Here’s a couple of thoughts regarding Andy Rowell’s Article in Christianity Today, “Jim Belcher, Francis Chan, N.T. Wright, and Others Leave the Pastorate to Write and Speak: Why church planters often quit their congregations.”

First, I liked that Andy wrote it. I do not know him personally, just thought it was a worthy piece.

Second, Andy refers to all these departures, sabbaticals, breaks as a “phenomenon” – you need to admit, it seems “something” is going on.

Third, no one ought to judge the intentions of any of names mentioned.

Fourth, I think it’s worth remembering that today’s conference speaker bears some similarity with the 19th century evangelist. And the tradition of the evangelists has not always been a bad thing if you can get past the idea of today’s “televangelist” whom Paul says “there is not one good, not one” (I will abuse context the way they do) Which leaves me wondering, when are some of those guys going to participate in this phenomenon and take a non-scandoulous break?

Fifth, at the same time, it would be wise of us to seriously consider how we define success and faithfulness in ministry. Why are most of our conference speakers successful writers, and either pastors or leaders of large(r) organizations? Would it beyond our logic to have a pastor from a small church in Arkansas be a speaker at a Cataylst event and say, “I graduated with my MDIV with a grander vision than Billy Hybels and I am a more talented speaker and writer than Rick Warren. But God called me to this church outside of “outside of Little Rock”, where I have been pastoring for the last 30 years … let me tell you what I have learned about the ministry …”

Maybe the next day another presenter can begin with, “I apologize that I have come late to this event and that I will need to leave as soon as I am finished speaking but my schedule is a bit complicated at the moment. See, I have just accepted a position as the worship pastor at this new church. It’s my fourth pastorate in 7 years now, and we have a disabled child and a world of debt but I was asked to share about my experience in the ministry and so here’s what I can tell you …”. I think many of would be able to connect with something like that.

While I do not think Chan or Belcher or anyone ever used the church as a “farm team”, it would seem a bit naive to assume that some leaders are not guilty of this, or at least trying to do this. And while i have always been suspicious on just how lucrative and fulfilling the speaking circuit is for the long term, I have always seen the presenter as a position of value. Of course I do, I chase down theologians and writers like I used to chase down baseball players to sign my Upper Deck cards.

Sixth, I absolutely loved David Fitch’s post, “Do You Trust an Author on the Church Who Leaves His/Her Church?”. After I read it, I decided not to post this (then I read something else and I changed my mind). Also, there was also an excellent comment on this post by Nathaniel Snow (May 11, 10:24am) about the publishing industry and copyright being part of the empire (for those of you who appreciate that discussion).

Seventh, it is my impression that almost of all the names have been pardoned in either a post or a comment except for Jim Belcher. Wright gets pardoned because we are all afraid he’ll write a book tomorrow addressing this nonsense. It’s preface will begin with “I don’t really have the time to write this but my flight has been delayed and the fellow next to me was kind enough to loan me his iPod Touch …”

Rollins gets pardoned because he has more friends than Ashton Kutcher. And unlike Kutcher, he doesn’t care. Further, he’s not a pastor (read the tweets, he’s not a pastor! ;-) We are all crazy in love with Francis Chan so he is excused and I think everyone accepts that he wants to do something different – good for him.

From where I sit, Belcher is the only one that no one has defended (I may not be following the right people). But it seems to me that some of have pretty much said, “Yeah, he wrote a best-selling book and is cashing out.” What’s wrong with him leaving the pastorate at this time? Ministering in the Kingdom is a life-long calling, but I am not sure the pastorate is and I do not write that as someone who hopes to get out.

I don’t know Belcher, but listened to the audio version of Deep Church, liked a good bit of it, liked his voice and while I do not connect with some of what he concludes, I think he has done a great thing for us in the Kingdom, especially those of us who are in the middle of the emerging-traditional church discussion. Does that mean he “deserves” a break? No, he could have taken the break even if he had not written anything – it simply seems that he and his family need a break.

It seems that there a few bloggers out there that are disappointed that the sales of his book have allowed him to take a break. You are envious and mean … and I hope your computer crashes (And if it did, I suggest you ask Belcher to buy you a new one ;-). For all we know he’s a powerball winner but in seriousness, good for him for writing something worthy buying. (After the free christianaudio.com download, I bought the book to support the “artist” – a virtue learned from my Napster days). But not only is it good for Belcher, good for the many of us who finally contributed to the success of a book that didn’t have these words in the title ‘Your Best’, ‘Personal Prosperity’, ‘Success’, or “Vote for Me and I Will Make All Your Dreams Come True!”. Seriously, it’s about time some of us bought something worthy from CBD. Now if he comes out with a book called, The Deeper Life, Examining a Third Way Beyond the Missional Life and the Celebrity Life” with devotional journal, Deep Meditative cd and his own edition of the Your Deep Life Now study Bible, then let the barrage begin.

But to make this simple, and to offer a “third way” – as a proud pluralist, it’s easy for me to reconcile the way of JIm Belcher, the words of Andy Rowell and the life of David Fitch. And while I hope my career resembles more of Fitch. Assuming he is following the leading of the Holy Spirit, he is allowed to change his mind too. I think what we can gain from Rowell’s article is have we created an unhealthy speaker-writer culture that is unhealthy for our local churches? Regardless of recent departures and personalities, some reform is needed on who we give a mic and pen to.

My family and I are on a sorta vacation this week in Florida. My in-laws living here is a good thing as it’s guilt-free time away. Though Susan has visited recently, it’s my first trip to the Sunshine State in two years. On the plane I mentioned to Susan the last time I flew to FL (to adopt Nathan), we didn’t have any children, this time, we are flying down with two. As we all know a lot can change in two years. Anyway, it’s a sorta-vacation because I have a lot of school work and a bit of church work to do but it’s nice to be here.

I’ve got a couple books to read. I started re-reading Justification because I really want to absorb this huge discussion. This summer, I intend on reading Piper’s The Future of Justification: A Response to NT Wright.. Anyway my second time through, I have become really enamored by the good Bishop of Durham and I am truly excited about listening to him and the many fine minds at Wheaton in two weeks. Further, I am really grateful for the fellas that I will be traveling with. This Florida air and the sounds of baby boys has me all nostalgic.

As I have been reading, I have had a couple of thoughts floating in my head. Among them, we evangelicals have made our theology too narrow. It may turn out that NT Wright is wrong (afterall he already jokingly admits that he knows he’s wrong about 20% of everything, he just doesn’t know which part it is. What if it’s the 20 that governs the 80? Yep, that adds up to being completely wrong. It’s actually hard to do that but I digress). The real thought I have is so much of my evangelical community, throughout my upbringing to my undergrad years has seemed to dismiss too many things as “liberal”. The Aramaic in Daniel written (or even edited) in the 2nd century – liberal. NRSV – liberal, eschatology that challenges dispensationalism – liberal, liberal, liberal.

I am aware that there are indeed more formal arguments made against those aforementioned topics in academic circles but they rarely trickle down to local evangelical churches. Generally, our congregations get the conclusion (“Be careful, that’s dangerous theology; it’s liberal”). We need to work on that, not to please NT Wright, not to please “the liberals” but to be informed, Biblically faithful, Spirit-led followers of Jesus who desire to learn and practice the calling and mission the Father has called His children to be. I mean, if you are in to that sort of thing.

On a smaller note but important relationally, I find myself really feeling for John Piper. Over the years I have gone from great admiration to him, to great concern with his fight with cancer, to joy with his remission, to frustration with his second wave on life, to and outright dismissing certain soundbytes. I mean for a while I was pretty sure Pat Robertson hacked into his twitter account. Don’t put it past Robertson, the dude can leg press a ton!, he can hack into Twitter ;-) All this left me having this paradoxical position of appreciating some of his past work but at best, tolerating his current positions out of Christian respect (another virtue of the postmodern posture btw).

But his recent announcement about taking an 8 month leave has moved me. From where I sit (and I’m just a youth pastor from Jersey), this seems quite normal to how we Christian conservatives operate. Fight a big fight, take a leave. Or retire from the organization, but have a personal ministry or resign from Focus on the Family but still be on the radio show, resign from that, take a break and now want two million dollars for your own show separate from the organization that granted, you founded and may have been forced out of, but now left. I know this sounds like an emergent version of Jim Rome Is Burning and that I began the paragraph talking about Piper, not Dobson, but you have to admit, there is a pattern here.

Two humble suggestions from the lowly youth pastor with the beautiful wife and the two adorable little boys who are all soaking in the Florida rays. As the next generation conservatives (post-conservative?), let’s stop the radio shows whose overarching theme is, “America is being taken away from you! And now they are coming after your families! And let’s stop with the books that leave people saying, “The liberal anglican guy who arrogantly uses initials for his name is trying to take away your justification … and your rapture! (Now we’ll be stuck here forever!).” Let’s stop imitating the rhythm of a boxer’s life who trains, fights the big bout, then takes a leave to heal in victory or defeat. Rather, let’s invite the alleged liberal over for tea. Let’s invite the atheist for lunch. I mean is it too much to ask for Dobson to invite Howard Sterns over? Too unrealistic? Even Jerry Falwell invited Larry Flynt over after the infamous Campari ad in Hustler Magazine that said his first sexual encounter was with his mom in an outhouse. (Yes, I did learn a few things at Liberty).

While Piper and Wright’s discussion has tried to be polite, it seems to have taken a toll on both men. The bishop writes with an exhausted tone (“How many times do I have to say this?”) while the Reformed Pastor takes a leave “I was just trying to guard the sheep.” The truth is, while I feel that Wright is getting the better of the exchanges, I feel for Piper and his family and I wish his body and soul rest from the Lord, my prayers are with him – I mean that seriously. But we need to find better ways of communicating our differences in the future. By the way, I thought Doug Pagit wrote a nice piece concerning Piper’s leave.

Well, I have written quite enough but marrying a FL girl was a real bright move on my part.
Grace and peace friends.

Betrayed, abandoned, ridiculed, beaten, stripped naked and humiliated in every possible way, Jesus asks God the Father to forgive. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).

For years, I felt a promise attached to Jesus’ words. Almost as if he said, “They don’t know what they’re doing now. But they will, so let’s be patient.” or something. Looking at it today, it seems appropriate that we continue to ask the Lord to forgive us because we still do not know what to do and never will be fully realize.  This is not to give us excuse, but humility instead.

Though I am very concerned with many global crises (and this blog reflects that), I am also very concerned with the status of our souls – our pride specifically. (I know my pride is worse than yours ;-) Our pride leads us to our self-indulgence, our entitlement, and our constant need for gratification. Traditionally, we use the term “sin” but that’s a tricky word to be discussed on another day but its use seems quite appropriate on Good Friday.

When reflecting on Good Friday, you come to the conclusion that it really is the scariest day of the year. A day that observes God bleeding, groaning from thirst, dying. What kind of a “god” dies?   And what’s so good about it?  We call it “Good” not out of enthusiastic glee of divine suffering, but good because through this work, God offers forgiveness, redemption, and love for all.

Perhaps that’s one of the most beautiful features – this forgiveness is for all. NT Wright offers a few words on the private and public nature of the Holy Week events:

“That rhythm of private and public is what we find, sharply and starkly, in the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Today, Jesus takes the disciples into a private room, and the door is shut. Nobody else knows what’s going on. But the words he says there in private, and still more the small but earth-shattering actions he performs, will turn within twenty-four hours into the most ghastly and shocking display of God in public: God shamed and mocked, God beaten up and humiliated, God stripped naked and hung up to die. You can’t get more public than crucifixion by the main west road out of Jerusalem. And, as in fact you can observe throughout Jesus’ ministry, you need that rhythm of private and public at every stage. The private without the public becomes gnosticism, escapism, a safe and narcissistic spirituality. But the public without the private becomes political posturing, meaningless gestures, catching the eye without engaging the heart. We need both; and the events through which we live today enable us to inhabit both, and be strengthened thereby for the ministries both private and public to which we are called.

And the events of Good Friday tells us something we urgently need to know about doing God in public. If it is the true God we are talking about – the God we see and know in Jesus Christ and him crucified – then we should expect that following him, speaking for him, and living out the life of his spirit, will sometimes make the crowds shout ‘Hosanna!’ and sometimes make them shout ‘Crucify!’
You can read the rest here.

Just like the many who shouted for his death did not understand, I know my ignorance and pride has blinded me as well. Truly, I am humbled by the One who forgave his executioners and the One who still offers forgiveness today.

Some people wake up this day each year instinctively knowing that it’s April Fool’s. Now a good prank is a good prank and should be enjoyed by all but we all know some people that take this day a bit too seriously. In fact, they could be in coma but would break back into the realm of consciousness because they have a prank they have been preparing all year to execute. For those people, today is their Christmas, it is their Easter, it is their Holy Day. Happy April Fool’s to you.

For others, this is a day to tolerate those who take April Fool’s too seriously. They walk through the day with a suspended enthusiasm knowing that the mysterious box that was shipped to their home last month was probably some type of slime or goo from an old Nickeloldian show (like “You Can’t Do That on Television”. Which was awesome … when I was 7).

But more importantly, to others, today is Maundy Thursday. Which is very confusing to many of my fellow evangelical friends, because when said aloud (“Monday-Thursday – what God wants another Monday? Oh come on.”) sounds like a day that needs to be forgotten or ignored. However, Maundy Thursday is a beautiful day to observe in the Holy Week. “Maundy’s” origin is Latin, from “Mandatum” which means “mandate”, “command”.

Maundy Thursday is cherished as the evening of the Last Supper. Dare I say, it is the most famous meal of human history. So many powerful moments from Jesus washing his disciples’ feet to him sharing the symbols of profound words and symbols of bread and wine that would reenacted millions of times by priests and pastors as Christians come together to observe and reflect on the holy sacrament of communion.

It is also the moment when Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

New command? It is always been powerful and odd to me the last words Jesus offers to his disciples. No master plan of evangelism, no condensed “gospel”, no formula, no real strategy, no long-winded pastoral summary beginning with the infamous words, “So in conclusion…”. But instead a new command which in honesty, isn’t really so new. It’s not as if Jesus actually invented love. Right?

It’s been a beautiful Holy week for me reading through John especially John 13-17 which as you may know is Jesus’ last evening with the disciples. We call it Maundy Thursday. I have also been reading NT Wright’s Justification. And I cannot help but be overwhelmed the love Jesus has for his disciples and for the world, “I pray for also those who will believe in me through their message, that all may them be one” … “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (from the end of John 17).

I can devote a significant amount of attention to the idea of sacrificial love, how we show love, how we have perverted and how we must repent and abide in it the way Jesus did. But one, most people know quite a bit about it, and we know it’s hard. And two, being a person of the type of love that Jesus describes is part of a process, a relational process between the Father, and between our neighbors. What’s new is that it’s never been demonstrated to humanity before. That God would become the man Jesus, suffer for the sins and the evil of the world so that we can be forgiven and all creation reconciled. And then the best part, – the Resurrection – the grand demonstration of life conquering death, good triumphing over evil, God reclaiming creation, Love conquering all. And in his goodness, he sent us another, the Holy Spirit to guide and empower. Indeed, we have never seen love like this.

To some, today is April Fool’s but to many people like me, it’s Maundy Thursday.

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You can read more about its history from this Christianity Today piece by Elesha Coffman, “The Other Holy Day”.