For those of you that have been with me for at least a year, you’ll remember that back in February 2010 I created The Latte Challenge to help me confirm a move from Sacramento, CA to Portland, OR for the purposes of building relationships and engaging in conversations rather than constructing a church. Thanks to the generosity and support from a lot of friends, my wife and I arrived in Beaverton (a westside suburb of Portland) on March 1, 2010.

In coming to Portland last March, my intention was not on building a church, but it was focused on ministry. Everything I had read and heard led me to believe that people in Portland were far away from God, yet open to conversations of spirituality. It was for many years considered the most unchurched part of the United States and still remains in second place behind New England. I sensed it was a perfect place to move to--away from the people and things we were familiar with; somewhere new where we could reflect on our time as church planters of Revolution Church Sacramento and what our next steps should be.

The funniest thing happened though. Instead of being this beacon of light that I had envisioned being used to facilitate conversations about faith and church and spirituality, I ended up becoming a receiver. As I stepped back and listened to conversation after conversation with people that crossed my path, I found myself being ministered to instead. I’ve had people speak into my life about not giving up, not measuring myself by my career… Sharing their life experiences with me so that I could become a better husband and father--the list just goes on.

In my perspective as a minister and leader I came here believing that my agenda was what was needed. In the end, I have learned to shed that part of my nature aside and just listen and learn from others. I’ve always done that, but there has been some underlying, subconscious sense of ministry or leadership that I expected to come out as a result.

I’ve spent 11 out of my 12 months here in Portland disengaged from any church due to my work schedule, but feel as if I take away a better perspective and a deeper love for the church as I envision it and its possibilities. Yes, I miss being actively involved in a community of people (the local church) that have a heart and mission to serve others while encouraging one another, but I am a much better human being as a result of my time away.

As my wife and I feel like our time here in the Portland area may be coming to an end, I feel like I wish I could say that a part of me will remain here for the good of others as mission accomplished. However, in reality, I don’t wish that at all. Instead, this was a time for me to see some things differently, become even more humble, and to learn from others and I must realize that in order for the experience not to be wasted. So Portland, you have done much to improve the life and soul of a weary traveler that wandered here with uncertainty, only to leave here feeling refreshed and ready for what may come next. I’m now feeling a greater sense of purpose and direction and am much better equipped to be a part of society than I was 12 months ago.

To all of the people I have met during my past 12 months here in Oregon, know that you will be remembered and that your stories will be shared as my journey continues. You have made a difference just for being who you are, at the right place at the right time. Our time together was more profound than you could ever know. Thank you for taking a moment of your lifetime to share it with me, a stranger from a different culture, trying to figure out the meaning of my circumstances. My rest is now complete and I’m excited to stand and take my next steps. Bravo Portlanders, bravo!

I’ve spent a lot of time involved with social media and ministry, and I feel like it’s been a bit overblown in the past. In my opinion, social media such as twitter, facebook and youtube is going to level out a bit this year. I’m hopeful that ministries will embrace social media as it is a great tool for building community, but too much of a good thing can be a distraction and serve to disconnect people. I’m also hopeful that people will strive more for face-to-face connections rather than being trapped by exclusive online communication.

Just as aol and myspace have gone through culture shifts, I sense twitter and facebook will go through similar phases when it comes to its use in ministry. I truly believe this to be a good thing.

What are your thoughts? How do you see your use of social media ministry changing in 2011?

[This is a repost from August 29, 2008 with updated links]

Found what seems to be a huge blessing via twitter today. I’m now following Jason Salamun (@jsalamun) on twitter  [actually, as this is a repost, I've been following him for over two years now] and linked through to his blog about an awesome church plant in Rapid City, SD: projectchurch.net. Just as Tony Morgan posts about Perryisms, I’m totally digging on some Jasonisms. Jason Salamun posted a list titled “101 Nuggets for Church Planters” and it’s very awesome! All 101 are necessary, but here are some that really made me say “Ah ha! Someone else gets church planting!” or “Wow! I definitely need to work on this!” I’ll let you decide which is which for me :)

Rock on Jason! Praise God for putting the desire to be passionate for the Lord and minister to people and open enough to help other ministers stay on-track and to share in your victories!

First of all, I must confess something. I am a big fan of John Cusack and 80′s films in general. However, only after watching Cusack’s Say Anything for the first time after having had some experience in formal ministry, the movie was quite different for me. It became more about the underlying tale of lives intertwined in everyday stuff--where people aren’t always what they seem, and not everyone strives to be an achiever.

One of the things that stuck in my brain this time was when Lloyd Dobler (played by Cusack) was asked about his aspirations once he graduated from high school. His response was:

When I heard this, my mind immediately went to ministry. I have stayed away from ministry for some of the reasons that Cusack’s character Lloyd Dobler mentioned staying away from choosing a career path. Yeah, it’s kind of a convoluted thought, but if you stop and think about it, don’t you know of someone in ministry that has been guilty of selling something (church, religion, tithing, serving), buying something (doing something in exchange for getting financial support), processing something for sale (personalizing a theology or doctrine and then preaching it, rather than Christ crucified) or ____________ ? (add your own thoughts here)

Ministry shouldn’t be about sales or buying something or having an agenda. It should be about people and connecting them with the eternal love of Christ.

Now, it’s your turn to say anything…

I must admit that for the longest time I felt like a failure…not because our first church planting experience wasn’t a success, but because after all of my time in seminary and as an assistant pastor and lead pastor, I suddenly found myself working at a Kia dealership in Portland, Oregon. To me it was a job--the only job I could get after a two month job search--not a ministry. How foolish of me though! God has been unpacking a lot of things for me in just the 30 days I have been an internet sales manager at this Kia dealership. I have several stories I could share, but one is so poignant that it never seems to leave my mind.

Mr. H is a very successful businessman. He makes over $200,000 a year at a business he has owned for about 20 years. He grew up in the church and has been a pretty faithful Christian until a year ago. You see, Mr. H lost his brother at the age of 57. One night his brother went to sleep and never woke up. His heart stopped beating in the middle of the night and he passed away. A few months after the loss of his brother, Mr. H felt like God had left him. He blamed God for taking his brother away from him and his family. Mr. H was still hurting and still resentful towards God. He stopped going to Sunday services and didn’t want anything else to do with what he thought God wanted. Know that I did not force my faith upon Mr. H, nor did I manipulate the conversation to direct to this topic. Through some crazy, convoluted series of events we ended up on this subject and I never see it coming, until I’m immersed in the dialog.

Through just listening to Mr. H tell his story, I could see that there was some revelation and some healing happening right before my eyes. Mr. H asked me to share my story of how I went from being an atheist of 37 years to a seminary graduate and pastor. Mr. H told said to me that it was obviously God moving in my life. He said that it would just that kind of miraculous act of God coming upon him in his voice in order to resurrect his faith. However, I knew that Mr. H knew that deep down inside he knows God and that he knows God is there. He’s just stinging from the pain of losing his brother to a heart condition that could ultimately take his own life as well. It’s a hereditary condition that the doctors don’t know why it happens or when/if it will strike. That’s scary! Mr. H is in pain, but I know he is also scared. We talked some more and I shared how in Ecclesiastes and the final chapter of Jonah of examples God gave us of being angry or not being able to understand why things happen as they do. It’s a real emotion to be hurt and confused about God’s actions and that he understands that. It’s not a punishment and it’s not for us to feel sorry for ourselves over. As we come to realize that, we free our mind to begin to see some sense in the losses.

The craziest part of all of this, is that a successful businessman named Mr. H came in to buy a truck for his business, yet chose to reveal some painful experiences from the loss of his brother and his personal relationship with God to a stranger. You see, for some strange reason these are the stories and conversations I was never able to have with regular attenders of a church service. However, sitting across from me at my desk as I hold the title of internet sales manager, people seem free to discuss personal aspects of their life and faith and God with me in a very real and meaningful way. I’m at a Kia dealership worried about whether I’ll make enough money to pay my rent, yet God is bringing people to me that have impacted my life and given me opportunities to do what I always dreamed about doing as a lead pastor of a church plant--I’m reaching people outside of the church, speaking language they understand, and getting them to look at church, God, Christ, and people in a different way. What I call a job, God is using as a new ministry. I still find it a mystery, but am very grateful for the opportunity I have been entrusted with to be a small part of the process to (hopefully) seeing some people renew their faith in God and his church.

Currently having a great conversation via twitter that started with this initial question:

How would you answer? Before you do, here are some snippets of additional dialog that you may consider as well:

So, should one tithe to the church? Is a tithe 10%? Should giving be considered a tithe? Can one--in a biblical sense--give to those in need outside of the church and consider that their tithe…thereby not giving to the church as well? Your thoughts are appreciated.

Paralleling some thoughts I’m having as I begin another chapter in my journey, Dennis Bickers posted the following on his blog today:

I found the following paragraph in Kennon Callahan’s book Small Strong Congregations to be very powerful:

“Small, strong congregations are gift-driven, not getting-driven.  They are strength-driven, not weakness-driven.  They are spirit-driven, not size-driven.  Small, strong congregations are high-compassion congregations.  They are mission-driven congregations.  They do not ask, ‘What’s in it for us?”  They are not interested in church growth.  They are interested in people growth.”

The question each of us must ask is what drives our church?  It’s essential that we answer this question honestly and not answer it as we think others would think we should answer it.  The back-up question then for those of us in leadership is what drives us.  Ministry is, or should be, about people.  One of the strengths of smaller churches is that people are more important than performances or programs, but I have seen some smaller churches that were so intense about growing larger that it forgot the people while it focused on finding the elusive program that would lead to dynamic growth.  Usually, such churches never find that program, and having abandoned the people, they only grow smaller until they finally die.

I’ll ask the question again.  What drives your church?  What drives your own personal ministry?

I learned this lesson the hard way. As a church planter I spoke about loving people where they were at and building a relational community, yet in reality every action was in the context of building a church. It was a constant struggle: I truly loved people and made myself available to them, but at the same time I was always evaluating them as to how they would be a part of our ministry.

For me, a lot of the initial difficulty is rooted in my being naturally introverted. In a public setting or after being in several meetings in a day, I get wiped out. So, I try to make the most of my time with people and extract all that I can--or give all that I can--so that I don’t need to duplicate the experience later. I’m a people person, but only through a lot of intentionality and work. The strange thing to me is that so many other pastors I meet are introverts as well.

So, while loving others and encouraging them really drives me, it isn’t easy and my natural tendency is to revert back to working the system and operating in the fringes rather than being where the people are or receiving attention from my efforts.

Seeing others be successful at what they want to do and then being able to watch them help others do the same is what I would deem being successful in my ministry. I feel as if I was created to help empower others and foster an environment of collaboration. Only in such a setting can we truly have people see Christ rather than our own hard work.

What drives my ministry? Seeing people come together in community with a heart to give back to others selflessly; What drives my church? The same thing! This is why I feel called to serve the community through the church, rather than next to the church or in lieu of the church.

How about you? What drives your personal ministry? Your church?

This is a subject that causes me a lot of conflict. My lens of how I view the church is much different than most people that currently lead churches. My atheist background and desire to connect with other atheists/agnostics in the church causes this. I have serious issues with the attractional church, yet I see how people are transformed and ministered to by it. This is my conflict.

If you stop to think about it, when the first century churches were being established, were they attractional? Actually, they were quite the opposite. The early church was a collection of people looking for something powerful that brought them into harm’s way. It was not safe and comfortable. Most first century Christians faced persecution and death if they were caught gathering as a church or professing a faith in the Christ. However, today the church is a very comfortable and non-threatening place. Leaders within the church try to make it as welcoming and inviting as possible. The first century church was a call to action, not a call to grab a seat, sit back, and have your needs catered to for 60 minutes.

Before I go any further, let me first establish the foundation for the definition of the attractional and missional church. I think Tim Chester summarizes this well as:

Attractional church is a come-to-us mentality in which church revolves around the Sunday meeting. You often find that even people who talk of being more missional want to start by doing something with the Sunday meeting. A truly missional approach emphasises a missional lifestyle and mission in the context of ordinary life in locations where unbelievers feel at home.

In the context of what is considered an attractional church vs a missional church, it’s hard to see how one could be the other--they are just too distinct to operate in harmony with each other. I don’t know of any missional churches currently trying to be more attractional, yet I know many attractional churches trying to become more missional.

In my opinion, the better question to ask is: Can an attractional church become more missional? In response to this question, my answer is yes. This is where I believe the focus of the attractional church should be, yet there are still going to be some conflicts:

• If the attractional church is so focused on Sunday services, how can it then go on mission and reach people outside of the church? If the efforts and budget go to helping those outside of the church that will never become church members, how can the church then maintain it’s budget and staff?
• Many in the attractional church are coming for a reason. They are attracted to the great programs and the fact they can remain anonymous and comfortable. How long will these people keep coming on Sundays if they are asked to go serve others instead of coming to be served?
• When people in the attractional church feel their own needs aren’t being met, they will leave to go find another church that will. The attractional church attracts consumers.

Ed Stetzer & David Putnam give some good observational analysis to the contrast between the attractional church and the missional church in the book Breaking the Missional Code:

• From programs to processes
• From demographics to discernment
• From models to missions
• From attractional to incarnational
• From uniformity to diversity
• From professional to passionate
• From seating to sending
• From decisions to disciples
• From additional to exponential
• From monuments to movements

While my perspective and experience causes me to be aligned more with missional communities, there are some aspects of ministry that are compelling for the attractional church model. It’s heartbreaking at times to see this as a dividing line with no real solution other than taking a side and hoping your side prevails over the other. While I stand firm in the belief that the attractional church will never be missional in the true sense of the word, I wonder if somehow both sides can come together and seek some unifying means to be the church as Christ calls us to be. To care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, yet bear the burden of seeing others in the world come to know the love and grace that we have been showered with.

In my next post I will attempt to seek some middle ground and help unify the church to be on mission, yet doing so in different forms. For now, I’d be curious to know what your perspective and experience have to say in regards to an attractional church becoming missional.

Watched the interview below between DJ Chuang & Kyle Reed regarding mentors. It’s a sad story, but one that I think can be resolved. Watch the interview and then read my commentary below:

This is sad, but it mirrors a lot of my own experience as a new Christian with a call to ministry. I actually had to go outside of my local church to find mentors.

In my opinion, the biggest challenge in finding a mentor is getting people to understand the mentor/mentee relationship. Those asked to mentor think it means a big burden of their time and that they are being asked to teach someone in their ways for free. Mentees think that mentors should teach them in their ways for free.

If you’re asked to mentor someone, count it as a privilege. Know that you were asked to be a mentor because someone saw value in who you are. I know your immediate response is that you don’t have time to mentor someone. Maybe even you admit to yourself that you don’t know how to mentor someone. These are things that are easy to overcome.

If you are someone seeking a mentor, be sure to clarify in your mind what you are looking for. Don’t expect to ask a bunch of questions and get a bunch of answers. Your mentor won’t want you following them around their office looking over their shoulder either. Assess what you are looking do and why you are seeking a mentor. Be able to explain yourself in a brief paragraph so you can get someone’s attention and allay their fears that you want to take up their time without any return in their investment.

Mentors:

Be passionate: As a mentor, one must understand a very key thing. It’s passion. Are you passionate about what you do? If so, then it’s easy to allocate a little time each week to share that passion with someone else who may be called to a mission. If you’re not passionate about what you do, then you definitely should pass on being a mentor. A mentee will feed off of your passion and be encouraged by it. It’s probably the greatest thing you can pass on to someone else.
Be passionate about who you’re mentoring: What are their goals? How motivated and teachable are they? Do they have some agenda? If some of their passion mirrors yours, it’s easy to establish a relationship of moving forward with them. You have a lot of experience and have learned from your mistakes. You have an opportunity to help someone with passion, yet maybe lacking in mistake-making, to possibly avoid making some mistakes based on your wisdom.
Set time constraints: Establish up front before even considering a role as a mentor, what the expectations of time will be. In your mind, you may think you don’t have time, but in all seriousness, isn’t investing in someone in the next generation worth 30-60 minutes of your time once a week? If you’re gonna take at least one coffee break a week, why not share some of your story with someone else or make a standing lunch appointment to do the same.
It’s not about you!!! This gets most people when they reject a request to mentor someone. They make it about their own personal time or their own success. If one works hard to get where they are, why help expedite the process for someone else, right? You don’t have time in the day for what you already do, so how can you make time for someone new? Sorry, these *excuses* just don’t work because in the end they are simply selfish. Step back for a minute and look at the situation from the mentee’s point of view. It took a lot of courage for them to even approach you. They are at the beginning of figuring out what they were called to do and needing a little direction, just like you were at one time. They are full of passion, energy and enthusiasm in ways that maybe you once exhibited, but have since been a little jaded from getting chewed up and spit out any times. Give a little investment into someone new and the return isn’t your own, but instead it is shared by all.

Mentees:

Be humble: Know that no one owes you anything. Be very cautious of asking for too much from someone gracious enough to consider mentoring you. Let them know up front that you want to learn, but mostly you just want to hear their story and be encouraged by it. That you will have some questions along the way, but making the burden of the relationship your own and not theirs.
Be teachable:Don’t just say you are teachable, but truly be teachable. Don’t just pick and choose the wisdom you will embrace and toss the rest aside. Know that everything you hear and learn has value and should not be taken lightly. Open your mind to what you hear and see, not just try to extract what fits your agenda and direct the session to suit your needs.
Listen, don’t speak: This is an area where I think mentees really get disconnected from mentors. You want to learn and someone just gave you an open door to their life’s journey and you have a million questions to ask and not enough time to ask them all. Stop! Don’t have an agenda! Just be open to listen to what your mentor has to say. Maybe you meet for coffee and he tells you a story about what happened that day and you think it is obscure and not relevant to your future. Know that it is! Take it home with you and store it away…it will come back to you and in the end you will understand it. Go with the flow, don’t steer the conversation.
Wax on, wax off For those that have watched The Karate Kid, you know what I’m saying here. In the movie, the mentee (Daniel-san) was given a bunch of mundane chores to do around his mentor’s (Mr Miyagi) house. Things like wash & wax the car, sweep the floors, etc. Daniel-san didn’t understand why he wasn’t karate and protested about being the servant of the house. Then, one day Miyagi shines a light on the situation. He attacks Daniel-san and tells him to do the move he did when waxing the car: Wax on! now, wax off! By doing those mundane chores, Daniel-san was learning humility, how to have a teachable spirit, memory from repetitive motion, etc.

I remember going to a session with a mentor one week and was whisked away from the office to go help someone move a sofa from a downstairs apartment to her new upstairs apartment. My hour was spent moving furniture. Where was the pastoral wisdom? How would this help me be a better church planter? I was quite disappointed after that session. However, now I see the light. Ministry is about people, not building a large building and leading a large staff. Ministry is about service, not getting respect. It was one of many of my Daniel-san moments that I am now learning the meaning of.

Your mentor may ask you to do something you don’t quite get. Don’t complain, just do it! It’s not about what you *think* you are learning today, but it’s about your future.

If people are willing to set limits and boundaries to their time and really look at investing a small amount of time in order to make a huge amount of difference down the road, mentoring someone is a great opportunity to help see ones legacy continued through someone that credits you for their success through their future actions. It’s not about us. It’s about the countless others that will benefit as we learn and grow together.

Being in ministry and going through the process of planting a church, I have connected with people that can help me through: sharing wisdom, supporting me in meeting my goals, prayer, guidance, etc. If I shared my contact list with you, it would be obvious who I was.

I mentioned repentance in yesterday’s blog post here. It’s an ongoing process with me and the company I keep is something I feel I need to address. I look to Jesus as an example. In contrast to what others think of Jesus, he was not some lovey-dovey, goodie two-shoes person walking through the streets of Galilee 2,000 years ago. Instead, he was actually considered to be a very dangerous man! So dangerous that he posed a threat to the Jewish establishment. People were appalled at the company he kept. Even his inner circle of twelve consisted of a tax collector named Matthew. He was seen talking and dining with prostitutes & drunkards so often that people witnessing his lifestyle thought he was a sinning glutton and alcoholic (Luke 7:33-34).

Based on the company I keep, people around me in ministry bear witness to the fact that I am blessed with leaders that have invested time in my life to help me pursue the vision God has given me to see a new ministry take shape here in Sacramento, CA. However, what do the people of Sacramento see? Do they see a ministry leader that associates mainly with Christians and others in ministry, or do they see someone that has compassion and love for his fellow human regardless of his/her faith? Do my neighbors see a revolutionary of grace or the safety of a well-positioned minister to Christians?

I’ve spent a lot of time chasing the church and making it my idol. I’ve been wrapped up in believing that I am only as good as my church--that without formal ministry, I am nothing or will be labeled a failure. I’ve sacrificed time in my business (my only source of income as I don’t take a salary from the church), time with my family, and time from those in need of Christ’s love in my community. In reality, ministry is really about people and fulfilling The Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40)--we are called to love others above ourselves, not gain respect from our work in ministry.

Know that most of the people in my life are not of a Protestant Christian faith. Living most of my life as an atheist, you can imagine that I didn’t keep many Christian friends, nor witnessed any family members come to faith in Christ through my words. I do associate with people that spend time in bars or have been known to devote their lives to making lots of money. However, I feel that my focus has been on building new relationships that will help me move forward in ministry ahead of relationships that will foster the love of Christ in unknowing, anonymous ways. Too often I’ve brought attention to myself in the name of Christ’s Church rather than in the name of Christ period. I am repenting for this and moving forward in a more-balanced way regardless of what happens with my role in formal ministry. I’m looking at making a difference in the world anonymously so that people see Christ, not me and right now I can only do it one person at a time. I cannot let my natural instincts as an introvert lead my thought process.

How would people in the world view you based on the company you keep? It’s an important question that I hope you spend a moment pondering today.