freakin_missionary's Xanga

Moving to WordPress

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:55:22 GMT

As you can tell from my screwed up header, Xanga has frustrated me one too many times. I should have listened to Spangler a year ago! So I've moved my blog to freakinmissionary.wordpress.com. I hope to see you there. I copied my previous post there since I'll be continuing that topic.

Making Peace with the Church

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:43:27 GMT

Any serious believer has to come to a point in his/her life of making peace with the church. Many young believers are "at war" with the church. Of course this is all understandable. Perhaps nobody has described this phenomenon better than Richard John Neuhaus, the Lutheran turned Roman Catholic who edits a culture and religion journal called "First Things" (no pictures, small type, you gotta be a real intellectual to read it - I don't).

Here are some excerpts from his old book "Freedom for Ministry", written largely for pastors but applicable for any serious believer struggling with the church.

The tension between the theological or spiritual defiinition of Church and the sociological fact of Church is acutely embarrassing....In talking about Church and ministry we should show a healthy respect for the way things are, holding our visions of the way things ought to be in tightest tension with existing reality. Only in this way can the existing Church be prodded, urged, seduced, and loved into approximating a bit more closely the Church that ought to be....Although most of us have, no doubt, eminently sound plans for re-forming the churches in greater conformity with his intention, we are responsible for these mutilated, separated, pedestrian churches that comprise his Church. That is, we are responsible for the millions of people in these churches who are the object of his reckless and redeeming love.
To be sure, we all deplore the superficiality, the cheap grace, the caricature of Christian discipleship that mark some of the most successful peddling of the gospel in our time. The hustling that dominates "the electronic church" of religious broadcasting, the mile-long cathedrals of glass made possible by the avoidance of controversy, the multimillion dollar commerce in books that reinforce every prejudice and stereotype - all this is repugnant on many scores. And yet, and yet: through all this, millions of people are receiving a more adequate and truthful view of the world than they might otherwise have...No matter how bastardized we may think the form of the gospel is, they are at least brought within the circle of Christian discourse where the understanding of the gospel can be deepened and fulfilled in Christian discipleship.
Thinking about the Church today is plagued by a mood of anti-institutionalism that pervades our culture. We too facilely posit form against reality, the institutional against the authentic. Institution is simply another word for social endurance. Even the most spontaneous and prophetic of movements cannot last unless they find institutional form...I have never understood what people mean when they talk about "the institutional Church". There is no other church of historical or social significance....The "real" Church of Jesus Christ is not to be posited against, is not an alternative to, this Church of empirical experience. The true Church is the Church truly seen.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Whom you would change you must first love"....Too often movements for change fail not for lack of analysis, nor for lack of commitment, but for lack of love.

Enough for now, but I think Neuhaus is wise in what he says here. As I said before, the church is what it is. We can dream and work for what we think it should be, but the reality is messy. We can't change it without touching it. We can't affect it by avoiding it. Most of us would rather talk about the mess than get our hands dirty. More to come.

25 Days and 7 Years

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:13:13 GMT

According to a recent study of North American Protestant mission agencies, the average length of time spent in pre-field training of new missionaries is 25 days. On one hand, this mortifies me. Taking the gospel into another culture is incredibly complex. Just living in another culture is too much for many. How are 25 days of training going to prepare someone adequately to even begin this process? Have we lost our minds? Are we playing games with other cultures? On the other hand, I guess the truth is that much is learned on the ground anyway. However, I'm still appalled. Think of what medical people go through, or even military personnel. Isn't the task of missions just as complex? Shouldn't we require more front-end preparation?

This reminds me of the faith missions that began after the Civil War. "Faith missions" is sometimes seen as "dumb missions" in that many people ventured out without much planning and training. Yet for all they lacked in such training and education, they made up for in devotion and incredible perseverance. Was there a lot of zeal without knowledge? You bet. Did they do many dumb things that set back the progress of the gospel for decades? I think so. But they persevered. The founding of agencies like Africa Inland Mission and Sudan Interior Mission are good examples of this. To many observers, the founders were fanatics, taking unnecessary risks and causing unnecessary loss of life. But the rest is history. Both groups went on to become major players in Africa.

The most important ingredient for a missionary is "it". People either have "it" or they don't. Unfortunately, I have no idea what causes some people to get "it" and others not. "It" is mission passion and vision, that basic mission motivation that isn't distracted by the world. Some have it and some don't and no matter how hard I try I just can't figure out how some get it and some don't. Maybe God wants it that way. If we knew how to give "it" to people, we'd screw it up somehow.

The same report said that the average length of service for long-term missionaries is 7 years. Again, I'm scandalized by this. Many missionaries will tell you it takes that long just to begin to really understand a culture. Three or four years to really learn a language well and begin to grasp the idiosyncracies of a particular culture. Maybe this is one reason why some missionaries never have the kind of success they had hoped for. They leave before they've been able to sink down roots. Related to this, it seems a lot of the best missionaries leave great ministries in order to come home and get a PhD or something. How many missionaries do you know who've spent 20+ years in one area? I have to really think hard to think of one.

Again, if the people have "it", length of time is somewhat irrelevant. Some missionaries can do incredible things in just a few years. But for most, not even having "it" will make up for long-term presence. I wish people would have more pre-field training (INSIGHT students are better trained in basic missiology than most missionaries!). I wish they would stay longer than 7 years. But above all, I wish they would have "it". If we could just give "it" to people in a 2-hour seminar, I'd be rich and the kingdom would be way ahead of where it is.

I blog, therefore I am

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:55:02 GMT

After an almost two month hiatus, I renew my existence today. I blog, therefore I am. To blog is to be. Why return now? The main reason is embarrassing but true. Someone recently told me that they missed my blog. The insecure Blogger inside my inner being latched onto this utterance in lightning speed and instigated the thought process that leads me here. "They missed my blog. They NEED my blog. They need....ME! How can untold millions survive another day?" Such are the self-delusions of anyone who justifies wasting time on a blog. Long live bloggers!! We matter, baby!

OK, a little more than necessary, but hey, it's been two months. I'll have to do some catch-up. But I end with a happy report that Caleb Campbell, an INSIGHT student from a few years ago finishing up now at Biola, has recognized the superiority of 80's rock. He's big into Journey and we had an enjoyable conversation recently talking about their biggest hits. My personal favorite is "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)". It's refreshing to know that young people can see truth and recognize it as such. If only the rest of you would see the light and be "born again".

One more. I recently sat through "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibilities" and "Room With a View". I have three daughters and "Masterpiece Theatre" is cheap. Why do modern women like these films about helpless women saved in the end by a man? It's so...Victorian! Please help me understand this one, ladies. What is the appeal? In reality, you'd all cry yourselves to sleep at night if you lived in those stifling days, wouldn't you? Do you deep down want a man to save you? Does your heart flutter at the thought? For some reason I thought modern women were over that. Maybe not?

Breaking the Silence

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:31:51 GMT

Wow! I went a whole month without blogging. I still don't know why. Whenever I notice someone stop blogging, I assume they're depressed or extra-busy, but neither of those would apply to me this past month. It's been a great month. In fact, I could have blogged about a TON of things. Maybe I felt overwhelmed, who knows. Anyway, here's the short list of what I've been up to:

INSIGHT started back up. Things are going great. Crackin' the whip on young hide. Sweet.
I attended an "Organic Church" conference. This has occupied much of my thought life since.
We're very close to moving back in to our old/new home. Meanwhile, the place we are staying now had major repairs (as in removing some of the foundation with a jackhammer and repouring it) while we were in it.
A former student, Bethany, visited and another one, Emily will come soon.
I went to my first NASCAR race. Yes, it was redneck heaven. The stereotype holds.
I spoke at two Perspectives classes. Fun, but that kind of show-up-speak-leave stuff doesn't fit me.
My wife discovered Craigslist and I have a check ledger to prove it. I got a chiminea for free. Some of you don't know what that is - its an outdoor fireplace, kind of, thingy...
I've thought of a million ways to make INSIGHT better. Two of them are realitstic.
I taught my girls how to sing, "We're not gonna take it. NO, we ain't gonna take it. We're not gonna take it anymore". Beauty. Yes, for you young pups, its an 80's tune by Twisted Sister. I dare you to go find it.
I thought of posting my most-listened to songs on this blog, but was too embarrassed to do so.
I've developed short fits of rage whenever I see people being passive. Something needs to be done, but they just sit there. Aarrgh!
I was driving north on the 110 recently on a clear night with the LA skyline in view and thought, "I love LA". It's starting to get hard imagining living anyplace else.
My house is noisy but I love having kids in my house. Once in a while when Cathie and the girls leave for a trip or something, I'm incredibly lonely within a day or two. It's gonna really suck when my daughters fall for some moronic schmuck and leave me.
I think American voters are largely clueless about the issues (I know I am) and will vote on the basis of superficial things like looks and image. Obama is a shoe-in for President. Not to say I think he's all looks and image, just that he wins in those categories over the others. Reagan was flashy, Bush Sr. had little competition, Clinton was flashy enough to be dubbed "slick Willy" and Bush easily had more swagger than Kerry. Looks and image always win. Bush and Gore were about equal, which explains the tie.
I still wake up with a yearning to understand God's kingdom more and my role in it.

As you can see, I'm no wiser than before, but life is full and mostly beautiful.

Everything Matters

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:42:04 GMT

I used to, and still do, compartmentalize my life into various categories. Some categories are more spiritual than others. For example, while my work life was clearly about the Kingdom, it wasn't as easy for me to see how my home life ushered in new dimensions of the Kingdom. How does buying groceries have anything to do with the advance of the Kingdom? Because I could rarely make the case for such a connection, I assumed there wasn't one. Until now.

I now believe that everything matters. Every single thing. Every day, every conversation, every action, every thought. I liken it to the butterfly effect, an aspect of chaos theory described here by wikipedia:

The phrase refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that ultimately cause a tornado to appear (or prevent a tornado from appearing). The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale phenomena. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different.

Apply the above description to human relationships and God's purpose in the world and things get interesting. Let's go back to the grocery store. If I see even this aspect of my life from a Kingdom perspective, I recognize that every interaction I have there, however brief, may lead to a chain of events that could have a disproportionately large impact. I can be about my business, just getting what I want, not being intentional about my surroundings. Or I can take initiative, talk to people, smile, be friendly. The cashier just might be near the breaking point. The power of a smile or a kind word is inestimable. I can unknowingly move people closer to God or farther from God through little more than kindness or indifference.

This makes a lot of sense to me as a father. Each day I interact with my children. They are learning from me how to act, react and interact to the stuff of life. They are being formed daily, even hourly. Based on how well I reflect Kingdom principles to them, they will take what they've seen in me and my wife and run with it. Will they live for God? One day they will become parents and how good they parent is significantly influenced RIGHT NOW by how well I parent. Everything matters.

This even applies to us at the individual level. Our second-by-second thought life either leads us toward the Kingdom or away from it. Every movie we watch, every song we listen to, every experience we have, is forming us. We are all being formed and shaped RIGHT NOW, every single minute of every day, by what we choose to allow into our lives. There isn't a single moment of consciousness that doesn't have Kingdom implications.

This makes all of life important. It helps me answer the "what's the point?" question that I often ask about the parts of my life I would never choose were it up to me. It helps me deal with drudgery and the unwanted task. It makes every moment pregnant with meaning. Our daily lives give us countless opportunities to make the right decision, to choose the wise option, to take more steps toward God. Whether we know it or not, we are influencing ourselves and those around us. Everything matters.

Catching up with Pics

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:11:55 GMT

Becka, Ayo and Jessica visiting before Christmas

An impromptu INSIGHT reunion on December 29.

Coming down from the mountains today from sledding. Downtown LA in the background.

It Is What It Is

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 05:57:53 GMT

A lot of Christian books on the market today deplore the present state of the church or "Christianity" and offer a better way forward. Invariably, they all say that their way (missional, house, simple, mega, etc.) is the most "biblical" way to do church. My point in this post is that we need to get over being scandalized by the church. It is what it is.

The book I recently reviewed here (The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch) looks at the church between the apostles and Constantine and then at the Chinese church and considers these to be two examples of when the church was what it should be. But is that wise? Yes, there was phenomenal growth in both cases as well as other great characteristics, but would either of them have been able to navigate the difficult waters of the Christological or Trinitarian controversies of the early centuries? I'm impressed that what they hammered out then is what we still follow today.

Does it even make sense to try to ignore the force of history and culture and the way it sifts and shapes Christian faith? The way the church defined itself in most times in history was inevitable. I think we need to give history more respect and stop second-guessing our brothers and sisters in the faith who went before us. Truth be told, we are pretty clueless as to what it would have been like to walk in their shoes.

Some today like to make a comparison between the attractional church and the missional church. If you're really with it, you'll go to people instead of expect them to come to you. OK, fine, but the attractional approach has impacted BILLIONS with the gospel in a very real way. I'm not going to knock that. In fact, I'm not going to knock most expressions of our faith. God is too big and his human creation too diverse to expect that we will all see eye to eye or expect God to be comprehended by one perspective alone.

Why are we so hard on ourselves? Look, most people in reached places have access to the gospel. While we are responsible for getting the word out, we are not responsible for their choices. Are there millions of Western people who reject Jesus only because the gospel hasn't been presented more relevantly? I have a hard time believing that to be true, but that is what many would have us believe. People reject Jesus because they want to live their own lives and I'm not sure that a hip worship service or a tattooed preacher is going to change that. If it does, I wonder about the validity of such a decision.

It is also popular to scorn the "institutional church". I like how Neuhaus describes an institution - it is simply a structure that stays in existence over time. Would it have been better if the church never institutionalized and died out instead? I think many Christianity/church knockers have valid points, but history has yet to show whether their solutions will work any better. We are frail and fallen human beings trying to take on the mantle Jesus gave us. What are we expecting to be the outcome here? Hello?

As far as the church goes, it is what it is. You can find the sublime, the surreal and the very very sad, but in each case there are people in the midst (mist?) that have genuinely encountered Jesus. So I think it will continue pretty much unabated. There will be flourishings here and there when large portions of the church finally "get it" regarding some fundamental truth. There will also be money made from the shenanigans of those seeking "filthy lucre" (or my personal favorite "ill-gotten booty"). The wheat and tares will grow together. And when that final day comes, we will realize just how many light-years away we were from Kingdom reality.

Let's get over our collective dismay and break out of our apathy and uninvolvement. That doesn't win people to Jesus either.

Mary's Misery

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 05:49:31 GMT

I think what we celebrate with soft lights and warm thoughts - that first Christmas - was absolute misery for Mary and Joseph. Not only are they under a cloud of suspicion due to Mary's pregnancy, but they have to travel to Bethlehem while Mary was apparently 9 months pregnant. I've heard it is about 100 miles from Naz to Beth. Are you kidding me? 9 months? The passages make it sound like her water broke just as they are entering Bethlehem. First of all, Mary must have been in dire straits sitting on a freakin' donkey while 9 months pregnant. I've never been pregnant, but can I ask the mothers out there - isn't that one of the worst positions to be in? Wouldn't Mary be beside herself with physical exhaustion after this ordeal? Then there's the emotional stress. "Where can we go? Nobody is letting us in. Please God!" What is Mary's reward for staying alive this far, getting to a stable? Childbirth! No sign of any midwife, just a clueless husband. Can you imagine how unsanitary the whole thing was? And does it end with the birth? Does God grant them a season of peace? No, they then have to make a last-minute escape from Herod's baby-killers. To Egypt. How many hundred miles is that? Can you imagine walking that far? OK, enough. I've made my point.

Why did God bring it about this way? Why? Hadn't Mary and Joseph been through enough just to endure the suspicions of all of Nazareth? Why did God have to add Navy Seal training at the end of the 9 months? I have no idea why. But we've all been there to some degree. We've all asked, "WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO HARD?" We all have our trials, some available for all to see and some privately endured. And just when one thing is resolved another thing seems to round the corner. Like a boxer struggling with all his might to stand up after being knocked down, only to receive another volley of blows to knock him down again. And Mary's life at the end of Jesus' life was just as difficult as his beginning. Such anguish.

I wonder if it's this way because if it weren't hard it wouldn't be based on faith. If things made just enough sense all mankind, or at least a much larger proportion, would come to faith. But God never seems to give us just enough sense. It just never gets very clear. We can't walk by sight, because our sight gives us little to go on. After all, faith is being sure of what we HOPE FOR and certain of what we DO NOT SEE. What sense could Mary have seen in it all? We need to be careful when we say to God, as she did, "May it be to me as you have said". If Mary proves anything its that being favored by God just might mean being pushed beyond the limits of our emotional, physical or spiritual health. We, like her, can do little more than ponder all these things in our hearts. But the answers probably won't come on this side of the river.

Ponderings

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:45:18 GMT

16 days since my last post. Here's what I've been thinking about:

1. As I've reflected on Hirsch's "The Forgotten Ways" over the past few weeks, one thing continues to bother me. While I agree with the basics of Hirsch's model, one thing is still unclear to me. Missional and emerging types, like Hirsch, like to talk about loving sinners, finding the image of God in people and teasing it out, being chummy with unbelievers, etc. During my normal devotional readings over these past weeks I've seen time and time again where the Bible seems to warn believers of getting too close to the world. Here are some examples: "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God" (James 4:4). "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers" (Psalm 1:1). "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person- such a man is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them" (Eph.5:5-7). "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?...What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?" (1Cor.6:14-15). You get the idea. I can see how people can read the Bible and come to the conclusion that they should have little interaction with unbelievers. These Christians are then accused of being navel-gazers, unconcerned about the lost, wanting only to "huddle and cuddle", etc. We tend to view the unbelieving world as unfortunate souls whom we should love. The Bible often seems to view the unbelieving world as those who will get what they deserve; "the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur" (Rev.21:8). Bottom line: it seems we are much cozier with the world than first century Christians were. God's judgment is no longer part of our gospel. Its all about accepting his love. How do the rest of you see this?

2. Greg Boyd has a post on masturbation that I agree with. Check it out if you dare. Don't worry, you won't get warts if you click on the link. :) Comments?

3. Our INSIGHT guys this year are heavy into war gaming (both computer games and board games). I've never understood this and have never played a game since Atari came out. How do Christians justify the hours spent gaming on a daily basis? What's the point? Is it entertainment? If so, then it receives the same condemnation as other forms of distraction. Is it mental stimulation? If so, isn't that also a form of masturbation? Gamers, defend yourselves! Do any of you really believe that Jesus would play computer games?

4. I'm not into Christmas this year. Its like I'm not buying the hype any more. I'm into Christ, but all the fluff of the season is rubbing me the wrong way this time around. It seems like we use the season to soothe our troubled souls, an escape from the difficulty of our regular existence. But the fact is that the cute little baby Jesus turned into a man who got into people's faces. We don't want that Jesus. We want the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a freakin' manger. That Jesus doesn't confront us or challenge us; he just lays there and we can all come around and ooh and aah. Christmas is for girls. We guys like Easter. Torture, blood, suffering, resurrection, getting the final word, giving Satan a smackdown! Now we're talkin'.

5. A former INSIGHT student is getting married tomorrow. Congratulations to the ever-smiling Karen Malakin and my friend Todd who I'm assuming is doing the wedding.