Slingshot Group

Church is hard work...but worth it.

In my opinion the local church is one of the hardest organizations on earth to lead well because it is dealing with one of the most complex and important of issues of life - worship. Worship is complex because it is so all encompassing and creates significant tension. For instance, worship is simultaneously verb and noun - action and object - theology and culture - traditional and modern. It is where our preferences play out - where our heart strings are most often played - and where God reorientates us towards Him, towards the priorities that actually matter.

God cares deeply about the worship culture of your church. God wants you, and those you worship with, to have an experience of Him that is not simply intellectual OR emotional....but both intellectual AND emotional. As church leaders (on and off staff) it is our responsibility to shape our worship experiences in ways that allow this to take place. Unfortunately there isn't an instruction booklet...no one-size-fits all solutions - and what God is doing in one church may be culturally and stylistically antithetical to the work He is doing in another.

As for me......I love all of this stuff. Complexity - culture - worship - style - etc... It's not easy...it can often be messy...but the church is where God has called me to spend my career....and I have gladly accepted. Getting to "mix it up" with churches all over the globe and work to discern what God is saying and doing in their midst is a distinct privilege I will never take for granted; and Slingshot Group is something I hope to be part of for the rest of my life.

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And if you or anybody you know is struggling with worship change, staffing, design, culture, new call, etc... Please message me on FaceBook because I'd love to be of help.

The Art of the Wok

I just finished reading Grace Young's elegant story of Cantonese cuisine and the simple but critical tool (aka - WOK) used in its creation. I'm fascinated with food (and wine) and this was my first dip into the complex world of Chinese cuisine.

While reading about the life of a Cantonese chef I was struck by how much patience, dedication, and discipline is needed to excel in an art form that seems, from the outside, to be so simple and straightforward. Get wok hot - add oil - quick saute - serve. One wok - a hot flame (often over 100,000 BTU) and simple ingredients...easy. Not really. The average Cantonese Wok Chef first apprentices for 3 -5 years before ever manning his own station. Once graduated, he achieves the first of 4 levels of wok chef. Each level might take upwards of 5 years to achieve. Most master wok chefs have over 25 years of experience with the same tool, heat, and limited ingredients.

Artistic excellence takes time - dedication - and mastery. Whether ceramics, oil, piano, or wok, to contribute good art to the world requires a level of dedication and devotion of time to your craft. The results speak for themselves. In his new book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell suggests that we need roughly 10,000 hours to bring any craft up to a level where success and/or excellence is possible.

Bottom line - fine something you love, have base level competency with, and work your butt off.

For All You Church Leaders Out There:

This will be short.

In the past 4 months I've read 3 books and attended 2 conferences on varying aspects of the missional movement. For me...at the end of the day it boils down to these questions:

• Do we church professionals (aka - pastors, staff, consultants, directors, elders, deacons, committee members, etc...) really want to change how we live?

• Are we willing to make room for "the other"?

• Do we want to engage in conversation with people that believe differently than we do?

• Can we live lives that are poured out to a world that, for the most part, see us as irrelevant at best and intolerant and evil at worst?

• Are we willing to change our church from the inside out....so that we live the life we call our people to live?

How you answer this will determine the future of the missional movement for the

particular church community

you are leading.

OK - blast me. Tell me how wrong I am. I'm pretty sure I'm overstating this....but the more I read and hear....the more I keep coming back to this.

Storytelling In Worship:

Story is a powerful medium. Culture is created, changed, and memorialized in story. Our lives are often (if not always) remembered in story; much more than facts, trivia, stats, etc.. I've never been to a memorial or grave-side service and heard a loved one share stats about their dearly departed. "Paul was 220, blue eyes, with a birthmark on his right shoulder. He had a GPA of 3.9 in grammar school and his SSN was/is ___-__-___." Stories are how we shape our present by remembering the past.

Jesus was a storyteller and it was through parable (story) He communicated truth and wisdom in ways that connect far beyond the average 3 points and a prayer sermon.

I believe everyone has a profound story. Redemption, grace, victory, loss, mistakes, pain; there are countless stories dwelling within each of us. I also believe those stories are where we find God at work, how we understand what He is up to, and how we participate in His work of redemption and Kingdom Life.

Corporate worship needs to be a place where these stories are regularly shared and engaged.

Shared by the people who have the story and engaged by the larger community they are part of. It will be messy - unpolished - not always timely - but real, honest, and critical to changing the entrenched culture of institution that plagues so many Christian churches in America. This is where clergy and church professionals are critical. Find the stories - encourage people to identify their own stories - equip them to share them well - illuminate the stories by sharing where you see God at work.

Corporate worship is a prophetic venue. What you do in that setting can point to new horizons and challenge existing paradigms. Interview people - let them share their stories with their own words - capture their stories on video - find stories that have little to nothing to do with church programs and/or initiatives - encourage your congregation to become a storytelling people.

And pastors, to quote Mark Lou Branson, "more important than your preaching are your conversations."

Revolutionary Road - A Grand Portrait of Selfishness

I just watched this film. I stayed up till 2AM to finish it and am so disturbed that I feel compelled to stay up another 30 minutes to write this blog.

Acting was amazing. Cinematography was flawless; as was set design, music, and directing.

What disturbed me was the story and the profound selfishness so powerfully displayed.

Richard Yates originally wrote the novel of same title in 1961 as an indictment of the conformity and desperate clinging to security so prevalent in the suburbs of America. I think the film captures that bleak sense of conformity and the emptiness that can happen when dreams are abandoned and imaginations squelched. I have no doubt that this happens often...especially in suburbia.

Unfortunately the story goes to such ends to demonstrate one woman's sadness over a dream unrealized that it ultimately descends into a portrait of profound selfishness.

Sure....life is hard, dreams are unmet, parents often live very sacrificially in order to provide for their children, and many are stuck in jobs that are not life-giving (to say the least). OK - I grant all that as true.....

But so is joy - fulfillment - love - goodness - peace - and profound gratitude.

Gratitude....I think that is it...that is what so bothers me. This story demonstrates zero gratitude...and fixates on all that is unrealized. It is as if the wife, in summary, simply said, "my dream of Paris isn't happening....so I give up....and I no longer care or love you. I'm done. I'm picking up my toys and going away." This really irritates me.

If we learn anything from Jesus it is that sacrifice and gratitude are pillars of a life lived well. I'm not sure how this best translates to suburbia, to our cultures obsession with security, to our own sense of frustration at work, to our unmet expectations at home, and/or to our unrealized dreams.

I do know that if we choose to live our lives as a little Jesus - poured out for our community - sacrificially giving of ourselves.....we will not end up like the lead characters in this script.

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is an incredibly well made film.....it just misses the point...majors on the minors....and unfortunately offers little wisdom for our complex lives.

Read This Book

One of my first on-ramps into missional thinking was Reggie McNeal's book The Present Future - Six Tough Questions for the Church (http://www.amazon.com/Present-Future-Tough-Questions-Church/dp/0787965685). I was blown away by the candor and honesty of

of the questions McNeal was asking and found that they helped articulate my own

struggles and questions. Unlike many books being published around

the same time The Present Future was practical and helpful while being

challenging and provocative.

McNeal's new book, Missional Renaissance, is another fine example of a practical book that is as helpful as it is challenging and critical. The subtitle summarizes the guts of the book: Changing the Scorecard for the CHURCH. McNeal is attempting to provide new metrics for measuring church health. Personally, I believe this is the most important "next step" for the missional process to take. The missional concept is out there - people are aware of the missional dialog (much of which began with the emerging church dialog) - and there are several examples of churches wrestling with how to course correct in light what God is saying and doing through this powerful movement. Creating new measurements for the local church is critical if we are to hold the course and not fall back into old patterns which yield old outcomes.

One of the shifts McNeal proposes in his book is that the church move from destination to connector. "The church is a connector, linking people to the kingdom life that God has for them. When the church thinks it's the destination, it confuses the scorecard and keeps people away from their true destination - LIFE." I love this simple language and practical perspective. The church is not the end...it is a means to an end. Church leaders should figure out how to measure the end so that we understand the role and function of the church in achieving that larger outcome. What is it that matters MORE than the growth of our local church? Is there anything else more important?

Read this book.

If you are deep into the missional dialog you will appreciate Reggie's comprehensive look at the movement and the practical ways he seeks to create new metrics. If you are new to the conversation, I can't imagine a better book to help get you up to speed.

Does Doctrine Get in the Way?

Doctrine (Latin: doctrina) is a codification of beliefs or "a body of teachings" or "instructions", taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system. The Greek analogy is the etymology of catechism.

I believe doctrine is important. Thoughtful biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The content of our faith is as important as the sincerity of our faith because good intentions alone are not sufficient.

BUT (and there's always a but)

I'm concerned that doctrine often gets in the way; In the way of God at work, in the way of our witness, in the way of our worship, and in the way of our experience of God. Here is my thinking:

• Evangelical, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist....any follower of Jesus will likely be part of an institution/structure that brings with it rules, perspectives, thoughts on God and Sacraments. Just ask a Presbyterian to baptize you as an adult if you were already baptized as an infant...and you'll see what I mean. Our "books of order" and regulations are most often attempts to turn biblical gray into black and white.
• I believe we are prone to legalism and our attempts at being faithful to doctrine can lead us into a bondage that is more human than divine.
• Theology is a living thing - maturing, changing, and evolving. Doctrine, like institutions, seek to be fixed and firmly rooted; unchangeable and persevering.
• Our ability to interface with those outside our faith is seriously damaged when our doctrinal concerns surpass our kingdom concerns.

Maybe I'm too liberal for my own good. I mean.... I understand that WHO Jesus is matters. He isn't simply a great teacher alone....He is the Son of God. But the more I look at the Gospels, the more I see Jesus sending his disciples out to engage their world in ministry with little doctrinal preparation. I suppose I trust Jesus to reach out to people that are earnestly seeking him....even if they are in some questionable places as far as doctrine is concerned. Am I crazy?? Am I moving in the direction of a heretic?