This is the very best review of all this Love Wins hoopla. You really ought to take the time to read this. My Review of Love Wins | Donald Miller's Blog.
Living life in the dangerous mist
The life of faith in Christ and being lead by Christ is risky. Doing ministry is risky. Parenting is risky. There is no way for you to avoid risk in a life of faith and trust in Christ. Trust requires risk in order to be defined as trust. There has to be a step out on to nothing in order to land on something.
That is difficult for our time-bound human minds to really get around. We assume we have no time for the risk on the incredible call God places on our lives. But as Christians, we are not products of time. We are products of eternity and that is a reality we need to reminded of from time to time.
But in James 4 we are told, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a a little while and then vanishes."
We are reminded that all the things you build in your precious time are passing. Your entire life and everything you wrap your life up into is a vanishing mist.
That project you have invested so much time in? Mist
That entire ministry you built from the ground? Mist
How big is your church now? Mist
How is business lately? Mist
How is employee and costumer satisfaction? Mist
That relationship you think is (and may be) "the one"? Mist
That child you have wrapped up your entire life into?
That... That... That...
None of these things are wrong or unimportant. They are simply mist.
It is important to remember this when we consider what keeps us from living life with a faith and trust in Christ that may not fit into our perimeters for how life should work or play out.
We cannot continue using a misty world's indicators as to whether or not we are successful.
Fallacy of Gandhi
The Church and its members are messy. This much is understood. The reality leads to a common quote of Gandhi in our churches. When we speak of the way we treat one another and the connection with the gospel, we quote Gandhi. (anyone else see the strange reality in that?) The quote is something to the effect of: "I would become a Christian if they were more like their Christ." or "I would have become a Christian if it weren't for the Christians." or "I would have become a Christian but they are so unlike their Christ."
Any look at logic reveals a large list of what are termed "logical fallacies". These are the ways of approaching logical conversations, which automatically deter the conversation from being logical or reasonable because they are false ways to communicate a point.
A conversation with a student last week had me thinking this statement by Gandhi commits several of these fallacies. Just a few might be:
Fallacy of Illicit major - majoring in the minor Fallacy of False Attribution - attributing importance to something that is not Definist Fallacy - Defining one notion in terms of the other
Today a common phrase is similar to Gandhi's; "I won't become a Christian or go to Church because they're all hypocrites."
The fallacy lies in that Christianity is about Jesus, not its Christians. Becoming a Christian is becoming a follower of Jesus Christ; not Christians. Just because Christians are hypocrites does not change the sacrifice, resurrection, call, and promise of Jesus Christ.
Gandhi and the like are majoring in the minors. They are focusing importance on the notion that is NOT important. Christianity is about Jesus Christ; not its Christians.
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What say you? Am I crazy?
What do you think when you see this...
In 7 words (not 6, not 8 ) what do you think when you see this picture:
No Christians in Your Community
Part of being a Christian in a culture is simply engrossing yourself enough in that culture that you know enough of its needs, its celebrations, and even its hurts. Part of reaching any culture or community in any capacity is having an educated understanding of that culture.
It seems many Christians are without regard for their local community. We are prone to get in our car (parked in the garage), drive to work, and return to our garage to go straight into the house without any interaction toward or for our neighbors or our community.
Though this is the practice of most Americans in general, it is a physical example of an attitude that runs within us.
Though it is an attitude of most Americans, it cannot be the attitude of missional Christians.
Our attitude must be one, which desires to love our communities enough to reach them from an integral and sincere place.
Chris Huertz said, "Remember your community and celebrate the local--most people know more about happenings in Libya and Japan than our own zip codes."
That place within you has to be one that understands what is going on in the community around you. It means being able to answer two questions:
1. Where does my community hurt the most? 2. What can I do to help meet that need?
Answering those questions require our attention to some details we often overlook. We have to read those incessant community bulletins that flood our mailbox. It means we actually attend the community events in the local park, farmers market, community centers, etc.
It means we take notice of the ways our community is struggling by asking questions of our city officials and local organizations. These are the people who can likely tell you exactly where your community struggles or hurts most.
Be involved in your community. Care enough about your community.
It is the first step toward being a Christian in our culture.
Wreck this Journal: Part 4
Honorable Mention Catalyst Debrief
After this week of Catalyst Debrief, I thought I would just give you some other random quotes, which also stuck out. Enjoy! "Demons and the Holy Spirit are similar in that they both whisper to you...You have to know your word to know which is sweet and which is a lie." -Matt Chandler
"When young leaders stand on the shoulders of older leaders, they can see further ahead." -Nancy Ortberg
"I [a pastor] need to know to know [my congregants] workplace when I don't see them, but they also need to know what I do when they don't see me." -Eugene Peterson
"The tortoise always wins the race, and we live in a culture full of hares (you win battles with a thousand cuts; not one swipe of the machete)." -Dave Ramsey
"If I lead in ministry but not at home, that is not a leader; that is an actor." -Jon Acuff
"Secrets influence the way you lead because you compensate for it in the way you lead." -Andy Stanley
"'Come to Jesus and get _____.' If we fill that blank with ANYTHING but Jesus, we preach heresy." -David Platt
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What of these quotes sticks out to you most? WHY?
Theology and Experience
The conference emcee said, "You won't want to miss tonight's session with Judah Smith, cuz' that boy can preeeeeach."
He could not have been more accurate. I had never heard of Judah Smith, but since that day I have since subscribed to the podcast, and I cannot get enough of this hipster glasses and skinny jean-clad fellow who preaches with the passion, wit, and impact of a black preacher in the south (though he is a skinny white kid from Seattle). Best preaching I've heard in a LONG time.
A large premise not only for his talk that night, but for his life as of late was:
"My theology will not be dictated by my experience."
After having lost his father, his hero, to a long battle with cancer this past year, Judah was and is still able to make this faith statement.
How often have we, or those around us, been caught up in life's broken circumstances and began to wonder if God and his promises are really true. We go through different situations and we begin to doubt all the foundational things we have built our lives on.
The truth is we all have a sick heart, and we are all faced with situations when the things we think were supposed to happen do not materialize, and we have to learn to take our failed promises back to God and say, "I still trust you."
------- * Judah's church in Seattle and The Podcast
Faith Budget: oxymoron
It was a classic case of, "Oh yeah, I've heard of that book, but who is [author's name]."
I had heard plenty about Radical. Several friend have read and raved about it, but I had never heard the name David Platt until my time at Catalyst. Putting the book with its author's name was only the beginning. David is an example of James 3:17. His wisdom is considerate, full of mercy, impartial, and sincere, but it is incredibly bold and blunt (as it should be).
I am king of honing in on statements probably meant to be 'filler' or flippant, because the statement David said that struck me most was:
"Budget season is where we come face to face with how little we trust God's word."
I have always said that if your creativity is based on your budget, then you aren't creative at all. But this statement cuts a bit deeper.
I remember the first time I heard the term "faith budget". It was a term I was never taught in all my ministry classes. Once I learned how a faith works, I got used to determining what I would seek to accomplish in ministry based on how much my budget offered me to do.
This quote was not easy to hear or apply. Truth often has this effect.
When budget season comes around, it inevitably comes with stress. Why is that? It is because we are worried. We are worried whether or not we will have the money to continue the things we are doing in ministry. We are worried whether or not we will have the money to accomplish the dreams we had for ministry this coming year. We are worried whether we will have the money to accomplish all the evangelistic methods we have acquired. (What a shame Jesus didn't have the advanced evangelistic methods we have today.)
But the starker reality is that we are worried that God's grace and the gospel of Jesus is not really sufficient. We are worried that Christ and him crucified might not be enough.
I'd say the Holy Spirit is accomplishing great things without the resources and budgets that we have here in the American Church, but we have come up with so much stuff to get us and others excited about Jesus...as he needed those things to prove how incredible he is.
I need to change some things...
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No Miracles without Risk
I had never even heard of Christine Caine. She was due to speak at Catalyst West Coast, and after her Aussie accent, he passion is the first thing to strike you. Several notes from her talk inked my journal, but one has nearly haunted me. 
"We spend our life praying for miracles and live life avoiding circumstances where miracles can happen."
Our lives lurch forward in search for the next miracle to happen. Some of us are so dependent upon miracles that we avoid the responsibility of obedient living. But there are others of us who ask and hope for miracles, but we refuse to live in the space where miracles happen: risk.
Throughout scripture, the instances where miracles took place most often regarded a step out on to nothing in order to land on the hope of a miraculous something. Faith is necessary for miracles. Trust in a God capable of miracles is necessary for miracles.
Most of us are too worried to live lives of faith, and the risk that faith necessitates. If you have not had to take a risk, then you have not trusted. If you have worried and worried and worried without risking and trusting, you have missed out on the miracles God may have been doing all along.
"Who needs the devil sometimes when you have so many worrying Christians around you?"
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* More about the A21 Campaign or Equip and Empower Ministries that Christine is a proponent for
Finally...Imagine a World Like This...
A few weeks ago, I was able to attend the Catalyst West Coast conference primarily for ministry leaders and pastors. Conferences are incredibly refreshing for me; even if that refreshment means cramming my mind and heart with information I will never remember in its entirety.
That is why every time I go to a conference, take crazy notes and then follow it all up with a couple key steps. 1. Go back to each talk and highlight my top 4-5 points. 2. Go back to those points at a later time to highlight the 4-5 things I want to be SURE to remember and apply.
This week, I'll be reflecting on and sharing with you those highlights.
I will begin the week with a quote by Scot McKnight. 
"'Imagine a world like this...' could begin every parable Jesus told."
I loved this thought. It was such a flippant and passing part of all the things he had to say in that talk, but isn't it amazing how those tiny things can stick out to someone in a way the speaker had never intended?
I have begun to take a look at the stories Jesus told with new eyes and mindset. Jesus dealt in story and dreams, and we would do well to remember that when it comes to our reading of scripture.
The kingdom comes alive when you begin to imagine a world like this...