QUESTIONING...

Just a quick moment of self-reflexivity to look back on my own hypocrisy.
It seems the further I get into 'the conversation' the more I wish I'd never stumbled upon it.
Here's a query for myself and others in our quest to know how much critique is too much...

People of a similar ilk to me will often argue the two following points:

a.) That the 'Way of the Master' method of Evangelism is off. That to ask people to turn-or-burn is wrong because scripture tells us that it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict people of their sin, not ours.
b.) That if we do not critique and discuss issues with other ministries our brothers and sisters will create a distorted presentation of who Jesus is. That critique is an essential part of us giving the best we can to this world.

Here's are my questions:

Q:Why is the Spirit enough to convict non-christians of their sin, but not enough to convict Christians of their errors within ministry?

Q:Why do we trust God will prompt those who don't know him, yet feel such an urgency to tell other christians how they should present him to the world?

Interested to hear your thoughts...

A LITTLE RESPECT FOR MR. LUCAS

Okay, so I agree he totally botched Episodes I-III, but this Tuesday the 29th of May commemorates 20 years since the original Star Wars (Ep IV: A New Hope) was released to worldwide acclaim in 1977.



This trailer is also a convenient distraction from my lack of wisdom, insight, or thought to add to the blog community at the moment. You didn't notice did you?!

WORK

Work is crazy at the moment. Currently I'm trying to juggle about 15 concerts. 5 of them throughout the North Island, 5 of them in Wellington High Schools, and the last 5 back at Zeal. One of these mini-tours involves an amazing performer named Kimbra. Enjoy!

PRIMAL WELLY

Why I loved my time at Primal Wellington last Thursday night...

"...there's more to it than just mission; most great movements of mission have inspired significant and related movements of renewal in the life of the church. It seems that when the church engages at the fringes, it almost always brings life to the centre."
Alan Hirsch, 'The Forgotten Ways', p.30

www.primal.net.nz

SESAME STREET CRUSADE 2007

Over the last couple of months I've started listening to Tony Campolo's podcast, 'Accross the Pond'. Each week he works through a current issue in the media and discusses it from a Christian point of view. He made an interesting point a few weeks ago when discussing the Media's influence on young people.

When a 4 year old wakes up in the morning the first thing they may tune into is Sesame Street. On the surface the show is great. It introduces them to letters and numbers in a fun and accessible way. Rather than the letter 'A' simply being written on a chalk board, it has a little song and dance to go along with it. 'A' may even have the enormous honour of appearing alongside child royalty such as the Cookie Monster or Elmo (who in my opinion requires far too much tickling to maintain safe boundaries in youth work).

Now 'A' has as much right to a song and dance as any other letter, but what happens when the observer (your son, daughter, niece or nephew) turns 5 and heads to school? The letters and numbers no longer dance, the animals no longer talk, and one must face the stark reality that Elmo has a hand up his ass! Campolo argues that because young people are raised with an understanding of the alphabet soaked in stimuli and sensory bombardment, they struggle to engage with the actual reality of the alphabet. In other words, anything outside television now appears boring.

It's an interesting idea which I'm still wrestling with. Immediately I start to think about one of the highlights of the Soul Survivor New South Wales conference I was at in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. Mike Pilavachi (a visiting speaker from the UK) made a fantastic call on the last night of the festival:

"I don't care for big shows, big sounds, and big lights. If God doesn't show up at one of our meetings we should be saying 'That was a crap meeting!'" (paraphrased)

What a beautiful way of putting it. It gets me thinking, perhaps often our relationship with God is somewhat similar to Sesame Street's relationship with the letter A. The letter is the not the way the medium of television needs it to be, so they sex it up! The letter A doesn't make you wanna dance, so they put a soundtrack to it. It seems to me much the same as some of the ways we do services today.

I would argue that there is a fear in some faith communities that God may not turn up the way we want him to. He may not be able to be heard, felt, smelt or seen, so we create a sensory experience just in case. Could it be that our extravagantly put together services are merely a reflection of a lack of faith that God will move in a Godly manner, not necessarily the in the way we desire him to. How many pastors out there are actually content to have what appears to be a 'crap service' every now and then? Where maybe God doesn't show himself the way we understand him, but still ministers to our hearts at a level our minds just can't understand?

I believe that God will often move in ways we can experience tangibly. I am not denying the importance of God moving through understandable feelings or a sounds. But can we accept God for who he is? Is God still God to us when we strip away the packaging? Nearly every experience we have in life is mediated by someone. The information is passed-on, repackaged, and rejigged to suit our circumstances.

Are we happy with a second-hand saviour?

TALES FROM SYDNEY PT.II

Just sitting in the cyber-lounge of the Kooromba YHA in the Blue Mountains at present. The plan was to explore this 'diverse and scenic landscape' but a huge fog has fallen over the area so the plan seems to look something like getting lunch and watching a movie instead.

The trip so far has consisted of the following:

-Praising Jesus at Soul Survivor festival in St Ives. An amazing time made even better by the opportunity to hear from Jim Yoost, a missionary in Papua with a heart for church planting in the third world.

-Beaches. Pretty much every day. So far we've done Collaroy, Dee Why, Manly & Newport. Great places, particularly Manly.

-Monorail. Amongst a number of things I didn't get to do on my brief trip through here in November has been the Monorail. You can't see the track so it feels like you're flying!

-A model-crafts and hobby shop in Central Sydney. The above photo shows me geeking it with model railways. INCREDIBLE!

-Krispy Kreme Donuts. The perfectly soft-baked and glazed experience delivered by one of these puppies borders on sinful.

-The McDonalds Double-Quarter Pounder. A half pound of questionable meat sandwiched between three slices of smoked cheddar, pickles, onions, mustard, ketchup and 2 warm buns. I've had 5 of these since arrival.

-'Cause of Death', a recorded lecture Sam and I watched in a dingy motor lodge (a la 'Bates Motel') last night where they disected people right in front of you. Fascinating yet vomit-enducing! There's nothing quite like the sound of a scalping cutting through cartilage, or the squelching noise of a brain being removed from it's cradle.

-The Company: All round legends Chris Darnell, Rosemary Poland, Callum McKinnon, Thomas Read and Helen Nicholls were wicked people to hang out with. Now it's just down to Sam and I but the fun continues...

-Hill$ong. An amazing production right up there with U2 but sadly not much more. An eye-opening experience to say the least.

So there's the trip as it stands. I'm looking forward to getting back to work on Friday. The chats Sam and I have had, as well as those with the international crews from Soul Survivor, have been incredibly challenging. I can't wait to get back and put some of this thought into action.

UPDATE: Later that day we began our hunt for the Blue Mountains. Apparently they lurk somewhere amongst the fog shown in the pictures below. Much like Big Foot, they remain illusive. We'll keep you posted as the chase continues...

TALES FROM SYDNEY

I know what you're all wondering. Is that a photo of Sam Harvey and myself wearing the WWJD bracelets we bought from the Hillsong Store in Sydney just after the 7pm service? The answer... yes, very yes. I feel more prosperous already.

NB: I accidentally disallowed comments on my previous post. The floor is open, enjoy!

HARVEST CRUSADE PT.II

7 years ago, almost to the day, I responded to my first altar-call. With trembling hands I moved with hundreds to the front of an auditorium in Waikanae and experienced God. I have no doubt God really moved in this time, but little did I know that altar-call would be the first of nearly 20. After the camp the illusion ended. I went from meeting to meeting hoping to recapture something of that first experience, convinced that it was God. Finally it all ended after 2 very painful years of learning that God was with me continually - and no more so during a performance.

I’m sad to say I was one of the lucky ones who made it through. At the end of this journey there was a trail of destruction of other followers who just found it too hard to reconcile the character of God in the day-to-day with the slick production that started it. In short, we were all deceived. We were sold a lie that couldn’t last by people who only cared enough for us to ‘make a decision’, and not for the kind of Christians we’d become afterwards.

With regard to the upcoming Harvest Crusade, some may argue that this is a cultural thing. A mere result of the secular world we live in, and that this deception is never modeled or encouraged by the crusade. While I do not doubt the hearts of Mr.Laurie and his team, it comes back to Marshall McLuhan’s quote that Daryll Gardiner continually reminds me of, ‘The Medium is the Message’. The medium is smoke, lights, sounds and big bands, and overall, a complete lack of information and Gospel truth required to make such an enormous decision. How can we reconcile this one-off experience with the day to day process of being discipled into a follower of Jesus?

Here is my issue: Discipleship should not be the remedy for deception. It cannot be the process by which we encourage people to stay with something after they’ve realised they were coaxed or manipulated into it. In essence, it is like people are taught to drive an automatic and then put behind the wheel of a manual. Where they once put their foot down and trusted everything would fall into place, they now must worry about timing the clutch and the accelerator, while trying not to stall in the process.

"I wonder how many of us have lost our barbarian way and have become embittered with God, confused in our faith because God doesn't come through the way we think He should. Is it possible that the transforming power of the church has been lost because we keep inviting people to step intothe comfort, safety, and security of Jesus Christ?"
Erwin McManus, 'The Barbarian Way', (2005) p.48

Why do so many marriages end in divorce? Because the couple went into it expecting things of each other they couldn’t deliver, Why does someone return a product to a store? Because it didn’t live up to the claims of it’s packaging, Why do so many once-passionate Christians turn away so early in their faith? Because they were sold a selfish, consumerist idea of who Jesus is, that he refuses to deliver on because it simply isn’t him.

So the cycle continues. Deceptive ministry breeds deceptive and disappointed Christians who only know one way to bring people to Jesus – through further deception. The fact is that many who invite their friends to this year’s crusade will invite them on the premise that it’s ‘just some bands playing’, or that it’s ‘really cool’, or that Greg Laurie is ‘the funniest speaker’. Remember that deception is not necessarily lying, but the manipulation of, or lack of, information. Let’s ask some serious questions about why we do this stuff the way we do it. When someone responds to an altar-call and come to the front, is it really Jesus they meet when they get there?

I personally am not familiar with Greg Laurie’s speaking, and so have to give him grace for the fact he may be one of the few who delivers a very coherent and comprehensive picture of the Gospel. Yet again, the Harvest Crusade is not my target here, but more an example of the culture that must change if we are to be people who seek after truth and honesty in the way we share our faith.

That being said, I will not hide my clear bias against this model. I think it can be done well, but I’ve rarely seen it. I hope to be proven wrong when the crusade arrives later this year.

INTERMISSION...

Firstly, thanks to all those who engaged in the great discussion on the Harvest Crusade post below. Here's something to chew on as I finish up Part II on that topic, an awesome quote from Phil Auxier's blog

"Leadership in the church--and I am speaking of every facet of spiritual leadership, not just the pastor's role--is not a mantle of status to be conferred on the church's aristocracy. It is not earned by seniority, purchased with money, or inherited through family ties. It does not necessarily fall to those who are successful in business or finance. It is not doled out on the basis of intelligence or talent. Its requirements are blameless character, spiritual maturity, and above all, a willingness to serve humbly."

John MacArthur in 'Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry'

HARVEST CRUSADE

Edit: The following post reflects a continuing change in views. To hear my heart at the other end of the spectrum you may want to check out This Post first.

This article is a good chance to go back to some old debates. Sitting on the couch at the Goatshed the other night I got into an interesting discussion with some of my flatmates from The Street City Church. The Street are doing an amazing things to support the upcoming Greg Laurie Crusade coming to Wellington later this year. This, juxtaposed with my sometimes cynical view on these kinds of events, led to some really interesting discussions. After talking for a while we decided to watch the promo DVD sent out to local churches.

After seeing this I have no doubt God is moving in the Greg Laurie crusades. Since 1990 over 3 million people have attended his rallies and over 264,000 of those came to the front and made a commitment to following Christ. But as the DVD ended, I was almost reduced to tears. Looking at these figures I have to ask, How many of those 264,000 are still following? The testimonies shared show people who are blown away by their experience of the living God, but was this experience enough? Did this experience hold them through the dry times, through the wilderness, through the ups and downs of walking the narrow way?

As I look through the information pack I can't help but be concerned. Three testimonies are shared - all of them by 'successful' pastors from the States. Particularly troubling is the testimony of Laurie's 'rise' to faith.

"...Now, more than 30 years have passed. That little Bible study became a thriving church that eventually spawned a radio program, a crusade ministry, and a television and internet ministry. I never could have dreamed what God would do when I first took that small step of faith."

So what can someone who makes 'that small step of faith' expect? Can they expect a television and internet ministry? Can they expect the excitement of touring the world speaking to millions? Without a doubt this will be true for some, but for less than even 0.00001% of them. What if life turns to crap soon after the event? What if their calling is not one for superstardom, but instead one similar to Job? Can the dream of being 'someone great' hold them through the desert?

It is frighteningly dangerous how secular definitions of success have permeated into our understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. The gospels stress the importance of abandoning self to serve others, yet the Harvest information pack reflects a larger problem accross Christendom where we elevate speakers, preachers and ministry leaders as super-heroes of the faith. The gospel is being distorted on the basis that the greatest expression of faith is faith displayed in public (see: Mr. Harvey's earlier post).

What happened to counting other more significant than yourself, to the first being last, and to the greatest among us being the servant of all? Quite simply, cleaning shit is not sexy, it's sure as hell not successful. On the same logic what are we to say for the person who comes to faith in the midst of terminal illness? Have they lived a sub-significant Christian life because their influence never went further than the end of a hospital bed?

I cannot stess enough that this is not angst with the crusade itself. I believe in what the Harvest Crusade do, and I believe it is changing lives. Given the opportunity, I will hopefully have some of my friends and family come along with me to the event. My issue is with what this medium of evangelism models. As the year goes on more and more brochures will slide accross our desks, and they'll nearly all look the same. A photo of a charismatic, good-looking pastor (one hand outstretched, microphone in the other). More and more these brochures arrive with almost no information about vision or biblical purpose, instead pastor 'track record' should be enough for us. Put simply, it's not enough.

While I respect them, the words of Rob Bell, Mike Pilavachi, Tony Campolo, Brian Houston, Paul De Jong, or Greg Laurie are not enough for me. And more importantly, neither is the dream I could one day become like them. I am sickened by a culture that elevates pastors and leaders above the rest, I'm sick of conferences which give them their own special seating area to bathe in the glamour and glory or their rise to fame. Most ministry workers I talk to are repulsed by this idea as well, and would happily trade their opportunity to dine with the guest speaker for the chance to see their youth know the true character of God just a little more.

What are we modelling? Does the discourse surrounding these conferences really reflect the character of God? And if we allow ourselves to be bought by the lie that a life with God is a life in the spotlight, how can we ever truly know what it means to walk in the steps of Jesus? My hope and prayer for the upcoming crusade is that many would come to know Jesus, that they would make a decision for the first time that they will continue to make every day for the rest of their lives. That this crusade would birth a new generation of Christians with a passion to humbly die for Christ, and not for a chance on the pulpit.

We can do better.