2.    If you’re a Christian and you don’t like your current church (You will find reasons to not like this church).

3.    If you have a bad track record at churches of being unteachable and causing problems (You won’t change here, you’ll repeat the pattern).

4.    If you’re a consumer wanting to “go to church” 1x a week for a nice show (We are not a Sunday show, we are a community of disciples on a mission).

5.    If you want religion (This church will be built on the radical gospel of grace).

6.    If you have an agenda (We have our vision, our mission, and our values–your private agenda does not supercede them).

7.    If you’re a wolf (We will sniff you out).

8.    If you think this will be a nice little church that stays the same size, where everybody knows your name and you have my cell number on speed dial and we have a picnic lunch together every week (By God’s grace, we want to grow).

9.    If you think this will be easy and smooth (This will be hard and difficult; this will be a fight, a battle, a challenging mission).

10. If you want to hold onto your comfortable life (You must lose your life).

I also shared a quote from Ernest Shakelton, from the advertisement he used when recruiting men for his expedition to Antarctica in 1914:

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.

via » Top 10 Reasons NOT to Join a Church Plant Buzzard Blog.

I know that there is a lot of emotional attachment wrapped up with “the mail.” I still remember summer afternoons on my grandparent’s farm in Oregon waiting for the mail to arrive. They were retired (if you can call farming 110 acres ‘retired’) and the highlight of the day was the arrival of the mail. What surprises would await? Who might write? Who might I be writing back to this evening? Facebook just doesn’t hold the same romance – at least not for me.

And yet… there is something amazing about the way things are moving: the ability to download hundreds of books onto an Amazon Kindle, instant connections with people across the globe, a video chat with your children while sitting in a tiny town in a remote part of Western Africa (my personal favorite).

I had a conversation with an older friend recently about this issue. I told her that the day was not that far off when books would become an unnecessary waste of resources to print. I told her that everything would be stored digitally and accessed that way. Interestingly, she didn’t argue with me over the reality of my prediction, only that it would be a major catastrophe. In her mind, digital equates to temporary. It can be lost, erased. A computer could crash and lose everything! There could be a global power failure and we would lose everything! (and paper is indestructible, right?)

It just strikes me as odd and slightly sad that so many people are so resistant to any change and unwilling to see the positive side. In their minds social networking websites are just a cheap replacement for what should be face-to-face contact, debit cards are a secret way of gettting you to use short-term credit, digital learning games for children are an excuse for parents not to be a parent, etc.

What lies under all of this? Fear. Fear of losing control, fear of losing the familiar, fear of something that is unknown, and fear of losing the past. It doesn’t need to be this way. The sooner we realize that the past cannot be stolen from us, even by supercomputers, the better off we will be. Waiting for the mail with Grandma and Grandpa on those hot, humid summer afternoons in the Willamette Valley is still there. It always will be.

If you have not seen this article yet, check it out: “What Would Jesus Do on Spring Break?”

I read another excerpt from the book by Kevin Roose in Newsweek a few weeks ago. It is very interesting stuff, especially to those of us who are Christians working with young people. I have not read the book yet, but now I plan to. This might surprise some people. “Why would you, a Christian youth worker be interested in reading something that basically is a criticism of evangelical Christian culture?” Here’s why: First of all, for many Christians the culture described in the book is far from our own experience. It represents a side of American Christian culture that is far from what many of us believe and how many of us experience our faith and evangelism. In fact, I know that many Christians who live in the world described by Roose would consider me to be someone who has “compromised their faith.” I know this because I came to accept Christ in a Christian culture much like the one described in Roose’s narrative.

As a high school student, I considered Liberty University for a brief moment in my life. I heard they had football and they were a school with ministry training (something that I was looking for). Why didn’t I pursue Liberty? One look through their catalogue and I knew it was not the place for me. What I read immediately turned me off. What I saw was even worse – students wearing suits and ties in every brochure photo! I wanted a school where I was faced with different perspectives and where I would be challenged to live out my faith in the world. I had already experienced enough to know that there was a huge difference within the church – those that are open to questions and those that are only interested in the answers already given. I was not interested in the latter.

However, I do take our teens on mission trips. Our approach is a lot different than those described by Roose. We don’t do any bait-and-switch with our questions or our presentations. We seek first and foremost to SHOW what Jesus’ love looks like. Usually we build a house in a poor neighborhood. Sometimes we visit orphanages. Sometimes we even present the Gospel message in a drama. The goal is the same and yet it is different. We are not trying to sell “fire insurance” (keep people out of Hell). We are more interested in introducing people to their Creator and Savior: Jesus Christ. The rest is up to Him.

I love coffee. I love pop. I love green tea. And yes, I love them in that order.

For a long time now my day has begun with coffee – usually three cups or so. Sometimes I might substitute a double or triple cappuccino. Some days I start with drip coffee at home, move to a cappuccino at the coffee shop, then chase it down with a couple more cups at work. If it is especially cold or dreary out I drink more (and it is cold and dreary often in the greater Seattle area). If I have a meeting in the afternoon or evening I drink some then too. You get the idea: A LOT of coffee!

But that’s just the coffee. I always have a Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke with lunch. I typically follow up lunch with loose-leaf green tea in a travel mug. Maybe another later in the day. On cold days I drink more tea, on hot days I drink more pop. Oh, and I have pop with dinner, pop when I eat out, and pop whenever I get thirsty.

A couple of weeks ago I got a wake-up call. I had a panic attack. Then I had another. One of the worst things I have ever experienced. I felt totally out of control and full of fear. It forced me to face something I was unwilling to even think about up to this point: my caffeine intake. After reading some stuff online I realized that this was likely the problem. The most helpful article is this one from John Hopkins University: http://www.caffeinedependence.org/caffeine_dependence.html

If you’re like I was a few weeks ago, you probably won’t even take a look. But you should! Bottom line: I have been limiting myself to one cup of coffee a day and one pop a day. I knew I couldn’t totally go cold turkey, and quite frankly I love coffee too much. I also love it too much to drink decaf (If you’re a coffee snob like me you understand). I have even managed to get rid of the pop on a number of days. It has been brutal dealing with the withdrawals! They have lasted much longer than I expected. But I feel so much better now!

I recently read the book “Serve God, Save the Planet” by Matthew Sleeth. I read it on a recommendation from my brother. At first I was reluctant. I was not really ready for a guilt trip (I’d rather go somewhere warm and cozy – thank you). But God kept prodding me, so I dove in. I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. It is not a preachy book, and although I certainly felt somewhat guilty at times, I came away energized. The reason is that Dr. Sleeth is first person that I have read that really made the connection for me between living “green” and living missionally.

This is the key I think. If we want to follow Jesus we have to begin moving beyond selfish motives. Some people are willing to buy organic produce because they think that it will keep their family healthier and it tastes better. Some people will begin to change incandescent bulbs in their house to CFLs because they want to save money on their utility bill. But as followers of Jesus we need to begin thinking differently. I want to buy organic produce primarily because it will prevent laborers from being exposed to pesticides while they work. I want to change my light bulbs because I know that by reducing electric use we can take some of our nations coal power plants offline and people will begin to breath cleaner air and live healthier lives.

So I came away with a list of “first steps” for me. As I read the book I wrote down some ideas of some things that I can do now – and that I can do fairly easily – to begin confronting my lifestyle of consumption. This is just a start, and after I accomplish these I plan to make a new list. I am publishing them here as a way to keep myself accountable and hopefully encourage some others in the process:

·         Go through closets and give away all my clothes that I no longer need or have not worn in the last year

·         Buy more produce from the Klesick Family farm (a local, family owned, organic farm)

·         Recycle more of the plastic bags we get from the grocery store and try to use our reusable bags more often

·         Expand our vegetable garden in our yard

·         Can some of our vegetables and fruit in the fall

·         Try to buy shade grown, fair trade coffee

·         Create a naturally composting dog poo disposal for my doggies doings

·         Purchase an energy star rated dish washer when ours dies (which appears to be soon)

·         Try to purchase more items in bulk to reduce packaging

·         Purchase electronic Bible commentaries for Logos instead of the traditional paper versions (I buy a lot of commentaries)

·         Look at getting an Amazon Kindle

·         Let newspaper and magazine subscriptions expire and read online instead

·         Purchase more “green power” (wind in this case) through our utility company

·         Use natural and/or homemade cleaning products

·         Recycle extra TV’s

·         Organize a book club or teach a class at our church on this topic

I have finally found the courage and the time to write about something that I have been wrestling with A LOT throughout the Christmas season: alternative giving. I’m sure by now just about everyone has heard about this concept. A year ago I even heard a popular comedian talking about it in one of his stand-up acts. The idea is fairly simple: instead of giving someone a “traditional” present (toy, iPod, gift card, underwear, etc.) you donate some money to charity “in their name” and present them with some form of proof  - typically a certificate or a letter. To make it more interesting the charity usually allows you to “purchase” something meaningful to the work they do. For example, if it is a worldwide relief organization you might be able to purchase a cow for a family in Zimbabwe, an alpaca for a kid in Peru, or some vodka for starving Ukrainians (though I admit I have not seen the latter one just yet). Of course, these items for purchase have a dollar value assigned to them and in most cases you are not really purchasing the actual item but giving a donation in an amount that would enable the charity to do something similar.

I guess I’m really feeling like a scrooge on this issue, so I hope that someone writes some comments to set me straight on this so that I can finally get over it. The practice is becoming increasingly common among Christians, and I for one am thrilled to see more people giving. In fact, one of the mission trips that I lead has benefited from an alternative giving fair at our church (not my idea). Nevertheless, here are the points at which I stumble:

• It often makes the recipient feel like crap.
•  Isn’t this supposed to be a gift? And yet, unless you were fortunate enough to have purchased something equally noble for the person giving you an alternative gift it basically leaves you embarrassed. Now there are certainly exceptions to this. For instance, the first time I heard about alternative giving it was from a person whose entire family had agreed ahead of time to purchase each other alternative gifts from a specific charity’s catalog. This way everyone knows what to expect and everyone gets to participate. Very much unlike the situation that happened to us recently with family members that had agreed not to get gifts for each other and then some of them went ahead and gave us one of these alternative gifts. How are you supposed to respond? “Gee, thanks for giving that alpaca ‘in my name.’ So where did they brand my name on the alpaca? I sure hope it wasn’t the butt!”
•  It smacks of flaunting your giving to get praise from others
• This is my major theological hang-up on the issue. My wife and I give a lot more to charity (both in our church and outside our church) than most people will ever know. Now, that is not to say that we couldn’t do more – like most affluent Western Christians we are still wrestling with this. Nevertheless, I believe that is how it should be. After all, we do not OWN our money or our stuff, we are simply STEWARDS of what God has given to us. We are charged with caring for all that we have in a way that glorifies God. Therefore when someone donates money to charity and then gives it to me as a gift, they are claiming ownership of what is not really theirs in the first place. Or worse, they are simply looking for credit for their good works.  Giving should always be guided by the principles set forward by Jesus in Matthew 6:1-4. Do it in secret. Let God give you credit. Otherwise, you have already “received your reward.”
•  It is not really a gift at all
• Let’s face it. Alternative giving is a way of killing two birds with one stone. You are giving money to charity and you are taking credit for giving a gift to someone by telling them what you have done. My opinion is that for most of us there is absolutely no reason that you cannot do both. You should be able to give a gift to charity AND give something meaningful to the people in your life. If you really want to be creative try giving them some of your time, or making them something that you know they will love. I know, I know… the classic argument is that most of us really don’t need more “stuff.” Believe me, I have some expensive gifts that were given to me sitting in my garage that have never been opened. Of course I would rather that money go to some poor child in Africa. So how about this: Next Christmas tell me that you have decided to buy less presents and give more money to charity. Please don’t give me a card telling me how much you spent. If  you want to tell me what organization you are supporting, that is great. You really don’t need to give me anything – I mean that! But if you do, make sure it is something that lets me know that you care about me and our relationship.

Iowa is not completely as I thought that it would be. Of course, that is usually the case when you travel somewhere new. I had heard that Iowa was flat, but I thought that it would be more so. What I have seen so far could be described as “flat” compared to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, but “rolling” is a more accurate description. You can’t really say that there are “hills,” but the land seems roll up and down in a constant undulation of grass and trees. That is the other thing that surprised me.There are a lot more trees than I thought there would be, especially here in Cedar Rapids (although I still have not seen any cedars).  What I saw of Mississippi was much more flat than Iowa.

So here I am, freezing my butt off in Iowa, hanging out with a bunch of Presbyterians from Michigan. Tomorrow we are going to begin doing some work on some of the houses that flooded. Today we took a tour of the affected area inside Cedar Rapids. I was totally shocked to see how much of the city center was damaged in the flood. It was eerie driving around today. I don’t know if it is because it is so cold today, but the city seems empty. We did see some people working on the houses that were damaged but it is clear that much of what has been destroyed will not be habitable through the winter. I was surprised to see the extent of the devastation. I remember it being all over the national news when it was happening, but now most people I talk to back home don’t even remember hearing about the floods in Iowa.   

If I can trust that data, here are two things that really jumped out at me:

1.       Of the entire Christian population, only 13,444 or 0.0006% are “frontier missionaries” (p. 20).These are full-time missionaries that are working to share the gospel to unreached people groups outside of their own culture. There are 6,706,836 Christian missionaries overall.

2.       Less than one out of eight short term mission teams head out to work with unreached people groups (p. 19).

Our church is now partnering with some “frontier missionaries” to help reach an unreached people group in Senegal, West Africa. They are called the Wolof, and they still do not have the entire Bible translated into their language. We have “adopted” a small village and we are sending short-term teams frequently in order to develop a relationship. We are also carefully participating in some relief work. Most recently we participated with a larger group of churches and mission organizations to raise money for famine relief in the region. But I’m not writing about this to brag, but rather to share some thoughts on those two stats listed above in light of our recent work.

First of all, many countries are basically closed to foreign missionaries. In fact, the reality is that the countries that are the least evangelized also tend to be the most restricted to foreign travelers and Christian missionaries in particular. Senegal is a relatively open country compared to many predominately Muslim countries. Our church also supports some missionaries working in the Philippines. We cannot even publish their names because if they were “found out” they would be banished, arrested, or worse. This is not an excuse to ignore these places, but it does help explain why such a small percentage of all Christian missionaries are working in the “frontier” areas and why so few short term teams are traveling to these areas. In fact, to be responsible and effective, a short term mission team should be connecting with a full-time missionary anyway.

Another thought has to do with the issue of justice. I realize that missions are primarily about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, but I also believe that this “Gospel” is always connected with justice. Wealth and power in this world of ours are not shared in an equitable manner – we know this. This means that those of us who have a lot (i.e. American Christians) have a responsibility to work to make thing s more equitable for the marginalized and oppressed in the world. We must not forget that God was ticked off with his people in the Old Testament for neglecting this (cf. Isaiah 1), that Jesus identified his mission as one of justice (Luke 4.18-20), and warned us to do that same (Matthew 25). I believe this means that Christians should continue to send “mission” teams to parts of the world where people may already have the opportunity to hear the gospel but where there is also incredible suffering from the effects of poverty, abuse, war, etc.

This last spring I started a project to replace the vinyl floor in my kitchen with some solid oak plank flooring. It has been one of those never-ending projects. First, I was going to have it done by spring break. Then it was going to be done before I left for the June mission trip. After that, I was going to have it done before summer vacation…and so on…and so on. Now? Now it is going to be done before Thanksgiving (but no promises).

The truth is that I really enjoy doing projects like replacing my floor. This is probably why it takes me so long to get things like the floor done. I enjoy it so much that I feel guilty when I’m doing it instead of something else. I think I’ve always been a little odd this way. When I was a kid I would spend hours putting together a model airplane following every little detail in the instructions. I would delay completion of the model for days while I searched out the exact type of paint I needed to finish it in an authentic way. When it was finally done, I would hang the model from my bedroom ceiling, lie on the floor, and admire my work for hours.

Those models would probably still be hanging there if I hadn’t shared a room with my younger brother who was more typical of young boys. All of his models were thrown together in an afternoon. Before the glue was dry the largest firework my brother could find would be affixed to the plane and lit. If any parts survived they were fodder for other, more  creative  forms of destruction.  I never let my brother touch my model airplanes when I was around. Nevertheless, he could only resist temptation for so long before the threat of being physically pounded by his older brother was not enough to hold him back any longer and somehow there would be an “accident” in the bedroom. No amount of realistically reproduced plastic sidewinder missiles were enough to stave off the attack. Goodbye replica F-16.

Oddly enough, when I am working on something like my kitchen floor and meditating on the history of plastic models in my life I also find myself thinking about the mysterious life of Jesus. What we have recorded in the Bible only covers about three years of Jesus life. Oh sure, we get one quick glimpse of a young Jesus in Luke chapter 2, and we have the birth stories, but beyond this much of the first 30 years of Jesus life remain a mystery. Probably he was a carpenter.

Sometimes, when I am shaping a piece of oak to make it fit just right next to another piece I imagine Jesus working with wood – carving, sanding, hammering, cutting. I imagine Jesus spending hours, days even, working on a table. Surely that table is now long gone, but not before it was the center of meal after shared meal. To me, this helps me bring the sacred into the mundane, everyday work that I face in my life. There are times when God leads us all into periods of intense change – perhaps even confronting us with decisions that will impact the history of this world. But most of our life is lived in a far more ordinary existence. It would be a shame not to find joy in the shaping of pieces set before us today.

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I have been thinking a lot lately about how strange the Church is. For ten years I have been working as a “youth director” in a Denomination that has been living in denial about the fact that it is dying. Oh sure, my church is “cutting edge” compared to a lot of Presbyterian Churches out there. But compared to a place like Mars Hill Church in Seattle we are way behind the game. The twenty-something age group is noticeably absent from our congregation. That being said, I think that the Presbyterian Church is starting to wake up. Some would point to a church like University Presbyterian in Seattle as a supporting example. The question is: is it too late? A second, more important question is: does it matter? The “Church” (notice the capital “C”) of Jesus Christ is not going away. However, it is changing. It has to change because the Gospel has never been comfortable to institutional religion or to those in power. In the meantime, I think many of us in the church feel a little disoriented.

I just finished reading “The Present Future” by Reggie McNeal not long ago. So far, his explanation of what is going on in the church today and what needs to change is the best description I have heard. Clearly, more and more people are talking about it. Websites, like the one I pulled the above comments from (www.relevantpew.com) are popping up all over. Some churches are adapting their approach without compromising the message.

Still, churches are strange! Here in the mighty town of Marysville you can go to just about any small restaurant or coffee shop and find Christians studying, meeting, praying, or just talking. I bought a Gyro for lunch today (normally I can’t stand the cucumber flavor – but I had a craving). There was a young lady there in her early 20′s behind the counter. We started talking and she was telling me that she just finished school for the day. I wondered what school possibly ended before lunch. Come to find out, she goes to a church in town that runs their own school for “Ministry Arts.” She went on to tell me that the program is a four year program run by the pastors of her church! Huh? I know some of their pastors. I’m fairly certain that none of them have a Doctorate (generally required for college-level professors), I’m not sure if any of them have a masters (but they may), and I even wonder if some of them have a college degree. Now, I know that there is a lot that can be taught that is not learned in a formal academic setting, especially when it comes to living a Christian life. Nevertheless, I am a skeptic and a cynic. I immediately began to worry for this young woman. She is investing four years of her life, and who knows how much money, in a program that has no accreditation. In other words, her degree will not be worth anything outside of her own church. But it is not just her, oh no, there are 90 students in the school! What will they do after graduation? She said that some will be “pastors” but most are encouraged to go into the business world. So let me get this straight: spend four years earning a degree in ministry arts so that you can go into the business world where your “degree” will mean nothing. Hmm.