Rebel Pilgrim

My Last Blog Ever...

2011-12-14T23:35:00.000-05:00

...on Blogger.

Thanks for a great 9.5 years, Blogger, but we all knew this day had to come. WordPress just gets me. I'm leaving you. Let's not drag this thing out. We will always have the early 2000's to look back on...and we will always be friends.

I'm archiving this page and moving Rebel Pilgrim to WordPress at www.joeboydblog.com. I'd love to see you over there...

Goat on a Cow!

2011-11-22T21:23:00.001-05:00

Have you ever seen a goat standing on a cow? Me neither. I have professed my love for Radio Lab before. This may be my favorite ever. Listen to the link below:

Is My Favorite Bible Story Biblical?

2011-11-21T12:18:00.000-05:00

My favorite Bible story probably shouldn't be in the Bible. I love the story of the woman caught in adultery found in John 8. I think that I have publicly told every story about Jesus found in the Bible. But there are a few favorites. For some reason many are found in John's gospel - healing the man born blind on the Sabbath, turning water to wine, etc. But my favorite is the woman caught in adultery. I have to be pushing 100 tellings of that particular story in my lifetime. To me, it is gospel in microcosm.

But, here's the thing I tend to gloss over about that section of Scripture. There is almost no chance that the story was in the original manuscript we label the book of John. I won't bore you with the textual and archeological evidence for it. (Because I really don't care to convince you one way or the other.) Most scholars would agree that the story was likely added to John's gospel about 100-200 years after it was written. Now, my non-believing friends tell me all the time the New Testament was constantly altered by monks and scribes with agendas throughout antiquity - implying that we can't trust the text preserved for us. I think this opinion is generally overstated and uneducated. We have so many late copies of the New Testament books that we can rest assured most all of it contains the authors' original message. This story however fails the test of Johannine authenticity on a few fronts - it is the only story in John that pits Jesus in direct conflict with the Pharisees, for instance. This is a common theme in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), but not in John. The story actually fits the style of the synoptic gospels much better. (In fact, some early manuscripts find the exact story inserted into the later chapters of Luke instead of John.)

I feel like the reason this story still exists in most all modern translations is for one simple reason - we like it too much to get rid of it. It is so full of gospel that we can't bear the thought of de-canonizing it. This is also why I believe it made its way in originally. The early church couldn't let the story of Jesus exist without this account documented somewhere.

My personal guess (and even though I am acting like a scholar right now, I really have no credentials) is that this was an oral tradition rooted in some historical event in the life of Jesus that was so important to the early Christians that it made its way into the written accounts of the gospel after the fact. For years this bothered me. How could my favorite story be an add-on addition? What does that say about its historicity or inspiration?

Then, out of nowhere, I saw it in a new way. At the end of John's gospel he says this...

"Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the King, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name...Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

John gave us the stories we needed to receive life in Jesus. We have the gospel in full without the story in John 8. But the early church couldn't bear for us to be without it...so they filled in just one of the empty pages in one of the books that the world did not have room for. It makes me wonder if this story of Jesus had become such a part of the early gospel telling that it found its way in at any cost. Is the story Biblical? I guess it depends on how you define Biblical. Is it true? Absolutely. And when I think about it that way, it means even more to me.

Here is my latest imagining of this story...

He squatted. A drop of sweat fell from his furrowed brow and landed on the dusty ground. It was a hot day. Her wails of agony and embarrassment pierced his ears. Had he taken the time to listen closer, he would have heard his enemies chattering and his followers gasping. But all he noticed was his own elevated heart rate.

He was focused on his next move. This was not on the agenda today. He was to teach in the morning, have lunch with his friends, then move onto the next house that had been arranged for him. He looked forward to what he hoped would be a softer bed in the new house than the one he had used for the last several days. His back ached.

He glanced up. He was surrounded. At least a dozen of them encircled the girl and him. They wore smug faces and the clean garments of priests and professors. He felt his stomach turn sour. Sometimes he wished he couldn’t’ see through them.

His eyes fell to her. Naked. Curled in a ball. Bleeding from her knees and face. She wept. Her fear overcame him. Anger boiled in his soul toward her accusers. She was only a pawn in their game. But she had a name…a story…and maybe even a future.

His eyes fell back to the ground. Instinctively he began to draw with his finger in the sand. Meaningless scribbles helped him think. Then he grinned ever so slightly. Like that moment a puzzle is solved in the mind.

“Well?” one of them spoke. It was the young brash one who had thrown her down by her hair. “What do we do with her, Rabbi? Moses says stone her. What do you say?”

His eyes didn’t go to the inquisitor. They stayed on her. She was curled nude in the fetal position. Like a baby abandoned at birth.

“We should stone her,” Jesus said. She shrieked. He was her last hope. “But we will do it right,” he continued. He only looked at her. “The one of us who is without sin will throw the first stone.”

Silence. Nothing but her whimpering. Just a thud as the oldest priest dropped his stone to the ground. Then another. And another. Then, like popcorn hitting that perfect temperature, they all began to fall. The young zealot was the last to leave. He turned and stormed off.

Finally, the teacher moved his eyes from her. They had all left. Only a few of his own disciples remained. They stared at him shocked. Confused. Speechless.

He removed his outer garment and walked to the girl. She couldn’t have been more than 17. The same age as his youngest sister. He covered her and lifted her chin with his finger. Again, he squatted.

She looked at him.

He wiped the tears from her eyes. Then the blood from her nose. “Where are they?” he whispered. “Your accusers are gone.” He looked past her eyes into her soul. “And I don’t accuse you either,” he said. “Now go, but stop sinning like this. It is destroying you.”

He stood and lifted her up. "Go on now."

She turned and limped away covered in his cloak, crying again.

But it was a different sort of cry.

Book Review: The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight

2011-11-09T17:43:00.001-05:00

I just finished reading The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight, one of my two favorite books of the year. (The other is The Lost World of Genesis One by John H. Walton, which coincidentally was quoted in McKnight's book.)

McKnight is an author whom I have never read, but I have seen his name bantered about from time to time. I had briefly reviewed his 2010 article in Christianity Today that thoughtfully tackled an issue I have often struggled with - the congruity of the gospel of Jesus and the gospel of Paul.

Around a decade ago I read Dallas Willard's book The Divine Conspiracy. It was through that book that I first encountered the gospel of Jesus Christ. That may seem odd to say. I had been a Christian my entire life, graduated from Bible College and been a pastor for five years before reading it. My life could easily be divided into pre-Willard and post-Willard. Willard showed me that the gospel was the Kingdom come - not just sin management.

(Side note: I think The Divine Conspiracy is beginning to loom as a pivotal once-in-a-generation work in modern Christianity. Many evangelicals of my generation look back on that book as a kind of secret passage leading to a more Kingdom-centered tangible expression of Christianity.)

From Willard I found many other authors ready to aid in my exploration into this new and improved gospel - thinkers like Stanley Hauerwas, Will Willimon, John Howard Yoder, Hans Kung, and N.T. Wright. Over time, N.T. Wright rose about them all as a trusted voice - even beyond Willard in many ways. Wright just seemed (and seems) a half-step ahead of so many of us. (The irony that an Anglican Bishop in England has become the patron saint of post-modern post-evangelicals in America is beyond explanation to me.)

When I picked up The Jesus Gospel I immediately noticed that it had two different forwards - one by N.T. Wright...the second by Dallas Willard. How could I not read on?

I hope this doesn't seem somehow conceited, but what I felt while reading McKnight's book was an intense measure of agreement and thankfulness. Reading, particularly reading theology, is often best when you find an author who stretches your common perceptions and assumptions. That is what Willard, and later Wright, did for me. Certainly, McKnight did that for me in stretches through this book. But it wasn't so much the head-tilting moments that won me over as it was the head-nodding moments. With nearly every paragraph I found myself thinking, "Good, someone else sees it that way too...and someone smarter than me. Maybe I'm not crazy, after all!"

I feel like, for instance, I am constantly harping on my evangelical friends about the danger of over-emphasizing personal salvation. McKnight confirmed in me that my prophetic instincts in that regard are grounded. The gospel is not fundamentally about your sin problem. It is about Jesus...and more specifically about Jesus being Israel's Messiah and the rightful Lord of the entire cosmos.

When in doubt as a "preacher," I tell stories about Jesus - or about his people, Israel. McKnight encouraged me that what I am doing is pure gospel proclamation. In short, he confirmed for me that gospel is what I have come to think it is - simply Jesus as King. He is the good news. His life, death, resurrection and appearances in the context of the story of Israel is what changes everything. Those of us who believe his story are sent to proclaim it as historical testimony. We don't have to persuade people to action. We just tell the story and the story does the work. It is good news. Perhaps more accurately, he is good news.

I rarely use this blog as a commercial, but I unashamedly encourage you to buy this book. It may do for you what The Divine Conspiracy did for me ten years ago.

Why Halloween Matters

2011-10-31T14:51:00.000-04:00

Today 161 million people in the United States are celebrating Halloween. That makes it our second most celebrated holiday behind Christmas. (Or third highest if you count the Super Bowl as a holiday.) 70% of Americans are spending money on Halloween this year, the highest percentage ever. They are shelling out more cash per person than ever before as well...even in a down economy. $72.31 per person...or a grand total of $6.86 billion. There is a national shortage of black turtlenecks this year. So, you can guess who a few nerdy guys in your office will be going as tonight.

Chart: Halloween 2011 - Average Historical Spending

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Chart: Halloween 2011 - Plans to celebrate

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All of this spurs a few thoughts in me. Here are the reasons why I think Halloween works so well in our culture...and why, ultimately, I think it is more good than bad.

1. An excuse to celebrate.

Sure if you go back far enough you will find that this "holiday" is really the day before a church holiday celebrating the saints. This was the day to drive out the evil spirits from the village. If you look even further you will see that before the church got a hold of it, it was an ancient Celtic tradition to light bonfires on October 31 and scare away a few ghosts and zombies. I am going out on a limb here and saying that 99.9% of the people spending almost $7 billion aren't doing so as a sacrifice of praise to some evil force. Some of my people (evangelical Christians) get a little worked up about the origins of Halloween. I don't think the origins have anything significant to do with the modern American tradition. I don't think demons are rejoicing that kids are dressing up like Angry Birds and Harry Potter.

Most American holidays are the same way. Modern Christmas has a little, but not much, to do with the birth of Christ. Modern Independence Day and Memorial Day (much younger holidays than Halloween and Christmas) have relatively little to do with Independence or Memorial. For some people they do...but for the majority of Americans those days are about burgers on the grill and fireworks in the sky. Even MLK Day, a holiday less than a generation old, is becoming more of a mid-winter's day off than a true solemn reflection on civil rights. September 11th is not an official holiday, but it is the closest thing we have now to a day of remembering. That said, I'd bet the farm that my grandkids will have that day off school and have no idea why.

I should say that none of this really bothers me. It just is. It's up to me to teach my kids about these traditions - and I do some of them and not others. My whole point here is that we live in a culture that is way less concerned with remembering (origins of holidays) than using them as an excuse to celebrate. Maybe behind all of this is that we don't celebrate enough. People need to party...

2. An excuse to play.

Halloween gives us (adults and kids alike) an excuse to play. We are more pent up than we would ever care to admit. Truth be told, we should all dress up and pretend more than one day a year. As a trained improviser, I see this more clearly than most. I would submit that part of fascination with Halloween is that it is a free pass to take a risk, to improvise, to pretend. Everyone who wants to play gets to play on Halloween. Try showing up to work in April dressed as Gandalf. It won't go over well. But anything goes today...

3. An excuse to be generous.

People are all selfish, right? Halloween proves that, doesn't it? Greedy little kids begging for candy door to door. It's pathetic. Unless...it is really more about the people giving out the candy. Every year I hear people complain that they didn't get enough greedy little beggars at their door. Sure, every fourth house is locked up and darkened to keep the little ones away. But three out of four are lit up and waiting for an excuse to express generosity. People love to share when it feels safe to do so. Who doesn't like watching a five-year old princess light up after landing a snack-sized Snickers? Giving is good for the soul.

4. An excuse to be communal.

Most of us live in neighborhoods or apartments designed for isolation. As an introvert myself, I see why this is not a bad way to go. The downside is obvious. Most of us don't know our neighbors, let alone love them. Then comes that one night in October when you can't avoid them...unless you flee the neighborhood for a few hours. Every Halloween you get a glimpse of a neighborhood running on an open door policy. And for most of us, it feels strangely right. For some of us, it gives us the courageous to be more neighborly other nights of the year.

Of course, you could look for all of the negative indicators that our fascination with this night brings. They are there - excuses to be gluttonous or promiscuous or whatever. But let's not overlook what is trying to break through...maybe all of this is really a desire in us to be a bit more normal in a world that says normal people never dress up as superheros, give away candy to strangers or hope someone comes knocking on their door asking for a handout.

For those of us who believe God is redeeming everything on the planet, it only makes sense that a pre-modern Celtic tradition rooted in the fear of demons, ghosts and zombies would morph into an excuse to love our neighbors in America several thousand years later.

Happy Halloween to you and yours.

*Halloween stats courtesy of National Retail Foundation.

The Other Prince

2011-10-26T13:05:00.001-04:00

I haven't really looked at my book Between Two Kingdoms for about a year. Debbie had been reading it to the kids over the last few weeks. (They were so excited to read their dad's book that they penciled it in about 18 months after the release.) Last week, Eli asked me to pick up reading. "How often do you get the author of a book to read it to you?" was his pitch. Manipulatively masterful. Considering I am pretty sure he can read for himself.

So I did...and continued a few nights until completing it last night. Through the process, I realized that I had not read the last chapters of the book for two years or longer. It was an odd experience. I couldn't remember writing several sections. (Maybe my editor made significant improvements...or maybe I just forgotten. Hard to say.) I was struck, most surprisingly, by the fact that I enjoyed it. I think creatives tend to look back on their art with embarrassment. ("I could do much better now," we think.)

I was most struck by the chapter I wrote introducing the evil character Senkrad. He loomed as a faceless, terrible force throughout the book, but appeared for the first time toward the very end. As I read, I remembered how easy it was to write his dialogue. Evil is easy for me to imagine. I have always felt that evil is mostly good with a subtle twist. His words even made sense to me as I read them to Eli. "This Senkrad guy makes a pretty compelling argument," I found myself thinking. I'd like to share a section of the chapter called The Other Prince with you here. Hopefully it will makes sense out of context.

Tommy found himself in the middle of a huge bed covered with a thick, white, down comforter. The room was bright, and if he had not known better, he would have thought that the sun was shining in through the many windows. Touching his head, he discovered that his wound had already been neatly bandaged. He also realized that he was now wearing white, silk pajamas. His hooded robe was gone, as were his clothes—including his jacket.

He sat up in a panic.

A man sat in an easy chair across from him. The man had his legs crossed casually and was sipping tea from a cup. He had a sparkle in his eyes and a kind, relatively young face. Though Tommy had never seen him before, the man seemed strangely familiar to him.

“How’s your head, Tom?” the gentleman asked. “Do I know you?” asked Tommy. “Search your heart. I think you do,” replied the mysterious man. He stood up from the chair and walked over to a small bar. He poured freshly squeezed orange juice from a glass pitcher into a tall, chilled glass and brought it to Tommy.

“Drink this. Your breakfast is on its way.” Tommy sat on the edge of the bed, looking suspiciously at the orange juice.

“Tom—or Tommy, if you prefer—if I had wanted to hurt you or poison you I would have done it already. Drink your juice. Two gentlemen ought to be able to trust each other, yes?”

Tommy was parched and he gulped the juice down. It was the best-tasting drink he had ever had in his life. The man returned to his chair and crossed his legs once more.

“Would you like some more?” He asked, with friendly eyes. Tommy shook his head no. “Are you . . . Senkrad?”

The man laughed. “Senkrad? No. There is no Senkrad, my brother. It’s all a very silly myth. My name is Adam. This is my home.”

The man seemed so familiar to Tommy, like an old friend or relative. It was making Tommy crazy as he tried to place his face.

“I’m confused,” Tommy admitted. “Where are Amanda and Bobby?”

“They are being helped by some of my friends, Tommy,” said the man. “How about you think about yourself for a change? Why did you come here in such a hostile manner? I would have been happy to invite you in and discuss things, like two reasonable, well, adults. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t give me a chance to be your friend, before deciding to make me an enemy.” He almost sounded hurt.

“I didn’t just decide to make you my enemy, Sen—Adam. You are the one who started all of this. If you really are the prince of this world, then you owe us all an explanation. You made the Long Night, not us,” said Tommy.

“A prince is the son of a King, Tommy. I’m not a prince. I am no one’s son.”

“So you are a king, then?” asked Tommy.

“I don’t like to think of it that way,” said the man, with another friendly smile. “I’m really more of a servant than anything else. I serve everyone who lives in the Lower Kingdom. Think of me as the Servant-in-Chief.”

“How is all of this darkness and destruction serving these people?” Tommy swung the covers off and sat up in the bed.

The man looked steadily into Tommy’s eyes. “How old do you think I am, Tommy?”

“I don’t know. What does it matter?”

“Take a guess. How old do I look?” “Maybe thirty,” said Tommy. “I’m twenty-nine,” he said. “I have been in this Kingdom for hundreds of years, but I’m only twenty-nine. Eternally twenty-nine.”

“I don’t understand your point,” said Tommy. “I know how old you are. You are seven. You look like you could be my age, but you aren’t, are you? You must be embarrassed of your real age down here in my world; and I understand why. What does a seven-year-old know about life? About death? About trust or wisdom or anything of any importance? Don’t misunderstand me, Tommy. It’s not your fault you don’t know many things . . . most seven-year-olds simply aren’t that informed yet. Don’t you ever want to grow up a little, Tommy? Don’t you ever want to know a little more? To be . . . older?”

Tommy rubbed his forehead. Was this all a bad dream?

“Tommy? I asked if you ever want to be older?”

“I don’t know . . . maybe I’d like to be older sometimes, but I know I don’t want to die, and old people eventually die.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Tommy,” Adam placed his teacup on the table beside his chair and leaned forward. In a near whisper, he continued, “I’m still alive. I haven’t died. I’ve found the perfect age and stayed there. A few years older than this and my body would start to break down ever so slightly. I’d become just a little weaker day by day, until my body would eventually wear out, as you say. A few years younger than this and I wouldn’t be as strong and mature as I am right now. This is the perfect age, and I wish everyone could be twenty-nine forever. That’s all I’m trying to do . . . just help people live better lives. Share what I know, what I have.”

“But how did you do it? How did you get to this age and then stop growing?”

“I willed it. You can too, Tommy. You can . . . most people can’t. Most people need someone like us to will it for them. That’s what the Long Night is all about. The sun is what ages my people, you see. Those harmful rays. I’m trying to stop them from aging. Once I do, I have a plan to bring light back into the world. I wouldn’t leave those I love in darkness forever. Not like your King has done to you.”

“My King would never keep me in darkness,” snapped Tommy.

“Oh, well, I mean no offense. He gives you light for your eyes, yes, but what about your mind? He keeps the important things from you, Tommy. Tell me, what has your King taught you about the mystery of death? Has he told you anything about death, except that you should avoid it? What has he told you about the Messengers? What about the ocean that surrounds the island? Where does it go? What is its name? What of the stars, Tommy? Where did they come from? Where do they go when night fades? What has he taught you about how these two kingdoms were formed? Who created them in the first place? Surely, someone did? What has he done for you except make you a leader and force you to wear a ridiculous coat that actually prevents you from leading well?”

Tommy sat on the edge of the bed, motionless, yet feeling pulled in a thousand directions. “I feel sick.”

I think this chapter was easy for me to write because it is so similar to the constant chatter going on silently between my ears. In a world where everything is doctored with a strategic spin, including - maybe especially - matters of spirituality, life can get confusing. As I have attempted to pray in different ways over the last few weeks, I begin to notice that the chatter lessens. In prayer we catch glimpses of our true Prince. We see his face, hear his voice, know his presence. Knowing Jesus is the only way I know to identify his many imposters. I think I am getting a little better at knowing the difference between the real and artificial these days. I hope the same is true for you.

*Art provided by Mark Haas for Between Two Kingdoms

Steve Jobs on Death (and Life)

2011-10-05T20:21:00.002-04:00

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

-Steve Jobs, 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

Read it all here.

Why I Make Movies

2011-10-03T12:41:00.000-04:00

I finally have had time to reflect a little on the last two months. It has been rather intense on the creative front with pre-production and production of A Strange Brand of Happy and the premiere of Fenced Off at the Cincinnati Film Festival this past weekend. Making movies is hard work. I mean, it's not like being a coal miner or a Navy Seal, but it is difficult. Funding an independent film is hard work. Shooting on a tight budget: hard. Editing with limited resources: hard. You get the picture.

So, I have been asking myself the question of late: Why do I do this? Part of me believed (actually, sort of hoped) that after wrapping production of A Strane Brand of Happy I would have realized that this isn't my thing. That I could scratch "make four movies" off the bucket list and move onto some other grand distraction. But that didn't happen. Quite the opposite. Why?

"Happy" was the most difficult shoot to date. It was more pressure, more people, more problems. There was one day about seven days into shooting that I thought it was all going to fall apart. Really - not hyperbole. I thought I had made a mistake that was going to shut us down. But after about twelve hours of phone calls, we made it through. By the end of the shoot, three weeks later, that day was a distant memory - a milestone on the journey we could laugh about. But on that day, I was stumped and scared. But here is the biggest learning I took from that day and this last movie shoot: I did not want to give up. Not even for a second.

Some people never give up on anything. That's a relatively admirable trait. I used to be more that way, but a few major life lessons have taught me that there is a time to give up an a time to press forward. Some things need to die. But that never crossed my mind with this project. I was going to die fixing it before I would let it fall apart. I think there must be something to the thing in a person's life that generates that sort of commitment. Sure, it could (and probably does) partially stem from some sort of brokenness or pride in me. Maybe these little movie projects can become too important to me. But...that's just half the equation. There is also something to working in the bullseye of your passion and skill set that is different, right, and even holy.

I learned on the set of my fourth movie that I am a filmmaker. That may seem strange. But that's the big takeaway. It doesn't mean that I am not other things, but it means I am, indeed, that. I cannot be otherwise.

It took about 24 hours after wrapping for the first texts to come in from Brad Wise and Isaac Stambaugh, my creative partners who worked even harder on this movie than I did. They were dead tired, beat up and physically sick from a grueling month of 14-hour days. But guess what their post-shooting texts were about? They were all about what's next. "What if we did this?" "What about that idea we had two years ago?" "We should get together and discuss the next project."

So there you have it. It is communal and contagious. Like a disease that brings life. Storytellers simply have to tell stories. And when you get a team of storytellers that are willing to work through the incredibly difficult task of producing a story, you emerge ready to tell the next one. This is the biggest irony of all. What we learned in the making of A Strange Brand of Happy is, in essence, the overriding message of the film itself - that when a person, or group of people, operate within their God-given gifts and passions, a strange brand of happy overtakes them. We believe this quirky inner fulfillment is a pathway to God. Follow it and you will find a Creator and a Storyteller ready to write you into the next chapter.

We have launched a new website to keep everyone updated on our stories. You can learn more about A Strange Brand of Happy, Fenced Off and our other movies at www.rebelpilgrim.com. And, to be sure, we will let you know as soon as we figure out what is next.

So, the answer to the question, "Why do you make movies?" is the same answer I have to the other foundational questions of my life, like "Why are you faithful to your wife and kids?" or "Why do you teach so much about Jesus and the Kingdom?"

I do those things because it is who I am. Any other explanation would miss the point.

Join me?

2011-09-26T22:01:00.002-04:00

There are two events very close to my heart this coming weekend. If you live near Cincinnati, I'd love to invite you to both.The Vineyard's Prom for adults with special needs is this Friday. I have never met someone who volunteered at the Prom who didn't walk away changed by the experience. It is one of the greatest reflections of community and love that I get to experience every year. There is still room to volunteer to serve in a variety of capacities. Just click here to learn more.Also, this Saturday, the day after the Prom, our latest movie Fenced Off has its world premiere at the Cincinnati Film Festival. We are very excited that the movie will be seen first here in Cincinnati. It is my second year in a row to have a film in the festival and I'm honored to be associated with it. If you'd like to join us for the premiere, you can reserve tickets at this link.Check out the Fenced Off trailer below:

Week Two of "Strange Brand" Begins Today.

2011-08-23T08:50:00.000-04:00

Week one of A Strange Brand of Happy is safely in the can. We have a great team that really started to gel toward the end of the week. We spent four days in Norwood shooting at at duplex owned by a great guy named Tony. He couldn't have been nicer. Before that, we shot one day at Queens Tower in Price Hill. We were able to get some amazing shots of the city from the 14th floor. The very first day we shot at Dewey's Pizza in West Chester. I loved Dewey's before we shot there and my opinion of them is through the roof now. The manager was over the top hospitable - feeding us lunch AND throwing in a few extra pies for the crew as we wrapped. I couldn't be happier that they have chosen to be a part of this movie.As far as talent goes, Rebecca St. James was in last week for several days. She is now gone for a while and will return for the last few weeks of the shoot. My friend Holly Walker is here, playing a role but also helping out with the crew. She is the Leonard DiCaprio to my Martin Scorsese. (She has been in all four narrative films I have made. Because she is crazy talented.) My buddy Ben Keller stole every scene his was in with me last week...and I couldn't be happier about it. And my friend Bekka Prewitt came home to Cincinnati from LA to play the role of "Terry." She nailed it. Today we move onto to shoot at a bar in Fairfield. My friend and locally based stand-up comic, Geoff Tate, will be playing the bartender in these scenes. Lots of Hitting The Nuts alum acting this week including Chris Day, Nick Ghizas and Mike Betette. Speaking of...Mike is coming in from LA for only one day. While he is here, we are planning on doing a little free improv show at Taza this Saturday, August 27th at 9 pm. Mike, Holly Walker and I will be doing a three person show with some time at the end for other improvisers to jump in. It should be hilariously funny so long as I stay out of their way. They are two of the most talented improvisers on planet earth. See this Facebook link for more details about the show Thanks to all of you who helped us out last week with food, locations, extra work, etc. I will do my best to keep you updated as this week progresses.

A Strange Brand of Happy Shoots Today!

2011-08-15T10:54:00.001-04:00

Making a movie is a journey in three legs. The middle leg is the most chaotic, fun and collaborative. It is the part that most people think of when they think about making a movie. It starts with principal photography and ends about a year later with a final cut. Today, A Strange Brand of Happy begins a 25-day shoot in Cincinnati.

Day one of shooting is probably my favorite in the whole process. It marks the end of leg one - the conception phase that moves the project from idea to script to financing to pre-produciton. Conception phase of this movie has taken 957 days. (Brad Wise mailed me the idea for this movie on December 31, 2008.) This day also marks the beginning of a new phase. Today the vision and dream of this story moves from a few dozen people to a few hundred. I have never experienced anything like the collaboration of a film set. It is a strange concoction of unexpected joys, surprises, problems and solutions. There are daily moments of fear and dread followed by waves of elation. It's life at its best for me.

After this phase, we will move into the multi-year process of securing distribution, marketing and delivery. That phase has its moments, but this one is my favorite. Today is the day that we look back on more than two years of hard work and say, "That was really difficult, but we made it! Now we have earned the right to really go to work."

We'd love for you to stay updated on the progress of the movie. Pick your favorite way to connect from the links below and join the journey with us!

A Strange Brand of Happy Official Site
A Strange Brand of Happy Official Facebook
A Strange Brand of Happy Official Twitter
A Strange Brand of Happy IMDb
Rebel Pilgrim Productions Facebook

So You Want to Be an Author? Actor? Pastor? Etc?

2011-08-08T11:51:00.000-04:00

I get a lot of emails from people wanting to become something they are not yet. What I mean, is they want to become an author, a screenwriter, an actor, a filmmaker, or even a pastor. These are all things I have done and currently do, so it makes sense people would reach out to me for advice, I suppose. I did the same thing when I first realized I wanted to do any of those things.

Here is what is really behind a lot of the emails I receive: Those who want to be authors or writers really want to be published. Those who want to be screenwriters or filmmakers really want to see their story played out in a movie theater. And most people contacting me wanting to be a pastor want to lead a church - often a big church.

None of those desires are necessarily bad, but they are often misplaced. They seek a validation that comes from vocation. It is completely natural. I still fall into it myself. But it is not the best way to get there from here.

Let's say you have a job now, but want to do something else. I have come to believe that there is only one genuinely responsible way to get there - start now. But don't quit your day job.

You will never make it to the shelf at Barnes & Noble or Blockbuster with your idea. (Mainly because neither will be around anymore by the time your idea gets to that point.) You may get a book in the Kindle store or a movie on iTunes someday. But, for your sake, I hope it is not your first book or movie. You might get a starring part as an actor on Broadway or in a big budget Hollywood movie, but unless you happen to be young, gorgeous, super talented and related to someone in the business, I wouldn't count on it being your first role.

You start becoming an author by writing. For free. For whoever will read what you write. I always recommend starting a blog to anyone who wants to be a writer. I blogged for about eight years before I got a book deal. I wrote the first few chapters of about ten books before anyone ever even read a manuscript. I have at least a half dozen screenplays on my Mac that have never seen the light of day. Mainly because they are bad. My experience is that by the time you get something you have written published or produced, it doesn't feel like that big of a deal...but like the next logical step in a lifelong process.

You start becoming an actor by acting. For free. For whoever will let you act for them (while keeping your clothes on.) Community theater can be great, but it can also be terribly painful. Pay your dues. Be in painful local productions - churches are often, sadly, a great place to start. Work for free in student films...they are generally bad too. I believe that you have to become the best bad actor in town before becoming the worst good actor. If you love acting even though you know you are a part of an artistic train wreck, then you may have what it takes to keep going.

You start becoming a pastor by pastoring people. For free. Love the people around you. Pray for them. Lead them to Jesus. Model a better life for them. Maybe someday you will find a community that financially supports you for it, but my experience is that isn't always better, just bigger. The vast majority of pastors in the history of Christianity didn't receive a dime for caring for people.

I think this philosophy applies to most everything. Except maybe brain surgery. Don't do that for free. But for the arts, it applies. Don't desire to be a professional at something until you have proven to yourself that you are willing to do your art simply for the love of it. From someone who has done it both ways, trust me when I tell you my greatest writing, acting, filmmaking and pastoring experiences were all unpaid. It doesn't get any better than doing it for free. Getting paid for it just lets you do it more. And more isn't always better. So...go do it.

Cast Announcement: A Strange Brand of Happy

2011-08-04T10:38:00.001-04:00

We just released this press release about 15 minutes ago. We are all very excited about the cast assembled. There are many more talented people involved in the movie not mentioned in this short release including many local actors and a predominately local crew.

If you live in Cincinnati and want to contribute, head over to www.astrangebrandofhappy.com to learn more.

We're shooting in 11 days! Here's the release:

PRESS RELEASE

August 4, 2011

For Immediate Release

Cincinnati-based Movie Includes Academy Award Winner and GrammyWinner.

Rebel Pilgrim Productions, in association with Vineyard Cincinnati, willbegin principal photography of A StrangeBrand of Happy, a romantic comedy, on August 15, 2011. The movie will shootentirely in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is the fourth feature film in five years forthe company. The company’s previous film, HittingThe Nuts, won the Golden Ace Award for Superior Filmmaking at the 2011 LasVegas Film Festival last month.

A Strange Brand of Happy stars Academy Award Winner Shirley Jones(Elmer Gantry, The Partridge Family), Grammy Award Winner Rebecca St. James,veteran comedic actor Marty Ingels (I’m Dickens He’s Fenster), Joe Boyd(Hitting The Nuts), Joe Stevens (True Grit), Venida Evans (The AdjustmentBureau) and Ashley Palmer (Paranormal Activity).

The movie will be directed by Brad Wise and produced by Joe Boyd, Jim Nybergand Philip Sarnecki. It expects a theatrical release in 2013.

# # #

The Spirituality of Creativity

2011-07-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

I have received interesting emails and Facebook messages following this past weekend's teaching at The Vineyard. It seems as though a lot of people needed to hear one of two things: 1.) That it is just as Biblical/spiritual to ask questions as it is to answer them. We should not be afraid of verbalizing the big questions of life. 2.) That it is time to go for it, creatively speaking. I have had a dozen emails of people telling me that they are going to practice hospitality, or finish a novel or pick up their guitar or whatever.

If you missed the weekend, my task was to give an overview of the literature and poetry found in the Old Testament - books like Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. It was a rather daunting assignment to try to do in thirty minutes. When doing a quick overview of the Old Testament, one is struck by the value that the Bible puts on creative writing, poetry, song, and fictional/allegorical storytelling. As modern Western Americans we tend to value answers more than questions. We value logic over emotion. Data over imagination. We want direction from the Bible. We want a formula. Perhaps, more than anything, we want it to be practical. But a huge chunk of the Hebrew Scriptures seems unfazed by our modern desire for practicality.

These books are real people wrestling with God in their cultural climate using the forms of art and media that they have at their fingertips. There are more unresolved questions than answers in these books. More imagination than dictation. Sometimes, they even disagree with one another. These books remind us that the journey with God is a process.

I was very excited that my friend Todd Henry was able to join us this weekend. Todd is one of the people I go to personally when I want to think about creativity and expression. Todd's new book The Accidental Creative just released this month to great reviews from people like Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield. Check out his website www.accidentalcreative.com to get the book. (And check out his podcasts while you are there - they are invaluable.)

This weekend helped to remind me of something I have based my life upon - that we all have a story to tell. We all have a creative mandate. We are not just allowed, but encouraged, to ask the big questions before we have the answers. Our stories are what make us different than the rest of creation.

This is why I am not just a pastor, but also a filmmaker. The more I go along, the more important it becomes for me to tell stories on film and video. It engages a passion in me like nothing else does. I am learning that the best part of filmmaking is how collaborative of an art form it is. Seeing dozens of people working on one piece of art as a missional community is a beautiful thing. This weekend with Todd was exactly what I needed to cleanse my palate before we begin shooting the next movie August 15th.

Keep praying for A Strange Brand of Happy. (If you pray - not all of my readers are into the whole God thing. You guys can just think lovely thoughts about me for a second.) It looks like we have most all of the crew and cast, but could still use help with meals, extras and finding some props. You can learn more at the movie's official site - www.astrangebrandofhappy.com. The more the merrier! We'd love to have you join us in this effort to make a movie that asks the big questions while being ridiculously entertained.

My challenge to you this week is to create something - just one thing that didn't exist before your brain thought of it. It doesn't need to be a feature film or the great American novel. It could be a meal, a poem, a business plan or a birdhouse. Just create it. It's what you were created to do.

Hitting The Nuts Wins at Las Vegas Film Festival

2011-07-18T16:17:00.002-04:00

I am back in the friendly skies headed home to Cincinnati. I miss my bed. We had a great week in Las Vegas. Personally, it was great to be back. Aidan, my 9 year old, said that he felt like he was home in Vegas. (He was only 3 when we moved away.) This statement both thrilled and worried me a little :)

On the business side, Hitting The Nuts screened to a full house and was universally praised. We won another award. It is all nice, but the real joy is taking a story I made with my friends and watching strangers belly laugh for 100 minutes. In short, we made a real movie that makes people have a better day. That's something to be proud of.

If you are the type of person who needs the details...or a writer for the Hollywood Reporter, I have pasted todays press release below.

PRESS RELEASE
July 18, 2011

Hitting The NutsWins at Las Vegas Film Festival

The poker-themed comedy Hitting The Nuts won a Golden AceAward for Superior Filmmaking at the 2011 Las Vegas Film Festival. This is thethird award in as many festivals. (The movie won Best Feature Film at both theCincinnati Film Festival and the Derby City Film Festival earlier this year.)

The movie screened at the Las Vegas Hilton on July 16^thto a packed house. Joe Boyd is the producer and director of the movie. He says,“It really was an amazing reception. The crowd never stopped laughing frombeginning to end. We are humbled by the movie’s success. We are grateful to theLas Vegas Film Festival and the international poker community for the support.”

Currently the DVD is only available at www.HittingTheNuts.com, but accordingto Boyd, “We are getting very close to a wider distribution deal that will getthe DVD to major retail centers, as well as a digital version to outlets like iTunesand Netflix.”

Hitting The Nuts is produced by Rebel Pilgrim Productions with offices in Las Vegas, Nevada and Cincinnati, Ohio.

xxx

Movie News from Delta Flight 845

2011-07-09T21:41:00.002-04:00

If I had to guess, I am 30,000 feet above Missouri right now. I am headed "home" if there is such a thing for me anymore. Of course, my real home is where my wife, kids and beagle hang out. Which is Cincinnati. Or more accurately, 25 miles north of Cincinnati. But going "home" means going back to where one grew up. I grew up in lots of places, but nowhere more so than Las Vegas.

This is a business trip, though I took vacation time from The Vineyard for it. (My life is confusing.) I am heading to Vegas in hopes of finalizing a distribution deal for Hitting The Nuts. It screens at the Las Vegas Film Festival on July 16th. This week is also the beginning of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, so it timed out well to visit some of my friends in the poker world who have backed HTN.

Officially, Rebel Pilgrim Productions is still based in Las Vegas. My business partner, Jim Nyberg, is there along with our office. I am excited to focus on the film production stuff for a full week. (Our new movies are partnered with The Vineyard, but HTN is not. Again, my life is a little confusing.) I have been in negotiations with some name talent for our next movie, A Strange Brand of Happy, this week. I would love to tell you who it is, but I can't. It could be a really cool thing though.

Speaking of the next movie, if you live in Cincinnati and want to help us out with A Strange Brand of Happy will still need some small groups and restaurants to provide delicious meals for the cast and crew. Head on over to www.astrangebrandofhappy.com to volunteer.

I never feel more alive and excited than during a collaborative creative effort. I have several of them going at once right now. I love it. Nothing gives me joy like seeing a community of people create art. It's beyond spiritual for me.

If you are in Las Vegas, I'd love to invite you to the Hitting The Nuts screening. You can get tickets through the festival at www.lvfilmfest.com. It is a 10 a.m. screening on Saturday, July 16th. The perfect time of day to laugh, I say.

Fenced Off, our drama, is moving along in post-production. If you haven't seen the trailer for it, head on over to www.fencedoff.com. We hope to get it out to you later this year.

I hope this post didn't feel like a big commercial. I try not to do that on here. It's just exciting stuff for all of us. Lots of turbulence now...gonna sign off and pretend like it isn't bothering me.

Blessings from the friendly skies...

How to Disagree Like a Christian.

2011-06-24T10:37:00.000-04:00

We Christians disagree about most everything, especially us Protestants. It's in the very label we go by - Protestants are the those who "protest." One of us protested 95 Catholic positions 500 years ago and we never stopped protesting against one another since. That's why it seems like there is a Christian denomination for every three people on earth. (There are at least five varieties of church on the drive from my house to the building where my version of Christianity worships.) It is truly amazing and somewhat embarrassing that the people who believe in "one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all..." are splintered in every conceivable way. Most all of our disagreements stem from how we interpret one book - The Bible. (And many of them actually come from how we interpret just a few verses in that one book.)

At this point I have a confession. My instinctual response to controversy, especially Biblical controversy, is to keep my mouth shut as long as possible. There is some wisdom in this, but also some cowardice. Sometimes it has meant that I will close my mind as well as my mouth. My personalty (INTP) seeks understanding more than answers. I am most uncomfortable when I am sure that I am right about something. I prefer to not have an opinion so that I can somehow foster unity among those who disagree. I am now seeing that my methods are probably the wrong directions to try to get to the right address. I have decided it is time to buckle down and figure out what my opinion is on several issues that I have basically ignored.

As a result, I have been thinking and reading a tremendous amount of late about some issues that might be thought of as controversial within the scope of Evangelical Christianity. I came across something foreign to me that I thought was very helpful. Not having ever been a Presbyterian, I had little knowledge of the specifics of their recent history until stumbling upon some Presbyterian writers and scholars this year. In doing so, I discovered the UPCUSA Guidelines for "a positive not restrictive use of Scripture in matters of controversy" written in 1982. I wanted to submit them here as a starting point for any of you currently in a situation where it could be beneficial:

1. Recognize that Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the center of Scripture. The redemptive activity of God is central to the entire Scripture. The Old Testament themes of the covenant and the messiah testify to this activity. In the center of the New Testament is Jesus Christ: the Word made flesh, the fulfillment of Israel's messianic hope, and the promise of the Kingdom. It is to Christ and the church witnesses. When interpreting Scripture, keeping Christ in the center aids in evaluating the significance of the problems and controversies that always persist in the vigorous, historical life of the church.

2. Let the focus be on the plain text of Scripture, to the grammatical and historical context, rather than to allegory or subjective fantasy.

3. Depend on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in interpreting and applying God's message.

4. Be guided by the doctrinal consensus of the church, which is the rule of faith.

5. Let all interpretations be in accord with the rule of love, the two-fold commandment to love God and love our neighbor.

6. Remember that interpretation of the Bible requires earnest study in order to establish the best text and to interpret the influence of historical and cultural context in which the divine message has come.

7. Seek to interpret a particular passage in the Bible in light of all the Bible.

As I look back on the hot button issues that have defined much of Evangelicalism in my lifetime, I can't help but think that a slight glance over to the left at our Presbyterian brothers and sisters might have brought about more civilized and productive discussions. I have personally witnessed, and probably enflamed, debates that ignored all seven guidelines above. As I currently seek to bring a little more resolution on some Biblical passages in which honest, God-loving Christians disagree, the seven guidelines above give me the framework to press forward.

What an unprecedented witness could emerge if Christians genuinely learned how to disagree on important issues without labeling, excommunicating, damning or hating one another. It seemed, after all, to be a great hope of Jesus - that others would know we are his followers because of the love we have one for another.

Time to Make a Movie!

2011-06-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

We are happy to announce that principal photography will begin on our next film, A Strange Brand of Happy, on August 15th. The movie is a romantic comedy starring Rebecca St. James. It's very funny, but it will also start some serious conversations about the big questions of life. We are all crazy excited to begin shooting.

If you live in the Cincinnati area, we would love your help. Making a low-budget movie like this one is an amazing collaboration of hundreds of people who come together for a common goal. The most pressing need we have right now is providing really great food for our cast and crew. We also need extras, props and a few big ticket items - like an RV and a private jet for Brad Wise, our pretentious director. (OK, we don't need a jet. But the RV thing is true.)

Head on over to the website for A Strange Brand of Happy and let us know how you'd like to be a part of it all.

Not all of us believe in the "Rapture"

2011-05-21T22:58:00.000-04:00

Well, I almost made it past rapture-pa-looza without commenting. I am going to be short and sweet here. I have no desire to be controversial on this topic. Many of my Christian and Non-Christian friends have asked me about the prediction that the "rapture" was coming today.

My opinion was that it would not happen today primarily because I believe it will never happen. I don't believe in the rapture. It is ok if you do. I can see how some Christians interpret a few Biblical passages in a such a way to get there. I'm just saying that I am not one of them.

I do believe in some down-right unbelievable things: physical resurrection after death, a second physical returning of Jesus to earth, a future "New Heaven and New Earth," etc. I am not denying the rapture because it appears on the surface to be unrealistic and a little wacky. I am denying it because I don't believe it is mentioned the Bible as a futuristic prophecy.

Instead of writing why I believe this, I will include a few links below to some New Testament scholars who have influenced my thinking on how to interpret the disputed passages, particularly I Thessalonians 4:13-18.

We need not dread the end of the world. Our faith teaches that the world will be redeemed and beautiful someday through the reign of God in Jesus. That's our future. That is the truth that spurs us to endure the current "tribulations" that some of us are currently suffering. The world isn't going to end so much as it is waiting to begin. That's the point, IMHO (as the kids say).

So, read these links if you want to know more. (I have some fear of the comments to follow this post. I hope no uncivilized arguments ensue. I won't be commenting. If you know me personally we can talk about it next time you see me...)

http://www.gregboyd.org/qa/end-times/when-will-jesus-return/
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_BR_Farewell_Rapture.htm
http://www.gregboyd.dreamhosters.com/qa/bible/what-is-the-right-way-to-interpret-revelation/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fVgAQunWg
http://jimzartman.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/origin-of-belief-the-rapture/ *

*I am hoping listing Jim Zartman with Greg Boyd and N.T. Wright will not go to his head.

**If I am wrong about this I will issue an apology to those of you who believe mid-flight. I promise.

A Christian Response to Recent Events

2011-05-02T12:09:00.002-04:00

The geo-political/pop-cultural events of the past few days are a mirror into the human story. 2.4 billion people recently watched a Royal Wedding. I looked at the pictures. It seemed super fancy. Someone asked me why I thought Americans were so captivated by a prince and princess living in another Kingdom. Especially since it is a relatively neutered monarchy with no real power. My answer was that we all want a King. William and Kate are only still "royal" because we desperately seek a world where royalty exists.

Deep in the communal center of a group of people is a desire for royalty. I do not mean by this that we all want to be the King or Prince or Princess of our world. (At some level, we all do. But that is not my point.) And I am not speaking so much of our individual desires, but the combined desire of the communal "us." We want a King. We want someone with authority, power and majesty to lead us. We have always wanted a King. That's the whole deal with the human race - especially as we divide ourselves into geo-political groups.

Those of us who wrestle with the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures see this theme throughout our entire story. For the Jews, the theme comes to an apex in the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 8. Here we get a clear view of what our Scriptures teach us. That we desperately want a King, but that YHWH himself desires and deserves that position. Yet we choose idols in the form of human kings. We label these replacement "gods" our kings (or more modernly we call them governments, presidents, prime ministers, etc.) Compared to YHWH any king or political leader who has ever lived is just like our current U.K. royal family - all presentation and circumstance with very little affective power.

This is a long text, but work through it to see where it all leads:

I Samuel 8:4-21

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”

10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

See what YHWH says? You don't want the kind of king you think you want. You want me, but you don't realize it. And the irony is that when you get a king, he will become your god. So do you want a man to be god...or God to be King?

We always choose a man to be god and reject the true King (who is God). So, that is why the Scriptures teach us that after centuries of failed kings and kingdoms, a new man came claiming to be the long-awaited great King. This is how far God went for us. He became a man to become our King (Messiah/Christ). We wouldn't accept him for who he was, so he lowered himself to who we are. And he came with one gospel message as recorded in Matthew 4:17:

17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Here is our King. And he brings his rule - the Kingdom.

This brings us to the second event of recent days. After ten years, the nation of America has defeated an enemy who caused terrible destruction and death on her people. An evildoer was killed for his sins. I was immediately asked what the "Christian response" should be to Osama Bin Laden's demise. That is a complicated question with a complicated answer. I don't know if I am fully qualified to answer it with conviction. I can only say that my personal reaction was a sober one. I was not sad for Bin Laden, but I was not happy for America. It reminded me how the Kingdoms of this world operate, regardless of how just they genuinely try to be. This world is ruled through the weapon of death. Death is how all "kingdoms" reign.

Death is the most powerful weapon at our disposal. It was Bin Laden's greatest power - death and the fear of the death. Today we see that it is America's great power. His reign was ended with his own weapon. It has always been this way. The kings of the earth kill one another. Some will argue that there are times when killing is justified. I am torn on that matter. What I do know is that the world runs on the fear of death.

Our King understood this. So, he attacked the biggest enemy itself. Our King died to beat death. While every other King who has ever lived used death to gain power, Jesus the Christ died to gain power. And our King is the only King to ever beat death. In Revelation, chapter 1, John has a vision of the resurrected King Jesus:

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

And then at the end of his vision, we see the new Kingdom Jesus is leading us toward. We see a metaphorical glimpse of the tangible reality that awaits:

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

And so it will end. The God who wants to be King and rule a Kingdom will create a new heaven and new earth. Since he holds the key to defeating death, the new heaven and new earth will not be ruled by the threat of death, but by the real presence of God. In essence, God will get what he has always wanted. He will be the God who is King. And, we will get what we have always wanted, a King worth following. And, by the way, it all begins with a royal wedding:

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

What do you know? Turns out we are the princess after all. Not me. Not you. Us. The city itself...the people who long for royalty are made royal. The people who long for justice are made right. The people tormented by tyrants, terrorists and madmen live peacefully in the city of God.

So, to put it simply. The "Christian response" to any event that may come upon us is to be Christian. Christian first. Not British, American or Pakastani. Simply Christians.

Love America. But submit to your King.

It's Maundy Thursday - Feeling "Maundy" Yet?

2011-04-21T11:37:00.001-04:00

"Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos"

Yeah, I didn't know what that meant either. It's Latin. I looked it up. It's the Latin translation of the Greek text in John 13:34. Basically, in English it says something like this:

"I give you a new command: Love each other as I have loved you."

John puts those words in the mouth of Jesus on the day before his crucifixion. So today, in Holy Week, we remember that Jesus said this. Today is the last supper. The passover. The advent of the eucharistic tradition.

It seems that the first word of the phrase in Latin, "mandatum," evolved through the centuries to "Maundy." Maundy Thursday. (There are other theories on how today got its name, but this seems to most common.)

So today, we reflect on the living Jesus who is yet to die. The one who shares his life - his very body and blood - with his followers. The one who is with us, eating with us, drinking with us, teaching us, loving us. The one who calls us to obey his central command: Love each other as I have loved you.

N.T. Wright, in his sermon God in Private and Public says this about today:

That rhythm of private and public is what we find, sharply and starkly, in the events of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Today, Jesus takes the disciples into a private room, and the door is shut. Nobody else knows what’s going on. But the words he says there in private, and still more the small but earth-shattering actions he performs, will turn within twenty-four hours into the most ghastly and shocking display of God in public: God shamed and mocked, God beaten up and humiliated, God stripped naked and hung up to die. You can’t get more public than crucifixion by the main west road out of Jerusalem. And, as in fact you can observe throughout Jesus’ ministry, you need that rhythm of private and public at every stage. The private without the public becomes gnosticism, escapism, a safe and narcissistic spirituality. But the public without the private becomes political posturing, meaningless gestures, catching the eye without engaging the heart. We need both; and the events through which we live today enable us to inhabit both, and be strengthened thereby for the ministries both private and public to which we are called.

And the events of Good Friday tells us something we urgently need to know about doing God in public. If it is the true God we are talking about – the God we see and know in Jesus Christ and him crucified – then we should expect that following him, speaking for him, and living out the life of his spirit, will sometimes make the crowds shout ‘Hosanna!’ and sometimes make them shout ‘Crucify!’ We are not in this business to court either popularity or martyrdom. When they come, like Kipling’s triumph and disaster, we should treat them, imposters as they are, just the same. Speaking and living for God in the public world will sometimes dovetail exactly with what the world inarticulately knows it wants and needs; sometimes it will cut straight across what everyone else is saying. But those who have sat at table with their Lord, and have known him in the strange privacy of the breaking of the bread, will not waver the next day when they need to stand as a sign of contradiction in the market place, in the council chamber, or in the courtroom. This is a lesson, my friends, we are going to have to learn more and more in the days to come. Work hard, you who stand up to be counted as the Lord’s publicly recognised servants, work hard at the private disciplines, so that you will know where to stand and how to stand when everyone else thinks you’re blaspheming against the secular gods of the day.

We will reflect on the crucifixion tomorrow at 7pm at The Vineyard if you want to join us.

38 Proverbs for 38 Years

2011-04-09T23:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm calling it. I have now officially moved from my mid-thirties to my late-thirties. For what it is worth, here's a life lesson for each year I have muddled through. (I figure I'm old enough now to try to dish out a little wisdom.)

1. Real friends are people who know your middle name, biggest flaws and hidden talents.
2. Having a job is a good thing, but it is never really the ultimate thing.
3. You can't be happy if you aren't submitting to the right person.
4. Some people you know will never ask the big questions of life.
5. The key to a happy marriage is being a servant.
6. Being a parent of a toddler is exhausting...and you will miss it when it is over.
7. You can't be spiritually fit while being a glutton or a drunk.
8. You can be spiritually fit while enjoying a hamburger and a stiff drink now and again.
9. Some people know God really well but just haven't learned his name yet.
10. Embrace the geekiest and/or nerdiest things about you.
11. When you don't know what else to do, tell a story. If that doesn't work, be silent.
12. You will be embarrassed in ten years of some of the things you believe today.
13. Winter, for all its flaws, makes the other three seasons better.
14. God lives in the mountains and the beaches, but he is even more visible in the city.
15. Jesus is misrepresented about 90% of the time both inside and outside of the church.
16. If both your religious and irreligious friends think you are crazy, congratulations.
17. A loving dog is worth the pain of having a dog...but just barely.
18. If you want to be a Christian, study what Jesus meant by the "Kingdom of God."
19. It is ok to not have answers about God. You aren't his PR department.
20. A worthy life is about not giving up.
21. If you are going to waste money on something, let it be a family vacation.
22. Don't partner with anyone in business you wouldn't want your wife and kids to live with.
23. Unrestrained cynicism will make you and everyone you love miserable.
24. When you look back, your hobbies will have shaped your life. Pick good ones.
25. Every new friend will end up hurting you. Then they might become a great friend.
26. If you fancy yourself an artist and don't do art, you will never feel complete.
27. History is not boring. Some historians are. Know the difference.
28. Sometimes good ideas and organizations need to die. Euthanize and eulogize them.
29. If a friend loses a loved one, go and be in the same room with them.
30. Be alone with your husband or wife for at least one week every year.
31. Take a massive risk every five years.
32. If you can walk somewhere on a nice day instead of driving, do it.
33. Learn to love the things your kids love.
34. Sometimes a pen and paper is still the best option.
35. Floss.
36. Find an exciting author smarter than you and read everything they have ever written.
37. Re-read your favorite books from each decade of your life.
38. Learn to pray in a way that doesn't really feel like you are praying.

Endorsement: Love Wins by Rob Bell

2011-04-01T15:22:00.000-04:00

I hesitate to write anything about the book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived because of the inside-evangelicalism controversy over it. Not to mention, two of my really smart friends beat me to it. If you want to read two well-written reviews check out Jim Zartman's and Steve Fuller's blogs.

I knew going in that I wanted to like the book because I felt that Bell was probably unfairly attacked by Piper and others before the book released. To be honest, I haven't read Bell before. I have used some of his Nooma Videos and listened to a few of his sermons. I have been profoundly shaped by CS Lewis, NT Wright, Dallas Willard and (of late) Timothy Keller. This book was influenced by those thinkers as well. There is nothing in the book that cannot be found in the writings of those men. So, this stuff wasn't new to me. It's filled with the kind of Kingdom thinking that kept me from abandoning Christianity in my twenties. What makes it different than the others is Bell's tone. His style is smart yet simple and modern. I have no doubt that I will recommend this book to dozens of people this year. And so...I recommend and endorse it here as well. Not because it is or isn't controversial. I'm a little past caring about that stuff. I recommend it because it contains the gospel as I understand it today. I agree with 90% of it. And, no. I won't tell you what the 10% is that I disagree with...because I haven't figured that out myself yet.

A Filmmaker's Dilemma - What to Cut?

2011-03-28T22:28:00.000-04:00

We are busy putting the final touches on the Hitting the Nuts DVD. (It comes out April 15th.) As a result, we have been able to resurrect a few of the scenes that did not make the final cut to use as DVD extras. The first cut of the movie was over 180 minutes long. The final cut is under 100 minutes. We removed enough footage to make a second feature film during the editing process. Some very funny stuff landed on the cutting room floor. Most scenes were deleted because they didn't move the story forward. They may have been hilarious and well acted, but they didn't help get us where we needed to go.

Today we released on youtube one of the deleted scenes that will be on the DVD. It is one of my favorites. It features my friends Matt Donnelly and Nick Ghizas playing father and son, "Dirty" and Josh Rivers. If you aren't aware, this entire movie was improvised. There was no pre-scripted dialogue. It all happened in the moment. To me, this is comedy at its simplest form: two selfless improvisers setting the other up for success. I hope you enjoy it:

For more information on Hitting the Nuts check out the official site at www.HittingTheNuts.com.

An Open Apology

2011-03-27T21:17:00.000-04:00

This post has a way of re-appearing on this blog every so often. It has been a working document for 13 years now. I read this apology at The Vineyard this weekend and many people requested that I post it online. It is meant for those of you who have been hurt by Christians and the Church. I hope you are able to receive it as an honest apology:

I ask your forgiveness for the ongoing corruption of the church at large since the early days of the church, for I believe that it is a sin to use the church for personal or political gain.

I ask your forgiveness for every boring church event, church service, or sermon since the creation of the world, for I believe that it is a sin to bore people with really good news.

I ask your forgiveness for the silence of a significant percentage of the European church during the Jewish holocaust and of the American church during the years of slavery, for I believe that it is a sin for the church of God to stand by while innocent people die.

I ask your forgiveness for the unimaginable violence done in and through and with the blessing of the church throughout history, for I believe Jesus died once for all of us to put an end to violence.

I ask your forgiveness for the weight of rules and legalism that has shackled the church, making it oppressively fear-based and guilt-centered, for I believe that it is a sin to deny people their freedom in Christ.

I ask your forgiveness for every power-crazed political zealot who has ever advocated hatred against people in the name of Christ, for I believe that it is a sin to judge in the place of God.

I ask your forgiveness for every sidewalk and soap-box preacher who has so much as cracked upon a Bible with anger or pride in his heart, for I believe that it is a sin to misrepresent the character of a loving God.

I ask your forgiveness for every cult leader and extremist group leader who has ever led people astray in the name of Jesus, for I believe that it is a sin to desire the position of Jesus as the head of the church.

I ask your forgiveness for every pastor or priest who has ever served the church to get money, fame or sex because I believe the church is Jesus’ Bride, not some random guy’s mistress.

I ask your forgiveness for the millions of men in the church who have somehow stretched the Bible to validate their own sexist views, for I believe that it is a sin to dishonor a woman.

I ask your forgiveness for the thousands of church splits and denominational factions that have ripped the body of Christ in every direction except heavenward, for I believe that Christians loving and forgiving each other is the best way to show people who God is.

I ask your forgiveness for the thousands of churches who are set up as extravagant social clubs, for I believe that it is a sin to ignore the poor among you.

I ask your forgiveness for every misspent dime that was ever placed in an offering plate, for I believe that it is a sin to waste an old lady’s tithe.

I ask your forgiveness for the prostituting of the American church and the American church leader to the American dream, for I believe that it is a sin for the church or her leaders to love money more than God.

I ask your forgiveness for every self-centered, self-proclaimed “miracle worker” who has sold people counterfeit hope and light and fluffy theology for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, for I believe that it is a sin to spit in the face of God.

I ask your forgiveness for every sin of every priest, pastor, minister, reverend, teacher, elder, deacon, pope, nun, monk, missionary, Sunday school teacher, worship leader, and for every Christian who has ever come into your life for any other reason than to love you. If any of us came to you and hurt you, we are the ones at fault. On our behalf, let me say that I am very sorry. It’s not who we are supposed to be.

And lastly for me. I am no better than the rest. I am no role model. I’m misguided. I get confused a lot and I have hurt people in my misguided attempts to be “Christian.” I have not always loved God or the people around me. I am ashamed of me much of the time. I am ashamed of my people who have hurt you.

But I am not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the good news that God has come near to you and is right now available to you through Jesus. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is power from a loving God who can save you. He can save us all, even us Christians.

Hitting the Nuts Released!

2011-03-16T09:28:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone...just a quick note to let you know that my movie, Hitting the Nuts, is now available for pre-order on DVD. It comes out April 15.

If you don't know about it, read this recent blog.

If you've been waiting for it, head over to our newly designed website at www.HittingTheNuts.com to see the first four minutes for free and reserve a DVD. (This is just a limited initial run of DVD's for our fan and supporters.)

Thanks!

The Open Journey Starts...Now

2011-03-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

Those of us at Vineyard Cincinnati, along with six or seven other churches in town, are beginning a six-week spiritual journey called "Open" today. The idea is that many of us our living closed off lives. That we all have a story, but usually keep it to ourselves. But your story matters. Hearing your story, especially your spiritual story, is key to your friends processing their own story. Those of us who follow Jesus understand that our story is not our own. It is rooted in the bigger narrative of Israel, Jesus and the Church.

If you are part of The Vineyard, you need to do three things to go on the journey.

1.) Come to the weekend celebrations at Tri-County or our new MicroChurch in Hilton Head, SC. The weekends celebrations will propel you onto the next step of the journey. If you absolutely can't make it, catch up by watching the teaching online at VineyardCincinnati.com.

2.) Get in an Open group for the next six weeks. It is in the group experience that real life change can occur. If you aren't in a group yet go to this page and get hooked up.

3.) The last thing is the online personal guide. This is 30-60 minutes of weekly "homework." It is the alone time that you spend with God. It's a great, free tool to help you open your heart and life to the gospel. Go now to www.theopenjourney.com and get started! You will want to do week one of the personal guide before going to your first group meeting.

If you aren't a part of one of the churches participating, you can still join us. Watch the videos online and do the personal guide where you are. If you want the small group curriculum email us at VC and we'll hook you up with the e-file. (If you are a church leader and want to do the journey at a later date, we can give you all of the materials for free.)

That's it. I'm personally hopeful and a little nervous about where all of this will take me. It's going to involve some risk and vulnerability. But on the other side I am going to be more open about what is most important to me. I hope you will join me in the journey.

Hitting The Nuts on DVD!

2011-03-11T14:27:00.000-05:00

I have some exciting news about my movie, Hitting the Nuts. I will paste it below after a short disclaimer.

This blog has been my companion and voice to the world for nearly ten years now. I have had a variety of jobs and activities through the years - reflecting upon all of them in this online journal. This movie, Hitting the Nuts, began as a script way back in 2006. At that time I was living in California and working as an actor and improviser. It has taken five years to get it to DVD. And to be honest, it has felt that long! I'm proud of it. It is funny, which was the first goal. And it has a heart.

I want to make it clear that it is not a Vineyard project. It began before my time at the Vineyard and was finished in my spare/vacation time. It's PG-13ish and reflects the sorts of movies that I enjoy to watch. It is not a "Christian" movie, but rather a stand alone piece of comedy. The comedy and content is reflective of the sort of material you would see on Saturday Night Live or The Office. If that stuff bugs you, you may want to pass on it.

With that disclaimer, if you'd like to get the DVD I have pasted the official announcement below that was just posted on www.hittinthenuts.com

Hitting the Nuts on DVD for Limited Run!

March 11, 2011

We are excited to announce that Hitting the Nuts: The True Story of the Scott County Series of Poker will be released on DVD April 15, 2011. This is an initial limited release of the movie for our current fans and supporters. This is the first step of a larger distribution plan that will include digital downloading, Pay Per View and other options in the summer of 2011. However, getting the DVD now is the only way to see the movie until then.

For those who have been supportive of Hitting the Nuts since its conception in 2006, we will be offering pre-orders of the DVD for $11.99 plus S/H. After April 15th, the price for the DVD will be $16.99 plus S/H. Pre-orders may be placed beginning next Wednesday, March 16th only at the official website: www.HittingTheNuts.com. The site will re-launch that day with a new design.

This is our first step to get this hilarious, multi award-winning comedy to the world. We’d love you to be among the first to see what we truly believe is on the verge of becoming the breakthrough independent comedy of 2011.

We’d like to again thank the Cincinnati Metro area for all of the support we have received. Rebel Pilgrim Productions has never doubted the decision to film in Cincinnati. We will be shooting our next movie, A Strange Brand of Happy, there in September of this year. We are proud to announce that we will be having our official DVD Launch Party in Cincinnati on either April 14th or 15th at an undetermined venue. We will post the details as we know them on our official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HittingTheNuts and on our official Twitter at @HittingTheNuts. We will also be giving away free HTN DVD’s and T-shirts beginning today on both Facebook and Twitter.

Beginning March 16th we will release a new promotional video showing the first few scenes of the movie for free. It will be on the official site and all of the social networks.

Retailers wishing to buy the limited run DVD’s in bulk may do so while supplies last at a negotiated rate. Please email the company at HittingTheNuts@gmail.com.

Thanks again for your support.

Joe Boyd,

Rebel Pilgrim Productions
Producer/Director, Hitting the Nuts

*Hitting the Nuts is not rated, but would likely be PG-13 for some crude humor and mild language.

The Open Journey.

2011-03-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

This weekend at The Vineyard we will start a spiritual journey called OPEN. I'm excited about it. I think it will be hard for many of us. It will stretch us. In the end, I am pretty sure it will change us. If you are in the Cincinnati area, come this weekend with an open mind. (And show up on time. We are doing things a little differently.)

Movie Motion

2011-02-27T19:57:00.000-05:00

I'd like to congratulate the cast and crew of Hitting the Nuts for winning Best Picture at the Derby City Film Festival in Louisville, Kentucky this past weekend. This is on the heels of the audience choice award for Best Feature Film at the Cincinnati International Film Festival back in October. It has been rewarding and humbling for me to accept these awards on behalf of our team. Any sort of accolade with this project just adds to the gratitude I feel for being blessed to know such a talented group of actors and filmmakers.

We will be announcing the release date for the Hitting the Nuts DVD within a week or so on our Facebook Page. Head on over and click "like" if you want the most up-to-date details about HTN.

Things are progressing with our two new movies as well. We are still on schedule to shoot A Strange Brand of Happy in August. And we will soon be announcing a title and release date for the movie originally titled "Fences" that we filmed last year. If you'd like to keep up with everything, we have a new Facebook page for Rebel Pilgrim Productions as well.

There is a running joke among indie filmmakers that if someone asks what you are currently working on, you should say, "I have several projects at various stages of development." This really means, "Nothing really, but I can pitch you something." The exciting thing is that for the first time in my life, it's actually true. We do have several films at various stages of development.

If you'd like to volunteer with our new projects you can email us at film@vineyardcincinnati.com. (HTN was/is not a Vineyard project - I was working on it way before coming here - but our current movies are done in partnership with VCC.)

Actors Scott Docherty & Sean Michael Murphy in Hitting the Nuts

Do Justice. Do Culture.

2011-02-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

I've been hearing things in my head again. Confident Christians say, "God is speaking to me," when this happens to them. I believe God reveals things to people...but I am never confident enough to say for sure that He is speaking to me. Of course, crazy people hear voices as well. And some of you think that I am crazy simply because I believe God could speak to anyone. So I'm either crazy or hearing God or both...

Regardless, I have two phrases that won't leave me alone. I keep "hearing" this:

"Do Justice. Do Culture."

Nothing that radical, I suppose. But the way it has been possessing my thoughts lately is a little overwhelming. I am caught by the simple idea that both justice and culture are things that can be "done" in the first place. We like to say that justice is served or administered. Culture is experienced or admired. "Doing" either of them seems to...simplified. But I think that is what I am being called into. (Now I really sound like a crazy Christian, right?)

Here's what I have been playing around with of late. For my whole adult life I have strived to be congruent - to be the same person all the time. It is my presiding dominant value and ethic actually. The second I feel incongruent, I want to die. I hate to be seen as two-faced or insincere. That's the worst. To me, that is worse than being seen as evil. In a weird way it feels more right to be evil and know that you are evil than to be evil and pretend to be good.

Not that I am all that evil, or good for that matter. But I do fancy myself a rather complex fella. I have a wide set of passions that don't normally go together. There is something about those four words - Do Justice, Do Culture - that, for whatever reason, makes sense of my life. I can hang the rest of life on the pegs of doing justice and doing culture. I don't think those are the pegs for everyone. This is where it gets tricky. As a follower of Jesus, I already know what the two most important things are - loving God and loving people. But maybe, how I incarnate that is by primarily doing justice and culture. I could easily see how one could boil life down to other phrases, like "Do Worship. Do Community." or "Do Service. Do Mission." Or whatever. But I think these are my two words. I don't know what it means for me yet. But it is the path I am on. It feels congruent. I know I am out of balance when I do one and not the other. It's exactly what I want to do - to help to build a richly beautiful city that honors and serves the poor.

18 Thought Bursts

2011-02-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

I haven't had blog-sized thoughts lately. I've only had mini-thought bursts. Twitter can be good for thought bursts. But about half of my tweets are never seen. I look at them and then erase them without posting. There was a day - many centuries ago - when Facebook and Twitter didn't exist. In the dark ages, there were only blogs. Now I find it a wee bit maddening to have so many web presences. I'm into it. Obviously. The good out ways the bad. But it's messy.

Here are some of my most recent thought bursts. These are the things I almost blogged about since my last post, but didn't.

1. I read this book and it made me ask interesting questions about the trajectory of my life: Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests

2. I have a huge spiritual crush on Dr. Tim Keller these days. So much so that I worry I may be straight stealing his stuff. I make it my own, but he has been the initial inspiration behind my last five or six teachings at the Vineyard.

3. I read this book of Keller's last week and it would be a great follow up to anyone who was challenged by the message this past weekend. Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

4. I want to do culture more than I do. I think the Kingdom comes that way. I think we (most all Christians) are still afraid or unwilling to leave our church buildings more than we'd care to admit.

5. Life is better when you find a good shrink (and do what he or she tells you to do.)

6. The above shrink had me take some assessments. Turns out my main thing is that I am creative.

7. But my second thing is that I am merciful. That one surprised me...but I think I really am. I'm a fast forgiver. It has traditionally frustrated people who want me to be mad at them for a long time.

8. Two of my friends who had a hard time getting pregnant are having babies.

9. I buried my friend's father. It was maybe the best funeral I have ever been a part of. (I did very little of it.) It made me ask the following questions:

10. What do I really want my life to be about? What is my deep rooted passion that will reveal God to people?

11. I am marrying two of my improv friends in Las Vegas in May. That makes me happy.

12. I'm working hard to sell a movie. There are three hard parts to making a movie - getting the money, making the movie and selling the movie. I keep telling myself that I am 2/3 of the way there...

13. When an actor in a movie comes through the camera it is one of the most beautiful things in the world. I just saw a relatively average movie where that happened. Jennifer Aniston comes through in Just Go With It. To me, that's different than an amazing performance. It's a mysterious thing - maybe "spiritual."

14. It seems like 99% of the world is more uptight than me. People get really upset about strange things. I don't get it...but I always expect it.

15. I have almost survived my fourth winter back in Ohio. It just gets worse every year...but the strange thing is that it is making me love spring and summer more than I ever have. Maybe it's worth it.

16. Improv keeps me sane.

17. Dave Workman - that dude is the real deal. Blows my mind.

18. I'm going to write a romantic comedy screenplay with my friend Holly Walker. She asked what my favorite romantic comedy was. I had to think about it. I went with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Surprised myself with that answer.

It would have been great to get to twenty thought bursts, but I'm fresh out. This concludes the thoughts rumbling through my head...at least the ones I am willing to share on the world wide web.

Discipleship as an Invitation to "Kick My Butt"

2011-01-14T14:59:00.000-05:00

Something happened to me yesterday that hasn't happened in a long time. I had coffee with a stranger who attends The Vineyard. That happens all the time...that wasn't the odd thing. The surprising thing was his posture. He wasn't in crisis, at least not the dramatic sort of crisis many of the people I meet with seem to be in. He wasn't trying to sell me on anything. Most amazingly, he didn't say what so many people say to me in similar situations - that he wanted to "pick my brain" or "get some advice." It would be wrong for me to tell you his name or story in a public forum, but let me just say he began our conversation with this, "I want to know God better and I need a coach. I want you to be my coach and kick my butt."

That got my attention. Christians talk a lot about discipleship. We have discipleship programs, philosophies and goals. Many of us carry around guilt because we aren't discipling someone or being discipled.

It appears to me that what many of us need is the humility and courage to approach someone with this attitude. I wonder what would happen if everyone reading this went to someone ahead of them in the journey and said, "I need your help. Tell me what to do and I will do it. Kick my butt."

2010 - In Reflection

2010-12-27T14:06:00.000-05:00

Here are my thoughts as I look back on my personal journey this year. Some themes and values have risen to the top. It was a good year.

Persistance:

This year several of my long-term ideas became realities. I saw a book and a movie completed that were a combined 15 years in the making. Good things take time...lots and lots of time. I think about the things I am working on now differently. So much of life is putting one foot ahead of the other...and then when you get pushed back a few hundred steps, starting over again.

Passion:

I am a passionate fella, but I have felt like I have been operating on a half-tank of passion for the last five or six years. 2010 was the year that I sensed a return of some of the passion that was lost through the trials of my early experiences. I feel more ready for what is next than I have in a long time, especially as it relates to ministry.

Learning:

This ties into "passion" for me. I am a learner and always have been, but there are seasons when I learn more as life comes at me...and other seasons when I seek to learn more aggressively. The switch was flipped back to a more aggressive learning posture sometime this year. I think this will progress more in 2011. I'm looking into some graduate school options beginning in the fall of 2011.

Improvisation:

Improv started as a hobby for me. Then it became a career. Now it is a lifestyle. It has connected mysteriously to my spiritual gifts and personality. I am not speaking about doing comedy gigs in this context - it is much deeper than that. I am learning that I teach and lead best as an improvisor. I have known this for years, but I tend to not say it because it can come off like an excuse for being disorganized or unprepared. This isn't the case. I think for me it means that I must focus more on organizing my life and preparing for situations before they arise. The statement in I Peter 3 has come to mean more to me this year..."always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." My goal as a teacher would be to be able to teach from a Kingdom-context about anything at any moment - to always be prepared. This has come to mean that it is more important for me to prepare myself for a message than to prepare a message for an audience.

Gratitude:

I have had some tough years, but this was not one of them. I cannot help but think that this life stage for our family will be looked back on with much joy in the years to come. My kids are growing up, but still kids. As Debbie and I approach our sixteenth anniversary this week I am confronted with the beautiful reality that if I date my life back to my earliest memories - half of it has been as her husband. I'd say that I am a lucky guy, but that seems rather trite and understated. I am humbled to have been given the life I have. I don't deserve it. It is all grace.

Get Me to the Church On Time

2010-12-15T22:34:00.000-05:00

Hey Cincinnati Friends!

We have a lot of Celebrations coming up to round out the year at Vineyard Cincinnati. I wanted to post the options here so that you can know when to show up:

This coming weekend we have normal times: Sat. 6:30 - Sun. 9, 10:15, 11:45. I will be speaking on "Christmas: The Untold Story - a Love Story."

Then starts a run of five identical special Christmas Celebrations. In years past we have done more of a performance/show at Christmas. (Re-Gifter, A Cat Named Bruce, etc.) Those were great, but this year it seemed best to be more straightforward in our approach. We are getting back to some Vineyard Christmas basics - singing, teaching (both Dave and me), candle lighting and a donut outreach following every Celebration. Come. Bring a friend to experience a warm reminder of the fact that God loves us enough to come looking for us. The Christmas Eve Celebrations on the 24th will be identical to the other three options.

Dec. 21 - 7pm
Dec. 22 - 7pm
Dec. 23 - 7pm
Christmas Eve - 4pm and 6pm

It doesn't stop there. Well, it does for just one day. On Christmas Day we WILL NOT be having our Saturday evening Celebration. But we will have our normal Sunday morning Celebrations at 9, 10:15 and 11:45. Dave will be teaching on Christmas as the Never Ending Story.

We WILL have a Celebration on New Year's Day, Saturday, January 1. I'll be kicking off a new series called All Things New. However, the first weekend of the year will begin our new regular times. When are those new times, you ask? I'm glad you asked. That is answered in the video below:

The Heaven/Earth Combo Pack

2010-12-14T00:16:00.001-05:00

I find myself in the mood to think about heaven today. Maybe just throw out a few opinions that have been brewing in me over the last few years. I was convicted not too long ago that I had not properly elevated resurrection to its proper place in my theology and the practical application of my faith. For many years as young Christian I would have said that the goal of faith is to attain an other-worldly "heaven" after death. Resurrection was a truth that took a back seat to heaven defined as some sort of disembodied experience that existed only after death. Then, beginning in the late 1990's, I discovered the centrality of the Kingdom of God to Jesus' message, life and person. I clearly saw that this sort of wait-to-die-other-worldy-heaven is not the goal of following Jesus; but, if anything, perhaps a future reality of the results of life with God in the present. I began to see that most of the time the word "heaven" is used in the New Testament it references the reality of the current and future reign of God, as opposed to some purely futuristic time and place floating in another future dimension.

Over the last two years I have been challenged primarily through the teachings of theologians like N.T. Wright and Tim Keller to consider more fully the "after-life" implications of a Kingdom-centered, Resurrection-centered theology. I have come in recent years to believe that God is a material God working within a material universe. This means, to me, that God is the God of "stuff" and always does his work in the context of his "stuff." This is true of the creation account, the story of Israel, the incarnation of Christ and the advent of the church. God uses the material stuff he has made, including people, to live out his story. I have come to believe that this material universe was not created to simply be reduced to some spiritual other-worldy existence in the future. In the final analysis, I believe that God will keep and redeem more of his stuff than he will destroy. Of course, some of what the Bible says about the after-life is cryptic and some passages seem to be, at least on the surface, saying subtly different things. (I apologize for speaking in generalities. I am simply not particularly in the mood to document my opinions today. This is more of a brain dump than a fully realized position piece...)

Today I believe in resurrection. I believe in redemption. I believe that I will live again on a new (redeemed/fixed) earth that has been invaded by a new heaven. Heaven will come to earth fully and drive out all that which is hell. This will be a mystery, but I have opinions about it these days. Namely, I think we will have families, friends, jobs, houses and chocolate cake. I think we will continue to write, create art, make business, have dinner parties and play golf. (My dad will be happy about this - at least the golf part.) I think that "heaven" will look a lot like earth does today - minus the hellish and evil parts of it. Many react strongly to this idea when I say it. "Why would I want to live like this forever?" is often the response. It is hard to grasp, but what if your life was reduced only to the moments where God is fully reigning in your heart and world, when your joy is complete in him, when you are love and loved, using your gifts, thriving in life. We have all had those experiences - maybe only for a few minutes here or there. I think that the new Heaven/Earth Combo Pack will look a lot like that. We will be physically resurrected to life after we die. We will be ushered back to populate a properly functioning earth/heaven that is built for us to thrive as fully human. It will be like the Garden of Eden turned City of God - God's real-time, real-world social network built out of humanity's best potential realized under God's direct reign.

This does things to my emotions that my previous concepts of heaven did not allow. It means that for many of the passions deep inside me, the clock is not necessarily clicking. Perhaps I will be free, for instance, to try a few careers that interest me after I die and am resurrected. (We were gardeners in Eden before the fall. We had tasks, jobs, careers. Why would the new Heaven/Earth Combo Pack be so different?)

This all makes me wonder if I should think differently about the idea of human struggle in what we commonly call the after-life. We know that the new post-resurrection Combo Pack will be a place of "no more death or mourning or crying or pain." I have come to wonder of late - now aloud - about the meaning of this though. Death will be beaten through Jesus and our resurrections. I can get that. Life everlasting hurts my brain but I can begin to imagine it at least. What is hard to imagine is a life without struggle. I ask questions like, would I really want to play golf if I always got a hole in one? Or would I desire to write a screenplay if I knew it would be perfect from the beginning of the process? Or why create a piece of art if it will be flawless without much effort on my part? I am thinking aloud and may be bordering on some sort of heresy, but I wonder if we confuse "work" with pain sometimes. I wonder if it is so inherently human to struggle, that struggling will continue in the Combo Pack. Perhaps, I would suggest, we grow to find the joy in these struggles. Maybe we will be so calibrated to God - so able to see all we do as worship - that our "failures" won't create pain but only desire to serve him better. Maybe the after-life, in this hypothesis, isn't about us being perfect but being perfectly fitted for life with God in the context of our humanity and his direct presence.

I reserve the right to be off base with most of this. But it does put some things in perspective today for me. My current relationships somehow matter more if they continue in the Combo Pack. My career and hobbies matter more. My city matters way more if it will someday be a part of the combined new heaven/new earth. Resurrection somehow makes eternity tangible. It means eternity has already started and we are living in it. It begins to chip away at some of the great mysterious statements uttered by Jesus. Namely, that the Kingdom of God has come now...and will fully come later.

Maybe my ramblings today could just lead you to ask different questions. One question to start with: What if "heaven" was more about God coming back to earth than us going to be with God? It seems, at least, like that is the way John envisioned it in Revelation:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Today I Baptized My Son...

2010-11-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

Today I baptized my firstborn son, Eli. He has wanted to do this for a few years now. With all of our immediate family here, it made sense to do it today. His only request was that we not do it in front of a bunch of strangers...a request that I completely understood.

I have baptized a few hundred people in my life. I have no way of really knowing how many. But obviously today was different. Baptism is very important to me. I occasionally take a little grief from some of my workmates for my Campbellite roots. My original spiritual tribe put a high emphasis on water baptism by immersion. Historically in many circles and circumstances, this emphasis became a divisive overemphasis on the form of baptism and a staunch belief that baptism itself was the salvific event. Regardless, those aren't the reasons why I value baptism today. To me, it is valuable in large part because it is one of the few real-time events that Christians have to mark their spiritual journey. So much of life with God is a long, seemingly never-ending process. The sacrament of baptism is a rare marker in the process. It is the marker of the beginning of a relationship between disciple and guru - slave and master - son and father. I am not so sure why people get caught up in arguments as to the exact moment when life with God begins for the Christian - before, during or after baptism. The point, in my opinion, is that it is intended to be at/toward the beginning of our commitment to God. It is a symbolic act that is also a real historical event. It is like a birthday or a wedding day. Debbie would say that she somehow knew our boys before they were born. I was just as committed to Debbie the day before our wedding than the day after. But the days matter. Birthdays. Wedding Days. We look back on them and remember them because, if for no other reason, they actually happened. That moment of happening matters so much in a lifetime dominated by the normalcy of the slow process. We need something close to the beginning to call "the beginning." And God knew this.

Eil and I have talked about Jesus through the years, but I realized that our talk before his baptism this morning was more important...or at least it would be more memorable to him. Part of the reason that I had Eli wait for a while to be baptized is that it seemed nearly impossible for him to grasp the idea of the Kingdom a few years ago. He first understood Jesus as Savior. He wanted to be baptized a few years ago because he had "messed up" and wanted forgiveness. Maybe that should have been enough. But I knew that I wouldn't baptize an adult if that was all they knew about Jesus. So I waited. Today we talked about Eli's relationship with Jesus in three ways:

1. Lord - Eli has been taking Judo recently and he has a Judo teacher named Frank Herzog. He has learned to call Frank, "Sensei" which means teacher or master. Judo has been a great teaching tool to help Eli learn about Jesus. Jesus was more of an eastern thinker and he calls disciples (or students) to himself. Today when Eli smiled and told me that Jesus was his Sensei, I knew he had the very beginning understandings of lordship.

2. King - Some people think I'm a little too intense on this point, but I think that to receive Jesus is to receive his present and coming Kingdom (or reign). What this means to Eli at this point in the beginning of his discipleship is that the Jews and Christians are "our people" before any other ethnic or political group. (Yes, I made my kid tell me that his primary allegiance was to Jesus and not America. Hopefully he won't be in therapy for that someday.)

3. Savior - This brought us back to what Eli first understood about Jesus. We discussed his terminal sin addiction and how Jesus offers a cure for it. And then I told him that baptism reminds us that just as Jesus died and lived again, so we will all be resurrected after we die.

The last thing we talked about is what Jesus taught us about God - that he is our Father. I told Eli that I had tried to my best to be a good dad, but that I had failed in him in many ways. God is his perfect Father. I also stretched his mind a bit when I told him that even though I am his dad, we share a Father now. So we are also brothers.

So, God has known Eli since before he was born and Eli has been on a journey to know God since his first breath. But today was the day Eli did something about it. And fifteen of us were fortunate enough to watch it happen.

For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)

Vineyard MicroChurch Initiative

2010-11-22T15:40:00.000-05:00

I wanted to give a quick recap of the information shared at our meeting last night for those interested in a new thing we are doing at Vineyard Cincinnati. After nearly two years of discerning what would be next for us as a church, the shareholders (members) and leaders of the Vineyard felt especially drawn to two words: pray and go. From this initial focus, the leaders discerned that God was asking us to think more multiplicative about everything we do. How could we prayerfully send our best into our city and world? How could we free up our structure enough to provide space for new expressions of church to emerge within the Vineyard?

One strategy that emerged was a multi-site concept. We decided that God was calling us initially to start two sites in Uptown and Middletown to function as missional outposts of the Kingdom. These sites are a way for us to send some of our own to serve and love other people in our city who need God's love and power.

Beyond that, we also sensed that God wanted us to push into a new realm. As many of you know, I was part of the house church movement (sometimes called simple or organic church) for many years. That experience fundamentally altered the way I think about and define church. I now define a church as simply God's family on a mission. Of course, many aspects of the house church movement in the USA over the last decade have been reactionary. That was my story. I was reacting against some clear shortcomings within the institutional church structure and megachurch movement. I thought that house churching was the answer to the problems I saw in bigger, more organized expressions of church. Indeed, they were the answer to some of the problems. But we found that house churches simply had other difficulties. Alas, we proved the age-old axiom that there is no perfect church or church structure. So I wandered back into "big" church three years ago with a strong sensitivity toward the lessons learned while living within an intentionally small church.

There are many others within the Vineyard who see the value of smaller incarnational/missional expressions of church. It became obvious that God was ready to make us one church in many locations. This will include the bigger sites like the ones at Uptown and Middletown, but it will also include an emerging network of MicroChurches. (We almost used the word "house church" but some of these churches will not meet in houses.)

Here is our current thinking about Vineyard MicroChurches and how we envision them coming to be. One thing I have learned about new adventures is that nothing works out in practicum quite the way it does in pre-planning. That said, here is the DRAFT of the ideas we are currently throwing around. If something stirs within you after reading it, feel free to email me. With all of this going down, I am a little behind in correspondence, but I'd love to hear from you if God has prepared you to partner with us.

Here are the notes from our first meeting:

DRAFT! (Have I said that yet?)

Vineyard MicroChurch Communities – Current Thinking

November 21, 2010

· What is a Vineyard MicroChurch Commmunity?

DRAFT: A Vineyard MicroChurch is a smaller holistic expression of church centered upon a specific missional calling within the larger mission and vision of Vineyard Cincinnati.

· Holistic Expression:

We will use Acts 2:42 as a simple meeting blueprint:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

1. Teaching – Weekly meetings will include the video teaching from VC.

2. Fellowship – Guided discussion questions will follow the teaching.

3. Prayer – A time will be dedicated to listening prayer each week.

4. Breaking of Bread – Meetings will include a common meal or a Eucharistic experience (or both).

· Specific Missional Calling - Six phases to birthing a MicroChurch:

1. God calls a person to love a specific group of people.

2. That person steps up and says, “I’m called to love ______________ into a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

3. Vineyard leadership comes along side this person to:

a. Discern if the calling aligns with our greater mission.

b. Train and equip the person for their next step.

c. Call others to the mission.

d. Relationally partner throughout the life of the calling.

4. A call goes out – Who else is God calling to this mission?

5. When the call is answered by a leader, a pastor* and an administrator a MicroChurch community is born.

6. Weekly meetings begin using the Acts 2:42 model as way to fulfill the mission.

* pastor is defined here as someone gifted as a caregiver, likely not a professional church worker.

· What makes a MicroChurch part of the Vineyard?

For MicroChurches to flourish, they will need enough freedom to adapt to their specific mission and culture while remaining part of Vineyard Cincinnati. The following expectations will be met by each MicroChurch in order to be part of Vineyard Cincinnati. Beyond these requirements, MicroChurches will have the freedom to contextualize to the people they are reaching.

1. Submission to the VC beliefs, mission, vision and eldership.

2. Commitment to the Acts 2:42 model for the weekly meeting including the weekend video teaching.

3. Centralized giving. (Still working on what this will look like.)

4. Leaders agree to submit to training from the MicroChurch initiative leadership team including aligning with the current leadership pathway and shareholder process.

· What MicroChurches are and are not:

1. They are not simply small church services. (They are communities.)

2. They are not simply small groups. (They are similar to small groups but also a full expression of church life.)

3. They are not independent churches. (They are fully a part of Vineyard Cincinnati.)

4. They are not starter groups for bigger sites. (Some may evolve to this, but it is not the goal. Ideally, MicroChurches are growing by multiplying other MicroChurches.)

5. They are not for people fed up with “Big Church.” (Rather, they are for people who can see the power of marrying big church and small church thinking.)

Get the Skinny on what's NEXT.

2010-11-10T19:41:00.002-05:00

If you filled out a NEXT STEP card this weekend at the Vineyard, you should have received an email from me today inviting you to one of three meetings to discuss the new sites. I thought I would post it here as well in case you missed it:

Thanks for taking the initiative this weekend by filling out one of the NEXT STEP cards. I can't express to you how excited I am to begin walking out this vision with you. I was so encouraged that God had prepared many of you in specific ways to help Vineyard Cincinnati become one church in many places.

You are receiving this email because you indicated you're willingness to serve for a year in Uptown, Middletown, or be trained as a micro-site leader. We've set up some initial meetings where you can get more information, ask questions, meet others who have committed to serve with you, and begin to move forward.

The Uptown meeting is next Wednesday, November 17th at 7:00pm at The 86 Club - 2820 Vine Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45219. There is a large parking lot across the street next to the Elementary school that can be accessed from the corner of Vine and Daniels Street.

The Micro-site meeting will be Sunday, November 21st at 5:00pm at Vineyard Tri-County in the Great Rooms.

The Middletown meeting will be Sunday, December 5th at 5:00pm at Vineyard Tri-County in the Great Rooms.

Please register at www.vineyardcincinnati.com/sites (childcare is available)

I hope you can make it to one of the meetings. If you have questions, please reply to this email with them and someone will get back to you. We will keep you updated as we go and there will be more opportunities to learn more in the months to come.

thanks,
joe

If you missed either of the last two weekends, you missed a lot. Catch up at https://vinenet.net/vincin/lastweek.php

What's Next.

2010-11-07T20:49:00.002-05:00

I spoke this weekend at the Vineyard, wrapping up our NEXT series. I read from my prayer journal and some people asked that I post what I read here on my blog. The following is a slightly edited (for grammar) version of what I wrote after asking God, "What should I tell everyone this weekend?" It can be dangerous to say that you have heard the voice of God. I submit this to you, as I did this weekend, as simply my thoughts after asking that question in prayer:

A 15 year-old girl sits alone in an apartment in Corryville. She’s pregnant and nobody knows. She’s scared and alone and confused. She needs a lot – she needs a friend, a father, a plan, a hug. She needs more wisdom that her friends have to offer and a large dose of grace that nobody in her family is willing to give her. She needs Jesus. And we think…if only she could be here with us today at the Vineyard. Maybe we could help – at least with the hug and the grace. But she isn’t here. She’s there.

A 52 year-old man sits alone at a Starbucks in Montgomery. He gets up every morning, puts on a $2,000 suit, kisses his wife and kids and gets in his luxury car to go to work. The only problem is that he hasn’t had a job for three months. He can’t bring himself to tell his wife. He doesn’t feel like a man anymore. All he has worked for is gone. What will she think when she finds out? How long can he hide this? He needs a friend and the courage to be vulnerable. He needs a place safe enough to be honest. He doesn’t know it yet, but he needs Jesus. And we think...if only he could be here with us at the Vineyard. Maybe we could be his family – pray for him. Maybe we could help him a little. But he isn’t here. He’s there.

A thirty-something couple watch television in Middletown. It’s all they do now. They used to do other stuff, but if they were honest they would say that their lives are boring now…maybe even disappointing. He had dreams of coaching football. She wanted kids. Neither happened. Now they are lost. They need a reason to get off the couch. They need a savior to rescue them from the hypnotic stupor they have fallen into. They need Jesus. And we think...if only they’d come here and be with us. Maybe they’d meet God and find meaning. Maybe those life disappointments could be redeemed by the power of the Holy Spirit. But they aren’t here. They’re there.

But what if they didn’t have to come here? What is “here” anyway except a building? We aren’t this place anymore than my house is my family or the college I went to is my education. We are a mobile people, but we have been inch by inch believing the lie that somehow we are confined to this location and to a methodology that says “come to us.” This NEXT vision for Vineyard Cincinnati is about saying that “come to us” isn’t enough when people in our city are lonely, hurting and checking out of life. This series for us as a church is a bold announcement to anyone who will listen: Vineyard Cincinnati is on the move. We are – from this point forward and without apology or reservation – a “go to them” movement. We hope people still come to us, but in the end it doesn’t really matter because we are going to them - everyone of them. We are taking Jesus to every neighborhood and community in our city…and any other place God will lead us to. We are adjusting our strategies to reflect the belief that our mission statement of 25 years is actually attainable. That it could really happen in our lifetime. That we will actually love the people of Cincinnati into a relationship with Jesus and give away to the world what God has give to us. In other words, we really are going love the people of this city. Everyone of them – as impossible as that may sound in this moment.

To do this we are going to have to mobilize and multiply in different ways. Everything we do must multiply. First and foremost, we must multiply disciples: every person here must teach someone what they have learned thus far about life with Jesus. We must multiply leaders: every leader in our organization starting with Dave and me and the elders will have an emerging leader learning from them. We must multiply groups: every community praying and looking for how God can birth a new community through them. And we are going to multiply Celebration experiences. We are taking this – what we are doing right now – to the people who aren’t currently here now. We have prayed and prayed that God would show where to begin this effort and he has led us to start two new Vineyard sites in Middletown and Uptown. These are not going to be carbon-copy-pack-and-play church services in a box, but missional outposts of the Kingdom where people can be know and be known, serve and be served and love and be loved into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

We are also seeking for leaders called by God to start intentionally smaller expressions of church that can reach people who would never or could never come to an institutional feeling church. These “microsites” will be holistic communities of faith that are part of us, but do church in homes and public places. They will be our special forces invading subcultures and immobile people groups in our city with the dangerous and beautiful love of Jesus and power of his coming Kingdom. All of this means that by this time next year we will be one church meeting in at least 13 places – here at TriCounty, in Uptown and Middletown and in ten smaller, more subversive microsites scattered about the city and beyond.

This is not about us or our plan. This is not about some sort of institutional expansion. If I was into institutional expansion I’d be working for the government or Steve Jobs or Facebook. This is about Jesus. It’s about that nameless girl in Corryville, that hurting guy in Montgomery and that lifeless couple in Middletown. It’s about the fact that God loves Cincinnati and he has a plan for this city. To sit on our hands while God has a plan to love a city is the greatest sin a church can commit. The leaders of this church understand that and we are calling you to action. Are you ready for what’s NEXT?

Befriend Vineyard Uptown and Vineyard Middletown on Facebook for up-to-date information.

The NEXT Adventure...are you in?

2010-10-31T12:36:00.001-04:00

There are two ways that people movements grow. The first is through addition growth. That means that people are invited into a primarily centralized group or organization and they stick around - usually because they relate to the overall mission of the group. But also because they find a place where they sense personal belonging. This is true across the board - you see it in politics, social groups, and organizations that exist to cure cancer or fight for animal rights. You also see it in local churches.

The second way that movements grow is through multiplication. These sorts of organizations tend to be less centralized while finding a way to retain common mission and language. They place a high value on reproduction.

The novel (and movie) Fight Club paints a fictional example of a movement that transitions from addition growth (people inviting others into one fight club) to multiplication growth (other clubs springing up in other cities and places without warning.) The movie is rather vile and probably shouldn't be on your list for family fun night, but I can remember watching it and seeing a vision for the church.

What if a local church could be unified in mission and vision, but just decentralized enough to spread easily and quickly wherever God wanted it to go? This idea so ravaged my heart over a decade ago that I led the church I was pastoring away from an addition growth model toward what I hoped could become a multiplication model. We learned some lessons in that process. We may have transitioned too quickly and we probably became too decentralized in a classic pendulum swing reaction. But my ecclesiology (what I believe about church) and my missiology changed forever through that process. To put it simply, I believe that the Kingdom grows optimally in a multiplication mode. Addition growth is good. Multiplication growth is better. I could prove this historically, but I shall bore you with those details at a later date.

This brings us to where we are now at Vineyard Cincinnati. This weekend Dave announced that we are aggressively moving toward a more multiplicative mindset as a church. Reproduction across the board will be our new goal. Multiplying disciples, leaders, groups and celebrations...

(A side note about The Vineyard. Before my time we planted nearly 30 churches in greater Cincinnati. This is, indeed, multiplication thinking at its finest. It was one of three key reasons that coming to The Vineyard appealed to me so much. This new thinking is congruent with that, but just a new strategy to multiply in a different way.)

In 2011 we will launch two larger sites in Uptown on Short Vine near the University of Cincinnati and in Middletown. These sites will have their own style and flavor, but will be part of Vineyard Cincinnati. We are just becoming one church in many places. To find that sweet spot between decentralization and speaking a common vision, we will have the same weekend teaching at every site using video. I am very excited about this multiplication strategy, but that isn't all that we are doing.

Other churches around the U.S. are multiplying through this sort of strategy. We aren't the fist to think of it, but we took a long time to pray about it. God is leading us to do it differently than some of them. We felt that our initial sites should be in areas of our city that are currently struggling economically. It is in our DNA to serve those who are struggling the most. We want to go to them first.

We are doing something else within this strategy that appears to be unique to us. We have come to see that we can learn a lot from the house church movement. (Also called simple church or organic church in some circles.) I was in this movement for several years. Smaller churches that function more like missional small groups have an amazing potential for multiplicative growth. What if The Vineyard created space for very simple expressions of church to align with us organizationally? They would function as smaller communities of people living out the reality of following Jesus in their neighborhoods, but they would also choose to be a part of The Vineyard because they share a common mission and vision with us. By using the weekend teaching time on video they would align with our overall mission and direction, but they would also be small and mobile enough to reach people that we currently cannot. Having been a part of a house church movement in the past, I saw that bigger churches were able do some things that my little church of 12 people couldn't. For instance, The Vineyard just drilled our 90th clean water well in Nigeria. Being a part of a bigger group of people allows us to do bigger things that we cannot do on our own.

What if we could find that sweet spot and have "micro-sites" that operate as a hybrid between a house church and a weekend celebration. There is literally no barrier to that sort of growth. As a matter of fact, our first micro-site is launching in December...in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A multiplying mindset breaks down barriers that are impassable in the addition mindset. Even geographical ones.

Maybe you are someone who loves Vineyard Cincinnati, but you live farther away than is conducive to come to Tri-County, Uptown or Middletown on the weekends. Maybe you have felt like part of us from afar. Maybe you used to be a Vineyard member but moved away and have yet to find a home church that connects with your outward focused dreams in your new location. Or maybe you live in Cincinnati and love our church, but also have seen the benefits of the simple church movement. Maybe God is calling some of you to pray about entering a time of training to lead a micro-site community where you are. The good news is that our church now has a new strategy to experiment in ways that before were impossible. We are ready to multiply. If you are as well...and your heart is racing, email me now and we will begin the discussion.

Doing vs. Having Done

2010-10-19T21:56:00.001-04:00

I do a lot of things that I like having done, but don't love doing. For instance, I don't like running. I do that about four or five days per week. It's good for me and I feel great after a run...but I hate every minute of it. I've been running for nearly two years now and it is supposed to be fun at some point, but I'm not counting on it.

I feel the same way about reading. I love having read a book. I don't like the process. It takes a lot of time and makes me sleepy.

And then there is writing. Some of my friends love the process of writing. Not me...it feels a lot like running without the shortness of breath. I love that I have written a book and a few screenplays. I like that I have blogged for nearly a decade now, but I don't enjoy the process of writing very much at all. I like being a writer, being called a writer, having written...I just don't like writing.

Some other processes do hold my interest. I enjoy the actual process of acting, improv, producing and teaching. I think this just means I am a performer - for better or worse.

This is all one big preamble to say that I have been writing more or less nonstop over the last week for stuff coming up over the next year at VCC. I am excited about having written all of it, but I am rather creatively wiped out. Blogging tends to suffer as well when bigger writing projects kick in. I am excited to get back to the Community Series next week. You can catch up with it on the sidebar to your left on my blog page if you want.

That's all I have to say for now. I have to quit writing this post now to go write some more. Then I may go for a run...

The World Premiere!

2010-10-11T14:57:00.000-04:00

I wanted to quickly thank all of you (over 200) who came to the premiere of Hitting the Nuts Saturday night. It was the perfect way to launch this movie. I was honored and humbled by all of your support. Now onto the last stage of making an indie film...the distribution. The buzz around the festival is helping to get the word out. The more times people see HTN and talk about it in a positive way, the better.

It's a funny movie that the world will want to see. Now it's all about getting in the right hands.

After the buzz from Saturday night, the second showing tonight at 7pm quickly sold out. Luckily, the Esquire just now opened up a larger theater for us. So, there are about 100 tickets left if you would like to see the movie tonight in Cincinnati. You just need to call the theater to reserve with a credit card at 513-281-2803.

Once you see the movie, if you enjoyed it, you can help get the word out by going to the official imdb page and rating it, writing a review or starting a discussion. That link is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1536082/.

Thanks again for all of your support! I have great, supportive friends.

July 4, 2006

2010-10-08T12:12:00.000-04:00

I was on the back half of an improv tour turned bad. It was a holiday and I hadn't seen my family for a month. My team was staying at a Hampton Inn near the airport in Atlanta and I was feeling a little sorry for myself.

I remember waiting in the lobby for my three friends to come down from their room so that we could go to Stone Mountain and watch the fireworks there. I was thinking about how I had moved to LA about a year earlier to pursue acting. I was wondering how I had gotten to the place of being apart from my family and giving away promotional t-shirts in shopping malls. It wasn't the best season of my life.

The lady behind the front desk asked how I was doing. I knew her name at the time, but can't remember it now. We had been at the hotel for a week already. I told her I was missing home and feeling a little betrayed that my "improv" tour had transformed into very little improv and a lot of brainless brand marketing.

"What do you really want to do?" she asked.

"I want to act...to be a part of a movie that I could be proud of," I said.

"Then you should write one," she said. "And then make it."

She was right. I knew it instantly. So I spent the last few weeks of that tour thinking about what kind of movie I could make. I started a few rough drafts that did not work at all. And then I decided I would write a comedy about the things I knew...things like Bible Belt America...and Texas Hold 'Em poker. That was it. Those two worlds combined created instant comedy in my mind. And my first movie had to be improvised or it wouldn't be me. So I came home in late July and began writing.

As it turns out, that tour wasn't so bad after all. I met some great people...four of who actually ended up in the movie. And I met a wise, nameless hotel employee who deserves credit for any success this little project will generate. And I learned that all good things take time. So, tomorrow Hitting the Nuts premieres at the Cincinnati Film Festival - only 1,557 days later.

It's a funny movie. That is the one thing I was sure would be true of it from start to finish. It was written by an ex-pastor who became a pastor again before it was finished. If you'd like to be part of the world premiere, ticket info is detailed at this link.

How to See "Hitting the Nuts" in Cincy!

2010-10-02T13:40:00.002-04:00

I am extremely excited that my comedy, Hitting the Nuts, is set to premiere and show a total of three times at the Cincinnati Film Festival next week. It is a little confusing as to how to get tickets because of all the various options. I am going to attempt to walk you through them now, so hang on...

The first thing to know is that HTN is showing three times.

Sat. Oct 9th at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN at 8 pm. (World Premiere - 21 or older)
Mon. Oct 11th at the Esquire in Clifton at 7 pm (no age restrictions)
Tue. Oct 12th at the Esquire in Clifton at 5 pm (no age restrictions)

Here are some links to help you get tickets.

1. "I want to see HTN Oct. 11 at the Esquire." Go to this link and scroll to "Oct. 11 7pm" Tickets are $10 each.

2. "I want top see HTN Oct. 12 at the Esquire." Go to this link and scroll down to "Oct. 12 5pm" Tickets are $10 each.

3. "I want to go to the World Premiere at Hollywood Casino and JUST see HTN. I don't want to see the other movie that day or go to the pre-screening reception." (The after party is free with a ticket. The pre-screening reception (food, drinks) is not free. This only includes the movie and after party for $10. Go to this link and SCROLL down to OCT 9, 2010 8pm to get your tickets.

4. "I want to go the World Premiere AND the pre-screening reception." OK, you party animal. Go to this link and SCROLL down to OCT 9, 2010 6PM then select "Reception and HTN." This is $25.

5. "I want to see the 5pm Saturday Night Live Documentary by James Franco and HTN with an option to go or not go to the reception." You are an overachiever! But I'll be there with you for this one. This is $35 (or $20 sans reception). Go to this link SCROLL down to OCT 9, 2010 5pm and follow the directions like a trained monkey from there.

6. There may still be day passes available for $20 and full festival passes for $80. Find that info yourself by looking around. http://cincyfilmfest.com. They can also answer questions you may have from here. I have give you all I know!

Can't wait to see you there! Pass this info around on Facebook at Twitter to help a brother market a movie. As a final reminder, this is a personal comedy project (PG-13ish) just for fun and with no agenda apart from world-wide box office domination.

Check out the latest teaser video:

The Vineyard is turning 25!

2010-09-30T18:41:00.000-04:00

This Sunday. 10:30 a.m. The Cintas Center at Xavier University. One huge Celebration.

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 4. My Take on "Small Groups"

2010-09-29T01:20:00.001-04:00

I have, rather inconsistently, been doing a series on this blog on Christian community. I've recently added links on the left sidebar for the community series...and links to my earlier leadership series on the right side. So, head over there and catch up if you missed the first three posts.

I'd like to write today about "small groups." First - a full disclaimer: I help lead a church with a small group ministry. I believe that a larger church with no method of grouping people into smaller communities is relatively pointless. I've written several times about this. I believe that "small groups" are actually much closer to the New Testament idea of "church" than what we normally call church.

That said, I need to address a significant weakness in typical "small group" programs and ministries. Namely, that many people tend to drift toward seeing their group as primarily an event or meeting instead of a community. Ironically, this is why small group ministries became so widely popular in the American church over the last three decades...to force people to move past the mentality that church is primarily an event or meeting (Sunday service) instead of an interactive community. Unfortunately, many small groups facilitate the exact same problem diagnosed on Sunday mornings but in a smaller format. They become simply another (sometimes irregular) meeting to attend - an event to go to for prayer, study and maybe to sing a few songs. Yes, sometimes in these meetings people do grow deeper together and actually begin to share life on a deeper level. Sometimes truths are told and tears are shed. (This is good thing.) But, more often than not, once the event ends so does the sharing of life...until the next meeting in a week or two.

As church leaders, we tend to look at our small group numbers as a sign of health and a barometer for how our people are doing at sharing life together. If we have 500 people in our church and 400 of them are in groups, we feel pretty good about things. "80% of our people are in community," we say. But are they? Are we sure they just aren't attending another meeting? This should be of primary concern for a pastor.

I think it comes down to us wanting a short cut when it comes to community. We know that it is impossible to live in the Kingdom and know Jesus apart from life within a community. We want everyone in our organization to know Jesus and the Kingdom, so we create a system of groups to ensure their growth. This is not bad thinking. It is actually a well-intentioned loving act of leadership. But...we cannot let ourselves so easily off the hook in assuming that gathering people in meetings will lead to community. Our goal is not that our people attend events, but that they can honestly say that they are part of a growing, missional spiritual family. We want people to be in community - not simply in "small groups."

Attending a meeting together doesn't make us a community. Neither does studying the Bible twice a month together. Nor sharing "how we are really doing" 24 times per year. Here's the hard pill to swallow: there is no quick fix to real community. It takes TIME. Lots of it. More than you probably think you have or want to give. Real Christian communities live life together daily. They arrange their lives around each other. Their informal meetings dwarf their formal scheduled ones.

Think about how families are made. Real families are slowly formed over years and decades. I don't buy the "quality is better than quantity" argument for half a second. The people I know the most, love the most, have been influenced by the most are the people I have spent the most time with. My mom and dad, my wife and kids...and my closest friends. Family involves daily check-ins, regular clarifications, consistent communication and, perhaps most importantly, shared proximity. In essence, family is forged over time though the act of togetherness. Once a family has been forged in togetherness, it can afford to be apart for a while. But none of us would honestly imagine a husband-wife or parent-child relationship built solely upon two 90-minute formal meetings per month. We should not presume that a spiritual family can be formed that way either. I'm rather convinced that it cannot.

Of course, at some point balance is a factor. I need days to be alone. I need days to be with just my wife and kids. But I also need to be a part of a church. I need a spiritual family. I rarely go two days without being with someone in my community. It could be a lunch with a friend, a text to check in, a formal "small group" meeting or a friday night poker game. When a community learns to live life together, the need to strictly "program" their time together diminishes. In my opinion, this is why the weekly or bi-weekly formal meeting is still important. It's the time to check in with one another about the state of the community: Have we prayed together this week? Have we shared? Have we learned? What have we learned? Have we worshipped? Have we served the poor? The meeting is a time to keep the community on mission...it isn't the time, generally speaking, to do the mission. That is done everyday as life is lived together.

This may create in many of us a flood of negative reactions: What do you mean my small group isn't enough? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get together just once a week in the first place? This is all too much work!

I get it. I feel that way sometimes...even about the people I love. And I think I have found the answer: It is simply hard to live in community. It is more natural to isolate. Being a part of a Christian community will involve radical sacrifice on your part. Just as being a part of a family influences every decision you make, so being a part of a spiritual family has consequences in every area of your life. It will take time to see this family birthed: hours and days and years. It is how families are made...slowly and over time.

So my advice for you is to find a few people to love. Live your daily lives in regular proximity with one another. Be entwined. Tie your lives in relational knots. And have a few "small group" meetings each month to make sure you are becoming the sort of community that honors Jesus and points others toward his coming reign.

Hitting the Nuts World Premiere!

2010-09-22T21:43:00.010-04:00

I just sent the following e-mail to the cast and crew of Hitting the Nuts. I thought I'd share it with the world...it's exciting news for all of us!

*content disclaimer - You are all invited to the premiere of the movie, but please know that it is intended to be a PG-13ish comedy with little redeeming value apart from inducing uproarious laughter. If SNL-style humor is offensive to you, you may prefer a quiet evening at home.

Dear Cast, Crew and Supporters of HTN,

It is hard to believe that it has been thirteen months since we wrapped shooting on Hitting the Nuts. It's even harder to believe that it has been over four years in the making! I'd like to think it just proves that good things take time.

I'm excited to announce that Hitting the Nuts was recently named an official selection to the Cincinnati Film Festival. This is an internationally known festival recently named one of the "25 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" by Movie Maker magazine. (See the full article here if you'd like: http://www.moviemaker.com/festivals/article/25_film_festivals_worth_the_entry_fee_2009_20090714/ )

HTN will premiere at 8pm on Saturday, October 9th at the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN. (Cincy Metro). The festival and casino are also throwing a release party for us at Boogie Nights nightclub after the event. Or course, you are all invited and I hope you can come. We are still planning on theatrical screenings in Las Vegas, Kansas City and Louisville, Ky in the months to come if you want to wait for HTN to come closer to you.

There are about 500 tickets available for the event. Beginning Sept. 30th, the festival will begin releasing tickets for individual films for $10. Until then you can only purchase weeklong and day passes. Those are available now at the following link:

http://cincyfilmfest.com/index.php/en/tickets

I'm also excited about the film leading into HTN at 5pm. It is the regional premiere of the SNL documentary "Saturday Night" produced by and starring James Franco (Spider-Man, Eat Pray Love). If you are interested in seeing that film and HTN, I would suggest a day pass - which is available now at the link above. If you are coming from out of town, the Hollywood Casino is offering a special room rate for festival attendees. Because the premiere is in a casino, attendees need to be at least 21 years old. However, there will be a second viewing of HTN at The Esquire theater in Cincinnati the following Tuesday. More details on that showing will be available in the days to come at http://cincyfilmfest.com.

Feel free to forward this email, post links on Twitter and Facebook and spread the word anyway you can. The best way to get the most current information about the movie is to direct people to the official Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/HTN-The-Poker-Movie/116926043028?ref=ts

We are working on DVD distribution now with positive feedback from potential distributors. (A VP at a major studio watched the movie and told me he thought he was the funniest indie comedy he had seen in two years. He took it home and watched it again with his wife...) It will take a while to find the perfect match for distribution, but the process is going very well. The festival exposure will do nothing but help us get closer to a deal.

Obviously, it wouldn't be what it is without all of you. I can't wait for you to see the final product.

Best,

Joe Boyd
Producer, Hitting the Nuts
HTN trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0SRHNQvbVk

Fences - A new VCC feature film

2010-09-11T13:11:00.000-04:00

Whenever I write or talk about what is happening in and around the Vineyard with film and video production, I cannot help but personalize it. I felt as though I was leaving a dream behind me in Los Angeles when I accepted the call to come to Cincinnati a little over three years ago. It was confusing because I felt as though God really wanted me to pursue a vocation in and around film and TV production. When the unexplainable and undeniable circumstances occurred surrounding the opportunity to return to Ohio and align with VCC, Debbie and I had no choice but to follow what was clearly a God-inspired invitation to work here. We haven't regretted it. God was (and still is) in it.

That reality didn't take away some of the confusion and grief surrounding what felt like a calling in LA abandoned half-finished. I remember holding back tears my last day in Hollywood thinking, "I have a new calling to pursue, but this one isn't finished yet." Secretly I wondered if I had somehow failed God...or maybe I had never been called to the entertainment industry to begin with. Maybe I had just fooled myself into doing something I wanted to do. I had, over the course of my five years outside of vocational ministry, received various emails from well-meaning people telling me that I was denying my call to be a pastor and should leave the "Hollywood experiment" behind and work at a church again. Those emails had always fueled me to prove them wrong. I hated the mentality that working at a church was somehow more of a calling than some other vocation. On that last day in LA, I began to wonder if maybe they were right. Had I fooled myself into following some self-centered dream that God had to come and rescue me from by giving me a church job? I had no answers to those questions...so I decided to leave them on the west coast and come here.

I remember thinking of Abraham...how he moved to a new land in faith. And I tried to do the same. I would let my old dreams die on the vine because God had intervened and given me a new worthy adventure. So I came to Ohio to be a pastor and help lead a church.

What slowly became obvious, though, is that when God gives you a calling it isn't that simple. Looking back, God seems to have been busy taking the seemingly unconnected strands of my life and weaving them together. Doors in the entertainment industry that were closed, began to open once I moved here. God had moved other people to VCC with aligning passions. So personally, this is the one area of my life where I most feel God's love and grace toward me. The dream I left in LA followed me to Cincinnati. And I have no idea where it is going from here, but I am thankful. I still hold back tears at times...but now they come from overwhelming gratitude. God loves me enough to allow me to be all I am...not just one part of me at a time. For a guy like me, that's the best gift he could give.

So all this brings me to an announcement. Over the next year we will be shooting two feature films through VCC. In 2011, we will produce a romantic comedy currently titled A Strange Brand of Happy. We had hoped to shoot that movie this year, but we need a little more time to round out the funding.

In the meantime, we will be making a low/no budget digital feature called Fences. Here's what it is about:

Josh, a young white social worker, moves into a predominately African American neighborhood in Cincinnati. His next-door neighbor is George, a recently retired African American who doesn’t exactly welcome Josh into the neighborhood.

Over the course of one day, through a series of misinterpreted events, both Josh and George learn that in order to really become neighbors they are going to have to do the hard work of getting to know each other. Blurring (and sometimes crossing) the lines of racism and prejudice, both men discover that the real healing will only come in time…one genuine conversation at a time.

We believe that Fences will initiate conversations in Cincinnati and beyond about the subtle prejudices we all have. And we believe these simple conversations will lead to healing. This forum gives VCC an opportunity to say the sorts of things we have said for 25 years in a new, culturally relevant way. It gives our voice a microphone to the world.

So, Fences will shoot for about twelve days beginning September, 27th. We are depending on volunteers to pull this off. It's not going to be easy, but it will be worth it. We have lots of video professionals and actors already volunteering their time. At this point, we could use help with the following:

-individuals or restaurants who can provide a meal for 15-20 people.
-people who can provide snacks and drinks for the other volunteers on set.
-locations for shooting: specifically a convenience store exterior, gas station, car wash and a suburban house with a closed in patio room.
-help gathering and finding props.
-cars for out-of-town actors to borrow for a week or so.
-people committed to pray for the project.

If you want help with these things, email us at film@vineyardcincinnati.com and we will be in touch this week.

We'd love to have you be a part of this. All of us together can create something amazing. God is good.

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 3. The Acts 2 Community.

2010-09-09T11:49:00.001-04:00

I discovered Acts 2:42-27 when I was in high school. It struck a chord with me. I knew that I wanted to live in a community like the one described there. Here it is in the NIV:

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

It still stirs something within me. I am frustrated that I have learned so much over the last twenty years since it first captivated my heart. It was stunningly beautiful in my youthful innocence. These days, it reads more like a nearly-possible-but-not-entirely-likely future reality. With age comes a sobering realism. This is still the community I desire, but when it comes to living life together, the disciples in Acts 2 did have a few things in their favor that we do not:

1. The Resurrection. They had within their midst the apostles - eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. These days we all have a temptation to only see the resurrection through a metaphorical lens. I think that is a true way to see it. (To say that we metaphorically die to ourselves and live again is certainly a teaching of Jesus.) The rub comes when we only believe it metaphorically. It seems that the Acts 2 community, fueled by the 12 to 500 eyewitness of the resurrected Jesus, had no room for doubt in the physical resurrection. Their instant conversion to a radical communal lifestyle had to flow from that utterly unique circumstance.

2. Socio-political circumstances. There has been an assumption that the earliest disciples would have been shunned from the Jewish community in Jerusalem, including their own families of origin. If this is true then they may have been economically, socially and political ostracized forcing them to more fully depend on one another. Though not in North America, there are places in the world today where a conversion to Christianity results in persecution, or at least severe shunning. This forces believers together to meet real life needs. A similar thing may have been happening in Jerusalem.

3. The Eschaton. The last thing the leaders of the Acts 2 community heard from God was that "this same Jesus who you have seen disappear will return to you." They obviously took this to mean a quick (and very real) return - within a matter of days or weeks perhaps. They believed that they were living in the very last days before the great King would come and rule Israel. (These last days are called "The Escahton.") Their actions in Acts 2 mirror what they anticipated life to look like when their great King would come to reign. In essence, they began living as if the King were already reigning because they knew he was about to return at any moment. Decades later, these early Christians struggled with the fact that Jesus had not yet returned to fully reign. In II Peter 3, Peter writes to a group of churches saying:

3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

If Peter found himself in a position to remind followers of Jesus that he is still returning despite a delay of only twenty years, we can admit that the task is exponentially harder for us 2,000 years later.

With all of that as background, I cannot dismiss Acts 2:42-47 as simply history. I think it is a vision of pure Kingdom community lived out in Jerusalem circa 30 AD. As the Kingdom (present and yet to come) invades any people or culture, these same realities begin to emerge: devotion to prayer, teaching, togetherness, meal-sharing, radical generosity, worship, expectation of the miraculous and numerical growth. What happened in Acts 2 still happens today. But, it gets messy. It got messy then as well. Acts 2 is a snapshot of the church on its honeymoon while the letters of Paul and Peter show us a messier version of community as the disciples begin to set into a daily life within their various cities.

So at this point in my life I try to avoid the most extreme positions on this passage. It can be dangerous when viewed as a prescriptive formula for church growth. (ie - we all have to sell our houses and live together or if we don't see any miracles this year we aren't a real church, etc.) The other extreme is the position that more or less excuses the Acts 2 community as an anomaly - just a bunch of excited new converts caught up in what they thought was the last days. This quickly takes us down the road of learning from their mistakes vs. learning from their faithful witness. I choose to believe that their response was valid and exactly what God wanted. If nothing else, they painted a picture for all of us to follow. Through Luke's pen, they showed us what community will look like in the Kingdom fulfilled. As for me, I'd rather give my life to seeing us get us close as we can to that vision on this side of the Parousia. These are the last days. We are in the Eschaton. We have been for 2,000 years...but to God that's like 48 hours. I'd love for Jesus to find my church looking a lot more like Acts 2 than anything else when he comes back to reign.

I don't like being a pastor.

2010-09-03T12:19:00.000-04:00

I don't like being a pastor.

Now let me unpack that.

Maybe, a less dramatic way to say what I am feeling is that I don't like being perceived or labeled as a pastor. The Bible lists pastoring among the spiritual gifts given to believers. I don't believe that I have a large measure of the "pastoring" gift. To me, a true pastor (Biblically speaking) is someone exceptionally gifted to care for and disciple a smaller group of people. I may be better at that than I give myself credit for, but it isn't my primary gifting.

I can look past that, though. I live in culture where the word "pastor" (or minster, reverend, etc.) means something other than what the New Testament means when it uses the word. I don't have to be the etymological purist who tries to rescues words back to their earlier meanings. I'm tempted to do that, but it isn't worth the effort. So, in our culture, a "pastor" is for all intensive purposes defined as a protestant priest. Most people would define a "pastor" as a professional clergyman who leads a church (meaning a non-profit religious organization). There are, of course, negative connotations to the word. Lots of pastors are egomaniacs, for instance. Many are rather shallow people using religion to forge a career for themselves. Some of them, of course, love God and their people legitimately...ok, probably most of them do if I am being fair. But, the reality is that the word itself isn't a very exciting label for me to attach to myself.

When someone on an airplane asks me what I do I usually say, "I work for a church." If I'm feeling particularly guarded I might say something like, "I do lots of things...teach at a church, write books, make movies." They will generally be intrigued more by writing books and making movies, which leads the conversation toward a more desired destination. In most circumstances I can rarely make these words come out of my mouth: "I'm a pastor."

I do have business cards that I never use that say "pastor." It's also what appears on my W2 form. I am, legally speaking, a pastor. I'm registered with the state of Ohio as a member of the clergy to perform religious rites. I'm a pastor. I just hate being called one.

I worry that I think too negatively about this stuff. I know I can tend to do that. The "happier" people in my life advise me to make it my ambition to embrace the title and embark on a crusade to redefine it. But it's hard to give my life to redeeming a title that neither Biblically nor culturally accurately defines what God has called me to be.

This post all comes from a thought I had during our prayer time last night in my church meeting (small group). It hit me that for all of the obviously rough days Jesus weathered, there might have been a similar frustration that he quietly endured day to day. I started thinking about how many people called him "Rabbi." He was a rabbi - a teacher. But he wasn't like the other rabbis. He spent the majority of his time combatting the Pharisees, the leading faction of rabbis. I wonder if the average person - at first glance - just put Jesus in the "rabbi box." I wonder if they thought things like, "He's a little different than the Pharisees, but a rabbi is a rabbi. He's all talk. All about the rules. All about the power, etc."

Of course, those who spent time with him would begin to say things like, "unlike the other rabbis, he speaks with genuine authority." But, I can't help but wonder if his stomach didn't turn now and again when a stranger walked up to him and addressed him as "rabbi." Maybe I'm way off. I am obviously projecting my own story onto his...but I don't think I have thought about how the cultural expectations of being a rabbi could have been a frustrating obstacle toward his goal of bringing the Kingdom.

I have a great measure of clarity around what God has called me to these days. He's called me to live my life in a church defined as a "a small missional family loving God and each other." He's called me to Cincinnati and the Vineyard to use my gifts to mobilize people to see the Kingdom come in our city and beyond. He's called me to play a role in speaking to the larger American culture through film and video production. I'd do those things regardless of my job or title or circumstances. I don't think any of these callings make me a pastor, but you can keep calling me that if you want...so long as neither of us really start believing it too much.

Sincerely,

Pastor Joe

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 2. It's About God.

2010-09-01T10:10:00.000-04:00

This is the second in a series on Christian Community. You can read the first post here.

Let's get our theology on for this post. Just a little:

Orthodox Christians believe in a mystery normally labeled the "Trinity." We say that God is one being existing in three persons - Father, Son and Spirit. To say this is to say that the One God who always was has always been Three. At his core, he is a functioning community. He is such a community that we are careful to say that he is not three Gods working together, but we boldly proclaim the Shema: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One."

He is such a profoundly perfect community that he is, in fact, One.

He is plurally singular and singularly plural. He is Three, but One.

And we are created in his image. More than that, we are drawn into his Being. When need only to revisit John 15 from our previous post to hear Jesus tell us to "remain in him" as he remains in the Father. The ancients would often speak of this reality as a "divine dance." The great joy we have is knowing that we have been invited into the everlasting dance of the Trinity. Once we were alone, but now we are free to live in the community of God himself.

In other words, it is impossible to talk about the Christian God without talking about community. Even to say things like, "God is love" has an understated assumption of a triune being who loves within himself. So, when God creates a people he has an agenda. He wants a people who will represent him. He infuses his DNA into us. He creates, as he always has, in his image.

All of this produces in me a different way of thinking about community. If it is about God and his being, then it truly isn't about me or those around me. Community simply becomes worship. It is how I show God that I love him. It becomes discipleship. It is how I become like God, since he is the first and greatest community.

Sometimes, when it comes to the various acts of worship, I find that I simply don't want to do them for whatever reason. (I think of singing praise songs or giving my time and money or standing in solidarity with the poor.) Sometimes worship flows from me because I am overflowing with gratitude, but sometimes worship itself is a discipline that I do in spite of my desire not to. I know that God is worth it, so I give him my time or money or praise. Community is the same way. Sometimes I am filled with gratitude and being in community is natural - sometimes it is even fun and easy. But sometimes I don't want to be in community. Then it becomes a discipline of worship.

Though we may overlook this truth, it is clearly stated in the Scriptures. I John 4 says it clearly and better than I can. The reason we live in community is because of the nature of God himself:

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 1. It's Not About You.

2010-08-23T10:10:00.001-04:00

This post will launch us into a 14-part series entitled The Practice of Christian Community. I am not sure if I am an expert on the subject, but I do have a few decades of practicing community as a discipline. I am an introvert and tend to prefer to be alone, but I am also a Christian. I found it impossible to be a Christian alone.

I fell into a community (maybe "brotherhood" is a more accurate word) during my four years as an undergrad in college. I met a handful of guys who became my family. I discovered a new kind of love. People told us that those sorts of deep daily friendships only existed as part of the college experience, but we refused to believe them. Many of us moved to Las Vegas together to see what might emerge from intentionally committing to our community. A church emerged...flawed, but beautiful. Since then we have gone our separate ways. I spend a few days every year regretting that we didn't find a way to stay together, but a strong case could be made that it was the leading of God that scattered us.

Since I have no context for the Christian faith apart from daily communal life together, I did my best throw myself into new communities along the way. There were certainly isolated years of relative solitude - just our family huddled together with one or true trusted friends. But the majority of my Christian experience has centered around an intentional grouping of Jesus-followers with whom I live life together.

This, to me, is church. I have stated this many times on this blog and elsewhere. I am compelled to state it over and over - maybe as much for my sake as for yours. If this isn't church, I have little hope for what we commonly call "church." If this is church, I am still very much a believer.

I am also a pastor at a larger "church" which contains small groups. If all power were granted to me from on high, I would call our small groups "churches" and our larger organization a para-church that exists to plant churches and unite them for greater missional impact. (More on that in a later post.) I will do my best to not get hung up on semantics...though I believe strongly that it would benefit American Evangelicals tremendously to get hung up on semantics now and again. We have hi-jacked most Biblical words and concepts and given them meanings that are more like shadows of their intended truths. "Church" is certainly one of these hi-jacked words.

Let's talk about community from the perspective of someone in my current context - part of a larger church. (I use "larger" here not to mean a mega-church, but to mean any group of people where a stranger could come in anonymously - maybe 50 or more?) Generally, someone will come first to a weekend church service - hopefully with a friend, but often alone. If your larger church is like mine, they will likely hear someone tell them to "get into a small group." We tell them that, "that is where life change happens." And, "all the good stuff is there - learning, friendship, etc."

This is true. But we as church leaders must be careful of the temptation to overstate the benefits of "group life." We should also tell them that life in community is very hard. It takes a long time to trust and be trusted. Plus, we should remind them that people are super weird. Anyone I have ever really taken the time to get to know is dramatically broken or selfish or irrational. Most of us develop coping skills to hide our dysfunctions. The better we are at "coping" the longer we can retain the illusion of normalcy. However, normalcy is a myth. We are all broken. If you spend enough time with anyone on the planet you will eventually want to stop spending time with them. And that is where community happens...in the realization of our utter hopelessness to genuinely like each other.

There is only one way community can work. God has to step in. He will have to rule the community. Everyone will have to surrender their individual agendas to him. So, Christian community is really God's working laboratory for life in the Kingdom. To enter the practice of Christian community is to die to yourself. This may seem unfair to the core. Community is where you should go to be loved, right? Yes, but Jesus turned the notion of love on its head at the cross. He modeled love for us and explained it before he endured it:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. (Jesus in John 15, NIV)

Christian community is nothing short of an invitation to obey Jesus's call to die. In laying down our lives (our agendas, desires, opinions, preferences, money, etc.) we exist, no longer for ourselves, but for God and our friends. Of course, Jesus knows that if we all love each other this deeply, we will find more than we need for a joyous and fulfilling life. To be fully loved by others who are dying to their own agenda is an amazing and humbling place to be. I have been there before.

Here's how it works, though. Jesus died for us to show us the way of live. Now you must die for your friends. You must lead the death march. It never works out so that everyone chooses to die on the same day. Someone has to lead the way. If you choose to devote yourself to the practice of Christian community, it means giving yourself up first so that others will follow. Or maybe they won't. Regardless, you have obeyed Jesus' command. And he promises to be your friend...even when others won't.

One of the most common things I hear people say about their small group is that they "don't get much out of it." I can be less diplomatic here than I tend to be face to face: if you say that, you probably have the wrong mindset to start with. It isn't about you - what you are feeling or learning. It's about God. And that's the topic of our next post.

The Practice of Christian Community - New Blog Series

2010-08-05T18:37:00.000-04:00

I've been blogging for eight years now. In an effort to make the exercise fresh (and hopefully relevant) I tackled a ten-post leadership series this summer. Having a specific writing plan energized me and motivated me to take the time to say something of worth. I recently asked (via FB and Twitter) for some feedback on a new series. I had several responses, but a few in particular centered around the area of Christian community. Two emails came my way that I can only describe as "pleas for help" in terms of dealing with the challenges of leading others toward authentically living life together. It seems right to spend some time on this topic. I took the time today to map out the road we will travel. This is just the "table of contents" for now. I am on the verge of a two-week break from work, so I anticipate being somewhat inconsistent in posting for a few weeks, but I am excited to share the roadmap with you today. Here is where we will be headed...feel free to make suggestions for related topics to cover and I will try to work them in:

The Practice of Christian Community:

1. Community isn’t about what you want.

2. Community is about what God wants.

3. The Eschaton and the Acts 2 Community.

4. Beyond “small groups”: the quantity vs. quality myth.

5. Jesus said community = evangelism.

6. Loving “weaker” members.

7. Community as the skeleton for discipleship.

8. Group meetings: necessary but overrated.

9. Spiritual gifts in their proper context.

10. Shining a new light on Paul’s letters.

11. Why Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together matters.

12. Being church vs. going to church.

13. What if what we used to call “church” is really para-church?

14. Attaining genuine community in a virtual age.

I look forward to the journey with you...

Advice to Young Leaders #10 of 10 - Don't Be Too Needed

2010-07-28T11:49:00.001-04:00

This is the last post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here are the links to the previous nine:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #10: Don't let people need you too much.

Thanks to those of you who have been around for the entire advice-giving journey. I have enjoyed the process more than I had expected. It has caused me to think through the reasons why I do some of the things I do. I'd like to think that maybe I am a better leader for this effort - or at least a more deliberate one.

This last bit of advice may be the hardest for me to verbalize, but I believe a key to Christian leadership is finding a way to lead in such a way that the need for your leadership diminishes. This is counterintuitive in business, politics and economics. A major consideration of the leaders in the "world" is their own sustainability and progression as a leader. Politicians are always campaigning. CEO's are watching their backs. Celebrities are tirelessly image-building. In the world, part of leadership is about personal gain. In the Kingdom, we have already died to ourselves. Leadership is about God and his reign - not us. We don't get to be the King.

So it gets a little complicated. The people we lead need us to let them need us. But they need God more. Our task as Christian leaders is, at least in part, to slowly and methodically disappear over time. We need to be ever mindful that the Kingdom of God is eternal and will exist far beyond our influence. Leadership is stewardship. Leaders do a terrible disservice to their followers when they build organizations or cultures dependent on the leader himself.

I never feel successful in a leadership environment until I can imagine walking away with very few people noticing. This has always been a conviction of mine, though in my early ministry experiences I was not very successful at accomplishing it. I held onto some things too long. I left other ministries too abruptly or too early. I made significant decisions out of my pain instead of from the heart of a spiritual father. As I have gotten older, I have done a little better at leaving ministries better than when I found them...and ready to move on without me.

God may have me at The Vineyard for the rest of my life. I think longevity is a virtue and I'd love to be known as a leader who has staying power. But staying in the same place doesn't mean staying the same. The longer I am here, the more I need to become dispensable. Many pastors fall into "old world" thinking. They need to be needed. It not only feeds their egos, but it provides a sometimes-real sense of security. "If they need me, they won't get rid of me." This might be a good way to think in the corporate world, but this isn't a career...it's a calling. Your job is to be faithful to it.

The Kingdom and The Powers

2010-07-26T14:05:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I spoke about the Kingdom at VCC. I was asked by several people to provide the diagram that I drew on the flip chart during my talk. My friend Chris was nice enough to send me over a pdf of his notes. (Check out Chris' blog at www.churchpunk.com.)

I will attempt to explain it briefly here, but if you have more interest, check out the weekend teaching at this link.

The rectangle represents the world...the way life really is. Imagine the diagram without the circle in the middle. There are powers at work in the world that shape and control us. In my mind, the four biggest powers at work in the world are economics, politics, violence and religion. These powerful systems seek to make us all pawns. They control us and reduce us to less-than-human playthings under their control. The four powers dance in and out of each other, creating the world we live in.

The reality of living under the control of these powers creates certain values or mantras that we live by. Chris listed a few of these at the top of the rectangle. Things like "Look out for #1," "Watch your back," or "I'm gonna get mine." That is the world we live in.

The circle in the triangle represents the reality-altering event of the coming of Jesus to earth. With Jesus came a new realm or reality that seeks to overcome the reality dominated by the fallen powers. Jesus's primary message centered on the current advent and future expansion of this new God-realm. Most translations of the New Testament use the word "Kingdom" for this "Jesus bubble" where he reigns and makes the rules. Jesus will often call it the "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Kingdom of God" or sometimes simply, "Heaven." My conviction is that regardless of what phrase he uses we are talking about "the current and future realm where God reigns with his people." This is my working definition for both of the words normally translated "Kingdom" and "Heaven" with a few minor exceptions.

When the religious leaders asked Jesus to give them the most important command in the Law, he responded that (in his realm) what matters most is love: loving God first, then other people. It is love that creates our lifestyle (culture, norms, values, etc.) The world (outside of the bubble) has its values. We have ours. Ours is love. Everything that we value and do within God's current and future realm flows from love. The commands of Jesus teach us how to live within a society dominated by love.

So, the "gospel" or good news in context of Jesus' primary message is that the system of the world is using and abusing people. We are slaves to that system and need to be liberated - not by some abstract concept of freedom - but by entering Jesus' realm and becoming God's servants. This is why Jesus' most common salvation language is to "enter" or "receive" the new realm (kingdom). We are saved when we leave (repent) the old system and begin to live within the new alternative kingdom.

This is the undercurrent of understanding needed to live out Jesus' commands like, "Seek first the realm (kingdom) of God and his lifestyle of love (righteousness) and all these things (food, clothes, etc) will be added to you as well."

Jesus believed that the realm of God had come to earth through him. He also believed that it had not fully come. It is now in the process of rapidly expanding. One day, after the resurrection of all things, God will destroy what is left of the system dominated by the powers and fully reign again over all of his creation. For now, we advance forward to that day.

Advice to Young Leaders #9 of 10 - Be Part of Your Church

2010-07-23T23:47:00.000-04:00

This is the ninth post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #9: Be Part of Your Own Church.

The best leaders lead from their life more than their words. The way a leader lives will inevitably, for better or worse, influence his or her followers toward the same lifestyle. If you lead at 100 mph, your followers will sprint at that same pace until they collapse. If you lead from sluggish apathy, you will have apathetic followers. My favorite leaders are the once who have a way of pushing their followers to new and unprecedented places while maintaining a healthy, sustainable pace for them.

We need to be careful to lead in the tangible and practical world, not isolated within our idealistic theoretical one. When I planted my first church I set up a series of programs around key issues that were important to me. Programatic based ministry is attractive to leaders because it (in theory) creates a manageable system for care and growth. If everyone just does the right programs (and the programs actually work) then everyone in your ministry will be growing. This is why a lot of modern "contemporary" churches look the same - they ask people to come to a church service on Sunday to worship, pick another time to serve, pick another program to reach out to the poor, invite your non-Christian friends to yet another special event, and of course be in a small group where you can have genuine, meaningful relationships. Maybe Sunday morning isn't deep enough for you and you will also need a midweek Bible Study. Then, of course, as you grow and become a leader you will likely be asked to attend training and leadership meetings.

This programatic-driven structure will have at least one effect - it will make you and your people very busy. To be fair, some people thrive in this jam-packed system. But many others do not. I do not believe that programs are evil. I like programs and events. I even believe that a strategically timely program, event or class can change the trajectory of a person's life. (In a previous post I talked about how taking improv classes radically changed me.)

The main point of all of this is that as leaders we must be aware of what we are actually asking people to do. Personally, I do not function optimally working 40-60 hours/week, loving my family and friends, and doing my missional hobbies while also trying to attend 5 or more additional church meetings per week. I can't sustain that for the long haul. If the leader can't sustain the systemic requirements, very few others will be able to...and almost nobody will want to.

What I am able to do is have friends. I'm a big believer in living within a holistic Kingdom community. I can learn to create a life with my friends that is worshipful, educational and generous. It is actually easier for me to understand how to use my spiritual gifts within the context of my friends than in a larger organization. If every small group at my church is growing toward becoming sustainable, holistic communities of faith, then we are onto something noteworthy. The programs (church services, outreaches, classes, etc.) can function as stopgaps for our communities as we move past our current inadequacies. But the goal is for every follower to be in a relational, holistic, missional, sustainable Kingdom community. This is church really. In my understanding, the programs exist only to help people be the church. The summation of the programs isn't church...the people are.

Maybe you aren't in the same place as me with this stuff. That's fine. The point of this post isn't to convince you to value a holistic model over a programatic one. The point is that you should clearly know what you really care about - what you really want people to do - and, most importantly, what you yourself are ready to model everyday for the rest of your forseable future. As a leader, I can certainly influence people toward aspects of my ministry that I am not personally involved with that might be helpful to them. (For example, I can encourage someone struggling with drug addiction to attend a support group even though I am not currently needing one.) It would be unreasonable to expect the leader to do and be a part of everything in an organization. But there are some essential things that I expect and ask everyone who follows me to incorporate into their lives. I cannot really lead my people unless I fully commit and live out those "essentials." It is always a bit of a head tilt when I hear a pastor tell me that they aren't in a small group or giving to their church or inviting people into their community or whatever. To put it simply, you can't lead a church unless you are a part of the church.

The Gospel as Relational Story

2010-07-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to post a link to a great (short) article by Donald Miller on the narrative nature of the gospel. Check it out here.

Advice to Young Leaders #8 of 10 - Influence.

2010-07-14T12:04:00.002-04:00

This is the eighth post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #8: Influence.

I don't read John Maxwell much anymore, but when I was a young leader I read several of his books. A quote of his that has stayed with me through the years is "leadership is influence." I still come back to that basic definition of leadership most everyday. If I am truly leading someone, then I have influence over their decisions, actions and beliefs.

As we have already seen in this series, influence is a tricky thing. I see two extreme reactions emerge as people struggle with the inherit messiness of being an influencer. All leaders have mixed motives. Some of us want to lead (influence others) because we love to be in charge. There are lots of different reasons why we love to be in charge, but it normally comes down to believing that we can do a better job of leading than whoever is currently leading (or not leading). Many young leaders fall into this category. Without a doubt, this is what motivated me to be a leader/influencer in my early years. I don't want to say that this motivation is necessarily wrong. Leaders need to reinvent. Most great leaders lead from some sort of holy discontent with the status quo. The problem comes when, after years of leading, you realize that while you may be addressing the things you thought were "wrong" you are only creating other messes in other areas. In essence, you will see that you may not be a much better leader than the people you used to criticize.

This can bring about the second extreme response I notice in people. Some very capable influencers make the choice to stop leading because of their awareness of their own inadequacies. This is a hurdle that must be crossed. If you used to be a leader, but are not one now that may mean that you are ignoring a gift embedded into you by the Holy Spirit. I like the way that the ESV version of the Bible translates Paul in Romans 12. It says, "Let him who leads do so with zeal." Leaders need to be free to be zealous - not hiding in the corners.

It seems to me that many of the best leaders have gone through a journey that looks something like this:

1. A holy discontent with the status quo.

2. A decision to do something heroic about it.

3. An aggressive initiative to lead others to 1.) see the problem and 2.) fix it.

4. A season of relative success.

5. A massive failure. (either to accomplish #3 or another failure while accomplishing #3)

6. An exodus from leadership.

7. A time of isolation and healing.

8. An (often reluctant) acceptance of a new leadership initiative.

9. Serving from a place of brokenness/humility with more of a focus on God and people than the problems of the status quo.

This has been my personal journey anyway. I have not been at it long enough to know if there are other stages past #9. I have seen others in my posit . ion start the entire process over again, as if it were a never ending circle where #9 leads back to #1. I hope it doesn't work that way. I have seen people go through the entire process only to forget the lessons learned from their failures. At this point in my life, I only follow level 9 leaders. That's why I came to VCC - it's full of them.

It is also difficult to know if the process can be avoided at all. I would love for the younger leaders in my life to go straight from #1 to #9, but I have a hunch it doesn't work that way. Maybe the key is simply being aware - instead of dreaming about the day when you will be a great dynamic leader try to dream about a day when you will be utterly broken and humble.

Regardless of where you are in the process, if you are a leader you are influencing people. Make sure to influence a few people deeply. Have a few key followers who have special access to your life and schedule. From there, you will notice ripples of influence. The more you lead, the more you will influence people you are not in relationship with as well. This is a good thing, but only if you remember that your first priority as a leader is to influence your true "disciples."

I started blogging almost ten years ago before anyone even knew what a blog even was. I started for one primary reason - so that I could expand my influence on anyone who might allow me into their life. It seemed like a free and easy way to lead people toward the Kingdom. Blogging has been an odd and somewhat tortuous journey for an introvert. Blogging, like a toppling domino, has given way to Facebook and Twitter. These are all activities that, were I not a leader, I would resist. Because I am a missionary in an increasingly cyber-based culture who wants to influence people to see the reality of the Kingdom, I embrace these things. That's also why I now write books. If someone wants to read the things that are important to me, I'd like them to do so. Ultimately, this is also why I have a job speaking to 6,000 people each weekend when I personally prefer having church in my living room. I have accepted the calling to be an influencer.

I firmly believe that those things are the result of trying to influence relationally one person at a time in my own little world. I certainly didn't set out to work at a mega church, have a billion Facebook friends or write a novel.

So, if people want to follow you, let them. That means you are a leader. Positions matter very little in leadership. Influence is what matters. Lead with zeal, but learn to lead humbly from your failures more than from your successes. Use what the culture gives you to influence people toward the Kingdom...just be careful to not believe your own press when it comes. But, lead with zeal for God's sake. The reality is that you can become the sort of person who, by your very nature and presence, will nudge people toward a God who loves them. You can influence for God...and that's a pretty cool gig.

Apology/Retraction

2010-07-13T11:25:00.000-04:00

File this under the "take your own advice" file for me. I've been doing a series on leadership with recent posts on loving your city and offending the right people. I failed to follow my own advice with a recent tweet that I sent from Indianapolis last week.

I was enjoying hanging out downtown Indy with my kids and thinking about how it has been hard for us as a family to connect with downtown Cincinnati. What I feel good about is that I was thinking about Cincinnati while away. That may be a sign that my heart is growing closer to her. What I rather foolishly tweeted was: Dear cincinnati city planners: visit indianapolis and take a few notes.

Looking at it now, it reads very hateful and somewhat out of character from the way I normally talk. I don't know the city planners or even what they really do. It was just dumb - I was having a blast with my family in an urban environment and thinking about home. I should have tweeted nothing...or maybe "we're having a blast in Indy." It is reflective of something I have had problems with in the past. I try to word things in a creative way and come off sounding like a jerk. (Or maybe at my core I am a jerk and sometimes don't always take the time to temper my words.)

I'm not sure how to apologize to a city, but I am sorry to Cincinnati and the planners for using hateful words to talk about things I don't really know much about in the first place. This is a perfect example of something that is fine to think, but does no benefit to say publicly. This morning I felt like I should take at least a little of my own advice when I said that when you do something stupid, you should immediately apologize. Thanks to my buddy Steve and others for pointing this out...

Advice to Young Leaders #7 of 10 - Get Serious about a Hobby

2010-07-12T16:16:00.000-04:00

This is the seventh post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #7: Get serious about a hobby.

My life changed the day I allowed myself to have a little fun. I was clinically depressed most of my first five years in vocational ministry. Church work can destroy a person in a hurry. Church leaders know all too well the stakes for which we play. Most of us are drawn to ministry because we a have a sober understanding that people are hurting, lonely and in need of Jesus and his Kingdom. Every decision we make has eternal consequences to the people we serve. It is an emotionally heavy burden to be a minister.

As a result, many of us tend to pour our entire lives into our particular ministry. "It is worth the sacrifice," we say. The younger we are, the faster we can run. We don't think about the pace of our lives when we are young. We sprint...until we collapse. The thought of doing something simply because it is personally enjoyable feels selfish and shallow compared to the life-and-death calling we have received. I get that. I still, at times, feel a little guilty when I go on vacation or skip a "ministry" event for personal reasons. But, for the most part, that's an unhealthy approach to all of this. God doesn't need me to be everywhere to do what He wants to do.

Almost a decade ago, at the height of my depression, Debbie gave me the greatest Christmas gift of my life. She enrolled me into the introduction to improv class with The Second City in Las Vegas. I had confessed to her on multiple occasions that, had my life taken a different turn, I would have loved to have been an actor. I was captivated by improvisation most of all. I felt like, given a chance, I could do it well. But, at that time in my life I felt as though I was destined to be a pastor and a pastor only. Any hobby or interest outside of the church would surely prove to be a distraction. In her wisdom, my wife took matters into her own hands.

Within five minutes of my first improv class I knew everything had changed. I clearly remember thinking, "so this is where people like me end up." I had always felt somewhat out of place at church, but not at The Second City. I was with my people - my tribe. I was home. I never loved anything so quickly and deeply as I did improv. I scheduled my week around those early classes. I thought about improv all the time. It was filling something important missing in my life...more accurately, it was fulfilling something important missing in my faith.

As a result of my new hobby, within a year I had things I had never had in my life: I had a safe place to be me. I had a new group of friends who did not self-identify as Christians. I had a new discipline and tradition to learn. But most of all, I had a place to have fun.

I also had a breakthrough. I realized that I should not call anything impure or unclean that God is willing to redeem. My improv classes were the holiest part of my life in those days. It was where I met God every week. Most of my improv friends weren't the church-going type, but I was able to bring Jesus with me and introduce him to them. I now have friends from years of learning and performing improv all over the world. I'd like to think that some of them know Jesus a little better because I brought him with me into the process.

The biggest breakthrough of all was this - that though I was a professional pastor, most of my actual ministry was being done within the reality of my hobby. It was within the improv and acting communities that I formed genuine real-world friendships with people. It was with these new friends that I had the most genuine and authentic conversations about God. They became, in many ways, my first church.

Since the day I walked into The Second City first level class, I have never stopped improvising. Even when I was acting professionally, I made sure to keep improv as a hobby. Improvisers are my people. I love them...and for some reason, they love me - even the most militant atheists among them. We have something in common - an art and belief system that keeps us together.

Obviously, improv isn't for everyone. What is your thing? What is the thing in your life that you would love to do, but it sounds too shallow or selfish to be considered ministry? I have friends who have found their first church in basketball, poker, garage bands, golf, role playing games, fashion design and paintball. What if God himself has put that seemingly child-like desire in your heart for a reason? Maybe he is calling you into a community where you can love and be loved, know and be known. Maybe hobbies matter more than work sometimes. Find your holy ground...find your bliss and you may also find your greater purpose as a missionary.

And a side-note for leaders who have vocational ministers working under your responsibility. I would encourage you to make it a top priority for your staff to engage in a hobby they love. If you have to, make it part of their "work hours." It will only make them better missionaries, more connected in your community and more engrafted into the culture. It will grow your ministry.

Advice to Young Leaders #6 of 10 - Offend the right people.

2010-07-03T23:50:00.001-04:00

This is the sixth post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #6: Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

This series is written for leaders and future leaders. If you are a real leader, there is one truth that you will be unable to avoid: you will offend people. Jesus offended people. It is impossible to read his story any other way. It was his offensive words and practices that ultimately brought about his arrest and death on the cross. To lead is to offend, but that doesn't mean that to offend is to lead. Whom you choose to offend and not offend will determine the kind of church or ministry you lead. It will set the tone.

Here are three guidelines that I try to follow in this matter:

1. Try not to offend people accidentally.

Be smart about what you say, when you say it and to whom you say it to. I use a lot of humor when I teach, but I try to not go for a joke that will meaninglessly offend someone to the point where they cannot hear my message. Sometimes I do use humor to purposely make a segment of my audience uncomfortable, but that is not what I am talking about here. For example, I don't make jokes about the Cincinnati Bengals when they play badly because we have had some of them visit VCC on occasion. Would you want to go to a place to learn about God only to have the spokesperson make fun of your performance at work? Probably not. As leaders, every word we say matters. That may not seem fair, but it is the reality of leadership. I know a few leaders who consistently say things they dislike are "gay" or "retarded." When I have asked them to consider choosing their words more carefully, they tend to say I am "too PC." I would wager a pretty penny that they don't have many homosexuals or adults with special needs in their ministry. Here's the deal, leaders: You aren't allowed to say whatever you want anymore. Use your head. Think before you speak. Ruthlessly disallow yourself to mindlessly offend people...because you are going to have to purposely offend some others and you can use all the advocates you can get.

2. Don't offend people over your unimportant opinions.

If you are a leader, you probably have strong opinions on everything from politics to economics to the lack of salary cap in Major League Baseball. You have lots of opinions because you are wired to bring change. The problem is that your opinions can screw up everything if you let them. Nothing will derail a leader quite like caring (or talking) too much about things that do not really matter. You have a simple leadership mandate - to proclaim the availability of the Kingdom of God through Jesus. When you state your opinion as clear fact, your followers will marry it with the good news of the Kingdom - possibly for the rest of their lives. You are adding your opinion to the gospel. Similarly, when you state your opinion as opinion you are still letting those who follow you know that you believe that opinion has great Kingdom significance. When you refuse to state your opinion on a subject, you are saying that you cannot yet be trusted to make a Kingdom-centered verdict on the matter - that it, effectively, "doesn't really matter."

I live my life with a 10-20-70 mindset on my opinions. 10% of my opinions are foundational. I will allow myself to fearlessly state them as fact to anyone who asks. 20% of my opinions are personally important convictions that I will publicly discuss, but only as my opinion. 70% of the conclusions I have come to will never be publicly expressed. Maybe if we are "real world" friends I'll tell you what I think about something after a few brews, but only after I trust that my sharing that particular opinion with you will not influence you toward or away from it. In other words, most of what I believe isn't that important compared to the gospel of the Kingdom. I think most Christian leaders invert this formula, in part because people love to follow leaders who have strong opinions. Just because people want a leader who is a know-it-all doesn't give you and me the right to pretend to know it all so that they will follow us. In the long run, that's a tried and tested formula for hypocrisy and deceit.

This is how it all works for me: Examples of "10%" non-negotiable opinions would be things like a confessional creedal faith, Jesus as King and Kingdom-bringer, community as foundational to life, and the hope of the resurrection of the dead. The "20%" category of my stated and voiced opinions include a call to non-violence, the primacy of storytelling in Christianity, and the danger of patriotism for Kingdom people. (It's July 4th, so that is on my mind today.) I also have "70%" opinions on universal heathcare, gay marriage, Calvinism, creation vs. evolution, legalizing marijuana, and a host of other hot button topics. I have opinions on them...but I'm keeping my mouth shut. (And don't try to guess...you'd just be half-right and half-wrong anyway.) If I make any of those issues too important then I would lose my Kingdom mandate and authority. There may be a day when one of those issues moves up into the 20% category of my stated opinions, but that day is not today. I would rather spend any influence equity a person is willing to give me on showing them the Kingdom vs. trying to get them to share some religious or political opinion with me.

3. Purposefully offend the right people.

This is actually the part I hate about leadership. I have never once in my life woke up and thought, "I'd really enjoy doing something today to hurt or anger someone." I hate being hated. I like to be liked and I like even more to be anonymous. I'm an introvert with a relatively fragile psyche. I also loathe creating pain in others. That's worse than anything. Nothing in me wants to stir the pot...

Except that I am a follower of Jesus. Jesus clearly taught us that some people deserve to be offended. In my "20% level" opinion, it is normally the blindly religious who should be forced to endure a verbal jab now and again. If you are leading at your church or ministry for your own worth, ego or fame then you are sinning and should quit your ministry tomorrow. Your sin is worse than the other sinners in your church because you have taken the Bride of Christ for your own mistress. Basically, you're raping Jesus' soulmate in broad daylight in front of everyone you lead. And if that is true of you...and my voicing it causes you pain or anger, then I've done my job. You deserve to be offended.

It also seems appropriate for us to offend what Paul calls "the powers of this world." The role of the church and her leaders is to be a faithful witness of the Kingdom in the face of these very real and dangerous powers. Our very presence will frustrate the powers of politics, religion, violence and economics. Again, in my "20% level" opinion, we do this best not by our many words or actions, but by living within the reality of our own countercultural economy and politic. Our stubborn existence under the realm (kingdom) of YHWH combined with the strategy of The Cross (death-to-self) offends them because it shows the cracks on their armor. Our power is simply more real than theirs...and the fact that we are still here believing ourselves to have life apart from all they think they give us offends them.

That said, we should desire peace above all. As much as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone - even the religious nuts in your church. But if you lead, you will certainly offend people. If you offend someone accidentally or for the wrong reasons, be quick to humbly apologize and make it right. But offend those who need to be offended for the sake of the Kingdom unapologetically. It's part of leadership.

Hang in there, leaders. Our series will continue on a brighter note in the next post. I'll explain why you should be having more fun than you are now...and what you should do to get there.

Advice to Young Leaders #5 of 10 - Woo Your City

2010-06-28T13:03:00.000-04:00

This is the fifth post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #5: Woo your city.

87% of Americans now live in a city or suburb. God still calls people to rural areas, but this post will focus on the roughly 9 out of 10 of us who live in a metropolitan area. Your city is is your first mission field.

At the beginning of this series I wrote about the fact that all Christians are ministers. Here is another, similar truth: all Christians are missionaries. You were sent by God to your city because God wants you to be there so that you can proclaim the availability of the Kingdom of God to her people. Some of us never left the city where we were born. There is a Biblical pattern of God calling people to stay in their city and love their own people. (I think of James the brother of Jesus who stayed in Jerusalem as the other apostles spread through the ancient world.) Some people are called to leave home and go to a city or people far away. Some of us are more like Paul - on the move every few years to new cities. Some are like Thomas, who according to church tradition left Judea and went farther than any of the other apostles - all the way to India, staying there.

Regardless, most of us live in a city right now. I live in Cincinnati. It is my first and primary mission field. I lived in Las Vegas for exactly ten years, longer than I have lived in any other city. Las Vegas was my first home - my first love. I used to get choked up when flying home into the airport at night and seeing the lights of the Strip. (I still get a little weepy when I see her on TV.) I knew every street and alleyway in that city. I knew her people. I became a Las Vegan. I loved Las Vegas. I miss her.

I accepted a missionary transfer to Southern California in 2005. I loved LA/OC for different reasons. It was only 300 miles from Las Vegas, but the people and culture were different. They were more diverse. I lived in a neighborhood that looked like the United Nations. My son was one of only four or five kids in his kindergarten class who spoke English as their first language. I lived a few miles from Kobe Bryant in Newport Beach and a few miles from the gangs of Santa Anna. I loved California, too. I miss it.

Then came the next transfer. It was a completely unexpected call to the most unpredictable mission field of all: Home. I was born a few hours from Cincinnati in Ashland, Kentucky. I grew up 100 miles north in Columbus. I spent four really great years in Cincinnati in college. I never, ever thought I would be back when I pulled that tiny Ryder truck out of my Price Hill apartment complex in 1995 with my smokin' hot twenty-one year old wife and a pocket full of dreams. Now I'm back...and I get to love Cincinnati again. To dream for her. To pursue her and fantasize about her. To fall in love all over again.

I think the best leaders in a city are the ones who have fallen head over heels in love with their city. I see it more akin to a romance than anything else. For me, Las Vegas was sexy. She was easy for me to love at first. Then I saw her underbelly and her true nature. I had to fight through the reality that she was a very abused and abusive city who needed my constant love and forgiveness.

Cincinnati, at first glance, is a little rusty. Historians will tell you that she peaked 100 years ago. She needs a facelift in places, but the more you get to know her to more you love her. She has many hidden jewels. She has a future. God is going to breathe life into the dead places and bring healing to the generational wounds. I don't know if I am going to be in Cincinnati for the rest of my life, but it is a very real possibility. God called me here. My story is now embedded in the story of my city. I am now a Cincinnatian who loves Cincinnati.

I think that as evangelicals, we tend to understand the idea that God loves people. He pursues them and wants to love them, forgive them and be a loving Father to them. We get that God loves people as individuals. But, I worry that - at least historically - the evangelical movement hasn't fully understood how much God loves cities. I think of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, longing for her to allow herself to be loved by him. I think of Paul's prayer walk through Athens before his speech at Mars Hill. I think of the seven letters to the churches in Revelation. I find it interesting that Jesus would give prophetic blessings and warnings to cities and not to individuals. It makes me believe that God loves cities. He loves your city so much that he sent you there to proclaim the Kingdom and live within the reality of his coming reign there. He wants to redeem your city - to turn all of the emptiness and pain and violence around. As others have cleverly noted before me, the story of God begins in a beautiful garden but it ends in a beautiful city - the "new Jerusalem" where God himself is the King of the new perfect city made of equal parts heaven and earth.

Maybe you find yourself in a city you don't love...or one you don't even really know. Your job is simple...pursue her. It's not much different than when you first noticed that cute girl in Algebra class on the first day of school. If you had any game, you pursued her all year long. (I didn't have much, but I watched other people do this quite effectively.) You wrote her notes or strategically lingered by her locker between classes. You noticed when she said that she loves Skittles and happened to show up with some the next day. You wooed her. You got to know her so that you could someday earn the chance to love her.

Woo your city. Pursue her like the girl (or guy) of your dreams. If you aren't that into her yet, read Hosea and ask God to turn your heart to her. Weep for her. Pray for her. Serve her. Forgive her. Help her. Tirelessly pursue her heart everyday. Woo her. You're a missionary.

Advice to Young Leaders #4 of 10 - Preach the Right Gospel

2010-06-26T00:33:00.000-04:00

This is the fourth post of ten in my series of advice for younger leaders. Here's the working list:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice #4: Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

I hope that this has and will be a very practical series for those of you following along. I can tend to live in the world of philosophy and theology more than day-to-day reality. This series is forcing me to communicate how my beliefs have actually worked into the fabric of my life. For that, it has been an unexpected personally rewarding exercise.

This bit of advice, though, is squarely theological: you should fully know the gospel you are preaching. I spent my early years in ministry assuming that I understood the gospel of Jesus, but I can confidently say that I did not. At best, I knew the gospel partially. That is a rather remarkable statement considering my life story. My family was converted to an evangelical church when I was eight years old. I grew up never missing a church service. My early childhood memories revolve around church. I can clearly remember the first time that I heard the stories of the patriarchs in Sunday School as a second grader. I was enthralled. I had a quick mind as a child and memorized Scriptures easily. As I grew up, I found greater community and acceptance at church than in middle and high school, so I practically lived at the church. I became a student leader in my youth group and was allowed to even teach Bible classes and sermons to the adults from time to time. I had entire books of the Bible memorized by the time I was 15 years old.

It only made sense for me to go to Bible College and pursue vocational ministry. I went to Cincinnati Christian University and began my studies there. At the time they had every incoming student take a Bible trivia test to get a handle on their knowledge. They had us take the same test after graduation to see how much we had learned in our time there. A faculty advisor pulled me aside after I took test as a freshman to tell me that I had scored the second highest marks of anyone since they had started administering the test. Basically, I knew a lot of Bible stuff before I officially started learning Bible stuff. You'd think that a kid like me would have clearly understood the gospel of Jesus...but I was relatively clueless. (For the record, after four years of college I actually dropped two points on the trivia test. That might have been a positive sign, though.)

I graduated with honors and went off to work as a pastor and church planter in Sin City. I hit the ground running - preaching 50 plus "sermons" per year my first three years in ministry. Despite all my "knowledge" and my near prodigy status as a pastor, I was more or less preaching the exact same gospel that I remembered hearing when I was eight years old. My gospel went something like this: "Every individual is a sinner bound for hell. Jesus died for your sins. Repent and give your life to God so that you can go to heaven when you die."

You have no doubt heard that gospel. The problem with it is not so much that it is a false gospel. The problem with it - according to the testimony of Jesus and his disciples - is that it isn't the whole gospel, or even the main point of Jesus' message. Individual eternal bliss and/or damnation is to the gospel what a celebration parade is to the Lakers or Yankees. It's a small ultimate experience of a much greater, broader reality.

I have written about this here time and time again, so I won't go into deeply now. But the gospel of Jesus is the gospel of the Kingdom. The good news is the Kingdom. The good news is not simply that there is now a solution to your personal individual sin problem. That's like saying this coming October, "Good news! The Cincinnati Reds are having a parade!" Well, it is good news I suppose. Parades can be fun. However, the really good news would be that the Reds are World Series Champions. The result would be a parade to celebrate the reality of a championship season. The reality is that a championship has come. For Christians, the reality is that the Kingdom has come. Your afterlife is a significant, happy result of the Kingdom come. Not the other way around.

So why is this such a big deal? Isn't it just semantics? I don't think so. A gospel without Kingdom centrality leads to a highly individualized, human-centered gospel...which leads to a highly individualized, human-centered church or ministry. A gospel that is all about you (your sin) will remain all about you (your happiness). If you find yourself in situations where you are teaching others, always teach the Kingdom. Don't teach anything that cannot submit to the grid of the Kingdom. Show your people what it looks like when God reigns on planet earth. Teach the selfish to pray, "thy Kingdom come" until they really mean it. As a student, devote yourself tireless to understanding and experiencing the reality of the Kingdom of God. If, like me, you had previously accepted a human-centered gospel, then repent and run with passion toward a gospel rooted in the the good news of the coming Kingdom of the Trinitarian God.

I found an email in my inbox this morning from a government employee who recently attended an event at our church. Last night we hosted a party for 1,000 adults with special needs in our city. We do this a few times per year. The idea came from the heart of one our pastors, Harmony Hensley. Harmony is a leader who understands the gospel of the Kingdom and desires more than anything for the Kigndom to come to those who are forgotten and unloved by the Kingdom of this world. I have removed the person's name and agency below, but I wanted to close this point with one example of what happens when the gospel we preach isn't about us...but about God and his desire to reign in our city:

I cannot thank you enough for the extraordinary ways you go overboard to demonstrate genuine respect and dignity towards individuals with disabilities through events like last night’s Luau.

We had 30 staff at the Luau last night to help and we could have had 60. I was turning them away up to the last minute because we had all of the roles filled. And then I was shocked at the hard-core, seasoned staff who were moved to tears watching people they’ve supported for years having the time of their lives side by side with “typical” junior high and high school students. It is the stuff of our dreams. I had to hold tight to my professional face myself more than once.

We feel like we have fought long and hard to have people with disabilities respected and accepted by society with limited success, and what you all at VCC are doing has already surpassed our efforts by light years. So, thank you, even though those simple two words do not even begin to express the depth of our gratitude.

In my opinion this is one answer to the prayer, "...thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..."

Advice to Young Leaders #3 of 10 - Tricky Big Dreams

2010-06-23T19:28:00.001-04:00

Advice #3 - Big Dreams are a Tricky Thing

I am a dreamer. I love to imagine what could be. I'm almost always involved in a few projects or ideas that could blow up into something unprecedented. I'm wired to go for big things. What's the point of all this otherwise, right?

But I am also a realist. (Some might say I am a pessimist, but I don' t see it that way.) Most people's big dreams simply don't happen. For every Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods there are a million people who wanted their dream just as bad and ended up flipping burgers or selling used cars. (Plus those guys have had some pretty dark areas of life to wander through themselves. Achieving your dreams normally has nothing to do with the core issues of life. Not to pile on those guys, but we see it time and time again with our heros.)

So I live in this tension. I believe in dreaming big...and I also believe that, through no fault of my own, my big dreams may not be realized. This is enough tension to deal with on its own. Then you mix in all the faith stuff and it gets even more confusing. You may say, "but my big dreams are God-sized dreams or God-given dreams." That may be true. I fully believe that God gives us dreams that are otherwise impossible to attain apart from his intervention. I also believe that he sometimes gives us those dreams knowing that they will not become a reality. Here's a hunch I have that I can't even misappropriate a Bible verse to prove: God uses your dreams to get you to places where you would not otherwise go, but most of the time he isn't all that concerned about the dream itself.

Follow my own story:

Age 22: I had the dream of starting a church for my generation that would attract seekers and grow huge - influencing the entire world for the gospel. That's a God-sized dream for sure. And I believe it was God-given as well. It also had a ton of youthful ego and naivete worked into it. That dream lead me to Las Vegas. It started to become a reality...but before I knew it God changed my big dream.

Age 27: I started to question "church" as I knew it. I rejected the attraction model that was actually working quite well and went toward an ecclesiology that was more relational and organic. My new big dream was to see a simple church (a group of people on a mission who love God and each other) within walking distance of every person in America, starting with Las Vegas. This dream felt more real than the first one. It felt more humble in some ways - more about God and less about me. And as I pursued it, it began to happen in small ways until I decided to leave vocational ministry. I saw the very fact that I was getting paid by the church as a hindrance to the vision becoming a reality. So I quit for the sake of the dream.

Age 29: By my 30th birthday I had lost my life savings, my job and some friends. It wasn't a great time. But through a strange series of events I had a new big dream. I wanted to become a legitimate professional actor and screenwriter in Hollywood while still pursuing the dream detailed above (at age 27). And, then again, it started to happen...I worked for nearly three years in Las Vegas as a professional actor. My family moved to LA and I pursued my dream with all I had. God seemed to be in it. "Finally," I thought...he was going to make sense of it all.

Age 34: Then I was ambushed by a curveball dream. I was suddenly face to face with a new/old dream that had resurrected itself in a new way. I began secretly dreaming about being a pastor again. How would I do it differently? What sort of church could I help to lead that wouldn't drive me totally crazy and vice versa? And then in a matter of two months I was called to move back to Cincinnati and work with The Vineyard. Compared to the other incidents that seemed to meander over years, this one was a violent shocking change - beautifully scary and obviously divine. God gave me the dream of loving a church again and being rooted in a community. He also gave me the dream of creating a mosaic of my past dreams - what if I could do a little bit of everything all at once? That's where I am today - pastoring, leading a church, launching simple churches, acting, writing, producing. I'm in the middle of living my latest dream. But it isn't at all the dream I had at first (or at second or at third)....and I cannot say it will be the last dream I will ever have. I will say that if I had never had the any of previous dreams there is no way that I would have had ears to hear God's calling to VCC. It is all connected. It is how God has made me who am and brought me to where I am.

I have big dreams these days too. I want to see the Vineyard grow deeper and wider. I want to see our artists at VCC make movies that will stand alone in the film industry and change the landscape of American culture. I want to live in a Cincinnati that is no longer carrying the curse of "Rust Belt," but has a new forward-looking identity. I dream big, huge unimaginable things for my church and my city. I believe my dreams are God-sized and God-given. And I know full well that in ten years I might be a ranch hand in Idaho. God will do what he wants. He will use my dreams to direct me where he wants me to be.

So this particular bit of advice is rather oxymoronic: Dream huge God-shaped dreams, but be prepared to accept that they may not be realized. God cares more about you and your city than he does your dreams. But he cares about your dreams because he cares about you. Hold your big dreams loosely, but don't let them go. Love them, but not too much. Know them down to the slightest detail, but be willing to trade them in a nanosecond when God says, "It's time to move on."

My next post in this series will deal with the gospel. I preached the wrong gospel for the first five years of my ministry. I'd hate for you to make the same mistake.

Advice to Young Leaders #2 of 10 - Career vs. Calling

2010-06-21T16:58:00.005-04:00

Advice #2: It's a calling, not a career.

Here is how vocational ministry works in my mind:

1. Every Christian is a minister. Period. End of story. A minister, by definition, is a servant or a slave. We are ministers to God and the church. I am no more or less of a minister than any other Christian in my church. When I was not receiving a paycheck from a church, I was still a minister.

2. Some ministers become leaders. In the Kingdom, leaders are those who serve other people the most. If you continually serve God and the church as a minister, you will eventually become a leader - a person of influence within a Kingdom community. Some leaders are given official leadership positions and some are not. (And some people who are not leaders are given leadership positions in our flawed systems.) But the truth is that if you are serving and influencing the people you serve, then you are a leader.

3. All ministers (and leaders) have special gifts given by the Holy Spirit for the building up of their local community of faith. Some of us were created to teach or organize or pastor or faithfully pray or whatever else. Ideally, ministers serve primarily in their areas of giftedness. (Though like in any family, we all do things we aren't great at if a need arises.) The idea is that within the church, it is normal for Christians (ministers) to serve within the areas of giftedness and passion.

4. Every Christian is called by God to a local church. I should say that I believe this to be true most of the time. There may be seasons in your life where God has you between churches, but the normal way things work is that Jesus builds his church by sending ministers to a local body. Sometimes he sends new converts to a body who bring special gifts needed for the church. Sometimes he sends Christians from other churches to build up another one that is struggling in some area. In the book of Acts, this was done purposefully and always under the apostolic mission and guidance of the Spirit. Every Christian is sent by a church to a church to serve the church.

5. In a church (or a system of churches) it may become obvious that certain ministers need more time to perform their "calling" or function within the body of a local church or within the larger community of churches. This may result in that minister leaving their career to accept a paid position within the church. Maybe a church grows to a point where a teacher is needed more than a few hours a week. Or maybe an administrative leader is needed to spend 40 hours/week to organize the rest of the volunteers in a local church. Or perhaps a church has someone who is called to start a new church or go to a new area of the world, but needs to devote as much of their life as possible to the task. When this happens, it is Biblical for the other ministers in the church to financially support one of their own so that the supported one may focus more time on their joint ministry. In many ways, this is how Jesus, Peter and Paul survived for seasons of their lives. They were supported by others within their community in order to give full attention to the spread of the gospel.

6. When a minister accepts this gift from his or her church, he or she accepts a wonderful gift, but also a weighty responsibility. The minister truly works "for" the church in the sense that the church financially sacrifices because they are a better witness to the world when that particular minister is free to serve more hours per week. In accepting the support, the minister (in my opinion) should not see this new "job" as a career, but rather as a calling to fulfill. (Literally, this minister has been "called out" from and by her own church for a specific task.) Jesus was a carpenter. Peter was a fisherman. Paul was a tentmaker and a lawyer. They already had their careers. They sacrificed their careers to accept their calling. Success is measured differently for a calling than for a career. A minister should be willing to sacrifice their career before accepting a full-time calling.

7. A specific calling is rarely for a lifetime. A financially supported minister should always be willing to lay down their position (and paycheck) if God ends their particular calling. Ministry isn't a career. God didn't create the church to pay your bills. If you are currently supported by a church or para-church or denomination, then you should feel no guilt receiving your salary. God has you there for a reason...but he also tends to like moving parts. He is the great strategist moving his chess pieces around the board as he sees fit. He may have someone else who, for the sake of the Kingdom, needs to receive the dollars you are receiving now. Or he may have something else for you to do in the years to come outside of vocational ministry. Remember, you will always be a minister. If you serve, you will always be a leader. Getting the paycheck only means that the church sending/supporting you sees unlimited access to your specific gifts, talents and temperament as crucial to their particular mission.

I am unique among many of my friends in that I have lived within all of the options within vocational ministry. I've been in full-time vocational ministry, part-time bi-vocational ministry and "volunteer" ministry while working within my career. I have lived within each of the realities for at least three years over the last 15 years. Each has its own joys and struggles, but I thank God that he has allowed me to experience them all. If you are a younger leader hoping to work full-time for a church or mission organization, I would encourage you to also immediately devote yourself to a career other than ministry. You may never need to use it, but you probably will want to at some point. Having a career makes you normal. Not having one makes you a professional religious person...a real career is a missional necessity except for the rarest of disciples.

Of course, I didn't really believe any of this when I was younger. When I graduated from Cincinnati Bible College I intended to be a pastor and church planter for my entire life. And when I said that, I meant that it would be a career. I felt like a failure when I took my first job outside of the church. I felt like I should have been able to make "ministry" work. I felt like I had less faith because I had to take a job outside of the church to support my family. This is all a symbol of how broken my understanding of ministry was. Looking back on it, my three years working in Las Vegas as a performer were some of the best ministry years of my life...at least in terms of relational impact with many people who did not self-identify as Christians. From there I moved to southern California and worked ten hours/week for a great church in Costa Mesa. It was hard to manage at times with my new focus on my career. But overall, it was beautiful to have a foot in both of my worlds. Now I am a full-time minister again. I understand why the position God has called me to at The Vineyard demands full-time attention. The great irony is that my current job was my dream job when I viewed church work as my career in my twenties. Now that I see it as a calling, it is just humbling. I accept that God has given me influence here. I don't know why he has chosen to have me here at this time, but it is my calling. And a calling is a bigger deal than a career. Always.

Here are some parting thoughts on this topic:

1. If you are currently in or pursuing church work as a career, please schedule a time this summer to seriously consider your motives. Be fearless. Go on a three day solitude retreat and ask God how he views your ministry. Deal with your pride issues that make you want to be known as somebody within the church. Deal with your fear issues that make you feel like you can't do anything else for a living. I have met many of the "famous" pastors and church leaders out there and they come in two categories for the most part - the "successful" ones who seem desperately egomaniacal. And the truly humble ones who have never forgotten that they are, first and foremost, a minister - a servant leader. You want to be the latter...trust me.

2. If you are a "volunteer" minister, you are a 100%-as-real-as-it-gets Christian minister. You don't need a paycheck or a title or a position on an org chart. Serve with all your heart and support those paid ministers in your church who serve along side you.

3. If you aren't sure what church you are called to serve, throw yourself fully into the one where you are now. Callings are a tricky thing to discern sometimes. My last one was obvious, but others have been more trial and error. Callings are a reality more than a feeling - like being married or being a parent. I am always both whether I wake up feeling like a husband and father or not. I am called to teach, pastor and tell creative stories with The Vineyard in Cincinnati right now. That's my daily reality regardless of what I do or do not feel like today. It is also true regardless of how much I agree or disagree with the rest of the leadership on any particular topic. I genuinely like VCC, but even if I didn't, that wouldn't matter either. Sometimes we are called to a church we don't like very much. How else is God to change a church (or change you) if he never puts us in places where we feel a little uncomfortable?

I'd like to devote my next post in this series to the idea of "dreaming big." I do it. I love having big dreams. But I also have learned that God doesn't always give us our big dreams. Sometimes he prefers to give us something different than our dreams. Stay tuned...

Advice to Young Christian Leaders #1 of 10

2010-06-18T13:38:00.002-04:00

Over the next few weeks I will be writing a ten-part series addressed to younger church leaders. It will include some of the things that I wish people had told me when I started vocational ministry 15 years ago. (I should say that I was probably told these things when I was younger and simply didn't listen.) I tend to not be very didactic on this blog. I am much more comfortable processing aloud with you than assuming the position of an expert. I am not an expert on these matters, but I have spent a decade and a half living a unique life with various expressions of paid and non-paid Christian ministry. It feels like a good time to talk about my learnings.

Once we get into this, my list might grow beyond these, but here are ten things I would want all young leaders to know. I'll list them for you here and then dedicate a post to each one this summer:

1. Prepare to struggle.

2. It's a calling, not a career.

3. Big dreams are a tricky thing.

4. Make sure you are preaching the right gospel.

5. Woo your city.

6. Decide whom you will offend before offending them.

7. Get serious about a hobby.

8. Influence.

9. Be part of your own church.

10. Don't let people need you too much.

Advice to Young Christian Leaders #1: Prepare to Struggle

This was a daunting list to create. It was especially difficult to know what to write about first. I really wanted to start off with a nice dose of positivity, but I am not sure that would be the most honest place for me to begin this discussion. From my perspective ministry has been, more than anything else, a marathonic struggle. That doesn't mean it hasn't had amazing moments of joy and fulfillment. It has very much so. But I have also wanted to give up time and time again. Sometimes it has been hard to pay the bills. Sometimes it has just been good old fashioned hard work. I can deal with those hardships when they come. For me, the real hardship is that ministry is consistently emotionally overwhelming. Everyone is different, but my "cross to bear" is a constant unshakable heaviness and sense of ineptitude that can be paralyzing. It is a struggle sometimes to simply continue. We will talk more about this in the next post, but ministry as a career choice is a death wish. It has to be a calling or it will end very badly. The calling is what sustains me.

I have noticed that people either young in years (in their twenties) or young in their faith (newer Christians) have an amazing amount of energy to devote to serving the church. I think this is a gift from God. Embrace it. Go for it! But just know that you will someday grow tired. Right now you probably see being tired as a weakness. You think that you have enough faith, love, and determination to push through any future season of exhaustion. "It is, after all, a life and death struggle we are in," you say to yourself. "I have to keep going."

But someday you will simply not have the willpower to push through. If you are like me, you will wake up one morning and question everything. The people your ministry was changing for the better will revert back to being the same hot messes they were when you met them. Your partners in ministry will give up or move onto a "better" opportunity or simply emotionally shut down. Your mentor or hero will be suddenly exposed as an utterly flawed human being. God himself will seemingly fail you. He won't necessarily reward your sacrifices the way you thought he should. You may even question his character...or even his existence. You will see all of your previous efforts and sacrifices as either misguided or meaningless. This day must come. This is the day when God truly invites you to share with him in his way of ministry. For some of you the day will come quickly - mine did. I was "burnt out" in my mid-twenties. For some it will come later. But it will come.

Think for a split second about Jesus. His ministry was a roller coaster of "success" and "failure." After three full years of ministry he had grown his church from 12 to 11 people. Then he was murdered. Ministry is a daily reminder of The Cross. The Cross will begin to loom over your life as a daily shadow - a future reality to bear - not just some bit of ancient history that set you free centuries ago. Your cross is coming. So, like Jesus, set your face like flint to Jerusalem and embrace the journey of The Cross.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the transformation of Jacob to Israel. Jacob means “deceiver.” Jacob was not a good guy. He was a jerk and a con artist, but God loved him and pursued him. The story goes that Jacob met an angel and wrestled with him all night long. Jacob refused to let go until the angel blessed him. The angel touched Jacob’s hip and wounded him. Then he changed his name to Israel, which means “struggles with God and man but overcomes.” Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life, but he was a transformed man and a different kind of leader. There is no transformation to Israel without the struggle of Jacob. I firmly believe that every follower of God has to struggle through his or her own wrestling match and overcome. You can recognize us ex-wrestlers by our limps.

My earliest ministries were quickly successful. Then a time of struggle came. I learned more in the struggles than in the successes. At this time in my life many might say that I am "successful" again. To be completely honest, I never ever think about that. I don't care if I am or am not successful in anyone's opinion, including my own. I had to learn to think that way when I was a failure. God loved me then. He loves me now. If God calls me to "fail" again, I will follow him. It is all about him and what he wants.

You're only real job is to be faithful. Being a leader doesn't mean that you stop asking hard questions about God and life. It means you ask more of them. Being a real leader means embracing the struggle. And the best leaders in my life have been the ones who have been brave enough to struggle in front of me...and allow me to struggle with them. This is why Jesus invited his disciples to the garden to weep with him. I have a theory that you aren't really someone's disciple until they have wept with you.

I hope this little experiment of mine proves helpful to some of you. My next post will deal with an issue that is rarely discussed. I will explain why viewing vocational ministry as a career is a sure recipe for disaster.

Fox 19 Interview

2010-06-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

Here's a piece on my book from the local Fox affiliate from this morning. It mentions the two upcoming book signings, including tomorrow's at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Oakley.

The Power of Practice

2010-06-09T16:05:00.000-04:00

I started running about two years ago. I had no real training or equipment. I still don't have the right shoes or a fancy GPS system that tells me my route and heart rate. I don't subscribe to Runner's World. I don't have much of a desire to run a competitive 10K or anything like that. Much like Forrest Gump, I just started running and running and running. And I accidentally became a runner.

Last night I ran farther than I ever have before - just under 8 miles. I had been running about 4 or 5 miles lately and just decided to go longer. It wasn't hard. I just did it. Because I have been doing it for a while, it was relatively easy. I thought back to my first few runs around my neighborhood two years ago. I couldn't run a half mile without walking. I can remember when I first ran one mile without stopping. It was a big accomplishment.

Lately I have wondered how many other things I could just start doing. Maybe if I picked up a harmonica or a unicycle or whatever I would be able to use them in a few years. Maybe I could do both at once...then we'd be onto something.

Or maybe if I practiced patience or kindness or self-control everyday it would be easier to be the sort of person I want to be. Practice and repetition are powerful things. They can transform you from a guy who can't run a half mile into a guy who can easily run a quarter marathon. I accidentally became a runner. It just makes me wonder what else I could accidentally become if I just started practicing.

Narrative Christianity

2010-06-04T17:21:00.002-04:00

I have started working on what may become my next book. I've wanted for a long time to rather clearly and methodically spell out my understanding of the gospel. For now at least, I'm calling the book Narrative Christianity. I'd like to share some early thoughts with you today because they also tie into the new series called "Go" that we are launching this weekend at The Vineyard. This weekend I will be telling the story of God from beginning to end. I'm very excited about it...so here's a sneak peak of my early thoughts from Narrative Christianity:

I want to change the world. I’m obviously not alone. Protestors, politicians, pastors, parents and beauty pageant contestants – we all love to talk about changing the world. Just stick a microphone in front of one of us and we’ll gladly poetically drone about change and hope and the power of possibility.

Except for a few fringe extremists, everyone I know genuinely desires world peace. We want to see the hungry fed, the endangered children saved and the abandoned elderly dignified. It isn’t too hard for us to imagine a better world without slave traders, child abusers and hate mongers. We want love and respect to replace racism and selfishness. We want the world to change. Most of us are even willing to change it. The only problem is that we simply don’t know how to do it.

As a result, some of us have decided to become more political. But is government – any government - going to change the world? Are we to believe that we are only a few well-crafted pieces of legislation or a new messianic leader away from heaven on earth? Throughout the entire human experiment, how have the governments of the world succeeded in bringing peace or preventing poverty or creating selfless people? Not very well at all. History unveils a clear, stark realization: we can’t govern ourselves well enough to save ourselves from ourselves.

But at least we can trust education to rescue us, right? We just need better teachers, better facilities, and better academic standards. If there is anything that G.I. Joe cartoons taught my generation it is that, “knowing is half the battle.” Surely a more educated society could find a way to analyze, theorize and organize us out of this predicament. Of course, the irony is that we already live in the most educated society to inhabit the earth. We are the wiki-generation toting around the entirety of collected human knowledge in our iphones and Blackberry’s. Yet, remarkably, the world remains as broken as ever.

Once we dismiss government and education as the hope for all humanity, we easily find ourselves romantically sentimental for the “good ole days.” After all, isn’t it really a simple matter of right living – of being good people? If we could return to those happy days and rediscover that Utopian Judeo-Christian America, then everything would be better: God fearing. Church going. Value loving. Praying before meals. Marriage before sex. Nation before self. Returning to our Leave It To Beaver roots has to be the way to change the world, right? Possibly for the Cleavers among us, but my African American friends might disagree. We tend to forget that the “good ole days” were hell on earth for some of us.

Or maybe, in contrast, the post-modern existentialists have it right. Maybe it’s really just about you finding the courage and freedom to be you. Simply embrace your inner journey to discover who God made you to be. Claim your freedom and don’t judge others. Live and let live. Don’t impose. After all, nothing says “change the world” quite like a liberal dose of extreme tolerance.

Maybe you are like me. You’ve spent a good chunk of your limited life on this planet trying to change things. And maybe you have discovered what I have. Namely, that you can’t change the world by being political or piling up PhD’s. You can’t change the world by being religious or trying harder to be a better person. You can’t change the world by finding your deepest inner calling. Not by getting rich or gaining power or becoming famous. You can’t change the world “one person at a time.” (It sounds good, but it takes way too long.) And you can’t change the world by being a Christian.

Because you can’t change the world at all.

You aren’t that good…or talented or influential or intelligent. I hate to pile on like this, but somebody needs to say it: you and I are not the hope of the world. Somebody bigger, better and smarter than us needs to take over this sorry operation if change is going to come.

The Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich was once asked, “What is the most revolutionary way to change society: Is it violent revolution or is it gradual reform?” He gave a careful answer: “Neither. If you want to change society, then you must tell an alternative story.

There is an alternative story. And it isn’t about you. It is about a living, eternal one-and-only creative Being. His name is unpronounceable, but when pressed He asks us to call him “I Am” or “The One Who Is.” His name is I Am, because before you were…He is.

We think that our personal individual stories are significant - that they really matter. But compared to the story of this I Am, your story is laughably short and insignificant. You are the fruit fly – born to die on the same day. He is everything. You are next to nothing. But here’s the game changer: He made you. Therefore, He – get this – loves you. More accurately, he loves all of us. If you are a parent, then you know his kind of love. The love you have for your children is a diluted carbon copy of the way He loves you. He created parents to love their kids so that they could better understand how He loves us.

He loves us so much that He invites us to abandon our lonely pitiful stories to join his better one. At some point, each of us must answer this foundational question: Do you want to continue starring in your own torturously bad amateur one-act play or would you rather exchange that part for a better role in the single greatest story ever written? That is the alternative story. Countless people throughout history have traded their story for a better one. To put it in the words of Jesus, they “took up their cross” or “became least” or “died in order to gain their life.” By surrendering your story to the one-and-only I Am, you are introduced anew into the next chapter of his masterpiece. And you aren’t the first to do so. The alternative story is as old as time...

Book Bums Tues. Night

2010-05-24T23:10:00.000-04:00

Being a first-time author, I have very little experience on the "press" side of things. I did an interview in Pittsburgh a few days ago with the Cornerstone TV Network that will air this coming Friday. My publicist has booked three local book signings in the Cincinnati area. Those are much more scary than TV and radio interviews. I have to think most authors are introverts. Book signings are very...intimate.

That said, I'd love to have a few friendly faces drop by for the first one tomorrow (Tuesday) night. You don't have to buy a book...just hang out with me and help me make uncomfortable small talk with strangers. It's at a newer coffee shop in West Chester called Book Bums. I'll be doing some readings and book give-a-ways between 6pm-8pm. The address is 8992 Cincinnati Dayton Road in West Chester, OH.

I'll also be at Joseph Beth Booksellers (Rookwood) and Barnes & Noble (West Chester) in June. I should say that it has been very cool how much local bookstores have supported Between Two Kingdoms. Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble and Joseph Beth are all carrying it locally.

I'm also teaching this weekend for my friends at Eastside Christian Church in Milford. Feel free to drop by if you live way over there on the other side of the world. (You Vineyard-ites aren't going to want to miss the final weekend of the PRAY series this weekend though. I'm very excited about what it could mean for our future...)

Sin, The Cross and The Basileia of God

2010-05-20T12:22:00.000-04:00

My apologies for falling a little behind on my commentary on After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. Since a total of zero of you seemed to notice, I have assumed you guys aren't waiting with bated breath for a prompt weekly update. I'm reading more books at the same time these days - it's the revolutionary wonder of having an e-reader. Now I read like I watch TV shows on my DVR - a little here, a little there and never the same one back to back. That to say, I am finding I need to be in a certain mindset to properly enjoy this book. I finished chapter 4, The Kingdom People and the People Prepared, yesterday on my flight. Here are my thoughts:

My ultimate buzz words are "Kingdom" and "story." Those words make my heart race. So this chapter heading was very appealing to me...

Again, Wright seems to restate his theme for the book in this chapter:

Referencing the purpose behind the Sermon on the Mount he says, "God's future is arriving in the present, in the person and work of Jesus, and you can practice, right now, the habits of life which will find their goal in the coming future." Wright has done in the first half of this book what I had hoped he would do: He has linked individual virtue/morality with the true and central message of Jesus - the coming of the "basileia" of God - the word we translate "Kingdom" that unfortunately (in a textual sense) means something bigger and broader than how we normally use that word in the English language.

We are being formed now for life in the God's Basileia because we have been and will be given authority from God. We need to be trusted to become worthy priests and rulers.

The theology of the Cross in this chapter is particularly useful. Wright simply says, "there is no demarcation between Jesus's kingdom-announcement and his approaching death." Or again, "...the main purpose for his death and resurrection was to establish the kingdom he had already begun to inaugurate." I line up with Wright here - a position that has drawn him into several controversies around the doctrines of justification and propitiation. Wright (in his other writings) doesn't deny those doctrines, but puts them in secondary position behind the Basileia message. The cross, then, isn't primarily about your individual sins being forgiven. It is primarily about Jesus receiving and bringing the Kingdom through the way of death and resurrection...thereby making a way for your individual salvation within the reality of God's present and coming reign. And setting a pattern for your rebirth - death and resurrection. In short, neither the Cross nor the Kingdom are about you. They are about God.

Or he puts it this way...using both of my magic words:

"Kingdom and cross belong together. The whole story is the whole story. And it is within that whole story, not within some truncated version, that Jesus's call to a new-creation kind of virtue makes the sense which it does."

In this context then, sin is still a major problem. It becomes the disease of humanity which must be dealt with swiftly in order for the Basileia to come. And here we get to the part of the gospel that is nearly impossible for North American evangelicals like me to understand - that the gospel isn't about dealing with your sin so that you go to heaven when you die. The gospel is about Jesus dealing with our sin so that he can deliver to us (as God's rulers and priests) a new heaven to a new earth.

Rebel Pilgrim

My Last Blog Ever...

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Book Review: The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight

Why Halloween Matters

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The Other Prince

Steve Jobs on Death (and Life)

Why I Make Movies

Join me?

Week Two of "Strange Brand" Begins Today.

A Strange Brand of Happy Shoots Today!

So You Want to Be an Author? Actor? Pastor? Etc?

Cast Announcement: A Strange Brand of Happy

The Spirituality of Creativity

Hitting The Nuts Wins at Las Vegas Film Festival

Movie News from Delta Flight 845

How to Disagree Like a Christian.

Time to Make a Movie!

Not all of us believe in the "Rapture"

A Christian Response to Recent Events

It's Maundy Thursday - Feeling "Maundy" Yet?

38 Proverbs for 38 Years

Endorsement: Love Wins by Rob Bell

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An Open Apology

Hitting the Nuts Released!

The Open Journey Starts...Now

Hitting The Nuts on DVD!

The Open Journey.

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18 Thought Bursts

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2010 - In Reflection

Get Me to the Church On Time

The Heaven/Earth Combo Pack

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Vineyard MicroChurch Initiative

Get the Skinny on what's NEXT.

What's Next.

The NEXT Adventure...are you in?

Doing vs. Having Done

The World Premiere!

July 4, 2006

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The Vineyard is turning 25!

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 4. My Take on "Small Groups"

Hitting the Nuts World Premiere!

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The Practice of Christian Community - Part 3. The Acts 2 Community.

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The Practice of Christian Community - Part 2. It's About God.

The Practice of Christian Community - Part 1. It's Not About You.

The Practice of Christian Community - New Blog Series

Advice to Young Leaders #10 of 10 - Don't Be Too Needed

The Kingdom and The Powers

Advice to Young Leaders #9 of 10 - Be Part of Your Church

The Gospel as Relational Story

Advice to Young Leaders #8 of 10 - Influence.

Apology/Retraction

Advice to Young Leaders #7 of 10 - Get Serious about a Hobby

Advice to Young Leaders #6 of 10 - Offend the right people.

Advice to Young Leaders #5 of 10 - Woo Your City

Advice to Young Leaders #4 of 10 - Preach the Right Gospel

Advice to Young Leaders #3 of 10 - Tricky Big Dreams

Advice to Young Leaders #2 of 10 - Career vs. Calling

Advice to Young Christian Leaders #1 of 10

Fox 19 Interview

The Power of Practice

Narrative Christianity

Book Bums Tues. Night

Sin, The Cross and The Basileia of God