Unleashing Gratitude

Posted on November 26, 2009

He had incredible potential, a keen intellect, and a passionate heart for the things of God. But as substantial as his gifting was, it was equally matched by his brokenness. I was more than happy to invest in his life, and certainly his promise and eagerness were motivation enough. I was mentoring a small community while working a full-time job and trying to be faithful as a good husband and father of two. It caught me by surprise the day he sat me down and reprimanded me. It was no small rebuke. He told me I had let him down. I had not followed through on my commitment. I was not giving him enough time and investment.

I considered arguing with him, but experience reminded me it would be no use. So I just took him home. We sat in the living room with my wife, Kim, who has a wonderful way of cutting through everything and just getting at the truth. I only asked her one question. “Honey, who do I spend more time with, you or him?”

I’ll never forget Kim’s response. “Are you kidding? I thought you were married to him.” The conversation was over. The point I couldn’t make was made with emphasis.

When we lack wholeness, our ability to perceive the investment of others is damaged. Our perception is that we’re just not getting what we need. The truth is, nothing sticks because our heart lacks the proper texture for the investment to mature. This is the mystery of gratitude. Without it, all the investment in the world will not result in wholeness. Thankfully, this particular individual had a dramatic change of heart. A decade later it’s my privilege to know him and I am always amazed at the level of his servanthood. It certainly wasn’t the result of learning something new.

Sometimes the simple truth is the most profound. That we will never become whole without gratefulness probably doesn’t seem complex enough to be true. For whatever it’s worth, I have always found the greatest mysteries of life to be hidden in simplicity. The quest for nobility is a journey that takes us from gratitude to wholeness to generosity. There is no other path that leads us to the freedom that makes us complete. There is no way to circumvent the process. It all begins here. And as we will discover, it also ends here. It is a life of gratitude that makes us whole, overwhelms us with love, and moves us to live generous lives.

No truth, no matter how profound, will find its way into a heart that is absent of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving.

An exerpt taken from Erwin McManus’ Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul

Update From Dan Kimball (Nov. 2009)

Posted on November 17, 2009

Hello!

I wanted to give a personal update to the ongoing development of Origins. As I type this I am in Kentucky speaking at a conference here with David Kinnaman (author of UnChristian) and some others. Dave is speaking right now with great optimism about how emerging generations are responding to the gospel as they see faith in action and reinforcing the importance of relationships. Instead of focusing on how bad things are out there, he is focusing on the ways churches are rethinking how to be innovative as leaders in a changing culture for the gospel.

Last night when I arrived here I was picked up at the airport by a young church planter who was sharing with me how over half of the people coming to the meetings he is leading are not (yet) Christians. His enthusiasm was very, very contagious as he was sharing what he was learning and experimenting with. But what I sensed was his passion for those who didn’t know Jesus yet and not being afraid of innovation, risk and change to see that happen.

This to me, is what Origins is going to be about. People who are passionate about seeing new generations who do not know Jesus yet experience the joy of discovering and knowing Jesus and serving on mission for Him. “Evangelism” is a word that has been used in such negative ways and we need to rethink evangelism. But at the heart of Origins we are rallying together to share, explore, and learn from each other how the local church can be used by God for evangelism in our world today. But this means evangelism and mission is going to be more of a way of existence than any form of program or slice of our church. We believe the church exists for mission. And that changes everything. And that is why I know I need others in my life who also believe this so I don’t feel alone. And that is how Origins will be a part of connecting people with this heart and passion.

This year after we announced it in April, the team has been meeting and developing ideas based on input from you about where we will develop this. In 2010 it will be more of the year when we start to materialize some actual events and connections. It kind of feels like a church plant for a community on mission where we are in the planning, praying and research time period. So please do keep giving ideas, feedback and start discussions on the Origins web site community page which you can find here http://community.originsproject.org/

A couple other things: We will be forming regional and local network communities – and more on that in the months ahead. We will have larger events as part of Origins, but we must also focus on developing community and relationships with those in your local area which are also passionate about mission and evangelism. I know I need these in my life while serving on mission both nationally and locally. Just being here in Kentucky hearing stories from other leaders is incredibly inspiring to me. Being with others keeps me motivated to continue on mission and I get to learn new ideas from people. So you will hear this again and again from us – as a major part of what we hope to see happen is relationships, friendship, sharing ideas, learning from each other as what Origins will be about.

Please start any discussion groups on the Origins web site community page. Those help us see what are important topics of discussion we want to develop and focus on. Let us know what are the things you hope Origins does and focuses on – we do read it all and it means a lot when you share what you are thinking about.

Here are a couple of dates to remember:

Atlanta “Listening Session” – Friday, November 20th at 5:30

If you are in the Atlanta area and want to meet up to give input to Origins and have some casual discussion about mission – then come and hang out for an hour or so in Atlanta.

Georgia World Congress Center
285 Andrew Young International Blvd.
NW Atlanta, GA 30313
Meet in Room B302/303

I will be teaching a workshop about cultivating an environment for artists in youth ministry and the church that starts at 4:00 (join us at 4:00 if you want to be there for that workshop) – and right as that ends will meet in that same room at 5:30 and then we will decide if we will stay there in the room or walk somewhere else. If you can meet up email me dan@vintagefaith.com to let him know you’re coming. He may send you some questions to think about in advance.

First major Origins event – Los Angeles, July 22-24 2010

Some updates is that we have a date for our first major Origins event. It will be in Los Angeles on July 22-24, 2010. We will be announcing more details, but this will be an event that will be more of a festival than a “conference”. It will have times of teaching, sharing, art, film, music, spoken word, poetry, think tanks, creating and dreaming together about the mission of Jesus and how we can be fully engaged in the world for the sake of others. We will be sharing more in the months ahead, but wanted to announce the date and place.

Keep your eyes out on the Origins Events Page for more details on upcoming Conference Calls, Listening Sessions, as well as details on the July 2010 event in Los Angeles!

Add your events dealing with outreach or innovation on the Community Events Page.

If you are in Atlanta area, I look forward to meeting you next week!

Dan

“July 27, 2048″ by Dave Gibbons

Posted on November 11, 2009

FORECAST: JULY 27, 2048

I intersected with a group of people called TEDsters from around the world this past week in Mysore, India. Much of the current rage of new conferences have been influenced by the ideas, style and ethos of this unique group of minds. If you haven’t heard of them check out TED.com. Their moniker is “Ideas worth spreading.” The TED acronym stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.

The first speaker spoke for 18 minutes and still has me ruminating over the future implications of his talk. His name is Hans Rosling, 61 year old professor global health at Sweden’s Karolinska Intsitute. He’s a brilliant statistician and an entertaining communicator. He shared with us the rise of India and China on the economic landscape. He had a prediction that given the current rate of growth for India and China and the moderate or declining growth of the West, that by the year 2048, China and India average income of their citizens will have surpassed the US and the UK. . . July 27, 2048 to be exact.

The fundamental questions that arose out of this prediction are what will the shift of power mean for the countries who are LOSING their status as the ones who currently hold the reins of power in the global village and what does it mean for those who will GAIN new power?

Professor Hans fear is inequalities and war.

What are your fears or hopes in this historic shifting of powers?

When it comes to the church, what does this mean for those of us in America, the UK and the West? Are we prepared for the shift that has already occurred and will continue to become more pronounced. In fact, cities in China like Shanghai has already surpassed the average income of those in the states. Korea now sends out more missionaries than any other country than the US. They will soon be the number one country. In a 2006 CT article, the writer pens:

The global majority (5.2 billion people) live in less developed nations. Of the world’s 6.4 billion people, less than 18 percent live in developed nations. Scholars say the church’s future in large measure rests in the hands of the global majority.
“The day of Western missionary dominance is over, not because Western missionaries have died off,” says Scott Moreau, chair of intercultural studies at Wheaton College (Illinois), “but because the rest of the world has caught the vision and is engaged and energized.”

Moreau says Americans must come to realize that “missions is a two-way street on every continent.” Today’s missionary is as likely to be a black African in Europe as a northern Indian in south India or a Korean in China. In addition, mission leaders are placing a new focus on Asia, where 60 percent of the global population lives. Samuel Hugh Moffett, the elder American statesman of Asian Christianity, told Christianity Today that Asia represents “the future for missions.” (Rob Moll, CT, march 1, 2006)

Shifts in power are not easy for many. Inequalities are likely, war may be inevitable, and paralysis of organizations common. But when it comes to the church how are we preparing ourselves when it comes to the leaders we are currently developing, the culture and ethos we’re creating in our communities, the theologies we are contemplating and emphasizing and the resources we are allocating?

Looking ahead my hope is that theologies of suffering and discomfort, mystery, and the outsider will be more greatly developed in partnership with nations like Korea, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, China and India who can teach us. Also, given the nature of the spirits that are naturally embraced by much of the world, how will we develop in our understanding of the role and work of the Holy Spirit and the gifts that are necessary to engage in this realignment of power? For me, I’ve had to lean into the role, power, gifts and work of the Holy Spirit more. For some reason this originally was more natural for me living in Bangkok than in the US but it’s changing. I believe there will be a continued unleashing of his gifts for the church in this new world order. I don’t want to miss out what He wants to do through the church as we serve these emerging nations.

What are your thoughts about this shift of power? What are you now doing about it?

Rick McKinley Conference Call Audio

Posted on November 9, 2009

Our previous conference call was with Rick McKinley, the founding pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, an author, speaker, guest professor across the nation, and part of the creative team of The Origins Project.

Listen Here!

Rick’s newest book was written with Chris Seay and Greg Holder & called Advent Conspiracy.

Congratulations to our winners of the free book giveaway last week! They include: Henrik from Germany, Ross from Lynden, Karen from Markham, Ryan from Duluth, David from Los Angeles, Chris from Bozeman, Jamie from Ontario, Mike from Carmichael, Michael from Royal Oak, John from Woodway, Jessica from Austin, Alicia from Prince Edward Island, Bob from Castaic, Kevin from Germantown, Jason from Mason, Gabe from Boiling Springs, Cindy from Blanchard, Pete from Alberta, Anthony from Chicago, and Steve from Chesapeake.

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