“I Hate Church As Usual” by Randy Elrod

Posted on August 25, 2011

Randy Elrod, author and founder of the re:create Conference and Thinktank,wrote an article on his experience with Just Love! our Gateway Central experiment in downtown Austin. Here is what he wrote:

“I hate church as usual.

There, I said it. I’ll admit I’m cynical, burned out and hurt deeply…by a church that prepares her followers to engage a world that no longer exists.

Even the word “church” conjurs up visions of my tongue licking a razors edge.

Most of my therapy dollars (and there have been thousands) are spent uncovering and attempting to heal the deep wounds caused by this misguided institution.

So imagine my surprise last week when I “accidentally” limped into a church experience that actually seemed, well…uh…real.

JUST LOVE is a downtown church experiment of Gateway Church in Austin, TX ( Twitter: @g8wayaustin).

Each Tuesday JUST LOVE convenes at The Arthouse and features:

ART/STORY/SERVE/FOOD/HANG.

The week I attended it was loosely and beautifully lead by non-alpha leaders Ramy and Tiffany Antoun, Eric Bryant, and the 1211 band.

JUST LOVE features stunningly beautiful and haunting acoustic music, thought provoking short films, poetry and stories in a setting any creative would die for. The time was expertly woven together by impromptu but focused narration.

One soundbite:

“When you don’t know what to do….default to love.”

But, that was only the beginning. It still seemed like a very cool emergent church service.

Until all of a sudden, you’re assigned to a group leader with three other unfamiliar people, each handed three bottles of water and asked to go out on the street and hand them out to people you feel need them—in downtown Austin.

I met Darlene on 6th St.

An African-American woman in a wheelchair with a lot of spunk. She gratefully took the water, told me she just had surgery—so of course—I promptly told her I just had surgery as well. She told me, “Honey, make sure you go down the street to the Austin pain clinic and they will pump you full of morphine. It’s the only way to fly.”

As we all laughed, three other rather fragrant and large homeless men surrounded us and took water. The conversation continued very naturally and for the first time in my life—except maybe one time just north of Afghanistan—I realized I could possibly be doing church the way God intended.

Gulp, the way it’s supposed to be done?

Afterwards, limping painfully back on my knee still recovering from surgery,  hot and sweaty in 100 plus degree weather, we headed back to a downtown restaurant for a hang out together.

As many of the JUST LOVE attenders converged on Congress Avenue all excitedly talking about their experiences—a girl in front of us still had one bottle of water and warmly handed it to a young lady hastily walking by—when suddenly the lady angrily slapped it out of the girls hand, and as it flew through the air seemingly in slow motion, everyone hushed to stunned silence. (To read the first person account of this story, go HERE.)

Fear, anger, disappointment, and myriad other emotions leaped to the forefront of each person’s humanity.

“When you don’t know what to do….default to love.”

Is this a radical new concept in doing church?

Or is it a revolutionary, ancient and timeless concept that we’ve somehow forgotten? Or ignored? Or…?

Question: What do YOU think?

If this post caused you angst, glee or gulp, caused you to think, please share it with others by going here.”

What new things has your community attempted to engage your city?

Dan Kimball hired to lead new center focused on ‘future faith’

Posted on August 22, 2011

Check out this news release from George Fox University:

Dan Kimball, author of

“Dan Kimball, author of They Like Jesus But Not the Church and the forthcoming Adventures in Churchland, will join George Fox University in a part-time capacity this fall as professor of missional leadership and as leader of a new center focused on the future faith of young Americans. He also will teach at the university’s seminary.

As Oregon’s nationally recognized Christian university, George Fox is deeply interested in seeing the gospel of Jesus impact future generations, especially in light of recent trends showing the decline of Christianity among younger generations. The university hopes to create a stronger partnership with the broader church to help address this decline.

Kimball, a graduate of George Fox University’ Doctor of Ministry program, formed a friendship with the university’s president, Robin Baker, during his time as a graduate student. The two soon discovered they had a common passion for seeing emerging generations connect with the message of Jesus and see their careers as a calling, no matter what vocation they chose to pursue.

Out of this relationship came the idea for a center that would focus on future generations and the mission of the church. The center, yet to be named, will conduct research on churches that are effectively engaging college students and young adults with the gospel. The center will have both a national focus and a Portland focus. It will serve to create opportunities for church leaders to collaborate, learn, and share ideas.

The center will also host conferences that will focus on reaching those outside the church and training future generations about their role in the mission of Jesus. This will include a focus on the apologetics needed for life on mission in today’s culture, as well as using the arts in ministry and learning from the most innovative practitioners from around the country.

A website for the center will be launched in October. The website will highlight churches and ministries from around the country, articles by leading voices in the missional movement, as well as new voices. The center will be planning for its first major event in the fall of 2012.

Kimball lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., where he is on staff at Vintage Faith Church (vintagechurch.org). He will visit the Oregon campus on a part-time basis. He is married with two daughters and blogs at dankimball.com.”

“Create the Future!” by Erwin McManus

Posted on August 17, 2011

Erwin McManus spoke in the closing session at the Leadership Summit with an inspiring message from one of my favorite books: Chasing Daylight. Here are some of his thoughts:

“We need a mindshift, to change how we see reality, to change how we relate to the future.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says that ‘everything is meaningless’ and ‘there’s nothing new under the sun.’ We’ve misunderstood though. Solomon was wrong!

Why do we let the person who sees everything as meaningless shape our view of the future? As a result, our misunderstanding is killing the church!

God has done new things over and over and over again. God warns us that we too often miss the new thing He is doing! (Isaiah 43:18) God is the God of the new!

Often we use the slogan: ‘Let’s make history!’ or even ‘Let’s change history!’ These are impossible! History has already happened! We fear the future. We are created in the image and likeness of God. We aren’t simply part of the created order, but we are created to be creative! We are God’s instruments of creating the future!

Good people wait patiently for God to intervene when He is wanting us to do something! Noah saved the world

What’s after the post-modern world? Whatever we choose! Why do we wait for someone else to create the better future?!

We need to become the stewards of human potential, help people become who God created them to be, and free them to create a better world.

‘Moses was no ordinary child.’ (Hebrews 11:23) Why is this? Because there has never been an ordinary child ever born on this planet! Unfortunately, many die ordinary. Something is lost between birth and death. The church needs to be the place where people are helped to become who God wants them to be. What if the world saw the church as the epicenter of human creativity?!

There is no conflict between our talent and God’s glory. Even at our best, we are not at all intimidating to God.

If we don’t allow God into our imagination, we won’t move towards the great things God has for us. We have more creativity than we know.We all have creative potential!

In an interview with an AP journalist concerning the Doritos commercial Erwin and his company created, Erwin was asked: ‘What is the message of our Doritos commercial?’ Erwin responded: ‘Eat Doritos! No subliminal message. We do believe though that creating something beautiful gives us the right to be heard.’ The AP journalist asked: ‘You really believe that?’ Erwin answered: ‘I’m talking to right now aren’t I?’ (For more on the Doritos story, go here).

Too often the truth is lost in a bad story and falsehood spreads through a good story.

The snow covered moutains don’t have a cross on them or ‘turn or burn.’ We aren’t confident that beauty will lead people to worship (See Rom 2).

It isn’t hard to help people follow Jesus when we can help them see themselves in the story of God. We need to tell the truth. We are broken and fragmented people who are brought together by a loving Creator and together we become a beautiful picture to the world.”

Check out the fantastic small group material on Chasing Daylight Erwin created with BlueFish here.

What is the new thing God wants you to do?

“Courageous Leadership for Catalytic Times” by Dr. McNeil

Posted on August 15, 2011

Brenda Salter-McNeil shared the following insights at The Leadership Summit:

This next generation of young emerging leaders are global by default. They know they are global.

Acts 1:8 propelled the followers of Jesus around the world.

Leading in Jerusalem is difficult because you have to press for change among your own people – your family.

In Judea there is familiarity, but there are differences (like among those who look the same but have different politics, values, and denominations). Ministry here is not simple but must be attempted.

Samaria is hostile toward us. They speak a different language. We avoid Samaria like the plague. We see Samaria as evil. We need to move outward into Samaria in spite of the challenges. Even Samaria needs to experience God’s love. Samaria tests our willingness to risk and sacrifice. Sometimes you have to use unorthodox efforts to break through in Samaria.

Without a catalytic moment, we remain stuck where we are in Jerusalem. For the disciples, they moved from praying in private (Acts 1) to sharing the message of Jesus in public (Acts 2) when the Holy Spirit came. That was a catalytic moment! These ethnographic-centric people were suddenly fluent in the languages of the people visiting Jerusalem.

The church was born as a global movement!

If you are ready to break through the barriers we face then do the following:

“Poke the Box” by Seth Godin

Posted on August 12, 2011

Here are some excerpts from Seth Godin’s talk at The Leadership Summit:

“We grew up in a society that told us more is better. The TV-Industrial Age: Buy Ads then Get More Distribution Then Sell More Products then Make More Profits then Buy More Ads and the cycle continues.

We live in a world where variety is overwhelming and old ways of doing things are dying (newspapers, records, etc.). The industrial age is over! We are in an age of tribes where we can make a difference in our own niches.

Deep in our DNA we want to be in sync with our own people, and we want and need leaders for our tribes. If you want to do work that matters, we have an amazing opportunity in front of us! Will you lead your tribe?

We used to be hunters then farmers then workers. So, now what? The next era is the era of the artist. An artist creates something that no one has done before for someone else.

If we are the owners of our own level of productivity, then why are we holding back?

What is your path? What difference do you want to make? There is no map for being an artist! Competence used to be important, but now it is no longer a commodity.

It is impossible to do art and succeed every time. It is scary, and will face criticism. The lizard brain tells you to fit in. The lizard brain is the resistance. Too often we look for reasons not to do our art.

The world is being turns upside down. What are you going to do about it?!

Create and give it away!”

Some other resources or insights from Seth Godin:

“The Heckler” by Seth Godin

An Overview of the book Tribes by Seth Godin

Insights from the book Linchpin by Seth Godin

Thoughts on Building a Movement by Seth Godin

Resist the resistance!

“Finding Your Place in the Story” by Chris Seay

Posted on August 8, 2011

Missional Events in Detroit & Monterey

Posted on August 5, 2011

September 28th-29th: M.Detroit with Erwin McManus, Dave Gibbons, Vince Antonucci, and more…

Detroit, MI

November 10th-12th: Organic Outreach Conference with Kevin Harney, Dan Kimball, & Eric Bryant

Register by Aug. 15th for only $69 per person!

Monterey, CA