Chi-Town & The Church in Acts

Living in Chicago, one of the major global cities in the world, has been SO REFRESHING! Over the past two years I have been trying to live more missional and escape the "Christian bubble" we all get in, but true freedom for me was found in removal. Not just regionally, but spiritually. For the first time since probably high school, all the people I am surrounded by everyday are lost and as far from Jesus as possible. And I love it! I have been to more bars in one month of living here then I have in my entire life. It makes me wonder, why did I ever get away from the world? Why is it that Christians are only surrounded by other Christians? Why do we recluse into the church and do our best to serve the world but not love it enough to build relationships with the world? No wonder the world doesn't step foot in our doors and we get discouraged from the rejection of our invitation.

Maybe the rejections of our invitations should tell us the world doesn't want what we're inviting them too! But what if we change what we invite?

What if instead of inviting people to church, we invite them to the Kingdom of Heaven?

Huge difference. POWERful difference. In reading the book of Acts recently and seeing the Church be born and spread I am convinced and encouraged that no worship service I start, no band that I get, no catchy preaching I preach is going to save the people in this city.

Sure doing this could get me a crowd and get me my numbers by getting all the bored Christians at their boring churches to come and join my new fun one until they don't like mine anymore and go somewhere else, but what does that accomplish? What am I going to do about all the lost people I meet and hang out with everyday? What is going to convince them Jesus can change their entire existence? An awesome band? A good service? Or is it the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of the risen Lord?

We use words like "relevant,"contemporary", "band that plays U2", "messages that help your life" to describe our churches.

Acts uses these: "signs", "wonders", "healing", "persecution", "scattered", "disciples", "teaching", "sharing", "giving up EVERYTHING" , "building up Body of Christ".

And these are just a few. The first church didn't spread because they were the "cool, new thing", it spread because they completely relied on the power of the Holy Spirit. They didn't talk people into following Jesus, they performed signs and healings to show the power that could change their lives. Because of this, the Church was persecuted and had to leave Jerusalem. Did that stop them? Nope. They understood the Great Commission: As you go make disciples. They kept doing the same thing there and saw the persecution as an opportunity to share the power of Jesus instead of complaining about losing their homeland and city. What if we stop starting worship services, satellite campuses, etc (and call it church planting), and instead engage our world, make disciples and watch God build His church?

Where's the POWER in the Church in America?

We trust too much in models and styles and our own talents and not enough on the Power of the Holy Spirit.

In a book I'm reading entitled "The Lost History of Christianity," I recently read something that jumped out of me:

"The best argument for Christianity was that its holy men and women were so close to God that they could defy the laws of nature and demonstrate divine power through acts of miracle and healing."

The author Philip Jenkins was referencing the spread of Christianity in it's early birth throughout the middle east and asia up until the time before it even came to Europe (which is usually where we pick up the story). He went on to say:

"All forms of Christianity, East or West, emphasized charismatic and miraculous themes, to a degree that separated them from more rationalistic Muslim contemporaries."

I'm praying for that in Chicago and across our country. I'm praying that I will be so close to God that He would use me to demonstrate His power through my acts! I'm praying that the Church would be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit and that through us He would do something that can only be explained as the power of Jesus Christ. That's the only way all my new friends in Chicago will come to Jesus and be a part of His body. And then we will have the Church, and then we'll have a movement.

I didn't move here to start a worship service, but to be used by God to build His church.

Lessons from Chi-Town...

I am going to start blogging ideas/concepts/lessons that I am learning while planting a church in Chicago. Here's today's:

As a Pastor, if we spend more time preparing a sermon during the week than making disciples then it's no wonder the church in America is in crisis.

I told my wife last week, "I miss preaching." You see, I've always preached somewhere. Whether it was traveling at an event or in a local church, I've preached for the past 10 years of my life and it has become one of my major strengths and giftedness. However, since moving to Chicago I haven't preached once. The summer is over so no more youth camps. No new events scheduled here, because no one knows who I am. We haven't "launched" a large gathering yet, so no congregation to preach to on a sunday. What's a pastor to do??

This is why I am convinced we've got this whole "church" thing backwards here in our country. Don't get me wrong, preaching has a place in the church and I will continue to use this gift, but it can't be the end all, or even the most important thing. But profoundly, in America, it is. People choose a church not based on the teaching of the Bible, but "how" they teach the Bible. In other words: Is the guy/girl any good? Is it entertaining? How many Inception video clips were used this week?

Because of this, it has put tremendous pressure on pastors to deliver a flashy message to meet the demands of their customers or they will go to another church and get what they want there. This has caused Pastors to spend most of their time preparing and studying for their sermon.

Does it really make sense to place most of your weeks time and energy into a 30-45 minute presentation? Thats 30-45 minutes out of 10,080 minutes in a week? How can that be a good steward of our time?

What if, though, Sunday wasn't the most important day? What if we replaced the "event" with the church? What if as Pastors we spent our week making disciples and mobilizing them to go into their domains and make more. Then everyday becomes the most important day of the week and everyday we carry out the great commission.

You see everyone asks me when I am going to launch my church, but what they're really asking is, "When are you going to start a sunday event?" I've already launched my church. We launched when we got here and started meeting people, prayer walking, and sharing the gospel. I didn't move to Chicago to launch a worship service, I moved here so God could build His church.

One of the most refreshing things of planting a church here in Chicago is that I spend most of my day trying to engage people and our community in order to make disciples.

What if I would have always done this? What if Pastors would lead out in this and what if we could get our churches to do this? Now, that would be something worth preaching about.

Real Men Cry...

I don't know if society has taught me that "real men don't cry" or if I somehow came to that conclusion on my own, but I have always felt like I was just being a "girl" anytime my emotions got the best of me and I began to cry. So, I would try everything possible not to do it. Even as a little kid, I remember being on the soccer field or basketball court and never wanting to come out of the game so I would play hurt. BUT, I never wanted the embarrassment of crying in front of all those people. Of course, as I have gotten older I have actually cried more. I remember crying by myself my freshman year of college because I was going through a tough time with life, but it wasn't in front of anyone. First time I can remember letting loose in front of people was my granddad's funeral, and then again at my other grandpa's funeral. I have also let my guard down with my wife and have cried with her.

The reason all of this is fresh on my mind is because I recently moved to Chicago. I cried leaving my nephew Corbin because, (although I will miss all of my family and friends), he will grow and change so fast that I felt I would miss a lot of it. I also cried (and I felt really stupid for this one) leaving my dog Cooper. He had been a companion dog for me for 6 years and we had been through a lot. So, I am an emotional guy, and for me to hold those emotions in has meant for almost 90% of my life I haven't been real to other people or myself. I have had a guard up, not letting people into an area where I was comfortable being my true self.

I am convinced this is a huge issue for us in the American church. We are not real with each other. Furthermore, this has me convinced that we are missing a level of the Biblical church--the basic level (house, cell). Sure we have home groups where people share "community" with one another through a meal and bible study and go and do fun things together. That's like calling Facebook "real" community. I want to be in a community in the body of Christ where I can be real. Where I can laugh. Where we can pray for one another and really know what is going on. Where I can share my needs and I can meet the needs of others. Where I can cry.

This is a picture of the body of Christ that is the true church, where people are true. This will lead to a real community that becomes strengthened to not stay inward focused but goes out and changes the world. If we don't have real community what do we have to offer the world? If all we do is bring people into an event where 1000's are gathered every sunday have we accomplished helping them discover their eternal purpose of being in community with God and in community with others? We've given them false community by having a "greet" time or inviting them to a class or home group. We need REAL community, or else I don't think we can change the world. You see, real men do cry. Be real.

Living a Story...

I do not want to just write a story that captivates readers and audiences. How boring is that? Living a story that impacts and influences people making their lives better, now that is a journey worth going down. My wife and I are about to begin a brand new chapter in our living story. We are moving to Chicago (from the nation of Texas) to plant a church. We want to live a story in such a way that by serving and loving our new community people are drawn into a bigger story than one we could ever imagine. You see God told us to live a story. All of us. He even calls us "living stones" in Peter's letter to the church. In Paul's letter to the Ephesians he says that all people who follow God are to use their lives to "build" the body of Christ up. We are to use our life's story in such a way that it makes others lives better in Christ and it builds His church. God actually wants to use our story as we live as "living stones" to build His church in Chicago. We are very excited to be on this journey, but we are anxious as well. We are moving September 1 and neither one of us have jobs yet. We have not sold our house yet in Texas. There are so many unresolved issues in this story that we are living and yet, God continues to take us down this journey with peace and provision. If we were able to conquer all of these conflicts and issues (and there will be many more as journey on) then we would not need God to build His story, we would be building our own. How boring is that? We want to be a part of a bigger story than that. Living a story that engages and changes a city. Living a story that as we meet with world leaders from the Middle East in D.C., NYC and around the world, that we help engage and change their cities. All of this from us being obedient and living our little story in Chicago. I have no idea the climax or conclusion of this story. But that doesn't really matter. I do not even know the next conflicts around the corner. That doesn't matter either. If I knew all of that already, how boring would that story be? But living the story, as unknown as it may be, as God's living stones using our story as a stone to build up His church, now thats a story worth living. What story are you going to live?

A NEW JOURNEY...

I am excited to be finally starting a blog! As I transition from the College Pastor at First Baptist Church Denton TX and into being the Pastor of Mosaic Church in Chicago, IL (a brand new church plant at www.mosaicchicago.com), i hope this blog not only serves the people in Chicago but the people I come in contact with along this journey. My travels take me many places and I pray that these humble thoughts that are revealed to me on the words of Jesus (and the occasional rant on random things!) will serve as food and energy for your own journey as you strive to follow Christ or discover His teachings for the first time.

know the Truth. walk the journey. be free.