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Answering the Question, “Why Don’t You Plant a Church?”

January 27, 2011 by 2 Comments

Primary Audience – Whoever Read the Previous Post – A Yankees Take on Church-Planting in Nashville

Sometimes you have to provoke what you perceive to be a problem to see that it’s not (or may not be as bad as you think – make sense?) As I mentioned, I received a couple cool emails and links from people doing good work in Nashville like here and here.

I’ve also been asked the obvious and legitimate question, “Why don’t you plant a church here in Jersey?”  In truth, I’ve been asked this quite a few times. It’s not because I am special; I’m pretty sure most pastors (and seminarians) in their 20’s & 30’s get asked as well. I confess, I do have a fascination with church planting. Some guys make it look so fun and easy on Twitter that you can’t help it and some of my friends are planting (they either do not exaggerate as well on Twitter or not planting missionally/purposedrivenly/annointedly/Jabezly). And similar to how I am fascinated with the idea of batting second for the Yankees, I am just not sure if that’s the direction I am going.

I certainly do believe in the importance of church planting so yes, to compare it to playing major league baseball is a bit ridiculous – even for this blog. But I also do believe in the importance of reforming and rebuilding our existing churches. Just like it takes a special type of person to plant, I think it takes a special type of person to reform. And I’d like to add that it takes a special type of person to be in youth ministry. Hmm, maybe I was wrong, maybe I am special :)

To use the “called” language, not only do I feel called to be a part of reforming the Church, I feel that I am to be doing that in youth ministry. Honestly, most days, I really like what I do. Indeed there are days when I get frustrated, like when a need comes through the church and someone else volunteers the youth group for it (Volunteer yourself bro!), but really, I find a great deal of fulfillment and consider it a privilege to be a part of this chapter in our students’ lives.

A lot of is due to the type of youth ministry we are trying to build here. I know it sounds a bit dramatic but I actually believe this stuff – we are trying to create & foster a Christ-centered culture of young disciples to serve God’s kingdom. Blessed with a great Jr. High pastor and some fantastic youth leaders, we have been working on a culture that is loving, sacrificial, generous and “deep” (not always sure what that means, but we do tackle some tough content). To be truthful, there have been times when our students have completely dropped the ball. There have even been times when the youth leaders have dropped the ball. And there was one time that I forgot to fill up the church van after an activity but I would hardly call that dropping the ball Ok, ok, I’m the worst of them all but come on, I was distracted by the prospect of batting second for … :)

But there have also been times when our students have really went above and beyond anything I/we have expected. Many of them have the godliest parents I have met, some of them have not been as fortunate but the Lord has been just as near – and it’s been incredible to witness. I’ve seen students barely stay awake in youth group and then months later, tearfully express to the group what the Lord is doing in their lives. I’m betting that it wasn’t my teaching that had drastically improved in the short span but rather the student taking hold of the faith that God was extending. There is a goodness you gain in knowing that you are doing your job well but then there is an overwhelming fulfillment in knowing that you are a small part of something that is happening through you and your community and in spite of you and your community.

Witnessing students embrace Jesus and pursue the work of the Kingdom is among the greatest joys of my life. As you can see, this is a very special thing to me and until the Lord changes my heart, I doubt I’m planting a church, leading one, or batting second for the Yanks.

Filed Under: Missional, Reflective, Student Ministry, The Church

Church-Planting In Nashville as Seen By a Yankee

January 24, 2011 by 18 Comments

Primary Audience – Those Interested in Church-Planting

Last week I saw a tweet about a meet-up of Nashville church planters. My reaction was, “What?? There is more than one person planting a church in Nashville??” Then I proceeded to tweet about that. The first tweet was more of an appeal to consider planting in places like New Jersey and the Northeast. The following tweets became sarcastic and speculated the real reason Regis was leaving was to church plant in Nashville.

I received a few tweets and dm’s. One mentioned that it’s surprisingly hard to find a church in Nashville. Another said that it was extremely easy. Another said I was a jerk (it may be true). And another (a Nashville church planter) offered to help me understand his context better by sending me links and dm’s. There was a Christian rebuke in all that too to which I sincerely apologized and thought that, “Indeed my sarcastic tweets are not helpful”.

So here’s a bit of what I was/am thinking. First my context – I’m a youth pastor in New Jersey and have been serving in ministry for 11 years. Born in Jersey, raised in PA, went to college in the South, married a beautiful girl from FL who taught me some southern expressions and how to correctly pronounce the term “reck’n”. I’ve only served in two churches, one in a Philly suburb and this one in North Jersey. If you know anything about North Jersey, we don’t consider ourselves part of New Jersey. This is somewhat similar to the superiority complex that Texas feels in relation to the rest of the country. Being just outside of Manhattan, we feel a sophistication that Central Jersey could never understand. Further, we are working on sending South Jersey (“They’re about as useful as a back pocket on a shirt”) to Delaware and that campaign is called “Building Jersey by Subtracting”.

Now for something deeper – The church landscape here in Jersey is a tough one. There are a fair amount of churches, but many of them are under 100 people and many are hanging on by a string. Regularly, church buildings are begin turned to Mosques and gyms. I wish I had the time to weed through all the stats regarding “churched” and “unchurched”, the number of churches, etc. but I’ll leave that up to you but as subjective as it sounds, here’s what I am seeing.

It is a bit strange that we have so few large churches because of our high population percentage but there are only two evangelical churches in my area that boasts an attendance of over 1000 people and I think one of them is exaggerating (despite my friend’s flawed counting, they are a fantastic ministry). As an evangelical surveying the scene here, you will notice a high number of Catholic churches, synagogues, atheists and a high percentage of successful/intelligent people who see no real need for God though they are “spiritual” and think church, if not taken too seriously is a good thing.

Regarding church planting here, “It’s runs like a herd of turtles”. I literally know of two church plants in my area – The Plant in Allendale and All Souls Church in Nanuet, NY. Yes, All Souls is in New York but we are really close to the border here and technically, the closest plant in my area. One day, I thought I met another church planter, but it turned out it was just a unicorn. Among many cultural reasons, the high cost of living makes it difficult for young couples to either move in or build roots here which also eliminates a lot of the workforce of a church plant. Further, as everyone knows, church planting is extremely expensive though there is an enormous amount of wealth here (“so rich, that guy buys a new boat every time one gets wet”. How am I doing on these Southerisms? They are painful to write but I’m willing to speak the language if it helps :)

A personal annoyance is that it seems the talent called to plant in this area heads over to NYC. There are exceptions, like Liquid Church, in Morristown, NJ (a campus in New Brunswick and another one coming in Montclair) but it’s hard to figure out if they are a viable model or as I mentioned, an exception.

I’ve been to Nashville, it’s a beautiful town. It not only has a church on every corner but a big church on ever corner. I picture families of 6 pulling up in their suburbans and upon entering they complain that it’s Michael W. Smith’s turn to lead worship instead of Amy Grant’s. I suspect that the need for church planting in Nashville is a result of the over-churched culture that Nashville has created. And I reck’n everyone walks in with the current issue of Relevant Magazine (which I love too) and does devotions with Stuff Christians Like and Jesus Needs New PR.

I picture houses with three car garages being sold for less than $200,000. I bet when you buy a house there, the former owners leave up the mailbox with a cross on it and the sign above the door that says, “As for Me and My House, We Will Serve the Lord”. Cars are sold with the ichthus already in place and the only thing that you get on your windshield wiper when parking downtown is a tract that reminds you that “Jesus Loves You” and a note that thanks you for using the free parking.

To my church planting Nashville friends, I say a few things – “Don’t pee on my leg and call it rain”. Please consider the perceived disparity between our respective contexts. Obviously plant where the Lord is calling you so do not let the stereotypes created by the Yankees to dissuade you. However, consider perhaps the Lord is using people like me to speak to you. Second, consider sending people to other parts of the country like the North East and the North West, places that we should start considering similarly to as we see foreign missions fields. Third, consider leaving your church plant and coming here. Not just Jersey, but suburban Philadelphia and the New England States are desperate for strong churches.

Church planters by their nature love a challenge so I tell you as one of our northeastern saints put it, “If you can plant your church here, you can plant anywhere, it’s up to you, Nashville, Nashville.” :)

Feel free to comment, disagree, or correct my Southernisms.

Filed Under: Missional, Reflective, The Church

Regarding the Future of the Church – Post 1 – Encouraged and Discouraged

October 11, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Primary Audience – My Local Context
Secondary Audience – Friends and Fellow Travelers Who Suspect Something Is Wrong in Evangelicalism

Over the last few years, I realized as I have been spending more time with students, that I often leave these conversations a little encouraged and a little discouraged. Encouraged by the many good kids really “trying to try” to love God, follow Jesus, be led by the Spirit. Discouraged because I know I need to use the phrase, “trying to try”.  The same can be said after conversations with fellow adults as well but working with students gives me a different sense of responsibility.

From one angle, I see a growing disconnect between evangelical culture and the culture at large. From another, I see evangelical culture mirroring the larger culture (and I am not just referring to the divorce rate but rather our values that are times quite “worldly”). I also see a “mirroring” in a healthy way as well. And yet from another angle I see it evangelical culture being intentionally counter-cultural in a truly Christian way. (I know for some, this sounds bit confusing, I have been reading a lot of Paul in Romans lately and to make matters even more complicated, there are so many more angles that would be difficult to categorize, even for a modernist ;-)

In short, there is an identity crisis that the the Church is having and this is being reflected in the the life of the Christian American teenager as well. Honestly, despite the frustrating moments of youth ministry, my heart goes out to the students we serve and the countless I will never meet. I think those who are either involved in youth ministry or close enough to see it understand what I mean.

From the beginning of my full-time ministry, I’ve had a sense of knowing the church had lost much of its authority throughout our culture. To be forthcoming, I don’t know really know how much though. Here in north Jersey, evangelical culture is obviously much different than what i imagine in to be in the Carolinas, the Atlanta area, and even in the wanna-be country of Texas and throughout the nation (And of course when considering it from a global perspective …)

This has led us to use phrases like, “We are living in a post-Christian society”, “the Church is shrinking”, “Things aren’t like they used to be”. Whether you appreciate or loathe these expressions, at the very least, they describe something that is really going on. I try to avoid these statements, because I despise some of truth they contain. (I take that back, I have never uttered, “Things aren’t like they used to be” and I don’t see it as true but the previous statements are half-truths that are sadly at work).

To make this as simple as we can, I believe these are among the primary reasons I was drawn to the emerging church movement. Rather than simply holding on to traditional yet failing ideas and paradigms, some realized that paradox of a new Christian expression  needed to “emerge” (rooted in the ancient church – the present one, all the centuries in between while squinting to see what was up ahead) under the submission of the Holy Spirit. This is because the culture is changing and as the second paragraph of this post indicates, it’s complicated.

This is not to say that anyone who sees that we need to refocus is necessarily “emergent”.  I tend to define that word pretty broadly these days and see it as conversation as opposed to a “denominational” thing.   That said I feel the evangelical church needs to come to the table and realize our “what worked” a generation ago, even 10 years ago, could very well be as obsolete as the transparency machine or a word-processor. By this, I do not mean that Jesus is obsolete or His Gospel – (in fact, truly the opposite!). But rather, our language, our framework, perhaps many of our methodologies, structures, interpretations, practices, lack there-of, among other things needs to be rethought. And we need to begin “again, again” by committing ourselves in surrender to the Holy Spirit.

I hope to unpackage some of these thoughts in upcoming blog posts. Also, I recently I attended the Eighth Letter Conference, heading out to our Evangelical Free District Meeting (Ron Sider will be speaking)  and read a few books like Doug Pagitt’s Church in the Inventive Age, David Platt’s Radical, and currently doing a book study with friends on the extremely popular The Hole In Our Gospel. I plan on working on these thoughts and reviews as well. Thanks for reading!

Filed Under: Missional, Reflective, The Church

Ed Stetzer Is Pretty Cool Even Though He’s a Baptist ;-) – My Notes on his Multiply Seminar in Randolph, New Jersey.

October 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Last week, I joined a fellow youth pastor and his senior pastor to go see Ed Stetzer share his “Multiply” Seminar. It’s focused more on church planting but as one who is interested in processing through ideas and practices that would help churches in North Jersey, I was interested in going.  And it was free (thanks!).

I try not to be critical of anyone personally on my blog and as a result, I find myself often writing as a “fan boy” here. So let me disclose the impressions I have on Ed Stetzer and his research before I walked into his seminar this morning. Bear in mind that I have not read his books yet but frequent his blog every so often and follow him on Twitter. My first impression is that he’s a Baptist and employed by Lifeway Research. No offense but I’m cautious around Baptists. Second, I don’t have anything against Lifeway but have not really connected with their material (probably because they’re Baptists and I’m suspicious …) Third, I am skeptical of all types of statistical research because stats are always subjective and many times manipulated by their agenda. (If you know me, you know I appreciate the work of Christian Smith, Kenda Dean, Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons but even still, hold the research open-handed).

All that said, the evangelical churches in the North East (Jersey, NYC, New England etc.) are in trouble – that’s not breaking news. My corner in North Jersey is very post-Christian and heavily influenced by Catholicism, Judaism, agnosticism, and most people I know are either too skeptical of organized religion and those that aren’t are simply too busy for it. Combined with intellectualism that sees religion as too simplistic and too disconnected from their real world, multiculturalism, etc., our churches are shrinking and the Church’s influence is diminishing in the cultural landscape.

So when people like Ed come to Jersey, I try to attend and glean from their expertise because we could use any help that we can get up here – even from the Baptists. Here are some of my notes – here’s the link to his blog and here’s the link to Viral Churches, his book they handed out to each attender.

Of course Ed would be knowledgable of the subject matter he was presenting on.  But I was really grateful for his words concerning Northern culture (he’s planted in NY & PA), denominational hindrances, sensitivity to the financial climate and calling for a need to change our methods in order for more pastors to plant more churches.   There was a good deal of balance and wisdom and left me thinking on a number of points.

—–

Church Multiplication Movements – Rapid multiplication of church where a movement grows by multiplication by 50% in one year with 50% conversion rate to the third generation.

Of the 34 Western,industrialized democracies in the world – there are no church planting movements among majority peoples (that’s depressing).

There are all these whispers of movements of church planting movements that have not been validated (like Long Beach).

Only 3% of churches have accepted the direct financial responsibility for the new church as a primary sponsor. (or said in another way, only 3% of churches are taking the responsibility of planting others. This means that the vast majority of churches being planted are independent, partially sponsored, or only being supported by a handful of churches).

We must embrace the “Count the Cost” process.
Most churches birth in survival
We want to help plant in strength

The way you win your first disciple will determine the way you operate for the next 50 years.

Model Multiplication – You cannot lead what you do not live.
What is the optimal size to plant a church? Some respectable say 800 people.?????
You have to model multiplication when it hurts. (If you need to be Saddleback before you can multiply, you are never going to multiply)

Make heroes out of church planters not villains out of church planters.
Many of them are mavericks, that’s why they plant. Support, edify, help.
Welcome the Planter – they will go somewhere else if they get beaten down
Act 29 type of networks – are 27 year olds who have been marginalized by their denominations and traditions.

Define Mission Well –
Don’t define missional without the conversional Kingdom element.

The only thing worse than being lost is being lost and nobody looking for you.
Plant by multiplication not by funding.
You cannot buy your way into a church planting movement. Denominations have tried but it’s been unsuccessful.
Every time there has been a church planting movement, it hasn’t been because of funding.

One of the greatest hindrances of church planting is the professionalization of church planting.
How do we “guarantee” orthodoxy in church planters?
Orthodoxy has to be held by the community. Covenantal unity

“Be Born Pregnant” –
Elmer Towns – says at any first church meeting, take up an offering for your building
Ed says at your first meeting talk about church planting.

Open More Lanes
Ethnic, Law, Urban, bi-vocational, etc.

Overcome Fear
People are afraid that lay people will go crazy and plant unorthodox churches
Planters can be included in that
Churches losing people
The Loss of our denominational identity

The How of church planting is largely determined by the who, what, when, why of culture.

What needs to drive us is a confessional identity with unity and missional cooperation – these are the Viral Churches
For more check out his book Viral Churches and his blog Ed Stetzer

Filed Under: Missional, Reflective, The Church Tagged With: , ,

Lessons Learned From Our New Orleans Mission Trip – “Katrina Wasn’t Even the Worst of It…”

July 26, 2010 by Leave a Comment

It feels more often than it probably actually is but I feel that our mission trips need to respond to why we invest so much in meeting people’s physical needs “when it’s their spiritual lives that only really matter”. For me, that is very flawed statement on a number of levels but I think I understand what people are trying to say. Why help rebuild someone’s home and not share with them the hope of Jesus? It’s like saying, “I hope you enjoy going to hell in a nicer home.” Know that I, nor any sincere Christian I know, don’t actually feel that way.

But here’s what works for me. I have a hard time “compartmentalizing” life into the categories of “spiritual life”, “physical life”, “social life”, etc. They only work in terms of abbreviation and frankly, I am not always sure where my “physical life” ends and my “spiritual life” begins. That said, it’s easy for me to see how my physical well-being/state/condition affects the hazy, extremely subjective idea of my spiritual well-being/state/condition. And vice-versa. For example, when I feel physically drained, it’s less likely that I feel spiritually joyful and excited and ready to go to a Hillsong worship concert. In that instance, i’d prefer to take a nap. This is not to say that your spiritual state is entirely determined by your physical state but they certainly relate to each other. At least, that’s how I see it (and I suspect this is true for most of us after a bit of consideration).

So back to mission trips. One day Aaron and I went to see about picking up some wood from a family that was offering to donate it. We stopped at the house, knocked and a sweet southern grandmotherly woman opened the door. After the pleasantries, she offered to show us the shed and on the way she complained about the weeds, the bugs, and the mess that the backyard was in (A bit of a long story but she had rented her home to out to people Aaron knew). As she complained, I felt the need to repress my judgment of her. I mean after all we had seen, if weeds in your garden are among your chief complaints, then you may have it pretty good. Of course I knew that when we complain over trivial matters, it’s usually a front for deeper, more hurtful pains but the story works better if I just tell you that I was annoyed by her annoyance. Anyway, after finding the wood, we decided that we’d bring some students the next day to haul it off.

The next day we showed up, I knocked on the door to announce our presence but secretly hoped she wouldn’t be home (the shed was unlocked and it was very hot out). I even imagined that she may had hoped that we wouldn’t show – it would give one more thing to complain about. But when she opened the door, there were smiles from me, from her, even the weeds waived hello. The kids unloaded from the van and we created an assembly line and I was in the shed being bit by mosquitos and bugs that had mutated from who knows what but they seemed to be reneging on the offer of the wood.

We finished up, students loaded into the van and I wanted to say good-bye and thank her on behalf of Aaron and the Gathering Church. When I did so, she revealed that she had no idea who Aaron was or the church. And then it began, a real conversation, not about tenants or weeds or the heat but about life, about recovering from Katrina, about unhealthy loved ones and and about grief. Doris told me that the water had flooded 8 feet of their home and they were so lucky to have salvaged it. But after the water receded and the home was gutted, they left their home to stay with an elderly family member and have been renting out their house for the last 3 years.

I tried to encourage her but then she said, “But Katrina wasn’t the worst of it” and she started bursting into tears. We had crossed a point of no return here. Students were already in the van, I was on the porch being bitten by more bugs, and now had made an elderly woman cry. I asked her what she meant by that and she told me that just less than a year after the hurricane, her 9 year old grand-daughter was killed in a parade by the float she had just jumped off of. She was assigned the job of handing out flyers and when she tried to hop back on the float, she slipped …

My heart broke and I listened to the whole story. About how she would have been turning 13 this year. About how all this happened in front of her parents who had been following the parade. About how the little girl’s dad held her until help came. About how she believed in God but she was just hurting so much.

Eventually it was my turn to say something other than, “Well gee sorry to hear all that – thanks for the wood.” So I asked her if I could pray with her. Afterwards she asked me what I did for a living. I explained. Which of course began another conversation that centered on hope and the significance of Jesus. I shared briefly about that my family had gone through tragedy too, and just recently mourned the loss of a dear uncle. I told her that I knew it wasn’t the same but in the pain, I was reminded again the importance of life and the resurrection of Jesus and the hope he offers for now and for eternity.

She hugged me. We said our goodbyes and I reminded her about Aaron, the Gathering Church and mentioned that they have a professional counseling ministry. And then I was on my way. I remember being affected by that though. Sometimes when you are the group leader, you don’t get to engage because you expend a lot of energy managing and staying ahead of the curve but I was really affected by the encounter. I forgot how to get back to the Gathering building, forgot about my mosquito bites, forgot to plan out how to pick up the Kids camp volunteers and I was grateful that Jim was driving.

I kept replaying the conversation, wondering if I had said things right. I have to admit, it surprised me how the conversation took a course of its own. It seemed easy enough, go to the house, pick up some wood from the lady that was annoyed by the weeds. Who knew. Once I regained my composure, I was really moved by how a such a simple act of picking up wood turned into a moment of expressing care. I don’t know how much different her life is from a stranger praying for her on her porch but it reinforced to me the need for making conversation and uncovering the needs of people in our communities. To me, this is an enormous part of the work of the Gospel and living missionally.

Filed Under: Mission Trips, Missional, Reflective, Student Ministry

Lessons Learned From Our New Orleans Mission Trip – Post 2 – “We Feel Cursed”

July 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

“We Feel Cursed”
On our first trip I remember hearing people express this sentiment post-Hurricane Katrina. How could an American entire city be submerged under water? This time, we heard people express it in relation to the oil spill. “We feel cursed”, “Why does this always happen to us?”. If you ask a Pat Robertson type, he’ll say that you are cursed. Ask even an environmentalist type, and you may get a similar response. But if you ask someone like me, it’s because we live in a fallen, depraved world and we are all cursed in some way.

I know this is a pretty pessimistic post but we will never run out of bad news streaming across our televisions and computer screens. There will always be tragedy to be shocked about. There will always be many crying themselves to sleep at night. Sometimes it’s you, sometimes it’s me. We are all cursed.

When talking about New Orleans and the Gulf region, I often hear people ask if it’s worth rebuilding because it’s likely inevitable that they will be devastated by another natural (or man-made) disaster anyway. I would like to assume that these people never take medicine or go to the doctor when they are ill. I mean why bother, if this illness doesn’t kill them, they probably figure something else will kill them. So why concern oneself with getting better if it is inevitable that one day their body will stop working anyway? This logic sounds weak right? That’s how I feel when people wonder if we should rebuild places like New Orleans.

Like I said, we are all cursed in different ways. Some choose to deny this reality and are completely overtaken by surprise and shock when pain and evil find them. Others accept this and live their lives in such paranoia that they souls are too paralyzed to even enjoy the good days. Obviously a balance would be helpful but that’s only the start. We need hope. We need a real reason to be hopeful.

This is one of the many reasons why I am a follower of Jesus. He is the hope that can save all of us from this cursed world. He offers salvation, forgiveness, redemption and recreation. It also reinforced to me the important work that must be done in New Orleans and the Gulf Region. Not only from a physical rebuilding but including a psychological and social one and especially a spiritual rebuilding. From conversations with people, there are many groups that continue to come and serve. I found that to be encouraging. My prayer is that one day people will no longer feel exclusively cursed but rather released because of the hope of Jesus.

Filed Under: Mission Trips, Missional, Student Ministry

Our NOLA 2010 Mission Trip – Setting the Context – Post 1

July 19, 2010 by 1 Comment

As a believer of short term missions, each summer our youth ministry goes on a short-term mission trip. Last year we served at the All Saints AIDS Camp in Nassau Bahamas with Next Step Ministries. It was an unbelievable experience. Throughout the years, I have led teams to Estonia, the Czech Republic, and our beloved New Orleans. It was here in 2008 that we worked with a local church plant called The Gathering in Chalmatte, LA which is just east of the lower 9th ward and an area that was also completely flooded by 8-20 feet of water.

The 2008 trip was a difficult one for a number of reasons. Many of our team members were first-timers (which is wonderful too), it was extremely hot (as you would expect), our accommodations were rough (we stayed in an abandoned elementary school that was scheduled to be knocked down a few weeks after our trip). My “trip lows” included driving through the Chalmatte neighborhoods looking at all the “For Sale” signs. It still felt like a ghost town, very few businesses, no grocery stores, not even Wal Mart had moved back at this point. The few businesses I saw were a Burger King, Home Depot, a Walgreens, and numerous establishments selling daiquiris.

I also remember never being able to cool off, except during a cold shower, but immediately, the humidity reminded you that there was no refuge. I think my biggest “trip low” was on our last work day, the team made chicken pot pie as a celebratory feast. We ate at picnic tables “inside” where the cafeteria was. It was after 8pm by the time we ate, I was starving and since I wasn’t in the shower, I was of course, sweating. Being hungry, I tried to eat the pot pie, but it too was extremely hot. And between the sweat from the heat and the pot pie, my face was literally sweating into my food. It was at this point that I remembered thinking, “Who’s dumb idea was it to make chicken pot pie?” followed by “Why couldn’t Katrina had hit Maine?”.

The better moments …
… we had a great team and were joined by a few students from the church Evan Curry was serving at the time.
… we got a lot done, mudding, priming, cleaning out abandoned houses.
… realizing the enormous need of New Orleans and the entire Gulf region.
… meeting the fine people of the Gathering.

The Gathering is a church plant by a team from various parts of the US – Phoenix, Louisville, to name a few. The lead pastor, Matt and his family moved in February ’06. They were a young couple with two kids and they lived off generators for 18 months. I would have loved to have heard some of these conversations when they were asked, “Why move there … now???” But you and I know the reasons why.

For me, one of the most important parts of the trip was meeting Aaron Johnson. He’s one of the pastors of The Gathering and the way he was trying to do pastoral work really connected with me. His church office is his donated white pick-up truck and his pulpit is his tool belt and cell phone. The Gathering had just completed the purchase of an old bowling alley that had been gutted after Katrina. Their vision was to convert the building into a community center. The Phase One (of Three) vision is to have have a day care center, coffee shop, counseling center, and include a space for worship.

After our week there, we knew we had to come back and committed to returning every other year. And so on July 6th, we left Montvale to return to Chalmatte.

Filed Under: Mission Trips, Missional, Student Ministry

Our NOLA 2010 Mission Trip – Highlights – Post 2

July 19, 2010 by 2 Comments

On Friday we returned from our student mission trip to New Orleans and I find myself trying to describe this incredible experience. Once again, we had an excellent team. It was our largest which was 19 students and 4 leaders. And once again, our church and leadership were supportive and generous in allowing this opportunity.

I have not been able to really articulate my reflections for posting yet but until I do, here are a few highlights:

I really enjoyed my conversations with The Gathering Team. Had some excellent conversations with Aaron (their community pastor) and got to know Pastor Matt. He told us the story of how he and his family (with two very young children) moved 6 months after Katrina and lived off of generators for 18 months.  This decision spoke so much to their new neighbors and community.  It’s usually at this point, that the story would say, “And their church sky-rocketed in growth” but instead, they began very non-dramatically seeking intentional relationships and serving the community in any way they could.

I don’t have any pictures with Aaron (the Community Pastor of the Gathering) but I think one of the moments I will remember is the conversation with a woman who we had delivered furniture to.  It was very pastoral, very caring, and it seemed very unlikely that she would ever step foot in their church.  When I mentioned this to Aaron, he said something like, “Well, that’s not why we do it.”   That’s Christ-like.

Watching our students reading Scripture and journaling after lunch and throughout other parts of the day. After one of our work days, I walked by one room where about ten students had gathered, sat separately, silently with Bibles and notebooks open. Honestly, I didn’t recognize them at first (“Which youth group is this?” ;-) I almost took a picture but thought that was lame, I now regret it – my eyes have deceived me before.

I don’t know how many times I thought to myself, “I can’t believe he/she came on this trip. I was pretty sure they’d never come on one. And look he/she is loving it!”

Beignets from Cafe Du Monde!  Yeah we know they’re basically funnel cakes but with even more sugar and everything else that is bad for you.

It was great meeting the youth group from Richmond.  They have an awesome youth pastor and I hope our paths cross again.

This is could be a post unto itself but our youth leaders are amazing. We had some challenges on this trip and having a great leaders was huge asset. Icould not imagine them not having been there.

I didn’t think that I would ever be moved to see a Wal-Mart. I am not a big fan of the retail giant but it did bother me that it was not able to open again for four years after Katrina. Much to the joy of Chalmatte, it finally returned.  I visited almost daily to get water, cough medicine and Sharpies.  It symbolizes that more and more people and businesses are moving back to Chalmatte.  And just recently announced, they finally plans for the hospital to return.

Hearing the news that oil spill had been stopped.  As you can imagine, hearing people talk about it there is far different than talking about it in Jersey.

Siblings!  I will always remember the siblings of this trip.  We had four sets of siblings attend this year – can’t really get into it on here but there were some beautiful family moments. I am not even their Mom and I was moved.

Watching our team deal with some real adversity.  There was some real solid perseverance that led to healthy group building and Christian unity – I’m really proud of this team.

Filed Under: Mission Trips, Missional, Student Ministry

Are Short Term Student Mission Trips Worth It?

July 17, 2010 by 5 Comments

Primary Target Audience – People in my local congregation
Secondary … – Youth Ministry workers, Missionary workers of any form, and fellow Kingdom builders

Every year this question gets asked around our local church in some variation and it also gets asked all over the blogosphere and twitterverse. And every year I wonder about it too.

The short answer is yes, based on our current western evangelical, suburban climate – yes, while not perfect, they are worth it.

The comments and questions I usually see and get are among the following:
It costs so much money to send a team down there. Why not take all that money and send it to people there and have the work be done by professional workers?
I usually have two responses. Great idea, why don’t we do that all year round, collect money and send it? (insert awkward moment here).
You and I know, that money simply won’t come in to send. You may be able to raise $800-$1000 but not $15,000 (or whatever the trip in question costs). it’s because we tend to give relationally.

Second, for those who insist on seeing this in dollars and cents: Realistically, not only will you raise a fraction of what it would cost to send a team down there, I would like to make the case that money raised is a great investment in the Kingdom. I have seen and been discouraged by some stats on how the “mission trip experience” has offered little lasting help in one’s faith. Fortunately for myself, I am very suspicious of these types of stats and have also seen similar regarding the “effect” of the Sunday sermon. We still do them. Every Sunday. And we have numerous reasons, including the need for preaching and teaching Scripture to the words that can be used by the Spirit to convict, encourage, and offer the hope of Christ.

So, speaking from my experience, many (not all) of our students have been impacted in numerous long term ways. There are certain lessons that only be learned from outside of your zip code. For short-term mission trips, students are taken away from their context, away from their distractions, sharing close space with fellow youth group students and leaders. Then they are faced with situations and challenges that they simply do not get the opportunity to have. These trips create these moments and for many students, they will always value missions having experienced it personally. For some, this alters the trajectory of their lives dramatically.

This is not to say that there is no need for local missions but in fact, the opposite, as there are certain lessons that can only be learned from inside our zip code as well. Many times when seeing the needs of others in distant place we are convicted by the realization that we neglect many very near to us. As a youth ministry, this has led us to do service project weekends, In full disclosure, they are great in theory, we have been blessed by them, but we need to work on a better implementation as they have proven to be very difficult to put on during the school year. I am confident by the Spirit’s leading, we will grow in this practice,

Another aspect I like is the camaraderie that we enjoy on these trips. Students have conversations with people they have “only seen around on Sunday morning”, they reconcile differences, they see each other differently. Similar to the “teen summer camp experience”, being away provides the opportunity for that. This is also important for me as a youth pastor. This is literally the most time that I get to spend with students, the only time that I get to engage in deeper conversations with some and important times for some of our youth leaders to truly connect with the group. Again, the challenge is applying this throughout the year.

Perhaps another reason that is largely ignored is the importance that our teams serve to either a local church or missions organization. I realize this can open an entirely separate discussion altogether but it seems to me that less gets done if we do not send teams. Again because relationships and student involvement create so much motivation and energy. That said, I am very much aware of the stories of some organizations that have used groups as either tourists or as sources of revenue to repaint the same wall summer after summer and these accounts always grieve me. But it seems for the vast majority, these weekly teams serve and build credibility to these local churches and agencies and I love that aspect of the larger Church Body serving in this big-picture way.

Another feature of the trip that I have come to recognize as been the decision-making process that the student and their families go through to commit to the trip. Many choose between summer jobs, parents plan vacations around them, and every time someone asks, “What will you be doing over there?”, the student has the opportunity to search their soul of why they are actually going. The decision making process and the pre-trip reparation should not be underestimated.

There are certainly problems and challenges for student mission trips, believe me I know. Among them are behavioral problems, an inflated sense of ego (“I’m going to save these people”), the danger of categorizing missional-living as only a “summer thing” that can only be done proxy and a few other concerns that maybe I can share another time. But these are not reasons to not do mission trips, they are reasons to do them better.

To combat our collective pride and to maintain focus on why/what we are doing, we have had nightly devotions and debriefings, Scripture and journal reflection times, and have been diligent in creating a servant-hearted culture on these trips. We have even gone so far as adopting a motto, “Me First!!”. When we ask for 3 volunteers to do the glamorous jobs of cleaning the dinner tables, or filling the water coolers, or cleaning the bathrooms, there ought to be a rush of volunteers yelling, “ME!” first. We get the point when we have to turn down five volunteers because three volunteered so quickly.

Are mission trips worth it? Yes, in our current context, they are very beneficial and very much worth the cost, time, and energy expended. For more, I highly recommend the dvd curriculum Round Trip and David Livermore’s Serving with Eyes Wide Open. Please feel free to comment in polite disagreement or add your concern, I have come to enjoy this conversation.

Filed Under: Mission Trips, Missional, Student Ministry

Selling Out the Sell-Outs – Part 3 – Looking For Something Better

January 30, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This is Part 3 in this series. If this is your first time on this site, don’t start here ;-)

Part 2 finished off with the idea that while everything can be said is marketed, we must examine the motivations.

In looking at motivations, we ought to consider the ministry of John the Baptist. It is widely understood that he did not actually “invent” the idea of baptism but was used as a means to be identified with God. Later Jesus-followers would use it to publicly proclaim their identification with the second person of the trinity, the Savior Himself. As we proceed, it is necessary to understand the distinction between human interaction/communication and tactics of marketing.

Second, as K&S point out, “Jesus and the apostles did not have a ‘marketing’ or ‘consumer orientation’ which is what they insist the contemporary church must not have if it to be effective. The reason why Jesus and the early church did not have this orientation is quite simple: As we have shown, the management theory that underwrites such an approach to marketing was developed during the middle part of the twentieth century under very historically specific circumstances” (p. 45).

It has become fashionable to insist that one be relevant to their cultural surroundings. It is also a form of credibility to demonstrate to an audience/demographic/individual the attempt to posture themselves in a way that convinces them of their care. There are clichés, “People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you care” that capture this. But Barna’s call for “systematic study of needs, wants, perceptions, preferences and satisfaction of its members and others whom it is trying to reach” (p. 47) sounds like the institutional form of stalking as opposed to an invitation to encounter the Almighty God. It’s reminiscent of an apocalyptic science fiction movies where there is a secret meeting of aliens preparing to take over the earth. The last thing Christians need today is to appear even stranger.

It would become extremely beneficial for a church to analyze if it has been consumed in the “exchange process” (48-49). K&S made an excellent use of Scripture by using Acts 17:24-25, whereby reminding the reader that God does not need an exchange from the believers but rather the worship is an expression of gratitude and love. Worshippers would enter sanctuaries differently if they adopted that understanding and pastors would preach differently if they did. It will be an interesting to see what needs to happen first for our churches to function this way.
This is precisely one of the failures of the contemporary church. Many ministries have been set up as service centers. “Give us an hour and we’ll give you the truth – God’s truth!”, “Give us your kids and we’ll convert him to well-behaved Christian toddlers”, “Give us your tithe and we’ll give you the soundtrack to sing to Jesus” and so forth. Such a mentality is so arrogant that it nears blasphemy for it implies we are able to place God “under obligation” (p. 53). This Barthian quote ought to appear in our church as often as the times of service, “It is impossible to lay hold of God. Men cannot bind Him, or put him under an obligation, or enter into some reciprocal relationship with Him” (p. 53).

The “user-friendly” church mocks the work of Christ. Such a church builds egos not hope, builds monuments of pride not a servant-like humility and leads to a spirit of competition between other churches rather than asking the Spirit to move and work throughout the Body. To be the bride of Christ, to be the body of Christ is to love Christ first, not one’s own self.

The church board dialogue that occurs in the opening pages of Chapter 5 is all too familiar scene. The church board must decide their “evangelism strategy” It gets ugly. We want certain people over other people. We need money to pay the bills. We don’t want anymore problems than wha twe already have. And it’s among the many reasons why everyone has a terrible church board story.

The moral to most of this particular caricature of meetings is that clearly the pursuit of the Kingdom of God is third priority at best following high attendance and paying the bills. It has always been my observation that despite how serious evangelicals take the Bible, we are extremely slow in taking care of the poor, fighting for the oppressed and comforting the suffering. It is almost as if Jesus said, “Hear O’ Israel, the greatest command is build as big of a church structure as you can. And the second is imitate the world.” Jesus would find no fault with us had He said that.

In fairness, our numerous denominations, endless evangelism schemes and involvement with church marketing has been due to a perverted exaltation of how we have interpreted the Great Commission. We have strived to pursue as an efficient means as possible to mass produce and export the gospel. Our inspirations have not been Paul and Peter and the stories contained in The Acts but rather McDonalds, Coca Cola and Microsoft. By doing so we have domesticated and have sold out the Gospel.

What does one do once they realized they have ruined the family farm? Protect what little self-interest is left, liquidate and quit or start over? As much as I enjoyed reading K&S, I was secretly hoping they would transition from the accurate, critical and prophetic words of demise and conclude with a series of bold exhortations to abandon the marketing mentality, teach our churches to resist the consumer mentality and to pursue the Church that God has called us to. After all it is a book about the Church. And so, I was glad they did in the final chapters 6-8 were joys to read for their calls to courage such as this quote taken from Robert Lupton:

The Church is the only institution which , without irresponsibility, can expend all its resources on great and lavish outbursts of compassion. It is ordained to give itself away, yet without loss. The Church, above all earthly symbols, bears the responsibility of declaring in the outpouring of resources, the utter dependability of God. To preserve its life to lose it (p. 118).

Amen and Amen to Selling Out the Church. While it seems appropriate for K&S to publish a follow up to evaluate the current evangelical landscape (since it was published over 10 years ago, this text offers much to consider and reinforces a great deal of suspicion of how “we do church”. Indeed it is time to sell out the selling out the church and the first to go are my books on church marketing. It is my confident prayer that the Gospel will be enough and May the Lord lead those that persevere against the consumerism, pride and the spiritual forces at war with the Kingdom of God.

Filed Under: Christianity, Missional, Reflective, The Church