Camp Review

I’m back in Austin after a great week with the crew from Wildside at Daybreak Camp in northern California.  It was great to be in the mountains, hang out with old friends and make some new ones, and talk about our Shepherd.

The theme of the camp was Epic, and it is modeled after the book Hinds Feet on High Places.  Each morning, the campers would visit an “altar,” where I shared a portion of the allegory, and they had a time of prayer and reflection.  In the evening, they revisited a changed altar, and I shared about some corresponding topics from scripture.  (That’s me speaking in the “Valley of Humiliation.”)

We talked about pride, loneliness, peacemaking, giving up your burdens, dying to self, and being a new creation.  May sound heavy for middle schoolers, but the kids handled it well.

Props to the directors for an incredibly imaginative Camp, and letting me be a small part of it.

Camping and Unplugging

Tomorrow, I’m headed off to sunny California, where I’ll be speaking at a camp for Middle Schoolers.  I was invited by my dear friend Kyle Sapp, who is probably the funniest person I know.  I’ll be telling the story and presenting some thoughts from Hinds Feet on High Places.

I couldn’t be more excited.  I went to camp for 9 summers years growing up, and still look back at it as a key to my personal and spiritual formation.

While there, I’m going to do my best to unplug.  That means no Facebook, Twitter or even reading blogs.  If you really need to get ahold of me, you probably have my number or email.  I may, however, schedule a post or two to keep my Mom and my other two readers satisfied.

I’m hoping a little time out of the matrix will provide a little detox, and help me get my thoughts in order for what is sure to be a wild fall.

See you in a week!

Tags: camp, Hinds Feet on High Places

Three Friends Every Missionary Must Have

I’m working on a theory that life, especially a missional life, requires three circles of friends.

1) Your Cabinet.  An inner circle of friends is like the President’s closest advisors.  These are the people who know us best, and understand our hopes and dreams.  They may include your best friends and family, but they also include mentors and straight shooters.  They do not necessarily receive the most of your time, but their opinion has the greatest weight.

2) Your Field.  These are the people you see every day.  The people you work with, go to shows with, and live next to.  Because of your natural rhythm of life they are the people you spend the most time with.  They are your greatest opportunity for you share about Jesus.

3) Your Church.  Simultaneously the furthest away, yet the closest.  You share values, and when you come together, you receive strength and encouragement you get no where else.  Your time together is spent on important things together, like worship, care for the poor and hurting, etc., and some may find their way into the other two circles.  Practically, they cannot receive the majority of your time and attention, but knowing they’ve got your back gives you the strength to focus on your field.

Do you agree or disagree with this theory?  How do you think about your relationships?

Those Facebook Beer Pictures

Recently after looking through someone’s Facebook pictures, a friend commented that “you can tell there’s more to this person than just parties.”

He was referring to the infamous Facebook beer pictures.  Something about the nature of social networking leads people to take pictures of themselves holding beer bottles grinning hideously and almost falling over.  This person did have a lot of pictures, but they portrayed family and friends having adventures, making music and going on trips.  You couldn’t help but look at them and assume this person has a meaningful life.

We’d like to say “oh, that’s just Facebook.”  But the reality is, our online doppelgangers capture our public selves.  If you can’t tell by one’s profile what is important to them, then maybe it’s not that important.

Tags: beer, Facebook

Three Inspiring Church Planting Stories (And Two Big Questions)

This past month I read three church planting books.  One of my goals in life is to be involved in planting new churches that reach those who established churches cannot.

Launch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas tells the story of the launch of Journey Church of the City in New York.  The book is short, sweet, and aims at being intensely practical.  Searcy comes out of the Purpose Driven world and unashamedly presents a Saddleback-esque style of planting.  It’s all about launching big, or gathering a crowd for Sunday services.  The book gives step by step instructions on everything from finding a meeting place to raising funds.

Exponential is written by Dave and Jon Ferguson, the two brothers who lead Chicago’s Community Christian Church and the New Thing Network.  Two things stand out: 1) They say “anyone can do it!” again and again, and leave you excited about what God can do through you and your friends. 2) It describes the culture of apprenticeship that has allowed CCC to explode into a multi-site and church planting movement.  Every single position within the church is backed up with an apprentice, ready to take the reins at a moments notice.  This is necessary for any church interested in sending out people to plant new churches.

Church in the Making by Ben Arment is a totally different animal.  I often found myself cheering and turning the pages as quickly as I could.  He plays up his own failures and brags about other’s successes. Arment’s goal is to help Church planters really be prepared and understand what makes a church plant succeed.  What I found most important was his deep emphasis on cultivation of relationships before launch.  This encourages me that the time and relationships I am building now can have eternal significance.

As much as I enjoyed all three books, I find myself asking two questions:

1) Could there a simpler way? The financial and leadership burdens needed to plant churches as these books present does not seem reproducible.

2) Who will it really reach? Often, new churches just shift Christians away from existing churches.  When I look at my friends and neighbors, many of who are cynical dechurched types or frankly just don’t care about spirituality, I’m not sure they’d get up on Sunday morning to check it out.

Tags: Ben Arment, Church in the Making, church planting, Dave Ferguson, Exponential, Jon Ferguson, Kerrick Thomas, Launch, Nelson Searcy