, rather than have me turn away and do things my way. In the name of Jesus, amen.

In trying to study and learn a little more about Dave Gibbons‘ theories on Third Culture I was hit with his definition:

Third Culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture. Even in the midst of pain and discomfort.

Wow, he’s preaching my language! Here is Dave sharing insight on Third Culture with Newsong Church:

And here is a link to a video of Pastor Gibbons sharing insight on Third Culture with Dallas Theological Seminary on 10/31/08:

http://www.dts.edu/media/play/?MediaItemID=c5e5bb9b-c3bb-4708-be61-3d75b2ce8f62

Here is a link to the Third Culture website:

http://3culture.tv/

I have to admit that I’ve been out of my element for quite awhile. I’m bewildered, frustrated, contemplative, hesitant, timid, uncertain, rebellious, and several other adjectives that aren’t generally used to describe me. What’s been causing this you may ask? Well, if you’ve followed this blog lately you’ll know that I am struggling with my role in ministry and what lies ahead for me. For the first time in my 4 year journey as a church planter in training I am questioning whether this is what God is intending for me. Specifically, my heart for church planting is there and my passion lies in seeing God transform the lives of those that were deemed to be unchangable. It’s other factors in my home life that have caused me to question this as I truly believe my wife and I were called as a team to plant together. That God would connect her gifts with my gifts (which are quite different) for the glory of God.

However, as I pray–sometimes fasting and praying–and waiting on God’s voice, I find that there is no response. I feel distant from God. Thus I am not acting within my comfort zone as I feel like I’ve lost the assurance I was working under previously. I do not want to go ahead of God or act in such a way that I am not seeking his will and following the path he has directed me to. Hence, the timidness, confusion, etc.

I was praying and meditating and something has been getting my attention this week. It seems that everyone God is connecting me to in ministry lately seems to be Asian-American. I’ve engaged in conversation and debate with several new friends in Asian-American ministry and without exception they all feel that there is a need to develop such ministry in the future, but I have been fighting that trend believing that God wanted me to reach out to all people, regardless of ethnicity or color, and help unite them in Christ. Now, I am questioning that…a lot! Why would God connect me with these people? Is it to keep me convicted in the vision I believe he gave me, or is it his way of speaking to me and answering my prayers for direction through these discussions?

All roads seems to be leading me to explore what my role could be in an Asian-American ministry could be, yet I hesitate and resist. Then, another incident compounded this. My senior pastor tells me last night in our bible study that he saw a comment from Dave Gibbons on my Facebook profile and that he went to seminary with, and served alongside in a church with him. Pastor Gibbons has been getting a lot of attention with what God has been doing through Newsong church and was someone that many had mentioned to me as somebody to look at as an example of multi-cultural ministry within the context of being Asian-American.

So, when all roads seem to lead to the same place, but I still feel I want to resist going in that direction, I need to stop and pause, give praise to God, and start looking into this for real and as a possible way that God is speaking to me through others. Unfortunately, I can’t jump into this belieiving it is the direction I’ve been waiting for, but I pray that this will be an important aspect of the discernment process and that this will cause some things to begin to take shape in my marriage to help us be more unified. Please pray for me in this time of listening and discernment, and please pray for my wife and I to come together and experience ministry in harmony and in love and in ways that God can use us to help see other lives transformed by the power of his gospel.

Through one of my favorite blogs I found a link to a post from Ed Stetzer about the missional church vs. the simple church vs. the purpose-driven, seeker sensitive style church. Very interesting and thought-provoking. Take a peek here:

http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/2008/10/simpy-missional-in-neue.html

As I’ve been thinking more and more about leading a missional community through Revolution Church Sacramento next year, I’ve also had thoughts about video preaching as part of what we do. Coinciding with these thoughts was a blog post by Perry Noble that reinforced his position that video teaching honors God and connects with people.

When we did our first month of preview services to share our vision with the members of our mother church, it was video preaching for 3 weeks, with me preaching 1 week. We participated in the One Prayer with LifeChurch.tv which many of you know about already. I was so totally blown away by the quality of the preaching from Perry Noble and Steven Furtick that I was hooked. I mean, I think I can be a pretty funny guy, but usually I evoke a laugh or two during a message while Noble just raised the roof and kept it up the whole 30 minutes. The guy seems like he isn’t even trying, yet he causes us to fire on several emotions in just one message. All this and he wasn’t even in the building! How can a guy in South Carolina talking about eating big, buttery biscuits and people believing or not believing in the power of Christ connect so well with us here in California? I don’t know how or why, but I just know what I saw and how people responded and it was amazing and incredible. Pastor Furtick is another one of those guys that doesn’t seem like he is trying, yet he can convey passion about watching an ice cube in such a way that you never thought possible all through the power of Christ in his life and his love for seeing people hear the gospel and come to know the saving grace of Christ. I was teary-eyed during the last half of his message and again, he wasn’t even in the building!

Can a guy like Noble or Furtick cause things to be stirred up here in Sacramento through video preaching? I think they could. As Revolution Church Sacramento takes shape and launches next year, we are looking to connect with a younger generation for Saturday and/or Sunday evening service. Mostly singles and young couples. However, could we partner with a great visionary preacher like a Pastor Noble or Pastor Furtick (or a Craig Groeschel or Ed Young, Jr. or…) and provide a gathering for families on Sunday mornings and see the kingdom grow even more? Could being missional and putting our faith into practice and sharing the love of Christ with the world be the glue that binds us together, even though we have two different worship styles, with two different meeting times, and two different demographics? I’m beginning to think we could. I’m feeling like the work that needs to be done here in Sacramento is far greater than what I could do even on my best days, and that partnering with another ministry with someone that can lead the way through their preaching and teaching while we work to connect people into service could honor God hugely. Who says that multiple services on a weekend must be the same exact message with the same exact preacher every time?

Maybe this is just another one of those dreams too big for the moment or my abilities. Could be that my mind is wandering and this isn’t what my thoughts should be on these days. However, I just can’t help but feel like this is worth some prayer and discussion and seeing what God would have me do here. My preaching doesn’t really translate well to video, but I’ve seen others with the gift for it and know that it’s being used to make a big impact on people in awesome ways. Just consider me more than a little intrigued at this point.

I invite your prayers and thoughts on this.

I have no idea how to describe just what senses were engaged when I saw this website, but I’m starting to feel an emotional attachment from it’s awesome originality. Click here and let me know what you think

While responding to a blog post recently I was compelled to introduce a concept to those that follow my blog. It’s a story that was briefly introduced awhile ago, yet only engaged new Asian readers into the discussion, while most of my readership is not Asian. Asian or not, this is an issue that we must face within the church and I’m curious what you all think.

A reply to one of my comments on the blog was:

“In the short-run, you are right, i don’t think you’ll see much positive growth at all, but ethnicity needs to validated as a gift from God and our inheritance from our immigrant parents. so while i agree with your implication that many would benefit from a multi-ethnic or missional church (culture/ethnicity can be viewed as an inefficiency from many people’s eyes, but), an honest exploration into the question of why God created us to be from a certain place and of a certain people should inspire us to discover our ethnicities and cultures in a redemptive light.

This is where i think the example of the people of israel and the biblical practice of remembering, remembering what God has done, who God is, and who God has made us to be, a very real practice to engage in the ethnic context.”

First of all, let me state very clearly that I am extrapolating something from a post that had a larger context. It is not my intention to argue or criticize the blog author or anyone that shares his viewpoint. I am just taking the statement and inflecting my experiences and ideas in the hopes of engaging in some dialog about the subject (hopefully) from both Asian and non-Asians.

Okay, so I’m Japanese, but I’ll admit there were some times in my life where I wished I could have been born looking like Brad Pitt or Joe Montana (nod to my NorCal upbringing) or David Cassidy. Usually it was so that I could have a girl attracted to me that wouldn’t date me because I was Japanese or so that I could avoid the words and violence associated with racism and prejudice. However, I am who I am and all that I am is for the glory of God.

However, do I want to celebrate my heritage in such a way that I need to have everyone around me be Japanese and understand my culture and my language when I’m in a Sunday church service? Is preserving my heritage in such a way something that can honor God much in the same way that the Israelites were true to their place as God’s chosen people? Did God create me as a Japanese person to engage only other Japanese people and rally us around a common cause of preserving who we are?

The Israelites were in-fact God’s chosen people. They were to inherit the earth as Abraham’s descendants. They were not to intermarry or in anyway corrupt the lineage. However, even in the Old Testament we see evidence of something that goes against this notion. Ruth was a Gentile that came to faith in the one true God. Not just any Gentile, but a Moabite and therefore hated by the Israelites. Ruth marries Boaz and bears a son that can be traced to the family line of Jesus himself.

As we see here, introducing Ruth into the Israelite culture of Judah had a profound place in history. Therefore, what is my place as a Japanese person living in the United States? Am I to segregate myself to a place where I can teach the things of God based on the context of my Japanese culture for those that will understand it because they too are Japanese? Or should I celebrate who I am in Christ and share my culture and experience with others so that they may benefit?

Let me shift to a different scenario to help me make my point. With Barack Obama’s candidacy the discussion of black church and white church came up in the media. There were some black churches (I personally dislike this label even though it is socially acceptable) where the message was preached against white America. It was almost an us-against-them mentality that was glorified. However, what if instead of trying to empower African-Americans in the church to stand up to social injustice from the caucasian world they tried to share their stories outside of the black church in a way that brought attention to what has gone on and continues to go on in their lives? How can white America know what is going on in the black community if the black community segregates themselves from the rest of us? The same is true with Asian-Americans in my opinion.

I talk to so many people today that have no clue what I go through as an Asian-American in society. So many think that racism and prejudice is a thing of the past. You wouldn’t believe how many people think I must be smart in math or must have gone to college at UCLA or Cal or that I must be an engineer or know all there is to know about computers or ask me questions about sushi. The outright hatred of me due to my Asian features has diminished greatly over the years, but the stereotypes have not. How does being exclusively with other Japanese people on Sundays help me to make a difference? What if I could take the fulfillment of one of God’s Ten Commandments to honor your mother and father to a whole ‘nother level by introducing my Japanese culture of being there for my parents in ways that aren’t the norm here in America?

I believe that God created me more to honor him and bring glory to his Son Jesus through my unique perspective of a Japanese person with my own individual experiences than he did to see me perpetuate my ethnic values and cultures at all costs. As the Great Commandment in Matthew 25 calls us to do, we are to preach the gospel to all nations and teach them what Christ has taught us. He didn’t say each nation is responsible for the preaching of the gospel to themselves. Three thousand didn’t come to Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and believe so that they could go back to their nations and keep their faith within the borders of their individual nations. Paul didn’t preach there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile only to see us reverse that in order to preserve our ethnic culture in a new land.

I should not have the viewpoint that I am Japanese and you are not so I can perpetuate my culture and heritage in my church and you are excluded, therefore you lose out on all that you could gain through knowing and understanding who I am and what I experienced. Through knowing my struggles with racism and prejudice and the pressures I faced in school here in America you can have some insight on persecution for who I am and how I dealt and continue to deal with that now that I am a Japanese person and a Christian. You can learn how some of the values revealed to us through the Scriptures have been in place in the country of my birth even though less than 1/10th of 1 percent of its people are Christian and how that breaks my heart. You can learn how to look at me as a brother or sister in Christ with individual experiences I can bring to the table and share rather than someone you have no idea how to address since you couldn’t be as mathematical or technologically savvy as me or because you don’t like sushi or whatever.

The harsh reality is that I am different from most of you. Heck, I’m different from many Japanese people as well. However, not only do I truly believe that you can learn from me, I absolutely know that I can learn from you. Together we can celebrate all of God’s people and all that he is doing in this world as the brothers and sisters he created us to be.

I’ve posted previously about missional vs emergent and missional vs the mega church model. However, I don’t see how it would be possible to validate a missional vs. missional argument though. The reason being is that there is a basic, fundamental understanding of what it means to be a missional church, therefore there isn’t any relevant argument regarding that. Alan Hirsch, author of The Forgotten Ways defines the missional church as: “a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God’s mission to the world.”

Now, we could argue what the mission should like in a given community or whether advertising the mission through press releases in the local newspaper is relevant to the mission, but we can’t argue the foundation of being missional. It is this that gives momentum to the missional church and through transformations happening on the local level, missional churches will have global impact on the kingdom of heaven.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I am not in opposition to those with a vision to lead emergent or mega-churches. I think God can honor their work and that transformed lives could be the result. However, let me point out some observations I’ve made that lend themselves to momentum within the missional church:

• Overall, churches are shrinking in numerical size, therefore being positioned to be better able to mobilize behind a missional movement
• Budgets are being drastically cut as church members are giving less or not giving at all. Smaller budgets many times means smaller staff or fewer programs. This creates an environment conducive to change and reorganization, going away from past methods that are deemed not to work and seeking something new
• We’re in a post-Christian era where over 90% profess a belief in a god or gods or a higher power, yet oppose Christianity and discussion centering on Jesus. Missional church fulfills the Greatest Commandment and causes people to look at Jesus through love, not condemnation.
• Many Christians have left the traditional church and choose to worship God individually without being in fellowship with others. The missional church can help bring them back into fellowship through uniting them in a common cause that they feel is relevant.

There is a culture shift happening and it’s causing many church leaders to take notice. Some may see their budgets shrink and believe the answer is to waive their salary and take full-time, secular job. Some churches may see positions phased out and consolidation occur. Other churches may think a new focus from the pulpit on tithing may be in order. In reality, this is the kind of culture shift that should be leading people to see that God is moving in a different way. As we get closer to the day of Christ’s return, we need to get back to our roots. Things will go full circle and what was ancient may become modern again.

Our focus should really be on God and serving his people with the love of Christ. We must have ultimate faith in God and His Word for salvation and trust Christ to really be the head of His church. Instead of responding to what the market dictates by trying to give people what they want or tell them what they want to hear, we should respond in a way that reveals God in our midst. As we see numbers diminishing within the church here in America, it’s clear to see that the kingdom of heaven is growing exponentially in China. Under threat of persecution the church in China is for the most-part an underground movement. It is very reminiscent of the description of the first century church in Acts 2:44-47:

44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Where there is sincere love for God and love for others through giving as they have need, the kingdom of heaven will grow daily with those being saved. If the missional church stays on mission, salvation and growth will be fulfilled through God. People will care about other people and love others because God first loved them. Transformation will occur and the gospel will be preached to all nations and the end result will be glory to the King of kings as he returns for his bride.

As the church, I say we should look to return to the root of our existence–loving God and loving others–and repel those things which cause us to focus on worldly things like money, pride, control. If we trust in Jesus to deliver his saving grace upon the earth, God will add to our number those that are being saved and instill in them a passion for loving He that created them and all of whom He created.